#what do you mean red mages aren't a thing

[raayllum]

Why is Clauderry together / why is Terry with Claudia?

This is a question I've seen posed more than a few times in the fandom, of people feeling confused with why Claudia is with Terry (despite her dislike of elves) and more so why Terry is with Claudia despite her being a walking collection of red flags. This has, admittedly, always questions I felt the show answered quite well and obviously, but if it's still being probed, then... why not?

Let's talk about it.

Why is Claudia with Terry?

The only prior examples we have with Claudia having any kind of romantic connection is with Callum, which never came to fruition; I've also gone on record saying myself that the show made it clear Callum's feelings for Claudia were a lot stronger than whatever, if any, she held for him. However, in her interactions with Callum even just as a friend, we can see what she appreciates in her free time. For starters, we see that Claudia enjoys being a goofball:

We see that a shared sense of humour is something that Claudia cares about, as one of the only compliments she gives to Callum is "You always make me laugh" and "That was very confident Callum" as he was able to go with the flow while asserting himself.

Words of affirmation is also something she clearly enjoys. Appreciation, acknowledgement, and gratitude are very important to her.

(Side note: This is also part of why she spirals into "I did all THIS FOR YOU" on the beach in a "You owe me your life" kind of way, because she was prepared and sacrificed and saved you, and doesn't that deserve acknowledgement? Doesn't that mean getting what she wants? What she's owed? But I digress.)

We also see early fracturing in Callum not trusting her (1x03, 2x03), a subsequent breakdown in honest communication on both sides, and that Claudia reads Callum as being judgemental of her dark magic use, which is also something that frustrates her about Soren:

(Part of this is because Claudia has gone from seeing dark magic as just an amazing beautiful tool to a terrible but necessary one, so necessary that it overrules any other reservations... because she's attached to seeing herself as a Good Person—"But I'm not evil, it's me"—but again, I digress.)

Conversely, Terry has all of those things in spades. He admires and relies upon her dark magic use, he's someone she can be reciprocally goofy with, he's extremely attentive and loyal (and loyalty/devotion is something that is also extremely important to her), and perhaps most importantly, he's helpful and non-judgemental.

Terry also explains that one of the things Claudia likes about him is his smarts / creative thinking ("Goofy and glorious, just like you" / "You saved the day Ter-Bear") and his thoughtfulness:

Claudia says I think too much about everything, and that makes me weird, and wonderful, so...

This makes sense as Claudia values being prepared in her own day-to-day life curtesy of being a dark mage, and that Soren's tendency to being impatient when they were growing up together (lying about Harrow without consulting her, picking the fight with the dragon, etc) was something that got on her nerves.

As for the Elf 'elephant' in the room... Claudia also doesn't have an issue trusting Aaravos for one simple reason: he's helping her save her dad.

Even while she's warning Soren against trusting or forming friendships with other elves and dragons because they might "take advantage" of him and be fake friends, she can't see that's precisely what Aaravos is doing to her. In a similar vein, Terry also believes in her (as he says directly in 4x09) and is helping her save her father, so why would she have a problem with him even if he's an elf?

That doesn't mean there aren't problems in Claudia's worldview, or that exceptionalizing people is a Good thing to do, particularly to your partner, but it's a clearly defined and realistic cognitive dissonance. Claudia has moved past seeing all elves as Bad™ to "these ones are good" because they're helping her, and not getting in her way, and that's all she really personally cares about.

However, I think most people can understand why Claudia's with Terry, given how sweet and routinely supportive she is. The bigger thornier question then is the opposite. So let's talk about that too.

Why is Terry with Claudia?

One of the most common things people say when it comes to Terry and Claudia is that they wish we could see how they met (and presumably whether that initial attraction was there from the start or how it developed). This usually leans into an underpinning idea (and I could be wrong) that seeing their beginning would help indicate why Terry fell for her (and thereby why he stays). And I would definitely be interested in how they met, and am open to seeing it, whether in a show, graphic novel, or novelization mention.

That said, I think the show has also answered these accordingly. In a lot of ways, there's really only two reasons why Terry is with Claudia as she is in arc 2:

1) He doesn't have an Issue with dark magic.

He admires Claudia's use of it ("And your daughter's amazing, she brought you back from the dead, wow!"), is open and receptive to using it ("Dark magic has a tingly aftertaste, nobody ever tells you that"), and doesn't see anything fundamentally wrong with it ("Should I give up dark magic? Terry, tell me what to do" "Claudia, I can't"). On the one hand, this makes sense; there are spell ingredients of dark magic that aren't that different from hunting and given that Terry grew up near the Drakeriders, I'd find it hard to believe if the Drake riders don't hunt and eat meat, so even if Terry's village didn't, he was at least somewhat close to societies that did.

That doesn't mean he has zero reservations about dark magic ("I've seen you do some awful things, dark magic things" / "Are you mixing the pentapus ink with your own blood?") but that to him, it's not any different from how Claudia thinks about it. She also thinks she's done terrible things in the name of saving her father:

But I'm not evil. It's me. You know me.

I had to do things... [starts crying] I never imagined I would be able to do. (4x01)

This is also how Terry copes with murdering Ibis, citing "I had to, I couldn't let him hurt you," "and he was going to take Claudia's life, I had no choice," and "I'm going to be strong enough to do whatever I need to do and still have feelings." To Terry what matters most is exactly what he says in 4x09: why are you doing these things? Are they actually necessary?

Terry loves Claudia (and Viren by extension) above anything else. Everything he does is for them, good or bad. That devotional loyalty is something that Claudia also lives by, and is arguably her and Terry's biggest shared life value.

Doing terrible things is okay if it's in the name of love, and if it's not, then you shouldn't do them. This is why when he talks about his grief/guilt with Ibis, Terry always scaffolds it alongside the reason why he did it.

This is also why Terry steps in exclusively when what Claudia is doing is unnecessary. She didn't need to trick Rayla in order to get away. She doesn't need to kill the dragon ("It won't follow us anymore, it's trapped") as it's already helpless. They're actions without good reasons, which is also why Terry distrusts Aaravos, because he realizes:

Maybe this story started out as a story of love, but along the way it got twisted. [...] He isn't doing anything for love. He's doing it out of revenge.

So long as Claudia is doing things out of love, Terry will stick by her. And if she stops doing it out of love, then she stops being the Claudia he knows.

Which, I'll also note, is fundamentally different from the Claudia that everyone else knows, because

2) He didn't know Claudia beforehand.

Terry doesn't know Claudia as a semi sheltered girl growing up in the palace who did dark magic solely for fun, nor how most of her close personal relationships (Soren, Callum, Ezran) got destroyed in the span of 3ish weeks. He only knows Claudia who uses dark magic (seemingly) 90% out of complete necessity for flight, safety, and bringing her father back. He seemingly doesn't really know how Soren and Claudia had their falling out, nor does he have any real clue who Callum or Ezran are.

Because Claudia was his only way to know these things rather than knowing multiple people involved, or even living through experiences, Terry would've gotten sparse details or the version that is how Claudia experienced them, and he has no reason to doubt her.

To be clear, I'm not saying that their set up is perfect or that their relationships is perfectly healthy. It's not. Claudia's singular control over how Terry knows the experiences of her life when we as an audience know it's very different is an issue, but is not that dissimilar from when you meet / date new people to begin with (i.e. was their ex really that bad, or were they the problem is sometimes something that can only be known in time). Terry's passivity and mirrored worldview helps enable Claudia's even when she's being destructive to herself and others, and her treating Terry as an exception for his people is also not good in the long run. Clauderry walks this line of being incredibly sweet and uncomfortable, and I think that's one of the things that makes it interesting and with spades of tragedy, particularly going into S7. Terry may not yet have a deep seated issue with dark magic (which enables Claudia but also frees her up to grow on her own terms), but it is the reason they may be torn apart in the future for a time.

I do think they'll find their way back together eventually (even if they'll always be Divorced Eventually in my head). To me, it's clear why they love each other, and while TDP could say that's not enough (and I think that'd be a very interesting valid route to take), I don't think that they will. This scene exists, after all:

[sparrowrye]

Alastor x Fem! Reader {soulmates} Part 6

Synopsis: soulmate AU where you have the same mark on your body as your soulmate, and if your soulmate dies, you die too. Alastor needs to make sure that his soulmate is safe so he can continue his reign - whatever that takes.

Part 6: expanding horizons

Part Pilot | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Husker spent the next morning teaching me how to hold my human appearance. It took several practice tries before I could switch between Human me and Demon me. Afterwards, I spent the rest of my time outside staring off into space.

I still didn't know how to wrap my head around...well, myself. Husker had been right, holding a human appearance took effort. I couldn't hold it for long and ended up letting my demon side out most of the time. It was cool, yeah, but scary. What else did I not know about myself?

"Hey," Husker called from the door. "You busy?"

I scoffed. "Does it look like it?"

He padded to his chair and sat down facing me. "Do you...want to talk?"

"About what?" I stared at the tree line.

"About...this new side of you?"

"What's there to talk about?"

We both fell silent. I felt bad. I knew Husker was trying to help. It made me uncomfortable to talk to him, though. Would he spill to Alastor some of the things I said? Did Husker himself have motivations against me? It didn't seem likely but there was always the probability.

"Have you been to hell?" I finally asked. I didn't want to talk about myself but there was a whole other world I supposedly came from.

"Yeah, a few times," he replied, "I mostly grew up on the surface though. In the gambling district."

"So you play cards, huh?"

"A few." He slipped a card into his fingers, spun it, and made it disappear a second later. I chuckled.

"What's it like?"

"Dark. Creepy. Lawless. And a fuck ton of red."

"Is it really...hell or just..."

"It's really hell."

"I thought demons were just a form of spirits."

"I wouldn't know the specifics of things like that," he waved his hand, "but I do know that demons have their demonic look and hid among humans when they first crawled on the surface. Our history is supposedly recorded in some fancy library down in hell."

"What uh...does this mean I'm a Full mage?"

"Mmhm," he nodded.

"So I can do things like you and Alastor."

"Well, things like me sure. Alastor is a bit different."

"How?" I pushed.

"Well, in hell, demons who rise through the ranks are called Overlords. They own hundreds and thousands of souls down there. They all seem to have some kind of...super magic. Something specific to them. But Al...he's a completely different monster."

"Why does no one know that you exist?"

He shrugged. "We phased out. Everyone has magic now from the first demons so it's not really...important I guess."

"True but how come demons aren't taking over places like the Overlords?"

"Our powers are dampened a little up here. We're governed by the laws of Mother Nature. In hell, it's a different story."

I fell quiet as my mind made a map with all the information he had given me. I looked down at my black claws and rubbed my fingers together. It felt like I was still in a dream of some sort.

An idea sprung into my head. "Can you teach me how to fly?"

Husker's eyes widened as he looked at my black wings. Then he touched his chin as he thought for a moment. "Sure, why not? But not now..." he motioned for me sit back down. "It's too breezy and there's a storm coming in. Not the best air for learning."

I sat back in the chair and felt the wind. He was right. The wind was stronger and the air smelled more earthy. Speaking of smells, my nose curled when Husker opened another bottle. The alcohol ran straight for my nose and I rubbed at it furiously with the back of my hand.

That's when I noticed my heightened sense of smell. I could smell the old wood of the house, the small fire in the fireplace, and a bunch of other smells I hadn't noticed before. My ears flicked as I picked up the sound of a bird's wings flapping overhead. It flapped its way into the tree line and disappeared back to its nest.

"What is it?" Husker asked.

"I can...I can hear and smell everything." I probably looked like I was in a trance as I walked into the old home to discover the little smells and noises. Everything that was normal sounded so incredibly loud. The small fire crackling sounded like it was right next to me. And of course I could hear Alastor's footsteps as he walked around upstairs.

Husker taught me how to dampen loud noises like the faucet running or the door squeaking open. He made a comment about how I had the most sensitive hearing he’s ever heard of. His tricks helped tremendously to clean up dinner that night.

"Can you show me how you fixed the floor?" I asked him, tapping my clawed feet on the new tile. He looked between me and the floor before agreeing. He always seemed to be a little unsure when I asked him something like that. Was he worried I would use it against him? Or was he worried what Alastor might do?

He went to the study/library and ran his paw across a dusty side table. The top of it came back squeaky clean like it was freshly bought. "Try with one of the legs," he instructed, "Imagine your picking up all the dirt and dust."

The first and second time did nothing. I knew how to use Slight magic so why was Full magic so much harder?

"Use your imagination," he tried next. "And take your time. This is something new."

I clenched my hands into fists for a second before releasing the anger slowly. I took a deep breath. Wrapping my claws carefully around the wood, I dragged my hand down the leg and imagined the wood turning shiny. I opened my eyes and found a clean leg at the very least.

"Keep practicing. You have to exercise your magic muscle," Husker said. 

"Sure."

"You have time tonight. Alastor told me he and Rosie had something to take care of tonight."

"Oh, okay." I tried to hide my disappointment. With every meeting I had with Rosie, the more I discovered about my past. I wanted to remember my mother's face so badly. At the very least I knew she didn't purposefully leave me in the rings. Her hand had been forced.

"Try with something simpler." He held out an old lightbulb.

****

As Husker helped me learn and relearn my physical and magic abilities, I started to notice Alastor watching. If I was outside learning to fly, he was on the porch watching. If I was learning to use Full magic in the field, he was watching from one of the many windows. If I was in the library practicing on different objects, he somehow managed to appear in the sitting room observing me quietly.

I mentioned it to Husker but he simply brushed it off as one of Alastor's weird habits. That didn't mean I had to be okay with it.

Husker was fixing the electricity in the dinning room while I was practicing lighting the fire in the sitting room. I had seen Alastor and Husker snap their fingers but when I did it, nothing happened.

"It's all about intent, dear." I jumped at Alastor's voice. He stood behind me with his hands behind his back like always. The stupid cane was like a third eye for him.

"I've got it." I turned my back to him and stared down at the dead logs. I heard him walk past me and sit in one of the chairs, his red eyes never leaving me. I let out a tense sigh. "What do you want?"

"Absolutely nothing."

I scoffed. "I find that hard to believe." I tried again with the fire but nothing happened. "Why are you always watching me?"

"What ever do you mean, dear?"

"Stop calling me that. And I mean every time I'm doing something you're hiding somewhere watching me."

"Is it a crime to watch my soulmate?"

"Don't call me that either." My tail whipped hard against the floor. I was getting frustrated with him and myself. I knelt down and grabbed one of the embers. I could ignite my own hand but how could I not ignite a simple stick?

"Sometimes it's all about imagination," he said, drumming his claws against his cane. "Surely that's not something you're lacking in."

My lip curled in a snarl. I looked down at the hot ember and put it in the corner of the fire place. I looked at one of the logs and closed my eyes. I remembered seeing Full mages lifting air when they wanted to move something. Maybe I could do something similar.

I turned my hand palm up and pictured small flames sticking out from under the wood. They slowly grew bigger until they were catching the neighboring logs on fire. I felt the heat on my face and snapped my eyes open to a working fire. My shock turned into a smile. I had done it.

"Nicely done," Husker said from the stairwell. I stood up and brushed off my pant leg.

"Yes well done," Alastor commented from his chair. "You've got a lot of potential. We just need to harness it properly."

"We?"

"Yes, we." He stood and stepped up to me. He always came ridiculously close, forcing me to take a step back. I noticed that I had grown an inch or two in my demon form, putting me exactly at his shoulder height. “You and me. And Husker of course. But even he has his limits." I heard an angry cat growl from Husker in the dinning room.

"So now that I have power you're interested all of a sudden."

"Of course," he chuckled. "Before I thought you were a meager human with no redeeming qualities. But now I see you have some sweet secrets hidden in that mind if yours."

"I expect nothing less from the Radio Demon. Everything's some kind of string you can benefit from."

"I'm sure you'll come to understand me the more you discover about your power." He put a hand on my shoulder again.

"I don't think I will." I pulled his hand off.

****

I met with Rosie again but I made zero progress. She told me to write down any dreams or memories I had and to keep practicing with my magic. Apparently, I had gotten over the biggest hill but now everything was slow and steady.

I spent the following days restoring the old house to its proper glory. As slow and tiring as it was, I felt accomplished at the end of every day. I had restored all the flooring so they didn't creak so loudly and cleaned up the walls. Thanks to Husker, working electricity reached all over the house.

The library was the next room to be restored properly. I hated spiders but having magic solved that problem for me. I started practicing with using magic from afar so I didn't have to deal with them. Husker thought it was funny.

"My, I love what you've done to the place." Alastor manifested in the middle of the room. I rolled my eyes and shook the curtains until the dust had disappeared and their true colors shone through. Using magic was getting easier but it still made me exhausted. "I knew this old house just needed a woman's touch."

"Well you sure weren't going to do it," I said as I passed him. I took off the color glass shade of a lamp and ran my hand across it.

"I must say, this type of work suits you better than running about on the streets."

I placed the clean shade back on the lamp and took a deep breath. "You ought to remember I'm not your fucking housewife." I turned to find him barely an inch from me. I tilted my head back to stare up at his angry red eyes. My horns were the only thing that were taller than his shoulders.

"You ought to remember my rule about such foul language. It doesn't suite you."

I licked my lips and swallowed hard. Everything in me tensed as I straightened, closing the distance between us. My hands were sweating. "Fuck. You."

His hand grabbed my jaw and shoved me into the bookshelf. I pulled on his wrist as spit dripped out the corners of my mouth. I couldn't swallow with his hand pressed so tightly under my jaw. Breathing felt like I was sucking air through a pillow.

"Let this be your last warning, darling," the radio static coated his words, "Next time I will silence your defiance for an extended period of time. I'm sure you wouldn't want that." I looked up at his yellow smile with half closed eyes. "Now apologize, dear."

What!?

My tail whipped against the bookshelf and I pressed my claws into his wrist. I couldn't understand how someone of his stature had the strength he had. I wanted to swallow so bad.

"I'm waiting, love."

I felt something sharp poke above my lip. He dragged his claw along my upper lip and pressed it painfully in the corner of my mouth. I whined and tried to drop my weight to no avail.

"Three..." he started counting. I wanted to cough but I didn't dare. He pressed harder into the corner of my mouth. I pushed my foot against his leg but something pulled it back down. I couldn't see what had done it.

"Two..." I could see a mark on the corner of his smile that matched the injury he was giving me.

"One-"

"S-sorry."

"What was that dear?" He turned his head and lessened his assault only slightly.

"I'm s-sorry," I sputtered.

"For what, love?"

"For...for cursing."

"Thank you for the apology, darling." He let go and I stumbled to my knees. I swallowed first before coughing a bunch. I touched the puncture wound in the corner of my mouth. "I do hope you've learned your lesson." His feet melted into the shadows and the next second he was completely gone.

My face was hot with embarrassment. I went to the kitchen and padded my lips with warm water. Husker came to check on me but I waved him off. I know he had witnessed it. Even if he wanted to interfere, I don't think he could.

As terrifying as it was, I wasn't ready to give in so easily. Alastor would learn that he still had to treat me like a normal human being. If there was one thing I had learned from the rings, it was how to never give up.

[icedragonlizard]

What if dream friends had dialogue in Star Allies?

I suppose it could've been a lot of unnecessary work for HAL to do, but I still think it could be highly fun and imaginative to think about.

How cool would it be if the game's plot actually acknowledged the existence of the dream friends? The things they'd say in-game, etc...

I think it would be especially fun to think about what all the different dream friends might saying during the mage sister fights. Like, y'know, the points of the game where there's dialogue. What they all might say to the mage sisters in response to their words....

... I'm not going to go over what I think every dream friend would say in these moments, but I think I'd like to focus on ones such as Susie, Magolor, Marx, Taranza and Daroach. Why these ones in particular? Because I think they'd probably be the more entertaining ones in what they'd have to say in their dialogue during the mage battles.

How funny would it be that Marx and Magolor just troll the shit out of the mages? How funny would it be that Susie acts condescending when talking to them? How funny would it be that Taranza joke-flirts with them, he doesn't actually mean it as he's just doing it to get them riled up? How funny would it be that Daroach tells them to watch out before he steals from them? This stuff is fanfiction-worthy! Heck, this might be the biggest reason why I might attempt my adaptation of Star Allies into a fanfiction in the future, although I've got many other fics planned beforehand so it'd be a long while.

But still! There could be endless potential when thinking about this.

Let me demonstrate an example. First, let's look at the part where the game first introduces Flamberge, and she's really angry.

"HEY, YOU! Stubby little...pink thing! Yes, YOU! I have a buuuurning question for you! You're the one who was so rude to sweet Francisca, aren't you?! Don't you dare try to deny it!"

"Ohohohohohohoho! We sure put that crazy blue lady in her place! What are you gonna do about it? Throw a temper tantrum? Go so berserk that you lose control and we can easily beat you?"

Wanna guess who said that? Hahahaha... the purple text probably made it obvious. In this interpretation, it's Marx who said that. There's no way he wouldn't just totally mock them and rub it in their faces. At the very least in my interpretation of Marx, it'd be like him to do that.

And by the way, I'm one that actually headcanons Marx becoming friends with the mage sisters post-HiAD because he loves how chaotic they are, and loves that they're willing to join him in doing insane shit (especially Francisca). But during Star Allies when the mages were the enemy? I bet he totally mocked the shit out of them!

Magolor, too. Here's a good example of Magolor having dialogue against one of the mages:

"Bonjam. I am Zan Partizanne, the eldest of the three generals of magic."

"Woah... Zan what? I didn't hear that thoroughly! I think I'll call you Zan Parmesan Cheese, though!"

".... I absolutely HATE that you ended up getting my name more right than a lot of other fools have."

It'd be hilarious to see a lot of dream friends trying to say her name. All the different ways they could say it wrong.

Here's a Taranza example:

"This must be the fiery flames of fate at work! Ooooh yeaaaah! My flames and I are fully stoked now!"

"Golly, you're really hot, good ma'am!" with a trollish look on his face.

"... Excuse me? EXCUSE ME?"

"Hahahahahaha! Am I making you overheat too much, fool?"

I think Taranza deserves to be depicted as silly sometimes.

A Daroach example:

"We wish to assemble the dark Jamba Heart pieces that were scattered across the universe."

"Woah... you want them all? That's a big bummer! What if I want to steal some of them? Maybe I'll still do it out of spite, teehee!"

I hate the limited amount of colors allowed for tumblr posts. To make it clear, for this example, the blue text is Francisca while the red text is Daroach. While, of course, Flamberge was the red text in the examples with Marx and Taranza, while Magolor was the blue text in the example with Zan.

And now, let me demonstrate a couple examples with Susie. I think she'd delightfully fire off on them like the feisty cheeky woman she is.

"I shall now turn this pink ball of nice into a frozen block of ice!"

"No you won't. This 'pink ball of nice' is a force of pure destruction, and you're going to defrost by daring to harm the universe with all of this insolent nonsense. You must be destroyed!"

"... Very well. But I won't go down without a fight, so you best watch out that you all might become ice sculptures this time. I can more than make sure of it!"

"We will more than make sure to obliterate you, just like the rest of your barbaric cult! Let's put her in her place, Pinky!"

Susie example with Zan:

"I did not expect you to survive your visit to Jambastion."

"You thought that would've gotten us? Pfft! We've all been through worse than that. You're going to have to try harder than that if you really want to eliminate us for good."

"Really, you survived worse? Well, that doesn't matter, because your luck has run out."

"No. Your luck has run out. We're going to exterminate all of you like the savages you are!"

This works out well with my interpretation that Susie's Japanese SA pause description containing the words "exterminate the savages!" is referring to the Jambastion cult when they were still the enemy. I headcanon that she's slowly in the process of unpacking baggage, and "savages" is just a thing she calls people she views as enemies.

And uh... to be honest, the cult kind of deserved to be called words like that during Star Allies when they were threatening everything.

I've done a lot of examples of a few dream friends having dialogue during the mage battles. But what about when confronting Hyness?

I think all the dream friends would be horrified at the moments that Hyness knocks Zan out of the way, weaponize all three mage sisters' bodies in his second phase of the fight, and then sacrificing them and himself to Void Termina. It would make them just flabbergasted.

Although I bet Marx would probably laugh at how unhinged he is.

"It seems... we do not have enough energy... to revive our Dark Lord... Must we... allow ourselves... to fall... into oblivion?"

"Yes, you should do that!"

"No."

"Yes."

"NO!"

"YES!"

"No no no no no!"

"Yes yes yes yes yes!"

"*goes on his giant unhinged rant*"

"*laughs hysterically* Look at you go off! It's hilarious!"

Marx is just... lmao.

Sorry that I don't have examples with every dream friend having dialogue in this post. But you get the general idea! Perhaps if you have ideas as to what the other dream friends could say in these moments, feel free to mention them in the notes!

Although I'll leave you here with a King Dedede example, just cuz:

"For what you've done, I'll scorch you to such a degree that... that... even tasty, toasty marshmallows will seem like ice cubes compared to you!"

"You ain't gonna be scorchin' any of us, ya hot fiery slimeball! We'll put you in your place like we did to the blue look-a-like of ya!"

Hahaha... ha... I interpret southern accent Dedede. Sue me.

Thanks for reading the post if you did! Let me know about more ideas of dream friend dialogue you have in the notes. I'd be curious what else you think in this broad, interesting concept.

[spectrechosts]

Johanna II

More elf ear stuff. Stuck-up wizard has a milf moment.

Johanna knew that this was a phase.

Little wizard on her first adventure, fresh out the college, thinks she's the hottest shit the unwashed masses have ever seen. Doesn't yet understand the value of things like a frontline or not being reliant on mana.

It's fine. Johanna's seen it a million times. She'll learn.

"I mean really, why do we even need a knight?" The haughty elf (Myrrae? Nerah? Oh, whatever. The priest knows.) drawled. "Swinging a sword around like a maniac, it's barbaric."

Going to be fucking annoying until she did, though.

"Mind your tongue, Neria." Said the priest. (Neria. Right.) "Johanna's been getting us out of scrapes since before you could cast cantrips."

"I could cast cantrips at four." Countered the elf, smugly.

That would be what, twenty years ago? She might have already known the priest, it was hard to remember.

"Since before you figured out you could mage hand yourself, then." Added their rogue. The priest rapped her on the head with her staff.

("Don't speak that way to our new partymember, Gristle.")

("What? Everyone does it, boss.")

"Right, well, you have me now." Neria said, ears tinged red. "I hardly think her presence is required, and I'd rather split the take three ways than four."

"She makes a valid point." Said Johanna, a lazy smirk on her lips. "All in favour of ditching the wizard and splitting her cut?"

Gristle raised her tiny green hand in the air, and the priest rolled her eyes. "We ditch no one." She said.

"Shame." The goblin said. "Got a new dagger I been eyin'."

~

Johanna stood, knee deep in charred corpses, and smouldered at the elf.

Literally smouldered, because Neria had apparently thought it appropriate to launch a fireball into the crowd that Johanna was a part of.

"I uh, I think we should check behind us, make sure we aren't getting flanked, boss." Said Gristle, eager to not be in the room for what was about to happen.

"Shouldn't I heal-"

"You can heal her when we get back. Go."

The rogue swiftly backtracked out of the dungeon chamber, dragging the priest along with her. Johanna sheathed her sword and stomped toward the wizard, furious.

"L-Look, you would have gotten hurt by the cultists anywAAAAAAIE-"

Johanna grabbed her and slammed her into the wall, pinning her neck with her forearm.

"Would I have?" She hissed, her lungs still stinging from the acrid smoke.

"Y-Yes!" The elf squealed.

"And what, pray tell, do you think I would do to them for attacking me?"

"Look, you're fine-" The elf bargained, trying and failing to break the pin.

"I am fine." Johanna seethed. "You, however, are in fucking peril." She drew a knife from her belt and drove it into the soft mortar of the dungeon wall beside Neria's head for emphasis, making the elf flinch.

"It was the fastest way, it's not a big deal-" She whined.

"Not a big deal?" Johanna asked, incredulous. Her still smoking eyebrows begged to differ. She grabbed one of the elf's ears and pulled it taut. "Are you fucking deaf, you idiot girl? I've killed for less. Why-"

"A-Aahn~"

Johanna blinked, stunned. What the fuck.

"Are you fucking enjoying this?" She asked, squeezing the tip of her ear, rolling it between her thumb and forefinger.

"N-Nuuhhh~" The elf moaned, squirming. Her face was flushed and her eyes shut tight as she tried to pull her head away.

Now Johanna was blushing too. This- This was weird.

But the elf was admittedly rather-

No! No. Johanna was mad at her. Hated her. Focus.

The elf was looking at her, unfocused eyes half lidded with pleasure. "M-More…"

She could feel blood rushing to her-

NOPE. The girl had to be almost young enough to be her daughter, for fucks sake. Not doing this. Whatever the fuck this was.

She let go of the elf and took a step back. Jutted an accusatory finger at her. "You-" She had completely lost her train of thought. Her threats were clearly not having the intended effect, and honestly she wasn't feeling that mad anymore. Just… confused. "You don't fucking do that again, you hear?"

The elf nodded, her eyes glued to the floor.

"Go get the others back in here." She ordered, and the elf started to leave.

She paused halfway to the door.

"Can, can we um, talk later? About-"

No.

"Later." She said tersely.

Fuck.

~

Johanna nursed her mug of ale until only her and Neria remained at the tavern table.

The elf couldn't look her in the eye. She'd like to think the shame stemmed from blowing her up earlier, but it probably didn't. Well, she was in no hurry. Let the fool girl stew in it.

They sat alone for nearly ten minutes before she finally spoke up.

"Shall we talk about… today?" The elf asked, ears drooping out of embarrassment.

"Have something you want to say to me, oh mighty wizard?" Johanna answered, feigning disinterest. "I'm all ears."

Johanna could be mean, it was practically her day job. You don't make knight captain without a healthy capacity for condescension and a deep well of insults. If the elf wanted it though, she had to earn it.

"I, you said we could talk, about- you know. Remember?"

"I remember someone lighting me on fire."

"R-Right, but then after that-"

"No, I think I'd like to talk about that."

The elf withered under her disdainful gaze.

"W-Well, as I tried to explain to you-" She stuttered, and Johanna sighed.

"You can explain all night girl, I don't rightly care."

Neria shut up, and they sat together in silence once more.

"I…" She said, after some amount of thought. "Am sorry. I was wrong to cast a fireball on you, even if it was the fastest and easiest way."

It was good enough, Johanna supposed.

"You think you're sorry now, I'll show you sorry. With me, elf." She said, as she got up and left for her room.

The elf had barely closed the door behind her before Johanna swung her around and pinned her to the wall by the neck again.

"Now, where were we?" She asked, pinching the elf's ear again and husking into it. "I think, you were begging like a whore."

Neria was red in the face, already squirming. "I-I'm not a-"

"Yes you are." Johanna said, pulling harder and making the elf interrupt herself with a shaky moan. "You're an idiot whore that needs to be put in her place. Isn't that right?"

"Ye-yesss…" Neria whimpered, her hand dipping below the hem of her dress.

"No touching." Johanna growled. "Your hands stay at your sides, or I stop."

She obeyed, arms rigid and hands balled into shaking fists. Johanna let go of her ear and hiked up the elf's dress, forcing her knee between her legs, pressing her thigh into the wet spot forming on her underwear.

"You're already soaked and I've barely touched you. Are you so desperate?" Johanna asked, and received no answer. She took the tip of the elf's ear in between her fingers again and pinched it tight, pressing her lips to the base and whispering: "You will speak when spoken to, slut."

The elf nodded.

"That isn't speaking, imbecile." She hissed.

"Yes yes I'm your desperate whore whatever you want fuck-"

"That's right." Johanna said, removing her arm from the wizard's throat and hooking a thumb into her mouth. "You're an idiot wizard who's getting what she deserves, right?" She asked, punctuating it by grinding her thigh into her harder and tugging her ear again.

"Y-Y-Yeshh…"

The elf was breathing hard, her whines were growing in pitch, and Johanna gasped mockingly as realization hit her.

"Ohhh slut, are you really going to cum from this? Just from me being mean to you?" She asked, voice dripping with venom.

Neria went redder than she thought was possible.

"N-Nuhhh-" She whined, trying to squirm away.

"I think you aaare." Johanna said teasingly, tightening her grip. "Fight it, whore."

The elf scrunched her eyes shut, her one free ear twitching uncontrollably as her breath hitched and she gurgled around the knight's thumb.

"C-Cahnt- fhuhh- oh ghod-"

"Fiiiiight it. You can't be this pathetic."

"OhgogohghghodfffffUAAH-"

Johanna watched, feigning boredom, as the wizard shook and spasmed through her climax. She noticed Neria kept her hands balled at her sides through it, maybe she wasn't a total lost cause. She withdrew her leg, released her grip, let the elf slowly slide down the wall and settle onto her knees.

The elf panted for a minute before wiping the drool from the corner of her mouth and getting up on shaky legs.

"G…Good talk. I'm glad we could, resolve that amicably, a-as professionals." She said, as she opened the door to leave. "I, I would quite like to work with you again, I think."

"Elf?"

"Y…Yeah?"

"Where do you think you're going? I'm not done with you."

"O-Oh."

[felassan]

Dragon Age: Absolution

some random bits and pieces on Episode 1. under a cut due to length

first thoughts post on this Episode

From the designs of buildings and so on in the Nevarran city, it feels like the artists referenced the existing images of buildings etc from Nevarra, such as the sketches in World of Thedas. ^^ I wondered if the city was Nevarra City, and the water the Minanter. Or is it Cumberland, on the Waking Sea?

^ Neb's animated corpse first appears during Tassia's segment in the opening theme, highlighted in gold, and smaller and slighter of stature than the other soldiers

In the opening theme, Miriam throws knives to put out candles, which reminds me of using water arrows to extinguish torches in the old school Thief games :)

^ This is clever stylistically, both sides of Miriam's face are red - one side with the mark of House Ammosine (in red rather than its usual black due to the opening theme's palette), one side red with blood. It's the same thing, really :(

I know it's because Dolph stinky, but it was clever to draw attention to Miriam's scarf by having her touch it, before having Hira come in and mention it and communicate that it has meaning to Miriam

Hira has the pouch she later puts the Circulum in when she steals it at the start of the show. a lil nice touch, sometimes in shows like these characters seem to manifest bags/pouches out of thin air when the plot needs them to have one. like, nice consistency

Miriam jumps right in front of Hira in the warehouse fight ;;

When Fairbanks and Hira brace for combat, weapons drawn, Roland simply leans casually against a wall. he Knows Miriam's got this and there's no point in him drawing his sword

I wondered if Dolph and Hasem were brothers, with several of their grown children being in the gang

When Qwydion is introduced she's called a "rebel mage". did that mean apostate, mage who was in a Circle and rebelled and fought in the mage-tempalr war, or Vashoth mage?

When Hira says "I think you might need this mission as much as I do" she touches her necklace, foreshadowing its (or rather, what it represents) importance in why she needs this mission. ofc as we later learn its a symbol of her family, who were killed by Venatori, and that's why she wants to steal the artifact, in order to destroy Tevinter

^ in the transition to their journey, I thought the corvid flying was a nice touch, like, representing how, like Spymaster Leliana sending forth her ravens from Skyhold, the Inquisition have dispatched the party and so off they fly. or more literally conveying contact between the party and the Inquisition back at Skyhold. which makes sense, this show is like a look at a war table mission

hhh Lacklon seems a bit grumpy when he looks up at the branch Qwydion moves aside in order to pass, like he's thinking about how he's v smoll in comparison

the environments they travelled through were pretty! it made me think about exploring environments in DA:D. blending the layer with the Thedas map so we could see place names of areas they probably travelled through like Trevis, the Silent Plains and Caimen Brea was cool

^ what is the structure here on the left? assuming they're in the Silent Plains here, a ruined part of the Imperial Highway, one of those signs of a city or settlement that once was on the Silent Plains and was destroyed before the First Blight, or perhaps the remains of somewhere dwarven on the surface that was like Kal Repartha?

by the size of this creature's (dragon's?) spine and rib cage, it was freakin enormous!

I want to believe that hairy nugs are real, and the nug equivalent of the mutations irl that gave rise to hairless cats :)

we already knew that elves see better in the dark than humans, but had superior hearing been mentioned before this?

I appreciated the line where during the exposition and 'welcome to the world new people' loredrop for folks who aren't familiar with the games, Fairbanks mentioned blood magic, raised corpses and demons. handy, as the party meets all of these things during the show

bellows cough is new, add it to the list of canonical ailments one can get in Thedas hh

Divine Adnias is also new lore, add them to the list of known Tevinter Divines. apparently faithful Tevinter Andrastians sometimes go on a pilgrimage route relating to this Divine in hopes of being healed. the route leads to or through Nessum.

Five gold was one month's wages??

with the attention given to Fairbanks' fancy ring in the opening theme and this episode, maybe in this worldstate Fairbanks' noble heritage was revealed?

^ no thoughts head empty, but a v badass painting and the fact that the summer palace in Nessum was built on a sealed temple to the Old Gods was cool

"High Imperium" is a furniture/interior decor style apparently

Miriam trying to break into the palace, and the bit about how one of the Black Divines (shock!) was involved in something illicit, reminded me of Vadis and Irian infiltrating the palace to steal Dumat's Folly in Half Up Front

Qwydion can do some plant magic! 🌸 She's also a talented healer, which reminded me of Francesca from the comics, whose healing magic is supplemented by her plant magic

the magical/weapons store gave me nostalgia for Wonders of Thedas :)

^ knives sticking out of the pinboard is a nice subtle characterization moment for Miriam and/or Fairbanks

^ blue lyrium lamp? it's blue, glows, and the [mysterious music playing] happens when it's on screen. lyrium emits a song and we know trace amounts of lyrium can be infused in stones to make glowstones. these are commonly used in Orlais to light dark passages. Tevinter is known for greater use of everyday magic, so why not

in DA:I, the description for the rogue ability Knockout Powder is "You throw a handful of dosed dust into an enemy's face, putting them to sleep for a short time." :)

I wonder what arcane grenades they picked up :D

"bat-faced".. :| reminds me of "rabbit"

I originally thought Fairbanks' references to his wife were jokes referencing their 'Hira is my wife' scam. does he really have a wife? Clara seemed to have a thing for him in DA:I, maybe they married after DA:I? oh no 😭😭

^ is this written Tevene?

and shoutout to the wee stick dudes.

[callinskiiscalling88]

OMG OZZY OSBOURNE IS A TWISTED WONDERLAND FAN?!

(I also did a little lyric analyzing, scroll for that)

(intro is red and you can skip it if you know the context of Ozzy and Twst. Book 7 spoilers are marked as green. Lyrics are purple. (When i didn't paste an image of them)

Okay so very quick intro. For twst fans who don't know Ozzy Osbourne what rock are you living under? He's a very popular rock artist and the lead vocalist for a heavy metal band "Black Sabbath" (a very well known 1970s band.) He has the nickname "Prince of Darkness".

And for Ozzy fans who are still reading and don't know twst. Twst stands for Twisted Wonderland, a Disney anime game. It focuses on Yuu (mcs name) who gets whisked away to a highschool organized by dorms for magic. Each of the 7 dorms are based off a Disney villain, who are praised as "The Great 7". It's a fun game check it out!! Dire Crowley is the principal of the academy. Not much is known about him but he praises himself on his "benevolence" and "kindness". Though no offense Crowley fans he's a lazy jerk.

To understand this analysis you'll need to know what an overblot is. With a mixture of strong negative emotion and a large use of magic a mage gets infected with the overload, causing them to overblot. (Blot is like magics equivalent to a car's gas emission per say). The person gets a new stronger form though it's highly damaging and if stuck in that form for too long they turn into a phantom. Imagine a sentient vicious blob of black ooze .

((((((Also Levan is Malleus Draconias dad who went missing long ago before Mal hatched from his egg. Maleanor is Malleus's mother who died after an attack on her castle ))))))

Now with all that out of the way!! Lyric analysis!! All the correlations. This includes the Crowley is Levan theory! Plus the overblot theory that he caused them. (Though you can still enjoy a lot of the analysis if you aren't a believer of either of these theories)

This could correlate to when Levan left. I haven't read part 5 in awhile but if I remember correctly it doesn't exactly say what happened but he disappeared during a battle when he was a general. What was he thinking when he was in that fight?

For the Crowley Levan theory to work he would have been kidnapped by the Silver Owls. He would need to be in a weak state for that to be possible. The line did you talk to the dead could be a metaphorical for him "seeing the other side".

Or people say the magical mirror that assigns the boys their dorm is Maleanor. That could be considered talking to the dead.

His disappearance was tragic. It affected a lot of people

And you could definitely say being a General is "thrilling". Though defining thrilling as an adrenaline rush not exciting.

You fooled all the people with magic could refer to him covering up all the overblots. You don't even need to be a believer of the "Crowley caused the overblot theory" to know he had to have covered all this up somehow. Though I find it gives it more depth to take that into consideration.

He praises himself a lot. He of course would think of himself as Mr.Charming. The line after could refer to someone questioning his judgement. He's definitely not as nice as he claims to be.

In nocturnal rapport doesn't actually have to do with the night. I believe this line just means he's hard to talk to emotionally. (I could be wrong) As the principal his students should trust him and be able to talk to him. Yeah he's not trustworthy.

Uncovering things that were sacred Could refer to people finding out about the overblots, or even that he caused them. Or that he's Levan.

Actually he's a mysterious guy there is so much this could refer to.

Conceived in the eye of secret also ties into his mysteriousness. He does have a lot of things he ain't spilling!

It could also refer to his identity being fake. Cough cough Levan.

White horses are commonly used for heroes of a story or even angelic entities.

This is quite ironic since he hasn't helped with the overblots at all. Even more ironic if he's causing them.

This whole paragraph could refer to the overblots. They've become common in the school. Even classic

A maidens call could refer to the students crying out. They need help they're being attacked.

The overblots are definitely drastic, each one getting stronger and stronger.

(And for the last line this isn't official but in book 8 if Grim overblots (assuming he will by then) and Yuu has to fight him there could be a scene where they're cornered.)

I had to Google what polemically meant. So for people who don't know it means something that defends/attacks a noun. (Person, place, beliefs, idea or thing)

What are his motivations for causing the overblots (if he did)?

Or dare I even say he's the reason Yuu's here? What purpose do they serve to him?

We all wanna know.

So that concludes my lyric analysis and correlation to Dire Crowley!!

Song:Mr.Crowley by Ozzy Osbourne

Character by Yana Toboso

Art owned by Disney's Twisted Wonderland team

Now extra stuff:

I love this stupid bird man. There's just so much we don't know!!

if you're still here I'm surprised, but comments appreciated

Help this took over an hour to type out...

Go listen to the song!! This song has a special place in my heart even though I don't actually listen to it. Now it's even more special with my twst hyperfixation.

Plus I find it crazy that it's over 40 years old yet it's still so popular. (43 years old if I did the math right)

The end.

Have a good day<3

[pinayelf-archive]

Hi! :D

Motion, roots and bling for Immy, Sinag and Amihan!

Hello! Thank you so much <3

motion: How does your OC move? How does their clothing help or hinder their range of motion? Are they flexible, coordinated, clumsy?

Immy - When comfortable (with her clan, around friends & loved ones), Immy is very bubbly and bouncy with movements. She wears a lot of skirts and dresses, and it's usually the type with twirly skirts. When she's in an environment where she's uncomfortable or out of place, she tends to be reserved: hands folded together, nervously stimming by tapping her foot. Her demeanor is quiet, shier, and tries to make herself look smaller.

Sinag - She is very extroverted and enjoys attention, and because of her tall stature, it's not hard for her to get it. Sinag moves with a lot of confidence with an easygoing air. Though, for the most part, it's guarded nonchalance, she doesn't want people to feel or see her weak spots. She tends to wear sleek and simple clothes: leather trousers, worn boots and tunics for easy movement. She may be a mage, but she knows how to fight with her hands, she'd prefer not to have anything extra on her to hinder movements.

(This is gonna get long so rest under the cut!)

Amihan - She is very stand-offish, often has a resting bitch face and never seems relaxed. Amihan is uncomfortable almost all the time unless she's alone or with people she trusts (she trusts very few), and she's stiff almost - like she's perpetually waiting for someone to yell at her for doing something wrong. Even out of the Circle, she's most comfortable in long robes (though not always necessarily mage robes). She likes long skirts and sleeves, preferably layered as she gets cold easily, and it also serves as a barrier somewhat, to keep her closed in.

-

roots: Is your OC's look inspired by any specific style of clothing or fashion trend? What are the roots and/or inspiration for their look?

Immy - answered here :)

Sinag - Growing up in a farm, younger Sinag always just wore whatever was comfortable, warm and easy to move in. Even as she got older and developed her own style, she will always choose something that's easy to move in. After moving to Kirkwall and finally having the means to get clothes she wants, Sinag prefers sleek and simple clothing. She also prefers blue, despite the whole Amell red thing (I hc that the robe she wears as casual wear is blue, maybe I'll mod it one of these days)

For formalwear, while she still prefer's sleek silhouettes, she likes bold blue colors and eye-catching elements. A bit more opulent than her casual wear, but she figures it's for "fancy" occasions, so why not go all out lol. Again, these aren't really historically accurate either.

Modern setting Sinag loves athleisure, denim, and a nice leather jacket. Cool & casual looks for every day wear, but she can clean up pretty nicely. She loves a nice, sexy silhouette, especially ones that show off her height :)

Amihan - The best way to describe casual wear for Amihan would be...mage robe adjacent? (lol). She likes trumpet sleeves and long skirts, and unlike Sinag, she reps the Amell red. After she left the Circle, she went to a seamstress and was like "Can you make it really long and sort of feel like a mage robe?" She's a creature of habit and likes comfort. I also like her in 1400s style Renaissance dresses, I especially like the empire waist silhouette on her. I imagine she would wear those to formal events. She also likes velvet.

For modern settings, Amihan still really likes long skirts. Best way to describe that style would be a mix of artsy and dark academia. Her color scheme is very autumn too - red and mustard yellow. Her go-to is a sweater and a long skirt, or a turtleneck top and a cardigan. For formal wear, I love putting her in vintage silhouettes like 40s and 50's, I think she looks lovely in it ^_^

-

bling: What jewelry does your OC wear? Does it have any meaning?

Immy - Her most important piece of jewelry is Cullen's lucky coin on a silver chain <3 It's her comfort object. She also wears a braided leather bracelet with glass beads that her brother made for her! I don't have visuals of it at the moment, but I should probably draw it one day.

In general, outside of that, Immy adores pearls and gold jewerly. She especially loves jewerly with floral and/or sun motif. Immy also likes being decked out in it during special occassions and will layer necklaces and adorn her hair with pearls (like Lizzie in P&P 2005 hehe)

Modern setting Immy LOVES cute jewelry. Fun earrings with strawberries, teddy bears, and hearts

Sinag - She loves BOLD jewelry, chunky chains and gems. Think statement pieces - especially with earrings. Sinag also has multiple piercings in her ear and she likes it studded with gems. She prefers silver jewelry, she likes the icy look of it as she's a frost mage.

She also loves those ornate combs

Modern setting Sinag wears chokers! She has similar types of piercings in a modern setting as well, and she likes wearing stacked earrings.

Amihan - Doesn't wear jewelry. She doesn't like any lol, it's a sensory thing. Modern setting Amihan will wear a srunchie around her wrist at most.

[loosesodamarble]

Oh! If you're still doing the headcanon ask game, can I get Vanessa and Morgen please? 🥰

Of course I'm still doing the ask game! I've only just started it today in fact!

And those headcanons you ask for are here now!

.....

Vanessa Enoteca

Realistic Headcanon: Vanessa’s Red String of Fate spell is a two-way street. There’s gotta be a mutual sense of connection for the spell to protect anyone. The spell can get around the elf possessions because the souls of Vanessa’s friends are still in the bodies. But if Vanessa and a person’s bond isn’t super stable, the spell won’t work for them. Zora and Nacht would have a high risk of not being under RSoF’s protection because of the walls they keep up. Nacht is definitely worse off than Zora. While he said he was gonna live with the Bulls, he would take growing accustomed to them at a snail’s pace, and even then his connection to most Bulls would probably remain as coworkers. Even with Nacht’s history with Yami, I think Vanessa wouldn't warm up to Nacht quickly. He is an acquired taste after all. Plus (and this is a personal me thing) I don’t see Nacht and Vanessa having much chemistry. (No hate to people who imagine them with a friendship or even romance. My mind just draws a blank when imagining them interacting. 😔)

While it might cause Vanessa some grief to learn that her spell does have conditions like that making it slightly harder to protect the squad/friends she considers her “family,” I feel like conditions like that would make for an interesting test of trust. Like, imagine if an enemy tried to infiltrate and bring down the BB? But RSoF outs them as an enemy because the spell won’t protect someone who doesn’t value Vanessa as much as she values them.

Not realistic but hilarious Headcanon: Vanessa has never won a drinking contest against other Black Bulls members. Either the members are too young to drink (Noelle, Asta), they aren't interested in competing (Grey, Secre, Gordon, Henry, Nacht), they'd rather compete with food (Charmy, Luck), or they agree to the drinking contest and in her overconfidence, she drinks ahead of time and ends up dooming herself to lose (Yami, Zora, Finral, Magna). Vanessa has won countless contests elsewhere but within the squad, it just never works out in her favor. 😅

Heart-crushing and awful, but fun to inflict on friends Headcanon: Vanessa remembers how her mother looked when she smiled. When she was first put in that cage, she hoped to one day be able to do something to make her mother smile again and thought that was how she'd get her freedom. She gave up on that hope eventually. But even years later, Vanessa would like a chance to make her mother smile again.

Unrealistic, but I will disregard canon about it because I reject canon reality and substitute my own Headcanon: Vanessa's actually a talented writer and has written a few romance stories (both the innocent and not so innocent variety). None of them are very long with 30,000 being the average word count. She's managed to write one short novel per year since joining the Black Bulls (which means her writing process might actually be "write drunk, edit sober" 😆). She bases the stories on the romantic gossip from other squads that she hears about. And one might've been a self-insert fantasy with a knock-off Yami. But you didn't hear that from me.

...

Morgen Faust

Realistic Headcanon: Morgen trained himself to specialize in healing magic. His magic had a natural inclination for offensive spells. But he wanted to heal and use support spells and so he underwent intensive training to get the spells he ended up with. He wasn't without any attacks in his repertoire but he was mainly a support mage with healing, defensive, and other utility spells. Morgen is not a noble who would coast by on his naturally strong magic and just take what's given to him. He will commit himself to learn how to use magic the way he wants to.

Not realistic but hilarious Headcanon: Morgen's go-to response to anything he really didn't want to do (meet with a suitor, clean the bathroom after Yami used it, do a spicy food challenge, etc) was to go to the nearest window and jump out of it. He wouldn't say anything, but walk to the window, open it, and jump out like it was nothing. If he wanted to make it clear how opposed he was, Morgen would run and leap out the window without even opening it. It was so bad that anytime Morgen was told something people knew he wouldn't like, they'd arrange to meet him in a windowless room. (Don't worry, he'd cushion his fall with a bit of Light Magic, that or he'd make a pair of wings and fly off.)

Heart-crushing and awful, but fun to inflict on friends Headcanon: Morgen's first loyalty was always to his family. Not just Nacht. But his parents too. Even if they didn't truly love him, he loved them. Because they were his parents. They gave him life and a home and clothes. He was quietly neglected, but he was never fully cast aside and abandoned. And they loved Nacht (albeit for the wrong reasons, but they at least values Nacht) which meant that the brother Morgen cared for didn't face the kind of cold treatment that Morgen got. And when it came to the matter of devils, Morgen was more scared of his family hurting themselves rather than the illegal nature of it (hence why Morgen brought absolutely zero back-up when he confronted his family; he didn't want them arrested, just out of harm's way). Morgen loved all of his family, in a desperate and one-sided way where he could only want for their love back, but it was still a deep and honest love. Because that's the only kind of love Morgen knew how to give.

Unrealistic, but I will disregard canon about it because I reject canon reality and substitute my own Headcanon: Building off how I said Morgen was more concerned about the dangers of working with devils rather than it being illegal, Morgen would've jumped at the chance to learn about Forbidden Magic. Not so much as to use it. But he'd tear through whatever books were available and watch with deep fascination as Nacht learned to control the powers of the Bremen devils. While not a scholar, Morgen is the type to like learning new things. And knowledge about devils isn't something you come across easily. Finally, it's his family's secret practice and Morgen would want to be in on that! Screw the law, the Faust family's devil knowledge is really cool!

...

Headcanon ask game

[the-rebel-archivist]

11, 16, and 18 for the da4 hype <3

Thank you so much for the ask <3

11. What's one think you'd really like to see in this next game?

Honestly, I feel like they looked at my wishlist and told me "Wish granted" with so many of the reveals we've gotten! I wanted Lucanis? There he is. I wanted mobile, snappy combat? It's there. I wanted to know what happened with the griffons and if Last Flight would have impact and we'll learn and it does! So many bits of lore that have been hinted at heavily seem like they'd come into play and we'll learn a lot about some of the more mysteriously shrounded parts of them (though I do hope they keep some secrets for themselves!). And of course there's the CC and its focus on not just functionality and creativity but inclusivity.

If I slightly rephrase to the thing I'm most looking forward to seeing, I think it's how all the companions will interact. They keep calling them their most engaging crew of companions yet and I can't wait to see how we're able to influence them. I'd like to know if there's any friction between them to solve and who gets closest to whom. I'm excited to handle difficult conversations and choices with them!

16. What's one crack theory you subscribe to (yours or someone else's)?

I've got a lot of theories but most are pretty well supported, here's one that I went down the rabbit hole with that has little to no connective tissue at all:

The ancient elves were particularly unkind to dwarves, we know this from Trespasser and the implication that they drove them underground. The dwarves allied with Tevinter. Though there was hostility between the elves and the dwarves, after the fall of Arlathan Cad-halash (later Cadash thaig) tried to take in the escaping elves only to be destroyed by the dwarves of Kal-Sharok, ostensibly to protect their alliance.

Paragon Fairel founded Kal Repartha, the surface thaig in the Hissing Wastes, as "A place where we may meet in peace" sometime at least 100 years before the First Blight (possibly much older, they never give an upper bound for age) after the weapons Fairel crafted were used by the dwarves to war against each other. The entrance to the Deep Roads was closed off; the dwarves mentioned to be either fleeing or preventing a war could never return.

Somehow, the dwarves managed to bind demons into the pillars of the Tomb of Fairel, creating the sort of corrupted stone they call "The Gangue" - "Stone waste" or "Impure spirit of the stone." Long before the Blight, the Stone was already corrupted and the dwarves were already working to cut it from the healthy body. Containing the Gangue is one of the primary goals of the Legion of the Dead, not killing darkspawn.

The demons in the pillars are released by the use of veilfire, an ancient art perfected by the elves and only usable by mages. Cole says that the demons were dwarves once and believe they still are. Note that because this is before the First Blight, golems also don't exist yet.

Theory: Fairel founded Kal Repartha after the destruction of Cad'halash and perhaps even housed some elves as well who set up the veilfire. But we aren't finished yet.

The Gangue. It's described like a blight on the stone long before it makes sense to be blighted. When you talk to Solas about the Blight, he knows more than he lets on but also less than he would like. "The fools who first unleashed the Blight upon this world thought they were unlocking ultimate power," he says, and it sounds like he means the magisters in the black city... but what if in fact he means the evanuris. Their experiments and tampering, especially those of Ghilan'nain, began the process of blighting the stone and only later led to the outward signs of darkspawn, red lyrium, and the rise of corrupted archdemons.

And for another crack theory, Lucanis isn't possessed because that's such a straightforward explanation, but maybe pacted in some way to a demon? If not that, has some form of relationship to one without losing his sense of self. This one is pure wish fulfillment.

18. Which aspect of fandom are you most looking forward to?

Seeing all the new characters people create! It's going to be so fun to see everyone's take on the same material and watch what parts of it they hone in on as touchpoints for their Rooks and existing characters. Sometimes completely innocuous lines can take on so much profound meaning based on how the character you're roleplaying interprets it and relates to it.

[ganet]

Thoughts on Versus' sibling relationships

Original post

WARNING: SPOILERS!

One thing ONE likes to write is sibling relationships and I noticed this is a theme in Versus as well. (And as firstborn child I do support this wholeheartedly.)

Hallow & Zaybi

The series starts with first chapter introducing the brothers; Hallow and Zaybi.

Chapter 1: Zaybi and Hallow as children.

They were so cute as kids. And we are told how Zaybi is the brains while Hallow is the muscles in this dynamic. This would later reflect on the fact that Hallow became a hero and Zaybi is a mage.

Chapter 1: Hallow sees Zaybi.

Chapter 1: You can really see how it hurts Zaybi to see his little brother hurting, and he tries to comfort him.

Throughout the current 16 chapters it became clear that they support each other in their own way, and look up to each other. Although, Zaybi being the older one seems to have raised his kid brother by himself, threatening to even spank his ass if or when he does something reckless (which means exactly that he must have been the parent in that family in their lives - and Hallow's occasional way of begging Zaybi to include him/give him permission to join in certain missions indicates this as well). Makes me wonder what happened to their parents in the first place.

Chapter 2: Hallow thinks of his brother and how amazing he is. Chapter 3: Hallow begs that he could come with Zaybi and Keila and her team. Chapter 6: Hallow again asks to be let on the team who redirects the Titans towards Neo-Humans.

Chapter 3: Zaybi threatens to spank his little brother for acting reckless.

Chapter 4: Hallow seeking help from his older brother.

Poor Hallow really got everyone arguing about his plan, and needs Zaybi to help him. Which he does, albeit in his own way. (To prove a point to everyone.)

Chapter 4: Keila's thoughts. This seems to put the brothers in important role of the story.

Chapter 5: Hallow coming to Zaybi's aid.

You can tell how protective Hallow is also about his older brother.

Chapter 5: Zaybi refuses to put more responsibility on Hallow's shoulders.

Chapter 16: Zaybi seems to have hard time making a decision, and thinks about what Hallow would do.

I find this part kind of sad. There is something that tells how the brothers need each others' support. Zaybi doesn't seem to be able to act without some kind of plan, and Hallow acts without a plan. Although, in this case it was good Hallow wasn't there since its more of a risk with the parasites..

Chapter 16: Even while thinking he will die, Zaybi wants Hallow to survive and live.

Masayoshi & Mika

The latest chapter (16) revealed another sibling pair, Mika and Masayoshi. Mika seems to have this similar spirit that Zenko has in OPM, but their older brothers seem to be very different haha.

Other possible siblings or other family members

Honestly, Samone and Pakkya look so similar to each other. I wonder are they actually some kind of relatives..

Chapter 14: Samone wanting to wait for Pakkya, but he wants her to leave him behind so she can leave the dangerous place.

Monthly Shonen Sirius #229: Pakkya and Samone's official colors. Both even have a red hair with green (Pakkya) and yellow (Samone). Their eye colors seem to match also. And they both have sharp teeth. Although, their skin color isn't exactly same, but they could be blood relatives. Who knows. At least they aren't introduced as siblings or anything like that. So, maybe it is that all their people share these similarities?

And there is also Thear and that unnamed woman he has with him, who both also share same hair colors and their uniforms also sharing same colors makes them look more like siblings than anything. Their hair in general looks really special and I would like to think they are somehow related by blood, unless all their people share blue hair genes in their world. Their skin color seems to also match.

Images from Monthly Shonen Sirius #229 and Volume 3.

[rivilu]

Watched absolution because I saw a certain spoiler and was intrigued, loooonggg post of spoilers and thoughts under the cut

Are we are really surprised the supercop zealot is bioware's canon divine? lmao.

I generally liked the cast of characters quite a lot, Roland Lacklon and Qwydion most of all, Miriam is cool too, just not top spot for me. she's like. Number 4 on my list. Of surviving characters that is.

Rip Fairbanks. Made the rookie Ser Jory mistake of mentioning his loving wife more than once within the intro of the series. You will be missed.

The writers really said make them think we will finally switch up the Mage Is Always The 'Traitor' reveals (that aren't even true for games 1 and 2 but the joke is marketable so who cares for accuracy right) but then just do the same thing again. I have a feeling they think they are playing 4d chess when really it's just predictable.

The action was well executed and I liked the romance with Roland and Lacklon, it was cute :)

The show handled Tevinter better than I expected but my expectations were subterranean so that doesn't mean much.

Still don't care for the way bioware deals with blood magic. With Dorian we finally had a smart opinion on it [that the writers didn't try to stamp out or treat as stupid, sorry Merrill]- that it's simply a tool as long as there's no victims, but here we backpedal again into the narrative going 'anyone that even THINKS of blood magic is and always will be evil full stop'. Yes we're talking about a Magister here i'm not defending Rezaren in specific I'm just weary of how they'll treat it going forward.

Speaking of the guy, he was fine as a villain. pretty decent portrayal of a guy whose position of power deludes him into thinking his goal is noble and righteous no matter what, even to the detriment of the people he's supposedly trying to help, because well. He never saw them as people in the first place. 'Family' maybe, whatever that's supposed to mean to him, but still property. Things he gets to do whatever he wants to do with.

Miriam using his harrowing as an example of a moment he chose not to defend her or her brother though, is kinda meh. Bc girl, he was actively trying and failing not to get possessed, his mother's the one to blame for that specific instance and you KNOW it, I know we had to see that scene for exposition but i'm peeved jdshfjd I bet there were maaany more backstory examples of him being shit to choose from anyhow.

There was an Attempt at moral grayness at least two times in the show, with Tassia and Hira, and they are both... interesting.

Tassia imo does it better, as as the knight commander she can be safely [and firmly] put in the villain box, but the added levels of grey with her caring for her people's safety, opposing the venatori etc make her interesting to watch in a way where I may not be rooting for her but I don't want her to die either, yanno? She's a bit like if Aveline were an anti-villain, and actually decently well written at that. She gets spot 5 of my list.

Now Hira. Is a prisoner of that good ol Mage Betrayal Russian Roulette. I'd seen a small spoiler about her being up to no good before watching, but even without that, when Fairbanks stabbed her I could just SNIFF that red herring. Again, the writers may think they're playing 4d chess but I know not making a mage (or more) the villain, is to them what apples are to doctors. Then her motivation is just. Not convincing to me. Her family was influential tevinters that wanted to improve conditions for the oppressed, then they were killed and/or ran out the country by the venatori for it. so... she jumps right to ethnic cleansing as the solution?

(And I do mean right to it. She did go to the inquisition first but that's what she wanted to get out of it.)

Collateral damage is a funny way of referring to innocent people's lives queen!

Idk something about that feels familiar. Betrayal, a mage that jumps to genocide, yet said mage is somehow granted more lenience by the narrative than that stance should EVER allow? Because here's the thing. no matter HOW fucked a country is, how terrible the politics and power structures are, 'wiping the country out' IS NEVER A MORALLY GREY THING. IT'S AS BLACK AS IT GETS. it is the power structure itself that must be targeted. (you know, the thing Anders tried to do and gets eternally condemned for?) Wanting to massacre an entire population is not an opinion that's up for discussion, it is not worthy of redemption, and it should not be written as if it is. This pattern of character writing is just. Concerning to me. Some of the characters with the most morally bankrupt stances being passed off as grey. And I could get far deeper into it here, nearly did in fact, but It's a tad too late in the night for a 5 page essay on fantasy and real world politics intersection. I'll just leave it at ''bioware's centrism is doing what centrism does best and blinding them to their world's actual political power dynamics and I think it's going to bite them in the ass sooner or later''

But enough of that, let's try to get back to something funny shall we?

The cheese jokes. Bioware please, the horse, stop, stop it's already dead!

(i dont actually mind but that was my original reaction so here you go sdfhjs)

Dragon cool. Like that it stays alive.

ok, sorry that's all I got. We have to tackle the elephant in the room now folks and i'm afraid I am not optimistic.

So. Meredith motherfucking Stannard is still alive and kicking. And while I can completely understand why people are excited, AN ACTUALLY GOOD VILLAIN IS BACK, WOOHOO! -i just can't help but think. When? When will this plot thread be handled? Because as much as I wish the titular character of dreadwolf would drop dead by act one, I highly, highly doubt it hjsdfjf. And if she can't be the main villain, or at least what Howe was to Loghain, then I don't want her to be in da4. Because that game has SO MUCH SHIT to tackle, with Elven Gods and Titans, the egg and also Antiva and the Qunari now for some fucking reason? Frankly I don't think they can even do THIS sum of things justice in a single game, unless things with the gods take a different turn and they aren't what solas said/villains for us to fight (please I hate the slavery thing so fucking much just for once retcon something to the benefit of religious minorities bioware i'm fucking BEGGING) so adding Meredith to the mix is not something I can picture working out. I don't want to get excited for her to be back (She was the spoiler that got me to watch the series) only to have it be a repeat of the templar/mage war in inq where she's lukewarmly taken out by act 1.

Also before I do an all in all, we all got that Hira is getting Played right. Like I dont like her much(at all), as stated previously, but she's still a mage. working for Meredith motherfucking Stannard. Is it too early to call her eventually dying from that dumbass decision orrr..? Because yes girly, she also wants to genocide your home country, but she has VERY different reasons from you and you're almost guaranteed to be first on the chopping block the moment the red lyrium cracks. (i dont find this bullet point bad writing btw this is just razzing the characters for fun jhsdj)

ok so all in all. the show's alright. I highlighted more of the bad than the good here because anything past da2 has that effect on me sadly, but the characters do Carry as per usual. And i'd say it's worth a watch for the action shots alone. Some of my fears of Bioware's direction were confirmed, and i am still not at all enthused about da4, but if a season two comes out I'll probably watch it. unnecessarily long post over, adiós.

[humblemooncat]

23 for that playlist ask?

Thank you for the number, friend! Roll has determined Nox is our target this time, this should be interesting. :3c

Gonna try a thing with the screens I took mid-story.

Fallout by UNSECRET & Neoni TW: Nox may be a lil bit suicidal

Finding himself in Garlemald yet again, a place he so loathed to see now bathed in fire raining from the blood-red skies, U'nhea looked through the destruction lining the streets. There had been reports of the old Warrior of Light's presence in the now-empty city. In fact, there had been numerous reports since the Final Days had begun...

"Tsk tsk" the Seeker heard a gentle tutting from atop a nearby building.

"Who's there?"

"Who do you think, dear Warrior? Why, one of your own", wings of arcane flame shone over the edge first, denoting the presence of his quarry. Nox strode towards the edge, phoenix in tow and somehow much larger than his previous encounters.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" U'nhea called out, "Flame everywhere you turn. Is this what you wanted?"

Nox cackled madly, "OH BOY, IS IT"

U'nhea gritted his teeth, surely he couldn't be this far gone... To think that E-Sumi-Yan once placed his trust in this... monster.

He snapped from his thoughts, scowling up at the viera.

"No words? A shame" Nox cackled, "Poor Hydaelyn, placing her faith in you, only for you to bring back all she attempted to forestall. What would she think, poor dear" He spoke then to U'nhea as if he were a kit, making the Seeker's tail flick in annoyance.

"YOU KNOW NOTHING OF WHAT SHE THINKS OF ME!" he shouted, emotion overcoming him, "DO NOT SPEAK OF ME AS IF I WERE A MONSTER LIKE YOU!" He clutched at his chest, emotion threatening to tear him apart. He knew then what Nox was after.

"Aww, getting caught up in the mess, are we?" Nox cooed, "Good"

"If you take me away from this world-"

"I'll get the glorious end I so crave..." there was a darkness in his crazed eyes, "So know there is nowhere safe to hide from me. I will get my blaze of glory" He narrowed his eyes at the miqo'te, "And I will take you with me"

He turned to walk away, the phoenix following in his wake. And in U'nhea's mind he heard one last message.

'We did promise, after all. To take this journey together... to the bitter end'

Ah yes, hello again my horrible son.

Some little things to know about Nox's canon that I don't think I shared yet:

He started off his journey as a Conjuror/White Mage by the name of Vitae. In his tutelage, he met and befriended U'nhea, and the two traveled together, inseparable.

They both possess the echo, and as such were both inducted as Warriors of Light to the Scions.

When Nox's canon diverged after the Crystal Tower, Nhea took up the mantle as the sole WoL in their timeline.

However, Nox still traveled with him, though at a distance. Making his life harder, as one possessed of a voidsent and a love for arson & chaos does.

This means he also got spirited away to the First. Nhea could have left him there, but he was too attached to his old memories of their friendship, and saved him.

Yes, he very much does regret this later.

After the Final Days rolls around, Nox does everything in his power to make him succumb to the dynamis and turn to a blasphemy. With him off the table, things would never revert, and the Final Days would consume the world. And Nox would have the glorious end he'd been searching for.

Why can't he just take himself out, you might wonder? His voidsent is a phoenix. He would just resurrect him. Again. And again. And again...

He's tried, trust me.

This bitch is essentially Fandaniel 2.0. I feel bad for U'nhea having to deal with both of them.

[ultimatecryptid]

glance, canvas, and favorite for your brosca and your amell!

@itzpapalotl im glad you like it i spent HOURS picking Laurentine out 😩 good to know the effort was worth it

this sets long enough im shoving it under a readmore, enjoy!

Glance: At first glance, what stands out most about your OC's face? What's their distinguishing feature?

Emery: From the outside I think it's hard to beat the face tats. ESPECIALLY the  blackout castle. It was designed to grab your attention, and I think it does. If you look past that, however, I've always found her eyes very arresting. 

Laurentine/Butch: That's gotta be the FRECKLES baby! Laurentine is heavily freckled, especially on his face. Also, she has a noticeably narrow mouth. During the Blight, though, Laurentine's most noticeable feature is the worst sunburn you've ever seen. Laurentine is as red as a lobster and burned to the point of peeling and she'll barely do anything about it. This is because he's a masochist and because he's having issues about being outside for the first time in 20 years. She's so well adjusted.

Canvas: Does your OC have any scars, piercings, tattoos, or other markings?  Do they display them or cover them up at all?

Emery: Loads and loads of facial piercings, and a few on her body. Emery did the majority of her piercings herself, and she started doing it very young, with all that entails. There's a decent number of piercing scars scattered around her face, some of which never healed properly and some she let close because she wanted to switch it up. 

The fact that DA: O includes complimentary tattos around the casteless tattoo targets me personally. It's been a number of years since she got her castle done, and I don't think it was done by a professional so the technical quality isn't very good, but it is one of Em's most focussed features. I wouldn't be surprised if she had others of varying quality, Em is very much a drunk tattoo kind of girl, and I don't think anyone was stopping her, but I havent gotten any more specific from that so we're all gonna have to wait in mystery.

And we aren't gonna forget her facial scar. For the most part she's avoided it past a couple nicks and bruises, but she got her cheek sliced open while working for the carta. It did not heal neat.

Laurentine/Butch: Just the standard lobe piercing for her, but she wears huge chandelier type earrings. Some are gifts from her fellow mages, and some are gifts from the Amells that were allowed into the Circle.

Favorite: Does your OC have a favorite article of clothing or accessory? What is it? What's the meaning behind it? Do they wear it all the time or do they wear it sparingly to keep it safe?

Emery: During the events of the game, no, Emery didn't get anything out of clothes like that. But at some point this changes, probably having something to do with the sheer joy Morrigan got from her gifts. But she doesn't find something that really calls to her until later.

Laurentine/Butch: A little to the left for Butch. While in the Circle Laurentine got really obsessed with those overly complicated gimmick braids, like the kind you see on pinterest that look like baskets or butterflies or something equally complicated. Laurentine would sit for however long it took to get something that elaborate. Jowan could do it sometimes, or her mentor, or literally anyone Butch was not picky, and it eventually became a whole thing. Laurentine Amell, founder of the Kinloch Braiding Club. But he isn't very good at them himself, and while on the road it's abandoned for the shittiest updos you've ever seen. It's a miracle his hair stays up—oh wait it doesn't.

[revelisms]

Excerpt: What Were Any of Us?

Jinx and Singed chat about new developments across the river.

From 'fate is a sundress, ripped at the thigh,' a oneshot exploring Jinx's relationship to Sevika and Singed in the aftermath of S1. Full story on AO3

"Your eye for chemistry is quite remarkable," he says. "I'd not have seen the patterns you caught. A consequence of living too closely to the colonies, perhaps."

Jinx snuffs a breath through her fringe. It's the first day in too many that she's brushed her hair the whole way through: drawn it back into a clean tail at her nape, tied it off with a tattered old ribbon, a shock of neon green in the mess.

"Wasn't hard," she rasps, shrugging. "Just gotta look for the magicy bits, and stuff."

The doctor's good eye crinkles at the edges. The other stays flat and white. 

It should be black and red and fire and warm and unblinking. Should be. But it's familiar, that unbalance. Comforting, in an odd way.

"This is because of the stone," he presumes. She fiddles at her cup, nails clinking off the handle. "I knew another, once, with a similar inclination. Smart boy. We keep in touch, from time to time."

For a moment, she only feels his eyes studying her, silently. Only hears the waves, feels the wind, the pressure of her cup biting back at her.

"I wonder...if this might be of interest to you." He reaches inside his coat; sets a small leather-bound journal, thick as a thumb, upon the iron. "Notes of his, on a new development with the Arcana."

A shock frissons through her skin.

She sees blue and fire and magic and whirling and gone gone rocketing—

We'll show them—

"It won't bite, child."

Still, she just stares at it, blinking. Her nail slips against the porcelain.

One wrinkled side of his face lifts at her, at that: a crooking remnant of an eyebrow singed off. "Aren't you curious?" he prods, quietly. Because she should be. She should be. "A world waiting to be discovered at our fingertips. Science—and magic."

"World of heebie-jeebies, you mean?" Jinx swipes up the notes, leveling a suspicious leer over their edges. "Bor-ing."

"You are not intrigued by the combination." The skin around his beady eye creases, again. "Neither was he. But the technology; the potential." She glances through her fringe. Watches as he crooks his head at her, and hums. "It is what interests me, too." 

Maybe that's true. Maybe she doesn't give a hoot. Maybe she wishes she could turn back time, wishes she could build welding robotics and mechanical contraptions and micro-tech that responded to touch, had minds of their own; augmentations with precipice and wonder and deadly promise, that could fly high enough to touch the stars.

That little cup of coffee tips to his gums again, hissed through his teeth. "Mages have tried and failed, for centuries, to write magic into being," he continues. "But it is a living thing. It evolves. What better way to house it, than in a body that can adapt?"

She thumbs through a page of spindly illustrations. "Metal's still metal."

"Hextech has its limitations," he agrees. "Namely, the lack of life. The Arcana feeds off it, like a virus—but the result it produces..."

Her fingers still over countless calculations—variations upon variations of organic material reverted into something else, something infinite.

"It is...volatile, yes," continues a voice across from her, faraway. "But—you see? Even in it's infancy—"

"It could heal," Jinx breathes.

The doctor blinks at her. His thin fingers steeple together, and taper still. "Create," he corrects. Then, with a quietness to the rough edges of his words: "Many things could have healed him, child. In time." Her thumb presses hard into the page. Leaves a crease. "But so are the limitations of science. You cannot force progress beyond the tools you are given."

Jinx snaps the book shut. She squeezes it, stiffly. "What—what do you...want me to do with this?"

The air whistles with a gust of cool ocean air. It carries a speckling of salt, the smoky traces of a storm just along the way, and beneath them both, a sharp, chemical sort of sweetness: the kind that's sewed itself through her skin, from a lifetime working with gears and gunmetals and explosives; that kind that sits on the doctor's clothes, too. 

He doesn't wear oils or fragrances. Never has. He smells like mildew and mothballs and that strange, floral taint of the black lilies, of the shimmer itself: a prism of too many things battling for attention, like the clutter of an apothecary's back shelves—but above it all, a spiced sort of musk, like dragon's blood.

It would stain her fingers after his injections. Change the air around him, for a minute or two, after that needle would prick the rot, drive a synthesized strand of blood into his veins and shatter him with the pain of it, shredding his genetic makeup alive and reforging a new one in its place.

As a girl, she'd wondered, morbidly, if enough doses would turn his skin pink, or his hair white, or if he'd never walk free from that feverish state the doctor demanded he'd stay in to survive.

But the shimmer never broke him, not completely. He'd always find the pieces of himself and put them back together.

It was in her veins now, too. But it'd eaten some part of her, in the process; bludgeoned through her like she'd smashed that damned vase. She couldn't find the pieces, now.

"I don't want you to do anything with it." The doctor's knobby fingers unfold, lace back together. "But if it interests you...well. I am continuing to pursue the developments."

She ticks her nail over the journal's binding. 

She wishes he took up more space that he does, with his simple clothes and his flatcap on his spotty bald head. That he didn't just stink of the lab. 

The salt stings her eyes. 

Her lungs strain, stupidly strain to make that ocean air something else; to pretend those bony hands had scratches and scars, instead of burn pocks; that the shadow of his hat turned his blind eye black; that the scent on his wools was bergamot and sandalwood and clove and cedar and tobacco and—

"Does the ogre know that?" she bites out.

The doctor tips a glance over his shoulder, out towards the sea. "That is what you call her?" he drawls, bemused. His mismatched eyes flit back to her. "She is the helm of the knights, child—not the beast for them to slay. You should have seen her, the day they took the bridge. Should have seen all of them."

She shoves the notebook back to the table. "You weren't with them."

"Those that tend the wounded can't take the front lines, themselves. So goes war." 

He folds his hands in his lap, leans back in his seat. She frowns at him, for a long moment. Rips her eyes away.

"He never—" Her nails squeeze into her palms. "Never said how you—you met him. Never told me."

A fluttering of fingertips dances in her periphery. "Does it make a difference? Fate has her ways. You, of all of us, should know that."

The words sit strangely on her. "I was just wondering."

For an eternity, the sea holds his attention. And she's used to that. She can handle that. Silence and thinking and always strategizing moves from four steps ahead, words weighed and strung together like precious stones—

"I didn't meet him, per-say. He was a subject." He lays a sallowed fingertip against the edge of his cup: tips it on its axis, from one side to another. "It took two weeks to stabilize the infection. Not a moment of it, I think, was he coherent." The cup stills. "What crawled off my table was not the same man."

Jinx presses her thumb into the heel of her palm, and keeps it there, like a dead weight. Quietly, she asks, "What was he...like, before?"

The doctor leaves the notes on the table between them. His stare skews curious, unwavering. Like she's nothing more than a test subject writhing his table, too.

"What were any of us?" he hushes.

[cityandking]

🍎🌶️🍋🍈🥑 for da girlies minah, vesper & lira!

tyyyyy // oc interview questions - fruits & veg

🍎 [RED APPLE] Who does your OC value above all else?

MINAH — objectively, herself. not even from an inflated ego perspective or anything just in the sense of like, she's the most important person in her own life. it's kind of a pragmatic egoism I guess. VESPER — her inner inner circle. the handful of people who are truly closer than close, who make her feel like a person again when she gets caught up in the mask of the inquisitor (or even just the mask of a mage). she'd go to bat for any of the inner circle without a question (and a few of the outer circle; looking at you scout harding), but there are a few who are just Her People and mean more to her than she does to herself LIRA — on the one hand, the People of Ferelden(TM). on the other, her family. so much of what she does it for the grief of losing her family and the way that forever changes her. nobody else quite fills that hole inside her, though a couple of the companions come close.

🌶️ [HOT PEPPER] Who would your OC declare their sworn enemy if they could meet them?

MINAH — [redacted] sorry VESPER — truly whatever's left of the chantry. just that absolute mess trying to make some kind of power play in the midst of all the violence and bloodshed, who are encouraging everything that's going wrong while also blaming the inquisition for it. who want to pick a new divine to undermine the inquisition but also want her vote togive legitimacy to the position. fuck all of 'em. LIRA — Howe. there can be no forgiving what he did to the Couslands. she's going to kill him no matter what.

🍋 [LEMON] What is their kryptonite/ultimate weakness?

MINAH — the guilt babey VESPER — that little voice in the back of her head that says magic is meant to serve man and that means she should burn herself out to light the way for others. there's something a little self-sacrificing in her drive to do good and it's to her detriment most of the time LIRA — her duty! she'd say it's her greatest strength but it's kinda a double edged sword. everything she does for duty tends to come back to make the rest of her life that much smaller and frailer and less, and it's also the thing to appeal to in order to get her to do anything

🍈 [MELON] If they had to be put into a box, what box would it be and why?

MINAH — there are so many boxes in minah's life. performer, artist, eldest daughter, thief, warden. I think eldest daughter is the one that she feels most stuck in years later. it's inescapable, even if her folks aren't around and she's no one's child. VESPER — really, truly, at the end of the day she's just a teacher. it's how she leads and it's how she interacts with her friends and it's how she touches the world. all she's ever wanted to do has been to share what she knows and make the world better for the people coming after her. LIRA — warden. she closes herself off to everything else after her recruitment and no matter what else happens that's always going to be at the core of her being.

🥑 [AVACADO] What will they never back down about, even if it makes them seem bad?

MINAH — being a shifty little thief. there's a lot of emotional baggage that goes into her petty crime lifestyle and she refuses to be sorry about it and if you have a problem with it that's on you. she doesn't super care what moralizing gets heaped on her; surviving is surviving VESPER — not to go with the obvious answer but it's gonna be the treatment of mages. she'll be polite about it for sure but she won't be shut down, no matter what. whatever else the circles might be—educational, structured, protective—they weren't kind. she has no problem saying that. LIRA — the atrocities committed by howe and loghain. she respects the importance of making allies, but she's seen too many people killed in their name to be quiet about it.

[aplpaca]

Hey hi howdy hi if you have like a list of queer fantasy books you liked would it be alright if you shared them? i’m so low on spoons but would love to read some happy stuff if you’ve got any recs, all good if not! was just curious!

OK so I've got a couple things, but depending on what you mean by "happy", some might count and some might not, so I'm gonna group them by like "Happy/Feelgood" for the really sweet stuff vs "I wouldn't say they're "Feelgood' kind of warm-fuzzy, or at least they aren't entirely that, but they're def Hopeful at their core". (i tend to lean more towards things that have Angst even if the core is hopeful. i could list a lot more in the Mixed But Hopeful section, but i tried to stick to ones that felt more 'energetic' in tone, if that makes sense)

Feelgood

House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune. Lonely man gets assigned to assess the "safety" of a boarding house for kids with supernatural powers and learns to enjoy life along the way.

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas. Trans latino boy performs a magic ritual to prove himself to his family and ends up having to help a ghost move to the afterlife. This one is YA, so might not be your thing but I thought it was really cute and fun. Does include some elements of transphobia, but the overall tone of the story is cute and heartfelt, and the transphobia bits are resolved positively. Lots of emphasis on self acceptance and family.

Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree. Orc woman retires from fighting and opens a coffeeshop. This one didn't particularly do it for me, but I know a lot of people like it so you might also.

Hopeful at their Core

Witchmark by CL Polk. Mage who works as a doctor meets a mysterious man and ends up investigating a murder while trying to help his patients suffering from a mysterious illness. Deals with abusive family backgrounds but is overall pretty lighthearted/energetic.

Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell. Arranged marriage in an intergalactic empire gets complicated when half of the pair's previous relationships and potential criminal activity come to light. Feels pretty fanfic-y (i say as someone who doesnt really read fanfic, so take with a grain of salt) in a fun way. Deals with past relationship abuse, but isnt graphic and is overall pretty lighthearted and fun

The Last Sun by KD Edwards. Disgraced Atlantean noble and his life companion/best friend/bodyguard get hired to search for a missing person, only to get entangled with a legendary monster connected to the fall of said noble's court 15 years prior. YMMV with this one cause it deals with a lot of heavy stuff like abuse and sexual assault and gets pretty dark at points, but at the same time the series is really funny, the banter is so good, and it has some of the best and most fun found family dynamics going on in like anything I've read or watched. Like those 2012 avengers fanfics where all the characters live in the same house and do shenanigans except its actually canon and also they can say the fuck word.

True Love Bites by Joy Demorra. Disabled werewolf captain takes a job on an island and grows close to a vampire nobleman. Things get complicated when a mysterious woman shows up with news that the world's magical wells are dying. There's an explicit version and a fade to black version depending on which youd prefer. Explicit version has a red cover and the fade to black has a blue cover (I personally read the blue cover version). I want to gnaw on the characters (esp vlad) like a dog with a cocaine chew toy