#verity’s counterweight

[ashpkat]

@thedoodlecat alice <3

[ashpkat]

first gen as depicted by me

[nonbinary-androids]

The inherent love in desperately trying to make yourself useful to someone who doesn't need you half as much as you need them. You might need me more than you think you will. I know, I know, I've been nothing more than your hanger-on, but I'll change that. I'll know something. I'll do it for you. I'll be your stand-in sacrifice. You might need me more than you think you will.

[quilleily]

Bunch of sketches cuz ive been drawing angst a lot and these kids should be having fun instead

No Magic?/Collegium? AU idk its mostly for the casual vibes of it all

Call would def be the listener to the yapping of Aaron and Tamara.

Also long haired Call, the authors basically wrote him as an edgy skater boy, might as well give him the guitar n long hair

---

ATLA! AU

Tamara is a fire nation noble, Aaron came from the water tribes, and Call is an air nomad who survived the genocide (cold massacre oof) and now lives in the countryside of earth kingdom.

Who's the Avatar? Both Call and Aaron. Call was supposed to be the next air nomad avatar after fire nation avatar verity torres. But he died which made the cycle continue to Aaron, but Call didn't really die so now both of them became the avatar.

They would probably have 2 elements each, Call with Air and Fire, while Aaron would have Earth and Water. Wow, even in atla!au theyr each others counterweight, soulmates fr.

[theenemyod]

Randomly got a fanfic idea:

Constantine basically decides "fuck this I quit" and stops doing the experiments (yay Jericho doesn't die)

Joseph is not okay with this at all, but Constantine had made his decision. He didn't know Joseph was intentionally hurting Jericho but he knew he was hurting Jericho and that was enough to stop the experiments.

Joseph still wants an Enemy of death though, and a few years later Verity Torres, a first year at the time, is revealed as a Makar.

Constantine and Jericho, as well as the rest of that apprentice group, had graduated by then, so there was no one in the school who could tell Verity and her counterweight how painful Joseph's experiments could be .

It takes a lot more to break Verity than it would have for Constantine though, she doesn't trust anyone really and isn't close to anyone, so it takes several deaths to break her. It wasn't just her counterweight, if multiple counterweights died in experiments that would raise too much suspicion, but Joseph either killed or distanced her from everyone she was close to, as well as in general making her life miserable without anything being traced back to him (starting rumors, giving her too much work, not trying to step in/stopping other masters stepping in to protect her from bullying). Him and her counterweight become the only two people she's really close to without anything being traced back to Joseph, and then her counterweight dies in an experiment and it's marked as an accident.

That's when she becomes The Enemy of Death.

Constantine's only reaction to finding out Verity's counterweight died is "good thing we stopped doing the experiments with him", but Jericho asks for Master Rufus to check what's happening because he's seen how much Joseph could hurt the Makar he's working with without them noticing. Master Rufus catches the experiments with raising the dead, and what happens there basically goes the same way as when Constantine was kicked out in cannon.

At this point no one except Jericho is really worried about what's going on, the masters think they stopped the issue by kicking Verity and Joseph out and they made some excuse to tell the assembly about why they had to leave because they didn't want to admit that both a student and teacher were doing illegal experiments in the school and no one noticed.

Idk how to explain this bit but eventually third mage war except Verity is the enemy this time

Constantine spent at least a year refusing to fight because he didn't want to fucking die, but eventually got sick of being asked and decided fuck it I'll do it fine. Jericho refused to be his counterweight for it because he didn't want to die either, Constantine ended up choosing Declan as a new counterweight because he's the one Constantine is the least scared of losing (though still very scared of losing) but can still stand to be around for hours, days or even weeks at a time while fighting.

Constantine ends up becoming closer to Declan than anyone else in his group, including at that time Jericho because Jericho wasn't fighting at that point and so his only communication with Constantine is calls and stuff, so Constantine gets closer to Declan, who he's actually around for a lot of time. It's basically petty rivals to close friends (no lovers because Declan x Jericho is far superior)

(Also update on less war related shit, Alistair and Sarah were dating by this point and Constantine is fucking jealous)

Declan ends up dying four years into the war. Constantine kills a lot of people in anger, refuses to talk to people for weeks, then only accepts social interaction from Jericho. He never fully gets over Declan's death and blames himself.

Declan's death is also what makes Sarah decide to fight in the war, and also ruined her friendship with Constantine because she knows he knew Declan was almost definitely going to die being a counterweight but chose him anyway.

Constantine probably needs a long mental health break and therapy but instead he's fighting again a week later with Jericho as a counterweight this time because what can go wrong with that?

Jericho manages to keep himself alive for a surprising amount of time, but mostly that's because Constantine wasn't actually using a counterweight but just pretending to so no one repeatedly asked "why don't you have a counterweight" or told "you need a counterweight". Jericho does end up dead, about five years after he started being Constantine's counterweight. Constantine doesn't get another counterweight after that.

Btw, Alistair and Sarah update: Callum now exists, Constantine is pissed about it and says he looks like if a potato grew in size and mutated a face (he's just angry that his crush has a kid with Sarah instead of dating him)

Constantine is not mentally stable, nearly dies every fucking battle because of his lack of counterweight, but doesn't fucking care.

Instead of Master Joseph pretending to be the enemy when the battle happened (he'd have a few issues trying to look like Verity that he didn't have with Constantine), Verity just sends a lot of chaos ridden, and the close Massacre still happens but with less Declan because he's already dead.

Alistair and Constantine find the aftermath of the cold massacre together, Sarah and Call were still in it. Verity had possessed Calls body the same way Constantine did in cannon (this also later leads to transfem Call because soul was originally a girl). They see the kill the child words and both figure it out but agree to keep the secret.

Then after that less war and fighting and maybe just some angst and fluff mixed together. One of Joseph's minions pretends to be Verity instead of Joseph himself and it has the same effect, no one notices. Eventual alistine, but slow burn because torture is fun and both of them are scared to accept love after everyone else they've cared about either died, because a devoured, or joined the wrong side.

Alistair and Constantine attempt to raise Call and act sane. Constantine isn't great with children and they both suck at acting sane.

Also Constantine still got scars and burns on his face but they were from the battles instead of experiments, and Verity got similar scars while leaving the Magisterium, her mask looked different to Constantine's. It took longer for Constantine to start wearing the mask than in cannon (after the war ended) and it was made by Alistair.

(Sort of) happy ending but they all have trauma. I might make another post with how this ends up with the actual plot of the books not just before them but not now.

[theenemyod]

To continue this with other Makars:

Constantine would cry chaos too. Because Call has both the same soul and Constantine and he took his chaos magic from Constantine’s body, they both do the same thing. For Alex normally chaos starts to come through any open cuts or if he doesn’t have any cuts it’ll reopen old scars. He’d be trying to figure out resurrection and be really confused then out of nowhere chaos starts bleeding from his hand wheee the Alkahest burned it or from some paper cut from a few days ago.

And another addition:

Eventually if the Makar didn’t stop then it’d make their blood fill with chaos and eventually kill them. For counterweights It’d go straight to doing that, which is why a lot of them die quickly, though it didn’t affect Aaron and Call as much because they’re Makars. Verity lost several counterweights not figuring this out. Jericho found a way to slow down the chaos killing him — making himself bleed and letting the chaos flow out in his blood. No one found out about him doing this and so it was never recorded for another counterweight to try in the future, and Jericho didn’t really want anyone else to resort to doing that.

HEADCANONS - Magisterium

Idea that when Makars use a little too much chaos(like not enough to kill them but enough to hurt), the chaos flows freely inside them, if that makes sense

- when Verity used too much power, her ears would bleed chaos freely for a few minutes - and chaos burns so she’d get really red ears like she was blushing fiercely or something - Aaron gets little cuts in his lips that are black w chaos - it gives his lips a pale shade on the inside and a bruised look on the edges - he’ll barely talk when that happens because his mouth aches then - Callum straight up cries tears of chaos - like just imagine him coming back to his dorm from a fight and the corners of his eyes have tiny streams of chaos flowing freely down his cheeks - and since they burn he gets red lines from it afterwards - and chaos can make a mark on anything because it burns so basically Callum has to stand over a sink and just let his tears drop while Aaron has to keep finding a new towel because he can literally put tiny holes in them - so basically it’s like a big warning signal for Makars to slow down w the magic and stop

[verritytorres]

post tbk depression - unfinished mini fics

“At least we’re going to die together,” Aaron said. Each word was like a knife, cutting deeper and deeper in his chest. His small, sad smile was the final blow.

“Bullshit,” Call hissed at him with a conviction he didn’t have before. He squeezed their laced fingers. “You’re getting out of this alive—”

A blast of heat interrupted him. Tamara flung a fireball at Alex, her face contorted with righteous fury. Alex scowled and flung out his hand, using his air magic specialty to throw the fire right at the boys. Call barely ducked in time, grabbing Aaron’s shirt and pulling him down.

The masked man holding Call screamed as Tamara’s fire ate at his shirt. He let go of Call and he jumped away, wincing at his leg. He yanked Aaron away with him, and the blond boy staggered to his feet.

“Havoc, get him!” Tamara screamed, summoning another fireball.

Havoc’s snarl echoed throughout the abandoned village and he launched himself at Alex. Aaron tried to take away his hand—to fight back, no doubt—but Call tightened his fingers, holding him in place.

“No heroics,” Call said, pinning Aaron in place with his blazing eyes. He opened his mouth to say something else, but a blinding light interrupted him.

Call and Aaron whipped their heads at Alex, horror striking their hearts when they saw the metal of the Alkahest glowing with power. Alex raised his arm, his face alight with cruel victory.

It’s been two years.

It’s gotten to the point where everyone doubts you. Hell, they probably even doubt your mental state. You’ve gone on endless rants about how “—I can feel him, Tamara, I can’t explain it, but he’s there—“, her warm brown eyes filling with fucking pity, and her soft voice telling you for the umpteenth time that Aaron was dead; his soul was taken by Alex Strike; that there’s no way for him to come back, even under normal circumstances. But you resent that.

First of all—and you hate yourself for thinking this, she’s your best friend, for fuck’s sake, and the only one available at the moment—who’s she to say what’s up with souls? She’s not a Makar. Sure, she’s read all the books about it, but she’s never known what souls look like—what his soul looked like. A thousand colors at once. It was warm on the outside, caring, kind, the Aaron everyone knew and loved; but you saw something else, too. Something that somehow, you can’t really explain—that seems to be a prominent issue with all this Makar-void-soul business—but it sure explained his occasional bouts of aggression.

Second—and this might come as a surprise to people—you’ve read the counterweight theories. You’re not completely hopeless in class. You know your shit. And in every reading about counterweights that Rufus assigned to you and Aaron, it always said: The Makar and their counterweight’s souls are forever linked. So if that “link”, or whatever, was severed, you of all people would know. You would stop feeling that rubber band. You would stop feeling these flashes of phantom pain. You wouldn’t feel anything at all, just a gaping hole you can never fill. Besides, when a Makar dies, they take their counterweight down with them; that’s a known fact. That’s why Aaron didn’t want you as his counterweight at first, remember? He was so worried you’d die. But you decided to do it anyway, and now he’s gone.

But you’re still here. Why are you still here?

Why are you still alive if he’s not?

Simple. He’s not fucking dead.

Tamara says differently. Rufus says differently. Alastair says differently. The whole fucking World of Mages says differently, with their memorial statues and grand funeral (with no body to speak of, by the way.) Your own brain says differently. It plagues you at night with constant replays of that fucking beam, of Alex’s cruel expression, of his hand in yours. Aaron blames you for it every night in your dreams.

(You don’t get much sleep these days.)

It’s been two years, and you still think he’s alive, somewhere, somehow.

But now you’re on your way to his grave with flowers.

The fallen leaves crunch under your boots. The winter chill came early this year, biting your face in sudden gusts. Students are already wearing their warmer uniforms. Yours is red this year, and your wrist glistens with gold. It was supposed to be your senior year—all three of you, finishing school with a flourish. The plan just doesn’t work with two.

His tomb is a bit extravagant for his taste, you think. Aaron wouldn’t want a statue of him like Verity. “I didn’t earn it,” he’d say. He’d want a small modest little stone, engraved with his name, the dates, and if he died honorably or otherwise. But the Assembly insisted on a big memorial near the Mission Gate with a plaque underneath.

You don’t really like it. The sculptor got his nose wrong.

The platform by Fake-Aaron’s feet is littered with dead flowers. A rumor went around that leaving a little token by Aaron would give you good luck on your mission. Even the Gold Years did it sometimes. And you can agree that Aaron always did project good vibes.

You gently set your small bouquet next to his left foot. It’s a bit miserable—colorless bluebells, pink lilacs, and a weird purplish one Tamara called “hyacinth”—but you grew it yourself. Gold Years learn to use earth magic to cultivate things at speed. Aaron would have loved it; he always did appreciate earth magic right after chaos.

You take a deep breath and whisper, “Aaron.” A gust of wind buffets your face, and you pull up the hood of your coat, shivering slightly. “I—I know you’re out there. I don’t know how I know, but I…” You open your mouth to say more, but the words catch in your throat. You swallow thickly. “At this point, I might just be imagining it. I’m sure everyone thinks that. So please—please—if you can hear me, tell me. Send a counterweight sign or whatever. Just—show me.”

Something rustles behind you. You whip around and stare wildly around because holy shit, what if he actually heard you, is that him, finally—

But there’s nothing there. You wait a few minutes more, eyes and ears peeled for something, anything.

Nothing. It was the wind.

It’s been two years.

You start to think he might not come back after all.

Master North had gone on a long spiel about the untrained Makars—or Makar, as of late—being a danger to the whole school; Alma kept trying to convince everyone of her outrageous conspiracy theory. Rufus was exhausted, both mentally and physically. He had spent most of this meeting loudly and vehemently protesting everything his students were being subjected to.

When the mages arrived at the Order village, Callum had been immediately clapped in irons and sent to the Panopticon, no questions asked. Tamara had been ushered away and locked in her dorm with the Chaos-ridden wolf, isolated from all contact, but at least she was safe. Rufus’ main argument throughout this arduous meeting was Callum’s ordeal. He was a child, for God’s sake. He may be the Makar, but he means no harm, and he certainly did not kill Aaron. And he most definitely is not the Enemy of Death. Rufus, of all people, would know.

As soon as the Masters’ meeting was dismissed, Rufus all but ran out of the room. He couldn’t manage to bust Callum out of prison right now, Master North made sure of that. But he had time. He would pull strings in the Assembly, anything to get the boy out. But right now, something else was on his mind.

“It’s history repeating itself!” Alma had screeched. “Constantine Madden had killed his counterweight too—“

“A terrible accident,” Master Milagros said coldly. She didn’t like Alma.

“Maybe, but it was his fault nonetheless! When counterweights die, Makars are weakened but not killed. Makars, though—when Makars die, they take their counterweight down with them. Does anyone remember Verity Torres?” Alma waited half a second before continuing, “She was murdered, and her counterweight fell dead on the spot at the exact moment. So tell me, peers,” Alma stared around the room, her eyes piercing daggers at every Master, “why is Callum Hunt not dead?”

Alma was raving mad during most of her speech, but she had a point there. Something wasn’t right.

As he hurried down the halls, Rufus noticed everything was quiet. Usually the cavernous halls of the school echoes with laughter and the sounds of elementals and magic, but all he could hear now was the occasional drip of water and the swift pattering of his own feet.

He got to the small docks where the small boats let into the underground river system. Rufus swiftly stepped onto one and didn’t bother sitting down. He closed his eyes and focused his thoughts on the water, feeling its need to flow, and willed it to take him to his office. The water happily complied, and Rufus sped down the river.

Rufus took the few minutes he had to organize his thoughts. [hackshshd]

 He would have to look at Aaron to be sure. Rufus flicked his fingers and created a small air-phone in front of him. Master Amaranth appeared, feeding eyeless fish to her python. She didn’t notice him until he said her name.

Amaranth jumped, clutching her heart. “Rufus! Don’t scare me like that, how many times do I have to—“

“I’m sorry, Amaranth,” Rufus inclined his head. “But I have an urgent request.”

Amaranth sighed and wrapped her snake around her neck. “Well?”

Rufus made an effort to make his face look grief-stricken. It wasn’t hard. “I’d like to see Aaron.”

Master Amaranth was silent. Rufus wasn’t known in the Magisterium for being emotional. His tragic backstory was well known throughout the school—a Devoured Master, his first apprentice group dead or ostracized, his second going on that same path—but so was his seeming apathy. William Rufus showing emotion was as rare as two Makars in a generation.

“Okay,” Amaranth said. “They put him in the infirmary. You have five minutes.”

Rufus thanked her and changed the boat’s course.

   It was summer again. Call lay on the grass, basking in the sun. And Aaron was with him, their palms together, their fingers loosely laced, and everything felt right.

Aaron squeezed their hands a little. Call turned his head to look at him, smiling softly. But Aaron wasn’t looking back at him. He kept staring at the sky.

“Hey,” said Call. “You okay?”

Aaron didn’t respond. Call propped himself up on his elbow to take a closer look at him. Aaron’s green eyes were glassy and dull.

“Aaron!” Call jostled his shoulder but Aaron still didn’t look at him. “Aaron, answer me—“

Aaron shot up abruptly, gripping Call’s throat with a vengeance. Call scrabbled at his fist, but only felt metal, and suddenly Call was back at the Order village. Aaron’s face melted into Alex’s and he said in a voice far too sinister for a sixteen year-old boy, “Power.” Light flooded out of the Alkahest and burned like hell, and Call was thrown back. Aaron lay there beside him again, but he wasn’t there, and Aaron’s hand was cold, Aaron wasn’t breathing, Aaron was gone—

 Call has always been the kind of person that knew when he was dreaming and when he wasn’t. He knew he was dreaming when Master Joseph came to him and splashed snow on his face. He knew he was awake when he saw Aaron die.

[miriadonline]

CONF: Architecture, Citizenship, Space (Oxford, 15-16 Jun 17)

Oxford Brookes University, Headington Campus, Gipsy Lane, Oxford, June

15 - 16, 2017

Architecture, Citizenship, Space: British Architecture from the 1920s to the 1970s

How did individuals and groups concerned with architecture and the built environment respond to, and seek to shape, the challenges and opportunities of twentieth-century life? Engaging with themes such as democracy, citizenship, leisure, culture and new subjectivities, and showcasing scholars at the forefront of emerging methodological approaches to architectural history, this conference considers how key aspects of British modernity informed architectural form and space between the 1920s and the 1970s.

The conference theme takes as its starting point the words of Jennie Lee, the newly appointed Minister for the Arts, who, in 1965, spoke of her wish for a Britain that was Œgayer and more cultivated.¹ Lee¹s comment accompanied a substantial increase in state funding for the Arts, distributed via quangos such as the Arts Council and the Council for Industrial Design, and addressed a wider context in which certain forms of cultural and recreational activities ­ and the architectural settings for them ­ were deemed to have particular value. The idea was especially marked among the political left but represented a consensus: Labour¹s 1959 manifesto was entitled Leisure for Living, while the Conservatives that same year published The Challenge of Leisure. Such questions seemed particularly significant given the widespread belief that technological developments would soon result in a shorter working week and an increase in leisure time. In these circumstances, communal high-cultural, educational and sporting activities were possible counterweights to individualism, materialism, and (a perceived) malign American influence.

The mid-century concern with culture, leisure and new forms of space had its roots in nineteenth-century ideas of Œimprovement¹, particularly as re-worked and refined in the inter-war decades, and took place within a wider context in which certain approaches to design and cultural production were favoured. We can thus distinguish a clear attempt to Œre-form¹ Britain in a new, modern (Œcultured¹) image which drew in part on apparently sophisticated European practice but which, as the Architectural Review¹s ŒTownscape¹ campaigns shows, also drew on consciously ŒBritish,¹ or at least ŒEnglish¹ precedents. There was, in effect, an expert-led, Œtechnocratic¹ approach to modernity, in which the British would be steered in a particular direction through design, architecture and urbanism, and by a range of individuals and groups including not only national and local authorities, but also voluntary organisations and societies. The city emerged as a particular site of debate, with architect-planners creating lively images of a new communal urbanity in terms which paralleled the wider stress on community and leisure. Not only would the result be a transformed citizenry, but also a new image of Britain. Furthermore, as exhibitions such as ŒBritain Can Make It¹ (1946) demonstrated, the agenda was also to ensure Britain¹s prominence on the world stage.

This conference explores how these themes were manifested in architectural discourse, form and space. Its concern is architectural production in the widest sense, encompassing not only completed buildings and unbuilt projects but also texts and the media. The conference addresses an emerging Œhistorical turn¹ in twentieth-century British architectural history away from primarily formalist accounts of style to something akin to the deeper-rooted, more sophisticated histories of modern art and literature. This new architectural history is rooted in the archive and asks how cultural production functioned as a vehicle through which to explore such ideas as modernity, identity and community. In essence, architecture is conceived as a commentary on these ideas, whether by embracing or resisting them.

The conference, which is supported by the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, and convened by Elizabeth Darling and Alistair Fair, takes place across 2 days in the John Henry Brookes Building on the Headington Campus of Oxford Brookes University. The conference fee is £30, and includes lunch and refreshments. Any queries should be addressed to Elizabeth Darling (edarling@brookes.ac.uk)

PROGRAMME

Day One: 15th June 2017

10.30 Arrival and coffee 11.00 Welcome ­ conference chair, Dr Elizabeth Darling

11.15 Session 1: The Pivotal Decades: Re-thinking Architecture and Nationhood 1918-1939.

Theme: This session explores the re-evaluation of the purpose and nature of architecture as Britain entered full democracy. It will consider the development of new idioms of space and form to accommodate this shift.

Chair: Professor Elizabeth McKellar (Open University) Dr Elizabeth Darling (Oxford Brookes University): Spaces of Citizenship in inter-war Britain

Dr Jessica Kelly (University for the Creative Arts): Debating Architecture in the Pages of the Architectural Press

Dr Neal Shasore (University of Westminster): 66 Portland Place: Refashioning the Profession for a Democratic Age

1.00 Lunch

2.00 Session 2: Educating the Nation after 1945.

Theme: A modern nation required an educated citizenry. Kickstarted by the Education Act of 1944, and a baby boom, the post-war years saw a dramatic expansion in educational building. Chair: Professor Mark Swenarton (University of Liverpool)

Dr Roy Kozlovsky (Azrieli School of Architecture, Tel Aviv University): School architecture and the emotional economy of postwar citizenship

Dr Catherine Burke (Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge): 'A place which permits the joy in the small things of life and democratic living'. School design for young children in the post - war decades.

Professor Louise Campbell (University of Warwick): 'A background sympathetic to young and energetic minds¹: forming modern citizens at the University of Sussex

4.00 Tea and coffee

4.30 Roundtable & Discussion: Architecture, Citizenship, Space ­ beyond the Academy: Municipal Dreams, Manchester Modernist Society, Verity-Jane Keefe (The Mobile Museum).

5.45 Close ­ Reception

Day Two: 16th June 2017

9.15 Session 3: Where and How to Live

Theme: By 1939 a consensus had emerged that British cities were inadequate to the task of accommodating modern life. Architects and architectural students increasingly sought to promote new models of urban form and dwelling.

Chair: Professor John Gold (Oxford Brookes University)

Dr Otto Saumarez Smith (University of Oxford): Building for Community in Post-War Britain

Dr Christine Hui-Lan Manley (Leicester School of Architecture, De Montfort University/Woods Hardwick): Frederick Gibberd and Town Design in Practice: Hackney and Harlow

Ms Ruth Lang (School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, Newcastle University): The London County Council:  A Plan for the Model Community

10.45 Coffee

11.15 Session 4: Culture and Democracy

Theme: The proper use of leisure was a key theme in post-war Britain, with both Labour and Conservative administrations turning their attention to the subject.

Chair: Dr Robert Proctor (University of Bath)

Dr Alistair Fair (University of Edinburgh): Culture, Leisure and the Modern Citizen

Rosamund West (Kingston University): Replanning Communities through Architecture and Art: the post-war London County Council.

Dr Lesley Whitworth (University of Brighton Design Archives): The Council of Industrial Design: Good Design for a Better World

12.45 Concluding Discussion & Goodbyes

[theenemyod]

Did Verity Torres have a counterweight? Who was her counterweight if she did have one?

[theenemyod]

Headcannon Verity Torres was probably more evil and crazy than Constantine and it shey didn't die she would've joined him but instead just killed whoever she felt like while fighting and in the most brutal ways possible and the only person she had any sort of friendship or relationship with that isn't enemies was her counterweight and she would fucking kill for her counterweight. Also she was not sad when she died and only angry when she found out her counterweight was also killed.

[theenemyod]

Thinking about how Aaron said he didn't want to die like Verity Torres but then his death was extremely similar to how she died.

1st, they both knew that what they were getting themselves into was dangerous and potentially deadly. Aaron knew he was going to face the spy who's been trying to kill him if he wanted to save Tamara, and Verity knew she was going to go up against Constantine.

2nd, the danger ended up being something completely unexpected to them. For Aaron, Alex being the spy + having the Alkahest. For Verity, it being Master Joseph, not Constantine + Joseph having the Alkahest.

3rd, being killed by the Alkahest

4th, something bad also happens at the same time as that. For Aaron, it's the chaos ridden Jen being dealt with, for Verity the Cold Massacre (very different levels of bad but still)

5th, something bad happening to their counterweight almost immediately afterwards. Call being arrested, Verity's counterweight dying.

[thedoodlecat]

Huh...you're right! Maybe I can change it to fit canon in some sense Note: 1. This really turned into what the third mage war looked like if Maugris was the big bad, sorry about that. 2. This may also be a little messed up 3. I'm really really sorry if what I said here doesn't make sense or if there is some huge plot hole, I'm tired and I've typed this in a hurry In this universe, things happened a little differently. In THIS universe, the fact that Maugris possessed Constantine actually makes a change in the timeline instead of just being a sorry excuse for the plot of tgt. I think that the fact that an ancient malefic mage was on the battlefield instead of an average evil overlord is going to affect things. Maugris was more powerful than Constantine. He could make 3x more chaos ridden and his chaos magic was 10x deadly because of his experience gathered over hundreds of years. Regarding Verity, here's what the situation looked like. Verity was a 15-year-old girl who just discovered her powers, and she was unstable. Properly preparing her to fight Maugris, actually teaching her how to use chaos would've taken too much time. So what did they do? The same thing they did in canon! Turn her into a weapon. The poor girl never learned how to control her powers and she was slowly withering away as the chaos sapped away at her soul... and the one of her counterweight. She used pieces of her soul, igniting them with chaos and then using them to attack the opposing side. "Power comes from imbalance; control comes from balance." -the first principle of magic One faithful day, Verity lost it. There was too little of her soul left and too much chaos inside of her and she couldn't function anymore. She pretty much attacked the mages into a fit of rage. It was brutal. The mages killed her, obviously. (this didn't happen in canon because she got murdered with the alkahest by that point) But now the reputation of makars was even more ruined. What about the Alkahest? The mages wanted the weapon to be a secret so that they could strike Maugris without him expecting it. They waited for just the right moment to use it. The cold massacre happens after Verity dies because Verity was pretty much Maugris's vessel after Constantine's body was too old. But now that she's dead he needs to look for a new vessel. And the best place to find a new makar is amongst the new generation of mages that are hidden in a mountain cave. Cue the cold massacre! Maugris puts his soul inside Callum and dies there(he didn't expect to be some actual mages in there like he knew that there were some old people and babies, but he didn't know that there were some experienced deadly mages) The rest of the book series happens, except it's much darker than the OGs.

I mean Aaron and Callum will have some problems and the magic world will be affected by war. I don't even know where to begin!

You can all keep your "Callum dies instead of Aaron in tbk" angsty fics But I believe that a fic set into an AU where America starts killing makars after Constantine becomes evil is 3x angstier. JUST THINK ABOUT IT! The magisterium is still at war with Constantine and all the bronze years are on the front. Imagine Tamara being so worried about her older sister Kimya ...also Ravan is being used as a tool along with all of the other elementals bound by the magisterium.. And have I mentioned how bad La Rinconada is for fire elementals?? The air is thin and therefore their power is weaker AND THEY ARE ALSO surrounded by snow which is the opposite of the element of fire. Then of course there is Alastair having to fight in that war and trying his best to keep Callum safe... And obviously the best thing in this AU. The mages have to kill Aaron because he's a makar and a threat. Have fun :)

[verritytorres]

radiant

anons note: i made it so its only been three months since call was arrested that he talks to rufus or whatever, mostly because i dont want like, a year age gap between everyone and the void kids, and like have everyone but tamara & jasper a year behind in school. i wonder how the magisterium would react to having not one, not two, but THREE makars?

…

call wakes up.

this is an odd phrase to start a story with. normally one would begin with explaining that call was asleep, before abruptly throwing the reader into the action like this, but i digress.

man, i have got to stop reading literary analysis before bed, thinks call.

but there hasn’t been books for him to read since before he was-

:wait, where am i?:

he looks down at his hands, expecting to see shackles but finding none. he looks around, and blinks for a second.

then blinks again.

:what the fuck???:

theres black, everywhere, and call instinctively knows he is in the same place that the elemental automotones was banished to.

is he alone? the only soul in the endless empty? is this his punishment?

oh, wait, theres aaron, he thinks. aaron waves from beside a spectral girl he thinks looks pretty scary.

:wait- aaron?:

  can you run in the void? there is no place to go- can you even walk? if you could, would you be able to tell?

the answer is yes, but only if there’s something else in the void to mark your progress- like how hitting the arrow keys in a video game doesnt mean shit if you’re in an empty, dark, undefined room, but distance suddenly gains meaning when you realize, no, the game’s not broken, its just a dark corridor and there’s the final boss- for example, a plastic, 1:1 scale replica of stonehenge completely indistinguishable from the real thing, a melting rhino, or your long-dead best friend’s ghost will mark your progress quite well.

  aaron is… a specter. so’s the girl beside him, who call is only marginally surprised to recognize as verity torres. they are both washed out, and unshadowed (somehow- where’s the light in this boring shithole coming from, anyways?) like an old polaroid held over a flashlight. their eyes are hollow white but curved with smiles.

as quick as call registers all this he is running towards aaron and scooping the now slightly shorter boy into a giant hug.

well.

trying to.

his hand goes through aaron like a mirage on a hot summer day.

aaron flickers out where call is trying to hold him and looks at his feet.

:aaron:, asks call, :why can’t i hug you?:

:because he’s dead, shitlips:, calls verity with her hands around her mouth.

aaron nods. he looks small and about to cry.

:wait, whats wrong?:, says call. he’s been thinking/saying/projecting telepathically the word wait a lot recently.

:i… i missed you.:

:we thought you wouldn’t show, birdcall.:, adds verity. she is hilarious and trustworthy, decides call.

call thinks for a moment. rare occurence, he thinks upon narrating this in his head. ouch. he just keeps dissing himself into a deeper hole.

:i think it was because of the handcuffs:, says call, :they were magic blockers, so whatevers letting me see dead people must have been stopped from activating.:

:technically, we’re not dead. we’ve been abruptly torn from our bodies and preserved with our innate chaos magic. we are the ultimate forms of the chaos-ridden:, says verity matter-of-factly. call gets the feeling that she’s wicked smart and suspects that she and tamara would get along quite well.

:handcuffs?: asks aaron, always paying attention to priorities instead of stupid science or whatever that call totally understands, yup.

:after you, uh… got voided, the mages kind of arrested me for being the Enemy Of Death and all:, says call, :i am not good at keeping secrets, by the way. i’ve been in the Panopticon since then, about 3 months of time. they just took the STUPID DUMB handcuffs off and replaced them with a ball-and-chain shackle like from gym class jump-roping lessons today.:

:holy shit:, says verity, :he talks more than i do, aaron.:

:shit, call, im so fucking sorry:, says aaron, ignoring verity. call stifles a surprised gasp at his language and smiles.

:its okay, aaron. its not your fault. i’m going to fix this.:

:fix what?:

:all of this shit. i’m going to KILL that little bitch alex, and im going to save you. im going to save you both, and we’re all gonna be TOGETHER again, and we’ll all go to the collegium together and watch shitty movies and tease jasper, and everybody will be happy again. all of us. i will save you both, and verity will become our friend too and she and tamara will probably run for president together and win.:

:im touched:, says verity, trying to act sarcastic but smiling, :you sure know how to pick ‘em, aaron.:

:she meant pick COUNTERWEIGHTS and BEST FRIENDS, right, TORRY?!?!:, replies aaron frantically, which confused call because he assumed that was implied.

:sure:, says verity noncommittally.

:when will i come back here?: asks call, interrupting aarons red-faced protests with the air of an oblivious man.

:hell if i know:, says verity, :i figure you’ll end up back here eventually.:

call looks at aaron again. holds his hand out tentatively to his friends washed out, ghostly one.

aaron reaches for calls hand, still a little red-cheeked.

his hand dissolves in calls proximity, but they pretend. it will have to do, until call revives them.

call will revive them, thinks aaron. it is hard for aaron to not believe that- to aarons eyes, his own hand is normally colored, nothing out of the ordinary, as is verity’s- but call’s hand is glowing.

I AM CRYING REAL TEARS VOID ANON I LOVE YUO

[amakargirl]

Just some more questions (they're not really important tho)

- What happened to Master Rufus' first love (hopefully there's a happy ending)

- More information about Verity and who was/what happened to her counterweight

- More information or even a character development for Anastasia/Eliza Madden

- Clarify when Constantine started using his mask. It's said he begun wearing it bc of the scars he got when he ran away from the Magisterium, but Alastair also said Constantine started using it during his silver year.

- How Master Joseph contacted with Alex and how he convinced Alex to join him

- Why Tamara's parents seemed to hate Master Rufus

- This may be too much, but where did the Alkahest come from? Who did create it? Why?

- What about Call's family? Are they all dead? Were they mages? Maybe Call has cousins (cough Declan's children? cough). Did they use magic to get money like Call thinks Jasper's family did?

- WARREN. Just Warren. Which are his intentions, can he predict the future (the end is sooner that you think bla bla bla), does he obey Master Marcus, etc.

- Why Anastasia/Eliza trusted Mastee Joseph, when everybody says it's his fault Constantine became evil (and Jericho died)?

- What about that time Marcus said that he knew Call would set him free at the end? Will it happen, or not?

- This isn't important, but I'm curious. Why Eliza Madden loves color white so much?

- THE FIRST GENERATION. JUST SOMETHING ABOUT THEM. A FLASHBACK, AN OLD MEMORY, A CHAPTER WITH CONSTANTINE'S POV, WHATEVER. I NEED TO KNOW HOW THEY WERE

And some information about other magical schools, how Collegium works (or even Magisterium, we barely know how it works since the trio always ran away), kind of elementals, Devoured people, secondary characters... Would be interesting too

Masterpost of things the last two Magisterium Books have to clear up before the series is over

Aaron’s past

Constantine and Jericho’s past

Sarah’s past

Master Rufus’ past

Basically a few chapters of backstory for the entire previous generation would be nice mmkay

Legitimate proof that Call has Constantine’s soul and that this entire thing wasn’t just a huge misunderstanding

More info on Connie’s wolf??

Celia’s mother trucking last name

More info on Sarah Novak’s fun little “Kill the Child” ice sculpture pls. I’m not 100% convinced she meant something completely different

PROPER CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT FOR JASPER DEWINTER

More info on Jasper’s family?? Did he used to have siblings before the war?? I need to know about my son???

Whether or not Celia was actually supposed to be an important character or if the authors just used her for the sole purpose of being a love interest (cough) i’m salty (cough)

What 👏 happened 👏 to 👏 Kimiya 👏 Rajavi 👏

Uhhh…who was the Madden twins’ father? Was that mentioned? Why do I feel like there’s going to be a plot twist about that?

D R E W

(!!!!!) The Humans Who Were Born As Chaos Ridden (!!!!!)

And The European Mages???? What happened to them? They were brought up in TCG like they were going to be a thing in TBK but then weren’t???

I said this already, but AARON STEWART’S PAST?? We know nothing about this child. The way the pacing of the story is going, we should’ve been privvy to his family situation during TBK, but then he DIED.

{Can we get some proper mourning for Aaron’s death btw I feel like we’re glossing over the fact that Call and Tamara’s best friend is mc’freaking dead and have just dived headfirst into teen romance territory with no warning}

What the hell Constantine and Jericho actually look like bc at this point I’m not sure who’s blond and who’s brunet. 

Let Kai and Rafe Have More Than Two Lines 2k17

Feel free to add with your grievances. These are just some of the ones I could think of at the moment. I’m sure there’s a lot more…

[theenemyod]

Headcanons about Makar meeting whatever:

Happens once every five years

Counterweights can be brought

Constantine came twice, once when he was attending the magisterium once in the middle of the war (causing a lot of arguments)

A lot of the Makars from other countries were very split on whose side of the war they're on (agreed with a lot of Constantine's beliefs but not his actions)

Verity didn't attend the one she was invited to because she knew Constantine was also invited

Aaron went to one somewhere in-between the events of book 1 and 2, brought Call as a counterweight

It sort of made Aaron less anxious about being a Makar (he finally saw other Makars that didn't die as a teenager or go insane)

The next one was post canon and there were a lot of arguments of whether Aaron-Alex should be allowed in or not because of the stolen magic thing. It was decided a yes

all of the makars are gay? what do you want me to say? fork found in kitchen?