#we were literally from all corners of the earth there was groups of us in each continent...

[tuituipupu]

yo i just remembered when my gc from bts stan twt paid that jesus impersonator that was famous on fiverr to just reel off all our inside jokes and references that was fucking wild 💀

[cravingcoldoreocake123]

Choose to love

• You ignore everyone’s warnings and fall in love with him, but how well will that turn out for you?

• Warnings: Angst, unprotected sex, written porn (literally, find out for yourself ;) ), female reader, fluff, use of y/n, Happy ending. —————————————𝜗𝜚———————————-

“How hard is it for you to stop ignoring me and pretend you don’t love sneaking into my room every night?” You push him by the chest but it doesn’t seem to startle him nor does he stumble back upon the impact, and it frustrates you even more. How could he be so nonchalant and muggy? What does he even get out of pretending you mean nothing to him, you’ll never know. Heat floods your cheeks as you remember the endless amount of times he bumped your shoulder making you trip while also making sure to not spare you even one glance, or when you waved at him and all you received back were nonchalant glares instead of a smile or a wave, and you lower your hand as his dirty group of friends make fun of your pathetic attempt to talk to him.

You woke up earlier every day just to look pretty for him, you put on more makeup than you did before him, washed your hair and dried it, curled it even. Put on your nicest clothes, that you were now running out of and checked yourself in the mirror for what seemed like the millionth time, inspecting your face closely in case he spots a flaw you missed. The thing is, you put in a lot of effort for him, you wanted to look so pretty he wouldn’t even think of looking at another girl. You headed to grab breakfast with Astoria, you filled your plate less and less every day, trying to keep your weight in check while making sure he doesn’t think of you as less classy or less feminine, which didn’t make sense at all. Sure he was in your room every other night telling you how much he loves fucking you full of his cum, but for some reason he couldn’t act right when you’re around others.

“I forgot we even had homework, Snape’s gonna give me an earful today, ugh.” Astoria groans as you two walk arm in arm to the dining hall. “Wait, he gave us homework?! I don’t remember Snape… what?” You stop in your tracks when your sight lands on Matteo’s arm around a little blonde as she buries her head deep in his neck, giggling, making Astoria trip and drop her books. “What on earth are you doing?” She lowers down to grab her belongings, and raises her head to glance at you, but her face drops as soon as she follows your sight, “No. He. Didn’t.”

“I’m sure they’re just friends… right? I mean he- he wouldnt…?” You weren’t sure if you were lying to yourself to feel better, or to Astoria to not look like a complete fool. She had an idea of what was going on between you two and she did warn you of him, but to no avail. “Honey… she’s practically sucking him dry of his blood, “friends” don’t do that.” Your heart quite literally falls down to your ass. You couldn’t tell when you started crying, but multiple tears followed as soon as the first one dropped, sliding and pooling on your chin.

Astoria nudged your arm and pulled you slightly to follow her to your table, but your body refused to move, and your eyes couldn’t dare rip away from the sight in front of you. You were sure you made a fool of yourself, the hairs on your skin stood up as you suddenly became conscious of your surroundings, you could hear every whisper, every laugh and every snicker, and you were certain they were about you, every pair of eyes was glued on you and it made you feel trapped, you didn’t know whether to head to your table and pretend like nothing happened or to run out and not look back, whichever it was, you begged your feet to move and put you out of your misery, but your knees almost gave out as he looked your way, his sweet eyes carefully lingered on your body, and then finally landed on your own.

You felt nauseous as he tilted his head to the side in an attempt to provoke you, and the right corner of his lip lifted, flashing you his white teeth in an innocent little smirk. You felt more anger than pain at that moment, and you didn’t know how or when, but your legs carried you his way. The girl that was previously sat on his lap smelled trouble and wiggled her way out of his arms and went on her merry way before you reached them. You stopped in front of him and Astoria ran behind you pulling you from the scene. “It’s not worth it, he’s not worth it let’s go.” But you wanted to hurt him, you wanted him to feel the stinging you felt when you saw him with her, when he ignored you, when he embarrassed you, and when he creeped his way out of your bed the mornings after like a little skeez. So you smiled at him, and raised your palm as high as you could and landed it on his cheek, as hard as you could.

His face turned the other way around due to the… impact. And his friends snickered and gasped around the table, “Didn’t know you had that in you, y/n.” Draco snickered, “Shut up or it’ll be you next, Malfoy.” Astoria responded, crossing her arms and glaring at him, and god if looks could kill Malfoy would have been six feet deep minutes ago. Your attention turned back to Mattheo as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat, looking at his friends and then you, and you couldn’t quite decipher what emotion his eyes held, you were sure it wasn’t regret considering his actions, but he seemed sorrowful… somehow. “Let’s not do this here, it’s not anyone’s business knowing what’s going on.” He stood up and tried to drag you along with him out of the room. However, you snatched your arm away from his grip and came closer to his face, “But you made it everyone’s business when she was sucking you dry of your blood and grinding down on your dick in front of everyone, remember?”

Mattheo stood up and stared at you for a good couple of seconds, before he bent down a little and picked you up and threw you over his shoulder like you weighed absolutely nothing. You hit and clawed his back and screamed at him to let you down but he walked away from the swarm of students all the way back to his dorm. “Put me down right now Mattheo! I’ll kick your face off.” However, despite your threats he didn’t stop and continued on walking. He finally reached his door, got in and kicked it shut with his foot. You scrunched your nose at the familiar smell of smoke and his cologne lingering in the room, and as he sets you down on his bed you recall the numerous times he put you down like this but under different circumstances, ones where he’d strip you both naked of clothes and make you take him like the good girl you are, you felt your core leaking at the memories but that couldn’t distract you enough from what he had done to you.

You stood up feeling nauseous and lost, you stumbled a bit and he extended his hands to try and steady you, but you backed up as tears started streaming down your face again. “No, no you don’t get to do that. You don’t get to break me then pick me up and try to glue me back together. You don’t get to give me the world and take it away from me that easily, God i- What does she have that I don’t, Mattheo? What did she give you that I didn’t? How could you make me feel like I was the only girl in the world then go and humiliate me like that? I don’t even know why I chose to ignore everyone’s warnings and let you make me so vulnerable like this, why could’t you prove them wrong Mattheo? Why?” You stopped to catch your breath but he took that opportunity to pull you flat to him and kiss you like he craved your lips for years on end. He cradled your face in his hands so delicately and kissed your tears away.

Your hand tangled in his hair, and you kissed him back with the same fiery passion, your tongues both stained of the salt in your tears, but it was short lived as you pushed him off of you and shook your head. “I can’t. I can’t let you in again. You’ve hurt me bad enough that it’ll scar me for a good while, I can’t let myself allow you to do it again.” Your eyes brimmed with tears and you hated yourself for it, you hated how weak and helpless he made you feel. But when you loved, you loved with every fiber in your being, so when shit backfires and goes wrong, you knew damn well it was gonna break you whole. Your knees started to give out at the wrong time, and you tried to hold yourself up but you still felt dizzy, this time he rushed to your side and held you ignoring your pleas for him to get away from you. “I’m here, okay? Please at least just let me take care of you right now, you can barely stand lovie.” Your heart warmed at the nickname, and you turned your face to stare at his with tired eyes, cursing at yourself for letting him get so close to you.

He picked you up again in his arms and set you down on his bed, he then rushed to get a cup of water and held it up to your lips as you looked up at him with bambi eyes. “There you go, good girl.” The cold water felt so soothing on your burning throat, and you closed you eyes savoring the feeling for a sweet while. He sets the cup down when you whine as a sign for him to stop, and he soon gets on the bed next to you. He sets his arm on your waist and pulls you close to his chest, and you let him. You laid your head on him and your muscles relaxed hearing his heartbeat. Your heart still felt heavy, and the scene of him smirking directly at you while she was on top of him still plagued your mind. He felt you tense up, and he raised his hands to your tear stained cheeks, and kissed your puffy eyes. “I always fucked up the things I love. I never felt important or secure, so now commitment scares me, it scares the shit out of me, I’m so scared i’ll get deserted by those I love so I just… leave before I get left, in attempt to save me and my feelings but I never thought of how it would make others feel. I realized you meant more to me than just a hookup, god my hands shook when I laid my eyes on you and my head hurt trying to comprehend how someone so fucking perfect could have interest in me. You scared me, I had never seen someone so delicate and angelic, you-” He stopped to stare at you, and suddenly his tears turned glassy with tears. Your eyebrows raised and your lips parted in shock to see him letting out such emotions. He sniffed and caressed your face, “I dreamed of you almost every night, and i thought about during the day, you never escaped my mind and it horrified me how someone else had such control over me, and me being the dumb fuck I am, I tried to suppress my feelings for you, and I tried to ignore you and hurt you so that you’d forget me, but it destroyed me inside. I was so scared of loving you, but I am terrified to not be able to do so now. Merlin, please forgive me, please forgive me. I had no idea what I was doing.” You looked up at him to find his face all red of shame, and his eyes wet with tears. You reached down to find him digging his nails so deep into his skin that blood started seeping out. He relaxed at your touch and let you interlock your fingers with his.

You leaned and kissed him, and he had never felt alive until then. You threw your arms around him and he deepened the kiss even more as he trapped you in his arms and switched your positions so that he was on top, and you were stuck under him. He pulled away to say something but you couldn’t let him away from you, and you latched your lips on his again. He whined as you bit his lip and you took that chance to slip your tongue in his mouth. His hands immediately grabbed your back and flipped you on your stomach, you yelped in surprise and he grinded down on your ass. “I’ve never seen such a pretty thing, you are everything I have dreamed of. I’m so sorry, let me make it up to you, lovie.”

You moaned as he kept grinding on you, you had missed feeling all of him against you. He latched his lips on your neck marking it and you threw your hand back to tug at his hair, but he grabbed both of your hands and held them behind you. “I missed my girl so much, no one could ever compare to you.” His other hand had flown to your exposed thighs, gripping them as he sucked at your sweet spot, and when you moaned his name, he felt like he was going to lose it. He wandered higher and under you skirt, pushed your soaked panties aside and slipped a finger in you, pumping it slowly in and out of you. He twitched and leaked at every sweet little sound you made, he had missed you more than life, and everything he had screwed up- everything he tried to fix- he was certain you were his reward.

He pulled his finger out of you and put it to your lips to let you taste yourself, and he moaned at the sight, his dick ached to be inside of you. “God you are so fucking pretty.” You smiled shyly at the compliment, but you felt empty due to the lack of contact so you rutted along his cock, and he cursed at the feeling. He felt how soaked you were though the thick material of his jeans, and he smiled at how warm your cunt was for him. He flips you again to face him, and the smile still lingered on his lips at your beauty. He hurriedly takes your clothes off, leaving you in your underwear only, and he kisses you from your forehead all the way down to your clothed pussy. He strips you of your panties as well and the sight of it alone made him feel like he was gonna cum right there and then. He raises his face to kiss you gently before freeing himself of his clothes.

Your eyes wander down to his cock as he pumped himself a few times, and your cheeks redden at his length, he was big. Sure you had seen him and he has been inside you before but you never got used to his size. “You okay sweet girl?” You nod at him feeling a loss for words. “If you want me to stop just tap my shoulder, got it baby?” The effect this man had on you was ungodly, you couldn’t dare tear your eyes away from him, if god had favorites he was certainly at the top of the list. “Use your words honey.” He snaps you back to reality and you suddenly feel shy under his gaze. “I got it, I’m good.” “Good girl.” He says before he lines himself with your entrance and your hands fly to grip his broad shoulders, and he shoves himself inside of you slowly to not overwhelm you. The moment your velvet walls grips his cock, his shackles crumble and he sighs shakily at the feeling. You feel him lay his weight on you as he gripped your neck and hip to fuck you as deep as he could.

He started off slow and gentle so you’d get used to him, and as soon as he felt your body relax against him he picked up the pace, his hand wrapped around your neck keeps you grounded, and he squeezes it enough to make your eyes roll back from the amount of pleasure you’re feeling. His other hand slid to your tits, gripping them and rolling your nipples between his slender fingers, “My hands are yours.”

his cock fucked into your poor cunt even harder and somehow deeper, forcing you to grip the sheets at the feeling. “My cock’s yours.”

He kept fucking you as he angled his head down to reach your lips and he planted a sweet kiss on them. “My lips are yours.”

He grabbed your hand and put it to his chest, right above his fast beating heart, he made sure to let your hand there long enough you could feel it beating out of his chest. “And my heart’s sure as hell yours too, lovie.” Your own heart fluttered at his words, and you felt overwhelmed at how good he was making you feel. His hand still held your own tightly and you scratched his chest, arching your back as you cried out his name. “Fuck Mattheo. I’m.. close.” You could barely form words, and you dared to open your eyes and look at him, only to find him already admiring you, you couldn’t handle it and your cunt squeezed him tight. He groaned and choked your neck, nothing feels better than him buried balls deep inside you, fucking you full of his load.

Stars dotted your vision, and you used every ounce of energy you had left in you to wrap your legs around him, pulling him even closer, and he took that as a challenge to fuck you even better at that angle, and you felt your orgasm rocking through your body. “Are you close, princess? I can feel you squeezing me, honey.” He giggles a little and kisses the tip of your nose. “You’re gonna be the death of me. You’re taking me so well, love. You’re doing so good f’me.” His sweet words throw you over the edge and you moan as you release yourself on his dick, and he reaches his hand down between your bodies to rub your clit and overstimulate you. He buries his head in your neck as he feels himself getting closer, and you bite his shoulder as he abused it.

“I’m- I’m cumming- fuck-” his movements slow as he reaches his high, and you feel him fall limp on top of you after he pumps his cock in and out of you a few more times. He stays like that for a little while, and you raise your hands to play with his soft curls. He throws his arms around you and savors the moment, kissing your neck every now and then. “Thank you, for letting me in. I’m not gonna let anything or anyone hurt you, I love you.. I’m in love with you. I love you so much.” He looks up at you with his sweet eyes searching yours for a reply, and you flash him your sugary smile and his heart melts all over again. “I’ve loved you for a long time and I’m not planning on stopping.” You say, and he lets out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding, and leans to your lips to kiss you so delicately, smiling between kisses.

“Do you want to go eat, lovie?”

“I can’t really move, Mattheo.” You say shyly, and he smirks at you as he gets up from the bed. And he cleans you and himself before helping you put your clothes back on, “I’ll carry you.” He shrugs, putting his shirt on. “Are you crazy? Everyone will know we fucked then.” You shook your head at him, straightening your skirt. “As if everyone doesn’t already know. You were screaming my name, darling, they know.”

[partycatty]

i’m cranking these out like it’s a full time job

can we get some fluff w johnny where we steal his shirt and he just finds it’s the cutest thing how we practically drown in it

love youuu 💙💙

hehe i wuv him sm

johnny cage > rain

notes: i may not be a skinny queen but swimming in one of his shirts would actually cure me of all ailments forever,.,.., WHY ISNT HE REAL!!!!!!!!! @spacepl4ant

[ masterlist ]

• you and johnny had grown attached since meeting at wu shi academy. sure, you knew about his existence because he's a celebrity, but you had gotten to know johnny as a person as well as his screen persona... not that there was much of a difference.

• regardless, tuesdays were "train til you drop" days, oftentimes fighting or practicing routines for literal hours until you couldn't feel your limbs. everyone dreaded it but knew deep down it was necessary. this particular tuesday just so happened to be raining like crazy.

• you and the boys sparred and swung attacks at each other until the sun set, everyone drenched in sweat and rainwater. you all sat underneath a dense tree. kung lao shook the water from his hair, raiden was wringing out his shirt, kenshi didn't seem to mind too much and johnny was... well, using the rainwater as some kind of strange gel as he slicked his hair back.

• "talk about training your ass off," he groans, stretching his arms. "i can't feel a single part of me." you jab his side, making him whine and swat at you.

• "you complain too much," you wring your hair out onto the grass. "that being said, i'm cold and hungry and tired and i wanna go back to the dorms so i can change."

• "i like your thinking," johnny waves off the group and the two of you skip down the gravel path to the students' sleeping quarters, where your separated but loosely divided rooms held what little items you were allowed to bring with you. it was a common practice to walk around campus together, sometimes even arm in arm as you playfully waltzed down the paths. the other boys gave you a lot of trouble for it, whining about the married couple you pretend to be. neither of you stood up to defend yourselves. if anything, johnny found it a nice idea.

• in truth, you drove him wild. he just split from his ex-wife, someone that wanted to place roots down and slow down in life. but you, you were spontaneous, fun loving, and an absolute firecracker. you set his heart going, and he couldn't help but harbor a little crush on you. he couldn't tell you that, not now anyway, with the tournament coming up he knew better than to put an extra weight on you.

• "earth to superstar—" you groan, waving your hand in his face and shaking him of his thoughts. he hadn't even noticed the two of you were already at your sleeping place, and how you're now half dressed in your undershirt and shorts. "just checked my stuff. i don't have anything clean or decent. guess i'll just be soggy for dinner."

• johnny can't seem to focus when you're in a damp tank top. "bummer."

• you frown. "this is when you offer one of yours."

• his eyes are distant. "my what?"

• "jesus, cage, what's gotten into you?" you playfully punch at his chest, which does little to affect his stance, and slide the door open to his own bed arrangement. bending over and shuffling through his obnoxiously nice luggage bags, you find one of his dress shirts. it's a fiery red with small flame patterns.

• "i didn't say you could go through my stuff," he warns you in a teasing tone, head hovering over your shoulder. "you might find something you won't like in there."

• "please," you puff as you flick the shirt of its wrinkles. "i've seen a few rose toys in my day." he chuckled, turning away for a moment.

• he gives you the decency to change by staring into the corner, shamefully dreaming of what you may look like without anything on. he shakes the thought violently as you let out a sigh of contention with the shirt.

• "i get that you're a big guy, but lord," you mutter, tugging and shifting the shirt on your body. "you're bigger than i thought."

• "that's what sh—" johnny turns around with a smirk that quickly drops to the floor. you were wiggling about trying to make the shirt look like your own, but johnny was just so pleased with how it sat on you as it was. his shoulders were broader, leaving the shirt to swim around your own and expose a good deal of your collarbone. his waist was small, giving you some grace by hugging your hips almost as if it was your own top. in that split moment, johnny ponders if the "you're so hot i got a nosebleed" trope was real, wiping the bottom of his nose.

• "suits you," he pulls himself together abruptly with his award-winning grin, patting your shoulder and careful to avoid making contact with your skin, as badly as he wanted to feel your warmth. "after all this, come by my place and i'll get your own wardrobe after my style, how's that?"

• you scoff with your hands on your hips, shifting your weight to one leg. johnny fights the physical stutter at your chest creeping out of the top. "mister playboy here giving out charities to us poor folk. you don't have to do that, really."

• his voice is deadly serious. "i want to."

• "you're an odd one," you point a finger, sitting onto his bed with crossed legs. you fall silent observing his thousand yard stare, how glassy his gaze seems to be when it falls on you. "why do you look at me like that?"

• "like what?" his mouth is dry, eyes fixated on yours.

• "like you wanna kiss me all the damn time," your answer is teasing, not entirely serious but you don't miss the twitch in his lip at your statement.

• "and if i do?" he's testing the waters, something about you in his clothes is making him more bold than he swore to be.

• his answer makes your heart flutter, not expecting a direct comment like that. it changed the air of the room, and you suddenly feel a little more suffocated and insecure under his analytical stare. "why don't you?"

• "because i'm worried i'll want more. you look great in my clothes, by the way."

[qqueenofhades]

In light of OceangateGate, by show of hands, who still wants Elon Musk to send them to Mars?

I mean, this whole thing (like I kept saying in tags) is both grimly fascinating and utterly predictable. Because there's this whole culture that you could and should do absolutely anything anywhere on earth, if you're able to pay for it, and at the same time that the companies offering these experiences can do absolutely everything to cut corners and make profits while placing people in incredibly dangerous situations. Whether it's the mountain adventure companies who take tens of thousands of dollars to shunt total novices up Mount Everest, or this, it's just like... MAYBE YOU SHOULD NOT BE ABLE TO MAKE EVERYTHING INTO A HYPER-CAPITALIST COMMODITY JUST BECAUSE YOU ARE RICH AND/OR WANT TO TAKE MORE MONEY FROM RICH PEOPLE! MAYBE!

Within 48 hours of this story breaking, we have learned that:

The sub is not tested or certified by literally any regulatory agency, because "innovation can't wait for rules"

The sub is built of fucking camping store gear and a video game joystick, they did not pay for appropriately certified parts for the depths they wanted to go, and the company fired the guy who pointed it out, rather than dealing with any of the issues he raised

The CEO (one of those now missing on the sub) gave an interview talking about how "at some point, safety is just waste"

In 2018, a literal group of esteemed submersible experts wrote to this guy about how his plans were bad and he should feel bad; he ignored it

The sub does not have basic safety equipment, a readily available backup vehicle, an acoustic beacon, etc, and has gone missing several times before; it is only luck that they found it those times

You can't get out of the fucking thing by yourself even if it is on the surface

It used Elon Musk's Starlink satellites for communication and cited SpaceX as a private adventure tourism model (as noted, you know, the rockets that keep literally blowing up)

You have to sign an enormous waiver (after paying $250,000 a head) acknowledging this entire thing is completely unregulated and you may very well die

Which it looks like these poor schmucks either have or are soon going to, either by imploding instantly at great depth (the merciful option) or slowly suffocating in a freezing coffin in the dark (the absolute hell option)

Like?!?! How was this not COMPLETELY predictable?

And this happened WHILE THEY WERE GOING TO THE TITANIC

You know, the most famous case of Man vs. Nature technological hubris in history

I mean. This is the ultimate outcome and perfect encapsulation of the "no rules no regulations ever, everything including the most dangerous things are crassly commodified for money, everyone is an expert and/or experience is irrelevant, safety rules only exist to hamper innovation and disrupt The Free Market, costs should be cut on everything for more profits, and this should all continue regardless of the consequences or the impact on the other people then required to endanger themselves to rescue them" late-stage capitalist hellscape we are living in. And maybe I shouldn't have laughed, but uh, I laughed:

[youryurigoddess]

Maggie’s pendants and good omens

Yes, you’ve read it right. This post is going to deal with some literal good omens, not just title drop! But first things first, let’s take a closer look at the topic of this analysis.

A toucan

The top necklace is a lovely design involving a crowned toucan — believed to be a messenger of gods able to travel between the spiritual and the physical world, often associated with rain and rainbow (a Christian symbol of divine love, grace, and mercy, a reminder of the covenant between God and humanity to spare the latter from future trials like the Flood) — encircled by a gold band (a symbol of infinity, eternal love and promise) spun by a small butterfly (a symbol of transformation, hope, and rebirth). All three symbols combined seem to deliver a divine message of hope for rebirth, possibly resurrection, and the eternal life. Very fitting in the context of the Second Coming.

The fact that toucans were revered by the native South Americans as rainbringers strengthens the symbolic meaning of another type of bird we can spot on Maggie’s clothes in the very first episode, as her character introduction — a swallow. Swallows flying low are also believed to be harbingers of rain and bad weather. If you see one close to Earth or a building, it means that there’s a storm — or a certain biblical tempest — on the horizon.

In Ancient Greece and Rome swallows were representing Aphrodite, goddess of love. In Christianity they were considered to be of God and symbolized hope, awakening, and revival of life as messengers of spring and protectors from winter colds. Also helped Jesus on the Cross — according to a Christian legend, a group of swallows was supposed to take out the thorns from the Crown of Thorns and alleviate His Passion on the Cross. Humans banding together in the name of good have been a big theme in the series ever since The Them made an appearance, and from what we already know about the unpublished Good Omens sequel, we can assume that Jesus is going to take the spotlight in the upcoming season.

Maggie definitely attracts sudden inexplicable weather changes, like a thunderstorm with weirdly localized lightning strikes or a sudden downpour. And we’re still waiting for some vavooming (and the following happy ending) to happen in S3.

A heart with an eye

Now, the more nuanced clue hidden in the bottom necklace. I know that some of us were trying to tackle the concept of Maggie’s eye in a heart pendant suggesting her Masonic connotations, but this symbol (or the Eye of Providence in general) isn’t strictly Masonic, it isn’t even limited only to Judeo-Christian art. And while it is used a lot in Christian iconography, we should focus on a very specific example of it already referenced in the show.

Buckle up, we’re making a parachute dive into S1.

It seems like our old friend, Agnes Nutter, still has our backs.

Prophecy 4020:

Let the wheel of fate turne, let harts enjoin, there are othere fyres than mine; when the whirl wynd whirls, reach oute one to another.

If you look closely at the bottom right corner of this frame, you will see that as an illustration for the above prophecy the production team chose a 1611 engraving titled The Minde should have a fixed Eye On Objects, that are plac’d on High first found in Gabriel Rollenhagen’s Nucleus emblematum selectissimorum.

In 1635 it was published in A Collection of Emblemes, Ancient and Moderne Quickened With Metrical Illustrations, both Morall and Divine, Etc by George Wither with the accompanying hymn:

A Heart, which bore the figure of an Eye

Wide open to the Sunne; by some, was us'd,

When in an Emblem, they would signifie

A Minde, which on Celestiall Matters mus'd:

Implying, by the same, that there is nought

Which in this lower Orbe, our Eyes can see,

So fit an Object for a manly thought,

As those things, which in Heav'n above us be.

God, gave Mankinde (above all other Creatures)

A lovely Forme, and upward-looking Eye,

(Among the rest of his peculiar Features)

That he might lift his Countenance on high:

And (having view'd the Beauty, which appeares

Within the outward Sights circumference)

That he might elevate above the Sphæres,

The piercing Eye, of his Intelligence.

Then, higher, and still higher strive to raise

His Contemplations Eyes, till they ascend

To gaine a glimpse of those eternall Rayes,

To which all undepraved Spirits tend.

For, 'tis the proper nature of the Minde

(Till fleshly Thoughts corrupt it) to despise

Those Lusts whereto the Body stands inclin'd;

And labour alwayes, upward to arise.

Some, therefore, thought those Goblins which appeare

To haunt old Graves and Tombes, are Soules of such,

Who to these loathsome places doomed were,

Because, they doted on the Flesh too much.

But, sure we are, well-minded Men shall goe

To live above, when others bide below.

And hey, guess what 4020, i.e., the number of the prophecy, symbolizes in Strong’s Concordance? Periergazomai, a Greek word meaning “to waste one's labor about something” — to meddle, going beyond proper boundaries (where a person doesn't belong); to fixate on what others are doing, instead of doing what the person himself is supposed to do.

It appears only once in the Bible:

2 Thessalonians 3:11: We hear that some among you are idle and disruptive. They are not busy; they are busybodies. Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the food they eat. And as for you, brothers and sisters, never tire of doing what is good.

To make things slightly more interesting, in the Hebrew version of Strong’s Concordance 4020 has another meaning — migbaloth, meaning “twisted things, i.e. cords”. Which doesn’t make much sense until we read the actual passage:

Exodus 28:24 and two chains of pure gold, twisted like cords; and you shall attach the corded chains to the settings.

And compare it to the most recent post on the topic published directly by Word of God:

What if all these clues didn’t apply to Maggie and Nina, but Aziraphale and Crowley instead? What if Maggie served as a messenger — consciously or not — just like the toucan, delivering the prophecy to those who need it most?

“When the tempest comes and darkness and great storms, and the dead will leave their graves and walk the Earth once more and there will be great lamentations for the end is near, don’t lose hope, hold hands and look up.”

Basically what Aziraphale and Crowley already did when they performed the 25 Lazarii miracle, only with no interference from Gabriel this time around.

And, if both Strong’s Concordance and Maggie’s personal addition to her second pendant are to be believed, with a wedding band somehow involved in the process.

[rowiewritesstuff]

Ahem, yes it is I! So an idea literally bashed me in the face and I couldn't help but think 'Oh this is an interesting idea!' What if different versions Transformers have this crossover (Bayverse, T.F.P., T.F.A., GEN 1, Knightverse which is one of my favourites because of Charlie and Bumblebee or any other universes you're familiar with it) where T.F.P.'s groundbridge malfunctioned (probably Wheeljack and Bulkhead) The reader works in the T.F.P. universe Ratchet's assistant and they're his guardian on top of that. Of course, instead of sending them to a desired location the groundbridge ended up locating them in a different dimension... it was Bayverse's while the other dimensions were already there and T.F.P. just lands there last. Just complete and utter silence until Miko says something. You can tell how shit went downhill from there, but let's pretend no one dies for the sake of it all. My dearest reader and T.F.P. O.P. are dating but also not dating; they're just orbiting one another while being friends and T.F.P.'s O.P. is just content and not necessarily talkative but just sweet with the reader. Always carrying them around and so on. Of course, the other universes notice that. Jazz from Gen 1 is just smirking in that damn corner and all versions of Prowl wondering why is their lives are like this. It doesn't help that T.F.P.'s Ratchet has been tired of seeing these two idiots being in love and not doing shit about it. Obviously, the other O.P. versions caught on and the reactions... varied. Surprise, to utter.. confusion and curiosity to completely just wondering if there is a reader on their Earth. You can always add in anything you wish; I really love bantering amongst the others too! AND IRONHIDE'S REACTIONS TOO-

Multiverse to Bayverse  (Transformers Multiverse/ TMV)

Will probably edit it later for typos lol

(Bayverse, Animated, Prime, Earthspark, Gen 1)

Various! Optimus Primes X Reader

Ratchet noticed something was wrong with the groundbridge when it started growing a weird yellowish color. Before anyone could say anything, a wave covered all of them in golden light.

June, who walked in with popcorn, looked around the room in question. “Uh, guys?”

You all landed on the harsh ground, and heard a voice. Before you could hit the ground, Optimus caught you in his servos. 

We all looked up to see a large group of around twenty Cybertronians. There was complete silence in the room as everyone looked at eachother, when Miko chimes in. “Uh, why are there like five Optimus Primes? Raise of hands if you’re secretly another Optimus.”

Everyone gave her a deadpan look when you realized quickly that you were not in your Optimus’ servos. You looked up to see an almost cartoonish looking bot, smiling sheepishly down at you. 

“Uh, hi. I’m Optimus Prime, nice to meet you.” 

You squinted at him, and looked around the room. “Okay so I assume that this has to do with the groundbridge explosion- or I’m in a weird dream.”

The four Optimus Primes that were new to you looked at you in confusion. “Groundbridge?” Two chime in.

“Uh… yeah. A scaled down version of the space bridge. Ratchet engineered it to transport everyone anywhere on Earth- we couldn’t have anything as high-scale as a space bridge because we lack the energon for it.”

“Well why don’t you just use oil?” A voice sounds. 

You all look over to a green bot. “Bulkhead?” Arcee asked.

“Uh, yeah- how do you know my name?” 

Your Bulkhead made his way forward to inspect the other one. At the same time both Bulkheads showed their wrecking ball hand. “Woah! Twins!” Both of them said at the same time.

“Bulk, please never do that again,” Miko looked at them in joking fear. “You remind me of the twins from that one horror movie.”

“Aww come on Miko! It’s not everyday you meet, well, yourself!” Bulkhead grumbled. 

“Can we focus on the situation, please?” A gray mech asked. They looked strikingly like Megatron. The next second, almost everyone in the room had their guns trained on him.

He quickly backed up with his hands above his heads. One Optimus stood in front of him, hands up. “Woah, this Megatron is an autobot now! He’s alright.”

Everyone squinted or glared at him. Generation One’s Optimus didn’t back down. “I can’t speak for anyone else, but I know for certain that I’m not cool with Megatron being here.”

You turned to him, gaping. “Did you just say ‘cool’? What?” 

Jazz laughed aloud. “Yeah, that’s Op for ya! He just started learning Earth slang from Spike!”

“Alright, enough!” All of the Ratchets shouted at once. Everyone looked at them. A good eighty percent of the room burst into giggles or tried their best to stop that urge.

“Looks like no matter what dimension you go to, Ratchet’s always the same.” Wheeljack said. A chorus of varied agreements sounded through the room, making the renowned grouches grumble.

Soon enough, you all began figuring out how you were all there. It was pretty much the same for everyone- one way or another, a yellow light ran over them.

You all started constructing various groundbridges in hopes that it could somehow send you home. 

You often hung out with your Prime, making everyone else curious about your relationship. You could almost always be seen on his shoulder or in his servo. You almost never walked anywhere.

It was pretty obvious to everyone- except a few of the younger bots like animated Bumblebee and Knightverse Bumblebee.

Bayverse Prime (with his never ending confidence) was the first to approach you. “Hello, (Y/N). Would you like to go on a walk with me?” He held his hand out. You stepped onto his hand and sat down. 

As he made his way out of base, everyone watched you two. Primeverse Optimus couldn’t help but feel a pang in his chest as you both walked out. He knew that he didn’t have a right to feel that way- you two weren’t even together. Not yet, at least. 

Everyone noticed the look on his face even though he himself didn’t.

All of the Ratchets had the same thought: ‘Primes (Derogatory)’. 

Optimus from the Animated universe was confused. He was normally pretty in tune with his emotions, and he doesn’t see why Prime Optimus doesn’t just ask you out. He’d been trying to subtly hint at that, but Prime Optimus was somehow oblivious. Animated Optimus also wondered if you existed in his universe- you were very charming and, he’s embarrassed to say, cute.

G1 Optimus teased your Optimus on the subject. He always mentioned how back in his day he was a spark breaker. Earthspark Optimus always tried to scold G1 Optimus for his behaviors, but then G1 Jazz would join in on the teasing so he’d have to chase both of them around.

Earthspark Optimus would comfort him, trying to encourage him gently to follow his spark. While he’ll never understand the attraction to a human, he believes that it’s not really his business. Even Earthspark Megatron gave fairly good advice to the other bot. 

Bayverse Ironhide sort of agreed with their advice- but also warned the Prime. “If you wait too long, they’ll find another. Make something of yourself, Prime!”

You both stopped at a pond and he sat down on the ground. He placed you gently next to him as he threw seeds into the water. You both watched as fish swam to the surface and bobbed up and down to try and snag a treat.

“Are you and my counterpart… together?” 

A flushed look covered your face as you snapped your head towards him. “Wh-n- I-” You covered your face with your hands. “No, we aren’t together.”

“Ah. I see.” Bayverse Optimus had a lot more experience with this sort of thing. “So you have feelings for him, then?”

Your face got impossibly warmer and simply nodded. “We haven’t been dating so to say… but we’re really close. I would just never have the guts to… you know.” 

Bayverse Optimus merely nodded at you and left you at the pond by yourself. When he got back into the base he and Ironhide grabbed the Prime by his arms and began dragging him off. The other Primes and Ratchets knew exactly what was going on and followed.

When they got into a more secluded room of the base, they set him down and pushed him into a chair. Primeverse Optimus was confused and a little anxious as the many bots surrounded him.

“When are you going to ask them out?” G1 Optimus teased. 

Primverse merely shook his head. “I don’t think that is a good idea at the moment. There’s a war go-”

“Oh stop being a fragging boltbrain!” Bayverse Ratchet yelled. 

“They have been waiting for you to ask them out for months now!” Primeverse Ratchet yelled. 

His eyes widened at that knowledge. “I don’t know.”

“Fine, I guess I’ll go ask the lil’ lady on a date then.” Jazz began to strut out of the room when Optimus shouted for him to stop.

“What should I say?” Primeverse Optimus questioned. 

“Alright, so here’s what you say.”

While you were at the pond,  a gathering of girls and femme bots surrounded you.

“So he still hasn’t asked you out yet?!” The Arcees were shocked.

“Yeah, you’d think he would have by now, right?” Their counterpart from Primeverse shook her head. “I think he’s just worried about the war.”

Miko threw her hands over her head. “So?! He needs to get the girl!” 

Your hands were holding your face yet again. Prowl gently laid a hand on your shoulder. “Don’t worry, (Y/N). Good things come in time- and some bots,” he glared at everyone else, “Shouldn’t rush it.”

You smiled up at the ninjabot. “Thanks, Prowl.” 

He smiled back, though irritated at the situation. Some bots were so nosy and loud. They always had to get into everything and couldn’t leave well enough alone. 

Suddenly you were swept up by Jazz, who yelled out “Sorry, I’m borrowing the lil’ lady!” Prowl facepalmed as the girls cheered.

You and Optimus were shoved into a room together. The large bot offered a hand to you which you stepped onto. He raised you up to eye level.

“I” He paused to get his words together. “I have had feelings for you for a while. I know that we’ve been friends for a while, and just friends. I have no clue if you share the sa-”

“If you’re asking me out, the answer is yes.” You planted a shy kiss on his faceplate. The Prime’s cheeks grew a flushed blue. Suddenly confetti streamers fell on the two of you. You both looked up to see Miko, Animated Bee, and Sari in the rafters. A bucket fell on Optimus’ head which made the rafter bound group wince.

“Uh.. congrats?” Bumblebee quickly grabbed the other two kids and bolted. 

You and Optimus chuckled as he brought you up to his faceplate for another kiss.

ALTERNATIVE ENDING:

You and Optimus were shoved into a room together. The large bot offered a hand to you which you stepped onto. He raised you up to eye level. “I-” he paused to get his words together. “Well, my name is Optimus Prime, yo! The other primes are my friends, yo! Uh-huh, they told me everything.”

You looked up at Optimus in confusion, about to say something when he continued. 

“And I like you a lot, yo!” 

Outside the door, everyone looked at Jazz with glares. He just shrugged as a grin pulled at his face. "What? I’m sure it will work.”

[lovely-peace]

Eclipsed hearts

Summary: Reader is avoiding remus for weeks now. But when the hogsmeade weekend comes in sight this task becomes impossible, because their friend group wants to go their together. But when all things come together it doesn't go as planned....

Warnings: self hatred, panic attack (tw!!!), bad to no communication, might get mad at everything lol, I am a very angsty writer sryy

I might went a little over board with this one, but whatever right?

Masterlist part 1 ~~~ part 6 part 7

Weeks passed. Weeks in which I avoided Remus as much as possible. In class I worked together with Luis. In the meantime I would call him a friend. It was nice to know someone who wasn't also friends with Remus.

But then the first hogsmeade weekend came in sight. And just like we talked about it, it was planned that we went there together. So I couldn't avoid Remus there. I was afraid of it. But at the same time I was excited.

What was wrong with me?

It was during the last Potions class that Luis suddenly approached me.

"Hey, would you like to come to Hogsmeade with me? It's totally okay if you don't want to!" he said it so fast that I needed some time to understand what he was saying. He asked me if I could go to Hogsmeade with him.

But I had promised Lily not to chicken out. He stood in front of me waiting for my answer and I felt like the worst person on earth. In the end, I just sat down next to him to hide from remus.

I was cruel. I mean what if he liked me?

I somehow managed an apologetic smile. "Hey, I'm sorry about that, but this weekend my friends and I were already planning on going on a group outing."

I could literally see his hope dwindling and him feeling embarrassed. "Oh."

He couldn't look me in the eye. I just felt worse. Why was this so hard?

"We can meet some other time though." why did I say that? I didn't want to give him hope, that was cruel. I didn't like him like that.

He looked at me with a crooked smile. "Yeah, we can do that. Sorry if this has all been a bit awkward."

"Oh, don't worry about that. I'll see you soon then. "I felt awful. How did it all look so easy in the movies? Even in books it's so simple. But in real life, it's all so difficult.

He walked slowly and waved at me before disappearing around the corner. It was only when I exhaled that I realized I had been holding my breath.

Suddenly I heard a crack behind me and turned around. I saw only sand-colored hair, which quickly disappeared behind the next corner.

~~~

"Are you ready to go?" Lily was all excited and had put on one of her most beautiful dresses, which looked incredibly good on her. We were going to meet up with the boys in Hogsmeade and to be honest, I was dreading it.

"Yes, yes I'm ready." I hadn't really dressed up. I had normal clothes on and even with my hair I hadn't done anything special. Lily seemed disappointed, but she didn't say anything.

"Are you guys finally coming?" Mary had been ready for a long time and was waiting for us.

"Yeah, we're already done." Lily literally pulled me after her. And We set off on our way. ~~

We approached the three broomsticks in which we would meet with the others. To say that I felt uncomfortable would have been an understatement. Why was I so nervous?

As we approached we saw a couple of Ravenclaw boys. I had the feeling that they were looking at us. I had the feeling that they were looking at me.

They whispered to each other as we got closer. One of them looked me sourly in the eye. I wanted to just keep walking, but I stopped. I could not help it.

"What's wrong?" Mary followed my gaze and became quiet. I hadn't told them what had happened with Luis. But that won't have anything to do with it, will it?

Suddenly one of the boys stepped forward and came toward us. He stopped in front of us and looked me straight in the eye.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" his voice was quiet but firm. I looked briefly at mary and lily who exchanged a quick glance. They just shrugged their shoulders.

"Sure," I said. He looked at me briefly and then raised an eyebrow.

"I think it would be better for you if we were… Alone."

That sounded like I was hiding something terrible from my friends. And maybe that was the case. We talked very little now.

"Can you leave us alone for a moment?" I asked the two. Even if it was more like a request.

They looked at each other again and it was as if they were talking to each other in a language I didn't understand. This frustrated me.

Lily looked at me worriedly." Are you sure?"

I just nodded and the two of them hesitantly went into the store. I turned to the boy, expecting the worst. And yet, I wasn't really prepared.

His eyes rained down before he spoke.

"Listen, I don't know what kind of game you're playing here, but I'm tired of it. You seem to constantly portray yourself as a victim here, even though you're just playing with the people around you. I mean sitting down next to Luis and giving him hope? You're only doing that to make Remus jealous. Everyone can see that something happened between you. "

I was speechless. I wanted to contradict him, but I was at a loss for words. But he wasn't finished anyway.

"And this whole cat and mouse game that you play with him is pathetic, honestly. I heard your friends talking about you. Everyone is worried about you. And you? You just go ahead and shamelessly take advantage of it. If I were your friend, I would have told you off long ago. "

I pushed down the tears that were slowly coming up. I couldn't cry, not here. I was tired of crying all the time. So this is how the whole situation looked to the outside world. I didn't want people to think about me like that. I couldn't stand that. I couldn't stand that.

"I'm n-not taking advantage of luis." When I said it like that, it sounded like a lie. It didn't feel right to say either.

Was I really as he described me? I didn't want to be like that. The person he was describing was a cold heartless person who took advantage of everyone around him. I wasn't like that, was I?

He scoffed.

"Do you really believe that? Or do you want to portray yourself as a victim again and run away? Honestly you're pathetic."

His friends were standing a little further away, but it sounded like the whole world was hearing his words. I wanted to run and hide, he was right. This was really pathetic. The world started to spin. I didn't want him to be right. But I couldn't listen to him any longer either.

"Look, here comes your lover boy and his friends! You want to hide behind them?" he mocked me. I couldn't move, I was frozen.

"I'm not going to hide behind them…" the words came out as if in slow motion and were much too quiet. I almost choked on them. My body did not listen to me. Everything inside me was screaming for alarm, but I was still frozen.

"Sunny?" I wanted to disappear. "Hey, asshole what are you doing to her?!" I was acting horrible. "We were just talking, chill." I wasn't really aware of the voices around me anymore. Inside my head I was alone and it was holding me captive right now. "What's going on with her? Why isn't she saying anything?" Eyes everywhere. Everyone seeing what I'm doing. "She suddenly froze, I don't know either…" I just want to be normal, what's wrong with me? "Sirius go check on lily and mary! Maybe you can help." Everything I do is seen and evaluated. Everyone sees my mistakes and feelings. I don't want to be so transparent. "Nothing to see here, get lost!" I don't want to be weak. "Hey is someone getting help?" I don't want to be vulnerable-

Hands wrapped themselves around my shaking ones. They were warm. My breath slowly became slower. I didn't even know I was breathing so fast. Calmness spread through me. Followed by cozy warmth.

"You are safe, all is well."

Slowly my surroundings became clear again. I was in front of the three broomsticks. I just wanted to hang out with my friends. But I had ruined everything.

When I realized who was holding my hands, guilt rose in me. I pulled my hands out of Remus' warm hands and immediately regretted it when I saw the look on his face. I regretted it when I saw the looks of the others on me.

"I'm fine." I said quickly, trying to forget the whole thing. If only it were that simple.

"Are you sure? You were shaking all over and didn't answer us for a whole 20 minutes!" lily's worried expression came into my field of vision. How many times had I seen that expression the last few weeks?

"Sorry, I just spaced out a bit." I turned to the boy I was talking to. "Sorry if I worried you. Wasn't your fault or anything like that."

He wasn't angry anymore.

He almost looked like he was scared. As if he was afraid for me. His eyes were no longer so cold. I suddenly saw similarities between him and luis. They had the same eyes.

Could it be?

We looked at each other quietly for a while, then he cleared his throat.

"I'll leave you to it, then..."

Mary scoffed at that. "Thanks. And just so you know, we won't leave you 'alone' with her again!!!" she literally screamed after him. If looks could kill, she'd be a serial killer.

I tried to fight it, but my eyes moved to remus' eyes as if by themselves. And suddenly I realized what kind of situation I was in. All my friends were gathered around me, looking at me worried.

Everyone is worried about you. And you? You just go ahead and shamelessly take advantage of it.

I felt like I was going to throw up.

"Sunny?"

If I were your friend, I would have told you off long ago.

"I just have to go to the bathroom."

And I ran past them into the three broomsticks. I quickly went into the bathroom and locked myself in.

Breathe in, breathe out.

Do you really believe that?

Breathe in, breathe out.

Or do you want to portray yourself as a victim again and run away?

Breathe in, breathe out.

Honestly you're pathetic.

Breathe in.

Look, here comes your lover boy and his friends! You want to hide behind them?

Exhale.

~~~

"There you are! We were getting worried." Mary spread her arms as I approached their table. I mustered a wry smile and sat down next to her. Across from remus.

"Should we take care of him?" James' voice sounded threatening. He was talking about the ravenclaw boy. I shook my head.

"No, we were really just talking."

His look told me he didn't believe me. I didn't say anything more, though, so he dropped the subject.

Lily smiled warmly at me. "Are you feeling better?"

I nodded and smiled at her too. I didn't want to make her worry anymore. I wanted her to smile more.

Everyone is worried about you. And you? You just go-

"What did he want to talk to you about anyway?" sirius asked the question floating in the air. Everyone went quiet and looked at me, waiting.

"It... It wasn't anything important-"

"It was about his brother, wasn't it? Luis. The one who asked you out yesterday." Remus' voice wasn't as warm as usual. It was almost... Harsh.

"What, Luis asked you out?" mary looked at me in shock. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"I just didn't really get around to it..."

"I think she could hardly believe it herself." remus interrupted me the whole time. All of this was so not like him.

He was making me angry.

"And what exactly couldn't I believe? Please, tell me."

Now he hesitated. It was almost as if he realized what he was saying. But then his eyes hardened again.

"Well, that he's playing with your feelings. The fact that his brother showed up right after you hurt his brother's pride only proves it."

Who is playing with my feelings here?

"Oh, is it so hard to believe that someone might actually like me, Remus?"

His eyes widened. "No, I just meant-"

"I think we all know what you meant." This time, I didn't let him speak. I was behaving terribly, but he was just as awful.

"Besides, he just asked me if we want to do something together. It could easily be meant as just friends hanging out. And you don't even know him!" I was angry.

Remus scoffed at that. "Yeah, sure. That was definitely meant as just friends hanging out. Sometimes you're really naive." He whispered the last words, but I still heard them clearly.

"Oh, really?"

James looked panicked between us. "I think we should all calm down a bit..."

"Why do you even care so much? It's none of your business who asks me out on a date!"

I've never spoken to him like this before. I don't know what came over me, but in that moment, it was all just too much.

He fell silent at that.

Lily placed a hand on mine. "Maybe we should stop talking about it..."

"No, please, Remus, tell me. Why do you care so much? If I remember correctly, you were the one who rejected me! So don't pretend like you really care about who I'm with or not!!!"

He looked away.

"Whatever."

That was the final blow. I stood up and turned to the door.

"Well, you know what? That was a mistake. I shouldn't have agreed to do something together. This whole thing was just a big mistake."

I was already at the door when Lily stood up.

"No, wait, please! He surely didn't mean it that way, right, Remus?"

But Remus remained silent.

"Remus, say something?!" Lily's voice was frustrated.

"Lily, just stop."

I turned to the others one last time.

"I know exactly what he meant."

And then I ran away. Once again.

The sun and the moon meet again after a while. They long for each other and still don't come closer to the one other.

Taglist : @juleshadalittlelamb @fluffybunnyu @tendous-pretty-hair @helloitsmeeeeeee @valencia-rou @woohoney @mothermaryisdead

[rubykgrant]

I can't remember if I posted about it already, or if I just can't find it (because searching for something on here is impossible), but I'm thinking about my Avatar story idea from when I was a teenager (literally right after the original series ended, and way before we had Korra or the comics as a continuation), so here it is again-

-Zuko realizes his dad will never tell him where Ursa is, and just keeps using it as a bargaining chip, so decides to ignore Ozai and focus on helping put the Earth Kingdom/Water Tribes back together, and get the Fire Nation out of "war-mode"

-He also tries to figure out how to help his sister; Azula isn't being violent now that she's fully accepted defeat, but she is SUPREMELY depressed (and seems to expect him to "execute" her, which he very much has no interest in doing). Iroh and some others from the White Lotus find a group of Healers, some Waterbenders, who also understand emotional/mental pain, who agree to help her (she does improve eventually, but it is painful for her to even go home to the Fire Nation... finally realizing how badly her father messed her up was a big deal). Eventually, Ty Lee and Mai visit her, sort of trying to have a "new" friendship

-A couple years go by. Things have mostly settled down, but every once in a while there is a problem (a group in the Fire Nation who think Zuko shouldn't be Fire Lord call themselves "Azula's Army". they aren't very powerful, but are definitely annoying, and sow discontent with other people). After an adventure helping a young Fire Sage who is training, Aang and Zuko find some old scrolls about strange "distant islands"

-Sokka recognizes some of the scrolls are from Wan Shi Tong's library (stolen however long ago). The satchel they were in belonged to Zhao; these were other things he found when looking into information about the Moon and Ocean Spirits. One scroll with a map has the island closest to the Fire Nation circled, with notes in the corner about this being a "Secret the Fire Lords keep". Zuko researches a little more, and finally has the answer...

-This island was where a once "disgraced" Fire Lord was sent, and since then, other Fire Lords have used it as a place for banishment. While it is more common to just banish people from the Fire Nation itself, when a Fire Lord wants to entirely erase somebody without actually "killing" them, they are sent to that island. More secrets imply that a few soldiers who were part of Sozin's army secretly saved infants from the Air Temples during attacks. They weren't strong enough to outright oppose the Fire Lord, and there wasn't enough of them to fight the other soldiers, but they wanted to at least save the children. The babies were smuggled away to the island. This is also where Ozai sent Ursa

-The group decides to make a big trip to the island; after all, they have the possibility of not only finding Zuko's mother, but Aang might NOT be the last Airbender! Aang, Zuko, Katara, Sokka, Toph, Mai, Ty Lee, Suki, and Hakoda are all going out on a ship with a few crew members (it would be too far for Appa to fly over the sea, but he and Momo are still along for the ride). Zuko is leaving behind Iroh as temporary Fire Lord, and Suki asked some of her Kyoshi Warriors to help

-At one point as they travel, they find a small, much newer island, formed by a volcano that has started to grow plant life. They all stay for the night to camp and gather some fresh fruit/do some fishing. Katara has figured out a way to "pull apart" salt water so it can be drinkable. Toph just REALLY needs a good dose of LAND before sailing again. In a small tide pool, Zuko teaches Toph how to swim (suddenly remembering how his older cousin Lu Ten taught him way back on Ember Island, before Azula was even born. she finally gets her own Zuka field-trip!)

-They finally arrive at the island; there are a LOT of people here. Some who's ancestors were banished by a Fire Lord generations ago, some who were sailors that got stranded out here after bad storms. A few people who had been Fire Nation soldiers back then decided to stay, not wanting to be part of the war anymore. They all have their own communities... and so many of them are Airbenders! Aang is very excited, and shows off some of his own abilities. The people are amazed, especially because they have never been taught any actual "techniques". Their history and heritage has been lost to them. As everybody walks around, Zuko eagerly looks for a familiar face... when he hears somebody suddenly call his name. He and his mother finally meet again, crying and embracing each other (she sees his scar, and when she touches it and sees his eyes glance down sadly, she knows Ozai did it)

-Lots of catching up, both happy and sad. Some of the people banished here were Waterbenders that had been captured by the Fire Army, in the attempt to have them control whirlpools/tidal waves (searching for some long-lost treasure). The Waterbenders would pretend to be swept away, and escape, eventually finding this island. Now that the restrictions that "banished" them are gone, everybody on the island is welcome to return to the outside world. The ship isn't big enough for everybody, but Ursa and several of the Airbenders make the return trip (more boats will be sent later, both so people on the island can see the other Nations, and so the island can be visited; they won't be alone out here anymore)

-Ursa and Hakoda talk a lot together while sailing back (wishing they could have protected their children better), and Aang shares stories of the Air Nomads with the Airbenders, also teaching some of them how to make an Air Scooter. When they arrive, Iroh is happy to see Ursa again. Zuko takes her to go visit Azula, who at first doesn't believe her mother could return, or EVER love her... but Ursa reassures her daughter; she is real, and so is her love

-Zuko makes one final visit to Ozai; his father has gotten a little "impatient", expecting that Zuko wouldn't be able to resist coming back to ask about his mother for so long... Iroh also walks in, and Ozai tries to mock his brother. Azula walks in as well, finally confronting her father. This throws him, because she looks different (short hair, no make-up), and also because she doesn't care about his approval anymore. He tries to bargain with her, but she refuses his offers. Then, Ursa walks in. Her son and his friends found her, WITHOUT him. Now, she is back with both of her children. Ozai is struck silent. Finally, Aang walks in, telling Ozai that his ancestor failed, the other Airbenders were NOT wiped-out. They will all walk out of here, and have happy lives. He will stay. Nobody wants anything from him anymore. Too late, after they leave, Ozai starts shouting, trying to beg or threaten, but nobody listens (nobody cares)

-In the years that follow, the other islands are eventually located and explored, with more people found there (new people who are Fire/Water/Earth/Air Benders, but with different cultures than the Four Nations. Sokka is sort of the official diplomat for making new friends, and eventually, all the new places are able to travel and communicate with each other). Hakoda and Ursa grow closer, but take a while to act on any romantic feelings (they're worried their children might find it awkward, and Hakoda especially didn't want Katara and Sokka to think he doesn't care about their mother's memory... but the kids are all very happy about it! this makes them all family). Aang helps the Airbenders who want to move back to the Air Temples adjust and recover. People from other nations who have made homes near the Temples are welcome to stay as well, and also help repair the buildings. Hakoda and Ursa live part of the year on Ember Island, and part in the Southern Water Tribe village that was his home (which has also been rebuilt). Azula eventually feels content enough to move on, and she lives on Kyoshi Island with Ty Lee (Azula avoids bending, finally realizing she has PTSD, but she can still help train people with hand-to-hand fighting techniques). Toph makes a home for herself outside of the swamp, where she also begins teaching Metalbending (haha, yes, ironic~). Now that Zuko is very at home being Fire Lord, Iroh stays in Ba Sing Se full time for his tea shop, but returns for special occasions (like when Zuka and Mai get married). Katara surprises Aang with a gift one day; a necklace~

[inairbinad]

Steve's Got a Date with a Vampire! (7)

Now Complete! | Explicit Part One | Part Six | Read on AO3

warnings: none. just a fluffy little epilogue.

A few days after their first date—first everything—Steve and Eddie decided it was probably time to resurface long enough to actually socialize with other people.

Technically, only Robin and Nancy knew that he and Eddie were officially dating now. But Steve knew well enough that between Dustin’s big mouth and the fact that neither Steve nor Eddie had shown their faces anywhere but at work for several days, everyone in their little group had to know by now. 

Not that Steve minded. He wouldn’t mind putting out a newsletter about it, actually, he was so fucking happy. 

Especially when he kept getting to eat breakfast with Eddie every morning. Or Steve got to eat, at least, and Eddie usually watched while they talked.

It was sickeningly domestic, and Steve absolutely loved it.

“So we’re telling them we’re boyfriends, right?” Steve asked around a mouthful of toast. He considered torturing Dustin a little and pretending they were still dancing around it, just for shits and giggles. But Steve was pretty sure he was too enamored with using the word boyfriend to really get away with such a deception for longer than a minute or two.

“Mhmm,” Eddie hummed softly, not bothering to hide his own satisfied little smile at the thought. Steve had to brush his toes against Eddie’s leg under the table just to do something about how cute it was.

“What about the levitating thing?” Steve asked, unsure if Eddie wanted to keep that just between them. Eddie’s best guess about why it happened was that he was literally so happy he could fly, and Steve wasn’t exactly eager to dispel that notion in any way. Which is exactly what would happen if that became Dustin’s newest “problem” to solve. 

It didn’t seem like Eddie was all that enthusiastic, either. He chewed his lip in thought for a moment before responding.

“I’m really not quite ready to be the flying monkey again, Stevie,” he sighed. “They’ve just started getting used to the new me, anyway. No need to go adding extra oddities to the mix.”

“That’s fair,” Steve agreed, but felt the need to clarify one worry that was written all over Eddie’s face. “But you know everyone’s still gonna love you, flying or not, right?”

Eddie huffed out a soft little sigh, like he did know that deep down, but he had needed to hear it anyway. Then the corners of his mouth twitched up in a teasing grin that made Steve’s heart sputter.

“Oh yeah? Everyone?” Eddie asked, holding Steve’s gaze until his face felt hot from the implication. Eddie didn’t make him sweat it out for long, though, and deftly moved back to the point. “If Dustin finds out about the floating thing, he’s gonna want us to recreate the initial circumstances, for science and shit, and he’s gonna want to watch.”

“Oh, shit,” Steve breathed out, realizing there was no way on earth Eddie could start feeding from his neck again in front of anyone without it being an embarrassing disaster. “You’re right.”

“I know,” Eddie crowed, then slipped his hand up Steve’s thigh beneath the kitchen table and squeezed. “We can always practice figuring it out on our own.”

God, Steve wanted to kiss him.

Not for the first time, and probably not for the last, with a surprised jolt Steve realized he didn’t have to quash that impulse anymore. So he leaned across the table with a smile playing at his lips and waited for Eddie to meet him halfway.

Despite days of Steve practically hanging from Eddie’s lips every chance he got, sometimes Eddie still got this little surprised look on his face when Steve moved in to kiss him. On the one hand, Steve wanted Eddie to know deep in his bones that Steve always wanted to kiss him, to touch him, to show his affection in a million ways big and small until Eddie didn’t question it for a second.

And yet.

The little quirk of Eddie’s brow when Steve would start to tip his face to the side, or the sparkle in his eye that read something like again?, and really?, and lucky me, drove Steve absolutely wild. Part of him hoped Eddie never stopped.

Steve didn’t think it’d be a bad thing if neither one of them ever lost a little bit of the wonder at being each other’s, out of all the other people in the world.

Steve relished in that same sparkle for a moment as he nudged his nose against Eddie’s. “Let’s just not fly too high, yeah?”

He really never tired of making Eddie laugh, especially not when he was close enough to feel it, or to see the mirth that lit up his eyes.

“Deal, sweetheart.”

Eddie finally brushed his lips against Steve’s in a soft promise that might’ve been enough to send Steve flying out into orbit anyway.

— — —

A couple of hours later, Steve was lazily lounging on a floatie and trying to catch some sun before the gremlins arrived, while Eddie read a book in the shade nearby. It seemed only fitting that they have another day by the pool, considering how this had all started.

Soon enough, Steve’s peace was thoroughly disturbed by the sound of Dustin’s screeching reaching his ears. Steve bolted upright and turned towards the racket, confused, until he noticed literally everyone standing around the edge of the pool and staring at his chest.

His chest that was littered with bites, bruises, and scratches, all on full display as he sunbathed.

“Oh my god,” Robin said, just barely containing a full-on cackle. When even Robin was staring at his chest with wide eyes and a tilt to her chin, Steve knew he had to be a sight. 

Steve nearly felt embarrassed—but not quite. This was his house, goddamnit, and he’d show off that Eddie was his boyfriend now as much as he damn well pleased.

“Get it out now,” he sighed as he paddled over towards the edge of the pool to climb out. Steve looked over to see Eddie’s reaction, only to find he was very determinedly hiding his face in his book. 

“I knew it,” Dustin squealed, practically bouncing. Steve didn’t think that was a particularly impressive claim, since Dustin had been the one to set it up, but he shrugged it off as everyone else chimed in.

“How are you not dead?” Mike asked, and Nancy did the honors of pinching the back of his neck in response. “What? It’s a legitimate question!”

“Max, you’re staring,” Lucas pointed out, and Max shrugged him off without averting her eyes for a moment.

“So what? We all are,” she said, completely unbothered. 

“Not like that,” Lucas argued as Steve finally got out of the pool and dried off. He wasn’t going to be the one to point out that Lucas himself was very much staring in the same vein as Max, since he was trying to stay humble.

“Dude, that’s true love right there,” Argyle said to Jonathan as much as he did Steve. It was the first thing that made Steve actually blush, so Robin took it as her cue to swoop in and shut down the commentary for now.

“Steve and Eddie are happy, yes?” she asked, looking between them. Eddie finally peeked out from behind his book and gave Robin a blinding smile and a thumbs up. Steve just nodded as he swooned a little. “Right. Then let’s be happy for them and try to act civilized.”

“Thank you, Robin,” Steve shot her a grateful smile that she returned in kind. Then he moved over to sit on the same chair as Eddie, folding himself between Eddie’s legs until his back rested comfortably against his boyfriend’s chest. Eddie wrapped his arms around Steve’s middle, and Steve raised his eyebrows at everyone in a challenge.

No one was cowed, though. Dustin lit up like the sun itself, and the rest of the kids broke out in a chorus of “fucking finally”s while the older teens just gave Eddie and Steve looks of sympathy and happiness in equal parts. 

“That went about as well as we could have hoped,” Eddie muttered in Steve’s ear. 

Steve had barely hummed in response as Dustin came and plopped on the chair beside them. 

“You could at least say thank you,” he grinned.

Steve twisted around enough to look at Eddie, who gave him a sheepish smile in return when he said, “Spoke too soon.”

“Hey, we helped!” Erica called Dustin out immediately, gesturing towards herself and El. Steve already knew that El was involved, but Erica too?

“How did you help?” Steve asked her, cutting right into whatever argument Dustin was teeing up.

“Tina’s brother was the one working the Ferris wheel,” Erica shrugged, and Steve tensed just thinking about being stuck up there again. Eddie squeezed him a little tighter, probably to help Steve remember they were on solid ground just as much as it was to keep Steve from shoving Erica, Dustin, and El into the pool over it. 

Erica didn’t seem bothered by the queasy look on Steve’s face, and explained further. “I threatened to send pages of his journal to his crush if he didn’t let you all dangle for a while after El stopped the wheel. Now Dustin owes me a favor.” 

The devious glint in her eye almost made Steve feel bad for Dustin. Almost.

“You little shits,” Steve grit out, somehow both impressed and irritated at their dedication. “I’m scared of heights!”

“Maybe you shouldn’t have gotten on the Ferris wheel then?” Mike chimed in, and Eddie snorted. 

“What happened to leaving them alone?” Jonathan asked calmly. Steve wanted to kiss his forehead.

“I just think I deserve a little credit!” Dustin said. Robin came over to shoo him out of his chair so she could take it for herself, and by some miracle Dustin complied. Steve still wondered how the hell she got him to do whatever she wanted.

“Then so do we,” El affirmed, backing Erica up. “And so does Murray.”

“Murray?” Nancy perked up, more interested now. “What does he have to do with it?”

“Dustin called him up and asked for matchmaking tips weeks ago,” Lucas filled Nancy in. Apparently everyone was privy to Dustin’s plans, and had been all along. Steve didn’t know why he was surprised.

“Is that who you were calling sir over the radio?” Steve asked, the puzzle pieces finally slotting together. “For your ‘project?’”

“Yep,” Dustin beamed, still standing over them while everyone else dispersed to either the pool or their own chairs.

“So you didn’t really come up with any of those schemes on your own, then?” Eddie asked, sounding a little disappointed. 

“I did so!” Dustin squeaked. “All Murray suggested was getting you two alone where you couldn’t avoid each other. Preferably in small spaces, and maybe to encourage some friendly competition. But I did the rest!”

“Yeah, that tracks,” Eddie hummed. “No one but Henderson would’ve come up with the linen closet story.”

“Hey, it worked, didn’t it?” Dustin challenged, and Steve didn’t really want to rehash how he’d fallen for the nasal spray excuse.

“And our dinner?” Eddie asked, trudging right along. “Did you know it was gonna storm?”

“Of course I did,” Dustin scoffed. “What do you take me for, an amateur?”

“And I assume El was why the power went out?” Steve sighed. 

“Actually, no,” Dustin laughed, obviously proud of himself. “But she would have been if it hadn’t gone out on its own.”

Steve twisted around to give Eddie a look. “I told you so.”

But Eddie had a much more horrified expression on his face, and it took Steve a second to realize why. If Dustin had waited around to see if the power went out, that meant he could’ve seen…

“Wait,” Steve grit out, feeling like his whole body was about to erupt into flames. “How long did you wait around and watch?”

“Just long enough to see you kiss!” Dustin defended himself. And while Steve would admit that was a mildly relieving answer, it still left him thoroughly mortified. 

“You little creeps just stood around in the rain to make sure we kissed?” Eddie asked, his voice sounding much squeakier than usual. 

“We had raincoats,” El shrugged. 

“I needed to be sure you had it covered, Steve,” Dustin said in his most condescending tone. “You weren’t exactly taking initiative!”

Steve didn’t know how Eddie escaped that particular critique, but Steve wasn’t really sure he could stomach any more of this conversation long enough to ask. He felt like he’d just dodged the most appalling bullet of all time—and one that probably would have ruined his sex life at that.

“If I say thank you will you shut up about it? Forever?” Steve asked, completely exasperated and unwilling to hear any more bragging from the little shits. 

Eddie turned into Steve’s shoulder to hide a laugh. Even after days of not taking their hands off of each other, little things like Eddie’s breath on his skin still had Steve feeling all mushy.

“Yes,” Dustin said simply.

“Thank you, Dust,” Steve and Eddie both said in unison. Then Eddie added, “Now shoo. Go play with your friends.”

Dustin rolled his eyes, but he was still grinning as he walked away.

Their peace only lasted about three minutes.

“I know I said we’d drop it, but…” Nancy trailed off, glancing between Eddie’s face and Steve’s neck and chest. “Does this mean we can stop our clandestine trips to the blood bank?”

Steve snorted, imagining Eddie and Nancy driving a getaway car full of bagged blood, but he could feel how Eddie tensed behind him. 

“Uh, maybe less frequently,” Eddie half-mumbled. “Still not trying to kill my boyfriend.”

“Hey,” Steve turned his head to look Eddie in the eye. “I’m fine, okay? No guilt, please.”

Eddie’s lips twitched every time Steve said please, he noticed, so Steve might’ve been tossing the word around a little more than usual. He figured it couldn’t hurt to be polite.

“That reminds me. I got you something,” Robin perked up and started rummaging around in her tote bag. Steve and Eddie alike leaned forward, trying to get a peek at what she was doing. “Aha! Here.”

Robin held out a large, rattling bottle for Steve to take. He pinched his eyebrows together in confusion as he read the label. “Vitamins?”

“Iron supplements,” Robin said. Steve wasn’t sure how she managed to look both playful and stern about it, but she pulled it off with ease. “Take two every day so you don’t get anemic.”

Dustin apparently found this hilarious, which only set off a chain of everyone else snickering in appreciation at Robin’s gift. Steve hadn’t even realized anyone else had even been paying attention to them, but he couldn’t muster much more than an amused eye roll over their antics. Even Eddie chuckled lightly before pressing a soft kiss into the bare skin of Steve’s shoulder, which made it all that much easier for Steve to refuse to be embarrassed about this, too. 

“Thanks Rob,” he said with a genuine smile.

“Oh you’ll thank Robin without issue,” Dustin said, which set Erica and El off again at demanding he stop taking all the credit. With the kids bickering again, Robin leaned in further so only Steve and Eddie could hear her.

“You should probably start eating more salads, too. Leafy greens in particular,” Robin suggested. When Steve just scrunched up his nose at her in reply, she sighed. “It won’t kill you. Might even make you taste better.”

Steve felt his bare chest flush, especially when Eddie’s grip on him tightened just a fraction as he huffed out another laugh. Steve powered through it anyway, shooting Robin a smirk. “I’ve heard I already taste pretty damn good, Robs.”

Eddie’s quick bark of a laugh came with an enthusiastic nod, and now it was Robin’s turn to look disgusted.

“Please don’t ever tell me that again,” she said, even though she was the one who brought it up in the first goddamn place. 

Steve just leaned further back into Eddie’s arms and gave her a smug look. 

“‘Pretty damn good’ doesn’t touch it, sweetheart,” Eddie murmured in Steve’s ear, too low for anyone else to hear. Then, quick like a cat, Eddie licked a stripe up the side of Steve’s neck until he reached Steve’s ear, and gently nipped at the lobe. It sent a shiver down Steve’s spine as he mentally cursed Eddie for making him want with such ease, and in front of everyone else. 

“Eds,” Steve warned over his shoulder. “Not again.”

“What?” Eddie said, voice dripping with faux innocence. “I didn’t even make any popsicles today.”

Steve leaned his head back against Eddie’s shoulder, groaning as much as he laughed. It was going to be a long summer, and Steve couldn’t wait to dive in.

Yeah I definitely have more Vamp!Eddie ideas so. Stay tuned.

[tanoraqui]

Hi, Maedhros and Fingon from the superhero au make me feral, I love everything about them. if you feel like it I would love to see some more about Elros and Elrond from that au. Or alternatively, i was too shy to suggest anything the other week when you were doing the prompt list, but how about Elros and Elrond, the mafia au, library?

I’ll take “Elros and Elrond from the superhero au” for 500, Alex; thank you!

Elros’s Finwëan superpower is healing, because in THIS house we respect “the hands of the king are the hands of a healer” as an ancient truism of Arda and, accordingly, believe that Elros was the one with innate healing talent and Elrond only learned it later in life, likely in memory of Elros. Superhero au!Elros can heal others and himself by laying hands on them and willing it, though it does require energy from him and concentration. He gets much more efficient with both power and speed once he learns anatomy.

Elrond’s Finwëan power is the ability to radially radiate an aura of peace, in which harmful attacks are physically slowed and the will to violence, and all other negative emotions, are calmed. Ranged projectiles which enter the space also slow, though not necessarily enough to do no damage. He can push it farther out and/or more intensely the longer it goes, with limits. Elrond has to maintain his own sense of peace in order to do this, no anger, fear, desire to injure, etc. Elrond glows while he does this; the light marks the area and strength of effect.

Five generations down from Finwë, these powers are relatively weak compared to previous generations. However, their Maiaran blood means they both have a natural talent for Singing (ie, magic), which they can most easily use to augment their Light-based abilities.

These twins grew up in a post-apocalyptic hellscape timeline in which Morgoth conquered Earth and now most people are dead or, if unlucky, enslaved. The small group of free survivors which their parents led, constantly on the run, was luckier and more protected than most thanks largely to the Silmaril Elwing bore, but they were hunted fiercely by the small surviving band of the Sons of Fëanor (down to Maedhros, Maglor and Amrod) and their few remaining followers...while all were hunted by orcs, wolves, vampires, etc.

They found some sort of rip in reality, maybe caused by Morgoth's discordant war of conquest. Eärendil went through it to seek aid from the Valar. When the Fëanorians cornered them there, waiting for his return, Elwing tried to go through it with the Silmaril. Her sons tried to follow her, holding on to the back of her shirt, holding on to each other.

They got about 1.5 out of 3, and ended up by the side of a random freeway in modern America....

Maglor and Maedhros were driving (being driven) by on their way to a concert - Maglor to sing, Maedhros bullied into having a pleasant night off while supporting his beloved (annoying) brother and smiling for the cameras. Maglor saw 2 bedraggled 6yos trudging along by the side of this random freeway and told the limo driver to pull over...

In short order,

- the Fëanorians are like, 'holy shit, hitherto unknown baby cousins of some sort?!?' because these kids eyes definitely have Light in them

- Elros tries to stab Maglor, because Maglor reaches for them and these are literally the terrible monsters they were fleeing from 30 minutes ago, albeit much cleaner and less obviously scarred, and of course the 6yos from the post-apocalyptic hellscape have their own knives + basic combat training

- Elrond is too scared to stop anything with his power, see: previous comment about monsters.

Maglor's hand gets a little stabbed. Maedhros grabs Elros's arm and wrenches the knife away before he can try again. Elrond bites Maedhros's arm, like, really hard, the way you secretly always want to try biting someone just once, lots of blood.

- Maglor Sings the children to sleep with a hasty but strong lullaby (he was under stress, okay, and stabbed!). He and Maedhros look down at the uneasily-sleeping children.

- "They look a little Turgon-y," Maglor offers. "In the eyebrows?"

- "I don't even know if that's Light like ours," says Maedhros. He kneels down to frisk each boy for more weapons, then picks them up, one in each arm. "Remember Dior?"

- (Dior, son of Lúthien and Beren, had time-travelled back a comic books time!couple years ago from a terrible future in which Fingon was actually for real and ever killed this time so the House of Fëanor went to war with the magical isolated island of Doriath, in the name of retrieving the one Silmaril free of Morgoth, to the detriment of most of the rest of the world. That terrible timeline averted, Dior had stayed in the present and (re?)married his non-future wife, a millennia-old Iathrin forest ranger named Nimloth. They'd just recently had twin sons, though clearly not these ones - those were silver-haired rather than dark, and this one who'd just stabbed Maglor definitely had Fingolfin's nose.)

- (So the Fëanorians both knew that all-out war was to be avoided at almost all cost. But Doriath actually now had two Silmarils, or rather, the same Silmaril twice over, and Maedhros didn't need to say it aloud for Maglor to understand: ransom.)

[gs0nk]

Right after I finished Aiden's route in Baldur's Gate 3, I decided to write a small text that will complete his own ending. I included Lorroakan here, cause in my version of timeline, they started to feel close to each other after first met (in which Aiden kicked Lorchie's ass really hard because he's a slavery hater and chain breaker for sure)

I also made a sketch illustration for this moment! Hope you'll enjoy reading this uwu

Lorroakan hated leaving his tower - even the invasion of illithids from the depths of the underground city could not shake his principles, and it was much easier to manage defensive processes while maintaining an unstable flow of magical energy in safety inside than outside in the epicenter of the massacre. Let those who consider themselves defenders of the city do this. However… The thought of one particular person never left my head even when it became clear: victory was on the side of the adventurers who decided to fight back the threat.

And yet, when it was all over, the cries of the defeated, newly converted victims of ceremorphosis died, and the refugees stopped bothering him with attempts to break into his house, the magician decided to go outside. The last words of the half-elf, whom he had seen quite often lately, did not want to leave his head - so often that he managed to get used to them and their “friends”, who had a habit of showing up on the threshold of the tower in their dirty armor, soaked in someone’s blood, brazenly examining every corner of his house for a moment, and even, it seems, stealing a couple of artifacts from him in the process. An unthinkable insolence that he could not tolerate and yet for some reason he forgave everything to his newfound acquaintance.

The magician himself was now thinking about how he would arrogantly reprimand this friend of his for the fact that solely because of him Lorroakan had to bother descending into a literal hell on earth, having the opportunity to contemplate the carnage that had taken place and endure the presence of not only ordinary, still frightened people, but also the stench of an alien city, wounded and practically destroyed.

Without bothering with pleasantries, he asked the aimlessly wandering locals about the heroes who put an end to the Absolute. Some still clutched makeshift weapons in their hands, unable to believe that the danger had retreated from Baldur's Gate, that it was all over. Finally, a couple of “unwashed militiamen” pointed to the pier - where the very same half-elf whom the magician so wanted to find was last seen.

Lorroakan, cursing everything that came into his field of vision, finally reached the right place and went down to the boardwalk of the pier. He did not take his eyes off the lonely silhouette of a young man in the rays of the setting sun, as if worried that he would now disappear like an illusory haze. That did not happen.

However, the magician tried to hide all unnecessary emotions, coming very close to the one he was so zealously looking for. Without wasting time on unnecessary honors to the “savior of the city,” he chuckled disdainfully:

- Are you without companions this time? Where is your noisy group of ragamuffins?

Aiden didn’t turn around at the stranger’s voice, but a smile was visible on theirs tired face. They wiped their own blood from the cut on cheek and shrugged.

- It's all over. Our story came to an end and everyone went their separate ways, and you were late for a tearful send-off. We don’t yet know which road we prefer.

The half-elf pulled a strand of red hair behind his ear and exhaled with a whistle.

- For the first time in many months, there is one less voice obsessed with world domination in my head. This change is surprisingly difficult to get used to, at least for now. And you? Have you come here to balance my loss? You're a so-so manipulator, don't flatter yourself with hopes.

Aiden didn’t see, but they knew perfectly well that the magician was now rolling his eyes and raising his right hand in a mannered gesture, as he always did, expressing his displeasure. Lorroakan crossed his arms and chuckled again.

- Oh, i beg you, how can I compete with your friends on the other side! Lolth, the incubus of Raphael, the Thai ghouls, your fragmented self, maybe there is someone else I don’t know about… But that’s not what I’m here for.

The magician crosses his arms over his chest and looks into the distance, where the sun is slowly sinking into the stormy ocean waters.

- I wanted to generously offer to stay in this terrible damn city, with me. After all your undoubtedly disgusting attempts to sabotage my well-deserved immortality, cripple me several times over that misunderstanding with the aasimar, and deprive me of my clueless student, I want, no, I demand, that you should live in my tower. You can take any vacant servant's position; today many of them chose to posthumously change their occupation.

The half-elf finally turns around and looks at Lorroacan mockingly, tilting their head slightly to the side.

- After becoming the savior of – no less – the entire world, being your servant is a huge step backwards, don’t you think?

Aiden takes a step towards the wizard and rests their forehead on his chest.

- Luckily for you, my services hardly require payment and we have no home to which we could return. And… We managed to get used to you.

- Hell, just don't force me to tell you the same thing!

Lorroakan frowns, but then the magician half-whispers and his voice is devoid of all feigned mannerisms:

- I need you. So I ask you to stay with me.

They will spend this night and all subsequent ones together.

The half-elf's hands rest on mage's shoulders. The wizard allows himself to exhale, hugging Aiden back.

Huddled close to each other, they watch as the unbearably long day recedes under the onslaught of dusk and the sun finally plunges into the depths of the waters.

[cynical-crypt]

so, before i start this rant up, i’d like to thank the proship community for being such a lovely place to be, and i’d like to talk to a very specific anti from afar.

so for some context, i used to be in a friend group, which, in the year or two of reflecting i’d had to myself, i’d realized was HORRIFICALLY TOXIC. before joining that friend group, i was a thick-shelled internet kid who wasn’t scared of anything and cared about everyone. being IN that groupchat? i became an oversensitive, overbearing, terrified, hateful son of a bitch. no thick shell, no compassion, and that was only within a few months of me joining. there are still remnants of what that groupchat did to me! i’m still quick to jump the gun and defend myself even if it was a joke. to this day i can’t tell when someone is pulling my leg or not. out of that whole group there was maybe one good person who i’m still friends with today. they were one of the unlucky ones. so, to put it simply, this group was a clusterfuck of whining, writhing, oversensitive little twitter babies who thought that everything they didn’t like had to be destroyed. they harassed and kicked out every single person who didn’t agree with them until they were all gone. all but me, because i was already in a horrible mental state at the time and at that point i would’ve done anything just to keep having people to talk to. i went along with every pitchfork-n’-flame plan they ever had even if i felt horrible about it and they’d all get angry at me if i hesitated for even a moment. i was dragged into drama that had nothing to do with me and there were no breaks. the specific person i’m going to talk to, who i’ll call SJJ, would constantly vent in the groupchat and start screaming and bitching if nobody replied. SJJ was the “ringleader” of our circus and they were the one that ruined me. in the beginning i thought they were cool and i looked up to them because i thought they were hilarious and were fun to talk to. that was a mistake. they lectured me every time i had an opinion they didn’t like, they forced me into pitchfork harassment parties, everything, up until i broke and became just as whiny and bitchy as them. this went on for a year or so before i finally snapped on them and got kicked out. and, yes, i got kicked out because a fucking 12 year old (not exaggerating) thought they were gonna be all badass and stand up for SJJ, so they pretty much cornered me until the only thing they’d accept is “no, i hate SJJ and don’t want to talk to them,” and that was enough to have me completely banished from the friend group.

skip 2 years, i’ve recovered mostly from the damage that group did to me, and here comes SJJ waltzing into my dms to “apologize.” in that they claimed they had changed, which then proved a few months later to be a complete lie. their dni listed people who are proship. it took me months to finally accept that i thought that way and that i was happier that way, and it took me 2 months to gather the courage to tell them we needed to stop talking to each other permanently so that i’m not invading their space anymore. they then talked down to me as if i were a 4 year old. i told them to stop treating me like a child, which they completely ignored. i tried desperately to have a civil conversation explaining why i’m cutting them off, but of course, they turned it into a shitstorm just like they had with everyone else. after we blocked each other they apparently ran to twitter and exposed my name to literally everybody publicly and then accused me of sending “pedophiles” after them when *RANDOM* people told them to at least blur my name out. they deleted the post but then made a huge thread bitching about how i’m “the worst person on earth.” and as far as i know they also deleted their twitter account. i had nothing to do with the comments and i wasn’t even the first one to find out they were posting about me. that was one of our mutual friends.

so... to SJJ, fuck you, from the very bottom of my heart. you tried to turn me into some kind of zombie for you to send to harass people who didn’t deserve it. you hurt me repeatedly and then were surprised when one day i didn’t bounce back up at your feet like a stupid fuckin puppy again. you ruined people’s lives and you destroyed what will i had left at the beginning of our time together. i don’t know why i ever trusted you. i don’t know why any of us ever trusted you. hell, i don’t know why people still trust you. i don’t know why people still can’t take one look and realize that you’re a narcissist. maybe even YOU don’t realize it. look at how you treated people in the past and how you do now, you’ll realize eventually: you’re the worst kind of person there is. 

there were two paths i could have taken. i could have continued to be a zombie and be abused by you, or i could have taken the opposite in which i am enveloped in a loving, safe community where i can be myself without anyone to try and control me. which did you THINK i was going to choose?

to the proship community, thank you. my time healing from hatred has been nothing short of wonderful and i’m so glad to have a safe space to hang out where i’m not being battered for my differences by people who are supposed to be my “friends.” this place is loving and accepting and i couldn’t ask for a better pocket of tumblr to be in. you’re all awesome.

i know SJJ is suffering. continuing to despise them will change nothing, but it cannot be helped right now. all i can hope is that one day life for them gets better and they do not continue to pour their hatred into other people. nobody deserves what i or any of their other victims went through. SJJ, i’m sorry. i know you’re hurting. you might be a terrible person, to me at least, but if you somehow manage to find this, please know that despite everything i still hold hope that you’ll change, even if that hope is lost on you. it doesn’t matter now.

[sketching-shark]

I was wondering if you like the emphasis on the relationship between macaque n wukong. In which it seem its more prevalent in lmk? We dont know what happened but considering how much its push towards us the audience then say the actual messy relationship wukong has w dbk.

Like in the novel we see so much of wukong interesting relationship with dbk n his family yet its seem greatly downplay in lmk?? Lmk sure do a lot of liberty w jttw but it does seem the brotherhood of dbk n swk is not as important. Especially when dbk n the other sages was basically swk first found family swk had besides his monkey fam n puti.

Like even dbk has his version of a giant monster form (just a giant white bull w sharp teeth) i cant recall but very few characters has that ability in the novel..it just well kinda off putting to see it b well put on a back burner when it can b put as like sort of foil for mk n red boy. Sorry if this became a little bit of ramble

No worries about rambling anon it's always fun to hear people's opinions about monkeys both mythological, real, and lego :). And sadfasdfsa I have joked before about how it seems Macaque wasn't content with stealing Sun Wukong's entire identity so he snatched the Demon Bull King's backstory too. But in all honestly (HATER OPINIONS AHOY SO AVERT THINE EYES IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ SUCH THINGS) I'm getting increasingly annoyed at the way Flying Bark & the fandom keeps shoving the relationship between Sun Wukong & the Six Eared Macaque to the forefront to the exclusion of like literally everything else in the lego show, especially with the way it keeps getting framed as yet another example of why SWK is a horrible person (monkey king is pretty relentlessly characterized as the guy who ruins Everything) even with this weird insistence that the two monkeys HAVE to completely reconcile and they HAVE to become each other's most important person ever even though SWK in all honestly doesn't seem to care that much about LEMH unless he's going out of his way to hurt SWK's actual loved ones & LEMH seems to have been so violently obsessed with SWK that he has literally no identity outside of his burning hatred to get one over on the monkey king. I've said this elsewhere, but one of the things that I really liked about the relationship between SWK and the Demon Bull King in the og classic is that even while they were obviously very important to each other and even though the shattering of their once rock-strong friendship is presented as a tragedy they BOTH have a lot of stuff defining them as unique individuals outside of each other. As you noted anon, Monkie Kid may have started with the Demon Bull Family as the central villains but it's been pulling away from that more and more & putting more and more emphasis on the Six Eared Macaque and strangely enough that does mirror some elements of JTTW in a weird way because og classic DBK and Princess Iron Fan wouldn't have even started anything with the pilgrim group if they hadn't had put out that fire with PIF's magical palm leaf fan; they're two yao who seem to have been pretty content to rule over their corners of the earth & not get super involved with everyone else's drama. Hell, DBK even calls time-out on one of his fights with SWK because he wants to go attend a party hosted by his dragon friends! That really doesn't speak to a yao who's all that concerned with killing SWK no matter what because of feelings of betrayal. Red Boy is of course a completely different story because he deliberately went after the Tang monk, & then everything that went down with him gave his parents even more of a reason to go after SWK when he asks for the palm leaf fan. But either way DBK was SWK's closest sworn brother and he does indeed get captured by heaven because he allows his newly-formed burning hatred against the monkey king to completely overtake him, but all signs point to him having a very rich and involved life outside of his relationship to the monkey king, and even in Monkie Kid he now seems much more interested in spending time with his family and improving his relationship with his son than in conquering anything or getting revenge on SWK. Personally I think that could make DBK a pretty interesting foil to LEMH in a kind of "dude who ruined his life because he can't/won't move forward vs. dude who almost ruined his life for the same reason but he's trying to live more in the present and is much happier for it" kind of way. And YEA hard agree anon I would love an arc starring SWK, Qi Xiaotian, Red Boy, and DBK that ends with something like "maybe we'll never forgive each other my once-dearest friend. But at least our kids can be happy in each other's company the way we once were."

Also yea it would really and truly be a massive L for everyone is Flying Bark doesn't take advantage of the fact that both SWK & DBK canonically have gigantic war forms that seem to be just as powerful as each other. Like come ON give us the gargantuan white bull with swords for teeth & the 3-headed six-armed monkey colossus!!!

[booksbydlwhite]

#SampleSunday- The Pearl: "It's time to make a move for yourself."

Welcome back to Sample Sunday! I am sharing snips of THE PEARL, my upcoming Black Diamond romance. Pick up last week’s sample to meet our hero, Davis Scott. Today we meet our heroine, Kari Savoy.

Interested in my inspirations for this novel? Follow The Pearl’s Pinterest board.

As usual, I am tracking progress and revelations of writing this book on my author podcast The Bookcast. Catch up with Episode 77 to hear how the writing is going.

“What do you think the kids will say about you leaving Austin and moving to Black Diamond?”

“Well,” I mused, thoughtfully. “Since the kids are nineteen and twenty-one, I’m not sure they care. They’re probably happy to be rid of me.”

“Nonsense. Where would Reyna and Moses would be without you? Literally, where?”

I rolled my answer around my head before giving it air and sounds. It was time, but I knew leaving my siblings would be harder than I told myself it would be.

“They got to stay in the house they’ve always known,” I parsed out, thoughtfully. “They kept a semblance of normal life. They don’t see the sacrifice it took to make that happen. Moses gets some of it, but Reyna has blinders on. They don’t know what parts of my life I put on hold to make sure they stayed together, finished school, became productive members of society. They’re used to me being there, taking care of everything, being the adult. The authority figure. I’m afraid they’ll see me moving away as abandonment. And after losing their parents, I don’t want to make them feel that.”

“You’re not abandoning them, though. You’re four hours from Austin. Phones and Face time and planes exist. And they’re both away at school. They hardly come home, anyway. It’s time to make a move for yourself, Kari.”

“True.” I raised my head and shot a sad smile across the table. “I hope they see it as me making a move for myself, and not me running away from them the first chance I got. I know that’s going to be Rey’s reaction.”

Dionne huffed, peeling away a layer of the cinnamon roll we were supposed to be sharing, but I was full from the milkshake, and talking about the difficulties of raising my siblings always sapped my appetite. “Let’s not talk about how you could have run away from them when you had to choose between staying in Houston or moving back home so they wouldn’t be split up in foster care. As for Reyna, she’s a… what are they called? Millennial? That age group that people say are self absorbed and need to be winning all the time or the earth will tilt off its axis?”

I giggled. “No, Dionne, you and I are millennials. And thank you for that unflattering description of our generation, by the way. Rey and Mo don’t like to be put in socially constructed boxes.”

“Of course. They want to be individuals. Just like everyone else.”

Dionne smiled up at the waitress as she set our bill at the corner of the table. I snatched it up and dropped it into my lap.

“Other than school and grades and attitudes… how are they? Emotionally.” She asked, going back to the cinnamon roll.

“Well, Mo has always been better than Rey, but even he has rough times, especially around the anniversary of the accident. Some days it’s like it just happened. Some days they act like everyone should be over it, and want to know why people are concerned about their mental health.”

“Do you think they’re ready to be out there on their own?” Dionne questioned, concerned.

I let out a sigh, leaning back in my chair. “Honestly, I don’t think anyone is ever really ready. We just jump. I did my best to prepare them, so we’ll see.”

Dionne nodded, understanding the weight of my words. She reached over and placed her hand on top of mine, giving it a reassuring squeeze. “I’m glad you’re moving here,” she said softly. “You need a fresh start and new opportunities. Speaking of…”

She rolled her eyes up so they met mine. I already knew what she was about to ask. “Noah is still in the past. Right?”

“Girl, yes. Noah has been history.” 

“Does he know you’re leaving Austin, though?”

“Not from me. We haven’t spoken in months.”

“Not at all? He just stopped calling one day and…” Dionne shrugged.

“And nothing. Five years of on, then off, then on again because he was bored and between girlfriends, then disappearing into thin air. Then I see him parading other woman around town, without even having the relationship ending conversation.” I twisted my lips into a surly frown. “I can take a hint.”

“I heard that,” Dionne said. “All the way to a beachside resort.” 

[dndfuckhouse]

Session 47 - Coven Blood Magic

> 🎵   Call of the Wildwood / Monster Train OST

Picking back up again in the heat of battle, the party find themselves scattered throughout the front of Kyzer’s shack, the man himself nowhere to be seen. Warily they eye the spreading fires before them amongst the darkness and shattered remains of the destroyed scarecrows. 

Vinny quickly takes a moment to peer out from behind the thorn wall thinking on his options, soon after he throws out a hand to cast control flame. Seeing as the previous course of action was to set the plains ablaze, he expands the fire faster before looking back at the rest of the group anxiously.

Cimmorro: vinny v

As the group continue peering about for any sign of Kyzer, Finn suddenly feels an arm grip his foot. Surprised he whips his head down and sees Kyzer’s arm clutching his leg, his shoulders and head also sticking out from beneath the dirt. He gives the boy a wicked grin, staring back into his eyes Finn feels a cold fear begin to grip him before he manages to shake it off and steel himself.

The man below laughs at his iron expression before the grip on his leg becomes vice-like in strength and be begins to be dragged. Kyzer’s body slides through the ground as if it were water, hauling Finn along with him, injuring him in the process. He feels himself dragged about ten or so feet but he manages to fight back enough to break the man’s hold on him. 

His grip broken, Kyzer disappears into the earth again, leaving Finn alone with his right foot stuck in the dirt. As she sees this happen out of the corner of her eye, Han also suddenly feels a grip on her leg, the very same thing occurring to her as Kyzer appears from the dirt below.

The image of him rising out of the earth in the dark is enough to perturb her however, feeling the texture of his veined arm gripping her leg and the sharpness of his grin shake her. She becomes frightened, taking psychic damage in the process.

Han: han never screams when shes genuinely scared so she just goes mute n white-r than she already is Rokka: kyzer like [jaws theme song] Cimmorro: literally

Soon after she feels herself dragged into the fields by an overwhelming strength, as Kyzer whips her body forward she finds herself hurtled towards the nearby solitary burning fire. She lands with a crash in the flame, lying prone in the dirt as Kyzer disappears from view once more. In the meanwhile, Keva stands still paralyzed, but thoroughly comforted by her three grungs. 

Cimmorro: IF WE ASLL DIE.. AT LEAST KEVA EXPERIENCED PARENTING FOR A FLEETIN GMOMENT Keva: LMAAOOO shoulda been a druid or smth

Rokka peers about anxiously nearby readying his next action to attack if he spots Kyzer again. Han follows up, though still in the flames the burning fire knocks her unconscious. Seeing as she landed right next to Finn, he clicks his tongue, rolls his eyes, sighs and briefly pulls at his own hair with a grunt of frustration before he moves to reach out and pull her from the flames.

His foot being stuck in the ground gives him surprisingly good leverage but han’s size and weight prove to be more than he withstand, he strains and wobbles under the weight burning his hands in the process. 

Finn: finn heaves and flaps his hands from the pain and curses, thinking the rage might give him the strength he needs "you big stupid oaf i cant believe you made me come out here with you only to faint!! youre so unreliable i hate you i hate all of the vengaboys i hate this forest, i dont hate my uncle but...ugh!" he grabs hans hair this time and pulls really hard

Using and action surge he tries again, pulling with all his might huffing and puffing, if blood still coursed in his veins his face would be bright red from the effort. He soon manages to pull Han out of the nest of flames, though with his foot still in the ground, he ends up unintentionally flopping her directly on top of himself and falling over. Burning himself further the two lay in a heap on the plain as he feels himself glad he has no need to breathe.

Further away seeing the display, Cimmorro quickly runs up and casts healing word in Han’s direction, bringing her back to consciousness. She awakens on top of Finn lightly singed with a hacking cough. Behind him Psalm also runs up, repositioning himself, as Plum flings an acid vial clumsily over the scarecrow remains still paralysing Keva, disintegrating them from existence. She finds the fear soon leave her body, herself fully once more.

> 🎵   Creeping Ivy / Wargroove OST

Seeing the clusterfuck happening near the top of the fields, Vinny shouts out anxiously, following after Psalm. Spying Cimmorro heal Han, Vinny throws an arm out towards Finn instead, casting a spell, surprisingly actually healing the vampire. Though soon after casting it he winces in pain and droops a little, though still relived it seems to have worked.

Psalm: vinny hiding behind psalm or whatever has been really killing me, feels like i've adopted a baby chick Han: u have Psalm: true Plum: hes your grung Psalm:  lLOjkhjjk Celebrity Guest Aqua: your what Plum: you heard me

Kyzer appears from the ground again, this time attaching himself to Psalm’s leg. Psalm looks down and though he makes a terrifying image below him, he shrugs it off easily as he did with the scarecrows earlier, not much seems to phase him today. Quickly after, Kyzer begins to drag him but only gets as far as 5 feet as Psalm anchors his weight on his hooves and pulls back, the friction injures him but Kyzer disappears into the dirt again.

Finn: sarita i screamed on call like "NO!!!!!!!!!! PSALM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Chip: jude irl https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIMJ1fyTuf0 Han: A;LKHDSGT23OIRWAELKGSDKAWR3LK

Soon after he pops up again below Vinny, this time it seems he manages to successfully terrify his target. Vinny yelps and attempts to lean away as Kyzer laughs, starting to drag him. With a scream Vinny goes flying as he’s flung directly into the flames in front of them, with a crash he hits the fire and immediately falls unconscious. 

Plum: ik this is magic dnd world but that genuinely just feels like insta kill Cimmorro: HOW MANY TIMES ARTE YOU GOING TO DIE OLD MAN Keva: vinny our bumbling damsel in distress pleeeeaseee Plum: vinny is so funny can we send him home Cimmorro: cimms pov

Han: oh ym godifklx,s.dq Plum: i cant bro im cryign

Further down Keva makes to move closer to the disaster zone, holding her action for when she spots Kyzer again, Rokka follows after her doing the very same with his scimitars. Back near the top of the field Han takes her weight off of Finn and looks around disoriented. 

Han: look back at finn "you can move?"  Finn: finn shoves at you and kicks and hisses like a cat "i would be able to move if i wasn't actively getting crushed by deadweight" Han: han pats finns head "good" and gets up and stumbles out of the field, clutching her head Cimmorro: cimm just yells then "GET VINNY AFTER I PUT OUT THE FIRE" Han: han says loudly "im on kyzer" in reaction to cimms yelling Finn: finn huffs and dusts himself off, makes it a point to card through his own hair after han had the audacity to touch him for no reason. he has a permanent scowl btw, severely pissed off that han hasnt shown even a sliver of gratitude. really, she should be at his feet right now. 

Following after Han as she moves off, Finn makes to stand again and attempts to pull his foot from the dirt. He fails however, struggling at all to clear even a centimetre of ground.

Han: deserved Plum: deserved Finn: finn groans and slumps back, giving up for a moment.....he wishes the vengaboys all died, that han died and that he was home right now. why did he even bother.

Plum: damn you hate me now Finn: sorry hes too irrationally angry to consider the vengaboys he hates less than others Psalm: finn is so funny man IT'S HIS UNCLES FAULT WERE HERE Chip: finn

Quick on his feet at the other end of the field, Cimmorro casts create water over the fire in the plains to extinguish it, spraying a heavy bout of rain over where Vinny lays prone in the flames. He clicks his tongue after, casting spare the dying on Vinny as the fire goes out, quickly stabilising him. 

He also drenches Psalm standing right next to him, who following a quick shake of his head, readies an attack for when Kyzer shows himself next. Plum also stands prepared readying an acid arrow for the man as well. 

> 🎵   顕現シタ異物 / Neir Automata OST

In the distance the group soon hear the chittering sound of bats as a small swarm appears from within the trees. They make their way towards Finn and begin flapping their wings just overhead of him, awaiting his command. Vinny remains unconscious nearby, though he shivers under the rain a little scrunching up his nose. 

Cimmorro: vinny wet cat moments Chip: SOPPING WET MEOW MEOW Cimmorro: HIS CLOTHES CLINGING ON HIS BOOBS Chip: fanservice moment Psalm: psalms wet too so i want you guys to imagine that dod 3 scene where it's silent for like 5 minutesz except for dito sneezin Finn: finn would roll his eyes at this Psalm: tfw you don't get cold anymore so you shame people who do, insane behaviour

Kyzer appears from the ground again, this time directly underneath Plum. Keva and them both let off attacks in a flailing panic, with her shot going wide and Plum’s acid barely grazing Kyzer’s face. He still winces however at the pain, distracted, before he flings Plum directly upwards at the wall of thorns. They take a great deal of piercing damage before they flop onto the ground again, with Kyzer disappearing into the earth. 

He appears again this time under Rokka, who lets off his attack alongside Han’s bow before he can attempt anything. The two both manage to strike him and he reels back, protecting his head with his arm, frustrated at the sudden onslaught. He dives back into the earth before he’s able to do anything else.

Keva: "do you have potions if you need one?" Plum: "i should be good on those, thanks"

Keva readies herself again, on the attack should Kyzer make himself known, Rokka joins her by preparing his scimitars as well. Han down the field hobbles towards Cimmorro’s direction as she readies her next attack with her bow.

Han: “is vinny ok? anyone else down?"  Cimmorro: "he's unconscious but i got him. you can focus on the cunt before he gets anyone else" he seems visibly annoyed atp  Han: han nods sternly and then immediately regrets nodding, dizzy

Finn behind her readies his bats to swarm Kyzer on his next appearance before he tries to once again pull his foot from the earth, he once again fails to do so.

Finn: finn just buries his face in his hands and stays like that, rethinking his life choices starting in childhood

Cimmorro: everyones just been readying and beatin gthe shit out of kyzer's arm Finn: this feels a bit like a big homestuck flash, [S] => Get Him. Han: ;KJKAWLEFS Chip: [S] => Make Him Pay.

Across the field Cimmorro releases a healing word directly at Vinny. As he does the man blinks back to conciousness groggily, before immediately sneezing and quickly rubbing over his arms with a shiver, sneezing again. Nearby Psalm readies his action for an attack again while heading toward the struggling Finn’s direction.

Psalm: "how are you holding up? are you hurt?" Finn: "psalm?!" finn is so surprised to see him here he lifts his head and looks at him like this O__O but then remembers he thinks less of the man now, injecting more bitterness into his voice "tch... i'm fine, except that im stuck here... i.." he hesitates and fidgets with his sleeve "i cant get my foot out of the ground, embarassing as it is, so i was thinking ill join my bats" he points at them "that should work...i think" Han: han hears this and is internally like 'but u said u could move.............'  Psalm: he looks at the bats then down at where Finn is stuck, then back at Finn before saying, "I don't think I can help without compromising myself * gestures at the flowers * but I'll try to think of something if that doesn't work. Hang in there 🫡 "

Plum: finn you gotta let go man Finn: he didnt want to sleep with finn so finn is eternally upset with him Chip: normal men Han: finn is so normal <3

Back near the entrance Plum downs a healing potion as they inch themselves over towards Rokka. Soon after Vinny wobbles to his feet before he stumbles out of the scorched fields. He adjusts his glasses whilst looking around anxiously and muttering half baked plans under his breath before making to hold a spell should Kyzer appear.

The group expect the man to appear once again from the earth, but standing at attention no one spots him anywhere. Suddenly they all feel the earth quake again, and from beneath the ground they see giant thorned tendrils erupt from the earth. 

The tendrils lash out in all directions, hitting Cimmorro and Plum at full force, though before he is hit Cimmorro flings Jasper into the air so she isn’t caught up in the attack. Keva and Rokka manage to dodge out of the way and mitigate some of the damage, however one of Keva’s grungs is hit at full force and disappears into a cloud of pixie dust and laughter. As quickly as they came the tendrils then wilt into the ground and disappear.

Cimmorro: GRUNG DOWN GRUNG DOWN Keva: MY GRUNG Finn: grunged its last.... Psalm: GRUNG DOWN

As he watches the events from across the field, Finn feels a pulling on his foot already within the earth. As he looks down he feels a strange sensation overcome him, as if a spell was cast on his being, before he’s suddenly dragged into the earth completely, disappearing from sight. He feels he ought to be crushed but for some reason it’s like treading water instead, the grip on his foot disappears as he floats around trying to situate himself in the darkness.

Psalm: PSALM WATCHING THAT HAPPEN LIKE I SHOULDVE HELPED

Trying to get his bearings Finn feels he couldn't have been flung down far, but he has a hard time telling what direction is up. He opens his eyes but it remains black and dark, whatever pulled him down here has since moved on. Watching on further away Keva clicks her tongue and moves a bit closer reading another attack, feeling frustrated she can't do anything more.

Nearby Rokka whips around to inspect Plum quickly.

Rokka: "ARE YOU OK PLUMMY?" then frantically looking in every direction for signs of kyzer like how dare he hurt plum! that bastard! and readies another attack. he is anger!  Plum: "not gonna lie to you friend i'm really not" they say with a wry grin while rokka inspects them Rokka: he frowns "I...will protect you!! i-I can do it! don't worry!!"  Plum: "yeah all good" plum slightly wheezes "i got you too" they give rokka a thumbs up

Han looks between the recently tendril’s group and the disappearing Finn not knowing which direction to go anymore and readies another shot for the ever elusive Kyzer. Back underground Finn briefly thinks to himself as he tumbles around in the dark.

Finn: finn was about to say something rather.... sentimental to psalm. something way too affectionate.. something that could've been taken the wrong way, probably. perhaps this was a cosmic sign to keep that part buried, to hold onto his bitterness.. he couldn't be mad about the situation with this interpretation. he does try to shout "DONT WORRY ABOUT ME!!!!!!" wherever 'up' may be now before trying to make sense of his surroundings again... Psalm: psalm: hang in there finn:

Psalm hears faint muffled sounds from beneath the dirt where Finn disappeared but cant make out any words. Down below, Finn strains his senses and notices its quite easy to feel the vibrations from the surface still once he pays attention. He manages to pinpoint a direction as up, and where Han and Psalm are conceivably standing but ascertaining the others positions proves too difficult.

Nonetheless he moves in what his best guess is Roka and co.’s direction, flipping around into some sort of swimming position as he flails around in the dirt. 

Han: han looks at psalm like what should we do 🥹 Psalm: psalm just cursing under his breath rn, he also looking at her like what now

Following after Cimmoro holds his action again with a frustrated snarl, ready for when the man makes himself visible. Psalm follows suit, holding his attack before yelling out for Finn again.

Psalm: i will yell again like "Finn you still there??" [finn understands him] Finn: i yell back as loud as i can "YES IM FINE!!!!!!!!"

Psalm simply hears the same sort of muffled sound as before, though farther away in the direction of Kyzer’s shack. He makes to run around the plants in its direction as if following after him.

Han: han watching psalm run off like . Cimmorro: cimm too tbh Han: "where arE YOU GOING" Psalm: "I think I heard Finn's voice from over here 🫡  "

Plum soon after casts healing word and resistance on themselves, mumbling under their breath before they start coughing a lot. Though they look much less near death afterwards. 

Keva: "you sure you're okay?" keva asks doubtfully while still keeping her eyes on the ground Rokka: Rokka give plum a slightly concerned glance Plum: plum groans "hanging on for now... but i'm worried i'll expend what i have before we can get to the others" they wipe blood from their noise and frown

Similarly torn between directions, Vinny decides to shuffle closer towards Han near the top of the fields, sweating all the while as his eyes dart around the darkness. Still holding his spell he takes deep breaths, in the distance the other patch of fire slowly spreads further and further.

Finally breaking the tension, Kyzer appears again from the earth gripping onto Psalm’s leg again. He gives another wicked grin before the party hear Vinny’s spell go off, the man suddenly freezes in place on Psalm’s leg.

Immediately after a barrage of attacks is unleashed onto the man from Keva, Han and Psalm. Before he can react Kyzer’s blown away, wrenched from the earth the impacts send him flying out of the ground as he skids across the floor.

Plum: were blastfishing rn VINNY WE ARE NOTHING WITHOUT YOU Finn: I CANT BELIEVE THIS IS HAPPENING AT ALL Plum: this is literally endgame octopath gameplay plum cimm vinny try to set up as best as they can until the dps can finally do something Chip: https://youtu.be/1hqFMCgMF6U?t=11 Cimmorro: you guys just cutting his arm off then wrangling it in ur mouths with all that dmg Celebrity Guest Aqua: 

Underneath the earth Finn feels something strange all around him as his material form begins to wobble, suddenly he feels himself flung skywards and spat out of the earth as if it were ejecting him from its stomach. He quickly conducts a flip in the air and rights himself before landing on his feet, it takes him a moment however to reorient himself on his location.

Seeing him free from the earth his batts flutter towards him once again, happy that he’s visible. He quickly dismisses them from his service after thanking them and giving them a few skritches. They squeak shrilly in reply as they flutter back into the trees.

Cimmorro: at the sight of kyzer unconscious, cimm goes lax and lets out a long groan as the tension leaves him, rubbing his face all tired Han: han sees kyzer dick explosion n pauses for a second before just falling to her knees and breathing heavy Keva: keva lowers her bow but keeps it ready just in case as she moves over to kyzer's body Finn: finn thinks he mustve looked so cool landing like that, but he quickly looks around to see whats going on... "is...is it over??" he jogs over to psalm Psalm: "Seems so." He gives Finn a once over while the man dismisses his bats before turning his attention to Kyzer. Finn: finn huffs and crosses his arms... once again he finds psalm to be an unreadable person but this isnt the time to argue. yet. so he merely standys by and watches Rokka: Rokka relaxes a big but continues to hold his scimitars out still on guard as he slowly moves towards Kyzer w everyone Cimmorro: cimm regroups with everyone and calls jasper back to his arms and comforts her as well as himself as the adrenaline leaves him. softly nuzzling his head on her fur and mumbling "i'll be okay" as she frets over his wounds

Han: han looks across the field at the gang "everyone breathing?" and to vinny she goes "can we look over kyzers body? try to ... put the guy back or something???"  Vinny: as you turn to him you see him slumped over on his knees breathily heavily, he stands again with a huff as he adjusts his glasses "i-...hah-" he rubs his eyes "we could... certainly take a look" Han: go get up n help vinny up n help him over to kyzer 

> 🎵   Peat Fields  / Roadwarden OST

The group meet back together near the unconscious Kyzer, now bleeding and snoring away, before sitting down to take a short rest and address their wounds. Cimmorro makes to tend to everyone, though Vinny especially considering his rough handling during the entirety of the fight. In the meanwhile the roots that were following the corpse finally catch up to them, and begin following Han as she paces around with the body on her back again.

They look out over the rest of the farm still on fire and think on how to extinguish the flames, seeing as there’s no water close at hand.

Vinny: he taps han and cimmorro both on the shoulder "er...would either of you like ice breath" Han: NODS VIGOROUSLRY Cimmorro: “gods, yeah sure” Vinny: he taps you both again one after the other, you quickly feel an energy begin collecting in your throats, and a cool minty feeling take up residence in your mouth, he shoots you both a thumbs up after Han: HAN STOMPS AROUND LIKE GODZILLA BREATHING ICE Cimmorro: in contrast to han's jovial approach cimms just taking his time while enjoying the sparkles of ice lol when the fire is all out cimm uses the little leftover ice breath to make it sparkle softly over jasper

The two’s cool ice settles the flames, leaving a snowy sheen across the half charred plants. The flames die down, fully extinguished, as Cimmorro gives Han a high five

As the rest of the party finish up their rest, Plum sets about examining Kyzer’s body, though aside from the beating they gave him he looks as he did when they first spoke to him. They flip him around and turn him over careful not to awaken him, but spot nothing suspicious or strange about him aside from the old creepers in his veins and under his skin.

Plum: "he looks about the same as he did before all this shit" plum says and sticks their tongue out at his unconscious body in annoyance. "which is annoying, i was hoping the 'grahh i'm being possessed' signs would be more fuckin obvious"

As they watch Plum jostle the man around they all begin to hear a faint ringing sound, as if from a small bell. Turning their heads they note it seems to be coming from the direction of Kyzer's shack.

Rokka: rokkas ears twitch at the sound and he perks up like a guard doge "do u guys hear that?" 

It sounds just like a bell, like one in a shop door or that’d come from a hand bell, ringing gently they discern nothing else about it aside from direction. Keva stalks over to the shack to see if the building has windows. Though they appear shuttered closed from the inside behind glass, one is ajar a crick but the angle only lets her see a wooden wall across the way.

Psalm lets off a mage hand to palm the open door open further, it creaks slowly with an eerie stillness. Peering inside they see a workroom of sorts, a couple lanterns strewn about the place dimly light the inside. As they begin to make their way inside Finn approaches Vinny still standing out in the fields.

Finn: while han and cimm debase themselves, finn shuffles over to vinny and awkwardly taps him on the shoulder and clears his throat like "hem hem..... vinny, you came to my aid earlier.... how do you fare? i caught wind of your demise......before my own" Vinny: he looks over towards you a little surprised before rubbing his chin in thought  "oh, right. had a couple demises actually....im er, starting to lose track " he rubs between his eyes before giving you a weary smile "i'm alright though, thank you, im glad it seemed to reach you at the very least" he looks you up and down before giving you a light pat on the shoulder "fit as a fiddle now id say!" Finn: finn is not as disgusted as he usually would be at the touch of a commoner (one he doesn't know, especially) so he lets it go. "fit as a fiddle indeed.." finn thinks for a second, trying to think of a way to thank vinny without appearing too friendly. he looks the man up and down "to express my gratitude for your saving me... id be willing to carry you back, should you be too exhausted" the words tumble out but finn avoids looking vinny directly in the eyes as soon as theyre spoken Vinny: his face gets a little flustered as you suggest it before he starts waving his hands around "n-no really that's quite alright! i can still walk! i couldn't make you do all that anyway, its such a long way back... you got thrown around too didn't you!? not that i dont a-appreciate the offer!" he seems to grow more embarrassed as he speaks, continuing to babble Finn: finn tilts his head and raises an eyebrow "hm? well, if youre certain" hes not sure why the mans getting so flustered and hes not gonna think too hard about it "but know that you dont have to be considerate on my behalf. i am quite capable, despite what you may have heard of me" he then gives the door group a glance "i wont hold you up any longer if youd like to join those fools by the way" Vinny: you watch him laugh a little in response as if brushing away his embarrassment "w-well i did see you do that pirouette in the air, after walking through this forest with you here ive no doubt about you capability at least" he looks at the shack as you suggest it "ahh... more eerie buildings.." he begins walking over

> 🎵   Submerged Castle / Pikmin 2 OST

As Rokka, Keva, Han and Psalm make their way inside they spy a simple messy bed and cabinet along the far wall, a big wooden table also sits in the middle of the room, surrounded by a group of sitting stools. All sorts of herbs and greenery are carefully arranged in glass tubes, boxes and containers on top of it and around the place. 

They see a number of them spread out across cloths and tarps, as if they were abandoned halfway through a process of some sort. They also spy small vials of blood carefully arranged along a shelf on the wall, next to it they notice a large mirror, with a sprawling wooden frame shining in the dark. As they listen close the bell ringing seems to be coming from it’s direction.

Rokka and Psalm both walk up to the mirror, they strangely see no reflection back, just a black glossiness. As Rokka raises a hand to touch it Psalm gently knocks his hand away.

Rokka: he looks up at psalm "oh! right! bad magic! HAHA" Psalm: "You never know so, just in case." Rokka: "good call! ur so smart" he nods Keva: keva calls "pluuuuum" to see if they can recognize the plants  Han: "should we call vinny?"

As they wait Psalm gives the mirror a couple of taps with the dagger he received from Henrick. Each time he does, where he touches the surface a little chime sounds off alongside a glow of green light, though, nothing else seems to happen. Soon after, called upon by Keva, Plum enters the room to examine the plants along the mirror while she pokes around in the cabinet.

They recognise the plants easily enough they're Telebuds, if infused into an item right it can allow long distance communications of a sort between two places. The versatility allows people apply them in a number of ways, in this case they're attached to a mirror. They usually require some way to activate, like a code, for this they’d guess a tapping it in a specific fashion.

Over at the cabinet Keva searches around and spies sets of clothing hung up, near the bottom of it are small barrels of foodstuffs with a few metal working tools set atop of them. The clothes look similar to what Kyzer was wearing, tunic and robes dyed black. As she rifles through them she finds bits of dried herbs in the pockets, giving them a sniff she finds the aroma quite pleasant. Spotting a few straw sunhats as well she places one on each of her grungs heads before turning to Plum.

Keva: hands the herbs to plum "what are these?"

Staring at them Plum ascertains they’re smelling herbs people use to make their clothing smell nicer, storing them in their pockets. They note this type is referred to as Faerie’s Delight.

Plum: "safe to keep" Keva: "what are they for?" Plum: “for smelling nice” Keva: keva sniffs a leaf again before going "hm" and putting some in her pockets

Psalm: "I wonder if we should leave this to Vorde to investigate? Or should we try and find the code ourselves." Rokka: "can I touch it now since it didn't do anything crazy" Psalm: Psalm just gestures like "go ahead" Rokka: rokka places his hand on the mirror.........mirror on the wall whos the coolest dog of them all....... Chip: only the darkness awnsers back...

Han: han stands in the doorway and after hearing plum explain she turns outside n goes "vinnnyyyy, theres some magic mirror heeeere" Vinny: he ambles inside at call of his name, sticking his head through the door "magic mirror? oh thats whats ringing" he shuffles inside and gives it a look, squinting "ah, looks druidic" he looks around the sides of it "usually....you'd write the pattern on the back..." he starts wiggling it a little

As Vinny starts messing around with the mirror, Han makes to stand at the doorway to keep watch outside. Cimmorro and Finn stand around glancing at Kyzer and the fields as Finn wells up the courage to speak to Cimmorro.

Finn: finn looks at cimm and then tears his eyes away...looks, looks away...looks, looks away and so on. he thinks hard, he doesnt want to show concern for the man, but it would be inconvenient if he died. while theyre still in this forest and until they contact vorde, that is. its not easy to communicate this though.... he finally settles on  "you seem to. be okay"  Han: han watches kyzer even harder Cimmorro: cimm turns to finn almost robotically slow as if trying to process what he's up to now. "yeah...? i didn't really get hit until those tendrils came" he raises a brow a bit before looking at him up and down "and you? you were underground for a while. what was that like?" Finn: finn blinks for a second, he was so mentally exhausted he had already stopped thinking about the underground experience. hes grateful cimm brings it up though, giving them something less awkward to discuss "right.." he nods "it was strange. everything was pitch black and it was like i was swimming... i couldnt tell up from down, left from right... i was hoping id find him down there and cut him up at least. i wonder if you couldve survived down there" he takes on a pondering stance Cimmorro: "sounds terrifying" he gives it a thought "i don't think i'd like that at the very least. if it's like swimming i'd assume it'd make it difficult to breathe too, so probably not" he gives an idle shrug Finn: "thats what i was thinking... we should consider ourselves fortunate it was i who was dragged underground"  Cimmorro: "i can't disagree, but i also don't want to think about how a problem it'd have been if we couldn't get you out" he rolls his eyes inoffensively "not really looking forward to telling your uncle you were sucked into the earth"

Vinny: after a bit of wiggling vinny lets out an 'oop!' raising the mirror slightly off the wall. he appears to be reading something across its back, before settling it down again on the wall, adjusting it slightly "three taps in succession seems to turn it on" Psalm: "I vote in favour of not contacting the other side, just so we're clear." Plum: "agreed. actually if he had a means to communicate with whoever regularly we'd better hurry and tell vorde about this place before it gets cleaned up" Keva: "is there anyway we could just... nick this mirror?" Plum: “I mean...maybe?” Psalm: "We're here under orders and it's evidence so...why would we do that." Keva: “it’s evidence” Psalm: "Oh you mean in case it gets cleaned up." Plum: "i don't think bringing the evidence illuminates as much as leaving it, but i am kind of worried about leaving it" Psalm: "Maybe we should wake Kyzer up." Han: "wait, if its druidic, wouldnt it belong to kyzer? real kyzer? not our theyord wanna be? this could be someones kyzer related to, wouldn it be useful to talk to them?" Plum: "well was kyzer really just here making his plants? we're still not all too sure he got bodyswapped right?" Han: han scrunches her face like ugh true but u just hear grumbling Keva: "i think the ringing means someone is contacting him right now" Psalm: psalm like oh 🫠

As the group continue chatting Han heads outside to tie up the unconscious Kyzer a little anxiously, wrapping him up with a rope in her pack.

Psalm: "Do we still have that ring for impersonating people..." Keva: "wait, can you make me invisible? then i could look into the mirror without being seen?" Psalm: "Thats a better idea." Keva: looking to vinny "could we tell where the other person is at all if we answer?" Vinny: he thinks tilting his head "only visually... though these don't work very far, they'd have to be somewhere on the island at least" Keva: "either of you able to disguise your voice at all in case we have to answer?" Vinny: he shakes his head no Psalm: "Not really my area of expertise."  Keva: "suppose we'll just have to make do then"

Plum: "is there a way to contact vorde immediately?"  Keva: "cimmorro has sending doesn't he?"

As the group ready up to activate the mirror, Plum also heads outside to implore Cimmorro send a message to Vorde, jumping into him and Finn’s conversation.

Plum: "hi fellas, sorry to interrupt the chat. cimmorro, you have that sending spell don't you? are you able to use it right now?" Cimmorro: "yes plumbo, i have enough juice for one. what's up? i lost track of your conversation in there" Plum: "s'alright. there's a mirror in there we're pretty sure kyzer can communicate to others with, prob others on this island. one of 'ems calling him right now even, so i think we need to let vorde know as soon as possible what's going on here" Cimmorro: "oooh, enchanting mirror. orders received, boss" he turns to finn "anything you'd like to add? this is your uncle after all" Finn: he gives cimm a tired look "to be truthful cimmorro, i dont think i could string anything meaningful together that my uncle must absolutely hear right now... if youre capable of condensing this information efficiently, id be happy to leave it to you. ive time to be affectionate with him back home."  you feel like its the first time he openly depends on you... kya Cimmorro: cimm's eyes slightly go wide in, pleasant? surprise at finn's cordialness "alright if you say so..."  Plum: "thank you" and they just hang around while they wait for cimmorro Cimmorro: "so to sum it up, what do we want relayed the most? confirmed letterheads activity and now a suspicious mirror? the message is so short" Plum: "i think we should focus on that shack where something was definitely going on, kyzer as a..situation..is suspicious so we can mention him too. but i'm still not sure what the situation with him is...??? i guess if they could just investigate the two places more thoroughly" the most confused member of the team came out here

Cimmorro: cimm nods, puts jasper around his shoulder and seems to think on his words before takes out his holy symbol and utters a prayer to cast sending to vorde "bossman, confirmed letterheads activity in figstup, think a man is a victim of body switching thing, captured him but his shack needs to be looked into-- aish" he groans as the message cuts off Plum: plum is impressed and claps once or twice "that was good, i was wondering how the fuck i would've summed that up" Cimmorro: cimm blinks and goes a little :'| at that "oh... thank you.. hehe... but i'm worried it may not be enough. depending on how he responds i may have a way to send in more" Plum: "nah i think he got it, thank god" plum shudders Vorde: you hear the sound of horse hooves and the sea as you connect to him, after you relay the information you hear a thoughtful hmm as he speaks "good work, you can give me details later. i'll inform a few key people in the area, be sure you're gone before tomorrow" and then it cuts out again Cimmorro: you see cimm get a glint of recognition in his face as he hears vorde. after a moment passes he turns to both of you again, "he said we could give him details later and he'll inform 'key people in the area.' told us to leave before tomorrow" he seems satisfied until his face twists cluelessly "didn't tell me where we should leave 'kyzer' though... what are we gonna do with him?" Finn: ".... i assume that was the last sending you could perform today?" finn seems more tired Cimmorro: "..... technically. although i do have something i can use. but... i'd rather not use it because i paid a lot for it, and it only being used on a sending makes me 🥹 " Finn: "n-no i understand" he waves his hands half heartedly "we'll figure it out with the group"  Cimmorro: cimm's taken a back by finn's sudden understanding behavior but doesn't show it, only continues to 🥹  at him Plum: "i guess details might be when we meet up with him eventually or can send a letter or something, but true. we can prob just....leave him here?" Finn: "huh? leave him here?" he looks at plum like are you listening to yourself Cimmorro: "yeah, we could start with letters once we land in krenic? although antessa wouldn't be too far off.... i'm worried about leaving him here though since he can burrow into the ground and all. goddess knows what he gets up to." Plum: "well what do you suggest? wanna bring him to local authorities and muddle your uncle's investigation?" Finn: "well no... of course not. but..." hes now hesitating to suggest murder as a solution Plum: "i don't think it's a good idea either because cimm's right, he can burrow underground. but i don't think we can babysit him until we need to get out of here...? i dunno" Finn: "our job was to gather intel....technically we don't need to concern ourselves with anything further than that. but it doesn't feel right letting him loose, does it?" Plum: "let him loose????? i was just thinking we could at least tie him up and i could set an alarm, but it'd only do any good for about a mile away from here"

Finn: "as if tying him up would last" finn almost-laughs very weakly "we could always kill him, is what im thinking, to be blunt" Cimmorro: "do we want to though, he seems to hold a lot of information vorde could use, no? what if we just tie him up real good up on a tree so he doesnt burrow” Plum: "yeah.. i also don't want to just kill someone who we aren't totally sure is a problem yet, despite him just trying to kill us" Finn: "that i considered but...better dead than killing innocents, no?" he thinks for a moment before grinning "we should tie him up upside down, or ontop of his roof.....some fun way" Cimmorro: "tying him upside down would kill him eventually too so it wouldn't be any different" cimm looking at finn like 🤨 the science bro Finn: "i was obviously joking..." he pouts and mumbles "although i do think we should tie him up upside down for a bit" Cimmorro: "........ i'm not completely opposed to it but i'd rather not do unnecessary things at this point" Finn: finn thinks the fact that cimm isnt completely opposed might count as a step towards friendship for them 

Cimmorro: "but he is part of the letterheads isn't he? this isn't the real kyzer, just some cultist henchman?" Plum: "isn't it him but with someone else's consciousness...? or is it just someone who looks like him? i feel like the stuff we found about bodyswapping felt a bit different from last time where they were doing it with rings" Cimmorro: "the rings were merely disguises, if i recall. this one seems like he swapped souls with kyzer? killing the real kyzer in this one's original body. that's all i can speculate though really" Plum: "oh i was thinking there was a way kyzer could be saved..damn" plum frowns genuinely at that. "i guess the only reason to keep him alive would be for information then for real, but i doubt he'll give it up. i guess we can see how the situation unfolds for a bit and decide from there" Cimmorro: "we're not too sure if that's the deal really, hardly have any concrete answers. to me, it seems like the guy swapped with kyzer as he was about to kill his original body, taking the real kyzer with it in the process. rather morbid, i must say. regardless, i do think we could benefit from trying to question him" Finn: "i can also try to charm him... that should net us good results, should it work out" (<- eager to contribute) Cimmorro: "that sounds great actually" cimm seems to feel positively abt the idea "could save us the anguish and time of getting them to talk" Plum: "yeah i suppose trying to be hopeful doesn't hurt" they pinch their own nose. "but yeah, that did seem about right. also if we can get him to wake up in a way that won't be a pain in the ass that'd be useful 

Back inside the shack, Rokka and Vinny press themselves against the wall the mirror is on as Psalm casts invisibility on Keva, in doing so the touch of the protective grungs ends up poisoning him. Just before she’s about to knock however she remembers her grungs are still visible.

Keva: "WAIT THE GRUNGS"

Psalm sighs and touches the grungs, turning them invisible, and poisoning himself briefly in the process. He then presses himself against the wall out of sight as well.

Keva: keva whispers "sorry" Psalm: He whispers "It's fine."

Keva taps the mirror thrice, soon after it shimmers and is overtaken by a green glow before an image is reflected back to her, but not of her own. Shown in front of her is the visage of an elven man, dwarven woman and tiefling fellow. They quickly seem to take notice of this, the woman lets out a shout 

> 🎵  Folded Soldier's First Appearance / Paper Mario: The Origami King OST

??: “ah-! there, oi kyzer-” before she can continue though she seems to notice you the empty air and stops mid sentence.

The three lean closer, with confused faces, before you they all hear the elven man speak up.

??: “..where is he?” ??: the tiefling replies dryly “wrong levels? did you tune it right” ??: the woman proceeds to bang something in front of her, jostling the image slightly “WHAT! my shit’s always working right, see?” she points at where keva stands with a gnarled wooden finger “......well it's his shack...?"

Staring at the image before her Keva eyes the reflected image’s background, noting the three seem to be inside a wooden room of sorts, with green vines crawling up the wall in the background.

Keva gets an idea to make a grung visible, and make it appear her voice were coming it from it instead. To this end she picks up nearby tool and pokes Psalm outside the mirror view.

Psalm: he has no clue what you mean, he whispers "I have no clue what you mean." Keva: keva whispers "dispel on this one" Psalm: "I can only dispel all of you or not at all." In his head though he's like the fucking grung? really? Ghester: you hear him snicker in  your heads

Keva: keva tsks and just speaks "are you kyzer's coven?"

As she speaks up the three whirl their heads in her direction again, their eyes searching the image, the elf speaks up first.

??: "..now whos that?" ??: the woman leans in very close her eye bulging in the mirror view "and who's asking us that HUUUH?" she grunts confrontingly  Psalm: he just looks in Keva's general direction wide eyed "Should I drop it?" he whispers Keva: "you'll have to answer my question first. you ought to do it quick" keva shakes the thing she's holding like she's saying no ??: the woman grunts again even louder "now i know you didn't just threaten me...! you...floating leaf......" her eyes follow it confused ??: the tiefling pulls the woman back so the three are visible again as he speaks "ah settle, i cant see 'nothin" ??: the elf leans in curiously and talks again avoiding the question "is this like a ransom thing, or a varrick thing..." he slaps a hand on his chin thinking "or you work for the pruners..?" Psalm: he raises an eyebrow at the name Varrick Keva: have we heard the name varrick before? SO MANY RICKS Finn: dragon age 2 Han: dragon age 2 yeah Chip: dragon age 2 varrick guest star cameo mention Han: LKH;GAOIWLKD Cimmorro: CHYIP STOP WITH THE RICK NAMES

Keva: "this is an opportunity, we'll call it. familiar with the murders kyzer's been accused of? we think we know who's responsible, and they've gotten hold of kyzer." ??: they all furrow their brows before the tiefling sighs "aish, what murders aren't we accused of..?" ??: the elf laughs "not a short list" ??: the woman leans in again a lopsided frown on her face "what'dya mean gotten hold of?" Keva: "as in, kyzer's not in control of his body anymore. happened within past few hours, actually. happen to know anything about that?" ??: they all look over curiously at that before the tiefling talks "that why he aint been picking up?" ??: the woman taps the glass with her wooden finger again jostling the image "...'as he been spirited away? is it puppetry?" ??: the elf man tilts his head "yes, what do you mean exactly?" ??: the tiefling follows up "also, just so im clear this aint' a threat is it invisible stranger?" Keva: "i'm not looking for trouble, just information, and maybe some help. we're not sure how safe kyzer is right now. it seems like someone is stealing bodies to use as their own, but we don't know happens to the person who's body is stolen."

Keva begins to explain the differences in Kyzer’s behaviour, as well as the corpse they found in the room underground, careful to not mention the Vengaboys presence or involvement. 

In the meantime Han begins pacing around outside so the slow moving roots don't catch up to her, she takes the time to try and examine the plant plots and what exactly they might do with her rudimentary nature knowledge. She picks up a few things but nothing too exact, back in the shack the witches continue speaking with Keva.

The three tilt their heads this way and that, throughout the explanation half of them make faces disbelieving while others nod their heads as if total sense is made.

??: at mention of the corpse and the details of the swap the tiefling smacks his head "ah.... so then he's dead" ??: the elf speaks up after half laughing "seriously? no no wait wouldn't it still work..." ??: the woman lets out a shout "AHH, if the souls in there"

they all nod their heads with a hmm before speaking in unison "itll work"

Keva: "we have kyzer here. he attacked us so he's unconscious, but alive, just in case he could get his body back." ??: the elf leans in eagerly "ahhck- his original bodys not so important right now, so you have the other guys corpse right?" ??: the woman stands firm folding her arms before shouting "LISTEN UP AIR! get that thing in here, first things first we're gonna wake the real kyzer up 'gain" ??: the tiefling leans his head in again "-make sure you put it on the floor" 

Psalm: he goes quietly outside to tell Han to bring his corpse Han: han bounces over hiiiiiiii Psalm: Foregoing explaining he says for now "I think we might need the corpse inside.” Han: han brings the papoose forward "where to?" Psalm: “Do you mind carrying it in, try to avoid the mirror though." Han: han peaks inside, looks at the mirror, looks at you, looks at the mirror again, looks at you again and finally goes "are you joking?" Psalm: He just shrugs like "Momentary precaution, you could leave it at the door even" Han: "thats more doable" han cracks the door over and pushes the corpse into the room towards the centre, probably bonking keva in the legs or smth Psalm: whispers from the door "just leave it on the floor..."

Keva: while that's happening keva asks "getting it now. in the meantime, does the red letterheads ring any bells for you?" ??: the tiefling and the dwarf knock their heads together in thought "they from here?" ??: the elf speaks up "overseeeeas? usually where the freaks appear from" Keva: "shorewater, tho it seems they have something to do with this. anything you know?" ??: the dwarf shakes her head "i aint been off the island" ??: the tiefling taps his chin "they cutthroats or witches?" 

The three of them eye the corpse slowly sliding its way across the ground as Keva pulls it the rest of the way into view, the elf covers his mouth shaking slightly with a laugh. Plum follows after Han curious, now watching the events unfold inside the shack as well.

Keva: "cultists, lots of raising from the dead for revenge. recently caused a ruckus in the capital." she says with some effort as she pulls "what now?" ??: the dwarf nods like ahhh "we had a couple of them last year too, different name though. think they were just fuckin' banite though" ??: the tiefling nods "eh were they using black magic? that's been popular lately" ??: the elf leans in as you settle the body in front of the mirror "okay enough gossip, you're good there. ahhh what'd we need..." he leans offscreen as if looking for something ??: the woman follows up "what, its the bark and the flakes..." ??: the tiefling stands and leans in "hold your horses, first things first, kyzer's definitely got vials of his blood in there. grab like 5 of 'em" Keva: keva grabs em and holds them up for them to see ??: the tiefling nods "empty em out all over him" Han: han was peaking in from the door and goes "oh i dont want to hear this actually" and scoots to the group outside lmao Keva: they can't see it but keva makes a face as she pauses, and then follows directions, making an effort to not get any of the blood on herself

??: he nods "good good, thats enough" he leans back ??: the elf leans back into view again "ahh wait wait!" he leans in close "you got kyzer's staff around there? like his real one, got a green uhhhh crystal in it"

Not spotting it around inside Psalm goes to look for it outside with Han’s assistance. The two search around but have a hard time finding it in the darkness and the half burnt shrubbery. Cimmorro watches the two both grimacing and intrigued.

Han: han like bro its facking dark Psalm: what’s my excuse Han: glasses... where are my glasses...

Cimmorro makes to help them look around with Jasper, but ends up tripping and stumbling into the mesmerising bush of flowers again. Luckily they don't distract him further from failing the task, he falls over and poses in the dirt instead.

Psalm walks over to help him out in searching further but ends up tripping over a stray rock, falling into the same bush of flowers right after him. Across the way meanwhile Han lights a torch to help her see in the dark and soon finds the actual staff nestled near the makeshift stone steps leading to the shack.

Cimmorro: "psalm... i didnt know you could be this forward.. 😳 " Han: she’s about to call psalm then she seems them rolling around in flowers and just  ............ turns around and walks to the shack "kevaaaa.. i got iiiiiit...." <- disgusted Psalm: he just frowns slightly exasperated and goes "Please don't." Cimmorro: he just gives you a loud cackle Ghester: he says "always messing around this one"  Cimmorro: "got yourself a goofster" Psalm: "arghhhhhhh" facepalms, he's going to get up and walk off because now he's too embarrassed to go back inside

Han: i just realized the weird fucking homosexual tension happening btw cimm finn n pslam rn im literalyl losing it now in the last hour sos Psalm: its horrible. horrible dude psalm doesn't even do anything the other two are just crazy Chip: men will be gay while women douse things in blood Han: literallllyyyyyyyyyyyyy Cimmorro: finn seeing this and hating cimm again. literally not even 10 minutes after tehy sims positive relationship mod Psalm: please. psalm put on this earth to ruin every relationship including ones hes not in ust by existing Chip: tsukkomi life Psalm: its hard but it's honest work

Han heads back to the shack, handing Keva the staff offscreen, sticking around by the door to listen in now.

Keva: keva's still grimacing from the blood but picks up the staff so they see it "you do this sort of thing often?"  ??: the elf shrugs with a smirk "you forget this is blood magic?" Keva: keva thinks to herself 'i did actually' but does her best to not think too hard on it right now  ??: the woman follows after wagging her wooden finger close "put it 'round on the table for now and look around on it for some ahhck, powered bark" the tiefling nods "brown with white flakes in it" 

As Keva goes about searching the room, she notices the roots that were following them all before slowly begin creeping through the rickety floorboards under the corpse.

Keva: spying the roots, she asks "those roots have been following us around for a while now. what is that?" ??: he woman vigorously nods "AH THATS GOOD THATS GOOD, it'll work" ??: the elf pulls her back a little looking excited "they really are connected to our souls huh..." ??: the tiefling adjusts his glasses replying "they're trying to reclaim him, it's a good thing. we need it, sprinkle the power over his neck"

Finding the bottle of roots, Keva wipes her hands on her clothes a bit so they're dry enough from blood for her to open it and follow their directions. Han pipes up after curiously, speaking to the witches.

??: they watch as the floating flakes coat the body, the tiefling nods "thats good, you can put it aside" ??: the woman stands up and walks offscreen searching for something, she speaks a little muffled offscreen "what was it, renna extract..?" ??: the elf leans over and yells back "no, arrenis!" you hear her say AHHH.. as they have their back and forth  Han: han says loudly enough for the mirror to hear "what you mean, reclaim? you connected plants to soul? not body?" ??: the elf and tiefling look around at the mention of another voice curiously searching the image as the elf speaks "theoretically our souls are melded, and they enter our body following it, but we aint had a chance to put that into explicit practice really" he leans closer again "it's kind of exciting..."  Keva: keva pauses for a sec and says with some doubt "you've never done this before is what you're saying" Han: han is about to reply but hears that n kinda lols internally at keva ??: the elf continues with a snicker "weve revived each other with this method, we just aint been in someone else's corpse during" ??: after a moment the woman comes back on screen and pushes a purplish bottle close to the mirror, making it appear larger "THIS there oughta be a bottle of it somewhere in there" ??: the tiefling replies "does he actually have any" ??: the elf waves a hand around in response "i gave him some last moon, the hell's he gonna use it all up by now for"

Keva begins searching around the room for a few minutes, but soon finds the bottler tucked away in a wooden case, Han continues chatting with the witches in the meantime about specifics of the spell.

Han: since kevas back to work han asks "whats point of root entering body? kyzer already has roots in his body, doesn't he? is it able to transfer soul?" ??: the woman responds with a bellowing laugh "'s not transferring his soul, its trying to revive him" ??: the tiefling responds "needs our help though, pour the liquid in it's mouth now" he speaks directing keva Keva: keva crouches down and makes an audible "ough" sound as she gingerly makes sure the head is facing upright before pouring the liquid in Han: O_o... considerable silence on hans end "how does it do that?" ??: the elf scratches his chin "complicated surgery and arcane blood rune direction. magic equations borrowing a bit from the druidic table...a green thumb" he laughs "krez over there thinks the forest spirits help too but 'ats a bit kooky for me" ??: the woman follows "hurts like a bitch, but you can grow new arms" she smirks smugly 

As Keva continues on the roots begin slowly wrapping themselves around the corpse, peering closer she can see them slowly start piercing sections of the skin and sliding in, similar to how the original Kyzer's body looked. The body pulses a dim green light as she goes further. Psalm also overcomes his embarassment and comes to watch the rest of the ritual as well.

??: the tiefling speaks up again "alright, suspended air can you cast spells?" Han: han peaks inside at this point to look at suspended air Keva: "nope, but i know some people who can"  Vinny: he makes a 😅 face over at the wall Keva: "what do they need to do?" ??: the tiefling makes a face to himself like he's realised something but continues on with a smirk gesturing at the screen "throw em the staff, they're going to speak an incantation for us"

Keva: keva holds the staff for vinny to grab from where he is Vinny: vinny sighs to himself and frowns childishly as he grabs the staff, he stays where he is and moves it around a bit testing the weight ??: back in the mirror the tiefling speaks again "alright, now just repeating the phrasing after me, and uhhh..." he looks around at the empty room "disembodied air, wherever ye may be, be sure you've taken a few steps back..."

The witches watch as Keva’s bloody footprints step away from the body, soon after the tiefling clears his throat and begins speaking the incantation. Vinny quickly follows suit holding the staff out with a face of concentration, overcoming his reluctance after a few seconds. 

As he speaks the group see the body's green glow begin to shine brighter and the roots begin to writhe faster in time, as if wrapping themselves around the body. As the light grows stronger they hear a sudden SNAPPING sound of the floorboards beneath breaking into pieces and flying past their faces, the roots completely envelop the corpse. 

Vinny holds his concentration throughout, until finally with the last word uttered the roots finally stop in their tracks. They slide off the corpse, revealing it to the air again and lower it back to the ground, soon enough they slither completely out of sight. 

As the group glance down at the corpse they see new sections of the skin infused with rooty veins, and the cut area across the throat threaded with a bark like substance. As they continue their morbid staring, they find the body has suddenly opened its eyes.

Notes

----

⚔🤺 The battle is over !

🌱 A ritual spell has been conducted...

[definitelycommittingcrimes]

Just remembered the existence of this short story I wrote a while back for a cca thing so here goes

Geographical investigations

It was 2.13 a.m. on a Saturday when the apocalypse started.

At least, I think so. It might have started before that, but I was asleep and only got woken up by the alien noises at 2.13. I thought it was thunder at first, but last I checked lightning is not, in fact, in shrimp colours. The commotion wasn’t a thunderstorm.

I couldn’t resist the urge to find out what on earth (or beyond, who knows) was happening, so I got out of bed and peered out the window. The first thing to be properly processed by my brain (after the alien-pod-landing-on-road noise and the shrimp lights) was the talking. Because the aliens (the humanoid figures were at least two metres tall and had literal tails, I couldn’t exactly call them human) were talking in alien-language, their words muffled by the glass.

The second thing was said aliens basically flopping when they stepped out of their egg-shaped podships. Based on their height, I was assuming their home planet had less gravity. Less gravity meant species who were significantly taller than us due to facing less resistance when growing vertically, but were also physically incapable of moving without difficulty on Earth without some serious muscular adaptation.

The third thing(s) would be the skyline lighting up as lights flicked on, and my phone buzzing like an extremely confused swarm of bees as Singapore woke up and became aware of the aliens. Rise and shine, sleeping beauties, we have aliens now. A quick check of my notifications revealed that it wasn’t just my corner of Singapore with extra-terrestrials. It probably wasn’t even just Southeast Asia either, if the mass of messages from our online friends was anything to go by.

Own up, who put ‘alien invasion’ on their 2021 bucket list?

I couldn’t help but think, This could potentially affect school, which immediately made me wonder what would happen if there were aliens crash-landing in the swimming pool, confused out of their minds. Or if we had to write emails about missing work. I would like to request an extension for the Term 3 art project as aliens arrived this morning and life is a little chaotic right now.

Those thoughts got catapulted right out of my head when the aliens managed to pick themselves up, and one of them looked right at me. Now that I could see its face in the glow of the streetlights, they really did look kind of human. Height, solid-colour eyes, tails, grey skin, clawed hands and almost feline-looking feet notwithstanding. Turning around, the alien raised a hand to point at me and said something to the others. Which made sense, since the rest of the houses on this street had gardens and/or driveways between their front doors and the road. That didn’t mean it wasn’t funny the first human these guys saw was a teenager with bedhair, though.

I texted as much to the group chat, quickly receiving replies ranging from “This is the apocalypse now is not the time for joking” to “What did I just wake up to” to “Imagine getting woken up”. I told them that one of them was staring at me while the others tried to toddle over, still getting used to all the additional weight, and was instructed to “[Not] get kidnapped, we still need to finish GI.” Thanks, guys. I knew I could count on you to be helpful.

After some discussion, it took two of the aliens to boost one of them over the fence. Hah, peasants. Imagine not being used to a 9.8m/s2 gravitational force. Except then more aliens boosted those two up, and there was a merry trio of aliens standing in my garden, effectively getting rid of any urge to call them peasants. More boosting occurred, and I backed away from the window as a blue-eyed (and by blue-eyed I mean the alien’s eyes were entirely blue -- no white, iris, or visible pupil) alien stood unsteadily on the awning under my window.

Raising a hand, the alien shouted something when I started backing away more, back against my room door. The glass cracked at the alien’s first blow, spiderweb fissures spreading out from the point of impact. The second blow shattered it completely, leaving a large gap for the alien to stick its hand in and fiddle with the latch, still trying to talk to me all the while.

My parents were shouting from behind my door, but I’d already locked it in some vain hope I could stop the alien from getting to the rest of the house. In my defence, I panicked and no one teaches you what to do when an alien breaks into your room at 2 am.

“Welcome to Earth. Social rule number one, it’s generally inadvisable to break into people’s homes.” My voice shook, but the alien didn’t seem to mind as it replied in the alien language that up close sounded like what you’d get if you blended French and Thai, and then spoke in cursive.

The alien pointed back at the podship and made what was very clearly a come here / go there gesture. “No thanks. My parents always taught me not to follow strangers. I mean, they didn’t account for the whole alien thing, but my point still stands.” The alien spoke again, then hushed when I shook my head empathetically. There was awkward silence for a few seconds, then a small object came hurtling through the window.

I would have backed away further if I could, but the alien seemed almost relieved, quickly picking up the (evidently more durable) iPad-like object and tapping aggressively, before presenting it to me with what looked like a dropdown bar open. I took it hesitantly, scrolling through the options as the alien watched. Google translate but aliens. That’s it. I’ve lost my mind. Someone put drugs in my food. I'm still in Ikea. There was no option for English, but the ‘Human’ option showed up in English so I assumed that was the right one.

The alien got to typing, finally presenting the device to me with a flourish. Oh my God it is legitimately Google translate but aliens. Then I read the message, which was, like the apocalypse, no laughing matter.

“I am Blorzakl G-962b3T from the planet Oskeril. We are conducting a geographical investigation on Earth and came on a mission to your planet to acquire specimens from predominant species. Each pod is required to bring back one from the zone we land in, and you have been selected. Come quietly, or you will be taken by force.”

Well, this is new. And also very objectifying / dehumanising. I wondered how many others around the country — around the world, were seeing similar messages, and if there were any reading it at a more ungodly hour. The aliens were going to have fun in areas where no one could understand English. It was possible that it had been a plural ‘species’, though, so they could just kidnap a dog or something.

Panic bubbled up in my throat, creating the strange urge to laugh hysterically as I took the device and replied with a simple “What”. The alien took the device back impatiently as two more aliens peeked in through the window. Well, this is sub-optimal.

“I am not certain as to what this phrase means, but I believe I made your situation clear. Come with us willingly, or we will take you by force. You do not need to bring anything.”

The urge to laugh hysterically was getting stronger. It was probably 2.30 a.m. by now. I was going to get kidnapped by two metre-tall aliens doing GI. We were communicating via alien Google translate. I think I’m allowed a little hysteria.

“Can I at least write a note?” I asked. The alien pondered for a moment, glancing at its companions, before giving me a sharp nod. I scrambled for a pen and some paper. “Why not message people?” You may ask. The answer is, my friend, I can say with absolute certainty my message would get covered in the mass majority of the chats I’m in.

I didn’t put much thought into what I wrote, simply scribbling out a quick message. Got kidnapped to be a specimen for aliens from “Oskeril” or something. Please do not look in my notebooks, they are embarrassments to humanity. If I don’t come back, ‘twas fun knowing y’all. Fare thee well!

Once I’d put down the note, the alien picked me up and carried me out the window, somehow ignoring the glass shards crunching under its feet. The shouts and pounding at my room door became less audible as we jumped out the window, stumbling into the podship. The chair I was tied to inside the pod was surprisingly comfortable, and the lights dimmed to something less seizure-inducing as they prepared for takeoff.

The group components of GI were going to suffer.