#well... it's probably more complicated than that XD

[lookslikethatsallthetimewehave]

Myron was so cute and innocent, what happened :(

Pressure.

[archaeren]

Hello!! I hope you're having a good day ^^ I came across your post about writing non-linearly on Notion and I'm excited to try it out because the advice resonated with me! Though, I'm really new to using the app and, if possible, need help with how to do this part: 'where every scene is a separate table entry and the scene is written in the page inside that entry.' ;v;

Hello! Thank you so much for messaging!!! Since that post about writing non-linearly (linked for context) blew up roughly ten thousand times as much as anything I've ever posted, I've been kind of meaning to make a followup post explaining more about how I use Notion for writing non-linearly, but, you know, ADHD, so I haven't done it yet. XD In the meantime, I'll post a couple screenshots of my current long fic with some explanations! I'd make this post shorter, but I'm unable to not be Chatty. XD (just ask my poor readers how long my author notes are...) (There is a phone app as well which syncs with the desktop/browser versions, but I work predominantly in the desktop app so that's what I'm gonna be showing)

(the table keeps going off the right side of the image but it's a bunch of unimportant stuff tbh) So this is more complicated than what you'll probably start with because I'm Normal and add a bunch of details that you might not need depending on what you're doing. For example, my fic switches POVs so I have a column for tracking that, and my fic follows a canon timeline so I have a column for dates so I can keep track of them, and I also made columns for things like if a scene had spoilers or certain content readers may want to avoid, which they can access in my spoiler and content guide for the fic. (As I said, I'm Normal.) I also do some complicated stuff using Status and estimated wordcount stuff to get an idea of how long I predict the content to be, but again, not necessary. Anyway, you don't need any of that. For the purposes of this explanation, we're just gonna look at the columns I have called Name, Order, and Status. (And one called Part, but we'll get into that later) Columns in Notion have different types, such as Text, Numbers, Select, Date, etc, so make sure to use the type that works best for the purpose of each column! For example, here I'm using Select for Character POVs, Number for Order and WC (wordcount), and Text for the In-Game Date. Okay let's get into it! Name is a column that comes in a Notion table by default, and you can't get rid of it (which drives me up the wall for some purposes but works totally fine for what we're doing here). As you can see on the scene I've labeled 'roll call', if you hover over a Name entry, a little button called 'Open' appears, which you click on to open the document that's inside the table. That's all default, you don't have to set anything up for it. Here's a screenshot of what it looks like when I click the one titled 'I will be anything for you' (I've scrolled down in the screenshot so you can see the text, but all the data fields also appear at the top of the page)

(This view is called 'side peek' meaning the document opens on one side and you can still see the table under it on the left, which is what mine defaults to. But you can set it to 'center peek' or 'full page' as well.) All my scenes have their own entry like this! Note that I've said scenes, not chapters. I decide the chapters later by combining the scenes in whatever combination feels right, which means I can often decide in advance where my chapter endings will be. This helps me consciously give most of my endings more impact than I was usually able to do when I tried to write linearly. So hopefully that gives you an idea of what I mean by writing inside the table and treating the table as a living outline. The 'Status' column is also pretty straightforward, and might require a little setup for whatever your needs are. This is another default column type Notion has which is similar to a Select but has a few more specialized features. This is how mine is set up:

(I don't actually use 'Done', idk why I left it there. Probably I should replace it with 'Posted' and use that instead of the checkmark on the far left? whatever, don't let anyone tell you I'm organized. XDD)

Pretty straightforward, it just lets me see easily what's complete and what still needs work. (You'll notice there's no status for editing, because like I mentioned in my other post, I don't ever sit down to consciously edit, I just let it happen as I reread) Obviously tailor this to your own needs! The Order column is sneakily important, because this is what makes it easy for me to keep the scenes organized. I set the Sort on the table to use the Order to keep the scene ordered chronologically. When I make the initial list of scenes I know the fic will have, I give all of them a whole number to put them in order of events. Then as I write and come up with new scene ideas, the new scenes get a number with a decimal point to put them in the spot they fit in the timeline. (you can't see it here, but some of them have a decimal three or four digits deep, lol). Technically you can drag them to the correct spot manually, but if you ever create another View in your table (you can see I have eight Views in this one, they're right under the title) it won't keep your sorting in the new View and you'll hate yourself when it jumbles all your scenes. XD (And if you get more comfortable with Notion, you probably will at some point desire to make more Views) The Part column isn't necessary, but I found that as the fic grew longer, I was naturally separating the scenes into different points along the timeline by changes in status quo, etc. (ex. "this is before they go overseas" "this is after they speak for the first time", stuff like that) in my mind. To make it easier to decide where to place new scenes in the timeline, I formalized this into Parts, which initially I named with short summaries of the current status quo, and later changed to actual titles because I decided it would be cool to actually use them in the fic itself. Since it's not in the screenshots above, here's what the dropdown for it looks like:

(I've blocked some of the titles out for spoiler reasons)

Basically I only mention the Parts thing because I found it was a useful organizational tool for me and I was naturally doing it in my head anyway. Anyway, I could keep talking about this for a really long time because I love Notion (don't get me started on how I use toggle blocks for hiding content I've edited out without deleting it) but that should be enough to get started and I should really, you know, not make this another insanely long post. XDD And if anybody is curious about how the final results look, the fic can be found here.

[grabby-smitten]

Pinky promise

Subjects: Bunny Hybrid!Xavier x Human F!Reader

Word count: 2.9K

Content: Hybrid AU, fluff mostly, domestic stuff, sprinkles of angst here and there, no beta and not edited, commas placed everywhere, gender-neutral for this part(i think), idk… let me know if i missed anything. Second part has smut and will be posted separately.

A.N: Happy late birthday Xavier and Halloween especial… I guess xD. Two birds one stone?

Your local shelter was always overflowing. new hybrids coming in each week, at least according to their social media updates. It was heartbreaking watching the shelter on your work commute, multiple sounds overwhelmed that side of the street, strong smells on the pavement and everything you witnessed trailed after you to work and back home.

But not once did you step foot on the shelter. Were you scared? Probably. From what your coworkers said, it was extremely hard to care for a hybrid. Very complicated creatures. And expensive. you could barely take care of yourself. Not to mention that you hated social environments and from what you read on the internet; hybrids are social creatures. Alone you were fine… or so you thought.

Yet, you couldn’t just let the older hybrids get— well, you know what they do in most shelters when nobody adopts.

So here you are, waiting in line to fill out some forms and get your first hybrid. Sweat running down your back, and your feet hurting from standing in the same position for far too long. How long has it been since you first stepped in the line? two hours? Three? and the line barely moved.

Leaning to the side, you watched the attendants at the counter seem tired, and their hair sticking to their forehead confirmed your suspicions that the air conditioner wasn’t working as well as it should.

You had enrolled in the adoption program as soon as new spots opened for this term and just your luck with a spot on the special campaign. Besides, trying to speak yourself out of it hadn’t worked. You would give it a try and if things didn’t work out— then you would find a solution.

Today, the shelter was holding that special adoption campaign. Something about not charging the usual fees, the first year of medical expenses free and just one written evaluation to the future owners.

A couple came out of the visiting room with a young dog-hybrid. It was jumping around them and wagging its tail so enthusiastically that it kind of scared you. What if you got a hyperactive one? Your worlds would crash and the inevitable would happen.

Soon you heard your name being called out by one of the shelter workers and it snapped you out of your tragic daydream.

“Hey, Y/N, right?” He asked while reading the papers on his clipboard.

“Yes,” you replied while nodding.

“Okay, let’s see…” the shelter worker skimmed through his papers not really looking at you, “with what you filled the form with, this should be a good match. He’s a bunny hybrid and…” he trailed off, “that’s all we know,” he started to walk and you assumed it was a sign to follow him.

As you walked after the shelter workers, you passed some cages. A few were empty while others were full with more than a pair of hybrids in them. Your hands in fists, not being able to handle seeing such a scene, but you repeated to yourself that you were already doing your part to help fix this broken system. Adopting is a good way to help, you kept chanting in your mind.

“Sedentary lifestyle, doesn’t use much space and no noise, yeah. This should do.” Again, you were snapped out of your thoughts by the shelter worker. Turning a deaf ear to how he described the bunny hybrid, you noticed the door in front of you had the word abnormal painted in red bold letters.

“Hey! Xavier! A cute lady has come to visit you!” The worker banged his clipboard on the door making you jump in surprise.

“Please don’t do that.” The coldness of your voice came unexpectedly. As a reflex, you even raised your hand to try and stop the worker’s movements.

“Sorry, but it’s alright.” He pointed to the inside of the cell-like door. “He never says anything.”

His comment infuriated you to no end. Your insides were burning with rage, but you kept quiet. The faster you’re done with this, the faster you can go home.

You watched him open the door and the acid air from the inside hit you first. The smell triggered a wave of helplessness within you. how could all these be alright to a living creature? You couldn’t… you shouldn’t… but what other things could a normal civilian do to change the new world and its fucked up system?

In all truth, you knew, you dreaded this very moment when everything came crashing down on you, but Rome wasn’t built in a day. You were here and it wasn’t gonna change the whole world but you would, indeed, change someone’s world.

Once inside you grimaced at the unsanitary state of the room. Old food scattered everywhere, a lump of sheets and cloth in a corner, and… no hybrid?

“Ah, he must be under all that,” you heard the worker speak and he began to move towards the big ball of sheets at the corner.

“It’s fine, I’ll do it.” You didn’t want him near the hybrid more than necessary.

Making sure your steps were loud and clear, you approached where you guessed the hybrid would be hiding.

It all happened so fast. One moment you were reaching for the lump of sheets, and the next your hand got pulled under and a stinging sensation palpitated in your palm.

Did… did he just bite you?

Just as fast, you snatched your hand back, cradling it against your chest as you swallowed the yelp you wanted to let out.

“Hey, Xavier?” You managed to sound as calm as possible, “I probably startled you, right? I’m sorry for that… uhmm…” You proceeded to tell him your name, internally praying that the guy outside wouldn’t interfere.

The lump of sheets moved and hope struck you. A blue eye adorned with long dark lashes peeked from a small opening in between the sheets and your heart instantly softened. You saw fear clouding his striking pupil. Forgotten was the small, almost nonexistent, injury in your palm. All you wanted was to calm that vast raging blue ocean in such a small eye.

“I get it,” you said softly, “I practically had you corned and you reacted. I’m not mad, promise,” and you showed him your pinky finger.

Xavier wasn’t sure what to think. What he knew was that you were not one of the usual workers at the shelter and that you didn’t smell like… danger. You actually had a nice scent, different from everyone he had ever met in his long life— nothing overwhelming, it was almost soothing. That’s why he instinctively went straight for your hand. He didn’t even realize when his teeth had nibbled at your palm.

A pinky? That’s what you were offering. Still under the tons of sheets, Xavier wondered what was he supposed to do.

“You can lock your pinky finger with mine if you want,” you explained, seeing his eye suddenly frown and look perplexed at your gesture. “It means a promise has been made.”

The sound of fumbling cloth raised your spirits. Then a pale hand came from under all that and his pinky finger intertwined with yours. He had relented to your words… because it was the first time he was offered a choice. Not forced. Not bribed. No threats.

Convincing Xavier to come out was another ordeal. One that you achieved eventually, after negotiating with a second pinky promise of fresh food.

What actually left you with your mouth hanging open was his height. How come someone so tall was a bunny hybrid? well, the white ball of a tail and his ears sticking from his head were a dead giveaway. But still… he was taller than your average person.

The walk back home wasn't hard. Nothing eventful took place, just two jumpy individuals trying to make it back home without tripping with their own two feet. What a peculiar pair.

Less than an hour of meeting Xavier and you were already protective of your bunny hybrid. Your step might have faltered but your grip on his hand didn’t quiver. You made sure he knew you were taking him somewhere safe and that you didn’t hate his presence.

Such intention was hard to convey, especially when you tried to get him to bathe. Leaving him alone in the bathroom was a waste of time, it only made him panic and built a lump of towels.

So here you stand, in shorts and an old shirt trying to help Xavier shower.

“Xavier, please, just— wait! The water!” And with a push from the bunny hybrid, you came toppling down into the bathtub. Splashing the soapy water everywhere.

He saw your head dive in first as your arms attempted to stop your fall.

“I’m fine! It’s okay!” Moving the wet hair out of your face, you smiled sheepishly at Xavier.

He was taken aback by your reaction. He expected anything but a smile.

The first few weeks went like that. Food? The same. Xavier would panic and throw half of what you prepared to the ceiling and walls and then the rest on you. When you finished cleaning, you would find him under a pile of blankets in the kitchen.

And yes, almost no sounds came from the bunny hybrid. His blue eyes shone with a hurricane of emotions but his voice never expressed them.

You told yourself you had to be patient. All the incidents weren’t really directed at you but at whatever ghost that kept hunting him. Remembering the word painted in red on his door back at the shelter reaffirmed your resolve to give Xavier the chance he never got before.

Weeks became months and things slowly but steadily improved. Xavier no longer had those unexpected reactions and he stopped hiding under blankets and towels— well, almost— he still built those forts once in a while. He seemed more comfortable around you, so much so that he began talking to you.

The first time you heard his voice you almost screamed bloody murder. You still remember it as the night you nearly died of a heart attack.

It was a stormy night, and the electric storm was rampaging for hours now. All lights had gone out, but you were comfortable in bed reading a book with a flashlight. When a deep but soft voice you have never heard before in your life interrupted your night reading. You heard your name come from your door and it slowly opened.

You practically jumped out of the bed, one foot getting caught by your covers and your forehead hit the ground with a thud and a cry. Quickly, your eyes hovered over the side of your mattress searching for the owner of the voice, when your eyes landed on Xavier standing at your door.

“Xavier?” Gathering your thoughts, you realized the voice calling your name in the middle of the dark was his. “I-is there something you need?”

Of course, you were stunned by this new development but you knew that if you didn’t handle the situation accordingly, you would lose this opportunity. Calm and collected were the words you mentally chanted as you slowly stood up with your heart beating wildly in your throat.

“Can I…” he felt his hesitation rising as the hands of anxiety began to squeeze Xavier’s insides.

You send him a look full of warmth, encouraging him to keep going, and the sudden nails digging into his stomach slowly evaporated.

“Can I stay here?” His deep but melodic soft voice traveled to your ears and you felt like crying, but you held everything in. This was about him.

“Sure, Xavier. Let me get you more blankets.” You smiled, storm and the almost-heart attack left in the past. “I know how much you like them.”

A few blankets later and a bunny hybrid wrapped in them like a burrito, you went back to your book. you expected Xavier to just fall asleep. But oh, boy… he had different plans.

“Why are you so kind to me when I have been nothing but trouble to you?” Xavier’s whispers broke the silence in your room.

Closing your book and leaving it on your bedside table, you turned your attention completely to your bunny hybrid who rested comfortably on the pillow next to yours.

“I promised, remember?” You lifted your pinky, “aaand do I need a reason to be kind? Maybe it’s an instinct to be this way, just like you with your blanket forts or I just don’t know how to be mean.” You lightheartedly joked with the last part.

A while passed after your words and you thought your answer had satisfied Xavier. So you got cozy in your bed and closed your eyes, assuming that your first-ever chat with Xavier had come to an end.

And again, he was a bunny hybrid full of surprises. Your assumptions were wrong because that was not the case. Xavier had ambushed you once more. Out of nowhere, he began to speak again.

“That’s not true. I remember you verbally berating the neighbors the other day.” He casually mumbled.

You widened your eyes, startled by his words. “No— that’s— Xavier, they were being too loud and you got scared!”

“I know,” he then turned around and went to sleep. Just like that. Leaving you all dumbfounded beside him.

More than a year together and things were good until they weren’t. Xavier began to behave weirdly around you and it just kept getting worse. He presented fevers, cold sweats, and very abnormal noises at night.

And so you did what you thought was best and called his doctor.

“His heat? Wha– what do you mean his heat?” Your phone nearly slipped from your hand and your eyes almost popped out of your skull at what the doctor was telling you. “But–but the shelter said he never had one before! That he’s too old! I don’t— yes, I understand but—” you couldn’t believe what you were hearing. “What do you mean the first heat could last about ten months?”

You did not sign up for that… that was… how would that even work?

“Okay, thank you.” A couple of more suggestions from his doctor and you finally ended the call.

Hunched over the bathroom sink, you took some deep breaths before coming out to look for Xavier. You would ask for his consent first and foremost. What the doctor implied in the call sounded awful but you had little to no options. Ten months, the first week should be the worst and then the rest should be manageable with what? Get him a prescription? Suppressant? A mating partner? Gosh… your brain was fried.

“Hey Xav? Are you awake?” You said softly as you opened the door. He had been taking more naps than usual to keep… to keep whatever was happening with his system under control.

He grunted a response from his bed, once again the blanket forts were back in place.

With a heavy heart, you told him what the doctor had said, and instantly you got a strange growl in response.

“Do not use that tone with me,” you lightly reprimanded followed by a soft chuckle on your part. “I get it, really. I didn’t like the options either.”

“The others,” he began to say, voice a bit muffled under all those blankets, “at the shelter, they could withstand their heat. I can too.”

He sounded so sure, but you? From what you heard the doctor say? You doubted it. After all, Xavier was a late bloomer. For whatever reason, be it trauma or lack of nutrients, or feeling unsafe, his body didn’t allow him before. Now, that he has a safe environment? That was a different story.

Needless to say, you were right. Things got out of hand pretty fast.

“Chain me,” Xavier demanded behind his closed door. Blocking your path to his room.

“What? No! Xavier, I can’t—“You banged your fist for the hundredth time. “Just let me in! We’ll find something!” You were desperate. He meant the world to you and vice versa. Both grew to be the one thing each other needed.

“Chain me! That’s what they did with the others.” He kept insisting. “It’s for your own good! I can withstand the week! Just go get them!” Xavier shouted, a desperate look clouded his delicate features.

Your heart broke for him as his pleas traveled through the door. He had never raised his voice before and as tears ran down your cheeks, you made up your mind, nodding, and with pain constricting your chest you went straight to buy a collar and a set of chains.

Hours became days and you couldn’t step into Xavier’s room without breaking into a sobbing mess. You didn’t get the chain, that was too much. Instead, you got just the collar and a harness which did the work just fine.

It was almost done, you told yourself as you paced back and forth outside his door. Only three more days and he would be less affected by his hormones.

Click here! Smut inside! pls be aware! -> PART 2

[fantomette22]

A little something about the students dress

Alright so I was looking at references (to draw a character) and ended up doing a bit of research on academic dresses & graduations uniforms! I only find a couple of things so if someone have more infos I will be very interest!

So in Bloodborne we got those dear uniforms :

The one with the robes is very classic of what people in old classic university still wear for big events and graduations such as in the U.S.A or UK. A decades/century ago they did wore those uniforms of course way more often. Now we wear mostly casual clothes.

(This image always made me think of Byrgenwerth. With the balcony and all. That remind me of a post I made a while ago I have still no clue what those balcony were use for!!!)

At first, I discovered that between a bachelor/licence degree, master degree and phd/doctorate you aren't going to get the same clothes. Plus, colours can differ depending of : the level of the degree, the school or the field you graduate in (can differ depending the countries as well).

Bachelor outfits are the most simple ones with not a lot of colours for most of them. Sometimes they don't have hoods but depends. Sometimes they seems to have very large selves like the Byrgenwerth one. The master ones have a bit more colours and I read generally long sleeves but that depends? Then the phd/doctorate ones are generally very colourful! And like the last sources below v They even had even more beautiful outfit for very important members (so I guess Willem pope outfit still make sense XD)

As for the colors it really depends the country etc but I read red is often associated with medicine and surgery (what a coincidence!). White / purple or even red is for theology and blue could be for sciences (Byrgenwerth/willem researches seems to be quite a mixt with theology/sciences so make sense).

(@katyspersonal we did talk a while back on colours on clothes meaning but hey it had have academic significations that fit well too! So in the end, drawing Laurence with white & red clothes is even more accurate now! XD) Oh I wanna draw him in an entire red academic dress now...Future drawing idea ).

Also I forgot to mentions that there's the hat/trencher that's part of it as well. It's not part of the set in the game but ennemies have it.

Also little side note: some dress have stripes or ermine bands on the clothes that represents their grades and also "academic curiosity, academic honesty, and academic courage."

So i suppose the garb Micolash, Damian & co have would look more similar to a master degree one? I guess?

But I won't throw any rocks at Fromsoftware even if the ones we got might not be too much detailed/ accurate because they sure did their homeworks to find and design those clothes. They aren't historians and they probably found a lot more things than I here (plus Japan don't have those dresses too). They're not going to design like 5 different outfits in the game too XD. (Yes I want more details for my story bc making things way more complicated is way more accurate I guess...) We don't know how exactly those types of institutions fonctions in Bloodborne universe too. And it's a fantasy world after all. So it's free real estate

I dunno if you guys @pyro-madder @karnaca78 @secteel or others could know more about it 🤔

But for now it's all!

Sources :

PS : I found this piece of medieval scholar dress and it really look like the same as the guy in the cainhurst painting and cut content Beltran!

They are probably wearing a "simarre". Some magistrate/ university professor / religious clothes people would wear. So pretty oblivious and what we thought @heraldofcrow

[wombywoo]

It occurred to me the other day that during Quinn's super turbo trauma story, his neck probably wasn't slashed but choked. And now I have more questions, because somehow I can't stop thinking about your characters. So:

Did Quinn end up having a vision during that event? (Does he get them during every near-death event, or is it more rare than that?)

How the hell did he cope being with Marc? 'Cause I'm about 90% sure that guy would have got off on choking him.

When the taskforce was created, was Quinn still in his relapse where he thought he needed his visions? Did Liz find out? How does he feel about her trying to get him to have more visions? D=

Does Vincent find out Liz is using Quinn like that, and how does he feel about it? (Does Danny find out??)

In fact, how does Vincent feel about the fact an evil vampire caused a mass dragon killing spree and this was Quinn's first vision? I get the feeling that, while Quinn tries to shrug off these coincidences, Vincent is a little more concerned. XD

Also, in your art of Quinn with Marc, the wall says 196 people will die in an ungodly tragedy. Was that the dragon killing spree or another event we have yet to hear of?

Oops. 🙈 Sorry for so many questions! I just want to know all the things. And I can't help but love all your lore drops. <3

Ok!! OK!!!!! You are feeding me so well with these tasty questions auughhh thank you for finding interest in my dumb ramblings !!!!!

There are answers under the cut (warning for some heavy topics, discussion of injuries, domestic abuse, self harm, spoilers for a story that doesn't even exist, etc)

So.

Quinn's throat was slashed. It was cut with a knife, kind of a shaky first slice, but it got deeper and went all the way across; enough force to puncture his trachea, though it didn't sever the vocal cords; he was lying on his back and couldn't move, and honestly..he didn't really feel it at the time. It was all just a very numb, surreal feeling. I won't go into suuuper specifics, but thankfully some pressure was applied to the wound right away, he was resuscitated with cpr, and he was still able to breathe despite some complications to his airway, long enough for him to receive medical treatment.

But he did black out. And he might have seen things.

It's the only vision he's had that he can't remember...

~*waves hands all vague and mysterious like~*oohooohoo

Ok! Visions! So, for the most part, Quinn needs to be medically dead, albeit temporarily, for him to have a vision. Usually, his heart has to stop for one to happen, and he's just lying there, unmoving. Like..dead, dead. This should be a rare event, but uh...he's had more than a dozen visions, I'd say....

The thing is--he always comes back. Even in the worst scenarios (ie. not breathing for more than 5 minutes) he somehow always miraculously revives with minimal repercussions (sure, there's probable brain/heart damage, but it should be way waaay worse) So, he's kind of chalked up this vague 'immortality' thing as a byproduct of the visions...more mystery...

With Marc--yeah. That was just a bad situation all around. A lot of Marc and Quinn's physical relationship revolved around their dangerous power dynamic, so um. yeah. choking was one of the things they messed around with. Quinn actually requested it at the time, out of this twisted self-harm kink he'd developed. (he's, regrettably, the worst at coping with his trauma, so uhhh he feels like he needs to push himself to that same sensation of near death just feel anything at all and uhhh it's not good, you should not do this at home kids, but he feels like strangulation is the closest he can come to feeling alive just for a brief second and yeah he's fucked up he's not good I know..)

It was consensual stuff at first, but after one of their..sessions...Marc pushed it too far, he wouldn't let go and uh. Quinn suffocated and passed out. Marc did manage to revive him, but he...died for a second there. And he had a vision--one of the first dragon attacks in France that would later lead to its occupation by [insert evil vampire terrorist group]. Marc was actually comforting him after, he was just...rubbing him and telling him he was sorry and it was ok, so in the midst of a mental and physical breakdown, Quinn divulged what he saw. And Marc took him seriously, which was also rare. And they talked about it, and...it seemed ok for once.

It was only after that he realized how Marc wanted specific details, stuff he could use to harvest information and push numbers and invest in whatever type of bullshit could make a profit out of tragedy. They carried on with their relationship, but when it came to testing their limits in the bedroom....Marc took it too far again. And Quinn had another vision--a vampire massacre in [specific french location] and 196 people died, and he was crying as he told him how he saw it all from the perspective of a child. Marc seemed eager. He asked him even more questions. But...it was fine. He was still rubbing him, being calm. And Quinn had agreed to the choking. He wanted this. It was actually helping other people if he was able to use this information somehow.

But it happened again. And again. More times... Until eventually Quinn realized he had no say in the matter anymore.

The sad thing was that he convinced himself it was out of love; Marc was very passionate, this was just his way of showing him he loved him....

It became too much...after a while....

ANyway!

So, now we're in the present when Quinn joins the task force with Vincent~

At this point in time, he's gotten help with his mental state so he no longer feels the desperate urge to harm himself and induce his visions (for the most part), and is relatively stable (sure!)

Miss Major Liz is aware of his visions, to a degree. She had mistakenly thought Quinn developed a narcotic problem when she was his CO at some point (yes, he used drugs a few times to induce visions (it was about 50/50 successful)) Most of her awareness had come from Danny, who divulged his part in Quinn's #BFF-bonding-moment4lyfe (ie, forcing his friend to assist in drowning himself. twice) So she does have knowledge of some of the...wackiness.

At this point in our tale, she hasn't done anything about it. Yet. It's a testament to how off the books she works that she hasn't forced Quinn into a psych eval that will surely bench him for the next foreseeable uuhh forever. So she's keeping that on lock.

I do think that [at some point in this potential story of mine] she will consider using Quinn's 'talents' to their benefit. She's a hard lady, not afraid to trade dirty hands for even dirtier handshakes, so there will probably be a time when she wants to take advantage of potential knowledge that can influence her agenda....

Vincent...will not take this lightly.

Honestly, this whole scenario is rife with delicious drama, so I will simmer it on low and ponder it for future conflict in the [insert novel series teehee] to come

Vincent has a lot of feelings about Quinn !!!! and his visions !!! and the evil vampire agenda !!!! Too many feelings!! But all he wants is for his boy to understand that his safety and wellbeing and life are the most important things to him, and none of that is worth trading for a small glimpse at a future that will happen anyway. Quinn...disagrees. This is also teeming with potential drama, you see...

I have a LOT more of this type of speculation, but for now, I will leave you with this dump of lore and trauma for you to sink your teeth into~

Thanks for the saucy and delicious questions <3

[kandadze]

FoF rewatch ep 4: or, I wanna hold your haaaaand! (gifs and loose thoughts)

Well, this one took me much longer... We all know how insanely gifable this show is, right? Somehow it really stood out to me in this ep, and of course I know that it's only going to get worse better lol

Ep 4 is the first to really pick up the pace after the core team was built in the previous eps; we have even higher stakes, betrayals, epic flashbacks* and fights**, and in general more shenanigans than you can shake a stick at. At the same time, I think it's the ep to really establish the fact that alongside the earth-shattering events, this show will also pay extra attention to simple intimacy, acts of care, and tender moments that make the fabric of life.

ZYZ and LL swearing an oath at the creation stone (vow stone, altar stone, whatever, you know what I mean) was definitely an epic moment, but along the insane visuals opening the ep we also get this:

We get ZYZ oh so gently removing the Truth Eye from WX's vision:

We get ZYC, instinctively if not quite consciously, stepping into a role of big brother and protector to Bai Jiu (I will forever refuse to abbreviate the kid's name, for reasons):

We get team bonding between PSJ, ZYC and Bai Jiu:

We get this tiny moment where PSJ actually reaches out to WX first:

We get ZYZ oh so gently (if not taking no for an answer...) healing ZYC's hand:

And ZYC holding onto the demon's hand in the end:

We get WX and ZYZ staying close to injured ZYC (in his inner robe!) while roasting each other at the same time (and making the boy laugh):

And of course let's not forget ZYZ's (not so gentle) hands-on method of teaching ZYC the Bingyi Clan water-freezing technique:

Speaking of this scene, I love how they showed us that ZYC could probably be quite a menace as a pupil. He learns fast, and the first thing he does after? Prank the teacher XD

Which as far as we can see, ZYZ quite deserves, as he remains a slippery bugger throughout this arc, keeping his secrets, following his own agenda and in general making it seem like he can't be trusted. (All this, of course, while looking like a renaissance portrait:)

Speaking of the demon though, let me just circle back to the very beginning, because ZYZ's demonic form makes me damn feral. Just look at him!

While we're at it, let's look at LL, too:

The opening sequence, presented to us with no explanation whatsoever, does suggest quite a lot just with positioning and color coding. On the first viewing, we can assume that these two were - are - equally powerful, and that they did this enormous thing that we don't quite understand yet, together. The flashback ends - and now they're on opposing sides.

And I don't know about you folks but I could listen to them growl at each other all day... (while completely agreeing with someone's comment that most of the male cast needs throat lozenges...). LL's whole demeanor screams "jilted ex". His look when ZYZ mentions his blood contract with WX. His look when ZYZ removes the Truth Eye from WX's vision:

Even without the flashback and on the first watch, just these two looks establish very firmly that LL and ZYZ have history; and on the second watch we know that "it's complicated" is an understatement of a few millennia.

All the funny scenes remain funny on the rewatch, and I laughed just as hard as the first time when WX basically Li Lianhua'd their way out of the honey trap.

Their little trot just kills me:

Not to forget PSJ's own flavor of badassery that was happening around the same time:

Other random thoughts... ZYC asking "Who's Li Lun?" while bandaged up and recuperating sure hits differently on the rewatch. As does Bai Jiu's promise that as long as he's alive, ZYC won't die!!! ;__;

Also, it just occurred to me that PSH is shown with these strikingly blue eyes as he's "reintroduced" to us in PSJ's nightmare... knowing what we later find out about him I think that that hint was so blatant we just completely missed it... as in, who else in this show has blue eyes? And what happens to him?

(I wish I looked so aesthetically pleasing while in a nightmare:)

Traumaaaaa, here we come!

One last thing, ep 4 is where we hear this song for the first time:

For maybe 20 seconds, but it was enough. That voice, that melody. That cello climb at circa 1 min mark, which did unspeakable things to my brain on the first listen of the whole song and continues to do so every time I play it again (you can hear it even better in the "karaoke" version, which I also listen to on a regular. Because I'm normal like that).

Here are some gifs of the aforementioned flashbacks and fights:

* https://www.tumblr.com/alipeeps/767702535144357888/the-divine-tree-of-jianmu-and-the-white-emperor?source=share

** https://www.tumblr.com/kandadze/768909203908722688/still-on-ep-4-so-have-some-gifs-to-celebrate-our?source=share

[putschki1969]

YKL vol.#20～Japanese Seal 20th Special～ Kanagawa Performance Broadcast

2024.06.09 Kanagawa・Kenmin Hall The second concert of this year's Yuki Kajiura live tour was broadcast last night on TBS Channel 1. The tour is titled “Special Japanese Seal” referring to the fact that no Japanese songs are performed. This exclusion does not apply to the encore section. User 蓝原延珠_ on Bilibili kindly provided their recording of the broadcast, you can watch it HERE. I was only able to download a 720p version (~1GB) of it but for the time being, it will do. I am eager to watch it and write a little report. Hopefully an HQ version will pop up in a few days. Without further ado, let's get going〈(•ˇ‿ˇ•)-→

overture��アンチヒーロー〜Main Theme〜: Right off the bat, I'm noticing that the audio is quite dull and maybe even slightly tinny? Might be the specific recording but it's probably more a matter of the TV broadcasts generally having bad audio. That was clearly noticeable when you compared the Kaji Fes TV broadcast to the BD release. Anyway, we are off to a great start. Glad to see rito and Lino on stage from the get-go and not just for a couple of songs here and there. It always feels a bit awkward for them to have the status of "regular" members but only appearing on stage sporadically. I haven't listened to any songs from the Antihero soundtrack so this is all new to me. Classic YK, the type of song I will always gravitate towards. Beautiful harmonies. Enjoying the slight whine in Eri's voice, so emotional. Love when the epic part starts and you can hear an entire chorus in the background (maybe a bit too much studio magic going on here but I don't mind for grand sections like that). Must have been a real goosebumps moment at the live.

the four rings: Wow, this one is so good. Don't think I've heard it before. Not too familiar with the Heaven’s Feel OST tbh. Really getting goosebumps now. Although I will say that here, the post-editing is a bit overbearing, it seems to almost drown out the vocals of our songstresses. Don't get me wrong, it still sounds amazing and I am enjoying the hell out of it but I wonder how it was like at the venue (with presumably less studio magic). With six singers on stage, they can certainly achieve some powerful choral work but of course it would still pale in comparison to a larger choir. Nonetheless, this is an instant favourite. Hope they will perform it during the Asia tour leg. Although I kinda doubt it since they said that the setlist would be very different. But who knows, it's Fate/stay night so it's probably among the more-likely pieces to be performed among Yuki's huge repertoire. My guess is that they will stick to the most popular anime stuff because they know that will get the audience excited.

absolute configuration: Perfect transition. Never getting tired of this song. And I'm glad we are back to a more natural sound with less studio magic. Solid performance as always.

E.G.O: Have they ever performed this live for a home video release? I don't think so. It was included in one of the live complication albums (Fictionjunction 2010-2013) but I don't recall ever watching a live performance. I have to admit that I haven't even listened to the live audio track, must have dismissed it when I first got the album. I can understand why because it's not really my type of song. It's not bad but not my favourite either. Very old-school YK so that's fun. And there are a couple of nice Keiko parts, that's always a treat.

キッチン革命〜Main Theme〜: A completely new track from one of Yuki's most recent works. Definitely a perfect fit for a show called "Kitchen Revolution" XD Especially the percussion at the beginning. The harmony between Yuriko, Lino and rito works really well, they sound good together. Other than that, it probably won't become one of my favourite songs. Generally not a huge fan of Yuriko as main vocalist. No one does those gorgeous operatic higher harmonies like her but when the spotlight is on her, it's typically not my cup of tea.

voyagers: As far as I know, we only have the studio version and live audio from the compilation album as reference. No official live footage. The song has never really stuck out to me, it is okay but it's a bit too derivative of much better tracks from Yuki. Will keep it short so I don't trigger anyone. But it's definitely one of those songs where I prefer the version with Wakana. Joelle's vocals don't do anything for me here. But since I am not super invested in the song anyway, I can't say I care much.

Historia: opening theme: Beautiful rendition. Love that they brought all six vocalists back on stage for this. Naturally, I'm quite fond of Wakana's version once again (not least of all because this song will always have a connection to Kalafina) but Yuriko does a fanstatic job of singing her parts, admittedly, she has much better control so her voice sounds very crisp and lovely. Joelle provides great support here and their voices blend well together.

forest: Never been a fan. I didn’t like it when Wakana sang it and I don’t like it now that Joelle sings it. It’s not a bad song at all and Joelle sounds fine to me but it’s just not my cup of tea. Next.

My long forgotten cloistered sleep: Now THIS on the other hand I have always loved. I still remember everyone hating Wakana's live version during YKL Vol.#9 but I enjoy it quite a lot. It's true that it's probably not the best she has ever sounded but her vocals here certainly don't warrant all the nasty comments she has received throughout the years for that performance. Of course, I am also obsessed with that WaKei combo!! And you know me, I have a weakness for "lalala"s so this has definitely always been among my favourite YKL songs. As for this performance, I think both Wakana and Joelle are trying are little too hard to emulate Emily Bindiger's timbre. I personally don't think Emily Bindiger has a particularly nice voice so if anyone tries to sound like her, it's always a slight downgrade in my opinion. I'll just say this, if you are one of the people who say that Wakana sounds like a chipmunk in her version, you'll have to say the same thing about Joelle(¬_¬) Long story short, I don't mind this version with Joelle and Keiko. Still very enjoyable. Will definitely be listening to it on repeat.

I swear: Probably one of my least favourite Keiko songs but this is a decent performance. I might even like this more than some of the previous live rendition since it's a bit more delicate(?) I think.

fiction: Another song I could live without…The chorus is solid but it's not one of those songs I'd ever actively listen to.

I reach for the sun: Forever sad that they made Joelle the lead of this song. Keiko does a better job in my opinion and I like the song quite a bit more than "I swear". Overall, the English section has probably been the weakest so far, at least for me. I actually ended up fast-forwarding through most of it.

MC: This MC is quite interesting since Yuki asks her singers to share a story of something they are taking a break from right now. To explain the background of this question, it's a reference to the title of this year's tour: Nihongo Fuin = Japanese Seal ("fuin" basically means to seal up something. You are excluding it/taking a break from it/quitting it/etc). Lino says that despite being a huge lover of the sea, she has been taking a break from going to the beach and swimming in the sea during this summer because it might affect her voice negatively. Yuki has a funny response to that because she says that most of her songs have never really had a summer vibe and actually don't work very well in a summer atmosphere but for some reason, they have ended up always holding their annual tour during the summer time. Keiko has stopped drinking her beloved lattes for the past three months to prioritise her water intake. Gladly, she has overcome the worst parts of quitting already and is getting used to water. Yuki admired her stoic nature. Yuriko would typically refrain from certain things in preparation for a live tour but this year she has completely forgotten about that. About two weeks ago, she decided to quit ice-cream but she only did it half-hardheartedly because it was so hot that she ended up eating it anyway. So yeah, this is a big fail and it's really a "story of NOT taking a break from something" XD Joelle has stopped waking up early. Usually, she is the type to rise together with the sun but in order to increase her sleeping hours, she will wake up later when she is on tour. A restful sleep will help her body heal up and improve her voice. rito has quit chewing gum (and stopped eating certain chewy foods such as squid) because it's bad for your jaw and facial muscles. Kaori has taken a break from watching the drama "Anithero" (for which YK is composing music, the main theme having been performed as the intro of this live). Seems like the song is haunting her a bit too much and the story is getting to her. So once the tour is over and she is no longer singing the song, she will have an easier time watching the episodes. Yuki agrees that the main theme is quite haunting. Especially when she hears one of the singers rehearsing in the dressing-room right before a performance. Eri doesn't really have anything to tell the audience but she and Yuki briefly talk about the difficulties of learning so many songs with coined words.

Gaia: Wow, what a lovely song. Instant like. Really adore Eri here!! Such gorgeous high notes.

Credens justitiam: What a great team-up with Keiko, Eri, Yuriko and Joelle. Eri sounds great together here with Keiko. Does Yuriko sound a bit off here? I don't know. Not 100% into some of her parts.

hepatica: First time actively listening to this song. Very beautiful and tender. I feel like some of Yuki's KnK work might have been inspired by this song. Some parts immediately made me think of "Seventh Heaven".

godsibb: Waaah! Yes!! Always a joy to listen to this song. Glad everyone is on stage for a powerful finale.

Alone: I knew I would love this Pandora Hearts medley. I always do and this one is no exception. Flawless start.

Bloody rabbit: Some squeaky parts at the beginning but overall, solid.

Contractor: OBSESSED. One word. Perfection. There's a reason this is the performance I'm using for this post. I'm forever a slave to Keiko's solo part XD. Also, Eri is such a queen here! So cool!

zodiacal sign: This is the song where you can really tell that they are taking great care of Kaori's condition. No strenuous movements at all. How funny is it to see Rie joining the girls in their little dance?! Cute!! Super fun performance as always.

open your heart: Ughh, I do not like this song at all. They did "Sweet Song"/"paradise regained" for most of the other performances. Would have killed to get either of those two instead of "open your heart". Obviously, "Sweet Song" would have been perfect. From what I heard, the final concert with Kaori in July had an amazing and heart-warming performance of "Sweet Song".

En.Prologue〜このとほかやわらかい: Wish I could grow to love this song. It deserves my love, I know it. But I just can't get into it. But hey, it's a cool performance, I can't deny that. During her solos, Kaori sounds a bit nasal in my opinion. Nothing that takes away from the performance but it's certainly noticeable (throughout the live to be honest - at least during the few songs where she has a substantial solo part. I think you can also hear it during the main MC. Either she had a minor cold that day or it's just a symptom of her pregnancy. Lowered nasal resonance is actually a very common thing for pregnant women.)

En.Parade: Beautiful. No notes.

En.蒼穹のファンファーレ: Solid. Not a huge fan of the song though.

[lasandra]

Sketches of the Dragon Age men I've romanced + my reactions to their romance! For funsies!

Under the cut because it's quite long... There are spoilers for DA:O, DA:2, and DA:I (Probably not an issue because all these games have been out for 10+ years but I wanted to say, just in case).

These are just how 'I' feel about them. I'd love to hear everyone else's opinions on the characters as well! One thing I love about Dragon Age is that the characters are so complex that people can have very different opinions on them (and mostly not kill each other for it! :P).

Alistair:

Alistair was the reason I started playing the game back in 2010. My father had been given the game by his best friend and he would always let me watch him play games. He hadn't gotten further than defeating the Ogre in the Tower of Ishal before he quit playing, however, much to 12-year-old me's disappointment. I had immediately fallen in love with Alistair and wanted to see more of him! I asked if I could play and fortunately my father was not as careful about checking game ratings/content and said sure!

Words cannot describe how stunned I was when I found out you could romance companions in this game, this was an entirely new concept to me that blew my 12-year-old mind. To this day Alistair is my favorite fictional man and I would destroy all of Thedas to protect him.

Zevran:

I didn't have as positive an experience initially with Zevran as I barely took him anywhere with me initially (so my approval with him was always pretty low). Back then I figured he always would betray you when Taliesen shows up. One day I decided to run a playthrough where I romanced him. When I knew I was getting close to when Taliesen showed up I was sad, but thinking he was still going to betray me, I removed all his weapons and armor so that it would be easier to kill him. Boy was I surprised when he didn't betray me and was instead punching the other crows in his underwear... It was that playthrough that I realized how important it was to check approval lol.

Anders:

Anders and Nathaniel Howe had been my favorite Awakening characters. In my canon playthrough, I had protected the city but lost the keep, with Anders and Justice along with it. Or so I thought. When I loaded up DA:2 and saw him, I thought him being alive was a bug and was so excited that he wasn't dead! And when I saw that you could flirt with him, 13-year-old me was like, "Yeah, I'll be doing THAT!" It was all going great until the end of the game when he BLEW UP THE FREAKING CHANTRY! I was so upset, I wondered what I did wrong to make him do that. I loaded so many saves and started the game over 3 times trying to figure out how to avoid that. When I realized I couldn't stop him no matter what I did, I was completely and utterly devastated and PISSED. He is the reason I have trust issues in Dragon Age. I still choose to romance him sometimes because the guy is such a romantic but I do so expecting sadness and anger in the end lol. Knowing Hawke will never be as important as the cause and the fact that he LIES to Hawke, tricking her into helping him without full knowledge of what she's taking part in, will never cease to annoy me.

A lot, I know... He just makes me feel a lot of things xD It's a complicated love-hate relationship.

Fenris:

It took awhile for me to warm up to Fenris but he is by far and a way my favorite DA:2 romance now. Things are complicated with him and within the romance but it's very clear that he actually cares about Hawke. I can relate to him a bit in one way, the reason he leaves after he and Hawke get together in Act 2. Trauma like that can really ruin things that should make you happy, and it can be very frightening when memories of the traumatic event surface, and the last thing you want to do is make the person you care about feel bad or like it's their fault. It just makes me want to give him a hug. Poor spikey boy...

Sebastian:

I really wish Bioware had had the time to do more with Sebastian. I really do. His romance has some cute moments (and there are some interesting implications if you rivalmance him) but he was made as a DLC companion and it shows. I still quite like his character though, I know a lot of DA fans aren't fond but yeah lol. He can be a bit of a dramatic pain in the butt if you don't kill Anders though. That is very valid criticism.

Cullen:

Ah... Cullen... He was always controversial. A lot like Solas is now. There are people who hate Cullen's guts and people who adore him. I am quite obviously the latter. I wanted to romance him in DA:O, I wanted to romance him in DA:2, and then we finally got him in DA:I and it was better than I ever could have imagined.

Honestly, I kind of suspect that if I hadn't done Alistair's romance first, that Cullen's would be my favorite in the series. It's so sweet and he PROPOSES and married you IN-GAME. That's freaking awesome! And his ending slides after Trespasser just make me really really happy lol.

Alistair is still my favorite but Cullen is a very close second.

Blackwall:

Blackwall is a solid character and a sweet guy; his story and romance are very well written as well. Honestly though, he just looks too old for me. I was 16 when Inquisition came out and I'm 26 now. Dude looks like he could be my dad and so it's hard to convince myself that my characters would be interested in him. No shade to those who like him, just different preferences, and like I said, he's still a very compelling character and if he were younger or less bearded, I could probably enjoy the romance too.

While I make a big deal about Blackwall lying about being a Grey Warden, it's mostly just me picking on him. I actually do think it makes for an interesting narrative. It's so easy to sus him out when you've played Origins though lol! That being said, I DO make him become a legitimate Grey Warden because it just feels right to me and ensures that every Dragon Age game I play has at least one Grey Warden companion (so that everything is right in the universe).

Please don't hate me Blackwall fans lol!

Solas:

Am I a massive hypocrite for loving Solas so much while not being all that fond of Blackwall? Probably yes... But I can't help it! To be fair though, before I finished Inquisition for the first time (this was before the Trespasser DLC btw), I didn't even think I'd be interested. I'm a diehard Solavellan now, but I had initially just seen him as a pajama-wearing fade nerd (aren't I sweet?). As I've said I was 16 when I first played Inquisition and was too busy romancing Cullen to notice all the (in hindsight) obvious signs that there was more to Solas than met the eye.

When I saw that he was the dreadwolf... I kind of flipped my ever living shit. Fen'Harel had been the most interesting of the elven pantheon to me since I played my first dalish elf warden in Origins and now my Lavellan had the chance to romance him??? So naturally I did just that my next playthrough.

I didn't use the internet like I do now so I had no idea what was coming in Crestwood though. OOF! I was in shock. How dare this pajama-wearing fade nerd elven god just dump my poor Lavellan like that! Then Trespasser came out I had round 2 of getting my heart ripped out of my chest, dashed into a thousand pieces, and strewn about the fade in the most tragic way possible. *Is dramatic*

Cullen and Alistair may be my favorite romances for the romance itself, but Solas is my favorite romance for the overarching story. I mean, because the Inquisitor is seen by so much of Thedas as the Herald of Andraste, Lavellan is canonically a religious figure of the chantry whether she agrees with it or not. Solas is a religious figure of the elves. This means two religious figures from two separate religions get together and that is just SO interesting from a story perspective!

I can't wait to see what they do with the Solavellan romance in Veilguard. I hope it doesn't hurt too much xD

The Iron Bull:

16-year-old me was not prepared for this romance... At ALL. My poor mostly innocent eyes lol (Cullen's too!). It's a fun romance though, and my default inquisition romance for my Qunari and dwarf characters. He's cool. Plus I had a bit of a crush on Freddie Prinze Jr when I was a kid so like, that makes it kind of neat!

Final Thoughts:

Bioware has always written truly amazing characters and romances and I am so excited to see what Veilguard has to offer. I am probably going to have to do two playthroughs at once so I can romance Lucanis and Davrin so I can play both without knowing too much in advance.

Like I said at the top, I'd love to know what everyone's opinions of the characters are! Loveya!

[shenzaibird-art]

A Discussion of Soulmagic

Verloren presented his research notes to his latest visitor as he described the process of pulling magic directly from a creature's soul instead of just the physical body, a concept that none had attempted before him. He had been explaining the exact same thing to several different people lately and more often than not he was met with disdain and skepticism. He was so tired of all these mages who seemingly couldn't embrace new ideas telling him that this was too complicated and irregular to be worth it. But he did not mind what they thought about his work and continued to discuss it with others when he had the chance, trying to find more folks who could have interesting ideas for his consideration. Verloren had heard about Hyden's impressive magic skills, and how he was particularly interested in darker magics. Would he be able to see the true potential of soulmagic?

Hyden belongs to @chocodile! Just borrowing him for a sec haha

Long stupid excessive ramblings below :'D

I was working on this for a long time. Kinda had it planned for a few years actually, before I even redesigned Verloren and got obsessed with him! They're both evil mages who caused chaotic historical events and then eventually faced The Consequences and lost their powers, so I felt like there was a lot of room for crossovers hehe. I started actually working on this in December and totally thought I'd finish in January but... oh well I guess that didn't happen xD

Unfortunately, all this time spent working on this pic has allowed me to come up with a fuckton of headcanon about it, and I could not rest without spilling all of it in an obnoxiously long wall of text.

So, if I were to steal Hyden and adapt him into my setting, I think he would be a Grand Augur of Necromagic from a kingdom neighbor to Houndsdagger. Augur is a word I stole because it looks cool, but in my setting it basically means a mage that works for the kingdom and does magic research. A Grand Augur is a higher rank than an augur, typically has earned the title through their experience, but also usually they're nobles or important people. They get a seat at the royal council of magic and stuff. So yeah I think that would fit him kinda. And necromagic because it allows for some of the most powerful crafts... and because it's typically the most potentially evil of the magics lol

This probably would take place when Verloren's work with soulmagic was starting to attract private clients looking for dark powerful magics, so Hyden might have heard the rumors about a mage in Houndsdagger who could make magic from souls (of animals but also of people obviously). At first, he might have thought it was nonsense like witchcraft (non-standard magic that a lot of people consider superstition) but maybe he might have grown a bit interested once he learned that this was apparently some extremely powerful form of magic. So on the next opportunity he had to visit Houndsdagger, Hyden decided to check it out and meet this Augur Verloren.

I think this interaction could go well, but it could also go really bad.

Verloren is known for being difficult to work with and straight up hostile at times. He's very quick to judge and will not work with you if he decides that he dislikes you for any reason, so the way that Hyden approaches him would matter a lot. Some things about Verloren that I think would influence Hyden's opinions of him:

- Verloren is just an augur, and augurs typically serve under Grand Augurs, so Hyden is technically above him, although he doesn't exactly have any authority over him since he's from a different kingdom. - Verloren is also not noble or anything like that, AND he's from Vykrest. The Vykrest are a bit more animal-like in some of their ways (like growling, biting, running on all fours at times), which makes people from outside think they're somewhat uncivilized or primitive. Doesn't help their image that they're typically wary of outsiders, with some of their cities restricted to their kind alone. - Verloren also usually appears kinda arrogant, like in a "I don't have time for you" sorta way, which pisses off a lot of people who think that he should bow down to them.

But I think if Hyden is interested in what he has to offer, he would be wise enough to treat him well no matter what he actually thinks of him. And unless the other person is being actually rude to him, Verloren enjoys talking about his work and showing what he's capable of even if he doesn't like them. (It's the part of working with/for someone he hates that he won't do.)

Verloren's work is very complex and his notes and diagrams might seem to make no sense, so Hyden might be skeptical at first, but he'd probably change his mind after some demonstrations of soulmagic's power. I think he would be especially interested when Verloren gets to the part about the Triangle Workyn of Ravenbone, a craft that could permanently increase one's magic ability.

So at this point, if the conversation was going well, they might try to make a deal. Verloren offered his soulmagic services for a cost, but he was very picky about what that cost would be. He was not interested in wealth and instead he would ask his potential client what they could offer that would be really worth his time. Hyden probably would have some interesting magic knowledge to share... or maybe he would offer Ambroys' blood. I have some thoughts about what this would mean in my setting but I guess I can spare you of those ramblings and leave for some other time since it's not directly related to this pic anyway.

Aside from that payment, there would be the materials required for the craft, and for the Triangle Workyn of Ravenbone that included three victims, with their souls bound to their skulls (the process that allows you to use a soul in magic), who should be made to kill each other in order. Verloren would provide the soul-bind spells but Hyden would have to find victims and handle the killings on his own (which I think he'd be pretty capable of doing.) So once Hyden had all the required materials, they'd meet again to do the Triangle Workyn of Ravenbone on him. If everything went right, congratulations! Hyden can now output a lot more magic at once, making all of his spells stronger. Also, his bones are black now (that's what the Ravenbone in the name is about), and possibly a bit stronger too.

Overall, I think they would get along ok, but not exactly amazingly. More of a "I guess I can deal with this guy" sort of thing despite obviously having some shared interests. They'd probably have pretty good conversations about magic, but that alone.

But what if their conversation actually didn't go so nice? If Verloren refused to work with Hyden, how would he react? How would he feel about this random lowly wild-dog of a person having some unbelievably powerful magic rivaling his own and not being able to get it for himself? During Verloren's time as an augur, he gathered several enemies who'd plot his demise and attempt to have him killed and steal his work, and I think maybe Hyden might have been one of those. Eventually, some of his most influential enemies end up convincing the king of Houndsdagger to have Verloren exiled, and maybe Hyden could have been involved. It turned out to be a terrible idea however.

Ahhhh there would be more, but I think it might already be enough and maybe I should shut up...

Sorry I guess I fanfic'd too hard about our evil mages coexisting :'D

[marvelstars]

Not to get back on that thread: but people need to stop acting like Qui Gon Jinn freed Anakin out of pure intentions. He literally says the line that he hasn't come to free slaves and only gets interested in Anakin after secretly testing his blood, thinking Anakin fits a prophecy, and his pod racing is a good way to get that hyperdrive. If Anakin was not Force sensitive or just borderline Jinn would have mosey on with his mission.

From what I have seen Qui-Gon is equally praised and criticized for helping to free Anakin, positively because freeing someone from slavery is always something good, even if the reasons were questionable and badly because for many pro- Obi-Wan fans he seemed to worry too much to give a 9 year old former slave a place to live and learn about his powers over his 25 year old padawan who was ready to graduate from Jedi school and that´s a deal breaker for them.

Qui-Gon is a complicated and complex character in the PT and I believe it´s worth it to analyze his actions from different perspectives and the Jedi Order as well under those lenses.

First off: I agree Qui-Gon freed Anakin because he was the chosen one and if Anakin wasn´t force sensitive or he didn´t felt a strong presence in the force around Anakin, he probably would have left without doing much else for the Skywalker family, then again, given he rescued Jar Jar from being executed, there´s a possibility he would have tried to do something about Shmi and Anakin, maybe not much but something.

There´s a reason for this, George Lucas wanted to picture the relationship between Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan this way. He said this about them:

"“Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan disagree about using what one would call in mythological terms "the guide” . One believes in the guide, the other one doesn´t . When you are walking down the street and the are beggars on the street , one character takes the beggar along and the other one says “Why are you doing this, this is not a wise thing to do” The other one says “Yes but beggars can be USEFUL to us” It´s a classic mythological motif but at the same time it´s conflict" (George Lucas)

Qui-Gon is the person who brings with him the beggars, in this case Jar Jar and Anakin, while Obi-Wan doesn´t consider it WISE and in fact finds them annoying and unnecesary(Like many fans at the time TPM came out XD)

It´s curious that while Anakin was in deep need himself, when it comes to him, it was Qui-Gon and Padme the ones in the beggars position, they would have died right there on Tatooine if Anakin didn´t offer them his home and a place to eat and he did it not because he found them useful, he simply wanted to help, he did it out of compassion and curiosity, the same reasons why he liked to help the old slave lady with her unit to keep her produce fresh. Anakin has COMPASSION because his mother teached it to him. Anakin and Shmi relationship to the force was BALANCED they helped the few, cared for the many and their actions led them to be instrumental in saving an entire planet while being just a pair of slaves themselves.

In the end both Jar Jar and Anakin managed to give Qui-Gon and Obi-WAN the tools neccesary to achieve victory on Naboo at a military scale and protect Queen Amidala, which was their mission,while they personally fought Darth Maul.

Lucas doesn´t quite says this but Qui-Gon, while not being perfect and maybe driven by his own interest on prophecies, shows himself to be more compassionate for Anakin and Jar Jar than the Jedi Council or Obi-Wan and the reason is simple, Qui-Gon cares for the living force while the Jedi care for the force in a more conceptual and personal level and as an institution, their missions for the Senate are always the priority. Not some slaves from Tatooine or some Gungan from Naboo.

I believe Lucas wanted to picture here what exactly it meant the fact the force was umbalanced.

On one side you have the Jedi Council and Obi-Wan who take Spock approach to their relationship with the force:" the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.” it´s a logical, rational and analytical way of seeing the force, it isn´t wrong but it kind of lacks something very important, kidness, compassion, love for the needs of the few.

While Qui-Gon seems to be more of the oppinion that if you atend to the needs of the few, then they will become grateful, support you and eventually can become useful and guide you to achieve the needs of the many. It´s not wrong either but he may hurt people on his way to achieve that, Shmi was left behind a slave while he managed to free her Son and Obi-Wan felt hurt/abandoned by his decision to train Anakin and take him as his new padawan.

Some compassion and kidness is there but there´s no love yet and we need to remember the PT happens when the force and the Jedi are umbalanced, the force truly doesn´t achieve balance in the PT and because this is ONE movie, until Luke convinces his father to come back from the darkside and Vader agrees out of LOVE and COMPASSION = UNLIMITED LOVE for his Son which destroys the Sith and frees the galaxy from imperial rule: the needs of the many and the few are no longer separated because they are one and the same.

If Qui-Gon lived he probably would have gotten closer to that particular pov, while not perfect and with some issues himself, he at least was oppening himself to another way of thinking, while the Jedi Order seemed happy to keep themselves crystalized in their ways of many years and even centuries ago, this isn´t wrong or malicious but it could prove to be harmful for the members of the order, who, like Anakin or Qui-Gon himself, didn´t exactly vibe with their present philosophy and of course eventually had the consequence of alienating themselves from the rest of the galaxy, at the point there were people like Padme, who despite having a direct link to them, doubted they were allowed to love and this is what Palpatine used to convince the entire Senate it was ok to destroy the Jedi Order if they became Rogue and attacked them, the Order´s freedom was conditional to their obedience to the Senate, the moment this seems to no longer be the case is reason enough to destroy their entire organization with hardly any resistance. The needs of the many(Galaxy) are more important than the needs of the few(jedi Order) and the Empire is born.

This is something Yoda begins to discover as well in the last chapters of the clone wars but he dind´t had time either to reintroduce those concepts inside the order.

So in short yes, I completely agree Qui-Gon would have left Anakin behind if he didn´t believe he was the chosen one or a force sensitive, that said, he probably would have tried to free him and Shmi but he probably would not have gone further than that, because that wasn´t his or Obi-Wan´s mission.

Still I sometimes wonder if he did that originally and he just didn´t notice Anakin was a force sensitive, Anakin would have grown up safe, happier and better able for his chosen one role, free from Palpatine´s influence, after all Anakin didn´t feel cold on Tatooine, he felt it near Coruscant, because the darkside was present very strongly there.

[polariscroquis]

The last study I did on my Arthurian Legend character concepts: the woman herself, Guinevere.

As I stated before, I'm following more the 5th century, fighting saxons on the bloody fields of Britain praying to pagan gods, rather than the very Catholic version of the later medieval retellings.

Therefore, my Guinevere is very much pagan and tough hahahaha for a guy like Arthur to fall madly in love with her - and a guy like Lancelot too, of all the men in that island - she had to be one hell of a woman.

I always imagined her with fiery hair, very tall and athletic even, with killer eyes - so here she is.

More on her design and how her character fits in my personal take of the Arthurian Legend, under the cut!

Regarding the colors I chose for her, I went with a darker blue and gold to give her that regal look she would certainly have - also this tone of blue contrasts with her coppery hair, so I thought it would look good!

She has two versions, because one would be Court Guinevere while the other would be War Guinevere - both of them keep the cape, because I wanted something to be "constant" on her design. Also, the cape sort of gives her this imposing look, again something regal.

I remember watching George Lucas talking about how Anakin always wore a larger and darker cape/coat than other Jedis on the prequels so he would have that signature Darth Vader silhouette and imposing presence - given Hayden Christensen is taller than almost everyone in the movie xD I took that to heart and gave it to Guinevere 🖤

Now, from what I know, 5th century dresses weren't TOO filled with details as later medieval fashion, so I couldn't go crazy on her design here. I ended up using that wonderful painting, Accolade, as a reference for clothes.

With her war clothes, a little more complicated. Ended up searching for Jeanne D'arc references because I didn't want to have her look like King Arthur 2005's war Guinevere even though I LOVE those clothes.

Since she's a woman, it would make sense back then people would want her to stay as far away from slaughter as possible, so she has a bow. Everything is moon shaped with her, though, as a nod to the Great Goddesses, as well as the Goddess of the Hunt herself, Artemis.

Now on my take on how her character fits in my Arthurian world hahahaha

Guinevere loves Arthur a LOT. With Lancelot, though, both have their pagan upbringings and she doesn't have much of the moral compass Arthur has - she leans more on the Lancelot morality spectrum. She is a fighter, a queen, a woman with fire on her soul and enough intelligence to run entire kingdoms and destroy empires: and that's why both have fallen for her, even if she has eyes for only one of them.

While Lancelot has the charms, Arthur has the soul. Arthur can give her a safe place to fall and he can command a whole country like no one else - Guinevere admires that. And she is too great to be with a man she doesn't admire; she's never going to put herself down for a man. She needs to be with someone who meets her in equality.

Not that Lancelot doesn't, but all that ability to run kingdoms and such is not in him - even if he is prince of Benoic. Lancelot rather fight for someone like Arthur than command his own battles himself. He is a very good friend - probably the best friend Guinevere will ever have, given how everything she is also attracts envy from both men and women alike - but she wouldn't take him as a lover.

She will command kingdoms and fight in armies by Arthur's side, even if he doesn't want it - although Arthur is too proud and in love to ask Guinevere to be anything else than she is. They are indeed a power couple, and that, my friends, attracts all kinds of enemies - outside and inside the court.

That is MY personal take on Guinevere: a woman with too many abilities, too much willpower and intelligence, a fierce fighter and a cunning queen; the only one who could sweep the legendary Arthur off his feet - and that attracts the same amount of envy as admiration.

[wisp-of-chaos]

I am once again asking you for some blurgzlin food 😿

Blurgzlin and 🤎

or

Blurgzlin and 💙

i know there are prompts that seem to be made for them, but these two just really caught my attention. What if tipsy Blurg and soft, plush kisses? Sloppy, alcohol-induced affection. Of course, drunk Dror is another can of worms (maybe he gets aggressive? kissing to shut him up? kissing to shut Blurg blurging about his mushrooms incessantly?)

and many kisses - as a relief, maybe? "thank the gods you're okay". Na'vi AU? I have many ideas XD

OH

OR

Omeluum/Emperor and 💜

Emps says something really smart/does something impressive and Omeluum gives him a mental peck on impulse

(and also thank you a thousand times for the story you've written for me before, and for others you did, they all are wonderful and reading them makes me genuinely happy)

Went for Blurgzlin becasue I love them and can never pass up a chance to write them! <3

Dror hates it when Blurg starts – and keeps – talking about his nerdy people stuff. Hates it when Blurg uses big, complicated fancy words he doesn't know. Hates how he doesn't understand what he's talking about. Hates feeling like a damn toddler. Hates how Blurg just won't shut up.

Grumbling, he reaches for his mug and takes another swig; ears flicking and anger boiling.

Dror doesn't hate Blurg – far from it, actually. That soft, old man is the first agreeable company he met since … well, since this whole Absolute Cult mess started.

Dror flinches. The mere thought of that made his ears flatten and his eyes darken. He still couldn't believe that all of that had truly happened. That he'd been infected by squiddie brain worms and brainwashed. Made an obedient puppet; that he'd been a victim. A slave.

Dror scoffs. And all that for what? In the end, the Absolute's plan had failed. Their armies were broken and killed off; one by one like bugs. And he himself, had almost met the same fate, if not for this old fool currently chewing his ears off with yet another stream of incomprehensible words.

He growls again and takes another mouthful of ale. It's cheap and bitter but effective for driving away unwanted memories or thoughts. Leaves his tongue and throat burning and his head tingling. Makes him feel in control and invincible again.

… if only there was a way to easily Blurg and his endless rambling as well.

Dror's ears twitch and his brows furrow. Maybe he could punch him. He doubts the old man could take much – if any – violence.

The mental vision of spilling blood and the crunch of breaking bones has Dror's blood running hot and fast; and his lips curling into a smile. Yes, seeing Blurg with a bloodied, broken nose and fear in his eyes would indeed be a sight to behold, and yet …

Something within him recoils at the idea; makes his shoulders tense and and the taste in his mouth sour even more. No, for some reason he doesn't like the idea of Blurg looking at him with fear. Not really. He would much prefer if Blurg looked at him with admiration and care and- …

Dror shakes his head. Sudden and harsh, and growls.

Now where did that thought come from? Had the brain worm caused more damage than he thought? Possibly. Probably. That had to be it, there was no other explanation. And even if he would be inclined to look for one, he doubted he would be able to find it. Not with Blurg and his endless babbling making his head spin.

Gritting his teeth, Dror decides that he ought to do something about that. And soon, if he didn't want to get yet another headache. But what …

Tilting his head, he considers Blurg and his situation for a moment. But since punching him wasn't really on the table, that left him with only one other option …

Flicking his ears, Dror takes one final swig from his mug and stands. Blurg doesn't pay him any mind, but he doesn't care much. Blurg not interfering makes this easier for him anyway.

Circling around the table, he grabs for Blurg's shoulders and forcibly turns him, so that he's facing him. Sees him frown with surprise and smiles. That's a nice look too, he thinks and then leans in. Their lips meet before Blurg can so much as make a single noise of protest.

Dror hears him suck in a hissing breath; make a weird, strangled noise in his throat, but he doesn't push him off or complains. Doesn't fight back, just … lets it happen.

Dror's smile widens.

When he eventually pulls back, Blurg's face is flushed with a slight purple tint and his eyes are skittering around like scared mice. He decides that he likes this look on Blurg too and, on a sudden whim, pulls the old man in for yet another kiss.

Blurg doesn't fight this one either.

[bleue-flora]

Hello, I come to you with a silly prompt!

In what way do you think Dream is disabled/affected post-prison and if he does, what do you think he does to hide it?

So I’ve loved all of the different answers to this, lots of fun. Sorry to be late in the game. Like usual I’m probably gonna make this more complicated than it needs to be. No surprise there though lol XD. But ya know you asked for my thoughts so here are my thoughts, as messy as they are.

See this is hard for me because there is a divide between what we know for sure is canon, what we can speculate in general and what is more fun to imagine. As well as, the difference between Minecraft and our physical world. Because like obviously no one can actually survive living that close to lava, so we have to decide which elements would match our world consequences and which wouldn’t.

Because it’s Minecraft and things aren’t necessary like the real world, I play looser with some of the effects. So things like for example messed up vision from the lava don’t apply. I mean everyone spends times in mines, the nether, even has lava in their house so it’s not something I personally include. The same with things like seizures and such.

When it comes to canon, obviously we know potions exist in this world, but the thing is there is never confirmation of them being used in the prison. They don’t appear in Quackity’s or Sam’s inventory (besides fire res) when they visit and during the visits we get to see, Dream is munching on potatoes to heal. So does that mean he never gets potions since basic food can work to heal in Minecraft or does he get some only with more severe and dangerous injuries or something. Or would he have sustained less serious injuries because the potatoes can only heal so much. Then again canonically Quackity is swinging a diamond sword and a netherite axe around, which aren’t exactly gonna do small damage.

And the thing with scars is that the only scars we know of are from canonical deaths, meaning Dream would probably have some from the other time he went to limbo (or multiple if went multiple times), and Tommy killing him (quite a few actually given how many arrows he took and stuff in staged finale) but there’s not necessarily confirmation of scars other than that, and Quackity can’t exactly take credit for those.

There’s also the question of whether he was dying and respawning as non canon deaths, especially because again Quackity is using some high damage weapons. Though I tend to lean away from believing that since that isn’t shown except with Sam accidentally killing Dream after Techno escapes.

I also don’t personally think he suffered anything super noticeable because the guards in prison as well as Ghostbur and Tommy and even Techno, don’t mention the torture. Ghostbur and Tommy don’t notice anything, Techno has to be told, and the guards like Badboyhalo even after hearing screaming still seems almost unsure of himself. Plus, Antfrost talks about visiting Dream and yet had no clue about the torture until Bad brings it up. So in my mind he doesn’t have anything too mutilated or missing body part wise, because that’d be kinda obvious. This includes eyes and also even missing fingers (though if he is missing one let’s just all agree it’d be his left hand ring finger because of Quackity’s breakup with his fiancés… ;]). (Though if we decide they were using potions then it’s interesting to play around with the idea of Quackity doing something like cutting off his arm and Sam having to fix that like I did in my fanfiction.)

So in my mind, no major cosmetic things, besides being smaller due to poor diet and starvation. Though again, in my mind it’s not quite the same as real world so I don’t like to imagine him as grotesquely skin and bones if that makes sense… (look he can be broken and still pretty ;D).

But despite what I said, I do like to imagine he has scars and I think potions may not have been a staple but probably did happen if Quackity ever went too far. Maybe early on before Quackity mastered his craft a bit more or later when he became more and more enraged and extreme in his desperation to break Dream. Either way, I think it was a rare occasion type deal. And because of that, in my mind he does actually have scars because the potatoes provide poor healing. So other people dying by falling in a hole or fight in a war don’t really have scars from that due to respawn and potions or golden apples, while Dream deprived of that would have more lasting effects (because as someone with many scars I like to imagine he has some as a testimony to what he went through). This also means that some of his broken bones perhaps didn’t heal properly causing some pain or even having things not quite right. So fingers bent wrong if you really studied them or knees misaligned or whatever. So some sensation of pain at all times is pretty guaranteed. Though even without injuries healed wrong he’d still have chronic pain because scar tissue is very sensitive and messes up the nerves so it freaking hurts, it hurts to move, it hurts to touch, it hurts to use… etc.

One of the things he’d do would obviously be to cover the scars and hide them from view, because embarrassment, shame, looking weak… etc but he’d definitely do it in really soft and not super tight fitting clothes because again the skin is sensitive.

I sometimes like to imagine that for injuries that are obvious and badly healed enough he would like break them and reheal them, maybe even with Punz’s help. In general though, broken bones, concussions and stuff heal on their own given time so even if not the best, things heal eventually and Dream is up and about swinging an axe so it ain’t like he’s too debilitated. Still, moving and stuff would be painful and he’s definitely not in shape like he was so it makes sense why he uses so many pearls all the time and why Tubbo would say to Punz in the finale about killing him, “He was sluggish—he was slow—he was out of practice we took him by surprise.”

Though, I do think sluggish and slow could also be a reference to his mental ability as well, implying he isn’t as quick witted or as good at reacting, something that if you watch that finale fight does align. His counter measures aren’t super fast especially compared to how adaptable and swiftly clever he was before.

Obviously, he likely has Depression, PTSD, and an Anxiety disorder, as a result of prison. Anxiety is the one we seen him at least try to mitigate by finding the most secure place to sleep so he can feel less stressed out, not going out and provoking people to avoid being attacked, kinda blocking out the world and stuff, not great for his depression though nor his PTSD…

I also imagine he’d be the type of person to think he could get over fears and trauma by exposure. Like sleeping in the cell with the lava down to remind himself he doesn’t need to be afraid of it… things like that perhaps. With limited success.

I imagine he has a lot of nightmares so he mitigates this by not sleeping as much as possible. Old habits die hard I guess…

Based off of Bad talking to Antfrost after the prison break about how he thinks someone was coming in and torturing Dream: “Anytime I would go and visit Dream he would be all shaky and he wouldn’t wanna talk.” I’d say Dream does shake, sometimes out of fear, sometimes out of weakness, sometimes out of stress, and sometimes because his body doesn’t work as it should. He mitigates this by trying to build up his strength and change strategies in battle if it ever gets debilitating, like switching to food, pearls, potions or TNT. He does a lot of pearling and running, and he never takes off his armor in fear of what might be around the corner.

Despite living in isolation for so long, he’s not overly social like he used to be. He goes days, weeks even without really talking to anyone between spurts of being overly talkative and needing interaction.

When talking to people, perhaps he hides his hands behind his back when they shake, he wears his mask to hide anything he might feel - fear, panic, sorrow, they can’t really see the tears building in his eyes or falling down his face that way. They can’t even really tell he’s hyperventilating unless they are paying attention.

He likes to do a lot of pushing down his feelings, which worked in the prison, it’s a good way to survive but it’s no way to heal. Maybe he schedules his meltdowns or panic to a later time - He’ll get upset about the fight with Quackity at home, he can’t breakdown in the streets now.

Maybe he spends days feeling numb, not leaving his bed, feeling like there’s no point. It’s better that way, if he doesn’t go anywhere he’s safe. If Punz asks he’ll lie, and Punz won’t believe him but he won’t push either………….

“Purpled, do you know what that does to a man do you know the limits that people have it—it goes beyond those limits it’s not okay.”

[terresdebrume]

Oh, also! I'm about halfway through the final rewrite for the almost case of the swimming pool! (we're at about 10.5k words right now)... I might actually need to have it britpicked afterwards because there's some spots where I'm like "I don't know where this phrase comes from actually" xD But we're getting there! Today is Monday so hopefully I'll be able to send it to whoever volunteers to britpick at some point this week :3 In the meantime, a short extract:

“Finally,” mum says rather than return her cheerful greeting. “I pressed the call button ages ago. What if there had been an emergency?”

“I’m sorry you all had to wait,” the nurse says, wheeling the tray so it’s within Edwin’s reach. “We had some complications with another patient in the ward.”

Mum huffs, and dad mutters something that sounds derogatory about the NHS. Edwin braces himself for another tirade about the state of the government but is mercifully spared by the nurse’s questions about how he feels, his energy levels, and other things Edwin is sure must be a lot more informative to her than they are to him.

“Well,” she says when she has all the answers she needs, “things sound promising. You’ll have to wait until the doctor visits this afternoon to get more concrete answers, but you’ll probably able to go home soon.”

“Oh, he’s not going home,” mum says dismissively. “His father and I must fly to Singapore for business reasons. He’ll be going straight to school.”

“Well,” the nurse says, most likely unaware that Edwin can see the way her eyebrows rise on her forehead, “he’ll be back to learning in no time, then. I’ll see you again around lunch time, yes?”

[anthurak]

So as something of a followup/offshoot of my theory on the Goetia Trial and the end of Season 2 (and Stolitz), here is a little idea that I imagine a number of people are really not going to like, but which personally I think could be REALLY fun.

See, regardless of what the trial involves, I think it’s safe to assume that Andrealphus attacking Stolas and Blitzo here specifically comes afterwards, and is a direct result of his plans failing. Because even in just this one shot, I feel like Andrealphus is SUPER giving vibes of ‘villain who has just had their devious and complicated schemes foiled and also possibly been humiliated by the heroes and is now out for petty revenge/murder’.

Adding on to this, and this post I did on this shot, I imagine Andrealphus is going to be killed by whoever comes in to rescue Stolas and Blitzo, be it Octavia, Loona, Vassago, the rest of I.M.P. or all of the above. Personally I like the idea of Stolas and Blitzo being saved by Vassago, who proceeds to square up to fight Andrealphus who in turn is launching into a big, unhinged villainous rant… only for Andre to get headshotted by Moxxie with the Blessed Carbine he swiped from Striker back in Season 1.

Now here’s the thing: In my big theory post, I briefly commented on the possibility of Stella also being along to kill Stolas herself, despite not being seen in the clip.

So what if it really is JUST Andrealphus showing up to kill Stolas and Stella just stays home?

It certainly wouldn’t be out of character for her. Despite her vehement hatred for Stolas and desire to see him dead, Stella has NEVER showed the inclination to actually do the deed herself, seemingly out of laziness more than anything else. So if Andrealphus decided to go kill Stolas himself after their plans for foiled, I’d say it would be perfectly in-character for Stella to essentially go ‘Oh good, I don’t even need to hire that smelly cowboy again. Could you bring me his head back, brother?’

Actually, speaking of the overrated edgelord, imagine if Striker was used as a ‘bait and switch boss’? Like it turns out Stella does hire him again and he shows up in dramatic fashion to attack Stolas and Blitzo… only to be metaphorically or literally squashed like a bug by Andrealphus who came to do the deed himself. I just think that would be REALLY funny. Particularly the fan reaction XD

But back to Stella, I think it’s entirely in-character for her to sit out any attempt to kill Stolas directly, or anything that requires her to actually DO anything. With probably the last we see of Stella being a scene of her and Andrealphus arguing about the failure of the latter’s plan, which ends with Andrealphus going off to kill Stolas himself.

At least until the end credits of the episode and/or season, wherein we get a scene of Stella lounging in her brother’s palace, and is informed of the ‘tragic’ death of her brother. As well as being informed that, due to laws of Goetia inheritance, all of his wealth, status and power will passed to his closest living blood relative.

As in; his SISTER.

Cue Stella giving a small, satisfied ‘just as planned’ smirk.

For all that people hate her, I personally think Stella would make a great and FUN recurring villain for the show XD

[thegamingcatmom]

You asked for asks and I'm asking :) I know is probably a long shot from where we stand rn bc everything is new and terrifying, no matter how nice they are, how beautiful they are... MC has still been abducted and that's well, quite a shocking experience I might say, idk I've never been abducted by pretty women before so wat do I know, right(?) Thing is MC can't stand them, Irina can't stand MC, Tanya and Kate want to be in MC's pants and Eleazar/Carmen play a more chill kind of parental figure in all this, whic I'd say they both are the most neutral of the bunch but not less to blame bc well, they are part of it too. My question is. How the hell is this even gonna work? Like what's going to change for MC to go from hating them to tolerate them to eventually like them and fall in love with them? Same with Irina, how goes from wanting to unalive and suck MC dry to fall in love with her? I understand this may be kind of a huge spoiler to the future bc of obvs reason but I find it to be so interesting how the dynamics are going to change, sure is gonna be a bumpy road there (ha see what I did there? :p) but it is the goal after all, so I understand totally if you don't wanna say anything about it bc well, spoilers(?) But if you could at least share a lil bit of what's going through your mind on that regard? Bc in my mind I find it quite difficult, like is MC's love a lie? In the sense that she falls in love bc the trauma is so severe that she's accepted this is all that it is out there for her bc she is not getting out, like that's kind of sad but it is a possibility yk some kind of psychological response to trauma perhaps. or is her love going to be genuine, like she found true love bc she eventually got to know them and oh surprise they are not that bad despite the fact that they abducted her? (That doesn't sound pretty good either XD) But I think you'll understand where I am going with this? if not is ok I'll try to explain better (: Thanks <3

I knew I could count on you. ❤️

Aight so, right off the bat:

It is difficult. And complicated. And ugly. And beautiful. And just fucking complicated.

A bumpy road alright. 😉

...is MC's love a lie? In the sense that she falls in love bc the trauma is so severe that she's accepted this is all that it is out there for her bc she is not getting out

This is something I can answer with 100% certainty:

No, I won´t turn MC into a brainwashed puppet. I´m not saying she will always be honest with her abductors (which is well within her right, if you ask me), but when she does start developing feelings, they will be real.

...Whether she will accept them is another story. 🙈

But there´s so much that still needs to happen before we even get to that point. And I think this is really what it comes down to:

It´s about all these different struggles and obstacles MC & the Denalis will have to face - alone and together. These challenges will force changes - some for the better, some for the worse. But both is needed to make progress.

I mean, it´s easy to live in a bubble when there´s nothing there to burst it, right?

...Well, it has been burst the moment Tanya chose to bring MC home. Thing is, nobody´s realized it yet. 😅

I mentioned it a while back, but the Denalis have this system in place that has worked for centuries now. They never had a reason to change their way of living and their, well, "culture". Which basically means Tanya is the boss and everyone else just goes along with whatever strikes her mood at the moment.

...More or less. With lots of hissing and spitting. 😏

In other words: They´re a less than functioning community right now because Tanya is a less than ideal leader right now. A leader is supposed to act in the best interest of everyone else, which means Tanya should have ended MC in those woods.

...Logically speaking. 😏

But ye, there´s a lot that needs to change first before we can even think about feelings, which means that all of this here-

Like what's going to change for MC to go from hating them to tolerate them to eventually like them and fall in love with them? Same with Irina, how goes from wanting to unalive and suck MC dry to fall in love with her?

...can´t really be answered in a straightforward way. It´s gonna be a long and bumpy road (hehe) for all of them, and it´s because of those bumps that they´ll eventually (hopefully) become the best versions of themselves. Because, in the end, that´s what it´s all about. ❤️‍🩹

...she found true love bc she eventually got to know them and oh surprise they are not that bad despite the fact that they abducted her?

I mean...getting to know them is defo a huge part of it all. If not THE part. This will (hopefully) become clearer as the story progresses, but MC & The Sisters have more in common than they´re currently aware of. And I think this will make a big difference, in the long run.

(Tip: Check out Chapter 2 again. 🔍)

BONUS: REMINDER

We´ve also got something else heading our way that might cause some panic, distress, disbelief confusion among The Sisters.

Don´t forget: MC has a +1. 😉

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Thanks a lot for your ask! I love reading those novels. 💋💋💋