#used to go by the name of a fire bird from a book series I loved back in the day. Different times really.

[therealcallmekd]

A Simple Stoic Fire-Bird

[m1ckeyb3rry]

── PEREGRINE // THREE

Series Synopsis: The ways that you and Seishiro Nagi fall together and fall apart over the years.

Chapter Synopsis: You spend the night at May and Reo’s, and then you go to visit your parents.

Series Masterlist

Pairing(s): Nagi x Reader, Kira x Reader

Chapter Word Count: 5.0k

Content Warnings: unhealthy relationships, cheating, non-linear narrative, probably ooc, angst, nagi is endgame, kira sucks, alternate universe, original characters

A/N: literally twitching every time i have to write a chapter and nagi is just not in it LMAOAOA also l/n family slander is always acceptable here #iykyk

divider credits: @/benkeibear

“When do you plan on going to see your parents?” Reo said. You, May, and him were hanging out in their enormous kitchen as rain poured down outside, hammering against the windows and roof. The storm made you feel nostalgic, and you sighed wistfully as you watched the deluge.

“Probably tomorrow,” you said. “I just want to get it over with. Even without having the conversation, I know how it’s going to go. It’ll be the same as the usual, so there’s no point in delaying the inevitable.”

That probably didn’t mean much to either of the two, considering you had never divulged much to them. You had never been able to tell anyone about the details of your relationship with your parents — it was something secret and rotten that you held close to your chest, a hatred which festered in your stomach and cowered from the light, and you could not bear for anyone to see you like that.

“Do you want us to come?” May said. Although Reo had known you longer, May had always been the more perceptive between the two of them, had always been more in-tune with emotions — both her own and others’ — than anyone you had ever met.

“No, it’s okay,” you said. The last thing you needed was for your parents to see Reo, especially with his own fiancée. It would be the worst outcome, and when the situation was already bound to be so fraught, there was no sense in adding fuel to the fire.

“We’ll drop you off whenever, though,” Reo said. “That’s a promise.”

“No way,” you said. “You guys should be relaxing. The whole reason I came over early was to make things easier for you two during your wedding! I’m not about to cause extra problems. We’ll take the taxi, and then afterwards, I’ll look for wedding dress boutiques so we can book an appointment. We should probably get that over with soon, just in case it takes them time to get the fit altered.”

“If you mention my name, it’ll be finished in seconds,” Reo said dismissively. “Don’t worry about dumb stuff like that.”

“No need to brag,” you said, elbowing him in the side teasingly. “We should give them enough time to make sure the work is of the highest quality. Besides, we have to begin planning somewhere, don’t we? Might as well start with this.”

“But that’s another thing I can’t do with you guys,” he said. You could not help yourself from chuckling at the way he pouted, his eyes swimming with melodramatic tears.

“You’re seriously clingy,” you said.

“Once we’ve picked my dress, you can come help us choose the rest of the wedding party’s clothes,” May offered. “I don’t think there’s any superstition around that, is there?”

“No, it’s just that the groom isn’t supposed to see the bride’s dress until the wedding,” you said. “Everything else is alright. We can probably get the dresses and suits from the same shop, too, so we can kill two birds with one stone. Great idea, May!”

“Thanks,” May said.

“Just tell me when, and I’ll make sure Nagi is free — don’t look at me like that! You knew he was going to be the best man before accepting the maid of honor position. I warned you!” Reo said.

“I know, but I just…I mean, do you think he’s going to offer any valuable insight? Beyond saying something like ‘oh, this suit is less of a pain than that one,’” you said, pitching your voice deeper to mimic Nagi’s low, mild voice.

“He’s going to have to wear it, so his opinion is kind of relevant,” Reo said.

“What happened between you guys while we were gone, anyways?” May said. “It was pretty normal when we left, besides Kira making things kind of awkward, but after we got back from dropping him off, there was a really weird atmosphere. Did you guys talk about something?”

“Nothing in particular,” you said.

“That still means you talked,” Reo said. “May’s right. I thought you said you weren’t going to let the past impact the present, so what was that tense vibe all about?”

“I wasn’t going to,” you said. “He’s the one that brought it up!”

“Brought what up?” May said keenly. You gulped, suddenly feeling like you had walked into some kind of trap, though judging by Reo’s clueless expression, it was one that he, too, was unaware of.

“Um, just, our old animosity,” you said.

“He never disliked you, though,” Reo said. “I don’t know why he’d bring it up when he didn’t even have a problem in the first place.”

May laughed. “You hated someone who didn’t hate you back? So out of character, Y/N. What was the reason?”

“It doesn’t matter,” you said. “If you must know, things were weird because neither of us knew what to discuss without you there, Reo. We don’t have that much in common. The only things are being friends with you and going to the same high school.”

“That does make sense,” Reo said. “If I swear I won’t leave you two alone again, will you be less annoyed about him coming along?”

“If that’s the best deal I’m getting, then yes, I suppose so,” you said, even though a part of you wanted to be alone with Nagi for as long as possible. You knew, though, that it was better if you weren’t. Just the thought of Ryosuke’s face was enough to convince you that this was the only path forward, or, if nothing else, the simplest.

“Consider it done,” Reo said. “Are you sleeping in the guest room tonight?”

“If you don’t mind,” you said, directing the question to both him and May alike.

“It doesn’t bother us,” he said.

“We wouldn’t have let you come over if it was an issue,” May agreed with a yawn. Even though you weren’t that tired, you knew it was late, and unlike you, they had not slept half of the day away. You wanted to keep them up, to talk to them until your throat was dry, but it would be unkind, so you pretended to yawn as well.

“We should probably get to bed, then,” you said.

“Are you sure?” Reo said. “We can stay up a little longer if you’d like.”

“Yup, we can,” May said. You smiled but shook your head.

“No, I’m really tired. I’m just going to call Chigiri so I can see how Sora is doing, and then I’ll probably sleep myself,” you said.

“Okay, if that’s how you feel,” Reo said, beckoning you after him. “I’ll show you where everything is, and you can do what you need to. But be up for breakfast, alright? I’m calling one of my chefs to cook something for us, and if you miss it, I’ll be really angry.”

“You don’t have to do that,” you said.

“I don’t have to do a lot of things, but I do them anyways. Do you know why? It’s because I can,” he said. “So I will.”

“Honestly,” you said, shaking your head. “You’re such a show-off.”

“I have to look impressive for you,” he said.

“Aren’t we past that point now?” you said, thinking back to his ridiculous antics from high school. “I agreed to be your friend a while back.”

“Old habits die hard,” he said, shrugging and sticking his tongue out at you cheekily. You did the same back.

“Yeah, yeah,” you said. “Whatever, rich boy. I’ll be up.”

“Good,” he said, patting you on the head. “Sleep well, Y/N.”

“The same to you, Reo,” you said. “Tell May, too.”

“She’ll probably be over to wish you herself,” he said.

“I’ll stay up until she does, then,” you said.

“Sounds like a plan,” he said. “See you in the morning.”

“See you.”

The familiar motions of getting ready for the night were the same no matter where you went, serving as a backdrop for your thoughts, which even now had not settled.

It had been worse than you had expected. Seeing Nagi again, being so close to him after all of this time…you thought you could handle it, but you couldn’t. You thought that by finding him again, you could reaffirm your decisions, but the only thing he had done was throw everything into a muddle. As always. Why had you expected anything different?

The rain had not abated by the time you crawled under your sheets and scrolled through your list of contacts, searching for the one you wanted. You wished it would stop. The rain meant something different to you, and for that reason, you wanted it to go away, but the weather was ignorant to your desires, and so it continued to pour.

“Hey, Y/N. Calling already?” The screen only showed the top half of Chigiri’s face; most of it was dominated by the white of his ceiling and the whirring blades of his fan. He blinked his pretty eyes at you, obviously curious about what you needed. “Is everything okay?”

“Is Sora doing alright?” you said. The camera switched to show Chigiri’s lap, which was dominated by your large white cat, who was purring to herself as he pet her.

“We’re watching TV together,” he said. “I think she likes this show.”

“Sora,” you said, your voice shaking. “Are you being perfect for Chigiri?”

“Yes, I am,” Chigiri said, doing an admittedly excellent impression of a little girl. “That was Sora, by the way. Not me.”

You sniffed. “That’s good.”

“Seriously, is something up? You’re acting a little bit freaky,” he said, the camera flipping back to its original position, though he now held it at an angle where you could see his entire face.

You hugged a pillow to your chest, resting your chin atop it when you spoke. “I don’t know.”

“Do you wanna talk about it, or is this one of those moments where I’m supposed to distract you by talking about dumb bullshit?” he said.

“The second option,” you said. You didn’t want to talk to Chigiri about it. You didn’t want to talk to anyone about it, because no one could ever know, and besides, talking about it would make it real. It would mean that you had acknowledged it, and by breathing life into something so nebulous, you ran the risk of it taking on a tangible form that would jam down your throat and wrap around your joints, halting you from moving forward as you ought to.

“Okay. Um, I went for a walk today,” he said. “It was really nice out. I wanted to run, but I decided it was probably better that I didn’t. My neighbor’s garden is flourishing — you know, he doesn’t really seem like the type to be into flower-growing, but it looks nice. Lots of roses, which is surprising, considering the whole muscle-head aesthetic he has going on. Maybe I should try to be nicer to him.”

You giggled despite yourself. “Is this the one with the orange hair who helped me carry your groceries in when you were sick? He seemed like a good person. You should be nicer to him.”

“Yes, that one. It’s not like I’m mean or anything! I just prefer minding my own business,” he said.

“If you say so,” you said. “I am surprised he’s into growing roses and flowers and whatnot, though. I would’ve thought he was exclusively into making protein powder shakes.”

”That’s what I’m saying!” he said. “I suppose everyone has many sides to them.”

“Hm,” you said. “Say, Chigiri. Can I ask you a bit of a random question?”

“If I say no, you’re going to ask anyways, aren’t you?” he said dryly.

“Yeah,” you said.

“Then what was the point of checking first?” he said.

“I knew you’d say yes,” you said. He flushed at the way you had read him so well.

“Okay, okay. What is it?” he said.

“Do you know much about Japanese soccer?” you said.

“Obviously?” he said. “Why’d you even ask that? It’s kind of a given, you know.”

“It was just a prelude. There’s a player — former player — that I was wondering if you had any thoughts on,” you said.

“Which one? If you say Kira, I’m killing you,” he said.

“No, not him. Um, Seishiro Nagi?” you said.

Chigiri raised his eyebrows. “That’s unexpected.”

“What is?” you said.

“You being interested in a player like that,” he said. “He’s Reo’s best man, isn’t he? Why don’t you ask him yourself? You guys must’ve gone to high school together.”

“I want to hear what you think,” you said. “That’s why I’m going to you. Idiot.”

“I’m flattered. Well, keep in mind that this isn’t a professional evaluation or anything; I’ve never even met him, and anyways, I’m just a failed player myself, so I’m hardly qualified to give my opinion on anything,” he said.

“That’s not true, Chigiri,” you protested.

“It is. It’s okay; there’s no need to fight about it. That’s not what we’re talking about. My thoughts on Seishiro Nagi…he was talented, and that’s a fact. If I remember correctly, they used to call him the falcon of the field, right?” he said.

“Yes, I think that’s what it was,” you said.

“He was almost unbeatable. Sure, he had a few losses, especially earlier on in his career, but for the most part, facing off against him was like a death sentence for any team that had that misfortune. A combination of unorthodox thinking and unbelievable physicality made him a genuine threat,” he said.

“I see,” you said. “I knew all of that already, though.”

“Jeez, never satisfied, huh? It’s not like I know him personally, and I was already in college by the time he started really getting big. That’s about the extent of it,” he said. “If I remember, one of my high school friends had a sister who was a fan of his for a bit, but she got over it pretty quickly, since he never went on social media or anything. Guess it’s difficult to have a parasocial relationship with someone so private.”

“Even in high school, he was that kind of guy,” you said, unable to stop yourself from grinning affectionately, though you pushed it back before Chigiri could notice. “No one knew the first thing about him. He was such a mystery.”

“Some people are into that lifestyle, I suppose,” he said. You hummed.

“Guess so,” you said.

“I don’t really know much else, Y/N, I’m sorry. You’re going to have to talk to him if you want more,” he said. Scoffing, you shook your head resolutely.

“It was just a typical curiosity,” you said. “I don’t need more than that. Thanks, Chigiri.”

“Anything for you,” he said.

“You’re making me blush,” you deadpanned.

“It’s only because your cat’s so cute,” he said. “Mind if I keep her?”

“In your dreams,” you said. “Speaking of which, I should get to bed. Talk to you later.”

“Later.”

Only a few moments elapsed between Chigiri hanging up and May knocking on your door. You knew it was her because she was light and hesitant instead of firm and sharp, the way Reo would’ve been, and also because she announced herself shortly after.

“Come in!” you said, pulling your blanket up around your shoulders.

“Are you still talking with Chigiri?” she said, flopping down on the foot of the bed.

“Obviously not,” you said, nodding towards the blank screen of your phone. “I wouldn’t have told you you could come in if I was.”

“That’s true,” she said.

“What did you need to ask?” you said. There were never any secrets between you and May. It was impossible to lie to her when you had lived together with her for years, and conversely, she could never hide her true intentions from you.

“Nothing in particular,” she said. “Just…are you sure you’re going to be okay with this whole maid of honor thing? It seems like there’s way more to your history with Nagi than I realized. If you’re uncomfortable with it, then we can figure something else out.”

“No!” you said, too quickly for it to have been a natural reaction. “No, it’s okay. We’re okay. It was just really sudden today, that’s all. I wasn’t prepared to see him again. Please, I told this to Reo and I’ll say it to you too: don’t worry about me. Your wedding is the only thing you should be thinking about, and even that shouldn’t be a cause of anxiety. I’ll take care of everything.”

“Okay, but you’re my friend, and I don’t want you to be more stressed in my place or anything,” she said slowly. “If it’s a problem, you have to tell me immediately. Reo can pay someone else to be his best man, so it’s not a huge issue.”

“It wouldn’t be fair to him,” you said. “He’s been friends with Nagi for almost as long as he’s known me. I don’t want my own issues to ruin his wedding. Really, May, thank you for the concern, but there’s not a problem at all, and even if there is, I’ll handle it.”

You mimed hitting the air, and she snorted, shaking her head condescendingly.

“What, you gonna fistfight Nagi if he bothers you too much or something?” she said.

“Yeah. You don’t think I can win?” you said.

“I mean, considering he was a professional athlete until a few years ago and you’re…you,” she said. “No.”

“You should have more faith in me,” you said. “I can totally take him on. Bam! He won’t know what hit him.”

You punched your pillow for emphasis, which drew a giggle out of her. Taking the pillow from you, she fluffed it up again before handing it back so you could lay against it.

“I’ll bet on you, then, so you had better win, or else Reo won’t let me hear the end of it for a week or more,” she said. You flexed your biceps.

“You can count on me,” you said.

“On a more serious note, though, and now that Reo’s not around, will you tell me the truth about what Nagi brought up? I know you were lying earlier, but I figured you just didn’t want to make Reo feel bad. I’m sure it must be strange for him, having his two best friends dislike each other,” she said.

You had no interest in lying to her, but you also could not tell her the entire truth, so you decided to go with a version of it all.

“The past,” you said. “I don’t know if Reo’s mentioned it, but we had a very complicated relationship back then.”

“He never elaborated, though, to be fair, I don’t think he really understood it well enough in the first place. He just said that you seemed to really hate Nagi when you all went to school together, but you never told him why,” she said.

“I was embarrassed,” you said with a shrug. “It was an embarrassing reason, and not one that a person like Reo could ever understand, so I kept it to myself. Nagi never really had any friends, bar Reo of course, so no one ever thought any less of me for it.”

“Embarrassing?” she said, and then an idea dawned her, her expression morphing into one of pure horror. “If that overgrown q-tip of a man hurt you at some point, then I don’t care about Reo’s feelings. He’s out of the wedding!”

“Overgrown — what? What are you talking about?” you said.

“You said that it was an embarrassing reason that Reo could never understand,” she said. “What would be more embarrassing than you getting rejected by Nagi of all people? And I doubt Reo’s ever been rejected in his life, unfortunately, so he definitely wouldn’t comprehend that sort of feeling. If it’s the case, then just let me know and I’ll sort things out! Reo has other friends now, so he can just have one of them be his best man. Or there’s always the paid route, like I mentioned earlier.”

“It wasn’t like that,” you said. “Also, there’s no way Reo has other friends, so please don’t lie for my sake.”

“No, he does. If you don’t believe me, just wait for the wedding — you’ll meet them there. At the least, he can always get Chigiri to do it,” she said.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I said. “Anyways, though, it’s fine. You missed the mark this time, I’m afraid.”

“Oh. Then what was it?” she said. You smiled ruefully and shook your head.

“You wouldn’t understand, either, you know? So it’s okay. Enough of this; he knows better than to bring it up again, and I know better than to end up alone with him again,” you said.

She really was the loyal sort. It was evident in the way she hesitated before nodding, standing up with a furrow to her brow and a pensive twist to her mouth as she headed to the door.

“Y/N,” she said. “Like I said, the instant he pulls something, you tell me, alright? Before you get in a fistfight or anything ridiculous like that, come to me.”

“Got it,” you said. “I’ll remember that. Goodnight, May.”

“Goodnight.”

You wondered when it had come to be that you felt more uncomfortable with your own fiancé than anyone else. Yet it remained that being shoved in a taxi with him on the way to your childhood home was the oddest sensation you had experienced in so long that you found yourself once again longing for the days when it had been simpler, when you and him had gotten along in an easy way.

“Did you have a nice time at May and Reo’s?” Ryosuke said.

“I did,” you said. “Reo made one of his chefs come to serve us breakfast, so it was delicious.”

“It’s a good thing he’s about to be married, or I’d be jealous,” Ryosuke said. “How can a normal guy like me compete with that?”

“Stop,” you said. “He loves May. There’s no competition, and don’t say anything like that in front of my parents.”

“What?” he said in alarm. “Are there rules to this meeting? I was just planning on winging it!”

You held back the urge to groan. He could not be blamed; like Reo and May, he didn’t know what it meant for you to see your parents again, not fully. Why would he expect anything other than a normal meal at their place? But your parents weren’t that type, and if he just waltzed in and expected them to love him based on nothing but your fondness for him, then he was mistaken.

The home you had grown up in had not changed a bit in your absence. The same flowers still bloomed alongside the concrete path leading to the front door, and the bushes were still the exact emerald shade they had been on the day you had left. Foreboding crept in you as you ascended the stairs and pressed on the button for the doorbell, and you reached behind you to grab Ryosuke’s hand as footsteps approached the foyer.

“Mother,” you said when the door swung open, revealing a pair who, too, had not changed from the images of them which you held in your memories. “Father. It’s been a while.”

Your mother’s lips pressed into a thin line, and your father clenched his jaw as he regarded you and Ryosuke. For a brief moment, you thought that he would turn the two of you away, but he only glared at you for a second longer before motioning for you both to come in.

“Y/N,” your mother said. “We weren’t expecting you.”

“Did you think I’d miss the wedding?” you said.

“Wedding?” your father said.

“No need to play innocent,” you said, marveling at the nooks and crannies you had once known so intimately. “You know whose wedding I speak of.”

“It should’ve been yours,” your mother said.

“If things had gone the way you wanted, it would’ve been mine,” you agreed. “But they didn’t, and it’s not. It’s Reo and May’s.”

“There’s still time,” your father said. “They aren’t married yet. You could still—”

“When will you give up?” you said, cutting him off, squeezing Ryosuke’s hand — as much for his reassurance as your own. “I flew halfway across the world to escape you and your demands, and the first thing you do upon my return is make more? It’s shameless, father.”

“Why are you back here?” your mother said, presenting a tray filled with tea and biscuits to the two of you. You wavered before allowing yourself to pick up one of the cups, dipping a biscuit in it and chewing on it. The flavor reminded you of your childhood, immediately transporting you to the days when you had not despised your life so thoroughly and extremely. “You made your feelings quite clear when you left, so what brings you back?”

“He wanted to meet you,” you said. “Ryosuke Kira. My fiancé.”

“Hello, sir, madam,” Ryosuke said, bowing his head politely. You had to give him that — he was good at acting, and in this situation, it was a helpful attribute. “It’s a pleasure to meet you both.”

“You seriously chose him over Reo Mikage?” your father said bluntly. “That’s a decision no one in their right mind would make.”

“Enough about Reo,” you hissed between your teeth before smiling tightly, your nails digging into the back of Ryosuke’s hand. “We aren’t here to go over that same argument. Aren’t you going to congratulate me? Your only daughter is getting married.”

“Does he have a house of his own?” your mother said.

“Yes,” you said.

“A job with a good income?” your father said.

“Well above average,” you said. “It’s secure, too.”

“Then it’s good enough,” your mother said, stiffly, insincerely. “He’s no corporate heir, but he’s a serviceable consolation prize. Congratulations, Y/N. You’ve done better for yourself than we expected.”

They didn’t ask if you loved him, or if he loved you in return, but why would they? It was unimportant. When it came to relationships and marriages, such fickle concepts as love could not be relied upon. It was the ideal that they had pounded into you from a young age: stability. Safety. It was easier to learn to love someone than it was to live a life without certainty. It was easier for you to pretend to be unaware of Ryosuke’s dalliances than it was for you to let go and live the rest of your life alone.

“I don’t think your parents liked me,” Ryosuke confessed upon entering the taxi you had called to take you back.

“Don’t take it personally,” you said. “They’re just upset that things didn’t go according to their carefully laid plans. It’s fine. I wasn’t expecting them to be happy, anyways. That went better than I anticipated, all things considered.”

“What plans?” Ryosuke said as the driver took off towards your hotel. Ryosuke would get down there, and you would continue on to the dress fitting appointment that Reo had somehow already managed to book before you had even woken up.

You weighed the merits of telling him, but came to the conclusion that it would only make things more difficult for you.

“Plans that never had a chance of success in the first place,” you said. “That’s the long and short of it. Can we talk about something else?”

“Sure,” he said. “What style of dress is May thinking of getting for the wedding party?”

“She mentioned wanting me to have a different dress than the rest of the bridesmaids, since I’m the maid of honor,” you said. “I think she wants it to be my choice.”

“How considerate of her,” Ryosuke said. “She really is such a sweet girl. And so pretty, too! She’ll make a beautiful bride.”

You thought back to what Nagi had said at dinner, your face souring as his cool, snarky tone rang in your mind. It looked like he wanted that waitress, too. And that hostess. And May. But I don’t think he’d go after her, because, y’know, Reo would be pretty mad, and he can definitely afford a better lawyer than Kira can if it comes down to it…

“Reo is lucky,” you said, though all you wanted to do was grab his face and demand he look at you. Aren’t I beautiful, too? Aren’t I sweet, too? You wanted to scream these things at him, but you feared that the answers were not ones you’d prefer, so you remained silent.

“I bet you’ll look great, too,” he said. “Make sure you pick something flattering. I want everyone to see just how amazing my fiancée is.”

“I would’ve done that regardless,” you said.

“Maybe you should FaceTime Chigiri and ask for his advice! We all know how well he can pull off a dress,” he said, snickering.

“That happened once, and you need to stop bringing it up. It wasn’t even his choice,” you said, though you could not suppress a laugh at the memory of the time that you and May had forced Chigiri into a dress so that you could sneak him into a Halloween party with you.

“As you wish,” he said. “Looks like this is my stop. Text me when you’re on the way back!”

“Okay,” you said. “Wait. Ryosuke.”

“What’s up?” he said.

“Can I, uh, send you pictures? Of my options? So you can help me choose?” you said, hating how uncertain your voice sounded, the cracking hinting at your true meaning — tell me. Tell me what I will look worthy of you in. Tell me what it is you want from me.

“Can’t you just pick on your own?” he said. “I was planning on taking a nap and then going to eat. I won’t really have time. Ask May or Reo if you’re stuck.”

It had been a foolish idea to begin with, and as the taxi you were in accelerated away from him, you cursed yourself for even trying. After all, if a simple dress would’ve been enough for your fiancé’s eyes to remain on you, then they never would’ve strayed in the first place.

taglist (comment/send an ask to be added): @mariyumemi @naatggeo @prettyarsxnist @noble-17 @rinitoshisgirl @stuckindreamland06

[kopfkino-o]

Pro Vassien Super Post

One of my favorite potential ships within the ACOTAR world is Vassa x Lucien. The bird of fire and the lord of flame. The cursed queen and the spell cleaver. Soo I decided to put together some thoughts based on what we've read in the text so far! It’s a little unorganized, so bare with me.

This is obviously a pro-vassien post, so if that's not your cup of tea then this might not be for you! And as always, these are just my own opinions and interpretations.

Ready? Let's go!

The Cursed Queen and the Spell Cleaver’s Son

In ACOWAR, we are introduced to Queen Vassa, the human queen who has been cursed by the sorcerer Koschei.

“But yes—queen by night, firebird by day.” He [Lucien] blew out a breath. “Nasty curse.” — ACOWAR

In this same book, we also learn that Lucien is in fact the son of daddy Helion, High Lord of the Day Court, and the Spell Cleaver. Famed for his ability to “cleave” or break magical wards, spells, and enchantments. A gift we saw Helion use first hand when he broke the spelled chains of Elain following her rescue from the Hybern camp.

And, interesting enough, a gift we might have seen Lucien himself unknowingly utilize in ACOMAF when at Hybern.

“There was a flare of light, and a scrape, then Lucien was stalking towards Elain, freed of his restraints.” - ACOMAF

Interesting that we met a cursed queen in the same book we also learn Lucien is the son of the Spell-Cleaver. And what’s even more interesting, is it seems SJM retconned some details in how Vassa was found.

In ACOWAR, Lucien tells it was Papa Archeron who found Vassa, and that he joined up with them after she was freed. However, in ACOSF we are told Lucien was, in fact, there and played an active part in finding Vassa. Here’s what the books say:

“Lucien.” I breathed. “Who?” Drakon’s brows narrow. “Oh, the male with the eye. No. He met up with them later on—told them where to go.” - ACOWAR

“He [Koschei] is still at the lake,” Lucien said carefully. Lucien had been there, Cassian recalled. Had gone with Nesta’s father to the lake where Vassa was held captive.” - ACOSF

Interesting, right? Why retcon this little detail? To me, it it seems like SJM wanted to give Lucien the knowledge of where Koschei’s lake is because, as we know, it’s only a matter of time before Vassa is called back. And is it not interesting that Lucien, the Spell Cleaver’s son, is one of the only characters who knows where his lake is? If not the only one. Seems like future set up to me.

Because, it makes sense, wouldn’t it that Lucien would be the one to return to Koschei’s lake to break Vassa’s spell and set her free. He, after all, might be the only one with magic capable of such a feat.

The Lord of Fire and the Bird of Flame

One thing that I think is very telling, especially in regards to Lucien and Vassa, is the way Feyre (our queen, our mother, our primary POV character, and arguably the “main character” of the series) observes these two. There’s a few instances I’d like to highlight. Starting with the infamous:

“A lord of a fire and a bird of flame. I wondered if they’d found each other yet.” — Feyre herself, ACOWAR

Here we see Feyre assign them what reads a hell of a lot like a couple name. She’s grouping them together and calling attention to them being a pair. And they do fit pretty well together, no? A son of autumn [see: fire] and day [see: spell-cleaving] and a bird of flame. The fox and firebird. The emissary, son and friend of many courts, and the human queen.

This isn’t the only instance Feyre calls attention to these two in the story. One of the most interesting instances for me is her observation of Lucien and Vassa on Solstice.

Lucien, surprisingly, was chuckling, his shoulders loose and his head angled while he listened [to Vassa]." - ACOWAR

Why was this surprising to Feyre? Perhaps because she’s seeing her friend back to his usual, carefree, easy going self while in the presence of Vassa? Regardless of what this scene means, I think it’s telling that it was Feyre, the story’s primary POV, who noticed this interaction and commented on it within her internal monologue. It’s almost as if SJM—through Feyre’s eyes—is leading the readers to pick up on… something.

The Sly Fox and the Fierce, Untamed Queen

It's time to talk about Jesminda. The woman Lucien loved. The woman he thought might be his mate. And the woman he lost.

According to Lucien, Jesminda was:

"Jesminda had been all laughter and mischief, too wild and free to be contained by the country life that she’d been born into. She had teased him, taunted him—seduced him so thoroughly that he hadn’t wanted anything but her. She’d seen him not as a High Lord’s seventh son, but as a male. Had loved him without question, without hesitation. She had chosen him." - ACOWAR

I think this passage is incredibly important when we look at the dynamic between Vassien and E/lucien. We see, through Lucien's own POV, that it was pretty important to him that Jesminda saw him for who we was. Chose him because of who we was. Loved him and accepted him without question. As compared to Lucien's mate, I do think this is an interesting comparison. Especially when Lucien himself thinks...

"Elain had been … thrown at him." - ACOWAR

Now this isn't a post about Elain and Lucien, so I won't go into it, but I do feel it was important to highlight the differences between the way Lucien views Elain and the way he viewed his relationship with Jesminda. I also think the aspect of choice is something very, very important. Both in Elain and Lucien's respective, and shared, journeys, but this is something I'll touch on in a later post.

But what does this have to do with Vassa? Let's consider what we know about the mortal queen and her personality.

"Only a few years older than me, but... young-feeling. Coltish. Fierce and untamed, despite her curse." - Feyre upon meeting Vassa, ACOWAR

And:

“Not for long—not if Vassa has anything to do with it.” “You sound like an acolyte.” Lucien blushed, “She’s got a foul temper and a fouler mouth.” - ACOFAS (? - I don't have my book on me, so this might be taken from the wrong book)

I think when we look at the way Vassa and Jesminda are described we can see there are several similarities between these two females. Jesminda was wild and free, filled with mischief. Vassa is fierce and untamed with a foul mouth and fouler temper. To me, these two women seem like they're the same "type" and based on the way we see Lucien reacting to Vassa... I suspect our fox boy might have a thing for fiery, foul-mouthed, fierce ladies.

Lucien, the Blushing Acolyte

So this section is a bit... untamed. But I wanted to consolidate all of the little moments I've picked up on... something existing between Vassa and Lucien.

“He’s keeping everything running. I think he’d have been crowned king by now if it wasn’t for Vassa.” A twitch of the lips, a spark in that russet eye. “She’s doing well enough. Savoring every second of her temporary freedom.” - ACOFAS

Indeed, Vassa still remained inside, chatting with Lucien animatedly. I supposed that if she only had until dawn before turning back into that firebird, she wanted to make every minute count. Lucien, surprisingly, was chuckling, his shoulders loose and his head angled while he listened. - ACOWAR

“The human queens are still out there,” I said. Maybe I’d hunt them down. “Not for long—not if Vassa has anything to do with it.” “You sound like an acolyte.” Lucien blushed, glancing at Elain. - ACOWAR

Both Jurian and Lucien stared at her [Vassa], the former’s face utterly unreadable, and the latter’s pained. - ACOSF

So... what does this all mean? Obviously its up for interpretation, but to me, these scenes show me a few things:

1) Lucien is comfortable around Vassa. So much so that he willingly lives with her and Jurian in the mortal lands away from his mate. That he's found friendship and acceptance with her, as well as Jurian, in their Band of Exiles.

Sidebar: I find it VERY strange that Lucien is able to live this way, especially when we know that mates are driven to always be around one another and pained to be a part. Yet... Lucien seems just fine living far, far away from Elain and Velaris.

2) His curse pains her. Ironic that the spell-cleavers son is pained over the curse the mortal queen is suffering? Sounds more like foreshadowing to me.

3) There’s something there. Could it be friendship? Sure. But... when considering the "type" Lucien seems to have, the way he seems lighter, more himself, feels to me like clever foreshadowing.

4) The obvious, stark contrast of Lucien's character when he is around Elain and when he is around Vassa. Around the former, he seems pained, uncomfortable, dejected, down on himself, lacking that usual snarky humor we know and love him for. Around Vassa? He appears at ease, shoulders loose and laughing easily, a spark back in his russet eye.

My (Maybe Not So) Unhinged Wish

So… what do I make of all this? Well, I think we will be seeing an epic love story play out between Lucien and Vassa. One where they choose one another. One where Lucien, who used to hold a prejudice against humans, falls for a human queen. A story where Lucien discovers his parentage to free the woman he loves.

And, my hope, is that by coming together Lucien and Vassa will be able to bridge the gap between humans and the Fae.

Queen Vassa and King Lucien Vanserra anyone?

[tinseltina]

You can feel free to ignore this until you feel like rambling, or forever, but do you have any strong opinions or headcanons or anything about Pixie Hollow you feel like ranting about? I adored that series when I was younger and I'd loved to be dragged back into it.

I BEEN WAITING FOR THIS

FIRST OFF LETS START WITH THE MOVIE SERIES VS THE BOOKS

right off the bat, all the pixie hollow books take place AFTER the peter pan movie, they don't say when exactly but book 3 (quest for neverland) is like 3 generations (maybe 4?) after Wendy and her brothers go to neverland. And he character spotlight books never really mention quest for neverland (iirc there's ONE reference to vidia and the dragon kyto from that book but no one talks about human girl gwendolyn), but they do take place after it

the first 3 chapter books all occur within like a month or 2 of time and everything else at varying points of time.

i'm still compiling all the evidence to put out a VERY rough timeline (some books are clear about their relation to other adventures/books). however i'm in no rush to do any of that, so don't hold your breath.

Now there IS a HUGE detail in the lore regarding pixie hollow and the fairy dust.

There used to be a different "home tree" (called the Pixie Dust tree) WAAAAY long ago. There was another whole population of fairies there. and THAT tree, produced pixie dust (the stuff that makes them fly and helps their magic etc etc). it was DESTROYED and MOST of those fairies died back then (it was this cataclysmic event in neverland that basically decimated a ton of it, but everything eventually regrew). From that tree grew the new Home Tree where everyone is now.

Another character, Mother Dove (the bird you may or may not have heard of when ppl talk about these books) was basically reborn during this fire when she got hit with the fire. (magical fire, didn't kill this bird. it's implied that neverland's magic basically imbued this bird with her own magic because before then she was just a regular bird). her feathers are magic and when she molts, the fairies take her feathers and grind them down into dust, this is called FAIRY dust. Now a couple of the books have typos and use the term "pixie" dust, but it's not what the lore currently states. pixie dust is B.C. (before calamity) and fairy dust is A.C. (after calamity)

After this calamity and turning magic, mother dove laid an egg and that egg will never hatch, it's a magic egg that she must always incubate bc the egg is what keeps everything in neverland young and/or living forever.

OK NOW THAT THAT'S OUTTA THE WAY LET'S MOVE ON

the tinkerbell movie? that universe has no mother dove and the tree is the one from legend because the pixie dust (yes PIXIE dust) flows from it. there's a dust depot where the dust is portioned out for fairies each day but no dust mill (where the grinding of the feathers into dust would happen)

Now at one point i thought "maybe the movies could potentially just be telling what happened before the books" It's got a mostly new cast, why not?

because TINKER BELL IS THERE. Vidia, and terence are also there. and these 3 are major players in the books that couldn't have survived that calamity. (queen clarion POTENTIALLY). fawn and iridessa and silvermist and rosetta all show up in books later (at one point the books were coming out at the same time as the movies rosetta is the one character to receive a major design change from her book counterpart, so i could even accept her being a different garden fairy with the same name and similar personality)

ok now RAPID FIRE FACTS

dust alchemy? not a thing in the books. but dust is also WAY more interesting and required for so much of the fairies magic in the book (yeah, you can use it for EVERYTHING. ex. garden fairies are like folks with a green thumb, they GET their plants and tend to be good at growing things, but sprinkling dust can help with speed and size of growth or stuff like hybridization. kitchen/cooking/baking talents they dont use fire, they use DUST to heat things and boil water stuff like that. i still gotta check if that's not retconned in places but it makes sense considering how small they are and how quickly fire can spread)

the blue dust from lost treasure? also not a thing, but interesting given the tree situation, and it's interesting to think nothing is actually a neverending resource, but also it doesn't really make sense? cuz like WHAT'S THE POINT OF A TREE THAT MAKES DUST IF IT CAN'T DO IT FOREVER? i can see the argument for either side. but i'm leaning on "blue dust is like fertilizer for a magic tree"

vidia is actually a HUUUUUGE b-tch in the books. like the kinda a-hole that is kinda irredeemable and luckily the books never try to redeem her either. she's not quite "evil" but she is the kinda person who is terrible and refuses to change. but she basically committed a "cardinal sin" by plucking some of mother doves feathers from her to get fresh feathers to make her own pixie dust. (it's revealed that the dust from freshly plucked and not older MOLTED feathers, contain more potent magic) and vidia is obsessed with being the fastest flier in pixie hollow so she wanted special dust. this was a painful process for mother dove and it was done in secret but after she was found out it basically got her banished from seeing mother dove up close ever again (it's like being banished from seeing your mother and the pope all rolled into one. idk it's hard for me to explain motherdove without going "yeah she's kinda vaguely omniscient/telepathic. like she's not God, but she's got some pretty godly powers in relation to the fairies and the rest of neverland ngl, hence the pope analogy) and kicked outta the home tree apartments (paraphrasing for humor). she's not kicked outta fairy society or nothing, they would never go that far, these books are HEAVY with collectivist themes. but vidia lives separate from the other fairies in her own tree (and she actually prefers it. iirc it's implied she could come back to the home tree if she wanted, but she AND the rest of the fairy population prefer the space).

actually all the fairies kinda jerks, but i think that falls in line with the idea of tricky faeries in mythology and i don't dislike it. it makes the vidia thing sting less as well?

prilla (sweet wonderful, she's not actually my favorite but we love her regardless) is the odd one out amongst fairies because she's kinda part human? so fairies are born from a baby's first laugh, right? (if you didn't know now you know. this is the same in both books and movies) well the laugh prilla came from had a little too much of her human's personality, so this effected her memory and her ability to conform in their fairy society (she regularly would mix up british human lingo with the fairy stuff and it bugs the fairies. remember how i said they were all dicks? yeah they don't like humans, prilla is a little too human at first and it bugs them). but it also gave her everything she needed for her talent (she's the one and only "mainland blinking fairy clapping" talent. if you've ever read the og peter pan book or heard of the stage play when tinker bell is about to die and they're like "clap if you believe in fairies!". yeah prilla's talent is to astral project her image to the human land and get them to clap periodically to keep fairies going strong.

sidenote fairies apparently REGULARLY died before prilla came along. and it's sad and the fairies get but also it's very "oh that sucks :/ but we gotta keep it pushin!". now in the movies the fairies are still at risk from like birds of pray or bodily harm, but the dying of disbelief is a non-issue.

it's not that there's NO romance in the books, it's that there's next to none. it's terence and his crush on tinker bell and tinker bell with her unrequited crush on and later heartbreak surrounding peter pan. tink is fully aware of terence's feelings for her, and the feeling isn't really mutual? she's mostly afraid of heartbreak but still she'd rather just stay friends with him.

OH! early book terence is like a legit incel. he used to have a different design too, and like he really looked like something outta the virgin vs chad meme (in fact i DID make a meme about it)

mothertrucker actually used magic to make tinker bell fall in love with him (it doesn't lead anywhere beyond just her being obsessed with and wanting to be next to him all the time. get your mind outta the gutter these books are for kids). and he is RELUCTANT to try to turn her back to normal. oh and she's completely aware after the fact of how she acted and felt and that it was terence's fault. she just like forgives him and moves on without really addressing it.

movie terence sometimes goes a little far for tinker bell but it never feels like he's doing more than any of her main friend group, you know? but in the books terence isn't really a FRIEND like the other characters are, he feels separate from the rest of them.

fairy society? kinda communistic. everyone works for the good of the collective to keep things running smoothly

all talents are important and useful (yes, even art talents and music talents and all sorts of stuff. decor, decoration, beautification of surroundings, and entertainment are all appreciated) i assume this is one of the reasons why the "unable to engage in your talent" type of "incomplete" is so serious and pitied. if you cannot help the collective, then what are you to the collective? (this is not to say however that rest days are not employed and encouraged, they absolutely are! leisure and rest and recuperation are necessary and highly encouraged. it's much harder to get a fairy to STOP doing something involving their talents, BECAUSE it brings them so much joy and self-fulfillment). but to permanently be unable to work for the benefit of the community?

but i digress! my point is EVERYONE is useful. there are even fairies who's talents are "tall tale telling". liars, they're good at lying. but this falls under the category of "storytelling" and fairies love stories. i said entertainment is appreciated!

everyone eats at the same time and meals are provided

their homes are made up and customized for them when they first arrive (read: are born)

everyone can engage in hobbies as well (rosetta in the movies and the books is a fan of fashion and dressing up and doing self care) at any time and basically just have to ask for help or for materials if they want. there may be trading involved in case what you want is something that gets in the way of someone else's work or their own collection. but for the most part fairies are fine sharing whatever excess. (an example shown in "art lessons by bess" the art talents also help make paint and refill storage. they're free to use whatever they want and that includes other fairies as well, but they help make more for whoever needs it)

a talent isn't just the 1 activity a fairy does everyday forever, it can also include a whole host of other duties and activities to help out. some fairies even help in other areas when their specific talent isn't in demand (ex. party planning talents, or celebration set-up talents help to set up the tea room between meals when a party isn't being prepared. garden talents don't just grow flowers they can also grow different kinds of foods, or help with plant knowledge or assist nursing talents acquire herbs for different remedies)

queen clarion has a talent, she is a "queen talent" fairy. she presumably took over after the last queen (it is stated Vidia and the Fairy Crown that there have been multiple queens in the past and the crown with the crown jewels have been passed down to each queen since before the time of pixie hollow and it survived the great calamity). very bee like to have been born primed to be a queen. i think it's also implied that fairies don't grow like humans do, and it's likely that clarion was born in the form she is now and has always been that "age"

(if you apply that logic to the movies, then fairy mary and fairy gary and milori and the scribe from the winter region were also all that old the whole time)

winter fairies dont exist books. their jobs are basically just subsets of the other talents. and i think pixie hollow doesn't snow. i gotta double check on that and finish reading my books.

HEADCANON TIME (admittedly there aren't a lot of these)

i got a comment about this once on tiktok which led to me having to explain a little more about talents in general and how fairy identity works. but someone pointed out that prilla is very autistic-coded. and i was like "they're ALL autistic coded" no seriously bc of talents and how...preoccupied everyone can be with their talents, it gives off a "special interest" kinda vibe. and depending on the fairy they're showcase more symptoms people common have on the spectrum.

i mentioned earlier that prilla has her whole "a little too human" effecting her focus and memories? yeah she talks differently, she has habits that are considered good mannered in humans but really strange to fairies. she regularly astral projects by "blinking to the mainland", and the way it's written it gives off maladaptive daydreaming (disclaimer, maladaptive daydreaming is NOT a symptom of autism spectrum disorder, but i've noticed many folks under the neurodivergent umbrella also have this) as it butts into the current narrative and when prilla "wakes up" she can be unaware of what has happened around her or what kinds of conversations took place (not all the time. in some cases muscle memory for menial labor takes over and she can keep up just fine as long as someone doesn't interrupt the routine. not unlike real life for some folks). the blinking thing also could be read as a form of stimming/bodily regulation. talents for fairies, and engaging in activities involving their talents brings them joy, comfort and self-fulfillment. also she cartwheels a lot, which is also very stim-like.

iris, a garden talent, is also very "common depiction of autism"-like to me, however it's in a kinda negative light. she infodumps about plants, doesn't seem to get the social cue that people want her to be quiet or leave, and is generally seen as a nuisance to others around her. she's also got the quirk that she's not very good at growing plants, which is odd. she's said to have had her own garden at once point and then lost it (i think the implication being she left it unattended for too long and the plot of land was given to someone else, and everyone has since forgotten she ever tended to that plot, but she didn't fight for it either). because of this odd history and quirk of hers some fairies believe her to be "incomplete" (a term that has a few meanings that are all VERY disability/birth defect/developmentally challenged coded. including but not limited to, something wrong with one's wings like them being shaped in a way that makes it difficult or even impossible to fly, missing limbs or extremities, lacking a talent, losing the ability to engage in one's talent and fulfill their role in fairy society, for example a scout that cannot see cannot help protect the home tree and fairies from birds of prey). not everyone believes this, and very few if any would actually say it to her face, this is a very serious claim and kinda taboo to say out loud. I'm making her sound incredibly sympathetic, aren't i? and i want to agree that she is but also she is kinda catty in the books (fairies are dicks. i keep tellin ya. VERY endearing but kinda frustrating all the same)

EVERYTHING about rani after she cut off her wings on a mission to save mother dove. VERY physically disabled coded. she lost limbs (specifically 2 limbs that are also integral to fairy identity. fairies love their talents and they love to fly) and the others pity her and say things like how they "could never do such a thing". rani doesn't regret the decision, however, she got to experience swimming, something she always wanted to do and something fairies cannot do. (they sink because their wings absorb water and drag them down. and yes they can drown and die; even in the rain) and i LOVE that she's proud of both her decision and she enjoys being flightless for the most part, after watching a lot of crutchesandspice (imani) on tiktok and her talks of disability justice and giving more info from a disability perspective, many disabled folks don't hate nor wish they weren't disabled (what they want is for society to accept and better/actually accommodate disabled people) so i LOVE that for rani. and i love the perspective of someone living their best life.

rani also has 2 other quirks, one is because of plot reasons from the 2nd book (quest for the wand) and the other is just a quirk she's always had. 1. rani can finish people's sentences, she's got this sixth sense for what people are going to say and yes it does sometimes bother them to be interrupted. her friends just get used to it and basically ignore it and keep conversations going. 2. she was at one point turned into a bat (vengeful mermaid magic. also MERMAIDS ARE GIANT DICKS. welcome to neverland everyone is an azzhat) and her brain basically fused with the bat's brain because not only did she turn into a bat, that bat ALSO had it's own consciousness? i can't explain that without rereading the book (or you can read it yourself. it's Fairy Haven and the Quest for the Wand) but apparently when she turned back into a fairy the bat conscious, still lingered in her mind? i literally don't even know what to make of that. i'm not calling it Disassociative Identity Disorder (if you are someone with DID and it resonates with you, more power to you. me with my bachelor's in psychology and VERY basic understanding of the disorder am not comfortable really calling it that mostly because it doesn't really seem like it fits the criteria for that sort of "diagnosis")

terence! terence and all the other dust talent fairies have a special specific teacup to measure dust EXACTLY. autistics and our special utensils, am i right? iykyk xD no but really it's a big deal they all carry those cups around and if they break it's a big deal.

many other talents that also have specific tools to do their jobs (tinkers/pots-and-pans with their hammers or screwdrivers or whatever, sweepers with their brooms, to name a couple) also have their favorites that are painstakingly crafted/selected. and using any other would feel unnatural or inefficient or just plain wrong.

ok that's a lot and everything i could think of off the top of my head and it's like 2am and i wanna sleep. so i'll have to continue this some other day if/when i think of more.

[kianf1sh]

had the end(?) of a series of dreams today, or at least the main storyline

For context, me(bird) and my two bird friends had been on the run for quite some time from this trusted military general with a temper who hates us and keeps a gun on him at all times.

So we three, running away from him, arrive at what looks a lot like an oil plant in the middle of the ocean, with a cool looking building on it, witch turned out to be a damn alien spaceship, with the aliens on it.

And it takes flight while we're on it.

This is bad says the lore

My two buddies are flung violently into separate rooms of the ship and im in the control room. Where they (my buddies) end up short circuiting the two front thrusters using explosives (that didn't explode, shush dream logic) then the aliens land back on the platform and call the united states government to complain that everything bad that's ever happened to them is because of landing here

witch lo and behold, who shows up? The Guy (name pending) who is absolutely furious we *ruined* such a glorious port/platform/whatever and says, while we're all watching, "i know one place those damn birds cant reach! Secret area island, of course!"

That for some reason, i go to! (the dream forgot all about my buddies at this point sadly)

and somehow i get there before him!

Ending up at Secret Area Island, it looks a lot like the backyard of my grandparents' house if it was better kept up and just in general bigger, ain't that crazy

I go to one of the staff, and she just lets me vibe because apparently this is an animal conservation place thing, and its pretty cool actually!

Then he shows up. Being friendly and walking around with his military gear and intern(?), untill he spots me, and goes into a furious rage firing guns of several kinds (including confetti poppers?) several times, yet i dodge them all. The staff girl person sees this, and tries to stop him.

to witch they eventually get into a heated argument about him saying i ruin everything and cant let him have peace, to where she points out that this is the only encounter i sought him out. And also im a fucking bird, you're firing every gun in the book at a b i r d .

to where he eventually gets demoted from "important military fucker" to just some guy, who works there, and his guns taken away from him, as i can see on the job ui, where i also see my shift is in 10 minutes, theyre offering me a job!

that i take, and now im employed for two hours a day vibin at Secret Area Island's animal conservation place.

end of drehm

[byawright]

Rc9gn ficlet 1

Had an idea of Howard getting some magic from Tengu possession and convincing the Nomicon to let him do some magic, quick thing I put together on a road trip so no spell or grammar check lol

Used bleach for the spell.

Howard Weinerman was not one to stress whenever Randy faced an enemy. Sure Randy had a few close calls but he pulled through and was the most stubborn person he knew, he wouldn’t give up.

That was the problem, whatever this machine was McFist, or being more accurate Viceoy, focused in outlasting the Ninja in this fight. Which was going in three hours and Howard could see his friend slowing down.

The robot, which looked like a bipedal hunched over hedgehog, was getting closer if not out right hitting with each attack. The spikes on its back randomly extending with spikes tip tendrils to attack from blind spots.

Howard was getting frustrated, a part of him has been for a while.

he wasn’t a fighter, not like Randy, hell he’d rather be on the side lines but being helpless like this? That was grating especially since Randy can’t get away to check with the ninja nomicon for any aide.

Howard, however, could.

Even if he couldn’t do something active he could pass the knowledge to Randy. So he moved, slipping away from the crowed that had formed to watch the fight and grabbed Randy’s bag.

Once he found a private spot he grabbed the book “alright nomicon I know you don’t like me but Randy can’t get to you for help, so eitheir you open up, shloop me in and let me help Randy or your out a ninja, and more important I’m out my best friend, so open up or no telling what will happen to eight hundred years of knowledge when I pass a fire”

The nomicon seemed to glow lightly, pulsing like it was wrestling with its self so Howard gave another push.

“I have yet to fully hold Randy back right? Or reveal his secret, I’ve slipped yes but never broke his trust like that, and the giant bird possessed me, I’m in too deep, let me help”

Howard swallowed, the larger boy griped the book “please, just give me what he needs to know, I Know I’m not a fighter so give me the lesson he needs”

The Nomicon glowed bright and opened sucking Howard’s consciousness into it as he fell and landed in a stylized Asian temple as words formed infront of him as he lifted him self up.

‘Friendship is a weight a ninja cannot bear’ as a line crossed through it and a new line appeared ‘strong bonds allow for chains to hold down even the greatest beasts’.

As a cartoony lightning bolt formed in front of him and split revealing a marker.

A series of more text appeared along with a poorly drawn arm with the scribbles on it.

“Oh copy this down? Alright I asked for this”

Howard half grumbled there’s a part of him that just wanted to pass info on but… he wanted to help and be more than just the confidant so Howard copied the writing accurately.

“I’m trusting you nomicon, I have no idea how I can see this once I’m out but let’s see how this goes”

Soon Howard was ejected and back in his body as he moved back to where the fighting was, Randy was looking worse for wear more weapons scattered around and the crowed had disappeared.

“Ra- Ninja!”

“How- citizen! Get out of here! The rest are at safety I’ll handle this!”

“Oh how’s that been going for the last three hours?”

“Wha-“

“Eyes front Cunningham! Nomicon hopefully gave me something to help!”

Randy was confused but shrugged it off. Howard was many things but never did him dirty so he focused on the fight once more.

Howard for his part looked where he wrote in his arm the lines formed in his hand writting.

Randy often mentioned how it was like floating text would appear to help him figure things out, so the red head guessed this was the books doing.

“Alright here goes nothing” following the instructions he wrote he held two fingers up, palm facing the robot “You who is crowned with the name of Man, wearing a Mask of blood and flesh, flying on ten thousand fluttering wings, with Thunder's carriage and an empty Spinning Wheel, break the Light into six pieces, carve a twin Lotus on a wall of Pale Blue Flames, and await the Blazing Fires to reach the Distant Heavens!”

As Howard chanted he felt a memory of a memory surface the feeling of the tengu as it took over, but this time he was in control.

A series of fire pillars appeared around him solidifying into thin, wide pillars. With the last word the pillars launched at the robot’s back, pinning it to the ground.

Randy jumped at the opening his sword cleaving through the robot, as it stopped working Randy turned towards Howard.

“What the juice!? Since when could you do that!?”

Howard was wide eyed “about 10 minutes ago? I didn’t check the time but..”

“Hold that thought man, let’s get some food and talk” Randy said as he pulled the mask off and Howard passed the nomicon back ignoring the confused look from the taller boy

“Later Cunningham, you said food and I’m hungry”

The two shared a look and laughed, once in a private corner at the arcade, Howard gave a run down before pointing at Randy “don’t expect me to fight but, saying words? That I can do”

Randy smiled “hey I appreciate the save, and if you can use magic? That’s so Bruce so you do you”

“You think the nomicon will share more or this a one time thing?” Howard asked.

Randy shrugged “i barely know what the nomicon thinks as is, let’s just roll and see how it goes”

“Fair enough”

[amplifyme]

Twenty questions for fanfic writers

I was tagged by @xxsksxxx. Thanks, friend! ❤️

Edited to add that @randomfoggytiger just tagged me too. Killing two birds with one stone here. Or something like that.

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

76 in total, but only 57 of those are my own fics. The rest belong to two BATB writers who are no longer with us but whose works needed to be available on AO3.

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

1,360,745 total. 587,663 of those are actually mine.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

The X-Files, Beauty and the Beast (TV), A Song of Ice and Fire book series.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

These Scars We Wear

The Calling

Beggar's Banquet

Blessed Be (The Third Night)

Pas de deux

All of these are set in the ASOIAF universe.

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yep! There was a stretch of about six years when I disconnected from all my fandoms and didn't respond to anything. Those days are past now and I make sure I always respond to any comment I get.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Pass You By (TXF)

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

The Possibility of Being (BATB)

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Nope.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I used to be be a Smut Queen back in my OG TXF days. Not sure what's meant by "what kind"? Um, the kind that makes one hot and bothered? Het? Vanilla? I'll stop there.

I quit writing the more explicit stuff 'cuz I got bored with it. These days I'm more interested in the cerebral side of things.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

No. I have a hard enough time keeping a single set of characters in line. Can't imagine trying to do it for more than one 'verse at a time.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Yes. Someone from The Nanny fandom (who knew?) pilfered one of my TXF fics, changed the character names, and posted it. Weirdness.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes, several. More than happy to give the go-ahead to requests like that.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes, I wrote Doors with a fellow TXF writer named Alanna Baker. It was fun but I don't know that I'd want to do it again. I'm much more of a loner when it comes to writing.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

Can't pick one and you can't make me. My favorites are the three I write for: Mulder and Scully, Vincent and Diana, Sandor and Sansa.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Sticks and Stones, a TXF casefile I started a really, really long time ago. I also have a BATB WIP I've been messing with for the past year or so but I don't know if it will ever see the light of day.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue, pacing, tone.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Will actually sitting down and writing be considered a proper answer? If so, that.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I did a few lines in Italian in one of my BATB fics but that's it. I can barely write in English, let alone another language! 😄

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Beauty and the Beast.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

I'll give you one from each fandom.

TXF: Kintsugi. Not my most popular, but this one was effortless and there's nothing I'd go back and change. My take on Season 7 (aka The Season of Secret Sex).

BATB: The Possibility of Being (see above for the link). This entire project was a love letter not only to Vincent and Diana, but to my writing mentor, Nan Dibble.

ASOIAF (SanSan): These Scars We Wear. Link is above. Another love letter. This one to Sandor Clegane and his Little Bird. Because they deserve a happily ever after.

I figure this one has already made the rounds so I'm not going to tag anyone. Please consider playing if you've haven't been tagged and want to join in. It's fun!

[nadiegesabate1990]

The girl with the orange wig trying to become famous with my work as a musician.

That's because you haven't seen me with a red wig.

In the beginning I was a shy and humble young woman who wore only one piece of clothing. At the time I didn't have a job to buy clothes and I was embarrassed to go out, but today I have several and everything I buy is cheap. I buy pants for at least 10 dollars. That's me in the picture, Nadiege. People think my ideas for songs are extravagant and innovative. I want to make a name for myself as a DJ. And I started making music, a lot of good and cool songs. But being an artist is not my goal. I want to be recognized as a songwriter and maybe have some rock or country bands record my songs.

But I like symphony orchestras. People get a little confused about what it means to be an artist. People think that because I'm an artist I'm going to turn the banal and everyday into art. No way! I only use materials from the world of classical music in my work, creating a series of sample loops and creating artificial intelligence images and taking them from comic books.

The expected recognition has not yet come and I am emerging following the advice of a friend, who says: you need to sell your songs and earn a few dollars.

That was when the first versions of famous classic metal songs appeared.

In fact, I wanted something outside the everyday and something unrecognized, essentially outside of consumption. People are consumerist and boring.

That's why I like heroes like Superman, but now I love Supergirl. I'm loving it, and that's not what I see every day.

It's nice to get away from reality a little bit. Sometimes I wish I was supergirl and flying like a bird. That was the only way I wouldn't have to spend money on transportation.

That same year, I had my first exhibitions at Soundcload: in the"nadiege dance" series and I colored my photographs.

All I wanted was to escape the press (I broke my TV (I don't miss that shit) and threw it out the window) that showed car accidents, fires and homicides. Every day on my TV at home, these images were repeated. I thought, it's horrible to live in Recife Pernambuco Brazil. This was people's daily lives and that's it. I remember Britney and Michel, the TVs showed the brevity of their fame and with their deaths, what did the fans gain? However, my greatest joy was watching some Marilyn Monroe movies. I watched them at dawn, eating soup and Coca-Cola. My room, painted all white, was the center of my life. There, I created my first chords, following the instructions of the artist Jimi Hendrix to the letter.

In addition, I recorded my performances and the photo for the cover of my first album, the famous Nicki cover.

[fairyspheres]

good omens and the parallels with greek mythology

so i've been thinking about this topic a lot, mainly because i adore both subject matters, and i've already done a couple of smaller posts on it, but i wanted to expand on the ideas i have. hence this post.

god

i see god as herself first as an expy, for lack of better phrasing, for gaia. both were born from the shapeless void of primordial soup (in gaia's case, it's more literal as she's the daughter of khaos, the formless progenitor goddess). both are shown to be cruel, despite parading themselves as kind and good. gaia was ancient rage and wrath, convincing her titan sons (bar oceanus) to kill and dismember her husband, ouranos, which was the first murder. while god hasn't done anything like that, she was involved in the first murder of her own religion, however indirectly.

she's also rather like zeus. zeus, when he got annoyed with humanity during its golden age, decided he wanted to get rid of them all. he did this by sending a massive flood to wipe everyone out. much like god's tetchy flood, zeus' flood had survivors, though he hadn't intended for it: deucalion and pyrrha, the son of prometheus and the daughter of pandora. (pandora has often been syncretised with eve, for obvious reasons, and in the first episode of series one we see adam wielding the flaming sword, the first human to use fire.)

god's rage and wrath against sodom and gomorrah mirrors the punishment zeus and hermes inflicted on a village in phrygia, though in this case the village was destroyed for the crime of the villagers not enacting their duty of xenia. hermes takes baukis and philemon, the only humans spared for their generosity, up the mountain and tells them not to look back until they reach the top. in most cases, they do as they say and get rewarded for it, but there are a couple of versions where they choose to turn around, getting transformed into a linden and oak tree for doing so.

crowley

crowley is, first and foremost, pandora. or at least a version of her. crowley's downfall has always been curiosity, and i think part of the reason why he decided to tempt eve to the apple was because he was curious as to what would happen. the apple, acting as the pithos, unleashed death and disease and horrors upon humanity via adam and eve's leaving of the garden, which crowley is (however indirectly) responsible for. he was the voice in pandora's head that wouldn't leave her alone until she dug up the pithos, and so he was the voice in eve's ear until she ate the apple.

i would also say that crowley is the titan krios, one of gaia's firstborn children and the titan-god of constellations, craftsmanship, and morality. crowley has been shown to create stars in a very mechanical manner (the crank handle, the literal millions of pages) and to know what's good and what's bad, usually better than the angels. krios was one of the titans later thrown into tartaros after the titanomachy.

he is also very much like asclepius, the god of medicine and healing. asclepius' mother was coronis, the mortal lover of apollo, the god of healing and the plagues (as well as many, many other things). her name also means 'crow', as a fun aside, and her myth is said to be where crows/ravens get their black colour. his sacred animal is the snake, as the ancient greeks believed snakes to be creatures of great healing - the shedding of their skin was seen as something like rebirth (which was a big thing in greek mythology, particularly orphism, which had the orphic egg - an egg with a serpent wrapped around it). asclepius was also smitten by zeus for essentially being too good at his job; instead of just healing, he brought people back to life. crowley brought a bird back to life in the book. (it's also worth noting that the archangel raphael is often associated with asclepius, as raphael was considered the 'healer' of the archangels and not a fighter.)

there's also an argument to be made that crowley is much like hephaestus, the god of metalworking, volcanoes, blacksmiths, and artisans (among other things). hephaestus is generally considered as the child of only hera, his birth a result of spite and parthenogenesis. all the angels were also the result of a similar birth (or at least creation). when hephaestus was born, he was thrown from mount olympus for not looking right, as crowley was thrown from heaven for not conforming. hephaestus, as stated, is all about metalworking and creating - crowley kickstarts the engine for his nebula with a crank handle, something typically used in machinery, and he later uses it to pause time to stop satan himself.

aziraphale

in the first scene we have with aziraphale, we learn that he gave away his flaming sword, the flaming sword that god herself gave him, to the two disgraced humans. this is similar to the story of prometheus, which is why i always say that he's him; prometheus stole fire from olympus against the word of zeus - fire had previously been a privilege only for the gods - and gave it to humans in the hopes that they could do something for themselves with it. like prometheus, aziraphale is a supernatural being who chooses to side with humanity over his brethren, despite knowing it might get him punished in some way.

i would also liken aziraphale to athena in some ways. aziraphale, despite all his gluttony and greed and lust, is a soldier built to wield a weapon. a principality set to guard the eastern gate of eden. despite all this, he appreciates the finer things in life like good cuisines, books, cups of tea, etc. if there's a conflict, his first instinct is to resolve it by talking, even on apocalypse day. athena may have been a war goddess, but she was also goddess of good counsel and wisdom (as well as lot of the finer things of civilisation). though aziraphale is probably less likely to turn mortal women into immortal monsters. and, judging by the looks he's been giving crowley for the last couple of hundred years (particularly the last eighty), i highly doubt that he's going to follow in athena's footsteps and be a celibate being.

there are probably more parallels out there that i'm just too tired to think of right now. i just wanted to write this so i could finally get these thoughts out of my head.

[booktomoviebrawl]

We are not judging how bad the movie is, we are judging which adapted the book the worst. There are good movies that are bad adaptions.

Propaganda below the cut (spoilers may apply)

Fahrenheit 451:

The attempt to modernize the story to include the internet really didn’t work. Neither did replacing the book people painstakingly preserving knowledge with dumb technobabble about rewriting a bird’s DNA to include the text of every book ever written. Worst of all was what they did to Clarisse McClellan; turning her from a blithe spirit who inspires Montag to be a better person into a traitor selling out the book people. They also aged her up to make her a love interest for Montag because of course they did.

Okay so I don't remember the plots that well since I only watched the movie once in middle school BUT I do remember how VISCERALLY ANGRY the movie made me feel. For one, they didn't stick to the plot of the book AT ALL. The movie killed the protag, Guy Montag, at the end, when he got to live and rebuild society in the book. In addition, there was a character, Clarisse McClellan, who was a teenage girl (and possibly a daughter figure to Montag) in the books, but then was aged up to be Montag's LOVE INTEREST in the movie, which felt incredibly gross to me. There are probably other things that I'm missing, but these are the two that I remember.

The original book is a perfect example of what happens when you suppress the written word. It focused less on the relationship with humans and technology and more on the freedom of press access. In a world only a few books are allowed, that would also mean only a few ideas would be.

Now I’m talking about the modern movie by HBO. The wife is gone, who stood as an amazing parallel to Guy Montag’s thoughts of her just being okay with living in her dystopia while Guy questioned it. The girl is now a love interested, while in the book she was there to help Montag explore his worldview more. Also, books was more about censorship than human’s relationship with technology. Yes there are themes of it. But the movie makes Montag into a social media star.

Speaking of Clarisse (the girl), she’s a traitor to the resistance in the movie, she tells Montag where the books of the old lady are. It’s the resistance against a world where free speech is limited. And the old lady goes “heres the code word” *sets herself on fire* while in the book after the books are set ablaze she just burns with them.

the books are also in the DNA of a bird.

Like what the fuck is this movie Fahrenheit 451 is an A-B type of story! If it ain’t broke. Don’t fix it

World War Z:

The only thing from the book in this film is a two minute scene with a guy with the same name as a character from the book who gives basic exposition and only vaguely alludes to the stuff he did in the book. It’s just a bland Brad Pitt action movie that wanted to trick fans of an interesting book into seeing it. I wanted to go see Pacific Rim but my cousin dragged me to this shit instead. And yes I am still mad about it.

It shares almost nothing with the book except the title, the zombies, and a couple of locations

It took a genuinely interesting, anthology-like book that featured incredible scenes (of surviving the zombie apocalypse), and used its name to create a generic snoozefest action movie with Brad Pitt because he wanted to be the main character of a story with no main character. There were like 20+ zombie scenes in the book that I still remember to this day and IT USED NONE OF THEM. Battle of Yorktown? The blind Japanese guy and his shovel? The castle? The zombies crawling on the ocean floor???! NONE OF THEM IN THE MOVIE!!!!!! When will this get rebooted into an anthology TV series we deserve???? WHEN?

[viridescent-lance]

TOA Anniversary Munday!

Celebrating TOA and the people who contribute to make our group what it is.

Repost, don't reblog. Only fill in what you feel comfortable sharing!

Happy anniversary, TOA! Here's to many more years spent together.

tagging whoever wants to do this!

Name: Pat Gem! Patrick is the full name but Pat is what I go by most often in this group.

Pronouns: he/they

Birthday (no year): September 15! Same as my beloved kitty Cassie.

Where are you from? What is your time zone?: I'm from California, PST! I was born in the Bay Area, moved to Alabama where I spent ten years as a kid, and moved back to California. That's the truncated version.

Roleplay experience: I started roleplaying on the Warrior Cats Forums in like...2010, I think? I also did private Skype rps with my best friend at the time. This lasted for 3-4 years until both fizzled out around the same time. I have some experience doing group nuzlocke rp on the nuzforums, but that also didn't last as long as I'd like. Other than some ttrpgs, I had a dry spell, and in 2019 I joined a Friends at the Table tumblr RP that would change my life. There I met Maddie and some other friends, and while the rp wasn't super active after I joined it, Maddie and I started doing rp ourselves! Finally, in late 2021, Lucius invited Maddie to TOA and I also got the invite and tagged along.

Got any pets?: Yep! Cassie and Oreo, my beloveds! Both cats, Cassie is the one with a hairdo and she's almost 4, Oreo's a year and a half and a tuxy baby.

Favorite time of year: I love when it is nice and cool but not too cold. Fall is my favorite season, personally, but really I especially enjoy not sweating to death.

Some interests and things you like: I'm a huge Pokemon fan, which I'll elaborate on later. Here though I'll say that I have a huge interest in competitive Pokemon, both singles and the official VGC circuit. I'm a big TTRPG guy! I have a lot of systems and games I like but I'll single out Fall of Magic, Jenna Moran games, the Forged in the Dark system, the Belonging Outside Belonging system, and It's Been A Long Long Time! I have an interest in speedrunning, I watch a lot of videos about it and it's fun. I love Discworld, the Terry Pratchett series. Tales of Vesperia is a game of all time. Yuri Lowell your problems disorders. Ace Attorney helped mold me as a person. Warrior cats will forever live in my heart. Bionicle also helped make me the guy I am today. 999 is a visual novel of all time. Play it and do not look it up. I actually have a huge interest in media analysis, it's something I really really enjoy talking about and researching. Splatoon my beloved. Octopath Traveler 1 and 2! I love birds and bats and lots of animals! Okay I'm running out of steam and also this is very long so I'll just stop here but there's definitely things I am forgetting.

Some funfacts & trivia about you: - I'm a library and women's and gender studies student, and hope to some day work as a librarian! For now, I'm an afterschool program associate, and I love working with the kids. - I have met Nancy Pelosi while wearing a Pokemon button up. - I've survived a tornado that started above my house. - I have finished 34 nuzlockes. - Marth was one of my first smash mains but I didn't get into Fire Emblem for years. - I have the cilantro soap gene but I like the taste of soap. - I'm physically disabled and use a cane irl! - My girlfriend used to have me blocked on Twitter. - I've made it to playoffs every single Pokemon draft league I've been in but never made it past semifinals - I was very isolated as a kid and rarely left the house. As a result, I learned my vocabulary mostly from books, as well as how I talk and emote from books and shows. I've been told I talk and act like a cartoon character, which I suppose is fair!

What non-Fire Emblem games do you play?: I play a bunch of Splatoon, probably one of the main games I play! It's very fun, and I'm a Sploosh/Custom Jr/Tentatek triple threat main who constantly hovers around S. Octopath Traveler 1 and 2 have me grabbed so hard. I am hopelessly a Pokemon guy. I play nuzlockes, casually, and competitively, and I have almost every single Pokemon and its learnset and viable competitive learnsets memorized. I am very normal about it. I also really love the Zero Escape series. I've been playing the warrior cats procgen sim ClanGen recently. I used to play a bunch of No Man's Sky, want to get back into that soon. Honestly I struggle to consistently play and finish games, and I've been trying to work on that.

Favorite Pokemon type & Pokemon: Bug; Flygon. Yes, you can combine these two to get the logical conclusion: Flygon should have been a Bug/Dragon type! It's based off the life cycle of a lacewing!!

How did you get into Fire Emblem?: I've got two stories here, one of how I almost got into Fire Emblem and how it got on my radar, and the other being how I finally got into it for real. So, in 9th grade, I had a crush on a boy who played Awakening at lunch every day. I'd talk with him and he actually offered to buy me Awakening, but I, one of the only poor kids in a rich school, was flabbergasted he would spent 40 dollars on me and felt guilty and was like are you sure? And he was like well okay if you don't want me to. I kind of wish I'd taken him up on the offer because he sucked as a person and his family was super rich but oh well. I then played the hell out of the demo. Flash forward to 2019. I'm scrolling twitter and see a friend of mine is streaming Fire Emblem Three Houses. I've seen it before, and it seems pretty fun. A lot of my friends like Fire Emblem. I watch the stream and fall in love with the characters and style of the game, and I impulse buy Three Houses. I then tell Maddie and sell them on Three Houses. Thus, it begun...

What Fire Emblem games have you played?: This is a fun and complicated question for me to answer because if you count me backseating Maddie, it's some of fe4, most of fe7, fe8, fe9, fe10, over half of fe13, some fe14, fe15, and fe16. If it's just me, that shrinks down to some fe7 and fe8, some fe9, over half of fe13, some fe15, and some fe16. I was an active participant in watching the games so it feels like a smidgen of playing them but not quite?

First Fire Emblem game: Either the Awakening demo or Three Houses.

Favorite Fire Emblem game: Shadows of Valentia, Sacred Stones, and the Tellius duology. Hard to specify a single favorite, especially depending on what we are defining favorite as.

Any Fire Emblem crushes? 😳 : Where do I begin. I mean Lukas is like, perhaps one of my strongest ones. Though I'm also smitten with Forsyth and attracted to Python despite him being terrible boyfriend material. Recently I have been making eyes at Legault in Blazing Blade, and also playing Fates for the first time had me really surprised at how much Setsuna charmed me. Uhhh lemme think also. Christ Kent your problems disorders bewitch me. Claude you are my everything I will do anything for you. Shamir also if we are talking 3h, what a gal. Ranulf my beloved, he's got things together and he's playful and teasing and just has a great personality. Also Titania...pretty and strong and cool and just a fantastic character who I would not object to kissing on the mouth. I think i might stop here because if I keep going I am going to just take you on a tour of my numerous Fire Emblem crush tastes.

If you’ve played the following games, who was your first S support? Who would you S support nowadays? - Awakening: Panne; I'd also S support Libra or Say'ri. I need to mention that my first awakening playthrough was in 2020 though so if I'd gotten it in 2013 like I almost did I'd probably have gotten married to like...Libra if I waited that long, Chrom if I messed up and got automarried, or like. Stahl or something bc he's really nice and a knight. - Fates: I have not S supported anyone in Fates yet but Setsuna and Silas I am Looking. - Three Houses: I actually never have S supported anyone in Three Houses, as I never actually finished my personal playthrough! However, my big choices are Shamir and Claude, though w the latter I just pretend that's me bc I don't do teacher/student. - Engage: Not enough experience to say who I might S support. Will get back to you.

Favorite Fire Emblem class: Do laguz/taguel/manakete count. I'm also weak for archers I shan't lie.

If you were a Fire Emblem character, what would be your class?: Oh I know I'd be one of those frail little mages who has explosive firepower and waning physical ability. Honestly being that but on a wyvern would be fun. My good friend my mobility wyvern.

If you were a Three Houses character, what would be your affiliation?: Golden Deer 4ever baybee not even close.

If you were an Engage character, which Emblem would you Engage with?: I'll get back to this, I'm not sure if I have the info I need to make an informed choice. My first thought is that I would love to have Ike chilling with me though, Ike my good friend Ike.

How did you find TOA?: Lucius invited Maddie, and Maddie invited me! I was roleplaying Forsyth with Maddie's Python 1on1 at the time and the idea of a group RP was very appealing to me, despite me being swamped with work and school and health issues at the time. I'm so glad I made the leap!

Current TOA muses: Forsyth and Leanne!

Who was your first TOA muse? If you don’t have them anymore, could you see yourself picking them up again?: Forsyth! I don't see myself dropping him unless his narrative here is done, really.

Have you had any other TOA muses?: Oh Ranulf...I had a very fun time with him, but I just was not in the state to handle three muses and having two muses has been much more manageable, so he's probably not coming back for a while.

Do you think you have a type of character you gravitate towards?: I tend to write very earnest characters, especially in a group RP setting. I've pushed my comfort zone before, but characters who express themselves very openly and intensely are my bread and butter. Characters who wear their hearts on their sleeves, for better or worse.

What do you believe you enjoy writing the most?: Hard to say, but honestly I really enjoy writing relationships, and the ways in which they shift and change over time. I really like character-focused writing the most, emotions and thoughts and such, and exploring the connections between characters! This feels like a silly answer, but it's what I'm feeling!

Favorite TOA-related memory: Oh man this is a hard one. Hard to choose so I'll just pick one that came to mind which is Leanne and Vaida's bizarre adventure in Queen's Compass. What a good event that was, blows a kiss to the sky for Zyra. I'm also a huge fan of everything involving Forsyth's Jugdral meddling and the narrative impact of his deaths in KKE. There are so many funny little experiences and memories that stick with me forever, really.

How do you pronounce TOA? 🤔: Tee-oh-ay! Pronouncing it as a word is the same as Toa from Bionicle and to keep them distinct in my mind I sound it out.

Got any delusions that didn’t see the light of day that you’d like to share? 😉: The world if I could handle three muses...Legault scratching at my door. Ranulf also scratching at my door. Blows a kiss to the guys I would enjoy playing but don't have the time and energy for.

[voicesofchaos]

Zexal Month - The Magician

So today we are supposed to talk about our favorite Duel Monster or Number specifically. I feel like I always share that clip of Beyond The Hope’s Summoning so going to do something a little bit different this time. A lot of different Numbers get used in both the anime and manga. But the Numbers that always fascinated me are the ones released in the card game after both had ended. For a fanfic I have wanted to write for a long time would be a rewrite from a different point of view and a genre shift. One of the goals of that fanfic would be to all Numbers 1 through 100 get used in some way so I have spent a long time thinking about these 30 unused Numbers and how they would be used in the series. So this post is going to go through all 30 cards and I will explain who I think should use each one. Some are very obvious and self-explanatory but some others are very weird and out there. So hopefully this post is amusing and maybe educational. Be warned it will be very long! @zexalmonth

Tron. Making it his 3rd Number and being tied with IV for Numbers used.

This is a bit of a weird one because the “Wyrm” monster type didn’t come out until Arc-V so it literally couldn’t have existed in Zexal. Despite that though I assign this card to Mizael. I feel like all the Barians would have at least 1 backup Number 1-100 that isn’t their Legendary (Mythyrian) Number. Mizael is a dragon tamer and this is close to a dragon but also a huge edgelord.

Space-themed monster. This is totally V’s number. Psychic type monsters are even used by his dad and his brother, III. Sadly only raising V’s number count to 2 and behind the rest of his family as we will see. Alternatively, in the manga this would belong to Eviluder who used Number 42: Galaxy Tomahawk (which I would also assign to V to being his Number count to 3).

Anna of course! She even summons it in Duel Links! Making this card the only card in this list to appear in a semi-canon Zexal story!

Cathy. And honestly it seems so perfect for her style.

III. Giving him a 3rd Number (Not counter Number 32) and getting him to keep up with IV.

This is definitely the single hardest card to assign on this list. I am simply going to give it to Rokujuro because the card has old man vibes. 

Durbe. That might seem weird but what is this monster holding and what meme is Durbe most famous for? BOOKS! Durbe very much seems like the “prophet” character archetype.

Kotori! Her name means little bird and I feel like the colors would even match her style. 

Gilag. Another kind of weird one but his archetype is Hands after-all. They even have a similar body type.  

So you are probably thinking yet another Number for Yuma. But actually one other character in the series has played Gogogo Golem. Yup! The man who Yuma got his deck from! Tsukumo Kazuma! Yuma’s dad totally deserves his own number!

Cool 3-headed FIRE dragon. I feel like either Mizael or Kaito could have this one but I am going to give this one to Kaito. This was definitely one of those initial 10 Numbers Kaito had already hunted before the series started.

Alit. Okay hear me out because I know this is a stretch. This is a FIRE monster and only Alit plays those. Few characters across all Yugioh series play FIRE monster. But also I headcanon that Alit would totally be obsessed with reality/celebrity cooking TV shows or just a huge fan of Food Wars! I know we don’t see that side of him in the show but the same energy is there.

Going real obscure here with Jin (Fortuno in the dub). The guy that worshipped Kaito for no real reason and had both Number 11 and 16. Yeah, let’s give him a 3rd Number as if he needed another but come one this card has his style.

Only one character uses dice and luck. Charlie McCoy! I don’t blame you if you don’t remember him either. Sadly not the last time he will be on this list.

I take it back. This is the hardest. Being a sky prison I feel like Eliphas would vibe with this, maybe after being corrupted and made evil by its influence. Alternatively for the manga, I really want to give Luna a Number and sure this makes enough sense if you stretch it.

Obviously Shark but more specifically Nasch. If you want to be spicey you could say this belonged to past-life Nasch.

Okay I don’t have a lot of reasoning for this but I strongly feel like this card belongs to Droite. She uses Butterfly Assassins and this guy is totally an assassin. 

So you could easilly say Number 96: Dark Mist for this one. But for a more creative option I am going to Tsukumo Akari gets corrupted by this Number as she is chasing a story. Alternatively in the manga, Shadow would use this as his Number 48: Shadow Lich is on of the 3 monsters in the background and it also fits him.

I’m breaking the rules here. This Number belongs to Hiragi Yuzu from Arc-V who ended up in Zexal while dimension-hopping. 

This just has to be Astral of course.

Alit’s true Number!

Anna! She even has a voice line for it in Duel Links apparently!

Charlie McCoy yet again!

Gauche’s number!

I get both Rio and Droite vibes from this one. But sadly reaching into the obscure makes the most sense here with Aika Hanazoe (Lotus Hanazoe) who was Rio’s first on-screen duel and used Battlecruiser Dianthus. 

I really wish I could tell what was going in this artwork but every version it just looks weird. I feel like it would be a Cyberse monster now a days. I feel like you could this off as belonging to Vector. But more so on the manga side I could totally see this as Kyoji Yagumo card, a fitting 8th Number for him.

So obviously a Kaito card but what if instead this was used by Haruto to backup and support his brother’s battles? Haruto does use a Number (28) so why not give him a cool supportive Number as well.

A DARK version of Mizael’s Legendary Number (46) so I can’t in good consciousness give this to Mizael and it doesn’t fit Kaito either. So I am actually going to give this to Don Thousands as a means to corrupt Mizael and others.

On the anime side this belongs exclusively to Dark Zexal. But for the manga, this clearly belongs to E’Rah whose ace monster was Anti-Hope God Of Despair. Yeah this totally the Numbers version of that card.

[fruitytea454]

Okay book recommendations 

so the song of Achilles is about Achilles and Patroclus and there love story ( it’s sad)

A good girls Gide to murder is about a girl name Pipa and her solving murder (it’s a series and has a tv show)

The red queen is a dystopian about a  world where there are people with red blood and people with silver and the silvers have powers mare(the main character) is a red ( it’s a series i think there is a tv show)

Shadow and bone is about a girl who find out she is Grisha and is in fact the sun summoner who is supposed to save her entire country Ravka from the fold( a black thing that splits her country in half and that creatures live in that will try and kill anyone who crosses) ( this is a series) and btw there is a tv show it goes by the same name and Nina is soo hot

Aristotle and Danta discovers the secret of the universe one of my favorites Aristotle( the main character) is growing up and he meets Danta who is his exact opposite it’s really kinda contemplate life and is a slow burn( btw there is a second book Aristotle and Danta dive into the waters of the world) I love them so much and try and live by some of the stuff in the books ( btw it is really sad at points but also hilarious) 

Hunger games idk if you read it or not but it’s good I also just really like characters who go slowly crazy so song Birds and snakes was one of my favorites in that series

The Last Cuentista the world is ending and they have to put people on a ship and get them off so people can continue to live the main character is one of the lucky one she is taken on the ship and basically preserved in a jelly like substance and she wakes up year later to find the collective a cult who is controlling the ship she has to save the last few people and get them off the ship (it’s sad)

Truly devise I loved it there are still books coming out and it’s a murder mystery where there is a school up in the mountains that only the people who have the “ spark” can go to the main character is cool and David is amazing for the first few untill I want to kill him ( btw this is a series)

Okay here are a few middle school books 

Percy Jackson series is good I love Nico Di Anglo so much ( I used to try and dress like him) 

Wings of fire is amazing I love moon and all the different characters btw mostly everyone is a dragon and in my opinion the first few books are good until you read the rest because it gets so good lol

Kingdom keepers is kinda weird like no one talks about it but it where a bunch of kids are really into Disney so they try out to be DHI where they can basically get payed by Disney so they can make hologram of there body’s to give tours at Disney and help out around with guest but then it turns out when they go to sleep they get transported into the parks and the animatronics and other things come to life and they have to fight Disney villains ( it’s actually really funny to me that Disney green lit this) btw I think Willa is bi and no one can convince me other wise it’s an early 20s so that’s kinda the vibe( btw it’s a series) 

And I think that’s all

[denimbex1986]

'The last time I went to a cinema in London to watch a film I really wanted to see was more than 20 years ago. Time Regained, an adaptation of Marcel Proust’s À la recherche du temps perdu, was shown at an indie cinema in the West End. A couple of years later I happened to meet its director, Chilean filmmaker Raúl Ruiz, in the lobby of the hotel where I worked. I took the opportunity to thank him for turning the final volume of Proust’s great novel into a very fine film. However, I have never felt tempted to watch a blockbuster movie until I saw a poster for Oppenheimer in the London Underground.

The film opened simultaneously in London and the city of Srinagar, the town of my birth, which sits in a disputed region of India. When I was growing up, we had to wait for ages after its release date for a Hollywood film to reach a cinema in our town. I cycled many miles from my home to see American movies in a cinema called Broadway on the outskirts of town – its name a tribute to New York’s theatreland. I have never forgotten watching a scary Frankenstein film at Broadway as a youngster.

Like other cinemas in Srinagar, which is the largest city in the Kashmir region, Broadway closed for three decades because of political troubles. But as a friend told me over the phone, it has recently reopened as a multiplex and is now screening Oppenheimer to packed audiences.

I must confess that I hadn’t seen a Christopher Nolan film before – neither Dunkirk nor Interstellar. However, I wanted to watch Oppenheimer because it depicts a crucial moment in human history – the development and use of nuclear weapons. The fear of nuclear fallout is ever present in my native Kashmir, a region that’s surrounded by three of the world’s nine nuclear powers. It’s also home to several geological fault lines that run beneath its snow-clad mountains. Earthquakes, both manmade and natural, feel possible at any moment. In fact, India and Pakistan have come close to a nuclear confrontation twice in the past 24 years in the dispute over Kashmir. I was horrified when I saw a series of diagrams published in National Geographic during one of these near-catastrophic conflicts in 1999, depicting the many millions of people who would die in both of these countries if such an event were to occur.

Nolan’s film is based on the book American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is also subtitled The Modern Prometheus. It’s an apt moniker for Oppenheimer – in Greek mythology, Prometheus, god of fire, tricks the god of gods, Zeus, and steals fire from Olympus in order to give it to humanity, but is condemned to suffer in eternity for his actions.

Oppenheimer himself was deeply interested in literature and the classics. He chose the code name Trinity for the first detonation of a nuclear bomb because he liked the 17th-century English poet John Donne, particularly his holy sonnet Batter my heart, three-person’d God. He read 19th-century French poet Charles Baudelaire’s Flowers of Evil while working on the first nuclear test. He was an aesthete who read Proust while on a walking holiday in Corsica and found a very reassuring passage in À la recherche about human moral frailty.

I hopped on my bike to go to see a matinee of Oppenheimer at an indie cinema in my neighbourhood in London. A small group of elderly cinemagoers, one of whom was using a walker, had arrived before me to see this historical saga. They must have been well acquainted with the McCarthy era, when several prominent Americans left the country and moved to Europe and Britain under suspicion of harbouring communist beliefs in the aftermath of the Second World War. Oppenheimer himself was under constant government surveillance while working on the Manhattan Project, having taken an interest in communism during his academic career. As Albert Einstein (portrayed in a cameo role in the film, though Einstein never participated in developing the bomb) once tellingly remarked: “The trouble with Oppenheimer is that he loves a woman who doesn’t love him – the United States government.”

After the war, government distrust would follow Oppenheimer for the rest of his career. When he met president Harry Truman at the White House in October, 1945 (the atomic bombs had been dropped in August), he apparently said: “Mr. President, I feel I have blood on my hands,” which privately enraged Truman. Martin J. Sherwin, co-author of the film’s source book, believes Oppenheimer’s words made the president see the scientist as a weakling. President Truman saw himself as ultimately responsible – somebody had to act decisively – and had ordered the bombs to be dropped on Japan.

Nolan’s film, shot both in monochrome and colour, also reveals the rivalry between Oppenheimer and Lewis Strauss, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission chairman. Strauss would eventually bring about the downfall of the eminent Manhattan Project leader by having one of his colleagues send a letter to J. Edgar Hoover, head of the FBI, instilling doubts about Oppenheimer’s loyalty to the United States. It was a simple bureaucratic procedure with grave consequences. Before going to see Nolan’s film, I had watched the BBC documentary The Trials of Oppenheimer, which details the scientist’s appearance before an FBI security hearing in 1954. During the hearing, Oppenheimer described himself as “an idiot.” Being a genius is evidently no guarantee of wisdom.

Oppenheimer died of throat cancer in 1967, at the age of 62. But his tragedy doesn’t end there. A decade later, his daughter killed herself at the age of 32. She had struggled with her father’s death, but also constraints on her career. In 1969, she was denied a position as a translator in the United Nations because the FBI refused to grant her security clearance because of her father’s past entanglements.

Nolan’s film supplies interesting perspectives on the Oppenheimer story. The director seems painfully aware that Oppenheimer never properly apologized for the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the two Japanese cities he had contributed to shortlisting for the attacks. Despite his deep readings of Donne, who wrote 19 religious sonnets in remorse for his sins, Oppenheimer never publicly repented.

I left the cinema in the early evening. It had rained lightly and the pavement was wet. After watching this thought-provoking three-hour epic, I found that I had lost all sense of time.'

[diaryofanobsessivefangirl]

I never thought I’d make this because there have been so little demand for Petyr/Catelyn content since there are few of us online, but I’m glad I can make a masterlist of inspirational content.

Fanfics:

As Blue as Love can Be

Petyr fights the duel and loses

see-you-again-at-riverrun

petyr-sprawls-beside-her-his-fingers-intertwined

one-shot-in-which-young-petyr-or-young-cat-is

the-story-of-a-name

as-red-as-autumn

the-kiss-of-death

petyr-playing-hide-and-seek

petyredmure-youth

can-we-see-some-baby-tullys-childhood-especially

a-clever-boy-petyr-for-the-100

it-was-an-unbearably-warm-summers-day-in

for-love-for-honour

he-dies-once-a-year-in

swimming-lessons-petyr-x-catelyn-fanfic

Poems and quotes:

The Book of Longing

Brown Penny

A Meeting

i-love-you-as-certain-dark-things-are-to-be-loved

Aubade

Final Autumn

Going for Water

To One in Paradise

I’ve Dreamed of You So Much

i-was-only-a-chapter-in-your-story-but-you-were

be-careful-before-you-write-a-poem-about-someone

where-i-was-born-time-was-told-not-by-the-clock

Song of a Second April

we-all-have-one-foot-in-a-fairytale-and-the-other

the-modern-typewriter-i-loved-you-the-way-that

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

edgar-allan-poe-favorite

the-mocking-bird-poem-by-henry-van-dyke-in

you-know-the-place-between-sleep-and-awake

Fire and Ice

strange-youre-still-in-all-my-dreams-oh-what-a

he-was-a-soldier-but-he-was-also-a-king-lord-of

maybe-the-first-time-you-saw-her-you-were-ten-she

petyr-x-catelyn-poem

Playlists:

never meant

january embers

i've heard a song once

Metas and headcanons (BOOK SPOILERS!)

peter-means-stone-petyr-bealish-started-the-war

pre-got-riverrun-symbolsaesthetic-sword-duel

just-read-this-post-about-why-haji-fell-in-love

in-relation-to-petyrs-dehumanising-of-other

petyr-has-loved

cheers-to-how-petyr-talks-about-this

Fate drives me south and south again

give-me-those-headcanons-of-petyr-baelish-recovery

she-had-played-at-being-jenny-that-day-had-even

in-the-battle-of-the-trident-rhaegar-fell

petyr-loved-catelyn-so-much-that-when-he-lost

she-had-played-at-being-jenny-that-day-had-even

this-shot-is-very-interesting-in

the-name-peter-comes-from-the-greek-word-for

petyr-baelish-one-week-challenge-day-3

stop-me-doing-text-posts

asoiaf-a-song-of-ice-and-fire-got

masterlist-of-riverrun-headcanons

Fanart and inspiring art:

undead-wowo-zombie-fan-art

my-love-was-punished-long-ago-it-took-the-death

i-think-this-is-my-fave-petyr-x-catelyn-fanart

emosloppy-bookspaperscissorsvero-navarro

veareflejos-last-of-the-mohicans-massimo-draws

oxane-birds

la-boheme-by-daniel-gerhartz

some-closer-shots-of-mother

joscomie

ship them so hard

petyr-x-cat-childhood-times

little cat and little petyr

you-know-i

ive-only-loved-one-woman

a-series-of-three-artworks

she-had-played-being-jenny-that-day-had-even

in-petyrs-brothel

ive-loved-you-since-i-was-a-boy

asoiaf-art-meme-1-petyr-x-catelyn-artists

not-sure-if-what-is-written-here-are-excerpts

infamous-shsl-despair-by-zdragonx

Other inspiring things:

from-plays-mud

i-knew-youd-haunt-all-my

just-so-you-know-i-never-believed

This was the fourth time Lord Baelish made her laugh.

peter pan

poldark

just-so-you-know-i-never-believed-any-of-the

cant-fight-this-feeling

how-many-songs-can-i-possibility-relate

I swore I knew the melody

wuthering heights parallels

young-petyr-and-catelyn-making-a-littlefinger

johnny-cash-petyr

no-one-knows-what-its-like-to-be-hated

when-he-was-allowed-to-look-at-her-this-way

a-wild-young-petyr-baelish-feel-appears

dearest-catelyn-why-have-you-not-come-back-to

she-is-the-very-image-of-cat-at-the-same-age

kathleen-mavourneen-petyr-says-goodbye-to-the

im-making-this-my-official-pre-game-of-thrones

stonehearting-as-she-stood-there-all-the

tullying-lord-brackens-singer-played-for-us

i-am-a-creature-of-grief-and-dust-and-bitter

natdormer-the-other-tully-girl-a-film-about

Hey everyone! Does anyone has any Petyr x Catelyn fic recomendations? I need more content of those two. Also if someone would like to talk about them or something related feel free to send me a message.

[dycefic]

In The Interim

I must have read at least a dozen variations on the 'ancient and forgotten order of something or other is revived by the Chosen One and some ancient mentor or something' story, in which ancient relics or fortresses or holy places usually play a significant part. I've often wondered what happens to them in the interim, while their orders are scattered and their existence forgotten. I'm always fascinated by the generally elided parts of a story - what happens after the evil empire collapses, or while the dystopia is setting in, or the time between the fall and rise of the order of something or other.

Also, you know, I play Dragon Age. Skyhold is... inspiring.

---

There is an ancient fortress that waits in the mountains for the day when its people will return. Dust covers the floors, and many of the ancient statues have fallen.

I do not know what the fortress waits for. Was it an order of scholars? There was a library, with shelves full of scrolls and books. They are ancient and fragile now, so I never enter the room except to light a fire to dry the air, now and then.

It could have been an order of warriors. There are rooms full of ancient weapons. I know what a sword is, though I have never seen swords shaped like this. There are blades on long poles, like some strange mating of an axe and a spear, and other things I cannot name. What is not too rusted, I oil and tend.

Perhaps it was a religious order. There are many statues, and one motif that repeats often, a woman holding a lamp in one hand and a flower or leafy plant in the other. There are statues of her, and paintings on the walls, and even a mosaic of stones in one of the courtyards. I dust the statues and the paintings, and sweep the mosaic. In the room that seems to be a shrine, I keep a light burning on the altar, as the signs tell me others have done before me.

I don’t know what most of what I find signifies. There are chests full of faded and rotted fabric that was clothing once, but I do not know what the sigils mean. There are devices on shelves whose use I cannot begin to guess. There are letters or symbols carved into the stone in several places, but they are not in the language I know.

But there is a garden. Even after years of neglect, the soil is rich. I do not know the language the people here spoke, or why they lived here, but I know the herbs they used. I know the vegetables they ate. I recognised the bones of chickens and goats, when I dug in their midden for fertiliser.  I found the bird cotes, and replaced rotted perches and lured the pigeons which had gone wild back with seeds and insects from the garden.

Some of the perches were large, too large for any pigeon. I don’t know what birds roosted there. But sometimes I see a large bird circling high up, a crow or a raven, and I wonder if it’s a descendant of those birds.

The kitchen has been used more recently than the other rooms. In a small room off the kitchen I found an old straw bed, and clothing that is not too unlike my own. And on the wall of that room, scratched on the stone, I found a series of crude drawings.

A figure in long skirts walking up a slope between trees. A crude representation of the fortress. The same figure, standing in the garden, with crude plants around her feet and what are probably meant to be birds in the air over her head.

These I read easily. “I climbed the mountains and found this place. I lived here.”

The next row was different.  The same figure, repeated several times. Then a crude outline of a skull. Then a door with a symbol on it. It took me a while to figure that out.

Then I found the door with that symbol, deep below the fortress. When I opened it – cautiously, remembering the skull – I smelled the faint memory of decay.

When I went down, I found an ancient crypt. There were niches in the walls, like narrow beds one above the other, and ancient bones within them. Some had the rusted remains of armour, some the dusty shreds of what might have been robes.

And I found other bones. They were not in niches, but laid on the floor at one end of the room. Twelve complete skeletons were there, and I could see, looking at them, that they were not all the same age. One, at the far right, looked almost as ancient as the bones in the niches. The one on the left still had shreds of flesh here and there, and hair spread around its head. When I examined that one, I found that one of the legs was broken, and had not healed.

They are all women, I think. The newest is still wearing skirts, and I can see the decayed remains on some of the others. What hair remains is long, though it is not certain that either man or woman living in this isolation would cut their hair, and some bones are still encircled by bracelets or necklaces.

They were called here, I think, as I was.

There is a long history of hermitage, among my people. It is more common among men than women, but now and then one will be moved to retreat from the world into solitude and contemplation. Usually they are moved by a god, or go to tend some sacred relic or shrine.

I was alone in the world, when I felt the calling. I packed up my belongings, bade farewell to those few who might miss me, and set out to walk into the mountains. I did not know where I was going, but I knew I was going somewhere. And then…

Then I found this place, and I knew. It is empty, but it is not abandoned. It is only waiting. Waiting until its people come back, until some great need calls them, or destiny, or the turning of the wheel. And while it waits, it is… lonely, perhaps. So it calls out, to those who are right, who will be content in this quiet solitude, who will feed the pigeons and tend the garden and light fires in the library and oil the weapons.

The woman before me broke her leg. Perhaps it bled too much, or wound-rot set in. She must have known she was dying and dragged herself down to lie beside the others. When I know my time is coming, I will go too. If I do not have warning, if death comes quickly, I conjure you who come after me to carry my bones down to that crypt, to lie beside my sisters in peace, until the fortress lives once more.

I leave this record in hope that it will help the next hermit who comes, when I am only bones. And if you who read are no hermit, but coming in some dire need or peril, if you come to awaken again what sleeps here, to give the lady with her flower and her lamp a name, or perhaps to earn your own, then welcome, for we have kept this fortress against your coming.

It has been waiting for you.

(This short account, written on parchment, is preserved by the Order as one of its most precious relics. During the Interim, the period of almost eight hundred years in which the Order was largely forgotten and the fortress was left empty, sixteen women are believed to have been ‘called’ to preserve and tend it. Aside from the bodily remains in the crypt, and a few images scratched into a wall, this is the only evidence they chose to leave of their existence. None have ever been identified, and the parchment is unsigned. Nevertheless, the sixteen Guardians are venerated by the Order for their faithful, solitary service to powers whose name they never knew, and their bones are entombed together, side by side in death as was their wish. Without their care, we believe, there would have been little left for the revived Order to return to.)