#using it like magic even though her magic NEVER DEPLETES WHEN SHE USES IT BC IT'S NOT A SPELL IT'S JUST HER

[corderis]

me only just realizing exactly what axel meant by trump card in re:mind and the fact that they literally show us that visually as well as the truth of why xemnas removed kairi from the battlefield

[architect-annabeth]

the demigods as d&d players:

percy - fantastic at combat. gets nat 20s left and right. interested in lore and history of the world but rolls absolute shit at recalling them. gets better with time though. notes are a mess but at least he takes them. comes to games with pcs who have one page backstories because he likes to leave most of the details to the dm since he loves a dramatic backstory reveal and learning more about his character that way. character can be amnesiac, memory wiped, etc and he lives for it.

annabeth - amazing fantastic has never had a pc of hers get killed (unless she wants them to). can never have a character dump intelligence or wisdom because she doesn't think she can play a pc like that. plans and plans for boss fights and encounters. notes are so organized the dm often asks for a copy as well. knows all the rules but doesn’t rules lawyer. even though casters can be broken she proves that noncasters should be feared as well.

nico - min-maxes sometimes not to break the game but to annoy the dm. it works and the dm tries to kill them in return (in fun). a big fan of teleportation spells. tends to miss or not be able to attend games so character just bamfs out for a solo adventure. fails insight checks a lot which makes them interpret his party’s thoughts and intentions wrong unfortunately.

jason - also amazing at combat. tends to tanks and take hits for the party even as his hit points are depleting. gets ko-ed a lot bc of it. unfortunately often gets mind controlled by the enemy and is compelled to fight his own party. diligent note taker. dumps perception so he won’t have to see his party do questionable shit and he’d have to intervene. pcs are generally charismatic but is still surprised when npcs flirt with his character and he has no idea how to respond or chooses to ignore it.

piper - enchantment spells are her bitch. loves to take dm’s monsters and npcs and make them her allies whether they want to or not. her saving throws are hard to beat. often has to be the mediator to prevent her party from becoming murder hobos. interested in the lore and history of the world especially the ones where her pc is involved in. sees injustice towards minorities and will not hesitate to end a bitch’s life through just words.

leo - one word. fireball. also artificer. also great at making ingenious solutions to problems encountered by the party. makes the dm tear their hair out at the creative ways he solves his problems without ever metagaming or breaking the rules. dumps perception so he can try to portray his pcs as adhd. also tries to ‘i seduce the ___’ but never has the charisma rolls to pull it off. learns to drop that later on.

frank - polymorph/wild shape time baby. doesn’t always pick the best beast/animal to turn into but it ends up okay in the end. is always afraid of his pc dying but still risks it all to save his party. likes backstories where his pc makes an unknowing deal with an evil deity in exchange for powers/items/an event to happen which might bring consequences like rage or curses. really just rolls with his party.

hazel - used to be afraid of her pc dying but when it happened once it no longer scared her. got a nat 1 on a death saving throw once and then a nat 20 the next time kind of luck. plays with the theme of death in her character a lot and she loves it. sometimes cares more for the horses that her party bought more then her party and that’s fair. she ran out of rations once but still made sure her horse had food. has the unfortunate ability of finding really good magical items that bring really bad curses.

[zhuilingyizhen]

Have you ever considered a time travel au? Like sizhui (+ the other juniors?) going back to when wangxian's generation was their age,, or wwx and lwj ending up in their younger bodies or smth

Ooh!!!

I have one idea, but it’s.... kinda dark? Jin Ling gets erased out of existence?

Hmmm I said no sad, but it’s like crack-sad so I think it’s okay.

So, this whole idea started when I thought “what if jingyi & zizhen, the ultimate matchmaking team, went back in time and unknowingly got yzy and madame jin together?”

Then I realized, “what if that made a big oopsie?”

Anyways, this is the “oh shit, i screwed up” kinda time travel AU. Be warned.

Jingyi and Zizhen are in the Cloud Recesses library, reading through some random books, when they stumble upon one that looks older than Lan Qiren. One of them is a journal, documenting a time traveler.

They read it, and it’s super cool! Fun! Woah!

Jingyi, thinking it probably won’t work anyway but hey, why not try? tries the tailsman with Zizhen.

Suddenly, they’re back in time.

But they don’t know that & thought they failed.

Just then, an uNknOwN Lan disciple walks in and demands to know wtf they’re doing there at this time of night!!

Jingyi is confused, bc who is this strangely familiar disciple? A new transfer?

He voices his ?? and is met with “I am Lan Qiren. Why are you imposters in here? Where did you get that ribbon?”

He’s droning on in true Lan Qiren fashion, and Jingyi and Zizhen kinda look at each other because hOLY SHIT THAT ACTUALLY WORKED!!!

They immediately get tf outta there (guess it’s their turn with the brain cell) and start checking out all the differences. Zizhen deduces that they should be forty or fifty or so years in the past, since LQR be old.

They’re wandering around for a couple days (future tailsman in Zizhen’s pocket) and have fun exploring all the different stuff.

And then, Jingyi realizes that the Wens are kinda alive. And he has a moment, where he realizes they could bring Sizhui back here!! Surely Sizhui would want to learn about his past, right?? This would be the perfect opportunity!

He may or may not have bought a Wen(tm) jewelry for his very platonic best friend, but we don’t talk about that.

And then, they meet a rando young woman practicing her sword fighting. Zizhen thinks that she feels familiar, but has no idea why.

The juniors approach her, and ask what’s up, because she be really murdering those dummies.

She introduces herself hesitantly (she’s a little sus of them), as Yu Ziyuan.

Zizhen & Jingyi definitely failed their history tests, because they don’t know who she is, only that she’s very gay for her friend.

And Jingyi and Zizhen hatch a plan to help this rando stranger who certainly isn’t important to the plot or anything get with the girl!

And bOI DO THEY TRY

They help Ziyuan out by suggesting flowers, sweets, even give her a template for an undying love confession!

She’s kinda cold towards them at first, but Ljy and oyzz shan’t be hindered! They persist, and she eventually asks her friend to elope with her and escape their arranged marriages.

Jingyi gives Zizhen a side eye like “whoops” but also cheer as they ride off into the sunset!! Woohoo!

Then they go back in time, and... oh boy. Shit happened. Time rippled. The universe was changed.

Because Jingyi & Zizhen may or may not have erased Jin Ling from existence by getting his grandmothers together.

Because then those two ditch and jc & jyl are kinda not alive, though wwx still gets taken in (and maybe they pretend he’s jfm’s child so jfm can make him sect heir??)

And ljy & oyzz are shook.

And then they freak out and go to the only sane, responsible person they know: Lan Sizhui

bEcaUse sUreLy hE wOulDn’T bE diFferEnt

Actually, they search the whole Cloud Recesses, but he’s not. there. And Jingyi asks the now-old Lan Qiren, who has no clue who Sizhui is.

Then Zizhen has a brain cell moment and remembers, oh wait, wasn’t Sizhui a Wen??

They look at each other and bolt towards the Nightless City, which is not dead bc plot convience and. Maybe yzy and madame jin started their own sect and they saw through the Wen’s bs? They’re still alive tho

And Sizhui is an innocent bb farm boi in the middle of nowhere 🥺

COUNTRY BOII I LOVE YOUUUUUU

Jingyi literally tackles him into a hug and Sizhui freezes bc who da FUCC is this

But even in this timeline, he is :)) so he just kinda asks, v. politely, “who are you”

But then he sees Zizhen and lights up

“A zhen! What are you doing here?”

tHEN

Sizhui smiles shyly and kisses Zizhen on the cheek and ljy & oyzz both have whiplash

bc this is time for my zhuizhen agenda and they be dating

they have to somehow convince Sizhui that they’re from a completely different timeline

And it’s really confusing until Jingyi just starts listing off everything he knows about Sizhui, bc he is not giving up his status as Sizhui’s best friend just bc they’re in different timelines.

& the stuff Jingyi know is... a lot.

“Your favorite color is white, you hate herbal tea, you think that putting your hair down is a hassle, and when you were twelve you thought you were cursed bc two of your rabbits died in a week and placed stone tablets near every door in the dorms—”

Sizhui is kinda shook so he goes with them, though he doesn’t believe them at first. And he ain’t letting his bf (oyzz) leave immediately :/

Sizhui helps them with the ritual, and lets them leave. Then, he goes home to his peaceful farmer boi life, confused. 

They have better luck next time they go back and don’t help anyone. They don’t do anything extreme, and they don’t do anything! Right?

Yeah no, cause zizhen sees this little, dirty child out in the streets and goes uwu and gives the child some money (and maybe a motivational speech?? life changing??).

That child grows up to be Jiggy, bc ofc ofc, and he and his mom manage to use to money to leave (I mean, sect heir oyzz has to have a decent sum, and it was worth more back then). Jgy becomes a respected vendor, hating his dad like every other child of jgs but still living da peaceful life.

So he never helps them with the Wens. And the Wens may or may not win. (honestly I don't remember the plot of mdzs, so this is probably inaccurate. I gotta reread it; my memory’s trash lol)

A lot of people get dead. Zizhen is horrified.

This time though, WQ and WN stole baby WY and left. The Wens,, didn’t really care (maybe they noticed wq left, but they have other, not as competent, healers). 

They seek refuge, but the Cloud Recesses is kinda burnt and the Jiangs ain’t looking so hot either (plus that ain’t a good idea, jc is probably not ok with that)

They don’t bother to check up on anyone this time.

Zizhen and Jingyi go back to the past, stare at each other in true mamma mia, here we go again fashion.

But this time, they dig a hole in the ground and hide there for a couple minutes, before finally, finally, finally going back to the future

And it’s fine, except they screwed up and ended up a little too far into the future.

Like, as in they accidentally time travel to Jin Ling and Sizhui’s marriage fast-forward.

Revelations are made, and this has somehow worn even Jingyi to the point of exhaustion (also, is there any world where he gets to be with a Yuan??)

So they go back several years, energy depleted, and end up right where they started.

Zizhen and Jingyi look at each other, and have a mini-celebration because they did it! They got back and everything seems normal so they’re gonna assume it’s their timeline.

On their way to burn the magical time travel book, they bump into Wei Wuxian.

Zizhen asks how his husband is doing, and they find out that WangXian hasn’t gotten together in this timeline yet.

Jingyi screams, and Zizhen goes to cry in a hole. They’ll be okay. Eventually.

Wow, this ended up really Zizhen/Jingyi-centric...

[floweringeclipse]

HC: Elemancy Magic Proficiency

(I havent yet established if Iris' elemancy abilities is based on the Lucian power lent to her by Noctis, or if, like the mage glaives, Iris has innate skill with elemancy. If anyone would like to plot something out regarding this, do let me know bc I’d be down!)

-Iris is able to harness elemental magic from the veins found all over Lucis and keep them in flasks to be used later on. She is also adept at crafting new elemental spells by mixing the three main elements, and can easily do so in the midst of action. 

-Elemental magics can be incorporated with her weapons and fighting style, though she takes great care to only use it during solo assignments or with her usual hunting partners and friends because they are already familiar with one another’s attack patterns and battle style. Magic is fickle and there are times when Iris may not be able to fully control it in the battlefield. 

-Thunder (Lightning) is her natural element, and after years of practice she is able to conjure it without having to rely on elemental veins or stored flasks. Fire and Ice need to be absorbed from the veins/summoned via flasks. 

More details and stats below the cut.

Fire

Proficiency: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Magic Potency:  ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Fire is Iris’ favourite and go-to element to use in fights because of how easy it is for her to control. Most beasts and daemons are weak to it, and so it is an element she’d been using constantly since she’d learned to fight. 

As for the strength of magic, she’d only been able to reach 100% Fira potency before her control of the elemental attack wavers drastically.

--

Ice

Proficiency: ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ 

Magic Potency:  ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

Her least favourite element and also her weakness. Besides her personal hatred of cold temperatures in general, the magic actually negatively affects Iris’ abilities and movements in the field especially if she’s caught within the area of the spell. She will be rendered frozen a lot longer than most caught in it, and her health/strength will drastically deplete over time.

Even if she must use the element, it will never be powerful enough to be used as she can only harness or craft up to 90% Blizzard level potency.

--

Thunder

Proficiency: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Magic Potency:  ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Despite being Iris’ innate magic skill, it is a tricky element that took her years to master and enjoy using. Just like with white magic/healing spells, Iris is able to summon lightning from seemingly nowhere and unleash powerful attacks with it effortlessly.

There were consequences of using thunder during her first year and a half of learning it, though: 

1) the air around her was constantly charged and she’d cause minor static shocks on most things and anyone she touched. 

2) lightning spells scarred her body, mostly her arms and hands, and occasionally left her limbs spasming, tingling, or numb for lengthy periods of time. 

3) much like suffering from electrical shocks, Iris was left dazed and drained after summoning the more powerful Thunder potency spells. 

It would’ve been much safer to use flasked Thunder, but Iris found that what she summons on her own have much higher potency. Flasks and crafting can reach up to 110% Thundara. Her own power allows her to call forth 120% and onwards Thundara/Thundaga. 

Thunder and Thundara are simpler attacks, meaning she is able to control exactly where a lightning bolt will hit. 

Thundaga (these should really be called Lightning/ra/ga tbh) is essentially a lightning storm, covering a wide area and zapping everything besides Iris. This is a move she will never unleash while working with others, unless she made sure to prep everyone with strong, anti-magic/anti-thunder accessories beforehand. 

[softbrionne]

@shawyee sure!! under the cut bc it’s long

about the brooch, jennette’s sister first buys it for athy in the market. this is right after lucas and athy find jennette and ijekiel in the restaurant, and ijekiel, having kind of a hopeless crush on athy, runs off and leaves jennette alone whereas the guy i’m gonna refer to as claude’s brother, because i’m pretty sure that’s who he is, catches her alone and offers to pay for her. he asks “May I take a look?”, comments on the workmanship and then a pink sparkle effect occurs when he touches the sapphire in the middle (CH.41), which has always indicated magic usage, SPECIFICALLY magic usage from claude when he grants athy memories of diana. (compare for instance to the glowing eyes when lucas uses magic and athy’s glowing aura when we see her magic from lucas’s point of view). 

jennette gives the gift to athy in CH.42, in the scene immediately following the marketplace scene after lucas and athy come home. they’re on a boating ride in the lake and jennette offers the gift to athy. it’s also pretty clear she has no idea that a spell was put on the brooch, since when she’s giving the gift, she’s shaking and all she can think of is how cruel claude was to her when they met alone. athy notices this, accepts the gift and promises it wear it. fast forward to CH.45 where athy hosts a tea party and she’s wearing it on her head, which is when the accident happens.

honestly, i have no idea what to make out of the accident that happens. personally, i think it wasn’t entirely just her magic overloading, sure she was around blackie/raven at the time, and the interaction with her dog is what makes the brooch react, but i blackie/raven has always been an extension of her, and i think it was trying to protect her in some way, sensing that there was bad magic attached to her. i think it might have backfired and activated the spell, causing athy to fall into a coma.

i think another instance where something similar to this happened is when lucas was in his “regular” form in CH.17 when they first meet. he’s obviously shown as capricious, disinterested, and possibly a villain at that point in the story. he shows athy a parlour trick with the bubbles, which, being in a five year old body, fascinates her. she chases the bubbles around and pops them while lucas watches with the same distinterested (and slightly villainous) expression. athy continues chasing and popping them, noting in her inner dialogue that something doesn’t feel right: “for some reason... it’s getting hard to breathe”. i’m pretty sure lucas was if not outright trying to kill her, then testing her limits. blackie/raven immediately responds to the danger by growling, using its own magic to pop all the bubbles to which lucas becomes annoyed.

i’m still not sure of what exactly the latest coma entailed, but i’m pretty sure it has to do with claude’s older brother’s spell on the brooch. i don’t think it was athy’s magic overloading, but rather athy’s magic trying to protect her and either 1) backfired and ended up actually activating it or 2) managed to protect the spell from outright killing her.

though if we believe that it’s her magical overload that put her into a coma, then we have to turn the blame to lucas. imo, he’s grown a LOT as a character since he was first introduced, and he’s even shown as a weaker almost childlike/rebellious teenager figure in the most recent chapters rather than the all-powerful potentially evil magician he was introduced as in CH.17. so i find it harder to prove that it was him behind it. then again, if we do believe it was purely her magic then this is what i think could have happened, in two scenarios:

1) lucas and claude’s brother are working together, and lucas conveniently leaves for the world tree in athy’s moment of need. we can interpret lucas’s final season 1 scene differently then. rather than lucas rejecting what appears to be a dead magician’s ghost (possibly even his mentor) and reminding himself that athy is his friend & that he’s not alone, lucas instead means that ‘athy is really pathetic huh, thinking i’m her friend even while i’m scheming against her. don’t mock me about being pitiful because i know exactly what i’m playing at.’ we also don’t know for sure what lucas does in his free time, so he could literally be meeting up with claude. if we agree to this reading, then we also agree that lucas left athy with an overload of magic enough that any contact with blackie/raven could leave her in a coma. alongside of claude’s brother (who has also been noted as someone who is obsessed with magic from his monologue scene on the rooftop after the debutante ball), lucas schemed the plan so that claude’s brother could work his malevolent magic and lucas can make sure athy’s own magic reacts against her rather than fighting back.

2) same as scenario 1, but lucas and claude’s brother has no idea of each other. i think if we go with this reading, this is more likely. they both happened to try to take her out at the same time, which might have caused her condition to either be worse than before (amnesia effect) or neutralized each other and prevented each spell from killing her.

personally i find these scenarios really hard to be believe because there just isn’t enough evidence for it. i do still think that lucas has the potential to do something really terrible, but i’m just a sucker for lucas’s character lol. besides their initial meeting, lucas has never really done anything bad towards athy, and he really is shown as some who became affectionate towards her. in CH.38, after the meeting with ijekiel, he’s even shown that he’ll recklessly use his (depleting!) magic just to prove his point to athy and one-up ijekiel. i find it hard to believe the same person would scheme so thoroughly against athy.

then again, he could be using false affection to disarm her (making her think he was her friend and making her weak to her emotions for him and therefore unable to see clearly if he was actually trying to kill her). though this also kind of falls apart because she’s shown to be someone who will call him out for his bullshit no matter what  (CH.44). 

another possibility is that claude’s brother already knows about lucas and waited for the perfect opening when lucas was gone so that her own magic could work against her.

to be honest a lot of stuff is still in the air so a lot of this is just speculation of potential scenarios lol because i think the biggest chance of betrayal stems from lucas at this point of the story, and his final season 1 scene could also be read ambigously (above, where i offered the different reading of that scene where he’s actually Evil instead of Learning How To Be Nice). claude’s brother - or if he’s not claude’s brother - still is a big mystery so it’s hard to know exactly how he fits into the puzzle. though one thing for sure is that he’s clearly using jennette (his actual real “dark magic” daughter) as a pawn to get claude’s guard down, and i honestly think the original jennette comes to realize this in the scenario after the end of the story.