#wild card of witches duels

[tohwitchesduels]

WILD CARD OF WITCHES DUELS - Battle 60: Amity Blight vs Luz Noceda - exclusive Witches Duel, the "Lumity Edition💅"

Disclaimer: This is not a popularity contest or which character you prefer, in this tournament, you decide who is stronger/better/smarter/etc. opponent.

Extra Disclaimer: To reassure the shippers that shall come across this post, Luz and Amity ARE NOT forced to battle each other. They're not doing this with heavy heart, against their will, or with any hard feelings behind it. This isn't a grudge, or a major fight within the couple, or a break-up, not at all. This is their 💖DATE💖. Luz and Amity are fine fighting in this duel because to them it's essentially their date. They promised each other they will see each other in the finals and here they are. They're both each other's biggest cheerleader in this battle while also going all out and having a lot of fun while doing this. This is essentially the anniversary of the first time they got to know their true selves to one another and they're making it very cheesy, and sappy, and all way round beautiful.

Hence I'm telling you TO NOT make them tie. In the end, this is still a duel and there can be only one winner. Luz and Amity don't mind who it will be in the end as they're happy either way so DO NOT try to make them tie. If I catch any of you telling people in the notes to make them tie, I'm blocking you and re-doing the post all over again without your input. If Lumity ties they're both disqualified from the tournament and all their previous battles are completely erased. Let the girls have fun and pick who's the better fighter between them, even if you love them both. To them, it doesn't matter who wins or who loses, as long as both of them remain in the tournament. Now onto the battle.

information for both opponents under the cut to those who don't know what they can do in their battle:

Because of how lengthy both of their profiles I won't be getting into deeper details on what they can do and just put links in their names:

Amity Blight:

Amity Blight naturally specializes in Abomination Magic the most, but she does so capacity in knowing spells of other tracks like Plants and Illusion, but it's very limited.

Amity and Luz are girlfriends who love each other very much and by the time of this tournament, their relationship is as strong as ever. They both promised each other to meet in the finals and Amity is more than happy that she managed to keep her promise despite the odds. Nonetheless, both girls are having fun and flexing and don't necessarily have a clear desire to win. Their battle is a dance and the winner gets the kisses 💜💜💜

Amity is a very skilled, talented, cool-headed, and pragmatic fighter. Hardly does she lose composure when battling even strong opponents, displaying plenty of agility and athleticism (as shown in her battle with Hunter and Grom, which is also given considering she was a former captain of the grudgby team at Hexside), and can be both a powerhouse using plenty of strength or a mastermind coming up with tricks on the fly while outsmarting her opponents with her skillset. Very dangerous, and even more so once she puts more passion into her battle. Hardly there are any weak spots or flaws in her battling style, but she can still be overpowered. Abomination Magic in particular feels to be weaker than Construction Magic for example, and it can be rendered useless when dealing in an environment with no mud. Granted Amity holds abomination goo with her so at most, she's going to be weakened. Amity is capable of controlling any slime or mud she comes in contact with.

Amity does wield a Palisman named Ghost and according to herself, she's a "safe flyer". This means she's overall pretty proficient and skilled in her flying capabilities, but at the same time, it means she's not a real aerial ace like Luz or Hunter for example. She's skilled enough to not easily fall off by herself, but as proven in her battles with Hunter (both EL and TTT), she's not fast enough to necessarily avoid being hit in midair. Granted she can still be faster than average and have better reflexes than average, but still not enough to beat some real aerial aces. She is proficient in staff-wielding, being capable of using it to enhance her own spells.

Also yes I'm putting Lumity pictures everywhere and everywhere.

Luz Noceda:

Here are the links to three separate character profile pages for Luz as she just has this many. Here you go

Luz and Amity are girlfriends and their relationship is healthy and stable at the moment of this tournament. They're both enjoying themselves here without the care of who wins and who loses because both of them are the queens who are winning, making this battle an absolute delight, very cheesy and very sappy and very adorable you'll get diabetes. No drama whatsoever, just having fun sparring with her girlfriend with everyone watching cause why not? Yes, they're gay💅, keep scrolling.

Luz Noceda, the protagonist of our story, is one and only. Unlike other competitors, Luz is a rare example of a jack of all trades who does not specialize in one specific magical track and studies all of them. Normally, Luz specializes in glyphs but according to the lore of my own tournament which happens after the final battle with Belos, Luz no longer has access to glyphs. However, she now does have a magical staff that allows her to still be able to cast spells just fine as proven by Owlbert in Young Blood, Old Souls. Now, since my rules specify how at times you're not allowed to use palismen in the battle, Luz is capable of avoiding this rule thanks to String Bean's shape-shifting nature, as String Bean possibly could transform into an accessory that would allow Luz to cast a spell like everyone is none the wiser, or maybe even shape-shift into an instrument to mimic bard magic (even though Luz has no vibration based spells). Outside of that Luz would also have access to some other supporting artifacts.

When it comes to Luz's fighting style, she in general prefers to outsmart and outpower her opponents with the raw strength of her magic. Luz has come far ever since she started to learn magic, currently with String Bean by her side she certainly is now more accustomed to spell-casting. Luz is quite proficient with magic now coming up with new creative ways to utilise her magic. She also now has more experience in combat meaning she's more willing to take down her opponents head-on. Luz can however be pretty reckless and impulsive when approaching her opponents, biting more than she can chew and sometimes jumping without thinking. Luz can however be quick on her feet and easily recover and come up with new ways to get an upper hand during battles.

Luz possesses now her own palisman as we all know it which happens to be none other than String Bean. String Bean showed that with her presence, Luz could be even stronger than she used to be, and Luz had plenty of experience with Owlbert beforehand to know how to use a witch's staff. Luz is a true aerial ace as Eda's Requiem episode proves as she could've won the race if it wasn't for King. She of course also knows how to correctly cast spells with staff alone and can use it in combat. String Bean also has a unique ability of shape-shifting, which allows her to take on features of other creatures and use them to her advantage. Granted she can't change size with the ability so all animals will be miniature, but it can come in handy nonetheless, and she could possibly change String Bean into other objects (like jewelry or instruments) in case she can't use witch's staff.

Luz shall be allowed a multitude of tools to help her out during battles. One of them happens to be a crystal ball from her oracle class. Luz can use it to conjure up a single ghost that can be used to help Luz aid in the battle and also predict Luz's future. The ghost is usually chill but rather helpful. It's intangible meaning it's immune to physical attacks for the most part (but can be dispelled with special attacks) and can phase through solid objects to get to its opponents and be capable of touching them to inflict harm.

Another tool Luz would be allowed to use is tea leaves from oracle class which would also help her learn about her opponents, what they're capable of, and what they're going to do.

Luz is also equipped with a training wand in case she needs another source of magic to cast spells from. It's like a hidden dagger if someone would take her sword (as in her staff, I'm clearly alluding to Sasha Waybright's example) away.

Another tool Luz is free to use is her iconic bat which Luz can use for offensive purposes. Luz is allowed to have and use other weapons like a mace and a sword to aid her in the time of her need.

And of course, how could I not forget that Luz also has fireworks to help her in a fight to add more to her firepower.

While Luz doesn't have beast-keeping magic at all, she does seem to have an affinity to be able to tame most of the wild beasts as presented throughout the entire show with her knowledge and attitude. This means Luz is not really affected much by beast-keepers sending animals in her direction unless they're directly under the command of their masters (as in like pets. Sometimes some beasts are untamed and would not follow even the beast-keeper).

Luz also has brought snakes to her battle as she managed to tame them just enough so they would not attack her but certainly would attack her opponents. They're not venomous though considering now pressed any charges when Luz brought them to school. She will bring a few of them.

Another animal that Luz would bring with her to the battlefield are spiders. They're mostly used to just scare people during the fight by pouring them all over her opponents. Can be used as a great distraction. She has quite big number of them and she can even naturally attract them as seen in TtT. The spiders are also not harmful and Luz is not phased by them either.

Smoke Potion - Another tool Luz would be granted to use is a smoke potion she could brew as seen in the First Day. Luz could potentially utilize it as a smokescreen or suffocation attempt.

[cressidagrey]

The Witching Hour - Chapter 5 - Rhysand

Summary: 

5 Times members of the Inner Circle get absolutely terrified by Azriel's...whatever she is, and 1 (of many) times Azriel thinks that his witch was the best thing that ever happened to him.

Warnings: 

Mention of Amarantha, Mention of Murder, Mention of torture, Rhys Bashing

(super pretty dividers by @cafekitsune)

Rhysand's mood was far from pleasant. The events of the past week had left him on edge, his patience sorely tested, the tensions between Nesta and Cassian seemed to have escalated exponentially, and the atmosphere in his Court was becoming unbearable.

As he sat brooding in his office, his mate knocked on the doorframe before walking in. Feyre took one look at his stormy expression and winced.

"Let me guess," she said, bracing herself. "You're in a delightful mood today."

Rhysand's only response was a low growl, which was answer enough. Feyre sighed, settling herself into a chair across from his desk.

"There's something you are going to like even less," Feyre admitted.

Rhysand's eyes narrowed, his already bad mood worsening. "Wonderful," he grumbled, a hint of sarcasm in his tone. "Please, do tell, Feyre Darling.  I'm all ears."

Feyre looked uncomfortable, which only served to increase Rhysand's anxiety. Whatever it was, it must be bad if even Feyre was struggling to tell him.

"It's about Elain," she began, her voice hesitant.

"Elain?" Rhysand repeated, his confusion deepening. "What about her? What's wrong?"

"She..." Feyre's voice trails off, her expression troubled. "She's an oracle."

Rhysand's eyebrows shot up in shock, his eyes widening.

"An oracle?" he repeated, his voice coming out in a whisper. "Are you sure? Who made that particular call?"

Feyre swallowed hard, her expression guilty. "Cate," she admitted, her voice barely above a whisper.

Rhys froze.

"Feyre darling," he said very carefully, trying to keep his voice down. "When exactly did you come across Cate ?"

Feyre shifted uncomfortably in her seat, avoiding his gaze.

"Well...this morning."

Rhys's eyes widened, a sense of bad, bad foreboding washing over him. "And what exactly were you doing this morning that led to you encountering the infamous Cate?"

"We had lunch?" Feyre admitted questioningly. "Or we would have if Mor and her hadn't clashed."

Rhys let out a strangled sigh, raking a hand through his hair. "Of course, you did."

He took a moment to process the information, his mind racing through the implications. Cate, in the city...it was bound to cause havoc.

"And I assume Mor and she...had words?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

"To put it mildly," Feyre said ruefully. "They got into quite a heated argument. It almost ended in a brawl."

Rhysand pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache coming on. "Do I even want to know what they were arguing about?"

Feyre shrugged, her expression sheepish. "Cate's sex life and Azriel."

Rhysand suppressed the urge to bang his head against the desk. "Of course," he muttered under his breath.

He let out a deep, weary sigh, his mind already working to figure out how to damage control this situation. Cate's presence was a wild card, and her interactions with Mor were bound to cause more trouble than they were worth.

"What about Elain then?" he asked, forcing his voice to remain calm.

"Cate offered to teach her."

"Did she now," Rhys murmured, the wheels in his mind turning.

The idea of Cate teaching Elain was...disconcerting, to say the least. Cate was not exactly a bastion of stability and sanity. And yet, there was a part of him that was intrigued.

And also fucking furious because clearly, he was the last person in his family that knew anything about what was happening in his court.

Rhys's anger bubbled up inside him, mingling with his already frayed nerves. He had been completely blindsided by this information, left in the dark while Cate and Mor were engaging in their verbal duels and Feyre was having lunch with the bane of his existence .

It was utterly frustrating.

"Did Azriel get her for Elain?" He bit out. Azriel clearly wasn't listening to his orders when he was bringing Cate around for Elain. Thought Rhys wondered what the fuck Azriel had told Cate to get her to behave and not spill the beans of their century-long tryst to Elain.

Feyre looked at him curiously, clearly sensing his irritation.

"What do you mean?"

Rhys clenched his jaw, trying to keep his voice level. "Cate doesn't just agree to help people on a whim," he said tersely. "Azriel must have done something to convince her."

Feyre's eyes widened in realisation, a hint of amusement flickering across her face.

"And it must have involved a lot of ...physical persuasion," Feyre said slyly, a wicked smile spreading across her lips.

Rhys could only scowl in response, his irritation growing by the second. The last thing he needed was Feyre making light of the situation.

"This isn't funny," he growled, leaning forward in his chair. "Azriel knows better than to bring Cate here without my knowledge."

Feyre's expression softened, her amusement giving way to understanding. "I know," she said soothingly, "But she isn't all that bad, you know. If you'd just give her a chance-"

"A chance?" Rhys repeated, his voice filled with barely suppressed frustration. "Feyre, she is a walking disaster ! She causes nothing but trouble, and now she's inserting herself into the lives of my Inner Circle! You know what happens to the people that surround Cate? They mysteriously disappear. Or worse!”

Feyre shot him an unimpressed look, her hands on her hips. "You're being overdramatic," she chided.

"Hecate the Undying," Rhys said lowly. " How do you think she earned that name, Feure?"

Feyre's expression faltered, the teasing look in her eyes replaced by a hint of unease. "!.... don't know," she admitted, her voice quieter now.

Rhys took a deep breath, reminding himself to remain calm. "Hecate is a witch,” he said slowly. “One of the few of that particular dying breed. She’s over a millennia old, Feyre. And she has the cunning and cruelty to match her age. She is not someone to be trifled with."

"So has Amren," Feyre pointed out harshly.

Rhysand's eyes blazed. "Amren is a different case entirely, and you know it," he said through gritted teeth. "She has been on our side for centuries, working to protect this court and everyone in it. Cate...Cate is a rogue element. No one knows where her loyalties lie. Not even Azriel, for all his obsession with her."

"And Azriel," Rhys continued, his voice lowering. "He thinks he can control her, that he knows the limits of her power and her intentions. But he's fooling himself. She is unpredictable, volatile, and dangerous. The last thing we need is for her to cause chaos in our court."

Feyre opened her mouth to speak, but Rhys cut her off.

"And don't try to tell me that she just wants to help Elain," he said, his voice firm. "Nothing she does is without purpose. There is always an angle, an agenda. And I don't trust her, not one bit."

Feyre was quiet for a moment, her expression thoughtful.

"I understand your concern, I do," she said slowly. "But have you ever stopped to consider that Cate might not be the monster you have built her up to be in your mind? That maybe there's more to her than meets the eye?"

Rhys laughed bitterly, his anger still bubbling just under the surface. "More to her than meets the eye?" he repeated, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "What do you want me to believe, Feyre? That she's some sort of misunderstood soul, with a heart of gold under that cold, unfeeling exterior?"

"I'm not saying she's a saint," Feyre said evenly. "But maybe she's not the villain you're determined to make her out to be."

Rhys gritted his teeth, his patience wearing thin. "And what would you have me do, Feyre?" he said tightly. "Just sit back and let her run wild in my court, unchecked and uncontrolled? Is that what you're suggesting?"

"No," Feyre said, "Of course not. But maybe instead of treating her like a threat, you could try seeing her as an ally. As someone who could potentially help us."

Rhys let out a guttural sound, his frustration mounting.

"You can't be serious. You want me to trust her, to let her into our inner circle? She hasn't given me one reason to trust her, Feyre. Not one."

"She helped Nesta with her nightmares."

Rhysand's eyebrow quirked in surprise. "Is that so?" he said slowly. "She helped Nesta with her nightmares, did she?"

His tone was sceptical, but there was a hint of intrigue in his expression.

"With a dreamcatcher spell," Feyre answered quietly.

"Is that why Cassian is so furious with Azriel?" Rhys asked, pinching the bridge of his nose. This was just getting better and better.

"Oh yes," Feyre said with a slight wince. "Cassian is quite...upset about it."

Rhys's eyes widened. "Upset" was an understatement. He knew Cassian well enough to know that he would be seething with rage at this news.

Rhys closed his eyes. Already Cate was making a mess.

The thought made Rhysand's headache worse. Cate had only been in Velaris for days, and already she was causing ripples of turmoil in his court. How much worse was this going to get?

He had to nip this problem in the bud before it spiralled out of control.

The worst thing was that throwing her out of Velaris was not actually something he could do. She had a carte Blanche to live in Velaris, something he could thank his Grandfather for... they had had an agreement of sorts, the exact nature lost to time. But even Rhys’ own father hadn’t trifled with that witch. 

He rose from his chair, his expression steely with determination. "I need to talk to Cate," he said gruffly. "Now."

Feyre's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Now?" she repeated, looking nervous. "Don't you think you should calm down a bit first? You look like you're going to rip her throat out."

Rhys shot her a withering glare, his patience wearing thin.

"That's exactly how I feel, Feyre," he ground out. "If I don't speak to her now, I can't guarantee I won't do anything I'll regret later."

Feyre held up her hands in surrender. "Okay, fine," she conceded, standing up. "But try not to be too harsh, alright? I'm not saying we should trust her blindly. But she's not a monster, Rhys."

He could argue that point

Rhys took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down.  The thought of dealing with Cate again after all these centuries was not exactly appealing.

The problem was only that he knew...he knew that they would be evenly matched

And that thought was worrying. Cate was not someone he took lightly. He had seen firsthand what she was capable of, both in power and cunning. The idea of going up against her, even if it was just a simple conversation, was daunting, to say the least.

Yet, he knew it was necessary. He couldn't let Cate continue to run rampant in his court, stirring up trouble and disrupting the peace he had worked so hard to maintain. He would just have to be careful, be on guard at all times, and hope that his own wits would be enough to keep her in check.

With a determined nod to Feyre, he headed out of his office. It was time to confront the source of his current headache.

Rhysand stalked out of the house and into the streets of Velaris with a scowl on his face. It was late afternoon, and the sun starting to dip below the horizon, casting long shadows across the cobblestones.

He knew where to find Cate. She had a townhouse, where she always stayed at.

He made his way quickly through the city, his steps measured and purposeful. He could feel the eyes of his people on him, the weight of their curiosity and concern. They could sense that something was off, that their High Lord was not in his usual good mood.

Finally, he arrived at her townhouse. The building was impressive, situated in a prime location and beautifully maintained. It screamed opulence and power, much like its owner.

Rhys took a deep breath and walked up the steps, his mind racing. He knew he needed to be careful, to tread lightly. He couldn't afford to let his anger get the better of him. But the thought of confronting Cate was making his heart pound in his chest. He had to remind himself that he was the High Lord of the Night Court, the most powerful ruler in Prythian. He could handle one stubborn and infuriating witch.

(Hopefully.)

He knocked firmly on the door, his knuckles rapping against the solid wood. There was no response for a moment, and he wondered if she was even home. Just as he was about to knock again, the door swung open, revealing Cate's slender form in the doorway.

"Ah, Rhysand," she said with a smirk, leaning against the doorframe. "I was wondering when you'd show up."

Her tone was casual, almost flippant, but he could see the glittering eyes assessing him warily. She knew he wasn't here for a friendly visit.

"May I come in?" he asked through gritted teeth, trying to keep his voice even.

Cate stepped aside, gesturing for him to enter with a sweeping motion of her arm. "By all means," she drawled. "Make yourself at home."

Rhys walked into the foyer, his eyes flickering around the room, taking in the expensive furnishings and art pieces.

The townhouse was every bit as opulent as the outside, with high ceilings and wide windows that let in the fading sunlight.

"Can I offer you anything?" Cate asked behind him, closing the door with a click. "Tea, perhaps? Or maybe something stronger?"

He ignored her, his eyes narrowing as he turned to face her. "I'm not here for hospitality," he ground out. "I'm here to discuss you and your sudden appearance in my court."

Cate raised an eyebrow, a sly smile playing on her lips.

"Oh, so you're not here to see an old friend?" she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

He clenched his jaw, her casual demeanour only serving to annoy him further. "We are not friends, Cate," he said through gritted teeth. "And I need to know why you have been meddling in my affairs."

Cate sauntered past him, walking over to a nearby armchair and gracefully sinking into it. "You wound me, Rhysand," she said, placing a hand over her heart. "I'm hurt that you think I would meddle."

He followed her, standing before her with his arms crossed. "Cut the crap, Cate," he said, his temper fraying. "You know exactly what I'm talking about. You've been causing trouble since the moment you stepped foot in Velaris."

"Is it the Dreamcatcher spell or my offer of lessons for Elain?" Cate asked him.

Rhys scowled, the mere mention of the Dreamcatcher spell making his blood boil. "Both," he said through gritted teeth. "You have absolutely no business getting involved in my court's affairs."

Cate leaned back in her chair, a smirk playing on her lips once more. "Oh, but Rhysand, I just want to help. Is that so terrible?"

He clenched his fists, fighting the urge to grab her by the throat and strangle her. "I don't trust you, Cate," he growled. "I don't trust your intentions or your motives. And I certainly don't trust you offering your...services to my inner circle. Let's not even start with my spymaster," he ground out.

Cate chuckled, her voice dripping with amusement. "Ah, Azriel," she said, her eyes glinting. "Such a complex and intriguing male."

"You stay away from him," Rhys warned, his voice low and dangerous. "You keep your distance, and you keep your fingers out of our business."

Cate's smirk widened. "Oh, I was under the impression that Azriel was just as interested in me as I was in him," she said slyly. "Or was I misinformed?"

Rhys ground his teeth, his irritation and anger reaching their boiling point. He knew all too well the strange and complicated relationship between Cate and Azriel, and he hated how easily she seemed able to get under his skin.

"You know exactly what I mean," he said, his voice growing louder. "You keep your distance from all of my court. That includes Azriel."

Cate's smile grew even more aggravating. "You have quite the possessive streak, don't you, Rhysand?" she said, her tone mocking. "Are you afraid I'll steal away your precious shadowsinger?"

"You won't lay a finger on him," he snarled, his patience completely frayed. "You stay away from him, and you stay away from my court. I don't want you meddling in my affairs, or causing any more trouble. Is that clear?"

Cate leaned forward in her chair, her eyes narrowing. "You think you can order me around, is that it?" she said, her voice cold. "You think I'll just bow down and submit to your commands?"

"Damn right I do," he shot back, stepping closer to her. "This is my court, my territory. And I will not tolerate someone like you causing chaos and throwing my people into disarray with your presence."

Cate's eyes flared with anger. "And what exactly do you mean by 'someone like me'?" she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "You mean a witch? Or is it because I'm a woman?"

He clenched his jaw, the accusation hitting a nerve. "Don't play that card, Cate," he said through gritted teeth. "You know damn well that's not what I meant."

Cate stood up, her eyes blazing. "Oh, really?" she challenged, her hands coming to rest on her hips. "Because it sure sounds like you're implying that women, especially those with magic, are beneath you. Maybe even a threat to your precious little court. Is that why your tradition of wing clipping still lives on?" She asked, her voice dripping with disdain.

He flinched, his irritation replaced with a hint of guilt. She had hit the mark, and they both knew it. The ancient tradition of clipping wings was still practised in Illyria, a symbol of dominance and control over the female population.

"That's different," he said gruffly, trying to shake off the feeling of unease that settled in his stomach. "Change is slow. We can't just murder everybody like you are prone to be doing." 

Cate's eyes flashed with anger, her hands clenching into fists. "I don't just go around murdering people," she snapped. "I fight for what's right, and I don't shy away from getting my hands dirty if it means protecting those that cannot protect themselves."

Rhys sneered, his own anger flaring. "And who are you to decide what is right and what is wrong?" he said, his voice harsh. "You think you're some kind of moral authority, do you? That your way of doing things is the only way?"

"You're a daemati, I am a seer," she said icily. "You read minds. I read the future."

He let out a scoff, his annoyance growing by the second.

"And you think that gives you the right to do whatever you please, just because you can see into the future?" he said, his tone dripping with disbelief.

Cate's eyes narrowed to slits, her voice dropping to a dangerous level. "I use my abilities to help people. To protect them. To make sure that history doesn't repeat itself. And if that means making hard decisions, then so be it."

He let out a cold laugh. "Hard decisions," he said sarcastically. "Is that what you call it when you go around murdering people and meddling in other courts' affairs?"

Cate bristled at the accusation, her face contorting with anger. "I don't go around murdering people for the hell of it," she said, her voice rising. "Every life I've taken has been for a reason, a purpose. People who deserved it, who would have caused more suffering and pain if left unchecked."

Rhys shook his head, his annoyance and frustration mounting. "Oh, so you're some kind of judge and executioner now?" he sneered. "You get to decide who lives and who dies based on your own twisted sense of justice?"

"Yes, because apparently nobody else seems to have the guts to do what needs to be done." Cate retorted, her voice filled with conviction. "You have no idea what I've seen, Rhysand. I have a job to do, and it doesn't end until the world is a better place. So please, drop the holier-than-thou attitude and leave me alone."

"You didn't kill Amarantha," Rhys spat out. "That would have saved us some suffering."

Cate's eyes darkened at his words, anger flashing in her gaze. "Don't you think I wanted to, Rhysand?" she said, her voice low and dangerous. "Don't you think I've spent centuries reliving that moment in my mind, wondering if I could have stopped it from happening?"

He crossed his arms, his expression guarded. "Why didn't you then?" he challenged. "You could have ended it all right there, before all the suffering and the pain and the bloodshed."

Cate's shoulders slumped, the anger being replaced by a weariness that betrayed her centuries-long existence.

"It's...complicated, Rhysand. There are things at play that you don't understand, consequences that you could never fathom. I couldn't just kill Amarantha and expect everything to be perfectly fine afterwards."

He let out a scoff, his irritation mounting. "So, what, you just decided to let her rule and terrorize my court for 50 years instead? To put us through hell and back?"

Cate's eyes narrowed once more, her voice tight with suppressed emotion. "I had a duty to protect the people of Prythian," she said through clenched teeth. "All of Prythian. And sometimes, that meant making sacrifices for the greater good. Even if it meant letting evil exist for a little while longer."

He let out a derisive laugh, his anger bubbling to the surface. "The greater good? What about the good of my people? My court? My family, my friends, my people, all tortured and brutalized for fifty years because you decided to let Amarantha sit on the throne?"

Cate's face contorted with pain, his words hitting a raw nerve. "You think that was an easy decision for me to make, Rhysand?" she said, her voice cracking. "You think I enjoyed watching you and your people suffer, knowing I could have stopped it all in an instant?"

He sneered, his anger still searing. "Yet you didn't. You stood by and let it happen. You let us suffer for fifty years because you were too much of a coward to do what needed to be done."

Cate's hands balled into fists, her eyes narrowing. "You have no idea what it means to be responsible for fate, Rhysand," she said through clenched teeth. "No idea what it means to carry the weight of history on your shoulders. Don't you dare accuse me of cowardice when you don't have a single clue about the sacrifices I've made?"

He clenched his jaw, fighting back the urge to lash out even further. "Fifty years, Cate. Fifty years. My people suffered unspeakable horrors for fifty years because you decided that it was for the greater good. How do you expect me to forgive that?"

She let out a bark of bitter laughter, her face twisting into a grimace. "Forgiveness?" she said, her voice thick with disdain. "You really think I'm looking for forgiveness, after everything that's happened? I'm not asking for any forgiveness, Rhysand. I know the mistakes I've made, and I have to live with them every damn day."

He let out a scoff, his anger now mixed with a hint of incredulity. "You expect me to just act like nothing's happened? To just let bygones be bygones and move on like you didn't stand idly by while my people suffered?"

"I don't expect anything from you, Rhysand," she said coldly, her eyes hardening. "I know things can never go back to the way they used to be, that there's no erasing what's been done. But that doesn't mean I'm not doing everything in my power to make things right, to prevent it from happening again. That's all I've ever tried to do."

He let out a dry laugh, his heart still thudding with anger.

"Oh? And what exactly are you doing to make things right, hm? Meddling in my court, offering lessons to my inner circle, causing chaos and trouble wherever you go?"

Cate's eyes flared, her temper rising once more. "I'm not causing chaos and trouble, Rhysand," she shot back. "I've been helping you and your court in ways you don't even realize. Maybe if you took the time to look past your own anger and pride, you'd see that."

He let out a derisive scoff, his irritation growing with every word. "Help? You call meddling in our affairs and offering your so-called 'services' help? I'd hate to see what your version of hindrance is like. I want you out of my court," he hissed.

Cate scoffed, glaring at him with equal measure of anger and frustration. “ As long as my blood rules this throne, you shall always have a place here, ” she quoted at him, hissing. “Your grandfather pledged that to me. Just let me know when exactly you want to make your family an oathbreaker.” 

He had known that she had…had permission to come and go from Velaris as she pleased, but he had not known, how pointed these words must have been. What his grandfather had pledged to her in…

“I’ll take that risk if you are gone for good,” he growled, his own anger bubbling to the surface. "One word from me, and you'll be gone from this court for good."

His magic thickened, night rising.

Cate braced herself, her own power crackling around her in response. "You think threatening me with your magic will make me cower and leave?" she challenged. "I've faced much worse than you, Rhysand."

His eyes narrowed, the darkness in the room growing thicker as his power surged. "You have no idea what I'm capable of," he warned, his voice low and dangerous. "| won't hesitate to do what I have to to protect my court, even if it means using every ounce of my power to remove you from it. And do not touch my brother," he hissed.

Cate's eyes flared with anger, her own power flaring in response. "You think I would do anything to harm your brother?" she snapped. "Your arrogance is astounding. I'm not a monster, Rhysand. I wasn't the one who treated him like he wasn't even a person," she hissed at him.

He flinched, a brief flash of guilt passing over his face before he could mask it. "Don't you dare bring him into this," he said through clenched teeth, his anger flaring again.

"You started it," she ground back. "You treated him like he doesn't have feelings. You told him to go to a pleasure hall, Rhysand."

Rhys's jaw worked, his anger and defensiveness mixing with a hint of shame. "You don't understand," he said, his voice strained. "It was for his own good."

She snorted.

Rhys clenched his jaw, bristling at her reaction. "What is that supposed to mean?" he snapped.

"It means that I find your excuses pathetic," she shot back, her eyes narrowed. "You claim to care about him, yet you treat him like he's less than nothing. You tell him to go to a pleasure hall, to lose himself in mindless pleasure instead of facing his own emotions. It's repulsive."

Rhys flinched again, her words hitting a nerve. "It's not that simple," he said, his voice low and defensive. "You don't know what he's been through, what he had to endure."

Cate scoffed, her eyes flashing with anger. "Oh, I don't?" she said, her voice tight with emotion. "I don't know what he's been through? I know him, Rhysand. Don't you dare tell me l don't understand." 

"You think you understand him just because you have shared his bed a few times?" he shot back, his own anger flaring again. "You think you know him better than I do, better than his family and his friends?" 

Her magic flared. He had been unprepared for the cold fury on her face.

Rhys took an involuntary step back, startled by the intensity of her magic and the anger etched on her face. He was so used to being in control, to being the one everyone feared, but for the first time, he felt a hint of trepidation.

"You come to my house and threaten me, insult me and my relationship, insult Azriel..."

Rhys opened his mouth to respond, but nothing came out.

Her words had caught him off guard, and for once, he was at a loss for words.

Her magic heaved, cracking.

Rhys watched her with a mix of awe and caution. He could feel the power in her, the cold, sharp edge of her magic that crackled through the air like lightning. He had never seen her so angry, so intense.

"You have no right to speak to me like that, no right to dictate who I sleep with or who I care about," she hissed, her voice dripping with anger. "Azriel is not your property, Rhysand, and I will not tolerate you treating him or me like we are lesser than you."

Rhys clenched his fists, his own anger and defensiveness flaring again. "You think I treat you as lesser?" he said, his voice tight. "I'm the High Lord of this court. You're a guest here. You don't get to come here and tell me what I can and cannot do."

Her magic exploded.

Rhys was caught off guard by the sudden explosion of her magic, the force of it knocking him back a step. He barely managed to keep his balance, his own magic reacting defensively in response, a shield forming around him instinctively.

He stared at her, his eyes widening with surprise and a hint of fear. He had seen the extent of her magic before, but never had he seen her lose control like this. Never had he seen her so unbridled and raw.

The air around her crackled with energy, charged with the cold, sharp power of her magic. It was a force to be reckoned with, a storm of anger and frustration. And yet... there was something else there too, something deeper, something more vulnerable.

He swallowed

"I have not survived for a thousand years so you'll tell me what to do in my own house," she said darkly.

Rhys's jaw worked, his own anger and defensiveness clashing with a hint of uncertainty. He had never seen her so intense, so powerful. He could feel the cold, sharp edge of her magic in the air, and it sent a chill down his spine.

And then her magic snapped. He wasn't quick enough.

Hadn't expected another surge, as she forced him back, back towards the door. "Out of my house, now," she hissed.

Rhys stumbled back, caught off guard by the sheer force of her magic. He tried to fight it, to push back against her power, but it was like trying to swim upstream against a fast-moving current. She was stronger than he had given her credit for, and he found himself being pushed towards the door.

He gritted his teeth, his own anger and frustration mounting once more. "You can't just throw me out of here," he said through clenched teeth, struggling against her magic. "This is my court, my territory. You have no right-“

"I have every right," she cut in, her eyes flashing with anger. "You came here, uninvited, threatening me and insulting me in my own home. I have the right to defend myself, and if that means kicking you out, so be it."

Rhys clenched his jaw, his own anger and sense of entitlement warring with the sheer force of her magic. He wanted to fight back, to show her that he was the more powerful one here, but he knew deep down that he was outnumbered. Her magic was far stronger than he had expected, and he knew that he couldn't overpower her in her own home.

Not when her wards closed around him like a vice

Rhys felt the wards close around him, constricting his movement, and cutting off his connection to his own magic.

He tried to struggle against them, but it was like trying to push through a solid wall. He was trapped, unable to use his powers or fight back against her.

The realization of his helplessness hit him like a ton of bricks. He was the High Lord, the most powerful fae in the Night Court, and yet here he was, being held captive by a woman he had underestimated and disrespected.

The thought made him furious, his heart thudding with anger and frustration. He couldn't believe he had let himself be put in this position, that he had been taken down by her so easily.

But there was something else, too. A hint of fear, a hint of uncertainty. The realization that he had misjudged her, that he had underestimated the extent of her power and her determination to stand up for herself.

He swallowed, his mind racing as he tried to find a way out, a way to break free from her wards and regain his power. But there was nothing he could do. He was trapped, completely at her mercy.

"Out," she repeated, her voice razor sharp.

Rhys listened.

[cyberdragoninfinity]

Duel Links has me Rin and Yugo pilled again and now I'm thinking of your dimension switch AU and I GOTTA ask, now that we got a better idea of their dynamic.... do they start bitching at each other in the AU at some point. I think it could be very funny. In the face of fear and a unhinged guy out to kidnapp her Rin starts throwing insults and Yugo thinking it is So Fun. I just want them to be friends in every universe, even if its a unhinged friendship that should not have happened but still did and no one knows how.

Also I just now realised Yugo's "It's not fusion it's Yugo" catchphrase now could turn into something like, "it *is* fusion/Yugo". "Yugo deeesu", said in the most threatening yet relaxed way possible. I love this guy he's so fun.

OHOHOHOHH i need to think about the potential of dswap rin and yugo--they DO meet but since the story beats of canon arc-v are a little scrambled yugo's never actually out to kidnap the girls. Rather he mostly stays locked up in his Academia dorm like a tiger pacing a cage (this AU's Leo making an actual dedicated effort to keep the Zarc pieces from meeting lol) ...at least until he sneaks out to follow Zuzu to Standard and ends up going a little wild in the streets during the ALC finales :^)

he ends up running into Rin and dueling her and she BEATS HIS ASS with her pepper witches, something he is, Extremely Unfamiliar With !! And it's gonna stick with him For A While!!

fusion!yugo really needs his own post to get into the intricacies of whats wrong with him but he is a deeply unsocialized animal who eventually gets reclaimed by Obelisk Force and taken back to DA, but he's definitely chomping at the bit wanting to rematch that strange feisty girl from Standard who made him LOSE. i like the idea of 'postcanon' maybe them having some odd sort of friendship...this yugo's track record of odd postcanon friendships really becoming A Bit Longer Than You Would Think (🐩)

also re: his name YEAH!! YEAH EXACTLY he picked his name out himself (trans flag emoji.) and it IS fusion thank you for noticing >:) Youre Gonna Be a Card Now OK Dude? OK???

[flower-boi16]

Lumity Works SO DAMN WELL From Amity's Side

One of the reasons why I love Lumity as a reletionship is what it does for Amity as a characrer. It absolutely excells in this aspect and I want to explain why. There are three reasons for why Lumity is so great for Amity; the build up, the reason why she loves Luz, and what it does for Amity's growth.

The Build-Up

Amity's feelings towards Luz are pretty subtly built-up throughout season 1. The two first meet with each other in I Was a Teenage Abomination, where Amity was basically just a standard bully, and by the end of the episode the two clearly were not on very good terms with each other.

Covention continues the rivalry the two have with Luz challenging Amity to a witches duel. After it's revealed that Lilith stuck a construction glyph onto the back of Amity's neck, Amity storms off with Luz chasing after her. Amity tells Luz to just admit that she is not a witch, and, Luz does, but she also says that, in spite of that, she's working hard to become one. Amity then breaks the oath and leaves. In Convention, they were still enemies by the end of the episode, however it shows the first positive interaction the two had with each other and begins to kickstart the reletionship. However, they still don't exactly like each other.

It's only until Lost in Language where the two start to grow on better terms with each other, as at the end of the episode Amity admit's that Luz may not be as bad as she previously thought, and realizes that she wasn't exactly the nicest towards Luz either, and that she'll think on it.

This directly helps Amity's development into becoming a much nicer person, as she starts letting down the facade she always put on in order not to show any weakness. Adventure in The Elements is then where Amity starts acting more friendly to Luz, puting down that facade I had mentioned earlier

We then start seeing slight hints of Amity's crush on Luz in The First Day, with Amity talking to herself about Luz getting into school, telling herself that it's fine Luz is in the same school as her cuz nothing has actually changed...right? Understanding Willow is then where Amity's feelings for Luz start getting a bit more explicit, with her blushing about around Luz in some scenes.

Enchanting Grom Fright then features Amity likely realizing her feelings for Luz and almost asking her to go to the dance with her. After that, Wing Like Witches keeps on making Amity's crush on Luz even more explicit with scenes of Amity just kinda...being a complete gay disaster lmao.

It's clear from the start that Amity didn't really know what to make of Luz at first, she never wanted to be mean to her but felt like she had because she was afraid of showing any kind of weakness. It's only until Luz gets Amity to finally put down her facade, allowing her to soften up a bit, Amity starts to begin to realize her true feelings for Luz.

The build-up isn't that explicit, sure, but it's done pretty dang well. However, there's also the second part of this, that being...

Why Does Amity Love Luz?

This part is slighetly up to interpratation, as, like with the build-up, the reason why Amity loves Luz is not that explicit and is very subtle. But I think there's one scene that provides a good reason for why Amity may love Luz, and it's a scene in the climax of Lost in Language, where, the two are stuck to the giant book by the Obitan, they run through the libary where the creature is chasing them. Amity then asks what they'll do now, and Luz responds by saying she doesn't actually know, and Luz then makes a random roaring sound and Amity...chuckles at it.

I think this might mean that, Amity loves Luz because she likes Luz's weird & bubbly nature, that might've been one of the things that might've endeared Amity to Luz and made her eventually fall for her. Eclipse Lake further supports this with Amity's reaction to what Luz's texts actually mean.

Luz is a choatic wild-card and that's what Amity loves about her. Maybe I'm looking two deep into small moments but I think they do tell us a lot about Amity loves Luz.

Amity's Growth

Luz helped Amity grow and become a better person, bringing out the best in her and having her put down that facade she's always kept up in order to not show any weakness. Lumity was also just pretty dang great for Amity's growth as well, like I already said, Luz helped Amity grow and become a better person.

She doesn't have to force that persona onto herself anymore, she can now show real weakness & vulnerability, somthing she coulden't do due to her mother's intense control over her. She learns that showing weakness isn't a bad thing, and that's ok. She learns to grow softer thanks to Luz.

Lumity is so great when it comes to Amity, they nailed it when it came to every single aspect, the build-up is subtly done well, the reason for why she loves Luz is compelling and is clear, and it makes great growth for Amity as a character. It makes Lumity so much more compelling to me as a reletionship.

[whatsthatmagiccard]

Ongoing list of the cards under the MB2 playtest cards, as per the official card image gallery. Just text. There's so many. Somebody go put these into the Scryfall Tagger like they did last time.

Interestingly, not all cards that directly reference another make the backing card visible as part of the joke (see Intangible Vibes).

If there wasn't a direct reference, usually, they just used the most recent card they had that fit the frame. Unique cards are bolded.

A Girl and Her Dogs + Abbot of the Sacred Meeple + Defender of the Queue + Jeskai Baller + Knight of Lost Causes + Noble Ox + Plain Walker + Sliver of Hope + Tax Taker -> Phyrexian Pegasus (MOM)

Arcanum Things + Avacyn's Collar, the Symbol of Her Church -> Kor Halberd (MOM)

Brigid, Who's Seen Some Stuff -> Brigid, Hero of Kinsbaile (LRW)

Champion of the Hareish -> Champion of the Parish (DDQ)

Essence of Ajani + Friarball -> Surge of Salvation (MOM)

Intangible Vibes -> Intangible Virtue (ONC)

Muraganda Eldrazi -> Eldrazi Displacer (OGW)

New Master of Arms -> Master of Arms (WTH)

Alberix, the Trade Planet + Duelist's Convocation International + Heart of a Duelist + Map to Lorthos's Temple + Two by Four -> Temporal Cleansing (MOM)

Blurry Visionary + Catch of the Day + No-Regrets Egret + Panglacial Shinobi + Search Elemental -> Preening Champion (MOM)

Can't Quite Recall -> Ancestral Vision (TSR)

Night of the Flying Merfolk -> Kiora Bests the Sea God (THB)

Subgoyf -> Sharding Sphinx (MOC)

There / They're / Their -> Said / Done (MH2)

(Wisedrafter's Will is inconclusive; digital print)

(Your Wish is My Command is inconclusive)

(Call from the Grave is inconclusive, though likely Call to the Grave (SCG))

Cleaver Blow + Common Black Removal + Halving Season + TL;DR + You Compleat Me -> Vanquish the Weak (MOM)

Creepy Crawler + Lifening Elemental + Magus of the Chains + Pinchy McStingbutt -> Nezumi Informant (MOM)

Lich's Duel Mastery -> Lich's Mastery (DOM)

Liliana's Other Contract / Liliana's Undead Minion -> Grasping Shadows (LCI)

Odric, Lunar Marquis + Toofer, Keeper of the Full Grip -> Syr Konrad, the Grim (likely MOC)

The Many Deeds of Belzenlok -> Rite of Belzenlok (DOM)

Yawgmoth's Day Planner -> Witch's Cauldron (CMM)

All-Star Kicker + Boulder Jockey -> Trailblazing Historian (MOM)

Bolshak Dragon -> Shivan Dragon (M20)

Boltfire -> Firebolt (MH1)

(Dwarven Confluencer is inconclusive)

(Flanking Licid is inconclusive, but likely Convulsing Licid (STH) or Enraging Licid (TMP))

Gobland -> The Autonomous Furnace (ONE)

Immerstum Battlefield + Planeswalkerificate + Snap Judgement + Toddler's Rage -> Volcanic Spite (MOM)

Pyromancy 101 -> Start From Scratch (STX)

Vuzzle Spaceship -> Shrapnel Slinger (ONE)

Wormhole Warp -> Chaos Warp (likely MOC)

(Zone of Flame is inconclusive)

(Built Bear is inconclusive)

Dairy Cow, Flavor Nightmare, Phyrexian Seedling, Spuzzem Strategist, Starting Town NPC -> War Historian (MOM)

Glade of the Pump Spells -> The Hunter Maze (ONE)

Keeper of the Crown / Coronation of the Wilds -> Lovestruck Beast / Heart's Desire (ELD, showcase)

Meandered Towershell -> Meandering Towershell (KTK)

Naturalize 2 -> Naturalize (M19)

Penumbra Umbra -> Penumbra Spider (MM3)

Plant a Sapling / Fully-Grown Treefolk -> Herbology Instructor (MOM)

Questing Cosplayer -> Questing Beast (ELD)

Teferi, Druid of Argoth -> Surrak and Goreclaw (MOM)

The Colossal Dreadmaw -> Colossal Dreadmaw (XLN)

Werewhat -> Tireless Hauler / Dire-Strain Brawler (MID)

Wrenn and One -> Wrenn and Realmbreaker (MOM)

Anax and Cymede & Kynaios and Tiro + Convention Maro + Chea, Friend to Maybe Too Many + Hish of the Snake Cult + Wowzer, the Aspirational -> Niv-Mizzet, Supreme (MAT)

Chatzuk, Mighty Guitarist -> Melira, the Living Cure (ONE)

Don't Worry About It -> Growth Spiral (DMC)

Fludge, Gunk Guardian -> Yargle and Multani (MOM)

Glimpse, the Unthinkable -> Hidetsugu and Kairi (MOM)

Jund 'Em Out -> Rebuild the City (MAT)

Lutri, Pauper Otter -> Lutri, the Spellchaser (IKO)

Mothers Yamazaki -> Djeru and Hazoret (MOM)

Narod, the Beige Flower -> Doran, the Seige Tower (LRW)

Pokey, the Scallywagg + Terry Pin, Turboturtle -> Baral and Kari Zev (MOM)

Rin and Seri, Inseperabler -> Rin and Seri, Inseperable (M20)

Stone Drake -> Halo Forager (MOM)

Wrath of Finkel -> Shadowmage Infiltrator (inconclusive)

Indicate -> Vindicate (EMA)

Kozilek, Compleated -> Kozilek, Butcher of Truth (ROE)

Marchesa's Surprise Party + Rule with an Even Hand -> Sovereign's Realm (CN2)

Omnipresent Impostor -> Farfinder (IKO)

Who's That Praetor? -> All Is Dust (UMA)

Luxior, Ignited -> Luxior, Giada's Gift (SNC)

Microscope -> Urn of Godfire (MOM)

(Mox Poison is inconclusive)

(Orb of Origin is inconclusive)

Runed Terror -> Skittering Surveyor (MOM)

Fetching Garden -> Blossoming Sands (MOM)

Lazotep Archway -> Scoured Barrens (MOM)

Madlands -> Bloodfell Caves (MOM)

Maestros' Totally Safe Hideout + Omenpath to Naya + Processing Plant + Temur Elevator + Under-Construction Skyscraper -> Jeskai Monastery (MOC)

Slumbering Waterways -> Thornwood Falls (MOM)

The Heron Moon -> Geier Reach Sanitarium (CMM)

Value Town / Take a Trip To... -> Swiftwater Cliffs (MOM)

[erikaember]

The Breath of the Wild trilogy idea

(SPOILERS FOR THE END OF TEARS OF THE KINGDOM)

So I've seen some posts about an idea for the next game in the BotW and TotK series involving Link and Zelda having to deal with a Gerudo boy, now that Ganondorf is dead.

I love that idea, so here’s my take:

   Let's have it be a few years into the future, Link and Zelda using their knowledge of Zonai technology to speed up the kingdom's restoration, utilizing the Sky Islands and the depths. And while Ganondorf is gone, the kingdom is still recovering from the remnants of his dark magic, although it’s much more manageable, the military growing in strength and reach.

Enter the news from the Gerudo that a male is born.

...it feels a bit weird to suggest this, but for the sake of drama and a more personal connection to the main characters, let’s say Riju is the mother. It’s some years into the future, Hyrule is rebuilding, the Gerudo would definitely help with military training and I think it’d be cute to have Riju find herself a voe among the soldiers. He could be a guy who wasn’t fit to be a soldier but Riju pulled him aside because she noticed his skills being more useful in strategy. Of course, he’s still training his fighting skills cuz I love the idea of them having a casual duel with a flirtatious undertone.

While having a deep love for their baby boy, the chieftess and her husband fear for the fate of their son, the only remaining history of a Gerudo male being that of Ganondorf. No one would dare to say it out loud but it still reached Riju that her people had whispered about the cruel idea to end the boy’s life before history is repeated, this new golden era being threatened by his mere existence.

Desperate to fight this alleged fate, Riju seeks Zelda’s wisdom and they begin to investigate the matter. Still having her secret stone, Zelda is able to get a sense of the boy’s future but feels nothing evil. So she encourages Riju to simply let the boy grow up and guide him like she would a normal boy who isn’t fated to be evil, and to face criticism with the fact that he will be guided by good people.

But then, when the boy reaches somewhere between 10 and 13 years, he gets some strange dreams and ends up disappearing.

The game will be about Link trying to find him, maybe FINALLY travelling WITH Zelda so she can use her time powers to see the memory of objects and find out what the boy had been up to, seeing him discover something calling to him and how he uncovers a power within himself.

Link had spent quite some time with the boy, exploring Hyrule together. It was a way to grow a love for it instead of a desire to conquer it; seeing things from the perspective of a citizen rather than from the tall position of a leader. So the boy knew his way around the land. But it also meant he had a connection with Link and they knew each other pretty well. Link and Zelda have faith in him and believes he won’t easily be tricked into evil.

And basically, they uncover the deep mysteries of the long forgotten and forbidden sorcery of the Gerudo, the witches Kotake and Koume (who somehow sealed themselves to aid Ganondorf but were too late to aid him in TotK, so they focus on this new boy)

The witches try to convince the Gerudo boy to channel his inherited power and take his mother’s secret stone; become an exceptionally powerful king (perhaps one of his strongest desires being to become someone his people can respect and that’s been so difficult, they try to convince him power is the only way).

...but the twist will be that he had already decided his fate and dives deep in order to destroy the witches from within. ...but the witches knew that and pulled an Uno reverse card and used magic on him, forcing him to fight from within himself. To make him weak against their magic, the witches made him kill Riju (parallel to Sonia, but of course, Riju won’t go down without a fight) and take her stone to amplify their control over him.

He’s tortured with that memory and unable to fight back for a while. When Link and company arrives to battle him, they manage to weaken the control but the witches then sacrifices themselves, entering the stone to amplify their control. Link still manages to weaken the spell enough for the boy to remove the stone (paralleling TotK) and throw it to him, Link destroying the stone and Zelda using her powers to purify the boy.

Happy ending where the Gerudo boy is made chief (because he refuses to be called king after all the time he spent with the “you’ll be a powerful king” witches) and the ghost of Riju expresses how proud she is of her child who defied destiny and proved the strength of the Gerudo.

   The story uses parallels to give the impression of fate being at work, and ancient Gerudo runes talking about the witches’ destiny to resurrect their king to make it seem like it’s set in stone. But the boy’s destiny isn’t mentioned... because it was never written...

And since BotW only had the surface and TotK mainly focusing on the sky islands, this one will focus more on the depths...

I call it... Legend of Zelda: Runes of the Chasm

...oh, and gotta include the fact that the boy will meet Master Kohga who believes the boy is the new Ganondorf, and the boy takes full advantage of that, remembering the stories Link told him about how stupid the Yiga clan are. He’ll send them on fools errands to locations he knows Link will be at, so they can stupidly reveal the boy’s location, keeping Link on the right track.

...also, because I’m a Zelink shipper and this idea involves a time skip of at least 11 years after the events of TotK, I say Link and Zelda are married, Link is the new king, and he’s a bit like Rauru - sneaking out on adventures and has to be fetched by Zelda who gives him a stern but loving lecture. Also, they got a little princess who has her dad’s flair for adventure.

---

Thanks for reading! This was based on ideas I already had for an independent Zelda story, I have no plans to delve deeper. This was just my two cents, feel free to elaborate on any of the ideas or even use them for your own take on “Link and Zelda having to deal with a Gerudo boy”. :D

[paxesoterica]

Thinking About Burion (spoilers through Ep. 18)

Secelia jumpscare!

No, but out of everything else that happened this episode, including the Schwarzette reveal and Eri’s conversation with Suletta, this was probably the thing I least expected. But perhaps it shouldn’t have been.

I’m still new to Gundam, so I was wondering what was up with the little robot spheres, and soon learned that Haros are utility bots, similar to droids in Star Wars, and a Gundam series staple, much like chocobos and moogles are for Final Fantasy. But of course, Witch doesn’t use Gundam traditions for the sake of tradition, there’s always something else to it. And in this show, they’re information gatherers, and the implications of that only just clicked for me.

And the show’s been very upfront about that, Haros have been monitoring duels in particular and the school in general since the very first episode, not to mention Rouji’s Haro demonstrating its skill by monitoring Aerial’s data in her debut.

Which should have led me to ask, who builds these things? Who deploys them and are the first to learn their secrets? Because at this point I’m pretty sure it’s Burion.

Which makes a lot of sense: they’re the company that manages the Asticassia front, so of course they need a way to monitor things. It’s easy to dismiss them too, because despite their importance to operation of Asticassia, they’re explicitly not one of the big three branches, neither Secelia nor Rouji are pilots despite their place on the Dueling Committee, and they make the school standard mobile suits, nothing flashy compare to Jeturk, Peil, and Grassley.

It’s also easy to overlook Secelia and Rouji too, because aside from some sassy commentary and lore drops, they’ve seemed to be something of a Greek chorus for Witch for Mercury, akin to Utena’s Shadow Girls, and favoring the background. But now I can’t help but wonder, in the wake of the attack on Asticassia itself, which is very much Burion’s focus, if all that information gathering means they’re more important than one might assume, and if they’ll turn out to be another wild card in an already complicated game.

Sigh, I *love* when side characters turn out to have more going on with them than you initially thought : )

Here’s hoping the supporting cast of Witch have even more suprises yet.

[soutakuphi]

Yugioh Stars Card designs #14-15,17-23

"Bound by fate, the incoming calamity grows bright."

Current batch of Jun Ryuga/ The Duel Witch's oc archtype, The Calamity Coven. All these members and more are the arbiter of fate and consequence, bound by their own coven's rules to enforce them onto any unassuming person who they deem their time is at its near. Some are pleasant to be around, others are not, but all are duty-bound to keep the thread of fate intact. Woe to those who break it, as it may bring upon the end to devour them, a fiendish dragon who the coven deems too dangerous to let loose freely barring extreme scenarios.

The witches also have names based off songs and albums of the 1990s.

Bella Yule is, well, the dragon of the group. No song reference here, i guess Yule counts a bit.

Firestarter is the kindest and 'newest' of the coven, a sort of Prodigy among the cast with her magic prowess.

Nevermind is the loud boisterous brawler, always seeking a fight-Nirvana on the battlefield.

Dissident is the Pearl-ish silent assassin of the group, those who cross here are certainty in a Jam.

Avaadore is the cackling 'classical witch' of the group, the eldest who can be seen Smashing peoples' fates apart, as if they were nothing more than squashes and Pumpkins (christ that was a stretch.)

Outshine is the Ophelia of the group, a lamentable figure entrapped in her own mental Garden, the only Sound she can hear is the voices entrapped within her. And so she continues on with her mission.

B.Symphony is the energetic member who is slowly decaying away for unknown reasons, but she doesn't mind she has fun cutting man's fates short if she deems them unworthy or evil, and she'll sing her main insert Verse while doing so.

Scarissue is the melodramic member who carries their mission with full focus. Nothing else is needed, other than focus and power. Ready and Here, Crushing all People's hopes and dreams. (nvm, this one was the biggest stretch).

Zombi used to be an esteemed elder maternal figure, but fell under the weight and curse of her own power, now decaying but still lingering around. She likes to eat Cranberries and other wild plants instead of people, unless the job requires her to.

theres more but for now thats the main group.

[incorrecttowerofgodquotes]

Gundam: The Witch from Mercury Season 2 Episode 4 Review

- So much happened in this episode and so there will be a lot of talking in this review. Most of it will be fawning over the characters cause there was so many amazing moments with a wide variety of them.

- Secelia and Rouji continue to be trapped inside the dueling committee room. The interactions between these two are so sweet. When Secelia asks if Rouji is leaving, he throws the question back at her, implying that he won’t leave as long as she stays. It’s also great to see Secelia so dedicated to her duty. She spent most of the first season just hanging around but now she’s really taking up the mantle to support the other kids

- Shaddiq continues to be a total loser. I hope to god he loses the election. His harem also continues to just blindly follow them. Even Sabina, who tries to paint herself as an equal to Shaddiq, is just another follower at the end of the day. There’s looking to make the world a better place, and then there’s getting 12 innocent students killed in a terrorist attack that only worsened relations between Earth and space.

- Nika is a precious bean. She refuses to take the easy route of just giving into a higher power. She wants to do things herself, her way, which means no undue suffering upon others. She refuses to be a victim or victimize anyone, unlike Belmeria

- Now, I’ve been a staunch supporter of Belmeria from the beginning, I thought she was just a poor woman forced into helping the enhanced children. However, knowing that she was the one who created them in the first place and caused their suffering really changed my mind. As El5n said perfectly in this episode, she just wanted to save herself, and now that she’s being forced to confront the horror of her actions, she just cowers and tries to shift the blame. Her helping the Earth House group seems to be her trying to seek atonement, but that doesn’t work when there are still people being actively hurt by her actions, like El5n and all the other kids who are being experimented on to replace him

- Really interested in that two second scene with Felsi. Her looking at the destroyed Dilanza with a resolute expression has got me intrigued, especially since the voice over from Secelia makes it seem like she’ll be vying for the Holder title. If not, then I want her to become a friend to Earth House. My FelChu shipping will not cease. I hope she doesn’t do anything too drastic. Especially now that Guel is back

- Poor Lauda. Dude has head trauma and is still being forced to work just to keep the Jeturk family afloat. Him passing out after seeing Guel really shows just how much stress he was under. He didn’t have any time to grieve his father’s death and was left wonder where his brother was, all while dealing with accusations that Jeturk was responsible for the terrorist attack. He desperately needs a rest and a happy ending

- Petra is such a sweetie. She’s staying by Lauda’s side and helping him with work despite just being a mechanic. She’s changed from just being a schoolyard bully. She’s resolutely helping the person she loves. And now Guel left her in charge of Lauda for real.

- Speaking of Guel. THE BOY IS BACK IN TOWN! The true wild card has made his appearance and he’ll be fucking up all of Shaddiq and Prospera’s plans, but how? Will he run in the election and finally get a W? Or is he going to become the scapegoat? His words to Petra seem to imply that. Will he take on all the responsibility of the terrorist attacks to clear Lauda and the rest of the Jeturk family? After all, he now has connections to Dawn of Fold through Olcott. God, I just want him to be happy. He’s stepping onto a corporate battlefield, but hopefully his sudden appearance will shake up everything

- El5n, my baby girl, I’m crying at what he’s going through. Seeing the large amount of people saying that the scene with him and Eri was satisfying honestly makes me mad. He’s probably the character that’s suffering the most, because he has no one. No one is on his side. All everyone’s ever done to him is torture him. And the one person who would be able to understand him, El4n, is dead, not even a force ghost like Eri. He’s outright threatened with murder and all he can do is smile and pretend everything’s all right. The fact that after experiencing such a horrible violation of his mind, he snaps back to his happy personality in front of Belmeria is tragic. It’s only when she starts playing the victim that he finally snaps and beats her ass, letting out the anger and suffering that’s been building inside him for years. He was tortured, experimented on, and then robbed of his very existence. He’s forced to act nice when all he really wants is to punch the fuck out of everyone. He carries the same hatred and resentment Norea has, but unlike her, he can’t act on it. There’s nowhere for it to go but inside. He needs help.

- Earth House is the best group of people I’ve ever met, and I want Prospera to keep her dirty fucking hands away from them or I’ll give her another bionic arm. Chuchu is righteously worried and angry about what happened, and wants Nika’s name cleared, but she also won’t rush in blindly. She trusts Miorine to do the right thing. Martin is finally standing up as leader, ready to protect his group from harm. The latest attacks have shown him that he needs to become a leader. And finally, my boy Till is the number one SuleMio shipper and I love him. He pushes Suletta to act all without saying a word. I hope he continues to support her, as his quiet and non confrontational can help Suletta reach an answer by herself.

- That greenhouse is the destroyer of relationships. No love can be found amongst the tomatoes. But the fact that Miorine cut off Shaddiq’s unripe tomato but works to keep Suletta’s is so sweet. She truly loves her and wants nothing but the best. Before Suletta came, she had only been fighting for herself, but now she’s fighting for Suletta, GUND-ARM, and everyone’s futures. I can only hope we see a bountiful harvest

- Suletta needs a cult deprogrammer stat. She’s willing to give up her own wants and dreams for her mother. To Suletta, her mom is always doing good so if she tells her to kill or stop something, it’s obviously because that’s the right thing to do. Much like Elan, she’s lost her identity and is meant to act as a replacement. A replacement for the daughter Prospera lost.

- Eri is stuck in that Gundam, waiting to be freed. The only company she has is the many clones of herself and Suletta whenever she gets in the pilot seat. But once she hits Permet 8, she’ll be able to escape into space, or she’ll take over Suletta’s body. The ending is suddenly even more haunting. The loss of Suletta’s hairband perhaps signifies her transforming into Eri. Eri’s line to El5n that he can’t come in may be because he isn’t the vessel she’s looking for.

- Prospera is a terrifying woman. Once she realizes her bullshit doesn’t work on Miorine, she immediately flips the script and starts blaming Miorine and her father. And while yes Delling is an evil asshat, Miorine is entirely blameless, just like Suletta. But Prospera doesn’t see it that way. For her, everything is cyclical. As long as the blood of Delling runs through her veins, then Miorine is just as guilty as he is. The PTSD and survivor’s guilt she’s suffering from is pushing her into committing atrocities. She’s cut herself off from every emotional attachment but Eri. She’s a tragic person, lost in her grief, but that’s doesn’t excuse the actions she’s taken. She an adult. A grown woman who can make her own decisions, and she chose to hurt innocent people. Prospera deserves sympathy, but nothing more.

I don’t think I’m ready for next episode. There are so many moving pieces and each one affects the other. I’m hoping my boy Guel can clinch the win over Shaddiq and Prospera, but that still won’t help Miorine, Suletta, or El5n. These children should have received nothing but unconditional love but each one has been forced into the cruel world of adults. I can only hope they make it out safely.

[yugiohcardsdaily]

Posted Cards Master List - 47.0

May 2023, 1st thru 22nd

Linear Equation Cannon

Duel Link Dragon, the Duel Dragon

Ultimaya Tzolkin

Evil★Twin Challenge

Granguignol the Dusk Dragon

Evil★Twin GG EZ

Evil★Twin Present

Evil★Twins Ki-sikil & Lil-la

Live☆Twin Channel

Live☆Twin Home

Live☆Twin Ki-sikil

Live☆Twin Lil-la

Secret Password

Lyrilusc - Recital Starling

Lyrilusc - Assembled Nightingale

Lyrilusc - Beryl Canary

Lyrilusc - Bird Call

Lyrilusc - Bird Sanctuary

Lyrilusc - Bird Strike

Lyrilusc - Celestine Wagtail

Lyrilusc - Cobalt Sparrow

Lyrilusc - Ensemblue Robin

Lyrilusc - Independent Nightingale

Lyrilusc - Phantom Feathers

Lyrilusc - Promenade Thrush

Lyrilusc - Sapphire Swallow

Lyrilusc - Turquoise Warbler

Abyss Actor - Liberty Dramatist

Abyss Actor - Super Producer

Abyss Actors' Dress Rehearsal

Abyss Script - Dramatic Story

Apophis the Swamp Deity

Arktos XII - Chronochasm Vaylantz

Basiltrice, Familiar of the Evil Eye

Beargram, Shelled Emperor of the Forest Crown

Big Welcome Labrynth

Bio-Insect Armor

Branded Befallen

Bystial Baldrake

Cassimolar

Chaos Archfiend

Chaos Beast

Chaos Mirage Dragon

Chaos Phantasm

Chaos Witch

Choju of the Trillion Hands

Circle of the Fairies

Core of Chaos

Couple of Aces

Diabolantis the Menacing Mantis

Dimensional Allotrope Varis

Dogmatika Alba Zoa

Squeaknight

Dogmatikamatrix

Dyna Mondo

Evigishki Neremanas

Evil Eyes Unleashed

Fairyant the Circular Sorcerer

Fierce Tiger Monghu

Focused Aquamirror

Galactikuriboh

Galaxy Hundred

Galaxy Photon Dragon

Galaxy Summoner

Giant Ballgame

Gigantic "Champion" Sargas

Gigantic Thundercross

Gishki Grimness

Gishki Nekromirror

Gold Pride - Captain Carrie

Gold Pride - Leon

Gold Pride - Nytro Blaster

Gold Pride - Nytro Head

Outstanding Dog Marron

Gold Pride - Star Leon

Gold Pride - Start Your Engines!

Gold Pride - The Crowd Goes Wild!

Gravekeeper's Inscription

Fusion Duplication

Green Ninja

Humongous Hive Hegemon - Zexstagger

Icejade Gymir Aegirine

Icejade Manifestation

Infinite Antlion

Intimidating Ore - Summonite

Jioh the Gravity Ninja

Kashtira Arise-Heart

Kashtira Big Bang

Kashtira Overlap

Kashtira Riseheart

Kashtiratheosis

Laevatein, Generaider Boss of Shadows

Land Flipping

Light of the Branded

Made to Order Mermaid Outfit Outfitter

Manticore of Smashing

Mental Tuner

Meteor Rush - Monochroid

Minairuka

Number C62: Neo Galaxy-Eyes Prime Photon Dragon

[kraviolis]

sorting the owl house characters into hogwarts houses, because im cringe

luz - ravenclaw

she’s creative and clever and is always searching to learn new things and loves learning just for the sake of learning. shes incredibly witty and quick thinking and open-minded. she’s constantly finding clever, creative, and original ways to solve her problems. she hardly blinked when given the opportunity to learn magic, and only continued to show an intense amount of intelligence and appreciation for academics. shes very resourceful as a human learning magic, finding a entirely new form of magic when it was apparent that she couldnt do it the traditional way. she’s very aspiring, wanting to be a witch and an author since she was very young. she’s very logical about a lot of things, like how it doesnt make sense to not allow witches to study multiple tracks or that people were imprisoned just for being themselves. she’s highly encouraging of individuality which is a lesser known trait of ravenclaw but very important. she can be a perfectionist at times and tended to avoid social interaction so she could persue her creativity. she’s outspoken, an overthinker, and very competitive. i think a lot of people might say she’s a hufflepuff, as she’s loyal and kind and hardworking, but luz values learning and creativity above any of those other things— this is evident, when she makes the decision to stay in the boiling isles to learn magic rather than go home to her mom, thus putting knowledge and creativity over her own family.

eda - gryffindor

she’s not afraid to stand up for herself and others and will never back down from a challenge. she would rather die as herself than live unauthentically. she’s very passionate and empathetic. she’s rebellious against rules that dont make sense to her and cares intensely for her friends and family. she has a strong internal moral code that she sticks to intensely, never straying from it. in the very first episode, she breaks into the conformatorium just to get a paper crown thats important to king. she let raine break up with her because she didnt want to burden them with her curse. she forfeited the match with lily because she knew her sister wanted to be in the emperor’s coven more than she ever did. she’s sacrifices herself for luz & king over and over again because she cares so deeply for her.

king - slytherin

he’s self-centered, smart, arrogant, and highly ambitious. he would do anything to achieve his goals— which was at first reclaiming his throne as the king of demons, and then turned into finding out where he came from. he tried to use luz as a means to reach his goals when he became an author, nearly sacrificing their friendship. he became incredibly loyal to luz after that in the same way he’s loyal to eda, the one who raised him.

(other characters under the cut)

lily - slytherin

it was between this and ravenclaw, because she’s incredibly intelligent and does seem to enjoy learning and has a great mind, she’s also incredibly ambitious and prideful. the deciding factor was that she cursed eda just to reach her own goals. she’s still loyal to eda even when working for belos, which says a lot to how she’s loyal to only a select few people. to her, the ends justify the means (making amity cheat to appear like the better teacher, cursing eda to win the duel, kidnapping luz to get belos to cure eda, losing her magic to help eda)

amity - gryffindor

this one was hard, i swapped between slytherin and gryffindor a lot for her. she’s ambitious and intelligent, but also not afraid to do whats right even if means breaking the rules. she’s self-sacrificing and empathetic and prideful. she ended her friendship with boscha to help luz and willow win. she didnt like luz at first because luz kept cheating and messing up her life, which means she has a strong moral code against cheating and bullies. she’s rebellious in small ways at first but once she started realizing how terrible her parents and belos really were, she pulled away extremely quickly.

willow - slytherin

not surprising, if you take into her account of self-preservation and bending of the rules to suit her ambitions. in the first episode she agrees to cheating just to get ahead in school because she wants to make her parents proud, and in the end she switches to the plants track so to her the ends justify the means. she pulled out of the grudgby game when luz pushed her & gus too far, a perfect example of that self preservation. she has a sense of loyalty that extends to very specific people but she always makes sure those people are taken care of. her parents, luz, gus, and eventually king, eda, and amity, too. she wouldn’t die for them, but she would kill for them.

gus - hufflepuff

sure, he has the ravenclaw curiousity and thirst for knowledge, but he’s very kind, hard working, has a strong inner sense of justice and fairness, and is tolerant of others. he helps mattholomule even if he’d been a jerk before because it was unfair if he didnt. he helps luz break into belos’s castle to find a cure for eda, lets luz borrow his library card to see amity, and hated it when mattholomule tried to lie about the human objects. he knows what it feels like to be left behind and underestimated, so he makes an effort to be kind to others who seem to be in the same boat. he’s very young but already so accomplished which is a testament to how hard he works.

hunter - hufflepuff

this one was HARD. it was either slytherin or this, and a deciding factor for this is the fact that he is self-sacrificing. he sacrifices a lot for other people, even if it doesnt seem like it. in the palisman episode, he sacrifices the palismen getting away despite knowing he would be punished for returning empty-handed. in eclipse lake, he leaves to find the titans blood for belos when he simply could have stayed in the castle and been safe. he’s viciously hard-working, dedicated, and loyal to his family. he lets people’s actions speak for them. he doesn’t immediately judge luz for using wild magic and actually seems interested in it before remembering to be loyal to belos. he’s patient, too, as seen by his interactions with luz. he gets frustrated, sure, but he still works with her. he’s modest about his rank and title, preferring to not flaunt it more than needed. but he does take pride in it. he’s kind in his own way, specifically to belos and lil rascal, but you can see it in his interactions with amity & luz, too. with amity, he empathizes with her and gives her advice that he thinks is true, and offers to dig a grave for her too when its apparent that neither of them are getting any titans blood. with luz, he gives up the palismen and protects her from kikimora. that boy is a hufflepuff for sure.

raine - gryffindor

oh buddy theyre the biggest gryffindor ever. they extremely, extremely brave. they have terrible stage fright and anxiety but they still became head bard, and they still ran an underground resistance group, and they still gave everything up just to help eda. they have a strong sense of whats right and whats wrong and incredible amount of passion, empathy, and integrity. they have a great sense of pride— “How did someone with stage fright end up as Head Witch?” “I’m just that good.”— and are very selfless. they stopped eda from sacrificing herself because they knew her kids needed her more, they sacrificed themselves in eda’s place and gave up everything they had just so eda wouldnt have to.

camila - hufflepuff

she’s extraordinarily kind, even when she’s terrified. she’s accepting and open-minded and hardworking, making sure to show luz that she loves her creativity but still wants to make sure luz can do well in school and can make friends. sometimes you can do something you think is kind but isnt really. she’s also a single mother doing her best to give her daughter a good life, which is a credit to how hard she works and how dedicated she is to her daughter. she even took the day off of work to drive luz to camp because she knew luz was anxious and wanted to reassure her. she’s patient with luz, and even when faced with the scariest moment of her life, she’s still thinking of how luz feels rather than her own fears and anger. she’s very much a hufflepuff in the way that she’s quiet and unassuming but fiercely protective of her family.

vee - slytherin

she’s opportunistic and has a sense of self-preservation. she’d rather save her own skin than do that right thing. she’s cunning, having pretended to be camila’s daughter just to have a place for herself. this isnt a bad thing at all, though. she’s also loyal to camila, who she sees as her family, and even got into a fight with luz over how she treated camila. she still listened to luz and let luz help her so that vee could remain living as luz. she doesnt feel guilty about valuing herself ahead of luz.

belos - ravenclaw

honestly? not a hard decision. he’s smart, sure, but he’s not people-smart. he didnt think lilith would betray him after he admitted to lying about healing eda. he doesnt understand loyalty, not even to those close to him. he’s rational and logical rather than emotional. if the theory that he is philip wittebane is to be believed, then its obvious he has an appreciation for learning and knowledge. belos distinctly reminds me of lockhart, or even quirrell, who were also in ravenclaw. he’s got an arrogance to him that blinds him, believing himself to be the smartest and strongest witch on the isles and thus underestimating others, which will only lead him to ruin.

[tohwitchesduels]

WILD CARD OF WITCHES DUELS - Battle 53: Amity Blight vs Viney

Disclaimer: This is not a popularity contest or which character you prefer, in this tournament, you decide who is stronger/better/smarter/etc. opponent.

information for both opponents under the cut to those who don't know what they can do in their battle:

Viney:

Viney specializes in both Beast-Keeping magic and Healing Magic. She doesn't show spells of other kinds. For the purposes of this tournament, I allow Viney to have a powerset established by MoringMark's comics due to him fleshing out her capabilities in the "A Hint of Blue" comic storyline and his comics being beloved by the fan base.

Viney and Amity never really interacted with one another directly but both of them have mutual friends in Willow, Luz, Gus, and Hunter, so overall they're on friendly terms. However, both of them are to an extent competition freaks going all out, bloodthirsty hands down. Viney is not giving up her spot and will fight anyone that will come her way (she's especially rolled up as she's pretty much the weakest of the finalist and it does bug her a bit).

Viney is an absolutely fierce and intimidating competitor who will stop at nothing to win. She can get even more ruthless and petty when facing her friends claiming them to be traitors. Her magic is also quite impressive if not prodigious. The girl is absolutely skilled and at times quite chaotic. Viney's in it to win. She can be however a bit hasty in her approach. Viney has plenty of physical strength to back up her punch.

Viney does possess a Palisman and is quite a proficient flyer. With her fighting spirit, she is capable to rush at her opponents furiously and knock them out with her physical strength. However, at the same time, she gets tunnel vision due to this and her attack can still be blocked knocking her out in the process.

Quick Heal - Viney is capable of very quickly healing wounds of hers or others (only available during Battle Royale when it comes to other people, no way she's healing her opponents unless it's after the battle but that's debatable due to her personality). According to Viney, the only scars she has are emotional making her quite a proficient healer who can leave the battle without a single scratch on her.

Healing Shield - Viney is capable of creating a shield-shaped hand to block any attacks coming her way. From simple bullets to even raging streams.

Medical Knowledge - Viney has enough experience to come up with remedies on the fly while also understanding both the strong and weak spots of the body of any witch/demon, meaning Viney knows where it hurts the most and you bet she will use that knowledge to her advantage.

Griffin Companion - Viney can summon Puddles to aid her in battles. Puddles can at times be wilder even than Viney herself, but Viney is still his master and he listens to her commands. Puddles is both strong and smart, a large griffin that can give Viney's opponent just as much of a hard time and is even more fierce than Viney, dealing huge damage. Also much like other griffins he probably possesses spider breath, which Viney can use to attack her opponents with an army of crawling spiders. Viney can ride him naturally.

Muscle Growth - power-up which came from MoringMark's comic. Viney can enhance her muscle to enhance her own strength to a superhuman level when attacking her opponents. (I will not post screenshots of Mark's comics but I will leave parts of the comics where he demonstrated this ability so you can support HIS art).

Equipment attack - power-up which came from MoringMark's comic. Thanks to her medical knowledge, Viney can throw medical equipment at her opponents using this or get her hands on a weapon of said equipment.

The comics of Moringmark in question

Link to more of Viney's capabilities here

Amity Blight:

Amity Blight naturally specializes in Abomination Magic the most, but she does so capacity in knowing spells of other tracks like Plants and Illusion, but it's very limited.

I will mention Amity's moves just by name to not make this post too cramped, and in the title, there's a link to Amity's main character profile debunking all her moves.

Amity and Viney never really interacted with one another on-screen, but both of them have mutual friends in the form of Hexsquad, so they themselves are on friendly terms. Granted, both of them can be a bit of competition freaks and go all out and bloodthirsty during this battle. In the end, Viney is the only thing that currently stands between Amity's battle with Luz, and they promised to each other that they would get to fight in the finals and Amity absolutely intends to keep this promise and will crush anyone who will try to take hat away.

Amity is a very skilled, talented, cool-headed, and pragmatic fighter. Hardly does she lose composure when battling even strong opponents, displaying plenty of agility and athleticism (as shown in her battle with Hunter and Grom, which is also given considering she was a former captain of the grudgby team at Hexside), and can be both a powerhouse using plenty of strength or a mastermind coming up with tricks on the fly while outsmarting her opponents with her skillset. Very dangerous, and even more so once she puts more passion into her battle. Hardly there are any weak spots or flaws in her battling style, but she can still be overpowered. Abomination Magic in particular feels to be weaker than Construction Magic for example, and it can be rendered useless when dealing in an environment with no mud. Granted Amity holds abomination goo with her so at most, she's going to be weakened. Amity is capable of controlling any slime or mud she comes in contact with.

Amity does wield a Palisman named Ghost and according to herself, she's a "safe flyer". This means she's overall pretty proficient and skilled in her flying capabilities, but at the same time, it means she's not a real aerial ace like Luz or Hunter for example. She's skilled enough to not easily fall off by herself, but as proven in her battles with Hunter (both EL and TTT), she's not fast enough to necessarily avoid being hit in midair. Granted she can still be faster than average and have better reflexes than average, but still not enough to beat some real aerial aces. She is proficient in staff-wielding, being capable of using it to enhance her own spells.

Light Spell

Projection Spell

Voice Change - Amity is capable of briefly changing her voice to sound whoever she wants like to sound. Her real voice however can still be heard through, but it could be used as a brief distraction during Battle Royale or maybe to mess up some verbal spells of other casters (like beast-keepers, though it's hard to tell if it would actually work, or Alador's Abomatons as proven in Reaching Out).

Oath Spell

Thorn Bolt

Shield Spell

Barrier Spell

Fire Ball

Abomination Golem

Abomination Bullet

Abomination Block

Abomination Shield

Abomination Slide

Abomination Root Attack

Abomination Arms

Giant Abomination Arm

Abomination Lasso

Abomination Bind

Abomination Bubble

Abomination Blade

Abomination Gauntlet

Abomination Wave

Abomination Construct

Abomination Multiple Hands

Abomination Tendrils

Abomination Hand Block

Abomination Arm Attack

Abomination Arm Stream

Abomination Hand Wave

Return to Masterpost

[k7l4d4]

A New Perspective: Owl House AU Story

Hello All, today, I am going to embark on a Collaboration with my good friend, Flamestar50! Everybody clap your hands!!

Standing in the main living room of the Owl House, a face off of epic proportions was taking place. With this, the entire fate of this ragtag band of misfits would be changed forever...

“I play, THE WILD CARD!!” With a victorious shout, Eda slammed down her Wild Card, winning herself the game of, you guessed it, Hex’s Holdem, much to the annoyed groans of her sister and King.

“Edalyn, please. Reconsider!” Lilith pleaded, desperate to try and gain some measure of caution from her sister before she did something stupid. “Was playing a mere card game really necessary to decide what to do with the shard of the portal Luz recovered!?”

Eda turned an annoyed glare her sister’s way. She had committed to this, and she would not be swayed. And besides, “Need I remind you that you cursed me, lied to me about it for years, and blindly followed a tyrant in some insane scheme to cure me without me ever finding out it was all your fault?” As Lilith cringed, feeling the brutal honesty of her sister’s words, Eda fought off a grin. “You’re lucky I gave you anything resembling a say in this anyway. At least you had a fair shot!”

Lilith silently conceded the point. For all her crimes, she was insanely lucky Eda was letting her live here, let alone allowing her a say in what went on. Still, this was risky. “I understand that. I merely wish for you to take a moment and consider what could go wrong! It’s something I’ve wished I’d done myself all these years.” Lilith internally cringed, knowing that, even if her ploy, however honest it may be, worked, Eda was going to be sour for that.

Lilith was honestly surprised as Eda merely sniffed, and nodded. “I’m not as reckless as you seem to believe sis. I know not to try anything crazy with this little doohickey.” She held up said doohickey, a sliver of the portal to the Human Realm they had managed to recover. She shot her sister a crooked grin. “I haven’t avoided getting caught all these years by being reckless, and I know when to keep myself in check; it’s not just ineptitude that kept your goons from grabbing me all those years!”

In spite of the little jab, Lilith breathed a sigh of relief, more than glad her sister wasn’t planning anything... TOO crazy. “Very well. Do you have any plans in particular?”

Eda grinned, more than glad to talk about her favorite subject the majority of the time; herself! “As a matter of fact...”

As the two witches made their way to the kitchen, Eda craved some good old fashioned Apple Blood after a well-earned victory, chatting away about their plans, neither noticed that they had forgotten the very shard they had had their epic duel of wits and will just moments before on the table.

“Eda! I got my Potion Homework ready! You promised to help me go over it, remember? Eda?” Entering with said potion in hand was the Owl Lady’s Apprentice herself, Luz Noceda. As she looked around, she quickly spotted Eda’s cards for Hexes Holdem, rolling her eyes fondly. She may not have known what Eda and Lilith had been playing over, but the fact they weren’t here was a solid indicator Eda had won, and was getting her victory Apple Blood, as had been her tradition since the debacle with Tibbles.

“Luz! I’m bored and demand your aid!” Marching in with as menacing a glower as his adorable face could manage was King, Eda’s original roommate and the self-styled King of Demons. Also, one of Luz’s good friends, when he wasn’t being an adorable tyrant that is! “I need you to get me some of the backup cookies behind the- hey what are you doing?” One thing King could always be counted on was his ability to instantly switch fixations at random, and his current fixation was now Luz’s project! 

Eager to finally have someone show interest in her non-glyph related work, Luz began extolling all that her potion was supposed to be and could accomplish, theoretically, with King unusually enraptured by her monologue. He normally could only really focus on his own! Just as she was about to get to the good part, Hooty barged in. “HEY WHAT ARE YOU GUYS TALKING ABOUT? DO YOU THINK I COULD HELP!?!? HOOTY HOOT!”

“GAH!” With a yelp, and an undignified plop to the ground, King whirled on the House Demon. “Why can you never enter without making a scene!?” As King bellowed his retort to Hooty’s unintentional mayhem unironically, he leapt for the larger demon, who let out a rather frightened shriek. As the two demons wrestled, Luz tried her best to break them up.

“Guys, guys! Please! Can’t this wait till later?” As Luz pulled at Hooty’s sinuous bulk, she never noticed as she and King inched ever closer to her Homework and, unbeknownst to them, the portal shard. As they pulled closer and closer, Luz picked up the thumps of Eda and Lilith drawing nearer to the racket.

“Eda, I can’t believe we left the shard in the living room!?”

“Ah nuts, Lily, it’ll be fine..” No sooner had Eda uttered this did she and Lilith enter the room and took in the carnage. She slowly turned to her sister, noting the struggle to keep a pleased grin off her face, and retorted in advance. “Not. One. Word.” As Lilith pulled her hands up in surrender, Eda strolled over, more than ready to put a stop to the nonsense, when her eyes honed in on the sight of the shard, and the unknown potion beside it. As her memory of her promise to help Luz snapped into place, she quickly shouted a warning.

Said warning came just a hair too late, as Hooty and the other crashed into the table, and sent the potion and shard smashing into each other. As the potion sputtered and sparked, the wrestling demons and human finally noticed the arrival of the elder witches, as well as the destabilizing potion next to them.

As Lilith took in the sight before her, of her sister, her sister’s apprentice, her roommate, and their very home itself abstractly, she knew she had only one option. With a leap containing every ounce of effort her body could give, Lilith shoved the others out of the way, shielding the potion with her body.

“LILY!!” With a desperate cry, Eda reached out as best she could, desperate to save her sister from the potion breaking down beneath her form.

“Goodbye, Eda.” With a content smile, Lilith pulled closer, fully prepared to sacrifice her life for her family, and as the potion finished breaking down under the influence of its surprise ingredient... a portal opened up directly overhead. Snapping her gaze above herself, Lilith’s eyes widened as a bevy of individuals fell through, and onto herself.

Stunned at what had just occured, and noting how similarly, heck, fully identical, the strangers looked to Luz and her little friends, Eda had just one thing to say. “Well, that was unexpected.” Turning her head to Luz, she only half-jokingly added: “Want to help me pickpocket them?”

[sepublic]

Lilith didn’t intend for Luz to be truly hurt (but she was still awful)

           So, a lot of people rightfully give Lilith flack for… well, just about everything she did! This woman is low-key a screw-up in life and a lot of her issues come from acknowledging this, but then either doing nothing to address it, or handling the problem in a rather non-productive manner, for fear of further guilt and retribution for her mistakes; The way a child hides the vase they broke, even if they fully admit in their head that this was their own fault and the result of a mistake they no longer intend to commit! They’re still leaving the person who also suffers from this to deal with the pain on their own, even if they pretend to be innocent and buy a new vase! And that’s even assuming Lilith doesacknowledge/notice that she did something wrong.

           And while Lilith using Luz as a human shield IS pretty sus, and not gonna lie, part of why Agony of a Witch is so genuinely painful to me is BECAUSE of Lilith’s treatment of Luz in that episode (legit it really riles me up)… But once I step back to acknowledge the way things were working from her perspective, I don’t think she intended THAT much harm? That isn’t to say Lilith STILL didn’t mess up big time and she deserves to be called out for this, on-screen or at least implied between events. It’s just that…

           Lilith didn’t intend to harm Luz? I don’t think she did, at least, there was no reason to… At worst, she may have been operating on the ‘bluff’ of hurting Luz, but I don’t think that was ever her intention. To her, it may have just been a matter of keeping Luz and Eda separate that would’ve compelled her sister to arrive- I’m not sure if she actually intended to hurt Luz, and it’s worth noting that Lilith makes a major point to Luz that the magic bubble was meant to protect her.

           Which, given it was cast by Lilith- I think that says a lot about her original intention! The worst she planned could’ve been just to imprison Luz, or at least ‘rehabilitate’ her and/or send Luz back to earth. Which, that IS messed-up as well, but it’s not outright child murder, and more akin to what Camila almost did. Still wrong- But at least a lot more understandable…

           Then later in the duel, when Eda is clearly going to overwhelm and kick Lilith’s butt, as she always did? THEN Lilith begins using Luz as a shield, but at the same time… She operated from the very beginning, under the original assumption, that Eda cares a lot for Luz; Even if Lilith doesn’t understand why, she can’t argue with this reality at least. Especially with Belos’ threat of execution, more on that later…

           Lilith could’ve easily set up any other kind of shield to protect herself; Luz’s bubble was strong, but not THAT strong, given how Luz herself was able to puncture it. So it stands to reason that when Lilith puts Luz in front of her, it’s not necessarily as a meat shield meant to tank damage; It’s under the impression that Eda, who cares for Luz, will redirect her attacks in response, and by consequence miss Lilith! Lilith’s cowardly tactics admittedly hinged entirely on the –correct- assumption that Eda would not hurt Luz, no matter what. So again- No intent for Luz to actually be hurt, if anything Lilith’s life kind of dependson that?

           Then there’s Lilith shoving Luz into a spike- And THAT is very much sus. But again, I don’t think Lilith necessarilyintended for Luz to actually get impaled; I think she just wanted Eda to assume Luz would, or act to prevent this anyway just in case and ‘fall for the bluff’, so to speak. In doing so, Eda would drain her magic, and then she’d be defeated, allowing Lilith to capture her sister and have her cured by Belos! In other words, I’m not sure if Lilith would’ve actually, fully gone through with impaling Luz had Eda done nothing to stop this- It’s possible she would’ve stopped in realization and maybe concern, but then go back to fighting Eda traditionally.

           And Lilith already knows that Eda is willing to risk her victory in that duel for Luz’s sake, as shown when she maneuvered around Luz and went out of her way to protect the girl! So she knew that Eda was going to save Luz, that LUZ likely wouldn’t be in any real danger… And finally, it’s worth noting what Belos said. How earlier that day, he basically threatened to executeLilith, to kill her for failing him.

           This is a different Lilith than one we’ve been used to. This is a Lilith who is stressed-out, more than she’s ever been, a Lilith who’s terrified for her life- A Lilith who is low-key being held hostage herself, because her own life is being threatened? It wasn’t literal, but it’s the Boiling Isles equivalent of holding a gun to someone’s head, unlike when she cursed Eda way back when. And as Head of the Emperor’s Coven, Lilith likely knows ALL the horrible things that Belos can do, he knows how unstoppable he can be once he sets his mind to things…

           (More on her knowledge of the Emperor’s messed-up stuff later.)

           And, if Lilith dies? Then Eda isn’t going to get captured. Eda won’t be cured, Eda will remain cursed forever… And so Lilith isn’t just doing this because she’s being threatened, she’s also doing this for Eda’s sake! Under the impression that if Lilith dies and fails, Eda will never be cured… Eda will never get to embrace her full potential in magic, and with how the curse has accelerated her aging, Eda would likely have a shorter life as well- So to Lilith, this is all a matter of Eda’s life too! Not to mention Lilith wants desperately to be with Eda a lot, so there may have been some resentment towards Eda for caring more about Luz, a stranger she’s known only for a few weeks, over Lilith, her own sister since childhood…

           Especially since Lilith never thinks to ask Eda just to come join the Emperor’s Coven, under the knowledge that Belos will kill her otherwise! Obviously this speaks to Lilith’s knowing guilt… But to her, Eda doesn’t know that Lilith cursed her! So to Lilith, it’s a bit frustrating that Eda really doesn’t seem to care for her own sister… Because Lilith is operating on the idea that Eda would rather continue to be a Wild Witch and let her sister be executed, than join the Emperor’s Coven to save Lilith’s life! Even though Eda said she’d go out of her way to rescue Lilith beforehand, as seen in Sense and Insensitivity… Lilith is doubting how much Eda would care for her.

           This of course, DOES make me question if Lilith would’ve gone that route, of mentioning Belos’ execution; Had Luz not gotten captured! How would Eda have reacted, if Lilith was honest and admitted that her own life was on the line, otherwise? I can only imagine… And of course, if Lilith is under the impression that Eda would prefer being a Wild Witch even if it meant Lilith’s demise… Then maybe she should’ve asked herself why that was the case? Why Eda would be so distant to her, if Eda didn’t know of the curse? Perhaps there was ANOTHER reason for why Eda hated the Emperor’s Coven so much, maybe something related to her disagreements with the system? Maybe Eda had motives unrelated to the curse for not joining Lilith?

           This is Lilith we’re talking about here, so of course she doesn’t bother to consider the implications of this… Amidst being distracted by Luz’s sudden arrival, as well. Regardless, if Eda really hated the kind of environment that the Coven System offered THAT much, to disregard Lilith- Then maybe it says a lot about how horrible the Coven System is to her, rather than Eda simply not caring for Lilith! But this is Lilith, so instead she focuses on how her relationship with Eda is defined by this, because clearly to her, everything Eda does has to be with Lilith’s own best interests in mind. How DARE Eda prioritize her own life over Lilith’s?! Eda already has so much in life, why doesn’t she ever consider what Lilithneeds or wants?

           It’s Lilith’s narrow-minded, tunnel vision; That in this world, only her relationship with Eda and vice-versa matters! That Eda doesn’t have any thoughts or dreams of her own, no other relationships (as Lilith herself claims at first), no personal beliefs against the Coven System or anything! It’s all about Lilith, it’s all about being sisters… And no doubt Lilith is projecting a lot of insecurities, but. STILL, that’s kind of messed up, Lily!

You already know what the Emperor’s Coven does to other Wild Witches, are you really not considering Eda’s own compassion for others to be enough reason for her NOT to support Belos? Or did you secretly think those other witches deserved it while Eda was special as someone you knew… Which of course, I can’t blame Lilith for being biased towards her own sister, but still. It’s all very selective stuff, it’s Lilith ignoring everything else, or attempting to justify it despite the unfortunate implications.

           Which, gets me back to another point… But before I can do that, I need to return to the main discussion. Namely, back to that specific scene of Lilith trying to shove Luz into a spike… This is just speculation on my part. But if the Grudgby cards are any indication, it’s that Witches have an inherent healing factor that allows them to regenerate limbs… Possibly it’s the result of the bile naturally flowing through their veins, and thus not something that would require active Healing Spells to pull off, although those always help with the process! Though it DOES make me wonder how this would effect Eda, whose bile sac is no longer producing magic… But given all of the weird stuff with HER, how her survival of dismemberment could be due to the curse, or what she’s done to herself, or her own species’ abilities…

           Eda might be fine anyway, and the latent effect of bile on her healing abilities might still exist, even if they can’t overcome the curse- Not that anyHealing Magic was capable of that, as far as we know! Regardless, my point is that while impalement would no doubt hurt a lot… It might not be nearly as serious of an injury to Witches, as it would be to humans! It’d definitely suck a lot, but it might be more akin to breaking your leg, VS outright death. STILL messed-up, but not irreparably so…

           Of course, Lilith knows that Luz is human. But she may not be aware of the full differences, or at least forgot to take this into account… Understandable, Gus is a ‘Human Expert’ and even HE is baffled by human anatomy and has a lot of wrong guesses, among them being gills! Skara also apparently knows that humans are more ‘fragile’ than Witches… But that sounds like street knowledge and not a definitive fact she could’ve outright researched and confirmed. And given Lilith is Head of the Emperor’s Coven, I think her brain is full of other important information unrelated to humans… Such as how to cure a curse you cast decades ago!

           Which, leads to a morbidly-hilarious scenario of Lilith having no idea why Eda is so insistent on protecting this human, clearly this won’t hurt her THAT much, it’s like losing your mind over someone getting their toe stubbed! At the very least, a broken ankle wouldn’t necessitate losing all of your magic! And then Lilith finds out that oh, that WOULD have actually killed Luz, because humans aren’t as sturdy as witches… And then she has an utter dilemma, because this realization would’ve occurred post-YBOS, and thus when Lilith was making an effort to actually take other people into account as well.

           So in the end, I don’t think Lilith actually expected Luz to get hurt at all that entire fight… Or at least not seriously, especially since she might not realize that humans are more fragile than witches! She DID make an initial effort to protect Luz at least, before the desperation of her losing duel forced Lilith to resort to dirty tactics, especially since her own life –and maybe Eda’s- was on the line if she lost. That’s another point to consider… that if Lilith dies, she knows that Eda will never join the Emperor’s Coven without her sister to convince her, meaning inevitably Belos WILL track her down and kill her!

           …But at the same time, even if she never expected Luz to be genuinely hurt, or at least not killed; It’s still reckless endangerment of a child. Even if Lilith didn’t decide to hurt this random kid just for the sake of it, she was still low-key taking out a lot of her resentment onto this poor child, just because Luz was a better person to Eda and thus more loved than Lilith by her for it! It’s still showing little regard for Luz’s safety, and even if Lilith never thought she would get seriously injured, she still played around with Luz’s life too lightly, and took too many chances.

          Those chances paid off in the end, sure… But regardless, it’s like my past comparison of Lilith to a gambler who keeps making the same mistake in the hope that things will finally pay off, that previous failures and losses won’t have been for nothing! Even if Lilith saw her and Eda’s lives being on the line, that doesn’t excuse kidnapping and taking a child hostage, and Eda would never consent to that either! Maybe Lilith needs to consider how Edawould’ve felt… But she didn’t really, because she seemed surprised at how much Luz meant to Eda. Obviously she adapted to this …

          But once again, it shows how Lilith refuses to acknowledge any other motive besides the curse as a reason for why Eda would be distant with her. And it’s not JUST because you failed to go after her the first time Eda transformed, and even if you did try to ‘make up’ for this by finding a cure for Eda… Again, it’s obvious there’s more to Eda’s issues than just holding a grudge over that kind of abandonment after the duel, especially since she went out of her way to save Lilith in Sense and Insensitivity! It’s funny how Lilith mocks Eda for having poor memory because of the curse… Because Lilith’s memory is even worse, because of how selective it is! And that’s her own fault…

          Which is another recurring theme of this show, of people who have the ability to do better, of having the privilege to avoid a failing, going ahead and doing that mistake anyway! Just as Odalia is rich and powerful enough to let her kids be their own individuals without concern for their futures, yet goes out of her way to abuse and indoctrinate them more than anyone else would… Lilith has the power to change what she’s been doing at any moment, to alter her circumstances- But she doesn’t. It seems those in the position to do the most good end up either being irresponsible and negligent with that power, and/or using that power to make things worse.

           The thing with Lilith isn’t that her memory is selective, either; She has a poor grasp not just of the past, but of the presentas well! She expects Eda to abandon her after getting attacked by a monster, implying Lilith knows there’s a reason for such callousness besides the curse; Or that Eda isn’t THAT selfish and apathetic… After all, she did abandon her spot in the Emperor’s Coven for Lilith’s sake! That, or Eda really DOES have an issue with the Coven System and what’s why she left the spot… Lilith really is full of contradictions and holes in the logic of how she views the world. A lot of her world-view consisted of accepting whatever was most convenient to her, or even making those kinds of facts up!

           …Though, I WILL give her credit; Lilith seemed intent on letting Eda join the Emperor’s Coven at her own pace, on her own terms, as revealed in Sense and Insensitivity. Obviously there’s the assumption that Eda will eventually do so because clearly there’s no other choice and that’s why it’s an inevitability… But at least Lilith DID try to respect Eda’s feelings, to an extent. Even if she did so in a way that was more flattering to her own expectations in the end, she at least couldn’t outright deny that Eda clearly didn’twant to join the Emperor’s Coven. There’s still the expectation that Eda would ‘get over’ whatever ‘silly’ reasons she had for not joining Lilith, but Lilith wasn’t a lost cause for a reason!

           After all, Lilith had that change of heart at the end, even if she was low-key forced into doing so because Eda would’ve straight-up died otherwise, which again ties back to her cowardly nature, only doing the right thing when there’s literally no other feasible option she can turn to. It was a LONG time coming, finally admitting the truth –more by accident honestly- and sharing the curse with Eda… But hey, better late than never, am I right? And it’s a pretty big reason why I’m no longer as mad at her as I was post-Agony of a Witch… Though I’ll still give her the stink-eye in general for that, because that episode messed me up and Lilith contributed the most to that.

[richincolor]

Fall TBR Pile

Now that summer is over, it's time to clear the way for... yeah, more reading! There's actually a ton of books I'm really excited for that are coming out in the fall. Here's what's at the very top of my fall to-read pile:

Slay by Brittney Morris By day, seventeen-year-old Kiera Johnson is an honors student, a math tutor, and one of the only Black kids at Jefferson Academy. But at home, she joins hundreds of thousands of Black gamers who duel worldwide as Nubian personas in the secret multiplayer online role-playing card game, SLAY. No one knows Kiera is the game developer, not her friends, her family, not even her boyfriend, Malcolm, who believes video games are partially responsible for the “downfall of the Black man.”

But when a teen in Kansas City is murdered over a dispute in the SLAY world, news of the game reaches mainstream media, and SLAY is labeled a racist, exclusionist, violent hub for thugs and criminals. Even worse, an anonymous troll infiltrates the game, threatening to sue Kiera for “anti-white discrimination.”

Driven to save the only world in which she can be herself, Kiera must preserve her secret identity and harness what it means to be unapologetically Black in a world intimidated by Blackness. But can she protect her game without losing herself in the process? — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker/Artist Wendy Xu A story of love and demons, family and witchcraft. Nova Huang knows more about magic than your average teen witch. She works at her grandmothers’ bookshop, where she helps them loan out spell books and investigate any supernatural occurrences in their New England town.

One fateful night, she follows reports of a white wolf into the woods, and she comes across the unexpected: her childhood crush, Tam Lang, battling a horse demon in the woods. As a werewolf, Tam has been wandering from place to place for years, unable to call any town home.

Pursued by dark forces eager to claim the magic of wolves and out of options, Tam turns to Nova for help. Their latent feelings are rekindled against the backdrop of witchcraft, untested magic, occult rituals, and family ties both new and old in this enchanting tale of self-discovery. — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

I Hope You Get This Message by Farah Naz Rishi Seven days. Seven days. The Earth might end in seven days. When news stations start reporting that Earth has been contacted by a planet named Alma, the world is abuzz with rumors that the alien entity is giving mankind only few days to live before they hit the kill switch on civilization.

For high school truant Jesse Hewitt, though, nothing has ever felt permanent. Not the guys he hooks up with. Not the jobs his underpaid mom works so hard to hold down. Life has dealt him one bad blow after another — so what does it matter if it all ends now? Cate Collins, on the other hand, is desperate to use this time to find the father she’s never met, the man she grew up hearing wild stories about, most of which she didn’t believe. And then there’s Adeem Khan. While coding and computer programming have always come easily to him, forgiveness doesn’t. He can’t seem to forgive his sister for leaving, even though it’s his last chance.

With only seven days to face their truths and right their wrongs, Jesse, Cate, and Adeem’s paths collide even as their worlds are pulled apart. — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

[paxesoterica]

Who wants to join me in subscribing to a possibly irrational fan theory about Witch from Mercury that will likely get disproven this weekend~?

So, Suletta's not in a great place mental health-wise, and while I'm sure Earth House will do everything they can for her, there's a possibility it might not be enough.

So to help her, what if they refer her to the Asticassia Counseling Service that, coincidentally, we were just made aware of this past episode? Secelia and Rouji would almost inevitably be the ones offering the counseling, and as peers who haven't really interacted directly with Suletta a lot, but who have directly witnessed every duel that she's fought in, and so already have some understanding of her, they might be able to give our poor Mercurian an alternative perspective on her situation.

Now, at this point, Burion's intentions haven't been explicitly stated, but they are the front management company in charge of maintaining Asticassia, and with the recent terrorist attack they are doubtless looking for answers, so...dare to dream with me, but what if Secelia and Rouji, in a true subversion to 90% of fiction that features therapy, give Suletta genuinely beneficial counseling, in exchange for her aid in investigating the chaos in the school, thus potentially leading her to Nika, and snooping on Shaddiq, and realizing he's plotting against Miorine, thus leading Suletta to travel to Earth to interfere with said plans? It'd be a decent way to re-unite Suletta & Earth House with Nika, to learn the truth about the Elans, to rope Suletta back into direct conflict with Shaddiq, and to motivate her to travel to Earth and see Miorine again.

But, then again, Suletta is a bit of a wild card at this point, so, who knows (besides the staff obviously)?