#sometimes being a fox faerie is hard

[cat-and-fox-hub]

[Yōkai AU] Fiend & Menace

Made by Cat, aka Researcher Serif/AW

"I know I'm quite the catch but for you to look at me like that, you trying to tell me something, Master~? You don't need to look from so far, you're free see my true self as close and as often as you please~. Just know you aren't escaping me that easily~."

(The Kitsune no Mado, or "Fox Window", is a Japanese hand technique believed to reveal hidden Yōkai through your fingers as with above.

It's comparable to the Celtic hag-stone or adder stone, a stone found in riverbeds with a naturally formed hole which can reveal witches or faeries through it.)

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Sometimes, I really hate colors. I spent so long agonizing his color palette it ain't funny, I swear. At least I think I did better on colors this time. Not by much but decent enough... (lighting's hard)

Either wae, here's @cosmica-galaxy's Fiend and Menace! They're apart of my Yōkai AU, very much based/inspired on @twstedforyou's own original Yōkai Twisted Wonderland AU.

Below is some lore if you wanna know! I recommend reading up this post for further AU lore if you wish.

Do hope you enjoy either wae!

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For those who don't know what Yōkai are, "Yōkai are a class of supernatural entities and spirits in Japanese folklore."

They can range from your classic demon, in this case Oni, to objects gained spirit and sentience such as Kasa-Obake, a friendly and playful one eyed, one legged sentient umbrella.

So now that that's outta the way...

[Yōkai AU Lore]:

꧁ღ⊱ | Oni!Fiend |

Fiend is an Oni, a kind of yōkai, demon, orc, ogre, or troll in Japanese folklore. They're known to be big, terrifying and having great strength. They're also known for their violent and short temperaments with a hunger for humans and alcohol.

In this AU, since people are pretty much wiped out, skibidi's are the suitable replacement. While not as fun as human prey at times, there's something a bit more satisfying playing with them. (The answer is abundance and the fact no one cares about them. He can be as sadistic and cruel as long as he wants with his food, something he couldn't with humans to avoid getting caught with his pants down so to speak.)

Fiend is a young Oni, reflecting his canon self being a Gen 0 mimic born after the fall of humanity, but he's still quite older than a century at least.

Due to his experience and the fact that the Yōkai District is quite traditional, he's a bit different. A tad wiser and more eloquent in his words for one. Not that he chooses to be, preferring to be a bastard most times. He's still the tsundere little shit who gets turned on when you make the battlefield red with the blood of your enemies.

Due to his heritage, he's quite the alcoholic. Because of that, he's also quite a bit more aggressive with skibidis because there's just some types of alcohol exclusive to the human realm that isn't made or sold in his District.

In this AU, Yōkai can shift forms to disguise themselves as the most dominant species in the human realm via shapeshifting or illusions. For some more humanoid Yōkai like Yuuki-Onna, it shows in their true forms. The believability of a Yōkai's disguise vary between Yōkai and those with skills more inclined to disguise like Tanuki and Kitsune are better at it than most. Fiend has an unusual competence in the art for Oni, Yōkai known to be quite dog shit at their disguises, especially for one as young as him.

With his surprising competence in illusions and Menace being too young to create his own disguise, Fiend extends his own over Menace until he can learn for himself. It also means when his transformation goes, so does the tuggle's.

Before the War, Yōkai had the option of either human or mimic guises but considering mimics themselves mimicked humans, it was mostly human disguises. Now though, the option is either Alliance members or mimics who mimicked them. Fiend in particular chose the mimic option because it gave him more freedoms so to speak. Disguising himself as an Alliance member would've burden him with the role of acting like one which, as apart of a military operation, is a heavy one to play.

Fiend spent most of his time in the human realm. When the fall of humanity came, he was mostly wandering and hunting alone and only rarely going back into his District when bored. Despite the solitude of the empty cities, not even he knew why he stayed in the wasteland as a TV mimic as he did. At least, not until he met you.

In this AU, his meeting with you was much like his canon self. He decided you were interesting at first and pretty much stalked you. Though, he was much more… open, so to say, with his less than mortal nature. He didn't necessarily show off he was of an Other nature but he didn't necessarily bother with blending in too much. Humans are pretty much dead and gone and he only kept a thin veneer up for the Alliance to not get up all over his ass after all.

Let's just say it was quite a surprise when he confronted you for the first time and found out you were his beloved Master all along. (He did not let go for the next week, still closely shadowing you for the rest of the month after. Your presence— no, your existence is simply too much— too intoxicating— for him to simply ignore and leave be.)

Bonus! He'd never admit it but sometimes, he'd head over to his District and find baubles for you that he makes seem like they're old belongings he'd never touched and left to dust. He's always terribly smug when you like it and gloats it over the others with a smirk.

꧁ღ⊱ | Oni!Menace |

Menace is also an Oni, a very young one

He's pretty much canon Menace but more of a little shit with a nasty temper when really angry

Though, instead of the whole 'parents dying leaving bby orphaned', its more he was orphaned at birth

Unless a hybrid of sorts, Oni are traditionally born from the death of a horrible human's spirit which is why Oni, at their base nature, are cruel and violent. By using the dead spirit of a horrible human to bring them into existence, they're bound to take bits of the violent and cruel parts that make up said spirit. Luckily for Fiend and you, it's something that could be taught to be managed but anger is always something present that'll have to be managed for the rest of his life.

Despite being essentially a toddler, he still has the absurd strength Oni are known to have. He can easily carry you with no problem which is a bit troubling considering he likes get mischievous. Often with Byte at that...

He's also a a bit of a nipper considering human flesh is apart of the natural diet of Oni. He knows better than to harm, Spirits forbid consider you prey and eat you. Adopted Papa Fiend is hovering over his back with a critical eye after all.

Bonus! Menace, underestimating his own strength and your human constitution, had accidentally thrown you once. Luckily, it was at Fiend. Unluckily, it was at Fiend. Possessive shit extraordinaire. (Yōkai won't let any slight against their Master stand, kid or not. Someone boutta get their little ass cooked.)

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Check out my main blog: @researcher-serif

Here's my NSFW blog if that tickles your fancy: @grandfather-of-sin

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[Read under cut for those that can't see the image text or colored text]

Fiend: "Hmm...?"

Fiend: "Oh..."

Fiend: "I see~"

Fiend: "Ahuhu~"

Fiend: "How flattering~"

[ofnobilites]

tom blyth . cis man . he/him . seelie faerie .  *:･ﾟ✧ is that that alistair , the fifty-seven year old downworlder ? i wonder what business brings them out tonight . they’ve been in the capital city three months , and rumour has it that they are notoriously eloquent , whilst also managing to be quite abrasive . last i heard , they were against the royal family ; i wonder what they make of all this upheaval within mundane world . 

Basics

name: alistair

age: fifty-seven (looks 28)

height: 6'0

hair color: blonde

eye color: blue

gender: cis-man

pronouns: he/him

starsign: aries

sexuality: pansexual

species: fae/seelie court

loyalties: seelie court

marks: skin sometimes looks like it's shimmering and pointed ears

Powers

dream manipulation, other fae magic.

inability to lie

Family

father: unknown

mother: violetta

Early Life

alistair was brought into the world the son of one of the seelie queen's closest friends. he spent most of his time wanting for nothing and wishing for nothing. he learned magic from both women and was happy to do so. they were the fey, something everyone wished they were. or he was told.

it was peaceful for alistair who's only desire was to play in the dreams of the mundane. a trickster, a fox, that was who alistair was. shirking off any duties that he was supposed to have and living only for the fun that he had made for himself.

the seelie queen was someone he respected as he grew up he found it hard sometimes to listen to her. she had been someone he looked at as an aunt more than a ruler and she was never harsh on him, even when she perhaps should have been.

there were whispers in the court that their queen was too soft on alistair, he grew but his ideas were simply to 'enjoy himself' it had been a turning point for the queen when he brought a mundane into their court when he was supposed to be patrolling for their queen.

her anger was swift, nothing had happened but the idea that something could, and that he was ignoring their queen for his own pleasures and desires was too great. the queen unsure of what to make of the king of valanya, decided to send him away with the others who had been there.

More

while he's angry about being sent to the capital, he does still believe in the seelie queen above all others. even if right now he probably tries to cause a few extra problems for her.

he's hedonistic, he lives for what makes him happy and this punishment is meant to try to make him put his mind to other things as well.

someone said "the fey are tricksters" and he JUMPPED. will bother anyone.

he's a good guy, he just doesn't take much seriously, he's not cruel but he WILL tell you exactly what he thinks. especially if it's mean

Wanted Connections

the mundane he snuck into the seelie court; maybe they're a royal and he had no idea, them being here now would just be fun. it doesn't have to have been romantic or anything they could just be friends or someone he wanted to follow him

romances, friends, enemies, someone he's manipulated... anything

[the-everqueen]

fic prompt: broom conservatory au, Alex goes on a shopping run

Alex sits in her lap the entire drive to the store. Eliza shouldn’t let him do that — even if he can’t wear a seatbelt, him nuzzling at her stomach is distracting — but he looked so pathetic when John left for the airport, and she can’t deny him his small comforts. She places him in the child’s seat of the cart, and he curls up, resting his chin on the handle.

A clerk stops her in the cereal aisle. “I’m sorry? Miss? We don’t allow pets in the store.”

Alex bristles. “He’s not a pet,” Eliza says.

The clerk gives her a skeptical look.

“He’s a…” faerie, pianist, boyfriend “… service animal.”

“Is it even legal to own a fox in this state?” The clerk shakes his head. “Whatever. Next time put a service vest on him. And maybe a leash.” 

Alex hisses as the guy walks away.

Eliza strokes his fur. “He might have a point. We could at least get you a collar, so people don’t think you’re a wild animal.”

A baleful glare. She can hear him saying, I am a wild creature.

“Well, yes. But would you rather explain the truth?” She tosses a box of Pop-Tarts into the cart. “Besides, I think you’d look nice in a black leather collar.”

He geckles. Behind her, a woman coughs and whispers “excuse me,” reaching for the breakfast bars. Eliza blushes and hurries to the next aisle to get rice. She’s thinking curry for dinner: quick, simple, and familiar. A nice first-time dinner in their new home. Which — oh, maybe she’ll add shrimp? She turns the cart toward the seafood section.

Alex sits up in the cart as they get closer, ears perked and whiskers twitching. He stares at the case of fresh fish and licks his lips.

“Alexander,” Eliza says, warning-tone.

“Can I help you?” the clerk behind the counter asks. She gives Alex a dubious look.

Eliza flashes her sweetest smile. She’s becoming like Alexander, she thinks, using charm to deflect human curiosity. “How much for a pound of shrimp?”

The woman rattles off a price. Eliza hums, considering. She could get more chicken for the same price, but then it’s just her and Alex this weekend. John is in Seattle doing a concert, even though he should be here with them, celebrating their move-in and eating curry and helping her line the windowsills with salt. Then again, she could freeze the extras and have lunch for the next week…

Distracted, she almost misses Alex leaping out of the cart.

Eliza grabs him by the scruff. He wails, a hideous noise that the whole store must be able to hear, and thrashes in her grip. She wrestles him back into the cart, keeping a hand on his neck. He wriggles and screeches, teeth snapping at air.

“Are pets allowed in the store?” the clerk yells over him.

“Service animal!” She’s already pushing the cart away with her elbows.

Forget shrimp, she’ll use tofu.

Alex doesn’t shut up until they reach the dairy aisle, where Eliza opens the package of Pop-Tarts one-handed and gives him a pastry. Then he hunkers down to gnaw on it, making churlish growls around mouthfuls of frosted strawberry. She grabs the tofu and soy milk and goes straight to checkout. She’ll come back alone, later, for the other things she wanted.

The kid working checkout coos at Alex. “He’s cute! And he likes sweets?”

“Oh, yeah, he’s got a real sweet tooth.” Eliza swipes her card.

“Cash back?” They lean over the counter. “And can I pet him?”

“Sure.” Alex is preening, so she figures he won’t nip. The kid climbs up onto the conveyor belt and reaches down to stroke Alex’s back. He purrs, arching into the touch. “No cash back,” Eliza adds.

She wrestles the groceries into the car, and Alex scrambles into the passenger seat, curling up into a tight ball. He sulks on the ride home.

“You really miss John, don’t you?”

Muffled grunt.

“But I’m still here.”

He buries his face in his tail.

She rolls her eyes. “Fine, be like that.”

He’s no help with the groceries in this form — she could swear he turns into a fox to get out of chores, sometimes — so she hauls the bags up the stairs to their apartment, him trotting ahead of her. He disappears under the couch once they’re inside, and she busies herself organizing the fridge and prepping ingredients for curry. Chopping vegetables takes the edge off her irritation; she hums along to her favorite playlist.

Something soft brushes against her bare leg. She looks down to see Alex rubbing his face on her calves. He turns those big dark eyes on her and gives an apologetic geckle. You’re here, I’m here, please?

Sometimes Eliza wonders whether she really understands him, or if she’s making concessions.

She gives him a piece of tofu.

[ariel-seagull-wings]

TOP 12 WICKED QUEEN PORTRAYALS

@sunlit-music​ @mademoiselle-princesse​ @princesssarisa​ @superkingofpriderock​ @metropolitan-mutant-of-ark​ @amalthea9​ @theancientvaleofsoulmaking​ @astrangechoiceoffavourites​ @giuliettaluce​ 

Alongside the Big Bad Wolf, Cinderella’s Stepmother, The Giant from Jack and The Beanstalk, The Witch from Hansel and Gretel and Bluebeard, The Wicked Queen from Snow White is one of the most iconic fairy tale villains of all time. A lot of people come to consider her the real protagonist of the fairy tale, since is her desire to be considered the Fairest of All and her actions to keep that title what puts the narrative in motion. And today, i will rank my favorite portrayals of this fascinatingly nasty foe.

12º Miranda Richardson as Queen Elspeth in Snow White: The Fairest of Them All (2001)

Talk about being typecast: before that turn as Snow White’s Evil Queen, Richardson had portrayed an Evil Sorceress Queen and Stepmother in Jim Henson’s The Storyteller (’The Three Ravens’ episode) and she was a wicked Sorceress Stepmother in Tim Burton’s Sleep Hollow. So it was neat for her to be called for the role of the most famous Evil Sorceress Queen and Stepmother in this Hallmark TV Movie. Elspeth is the sister of a strange, mysteryous creature known as the Granter of Wishes. Having been recently released from his freezing prison, the Granter of Wishes makes a spell to make her look beautifull for human standards, and marries her to the newly crowned and widowed King John. At first she looks content with the prospect, but as time passes, she grows more and more unsatisfied. Her source of joy is the Magic Mirror that praises her beauty, and casting spells to turn gnomes into garden statues. But when the Magic Mirror says that Snow White’s beauty surpasses hers, the unsatisfaction gets mixed with paranoia, and Elspeth slowly abuses her power in constantly harming other people, until there is no magic enough...

11º Herta Kravina in Schneewitchen (1971)

This german TV Movie is the most faithfull adaptation of the Grimm’s tale original edition, not only keeping the three murder attempts by ribbon/lace/corset, hair comb and apple, but also being the only one to show the Queen dancing to death with hot iron shoes in Snow White’s wedding. This is enough to make it worth a checkout. The other reason i find this version interesting is how the Queen comunicates with the Magic Mirror: they sing to each other. And Kravina has a really good voice (no wonder she was a voice actress for Peggy Lee in the first german/dutch dub of Disney’s Lady and The Tramp). Sometimes that is enough to get a spot in a ranking.

10º Mari Yokoo/Caterina Rochiara/Regina Reagan/Carol Jacobanis as Queen Crystal in The Legend of Snow White (1994)

From the outside, Queen Chrystal appears to be calm, regal, and sophisticated, but in reality, this collected and stately facade hides an extremely sadistic, hateful, cold and sinister person. She is ruthless, jealous and obsessive and wants nothing more than to be the fairest in the land. She also has an extreme vanity that made her utterly intolerant of rivals. Being solely focused on the idea of becoming the fairest of all, Queen Chrystal does not appear to be significantly involved in governing her husband's kingdom, though the skeletal remains of prisoners in her dungeon point to her being a villainous ruler. In the end, her mad vanity and jealousy of her stepdaughter Snow White drove her to murderous insanity. Later is revealed that Queen Chrystal is not unredeamably evil as everyone thins, but an actually kind and gentle person who is possessed by an Evil Spirit. 

09º Diana Rigg as the Queen in Canon Movie Tales: Snow White (1987)

This lady is the personification of paranoia multiplied by the double. Why? Because the Magic Mirror didn’t needed to say that the little child Snow White was the fairest, this queen just feared so much that the princess’s beauty would outgrow hers that she ordered the huntsman to kill her. Basically: run, she is bad news.

08º Jeri Arredondo as Sly Fox in Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales For Every Child (1995)

Sly Fox... What a cunning diva. People try to counsel to not use alone a Magic Mirror that is a portal to the spirit world, but who says she listens? She is just there to hear the singing of her praises, and will try to eliminate anyone who gets on her way. She even goes so far as taking the appearance of the kind hearted nurse Sage Flower to lure her stepdaughter White Snow to eat the poisoned appled. What is not to love about that bastard?

07º Kazue Komiya/Arlene Banas as the Queen in Grimm’s Fairy Tale Classics (1989)

Interestingly this encarnation starts naturally cold, calm and collected, ocasionally at the princess Snow White to see if she can ever grow more beautifull than her, and dismissing the girl with contempt. It is years later that she lets go of acting calm and collected, because after hearing some gossips in the palace, she asks Snow White if she thinks of herself as more beautifull than the Queen, and her stepdaughter reacts by exclaiming that the Queen is vain and cruel, and to her eyes that makes her ugly. So besides the desire of being considered the most beautifull, you get the feeling that this Queen pursues Snow White as a way to shut a person that dares to rebell against her, wich ads new interesting dimentions to their antagonism.

06º Dorothy Cumming as Queen Brangomar in Snow White (1916)

Brangomar was once a lady in waiting of the palace. But one day, she met the powerfull Witch Rex, who offered to give Brangomar anything she wanted. And what Brangomar wanted was to become a beautifull Queen. Wich was achieved by a faustian deal where Witch Rex would cast a spell that killed Imogene, the previous Queen, while in return Brangomar would have to find a way of getting Snow White’s heart for the Witch. Years have passed, and now Brangomar  must kill the princess to pay her debt, or else everything she got will be lost. Hey, here is a way of making a villain tragic, almost simpathetic and complex while keeping clear that she is still a villain!

05º Vanessa Redgrave as the Queen in Faerie Tale Theatre (1984)

The most loud and bombastic portrayal of the Wicked Queen ever put on screen. Bringing to television her sperience from stage, that allows some more over the top emotional reactions, Redgrave had the time of her life in that role, indulging in twirling, preening and screening as much as she could, and his Queen is all the most fun for it.

04º Gudrun Landgrebe as the Queen in Schneewittchen (1992)

What i live about Landgrebe’s Queen is her range: at first she acts all humble, discreet, cold and mysteryous. Then her husband leaves to fight in a Crusade, and she trows the white veil and gray clothing of humility to show a diva red hair and orange dress, as to say “Hey, the King leaved, i have all the power here now and you must do as i say”. Later, a knight comes, offering a magical crystal ball that connected to a mirror says all the truth, and the Queen takes posession of it to ask about her beauty. When Mirror says that the most beautifull woman in the kingdom is Snow White, she gets infuriated, than goes to carefully plan ways to eliminate the princess once and for all. The highlight is when she takes the disguise of a russian male doctor to offer the apple (where she injects poison into with her ring) to Snow White.

03º Maria Antonieta de Las Nieves in El Chapulin Colorado: Blancanieves y los Siete Churín Churín Fun Flais (1978)

This three part episode of the mexican comedy superheroe show is a loving parody of the Disney version, that stands out as an enjoyable retelling of the classic fairy tale in its own right. Interestingly, while most of the comedy in the episode is delivered in the form of over the top slapistick, de Las Nieves’s delivers a straight faced, contained performance. Wich makes her answers to the absurd situations in the story all the more funny.

02º Patricia Medina as the Queen in Snow White And The Three Stooges (1961)

This lady was a hell of a foe: she not only antagonizes Snow White for the title of the Most Beautifull, going so far as to lock the princess in a dungeon for no crime at all, but also, alongside her partner in crime Count Oga, ordered a murder attempt aggainst Prince Charming when he was a child, to prevent him from marrying Snow White, and this way she could become ruller of the kingdoms of Fortunia and Bravuria. Troughout the film, you think that she could win, since she has powerfull magic, spy and a mighty army at her comand, wich makes the viewer get all the more excited on the seat, that is how enjoyable Medina’s Queen is.

And my Number One Portrayal of the Wicked Queen is...

01º Lucille La Verne as the Queen in Disney’s Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs (1937)

The first encarnation of the character that i ever saw in my childhood, and the one that still sends chills/shivers to my spine. As a young Queen, she rarely smiles, acting cold and calculating, intidimidating who is subordinate to her with the expression of her eyes and highbrows. And as a Crone, she lowdly indulges in her cruelty, offering the poisoned apple to her pet raven to scare him, and mocking the dead skeleton of a prisoner inside the castle’s dungeons. That balance between cold calculism and loud cruelty, where both are equally unsetling and scary, is something very hard to achieve, but i think this encarnation did a very good job in achieving that balance, that every other  portrayal that camed tried to draw influence from it ever since. And that’s why Disney’s Wicked Queen is my Number One portrayal.

HONORABLE MENTIONS: Addi Adamets in Schneewittchen (1955), Marianne Christina Schiling in Schneewittchen (1961) and Sonja Kirchberger in Sechs Auf Einen Streich (2009)

[writerfae]

The Brooch - part one

“I have something for you.” Talon said, voice soft as to not disturb the pleasant quiet between them.

Aiden looked up from where he rested his head on his lover’s chest, eyes wide.

“Really?” He sat up.

Talon chuckled. “Yes.” Gently he nudged Aiden aside so he could stand up.

Aiden watched him curiously as he got something from his bag and sat back down on the bed, right in front of him, hands closed around a small object.

As he revealed what he was holding, Aiden gasped.

It was a golden brooch, portraying a hawk, the patron bird of Talon’s family, the finest piece of jewelry Aiden had ever seen.

“It is beautiful,” he whispered, still in awe. When he looked up to Talon, he could see the other boy eyeing him fondly.

Sometimes Aiden still couldn’t believe that this was real. That this was his. He never wanted Talon to stop looking at him like that.

Not trusting himself to find the right words- he still wasn’t too good at talking- he leaned forward to kiss his lover, trying to pour all he was feeling into this one gesture.

Talon, smiling into the kiss, wrapped his arms around his lover’s waist, pulling him closer, and Aiden knew, he understood.

When he pulled back, he smiled, cradling the small brooch in his hand to admire it once again. As his fingers brushed over the golden hawk at the centerpiece, he realized something.

“But isn’t this a family piece? It must be very valuable.”

Too valuable for someone like me, he thought, but didn’t say it, because he knew Talon didn’t like it when he talked like this.

“Yes,” Talon said, “it is. That’s why I want you to have it.”

He lifted Aiden’s chin to get the other to look at him. “Remember what you said when you gave me your necklace?”

Of course Aiden remembered. He had gifted his leather necklace with the crow pendant to Talon for his birthday not too long ago.

He closed his eyes. “I said I wanted you to have it, so you have something that reminds you of me when I’m not around.”

And when I’m no longer with you, were the words he left unsaid on that day. So you will never forget me. He left them unsaid still.

“Exactly.” Talon let his hand wander until it rested on the other’s cheek. “That’s why I want you to have this. And I want you to know that… that where ever you are, my heart is with you.”

He blushed when he realized his own words, looking away. Aiden smiled. He took the hand that still cupped his cheek and kissed it. “And mine with you,” he said, because it was the truth.

༺ ༻

Tears were running down Aiden’s cheeks and Talon couldn’t stand to look at it, couldn’t stand seeing the person he loved the most crying. Couldn’t stand seeing the person he loved the most leaving him.

He didn’t want any of this and he knew Aiden didn’t want it either. It was wrong, so wrong. They shouldn’t be saying goodbye to each other. They should be together. That girl shouldn’t be the one Talon was gonna marry tomorrow.

A small sob escaped him as Aiden held out a small object to him, hands trembling. “I think… I think you might want it back. Give it to… give it to her.”

Talon realized that it was the brooch he gifted him years ago. The one that Aiden hadn’t taken off ever since.

Seeing him without it felt wrong. It was wrong. It was supposed to be his. Only his. Just like Talon’s heart.

“No,” he shook his head violently. “I don’t want it back. It was always supposed to be for you... Just for you.”

Talon took a step towards the other boy’s outstretched hand. He closed Aiden’s fingers around the brooch with his own, squeezing the other’s hands gently but firmly.

“Keep it,” he said and he could hear his voice shaking. “Keep it and don’t forget why I gave it to you.”

He still meant what he said all this time ago, after all.

Despite the sadness painfully visible on his face, a relieved smile showed on Aiden’s face.

“Thank you,” he whispered.

He pressed the brooch firmly to his heart, visibly glad he didn’t have to let go of it. The sight made Talon’s heart clench.

Without much thinking, he pulled Aiden close. The shorter man hid his face in the crook of the other’s neck, like he had many times before.

They remained like that for a while, quiet.

Talon buried his face in Aiden’s dark hair, inhaling his scent, trying to memorize it.

Memorize his smell, the beating of his heart, the way his body fit against Talon’s so perfectly.

Then Aiden pulled away. One hand was still clenched around the small brooch, he rested the other right on Talon’s heart.

Talon felt like if he took his hand away, his heart might stop to beat forever, so he held on to it with his own.

“Don’t go,” he whispered, leaning their foreheads together. “Please.”

Aiden didn’t answer. Instead, he leaned up and kissed him. Just one last time.

༺ ༻

“Ash, dear, come here.” Ashlynn looked up from her work at the call of her father’s hoarse voice.

She made her way over to where he lay in his bed, looking at her with soft eyes.

He looked tired. So so tired.

She took his hand. “What is it, papa? Do you need something? Are you in pain?”

Aiden shook his head. “No,” he said, squeezing Ash’s hand weakly.

The cold had afflicted him pretty much this year. Years of living and hard work had taken a toll on him, making him less resistant than he used to be against the cruelness of the winter cold.

Ash had hoped he would start to feel better once the first warmth of spring would come to the land, but he didn’t.

There was a fear lingering deep inside her that this might be his last spring. She tried to push that thought away every day, not wanting to even think of the possibility of it, because it scared her incredibly.

But her father, too, seemed to think that his time would soon be up. She could see it in his eyes.

She hoped he was wrong.

Her father pushed himself up in a sitting position. Ash rushed forward to help him. He only shook his head, chuckling.

“You worry too much, little fox.” He patted her hand gently.

She smiled. “You’re my father, I’m allowed to be worried about you. Now, what do you need?”

Aiden’s expression turned serious. “There’s something I want to show you.”

He reached under the pillow and pulled out a small object. As he placed it in her hand, Ashlynn saw what it was.

She gasped. “Your brooch.” It was a pretty piece of jewelry. And a prized one.

Ash had seen it on her father many times before. If he didn’t wear it on his cloak, it was usually tugged under his pillow.

She knew it was dear to him, though she didn’t know why. Ash had always wondered what might be the story behind the beautiful brooch.

“I never told, did I?” her father asked suddenly, eyes fixed on the jewelry in his daughter’s hand. “Where I got this brooch from?”

Ashlynn shook her head. She had asked him about it once when she was little. He didn’t want to answer her back then and he looked so sad when she asked that she never dared to ask him again.

“It is from faerie,” Aiden started to explain.

Ash’s eyes went wide. “From faerie? Really?”

Her father nodded.

He had told her a lot about faerie, the magic realm that was home to the gods, fae and wood creatures. He had taught her everything he knew about it and told her about his own experience with the fair folk.

Ashlynn had always loved those stories, her father’s adventures, how she used to call them, and she loved them still.

Excited to learn something new, something her father had never told her before, she leaned forward.

It made the man laugh, a laugh that turned into a cough shortly after.

Ash stood up to bring her father some water. The brooch she gently rested on his covered up lap.

When she returned with the water, Aiden held the brooch in his hands, looking down at it with a mixture of sadness and longing, a sight that made her heart hurt for him.

“Here,” she said, giving him the water. Aiden took it, silently thanking her.

Then he started talking again.

“I… I never told you, but when I was there, at court...”

Ashlynn knew that with court he meant the Willow court, one of the faerie kingdoms. It was the home of her uncle and her father used to spent a lot of time there, too.

But that was already before Ash was born.

“There was this boy,” her father continued. “A fae.” He took a deep breath, Ash could see that talking about this wasn’t easy for her father.

His grip on the brooch tightened.

“We were together, him and me. And I… I loved him. A lot. He was the one who gave me the brooch.”

Ash couldn’t help the small gasp escaping her. So the brooch was a gift of his lover. No wonder that it was so precious to her father.

She wondered who that person was. Why did she never met him? Why did her father never talk of him?

“What happened?” she asked, grabbing her father’s hands gently. Because there had to be a reason why it hurt him so to talk about this to her.

“I left him.” Aiden looked away, eyes staring into the distance. His lip trembled slightly.

“I loved him so much and still I left him,” he sobbed and Ashlynn leaned forward to hug her father.

“Oh papa,” she whispered. “Why?”

“Because sometimes, love isn’t enough. Sometimes you have to let go of those you love, for their own best. I would’ve only caused him sorrow.

“He was nobility. And I... I was just me. No fae nor nobility, not really a suitable match for a future high lord. His father thought the same. He arranged an engagement with another noble’s daughter.

“She was a way better fit. I didn’t want to stand in the way. Being with me, it would’ve only caused problems. With his duty, his family, my mortality...”

Ash didn’t know what to say, she just squeezed her father tighter. “I am so sorry father.”

The man leaned back and smiled at his daughter. It was a sad smile.

“It’s alright,” he said. But Ash didn’t miss the tears in his eyes.

“I learned to live with it. There’s no turning back the time. He has a family now, I’m sure he is happy. He has probably long forgotten about me. And me, well, I still have my memory of him. And this,” he held up the brooch still clutched in his hand.

He put the brooch in Ashlynn’s hands again, closing them around the small object.

“I want you to have it.”

Ashlynn stared at him in disbelieve. “But father…”

After all that he had just told her about the brooch and its story, she couldn’t believe that he was willing to give it away.

“I want you to take care of it for me, once I’m gone. I want you to look at it and remember what it is like to be loved by me, just like it reminded me what it was like to be loved by him.”

He looked at her, all kind eyes and fond smile, and she couldn’t help but to smile back, blinking away tears in her eyes.

“Thank you, father. I promise I’ll always take good care of it.”

༺ ༻

(a/n: the next part is less angsty I swear)

read part two here

general tag list: @deadlycupid @writing-is-a-martial-art @writingamongther0ses @blueinkblot @wildswrites @abiandwriting @theroyalcoven @7devills @myhusbandsasemni @authortango @sleepy-night-child @charleeyy @formulatingfiction @shiishki @shattered-starrs

AU masterpost

[ratabrasileira]

The Fox of The Night

Chapter Five

Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | ...

The rain was running down on the Spring Court as the moonlight passed through the green leaves to hit the beautiful estate localized around roses. Lucien was watching it hit hard on the window while his head was hanging on it. The rain; Jesminda loved the rain. For being from the Autumn Court or not, she loved how it was free and independent. Lucien still remembers of his past lover dancing under it, soaked but with the most beautiful smile ever.

Now every time that Lucien sees the rain, he remembers of her. It was unfair. As unfair as the night reminds him of Rhysand.

Funny. At least he could laugh of his miserable life, rather than cry.

He had had a lot of time to think what to do. After the Summer Ball, he arrived home and just felt the void ripping apart from his heart. He got there, lying on the bed waiting for the sleep catch him. But as Rhysand, the sleep didn’t catch him.

And maybe it was a good thing. Maybe it was a signal so Lucien wouldn’t regret of sucking the High Lord again. Maybe it was even Jesminda’s spirit putting Lucien far away from Rhys. Even if Lucien… Even if Lucien feels attracted to Rhysand. He wasn’t doing anything wrong, was he?

Besides fucking his master’s enemy.

What had happened between Tamlin and Rhys? He still hasn’t asked Tamlin about it. It’s not that he was scared it was because… He didn’t want something that seems to bring back the pain to his friend. He would be forever grateful to Tamlin no matter what and to be an annoying sack of potatoes on his shoulder didn’t seem to be a good way to return the favor. So, Lucien agreed with being his courtier and… friend.

Because Lucien recognized that Tamlin was as lonely as he was. But now… they were together now.

And he could deny his desire to Rhysand for him. For him, but mostly for her.

Right?

Lucien wished that he was right.

xxx

The crowd was loud as ever. People chatting here and there while the orchestra played different types of music; animated ones, romantic ones, ambient ones. The glitter of the ice was shining in the walls and arched roof of the Winter palace. By now, Lucien was sure that he could navigate through this place as if it were his house.

But Lucien was tired of talking with people, dancing and swinging between bodies or eating the typical food of winter. He needed some time alone. After Jesminda’s death he always needed sometime alone; it just feels wrong to have fun when she wasn’t around him anymore.

He headed for the principal hallway, where portraits of previous High Lords were hanging on the walls. In the middle of it, though, there were an intersection which leaded to other two hallways, the one in his right was the path to get to the famous balcony where he sucked the High Lord of the Night Court. The opposite path, in his left, leaded to where was a staircase and others closed doors that Lucien had never dared to explore.

However, now that no one was missing him, he could enter in those rooms just to kill the curiosity of the Winter Palace’s architecture.

He entered them all; it was four doors in the total. The rooms, although not being the same, were all large and luxurious, some were filled with mobiles to create a living room atmosphere, others seemed like a study. But the path behind the stairs caught Lucien’s attention; it was open, the winter windy entered freely through the pillars of marble. There were greenly gardens, thanks to the magic, surrounding the hallway to another section of doors and stairs. A fountain was seen in the left garden and…

In the middle of the right garden was the High Lord of the Night Court.

“No” Lucien whispered, trying to turn back even if Rhysand’d saw him.

“Lucien” Rhys purred. It wasn’t an order to stay, still, Lucien could not move, he was stocked under those violet eyes.

Rhysand couldn’t say that he was angry at the Courtier of the Spring Court. That androgenous beauty of Lucien always had power over Rhys. His fiery hair, his long and slender fingers, the little freckles in his cheek and those russet eyes, always burning even if wispy. Rhys wanted him to stay, wanted him to be punished, wanted him to feel what he felt.

“Rhysand” Lucien whispered. He needed to go, mostly because it seems that the High Lord was almost feral to kill him.

But of course, Rhys had to pin him “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be in the party?”

“You tell me. I’m not a High Lord, my presence isn’t that important” Lucien said as Rhys crawled closer, that familiar smirk printed upon his face.

“Oh, little Lucien. You have such a low opinion of yourself. It pains me” He purred, close enough to make Lucien feel his breath.

Rhysand wanted to touch him. Wanted to feel those hair strands around his fingers, to feel his tongue once again, as well as his breath, sounds, touches and vibrations. Rhys wanted to feel Lucien all over, from the top to the bottom. And Lucien read it all in those violet eyes, vanishing the answer that he would give to the High Lord.

They didn’t even know who touched who first. It was like instinct, both were so tipsy in each other scents that there was no more answer, no more logic; just the feeling of rush and desire. But Rhys didn't kiss Lucien, he would not make the first move. So both stayed there, sharing the air between their mouth; Rhysand’s hands on Lucien’s waist as latter dived in the desire that only Rhys could bring to him.

But all the tethers were loosened when Rhys brushed his nose onto Lucien’s, slowly and slightly. Lucien cupped Rhys’s head between his hands and kissed the High Lord of the Night Court as intensely as he could. The damned heigh difference made Lucien to be on tiptoes, but it wasn’t a big issue; it wasn’t an issue when Rhys hold him so firmly and his tongue was sliding wet in Lucien’s mouth.

Or maybe it was, but Lucien couldn’t think clearly as he felt Rhys get hard upon him. He felt his own blood running through his body, hot and electric, digging to the core of him. Lucien needed to touch all that length again, put it between his hand, his mouth, his body.

But when he moved to do a forward move, Rhysand backed off, too far, too cold. Lucien missed the heat of his body as well as his tongue and teeth marking the path on his neck. When he looked at the High Lord, he saw the wild savagery in his eyes. Lucien didn’t understand; what was Rhysand going to do? So he just stayed there, confusion fogging his mind.

However, Rhys only smirked and winnowed away, letting Lucien freeze alone in the middle of the Winter Palace’s Garden, a bitter taste in his tongue.

xxx

Faeries were passing when Rhys appeared in the hallway that led to the ballroom of the Winter Court, some of them was throwing suspicious and fearful glances toward him, but he was used to it. Being the most powerful High Lord of Prythian’s history has its disadvantages, not saying that it wasn’t worth.

Yet, even those looks couldn’t take off the feeling of Lucien’s body against him, his hands, his tongue savoring Rhys’ skin, his sighs making Rhysand want more… Maybe breaking that kiss was an utterly and stupid action, but if it worked…

If it worked Rhys would have Lucien wrapped around his finger.

Rhysand stopped near the drinking table where he had an easy sight on the entry of the room. Where he would see Lucien Vanserra entering, trying not to catch to much attention, with flushed cheeks and a small part of guilty hidden in his eyes. Fortunately, his Inner Circle hadn’t seen him to annoy with useless questions and comments. It’s not like Rhys didn’t like them, but in this time; he wanted to be alone. Alone and a pair of russet eyes following him wherever he would go.

It took a second, though, to Lucien appear exactly as Rhysand imagined. He walked in the archway and stopped, sweeping his eyes through the room, his flushed cheeks gleamed under the fae light. He was beautiful. Even more when he looked at Rhys and his posture changed; anger and desire, together. It looked like he wanted to spank Rhysand who wouldn’t deny it, not at all.

But when Lucien saw the triumph reflecting upon Rhys’ posture, half of his desire was gone. He was stunning as ever, still, Lucien always thought his arrogance to be the failure of his perfection. That smug on his face sucked some of his beauty and that unshakable posture… It was so annoying; how could someone enjoy something like that? Neither when Lucien was making him come, he’d let that stance.

More; the arrogance to stop the kiss to do what? Play? Lucien didn’t want to play, he wanted to finish it as soon as possible, to fuck him so hard that he would regret of being an asshole brat.

But somehow it was the arrogance that made Lucien hypnotized by him.

He couldn’t deny anything to Rhys, not when the High Lord can make Lucien feel so alive. Notes: any typo/grammar mistake don't be shy on calling me out x*

[neopronouns]

Ok I know this is a lot but do you know any Genders and/or Neopronouns that are themed after/connected to: Foxes, Deer, Crabs, Mushrooms/Fungi, or Eldritch Beings? Thank you for taking the time to read even if you don't answer! Have a nice day <3 (I know that sounds like me trying to guilt you into answering but I'm not trying to come off that way. I'm just bad at typing)

genders under the cut!! here are some links to pronoun sets: - foxes - deer (and some more) - eldritch - the only crab-themed set i found was ‘cra/cor/ab/rab/crabself’ - the only mushroom/fungi set i found was ‘fu/fun/fungi/fungus/fungiself (or fungusself)’

foxes:

genderfox: a gender that is fast-moving, mischevous, confusing, and hard to catch into one term (only for fox/kitsune/etc otherkin)

vixengender: a feminine nonbinary identity that is influenced in some way by one’s fox kintype and/or describes the gender of one’s kin

vuligender: a gender that is small, clever, cute, and any other quality associated with fox kits, that is fox-kit-like, and/or that is connected to fox kits. make with system littles and age regressors in mind, but can be used by anyone. can also be used as a kingender

vulpic: a subset of animic/fauna-aligned in which one’s gender is aligned with foxes in some way

vulpisgender: a gender that feels a strong connection to vulpine, or foxes. this gender is cheeky, playflux, and mischevous.

fennecgender: a gender connected to fennec foxes

foxgender: a gender connected to foxes and/or traits ascribed to foxes, such as being mischevous, active, or playful; a xenogender stemming from a connection to foxes

arcticfoxgender: a xenogender defined by a connection to or kinship with arctic foxes. it’s cold, very adaptable to change, light, and fluffy

fuchsgender:a a xenogender that can be described in relation to foxes. it’s curious, playful, soft, and energetic

deer:

deergender/fawngender: a gender that is explored through timidity and caution, but blossoms into something natural and cute

deergender (alt version coined on twitter): a xenogender for those who feel a connection to or find comfort in deer

mortemdeergender/mortemfawngender: a gender that infects and takes over any existing natural and cute gender(s), including (but not limited to) deergender/fawngender, and changes them to feel more mature and grisly. may ‘die out’ after a while, but the innocence of infected genders can never be restored. was coined by a troll, but has been reclaimed!

nysnönine: a gender related to fresh, crisp snow. feels cold, but still very fluid. may be related to the north pole and deer.

roegender: a gender that is small, dainty, cute, and any other quality associated with fawns, that is fawn-like, and/or that is connected to fawns. made with system littles and age regressors in mind, but can be used by anyone. can also be used as a kingender.

forestcoric: a xenogender related to or influenced by forestcore (includes aesthetics of moss, mushrooms, dirt, trees, mud, sticks, deer, bears, raccoons, beetles, and dead leaves)

skógurgender: a gender relating to forests and the animals within them

crab:

krabbeanine: a gender related to crabs, warm shores, shorelines, lobsters, seashells, and sunshine. feels warm and fluid.

crabian: a gender that moves slowly but still exists, similar to a crab. also related to the ocean and the beach.

crabgender: a gender connected heavily to crabs

latrusgender: a gender marked by a connection to or a love for coconut crabs

gendercancriformis: a gender that is shaped like a crab and is connected to crustaceans and summer

mushrooms/fungi:

calyptriformisae: a gender related to pink waxcap mushrooms

panmushroominae/panbasidiomycotae: a gender related to every type of mushroom and toadstool

dirtcoric: a xenogender related to dirtcore (includes aesthetics of woods, mushrooms, and other natural things that are generally dirty)

forestcoric: a xenogender related to or influenced by forestcore (includes aesthetics of moss, mushrooms, dirt, trees, mud, sticks, deer, bears, raccoons, beetles, and dead leaves)

panascomycotae: a gender related to all sac fungi

amanitagender: a floragender that is sometimes dangerous and toxic, but other times is not

cordycepgender: a floragender that feeds off of other genders, working to replace them entirely over time

astreaeugender: a floragender that slowly matures, splitting open at maturity to reveal more delicate layers on the inside

marismiagender: a floragender that will sometimes shrivel up and wilt, but always bounces back just as strong

mushgender: a neurogender in which one’s special interest in and/or hyperfixation on mushrooms is so intense that it completely encapsulates their gender, making them unable to separate the special interest/hyperfixation from their gender. similar to when one finds a rotting log covered in mushrooms, the original gender is less than it was before because it has been overtaken.

genderfunginus: a gender that is related to mushrooms, fungi, and summer. may also be connected to warm weather and rainy gardens.

mycogender: a gender relating to fungi/mushrooms

forgalium: a gender related to a forest full of mushrooms on a foggy night

faezyngender: a gender connected to faeries and magic that flows through the breeze of a glowing mushroom forest

mycetgender: a gender relating to mushrooms that is natural, yet arcane

myceliumgender: a xenogender connected to mycelium and mushrooms that is associated with decomposition, death, change/fluidity, and growth

mushroomgender: a term for one who feels heavily connected to mushrooms and doesn’t care about gender

eldritch beings:

nnygender: a gender influenced by the ancient eldritch horror that lives in your walls

tarantulagender/tarantulae: being genderless with femininine energies and the appeal of being a totally unidentifiable eldritch being

leviangender/leviathae: being genderless with masculine energies and the appeal of being a totally unidentifiable eldritch being

eldrigender: a gender (or lack thereof) that is dark, nebulous, and ultimately unknowable

eldritchine: a gender connected in some way (aesthetically, kin, xenic, etc) to eldritch horrors

vazmisgender: a gender describable in similar ways to azathoth; a calm chaos, vast, magical, nebulous (or generally connected to celestial bodies) gender with a crystal fluidity (can change shape, but the gender itself will never change) that can be influenced by music and is connected to femininity

voggender: a gender describable in similar ways to a shoggoth; a calm chaos, small and contained (as compared to vast), magical gender that is connected to celestial bodies and has a crystal fluidity

hadogender: a gender connected to the deep ocean and eldritch secrets

elingender: a gender that’s eldritch in nature

eltrok: an identity for eldritch deities in systems

deathcute: a xenogender that feels like death, darkness, horror, and monsters, but in a wholesome way that is also endearing, comforting, beautiful, and whimsical. ‘scary’ things feel like home. this gender feels like spectral horrors and eldritch abominations who are lovable and good for one’s soul. it’s like looking into an eternal abyss and being overcome with emotion as you realize it’s made of the same hellfire as you.

soupgender/soupcoric: a mixture of aesthetigenders, eldritchine, gendercute, and genderfluid. when your gender is eldritch, unknowable, or abstract in a way beyond human comprehension, but also blurred or fluid with a softer, kinder gender that may be described as cute or sweet

[phoenixyfriend]

would you ever write a naruto/girl genius crossover?

Let’s play Writer’s Would You Ever

Send me an ask that says “Would you ever write…” and continue the sentence.

I’ll respond with yes or no and give an explanation as to why if I want to.

-------

OKAY SO the answer is, in short, Yes. If I ever have the time, I do have a plot in mind. I think I’ve even talked about it on tumblr before, but it does fall into my usual crossover plot of “canon plot, but Anevka is here to ruin everything.”

Basically, start in the Chuunin Exams. Various Genin teams run into a weird circle of metal women in the Forest of Death. They’re not statues, quite, but they don’t seem to be alive.

Usually.

Konoha shinobi know to be careful. The metal ladies have been there a very long time, and it’s one of the few things that the Jounin-sensei warn their students about in detail. You don’t fuck with the metal ladies in the forest. They give out advice, once in a while, and the one without a mouth will play games that have messages almost nobody can really understand.

But they usually don’t give orders. They usually don’t trap a foreign Jinchuuriki for hours in some hellish parody of a faerie circle (and Konoha shinobi wouldn’t know what the fae are, except one of the metal ladies explained when they first showed up, generations back). They usually don’t taunt passing Uzumaki with knowledge that there’s a relative in the woods with them. They don’t usually pause the most sensible-looking Konoha genin they see (it’s either TenTen or Shino), hand them a faded old business card with foxed edges, and tell them to make sure the Hokage sends for The Storm Princess.

Like.

That doesn’t usually happen.

But they do it, and the Hokage is like ‘Cool, I will absolutely do that AFTER the exams are over and I don’t have to deal with This Entire Mess’

Except then he dies

And it takes a solid month after for Tsunade to come home and take over and be like “Hey, what the FUCK is this outdated business card on Sensei’s desk? Who thought this was--what the fuck?”

So she calls together two teams: Team Seven (because they handle weird bullshit all the time, and also she kind of wants them out of the village for a bit while she Handles Some Things), and Team Gai (because TenTen got the card, and also Lee just got his legs healed and is being VERY LOUD about it). Gai himself is not going, because he’s needed Elsewhere, which means that Kakashi is stuck wrangling six teenyboppers, and the only one with a Tolerable Personality for any extended period of time is TenTen.

And they go to some weird biochemical research lab that’s mostly funded by nearby civilian governments, are greeted by what seems to be a human, but is revealed to not be when she steps away from the reception desk, and they all just. Wait there.

And then a Very Noble-Dressed robot woman comes out of the back like Well Hello There!

They can’t say her name. She tells them to call her Arashi-hime. They go with it because what else are they going to do? They pass over the card and she smiles and nods and tells them it’ll just be a moment to prepare the carriage.

“The carriage?”

“Well, I’m afraid I can’t quite move at your speeds for more than a few minutes.”

“I shall carry you!”

Lee attempts to pick her up.

He manages for about five seconds, but it is immediately clear that it’s not something he’s going to be something he can manage at anything approaching high speeds.

“I know it’s rude to ask a lady’s weight...” Kakashi tries.

“Oh, some 900 kilograms, last I checked.”

She is a robot lady. She is Very Heavy, and while someone could carry her, probably, it’s really easier on everyone to just get the Motorized Carriage, which is not a car, because it moves about on spider legs and is very unnerving to see in action.

“I don’t suppose you know WHY the metal circle asked for you?” Kakashi asks.

“Oh, the Muses tend to know things. Events are in motion and, well, I won’t say you need me, but I have quite a lot of information.”

I’m gonna be honest and say that, even if they try to like her, it’s really, really hard to like Anevka when she’s being an asshole on purpose, and sometimes when she isn’t.

Especially when she states that she wants to bring her own guard.

Which are Geisterdamen she appropriated from Lucrezia.

It’s fine.

[acovenofcaffineandchaos]

What are spirit guides?

Spirit guides have many ‘guises’ and come from many sources. Your guide might be a deceased relative who communicates with you in a way that you recognize, or the energy feels familiar. They could appear in dreams, bring messages and ideas directly into your mind or assist you to feel ‘urges’ which guide you one way or another on the physical or spiritual path ahead.

You might have a prominent animal guide who acts as a companion or brings you the attributes of the animal itself (a dog brings loyalty or a fox cunning or guile for example). They could be with you your whole life through or maybe just pop in from time to time to assist you with specific lessons. Some people connect to the nature realms and feel their guides’ energy is more like that from the faerie kingdoms; whilst others feel a strong connection to inter-dimensional beings from beyond the stars. Your guide could come from other worlds or realms, maybe even places that your own spirit once resided; other planets. In almost every case we will feel a sort of authority and wisdom from our guides, knowing that they have more information than we and are in a position to assist us on our earthly journey. Our spirit guides are wiser and kindly beings who have volunteered to help us on our path knowing their reward is to witness and share in our spiritual growth. They love to help us in the same way a parent helps a child.

Unlike guardian angel’s whose role is more about love, your spirit guide has a greater understanding about your life purpose and will work hard to make sure you are in the right place at the right time to achieve your goals; the things you planned to do during your current lifetime on earth. Their role is a greater responsibility of guiding and steering us, cheering us on and helping us out. Sometimes it seems as if they literally hold our hands and lead us to where we need to go. They might arrange for ‘coincidental’ meetings or help us to be in the place we are meant to be so that important life lessons can happen. They might whisper words of reassurance or help us to find the information we need to get the job done. Your life path might involve the opportunity to become more patient, kind or maybe help others. Our spirit guides will help as much as they can to ensure we get the opportunities to experience whatever we need to grow in these areas.

People become aware of their guides in numerous ways. You might feel a sense of your guide being by your side if you feel sad or lonely for example. In your mind you might cry out for help and suddenly feel calm or as if someone is now holding your hand or placing a reassuring hand upon your shoulder. This might well be your guide. Another time you may be struggling for a solution to a problem, ‘wish’ that someone could give you some guidance and then get a strong feeling to take one path over another. Remember to say thank you afterward and also after you recognize their assistance when it comes. They might use a variation of signs to help you or you might feel or sense your guide assisting you with a feeling. When you feel strongly that a particular action is a bad one or a good one, you may literally feel it in your gut. Some people call this gut instinct or intuition. You could feel a fluttering of excitement (like butterflies) in your stomach to show you that you are definitely in the right direction; or a tightening or sickness, when something is wrong for you. The more you follow these signals the stronger they become. You and your spirit guide will work more closely together as you learn to recognize what each feeling means to you.

Not everyone has one right away, or notices their guide if they have one. Every experience is unique in its own right, and we shouldn’t diminish others’ by invalidating them through our personal beliefs.

- Black Magpie

[greentrickster]

justanother--fan

True. I have always been curious about faeries but I’m not sure if the books that I’ve read are accurate in representing them. Do you have book recs for me?

Were you also taught to not point with your fingers? We were told that finger pointing might offend otherworldly creatures who live there. If that happens, we have to bite our finger to take back the action and avoid their revenge. So we do this instead:

It’s harder to lip point while wearing masks though!

She’s a pacifist, but the creatures would not want to incur the wrath of Greeeeeennn!

From what I’ve heard, the generic haunted house is a Victorian house. Is this true? Why was death so prominent in that era compared to others?

Ha-ha. They have a weird way of converting people. They converted us by colonization. Pretty effective. “Join our religion or die!”

Halloweens are fun when we were young! I remember dressing up as a severed head and sneaking up into children. It was made out of a paper plate, an old dress and a mannequin. It’s really hard to describe but it looks like this:

I will, but Maya always flies away when I get near (._.)

Look at 10 year old me just rocking the twin tails, ahahahahaha! I got a ton of candies too ;)

Where do squirrels live? Do they have some kind of nest, much like a bird?

I think they call it Native because it’s indigenous here but they’re not wild dogs. Filipinos didn’t interfere with their breeding so they ended up breeding from a variety of mutts and mixed breeds that are roaming the Philippine islands. This made them much healthier than the average dog, but also made it impossible for researchers to find their ancestry. This is why the Aspin isn’t recognized as an official dog breed internationally.

What. Wolves and foxes? Do you live in the provincial side of the country? I live near the capital, so animals  aren’t that common.

New thread (again)!

Faeries are especially hard to say what is true and what isn’t, just because there are so many conflicting beliefs about them. I think the best way to describe it is, they aren’t generally malicious, but they are very other. They value good manners and generosity, like sweet things and milk and the songs and stories humans create, and sometimes the prettier members of our society as well, but also enjoy mischief and tricks. However, at the same time, the rules they live by aren’t necessarily the same ones we live by - if you think of it as cultural miscommunication, it makes a surprising amount of sense. Some are kinder, some are crueler, but mostly the seem to simply be themselves, like any other people. It’s generally agreed that green is the colour of the faeries.

For books... they’re not specifically about the fae, but just in terms of some volumes of good, multicultural folklore, Tatterhood and Other Tales is a great book, and The Maid of the North is another good one. Bonus points: both books contain traditional stories starring female leads.

We’re told not to point our fingers at people in just because it’s ‘rude’ in general. This doesn’t tend to stop anyone, including me. If you’re not pointing at a person - say, you’re pointing out a tree for someone to look at, that’s considered fine.

I wouldn’t call myself a pacifist so much as a pragmatist. I’d much prefer to settle things peacefully, but I’ll stand my ground if I have to when it comes to this sort of thing.

Yes, that’s true about Victorian houses being the classical ‘haunted house’ image’! I think it’s because, by North American standards, they’re very old, both in age and appearance, and look different than modern architecture. Plus they’re big and expensive to keep. So the crumbling house down the street that no one could afford and thus it fell to ruin, rotting away from the inside as nature reclaims it from the outside... it’s spooky and stuff!

Gotta remember, holidays like Halloween and Christmas and stuff had their dates set when Christianity was a way younger religion, and was still pretty new to the West. When it was being introduced to the Celts and the Vikings and the people in those areas by conquerors and colonists from the East. It’s a Middle Eastern religion originally. So the way it’s been introduced to and/or forced on other people over the ages has changed over time.

You looked truly terrifying, if I saw you out on the street like this today I probably scream!

Squirrels live in the hollows of trees and in the crooks of branches, and make nests out of fallen leaves.

Oops, my mistake! They should be, they sound like very good dogs!

I live on the East Coast, within a day’s drive of the ocean. Wolves would have been common in the area I live in when the settlers arrived, but I don’t think they run wild anywhere in the state anymore. As for where my family’s home is, we live in suburbia, so not rural, but also not the city. Foxes are clever buggers, they’re good at surviving wherever you drop them - rural, suburban, urban. A lot of people consider them vermin, but I’ve always loved them. We live near a slightly foresty area and have a creek in our backyard, so there’s a decent number of animals around. Lots of birds, plenty of rabbits, some frogs and salamanders, the occasional opossum or skunk, and, of course, the groundhogs who want to eat Mom’s vegetable garden. We have some of the smartest, best fed groundhogs around; Mom despairs.

[driedletters]

The Cruel Prince • Holly Black     ★★★★★

•  Quotes

Jude ran at the man, slamming her fists against his chest, kicking at his legs. She wasn’t even scared. She wasn’t sure she felt anything at all.

•

As for dancing, once begun, you mortals will dance yourselves to death if we don’t prevent it.

•

Three is an odd configuration of sisters. There’s always one on the outside.

•

“Dirt. It’s what you came from, mortal. It’s what you’ll return to soon enough. Take a big bite.” “Make me,” I say before I can stop myself.

•

Nicasia’s wrong about me. I don’t desire to do as well in the tournament as one of the fey. I want to win. I do not yearn to be their equal. In my heart, I yearn to best them.

•

Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest, with black hair as iridescent as a raven’s wing and cheekbones sharp enough to cut out a girl’s heart. I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe.

•

You mean because of Cardan and his Court of Jerks?

•

The pictures are taken one right after the other, the kind you have to sit in a booth for. Vivi is in the photos, her arm draped over the shoulders of a grinning, pink-haired mortal girl.

Having stepped off the edge, what I want to do is fall.

•

Liking both girls and boys is the only thing in this scenario Madoc wouldn’t be upset with Vivi about.

•

I delight in the chemicals that would doubtless sicken all the lords and ladies at the Court.

•

We’ve gone three rounds like this already. I keep thinking of the lazy blink of Cardan’s lashes over his coal-bright eyes. He looked gleeful, gloating, as though my fist tightening on his shirt was exactly what he would have wished. As though, if I struck him, it would be because he had made me do it.

•

Beg. Make it pretty. Flowery. Worthy of me.

•

You think because you can humiliate me, you can control me? Well, I think you’re an idiot. Since we started being tutored together, you’ve gone out of your way to make me feel like I’m less than you. And to coddle your ego, I have made myself less. I have made myself small, I have kept my head down. But it wasn’t enough to make you leave Taryn and me alone, so I’m not going to do that anymore.

• 

As I make my way back to the tournament and my sisters, I can’t stop thinking of Cardan’s shocked face, nor can I stop considering Locke’s smile. I am not altogether sure which is more thrilling and which more dangerous.

•

Not that I’d be the first to green gown her. Faeries

•

It feels a little bit like expecting a proposal of marriage, only to get offered the role of mistress.

•

“Now no one will be able to control you,” he says, and then pauses for a moment. “Except for me.”

•

Truly, he has come by his cruelty honestly in Balekin’s care. He has been raised up in it, instructed in its nuances, honed through its application. However horrible Cardan might be, I now see what he might become and am truly afraid.

•

Welcome,” says the Roach, “to the Court of Shadows.”

•

Not totally Cardan’s puppet like the rest of them.

•

Hard enough to dig through the page, maybe to scar the desk beneath. If that’s what he did to the paper, I shudder to think what he wants to do to me.

•

I have been trying to feel nothing about what happened. I am afraid that if I begin to feel, I won’t be able to bear it. I am afraid that the emotion will be like a wave sucking me under.

It’s not the first awful thing I have endured and pushed into the back of my brain. That’s how I’ve been coping, and if there’s another, better way, I do not know it.

•

He’s kind of a weird kid, maybe because he’s a faerie or maybe because all kids, human or inhuman, are equally weird.

•

Why don’t you ever trust me with him?” I shout, and Oriana wheels around, shocked that I said a thing we don’t say.

•

Mithridatism, it’s called. Isn’t that a funny name? The process of eating poison to build up immunity. So long as I don’t die from it, I’ll be harder to kill.

•

I do not understand why he likes me, but it is exciting to be liked.

•

We are children of tragedy.” He shakes his head and then smiles. “This is not how I meant to begin. I meant to give you wine and fruit and cheese. I meant to tell you how your hair is as beautiful as curling woodsmoke, your eyes the exact color of walnuts. I thought I could compose an ode about it, but I am not very good at odes.”

•

He watches me as the girl kisses his mouth, watches me as she slides her hand beneath the hem of his silly, ruffly shirt.

•

Do not reveal your skill with a blade. Do not reveal your mastery over glamour. Do not reveal all that you can do. Little did Prince Dain know that my real skill lies in pissing people off.

•

I think of Cardan’s mouth, flaked with gold

•

I love my parents’ murderer; I suppose I could love anyone. I’d like to love him.

•

Time to change partners,” a voice says, and I look to see that it’s the worst person possible: Cardan. “Oh,” he says to Locke. “Did I steal your line?”

•

Dark silver paint streaks over his cheekbones, and black lines run along his lashes. The left one is smeared, as though he forgot about it and wiped his eye.

•

With a sigh, I take down my braids, rubbing my hands through my hair until it hangs wild in my face. “You look…” he says, and then trails off, blinking a few times, not seeming able to finish. I am guessing the hair thing worked better than he had expected.

•

Jude?” he asks, up against the wall, pronouncing my name carefully, as though to avoid slurring. I am not sure I have ever heard him use my actual name before. “Surprised?” I ask, a fierce grin starting on my face. The most important boy in Faerie and my enemy, finally in my power. It feels even better than I thought it would. “You shouldn’t be.”

•

The High King Balekin is a friend to my lady’s Court,” Cardan says, silver-tongued in his silver fox mask.

•

Tell me anyway,” he says, and yawns. I really want to slap him.

•

I hate how I feel around him, the irrational panic when I touch his skin.

•

Cardan’s clothes are disarranged, from crawling under tables or being captured and tied, and his infamous tail is showing under the white lawn of his shirt. It is slim, nearly hairless, with a tuft of black fur at the tip. As I watch, the tail forms one wavering curve after another, snaking back and forth, betraying his cool face, telling its own story of uncertainty and fear.

•

Only in my dreams has Cardan ever been like this. Begging. Miserable. Powerless

•

...a love mark on my brow so all who looked upon me would be sick with desire, ...

•

Let’s talk about your behavior tonight,” says Madoc, leaning forward. “Let’s talk about your behavior tonight,” I return.

•

So he proposed to you,” I say. “While the royal family got butchered. That’s so romantic.

•

I think of Cardan tied to a chair to cheer myself.

•

Then I think of the way he looked up at me through the curtain of his crow-black hair, of the curling edges of his drunken smile, and I don’t feel in the least bit comforted.

•

... ‘mortal feelings are so volatile that it’s impossible to help toying with them a little’.

•

He smiles down at me, as if the reason I’m on my knees is because I am curtsying.

•

I’m nervous,” he says. “I smile a lot when I’m nervous. I can’t help it

•

Very well.” He fixes me with a spiteful look. “I hate you because your father loves you even though you’re a human brat born to his unfaithful wife, while mine never cared for me, though I am a prince of Faerie. I hate you because you don’t have a brother who beats you. And I hate you because Locke used you and your sister to make Nicasia cry after he stole her from me. Besides which, after the tournament, Balekin never failed to throw you in my face as the mortal who could best me.

•

Most of all, I hate you because I think of you. Often. It’s disgusting, and I can’t stop.”

•

Just looking at him makes me feel hot with shame. “You sure you brought me here just to talk.

•

Jude Duarte, daughter of clay, I swear myself into your service. I will act as your hand. I will act as your shield. I will act in accordance with your will. Let it be so for one year and one day…and not for one minute more.

•

I fix him with a look. “I can be charming. I charmed you, didn’t I?” He rolls his eyes. “Do not expect others to share my depraved tastes.”

•

Oh, really?” The human surprises me by speaking first. “Yes, mortal,” I say, like the hypocrite I am. 

•

We go over the plans again, and Cardan helps us map out Hollow Hall. I try not to be too conscious of his long fingers tracing over the paper, of the sick thrill I get when he looks at me.

•

By this point, I have told this story enough that it’s easy to hit only the necessary parts, to run through the information quickly and convincingly

•

With Vivi, I feel forever doomed to be the little sister, foolish and about to topple over onto my face.

•

I do not have endless patience,” Balekin growls. “Cultivate it,” Cardan says, and with a small bow, he navigates us away from Balekin and Madoc.

•

Jude?” I may never be used to the sound of my name on his lips.

•

The Ghost tosses the crown to my identical twin. It falls at Taryn’s feet.

•

Of Nicasia giving Cardan a lingering kiss on his royal cheek.

•

He rises from the throne. “Come, have a seat.” His voice is replete with danger, lush with menace. The flowering branches have sprouted thorns so thickly that petals are barely visible. “This is what you wanted, isn’t it?” he asks. “What you sacrificed everything for. Go on. It’s all yours.”

•  Black, Holly. “The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air Book 1)”. 2018.

[fallingin-like]

november 1

atlas by @purearcticfire / @pipedream-truths 

see which other fics i’m reviewing this month! / my review request post!

a magic au that features shapeshifters and a cursed neil, so immediately you know i’ll like it. this fic has some cool uses of italics, caps, spacing, etc. that creates a stylized story that helps build tone and gives the story a clearer voice. this was such a fun read and it gets very intense. this fic is incomplete.

[also! this review is formatted differently than all the rest, my apologies if it’s a bit harder to read]

okay so i really can’t review this fic without talking about the petty races. the rookie’s foot race is just so perfect for neil, of course he’d be obsessed with them. i think it was also an amazing introduction to this universe, and how different people can use their powers in different ways, the existence of potions, half transformations, what the transformations look like for different people. it’s such a fascinating was to learn and see how neil uses all these things in his strategy to win. we see that pegasi exist?? i’m so interested in learning all the intricacies of the creatures and magic in this universe. i really like shapeshifter!au’s, probably because i really want to be able to shapeshift.

i love reading about neil during these foot races, i feel so invested in his success, i’m excited when i see that he’s about to win, and heartbroken when he doesn’t. you are so good at conveying his experience during that second race. the way you write when neil is disoriented confuses me too, i’m lost in the orange and memories, and then of course, the curse. one of my favourite parts of this fic is the repetition of ‘blood of years, blood of tears, blood of fears’ etc. ugh it’s just so good, gives me chills. the curse causing his old wounds to reopen, the black blood to seep everywhere, the loss of movement in some of his limbs, it’s all so ominous and mysterious. i also like the way that you combine canon events with your fic, how neil meets hernandez and how that introduces him to the foxes. it’s so fluid and natural. the hatford grimoire is really cool too and i love that nobody else will be able to read it. makes me worry less for future neil’s privacy haha

the concept of being inside neil’s magic is so unique, seeing the bonds that he shares, how he mourns the bond with his mother. one of the things that has stuck with me the most about this whole fic is the forest that is introduced, with all of his bonds to the animals he can shift into, wow. i’ll get into this more when i get to that part of the fic.

although this fic is, for the most part serious, i admire your ability to lighten the tone. it makes it seem more realistic. the easy camaraderie between hernandez and neil like when he says ‘if i ever need a team of getaway drivers, i’ll know who to call first.’ and of course we get a glimpse of Neil Bad Ideas Josten when he says ‘he could just… run another race’

i really enjoy reading from andrew’s perspective, so it’s great that this fic does a mix of both neil and andrew povs. wymack having fire powers that correspond to his tattoos? oh yeah. the scene where kevin is first introduced is so well written, detailed but still able to convey the panic and quick decisions being made. and of course, neil’s race. it feels so typically neil to enter the race and actually win it, almost without the use of magic. and the consequences of the magic he does do is scares me everytime. i can imagine the black blood so vividly, imagine neil stubbornly not accepting the temporary paralysis of his legs. i can’t help but think, he must be so scared under all of that. the unknown of this curse, being trapped with unfamiliar people, the loss of his mother.

andrew and renee’s relationship is always an interesting one. i liked the way you used it, to introduce the characters and also establish the tone of these foxes. i thought it was super cute that the two of them ended up building tiny matchstick houses (and also it makes me really want to build a tiny matchstick house). it seems like such an andrew tactic to use horse tranquilizer. like boy, you’re wondering why neil has built up immunity to horse tranquilizer (which is fair and also hilarious),and i’m over here wondering why you guys are carrying around horse tranquilizer in the first place.

the concept of wymack’s key is really cool to me, it helps demonstrate what magic is capable of in this universe and also who wymack is. it being a sigil that can be transferred to any vessel? ahh i love it, and you know that this will be important later in the story. there’s so much anticipation to hear that neil is going to run for the foxes, i feel like that’s kind of a given, but it doesn’t make it any less exciting to see what’s in store for the team and what different events are offered at these competitions. i like the way you describe the shadows and that they’re alive and should be respected. also what in the world the annex is so cool, i am always interested in hearing about buildings with magical space that expands/contracts. is the building sentient? or do people have to use magic to expand it? neil’s thoughts in this annex are such a great addition to this chapter. ‘but this shop the annex-it’s a place to rest. that knowledge was a knife scraping against his ribs. his heartstrings tangled in a knot of want and need and he had no idea how much he would lose if he snipped it clean. when he cut and run… he should be scared of what lies behind that secret door. instead he paces in the back room, scared he won’t ever get to see it again.’ i love that imagery about the knife, i know how that feels. to do the thing that you know is self destructive because you want so bad. and in the midst of his inner turmoil, we have andrew, who breaks neil free of this. 

have you ever read ‘the rithmatist’ by brandon sanderson? it’s a really interesting book (i think it’s a series but i only read the first one) and the arimathean circle and every mention of runes reminds me of it. and we meet kevin! this first interaction between them is the best.

k-you still can’t do magic?

n-want to find out

k-andrew i thought you didnt break the curse

a-i didn’t

k-so you can’t do magic

n-fight me

I LOVE THIS. also: rosemary (love how it is repeated throughout the fic. it was something i really remembered and enjoyed. does that work irl too? bc goodness knows i need help w/ fatigue) and of course, ‘i’m training with kevin’, ‘for how long?’, ‘neil blanks his face. “til i’m the best”’ haha these boys. and then neil just goes and injures himself as much as possible in the arena. an homage to him blowing out his arms trying to score against andrew? or just neil being himself and not understanding that sometimes you need to stop.

renee being a bloodbender?? so perfect. it also reminds me of gluupor’s fic “no mourners, no funerals” where she was a heartrender. these powers fit renee so well, with the ability to do so much bad and so much good. ‘one more thing. are your parents still alive?’ i’ve read this fic twice now (on my third time) and each time this makes me start to sweat. because at this point we don’t really know what’s going on with nathan?? is he actually dead or has he convinced himself that he is dead and is secretly alive. i like the way that you had andrew dig through neil’s stuff while he was sleeping. sometimes i can find the way the author is writing their fic makes it hard for me to believe that he would leave his duffel alone. andrew being one-upped by neil’s gun? totally unexpected but it’s one of the only believable ways that this version of andrew would leave neil alone i think. this scar reveal was really good too, it adds suspense to the curse and i just really like when neil shows his scars off i guess.

columbia time! sometimes i can forget that neil doesn’t know the rest of the foxes and i really like his reaction to meeting aaron. he’s immediately concerned and i’m immediately interested in the existence of a face changer. faeries!! i really like that eden’s is faerie land, where it’s always twilight and it’s the perfect setting for the Interrogation that we all know is to come. also what in the world andrew and aaron just make a truth serum in like 0.2 seconds?? wild times. and, of course, neil shifts into a cat, both to escape this situation and to be dramatic. i am wondering though, why has he avoided shifting up until this point? is it because they think this may cause the curse to get worse? oh dang wait is it because the rest of the foxes don’t know he’s a shifter yet? also what’s with the time between aaron and andrew? what do they do during this time?

great scene with wymack and andrew. they have such a unique relationship, wymack is likely the first adult that andrew has trusted. and he’s trusted him with a lot. wymack has given andrew a place to be, a team to compete with, a job, and a family. the two of them are both just trying to keep the people they love safe and i think that’s part of why they understand each other.

wow something i love in general, not just in fics or as part of this fandom, is capable characters. it gets me so excited to hear how skilled neil is in his shifting. when we are in his perspective, it’s such an ordinary thing for him, he just shifts and that’s it. for andrew to say that neil’s shifting is like artistry? i’m so far gone right now. 

THIS NEXT PART IS ONE OF MY FAVOURITE PARTS!! first, love the idea of astral projections, it’s such a smart way to do this. but the best best part of this scene is when neil gets his chance to yell at kevin. i can’t imagine how much fun this must have been to write. and then we have neil, paying the price for using his magic to help kevin. i can’t read fast enough as andrew tries to find a way to get through the circle before neil drowns in his blood. are you kidding me, following such a lighthearted scene by breaking my heart. this is the definition of hurt/comfort, i think. we have the boys playing around, then almost losing neil, and we get to experience neil’s magic greeting andrew. ‘hello rock, for it knows him as the rock the curse breaks against.’ what a beautiful sentence. and andrew, leaving himself vulnerable to the world, does his best to help neil. ‘just andrew, breaking curses and breaking himself in the process.’ ahh you have such a way with words. it seems so simple. it’s so easy to read and it seems like it was so easy to write. like the words just flowed out of you and to me. all the imagery of the grove of neil’s magic is so wonderful, the wisps and bonds, and rock. it’s so interesting seeing this other side of the curse’s destruction. we learn more about andrew too, about his connection to curses, ‘maybe a curse isn’t so different from me, the world determined to break the both of us.’ oh my goodness andrew. also! i always forget that neil has his true appearance hidden!! bless the reveal of how he’s somehow even more attractive than we thought before. ‘neil rolls his eyes so hard he topples over’ i have this sentence bookmarked (i have the fic downloaded so i can read it offline) because i love this so much haha. 

okay so i knew that andrew had no magic because i’ve read this fic before, but the first time i did i was blown away! wymack’s fire whiskey is so cool! i’d be so interested in hearing if other people can do that with their powers. can andrew drink whiskey with renee’s magic and be able to do blood magic? 

this chapter has race day! i think one of the best things that you do with this fic is how well you explain the universe. you describe the magic without just telling us what it’s like, just letting readers experience it for themselves and learn new things as the story progresses. you don’t do this when explaining the relay. (and that’s a good thing) you are clear on how the rules work, on what the objectives of each team, and position is, who will be doing what, and how the game is won. by getting this out of the way, it allows the readers to really focus on what’s actually happening, and not trying to understand what everyone is doing. i am easily confused, but the relay was so clear that i didn’t have any trouble understanding. at the same time, you did it in a way that wasn’t boring. i’m so glad, because the relay was so entertaining. i was so invested, what an intense game, especially with so many players that are simultaneously doing different tasks. it’s different from exy, where the main focus is on where the ball is. you did a really great job with this part!!

renee and andrew’s text conversation was really cute~ and then you go and destroy me with the andrew/lola confrontation. hhhh i can’t describe how i felt reading this section of this chapter other than just asldjflaskd. bless andrew for his arimathean circle, i’m glad someone around here is using their brain because whAT IN THE WORLD NEIL YOU JUST GO WITH RIKO AND TURN INTO A RAVEN AND THEN USE YOUR MAGIC AND PASS OUT. everything is so wild and so crazy and then to end the chapter you have something funny??? i don’t understand how you can be so good at writing to do this?? i just absolutely adore neil’s texts. something about the lowercase, the lack of punctuation, and just his nonchalance about the whole situation. i really cannot believe that you were able to tie up this crazy amazing chapter so perfectly. 

the beginning of the final chapter dives right in immediately. i always like when fics have neil having nightmares while in the car, of course he does. it seems likely to me that he associates falling asleep in the car with his time on the run, and his body can’t help but fall back into the panic mode that it must have been stuck in for years. and yet now, andrew being hurt is one of his biggest fears, it shows the evolution of the relationship with him. and ugh i love the end of this scene, andrew’s fear is shown, even if you never directly describe it.

this next part is a shifting point in the fic too, when we see how strong the bond between andrew and neil is, when they share what has happened to them, when we learn that when neil shifts it stops the curse. also maybe i’m just going a little crazy from such a long review, but i don’t understand what happens when neil and bee introduce themselves? why does andrew laugh?? but man i love the death humour that you incorporate so seamlessly. deadline?? the best is that it’s wymack and he didn’t even mean it!! 

rosemary rosemary!! sooo cute. i also like the formatting for neil doing the meditating thing with bee, the new lines are so nice. it makes the words seem quieter? somehow it sets the tone better.

okay so any time before where i said that it was my favourite part? i was wrong. because neil shifting into all these animals? it’s probably my favourite part of this whole fic. the mannerisms he adopts while a different animal are really interesting to read about. i especially liked all the times when he sank too deep into the skin. with the crow, being distracted by something shiny, processing humanspeak, fully taking on the mind of a crow. bolting as a wolf. you also take this opportunity and have a lot of fun with it, which makes it fun to read. neil being a chihuahua? adorable. a ferret? cute! i feel like i remember him being a goat but now i can’t find if that actually happened. and the mentions of neil being a moose or zebra or cow oh my goodness haha i love it! cat!neil is something that makes me feel so soft. (also reminds me of idnis’ fic curiousity killed the cat. which i adore) i think that being a cat would be really fun. and oh, to hear that the curse still affects neil in his different skins. “andrew andrew you’re the only person i want to be around when i’m in pain the person i always want to be around’ i can’t even describe how this makes me feel. i love that you don’t have punctuation, it fits how i would think bond communication works. i read this and i get achy, it’s so much and i want so bad.

another thing that i remembered liking so clearly were the little bits that you have in all caps. they are perfect breaks in the chapter that feel kind of like a warning. you know something bad is coming. maybe you’re going to explain it in the last chapter what it is? it is obviously some sort of conversation. something found in the hatford grimoire? oh my goodness i totally forgot that we haven’t had much use of it, that must be something that’s going to be brought up again. ahhh. WAIT A SECOND IS IT TO GET US READY FOR THE FACT THAT NEIL’S BONDS WITH ALL THE ANIMALS HE CAN SHIFT INTO ARE GOING TO SACRIFICE THEMSELVES. oh hold on anothER second is it conversation between kevin and neil when they were training? ahhhHHh

the whole showdown is so intense and so fast and so well written i don’t know what else to say.

‘renee eviscerates her.’ - do i even need to comment on why i love this so much? it’s one of my bookmarks. i don’t have any notes, just the quote. 

i’ve reached the end of what’s posted right now. i’m glad that there’s still an update to come, although i accepted that this was the end of the fic (when i first read it i had believed that the fifth chapter was meant so that you could insert the art that corresponds to this fic)

as you can tell, there was so much i enjoyed about this fic. there’s something about the way that you write that is so simple. i don’t have to try when reading. it doesn’t feel like i’m reading, i’m just following the story. it’s also such a well developed universe and i’m really impressed by how you were able to incorporate all of the magical aspects into the plot and explain everything so clearly without it being too obvious. this fic was funny at all the right times, and yet had angst like woahhh. you maintained a great balance between lighthearted scenes, seriousness, relationship/character development, and plot. i get so lost in reading this fic that time passes so quickly.

i really hope that more people find this fic, i think it’s such a shame that it doesn’t seem to be as appreciated as it should be. you can tell it’s something special though, with so many people bookmarking it. thank you so so much for writing this fic and choosing to share it with the fandom! i am so excited that there is another chapter for this, i’m sure that it’s amazing, regardless of how you think it seems. 

[maddie-grove]

The Top Twenty Books I Read in 2019

My main takeaways from the past year’s reading:

Sometimes you think something is happening because of magic, but then it turns out to have a non-magical explanation so weird that you find yourself saying, “You know what? I wish faeries or God were responsible for this. I’d honestly feel less disturbed.”

Stop bathing and changing your clothes and shaving for three years, three months, and three days. You’ll find out who your real friends are. I promise you that.

I want more books about bisexual ladies!!! Give them to me!!!

Anyway...

20. The Prodigal Duke by Theresa Romain (2017)

Childhood sweethearts Poppy Hayworth and Leo Billingsley were separated when his older brother, a duke, sent him away to make his fortune. Years later, the duke is dead, a financially successful Leo has come back to England to take his place, and Poppy has become a rope dancer at Vauxhall Gardens after a life-shattering event. New sparks are flying between them, but is love possible when so much else has changed? Leo and Poppy are believable and charming as old friends, Romain makes great use of obscure historical details from the oft-depicted Regency period, and I loved Leo’s difficult but caring elderly uncle.

19. Simple Jess by Pamela Morsi (1996)

Althea Winsloe, a young widow in 1900s Arkansas, has no interest in remarrying, but almost everyone in her small Ozarks community is pressuring her to remarry, and she still needs someone to help farm her land. Enter Jesse Best, a strong young man with cognitive disabilities who’s happy to take on the work. As he makes improvements to her farm and bonds with her three-year-old son, Althea gets to know him better and starts to see him in a new light. This earthy romance could’ve been a disaster, but instead it illustrates how people with disabilities are often...uh...simplified and de-sexualized in a way that denies them autonomy. Morsi has a similarly nuanced take on Althea and Jesse’s community, which is claustrophobic and supportive all at once.

18. Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli (2018)

Outspoken and insecure, bisexual high school senior Leah Burke is having a tough year. Her friend group is in turmoil, her single mom is seriously dating someone, and she’s caught between a sweet boy she’s not sure about and a pretty, perfect straight girl who couldn’t possibly be into her...right??? The sequel to the very cute Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, Leah on the Offbeat pulls a The Godfather: Part II with its messy protagonist, sweetly surprising romance, and masterful comic set piece involving the Atlanta American Girl Doll restaurant.

17. Copper Sun by Sharon M. Draper (2006)

Kidnapped from her home in eighteenth-century Ghana, fifteen-year-old Amari is sold into slavery and winds up on a South Carolina plantation, where she faces terrible cruelty but finds friends in an enslaved cook, her little son, and eventually a sulky white indentured servant around her age. When their master escalates his already-atrocious behavior, the three young people flee south to the Spanish Fort Mose in search of freedom. Draper’s complicated characters, vivid descriptions, and deft handling of heavy subjects makes for top-notch historical YA fiction.

16. A Prince on Paper by Alyssa Cole (2019)

After her controlling politician father was jailed for poisoning a bunch of people in their small, prosperous African country, Nya Jerami gained unprecedented freedom but also became the subject of vicious gossip. Johan von Braustein, the hard-partying stepson of a European monarch, wants to help her, partly because he sympathizes and partly because he has a crush, but she thinks he’s too frivolous and horny (if wildly attractive). After an embarrassing misunderstanding compels them to enter a fake engagement, though, she begins to wonder if there’s more to him. I’m not a huge fan of contemporary romance, but this novel has the perfect combination of heartfelt emotion, delicious melodrama, and adorable fluff. 

15. One Perfect Rose by Mary Jo Putney (1997)

Stephen, the Duke of Ashburton, has always done the proper and responsible thing, but that all changes when he learns that he’s terminally ill. Wandering the countryside in the guise of an ordinary gentleman, he ends up joining an acting troupe and falling in love with Rosalind, the sensible adopted daughter of the two lead actors. Like another Regency romance on this list, this novel celebrates love in many forms: there’s the love story between Stephen and Rosalind, yes, but there’s also Rosalind’s loving relationship with her adopted family, the new bonds she forms with her long-lost blood relatives, the way her two families embrace the increasingly frightened Stephen, and the healing rifts between Stephen and his well-meaning but distant siblings. Stephen’s reconciliation with his mortality is also moving.

14. My One and Only Duke by Grace Burrowes (2018)

Facing a death sentence in Newgate, footman-turned-prosperous banker Quinton Wentworth decides to do one last good thing: marry Jane McGowan, a poor pregnant widow, so she and the baby will be financially set. Then he receives a pardon and a dukedom at the literal last minute, meaning that he and Jane have a more permanent arrangement than either intended. I fell in love with the kind-but-difficult protagonists almost at once, and with Burrowes’s gorgeous prose even faster. 

13. Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell (2013)

It’s 1986, and comics-loving, post-punk-listening, half-Korean Park and bright, weird, constantly bullied Eleanor are just trying to get through high school in their rough Omaha neighborhood. He’s only grudgingly willing to let her share his bus seat at first, but this barely civil acquaintance slowly thaws into friendship and blossoms into love. Far from being the whimsical eighties-nostalgia-fest I expected, this is a bittersweet love story about two isolated young people who find love, belonging, and a chance for self-expression with each other in an often-hostile environment (a small miracle pre-Internet).

12. Shrill by Lindy West (2016)

In this memoir, Lindy West talks about the difficulties of being a fat woman, the thankless task of being vocally less-than-enthused about rape jokes, the joys of moving past self-doubt, and the very real possibility that Little John from Disney’s Robin Hood was played by “bear actor” Baloo, among other subjects. I was having a hard time during my last semester of law school this past spring, and this book’s giddy humor and inspiring messages really helped me in my hour of need.

11. Seduction: Sex, Lies, and Stardom in Howard Hughes's Hollywood by Karina Longworth (2018)

In 1925, very young businessman Howard Hughes breezed into Hollywood with nothing but tons of family wealth, a soon-to-be-divorced wife, and a simple dream: make movies about fast planes and big bosoms. He got increasingly weird and reactionary over the next thirty years, then retired from public life. More a history of 1920s-1950s Hollywood than a biography, this book has the same sharp writing and in-depth film analysis that makes me love Longworth’s podcast You Must Remember This.

10. The Beguiled by Thomas Cullinan (1966)

In Civil-War-era Virginia, iron-willed Martha Farnsworth and her nervous younger sister try to run their nearly empty girls’ boarding school within earshot of a battlefield. When one girl finds Union soldier John McBurney injured in the woods, she brings him back to the house, where he exploits every conflict and secret among the eight girls and women (five students, two sisters, and one enslaved cook). Charming and manipulative, he nevertheless finds himself in over his head. Cullinan makes great use of the eight POVs and the deliciously claustrophobic setting; it’s fascinating to watch the power dynamics and allegiances shift from scene to scene.

9. A Gentleman Never Keeps Score by Cat Sebastian (2018)

Reserved tavern keeper Sam Fox wants to help out his brother’s sweetheart by finding and destroying a nude portrait she once sat for; disgraced gentleman Hartley Sedgwick isn’t sure what he wants after having his life ruined twice over, but he happened to inherit his house from the man who commissioned the painting...plus he’s not exactly reluctant to assist kind, handsome Sam in his quest. I wrote about this heart-melting romance two times last year; suffice it to say that it’s not only one of the best Regencies I’ve ever read, but also possibly the best romance I’ve ever read about the creation of a found family.

8. Frog Music by Emma Donoghue (2014)

Blanche Beunon, a French-born burlesque dancer in 1876 San Francisco, has a lot going on: her mooching boyfriend has turned on her, her sick baby is missing, and her cross-dressing, frog-hunting friend Jenny Bonnet was just shot dead right next to her. In the middle of a heat wave, a smallpox epidemic, and a little bit of mob violence, she must locate her son and solve Jenny’s murder. This is a glorious work of historical fiction; you can see, hear, smell, and feel the chaotic world of 1870s San Francisco, plus Blanche’s character arc is amazing.

7. The Patrick Melrose novels (Never Mind, Bad News, Some Hope, Mother’s Milk, and At Last) by Edward St. Aubyn (1992, 1992, 1994, 2005, and 2012, respectively)

Born to an embittered English aristocrat and an idealistic American heiress, Patrick Melrose lives through his father’s sadistic abuse and his mother’s willful blindness (Never Mind),  does a truly staggering amount of drugs in early adulthood (Bad News), and makes a good-faith effort at leading a normal life (Some Hope). Years later, the life he’s built with his wife and two sons is threatened by his alcoholism and reemerging resentment of his mother (Mother’s Milk), but there may be a chance to salvage something (At Last). Despite the suffering and cruelty on display, these novels were the farthest thing from a dismaying experience, thanks to the sharp characterization, grim humor, and great sense of setting. Also, I love little Robert Melrose, an anxious eldest child after my own heart. 

6. The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope (1974)

In 1550s England, no-nonsense Kate Sutton is exiled to the Perilous Gard, a remote castle occupied by suspicious characters, including the lord’s guilt-ridden younger brother Christopher. Troubled by the holes she sees in the story of the tragedy that haunts him, she does some problem-solving and ends up in a world of weird shit. Cleverly plotted, deliciously spooky, and featuring an all-time-great heroine, this book was an absolute treat. The beautiful Richard Cuffari illustrations in my edition didn’t hurt, either.

5. An Unconditional Freedom by Alyssa Cole (2019)

Daniel Cumberland, a free black man from New England traumatized from being sold into slavery, and Janeta Sanchez, a mixed-race Cuban-Floridian lady from a white Confederate family, have been sent on a mission to the Deep South by the Loyal League, a pro-Union spy organization. Initially hostile to everyone (but particularly to somewhat naive Janeta), Daniel warms to his colleague, but will her secrets, his shattered faith in justice, and the various dangers they face prevent them from falling in love? Nah. Alyssa Cole’s historical romances deliver both on the history and the romance, and this is one of her strongest entries.

4. The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite (2019)

Heartbroken by the death of her father and the marriage of her ex-girlfriend, Lucy Muchelney decides she needs a change of scenery and takes a live-in position translating a French astronomy text for Catherine St. Day, the recently widowed Countess of Moth. Catherine, used to putting her interests on hold for an uncaring spouse, is intrigued by this awkward, independent lady. I’ve read f/f romances before, but this sparkling Regency was the first to really blow me away with its fun banter, neat historical details, and perfect sexual tension.

3. The Wager by Donna Jo Napoli (2010)

After losing his entire fortune to a tidal wave, Sicilian nineteen-year-old Don Giovanni de la Fortuna sinks into poverty and near-starvation. Then Devil makes him an offer: all the money he wants for as long as he lives if he doesn’t bathe, cut his hair, shave, or change his clothes for three years, three months, and three days. This fairy-tale retelling is an extraordinarily moving fable about someone who learns to acknowledge his own suffering, recognize it in others, and extend compassion to all. 

2. Vampires in the Lemon Grove by Karen Russell (2013)

In this collection, Russell weaves strange tales of silkworm-women hybrids in Japan, seagulls who collect objects from the past and future, and, yes, vampires in the lemon grove. She also posits the very important question: “What if most (but not all) U.S. presidents were reincarnated as horses in the same stable and had a lot of drama going on?” My favorite stories were “Proving Up” (about a nineteenth-century Nebraska boy who encounters death and horror on the prairie), “The Graveless Doll of Eric Mutis” (about a disadvantaged high school student who discovers an effigy of the even more hapless boy he tormented), and “The Barn at the End of the Term” (the horse-president story). 

1. The Wonder by Emma Donoghue (2016)

Lib Wright, an Englishwoman who has floundered since her days working for Florence Nightingale during the Crimean War, is hired to observe Anna O’Donnell, an eleven-year-old Irish girl famous for not eating for four straight months. With a jaundiced attitude towards the Irish and Catholicism, Lib is confident that she’ll quickly expose Anna as a fraud, but she finds herself liking the girl and getting increasingly drawn into the disturbing mystery of her fast. Like The Perilous Gard, this novel masterfully plays with the possibility of the supernatural, then introduces a technically mundane explanation that’s somehow much more eerie. Donoghue balances the horror and waste that surrounds Anna, though, with the clear, bright prose and the moving relationship that develops between her and Lib, who grows beyond her narrow-mindedness and emotional numbness. I stayed up half the night to finish this novel, which cemented Emma Donoghue’s status as my new favorite author.

[mxliv-oftheendless]

Green Wounds, Ch. 4

And we’re back with Green Wounds! Here’s hoping Tumblr makes it easier to post this one... because I swear to God it should not have been that hard to post the KISS Unsolved story. But we’re not here to gripe about Tumblr. We’re here to see what’s up with Starchild! 

Hoo boy, I am actually excited for y’all to read this chapter. Some heavy shit goes down in this chapter and it was insanely fun to write it! If you guys have seen Maleficent, then you already know what’s gonna happen... 

Read on and enjoy! 

Starchild stayed in the ruins for a month, sending Peter every day to spy on the ongoings of Jendell. King William died after a fortnight—at which Starchild felt a rush of satisfaction—and his successor was to be crowned in some weeks after his marriage to the king’s daughter, Jeanette. But Peter never saw anything of Ace.

Peter flew down behind Starchild, who was staring out in the direction of Jendell. He was often staring out at the kingdom whenever Peter saw him. He wasn’t sure what Starchild did while he was off spying for him, but he hoped it wasn’t just staring out obsessively at the kingdom.

Starchild waved a hand and turned Peter back into a man. Peter immediately crashed painfully to the ground, letting out a groan of pain. He really hated being a bird—it felt like a betrayal to his feline species to have the form of one of their favorite animals to hunt. “Why do I always have to be a bird?” he grunted to Starchild as he picked himself up. “Can’t I be a cat?”

“Flying is faster,” Starchild replied bluntly, not turning around to him. “Did you see anything?”

Peter shrugged. “I saw a bunch of servants carryin’… carryin’ multicolored skin? And some of it looked like animal fur. What was that?”

“Probably clothes. Did you see what they did with them?”

“Uh, no, I didn’t. Other than that, I didn’t see anythin’ else.”

“Did you… see Ace?”

“Uh… no. I didn’t see him.”

He couldn’t see Starchild’s face, but from the way he spoke he sounded like he was frowning. “Fine. Go get some rest, and go back in the morning.”

“What do you even want to know about this Ace guy, anyway?” Peter asked, by this time very curious. “I thought you didn’t like humans.” Why would he? Humans were dirty, inelegant creatures. Not at all like the sleek, civilized superiority of the cats. “Plus, he stole your wings. I would think you wouldn’t want anything to do with him anymore.”

Starchild finally turned to look at him over his shoulder, and Peter was treated to an icy glare. “I don’t like humans. And I also don’t employ you to ask me ridiculous questions,” he said just as icily. “I have my reasons.” He turned back around. “Just… Just leave me alone. Go hunt or something.”

“… Could you turn me back to normal again?”

Without replying, Starchild waved his hand and Peter was (thankfully) turned back into a cat. Peter quickly slunk off to hunt, not wanting to be around the faerie longer than he had to be. 

-*-

What Peter was unaware of was that Starchild did not actually spend all day on a ledge in the ruins, staring out at Jendell. His days were usually spent going around the ruins, sometimes exploring and other times simply wandering. Occasionally he ventured out of the ruins into the fields.

On one such time, he was wandering along the edge of a field nearby a forest when suddenly rustling made him turn his head. There coming out of the forest was a red fox. When Starchild saw the tip of one of the fox’s ears burned off, he realized it was the fox he had encountered at the glade. Had it been following him?

Starchild frowned at the fox. “I thought I told you to go away,” he said to it, even though in the back of his mind he thought, You’re talking to a fox. A FOX.

The fox tilted its head and stared at him, with the same piercing, exposing stare. Starchild wanted to hit the fox with magic again, but this time stopped himself. Instead he tightened his grip on his walking stick and glared back at the fox. For a long, long moment, neither fox nor faerie moved. Then Starchild curled his free hand into a fist, his hand glowing dark purple, and ground out, “Go. Away.”

After a moment, the fox lowered its head, turned around, and disappeared back into the woods.

Starchild turned and walked back towards the ruins. He wasn’t sure why that fox had appeared to him again, but he didn’t like it at all.

As Starchild spent more time alone, away from the Moors, and as his mind descended further into obsession, he gradually began to lose more of the faerie he had been before Ace stole his wings. And as summer turned to autumn and the world turned steadily colder, so did what remained of his heart.

-*-

Finally, after a month of hearing nothing and seeing no sign of Ace, Peter saw something.

He was perched on a window that looked into a gigantic room with a platform on one end, the platform housing two regal-looking chairs. A huge crowd of elaborately-dressed people was gathered in the room, waiting for something.

After a while, the doors to the room opened, and the crowd parted, leaving a path through the middle of the room to the chairs. Men wearing armor marched into the room first, then stood in line on both sides of the path.

Then a beautiful dark-haired young woman entered the room wearing a lavish dress that, honestly, made Peter wonder how she didn’t trip and fall in it. All the people in the room bowed to her as she passed, and Peter couldn’t help but notice that the young woman seemed a little out of her element as she nodded her head in return. She walked up the platform to the chairs and sat down.

More footsteps filled the air, and Peter turned to look at the entrance again. His eyes widened slightly.

It was a man, with dark hair cut to his chin and a rather odd face. He was wearing the lavish clothes and animal furs that he had seen before, but Peter recognized him immediately. This was Ace, the man his master was so obsessed with.

Ace walked up the platform, but instead of sitting down in the other chair, he instead went to stand between them. Another man came forward, carrying a golden crown in his hands, and as Ace knelt down Peter realized what was happening.

The man placed the crown on Ace’s head then stepped back, bowing his head. Another man spoke. “I present to you, the first of his line,” he said to the crowd as Ace stood up. “His Royal Highness, King Ace.”

Excited murmurings went up in the crowd. Ace looked out at the crowd and briefly nodded his head to them, then turned to sit down in the chair alongside the young woman, obviously the Queen.

Peter turned around, spread his wings, and flew off back toward the ruins. A large part of him didn’t particularly want to tell Starchild what he’d seen, but he really had no choice. At the same time, Peter also remembered the story his master had told him, about that Ace taking his wings, and actually felt a twinge of indignation. Taking a faerie’s wings so he could have some crown on his head? That was just low, even for a human.

-*-

Starchild had gone very, very still by the time Peter finished his report.

“Someday, y’know, I’ll live there, in the castle,”

Of course. How could he have so stupidly forgotten the one thing Ace had always wanted?

He finally spoke, his voice shaking… with what, he wasn’t sure. “He did this to me… so he could be king?”

He didn’t want to cry anymore. He had cried more than enough tears over Ace and his betrayal. What he felt now was rage.

Deep purple magic began to materialize around him as his anger rose higher and higher. His breathing turned ragged and his shoulders shook. The grip his hands had on his walking stick tightened until his knuckles turned white, and for a moment he imagined it was Ace’s neck.

He turned his head to the sky, and let out a long, primal scream.

The deep purple magic shot up into the air and broke through the clouds, twisting into a column of purple light. Purple lightning bolts shot out of the column and struck stones around the ruins, exploding them all to rubble. For a moment, Starchild stared up at it, frozen, eyes blazing.

Then he lowered his head, and the magic dispersed. Sheer rage was still surging through him, and inhuman growling came from the back of his throat as he breathed raggedly.

I’ll never hurt ya Starshine This is true love Starshine Let me help you I’ll keep you safe

I love you, Starshine.

Lies. All of it had been nothing but lies. And he’d fallen for all of them.

Behind him, Peter spoke up. “What now, Master?”

Snarling like an animal, Starchild turned around, his eyes wild with rage. He wordlessly waved his hand, turning Peter back into a cat, and stormed off. With every step, stones flew out of his path, and as he passed under a still-intact entryway, the entire entryway broke apart and flew in all directions.

“Well, when I become king, we can change all of that.”

“We could really unite the two kingdoms?”

“Sure! We’ll do it together, Starshine!”

He wanted to travel back in time and berate his child self. How could he have been so naïve as to think Ace would be any different than all the other arrogant, selfish humans?

As Starchild left the ruins with Peter bounding after him, leaving them in much worse shape than when he’d arrived, the one coherent thought that broke through the anger consuming his mind was Get back to the Moors.

He couldn’t live like this anymore; hiding away in pitiful ruins (human ruins), scavenging for food, waking up screaming and crying every night from the same dream… and letting Ace go unpunished for what he’d done.

He was tired of humans controlling his life. And he was not going to let another human shatter him again, or take away anything else he cared about.

Get back to the Moors.

-*-

He walked all through the night, and would have continued into the day if Peter hadn’t insisted on stopping to rest. So he begrudgingly stopped and let Peter take a brief nap, before setting off again. The entire time, his anger never faded, not even a little. If anything, it increased. The ground would lightly rumble under his feet, any plant growth he passed would burst into dark purple flames and die, and dark clouds seemed to follow him overhead. He passed between two small divides made of stone, and with every step he took the stones were flung out of formation into all directions behind him.

It seemed to take an eternity, but finally, Starchild saw the familiar standing stones up ahead. He was nearly there. He came to the boulder he had perched on just over a month ago, and climbed to stand atop it. He opened his mouth and began to shout in the tree language, his voice projecting out into the forest. “Border guards! I summon you here now!”

For a long moment, there was nothing. Then he heard rustling and heavy footsteps, and turned just in time to see Gene appear from out of the trees. Upon seeing him, Gene froze in surprise, then began to growl at him, demanding to know where he’d been. Starchild ignored him and looked out into the forest, watching as more and more of the border guards emerged. When they saw him, they all began asking him where he had been, what had happened to him… and what had happened to his wings. They were all especially shocked to see him without his wings.

Their constant questioning about his wings did the most to make Starchild’s rage flare up again. His hand tightened around his walking stick, glowing faintly purple, and he raised it up in the air then banged it down against the boulder. “QUIET!”

Purple magic shot out from the tip of his walking stick, hitting all the border guards. There was instant silence.

Starchild looked out at them all, then began to speak, his voice the most powerful it had ever been. “I know you all have many questions. You ask what happened to me, and my wings? I will tell you what happened. They were taken from me… burned off my back by the same filthy human that now sits on the Jendell throne! He tricked me, made me think he wanted to help me, even made me think he loved me,” he spat out the word like it was poison, “all so he could steal my wings and become the king! He blinded me with all his lies, but I see him now for what he truly is—a greedy, selfish, arrogant piece of filth, just like the rest of his kind! Have any of you ever wondered why we continue letting humans invade our home? For centuries, it has been war after war after war, with the greedy humans forcing us to defend ourselves. At the end of every war, they say there will be peace, but they lie! Not even a month ago they tried to take the Moors again, not even thirty years after the war that took my parents’ lives! They don’t stop… they will never stop!

“Why do we let them attack, and always force us to defend? We have always been nothing more than sitting ducks! Well, I say, not anymore! The Moors cannot survive with us simply trusting in one another; we need clear and strong leadership. And although my wings are gone, I am still protector of the Moors. I can give us that leadership! But I cannot do it by myself. You have all fought by my side in defending the Moors, and I cannot think of anyone better to help me! Join me, and I will make sure the Moors are never defenseless again!”

Starchild looked out at all the border guards. “What say you?” he asked of them. “Who will stand with me?”

For one long moment, there was silence. None of the guards moved, or spoke, only stared at him.

Then…

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Starchild turned his head. At the front of the group of guards was none other than Gene. He held his spear out in front of him, and was banging the end of it against the ground. Then Starchild heard another tapping spear join Gene’s, then another, then another… until every single one of the border guards were banging their spears against the ground.

The corner of Starchild’s mouth quirked up into a miniature smirk. He turned around and walked out of the clearing, the border guards falling into step behind him.

-*-

Clouds rolled over the sun, and the sky went utterly dark over the Moors as thunder rumbled. The glowing lilies floating in the lake one by one winked out. The Fair Folk looked around in surprise and confusion… then turned and froze when they saw Starchild come out from among the trees, the border guards behind him. Gasps went up when they saw the faerie, and someone cried out, “His wings!”

For their protector no longer had his large black wings. And although he looked the same, save for a black jacket and black boots, his features were no longer soft and gentle, and kindness no longer radiated from him. His features were now sharper and cold, and what the Fair Folk felt from him now made them all incredibly afraid.

He walked past them all toward the very center of the large lake island. As he did, the branches on the trees grew longer, growing and connecting with branches and vines that grew out of the ground. The branches and vines twisted together, forming the back and seat of a makeshift throne.

Starchild walked towards the sprouting throne with his head held high, and the look on his face perhaps would have been solemn if his features weren’t so cold and stony. Each step was slow and deliberate, to better make the Fair Folk realize what was happening. He didn’t bother turning his head to look at them as he passed, but could feel the shock and terror radiating from them all.

When Starchild lowered himself to sit on his throne, he understood for the first time in his life why humans loved power so much. He ruled over the Moors now, had a different power that wasn’t magic, that would allow him to get what he wanted… and knowing that made him feel more powerful than he’d ever felt in his life.

Peter jumped up onto a stone beside him, and Starchild lifted a hand to run his fingers over Peter’s fur. He finally turned his head and looked out at the Fair Folk, taking in their intimidation and fear. Every movement was smooth and calculated, and every inch of Starchild gave off the impression that he could easily rip them apart if they even thought about protesting this new reality. To his satisfaction, the Fair Folk all averted their gazes whenever his eyes met theirs.

To his left, Gene pointed his spear at the Fair Folk and growled threateningly, the other border guards following suit. Shaking in fear, one after another the creatures began to bow, until all of them were bowing in respect to Starchild.

Starchild looked out at them all, and for a moment, he felt a flash of something akin to guilt. The old Starchild would have been appalled at the thought of doing this, and would (ironically) rather cut off his wings than impose his own authority on the Moors.

But that Starchild was a fool; a naïve, starry-eyed fool who thought he’d been given true love’s kiss. He had been content to cry, wanting nothing more than to wallow in misery and sob over Ace stealing his wings and ripping his heart to pieces. That Starchild was dead. And this one, this new Starchild, did not want to cry. He would not cry anymore.

What he wanted now was vengeance. 

And he would get it, one way or another.

Lightning flashed, illuminating Starchild’s cold face.

[fangirlinghard-spoilerson]

MAGIC

Rated: T Wordcount: 559 Summary: A Jurdan pillow talk. This is a The Folk of the Air’s One-Shot. The original work belongs to Holly Black.

I imagine what it would be like to have my own crown, my own power. Maybe I wouldn’t have to be afraid to love him. Maybe it would be okay. Maybe I wouldn’t have to be scared of all the things I’ve been scared of my whole life, of being diminished and weak and lesser. Maybe I would become a little bit magic.

- The Wicked King, by Holly Black

"You are special." Her words sink into his heart, but they do not bring the joy they are supposed to.

Jude isn’t looking into his eyes. She never does when they talk like that. He wants her to, but he  will not dare to ask for that. It’s more intimacy than she can handle. Cardan had learned that pushing just made her retreat. Pushing had not taken her to the bed they are lying on or under the sheets. No, what took them here was patience.

He never suspected he had so much.

"Not just because you are beautiful,” Jude continue. “clever and charming wicked.” Her fingers, which were drawing on his naked chest, stops. A silly smile grows on her lips. “Or because I like all that really badly.” It’s like she is laughing at herself. But it's  not funny to him, neither it’s a joke. Her words are a rock in a river, something to hold on when the water becomes turbulent. “But, you are magic too. Your entire existence is an act of magic. Even when you breathe it's magical, because you're made by magic. You all are. Every fairy is magic and... I'm not."

Daylight comes in through a cleft between the curtains. Jude's hair are spread over their pillows. Only a thin sheet covers her body. She holds it firmly in front of her breasts with unnecessary modesty. Cardan is thinking that he is charmed.

And Jude is thinking that she is beneath everyone.

His heart twists and he wonders how much of that is his fault.

He wants to lift her chin, make her look into his eyes so she can see how serious his next words are. But he doesn’t do that. And she can't. Jude had lost herself in his eyes sometimes, but she had not once realized what she saw in there.

“I’m a fairy, Jude, and our magic is plain to me. But everything I witnessed you do is more magical than any fairy trick can be.” She grimaces as if he's annoying her by saying that sort of thing. His tail stops stroking the length of her body with slow gentle movements and, betraying him, - not for the first time - it begins lash back and forth.

“You amazed me from the first day I saw you in palace class.” The confession makes her tense, making him tense. “You were smart and unstoppable. You made everything look easy to you. It was magical. And then you made me King and I saw how hard you work. You planned and those things happened. One by one, like a row of dominoes. That was even more magical to me.

“You can believe that magic exists in everything we do, but it especially exists in your eyes.

“Because when I look into them, I feel what magic is supposed to be. It’s supposed to be wonderful and beautiful and breathtaking. Powerful to the point it make your bones tremble. It is something to be fearful of. It’s supposed to make you believe things you did not believe in before.” He pauses, uncertain if he should tie up the loose end. “For me, you are the only magic being I've ever met.”

And this time she looks into his eyes and Cardan feels that maybe he can be a bit of magical too.

Thank you who read this. You, who liked it. You who commented it. Or, reblogged. Your emotional support make difference. And thank you, @lazyperfectionistteen, who edited this Fic and others.

TFOTA TAG LIST: @lazyperfectionistteen, @afexiss, @thequeenofeveything, @nitrot150, @fangirling101, @thejiminsjamsowner

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[After TQoN’s synopsis, Before the March, 26 Excerpt] Taryn visited Jude in mortal world. But she returned to Faerie with a breaking down. Locke wanted a reaction, now he got one.

SECRETS & BETRAYALS

[After TWK] Much time has passed since Jude Duarte was exiled in the mortal world. But now she’s back to Elfhame and Cardan will not like to discover her reasons for coming back. Is Jude still the Queen of Nothing?

Sinking

[After TWK] Jude returned to Elfhame. Maybe she should had taken along a squeegee.

The Dance

Cadan’s POV in Dain’s never-gonna-happen-coronation, when he dances with Jude.

[audreyxblackwood]

[EMMA WATSON] - [AUDREY BLACKWOOD] is a [27] year old [SHIFTER]. [HER] contract is sold by [HIGHTOWN] and is up for [2] years of service. The three skills listed in their contract are [LITERATE, SHIFTER, and ABLE TO COMPLETE MENIAL HOUSEHOLD WORK]. They can be [GENUINE], but sometimes they are [IMPULSIVE]. They are a [SUB] who is [HETEROSEXUAL] and into [D/s DYNAMICS, POWER IMBALANCE, & EXPERIMENTATION].

Warning: Some content could be considered triggering for some individuals. This includes the death of a parent & serious illness.

♔ A Look Into the Past : From Birth to Present Day.

BORN : Bronze Mountains

PARENT(S) : Ophelia Blackwood, Deceased || Father, Unknown.

Audrey had always been a happy child. All bushy-tailed and bright-eyed, splashing in faerie streams and watching in fascination as the sun bled away to the stars and a sky full of wonder. She and her mother resided in the Bronze Mountains, in a small house set into the earth, collecting herbs and growing what they could for food. Anything they couldn’t obtain by their own means led them to venture between the lands of the fae in the east and those of the witches in the west until the Black Rot’s progress became too close for comfort.

Not a day ever went by where Audrey did not feel loved, for as long as she could recall, her mother was always there, always protecting and guiding her. The young woman raised her daughter on her own, a father nowhere to be found and not one to be mentioned in the twilight hours of uncertainty to a young girl. She was the strongest person Audrey had ever met. Her mother worked hard to support the two of them, working jobs no one else would to earn a bit of coin for warm blankets and meat in the winter months. 

A terrible sickness came to their home one winter, gripping her mother in a vice-like grip and refusing to let go even once the weather warmed. It was a simple disease, but it stole her mother’s strength and would leave her bedridden for several years, eating away at the woman Audrey had known all her life. A young woman at the time, she set out to find work, to pay for a physician’s visit and the medicine he would bring. When the medicine did little to bring her mother back to her, the shifter braved the forests surrounding the mountains in the hope of finding a cure among those living there. She found nothing and after weeks of venturing back and forth, Audrey returned home to hold her mother's hand as she grew weaker with the coming winter, frail and unable to grip her daughter's hand in return.

On the cusp of death’s door, her mother begged her to take the money she’d been saving and go to Black Watch to make a contract. Her daughter would be safe within its walls, protected from the Rot by the magic of the city. When her mother breathed her last, it absolutely devastated the young shifter, clinging to the memory of her mother so strong and full of laughter even as she and a few close family friends watched the woman’s ashes float into the night sky. Audrey grieved for as long as she could, blaming herself for not doing enough for her, for not being able to keep her mother safe like she had done for her. It was with a heavy heart that she left the only home she’d ever known, adventuring out further east than she’d ever gone to the Black Watch, buying her way into a contract with the Hightown Auction House.

♕ Just Below the Skin : Aesthetic, Traits, & More.

Soft blankets. Starry night skies. Salty food. A fresh pawprint in the snow. Red fur and a bushy tail shifting into bushy hair and fiery words in a flutter of magic. A soft melody.

“Life is meant to be lived in.”

Audrey has a strength to her that she does not see in herself; a stubborn, fiery spirit that she gets from her mother. She still carries with her that wonder of the world that she had as a child, so intent on exploring every nook and cranny there ever was and ever will be, but more so than that now, she holds a deep respect for the simple things life has to offer. From the glittering light in a stream to the wonderful chirps of new life up in a tree. Living in the mountains gave birth to a young woman with such a bright, passionate energy and wildness to her that is almost endearing. It is from her mother, from her life then that has made her into such a genuine person, perhaps not always with her words, but always in her actions and how she treats people. 

Ever since she came to the Black Watch, she is almost skittish around strangers, hesitant to offer a name and reluctant to reach for an offered hand. The city is louder than she expected, and perhaps that has something to do with it after living peacefully all her life. As if accounting for the bustle of the crowds, Audrey is quieter in her day to day life, flitting about to do chores with a simple hum but little else, working diligently and quickly. But she can’t quite change who she is at the core of herself, unafraid to give in to her own desires and wants, no hesitation in her movements as she impulsively throws herself into the crossfire of an ill-mannered gentleman on the street or takes the blame for something she had no hand in. As if she is atoning for not being able to save her mother. Her loyalty has no obvious bounds; she gives those she trusts everything she has with little expectation for anything in return and even when that trust is broken, she clings to the remnants. For all she has is the memories of what once was and will never be. That’s not to say she forgives and forgets. One who crosses a fox and is given a second chance should be wise to not take it for granted for they will not be offered another.