#this is her mother’s temple and the chimera came in because of something (her mother) she did.

[flickerintwilights]

was thinking about this and. while Percy choosing Annabeth because (he thought) she wouldn’t hesitate to push him down a flight of stairs if the mission required it Does parallel Annabeth’s hesitation to push him down the stairs in the Arch (allowing him to push her down instead) — he wasn’t just talking about pushing and stairs, he was saying ‘because she wouldn’t hesitate to sacrifice me’. you know, just like how he didn’t think they could ever be friends.

but what does she try to do when it comes down to it? she doesn’t leave Percy to the Chimera, she tries to sacrifice herself. she was ready to push herself down a flight of stairs so the others could keep going. (only Percy didn’t let her.)

[rose-reveries]

⚠️BEWARE THE EPISODE 4 PJO SPOILERS⚠️

Episode 4: The things I like, the things I don’t, the things I miss but I’m okay with them not being there

The things I liked about the new episode:

I liked the conversation at the beginning in the train. Very reminiscent of the book where we get to learn a little bit more about Annabeth and how she arrived at camp. I found it interesting how here we changed it from Annabeth’s father always resenting her birth to Annabeth’s father considering her “a gift” until her step-mother came along. I don’t mind this change at all and all in all still makes sense as to why Annabeth ran away when she was 7.

“But at least with gods you know the rules” okay Miss Chase your autism is showing (/j)

The flow from seeing the centaurs (which is something I believe only Percy saw in the books) to letting this be how Grover opens up about Pan and why he wants to be a searcher was a nice little combination of scenes to save time. We still understand how Grover feels about humans and their mistreatment of nature but it’s just in a slightly different way than the books and I’m okay with that change.

The BANTER between the trio was SO good this episode. You can really feel the bonds between these characters (especially Percy and Annabeth) forming this episode.

The pacing in this episode finally started to feel a little bit better than the first 3 episodes. I actually do think the change in how they meet Echidna helps with this because it prolongs the hunt whereas in the book the Echidna and Chimera scene IS quite short and fast. Meeting Echidna on the train, having them run and try to heal Percy, Percy gets worse, Percy sacrifices himself to let the other two get away, fight scene, he falls into the river, etc. Just way better pacing than like, for example, episode one where Alecto literally just flies at him and without moving he stabs her and she dies 💀

Okay, my FAVORITE new thing about the episode does have to be making the Arch a temple to Athena. If the gods still rule but have adapted to the west it makes total sense that they still have temples but they’re just modern American landmarks. Super cool and I loved this change.

Also, rather than Annabeth and Grover just heading down in the elevator before learning there’s a monster, I do like Percy stepping in and sacrificing himself to let them get away. It shows his loyalty to his friends, and how he would rather fight a monster than let them die without reason.

Since the Arch is a temple and Athena had to give Echidna permission to enter, and she did so due to Annabeth’s impertinence, this REALLY helps with the shows current message of heroes and monsters and what those terms mean, but also just how the gods are like BAD. I think it’ll help make Luke’s reasoning for turning on the gods make SO much sense for new audience members.

Percy and Annabeth banter?? ADORABLE

TOTALLY CALLED THE WATER REACHING OUT TO REACH PERCY LMAO. I know RR said he had Percy jump into the river because he didn’t realize how far it was from the arch so this is like sort of a retcon but yea, it works. Percy can manipulate water we learned this with how he pushed Nancy into the fountain.

Things I didn’t:

I think Echidna breaking into the train ✨magically✨ was eh. She could have simply just been on the train like how in the book she was just simply in the elevator.

Speaking of Echidna, it would’ve been so cool to see a snake lady :’). They did it with Medusa and Alecto but I guess they spent their whole budget on that because no snake lady to be seen.

I know the Mist would be hiding it from mortals… but even in the book Grover is like wearing pants and a hat. If they spent less cgi on Grover they could’ve animated some other stuff I’m sure.

The choice to keep depicting Kronos as this wraith instead of a voice from a pit is interesting?? We are already not setting up for Kronos reveal (like there was no Kronos exposition in the museum in episode one which I though was weird). Also I’d say that they’re doing this because they want new audience members to believe Hades is the BBG or something, but if they wanted us to think that why not mention the Helm of Darkness? The Helm would definitely help allude to this wraith figure we see I think. Or show us the hellhound. I don’t know. Weird. I think there is a lot of missing information that is IMPORTANT to the story that shouldn’t have been left out.

Things I miss but it’s fine they’re not there

The trio just never lost their stuff, huh? Like…the bus didn’t explode. They didn’t have to return a poodle for money to a train to Denver. I understand this was all probably cut for time and money sake.

Wish we took the time in the arch for Annabeth to talk about wanting to be an architect.

In conclusion, I liked this episode and I am enjoying the series. But this means that the Lightning Thief Musical is still the most book accurate adaptation of Percy Jackson and that makes me lol

[lumilasi]

Since I am doing a story revamp, and noticed I haven't made a separate bio for Karuna, decided to just put the sisters together now. Also came up with a new origin for Moth Spirits for this new story that's simpler.

Their info below:

Moth Spirits: They are said to be born from the souls of unborn/children who died very young before their lives even started, often manifesting in areas where such death has occurred sometime ago. Typically, they never appear as babies, but around 3-4 year old children. People who adopt them tend to still count their first appearance as their "year one"

Names: Mari & Karuna (Karuna's means "hunt and drive away evil spirits" roughly translated)

Heights: 160 cm (Mari) 182 cm (Karuna)

(Karuna was initially just known as Karuna, but after Mari joined them, she wanted to be called with the same surname. Neither could take on their mother figure's surname, as technically the head Priestess is not allowed to have children of her own, so they got around that by giving the two different surnames from Erena's.)

Ages: 23 (Karuna) 16 (Mari)

Family: Adoptive mother figure Erena Mizuka

Friends: Yago (A chimera), Shizuka (A water spirit) Milo & Silas Chiba (names pending for change), Karuna also often hangs out with Akiko, who's closer to her age than the rest.

Love interests: Mari has a crush on Milo and vise versa, but they're also somehow too dumb to realize they have said crushes.

Abilities:

Mari:

Basic moth spirit abilities; flying, poofing into butterflies, pocket dimension to store stuff, glow-in-the-dark wings, sleep inducing vibration from her antenna, spitting webs. Screeching loud enough to shatter glass and break eardrums.

Spells: Some basic water-based magic healing spells her adoptive mum taught her.

Singing: Mari can sing well, and can use it to calm scared kids or lull babies to sleep

Kicks: Mari has very strong legs and can kick you across the room if she wants to.

Karuna:

Levitation: She can't fly but she can hover using her wind magic. She can also levitate other people and objects with it.

Wind magic: She can use strong gusts of wind to slice through and break things or create strong shielding bubbles that most physical attacks can't go through. She can also create air bubbles underwater. She typically creates strong gusts of winds by either slashing with her claws or kicking with her legs, or just blowing air out of her lungs.

Physical strength: She is insanely strong due to being a dragon, able to tear up trees from their roots, breaking thick walls with her fists (accidentally sometimes) and kick things to the stratosphere

Dragonic form: She can turn into a dragon, though she can't stay in this form for long due to her birth defects.

Weaknesses:

Mari

Mari struggles to form connections with new people, and for the longest time her only friend was her sister Karuna. Even nowadays she tends to act suspicious towards anyone new, creating lot of awkward situations. She is also quite naive, so once her trust is gained it can be easy to trick her into doing something stupid.

Karuna

Karuna is self-conscious about her lack of wings and doesn't really like it if people point it out too much and question if she is a proper dragon at all. She often underestimates her strength, causing her to break things without meaning to.

Personality:

Mari is a very curious person and easily excitable, often getting involved in harmless mischief or even causing it by herself. She’s very protective of her home temple and will be on the front-lines defending it (even if it might not be the greatest idea.)

Because of the stigma around her kin, she does have some self-esteem issues, and tends to take comments from visitors really hard, those who believe in the myths that her kin are bad luck and bad omens. When this happens she tends to hide away and it can take hours to find her.

Because of this, she ultimately doesn’t trust “outsiders” that much and tends to spy on any guests to determine what kind of people they are, rather than coming to say hello normally.

Karuna is very friendly and quite expressive despite being mute. While she mostly comes off as goofy, well-meaning but clumsy person, she's more intelligent than people think. When push comes to shove, her sharp mind and ability to anticipate attacks and sense danger shines through.

She can be quite aggressive and scary if she wants to be, something natural to all dragons. Mostly Karuna is pretty chill, going along with Mari and her friend's shenanigans while subtly making sure everyone is safe.

BG Story:

Karuna appeared first, her egg having been found abandoned by some of the priestesses, who decided to take her in. She has become kind of a Guardian for the place under Erena's guidance. Mari in turn was found by one of the shrine maidens wandering around in the nearby woods when Karuna was 7, where it was said a child had died sometime ago during winter storm couple years ago.

Erena took her under her wing as well, giving her the name "Mari Haruko" as she wasn't allowed to officially adopt her and give her her surname Mizuka. Sometime after this, Karuna asked if she could also be called "Haruko" too, having become a big sister figure to Mari.

Fun Facts:

Karuna often lets Mari ride her shoulders

Mari has never seen Erena's true Water Woman form, but Karuna has and understandably finds it scary.

Karuna has never shown any interest towards romance, nor attraction to anybody, though there have been visitors who've found her attractive, mostly Bi/Pan/Lesbian women.

Karuna and Akiko can be quite the scary pair to fight against, given both are quite the heavy hitters, and both use wind element.

They often go on adventures in the forest surrounding their temple, or follow along the river that eventually reaches the lake where the Kureshima bathhouse is.

They actually met the Murasakis the first time by accidentally crashing on their island, as Karuna lost concentration and fell on Mari, causing them both to plummet into one of the hot springs there.

The meeting was initially a bit hostile as Karuna sensed these people were soul eaters, but the lake's spirit Shizuka helped ease the tensions and make the sisters trust her that these people weren't dangerous to them.

Mari and Karuna were both initially a bit sus towards Ayame, the snow woman who lingers around the mountain the forest leads to, who becomes close with Erena.

As it is revealed that Ayame was the one who led the shrine maiden to Mari however, the two warm up to her.

[karakulialiny]

I just decided to post here some illustrations for chapter 1.3 from my Wattpad fanfiction, because DeviantArt don't want to promote them :(

Not noticing anybody and anything around, Satomo was rushing through the whole of Kyoto. It was reported that his wife's wellbeing had worsened during giving birth, and he was in a hurry to the hospital to be with his beloved in the hour of need. He reached the hospital, wanted to walk in the ward but he wasn't allowed to come in. The conclusion was obvious — something really serious was happening. Satomo decided to stay in the hospital anyway, hewas very worried about his wife. Listening to the doctors' talks and Yuki's lament, he spent several hours in the corridor. He was about to fall asleep when the door opened and the most dreadful words were said: 

"We did everything that we could but... She passed away".

A few years had passed. Mei Yamasaki decided to send her already 16-year-old son to martial arts courses, so that he would be not only an assistant, but also a defender. By that time, Keigo managed to get pets: Koko the chicken, that was supposed to be put in a soup, but the guy took pity on her because he fed her, and the squirrel Squeak, that simply kept up with him while walking in the park. Zed became a laughingstock in his first classes because of his clumsiness and too gentle nature. And not anyone, but Kira – the student with the highest rank among all the students of those courses – stood up for him. 

After reading the letter, Takeo found out the incredible truth that he wanted to share with his sister. The only thing to do was to find her first. The last time he saw Kira was at the moment of adoption by the ninjutsu master. Takeo started going around all the martial arts clubs in the city, but he could only find his sister when she was walking down the street with Zed. Seeing the guy with the tattoos, Keigo exclaimed in fright:

"Yakuza! W-w-what does he w-w-want-t from us?" And Kira came up to him and asked:

— Takeo? You?

— I finally found you, sis. — he said that and showed her his birthmark in the shape of a dragon that was curling around his left hand (Kira had the same one but on the right hand). — Do you remember how our father once didn't come to visit us? So, he explained everything here.

Z: "Hi, Kira. I was passing by your mother's grave. It turns out she looks so much like you."

K: "Thank you. Dad told me that too when we went to visit her for the first time."

Z: "And how is he doing?"

K: "It's the same. He is glad that my brother and I decided to stay with him and hates his job as a fish cutter. A prosthetic little finger made out of iron knuckles and adhesive tape is ready for Takeo."

Z: "Heh, I'm sorry for your dad. If all I was doing was cutting fish, I would also wish to get out of there as soon as possible XD. I'm glad for my brother, this is better than nothing after all. But I'm very sad without you. I dream of visiting you someday."

K: "Oh, that's so sweet. I miss you too".

But Kira looked even more unusual when she decided to demonstrate her chimera shape. Her hands were covered with purple scales, claws were instead of nails, whiskers grew above her cheeks and two big growths emerged from her temples. It turned out that she was not just a dragon, but an electric one. I realised that after I touched Kira and saw that my bangs stood on end.

Full story

[official-weasley]

The Irreplaceable Charlie Weasley: Pt. 8, Ch. 2

PART 8: WHERE IT ALL ENDS Chapter 2 - Dragons at Hogwarts

Nova

“Come on, Eero. Work with me, please.” I was crouched behind a boulder talking to a Common Welsh Green.

“I just want you to have a friend.” I pleaded and sneaked a look at Eero. He did not look amused but was laying down which was progress.

I approached him, my wand ready and my eyes down. I was determined that this was going to be the day!

“No, no biting, Eero!” I put my hand down when he snapped his jaw at it. “We did that yesterday. Let's do something else today.” He laid back down and if he had the ability I was pretty sure he would roll his eyes at me.

“Ajax, come boy.” I whispered toward the boulder opposite to the one I was hiding behind. My Chimera showed himself slowly. He was such a good boy and he was perfectly tamed now. My co-workers thought I was mental acting like he's a little Crup but to me, he was more of a pet than a beast.

“Now, Eero.” I looked back at the Dragon and felt a relief when I saw that he was eyeing Ajax but with curiosity rather than anger or agitation. “Will you be so kind and share your personal space with Ajax?” I approached the Welsh Green, his eyes still on the Chimera. His tail was still which was a good sign and it stayed that way even when Ajax was getting closer.

“Okay, Ajax. Stop. Not too fast.” I put my hand up at him and he sat down, his tail moving from left to right in anticipation. “Eero, buddy.” I looked back at the Dragon. “Are you going to be a good boy today?” He laid his head on the ground, his eyes going from me to Ajax, and started letting out smoke through his nostrils.

“Good. Thank you.” I felt like I was working with a teenager. Almost as stubborn as the only person he listened to, the Freckled Weasley. I waved at Ajax to come even closer and I couldn't believe it when Eero let Ajax sit a few meters away from him.

“Today is a good day, boys!” I exclaimed, careful not to show too much excitement or Eero might just take it away. “So, how about a lunch date?” I looked at them both and Ajax roared in excitement. I lifted my wand and levitated 2 steaks between them. My heart was beating so fast that I could barely pull off the Levitation Charm.

I slowly placed the pieces of meat down as their eyes wandered from each other to the meal. Eero started moving his tail and his claws were scratching the earth beneath him but he didn't move.

“Steady, Eero. Steady.” I said softly. Ajax was still sitting, patiently waiting for my command.

I might have needed over a year to tame the Chimera but my work was so much easier because of it. I could now focus only on the Dragons, knowing full well I can trust Ajax not constantly keeping an eye on him.

“Now...” I stood a few meters away from them. “Share your meal, slowly.” Ajax looked at me and I nodded. He got up and carefully approached the steaks on the floor. Before he took his piece, he looked at Eero who didn't move but has raised his head now.

Ajax bit in the steak and took a few steps backward. I gazed at Eero who copied Ajax's movements, taking his steak and retreating. I felt like I was going to explode from happiness. I finally managed to befriend a Chimera with a Dragon. I couldn't wait to write my report on it and tell my team and Charlie!

“You two needed almost as long as me and Charlie!” I laughed at my own joke and sat on the ground, observing them having lunch together.

“Nova!” I stood up at once, holding my hand at Ajax, to make him stay put.

“Blackwood, where are you?” I retrieved backward, still looking at the two creatures.

“Andrei, stop shouting!” I hissed at him when I saw him running towards me.

“Blimey, you did it!” He hid behind a boulder and peaked at Ajax and Eero. I nodded proudly.

“What is it?” I came closer, one of my eyes still on the lunch date.

“I wouldn't ask this of you if it wasn't urgent...” Andrei started. He scratched the top of his head, looking rather uncomfortable. “I am already a few men short and I know this is a job for a Dragonologist but I have no one else to ask.”

“Well, spit it out, what do you need?” I was getting impatient. The look on his face was saying that something wasn't okay.

“I need you to go help Charlie, Ben, and Tim.” He finally answered.

“Go to Hogwarts?” I was puzzled. Charlie went there a week ago for the Triwizard Tournament and I knew that Andrei sent most of their team to make sure everything was going smoothly.

I didn't understand what they needed as they were supposed to be back in a few days. If I got my days straight the task with the Dragons was yesterday morning.

“Sam and Dominik got hurt. The Chinese Fireball didn't take it well when they were trying to steal her egg.” He shook his head.

“That was expected.” I rolled my eyes. They kept saying that this year's tournament was going to have more safety precautions than usual and then they make them steal a Dragon's egg from a Dragon mother. As if Dragons, in general, aren't dangerous enough.

“Are they okay?” I completely forgot he told me that Sam and Dom were hurt.

“They're going to be fine according to Charlie but he is now two men short to safely transport the Dragons back and I know this isn't what you originally do but...”

“I'll go.” I interrupted him. “No problem.” I smiled. I really didn't mind. It meant I could go to Hogwarts not sneaking in and out with an illegal baby Dragon like the last time.

“You're a lifesaver, Blackwood!” He tapped my back. “I'll set a Portkey for you in about 2 hours, would that be enough for you to get ready?”

“That sounds great.” I turned back to Ajax who was now napping and Eero was looking at him, rather annoyed as he didn't agree to a sleepover. “I'll just take Ajax back and get my stuff.”

I approached the two creatures with caution and nudged Ajax.

“Come on, sleepyhead. Your date is over.” Ajax stood up, a bit drowsy, and followed me away from Eero.

“Did you make a friend today, Ajax?” He gave out a friendly roar as we reached his habitat.

“I will be gone for a couple of days. Be a good boy and obey Rose and Jeffrey, will you?” He laid down on his usual spot and swung his tail back and forth a couple of times to let me know everything will be okay.

I rushed to my cottage to get some essentials before meeting Andrei by the gate. I didn't know what excited me more the fact that I was going to see Charlie a few days earlier, the fact that I will be helping him with Dragons, or the fact that I would have time to go around Hogwarts and stroll down memory lane.

—

I never liked using Portkeys much. They made me nauseous more than Apparation and I forgot to ask Andrei where exactly at Hogwarts I will turn up.

“Hi, love.” All of my irritation faded away when I looked up and saw Charlie's extended hand. Of course, he was going to wait for me. I pulled myself up with his help and dusted my jeans.

“Hi, Char.” I pressed my body to his in a tight embrace. I missed his scent. He didn't smell like grass and honeysuckle anymore. It was more like grass and outdoors and sometimes even of smoke if he had an incident with a Dragon at work.

“Thank you for agreeing to help. It's a mess out here.” He sighed after kissing me.

“What happened?” I still didn't know the full story.

“Victor Krum, the Durmstrang Champion I wrote you about...” I nodded as Charlie looked at me, making sure I followed. “He confused the Chinese Fireball so much that she stomped on two of her real eggs and she lost it.” Charlie shook his head. I knew he wasn't okay with this and that he sympathized with the Dragon.

“When we tried to take her back to the Forest, Sam and Dom weren't cautious enough and she almost scorched both of them.” Charlie put his hands to his temples. “And now I have a team of 3 instead of 5.” He stopped and looked at me. “That's why I asked Andrei to send you. You're man enough for 2 of them.” I laughed and kissed him.

“How long do we have before we have to leave?” I asked, hopeful to have at least a couple of hours.

“You want to feel nostalgic?” Charlie's lips curved. He grabbed my hand and rushed through the thick Forest. I gasped when the Castle came into view. I've missed it more than I would like to admit.

“We'll leave tomorrow in the middle of the night. We want to make sure the Fireball is okay. So basically you have quite some time.” He hugged me from behind and kissed my cheek, my gaze still on Hogwarts.

“What about the Dragons?” I snapped out of my daydreaming. “That's what I'm here for!” I giggled.

“The Dragons are all set. We just need you to help us get them back.” He calmed me down. “You can go visit Hagrid and Dumbledore and Snape.” He chuckled.

“Ah, yes. My favorite professor.” We both laughed. “You're not coming?” I wanted to visit every single room in the school but I wanted to do it with him.

“Can't.” He frowned. “I have to be here in case something happens.” He pressed his lips on mine. “You go have fun and I'll see you in the evening.” He winked at me.

I narrowed my eyes at him. What was he hiding this time? He had the same smug face as every time he was hiding something from me and even though I knew the expression, I could never figure out what was happening in that cute head of his.

I made my way to Hagrid's hut first. I thought starting with him would be the best and I could make an excuse that I just ate lunch in case he offers me any of his Rock cakes. According to one of Ron's letters, they were as hard as when we ate them when we were at Hogwarts.

I knew that the students had 1 more hour of lessons, meaning it was perfect to chat with Hagrid for a bit. He was as happy to see me as I was to see him. He asked me loads of questions about the Sanctuary and the Dragons. He asked about Norbert and he finally told me how he got the egg. To me, it sounded more like someone wanted to bust him rather than being nice to him.

Fang recognized me at once. He was less energetic than I remembered him. After all, he wasn't so young anymore!

Hagrid happily told me Aragog was still alive to which I tried to look as happy as he was about it. I even tried one of his cakes just for pure nostalgia and regretted it the second I felt my teeth breaking on it. He expressed his concern for Harry and I couldn't help but share it. That boy went through more in the 15 years of his life than anyone else I knew.

Hagrid and the rest of the staff believed that he didn't put his name in the Goblet and I agree. I only met him a couple of times now but I could see that the kid wasn't asking for attention.

I liked talking to Hagrid. He wanted to talk about animals and daydream about the creatures he would like to have, just like me. I told him about Ajax and he was thrilled that I got him to work with Eero.

Our talk turned from an hour one to almost three so I hurried up the Castle to catch my favorite redheads at dinner.

“Nova!” Ginny stood up at once, half of the Gryffindor Table turning their heads in my direction. I hugged her and she made enough space for me to sit down.

She was sitting with Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred, and George and I couldn't help but be jealous. They reminded me of my lot and I was now more than sure that Ron had a crush on Hermione. On the other hand, she was harder to read, which made me think they were just like me and Charlie.

“Where's your beard?” I chuckled, looking at Fred and George. Ron was updating us constantly and the story of the twins trying to cross the Age Barrier to get their names into the Goblet was hilarious.

“You should have seen us!” Fred laughed.

“We looked ravishing with a beard!” George added.

“I reckon we even looked cooler than Bill with that earring of his.” Fred said proudly.

“I don't think you two can reach Bill's level of cool.” Ginny giggled and I joined her.

“Harry, congratulations on getting the egg. Charlie told me you did a great job!” I turned to him after Ginny and I finally stopped teasing the twins.

“Thanks.” He said, lowering his head. It was obvious he wasn't as proud of himself as we gave him credit for.

“It's okay. I believe you didn't put your name in the Goblet.” I reassured him and he looked a bit cheered up.

“Do you know about the other tasks?” Ron asked excitedly.

“No. Just know about the one with the Dragons.” I answered even though I have heard rumors about what the other two were.

“Figures!” Ron scoffed. “You and Charlie only know stuff about Dragons.” The lot laughed.

“That's not true!” Ginny defended me. “Did you forget that Nova was the best Transfiguration student of her year!” She stuck her tongue at him.

“Really?” I turned to Hermione, her eyes were beaming.

“Yes, I took Advanced Transfiguration for 6 years.” I said rather proudly. It didn't come in as handy as I hoped it would. With occasional transfigured food or rock or similar object to distract the creatures, I didn't use it much, but I can't deny that I miss it.

“I take it as well.” Hermione said matter-of-factly. “Started this year.” She sounded like she was jealous that she didn't receive her invitation in her Second Year as I did. She should've been sorted into Ravenclaw.

I remembered my private lessons with McGonagall fondly. She was strict and I always came out of that classroom feeling like I could sleep for days being so tired but I enjoyed every second of it and I always felt like 6 years weren't enough. I wished Magizoology and Transfiguration were more connected.

“I have a lesson later in the evening, you can join me if you'd like.” Hermione snapped me out of my memories.

“I would love to!” I beamed at her. I wanted to visit McGonagall anyway and participating in one of her lessons sounded like a dream at the moment.

“Nerds.” Ron playfully rolled his eyes at both of us.

“So, Ronald.” I cleared my throat. “Ginny told me that you didn't believe Harry when he told you he didn't put his name into the Fire. What was that about?” Ron's face turned pale. “How come you didn't mention THAT in your letters?” I raised an eyebrow. I was having too much fun teasing him.

The twins were holding their stomachs, laughing so hard. Harry and Ginny joined them.

“Oh, we miss having you around, Blackwood.” Fred said as they stood up, gave me a hug, and started to leave. They were followed by Hermione and Harry. While Ron lingered behind.

“I'm sorry. I know it was stupid of me.” He whispered and hugged me.

I smiled. I knew he was just a bit jealous that Harry got all the spotlight. Ron was the youngest brother in the family and with all the success of his three eldest brothers, being a Curse Breaker, a Dragonologist, and working for the Ministry, I knew Ron felt pressured to do something memorable as well.

I didn't doubt for a second that it wouldn't happen for him. Bill, Charlie, and I weren't exactly the coolest bunch while at school and we're doing just fine now.

I decided to stay behind with Ginny as the Hall was still too crowded for me to go say hello to any of my Professors. Ginny told me that Harry fancies this Ravenclaw girl named Cho. She was pretty bummed about it and I didn't know how to advise her. Charlie told me how bad he felt when I had a crush on Murphy and I couldn't bear the fact that Ginny was going through the same thing.

I also couldn't believe Harry had a crush. Which only made my assumptions that Ron fancied Hermione stronger. However, Ginny tried to hide her excitement when she told me that she thinks Cho likes Cedric Diggory instead and that that might throw Harry off. I might've just heard the rumors about the other two tasks but I knew they were having a Ball on Christmas day and I couldn't help but wish that Harry would ask Ginny.

In my opinion, it was too quick for them to get together but it was a nice opportunity for them to bond and perhaps open Harry's eyes to the fact that they would look really cute together.

I don't think Harry doesn't like Ginny. I believe it has more to do with the fact that he sees her as a sister because Ron is his best friend. And it only takes a couple of hormones to change that.

After calming Ginny down and telling her that she should wait to see what will happen this year and in the next one, I finally had the chance to say hello to Professor Sprout and Dumbledore. They greeted me with a big smile on their faces and told me that they have both read my paper on Hippogriffs and Dragons and congratulated me for it. That made me blush more than I would like to show.

On the way out of the Great Hall, I bumped into Snape.

“Blackwood.” He narrowed his eyes at me. I felt like I was about to get detention. “What are you doing here?”

“Professor Snape, nice to see you again.” I said a bit too cheerfully as his eyes narrowed some more. “I'm here to help take the Dragons back to Romania.” He didn't move. In fact, he didn't even blink.

“Wasted your talents on animals, did you.” He said, disappointed. “I hope Miss Haywood wasn't as foolish as you.”

“It's Mrs. Egwu now, but no.” I shook my head. “She's a Potions Master at Beauxbatons, sir.” If Tonks and Tulip were here they would've laughed at me for calling Snape sir.

“At least one of your lot didn't end completely incompetent.” He said without any expression on his face. I knew Penny was going to burst into tears of joy after I tell her the compliment Snape has just given her.

“Always a pleasure to talk to you, Professor.” I knew he couldn't say anything back, so I squeezed between him and the door and stormed towards the Charms Classroom. I wanted to see Flitwick before joining Hermione for Transfiguration.

“Miss Blackwood, is that you!” I turned around and wanted to jump for joy when I heard the all too familiar squeaky voice. “Or is it Mrs. Weasley now?”

“Professor Flitwick!” Perhaps I said that a tad too enthusiastically but I didn't care. I missed his lessons. “No, still a Miss.” I giggled and I couldn't help but wonder if I saw a hint of disappointment on his face.

“Here on Dragon duty, I presume?” He started walking with me.

“Only here to take them back. Two in Charlie's team were injured.” I explained.

“So you and Mr. Weasely...” He waved his finger at me.

“Still together, yes. Just not married.” His lips curved and my cheeks turned pink. It was really strange to talk to him about this even though he and McGonagall had the most embarrassing conversation with us in our Seventh Year.

“How are you, Professor?” I wanted to stir the conversation elsewhere.

“Can't complain!” He grinned. “Even though it would be better if we weren't hosting so many other students.” He sighed. I understood what he meant. The corridors seemed more crowded than I remembered.

“If you're looking for Professor McGonagall, she is just starting her Advanced Transfiguration class.” He stopped in front of her classroom.

“I was trying to find you and then was headed here, yes.” He seemed rather proud of the fact that I wanted to see him as well.

I wanted to visit all of my Professors. I was rather sad that Kettleburn already retired even though he received a Christmas card from Charlie and me every year just like Hagrid did. I didn't care much for Rakepick as I always feared her and according to Fred and George, the Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers changed every year since she left. They even said that the job was cursed, but I didn't really believe that.

I said goodbye to Flitwick and knocked. I could hear Professor McGonagall say to come in, so I opened the door.

“Nova!” McGonagall said in surprise. “I mean, Miss Blackwood.” She put her hand on her lips, embarrassed that she stepped out of the role of a teacher for a second.

“Hi, Professor. Mind if I join?” I grinned. She invited me to sit down next to Hermione. She had two other students attending her lesson.

“I doubt there is anything new I can teach you, Miss Blackwood.” I knew she felt as nostalgic as I did.

“I just want to listen to you teach.” I answered honestly. Hermione stared at us, in awe. I knew she couldn't believe McGonagall to be so relaxed and not looking as strict as always.

I was leaning on my crossed arms, listening to McGonagall speak as if I was listening to my favorite song. I still remembered everything she was teaching the three students and Hermione was writing everything down with such a force that I thought her parchment was going to ignite itself.

It was now time to do some practical work and Hermione was doing a great job. I corrected her wand movement a couple of times, as McGonagall was paying more attention to the other two students and I couldn't help but get a feeling she was doing it on purpose so that I would help Hermione.

Hermione was hesitant to take my advice at first but when she tried my method of configuring her paper into a butterfly and it worked immediately, she was more eager to listen. There was a knock on the door and we all turned around to see Ginny peek in.

“I am so sorry to disturb your lesson, Professor...” She whispered. “But I need to steal Nova from you.”

McGonagall nodded at her, the same disappointed expression on her face I was having.

“It was nice to see you again, Miss Blackwood.” She accompanied me to the door. “If you ever come again, you are more than welcome to join any of my classes.” She gave me one of those rare smiles that I only got once before; when I was saying goodbye to her in my Seventh Year.

“Ginny, what is it?” I asked her as she closed the door behind us. “Couldn't this wait?” I couldn't help but wish that I could go back in there.

“Oh, I think you won't mind me disturbing you soon enough.” I finally turned my head to her, away from the door. She had the same smug expression on her face Charlie had earlier.

“What are you up to?” I raised an eyebrow at her, crossing my arms on my chest.

“Charlie asked me to tell you to meet him at your usual spot by the Lake.” She winked at me.

“Oh.” Was all I could reply. I loved Transfiguration but nothing in this world could beat spending time with Charlie by the Lake.

“Tell me how it goes.” She giggled and ran away.

Tell her how what goes?

[jflashandclash]

Tales From Mount Othrys

Ajax: Birth of the Triple A Chimera IV

 A harpoon nailed Pax’s assailant in the chest.

Someone skidded past Pax, right into the Roman’s knees, as if the harpoon wouldn’t be enough.

“Ajax!” Axel snarled, tossing the Roman, “Chi’naj!”

Pax took a moment to register the Mayan word for “door.”[1] He scrambled past the scuffle. Fortunately, the hinges were still intact, though he doubted they would last long. Other footfalls rapidly approached. This time, he managed to slam it shut. He barred it and went to push a crate—

A body smashed into his selected crate.

Pax almost elbowed the person in the head. Then, he smelled the overwhelming swirl of sandalwood and saw antlers sticking out from the figure.  

“Incantara:glacies fulmen iniectum,:” Alabaster hissed, his voice tight with pain. Bolts of ice gleamed at his fingertips. Alabaster flicked his wrist and three blue-white streaks exploded outward. One shattered against some blurry, massive blob, maybe a yard away. Another lodged into something a few feet below the first. The last one blasted off into the fog.

The glow of the lodged ice sickle came closer until the massive blob solidified into the expansive red rectangle of a Roman shield.

Pax grabbed Alabaster’s arm. He dragged the Witch Boy off the crate—a spear slammed into their previous location. As if Pax didn’t already feel trapped, someone banged on the barred door behind them as the shield and spear wielder approached from the front.  

Maybe now wasn’t the time, but Pax really wanted to gloat, “Oh, and I thought it was just me that screwed up.” Somehow, knowing the door that Alabaster should have protected had also been breached—that didn’t make him feel any better.

The Roman struggled to withdraw his spear from the crate. “Leader of Hecate located!” Something fizzed and made the silhouette of the Roman shield glow.

Pax released Alabaster to fumble for a weapon. Pax never knew if Alabaster collapsed to the floor because he needed Pax’s support, or if he’d strategically wanted a better line of sight on his target. Either way, at the next, “Incantara: glacies fulmen iniectum,” the ice bolts blasted under the Roman shield.

The soldier screamed. The metal shield thunked to the floor.

That glowing object lobbed over the shield.

Before Pax could bat it away, the thing stuck to Alabaster’s leg. It continuously sputtered with red sparks. Alabaster grunted.

“Lion located!” someone shouted in the fog.  

Another fizz. Another spitting glow, maybe ten feet away. Pax’s heart thudded in his chest. Flares. They were using flares to mark their locations.

But the Romans didn’t know where he was yet.

“Are you sure I haven’t found you, little Roman?” came Axel’s stage voice with sadistic glee. Pax heard stories about Axel’s stage persona. He really didn’t want to see it. From the thinning of the fog, he could discern three things: Alabaster was so low on magic that he couldn’t keep the fog thick, Axel’s stage persona was terrifying, and people should not drive in fog. Far too dangerous.

Alabaster tor at the flare on his leg and snarled in fury, “It’s covered in something sticky. I can’t get it off—don’t touch it!”

Pax withdrew his hand. A deep tremble ran through him at the words, “Spy assist located!”

Another fizz.

When this flare lobbed over, Pax fumbled for anything. His fingers wrapped around something cylindrical—the PVC pipe. He must have dropped it when he was knocked prone.

Pax swung the PVC pipe like a baseball bat, hitting the flare. It didn’t bounce off, but stuck. Pax grinned.

Using the last of the fog for cover, he skidded around the shield. There was the Roman, struggling to redirect that spear and balance on one foot (there was a tiny icicle problem in one boot.) Pax nailed the Roman with his PVC pipe in the back. The flare, as he hoped, stuck.

Pax liked to think that the Roman’s jaw dropped.

“Professional Asshole located!” Pax said, mimicking the Roman’s bravado.

“Ajax, drop into a ball!” Axel snarled.

Instinctively, Pax listened. Something bumped into his back before toppling. Two bodies—likely a soldier Axel had thrown into another one—tumbled over him, smashing into the shield user as the Professional Asshole shouted, “Wait—compromised flare!”

“Incantara: excandescunt!”

Flames erupted beside Pax, so close the heat wicked sweat off his skin. This was getting too close. The Romans were closing in.

As though on cue for a heart attack, the door exploded behind him. Fragments chucked into his shins. Pax’s door was breached again.

“Romans!” Centurion Ari’s voice boomed from inside the building, probably from the front entrance. “Una acies. Contendite vestra sponte!”

Pax’s mind scrambled through Latin to remember what Mercedes said that meant: single-line. Your own effort? Wasn’t that the massacre order?! What happened to taking the cute spy assistant alive?!

Instinct should have taken over. He should have ran or fought.

Instead, Pax froze.

With no magic or dry ice to replenish the fog, it dissipated out the three open entrances, leaving the murky shapes of the advancing Romans. Their dark blurs moved inward, one organized line approaching from the front entrance, two disorganized, smaller bunches along either side entrance. As they drifted, they absorbed their injured, dragging them behind the protective line. The Roman war machine. Pax had heard of it, but hadn’t seen it in use.

He, Axel, and Alabaster still had crates to hide behind for cover. They had some supplies left. They could fall back. But, the Romans knew where they were. Alabaster had just smashed the tip off his flare, exploding smoke around his weird horns, but Axel’s fizzed ominously on his right shoulder. Pax might be able to make it to the back barricade, but he would need Axel’s help to move the crates out of the way. Alabaster seemed injured and they weren’t going to leave him. There must have been way more than fifteen Romans. Judging from the lack of Alabaster’s magical reserves (he wouldn’t resort to fire in close quarters otherwise), he must have taken out half a dozen. Pax knew he got three. Axel had wiped the floor with those that got past them. Why were there so many left?

A sob choked Pax’s throat, thinking about the three of them trapped against the back wall, easy practice for the Romans to spear as subjects in an anatomy lesson.

That sob released when he heard a beautiful song fill the room, echoing off the walls and clutching at Pax’s soul. “Drowning in my sea of loathing. Broken, your servant, I kneel.”

Armor shifted. Someone collapsed.

A laugh, more manic than Pax had ever heard it, erupted from the front. “Oh, stupid Romans. Can’t you see? You forgot about little ol’ me. I can see inside you, the sickness is rising. Don’t try to deny what you feel—”

“Jak-Jak!” Pax cried.

It must not have only been Jack.

Screams erupted from Pax’s breached door, the southern door.

“Wait—what?!”

“Stop!”

“Why—”

Pax tore his eyes from the front to see bodies falling in a cluster. Two Romans had turned on their comrades, literally stabbing them in the back. As the betrayed collapsed, a girl became visible behind them, one with stilettos in her dark hair and a mutilated face. Flynn’s mouth was set in an annoyed line and her arms were folded. “Thanks,” her melodious voice hummed with charm speak. “Now, hold still.”

“Anything for—”

The comment cut short. Flynn wrenched the backup knives from the soldiers’ belts and jammed them into their temples.

Pax flinched and looked away before he could see any blood spurts or brain matter. This was a riveting, exciting rescue, but he’d rather focus on the being rescued portion than the murder portion. At least she didn’t make the last two kill each other. That was courteous, right?

Pax could hear the grin in Flynn’s words as she whispered, “Now, panic, you fuckers. I’m going to kill all of you if you don’t kill each other first.”

The break in the Roman’s Southern line was all Centurion Ari needed to make the call. “Fall back. Northern wall. Redirect!”

Chaos ensued.

Pax couldn’t keep track of everything. He crouched to grab Alabaster. Flynn flew over, the Roman knives glinting in her hand. “No need for weapons. Come here—” her voice sounded as sweet as her gaze looked frenzied.

Jack’s song from the front crescendoed. “Down with the sickness!”[2] Another Roman dropped to their knees, vomiting. One discarded his weapons to walk, open-handed, towards Flynn. His comrades couldn’t grab him in time. Some threw spears at Jack and Flynn. Flynn laughed, using her charmed soldier as a shield, the spears lodging into his back. Jack—Pax was relief to see—must have acquired one of the actual shields. There was a massive rectangle of metal in the front door with a tuft of red hair poking overtop.

The screams kept going after the majority of the Romans had left. Pax tried not to remember any of it. Maybe it was because Pax knew he would be safe or maybe it was because he wanted to tune out the severe amount of trauma, but his mind wandered.

He was the information broker, a spy master’s assistant. He was supposed to gather intel and leave notes like, Our camp’s name is cooler than yours. He wasn’t supposed to hang people with power cords or be on a battlefield, even a small one like this, hearing his surrogate father’s beautiful voice make people upchuck blood, watching his surrogate mother slaughter the charmed soldiers that Romans couldn’t stop from walking towards her, feeling the air pressure pop from his crush’s and his brother’s magic as they picked off those retreating.

He wanted to remember how the people from Camp Half-Blood had caused Jas to get vaporized and had melted the skin of Lucille’s back when they blew up Monster Donuts. He tried to think about the names of the people who died in skirmishes against the Romans.

Not for the first time, Pax wondered if those born into violence and baptized in blood could ever surround themselves with another kind of love, with laughter that was not contingent on the suffering of others.

He thought of the way Axel made Alabaster cover his eyes to break that first soldier’s neck, at the beginning of all of this. Pax burst into hysterical giggles.  

Alabaster swatted Pax’s hands away, bringing him back to this reality.

When Pax tuned in, he got the blurry view of Centurion Ari, covered in feverish sweat, wrestling one charmed Roman into an arm bar and carrying two others across her shoulders, both likely succumbed to fever. She scowled at Axel as she exited the building. Unlike proper hero protocol, there was no “Until next time.” Wise. Most likely, she would have tried, choked on blood or vomit, and ended up with, “Anthills flex dimes.”

With her and the last few soldiers retreating through the Northern door, the building seemed to heave a sigh of relief. Or, maybe that was a dozen Roman eagles flying off into the distance. Highly possible.

Jack’s song cut off abruptly with, “My boys!” He skidded out from behind his shield. Pax couldn’t decide if it was more or less disturbing that Jack’s bubbly grin remained as he tripped over corpses. “Oh, my boys! You’re alive!”

Axel’s shoulder slumped. “Don—” Before he could finish, Jack slung an arm around Axel’s back to drag him to Pax’s level. Jack tried, unsuccessfully considering Axel was now bigger than him, to drag the brothers into his lap for a joint hug. Pax happily complied, wanting nothing more than to curl up in someone’s lap with a mug of hot chocolate, half-filled with marshmallows, and hear stories about magical ponies. Axel grunted in pain.

Alabaster sighed. The annoyance in his tone was shaky. “Jack, his arm is dislocated.”

Sure enough, Axel’s arm was rebellious in its placement. There was more. Jack was horrified to see where Axel had been stabbed twice and covered the wounds with duct tape.

Jack started the typical procedure: snipping off clothing that clogged the wounds, clearing out debris. They would get to Axel’s dislocated arm after Jack assured “there will be no bleeding out on my watch!” Jack gently moved Pax, so Pax could still lean on one of his bowed knees while he twisted to tend to his older brother. Pax stared at the bruises forming along Axel’s chest, especially around his right arm socket. Like usual, Pax hadn’t received any injuries while his brother seemed to receive double. Pax really hoped Axel hadn’t made an arrangement with Satan about that. Satanic deals for short-sighted noble reasons? Totally Axel’s style.

“Torrington!” Jack cried. “I am so disappointed. Does this look like acceptable babysitting to you? What if one of them had been seriously injured?!” Axel choked in pain as Jack set his shoulder back into place. “How am I ever supposed to trust you with my sons again! Alabaster, they’re fragi—”

Alabaster was still half-leaned against a crate, where Pax had left him. Each breath rattled painfully. “Flash… I have a broken… ribcage… and am… out of magic… What do you… want from me… right now?”

“Definitely better childcare!” Jack said. “It’s bad enough that the Androphagoi Darecare program bombed—”

“They’re… cannibals…”

“But now I can’t trust my friends!”

“We’re… not—”

“I want you to know that I won’t heal you until you promise that they’ll never get hurt on your watch again!”

         Now was not the time for Pax to point out how often Alabaster used them—well, mostly him. Axel had too much self-preservation and too little respect for the awesome risks involved in scientific and magical discovery—as test subjects for various potions, some of which had definitely poisoned Pax. Plus, all this madness considered, Alabaster had been against the Pax brother’s plan to distract the Romans and taunt them into an assault.

         Alabaster closed his eyes. “That’s… literally impossible… for me… to assure.”

         Flynn trudged over the bodies, dragging one in particular behind her. Once beside them, she dropped it with a clatter of metal. “We need Alabaster for the war effort. You have to heal him.” The comment was absent. Her gaze scanned the wreckage until her black irises landed on Jack. His healing hum paused as she gently touched his shoulder. “Jack…”

         Pax twisted to see her better. Her brow furrowed with uncertainty. “You were able to distinguish between people you wanted to heal and people you wanted to kill.”

         This was one of the main reasons Luke never wanted Jack on the battlefield. In theory, Jack could bring plague to the whole Roman army. But, he could also bring plague to the Camp Othrys army, and this was one situation were “sharing is caring” wasn’t the answer.

         Jack beamed. He puffed up his chest. “I did! I only killed the right people! My maternal instinct kicked in.”

         Axel opened and closed his fist on the arm that had been dislocated. “I think you mean paternal.”

         Alabaster smiled weakly. “He knows… what he said…”

         “Speaking of which. I want to know how they knew to hurt my boys.” Jack shifted Pax onto Axel’s lap. As Pax had many a time, he thanked the gods that Jack seemed to think Pax was five years younger than he really was. If he was older, they might expect him not to be curled in fetal position. All Pax wanted was to keep close to someone he knew could kick some serious ass. This building felt too exposed. Sure, the Romans had retreated, but what if their reinforcements showed?

         Flynn dragged the Roman in front of Jack. Pax pointedly examined the Roman’s knees, not wanting to recognize a face. What if it was the girl he couldn’t hang? Vomit smeared the soldier’s blue jeans and greaves like someone’s craft night involved one-to-many milk challenges. The person’s breath was so slow and rattled, Pax would have mistaken them for dead on a walk-by.

         “Oh, no! No you don’t—you’re not dying yet. I’ll make sure you live. You—you little—little—you bad person! You—you—” Jack struggled to find a word he found harsh enough. “You jerk!”

         “Let’s get the… boys home.” Flynn never liked to refer to the Pax brothers as her sons, more like her impossible-to-get-rid-of parasites. Her tone was too sweet. “Then we can focus on interrogation.”

         “I want to be home.” Pax meant that he wanted to be back in Belize, in their one-room shack, play-wrestling with his little brother and older sister. Axel ruffled his hair—something Uncle Frasco used to do. This new home was nice. Right? Their real dad wasn’t here. But, Pax didn’t want to consider why Jack would need to be present for an interrogation. Flynn or Lucille could command people to tell them the truth. Why would you need a healer?

         Fingers hovered in Pax’s face. He glanced up. Flynn had set the body down to offer him a hand up. “Let’s get you there.” She almost smiled. The look was painful and Pax wondered if he and his surrogate mother needed to practice facial drills to increase those smile muscles. “I saw what you did to the windows. That was good work.”

         Compliments were like albino tigers from her: so rare that you want to jump in excitement about seeing the fluffy cutie, then remember you should probably run away because it can still eat you.   The melodiousness of her words warmed his bones and relaxed his tensed muscles. Pax felt his eyelids flicker. That had been good work, an echo cooed, forming the shape of her lips in the blackness behind his lids. Papa would be proud.

         He’d be proud of you hanging someone.

         Pax seized, clutching Axel’s knee. Charm speak. Why was she using charm speak? She’d used it on him before, to get him to move faster or stop talking. But, why was she using it now? Nausea battled back the lulling effects.

         When he opened his eyes, her gaze was gentler than normal.

         Pax wanted to laugh, to give Flynn a charming smile, and say, “Thanks, I work out and think of ways to be devious and evil in my spare time.” Instead, he threw up all over his brother’s lap.

         Axel sighed. It wasn’t like this was the first time one of his little siblings had thrown up all over him. As he gathered up Pax, as Jack jabbered about doing something celebratory for Alabaster, Axel, and Pax’s “victory,” as Alabaster bitched about his ruined lab, and as Flynn packed up the near-dead Roman, Pax shuddered. He told himself it was because Jack must have accidentally made him sick.

  ***

Thanks for reading! I hope you… enjoyed? Things are about to get pretty dark at Camp Othrys in the character department and scene department and… okay, they’re going to have a bit of a power outage on the happy-go-lucky aspects for this crew. However, when we come back, you get one of the purely fluff pieces in the series. Alabaster’s The Delicate Dance of Chance.

 Thank you to “Psychadelic limbo,” “Thank God It’s Friday” by Ice Nine Kills, and “Dangerous” by Son Lux and a slew of music from Bring me the Horizon and Famous Last words for inspiring this scene.

 Footnotes:

[1] Technically, this specifically means “door of house.” My Mopan Maya dictionary has a word for that, “door man,” and “door brace.”

[2] “Down with the Sickness” by Disturbed. You know, before COVID-19, it was hard to find songs about disease and viruses. Jack was born (and died twice) in the wrong decade.

[alittlepieceofwarcraft]

Orphans of the Forest

Year 33, fall, two weeks after the night elves first reclaim Darkshore.

The rain fell like the tears of Elune, though in large, dirty droplets, tainted grey with ash. While the cloud cover was thick, even it could not squash the light of the moon that shone brightly through the cracks. It, like the kaldorei, would not be broken. Despite the heavy rain fall, relatively little made it to the ground where the large black panther currently skulked. Using the sound of it against the thick tree canopies, the druid let it camouflage his steps while the shadows took care of the rest. He was tired, hungry, and hadn't slept for a couple days. Be it all the same, if the human king wasn't going to help them take back their lands, he wasn't going to wait in Stormwind for the notion to fall on convenience for him. He had to do something. The fatigue was beginning to get the best of him, however, and every step caused pain to splinter like lightning through his side where a hastily wound lay wrapped hastily wrapped with vines, thick sea weed, and salve. He could tell by the smell of it that whatever the Forsaken that had hit him with had likely caused infection to set in, but in the end, he had survived while the dead things had met their true death.  And now, Verdanikus patrolled, pondering if perhaps he might meet his own out in this place that had long been his home.  

 Between the bushes Mywin remained crouched as the swaying and increasing incoherent figure dragged their heavy paws towards her. Hidden, she could study it without detection. As it stumbled closer, she began to see the form in much more detail: a panther, sleek black coat dampened from the downpour, thick layers of seaweed wrapped around its middle as if to keep him together. Mywin frowned. Something had attacked this creature, yet nothing was pursuing it which meant they hadn’t attacked the mighty beast for its rich meat or silky coat. And then someone else had bandaged it up and left it to journey on. How curious.

 Verda continued on, swaying on his paws. To him, it felt as if the sea had risen beneath the ground, causing his unsteadiness. However, the ground was as steady as ever, and after another step, he stumbled and collapsed. However, when his small panther body hit the ground, it caused reverberations to shake the area as if a much, much, larger thing had fallen. His breath was labored, and his eyes glazed as he whimpered softly. He didn't try to get back up, his head spinning. 

 Mywin leapt up and hurried over the creature. 

“Quel dorei,” she reached out slowly to cup one side of the drowsy panther’s face, “do not be afraid. I will help you.” By then, it was so intoxicated by the malicious state that had sprung upon it that the poor creature barely seemed to notice her presence. Its body was warm to the touch, feverish. An infection. Raising a palm and closing her eyes, she began reciting an incantation under her breath, concentrating on every word, every syllable. Green wisp-like magic danced from her fingertips, wafting towards the being and swirling around its form. Slowly, panther began to ease, relaxing its muscles, indicting the spell’s success.

 That feverishness took a moment to wear off as she healed and purified it, and when the infection left, it left exhaustion in its wake. The kind that left Verda unable to fully keep his true form hidden. A thick green dragon tail and long ibex-like white horns appeared, proportionate to the panther's size. It, unknowing that they were there, let out a soft chuffing noise, looking at her thankfully, and forgetting he couldn't actually talk in his panther form instead used that dragon way of projecting speech that felt as if it came from nowhere. "Thank you..." Mywin flinched, blinked once, then again. Completely bewildered and taken aback by the panther speaking: she’d expected perhaps a purr, or a sigh, but not Common to exhale out of the jaws of this big cat. She shuffled back still upon her knees, just a little, unsure how to respond. Her silver eyes darted to the changing form of the beast, widening in shock. He lifted his head a little confused, looking back to see his green tail, scaled tail was attached to his panther body, and realized he probably looked like some kind of odd chimera. With some effort, his form shimmered with white light before a seven-foot-tall blue-skinned kaldorei sat before her, dark navy dreadlocks falling in a tangle around his face. He placed a large hand on the ground to steady himself a moment. "Forgive me, I did not mean to surprise you," he spoke gently, his voice barely above a whisper. "My name is Verda. I promise, I mean you no harm." Mywin scanned the new form up and down and said nothing from a moment. After a heartbeat or two of aghast, the confusion faded with realisation sinking in. A shapeshifter, or druid perhaps. She swallowed and allowed the assurance to ease in, giving a small smile, 

“I thought you to be the result of a failed hunt. I am Winnifred. Mywin.”

 He started to reach to take her hand for a proper greeting, but paused without touching her, canting his head a little awkwardly. For a moment, he just seemed unable to figure out how to go about greeting her by touch and ended up giving up and just dropping his hand. "It is good to meet you, Mywin." Absently he rubbed his freshly healed side. "I suppose, in a way, we survivors all are results of failed hunts. The Horde meant to exterminate us, yet we still live." Mywin nodded. 

“Our people have suffered much. Far too many losses.” She bit her lip, remembering those who once had been but were no more. And those who yet lived but could not be beside her. A legendary Sentinel mother and a powerful druid father both resting with Elune, a mysterious demon hunter who she disturbed peeking in on a festival one fateful full moon lit night now dwelled by the greatest beings in all the universe. All three living, dying or making sacrifices for honour and the ultimate good of Azeroth. Yet they had left her behind.  She exhaled and returned her attention to the stranger before her. “What brings you to this part of the forest?”

"I...don't honestly remember," he said looking around. "Last I remember, I had been hunting the Horde caravans bringing in more war resources and taking out the ones that I could. I must have wandered here in my haze. Thank you for the healing, I am sorry to have troubled you." He paused a moment. "What brings you to this part of Darkshore?"

She inhaled sharply, like electricity had running through her as she suddenly remembered.

“I want to stay close...” inclining her head to the corpse of Teldrassil in the distance. No longer smoking, its colossal charcoal body could be seen by the naked eye even from miles away. Branches that once stretched out proudly seemed to be mere blackened twigs, bark chilled away by flame, barren of leaves that left them naked.  “My birthplace is Hyjal and my an’da and min’da are there. I never had the chance to see Teldrassil as often as I would have liked. And now I won’t.”

"I hatched there...in a den near Dolanaar," he said quietly, sitting cross-legged. He looked back at the husk of his home with sorrow and an ache that cut straight to the quick of his essence. "I don't remember how I ended up through the portal to Stormwind. I thought for sure...I would have died in the Temple for sure." 

“I’m sorry… you hatched?”

He blinked for a moment, confused as to why she seemed confused at the idea. Then it dawned on him, and he smiled a little shyly. "Oh, I'm sorry. My true name is Verdanikus, of the Green Dragonflight." He rubbed at the back of his neck, the slightest hint of blush purple on his blue cheeks. "I keep forgetting."

Mywin similarly went a bright shade of red in embarrassment. Of course, how could she have missed it? Shape shifters don’t just take aspects of a form, they become the whole entity. She internally scolded herself for her stupidity. There were a million questions she wanted to ask: how old was he? An ancient dragon or a youngling? Did he know the Ysera the Dreamer when she was alive? Could he fly, and if so how far? A moment passed until she realised she’d not said anything.

“I apologise for my ignorance”, she admitted, “I should know better than to make conclusions based on what I think I see.” 

He waved his hands a little worriedly, shaking his head. "Please don't be upset! I forget I am not kaldorei. That is on me," he insisted, feeling his heart speeding with anxiety. Worry showed on his face that he might be chasing his new friend away with that secret. "I was raised kaldorei, I don't know who my parents were. My egg was abandoned in that den, and when I hatched, it was to see Shan'do Duskwinter staring at me. He was the closest I had to parents, and I just kind of forgot what I was as I tried to fit in, because I feel I am kaldorei more than I feel I am dragon." Mywin became even more intrigued with each word that escaped the dragon’s mouth

“Fascinating,” she finally replied. “Does your shan’do live?” He shook his head. "He passed a thousand years ago. He had become very ill, though he had hidden it from me. His resting place had been on Teldrassil..." He let out a soft huff through his nose, fierce eyes looking up toward the silhouette of it in the distance. "And now...it is gone." Glancing back to her, his expression softened. "I am sorry about that. I am not used to...being angry or longing for vengeance. It is not...it is something that before this war...I had been against." A lost little orphan, just like her, yet they’d both managed to find themselves in the same society only with herself only a short flight path away from the other. 

“Anger is not natural to me, it is not comfortable. I am born of Sentinel Kalnor Starblade and Druid Tavanar Owlcaller.” Pride laced her words as she spoke their names, followed by a sadness of the next part she inevitably had to say. “Both are with Elune now. I did not feel rage then. Then, dying an honourable death in battle is far more just than put to the flame.”

"They took me in, the kaldorei. Most accepted me as one of them or helped me learn what it truly means to be kaldorei." He said quietly. "There were small children, mothers, all cuddled together within the thick of the smoke. The flames were so close, my scales bubbled from the heat though I had not caught fire." he closed his eyes. "The screams..." There was a small whimper through his nose. "They were murdered like cattle for slaughter. There was no honor, no...no meaning for their deaths..." Mywin didn’t meet his gaze, only stared on into distance to notice the downpour was subsiding as the sun’s glowing silhouette hidden behind grey clouds sank into the earth. She stretched her legs to rise from the ground. 

“I should return to my shan’do. He will be wondering where I have got to.”

"May I accompany you? If only to see you safely back to your shan'do?" He asked quietly. "It is the least I could do to make it up to you for helping me." Mywin glanced around, surveying the area.

“It appears to be safe, but I would be glad of the company.” Verda smiled, seemingly encouraged by the invitation, and stood to his full seven-foot and stretched as well. He was bare chested, in a pair of ancient looking linen pants that were tattered as could be and barefoot. There were thick scars near his spine that swirled and curled ominously, burned into him as fierce as his memory of Teldrassil's extinction.

"Please, lead the way, Miss." He said in his entirely gentle way, hands clasped behind his back. 

 Mywin couldn’t help but look just a little too long at his muscular physique as she admired the strong body that had stood beside her. A little taller than herself, dreaded hair falling past chiselled collarbones that lined a perfectly formed chest, feet solidly planted into the earth as he patiently waited for her to step forward. A being so very pleasant to behold. She registered the pause she’d caused in her daydream and hurried to the front and paced towards the trees that tangled themselves into the thick of the forest, only leaving a vinery passage for them to slip through.

“The druid caravan was this way,” she assured, “they won’t have moved.” He noticed her staring, and moved his arms out of the way a little as he canted his head, thinking maybe she thought she saw something. When she simply sped ahead without a comment, he followed and let it drop. Must have been nothing.

"Alright, lead the way, Miss Mywin." He smiled softly, happy to protect her. She worked her way through the winding woods, trees towering above them and grass becoming thicker and unkept. Her silver night elven eyes were used to hunting in the dark and her long ears were able to detect any twig snapped that was not under the feet of her or her companion. Fortunately, as they delved further into the depths, no creature - Horde or otherwise - was roused by their trek. A few minutes passed as she focussed in the route until she stopped in her tracks: grey billows of smoke rising from a fire pit could be seen overhead. Her camp. Nearing the flames confirmed it. A party of night elves sat around the fire swigging water from their skins, warming their hands against its comfort. A particularly unique druid was stationed at the back of the group, staring into the thicket as if he were waiting for someone, hands clasped behind a back that sprouted two giant eagle-like wings, antlers akin to a moose exaggerating his height. As she drew closer, his ears flickered, and he gave a content nod, his thero’shan was alive and returning. She turned to Verda.

“Yes, this is them,” she smiled. “Thank you for your escort. It was welcome.” Verda followed quietly, his gold eyes glowing in the low-light. For a dragon, it was remarkable how silent his footsteps were. It had taken years for him to learn to control his strength and weight to mask it and fit in better. Now he was stealthier than some of the better druids around, and rather sure footed. As he saw the camp, he smiled to her.

"Be safe. Thank you for saving my life, Miss Mywin." He said gently. 

“Just Mywin,” she grinned and gave a small wave before entering the area and murmurs of greetings could be heard from beyond the bushes. 

"Just Mywin," he whispered to himself, watching her go, before shifting back into that panther form and stalking off, deciding to take up a quick patrol to make sure there weren't any Horde scouts threatening their camp before he'd head back to hunting.

*Kaldorei: “Children of the Stars”, night elf/elves. 

*Quel dorei: “Noble child”: in this content she’s using the phrase as a pet name rather than its combined meaning of “Children of noble birth”, high elf/elves.

*Shan’do: “Honoured teacher”, a title.

*Thero’shan: “honoured student”, a title.

Verda is owned by co-writer @fullelven.

Continues with A Winter Veil’s Tale.

[fullmetalirin]

Fullmetal Alchemist OG vs. Brotherhood: Episode 2

Continuing from where we left off: Ed has revealed his automail and is ready to throw down with Cornello.

Fullmetal Alchemist Episode 2: "Body of the Sanctioned"

After revealing that they were trying to revive their mother, the Elrics warn Rosé that reviving her boyfriend Cain would result in a similar fate. Cornello attacks the boys to chase them away, and he later show a silhouette of Cain in order to comfort Rosé. He then orders the townspeople to attack and capture the Elrics. Ed transmutes some metal to look like Al, and allows himself to be captured. Cornello then takes the state alchemist pocket-watch from Ed, assuming that it is his secret to performing alchemy without a transmutation circle. Cornello catches Rosé trying to visit Cain and he reveals the silhouette to be a chimera made of birds. He leaves her to be eaten by the chimera, but Al arrives just in time to save her. As Cornello tells Edward his plan to use Lior as the base for world domination, Al broadcasts it across town. Ed then defeats Cornello with his superior alchemy, only to find out that the philosopher's stone is a fake. When Rosé confronts the Elrics about how their exposing Cornello did more harm than his deception, Ed tells her to walk on her own two feet. As the Elrics leave, Lust and Gluttony manage to salvage their plans with Lior by killing Cornello and replacing him with Envy masquerading as the "real" Cornello.

We open with Cornello explaining human transmutation is taboo... but interestingly, he first says that it’s also forbidden for alchemists to turn lead into gold. Ed said this in the opening episode too, but I forgot to mention it.

That’s a very interesting line if you know anything about chemistry -- if alchemists can change lead into gold, that means they can change elements. In that case, all bets are off -- they shouldn’t have any material requirements, they should be able to turn anything into the material they want.

I went back to the first episode with another translation, and there, Al says “the base elements have to be similar” when doing alchemy. What might be going on here is that it is possible to shift elements, but only by a few steps on the periodic table, and, just like real nuclear reactions, it’s extremely energy-intensive to the point that only skilled alchemists can do it. So Ed might have been able to turn the silicon of the sand into aluminum or magnesium for his spear -- soft metals that would be crushed more easily than his leg.

(Of course, it now occurs to me there’s also no reason to assume that spear was solid metal -- he could have extracted just enough metal impurities from the sand to coat a rock spear with metal plating, as a bluff. And if they understand crystal structures, it would be quite possible to rearrange matter into a configuration that takes up more volume, appearing to make things bigger without actually violating conservation of matter -- and since a more open crystal structure is more brittle, that would even explain why the improvised weapons alchemists make tend to break really easily!)

@astalkingirin brought this up in a reblog of last episode’s analysis: It’s likely that alchemists aren’t totally unlimited by energy requirements, but that there’s some limitation on how much energy they can generate (or in OG, channel) at once. Since the Philosopher’s Stone acts as a battery, it makes sense that it would let you do these things -- we can assume that the performances of the Philosopher’s Stone are theoretically possible, but outside the normal bounds of how much energy humans can provide.

(I think it’s also interesting that if you go by real alchemic history, you need the Philosopher’s Stone to turn lead into gold. I don’t know if it’s ever brought up again, but it’s possible that, like human transmutation, this is something people have attempted but not actually accomplished.)

Anyway. Al explains they were trying to bring back their mother. Cornello rubs their failure in their face quite cruelly. Ed actually looks somber, and admits not only to his failure but to his recklessness. He turns it into a lesson for Rose, telling her that this is what happens to those who try to bring back the dead.

Cornello comforts Rose, covering up their accusation he’s a fraud by saying the Stone was a gift from God, and with it he can do what they couldn’t. He accuses the Elrics of wanting the Stone to resurrect their mom again, but they say they only want to fix their bodies, and they’ve accepted that some things aren’t possible, even with the Stone.

Cornello turns his walking stick into a massive gatling gun. Given Ed’s ability to turn sand into metal (and Armstrong’s later performances), I think it’s plausible that’s not totally impossible for normal alchemy, and that he probably could have done it without the Stone if he had just bothered to tap the brickwork for iron.

Ed raises a stone wall from the sand to block the bullets, but he looks rattled and says it was a close call. Cornello’s soldiers attack them from behind, and Ed makes a door in a wall to escape. Because he’s extra, he makes a literal (metal) door covered in Gothic flourishes instead of just a hole. I feel like this violates equivalent exchange, as we don’t see the wall deform to imply he’s sucking metal ore out of it, but we can perhaps assume it’s only metal-plated and will collapse shortly.

Rose is shaken by everything, and asks if what the Elrics said was true. Cornello deflects pretty well, saying that just because something can be explained doesn’t mean it’s not miraculous. To cinch it, he shows that he has resurrected Cain -- but he is behind a sheet, and she cannot see more than a silhouette. She is overjoyed, but is disturbed when she notices a mess of bird feathers covering the floor.

We cut to the Elrics, who discover Cornello has ordered the townspeople to capture them. There’s some comedy where they call Ed short and he overreacts -- it’s a bit silly, but given that we just finished a tense scene and we know the townspeople aren’t really dangerous, I think it’s an acceptable moment of lightheartedness.

Ed says Cornello is a fraud, but Rose shows up and says he brought Cain back. The villagers say there have been others too, but Ed is still suspicious, saying he heard the resurrected all left town as soon as they came back. It’s a bit sudden for him to know that when he’s only been here a day -- though possibly Al heard it during the previous day with his plan of “let’s actually do reconnaissance instead of just sulking in our room and assuming we know everything, Ed.”

Cornello attacks them with the sun statues and knocks Ed unconscious. When he wakes up, Cornello takes his State Alchemist pocketwatch, explaining that it’s what lets him do alchemy without a transmutation circle. I’m not sure if that actually checks out -- Mustang shows it’s enough to have a sigil on your person, but we see alchemists use lots of different sigils for everything, so the pocketwatch should only allow you to do transmutations with that sigil. Possibly Cornello is just supposed to be wrong -- I forget if it’s elaborated on later. Still, it’s a nice bit of exposition that justifies why some characters will seemingly break the rules.

The next morning, Rose comes to feed Ed in his cell. Ed tries to make a joke, but Rose has none of it. Ed hears a scraping in the wall behind him and looks pleased... We cut to Cornello’s room, where a snake appears... out of an ouroboros symbol? Envy? When Cornello wakes up, there’s only Lust, who makes a veiled threat.

Rose visits Cain’s room and the wind blows away the curtains, revealing that he’s only a chimera of parrots trained to say her name. Cornello admits that even with the Stone, he can’t make a human soul, and orders the chimera to kill her. He foolishly leaves her for dead, though given he just made a rampaging monster it’s reasonable for him to want to get some distance. Rose is rescued by Alphonse, who takes her outside. He explains that the armor that was scrapped by the statues earlier was a fake made by Ed -- and indeed, the armor doesn’t have the eye glow in that scene.

Alphonse says that the reason Ed’s such a great alchemist is just because he put in so much hard work -- equivalent exchange! The manga and Brotherhood take this statement at face value, but OG will examine it further.

Ed goads Cornello into making a villain speech, then moves aside to reveal Alphonse planted a microphone behind him. Cornello flees into an angry mob. Rather cleverly, he claims Ed was impersonating him, and wows the crowd by animating all the statues in the town. Ed one-ups him by animating the giant statue in the temple.

Cornello exclaims that’s impossible even with the Stone. Al explains it as Ed just being awesome, but I think you could take this as evidence that Cornello is a really crappy alchemist and doesn’t have a good grasp on energy requirements. Maybe even the reason he exhausts the Stone so fast is because he’s using it inefficiently, wasting energy on things he doesn’t need.

Cornello tries to run, but the Stone glitches and mangles his arm. Ed calls it a “rebound”, but when he goes to look, the Stone shatters.

The brothers commiserate about their failure. Ed says he hoped he could give Al his body back, but Al insists Ed should get fixed first, which is sweet.

Rose shows up to confront them for taking their hope -- now they’re just a desert town again. She says she has nothing to live for if Cain won’t come back, and falls to her knees in despair. Ed is callous, but Al stays behind to comfort her.

In the temple, Cornello demands answers from the homunculi. Lust explains that the fake was bait to catch alchemists obsessed with the Stone, but trails off before she explains her full plan. Nooo, why must you tease us so? Then Gluttony eats Cornello. It’s a sound-only death, no onscreen violence.

We cut to later that afternoon, where Cornello appears again. He revives some birds, and claims an imposter worked wickedness while he was away. Oh, the irony. The townspeople buy this, which I think is a nice bit of realism -- as recent events in US politics have shown, a demagogue’s spell is not so easily broken.

The birds disappear as they fly off. I’m not sure on the mechanics of this, as homunculi can’t do alchemy. Can Envy’s illusions extend outside of himself?

Looking down on the scene, Lust muses that Envy will have to keep that form for a while. So, another piece of the puzzle: there’s a third sin-themed individual working with these people, and he has shapeshifting powers. What I also like about this is that the heroes aren’t aware of it. They think they’re done here, but more darkness is brewing they don’t even know about. There’s a promise here that we will revisit this place, and more is going on than it appears.

In the final scene, we learn that Al told Rose their backstory, as a warning not to pursue resurrection. While it’s questionable how he could have explained all that so quickly, it’s a nice bit of compassion from him, and an effective segue into the next episode.

FMA Brotherhood Episode 3: "City of Heresy" (part 2)

Edward and Alphonse escape, taking Rosé with them. While Alphonse explains their story to Rosé, Cornello finds Edward and reveals his nefarious plan, unaware that it had been broadcast to the whole town of Liore through a microphone. Cornello attacks Edward using the philosopher's stone on his ring, but Edward manages to defeat him. Edward realizes that the stone is a fake when it falls and shatters on the ground. Cornello runs off, but is killed by Lust and eaten by Gluttony. Later, Rosé demands the stone from Edward, but he confronts her with the truth about the fake stone and Cornello and he tells her to find strength within herself.

Rose and Cornello's reactions to Ed's reveal are similar, but much more rushed. Cornello doesn't throw their failure in their faces, and Al doesn't explain why they did it. Ed doesn't act somber at all, and just yells back when Cornello taunts them.

Ed's wall looks more like the stone floor, and Cornello didn't turn the floor to sand in this one, so the mechanics of it are more plausible.

After Ed raises the wall, he throws back a quip instead of saying it was a close call.

Al grabs Rose and Cornello shoots at them WITH ROSE IN THE LINE OF FIRE. WHY.

Ed making the door is much faster – no "If you can't find a door, make one!" line, which I think is a loss. This time, their door opens into a bunch of soldiers and they waltz away in cartoon style for some reason, because now is definitely the time for comic relief. No one questions why Cornello has a giant gun.

We skip over everything with the Elrics hiding out and getting captured, and just cut to Alphonse setting up the broadcast.

Oh, he does point out that Cornello shot at Rose! She still doesn't believe Cornello is bad because she's an idiot. This is also where Alphonse explains about their failed transmutation, complete with a mini-flashback. This time, it's Rose who makes Cornello's arguments for him. She does the hunched mousey pose and cries while insisting Cornello can definitely do it despite having no evidence for it in this continuity.

Then we learn that Ed stayed behind in the palace. Cornello finds him and we do the public confession scene here, but this time, we see that this is literally his broadcast office and the microphone was in plain sight. How did he not see it?

There's no cord that could connect to the microphone in this shot, either.

Cornello makes no attempt to salvage the situation this time, and just tries to kill Ed. This is where his stone rebounds, but instead of stopping, it just… keeps going and transforms him into a boss monster. No! That does not make sense! A rebound means you ran out of energy! He should not be able to keep going!

Then there's a ridiculously over-the-top boss fight with Giant Cornello. This time, Ed just uses the fist of the statue instead of animating the whole thing. The wall behind it visibly deforms to show where he's getting the material to extend it. Cornello suddenly reverts to normal size when he's hit, which is less explicable.

Only then does the Stone break. There's comic relief afterward where Cornello is silly and pathetic, which I don't think is appropriate. He was a very bad person who is still totally willing to do bad things, I don't think it makes emotional sense to act like he's totally harmless now.

There is a similar commiseration scene, but we skip the bit where Al offers to restore Ed's body first, which is a shame.

Rose's confrontation is much more dramatic – she's pointing the gun at them, though she's shaking with terror and can't aim it. Rose is much more emotional here, and this is where the brothers are accused of wanting the Stone to resurrect their mom again. Ed gets angry and insists the dead can never come back.

Rose collapses and gives the same line about having nothing to live for if Cain won't come back, but she is much more hysterical and visibly crying. Al walks off with Ed instead of comforting her, which seems really dickish of him.

We then get the scene of the mob demanding Cornello's head. He does not mollify them, and instead retreats into the temple where the homunculi are waiting. Lust doesn't explain why she gave him the fake Stone. Lust kills him this time, and despite being speared through the brain we still get a POV-cam of him focusing on her ouroboros tattoo before he keels over. I'm not sure how plausible that is.

What I find most notable is that his death is shown on-camera here. The Isaac episode was similarly quite gruesome. I'll be keeping an eye out for how gory each of the shows are.

The episode ends with Gluttony eating Cornello. There is no scene of Envy replacing him.

Conclusion

I think the most important change here is Rose. In OG she is a much more developed character, and is even made a viewpoint for the scenes with not-Cain. Though she's still frequently scared and helpless, she is still dignified: she makes fierce, reasoned arguments and is clearly going through a personal journey as she grapples with everything she's seeing. Her arguments are hard to totally dismiss, making Ed look cruel for dismissing them and giving us the sense that he is a flawed hero. As I said last time, she's framed as Ed's philosophical equal. There is a case to be made that, while Cornello is the antagonist to the heroes' literal goals, Rose is their philosophical antagonist. She pushes back against Ed's know-it-all assertions, and reminds them that Cornello wasn't all bad – statements that they cannot truly refute. This sets the tone: this story will be about a flawed, conflicted hero who won't always do the right thing, and who will be challenged on that fact.

In Brotherhood, Rose is just The Vulnerable Girl. She exists to be sad and emotional at things so we know they're upsetting, and possibly also to show how tough and strong the heroes are for keeping a stiff upper lip in the same situations. Even when her lines are almost the same, her tone sounds so different – she's so much angrier and more confident in OG, even when there's sadness mixed in too.

I also find it interesting that Cornello is so much more competent in OG. In Brotherhood he is so comical and ineffectual it is absurd to think he ever managed to hold onto his power this long. In OG, he displays the skills of an actual demagogue: he knows how to keep his composure, string people along, and spin situations to his advantage. He's a much more dangerous villain who operates in a much darker and more realistic sphere than the typical shonen opponent-of-the-week, and that's a hint to the tone OG will take as well.

[formerprincess]

Part 7

I know I took my time with uploading this part but now it’s here and I hope you’re as excited as I am. Liam tries his best to be there for Theo when his mate needs him the most.

Since Theo moved in with the Geyers they had learned that despite the chimera acting all confident and cocky, he was still fighting his demons, especially in his sleep. His nightmares were something that has woken up the whole family in the beginning and Ilona Geyer and her husband were shocked to see a young man so traumatized by his life that he had such drastic nightmares.

It had gotten better after Liam and Theo became a couple and slept together in the same bed. Being around Liam helped Theo to feel safe, Liam knew that. He couldn’t keep all nightmares away from Theo but he could help his boyfriend to feel better. 

Unfortunately, there were still moments when Theo’s demons got him in their claws and you never knew when it happened in advance. So when Liam was in the bathroom washing his hands and he suddenly felt a rush of panic through the mating bond, he was immediately alerted. Theo was downstairs, had watched TV, and last time Liam checked he had been okay. That obviously changed now and Liam wasted no time in leaving the bathroom and running down the stairs, listening to the sounds coming from the living room; he heard his mother and Theo, Theo’s frantically heartbeat too.

“Theo, Theo, calm down, you had a nightmare. You fell asleep on the couch and you had a nightmare.” Mrs. Geyer said. “It’s okay, sweetie.” “Where’s Liam?” Theo asked panicked. “Where is he?” “He’s upstairs, honey, want me to call him?” But Theo left the living room and all but ran out without answering her.

They met at the last step of the stairs and Liam’s heart clenched at the look of pure terror on Theo’s face. He was literally bolting from the living room as if something was chasing him and his heartbeat still beat rapidly and he breathed hard. It tore Liam’s heart open to see his boyfriend in this state.  When Theo saw him, he whimpered and Liam immediately wrapped his arms around Theo, shielding him from whatever had made him so scared. “It’s okay, I’m here.” He muttered and stroke over Theo’s back, all the time he held him close, and Theo clung to him in desperate need of consolation.  When Liam raised his eyes, he saw his mother standing in the doorway and watching them with pity in her eyes. She had no idea what Theo’s nightmares where about but she felt immensely sorry for the young man. But she also knew Liam did the best he could and there was no other option to help Theo, so she just let the two boys stand there.

Liam still held his mate when his stepdad stepped into the house and frowned at the sight. His mother looked at her husband and then at Liam and Theo and sighed before she grabbed her coat and put it on.

“Liam? We need to go, the traffic will be too bad otherwise. If you need something, just call us, okay?” His parents would be gone to a conference this weekend so the two boys would be home alone. Now Liam nodded and still held Theo who slowly calmed down again but didn’t react to Ilona’s words. Ilona ruffled her son’s hair and gently stroke over Theo’s back and then they left, Liam’s dad waving before he closed the door. Liam heard them getting into the car and the car pulling out of the driveway and then they were alone.

“Tara?” Liam asked softly when it was just the two of them and he felt Theo nod. The chimera pulled away from Liam and looked at him with tears in his eyes. “But this time she didn’t rip my heart out. She took yours.” He told Liam and Liam’s eyes widened when Theo started crying again.  “Oh, baby, I am so sorry. But I am here, just like you. We are both alive and it was just a dream. A terrible dream but a dream nonetheless. You are safe now. I would never let her get you.” Liam assured Theo while he stroke over his cheeks.  Theo grabbed his wrists.  “Promise me you won’t die on me.” Theo pleaded, voice soft and young, and he looked at Liam with the honest fear of losing him. Liam nodded and stroke over his cheeks once more. “Promise.” He said and kissed Theo with all the love he had for the older boy.

When they parted, Liam smiled weakly. “Want to watch movies?” He asked and Theo nodded while wiping his eyes. Liam smiled and kissed Theo’s cheek and then pulled the older into the living room. There Liam plopped down on the couch and sighed softly. Theo grabbed the remote and sat back on the couch.  He curled up next to Liam and Liam grabbed the blanket from the backrest of the couch to cover them both with it. His arms stayed around Theo while his boyfriend flicked through a movie and finally decided on Disney. Soon enough 101 Dalmatians appeared on the screen and Liam smiled softly. He liked that movie and so did Theo as it seemed. He lovingly kissed his boyfriend’s forehead and stroke through Theo’s soft hair. 

But the longer they stayed there, Liam noticed something that made him frown. “You’re cold. Are you freezing?” He asked and closed his hand around Theo’s ice-cold fingers.  “I’m always cold after a nightmare.” Theo muttered almost as if he was afraid to admit that. Liam kissed his forehead again. “Hm.” He sat up and made Theo do the same so he could get up from the couch. “Come with me.”

“Where are we going?” Theo asked but followed Liam out of the living room and upstairs. Liam led them into their bathroom and turned the heating up before he plugged the bathtub and turned on the faucet.  “A hot bath will help.” He explained to Theo who sat on the closed toilet seat and watched him. “Are you sure?” The chimera asked. “It always helped me.” Liam replied and tested the temperature of the water with his hand to decide if it was good or too hot. “Liam? Thank you. For everything.” Liam looked over his shoulder and smiled. “I love you and you deserve to feel good.”  When he got up to add a bath bomb in it (not too scented since they both hated that but just to add a little touch), he leaned over and kissed Theo gently. Theo kissed him back. “I love you too.”

Liam smiled and finally the tub was filled and he made a hand movement. “Go in.” He gently adjusted but Theo hesitated. “Do you...can you also get in?” He asked. Liam had usually planned on just sitting by and talking but if that’s what Theo wanted...

He pulled his shirt over his head and then quickly undressed completely before slipping into the water. Theo undressed too and followed soon after, slipping between Liam’s spread legs and leaning against the younger Beta. He sighed when the hot water surrounded him.  “Feels good?” Liam asked and Theo nodded.  “Helps to relax.” He admitted and Liam kissed his cheek before slowly stroking over Theo’s shoulder. Theo leaned into his touch and Liam wrapped both arms around his boyfriend.  “Tell me something. Something nice.” Theo muttered. 

Liam thought for a moment. “When I was younger, my grandmother loved to tell me fairy tales and I loved to hear them. The thing is, my grandmother had slightly different versions of the fairytales but I didn’t know that. So when I learned about the difference from other kids, I was highly confused and still insisted the version my grandmother told me was the real one. And my favorite was Red Riding Hood. Don’t laugh because of wolves, yeah what a coincidence.”

Theo chuckled but he continued to listen to Liam’s words. “In the version, my grandmother told me, Red Riding Hood went out to visit her grandmother and came across the wolf before the wolf could eat her grandmother. Instead of running away and alerting the hunter, she stood her ground and didn’t back down from the wolf. She looked the wolf dead in the eye and in the end, the wolf respected her because the wolf saw her as equal, as Alpha if you want. The hunter who later appeared and Red Riding Hood stepped between him and the animal, saving the wolf from getting killed. The hunter was so impressed by that, he took her in and trained her. From that day on, Red Riding Hood and her wolf wandered the forest side by side, helping those who needed their help.”

Theo was silent for a while. “That is the best version of Red Riding Hood I ever heard. Your grandmother is a very intelligent woman.” Liam smiled and kissed Theo’s temple. “She is. I loved this story because as a kid I loved wolves and the aspect of becoming friends with a wolf was just so amazing to me. I used to play hours pretending I had my own pet wolf.” Theo played with Liam’s fingers. “Did your pet wolf have a name?” “Bolt. I know, not the most creative, but he had a little white patch on his ear that looked like a lightning bolt.” Liam chuckled. “He was a black wolf, now that I think about it.”  Theo laughed and after him being so completely broken before it felt good to hear this sound from his beloved. “Should I be scared to transform and then wake up with a lightning bolt painted on my ear?” He teased Liam and Liam poked his rips. Theo jumped and grabbed Liam’s hand. “No tickling!”

So Liam just hugged him tighter and kissed his temple again. Theo relaxed against him again, soaking up the warmth of the water and from Liam. “Do you still love wolves nowadays?” He asked. “A bit. But nowadays I love chimeras more, you know.” Liam replied and Theo turned his head so he could kiss Liam’s jaw. 

“And you say I’m the charmer in this relationship.” He told Liam and kissed his jaw again. He moved again to have better access and kissed up to Liam’s earlobe to suck on it. Liam moaned softly. His hands ran over Theo’s body, stroked his chest and his abs, his thighs and finally between his legs. Theo spread them as good as he could and leaned against Liam while he moved his boyfriend's hand to his cock. Liam got the hint and slowly pumped the hardening length. Theo moaned and pushed against Liam’s hand while he tilted his head back. 

“Damn, you look insanely hot like this. Like a living sin. How are you even real?” Liam muttered and licked over Theo’s neck before biting down on the skin.  Theo gasped and Liam licked over the hickey. “You look even hotter covered in bite marks.” He told  Theo and continued to assault Theo’s neck as good as he could. His grip on Theo’s cock never stopped and he was pumping and stroking him until he was fully hard.

Theo gasped over and over and pushed against Liam’s hand and when he was achingly hard, he turned around to straddle his mate. His hands cupped Liam’s face and he pulled him into a hot and messy kiss. Liam moaned into the kiss, completely lost in the feeling. His hands roamed Theo’s back and grabbed his ass, leaving red stripes in their wake. Theo hissed and bit down on Liam’s lower lip before he sucked on it and teased the abused flesh. It was Liam’s turn to gasp now and Theo used it to let his tongue slip into Liam’s mouth and tease Liam’s tongue. 

They made out for a while, then their kisses got even more intimate and traveled over every patch of skin they could reach. Hands stroke over heated skin and the air got even more fogged up than it already was. It was the most sensual Liam ever experienced and all of his encounters with Theo were sensual, but this one was special. It was so incredibly intimate and Liam’s head swam. Theo pressed against him, made Liam feel how hard his mate was, and alerted Liam to his own leaking cock that pressed against Theo’s ass. 

They moved together, in complete sync, bodies reacting to each other. When he was with Theo, Liam always let himself fall. The outer world didn’t exist when it was just him and his boyfriend. Theo was his world, his everything, and he wanted to cherish him and show him that. So he licked over Theo’s neck and his ear, loved to hear Theo moan and see him shudder due to that, and then he nibbled at Theo’s jaw. The chimera gasped again.

“Liam...”

His wet fingers ran through Liam’s hair and pulled Liam’s head back so Theo could pull Liam in a messy kiss. Liam didn’t need to be persuaded to respond to that and again their tongues tangled with each other and their bodies moved without further words. When the need to breath became too strong, Theo broke away and pressed a kiss to Liam’s chin before he hoisted himself up to get in an even better position.  He reached down to spread his own cheeks and then slowly sunk down on Liam’s erection. They both moaned and Liam would have tilted his head back if the picture in front of him had not been so breathtaking. And it was not just the fact how tight Theo was around him, no his boyfriend also looked incredible. “You look so beautiful.” He told Theo and Theo smiled softly.  “You don’t look so bad yourself.” He replied and licked over Liam’s lips. “And you feel so incredible inside me.” He whispered into Liam’s ear and then started to move his hips in a slow, sensual way. Liam groaned and held Theo’s hips but not too tight, he didn’t want to restrain him. 

Theo moaned and closed his eyes while he rode Liam and Liam kissed his throat and his neck, hands gently rubbing Theo’s sides. Moans and pants spilled from his lips all the time and after a while, he could not stop himself from fucking up into Theo. Theo groaned again and pushed back down and now it was Liam who groaned.

“Fuck, T...” He gasped and his grip momentarily tightened and Theo’s movements turned faster. Some water was splashing out of the tub but Liam didn’t care at all. He would clean later. Now Theo took all his attention and he took it in a great way. Liam leaned back against the tub and just raked his eyes over the glistening body of his mate, water shimmering on his lightly tanned skin and a flush spreading across his cheeks and his neck. He was so incredibly lucky and when Theo opened his eyes and looked at him, he smiled. “Why are you looking at me like that?” “Because you are the best thing that ever happened to me.” Liam explained and Theo smiled happily before leaning down and capturing Liam’s lips with his. He never stopped riding his boyfriend and slowly both were brought to their climax. Liam’s hand wrapped around Theo’s cock and he jerked him off in sync with Theo’s movements.  

Theo groaned and gripped the edge of the tub, claws scraped over it, while he shuddered for a moment. Liam squeezed Theo’s cock and his thumb stroked over the tip a few times just to tease Theo. And then Theo looked at him with glowing eyes and when he smirked, Liam saw Theo’s fangs. His own fangs scraped his lip and his eyes flashed to show his partner how much he desired him. 

Liam jerked his hips up and pushed deep inside Theo, which resulted in a loud scream from both of them. Good thing they were home alone. Liam held Theo’s hips again and gave his ass a light slap, caused Theo to wink at him, and then their lips were on each other again and they kissed filthily and passionate. Mews and groans and pants filled the air while Theo still rode him and Liam fucked into him.

And then the heat inside his stomach could no longer be contained and Liam gasped loudly when he finally came and reached his climax. Theo followed almost the exact same second and both called out each other’s names. Liam sank back again and wrapped his arms around Theo when his boyfriend collapsed against him. 

Silence fell over them and just their ragged breathing and the thrumming of their hearts could be heard. Liam finally raised his hand and carded it through Theo’s hair. “I love you so much.” He muttered and kissed Theo’s ear. “I love you too and I can’t thank you enough for being there for me.” Theo mumbled back and Liam shivered at hos hot Theo’s raspy voice sounded. Theo moved softly so Liam could slip out of him and then kissed Liam again. They looked at each other and smiled. “I want to marry you. I really do.” Theo told him.  Liam smiled and pulled Theo in so he could rest his forehead against the chimera’s. “I want to marry you too. Can’t wait til we’re old enough to do so. Because if we do it now, my mom will probably have a heart attack.” “Your mom or Scott?” Theo joked and Liam laughed.  “Both probably. Now come on, the water’s getting cold.” 

Theo nodded and got out of the tub before he helped Liam out and grabbed a fluffy towel to wrap around Liam. Liam smiled at him and stroke his wet hair back. “We should take hot baths a lot more often.” He said with a wink and Theo laughed. “But only when your parents are gone, we have a tendency to be loud.” “Oh yes, we have.” Liam had to admit that too. He considered that and Theo seemed to notice it because he looked at Liam.  “What? You have this look on your face.” “No, everything’s fine.” “Come on, tell me.” “It’s nasty.” “Tell me anyway.” “I usually don’t compare you but...Hayden never liked me getting loud.” Liam tightened his towel around his waist after he dried off. “Sorry.” “No, hey, it’s okay. You’re allowed to say this, I’m not mad. And she was clearly missing out.” Theo said with a small smile. Liam gave him a grateful look and then he kissed Theo softly. 

They wandered into their room and got dressed in comfortable shirts and pants and then Theo tackled Liam on the bed. The younger one laughed and wrapped his arms around Theo. He loved their passionate moments, he loved their sweet moments, and also their silly and fun moments. Now he looked up at Theo and stroke over his arm. “You still look gorgeous and you’re not even having any product in your hair.” He praised and stroke through Theo’s damp hair. “When did I get so lucky?”

“You deserve the best in the world and I’m trying.” Theo replied.

Liam gently hit his arm. “Stop that! You, Theo Raeken, are absolutely perfect for me and I am honored that I can call myself your mate. If you say I deserve the world, then please believe me that you are my world.”

Theo looked at him and then smiled. He leaned down and kissed Liam again. “I love you.” 

“I love you too.” Liam replied and snuggled closer when Theo moved into a better position to curl up under the covers with Liam. They just laid there in their embrace and enjoyed the silence as well as being close to each other. The heating was still on and it was cozy warm in the room and even though Liam liked some cooler air for the night, he could not stop his eyelids from dropping right now. The combination of great sex, the warmth, and feeling safe in Theo’s arms made him feel sleepy and his eyes closed. Tucking his head under Theo’s chin and hearing a snore from his boyfriend, Liam fell asleep.

It felt good to write another part for this and I know some people requested Liam fucking Theo so there you have it. I had this planned since the beginning and now felt like a good time to actually write it :D What do you say?

[jupiterreed]

(The days that followed)

It’s a casual sort of sinking, a perennial mudslide beneath the once rosy bottoms of your feet, a head-first collision and you don’t see what you’re crashing into but you can imagine once you hear the sound of the glass shattering and it’s almost a choir. The sirens pouring into the fizzling distance. Flashing murder-red behind your eyelids. Feral red, confused red. The red of eyes in paintings of the devil. The red of the inside of my thighs, blooming ghastly and slightly swollen. Most definitely swollen. It’s like diving blind-eyed into monster-infested waters and it’s everything it’s rumored to be, krakens and megalodons and you want to slip away but you’re chained to the bottom of the sea and it’s your worst childhood fear, the Jaws theme ringing ominously in your head. It’s dreaming of coral reefs wet with your own blood. Gasping for air and coming up empty, coming up slick-clean and robbed of your will to live. The first month was waking up with a night terror sitting upon my chest, the woman with craggily skin and fingers like barbed wires. I was incapacitated and breathing dirty ocean water. The first month was a panic attack in a Burger King bathroom stall and meeting a German boy on Tinder who told me I was pretty in a strange way. It was being touched for the first time and feeling my body flinch in unprepared protest, soldiers flanking my stomach lining, cherry bombs exploding in my chest and scorpions scratching at my throat. When he left he told me he didn’t like my septum piercing that much and I told him to fuck off. No longer intrigued by the glossy allure of cancer sticks disguised as cherubs. Impolite girl, angry girl, Britney’s 2007 breakdown. I come pre-packaged and licked by the moon. I am what I am. Foolish fever, selfish retch. Unlovable wind, intolerable myth. I know I’m not enough, but enough is no longer quantifiable. 

The months after were a barrage of broken light bulbs, rat-traps, temptations of guzzling chlorox in the basement and offering my body to the fruit flies. It was hair pulled from shower drains and afternoons spent in unmade beds and fighting the urge to change my name and flee to the Himalayas. 

Lately my lungs are propellers but there’s nowhere to land, nowhere to uphold temple, Bermuda Triangle days circling the hips of void. I’ve been aching to talk about the longing. How I want and want and want. But I never know what I need. I need to be suffocated by the skin of another. I need closure. Rituals of death in department store parking lots. All those girls with their high-pitched voices and soda pop laughter, calling me the girl whose name no-one can ever pronounce, and what does it mean anyway: sorrow, daisy, fool? I’ll be honest for five minutes because the lies are piling up like dried up moths beneath my bedsheets. I’m jealous, I’m canine. I want to turn into a wolf at night and maul them all. Go back to simpler times when cruelty made sense and their smiles got trapped in ribcages and nobody ever questioned the meaning of things. I still remember we threw slumber parties for roadkill and brought our bodies down in the middle of the street to emulate the feeling. I remember feeling smaller than the microorganisms of misery milling at me. I remember the vintage dress I bought off of eBay and the look on his face when he saw me in it for the first time (and maybe reverence never belonged to the gods anyway). I twirl around in it and for 0.5 seconds I get to feel like a garden variety princess and the sky turns stale and black coffee pours from the heavens and my hands are satellites again. (But then I wake up and everything I’d ever wanted is still too far away and the peach dream is over.) Did you know how often the average human has thoughts about death? Gosh I’m so fucking tired of having to try. Call me sloth, call me chimera. I can’t move. I’m sinking further and I can’t move! It’s all in your head. The rinds of darkness. That rotten pomegranate smell that grew ever-so familiar. The blood I found in my best friend’s bathtub, how it took up an entire block, crippled the air with rot. She stopped calling me. It’s been over five months now and we haven’t talked. Part of me wishes she’s dead on the side of the road somewhere, because the happier possibility would be too unbearable. I know, I’m terrible. When the anger settles and the upset hightails it out of my windpipe all I’m left with is the dull drone of cicadas and an impaled conscience. 

He comes over again and this time I ask him to leave with citrus in my eyes. He makes sure to make note of all the skin I’ve peeled from around my nail beds and I make sure to let him know that the next time he comes around, I’ll be biting my fingers off too. Maybe I’m just afraid of what he’s capable of turning into, like the kindergarten boys who step on the helpless ants that trail the sidewalk just to feel a little bigger than themselves, like the grade school boys who TP the principal’s office and peg poor Jimmy from homeroom upside down by his underwear outside the boy’s locker room upon rumors of being gay, like the high school boys who bring their father’s guns to school to impress the pink-lipped prada girls who have no idea what they’re getting themselves into. Like the sound of Camilla’s shriek and the final bullet bouncing off a multicolored wall advertising a false sense of safety. 

Maybe I’m afraid of me, how these days my chest is a beehive and my heart a winged animal. The depression is a pyramid scheme, my blood vessels pop candy reverberating the same old fucking mistakes over and over until I’m left lifeless, pickled, taxidermied. My dad tries to call me every 2 days but the disappointment in his voice is getting larger now and I think about how I could scoop it clean with a pickaxe or let it fester, let it grow sentience and a sense of belonging. I tell him I’m sorry even though it’s useless and tastes like spoilt milk. I tell him I’ll try even though I know I won’t. Not hard enough. I’m still disgusting, stagnant. I feel like I’m on the world’s slowest carnival ride and the lights are dimming all around me. It’s sitting cross-kneed in a bomb shelter as the world implodes around you, it’s falling asleep on a train once you’ve missed your stop, it’s the circulatory system of a star puking up whatever’s left of its glow. That was before we began killing ourselves over the aesthetic, before the taillights of his car came alive and turned into fireflies. Before I was girl incapable of living. Before long-sleeves and the concussions we received from 7-11 slushies and picking at the scabs under your chin as if you could tame flowers there. I was restless and so very bored, I’d stare at my reflection in mirrors for hours and take knives to my zits, pierce the skin like cake. But proper girls don’t ache that way.

I kept losing myself on empty park benches and in the back of grocery store aisles and across the street from the airport where escape awaits. I remember calling her up, it was raining and it would continue to rain all week (at least over me), I was cold and shivering, my clothes pressed to my skin like I’d been trapped in a spiderweb of my own design. I told her the truth, that I wasn’t strong, that I’d never been. That sometimes giving up felt deceivingly like winning. Like getting out, scot-free. Like shelter from a nuclear winter. I fell victim to the temptation of teeth in September and spent way too long communing with ghosts, cracked my forehead open on the bathroom shelf, turned my blood into an altar. What I’m afraid of is waking up one morning with the brevity to go through with it. My roommate walking in on my body lying on the floor, the expression on my face so peaceful it could be mistaken for sleep if it weren’t for my bloodied wrists exhibited like vines. Self-inflicted, self-stormed, self-destructed. But I want to make it through, dammit! I want to be good! 

(The day before I killed myself)

I imagined the colors were brighter than I remembered them, like they were screaming or had been for years and I was only just noticing the extent of their turmoil. I took my neighbor’s dog, Buster, for a walk and she smiled at me, old teeth yellowed, close to ruin, but her eyes still echoes of her baby days. They were forecasting more rain on the radio, nothing obnoxious or inconveniencing, not an inkling of a storm - more like, the kind of weather that feels like a kiss to the back of your neck: pleasant, quiet. The slightest prickle. I remember I spoke to my mother on the phone and she asked me if I could fetch her some carrots from the store on my way back home. I told her I’d be home late, and she didn’t argue. She rarely ever does these days. I made the familiar walk to school, I absorbed faces. All these people I would pass who I would never get to meet. What does that even mean, to meet someone? Do we ever truly meet anybody? I’ve been growing familiar with emptiness, like my whole life’s been leading up to this fabled meeting I’ll one day have with someone, someone who will walk into my life and change everything. I think my soul is waiting to be met. Except that day will never come, nor that person. And I’ll never know what it feels like to forgive myself or to succeed at something other than breaking my own accident records, or whether my ex-best friend will ever try to get in touch with me again. I’ll forget the colors. I’ll forget I existed. I’ll forget - everything.

The Day Before I Killed Myself (And The Days That Followed) || j.r  (please do not remove original source)