#yes this has to do with the fae emperor

[starcrossedmoth]

Not gonna reveal my plans yet but if anyone's got some fun suggestions for rodent or royalty related dragon names I'd be happy to hear them!

[olympeline]

Gonna post my thoughts on the Hetalia Nations Revealed AU. Always a fun one to chat about. (￣▽￣)

We call it an AU but it’s actually pretty accurate. The part about nation-people not being a secret, I mean. I recently reread the webcomic and canon leans into NPs being public knowledge. Obviously their bosses are aware of them, but there’s lots of strips where NPs interact with members of the public as well. There are strips starring humans who don’t recognize their NP (that one soldier in France, Lisa, Davie, etc.) but they’re fewer in number. We all know Heta-canon is flexible so, for this post, I’m coming down on the side of “people know.” Here’s how I headcanon it all working:

Nation-people are common knowledge to the extent it would be really weird if you met someone who wasn’t aware of them. It would be like talking to a guy and he says he’s never heard of religion. Like, any religion. In the whole world. Not even the concept of it. You’d be all: “Whaaa?? Man, how?? Did you grow up under a rock?” It’s like that for NPs.

NPs are more than human and so aren’t too bothered by us. In a nice way. They still love their citizens but it’s not a relationship between equals. More benevolent demi-deities existing alongside the mundane. This is where I differ from some interpretations of this AU, I think. I can’t see the NPs as being weak and helpless around their people. They’re partially representations of the Earth itself and nature is much stronger than humanity. Like that panel where Francis was getting harassed by historians? Only happened because he allowed it. NPs let humans get close to them when they choose, but they can lose them if they wish. That’s what France did when he’d had enough. The historians blinked and he was just gone. Slipped away like a breath of wind. Leaving two very disappointed academics to continue their argument, lol. The only exceptions are their bosses. NPs have to obey any direct order given by them.

Have to, have to. Compelled in the old fae-like way. NPs are completely under the control of whoever’s running their country. The one who has the final say is the head of state, but they can and do delegate if someone else holds the true power. Kiku directly obeys his emperor, for example, but the emperor obeys Japan’s Diet. So the Prime Minister gives Kiku his orders through their symbolic ruler. If a country’s government is overthrown then that control passes to the new ones in charge. NPs don’t get any choice in the matter, sadly for them. When an NP starts obeying the “other side” then the writing’s on the wall that the regime change has succeeded.

They aren’t considered fully human and so don’t have the same rights and privileges we do. I’d imagine there’s been many high profile court cases about stuff like this in the modern era. Just what an NP can be ordered to do by their bosses before it becomes abusive, how culpable they are for crimes committed by their nations, etc. “The Nation of [x] vs. Nation-Person [y] in the case of Historical Crime(s) [z].” I don’t think much would have been accomplished over the years, lol. No country is going to let their NP go to a foreign prison. Plus the NPs always have the “magically compelled” defense to fall back on. So no progress, just lots of debate. NPs are considered somewhere between guardian deities, ordinary people, and “things” in the broader public consciousness.

Yes, they have social media. No, it has not always gone well. I bet after a few instant-major-historical-event cases of careless and/or hot-tempered NPs calling their bosses assholes on twitter, NP accounts were mass nuked. They were reinstated only after their bosses gave them loooong lists of subjects they weren’t allowed to talk about. Afterwards their posts were all fluff about hobbies and personal interests. Doesn’t stop foreign governments, economists, gossip channels, NP enthusiasts, and curious people combing through every tweet, post, and video to try and guess what the NPs are “really” talking about. So many conspiracy theorist channels, oh god. Even thinking about it is making me tired. 😂

NPs have two homes: a work address and a personal one. The former is usually located in their capital and is either where their boss lives or close by. So Alfred has a home at the White House, Arthur has one on Downing Street, etc. However most NPs don’t consider these their real homes and only spend time there while doing government work. Ordinary, if nice, houses and apartments out among their people is where they like to live. These can decorate them to match their personalities the way they can’t official residences. They use their power over the land to make sure no humans can find these sanctuaries unless the NP wants them to. Stops NPs being swarmed by paparazzi, tourists, and fans 24/7.

De-anoning to say it was me that sent @forsoobado137 the money ask. So just repeating what I said there. All countries put their NP’s face on their money. Along with the state’s name, the NP’s human name, and a picture of the actual land they represent. The money can have other famous people on it too, just on the other side. Governments have been doing this since money was invented and some of the only surviving visual records of ancient NPs are pictures on coins.

Any human being knows an NP and the country they represent just by sight. Unless it’s somewhere they’ve never heard of. Then all they know is that they’re looking at a nation-person. I imagine it would be considered a huge faux-pas to let it slip you don’t know an NP’s country name. Like telling a Holywood A-lister you don’t know who they are at a red carpet event. 😭

NPs have many default jobs, mostly related to their governments. One of them is being in their nation’s armed forces. They’ve always done this ever since the first age of empires. They even led armies and were seen as good luck charms in the past. Soldiers tend to make up the bulk of the humans the NPs remember most fondly. The relationship between Francis and Joan of Arc is one of the best known historical examples. Whether an NP actually enjoys their time in the military depends on their personality. Which is in turn influenced by how warlike the actual country is and has been. If your NP falls in battle, it’s one of the worst war omens possible.

Speaking of death, I headcanon that NPs can die from illness or injury. Or at least their human bodies can. They’re tougher than we are, but not unkillable. They’ll come back so long as the nation itself survives. True death for an NP is reserved for when the civilisation they represent stops existing. If an NP dies in a foreign country, they’ll crumble to dust and regenerate somewhere deep in their heartlands. The place they were originally “born” from the earth. Only a select few very high up in government know the location of their NP’s birth/rebirth place. This also happens if they die on home soil and their body is destroyed. If they die at home and their body is okay, they’ll heal and wake up after a few hours. If the country isn’t doing well it takes longer for its NP to come back.

Speaking of countries not doing well: NPs get sick either when their economies go bad, or when there’s an epidemic among their citizens. A lot of European NPs can chalk some of their early deaths up to the Black Death. When an NP get “depressed” it’s code for a financial fever. Nothing can be done but keep them comfortable until the economy picks up.

Hetalia is so fun to post about, my god. Such a prime series for theories and headcanons. You feel me, gamers?

[ep2nd]

Odyssey's Sequel AU

Part 3

For all the Emperors in S2 do differ in Hybrids and Species from their Es1 counterpart so here they are-

Es2 Scott- Fae(with long ears and colorful wings and tail). Es1 Scott was also part Fae.

Es2 Jimmy- Cow Hybrid(He's a Space traveler so he can change his form to fit whatever place he ends up, default is the Canary Avian)

Es2 Lizzie- Feline(Full Cat, descendent of the Felines from the Lost Empire)

Es2 Joel- god(Has wings and can change size, yes he can appear Es1 Joels height but hes too good to be short)

Es2 Sausage- Dragon Hybrid(Same Hybrid as Es1 Sausage, but different wings, more yellowy and planty)

Es2 Fwhip- Goblin(has a bigger Gold obsession and more clingy because Es1 Fwhip was a Dragon Hybird and he influences Es2 Fwhip)

Es2 Gem- Monarch Butterfly Hybird(has magical wings too, they can glow and do some other things... aka I don't know yet)

Es2 Joey- Parrot Avian(literally the same thing as Es1 Joey, no I'm not lazy whaaaaa)

Es2 Katherine- Fae(has long ears but not the silk wings)

Es2 Shubble- Witch and part Gnome(she's shorter and has magic in her blood)

Es2 Oli- Enderman Hybird(specifically the Albino Enderman)

Es2 False- Eagle Avian(Was given wings by Pearl)

Es2 Pix- Ghost/Human(The man was always a Ghost, he's Revived of Es1 Pix. When the crown "killed" him, it's the magic that disturbed the revival magic in him that turned him back to the Ghost, but still keeping his mind with it)

[darkwingphoenix]

Saraia, Divine of The Ancient

Ey, @loominggaia, I made a Divine OC! Her name's Saraia. Unfortunately, due to my shit drawing skills and broke ass, I cannot provide a drawing, but I will provide some ideas for what she looks like:

Mix Skylie and Cyana of Evangeline,

Claire Dearing from the Jurassic Park franchise,

Linde Lumina (Specifically her below outfit),

Lady Nagant from MHA,

And Raiden Shogun from Genshin Impact, but wearing red, and having red hair, you basically have Saraia.

She was a MASSIVE paleontology fan when she was a kid, and she was born in the 4th age, before Evangeline started enslaving fae and gaians, in the Evangeline Kingdom, essentially just before Evangeline started enslaving fae and gaians. She learned photomancy, illusions, elctromancy, pyromancy, telepathy, and a bit of geomancy, because her parents realized she was a prodigy at magic and had a passion for it, and were proud to indulge her passion.

However, her family was at risk of being enslaved when she was about 36 years old, and she sacrificed herself to let the rest of her family escape.

She was... Shocked, to say the least, when she woke up in the ashes of her home village perfectly fine as a divine. She immediately hunted down her family, only to find out her entire family had been enslaved, but killed themselves, when they had accidentally bumped into what would one day become Kelvingyard (This bit is up to your approval, but her family did off themselves at a slaving camp).

She was so stunned, grieving, angry, pissed, confused, and a million other emotions she lashed out violently and destroyed much of the camp before being taken out with an arrow to her head.

She woke up a month or so later and immediately went into hiding to grieve for several decades, before finally deciding to avenge her family by hindering the Evangeline Kingdom anyway she could. She still had a passion for paleontology, however, and decided to remain in hiding and basically do an anime training montage for the next century and a half, perfecting the magic schools she had been before divinity, and even picking up necromancy, telekinesis, and teleportation, before, 95 years into her training, she decided to try her hand at monster forging, making the first of a few monsters she would make, a nigh-immortal monster she would call the Imperatyrannus Rex, the Tyrant Emperor King, or King to her.

King was crafted using parts from many animals, specifically old dinosaur fossils (Or the Looming Gaia equivalent), a small crocodilian similar to the African Dwarf Crocodile (The lad below)

A shrew similar to the Eurasian Short-Tailed Shrew (Which has iron-infused teeth and venomous saliva)

An ape, cuttlefish, tree frog, a siege dragon she managed to stun long enough with a flash of light to use a saw to remove some scales, and some of her own hair to create the ultimate general to help her attack the Evangeline Kingdom by themselves, or with some other monsters she'd later make. The below video basically outlines what King looks like. Yes, his design is basically this video's remake of the I Rex. But with fire breath.

Either way, King was designed to basically be her own personal dragon. However, she designed him so that he wouldn't spawn more of himself without dying first, because if he dies, he has an indestructible egg in his chest she can remove and keep until he hatches from it and grows up again, as a failsafe. She also made him as an egg so she could care for him and at the least get some loyalty from him, if not love, because she knew monsters couldn't feel love.

When King grew up, she managed to get through to him that if he was loyal to her, he'd have all of the glory and fame he wanted, or at least infamy and notoriety, which was basically the same to him. He accepted, and they've been regularly coming out of hiding every decade or so, wreak absolute fucking havoc on Evangeline, then run away before the siege dragons were rolled out.

King is able to kill a siege dragon, and he's killed several over the ages, but Saraia and he don't like to risk getting attacked by multiple at a time, so once he manages to push a siege dragon off of himself, Saraia and he ditch, leaving the smoking ruins of several towns behind them.

She's also made monsters that are basically other kinds of dinosaur hybrids to attack Evangeline when she isn't. All of these monsters, unlike King, can breed and do, and are also seen as dragons to many people, especially those in Evangeline and Folkvar:

The Boulderback (Crucifatops Ankylostegus, the Crooked Roof Impaling Head): Boulderbacks are essentially a Triceratops with Ankylosaurus back armor and club tail, with the club also having spikes like a Stegosaurus' thagomizer. These big guys have an irrational hatred for the color blue, attacking blue colored things constantly. When first made, they'd often try to attack the sky, although this behavior has been bred out, although all other blue things are regularly attacked. Maraia put in this anti-blue provocation as many Evangeline soldiers wear the color. After generations, however, they've become more like hippos, just attacking everything in general. But they still target blue things with extreme hatred. Essentially they're that meme where a person says that people that are blue have done nothing wrong but they're blue.

The Cockatrice (Vindictonychus Carnifex, the Vengeful Butcher Claw): A Raptor like monster, but with a pachycephalosaur-like head (Sorta like a Stygimoloch or Dracorex') as well. These guys naturally live in packs and naturally hunt many kinds of creatures, favoring commoners but being able to sense, and fear, lycanthropes. A single lycanthrope can even cow a group of Cockatrices into submission.

The Swamp Thing (Spinocheirus Putripalus, the Thorn-Handed Swamp Thing): A Deinocheirus-lookin thing with a Spinosaurus-like spine and the claws of a Therizinosaurus, as well as the armor and tail of a Deinosuchus. They walk on their knuckles when on land, but prefer to attack boats and those near the water of the Blue Valley. Most Swamp Things live in swamps, bogs, marshes, and other such places in Noalen, especially in Evangeline territory. They often stink horribly, and migrate between swamps and such to find mates or greener pastures. They have a similar aggression to the color blue as the Impaler does, and are often green with moss, making them hard to see in swamps. They swim fast as all hell in deep enough water to hide most of their body, but can be outrun by a human on land, and almost always ambush their prey when they get too close, or attack boats.

The Peryton (Pteroraptor Maraiensis, Maraia's Winged Thief): A Eudimorphodon with eagle legs, vision, and talons; a siege dragon's fire breath (And the only monster Maraia made with fire breath other than King); a bee's stinger with boomslang venom, and deer antlers that are aerodynamic. Perytons are too weak individually to attack people, but are rarely alone, often making flocks of over 100 at a time. Essentially, they're gullsnatchers, but a third of the size, firebreathing, and the assholery of swans.

All of these monsters, including King, would very likely be deemed Category 4 Monsters by the PPL, although actually killing a Swamp Thing or Impaler if they're alone would certainly be hard to impossible for a alone hunter or a small group. A Cockatrice or Peryton would likely be easier to kill alone, but are in large enough groups they often need a team of hunters to take down a large group.

Notably, all 4 species are calm or even outright docile to the color red, only fighting red-colored things in self defense. They also show no particular attitude to other monsters, attacking them in self defense or, in the case of Cockatrices and Perytons, and sometimes Swamp Things, as a meal. They also show total docility to nymphs, even defending nymphs from attackers. Fae and gaians are also ignored, even if they have blue on them. Ogres, bizarrely, also count under this neutrality, and many ogre tribes in Evangeline territory are able to keep and raise some of these monsters, especially Cockatrices and Perytons but sometimes Boulderbacks and Swamp Things as well, using them as defense. Some ogres villages even give some to Folkvar or to gaian and fae villages in Evangeline for defense or use against Evangeline. They have yet to actually turn the tide in the Folkvar-Evangeline War, however, but do make handy war machines, particularly Boulderbacks.

This docility towards the color red, fae, and gaians, was an initial glitch-made-feature in the first group of Boulderbacks Saraia never intended for but decided to keep in, even intentionally making it occur in the other species. After all, she was mostly wanting the monsters to target Evangelite soldiers, but having them ignore fae, gaians, and the color red wasn't a bad idea, as fae and gaians weren't gonna be soldiers anyway and she highly doubts that Evangeline would swap its color scheme.

Nowadays, she usually dicks around in an apartment she got in Folkvar, King not far away, usually enjoying the latest articles on paleontology, the latest tea in Evangeline, or adventuring the world to paleontological sites to help digs.

Her reputation is... Mixed, to say the least. She and King seen as an absolute villain in Evangeline, and they're even a sort of boogeyman and stories of her attacks are told to children to keep them in line. However, they helped the early Folkvar Kingdom's first settlers escape Evangeline territory with the aid of Saraia's other monsters, who she can control effortlessly due to them being born loyal to her before all else, and are thus seen as heroes there. She can often get an audience with the ruler of Folkvar with very little issue, as they're always happy to host the Hero of Folkvar. Most other kingdoms have a hit-or-miss attitude to them: She isn't allowed into Etios as she's a fae, but Hethor has once gone to Folkvar and told her she's revered as a hero to many Etiosians for helping gaians, but she still isn't allowed in as she's a fae. They're also seen as a hero for the fae and gaians in Mogdir, basically neutral in the Seelie and Unseelie Courts, Matuzu, and generally disreputable in Damijana and the Zareen Empire. She's actually hated in Lamai as she essentially "played god" by basically making dragons, and Yerim-Mor sees her as annoying at best, a villain at worst, as some of her monsters have managed to migrate to Yerim-Mor, where they serve as yet another nuisance. The World Athenaum also sees her as a dumbass for making four kinds of highly dangerous monsters, which they have to clean up now.

A hobby she picked up after making King was crafting masks designed to look like the High King of Evangeline, then within the first year or two of their rule, she makes a piercing attack to Evangeline Capital to personally attack it with King and meet the High King personally, demanding they abolish slavery or she will keep attacking Evangeline. So far she's had no dice, if you couldn't tell.

When Jarek got his ass Looney Tunes'd by a gargoyle and Indiga became the High Queen, Maraia was shocked, to say the least, but made her entrance anyway, albeit a bit late as she had to make a fresh mask for Indiga, and after she returned to Folkvar, she finished the Jarek mask, as she decided she might as well finish the mask to keep her mask collection accurate to the kings of Evangeline. These masks have actually been copied by Maraia and the collection given to the ruler of Folkvar, each new ruler getting any new ruler masks upon coronation should they coincide with a new High King. Otherwise, it's her birthday present. Obviously, the last time Gultopp got an authentic Maraia mask was when Indiga ascended the throne, along with a Jarek mask. Maraia basically considers herself a full-blooded Folkvaran at this point, and often wears red.

She's also the only person outside of the Folkvar royals who knows of Sygbarne, but keeps her trap shut because her mother didn't raise no snitch. She does, however, help Blomi in subtle ways.

I'd say that if she heard of what Lazuline's doing in my fic on AO3, she would very subtly help, likely by delivering a lotta paper or ink to the Evangeline Castle as a present for Lazuline under her nom de plume when she writes for paleontology papers, S. Aria.

As for how other divines see her, she might as well not exist to any of them except for Cerno, Mankind's Disgrace, and Karenza. She and Cerno don't meet a lot, but they both share a camaderie for making monsters that are a massive pain to Evangeline. Mankind's Disgrace likes the suffering her monsters make and even managed to tame a few Boulderbacks and Cockatrices for his personal use, although she doesn't really like her monsters being used by him but doesn't bug him. Karenza dislikes her monsters as they murder innocents with no remorse, but ultimately feels sorry for her losses that made her snap.

[minecraftbookshelf]

How to Become the King of Mythland

(For Dummies)

Since I already made the posts for the Roseblings, I figured I'd go ahead and write the one for the third core member of the WRA. (I am still accepting suggestions for who to do next for this series, so far I've done Pix, the Seablings, and the Roseblings)

The usual copy+paste of Relevant Notes to start...

Also a general note relevant to the succession criteria of the majority of the empires. Remember this whole thing, where Pix kind of accidentally changed the formal definition of war in the empires? That had a lot of implications for how royalty functioned in the Empires. While they still absolutely have internal duties and responsibilities and privileges, ultimately their most important job is that they stand ready to defend their empire and its people at all times. Part of this is that they also function as international ambassadors in a way, while most empires also have official ambassadors, the relationships and interactions between the emperors themselves are a very important (sometimes volatile) facet of international relations. A country cannot be recognized internationally as an autonomous nation without an official Emperor/Head of State.

Mythland is one of the oldest mortal realms, neck and neck with Helianthia (the exact order there is a hotly debated point) it's population is about equal parts human and hybrid and, like the Grimlands, it is not uncommon to find faint traces of various fae ancestries among the populace.

It is not the largest kingdom, but it is one of the strongest. And is famed for its beautiful and efficient infrastructure.

Mythland is one of the empires with a more "traditional" monarchy, traced through bloodline. The current royal family, House Sausage, has held the throne for about ten or twelve generations.

Since the advent of the role of royalty changing, the heirs to the throne have undergone a slightly altered education, culminating in a "final exam"/"quest" in which they are required to meet certain requirements to prove their worth to inherit the crown and defend the empire and its people.

Usually after their quest is completed and they have officially graduated from their (rigorous) military training, they have a few years to focus on less martial elements of education before their parent abdicates and passes on the crown, but in Sausage's case his parents were assassinated at the same time as the Count of the Grimlands, and he was crowned shortly thereafter, the very day after his parents were buried.

(Yes, there was a coordinated attack on several rulers at once, yes this is relevant to several of their backstories. This is also when Pearl became Queen of Helianthia.)

And obviously this kind of trauma and lack of time and space to grieve properly had no negative effects on Mythical J Sausage whatsoever. :)

-

AU Masterpost

[veenvss]

Dawn Court

The Family 2/8

autumn court | day court | main masterlist | worldbuilding masterlist

ACOTAR to me has always had so much potential but it was just ruined by it's execution. however, I am a grown woman (I'm 18) and I also have free time so I though, "Huh, why not do it myself?"

Hi.

This is a post on the Dawn Court and its "royal family".

Canonically, the Dawn Court is the southernmost Solar Court in Prythian, its current High Lord is Thesan. There are two other things we know about the Dawn Court. A large population of it's court are immigrants, or the children of them, from a country called Xian, as was revealed in a discussion during the War Meeting:

“No,” Beron said, frowning, “but where did she come from? Who are you?” The last bit directed at Nuan. “I am the daughter of two High Fae from Xian, who moved here to give their children a better life, if that is what you are demanding to know,” Nuan answered tightly. Helion demanded of Beron, “What does this have to do with anything?” Beron shrugged. “If her family is from Xian—which I’ll have you remember fought for the Loyalists—then whose interests does she serve?” Helion’s amber eyes flashed. Thesan cut in sharply, “I will have you remember, Beron, that my own mother hailed from Xian. And a large majority of my court did as well. Be careful what you say.”

In my latest reread I read Xian and I was like "Isn't that a city in China?". Yes, yes it is, although it's written as Xi'an in English. It's actually a really influential city. It's home to the supercool Terracotta army.

So, with Xian out of the way for the moment, let's get to the other situation in the Dawn Court. The Peregryns. They're described as being "distantly related to Drakon's Seraphims people..." and, from what I gathered in their brief description, they have white feathers. The one issue with them is that we never get given a name for any Peregryn, not even Thesan's lover, but I'm getting to that later.

I googled Thesan's name and found that it was the name of an Etruscan goddess. Thesan was the goddess of dawn, divination and childbirth, the equivalent of Eos or Aurora. The Etruscan civilisation was an ancient civilization which ruled over an area of ancient Italy known as Etruria, which is now modern-day Tuscany, roughly. They were then taken over by Rome.

Thesan's father, as he was a fae from the Dawn Court, has an Etruscan name as well. I called him Esplace and also gave him the last name Roig. Roig isn't an Etruscan name but it was hard enough finding Etruscan first names I wasn't going to go on a year-long hunt for Etruscan surnames so I just went with Catalan names because I could. So, his full name is Esplace Roig. Esplace is the Etruscan version of Asklepios, the Ancient Greek god of Healing. I did choose it on purpose, as in ACOWAR, Feyre mentions that the Dawn Court was the Court of Healing so I thought it tied nicely. Roig is a surname meaning "red" which I chose for the red sunsets and sunrises.

Thesan's mother is from Xian, which is ACOTAR's version of China. I chose the name Yawen Zhu. From what I could find, Yawen is combined of "ya" meaning "elegant" and "wen" meaning "cloud patterns" which I thought went well with the Dawn Court being a Solar Court. Zhu is a surname that can come from "zhu" meaning "vermilion red" or the name of the ancient state. It was also the name of the Ming dynasty emperors.

Nuan can mean "warm, genial" which is quite nice in the Dawn Court.

Now onto the Peregryns. They are literally never shown and, of course, never named. I think, even though they're shown to be a lot closer to the Dawn Court than Illyrians are, they would still have their own separate culture from the High Fae. So I chose not to give them Etruscan names and instead went for another Mediterranean language.

The only Peregryn we really get shown is Thesan's lover. I called him Xurxo Puga. Xurxo is the Galician form of George, meaning "earthworker". Puga is a surname that means "thorn, prickle" in Galician as well. I thought calling him a name that means earthworker would be funny as he is able to fly.

i do just want to say that with yawen and nuan, i am only taking one version of their characters and i do know that Chinese has the option for a few different translations. i am english, i only speak english so if i do get something terribly wrong tell me and I'll correct it to the best of my ability AND if you didn't guess, i wrote yawen zhu the english way, with the surname last.

[limited-fish]

Should I put some of my WIP on ao3? because I really want feedback. (Friends are too busy to read or give very vague feedback lol)

If you're interested in stories with unique world building, dragon-adjacent creatures, gender trouble, time travelling, shape shifters, many unreliable narrators and gods with bad tempers from whom magic users gain their power, then you may enjoy The Divided Door (working title) (may also be under The Analogy of the Divided Door). And yes, the two main characters are both trans.

Fiorel, a low ranking faerie, is forced to work with Jassid, a seemingly normal human tailor, while trying to uncover who killed nar father, why the eelems disappeared and why no new fae are being made. Meanwhile Temmin, a powerful sorcerer and his apprentice, Olia, daughter of the Emperor's favourite Imperial Hunter, are intent on ridding the world of barbarians, fae and monsters. Fiorel and Jassid's search for the truth takes them to weird little towns, forests deeper than glaciers, sprawling cities, wide open plains and far underground, each scene bursting with characters to help or hinder their journey.

It is still a work in progress and the plot hasn't completely solidified (and neither has the world building if I'm being honest) but that is why I need some one to help iron out the kinks (or put some in if needed). If anything is unclear, please tell me so that I can try to make it more intentional.

Trigger warnings include

- cheating

- blood mention (I haven't written any gore yet but it will probably be present later)

- fictional racism

- child death

- sex mentioned (m/m, m/nb, probably more later)

- possibly transphobia

- death

- murder

- torture

I'll have to check that this list is complete, but if its on ao3, the tags on that should cover everything.

Some characters use neopronouns (more accurately, their culture and language does not consider gender that important) so if neopronouns annoy you this may not be your cup of tea. Fiorel uses nai/nam/nar.

Fae is just the word I'm using to describe the undead shapeshifting servants of the penjagai, the demiurges, guardians of nature. It has very little to do with fairy tales although they are not completely disconnected.

I'm slightly worried about people and AI bots stealing my ideas - and whether it will be less viable to publish if I ever finish it. That's not a big fear however, as I've read Joy Demorras work and it seems she had no trouble getting published. Another anxiety is obviously people being callous or hateful with their comments but I am sure my mutuals will be lovely.

I have worked on it for about two years now, on and off and has many influences, one of them being Discworld although I am aiming for maybe a different tone.

Remember that all of it is subject to change.

My ao3 handle is limited_fish so it shouldn't be too hard to find... I just have to find the courage to upload it.

Hope you enjoy 😁

🐟 Signing off and hoping I can find a fabled beta reader 🤞

Corey 🖋️ヽ⁠(⁠｡⁠◕⁠o⁠◕⁠｡⁠)⁠ﾉ

(he/him)

PS I would especially like ppl who are native Greenlandic to help me out a bit because everything revolves around a people group that are partially inspired by real life Greenlandic people. I need to do more research (I've only read Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow and am not sure how accurate it is especially considering the guy who wrote it isn't native Greenlandic.) so if anyone could help me out, I would appreciate it 🙏

(This people group is also partially inspired by the Romani people having made a long journey from India to Europe. The Kutkuallahns (may change name later) travelled from the equivalent of the Antarctic where they had lived for thousands of years to a large southern continent, where they had to change their way of living quite drastically as they were no longer in a perpetually freezing climate. Again, I need to do more research and probably consult with anthropologists, but if you have any ideas for customs that might continue even once they are in a different climate, that would be awesome.)

PPS I know I use too many parentheses.

[kittttycakes]

Thank you so much for indulging me and for all the details about these wonderful beings and their relationship!

Can I be suuuuper greedy though, and officially beg of you to maybe, one day, if you have time AND want to, pretty please write something with for the gladiator fantasy or Morpheus hosting a tournament?

I need imperious and aloof (on the outside at least) Emperor!Morpheus and Empress!Grace draped in silks and gold, watching on while Hob fights bare chested (yes to that chest hair!) on the sand below them.

What will Hob’s reward be if he is the last gladiator standing I wonder? Would the Emperor and Empress wish to test his prowess elsewhere?

Or (equally delicious and needed)….

Tournament in the Dreaming, with nobles and notables from all the realms in attendance. King Morpheus’ champion Hob competes against a bold knight from Faerie who tries to seek the favour of their consort, the fair lady Grace, before the tourney begins.

Is Morpheus indulgent of this knight’s flattery of their beautiful Grace? Or is he indignant and savouring every hit that Hob eagerly lands on the impudent fae?

I do feel incredibly selfish and hypocritical begging any kind of writing off someone when I am notoriously slow and hopeless at writing for anything.

So please don’t feel any obligation and do feel free to tell me to bugger off!

Please never feel bad for making a request!! I am always open to taking prompts of any kind and this has absolutely been added to my smut pile list along with a couple others that languish in my inbox for some Promptober fills.

I love the fantasy of the relationship happening in reverse: Morpheus and Grace together, and Hob being pulled into it. It’s very reassuring for both of them, to know that they would still choose each other, independent of Hob. And on a less serious note, it allows them to gang up on Hob, which is one of their favorite things to do.

They both want the best, and Hob is the best! That kind of stamina in a fight surely translates elsewhere, and how could he possibly refuse the emperor anything? The material gain is negligible to him, the gold and leather and weaponry pales in comparison to what he can find in the emperor and empress’s private rooms…

Grace would lose her mind over a tournament, she gets to live out her lovely romanticized medieval fantasy with her two favorite people, and she’d be absolutely fascinated by the faeries as a nice added bonus. Hob gets the chance to show off just how skilled he is in front of both Morpheus and Grace, and Morpheus gets the chance to show just how much the Dreaming thrives…and how well defended it is.

Morpheus would be a little jealous, not because he doubts Grace, but because he always will be, just a touch, not enough to be harmful but enough to have a bit of a good time with after. She’s already given her favor to Hob, but that doesn’t stop the other champion from asking, and politeness does dictate that she give him something, which is how he ends up with one of the ribbons from her hair.

Hob, naturally, treats the ribbon as a target, and does absolutely everything in his power to win it back, with the express intention of gifting it to Morpheus in return. He has to get it back, Grace’s honor is at stake here (it really isn’t, but don’t tell Hob that, he won’t listen anyway).

Oh, big same, I feel like I write very slowly (especially when it comes to this next chapter but progress continues to be made, bit by bit)! But seriously, don’t ever feel bad for asking, the chances are very, very high that it’ll be added to the ideas pile for all of my eventual one shots (maybe some two shots. an occasional three shot, if you will) that I’m very much looking forward to for both Promptober and just general low stakes fun once the main WIP is done!

[hriobzagelthewanderer]

So like, this whole Court of the Wanderer thing.

Are you like. A king now?

"...yes... and no. I have always been a 'Ruler' to some degree, and of what some may consider a line of 'Royalty' at least in regards to the Fae... but there is a difference between technicality and practice. I am no King or Emperor, and I do not wish to refer to myself as anything so potentially tyrannical... but I admit to the attempt of acting more befitting of the title of 'Lord of the Fae', in no small part through my efforts to collect and unite my friends and allies under my banner."

"This does not change who I am, or who I am trying to become. The Fae Court of the Wanderer is simply my work at trying a new methodology and perspective, both to reach out and to assist those I care about, and myself as well. For all the good that stubbornly working alone for the most part has done me, I have always made my best work with others in mind, and improved and changed the most when it is not myself alone I work or fight for; this is the culmination of that realization, applied and made into my new approach towards reaching for the future."

[moonxsuncelestials]

More on Hell Dragons

🌋Hell Dragons are often classified as Fire Dragons but they too are seen as a subspecies of the Celestial Dragons, as they are viewed to be Fallen Celestials. Each generation seems to share the memory of being cast out of the Heavens because of how they are the darker aspect of their Light counterparts. This could be why whenever a Celestial Dragon falls into their domain, they pounce on the opportunity to either feast on them or torment them.

🌋 Their powers vary but what these guys have in common is similar to that of vampires, who are said to be a possible variant of these terrifying, baddest of the bad, dragons. These powers include:

Hypnosis/Thrall

Manipulations of certain elements (just more demonic)

Flight

Shapeshifting

🌋 Some Hell Dragons are even able to dream walk, though this is a rare occurrence and said that only the eldest of dragons can do or they are blessed by Lilith herself to be full of dark magic to use this as another means of hunting their prey. Sai Gong has this ability as the Dragon Emperor and many suspect that Yun will have the same power through Akhir.

🌋 Another aspect of Hell Dragons that makes them the most feared of all Fire/Celestial Dragon species, is their 'insanity' which is more of their chaotic alignment as they are similar to the Fae of Irish and Scottish Lore. For example, look at how Maleficent reacted in the original Disney's Sleeping Beauty. This is EXACTLY how Hell Dragons would react and they do not care if they attack an innocent. What matters is getting their point across and they do seem to enjoy causing pain and suffering towards Humans and the Celestials alike.

🌋 They rarely pair up with demons, given how dangerous they are and all Hellborns know better than to even attempt this (but hey when you get desperate) but Hell Dragons are known to partner up with the demons or other Hellborns to ensure a hunt is successful or that their venture is a success. However, it should be forewarned that they come at a high price and will eat their partner if they feel that they are double-crossed.

🌋Speaking of which, some fun facts about their diet:

Souls-humans or other immortals who are caught in their thrall (lest they are doing this for fun)

Meat-Raw meat is the best for them and yes, they can be rather cannibalistic as it strengthens their powers. In the old days, the strongest warriors would offer themselves to their families or fellow soldiers should they have been severely injured; this is still practiced today but now it's more of an honorary position.

Blood-nutritional and has a huge benefit for mothers, Hell Dragons can even detect subtle notes as if it's a fine wine.

Human Flesh and Bones-younger Hell Dragons, like Yun for example, tend to enjoy the taste and can have a hankering for it around their rut/heat seasons. The bones have marrow and this is incredibly important as it has nutritional benefits for the young ones.

[apricusnights]

Olympus Tournament Story: The Sun Will Rise.

Continued from here.

Location: Solis Heights, Apricus City

In a hidden lab below the district. Talos sits and watches several monitors as Valerie and Pierce handle the ongoing situation.

Pierce: "I've gotten word from my brother. He and Kara are on an escape craft headed towards land."

Valerie: "Did they manage to secure the asset?"

Pierce: "The one from Fae? Yes, he's there with them."

Valerie: "Excellent, send a helicopter to their location when they make landfall."

Pierce: "Already on it. It's a bit of a shame Kara couldn't make the finals but I suppose it all works out in the end."

Talos: "Quiet, I've received word to move on to the next step. Go to your stations and activate all of the sleepers. Have our operatives strike at their targets of choice. Most of the world leaders haven't returned home yet and it's the perfect opportunity to take advantage of the chaos."

Pierce: "Of course."

Valerie: "One last thing, I had a team recover Mr. R's body. No real benefit but I doubt we wanted it ending up in the wrong hands..."

Talos: "Well done, now let the show begin.."

Location: Palace Of The Five Emperors

Cerise, Hugo, Johnny, and Skuld find themselves in the courtyard of the palace. A place Skuld has seen before and is none too happy to return to. Just as she's about to demand to be returned, each of the competitors find themselves teleported again, each to a different room somewhere in the palace.

Location: Main Deck, Olympus

The creature swung it's arms at anything that moved as the remaining competitors and council members fought against it. Some finding their traditional firearms ineffective against the creature's tough skin. Others opted for an up close approach but much to their chagrin every time an appendage was sliced off it would simply regrow moments later. Any damage dealt seemed to heal before the next round of attacks could even hit. To make matters worse, the ship was beginning to split further and was in danger of breaking into pieces.

Despite the fact everything was proving useless, not a single one of the fighters had any desire to give up. If they were going down, they planned on taking the monstrosity with them. Larsen began to use the waves to his advantage, controlling as many of them as he could to crash down on the creature and at least keep it off balance. Lowell had made his way back into the control room after he had an idea, likely a very poor idea but an idea.

Lowell had realized that the main generator to the Olympus has likely been damaged. If they could overload it further and trigger an explosion it might be enough to destroy the creature. An explosion with that kind of power should overwhelm the monster's regenerative capabilities. Or at least Lowell wanted to believe...it was their best shot.

Lowell, Fisher, Oct, and a small team had to make their way through the bowels of the ship which was rapidly filling with water. Meanwhile the rest of the team remained on the main deck to distract the monster. The idea was to do as much damage as possible right before the generator overloaded. When no one seemed to be paying attention, Ciar and Edana managed to collect a small sample of the creature. Ciar wasn't about to let a research opportunity slip away, even in this situation.

After barely managing to make it into the quickly flooding generator room, the team began to set up explosives. Something Oct was particularly knowledgeable about. Lowell and Fisher began to figure out how to overload the device. Eventually shutting down the power to the rest of the ship and beginning to cycle it through the generator over and over again.

Lionel Myte was quite helpful as he understood machinery of this sort AND how to sabotage it if need be. He did seem slightly upset about having to destroy something so impressive but did manage to pocket a few blueprints that Styles may want to look over later. As the generator began to pulse, the team made it's way to one of the escape crafts. The agreement was for them to launch after signaling the assault team.

Lowell signaled the team and closed the hatch, the craft launched away from the sinking ship and activated a beacon. Meanwhile the assault team struck against the creature with everything they had just as the ship finally broke into pieces. They continuously dealt damage faster than it could regenerate before Styles used his tech to rip giant pieces of metal from the ship and impaled the creature with them, leaving it trapped against the deck of the ship.

The team scrambled but made it into one of the remaining escape crafts. The craft barely had time to drop into the way and begin to cruise away as the generator pulsed and exploded, destroying most of the Olympus and hopefully vaporizing the creature as well. The escape craft's beacon activated and now all they had to do as wait for pickup..while Larsen and Styles argued about being stuck in a small space with each other..

Location: Apricus City

"Hello, this is Lydia Reliford from Apricus News. I've just returned to the city and boy am I happy to be on land again. For those of you still waiting to hear from friends or family, the Apricus Navy has located all of the escape crafts and is in the process of picking everyone up. Those rescued by helicopter are currently onboard Navy vessels as well and should return shortly."

"We are however receiving some rather unfortunate news from across the world. It seems several high profile individuals were attacked and some lost their lives. The leaders of several nations are blaming each other as the assailants seem to be from neighboring countries. The incident taking place on the Olympus is being regarded as sabotage with each nation wishing to conduct their own investigations."

"We have reports that several once friendly nations are implementing stricter border control and limiting trade and travel with other specific nations. The Apricus City Council will likely discuss this when they return. Especially after the apparent kidnap attempt of an Apricus citizen by individuals from Fae."

"We'll be bringing you continued coverage as more people are brought home safely. Have a good evening."

Location: Crepusculum

"Our mutual acquaintances are headed back to Apricus. Nearly everything went off without a hitch."

"I do regret the loss of our piece when it comes to Mr. R but his job was done. We may not have control of Paradise Entertainment any longer but the access he provided me to the city's records was more valuable."

"Not to mention our chief operative in Apricus has provided access to all of Cheshire Financial's systems. I'm sure they'll realize something is a miss eventually but for now everything is proceeding exactly as planned. Nobody suspects her at all."

"And the other heathen nations are already at each other's throats. Astounding how easy it is to break their faith in each other with a few well positioned apostles."

"Precisely. And now that the distrust is running rampant, everyone will want to improve their offensive, and defensive capabilities. So of course they'll come calling to the most technologically advanced nation in the world. And when they do, we'll happily cut them a deal...."

Epilogue:

Location: Palace Of The Five Emperors

"Cerise Gilios. As one of the winners of the tournament, a prize is yours. So tell me.."

"Skuld Kraka. As one of the winners of the tournament, a prize is yours. So tell me.."

"Hugo Knight. As one of the winners of the tournament, a prize is yours. So tell me.."

"Johnny C. Lakely. As one of the winners of the tournament, a prize is yours. So tell me.."

"WHAT DO YOU DESIRE?!"

The sun is about to rise on a new era!

[tev-the-random]

Ok, EXCUSE ME, but I did not spend months going insane over how much god hates Jimmy in particular for him to lose to Philza "God Loves Him So Much He Got Married To Her" Minecraft

The propaganda does not do him justice, you don't understand how deep in the mud his situation is. So let me tell you a little bit more about this fucked up little sheriff guy:

He built a church revolving around the Law and justice. Yes, it is a little corrupt of him, that he is the only one who dictated that law to begin with, and he did pay for that tenfold, trust me. But the point is: he is so devoted to the Law and his job as its upholder, he literally went out of his way to tell people they should follow it. He handed everyone its sacred book and berrated those who did not respect. He accidentally made his deputy start a whole cult about it. This man was never healthy about the Superior Force he calls Law, and it got worse.

He was amongst the people who did not believe that Joel was actually a god. And for a while, that made sense, what did Joel have going for him other than fancy builds? That is not the initial reason why Joel targeted him, but when you're a nonbeliever and god decides to smite you everyday, you do tend to get a lot more bitter about religion. For Jimmy, this translated into anger, desperation and yes, guilt.

GOD RUINED HIM IN EVERY WAY POSSIBLE. After spending so long being made fun of for "being a toy", Jimmy actually got turned into one. All of the pranks, jabs, condescending remarks, vandalism in his empire and general distancing of the other emperors who wanted to make him feel inferior wasn't enough. Joel had to curse him into becoming an actual toy, and he had to spend the rest of the season as a tiny little cowboy. He doesn't even get to be real anymore.

He tried retribution. Damn, he tried so hard to get payback for all of that, but everything always turned against him. He tried to arrest god and god killed him. He tried to disprove god's divinity and nobody even listened. He tried to rely on his allies only for them to turn their backs and join god at laughing at him. He tried to fight, to argue, to move on, but Joel made it a ritual to come down from his empire in the sky everyday just to mess with Jimmy.

Joel capitalised on all of this, by the way. He made little plushies based on Jimmy, got sued for it and still didn't get rid of them.

I don't think I can tell you just how painful it became to watch Jimmy's perspective. This whole thing became his main arc for the season, and the fans clamoured for him to get a villain arc so that he could get his revenge. It never happened, and he remained forever seen by others as weak and pathetic (which, to be fair, has always been Jimmy's brand, but his character in this particular SMP only wanted to be loved, man)

It is theorised by many, due to Joel calling Jimmy's empire "Toy Town", that he turned the entirety of Jimmy's home into toys as well. Since then, Jimmy and the Old Sheriff acknowledge multiple times that Tumble Town is empty; they are the only citizens left around, and although that had many reasons, God Joel was still very much one of them. Jimmy is Alone.

The weird thing is that Jimmy and Joel eventually reach a compromise. They make a new Law book to suit both of their rules and become "best buds". Although Jimmy is clearly still hurt by everything this god has done to him, he is so quick to accept a truce and an apology. Worse yet, he apologises to Joel for calling him short and considers Joel calling him "a real person" to be a great compliment. Tell me he doesn't have a fucked up relationship with god, I dare you.

Oh, you thought that was it? Oh no, Jimmy actually goes through a THIRD act of religious guilt. When the Fae turns up to the server and rewards/compliments Jimmy for doing its bidding, he literally starts worshipping it. It becomes, and I quote, "his only friend". He gets his wings back from it after having lost them in one of his altercations with the other emperors, he gets respect from it and he checks on it all the time to see if it needs anything.

And when he does something wrong? He gets cursed again. But he continues to do the Fae's bidding. He himself calls it a cult at that point, and even though the people around him are kind of weary of this, he keeps putting his trust in this... eldritch thing. Out of everyone who meets the Fae, Jimmy is by far the one who gets the most.... religiously invested in it.

In the end, the Fae completely takes over his land and he's forced to flee. After everything he's done for it and for Tumble Town.

I love these ccs and I love Empires, which is why I'm telling you, Jimmy had it rough and deserves to win this round. Thank you.

MCYT RELIGIOUS GUILT OFF R1 MATCH 2

SOLIDARITYGAMING (EMPIRES SMP SEASON 2 / 3RD LIFE) VS PH1LZA (DSMP)

SolidarityGaming: "jimmy is my blorbo my sad pathetic wet cat of a man and i think he atones every day for the sin of wanting respect thank you for coming to my ted talk”

Ph1lza: "He is literally married his goddess. It’s a level of extra credit I dream to achieve."

[theunfairfolk]

please please please tell us your theory about why fae cant lie

the TL/DR version is that the fae can’t lie because they aren’t actually speaking human language, they’re speaking the language of the fae, which only uses the True Names of things. So if a fae were to refer to a tree, they would say the True Name of that SPECIFIC tree. constructing a lie would require the fae to make up a false name/a new truth which is not something they’re capable of. (unless…)

if you want the full version/the way i originally worked all this out, here’s an excerpt from a story i wrote where a fae (Lincoln) is trying to make a deal with The Prince (human). i also delve into what seelie vs unseelie means and some other fae lore. i wrote the whole story on a 72 hour bender where i didn’t sleep and barely ate. it’s the closest i’ve come to Receiving A Vision. enjoy!

“Well… if we work sunup to sunup-”

“I can’t.” The Prince cut him off. “I have to sleep. And eat. And I would like to do other things, on occasion.”

“Then a long time.” He wrinkled his nose. “Longer than the moon takes to fatten and vanish.”

“You mean a month?”

Lincoln stared blankly. “What’s a month?”

“It’s… one day is from sunup to sunup.”

“It’s… one day is from sunup to sunup.”

“It’s… one day is from sunup to sunup.”

“And 30 of those make a month?”

“Yes.” The Prince nodded. “Sometimes. Other times it’s 31. Or 28. Or 29. But usually just 30 or 31.”

Lincoln stared at him in bewilderment. “Why would you have a measurement that changes? How can you remember what times it’s 30 and what times it’s not?”

“Well, we have calendars.” The Prince explained. “You can also use your knuckles.” Lincoln looked down at his hands.

“How?”

The Prince stood, moving so he was standing beside Lincoln. “So if you start here.” He pointed at the base pinky knuckle of Lincoln’s left hand. “And count the knuckles and the spaces between them as months, the knuckles will be months with 31 days, and the spaces will be months with less than 31 days.”

Lincoln used his right hand to tap his left knuckles one by one. “So there are 7 months?”

“Ah, no. You keep going on the other hand.” He demonstrated on his own, pointing to each knuckle and space on his left and then switching to his right, starting with the base knuckle of his pointer finger.

“Not the thumbs?” Lincoln asked. “The pattern breaks.” He tapped his pointer finger knuckles together. “Two 31 months in a row.” The Prince nodded, and Lincoln stared at his hands, mouthing silently.

“What’s after 10?”

“The number?” He blinked. “11.”

“And then?”

“12.”

“And then?”

“13.”

“One more.”

“14.”

“So there’s 14 months.” Lincoln grinned triumphantly.

“Ah, no.” He winced. “There’s only 12.”

Lincoln tossed his hands into the air. “You have 14 knuckles and spaces!”

“I know.” The Prince grinned sheepishly. “You’re supposed to stop after 12. Humans are taught the number of months before they’re taught the number of days. The knuckle trick is actually not well known. One of my tutors showed it to me.”

“So there’s 12 months that alternate 31 and not 31 days. But there’s two that don’t alternate. And you can use your knuckles but you have to remember to stop at 12. And you still don’t know how many days the not 31 months have because they could be 30 or 29 or 28.” Lincoln huffed.

“Only one month has 28 days.” He pointed to the space after the left pinkie knuckle. “February.”

“Febru-what?”

“February. It’s what we call the second month.”

“They have names?”

The Prince nodded. “January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December.”

“Why are they called that?”

“I’m not sure, actually.” He admitted. “I know that July and August were named after Roman emperors. I think. And September, October, November and December were originally the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th months of the year.” He saw the blank look in Lincoln’s eyes and went on. “So in Latin, 7 is septum, 8 is octum, 9 is novem, and 10 is decim.”

“Latin?” He made a face. “One of those weird things you made up?”

“Not me personally, but yes, someone made it.”

“And then the emperor months were added and the made up months don’t mean what you made them up to mean anymore.”

“Yes.”

“So which ones have 29?” Lincoln asked.

“Ah… only February does.” The Prince tried not to laugh at the outraged expression that appeared on Lincoln’s face. “Every four years we have a “leap year” where February gets an extra day.”

“Why?!” Lincoln yelled.

“If we don’t add it, the months will slowly get out of line, and all the days will be wrong.” The Prince explained. “So the summer equinox will be on a different day, and then the seasons won’t align with the months anymore-”

“Seasons? Like winter, fall, summer, and spring?”

“Yes.”

“They line up with the months?”

“Yes. Each season is three months long.”

“Four groups of three.” Lincoln hummed. “We have something similar.”

“Months?”

“No.” He rolled his eyes. “We don’t have anything that stupid. But we have these things called courts. There’s a court for each season, and each court has three leaders, one seelie, one unseelie, and one besides.”

“What’s a seelie and what’s an unseelie?”

Lincoln scoffed. “You don’t know what a seelie is?”

“No. I don’t think most humans know much about the fae.”

“Well that’s because we want it that way. But still, seelie and unseelie are like… knowing what’s darkness and what’s light.”

“So it’s an appearance thing?”

“No, that was just a metaphor.” Lincoln huffed. “Seelies are the fae who are meant to reward good. Unseelie are the fae who are meant to punish bad.”

“So, the seelie only reward people and the unseelie only punish?”

“No.” Lincoln snorted. “Seelie and unseelie alike can reward and punish.”

“So… the difference is only in name?”

“No.” He frowned. “The words you use are so limiting.”

“What do you mean?”

“Your language. It doesn’t work well with fae concepts.”

“You have your own language then?”

“Yes. Seelie and unseelie aren’t even the right words, they’re just… a sort of translation.”

“What’s the words for them in your language?” The Prince asked curiously. Lincoln responded with a series of noises that the Prince didn’t think living creatures were able to make. Some of them were noises that he didn’t think existed. When Lincoln saw the look on his face, he shrugged.

“If you spoke my language, you’d understand what they meant just by hearing them. That’s why it’s so hard to explain things. No one’s ever had to explain anything to another fae ever.”

“You’re born with the knowledge? Or you gain it when you hear the words?”

“Well we’re not born, but kind of both. We’re formed with the ability to understand our language, and every new word we hear adds to our knowledge. We’re also able to just… look at an object and know the word for it. Like it was written on it. So if someone speaks a word, we automatically know the meaning, and if we see something, we automatically know the word, and are able to convey the meaning to others.”

“How many words does your language have?”

“As many as there are things in the universe. So, infinite.” Lincoln shrugged. The Prince fell silent, both impressed and a bit overwhelmed. Then something occurred to him.

“If you instantly understand the concept and meaning of a word when you hear it, why didn’t you know what a month was?”

“That’s how our language works.” Lincoln countered. “Every word is the true word for whatever it is. Every name is the true name. It comes with understanding because it is understanding. You humans just made up noises on your own. And you didn’t even make up the same noises. And sometimes you use different noises for the same thing.”

“I never considered it like that, but I suppose you’re right.” The Prince mused. “So you don’t have any sort of… tutors or lessons or things like that?”

“The humans who tell other humans things for a living?” Lincoln laughed. “No. We just gather knowledge as we live. The older a fae gets, the more they know. Usually. There are exceptions, like if a fae lives alone. But that’s rare. And then some types of fae are smarter than others.”

“Are you born, er, formed knowing English?” The Prince asked.

“English?” Lincoln made a face. “Who’s that?”

“It’s not a who, it’s a what.” The Prince chuckled. “You’re speaking it right now.”

“Language?” He asked, confused.

“English is one language, yes. Latin is another.”

“You have specific names for the types of noises one group of humans makes.” Lincoln said flatly.

“Yes. The fae language doesn’t have a name?”

“Not in ‘English’ it doesn’t.” Lincoln said, exaggeratedly pronouncing the word and rolling his eyes.

“So are you formed knowing it?”

“Kind of.” Lincoln shrugged. “This is another concept that… doesn’t really have a word for it. We speak all languages because we’re not really speaking the language. We’re saying what we mean, and you’re kind of. Hearing what you understand.”

“So when you said those things earlier. The right words for seelie and unseelie. What I heard was just… noises.”

“Right, because it can’t be translated or understood by you.”

“But then when I hear seelie and unseelie, what are you saying?”

“The same thing. Just in a way you can understand. .” The Prince raised an eyebrow.

“I thought you didn’t have multiple words for the same thing.”

“We don’t. What I’m saying right now isn’t how I’d talk to another fae at all.” He pursed his lips. “If… for example, I wanted to say ‘the tree is brown’. There’s no direct translation for that statement in fae because… I dunno it’s not anything that ever needs to be said. But we have a word for tree and we have a word for brown and we have a word for ‘the’ and ‘is’ so I line those up in the right order and say it and it translates but if I were to say the words ‘the tree is brown’ in fae to another fae it would be like… a bunch of gibberish. They’d probably just ask why I was speaking human to them but if the humans didn’t exist, that phrase would never be uttered.”

“But individual words. Why does ‘seelie’ sound like seelie sometimes and not others?”

“Well, it hasn’t always existed. So when the first human found out about the different types of fae, they made up a word for it. We didn’t say ‘seelie and unseelie’ we explained the types and the person made up the word.”

“And then you all started using it?”

“No, but the word existed so the next time a fae tried to make themselves understood while talking about the types of fae, the human heard ‘seelie and unseelie’.”

“Then how can I hear a difference between that and the real word?”

“Because I’m not trying to make myself understood.”

“You can just. Turn it on and off?”

“Do you hear a difference between talking and singing? Or when someone is being sincere or sarcastic? Or what emotion a person is using?”

“Yes….” The Prince said slowly. “Most of the time, anyways. Sometimes people change their tone, or are bad at expressing themselves. Some people are bad at reading others too.”

“Exactly!” Lincoln clapped. “Fae are the same. Some have a better grasp of the tone to use to make humans understand them. Some have a worse grasp of it. Usually the more you interact with humans the better you get. But some fae just have an ear for it.”

“So… earlier, when you couldn’t count past 10.”

“I know how to count. I just don’t know how humans express… um….” He furrowed his brow. “The word for the… many of things.”

“Number?”

“No.” He flapped his hands in frustration. “The concept of there being more than one.”

“Multiple? Numerous? Many?” The Prince guessed.

“No.” He growled. “I don’t know how humans express the blank of things.”

“Number works.” The Prince said slowly.

“Yes but there’s another word for number. But not number. How many things there are.”

“Amount?”

“AMOUNT.” Lincoln clapped. “That’s it. I’m bad with anything relating to numbers, honestly.” He paused. “Quantity is another word for it. Math, I suppose, but more than that.”

“So when I say things… what do you hear?”

“I hear what you’re saying.” Lincoln rolled his eyes. “Your words can’t be translated into fae.”

“Then why can’t you just… memorize the words and speak them like we do? Why the translation thing?”

“It’s like… you can hear the difference between a cat hissing and meowing, right?”

“Right.”

“And you can even mimic them, right?”

“Right.”

“But you’re not actually meowing in the same way they’re meowing. You’re just mimicking it. And if you wanted to tell the cat ‘don’t bring me dead mice anymore’ you wouldn’t be able to say it in a way they understood because their ‘language’ isn’t that complex.”

“Right.”

“That’s why we use the magic to speak to you. Well, a mix of magic and dumbing things down. Like how you might be able to hold the mouse in front of the cat and hiss and they’d understand you’re upset but not be able to process what’s bad about a mouse.”

“Because the concept of someone not wanting a dead mouse is beyond the understanding of a cat… like the concept of seelie and unseelie is beyond the understanding of a human?”

“Exactly.” Lincoln grinned. “You’re pretty smart for a cat, though.”

The Prince laughed. “Thank you.” As soon as the words had slipped from his mouth, he froze. “Wait, I didn’t mean that. I’m not erasing what you did or thinking that my words negate anything or-”

Lincoln held up a hand to stop him, expression flat. “I take back what I said. You’re a pretty stupid cat.”

“I’m s-” He stopped himself with a frustrated noise. “It’s... difficult to express myself when the only methods I have available are upsetting to you.”

“The phrases ‘thank you’ and ‘I’m sorry’ aren’t inherently upsetting. It’s the concept or intent behind them.” Lincoln squinted at him. “Who taught you fae conduct?”

“I read it. In a book.” He sighed. “A Princess gave it to me.”

“The Princess of the East?” He asked immediately.

“Yes.” The Prince raised his eyebrows. “How did you know?”

“She’s as close to fae as most humans get.” Lincoln grinned. “Everyone knows her.”

“Well she wrote a book, and it had rules in it. And one rule was not to not say… certain things.”

“Yeah.” He laughed. “Most elder fae lose their shit over ‘thanks’ and ‘sorry’ even outside of the context where it’s actually hurtful.”

“Like how… dogs bark when they’re happy or angry, but some people don’t want them to bark at all because the sound is annoying?”

“Mm… kind of.” Lincoln scratched one of his horns. “More like… how ‘ass’ can mean an animal or a body part depending on the context. And how most people avoid saying ‘ass’ at all because even if they’re talking about the animal, people have the immediate connotation of the body part.”

“Right.” The Prince nodded. “Do you mind if I ask you questions about some of the things in the book?”

“Show it to me first.”

The Prince hesitated.

“Is it true fae can’t lie?” He asked.

“Yes.” Lincoln grinned. “But there’s no real way to know if that answer is true. You’d only know for sure if I’d said ‘no’ but that wouldn’t make you believe me any more than you already do.”

“Is it true you have to keep your word?”

“Yes.” His expression grew serious. “The fact that humans can make a promise or say you’ll do something and then go back on your word is… inconceivable. It would be like you trying to stop your heart from beating.” He shook his head. “I think it’s because of our language. We only speak the truth. Your words are just made up. They don’t hold the same power. ...are you going to ask me to promise something?”

“I just want your word that this isn’t a trick, and that you’re not going to damage the book or steal it.” The Prince answered. “Or that… showing it to you won’t give you some kind of power, or make you angry and harm me or something.”

“I won’t steal or damage the book, I won’t even look at any part other than the conducts, it isn’t a trick, nothing will happen to you or to me because I see the book or read what’s written.” He considered this. “Now that I think about it, we can lie in some ways. We can make predictions and be wrong, which technically means we lied. I can say that me seeing the book won’t affect anything but the book ends up being magical and the moment I touch it a dark force erupts from it and envelops the house, killing us both.” He shrugged. “We can also make jokes, which can be a sort of lie. Or use ‘loopholes’ which we exploit a lot. Like ‘I am taller than the trees’. I didn’t say which trees or how many. But because your language is stupid and imprecise, I can express a concept in a way that is misleading to most people.”

“But you can’t lie knowingly.” The Prince said. “What happens if you try?”

“I mean… some fae can, but we don’t… talk about them.” Lincoln rubbed his neck, obviously uncomfortable.

“Why can some of you but not others?”

“The ones that can lie… well ok, the ones that do lie had to. Work at it.” He sighed. “The older the fae get the smarter they get, right? So some of the really old fae have amassed knowledge that goes against pretty much every facet of fae existence. Like how I compared talking to humans in a way that’s singing? They learned how to hit the notes that are lies. Most of us don’t have that register. There’s actually no way to express a false concept in the fae language. Like saying ‘this tree is brown’. Makes sense in human, but not really in fae. We have a word for big tree, a word for small tree, a word for all trees, a word for specific groupings of trees, like literally a group of five trees in a specific forest will have a different word than a group of five trees in another forest. Or the same forest and the same type of trees but just a different grouping. Entirely different words. But you just… have a word for all trees and then you tack on other words to specify what you mean. Or you say ‘that tree’ or ‘this tree’ and the context of where you are and how you’re pointing changes the meaning.”

“Wait.” The Prince stood and went into the cabinets, retrieving two identical jars of jam and holding them up, one in each hand. “So if I wanted to refer to this jar.” He wiggled one of the jars. “I would say one word. And if I wanted to refer to this jar.” He wiggled the other jar. “It’s another word. Even though the jars are identical?”

Lincoln rolled his eyes. “But they’re not. They’re different jars. They might look the same to you and share the same properties, but they’re different.”

“So when you look at these jars, you see different things. As in they appear different to you.”

“Yes.”

“If I were to switch the jars around while you weren’t looking would you be able to tell the difference?”

Lincoln snorted. “Yes.”

“Can we try?”

“Knock yourself out.” Lincoln closed his eyes and turned around. The Prince clinked the jars together, but kept them in the same hands.

“Ok, turn around.”

Lincoln glanced at the jars. “You didn’t move them.”

“You guessed.”

“No I didn’t.” He laughed. “You believed I could teach you to spin thread into gold but you don’t believe I can tell two jars apart?”

“Fair enough.” He put the jars back and sat down. “So… lying.”

“Right.” Lincoln frowned. “So we have a word for everything. We even have a word for lying, though it’s the only fae word that sounds like another word. It sounds like ‘truth’ but it sounds like the opposite of truth.”

“How is there an opposite of a sound?”

“I can’t explain that to you. There just is.”

“Right, ok. So it sounds like the opposite of truth. Why do you have a word for a concept you don’t… actually have? Was it something you had to define because humans were doing it?”

“No. We have different words for like. What you consider to be lies and actual lies. Like me saying I’m taller than trees. We have a term for that and a term for, ah… hm. If I were to point to a tree and say ‘I am taller than that tree’ but I’m not.”

“But you can engage in hypotheticals.”

“Yes, because remember, I’m not actually saying the words you’re hearing. It’s a lot easier to understand if you grasp the concept that fae language is the one and only truth. So inherently, everything I say is correct.”

“So when you’re saying ‘If I were to point to a tree and say ‘I am taller than that tree’’ the words you’re using are completely different than the words you’d use in the actual situation of you pointing to a tree and saying ‘I am taller than that tree’.”

“Exactly. And because we use different words for different things at different times, I literally would not be able to put together a lie. The words wouldn’t exist. If I’m talking about a specific tree, and how tall I am in relation to it, the only thing I could say would be ‘I am not taller than that tree’ or something like that. It’s not like I can just drop the word ‘not’ because we don’t have just one word for ‘not’. So I couldn’t say it, which means it couldn’t be translated into something you’d understand which means I, essentially, cannot lie.”

“Couldn’t you learn the human words for things and lie that way?”

“It would be nearly impossible.” Lincoln shook his head. “First off, there’s only so much of your language we can actually like. Hear the difference between. The subtleties of most words are difficult to parse out. To go back to the cat thing, you might understand the difference between a hiss and a meow but not understand the difference between the meow that means ‘I want attention’ and ‘something is wrong’. Humans are a bit more intelligent than cats-”

“A bit?” The Prince raised his eyebrows.

“I’m being generous, don’t push it.” Lincoln snickered. “So there’s more room for communication, but our language is still vastly more developed than yours. It’s like… communicating with a very young child. But there are some noises we literally just cannot make. Physically incapable.”

“Are there any words in fae I could say?”

Lincoln laughed. “I have no idea. I don’t think any human has ever tried. I don’t even know what noises you can make. Like physically are able to make. You might be able to mimic them but it would be akin to a dog barking in a way that sounds like a word. Not actual speech.”

The Prince nodded. “So the fae that can lie…”

“Have to invent new words.” Lincoln frowned. “But more than that. They have to invent new truth. It’s an incredibly advanced form of magic, with potentially catastrophic repercussions.”

“Why do they do it, then?”

“Well it’s not like they lie in the same way humans do.” He sniffed. “Telling people you enjoyed food to spare their feelings or making up an excuse to avoid work. The fae that can lie are rare. We actually know every single one that is or has been capable of it. So far, anyways. In a few centuries another might learn how.”

“How did you find out?”

“This… isn’t something I’m willing to discuss.” He muttered.

“Right. I’m s-” The Prince cut himself off.

“That was the original topic, wasn’t it? Learning why ‘I’m sorry’ is bad?” Lincoln grinned, but the Prince could see the shadow of something hovering behind his eyes.

“Let me get the book.” He retrieved it from it’s carefully chosen spot and opened it to the ‘Rules’ page before handing it to Lincoln. His eyes scanned both pages for a second, and he handed it back. “You read it all? That quickly?” The Prince asked in shock.

“Yes.” Lincoln snorted. “It’s still entertaining to see humans get so surprised over normal stuff. Like a dog getting confused when you pretend to throw a stick.”

“You really need to cut the animal metaphors out.” The Prince muttered and sat back down. “So what do you think?”

“She’s not wrong, but she paints in pretty broad strokes. This is obviously an abridged version of her knowledge. I imagine she wrote this down on her way to see you, and wanted to make sure it would be small enough to hide easily. I’ve seen the other things she’s written about us. Enough to fill books much larger than that.”

The Prince nodded. “That makes sense… care to fill in the gaps?”

“The name thing is true.” He shrugged, grinning. “You could never pronounce a fae’s true name, but there are words in human languages that are… close enough to the language of the fae that you could actually do some harm. Or good, possibly, but no fae is going to give you the opportunity. Some humans have found out through one means or another but it’s incredibly rare. And usually it’s the less powerful fae and the more powerful humans.” He hummed. “Oh and your names are… more complex. You see, humans are the one thing who’s true name we can’t understand just by looking at them. So when I look at a cup, I see it’s true name, or when someone uses that cup’s name, I know exactly what cup they mean, but when I look at a human I just see… you. The only way we can know your true names is if you tell us your human names. Then it translates, and we know the real one.”

“Why is that?”

“Humans have magic in them.” Lincoln shrugged. “Not as much as the fae, but more than anything else. When your parents name you, it’s a sort of magic. It protects your true name from being used against you.”

“But if we use it…”

“If you just spoke your name aloud near a fae, with no context, we wouldn’t understand you. But if you give it to us, the magic is broken.”

“Full name... meaning?”

“First, middle, and last. That’s actually why humans started giving their children middle names. Someone got wise about the fae’s power and slipped in a hidden name you never used when speaking to people so that you’d be protected. But then people forgot what it’s for.”

“So if I gave you my first and last name?”

“You’d technically be safe, though it would grant me some potential power over you. Same with if you just gave me your first name, or last one.”

The Prince frowned. “What if people change their name? Or go by a nickname?”

“Those are two different things. If someone changes their name, their new name is the key to their true name. It doesn’t change your true name, mind you, just the… form of the magic that guards it. A nickname would be… hm. Depending on the type, it could either grant no power, or very little. A man named ‘Robert’ going by ‘Bob’ would grant the fae very little power over him if he told them his name was Bob. But if some people called him, ah… ‘Colossus’ because of how tall he was, that name would grant no power over him.”

“Alright.” The Prince nodded. “And the others?”

“Avoiding faerie rings is good advice. You’re not guaranteed to be harmed or taken if you step into one but. It’s a gamble. Not eating our food is also true. First because if you eat our food, human food will stop tasting good to you. Or really, stop tasting like food. And if we offer you human food and you take it, you’re now in our debt, and we can and will use that. It might not be bad for you, or actually harmful, but we will use it.”

“Why is that?” He asked. “How is that?”

“We believe in equilibrium.” Lincoln paused and shook his head. “Believe isn’t the right word. We require equilibrium. The universe does, really. Our magic is based off of reality. Reality only exists if things are balanced. So when certain actions would potentially cause unbalance, the universe corrects them. When you take something from us, the universe is potentially unbalanced by that debt. We’re allowed to… direct the balancing as we please.”

“Why can’t humans?”

“Interactions between different humans are different than interactions between humans and fae. There’s less of a magic charge. The way the universe balances that is by allowing humans to entrap fae in the same ways we entrap humans. So if we take something from you directly, we’ll usually be sure to define the exact terms of repayment. That way the universe is never out of balance and you can’t use it against us.”

“Like trading flowers for gold spinning lessons.”

“Exactly.”

“But it doesn’t count if I leave out a gift for you?”

“Mm. Sort of.” Lincoln hummed. “Gift is the wrong word. We don’t really have a concept of ‘gifts’ because it’s just… not how the world works. Nothing is ever given or taken for free with no after effects.”

“But if I leave a loaf of bread on my table for you...”

“Then you’ve relinquished ownership of it and it holds no more ties to you than an apple that’s fallen from a tree.”

“Even if it’s still on my table?”

“If you placed it there with the intent to have someone take it, yes. We won’t just… take food you leave out for no reason. The intent has to be there because the intent changes the object’s nature.”

“And the same applies for gifts you give or tasks you do?”

“Yes. Because we’re not giving gifts, we’re leaving things were you’ll find them. Or doing tasks that you’ll enjoy. Same as if we pointed out a shiny rock that you then picked up, or sang a song you heard and liked. It puts no one into debt.”

“What if I ask you to sing?”

“Then you’ve created a debt for yourself. You’ve put out an energy into the world that we can use against you.”

“And that energy won’t be filled by you singing?”

“No, because the act of filling the request is what creates the energy of debt. If we refuse the request, no debt is created.”

“How big does the request have to be? I’ve already asked a few things of you. Technically.”

“Yes you have.” Lincoln smiled, more flashing his teeth than anything. “But they’ve been relatively minor. And you’ve answered my questions as well, so you’re pretty much safe. The amount of energy created that we can use is directly proportional to the size of the request. And the size of the request is relative to what a fae or human is likely or able to do. You asking me to elaborate on a topic that we’re already discussing, in an ongoing conversation that is a specific give and take of ideas, creates very little debt. If you approached me out of nowhere and asked me to teach you about fae conduct, it would be more of a significant debt.”

“But there’s still a danger.”

“Yes. Fae are extremely powerful. There’s a danger going near one. There are many ways a fae can harm you without you even knowing they exist, much less interacting with them.”

“Then why don’t you?”

“Well first off, not all of us are malevolent. Secondly, our actions still have consequences. If a fae does nothing but negative things, that’s going to affect other things in a completely different way. Same with if a fae does nothing but positive things. The universe deals with this by creating seelie and unseelie fae who’s actions, good, bad, and other, tend to balance each other out. Plus ‘good’ and ‘bad’ aren’t really… accurate. It’s more ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ but not in the way you think. See, if a person does something good, that unbalances the universe in their favor. A fae can then use that energy to reward them. Same with if a person does something bad and a fae uses that energy to punish them. But sometimes a fae wants to do something that doesn’t strictly fit the crime. Say a person does something mildly annoying but it really pisses the fae off and they, ah… curse them to grow fur on their eyeballs or something. That’s not proportional, so the energy dips into the negative, and has to be balanced. Same with if a fae just. Really likes a human and rewards them for basically nothing. That will make the energy dip negative too, because they’re using energy that wasn’t created. It’s a ‘good’ thing that makes a ‘negative’ energy because it wasn’t proportional.

Thankfully, humans and fae alike create ‘positive’ energy with their actions. Humans usually do it without knowing that’s what they’re doing, even if, on some level, you understand. Like if you hold the door for someone just out of kindness, that’s a bit of positive energy. If they don’t say thanks that’s a bit more. But if you hold the door and expect a thank you, or worse, hold a door for someone who doesn’t say thank you, and then you tell them to say thank you? Whoof. That’s negative energy dip right there. And if you righteously punish someone for doing a terrible thing, that’s a positive energy creation. But someone doing a terrible thing creates a vacuum. Them getting away with it creates a bigger one. The more people that enable the person to get away with the thing makes a bigger negative dip. And if the universe has too much energy, it has to use it. And if it doesn’t have enough, it has to get more. That’s why sometimes things happen for ‘no reason’. They do, it might just not be related to you. Or only tangentially so. Like you step on someone’s foot and don’t apologize and then three years later your favorite dress tears. The universe was filling the vacuum, you just don’t have enough perception to see it. And because everything in the universe is constantly doing things that have negative and positive outcomes, things are also constantly happening that have negative and positive outcomes. The fae can just… see it and understand it and sometimes direct it. But we’re still a part of the system, and we’re still bound by it’s rules.”

“So ‘thank you’ and ‘sorry’… act as balancing tools?”

“Yes. Depending on the situation. So if you step on someone’s foot and say ‘I’m sorry’ that fills in the vacuum that was created by you stepping on their foot. Somewhat. It depends on the person and the foot and the step. And if someone gives you a gift and you thank them, that takes away a bit of the positive energy they created with the act. Which is why fae hate it. Because if a human is powerful enough, uttering those words can literally strip a fae of their power. The words we have for directly thanking someone or apologizing are actually sort of spells in our language. It would be like… someone trying to attack you, and you using a shield to stop their attacks. Or just… taking their weapon entirely.”

“So if I upset you and I want to apologize….”

“You could say ‘sorry’ and I would understand it to be an expression of regret and not an attempt to take away the power I have righteously earned over you because you upset me. Which, by the way, isn’t a lot. Even if you purposefully angered or upset me, the damage I can do with the amount of energy from that one incident isn’t a lot. Fae usually use other energy created by other things you’ve done to punish you. Though if they enjoy the punishment, it actually creates more energy because they’re gaining pleasure which is, inherently, a source of energy. And that’s really the only difference between seelie and unseelie. Seelie gain more pleasure from rewarding people, unseelie gain more pleasure from punishing them. But they both can do the inverse, of course. It’s just rarer and probably weaker than their usual magic.”

“So what phrases don’t effect the energy that I can use instead?”

“Anything that’s just a statement. ‘I appreciate this’ or ‘I regret this’ because it’s not attempting to make amends or fill in the vacuum it’s just stating a fact of how you feel.”

“That’s a difficult line to walk.”

“For humans, yes. For fae it’s pretty simple. That doesn’t mean there aren’t mistakes, but it’s more like… calling your mother by your friend’s name. It’s uncommon.”

“And the other rules in the book?”

“Yes, we can tell if you’re lying. And we’re pretty well versed in all the phrasings of things that avoid a lie while creating a non-truth, so it’s pretty hard to pull one over on us. We already covered why we can’t lie. All in all I’d say nothing she says is outright wrong even if there are gaps in it.”

“If you don’t mind me asking… are you seelie or unseelie?”

Lincoln smiled. “Humans are so… strange. Not being able to tell… strange. I’m neither.”

The Prince nodded. “So you punish and reward people?”

“No. Being neither doesn’t mean you’re a mix of the two it means you’re neither. I don’t punish or reward. I make my deals up front and use the energy from that.”

“Right.” The Prince nodded. “And what court are you?”

“What court do you think I am?” He countered.

The Prince thought it over. “Spring?”

“Summer.” He laughed. “But only tangentially.”

It was at this point that the Prince realized how late it had gotten.

“This whole conversation started because you didn’t know how long a month was.” He rubbed his face tiredly. “And you were trying to estimate how long it would take for me to learn to spin thread into gold.”

[scribbling-dragon]

Some Fae!Scott headcanons I have and wanna share. And just some empires Scott headcanons I have in general. I have shared them in a discord server incase they seem familiar

Since fae can take names, why not have Scott just… take pronouns? Fae, as far as I know, do not really have genders the way humans do? Also, Scott is playing a collector. Why not collect gender and pronouns? Like Ranboo being a genderman, but I’m trying to get away from that side of mcyt

Inhumane beauty and grace and something just not human but you can’t tell what is off, you just know and don’t know why.

Scott has rollerblades, roller skates, and heelies. Yes he can skate on grass and sand and other things logic and physics says he shouldn’t, but he doesn’t care. Do the others know he wears them? Whooooo knows

Maybe Shelby is able to tell vaguely that Scott has something magickal around/about him? She’s not too sure what, but she knows more than the others. Maybe she can try and figure stuff out from his mannerisms.

Fae are very in tune with nature. Scott is seen using lots of woods in his builds this far. Mostly stripped logs. Bark is often used in magick. Maybe he is saving the bark for something?

There can be a lot of angst with fae Scott. With him gifting his true name to someone else only to be betrayed or something and locked away. Maybe why he doesn’t like poppies???? (Flower husbands lovers forgive me. I too love flower husbands and I so desperately don’t wanna let go, I’m even turning to lots of angst)

instead of asking for your name scott asks for your pronouns and then goes 'thank you' with a little grin on his face. out of all the pronouns he's collected he/him and they/them are his favourites. some people seek him out so he can steal pronouns they no longer use

the other emperors see him sometimes, gliding along sand as though his feet aren't even touching the ground. they just watch and wonder how on earth he is doing it. someone asks him one day and he just replies 'heelies'. which answers nothing.

and shelby definitely knows! i think pixl would know too, as he needs to know things about the past, which would most likely include the fae. he meets scott and sees him. when he asks for his name he does not give it, preferring to gift him another. scott then asks for his pronouns.

there are many angst potentials for fae scott (or just scott in general lmao). and it might just be me being dumb but i dont know the significance of poppies her (is it just that they're a fh flower? or is it something to do with fae that i dont know dhdjkd)

[thenightling]

“The Endless don’t interfere with mortals”   Oh, really?

In the last week I’ve come across at least three Sandman fans who felt the need to tell me that The Endless do not interfere with mortals because it’s the rules or Death is the only one who interferes with mortals because she doesn’t care about the rules.   

People need to stop trusting what we’re told by characters and start paying attention to the actual events of the stories.  Here are some examples of interfering with mortals.      

1. Hob Gadling.  In The Sandman: Doll's House, Men of Good Fortune, Morpheus had Death make Hob Gadling an immortal for their own amusement / giving Morpheus a friend without him realizing it. 

2.  Shakespeare.  A few centuries later it was because of Morpheus’s centennial meetings with Hob that he saw Shakespeare lamenting that he wanted to be as well known as his friend Kit (Christopher) Marlowe.  

Morpheus then used Shakespeare to write A Midsummer Night’s Dream, thus keeping fae in the human collective consciousness so that they would not be forgotten and start to fade from existence.

This using of Shakespeare lead to Titania enticing Shakespeare’s young son and turning him into her faery slave.    

3.  Matthew The Raven is a deceased human known as Matthew Cable. Morpheus not only interfered with Matthew's final life lessons and means of letting go of his unfinished business (See Swamp Thing volume 2, issue 84). And then he made this deceased mortal into his raven and he has done this several times before.

Aristeas the Poet, Jessamy (the eighteenth century raven), and Lucien (The first raven) for example. In the story the Hunt we also learn Lucien can still take raven form at will.

4.   Morpheus rescued Rose Walker from Funland when she called out to him even though if he had left her in Funland's clutches it (in theory) would have "solved the problem" of the vortex.

5.   In Soft Places Morpheus interfered with what happened to Marco Polo because Marco Polo had offered him water and he did this at risk to himself.

6.  In Fear of Falling Morpheus went out of his way to inspire a young man with stage fright. The young man was no one important by your definition.

7.   In the story of Emperor Norton, Morpheus completely messed with a man's mind because of a bet with Desire.

8.  During the Kindly Ones we off-handedly see Morpheus help some children on their children's story quest, after he gave them very exotic ice cream.

9.   In Overture Morpheus not only finds a child (Hope) but he also starts to take care of her, tells her bed time stories, makes her dream of everyone being kind. And very obviously considers adopting her.  Yes, Hope was ultimately important but she became important because of her interaction with Morpheus. 

10.   Morpheus interfered with mortals in the very act of leaving Nada in Hell for rejecting him.

11.  Morpheus once dated Killala of the Glow, one of the founders of The Green Lantern Corp.  This is in the story The Heart of a Star in The Sandman: Endless Nights.

12.  After The Endless set the rules to not interfere with or love mortals, Morpheus defied this rule (probably several times over) but most infamously with Nada.

13.  Desire interfering with mortals is how Rose Walker became a Dream Vortex.

14. Bonus:  During the events of The Heart of a Star, we see Despair of The Endless talking to Rao, the God / Sun of Krypton and trying to persuade him to allow Krypton to sustain life and how beautiful it would be if there is only one survivor to mourn.  She accidentally helped create DC’s symbol of hope, Superman.        

It's actually hard to find an instance where The Endless do NOT interfere with mortals.

[idiotwhotalkstoomuch]

CW. LONG POST for the immortal!mc... I see lady yuu having a personality like toph from "Avatar the last Airbender". People are careful around her do to her status and doesn't know why she likes to hang around adeuce and grimm, but she likes how open they're around especially when grimm calls her "his henchmen".

Immortal!mc: *has been calling grimm for an hour* GRIMM!

Grimm: *ignores her*

Mc: *sigh* *dramatically* Oh the great and powerful grimm lord of flames

Grimm:*smugly* hmm~yes~

Sebek: *windows exp crashing noises*

Has a Harry Potter the Half Blood Prince moment in alchemy class.

Mc: *reading potion text book* *under her breath* cut up the moon bloom? You crush the moon bloom *notice a lot incorrect information in the text book* CREWEL!

Crewel: *walks over* yes mistress yuu?

Mc: You let these children brew these potions incorrectly? I hope they haven't been drinking them!

Crewel: with all due respect mistress yuu the information in the book is correct i can assu-

Mc: I know you're not telling ME of all people the steps in the potion book is correct?

Crewel: *gulps*

Mc: you crush not cut the moon blooms and you use the blue spider mushroom and not the yellow puff ball mushroom! And the final product should be yellow and not a lilac color!

I see her having a staff or something of the like and it has everyone confused because 'she doesn't have magic' yeah she doesn't have magic but she likes to uses it like a walking stick. She likes to watch the students with Ashton during P.E occasionally hit them with her staff.

Immortal!mc: *bonks student* No your form is all wrong! *shows them correct form* DO IT AGAIN!

Somedays when Trein wants to grade papers he'll have immortal!mc tell stories of her youth, she tells the a story of a flying ship with a captain with a hook for a hand, a medicine woman of a young emperor and her ditzy henchmen, a shady voodoo man she met at a tavern, and a woman just as old as her who kidnapped a princess to keep herself young.

During chapter 5 vil catches her in the mirror chamber one day and askes her about the mirror the beautiful queen.

Mc: *walks up to the mirror of darkness, touches the side resting her head on the frame of the mirror* It's been a long time my old friend

Mirror of darkness: *appears* I you my friend I you...

Everyone in the mirror chamber: 👀👀👀

Vil: *in shock and awe* ᵂʰᵃᵗ ᵗʰᵉ ᶠᵘᵘᶜᵏ..

During chapter 6 Vil comes to yuu during vdc training camp and askes her questions about her relationship with the mirror of darkness.

Vil: Miss yuu can I ask you about the mirror.. again?

Mc: *puts down her tea* oh yes! I never did answer your questions earlier

Mc: long ago I heard whipers in a village that a house deep in the forest lived a very handsome man who had magic... he had a daughter a real daddies girl.. I found her odd at first as she'd ask him everyday if she was beautiful and he'd reply 'the fairest in the land'

Rook: *knows where this is going*

Mc: but like most people around that time he became sick. One day me and the girl went around the forest collecting herbs for his medicine... when we came back he gone all that was left was a pile of his clothes and a mirror..

Kalim: *blinking back tears* then what happened 🥺

Mc: the poor thing was inconsolable.. she locked herself in her father's room and refused to comeout. Though I should have told her but I found a letter from him, detailing what he had done.

Deuce: *on the edge of his seat* them what

Mc: he used the rest of his magic to turn himself into a mirror for his daughter.. i'd seen that once before when I stayed the night at a beasts castle, but thats a story for another time.

Vil: was the girl you speak of the beautiful queen?

Mc: yes her name Grimhilde... in his letter he asked if I could look over his daughter make sure she lived a happy and long life... though I feel I failed him.

KINGDOM HEARTS HAPPENS AND YOU CANNOT WILL NOT CHANGE MY MIND!

When yuu has the prophetic dreams before overblot and she's mickey in the mirror

Mc: *notices a shadow in the mirror above the fireplace* that shape seems oddly familiar...

Mirror figure: Aha

Mc: *eyes widen* KING MICKEY

Mickey:*in shock aswell* YUU!

The first years remind her of Sora and Co. and catches herself reminiscening about them. They don't know what to do when they catch her crying.

Ace: M-Mc! Are you okay?

Sebek: WHO DARES MAKE LADY YUU CRY I'LL HAVE THEIR HEADS!

Grimm: *rubbing against yuu worried* henchmen?

Mc: No no.. I'm fine it's just you six remind me of some people I knew years ago.

During history trein asks mc about the great war and if she knew the inside scoop on why it started.

Mc: which one? there have been many

Trien: many..? I know only of one..

Mc: yes! There was the first keyblade war, the first human-fae war, Chernabog's war, the inter-species war, the second keyblade war and the second human-fea war.

Lila: *who came to drop off some papers* two human-fae wars..?

Mc: oh Lila! Yes the first one is when I crowned Maleficent as queen and the second one happend when a close friend of hers betrayed her...there was to be a third on but the human queen that started it was turned into a goat

Trein: keyblade war?

Mc: when magic was just becoming accepted..*clears her throat* it was revealed that there was a secret society of heros who wielded keyblades. It was believed there was a world where all magic come from.

Ace: are there still people who have keyblades?

Mc: no.. the hearts of people to day are to dark..

Deuce: to dark..?

Mc: back then people hearts where pure, why? The keyblade wielders protect people from the darkness. The people believed in a world where all from, only the Wilders could access the world.

Trein: *writing every thing down* what was this place called?

Mc: Kingdom Hearts... but as most stories go all of them wanted control over the world, but they needed the X-blade this caused a war of cataclysmic proportions. It pushed the world into darkness and killed many and shattered the x-blade and scattered across the world... kingdom hearts was to be forever lost.

Scarabia mob: you where alive during all that!?

Mc: no, but a close friend of mine was, but I was alive during the second

Sorry for my rambling and if i broke any of the rules during this feel free to delete of so.. but This is where I'm gonna stop as I've been typing this up for the past hour or so.. 🙇🏽‍♀️🙇🏽‍♀️

No rules have been broken (I didnt have very much anyway lol)

I really like this whole post lol though unfortunately I have not seen kingdom hearts so idk a lot of references here

Also Yuu does carry a staff in formal occasions. Lilia made joke on her saying she looked like an old woman with that but was promptly shut up when Yuu recalled a story of Lilia when he was younger