#the witch won me over.... alas...

[crows-of-buckets]

Redesigning Aviae because her old design (that I made literally two months ago) is no longer calling to me...

I wanted to add themes reminiscent of Morrigan with the like. Fur/feather on the shoulders, the black sleeve. I also wanted to make her fit more akin to the canon grey warden mage armor because it's so cool to me. Anyways I'll probably draw this digitally sometime soon but!!! Yayyy

[toppamplemousse]

fairytalestappen part 1: beauty and the beast

a series of headcanons for fics that will never be written but exist fully fleshed out in our minds

for months now, we have had vague ideas of a series of lestappen fics all based on popular disney princess movies. alas it seems they are consigned to the fic graveyard and will never be written but that doesn't mean that people don't deserve to hear about them

so without further ado.........

part 1 of 5: beauty and the beast

starring charles as the beauty (obviously) and max as the beast (sorry max). and also all of the animated objects like lumiere, cogsworth, mrs. potts, etc are max’s ex-teammates (checo is mrs. potts thats the only one i've assigned for sure). charles is still an f1 driver but max is NOT (sorry max again)

basically jos pissed off a witch at some point and got a curse placed on him which was inherited by max when jos died. max is cursed to be beastly and also for reasons i can't remember he wasn't able to leave his abandoned villa that he lives in in the hills above monaco. the curse will only be lifted when jos, now max, has someone who loves him enough to do something truly selfless for him.

the beast is a well known myth in monaco, like whenever things go wrong in monaco (storms, designer clothing boutiques closing, etc) the monegasques blame the beast and say the beast is responsible

so charles, of course, thinks that his monaco curse, which has kept him from winning the monaco grand prix for so many years, is caused by the beast, and this year in the weeks before monaco, he decides to visit the beast and see if he can get the curse lifted (we conceived of this idea before charles had won monaco so there was going to be a lot of angst about never having won monaco. monaco 2024 you'll always be famous) charles makes the journey up to max's villa. there’s a storm and charles gets lost, so max comes out to rescue him, but charles thinks he’s kidnapping him. they get off on the wrong foot immediately and hate each other

charles tries to get max to talk about the curse but max clams up and wont tell him anything. charles meets all the ex-teammates and they explain the curse being passed down and that max isn’t a bad person. maybe they do it in song? who could say. alex albon sings be our guest. okay moving on.

charles tells max about his monaco curse, but max swears he has nothing to do with it. however, he takes charles to a room in his house filled with F1 memorabilia and says they can look through it together to see if there’s any mention of a monaco curse. charles is charmed and as they look through the objects together, they begin joking and flirting and start to See Each Other In A Different Light.

daniel/pierre/alex/checo organize a very romantic moment where charles and max watch the sunset over monaco and share a dance (checo is singing beauty and the beast in the background but that's unimportant. charles is somehow wearing a giallo modena ballgown and that is very important To Me). they have A Moment where they Look Into Each Other's Eyes and charles is about to lean in to kiss max when max breaks away and flees (bc he thinks he's unlovable bc he's a beast and because of the curse. poor max. it's going to get worse buddy).

oh no! it’s imola weekend. charles has to leave but promises max he’ll come back immediately. max doesn’t believe him bc he’s cursed and no one ever keeps their promises. LOTS OF ANGST. then charles DNFs in imola and ferrari are worried about his mental state going into monaco so they put him on lockdown. charles is ANGUISHED bc max is going to think he abandoned him. but there's nothing he can do about it until after monaco.

charles DOMINATES the FPs in monaco and he’s all-but-guaranteed to get pole. there’s a lot of unrest in monaco bc the monegasque people are worried that this year is going to be like previous years, and charles is going to be robbed of the win he so clearly deserves. so a mob forms to march up to max’s house in the hills above monaco and kill him, so that charles will not be cursed anymore. damn these monegasques are kinda dramatic.

charles faces an agonizing decision. he needs to stay for quali to get pole and have any hope of winning. but they’re threatening the love of his life’s life. it's not really a choice at all. charles leaves the paddock and races up the hills to max’s house. its raining. it’s very dramatic. charles saves max from the mob, gives a big speech about how he loves max, how he knows now he isn’t cursed, how he can win the race without anyone interfering for him.

charles has given up any hope of winning his home race in order to protect max. SELFLESS ACT. max’s curse is broken. he and charles kiss and declare their love, max is like “i can’t believe you gave up your home race for me” charles says “there’s always next year”

but wait! the rain was so severe that quali was delayed! charles makes it back in time and puts it on pole. he wins the race, and max is there in parc ferme and under the podium.

then they go to jimmy’z afterwards and live happily ever after.

i know that in the movie the whole curse is also affecting lumiere and cogsworth etc and at the end when the curse is broken they become people again but in this story all the ex-teammates stay as objects forever and live in max and charles' house. maybe liam lawson joins them as a little teacup one day, who can say for sure

next up: cinderella!!!

[suugarbabe]

a little one shot based off this request

pairing: Mattheo Riddle x reader

word count: ~700

warnings: mentions of weight, ed tendencies

You sighed, pinching the bridge of your nose at you looked at the envelope in your hands. Your mother made a habit of charming her letters to read allowed to you once they’ve opened and you just weren’t in the mood to hear what you were sure was only ridicule and critique about how disappointed you were making her. Your parent’s expectations were high to say the least. You thanked Merlin for your sorting into Slytherin, hoping that keeping that legacy would at least have them showing some sort of affection, but alas you were given a letter listing more expectations now that you’ve met a previous one. 

You swallowed, finally getting the courage to tear the seal. As soon as it was broken the letter finished opening on its own, folding into a pair of disapproving lips that strongly resembled your mum. You closed your eyes, ready to bar the message. “Y/n…hope you’re doing well,” your mother’s voice rang through the room as you rolled your eyes. “Your father and I got your most recent marks. We were disappointed to see you let that mudblood best you yet again, it really would be nice if you put in some effort with your studies.” You groaned, rubbing your hands over your face. You were second in your class, only behind Hermione Granger who, very obviously, was the smartest witch to come out of your generation. She was actually a sweet girl, and your mother’s use of the derogatory term turned your stomach. 

You had hoped that was the gist of the letter, but your mother’s voice continued, “Your father and I also received the latest Hogwarts Herald. The photo they used of you from the last quidditch match really was awful, seems like you’ve quite a bit…larger than when you left this fall. Please remember to pace yourself at meals, chew at least twenty times before you swallow. It’ll trick your mind to think you’re fully, trust me. You’ll thank me for it later. Also, please remember to pack your nicer clothing when you come home for Holiday. You know how important those parties are for your father.” With that the letter floated down to your desk, reverting back to a simple piece of parchment. 

You let out a shuttered breath, not even aware you were holding it in. Your eyes brimming with tears. “Y/n/n…” you turn your head at the sound of Mattheo’s voice, wiping your eyes with the back of your hand before standing up, trying to compose yourself. “Oh, hey Teo, what’s up?” He looked at you with sad eyes, “Was that your mum?” You nodded, putting on a smile the best you could, “Yeah, she’s, erm, just really passionate about her beliefs. No big deal, how much, uh, how much did you happen to hear?” Mattheo walked closer to you, “Heard that she wants you to starve yourself, why on earth would she say something like that?” 

He went to place his hands on your hips, but you pushed them away. You walked over to your bed, sitting on the edge. Mattheo turned in his spot, “You know what she says isn’t true, don’t you, love?” You shrugged your shoulders, unsure of yourself. “Princess, you are so absolutely breathtaking. You are so strong, one of the toughest beaters I know, you’re the reason we won the last five games, that’s why they took that photo of you.” He was standing in front of you now, holding your hands in his. He brought one up to his lips, kissing your palm, then the inside of your wrist before guiding you to wrap your hand around his neck. “Every curve of your body,” his hands roaming up your sides now, “Merlin, I’m so obsessed with you.” His forehead rested against yours, noses brushing, “Don’t listen to her cruel words, because if I had it my way I’d worship you, every part of you, every night, every day.” He tilted your chin up, connecting his lips to yours. The kiss was soft, gentle, like he was breathing you in. He broke apart, a little sooner than you would have liked. He then walked around, climbing onto the bed behind you, “C’mere, let’s lay down. I wanna keep telling you how perfect you are.” His arms stretched out and you immediately climbed into his embrace. You spent the rest of the night like that, wrapped in his arms.

[soggywaffles6]

🍪 6th Virtue - Chapter 1 (Present Day) - The New Cookie 🍪

𝓝𝓸 𝓟𝓞𝓥:

The new ancients, formed from the pure soul jams of the Virtues, the protectors, the guardians of Earthbread ever since the original Virtues were enslaved in the Silver Trees due to their corruption. The five ancients personalities were very similar to their predecessors before corruption. Obviously because of sharing soul jam and job. The heroes were - Dark Cacao, who possessed Mystic Flour's soul jam, White Lily, who possessed Silent Salt's Soul jam, Pure Vanilla, who took Shadow Milk's Soul jam, Hollyberry, who had Eternal Sugar's, and Golden Cheese, who had Burning Spice's. However, after the Dark Flour war, it all fell apart. While the witches made the cookies, they also created monsters. These monsters ravaged the land, bringing chaos and darkness in their wake. Dark Enchantress Cookie, craving power, challenged the ancients and attacked Vanilla Castle. There was a long fought battle between ancients and enchantress. No one knew who won. After the battle, both enchantress and heroes disappeared. The mortal cookies, having lost their heroes fell into chaos. The monsters attacked the land and crumpled anything that got in their way. However, the cookies rose up to the challenge and kept the monsters at bay. Soon after, Earthbread went back to normal. The cookies were happy, the planet was prospering, and the monsters were quiet. One by one the ancients awoke, having slept since the Dark Flour War. But, Pure Vanilla, having been reincarnated, lost his memories, and only recalls the moments leading up to the last battle of the war. The five ancients started their journey on discovering themselves again. But, none of them realized the dangers ahead. The Silver Tree.

•───────•°•❀•°•───────•

𝓕𝓵𝓪𝓼𝓱𝓫𝓪𝓬𝓴:

White Lily 🍪 : I am so excited to go to the witches banquet! The one event in a thousand years where all the witches come together. This is my only chance to meet them. I have a lot of questions for them, like why were cookies made? What's our purpose? Where do we come from? Ooh! I am super ecstatic to finally meet my creator! Okay, I'm here.

Witch 1 🧙‍♀️: Ha! Look at these cookies I got straight out of the oven! They look delicious! Get ready to eat, ladies!

White Lily looks horrified at the witches words and listens on.

Witch 2 🧙‍♀️: Thank you Florana! They look positively scrumptious! Let's dig in!

White Lily 🍪 : What?! They ea- My whole life I thought- My whole life was a... Lie. The witches deceived us. Our own creator's deceived us. This can't be true. Is our purpose to be.. Eaten?! No. Wait... Aah!

Witch 3 🧙‍♀️: WAIT! That Cookie's about to fall into the ultimate dough! Catch her!

Alas, the witches were too late to save White Lily.

Dark Enchantress 🍪: Hahaha!  Ah. Finally. A new body. I'm finally FREE! You may now address me as Dark Enchantress Cookie. You blasted witches will learn to FEAR me! HA!

White Lily 🍪 : What? Are you sure you won't regret that decision? No. You- I- WE came here to learn the truth. The truth and only the truth. You cannot challenge the witches.

Dark Enchantress 🍪: Ugh, you. Let me put this in simple terms. You, are just a weak and pathetic figure of my past. Time for a new era. I'm the BETTER cookie and it's time for me to shine. And... You will NOT dare to get in my way. Unless you want to get hurt.

White Lily 🍪 : You are forgetting that you exist because of me. You are part of me. If I cannot sway you to change your ways, than answer me this, why abandon your duties to fulfill your own greedy crave? Why attack cookies we swore to protect, why hurt others for your own selfish needs?

Dark Enchantress glared at White Lily with pure hatred in her eyes.

Dark Enchantress 🍪: Let me remind you. YOU are the one who swore to protect the cookies. I am the one cookie who was created without any help. We are two different cookies. Do not lecture me on things you have no control over. YOU have no right. I am just trying to free myself from these deceiving witches. You of all cookies should understand. The power of freedom and strength. The things I crave the most.

White Lily 🍪 : No. The want of freedom and strength is mutual, but the cause of such strong want is against everything I believe and work for. The Light of Freedom shines no longer on you. Never Again.

Light of Freedom ☘️:  N̷E̷v̷E̷R̷ a̷g̷a̷i̷N̷. I̷ w̷i̷l̷l̷ a̷l̷w̷a̷y̷s̷ p̷r̷o̷t̷e̷c̷t̷ y̷o̷u̷ W̷h̷i̷t̷e̷ L̷i̷l̷y̷.

•───────•°•❀•°•───────•

Hollyberry 🍪 : What happened?! Theres crumbs everywhere!

Dark Cacao 🍪 : The foul stench of rotten cream and jam is filling the castle. Pure Vanilla, what is this?

Golden Cheese 🍪 : What on Earthbread is going on?

Pure Vanilla 🍪 : Dark Enchantress Cookie has attacked. We must make haste before she hurts anyone else. Come on.

The foursome run towards the rules and prepare for battle. While Gingerbrave stumbles upon a moonstone with White Lily trapped inside. Little do any cookies know, an unknown spectator has joined.

Light of Freedom ☘️: Y̷o̷u̷r̷ d̷o̷u̷g̷h̷ h̷a̷s̷ m̷a̷d̷e̷ i̷t̷ s̷a̷f̷e̷l̷y̷ d̷u̷e̷ t̷o̷ t̷h̷e̷ M̷o̷o̷n̷P̷a̷t̷h̷ b̷u̷t̷... Y̷o̷u̷r̷ s̷o̷u̷l̷ h̷a̷d̷ b̷e̷e̷n̷ s̷c̷a̷t̷t̷e̷r̷e̷d̷ a̷l̷l̷ o̷v̷e̷r̷ t̷h̷e̷ w̷o̷r̷l̷d̷. W̷h̷i̷t̷e̷ L̷i̷l̷y̷, i̷f̷ y̷o̷u̷ e̷v̷e̷r̷ w̷i̷s̷h̷ t̷o̷ r̷e̷t̷u̷r̷n̷ y̷o̷u̷ m̷u̷s̷t̷ r̷e̷m̷e̷m̷b̷e̷r̷ m̷y̷ v̷o̷i̷c̷e̷. T̷h̷i̷n̷k̷ o̷f̷ w̷h̷o̷ y̷o̷u̷ a̷r̷e̷, y̷o̷u̷r̷ d̷r̷e̷a̷m̷, t̷h̷e̷ d̷r̷e̷a̷m̷ t̷h̷a̷t̷ a̷l̷l̷ c̷o̷o̷k̷i̷e̷ k̷i̷n̷d̷ a̷c̷h̷i̷e̷v̷e̷ f̷r̷e̷e̷d̷o̷m̷ a̷l̷l̷ a̷r̷o̷u̷n̷d̷ t̷h̷e̷ w̷o̷r̷l̷d̷. S̷o̷ m̷a̷y̷b̷e̷ y̷o̷u̷'l̷l̷ w̷a̷k̷e̷ u̷p̷ o̷n̷e̷ d̷a̷y̷ a̷n̷d̷ p̷u̷r̷s̷u̷e̷ i̷t̷.

Gingerbrave 🍪 : Whi - White Lily?

White Lily 🍪 : I finally understand. I must embrace my faults if I want to be free. But I am already beyond forgiveness. I am beyond help. Gingerbrave, my dear friend, I am so sorry, break this moon rock... with me inside.

??? : Curious. Very curious. My old friend's soul jam is fractured because of this lovely cookie? Interesting.

Light of Freedom ☘️: S̷h̷o̷u̷l̷d̷ y̷o̷u̷r̷ s̷o̷u̷l̷ f̷r̷a̷g̷m̷e̷n̷t̷s̷ b̷e̷ p̷i̷e̷c̷e̷d̷ t̷o̷g̷e̷t̷h̷e̷r̷, y̷o̷u̷ m̷a̷y̷ n̷e̷ w̷h̷o̷l̷e̷ a̷g̷a̷i̷n̷ a̷n̷d̷ r̷o̷a̷m̷ E̷a̷r̷t̷h̷b̷r̷e̷a̷d̷ o̷n̷c̷e̷ m̷o̷r̷e̷. O̷n̷c̷e̷ m̷o̷r̷e̷ m̷y̷ v̷o̷i̷c̷e̷ m̷a̷y̷ g̷u̷i̷d̷e̷ y̷o̷u̷. S̷t̷a̷y̷ a̷w̷a̷k̷e̷ W̷h̷i̷t̷e̷ L̷i̷l̷y̷ y̷o̷u̷ m̷u̷s̷t̷n̷'t̷ s̷l̷e̷e̷p̷. L̷i̷s̷t̷e̷n̷ t̷o̷ m̷y̷ v̷o̷i̷c̷e̷...

L̷i̷s̷t̷e̷n̷ t̷o̷ m̷e̷... Y̷o̷u̷ m̷u̷s̷t̷ p̷i̷e̷c̷e̷ t̷o̷g̷e̷t̷h̷e̷r̷ W̷h̷i̷t̷e̷ L̷i̷l̷y̷'s̷ s̷o̷u̷l̷ b̷a̷c̷k̷ t̷o̷g̷e̷t̷h̷e̷r̷. O̷n̷l̷y̷ t̷h̷e̷n̷ c̷a̷n̷ I̷ g̷u̷i̷d̷e̷ h̷e̷r̷. Y̷o̷u̷ m̷u̷s̷t̷ h̷e̷l̷p̷ h̷e̷r̷ P̷u̷r̷e̷ V̷a̷n̷i̷l̷l̷a̷. N̷o̷w̷ w̷a̷k̷e̷ u̷p̷ P̷u̷r̷e̷ V̷a̷n̷i̷l̷l̷a̷. P̷U̷R̷E̷ V̷A̷N̷I̷L̷L̷A̷!

𝓔𝓷𝓭 𝓸𝓯 𝓯𝓵𝓪𝓼𝓱𝓫𝓪𝓬𝓴:

Gingerbrave 🍪 : -ure Vanilla! Earthbread to PURE VANILLA!

Pure Vanilla 🍪 : Huh! What?! Oh... Gi - Gingerbrave. Sorry I must have drifted off at that moment. What is it my friend?

??? : Well we were going to tell you that we're approaching the borders of Beast Yeast but you were in cookie space.

Pure Vanilla 🍪 : Aah yes, thank you Chocolate Sauce Cookie! And sorry about my brief as the young ones say 'zoning out'.

The chocolate cookie giggles at Pure Vanilla's antics.

Chocolate Sauce 🍪 : It's fine, we all do it.

Strawberry 🍪 : Are you alright? You look very pale Pure Vanilla.

Pure Vanilla smiles softly at the shy younger cookie and replies.

Pure Vanilla 🍪 : I am perfectly fine. You need not worry about me. But I appreciate the sentiment. Now where are we now?

Wizard 🍪 : We have just crossed the borders.

Pure Vanilla 🍪 : That's great! Full spread ahead.

Gingerbrave 🍪 : It was so awesome that the Creme Republic could lend us an airship! Phew just thinking how long it would've taken us to cross the Licorice Sea without it makes me tired.

Suddenly a loud BANG 💥 comes from the airship.

Gingerbrave 🍪 : EUAHH!

Strawberry 🍪 : Wha- What was that now?!

Chocolate Sauce 🍪 : (Annoyed) On my cookie life! What is it now?! We just battled with a monster.

Wizard 🍪 : Did we hit... something?!

Pure Vanilla 🍪 : Somethings got ahold of us.

Gingerbrave 🍪 : Aagh. Strawberry Cookie!! TURN THE HELM!!!

Strawberry 🍪 : I... Can't... It's... Not... Working!!!

Pure Vanilla 🍪 : EVERYONE BRACE YOURSELVES!

Chocolate Sauce 🍪 : Tch. Hah. If you want something done, do it yourself.

She claps her hands and summons her staff. She swings the staff with elegance and grace. Suddenly, poof!

To be continued...

A/N: Whew. I'm finally DONE with this chapter. Why does CRK have SO much lore?! Welp, hope y'all like it. If you have any suggestions comment them. Follow, vote, and share. C y'all! ෆ╹ .̮ ╹ෆ 😘ฅ

Love, Soggy Waffles 6 🧇🧈🥞✨

Bye!

Word Count: 1355

[ratsoh-writes]

Why?

When?

Why?

Those were the only thoughts in his mind. He had expected his son, his twin daughters, his siblings, HIS WIFE, to try and stab him in the back. Not her. The only thing he was most proud of. The only person who, in his eyes, was almost as powerful and capable as him.

He couldn't understand. She was not supposed to be against the coven. She was supposed to remain on his side until he passed away. She was supposed to take over the family branch and then the whole coven. And yet, here she was, admitting to having done something to perjury the family.

Why? Why did she take that video and upload it?

When did she take it?

Why was she looking at him with... disdain?

"The leak... the rumor, was it you?"

"I'm afraid I do not understand your question, father" She said with a polite smile. The smile that he had taught her to do.

"Did you get mad at someone? Was it your brother? Your mom? Aunts? Your uncles? Who was it? ANSWER ME, DAMN IT!"

"Why would I be mad and anybody? Everyone has done nothing but treat me well."

.

It was 4 in the afternoon. And by now all of the residents could hear the commotion downstairs. The rumble, the cussing, the curses being cast. And it was the work of Sea and her father.

A barrier had formed, a dome, in the living room. Many people were trying to take it down, already wondering why Castiel would trap his daughter with him. Because everyone knew that he loved her the most. So why?

His arm was a melting pile of green goo, while Sea's eyes were pitch black, blood oozing down from them-

[REWIND]

Castiel's arms were both pinned to the ground while his mouth was vomiting black goo. Sea had barely dodged an acid attack as she pulled the soul of her father out of his body, binding it with golden and black magic strings.

Castiel screams were heard from the inside as his blue and red soul was being drained from its color. He twitched and kicked as his skin looked paler and paler by the seco-

[REWIND]

Sea's legs were impaled by metallic rods-

[Rewind]

Castiel's arms were rippe-

[REWIND]

...

[REWIND]

......

[REWIND!]

"Why is not work... working... ahg..."

His father was kneeling in exhaustion. He couldn't feel his legs. He was having trouble breathing... his magic... he felt less and less of it by the second. As if someone was draining it...

.

Sea had found a book full of very interesting curses while getting Intel from the covens of the Grimm witches. Emotional draining, diseases, soul binding, soul draining. She felt like she had won the lottery. This would make her plan 10 times easier.

Oh how she wished that these curses were from her world instead. She could have run away earlier.

But alas. There is no time better than the present...

Ahahahha using the true coven powers against him!!! Get em sea!!!

[libraryofcirclaria]

15 October 1281

Library of Circlaria

Third Level Society: First Version

Story Six: Meona Bell

The break helped, I guess, for the time being. Sari Frame at least provided me some comfort.

But it seems things have gone from bad to worse while I was gone. Alas, Peter Crane defeated Dyla Cormick in the run for the Dungeonmaster position. I honestly do not know what's in store for the Society.

I tried to talk some sense into Dyla about this, how being irrational over the duel made Caucus voters lose trust in her. But even then, she refused to understand. She has been extremely hell-bent at "getting back at Kara Martins." She's emotionally awash and relishing the attention she is getting from the duel. I, honestly, am absolutely disgusted with Dyla right now.

So today the duel took place. Yes, I was disgusted. But for some reason, I felt compelled to go and witness the spectacle. I can't put a finger on what exactly motivated me to go, I went.

Yet I felt alone. Ivella had to leave the day before owing to pressing business with Thomas Snow.

So here was a fancy rubber-plastic turf lining the sidewalk between the Fountain and Fleming House with markers indicating where each dueler was to stand after taking twenty steps, a line at the halfway point indicating where each dueler was to start, facing back-to-back before the step off, and lines at either end indicating the dueler to have lost owing to "losing ground" should they cross their lines. In the middle of that and on the sideline stood the Arbitrator in his brilliant blue robes and hat.

And the area surrounding this field was packed with cheering University students, much to my disgust. First Kara Martins walked out onto the carpet, acknowledging the cheering crowd; then the same with Dyla. I was not there to greet Dyla, by the way, more like I was there as the silent witness.

Then the two women huddled together with the Arbitrator as the Arbitrator explained the conventions. So there were three rounds. For each round, the two duelers, at the signal of the Arbitrator, would step off in a series of twenty steps. Once the twenty steps were completed, the dueler would, as quickly as possible, turn around and strike the opposing dueler with a Stun Spell. The rule was that if a dueler fell to the ground or fell back behind the edge line, she would lose the round. If both remained standing and in a good area, there would be some sort of a draw, and the same held true if both fell.

The Arbitrator also forbade the use of Stun Spells above Level IV intensity under the Circlarian School Standards for safety.

In any case, there was a fifteen-minute break between each round while each dueler saw to sideline caregivers to do things like short-term tending to injuries or giving water...despite the cold and rainy weather.

"Step!" the Arbitrator shouted. And amidst the roaring cheers, both Dyla and Kara, facing back-to-back stepped off in twenty steps to either end. Thus began the first round.

I was worried that Kara would get to her spot first, but then suddenly Dyla whipped around and struck Kara in the face with a Stun Spell. It was not full in the face but more of a face-glance. Regardless, it was enough to knock Kara down.

There was an uproar of cheers but also jeers of "Cheater!" and "Witch!"

The fifteen minutes that followed felt like the worst in my life.

Then came Round Two. Same call, same step off. But this time, when Dyla struck first, Kara face-glanced the hit but remained standing on her line. Kara sent a discharge of her own, which sent Dyla reeling backward. Dyla remained standing but staggered back over the edge line.

Therefore, Kara won Round Two.

Then came Round Three. This time, Dyla did not even get a chance to throw a discharge. She was hit full in the face by Kara's discharge and flew backwards off the Dueling Carpet. Seeing the medics rush over to her amidst the cheers and clamor, I saw that Dyla had, in fact, been knocked out cold.

So it came to be that Kara Martins won the duel. I'm sure that she is proud of that, and Dyla is humiliated at not only having lost the Dungeonmaster election but also having lost the duel...and I, at this point, believe, that is how Dyla is prioritizing this.

<- 05 October 1281 <- || -> 17 October 1281 ->

[yallemagne]

Everyone: "Man, how does Van Helsing know so much about Dracula and vampires?? Must be a personal connection between him and the Count."

Me: *pulling my hair out trying to rewrite the September 30 meeting scene* "IF YOU ACTUALLY FUCKING READ HIS MONOLOGUE TWENTY TIMES OVER YOU WOULD KNOW HE KNEW NONE OF THIS INFORMATION PRIOR TO THE STORY."

Maybe not none. But. Let me just. Most of the shit he says is filler. "Let me tell you, it's gonna be fucking spooky" is what he says like fifty times over in twenty words or more each time.

"Alas! Had I known at the first what now I know—nay, had I even guess at him—one so precious life had been spared to many of us who did love her."

Van Helsing says that if he knew all the info he's about to dump on us about vampires, they could have saved Lucy. Meaning he didn't know jack shit. He most certainly didn't know who Dracula was.

"Even friend Jonathan, who lived with him for weeks, did never see him to eat, never! He throws no shadow; he make in the mirror no reflect, as again Jonathan observe. He has the strength of many of his hand—witness again Jonathan when he shut the door against the wolfs, and when he help him from the diligence too. He can transform himself to wolf, as we gather from the ship arrival in Whitby, when he tear open the dog; he can be as bat, as Madam Mina saw him on the window at Whitby, and as friend John saw him fly from this so near house, and as my friend Quincey saw him at the window of Miss Lucy. He can come in mist which he create—that noble ship's captain proved him of this; but, from what we know, the distance he can make this mist is limited, and it can only be round himself. He come on moonlight rays as elemental dust—as again Jonathan saw those sisters in the castle of Dracula. He become so small—we ourselves saw Miss Lucy, ere she was at peace, slip through a hairbreadth space at the tomb door."

Then finally he starts saying things that he may have already known since he cites no specific examples: night vision, requiring invitation, no power in the daytime, the sunrise and sunset bit, etc.. He does cite an example of what "unhallowed ground" vampires can enter uninvited, but that's just to illustrate his point. But then he talks about his friend Arminius.

"I have asked my friend Arminius, of Buda-Pesth University, to make his record; and, from all the means that are, he tell me of what he has been. He must, indeed, have been that Voivode Dracula who won his name against the Turk, over the great river on the very frontier of Turkey-land. If it be so, then was he no common man; for in that time, and for centuries after, he was spoken of as the cleverest and the most cunning, as well as the bravest of the sons of the 'land beyond the forest.' That mighty brain and that iron resolution went with him to his grave, and are even now arrayed against us. The Draculas were, says Arminius, a great and noble race, though now and again were scions who were held by their coevals to have had dealings with the Evil One. They learned his secrets in the Scholomance, amongst the mountains over Lake Hermanstadt, where the devil claims the tenth scholar as his due. In the records are such words as 'stregoica'—witch, 'ordog,' and 'pokol'—Satan and hell; and in one manuscript this very Dracula is spoken of as 'wampyr,' which we all understand too well."

Van Helsing is really just like me for real oh my god. He sounds like me after just having gone on a Wikipedia binge. He knew absolutely nothing about Dracula before, and he really wants to capitalize on all the new shit he just learned.

"We know from the inquiry of Jonathan that from the castle to Whitby came fifty boxes of earth, all of which were delivered at Carfax; we also know that at least some of these boxes have been removed. It seems to me, that our first step should be to ascertain whether all the rest remain in the house beyond that wall where we look to-day; or whether any more have been removed. If the latter, we must trace——"

*gunshots* Anyway.

More fucking fuel for the stop fucking painting him and Dracula as mortal enemies fire. He's literally just an old man who reads a lot, he's not a badass vampire hunter, Dracula didn't kill his gf or some shit, and he's probably never successfully dealt with a vampire before. Also, more ammo for my if you deny Jonathan's importance to the story one more time-- gun.

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

What would a cw adaptation of Harry Potter look like?

Having not watched too many cw shows myself (I just hear about their nonsense), I phoned @therealvinelle who made the poor life choices of having watched much more of The Vampire Diaries than I have and watching any Supernatural.

The following is her beautiful response:

So for starters, we merge Snape and Tom's characters. This is because Snape isn't hot, and because Tom needs to be near the kids. Tom still looks like Tom Riddle, and he's a teacher who seduces Hermione. At no point are any thoughts about the fact that he's a teacher sleeping with a student had

Harry is a blond now, and he's also dating Hermione. A love triangle ensues, one where Tom will hover sexily but dangerously in empty classrooms and make vague threats that Hermione find very sexually arousing.

The love triangle is the focal point of this show.

Voldemort is Tom's evil alter ego, who killed Harry's parents over that prophecy. He wants to kill Harry as well, but it's not the season finale yet so he's not actually doing anything about it. Too busy seducing Hermione.

Instead he just does vaguely sinister things, like release a basilisk that Harry heroically saves Hermione from.

He every so often has charged conversations with McGonagall (Who has been aged down and is in her thirties. She's still considered ancient), implying they had an affair once.

Harry and Hermione piece together that Tom and Voldemort aRe ThE sAmE pErSoN.

(Piece together meaning that Dumbledore, who only appeared in the second half of the first season and the show never bothers to clarify what his job actually is, gets a focal episode where he tells them the story of Tom Riddle through flashbacks. Terrible flashback wigs and costumes galore.)

Tom will later, in season 3 where he goes full woobie and we learn that none of his evil deeds were ever his fault, reveal that there's more to the story. That orphanage he grew up in? It was a special school for muggle-borns where they trained a future wizarding militia. Tom was the only one who broke free of their oppressive regime. The other children... GREW UP TO BECOME THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX.

But I'm skipping how season 1 ended. The answer is that Hermione disavowed Tom in the season 1 finale since he was evil, he was too sexy bad boy to care except subtle wigglings of his eyebrow told the captive Tomione-shipping audience that he did in fact care. Harmione shippers think they're all delusional. She then jumped into Harry's arms.

Which was poor decision making on her end, because in season 2 Harry joins the dark side. This lasts for half a season, mostly because the arc featured so much filler. Tom, who was imprisoned in season 1, becomes Hermione's supportive pen pal through this ordeal and she starts to wonder if maybe there's good in him after all.

Sirius Black is introduced, he's a lawyer living in the Muggle world and he was in love with Lily. We get a flashback showing us how sad Sirius was when she married James, and there is buildup for an arc where Harry's paternity will be questioned. This arc is scrapped, and Sirius is written out of the show altogether, never to be mentioned again.

Ginny gets pregnant by Neville. Neville dies tragically shortly afterwards, killed by Harry because Harry is a dark wizard now. This is actually the spinoff door episode to the new show the CW is trying to launch, "The Weasleys".

Neville's death has no real consequences, Harry returns to the light and is forgiven in time to become the child's godfather.

Oh, and can't believe I forgot: they've all been aged up to 17.

End of season 2, Tom escapes prison.

Season 3, we get the whole "DUMBLEDORE is the real villain!" arc. Tom killing Harry's parents in season 1 is forgotten, the show doesn't outright retcon it but it doesn't want the viewers to remember it either.

Hermione is once again in a love triangle, only this time Tom and Harry have both done bad things (but we'll only bring up the 2 bad things Harry did (killed Neville and said a mean thing to Hermione) and none of the 282985204592 bad things Tom did) so Hermione has a hard time.

Hermione also discovers that she's a uniquely powerful witch. She has the power to make windows shatter, candles flicker, and wind blow all about. Everyone is frightfully impressed with this.

Mid-season 3 finale, Dumbledore destroys Tom's body. It's terribly dramatic, but then turns out to only be a mild inconvenience as he is resurrected four episodes later. He's resurrected by Hermione's window shattering powering, she closed her eyes very intensely and bam, he's back.

We learn about the horcruxes, which by themselves are shockingly similar to the horcruxes of the original books. The big change, however, is that this Tom didn't know he had horcruxes, those evil bastards at the orphanage split his soul in the night through ominous rituals (another flashback here). He has no idea where this other half of his soul is.

Season finale, we learn that Hermione is in fact his horcrux. This is why they had so much in common (they don't have anything in common) and why she got through his bad boy persona (he hasn't been a bad boy since season 1!). They were soulmates this whole time!

Harry despairs in the face of this, and he and Hermione have a teary conversation where she confirms that yes, the Tomione shippers won.

He also has a pleasant conversation with Tom, as a bromance has bloomed between the two.

Alas. The episode ends on a cliffhanger, as the door flings open dramatically. Dumbledore walks in, bearing proof that Tom made an Unbreakable Vow to always serve the Order, a Vow that was obliviated from him. He drags Tom kicking and screaming away from a crying Hermione, the season ends with her resolve to find a way to save him.

(Sorry, I'm on a roll here)

Season 4, a year later. Harry and Hermione have been searching ever since Tom disappeared. They've become closer than ever, but apart from three or four moments of extreme sexual tension per episode, Hermione is Faithful™

News of Tom's terrorist actions as an Order member reach them with regular intervals. Hermione remains convinced that he's being forced to do all this and doesn't actually want to hurt anybody, Harry's not so sure.

They catch up to him in Minneapolis (did I mention this entire show takes place in the states? All the actors are American.) and he tells them to stop trying to save him. Hermione, devastated, takes this to mean he never loved her, he was only ever a psychopath playing with her feelings. She tells him as much, and Tom confirms, yeah, he's a cold-hearted son of a bitch (Harry's favorite insult for him).

They break up, and Hermione gets back with Harry. They return to their home city in North Dakota.

At the very end of that same episode, Tom is able to visit Harry for 15 seconds in the form of a specter and very dramatically tell him how he does love Hermione but he's not good for her, better to make a clean break, yada yada. DON'T LOOK FOR ME.

Harry agrees, sure no problem, he can do that. Just one noble bro to another.

Tom nods, thanks for having sex with my girl while I rot in hell, bro.

It is in this same season premier episode that the show introduces the Blacks. Remember Sirius Black? Yeah, this is sexy family.

They become instant fan favorites, and one of them is shipped with Tom (the fans now hate both Harry and Hermione).

Pandering as always, the show lets said character run into Tom. And it's not Bellatrix, oh no. It's Athena, a CW original Black. She's indistinguishable from the original Bellatrix and it's unclear why she's not just Bellatrix.

Tom is ordered to kill her, but they have a moment of truly intense eye contact so he only injures her (the killing curse doesn't exist in this show. Don't ask how Harry got his scar. No really, don't ask, the show never explained it). Shippers go wild.

Tom is eventually able to break free of the Unbreakable Vow through the power of true love (book fans are sobbing, this show gets nothing right), and he returns to Hermione, begs her to take him back. She rebuffs him, and he goes to get drunk at a bar. This is where Narcissa (aged down to 25) finds him. They have sex.

He has a brief fling with her, only to get into a more serious relationship with Athena. This leads to Hermione getting jealous.

We're now dealing with a love pentagon, of sorts. Harry and Tom love Hermione, Tom also loves Athena, Narcissa wants Harry but she has undeniable sexual chemistry with Tom.

The show descends into back-and-forth-ing, and does not get renewed.

The end.

POST SCRIPT:

The oddly popular side character that the CW never wanted to be popular at all and keeps having to make mysteriously vanish for half a season so that the plot(?) can avoid being derailed is Draco.

He's super competent but the show will never admit that.

Later, Athena plays this same role.

- @therealvinelle

[cosmiclatte28]

Friendship, Love, Courage

MY FIRST EVER COLLAB!! HOSTED BY THE WONDERFUL @danishmiilk

Characters: Renjun x reader, NoMin!

Fluff romance

Warning : mentions of “stealing”, quite a broken trust but its ending nicely

TW : Stress (?)

HERE WE GO!! I worked so hard on this (even had 2 other friends checked on this and they approved this thanks to both of you #they’re_not_in_tumblr

word count : 12 pages idk how much but come on finish it for me 🥺🥺🥺 thanks

tagging @yutahoes @neopalette @full-hd-sun @swagmonsterofficial @nini-eexxo @hen-marks99 At this point I'm just tagging my moots coz this was my first attempt of collab and i deadass worked so hard on this... it better be read by someone even if they don't like it but they read it 🤭💖 @superm-net @multifandomnet @trashlord-007 @ahsshilee-me @charmingyong

You smile shyly when the cute prefect in blue robe tosses a small smile to you when you pass by him on the moving stairs. He continues his tour of guiding the new wizards and witches into the magical castle, telling them stories, showing them the common room, and helping them adjust to the new living area.

You gasp when you feel a slap on your shoulder, quickly you turn your head to face the now annoyed friend standing beside you.

“Really (y/n)? You’re once again frozen in place when that honey boy you adore walks by.” Jaemin, in his green robe, slicks his blonde hair away while throwing some flirty smile to the younger girls passing by the two of you. They chuckle and blush at his action, unaware of the fact that Na Jaemin already has his eyes on someone.

You glare at him, quickly covering his mouth before catching attention of the living paintings hung on the walls. No, not even the paintings should know about your feelings to that cute Ravenclaw prefect.

“Shut that big mouth of yours please. Don’t you know the walls have ears here?!” you dust off your red robe and continue walking to the dining hall. Shaking aside the cute smile of Huang Renjun away from your head. You’ve met Renjun from the first day of school, he was pure blood with the Hatstall incident at his sorting ceremony. The sorting hat spent a good five minutes pondering if he should be in Ravenclaw or Slytherin. Alas the house of the witty won the cute half-blood. As much as you wish to get sorted into the same house as his (mainly because he is cute), once the hat is on, it sorted you to the house of the brave. You’re still happy though to be one of the brilliant half-bloods in the Gryffindor house.

Renjun was very nice of you, when you first felt lonely in the big school (funny how you, a Gryffindor can feel lonely eh? But that’s your life). When you were struggling to find your way through the halls you had to thank Renjun for accompanying you whenever you had to move classes. But your relationship with him is purely just as close as a stranger. Renjun never sits beside you, nor does he hang out with you, he sits with his own smart gang. For two years he purely just helped you get around the halls. Instead of befriending Renjun, you become friends with the two wizards in your batch, the generous Hufflepuff who helps you ace your Herbology class: Lee Jeno. He is your first bestie, and since he enjoys your loud and fun personality, he calls you one of his friends.

The handsome blonde in green robe by your side earlier is your other best friend, Na Jaemin. A pureblood descending from the Slytherin family. You don’t know how Jaemin wants to be friends with you, a Gryffindor, but here you are. If Jeno helps you with herbology, Jaemin is there for you in potion classes. Though at first you think Jaemin is just using you to help him pass transfiguration and magical creatures. Turns out it was the total opposite, Jaemin is interested in Jeno, and the only person he sees is nice enough to be his wingman is you.

You don’t mind this though since you’ve seen how sincere Jaemin is when it comes to defending you and cheering you up. You know it’s just his ego that doesn’t let him say he is being friends with you because you two click. Screw anyone who made the unwritten rules that a Slytherin and Gryffindor cannot be friends. Well you understand since he is a Pure Slytherin. No one expects Slytherin to befriend Gryffindor even worse a half blood.

Back to the mean time, you walk with Jaemin on your side to reach the library where Jeno has reserved a place for you two. It’s your fourth year in Hogwarts which means you and your friends have to start preparing for the O.W.L test to be taken in your last fifth year. Although the three of you are gifted with brilliant heads, no one can slack their O.W.L and expect to pass. Here you are, limiting your free time and getting your ass dragged by Jeno to always study when you have free time.

“I miss playing quidditch.” You whisper after one hour of sitting down in the library and sticking your nose into the lines and lines of scribbles.

Jeno snickers, “You miss quidditch or you miss being in the same air as Renjun?”

You slap his hand that lays on the table and the young boy groans, “You’re evil! You could be in Slytherin, gosh thank heaven you’re not there or you’ve turned me into a stone.”

Jaemin just smirks, well he likes this side of you. The semi-evil part in your innocent-like façade.

“Dramatic, Lee Jeno. I love flying on the broom and chasing the balls.” You lied and if someone had given you the Veritaserum, Jeno’s guess was right. Your team likes to practice with the Ravenclaw’s team; don't ask why when your team captain is clearly flirting with the Ravenclaw’s captain.

“Come on, no one will buy that lie. It’s been four years of secretly crushing Renjun, why don’t you try to at least “befriend” him.” Jaemin sets aside his book and rests his chin on one of his hands.

You focus back on your book, trying to not fall into Jaemin’s hypnotizing eyes that can make you spill truths. “I am his friend. He never calls me an enemy.”

“Yeah not like that, I mean bring him here to our group study, ask him to sit with you during mealtimes. Invite him to join us when we’re strolling around Hogsmeade.” Jeno whispers.

The three of you shut up when a shadow appears on your table and drop a pile of books.

“Excuse me, mind sharing the table? The place is full and yours is the only one available.” A soft voice greets three of you and like robots, you turn your heads slowly to widen your eyes and gasp when the guy of your gossip is standing here.

“Oh Renjun, yes you can. Please,” Jaemin kindly brings his books to his side and you throw him a death glare. Well, the available space is the one on your side.

“Thank you, hey (y/n)! It’s been a while,” Renjun smiles at you. You just smile and nod, well yes you rarely see him in class, mostly because your schedule didn’t match his and both of you stopped playing quidditch.

You swear, that was the longest one hour in your life. Renjun’s soft sweet fragrance of sweet baked vanilla from the side is enough to make your heart beat faster, not to mention how cute he looks with his glasses when he is focusing on the charm textbook. You know if this guy is going to sit here all day, none of the materials written in the book will be planted in your brain. Still, Jeno and Jaemin had the audacity to invite Renjun into your small study group.

“Hey Renjun, next time why don’t you join us to study for O.W.L?” Jeno asks when all of you clean up your belongings and head for dinner.

Renjun’s smile lights up and he laughs nervously, “Well if that is okay with three of you, I don’t have any friends to study with yet.”

“You’re most welcome here! Just ask (y/n) later about our meeting times. Jeno can help with herbology and I can help with Potions. You can help us with charms! (y/n) here is the queen of transfiguration.” Jaemin welcomingly says all of this. Though most people may be blinded by his sweet words, you want to smack the life out of him when you see his glinting eyes taunting you.

You want to object, saying that his schedule won’t work with yours, but the cat has your tongue and all you can do is stay quiet as Renjun thanks Jaemin for inviting him to the group.

With that, Renjun chooses to walk around the grounds for a while before dinner. Your heart is bursting any second whenever he looks up to glance at the sky and you can see his perfectly sculptured face. No, it is not awkward, he casually talks with you about how he also misses quidditch, he also shares funny stories of the first-year students getting lost in the hallways just like you. Is he teasing you about getting lost in the hallway? Well since it is Renjun you just smile, had it been Jeno or Jaemin their hairs would already be in your hand.

“They’re just like you. Looking so cute when they’re lost and confused, afraid to miss their class.” Renjun stares at you and you laugh.

“I know, it was hard okay memorizing this big hall! Not to mention the moving stairs.” You finally feel less nervous and you can start talking with less stuttering.

“Well, if you’re ever confused just call me. I’ll assist you again like back then.” He chuckles and you laugh.

Well, you sort of have to treat Jeno and Renjun for a butterbeer maybe, thanks to them you finally get to walk around and talk with Renjun on the ground after four years.

That night on the paved grounds. You sit down while playing with your wand, swishing it while practicing some chants (without actually doing it). You sit on one of the grounds, leg straight while you lean on one of the pillars there. There is a soft footstep coming to you and someone took the opposite part of the pillars. You turn your head to catch Renjun’s body mirroring yours, but he is holding a book.

“Complicated.” He shrugs coyly.

You toss your head to the side and smile "Renjun, how did you find me? " Your easy-going Gryffindor traits show up and Renjun calmly looks up from his book to look over his shoulder to you too. “Maybe from this?” he offers you a Marauder’s Map and you gasp.

“How can you have one?” you want to take it from his hand, but he is faster.

Before you can ask more questions, Renjun diverts the topic and asks you about the group study. "So, are you sure your Slytherin and Hufflepuff boys want me to be in the group?" Renjun bashfully asks you this.

You laugh "They're more than happy when you accept their offer. Truth is we all suck at the hard charms. We need a tutor and we also need one more friend to make the space full. You're on our first list."

"I am honored to be first in the list, and I also like having friends to study with. So, tell me what the schedule is." With that, you wave your wand to bring you a piece of paper. "Accio schedule." The schedule paper lands on Renjun's slender fingers from your small pocket and the soft looking boy runs his eyes through the timetable. "Great, I can adjust my classes for this." You feel your heart can't take it anymore when he looks into your eyes deeply.

"So, see you tomorrow afternoon." You stand up trying to leave the ground, since the sleeping hours are coming, but his hand reaches for your wrist. "Sorry, do you want to go watch the quidditch practice between our team tomorrow? It's after lunch." Renjun scratches his neck. You nod "I will!" He smiles "Great, see you! Good night."

You raise your eyebrow "My hand" And he gasps as he lets go of your wrist. "Sorry" Both of you laugh and you finally go back to your room. Things were great, you and Renjun slowly became closer.

You hate the silly rules of staying over your own common room. Like dang you want to meet Renjun in his common room, but you know you’re not the smartest one to unlock their password. Not to mention you are not ready to have eyes pierced on you as you enter the room (if you ever succeed)

So, you end up only able to meet Renjun when he sees you on the hallway and with Jeno and Jaemin. He sometimes appears to you in the garden and you once found him chilling on the school’s astronomy tower in the middle of the night. He’s daring enough to leave his bed and you found him stargazing.

After your one encounter on the astronomy tower, that becomes your regular meeting place with Renjun.

Like tonight, both of you sneaked out of your beds, tiptoeing perfectly through the stairs. Somehow escaping the ears of Mr Filch and voila both of you are smiling ear to ear as the moonlight glows through your faces.

You sit on the porch, suddenly regretting your stupid head for forgetting the scarf. The wind is pretty harsh, and you try to hug your body. Renjun is busy watching the sky through his binoculars. You gave him your binoculars when you discovered he also loves space and the galaxy.

“Want to look at the stars?” Renjun looks at you and hands you the binocular. You nod your head while trying your best to not shake from the cold, but it is cold.

“Silly, forgot your scarf?” he unwinds his own blue silver knit scarf and steps closer to wrap it over you.

“What about you?” you feel worried about his condition. Renjun only shakes his head, “I wore warmer clothes. Also, you shouldn’t fall sick. You need to prepare for your O.W.L tomorrow. Just watch the sky.” He quickly changes the topic when he sees your annoyed face of bringing up O.W.L

You take his advice when he pushes your body to face the sky and you bring the object to your eyes. He was right, the night sky is always mysterious and calming, somewhere out there two of you believe another universe with aliens exists.

Renjun secretly watches you in admiration. He never expects to get this close with you, physically and mentally. By now, he knows your most embarrassing story, your favorite food, and your favorite star.

“Renjun! Quick make a wish!” you tug on his sweater and pull his hand when your eyes catch a shooting star.

Renjun is quick to realize your hand is still squeezing his arm, but he closes his own eyes and makes his own wish. You wish with all your might, things will be better for you and Renjun. You want him, you love him and basically, you’re so ready to risk everything just to get him. Creepy? No, that is love.

“So, what did you wish for?” he whispers near your ear, you see him shivering so you naturally take off the scarf and try your best to share it between both of you.

Renjun’s cheek blushed, “Didn’t think of that. You sure are smarter at things like that.”

You giggle “About your question, don’t you know a wish should remain secret or it won’t work.”

The young man scoffs, “You believe that?”

You nod “Well I thought you do too.”

Renjun smiles, “Fine. I will also keep mine.”

You can no longer hold back your yawn and you realize if both of you stay in this cold air, you’ll need to call in sick and that is not happening. Not when you need to catch up on all class materials.

“See you Injun-ah,” you wave as you drape the scarf back on him. He smells your sweet musk perfume and something tingles Renjun’s mind.

He remembers he had smelt that same hint of scent somewhere, but where. In confusion, the Ravenclaw walks back to his room. Only when his head hits his pillow does he finally remember where he encountered that smell. None other than that silly amortentia potion class. Take a whiff and you’ll know who that special person is.

“Tell me again how he always managed to find you?” Jaemin asks you about how Renjun always finds you. Both of you are sitting in the garden, taking a whiff of fresh air.

You sigh, you know you shouldn’t be telling him this, but you think Jaemin can keep secrets.

“He has a Marauder’s map.” You whisper under your breath.

Jaemin’s eyes lighten and his jaw drops. He really looks glowing with happiness like he won a lottery.

“(Y/n)~” his sing-song tone comes out and you mutter a curse under your breath. Oh no, he is going to ask you something. Which is true.

“Is it possible if you borrow the map from Renjun? Just for a second.” He pouts and draws random lines on your arm. You pull your hand away and slap his hand “What are you thinking? Go borrow by yourself.”

He drives his eyes to his feet, “I really need it, but I guess Renjun won’t let me borrow it.”

You scoff “You know it already. I never even touched it Jaem, it’s really precious after all.”

Jaemin, a total charmer, looks you in the eyes with his sickening puppy eyes “Please, I need it to meet Jeno secretly too! He seems tired but he is hiding it from us…”

“Your point?” you cut the crap out of him.

Jaemin smiles and you see his cunningness really popping up when he bribes you to help him “Point is, can you just take the map from him for a while and then I’ll use it to find Jeno, then you return it to him. Simple!”

You groan “How is that simple? That’s stealing!”

“Borrowing, just that he won’t realize it’s ever gone from his hand.” Jaemin shrugs his shoulder

“It’s not an honest game. You said ``borrow not steal and return.”

“Then try borrowing it from him, he doesn’t talk to me about the map so it’ll be weird if I ask him about that. He will be mad at you for spilling secrets and I know you love him so much.” He smirks, knowing that he won your internal battle.

You sigh, Jaemin really traps you in the mouse trap eh?

“Fine, let me try to borrow it from him. What will I get in return?”

“Woah you're so calculative! I thought we are friends and friends help each other?”

You really regret not joining Jeno to study with Renjun, this Slytherin man is really cunning… luring you to leave the library to “take in the fresh air” but ended up dealing with a dangerous project.

“Okay if you insist, I’ll say if the map worked, I’ll be able to accompany Jeno and he will be happier and you want to see Jeno happier right? Also you’re my best greatest courageous friend, isn’t this like a challenge?” he stares at you with great compassion plus hitting your chivalry ego and since no one is there to slap you, you nod your head.

“Okay Jaemin.” The Gryffindor spirit of not thinking about an action carefully is here.

Jaemin smirks and waves you goodbye after slipping a small tube of potion to your hand. He disappeared like that and you start to think of a way to talk with him about the map, while staring at disbelief for the Felix Felicis in your hand. Dang that Slytherin boy really is questionable.

You spend the afternoon thinking of a way to get Renjun’s map and you finally choose to ask him slowly.

“Renjun! What are the things you always keep in your bag?” you ask randomly but Renjun and you did this a lot of time, so he doesn’t smell your smoke.

He thinks for a while, “Nothing much, books and the map, some quills and chocolates? Why?”

You nod “It’s okay, just curious.”

He doesn’t pester you about it, only talking more about different things.

“Hey, tomorrow is Sunday. Mind to just sit and enjoy the day off? We sit in the fountain courtyard.”

Your brain finds a chance to take his map and so you nod your head.

--

You drop the Felix Felicis potion on your breakfast tea that Sunday morning and you meet Renjun who is looking so good in his casual outfit.

You’re nervous, though luck is favoring you, you are still battling yourself whether you should just snatch the map or ask him nicely.

After talking about different things and driving his attention to other things, you inch closer to Renjun and stare at his lips. Somehow your brain is focused on his lips and oh did you forget you took a potion this morning?? Because your silly head wants to kiss his lips so bad and luck is really on your side.

“Why are you staring at my lips? You really like them don’t you?” Renjun boldy asks, something so uncommon about him.

You gulp and blush, but your heart secretly wants to kiss him.

“Come here,” he pulls your hand closer and once your shoulder crashes with his, he kisses you right in the middle of the day when everyone can see you two sharing a slow kiss.

Your head almost stops working but suddenly Jaemin’s shadow appears in your mind and you quickly put your hand into Renjun’s bag. You didn’t know the lucky potion could be this wonderful because once your hand enters the bag you find the paper already.

Renjun was so focused on the kiss that he didn’t notice your hand slipping the map to your pocket. Only when you’re done did you finally break the kiss.

He blushes and you chuckle “That was intense.”

Yes the kiss was intense but the reason your heart beats super-fast is because of the action you just did. Stealing.

“I love you Renjun,” you whisper, feeling a bit sad for lying to him… but you don’t want to be embarrassed after what you did go well.

“I love you too, I didn’t know our feelings were mutual.” He innocently rubs his burning face and you want to die from lying with him.

“Renjun, sorry for suddenly leaving, but I have to go, I got something to do.” You stand up from the grounds.

“Huh? Oh okay I guess you look rushed.” He stands up too, “Where do you have to go? I can walk you there.”

You shake your head and reject his offer, “No, it’s personal. If you don’t mind, I’d rather go by myself. Bye Injun! See you!” you run away from him and disappear before he can even bid his farewell.

The ravenclaw just shrugs his shoulders and returns to his common room. When he kisses you earlier, he feels so fuzzy and fireworks are popping in his heart. As weird as it sounds, the kiss made him come up with a new imaginative creature.

Yes, Renjun is a ravenclaw who enjoys imaginative creatures. He is talented in drawing, so he spends his time sketching and naming creatures he has in his head. Though you may ask how a Ravenclaw believes in uncertain things with no concrete proof, Renjun has been hiding this guilty pleasure from anyone.

He hums as he sits on his chair and starts arranging his paints. The sun is angled perfectly at this time and he is more than excited to paint the new love creature he has in his mind.

On the other hand, you are running to meet Jaemin.

“I solemnly swear I am up to no goods.” You tap your wand and open the map to quickly find Jaemin.

There he is, somehow lurking in the dining hall. Weird.

You pocket the map and make your way to him.

“Use this quickly. I don’t know how long it takes for Renjun to notice.” You stuff the map into Jaemin’s pocket.

His eyes twinkle “Oh gosh you did it. You do this for me? Thank you!” he taps your shoulder and flies away “I’ll return it to you once I am done. Promise.”

You just wait for him with anxiety crawling in your heart. Something about stealing, lying, and using potion is just not settling well in your Gryffindor heart. You let out a deep breath, and relax a bit.

Only that it didn’t even last long and things are going downhill from here.

While you wait nervously in the dining room, you find yourself face to face with a fuming and disappointed Renjun. “You stole the map, didn’t you?!” he holds back all the anger inside to avoid reaching for your collar.

You gulp, of course he noticed. It’s been almost two hours. Couldn’t Jaemin find Jeno, bring Jeno to return the map to you then go disappear somewhere. Why should you wait for this long.

“I-“ you stutter “I’m sorry.” You apologize, your heart tells you lying more will just bring you to a deeper pit.

Renjun shakes his head, “You stole but I’m hurt you tricked me! Did you mean the kiss or not?”

Your eyes widened, he was just confused about the kiss? Oh how cute. You want to open your mouth, but it looks like the cat got your tongue again and Renjun was faster in assuming things when he is angry.

“You know what? I don’t care about your kiss, I don’t even care about your explanation. Give it back.” His palm opens up to you and you bite your lips “It’s not with me.”

His eyes would pop off from his head “You what? You lost it or gave it to someone?”

Damn Ravenclaws and their quick brains.

“I’ll give it back to you, I promise.” You reach out for his hand, but he snatches his hand away to his chest before you can appeal to him.

“You know what? I found it already.” He looks over your shoulder and sees Jaemin coming to you with a troubled face.

“And by the look of Jaemin’s face, I guess this is not my day.” Renjun sounds super sad and you hate yourself for actually starting all of this. He was in a super good mood earlier and you ruined everything. Now will you ruin your friendship too? and love interest.

You heard Jaemin apologizing (something so uncommon) about something and the next second, you don’t hear anything from Renjun’s lips, just an eerie silence between them and suddenly the man in blue sweater runs away from you and Jaemin.

“I may or may not have accidentally been caught by some other Slytherin, and they wanted to see the map. It ripped.” Jaemin mutters slowly and you feel your world has stopped turning and you should just leave Hogwarts before facing Renjun.

--

Renjun left both of you and there’s nothing you can do. There is, but your brain stops working and your Gryffindor heart cowers and runs away. You sit devastated on the ground and Jaemin copies you.

“We can try to fix this map,” Jaemin tries to cheer you up but you shake your head “We can’t. Even if we can, I don’t think the bond of our friendship can be fixed.” you pull your knees to your chest and put your chin on them

“I’ll find a way to fix this. I promise, I broke the map so let me take the blame for this.” Jaemin stands up with the ripped map and he casts the repair charm.

You just stare at it soullessly. Well the map did come back into one piece, but Renjun’s disappointment can’t leave your head.

“I am sorry (y/n).” Jaemin sincerely apologizes to you and you just hum a silent reply

“Look, I believe Renjun will forgive you. He might not forgive me, but I deserve this. This is not your fault. I made you trick him. I am the guilty one.” your best friend tries to cheer you up, but your mind keeps on thinking Renjun.

--

That young ravenclaw did come into dinner, well he has to as he’s the prefect. But when you leave your chair to tap his shoulder and talk with him, he already leaves with the big group and you find yourself alone, losing your chance.

You ask around where he is, and everyone says he’s in the prefect bathroom enjoying a long bath. You hate how he has a hideout you can’t come to. So, the only thing you can do is wait.

You think of ways to apologize and how he can forgive you. Should you do his chores? Should you do his essays? gosh no he’s smarter than you. Should you buy him some new paint and drawing books? He likes to draw right, but you bite your lips when you remember your allowance this month was finished for good when you bought that new broom.

You go to the toilet, and come back to ask where he is on a passing Ravenclaw, only to curse when they said he is already in the common room.

Great, now you really won’t be sleeping tonight.

“Hey (y/n), I handed him the map already and asked sorry.” Jaemin suddenly taps your shoulder when you are walking to your room.

You just nod “Lucky you, looks like he is not that disappointed at you. Must be because he is afraid you’d turn him into a frog.” you try to tease Jaemin but even your own joke doesn't taste good in your tongue.

Renjun tries his best to avoid you, or more likely avoid hearing your apology or explanation about what happened that day. It’s as if you’re a deadly plague! He did show up a couple of times to the group study meetups, but he never talks to you about anything other than asking your question about the lesson or when the boys ask him about his nerves about the test.

You feel sick from all of the studying, but most of your stress comes from Renjun’s constant ignorance towards you. He did talk to you about other things, he explained to you the lessons you’re still struggling with but he never speaks of that day as if it never happens. Though some people like that better and just brush it off, like Jaemin for example. You’re not satisfied with this. You need his real acceptance of apology or you can’t feel ease in your heart.

You tried all you can, sending him a message filled with handwritten apology, a chocolate of his favorite brand, a chocolate frog, some badly drawn apology painting, a poem, and even try to bring up the conversation whenever you meet but he always finds a way to smile and drive the topic to another thing.

His playful gaze can still be felt by you and he still helps you occasionally in classes you struggle in. He even helps until the last days of the O.W.L test and the guilt in your heart is just piling up.

--

“Good luck on your O.W.L '' Renjun one night smiles at you after cleaning up the books and quills. You gasp “Thank you, you too and Renjun I am sorry.” you finally get the chance to utter your apology intimately without anyone else near you.

Renjun sighs “You’re still sad about that?” you bite your lips and nod “I can’t take it off my head.” The man in blue robes chuckles and messes your hair “Silly. Stop worrying about that. Just focus on your studies okay so that you can pass this O.W.L” you turn red from his action, heart beating super fast upon seeing his cute smile and hand touching your head.

“Alright, I need my sleep. You go to bed too okay, see you for breakfast tomorrow.” he tucks a hair away from your face and bops your nose. You see him walk away after saying good night and when you want to go to your room, you notice a blue scarf he left on the chair.

“Renjun forgot this.” you wrap it around your neck because you have lots of stuff to bring back and slowly you walk to your room, enjoying how his scent softly brushes your nose when the wind is blowing in your direction. You feel calm now that Renjun told you not to worry about it and seeing how he’s back to playing with your hair makes you feel less guilty.

“I’ll return this tomorrow,” you mumble to yourself only to wrap it tighter to your neck when you sleep.

--

The O.W.L this year is nerve consuming and stressful. You and the other students are all squeezed and no one is having their energy other than studying, eating and sleeping. You’ve talked less with the boys, you’re busy isolating yourself in the study room or just in the garden to study and focus on yourself. You also forget about Renjun’s scarf and he seems to forget it too, judging by how he is using another scarf.

All of you made it through the excruciating exam and finally you’re packing your suitcase.

“Are you ready to go home?” Jeno puts his face into your face on the morning of the beginning of the holiday. You have a beaming smile on your face and you happily hug him “Thank you for your help! I did my O.W.L nicely because of your help!” Jeno only chuckles and laughs at your remarks. He only plays with your hair and pushes you away only for you to hit Jaemin’s chest and the cheeky guy is not ready to catch you. You close your eyes, preparing yourself to hit the hard ground and be embarrassed for the rest of the year in Hogwarts, but you didn’t hit the ground. You open your eyes and see Jaemin already standing next to Jeno, eyes running through the hall as he winks and waves his hand to the passing students. So, who is holding you?

“Hoah easy Jeno, you pushed her too hard!” A soft voice you missed. A voice that sounds so cute when he whines or complains. A voice that has been whispering all day all night in your head. Renjun.

“Renjun! Sorry.” you brush yourself as you stand up and tidy your looks. Suddenly feeling conscious if you’ll look good. Renjun smiles, he has his trunk by his hand too, looks like every one of us is going home this Christmas.

“It’s great to see you before the long holiday, (y/n)!” Renjun pushes a small smile and you are busy reaching into your backpack for something. “I need to return this! You left it in the library last time.” you hand Renjun the neatly folded blue scarf which surprises him. “Oh it’s with you! I thought I lost it.”

You laugh “Sorry, I forgot to return it to you.” you extend your arm to him. Renjun quickly takes the scarf and opens it, the next thing you know is that he inches closer to you, wraps the scarf softly on your neck and his lips hover above your own lips. When you look into his orbs, you see how he’s waiting for your permission and while Renjun still has his hand holding on to the scarf on your neck, you close your eyes and feel him pull you by the scarf and seal your lips with a long quiet kiss.

You feel butterflies in your stomach as he gently keeps his hands moving to secure your neck and your heart is thumping so hard.

“I forgive you, go enjoy your Christmas.” Renjun sincerely laughs and kisses your cheek “So, from today is it day one?”

You nod “Day one!” Your heart feels light, the heavy guilty feeling in your heart is gone, his kiss shows how he is not angry at you and you feel his passionate and sincere desire to have you as his significant other.

Jeno and Jaemin pretend they don’t see both of you, just waving their hands to any passing students, telling them to send owls, saying they’ll see them next year and all the season greetings.

“Alright, my train is leaving love. I’ll see you next year. Send me an owl , okay!” Renjun pinches your cheek that’s super red from his sudden actions. You just have a big smile on your face as you nod and wave “See you soon!”

Jeno and Jaemin help you put your stuff into the car your brother has sent to pick you up. You thank the boys, hugging them for being here with you through ups and downs and you’ve made peace with Jaemin. That guy promised you he’ll bring you back your favorite candy from his hometown.

As you sit down in your car, head looking back to the majestic and mystical castle, you smile when you remember how Renjun pulls you into a very sweet kiss and that’s enough to show you how he’s not mad or disappointed at you. You were overthinking, but that’s you. That’s something about your gryffindor heart, always wanting to be responsible for your faults and it feels good to finally see Renjun saying he forgave you already.

Magic and love. Might work side to side, might not. Whichever that is the potion or your attitude, Renjun loves you the way you love him too and that’s what matters.

end

[jonnyparable]

Elli the Good Witch

Spring brings with it all kinds of changes and soon, Won will have to return to the town a new witch of the realm to replace Ellen. Won believes Elli is ready. To prove it, Elli will have to reach mastery of her chosen path, and will need to complete her magical practice and written theory examinations.

Won :

"Elli. The time has come for your tutelage under me to end. I've taught you all you need to know and you're ready to spread your wings now."

Elli :

"Do you really think so? I feel like there's so much I have yet to learn..."

Won :

"And you will spend your life learning. Learning never truly ends if you keep an open mind. Do not doubt yourself Elli. You are a truly gifted and intuitive witch."

Elli spends the days leading up to her test hitting the books. Trying to remember everything that she's been taught. Soon it's time for the examinations and on the first day, Elli sits through a written paper, answering some questions set by Won.

For instance, what the difference between a potion and a brew is , what Raegents are required for Tempus Interruptus , and what one gets from a combination of ground Wolfsbane root, pounded Arnica, dried Nightshade petals, powdered Wizard's Cap Mushrooms, and tincture of St John's Wort. The written exam is easy enough, but after that, Elli is tested on her potions making, brewing, and spell-casting proficiency. She will have to make one potion and one brew of Won's choosing, as well as cast a summoning spell for her familiar.

Won :

"Well done, Elli. This Cup of Pestilence you made is truly foul. It is indistinguishable from my own. You have done well today, Elli. Your love potion was well balanced and potent, and you also managed to summon Elmsmere. Tomorrow will come what is perhaps the most challenging test. Make sure to rest well tonight."

That night, Elli sits before the fire in her chamber and slowly unfolds the letter that she received b from Dr Tim a few days ago.

"Dearest Elli,

How are you? I hope you and everyone in Cottage Hills is well. I enjoy reading about your magic training immensely, and I'm very proud of your progress. It's been some time since I've been able to write, I apologise. By the time you see this, I should have arrived in Sathmanpur, it is a village high up in the mountains. The people of this community have little access to medicine, and I'm hoping to be of some service to them. The journey here has been arduous and perilous but Elli, thoughts of you keep me going. For I find myself eager to meet with you again, and to see your kind, smiling eyes. Alas every step draws me closer to that day. You must continue to apply yourself in your training, and not squander Won's tutelage. As always, I have the utmost faith in your abilities. You are a phenomenal witch! I am thinking of you often. Until we meet again.

Yours,

Timothy Goodwood"

The Next Day...

Early in the misty morning, Won brings Elli up to the old broken bridge. It once connected to the west tower, that has since collapsed. Elli wonders what they could possibly be doing here.

Won:

"Well, Elli, today will be the last part of your test. You will need to Magivest over the longest distance you have done so far. Today you will Magivest from here to the top of the west tower. I'll be there, waiting."

Elli:

"What? I can't do that! I-"

Won:

"Elli. You can do it. Trust in yourself. Remember what I taught you, and remember, trust in the magic within you."

With that, Won closes his eyes, inhales deeply and a circle of light surrounds him. He fades into the mist and appears on the other side. The thick morning mist rolls in soundlessly and obscures him from view. Elli looks out into what seems like a grey abyss. She steps up to the edge.

Elli:

"Won? I can't see anything! How am I supposed to do this!?"

Won:

"Trust your instincts, Elli! Not your eyes. Let the magic guide you!"

Elli closes her eyes and focuses on Won's voice. She thinks about Dr Tim's words. Spurred by his confidence in her, she steels herself and with her fists clenched tightly, she inhales. Slowly, she begins to be surrounded by tiny twinkling lights.

In a flash of light, she is sent soaring through time and space. Her feet soon find ground, and as she looks up, Elli sees Won's smiling face.

Won :

"Congratulations Elli, you did it, you are ready to be the Witch of the Realm!"

[a-simple-imagine]

Study Date

Requested by anonymous: “Hermione Granger x reader where reader is best friends with Luna and has a crush on Hermione. She never acts on those feelings because Hermione called Luna Looney and seems to dislike her and in the end maybe Luna sets them up. “

Pairing: Hermione Granger x fem!reader

Words: 2.3k+

A/N - Today i offer you yet another story about hermione granger. Tomorrow? Who knows. 

Thank you to @kileyrose-2003​ for checking it over.

Hermione Granger was a complete enigma but that was probably due to the fact there was only so much you could learn through limited interactions. If there was one thing you knew about her, it was that she was a spectacular witch with a thirst for knowledge. She had been placed in Gryffindor all those years ago but she truly could have excelled as a Ravenclaw; if that had been the case perhaps the two of you would be closer. Things would have been entirely different but alas you were left to admire from afar since that very first year when you noticed her across the Great Hall. You didn't even have any classes together until you started taking electives. However, as hard as you tried Hermione Granger seemed to avoid you at all costs. You had invited her to hang out many times but she always declined. Maybe Ron and Harry were the limits of her social perimeters?

A hand sways before your eyes drawing you back to reality. "So easily distracted."

Luna Lovegood had such a melodic, soft voice that it was weirdly hard to ignore. Then again everything about the girl could be considered peculiar which was something you greatly admired. She didn't care what anyone thought of her and yet you cared so desperately what they thought of you. "Sorry," You hum, folding the paper in your hands. "I just... do you think there is something wrong with me?"

"No more than anyone else,"

"Maybe that's why she doesn't like me," You let out a defeated sigh before placing the origami tiger you had been working on down on the table.

"Who?"

From the corner of your eyes, you spot a familiar brunette wander into the Great Hall. A few books wedged under her arm. "Can you just give me a sec-"

Without giving Luna a chance to respond, you leap to your feet and scramble along the length of the entire table and then around to catch Hermione.

"Wait," You place your hand against her shoulder, startling her just a little. "Hermione,"

She spins on her heel; her frown morphing into that of a welcoming smile. At least she seemed happy to see you. "Yes?"

"I..." you trail off as a wave of heat washes over you. The Gryffindor always managed to make you feel anxious. It wasn't a bad thing; you knew it was because you liked her but with her already taking every opportunity to ignore you it didn't exactly help the situation. "I was wondering if you uh, wanted to play with us? Me and Luna, I mean."

It sounded rather childish slipping from your lips but Hermione's brow quirked up. "What are you playing?"

"We're having a race," Your expression brightens at her interest, signalling back to the Ravenclaw table where Luna now sat alone. "We both made something out of paper and we’re gonna enchant them so they run the racecourse we made." To the left of Luna was a makeshift racetrack made of books, cups and even your spare inks and quills. It was only small so it'd be a quick race before lunch began. "If I win Luna promised to make my bed every day for a week. If she wins she gets my last bag of Fizzing Whizzbees."

"Shouldn't you be studying during study hall?" Seems Miss Granger was all work and no play. You simply shrug, standing a little taller.

"I'm smart enough already," You declare proudly, a cocky smirk on full display. "And besides it’s nearly lunchtime so we were long overdue a break."

You watch her eyes drift from yours over to where Luna was sat and back. "You two are quite the pair."

"Me and Luna?" As if she could sense you talking about her, Luna waves at the two of you. "She's like my best friend."

"You don't find her a little... strange to be around?" Hermione muses. "A little... loony perhaps? Half the school thinks she's lost her mind."

She was right in saying that a lot of your fellow students judged Luna harshly for being a little more outside the box but you never expected Hermione to be one of them. "I think... she's awesome and I'm glad she's my friend. You shouldn't judge her so harshly when you don't even know her."

You may have invited her to join you but that offer was no longer on the table as you marched back to the Ravenclaw table without another word. Slumping down in your seat exasperated sigh. "Are you okay?"

Plastering on a smile, you give her a firm nod. "Shall we start?"

"What happened over there? You seemed rather excited before."

"Nothing," Focusing on the origami, you pick up your wand.

"You shouldn't bottle things up," Luna expresses softly, picking up her wand too. "Might make your head explode."

"Does it ever bother you that people call you crazy?" You wonder.

"Not really," her head shakes. "It's all in good fun."

You never understood if Luna's belief in people was misguided or just for show. If the roles were reversed you'd certainly not enjoy having people make fun of you. "But what if it's not?"

"Then it's out of my control," Luna flashes a smile. "Shall we start."

With a nod of your head and wands at the ready, Luna starts the countdown. "3... 2..." your grip tightens around your wand. "1.... Go"

With a flick of your wrist, the paper tiger springs to life but it takes a few nudges from the end of your wand to get it moving. When you saw Luna's monstrosity trailing behind, you knew you had this race in the bag.

"I don't think Hermione likes you very much," you don't know why you decided to tell her that, it seemed only cruel in the moment. "I don't think she likes me much either as hard as I try,"

"Maybe you should stop trying," Luna's focus was exclusively on the race as you watch her. Maybe you should stop trying... that was easier for her to say because she didn't find herself with butterflies every time she saw the girl. Searching the Gryffindor table, you find Hermione sitting alone; scribbling away on a piece of parchment. "Staring can be considered quite rude, y'know?" 

Glancing back at the race, you find both racers have crossed the finish line and were now laying completely still against the table. Students were beginning to pile into the hall for lunch so it was time to clean up a little. "Sometimes it's hard not to," Reaching over the table you grab your quill. "She's just interesting- who won by the way?"

"It was you," Did you win or was she just being nice? It didn't matter now anyway so you may as well take the win.

You haven't spoken to Hermione since that day she had the audacity to question your friendship with Luna. You didn't necessarily think she had meant what she said in a bad way but it just hadn't sat right with you. It also helped that the only class you shared was Defence Against the Dark Arts so she wasn't all that hard to avoid. The page of your textbook flips over with a gust of wind as you lounge against the stone archways in the quiet courtyard. When you spot Harry, Ron and Hermione, you bury your face behind your book in hopes of not drawing any attention. If you didn't acknowledge she was there maybe you wouldn't long to run over.

"Hey," Slowly lowering the book, you spy the girl in herself looking perkier than usual. Seemingly having abandoned her friends just to come and speak to you.

"Hello," you reply quietly, keeping your eyes on the page. It was explaining how to create the Forgetfulness Potion; a beginner level potion and not at all hard to make.

"Luna said you'd be out here," You glance up at the mention of your friend's name. Why had she been talking to Luna? "And that you may require a study partner,"

Strange. She had never wanted to study with you before. "You don't have somewhere else you'd rather be?"

Hermione shakes her head. "Luna can be quite convincing but if you'd rather study alone, I can go."

"No," the reply comes a little too quickly. "I mean, uh... you can stay. I'd really like the company."

"Great, Ron and Harry are rather distracting when it comes to studying," She plops herself down at the other end of the archway by the end of your feet. Your knees were now pulled a little closer to your chest, propping up your potions book. "I can quiz you if you want?"

"Can I ask you something?" You pose the question as you sit up a little straighter trying to give her more room; handing over the book in the process.

"Of course," Taking the boom, Hermione's hand brushes over the cover but she opens it and begins flickering through the pages. She had the same textbook so you're not exactly sure what she expects to find.

"Why are you here?" The rustling of pages comes to an abrupt stop as her eyes settle on yours but only for a moment.

"To study?"

"You've never been interested in me before," you reply bluntly. "I don't see what's changed now? What exactly did Luna say?"

"Just that you like me," Wide eyes of surprise, your stomach sinks. She was joking right? She had to be. "And that you think I don't like you which is perplexing. So she told me where you usually go to study and that you'd very much appreciate my company."

"I'm gonna kill her," you growl under your breath, sinking down against the stone. How you wished the ground would open up and swallow you whole right now.

"I also thought it was only right that I apologise for the other day," you can't even bring yourself to reply; too scared you'll somehow embarrass yourself further. "I shouldn't have spoken about Luna that way- I also apologised to her. Are you ready?"

Anything to help forget about what Luna had purposely done, you nod your head a little. Setting this whole thing up was a sweet enough idea but she didn't have to straight-up tell Hermione that you liked her. Hopefully, you could just play it off as friends. A silence settled between the two of you as Hermione searches through your book. "I'm gonna say a potion and you just have to list the ingredients, simple enough?" You can feel her eyes on you but can't bring yourself to look back. "You alright?"

"Mhmm,"

"Are you sure?" She questions. "I didn't mean to embarrass you or anything. I'm sure Luna had the best of intentions."

"Just say a potion," It's even more awkward when she brings it up the fact Luna told her. "Please,"

"Okay, how about... Draught of Living Death?"

"Uh..." for a second your mind seems completely blank. Taking a deep breath you settle your nerves a little. "Standard potioning water, Powdered Root of Asphodel..." your brow furrows in concentration. "Infusion of... Wormwood? Valerian root, A Sopophorous bean and-"

"Sloth brain," Hermione finishes. "Good job. Okay, let's try..." The pages flutter between her fingers for a moment. "Exstimulo Potion."

Exstimulo potion. You rake your brain for any memory of it; If you remember correctly it was a potion used to boost magical energy. It was a beginning level potion so it won't be too complicated to make. "Re'em blood... Granian hair, Snowdrop maybe, and like... uh... Bitter root?"

"For an extra point, what colour should it be?"

That you knew almost instantly. "sky blue."

With each passing question, your confidence grew around the same speed as Hermione's smile did. You liked to think that your extensive knowledge of potions was impressive but in all honesty, some wouldn't see it that way. "You are really good at this,"

"I enjoy potions. They value knowledge over skill more than some of the other classes- that's not to say potion-making doesn't require skill and vice-versa. " You explain, moving so your legs now dangle over the edge similar to how Hermione was sitting. "It's probably my best class but I like the study of ancient runes too. What about you? I imagine you're brilliant no matter the class."

"I wouldn't go that far," Her gentle laugh fills your ears, filling you with such an innocent sense of glee. "I like most of my classes though, I would take more if I could."

"Of course you would," You giggle to yourself. "I heard in the past you used a time-turner just to attend more classes."

"Guilty," She offers you a smile. You'd done research on time turners, they were interesting little devices but it took a lot of guts to use one. "It was worth it."

"It's a pretty smart way to use one," No surprise considering who you're talking to.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure. Anything." Hermione fiddles with the corner of the page she has settled on.

"When Luna said you like me, I'm guessing she meant..."

The fire in your cheeks spread hot and fast which had the butterflies in your stomach going crazy. She really had to bring it up again? She couldn't have just ignored it and moved on? "...yeah." You admit quietly. Handing your textbook back, Hermione slips down onto her feet

"So this was her way of setting us up... hmm," Spinning on her heel, she looks to the sky. The sun was beginning to set so it was illuminated by an orange glow. "For a girl so imaginative I would have expected something a little more than a study date."

"I like studying," She sharply turns back to you.

"As do I," She offers a gentle smile. "But I think we should do something a little more traditional for a first date, don't you?"

"First date?"

"Only if you want to,"

"I... yeah. I'd love to."

[letterful]

professional vibe diagnosis: bee @brownpaperhag​​ 💛

KEY TERMS: matriarchs, prophetesses, sorceresses, wise women, afrofuturism, polish vintage, textile design, embroidery, handiwork, architecture, material objects, physicality, the sense of touch, the joys of listmaking, taxonomy, morphology, cataloguing, speculative fiction, short stories.

media recommendations under the cut!

— when it comes to speculative short stories, Small Beer Press is where it’s at, and Kelly Link, its founder, is one of my favourite authors, ever. i’d recommend starting with Pretty Monsters! or this particular tale (about Eastern European diaspora, by the by). — Sofia Samatar’s Tender is another splendid collection, and this is probably my favourite story of hers. — also, if you don’t feel like committing to a single author, there’s always some great anthologies; i’d especially recommend The New Voices of Fantasy (edited by Peter Beagle, the author of The Last Unicorn!), anything edited by the VanderMeers, and Fantastic Women: 18 Tales of the Surreal and the Sublime. — (re: afrofuturism) while it’s still on my tbr list, one of my closest friends (whose taste is impeccable, and who is responsible for recommending me some of my now-favourite books) swears by Nnedi Okorafor's Binti novels, and i trust her with my life. also, Rosewater by Tade Thompson! i still need to read the other books in the series, ah. — (re: elderly female protagonists) Angela Carter’s Wise Children, Baba Yaga Laid an Egg by Dubravka Ugrešić, The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington, Olga Tokarczuk’s Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead (!), Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner, anything by Maggie Atwood, honestly. — Anna Swir! there are very few writers who have managed to capture the joys and woes of womanhood (in its various stages) as well as she did. i wanted to link her poems in their original polish, but? they’re not available online? there’s plenty of quality english translations, though! (x) (x) (x) (x) also, this article <3 (In Świrszczyńska’s poetry, the woman gives birth not only to children but also to the world. She appears in many different roles which are very often expressed in the first person: mother, daughter, loving, desiring, tender and grieving, crying after the deceased, taking care of the wounded, wild but very practical...) — this poem by Wisława Szymborska! (here in polish) — for some reason, your blog really reminds me of the latter part of Twig’s home with you music video... it inspired the moodboard, actually! — White is for Witching, Helen Oyeyemi (but also her short stories!) (also, this article on her <3), — The Broken Earth Trilogy by N. K. Jemisin (it won three Hugos!), — anything written by Olga Tokarczuk! i already mentioned Drive Your Plow..., but her entire bibliography is simply bewitching. — Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino (imaginary cityscapes! poetic architecture!), — The Infinity of Lists by Umberto Eco (a personal fave, although it’s rather difficult to acquire), — Lists of Note (to be perfectly honest, it’s more of a coffee table book than anything of substance, but it’s entertaining nonetheless) — List Cultures: Knowledge and Poetics from Mesopotamia to BuzzFeed, — A Place for Everything: The Curious History of Alphabetical Order, — The Golden Thread: How Fabric Changed History, — The Fabric of Civilization: How Textiles Made the World, — The Subversive Stitch: Embroidery and the Making of the Feminine, — Threads of Life: A History of the World Through the Eye of a Needle, — The Beauty of Everyday Things, — Fewer, Better Things: The Hidden Wisdom of Objects, — The Secret Lives of Color, — The Poetics of Space (the fact that Mark Danielewski—of House of Leaves fame—wrote a foreword for this edition... yeah), — Architecture and Violence (re: your pinned post!) — some of my absolute favourite books about architecture and design were originally written in polish (and never translated into english, alas), and i can’t help but include at least some of them (plus, they’re a much more enjoyable way of keeping up with the language than duolingo and its hematologia): Miejski grunt. 250 lat polskiej gry z nowoczesnością, Wyroby. Pomysłowość wokół nas, Wanna z kolumnadą, Duchologia polska. Rzeczy i ludzie w latach transformacji, Ukryty modernizm. Warszawa według Christiana Kereza, Miasto Archipelag. Polska mniejszych miast, Źle urodzone. Reportaże o architekturze PRL-u. — speaking of polishness! i think you’d really enjoy sung poetry. here are some of my faves (my taste in music is that of a typical babcia): (x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (x)

[foursideharmony]

The Cat, the Prince, and the Doorway to Imagination (Chapter 7)

Summary: The final confrontation with the wicked White Warlock!

Pairings: Platonic/familial LAMP/CALM, Platonic/familial DLAMPR

Content Warnings: More Remus being Remus. Violence and threats of violence. Someone slowly being covered in ice.

Word Count: 3,675

Read on AO3: here

“Huh,” Remus said, apparently lost for words (which was unusual in itself). “So now what?”

Janus blinked. “I'm not sure.”

“Which means you are sure, right?” Remus said with a great big wink.

Before Janus could explain for the umpteenth time that it wasn't that simple (and never had been), there came a loud growling sound from nearby, and something huge and brown came crashing out of the brush and charged them. Janus barely managed to dive out of the way of what he quickly realized was an entire bear. Remus, always a big believer in the principle that the best defense is a good offense, dodged it by leaping straight up, and used the momentum of his downward arc to add force to a massive swing of his morningstar. The blow knocked the beast off its feet, and it threw great arcs of snow into the air as it skidded to a stop.

“That was fun!” Remus declared, resting the weapon on his shoulder. “Hey, want me to skin it for you? A nice bearskin rug will keep you warm so you don't have to crawl under a rotting log to hibernate!”

Janus had no time to muse upon how accurately he had predicted Remus's behavior, because a motion at the corner of his eye told him that the bear was not totally out of play yet. It was made of far sterner stuff than the dwarf had been and had only been stunned by the blow, and was now shaking itself awake. But rather than lunging at them again, or even fleeing back into the trees, it hoisted itself into a sitting position, clutched at its head with its paws, and began to whimper.

“Oh, stop it!” Remus said petulantly. “You attacked us, remember? Roman calls me violent, but I would just like to point out that so far, 100% of the creatures from this winter wonderland of his have tried to kill us!”

Much to Janus's surprise (though perhaps it shouldn't have been), the bear pivoted on its rump and said: “I was only protecting Mr. Logan!”

Janus smiled...now this was a situation he could deal with. He stepped forward, made Remus silence himself just to be on the safe side, and said, “Why, we would never harm Logan! We're some of his closest friends, after all!”

Still rubbing its—his—head with one paw, the bear rolled around until it was standing on the other three. “Then sirs, you must be the help he sent for!”

“We are! We got his message! But alas, it seems we were too late to prevent this.” Janus gestured at the crystallized Logan.

“It's not your fault, sir,” said the bear. “I was supposed to protect him from the White Warlock. And now I've got to go back and tell the others what happened.”

“That sounds like an excellent idea. But first, why don't you tell...” Janus trailed off, realizing the Remus—still silenced—was jumping up and down behind him and frantically waving his free hand. He released him. “Yes, what is it?”

“I know what this is!” Remus said gleefully. “Roman's gone and recreated the first Narnia book!”

“I never realized you were...into that sort of thing.”

“Are you kidding? With all the descriptions of war and violence and disturbing religious subtext? Not to mention a happy ending where everyone dies! What's not to love?”

“Even after all these years, you still retain the capacity to surprise me, Remus. However, I doubt the same aspects are what holds appeal for your brother, so try not to get too excited.” Janus turned back to the bear. “As I was saying, I think it might be a good idea for you to tell us what happened here. Who did this to Logan?”

“The White Warlock, of course, sir!”

“A warlock instead of a witch?” said Remus. “That's a new one...Roman usually loves fighting witches. He has this one recurring antagonist, the Dra—”

“Yes, Remus, we are all aware of the Dragon Witch.”

“Begging your pardon, sirs, but I think this Roman of yours is the White Warlock. That's the name the others called him back at the Stone Table.”

Remus did a spit-take. He hadn't been drinking anything, of course, but it was hardly beyond his capabilities (or his inclination) to generate something within his mouth entirely for the purpose of spitting it out. It looked like used motor oil. “Roman made himself the bad guy? That's definitely a new one!” He was grinning, but it was a rather fixed grin, and his eyes darted around under a furrowed brow.

“You said you were going back to the others,” Janus said to the bear. “Take us with you.”

Virgil, for once, felt genuinely useful: He had volunteered for the first watch of the night. Hushwing the Owl had shown him a tree he could climb from which he could scan the entire western and southern approach to the hill. It was a clear night and the moon was pretty close to full, and its light turned the snow into a stark bluish canvas against which any sort of moving shadow was plainly visible. Thus, as the ten o'clock hour approached and a large shuffling shape emerged from the trees to the west, Virgil looked not directly at it but at the silhouette it cast on the ground. It was definitely a bear and definitely had riders, one of whom was wearing a bowler hat. Good enough, even with the odd distortion of light and shade that seemed to sit between the forms of the two humans. He made the hooting call Hushwing had taught him which meant “Friendly approaching” and clambered down from his perch in order to go glower at Janus.

The climb took longer than he would have liked in the dark, and by the time he got back to the crown of the hill, the party had already arrived and was being greeted and offered blankets and a bit of warmed-over stew. Stoutpaws had apparently collapsed and fallen asleep right there on the hilltop...as Virgil supposed he would, after an entire day of running. Janus (ugh) was being helped over to the rebuilt campfire. And Logan...

Someone lunged at Virgil. Flight won, as it usually did, and he skittered backward several steps, only to realize that it was Patton he was flinching away from, and Patton was crying. “Shit...sorry...startled...” he mumbled, opening his arms and letting the Moral Side fling himself into them. He was shaking with sobs. “Patton...what happened?”

“R-R-Roman d-did something awful t-to Logan!”

The cluster of Narnians seeing to the arriving group parted. At first, Virgil couldn't tell what he was looking it—the object was translucent and oddly shaped, and moonlight and torchlight played over its surface and through its interior in ways that prevented him from focusing on its edges...until a chance flicker brought the details into clarity.

His head swimming, his thoughts useless, Virgil slipped from Patton's arms and dropped to his knees. He couldn't stop staring at it.

At Logan, frozen in crystal.

A murder . He was looking at a murder.

“Hell of a thing, isn't it?” said a screeching voice behind him. It was the sort of thing that ordinarily would provoke an instant reaction in Virgil (and that voice in particular would give a huge boost to Fight), but he was just too stunned. “As soon as Janus warms up enough that he's not going to drop off into a snake-coma, we'll all sit down and work out what to do about it. I can't wait to tell all of you my idea!”

Something in Virgil's brain finally lurched into motion, but all he could manage was a half-hearted glare back over his shoulder and a mumbled “What are you doing here?”

“Well, la-dee-dah, Panic-Depressive, I didn't know Thomas's Creativity needed permission to visit the Imagination.”

Virgil decided—to the extent that he was capable of deciding anything in the moment—that he could only cope with one atrocity at a time. He brushed Remus off and turned back to Patton. “Are you okay?” Patton shook his head emphatically. “Yeah, okay, dumb question.” In a way, Virgil was grateful for Remus's presence, since severe annoyance was usually a pretty strong barrier between himself and panic. “Let's...just...gather around the fire, so we can get our discussion going the instant De—Janus is up to it.”

They did. Janus sat on a boulder less than a yard from the fire, gazing rather glassily at it. The Narnians had given him a dark woolen cloak, and he had been engaged in an unsettlingly animalistic ritual: alternately spreading the cloth wide like wings, catching heat from the flames, and then wrapping it around himself to absorb the warmth. He glanced up, more or less, as the others approached. “So I assume you've all been made aware of the depths of depravity to which our dear Roman has sunk in his quest for...whatever it is he's questing for these days.”

“Roman's not depraved!” Patton said in a tone that suggested he had expected the accusation. He took his own seat across from Janus. “He's just...I don't know what exactly is going on with him right now, but he's not depraved!”

“Patton...” Virgil said, choosing to remain standing for the time being, “...he turned Logan into stone. There's no way to sugar-coat that.”

“It could have been an accident!”

“Patton...”

“It could have! He made a point of sparing Muricata's tree! I can't square that with the idea of him doing that to one of us on purpose!”

“Pat, listen. This?” Virgil mimicked the Logan-statue's outflung arm. “Is a defensive posture.” He started pacing. “Which means he saw it coming. Which means Roman telegraphed that he was going to do it, which means it was on purpose.”

Patton's eyes started to well up again. “I just wish I knew why,” he said.

“We'll be sure to ask him when he comes here to kill the rest of us in the morning,” Virgil said, rolling his eyes. “Who knows? He might even answer. The more important question is what to do about it. Can we change Logan back?”

“Ooh! Ooh! Pick me! I have an idea!” said Remus, who had been watching the argument between Patton and Virgil with the glee of an obsessive tennis fan. “When he shows up tomorrow to kill us all, I sneak up behind him and clonk him on the head! Once he's knocked out, primary control of the Imagination will automatically pass to me! Then I can make this story go my way, and I guess you can hash out your issues with Roman afterward or whatever.”

There was dead silence for a moment. Then Janus shifted in his cloak. “Let's make that Plan...” He started counting silently on his fingers, and manifested a few more hands to get to the number he wanted. “X. Plan X.”

“Can we make it Plan Triple-X?” Remus said, waggling his eyebrows.

“If we reach that level of desperation, I'm sure we'll be happy to let you do just whatever you want,” said the Dishonest Side. “In the meantime...something less drastic first, perhaps?”

“Logan's original plan,” Virgil said cautiously, “was to let Roman catch sight of you, hoping that it would shock him out of this downward villainy spiral he's stuck in.”

Janus looked taken aback for a split second, almost like a micro-flinch. “Well...” he said after a beat, “...far be it from me to question the soundness of one of Logan's ideas...” He let the end of the sentence hang in the air like an icicle.

Remus lost interest in the conversation and began searching the area for things to put in the fire.

“If it makes you feel any better, Scales, I was against the whole thing,” said Virgil. “But you're here now, and it's not like we have any other ideas.”

“Well, as long as I have your vote of confidence I know we'll do just swimmingly.”

Remus dropped a pine cone on the fire and giggled as it ignited with a series of explosive pops.

“H-hey, guys,” Patton said with a slight quaver. “Stop sniping at each other. This isn't about you two. It's about...well, all of us, really.” He swallowed, and when he continued his voice was stronger, more authoritative. “It's about Roman, and because it's about him it's about our whole family. We have to cooperate. Now then, Janus, if you're skeptical of Logan's plan, why don't you tell us why so we can figure out something else?”

Janus did his very best impression of a deer in headlights for a moment. Then he recovered his composure, cleared his throat, and said “I may have been exaggerating. Am I correct in thinking that the idea is to show Roman his idea of a villain so he presumably stops trying to be one?”

“Something like that,” Virgil mumbled.

Emboldened, Remus stuck a twiggy branch in the fire until it lit up and waved it in the air like a pennant.

“That's hardly a kind view of me,” Janus continued, “but I've heard of worse stratagems. Might I suggest a few...refinements?”

“Guess we can't stop you.”

“Virgil, be nice! We'd love to get your input, Janus.”

“Thank you, Patton. Remus! Pay attention; this concerns you as well.”

Remus, who had been on the point of touching the burning branch to his own hair, tossed it aside and plunked down onto a log, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees and his hands cupping his face. “Fire away, Jay-jay!”

Janus took a medium-long look at the ensorceled Logan, and began.

Dawn came all too early and with it, the bellow of a war horn. Startled awake, the Sides lurched to pull on clothes and scrambled out of the hillside shelter to see what they were up against.

At their previous meeting, Roman had been accompanied by an entourage. This time...he had brought an army. Perhaps five thousand strong, they massed around the foot of the hill, blocking off any retreat except by air...and the presence of Dwarven archers among the ranks ensured that any creature attempting to escape via flight would fail as well. The good Narnians, outnumbered nearly two hundred to one, clustered at the crown of the hill, facing grimly outward and wondering when the charge would come. The Sides stayed near the middle of the group at first, protected and almost entirely screened from view.

Roman, almost too brilliant to look at in his snow-white suit and icy jewels, detached himself from his throng and marched up toward them. “Showtime,” Janus muttered.

“Yesterday,” the self-styled King of Narnia proclaimed, “we issued an ultimatum to this company here assembled. Now we return to hear your decision and respond to it. Do you or do you not swear fealty to the Crown of Narnia?”

The Narnians, per the plan, stood firm and did not speak.

“We asked for your reply!” Roman snarled. “Where are my fellows? Have they abandoned you?”

“No, we haven't!” Patton said. The Narnians stood aside to let him through, followed by Virgil...and Logan. “And we're not surrendering either! You've taken things way too far, Roman, and it is not okay!”

Roman said nothing, staring dumbfounded at Logan. “You seem surprised to see me in my current condition,” said the Logical Side. “Your enchantment wore off after what I have calculated to be two hours, forty-seven minutes, and eleven point three four seconds.”

“That's impossible!” Roman shouted. “The transformation is permanent until counteracted!”

“Perhaps your control over the Imagination is not as absolute as you have heretofore assumed. Patton believes...actually, I will allow him to explain. Patton?”

“It's because you're abandoning your calling, Roman! Thomas doesn't want a wicked Creativity! Hurting your own creations for the sake of a story is one thing, but hurting us? You're turning into something that Thomas would never allow to be in charge of his Imagination!”

“Yeah, and it's really throwing a wrench into my plans!” said Remus, suddenly springing out of the crowd to Roman's shock. “What are you doing , bro? You can't be the evil twin! Because then I have to be the good twin, and I can't go shaving my mustache now! I just got it the way I want it! I don't even know how to be good!”

“You—! What are you all playing at?” Roman said, backing away slightly. He leveled a scandalized finger at Remus. “Working with him ...this is exactly why...but never mind. You will surrender to me—all of you!—or none of these foolish creatures you have befriended will survive the day!”

“I know you don't mean that,” Patton said softly “You didn't even really kill the Dryad's tree yesterday. You want to be the hero, Roman. So be the hero . Take off that crown, put down the wand, and let's talk.”

Roman's face became pensive. He was considering...no, he was listening for something, and then he stepped forward again. “You'd like that, wouldn't you?” he said. The wand swished through the air. The other Sides shouted in alarm, but no one turned to stone. Patton, however, wobbled, his feet literally frozen to the ground in a thick coating of ice.

The ice began to creep up his legs.

“Surrender,” Roman hissed. “Swear fealty to your King. Or watch him freeze.”

“Guys...” Virgil said.

Someone began to clap slowly, but the claps were muffled as if by gloves. Which was exactly the case. “Oh, bra-vo, Roman,” said Janus, dropping the Logan illusion. “You're finally doing for yourself. Using your power to take what you want. I couldn't be prouder.”

“You!” Roman gawked, even more appalled than he had been at Remus's presence. Then his face split in a grin of triumph. “Ha! I knew my enchantment hadn't worn off! Now will you yield to me, or stand by while Patton suffers a similar fate?”

“Yes!” Janus said with the merest hint of a hiss. “That's just the way! Show them all what you are capable of when slighted!”

“Shut up!” Roman said, and for the first time, his rapidly twitching expressions lighted on uncertainty . “Your input is not welcome here!”

“Clearly not; why I daresay you've supplanted me and Remus both with your villainy.”

“I said shut up!”

“Roman...” said Patton as the ice slithered up toward his hips, “...why are you doing this?”

“BECAUSE SOMEONE HAS TO!” Roman wailed. “Because you and Thomas lost all perspective...you invited him to the table...and all I wanted was a simple adventure where I knew who the bad guy was...and then it turned out to be me ! Even the Imagination started pushing me out of the hero role!”

“Pushing you!” Patton repeated. “So you don't want this!”

“And now you're even working with Remus! You'd rather have him on your side than...than...”

Remus made a loud scoffing noise. “Dream on, bro! For your information, I invited myself! They wouldn't have let me stick around if you weren't acting worse than me! Think about that , why don't you!”

“Roman, darling,” said Janus, approaching slowly with his hands up in a gesture of appeasement, “what makes you think anyone has to be the villain?”

“Every story needs a bad guy,” Roman insisted, backing away.

“That's not true,” said Patton, a mite breathlessly as the ice began to squeeze his chest. “What about all those stories where the conflict comes from misunderstanding? I think that's what's happening here. You're not understanding us or we're not understanding you or both.”

“Look, man, I get it,” Virgil offered, though his calm tone was belied by the constant reverberation of the Tempest Tongue. “I know what it feels like to think you have to be the bad guy. This is me, right? But we got over that, and we can get through this too. Take the enchantments off Patton and Logan and let's all figure it out together. You said yourself stories in the Imagination can take on a life of their own. That doesn't mean they're always telling the truth.”

“But, you know,” said Janus, examining his fingertips. “Your choice, Your Majesty.”

Roman looked from Virgil, to Patton (iced up to his neck) to Remus and Janus, to the whole of Narnia around them. His face twisted up into a terrifying snarl and he stalked forward once again. He raised his wand. Virgil put himself between Roman and Patton (not that there was much more that could be done to the Moral Side), but when he was only feet away from them, Roman suddenly flung his crown to the ground with a shrieking sob and brought the wand down on it. And in an instant, the wand was his sword (and always had been, they realized) and the blade struck the large diamond, shattering it into a thousand shards of ice.

Golden mist rose out of the splintered gem, coiling and flowing, and washed over Roman from his feet up. As it went, it dragged a second mist, bluish-silver, out of him as if plucking hairs by the roots. Roman cried out in pain as the power of the White Witch was scrubbed out of him by the power of Aslan. Both mists spun around each other until they reached a height of several yards, at which point there was a soft explosion and they rocketed away from each other. The Witch's power soared off in a northerly direction, while the Lion's made an arc and landed in the woods nearby.

The ice covering Patton fractured away, and he sagged in relief. “Roman...?” he said.

The Prince turned a plaintive look on him before collapsing to the snow.

[littlemisssquiggles]

Pinehead Headcanons: Oscar’s Sacrifice For His Rose

Guys, I’ve been thinking. And y’know what happens when this squiggle meister muses about something; especially if it’s related to RWBY.

For most of V8’s promotion, the showrunners and the CRWBY kept hinting at how much “darker” this new season to be. And as daunting as that may sound to me as an audience member, the obvious question I ask from this is:

 “…Exactly how dark are we talking?”

After all, RWBY has done dark before. I mean look at V3 and the events of the Fall of Beacon. V3 is still considered to be RWBY’s darkest season to date. Beacon fell leaving Vale Kingdom broken and vulnerable without the protection of its main huntsmen academy and a handful of important lead characters from that arc---heroes and villains alike---died. So keeping that in mind, how really dark can V8 be compared to that? What can the showrunners do for this season that they didn’t already do season prior? And here in lies, my hunch.

Well…not real a hunch. Just a thought. An idea. For me, V8 being darker wouldn’t just represent the Fall of Atlas and the death of lead characters important to this volume arc such as General Ironwood or Winter Schnee or even another member of Team JNPR like Ren or Nora.

Nah son. To me, that’d be way too simple for my taste since, as I mentioned earlier, it’s already been done before so fans are already going to expect that, right? For V8 to be dark for me, the showrunners would have to do something incredibly ballsy. Something that’ll really catch their viewers off guard.

I’m not talking about Ruby Rose losing an eye. As much as I’m not really a fan of that popular fan theory, even that seems too light. Not to mention that Ruby’s development as a Silver Eyed Warrior has been quite inconsistent over the past few seasons and is the aspect of her character that’s been the least challenged.

So I’m going to just toss this one out there because it’s been on my mind since I saw this particular shot from V8 opening visuals. It’s the shot of RWBY falling into an abyss of darkness with Ruby reaching out to grasp what appears to be the Relic of Creation while Grimm hands---the same ones conjured by Salem back in V6 to apprehend Hazel as punishment for his failures---restrain her to drag her further and further away from the light.

Imagine if…Ruby dies?

And I’m not just talking teasing her death like how they did it with Weiss back in V5 with Cinder Fall or with Blake in V3 and V6 with Adam or even Yang back in V3 with Adam.

I’m talking, straight up having Ruby Rose be killed instantly by Salem and her corpse is just left behind for her allies to find her dead. An unquantifiable spark snuffed out after the villains had won yet again. And on this grim tone, V8 just ends like THAT.

Mantle Kingdom is no more; just another graveyard for the Grimm like the former Beacon Academy.

The People of Mantle are all dead; tragic victims of a failed attempt at saving them.

Atlas Kingdom has fallen with its own people about to meet the same horrible end as their former Mantlese brethren.

Salem has succeeded in claiming the Relic of Creation and relishes in her triumph by the restored communications to broadcast a cryptic message to the rest of the world. A message unveiling the Fall of the formerly powerful Kingdom of Atlas at the mercy of her Grimm army; letting the leaders of Vale and Vacuo---the last two remaining kingdoms standing in her way of claiming all the Relics; know that they were next in her conquest.

Our heroes have sustained yet another heavy loss. And what’s worse this time is that now no longer had the guidance of their leader. Ruby Rose is dead. Made to be the martyr this time. And on that note, the volume just fades to black on the echoing cries of our heroes and the victims of Atlas as everything falls to ruin.

It’ll be just like the opening foreshadowed. Happy? Never Again…because the simple soul who was meant to be our hero in the end to rise above everything else and vanquish the forces of evil was now gone. Died another failure to a cause like so many others who died in vain throughout Remnant’s history; just as Roman Torchwick predicted that she would.  And such a tragedy this is since this girl. This single rose---this true rose--- was meant to be unique. She was supposed to change everything, right? But alas, her fate was no different than the ones that came before her.

I’m bringing this up because I have this rather farfetched idea involving the Rosegarden pair that I really wanted to share. It’s not exactly a theory per say. It’s definitely not something I expect the canon to do. Shoot, I highly doubt the showrunners would actually pack the chops to kill off their main protagonist.

However the RWBY V8 opening really got me thinking.

“…We said goodbye to all the things we loved. Gave up our lives just to find that it was not enough…”

In a discussion regarding the ending of the Little Prince story, an anon-ninja informed me about there being an alternative interpretation of the conclusion to the prince’s story wherein, instead of perishing from the snake’s venomous snake bite, the prince succeeded in returning home to his beloved rose on their planet...only to discover that his rose had died in his absence with his care and love.

Putting that together with the V8 opening visuals, it made recall a show I used to watch on Lifetime called Witches of East End. I quite liked it. It's a shame it got cancelled after only two seasons though.

Anyways, why I remember this series in particular is that; spoilers but…at some point during the show’s main PLOT, it did the unexpected and had a series villain kill two of our three main characters. And what made the visual even more horrifying to the audience was that the corpses of these characters were left on display for the surviving third main character to find. It doesn’t help that the two characters were also the beloved children of our third lead who she has watched die countless of times since the head witch---Johanna (I believe her name was) was cursed by her father so that each time her daughters died---she would be forced to give birth to them again and watch their life and death happen again and again. And it doesn’t matter what she did or how hard she tried---even when she attempted to hide her family’s identity as witches from her girls---her daughters STILL never lived past the age of 30.

They always died somehow and it didn’t matter if only one of the daughters died either. When either died, the other one would surely follow. So Johanna would give birth. Raise her two girls into fine young women and…watch them die. Living the same vicious cycle.

This is why the V8 opening visuals  made me think of the prospect of Ruby dying. That shot that I showed of Ruby being dragged down into the dark abyss by the Grimm far away from the light made me wonder.

At first I figured this was a sign that we going to see some mental machinations at the hands of Salem. Basically Salem trapping Ruby and her friends in this cryptic illusion where she tortures them with surreal images of their worst fears incarnated in order to break our heroes down both emotionally and psychologically. So that’s one idea.

But then I thought, …what if…instead that moment is meant to be symbolic. Like the Staff of Creation symbolised life while the Grimm and the void represented death and at some point, Ruby will straddle the fine line between the two for this season.

So with all that in mind, this is what I thought. This is the scenario I concocted from this interpretation.

Let's say...

It is the inevitable Fall of Atlas and Salem kills Ruby Rose.

Instead of the wicked witch being dead, it’s our little red rose and because of this, our heroes are left distraught (Yang in particular, not just because Ruby was her baby sister but also given her doubts over her sister’s judgement and all that jazz). However our remaining heroes aren’t given time to really process Ruby's death. All they could do is take her corpse and attempt to flee since Atlas was falling and our remaining hero team needed to leave if they were going to make it out alive.

Since the show hinted at this bit back in V6, my assumption is that at some point, Vacuo Kingdom will answer the call and come to aid the People of Atlas. While they're unable to salvage the kingdom, the least their forces are able to do with the aid they could provide was evacuate the Atlesians to safety in Vacuo.

So ultimately our heroes are rescued by their allies from Vacuo and reunite with teams CFVY and SSSN respectively. However there is no real time to celebrate their reunion since...well...Ruby is dead. Salem is on her way to Vacuo to claim the Sword of Destruction next and, the group are at a loss on what to do next. Not to mention that certain characters---like WBY (mainly Yang) and Oscar---aren’t taking Ruby’s death too well.

Since the usual gimmick for when a main character dies is for their allies to somehow figure out a way to bring them back from the dead, in respect to Ruby,  I had this idea of...perhaps…while staying in Vacuo at Shade Academy, Oscar discovers a way for him to somehow bring Ruby back from the dead?

Let’s say…it has something to do with his semblance or magic. The thought process I had behind this was that considering that Ozma is technically the only living soul to have ever traversed the line between life and death as an immortal being, imagine if...this somehow made Oscar some kind of human life line or spiritual anchor---A being who is connected to the Realm of Life and Death via his rather unique predicament as a member of Ozma's lineage. 

And thus, using magic (or his semblance or whatever---I dunno) Oscar is easily able to travel the Realm Between Life and Death. Y'know sorta like the Avatar. Maybe?

Basically the notion I had was that

Oscar would go to the Realm Between Realms.

Y’know the same white void where we originally saw Ozma meet the God of Light for the first time in the Lost Fable.

Picture it, Oscar mirroring his predecessor in the Lost Fable, awakening in the Realm Between Realms. In this vacant world, let's say…we get another call-back to the Lost Fable where for the first time since his lifetime as Ozma, a Wizard of Light is reunited with a God.

Imagine if...as a nice parallel, Oscar encounters the God of Darkness in the Realm Between Realms. Much like Light to Ozma, Darkness chose to appear before Oscar since the all-knowing God was already fully aware of what the little prince’s intentions were daring to come to such a world. He knew he was coming to find his rose. 

Let's say...to entertain his own amusement, Darkness agrees to give Oscar a helping hand with his quest for Ruby. The God informs that Ruby’s soul was located in the After Life and even takes Oscar to her so that he may reunite with her. However being the cunning God that he was, what Darkness failed to inform Oscar of was that even if he succeeded in finding Ruby amongst the sea of souls in the After, that didn’t necessarily mean that the boy would be permitted to just bring Ruby just like that.

And since Darkness had dominion over Death (as Light had Life), even with his title as his brother’s cherry picked “champion of humanity”, Darkness wasn’t going to give Oscar that respect in the slightest. For in Darkness’ eyes, this foolish boy lost that mercy the instant he dared to defy the order of the world he and his brother fashioned together to step foot into what he described as his domain.  

After all, there are rules to this game; naturally. Life and death go hand in hand---always in perfect balance.

In a nutshell, to Oscar's detriment, Darkness informs the little prince that the only way that he would be allowed to revive Ruby is if he gave up something equivalent in exchange for her salvation.

An eye for an eye. A soul for a soul. So this presents Oscar with a predicament where in order to save Ruby, he had to sacrifice himself in the process. There was no other way. Ruby will be allowed to return to the Realm of the Living to reunite with their friends waiting for her but this also meant that Oscar would be forced to part ways with everything he and everyone he had grown to love.

This included Ruby despite defying the odds just to find her. He wouldn't even be able to be with Ruby as they once were. Not as teammates. Not as friends or anything more. His life would be gone…and Darkness informs the young boy of all of this; expecting him to fold.

But despite the God's warnings, Oscar agrees to the terms. Without question. Out of his devotion to his rose, the little prince was willing to make this great sacrifice for her. And even when questioned by Darkness of why Oscar would dare to commit himself to such a foolish feat especially for a single girl when there were probably a thousand more exactly like her back on Remnant, it is here where we can get the Fox’s lesson to the Prince, in Oscar’s own words.

Yes Ruby was no different from any other rose. Just as Oz once told him, Ruby had her faults and her quirks just like any other person. She’s remarkable yes. Strong. Brave and Kind. But she’s not perfect. Oscar had experienced the consequences of her flaws and learnt that lesson for himself.

But this wasn’t what truly mattered. What made Ruby important to Oscar was that…she was his. His teammate. His friend. His rose. The girl he…loves. The love and respect that Oscar had for this one girl due to the bond they shared together was enough to make Ruby more special to Oscar than any other girl in Remnant.

His love for her was what made her unique to him. A proclamation which genuinely stunned Darkness as he recounted a time when another poor unfortunate soul, blinded by love just as Oscar was now, came before him for the same reasons as Oscar was doing for Ruby.

Only this other helpless soul didn't make the same bold choice as Oscar did. Unlike Oscar, this soul didn’t understand the value of the life they claimed to love. Essentially a comparison between Salem and Oscar. 

So for the meat and potatoes of this post, Oscar sacrifices his soul to restore Ruby to the Land of Living, bolding choosing to take her place in the Afterlife. As Ruby's soul returns home safe, Oscar's descends slowly into the Void of Death.

But despite this, the little prince bears no remorse. No regrets. He wears nothing but a smile on his fate; perfectly content with his sacrifice as he reached a hand to the light to bid one last tearful goodbye to his rose.

His one true love as he slowly closed his eyes and awaited death's embrace.

And…that’s it. That’s the idea. Obviously me being me, there is definitely more to this concept that I had in mind however this post is already getting a bit too lengthy so I’ll just stop right here. (If anyone is curious about the rest of this headcanon, feel free to ask me in my inbox if you’d like).

But for now, yeah, this is the idea I had. Now as I said, this is only a thought. A mere musing. As I’ll repeat again, I don’t actually expect the show to really kill off Ruby for V8. In another different story, this could’ve happened but I’m not expecting this at all from RWBY even it would’ve made for a very interesting twist.

Regardless, I do still love the concept of Oscar Pine---as our titular little prince, declaring his love for his rose by giving his life to bring her back from the dead should she perish in battle. It feels like such a poetic thing to do. But like I said. It’s just another idea I wanted to toss out to the Rosegardening Pinehead and Rosegarden community.

Take it as you will and maybe you all might like it. Who knows? X3

~LittleMissSquiggles (2020)

[minichedders]

scar 0.1

pirate!bucky barnes x reader

You head straight, gaze forward on the black, dark night; sailing away from you. The remains of your ship sunk into the deep depths of the black ocean swallowed whole like a starved man with his first meal.

The dark-haired pirate captain growled and grabbed your hair, pulling your head back, lips pressed against the cold shell of your ear.

“Or maybe I’ll just start with your crew. Make you watch as one by one, they walk the plank each time you don't give me what I want. What do you think hmm?”

“You’ll have to kill me and my crew before I ever tell you anything.”

The pirate smiled, “I wonder if your crew feel the same way,”

He turned you around, his fist still holding tight to your hair. You faced your crew- kneeling on the damp deck, hands tied behind their backs and mouths full of dirty, greasy rags the other crew probably used to wash the floors with. “Which one of you boys would mind if i blow the pretty girls brains? hmm?” the pirate sneered, showing you off to your crew as they all looked at you with pleading eyes. You were all trapped, his crew outnumbered yours, and with no weapons, no tricks, no upper hand you were screwed. You hope had died the minute you saw the black sails; legends reeked the ocean of their death and dread. Captain Bucky Barnes. The Reaper himself has come to collect his awaiting souls.

Whilst faced with the burning question, your crew all hopelessly looked at each other, not a murmur was to be heard. Not that you minded, you knew they had no say. However, you were shocked to see your right-hand man, Thomas struggle to stand up, his leg bleeding and his face half swollen. He stood tall, back straight and his head held high, and even with a gag in his mouth he still managed to shout ‘aye’. 

Tear brimmed your eyes as you shared eye contact, he was your brother of the sea, your counterpart and much-loved friend. Barnes turned his head towards you again, replacing his lips by your ear as you broke eye contact with Tom, shutting them and trying your best to turn away from the pirate holding you. The sensation of the pirates smirking lips against your skin made you heave, you could feel every breath, every movement and every thought, as you knew what he would do next. 

A single shot was heard, then seconds later, a loud thump. You opened your eyes, trying your best to look unaffected to the pirate as possible, but he had already seen your trembling lip and fluttering eyes.

“Goodbye boyfriend, aye?” He chuckled, pulling you even more tightly to his chest, running his silver gun up and down your bare arm; you could feel the hot sensation of the previous fire it had taken.

You whimpered, looking down. You couldn't bear the shame that you felt. With all your anger and all your might, you sent the biggest blow you could muster into the captain's stomach, turning and aiming your knee into his lower regions. Whilst the captain was curled over in pain, you took the opportunity to take the ready to fire gun from his hands and aimed it at him. One bullet, straight to the head. that's all it would take.

You listened closely to the click of the safety, taking your aim and putting your finger on the trigger. One shot and you had won, you would take this ship, have his crew, the legacy of the great sea captain who took down the infamous Bucky Barnes. 

But before you could imagine all the glory and treasure, a cold steal was pressed to your throat, pinching your skin and drawing blood to the surface. A tear left your eye. You could still do it; you would die but you would win.

Alas, Bucky tore the gun from your now shaking hands before you could blink. He took the knife that was wielded by the man behind you, and pointed it straight to your heart, pressing in. His piercing blue eyes look straight into yours, as he spoke- “kill them. kill them all,”

He roughly grabbed your arm, the knife now pressing into your back as he leads you off the deck and down into the quarters. You couldn't hear the screams of your crew, just gunshots and silence.

You reached a dark red door, with intricate carvings on, covered in old grime and dirt when it opened, it revealed the captain's chamber; decorated with the same dark red and black, messy but not quite dirty, smelling of ocean spray and sandalwood. It was nice. For a murderer.

“Now, little girl, you aren't going anywhere until you tell me where captain Rogers is,” Bucky said, locking the door behind him, making his way over to the liquor cabinet where he dropped his knife and replaced it with a glass.

“I-I can't,” You said, already scanning the room for a weapon, a way out, anything. You could use the liquor bottles - but oh what a waste that would be, you couldn't jump out the tiny oval window, the knife was free, but that meant getting closer to the pirate. 

He took a sip of the dark golden liquid and hummed, a smile falling on his lips as he tutted and shook his head, “ and why can't you,” he asked.

“I saw him more than two months ago, he could be anywhere by now. If you would've just listened to me before murdering my crew,” You argued, trying not to raise your voice and show any weakness in front of him. One thing you weren't willing to admit was that you were vulnerable. 

“Then I'm sure it won't harm you to tell me, as you say I could not find him,” he trailed, moving away from the cabinet, and the knife, and walking over to the large king-sized bed. You made note of the now free knife, and also of the dark silk bedsheets that you could almost feel against your bare skin. You slowly began to pace, back and forth between the door and the knife, Bucky watched you with careful eyes.

“And why would I help you? You've just sunk my ship, killed my crew, threatened my life and not even offered me a drink,” you said, your mind moving a hundred mile an hour as your eyes scanned the liquor cabinet, and then the glistening metal of the knife. Bucky sighed and waved his hand in the air, turning around.

“By all means help yourself to a drink,”

You smiled and turned around, grabbing a glass and a bottle, filling it to the brim and just as quickly pouring the contents down your throat. You filled the glass up again and left it on the top, next to the knife. Your hand rested upon its leather handle, the feel of its grip in your palms felt like freedom. It passed with a fleeting moment as you heard the click of Bucky’s gun.

“I've heard about you know. A women captain. Must have been hard to get all that respect and attention, i know what you've done to earn your title, your reputation. I know that men think you are an enchantress, a sea witch, a mermaid. But standing right here in front of me and not even being able to sneak a knife, i must say, I'm a little disappointed.” Bucky spoke, moving closer with every word until he was right behind you. He spun you around to look at him, leaving the knife on the table behind you and keeping the gun pointed forward into your stomach. You face was red with fury and your breathing was hard and heavy, your hands were shaking with the ungodly urge to strangle the man in front of you and claim back your title as a worthy women captain.

“Now, i also know that you and Rogers have, let's say, intimate relations. So i don't believe that he would go more than two months without coming back for a fuck,” He said, he was rough and domineering; his words made you blush and a frown formed your face as you looked downwards. What you had said was true, you hadn't seen Steve Rogers for two months; you were tired of him using you and degrading you because you were a women captain, but you still missed the companionship of it all.

Bucky noticed your frown and moved the tip of his gun to your chin, pointing it up so you looked directly at him; he studied your eyes for a moment, watching you watch him as if he was reading you. He sighed and moved back, dropping the gun to his side and returning it into his pocket.

“Well, you tell me where he last was and ill let you stay on this boat,” he spoke, after a few minutes of silence.

“And you think that's a good deal?” 

“Its either that or I kill you, little girl.”

---

[neshatriumphs]

X. Mothership

It was true. There was no way that she could get in there without him. Amelia needed Simon on her side to even be able to break through the barriers that were put up around the Magical kingdom. That was the reason that she kept him around for so long even after she realized exactly who he was. And it was the reason that she was going to be able to get in now even though she no longer held his heart. 

What was tethering her to Simon now? Why it was the rage. It was the betrayal. It was the entire life of lies and being a tool. Amelia knew that Simon would feel the way that he felt if he ever found out. So while she needed a connection to him with that necklace, his rage was just going to have to do right now. 

The stewards flew through the enchanted forests like wraiths, seeking out the magic of the witches one the one. Amelia sat on her horse, donned in her ear gear, a sphere containing all the magic that she had ever collected through Simon's dedication, and she pointed her Conductors' dagger forward. All of the children from the institution charged, and as Amelia lifted the sphere in her hand green lightning struck from the sky and a wall form to become a portal to lead her right to Simon and right to that kingdom.

The pendant shattered and poured green light all throughout the room. The staff and others who were around crumbled as the portal opened inside of the castle. And through the green light and the ashes it created of those unfortunate enough to be near the necklace came Amelia and her Army…

.

Simon had not coped at all. Instead he spent most of his time training for war. He knew it was coming - he could feel Amelia. He could sense her bloodlust. His nearly matched hers at the moment, after finding out all that she had taken from him and all that she wanted to take away. Grace. He looked over at her, next to her father as he instructed soldiers to reinforce any weak spots into the fortress. 

The Queen watched from the tower. She and Simon made eye contact and she turned away. Every time she looked at him, she saw her deceased friend, but she also saw an enemy. Someone who did harm to her kingdom, most times irrevocable harm. Someone who intended to bed her precious daughter, a daughter only fit for a true king, which he might have been destined to be at some point, but she simply couldn't see that realistically in her mind today. But also… guilt. She felt like he may never have lost his way if only she had done a better job of looking after him when Abelard died. Guilt over the curse that was supposed to bring him home, but instead led him into the Conductor's clutches. 

She had just vanished from the few of the window when everyone heard a tremendous chorus of noise and the tower collapsed! 

Grace screamed, "MOM!" And she, her father and Simon rushed towards the falling tower. There was a bright ball of light that crashed to the ground and left a crater. Grace reached it first, sliding down on her knees to get to the bottom. Her mother was sprawled out, the staff in hand. 

"Fortress.. infiltrated…" she said, weakly. 

Grace removed her gloves to heal her mother, screaming in pain as she did.

The King looked at Simon, "You're with me." Simon nodded once, brandished his blade and rushed towards the castle with the king. Grace groaned through her own pain to pull the queen from the crater, and noticed Simon and her father going inside, where most of the noise was. She let out a loud war cry and every available warrior came rushing. 

“There’s children! There are children everywhere!” she heard in her headset… which technically was just magical earrings.

“Are they real?” She wondered.

Simon replied, “They are. They’re students from the Institution.”

“Well, we can’t hurt them…” Grace said, as though it were obvious.

“They won’t hesitate to kill your people, Grace,” Simon told her.

“Lucy!” Grace called.

“On it!” Lucy said. 

Grace saw a multitude of birds swarm into the castle and heard in her earpiece, “Great, now there are birds everywhere. I can’t see anything.”

“Give it a moment… Lucy?”

There was the noise of the birds, screaming children and confused soldiers, but then Grace saw the swarms carrying children out of the castle (out of harm’s way) and Lucy said, “Done.” 

“Who uses children as pawns?” Grace wondered. 

The Queen sat up and cracked her neck. She hadn’t been involved in a battle in a long time. “Take my daughter to her safe haven,” she told the guards.

“What? Mom! I can fight! I can help!”

“You’re the future of this kingdom. The best help that you can give us is to stay safe and to stay put.”

“But I-” Grace watched her mother point the staff at them within moments, she had been relocated. “-’m the only one who can heal others!” She touched her ear, “Lucy?” Nothing. “Simon!” Nothing. She looked at her sphinx guards. There was no way that she could get over on them. That was why they were commissioned for the duty of guarding her. 

.

Simon and the King actually fought quite well beside each other. They hadn’t practiced any drills, so a lot of it was simply paying attention and anticipating the moves of the other, some of it was gestures, signals or facial expressions from the other, and a little of it was probably magic. Simon couldn’t see Amelia anywhere, but he could sense her. She was moving away from them. Where was she trying to go? He wanted to give chase, but he definitely couldn’t leave the King in the heat of battle. What if something happened to him? Grace would never forgive him. 

They cleared the castle and workers rushed in to begin using their magic to rebuild. Simon felt that was the time to seek out Amelia. “I’m going after the Conductor,” he said.

“I’ll come with.”

“Your Highness, I know her. I know how she fights and what she’s capable of. I can’t let you face off with her…”

The King and several of the warriors laughed. “I was trained as a warrior and a wizard before that woman even came in contact with a spellbook. Besides, if I let something happen to you, my little Fuzzy Bunny would never forgive me. Now, let’s get to it.” 

“Fu.. Fuzzy Bunny?” If Grace didn’t know, Simon was NEVER going to let her live that down. “Grace?” He called, trying to contact her through the link that she seemed to have to everyone earlier.

“Her mother hid her away,” the King said. “That’s her prime directive as Queen. Protect the throne and the kingdom.” Simon nodded, once. “That’s also Grace’s prime directive, as Queen. The King protects the Queen. The Queen protects everything that matters to him.”

“Where is the Queen, right now?”

“Fortifying the Mothership.”

“Is that where the One lives?”

“It is where we are able to commune with the One.”

“That will be where Amelia is heading!” The King grabbed Simon and transported them to a cavern that appeared to be covered in sparkling crystals. There was a glittering green dome around it that was nearly blinding to Simon. It didn’t seem to bother the King at all, but maybe he couldn’t see magic the way that Simon could… But, wait… Simon looked at the appropriate runes and they weren’t glowing. None of his were… Had he been using natural magic today, without realizing it? Was he using it now, to look at this cavern, “the Mothership,” or was the magic barrier simply so powerful that he couldn’t help BUT to see it. 

The King walked through it and for him, it became an intangible gel that encased the man and allotted him within. Simon walked right into it and it was solid and impenetrable. His runes began to burn his flesh as they glowed and attempted to break through the barrier. This was unconscious. He backed away, hoping that would stop whatever he was doing. But, even ask he backed away, he felt power stirring in him, much like whenever he would go on a raid and rob a place of it's power… He would have himself a sphere. A conduit which would harness the power, absorb it as he drew it out… He gasped and looked behind him. 

There she was, perched on her horse, her body covered in glowing runes, as well as her eyes, green and blazing as she siphoned the power of the barrier through Simon’s body, tracing more runes on him with her wand to do so. “Oh, Simon. You could have had the world at your feet. You were going to be at my side…” He was screaming in pain and had both hands on the barrier now as his body was being covered in runes to facilitate the power that she needed to draw away. 

“Had you do what you were supposed to do, you would still have your meddlesome pet, AND, you would be the future of the magical world. Alas… You weren’t strong enough. Fret not. Your years of work will not be in vain. You are going to be a perfect tool for me getting into this cavern and dethroning the One. Goodbye, Simon.” She pointed her wand forward and green lighting shot from the ends and he watched glowing vines cover his entire body, formulating so many runes that he couldn’t find one portion of blank space on his skin. He screamed, laughed, cried, and then he collapsed, and with him, the barrier. The King and Queen were at the ready, with their weapons. 

Amelia stepped off of her horse and walked over, stepping over Simon’s body, as she did. “You mustn’t blame the boy. He thought that he was powerful. He never knew that most of his power came from me.” She smirked. “And most of my power, I’ve won from defeating you.”

“I’ve never seen you before in my life,” The Queen said and began to twirl her staff and charge at Amelia. Amelia teleported from one place to another, just missing being struck with the staff. She snuck up from the side, punched the Queen in the side of the head and took the staff from her hands. The Queen groaned as Amelia hovered above her, but that was short lived as she had to block the King’s sword with the staff and her Conductor’s dagger. He was a much more skilled fighter, but not as powerful as a wizard, considering that some magic was “taboo,” Amelia would always feel like she had the upper hand in that regard. With the exception of the Queen (who wasn’t as pure as everyone would think. Ha! Cursing a child to trick his mother out of hiding)… And they consider ME evil.

The Queen crawled along the ground over to Simon and cradled his head in her lap. His eyes were glazed over and she could tell that the Conductor had him trapped in some kind of trance. She began to recite a chant and placed her bare hands on his burning hot skin. He blinked, and she frowned down at the young man, whose entire body was covered in those runes… runes that had trapped the magic of the barrier in his body. “Son of Abelard, this will hurt. It can’t be helped…” She said. Her fingernails became long and sharp and she stuck them into his skin. He. Screamed. 

A lot of physical pain had visited the young man today... Amelia turned to the sound of the screaming, looked at the cavern and rushed inside. The King was right on her heels. Simon’s eyes ran and he honestly felt as though all of his flesh were melting, but it was the magic seeping from his runes. The ones that Amelia used to lower the barrier were leaving his flesh like green slimy, burning worms, or green blood, spilling from his orifices.He was kicking his legs and screaming. He had never been in so much pain in his life. Whenever he had been cleansed of those, all that remained were the ones from before and a few new ones that had formed as part of the effort to keep him alive through pain that would have sent most people into shock.

He cried in the Queen’s lap as she cried, silently from the agony of healing without her staff. She withdrew her fingernails and looked at the cavern. Neither herself nor Simon was physically able to help at this moment, in the pain and recovery that their bodies were facing. But, the barrier began to form again as the elixir of those runes seeped into the ground and Simon and the Queen watched it position itself where it belonged. 

“If she gets on that throne…” Simon managed to say, then began trying to pick himself up. 

“I need you to get something to my daughter…” The Queen said. Simon was hardly paying attention to her as she cut open her arm, with her long fingernails and began to draft something onto a scroll. He was trying to see if he could pass the barrier now. He could! “Simon,” the Queen said. Now, THAT got his attention. He turned and she handed him the scroll. “Give this to Grace. It is everything that she will need, as Queen…” 

“Okay,” he said and tucked it away, close to his heart. “But, you’re okay, right?” He saw a light from inside of her, flickering. 

“I’m… feeling years of pain that having my staff made me unaware of. I’m sick, and taking on that healing exacerbated my illness…”

“Your Highness… If you fucking die because you decided to save me, I’m going to suspend your soul in purgatory, just to punish you for doing something so stupid!”

She laughed, then choked up some blood and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “Believe it or not, that is exactly the type of vile thank you that I would have gotten from your father.” She began to imitate a male’s voice with a French accent, but it sounded real, like she was tapping into a voice, “For fuck’s sake, Apollonia! Who would save a knight before a future queen? The Princess of Fucking Fools. If you were wondering, that’s YOU right now!” She laughed, her normal voice back. “Find her. I know that she gave you a way to.”

“Yeah. I’m gonna find her and take you to her so that she can fix this.”

“Simon…”

“We can’t lose anybody else! We couldn’t take it!” Simon fussed and gathered her up into his arms, carrying her bridal style as she coughed again and rested her head on his shoulder. 

“Abelard, what kind of life would I have without my best friend? I’d say it was worth being Princess of Fools. You’re still here, aren’t you?” she said, faintly, having a conversation that he knew that she had long before he was thought of. As he summoned the bird that Grace had given him, he saw the King, stammering towards the exit of the cavern. The Queen’s staff was impaled through his torso and blood was spilling from his mouth. Amelia removed the staff and she and Simon looked right at each other as he and the Queen began to dissipate… Simon’s eyes went to the King’s struggling body and tears fell from green eyes, because he knew that he had to make a choice… and he had already made it. 

The cavern was gone. The king was gone. Amelia was gone. But… the Queen was still holding on. Just barely, though. “Grace?” Simon called and two sphinxes were upon him within minutes. Grace rushed to her mother and began her healing process. The painful process that Simon hated to see her go through, but held her through. Whenever they were all settled in the haven, Grace looked around, “Where’s Daddy?” She asked. Simon opened his mouth, trying to form words, but only tears came. 

She looked at her mother and the Queen admitted, “I no longer feel his soul kissing mine… I’m afraid, he’s dead.”

Grace covered her face with both hands and ran from the room, crying. Simon stood but the Queen flicked a hand and the force sat him back down. “She and her father were close. There’s nothing that you can do to comfort her right now, but give her some space. Meanwhile… you and I have to strategize how to take back the Mothership. You are the next king in line, after all..”