#the ice knife saga

[cntbtchthevapegod]

There’s some sort of bucolic misplaced fantasy about being able to just go outside and just hang out in a shed full of meat and vape in there. Its not my life, but god it could have been.

-Caldwell Tanner (Naddpod Short Rest: C3 Ep. 55: Big Brother)

Gotta love Caldwell speaking in flowery poetic language about vaping in a meat shed in the middle of the short rest

[littlebearwithlittlebrain]

Spearmint & Tea Leaves is now one of my most favourite Emily Axford songs. Cracked voiced Calliope talking to a mother who isn’t fully there…Callie’s story continues to hit different

go ahead and listen from 25:00 in C3E57 and thank me.

[pocketspaday]

Swag talking about himself and his relationship to Sol in the past tense even before the reveal in the dream sequence has me emotional

[operationslipperypuppet]

swag is so fucking dead jesus christ

[morganbritton132]

obsessed w this new saga with David and the other teachers.... perhaps them either coming over again for a small party - "it's mostly family!!" Hence being even more confused when even MORE famous people show up (THAT'S brony Erica???)

I’m picturing the same cookout from this post.

There are three new eighth grade teachers this year. Including David, there is Marissa and Jordan. Then there is Kathy, who has been at the school for two years. They are all trying to figure out what is going on with Steve Harrington.

The man is a complete mystery.

He’s a walking contradiction in a math pun sweatshirt and he is often the topic of conversation when the four of them are alone in the breakroom. Jordan describes him as ‘onion-like’ because he has many layers and Marissa always replies with, ‘yeah, a fucked up alien onion where each new layer is weirder than the last.’

It’s a bit cruel but also, they found an article about Starcourt Mall.

Who is just in a fire? Who saves a bunch of children from a structure fire that collapsed on top of them and doesn’t make it their whole personality for the rest of forever? Who just never mentions it ever?

Steve Harrington, apparently.

After David (and Kathy) left Steve’s house more confused about the mild-mannered math teacher than ever, he went home and googled ‘Eddie Harrington.’ All he found was a link to a Facebook page for some dentist.

So, like, who the hell is he even married to, right? The guy has a Grammy but not a Wikipedia page? What’s up with that?

All David knows is that when Anita (the teacher that’s probably closest to Steve) invites everybody over for a cookout and says that your partners are more than welcomed, he’s going. When Steve asks if it’d be okay if Erica stopped by on her way to the airport and Anita said yes, he’s definitely going.

He is not going to miss the opportunity to see the kid that gave her dad psychic damage by introducing him to the fucked up parts of the My Little Pony fandom. No way.

Kathy informs everybody that she will NOT be bringing her husband, but she will bring booze.

David arrives too early and ends up helping in the kitchen. He’s slicing up tomatoes with the world’s dullest knife when Steve gets there. He can’t see the front door, but he can hear Anita ask, “Oh, where’s your service doggie?”

“It’s his day off,” He hears Steve joke, “Brought the human instead.”

And then David hears the man of mystery’s man of mystery himself because Eddie says with 100% impulsive thinking and 0% brain-to-mouth filter, “Yeah, he brought his service top instead.”

David just knows that Steve is giving Eddie the same dead-eyed look of unbelievable that is reserved for students that mix their chocolate milk with peas and dare each other to drink it in the silence that follows. Anita, bless her heart, replies as happy and clueless as can be, “Oh, that’s cute. Because you provide a top-notch service.”

“Never had any compl- ow!”

The first time David gets a good look at them, Eddie’s pressed up against Steve’s back, looking over his shoulder at the pictures of Anita’s grandkids she has on her phone. One of his hands is wrapped loosely around his waist and Steve is holding the other one, fiddling with the rings on it. They look so casual, like they’re always standing that close together.

David watches as Anita points in the direction of the drinks cooler and Eddie slips away with a kiss to the side of Steve’s neck and then another to his cheek. They hold hands until they absolutely have to let go. It’s cute. Marissa, next to him, scoffs and says, “Gag me with a spoon, they’re fucking adorable.”

Eddie returns to Steve with two beers and a Smirnoff Ice for Anita, gets another kiss and clearly calls Steve ‘sweetie’ when he clinks their bottles together. Steve throws his arm across Eddie’s shoulders and Eddie tucks his hand into Steve’s back pocket like it’s the most casual thing in the world.

David loses track of Steve and Eddie for a while, catching them in his peripheral as he mingles with everybody. He seems them steal a kiss. He sees them laughing at something Kathy says. He sees them holding hands as Eddie looks utterly lost during a discussion of the baseball season.

At one point, he sees Eddie stand up on the bench of the picnic table and get yanked down by Steve. They’re both laughing and Steve gives him a kiss that is not exactly chaste.

Cindy rolls her eyes at them and says that they’re always like that.

Him and Jordan are playing cornhole against Steve and Eddie. He’s almost positive that Eddie is not as bad at the game as he’s pretending to be, but just likes when ‘Stevie baby’ guides him through how to throw the beanbags. If it wasn’t for Steve excusing himself than he probably wouldn’t have noticed the big SUV parked in the driveway.

His first thought when he sees Erica is ‘oh, she must be adopted’ followed immediately by ‘wait, duh’ and then by ‘hey, wait a minute.’

Steve gets stopped by her bodyguard before he can hug her with a big threatening hand on his shoulder. David’s still trying to figure out why she looks so familiar when Erica says to the bodyguard, “Uh, excuse you. Do not touch him. He was my first bodyguard, have some respect.”

Steve scoffs, “I was your babysitter.”

“I’m sorry,” Erica says, full of sass. Eddie is a couple steps back, grinning ear to ear. He loves when Erica and Steve get into it. “Did you bleed for me? Did you fight for me? Did you, Steve Harrington, get tortured so I made it out safe? I think so. Bodyguard.”

Eddie finally greets her with a bow, “Lady Applejack.”

Erica gives him a flat look and tells her bodyguard, “You can tase that one.”

David is still reeling from the words ‘babysitter’ and ‘torture’ that he probably would’ve missed Marissa in his ear if she wasn’t so goddamn loud, “Holy shit, that’s a fucking US Senator.”

Jordan is quieter when she mutters, “Language.”

Later in the evening when the sun is starting to set and they should all really go home and prep their lesson plans for next week, Anita’s husband lights a bonfire. David is sitting across from the fire from Steve and Eddie and he so tempted to ask what Eddie does for a living when Steve whispers something to him and then stands up quickly.

He can’t even ask what that was about because Eddie gets up and follows him, almost matching Steve’s quick steps into the house. They’re gone for a while, long enough that David gets up to check on Steve. He looked pretty pale when he rushed out of here.

He’s halfway up the stairs when he hears them, and he stops. Steve sounds tired but reassuring as he repeats, “I’m fine. I’m okay. I’m fine now.”

He hears Eddie respond with, “I know, baby. I know, but rest with me for a minute, kay?”

When he pokes his head around the turn in the staircase, he can see the bottom of Steve’s Nikes hanging over the top landing. He can also see the bottom of Eddie’s boots where he’s crouched over Steve. His first reaction is to think he stumbled on them in a compromising position, but he can’t bring himself to move just yet.

“You just had a seizure, take your time getting your bearings, sweetheart. Do you wanna go home?” Eddie asks in a cacophony of jingling metal rings and chains. Steve makes a noise that Eddie interprets, “Okay, do you want me to give you space?”

“No, come –“ The sound of metal clinking together doesn’t get louder, just more and when David pokes his head around the corner again, Eddie is straddled across Steve’s lap. Steve’s hands are on his hips and then higher, pushing up Eddie’s shirt clumsily just feeling him. “Feel floaty.”

“I’ll keep you grounded, baby.”

David knows he should leave, or at least looks away, but he stuck frozen to the floor at the sight of the scar tissue running up Eddie’s sides and back. They’re deep and jagged, and old. It looks like he was torn open and sewed back shut, and it takes David a long time to get his feet to go back down the stairs.

He goes back out to the fire a little dazed and later, it’s only Eddie that returns. He whispers something to Anita and then disappears into the night.

When Cindy makes a comment about Steve leaving without a proper goodbye, David tells her to shut up.

[sideblogdotjpeg]

ok bcus ice knife saga got me curious abt height comparisons. calder is the only one w a canonical height on the wiki so for callie i just took an estimate based on eladrin heights + sol i put somewhere between small bullywug & tall halfling

[hey-cabinets-i-changed-my-icon]

OMG OMG OMG!!!! Emily AXFORD has a new original song at the end of campaign 3 episode 60 and I'm LOSING MY MIND LISTENING TO IT. ITS SO FUCKING GOOD!!!! AAAAAAAAA

Jump to 1hr 34.5minutes in the Spotify episode to listen

[marabelle5]

I'm going to drop this and run

The Ao3 link for some reason isn't working so you can look at it from the last few post but here is chapters 4 5 and 6. 5 is really short though.

Chapter 4- The Champion and the Spirit

Scott sat in his bedroom humming to himself. He checked the group chat. The Codvengers - Pix, the Wither Rose Alliance - Pearl, and Kathrine were meeting up. He texted ‘good luck’ to Gem, Lizzie, and Kathrine. He turned back to his knitting and then realized that no one would be on watch. He put down the scarf that he was making and texted ‘The Ice King is going out.’ 

Scott put his phone in his pocket. He headed to the kitchen. His brother was sitting at the table reading a cookbook. 

“I’m heading out.” 

“Alright be careful.” His brother answered. Scott put on his shoes and headed to Rivendell. Once he was in his shop he went to the backroom and took off his jacket and put on his robes. He looked at himself in the mirror as he put on his crown and headed out. 

He watched ¾ of the Codvengers enter House Blossom. He sighed as he watched Jimmy enter the cafe.

Gaslight landed on the roof that he was on. The Ice King looked up at the zombie. They were in their normal attire of an outfit that belonged in the 80s. It was bright and neon. They also had their red curly hair tied up in a ponytail.

“Hello Gaslight.” He bowed. “Where’s Poet?”

“Not here.” They replied coolly looking at their nails. The Ice King shot ice out of his hands. Gaslight dodge it, getting close enough to trip him. They caught him pushing a knife to his throat. “Where is - AH!”  Gaslight slammed against the door that led inside. Panting the Wolf Spirit was standing there. 

“You okay?” She held her hand out. The Ice King took it. 

“Yeah.” They both turned to see Gaslight arguing with someone on they’re comm. They looked up and rolled their eyes. 

“Fine.” They snarled. Gaslight looked at the two heroes. “Consider yourselves lucky.” And with that the zombie back flipped off the roof. 

“That was weird.” The Ice King remarked. Gaslight was not the one to back down from a fight.

“Agreed.” The Wolf Spirit hopped down from the roof. “I’ll try to find them again. You stay here.”

“Alright.”

Chapter 5 - In which Pix finally gets to have time with his friends

Pix sat in his house reading a book. The door busted open. He saw his two friends in the doorway. One was holding a bag of popcorn and one bag of chips, the other had his hand on the door.

“Movie night Pix!” Lyarrah said. Zloy closed the door. Pix put the book down.

“I have a better idea. The new saga comes out tonight. We could watch that.” Pix replied smiling. Zloy and Lyarrah nodded and Pix took the remote and turned on the t.v.

Chapter 6- Hermits

“I WILL BURN THIS HOUSE TO THE GROUND!” Cleo turned around the corner to see Bdubs standing on one of the chairs pointing to Scar. 

“I’m not cheating.” Scar replied, which Cleo knew was a lie.

“Good Sir Scar, if you don’t tell us you will have to forfeit.” Ren added on.

“Jokes on you all, I'm going to win.” False said laughing. Bdubs then pointed at her.

“YOU’RE CHEATING!” 

“Bdubs you can just say everyone who is beating you is cheating.” Etho reasoned. Cleo looked over at Doc who was sitting in his chair very menacingly. Then Xisuma came in.

“All right I think it’s time to put monopoly away.” He said scoping up the board into the box.

“No no I was finally winning.” False complained. Cleo laughed and put the books they were holding on the table. 

“I might have some new leads on what happened to the Cleaning Lady and Slayer.”

[bluecichlid]

Mhmm, 2, 10, and 19 for the writer asks?

2.       Anything that you'd like to write but feel like you're unable to?

I’ve been writing fanfic on and off for a long time, so there isn’t really much I haven’t tried at this point.  I don’t feel like I am great at writing extended fight scenes or battles, but they aren’t really my bag in any event.  No big loss.

The last major thing I wanted to write and felt I couldn’t was smut.  A few years back I decided to have a go.  A friend set me up with a friend of hers who was completely amazing at smut and wanted to work on her plotting/complex storywriting.  She really helped me get over my shyness on that front.  We ended up being mutual betas and coauthors for a while, which was a blast.  Smut still isn’t my go-to as a writer, but I’m much more comfortable with it now. 

10. Top three favourite fic tropes.

I had to think about this one but:

Star-crossed tragic lovers, who fell in love at first sight but spend novel-length sagas being separated by circumstances.  

Sexual chemistry between the villain and the hero.  

Misunderstood overlooked nerdy character has a massive glow-up and shock-and-awes enemies.

19.   Share a snippet from a wip without giving any context for it.

Lila stumbled through the doorway into the new world, tripped, and went to her hands and knees on the snow-covered cobbles of a street.  She choked back a cry of pain as her cut palm slammed into the ground.  A blood-stained coin fell to the ground.  She rolled, still on the ground, and stared up at the wall she had just come through, a knife in her undamaged hand.  Her breath steamed in the air.

Nothing.

Not taking her eyes from the wall, she reached across the ground from her coin, but her fingers touched nothing but dirt and ice.  Leave the coin, she told herself.  The token had been priceless in Red London.  Knowing the cost at which it had been given to her she hated to leave it.  Leave it.  She still had the other two: the red lin, and its companion, the silver shilling from home.  She felt tears prickle her eyes and blinked hard to force them down.

She scrambled to her feet and backed away from the wall, her knife still at the ready.  Then she turned and ran.  She made sure she was several streets away before she allowed herself to stop and take stock of this strange colourless world she found herself in.

[smilingformoney]

Armed with six Outstanding NEWTs and an appetite for knowledge in a world without Voldemort, Severus Snape must look elsewhere to satisfy his curiosity about the Dark Arts.

AN: You may or may not remember, at the end of Soul of Ice, I promised a No Voldemort AU, and here it is. This isn't going to be a long-winded saga like I usually do - I have a 10-chapter plan, and the chapters will be shorter. And the chapters are all named after Taylor Swift songs because I want to.

Read Chapter 1 on Ao3 or below the cut:

In the gloomy walls of Number 1, Spinner’s End, Severus Snape had been pacing for approximately twenty minutes.

He looked down at the parchment in his hand again, as if he didn’t already have it memorised.

Dear Mr Snape, Thank you for your application to join the Ministry of Magic in our Department of Mysteries. I am pleased to inform you that you have successfully passed the first round of applications. After careful consideration of your academic results, your personal essay and your applicant test results, you are invited to interview for our Dark and Ancient Magicks Division. Please attend for your interview with Emmett Bitterwood at 12.30pm on Monday, 7th August.

There followed directions to the Department and the letter was signed off by the Principal Director.

Severus couldn’t believe his good fortune. The Department of Mysteries was notoriously picky for its recruits; hardly anyone who applied made it past the first round of testing, even if they managed to achieve the minimum five Outstanding NEWTs required. They would rather go years without recruiting than hire someone less than exactly what they were looking for.

With all the secrecy of the Department, Severus couldn’t even apply for a specific Division as the public knew nothing about what they did - he therefore had to demonstrate his skills in a personal essay without knowing exactly what job he was applying for.

Dark and Ancient Magicks Division. What a name. What a subject. It was perfect for him; he had always wanted to study Dark Magic. He had met a few Durmstrang students through his friend Lucius, and he was always envious that they were able to study Dark Magic. But at Hogwarts, it still had a sore reputation and all that was offered was Defence Against the Dark Arts, which was all well and good, but how could one defend against something one hadn’t taken the time to understand?

He glanced at the calendar on the wall. His interview was five days away. Plenty of time to revisit his favourite books on Dark Magic, ready to impress Emmett Bitterwood on Monday.

Severus was so focused on absorbing as much information as he could from the books that lined his shelves that the next five days flew by. Before he knew it, it was Monday morning, and he was anxiously picking at his breakfast. He didn’t often eat breakfast, but he had an important day ahead, and so he allowed himself a slice of toast.

An owl flew in through the open back door. Severus didn’t often open his doors or windows, as the house was too old to know how to keep heat in in winter, and besides, the fumes from the mill across the river were sometimes too pungent to bear allowing in. That day, however, was a swelteringly hot summer’s day and Severus needed a breeze to cool himself off.

He recognised the owl immediately. It was larger than average, with elegantly fluffed feathers and a haughty expression on its face, clearly showing its distaste for its current surroundings. Severus plucked the letter from the owl’s foot, and it took off as soon as it was free of the letter without even waiting for a reply.

Lacking a letter opener, Severus instead pried open the envelope with his butter knife, slicing through the wax seal emblazoned with an elegant M . Even the parchment was expensive, much weightier than the paper-thin parchment Severus usually used. He carefully unfolded the parchment and read:

Severus - Good luck at your interview today. I’d offer advice but even I know nothing of what they do down there, so all I offer is my warmest regards and a promise of a bottle of Ogden’s finest when you inevitably get the job. Yours, L

Severus smiled. Why Lucius had so much faith in him, he had no idea, but he was glad to know his friend was wishing him luck.

Later that day, even following the directions from the letter, Severus still found the Department of Mysteries a confusing series of twisted corridors. He was just beginning to wonder if he hadn’t passed the first round at all and the letter was some sick joke from Potter, still taunting him even after school, designed to have him caught wandering the corridors of the Ministry’s top-secret research department, when he finally saw another human being.

Well, less saw and more walked into. He rounded a corner, having double-backed on himself for the third time, and had his nose so intently in the parchment as he attempted to discern where he had gone wrong that he didn’t notice her until he literally walked into her.

“Oof!” Severus grunted as they collided, and he had to grab the wall to stop himself falling. In doing so, he dropped the parchment, which the other person picked up for him.

“Lost, are you?” said a vaguely familiar voice as the figure straightened up. She handed him the parchment and their eyes met. Severus was almost lost for words when he realised he’d bumped into Persephone Payne.

“Snape!” she said in surprise, apparently just as shocked to see him there as he was to see her. “What - did you - what are you doing here?”

It took Severus a few moments to register what she’d said. “Interview,” he said quickly. “Except I… I can’t seem to find where to go.” He held up the parchment between his fingers. “These directions aren’t very clear.”

“Let me see?” Payne offered. Severus showed her the parchment, and her eyes lit up. “Oh, hey! That’s my division!”

“Really?”

“Yeah, and these directions are way outdated. Come on, I’ll take you to Emmett’s office.”

She beckoned him to follow, and began leading him back down the way she’d come. Severus was suddenly even more eager to ace the interview. If he didn’t get the job, she would know he’d failed the interview, and he’d be mortified.

Persephone Payne. He could be working with Persephone Payne.

Every year at Hogwarts, the school hosted a ball on the last day before Christmas break for the sixth and seventh years. Severus hadn’t gone in his seventh year - he had far too much studying to do for his NEWTs - but in his sixth year, his classmate had asked him who he wanted to ask as his date. It took him some convincing to admit it, but eventually Severus confided that he wanted to ask Persephone Payne.

“Who?” Mulciber had asked.

Severus had thought he must have been going insane when each one of his friends shared a look of confusion and said they had never heard that name before. He was relieved the next day when he saw her in her usual spot in the library; he’d almost started to wonder if he’d made her up.

The fact that hardly anyone knew who she was astounded him. Sure, she was quiet and kept to herself, but how could they not notice her? She was the most beautiful girl in school, after all.

“You just don’t want to admit it’s Lily Evans,” Avery had said when they had disagreed on who was the best-looking girl in the school. All of his friends agreed it was Lily, even though they’d never date a muggle-born. Severus couldn’t deny Lily was beautiful, but she was nothing compared to Payne.

Severus knew he paled in comparison to his peers. He worked harder than them; most of them were rich and were able to ride their rich fathers’ coattails into whatever job they wanted, so they didn’t care as much as Severus did about NEWT results. He got better results than them due to his own hard work, but they still managed to land cushy jobs straight out of school. They’d all had girlfriends at some point or another, but Severus hadn’t. He knew he was poor and ugly; there was no point even trying to ask a girl out.

Especially not when the only girl he fancied was her. In his sixth year and her seventh, he’d finally managed to actually have a conversation with her. Through serving detentions together and a shared academic interest in Dark Magic, they had become… not quite friends, but something of acquaintances. She knew he existed, at least. Enough to recognise him and remember his name when he bumped into her two years after they’d last seen each other.

Payne stopped suddenly outside a nondescript door. “Here he is,” she announced.

“How can you tell?” Severus asked, looking around at the row of identical doors.

“You get used to it,” she replied vaguely, then checked her watch. “Right on time, you’ve got five minutes.” She faced him and then suddenly her hands were hovering over his clavicle. Severus winced, then realised she was adjusting his tie. “Good luck. He’s not an easy man to impress.”

“Any tips?” Severus asked hopefully.

Payne scrunched her nose as she thought. She released his tie, apparently happy with his presentation, then slipped her hands in her pockets. “He’s… well, he’s not nice . He’s not malicious, just… he doesn’t care for other people’s feelings. Don’t talk about how you feel about things, he doesn’t care about that. He was in Ravenclaw, so appeal to that. Facts, knowledge, information. You invented spells in school, right? Drop that in there. Oh, but don’t mention that you know me.”

“Why not?”

Payne grimaced. “He doesn’t like me much. Said I ask too many questions.”

“Surely that’s a good thing, if information is so important?”

She laughed then. “Yeah, questions are great. Just don’t question him.”

The door began to open behind them, and Payne’s expression suddenly turned cold. “Well, good luck,” she said with disinterest. “Try not to get lost again on your way out.”

She left quickly, and Severus was left alone with the man who had opened the door.

“Severus Snape? Come on in.”

One of the advantages of living alone was that Severus didn’t need to occlude or hide his emotions, because there was no one around to see them. So when he received a letter from the Ministry of Magic a few days after his interview, he allowed himself a celebratory punch in the air when he read the contents. He read the letter again, then practically ran to his study to write a letter of his own.

Lucius - When do you take lunch on work days? I’ll try to schedule mine with yours. - Severus

No, that wouldn’t do. He screwed the letter up and threw it in the fireplace, then tried again with a fresh piece of parchment.

Lucius - I hope you have that bottle of Ogden’s ready. - Severus

Yes, that was better. After sending the letter off with the owl that lived in his back garden, Severus let out a deep breath.

He, Severus Snape, had what it took to work in the most exclusive department of the Ministry. He was going to study Dark Magic. He was going to earn a generous wage, maybe enough to move out one day. And he was going to work with Persephone Payne.

On his first day, he presented himself at Emmett Bitterwood’s office as instructed in his offer letter. Director Bitterwood sat him down and explained exactly what he was going to be doing as an Unspeakable. Severus was disappointed but not surprised to learn he wouldn’t be doing a lot straight away. He was to shadow a current agent who would show him the ropes and train him up to eventually go out on his own. He was to do everything his trainer asked of him, no matter how menial the task may be. When his training was complete, he was told, he'd be given his own assignments.

Just as Director Bitterwood was explaining this, there came a knock on the door.

“Ah, there she is now,” said the older man. He waved his wand to open the door, and Severus stood to greet his assigned trainer.

It was her. Of course it was her.

“I believe you already know Agent Payne,” Emmett said with mild disinterest. “You are to shadow her, train with her, do everything she says. She’ll show you the ropes.”

“A pleasure to see you again, Snape,” Payne said, strangely formally. “Or I suppose I should say Agent Snape now.”

Agent Snape. How strange that sounded to him.

“Come on, then. Let me give you the tour.”

[lovevalley45]

i have to wonder how intentional it was but it does feel right for the frooze ur own adventure 8bbc to fall right after the start of the ice knife saga in ba2mia

[bookgeekgrrl]

My media this week (28 Jan-3 Feb 2024)

📚 STUFF I READ 📚

🥰 The Last Devil to Die (Thursday Murder Club #4) (Richard Osman, author; Fiona Shaw, narrator) - still loving the characters, love to hang out with them & Osman's plots move along nicely so you don't get bored at all. Fiona Shaw's narration is great & as a little treat she & Osman have a nice little chat at the end.

🥰 Four Letter Word For Intercourse (bendingsignpost) - 194K, destiel AU - adult college student Dean & professor (and phone sex worker) Cas - LOVE this fic so much & had kind of forgotten about it until it came up as a rec in one of my romance discord servers. Just, so good.

😊 Mrs Sidhu Investigates (Suk Pannu, author; full voice cast) - 2 episodes of the BBC Radio 4 program: #1 Murder with Masala; #2 Mrs Sidhu's Dangerous Highland Game - I prefer the slight changes made for the TV show's characterizations but still eminently enjoyable. (Meera Syal still absolutely rules!)

🥰 Lucky Bounce (Cait Nary) - extremely delightful hockey romance. Low/no angst, charming, cutie MCs. Definitely in the 'no plot, just vibes' category which honestly I love when done skillfully.

💖💖 +102K of shorter fic so shout out to these I really loved 💖💖

Ye Olde YouTube Love Story (Aria_Lerendeair) - The Sandman: Dreamling, 7K - love dreamling human AUs

Any Givens Sundae (dancinbutterfly) - Justified: Boyd/Raylan, 25K - excellently written 'what-if' pinging off a random line of dialogue: what IF Raylan had retired & decided to sell ice cream?

A Warning from Henry the Eighth (Writer_at_the_Table) - "I'm Henry VIII I Am" - Herman's Hermits: , 152 - a villianelle about I'm 'Enry The Eighth by Herman's Hermits - the creativity & cleverness of fan makers truly is boundless

master of a nothing place (strzyga) - Star Trek: Spirk, 6K - short, great fic about Spock going feral when they're trapped on a planet

📺 STUFF I WATCHED 📺

Austin City Limits - Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo (s49, e9)

Austin City Limits - Duran Duran (s47, e11)

Murdoch Mysteries - s16, e7

Dirty Laundry - s3, e11

D20: Fantasy High: Junior Year - "Under Pressure" (s21, e4)

D20: Adventuring Party - "A Sea of Effluvia" (s16, e4)

Hazbin Hotel - s1, e1

🎧 PODCASTS 🎧

What Next: TBD - Why Is Everybody Sick?

Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly - Cannabis Marketing

⭐ The Sporkful - Why Hibachi Gets Complicated

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - The Guerrero

How To! - How To Be Free Of Body Shame

⭐ The Atlas Obscura Podcast - Hello From The Otter Side

The Allusionist - 188. Lipread

The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week - Nature's Weirdest Sleepers, Iron Maiden Myths, Parking Psychology

⭐ Today, Explained - Living in Zyn

It's Been a Minute - Ayesha Rascoe on 'HBCU Made' — and some good old college memories

⭐ Switched on Pop - The b*tch of loving musical theater (with Bridger Winegar)

99% Invisible #568 - Don't Forget to Remember

⭐ Vibe Check - You’ve Got Mouth Bangs, Girl

I Said No Gifts! - Lou Wilson Disobeys Bridger

Well, Now - How ER Taught Thousands Of Viewers About Cervical Cancer

Off Menu - Ep 220: Peter Capaldi

Films To Be Buried With - Kyle MacLachlan

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - Seeking The (Minnesota-shaped) Forest Through The Trees - Part 1 & 2

Welcome to Night Vale #241 - He Is Still Holding a Knife

I Said No Gifts! - Zac Oyama Disobeys Bridger

Dear Prudence - Am I a Bigot If I Don’t Want to Date Foreigners? Help!

What Next: TBD - The Taylor Swift Deepfake Saga

It's Been a Minute - Charlamagne tha Pundit?; plus, was Tony Soprano white?

⭐ All Songs Considered - Why we still love Green Day

Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly - The Marketing of Taylor Swift: (Taylor's Version)

Consider This from NPR - Masturbation Abstinence Is Popular, And Doctors Are Worried

⭐ You're Dead to Me - Madam C.J. Walker

🎶 MUSIC 🎶

Pop Radio • Romance

'80s Metal

The Cars Radio • Pump-up

Psychobilly Swing

Rock Mix • Party

Presenting Iron Maiden

[operationslipperypuppet]

i love being absolutely terrified for a new naddpod episode it’s super fun and normal

[stone-stars]

the ice knife saga is the 6th time “saga” has been used as an arc title, and the second in c3 (other sagas: moonstone, galaderon, shadowfell, chosen, mothership)

[starlsssankt]

@an-endless-saga /

The land was cold and desolate, a windswept plane. It looked to hold life once long, long ago. But then that could have been a trick of the little light left there.

Jurian moved through the land, keeping an eye on the sky and on the ground. This place was the only damn outlet he'd had. A place he could visit when he "slept" until he was "killed".

Then he was dragged back to that accursed ring, back to the living horror he tried so hard to pretend didn't exist. Maybe that's why it felt like a nightmare than a reality his life had taken a turn to.

He moved through the landscape growing closer to a form on the ground. If his heart could beat here it would quicken. He moved closer toeing at it.

He pushed a bit of fabric away and inhaled sharply.

"Well, I suppose it was about time.."

--------

He moved Aleksander's form away from the windswept planes to the caves. At least his powers worked somewhat here. At least he could make a fire in whatever land this was. At least that logic worked here.

He glanced at him and swallowed.

"So what finally killed you? A beast? A fae battalion? Did - did you arrive alone?"

Is my sister still out there?

𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐈𝐃𝐍'𝐓 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐖𝐀𝐒, for all the talk of Death and its embrace, Aleksander hadn't ever really feared it. Given much thought to what happens to one's soul--however tarnished and fed upon it might be--when one dies.

But it was cold. Like ice gripped the very bones in his body, Aleksander hadn't ever felt so cold. So empty. And he was alone, as he looked around, wandering this windswept place. This desolate, empty, abandoned place.

Was this what Death was? A stretch of desolate land that wouldn't offer shelter, whose storm clouds gathered in the distance, in the dark...? He tried to bring his shadows to form, and all that appeared were mere whisps of smoke.

Hardly something capable of cutting down any enemy--

The cold finally put him to sleep, even if Aleksander couldn't really remember sitting down, laying down--falling asleep. The next thing he was consciously aware of, the scenery had changed. And he wasn't alone in the caves.

Blinking, he knew he had to be imagining things. ❝ Jurian? ❞ His voice was rough, hoarse. Throat scratched and parched, but how was he to find water here in Death? Did he even need it? Was this all a trick--?

Aleksander hadn't expected to see his old friend. It had been centuries. Literal lifetimes since he'd crossed paths with the other male. And the last he'd heard--

❝ I thought you were... I was told you weren't actually dead... ❞ The words trailed off, because Aleksander remembered himself dying. He knew this was Death. Whatever afterlife existed for a torn and tarnished soul as his was, at least. ❝ What is this place? ❞

Because he doesn't want to talk about that moment. The moment the knife tore through his defenses, the moment he'd lost and Death had finally claimed him...

But Aleksander did nod when asked if he arrived alone. ❝ Ana's not here, ❞ he said quietly, as if the very admission of it killed what was still in his heart. What still tried to live in this dark, desolate place. ❝ She's still alive-- ❞

As far as I know.

[saga-project]

He'd only taken his eyes off of her for a minute.

They'd made a day trip of it. Venus had rather surprisingly agreed to the terms Bee had helped him to put in place, never straying overly far from him and being quick to come back to his side if prompted, and they had gone out into the city and seen a few of the sites. For as much of a sensory nightmare as it was for them, they'd taken her to Times Square and let her ogle at the brightly lit billboards. They'd ventured to the aquarium, where she'd stared in awe at the sharks swimming around in their tanks and giggled at the antics of the sea lions in the Aquatheatre. He even had a handful of cute pictures to show for the day.

It was only when they'd stopped to get ice cream from a stand in the nearby park on the way home that the day had gone south.

He shouldn't have taken his eyes off of her. Saga knew that, instinctively, but there had been some extravagant flowering bush next to their location, and.....well. He'd turned his gaze to look at it, pondering what species it was and whether it would grow well in the garden space in the lair, and when he turned back Venus was gone.

Okay. Not to panic. She'd probably just gotten distracted by something in turn and wandered off a bit. Not to worry. He paced away from his current position, turning this way and that. "Venus? Sunspot? You know you're not supposed to go very far without me. If you saw something interesting that's fine, but you need to tell me."

A minute passed. Then two. Then three. Panic began to spike in their chest as they wandered, bringing up a display on their wrist pad, trying to track her through the bracelet that she had on. "Sunspot? This isn't funny. Come out now or you shall be grounded for the rest of the week. That means no bedtime stories, no ice cream after dinner, no--"

And then their blood curdled, as they heard a shrill scream from the bushes nearby.

"DADDY! HEL-"

The whole world narrowed down to a pinprick in that moment. His heart started thundering in his ears.

His child was in danger.

His daughter was in danger.

He didn't waste any time. Baring his teeth in a snarl, he practically thundered through the bushes, letting out a deep rumble that would have given Raph's a run for its money as he burst into the clearing. "Let her--"

Saga pulled up short as a command rang out, as the hefty lynx yokai holding Venus pressed a knife to her throat. "Stop right there, Cain. Or your precious little girl gets her head removed from her shoulders."

He skidded to a halt, heartbeat almost drumming, teeth bared in a wild snarl as his eyes darted towards whoever it was. How did they know his name. How did--

A rinkhal yokai was watching him, flaring her hood out, eyes glimmering with hatred in the half-light as she slithered forward. "Remember me? I know you always used to lord how useful you were compared to the rest of us over our heads, surely you must know."

"....Vrasha." It came to them in a rush as they relaxed by the smallest of degrees, trying to analyze the situation. "What is this. What are you doing?"

"Oh, come now. Use that brain of yours. I know you're not as dense as you look." Vrasha bared her impressive fangs then, moving closer, her scales scraping sinisterly against the ground. "I'm taking my revenge. For everything you took from me. Remember them? My brothers? The ones you cut down without even a second thought?"

"Vrasha. It wasn't up to me. You know that." He held his hands up in a placating gesture then, trying against all odds to try and placate the furious snake in front of him. "I was being controlled. We all were. We were in that situation together. I had to fight or die. It doesn't excuse what I did, I know it doesn't. But please. Leave Venus out of this. I'm the one you want to take revenge on. She didn't do anything to you."

Vrasha cocked her head slightly, giving the impression that she was listening before her face warped into an ugly sneer. "Mmm. No. I don't think that I will. You got special treatment just because you were Rakshan's favorite, and the rest of us got tossed to the side. The rest of us had everything taken from us. Well, now it's time to take something from you."

A madwoman. They were dealing with a madwoman. She wasn't going to listen to sense, and they knew that. But they had to buy time. Had to give Venus enough time to squirm free, or get that lynx to put his knife down--

"Have you even told her? How much blood her precious little father has on his hands? How, if she was an opponent in the Nexus, he would have sliced her pretty little face to ribbons?" A hysterical laugh. "Maybe we'll give her the same treatment you tried to give to all of us. Maybe we'll dump her limp carcass at Big Mama's door, while we're at it, just to pay that arachnid bitch back too."

The rhino and wolf at her side faltered, and even the lynx's knife seemed to dip away from Venus's throat for a split second. The wolf stepped forward, voice grim. "Vrash. This wasn't part of the plan. Roughing the kid up a little, yeah, but not killing her--"

"Shut your idiotic mouth and do what you're told," Vrasha hissed, whirling on the wolf and baring her fangs. "You're not getting paid to have a moral code. You're getting paid to help me get my revenge."

"Not like this. If we piss him off again--" "If you're too much of a coward to do it, then I'll find someone else." Vrasha whirled towards the lynx next, flaring her hood. "Gut the little brat. The rest of you, hold him. I want to make him watch."

They seemed to step forward all at once. The wolf and the rhino stepped forward to try and hold him back, and the lynx pressed the knife back against Venus's throat even as she wriggled and bit, and she let out a frightened squeal as Vrasha's cackles filled the air--

--and Saga felt his ninpo rising rising rising--

--the air started crackling with energy--

"GET AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER."

It was a blur from there. A purple shockwave of energy radiating out, knocking all of them back--

Venus scurrying away as fast as her tiny legs would carry her, only to shriek as one of them grabbed at her again--

Magical energy and ninpo alike whirling around him as he summoned his bo--

The wolf running towards them, and they conjured a mystic hammer and slammed it into the other predator's muzzle, the wolf letting out a strangled yelp as his broken muzzle filled with his own blood--

Whirling and slashing with his scythe, hissing, snarling, hurling every attack and every single spell that he could conjure at all of them--

Protect bale protect bale PROTECT BALE.

Pained exclamations filling his ears, the roar of the crowd pulsating all around him--

FIRST KILL! FIRST KILL! FIRST KILL!

Very good, Cain. Now finish it--

--the fog cleared. He was snarling, breathing heavily, crouched over a body that was now heavily mutilated, and--

Oh god there was blood everywhere--

The wolf and the lynx laid dead at his feet, and the rhino probably wasn't long for this world either judging by the depth of his slash wounds--

And Vrasha was nowhere to be seen--

And Venus was peeking out from the bushes, voice shaky, eyes wide with fear. "D-daddy?"

.....oh, fuck. She'd seen all of that.

Now he didn't need to tell her how much blood he had on his hands, because she knew now, she knew that he was nothing more than a dog on a leash just waiting for the chance to lash out and bite again, she knew that he was a monster--

Saga lurched away from her in that moment, a whine building in their throat, and they slammed the distress button on their gauntlet to alert Maias to the situation even as they spun on their heel and ran, even as they heard childish shouting in their ears--

He was a monster. A monster. One that had fooled itself into thinking it could be a father. And now he'd ruined her. Just like he always feared he would.