#to make sure that the sigils were accurate

[getvalentined]

Put a small collection of Chrono Cross themed designs up on Threadless! Anyone want to save the world with a song?

Lullaby For The Time Devourer

The Pattern: YRGBKW

Dragon Emblem

The musical bar on Lullaby For the Time Devourer accurately features the seven notes played through magic in the darkness beyond time in order to unlock the true ending.

I hadn't initially planned to do YRGBKW, but that shape works much better for stickers and buttons than the proportionality necessary for Lullaby. It's also kind of the overlap between the other two designs, so it felt like I should get them all up at the same time.

The symbols alongside each spoke of the elemental wheel on Dragon Emblem correspond to the sigils at the foot of the crystals in Fort Dragonia—these are just barely visible on the medallion in-game, so I had to do it right!

[keeperofquestions]

A Question for the Past

@thehazbins

Duedephelon was used to spending long hours on foot these days. After first awakening with a substantial part of his memories missing, he spent as much time as he could making sure what he did remember was still accurate. He knew his name. He knew his position and duty. He knew about the Sigils of Minerva and why he had to restore them. He understood how Hell worked. He knew about the rings and how they were laid out. He vaguely remembered the ranks of the hierarchy like the major players like the Morningstar, the Ars Goetia, the Deadly Sins, and the Overlords of the Pride Ring- though not who any of them were.

What he didn't remember was anything about himself. That made getting around harder than he would have thought. As it turned out, when one was bereft of any identifying information, records, or any known friends or family it was exceedingly difficult to actually get anything done. So he had spent the last several weeks on foot distributing flyers and hoping someone would care.

It hadn't produced much of substance yet; and today he was tired.

He saw a tiny little coffee shop that looked like little more than a large van with a fancy sign and a door. He gripped his cane and prayed it wasn't a trap as he walked inside.

To Phel's pleasure, it was actually a coffee shop and not just a van with people waiting to toss a bag over his head. He didn't want to have to get his way out of that twice. He trudged himself over to the cafe bar and sat roughly on a stool, stooping his tall thin frame onto the counter and resting his cane next to him to stare at the menu.

[auroragehenna]

AI-less Whumptober

Day 21 - Alternate: Kidnapping

OC Leo(coril) and Lorién Castelet (and Toby) from Sinaheh. I'm obsessed with them and will do my best to portray them accurately. World setting and Kalceran from Perie (DM)

TW/CW: DnD setting, kidnapping (recapture), living weapon whumpee, dehumanization, angry whumper, conditioned whumpee, scared whumpee, Brief monk martial whump, no toby harmed in this piece at all, really brief "fight", implied past and future whump, attempted defiance, Word count: 1'001

It felt strangely familiar to go on a solo mission without the rest of the party. Well he wasn't completely alone. Toby was in his pocket, gingerly peeking out from time and squeaking at food on the street. Leo let his gaze drift in the direction that Toby squeaked and saw a market stand with cheese good and some fruits. His eyes found a box filled with apples and a memory shot into his head, sharp and unwanted. All these years ago, when he stole the apple, living on the streets before he was found by-No. I don't wanna. I don't want to think about him.

The old worn tension in his bones seemed to weigh more now, more tragic. But Leo pushed the flashback back, subconsciously he ran his hand over the tattoo on his neck. The impulsive idea that would definitely infuriate Lorién if he were to see it. The monk boy shook his head, the fear of Lorién had never really left ever since he ran away from the monestary but it's been a long time... He surely wouldn't find him anymore...It had gone good a long time...

A group of bards with their instruments passed Leo on the cobble stone and his body tensed up. He was very used to always beeing on edge, it was a safe way to live.

After reaching a crossroad he pulled out the map and letter Kal had given him, they were supposed to help him reach his destination. He stared at Kal's sigil on the letter and a smile twitched on his lips before he squinted to try and read the instructions again. As usual the letters seemed to merge together and make no sense but he got there. Left passageway then.

From this narrow street there were multiple side streets going back to the main street or other squares.

Suddenly from behind a hand landed heavy on his shoulder, making Leo jump out of his skin and spin around. He had taken a step back and gone into a defensive stance before even seeing who it was.

Then Leo finally saw who he was facing and his heart skipped multiple steps. His defensive stance fell away as he stumbled a few steps further away from the tall blone guy in front of him.

"There you are Leocoril. I've been looking everywhere for you.", he exclaimed, making another step towards the brown haired, smaller boy. "Time to come back now."

Even if Leo would know what to protest or dare to, he seemed to have lost his voice. Seemingly frozen to the spot. Lorién!! Here.

Lorién's face hardened in anger. "What are you waiting for?!"

Leo panicked, in a heartbeat he turned around and tried to run away. But in the next second he was already crashing to the ground hard.

Lorién had used the stick strapped to his back to beat the other's legs out under him before crouching down. Pressing his knees into Leo's back and threatening: "Stop making a scene and follow my orders or I will lock you in the spare room for two weeks!"

Leo chocked on air, his body pressed into the dirt he stopped struggling, the memory of that horrible day pulling him into a darkness years ago.

The blonde monk wasted no time pulling Leo up roughly and dragging him into a darker alley leading towards the outskirts of the town. Once they were far enough from most curious folk Lorién threw Leo against the wooden wall of a house. "Wanna explain to me where you've been!?", he asked, poorly hidden anger hardening his face, a fist clasped around his stick.

Leo groaned as he was thrown against the old wood but it was by far not the worst pain he ever experienced, he'd be fine. Aside from that he absolutely wouldn't. He couldn't go back to the monestary, back to Lorién. Not after having finally having found some joy. Blonde hair, blue eyes and a gentle voice came into his mind unprompted. Kalceran. He couldn't leave without telling Kal! With shaking hands Leo pulled the whisperer from his hip and clutched it at his side. „I can't..come back. I have a new place for myself now.", he protested even though his voice was shaking from fear.

Lorién's eyes widened further before he chuckled scornfully. "A new place for yourself, huh? And what place would that exactly be, hm? You are nothing more than a weapon, Loecoril. My weapon. To be honed."

"I-" He wasn't. He was more like that...Right?

"Say it!", Lorién ordered!

Leo's elf ears dropped in hopelessness but he still tried to resist the older monk. Holding onto the whisperer even harder he finally aimed it at his old "mentor". „I can't come with you. I am...I am more than your weapon.", he said, it came out mangled between protest and plea, way too quiet.

Lorién's eyes snapped to the Whisperer in Leo's hands, aimed at his body. Fury scorched him on the inside and ever so slowly he trailed his eyes back to Leo's. "So. And there's the other thing that thought it could just get away from me. Give. It. To. Me. Now, Leocoril and obey! I will ask exactly once or I will make you wish the room was the worst thing that ever happened to you!"

Leo's face showed pure terror at the other's behaviour and wordlessly he handed over the weapon.

"Now. Let's go, Weapon!"

"Can-Can I say goodbye to..to somebody before I go. Please I won't run or tell anything I just. want to say goodbye. Or at least leave a letter. Leo's blood turned to ice once again as he remembered the map and letter shoved into the folds of his clothing. They bore Kal's royal sigil! What Kal had told him about his half-brother-what Lorién did. If he finds the letter...!

"No! Let's go!", Lorién said mercilessly and grabbed Leo bruisingly by the arm, pushing him forward towards the general direction of the monestary.

Toby peeked out of the folds of Leo's clothing carefully. He was being very quiet, somehow knowing or remembering that this person was bad news. He just pulled back inside and pushed his tiny body against Leo's as comfortingly as he could.

Taglist: @ailesswhumptober, @yourlocalgaefae33, @princessofhe11, @greatkittencloud, @bisexuawolfsalt

@shattermind-8 @sinaheh

[halloweensqueen-supreme]

My thoughts on Agatha All Along episode 6

Ok so I’m gonna try and keep this in the order that they happen in the episode. I’ll likely go on tangents but it’s just a general idea. - I’ll be using William for when talking about Kaplan and Billy when talking about Maximoff and Teen if I’m not really sure which one applies in the moment or if I’m referring to both of them.

MAJOR SUPER DUPPER SPOILERY BEOND THIS POINT!!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!

Was it just me who saw the palm of his hand and just thought it was an A and that it must meant it was destined that he was gonna have to do some shit with Agatha? 😭

I wish we got more of Lilia. Like she clearly thought something of William/Billy but I couldn’t tell if it was both of them or if she just saw one or if she was reading the body more than the person?

So it was Lilia who put the sigil on him!? But why!? What did she see!? And why did it work on Billy and William!? Was she hiding both of them? And what happened to cause the sigil to break? Or did it not actually break until he crushed it?

Was it just Billy in the body and William is just dead? Or are they both still in there? Or does he literally remember nothing?

I think the road is catering to Teen more than the rest of the coven based off of everything in his room.

Is he really taking Ralph’s version of what happened as his facts on what happened in west view? Like it’s fairly accurate don’t get me wrong. Bro just seems really crazy.

Are we meant to believe that Teen is Black Heart now? Cause we already weren’t sure if it was him or Rio so I can’t tell what they’re trying to set it up for. Or maybe they were just not sure of how smart we all were and wanted to make sure we knew there were options on Black Heart?

I can’t tell what this kid’s personality is!!! Based on last week he’s been faking the whole time, but based on this week he hasn’t been. But then once we got to the end of this episode it feels like he was faking the whole time again. He seemed like he genuinely was trying to be nice to and help Agatha, while he was lying to go be able to go down the witches road. But more on this later.

I’m wondering if only specific people can see Rio at any given time. Cause based on what we saw from Agatha’s POV, Rio was always there. But now based on Teen’s POV she hasn’t been. This is another one for later.

I’m wondering about last episode still. I feel like we need to know more about the last trail. It was very weird and I feel like we need more of an explanation on it and what happened in there. Like they even just kinda left Alice? Idk but I don’t believe it. And so apparently Agatha just kinda grabbed on and climbed out of the magic mud shit. Ngl it’s Agatha, I can see that. But we still need to know about Jen and Lilia. We know they have to get out and we know they have more trials together. So I’m wondering how and when they’ll come back.

Ok so I think now is ramble number 1:

I think that the first way we saw Teen is his actual personality. When I saw the clip of him and Agatha and how he was at the end of episode 5 I thought he was faking. But with the end of this episode I think him (and also Agatha) are lying. I think that Teen is lying that he didn’t need Agatha to go to the Witches Road and actually wouldn’t have known how to actually get to or through it without her. Though he did lie with how much he did or didn’t know I don’t think he even knew he had those powers to that extent until he got upset and we saw him use them. While I don’t think he ever fully trusted Agatha, I feel a bit like he was exaggerating to some extent because he’s upset about Alice. I also think Agatha is lying to him too, because she’s guilty and maybe hurt but doesn’t want to show it. The only thing that makes me unsure about this is when Teen said that he wasn’t nice. But despite that, as of now I have faith that they can work it out and have a mutual redemption in the other’s eyes (which I think could happen in the trial that looks like the psych ward).

Ramble Number 2:

I don’t think that everyone is able to see Rio. I think Agatha can almost always see her, not just because of their relationship, or because of all the people she’s kill, or even just because Rio wants Agatha to see her. I think it’s all those thing plus I think that she, like Billy, died and then took the body of someone who had died, maybe even multiple times, and I think she can do this because Rio is letting her. I think that Rio is even a bit like a thestral, and there may be certain qualifications of sorts that let someone see her. I think that the reason Jen, Lilia, and Alice could see Rio is cause they were on the Road. On the Road you’re holding Death’s hand, so they can see her because of just how close to her they are at any given moment on the Road. I think that Teen can see her more than they could, but not as much as Agatha. I think she can see Rio more than everyone else.

Thank you for coming to my TedTalk. These were my many initial thoughts as I have no one to tell them to. I’ll probably think of more stuff in the coming week, this is just a first thoughts dump I needed to get out. Thank you if you read all the way through and I’d love to hear your thoughts.

And as a side note: someone tell the kid William/Billy/Wiccan/Teen/What-Ever-We’re-Calling-Him-Now that if he hurts Agatha’s feelings not only is Lady Death herself gonna come after him but I personally will find a way to reach me are through the screen and snap his little neck. 😁

[yournextflame]

Elden Ring Theories: A Retrospective

So, enough time has passed for me to form my opinion on Shadow of the Erdtree and revive this blog. But before posting new theories based on the DLC lore, I decided to take a look at my old speculations and see how well they aged.

Does the Greater Will even exist? ✅ In this post, I compared the Greater Will to the Big Bang and suggested that it might not be an actual deity, but rather an attempt by the people of The Lands Between to explain the world around them: the creation of the universe, the fall of meteors, evolution, and the natural order. The Shadow of the Erdtree continues to present the Greater Will as a scientific concept described by the inhabitants of a fantasy world, allowing players to decide whether it’s a god beyond the microcosm or just an empty circle in Count Ymir’s hat, a mere projection of human imagination

The outer gods are natural forces. ✅ 🟡❔While the Greater Will's cosmic origin was emphasized even further in the DLC, the motives of the outer gods were tied even more strongly to earthly concepts. I have many thoughts about the outer gods and godhood in particular, but one of my ongoing ideas is that they manifest human emotions, given how perception and sacrifices shape reality in a material way in the Lands Between.

Elden Ring and Color theory: ✅🟡❔ While I disagree with some points I made in this post, many of my observations were quite accurate. One clarification I’d like to make is that the scroll sigils indicate the heritage of magic rather than its source of power. I also appreciate the DLC narrative that suggests all the differences are actually man-made.

Translation of Marika's echoes from JP, ✅ The DLC gives Marika such human and deeply personal motivations that reducing her to a mere puppet of an evil outer god feels like an insult to the collaborative work of GRRM and Miyazaki. I must admit that my initial reading of her character was too harsh; I even questioned why FromSoft would write such a one-dimensional character. However, I’m very glad that The Shadow of the Erdtree gave Marika awesome depth without depriving her of agency.

My musings upon Helphen's Steeple design and DLC predictions ✅ 🟡 Well, the Shadowlands are described as a place where all kinds of death come only to be suppressed, and the Shadowkeep, as pointed out by the community, very much resembles the design of the Helphen. You can even find Tibia Mariners' boats here. It’s not the exact version of the spirit realm I predicted, but it’s very close.

Small bonus: Even though I insisted that the DLC should be centered around the spirit realm, I pointed out that exploring Godwyn's story beyond what was shown in the base game is pretty unnecessary.

What's wrong with Ranni's Two Fingers? ✅🟡❌ Right direction of thinking, wrong conclusions. One of the biggest reveals of the DLC is that everything is wrong with the Fingers and their mother, Metyr.

Children of the Erdtree 🟡❔I'm not sure what to make of it. The DLC continues to toy with the Empyrean connection to plants, from the special properties of Marika's people's flesh to St. Trina being a literal flower, but it never makes any direct conclusions.

Bells and Bell bearings ❔ The connection does exist, but it should be explored in greater detail.

Candletrees, Miquella, Death and Sleep 💡❔✨ Now that the DLC has revealed Miquella's plan to replace Marika all along, it’s astonishing to realize that my earlier discovery about Necromancer Garris — who likely collaborated with the Black Knives — had Miquella's butterfly and candletree in his basement is actually quite wild

What is Crucible? 🟡❌❔Although the nature of the Crucible is still a mystery, I think my old theory that it was a different tree is not exactly right. I’ve even started to wonder if the Crucible and the Primeval Current are just different names for the same thing.

Some of my old takes haven't aged well, but if anything, I'm glad that Mohg isn't the "walking uooohh 😭💢 joke" I used to call him. However, my opinion on Miquella was surprisingly accurate. For two years, the fandom preached that Miquella wanted to abandon his godhood, making me seem like a major contrarian for insisting that godhood was still his ultimate goal (at least because it would be pointless from a writing perspective to create another Ranni).

I still believe that characters like Marika and Miquella are primarily vehicles to deliver Miyazaki's and GRRM's ideas regarding civilization development, human nature, religion, and philosophy. So, whatever faults they have are the faults of the concepts they represent. Nevertheless, *Shadow of the Erdtree* did an awesome job of elevating these characters from mere ideas to something more human and relatable.

My old description of Malenia is so relevant, it hurts.

Mohg, Radahn, Rykard and Snakes 🐍 Honestly, I'm not sure if Messmer was initially planned by FromSoft or created specifically for the DLC, but looking back, it's pretty funny that I noticed something weird going on between the demigod brothers and the serpents.

Elden Ring lore is a disaster 🤡 Elden Ring story is such lackluster that it was rewritten with the first day patch on top of the giant mountain of cut content. I’m not sure that DLC, if there will be any, can fix this mess or give any proper answers as it seems that writers got too much carried with the idea of making story as vague as possible.

Someone was overdosing on doomium.

To my surprise, the DLC managed to address most of my old frustrations. While I do wish certain things had better foreshadowing or were explored more, it still did a good job of filling many gaps in the base game lore that were making me frustrated. Looking back, I think some of my grudges over the lore were no less important than my theories because they served as a good indication that something was intentionally left unexplained. It seems that the gaps and ambiguities were not oversights but deliberate choices.

As I explore the new content in Shadow of the Erdtree and revisit my old theories, I will also share my thoughts on the new lore and its impact on the narrative. This fresh perspective has already sparked some intriguing insights, and I am eager to see how these revelations will reshape our understanding of the game’s world.

[facelessxchurch]

Baronpine and/or Sorrowscorn for the ship bingo please

Imma do Sorrowscorn bc someone else already asked for Baronpine!

Surprisingly enough this is my first Bingo! :D I already filled out the other bingo cards but I'm answering these in the order of what is fasted to draw/answer.

I can make it so fucked up/Colour me intrigued: Self-explanatory. Just, the tension in each interaction, and them being the very definition of kill me romantically. Just everything is personal with them. Eliza can't decide if she wants to kill China, be her or fuck her. Meanwhile, Eliza is a reminder of a past and her old self which she both really rather leave behind. Since they were both part of the Faceless Church, their idea of romance back then has the potential to be so messed up and I do love some (self)destructive love archetypes <3

They're exes: Landy did Eliza so dirty by writing her as the biter ex archetype and giving her like no other personality traits. Even her name is based on that! Scorn -> "Hell has no fury like a woman scorned"

Basically canon to me: And then he has the audacity to claim he never admitted China and Eliza were canonly a thing during the war. There is a reason Sorrowscorn was considered a canonship along with Ganith for the longest time. But he either deleted the tweet or it was an answer on the SP forums which have been shut down by now.

They're the same fucking guy: Landy also did her dirty by making her the colour-swapped, lesser version of China. She, like China, has the ability to make anyone she comes across fall instantly in love with her, though it is established that this power is not as strong as China's, she is a rival collector and information broker to China and she very likely also chose symbol magic as her adept discipline as the glowing daggers she threw seem very similar to what China was shown to be able to do with her sigils. Her personality is also pretty much just wartime China. Since she is the weaker of the two she was very likely the one copying China instead of developing her own strengths and weaknesses. This shows a weakness of character that puts her in a power imbalance with China and also prevents her to climb the ranks of the Faceless church beyond her current position.

Fated Enemies/There is no way this will end well: And that's why their relationship could never last. That's why she could never be more than China's plaything. Seeing so much of herself in Eliza fed her ego and narcissism. She loved herself so of course she would love someone so much like herself. But when she changed and Eliza didn't...

They Enable the worst in each other: Accurate for both wartimes, pushing each other into new extremes since they are rivals as much as lovers trying to impress each other. In the present day, as enemies, Elize definitely brought out China's old 'sharp' self while they were fighting each other.

In a relationship not sure what the relationship is but they are in one: Self-explanatory.

Oh, the devotion/inherit eroticism of attempted murder: 👀👀👀👀

Thematically delicious: Ngl I have a thing for relationships doomed from the start. During the war they were birds of a feather. She found kin in Eliza since she has the same curse ability to make people fall in love with her. Finally, she has someone who understands the hardships that effect brings, finally, someone is immune to it, and finally someone's feelings are real. Now, China is a fallen idol in Eliza's eyes. Someone who she looked up to and wanted to be like now no more than a traitor. Not only did she abandon the church, she had abandoned HER too. And she hates the fact that she knows she would forgive China in an instant would she return to her. To China Eliza is a reminder of a past and an old self she'd rather leave behind. Landy said in a tweet that Eliza would kill China eventually (that was before phase 2 was announced and I think he deleted that tweet) but I think it would be more fitting if China would kill Eliza and quite frankly, Eliza would have it no other way.

[kyogre-blue]

Finally past the Eagle Lion Battle, so we're going into the escalation slope toward White Clouds endgame.

Oof, it took me a long while to keep playing... What can I say, I do not care much about the Eagles or Edelgard. Though I will admit, her B support did make me more interested. It was very juicy.

Moving my liveblogging notes here, since otherwise Tumblr was giving me limit errors.

Edelgard B happens after the Lion-Eagle Battle, after she talks about wanting your guidance even after becoming Emperor, and how she's experienced fighting alongside others thanks to you.

Lots of interesting details here. Edelgard was born with a minor crest of Seiros, but "most" of her siblings didn't have any crest at all. They were imprisoned underground, beneath the palace, so now Edelgard sometimes longs for the feeling of the sun and the wind.

She states that the goal of the experiments was to create a "peerless emperor to rule Fodlan" which... is not likely to be what the Agarthans actually wanted and sure isn't what the prime minister and his gang would have have wanted, but it does provide some insight into Edelgard's belief she is destined to be Emperor, to reshape Fodlan, and just in general that she knows exactly what is the correct way forward, regardless of the cost.

The experiments involved "cutting open their very flesh." There were other subjects involved as well, who were "innocents" different from the siblings. Presumably, they didn't have crests at all? Or were they just not nobles? Or...?

Edelgard blames the prime minister and his "gaggle of nobles." They had the empire under their thumb and her father (heroically) tried to stop them but was ultimately powerless. This is not entirely accurate, since the start of the Insurrection was Hrym trying to LEAVE the empire, which is quite different from the implied noble cabal controlling the empire ruinously. Additionally, since Lysithea was experimented on due to Ordelia trying to help Hrym, which wouldn't align with this nobles vs emperor setup... yup, this stuff doesn't add up if you know the lore already, but it does present a certain image if you're going in blind.

Edelgard also has a second crest, a crest of flames. She again shows it via a glowing sigil in her hand, which makes me wonder what the crest analyzer is for.

Edelgard somewhat makes it sound like she has some survivor's guilt about her family and others having their lives traded for her existence (as the peerless emperor) and that she wants to make their deaths have meaning by fulfilling this purpose and then changing the world so this kind of atrocity will never happen again... but this will not align with her later actions. What she does is attack the church, which is notably absent in this entire discussion.

Note also how she continues to use artificial beasts the entire war through, which are created through human experimentation. All of them are people sacrificed in the same way her siblings were, but Edelgard keeps using them anyway.

Next section is Remire, where I'm curious to see what Flame Emperor says specifically. Like, did Edelgard not know they were going to be making artificial beasts out of people? What did she think the Agarthans were going to be doing with Flayn's blood when she "loaned" Jeritza to them? What kind of support was she expecting from them, given that they are absolutely key to giving her the power to conquer the continent?

Other live blogging notes:

Rhea directly says that the Crestless can still use Relics as weapons, so this point is not a secret.

A lot of Knights are away still dealing with the Western Church, which is why we have to go help with Miklan.

Edelgard plays up that Byleth can now take on the most elite forces of the Empire and the Church, including other Relics.

Edelgard C: We randomly hear her having a nightmare. Why are we walking around the second floor where the student rooms are in the middle of the night? AND if the walls and doors are so thin, that's... gonna be real funny, given how many people have nightmares around here. I wonder if Hilda, who is on one side of Edelgard, polite keeps her mouth shut about the moaning and shouting?

Edelgard being fully dressed here is funny.

tbh I will give them this: I do not recall what Claude's C was about. This is probably more memorable.

Edelgard says she had 10 siblings, eight older and two younger. They all became crippled by disease or lost their minds and died. Now they're all dead.

Edelgard says the nightmares are a reminder to never allow such things to happen again. But note that she specifically continues to use monsters made out of humans all through the war. "Never allow sure terrible things to happen again" but only after you've made all the sacrifices you need to change the world.

Edelgard feels the future of the empire, of "everything," depends on her.

As noted, this is gated to getting the Sword of the Creator despite not having any mention of it (or Arundel/Thales) in the support itself. So Edelgard will only open up to you after you demonstrate your potential as a world-changing powerhouse.

Hubert C: He thinks Byleth would be intimidated? By him?? lol

During Month 8 exploration, one of the knights mentioned that after being dispatched to the Western Church, they're now being dispatched to the Eastern Church in Leicester. But why? He doesn't say. I'm trying to remember, is this the month when Judith shows up to drag Claude off for a bit?

Caspar: "You know what your problem is, Edelgard? You always have to make everything about you." L M A O

Ashe was adopted by Lonato when he was 9 years old. He's 16 now. So this was seven years ago. But from what I recall, this would put it before Tragedy of Duscur, and before Christophe was executed. Hum, I hadn't realized that...

iirc, there was less emphasis on "Crests shouldn't dictate anyone's destiny, forsaken by the Goddess who now demands his execution" on VW.

Miklan has two sets of reinforcements come in, which I guess should indicate that he's smarter than he looks.

I need to psyche myself up to say no to Rhea. I don't even want the stupid lance, but I wanna see the dialogue.

Huh. The dialogue wasn't very interesting, since I have Sylvain. He just steps in immediately.

"Crests are to blame for this brutal, irrational world we live in." Hm. In what sense? It sucked for Miklan, but the only other things we've seen are related to Lonato (no Crests) and the Western Church (Relics, maybe, but no Crests).

"Their power is only granted to a select few, whom we elevate and allow to rule the world." Big hm. Brigit and Dagda attacked the Empire and they have no crests. How do we interpret that?

If we remove Crests, people will "have no choice but to rise and fall by their own merits," but hum, this seems a very isolated issue. I don't think Crest-related shenanigans even came up during VW at all. We're blaming the Church on both sides, but for very different things.

Edelgard says her power alone is insufficient, that's why she's borrowing power from the Agarthans. But if she can get Byleth instead... She wants to reach out her hand :( Still, it's very hard to take her seriously, given that there isn't really a solid foundation underneath all this vague talk.

Hubert directly says he doesn't care so much about obeying Edelgard and will just directly take care of things himself lol. Tsk, tsk, a bad retainer.

Dimitri says he searched the entire monastery already on the first week of explore. He's so diligent...

Battle with the Death Knight after Flayn's kidnapping is where the Flame Emperor first appears to the team and introduces herself. Byleth smiles for the first time after rescuing Flayn.

Jeralt mentions that strange groups have been seen around the monastery and elsewhere since the Rite of Rebirth and that knights investigating them turned up dead. These could have been Agarthans, but I don't get the impression that they travel in groups, and it seems unlikely to be Western Church remnants, since those are talked about more directly. So by elimination, it should be Edelgard's forces?

Jeralt is dispatched to the Kingdom during month 10

There's no direct path between the Empire and the monastery. The only way there is via the Alliance, over the Airmid River, and only then into the Empire. Which makes it even more puzzling what Edelgard spends two weeks doing during the invasion. Does Gloucester let her through...? Believable, given what he's like.

Sylvain's paralogue: His father ordered him to come put down the remains of Miklan's band of thieves, who have been causing trouble in Gautier territory. He was specifically told to go alone with no backup. It's interesting because it's always a bit hard to tell what the in-universe power levels are supposed to be like, separate from the game mechanics where you can do the entire game on solo.

His "hopefully things in Faerghus will get better once we get Dimitri on the throne" reads a bit weird when he's changed houses and isn't even with Dimitri anymore.

Ingrid's paralogue... feels really weird because I have literally never seen Dorothea and Ingrid interact. If they were going to lean into the yuri vibes this much, they should have gated it behind a support rank.

Gronder Field is in Caspar's family territory, and they grow a lot of grain there.

Lorenz charges off to take the central fort, with the archery installation, and the rest of the Golden Deer move to support him. Blue Lions stay put until you approach.

Edelgard jokes about the Empire and the Kingdom going to war, but Dimitri is troubled by the idea. Her overall casual tone about all this is... interesting, given that she's in the middle of arranging the outbreak of war and already tried to have the other two house leaders killed.

After the feast, Edelgard starts buttering up to Byleth, about how she enjoys and desires their guidance.

She sees becoming Emperor as her destiny and is certain that she will fulfill it.

The villagers started acting strangely already in this month, immediately after Flayn's kidnapping.

Thinking of it, the next month being called "red wolf moon" with the description that the setting sun colors the coats of the prowling wolves a foreboding red... sure is evocative. I wish the month names and the calendar in general were better integrated.

[frankenstein-ate-my-left-shoe]

destiel!steddie pt. 6!!

Pt. 1 | Pt. 2 | Pt. 3 | Pt. 4 | Pt. 5 | AO3: you can hear the call (when trouble's on the way)

sooo....it's been a while since my last part of this fic.... 😅 to make up for it, here's just under 6.5k words for youuuu

tw for self harm closer to the end of this part (just like in part 1, i am giving a warning, but it is not done as an act of self harm. one of the characters cuts their palm in order to create an angel banishing sigil with their own blood as is done in the show.)

The two of them arrive at the diner a half hour later, pulling in next to Ste–Robin’s BMW.

“You ready for this, Eddie?” Steve asks as he exits Baby.

“Yeah I suppose so; not quite sure what exactly ‘this’ is, but,” Eddie shrugs, holding the diner’s door open for the other man. “Wait, do you know what this is about?”

“I have not a single clue.”

“Eddie!” Dustin leaps from the large corner booth’s bench towards him as soon as a bell rings out above their head. Dustin careens toward them and would have fallen flat on his face if Steve wasn’t in his way.

“Dusty, dude. Calm down. That’s why we’re here.”

“Yeah, and what’s Steve, huh? Chopped liver?”

“Seriously man, I’m hurt.”

“Obviously I’m just excited for this! Eddie’s real!” Dustin says, rounding around the dark haired man and shoving him forward toward the rest of their little group.

Eddie recognizes Nancy and Robin, of course, a blond-haired, ponytailed, little girl is sat on the former’s lap, and a gangly, shell-shocked looking teen with a tragic bowl cut sitting to her left at the edge of the bench facing the door.

“I’m not real anymore?” Steve mumbles as he steps around Eddie’s stubbornly unmoving sneakers to scoot in next to Robin, who slides a strawberry milkshake in front of him.

Eddie smirks “Guess not.”

“Dude, seriously, move your feet.” Dustin grumbles, still slowly pushing Eddie across the linoleum floor towards the group.

Eddie follows the direction, taking one long stride forward to come up next to the table, putting his hands out behind his back to catch the now falling teen behind him.

“Dick.” Dustin mumbles, and gives Eddie one final shove into the booth beside Steve, who smiles warmly at the twos’ exchange.

“So,” Dustin claps his hands together, standing at the opening of the booth. “Eddie, this is Will Byers, Will, this is Eddie.”

Eddie smiles at the top of Will’s bowlcut (seriously, someone get this kid a new ‘do, it’s 2023..) since the teen is staring down at the book in his lap. “Hey man, how’s it going?”

Will’s hair bobs when his shoulders shrug.

“Will, are you alright?”

There’s a brief moment of nothing, then Will’s hair shakes back and forth, a resounding ‘no’.

Eddie gives Nancy a panicked look, her worried one shrugging back at him.

“Hey, bud, you’re okay.” Steve’s voice floats out from beside him. “Will you tell us what’s going on?”

Will remains quiet for another moment, then abruptly throws himself out of the bench and around his friend, speeding out the front door.

“Will! Wait–” Dustin calls, already running after his friend. Eddie stands immediately, not sure what to do, but feeling like he should be doing something. 

“Eddie, it’s okay,” Nancy says at the same time Steve says, “I will go talk to him.”

Steve scoots out off the bench, and may or may not have mumbled a quiet “Excuse me.” as he stands to move out from behind Eddie, but if he did, Eddie has no idea. All he felt were the warm, solid hands on his hips as Steve manhandled him gently out of his way.

He comes back to when the bell jingles above the front door.

Eddie looks down at the snickering traitors at the table.

“Shut up.” he grouses, slouching back onto the bench. “I am but a man.”

The three of them chat absently while the other two are gone, and Eddie’s introduced to the little girl on Nancy’s lap, her youngest sibling, Holly, and Robin talks a little bit about Will’s scarily accurate sketchbook, the whole reason he’s here, and says “You know Dustin’s not gonna stop bothering you about what’s true and what’s not.”

He snickers, “I figured as much”

Though almost immediately after, Eddie worries how close to the present Will’s caught up to….and hopes to God (hah) he doesn’t see the dreams he’s had about their fearless paladin -slash- angel. 

Eddie shudders outwardly at the thought, and Robin catches the movement. Her mouth opens as if she’s going to ask, but Is cut off by the door chiming once again.

He looks up at the other half of their group as they arrive back at the table, scooting in at Steve’s gesture and giving him space to sit while Will and Dustin swap places; Dustin in the booth next to Nancy, and Will standing at the gap in the bench where Dustin was previously..

“Okay.” Will starts, taking a deep breath and glancing over at Eddie, exhaling as he does. “I’m not quite sure how to start this, but here goes. Up until what, a day, day and a half ago? I thought Eddie and his Uncle were my own creations; That I was suddenly, finally inspired to create something again.”

He hangs his head again, and fiddles with the multicolored post-its sticking out of the pages of the sketchbook in his hand. “When Dustin saw the drawings–the comics–he asked me how I knew you...” Will looks back up at Eddie. “How in the actual fuck are you real?”

“Well..” Eddie glances around at the people at the table, trying and failing to decipher whether or not to make a joke right now. “I mean, I was born and stuff…”

Steve snickers at that, the other three stifling their own laughs, “We know you were born, Eddie.” He smirks, patting Eddie on the thigh closest to him.

“When did this start, Will? What’s the first storyline you wrote for Eddie?” Steve continues, leaving his burning palm on black denim.

Will glances at Steve’s hand, but looks down at his sketchbook again, opening to the first sticky note.

“This one. It’s from his uncle’s perspective. From when he found him.”

Dustin and Robin both sit up straighter, trying to see the page he’s put in front of Steve.

Eddie barely glances at it, the phantom echoes of the hellhounds claws pulling at him are on him an instant, twisting his stomach in knots.

“This really happened didn’t it.” Will’s voice is quiet.

Eddie nods, almost imperceptibly.

“What did?” Dustin sounds like he’s going to get up from the bench but something stops him. Eddie’s not sure what though since he’s found himself locked into a staring contest with the tabletop in front of him.

“There were some hunts after that–is that what you call them?” Will changes the topic, much to Eddie’s relief.

“Yeah. A couple?” Eddie manages to croak out.

“There were three that I saw,” Will pulls a chair from an empty table behind them up to the open edge of their booth, clutching the sketchbook to his chest as he does so.

Steve moves at the same time, taking the chair and gesturing for WIll to scoot into the booth next to Eddie.

“And then I saw Steve.” the teen seems to be getting more comfortable, excited to be talking about this with someone. Even if that someone is the unfortunate subject of whatever it is that’s happening. “Our Steve.”

He flips to the first yellow tab in the book, and holds it up for both Steve and Eddie to see.

The comic he’s drawn depicts Steve, in the same jeans and sweater he’s in now, sitting on the hood of the same BMW parked outside beside Baby, looking up at a starry sky.

There’s dialogue written there too, in Will’s neat hand, but even sitting beside him, he’s unable to read it. Though he’s not sure he wants to.

Eddie hears Steve mumbling something to himself, catching ‘Munson’ in his words.

“What’s this about Munson?” He asks, looking up at the man. Nope, angel. Stevie and Steve have definitely swapped places again.

“The Munson Gospel. The new book of heaven. The last one was the Winchester Gospel–”

“Winchester?” Eddie and Will both question, “Like Sam and Dean?” Eddie continues.

“The very same.”

“What does this have to do with Supernatural?” Will asks.

“What’s Supernatural?” This time, it’s all but Steve that ask at once.

“They’re this series of older books. Basically like dime store novels, but horror not romance.” Will looks around at all of them, and continues when there’s no recognition on any of their faces. “They are what I thought I was basing my story off of, because I thought it might be a cool way to…deal with Steve’s disappearance. Like, maybe he’s an angel now and that he’s helping his own hunter duo with hunts like Sam and Dean had Castiel.”

Eddie feels his face twitch upward in a smile.

“Did you notice the car we arrived in, Will?”

Will looks up at him confused, then out the window to the parking lot. Guess he hadn’t.

“No.” he breathes, wonder plastered on his face. “You’re a fan of Supernatural too?”

Eddie shakes his head. “Can’t say I am, bud.” Will just looks at him confused. “I just recently got her from a friend of mine. Named Dean Winchester.”

Will scoffs and rolls his eyes, “Uh huh, yeah, sure, you can just say you’re a fan of the books, Eddie.”

Eddie just shrugs, drops it, maybe he can arrange a visit to Hawkins for the remaining Winchester.

“Sooooo what does this book series have to do with Will? And what the fuck is the Winchester Gospel? I didn’t know you were religious..” Dustin asks, mumbling the last at Steve and giving him an appraising look.

“Carver Edlund, real name Chuck Shirley, was a prophet of the Lord. He didn’t know it until Sam and Dean showed up on his doorstep, much like Eddie has for Will.”

Will catches on to the implication easily, his eyes growing wide.

Dustin, however, says “What the fuck?”

“It seems Will is the next prophet.” Steve says, ignoring the exclamation, then his eyes grow wide. “This must be why I was sent to pull you from Hell!” he exclaims, turning to Eddie, “But why? What do you have to do with this directly?”

Eddie blinks at the angel. “Well, I mean, it is called the Munson gospel. That definitely seems like it's got something to do with me.”

“No, not always.” Steve says, still looking lost in thought. “Sometimes the prophet spends their time translating the word of the story they are in without ever meeting the person or persons they are writing about, or even knowing that they are even writing the Gospel in the first place. There must be something of import on the horizon, something that is worth being copied down…” The angel trails off in thought.

“Oh great, sounds wonderful. And what, may I ask, was the subject of the previous book?”

“The apocalypse.” Steve and Will say in tandem.

A solid seven seconds of silence follows.

“The…Apocalypse?”

“What the hell? Where were we when this happened?”

“You would not have much memory of it, if any. You all would have only been young children when it happened. It was around 2005.”

“OKAY! Okay, pause, what the hell is happening over there.”

The three of them look up, and Nancy and Robin are also looking over at Dustin.

“What the hell are you talking about, Steve? How do you know this? What do you mean that ‘This is why I pulled you out of Hell’?” he mocks, looking more distressed by the second.

Steve, still angel, glances at Eddie, as scared as he’s ever looked in front of him.

“I..um…” Steve again glances at Eddie, then says “I will return.” Disappearing with a flutter.

A beat passes, and before Dustin can scream out what is sure to be another ‘WHAT THE FUCK?!’, Will hands his sketchbook across the table, still open to the page of Steve on the hood of his car.

“Dustin, read this.”

Dustin blindly reaches for it while still gaping at Steve’s now empty seat. “Okay, no, you all knew about Steve having superpowers??”

“Not superpowers. Read.” Will points down at the book in Dustin’s hands.

Dustin reads.

“You’re taking this well, bud.” Eddie murmurs to Will.

“I’ve had practice.”

He’s confused for a moment, then remembers the shit these teens have been through in this town. “Ah.”

Quicker than should be possible, Dustin yells out “An Angel?!”

“Dustin–” Nancy starts, no doubt about to chide him for his volume, but:

“No! No. Seriously? An Angel? Steve–” he takes in a wide-eyed breath, staring at Steve’s vacated spot, “Steve’s…dead..?”

Oh boy.

Robin wraps an arm over Dustin’s shoulders and pulls him close to her, removing the book from his hands. “No, no, not quite, Henderson..he’s…it’s…it’s a long story..” she glances at Nancy then to Eddie and Will for help, passing Will’s sketchbook to Nancy.

“He needed a break, Dust; you know how much he’s been through.”

“Yeah, but he didn’t know an angel was going to come down and save him!! He could’ve just been gone! And no one would’ve known!”

The angel in question re-appears then, causing Dustin to clam up, glaring down at the table in front of him instead of up at Steve.

“I’ve consulted with my siblings on the matter.”

“You consult—how?? You’ve been gone for like, four whole minutes.”

A blissfully unaware Holly chooses that moment to squirm out of Nancy’s lap and climb over to Eddie, dragging her thoroughly crayon-debauched placemat with her into Eddie’s lap instead.

“Hey kiddo–ow!” her little toddler shoes squish into his leg muscles more than should be necessary as she reaches for Steve’s previously abandoned shake.

“It is not that far of a trip, though I admit I should not have gone.” The angel slumps back into his vacated chair. “Not all of my siblings believed me; they didn’t expect another prophet to appear after what happened with the Winchesters and my brother,” He pauses, glancing around at the table, “As such, I am worried they will come for him.”

“What?!” The group cries out at once.

“As unexpected as this development is, it stands to reason Heaven would want to get ahold of Will, to keep him safe.”

“Steve, what the hell?” Nancy this time, “They can’t just take him!”

“They will not.” his voice echoes with an authority Eddie cannot describe. “God himself would have to smite me down to get to Will. I will protect him with my entire being if I have to.” he pauses for only a moment, tense and rigid. “Your Steve agrees.”

The silence that follows is interrupted by a shrill ringing emanating from Eddie’s pocket.

“Aw shit, sorry, sorry, I have to take this.” Eddie scrabbles for his phone, in a pocket below one of Holly’s sneakers. “Here, hold this?” he asks, passing the now strawberry shake-covered toddler to the angel on his way out of the booth and towards the door.

“Can’t you do something? Hide him maybe–” he hears Robin say as he steps outside.

“Hello?”

“Hey Ted, you and your dad did some work for me a while back, the poltergeist?”

After a moment, it clicks. Poltergeist, family home, Will and Ted Marston–father and son duo–to the supernatural rescue, “Oh yeah, up in Pennsylvania right? How are you…?”

“Mark.”

“Mark! Sorry, I have a horrible memory for names; what’s going on?”

There’s a pause. “Can we talk in person?”

“Ominous Mark, very ominous.” Eddie chuckles, trying to break Mark's bad mood. It doesn’t work. “But sure, I'll head down there right away.”

Eddie looks back up at the diner where he can see the rest of them speaking with the waitress. "Actually, I will head out this afternoon. I'm with family at the moment.”

“Oh sure, not a problem..just… get here sooner than later?”

He irons out the details with Mark, who tells him where to meet him the following afternoon. 

Nancy comes out to meet him as he’s finishing up the call, “What’s going on? Is there something wrong with Wayne?”

“Nope, duty calls though, Ms. Wheeler.” she scoffs at him at the formal name. “Heading over to New York this afternoon.” He says as he starts back inside “A guy Wayne and I helped out a little while back just called, said there’s something happening that sounds like it’s in my wheelhouse.” they come to a stop beside the table and:

“You’re leaving already??” Dustin looks crushed, and is still not looking at Steve.

“Sorry Dusty Buns, duty calls.” 

“Do you need me to come with you, Eddie?” Steve asks from his spot under a milkshake-fueled Holly.

She’s standing on his knees to shove fries (and her little fist) into the half-full glass of pink mess left there and on the table, then turning to grab and pull on Steve’s hair and sweater with sticky fingers like it’s her most favorite thing to do.

The angel seems to have relaxed a bit in the youngest wheeler’s presence, and Eddie wrestles down his already too-big feelings for the being in front of him, which are now going feral at the sight of Steve with a baby on his lap.

“No, I will be just fine, big guy.” he places a hand on his shoulder, “Besides, someone needs to watch over Will the Wise here.'' Eddie smiles down at Will, who turns bright red and looks down at the burger on his plate “Let me know if he prophesizes my demise, though okay?”

Steve smiles wistfully “Sure thing, Eddie.”

The seven of them have late breakfast/early lunch together, Dustin only acknowledging Steve again after he takes back over control from the angel, scooting into the nonexistent space on the bench to hug Dustin close to his side.

It Turns out that the angel Steve does have a way to completely hide Will from the forces of heaven, but the rest of the Hawkins teens insist on experimenting with their own methods to hide him before letting the angel carve the enochian spell into the boy’s ribs.

“We have our own avenging angel of sorts here in Hawkins already,” Nancy explains, a small smile on her lips, “You should probably try her first before trying anything else.”

“Yeah, somehow I don’t think Joyce will be too keen on having someone carve anything into her son, not even a whole-ass angel.”

“I think she’d carve you a new one if you even tried.” Dustin mumbles, everyone’s responding laugh helping to loosen him up again.

Eddie grins over at the teen, “She sounds like a force to be reckoned with, sad I won’t be here to see all that.” 

The group wraps up their meal with a plan to meet with the rest of their own monster-hunting family to explain the whole ‘Steve’ thing, and as they head their separate ways in the parking lot, Nancy approaches Eddie once again.

“Is Wayne coming with you?”

“Hm? Oh, you mean New York. no, I'm gonna let him relax a bit.” he goes back to checking over the armory in Baby’s trunk but stops when Nancy doesn’t leave. “Why do you ask?”

“You need backup.”

“Not in particular.”

“I’m good with a gun.”

That makes Eddie pause “You want to come with me?”

Nancy shrugs as if nonchalant about her own proposition. “I think I could help. Plus, Steve told me that you almost wrecked the car trying not to fall asleep.”

Traitor. “Pfft, I'll be fine.”

“I’m coming with you.” It’s a statement this time.

“Oh you are, are you? What about your work, school? Family?’

“I’ve got to get out of Hawkins somehow. Robin will be here to hold down the fort, Steve will be watching over them…” she trails off and shrugs “I’ve never been out of Indiana and this seems as good a time as any.”

Eddie just stares at her. 

“Let me just help you out on this one, and if I do horribly, you can drop me back here.”

“I already know you can hold your own.”

“So I can come?”

It’s the hopeful lilt to her voice that does him in (not like he was actually against it in the first place, just caught off guard). “Fine! Fine, you can come. Now let's get going, I'm sure you gotta go grab a bag right?”

Nancy just smiles and nods, turning on her heel back to Robin. 

She passes her keys to taller woman, says a few words and gives her a quick hug, marching over to Steve,  who’s still holding Holly to his chest, sitting on one of his arms so she’s facing out at everyone (‘Fuck that’s so cute…even though he’s covered in milkshake.’), and says something to him. They nod at each other once, and she’s heading back to Baby. 

Steve catches Eddie’s eye and waves; first with Holly’s hand (cute cute cute), then with his own and a smile when Holly pulls her fist from his grasp.

Eddie can’t help it, he blows Steve a kiss through the open window as Nancy gets in beside him. He reverses out of his spot, and one pitstop (and one flimsy excuse of a campus tour to Nancy’s mom), they’re on their way to New York.

——

The next morning, after a long drive and late arrival at a local motel the previous day, Eddie and Nancy arrive at Mark’s warehouse. 

“You have a sister?” Mark says in lieu of a normal greeting, shaking each of their hands and turning back to head further into the warehouse.

“Yeah, twins actually. This is Natalie.” Eddie jabs a thumb over his shoulder at Nancy even though he’s talking to the back of Mark’s balding head as they follow.

Mark turns his head to look her up and down, then over to Eddie again. “Huh…yeah, I can see it.”

“We didn’t really start getting along until recently so I'm just as surprised as you are.” Nancy smiles.

“I can understand that,” Mark chuckles, Eddie glancing around at the big sections of airplane that are strewn about them, “Well, your brother and dad really got me outta trouble last time.”

“I heard. Teddy said it was a poltergeist?”

“Damn right it was, nearly tore my house apart.”

Mark holds the door for them when they arrive at his office, “Have a seat, please.” he says, coming round to his side of the desk.

“So, wanna tell us what’s going on, Mark?” 

The man lets out a long breath. “One of our flights went down recently. Britanica flight 4845. 100 people onboard, only 7 survivors.” Oof, yeah. He’d heard about this crash.

Mark clicks around on his computer, “I’m not even supposed to have this, but as soon as I heard it, I knew it was something in your area of expertise.”

“The black box recording?” Nancy asks, brows furrowed.

Mark nods, and clicks play.

The garbled recording fills the space between the three immediately. It’s hard to listen to, frankly, and is further proof that Eddie’s fear of flying is justified.

Mark's face twists up in discomfort through the duration of the clip; the pilot’s even commands and calls through the radio are frantic in tone, but are drowned almost completely out by something very distinct.

“There’s EVP on that recording.” Eddie says as the recording lurches to a halt.

The older man huffs out a breath, as if he’d been holding onto it throughout the clip. “Exactly.” 

“Can you send that file to me so we can fish out the audio?” Nancy asks, already grabbing a post-it note and pen from Mark’s desk to scrawl out her email address.

“Sure thing, anything else you need?”

“Passenger manifestos, seating charts,” she hands over the note, “Anything else you can give us really.”

“Can we look at the wreckage?”

Mark grimaces. “Everything else, I can get, but the wreckage is locked up with the transportation authority for evidence processing; that, I can’t do.”

“That’s not it out there?” Eddie asks, gesturing behind him with a thumb.

“Nah, that’s just another of the same type’a plane we were already working on.”

“We’ll figure something out.”

—

“If we’re gonna pretend to be feds, we have to look the part, you know.”

“I'm not cutting my hair.”

Nancy rolls her eyes at him, “I mean getting some suits, Ed.”

“...Oh yeah.”

“Also, we’re gonna need some IDs.”

Eddie nods, “I’ve got us covered on that end, believe it or not,”

“I believe it,”

“Shut up—anyway, Wayne and I have a guy nearby, he’ll get us sorted out.”

So, after a thorough schmoozing of the Munsons’ on-call badge maker, the tailor shop down the road to get their suits fitted the same day, AND of the guard at the air yard to let the two ‘homeland security’ agents in to take a look at the wreckage, Nancy and Eddie are wandering through the meticulously placed bits and pieces of wrecked 737.

“I can’t even imagine.” Eddie mumbles out around the twisted feeling in his throat and stomach from looking around at the plane. “There’s a reason I drive everywhere.”

Nancy snorts at him, “‘Not afraid’a no ghosts’, but scared of a plane?”

“It’s a reasonable fear, alright? Shut up.”

Nancy only smirks, going back to examining the wreck. “So, what should I be looking for?”

“Sulfur–both by sight and smell, could be a demon in that case, ectoplasm, I dunno.” he shrugs, taking something out of the inner pocket of his suit jacket, “Just let me know if something looks really off and I’ll come take a look too.”

“What is that?”

“It’s an EMF reader, it reads electromagnetic frequencies,” Eddie explains, sliding one of the headphone speakers over an ear.

“Yeah, I gathered that from the name, but do they all look like busted up old walkmans?”

Eddie turns back to her, a grin on his face, “Nope, that’s just mine. One of a kind!” he holds it up proudly, “I made it myself”

Her responding smile is more of a grimace. “Yeah, I can tell.”

Eddie feels his face fall. “Shut up. Let’s see you do better.” he grumbles and turns back to the task at hand

“Give me a couple more hunts," she giggles, but follows as he starts to sweep over the wreckage.

And a couple more does she get.

Settling into long drives with someone besides Wayne on these hunts is kinda strange to be honest, but Nancy is a great passenger. She always has their route pulled up, always willing to help unwrap Eddie’s burgers for him while driving, and doesn't complain about the tapes and tapes of classic rock he is constantly switching out.

She reads, or writes in a leatherbound journal of hers, listens to her own music, or pulls research while they drive from case to case, always starting with a “Listen to this…”. Plus her aspirations for journalism really help when talking to victims; the gap between somewhat probing journalistic and slightly off-kilter investigator questioning is smaller than you’d think.

And she’s damn good with a shotgun. After joining Eddie, she’s always got a few sawed-offs in Baby’s trunk, and has a tiny handgun on her at all times.

Since the demon on a plane case, they’ve taken care of another poltergeist, a regular ol’ haunting, one whole urban legend (Bloody Mary is a bitch.), and another fuckin’ demon.

That last demon was quite the case; though after that, Nancy suggested needing something to protect them from possession. After a call to Dean (“Are you freakin’ kidding me? You’re a hunter and you don’t have a damn anti-possession tattoo?”, “...That’s a thing??”), they both got the symbol Dean sent them a picture of, tattooed.

Eddie’s is on the back of his neck, easily concealed and not easily fucked with (another suggestion of Dean’s (“Sorry man, that’s our fault. Me and Sammy had ‘em on our chest and now it seems all demons check hunters there first to break the symbol.”), and Nancy’s just underbust, centered on her sternum and just as easily hidden.

The two of them are walking back into Wayne’s after that one when Eddie’s burner rings.

Eddie answers and puts the phone on speaker, giving it to Nancy while he starts making some lunch.

“Finally you answer,” Robin sighed exasperatedly through the tinny speaker. “I was wondering if you gave me a dud number. What happened to Nancy’s phone?”

“We uh…ran into a spot of bad luck and I dropped it down a storm grate.”

Eddie chuckles at that; Getting an actual lucky rabbit’s foot back from a supernatural tchotchke dealer and burning it to get rid of its curse after Nancy touched it and nearly died from the bad luck wrought upon her when the dealers stole it back all boiled down to a single sentence like that? Hilarious.

“It’s about time you started getting burners anyway.” Eddie calls back to her. 

“You guys need to come back to Hawkins, Will is…there’s no way I can explain this thoroughly over the phone. He’s not hurt, just…kinda losing it a bit. When can you be here?”

The two share a worried glance . “We can head out now, give us a day or so.” Eddie says, changing gears from making one sandwich, to packing up a nearby cooler with sandwich ingredients to take with them instead.

The first leg of the drive is tense, Nancy texting back and forth with Robin to get a somewhat clearer picture of what’s going on, but she’s right. It’s just super confusing.

“Can we get a room please? Two beds, thanks.” Eddie asks the older woman when he steps up to the counter of the motel when they do stop for the night, absentmindedly tapping his wallet on the counter after pulling out a $100 bill.

“Of course dear!” she starts shuffling papers around on her desktop. She looks up when the door opens again and Nancy drops their duffel at his feet.

“I’ll be right back!” Nancy calls over her shoulder, walking towards the door marked as the bathroom.

The receptionist is silent for a moment, “You know, you don’t need to pretend, hon, we get all sorts through here. I’ll get you set up with a king bed.”

“Whoa, hold on. What are you talking about?”

She looks up at him with a haughtier-than-thou expression. “We get affairs here more often than you’d think, dear, you don’t need to pretend by asking for two beds. I’m not gonna say anything to her husband.”

Eddie’s speechless for a hot second. Then responds with as pissed off an attitude he can manage over how incredibly hilarious the situation is.

“First of all, I’d hope you wouldn’t.” The woman is still smirking to herself and nodding while she types into the computer, “Secondly, you shouldn’t assume,” she looks like she’s about to say something smart alec-y but Eddie interrupts before she can begin, “She’s my sister.”

The woman splutters as Nancy walks back up to the counter.

“Are we good, Ed? I’m tired as hell.”

“About to be, this lovely woman was about to grab our key.”

The receptionist looks between the two of them, no doubt noticing their similarities, and does just that, handing over the keycard with Eddie’s change.

“Ugh, imagine being in everyone’s business like that? Couldn’t be me.” He grumbles louder than normal to Nancy as they head back outside to their door, making sure the woman could hear him.

“Oh, ew, she assumed we were together?”

“Don’t they always?.” he says with a shudder and unlocks their door.

Eddie tosses his bag onto the bed closest to the door as usual, and while Nancy locks up behind them and starts laying out salt lines across the windowsills and just behind the door, he takes care of checking the tiny bathroom.

His head keeps spinning around what in the hell could be going on with Will, his line of thinking always coming back to whatever it is, it’s something that Steve may not have been able to help with.

And that’s a thought, isn’t it?

As if reading his mind, Nancy asks, “Have you heard from Steve lately?”

“Not since coming back from Hawkins last time. Why?”

“Just wondering if he’d been checking in or not, I worry about him.” she shrugs, packing away her toiletries again.

Eddie thinks it over for a moment, and his stomach starts to sink. “Actually, now that I really think about it, I haven’t heard from him.”

“Yeah Eddie, that’s what you just said.”

“No, no, no,” he waves her off, “I mean, usually, as soon as I say his name, he appears. Now that I’m thinking back, I’ve talked about him since then and after about what? A week after I met Will? He stopped showing up.”

The sinking feeling in his stomach fell further. So much further that he needs to sit down.

It looked like Nancy was starting to get worried too. “Try calling him now?”

Eddie nods, then looks upward at the dingy hotel room ceiling. “Are you there, Steve? It’s me, Eddie.” 

“Classic, good start.” Nancy does her best to alleviate his worry.

He gives her a quick, hesitant smile before closing his eyes and bowing his head. His elbows rest on his knees, and his hands are clasped together tightly. “I’m worried about you Stevie, please at least stop in for a minute? Just to let us know you’re okay?”

He keeps his eyes squeezed shut, listening for the angel’s beat of wings around the sound of his own frantic heartbeat.

Nothing. For a whole minute he listens and waits, silently praying. And nothing.

Eddie’s eyes snap open and he shoots up to his feet. “Nancy, what’s happening, he normally comes immediately! And if he’s not answering, that must mean he wasn’t answering the party either; why else would Robin have sounded that worried, is something angel-y happening with Will and they can’t find Steve either and—”

“Hey! Hey, it’s okay, I’m sure he’s just busy with angel things.” She pats his shoulder comfortingly but her tone and facial expression betrays her worry too.

“Wait! Wait, he told me he has a sister, maybe she can help?”

She looks worried, “Do you know if she’s also a…a nice angel? One that’d help us find him and not immediately try to smite us?”

“I…I don’t know..” Eddie combs through his brain, not finding much more that Steve’s ever said about his sibling, but he does remember something else.

“Here,” he says, going to the nightstand between their two beds and pulling out the hotel-branded pad of paper from the drawer there. “I need you to draw this sigil in your own blood.”

“My own–what?!”

“Just..trust me, okay?” he pleads, passing the drawing to her. “It’s a banishing symbol. If Steve’s sister isn’t a nice angel, you’ll slap your hand to the sigil and it will banish her.” 

“...Where the hell’d you learn this?”

“I found it not long after Steve found me.” he shrugs, tugging on his hair worriedly, “It has to be relatively fresh, and has to be drawn in the blood of the person who’s using it.”

Nancy looks at him a moment longer, then nods in finality, getting to work on slicing her palm and copying the sigil onto the back of the motel room door.

She gives him a nod once she’s finished, and for the second time that night, Eddie prays.

“Levanael? I don’t know how much Steve has told you about me, but this is Eddie. Can you help us? We’re worried about your brother.” He feels ridiculous for about 20 seconds before there’s another person in their room.

“Robin??”

Levanael’s head tilts to the side in exactly the opposite direction Steve’s head normally does. “No, my name is Levanael. I assumed you would know that since you were the ones who called for me.”

“Yes, you are right, Levanael; We are just surprised that we know your vessel already.” Nancy soothes the angel, ever the steady presence.

“Levanael, can you tell us where Steve is?”

“You keep using that name; that is not my brother’s name.”

Eddie blinks at the angel. “Uhh..”

“That is what he introduced himself to us as?” Nancy questions, looking over at Eddie.

“When I first met your brother, he told me that his name would be ‘incomprehensible’ to me.”

Levanael huffs. “My brother tends to be dramatic. And with how much he loves humans, he should know how easily you can understand Enochian. His name is–”

The racket that comes from Robin’s mouth is the same high-pitched squeal Steve once tried to get him to understand after pulling him from hell, and he and Nancy both cover their ears as fast as possible.

”Put much simpler, and easily translated into understandable English, his name is Leoc.”

“...That’s it?” Eddie can’t help but bark out a hysterical laugh at that.

Nancy is smiling too, “What a dingus.” 

Levanael tilts her head again. “My vessel has found immense joy in this conversation.”

“Your vessel, Robin, always calls Leoc’s vessel, Steve, ‘Dingus’.” she explains to the being.

“I see.”

“Let’s get back to how St–Leoc is missing. Do you know where your brother is?” Eddie asks her.

Levanael tilts her head once more, looking toward the ceiling as if she is listening for something.

“Yes.”

“...That’s it?” Eddie asks.

“You asked if I knew where he is, and I do.”

Eddie blinks at her. “Care to elaborate?”

“Would you like me to?” She asks with full sincerity.

“Please.”

She goes back to her thinking/listening pose and Eddie takes the chance to look over at Nancy.

Nancy merely shrugs in return and looks back at Levanael.

For the first time since arriving, Levanael’s face shows the slightest hint of expression, her brow furrowing in confusion. “He is in the Beautiful Room. Why does he not leave?” she says to herself.

“He’s stuck?”

“Angels cannot be trapped in the Beautiful Room. The room is designed to keep those without grace in, and those with grace are free to enter and exit.”

It clicks for Nancy first. “Levanael, if the soul of your brother’s vessel was there with him, would he be able to leave?”

“No. The non-angelic soul would be ripped from its body if my brother were to take flight.”

Nancy and Eddie share a look. 

“Thank you Levanael, may we call on you in the future?”

Any emotion the angel had shown previously drops from her face.

“You may. Though be warned that my orders come from Heaven and they come first.” then she’s gone in a blink.

In what seems like another blink, Eddie’s burner rings again.

“Hel–”

“She is with us.”

“Robin?”

“She told me. She said ‘All the might of heaven may not take me from my brother. I will help you.’.”

“We need to get back to Hawkins.”

Part 7 will be here!

@undreaming-rambles, @thefreakandthehair, @potentialheartofdarkness, @munsonfamilyband, @evix-syne666, @mightbeasleep, @hardboiledleggs

[trippygalaxy]

@theladyofrosewater WELL SINCE YOU ASKED :DD

Linked Universe FNAF au!

Hyrule is now in a modern day era, or close to it at this point. They have all sorts of machinery and technologies that are way past the time if BOTW (they also have corporate greed :DD)

No evil force has fallen over the land in centuries, leaving most of the land’s residents to believe that all the stories of chosen heroes were just myths

A struggling business/company uncovers a handful of Ancient relics. Each one having been the property/cherished item of a mythical hero.

And for some reason, a bit of the heroes soul is stuck to the relic.

Fascinated and seeing the opportunity to save their business, the company tried to sell the relics. But no one would buy them, too scared of the Implications or just not believing the story

So, they obviously made the very logical leap of opening an Animatronic/robot restaurant based off these heroes of old :D

Using the relics with bits of the heroes souls in them, they forced/shifted the soul into the new metal body! They wanted to make the heroes as accurate as they could to their legends, but without putting any work into it!

When the souls possessed the robotic bodies, not only did it bring the robots to life but it also gave a sense of realism to them.

The memories of the heroes were now in these robotic cages. Letting their personalities and experiences shine through!

Each of the chain had their own purpose in the restaurant (if yall want, ill talk about this later ;D) which along side their lively ness and personality, brought in a lot of tourists and customers!

You might be asking, how are the boys so calm about this? Well, they arent! The company had found a way to control the souls within their suits.

Magic stones/sigils are all over the restaurant, being Disguised as decoration for the restaurants theme! They glow during the working hours, forcing the souls to let their robot bodies do all the moving/action.

But, these sigils are turned off during the night. They have to recharge so they can keep going the next morning, what does this mean the boys souls? Well, they get a little quirky at night!

This is where the night guard comes in! They were hired to watch over the boys to make sure they don’t try to escape, or destroy themselves!

The chain does try to attack/kill the night guard, seeing as their the only thing keeping them stuck in the restaurant.

[lesless]

This is a very overdue ask, but you drew some art of Lorexis once, does she have any lore? O: I'm weak for a purple tief.

Ahhh!! Of course I’m delighted to share lol :3

In our previous campaign I played a fawn named Feya of Highstone, we were nearing the end of our mission to sail the world & save it but our DM’s career as a comedian in Lithuania took off & he doesn’t have time to lead the group at the moment so my cousin took over as the DM & he’s excellent :3 it’s his first campaign! When he took over we began a dreamscape storyline, all of our characters, Feya included, fell into a magical sleep & awoke as new people entirely with only a faint memory of the life we once had—which is fading fast. Memories of this dream life flooded in, & my character awoke as Lorexis. I usually give all my characters L names lol.

Lorexis retains the skeptical attitude of Feya, but with a lot less patience for her blundering crew, who have devolved into a shoot first ask questions later group. Because her story is the manifestation of this dreamscape, her memories of the past & home are piecemeal, incomplete. The god of this realm has tasked us with usurping a false god who is impersonating him, however Lorexis has the undercurrent of uneasiness that he may not be who he professes to be… after all, we awoke & were standing before a god with little idea of where we came from, where we were, or who we are, only knowing what he tells us. She is the minority in this suspicion, but hesitantly goes along with the missions as it seems like the only way to get answers. Even in this land, she had a deep trust in her companions despite not knowing who they truly are, a trust that was built on countless battles, saves, & adventures in a life she no longer remembers.

The missions are comprised of finding & destroying temples to the false god, places run by seedy impersonators of a once noble, community-serving religion. The emblems they carry are only slightly different than the true emblem, & it can be challenging to pick out the real seals from the false ones. Of course, this leads Lorexis & the group into questionable moral situations--we are, after all, infiltrating, & most often destroying not only the sigils but the temples themselves, places that serve as the heart of these small towns. This only deepens Lorexis' concerns that we are not on the right side, but with 2-3 sigils destroyed, & the continued assistance of the god, we're in too deep to choose another path so she is left with this inner conflict & no real way out, only though.

Lorexis is a Tiefling Warlock, however her powers don't seem to come naturally to her & she often ineffectively falls back on a dagger or quarterstaff during conflicts. Her main motivation is to get through this impossible situation, to stick with her band of idiots because she feels inexplicably bonded to them, & to keep her guard up, preparing for the worst outcome. She doesn't know what is waiting for her at the end, but her gut feeling is that when it all ends she will feel right again, like waiting to wake up from a bad dream (an eerily accurate assessment).

Because of this she is a bit detached from the horrible moral choices she often has to make in these missions, but it still doesn't sit right with her. After all, in a past forgotten life she was a Druid who healed her teammates, diffused tensions, was the champion of her island sent as am ambassador to save the world! She spent her time flippantly dismissing humans as Fey do, drinking any time she had a chance, & making sure there were enough gourds at every celebration (per her fawn culture). Leaving cities burned behind her is antithetical to a core that resonates through the spell of a dreamscape. She takes watch when she can, spending the time she doesn't need to sleep soul searching for an answer that will come when, if, the spell is broken.

[lostinraveland]

Has it really been 6 years since I last wrote?

It feels really strange to read back through some of these entries - or blog posts...whatever we're calling it these days. Reading over some of the things I said make me wish I could go back in time and just honestly hug myself, encourage myself. It's strange how time distorts memory - I don't remember feeling as low as I was in reading these old posts. Reading my voice feeling like I was constantly on the edge was harrowing for me now.

How to even begin updating 6 years later?! I stopped writing right before we left for Colorado, one of the biggest transition periods of my life. J.O. (I do still feel strange using full names, but initials seems helpful since in reading some of these 12 year old posts I'm like, "wait, who?") and I packed up all of our things and headed out to Colorado.

Our first year in Colorado was literally a nightmare. We moved 6 times in one year. First, we (unknowingly but with a deep suspicion) moved into a house that was an illegal weed operation (which honestly is a full movie script on its own), got tumbled out into the basement of one of mom's high school friends (who she hadn't spoken to in years - moms always save the day), did a brief stint living in an office of an art gallery (while having to pretend we and our animals did not live there), felt like we upgraded into a basement rental living underneath a frail elderly man and two crackheads (who robbed his estate blind when the old man died shortly thereafter), crammed into a duplex with disgustingly disastrous plumbing issues, and finally moved into a drafty and confusingly laid out 1890's home that we would live in for just over a year. We "lived" at most of these squats for 1 month or so before passing onto the next. It was torture.

At some point in the mix of this scramble, J.O. and I ended up breaking up our triad relationship with A.B. It was crushing and confusing at the time, but we truthfully were in no position to maintain a long distance relationship. Bit of a spoiler - she was right about everything she said about J.O. then as well.

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

Things in Colorado didn't start to look up for me until I was able to successfully get my MED badge (March 2017) to legally work in the cannabis industry. I started my first job "gramming" hash for $12/hour, which felt incredibly lucky.

I learned quickly that the cannabis industry is rotten from the inside out, and attracts all of the weirdest weirdos in the entire country - rednecks looking to relocate and get a "jump" in the legal industry, rich trust fund kids playing at having blue collar jobs, addicts, "heady" crowds, and a few perfectly normal folks. I'm not sure that I could accurately select which of these tiers I fell under at the time.

I left my first industry job in just over a year after having gotten some experience transferring to the "garden," - I was able to transfer to another relatively well-known company with hopes to work on their cultivation team. Even with my experience, the industry proved more to be an insider club, so I started my work there as a joint roller, for $15/hour. I rolled 1,000+ joints per day - what a strange time in my life. I did finally work my way onto the cultivation team, and it was just as dysfunctional as my prior role. I ended up getting fired for being a "bad culture fit" - read: reporting illegal pesticide use. The only shimmery thing that I got to take from that job was meeting O.

2017 - 2020 were truly, a blur. It honestly probably doesn't help that I was consuming more weed than at any other point in my life. I also really delved into exploring and developing my ritual skills - I did yoga daily, without fail for a year and a half during this period. I experimented with herbalism, spellcrafting, sigiling, lucid dream exploration, ritual magic. It felt like 2017 was the portal into this realm for me. In some ways, lots of my experimentation was successful - and lots blew up in my face. We continued to see O. Things with J.O and I were always up and down - I'm not even sure if that begins to accurately describe how truly night and day things were. I don't know how I felt about it, honestly, at this time. Mostly because I had stopped writing - and stopped being honest with myself. I believe at some points during these few years he had been holding some meager work, which seemed to make a difference for us. Seeing O was the highlight of my years at this point. I had suffered through a pretty wild "gay existential panic" at some point in 2017, weirdly listening to old millennial YouTube star Hannah Hart's audiobook - of which I absolutely cannot remember the title. I just had a deep knowing that my life was not meant to be spent with a man. At least not only a man. It was the most intense and deep knowing I've had in a long while. I remember walking from my house to the library and just crying. It's wild to look back and see my queer self, in a failing relationship with a man, crying over my desire to love women. It would've saved so much heartbreak to have just ended it then. Thankfully, O came into our lives in such a steadfast way. My life felt fuller. Through lots of back and forth and negotiating with J.O. that I honestly regret dragging O through, we were able to find a way forward. --------------------------------------------------------------------

During this period of my life, I was entirely destabilized (for better and for worse). I continued my pattern of only holding a job for around 1 - 1.5 years max. I left my last job in weed and took another job on a traditional farm, which was a huge breath of fresh air. I worked a long and wonderful season growing produce for a massive, 350-person CSA. I enjoyed this work so deeply. It was during the later part of this season, that things took a sharp left. O was in a gravely serious accident that hospitalized her, requiring major surgeries to recover. This is an event that in retrospect, felt like a chapter ending moment for us. We had only just before moved into a new house together. I immediately quit my job, stepped into a support role where she had been working, and started getting to know her family much more closely than we had before. It's wild how these sorts of things pull people together. And push them apart. J.O. was absolutely and immediately absent from her support during that time. I think he visited the hospital once. I remember coming home from the hospital for the first time, days after her accident, and seeing the dinner I had made the night she went missing still molding on the stove. He hadn't even had the decency to care for "our" home in our absence. I knew that spelt the end for us. -------------------------------------------------------------------- 2019 was a very strange year - that led into an even more strange year. 2019 was a year of discovery and growth, which morphed into recovery and regression at times. I don't have many distinct impressions of 2019. I was learning a new job at a hydroponic greenhouse, trying to support my (still relatively new) partner through one of the most intense and confusing transitions of her life, and still trying to see a way forward for my existing relationship with J.O. Things were weird, and time absolutely felt compressed. By the top of 2020, I knew I was ready for a shift. I was coincidentally laid off from my greenhouse job just as I accepted a new position as a farm manager across town. I was excited going into 2020. This would mean me getting to go back to working the fields, my true zenith. It would also mean me getting paid more than I had ever been paid before in my life. To say I was proud would be an understatement. March 2020 hit us all like a brick. I'll save myself the labor of talking about what the next few months felt like. For me as a farmer, few things changed. Learning to hoe with a mask on felt challenging, though we often had the space to spread out. I didn't feel confined or cooped up. I actually felt more freedom than I had in a while. More people wanted fresh food than ever, and we were positioned to do that. 2020 felt like unlocking a critical part of my story. Farmers are first responders. I farmed through the 2020 season, the CO wildfires, the COVID madness. Yes, we watched Tiger King alongside everyone else. I cried the first time I had to go through a drive-through testing station. The gravity of it all was crushing. But something started to shift, mid-summer. I felt that restlessness in my bones and in my spirit, and started to realize that it was time to leave CO. I don't truly know where the impetus came from, or how it started to become a fully formed thought, but at some point over the summer, I realized that it was time for me to come home to the south. I sigiled, asked the cards and my ancestors, started talking to farmers back home. I took one flight back in July, and by September, we had started making the plans to leave. How the rest shaped up, is also a sort of blur. I remember finding the rental house - I don't remember anything else leading up to that. It just feels like we were planning to move to the other side of town. Days inched by, we collected produce crates to pack up our things, and then suddenly, the moving truck was at our rental house. O's parents came to help us pack up the house. We left our house in CO in late October, and made it back to the south in time for Halloween.

All I'd like to say about moving cross-country is - don't try to do it with two humans, two large dogs, a cat, and a tarantula in a 55 gallon tank - in a fucking Prius. We made it somehow. --------------------------------------------------------------------- We spent three months from 2020 into 2021 just existing in our new space. And spacious it was. Moving from a city to the woods wasn't without it's transition time. It was glorious. Hearing coyotes instead of sirens. Hearing the spring peepers instead of car horns. Seeing trees instead of condos. I was absolutely in love. I didn't start work until January of 2021, taking another farm management role. O started working as well (I won't share too much of her story, as it's not mine to tell), in a role that she was very happy with - albeit a bit intimidated by at first. J.O. had immediately started working away from home, with his brother. It was...surprisingly nice to have him away from the house more often. That should have been a clue. Honestly most of the story of 2021 is working, getting reacquainted with place, and us eventually breaking up with J.O. for good. Mid-summer that year, his alcoholism - which had always been apparent, but not always so troublesome - had reached an unavoidable peak. After one final - fairly dramatic, but not necessarily violent - incident, we had had enough. It took three more months of waiting for him to fully take his things from the house, but we were absolutely done. I think, if I'm honest with myself, I had already started to grieve the relationship far before it actually ended. I don't think that's uncommon. I was thrilled when it was finally able to be put to rest. I entered my (self-titled) "gay renaissance," and finally, felt fully liberated. I'm so unbelievably queer, it's wild to think of what I tolerated while I worked to recognize it. 2021 was a hard farming season, a big love transition year, and yet another important chapter. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I'll have to come back and continue writing from 2021, as this post is truly becoming untenably long. This process has taken, embarrassingly, a few months to get together. It feels good to take the storytelling from my body. I wish I had been more present to write about the feelings as they occurred, but hopefully this process will "open the tap" back up to being able to do so. I forgot what being in stream feels like.

[emissaryalder]

^*^

Alder could feel the moment their consciousness became one. When he played his game in his former coven, it was more of a battle. Their specialty school was one of the trickier to master and training kids in the art was especially difficult, but by framing the practice as a game where exchanges of wit, distractions, and other skills honed in the quest to achieve mastery of illusion were used to delve deeper into each other’s minds, control could be taught hands-on. Alder was no exception, but he wasn’t playing against another witch attempting to break through his subconscious. Venerio was open for him, eager to go deeper, and infatuated with magic. It made him the perfect mark to practice with. If Alder could pull this off with a vampire then surely the other species would give him too much trouble.

“Hey, it’s your memory. You’re the one driving this train, I’m simply along for the ride. Or I guess I’m the dirty engine boy shoveling coal. Yeah, that’s more accurate,” he says with a warm chuckle, unable to not marvel at his illusion even though it was in no way the most intricate he’d conjured. But the scene was exactly as Venerio remembered, and even included precise details he couldn’t consciously remember either. That’s how Alder always managed to win when he played, he knew how to exploit the fickleness of memory. For all the room’s accuracies, one minor detail was altered: the presence of Alder’s sigil. It would be small and unnoticeable yet smattered across every inch of the illusion, blending perfectly with the memory. It appeared on the pages of written word, in ink splats, on the ceiling, and even behind Venerio's eyelids to flash with each blink. The subtlety was key because even if Venerio was unaware, the sigil was getting branded into the vampire subconscious. The more memories they visited the more effective this game would be.

“What is real anyway? Reality is what we make of it. You can feel it happening, so is it truly fake? If your body and mind can’t tell the difference, then it’s just as real as when you were here last,” he says, a genuine smile on his face from how pleased Venerio seemed to be. “I don’t know if I know how to love. I suppose I’ve never really given myself the chance, or met the right person.” Love was a powerful emotion, but Alder figured he’d have to meet someone who wasn’t a commodity to him to feel it. “You seem like a lover. I don’t know, you give off that vibe. I bet you’ve had countless epic loves, huh?” he questioned, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible. “We can revisit your greatest hits if you like.”

Acrid blood and iron seemed to condense across the tarmac of Venerio's tongue as Alder whispered an incantation before his very eyes. Venerio had spent centuries shaking hands, making deals, and using eye contact as leverage. There was something there buried behind the witch's gaze, there was what Alder said, what he meant, and what he wanted; three things that didn't exactly marry. Venerio remained trusting, and naturally, he was quite the whore so when a handsome but aloof stranger placed his hands upon the vampire, he'd long learned to just go with it. Sometimes to disastrous consequences, but what could he say? Venerio was very much his father's son.

Under the weight of Alder's words, the world seemed to shift as the part fell away. A haze laid across Venerio's eyes as though a miasma had fallen upon him, it was heavy like a blanket and veiled everything though Alder was still quite clear to him. Many years lay between this present moment of Hakanalia, and the memory which Alder sought to invoke. Venerio's forehead tipped against the witch's as he exhaled dead air into the space between them; his body no longer thought to do such a thing; that habit had been broken over five hundred years ago. Still, to indeed exist in the moment that Alder had called for, Venerio needed to breathe. The vampire's eyes had closed, his hands had landed on the witch's arms, and when he looked up again there was no winter's cold. Instead, they stood in his room overlooking the street below Salvador's estate, where he'd been raised many years ago.

"How did-" Venerio started as he parted from the witch to take a step away and look around. His hand moved to his chest, and there he felt his heart beating again. In front of the window were scrawled poems, scratched, rewritten, crumpled, and wept over. "it isn't real." It was a marvel, though, because when the vampire's fingers traced the parchment, the memory of this very day was clear as day. It was rough and smooth all at once; Venerio knew that elsewhere in the home, his father was entertaining guests; even now, he could hear the faint murmur of voices, he could smell the scents coming up from the kitchens, and he knew that later there would be a bloodbath. "Impressive," Venerio remarked as he looked back toward the witch. This was the day he got crabs for the first time. Memories. "Have you ever been in love?"

[jediknightjameslunagazer23]

@theblueskyphoenix @dreamstormdragon

I hope it's okay to show this as fanart given Chapter 9 has been completed and out for an while now, but decided to draw Dr. Tyler Chase for this fanart, using his flashback design, as I felt it would fit, I could honestly see Tyler just having an moment like this where he just breaks down in guilt and prays for forgiveness of taking so many lives just to give them peace.

Tyler was kinda difficult to draw, but I managed somehow the tears were the hard part along with what colour glow I wanted to give to his sigil, decided to mix things up with red and grey, honestly this could work for an What lies within drawing for Tyler.

Also did an James Lunagazer in redesigned Ancient Greek outfit for once he learns that he's got Apollo's powers, trust me, this drawing went through the most changes as I struggled to figure what colours would work, as I didn't want to completely lose the blue for James, so decided to mix both blue and gold together with some silver here and there.

James was going to have an headdress like Tyler, but I figured it would be overused so I chose to go with an sun inspired headdress, and I know that this Apollo design might not be what the manga depicts depending if someone has Apollo later down the line, but I have the idea that maybe the God's appearance changes depending on the user as an way of explaining it.

As for the sigil, I wasn’t completely sure what to give James, as even though Apollo is Asclepius' father, I didn’t want James to have the same sigil Derek and probably Naomi have, so I went with the devotion to Apollo symbol and gave James green as his eye colour for his powers, sort of like mixing his clothing colours, and it symbolically adds to him slowly making steps to reconciling his painful aspects of the past and moving forward into the future.

For James' actual powers, I'd figure it would be something to do with an lyre motif in terms of sound, an possible name being the "Soothing Choir" like for example, say James was dealing with an extremely anxiety filled patient, his voice would change tone to an soothing aura and it can calm said patient and relieve their pain for an time.

Another possibility considering I'm going with the idea that Apollo has multiple powers being the father of Asclepius and healing, is that James can possibly hear certain "melodies" in an patient's body, allowing him to find problems faster by detecting "discords" in the melody, sort of like Mood Matrix from Ace Attorney pretty much it would be heightened hearing, one such draw back could be that if overused James could risk going deaf for an time along with sensory overload.

And another could do more with the bow and arrow, like James could find certain weak points in G.U.I.L.T strains and then accurately strike them like an arrow similar to Derek's healing touch and references plague arrows from Apollo, except it would be used to save lives.

Pretty much James could be more leaning to an support type kind of role, but he can attack if required, the reason I paired him and Tyler together is that I feel that if I did an fanfic exploring James' side story in the manga verse, these two would mesh as they are similar in someways, like both have an little sister that falls ill but their methods in those scenarios are different and that could lead to parallels along with clashes, but ultimately they come to an understanding and form an brotherhood.

Also just an funny idea I've thought of is if the Greek gods were able to interact in the astral plane, Asclepius and Apollo could possibly have an bit of an father and son moment, as James and Derek are both bewildered and weirded out by.

And that's mostly my ideas and fanart at this time, hope that some of it sounds good with what I've thought of!

[minnesotadruids]

Hello there! If it s not too much trouble, how do you feel about media/pop-culture portrayal of druids?

Since the word “Druid” is used a lot to mean “Nature Wizard” would you prefer if people used/make up their own different words for their stories or find it ok to use the term as long as they’re respectful or accurate to Druidism to some degree?

In terms of the "best" media depiction of druids, I think the BBC series Merlin with Colin Morgan is probably the closest we can get to a positive portrayal of the Celtic priestly caste. I still hesitate to describe it as accurate, but at the very least I wasn't balking at the show as much as I did when watching an episode of The Librarians. We'll get to them in a moment.

There's also the fun Australian miniseries Roar that starred a young Heath Ledger. It was full of historical inaccuracies (the premise being about a Roman-occupied Ireland for one thing). But it portrayed the druids in a positive light despite being at a time when they were in decline.

In the TV show The Librarians: And the Rise of Chaos (season 3 episode 1) they have a very brief (2-3 minute) run-in with some angry druids. The mob only shouts and growls but don't seem to speak, all while wearing tattered robes and brandishing wooden farm implements of various functions. They were also wearing cringey cast-resin masks of animal skulls that miraculously fit perfectly on their faces and just looked fake. I should point out this show takes place in the present.

The librarians have to climb a wicker man and solve a puzzle to steal a rune-covered stone artifact. The puzzle is based on a Celtic board game gwyddbwyll AKA fidchell. In the episode, the game pieces are Norse runes (Elder Futhark). Historically, the Iron Age Celts would not have used those runes. The game pieces should be carved figures of warriors instead. Then things get a bit personal with the tree stump inscription.

One librarian translates the markings on the stump which he says are "ancient Gaulish mixed with third century astrological symbols," and somehow reads "when the king reaches the north, the light will reveal itself."

*FACEPALM*

Well the three symbols on the left side are more Norse Elder Futhark (i.e. not even Celtic), the symbol cluster in the upper right corner looks like it could be vaguely Lepontic script (i.e. yes, “ancient Gaulish”) but that specific one is not in the Lepontic alphabet at all. Just for fun they have the symbol for Aries (the aforementioned (but singular) Greek astrological symbol). The Celtic triskele is in the upper middle of the stump and variations of it go back thousands of years, but it doesn't really have a universally accepted meaning.

What upset me the most was the incorporation of the Druid Sigil (bottom center of the stump). It is the official symbol of the Reformed Druids of North America (RDNA). The RDNA invented the Druid Sigil in 1963 to be a geometrically simple symbol, yet at the same time - unique. They went through books of symbols to make sure it didn't already exist. The RDNA founders described the Druid Sigil as a symbol for the Earth-Mother, but it is truly devoid of a specific meaning or powers.

In the RDNA, the individual imparts their own meaning into the Sigil, and whatever powers they want it to have if need be. To me the Druid Sigil is a sun wheel, and the two vertical lines represent the Two Tenets of Reformed Druidism. It means something different to everyone, and it is neither ancient Gaulish nor third century anything. The show producers obviously googled “Druid symbols” and that was the extent of their research.

I guess if someone was to make a new show, movie, or other media about druids, I would prefer that it would at least clearly be in the high-fantasy genre if they're going to make them all fanciful magic users, and especially if they're going to be portrayed as bad guys. If the show is trying to be more historically accurate, I'd much prefer that they stick to what's verifiable (though admittedly that's not much). Otherwise yeah, it would be nice sometimes if they used a different term, like sorcerers or warlocks if they're bad guys.

Oh gosh, Warlock! That was a 1989 supernatural horror movie that started a trilogy of gory films. The warlock was a bad guy, and a secret bloodline of druids were the only ones who had a chance of stopping him. The depiction of druids was okay I suppose, and on the plus side they wore plain everyday clothes in the 20th century, 'cause you know it's important to blend in.

See Also:

History of the Druid Sigil

Common Symbols in Druidry

[helldustedstories]

Stolas tore through the books he'd pulled down from the shelf, all four eyes scanning through the text, looking for the spell he needed, cursing himself for not having it on hand when he needed it. He'd even considered it recently, considered making sure he had it, just in case, some of his sense for prophecy hinting that he might need it in the future, perhaps? Or just a sense of foreboding, of wanting to be prepared?

Regardless of the reason, he didn't have it on hand, and he needed to find it right the fuck now. He needed to find it ten minutes ago, yesterday, needed to already have it on hand. Time was ticking, and he knew the more time he spent searching for this spell, preparing it, casting it, the less time Blitz had. He wouldn't go down without a fight, Stolas knew that, but he didn't have any idea who or what Blitz was fighting against, which made it more urgent.

Thank fuck he could search two books at once; this was one time the ability to split his focus between his sets of eyes came in very handy; he found the page he was looking for in his grimoire, and the other books thudded to the floor as he stopped concentrating on holding them up with his magic.

He scanned through the ingredients twice, already scrambling to gather everything he needed. There was a reason he kept his desk and library well-stocked with all sorts of seemingly random items, and that was going to come in handy now; he did not have time to waste trying to track down what he needed for this spell.

His hands were shaking so much he could barely hold onto the mortar and pestle as he started grinding the herbs necessary; if he fucked this up, he'd have to start all over, which was a waste of precious time. Stolas put down the tools, forcing himself to take a deep breath, doing his best to ground himself, to stave off his panic; he wouldn't be able to help Blitz if he was too busy dealing with his own anxiety. He let out the breath slowly, repeating the gesture several times until his breathing was slightly more normalized.

Stolas could still feel his heart racing, but his hands were steadier, at least enough so he wouldn't drop what he was doing. He raced to the bathroom to grab Blitz's toothbrush (sorry, darling; I'll replace it later), glad that he'd started leaving some things here; this would help him concentrate the spell on Blitz instead of just giving him a more general location. He should be able to pinpoint him this way.

As soon as the spell ingredients were all gathered together, Stolas waved a hand, pulling up a map of the rings, the way he did when he was searching the stars. Once he found out what ring he was in, he should be able to focus on that ring, narrowing down his whereabouts until he could locate him.

His hands shaking again, Stolas whispered the incantation, drawing the sigil circle in the middle of his desk as quickly and accurately as he could. With a whoosh of power, Stolas' eyes glowed, quickly scanning through the rings until his focus was brought to Greed. Good, he was getting somewhere.

He didn't even question why Blitz would be in Greed, just continued to follow the path of the spell, scanning as quickly as he could through the Greed ring, looking for Blitz, his search narrowing as the spell did its work.

There! There he was!

Stolas gasps as he finally locates Blitz, watching him try to pull himself to his feet, eyes widening as he sees just how hurt he is.

There's no time to waste. He keeps the locator spell going, so he knows exactly where to open his portal, taking his eyes off of it for a split second so he can tear a hole through space, to get to Blitz.

And for a moment, when he reaches for his portal, nothing happens. Stolas mutters a curse under his breath; he's so anxious he'd fucked up the spell, one he's known since he was little more than a child. He needed to get hold of himself; Blitz needs him.

He hones in on the location once more, and this time, a portal rips open just in time for Stolas to hear a shout of ❝ - There he is ! Fuckin' get him, he's one fuckin' guy ! ❞

Stolas releases the location spell and his portal as he throws himself bodily in front of Blitz, a shield of shimmering lavender-blue magic at their backs, giving them some protection from the projectiles coming their way. He's not used to deflecting bullets, and it won't hold forever, but they don't need forever.

"We've got to stop meeting like this, darling," he murmurs, the quip leaving him almost desperately, as he does his best to fight back both the tears and the absolute fury as he sees just how hurt Blitz is.

His shield is still holding for the moment as his head turns all the way around, to take a good, long look at the people who had threatened, who had hurt Blitz. As much as he wanted to tear them apart with his bare hands, he was much more concerned with taking care of Blitz, with getting out of here and seeing to his injuries.

But for a moment, just a moment, his eyes glow and his form shifts as he continues to stand in front of Blitz, protecting him with all he has, all he is. And as his feathers shimmer into shadow, as his eldritch form towers over the approaching thugs, his voice surrounds all of them, clawing into their skulls, sinking into their souls, marking them as his prey.

"Your days are numbered," the horrific whisper flows through them, rooting them to the spot as he turns back to Blitz, his form shifting back to that of just Stolas.

"I told you I'd always find you," he murmurs, gently, so gently taking Blitz into his arms. "You are not dying on me, do you hear me?" Stolas adds, tears threatening at the corners of his eyes, "You don't get to tell me goodbye like that and just expect me to accept it; that is not happening."

Despite how shaky his voice is, his hands are remarkably steady, now that he's holding Blitz to his chest, doing everything he can not to hurt him more. He manages a portal home, closing it quickly behind them, but not before a bullet whizzes over his head, lodging somewhere in the wall of the bedroom. But Stolas doesn't care about that, doesn't care about anything except the man in his arms.

He lays Blitz gently onto their bed, one hand cupping his cheek. "It's okay. You're going to be okay. I'm going to take care of you," Stolas promises. At this point, he's had some practice taking care of each member of I.M.P., and though he's certainly not a doctor, he's armed with healing spells and practical knowledge. Right now, he didn't trust anyone else with Blitz's well-being, and he was not taking any chances, not after what had happened.

The, honestly insane, irony is not lost on Blitz - there were so many times in the past fifteen years that he wouldn't have been particularly bothered about dying - fuck, moments where he would have preferred it. The nights he spent alone when all he could do was lie awake and listen to the screaming that didn't end with his nightmares and smell the smoke; the nights he sought any body that was warm and willing, and bonus points if they were happy to fuck him a little, beat the thinking out of him.

When he found Loona, brought her home, he hadn't made any conscious decision to hang on. It had simply ... been. His priorities shifted the moment he saw her, her tail curled around her legs, only fucking seventeen years old. He hadn't seen himself in her - despite the callous dismissal by the bitch who ran the place, or even in her snarling defenses. No, she was just Loona and she was his daughter even if neither of them knew it yet.

Millie. Moxxie. Building I.M.P. brick by brick and body by body. Stolas. Meeting Stolas - seeing him again. Spending a full night with him when he'd never intended to but thank Satan he did - or maybe it was inevitable. Maybe they were like those stars and planets he talked about, caught in each other's gravity.

Octavia. Fizz, again, miraculously, despite how little Blitz deserved that forgiveness. Maybe Barbie, in the future.

And despite knowing that he would lay down his life for any of them, here in this moment, it's no longer a passive thought: Blitz does not want to die. For whatever reason, the universe has given him people who need him again - maybe care about him. Maybe love him. And fuck knows he loves them with every single fiber of his tattered heart. Deliriously, he realizes that what he's looking for right is the familiar feeling of Stolas' hand in his, the warmth and form next to him that's become second nature, fitting together like they were simply meant to.

Instead, there is agony. Blitz shoves his phone inside his jacket and pulls himself quietly to his feet. His shattered fingers don't want to move, but tough shit. They belong to a Buckzo, and a Buckzo goes down swinging, if they have to go down at all. Bracing a boot against a defunct pipe, he pries off a dangling metal sheet, thin and just as painful to hold as it would be to get hit with in the face. But it was something.

He doesn't have much of a plan beyond try not to die. He does try to time it to give himself as much of the element of surprise as possible, but he doesn't get around to trying to throw something down the rest of the hall to divert their attention. No, he needs to spend the last few seconds bracing himself and getting a better grip on the metal. It's cutting into his better hand, and it's probably a liability to make his grip slick with blood, but there's no way he's going to hold onto it with only the strength of one hand.

Crimson's men aren't pushovers. They're not all great, of course - he certainly likes to surround himself with some expendable bodies for the sake of having a meat shield between himself and the dirty work. Shitfucker. Still, he feels a little thrill of satisfaction knowing that he's enough of a pain in the ass to be labeled a loose end to tie up - if not an outright threat. Blitz climbs up on an empty crate, and the moment the first goon passes by his alcove, he's jumping down on them, steel first.

He knows he took out at least a chunk of them already, before he'd lost his gun and wound up captive, but this is definitely not all of them. Which - bodes just as much good as it does bad. There's a chance here, against only a fraction of the fucks left, that he might make it.

Then, of course, that means there's no clean way to get out.

The hired guns fight brutal, but Blitz fights dirty. They learn quickly to watch out for the improvised weapon in his hand as he neatly crushes the first guy's throat with it and leaves his body on the ground. But he also has teeth, and the steel toes of his boots, and he's particularly proud of the dick shot he gets in, feels the satisfying crunch as the fucker goes down hard.

Someone gets him hard in the side and he sees stars as he feels something crack, but Blitz uses the momentum to spin around and knock him out with a blow to the temple. - Stolas, he learned that from Stolas. He doesn't remember from when in this moment, but the thought comes to him like a lightning flash and it bolsters him.

They're drawing plenty of noise. It won't be long before the rest of the group realizes that they have him - Blitz is on a timer here. Blood is obscuring the vision in his only good eye so he takes a moment to scrub his useless hand across his face, then swings around to knock it into another one's jaw. They're pissed, radiating fury, but they're fighting for a paycheck - Blitz is fighting for his family.

Really, they never stood a chance.

In the aftermath, the only sounds down this hall are his breathing, the gurgling of some of the bodies easing into their deaths, and his own blood dripping drop, drop, drop onto the metal floor. Blitz doesn't have any time to wait - they're going to come for him sooner rather than later. The moment he tries running, his whole right leg buckles, and the blood loss leaves him feeling absolutely fucking stupid. Clenching his jaw, Blitz digs his claws into the wall and pulls himself up.

Boy, get up. Cash looking down at him as Blitz tries to breathe around his bruised ribs. If he clenches his stomach enough, he doesn't need to move his chest as much. It's not much but it gets him on his feet.

When he hears distant sounds, Blitz immediately banks left and keeps dragging himself forward, one step at a time. He doesn't know if he's burying himself deeper in the maze, but it's better than fighting on fumes. Please, fuck, I can't leave them. He thinks of the softness of Stolas' chest, the warmth of his feathers, the little coos that escape him when he's truly and genuinely happy - enough to not worry about controlling himself.

Fuck, fuck - his eyes burn. All he wants is to step forward and land in their bed.

Then, somehow, there is light. It's distant and at first he wonders if he's hallucinating - but, no, there is light. Shitty, green, Greed light - light, light. A strangled sound catches in the back of his throat, a hoarse imitation of a laugh. He's getting out - !

❝ - There he is ! Fuckin' get him, he's one fuckin' guy ! ❞

Blitz surges forward, desperately clawing his way to the light, but - just like before - his leg gives up the ghost and buckles under him - this time, sending him sprawling. No, no, damn it! He's a fucking trained assassin! He's an acrobat! He's better than this - he's better than - get up, get up kid, get the fuck up - he turns onto his back and scoots on his elbows and good leg back as fast as he can, and the blurry mass of shadows down the hall resolve into the rest of the gang.

No more weapon. No gun. His body is finally starting to ignore him, no matter how much he's trained it to listen to him even at the edge of goddamn death.

I'm sorry.

[rebelbyrdie]

Ficlet Day #3 (OUAT)

I think this was supposed to be a OUAT-Witcher Crossover Fic with a very jealous Emma.

What Does She Have (That I Don't)

Another portal opened, which shouldn't be a surprise anymore.  It was, like, a weekly occurance.  Storybrooke was as busy as O'Hare these days.  People came and went.  

Just two months ago half of the cast of Frozen had decided to spend their royal vacation in Storybrooke.  It wasn't that Emma had been happy to see Anna and Elsa, but the whole reindeer and snowman thing had been a bit much.

So here they were, yet again, on a wild portal hunt. It wouldn't be so bad, but since Storybrooke wasn't on Google Maps, she couldn't even play Pokemon Go while trecking miles through the woods.

Maybe it would be something nice and easy.  Like maybe the cats from Aristocats.  Cute, cuddly and low matinence.  If it was ogres again, Emma was going to lose her shit.

"So are you picking up anything on your magical radar?"

Regina didn't say anything but did turn her head and glared at her.  They were still on shaky ground since the whole Robin-Marian situation.   Emma didn't know why.  Robin was a giant dickhead.  He might be Regina's so-called soulmate but he had also been Zelena's partner in crime.  Yeah he'd been doing to get back his dead wife, but that didn't mean he wasn't a dick head.  

Emma did not understand what Regina saw in him.

Probably the same thing she'd seen in Hook, a warm body that didn't hate her.  Lonliness made women (even super smart and magical ones) make dumb decisions.  Not that she would ever say that to Regina.  Emma didn't want to be set on fire, thank you very much.

"Seriously, you know I'm not good at this sensing magic stuff.  Are we even close?"

Regina blew a huff out of her nose.  "I think we need to go closer to the town line.  Back towards the road."

They were at least twenty minutes away the road.  Emma sighed.  This was going to be a long ass day.

When they finally arrived at the town line, Emma was ready for a burger, a shower, a burger, a beer and a nap.  Maybe a few beers.

"There we are."

The first thing Emma noticed was that the town sign had been destroyed.  As Regina had made her pay to repair it, Emma took that as a personal attack.  There was a person-shaped lump on the road.  Their portal trip must have been rough.

Emma put her hand on the butt of her pistol.  The lump didn't look familar and Emma had to be prepared for the worst.

Regina didn't seem very worried.  She just twister her left hand.  The person-lup was coated in shiny purple blanket.  They jerked in response and let out a long and painful groan.  They started to push themselves up.  

"Hey."  Emma kept her eyes focused on the stranger.  "Welcome to Storybrooke."

The lump looked up.  It was a woman in heavy leather armor.  She had short blonde hair, wierd eyes and a sour expression on her face.  She stood up and only wobbled a little bit.

"Oh!"  Regina's eyebrows winged up and then she held out her hand.  "Well Met, Ser." 

What the fuck?  Did Regina know this person?  Also did she know something about their pronouns that Emma didn't?

"I am Queen Regina, leader of Storybrooke."  

Well that was mostly accurate.

"And this is my law keeper, Lady Emma Swan.  We welcome you and offer any and all assitance."

What the ever-loving fuck was Regina talking about?

"Regina."  Emma hissed only half under her breath.  "What the Hell?"

Regina's eyes flashed and she scowled.  "Miss Swan.  Look at her sigil.  She is a Knight of Andrezej."

The sigil Regina mentioned must mean her necklace. Emma thought it looked like a wierd circle with something inside it.  It meant absolutly nothing to her.  More fairy tale crap.  Also Emma wasn't even sure that last part was a real word.  

"Gesundheit to you too."  She snarked at Regina.  Then she turned her attention back to the stranger.  "So what's your name and story?"

She didn't care how nice Regina was to this lady.  She wasn't from Storybrooke and that made her suspicious.  Not to mention that she had busted the "historic" sign into about a million pieces.

"I am."  Her voice had some sort of accent that Emma had never heard before.  "Ser Thera of Andrezej and I am here on a mission."  She pulled a scroll out of chest armor thing and held it out to Regina.  "I am hunting down a fugitive of justince from the Kingdom of King Ercole."

Wait.  Wait just a damn second.  This chick wasn't some fancy knight.  She was just a bounty hunter.  A freaking fairy tale bounty hunter.  Which was not nearly as cool as someone like Boba Fett or Stephanie Plum.  

"Well that's great.  How are you going to fix the town's historic sign, Lady?"

Regina scowled at her.  "Honestly, Miss Swan."  She flicked her hand around in a circle and poof the sign re-assembled itself magically.  "Don't be rude.  Ser Thera is our esteemed guest."

The woman tapped her wierd pendant and in a flash of orange her clothes changed.  The leather armor was now darkwash jeans, a  black button up shirt and a fitted bomber jacket.  The apparently magical necklace still hung off her neck.  

"Thank you, Your Majesty."  

It sounded so polite and proper when the bounty hunter said it.  Regina practically beamed when the woman offered her arm.  Regina, the super-independent and hard-assed mayor, linked her arm through the other woman's like a teenager on her first date.

"I'll show you our town.  If this mark of yours is here then Granny's is the best place to start looking.

They walked past Emma arm in arm.

Emma didn't like the smirk on the Thera's face or the spark in her wierd pumpkin orange eyes.  

What was Regina's deal?  She'd had Emma arrested for busting the sign and that hadn't even been her fault!  Not to mention she'd tried to run her out of town for months.  Now she was just throwing up the ye old castle gate and rolling out the freaking red carpet.  For a freaking bounty hunter.

Emma had been a bounty hunter too.  A damn good one.  They just didn't get to pretend to be knights in the good ol' US of A.  She didn't trust this woman.  What kind of name was Thera anyway?

When they got to Granny's, it only got worse.  Everyone, even Granny, fell all over themselves over her.  They all thought being a Knight of Achoo (or whatever) was the best thing in the damn universe.  Even Snow and David seemed impressed.  Henry wanted to hear stories about her adventures.

Apparently being The Savior was old news.  Whatever.  

"Sheriff Swan?"

Thera stood in front of her otherwise empty table.

"Her Majesty has offered me lodging for the night.  I was hoping we could speak on the morrow about my manhunt."

Emma wanted to tell the woman to crawl up her own butt and die, but that was probably not something a cop was supposed to say.  Besides that, the quicker this glorified bail jockey got her man, the quicker she would get out of town.

Wait.  Lodgings?

"Regina's paying to put you up in the Inn?"

Emma shot a look over at Ruby and her girlfriend.  They had both been drooling over tall, blonde and full of herself.

"No.  She is hosting me at her manor."

What!  Emma didn't even have a damn key to the place.  She had never even seen most of the second floor.  Suddenly Regina was just thowing open her doors.  To a stranger?  With their Kid right down the hall?