#when you don't know how to spell your own characters name so you panic

[simplyzeeka]

Episode 5. Season 1

Red strings

I put a spell on you,

because you're mine

You better stop the things you do

I ain't lyin', no, I ain't lyin'

Warnings: MDNI!! Infidelity, profanity, adult themes, everybody ain't shit.

Summary: When butterflies in their stomach start feeling a little too much like red strings tugging on their souls.

Previously, on Something Seasonal

Airports gave him headaches. If it wasn't the shrill, annoying, robotic voice that spoke through the intercoms then it was definitely the sound of rolling suitcases, loud chatter and laughter, pointless screaming and how overcrowded the airport got that made Terry less eager to fetch his wife.

But he missed her, and that was more than enough of a reason to be excited for her return from Singapore.

It was early into the day, around 10 pm Friday, and Terry had skipped his weekly cardio session at the gym. Naturally, he woke up much earlier and played around with his phone before he cleaned around the house and prepared himself to fetch Amber.

Except Amber was around an hour late, and with the way the woman loved being punctual, being late seemed so out of character.

Terry reached for his phone in his pocket, speed dialling Amber’s number. The phone rang for a while before going straight to voicemail. Terry frowned, looking around to see if he could catch sight of her or perhaps a whiff of her signature lavender perfume.

Terry sent a short voicemail, asking her where she was. While he kept calm, his lips twitched into a frown, foot tapping mindlessly on the tiled floors. He still had to prepare for work once he made it back home, but now, his perfectly planned out schedule was being messed up.

He called again, only for his phone to buzz shortly, with a pop-up notification appearing on his screen. A few messages from Amber. Letters stringed together to form words that had him mugging his phone, fingers clenching tightly around the small device.

Pretty Baby

T, I’m so sorry baby.

Boss said I have to stay a few extra days.

It was last minute, I’ll make it up to you when I’m back.

Terry clenched his jaw, didn't stay in the messaging app long enough to question Amber, didn't keep his phone in his hand long enough to leave innumerable voicemails that would surely drive Amber, and her boss, wild.

Instead, he put his phone back in his pockets and left the buzzing airport with a bouquet of baby breaths in his hand. He'd have to cancel the reservation to Amber's favourite steak place as well.

It wasn't until he got into his car that he felt the tension in his jaw lessen. The same couldn't be said about the heavy pounding of his head.

Amber had been constantly postponing her flight back home. According to Terry's knowledge, she was supposed to be back home five days ago. In their home, sleeping in their bed.

After a few breaths, the headache only subsided slightly. Then his phone was on his ear again.

“Hey, you free today?”

She expected a diner, the gym, hell, even a park, since he loved taking walks so much.

Yet when they pulled over to a kept suburban home, panic set into Syrae’s heart. “Terrence Richmond, where the hell are we?” She questioned with a frown, looking over at him sitting in the driver's seat.

“Still think it ain't fair how you know my full name and I don't know yours.” Terry joked, turned off the ignition before turning to face Syrae with a smile that didn't fully reach his eyes.

He's been off since she got into the car.

“Shouldn't be so careless with your wallet.” Syrae countered with a small smile of her own, turned her gaze away from his, couldn't fall into that kind of trap again. “Stop deflecting. Who's house is this?"

Terry huffed, couldn't be bothered to answer the question, because he himself didn't know why he brought Syrae here of all places. They could've gone somewhere public, anywhere they wouldn't be alone and compromise their progress.

His thoughts clouded his head, common sense evaporating to form small little white fluffs of risky decisions and unwarranted mistakes.

By the time the flow of possibilities of their meetup stopped stagnant in his brain, he was already opening the door for Syrae.

“I'm not gettin’ out this car till you tell me where we at.” Syrae challenged, her arms crossed over her chest to emphasize her pretentious resolve. It wouldn't take much to get her to get out of the car, really. He didn't even have to tell her the truth.

Yet still, he did, and the truth was bitter. It burned Syrae's throat as a lump formed. Cleared her judgment, just enough for a frown that was so beautifully sketched onto her face, it wouldn't deter Terry's plans.

A few blinks and silent sighs were what it took for Syrae to break out of her daze. “What you say?” She questioned breathlessly.

“We're at my place.” Terry retorts with a sigh. He himself knew how all of these were too many steps in the wrong direction. It's been roughly a few days since they've agreed to being friends, yet still, this was still too soon to even invite each other to their homes.

Hell, Syrae had Terry pick her up at their café to maintain the littlest bit of the platonic relationship they had… have?

“We're not gon’ be here long, just need to-” Terry began, trying not to make it seem as bad as it may have looked.

But Syrae shook her head immediately, and as if the movement brought snowfall, Terry's words froze. “Uh-uh. Terry, this isn't… fuck.” She sighed. Curse this man for always being a headache, ‘cause the pounding in her head could never be caused by somebody other than him.

“Rae, it's cold, I'm tryna get inside. We're not gonna be here long. Promise.” He assured..

Or maybe it was the fact that Syrae's resolve was questionably weak when it comes to Terry, because while she was shaking her head no, her feet lifted out of the car. The frigid breeze hit her face, just as cold as her glare when she looked at Terry.

“Thirty minutes, then we're out.” She ordered, a finger pointed in his direction before she stepped to the side.

Terry laughed with a slow shake of his head. He closed the passenger door before walking behind Syrae, leading her to the porch of his and Amber's home. “Yes ma'am.”

The house interior was modern and warm. The decoration was a little stale or as Syrae can brutally put it, featureles. But their shower probably didn't pour out rocks, so she couldn't really be opinionated about the interior of Terry's home.

What caught her eyes the most was the set up in the middle of the living room. Some small easels and canvases. Trays filled with fruit, a meat and cheese platter, some confectionery snacks and wine glasses.

It looked sweet, cozy… but definitely not platonic. Not platonic at all.

“Here, let me take your coat.” Terry's voice filtered through her thundering thoughts in a soft whisper.

Syrae felt his fingertips brushing against her clothed shoulders, smoothly dropping the coat from her body as if it were a practised act, one that emphasized comfort they weren't allowed to have with each other. Not with the way they both felt a jolt of electricity from contact so minimal.

Syrae let him, shrugged the heavy article off her body then turned to face him as he hung it on the coat rack near the door. His coat was off too, and his muscles poked through the fitted turtleneck he wore.

“What's up with the cute setup?” Syrae broke the uncomfortable ice that laid heavy on her heart. She then prayed that it wasn't for her, then begged to the Lord that this man did not have that much audacity.

Terry looked over Syrae's shoulder, finally remembering that he hadn't cleared the surprise he had for Amber's return. “Fuck, forgot ‘bout those. I'ma clear up now.”

He took brisk steps towards the kitchen, opened some cabinets. However, the way Terry banged them on their hinges was a clear indication that there was more to his sour mood that Syrae didn't know about.

He had been trying to hide it since he picked her up with a few jokes, but it always creeped its way back to his face and poke his throat till he sounded a little too snappy.

“You want somethin’ to drink?”

His question broke through the incoherent thoughts that flew into one another, forming one huge blurb of uncertainty and concern through Syrae's brain.

Her legs had a mind of their own, she followed him into the kitchen, hanging by the entrance to investigate his mood further. Which wasn't really much of a problem, Syrae had learned that Terry was very expressive. His face could never hide how he's feeling.

And now, he was either pissed, annoyed or perhaps even both. That much was obvious by how deep his brows dug into his skin, creating doubt-filled crevices in the middle of his forehead, they filtered into his brain in the form of risky decisions and pettiness.

“Terry, are you-”

“I've got some whiskey, wine if you like red.” Terry spoke, hurried strings of words plunged together to create an incoherent mumble. He moved around the kitchen, getting his bottle of whiskey and two glasses.

Syrae tried calling out again, taking a few tentative steps closer. Her observations were now proven factual. He was pissed, or annoyed, or both.

“That one's for special occasions, though.”

Ignore ignore ignore, that was the game he was playing. Didn't want to relieve the bitter lump in his throat, would rather wash it away with some burning liquor. He mumbled his thoughts out more, less vigilant of the suffocating scent of spicy vanilla and… was that mango?

“Terrence.”

Syrae put her hands on his softly before he was about to pour the whiskey into his glass. She frowned up at him. Then their gazes finally met, and fuck she wished for once when their together that the stars would stop shining and the dragonflies would stop fluttering their damn wings in her stomach. She was getting fed up with the nausea that accompanied them.

“What about some tea?” She asked with a raised brow as she pried the bottle from his hands, propped the lid on before setting it on the side. “If you have.”

Terry swallowed the lump in his throat, and along went his defiance when he stared into Syrae's starry eyes, the very same eyes that pulled the strings of his heart that sang harmonious declarations of untold feelings.

“Yeah… yeah, tea is good.” He nodded, voice distant as his gaze tore away from Syrae and suddenly, everything else was interesting. The tile pattern on the kitchen floor, the colour palette of the cabinets. He needed something to do. “I've got black tea, let me make you a cup.”

“How ‘bout I make it? Just tell me where everythin’ is.”

Terry nodded yet again, showed her where everything was before she put some water to boil.

There was a pregnant silence that covered them.both as they stood awkwardly in the kitchen. Terry had his arms folded, leaning back against the counters as he tried to gather comprehensible bits of his booming thoughts.

Syrae fidgeted in one spot, her feet bouncing about as she contemplated asking what was wrong. Terry must've invited her out for a reason. Something must've been bothering him, and he didn't really feel like being annoying.

“Rae.” Terry called out with a bit of humour in this voice, so subtle others would have missed it. “Ask what you wanna ask.”

Syrae frowned. First, he brought the stars closer to her, and now he's a mind reader? She turned to face him, a sheepish grin on her face. “Huh?”

“You're mumbling. So ask what you want to ask.” Terry repeated with a grin of his own dancing on his face. Lips slightly curved upwards.

“You okay?” Syrae wasted no time to ask, wanted to pretend a little longer that them being friends could work out. And as a pretend friend, the least she could do was hear her friends problems and help him through it where she could.

“Yeah, I'm alright. Why do you-”

“No, I mean really okay.” Syrae repeated, not really in the mood to play cat and mouse with this conversation. “You seem a little…”

Terry sighed and hummed in agreement. No further words were needed to know what Syrae was talking about. He tried to get back on track after the airport incident, but that was such a failure he closed his shop for the day to get it together.

Terry couldn't figure why he was so bothered by Amber’s postponing. While he did miss her, heavily at that. This wasn't the first time Amber was gone this long for work. Perhaps he hadn't gotten used to it, or maybe he had a false belief that things would change after they got married.

“Well?” Syrae pushed, her head tilted cutely to the side, the frown yet to be relieved from her face. “What's wrong, Soldier?” her voice softened as she inquired, maybe a softer approach to this would make him more open to answering her question.

Terry couldn't dwell on her actual question for long. His mind wouldn't let him, not with Syrae using that name on him. While he had been called that before, it sounded different coming from her. The syllables rolled off her tongue so effortlessly it was as if she bled to entice him.

Terry shook his thoughts out of his head, cleansed the crevices and groves of his brain of any impurity.

Then he told Syrae about all that was bothering him. Amber constantly postponing her return back home, the missed calls, and texts. While her job was always demanding, it has never been this demanding.

The kettle had long stopped boiling, but Syrae didn't dare move from her spot. She listened intently, nodding along to every word that echoed in a smooth baritone through the space that suddenly felt small with the way Terry's presence loomed over her waking thoughts, the sensible ones that is.

Once he was done, Terry inhaled deeply, and as he exhaled, he could feel the tension lift away from his once heavy shoulders. Talking out his frustrations seemed to do enough to relieve him.

“Look, T. I get it, okay? You miss your wife, and I can't blame you. But It just sounds like she's an ambitious woman tryin’ to climb up the corporate ladder.” Syrae explained with a tentative shrug.

“And with her being a woman, that means she had to work two times as hard just to be on the same level as someone who don't even put in the same amount of work.”

Terry sighed, his frustration riding into guilt. Not only was Amber a woman, but she was a black woman. Intersectionality only made her climb up the corporate ladder harder than what was fair. “Fuck, I ain't think about it like that.” He responded, scratching his goatee while in deep thought.

Syrae hummed, a sombre smile on her face as she turned her back to him to get started with the tea. “So give her some grace. She'll come back to you.” She offered words of comfort before looking at Terry over her shoulder. “How many sugars?”

“Two, thanks.” Terry responded before they slipped into a comfortable silence while Syrae made their tea.

The silence didn't last long. Soon, they were onto asking the other questions. Nothing that would make the atmosphere uncomfortable. They've been in many similar situations, and Syrae could not jeopardize promises of a platonic friendship because of probing curiosity.

Not Syrae at least, because Terry did not mind probing one bit.

“Where'd you learn to dance like that?”

Their cups of tea were long abandoned on Terry's side table. The middle of the living room now cleared of the painting setup. They indulged in one another instead, taking a few sips too many of getting to know one another. Getting to know Syrae tasted somewhat like the whiskey he so badly craved earlier, smooth and easing to the mind.

Syrae chuckled in shock, never had she been asked that. Not by Broisa, Randy or anybody else. She just made money and went along with it.

“Oh, my mama owned a dance studio for middle-aged women.” Syrae responded, the corner of her lips lifting slightly as she fiddled with her fingers.

“Your mama taught middle-aged women how to strip?” Terry asked with a thick brow raised.

“No, silly.” Syrae laughed yet again, her eyes rolling into her lids. “She taught ‘em how to pole-dance and a few other things.”

“There's a difference?”

Syrae nodded, her eyes lifting to meet his with practised ease. She wished he would stop staring at her so intensely. Brows dipped, head down-turned, and bottom lip caught between his teeth. She fluttered her eyes away before she could get caught into a little staring contest that would not end with her leaving his home.

“Sure is. One you do for money, the other you do ‘cause you want to.” Syrae explained with a nonchalant shrug, “Anyway, sometimes she would take me to work with her and I would watch. Few years down the line, she was teachin’ me too.”

Syrae laughed as she recalled the countless times her mother had hit her upside her head for getting a step wrong or slacking. Dancing was always her mother's passion. That woman bled through her platform heels.

Terry didn't miss the melancholy in the way Syrae spoke, he also didn't miss the way she spoke of her mother in past tense.

“What happened to the studio?” He inquired, innocently so, yet the question alone caused Syrae to wince softly.

“Repossessed. Too many debts to keep it running.”

Terry hummed, understanding the struggles to maintain a life that didn't include poverty. “And your mom?”

Syrae winced again, this time a bit louder, the sound followed by laughter that sounded a little bitter to Terry.

“Damn, soldier. Take me out to dinner first.”

Terry’s shoulder shook as he let out smooth honey-filled laughter. The sound glazed over Syrae, sticking on her leaving a thick residue of pure wanton.

“Where you wanna go?” his expression quickly changed into a serious one, but the soft upturn of his lips gave away his playfulness.

“Please, don't start.” Syrae laughed, her head shaking at his silliness. There was a beat of silence, it wasn't uncomfortable, but expectancy hung in the air. Syrae's eyes found Terry, only to see his face turned serious.

“Oh you actually want to know?” Syrae asked, raised brows and an open mouth.

“Wouldn't be askin’ otherwise.” Terry shrugged, “But no pressure.”

Another beat of silence filled the air, droplets of discomfort filling the air that it had Syrae looking around the space for any distraction. Her eyes caught a vinyl player in the corner of the room, sitting on the TV-stand. “You have a vinyl player?” She turned towards Terry in shock.

She had always wanted one, but finances had made it hard for her to even save for one. She preferred listening to music that way, especially with the few records she’s got.

She got up from her seat, walking towards the display of records. “You mind?” She asked without looking at him, her fingers across the thick stack of records on one of the shelves.

“Not at all.” Terry responded with a smile before getting up himself. His feet with a mind of their own, walked closely behind her as she admired the antique player and the records he kept maintained and clean.

Syrae pulled out a single record that caught her eyes. “What you know ‘bout Nina Simone, boy?” She looked at the laminated record cover of one of her favourite songs, a small smile dancing on her lips as she lifted her eyes to meet her favourite shade of green.

“Me? Girl, you dont know nothin’ bout this. Sit down somewhere.” Terry laughed, waving a playful dismissive hand at her. He watched the smile widen on Syrae’s face. And his favourite fluttery feeling in his stomach came back, with the voice that was the complete opposite of reason urging him to forget all morals and claim her smile against his lips. Capture her happiness as if it were his own.

Syrae smacked her teeth, “You don’t know me.” She retorted before turning around. She placed the vinyl on the platter of the turntable. She turned on the player, pressed play before aligning the cueing lever with the record, and in a matter of seconds, the strings and keys of I Put A Spell On You filled the living room.

Syrae immediately sang along, swaying along with the tempo of the song. A smooth baritone filled her ear behind her, and she turned to find that Terry was singing along with her, harmonizing beautifully with her. Like their souls were singing symphonies to each other.

I put a spell on you, because you’re mine

You better stop the things you do

I ain’t lyin’, no, I ain’t lyin’

They smiled at each other, their feet dancing towards each other, hearts pulling on the adamant string until they were swaying in sync.

“You know I can’t stand it, you runnin’ around.” Terry sang lyrics, his fingers snapping to the soft bass of the music.

“You know better, daddy.” Syrae finished off, and by then they were toe-to-toe. Eyes glued to one another, smiles adhesive on their faces. Cocoons raptured and butterflies fluttered about, and the universe collapsed as stars fell all over them, covering them in a starry light and untold stories of intertwined souls.

Terry imitated the trumpet solo with his hands and mouth, and that drew a laugh from Syrae’s stomach as she shook her head at him. Now they’re chest-to-chest.

“I love you, I love you. I love you, I love you anyhow.” Syrae recited, her eyes slowly blinking as the room seemed to dim. And all the light came from the brightness of his smile, the songs being sung from the want in his eyes.

Terry’s movements slowed, smile faltering as the lyrics didn't sound like lyrics anymore. But a promise, one that filled his heart with hope but his head with guilt.He saw galaxies in her eyes again, a starry gaze that willed his hands on her waist, barely touching, yet he could feel the static. *I don't care if you don’t want me.*

*I’m yours right now.* Her heart soared. Hands grazing his shoulder, then they began swaying on the living room floor of Terry’s house, the one he shared with his wife, who wasn’t the person he was dancing with.

“I put a spell on you.” Syrae whispered, fingers grazing the back of his neck and his gently placed across her back.

“Because you’re mine.” Terry attempted to scat along with Nina, which he failed at miserably. But anything to hear her laugh again.

And he succeeded at that. Heart beat faster, butterflies fluttering more intensely at the sound of her giggle filled his ears in a harmonious melody, enticing a slow dance from his heart as their bodies molded together to do the same.

Syrae shook her head at him, “You so silly.” She said breathlessly.

Terry knew by then just how close their faces were when her warm breath fanned against his lips in a quiet plea for the smallest and most desperate of kisses. Noses nudging against each other.

There’s silence, silence filled with unspoken words as their gazes flickered from one eye to the other, then their noses and finally their lips.

When Syrae heard the keys of ‘Tomorrow Is My Turn’, she blinked rapidly before clearing her throat. Her hands detached from his hot skin, eyes from his face, and she swore she felt the painful tug from her heart. “I- I forgot there’s somewhere I gotta be.”

She detached from his body fully. Only a few steps away from his, but her body chilled as if he were half-way across he world.

“Yeah, of course. You… you need a lift-”

“No! I mean, nah. I’m good, I’ll just uber.” She scratched her head as she paced around the living room. Muttering to herself as she cleared the checklist in her head. Phone? Check. Bag? Check. She was missing something.

“Why would you waste your money when I could give you a ride?” Terry asked with a frown, he just wanted to make sure it wasn't awkward between them again. And that when she got home she wouldn't go back to ghosting him

Syrae sighed as she ordered the Uber anyway. She wouldn't look his way, didn't want her faltering resolve to collapse completely under the heat of his stare. “Terry, I’m good.”She forced out as she stared at her screen. The driver was two minutes away.

“Syrae… come on-” Terry attempted to reason with her. His voice was shaky, and his fists clenched at his sides. He wanted. No needed to know that they’re okay.

“Terry, I’m good. We’re good.” She finally turned to face him, swallowing the lump in her throat when she met his desperate eyes. “I’ll text you when I get home, I just really need to go right now.” She croaked.

“My uber almost here… walk me out?” She beckoned with her head towards the door.

Terry nodded and walked closely behind her, reaching over her shoulder to open the door before he followed behind her towards the sidewalk.

The breeze wasn't as unforgiving as when they first got into the home, and there was a little sunlight peeking out of shielding clouds. They waited silently, those few minutes until the car got here. And when it did, Terry never wished that a car would break down as much as he did at that moment.

“Text me, Rae. I’m serious.” Terry insisted with his eyebrows dipped into a frown as he looked down at her, his arms crossed against his chest once he felt his hands twitching to touch her, but they’ve crossed too many borders already.

Syrae chortled, drawing her gaze behind to where the uber waited for her. “I will.” She nodded in his direction before walking towards the silver honda. “Bye, Terry.” She waved before fitting into the car, eyes stuck on the window as the car drove away.

Terry sighed when he felt the string tug painfully at his stomach, forced to move his limbs to chase after the car or yell her name as if he were a puppet, controlled by ill-fated strings.

Days passed since then, Syrae kept her promise to text Terry, but it wasn’t as frequent to be considered satisfactory.

That and the fact that she’d woken up to soaked pantied every day since that day didn’t satisfy her decision in wanting to keep Terry at a distance away from her. The first dream occurred the day after they first kissed. They stopped for a while, until they came back.

Here she was, leaning against the sink of her bathroom with her face wet and her eyes focused disappointedly at her reflection. The images were vivid, yet this dream wasn’t even as vile as the ones she’d had previously.

“Terry, we said just friends.” Kiss right below her ear, she tilts her head because who was she kidding trying to take control.

“And these are friendly kisses” kiss behind her jaw, she shudders because she was stupid enough to even pursue something as mediocre as friendship with him.

“What's happenin’ in my panties is not friendly…” a laugh, a pussy fluttering laugh, how was he supposed to stop this when she said shit like that?

“Could help you with that if you let me.” kiss on her shoulder, faux reassurance he gives because they knew they shouldn't do anything with what's happening between them. A little something to keep the guilt at bay, before it eats at them the way he pined to eat on her.

And man did he eat it, messily, desperately. Like he preserved his hunger solely for her. She bit her lower lip at the vivid images. “Fuck fuck fuck.” She groaned before undressing into her steamy, running shower.

It took some effort to stop herself from drumming her fingers where she ached the most, she didn’t want to deal with the guilt she knew she would be feeling after strumming an orgasm out of her while chanting a married man’s name.

Syrae urged herself to leave the apartment. to try and get Terry out of her head.

What started off as a day of cleaning around the house and trying to get the weird, brown stain off her sofa. Which also became the fourth, futile attempt. It soon drastically changed to her pushing a cart around Walmart for new sheets and hopefully decorations.

She was speeding in between aisles with the right mind to go back home and get ahead of holiday planning, or a bit of the holiday she could spend.

The Walmart wasn't that full, given it was a weekday and only two in the afternoon. Most people were at work.

Her shopping went by swiftly, until she bumped her back into somebody while trying to decide which colour sheets she should buy.

“Ow, what the fuck?” The soft voice spoke.

“Shit. I'm so sorry, are you okay?” Syrae whips around to gauge if the person is badly hurt, only for Her to take a few steps back as she finds an all too familiar face in front of her. “I know you fucking lyin’.” She laughs, eyes as wide as her mouth.

All in her oh so fabulous Glory, is the woman she admired all throughout her highschool years. One of the people who helped Syrae navigate school, her life at home and possible sweethearts.

Amber fucking Coleman, or as Syrae does not know now Richmond.

“Well if it ain't Ms. Trouble.” Amber smiled and ran her eyes over Syrae. “I'll be damned. How you lookin’ like snack in sweats. I see some things don't change?” Amber raised a playful brow.

Syrae rolled her eyes and waved her hand at the woman. “Girl please, talking ‘bout me.” She laughed as she noticed the huge rock on her finger. Her eyebrows shot up in elated surprise. “You looking like a billion dollars while carrying another billion on your hand.”

Syrae gently took Amber's left hand into hers as she inspected her wedding ring. “When the hell did this happen and where was my invite?” She asked jokingly.

Truthfully, Syrae cut all contact with people a while after high school. Syrae couldn't handle the pressures of how her life went to complete shit while other people did well for themselves, one of them being Amber.

While others were off to university and studying. She was back home trying to help settle her mother's debts while the woman battled an illness. She missed out on so much, and soon… life caught up to her so quickly that she had to strip to make ends meet.

“Well you didn't make it easy to contact you.” Amber retorted with a frown and a tight-lipped smile. “You went ghost on everybody.”

Syrae sighed before scratching her head, “I know, I know.” She agreed, the corners of her lips curling upwards, forming a hesitant smile as her eyes softened gradually. “Life ain't go as planned… I needed to reboot.”

Amber hummed while nodding her head. “That's adulting for you.” She spoke off into the distance, as if Syrae lost her attention for a while. “Throwing whiplash your way.”

Syrae nodded with a frown, “Well you must be getting the good kind, cause you're married girl.” She laughed, trying to snap the slightly shorter woman back into reality. “Who the lucky man?”

“Tuh girl, you in my business?” Amber pokes her tongue out jokingly before laughing. “Well, I'll have you know that I was buying flowers for him, I ain't been home in a while. Wanted to give him somethin’ for my return, but these sheets are calling my nam-”

“Baby, I can't find the vases you want… come help me.”

A raspy voice spoke from behind Syrae, yet when she turned to face the man so lucky to receive Amber's affections, she was more surprised.

Her eyes flicked back to Amber, then to the man. A moment went with her eyes dancing back and forth between the two people. “Baby?” She asked, her voice sounding a bit more high-pitched than normal.

Syrae didn't expect Amber to be married to him, especially with the way he frequented the strip club like he didn't have a home, or the many times he couldn't take her rejections to a private dance well.

“Rome… I didn't know you were married.”

A/n: Y'all remember Rome?lol.

This is the fifth chapter, and I haven't written smut for them. I'm proud 🥹

Likes are appreciated, but comments and reblogs are encouraged. I've got a praise kink❤️

Taglist:

@blyffe @peachbutterfly-blog @browngirldominion @blackmoonchilee @megamindsecretlair @mogul93 @earthchica @nayaesworld @cdotmvkspaz @zillasvilla @onherereading

[stone-stars]

Transcript:

Albin (Murph): Uh, Calliope, do you have a name? Emily: Uh, I think Calliope looks through her criminal [laughs] stack of fake passports with fake names and fake identities, but she's like, you know what? This is a chance to try on a hat that I once really wanted to wear. And I think she thinks back to TGI Skydays when she saw Freddy proposing to Addie. [The others laugh.] And she thought of like, how nice it must be to not have to find your own purpose because you can just make someone else your purpose. Albin: Oh, no. Caldwell: Aw? Emily: And she thinks back to Glenn. Albin: (desperately) No. Emily: And she said-- Callie (Emily): I would like to be… Glennifer-- Albin: [laughs] Oh no. No. Callie: --Skydays. [Caldwell laughs.] Calder (Jake): I… I hate it and like it at the same time. Albin: Okay so… I see… Sol (Caldwell): I mean it's got a real ring to it. Albin: Right… okay… Callie: Glennifer. Albin: Glennifer. Sol: Glennifer Skydays. Callie: Skydays. Albin: Skydays. And you spell that… just… Calder: But it's like in a strong, healthy, I don't need this anymore-- Albin: Like, okay, so it's a combination-- Callie: No no no. Absolutely not. Calder: Oh, okay. [Caldwell laughs.] Albin: So it's a combination-- Callie: It's like when you took-- it's like when you took the potion of fire breathing to see like, if you'd like it. Calder: Oh. Yeah. Right. Albin: Isn't Jennifer your therapist's name? Callie: [laughs] yes. Albin: So you've-- Callie: I've combined it. Albin: The source-- the source of your pain? Callie: Look, I have an erotic impulse towards both of them! [Emily laughs.] Albin: We're not gonna dig any deeper into that. Sol: Right. No. Calder: I did drink the fire breathing potion. I'm gonna stay out of your way. Albin: Tha-- very good, Glennifer. Sol? Caldwell: Um, Sol also thinks back to the TGI Skydays. [Emily laughs.] Albin: Why? Is there? We don't-- We don't have to. Caldwell: Uh, Sol's in full panic mode [Murph: Okay.] And like, he hears the word Skydays, thinks back, and very confidently with a shaky grin goes Sol: Potato… Skindersin? Albin: Yes! [Emily laughs.] Very good. Sol: Final answer. Calder: That is on the menu. Albin: Okay. Your name is… Potato. Sol: Tater to my friends! Albin: Tater to your friends. Calder: Alright, Tate! Callie: I'm only Glennifer. Albin: Only Glennifer. Full name. Callie: You can't-- if you collapse it, then you miss out half of myself. Albin: Calder, please! Sol: Bring us home. Jake: Calder thinks deeply about TGI Skydays. [Caldwell and Emily laugh.] Albin: Please. Calder. I beg of you. You're all gonna die. You're all going to die. Calder: I remember… when I spoke with the waiter about not being served. Albin: Okay? Calder: I clocked that his name was Doug. Albin: D-- okay. Well, that's a name! Yes, that's a normal name. Okay. Calder: It is a name. Alright. Doug. Albin: Doug? Calder: Doug DaVirgin. Albin: Doug-- [Caldwell and Emily laugh.] Okay. Like he's a virgin. Calder: That's right. Albin: Great. Okay. Sol: That's-- that's a little character work in there too. I like that! Calder: I just-- I project that onto Doug. Callie: I'm the heiress to the Skydays fortune-- Albin: Jesus. Callie: --and I'm married to Glen. Albin: So you took his name by adding it to your first name? Callie: As is the custom. Albin: Okay. Sol: And it's not really important to the mission but Tater does fuck a lot. Albin: (so, so tired) Okay. Sol: And it's fun because like, Doug's a virgin but Tater fucks a lot but we're still really good friends. Calder: We are! Yeah. Albin: Really good stuff everyone. Calder: Doug's a wingman. Sol: Yeah!

[paigemathews]

Is Paige your favourite sister? Your URL made me wonder is all lol

Okay, so full admission, in case anyone hasn't picked up on it yet. @phoebehalliwell almost singlehandedly inspired me into creating a full on Charmed sideblog, and you can absolutely tell bc I 100% based what I was doing on her when I first started. Nowadays, I like to think that I'm being slightly more original but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Part of that was, clearly, the URL bc I looked at the URL box when I was creating the blog and just screeched in unholy panic and doing the most blatant ripoff you've ever seen, complete with b-movie incorrect spelling. (in my defense, the actual spelling was taken!)

but the reason I picked Paige was bc she was definitely my childhood favorite! Admittedly, the reason she was my childhood favorite is bc she was a redhead like me lmao. (look, my first time watching Charmed was when I was an actual child, that was my only requirement for a character to be my favorite.) Nowadays, she probably ties with Prue in regards to my favorite sister!

Admittedly, I'm always a sucker for the untapped potential and Paige has a lot! I'd have to loved to see more storylines focus on her, especially in regards to her past, her powers/heritage, and her forging her path into the magical world.

However, I also just really like her as a character. She's a very creative and compassionate character, and I loved her arc about discovering her inner Whitelighter. She had a very genuine love of magic like Phoebe in the early seasons, but while Pheebs had more of a personal gain thing going on (which I'm not dissing!), Paige had more of that desire to help.

I also liked how Paige, who lost her family and... forgot, for lack of a better term, what it was like to have one, clashed with the sisters initially but also was able to help Piper through her grief over losing Prue and created these relationships with her newfound sisters. I'm also a sucker for how she met Henry, someone who got it in ways that her sisters could never really grasp fully, and they created their own family as well. As rushed as s8 was, I like that Paige's journey on the show was not only joining a family but choosing to invite someone into hers to create another, if that makes sense.

Honestly, I don't really know if I have a super concrete reason for why Paige is my favorite, but just like. the vibes. I definitely named my blog after her bc she was my childhood fave, but I also adore her so I think it works out. She's definitely a fun character to make aesthetics (along with being the next character whenever I get around to my next Warren Witch Project witch) and write for (also known as she's the main character in one of my main four WIPs rn).

Also, redheads still tend to be my favorite characters lmao.

[ff15trashgoldenslumbers]

Well some suggestions I have for Ardyn and aunt avietis are. What aunt avietis does after Ardyn invades insomnia. What would it be like if aunt avietis were to be with Ardyn for the entire game (like with him when he had the meeting with the chocobros). And what the ending would be like for both Ardyn and avietis. Just some general in-game information based around avietis and Ardyn throughout the game.

Okay so if you read the other post about  Aevitas both the Glance over and the Early Life you get basically the same scenarios until Aera is killed. 

This is basically a brief overview of their life, like some cliffnotes.

Due to the connection, Aevitas has with the Oracle when Aera is struck down and Ardyn loses control, Aevitas attempts to stop Ardyn but is only able to subdue him leaving her weak from trying to drain the darkness within him not realizing just how much darkness is within him when he goes on the run and she’s unable to regularly purge him. Somnus takes this as an advantage and seals Ardyn away.

Aevitas on the other hand gets trapped by the crystal when she realizes that it’s after Ardyn’s “Soul”. She gets trapped until Ardyn is awakened again as she makes a deal with the gods to watch after him and with Ardyn “asleep” she is not needed, but still is able to interact with those of Lucian blood by being a “ghost” around the castle, though she cannot leave the castle walls until Ardyn wakes up. Nor does she have a physical form until that time, she mostly appears as a ghostly form of what she appears in the past.

When Ardyn does wake up and goes to fight Regis he instead runs into Aevitas who stops him rather than Behometh, released from the crystal's curse on her and allowing her to actually travel with him. For the next few years, as Noctis grows, Aveitas splits her time between being with Ardyn and watching over Noctis and the others never truly revealing herself, as she doesn’t want Ardyn to know that she’s watching them.

Aveitas vehemently is against most of the Empire's movements and often tries to foil what she can. It’s often stated that she and Ardyn are playing an extreme game of chest, where Ardyn is willing to sacrifice everything to protect his king, and Aveitas determines that even if her “King” falls, so long as she has more pieces on the board she feels she has won. They often fall into a stalemate.

When Ardyn “orders” the fall of Insomnia, Aveitas is pissed and actually lashes out at him with both words and weapon as she has access to powers similar to the Lucian Kings, but is unable to actually do anything to Ardyn as it is Noctis’s job to be the final blow and Ardyn can’t harm her as her deal with the gods. Ending in a stalemate Aveitas tries to reach out to the human side of her husband but eventually realizes that it would be wiser to keep watch over boys instead.

When the boys originally run into Ardyn, Aevitas is with him but changes herself just enough for the boys not to recognize her true self, wanting to hide a bit longer. Aevitas is also the one that keeps attempting to stir them away from Ardyn. She constantly counteracts his “creepier” nature with genuine love and affection but eventually realizes what must happen in order to set them both free. Granted she doesn’t want Noctis to die. So she basically becomes very overprotective of them and she and Ardyn butt head a lot!

Aveitas actually watches over Gladiolus when he leaves the group, making certain that he gets to Gilgamesh and makes it back to the others safe and sound. She also watches more intently over the others knowing that Gladiolus is gone.

When Ardyn goes after Ignis, Aveitas realizes too late what he was really after and was too busy trying to save Noctis and Lunafreya by the time she gets to Ignis she can only hold off the gods from trying to kill Ignis, but can’t save his sight. She stays with Ignis and Noctis until Gladiolus and Prompto appear, when they ask who she is as she does not hide her true self, she tearfully responds, “I’m sorry I could not do more.” before escorting them all to safety and then leaving.

She makes mention that losing Lunafreya is one of her biggest failures as she failed to save this Oracle as much as she did the first.

* (In Ignis good end, she realizes way before what Ardyn is planning, takes Lunafreya’s powers to save the other, and gets both Noctis and Luna to safety before going to fight alongside Ignis, during the final blow, Avetias takes all the punishment to be put on Ignis and she and Ardyn are given rest)

She ends up dealing with a lot of the aftermath of Leviathan and spends a lot of time speaking to the specters of Aera and Lunafreya asking for forgiveness for failing twice, so when Ardyn attacks the boys on the train, she is informed only by Shiva and arrives too late to stop Ardyn. 

She races to go find Prompto but instead finds Ardyn, again she lashes out at him, but this time instead of a fight, she tries to appeal to his human side, seeing flickers of the man return, before he disappears again. Ardyn demands her not to interfere, but she goes after Prompto in the disguise of a younger version of herself and helps him escape from Vestral, whom she states, “The man has only ever done one thing right in his life.” She then leads Prompto back to Noctis and the others before leaving without giving her name, simply leaving them with a smile.

When purging the darkness from Ravus it leaves her weak as she realizes the Crystal is near and screaming at her. Unable to even mourn Ravus’s death. Avetias goes to confront Ardyn only to arrive in time for Ardyn to trick Noctis into getting sucked into the crystal. She reaches out in time to save Noctis from his faith but is immediately pushed back by Ardyn just as the others show up.

As Ardyn goes to leave, Avetias too weak due to the crystal realizes that Ardyn had sent her after Ravus to slow her down, and realizing that she can’t go after Noctis in the crystal as Ardyn still walks on Eos, she can only mutter an apology as she goes after her husband fury in her eyes.

The two have one final argument outside, Ardyn states that he won’t fight her as they both know that neither of them can end the other's life. Yet standing before his wife, who is panting heavily but refuses to stop fighting for Noctis, a single flicker of his human self reaches out and embraces her, apologizing, before they go their separate ways for 10 years.

For 10 years Avetias watches over the remaining boys and doing what she can to halt the darkness in the world. When Noctis awakens, she feels him leave the crystal, knowing what is about to happen she goes and finds the man prior to him confronting Ardyn. 

Avetias apologies for having to hide from him for so long, but she will proudly stand beside him. Noctis recognizing the woman that often watched over him in the Citadel since he was a baby gladly accepts her help.

And then you get the lovely Orginal Aunt Avetias post! Which is one ending.

Other endings are, Noctis finally being able to kill Ardyn allowing them both to finally rest. (This is with and without Noctis’s death)

Ardyn finally comes to terms with his anger against Somnus and the deamons within him, allowing him to actually heal with Avetias by his side to watch over for generations to come.

Avetias finally just decking the shit out of Ardyn, just full-on haymaker her husband and then going to the crystal demanding the gods to give back her husband's soul or so help her!

The gods see no reason to deny her...

[tauforged]

let's talk about the way we talk about sigma

and i’m not just saying this because i’m a hater or because i find the woobification of characters annoying (although i am, and i do, but that’s neither here nor there) but i AM saying it cuz it’s no longer mildly annoying so much as it is just hurtful and exhausting due to the casual ableism it perpetuates. whether it’s consciously or not, it’s there and i’m pointing it out cuz a lot of people probably don’t even realize what they’re saying (i hope) so i wanna spell it out crystal clear.

*granted, these are sentiments i’ve seen far more often on twitter or tiktok than on here (and i know complaining about stupid takes on either site is like going to the beach and getting mad about all the sand, but bear with me) but it’s ABSOLUTELY something that i see a lot on here too and i'm starting to get incredibly fed up with it all. someone's gotta fuckin say it.

im going to put the majority of this under a readmore because i've got a lot to say on the topic but here's the long and short of it:

you guys have GOT to stop acting like sigma is a poor little helpless confused manipulated innocent little uwu baby. like, for real. stop saying that shit. stop lamenting about “waahhh poor science granpa doesn’t know where he is or what’s happening around himmm 🥺🥺🥺”. stop acting like he’s being held captive or abused by talon despite evidence to the contrary so you can make your little “uwu i can’t wait for overwatch to save him and Fix Him uwuwuw” posts. and for the love of all that’s holy, if i see one more person say or imply that he was better off when he was being forcibly institutionalized than he is now working for talon, i’m going to start fucking attacking people with my teeth like a chimpanzee.

it's incredibly fucking weird and alienating for literally anyone who experiences even a fraction of the things yall are pointing out as proof of his incompetence. and before any of you hit me with the "oh it's not that deep 🙄" im gonna tell you right now that i dont care and im going to be mad about it anyway cuz its my party and i can post whatever i want.

ANYWAY!!

to continue my point, not only is it weird and infantilizing and demeaning and belittling to those of us who deal with literally any of the myriad of things going on with him that i’ve seen people point to as proof that he ‘needs to be fixed’ — memory lapses, time loss, dissociation, auditory hallucinations, disordered thought, just straight up being autistic, hyperfocus and/or complete lack of focus, panic attacks or meltdowns, i cannot overstate how many of the ‘weird’ things he does are just autistic traits so i’m gonna say it a second time for good measure — and those are all just things that i personally have in common with him (which is part of the reason i’m as mad about this as i am to make this post, but i digress).

to single out these things, all of which are completely reasonable for someone who is autistic, who is traumatized, who suffered through a prolonged period of forced confinement, and/or who has literal brain damage, and NONE of which are nearly as tragic and doomed as people are making them out to be, that’s all bad enough on its own!

but to point out these traits and then turn around and use them to color every single interaction he has with another character, every single thing he says, and tie it back to his traaaagic broken mind and how he’s clearly losing his grip on reality just feels… insanely othering in a way that’s really exhausting.

like, for fucks sake, a solid 80% of his character interactions could be lifted near verbatim from conversations i’ve had in real life with my friends, family, coworkers, you name it, all of which were friendly and usually in jest — hell, 9/10 times when i let out a random non sequitur or lose my train of thought or forget what i’m doing, nobody even bats a fucking eye! they sure as hell don't accuse whoever i’m talking to of abusing me because they expressed mild annoyance at my bad joke.

i’ve genuinely seen someone get all worked up and construe his one interaction with sombra where he comments on her tendency to disappear and reappear in odd places as evidence that he’s got dementia and is slipping away from reality altogether… and not, yknow, a nod to her fucking cloaking ability and translocator and the fact that she uses both very frequently just for the hell of it. that one still fucking baffles me i'm sorry. if i hadn't seen it with my own eyes i'd honestly think it was a joke. like. cmon now

another thing that makes it even worse is that most of this is also just…. not even grounded in canon. if this was the way blizz was writing him, it’d be one thing. it would still be shitty and ableist, but blizzard handling their oooh spooky scary mentally ill character badly is about as surprising as the sun rising every morning. i can't say i wouldn't still be upset to see people continuing to perpetuate it, but i wouldn't be AS mad, i guess.

but SO. MANY. of the popular takes on his character are either never concretely stated or outright contradicted by his ingame dialogue and interactions and it drives me insane!!! idk WHERE y’all are getting this shit but so many people are reaching so hard to make him a tragic sad uwuwuw glass bones and paper skin pathetic little meow meow that they’re going out of their way to misinterpret source material so they can shout from the rooftops about how sad and pathetic and unaware they think people like me must be.

i keep seeing people talk about how he probably has no idea that talon is a terrorist group, that he doesn’t know what talon IS, or that he doesn’t even know that he WORKS for talon, and it’s starting to go from mildly annoying to infuriating. this shit has literally no basis in canon aside from conjecture based on the fact that he’s Known to be mentally ill!! i don't see even half as many people getting this all up in arms about widow, who we KNOW FOR A FACT was literally kidnapped and experimented on and brainwashed by talon. like. that's her WHOLE THING. meanwhile sig literally just works there and people are clamoring for ovw to come """""rescue"""""" him as if hes like, a lab animal or something instead of a grown man who happens to not be particularly bothered by the fact that he works for talon.

this is something that's addressed in game MULTIPLE TIMES - he’d far prefer to watch an ant crawl on the ceiling than listen to s76 trying to ‘talk sense into him’, not because he can’t hear him or anything either, it’s pretty clear from his tone and cadence that he’s actively choosing to ignore him. when baptiste points out the fact that he’s fully capable of leaving talon if he wanted to, he doesn’t deny it or act confused or like that’s a strange thing to say, he just seems a little bemused that someone would think he WANTS to leave. yeah, he sure could— but why would he bother?

he's not "totally unaware of what he's doing" in the fucking slightest - hell, i'd argue that his new map-exclusive lines and interactions prove that he's MORE grounded now than he was in ovw1. yes, he gets a little confused on occasion when he can't quite remember the last time he's been somewhere. (memory lapses are just kind of like that. i had several while writing this post, in fact! it just fucking happens sometimes. it's really not the end of the world. frustrating, yeah, but i promise you we can manage just fine).

i guess the question i'm asking is: is it really all that difficult for to fathom that he might just... WANT to be there? that he might just straight up not care what talon is up to, so long as he's able to keep doing his research as he sees fit??

and for the record, before anyone takes this and runs with it and we lose the plot of this post, i am NOT SAYING that the very idea of wanting him to leave talon is #problematic or anything. i dont care, really. do whatever you want. what i do care about is just like.... being mindful about what we're saying and WHY we're saying it. it's reaching a point where people are somehow managing to look at the ass backwards already ableist as hell decisions blizz has already made with him and decided "hey, i bet i can find a way to make that even worse!"

[jadeleechwife]

Dorm leaders reacting when accidentally badly hurted fem!MC

Context: A wild creature invades the school. Somehow, while you and your partner were taking a walk together, the being is facing both of you, blocking the way. Its appearance was menacing and disgusting, but it showed no sign of hostility.

Instinctively your partner puts you behind him as he prepares to destroy the creature. However, you realize that even though it has a scary look, it didn't really look like it was going to try to attack.

Y/N: It doesn't look like it's going to hurt us, I think it's better to just let it-

Your partner does not hear even half of your sentence when the creature dares to take a mere step towards you. He immediately casts a spell on the being, about to hurt it mercilessly to keep you protected.

Y/N: No! Don't hurt him!

You scream and run towards the creature as quickly as possible and stand in front of it, serving as a shield.

However, before your partner noticed you moving, he had already thrown the spell, hitting you right in the eye. Your body is thrown away and the creature, terrified, runs away with the sudden turmoil. You were full of burns and could barely breathe. The pain was indescribable because of its intensity.

Riddle Rosehearts

Process the event for a few seconds, before feeling immense pain filling his chest;

He runs desperately towards you. Tears were streaming down his face and his hands were shaking as he looked at your extremely injured body, not knowing what to do;

'' Y/N... Forgive me... Forgive me... I didn't want to... I didn't see... I-''- He was babbling desperately between sobs;

When he realized that you were barely breathing, he immediately put you in his arms in an clumsy way, due to the immense panic that he was feeling, and started screaming for help. He ran across the lawn while keeping an eye on what was in front of him and on your face, watching your breath;

Immediately wanting to use his own Unique Magic on himself for having hurt the most important person in his life.

Leona Kingscholar

His eyes widen desperately for a few seconds before running towards you;

'' Y/N? Y/N! '' -He shouted your name, trying to keep you conscious, when he saw that it wasn't working, he immediately started cursing himself for being so careless;

He messes up his hair nervously, with a lump in his throat. Holding back the tears, he carries your body in his arms, feeling your breathing unsteady;

'' Don't you dare abandon me like that herbivore! '' - He shouted, running immediately to the infirmary;

His arms trembled slightly as he carried you, guilt ripping through his chest;

''I can't lose you... '' - He whispered in a choked voice.

Azul Ashengrotto

The poor guy pales instantly, walking reluctantly in your direction;

No... He didn't do that, right? This can not be happening...

Did he really just hurt the person he loved the most?

When he saw that you wasn't moving and barely breathing, he fell to his knees, not knowing what to do;

And then he starts to scream and cry in despair;

He immediately calls out to Jade and Floyd at the top of his lungs, not caring if he has lost his composure;

After all, what was that when he was in danger of losing something even more serious and precious?

'' Y/N... My angelfish... What did I do...'' -He cried, tears welling up, guilt suffocating his throat.

Kalim Al-Asim

Y/N!!!!!!!! - He screams at the top of his lungs, running towards you, looking terrified;

He crouches down and raises your head, gently supporting your neck with one hand, tears falling as he strokes your bruised face tremblingly with his other free hand.

'' What do I do ... What do I do ... - He murmurs, looking around, unable to think properly;

He brings your face close to his to check your breathing, realizing that it was very weak;

And the poor thing almost passes out right there;

''JAAAAAAMILLLLLLLL!!!!!!!! '' - He calls his servant, his throat almost aching from the intensity of the volume of his voice;

Almost instantly Jamil appears, with an irritated, visibly bothered look, but becomes one of pure terror when he looks at your burned body;

''KALIM WHAT HAVE YOU- '' - He started the question almost screaming. He didn't even has the strength to complete it when he immediately took your body in his arms and headed for the infirmary, Kalim right behind, explaining what happened in a desperate tone, but Jamil was not in the mood for it now. He needed to remain calm.

Vil Schoenheit

'' Y/N! '' - he exclaims in an irritated and worried tone, ready to give you a lecture, when he realizes that you weren't moving;

And then the panic came;

He goes towards you, bends down and gently shakes one of your arms to see if you reacted. No answer. As he approachs his face to check your breathing, his heart almost stops when he felt that you were practically not breathing;

His eyes widened in sheer horror, feeling immensely guilty and ugly for having hurt you;

He knew he needed to remain calm in the situation, but it was almost impossible to know that the reason you were practically dead was because of him;

He carries your body, looking for help, keeping you extremely close to his chest, no longer caring if it would stain or wrinkle his clothes, it was not the time to worry about it;

"Hold on my potato..." - He whispered, feeling like a piece of trash and with an immense pain in his chest. Vil couldn't stand the thought of living without you.

Idia Shroud

Idia.exe has stopped working;

Literally;

He just stares at the scene, paralyzed and looking still, processing and not believing what he has done;

Did he just suffer a Game Over?!?! Did he just lose the extra rare and most important character of his collection ?!

Idia remains there, frozen, refusing to believe of what just happened and just hoping that all of this was just a bad dream;

Luckily, Ortho was spying on his brother to see how he was doing with you and immediately came out of his hiding spot to help you;

Ortho catches his brother's attention, asking to help him carry you, but Idia remains in his catatonic state of denial;

The youngest sighs in frustration, being irritated by the idea of having to carry his brother to the infirmary too if he remained that way;

But eventually Idia reacts and lifts your body, unable to even look at you, just keeping his eyes straight ahead, without blinking, while following Ortho's instructions.

Malleus Draconia

The dragon fae's heart almost stops when realizes what he had done;

He looks at his own hands, trembling, feeling indescribable pain;

The human, his human, whom he had promised so much to protect and keep it safe, was not only extremely hurt, but was hurt because of him;

'' No wonder they see me as a monster ...''- He murmurs desperately, his mouth drying;

He carries your body reluctantly, trembling of fear on ending up accidentally hurting you again;

But even more afraid of losing you, of losing his most precious treasure;

I dare say he was almost crying.

[obsidiancreates]

Casey Jones vs The Underworld Liveblog

This sounds like Casey is reading his movie script draft to pitch it to a board- nope, now it's a diary again.

YOU DID GET RIPPED AND SIDELINED SWEETIE THE WRITERS TOTALLY SCREWED YOU OVER YES YOU ABSOLUTELY SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN THAT FIGHT YOU ABSOLUTELY SHOULD HAVE

Oh, he's entered his Battinson Era I guess, with this red lighting.

CASEY BABY CAREFUL DON'T KILL THEM

Oh how dare this man be named Hun when that's a term of endearment I use for these very characters! I guess "hon" is the spelling now... ugh but it looks worse...

SHIT HOW ARE CASEY'S RIB NOT BRO- HUN LAUNCHED A HOCKEY PUCK RIGHT AT CASEY'S BALLS NOOOOOOOOOOOOO HE KILLED HIM

Oh a thumbs down after beating Casey up I- I hate this bitch

STILL DOING THE LIE OF THEIR VISION QUEST OUTFITS BEING APART OF THIS SEASON WHERE ARE THE FUCKING VISION QUEST OUTFITS THEY BETTER EARN THEIR KEEP OF BEING IN THE INTRO AND I WANNA SEE DONNIE WEAR THAT MASK AROUND CASEY

Donnie looks so sad about the state of the lair :(

ICE CREAM KITTYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY SHE MEOWEDDDDDDDDD

Your lab actually looks pretty intact, Donnie.

ICE CREAM KITTYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY OH GOD ROTTEN FOOD FUCK THAT'S SO GROSS Mikey no MIKEY NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HE FUCKING ATE THE MOLDY BUG-RIDDEN PIZZA NOOOOOOOO

Oh, Casey's pissed. Casey baby, maybe let them like... move back home before screaming at them to get back to vigilante-ing?

PFFFFFFT MIKEY JUST STICKING HIS HEAD IN HIS SHELL TO AVOID THE PUNCH AND HOPPING AWAY FFFFFFFT

DON'T SHAME CASEY HE TRIED OH NO THE LAUGHS SHOWED UP VISIBLY AROUND HIM HE'S GONNA ENTER HIS FUCKING JOKER ERA

DONNIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU THREW SHIT AT HIM AS HE LEFT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? I'M ADDING A NEW BODY HORROR ASPECT TO THE ANGST FIC AS PUNISHMENT, ENJOY MYSTERIOUS AND FOUL GOO LEAKING UNCONTROLLABLY FROM YOUR MOUTH AS A NEW PART OF WHAT'LL HAPPEN TO YOU, YOU FUCKER

YES YOU CAN CASEY, YOU TAKE THOSE BITCHES O- Is that Xever? Yes it is. I still can't get over that The Foot use fucking motorcycles. This is absurd.

Oh Casey baby no not Shredder, not Shredder

EW IT'S THIS GUY GOD NO THE EATING SOUNDS HAVE ALREADY BEGUN NOOOOOOO THE BELCHINGGGGGGGGGGGGG NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I can't believe I'm saying this but, Shredder get his ass!!!

EW HE SPAT SHIT OUT UGH

Love that the dumbass mob boss can't even tell that some random street punk just came in and poured his drink. Not very keen on security, eh Vizioso?

GET HIS ASS SHREDDER YESSSSSSSSSS YOU'RE THE BETTER VILLAIN ANY DAY I HATE YOU BUT AT LEAST YOU'RE TOLERABLE

Busboys don't serve food and drink, Casey, you're very lucky that Shredder doesn't fucking know how restaurants work

CASEY NO SWEETIE NO YOU ADRENALINE JUNKIE PUNK YOU'LL GET YOURSELF KILLED IF YOU THINK THAT WAS FUN OH GOD

I swear to god if Raph ignores this text or responds in cruelty, I'm putting the boys into a pot of broth

Okay good, Raph decided to just go with backing Casey up.

Major ADHD moment for Mikey with that TV remote. Relatable.

WHYYYYYYYYY THE CROGNAR PECS

Oh Leo was VERY distressed by whatever happened to Crognar

So Xever and Bradford like. Have hate hookups, right?

CASEY SWEETHEART DO NOT GO AFTER RAHZAR AND FISHFACE ALONE- DO NOT TELL THEM YOUR FULL NAME OH GOD

Okay well they nerfed Rahzar again I see- nevermind he's awake again

CASEY HAVE YOU NEVER HEARD THE PHRASE "LIVE TO FIGHT ANOTHER DAY" BABY DO YOU NEED THERAPY????? IS THIS A CRY FOR HELP?????

OH THANK GOODNESS FOR RAPH

Sorry Casey, you deserve the lecture from Raph, he's right that you should stop like, willingly almost dying with no regard for your own safety.

Now Raph, this is not how to properly express your concern. I know you're just scared for Casey's wellbeing and that Shredder will brutalize him like he did to Leo and Splinter, but it just sounds like you're mocking Casey. People are right, Raph needs to talk with Dr. Feelings from Rise.

Annnnddddd yeah Casey didn't hear panic and fear of losing someone close to him, Casey heard mocking and a lack of faith. Oh, you poor, angsty, bad-at-communicating boys...

Oh Stockman is ba- KARAI

STOP ACTING LIKE THIS SHREDDER I FUCKING HATE YOU FUCK OFF I ROOT FOR YOU AGAINST VIZIOSO BUT ONCE VIZIOSO IS OUT OF THE PICTURE I HATE YOU AND WANT TO KILL YOU

Plunger and can? Clever, Casey!

Okay Raph is right, he can't just tie Casey up.

EVERYONE STOP SLAMMING THINGS AROUND IN DONNIE'S LAB THAT MAES SHIT EXPLODE

MORE EATING OUNDS NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MIKEY STOP

Slightly radioactive, I mean so are bananas Donnie.

WAIT WHAT?!?!?!? THESE CHIPS ARE BASICALLY LIKE IF ACE CHEMICALS FROM BATMAN MADE SNACKS?!?!?!?!?!

IT FUCKING IS ACE CHEMICALS THIS SHIT IS ABOUT TO- OH GOD I DID SAY CASEY'S GONNA ENTER HIS JOKER ERA DUDE I HOPE I'M WRONG

CASEYYYYYYYYYY DO NOT SET OFF EXPLOSIVES IN THE CHEMICAL FACTORYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

YEAH BE AFRAID OF SHREDDER- OH FUCK HE SHOCKED SHREDDER ALL THAT DAMN METAL MUST'VE REALLY HURT THAT WAS BADASS

CASEY YOU KINDA DO NEED THEM RIGHT NOW NO OFFENSE BUT VEN IF YOU KILLED SHREDDER THERE'S LIKE THREE MUTANTS AND FOUR GANG MEMBERS LEFT

Oh Donnie vs Fishface this time, huh? Interesting, too bad it's background

YESSSSSSSSS MIKEY FUCK RAHZAR UPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

OH FUCK LEO'S GONNA GET JOKERED

How is this bitch fucking Casey up, he's so lame

Good line Casey good line

DID THAT MAN LICK THE KOCKEY PUCK?!?!?!

Did Donnie really just say "Wait, chemicals?" all surprised when thrown into the storage closet of... a chemical factory? Sweetie. You're better than that.

Oh fuck that was a mad scientists moment. He jsut said aloud to himself "Oh, Donatello, I love your mind," with an evil little giggle. ... Maybe he and Rise would get along better than I thought.

Honestly yeah, Xever, he was talking to himself like a weirdo. You're kinda spot on.

TIGERCLAW WHY ARE YOU GIVING RAPH ANGER MANAGEMENT LECTURES WHILE TRYING TO KILL HIM it's Rise Splinter peeking through dimensions

YESSSSS CASEY GETS A SICK-ASS GUITAR RIFF NOW AND HE THREW HUN INTO THE UNKNOWN CHEMICAL VAT?!?!?!?!?!?! CASEY BABY YOU COMMITED A MURDER

Oh he kicked Tigerclaw in the Kitty Kibbles, oof FUCK ZEVER UPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP TAKE THAT RAHZAR HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

CASEYYYYYYYYYYYY

Fucking hell what are those Cheesy Balls made of, good god

Oh okay Hun lived. Somehow. ... No I'm pretty sure Casey killed him.

TIGERCLAW LIKING HE CHEMICALS PFFFFFFFFFF

YES YES PREESH CASEY PREESH MY BOY YEAH HE DID GREAT MVP MVP MVP

I mean. I don't know if I'd call them. The Best. At least specifically in regards to how they treat you.

DONNIE

MAYBE LEAD WITH THE "EVERY PERSON IN NEW YORK CITY"

I THINK THAT COVERS YOURSELVES AND KARAI

[im-pok]

Just for fun (and to make these easier to find) I have made a compilation of JSRF quotes!

I did find the quotes from this video by RisingSonic17 on YouTube. I do suggest watching it as it gives more context to the lines:

Keep in mind that some interactions may be missing, as I have never played JSRF and may be unaware of some interactions. Characters and their quotes appear in chronological order according to the video.

Corn:

"This is the GG's Garage. Hey, where's our pizza? Huh? You're not the pizza guy? Oh, you're here to join the GG's, eh? Heh... Tell you what. Find Gum. She's the one you wanna talk to. Just get close to her and pull the 'Right Trigger'. Got it?"

"Why don't you talk to her now?"

"Now, just 'cause you're new don't mean you can act like a big baby. The police are tightening up here, especially since the Rokkaku took over the police force. I know we look crazy 'n all, but even we know to pick our fights. So don't mess things up for the rest of us, got it?"

"Roboy's training changes as your skill level changes, so be on the lookout."

"I had a feeling Poison Jam would have their hideout in the sewers beneath Rokkaku-dai Heights. This is it... looks like the time to throw down has finally come."

"Man, those Poison Jam freaks are out of control. I say we start on Chuo Street and cover everything to Rokkaku-dai Heights and 99th Street in our graffiti. Chuo Street is probably the best place to start."

"Roboy told you, right? If you find a Mystery Tape, you gotta check the GG-notebook. It'll tell you where to find the Graffiti Souls in the area."

"Where the hell is Yoyo? Maybe he freaked out and skipped town? I'm sure he's alright. But we gotta take care of those Immortals. They've been walkin' around like they own the place. We gotta go and cover up all their graffiti."

"I'll send those Immortals back to the grave as many times as I need to!"

"We'll stop those Noise Tanks!"

Gum:

"Poison Jam knows something about Yoyo. I know they do."

"Damn! Punk, I'll get you for that!"

"The fortified residential zone... that's deep in the ghetto. And it could be the fake one again..."

"Here they come. The crazies from the Golden Rhinos. Concentrate, and watch your back. These guys ain't no joke."

"We gotta protect the streets. That's not a choice. We can't let these fools just waltz in and take over."

"The real enemy is your own fear. Remember that."

"So you're the cat that wants to join us, huh? I don't know where you're from, but the streets are tough. Real tough. Let's see what you're made of. We'll start you off nice and slow. Let's see how much air you can grab. Press the "A Button" to jump."

"Dogenzaka Hill is GG territory. I heard there's some headphone wearin' freak creepin' up here. If I could just find him, I'd show him what's up...."

"You can do it, can't you?"

"There are a couple of places in Shibuya Terminal where you can get on the roof of some buildings. You can get there by jumping from a Grind. You should check it out. Who knows what you'll find up there? When you're looking for something, the best place to start is the Map. You can see it by pressing the START button."

"The area of 99th Street is built around a tower that has a bunch of places to Grind. Definitely check that place out. There are also telephone poles to Grind and billboards to Wallride... the most important thing is to just try everything out. Oh, and don't forget to check the map by pressing the START button. That should give you some helpful hints"

"We actually found Roboy in a dumpster. Corn fixed him up real nice."

"I've been lost in the severs before. Its kinda crazy in there, but as long as you keep moving up, you'll be ok."

"Yoyo just can't chill and stay out, can he? He'll be back soon, I'm sure. I heard the Immortals hang out in the skyscraper district or something..."

"Actually, they say Roboy is actually a Noise Tank prototype. Don't tell him that though, ok? We don't wanna make him cry or nothin'. In any case, we're gonna get those damn Noise Tanks."

Yoyo:

"Those tracks should connect Sky Dinosaurian Square to the edge of the skyscraper district..."

"I hear that Poison Jam's woman leader has been showin' her face in town."

"Man, the Rhinos gotta be pissed off!"

"Shibuya Terminal is in a state of panic. I really wanna stay out of this, but we gotta go over there and take care of business."

"Don't use your eyes. Just try to feel it, ya know?"

"Graffiti has the power to wake up the energy that's asleep in the streets of Tokyo. The Rokkaku Group... the police... they don't know what's up. So let's just cover this whole place in art, yo."

"Yo, you know that dude Hayashi from the Rokkaku police force? That guy is one messed up dude. He's a complete psycho. Watch out for him."

"I heard through the grapevine that some weird-lookin' girl's been hangin' out at Rokkaku-dai Heights."

"So you think Poison Jam is after us?"

"We gotta get the Doganzaka Hill goddess statue that Poison Jam took. We better hurry, or things are gonna get real ugly."

Beat:

"Anything go down while I was gone?"

"I've always thought that thing in Shibuya Terminal was nasty lookin' anyway! Let's do a little redecoration."

"Sometimes, you just gotta get moving or else nothin's gonna get done, yo.

"Hey, I've heard of you. You're one of the GG's, huh? Tell you what... I'll race you. If I can beat you in a race around Doganzaka Hill, then this place belongs to me. Got it?"

"Hope you won't regret that."

"Shibuya Terminal? Now that you mention it, there was this huge guy wandering around there... And fishy graffiti? That sounds familiar, but I didn't really look close enough to see if the graffiti that the fool was paintin' actually looked like a fish or nothin'."

"Hey. Is it true Poison Jam used to cause trouble in Chuo Street under a different name?"

"Rapid 99 of 99th Street. They don't show their faces in public very often. Some say Rapid 99 and Poison Jam are sworn enemies because something big went down a while back. I don't know the details, though. A friend of mine told me that the girls in Rapid 99 are real lookers. I just think he was too scared of 'em to say otherwise. In any case, it ain't gonna be easy to find 'em."

"You meet Rapid 99 yet?"

"Noise Tanks? Never heard of 'em. But we gotta find Yoyo. I'll go through the sewers and check out Kiboganoka Hill."

"Those Immortals really get on my nerves..."

"Crazy stuff is going down all over town! Looks like it's time for a little clean up... GG's style!"

Combo:

"Time to get serious."

"This kid's kinda funny."

"This time we should be able to tell if it's the real one or the fake Yoyo just by talkin' to him, right?"

"That crazy guy?! What're you talkin' about? He looks nothing like me. Besides, we don't got time to deal with that fool. Remember? The Golden Rhinos??"

"Well, they told us to come. Don't look like we got any choice."

"There are some things that you can only feel when you're out in the streets, you know?"

"What's this?! Who's been sprayin' these ugly tags on my turf?! Hmph. I'm guessin' it was you... Its on! If you loose, you're gonna be answerin' to me from now on, punk!"

"You think you can do this too? Let's see it!"

"Man, you're not all that. Here, I'll show you one more time."

"The deep end of the sewers is closed off because it's contaminated. At least, that's what I heard..."

"Hey, why you gotta go out and get a dog?! There's only one thing I hate more than dogs, and that's goldfish."

"I heard Rapid 99 used to run under a leader named Cube..."

"Thing that ticks me off most is, the Immortals ain't worth all this talk and trouble. I wonder if they got somethin' to do with Yoyo's disappearance?"

"There's a bunch of real big guys with real big attitudes causin' a big scene over on Highway Zero. Maybe they might know something about the Noise Tanks. Man, where the hell is Yoyo?!"

Rynth:

"What is UP with Yoyo, anyway?!"

"Hey, Graffiti Souls are a big commodity, right?"

"I don't care if it's a golden rhino or a blue hippo, I'll send 'em right back to the zoo where they belong."

"What's their master plan? I mean, the Golden Rhinos don't seem like their just out here to run the streets, you know what I'm sayin'?" (This quote was spelled like this in game. From my knowledge it should be "they're just out here...")

"Here comes Gouji. Let's end this."

"Did you get all the Graffiti Souls? We still got a full laundry list of things to take care of, you know."

"Hehehe... So this is your hideout."

"Poison Jam are... kinda cute!"

"Is it just me, or does Captain Hayashi not look like he eats his breakfast?"

Poison Jam:

"I don't think Yoyo's that kind of a person."

"I think hes hiding something."

"This feels like a trap. Be careful."

"Someone's after DJ-K?! You sure about that?!"

"Gouji Rokkaku is kinda interesting. But, I think he went a little too far this time..."

"I love everything about Tokyo... even the things I hate."

"Hur hur hur. You want to get rid of us, don't you? Nothing in life is free. You gotta work for it. Beat us in this race and we won't mess with you anymore."

"Har har har!! I told ya'll you were a bunch of wussies!"

Rapid 99:

"ghahah! Next thing you know, you will be all crying like a baby."

"If you can win a flag battle against us, I'll tell you where Poison Jam' s hideout is."

"Suit yourself."

Garam:

"I won't hold back."

"Hey. Keep it real."

"There's this lightning-quick girl over at Kiboganoka Hill. Dunno if she's still there. But man, I gotta say, I'm really trippin' out over Yoyo missin' and all."

"When it comes down to it, the Immortals are just dried up mummies, man. I bet they all nasty under those bandages."

Boogie:

"The Noise Tanks might look strong, but they're like cheap action figures! Just run into them and they fall apart! Oh yeah, that girl from the stadium... I heard she's been lookin' for us. You seen her yet?"

"Aww man..."

"The fortified residential zone... it's directly attached to the underground sewers. Man. I don't like that place at all."

"Is that dude in black even human? My heart's pounding... I don't know why."

"You're never as good as you can be! Don't slack off!"

"Y'all are crazy!"

Jazz:

"This doesn't look good."

"Alright. Stay cool."

"Yeah.... we were a little too laid back this time, I think."

"The fortified residential zone... hey, why don't we pick numbers to decide who goes?"

"It's about time the Rhinos brought things up a notch. We better be ready to get real serious too."

"What the hell IS that big thing, anyway? But, you better watch out for that fool in black..."

"If you get a "Jet" in the Trials, you can even use people who aren't here to take out into the streets."

"You're one of the GG's, right? Then tell this fool that they got the wrong girl! They think I'm one of you guys! So, they dragged me out here and looked what's happened to me!!"

"Hurry up! Tell him that I'm not a GG!!"

Noise Tanks:

"Hey, you're that GG that helped me out! Thanks for that man. Say... there's something that I've been wondering since then. You wanna find out who's the fastest? I KNOW I can beat you. Let's give it a shot!"

"Alright. Fine. See ya."

"I'll get 'em good no matter what!"

"The more worked up we get about this, the harder it'll be to find what we're lookin' for."

"There's somethin' not right about the way the Golden Rhino's are actin'."

"Why are those Golden Rhinos going after the Radio station? Well, make sure to be on the lookout for Captain Psychopath."

"We gotta save DJ-K! I can't stand listening to this music anymore!"

"If this town could talk, what poetry it would speak..."

"Ready?"

"Practice all you want, it will not make a difference."

"It is not over yet. Prepare yourselves."

"Heh... Go on. Fight!"

"Are you ready?"

Special interactions:

"Sometimes it just doesn't matter how much you practice."

Slate:

"Dude. I'm bored. Entertain me."

"Hmph. What a bore."

"My sources tell me that the Noise Tanks and the Rokkaku Group are in this together. Be careful."

"So is that Clutch guy in with Rokkaku too? Or is he just a little punk?"

"I'm about ready."

"The Golden Rhinos are really startin' to get on my nerves..."

"I got better things to do than play house with Gouji Rokkaku, but man, that big ugly thing has GOT to go."

"Graffiti Souls' sole purpose is to be sought out."

Clutch:

"You're looking for that kid, Yoyo, right? Tell ya what, if you go out and get some Graffiti Soul points... Hey! Wait a sec, you've already got quite a few. Lemme see those... Sucka! Thanks for the Graffiti Souls! See ya around!"

"Hah, hah! I look forward to it!"

"I dunno, but I just don't get what's going on here. Heh..."

"This Gouji Rokkaku dude is pretty funny!"

"Haaaahaha! Tokyo ain't half bad!"

Cube:

"If you can beat me at my own game, I'll leave you alone."

"Suit yourself."

"The fortified residential zone... Unless you're absolutely sure of your skills, you should stay away from that place."

"I've dealt with the Golden Rhinos once before. If you don't take them seriously, you're as good as dead."

"I can't stand even looking at that thing. Its just so... so... damn ugly!"

"Yeah. You just have to try everything with an open mind."

Beat to Corn:

"So you're the leader of the GG's? Heh... How's this sound? If I beat you in a race around Doganzaka Hill, you and your buddies have to answer to me from now on. If you beat me... well, we'll just see when it happens."

"Huuuh? You're so boooring..."

Talking to Beat in the garage before fighting the police:

"Anyway, I'm ready to rock. But what's up with that pooch, eh? Where did ya pick him up? You sure that's not the leader in disguise? Heh heh. Its only a matter of time before I become the leader of the GG's anyway."

Combo to Gum:

"What's this?! Who's been sprayin' these ugly tags on my turf?! Hmph. Was it you, princess? You've been a bad, bad girl. You've better hit me with everything you've got, 'cause I ain't gonna hold back just because you're a girl!!"

"The cue tone get you all jumpy?"

"You liked that, eh? I'll do it again for you."

Yoyo to Rynth:

"You're... like... you know... yo."

"Where'd you come from?"

Gum to Rynth:

Rynth to Beat:

"Cool. Welcome aboard."

"You kinda... smell weird."

Garam to Boogie:

"Hey. I'm next in command around here, little lady. The name's Garam,"

Combo to Boogie:

"This group is growing bigger every day. Fool just dig me, I guess."

Gum to Boogie:

"So you're the one from Kiboganoka Hill, huh? Well, this is the GG's. What you see is what you get. Just be yourself, you'll be cool."

Garam to Jazz:

"Well, um... I... uh... be cool."

"That freak who's been making all those weird tags... you think he's connected with the Golden Rhinos somehow?"

Boogie to Garam:

"Alright. Stay cool."

Jazz to Garam:

"I feel ya, but I think you should try to chill a bit. Keep it together."

Corn to Clutch:

"What a fool. But the fortified residential zone... that's deep in the ghetto. And it could be the fake one again..."

Jazz to Clutch:

"Don't push your luck."

Beat to Clutch:

"You just wanted some attention from us, right? Aww..."

Combo to Clutch:

"Man, you're such a jerk I almost like you."

Garam to Clutch:

"One of these days, I'll get you one-on-one! Just you and me, fool!"

Boogie to Clutch:

"Fine. I'll let you off just this once."

Slate to Clutch:

"Heh... Stay outta trouble."

Corn to Yoyo:

"Long time no see, bro."

Clutch to Yoyo:

"So you're that Yoyo guy, huh? Heh..."

Jazz to Yoyo:

"So, you're the real deal, huh? 'Sup. I'm Jazz."

Combo to Yoyo:

"You gonna go and try to get back into shape, huh?'

Garam to Yoyo:

"Heh... I caused enough havoc for the both of us while you were gone, bro."

Rynth to Yoyo:

"The most unbelievable stuff was happening while you were gone! Hehehe..."

Yoyo to Slate:

"Hey, sorry about all that, yo. My bad. But thanks to those fools, I'm all out of shape now. Maybe I'll go out and cause a little havoc to warm up, yo."

Yoyo to Jazz:

"Man, things have sure gotten busier sice I was last here?"

Gum to Beat:

"That fool dressed in black who's been hanging around Chuo Street... now that I think about it, you guys kinda look alike."

Clutch to Beat:

"In times like this, you won't fall as long as you look where you're going. Heh heh."

Garam to Beat:

"Hey, you know that guy everyone's been saying looks like you? Well, is it you?"

There is some cutscene dialogue missing from these lines. If I can find all the cutscenes, then I'll be sure to add them.

[emachinescat]

The Day that Camelot Forgot

A Merlin Fan-Fiction

by @emachinescat ​

@febuwhump​ day 24 - memory loss

Summary: A vengeful Morgana casts a powerful curse on Camelot on the day Merlin is named Court Sorcerer, making everyone in the citadel forget that Merlin – and his impact on their lives – exists. She can only maintain the spell for one day, but twenty-four hours is more than enough time for the warlock to get himself into some serious trouble.

Characters: Merlin, Arthur, the knights, Gaius, Morgana is mentioned

Words: 6,444

TW: anxiety attacks, burning at the stake, main character near-death

Note: This story is a bit late, as it was meant to be published on day 24 of Febuwhump, but I got sick, and missed a few days.  I did post the first half of it on Tumblr on the 24th, but this is the finished product. I am seriously considering writing a sequel, because there are definitely a lot of ramifications that I gloss over here, a lot of angsty, whumpy stuff that I could (and most likely will) expand upon in another story. But I'll let you read the story for yourself, and see if you're interested in a sequel! 

Keep reading here, or on AO3!

If you enjoy, please consider liking, commenting, and re-blogging, and you can follow me for more content like this! :)

Merlin woke up to a broom head hitting him in the face, which was not how he expected his first day as Court Sorcerer to start.

An indignant squawk escaped him as he rolled off of his bed in an effort to escape the assault. He already had an insult for Arthur on his lips when his bleary eyes cleared and he realized that it had not been the king at all who had woken him in such a manner. It was Gaius, and he was poised to strike again.

"Gaius!" Merlin stammered, scrambling to his feet and dodging another blow from the broom. "What the hell are you doing that for?"

Gaius didn't answer. Instead, looking as mean and ornery as Merlin had ever seen him, the old physician demanded, "How did you get in here?"

Merlin cocked his head to one side, completely nonplussed. "I… live here? I remember turning Arthur's offer for new chambers down so I could stay and care for you – OW!"

Gaius had hit him again. "Who are you?" he all but growled.

Merlin blinked. "Gaius, you know me," he insisted, his heart hammering out his uncertainty at the pulse point in his neck. Something was wrong; Gaius might be cantankerous for his old age, and he might have enjoyed the odd joke at Merlin's expense, but never something like this.

Merlin tried again. "Gaius, it's me… Merlin." When Gaius only glared at him distrustfully from beneath two gnarled eyebrows, he added hopefully, "You know… Hunith's son?"

To his relief, recognition lit in his mentor's eyes at the mention of Merlin's mother, but distrust immediately replaced it. "I have known Hunith all of her life," Gaius said, voice low and measured, broom still held at the ready. "But she has no son."

Real fear exploded in Merlin's chest – fear for Gaius, not for himself. There was only so much Gaius could do with a broom, but if he was forgetting Merlin so suddenly and so completely…

"Ah, I'm sorry," Merlin said as calmly as possible, raising his hands in front of him to show he meant no harm. "My mistake. I'll … get out of your hair."

He darted out of his room, across the physician's main chamber, and out the door, leaving a confused and agitated Gaius in his wake. Merlin prayed that the old physician wouldn't get himself into too much trouble while he was gone, and then darted for Arthur's chambers.

***

He ran into Gwaine on the way – literally, he ran headfirst into the knight, so distracted by Gaius's sudden and dramatic loss of memory. At first he wasn't sure whose ridiculously muscular torso he'd bumped into, and despite his worry, he couldn't help but grin when he saw the bearded face glaring down at him in surprise.

Wait…

Glaring?

Merlin stumbled back.

"Watch where you're going, friend," Gwaine said in response. The way he spoke sent a wave of wrongness down Merlin's spine. He had called Merlin friend, but it was a vague, generalized term. When Gwaine normally called Merlin his friend, the word was saturated with warmth and shone with the light of a dozen charming grins. Now, it meant nothing. And when Merlin looked up into his friend's dark eyes, there was no recognition there. No smile that Merlin had come to understand as reserved especially for the knight's closest friends. Gwaine's eyes landed on him, flashed in brief annoyance, and then skirted off of him almost nearly as quickly.

"Gwaine?" Merlin asked, irritated at the uncertainty in his own voice.

Gwaine, who had already started sauntering away, turned back with a puzzled expression. For just a moment, Merlin was sure that kind, mischievous face was going to open up in an eyes-to-mouth smile like it always did upon seeing him, but then the brow furrowed, and Gwaine asked, "Do I know you?"

Merlin opened his mouth to respond, but nothing came out. He stood there, gaping like a fool, his whole body coiled as if ready to spring into action, limbs numb, fingers trembling, fear wrapping its constricting tendrils around his chest.

Gwaine gave Merlin an odd look, then shrugged. "Maybe we drank together once."

Merlin nodded weakly, remembering not just once, but many times he and the man before him had gone to the tavern together, often with the rest of the knights, sometimes even the king, in tow. He thought of laughter, and promises of friendship and loyalty, and tavern songs and Gwaine standing on top of a table doing a clumsy jig. He thought of the first time they'd gone to the tavern after learning of Merlin's magic, how Gwaine had asked him a million questions that had gotten more idiotic with every drink. ("No, Gwaine, I have never tried to transplant my nose into the center of a rose to see if flowers can smell themselves.")

By the time he had resurfaced from the barrage of memories that Gwaine had forgotten and that Merlin now clung to with a new ferocity, the knight had gone.

Feeling distinctly sick, Merlin resumed his trek to Arthur's chambers, noticing with fresh terror that every person he passed either didn't acknowledge him at all, or gave him a second, bewildered glance like they'd never seen him before, like he had no right being where he was – being in his home.

***

Arthur didn't remember him, either.

Merlin was so near panic when he got to the king and queen's chambers that he almost forgot to knock. Knocking was never something Merlin had been particularly adept at remembering to do, especially when it came to his duties to Arthur, but since the king had married Gwen, Merlin had made sure to amend his habits. There were some things that Merlin absolutely did not want to walk in on, and besides, he respected Gwen too much to risk barging in on her unannounced.

It was Arthur who answered the door, and Merlin was so flustered that he didn't wait for an invitation to enter (when did he ever, though?), and he squeezed his way into the room past the king. Gwen was nowhere to be seen.

"Thank the gods you're here, Arthur," Merlin huffed as he bustled in. "Something very weird is going on. Gaius and Gwaine are acting like they don't know me, like they've never seen me in their lives!"

He turned around to face his friend. To his surprise, Arthur's hand was on the hilt of his sword at his hip, and suspicion rolled off of him in waves. "Who the hell are you?" he asked flatly, blue eyes flashing with an intensity reserved for those who wished to do him, his kingdom, or his loved ones harm.

Merlin had been expecting a joke like this. Arthur was never one to pass up an opportunity to tease his former servant, soon-to-be Court Sorcerer. The dry retort, "Very funny, Sire," died before it could escape his mouth, though, because when he looked at his king, his best friend, he saw no glimmer of recognition. No familiarity. No kindness or warmth or irritated indulgence. Arthur's face was that of a man who had just had a complete stranger barge into his room and started talking to him like they were old acquaintances – which, Merlin was beginning to realize, was exactly what had happened from the king's point of view.

Merlin swallowed heavily and entreated, "Arthur … King Arthur. Please tell me that you know me." Desperation clawed at his throat and infected his next plea. "Please."

Arthur didn't speak, didn't relax his grip on his sword hilt, but he didn't draw the weapon either, which Merlin thought had to be a good sign. Finally, after several long, tense moments, Arthur responded in a slow, cautious tone, "I'm sorry. I have never seen you before in my life. What business do you have with me?"

Merlin's world, everything he knew and understood and loved, crumbled around him in that moment. He staggered back, managed to stay upright by pure strength of will alone. What the hell was going on? The familiar sting of tears pressed against the back of his eyes, and he only managed to keep himself from crying by sheer stubbornness. He took a deep, steadying breath, made a conscious effort to look as non-threatening as possible, and tried very hard not to panic.

"Okay," he said, and his voice shook, so he tried again. "Okay." This time, his voice was steadier. Arthur's glare pounded into him from across the room, and knew that the king's already thin patience was running out. "Something very wrong is happening in Camelot," the sorcerer began.

Arthur interrupted him. "I agree," he said pedantically. "There's a strange man in my chambers."

"I'm not – I am, or I was, your servant."

"My servant's name is George."

Merlin couldn't help it. He groaned. "George? The one who makes jokes about brass? He's your servant in this hellish version of Camelot?"

Arthur sent Merlin a look that was almost pitying. "You are obviously very confused," he said in a surprisingly gentle tone. "But I am king of Camelot, and you have no right to be in my personal chambers. Go now, and I will think nothing more of this intrusion. If you do not, then I will have to treat you as a threat, and call the guards."

Merlin shook his head, unwilling to let this go. In the span of a single morning, his entire reality, the world he and Arthur had worked so hard to build and the future that they were about to step into, his new position as Court Sorcerer, his friendship with Arthur, everything, had been ripped away from him. He had to figure out what could have caused this to happen. He didn't have to think long – who was out there with enough power to make what seemed like the entire citadel forget he existed? Who was angry and envious and vindictive enough to take away everyone he loved on the very day that the culmination of his and Arthur's dreams were finally taking shape?

Even as Arthur stepped forward, hand tightening on the hilt of his sword, preparing to draw it, Merlin blurted, "It has to be Morgana!"

All the color drained out of Arthur's face in an instant. He stood there, frozen, a horrible expression of pain manifesting in his eyes. "How dare you speak of my sister," the king growled, and Merlin actually backed up a few steps, bumping into the end table that he'd polished more times than he could count.

"I know she's a difficult subject to talk about," Merlin managed, striving to keep his voice steady as the grief in Arthur's eyes turned to fury. "But it's the only explanation. Morgana must have cast a curse on the citadel – you have to let me go find her, please, and I can stop this, and the world can go back to normal."

Arthur drew his sword now, and Merlin had no more room to retreat. He stood before his king, his closest friend, his muscles aching from the tension gripping his body, his heart pumping so fast and hard he could feel the flutter in his chest. "Arthur, please–"

"I am your king!" the man who had Arthur's face but spoke like his father spat. "You will address me as such! And how dare you insinuate that the Lady Morgana was a sorceress! What vile game are you playing?"

Merlin's head spun; he had no idea what was going on, how Arthur was currently seeing the world, but he did know for certain now that Morgana was behind it. The reverence and love with which the king said his half-sister's name could only come from a delusion the sorceress in question had placed there. Then something Arthur had said hit home. "What do you mean 'was'?"

The expression on the king's face was faintly nauseated, as if he were being forced to remember something that he had hidden away deep inside, or as if he were actively fighting the urge to cut Merlin down on the spot. Either scenario felt entirely wrong and filled Merlin with a sense of dread. "My sister is dead," Arthur said flatly. "She who would have been queen – should have been queen." Oh, yes, Morgana was definitely behind this, Merlin thought wryly. It was bad enough she had these sick delusions in the first place, but to force everyone in Camelot to play a part in them was equally terrifying and sad. "Struck down by a sorcerer in cold blood."

Merlin flinched at the way Arthur spat the word sorcerer. It had been years since he had heard the title said with such hatred and derision, and never had he heard this level of malevolence for magic-users come from Arthur's mouth. After everything they had been through together, after the joy of watching their prophesied destiny unfold before his very eyes, after hearing Arthur accept his magic and plan to officially declare him Court Sorcerer, hearing the title that Arthur had so often spoken of with pride slide out of that same mouth slicked with hatred hurt. But Merlin reminded himself of the truth – this wasn't Arthur, not really; somehow he was being fed false memories – and he squared his shoulders and looked his king right in the eyes.

"I'm sorry for your loss," he said solemnly. Arthur's eyebrows shot up in surprise. Merlin hoped it was a good sign. "But Arthur – your highness – I need you to listen to me, please. I can explain everything. I can try, at least. But your memories aren't what you think they are. Morgana is alive and… very well, considering the power of this enchantment."

"My sister was murdered by magic, and yet you still insist that she is the evil enchantress!" Arthur fumed, and Merlin felt like he was talking to a stone wall, or even more deaf and unyielding, Uther Pendragon. He very seriously considered knocking Arthur out with magic and tucking him away safely in a wardrobe somewhere while he himself went to deal with the sorceress who had caused all this trouble. But Merlin could sense Arthur, the real Arthur, somewhere beneath the surface of those familiar-but-foreign eyes, and he was sure he could break the spell without having to go to the source. Merlin was Arthur's dearest friend, the king had said this himself (and yes, it still counted even if Arthur had been incredibly drunk after a night in the tavern with Gwaine when he said it). And Merlin knew Arthur better than anyone else, save the queen.

I can reach him, he reassured himself. Arthur is still in there, somewhere. I just have to find him. And once he's back to himself, I can deal with Morgana.

"Please, sire," Merlin said, putting every bit of sincerity he could muster into his words. "Just… let me tell you my side of the story. Let me remind you of who I am, and who you truly are. I am your friend, Arthur, and you have said yourself that I am the most stupidly loyal man you have ever had the displeasure to meet." A desperate chuckle lilted his last few words.

"You have two minutes."

"Um, there's a lot to cover, actually," Merlin responded. "Can I have a bit longer, because I don't think–"

"One and half minutes."

"Okay, okay, I'll stick to the basics!" And so Merlin gave Arthur the quickest and most condensed version of their friendship and history he could cobble together in less time than it usually took to exchange greetings with his king in the morning.

He ended with, "And so you see, it makes sense that Morgana would want to sabotage this occasion, because it marks the beginning of a new era that she desperately wants to be a part of but is too bitter and proud to humble herself and change for. She wants to tear us apart, wants you to do something that you'll later regret. But I know you're stronger than this, Arthur. I know that you remember me, deep down. The life you're living isn't yours. Your memories aren't yours. They belong to Morgana, but your mind does not." A strange, almost trance-like mask had descended over Arthur's face while Merlin spoke, and hope started budding in the warlock's chest – he was so close to breaking through, he could feel it.

"So," Merlin prompted, when Arthur did not immediately respond. "Do you remember? Have you realized the truth, sire?"

Slowly, Arthur nodded, and the dazed quality to his eyes cleared up in an instant. "Yes," he murmured. Merlin allowed his eyes to close momentarily in relief; his body sagged against the table at his back. Thank the gods, the nightmare was over. Now all that was left was to find Morgana and make sure nothing like this ever happened again.

But Arthur wasn't finished speaking, and the hardness had steeled his gaze once more, his lips set in a straight line and his jaw clenched and held high. "I have realized that I was a fool to think that you were a harmless vagrant with delusions of grandeur who wandered into the wrong part of the castle. I should never have opened the door for you."

"Arthur–"

"I am your KING!" Merlin snapped his mouth shut, tears once again prickling at the corner of his eyes. The injustice of the situation weighed as heavily on him as his destiny once had. "You are a sorcerer, an enemy of Camelot, here in an attempt to take down Camelot from the inside. But your spells and tricks and poisoned words will not work on me."

"But–"

"Guards!"

"You don't understand, I–"

"Guards!"

***

Elyan and Percival were the knights who dragged Merlin to the dungeons and threw him roughly into a cell. Then Percival clasped his wrists in shackles, which were chained to the floor. The door slammed shut with a metallic clang.

"Percival – Elyan!" Merlin called out as the knights that had only a week ago pledged their acceptance and loyalty to him as the soon-to-be Court Sorcerer and chief advisor to the king. "Please, you know me!"

"You'll die for your treachery, sorcerer," Elyan spat.

The left, and Merlin sank to the cold, damp stone floor, chains clinking. He drew his knees up to his chest, rested his aching head on them, and did his best to remember how to breathe.

***

Merlin wasn't sure how long he had been in the dungeon, but it had to have been a couple of hours at least. He hadn't eaten breakfast because the old man who usually prepared it for him had instead attacked him with a broom. Now, he was certain he had missed lunch too. His stomach growled at him in protest, but the hunger pangs meant nothing to Merlin. Even if the guards dropped off a meal fit for a king, he wouldn't be able to eat a bite. Everything had gone so wrong.

And now Merlin was at a loss of what to do. He could escape the dungeons easily, he knew, and go searching for Morgana. But there were so many uncertainties, a litany of what ifs that railed against him whenever he thought about breaking out of his chains and sending the cell door crashing into the guards holding a silent but hostile vigil on the other side. If indeed he could find Morgana and discover a way to reverse the curse, then it would, of course, be an easy fix. Merlin's failure to connect with Arthur and break the spell himself had planted a seed of self-doubt deeply within the soil of his mind, however, and now what he had been so sure of before he'd tried to fix things himself – that he would be able to hunt down Morgana and stop this madness with magic – seemed like a distant, unrealistic goal.

And if he did fail? If he could not find Morgana, or if she had managed to employ a magic far more powerful or strange than he currently knew how to counter? If he was unable to break the curse? Then Arthur would go on believing Merlin was the enemy, and Merlin would have forfeited any chance of reaching his friend by flouting the king's edict, attacking the guards, and breaking out of the castle.

Merlin had only been able to get through to Arthur in his other life, his real life, by showing the king over a period of years that magic was not something to be inherently feared, not something evil in and of itself. He had had to show the king through his own life and actions the truth about magic, so that when Arthur had at last learned of his secret, it was from Merlin's own lips and with nearly a decade of loyalty and friendship to back up Merlin's assurances that he had only ever used his gifts to protect Arthur and Camelot. Sure, Arthur had been angry at first, and hurt that Merlin hadn't trusted him, but he had come to an acceptance of Merlin's magic much more quickly than the warlock had imagined. King and servant had grown even closer in the wake of the truth, and soon after, Arthur had started drafting plans for making magic legal and had proposed the idea of Melin's being officially named Court Sorcerer.

But if Merlin was forced to start from scratch, to rebuild his relationship with the king – a possibility that pained him deeply but that he was more than willing to do, if it was the only way to get Arthur back and get their destiny on track – then it would not be wise to start that relationship off with a jailbreak. Then again, he argued against himself, neither was blurting out his secret to an Arthur who had already shown great disdain for magic and who held no memory of or loyalty toward Merlin at all. At this rate, maybe it was better to just take the risk and escape, because how in the name of the Triple Goddess was he supposed to convince Arthur of his loyalty if the king most likely planned to execute him for treason?

He almost made his escape then, but something stopped him. At first, he couldn't identity exactly what it was, just a feeling, an uncomfortable squirming in his gut that could have been the voice of destiny, or instinct, or, quite possibly, hunger. But either way, it bothered him enough that he held off on his plans to break out and examined the feeling more closely. Eventually, he realized – if he left Arthur now, especially in the state he was in, alone and unprotected and with Morgana out there somewhere with her eyes feasting hungrily on the citadel she so earnestly believed should be hers, he could be putting the king in more danger. If Merlin wasn't able to find Morgana in time, and she used his absence to ease her way into the citadel and onto the throne, which Arthur would readily give up to her in his current state.. With him under her influence, she could do whatever she wanted to him – kill him, imprison him, break his mind forever… and Merlin wouldn't be there to stop her.

With this thought, he decided to wait it out, and to see how events would unfold. He would not use his magic to defy Arthur or make his escape unless absolutely necessary. After all, he tried to assure himself, there was the very real possibility that Morgana would not be able to hold this powerful of a spell for long. She might be a priestess of the Old Religion, but even she had her limits. Perhaps her plan was to lure Merlin out to find her and then to use his absence to take Camelot for herself, but it was entirely possible that she only had a limited window of time to achieve her goal and that she was counting on Merlin to act on his emotions and search her out immediately.

Or maybe her plan was just to simply wreak havoc in Merlin's life for as long as she could. Either way, Merlin reasoned, her hold over the entirety of Camelot could not last forever. Sooner or later, her grip would weaken and Arthur and the rest of the citadel would wrest their way out of her control.

Merlin just had to survive until then.

***

He was unsure of how much time had passed when they came for him again. No one had brought him food, or water, and no one had come to visit him during his imprisonment, either. Merlin thought it was highly likely that Arthur had ordered any curious parties to stay away; the king had made it abundantly clear that he considered Merlin a dangerous threat. The fact that he had not been given even a hunk of stale bread or a flagon of water sent warning bells off in Merlin's mind – if this strange Arthur was anything like Uther had been, then he knew that he would be executed swiftly and without trial, and there was no need to feed a dead man.

Gwaine and Leon came to collect him. Leon unlocked the shackles and shoved him at Gwaine, who spat at his feet. "And to think I was kind to you this morning," he growled, and Merlin fought the urge to remind him that he hadn't exactly been kind, more indifferent. Gwaine roughly spun Merlin around, wrenched his hands behind his back so hard that pain sliced through his shoulder blades. Merlin felt his hands being bound tightly, expertly behind his back with course, thick rope. He reached into himself and felt his magic, alive, pulsing, ready to rise to his defense, and he took solace in it, but kept it at bay.

Not yet, he told himself.

But he was getting scared, and he was running out of options.

***

They shoved him to his knees before Arthur, who sat unyielding and terrible on his throne, a mirror image of his father. Merlin realized with a start that there was only one throne.

"Where's Gwen?" he asked. Now that he thought about it, the servant-turned-queen hadn't come up when Merlin had told his story to Arthur earlier, and the king had made no mention of his wife. In fact, he recalled with a start, none of Gwen's more domestic touches had been in Arthur's chamber.

Arthur stood, striding forward and looming over his prisoner. "You should have gagged him," he groused. "He doesn't know how to shut up." For a split second, Merlin thought that maybe the real Arthur was beginning to resurface – that was exactly something that he would say! Then he crossed his arms over his chest and asked irritably, "Who is Gwen? Your accomplice?"

"No, no," Merlin quickly assured him, not wanting to cause any trouble for Gwen, wherever she was. It was odd, he thought: Most elements of Camelot had stayed the same in Morgana's living nightmare, like the knights – even the non-noble ones, even Elyan, Gwen's brother, had remained as they were. But Arthur, in this version of reality, had never married Gwen. It made sense if he thought about it, though. Gwen had occupied the role that Morgana had believed was hers, had, in the witch's eyes, betrayed her trust and left her for the man that represented everything Morgana hated. Of course, Gwen wouldn't have her happy ending, her marriage to Arthur, with Morgana in charge. She was being punished as well. Merlin wondered if Gwen had been left with her memories of the real world like he had been, or if she was somewhere in Camelot, living and thinking as a maid when she really was a queen.

To Merlin's relief, Arthur didn't pursue the line of questioning any further. "I have talked this matter over with my council and advisors," he said in a measured voice. A burst of bitterness howled inside of Merlin – he had been named Arthur's chief advisor! He had been a part of the original council, the Knights of the Round Table, when Arthur had first brought them together! And now this illusion of Morgana's had stolen that away from him, too.

Not yet, he reminded his magic, as it raged and boiled and frothed inside of him. Be patient.

He might have been able to control his magic, but he could not keep his sarcasm completely in check: "And I am sure that in your discussion with the council, you all came to a completely fair and totally unbiased decision based on facts and not the unfounded prejudices of your father's rule."

He didn't know what he had been expecting, but it certainly was not Arthur's face flushing an angry red, nor the back of his hand smashing full-force into Merlin's cheek, snapping his head to the side violently. He felt one of the king's rings split the skin on his cheekbone, and thought for a breathless moment that the entire left side of his face had caved in.

He couldn't keep back the lone tear that crawled from the corner of his eye. It didn't come from pain or even shock – but a sense of gut-wrenching betrayal that he could not reason his way out of, even knowing that Arthur was not himself. Even in the state that Arthur was in, even knowing that the king would make plans to execute him, Merlin never anticipated Arthur himself becoming physically violent with him. Somehow, Arthur's hitting him was so much more of a betrayal than a death sentence.

Just. Wait. He didn't know how much longer he would be able to keep his magic from rising to his defense.

"You will learn your place, sorcerer," Arthur hissed. "When you burn. Take him; we light the pyre at first dawn."

***

Fear screamed through Merlin's body like a whirlwind, and coherent thought fled in the wake of his worst nightmares manifesting before him. He had been sure that Arthur would have chosen hanging or even the chopping block, but a pyre –

Merlin had grown up terrified of fires, horrified at the possibility of dying a brutal, torturous death, swallowed and ravaged by flames, all because he was born with magic. Because of who he was.

No one had been burnt at the stake in years in Camelot. Certainly not after Arthur became king. It was a barbaric practice, and even the worst war criminals and traitors were given a swift, merciful death. He had assumed that Arthur would continue that tradition.

But no, when he was dragged out into the courtyard – the sky was dark, but the air chilly and damp, heralding the approaching dawn – a great pyre had been constructed, and the rest of the knights – his friends – had gathered around, their faces lit eerily by the flickering flames of the torches they held at the ready. At least Gaius wasn't there.

You're not actually going to die, Merlin tried to remind himself, dragging desperately for air through his nose, his mouth blocked by his neckerchief that they'd dragged over his mouth in a bid to keep him from talking, or screaming, or just out of pure spite, Merlin didn't know. You can escape. You will escape, and find Morgana, and stop this. You can't delay any longer.

He drew himself up as tall as he could between Leon and Gwaine, calling his magic to his aid and –

He wasn't sure what happened, or how his friends-turned-enemies had guessed that he was about to try something – maybe he had given himself away somehow, maybe they had noticed the change in his stance or a shift in his energy, or maybe Morgana was interfering even now, ensuring that he would not escape his fate so easily. Whatever the reason, just as Merlin drew upon his magic, something blunt – a sword hilt? – crashed into the back of his skull, and everything was pain.

Agony ripped through his head, his neck, and crackled down his spine. Any grip Merlin had on his magic slipped through his fingers, and he fell forward, held semi-upright only by the knights escorting him to his death. He didn't lose consciousness, but he did lose all sense of control over his body and his magic, and the only thing that existed was pain. His stomach churned in time with the throbbing of his head, and his eyes were driven shut instinctively by the light of the torches before him.

The next few minutes passed in a state of distanced terror and pain. Merlin was acutely aware of the heaviness and agony of his head and the nausea in his gut. He also felt every spike of fear, every bit of helplessness, every scream that wanted to rise up from the most primal part of his being. And yet, at the same time, it was as if it was happening to someone else, and he could do nothing about it. Everything hurt and he was going to die and Arthur was going to burn him alive, his friends were going to light the pyre, and he would die in agony, and not even his magic could stop it, because he couldn't feel it, couldn't find it – he was magic itself, and yet it eluded his grasp, all that existed was pain and confusion and his head swam –

He felt, as if from a great distance, himself be hoisted onto the pyre. He felt the rough wood of the stake rub blisters into his tied hands as he was shoved against it, head lolling uselessly as if it belonged to someone else. He felt rope wrap around his torso, his legs, securing him to the pyre, and he tried to lift his head, which rested on his chest, tried to find his magic, but all he uncovered was fear and despair and pain.

He vaguely heard Arthur speaking from somewhere close by – or maybe it was from miles away. He did not understand the words but knew them to be a list of the supposed crimes Merlin had committed – being born with magic the chief of those. And then, far too soon, Arthur stopped talking, and Merlin sensed through his partially closed eyes the knights approaching with their torches, and he felt the warmth of the fire as those torches were lowered to the wood.

Merlin forced his eyes open, thrust his head up and looked at his friends, then beyond them, at Arthur. He maintained eye contact with his king, his brother, his best friend, even as the knights lit the pyre and he felt the heat begin to spread. Merlin didn't know if Arthur could hear him from this distance, if his words would be loud enough, strong enough, or if they would be caught up and consumed in the rising flames. It took every ounce of strength and concentration to push past the pain and call out, as loudly as he could, "I forgive you, Arthur."

And then, as the flames began licking at his feet, his boots, his clothes, something popped. I was as if the world itself had been out of joint, like a dislocated shoulder, and in that moment, the painful but satisfying second of release, it had snapped back into place. The air shifted, the world stopped spinning for the briefest of moments, and then, it clicked back into its rightful place.

The spell had been broken; Merlin could feel it in every fiber of his being – his magic cried out in relief, and it was only then that he realized that it hadn't been his head injury that had prevented him from fighting back, from escaping – it had been a last, desperate attempt by Morgana to get her revenge, to hide his magic away from him just long enough for him to die.

But she had failed. Her power, her hold and control, had finally given out on her, and Merlin felt his magic bubble back to the surface, and despite the pain and the fear, he summoned rain from a cloudless sky as the sun continued its golden ascent and put out the flames.

Around him, he heard yells, and cries, and his name was shouted from all directions, from the mouths of those he loved and trusted and who had very nearly killed him. But his head pounded, and he was so weak, and the fire was out. He slumped in his bonds, eyes fluttering shut, head dropping to his chest.

He didn't even feel the hands untie him. He didn't feel the knights gently lift his too-warm body from the pyre, didn't feel himself being carried into the castle and placed on a bed, didn't feel Arthur's tears of mingled guilt and relief splash onto his face.

He did, however, somehow, amidst the quiet and dark of unconsciousness, hear Arthur's voice cut through the silence, strong and familiar and real. "Gods, I – I'm so sorry, Merlin. My dearest friend, I–"

When he woke, Merlin would embrace his king, reassure him that no lasting harm had been done. He would smile at his friends, clasp hands with the knights and hug Gaius, find Gwen and make sure she hadn't suffered the same disorienting day that he had. He would answer all questions asked of him, and he would assure Arthur and the knights as many times as it took that he did not blame them, would explain Morgana's dark role in everything. He would find Morgana, and make sure that nothing like this would happen again.

When he woke, the world would be right. It wouldn't be normal – after everything that had been done to him, after all the betrayals, even though he didn't blame his friends, it would take a while for normal to come back around. But Merlin would persist, and he would have his friends – his real friends, with their real memories – to help him through it. As he would help them through the ramifications of their own pain, guilt, and regret.

And when he woke, he would be named the official Court Sorcerer of Camelot. He would be given a robe fine enough for a king, but he wouldn't care about that. All that would matter would be him, at Arthur's side, protecting him and fulfilling their destiny. That was how it had always been, and Merlin, when he woke, would look forward to a bright future of peace and hope.

But for now, he gratefully, peacefully slept, knowing that when he next opened his eyes, Camelot would remember.

[atomic-taco-muffin]

Kingdom High Chapter 3

Warnings: same as the other two

Rating: SFW

(lesbian panic)

Once upon a time...

In a faraway land...

“I am Raven Queen, daughter of the Evil Queen, and I pledge-uhm... I—” Raven said. Apple was waiting behind Raven excitedly.

“Come on! Do it!” she said. 

“I-huh...” Raven said. 

All eyes were on Raven as she faced the most important choice—

Really? You're gonna start there, at Legacy Day? 

You know, there's only really room for one narrator here.

Start at the beginning! Where the whole Rebel and Royal drama began!

Oh, fine! Gather round, friends, and let us tell you a story: the story of Ever After High, a high school for the teenage sons and daughters of the most famous fairy tale characters who ever lived. But this year was like no other for the students of Ever After High. Raven's Tale, the story of a Rebel.

It was the year of Legacy Day; a momentous event where the students pledge to all the magical world to follow the same paths as their fairy tale parents. 

Which they better do, or else!

I'm sorry, who's telling this story?! If you don't—

“Would you two stop fighting?!” Maddie asked as she stomped her foot.

“Peas and crackers,” she said. 

“Um, who are you talking to?” Raven asked. Maddie ran up to Raven.

“Why, the narrators! Oh, you can't hear them, Raven, only I can,” she said. 

“Okay...” Raven said. Maddie looked up and giggled.

“Can I talk now?” Raven asked. 

“Mhm!” Maddie said.

“It's just... Ah! I'm sick of everyone thinking I'm so ‘evil,’ because my mom was. It's not fair!” Raven sent her baggage to oblivion using her magic by accident. Maddie put her hand on Raven’s shoulder.

“No one thinks you're evil. Hehe, now you're just talking crazy! La-la-la!” she said. 

“Daughter of the Mad Hatter calls ME crazy?” Raven asked. She then sighed.

“Would you stop with the worry-flurry?” Maddie asked. The two of them walked up the steps.

“Everyone at school loves you!” Maddie said.

“It's Raven Queen! Run!” a pig said. 

“She. Is. Evil!” a prince said and a fountain sprayed at him.

“Run, everyone!” Lilly-Bo Peep said. Her sheep bleated in alarm. The students screamed and hid away.

“See? They love you!” Maddie said. Her watch sprung open.

“Yay,” she said. she flung off her watch her watch and set up a tea table.

“Tea time! Earl Grey!” she said. Earl Grey squeaked.

“Oh, you clever dormouse! Why, yes,” she said as she poured some tea into a cup.

“This is a new dress,” she said. It became lunch time and Raven sat alone in the castleteria.

And so, life for Raven was not easy; feeling alone and isolated.

As it should be. She is destined to be evil.

Couldn't go twenty seconds without talking, could you?

Dexter noticed Raven and approached her. He waved and started talking to her.

“Hey, Raven! Uh-You look gort... I mean great. I-I don't even know what gort is...” he said. 

“I'd offer you a seat, but I'm ‘evil.’ To sit here you'd have to be pretty—” Raven said. Daring and Apple entered the room and fans screamed for them.

“Daring?” Raven asked.

“Oooh, Daring!” a girl said.

“What? No, Raven, I'm Dex, Dexter Charming! Daring's my bro...” Dexter flinced.

“Ther. Oh, gort,” he said. 

“Raven, how's every enchanted thing?” Apple asked. 

“Apple White. Good to see ya. Hey, Daring!” Raven said. 

“I-uh I have to warn you: don't stare at the teeth. Just got them whitened,” Daring said. He flashed a smile in another direction and it had tanned the pigs. The bell soon rang.

“Oh-oh! There's the bell. Time for Good Kingdom Management,” Apple said. She waved a hand to Raven.

“Raven, what's your next class?” she asked. 

“Uh... History of Evil Spells?” Raven read.

“That is so perfect for you!” Apple chuckled. Cerise walked past them.

“Hey, Cerise, how's it going?” Daring asked. He smiled at her which caused her to drop her tray. She growled but then coughed afterwards.

“Oh uh, sorry, I-I have a cold!” she said and ran away.

“Free food!” a pig said.

That night, as Raven returned to her dorm, she found quite the surprise waiting for her. Raven knocked on the door, expecting Maddie to be inside.

“Hey! Maddie?” Raven asked as she lightly pushed open the door.

“Welcome home, roomie!” Apple said as she turned around.

“Huh, good one, Apple. I'm rooming with Maddie this year.”

“Not anymore! Since you're such an important part of my story; you poison me, I fall asleep...” Apple shook her head.

“The prince wakes you with a kiss blah-blah-blah, yada-yada I know! So?” Raven said. 

“So, I asked headmaster Grimm if we could live together! And he said yes,” Apple said while nodding her head.

“Isn't that enchanting?” she asked.

“Ugh... But-but...” Raven said.

“Oh-oh-oh! You are going to love rooming with me! I'm thoughtful, and beautiful, and I sing the most wonderful songs about woodland creatures.” She cleared her throat and started singing.

“🎵All the doves love to fly and the hares love to burrow!🎵” she sang. Raven was annoyed and she shooed the doves out.

“Move along, move along. Nothing to see here,” she said. One dove unexpectedly stayed and Raven stroked its chin.

“And, I already decorated your half of the room!” Apple clapped.

“Isn't it just the evilest? I knew you'd love it!” she said. 

“This is gonna be a looooong year,” Raven shrugged. She continued playing with the dove.

Which brings us to the rehearsals for the Legacy Day ceremony.

“So, when your magical key appears, you insert it gently into the Storybook of Legends, then stand, shoulders back, and declare your destiny to the world! Have I made myself clear?” Headmaster Grimm said.

“Headmaster Grimm, but what if...” Raven asked as she held up her finger.

“No questions? Good. Now, we're going to practice with this tiny Manual of Entirely Reasonable School Rules.” He cleared his throat and signaled the little pig to leave.

“I, Madeline Hatter, pledge to follow the destiny of dear old dad: The Maaaad Hatter of Wonderland! When do we drink the tea?” Maddie said. 

“Next!” Grimm said. 

“I'm Hunter Huntsman and I pledge to follow my destiny as the next huntsman. I'll swing my axe bravely and—” Hunter said. He looked in the audience and saw his pet squirrel, Pesky, blowing a rasberry.

“Really, Pesky? You wanna play that way?” Hunter asked. 

“Next!” Grimm said. 

“I'm-I'm Cedar Wood, and-uh I pledge to follow my destiny and be the next Pinocchio. Well, I mean, not the next Pinocchio... huh. I mean, actually, I can only tell the truth while I'm in school, but then one day, one day I'm gonna lie... Uh, but does that mean I'm gonna be like my dad... or not like my dad...” Cedar said. 

“Next!” Grimm said. Suddenly, some girls had arrived. 

“Um, excuse me! Are you Headmaster Grimm?” Akaya asked. 

“Yes, I am. Who might you be?” Grimm said. 

“My name is Akaya and these are my friends. This is Lisa, Liliana, Daicha, Hana (yes i’m adding my oc), Yui (and yes i’m adding yui from the lost princess series), Annna, Yami, Anju, Kurota, Ahmya, Kaji, Mizuki, Elena, Ena, Eimi, Hasumi Chika, Sakura, Aashni, Alina, Dawn, Chihiro, and Adreanna.”

“Ahh, you must be our new transfer students. Come, come. We’re just doing our Legacy Day Rehearsal.” Akaya and the others walked up to the podium. As the Royals were doing their pledge, Yui and Raven spoke with each other. 

“‘sup! I’m Yui. What’s your name?” Yui whispered. 

“I’m Raven. Are you a royal or a rebel?” Raven whispered back. 

“I’m a rebel.”

“Cool. Me too. Hope we get to know each other during this year.” 

“Next!” Grimm said. Yui walked up to the podium. 

“I am Yui. Daughter of Xemnas. And I pledge to become the next superior of Organization XIII. If I don’t do anything stupid that is,” she said. 

“Next!” Grimm said. Yui’s friends went next. 

“I'm Raven Queen and I pledge to follow my destiny as... um... I have a question!” Raven said. 

“What is it?” 

“I was just wondering, I mean, what if I don't want to take the pledge?” everyone gasped except for Yui and her friends. Apple’s mouth fell open and Daring shut it with the back of his hand.

“What? It's just a question!” Raven said. Headmaster Grimm walked sternly up to Raven. 

“And here's your answer. If you don't pledge your destiny, your story ceases to exist,” he said. 

“Ceases to exist? So then... What happens to me?” Raven asked. 

“You will cease to exist! Poof!” Raven stepped back. 

“Now, Raven, continue,” Grimm said. 

“But, Mr. Grimm...” 

“Poof-poof!” Raven flinched. 

“Ah!.. I have to go,” she said. Students were gasping as she left the podium. Yui watched her leave nervously.

“But the rules are... The rules!” Grimm said. 

In the Vault of Lost Tales, deep beneath the school, another was listening: Giles Grimm, the brother of the school's headmaster.

“The Raven flies. The clouds, they sing! But what should happen when the tide rolls in?” Giles said. Raven sighed and sat on a log out in the forest.

What will happen indeed.

That's it? That's where you're ending the story? I cannot wait until it is my turn to tell the story.

And why are you so against these kids choosing their own destiny?

~~~~

Yui and her friends were hanging out at her father's castle (don’t worry. I’m gonna make a list of all of the children of the characters). The girls were hanging out in the Gray Area, catching up on the latest gossip. Everything was fine until the ground started to shake. The girls all stood up and went to go see what was happening. They ran to a balcony and saw that a storm of darkness was approaching. The seven guardians daughters quickly went home while the others went to go help the Organization. 

“What should we do?” Yui asked Xemnas. 

“I’m not sure. But it seems like this darkness is stronger than we have ever faced,” Xemnas said. 

“We have to do something!” Dawn said. 

“Please, dad. Isn’t there anything we can do?” Yui asked. 

“I’m sorry. But we’ve lost,” Xemnas said. 

“Here it comes,” Xigbar warned. Everyone huddled close as the storm hit them, transporting them into a new and strange world. 

[bestworstcase]

more than once you've said "the tts fandom can't write x character, or can't write y character," but have you considered that maybe they can write them fine, you've just built up your desired interpretations of these characters? you give off this condescending attitude, like ONLY YOU can write tts characters accurately, ONLY YOU understand them, & any interpretations that don't in some way align with what you think are WRONG. this has become more apparent as you've worked through bitter snow

let’s discuss king frederic, and how he is often characterized in fanworks vs how he is characterized in the show. 

now... i think we can all agree that frederic is at best a mediocre father and a not especially good king, that in his worst moments he steps over the line into emotional abuse vis a vis his treatment of rapunzel, and that the avoidant head-in-the-sand approach he takes to the black rock problem in s1 causes widespread pain, unnecessary panic, and does not improve the situation whatsoever. 

he is widely disliked in the fandom for very good reason

however! it is difficult, though hardly impossible, to find fic where frederic acts or speaks... like frederic, for one very simple reason: the fandom, by and large, as a group, writes frederic as an angry, abusive man who blows up when he is confronted with the many, many things he does wrong. often this takes the form of a character, or characters, getting up in front of him and rattling off his list of crimes, real or perceived, followed by him basically throwing a tantrum.

canon frederic, to put it bluntly, does not do that. 

exhibit a: caine’s confrontation of frederic in before ever after.

caine sets up exactly the scenario that in the average tts fanfic would end with frederic yelling / blustering / furiously denying the accusations, plus she does it while rounding up all his guests and putting them in cage to haul them off and, presumably, kill them somewhere. like. the stakes are life or death and this is an extremely stressful situation for everyone involved.

and this is how that conversation goes down: 

FRED: Release my guests immediately!

CAINE: What’s the matter, Fred? Am I ruining your perfect day?

RAPUNZEL: ...The Duchess?

CAINE: Oh, honey. I am no Duchess.

RAPUNZEL: I don’t understand.

CAINE: Of course you wouldn’t, Rapunzel, but try to follow along. This is all your fault.

RAPUNZEL: What?!

CAINE: You see, after your untimely... disappearance, your father locked up every criminal in the kingdom... including a simple petty thief. My father. I saw him thrown into a cage and hauled off like some animal, never to be seen again. So... I thought I’d come back, and return the favor. 

[the wagon rolls in]

CAINE: Load ‘em up, boys! Your turn, Your Majesty. 

[Frederic moves to shield Rapunzel; Caine snickers.]

CAINE: Oh, come on, you didn’t think we’d leave our prized pig in the pen, did you?

RAPUNZEL: [as Caine’s gang drags Frederic toward the wagon] Dad—

FREDERIC: Rapunzel, stay back. 

RAPUNZEL: But—

FREDERIC: No. There’s nothing you can do. As your father and your king, I command you to stay put. 

there are two key points that i want to make here, because they diverge significantly from the way frederic is characterized in analogous scenarios in fanfics, like, 90% of the time. 

1) fred doesn’t get angry. he doesn’t bluster or yell. he orders caine to release his guests, and when she refuses, he gets quiet. he does not interrupt caine’s rant, he does not even try to deny her accusations, and he doesn’t stomp around escalating the situation even while caine is prancing around waving a sword in his daughter’s face or literally poking him in the chest. 

he stays calm. 

2) fred’s primary, overriding concern is for rapunzel’s safety, and the safety of his guests. not his own. he does not struggle when caine’s men lead him away. he protests on behalf of his guests, but not himself, and he attempts to physically shield rapunzel from harm before he is dragged away. he doesn’t waste his breath trying to argue with caine, but he does tell rapunzel firmly not to put herself in danger trying to rescue him. 

now... there are plenty of ways to interpret why frederic behaves this way, and my personal take is certainly not the only possible one. but the behavior itself, the staying calm in the face of a crisis, while someone is in his face threatening him, his family, and his guests and making pretty charged accusation, is a) objectively playing out on the screen and b) directly at odds with the way frederic most often acts in fanfics. 

exhibit b: mood-swapped frederic blows up just like fanon frederic constantly does

and this is the only time we ever see frederic lose his temper like this in the entire series. again, this is not a matter of interpretation: this is just plainly what happens on the screen. when he is in his right mind, frederic is not a “scream accusations, whip out a sword, and impulsively declare war or attack someone because he’s mad” sort of person, and to say that he is really like that, deep down, is just as silly as trying to argue that cass really is a peppy, soft-hearted, affectionate pushover, or that eugene really is too riddled-with self-doubt and anxiety to make any decisions, or that rapunzel really is a grouchy, moody, misanthropic person. the mood potion makes everyone act like fundamentally different versions of themselves; their behavior is, literally, out of character for their normal, not high-off-their-asses-on-a-magical-potion selves. 

exhibit c: the angry mob in secrets of the sundrop

like with caine, this confrontation kicks off with a premise that should be pretty familiar to anyone who reads any fic featuring frederic at all, ie everybody is pissed at frederic and there is literally an enraged mob screaming for justice in the throne room. and that goes like this:

[everybody shouting in angry panic]

FREDERIC: People... [raising his voice to be heard] Citizens, please! Listen to me!

[Max rears and whinnies to get everyone’s attention, and the shouting dwindles away.]

FREDERIC: I will not lie to you any longer. Corona is in grave danger. The queen has been taken; over half our royal guard lie wounded; and these black rocks draw ever closer.

[the shouting begins to pick up again]

EUGENE: Uh, sir, hi, yeah—if there’s a ‘but’ in this speech, you probably want to cut to it right now. 

FREDERIC: But I look at you, and I don’t just see subjects. I see friends, family; strong, brave individuals who have stood by each other, side-by-side, and have never, ever backed down from a fight! Today, we face a danger like none before. As your king, your friend, and as your brother, I ask you to fight one more time. For Corona!

again, key points: 

1) frederic does not deny, bluster, shout down, or otherwise attempt to refute the basic point that he bungled the black rock situation. he did bungle it, and he knows that [this scene is preceded by him spelling out the full extent of his failures to rapunzel and openly admitting guilt]. through his behavior, he demonstrates that he accepts culpability for the situation and implicitly accepts the legitimacy of the crowd’s anger. 

2) he raises his voice only so he can be heard above the shouting, and as soon as folks quiet down, he drops to a reasonable volume again. his mood is grim, but he isn’t angry. he projects calm. 

3) eugene is nervous about frederic losing control of the crowd and accidentally causing a riot or something; frederic is not. 

4) instead of denying the crowd’s anger, frederic tries to reframe the problem for them: yes, things are bad, but they are strong and brave and we can all work together to put things right. he doesn’t shout them down; he seeks to inspire them. 

and 5) when frederic says “we face a danger,” he means that. the very next thing he does after giving this speech is go straight to the frontlines to fight in the same battle he’s asking everyone else to join in. he's not asking them to do anything he isn’t willing to do himself. 

which... i would argue even more than the caine confrontation in BEA, is diametrically opposed to the way the typical fanon frederic would respond to an angry mob situation, because the typical fanon frederic is a very angry, aggressive man, and that... simply isn’t who frederic is. he’s calm, he’s knows how to work a crowd, he knows how to use his authority to achieve his goals without browbeating or threatening. 

even when he does get angry—such as his instinctive reaction to arianna’s kidnapping, when he jumps first to “we will invade old corona”—he doesn’t yell or stomp around or throw tantrum. he gets stiff and rather cold and makes an impulsive judgment call... but then he takes some time to brood by himself, calms down, talks things out with rapunzel, admits his failures, and doesn’t follow through with the impulsive order he made in the heat of the moment. 

like... flat out, he is not an angry man.

and it’s frustrating, when i go to read fanfic and frederic is overwhelmingly characterized as this hapless angry shouty abusive person, because it is breathtakingly far removed from how he acts in canon, and i like frederic as a character. i find him very interesting, and it’s not fun to read fics where everything that makes him interesting is taken away and replaced with this sort of one-note Shouty Angry King/Bad Dad Whom Everyone Hates. and that applies, unfortunately, to a very large number of the types of fics i like to read (namely, long canon exploratory or canon divergent fics, etc)

anyway,

i am perfectly happy to read interpretations of the tts characters that do not mesh well, or are even wholly incompatible with, my own. 

but i do expect, as a minimum, characters to behave more or less the way they behave in canon unless there is a clear reason for them to be different. i expect varian to be nerdy and chaotic and a bit of a disaster, for example. i expect adira to be aloof, blunt, and perhaps a touch arrogant. i expect cassandra to be ambitious and frustrated and prone to self-sabotage and envy. i expect lance to be laid back and eugene to be a bit vain. i expect the captain to be gruff and very tight-laced. and i expect frederic to act like a politician who is in control of his feelings but sort of cowardly at heart, because that’s how frederic acts in the show. 

i hold myself to these standards too. a ton of my editing process is “hm does this character really talk like this? is this how they would react to this situation?” and then going through and rewatching scenes or whole episodes and trying to find roughly analogous emotional beats or situations to sort of gauge whether i’m hitting the mark or not; it’s very difficult and i work hard on it and do not always succeed... and this does make me a bit picky about characterization in fics i’m reading, yeah, because it’s... always at the forefront of my mind. and then yes i post about it here, because this is the hyperfixation landfill where i dump my tts-adjacent thoughts. 

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

of course, you’re welcome to unfollow me if you do not enjoy reading what i post. it’s important to curate an online experience that you enjoy! if my general demeanor irritates you, you don’t need to inflict yourself with it.

[courageouslyfearless]

Dream World (Part 1) ☾ Baekhyun

Dream World (Part 1) ☾ Baekhyun

Genre: Fantasy AU

Pairing: Baekhyun X Reader

Word Count: 5.8k

You could hear yelling even through the closed door. You let out a deep sigh. Your parents had never been discreet about their growing hatred towards each other. You're old enough now to not think it's the end of the world but when you were younger, living in that hostile environment almost near killed you. The only reason you were still living with them is because you couldn't afford college and moving out at the same time. So you were working diligently, to graduate as quickly as possible so you could finally get out.

Thinking it's not the end of the world is one thing, being okay with it another thing entirely. You hated it. The yelling, the insults, the violence... all of it. There was a time you'd be trying to stop them. For years, you tried to stop them. Your brothers did as well. You'd all given up at this point. It was exhausting and tolling on your mental health. Last time you tried to intervene, you'd had a panic attack. Like full blown, couldn't breathe, couldn't respond kind of episode. It was horrible. You had realized then, the damage they had done over the years was not only to each other but to the rest of the family as well. Especially you. So now, instead of going out there and getting involved, you walked to the desk on the corner of your room and sat down.

As the screaming got louder outside, you put in your earphones on each side and lost yourself to the music. You smiled as one of your favorite songs played and grabbed your journal from the drawer you kept it in. Your smiled widened as you held it in your hands. Your dream journal. You wrote about a world of fantasies and creatures you'd never get to see. You wrote about places and people you'd never get to meet.  It's not a sad thing. This journal and its contents had gotten you through so much. Writing and escaping your reality through these made up worlds are the only reason you were alive today. So you were grateful and excited, every time you got to write yourself out of a bad day or situation. Your words, carefully crafted on the pages, were medicine to your kind of hurt.

Fueled by the wonderful tune playing in your ears, you opened the star covered journal. You flipped through all the written pages and landed on the next blank one. As you reach over your pencil holder to grab your favorite purple pen, something shimmering catches your eye.

"This isn't mine," you think to yourself. You grab the golden pen in your hand to examine it. It was beautiful, adorned with swirly designs engraved into the metal encasing it. You wonder if maybe one of your brothers had been in your room. But that didn't make sense, they'd never buy something like this. Your parents were out of the question as well, they hated your love for writing. They thought you wasted too much time on it. You frowned.

How did it get here?

You looked at it for a few seconds, as if it could tell you where it came from if you stared at it long enough. This of course did not occur. So you shrugged and smiled to yourself. If someone came looking for it you'd give it back, in the mean time, you would love to see how beautiful it could write.

You hovered over the blank page, pen in hand and wrote the first sentence.

The sun was shinning brilliantly, warming up her face as the brisk air of autumn played with her hair.

The ink of the pen was a glittery gold. You loved the ethereal glow it gave to you words. With a smile, you continued adding more details on the page. You'd been writing this particular story for months now. With you as the classic protagonist in a mythical world of fantasy and wonder, torn between your duty to your kingdom as princess of Akron and your growing affections towards a mysterious peasant. You wrote for hours. You were so immersed in your fictional world, that when you finally stopped jotting down words, you noted the ache on your wrist. You sat back on your chair, trying to shake off the daze of coming back to reality.

With a glance at your window, you are surprised to realize, night had fallen over the real world. Your stomach grumbled of its need for food and as you couldn't hear your parents fighting anymore, you knew it was safe to find something to eat.

That night you decided to go to sleep earlier. Fridays had a way of feeling more exhausting than any other day. Maybe the week was the real culprit and the effects were simply felt on Friday, but nonetheless, you felt tired down to your soul. So by nine o'clock, you were already under the covers, closing you eyes for some much needed rest.

Without being able to stop it, you thought of your world, waiting beyond the ink of that golden pen you'd found, smiling as you remembered what you had written that day. With this in mind, you drifted off into a deep slumber. This time you're lucky and get to visit your dream world, the one that left you breathless when you wrote. It didn't happen often, but you had dreamed it before. Though this time it felt more vivid.

You opened your eyes, rays of sunlight making it difficult to keep your eyes open. You use your hand to protect you eyes from the sun and are surprised to find yourself in the balcony of a tall and magnificent castle. On the horizon, you see fields of green and the spot where it meets the Great Lake of Ohena. Past that, the homes of your people. The lands stretch even farther than your eyes can see.

"The Kingdom of Akron," you whisper. You are vaguely aware that this is a dream. You'd always had the ability to tell, but the sliver of recognition escapes you as another voice joins you.

"Your Kingdom, your majesty."

You turn around at his voice, the usual racing of your heart making it hard to respond. He's standing there, in your chambers, dressed in ragged clothes, worn out from use and still, you find it difficult to draw a breath. He's as handsome as ever, his features carved in what must be perfect precision.

Oblivious to the struggle within you at his presence, he approaches you, confident in his stride. Confidence that was so rare and out of character for a peasant, that it still surprised you.

"Baekhyun." His name comes out as a breath and this stops him from advancing towards you, stopping two feet away.

He looks at you, pushing a lock of brown hair out of his eyes so he can study you better.

"Princess."

That word alone shakes you to the core. It was illogical. To feel this way when he called you by what was the title given to you by birth right, yet, you couldn't help it. Because when he said it, he wasn't looking at you like his master or future queen. Instead, his eyes were full of emotions. Love. Yearning. But also apprehension and conflict. Almost like he was battling with himself. The same way you did when he was around you.

"I don't remember calling for you," you manage to sound indifferent, even though you know your eyes would tell a different story. A story he had read many times before.

Baekhyun smiles at your theatrics and takes another step forward, closing the little space that was left between the two of you. Now he stands in front of you and stares at you with a glint of humor dancing in his eyes.

"I came out of my own accord, princess."

You force yourself to roll your eyes and start to turn around to look at the view once again, anything to avoid his knowing gaze. But as you do that, his hand  catches the curve of your waist and grips firmly enough to bring you back closer to him.

Startled, your eyes widen.

"What are you doing?" you ask.

His hand on your waist moves to the middle of your back and pushes you into him, your body gently collapsing into his. He looks down at you, his bewitching brown eyes holding yours in a spell you don't have the strength to break. Not that you would even if you could.

He lifts his free hand up to your face and a finger traces the the line of your jaw, then touches your lips . "You haven't visited in a while... I missed you."

Once again you remember it's a dream and sigh audibly. As you had created him, he knew everything there was to know about you. There was no secret that you could hide, no thoughts you couldn't share. He knew you like no one else did, because he was a part of you, of your subconscious. A character shaped into being by your own mind.

"Your parents again?" he asked.

You shift your gaze to look at his chest, not wanting him to see the sadness in your eyes. But he doesn't have to. Because he knows your pain as if it were his own. He wraps his arms around you, forcing your small figure to mold into his by embracing you tightly against him, burying his face on the space where you neck meets your shoulder. You let him hold you for a minute, because his arms were the safest place you knew.

Eventually, you feel the soft touch of his lips as he places a kiss on the crook of your neck before he slowly starts to pull away, but only enough to look at you in the face.

"You should just stay here, with me." He finally says.

You smile, sadness tugging at the corners of your mouth even as you tried to push it away.

"You're not real, Baekhyun. I created you. This is just a dream. A fantasy. Based on words that I wrote so I could escape my reality." You say this with a sense of urgency. You're fully aware that you're trying to remind yourself of the truth. To not lose your senses in this wonderful but unrealistic dream.

Baekhyun smiles, his features becoming more charming and childlike.

"But you wish it was real, princess," he cups your face with both hands, inching closer, until you could feel his breath on your skin. "And so do I."

You tell yourself your mind was a very messed up and twisted thing, playing these kinds of games with you. But when his lips touch yours, it doesn't feel like a dream. It doesn't feel fake. It's easy to forget your reality when he kisses you, because you can sense his feelings, that mirror your own and you can taste him in your mouth as his tongue dances with yours. This is the most lucid dream you've ever had, you noted. The details aren't usually this elaborate. Usually, the corners of your vision appear clouded, like that of a watercolor painting with no clear edges. But everything was overwhelmingly real, even his unmistakable desire for you.

Desire that you felt yourself for him and he knew it, which is why he knew he could get away with such apparent displays of affection towards you without fearing any kind of consequences. So he continued to kiss you. So carefully and unhurried. Like there was all the time in the world to do it. Like there is nothing that he'd rather be doing than showing you how perfectly his mouth fit to yours. Conveying his true feelings in the best way he knew how. And you want to stop him, tell him he can't keep doing this but as soon as the thought comes to you, he deepens the kiss, making you forget why you would ever try to stop him from kissing you. You lose yourself in him and he loses himself in you. Until a knock rattles the door.

Baekhyun groans as you pull yourself out of the magic that he had conjured up to keep you connected to him and step away from his embrace as well. Suddenly recollecting time and place. Your character was the princess of Akron and as such, you had duties to attend to.

Someone knocks on the door again.

You let out a shaky breath, eyes still locked on Baekhyun's as you smooth out the emerald green satin gown that you were wearing.

"Please don't. Let's just stay here," his eyes are pleading too.

But you had almost forgotten where you were, his pull on you had become too strong for you to trust it. Thankfully, your brain had a subconscious defense mechanism that had pulled you out of the spell he seemed to have on you.

"I have things to take care of," you reply softly, before raising your voice, "Come in."

Before the door opens, Baekhyun quickly speaks, "I have something to tell you."

You look at him in question, but when the door opens and a guard steps in, he keeps quiet.

The guard bows  at you before talking. "The Queen is requesting your presence at court."

You nod your understanding and he steps back into the hallway. You start walking towards the door and Baekhyun follows closely behind you.

"What's happened since the last time I was here?" you ask.

He sighs, "The Queen caught the bandit that stole the royal staff. It was an elf  horseman."

You turn to him, alarm in your face, "A nobleman?!"

He only nods in response.

"Why would the elf people do this? They've got nothing to gain from stealing from us. Plus the staff's magic only works with the person of its choosing and it hasn't chosen anyone in almost 70 years." You contemplate the possibilities as you resume your walking. You hadn't written this far ahead in your story, you didn't know what was about to happen. The thought worried you.

Baekhyun was unusually quiet and you look at him for answers.

"I don't know, my lady. Maybe they're tired of being banished from the kingdom. The Queen's rulings tends to be cruel and unfair."

You manage to not agree but barely. You knew he was right, but as the princess the last thing you could do was question the Queen's motives, especially in front of any of her subjects.

"It has to be the elf prince's doing," you muse, "he's the only one with enough authority to make someone commit treason against us."

You don't have time to continue the conversation as you finally are escorted inside the court. As soon as you walk in through the doors, you lose Baekhyun in the crowd as you walk as gracefully as you can down the aisle that leads to the Queen's throne and your own seat, besides her.

The expression on her face is impassive. She doesn't like to be kept waiting, you knew. You'd hear about this later.

With you sitting, the trial quickly commenced.

You saw the elf man being brought in by two knights, each pulling at him from each arm. His face was full of cuts and bruises, his clothes bloodied and tattered.  He has been tortured, you realize. Probably to get information out of him. The look on his eyes was not one of a broken man though, so you knew they got nothing out of him.

Contrary to belief, elves didn't look that much different than us humans, their skin was pale as snow and they wore beautiful faces that begged you to trust them. But that's about it. In every other way, they looked just like us. If anything, their magic was something we should fear. But the Queen refused to acknowledge the existence of magic outside of the kingdom and anyone who threatened her beliefs, well, they met the true death. Decapitation and fire, to cleanse the world of their "evil".

As the crowd settled down, the Queen spoke. You looked at her from your seat. She was as beautiful as she was stubborn, you noticed. Her features delicate but the expression on her face was hard, calculating. Green eyes to match with the Kingdom's crest hanging in any wall that you could see. The wrinkles around them told the story of many worries and reminded you of how time does not forgive anyone, not even the powerful Queen of Akron.

She looked tired too. But you'd never say that out loud. Not unless you wanted your head to end up on a pike. In the story, you were her daughter, therefore the princess. But when you visited, you were practically a stranger. Someone's whose presence the queen abhorred but tolerated for the sake of pretense. You always walked on eggshells around her. She was a scary woman.

"Welcome, my people. My faithful subjects," her voice was strong and carried through the entire room, as big as it was.

"We are here to deliver justice. To punish those who have conspired against me, against us. This man right here, he has committed an unforgivable crime. He has stolen from me, our kingdom." She paused for dramatic effect, " What do you have to say for yourself, elf?"

The man could barely keep himself upright, he'd been beaten extensively. But still, he held his head high, eyes locked with the queen's.

"You won't live forever. Nature will take its course and we shall return to our rightful place in Akron."

The queen stiffened beside you. The elf's words had clearly wounded her ego.

You studied the elf in question. He sounded so confident, so strong. Even though his breaths were counted. His life about to end. Something big was happening and he was just the beginning.

"Elves are traitorous evil beings that have no place in my kingdom," the queen said, "and you will be an example of what happens when any enemy crosses me."

The elf stared, unmoved. He was ready to die for his cause. And he would die, you knew.

Through the corner of your eye you saw a knight, dressed in full armor, unsheathe his sword.  He approached the elf, closing the space between them in three quick strides and then forced him on his knees. He held the sword above the elf's head and looked at the queen for permission.

She nodded, a quick, short movement and without hesitation, the knight swung his sword. You looked away before you could see the head detach from the body.

You barely remember how the rest of the hearing ended. You couldn't believe what had just happened. You'd forced your mind away, so that you could get through it. As soon as it was over, you felt familiar hands grabbing you by the arms and forcing you to move. You followed to where you were being taken, which ended up being your chambers.

Once you were hidden away from any curious set of ears and eyes, you sit on your bed and try very hard to keep the tears from falling.

"Is this place any better?" you ask out loud. The words are barely a whisper but you know you've been heard when you receive a response.

"What did you expect, princess? Rainbows and butterflies? Real or not, the world is cruel, you can't make it not so." The words were bitter and you are surprised to hear the tone coming from him. He'd never shown you anything but kindness, love and comfort.

His reply triggers something in you and you speak defensively in return, "You'd do well to remember who you're speaking to in that manner."

He laughs, but not in humor. He shakes his head as his gaze hold yours.

"I'm not a servant, princess."

You feel the lines on your forehead creasing with your confusion, "but i wrote you."

He shrugs, "This isn't your dream anymore ."

And as soon as he says the words, you realize they are true. You had noticed it, since the moment you entered it, that something — everything, was different. The details, the emotions, the story, it all felt too real. With a sense of dread you thought the scariest though you'd ever had...

The fantasy had grown a life of its own.

You didn't say it, but a look at Baekhyun confirmed it. He was watching you, carefully, as he always did. But this time, something felt more beguiling.

"You're the elf prince," as soon as the words leave your lips, you know they are true. The quick shock in his expression confirms it even though he recovers quickly and hides his emotions masterfully through the smile you had grown to know and love.

"Don't deny it, I know you as well as you know me," you challenge.

He doesn't say anything, his expression doesn't change as he mulls it over and then he nods.

"Very well. Yes, I am who you say I am."

The words shake you, but you refuse to let him see how this betrayal hurts you. He wasn't real... he didn't use to be real, but right now it felt like you had been mortally wounded by the one you loved.

You gather all the courage you have left and let it speak in your stead, as you have no other way to power through. Not without looking at him and breaking.

"So now what? Are you going to kill me? Or are you going to use me as leverage over the queen? Either way, she won't care, I mean nothing to her."

He frowns at your words and takes a step in your direction, to where you're seated. You stand up, ready to put up a fight if he tries anything.

"I would never hurt you." He declares.

You laugh, unamused. "Right. I'm supposed to believe that, even though you've been pretending to be someone you're not this whole time."

He takes another step towards you and you put a hand up, "That's close enough."

Hurt flashes in his eyes for a fraction of a second, "Princess."

You shake your head, "Don't call me that. I'm not your princess. You just admitted to that."

He takes another step to you, cutting most of the distance between you two, grabbing your arm when you tried to push him away.

"Y/N." You stop moving. He had never called you by your name.

You finally look him in the eye. He sighs.

"I admitted to being the elf prince, I never said you weren't my princess."

You feel tears threatening to spill from your eyes, but force them back. You didn't want to give him the satisfaction of seeing how much you cared about him and how much this hurt.

"You expect me to believe anything that has happened between us is real and that it meant something to you when you and your people are trying to ruin us and take power? Clearly this was some sort of plot to kill me or to have something to use over the queen to get her to agree to your terms."

He looks at you in disbelief, "You think I went through all the trouble of coming here, pretending to be a servant just to get to you?"

You pause, "Why else would you be here?"

He takes one step closer, still holding your arms down so you wouldn't try to hit him or something.

"I didn't come here for you, that much you need to believe," he started, "Honestly, I came hoping to be serving the queen."

You rolled your eyes, "The queen's servants are carefully selected from people that have known the royal family since birth, a stranger is never appointed to her."

He nods, "I know that now, but I didn't when I first came here."

You stop trying to maneuver out of his hold. Seeing you a little more calm, he slowly lets go of your arms but doesn't step away.

"So I got appointed to you. Yes, I'll admit, at first I was wondering how I could turn this turn of events in my favor, but it didn't take me long to realize, that you were nothing like the queen. You are kind, caring, innocent and loyal to those you care about. This world might not have been real at first, but you brought it to life. The same way you did with me as I started caring for you."

"How do you know I didn't write you to think these things about me?" you retort.

He smiles and this time, it's the Baekhyun that you know when he speaks again. "Because I haven't been the me you wrote for a long time now. Haven't you noticed how out of character I've been?"

As soon as he asked the question, you realized it was true. You hadn't noticed, because you liked this Baekhyun more than the one you imagined. He didn't follow your every command. He didn't say what you wanted to hear. He did as he wanted when he wanted and made you feel things that you'd never experienced before even in your real life.

"Fine. But how do you know this isn't an act I'm putting on?"

"Enough of this, Y/N. We can spend hours arguing about his, but this isn't what matters right now." His smile slowly disappears as he watches you. You miss it as soon as its gone.

You kick yourself mentally. Once again, you had fallen for a fictional character. But this time... this time it was different. This time you couldn't move on to the next story to fall for another one. His words bring you back to the here and now, even though you wish you could just open your eyes and leave the dream already. You'd been trying to wake up for a while now, but  for whatever reason, it wasn't working right now.

"Back there at court, you couldn't bear to watch him die. You know why? Because you know it's wrong. You know  as well as I do that the Queen is poison to the kingdom. She won't be satisfied until magic and all who learn it are dead." He states.

You see the hopeful look he's wearing and realize where he's going with this.

"I can't go against the queen." You say quickly.

"Why not?" he argues.

"I just can't."

He lets out an exasperated breath and reaches a hand to your face, one that you push away with your own.

"It's your world, Y/N. Why are you so afraid of taking control over it?"

You huff in indignation, "Why does it matter? None of this is real."

You see shock and anger cross his brown eyes, before he even finds the will to speak.

"It s not real to you. You leave and go back to your life, meanwhile the rest of us, we live here, in the place you created and it goes on even when you're not here."

You stay still. He's right. You had written this world to life and now, because of your words, his people lived banished from the kingdom, in poor conditions, when they should be here, with the rest of you. Enjoying the same privileges.

"I'm sorry." You finally say. The tears start falling now and you can't stop them anymore. Baekhyun stares, confused at first, but quickly recovering and pulling you into his chest where he holds you in place.

"Why are you crying?" he asks, helplessly clinging to you, not knowing what else to do to comfort you.

"I did this. I'm the reason you and the rest of the elves have to live like this. It's all my fault."

He holds you tighter. But it doesn't stop you from rambling on. Or crying harder.

"I wanted to be in control for once, since I can't do it in my own life. So I wrote myself in a position of power so that I could do what I wanted but even here, I couldn't just take responsibility for the bad things happening. So I created the queen, so that I wouldn't have to. Now everything is messed up and people are dying and it's my fault."

You could feel his body shaking, but he still didn't let go of you. You cried harder.

"Why can't I wake up, damn it."

He stiffened at your question and you pulled away from him to look at his face.

"What? What aren't you telling me?" you ask, knowing him well enough to know something was up.

He won't look at you, just let's a finger touch your hand as if he was debating on holding it but not being sure if he should or could.

"Baekhyun."

At the mention of his name, he finally makes a decision and takes hold of your hand before looking you in the eye. He bites his bottom lip in a nervous manner before speaking.

"You've put too much of yourself into this place. There's more of you here than out there, in your world." He finally says. "The pen... the gold pen, did you use it?"

Your eyes widened, "how do you know about  that pen?" you ask, apprehensive.

His eyes are pleading, but you're not sure for what.

"Tell me the truth."

Baekhyun nods slowly, "YN... I'm sorry as well," he pauses for a brief second and then continues, "It's been a while since you came here and with the way I feel about you, I just- I wanted you to stay."

You had a bad feeling about where this was going.

"The pen... is magic, isn't it?" you question, even though deep down you know the answer.

Baekhyun only nods.

"Am I stuck here?" you ask.

He stays quiet. This angers you and you push at his chest which forces him to take a step back.

"Am I stuck here, Baekhyun?" you repeat your question and he shakes his head this time.

"Not if you wake up before sunrise," he finally admitted.

You stare at him like he grew a second head. You could not believe he would do something like this. Someone who you had written and  had grown to love, had done something so incredibly selfish.

"How could you even do something like this?" you wonder out loud.

"I love you, Y/N. I know you feel the same way about me. Every time you came here, carrying that sadness in your eyes and that broken heart in your chest, I started wishing you could just stay here instead where I could hold you and protect you from all of it. Why would you want to go back to all of that pain?"

You hold his gaze, gathering strength that you didn't know you possessed. "Because that's life, Baekhyun. It sucks. It hurts. But you keep going. You find a way through. You can't just give up because it's hard."

"If you really believe that, then why am I here? Why is any of this here?" he asked, looking at the room around you.

"Because, sometimes I am weak. And I lose my will. So I need something to keep me going. Writing has helped me through so many hard times, it's all I know how to do when things are tough. Words are my armor. That doesn't mean I want to give it all up."

Tears formed in the corner of his eyes as he understood the implications of your words.

"When you wake up, this time, you won't be able to come back here." There was defeat in his voice.

"What?"

"The magic I used for the pen, it holds all the magic gathered in this world. It can keep you here forever if you don't wake up before sunrise, but if you do, it will keep you from coming here again." He stops, takes a breath and looks out the window, "And judging by the fact that it's getting dark here, you don't have a lot of time before it's light over there." The words sounded strained as he kept from crying, realizing what this meant for the both of you.

You realized a moment later what it meant as well and felt as more tears gathered around your eyes.

Without hesitation, you cut the distance between you and collapse into his body. Taken by surprise with your sudden approach, he loses balance briefly but quickly recovers, wrapping his arms around your waist as you hug him as tightly as you can.

"God, I wish you were real in my world," you say.

"You don't hate me?" he asks.

You shake your head and look up to meet his eyes.

"I could never. I would though, if you were in my world, kick your ass for doing something this dumb."

He chuckles, but his eyes are still sad.

"I deserve that."

You nod, trying really hard to stop from crying more.

Beakhyun's hands roam up your back and find your face where he holds it in place before he meets your mouth with his.

The kiss is soft. A whisper of goodbye without words.

The sky continues to darken outside reminding you that you need go now. With all the regret you could ever carry, you step away from him. His hands fall to his sides as you slowly take more steps backwards until you're close to the bed. You close your eyes in concentration, visualizing yourself waking up. It's usually the the way to wake up when you're having a lucid dream.

"I love you."

You open your eyes at his confession and smile sadly at him.

"I'll write you a better ending, I promise."

He shook his head, "It won't be happy without you."

Before you could respond, your body moved upwards, as if being lifted by a magical force.

When you wake up, you are in your room and notice how tears have stained your pillowcase. You quickly get out of bed and rush to your desk, opening the dream journal, to the last page you wrote. You grab the purple pen and put it to paper.

The Queen after a life full of regret, and choices made in fear, had an epiphany. It was time to live life as a true leader. The powerful were not the ones with the biggest army, but the ones who could rule with justice and fairness.  A true ruler can admit when she is wrong and and ask for forgiveness when necessary. She knew it would be hard, to change her ways, after all this time, and all she had done... but she knew the best way to start.

She'd welcome the elves back home.

[Part 2]

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* Masterlist *

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A/N: Did not expect this to go in this direction, but that’s where it went... kinda sad with the ending. Do you guys think I should do a part two for this or leave it as is??

Hope you enjoyed either way

Update: I will be doing a part 2. Thanks for the sweet comments ❤️

[long-cosmos-overhead]

I have a request for you 😊 it's a bit big so it's totally fine if you don't want to do it, but would you maybe make a preference with Maze Runner Newt, The Leto Joker, the 10th Doctor and Edward Nygma (pre riddler bcs hes a cutiepie) with Reader developing first symtoms of an eating disorder? They feel bad after eating something and get panicked when they gain weight and barely eat anything at some days

Of course if you need someone to talk to I’m here x

(I do not own these characters or their movies/shows/ gif not mine)

⚠️ if you are experiencing or sensitive to the issue of eating disorders please don’t read ⚠️

Newt

He doesn’t notice right away there’s a lot going on in the glade which makes it hard to focus and for the first day he rules it as a one off however he makes a mental note to make sure you’re not getting sick

Newt gets more panicky as you spiral out of control he’s had his own demons and then he got you the most beautiful, sweet woman that made him feel like the luckiest shank on the planet and now he was slowly losing you

Things got so much worse and Newt stayed up so late pleading you to eat just a small bite, he worked your shifts in the garden and told you every breathing minute of the day that you were beautiful and you didn’t need to do this when confronted about your problem by other gladers he’d break down and cry whimpering about how he couldn’t lose you

No matter how tough things got Newt was always there every night he’d hold you close weaving his fingers through your hair and telling you how much you meant to him, long hugs and comforting kisses were given when you really couldn’t manage and Newt went so far as to get all the gladers to be nice and make no mention of your appearance. This boy loved you so much

When you started getting better Newt was over the moon you could see in his eyes he was so proud and happy when you finished an amount of food no matter how small Newt would be all over you kisses, cuddles and praise he remembered seeing you one day, you were still rather thin and washed out but you were better and he cried of happiness he was so proud of you

Joker

He notices immediately. He sits you down and tells you he knows there’s something wrong and wants to hear from you what it is he doesn’t let you leave until he’s heard what he wants to hear but he’s not menacing about it he’s rather gentle yet firm purring instead of growling trying to sweet talk it out of you

He may seem angry once he finds out about your relationship with food but it is now way directed at you he’s rightly pissed at anyone who you ever compared yourself to but mostly he’s mad at himself for not being able to keep you safe from the one thing that took his sanity and no matter how highly he thought of himself he didn’t want you to turn out like him

He fires every female assistant, worker, cleaner you name it she’s gone and trips to the bar or strip clubs are out of question, J even goes as far as to throw out magazines and newspapers he just wants to keep you safe and more importantly happy

This however doesn’t mean he’s going to let you get away with everything he’d downright force you to eat keeping you gripped in his lap or his arms until you ate it isn’t the best but force is the only way he knows. There’s been tears, relapses and fired therapists but his love for you never dwindled he found a one in a billion connection he will not give you up

J acts like an excited puppy when you get better and start to eat as you usually did he gives you deep meaningful rewards: passionate kisses, tight hugs, long cuddles, stolen expensive items. He’s so proud he brags how strong you are to frost and let’s you know you’re stunning beyond compare every day

10th Doctor

He notices quite early on you’re eating habits have changed and you’re becoming rather sickly looking, at first he things you’re ill so he drags you around running a full body test on you only to get very confused when you’re clear of sickness now he’s worried, what’s wrong with you?

The Doctor gets very distraught upon hearing you’re struggling with your body he doesn’t understand you’re like a supernova to him what’s to be ashamed of, he doesn’t know how to help but he digs deep and finds all he needs to know about what’s going on and becomes more or less your personal therapist

He puts adventures on hold for a while worried you’re get too sick to go on and he’ll lose you if you keep pushing yourself. Doctor brings back many exotic nutritious foods for you to eat in small chunks and you best believe he turns to cuddly mush around you the sweetest purest declarations of love you’d ever hear were made in the moments you needed it most even if you tried to conceal it

He does get a little overprotective especially if he feels you’re in danger or considerably weak and if you have fainting spells he’s a mess you’ll wake up being cradled by a worried sick doctor he doesn’t care what he’s doing he’ll always catch you and take you straight to bed with him in case you get worse he holds you through relapses, tears, anger the lot rubbing soothing circles on your back and many hugs which involve him lifting you off the floor and clinging to you

He takes you to the most beautiful places he knows as encouragement when you’re down or as a treat after you’ve tried your best he never forces you to eat but he’s strict about getting enough to keep you going, he won’t lose you. Don’t doubt whenever you feel especially down that day that the doctor won’t give an entire lecture on how he loves you the doctor needs you by his side

Edward Nygma

Ed knows something’s wrong long before you really realise it yourself he’s a very perspective man usually a mystery sets him off but with you involved in something like this makes him anxious and skittish he’s confused as to why you feel this way he knows the science behind it but you’re perfect in his eyes he wishes you could feel the same

He’d get more and more anxious as time went on and you gradually got worse you were usually happy and bubbly but now you were tired and weakened seeing you vulnerable made his instincts to protect you kick in and he tried his hardest to shield you from anyone giving you a hard time

He’s be logical on getting you to eat cooking meals himself that were highly nutritious and healthy in small portions so you weren’t daunted by them or he’d pick you up some small snack. Edward would help you eat on days where you felt you really couldn’t patting your back and sitting with you as long as you took to be able to finish a suitable amount

He’ll throw in a few riddles when you ask him what’s for dinner or you’re getting really nervous at the thought of food, it’s a little brain game he designed to distract you from getting too overwhelmed and leading to a panic attack some of his riddles went so far you didn’t even end up thinking of food in the end istead begging him to tell you how he came up with it

Edward is so supportive and kind towards you each mini victory was celebrated with something nice like a lazy day in bed or a cute little thing he devised there’s no limit to how far Ed would go to keep you happy your smile, your body language, the way you begged for the answer to his riddles made him fall head over heels for you and he’d give you the world if it meant you were happy

[mo-mo-and-porkchop]

Hehrlana

Hehrlana

Vikings fan fiction

Chapter 4 (Chapter 3 here)

*I do not own any part of the Canon Vikings characters. It is simply my interpretation. I make no profit off of this.

**I do own the original characters and everything associated with them.

Tagging for updates: @kenzieam , @wilddrabble , @oddsnendsfanfics , @thoughtsmeander2tumblingblindly , @captstefanbrandt

"You can not be serious father?!" Arlen exclaimed hurt and angry. Their sister would be taken away by a heathen of all people. "He is nothing more than a pagan brute!" he growled.

"Arlen!" Ehrlana scolded.

"He can not be trusted sister," he spat firmly in reply.

Harald's anger rose with Arlen's accusations, even if he was mostly right. He was a brute. Ruthless in times of war. He even lied when necessary to further his ambitions of becoming King. But this time, however, things were different.

The Celtic Princess stirred emotions deep within that he long thought dead. His breath caught with her presence. His heart raced. His mind voided itself of everything except her. The woman, unbeknown to her, had him under her spell. He wanted Ehrlana. Yearned for her; almost as much as he had desired Elisef.

He set his utensils down and readied himself to argue his defense when they were both cut short by the King.

"Watch your tongue!" he roared before Harald could intercede.

"Father, he will surely kill her the first chance he gets," Arlen pleaded much more quietly.

"King Harald is our guest and I will not have such disrespect at my table! You and I will discuss your punishment later, but for now I suggest you leave before you lose what dignity you have left," he finished definitively.

The King resumed his meal as the growing tension seemed to fill the room. Awkwardly they sat in silence as Arlen stared his father down. The king ignored him and continued eating; his word final. His eldest son pushed himself angrily from the table and left. If he wouldn't listen then he would take care of the matter personally. He would protect his sister from the heathens with or without his father's help.

"I apologize for my son," the King began once Arlen was gone.

Although he agreed with him, it was not his place to decide Ehrlana's future; a future directly tied to the fate of their people. An alliance with Harald and the great heathen army would be beneficial for all. If his son had only controlled himself long enough he would have found the same truth.

"He is very....passionate at times," he explained as nicely as possible.

"It seems to me he is full of hatred for my kind," Harald retorted with disdain.

"He is upset over the recent attacks. One Northman is the same as another to Arlen unfortunately," he further explained, slight sorrow in his voice. "I, on the other hand, understand the benefit of our alliance." He glanced over at his daughter and gently held her hand. "Even if it means losing my daughter."

He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze before letting go for the last time.

"Arlen may be misguided, but he is a formidable warrior," Liam chimed in, his attenetion still on his food. He casually ate and drank as if his brother hadn't just caused a scene.

"I will handle Arlen," the King firmly, yet calmly professed.

"I would not underestimate his anger or his passion father," he warned finally looking to him.

"If he can can not control his anger or his passion, then I will handle him," Harald said finally breaking his silence. Nothing was to going stand in his way of making her his wife. Especially her ignorant brother.

Ehrlana's heart froze and her chest tightened with the threat. She could feel the truth of his words in her veins as they slowly turned to ice. Her nerves tingled and for a moment she feared Arlen was right.

"I do not doubt that," Liam replied. "My sister's safety is all that matters to me. As with Arlen. We are very protective of her," he continued.

When Harald's eyes found hers, he immediately relaxed his demeanor. He wanted her as his wife, not his enemy. His heart clenched seeing the fear in her eyes.

"Then you have no need to worry. She will be in the safest place in all of Norway," Harald offered trying to back pedal a bit.

"For your sake I hope so," her brother countered, glancing at his sister before going back to their meal.

-------

"You can still change your mind," her brother, Kieran reminded her. He glanced over his shoulder at Harald and his men as they carried the remains of their camp onto their ships. "The winters are much worse than here," he tried convincing her as he brought his attention back to her.

"You have been speaking with Arlen too much," she replied with a small laugh. "Liam will be with me until I am married. I will be fine. Do not worry," she reassured him as she hugged him goodbye. "Please try and convince Arlen of the same and take care of Siobhan," she said before giving him one last squeeze.

"You have my word, Queen," he replied with a smirk and a playful bow.

She pushed him playfully; her brother laughing in return. "I will miss you," she said with a sad sigh once their laughter died down.

"And I you," he agreed just as sorrowfully.

"We will see her again," Liam cut in, seeing Kieran's anguish. He'd done well hiding it from their sister, but he never could fool him. His brother was about to break down.

"You watch that King," he replied lowly, locking eyes with Liam. "We have to know he can be trusted with her."

"I will make sure she is safe before I return. You have my word brother," he said squeezing his shoulder reassuringly. The two brothers locked eyes and it was clear Kieran wasn't completely convinced Ehrlana should go. "My word," he reiterated with a firm squeeze, silently forcing his brother to get control of his rising anger.

-------------

Ehrlana watched her brothers and father at the shore as the boat pulled away. Liam beside her, his arm wrapped caringly around her shoulders. She was leaving her home behind. Sadness gripped at her heart as it slowly grew smaller. As much as she dreamt of this moment, she would miss it.

"Are you ready for this little sister?"

She sighed and leaned into him, hugging him gently. "I don't know," she replied with a small shake of her head. "But I am ready to find out."

Liam was the first to turn away from the sight. Ehrlana couldn't bring herself to do the same and watched until the shores of Ireland were out of sight. She pulled her shawl tighter around her shoulders before finally turning away herself.

------

Moonlight danced along the ripples left behind as small waves crashed gently against the ship's underbelly. A gentle breeze strong enough to carry their sail blew across the seas. Harald's men were casually scattered across the longboat; some working, some sleeping. Others sang softly to themselves as they sharpened their swords. They were nearly done their trip and it had been peaceful.

"I have heard your men say the Gods are happy," Ehrlana said as she made her way next to Harald at the ship's prow. "But they are surprised by this. I suspect it is because my family is Christian," she continued a bit dejected with a shrug. "I hope my brother Arlen will not be proven right about my safety once in Vestfold," she added hugging herself slightly against the wind.

Harald's heart sank with her words and the hidden worry in her voice; though he understood her concern. His younger self would have done exactly that. "You are their Queen," he said wrapping his cape around her shoulders. "No one would dare harm you."

"I am not their Queen. Not yet. We are still to be wed," she reminded him, glancing back at him. The extra warmth was welcomed and she pulled it closed around her.

"You became my Queen when you were given as my bride," Harald sighed, leaning against the edge of the ship, facing her.

"But I am not their Queen," she reiterated.

Harald's eyes found hers and saw her worry. A slightly frustrated, quiet sigh left him. At least she wanted them to accept her. That was more than he could say for most other Christians he'd met. His heart tugged with care - a small sign he had been right about one thing.

She was different.

"If that is what you truly want, then you will be," he reassured her. "They will see you as I do. They will have no choice but to accept you."

She softly smiled, slightly sad. "And how is it that you see me?"

Momentary panic coursed through his veins when he realized what he'd said. Instead of falling apart from embarassment he reached for her hand and pulled her closer, settling his arms around her waist and intertwining his hands at the small of her back.

"I see you as my Queen," he said smoothly.

Her worry and sadness slowly began to fade. He was trying; which meant her belief that Arlen may have been right faded to a distant memory as she stood in his arms.

Ehrlana smiled gently at him before snuggling against him. "I hope you are right. I quite like the thought of being your Queen," she said softly with a sigh.

A smile spread across his face; pride swelling within his chest. Perhaps the Gods had not cursed him after all.

Liam watched closely as his sister cuddled into the King. He held his own reservations over their marriage, but he couldn't deny that she looked happy in his arms. He could only hope it would last.

-------

They all deboarded at Vestfold's shores; Ehrlana and her brother escorted to the main hall to prepare for the wedding.

"Halfdan!" Harald yelled as his brother came walking down the pier.

"Brother!"

The two men embraced in a joyous reunion.

"I hear you have brought a Queen home with you, but I see no woman here," he said glancing around teasingly.

Harald chuckled quietly. "Her name is Ehrlana. And she is not here because she is off preparing for our wedding," he countered with a smirk.

Halfdan returned the small smile before falling serious. "Are you sure this is the right thing to do?" he asked tentatively.

Halfdan knew his brother's weakness when it came to women; always choosing the wrong ones. But he'd always been there to catch him when he fell. He feared this time however that even he wouldn't be able to help if things went sour.

"A king needs a queen," he chuckled lightly, squeezing his brother's shoulder reassuringly.

"But she is Christian," he added as they headed away from the shores. "An outsider. How do we know she can be trusted?"

Harald fought the urge to let his smile fade as well. He knew this would come up with Halfdan, but the marriage was going to happen. It was good for both parties to ally with each other and his brother could either accept it or not.

"Wait until you meet her. Then, if you feel the same, we will make sure she will never think of betraying us," he offered in in compromise to keep him from spoiling the upcoming festivities.

Halfdan contemplated his brother's compromise a moment before grunting slightly in agreement. He doubted she would change his mind and he would soon prove himself right - allowing him to once again make sure Harald was protected from the fairer sex.

----

"I am nervous," Ehrlana admitted to Liam as various thralls dressed and readied her for marriage.

"I will not let any harm come your way, but if you have decided against this marriage then --"

"About tonight," she cut in.

Her brother chuckled. "Sleeping with your husband is what makes you nervous?" he asked rhetorically.

"Not all of us can be whores," she teased him, but her nerves were real and they made her voice quiver slightly.

"Listen," he started understandingly. "There is nothing to worry about. Sex is not as big of a deal as everyone makes it out to be. It is fun, I will not lie..."

"Liam, please. I already know of your exploits."

"It is fun, but it is not a life changing experience. You will be fine Lana."

She appreciated the effort to comfort her. Liam always knew how to calm her fears, but this was different. Harald would be the first man she ever lay with. The first to ever see her nude body. To see her truly vulnerable. And her soon to be husband's reputation for prowess hadn't missed her.

"Just, be honest with him," he added with an empathetic sigh, pulling her in for a reassuring hug. "If he has any decency at all, he will understand. And besides," he said leaning back to look at her. "I will be here at least until morning. Come and find me should he not."

[di-elle]

Matthew Goode interview - Style Magazine Italia - January 2017

[as requested by @pleasereadmeok. thanks @adow-trash for proofreading it]

[the rest of the pics in HQ here]

Matthew Goode is one of the most recognizable British actors of his generation. 38 years old, tall, slender, handsome, with a face composed of classic proportions and precise features that lends itself to both modern settings and period dramas.

A look that's allowed him to dive immediately into the world of Match Point, Brideshead Revisited, The Imitation Game, and A Single Man. In the last season of Downton Abbey, he was one of the most beloved characters as Lady Mary's husband, a role that brought him popularity with the television audience. Now he appears with Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard in Allied.

Skill,talent, determination and a bit of luck (essential in this business) have made Goode a sought-after and versatile actor, without affecting his overwhelming pleasantness and playfulness onset and off that serve as useful talents as well.

In the penthouse of the London hotel where he is being photographed, he strokes the oval marble bathtub sitting in the middle of the room (‘So cool!’), gets enthusiastic by touching the clothes, the collars of the shirts, and the wool of the jackets.

Do you like design?

I love it, even if it is my wife who has the eye for it.

In front of the mirror, in the barber’s and makeup artist’s hands, he is a bundle of energy.  He is worried about Brexit (‘What’s happened? Where are we going?’) but happy to be able to buy a house. He is a little anxious, too, about the last phone call from his bank: 'Being an actor means  living day by day. Banks don’t like it.’

Psychologically what does it entail?

During dry spells you can lose confidence and believe that you will never work again. It's not easy.

However you are not lacking jobs. How  was working  on Allied?

Movies are strange beasts. You come, you spend two days on the set, you shoot your own scenes and you go. Despite this it was electrifying as it can be a film of these proportions. There was an atmosphere of great professionalism and harmony. Brad Pitt is a great person. He welcomed me fondly, as did Marion Cotillard. I had already met them both, but they are always like that, even with those they don't know.

Is variety important to you?

It's the essence of life, isn't it? At the end  the face and the voice are always those and if you specialize in a genre, it's not easy to come out of it. It's hard for me to resist period movies, it's a great temptation. Costumes and interiors have a very strong charm.

Your name was made for the Bond role…

I've sabotaged myself. Barbara Broccoli  (the film producer) called me and I didn’t realize it was an audition. I thought it was just a chat. She asked me what I thought of Bond. I was honest , I told her that the way it is today doesn’t work. They need to scale down the budget, and make the character more complicated, go back to the origin from the books: a dark, difficult, incomprehensible man. At the end she said goodbye and I didn’t hear from her again. Maybe sometimes it’s better to keep your mouth shut.

Do you like going to movies?

There's a little bit of jealousy to overcome but generally yes. I'd like to see Tom Ford's new movie, Nocturnal Animals. He is a genius, he has an eye like no other. A Single Man should have won more awards. Ford was born as a stylist but he is a real artist.

Are you not tempted to move to the USA?

I have three children and I want them to grow up here. I don't like to go too far away. I told my agent I don't want to work in the US for a year.

Is Matthew Goode a good father?

It depends on the days. The noise stresses me. If there are two children crying, or screaming, I panic. In those cases, my wife takes care of it.

What do you do at home?

I cook. It's less tiring than playing with a one-year-old child... I can do a little of everything: my father taught me the first recipes when I was about to start university. Over the years I have made a leap in quality, from scrambled eggs to stews.

Your best recipe?

Beef and Guinness stew. Two or three parsnips, a couple of carrots, two onions, some mushrooms. Two pounds of meat, a little flour. Mix it up, then slap it in the pot. Salt, pepper, some herbs and some beer. I love it. You put it on, you go get the kids from school, and when you come back, the house smells of dinner.

The role you've always wanted.

Sherlock Holmes. Damn it, Benedict Cumberbatch has stolen it from me! Joking aside, it's Jeffrey Bernard in the comedy Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell, by Keith Waterhouse. Many years ago I saw Peter O'Toole in it and I've never forgotten. But you need to be 50 or 60 years old for it, so I'll have to wait a little longer.

Did you want to be an actor as a child?

My mother would say yes. Actually I discovered my path later in life. For a while I wanted to be an archaeologist, because my father was a geologist. One day one of my university mates went to audition for an acting school and I said: Why not, I should try it too. Finding an agent was a stroke of luck. Then the fight for survival began. It's a slow and complicated road.

From the outside you look like someone who made it.

(It may look that way) now, but like with everything when you start you are at the first step, you look up and say: I'll never get there.

What’s your secret to overcome difficult moments?

I have stopped watching the films I make. This has helped me a lot. You can’t control how they cut and edit your character. You can only control the experience, what you give and what gives to you. The result is almost insignificant. After a few years it can be fun watching yourself because you seem very young.

Do you practice sport a lot?

I go to the gym in the morning, to start the day well. Twice a week I go out for lunch with my wife: and since I like to eat, and occasionally even drink, the gym is imperative. I also play golf but it takes time, it's not an activity that fits well with a big family.

Your ideal holiday?

I have fond memories of my childhood, camping with my father, the fishing rod, the green. I'd like to take my children. My wife resists for now.

What do you read?

I hate to admit it, but I read very little. By the time I go to bed, I'm too tired.

A luxury?

We’re planning how to sort out the house. If I could afford it I’d buy one of those enormous american washing machines with a tumble dryer.  It's not what you'd expect from a star, is it?

[dent-de-leon]

I'm so sorry to hear about Molly! I never followed crit role besides your updates and the fanart of him you reblogged; he seemed very nice! if it's okay (because I don't know where to go to get this info) , may I ask you more about molly? what does he do? what's he like? and how'd he... ya know...

asjsdsfkdl thanks that’s very nice of you!! ;; And sure of course I love talking about Molly!! His full name’s Mollymauk Tealeaf and he’s played by VA Taliesin Jaffe. He’s this really charismatic, charming tiefling. His backstroy is really shrouded in mystery, but  here’s what we know–“Molly” has only existed for two years. Before that, he was another person entirely, and went by Lucien. Lucien was a blood hunter–a homebrew class that can track and kill monsters with a kind of blood magic. He was the leader of a group of members with similar abilities, and they were trying to achieve some kind of miracle. We’re not really sure what, but I think it might have something to do with–ironically–cheating death. At the very least, that ended up being a side effect of it.

They performed some kind of ritual, and Lucien died in the process. When he next awoke, he had no memory of his former life, and he was buried alive. He had to claw his way out of the ground and ended up roaming aimlessly until he was picked up by a traveling circus. Molly was catatonic at the time, he was completely out of it and would only repeat the word “Empty.” One of the people who took him in gave him the name Mollymauk Tealeaf, and overtime, he gradually grew more aware and started speaking again. He’s said that he genuinely enjoyed the circus and he was happy there. “Molly” was a completely new persona he had developed, his own separate person–and he wanted nothing to do with Lucien. He considered himself completely different than whoever had his body before, and he wanted nothing to do with that life. He despises any situation where he’s forced to confront his past and wants it to disappear forever. 

The intro Taliesin gave for his character is, “A lavender tiefling with red eyes and very curled, extremely pierced, ostentatious horns that are pierced with little gems and little baubles. He’s got a tattoo that seems to be running up the side of his face, a peacock tattoo that goes off into his very ostentatious, ridiculous, overblown robes that he wears. And his two swords and pouch dangling at the sides of his hips. Yeah, he’s very, very broad in his dress.” “So literal and figurative peacock?” “Oh, yes.” 

Molly’s very much an entertainer. He’s a performer with a flair for the dramatic. He reads fortunes with his cards, juggles swords, and can do a bit of fancy acrobatics. There are times when he’s done a trick to cheer up passing children and little things like that. There’s no actual divination to his fortunes, but he’s good at reading others, and tries to use the cards to give them advice based on his observations. He sees the cards as more or less a means of just conveying whatever advice he thinks will be helpful to that particular person. 

He’s someone very friendly and familiar with others, even strangers. When he first meets another tiefling in the party, he says, “My friends call me Molly. And we’re friends now, aren’t we?” He often uses endearments like darling, sweetheart, ect. He’s kissed one of his teammates on the forehead while calming them during a panic attack, and has casually kissed others in greeting. He’s very much comfortable being tactile. He can also be a bit mischievous and chaotic for the fun of it. He enjoys some playful teasing and poking fun at his teammates every now and again. Loves fun, luxury, and interesting adventures. Doesn’t believe in judging others for their past and really wants everyone on the Mighty Nein to be a team that’s all in this together. Also, and I just have to mention this–he’s pan, which of course is pretty cool to me, since I’m a bi guy. He’s also incredibly charming and I love him dearly,,

Some iconic Molly quotes:

“I don’t know anything. It’s part of my charm.”

“Let me make this abundantly clear—my name is Molly. That person is dead and not me. It’s just a person who had this body. They abandoned it, it’s mine now.”

After being asked why he was in a circus with such weird people: “BECAUSE I’M WEIRD!”

“I’m always ready to make a fool of myself.” 

“Be the chaos you want to see in the world.”

“That sounds terrible. I don’t want to remember anything, I don’t want anybody else’s baggage in my head, I don’t want anybody else’s problems, thoughts, ideas… I like this person—[this person] right now, is a good person, is a fine person, is a happy person.”

“I spent two years before I met you all cajoling people, occasionally ripping them off, occasionally doing a good turn here or there. Never trust the truth. The truth is vicious, the truth thinks that you owe it something… None of that. I like my bullshit. It’s good, it’s happy, it makes other people happy.” 

“I may be a liar, but I’m never a betrayer. I’m honest in my work, and I believe in doing a good turn…I’ve stayed with that circus for two years, and I know how people treat each other. It’s important…I don’t care where you’ve been, I don’t care what terrible things any of you have done. You’re here now. That’s how it works.”

After being asked if he was a good person during a spell where he cannot lie: “I’d like to think so.”

When asked if he could really read fortunes under the truth spell, “I use fortunes to tell people what I see in them. But sometimes, sometimes I feel like maybe there’s something that tickles that back of my head, I will admit…I always try to be helpful when I turn cards for people…I’ll tell you, and this is true—I did my best every town I went to and every town I left, no matter how they treated me, and a lot of them treated me with deep disrespect. I left every town better than I found it.”

While wearing nothing but a gaudy dragon tapestry and eating off a fancy fruit platter, “I am a god! Long may I reign!”

“Don’t you dare have fun without us!”

Taliesin was given the option for Molly to say some last words to his killer. But instead, he just said, “I’m going to spit in his face, with blood,” which was very true to character. And when Molly died, he added, “[My] Eyes never shut.” 

It’s really quite unfortunate, but my understanding is, Molly had some bad rolls and the team had lost their cleric at the time. He knocked himself unconscious using his own blood magic (again, terrible rolls), and his attacker decided to finish him as an example. I didn’t get the chance to watch the stream so I’ve yet to see the full episode, but I saw a clip of how he died and I was pretty upset ;; I’m heartbroken just thinking about it to be honest. Maybe they’ll find a higher level cleric soon and be able to revive him, but even then…there’s no telling whether he’ll come back as Molly, as Lucien, or…be catatonic like before. But the risk of losing Molly as his own person is pretty high, and I’m…really worried for him ;;