#some distant ancestor probably looked at

[kermits-cup-of-tea]

she stares up at the night sky

seeing something new

she stares a moment

then two,

wondering what it could be,

it is a strange color

for a being in the sky.

a child points and wonders

and she spins a tale

how perhaps it is a piece of home

kicked up by the buffalo herds,

the child shudders at the painting

and curls up against her side

safe and warm

she stares up at the night sky

until she succumbs to sleep,

it is gone in the morning.

i stared up at the night sky

barely seeing what i knew was there

i stared for a while,

until my hands went numb

wondering what she might have thought

about the being passing by.

tears began to fall,

the world feeling a little bit smaller

a little less alone,

i was joined by ghosts

illuminated by moonlight

from just a few days

three thousand grandmothers ago

watching along with me

staring up at the same

strange green star

in the same dark sky

[flowerandblood]

The Fall from the Heavens

[ canon • Aemond x Strong • niece female ]

[ warnings: kissing, angst, arranged engagement, violence, swearing, humiliation, bullying, chauvinism ]

[ description: A cool distance turns into friendship and more when two children see that they can find refuge and understanding in each other. However, naïve dreams collide with the reality in which every event has consequences and what once could have been love becomes a dark, newly painful obsession. Angst, sexual tension, obsession, violence, madness, very dark Aemond. ]

The story in this series is an alternate reality from the oneshot Stay and love, leave and die, in which Aemond reads the letters his niece has sent to him over the years. They are the same characters and it shows what would have happened between them − I have changed the background story from their childhood slightly for the sake of the plot.

Characters & Series Moodboard Lady Strong Moodboard Aemond & Lady Strong Moodboard Aemond & Lady Strong Childhood

* English is not my first language. Please, do not repost. Enjoy! *

Next chapters: Masterlist

_____

He had always felt that he lacked something. Part of him claimed that if a dragon had hatched from his egg, things would have been different, however, years later, he recognised that this was not entirely true.

Aegon had a gift for light-hearted conversation, an ironic humour that he lacked. He kept telling him to smile at last, to get his nose out of his books, that he was boring, perpetually serious and withdrawn. He preferred to spend time with Jace and Luke − they were louder and funnier than him, they understood him, they had what he was missing.

They had dragons.

They didn't spare unpleasant comments even to their own sister, calling her a hamster, most likely referring to her rosy, firm cheeks and big eyes.

He could see that she was running away from them crying, but he wasn't going to comfort her. She was a girl – her world, filled with poetry, embroidery and music seemed to him as distant as Essos.

The only thing they had in common was books.

They bumped into each other occasionally in the library, and although at first they simply pretended not to see one another, one day she dared to sit next to him as he looked through the family tree of their ancestors.

"What is it?" She asked, placing the large volume on the table in front of them with difficulty.

He huffed as the dust that rose with her movement reached his nostrils, out of the corner of his eye he noticed that it was The Great History of Aegon the Conqueror.

He did not reply, turning the page of the book, not knowing why he should explain it to her.

He didn't believe her, didn't trust her, didn't want her.

She was a bastard, though she probably didn't know it herself, wallowing in riches like a princess even though she didn't deserve them.

He didn't want her pity, attention or anything else she could give him.

He didn't want to be her second choice, the place she ran to because her brothers were mean to her; he had his own, in his mind very adult, worries and he didn't want to listen to hers.

"Is this a book dedicated to our family history?" She asked softly, leaning out so that she could see what he was reading.

She stood up, coming closer to him, intrigued. He pressed his lips together when he smelled her pleasant scent, some intense vanilla oil.

He felt a tightening and burbling in his stomach at the thought of the cake that smelled similar, which his mother had ordered to be baked for his Name Day a few months earlier.

"Ah, our family tree. Where are we?" She asked cheerfully, and he sighed heavily, reluctantly flipping forward a few pages, tracing their line with his finger, showing her a place at the very end.

He swallowed loudly as he saw how Laenor Velaryon was written in the space where her father was inscribed, trying not to smile with mockery.

She leaned lower, looking at the area he had pointed at and he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, her cheek right next to his.

He was surprised at how different they were, apart from the obvious fact that he was a man and she was a woman.

His eyelashes were almost white and translucent and hers were black, long, surrounding her shining eyes, making them seem even bigger to him. His skin was pale, thin as parchment when hers was flushed and full of life, her lips plump and moist, her nose shapely and straight, the contour of her face gentle as his jaw was outlined sharply.

And finally, his hair, the colour of Targaryen's, the white she lacked, her luscious black curls falling gently down her back was visible proof of who her father was.

Although he liked to mock her in spirit, he couldn't say she was ugly or repulsive.

"Would you marry Helaena if our King so commanded?" She asked curiously, glancing sideways at his seated figure. He lifted his gaze to her and sighed heavily, figuring that nothing would happen if he spoke to her for a while.

She was simply bored, just like him, and he didn't get the impression that she had come to entertain herself at his expense.

He shrugged his shoulders.

"Yes. I would do my duty as a Prince and son of the King." He said lowly, solemnly, fiddling between his fingers with the page of the book he had just looked at, crossing his legs.

Even though he was still a child, he was trying to sound and look like a man.

She cocked her head, clearly genuinely intrigued by his statement, a wide smile on her face.

"Are you in love with her?" She asked as if it was obvious, as if she was encouraging him to reveal to her his little secret. He looked at her in disbelief, not knowing what to make of her question.

He swallowed loudly, lowering his gaze, feeling his heart pounding fast.

What did it matter?

"Well…she's my sister. Of course I love her." He replied coolly, feeling strange with the words on his tongue, as if there was something inappropriate about them.

"I love Jace too, but I'm not in love with him. There's a difference." She said with a kind of calmness and wisdom that surprised him, looking at him with a gentle expression on her face that consternated him.

Why were they even having this conversation?

Still, her words made him feel a tightness in his throat, a realisation that he understood what she meant, but didn't want to admit it.

The tenderness of falling in love, the poems and the late-night frolicking were the domain of women's imagination, which unfortunately then had to collide with the cruel reality. He was a man, however, and he had no intention of getting into these deep divagations of the weaker sex.

"Don't be naïve. Marriage is not meant to be a pleasure. It is meant to be a sacrifice for the good of the kingdom, to secure its needs." He said dryly, turning back to the page he had been reading earlier, frustrated for some reason by her remark.

She did not speak again, returning to her seat, sinking into reading the gigantic volume dedicated to Aegon the Conqueror.

Although he could have done it in his chamber, he had been coming to the library to read ever since and always met her in the same place. Although they didn't appoint themselves, they both had their assignments until midday and would turn up there to read immediately afterwards, sitting next to each other, exchanging thoughts in passing.

He was afraid that Aegon would see them one day, but fortunately he never ventured into the abyss of the library, few people went there and he felt reasonably safe.

Usually it was she who asked him questions and he was the one who answered her. He felt some sort of empowerment because of this – at last there was someone who appreciated his knowledge and rhetoric, who listened intently to his opinion.

"I would like to be like Rhaenys in the future." She said softly and he looked at her as if she had lost her mind.

"Rhaenys? What's interesting about her? Visenya could fight with a sword and she rode the largest dragon still alive in this world. If I had a choice, I would marry her." He said without thinking, recognising that it would be wonderful to have by his side a woman who could wield a sword perfectly, with a sharp tongue and temperament, who would be a born warrior like him.

He saw his niece raise an eyebrow in amusement, a sort of childlike joy on her face, her eyes shining.

"Aegon the Conqueror thought otherwise. Out of ten nights, nine he spent with Rhaenys." She said mockingly, as if immensely pleased that she could take the argument out of his hand. He pressed his lips together at her remark and shrugged his shoulders, returning to his reading.

He didn't care what men and women did at night − his mother had told him that he shouldn't bother with it for the time being, and he had decided that there was in fact no need to, until his father called on him one morning.

"− no −" He heard his mother's voice, leaning over the table where the tired King sat, looking at her as if half asleep. "− I do not agree, Viserys, it's not −"

She did not finish, hearing his footsteps and folded her arms in front of her, trying to calm herself, letting out a loud breath. His father nodded at him to come closer, which he did obediently, feeling his heart pounding hard.

His father had never yet called on him on any serious matter.

"I have just been discussing with your mother the importance of our family, of our kingdom remaining united. Although I have agreed that, according to tradition, your sister should marry your brother and not your nephew, I would like you to be the one to bring House Targaryen together anew, and that you should marry the daughter of Rhaenyra and Laenor in the future." He said calmly, with each finished sentence tapping his fingers on the table top, as if to add some finality and certainty to his words that he was convinced this was the right thing to do.

"− this is ridiculous − Aemond should secure our kingdom with a marriage to the daughter of one of the lords who can benefit us −" His mother began impatiently, her husband sighed loudly, exhausted.

"And who should receive this honour? The Starks? The Arryns? The Baratheons? No choice would be good, for someone would always feel disadvantaged. Marriage within the family will not outrage anyone on the outside, and will only strengthen what has been strained." He said with conviction; the Queen swallowed hard, shaking her head, finally looking at him as if she was certain he abhorred the idea as much as she did.

"− Aemond, you don't have to agree −" She said in a trembling voice, and he swallowed hard, looking at the stone floor beneath his feet, feeling his heart pounding hard.

Bastard or not, the dragon's blood flowed in her, as it did in him. She didn't despise or mistreat him. She knew what duty and obligation meant.

He reasoned that although he would have preferred to have a female warrior by his side, in fact the idea of marrying her did not reject him. He preferred her to the daughter of some common lord.

In his own way, he even liked her.

He grunted, feeling proud to rise to the occasion and fulfil his father's desire.

"If it is my King's wish, I will marry her, for the sake of the kingdom and our family." He said lowly, looking him straight in the eyes, standing upright, his hands folded behind his back.

He felt a squeeze in his throat as his father smiled at him sincerely, for the first and last time in his life.

"So it's decided."

He didn't know how the message had been conveyed to his betrothed, however he could see by the look on her face as she ran into the library, all red with emotion, that someone had made her aware of what had happened and he felt a twist in his stomach at the thought.

He was afraid she would make it clear to him that she didn't want him, that she abhorred him, that she had no intention of marrying a man who didn't have a dragon of his own.

As she approached him however her eyes sparkled, she laughed as if she didn't believe it.

"Is it true?" She asked breathing loudly and he swallowed hard, nodding his head, looking at her with wide eyes.

"I'm so happy." She giggled sweetly, warmly, covering her mouth with her hand, as if someone had just given her a wonderful surprise.

He felt some kind of heat in his chest, an affection towards her, a gratitude for her faithfulness, for her devotion, for the fact that she respected him.

He was shocked to think that she would make a good wife.

Aegon laughed at him, not understanding where his lack of objection came from, how he could think that good had happened.

"She doesn't even have an arse or tits." He sneered and he clenched his jaw, wrinkling his brow, looking at him over his shoulder.

"Shut your mouth. Don't speak about her this way." He growled, feeling that her good name was now his as well, and that he had to protect her.

Aegon snorted, shaking his head, patting him on the back piteously.

"My little brother fell in love with Lady Strong?" He asked, forcing himself into a sweet, mocking tone as if he were speaking to a small child, which angered him even more. He slammed his head against his forehead, and he swore in pain, staggering backwards, catching the table, which fell over with him.

"You fucking bastard!" He shouted throwing himself at him, and they began to pound each other with their fists, wrestling with each other on the floor, until, hearing the commotion, a servant girl rushed into his chamber, trying to separate them.

His future wife visited him in his chamber that day, concerned that he had not appeared in the library, raising her eyebrows in simultaneous concern and amusement as she saw him holding an ice cube to his red cheek, a large bruise under his eye.

"What's happened?" She asked as she was accustomed to, without any pleasantries, approaching him sitting in a chair that was, however, too big and his legs did not reach the ground. He just rolled his eyes and shrugged his shoulders without answering.

He had no intention of revealing what had caused the fight − he wasn't going to appear to her as a prince on a white horse who would worship and adore her, as in all those poems she had surely read.

"Does it hurt a lot?" She asked further, and he shook his head. She sighed heavily, taking a single lemon cake from the pocket of her bottom gown, placing it in front of him.

"I know the Queen only allows you to eat sweets after your weekly visit to the Great Sept, but I stole one for you anyway. As a consolation." She said proudly, and he nodded, lifting his gaze to her, involuntarily feeling grateful.

She cared for him without wanting anything in return.

Since they were betrothed, she hadn't asked him for solitary walks, gifts, confessions of love or anything else a lady of her status might desire from the man she was to marry.

"Thank you." He replied calmly, recognising that he could give her at least that much.

She looked around his chamber and he realised that she was in it for the first time in her life. He stood up, setting the ice sack down in the bowl, walking over to his bookshelf, a gift to him from his mother.

"If you wish, I can lend you some. Just pick which one." He said softly, coming to the conclusion that he wanted to be kind to her, that he wanted her to have no regrets about him becoming her husband, to be proud of it.

She looked at him gratefully and took out a book written by the ancient philosopher, Areon, dissecting human dignity and duty. Something about her choice pleased him, the thought that she wanted to understand him.

She pressed the book to her heart and looked at him, her eyes seemed even bigger to him than usual, her beautiful long eyelashes, hair and plump lips shone in the summer light of the day.

He felt a pleasant tickle in his lower abdomen watching her without saying a word.

"– can I kiss you? –" She asked so quietly that for a moment he thought he had overheard himself. He felt his whole body tense up as his pupils dilate in disbelief, his fingers involuntarily began to rub against each other in a subconscious nervous reflex.

Oh gods.

Should they be doing this?

Was this the right thing to do?

She was supposed to be his wife. From what he understood, husbands and wives did this, as a kind of union and intimacy.

He swallowed loudly, looking at her lips, thinking they looked pleasantly warm and soft; a shiver went through him at the thought that he could feel them in a moment if he wanted to.

He nodded his head.

He watched her vigilantly, involuntarily breathing through his mouth as she stepped closer to him; he was taller than her and leaned in slightly, wanting to make her task easier.

She surprised him when she suddenly lifted up on her tiptoes and her lips pressed against his in a warm, innocent kiss − he felt like his heart had stopped for a moment, the scent of vanilla filled his lungs, her skin delightfully moist and soft.

It felt so pleasant.

She pulled away from him immediately, all red as he was, breathing hard, as if it took a lot of effort and courage from her too, her wide eyes looked at him in excitement, as if she was waiting for his reaction.

"– one more time –"

These words came out of him like a weak whisper, like a plea through which he felt the shame overpowering him.

She smiled before rising on her toes again, this time placing her hand on his shoulders for balance − she pressed her fleshy, moist lips to his for a longer time and sighed softly as he touched her cheek, wonderfully soft and warm.

She pulled away from him with a quiet click and closed her eyes feeling him stroke her skin with his thumb. He pressed his forehead against hers, feeling butterflies in his stomach.

"– will you come to me at night? –"

He had nightmares most of the time at night − usually dreams in which he saw anew the pig that his brother and nephews had introduced to him as his dragon, humiliating him as no one had ever done before.

He found that her presence calmed him and that perhaps if she slept in the same bed, he would finally get some rest.

He didn't think about the fact that it might have been at least inappropriate in the eyes of others when under the cover of night she snuck into his chamber, slipping under the thick furs beside him, snuggling up to him. In his mind she was already his wife, and wives slept with their husbands − unless it was his parents.

They lay that night looking at each other with their foreheads pressed together, stroking each other's cheeks, shy and embarrassed.

Their wordless, innocent confession of affection and need for closeness.

"We are going to have seven children." He stated after some thought, as if he had decided that such a number would satisfy him. He wanted his family to be strong and broad, and also seven were gods, so it had symbolic meaning as well.

She blinked, as if something troubled her in his words, furrowing her brow.

"My mother gets very tired during childbirth and then can't get up for a few days. With the rest, how do we do it?" She asked uncertainly and he shrugged his shoulders.

He had never delved into the ins and outs of the pleasures of the flesh too much − Aegon had said that rapprochements with women were very pleasurable and, as he understood, that was why he couldn't pull away from them, to him, however, what he had was enough.

"We'll find out everything when we're older. Do not fret." He said with certainty, stroking her soft, plump cheek with his thumb. She cheered up, he saw the sparkle in her gaze before her lips stole a soft, warm kiss from him again.

He smiled at the thought that he felt that in her eyes he was a man, the head of their future family.

There had been times when he had forgotten who she was, who her father was, her smile, her laugh, her eyes, the sweet kisses she bestowed on him when they were alone made him think it didn't matter anymore.

Years later, he could not believe how wrong he was.

______

Aemond Taglist:

(bold means I couldn't tag you)

@its-actually-minicika @notnormalthings-blog @nikstrange @zenka69 @bellaisasleep @k-y-r-a-1 @g-cf2020 @melsunshine @opheliaas-stuff @chainsawsangel @iiamthehybrid @tinykryptonitewerewolf @namoreno @malfoytargaryen @qyburnsghost @aemondsdelight @persephonerinyes @fan-goddess @sweethoneyblossom1 @watercolorskyy @randomdragonfires @apollonshootafar @padfooteyes

[intuitive-revelations]

I've got a kind-of crack theory about Ruby's mother...

Back in The Church on Ruby Road, Ruby is invited onto Long Lost Family, a genealogy TV program hosted by Davina McCall, with the hope of finding some information about her bio family. Unfortunately, they come up with nothing.

[ID: 6 gifs showing Ruby and Davina McCall talking to each other on the phone from The Church on Ruby Road. Davina apologies to Ruby, who tries to hide her upset at the news.

DAVINA: "There is no trace of your mum or dad. I'm sorry. It happens sometimes." RUBY: "No, that's fine... Thanks but, um, could you keep looking?" DAVINA: "No, there's nothing more we can do. If your parents aren't on some kind of database, we can't find them." RUBY: "Ok, um... isn't that unusual though? There's not a single trace anywhere? I mean... in the whole wide world, my mother's never left a blood sample or anythin'?"]

Now obviously, I know tracking down family is hard and, especially for orphans and adopted children, there's no gurantee that you'll be able to get the information you need. But I do find it odd there's seemingly "no trace" of Ruby's parents.

The section where I go on an odd tangent about genealogy

Speaking as someone who isn't a genealogist, but does enjoy researching family history in what little spare time they have... in my experience, close DNA matches aren't that hard to find. Especially if you're of white european descent, as Ruby is (presumably).

(It's generally harder for other ethnicities, as most research resources are white english/american focused. I know this is especially tricky for people like african-americans, where many of one's ancestors may have been enslaved. I've personally also found it tricky with Jewish communities as historically many of them used patronymic names prior to the 1800s, plus you have to account for immigration name changes, pogroms etc.)

For example, as someone who is white, with a mix of various british, mainland european, and ashkenazi ancestors, I actually have thousands of DNA matches, just from an autosomal test on Ancestry alone, let alone something like an mtDNA, xDNA or yDNA test:

[ID: Edited screenshot showing maternal and paternal DNA matches on my AncestryDNA profile. There are 16279 maternal matches and 9745 paternal matches.]

Obviously, due to the way family trees work, most of these are distant matches, however it does include plenty of close ones too, which I've been able to trace to real records and identify relationships with. Personally, my matches even already include many 1st and 2nd cousins, albeit usually a one or two degrees removed, especially as the userbase tends to swing older on these websites. This includes a few people close enough for me to have already known them from family functions and shared annecdotes. Meanwhile, where I did have blank spots, from immigrations, estranged family members, early deaths etc, I've been able to fill in a lot of information.

So what does it mean that there's "no trace" of Ruby's family?

Deliberate or not?

The big question I've had since The Church on Ruby Road is: just how untraceable is Ruby's family?

On one hand, I feel like if this was real life and professional TV genealogists were helping you, you'd get a bit more information than a quick phone call saying they've got zilch. If they're sharing nothing... do they literally have nothing?

On the other hand, this also feels like a writing shortcut. We don't really need 3 hours of Davina McCall sat with Ruby at a computer breaking down every question and theory about possible family members. Ultimately, this was probably just a way to quickly get some major exposition out there, plus throw in a Christmas celebrity cameo for casual viewers. The fact they only talk about Ruby's "parents" being in a DNA database, and no-one else, doesn't give me a lot of faith in the care for accuracy RTD took with this plot point tbh.

Indeed Davina does say 'it happens sometimes', which could indicate it's not as extreme as having zero close relatives...

...but Ruby also asks if it's unusual for there to be no trace of anything, which Davina doesn't answer. If we're asking that question, it sounds like things really could have turned up that blank.

It may not be easy for orphans and adoptees to find family, but I assume it must be quite rare to have zero possible leads? Especially if you're a younger person, and thus may have a good number of people of the right generation to know/remember your family members still alive. Worst case scenario, I can imagine having some leads, only for someone to be uncontactable, or lack the information that would be useful. That being said, maybe I'm being too optimistic, as someone who had the priviledge of never having as much difficulty.

The weird sci-fi parallel (TW: incest (kinda), intersexism)

This is where we get to my theorising. Because in a science fiction context, and specifically a time-travel one, there is one quite famous short story that has a protagonist with zero family connections: '—All You Zombies—' by Robert A Heinlein.

(Fun fact: "All You Zombies" is also the name of a planned Class Ongoing story, once I get the time to resume that.)

You may also be familiar with the movie adaptation: 'Predestination'. It's also seemingly the inspiration for all sorts of similar stories, from 'The Man Who Folded Himself' to Red Dwarf and Futurama.

You might see where i'm going from that last one...

(Again disclaimer: if you seek it out, that this story may be quite triggering. It also was written in 1959. While it's actually somewhat respectable of a trans (kind-of, you'll see what I mean - I'll generally use the pronouns used in the text below) protagonist, it includes sexism, intersexism bordering on medical horror, and selfcest/incest.)

In 1963 (funnily enough), a lonely, orphaned 18 year old woman named Jane has a sexual encounter with a man in a park which ends up leaving her pregnant. When complications arise, the doctor discovers during a successful caesarian she's actually intersex, with a form of ovotesticular syndrome, with her immature, partially developed organs "a mess". He removes the now damaged womb, ovaries etc and, without consent, 'rearranged things so that [they] can develop properly as a man".

A few weeks later, the baby is stolen from the hospital by a man.

Despite all this tragedy, they do decide to complete their transition, restarting life as a man. He struggles to find work, but eventually finds himself making a living selling fake confession stories to magazines as "the Unmarried Mother".

Years later In a bar, he tells his story to a Bartender. After it all, the Bartender reveals he's actually a time agent and offers the chance to see his baby's father again. He drops him off in 1963 to find the man.

Meanwhile, in 1964, the Bartender steals a baby from a hospital, and drops her off at an orphanage in 1945.

The Bartender returns to the Unmarried Mother a month later in 1963, just in time to see him leaving a lonely young woman he met with in a park...

"Now you know who he is", the Bartender says, "—and after you think it over you’ll know who you are... and if you think hard enough, you’ll figure out who the baby is... and who I am.” He drops the Unmarried Mother off in 1983, where he can be recruited by the Temporal Bureau.

The Bartender, Jane, the Unmarried Mother, the kidnapper, the Father, and the Baby are revealed to all be one person, a family tree onto themself. The perfect time agent, causally disconnected from the rest of humanity and thus safe from Faction Paradox - if they are truly human at all (possibly explaining their biological bi-sexuality).

Thus, literally, having no relatives.

NO, OF COURSE I don't think this is what's up with Ruby!

But...

A lot of people have suggested that the woman who drops off Ruby could be herself. Obviously this doesn't necessarily mean Ruby is her own mother - let alone her own intersex father, child, and recruiter too!

But the story did come to my mind watching the Christmas special, and I do think the less squicky side of it, the 'perfect time agent' angle is worth considering. Could Ruby really be causally/genetically disconnected from the rest of humanity? Could she literally have no close relatives?

Assuming her DNA is not taken from any other person, but some semi-random mix of genes, she really may not match with anyone. At most, she would have some distant false matches, who share very small portions of DNA with her just by statistical fluke.

"BUT", I hear you say, "Didn't she get rewritten by the literal butterfly effect in episode one? She must be connected to humanity!"

Yes she did. But you know else happened?

She was still there.

Seriously think about it. Time travel fiction often doesn't think about the full consequences of time being altered even slightly, especially for a gag, but think about it literally. If all of human history was changed and a whole new species, possibly descended from Silurians, became dominant on the planet...

... why would the Doctor still happen to be travelling with someone with a name beginning with 'Rub-' who looks like Millie Gibson? Remember her name comes from Ruby Road... so does 'Ruby Road' exist on Rubathon's Earth? The Church presumably doesn't, unless there's a lizard Jesus...

At the very least we can point to the Web of Time being particularly reinforced around Ruby for some reason, even after all the damage it's taken between Flux and now, letting Ruby persist into the new timeline. This is explicitly confirmed in the last episode, with the Doctor calling it a fixed point.

At worst, it may imply whatever 'designed' Ruby just needs her to meet the Doctor, no matter what the dominant species on Earth is.

Mind you, both of these do open questions about what happened in the timeline where Ruby was eaten by the Goblin King. Maybe targetting her after her birth left her temporally vulnerable? Or maybe it was a necessary event, to bring the Doctor to Ruby Road...

Add this to some other things we've seen this season:

In Space Babies, we're introduced to the concept of 'baby farms', allowing people to be loomed born without a parent.

We also know, at least, that Ruby registers as human to the TARDIS (though given Sutekh's influence, who knows how trustworthy that scan was now!).

In The Devil's Chord, Ruby is not erased by Maestro destroying humanity. Granted we can put this down to the Doctor/TARDIS, and how time travel effects people's biodata, but I think it could be a misdirect.

(Interestingly there was a very similar plotpoint in "City of the Daleks", the Eleventh Doctor adventure game, which saw the New Dalek Paradigm invading Earth in...1963. Unlike Ruby, Amy eventually actually does start to fade, needing a 'chronon blocker' to stabilise her. Hey remember how we just heard the word 'chronon' used a bunch in the show.)

In Boom, the Ambulance is entirely unable to find a next of kin for Ruby, despite seemingly having her in its records. This is a little hard to dissect, as you could take a lot of different interpretations away from it. At the very least, it suggests Ruby doesn't have any living descendents in the 51st century. Carla probably doesn't either (which makes sense with her not having any bio-kids, and Ruby seemingly being the only child she fully adopted rather than fostered?) But for its extensive records, it's notable it still couldn't find anyone after that, even presumably with access to Ruby's DNA like the genealogists had.

Everything in 73 Yards.

Between the snow falling in each episode, plus context in The Legend of Ruby Sunday, we know that Christmas Eve on Ruby Road, while fixed, is also uniquely vulnerable and 'raw'. With the woman's changing reactions to the Doctor, it's also flexible enough to change, somewhat.

Similarly, the possible connection between the woman who dropped Ruby off and the woman in 73 Yards, between her face not being visible and the CCTV camera being around 73 yards / 66.6 metres away. And if that woman really was Ruby, then maybe the parallels to All You Zombies may not be as insane as they sound.

[marlynnofmany]

Fingernails and Fisticuffs

The box of miscellaneous engine parts slipped out of my grasp, catching a fingernail on the way down. I said, “Ow!” but was overshadowed by the loud clatter of washers and junk. Heads of several species turned from across the cargo bay. I reassured all my alien coworkers that nothing was broken.

“Are you okay?” Paint asked. She was the only one close enough to notice how I was shaking my hand, and worry was clear on her lizardy face.

“Yeah, just broke a nail,” I told her. “I didn’t think it was long enough for that. Ow.”

Paint looked at the box with alarm. “There are nails sticking out?”

“No, a fingernail,” I said, holding out a hand. “One of these. The little not-claws that humans have.”

“Not-claws?” Paint repeated. She stepped closer to get a proper look. Her expression was somewhere between distaste and pity. “I never really studied them before. They’re hollow! Just the top half! Why?”

I shrugged. “I guess we don’t really need proper claws anymore. Our distant ancestors had them.”

Paint looked scandalized. “How could you not need claws?”

Before I could come up with a good answer, Trrili walked by with a heavy pipe held in her pincher arms. I’d say she was looking down her nose at us, but she didn’t really have one of those. Just bug eyes, mandibles, and lots of opinions. She said, “No wonder humans like weapons so much, if you don’t even have sharp digits.”

“We can fight without weapons too!” I protested.

“Really,” Trrili said, stepping past to deposit the pipe beside several others with a loud clank. “How? You can’t bite like her,” she said with a flick of one antenna toward Paint. “Or even grapple like him.” The other antenna pointed out Mimi, tentacle-walking over like an octopus with a plumber’s belt.

“We can grapple pretty well,” I said. “But most of our fighting is punches and kicks.” I shadowboxed briefly, with what I thought were some pretty good moves. I even did a slow-motion roundhouse kick that brought my foot level with Trrili’s head.

She blocked it with a pincher. “Any Armorlite could hit harder, and so could half the Frillians I know.”

“Maybe, but they’re probably not as agile.” I bobbled and weaved.

“On two legs,” Trrili said, sweeping one of her own forward to try and trip me. I jumped over it, but she still wasn’t impressed. “Honestly, it’s a good thing you can climb things and fit into cabinets to hide, because the softest Mesmer child could defeat you in a fight.”

“Oh yeah? Bet you can’t do this.” I opened the box I’d dropped, dug out a metal washer, and laid it flat on the floor. “Pick that up.”

Trrili regarded me silently for a moment, pincher arms flexing and antenna doing a disapproving dance.

I just grinned at her. “What? It’s easy.” I scooped it up with one thumb and the finger with the longest nail. “…If you have fingernails.”

Mimi joined us, chuckling in his gravelly voice and plucking the washer from my hand. Paint giggled a little too, though stopped when Trrili glared at her.

“That’s beside the point,” Trrili declared. “What would you do if faced down with true danger, and no weapons in reach? And that includes rocks to throw; I know how fond you are of that.”

“I’d throw Mimi at it,” I said, pointing.

“Do not,” he said.

That just made Paint laugh again. Trrili was shaking her head.

“Hey, don’t underestimate some good problem-solving,” I said. “Especially if I’ve got time to prepare! There are some great trickster legends about humans who made traps for their enemies out of the most unlikely things.”

Paint asked, “Like what?”

Mimi interrupted, “Let’s get the supplies put away first, then have story time.”

“Of course,” I said, picking up the box. Mimi had already grabbed a couple of things out of it. “Blip and Blop will want to hear this too. And Trrili, I think you’ll appreciate some of those legends. Especially the ones about a human child left home alone when dangerous adults break into the house. Some of those traps were downright vicious.”

“That remains to be seen,” Trrili said.

I winked at Paint. “And some are funny.”

Storytime after dinner was a big hit. Blip and Blop enjoyed it so much that Captain Sunlight had to make everyone promise not to do any of that.

Unless, of course, the ship was ever attacked in a very specific way. She may have been taking notes for later.

~~~

The ongoing backstory adventures of the main character from this book. More to come! And I am currently drafting a sequel!

[shwaesar]

Share those thoughts concerning the human ape similarities please!

I COULD DELVE SO DEEP INTO THIS OK SO

Obvs it helps that human history and evolution are something that I've always been very interested in anyways. Done a lot of research, seen a lot of documentaries, and there's a lot of specific details that I think would translate BRILLIANTLY into a dialogue between the reader and their ape pookie.

For example; Lucy. The skeleton of one of our most distant ancestors, which some believe to be the separation point between other apes and homosapians (humans). The fact that humanity took the time to salvage her remains, protect them for other humans to see them, and recreated what they think she'd look like? That would hit our bois DEEP - because it not only gives evidence to the clams that we're apes, but shows that it's a part of our species' history that we value and care about, don't think less of ourselves for. I can see this point resonating with Caesar especially, considering his complicated history with identity and figuring out who (and what) he is.

AND THERES SO MANY THINGS WE STILL HAVE FROM BACK THEN! The urge to pet animals? Leftover grooming instinct from when we were monke. Our feet are literally deformed hands that could once grab onto tree branches. Apes in general all have almost identical arm and shoulder structures, humans included, making us one of the few creatures with free rotation around the shoulder joint. All our internal organs are organised in the same way. Human babies have been seen to use communicative primate gestures, and adult humans have a 50% average accuracy in understanding those gestures when performed by other apes. This side of it would likely interest Noa the most - he's inquisitive by nature and would be fascinated by the similarities and differences, the ways humans changed to become what we now are.

As you can probably imagine, Koba would despise the idea that you're the same in any way whatsoever. But there's a certain allegory I think would make it click for him, and would also cause him to look at you - look at humans as a whole - a little differently. The comparison can easily be mate between our evolution and that of dogs from wolves. He knows what a dog is and knows what a wolf is, and he is able to somewhat recognise the relation. If you were to explain your claims by likening apes to wolves; strong, capable, to be treated with respect and caution, and humans to dogs; domesticated, needy, generally requiring a more 'capable' companion, he'd definitely be more receptive to the notion. He still won't like it, mind you, it honestly would make a part of him feel sick. But it's still step in the right direction in terms of better understanding.

[seat-safety-switch]

Like it or not, we live in someone else's distant future. When our ancestors were stacking mud on top of mud, shitting in holes, and wondering why the sky was so scary all the time, they didn't expect that one day we'd be complaining about the poor quality of wi-fi reception. Lasers are right out, unless you're that one Aztec dude who got everything eerily correct before mysteriously disappearing.

You might think that this sort of thought is inspirational. We should simply be happy with what we have. I say no: we could have much cooler shit. Centuries from now is hoarding all the rad stuff. Imagine what incredible advance in technology the people of the future will be complaining about! We can't even fathom the kinds of annoying problems they'll have with holo-printers, much less the billions of new sorts of cables they need to purchase $10 adapters for because they brought the wrong kind to Mars and it's kind of a long trip to head back to your apartment to get the one you know you already have.

Someone with some better physics chops would be ginning up a time machine right around now. That way, anguished folks waiting in line at Geek Squad in the 2300s can angrily hurl their broken garbage back to our time. Then we can take it apart! Note that I didn't say "figure out how it works." Between you and me, I don't really care how it works. I just want to see what it looks like inside.

Wait, in the future they'll probably have new kinds of screwdrivers. I don't want any of that nonsense. If you are building a time machine at my say-so, fucking stop it. Unless it only goes in reverse, in which case I've got an old inkjet printer that I'm sure some dude in the 1530s would love to fix instead of me.

[silvrash-797]

Hey Ash! Here’s my little gift fic for you for the baby shower— it isn’t much, but I hope you like it :) congratulations again! <3

-Sky Floor

...

Twilight was not pacing.

His footsteps padded steadily across the grass, yes, and he was walking back and forth, just as he had been for... he wasn’t actually sure how long. But he wasn’t pacing. He wasn’t nervous.

A distant cry caught his ear, and Twilight couldn’t help his flinch, pressing his fingers into the skin of his palms. It was fine. Everything was fine. It had been a while, sure, and the faint noises he could hear from the house had gotten more loud and frequent, but everything was fine. He hadn’t heard anything to dispute the fact, and just because it had been hours with no sign of Time or the doctor who’d shown up, it was—

“Rancher?”

Twilight flinched again, and he turned to see Wild walk up, blond hair looking more silver in the moonlight.

“Champion,” he greeted, and Wild gave him a little smile, though it faded when a faint noise came from the farmhouse again.

“Nobody’s come out?” he asked, and Twilight shook his head, going back to his steady not-pacing.

“Not yet.”

Wild gave his head a little bob, and he leaned against one of the porch supports, watching Twilight walk back and forth. Crickets chirped somewhere nearby, and the low hoot of an owl accompanied them, but Twilight was too distracted to enjoy the night, not caring the least about the bright swirls of stars above his head, with only a faint sliver of moon joining them.

“Twilight,” Wild spoke up after a minute, eyes still following him back and forth. They always seemed a little brighter than other people’s eyes in the dark, the blues shining just a bit. Twilight had wondered once or twice if that was because of the shrine, but he certainly wasn’t going to dwell on it right now. “Maybe you should come in the barn with everyone else.”

“No thanks.”

“The captain started a game of cards,” Wild tried again. “I think Wind’s trying to get him to bet his scarf.”

“No thanks.”

Wild pursed his lips, and Twilight jumped when another faint cry came from inside, speeding his steps. He appreciated Wild trying to distract him, but he wasn’t planning on taking a single step further from the farmhouse than necessary.

A hand settled on his arm, and Twilight paused, looking over at Wild.

“Twilight, all this pacing isn’t doing any good,” he said, voice pleading. “You’re just flattening all of Time and Malon’s grass and wearing yourself out. You sure you don’t want to go play cards? Or at least head inside with everyone else?”

Twilight shook his head. “Wild, I... I can’t. That’s my ancestor being born up there, I can’t just sit around playing cards right now, it’s...”

He bit his lip, crossing his arms over his chest.

“...I don’t know how to explain it,” he said quietly, and it wasn’t a lie. He truly didn’t know how to explain to Wild that he couldn’t just walk away and try to distract himself from what was going on, not with this, not away from his family.

Wild sighed and shook his head, but he gave Twilight’s shoulder a squeeze.

“Okay. But... at least consider getting some sleep at some point?” he asked. Twilight gave him a ghost of a smile.

“At some point. I’d say I wish I knew what time it was, but I really don’t want to know.”

“I’d guess around two,” Wild said with a glance up at the sky, and Twilight sighed.

“You know, I said I didn’t want to know.”

“Well that was just a guess,” Wild shrugged, but there was mischief shining in his eyes. “Maybe it’s more like three anyway.”

Twilight groaned at the thought of it being that late, and Wild chuckled as he gave him a light elbow.

Their ribbing continued for a few minutes, and Twilight started to relax a bit, Wild doing a pretty fine job of distracting him. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if he ducked in the barn for a few minutes. He should probably check on everyone else anyway, he’d barely spoken to the other Links since they’d gotten here...

The door inside suddenly opened, and Twilight looked over with his nerves shooting back to their frayed state. The doctor that had shown up was standing there, face neutral, and he scanned Twilight’s face for a second, gaze catching on his markings.

“You the one they call Twilight?” he asked, and Twilight nodded. “Good. Lons want you upstairs.”

“Really?” Twilight asked hesitantly, and the doctor nodded, stroking his beard.

“Really,” he said, and smiled a bit. “Said you were family. I think they want you to meet their new baby boy.”

Twilight’s eyes went wide, and the doctor chuckled, turninv to Wild.

“Son would you help me find Malon’s father? Need to tell him the news.”

Wild nodded, then gave Twilight’s shoulder a squeeze before leading him off to where Talon had been nervously holed up in the barn with the rest of them.

Twilight swallowed as they walked away, then went inside.

He crept through the silent living room and then upstairs, taking care to be quiet as he walked down the hall and towards Time and Malon’s room. Twilight hesitated before gently knocking, and then pushed open the door when he heard Time’s voice saying he could come in.

It was dim in the room, but plenty bright enough to see. Malon lay propped up with pillows, looking exhausted in bed, and Time sat beside her, looking at least as tired as she did. Seeing her okay made Twilight’s heart calm a bit, but the thing that really drew his focus was the tiny bundle in between them.

Twilight swallowed. It was so small...

“Hey Twilight,” Malon said as he slipped in, giving him a tired smile. Her voice was more worn than he’d ever heard it, but coated in happiness.

“Hi Miss Malon,” Twilight greeted back, his voice soft. He hadn’t actually seen her since they’d arrived at the ranch yesterday. “How are you doing?”

“Exhausted, but I expected that. It’s nice to see you again,” she smiled. “I’m glad you boys came when you did.”

“We certainly timed it well,” Time said with a smile of his own, and Twilight let out a nervous laugh. Time pressed a kiss to Malon’s hair, and she hummed, closing her eyes for a moment.

The look on Time’s face wasn’t one that Twilight saw very often— a more intense version of the loving look he would make when speaking about Malon. At the moment it was even more intense, filled with something soft and protective and fierce and loving.

He felt a brief pang as he thought what would become of that look in the future, but he was interrupted by Malon catching his eye.

“Twilight? You want to meet him?” she asked softly, and Twilight swallowed, then stepped over to the bed. Malon held out the little bundle, and Twilight carefully took it, his hands steady despite their trembling.

He’d held babies before, plenty of times, and knew just how to cradle heads and support their necks, but this... this was different. This was his ancestor.

Family.

Twilight swallowed and looked down at the baby in his arms.

He really was tiny, though maybe it just seemed that way in Twilight’s relatively large arms. Twilight had never seen a truly newborn baby before either, and he was a little surprised at how red and scrunched up he seemed, a tiny dash of reddish hair on his head. He looked almost more like a tomato than a baby.

Twilight ran a gentle thumb along his cheek, and the baby yawned, a tiny hand catching his finger and holding on. Something in Twilight’s chest melted and then turned into mush, and he immediately knew he would do anything for this kid.

“Hey buddy,” Twilight whispered, and the baby made an almost squeaking sound. “I guess you’re my however-greats grandad, huh?”

The baby squeaked again, eyes slitting open just a little, and Twilight caught a glimpse of brilliant blue, a mix between Time and Malon’s, almost as bright as Wild’s. Twilight held him closer, and was glad nobody except Time and Malon saw the tear that snuck past his defenses.

The baby snuggled up to him, and Twilight held him for a few more minutes, admiring every tiny detail, from his fingers to his toes. He began smacking his lips after a bit, squirming and making little noises, and Twilight carefully moved back to Malon’s bedside and handed her the baby.

“I think he wants to eat,” Twilight whispered, his voice thick. “Thank... thanks for letting me hold him.”

“Of course hon,” Malon smiled, and she ran her hand over his cheek before taking back her baby. “You’re family too.”

Twilight nodded, eyes stinging suspiciously, and Time gave his hair a fond ruffle, a warm smile on his face.

Twilight stayed a few minutes longer, talking quietly with Time and Malon a little, but he soon left them be to let them all get some rest. Malon and Time both smiled at him, and Twilight gently closed the door behind him, wiping his eyes.

Wild was waiting for him on the front porch, and he gave him a nervous look as Twilight walked over to him.

“Is Malon okay? How’s the baby?” he asked anxiously, and Twilight smiled at him, and put his arm around Wild.

“They’re all doing fine,” he said, and gave his brother a squeeze as he thought back to the pure happiness on Time and Malon’s faces.

Just fine.

Poor Twi! Labor can be scary when you have personal investment in it. Good for Wild in trying to distract him!

And OOOUGH Twi being the first to see the new baby because he's family 😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️

[lunastrophe]

Hello! I adore your blog and how much work you've put into it. As someone who is new to dnd/bg3, the drow have been my favorite race and culture. I wanted to ask if you had any insights to half-drow and how they fit into drow culture. I know there general stereotype is that they are not treated well, but I wanted to get your take on it :)

Hello! I suppose that the main problem with half-drow is, they are too often being mentioned in context of typical Lolth-sworn drow culture - but not often enough seen through different lenses 🙂

🕷️ Lolth-sworn drow, especially those living in heavily Lolth-oriented communities and cities like Menzoberranzan, tend to see non-drow as inferior - and they do not support interbreeding between drow and humans or surface elves.

Having a half-drow child would be most likely seen as something shameful to a Lolth-sworn drow, especially to a female - or even as something dangerous to the entire family (danger of losing the favour of Lolth).

There is a high chance that a half-drow child in a Lolth-sworn community would be killed or abandoned shortly after being born. Or sold into slavery, ultimately ending up as a slave, a serf, an outcast... or as a sacrifice.

Some more talented and ambitious half-drow could probably build a different life for themselves, though, depending on their skills and inclinations - even in a Lolth-sworn drow city. They could become artisans, mercenaries or merchants, for example, more or less independent. But they would not be allowed to rise to the very top of the society.

Although...

🕷️ In Menzoberranzan, it was rumoured "...that at some point in the distant past, the females of House Ousstyl had interbred with humans." House Ousstyl was a minor noble house - its members denied the rumours, of course.

Still, such stories may suggest that even in a Lolth-sworn drow society, half-drow were not necessarily seen as outcasts - at least in some cases and in the past. Matron Mother of the House Ousstyl "...was tall and, for a dark elf, extraordinarily rawboned. Her jaw was too square, and her ears, insufficiently pointed." So it is quite possible that even if she was not a half-drow, she might have some half-drow ancestors.

There are also drow cultures that do not follow the Way of Lolth, for example:

🕷️ Among drow who worship Vhaeraun, half-drow were typically at least tolerated and not necessarily looked down upon: "Vhaeraun was not averse to a little human blood in his followers." (E. Cunningham, Daughter of the Drow).

In Vhaeraunan communities, half-drow with surface elven blood could also be found: "children of such unions tended to breed toward drow." They seemed to be perceived as more promising than half-drow, half-humans.

🕷️ Among Eilistraean drow, I imagine that a half-drow child would be welcomed and treated as an equal - and after growing up, free to choose any profession.

So, life of a half-drow in a drow community does not need to be stereotypically miserable. Still, I suppose that even among "neutral" or "good" drow, a half-drow might be sometimes looked at with a dose of pity (shorter lifespan, lack of some natural drow abilities).

[phoenixcatch7]

Welcome to the environmental lore photo collection that took me three weeks to do! We shall see if we can fit all the photos in!

Okay! For purposes of this compilation I'll not be talking about either seasonal areas or the war! Because those are whole separate topics, and well...

We know enough. Also, I had to lighten several photos, so they might look slightly off to experienced players. It's so you can see!

So, the very first area -

Forgive the quality, this is their second compression lmao. As you can see, we start off with pretty standard Sky Kingdom architecture - blue stone with pale blue paint, topped with gold almost-spikes. There's a landing area from valley (middle left) but it's almost entirely flooded with cloud so good luck landing on it now lol. An overhead walkway (bottom left) that only appears elsewhere in the valley citadel and skate race. Unsurprising, given the proximity.

The interesting things are the campfire, the lanterns, and the broken bridge (top left, right, and bottom right respectively).

The huge campfire and the rows of lanterns speak of low light levels and temperatures. The nature of the wasteland is pollution and corruption, so it's easy to think the thick, dark cloud layer blocking out the sun is a result of that, and thus came about later in the timeline. But it seems to be early enough that ancestors made their own countermeasures to the darkness.

The broken bridge, of course, led down. It's sizable. I wonder what it looked like, before the hurricane? Perhaps they used shuttle boats like the village of dreams? Unlikely - there's no boat debris anywhere on either side, but it's an interesting thought. Either way, it tells us the hurricane wasn't always there...

^ Enter the wasteland proper, and you're met with this. Everything is half buried in sand, the water is toxic, and there's not a candle to be seen (except of course on cake days, as you will see later XD) - this will remain true for the whole realm. Under the hooked arch in the bottom pic is the sapling (clinging on for dear life, surely) and the dock leading to Enchantment.

What purpose the listing building in the centre pic does, I don't know, but if you squint under the left arch in the bottom picture, you'll see there's another one (with nothing inside). Given its placement, it could be assumed one had to pass through it to reach the main entrance. It's highly unlikely they were homes.

Similarly, all those giant broken arches could have enclosed a vast area the size of a small town (figuratively, if we consider the dream village and the aviary) - they're all pointing at each other (as best they can). Valley has proven the smaller version of these are to be walked on, so perhaps guards or manta riders could patrol on them? You do crashland enter under the only standing arch, after all.

The paths, centre right, also seem to be doing badly. Their solidity and thickness means they're not simple flagstones or paving like other areas in sky - they're heavy duty, lined with I believe to be more of that golden metal that bent instead of crumbled. They were built over unsteady ground. Whether that be the sand and toxic water they sit in now or just normal water remains to be seen.

If you look left, you'll see a distant... Factory of some kind. Middle left picture. Pipes leading in or out of it. Whatever it is, production, water purification, waste disposal, it probably doesn't work anymore. If you've played Journey (sky's predecessor), it's strongly reminiscent of an area where you build a temporary bridge connecting the broken arches so you can cross into the enormous building ahead. It's a fantastic sense of scale, to realise that this ancient civilisation ringed a significant portion of way around the base of this gargantuan mountain.

Half buried statues guard the crumbling entrance - smaller than the gigantic ones in the valley stadium, but pretty much the same otherwise lol. Given the amount of buried rubble around them and the chasm in the stone above, did something burst in... Or out? The mystery isn't solved on the inside, but at least the corridor isn't completely blocked. Sky kid (me!) for scale! It's interesting, how apart from the obviously ceremonial dramatic valley statues, these are the first things we see of anything resembling combat or even weapons. A culture which has a concept of militaristic might. They're guarding something important. (Vault, duh.)

No! Unlike what you'd think, the important thing becomes clear immediately. The collosal, toppled bell (I always wondered if they were hollow), the odd ceremonial structure it landed by (top left), those funny diamond bells (top right, top left if you squint), the studded cylinders (bottom left). The hastily stacked rubble blocking the krill's sight (bottom middle), the ripped open roof (bottom right).

It's identical to the forest elder shrine. This is a temple. Could this have been the original location of the wasteland elder shrine? The only remaining proof of a secret eighth elder, now subsumed?... A cool shaped building the architects took and ran with? We don't know. Whatever it was, it was clearly of great import. Most likely ceremonial, or for worship, or, heck, the equivalent of a podium specifically for big grand speeches. When the roof was there, it was an enormous, grand room, guarded by stern stone giants twice over and blocked by the same great doors that hide the forest glade. The ones that light up and spin and only open after meditating and meeting the elder...

There's no sign of those doors now, which is impressive. Probably where they got the stone for the krill blockade and the hiding places along the little bridge. Good thing they're gone, then, because those magic hinges seem to have run out of juice and gone dark. My theory is they were there to keep people out - a barrier between the last traces of peace and the battle torn graveyard we're about to walk into. (Another potential point in the 'prev wasteland elder location' - an ancestor would have to pass through him to enter, and the enemy on the way out.)

There's pipes now, too - I can only believe they were a later addition, given how haphazardly they coat the walls, and the industrial pollution aesthetic much more suited to the grimy, bleak wastes of today than the gilded ceremonial hall this once was.

Just off the left after the main temple area, there's a large room, ceiling also torn off. I can only describe them as pedestals, but what stood on them I don't know. My first thought when I found this place as a moth was a wardrobe/constellation/friend constellation thing, but it's??? Eh. If it were statues, they're long gone with no sign, and they're not big enough for anything mobile. This room served a function, that much is clear, but if decorative or practical I doubt we'll ever know.

^ The graveyard. This is its actual name, I believe. Fitting. The wasteland title promised us Vault, that's all this place is now good for, so that must be the vault we see looming in the background, tower reaching into the low clouds. (If you've played Journey, you're already familiar with the tower idea, so it's easy to slot the two together.)

Here you'll find, uh, krill. There's four here, the highest concentration of krill in all sky lmao. You'll find giant skeletons. You'll find sand. Toxic water. And that's kind of it.

Interesting things abound, however! There's a fleet of sunken, broken boats (middle left), a campfire now overgrown with dark plants (not shown) and a giant crab roasting campfire with a poor, beloathed by the community, crab loving spirit (middle). We can only assume he's the one who built the campfire! Thanks dude! Please have an easier relived memory! (should we call it a seance??) Now, given the guy is an elderly dude who carries a guitar and spends his time chasing crabs all across the dang map, he's probably not a warrior. Heck, with the amount of crabs, he probably arrived after the pipes. After the war, even? On the middle right pic is the weirdly undecorated entrance to the sunken ship.

Of course I looked at the skeletons and compared them! Each wasteland one had tiny scratches or notches in the spine spikes, and yes they aren't there on the other, but otherwise the size and shapes are identical! These skeletons are whales, as proven by the skeleton in forest haunted by the whale whisperer! The poor forest whale died of head injury colliding with the building, so there's every chance these guys were also used in warfare for similar reasons - maybe even specifically bred to fight the krill - but it could also have been a tragedy of mass extinction during what turned the graveyard into what it is today. :( That you can find a Rythm spirit in a skull tells us the troupe came about a LONG time after the deaths.

^ To the shipwreck! The first pic I caught during the shard event (though they landed all the way in prairie!) lol. It looks so ominous... Outside of the seasonal enchantment beauty, this is the biggest vessel in the game, and much more utilitarian. Unlike SS Enchantment, this thing was a tanker, not a home for those on board.

Featuring - the only decorated pipes in the kingdom (middle left)! Life boat deployment cranes (bottom left)! A beached lifeboat, bottom right :(. A boat still attached (feat me). More of those weird diamond bells for cargo, which proves they were a valued commodity and at least semi mass produced and shipped around the kingdom! More than the craftsman in prairie, or the tree fellers in forest, they prove a thriving, stable kingdom steadily advancing in technology and society! And the boat being pointed to the temple - incoming goods? Potentially, for Vault?

The krill decided it didn't want to be in the top pic, but I swear he's there XD... Most likely what sank the ship, tbh. It's not caught on some rock, or ledge, or ditch. In fact, the bottom is more intact than the top!... I think the krill escaped the warzone and caught the arriving ship, possibly spotting an unlucky crewmate through those big arched windows. The memory of the saluting captain walks the wreckage of his ship, sending away a loyal crew member on the second last life boat, back out to sea. Whether it's the boat dashed on the rocks or if they escaped the krill I don't know, but we know the captain didn't. Crab whisperer passes through later, so we know the light seekers are also post event.

We've reached the entrance to the vault! It's.. Smaller than it looks from a distance. Vault must be a shorter building hidden behind it, or far enough away it vanishes into the smog. Under a shard event sky, the black waters look like blood.

The first thing you see of the battlefield is the large, imposing building, now listing to one side and rimmed with stakes (cheval de freise, if you want to be fancy. Large caltrops... When your mounts and enemies can fly). There's only one spirit here, lookout (middle left). Whether it was supposed to be a temporary building (UNLIKELY) or whether they didn't build it properly and the sandy ground subsided over the aeons that have passed between then and now is up to interpretation, but at least this time the lack of roof seems intentional. I'm more annoyed it doesn't line up with the temple, I had to stand literally on the right wall to get the bottom picture and it's still slightly left!

Lighting the crystal triggers three krill to emerge from the ground and start hunting. (One time I visited some unknowing friends who triggered the gate... A krill emerged less than a metre from me with no warning... Terrifying XD.) Previously they used to spawn basically on top of the players and you had to run for your LIFE, but now they take a leisurely stroll in your direction, so you've got plenty of time to wander your way to safety. Maybe stop and get an ice cream. Boring :/. In terms of lore very fascinating and scary, given the last stand and the aurora concert both seemed focused on defending the crystal. This whole time... It was rigged. By which side, I don't know.

The shrine! ^

From the outside, a large, ominous building covered in pipes and statue towers. On the inside, an octagonal chamber many stories high. Like the rest of wasteland, what little decor there is is chockers with that hollow star shape that symbolises light, the king, all that good stuff. There's six ginormous double doors ringing the chamber, all tightly shut. My first thought was six realms, one war council. Nothing to prove or disprove that lol. It would have been a great place for diplomacy, though, without the shrine statue. Sand everywhere, probably through the gaps in the ceiling lol. Beautiful door.

Wasteland elder himself!!! His weapons are the ones arranged on his shrine - whether that means he can manifest in the world and grab them or if they're stone recreations of the ones he carries at all times, I don't know. He's never been seen in any memory or cutscene of war, so maybe he can't manifest... We know the isle elder can, in the song runaway of aurora. His space is the very same place as the Crystal outside his chamber, facing out, and he points his spear towards where the kings star would be, the crowning jewel of his tower. We can safely assume whatever his role, he was defending Vault and Eden behind it. And he succeeded.

There's so much to talk about with the vault door. Top left, the closed wasteland/vault door. Bottom left and right, the closed forest door. Centre and top right, the open vault door. You'll notice more diamond shapes and boat imagery. But in wasteland, the jewels that presumably power the great door are missing, black. The double switches, inactive. Even when activated, no line traces up and no light appears - only the outlines of the stars and speckled lights hidden on the door itself. If that's not divine intervention from the elder, I don't know what is lol.

Pass through into vault, and see its beauty untouched. But turn around, and see the mounds of golden sand blown in from Wasteland, settling in the still air. Vault acknowledges its protector.

Some final thoughts:

^ For some reason, probably that it's the only place it's not very visible, the shipwreck is the only place where the kings star is absolutely massive and has a ring. Every other place, it's normal! It's probably an old design tgc forgot to update with the rest lmao.

^ An entirely accidental realisation due to my research. Man I love environmental storytelling. Nearly every detail of the mask matches the skull! The IMAGERY.

^ My first attempt to get a good shot of wasteland instead caught a first person witness to an expert krill dodger! I didn't get to talk to them, but know you were caught being very cool in high definition!!

^ I didn't get to talk about this theory before, but every entrance and exit to the graveyard and next door shipwreck EXCEPT their connecting corridor are all huge drops in altitude. Both are the only places you find boats. Both are sodden with black water. The ground is uneven. There's whale skeletons. My theory is that these areas were once entirely submerged! Water areas! Shipping and naval battles and cargo! Abyss proves krill can survive perfectly under water - and all emerging krill do so from water!! It'd explain the sand and the debris and the beached boats and all!

Elder shrines do like their slitted roofs. This is prairie. 'S why I wasn't theorising about the sand in wasteland lol. Gotta get the dramatic shafts of light from somewhere!

The open door and two beautifully poised strangers - well done on completing wasteland! I hope you enjoy vault!!

Pipe theory: these things pop up at the entrance to wasteland and follow you all the way through to the shrine, disappear in vault, and then reappear. They go all the way to the point of no return in eden!!! They're either taking something up, or, considering the amount of pipes that open into black water areas, the general gravity situation of vertical pipes... It's likely they were siphoning something away. Sewer pipes, but evil. Maybe trying to wash away whatever corruption happened to the Eye? It didn't work... Poisoned the waters instead. Maybe they carried water up to the Eye like a kingdom sized cooling system and that drained the waters??

And the photo that started this whole thing, the day I climbed the wasteland temple...

that's not smog. That is a wall. That is the biggest wall I have EVER seen.

Do you see the line under the clouds? The sky box? The 'horizon'?

YOU'RE ALREADY LOOKING AT VAULT.

TGC YOU MOTHERS OF DUCKS.

[axl-ion]

Since I can't fall asleep here are couple of proposals why Ingo ended up in Hisui, although I will start with my personal preference, which is just... Leaving a lot of the details vague.

My idea is that Ingo never learns why or how he ended up in Hisui, even if/when he regains/unlocks his memory, because the fall itself was so sudden and traumatic for his brain it just shut down. He'll never remember how he fell, because he actually does not possess the memory as the brain didn't create one OR it permanently locked the memory in the subconscious so it can never be unavailed and Ingo can't get retraumatised by it.

A theory I also pair up with this one is that Ingo wasn't even meant to travel to Hisui in the 1st place, but ended up there thanks to Earth's rotation. Because he didn't necessarily have to travel to the same exact o'clock in the past and the difference could have been significant enough for the Earth to be in a different phase of its rotation than when the time jump happened.

Other proposal is what's already in the cannon, that Volo's usage of Giratina just managed to open a rift that suck Ingo in. Although keep in mind that Ingo would probably have to have been in Sinnoh for this to happen since well... You can't get Unovan Pokémon from the rifts and I KNOW I KNOW, several Unovan Pokémon received Hisuian forms, but I'm taking it more as they originated from there (except for Samurott, any wild member of its line is probably an invasive species) or share an ancestor that's recent enough for them to look so similar (also how cool would be an ancestral Zoroark that's just Normal type that evolved into Hisuian Zoroark because... We know why... And into Unovan Zoroark because it just kept thieving, stealing, taking what's not yours, thieving stealing taking what's not yours 🎶). Them not being the exact same species is somewhat possible, because usually if nature figures out that something works it just keeps replicating that.

3rd proposal is that he ended up there, because he already has ancestors there, which is my freshest idea and honestly Idk how that would work, but at the same time, I think it would be very VERY FUNNY if Cogita turned out to be his great-great-great-great...-aunt/grandmother which I only did because they both don't look that old (Ingo in his BW/B2W2 appearances) and already have gray/white hair which imo has to be genetic and Ingo (+ like... Most Unovan characters) just is very racially/culturally ambiguous and American which basically means - you can give him any ethnicity and it would be believable without changing anything about their design (not like you can't edit their designs to make him be from your culture, I will eat up any Ingo content as long as it isn't proship material, I've seen and liked Latino Submas, I think I also have seen Korean Submas somewhere, but I have a memory of a goldfish, but yeah, I would even eat up Black Submas, if you got some send them to me or just any Submas x insert culture I appreciate being sent posts). But the funny part would be Ingo being distantly related to Volo. Like bro wanted to rewrite the universe only for God to throw his distant relative with whom he only shares 1 blood relative to tell him "This guy has intrigued me more than you and your Giratina stunt does so you're stuck with him now! And you're distantly related!"

[occasionally-victor]

some mer au sketches, this time figuring out some designs for brazilians (does. does Brazil even exist in this au-) (also kinda tweeked Richas' design to look a bit more. for water yknow) ("mer au" doesn't draw any mer)

talking about them under the cut:

!pac is aquafolk (i genuinely don't know how to call just partially fish people), he's, well, partially fish (blue fin tuna as an inspiration). He can transform from "looks human of you dont look too close" (still needs to cover fins and gills) to "40% of body is scales" (can really only happen in water). On a pic is a middle form, for when he's only with family and friends.

!mike is dryad, the three parts (just like that ribcage also has a tree spine basically) are flexible. The green stuff all over the body are not because of him being dryad, it's actually moss. That is a result of "moss disease", when basically moss starts growing on body. Unless you have been born with it or it was completely removed, it can be deadly (because the moss uhh incompatible with the host basically. however, if a person was born with it, that person will be fine, because the body was born already compatible with moss). !Mike was born with it, so it's fine, however he can't really wear clothes on top of it (it's not a requirement, it's more for a comfort of moss). Oh, and also he has a goddess wife, yeah.

!felps is a human sorcerer (or maybe enchanter idk, and he is pretty powerful). His main thing is doing potions (that's like. basically the only thing that he is actually interested in practicing). And he's like, stupidly good at it, both normal use ones and completely ridiculous ones. He carries a lot of ingredients in his ig it can be called a skirt? a 3/4 skirt's pockets. That also makes him pretty good at doing homebrew medicine, so that's neat.

both twins are human (tho for shits and giggles their very distant ancestors are catpeople, but at this point the only things left are just sharp senses) and good news they actually got to reunite again when they were just 19! slightly less trauma for them! what happened in a first place? someone just happened to accidentally dimension hop to a basically hell dimension (im actually thinking about calling it Nether fr, i think it's just a nice name tbh) when he was like 10, right on the eyes of his sister. That also led to both if them acquiring pretty powerful demons (that what basically everyone who lives in Nether called, in the same way that everyone who lives in this dimension are people) as companions.

!bagi at first thought that Jorge is her imaginary friend that appeared to help her feel less lonely after her brother was gone. She didn't question the fact that they were a bit too real sometimes (she was just 10, it didn't exactly matter to her at that point). Jorge, who is fresh out of Nether and doesn't really know how to get back anyway (the passage was closed immediately after some boy ran through it) doesn't really want to break it to a kid, so they just. Stick around and eventually become an actual friend. (a bit background for them: Jorge was a spirit, who on a way to a Rest Place (basically dimension for dead) accidentally gets stuck in Nether (it's basically normal occurrence to be stuck in some dimension on a way). Jorge basically uhhh starts consuming other spirits that were not yet found by grim reapers and by that amasses enough power to basically become a demon themselves. They do not remember any of that tho, however Jorge on themselves at this point is rather a conglomerate of spirits with og one in charge basically). When !Bagi started working as investigator (when she was 16 - she was really persistent), Jorge was actually really useful because, well, they are still a spirit, they can go through walls and all that. ig that also makes them working partners.

not going to get into how exactly the 9 years of being basically in hell went for !cellbit, but making a pact with a demon was probably the thing that saved his life the most. Rapaziada (or Chat - affectionate nickname) is a hivemind creature that manifests itself as voices in a head of host or dark evergy. At the cost of 80% of !cells memories, it's main task became to protect the host in any way possible (physical and mental). Unfortunately, surviving in Nether outside of big cities, especially for someone who is not from this dimension, requires kill or be killed mindset so. Let's just say, Chat was really good at it's job, to the point when by the time the host turned 15 the demons help wasn't really required outside of physical protection (the dark energy is pretty flexible in what is could become). When eventually !Cellbit returned to his home dimension and dare i say even got better, Chat kinda became more of a slightly annoying, but usually ignorable roommate (roommates? it is a hivemind). Also it just being there gave !cell ability to see all what considered supernatural in world (like spirits who stuck and can't move on, or demons who for one reason or another is not in Nether and all that basically), so he became a paranormal investigator? (i dont think yall know what im talking about, but he basically becomes Yashiki from Death Mark, just with a bigger field of work). He basically helps spirits move on (or destroys them if needed), help lost demons to get back to Nether (surprisingly easier than to work with spirits!) or repairs the "holes" through which others can accidentally get to another dimension.

(I'm not going to get into details now, just to set a scene: !pac, !mike and !cell first meeting was in Nether and it went as well as you would think it is (a disaster), !cell and !felps became friends a bit after !cell returned from hell and are roommates atm.) So, those 4 happened to be in the same place - a cave, that is basically right by a abandoned house on a small hill (!Tazercraft are there because they were searching for some minerals (they didn't find any). !Cell is there because he had a request from someone living in that area to check the cave because "there were some weird sounds" - the standard stuff. !Felps is there because back then he sometimes joined !cell in investigations, so that what he did that day). However, right before the reunion might have turned violent, all 4 happened to catch some barely noticeable sounds - it was however, undeniably sounds of crying. A child's crying, which kinda made them to "deal with eachother later" and go check on whoever was making the sound. What they found was a small dragon child with left leg being just. gone (now that they think about it, there was some blood on caves floor). That basically how they found Richas (and that how they went from "barely know each other with most of them wanting having nothing to do with eachother" to family)

Richas basically now has three places to live: !Tazercraft's absolutely legal laboratory they pay all taxes for, !Felps' apartment in a city nearby, !Cellbit's house right by that cave (because that cave happened to be just perfect to be somewhat of a personal office for work;) (for reference, they live pretty close to eachother, the longest distance is no more than 2 hrs by motorbike).

!Bagi, well, doesn't live over there - she lives in another city, like 8 hrs on motorbike far away. She rents an apartment with !Tina and as of recent !Mouse.

[gabessquishytum]

Hello ! I think tumblr ate my ask so here I go again (If it didn't, and you just not had time to answer it, ignore this one) :

Before dying, Robin fell in love with a girl and got her pregnant on accident. He died before she could tell him, and therefore nobody knew except for the girl. The only thing she had from him was a portrait of Robin and Hob made for Robin's 20th birthday, that he gave to her.

The portrait become an heirloom and despite rough bump, it stayed into the family for centuries.

Cue to 2022 where Eleanor (7th of the name and absolute likness of the first one) find that here history teacher has a striking resemblance to her ancestor's father. She learns that he's working in a pub on the Friday's nights and decide to go see him. Maybe he's part of extended family!

Hob's nearly have a heart attack when he sees his dead wife stroll into the New In one Friday night, clutching against her a portrait of his dead son.

___

🦩

Ooo yes I think your other ask did disappear into the ether! Thanks for resending it!

I do occasionally think about Hob’s genetics (as you do). Because lets just say that he did reproduce at some point (discounting Robyn for a second). Due to the way time, genetics and reproduction works, everyone with British ancestory is said to be "descended between 21 to 24 generations from Edward III". Now, Edward III is Hob’s direct contemporary more or less. He had 13 legitimate children AND a few on the side, so it's not hard to see how his genes got about a bit. But lets face it, Hob has had A LOT more time to spread his wild oats than Edward did. I don't know what my point is here BUT. I think that Hob’s genes are definitely probably spread far and wide and I think it's quite funny.

All that being said, how absolutely terrifying would it be for Hob to see an absolutely likeness of Eleanor in the modern age! He doesn't believe in ghosts but there she is, and she's looking right at him like she's trying to pierce his soul. He has a minor coronary incident right there behind the bar and is once again so glad he can't die, because he needs to figure this out.

He's honestly devastated to find out that Robyn had a child! Because he would have loved that baby so much. Maybe he wouldn't have gone quite so far off the rails. But what's done is done. He tells modern Eleanor that they must be distant cousins! And he spends an age staring at the picture of Robyn, his boy, trying hard not to sob in front of everyone.

Dream takes him home and puts him to bed that night, and gives him fuzzy, distant, comforting dreams about home and family. Robyn and his baby, Hob and Dream together, and Eleanor of course. Hob wakes up with damp eyes, but he's so glad to be alive. Always, always glad.

[artificial-transmutations]

Two sides of the same coin - Ancestral Roots

The idea had been unusual enough to get Dylan to agree, but his first intuition had proven to be right. Visiting a museum, let alone a museum of anthropology really *was* a horrible idea for a first date.

His date, Henry, on the other hand seemed to be enjoying the place immensely. Looking at Henry, Dylan wouldn't have guessed that the other man was a history nerd, but apparently, not all nerds wore thick glasses and oversized hoodies. In fact, Henry was pretty good looking: tall and slim, with brown hair and blue eyes.

They were both standing in front of a large display case which displayed various tools from prehistoric times, mostly made of stone or bone.

"Don't you find that fascinating? How people used to live back then, what tools they used, what they wore?"

Henry had a shine in his eyes, while he looked at every single exhibit with enthusiasm.

Dylan on the other hand found the whole thing a bit boring, if he was being honest. Going through the exhibition for half an hour could have been kind of interesting, but they were here for at least two hours now, and only halfway through.

When they moved to the next room, that was African themed, Henry asked: "What do you think, who were your distant ancestors? What did they do every day?"

Dylan was only half listening because he had found something on the floor that caught his interest. He picked up a curious coin and pocketed it. He would need to show it to the curator later, perhaps it was a piece from the exhibition that fell to the ground.

"Sorry what? Oh, what my ancestors were doing. Well..."

He looked around in the room and answered: "Human beings came from Africa at some point, right? So, I guess one of my ancestors was a tribesman."

Henry nodded, excitedly. "That is very possible, yes! What do you think that man did for a living?"

Even though it was just completely fabricated, Dylan liked the question so much that he thought about it for a moment. He imagined himself as a Black skinned primitive man before deciding: "He was probably a tribal warrior. There were many things to fight back then, so it makes sense."

Henry looked at him with wide eyes and a big smile. He said, in a lower voice so only Dylan could hear it. "That sounds pretty hot to me, don't you think?"

Well, this was a kink Dylan hadn't yet heard about, but he had to admit, it was a nice fantasy.

"Yes, just imagine,", he answered in the same low voice, "the big muscles under the black skin, and the paintings on his body..."

Dylan grinned as he could clearly see the other man's groin twitch. He was getting into it a lot as well and needed to readjust himself in order to make his boner less noticeable.

"And how did he look like?" Henry continued to whisper.

"He had short black hair and dark brown eyes. He must have been strong, and he wears animal skins and carries a spear."

Henry gave an involuntary low moan, and Dylan also felt surprisingly aroused by the very short exchange.

"I... need to visit the bathroom" said Henry in a husky voice and hurried towards the next men's room sign. Before he entered the door, however, he turned around again to Dylan, who understood the move just then.

It was clear to him now, what Henry was going at, and Dylan was torn. On one hand, he never had much of a thing for sex in public places, let alone a museum bathroom, but on the other hand, he could very well relate to Henry. His cock was throbbing in the confines of his underwear, and he would go crazy if he didn't get release soon.

So, after a short consideration, he followed the tall man to the bathroom, soon enough to see Henry go into one of the stalls. At least, the bathroom was empty except for them right now.

He followed Henry into the stall and locked the door behind them. Immediately, he found himself thrown against the thin separator walls by Henry, who started to make out passionately. Dylan, too, was horny beyond measure. They kissed deeply, hungrily, and their hands roamed each other’s bodies. Dylan couldn't help himself when he reached down and felt the hard bulge in Henry's pants. He stroked it slowly through the fabric until he could feel it more clearly.

"You're so fucking hot", he whispered in Henry's ear while undoing his belt and opening his fly.

Henry was busy getting rid of his own shirt and pants, which wasn't easy, since he was lip-locked with Dylan most of the time. In-between, he moaned: "Just... imagine. How hot you would be."

Kinky! Henry wanted to role-play this. Dylan was immediately on board. "*I am* hot. I'm the hottest guy from my tribe! And I'm proud of it!"

Instinctively, Dylan widened his stance and shifted the dynamics of their interaction slightly. He was no longer the one pressed against the stall wall, but he was standing upright and tall, while Henry was the one who had to move around him.

Henry was completely naked by now, his clothes scattered on the ground, easy to see for anyone who entered the bathroom. He didn't care, though. All he cared about was the horny high he was on right now.

"Oh God, you're so strong. Tell me how strong you are!", Henry moaned while he removed Dylan's shirt and jacket.

"I am the strongest warrior of my tribe. No one can defeat me in battle."

Dylan flexed his arms as if to show off his strength.

Surprisingly enough, as he flexed his now naked arms, muscles bulged under his skin, popping into existence where there were only thin arms before. It felt so... Right!

"I can run for miles without tiring and I can swim in the strongest current!"

Dylan puffed out his chest proudly, a chest that quickly packed on definition. His stomach was adorned by cobblestone abs that paved the way from his impressive pecs into his pants.

On those same pants, Henry was unbuttoning them with his left hand. The right hand was busy pumping his own member, he just couldn't stop himself.

In-between, he encouraged Dylan to go on: "And you're not any man, but you're a Black man from Africa?"

"You haven't seen a blacker man than me!" Dylan said proudly, as his skin was darkening rapidly. Dylan, too, was now completely naked in the stall, and his loud and proud voice didn't care if anyone was listening. His ginger hair darkened and became black, while his facial structure rearranged to show his African roots more clearly.

"And you know what they say about Black men. It's all true, we really are so big down there. And I have the biggest cock of them all."

Although it stayed unclear if it really was the biggest cock of them all, his hard and throbbing member grew significantly, almost poking one of Henry's eyes out in the progress.

Henry couldn't constrain himself any longer. He needed to have that cock in his mouth now and never let go. As he closed his lips around the shaft, he didn't notice his own body changing, simplifying and focusing on his arms around Dylan's waist and his face that was buried in Dylan's groin.

Breathlessly, he asked: "And you are one of the early humans?" before getting back to pleasuring the superior man.

"You bet!" answered Dylan. "To be honest, I am, as my whole tribe is, pretty primitive. I am not really smart, and, uh, my equi... my stuff is very basic."

Dylan closed his eyes for a moment, and when Dyalo opened his brown eyes again, all the modern knowledge was gone, replaced by survival skills and instincts long forgotten. He grabbed Henry's head with his strong hand and pressed it to his groin, flattening him in the process until Hen... he... *it* was nothing more than his leather loincloth. With a few quick strokes, he finished and came in a wide arc with a grunt into the vegetation that had replaced the stall walls.

Dyalo grabbed his spear and turned around. It was time to return to his tribe, to his roots.

If you liked this story and want to read new stories as soon as I've written them, consider joining my riot page!

Also, if objectified guys are the best guys, be sure to read my other two sides of the same coin stories!

[occasionallyprosie]

A Thousand Ways

Chapter 8: "An Ancient Ancestor"

Legend, once again, against all odds… actually wakes up. This is really becoming a pattern, but like he told Four's dad, he's certain the goddesses aren't done with him and he's not dying until they are. The little cabin is new though.

First | <<Previous | Next>>

Febuwhump 2024 | Prompt 15: "Who did this to you?"

Read On AO3 Warnings: Cursing

This one is rather long, and equal fluff and whump so...

Practically the last thing Legend expected was to wake up. Even more of the last thing he expected was to wake up warm.

Not burning, warm. The soft weight of woolen blankets, the distant crackling of a fire, real warmth; not the burning of a fever.

He was distantly aware of moments of being not quite lucid, but anything that happened other than being awake was not in his memory.

He blinked, face scrunching up as he tried to figure out his surroundings. A wooden house, plaster on the walls to keep heat or cold out as the seasons changed, a brick hearth in the center of the room with a vent above it to release the smoke up and out. His blurred but clearing vision let him see someone moving around nearby, but no more than that.

He didn't recognize the house, though he didn't really expect to. He wanted to fall back asleep, but the realization and understanding that no, he wasn't safe, he was in an unknown, didn't let him relax.

Instead, despite the continued exhaustion his body was in, he forced himself up. Clumsily, not quick enough to catch it, the blanket slipped from the futon he'd been on and hit the ground. It wasn't loud, in fact, he didn't even hear it. But somehow the shape across the room did notice and turned from the table.

"You’re up!" A feminine voice. They approached and he made out chestnut brown hair and a working-class dress. He didn't have a weapon nor the magic to defend himself, but as she knelt beside him and placed her hand over his head before he could react, he didn't feel threatened. She smiled at him, a soft and sad thing, "You certainly feel and look much better. Here, I made some soup."

She darted away and came back far too quickly for his addled mind to keep up with.

After drinking the soup--probably bone broth, he noted--he had enough awareness and general strength to notice more things.

"Thanks," he muttered. "Where..."

She smiled. "He did say it had been a few years since he last saw you, I'm not surprised you don’t know the place. You’re in Hyrule, first of all, in a temporary farmhouse not far from Kakariko Village and Castle Town."

He nodded. So probably just about the same area as his grandparents' farm in his era.

"I'm Marley. I'll be right back, I'm just going to go get my husband and let him handle this. He knows about this better than I do after all."

Legend nodded slightly as she got up and exited the front door, a bit of cold air rushed through the room the brief time the door was open and he shivered, tugging the blanket tighter.

He sighed softly, closing his eyes and assessing himself. His magic was fine, for the most part, low but with actual food and rest for maybe a day or two, it would be back in full. He didn't drain himself. His body however was pretty exhausted, he had a feeling he was far smaller than before and he had no point of reference due to him definitely not being in his clothes again. A large full green shirt that probably would've fit Time or Warriors, somewhere between their sizes, was hanging off his frame overtop his white dress that Dusk had made for and given to him.

His ear flicked as he heard voices approach and footsteps pad against soft ground. Unpaved then. The door swung open with a creak and Legend felt the air get stolen from his lungs when he saw who it was.

"Link, I'm glad you're--"

"Raven!"

His ancestor smiled, and just as he remembered, it was a warm and bright thing, filled with fondness.

"Glad to see you remember me," he laughed. He left his overcoat on the hook by the door and his boots by the bench, then he walked over to Legend.

"Remember--Of course I remember you, you idiot!" Legend smacked his arm. He was a bit speechless. He hadn't expected to ever see the man in front of him again.

Raven chuckled softly. "I wasn't sure, kids tend to forget things as they get older." He ruffled Legend's already messy hair and Legend squawked, smacking his attack away.

"I wasn't that young and I'm not that old either. You’re the old man at this point. Is that gray hairs I see?"

"I had those the last time you saw me, you gave them to me." Raven poked his side.

Legend flinched away from the poke and glared. "I did not."

Raven didn't push further, just laughed softly. "How old are you now then?"

Legend huffed. "It's been five years, I'm seventeen."

"Seventeen?" Raven looked a bit ill. "Link, you look fourteen."

"I was twelve when I left," he said pointedly.

"And you looked ten then," his ancestor countered. His eyes trailed along his skin and frame, it took Legend a moment to realize he had been looking at the numerous scars he had on display. "Kid, you look as worn as a year old training dummy. Oh golden three, Link... What happened to you? Who did this to you?"

You know, Legend wasn't sure what he expected, but he wasn't surprised by this. Raven had been very protective, had he any control of the circumstances of this reunion, he wouldn't have shown Raven a single one or his new scars if he could.

"Three more adventures," Legend told him, tugging the blanket to try and hide what he could. "I killed Ganon again, got struck by lightning," drowned, "and kept fighting."

"Why couldn't you just stop?"

His whole life, Sir Raven had been a hero, his hero. Legend realized at this moment that no matter how heroic his ancestor was, no matter what he had done, no matter how much of a hero Raven was, he wasn't a hero...

"I'm a hero," Legend said. He gave up on hiding his scars and even pushed his bangs back a bit with his left hand, flashing his Triforce and the feathers of his lightning burns that were hidden beneath his right bangs. "There is no stopping, not for me. It's my goddess-given duty to protect their lands, be it Hyrule or Labrynna or Holodrum."

Raven looked rather stricken. He looked a bit like Time, actually... a lot like Time. If Time had a son, Legend imagined Raven would be what that son would grow up to look like.

"Alright," he whispered. "I understand... How has Puini been?"

Legend let the heaviness of the previous topic slide away and he smiled. "She's had a foal. Epona is the fastest, strongest mare in Hyrule. So Puini's been enjoying her retirement."

Last he heard, at least. Puini was old, she hadn't been young when Raven gave her to him. Last Legend had been at the farm, he knew that unless he returned within a year, which he hadn't, Puini wouldn't still be there. He didn't say as much.

"Glad to hear she settled down too," Raven chuckled. "And that boy--Ralph?"

"Haven't really seen him since I last saw you," Legend admitted. "But we've exchanged letters every year or so, so he's doing well."

"I see... How are you feeling right now? Up for a tour of the farm? Marley and I managed to buy back our family's old farm, but it needs a lot of fixing."

"Your wife?" Legend grinned.

"She is. I love her so much." Raven had a lovesick smile and Legend felt a little sick when he realized it looked exactly like Time's smile when he talked about Malon.

Legend squeezed his arm, Raven came back to the current.

"I'm happy for you," he said softly.

"Thank you, I hope you like her too."

"If she's so wonderful that you fell in love with her, then I think I will." He grinned a bit. "I can also draw you a blueprint for the farm if you like, and the location of nearby natural wells."

Raven barked out a laugh. "Ah, the benefits of having your descendant around. Come on, kid."

Legend yelped as he was scooped off of the bed. "Hey! I can walk--"

"Marls would kill me if I made you walk with how bad condition you were in, I'd kill myself honestly. So hold on."

He huffed and managed to get Raven to let him onto his back instead of being carried in his arms.

As it turned out, not even walking, just staying mentally, emotionally, and socially present was exhausting. Raven showed him the makeshift pen for his new horse, then the area Raven remembered from his childhood was the cow field, Legend confirmed that in his time that was the field they kept their cows in, then the area he wanted to build the farmhouse.

Legend frowned, starting to feel a bit tired, but a mental map was drawn up and he shook his head.

"That's where the well is. Gramma says we built on some rock deposit 'cause the foundation is as strong as our hearts or sum'thin'."

Raven looked over his shoulder at him, smiling softly. "Where's the house then?"

Legend hummed, thinking carefully. "About forty...? Yeah, 'bout forty or so feet back behind the well. S'makes it easy t' fetch water n'matter the weather or where we're takin' it... an' it's kinda the middle a' the farm."

"That makes sense, and we wouldn't need to worry about foundation issues. I'll look for a rock deposit out back there, then we'll build or expand on it."

Legend hummed agreeably. He dropped his head against Raven's shoulder.

"I think I might be tired," he admitted, using Raven's shoulder to block the light from his eyes.

Raven laughed, the rumble vibrating Legend to some degree. "I was thinking the same thing. Let's get some food in you before you fall asleep."

"Ugh, I hate it when I can't find a town, or find any rupees, and when the knights are actually competent. Elsewise food is hard to find."

Screw arrows, he could find arrows in dungeons or steal them from monsters, healing supplies too, food however? Nope. Only in towns, especially in his Hyrule. Wild's and Twilight's and all of theirs? They might have food in the wilderness but in Legend's era? Nope. The best he could do was his apple orchard.

So if he couldn't find a town, he was screwed. If he could find a town, he needed rupees but currently, he was broke and monsters weren't dropping rupees after they died these days.

Raven was silent for a long moment. "I'm sorry you've been going through this. Is there no one in your time who could help you? What about that girl you mentioned?"

"Cadence's in a whole n'other dimension, an' Zel's busy leading the country..." Legend blinked slowly, registering the warmth of indoors hitting him. "An' I do have people who are helping me this adventure, but we got separated... I'll catch up with them 'ventually... when I'm not too weak to walk."

Raven sighed. "I see. Tell me about these people?"

He huffed, then he clambered off Raven's back a bit stubbornly. Raven rolled his eyes but gestured him to the kitchen area where Ms. Marley was cooking.

"Well, they're all heroes, people the goddesses chose to protect and save their world. One of them's my ancestor, other side, and he's pretty nice; great sword fighter, but gets lost in his head all the time. Then there's the Heroes of the Four Swords, have you heard of them?"

"Yes, I heard that story when I was out traveling."

"Yeah, as a whole, they're very grounded, down-to-earth, I mean. They're intelligent in every way possible and really fast. They're also a blacksmith." His hands moved vaguely as he spoke, a habit he had tried to break but this was Raven, he didn't mind being a bit more expressive with the man.

Raven watched him as he spoke, paying him his full attention.

"There's also my successor! He's a bit older than me, and he's taller by an inch or two. He's insanely good with magic, really scrappy in a fight, 'cause he never learned from any official place. He's still a really good fighter... stabby though. He's sharp too, notices everything, but he's a bit socially oblivious. He's also sassy, he's so much fun to banter with.

"Speaking of--There's also the Captain! You'd like him, him and probably the Rancher. The Captain's the captain of the queen's personal guard and he led an army to war that was so huge it merged two--three timelines. He's a good knight, and so is the first guy I mentioned as well as the Heroes of the Four Sword! Good knights, better men.

"The Rancher is a goat herd from some farming town just outside of Hyrule, but he's an insanely strong sword fighter and wrestler. He's really good with domestic animals, wild ones not so much. He's so honest but still nice unless you push him, he's a real country bumpkin.

"Of course, he is good with one wild animal and that would be the Champion. He's the Rancher's protege and sometimes he is completely feral. He's chaotic, kinda like how I was when we first met, he knows what to do but usually takes his own, faster, more dangerous path and generally comes out mostly unscathed."

Raven smiled softly as he listened to the teenager in front of him ramble on and on about his current companions. From the sounds of it, it was another time travel "quest" as Link liked to call them, which made the worry and concern in his stomach so much worse. Link loved and cared so wholly and clearly, these people he was talking about were his friends, maybe even close to brothers. But the boy was also hurt, the new scars and the way he gave Marley such a guarded and wary look... Link had grown up, and life had not been kind to him. Yet he was still so bright, it was sad.

Raven hoped Link would be lucky enough to keep in contact with these new brothers of his in a way they had and likely will never be able to.

Legend insisted on helping Marley out the next day. Though their crops were small and young, and their horse had been taken by Raven to Castle Town that day, there was still plenty to do. 

Marley also apparently wasn't a farm woman by birth, because she didn't have that stubbornness that Legend couldn't talk around. He helped put up the beginnings of a proper paddock for Raven's horse, Pallid--which Legend was judging him for naming his pale beige horse Pallid, but Puini was "pony" in Labyrnnese and Epona was a play on "pony" as well, so he couldn't say either of them were great at naming horses.

However, he hadn't been able to eat a whole meal yet, which was nothing he wasn't accustomed to. Re-adjusting to full meals was commonplace after most of his adventures. He did feel much better and had stayed on his feet and active the whole day without a problem though.

"Can I tag along?" He asked Raven the following day, perched on the newly built fence as the knight captain strapped on Pallid's saddle.

Raven paused his movements and looked at Legend with a slight frown. "Are you well enough to?"

Objectively no, but he was also himself, so yes.

"I feel well enough. I'd prefer to adjust back to eating more but that's unlikely with my current schedule, and I really need to get supplies."

He didn't mention he didn't have any money and fully intended to steal.

Raven sighed. "If you'd like, I wouldn't mind you accompanying me. I would actually appreciate that, and I'm sure you could teach some of them at the station a thing or two, recovering or not."

Legend rolled his eyes as his lips spread into a smirk. "Please, knowing the standard of knights, a keese could teach them a thing or two."

Raven laughed. "Your knights must be extremely disappointing if that's true. No, my men are better than that, but even when we last fought together you would have severely outclassed them."

"Alright, if I'm up for it at the moment I wouldn't mind a spar or two. Just... Just don’t let me near the cell block."

His ancestor paused for a brief moment before he nodded. "Alright. Go let Marley know you're coming with me."

"Okay," he chirped and hopped off the paddock fence. 

He wandered inside, leaning around corners to find Marley working on her yeast starter.

"Miss Marley?"

"Oh! Link! Can I help you?"

"Raven says to tell you that he's letting me come with him to Castle Town. I also promise that I'll be careful not to push myself if I have the option and I'll keep an eye on him."

Marley smiled warmly at him. "Alright, thanks for letting me know. You two be careful out there, and come home safe."

"We will, thanks, Miss Marley."

Legend hummed to himself as he found a perch with two crates, watching the training field and Raven put dozens of soldiers through drills.

"Now I want fifty laps around the whole guard station, go!"

Most ran off without another moment, one groaned and Legend heard him mutter a curse.

"Fucking bastard--telling us what to do as if he and his family ain't the reason our country's in ruin."

He froze, but Raven clearly heard it too and glared daggers at the soldier who was reluctantly going to follow.

"Hey, Smithson! I have a different thing for you." Raven grabbed a decent sword from a nearby rack and walked toward the open area near Legend's perch. The soldier grumbled and walked over.

Raven looked at Legend and held out the sword.

"I want you fighting Link until he decides you’re both done or you win."

Legend grinned, and he dropped from the barrels.

"You want me fighting a squire?"

Raven gave him a sharp look. "I want you to learn some things and I think defeat will be a good teacher. You should note as well that Link is mine."

"So you insult his family you insult mine," Legend spoke up as he tested the sword. "And I want you to learn some respect about the people who have given their lives and limb for this country."

"You’re a child."

"I've seen more death and violence in my years of living yet than you will in your lifetime," Legend said casually, he kept the annoyance from his voice and just kept it blunt and factual, which definitely infuriated the man.

Good.

His heart picked up speed but he tried to push it back. Raven was nearby and watching, he wouldn't end up in a cell. He would be fine, he just had to teach this soldier some respect for their family... he would have to ask Raven what he meant by that though, because he never heard anything negative about their family like that before.

"I'll show you respect," the soldier snarled, drawing his sword and lunging.

It took more effort to keep his breathing steady and his face impassive. He danced out of the way of the blade, kicked out the soldier's leg, and hit the pommel of his sword between his shoulder blades.

"First of all, a knight does all things with honor. In any mock fight, he does not attack before they both confirm preparedness."

The soldier glared daggers at him. "Shut up!" He lunged again.

Legend held back a grin. He turned his body horizontal at the waist, leaning low to his right and as the blade swung overhead, he kicked into the soldier's side. He had been wearing chainmail, so that did little harm, but he managed to kick hard enough for him to stagger. A one handed cartwheel also had him kicking his head with his other leg.

He landed neatly, popping back up to his feet quickly as the soldier scrambled.

"Secondly, you cannot stay down for longer than a moment." He stopped the soldier's movements with his sword at his throat. "You fall, you roll with it, and you recover to continue fighting. You fall and rush to stand up? You're killed."

"What would you know!" The soldier wrapped his hand around his blade and once again slashed blindly.

Legend easily danced out of its reach. He let the soldier stand and he took an actual stance.

"Would you like to actually spar or shall I continue with the verbal lessons before we step into the physical?"

The soldier clearly hated him, not a new feeling for Legend, and he lunged again.

Legend stayed still and this time he blocked. It was harder, he was considerably shorter and weaker than this soldier, but he wasn't inept.

He slid beside the soldier, letting his anger-filled attack drag him ahead and he smacked the flat side of his sword against the back of his unprotected head.

"Knights don’t let their emotions control them in battle, most assume that means fear, but that also applies to anger, love, grief, lust, and pride." Legend danced under the swinging blade and ignored the curses and slurs thrown his way. "They keep a level head in battle and act with honor. They use their minds just as much as their hearts, and in every stand they take, they are prepared to give their lives."

He recited a whole one of his grandfather's lectures, though paraphrased, on the duty and actions of a true knight. Each time, it just pissed the soldier off even more.

He would knock him down, dodge his reckless swings, critique, and forcibly fix his stances, they were still going when the rest of the training squadron returned from their laps less exhausted than the man actively trying to hurt Legend.

He heard some of the men question Raven.

"Captain, what's with the kid... and why is he kicking Smithson's ass?"

"He's mine, and because Smithson decided to speak ill of men who gave their lives for the safety of Hyrule," Raven responded.

"But that's a kid."

"And he would win a fight against any one of you easily, and were he in peak condition and not recovering from a lethal cold, I would have had him fighting groups of you at once."

"Groups--would he win?"

"Yes," Legend called over his shoulder, dancing around his opponent again and this time smacking his backside with the flat of his blade, garnering laughter from the audience and rage from the soldier, Smithson. "I'll have you know I took out a horde of at least thirty monsters not a month ago and came out unscathed. In a serious fight--"

Legend used his sword to block the next attack and stepped into Smithson's space to hook a foot behind his leg, destabilize his stance, and punch his face.

"--I'd have killed this whole compound and would be headed back home in time for dinner." He met Raven's eyes, which had a sliver of doubt, but he nodded slightly. 

"Well done, Link," Raven said. "That's enough for you both."

Legend nodded and sheathed his sword. He heard movement behind him and expected the anger, he didn't expect the attack.

"Link!" Raven cried, moving forward.

Instinct took over when he saw the tip of a blade swinging at him from the side, probably aimed just as recklessly as the rest of the attacks and therefore aimed far too high.

He turned his head but didn't move despite the outcry. Nayru's Love enveloped him, and the blade bounced off the shield that formed for the briefest moment.

Smithson froze, still clearly enraged but also visibly stricken and terrified.

Legend raised an eyebrow. "Your captain said we were done. You need to learn to respect your superiors, seems you're not only disrespectful to those who came before you and gave their lives so you could stand here with the life and freedoms you have."

Legend had to learn that lesson when he was young too, the Fallen Hero had been weak in his eyes as a child. It wasn't until Hytopia, three months after his first adventure, when he met two of his fellow heroes for the first time, that he learned. It didn't matter the circumstances or individual strengths, the Fallen Hero, Time, had given his life to protect Hyrule, and failing or succeeding, he deserved Legend's full respect.

Raven didn't let Link come back. Not with how bitter some of his men were over his descendant's words. He believed Link, though he marked his words as slightly arrogant. He did believe him and believed that he could survive a fight with the entire compound.

But with that belief and trust came worry, because the boy Raven had fought and won against when they first met, was already extremely skilled once a sword and not a spear was in his hand.

"Captain!" A scout ran over to him, stepping into attention. "A group of armed hylians is approaching the town! They appear battle-ready and dangerous."

"We can't deny them sanctuary unless they give us reason to," Raven chided.

"One wears the mark of the Queen, but Commander Thomas does not recognize him."

Commander Thomas was a worn veteran who had been in service for over sixty years now, claimed to know every single captain or higher-ranked soldier in Her Majesty's army.

"Then we should welcome a returning squadron home," Raven insisted. The scout nodded and Raven let out an exasperated sigh before he headed to greet this returning officer and his team.

It was a group of about eight men and young boys, at least two squires included in that and one definitely ranked officer with a few other knights whose training was finished. They saw him approaching and the ranked officer, a blond man with the Queen's mark on a blue scarf he wore, stepped forward.

"Welcome back to the heart of Hyrule," Raven greeted.

"Ah, thank you," the knight said a bit hesitantly. "I wasn't expecting a welcome."

"One of my older soldiers saw you approaching and were wary of an officer they didn't know, he's served a long time and claims to know every officer ever ranked, so he had me alerted."

"I see," the knight said. "Well, we are actually still on mission but need information we hoped someone here would know."

"I'd be glad to help. I'm Raven, the captain of the Castle Town guard."

"A pleasure to meet you. I'm Captain Link." He gestured at the others over his shoulder and the man with a furred pelt on his shoulders, which made Raven think he was more likely a mercenary paid to give them more strength than the speed the group clearly excelled in, left with most of the younger members. It left Raven with Captain Link, a well armored man who seemed more like a paladin than anything else, a younger man with a white cape over his shoulders, and then a squire in a multi-colored tunic.

"What are you searching for?" Raven asked, turning and Captain Link walking with him.

"Our main concern is a missing member of our company," the white caped man spoke up. "He's our scholar and went missing  a couple months ago."

"A scholar? I don’t mean to provoke, but are you certain he's survived this long?" Raven asked warily.

"Definitely," the white caped man insisted. "He's the most experienced of all of us, in battle as well."

The captain nodded his agreement slowly, Raven quickly recognized that the question of if their scholar was alive or not was a point of contention.

"We're... We aren't certain. But if he is alive then he is our main concern and second is our mission objective: a group of monsters strengthened by dark magic to the point of them bleeding blackened blood. We are on an extermination mission and first we need to find them."

Raven nodded, thoughtful. He hadn't had any reports of strengthened monsters or monsters with black blood. He swore Link, his descendent Link not this captain, had made a reference to such a thing but that was it. He said as much, leaving Link unmentioned.

"Someone has referenced these monsters?" The squire spoke up, sparking Raven's surprise, but he nodded.

"My, ah..." he had been claiming Link as his own, letting people assume their connection, but to say it outright? He'd have to. "My son, he's traveled a lot and recently observed a training course. He claimed my soldiers wouldn't last a minute against "black bloods" but I'm unsure if that is what you mean."

"Has he fought them?" The captain looked concerned. "These monsters are extremely powerful, my team is specially trained and even then an encounter with them ends in dangerous and sometimes life threatening injuries."

"Link can handle himself well."

The men all stopped in their tracks.

The captain grabbed Raven's arm. "Link?" He repeated. "Your son's name is Link?"

Raven nodded slowly, eyes narrowing. "It is. Why does that matter? It's not an abnormal name, rare and considered cursed by many due to recent history, but not abnormal. You share it."

"Is he a hero?" The captain demanded. "Your son, has he wielded the Master Sword? Or the Triforce of Courage? Was he called to defeat a great evil that he never should've been able to overcome yet against all odds he did?"

Raven felt his blood go cold. A roaring sound in his ears drowned out all reason. All he knew was that these men were looking for Link, and Link had said he wasn't often held in high regard when he hailed from.

His sword was held at the other captain's throat.

"What do you want with him?" He demanded lowly. He saw one of his soldiers see the change and soon enough, more were approaching with arms raised.

"Stay your blade, Sir Raven. We don't mean any harm."

"When you start asking about my boy who nobody should even know about, much less the fact that he's the hero, I'll decide whether or not you mean to hurt him."

They stood off, not a word was spoken nor a blade was moved. Then an alarm echoed through the town as a scout ran toward them.

"Captain! Monsters approaching the front gate! We count three dozen at minimum, sir!"

A Labrynese curse escaped him. 

"Take them to the cell block!" He ordered and glared at the men in front of him. "And you'll stay there until these monsters you've brought are gone."

"We can help!" They argued, but Raven's men dragged them toward the prison. Raven turned his head toward the front gate and the closing doors.

Legend ran into a squad of soldiers along the way to Castle Town, he wanted to run except one recognized him.

"Hey! You’re Cap'n Raven's kid," they said, grinning. Legend was not used to that response. "What are you doing out here?"

Legend grit his teeth. "He forgot some things back home and Miss Marley sent me to bring them to him," he explained.

"Ah, you can join us," the soldier told him. "You ain't as young as you look, are ya? All that talk the other day, you’re a knight?"

Against his will, yes. "I was knighted when I was twelve," he confirmed. "I'm seventeen now."

"Damn," one of them whistled. "Knighted? Fully?"

"By the Queen herself."

Another whistled loudly and several gave him their congratulations.

"What rank are you, if you don't mind me asking?" The man who had instigated the conversation asked.

Legend sighed softly. "Technically, I'm little more than a bodyguard to the Queen. Officially, I'm the Commander of the Queen's Royal Guard."

Fable had given him the position while he served as her personal guard between his return from overseas and Yuga's assault. She had insisted on it and he actually filled the position fairly well when the knights actually listened to him.

"Holy shit," one of the knights gasped.

"A commander? At seventeen?"

Legend shrugged. He decided not to admit he had been fifteen at the time.

"Golden Three, the Queen employing one of them?" He heard one of the quieter ones grumble. "A direct descendent?"

He looked over. "What do you mean?"

The squadron went a bit quiet.

"You... You do know your family history, right?" The first knight asked. Legend frowned.

"I'm afraid I don't know of anything that would lead the Queen to not employ any of my blood. Enlighten me?"

Looks were shared.

"If Captain Raven hasn't--"

"Do I need to make it an order? What family history."

They were clearly uncomfortable, but Legend refused to be confused or left in the dark. He hated it. Knowledge was the one thing he had currently.

"Sorry sir," a second knight stepped up, "we meant no disrespect. It's simply--We didn't wish to undermine Sir Raven, but you do outrank him so..." the knight seemed a tad wary. "See, just over fifty years ago, fifty-five now I believe?"

Another knight nodded and another muttered a confirmation.

"Yes, 55 years ago, the Fallen Hero died. You know of him, of course?" Legend nodded. "Well, though he died during his stand against the Dark Beast, it is well known to us from Castle Town to Kakariko that he was sweet on this lady from a ranch not all that far from here."

Yeah, Malon, Legend knew this...

"He had a kid with her," another spoke up. "That kid was Sir Raven's mother."

Legend's blood ran cold.

"His... His grandfather then..."

"Was the Fallen Hero," they confirmed. "You're the direct descendent of the man who many regard to have singlehandedly caused the complete upheaval and destruction of Hyrule's way of life, and nearly completely destroyed her as a whole."

That meant... That meant Time was his ancestor. 

"I'm sorry for you to have found out this way, ki-- sir," one of them said but it was beyond a rushing roar in his mind. "Sir Raven must have kept it from you for a reason."

Legend stared at the ground, then he heard and felt something. His head snapped up.

"K-- Sir?"

"Castle Town is under attack," he breathed.

"What?" The soldier prodded him.

He shoved the shock of Raven's lie of omission back. "Castle Town is under attack! Are you knights or what? Let's go!"

He heard several yelps and cries of shock, but they were pretty quick to run after him as he charged ahead. He could hear the alarm bell ringing and the ground shifting from heavy, heavier than Hylian, steps.

A daze hit him, he stumbled as a powerful wave of dizziness ran through him and his hand passed through the strap of his bag.

"Sir! What--"

"Keep moving," he snapped at the knight.

He had felt that dizziness before, he had become not quite here before. Only once, but he hadn't ever really forgotten that.

Raven was going to die. Unless Legend intervened, unless someone outside of this time stepped in, Raven would die and so would Legend.

The bell ringing grew louder and Legend could see a whole horde of monsters.

"Stick together!" He ordered over his shoulder at the knights running with him. "Pair off and keep each other's backs covered! Focus on protecting the people, leave the monsters to me!"

"Wha--Yes sir!"

He saw a fallen soldier and their sword left to the wayside. It was no detour to snatch it up, even if it took a stubborn focus to wield it in his current condition.

He ran into battle, as usual. His blade sank into a monster with too much resistance and he slid back, black staining the blade in his hand.

Oh, even better.

"We aren't staying, right?"

Twilight scoffed. "Of course not."

The guards left them in cells, but the moment they did, the Rancher moved forward and broke his cell bars. Warriors whistled lowly.

"Not bad."

"I'd like to see you do better," he retorted. "Let's hurry up, we can't leave these people to fight those monsters alone."

"I can't believe there's another hero," Wind said, retrieving his stuff. "It's nice that his Dad's protective."

"Not great for us," Wild deadpanned, hooking his slate back onto his hip. "How likely is it that we'll be seeing black bloods?"

"High," Time said. "Let's go."

Sky drew Fi and followed after them. She had grown closer to dormancy since their veteran... went missing.

He didn't know if he could be optimistic anymore, obviously Legend was a powerhouse in his own right, not like Twilight and his brute strength, or Warriors and his ability to command a battlefield, or Wild and his tenacity, or Hyrule and his magical prowess, or even Sky himself and his swordsmanship. But their veteran was strong and he had accomplished the most among them.

Sky had to trust he has been able to handle himself. He had to, or else he may lose what meager control he had over the storm inside.

Their items retrieved, they ran back out to the front gates of the town.

Warriors could hear someone yelling orders over the din of the battle. He could see the soldiers holding a line between the front gate and the town, but there were monsters breaking past. Wind was fastest, slamming into a breaching moblin, and Time was right behind the sailor.

Warriors moved his attention onward. Wind and Time could handle themselves, they always could after all. He ran up the steps to the top of the wall, Wild was behind him.

He had to find the commanding officer. He could hear someone yelling and telling soldiers to close ranks, block the gates, and keep the people away from the fight.

"Where's your commander?" He questioned an archer.

"Someone mentioned that the commander of the Queen's guard is on the battlefield, sir! I haven't seen him yet, sir."

Of course, it was one of the highest-ranking officers in Castle Town. The Raven guy was nowhere to be seen either.

An explosion of flames went off near the front gates. "Close ranks!" Someone too young to be yelling orders was the one to yell them. "Push them back!"

Another explosion had more knights rushing to fill the gap left by the burnt monsters. There was a blur of red, disappearing in flickers of green and white, enveloped in blue on occasion, but Warriors never got a good look at the monster killing machine on the battlefield. He was a bit distracted by the fact that whoever was giving orders sounded almost familiar.

"Take them down, Champion!" Warriors ordered. Wild already taking out his bow and notched three arrows. Warriors leapt over the wall and threw himself into the chaos.

It was the war all over, gold followed his blade as he took to his more culling stances and slashes.

Slowly but surely, they began to clear out some of the monsters to the point of retreat.

"Sir!" An unknown voice cried. "They're retreating!"

"I noticed," the voice that had been yelling was suddenly too familiar now that it was at a normal level and he could finally place it. "Get the wounded to the medics or infirmaries. Fix the gates and walls as quick as possible and make sure no civilians are injured. If there's a second wave then we have to be ready."

Warriors whipped around.

"Veteran?!" Hyrule cried.

Hyrule had seen him first, but Warriors spotted him a beat later.

Legend was there. He was there and alive. He also looked almost nothing like their veteran. His long hair was chopped unnaturally short, he didn't have his blue cap they all teased him for, he wore a green cloak over his shoulders but when he turned Warriors could see a red over white short dress and plain brown leather boots. He held a soldier's broadsword that was soaked in various shades of blood, black and red and purple alike.

"Traveler!"

They ran at each other, Hyrule all but leaping to grab him.

Hyrule, who claimed he found Legend, who saw him, but the portal stopped him from reaching him. He had insisted he'd seen him, most of of them worried he had lost himself to grief a bit. He had been in hysterics after all, completely unconsolable and insistent that Legend--who had been missing for a month at the time--had been right in front of him, covered in blood, but alive.

The traveler hero clung to Legend, clearly searching him for any sign of injury.

"You’re okay! You’re alive!" Hyrule's hands fluttered over the other hero but never letting go of him.

"I'm alright--It's okay, breathe, traveler. I'm right here," Legend soothed. "Is everyone else okay? Are they--"

"APPLE!"

A blur of blue slammed into Legend. Warriors almost wanted to laugh as the veteran staggered back and fell back onto the ground, Hyrule falling with them.

At Wind's cry, Warriors could see Twilight's head whirl around, probably giving the Rancher severe whiplash.

He always forgot the three of them had met before. It had been three months after each of their first adventure, so a while ago for Twilight, not so long ago for Wind, and years ago for Legend.

"You’re alright!"

"Yeah--Okay, get off. Really--I'm glad to see you but I need to find someone."

Warriors noticed that Legend's hand passed through Wind's arm. Wind and Hyrule noticed too, Twilight and Wild were running over.

"Vet..." Wind croaked, eyes going wide at his arm where Legend failed to fully touch him.

"I'm fine," Legend insisted. "I promise. I just--I need a fairy and a potion, tell me one of you--"

Hyrule was shoving two potions into his hand and Legend muttered some thanks before running off. The other heroes pursued immediately.

"Raven!" Legend yelled, his head whipping side to side as he searched and his eyes landed on a knight running their direction. "Soldier!" The knight snapped to attention, nearly tripping over himself to do so. "Where is Captain Raven?"

"He's in bad condition, sir," they yelped. "They're taking him to the medics but--"

"Show me."

Warriors glanced at Time, who looked a bit pale.

"Sprite?"

"He looked bad," Time said quietly, "that captain, I don’t think he'll survive."

Legend must've heard him because he looked over his shoulder at them, and Warriors hadn't ever seen him so... blazing. "I still have a chance."

Warriors didn't know what that meant, but he followed. The heroes all exchanged potions, quietly and quickly checking one another over while trying to stay close to their veteran who was alive.

Legend's cape rippled and Warriors wasn't sure about it. He seemed almost regal with how he moved and commanded the attention of these soldiers, demanding Raven's location and getting it.

They called him sir. That was... odd.

They found the right room and Legend rushed over to Raven's side, the captain's eyes were shut and the medic spoke first.

"I'm sorry, kid. He isn't--"

"I still have a chance," Legend repeated insistently. He released the fairy Hyrule gave him and she was quick to soak the man in her healing magic.

Warriors saw Raven gasp, eyes fluttering open. Legend rushed with the potion, coaxing Raven to sit up and drink it.

The heroes stayed out of the way, but Hyrule refused to let Legend out of arms reach, and Wind and Sky were both close by too. Twilight hung back surprisingly, but Warriors was too. They just watched on worriedly.

When Raven slumped back, breathing visibly steadying, Legend dropped his head against the knight's chest and relaxed.

"Oh thank the goddesses," Legend breathed. "Don't do that!"

The veteran sounded close to tears.

Raven settled a hand in Legend's hair, his face soft. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"You nearly died!" He snapped. "You would've died if I wasn't here--again!"

"I know."

"You have a wife now, and at the rate we're going with this, you'll have a kid next time. You can't--You can't keep needing a time traveler to ensure your survival."

Warriors was a bit concerned, he thought that this Raven was the father of the current hero, but this world also wasn't any they'd been to before to his knowledge, but Legend definitely knew this guy...

Was this Legend's father? They certainly had the dynamic, though Legend never mentioned family aside from an uncle.

"I'll do my best, but I only need a time traveler when one shows up," Raven said with a teasing lilt to his voice. "I'm assuming our audience are actually friends of yours?"

Legend pulled away fully. He settled on the edge of Raven's bed, looking over at the heroes. "Yeah, they're the other heroes I told you about."

"I see." Raven looked at Warriors. "I apologize for throwing you all in jail, nobody here knows Link is the hero, none of them know there is ever a hero in this time even if only every now and then, I was worried."

"It's alright," Warriors said, before Legend could question what had happened. "I get it. I've had similar experiences, there was a time when if anyone ever asked for a young hero and I didn't know them, I would've killed them on the spot."

A few heads turned toward him, but only Time's angled knowingly.

"I imagine they must have meant a lot to you," Raven said.

Warriors thought of two kids, one only a couple of years younger than he had been and another much younger than them both. They were both kids, one had been nine or ten... or even more, and the other was sixteen. How the older of the two had immediately adopted the younger and then latched right onto Warriors himself.

"Yeah, they do," Warriors confirmed.

Raven seemed to come to some kind of decision as he ruffled Legend's hair. "You got some good friends here, kid. Go catch up with them, I'll be fine here. Worst comes to worst, you'll head out and I'll watch over you."

Legend glanced between them, there was something indecipherable on the younger hero's face, but he nodded.

"Alright," he said. "Get some rest, old man. I'll see you when it's all over."

"Best be a long time now."

"Considering my track record, it will be."

Legend got off the bed and Warriors ushered the other heroes out and out of the way. They left Raven alone and Legend waved them to follow him.

Legend took the other heroes to Raven's office. Once they were all inside and he shut the door, he slumped against the nearest wall and shoved his hands through his hair. A heavy sigh escaped him, his whole body shuddering with it.

Sky came closer. "Vet? You alright?"

"Sorry, I just--Fading sucks."

"Fading?" Wind frowned.

Legend hummed. He pushed his hair back as he raised his head before he let his hands fall. "Yeah, sorry. Raven's... Raven is my ancestor, some 400 years before my era, he's... It happened before, during my fourth quest. He was going to be executed, and I... Well, he was going to die, and if he died, so did I."

He heard the sharp inhales and saw most of them pale drastically.

He laughed. "Yeah. That's--That's how I knew he could still survive. I... I was still here, so I could still save him." 

There was a long pause, just everyone a bit surprised and shaken and he wasn't surprised by that. Either way, he flashed them a grin, adjusting his stance against the wall to be a casual lean and not the exhausted slump it was.

"So, what'd I miss?"

"What'd--Why did you disappear is a better question!" Wind screeched. "What happened?! Where'd you go?! What's with the haircut and new get-up?!"

Legend winced. "Ah... Well, it's a long story and I don't want to get into it?"

The deadpan looks from everyone in the room had him groaning.

"Fine! Fine--I might've gotten arrested."

"You what?!"

"Twice."

"What?!"

"I only deserved it once though."

"That's one too many!" Four exclaimed.

"Funny you're the one to say that," Legend said awkwardly.

Four stared at him, and then his mouth dropped. "Do not tell me you committed a crime in my era."

"I generally prefer not to lie but okay: I didn't commit a crime in your era."

They all stared at him.

"Just--" Sky intervened. "Explain from the beginning?"

He didn't even want to think of the beginning. So he just... ignored the part he didn't want to say.

"I got arrested in my era because the knights there are still partially effected by a mind-altering spell that had them controlled by Agahnim, the evil mage that revived Ganon the first time around," Legend sighed. "They think I kidnapped my Zelda, I didn't, I run from them, they chase, they try to capture me and usually fail. Nine times out of ten, I'm fine."

"And that one?"

"Only happens when I'm compromised," Legend finished for Twilight. "And... I think... I swear I told someone but frankly, I can't remember anymore, I did have a concussion at the time. Mild, would've gone away with sleep and if it didn't we were in town and I'd have gotten a potion."

They seemed to agree with his logic, Hyrule speaking up and saying he had known.

"Yep. So--But a guard caught me and I was arrested. I didn't manage to escape before the shift but I've managed since... for the most part."

"Last time I saw you, you were covered in blood," Hyrule said bluntly.

Legend snorted, he grinned at his successor. "I promise you, most of that blood was mine."

Hyrule's eyes widened. "Vet you were soaked!"

He just grinned and shrugged. "Anyways, yeah. From then it was just trying to survive."

"And you look awful right now because...?" Wind questioned, eyes narrowed. "You look skeletal, Veteran."

"Eh, I caught a cold a couple weeks ago and still feeling the effects. It's fine. Plus food isn't easy to find in most of your eras without stealing."

Four suddenly paled. "That's--You stole food in my era?"

Legend didn't fail to notice how the older four's faces shifted to something guarded. He nodded to the smithy. "Yep. I owe Mister Carp two rupees for an apple, Missus Miller four for a loaf of bread, and then Missus Shepherd forty for this wool cloak I snagged--oh, and another two to Carp for the jerky."

He hated the pity.

"And the hair?" Wind asked tentatively.

Legend hesitated. He tested his length, and it only came down to his chin in the front and the middle of his neck in the back. He grimaced a bit.

"I... I had it cut, that's all."

He liked his hair long, he liked being able to tie it up, he liked being able to sit on the dirt path in Kakariko and let the kids play with it, and he liked to let Zelda test hairstyles on him. Dusk had to cut it short to even it out from the abuse he had taken from the guards of his own time.

"Why?"

"I don’t want to talk about it."

Twilight sighed. "Veteran--"

"I said I don’t want to talk about it," he snapped, shooting a glare at Twilight. "I'm not saying any more. I'm done. That's it."

Something apparently must've shown on his face or in his voice because all of them suddenly looked extremely concerned.

"Vet..." Sky was still close to him and he grabbed Legend's hand, startling the veteran. "What happened to you?"

Something shot through him and he thought he'd break, but he managed to grit his teeth and jerk away. "Nothing happened, Chosen. Leave it."

Thankfully, they did, but Legend didn't dare believe that was the end of it.

Legend had led them to the farm, Raven insistent on returning to Marley before he began his medically required rest. They arrived there and Legend noticed Time falter a bit, he ignored it, seeing Marley at the fence with her garden that'll one day be overflowing with tomatoes and other vegetables.

"We're back Miss Marley!" Legend called, waving a hand.

She looked up and a clear expression of relief hit her.

Legend turned to the heroes as Raven and Marley hugged. "There isn't enough room in the house for half of us, but the area is normally very safe. It shouldn't take long to go back to town though, if you'd rather stay in an--"

The familiar woosh and following tug was the tell-tale sign of a portal, formed just outside the front property line. There was no fence or gate, but in Legend's era, there was both, though they never did have a sign... Lon Lon Ranch had a sign, now that Legend thought about it, but otherwise, its fence was the same... He hadn't noticed that before.

"Don't even matter, vet," Twilight sighed. Legend decided not to draw attention to Hyrule latching onto his arm, or Sky shifting a bit closer to them both.

"Link, what's that?" Raven asked.

"Our ride. Time travel, remember?" Legend smiled at him. "I'll probably not see you again?"

"Best not to hope for it, you need a break, kid."

"I'm fine, adventures are fun."

"That's not what I meant."

He rolled his eyes, grinning. "Too bad. Bye Miss Marley, take care of that idiot."

"Bye Link, take care of yourself. And bye to your friends too," Marley called back to him.

"Bye, ma'am!"

"Buh bye!"

"Nice t'meet ya, miss!"

"See ya, Cap'n Raven, sir!"

"Til next time!"

Various other calls of farewell went off and Hyrule and Sky all but held Legend's hand through the portal. Legend decided last second to pull away and he dodged around Twilight and Wild, who were at the back of the group, to hug his ancestor.

Raven chuckled softly. "I was waiting for that. You be safe, Link."

Legend grinned at him as he pulled away. "Ah, you know I can't promise that. I'll be careful though."

"I s'pose that's all I can ask for. Goodbye, Link."

"Bye, Raven-- Oh, by the way, your men think I'm a commander so they told about your grandpa." Raven froze. "I hope you don't blame him too much like they do," he said as he moved away. "This hero business isn't exactly easy."

Raven glanced at the heroes behind Legend, who had all stopped when Legend slipped out of the procession. The pull of the portal grew, but it was restrained, like a gentle reminder rather than a harsh demand.

"Yes... I'm actually rather surprised you didn't already know."

"Eh, I've been learning a lot about my heritage on these adventures, you and yours included. Anyways--Bye!"

"Bye, Link."

Legend grabbed Hyrule's hand again and was the first through the portal, the other heroes following soon after.

Next>>

[bright-side20]

Why can't Azriel use the Truth-Teller and Gwydion's magic?

Based on SJM's writing

So, it was made clear that Az can wield Gwydion and The TT, probably because of some starborn lineage he has.

The male now held the Starsword at the ready, Truth-Teller gripped in his other hand. He must have had some sort of Starborn blood in him, then-a distant ancestor, maybe. Or maybe his possession of the knife somehow allowed him to also bear the Starsword.

However, he was unable to use their magic

Vesperus took another step, steadier now, and smiled past Bryce. At Azriel, at Truth-Teller. "You don't know how to use it,do you?"

Azriel pointed the dagger toward the advancing Asteri. "Pretty sure this end's the one that'll go through your gut."

Vesperus chuckled, her dark hair swaying with each inching step closer. "Typical of your kind. You want to play with our weap- ons, but have no concept of their true abilities."

Option 1 : He's like Ruhn

We know that it's Ruhn who brought the Starsword, aka Gwydion, from the Cave of the Princes. He's totally capable of wielding it

BUT:

"Well, I do know that only the Chosen One can handle the blades. Wait does that mean you can't? Since last I checked... only Ruhn and I got the Chosen One membership cards." "Ruhn doesn't possess the raw power to handle such a thing correctly."

He doesn't have enough power to actually use them. Only Bryce was able to because she has Theia's power. This could be the same case with Az: he has the power to wield them but not enough to use their magical ability.

Option 2 :He's like Hunt

Hunt is actually very similar to Azriel in that he looks like a full angel, but he has always been different from his kind because of his special power, which is lightning. Later on, we discovered that he has demon genes, and that is where his power comes from. Azriel looks like a full Illyrian, but he has also always been different from his kind because of his special power, which is shadows. Now that we know Silene and Helena also had shadow powers, he probably has a starborn blood, and that is where his power comes from.

The thing is that Apollion made a point :

"Wait-my lightning can kill the Asteri?" Hope bloomed, bright and beautiful in his chest. "No," Apollion said. "It is... diluted from my own. It could harm them, but not kill them. I believe your mother's angelic blood tempered my power."

Hunt's angelic blood made his lightning power weaker, which could be similar to Azriel. His Illyrian blood weakened his starborn power, making him incapable of using the weapons' magic.

[britt-kageryuu]

It's a fairly calm day in the studio, considering Donnie has decided to update and /or upgrade everyones setups, and equipment. He had the desks pulled from their stations, and multiple parts stacked up around the area.

He periodically tested the parts or programs to make sure they were not broken in some way which would lead to more work, and needing to fix or order replacements, which was not the worst that could happen. Donnie still has nightmares about how somehow one of the setups fully bricked from just one faulty part, he was glad he always had backups for his backups, so it was only a loss of parts, time, and some money.

Donnie was also doing some upgrades to the desks themselves, like making Raphs a bit taller because his while growth rate may have slowed down alot, finally, he's still too big for the current height.

Mikeys was made a bit wider to accommodate a bigger digital drawing setup with multiple custom styluses that look like paintbrushes, pencils, pens, and crayons.

Leo's desk was just getting some new controller storage that doubles as a charging dock, he annoyed Donnie a bit too much recently, so minimal upgrades this time.

Donnie was going to add lighting to his, even if only those in the studio will see it, and maybe add a new monitor or something to allocate 'junk icons' to de clutter the other monitors. And he's planning to upgrade all of their stream decks.

He was also checking on Shelldon who was in the middle of an update himself and 'sleeping' on his charging bed. The updates being sent from a spare laptop wirelessly connected to Donnies main computer in his lab.

As he's about to put a new part into place, he pauses to yawn, and then checks the time.

"Sweet and Spicy Churros, has it been that long already. I'm surprised Angelo hasn't tried to drag me out to make sure I eat. Oh wait, he's working today. Right." Donnie looks around to see his current progress, and decides it's a good time to take a brake. Taking care to not step on any parts that got left out, he starts to head for the kitchen area of the studio.

When suddenly Shelldon shoots off his charging dock and flys across the room, thankfully not hitting anything except the wall he crashed into.

"Pizza Supreme! SHELLDON!" He uses his Ninpo to turn his battle-shell into it's hover mode, and quickly goes to check on his robot son. Donnie picks Shelldon up to look him over, "Are you okay, are your systems functioning?!"

Shelldon comes out of the 'daze' he was in. "I'm find Dad, but if that was real, your ancestors are jerks, except Gram Gram of course."

Donnie is understandably confused, "What do you mean 'if that was real'? And the Hamato ancestors tried to contact you?"

Shelldon shakes his head, "Well I don't know, it was like I was dreaming, and suddenly someone claiming to be a great great aunt from Grandpas aunts side, or something." He then rolls his eyes, "Dude was totally pushy about some distant cousin disgracing the family, or something. My translation programming wasn't working in my 'Dream'."

Donnie is still confused, "I don't know whether to be surprised over the fact that you can simulate dreaming, since you've told me you could, question why the ancestors decided to contact you, or wonder what was messing with your translation programming."

"Yeah, this Great Aunt was trying to tell me a name, but it kept translating the meaning of the name," Shelldon says annoyed at his programming, "And when I asked 'why me?' she was getting more pushy until she started chasing me. Which is probably what triggered me to fly off the dock."

Donnie was still feeling lost, but decided to shelve the idea for later, to focus on getting food. "We can check if this 'dream' was recorded, and look it over while I eat, and you finish your updates."

The dream was in fact recorded, and analyzing it revealed that Shelldon apparently had a human form in this dream, which they believe is why this random ancestor thought Shelldon could help. Also the name they discovered wasn't being translated because it was not the proper way to say the name, or something.

But that was a problem for a different day, when Donnie didn't have another, what feels like, 10 hours of work left, at least.

-----------------

Masterpost