#this might be the ONLY time she's mean to Darius's face

[swan2swan]

Keep your eyes on the road at all times.

[sydsaint]

Friends to Lovers, anyone? <3

Summary: HOOK and reader have been best friends for a while now. But the reader slowly starts to notice that her friendship might not be the only thing that Tyler is after.

You sit in the plane terminal, headphones on, playing a game on your switch. Tyler is sat next to you on the floor, headphone also on and doing something on his phone. There is a comfortable silence between the two of you as you wait for your boarding time. Your legs are draped over Tyler's lap, his arm that's not holding his phone, drapes over them casually as he scrolls.

Daniel strolls up with Darius at his side. He spots you and Tyler and snorts, nudging Darius on the shoulder to get his attention.

"Check those two out." Daniel snickers.

"Who?" Darius replies and follows Daniel's outstretched finger. "YN and Tyler? What about them?" He turns back to Daniel.

Daniel shoots Darius a snarky look and drops his hand back to his side. "They look awfully cozy, don't they?" He points out.

"I guess, yeah." Darius shrugs. "They're friends, remember?"

"We're friends." Daniel corrects him. "And you don't see me all up on you like that." He nods back to you and Tyler again.

Darius roll his eyes at the observation. The two of them walk up to you and Tyler. You're busy with your switch so you don't see them approach, but Tyler spots Daniel coming and pulls out his headphones to greet his friends.

"What's up, Daniel? You waiting for your flight too?" Tyler asks Daniel.

"Yeah." Daniel nods. "What's up with her?" He nods down to you when you don't greet him and Darius.

Tyler grins and taps your legs, still draped over his lap to get your attention. "She's locked in on whatever game she's playing. Can't hear you." He explains.

You look up from your Switch when Tyler taps your legs, finally noticing Daniel and Darius. You pull your headphones out and smile at the pair.

"Danny! Darius! Hey, guys." You greet them both warmly.

"What's going on, YN?" Darius smiles back at you.

Daniel nods to you as well. "What's up, shortie?" He asks.

"Not much." You shrug. "Me n Ty are just waiting for our boarding time."

Daniel nods and sits down with Darius, so everyone can chat and wait together. You chat for a while and decide to make a quick bathroom trip as your boarding time nears. So you get up and dismiss yourself to the bathroom. Leaving the boys to chat without you for a few minutes.

"So." Daniel turns to Tyler as soon as you are out of sight. "You and YN seem like you're getting pretty close." He comments.

"Yeah, YN's great." Tyler nods.

Daniel snickers, clearly meaning something more. "Great, right. Yeah, I bet she is, man." He teases Tyler.

Tyler narrows his gaze at Daniel, not getting why he's laughing for no reason. Darius scoffs and pushes Daniel's shoulder lightly.

"He's trying to imply you got a thing for her." Darius explains. "He just ain't very smooth with it." He makes a lighthearted jab at Daniel.

"Hey!" Daniel protests.

Tyler cracks a grin as he watches his friends bicker. He goes to reply to Daniel's claim, but he spots you walking back over to the group and clams up, his gaze fixed on you as you make your way back to the group.

"Oh yeah." Darius cracks up when he notices Tyler's staring. "He's definitely got it bad."

Daniel notices as well and shares a laugh with Darius.

You make it back over to the group and sit back down between Tyler and Daniel. You notice the smiles on Daniel and Darius' face, and can't help but wonder what they talked about while you were gone.

"What's got you two so cracked up?" You ask Daniel and Darius.

"Just something Darius said." Daniel snickers. "An inside joke."

You nod and check the time on your phone. You notice it's almost time to board, so you start getting your stuff packed back up.

"That time already?" Tyler notices you packing up.

"Yeah." You nod at him.

Tyler sighs and moves to start packing up his stuff as well. He gets most of his stuff ready to go before running to the bathroom as well before you go.

"So, YN." Daniel wastes no time in grilling you about Tyler. "About you and Tyler,"

"Me and Tyler?" You turn to look at him. "What about us?"

Darius is the one to laugh this time. You whip your head around to stare at him, unsure what game he and Daniel are playing with you.

"Alright guys. What are you two doing?" You ask them.

"Nothing. We swear." Darius insists with his hands up.

Daniel snickers and nudges Darius in the side. "Yeah, unlike her and Tyler." He jokes.

You watch both men break out into laughter with a confused look on your face.

"Me and Tyler, what?" You ask them. "You two are fucking weird." You grumble after they don't answer and just keep laughing.

Tyler comes back over to the group and notices Daniel and Darius laughing hysterically.

"What are those two so riled up for?" Tyler asks you.

"I have no clue." You reply. "Come on, Ty. Let's go before they start being weird again." You pick up your bags.

Tyler nods in agreement and picks up his bags as well. The two of you walk away shoulder to shoulder.

"You think they know?" You glance at Tyler after you've put some distance between you and your friends.

"About us?" Tyler grins. "Nah, they're idiots." He muses and grabs your hand.

You laugh and nod at his statement about your friends being idiots. "Yeah...we are going to have to come out about it eventually, though." You remind him.

"Just say the word, baby." Tyler replies casually, interlocking your fingers with his.

"Really?" You look over at him.

Tyler cracks a grin and nods, bringing your hand up to his lips to press a kiss to the back of your hand. "I'd be a fucking idiot not to want to show you off." He teases you.

"Awe, Ty!" You gush with a wide grin.

[alltheboysandgirlsiloved]

I keep thinking about Ben in jwct season 2 and what he was going through.

The situation with Brooklynn is clearly layered. At first, along with everybody else, he thought that she died, but remember that he was the first one who suggested that her death was no accident. We can only guess, but I assume that before he traveled to Darius in s1, Ben spent a great deal of time coming to terms with whether he should bring his theory up. Think about it - this is not an easy choice; he was aware that everyone was trying to make peace with her death, and here comes Ben to basically smash all the peace they have established in favor of a theory. He had to choose between "letting them exist, knowing only a fraction of a truth" or "changing the course of his life". Of course, later it became clear that this person was going to come after the rest of them but still...

So Ben was the first one who really understood the danger of the situation they were all in. And how that threat has manifested - in Brooklynn's "death". And then Ben is also the one who learns that Brooklynn might be alive. Mind you, at first all he has is a memory of a grainy video. And once again he faces the exact same choice - either protect this tiny peace that they have or smash it all again and turn his friends' world upside down again. So what he does is - he decides to gather more evidence because (and that's so valid) it doesn't feel right to give his friends a spark of hope when at first he's not even sure if his eyes weren't deceiving him.

Then, he learns that Brooklynn is alive. She calls him and he talks to her but it's obvious - even from the awkward cut of the videocamera and the little information Ben gets out of Brooklynn - very obvious that she is in danger. What does it mean? Remember that we are now dealing with people who don't shy away from murder. So it means that Brooklynn is alive now, but may very well be in mortal danger which may end up, potentially, in her dying, this time for real. Brooklynn asks him to keep her status a secret, makes him promise her that. And he does, but he still has his doubts whether he made the right call. But- Let's put yourself in Ben's head for a moment and see one of the possible outcomes: as I mentioned before, he understands that Brooklynn is in danger. Now imagine he tells the rest of the Nublar 6 that she is alive, but she later dies anyway without meeting them. The emotional shock that the group would go through upon such development is life-shattering. They would be devasted - they got her back (even if not physically) only to lose her again? I feel like it would be more traumatic than her "first death" was. And I think that Ben could have been afraid of that too.

Ben not telling the rest of Nublar 6 about Brooklynn being alive was so much more than fulfilling a promise to her. He says it himself - he didn't want anyone to get hurt. He wanted to keep Brooklynn safe, of course, he knew that the less Nublar 6 knows, the smaller the chance that they'd end up acting irrationally, but I also think that he feared that by telling them that she's alive, he'd "promise them" (not directly) seeing her again, and that's something he couldn't know would fulfill.

[numericalbridge]

To be frank, i think that even as a villain Darius didn't do anything irredeemable or particulary evil. At least not to the extent of what fandom confesses ascribing to him pre ASIAS. Exceptionally cruel? Irredeemably power-hungry? Automatically without standarts and willing to hurt children? Cowardly?! All of these are just not true.

Let's see, what does he actually do in ER? Looking strictly at one episode as if he is meant to be a villain.

Conducts Raine's ceremony, while looking quite pleased and then grumbles when they fumble it.

Then together with Eber sets up the trap for the rebels, captures the Batts and translocates them to the Conformatorium. There is no gloating when he captures them, no targeted malice, nothing beyond punch-clock villainy, really.

Of course, he attempts to capture the 'turn cloak', with a lot of grumbling about missing his 'me time' and how the forest is gross; and, sure, it's a villainous role, but there is nothing particualry cruel about his conduct, and his fixation on the 'turn cloak' part might even contradict the selfish power-hungry aspect and paint him as someone who is loyal to his cause (again, looking at it as if ER is the only episode we have). He does, of course, 'threaten' Raine and Eda with 'hand yourself over before things get nasty' and there is something personal with his fixation on the turn cloak, but this is not something so exceptionally evil that, for example, season 1 Lilith wouldn't have done it.

Then he gets angry after he gets the dirt thrown literally onto his face, but this is also not something that makes an irredeemable villain. There are no additional threats from him ala 'i'll destroy your family and friends' either.

And when he captures Raine and Eda - he should be able to straight up see Eda btw, since i doubt she had time for the invisibility glyph - he lets Eda go, even though he is smart enough to set up the trap for the rebels in the first place:

And, as i've said before, despite nearly getting killed, and then Raine painfully cutting his arm, he doesn't even bring that up (which is a strange behavior for even the most vain person), and when the confrontation with Raine happens there is more focus on his cloak and his threat is fraimed as a comedic moment rather than scary. There is nothing that paints him as 'the worst' or particulary cruel. Comparing ER to, for example, the first episode and Warden Wrath and the way he treated Eda - while his scenes were also mainly comedic there was something real-world creepy about his attitude.

And the scene with captured Raine at the end of the episode. It starts with Darius grumbling at Eber and then he mentions them tormenting Raine, who is caught in the abomination. Obviously it is not a good behavior. But still it is quite telling that what Darius says is 'tormenting Raine', not even 'torturing'. And this is probably the worst Darius does in the episode.

And on the meta level i think the way the scene is framed is quite notable: the scene is comedic, the focus is on Darius being done with Eber's antics and Eber annoying him, not Raine's PoV of being afraid of the supposed torment. And Raine themselves looks done and annoyed, not terrified or actually hurt:

Compare it to how they react when captured by Kikimora, even before Kikimora does anything:

Also this might be a stretch and simply a case of not drawing details from far away, since on the screenshot above Raine doesn't have scratches, but they are shown to have scratches only after being caught by Kikimora:

And then Darius's role ends with him saying he and Eber didn't need help from Kikimora and grumbling about Alador. Neither moment is exactly villainous, and he isn't even particulary disrespectful towards Kikimora (who in return literally ignores him and doesn't respond).

There is nothing exceptionally evil about any of this, nothing really power hungry, nothing that means Darius would not have any standarts at all and is someone who would be willing to hurt children. There is nothing about Darius's ideals or thoughts on the Covens/Empire except wanting to catch the turn cloak and disliking Alador and his inventions.

But actually his interactions with Eber are much milder than you'd expect from a vain individualistic villain. It doesn't show well through screenshots, but when you listen to the voice acting even the 'mutt' comment doesn't seem to have malice to it, and his "Eber, help me out here" (on the screenshot it seems like he is mad at Eber, but when you watch/listen that's not the case) and the way he connects them together with 'we' when talking to Kikimora are not hostile in any way and seem kinda comrade-ry.

And the show could have chosen 'Eber and Darius are villains so they hate each other' route and show them trying to backstab each other or be truly mean or competitive; or even make Darius have a 'kick the dog' moment towards Eber. He also could've been shown actively trying to torment Raine by threatening Eda or Batts... But nothing like that was shown. So why did the fandom immediately chose the worst possible role for him?

And the 'coward' part? Explicitly contradicted by the episode and his (non-)reactions to the corrupted spell that had almost killed him or Raine hurting his arm.

And yet the fandom just admits to immediately jumping to the conclusions and seeing him as the 'the worst'. And instead of writing him as an interesting, worthy adversary or exploring his backstory and villainous friendship with Eber, popular fandom writers admit to - before ASIAS even aired - rushing to write Darius hurting/betraying white child Hunter, and painting Darius as a coward - which seem like very racialized tropes. And in general the fandom's obsession with writing villains of color as someones who hurt/abuse specifically white children? Gross.

And it's quite telling that the people in the fandom still gleefully laugh about ascribing racialised tropes to Darius instead of just not bringing it up and reflecting on why they had done it.

And i wasn't in the fandom when ER aired, but i was when Labirinth Runners aired, and i remember how the immediate reaction to Graye - who actually did hurt children on screen - was to invent all the theories how he is a secret basilisk with a traumatic backstory and wonder about the horrible visions he had.

So something tells me that if Darius was white, the fandom would have noticed all the discrepancies in his behavior like his non-reactions to almost getting killed or hurt and letting Eda go, and the fandom metas about his deep depression and sob backstories would have been finished before the episode's end credits rolled.

So, yes, i think that even as a villain Darius didn't do anything to warrant the fandom's reactions.

[strangledwires]

Urbz Cut Dialogue [masterpost]

[NOTE: you might see Kiki's face often, but she's just a placeholder. All of these are from different Urbz.]

Darius' dialogues / an alternate beginning?

When using Debug Cheats in the Urbz: Sims in the City, there is an option to show all dialogues. This function mostly shows unused or unfinished dialogues. Which many are from Darius that shows the game might've had a different beginning.

Judging by these, it sounds like the game would've originally start in Darius' penthouse. Instead of will.i.am introducing you to Darius, Darius would've personally summoned you himself. The reason for this? Because he needs a "nobody" to take down a new crew that's been harassing people -- this crew likely being the villains, Kiki, Urango, and Harry. He makes a deal to give you the penthouse if you succeed, it seems he reminds you of this deal, too. So, it's very important to him.

I think this scrapped beginning explains the story better. As much as I love the Urbz, it really does feel like Darius is just helping a random person become famous out of the kindness of his heart. Him initially making the deal to get rid of the villains, it just makes more sense to me for a highly famous guy to help a stranger only if they're helping him.

Dialogues from Urbz

You know those missions where you're supposed to mug Urbz or take their pictures? The ones that are given to you by another Urb? Apparently the "targets" of these missions would've said something about it as well.

[NOTE: I don't really know if these are "unused" or not. However, I've played this game many times and I haven't been able to trigger them in normal gameplay -- even when I'm intentionally trying to.]

Neo Flange acknowledging that Toots wants to tag his face. (Obvs him by the art references)

These are about the same mission from Fergie & Ally. It's harder to say which dialogue belongs to who. But I'm gonna assume it was Ally who called her hat a "dead pink rat" lol! There are more unused dialogues for most of the missions. But I'll just transcript them rather than showing the images to avoid hitting Tumblr's image limits. Plus, they all look the same (sometimes without Kiki's portrait tho) just different text.

Transcripts

"No one, and I mean NO ONE, is gonna take my picture. Are you listening to me? I hope so, cuz that Cash Monet punk never did." - Unspecified Urb referring to the "Paparazzi Panic" mission.

"I just hate having my picture taken. You never know where it's gonna show up. That Cash Monet guy has been trying to snap my mug for weeks now." - Unspecified Urb referring to the "Paparazzi Panic" mission.

"Yo, you know Roxanna? She's trying to get me to change my look. My shirt looks fine, right?" - Unspecified Urb (Loop d. Loop?) referring to the "Style and Substance" mission.

"So, what do you think of my shirt? That chick Roxanna Hardplace is always trying to get me to dress more like her. I think she needs to power down." - Unspecified Urb (String Bean?) referring to the "Style and Substance" mission.

"No WAY am I going to pay that Laruffle loser. He'll have to get someone to beat the cash out of me." - Unspecified Urb (Jet Rockit?) referring to the "Mug People" mission.

"That thug Luke Laruffle has been after me for some cash. Word on the street has it that he's sent someone to mug me. I better watch my step." - Unspecified Urb (Kidd Chaos?) regarding the "Mug People" mission.

"Hey, hey, hey! Don't tell Luke Laruffle that you saw me. I owe him some cash and I hear he's sent some thug to mug me!" - Unspecified Urb (Prof. Chewy?) regarding the "Mug People" mission.

"I find I could tell most anything to someone I truly love, especially after a sweet kiss. I wonder if you would fit the bill." - Unspecified Urb regarding the "Love Triangle" mission.

"I never kiss and tell unless I really love someone." - Unspecified Urb regarding the "Love Triangle" mission.

"Ghengis Lincoln is out to get me. You're not a friend of his, are you? You wouldn't STINK BOMB me, would you?" - Unspecified Urb (Sara Tonin?) regarding the "Stink Bomb" mission. [NOTE: Genghis' name is misspelled in the original text. Unsure if this was the original spelling of his name or a mere typo]

"Ghengis Lincoln has it in for me. I beat him arm wrestling and now he's been messing with me, always getting Urbz to throw stink bombs at me." - Unspecified Urb (Polo?) regarding the "Stink Bomb" mission. [NOTE: Genghis' name is misspelled in the original text. Unsure if this was the original spelling of his name or a mere typo]

"That BEAST Genghis Lincoln has the audacity to suggest that he could improve my odor. Do you have the slightest idea what he is talking about?" - Unspecified Urb (Diva Roma?) regarding the "Stink Bomb" mission.

[SPECIAL NOTE: Oddly, these also appear in the Sims 2 Prototype, specifically the M4 20 build]

TUTORIALS & SCRAPPED GOALSS?

"§500" seems like a specific number, so this could've possibly been a scrapped goal.

There's also something from the delivery guy that actually says "obsolete" lol. So, this might've been a cut scenario?

As well as these too. Except, I don't know if these don't appear in the game or if they do, I just don't recall. The "Hey kid, I'm heading over." sounds like it's possibly from Darius. I would assume it's a successful invite urb message, but the "see you at 6:00pm!" seems oddly specific. Therefore, it makes me think this is a cut scenario, too.

The "You lack the money" message I'm also uncertain about -- but I don't recall a moment where this would be valid unless it pops up if you try to gamble with no money? I've never tried that, so it could be the message for that event.

Scrapped tutorial messages that are never seen in the game.

There might be more scrapped dialogues. Sometimes when you run the "show all dialogues" cheat, different messages pop up. And there are also some dialogues that might not actually be in the game, but I'm very uncertain about -- so I'd have to see if I can trigger them or not. If I find any more scrapped Urbz dialogues in this game OR the Sims 2 prototype, I'll be sure to make a part 2! If some of these actually do appear in the game and I'm incorrect, I will also correct myself in a part 2!

Final statement: I really don't know why most of these were scrapped. The beginning makes the story slightly more complex, and the dialogues add a little more character to the Urbz we see. It could be that the developers were struggling to implement these (as this game went through development hell) or in the end, they just deemed them unnecessary.

[necros-writing-stuff]

Doggy Darius adopted and ending up with a smug, prideful, lapdog-dog person. A little Corgi, Cavalier Spaniel, or Pomeranian. Their fur is always cut and brushed to perfection, and they prance about like they’re the hottest dog around, absolutely basking in their human's attention and being spoiled.

Teases Darius, always flicking up their tail, daring them to ruin their tight tiny holes in front of their human, but always sticking close by said human so later on he wouldn't try to pounce on them. Occasionally, he steals little treats from him. The bones are too big, and Darius might actually hurt Lapdog if they took them. Bites and claws little holes in his clothes, also might fuck another person in front of Darius just to screw with him.

One day Darius manges to catch Lapdog off guard and finally relives all that pent-up irritation and sexual frustration by fucking them into the ground, ignoring their yelps and the lack of lube. He uses every position he can think of and every sexual act mercilessly ramming into any hole he can force to fit him. Forces him to take his knot, knotfucking them and cumming them every time, bloating them with cum.

Leaves them ruined, stained, and fucked silly. Darius thinks that'll be the end of it. He’s finally taught that vain pup his place until just a couple of days later, lapdog comes bounding up to him and presents themselves to him, begging to be fucked senseless again. Agrees on the condition Lapdog submit as his mate.

Yeeting the part where they fuck someone in front of him because Darius would not let that happen on any occasion. He'd rip the damn other person apart.

Everything else, though? Hell yeah.

I'm establishing here that when both Dare and reader are dog people they get adopted by a kind older lady named Sophia. She got you as a companion, Dare because some hooligans tried breaking into her home and she wanted some extra protection.

She insists on the two of you getting along, getting matching collars and making you pose for photos together. You use the photos as an excuse to nuzzle up to Darius and test his patience in plain sight.

Sophia, good egg she is, sees only the best, most caring side of you. Darius seethes every time he watches you get her food, popping your ass out and lifting your tail to give him a teasing view as you put the plate down on the table for her. He holds in a growl when you look over your shoulder, batting your eyelashes at him. Wants to curse when you ask him if he's okay with an evil smile on your face.

No, he's not fucking okay. You've got him hard as a rock by basically doing nothing and now Sophia wants to jam a thermometer in his mouth because his face is red.

And then there's all of the theft. His favourite treats when Sophia isn't looking, his favourite shirt that he wanted to wear that day. Entitled fucking brat.

"Oh let them be," Sophia chides when he complains. "You make them feel safe, the way your clothes smell must comfort them. The break-in has left them a little shaken up, you know?"

Yeah fuckin right. That's not why you do it. The shirt is too big, especially the neckline. It means you flash poor Dare every time you pick something up in front of him, the dog man drinking up your bare chest every time despite his knowing not to.

He might be able to put up with it, but every time Sophia brings up the break in you're chewing the wrist cuffs and the collar as if to pretend that you're really that torn up about it.

He has enough of it all eventually. Sophia is at a doctors appointment for her arthritis. It's just the two of you. It's the perfect time to show you that you're no better than him, that you can't get away with acting all superior.

It's your bed he pins you to. Your room he violates you in. Your sanctuary, where you feel safest. He isn't meant to be in there, but you're allowed in his room all you fucking want. Pathetic double standards.

He hikes up his chewed up shirt, exposing your bare core as you kick, punch and snap your jaws at him.

"You stupid brute," you growl, "you aren't good enough to take me!"

You aren't good enough to stop him. Which one of you worked for years in a combat role? Oh thats right, Dare worked. You sat on your ass looking pretty.

"Shut the fuck up, mutt." He presses your face into your pillow, muffling your continued venomous barks. You don't like being called a mutt. Had thrown a shoe at him for it once.

He's hopes you bleed when he takes you. Hopes you wince every time you sit next to Sophia to eat or watch those game shows with her. Hope you learn to keep your mouth shut and your thieving little hands to yourself.

It's frantic and desperate, rough and feral how he takes you. He can scent your tears in the air, he can scent a little bit of blood mixed in. You grasp at the sheets, clawing at them as you try to get away but he doesn't let you do it. He puts his whole weight on top of you, satisfied when you gasp for breath. Darius let's up every once in a while to ensure he doesn't smother you.

When he's done you're a complete mess. His shirt is all creased and damp with yours and his sweat. Hopefully now the scent will disgust you and you'll give it back. He can fix the stupid holes, or just keep it as a trophy of sorts.

The way his seed drips out of you almost makes him want more. Almost. But it won't be long till Sophia gets back, so he just gives you one last smack on your backside before he slinks away for a quick shower and change of clothes.

Dinner is quiet that night. You don't tease, just make conversation with Sophia about her appointment. Tell her you watched a cooking show while she was away, that it was a re-run you'd already seen together. You aren't wearing his shirt. You wince when you adjust your seating positions. It brings a smile to his face, it really does.

He gets three more days like that. Three more days of peace and damn quiet until Sophia heads out for the afternoon to meet the old man she's seeing. Dare doesn't like him - didn't like the last one, either - but Sophia likes him well enough.

His favourite treats in hand, he lounges on the couch and puts on some re-run of A Touch of Frost. His limbs have a good ache from his work-out. He can smell food being done. You're a damn good cook, he'll give you that.

Just as he's about to pop another treat in his mouth, a hand shoots out from behind him and snags it from his grip. He growls as he looks back, peace and tranquility ruined. Its you, of course. And look at that, you're in his fucking shirt again.

You lean against the back of the couch, looking him in the eye as you eat his treat. Your tail strokes up his neck. There's a hint of amusement in your eyes at how angry he is.

"Dinners gonna be another hour. I'm making your favourite, those nice tender steaks with peppercorn sauce."

He knocks your tail away, eager to go back to his show and not let you ruin his damn mood. It returns, and he can smell the arousal emanating from you when he takes a deep breath in.

Your hand strokes down his chest as you lean in to whisper in his ear.

"I want a proper thank you before it's done."

It goes lower, Dare's breath stutters. Your teeth nip at his ear. He swallows hard, body feeling electrified.

"You should use your tongue on me this time. Call it an appetiser."

How would you taste? He forgot to test that last time. Its hard to admit to himself that he'd love to know.

Lower still, till you're cupping his cock through his pants. His hips jump, eyes closing. He has to grit his teeth to keep any semblance of composure.

"... you gonna be my bitch, then?"

You scoff at his phrasing, he can bet you're rolling your eyes.

"Do you have to be so crass like that? Mate, Darius. Mate is the word."

"Oh well, sorry, your Majesty. Didn't realise I was in the Palace with the royal fucking hounds, did I?"

You go to pull your hand away, but he catches it before you can.

There's a pause. "Do a good enough job making me finish and I'll think about it."

That's good enough for him. He's up out of his seat, following after you as you sway your hips and head for a bedroom - his or yours he doesn't know.

"And ask before you take my shit."

"No."

Well he can't win every battle all at once.

[jeannereames]

So I know you were the historical consultant for the Netflix "Alexander: Making of a God." I just read a post that said this, and wondered if you can comment on it?

"Btw, not the documentary commented by professors in history and archeaology, saying Stateira, wife of Darius III, died giving birth to Alexander's son (and that Alexander rubbed it in Darius' face) because Plutarch - who was born 369 years after Alexander's death - said so. Other sources invalidate this theory (like the age of the child, being 4 to 7 years old when Stateira died, meaning he was already born when Alexander first met her). And other sources say Alexander only met her once, when he took Darius' camp and that was it.

However her daughter Strateira II (who might have been Barsine or her sister) did marry him but had no children with him.

He had 1 known son from Roxana, that's all. That's in part why his empire was so easily taken apart by his diadochi.

So I don't know why, except for drama) they went for that version nor why the professor corroborate it when it's the least likely."

Yes, this quoted bit suffers from some mix-ups. I’ve not seen the full post, although I have read a few others with similar misunderstandings. Most of these seem to arise from reading (bad) online potted entries about Statiera and/or Alexander. At least go for Heckel’s Who’s Who in the Age of Alexander the Great or The Oxford Classical Dictionary. Anyway, apologies if the below sounds overly critical. It’s obviously not personal. I’m just cutting through the confusion.

We’re told about Statiera’s death only by Plutarch, Justin, and Curtius, and all probably owe to the lost source Kleitarchos. Even if Plutarch isn’t (technically) part of the vulgate while Diodoros is (who doesn’t mention it), Plutarch still used some of the same sources. (Diodoros no doubt left it out as part of his typical telescoping.) Yet all three disagree on the cause of her death, even if they do agree it wasn’t long before Gaugamela and Alexander gave her a sumptuous funeral. But the timing means, if she were pregnant, it couldn’t have been Darius’s child. I’ve discussed Statiera’s possible pregnancy before, so won’t again here, but it boils down to: if not Darius, it had to be Alexander. He wouldn’t have let anybody else touch the Queen of Persia.

In any case, ALL our surviving sources are late. The OP doesn’t seem aware the other source alluded to (Curtius) dates to the same period as Plutarch: late Julio-Claudians/early Flavians.* I checked Wikipedia, which gives a date for Plutarch’s birth (46 CE); I assume that’s where the OP got it, as it lines up with their estimate of “369.” But we don’t know his birth year except during the reign of Claudius after the acquisition of Britain and that he died early in Hadrian’s reign (see Lamberton 2001, 1). Anyway, Curtius probably lived a little before him, and Justin somewhat after.

Ergo, none of these sources are any closer to Alexander’s day, and trying to say one is less reliable than the other based on their dating only underscores the OP’s unfamiliarity with them.

Justin and Plutarch suggest Statiera died from complications related to pregnancy. Plutarch (30.1) says she died giving birth, while Justin (11.12.6) calls it a miscarriage. Only Curtius (4.10.18-19) says she died of, essentially, exhaustion. That’s the “other sources” the OP mentions, not realizing it’s just one. Only in Curtius do we hear about a young son of Darius named Ochus. The OP seems to have conflated that child with the baby born before Gaugamela. Looking at Wikipedia’s entry on Statiera, it mistakenly calls the baby that killed her a boy, but in fact, Plutarch doesn’t say (ἀποθανούσης ἐν ὠδῖσι). Again, a good example of why Wikipedia is unreliable as a resource.

In any case, these are two different children, and there may not have been a son. Either Curtius made him up or Alexander quietly did away with him not long after their capture, as the child disappears from Curtius after and is never mentioned by other sources, which might not be a surprise. But I’m a bit more inclined to think Curtius simply invented him as part of his “Good Alexander” pre-Gaugamela narrative arc. Ochus is used as a comparative to his father (3.12.26). The son is unafraid of Alexander and lets him pick him up while the father lost his nerve and fled the battle. See what Curtius did there?

In addition, Barsine/Statiera, not just Roxana, was pregnant at ATG’s death, which is why Roxana offed her. And there’s the supposed bastard, Herakles, from Barsine, Memnon’s widow. So, the OP is missing a couple (possible) kids who Alexander also fathered.

They seems to assume drama is the reason for the choice to make Statiera his lover. This, I’d like to address, as I happen to know why they did do it, and it’s something I support.

They were very, very interested in the fact Persian women had authority, and wanted to portray them as strong, even as advisors to their husbands (which they were). That becomes Statiera’s role with Alexander, too. This is part of their larger goal NOT to portray the Persians as just fall-guys for Alexander. Because they couldn’t show all the women—both for reasons of cost as well as to avoid confusing viewers with too many unfamiliar names/people—they settled on Statiera as representative, axing Barsine as his mistress, and Sisygambus as well. Statiera’s pregnancy, which is present in the sources, added context, not just “drama.” Historically speaking, it suggests the Chivalrous Alexander trope in both Plutarch and Curtius is more mythos than Realpolitik. Although see my earlier post on Statiera’s pregnancy, linked above. I don’t necessarily assume Alexander raped her.

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

* If an earlier date for Curtius is correct, then he was active under the later Julio-Claudians and may have written his history during the reign of Claudius—the same emperor under whom Plutarch was born. The Lives are later works, so probably date to the Flavians, or even Trajan. For more on Curtius, see Elizabeth Baynham (1988) and for Plutarch, Robert Lamberton has a more recent study (2001) than Hamilton’s classic commentary (1969).

[drabbles-of-writing]

as the OG source of the A Little Kindness AU aka Raine adopting Hunter I would LOVE to know how you would change it to be canon compliant. i mean obviously the reveal would be after everything, but god just imagine Hunter worrying about his anonymous friend/caretaker and he finds out its the FUCKING OWL LADY'S PARTNER and hes just so happy theyre ok and to know who helped him out all the time but also OH TITAN LUZ IS GONNA BE HIS SISTER EVEN MORE NOW!

~adoption anon

the little gray box who started it all!!!! welcome back

good lord there would be so many overhauls...just so incredibly many I gotta try to break it all down to smaller sections to even get. a glimpse

1) okay so as we have learned Raine was NOT, in fact, under any mind control, just pulling the biggest brained move on Snapdragon she ever did see. so raine doesn't even go missing in the first place, if anything they might halt the notes altogether but still remain in the castle just because they were under constant vigilance and meeting eda again mightve made them triply afraid of getting other people involved with their work. hunter stresses about it, as you do, but flapjack isn't freaking out cause HE'S seen raine's face, and he knows that they're fine, but he has no idea what happened, so Hunter is less concerned since Flapjack isn't. not by a lot tho.

2) so INSTEAD of Hunter booking it to Luz to plead for help on some criminals, he instead takes all of this suppressed fear and worry and stress and just kinda. balls it up. and then shoves all of it out in the open during Eclipse Lake. he goes HARD trying to get that Titan's Blood and the thing where he tried to relate to Amity over being a failure? he doubles down on that shit TREMENDOUSLY and their shared failing to live up to what other ppl wanted and pushing away their friends (granted Amity actually pushed Willow away to try and help, Hunter didn't push Raine away he just thought he did). you think his breakdown in Eclipse Lake was concerning? hes about to make it even more concerning. hes very very afraid for Bat and he would really rather they hate him than anyone found out they'd been talking to him and they got murdered, so he better try and beat the shit out of Amity! if Belos is pleased with him, maybe he'll hesitate on whatever punishment Bat might be having right now

3) Raine, bless 'em, keeps trying to help Hunter how they can, dropping these tiny hints they don't mean to drop. Hunter's part of setting up and preparing everything for the Coven Day Parade and Raine is noticeably always checking in on the Golden Guard. we know now that Hunter started showing his face more after the Palisman incident, but Raine isn't seen around often, so I imagine it's around the Coven Day Parade that they finally see what Hunter looks like--and good lord that IS a literal teenager what the hell did they DO TO HIM---alright scrap all the plans. darius, eberwolf, change of plans. everything stays the same, but we're kidnapping Hunter on the way out

4) Any Sport in a Storm is pretty much the same, Hunter is just even antsier & more desperate to get these new friends to like him bc. Bat. and also punts Darius twice as hard. Darius for his part is only marginally nicer because he knows Raine's weirdly attached to this little rat of a child--oh wait nvm he sees why now. alright valid point. Darius is a firm believer in "for the love of god just tell him you're Bat it will save everyone a lot of stress" but unfortunately Raine subscribes to "if anyone i really care about is within fifty feet of me we are All Going To Die"

5) mostly everything would stay the same in Hollow Mind, i think? Raine, Darius and Eberwolf might actually go up to the Owl House and speak when Hunter and Luz get trapped in Belos's mind since its both Raine and Darius that are stressed as fuck over the kid? in that instance then everyone teams up much quicker (and in confusion) but Hunter still books it out at fast speeds into the woods and somehow makes it to Hexside. he's a slippery little bastard, but luckily now theres a whole gang teamed together to track him down and hes found by Darius pretty quickly after the Owl House is evacuated and torn apart. however Hexside is VERYYYYY on edge over coven heads claiming to want to "help" and "have betrayed the Coven" so they're all beating Darius back like a rabid raccoon and Hunter thinks he's here to kill him. so thats fun. eventually Darius gives up, scruffs Raine, and throws them down at Hexside and demands they finally clear shit up. its a very cute scene of Raine sneaking in and slipping little notes under the door of whatever classroom Hunter's hiding for his life in, wherein he realizes Bat's come back. and Hunter's finally brave enough to yank open the door to---RAINE?????

6) more stuff that mostly stays the same. Hunter however is very stressed over Raine when they're trapped in the human realm which eventually leads to him and Luz talking a lot and him realizing "im sorry waht the fuck do you MEAN that the owl lady and raine whispers were a THING??? WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERES STILL SOMETHING THERE????" but above all i want to fuck this boy up so insanely bad and at least give him a GLIMPSE of Raine's puppet body being possessed by Belos. even if there is no interaction other than Hunter seeing them for a brief flash I know in my heart that would fuck him up so bad. he would blame himself so so much. Belos really here to kill everything he loves before he can finally be free huh

7) MOST importantly they finally get to hug when everyones reunited and hunter feels SO INCREDIBLY GUILTY when he sees all the fresh new scars Raine has courtesy of Belos. to which Raine, in peak parent fashion, just goes "nah, i dont mind 'em. now we match :]" and Hunter's just god u are missing the point so badly but i'll let it slide. how'd you know my new scars were from belos. and raine just stares like "how did i know your new scars were from WHAT????? oh im so glad i killed his ass" "YOU DID WHAT"

[wixhing0nastar]

Raine’s Final Lie

I noticed something interesting about Raine and how they really lean into the Scary Shiny Glasses troupe. Specifically, how this is prevalent when they’re lying or otherwise acting deceitfully and how it ties into their final scene in King’s Tide.

TL;DR: Raine’s in love with Eda (shocker) and they both know it.

Right off the bat, literally the first time we see them their eyes are covered by the sheen of their glasses. This entire scene we do not see their eyes because Raine is in deep right now and can’t risk their mask slipping even a little.

The next time is this little thing on Eda’s phone when they’re being named head of the coven. (Also interesting, you’ll notice that of all the coven heads before Darius are cloaked in shadow while Darius, Eberwolf and Raine are lit up).

This next one is my second favorite when Raine is trying to turn down Eda’s offer to work with the BAtTs.

What’s super interesting about this one is that while Raine is just facing the BAtTs, both eyes are hidden because they’re lying about them not excepting new members/not wanting Eda there. What’s super interesting is how when Raine turns to look at her, the glasses on the side of their profile that’s facing her loses it’s gleam... because unlike the BAtTs and other people Raine has been lying to/around, Eda can see right through them.

Which actually ties right into the next time this happens during Follies at the Coven Day Parade.

What isn’t included in this gif is how Raine’s glasses lose their shine basically the second they hear Eda’s voice behind them (and likely put the last pieces together about what’s happening). Again though, Raine is putting on a show here, they don’t actually want to attack Luz, they just need everyone to think they’re still loyal to Belos.

The second to last time this happens is during the iconic reveal scene. Interestingly, this might be one of the first indicators that Terra already knows... because both times we’ve seen Raine drink the tea, their glasses either had no sheen or it goes away as she approaches.

The last time we see this (so far anyway) is during King’s Tide... the only time it’s directed at Eda.

It took me a minute to figure out why exactly their eyes are hidden in this scene. Everything’s out in the open, it’s known that they’ve betrayed the Emperor and are working with Eda and while removing someone’s arm is a little traumatizing, it’s not like they had a ton of other options or any immediate regrets.

And then it hit me.

“I promised a special kid... I’d protect you.”

This isn’t a lie per se, however, it is hiding one.

Because Raine didn’t need Luz to ask them to protect Eda. They were going to do that no matter what because they love her, even if it means fighting through excruciating pain to tear her arm off so at least she can live.

And the thing is? Eda knows. Eda knows, which is why their glasses lose the shine as soon as they turn back to her.

Because Eda can see right through them.

[creativia10]

Hexside Starts and Locker Haunts

Hunter is looking forward to attending Hexside where he can see most of his friends. He didn't expect his new ghostly guardian to look out for him while there.

Warnings: reference to past child abuse

Let me know if I've missed anything

Word count: 3215

Notes: This is going to be the second one of a series about Hunter and Ghost Caleb. I really like this concept. I don't know how many works this series will have yet.

Hunter could hardly believe this was happening. He was going to go to Hexside and learn alongside other kids his age. Including his friends. Well, hopefully he would that was. Apparently, he had to take a placement exam, where enrollment wasn’t guaranteed. At least, not when he wasn’t a full witch like most of the students would be. He knew Luz had to deal with that, they’d talked about it.

He needed to know two spells on his own in order to not be placed at the lowest level in the school, the baby class. He only had one ability on his own, the teleportation and flash step from Flapjack. He couldn’t even use the glyphs that Luz had been able to. Ever since Belos possessed the titan and the battle ended, the glyphs hadn’t seemed to work. He didn’t really understand why. He had a feeling Luz would know more about that, as she seemed to.

He could do more with his artificial staff though, which he would have to start using again. Part of him didn’t want to, but it might be his only option if he wanted to go to this school. And he did.

He didn’t understand why this presentation was like a show for himself on the stage before the principal. He could appreciate the showmanship though. At least, he could have if he wasn’t so nervous.

Darius stood backstage giving him encouraging hand gestures. Darius has been there for Hunter now. More than just giving him somewhere to stay, which Hunter appreciated. It did seem like Darius was stepping into more of a guardian role for Hunter now. If the check-in after Hunter went on his own, the day Belos was defeated, said anything. Still, Hunter wasn’t quite used to a safe guardian who only had his best interests in mind. So, Hunter was having a hard time believing that was going to be the case. For now, he could just accept that Darius was safe and there for him. And really, that said a lot there.

Hunter had his artificial staff off to the side, easy to reach backstage, in case he did need to grab it. He wanted to try on his own first though.

Hunter took a deep breath and walked onto the stage.

“Hey, Principal Bump,” He said a bit awkwardly. Bump’s face was a bit hard to read, but he just nodded in response.

“Yes. G- uh, what is your actual name again?”

“Hunter,” He said.

Hunter’s eyes were drawn to a flash he caught from the back row of the seats. Odd, Hunter was sure it was just supposed to be the three of them in there for this exam.

Hunter’s attention was brought back to the conversation though.

“Yes, Hunter. Given your history in the emperor’s coven-“

Hunter couldn’t help but wince at that.

“-I’m well aware you have the magical abilities to be able to attend here.”

“…right.”

Of course, not everyone knew he was a powerless witch on his own. Only his friends knew that, and he didn’t exactly want everyone to know.

“So by all means, show me what you’d like. To give me an idea where to place you.”

Hunter took a deep breath and then flash-stepped to the side. He also teleported up into the air and then quickly back down, as his staff wasn’t in his grasp to catch him.

“Does that count as two?” Hunter asked.

Bump scratched his chin.

“Hmm, I’m not sure. Is there anything else?”

Hunter hesitated and then walked to the side to grab his staff.

“Well, if I may ask this not leave here, not really without my staff. As the glyphs don’t work anymore.”

Bump blinked.

“What, really? But many have seen you use powers. And you have,” He gestured to Hunter’s ears. Hunter reached to touch one on instinct.

“Uh, yeah. I’m a powerless witch, or I was. Belos gave me this artificial magic staff to be able to use magic abilities.”

Bump hmmed.

“I see.”

“But with it, I can do this!” Hunter held his staff up, making sure not to point it at anyone, and let the staff build up an energy blast at the end.

“I can also move earth with it.”

Bump nodded.

“Well, you have certainly shown you’re magically capable before, considering. Although, you may have some limitations with what tracks you can take though.”

Hunter sighed. “Yeah, I figured as much. I can live with that.”

“Very well. With this in mind, I welcome you to Hexside School of Magic and Demonics.”

Hunter smiled and bowed to him.

“Thank you sir.”

Bump raised his hand.

“That’s not necessary. I’ll let you look over the tracks before you start classes. Let me know if you’ll need any help testing out which ones you are able to do.”

Darius asked Hunter if he was okay while they on their way back home from the entrance exam.

Hunter shot him a confused look.

“Why do you ask? I got what I wanted. I can go to Hexside.”

Darius hmmed.

“I know, but some topics got brought up in there that I could tell you weren’t thrilled about.”

Hunter sighed and shrugged.

“I don’t know. I mean, it was bound to come up. Of course, I’m going to have to consider that I’m fundamentally different from other witches. That doesn’t mean I have to like it. At least I’m able to go to that school at all. Gosh, I need to be able to see my friends there.”

Darius nodded.

“Know that you can talk to me though, alright?”

Hunter hesitated. Trust was a hard thing. He was not used to opening up at all.

“I appreciate that,” Hunter said.

Darius pursed his lips, probably seeing how that was a non-answer. Hunter didn’t know if he was ready yet though. Maybe he could focus on one thing at a time. And at that point, it was figuring out his tracks at Hexside. He was used to working hard, so surely doing so for classes of his own choice would be better. Right?

*

Hunter was surprised that he came to the school his first day with so much trepidation. More than he had the first time he came onto the Hexside campus. Maybe because then he had a mission as the golden guard. And a lot of false confidence for some reason. But this time, he was just Hunter. Not even a full witch. Entering a building of normal witches and demons around his age. Which was something he was very much not used to. It was actually a bit overwhelming.

So he stood there for a moment just staring forward as students milled about the campus.

“Hey, Hunter. Are you alright?” Darius asked. He hadn’t left yet. Hunter took a deep breath. He didn’t know the answer to that. But he didn’t want to worry the other.

He did want this. He just didn’t feel fully prepared.

“Hunter!” Several voices shouted.

Hunter glanced over and his shoulders relaxed some as he saw his friends. Gus, Willow, and Amity made their way over.

Darius shot him a smile.

“I’ll see you later Hunter. Let me know if you need anything?”

Hunter nodded at Darius with a smile, before the other left.

Gus and Willow immediately hugged him.

“You’re finally here!” Gus exclaimed. He let out little illusion fireworks in celebration.

“Yeah, I know right?” Hunter said.

“It’ll be great to have you on the Emerald Entrails flyer derby team full time!” Willow cheered.

Hunter smiled at that.

“Yeah, I’m really looking forward to that.”

They chattered a bit more as they headed into the school. Being among familiar faces did wonders to help Hunter feel more at ease. It was a great reminder of why he wanted to go there in the first place, even if he was different.

A flash of light would be harder to see in the daytime outside. Hunter had a good sense of when someone was looking at him though. That had developed from moments with Belos. Sometimes he didn’t know when his uncle was understanding or in a bad mood, and he needed to be on guard.

But there are a lot of people at school there. He tried to reassure himself that it’s possible it was nothing. He was new after all, and some did know he was the golden guard. Maybe it had been a passing glance. There was a difference between one look and being watched though. Hunter could usually feel it, but that was likely no magic though. Just an instinctive intuition, or maybe even paranoia.

Still, he looked around, not seeing anyone.

“Hunter?” Willow asked. “Is everything alright?”

Hunter turned back to his friend group.

“Yeah, I think so,” He said.

She didn’t seem convinced, but let the conversation continue. Hunter couldn’t shake the feeling though.

-

Hunter went into Principal Bump’s office first, as he was told to. So he could choose his tracks and get to class.

He had been doing a lot of thinking about this. Yet still, he looked over the choices. He understood why Luz had a hard time choosing. Unlike her though, he probably couldn’t do all of them.

Potions was easy to tick off. It was the easiest for a low or nonmagical person to learn.

Beastkeeping. He liked palisman, so maybe he would like working with other magical creatures too. Construction seemed to be the closest to what he could use the earth-moving abilities for.

He pondered Healing, it was an ability he would like to know how to do.

“Can I add more later?” Hunter asked.

Bump thought for a moment and then nodded.

“Yes. With the new addition of multiple tracks learning, many students have been adding more tracks later.”

Hunter nodded. He held off on that one for then, since he wasn’t sure how he’d be able to do that. Illusion was also a no.

He supposed plants could be similar to earth, but he had moved the ground itself more, not so much growth.

He was almost good with his three tracks, but then he paused on the oracle one. He had read up a bit about that. He was less interested in knowing the future, as it was hard to think about that when you didn’t know how long you’d live. But the pamphlet had said those on the oracle track communed with spirits. He wanted to understand more about that world given recent events. He could at least learn more about the spirits. Besides, he was pretty sure that moment with the ghost of Caleb wasn’t going to be a one-time thing. Even if he wasn’t sure when he would see the other again.

So, he had decided on four tracks for then.

-

 Hunter was surprised he hadn’t seen his friends in classes yet. He supposed they did have different track focuses, and the ones he chose didn’t overlap, but still. There had to be some classes everyone took. He hoped they would have some in common.

Anyways, there was something in the schedule called a break? That was not something he expected. When he trained to become the golden guard, his learning was pretty intensive. He didn’t quite understand why there was a break, and so early. It had only been a few hours. Still, he wasn’t going to complain about the chance to see his friends some more if he had time. He was still figuring out the layout of the school.

As he walked through the halls, he walked past a group of students with a girl in the middle who looked familiar. Boscha he thought? She had been that pseudo-leader when the students hid out at Hexside during the Collector’s games. He hadn’t been able to catch everything that happened. He thought Amity had managed to convince her to go against Kikimora who had been taking over though.

So, that in itself could have meant she was an ally. But the Isles were no longer in emergency mode, at least not in the same way. He had heard his friends talk about this girl before. She was a bully. So it was probably best to steer clear of her. At least, that’s what he tried to do.

He was starting to wish he had asked even more about what to prepare for at this school. He caught her looking him up and down before she scoffed.

“Wow, someone’s a bit ambitious. Try hard much?”

Hunter rolled his eyes and kept going. Honestly, many students were taking multiple tracks now.

“Hey!” She exclaimed. “Don’t ignore me!”

Great. She was an attention hog as well. She then walked over to him and started following him.

“Who do you think you are? You’re not the golden guard anymore, nothing special about you now.”

Hunter paused and turned to her.

“How did you know about that?”

Boscha rolled her eyes and smirked.

“Oh, please. Word goes around fast here.”

He really hoped that didn’t extend to other parts about him.

“So you won’t be able to get away with stuff like before. This is Hexside, my school.”

“Oh please, you’re just a student here,” He said.

Boscha laughed. “Did you ever think about why I was the leader when everyone hid out at the school? People listen to me. And ignoring me isn’t gonna fly.”

“Why do you care if I give you attention? You don’t even know me. If you had as many fans as you imply, there would be no reason to make a scene at me walking past you.”

She glared at him and clenched her fists at that.

“Because you’re not just anyone. Most students here know their place by now, but you’re new. I can’t have you think you’re better than me. I’m most popular for a reason. The losers need to stay down. Especially half-witches.”

Hunter’s eyes widened at that last part and took a step back.

“What?” He asked.

She put her hands on her hips and smirked at him again.

“What, you think I didn’t notice your limited use of magic? And that you always have a staff with you now, even when it’s not a palisman.”

Hunter pulled his artificial staff slightly behind his back.

“Why were you even watching me for that?” He asked.

“I look out for the important things. Such as threats and the wastes of magic that need to be avoided.”

Just after she said that, a nearby locker door swung out and banged her in the face.

“Ow!” She cried out, stepping back and holding her face.

Hunter startled and looked on in surprised.

Boscha continued to hold her face, but glared out and looked around.

“Okay, who did that!?”

Some students fled at her yell. Hunter looked around, but he couldn’t tell. He hadn’t seen any spell-casting circles. His friends didn’t seem to be in the vicinity either.

Just then, he saw another flash at the end of the hallway. Okay, that couldn’t be a coincidence.

A faded figure formed the silhouette of a familiar man for a moment. The figure then drifted around the corner of the hallway.  Hunter sped walk in that direction right away.

“Hey!” He heard Boscha shout behind him, but Hunter ignored her. He went around the corner to a subsection of the hallway off to the side away from things.

The ghost of Caleb reformed to appear as he had when Hunter first saw him. Hunter stared for a moment.

“You found a way to follow me,” Hunter said.

Caleb nodded, “I can’t exactly say I understand why. Perhaps I was able to attach myself to you when my former reason for haunting died. Or it could be because that staff is from the castle.”

Hunter glanced to his staff at the mention then back to Caleb.

“You slammed that locker door into Boscha’s face.”

“I did.”

“Why?”

“I said I would look after you. I wanted to protect you.”

Hunter huffed.

“I wasn’t in any real danger. She’s just a brat.”

Caleb hmmed.

“Perhaps. Doesn’t mean you have to deal with that.”

“I’ve been through worse,” Hunter said.

Caleb sighed. “I know. Trust me, I know. I don’t have to like any of it though.”

“So what, you’re just going to try to throw things at anyone who gives me a hard time? I don’t need that.”

“Do you know what you need?”

“Maybe not to be coddled!”

Calen floated back some.

“I don’t think one instance of retaliating against a bully counts as being coddled. She had no reason to be like that to you.”

“I mean, yeah. Of course she didn’t have a good reason. But I don’t need you to do that.”

“I know. I wanted to. She was annoying me.”

Hunter huffed. “Yeah, she was definitely annoying.”

“See?”

“How often are you going to do something like that?”

Caleb shrugged.

“I don’t know.”

“Because, if that becomes commonplace, someone is going to figure out I have a ghost haunting me.”

“Well, it’s more watching over you than haunting. Are you expecting this type of thing to happen often?”

Hunter opened his mouth and then paused. He didn’t really know what to expect if he was being honest. Caleb seemed to sense that. He smiled.

“Well, then I’m definitely not going to stop.”

“Caleb!”

“My brother caused irreversible damage to this world for years. It’s the least I can do.”

“You are not responsible for his actions.”

“I know,” Caleb said. He looked sad now.

“But if I can do something good in spirit after my brother cut my life tragically short, then I want to be able to.”

It was hard to argue against that. Not like Hunter didn’t appreciate this ghostly ancestor wanting to look out for him. He just wasn’t sure if he deserved it. Especially over something like a mean girl. His life hadn’t even been in danger or anything.

“I suppose that’s fair…” Hunter started. He wasn’t really sure what to tell the other. Could a ghost be reasoned with? It’s not like it would do much harm. Hopefully. This was still new to Hunter, so he wasn’t sure what to expect.

Before he could say anything else,

“Hunter!”

Hunter turned to see his friends running towards him. Hunter turned back to Caleb, or where he had been. Caleb had disappeared again. Hunter sighed.

He still had questions about this whole thing. Like, why did the ghost keep disappearing on him like that?

The school bell rang signaling that the break was over. Other students around started to head to their next classes.

His friends were talking over each other. They mentioned how they heard something happened with Boscha. Concerned that he ran away after. He walked with them to start heading to his next class as well. He tried to answer their questions, without mentioning Caleb. He was honestly still in a bit of a daze over what had happened. He was really dealing with a ghost now even with everything else going on? Well, at least Caleb was a nice ghost, but still. He didn’t know anything about this stuff. He supposed he was going to find out.

[thevoyageurmoteplass-writing]

Evangeline was done with keys. Another had turned up in her room and instantly she had taken it to the others. Teddy had suggested throwing it in the lake; Dexter had insisted that they kept it safe, that they took it in turns so she wasn’t left with that responsibility hanging over her all over again.

Yet still she couldn’t stop playing with it, couldn’t keep it off her mind.

She sighed, stopped fiddling with the cold metal and looked out across the lake.

‘You suck at sneaking,’ she said evenly. She’d know that the stranger was there, knew that they had been trying to find a good time to step forwards. Always just on the periphery.

‘I was just checking,’ a male voice said, wavering slightly uncertainly. The branches creaked as he stepped forwards, as he moved and she finally turned to face who had been following her.

The boy looked a little older than her, but there was something much older about his eyes. For a moment she almost looked away, but she refused. She levelled her gaze on him.

‘Checking what?’

‘That you got the key,’ he admitted, pausing a little way from the back of the bench. He heaved a deep sigh, ran a hand through his hair. ‘I don’t mean to be all secretive –’

‘But you’ve got to be?’ Eva asked, raising a sceptical eyebrow.

He scoffed, and there was an odd kind of agreement behind his expression. ‘Nope. But this is just harder than I thought. But you’re no stranger to magic doors, are you?’

A ripple of unease shivered down her back.

‘Sorry,’ he apologised quickly, ‘way too cryptic. I’m Isaac. That key goes to a café place and I’ve been asked to take you there so the owner can give an explanation.’

It took a moment for the words to sink in, and even then Evangeline wasn’t sure it made much more sense. ‘An explanation?’

Isaac chuckled carefully, inclined his head a little behind him. ‘Yeah, weird someone’s offering one then. Any door’ll do though.’

Evangeline only briefly contemplated not following him. But she was up before the thought could properly take hold. She followed him, only once nudging him another way as it was a closer door, and her brain screamed for answers, no matter how she got them.

‘You sure about this?’ Isaac asked as she put the key quickly into the lock. This was her world, no matter what he might have thought.

Evangeline shot him a withering look before pushing the door open.

The noise level hit her first, the din of food and drinks being made and chatter mingling with it all. But, as she stepped through the door, the uncanniness of the whole thing hit her. There weren’t just people there, all looking at varying degrees of weariness, but also a mixture of creatures she only recognised from stories. Giants and elves. A unicorn outside steamed up the window alongside an old looking car. A fairy and a tall figure she could have sworn only had one eye.

‘Yeah, it’s something,’ Isaac murmured. ‘Darius!’ he called, snapping Evangeline’s attention to him. He shot her an apologetic smile before motioning to a booth. ‘Darius’ll fill you in while I go get Lukas. Anything I should know?’

Despite everything, Evangeline contemplated telling him he had to bow, or he needed to speak in rhyme. But a tall man lopped towards them and the thought faded ever so slightly.

‘Evangeline, welcome. I’m Darius,’ he explained and she felt rather than saw Isaac leaving. She just hoped that he was really going to get Luck because at least then there was someone familiar there with her.

Lukas couldn’t believe that it was over. Or, at least that it was almost over. He hadn’t expected to feel at such a loose end, but he did and it was horrible. He itched to do something, to prank someone even if he weren’t going to get a punishment like before.

A cough forced his attention away from the piano and towards a young bespectacled man standing in the doorway. He looked a little awkward, as if he wasn’t really meant to be there. In fact, his clothes alone marked him easily as someone not of Fortuna House, or this area at all.

‘Who are you?’ Lukas asked carefully, and bad habits he had picked up from The group gone in an instant.

The man sighed, shifted his glasses carefully up his nose. ‘My name’s Isaac. I’ve come to explain where that key came from.’

For a second Lukas merely stared at him. The key had randomly appeared in his pocket not long after returning to the Spirit World. He had assumed one of the poltergeists had put it there, a kind of goodbye to his time with the Human World. He remained silent, waiting to hear more.

Isaac didn’t appear to falter though, he merely glanced around the room, as if scouting out any possible danger.

Reluctantly, Lukas shifted around on the stool. ‘Where did it come from?’

‘The Voyageurs Möteplass. A café in another… world to the rest.’

Lukas chuckled. ‘Nobody needs another world.’

‘Daruis, guy who owns it, would disagree,’ reasoned Isaac, carefully closing the door behind him. ‘Evangeline’s letting him explain.’

Lukas’s chest tightened at the mention of his friend. He knew it was meant to calm him but it didn’t. He was instantly on the alert, hands raised and ready for a fight.

He was surprised by how quickly Isaac’s stance went to mirror his own. A flicker of uncertainty behind the eyes but an assurance of an attack being met.

‘Try the key in the lock,’ Isaac said, worry betraying him in a waver to the voice. He carefully stepped aside but didn’t lower his guard.

Without thinking Lukas stepped forwards, craving something to do. He took the key from his pocket, where he had left it, and put it easily into the lock. One turn and he was pushing the door open, looking in on another world entirely.

It reminded him of a bustling coffee house, with some of the more modern appearances that he had seen a little of in Torna. The people there all looked like they came from different times; worlds that went far beyond the three he now knew existed.

‘Luck!’

Evangeline’s voice forced his attention to a nearby table. She was sat with an imposing figure of a man, smiling brightly nonetheless; he recognised the inquisitive look behind her eyes. The spark of figuring out the answers.

He stepped forwards, eager to join her, but paused. ‘Thank…’ he said, turning to find that Isaac was gone. ‘You,’ he finished lamely.

‘Isaac went to grab Veronica,’ the large man explained as Lukas turned back, Eva motioning him over. ‘Darius, by the way.’ The man extended a well calloused hand.

‘Lukas, Sir,’ he introduced, shaking the proffered hand and sharing a questioning look with Evangeline.

She offered him a half-dismissive shrug. ‘I wonder how he plans to persuade Ronnie,’ she admitted, the familiar mischief obvious behind her words.

Luck couldn’t help but smirk. That would be quite the sight to see. Yet he was just glad to see her, and hopefully Ronnie, again. For a moment, nothing else mattered because they could face anything as long as they were together.

The key had baffled Ronnie. She had found it on her vanity table, as if it had always been there. She hadn’t needed to ask her family, she knew that it was new, that it had just somehow turned up. Even trying spells on it she’d come up with a blank. Nothing garnered any results, gave her any clues as to what it was for, let alone who had left it there.

A tentative knock on the door barely pulled her attention away from the cool silver as she turned it over with her magic, spinning it as if even mild magic might answer something.

Another knock, slightly more insistent this time.

Ronnie groaned, hit the crown of her head against the back of her chair.

‘Veronica?’

Instantly she was sitting bolt upright; the key all but slammed into a drawer and her hackles raised.

‘My… my name’s Isaac. I know Evangeline and Lukas… kind of,’ the voice said.

Everything inside Ronnie told her to distrust, told her to use her powers to protect herself. But also she wanted to investigate. The names of her friends from worlds that nobody knew.

‘It’s about the key.’

Ronnie had flung the door open as soon as the final word was out of his mouth.

The boy that stood there looked momentarily startled. It shifted to awe quickly; fast enough to assure her that he wasn’t from here.

‘You know what I can do, obviously,’ she said calmly, twirling her hands in an almost threatening manner, ‘so explain.’

‘I’m just the messenger,’ Isaac told her, but there was a waver of uncertainty.

‘So?’

‘The key leads to The Voyageurs Möteplass. Probably means noth –’

‘The travellers’ way place,’ she breathed. It was a myth her mother had once told them. A place for heroes to rest before the next big adventure.

‘Yeah,’ he said uncertainly, and she felt his eyes on her as she gathered the key up and moved to the door. He stepped aside, allowing her to close it. She put the key in the lock, turned it and forced open the door.

Her attention found Eva and Luck before anything else. They stood slightly and she started towards them, gaze straying around the place. It was filled with different kinds of people; the kinds she read stories about, wanted to be a part of.

‘Ah, Veronica,’ said the large jovial looking man sitting with them. ‘Welcome.’

Ronnie’s thoughts scrambled for the name, for who he was.

‘Darius,’ he said kindly, moving to let her sit with them

Ronnie nodded her greeting and took the space with her friends. She watched as Isaac moved to the other seat.

‘Everyone’s got a story,’ said Darius, nodding to a passing server for drinks, ‘but here’s a place to relax, to try and settle between adventures.’

‘Adventures?’ asked Eva excitedly.

‘Between?’ questioned Lukas warily.

But Ronnie was leaning forwards keenly, eager to learn everything that she could about this place brought to life; but then again, she was beginning to get used to stories coming to life around her.

[pollyperks]

honestly I wish huntlow got a kiss just to stick it to the antis. it feels like m/f ships are getting pushed to the side in the show and in the fandom to prioritise same sex ones and it's honestly weird. like they get one kiss and are on their high horse for the rest of it

yeah, i mean, long answer, sorry it took 3 days, but i know i'm personally totally squealing happy with what we got and i'm just ?????? confuzzled over people saying that it could be platonic? because they didn't kiss? does that mean raida is platonic too? no kiss on the lips???? lmao platonic lap sitting but seriously. i'm gay i want representation i'm super happy that lumity got kisses and that raida happened like i'm not bitter at all about those ships being canon i'm super super happy! and the huntlow content we got was freaking adorable. but if they got a kiss then antis would probably find some way to say it was one-sided or non consensual or whatever, WHATEVER ANTIS! anyway, luz is obviously the protag so her romance should take front and center but it does feel a little weird when peeps are like 'omg gus and mattholomule (sp? i don't care enough about him) and omg darius and alador' like that's another confuzzlement when 3 second interaction=canon when it platonic hand holding durrr. but tumblr has always loved its slash shipping so why am i even pretending to be surprised idk

also?????? why do these people not want willow to have things? like, i'm trying to think of another show where the side character who is plus sized (and wow is it ever more acceptable for men to be large!!!!) ends up with the 'bad but sad boy' (or a serious love interest at all ughhhhh don't@me with grenda from gf) like bad boys (i mean, calling hunter 'bad' sort of makes me crack up, but that's how he was introduced and he has the appearance down) usually either end up with the protag or in a love triangle with the protag, not with a character like willow. even if willow is buff as fuck in the timeskip, she's still muscular and of a larger build than the other girls, so i love love love love love that for her and why do people want to say huntlow is platonic when it's super great to have not only that body representation in an animated show but to punch the idea in the face that those characters shouldn't be able to experience love interests like everyone else?

(also hunter's relationship with willow and gus was part of what really pulled him into the group so it makes sense from a writing standpoint if they wanted either of them to have a love interest for it to be with each other)

so yeah idk i haven't seen anyone on their high horse exactly, mostly just people being happy about their ships! and their same sex ships! but the antis are driving me nuts they're not here to be happy about anything they just want to scream about how huntlow sucks and isn't real and i think half the time (and this might be what you were talking about anon) they just don't want it to be canon because it's m/f and that's...why don't they just take their hate and push it somewhere else?

unfortunately we just have to try not to listen and find the good content

[lampmanliveblogs]

Follies at the Coven Day Parade Addendum

As promised, I did my usual rewatch and here are a few things I missed or didn’t talk about the first time through:

•The ”sweet potato” thing. So cute, so precious. •There were some references to old gags from season one, such as Gus’ high-fives and King’s bread puns. •A commenter pointed out that Raine whistles when they blow on their tea. That’s kinda cute. I was gonna make a joke about it actually being a cooling spell and Raine just used their voice instead of their instrument… but that made me start wondering if there are bards that can use bard magic with their voice instead of instruments. I think it could be kinda cool if that were the case.  •On the second time through, I get a distinct feeling that Terra might’ve actually wanted to kill Kikimora. The attack she does against Luz & Kiki while they’re invisible looks pretty lethal and was only stopped by Amity’s intervention. Later, on the docks, when Kikimora asks if she passed the test, Terra replies ”Unfortunately.” So yeah. Terra means business, and that business is mind control and death. •Angmar and Gavin from episode five can be seen in Latissa during the Emperor’s speech, implying that they live there and that Glandus is located somewhere close by.

As I sit down to try and sum up my feelings on this episode, I find that the best I can muster is ”It was okay.” Good enough. I don’t really have any strong feelings about it.

That is not to say it was bad or anything, it had a lot of good things that I liked. Amity & Luz being in love and Amity & Willow being friends was cute and wholesome, much appreciated. We got to see Raine again, even if they were turned into a goon by Terra. Speaking of which, we got to meet Terra Snapdragon, another one of the Coven Head Witches. She was intimidating in a way I think Darius and Eberwolf didn’t quite mange to be in their episode.

Seeing two of the predictions I made in my Mid-Season Intermission (meeting another Head Witch and a Raine rescue operation) come true so soon was pretty satisfying. Granted, when I was thinking the gang were gonna need someone with more inside information to rescue Raine, I was thinking of Hunter and I was kinda hoping they’d actually succeed with saving Raine. But hey, they can’t all be bullseyes.

The story of Kikimora didn’t really grip me, because I was fully expecting her to betray Luz right from the get-go. But she did trip over that plank, which I thought was hilarious so it was worth it.

We also learned just a little bit more about the Day of Unity; that it’s in one month and will involve all the witches traveling to the head of the Titan. And that’s… it. Belos also publicly unmasked, but we already knew what his face looks like, so it didn’t hit that hard.

When it comes to Luz… It was more of what we’ve already seen. Luz is having trouble figuring out just what the heck she’s gonna do with her life, you know, assuming she finds out a way home and Belos is not a threat anymore.

Now, just because it is more of what we’ve seen before doesn’t mean it’s not good stuff. It’s fleshing out and developing nuance in the character. It’s a complex question with no simple answer and so it needs time to stew both in the minds of the characters and the audience. That way, once we do get the big pay-off, it will hit all the harder. So as a piece of a larger puzzle, it fits great. It’s just that the piece on its own isn’t that exciting to look at.

The biggest development was that Luz is now more open about these troubles she has with Amity, which I think is a good thing. We saw Luz talking to Eda & King and they didn’t really have much help to offer, they just tried to cheer her up. Amity might not be able to offer much advice either, but her support is going to mean a lot. Luz knowing that her awesome girlfriend still loves and supports her even if her life is messy and she’s unsure is, I think, going to help make her feel at least a little better.

In Conclusion With the context of the hiatus, it does feel to me like this episode is mainly trying to remind, reestablish and introduce some of the main story goals of the second half of season two. Those being, Luz’ inner troubles, the threat of the Coven Head Witches, Raine’s rescue, the mystery of Belos, and the Day of Unity.

I hope I’m not coming off as too negative, like I don’t like this episode. I do, it just doesn’t excite me as much as some of the previous ones. Because let’s face it, this season so far has been full of the great episodes. A good episode then looks bad by comparison.

Oh wait, we got to see the invisibility glyph spell this episode, 10/10, my favorite ever.

Oh wait, we got to see Hooty’s skeleton this episode, -10/10, I hate it here.

I’ll be getting into episode twelve tomorrow, and, ah… I’ve been told things about it… See you then. But until next time, take care of the planet Earth and remember that anything can happen in space!

<--Previous: Mid-Season Intermission

Masterlist

Next Episode: Elsewhere and Elsewhen-->

[thousand-winters]

(rolls in) how about 🦋, 🦈, 💌, 👻, 💥 and ❤️ !!!!!!!

Have I told you how dear you are to me, my friend? 🥺 Because I adore you. I'm sorry in advance for the huge amounts of TOH you will suffer through these questions, I have become a TOH fic writer. Stepping a bit carefully here because I don't know if you're up to date tho

🦋 Which character is your favorite to write?

I really enjoy Hunter! He's great for projection cof. I mean, what. Okay, but I think he's very fun to write because he's an interesting mix, you get to have him being all logical and practical because he was a soldier, but he also has a lot of issues going on that can take you in a very angsty direction AND at the same time he can be just so silly. Silly boy just smiling widely while wearing a bird onesie he picked himself. He has a lot of angles to work with and that's fun.

I have written him like twice, but outside of TOH, Alastair Carstairs is very fun to write because he's very snarky.

🦈 Which character is the toughest to write?

Darius Deamonne, I love you with all my heart, but why must you be so hard to write? I have gotten a little bit used to him because I write so much stuff with him, but I feel like sometimes I tend to forget that he might be kind, but he's not nice, he's very bitchy, and I have to go back and add that. Of course, he also absolutely freaks out over his loved ones, so he needs a balance of loving and bitchy and it can be hard to do.

Eda is also SO hard to write for me, but luckily she's around a lot less in my fanfics asjfhdsg

💌 Is there a favorite trope you like to write?

Mmmm, does hurt/comfort count? That's not a trope, is it? Adsfjkhgjkfh

Okay, I think it's been established in the Dadrius corner of the fandom that at this point, Darius covering Hunter with his cape counts as a fandom trope, so I'm gonna say that one. I have used it a few times and it will happen again because it's just sweet, fight me.

👻 What is your wildest headcanon?

I come up with headcanons very slowly, so I only have like a handful, but if I have to pick something for this, I'm gonna go with my "Eberwolf is a tech genius" headcanon because I just think it's funny. It's just slightly based on anything other than the Coven Heads being a bit opposite to what you would expect given their magic specialties, but other than that, it's just... I mean, I don't know how funny it is objectively, but I have fun with it askjfhjsdg

💥 What is one canon thing that you wish you could change?

Head in my hands. It's more like the absence of, but it will forever haunt me that we did not get to see Darius and Hunter seeing each other for the first time after Hollow Mind. What happened there? How did Darius get Hunter to not freak out and trust him? HOW DID THAT CONVERSATION GO? So many little moments implied with them, but not shown. I'll take the implied, but I wish we could have seen them.

❤️ What is your favorite line that you’ve written in a fic?

*Stares at fics for 15 minutes* Oh, boy.

I pick the cat line, I pick Hunter saying "Meow-meow" in one of my fics because it's the cringiest, funniest thing I've ever written and I have no regrets, I was laughing so much at the reactions that got.

Oh, but I quite liked this one too, actually: "It takes two decades and a world full of devastation for Darius Deamonne’s own mask to crack and for tears to start sliding down his face until each drop marks its shiny path over the Golden Guard’s dusty signature, forming watery tracks all over its surface. "

[toa-kirhan]

First time watching ToH S2E7 (Eda’s Requiem). Thoughts below:

Detailed thoughts:

I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: I love how much Eda cares about Luz and King. After cutting contact w/ her mother and sister, those two really became her only family and, along w/ Willow and Gus, have really helped her get out of her shell and reconnect w/ the world. It’s touching to see how much she’s willing to do for them time and again, and crushing to see how she responds to the prospect of them one day leaving.

It’s for that reason why it’s so emotional for Eda to see King change his name to King Clawthorne. It’s a sign from him that, no matter what, Eda will always remain an important part of his life and that he won’t push her away for a father that he’s never known, but still wants to meet and reconnect.

I am curious whether that demon watching King’s video was actually his father and not another member of his family. I assume we’ll get to see them again one day, but I would accept it if that’s all we ever got about King’s father. Just knowing that his father did see King’s video and knows he’s doing well out there w/ a loving family is good enough for me.

I can’t say no to more Eda backstory, and this episode certainly provided that. I imagine Eda had to abandon her budding relationship w/ Raine after being cursed by Lilith and running away from home. The two haven’t seen each other since they were teenagers. Only now have the two gotten the chance to meet back up sometime past their 30s, and they still happen to have feelings for each other.

I really have to admire Raine for their dedication, willingly participating in the coven system and refining their skills until he could become the Coven Head and use the information he gathered to turn on Belos. Unfortunately, Raine’s courage to stand up and fight too, taking Eda’s advice to heart, leads to their movement being crushed the day after officially starting it.

At the end of the day, Raine is willing to give up their own life if it means protecting the lives of others, from going on raids to free wild witches to stopping Eda from continuing to play so that she can continue providing for Luz and King, recognizing that the main reason why Eda chose to join them was to run away from her own problems. Raine even confronts Darius and Eberwolf face-to-face and almost manages to escape from them too.

Hopefully, Raine’s performance in Bonesborough was enough to inspire others to resist too, whether now or later, especially since Bonesborough has resisted the Emperor’s will before in trying to get Eda freed. If Belos’ increased security after that incident can’t stop a few rebels from publicly humiliating him, then Belos might be in more trouble than he thinks, at least from his non-witch subjects.

Raine and their fate also gives us more information about Belos and his plan. Belos needs a lot of magic to unite the Human and Demon Realms, which will require the magic from all of the Coven Heads, wild witches, and judging by what we learned about the coven marks, every coven member in the Boiling Isles, which Belos will get from them, forcibly.

Speaking of Belos, what is his connection to the Human Realm? What’s w/ his fascination w/ it? He’s stated before that he doesn’t want to conquer it, w/ his vision to the Coven Heads showing that he plans on transporting the Titan to the Human Realm as part of his unification efforts, but why? Why the Human Realm specifically? Why go through the effort?

Furthermore, how does he know about the portal? Based on last episode, the portal was created by Philip Wittebane, who Luz figures must have lived during the 1600s, while Eda found the portal almost completely buried outside of an abandoned ruin. Was that Philip Wittebane’s house? Did Belos know Wittebane? We don’t know how old Belos is. He brought an end to the Savage Ages, but I don’t recall ever being told how long ago that was.

Belos states that his goal is to create a utopia, but for whom? Humans can’t innately perform magic. Since they lack a magical bile sac, they can only use glyphs. In that case, how does this benefit humans or witches? Who are the worthy that Belos is talking about? Also, how do demons fit into Belos’ vision of utopia?

If Hunter is unable to use magic, can Belos? Belos has an artificial magic staff like Hunter, but he doesn’t seem to need it to use his red telekinesis/ apparition powers. He reserves the right to mix magic for himself and the EC, which implies that he can, and he seems to use magic from the Beast Keeper and Construction Covens in his fight w/ Luz, although we don’t see him make any spell circles.

Is absorbing the bile from Palismen just for his curse? When Belos first appeared, his eyes were green after absorbing bile from a Palisman. Later on, his eyes were blue, which seems to be the default. Can people gain the ability to perform magic if they absorb magical bile? If so, then why not give Palismen to Hunter? Is it just because Belos needs so many for his curse?

General thoughts:

Eda keeps checklists and has been studying/experimenting w/ runes.

Eda keeps a picture of her, King, and Luz from Grom at her desk. c:

Aw, she loves them so much! <3

Is Eda worried about becoming an empty nester?

King mentioned leaving his closet, but he doesn’t mention leaving the Owl House.

Whatever’s going on w/ Eda’s magic seems concerning.

So winged scrolls are this world’s version of tablets?

I suppose we’re introducing the Coven Heads to phase out Hunter as an antagonist.

Goddammit Hooty! I had to curse at you this episode. How often does that happen?

The Gland Prix?

The power... of FISTS!

Also, Nose Girl’s back!

The Bards Against the Throne!

Man, bard magic seems incredibly powerful. I wonder why they don’t take advantage of it more?

Raine Whispers? Head of the Bard Coven and a resistance group? Don’t want to see what Belos does to them.

Hey! It’s the (Cat? Bat?) lady from the Conformatorium! Wow! Going an entire season before reappearing!

Oh, Eda still has a crush on Raine! ^^

Lean on him! Emotional support Hooty!

I suppose transporting the Titan to the Human Realm would require a tremendous amount of magic. Why does Belos want to unite the Human and Demon Realms anyway? Unless he does have a connection to them. Is that why he doesn’t take off his mask?

Eda had stage fright too?

Raine seems concerned about Eda’s curse destroying objects too.

Momma Eda! ^^

The Cup of Ephemeral Glory!

Is King going to give up his chance to find his dad to talk to Eda instead?

A tip about another raid sounded like a trap, and it turns it was.

Abomination magic can be used to transform and teleport people?

So tracking is part of the Beast Keeper Coven’s magic?

Does Raine want Eda to disintegrate them?

Beast keepers can perform summoning too?

Aww, Raine! ;-;

AWW, RAINE! ;_;

EDA’S ACTUALLY CRYING! ;_;

AWWW, EVERYONE’S WATCHING KING’S VIDEO!

IS THAT HIS DAD?!

AWWW, EDA AND LUZ ARE CRYING! ;_;

THE COVENS ARE A CONTROL SYSTEM, BUT IT’S EVEN MORE LITERAL THAN I THOUGHT!

[chesterleprince]

Delirious Samson

//

seamless strings pull me, bulling.

senseless maid, my senses made,

the endings waste, I sense a nay.

raiding my empty state,

lay in my letters, saint.

strangely I'm set in ways,

raging like "miss you babe".

magis mace is laced,

laced, but her love is late.

waiting, the dove is fake,

why is this oven caked?

her size like above me raised,

I cry for her substance, mamed.

Im the mime that is sullen, lame,

so lame, see me ruptured cased,

cased in a lustless lake,

submerged under rain,

allure is above the cain.

the sinner stands,

look into a mirror,

see that the mirrors damned.

leave me, I'm in the sand,

little lamb, her glasses hiding her face.

a face ready for war,

her face, one that heaven adored,

she's truly jeshua born,

over me sentinals walked.

I'm not ready for anything,

but Ill be dead if you want.

If you desire I'll be your pawn,

I'll be your dwarf,

I'll be your sword,

that cuts nothing, except every liar you saw.

But I'm a liar, I'm a fire that burns you,

If I find you I hurt you.

involuntarily,

my skin crawls just forget me,

never miss me.

I'm the bricks that drown you,

a foul fool just listless.

kiss me, don't kiss me.

kill me but don't kill me.

strip me of my insides,

catch my heart in your palm,

stab my love, it is yours.

light me on fire,

just don't fight me I'm tired.

not alive in this quiet,

cut my wire Im silent.

only silent for you,

cut my rise into two.

gold is your iris,

cold in your eyelids,

hope that I'm dying,

a pool that I dive in.

you're soothing lightning,

If I make a move just strike me,

since I'm doomed, fucked, bite me.

feeling the pain that I'm causing,

stealing your faith like I'm lawless.

you're a goddess, I am only sawdust.

since I am so appalling,

live your life like I'm no cause in,

the cause to your demise.

If I'm the prophet paul,

just scavange my organs, and write it copper gone.

sell these valuables,

dwell in a dragons home,

heat you can't fathom, nope.

seizing, I let you go.

shaking, my rope it is quaking.

dangerous, loathed by,

the famous, approached.

if you want I am taking an oath.

Should I be racing towards,

you like a rhino?

am I just casing your home, or beside you?

You changed me to job since your arrival.

a cape or a cloak? I cant decide. You?

lately Im roped into sailing your boat,

I am tailing your hope,

close to where it leads,

but you rose above me,

or so it seems.

it seems like it.

leave me and see me turn into a cheap lycan,

Justify the means like this,

the end it just seems frightening.

I seek guidance,

and you might just be the type to,

keep fighting,

Achieve highness.

or better put you're god and I'm just a leased sideman.

but the lease is running out,

never been this fucking proud,

but it seems like time is running out.

running quickly,

rummage this fucking city,

till I find something simply.

simple and nice, like me but not quite.

siege the last castle,

appear before me like that's that,

the last laugh.

but yours is never the last.

my corpse is steadily smashed.

merrily manned, as married as man is, Mary is man.

stirring my casket,

scratching, she's curing my madness.

delirious samson,

until the day I die,

I'm like the curious cat is.

I'm a murderous manic?

the only thing I've ever done is murder our marriage.

so nervous,

nervous around you.

in earth sitting like turnips I'm serving.

her allure's hitting me like scalpels from surgeons.

I know no one,

a damaging person.

it's sad but hilarious.

unearthed from the dragons den,

necropolis, darius.

I'm searching for remington,

bullets of adamantium.

silver the dagger that's piercing my lariat.

licked clean?

there's nothing on that dagger.

only her hope,

slowly, very slowly I'm laid.

the cloud that carries us,

only for angels, she's carried up.

burn if I go there,

surely I'm nowhere,

appear clear,

in my lair, that's rare.

omen is unopened,

only elope if sun's stolen.

sleeping silently,

dont believe in lionry,

only feed feats, I feel cyrusly.

demise is rising,

sir rye is ryeless.

halo of paper,

ceylon is savoured.

the mason is mayoured.

raise mo to mayham.

elate rope, reaps razors.

goodnight and a bye,

survive not arrive.

constant cold core,

warring woes, walled,

the wows wrought.

I vow force will never blind me,

my course is seeded blindly.

no remorse, my weeping sightly,

so sighlty but silently.

I'm rising out the advisory,

revising my effort rhymelessly.

I seek a better livelihood,

I unsheath my dagger silently,

achieve that my letters, milelessly.

no reason for my debauchery,

I'm seasoned at the fire of shaytans lava leak.

I reak of my sire, his chains are comradery.

free is the wire that hangs me at the waterwheel.

sinning still praying,

stilled by your sacred.

satiated by your famous faces.

race against mace.

the lady I love doesn't want me anymore

the lady I loath is still the lady that won't.