#you found every norwegians true weakness

[autisticsupervillain]

It's Fictional Throwdown Friday!

This Week's Fighters...

The Thing vs Steve!

Conditions:

Steve is fully equipped with every possible weapon in his inventory. Half of the village is already assimilated.

Scenario:

Steve goes to a village in a frozen tundra in hopes of trading, only for the villager he trades with to attack him once their alone in his house. Steve decapitates The Thing and both of its halves flee. Steve realizes that some kind of hostile entity is imitating the villagers and he has no idea who is human....

Analysis: The Thing

A stranger approaches you in the snow. "Who Goes There?" You call out. But no one answers. No one is there. Somebody used to be there. It even looks like somebody is there. But there is no humanity beneath the stranger's skin. Only a Thing that has found, in this Antarctic hellscape, that man is the warmest place to hide.

Deep in the icey desert of the Antarctic, an American research team finds that their Norwegian neighbors have seemingly gone mad. Their base has been completely destroyed. The blood from their slit wrists froze before it could even hit the ground. And the one survivor seemed desperate to kill an innocent dog, chasing it down with an attack helicopter. After killing the madman, the crew looked the dog away in the kennel, completely oblivious to what they had let into their base.

The dog wasn't any kind of animal at all, in truth. It was a... Thing. That's really the best word for it. With no true form, no home world, no species name, this Thing simply assimilates and copies every animal it touches on a cellular level. It has no known predators. No naturally occuring weaknesses. If it ever escaped from the freezing cold of the Antarctic, it would doubtlessly overtake the Earth.

Every single cell in the Thing's body is technically its own organism. Once separated from the main body, it prioritizes its own survival over all else. One the one hand, this means that touching even a single cell of the creature will allow it to overtake you, assimilate you down to the cellular level, copy your DNA, and replace you. One the other hand, this means that there is an easy way to see through the Thing's disguises. Take a sample of its blood, expose it to fire, and see if the blood reacts. If it does, it's a Thing.

But that's only if you can narrow down the suspect. It copies every cell in your body. Your memories, your mannerisms, everything that makes you who you are. It can imitate a victim perfectly and manipulate every part of its body to its will. It can turn its ribcage into a gaping maw, turn its veins into tendrils to drag you in, spray acid from its body, and survive anything short of killing every single cell in its entire body, from gun fire to being completely frozen. And the more biomass it absorbs, the bigger and stronger its bodies can get. It's human bodies can smash through solid walls, while it's largest seen bodies are big enough to dwarf entire buildings.

But, that does play into one of the Thing's biggest weaknesses: fire. As none of the cells in its catalog can survive such extreme heat, fire is a good way of putting a Thing down permanently, as would be powerful acids, due to destroying on the molecular level. And while the Thing would assuredly wipe out every animal on Earth, it's assimilation is limited to the animal kingdom. It cannot breach the cell walls of plant cells, it cannot assimilate inorganic matter, and it requires direct skin contact to assimilate and infect its prey.

The Thing is effectively a virus on macroscale and the Earth is it's massive Petri Dish. You can't blame it for its alien behavior. In the Antarctic Winter, man is the warmest place to hide.

Analysis: Steve

Minecraft. The blocky world of infinite possibilities. A hostile, alien landscape just waiting for someone to go out and tame it. And Steve. The avatar of every player who wants to make this vast expanse their own. He can be whoever you want him to be. A farmer, a miner, a trader, and a hero, all in one. The world of Minecraft is a world of adventure, full of infinite possibilities for Steve to explore.

But, such a vast world requires a versatile adventurer to tame it and Steve is a jack of all cards. He's a master with every medieval weapon you can imagine: swords, bows, axes, and halberds galore! Each finely crafted with only the toughest of irons, the hardest of diamonds, and the nigh indestructible material of netherite. He's got a full armory of each of those materials as well, enchanted in full with carefully practiced magic. Their weapons and armor can be enchanted to be sharper, more durable, more effective against certain types of enemies, produce flames with each hit, provide supernatural luck, and so on. The thorns effect on their armor causes an attacker to to experience the damage of any hit they land, frost walker freezes the water beneath his feet, and infinity gives Steve infinite arrows, among countless others!

All of this is enhanced by Steve's deep knowledge of potions and magic. Out of simple snow and iron, Steve can build powerful golem body guards, and with the right set up, he can brew remarkably powerful potions. He can slow down his falling, heal rapidly, make himself immune to fire or capable of breathing underwater, and even inflict the devastating wither effect into his foes with a throwable potion, slowly rotting you into nothing. Enchanted golden apples rapidly heal even lethal injuries while Totems of Undying are each one off resurrections that activate and disappear the second Steve would otherwise die.

All of this is put in the hands of a master builder and trapmaster who, with enough prep time and redstone, can construct elaborate death traps that drop you in lava, spawn hordes of hostile monsters, or blow you to hell with TNT. With his craftsmanship and intricate knowledge of magic, he's built interdimensional portals, constructed elytra devices to fly, and figured out methods of teleportation with ender pearls.

Despite that, he's plenty crafty (ayyyyy) even without the prep. His baseline biology is just bizarre. He can punch down trees bare handed, carry hundreds of tons of gold and diamond, cure any ailment with milk, and slowly regenerate from arrows in his brain. What is this guy? Hell, if Minecraft Dungeons is anything to go off of, he's fast enough to dodge lasers!

With all his tricks in tow, Steve has conquered some of Minecraft's greatest challenges. He's been to Hell, er, the Nether, survived fighting the Ender Dragon, and defeated the Wither, an omnicidal skeleton monster out to destroy everything it sees. With Steve's best gear, he's even survived hits from the Dragon, who can vaporize countless blocks of iron in a blast equivalent to 2.6 Megatons of TNT.

For all the horrors the world of Minecraft has, Steve is the adventurer willing to face them all. The world is his sandbox to craft!

Throwdown Breakdown:

Did you know about the Thing From Another World mod? It's a mod that adds your favorite John Carpenter nightmare to the world of Minecraft. It's quite good and I highly recommend it! It's what inspired this fight in the first place. Let's see how accurate it is, shall we?

Now, as I'm sure the stats I've laid out have made clear, The Thing cannot directly challenge Steve in stats. Steve can dodge lightspeed projectiles and punch as hard as a nuke, that's fairly obvious. Buuuuuuuuuuut, this is far from a simple numbers contest. The Thing has infested the village and is hiding from Steve in this scenario, so it's not a straight fight unless the Thing gets cornered or makes it one. Even then, Steve's blows splattering the Thing all over may work against him, allowing a single drop to slither into his boots while he's not looking.

Logistically speaking, I'm not seeing any reason the Thing can't assimilate Steve and I don't know what all Steve can do to stop the process, assuming he'd notice before it was too late. Despite their.... blocky physiology, Steve is still an organic being. We know that humanoid mobs at least have skeletons and can be infected by viruses (zombies). Steve has never resisted anything like assimilation and I doubt his milk or golden apples can cure it. It's a fundamentally different form of attack than anything Minecraft has. I think the only real counter Steve has would be the Totem suddenly reviving Steve out of nowhere, as it can bring Steve back from being rotted into nothing and this would be destroying him on a similarly fundamental level. It might even be Steve's first wake up call to how dangerous the Thing is, for him to suddenly be resurrected out of nowhere when he thought he was fine, though that can only help so many times.

I do think Steve's well equipped to fight the Thing, but his ability to use it effectively depends on his ability to puzzle out how the Thing works. And that's hard to gauge given he's an empty self insert. Fire aspect weapons, flint and steel, and lava buckets are obvious counters, but I do think there's something to be said for Wither effect potions. An effect that withers you to nothing would destroy every cell just as well as fire could and its a form of attack the Thing has no defense against. Sure, strong regeneration helps to wait out the effect, but as the withering can kill people millions of times stronger very quickly, I don't see it holding out. Poison is less effective, it could just copy the biological attributes of something immune to it.

Ultimately, the Thing's victory depends on its ability to ambush or infect Steve over and over until he's out of totems to revive with, and I don't see that happening before Steve figures out how to win. Speed gap makes getting away from direct ambushes trivial and once Steven puzzles out that directly interacting with villagers is getting him killed, he'd make a point to keep distance with pearls and elytra. Snow Golems and Iron Golems are inorganic beings the Thing can't infect, giving it more hostiles to worry about whenever Steve forces it into the open, and I do think Steve would eventually piece together how to kill it. He would at first treat it like some kind of slime, an entity that splits into smaller ones when you kill it, then kill the smaller ones, but once he sees even singular drops of blood moving on their own in a few encounters, he'd reason he needs something to take it all out at once. Or, he could figure it out sooner just by happening to hit a Thing with a flame aspect sword and seeing how it panics and dies.

From there the answer is simple. Light the villagers on fire and see how they react. If like normal, set them out with water bucket. If turn into giant screaming monster, break out lava bucket and wither arrows. Repeat until all Things dead and village is a flaming wreck.

Or just burn the Village down from the word go. That's the problem with this fight, it depends on who's playing Steve, doesn't it?

Could the Thing close the stats gap by assimilating enough people? Maybe, but it would have to assimilate hundreds of thousands of them. With the calorie method I used to calc Good People's attack potency in the Pressure overview, one Thing would have to absorb over 21151195 people just to match Steve. And, face it, when's the last time you saw a random Minecraft village with more than 12 villagers or so?

There are a lot of unknowns with this fight. How does Steve's weird biology interact with the Thing, how would Smite and Thorns hurt the Thing, etc. But, with what we do know, my vote goes to Steve.

This Throwdown's Winner is....

Steve!

[studyscrasic]

7: Favourite food from the country that speaks your target language?

I haven't had the chance to try too many actual Norwegian dishes, but I have a REAL weakness for Scandinavian-style licorice -- even the salmiak/saltlakris. I wish black licorice was more popular here in the US, it doesn't deserve its reputation as the candy no one likes!

(Ironically, I am an extremely picky eater in most respects, to the fact that black licorice is one of my favorite candies is pretty funny.

I have had the chance to have more German food and really love both Schnitzel and Spaetzle. Proper big, Bavarian-style Brezeln are also fantastic, although I haven't found many in the US that are anything like the ones I've gotten in Germany and Austria when I've had the chance to travel there in the past.

My favorite Scottish food is definitely shortbread -- and I love that it's so distinctively Scottish that the Duolingo Gaelic course teaches you the word for it pretty early (aran-milis, or "sweet bread"). It's also so easy to make yourself, which I have done on occasion.

I am also very fond of scones, which I know are culturally significant in both Scotland and Ireland. I'd love to learn to make more traditional Irish food as I feel like I haven't had the chance to try much of it.

Oh -- and I would be remiss not to mention how much I love latkes, and also the matzoh ball soup my friends make every year when we celebrate Passover! There are lot of really great Ashkenazi Jewish dishes, which belong more to a culture than a country, but the same is true of Yiddish and most Jewish cultural staples.

[lumiistarpersonal]

Dog goes "woof" Cat goes "meow" Bird goes "tweet" And mouse goes "squeek" Cow goes "moo" Frog goes "croak" And the elephant goes "toot" Ducks say "quack" And fish go "blub" And the seal goes "ow ow ow" But there's one sound That no one knows What does the fox say? "Ring-ding-ding-ding-dingeringeding! Gering-ding-ding-ding-dingeringeding! Gering-ding-ding-ding-dingeringeding!" What the fox say? "Wa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pow! Wa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pow! Wa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pow!" What the fox say? "Hatee-hatee-hatee-ho! Hatee-hatee-hatee-ho! Hatee-hatee-hatee-ho!" What the fox say? "Joff-tchoff-tchoffo-tchoffo-tchoff! Tchoff-tchoff-tchoffo-tchoffo-tchoff! Joff-tchoff-tchoffo-tchoffo-tchoff!" What the fox say? Big blue eyes Pointy nose Chasing mice And digging holes Tiny paws Up the hill Suddenly you're standing still Your fur is red So beautiful Like an angel in disguise But if you meet A friendly horse Will you communicate by Mo-o-o-o-orse? Mo-o-o-o-orse? Mo-o-o-o-orse? How will you speak to that Ho-o-o-o-orse? Ho-o-o-o-orse? Ho-o-o-o-orse? What does the fox say? "Jacha-chacha-chacha-chow! Chacha-chacha-chacha-chow! Chacha-chacha-chacha-chow!" What the fox say? "Fraka-kaka-kaka-kaka-kow! Fraka-kaka-kaka-kaka-kow! Fraka-kaka-kaka-kaka-kow!" What the fox say? "A-hee-ahee ha-hee! A-hee-ahee ha-hee! A-hee-ahee ha-hee!" What the fox say? "A-oo-oo-oo-ooo! Woo-oo-oo-ooo!" What does the fox say? The secret of the fox Ancient mystery Somewhere deep in the woods I know you're hiding What is your sound? Will we ever know? Will always be a mystery What do you say? You're my guardian angel Hiding in the woods What is your sound? (Wa-wa-way-do, wub-wid-bid-dum-way-do, wa-wa-way-do) Will we ever know? (Bay-budabud-dum-bam) I want to (Mama-dum-day-do) I want to, I want to know! (Abay-ba-da bum-bum bay-do)

NOOOO ANYTHING BUT THAT NOOOO

[guigz1-coldwar]

Pulling the trigger (WraithxPortnova)

Yirina Portnova.......Freya 'Wraith' Helvig........two very opposite womens but despite their origins, they found themselves in each other arms as they tried to uncover the truth behind the death of their common friend.

Warning : angst ! Words : 4200+ There were nothing that could have reconfort Yirina Portnova.

Portnova was a genius in mathematics and worked before joining the KGB. Everyone who worked with her know that she wasn't the women to have troubles with. She was described as brilliant, deadly and loyal to the state. A woman that no one should underestimate because she's a threat either on or off the battlefield but behind all of these exploits she has done, were hiding the cries of pain she was suffering because of her personal life......it was the only thing that was making her weak.

Her parents dissaproved of her choice to join the KGB : they wanted her to be a teacher and help the children, especially a mathematics teacher as she was skilled in that domain but everything has gone wrong when she started to study cryptography on her own time during her studies at the Moscow State University and that was at that time, one of her teachers discovered her and her new hobby. He proposed her to join the KGB as she was proved to be able to decrypt any messages she was given to, even those who were considered to be indecipherable. That day, Portnova changed her ambitions and agreed to his proposition but that choice come at the price of losing her parents. They decided to never contact her again, making her new job, her new home.

From that day, she dedicated her life to the organization that was now her family but even with that, it was very hard for her to be accepted as a woman, been surrounded by mens who believed at first that she was inferior in every domain and that she was just another cryptographer but they were all wrong about her. She proved them that she wasn't just an simple cryptographer and that she was more brutal than anyone who were trying to get in her way, allowing her to become one of the most respected agent inside the KGB but if everything was going well in her job, her personal life was another thing.

Been abandoned by her parents wasn't the only thing that happened badly in her life, she was feeling so lonely. There weren't anybody that could be close to her, to reconfort her in her bad times. No one ever wanted to be with her, fearing that she was either too dangerous to be with or because they thought that she preferred to stay alone but in fact, she was never interested to be with a men.....she needed a woman in her life. In her lonely moments, she will sometimes cry in her office, locking it. Each time, she was thinking that she was going to be condemned to be alone for the rest of her life inside the KGB......until one day, she was presented to someone :

Zasha Smirnov

They were so different from the others agents because they were the only one to become her true friend in the KGB, Portnova was finally happy to have someone at her side because she finally found someone that was giving her a new challenge. In fact, Zasha proved to be more skilled than her in cryptography and each day, she tried to prove that she can beat them but they were always one step ahead. Anyway, Portnova wasn't angry at all, that was giving her a new way to improve herself. They were a great friend for her.....the first time in her entire life. And when she was crying alone, Zasha would be not far to come and to comfort her

Portnova became a happy woman in her life as each day she was going to work, she will be with Zasha or 'Zed' as she started to called them affectionately and while not working, they were still trying to compete to know who were the best cryptographer, a friendly competition. At least, she was smiling every time and her cries stopped for good, she was no longer alone until one day, a terrible day.....Zasha didn't come to work at the Lubyanka. It was strange for Portnova because they were always the first to arrive to work but not that day. She panicked and then, one of her superior came to announce her the terrible truth.

Zasha were found dead in their appartment, apparently killed by a bullet in the head. Everyone think that they killed themself because the police found a suicide note saying that they were ashamed to having betrayed the country and the party but Portnova couldn't believe it : Zed was too loyal to do that. She couldn't accept that fact but now, she realized that again, she was alone.....she lost her only best friend and the worst was that she wasn't authorized to investigate their suicide as the case was closed quickly by the authorites.

Everything was starting all over again much worse than before : her moments of cries were becoming more longer, negliging sometimes her work and she started to be more distant with anyone else inside the KGB. Everyone was getting suspicious for her, believing that they had something to do with Zasha's death. For her, it was a murder, not a suicide but she couldn't do a thing because of her superiors who were asking her to stay focused in her work, enraging her. She thought that she was going crazy but one day, someone knocked at the door of her office inside the Lubyanka :

Freya Helvig called 'Wraith'

At first sight, Portnova was distrutful of that woman coming from nowhere especially the fact that she learned that Freya was an ex-Norwegian secret services agent but her suspicions started to flow away as Freya explained her the situation : she was an friend of Zasha and she also think that it wasn't a suicide, she was working with the Perseus spy ring, a very discreet group inside the KGB as described by the Norwegian agent. Portnova learned that Zasha was one of their members, explaining the friendship Freya had with them. At this moment, both womens knew that they had to work together to find the truth.

The first days was complicated for Portnova to deal with her new 'co-worker', still doubting about her origins and her affiliation with the Perseus group but as the days passed, she started to see her in a more cleared way : Freya was just like her, she was determined to found out who killed her friend too. Both were sharing the same pain and both were trying to surpass that pain. It was only them, trying to discover what really happened that day where they both lost a great friend. They started to become friends as the days passed and one day, in Portnova's office, their friendshipt take a new step.

Portnova started to see in Freya, the women she was looking for since a long time in her life. Someone like her, that could help her anyday, anywhere. She wasn't feeling that when she met her but she realized that after the two became friends. She couldn't resist to hide it to Freya and once they were done, Portnova decided that it was time : she kissed Freya as both were looking at each other. She could see the surprise in the Norwegian's eyes but she was surprised too when Freya reinforced the kiss.....her love was reciprocal, the two admitted their love for each other and this day, Portnova found the one that was now her lover.

Their new relationship strenghtened their quest to find the truth about Zasha and after multiples days, the truth was uncovered : Zasha was killed by an group of KGB agents who were in fact dealing with the CIA and Zasha discovered that, getting them killed. With enough evidences in hands, both women presented them to the board of KGB officers and that was enough to make them convince that it wasn't a suicide. At this moment, Portnova & Freya were leading a small group of soldiers either from Perseus or from the KGB to make a undercover attack on the safehouse the rogue KGB agents were using in the outskirts of Moscow.

The attack was successful : they intervened in surprise as polices officer inside the appartment, taking every rogue agent by surprise as they couldn't reach their guns before been gunned down by the soldiers but someone, apparently the leader escaped the appartment, trying to flee the scene but Portnova and Freya was pursuing him, not wanting anyone to escape alive. He tried to flee by the roof but unfortunately for him, he was tackled by Freya.

"You're going nowhere , 'drittsekk' !" She said as she got up, keeping him on the ground with her feet. Portnova arrived, catching her breath after that run,

"Finally, we got him." She exclaimed, he was this guy who shot him, the rogue agent leader. "This is for Zasha !" She then kick him violently in the face with her leg, causing him to get his nose broken. Her anger was shared by Freya too as with her feet, she was crushing his kneecaps

"Who's Zasha ?" He asked, sounding confused

"Zasha Smirnov !" Freya continued to crush his kneecap more furiously, making him scream in pain "Our friend you killed."

"I killed a lot of people in my line of work but no one called Zasha."  He was defending himself but Portnova saw that he was trying to save his face

"You're lying, you killed them, a bullet in the head." She shouted, enraged

"And I thought that he was a man." He laughed nervously but Freya continued to do her thing, making his cries audible again

"Enough !" Portnova couldn't hear anymore of this guy, she looked away from him, looking at the city around her. She was angry, she wanted to kill that man for making her life harder but that wasn't something she could do because of the order they received from her superiors. As she was looking while Freya was holding at gunpoint the man, she received a call from her radio.

"Comrade Portnova, do you copy ?"  It was the voice of a man, she took her radio and put it next to her mouth,

"I copy." She said

"It's the officer Petrov, is their leader has been caught ?"  He asked

"We have him, sir. Freya got him."  She replied, looking at Freya

"Good !" He took a breath before talking back "No loose ends, you have authorization to dispose of him." It was now different orders : they could finally kill that son of a bitch ! Hearing this was giving Portnova a little grin, she looked at Freya who was wondering what was happening. She nodded to her, giving the signal. Freya looked back at the man and put her AMP-63 against his forehead.

" 'Ha det', dipshit !" Freya said before she pulled the trigger of her gun, sending a bullet right in the skull of the rogue agent, killing him finally.

Portnova was now so relieved to have avenged Zasha, she wanted to be the one to do it but she thought that it was better to let Freya do the job but she let tears coming from her eyes. She was still sad to have lost her best friend because of his guy and his mens. Freya was also sad but she was keeping her cool and when she saw Portnova starting to slowly cry, she approached her and hugged her, recomforting her a little bit. She did avenge someone that was important at her eyes.

After a little moment, both womens decided to leave that rooftop, leaving the body of the rogue agent on it, letting the cleaning crews to deal with it. Portnova wouldn't have the strengh to do that and it was better for her and Freya to not stay her. Their mission were finished but they said to themselves to stay together anyways as Portnova finally found someone to love....the women she wanted to have in her life.

In the evening after the events of the day, Portnova was alone in her office, giving a last look to the file of Zasha and every details they found on their murder. She was feeling better, knowing that their murderer was now dead, no longer walking in this world but she know that she will maybe never had someone else like Zasha in her life. Freya was still with her but she will never have the same things she did with them, that time was over for her and now, she needed to move on but she cannot do it. She will always remember her 'Zed' , their little games and their friendship. She decided to keep the file on her desk, not wanting to forget them.

As she was getting up from her desk since her day of work was finished, the door of her office opened : it was Freya, dressed in civilians clothes.....a first for Portnova.

"Hey Freya." Portnova smiled "How you've been doing ?"

"I'm good, Yirina." Freya responded, entering the office "I.....I can't believe we did it."

"I know, I'm thinking the same thing right now." Portnova leaned against her desk, crossing her arms above the chest. Freya approached her and put her arms around Portnova,

"I'm happy to have found someone like you, Yiri." She said, sounding lovely, giving Portnova a grin,

"Me too.....моя любовь (my love) !" She replied before leaning forward to get her lips on top of those of the Norwegian woman, kissing her.

She put her hands on Freya's face as the latter kept her arms around the russian woman. The kiss was beautiful but tears were coming from their eyes, giving this kiss a emotional moment, both were finally happy in each other arms. Portnova stopped the kiss, catching her breath, her eyes moved by the emotions.

"Thank you for loving me." She said, starting to cry

"Don't cry, Yirina, it's okay." Freya cleaned the tears on Portnova's face with her thumbs. After she was done, she looked at Portnova with lovely eyes.

"We should get to my place, I.....I want you to be with me tonight." Portnova suggested as the two never had the chances to sleep together.

"Yes, me too." She replied before withdrawing herself from Portnova "Come on, let's go."

Portnova took what she needed including Zasha's file and then followed Freya out of the Lubyanka building to return back to her home in the outskirts of Moscow as the night started to fall on the city. During the drive, Portnova could only smile about having avenged her friend : they were now in peace as their murdered was in hell for his crimes. It was the only way she could have feel better, she couldn't see the rogue agent be kept alive for interrogation, he needed to die.....nothing else ! Only death was the way !

Freya was sharing the same feeling but she was tough and she wasn't the type of person to cry but anyway, she was broken inside because of everything that happened : losing her friend but now she was now loving a good person in the name of Yirina Portnova. The two women were different but they were loving each other.

After the drive, they arrived at Portnova's home where they had dinner, they talked more about themselves and their past, also talking about their new future together. Even if they were both in different groups, they could talk to their respective superiors about being put together as a perfect and if that doesn't work, they even promised to each other to join the other's group in case. Portnova couldn't think one second about getting lonely again and she promised to Zasha that she will work each day not forgetting their name.....Zasha Smirnov !

The dinner ended and it was time for both women to go to sleep but before, Portnova decided to clean up the dishes. As she was finished, Freya arrived behind her, putting her arms around her and her head on the top of the back.

"I love you, Yirina." She exclaimed before releasing a little kiss on Portnova's back

"Me too." Portnova breathed, surprised by the cold feeling of Freya's lips on her back "You don't realize how much I love you too." She turned around to face Freya

"I know." Freya was going to kiss her until a phone starting ringing, cutting her in her move. "Oh, you've got a call." She smirked

"Aw shit." Portnova rolled her eyes, fainting an annoyance "Must be important."

"I'll await you in your room, be ready !" Freya gave her a little kiss on the lips before walking away, getting up the stairs and leaving Portnova alone in the kitchen with a phone ringing in the living room. Who can it be ? She asked herself as she was getting to the phone, she picked up the phone, thinking that it was maybe just a false call.

"Yirina Portnova." She started in a evasive tone

"Comrade Portnova, it's the KGB officer Dimitri Belikov."  The man said, Portnova was knowing the guy. "We need to talk."

"Comrade Belikov, why are you calling me ?" She asked, concerned. Maybe she know the man but why he wanted to talk to her.

"I think you've been lied to." He replied like that, sounding worried

"What do you mean ?"

"The operation you have done today was a setup organized by Perseus group."  He revealed to her but she wasn't taking this seriously

"You're joking, right ?" She laughed

"No.....the Perseus group is in fact a terrorist group manipulating the KGB since a long time, they've been acting dangerously and you unintentionally helped them to dispose of agents capable to expose their crimes." She didn't respond, wanting to know more but she wasn't at first believing it "Perseus is going to use a project called 'Greenlight' consisting to to blow up nuclear bombs placed under a lot of European cities, that would kill millions."

"How do you know all of that ?" She asked as she sit up, the phone in hand, on a chair just next to her. She was starting to believe him right now

"I've got my own sources but that's not all." Portnova could hear Belikov take a deep breath before he start to talk again,

"Perseus got your friend, Zasha Smirnov, killed !"

At hearing this, Portnova was going to drop the phone on the ground, shocked by the news. She was starting to sweat and breath loudly.

"No,no....you're kidding, you can't-" She started to said, her voice trembling but Belikov cut her

"That's the truth I'm telling you, Portnova !" He exclaimed "I know that I shouldn't do that but I checked the file of their case and I found things that.....fuck....I don't know if you're ready for this."

"T-Tell me !" She simply said, just wanting to know.

"The bullet they have found inside your friend's head was shot by an gun that we don't see everyday.......an AMP-63."  She could hear some sounds of files getting moves "And there's only one person in the Perseus group using that gun....."  Portnova realized everything right now, she saw only one person with that gun,

"Freda !" She whispered enough to be heard by him.

"Yes, that's her : Freya 'Wraith' Helvig."  He confirmed it "You know her ?"

"Sadly.....yes." She took a breath "She's my lover !"

"Shit, I....I'm sor-" Portnova didn't want to talk anymore, she hung up the phone without saying goodbye to Belikov.

After she hang up the phone, she was shocked to the bones, feeling betrayed by the one she loved. During all this times, she was used and played around by Freya and Perseus. Everything they found was just a lie coming from her and her terrorist group. The one she called love was the same person who killed her true friend Zasha and today, she unintentionally saw what Freya could have done to them : a single bullet in the forehead !

Right now, Portnova was clenching her fists and jaws about everything that has been told to her by Belikov. She loved Freya but now, she was feeling empty about her. In her own room, there were Freya and she couldn't stay in that chair, doing nothing, thinking that she was going to sleep with Zed's real killer. She closed her eyes for a few instants and then decided to act, she got up and go grab her Makarov inside her jacket and once she got it, she started to get up the stairs slowly, keeping her gun in hand. Each step was hard for her, she was going to confront Freya once and for all. She promised that she will kill the person who murdered Zasha.

She arrived in front of the door of her room and opened it as she hide the gun behind her back. Freya was still waiting in her bed under the blanket, smiling. Portnova had a blank stare to her.

"You're okay, Yiri ?"  Freya asked, worried, removing the smile she had "Is there something wrong ?" She asked again as Portnova didn't reply and then she was surprised when suddenly, Portnova aimed her gun towards her, causing her to leaned backwards in shock "What are you doing ?"

"I know what you did !" Portnova exclaimed, sounding calm and empty at the same time

"What are you talking about ?" Freya raised an eyebrow, causing Portnova to shoot a bullet on the ceilling, showing that she wasn't kidding at all.

"You killed Zasha.....my Zed !"

"You lost your mind, Yirina ?" Freya was shocked at what was happening "I was-"

"I know the true motives of your group, Freya. You want to blow up Europe with nuclears bombs like fucking terrorists.....and you personnaly killed Zasha !"  Portnova had her finger on the trigger but she couldn't do it.

"No, that's not what happened." Freya said but she inadvertently revealed what she did and Portnova wasn't stupid, she realized that quickly "Please, I'm sorry !" Freya added, understanding that she told her the truth

"Why did you kill my Zed ?"  Tears were starting to flow from Portnova's eyes

"I......they......they wanted to defect to the West." Freya cried too, breaking down "I didn't want that for them, they were my friend !"

"But you killed them anyway, you weren't their friend." Portnova added, it was impossible that Freya was Zasha's friend "You didn't let them a chance and you shot them like they were nothing, right ?"

"No....."

"Tell me !" Portnova shouted

"I never wanted to kill them and since I regret what I have done, Yirina !"  Freya defended herself but that wasn't helping Portnova who was starting to lose her temper, trying to controlling it "When I heard of you and your friendship with them, I felt so bad."

"That's where you decided to love me....to use me ?" Portnova started to cry, she couldn't hold back tears anymore "I loved you for real and now....I learned that you killed my friend."

"I love you too, Yirina."  Freya exclaimed, saying the truth "I wasn't playing you at all, my feelings are real for you."  She then moved her hand towards Portnova "I'm sorry, I'm truly am."

"I can't believe you." The russian shook her head and then put her two hands on the pistol, aiming Freya

"Please, Yiri.....I never wanted that for them." Her voice cracked "Please."

Portnova closed her eyes, her finger was on the trigger of her Makarov, she was ready to shoot the one she loved but also the one who destroyed her only friendship she had but then, her hands started trembling, she couldn't do it.....even with what she knew about Freya and her true motives. It's thanks to her that she could finally feel love and her first kiss but everything was now crushed down. Her dreams of a life with someone....crushed, her hopes to find a new friend like Zasha....crushed.

She lowered her gun, crying and then she dropped it on the ground. She couldn't shoot her. As she was stll crying, she decided to sit on the edge of the bed and look in front of her, blank stare, not even cleaning her own tears. She was feeling so empty right now, she needed to kill her to avenge her Zed but that was too much for her. Maybe they didn't wanted that from her. She promised to kill their murderer but she couldn't.

Freya wasn't moving until she decided to move to get behind Portnova and then put her arms around like she did minutes ago in the kitchen, Freya was still loving her but Portnova wasn't moving at all until she decided to speak,

"Leave !"

That's all Portnova wanted right now : she wanted to stay alone, that Freya will never come back inside her life

"No, Yiri, you can't...." Freya started to plead but that wasn't working

"Don't call me like that." Portnova whispered "You're nothing for me anymore."

"Please, I can-"

"No, you will have to live with that." Portnova removed Freya's arms around her, not looking "Leave me, I don't want to see you again."  She added, still blank stare. Freya couldn't make her change her mind, she realized that she destroyed Yirina's life by lying to her and playing her, she really loved her but this time, love wasn't enough to change things.

Right now, Freya started to get up from the bed, still crying too as she dressed up, ordered by Portnova. She wanted Portnova to look at her but she knew that it will never happen again. Portnova didn't move at all, leaving her alive with the fact that she crushed down a life by taking another one was for her the best solution for the moment. She didn't look when Freya started to leave the room. Freya was looking at her and wanted to speak but she will not respond to her : she was now a monster that can't redeem itself to the one she really loved. She then passed the door and closed it behind her.

After she left, Portnova laid down on her bed, crying alone in pain again : she lost her friend.....and she lost her lover.

She was alone again !

[residentraccoon]

Fave 2021 national finals songs

Since I don't have anything better to do with my life at the moment I decided to ramble about stuff. Okay, here are my thoughts about my fave songs from the national finals of 2021, in no particular order!

Norsk Melodi Grand Prix

• Monument was my absolute favourite and I still can't believe to this day that it didn't win :( Keiino are fking fantastic and they killed the stage (though I kind of preffered the black outfits from the 1st heat over the final ones, they suited the song's athmosphere better). I cried real tears when I saw they lost, for real. Heartbreak 💔

• Hero was such a nice throwback to 80s music style, the staging was also really neat. Would love to see Raylee come back next year in the selection, she has a cool stage presence

• Okay but Vi er Norge was a banger and I'm still listening to this one, a real shame it didn't even qualify nor win the 2nd chance round. As you already knew before, I have a weakness for violins because yes. The performance was so energetic and fun, should have def qualified. Underrated.

• Ut av mørket/Fallen angel was really good too. I wanted it to be kept in norwegian for esc but oh well. The stage show was just a tad messy but memorable.

• I can't escape was something I'd hear from Roxen ngl, the style matches her perfectly, even her cursive singing, everything. Either way I loved this one too, this song feels like a hug.

• Pages was so magical, I'm glad we got another joik song, sadly this didn't qualify 😥

• World on fire was kind of generic but puts me in a good mood everytime I listen to it, it's really catchy.

• Let loose is so g r o o v y and cool, it was my fave from the 1st heat when I got to listen to the songs. I'm lowkey happy it advanced to the final instead of Elevate, I'm sorry but I saw everyone praising that one in youtube comments, I never saw the hype, it was too regular and plain for me.

• Own yourself was so cute and funky, loved how it showed her ethnic background a lil with that disco sound.

• Witch woods...ehhh...While it's funny and unique, I think it's suited more for a witch Disney musical than Eurovision. But I like it anyway.

• Faith Bloody Faith oh yes I needed a rock song in this nf. Relieved it won the 2nd chance. Oh and I just realized, the superfinalists in mgp were literally the ones from the 1st heat. Crazy huh?

• Nordlyset is something I'd listen to near a fireplace with a cup of hot chocolate in hands watching the snow fall in my cottage located in a forest far away from civillization. So soothing and beautiful <3

• Eyes wide open was epic just like his 2020 viking schlager song (i prefer his 2020 song over this one but that's another story)

Melodifestivalen

• Little tot was amazing but def not as good as Bulletproof. It's still catchy asf and one of my favs from this selection.

• Dandi Dansa aka a banger, again another catchy song.

• Every minute sounds like a summer hit, it's awesome. It's also the spawner of all those haha eric on a kitchen tile memes I've seen around during that time.

• The world and especially Sweden wasn't ready for the masterpiece called Rena Rama Ding Dong. They should tone down their preference for safe pop songs and choose meme worthy songs like this one in the future tbh. They didn't even qualify, Sweden = coward.

• One Touch is a fun club track, I can see this as a summer hit as well. But her stage show...go girl give us nothing

• In the middle, once again The Mamas delivered.

• And finally Voices, which its nf staging was superior to the esc one. We are so sorry Tusse 😔

Festivali i Këngës

• Zjarri Im a total banger, it wasn't even in the top 5 ffs Era Rusi queen.

• Njësoj has such a nice party vibe, should have qualified.

• Haven't paid any attention to Karma until it won, then I said hey this isn't so bad, it's traditional and ethnic, I can actually see Albania in the final with this.

Dora

• Rijeka was the only one I thought it will win by a landslide and I was surprised it didn't. The staging was a bit too over the top, though

• Tick Tock grew on me after it won and quickly became one of my faves of this year's esc. I'm still sad it didn't qualify 😔

• She's like a dream is super uplifting and also sounds like an 80s song.

• Colors is something I heard a million times before but for some reason I'm jamming to this? Also I heard she's blind, is it true?

Eesti Laul

• Took me a while to have a fave from this nf but after some listens Magus Melanhoolia stole my heart 🧡 it's so different from the others and the staging looked so proffesional.

• Lost in a dance had me d a n c i n, I noticed we had a lot of 80s throwbacks in this nf season, this included. The live was so dissapointing though 😔

• Not so keen on 6 at first but now I absolutely love it, she has such a nice style and the song's athmosphere is so magical.

• Time was amazing, surprised it came 2nd!

• I actually liked The lucky one lmao, I found it much better than his previous entry.

• Heaven's not that far tonight was the party 80s bop we didn't knew we needed

Dansk Melodi Grand Prix

• Probably my biggest letdown of this nf season but I actually managed to like Står lige her, digging the electro 80s (again) sound

• I also liked Øve os på hinanden as well, this one really feels like a legit 80s track rather than a throwback.

• Silver Bullet was interesting as well, it was the early frontrunner when the songs first came out from what I remember.

Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu

• I love you is so wacky and catchy, and in finnish! I'd hear this as a soundtrack in an old video game.

• Dark Side was the definite winner ever since I heard it, and they even got a top 10 finish for Finland for the first time in years! Couldn't be more proud 😭

• Hurt was also one of my favs, Aksel needs to come back to esc, maybe in 2022 methinks 🤔

• Wait what is Laura Põldvere, an estonian singer tm doing in finnish nf? While I liked Play, I knew it wasn't strong enough to win, and she even came last. Do you get any flashbacks from another estonian entry with the same name that came last? 👀

C'est vous qui decidez

• Voila was the clear winner and that's about it, she deserved the win, it's just too beautiful for this world 😭

• Alleluia was an interesting sound of afrobeat, too bad their chances were killed because of messy staging :(

• Amour fou was so catchy and I loved the horse head thing lmao

Pabandom iš naujo

• Discoteque all day any day. The Roop world domination 💛

• Where'd you wanna go is so calming. I listen to this when I'm stressed and it works wonders, this was really beautiful.

• Open is so unique and soothing, a total contrast from her 2014 entry.

• Never fall for you again is a total earworm, even now as I'm writing this...even if I haven't listened to it since February.

Sanremo

• Zitti e Buoni was my instant fave, it simply stood out from the others by a lot.

Festival da Canção

• Por um triz is a beautiful ballad, was my fave.

• Saudade was the early favourite, reminds me of Telemoveis with its weird but artsy style.

Israel NF

• ...I really only liked Set me free tbh.

• La la love had a good potential but I can't not cringe at the corona reference like...ugh. Such a fun party song killed by one lyric, such a shame.

Russia's NF

• Just Russian Woman was the only one who deserved to win.

Spain's NF

• Yeah, they were both good but I liked Voy a Quedarme more.

[euclarisse]

⟨  CAMILLE  RAZAT.    CIS  FEMALE.    SHE  /  HER.  ⟩    though  the  mist  might  prevent  some  from  seeing  it,    CLARISSE  PROUVAIRE    is  actually  a  descendant  of    K H I O N E.    it’s  still  a  question  of  whether  or  not  the    TWENTY - SIX    year  old    ART  HISTORY  MAJOR    from    AVIGNON,    FRANCE    has  taken  after  their  godly  parent  completely,    but  the  demigod  is  still  known  to  be  quite    EBULLIENT    &    HAUGHTY.

                  ❄    DOSSIER.      ❄    PINTEREST.      ❄    PLAYLIST.

PERSONALITY.

a  sunny  disposition  offsets  clarisse’s  frosty  lineage.    while  one  might  expect  her  to  brush  you  off,    the  girl  is  rarely  seen  without  a  smile  on  her  face,    and  is  welcoming  to  all  she  meets    ⸺    just  as  long  as  they  treat  her  well.    after  all,    her  name  means    ‘  bright  ’,    and  she  is  ever - determined  to  prove  herself  as  such  ;  clarisse  is  always  happy  to  lend  a  hand  where  needed  or  offer  a  shoulder  to  cry  on  if  someone  is  upset.    she  is  a  force  of  positive  energy,    forever  trying  to  find  the  silver  lining  where  there  may  not  always  be  one.    while  she  rarely  lets  things  get  to  her,    clarisse’s  desire  to  trust  and  see  the  good  in  all  means  that  she  is  often  misled.    she’s  not  always  the  best  judge  of  character,    and  she  has  been  hurt  because  of  it  in  the  past.    people  tend  to  mistake  her  trust  for  naivete,    and  while  she  can  be  quite  oblivious  to  people’s  intentions  at  times,    she  won’t  allow  them  to  walk  all  over  her.

          as  the  middle  child  in  a  family  of  three,    clarisse  has  often  felt  like  she  has  to  prove  herself  in  order  to  be  seen.    a  perfectionist  at  heart  and  a  dancer  for  most  of  her  life,    she  tends  to  focus  on  the  smaller  details  and  gets  frustrated  when  things  become  misaligned  or  fall  out  of  place.    she  is  extremely  studious  and  hardworking  as  a  result,    and  has  always  been  at  the  top  of  her  classes.    she  refuses  to  let  herself  be  anything  less  than  number  one,    and  can  occasionally  come  off  as  something  of  a  snob  when  something    (    or  someone    )    doesn’t  meet  her  standards.    once  clarisse  sets  her  heart  on  a  goal,    she  will  always  see  it  through,    no  matter  the  outcome.    she  sees  mistakes  as  a  reason  to  learn  and  better  herself.    improvement  is  never  out  of  reach  for  her  and  it  is  something  that  has  always  been  encouraged  by  her  loved  ones.

          being  surrounded  by  people  is  one  of  clarisse’s  great  joys  in  life.    she  is  fond  of  large  crowds  of  people  and  seldom  likes  to  be  alone,    having  always  been  lucky  enough  to  have  at  least  one  friend  by  her  side.    clarisse  is  usually  seen  as  the  mother  figure  in  her  friend  groups,    and  has  frequently  been  described  as    ‘  the  sensible  one  ’.    there  is  nothing  she  wouldn’t  do  for  her  loved  ones,    but  be  warned,    once  you  have  betrayed  her  trust  and  shown  her  your  true  colours,    she’s  not  so  easily  swayed.    she  is  a  firm  believer  that  second  chances  should  be  earned  through  actions,    not  freely  given,    and  no  one    ⸺    not  even  herself    ⸺    deserves  to  be  excused  purely  on  words  alone.

FACTS.

clarisse’s  mother  is  an  art  collector,    often  acquiring  rare  and  exquisite  pieces  to  sell  to  museums.    both  philippe  and  madelyn  are  benefactors  of  several  large  and  infamous  art  galleries  in  france    (    including  the  louvre    ).    their  donations  are  annual,    significant,    and  their  names  are  almost  synonymous  with  some  of  the  most  prominent  art  communities  in  europe.

clarisse  has  a  grey  long - haired  cat  named  basile.    he  is  of  the  norwegian  forest  breed,    and  was  chosen  with  the  knowledge  that  norwegian  forest  cats  are  adapted  to  colder  climates,    much  like  the  siberian  husky  or  alaskan  malamute.    the  name  basile  means    ‘  regal  ’    in  french,    and  clarisse  frequently  calls  him  her  little  prince.    he  is  her  emotional  support  animal  due  to  her  anxiety.

khione  has  visited  her  daughter  many  times  over  the  years,    though  she  would  often  disguise  herself  prior  to  clarisse’s  official  claiming,    as  she  wanted  to  give  her  daughter  some  semblance  of  normalcy  until  then.    she  always  brings  her  small  gifts,    often  in  the  form  of  jewellery,    and  was  usually  introduced  to  her  as  a  distant  aunt.    one  gift  in  particular  arrived  on  the  eve  of  clarisse’s  sixteeth  birthday  and  was  a  silver  necklace  featuring  a  pendant  of  intricate  snowflakes.    clarisse  has  never  taken  it  off  and  she  treasures  it  immensely.

clarisse  speaks  with  a  heavy  french  accent,    and  it  can  be  quite  difficult  to  understand  when  she  is  speaking  quickly.    her  language  preference  is  french,    as  it  is  her  main  tongue,    and  it  pleases  her  greatly  when  she  runs  into  other  people  who  can  also  speak  french  as  she  doesn’t  have  to  be  so  self - conscious  about  her  speech.

clarisse  was  a  summer  member  of  camp  stark  from  2010 – 2012,    and  left  the  camp  when  she  was  seventeen  years  old.    she  went  on  one  quest  in  the  first  month  of  her  final  year,    and  was  accompanied  by  two  other  camp  members.    their  task  was  to  seek  out  and  return  the  diadem  of  mnemosyne  to  calliope,    the  leader  of  all  muses.    they  were  successful.

before  arriving  at  eonia  university,    clarisse  attended  the  ballet  de  l’opéra  national  de  paris,    where  she  went  on  to  become  one  of  their  principal  dancers.    at  the  age  of  twenty - three,    she  was  forced  to  quit,  after  a  trio  of  harpies  attacked  her  and  several  audience  members  during  a  performance.

POWERS.

aerokinesis    :    perhaps  the  one  power  clarisse  has  used  before  but  still  has  yet  to  fully  refine.    occasionally,    on  a  cold,    stormy  night,    when  the  wind  rattles  the  windows  in  their  frames,    she  is  able  to  brush  it  away  as  it  it  were  a  mere  fly  hovering  about  her  head.    she  has  summoned  gusts  of  wind  in  the  past,    the  most  recent  that  she  can  recall  being  her  final  performance  with  the  ballet  de  l’opéra  national  de  paris.    audience  members  and  staff  will  say  that  it  came  from  the  hole  in  the  ceiling,    but  she  knows  what  she  did,    what  she  is  capable  of  doing.    the  wind  swept  from  her  body  as  sharp  as  knives,    whipping  through  the  theatre  like  a  winter  gale.    it  tore  a  hole  through  the  roof  and  blew  the  creatures  away.    she  cannot  forget.    she  will  always  remember  what  she  is  able  to  do.

cryokinesis    :    it  comes  as  naturally  to  her  as  breathing.    at  five  days  old,    she  was  creating  small  blizzards  in  her  room.    by  eight  years  old,    she  was  making  slides  down  the  staircase  by  pouring  water  over  the  steps  and  freezing  it  to  ice.    clarisse  never  found  it  particularly  strange  or  peculiar  that  she  was  able  to  manipulate  the  cold  with  such  ease.    in  fact,    when  she  was  younger,    she  assumed  it  was  something  that  all  children  could  do,    and  was  left  astonished  when  her  brother  informed  her  otherwise.    she  learned  to  embrace  her  unique  gift  from  a  young  age,    and  taught  herself  how  to  hone  her  abilities  without  expert  instruction,    almost  to  the  point  of  perfection.    she’s  learned  how  to  create  beautiful  figures  made  of  ice,    sculptures  that  her  parents  would  proudly  display  during  dinner  parties  and  family  gatherings.    she  uses  her  cryokinesis  habitually,    and  it  is  something  she  is  completely  unashamed  of,    even  if  the  frequent  demonstration  of  her  power  has  brought  her  trouble  in  the  past.

fearspeak    :    clarisse  is  too  fair  and  too  kind  to  ever  willingly  use  this  ability  on  someone  who  doesn’t  deserve  it,    and  every  time  she’s  ever  used  her  fearspeak  in  the  past,    she  has  felt  nothing  but  the  deepest  of  regret.    for  her,    it  is  a  shame  she  must  carry.    she  never  wishes  to  incite  fear  in  anybody,    but  she  can  sometimes  perceive  what   they  are  feeling.    it  speaks  to  her,    calls  out  to  her,    and  when  it  does,    she  can’t  help  but  inform  them  of  the  worst.

other  abilities  :

heat  sensitivity    :    the  first  ability  that  ever  manifested  in  clarisse  was  a  sensitivity  to  heat.    her  mother  could  never  understand  why  her  baby  would  cry  relentlessly  in  the  middle  of  summer,    or  by  the  fireplace  in  the  living  room  when  it  was  lit.    the  hottest  days  of  the  year  were  an  endurance  for  the  entire  family.    while  she  was  as  obedient  and  easygoing  as  they  came,    it  was  the  one  time  of  the  year  where  she  would  fuss  and  stick  up  her  nose.    she’s  gotten  in  frequent  trouble  with  her  father    (    who  has  a  weak  disposition  and  bad  circulation    )    for  turning  down  the  heating  during  the  coldest  winter  nights.    extreme  heat  makes  her  skin  feel  itchy,    like  she’s  about  to  break  out  in  hives  or  burn  to  a  crisp  on  the  spot,     but  she’s  learned  not  to  complain.

immunity  to  cold    :   clarisse  has  never  felt  the  cold  the  way  that  she  felt  the  heat.    she  says  it  brushes  over  her  like  water    ⸺    almost  unfeeling,    rippling  over  her  skin.    in  the  depths  of  winter,    she  can  walk  around  in  single  layers    ⸺     the  thinnest  silk  dress,    the  shortest  sleeved  t - shirt    ⸺    with  a  smile  on  her  face,    as  if  it  were  any  other  day  of  the  year.    she  seldom  wears  thick  winter  jackets,    but  if  she  does,    know  that  it’s  for  everyone  else’s  sake  than  for  her  own.    it’s  better  to  fit  in  than  be  judged.

OUT  OF  CHARACTER.

it’s  your  fave,    nixie    (    24,    gmt,    she  /  her    )    coming  in  with  muse  number  two    !!!    very  happy  and  excited  to  finally  be  writing  clarisse,    who  I  have  thus  dubbed  as  my  lil  sunshine  winter  baby.    I  know  I’ve  been  hyping  her  up  for  the  last  few  weeks,    but  I  absolutely  cannot  wait  to  write  her,    so  come  and  plot  with  me    !

[k-liight]

it's been a hell of a long time since I did OC stuff, but here at last is my full cast for Warlock Enterprise! and by full cast, I mean all the characters that are at least somewhat important to the story. lmao there'll be other characters that are just kinda there for maybe like two seconds, and I may add more characters to the actual plot in the future lol. but this is everybody for now! I'm gonna ramble about them all like I usually do with my OCs so if you're interested keep reading dflfjbhgfdkgjs (also note that I made some major design changes to most of these characters LMAO)

Richard Duchaes is the confident dad who comes from a long line of demon hunters going way back into the early medieval times-- pretty much as far back as warlocks even existed in this universe! he can be quite goofy at times, but don't mess with him or his family unless you wanna see him go into angery papa bear attack mode. he's a very powerful warlock and wants his son Mason to even more powerful one day. he's very outgoing and supportive and likes to incorporate witty banter into his battles. Denise Duchaes is the sweet yet badass angel mom who can also be very goofy despite her magnificence. even around other transcendents, she'll keep in her human form, because her true angel form can be quite overwhelming. she's 90% pure light and can bend light rays at her will-- a master illusionist. when alone with her family, she'll carry herself in a dimmer form of her true self so as to not blind them-- that form is translucent and makes her look like wispy smoke. she's very protective of her children, but also likes to embarrass them both, as moms do, haha. Mason Duchaes is of course our hero, a young warlock who dreams of following in his fathers footsteps, but he's rather shy and a little bit behind in magical development. he has a degree of social anxiety making it hard for him to get comfortable around people, but he's very devoted to his family and very protective of his little sister Kalisha. he's down-to-earth and no-nonsense, but he knows how to have fun and it's very easy to make him laugh. he might get insecure of himself at times, but he's very determined to achieve his goals no matter how long it takes. he's more of a left-brain thinker, very logical in what he does and is able to make calculated decisions quickly. Kalisha Duchaes is Mason's adoptive younger sister who's extremely excitable and energetic to the point where she innocently thinks being in danger is fun. she's kind of a mystery baby, her transcendency is unclear and her parents have no idea where she came from. she was found in the woods at a mere three years old and the only thing she remembered was her own first name, and when Richard and Denise couldn't find her birth family, they took her into theirs. now, Kalisha is happy with her family and is eager to join them in the long line of demon hunters. she's quite pugnacious and enjoys fighting demons. she's a tough little rascal that gets right back up when she's knocked down. Amy Stilton is Mason's best friend and magic partner who's also here for a good time and has the unique ability to telepathically communicate with animals. Mason's parents discover that Amy is half-transcendent and half-banal, which is a big no-no in transcendent code of conduct. she also has no idea who her own father is, leading them to believe that her father is/was a transcendent who broke the rules. similar to Kalisha, her transcendency is unclear, so after Mason partners with her and dubs her an "honorary warlock", Richard and Denise set out to solve her origin mystery. she has ADHD and is thus a very creative right-brain thinker to balance Mason's logical demeanor. she's very energetic and emotional, and while she gets easily scared fighting demons, she can channel that fear into good fighting tactics. Sasha Stilton is Amy's aloof and standoff-ish mother who only shows her emotions when she wants to. she's rather trashy and sleazy, but she's also very mysterious in her ways. she smokes a lot a wears too much jewelry and makeup, but she's sympathetic as a minimum-wage worker and single mom. she seems cold at times, but she has instilled a great sense of responsibility in Amy. Maureen Burgstaller is Amy's best friend alongside Mason and also doubles as her school tutor. she's very smart and academic, but she's also sporty and loves working out in her free time. she's a star student and a loyal friend who has known Amy since they were knee-high to a grasshopper and helps her work with her ADHD. she's great with kids and wants to be a teacher one day. Edward Copperton is a wise and friendly old chap who's still very strong for his age and owns the local transcendent tavern, The Waning Gibbous, as well as the head of the area's Warlock Enterprise (which is where the name of the story comes from hollaaaaaa). he exudes kind grandfather vibes and shares mutual respect with Richard and his family. he's very fond of Mason and Kalisha and becomes a sort of mentor to them both. he's been worn down from years, no, decades, of fighting physical and emotional battles, but he is able to take something good from all of his experiences. he's rather prophetic due to his age, but never overbearing. Lucy is a bubbly and cheerful witch who loves good times and all things cute. she's extremely friendly and devotes herself and her magic to helping others. she herself is very cutesy and takes pride in being girly and powerful both. her magic is strong, but her passion is even stronger, and she can cast complicated spells with ease. Lora is Lucy's dark, evil twin sister who is much more stoic and unfeeling than her other half. she frequently teams with demons to get what she wants, but she doesn't strike a fair bargain and is very selfish even to them. despite her cruel nature, Lucy holds no hard feelings towards her. Quentin is an evil warlock and Richard's arch-nemesis since high school. he's very cocky and outgoing, and almost campy in his speech, but paring that with the many lives he's taken makes him all the more twisted. he's over-confident and has a dark sense of humor. he's very violent, but doesn't like getting his hands too dirty, though he just loves pissing Richard off. Kyle is a lowly demon and Quentin's acolyte/scapegoat. he's practically a slave to the evil warlock and is far too weak to rebel against him. he's extremely shy and unsure for a demon, and doesn't even like too much violence. he has a Stockholm syndrome towards Quentin because he believes he's the only one who sees the demon's potential. Grent is a smaller but much stronger demon who frequently annoys the other villains, intentional or not. he's incredibly obnoxious and doesn't seem to know when to shut up, which frequently gets him in trouble (not that he'll ever learn his lesson). while he is powerful, he tends to overshot himself, especially if it's to impress a clearly uninterested woman. he's obsessed with jazz music and thinks he's hot shit, but he's really not. Lady Ultimatum is a rouge vampire who feeds off others' fear. she has built her entire identity to being as terrifying as possible, and loves scaring people into eventually letting her get her way. she's a gambler, but she doesn't play fair at all. if she tries to strike an unfair "bargain" with you, you can turn her down, but over time, you'll be tormented in your nightmares by all your worst fears and eventually become so paranoid that you give in and accept her offer just to make it all stop. she's highly feared and loves every drop of it. Felix is a Norwegian hudrekall who works as a bartender/waiter at the Waning Gibbous tavern. he's very soft-spoken, but is also quite a flirt, and always pays a compliment where he can even when he's not flirting. nearly everyone is attracted to him and he knows it, but he doesn't let it get to his head and is very humble about it. he's sweet and soft, but he definitely has a mischievous side as well. Ildiko is a female warlock of Hungarian descent and Lucy's girlfriend. she's much more intimidating and less bubbly than her beloved, but she's very much a gentlewoman. she's been through a hell of a lot and has the battle scars to show it, plus the horrific marks of a severe burn to her lower face and upper torso which she covers. she's tough as nails and doesn't fuck around, making her well-respected in the Enterprise. and last but not least, Uriah is a new character added to the line-up; he's fun-loving twenty-something warlock who uses his magic in very creative ways. he has a natural ear for music, and likes to use soundwaves from his mixtapes to his advantage. sometimes he can be a bit naive, but he's still a valuable member of the Enterprise. he quickly befriends Mason and becomes like the brother he never had. damn, it took me like two hours just to type up this description XD but I think that's it for now! hopefully I can get back into the swing of OC stuff, especially for this story flbfjgkljds

[cynicalclassicist]

Jarl Vidkun

More Arthuriana. If the language sounds harsh... well, I based this on actual stuff from far-right, including Acephobic abuse I got online.

Mordred had come over to Norway as part of a diplomatic mission, his father sending him over due to rising tensions in this region, the Swedish King Ongentheow having difficulties with the Geats. A pact had been made and signed, overseen by Mordred and others and now they were returning.

But on the way Mordred passed through Norway. His stepfather had inherited a Kingdom in Norway and so Mordred had at times gone over there from the Orkneys. He was now passing through the realm of King Olbrict, the second son of King Aschil of Denmark. In this Kingdom, to Telemark in the South-East of Norway, stood the castle of Jarl Vidkun.

Jarl Vidkun was an elderly man. His grandson was currently a squire in Saxony, for the Duke Chelric. He was not well loved among the Norwegians. When the Roman Emperor Lucius Tiberius had been conquering Europe, there had been rumours of a secret pact between him and the Jarl, a pact which would make him King Vidkun, subservient to the might of Rome.

But Lucius had been beaten by Arthur and many others, and freedom had been restored to Europe with the death of Lucius and the breakup of his Empire. Vidkun had not been proven to be in league with Lucius, but he had not been in favour ever afterwards. Yet as time passed, as stories of the cruelties of Lucius passed further away, as new generations grew up, minds turned.

Mordred could sniff this trouble, this resentment in Europe. This Emperor, the Count of Luxemburg, fought to keep order in Germany and the surrounding powers. In Rome the Pope critiqued him, angry at the rights of the Church being pushed aside. There were new powers rising there, another Lucius Tiberius. In Saxony the Duke resented the Emperor for not giving his daughter Fenice to him, the Greeks for taking her away and Arthur, for being kin to the man now married to Fenice. In Spain the atrocities at Saragossa, the smashing of Synagogues and the massacres in Mosques were brushed aside, people denying the Franks deeds and talking of the greatness the Frankish King Bahamond had brought.

And now Mordred spoke to Vidkun in the castle, where the common people could not hear them. The servants had been ordered not to enter, this was a meeting only for the elite.

“There are many who say you would have wished Lucius to succeed” said Mordred.

“Lucius had fine ideas. Why do you think Rome worshiped him?” asked Vidkun, offering Mordred some wine.

The British Knight considered. “I am of blood which cannot accept an overlord.”

“Of course” said the Jarl. “But… superior blood.” He swilled the wine round and handed it to Mordred, who took a sip. “Some races are naturally better. Those people of the East, those Mohammedans… too many have entered Europe. And the people know it. The common people.” Vidkun took a draught of his claret, brought over from Italy 30 years ago. “Those who we represent truly.”

“Yes” replied Mordred. “Palamedes drags down the court. And that magpie with Perceval, along with their savage nephew. And of course Priamus. The court of Camelot… how can such diversity be strength?”

“Are more coming in?”

“It is happening each day” replied Mordred. “Every day more of those people come in, the non-British. My brother Agravaine told the people they were overfilling, like the point where an overfilled skin breaks. And yet he is mocked for this. Dinaden cracks a jape and all laugh.”

“Who is this Dinaden?”

“A foolish clown, too weak to even sire children or take a woman” said Mordred. “Claiming not to feel lusts… the mark of a lesser man.”

“Such people are a danger to us” said Vidkun. “If they are not siring children others will follow their lead. Our race will be diminished. As it is being diminished now…”

“And it happens every day!” snarled Mordred, suddenly angry, his fury bursting forth. He tried not to let his emotions get out of hand, but when he was angry, or at least, when he showed he was angry, it was like a broken dam.

“Every day we have more of those… people, those filthy idiots… not speaking our language, crowding the streets, swamping us like a hoard of locusts!” Mordred was so angry he hurled his wine cup against the wall, shattering it.

Vidkun turned angrily and opened his mouth. But he stopped suddenly, coughing as his speech halted. He twisted his face into a smile. “Yes. They are a swarm.”

The door burst open and a servant entered. “Is something wrong my Jarl?”

“Do not disturb us!” replied his Lord. “I gave orders me and Sir Mordred were not to be disturbed!”

The man looked over. “Your wine…”

“You should not have spilt it. I will take it out of your wages” replied the Jarl.

“But…”

“Are you questioning me?”

“No, my Jarl” said the man. He left.

“What were we talking of?” asked Mordred.

“One day… one day the true European people will be restored. That King will stop tyrannising the people, we will stand up for the common people. And their Kings will not be traitors to their race.” Vidkun smirked, his lips glistening in the light. “There are people like me all over Europe. The true race of Europe.”

“But what can we do?”

“Why… what Lucius did” replied Vidkun. “Remind the people of their true heritage. Make a movement. Tell people the truth. Wake them up!”

“Yes… we are the majority after all” said Mordred, a smile appearing on his face. He was not used to smiling and most people would have found this look unsettling.

“Draw on Lucius” said Vidkun. “And that salute of his.” He demonstrated, raising his palm up to the sky, as if he was trying to grab something he couldn’t reach.

Mordred saluted as well.

“Make that your symbol” said Vidkun. “Like a prayer. All of you pray together, through the salute. I recall before Lucius thousands would perform the salute. If you can do the same, then a Kingdom will be yours.”

Mordred liked this salute of Rome. With it he drew on his true heritage. He thought of all Arthur had done, bringing in the lesser peoples. He remembered the wickedness of Uther, what one grandfather had done to another. He knew which grandfather he would draw on. Like Gorlois he would be heroic, he would fight for the supremacy of his race against the invaders. As Mordred left the castle the following day, he knew what he and Agravaine would speak of when they next saw each other.

@cukibola @epic-summaries

[dcrken]

* ♡ ˙ ˖ / herman tommeraas + cis male + he/him. — did you know beck’s real name is beckett holsen ? oh yeah, they are a twenty-two year old bartender known as the dirtbag that has been in town for three years. this pansexual aries can be truthful + self-reliant, as well as sardonic + assertive. i hear their soulmark is a wilted rose on the neck, and their soulmate looks like axel auriant. bruised knuckles, neatly poured shots, a journal filled with unspoken words.

hello friends, it’s cee again for an encore round feating this .... lil fucker , BECK ! he’s the light of my life & a recycled muse that i would do anything for, but he’s a lil demon so i apologize in advance. again , please give this a lil LIKE & i’ll hop into your dms !

BACKGROUND. abuse tw, alcohol abuse tw, death tw.

a true southern boy, beckett was born in savannah, georgia. he’s got a very norwegian family, so he speaks fluent norwegian & english, but he’s never been outside of the states. he was born to a very protective mother and a very focused father. where his mother was the loving one, his father was less. surrounded by drinking and anger problems, his father was never comforting or loving, and beck wasn’t raised to be kind and sincere.

as beck grew, his fathers personality and anger only settled in more. often times there would be disagreements that got physical, and the more his father yelled at beck to hit back, the more willing he was to defend himself. unfortunately, his father considered this a+ parenting and felt this was helping beck ‘be a man’ and grow up. 

eyes often doted with bruises and knuckles sore from fighting back, beck found solace in his mother. she was kind, soft spoken, and he had no idea why she was still with his father. despite their so called love, he was a terrible husband and father, and no amount of poor guidance would lead beck to think otherwise. 

meanwhile, as beck made his way through school, he had a gift for intelligence. he excelled quicker than any other student in his school and was quickly pushed up two grades. at barley seven, he was already passing through third grade and was quickly labeled as gifted. 

though he was intellectually on a higher level, he wasn’t at the maturity rate to be so young going through much higher grades. he often got in trouble for acting out, mostly due to his high intelligence mixed with his low maturity. by the age of sixteen, he had already graduated high school and was beginning college. it wasn’t that he didn’t enjoy school or learning ; he’s got a major love for reading and learning, but it was hard to have a stigma over his head.

meanwhile, his father was pushing him to do better and better - there were children who graduated college at sixteen, and his father always thought a pushy do better attitude mixed with physical forces would someone make beck smarter than he was. however, beck knew he wasn’t child prodigy material, he just excelled in school and was able to finish earlier than others. but his father always expected the world, and it weighed heavy on the young boy. 

at sixteen years old, beckett left home as he was excepted into princeton university. he longed to be away from home, but he was clearly not ready to be on his own yet. still young and impressionable, his inherited traits got the best of him, and beck had fallen into the partying scene. his father, a business man, had urged his son to become a business major despite his wants to be a teacher, so he did; and it drained the life out of him. 

he was still making his way through, despite his struggles, and only faltered when he came home for christmas when he was seventeen. no phone call or text had indicated that anything was wrong - and he realized he had been too focused on his party scene and actually being a kid to call home. however, as he returns home, he’s met with the news that his mother had passed away. his father, being the asshole that he is, didn’t even both having a funeral or contacting their son. 

devastated and at wits end with his father, they get into a huge brawl which leaves beck pretty badly hurt and with no choice but to go back to princeton because at least he’s not with his dad.

he only lasts until his eighteenth birthday before he drops out and leaves the state, his degree, and his abusive father behind. he does however, bring the emotional baggage of his childhood and the loss of his mother with him, along with all of the funds he had in savings for college; now protected in his own bank account. he drives and drives until he finds jericho, a small hidden gem that his life had needed.

with his struggles still tucked under his belt, he finds solace in a local bar that allowed him to bartend ( thanks , maine bartending law ), though his job is threatened several times when he’s caught drinking on the job. slowly, however, he pulled himself together. he still has some missing pieces that likely won’t ever put themselves back, but he spend the last three(ish) years becoming his own person.

sometimes he regrets not finishing college, not being there for his mom, and everything else that haunts him from his past, but he’s young, independent, and as happy as he thinks he can get in the small town. he still struggles with alcohol issues, but working at the bar as well as confiding in the owner has actually helped him stay grounded; and his biggest inspiration being.

the focus his anger and to keep his head on straight, i feel like he was briefly involved with some underground fighting but it turned into boxing & some mma type fights locally. nothing professionally or as a steady form of income, but more so for his own well being and so he doesn’t get into actual fights with people. he likes fighting because he grew up with a heavy self defense mindset, and it helps keep him focused and gets out his anger. definitely has a little area at home with a punching bag so he can let out his anger when needed.

PERSONALITY.

beck is ... damaged, but he’s not an asshole. well. he’s kind of an asshole. he’s definitely got temperament issues, but he controls it through work & fights. it helps keep him centered so he doesn’t actually punch people. is incredibly impatient and probably carries a stress ball around with him. i’m not kidding.

however i gotta be honest he’s not that controlled. will probably punch you if you piss him off. very fighty. also 

incredibly cynical and doesn’t really believe all the hype around jericho & soulmates. the idea of love in his head is incredibly jaded and he doesn’t think he’ll ever find it. sometimes all he sees in himself is his father and would rather not induce that onto other people. likely comes off as a player-type, though it’s not intentional. 

i don’t know if i’d classify him as brutally honest -- but he’s very truthful. he doesn’t intentionally say things to be rude or unkind , but his truth isn’t always what people want to hear and he doesn’t mind being the one who has to say it.

comes off as very much emotionless and that’s how he likes it. he doesn’t like to show weakness. he doesn’t necessarily come off as closed off - he’s honest and truthful , but in technical terms he’s very closed off. little to no people know anything about his past because he won’t talk about it. the most he discloses is that he’s from georgia and he went to princeton.

curses like a sailor. every other work is fuck. every insult in suck my dick. i’m sorry.

he writes in a journal to get his thoughts/feelings out on paper and out of his head. if you touch it, he’ll kill you. not a joke. he also really loves to read??? two things that are usually Unexpected of him. 

very typical leather jacket wearing cigarette smoking kinda ‘bad boy’ image although he has a great smile when he decides to use it.

he’s slowly beginning to understand that he needs to let go of his anger & past and is actually pretty happy in jericho. felt super lonely for.... years and probably doesn’t feel as lonely anymore.

LINKS. 

wanted connections.

stats.

pinterest.

[hirvitank]

There is some happy news I really want to talk about, but I feel like I can’t truly share it without explaining the true magnitude of it. (And also I feel like I should talk about this, because it’s affected me so much.)

As some of you may know my graduation project was all about dealing with the loss of an animal. I was inspired by my cat, my best friend and soulmate, suddenly falling ill. She got better, sort of, but the doctors had no idea what was wrong with her. I’ve talked about her falling ill in the past, and those were some of the hardest times I’ve gone through just because of how much she meant to me.  Because I felt so absolutely wrecked (honestly I had a hard time dealing with lots of suicidal thoughts, because the idea that she would leave me like this was too much for me at the time), I decided I needed to find a way to deal with these emotions. I wanted to live, I wanted to go on and know I could be happy without her. Because she would leave me eventually, her death was something inevitable, and I didn’t want it to ruin my life. I had(/have!) too much going for me. In the meantime I got my horse, which was something that really helped me a lot! She offered me the kind of distraction and right environment I needed. Having a horse of my own enabled me to leave a very toxic place behind, even if it meant leaving my care horse Rosa... I did my project and I graduated. I had done so much research, and developed a true understanding of loss and mourning, more than I ever hoped I would. After I graduated my cat got sick again, and this time... she deteriorated very fast. We went to several doctors, none of them able to find the cause of her sudden loss of appetite and weight. Within a month her actual weight had halved; from 6 to only 3 kg. We were sent to a specialist, which meant we had to drive across the border, from the Netherlands to Belgium, to have her examined. It was a day I will never forget. The long drive, leaving our home behind not knowing in what state we would return to it... I realised that it could go both ways, and that perhaps not knowing yet was a real blessing, perhaps not being confronted with what was wrong was better than the truth. That day we had the worst news we could have possibly gotten. My cat was diagnosed with lung cancer, and it had caused severe heart failure. She was too weak to operate, and her prognosis was very grim. I remember calling my mom, telling her we would try everything, that we would see if we could make her strong enough to have the operation to save her. My mom has always been cynical in a way I’ve never been, I’ve always been an idealist, a dreamer -- naive to a fault. She’s always been the one to tell me when something is impossible. And she did. And the reality of it all hit me harder than I ever thought, and I just screamed at her, cried my heart out. Because this was my baby, the one I loved most in the entire world -- she was supposed to grow old with me! But if anything I’ve learned that isn’t how the world works, and I see similar experiences all around me. Where there is love, there is loss. I thought of all I read, all the stories people had shared with me, and I decided that I would not be angry or bitter. This wasn’t unfair... this was just life, and it would have been childish and ungrateful of me to be angry at some non-existent force that supposedly took my baby away. Because death is an absolute given, and every single day we get to spend alive is a gift. So instead I decided to be grateful for all the love she had given me all these years, for how lucky I had been to find her in the first place. I did my best to help her through her final 2 weeks, trying to see if perhaps heart medication would allow her some more strength. Sadly, she didn’t improve. I dealt with it all on my own terms, recorded every single day, made sure to take plenty of pictures. There is something I find absolutely beautiful about mourning, the raw emotion of it, so I tried to captured as much of it as I could, to appreciate that this is the other side of loving so deeply. I took her back to the place I had found her, and was able to celebrate her 10th birthday. She ended up dying in my arms, a few hours before she was supposed to be put to sleep. She was too weak, too sick. I made her a coffin of her own, decorated it and kept her with me for a few more days before I buried her. And just like that... she was gone. I’d been saying for a long time that if she were ever to pass, I would want a black smoke kitten. It was sort of a dream of mine, I absolutely love them. As she was sick I already decided to search for one, because who knows, I might be lucky and it would allow me something to look forward to. I was realistic enough to know it wouldn’t be healthy for me to fixate on my loss, to close myself off to everything and wallow in self pity. I knew it was in my best interest to keep moving forward. And lo and behold, there was one single black smoke Norwegian Forest kitten available in all of the Netherlands! I reached out to his owner, and within two weeks we were able to get to meet him. It was love at first sight, and I couldn’t believe just how lucky I had been. We would have to wait for a few more weeks before he’d be old enough to go home with us. That moment has arrived, and he is now with us. I’m very happy he’s here, even though it both broke my heart as much as it warmed it. I feel like a part of me has died, and I don’t know who this new person is yet. I feel like I have to start over, build a new life. My cat, Faelyn, can never be replaced, but that doesn’t mean I cannot love again. And new love isn’t worth less just because it’s different. It’s a chance at something unique and refreshing, something exciting. So I’m happy to introduce my dear little kitty Mòryn, who already looks at us with all the love in the world, even though he’s still so young. And I hope sharing this story, both sad and happy, touches at least some of you who feel like I do. Because losing an animal is the absolute worst, but it’s not the end of the world -- love is all around, you just have to be open to it. ♥

[cianmars]

You can stop hugging me now.” “You scared the shit out of me. I’m never going to stop hugging you.” + Daddy Charming, please

I made this into my first chapter in my Frozen Red Snowing fic!

You wait for one parent for 7 years and then 5 come along at once.- Frozen Red Snowing (David x Snow x Kristoff x Anna x Ruby)

The curse has broken and Emma meets all of her parents for the first time.

(AO3 Link.)

David pressed a kiss to his foster daughter’s forehead, she couldn’t be gone, she just couldn’t. He loved her so much, he had been in the process of trying to adopt her, she was the only person in his life. He loved her more than life itself. But now she was gone.

As his lips touched her head, his daughter’s head, magic spread out and across the town.

Images from the story book flashed in Emma’s head: Snow, David, Anna, Ruby, and Kristoff’s adventures to getting together, married, Snow pregnant, and then her birth. She watched Zelena’s curse start, David carrying her in his arms as Ruby and Kristoff helped him fight knights, Anna was helping Snow but Snow insisted she go and help David, Ruby, and Kristoff save Emma. She watched David place her in the wardrobe, he had been stabbed and was bleeding, Ruby and Kristoff were both injured, they came stumbling in trying to save David, Anna came charging in fighting knights a few seconds after them. They got there just in time to see David close the doors of the wardrobe with Emma inside. They all got a last glimpse of Emma. David was bleeding on the floor as Snow struggled in, in pain from giving birth, she fell to her knees and clutched onto him, Anna, Kristoff, and Ruby did the same as Zelena and her dark knights came in.

Emma opened her eyes.

The curse was broken.

Tears rolled down David’s cheeks as he cupped Emma’s cheek. She was so small in the hospital bed, smaller than a seven year old should be, but he remembered how much smaller and how injured she had been when she had be dropped at his apartment. But he realised now that she was his biological daughter. She had been with him for months and he hadn’t realised. She had tried to tell him, along with her friends August and Henry, but when she told him the story she had never believed that she was the baby in it. She was seven and didn’t let herself have even that amount of hope. “Emma.” He choked out. “You found us.”

“D-… Daddy?” She asked quietly.

David laughed, he couldn’t believe that she was really there, she was looking fairly weak after the sleeping curse but she was there. “Yeah kiddo.”  He took her into his arms, and cuddled her tight, she hugged him back.

After a little while Emma spoke again. “Y’know, you can stop hugging me now.”

“You scared the shi-sugar out of me. I’m never going to stop hugging you.” He told her but he let go of her, smiling at her comment, he loved her personality and the way she was so sassy.

“You can say shit y’know.”

David gave her a look but he still had a small smile on his face. “I can say it but you’re not allowed to.” He kissed her forehead after she rolled her eyes. “Let’s get a doctor to check you over, you-” He sighed. She had almost died. “You really scared me, Emmy.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s not your fault, it’s Zelena’s, we’ll make sure that she won’t be able to do it again.” He pressed the button to get a doctor to come. “How are you feeling?”

“…Not tired.”

“That means the opposite then.” David chuckled. He heard a sound of feet approaching but saw that it was just a nurse entering the room. He looked back at Emma. “Your mommies and other daddy are going to be so happy to see you.” He promised her.

Emma looked up at him uncertainly.

David frowned seeing that she didn’t believe him. “We’ll go find them soon, you seem better so you should be able to go to home, but if you can’t then I’ll get someone to tell them that we’re here. I just wish that I’d remembered to pick up my cell.” He also wished he could get the sight of Emma passed out after eating a poisoned turnover out of his head.

“I’m sorry.” She said again. “You should go and find them, you’ve not seen them properly in years, I’ll be fine on my own.”

“I’m not leaving you on your own, kiddo.” He told her gently, he stroked her hair until the doctor came in, even when she was there David made sure to stay close to his daughter. “And they want to see you too. We all want you. You’re our family.”

The doctor checked Emma over and made sure that she was okay to go, she insisted that takes it easy over the next couple of weeks.

Once they were out of the hospital David strapped her into her booster seat in his truck and he started to drive towards the centre of town keeping his eyes peeled for any sights of his spouses.  

They came across Kristoff first. David quickly got out of his truck and helped Emma out before running to reunite with his husband.

Emma stood back a little, watching her fathers kiss, she couldn’t believe that she actually had fathers now, and mothers, she kept waiting for one of them to realise that she wasn’t theirs. She was trying not to get her hopes up but she also felt terrified that they might decide that she wasn’t the right fit.

She was trying to stay calm when she suddenly realised someone was crouched in front of her, Kristoff, she remembered how kind he always was to her and how he gave her extra ice cream and toppings when she and David went there. She chewed on her thumb, an old habit she had quickly grown out of when she had been bullied about it by other children, but she need the comfort of it now. She felt David take steps closer to her and place a comforting hand on her back.

Kristoff looked at Emma with tears in his eyes, he couldn’t believe that she was his little girl, the one he had been talking to for months without even knowing, the one he had been so excited to raise. “Hey monkey.” He smiled warmly at her, feeling proud when she looked a little less scared at his warm tone, and the nickname he had called her during the curse. He had never realised just how green her eyes were. He had only been this close to her once when she had been born, he had taken note of every one of her features, her eyes had only grown more vivid with time. “You have your mommies’ eyes, all of them have green like yours, but I think yours are even brighter. And you got your blonde hair from me and your other daddy.” He could see her smiling a little but he could also tell she wasn’t sure what to do or say. “I don’t think that you’ve grown much since you were a baby.” He teased.

Emma poked her tongue out at Kristoff but she also smiled. She hesitated for a few seconds before tentatively wrapping her arms around Kristoff. “Thanks for all the extra ice cream.”

Kristoff chuckled and wrapped his arms back around his daughter. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “No problem, monkey, anytime. You can… You can come there with me sometimes if you like, I’ll pay you in ice cream.”

Emma beamed and automatically looked back at David to check it was okay, as she had done often when David was just her foster father, it was easiest to think of him as her father. And despite not wanting to get her hopes up she couldn’t help but hope that the story book was true she was their daughter.

David gently squeezed Kristoff’s shoulder comfortingly, but his husband smiled up at him in understanding, they all knew that it would take some time for Emma to be comfortable. “I think it sounds like a good idea, I heard that Sven came over during the curse with us, I’m sure that your dada will introduce you to him if you ask him.”

Emma looked back at Kristoff with a beaming smile. “Really? You have a Sven like in the movie?”

Kristoff chuckled at least the movie version of him wasn’t too bad, he had a feeling that David wouldn’t like the movie version of Snow White’s Prince Charming. “Yeah, I have a Sven, but he’s much more awesome than he is in the movie. And I know that he already loves you, so much, but not quite as much as me, mama, daddy, mommy, and mor.”

“What’s a mor?” She tiled her head to the side.

“Its, erm, where me and Anna are from, Arendelle, we speak English but we also speak a couple more languages like Norwegian. Mor is another word for mom. It’s what Anna’s name is, was, gonna be.” He watched Emma slowly nod. “But you can call us by those names or by our names , whatever you feel comfortable with.”

They heard their names being called and they all looked to see Ruby and Anna running towards them. Emma stood to the side again as her parents all reunited.

“Hey little bean.” Anna beamed looking at Emma, tears rolled down her cheeks as she hugged Emma. “You were right! You’re so clever, you figured it out! ”

Emma tentatively wrapped her arms around Anna, she had known Anna during the curse, not quite as well as she had known Ruby and Snow, but she had spoken to Anna often enough that she was comfortable with her. Anna had been one of the only ones to indulge her in the belief of the curse, all of her parents had, and Henry’s mom Regina, her step-grandma she supposed. “Morry.” She whispered, mostly to herself, but she felt Anna stroke her hair and cuddle her closer in response.

“That’s right baby.” Anna whispered back. She smiled at Emma changing it slightly, she thought that it was perfect.

“She went to hospital.” Ruby frowned, she crouched down and her eyes examined Emma as Anna finally let her out of the hug, the curse had broken and her werewolf senses were back. She could smell the disinfectant along with the unique smell of a broken curse. She looked at David who gave her a look back to let her know that she was okay. “Are you okay pup?” She gently stroked Emma’s cheek.

Emma chewed on her thumb again. She nodded her head. “Yeah, I’m okay, my… my David helped me.”

Ruby smiled at the seven year old, she had heard Emma calling David that during the curse, she had clearly been wanting to call him ‘my dad’ even then. “Good. Can I… Can I hug you?” She could tell that Emma was feeling a little overwhelmed, she was meeting her parents, and she had been in a coma. It was a lot. “It’s okay if you don’t want to.” She assured her, she wanted to hug her baby more than anything, but she wanted her to want to do it not out of some sense of obligation.

Emma wrapped her arms around Ruby almost as soon as she had finished her sentence. She had been hugged by Ruby during the curse, sometimes she or Snow would watch Emma if David desperately needed them to, if he was called in for an emergency at work. “You smell like cinnamon.” Emma said after a while, Ruby didn’t just smell like that she also smelt like berries from either her shower gel or her shampoo, but the scent just reminded her of meeting Ruby for the first time when David took her to get a hot chocolate with cinnamon.

Ruby breathed in deep. She still had the faint smell of baby. She cuddled her close. She was her baby, her Emma. “Is that a hint that you want some hot chocolate, pup?” She teased and felt Emma shrug against her. She kissed her golden curls. “I’ll make you the best mug of hot chocolate and cinnamon you’ve ever had, we just have to wait a couple of minutes, your mommy’s on her way. We had all split up to look for you and your daddy, we didn’t know that you were in the hospital.”

Emma pulled back a little. “How do you know she’s on her way?” Her head tilted to the side, she had said it so certainly, and made it sound as though she knew it would be within a couple of minutes.

Ruby paused, she looked back at her spouses, letting them see the fear for a fraction of a second. She had had this conversation with several people over the years, only people she had to tell, and it was not too surprising to her that many of those people acted negatively. “You know the story book pretty well, right?”

“Henry and August read it to me… I liked the pictures best.”

Ruby smiled warmly at her. “Well, I don’t know if you heard about this, but I’m, I’m a werewolf.” She held her breath in fear that Emma would be disgusted or run away screaming.

Emma was silent for a beat. “Woah, that’s so cool!”

Ruby beamed. “Thanks pup, it also means that even when I’m a human my senses like my sense of smell are really good, so I can tell where people are. Like your mommy, who is right…” She trailed off knowing that Snow had reached them. She grinned as her spouses parted so that Snow could see Emma, they all knew that Snow and David would reunite the same as they all had with each other, but that Snow needed to see Emma first. She had been the only one to not have seen Emma go through the wardrobe, she had held her when she was born, but by the time she got to the nursery the wardrobe was empty and Emma was gone.

Snow paused, her breathing hitched as Emma turned around to face her, tears filled in her eyes as she saw her baby again. She started to run to close the gap between them, and when she reached Emma she fell to her knees and cupped her face in her hands so gently that she was barely touching her. “My baby.” She whispered.

Emma tried to refrain from chewing on her thumb before nervously asking Snow a question. “Is it really all real?” She had grown close to Snow during the curse, she hadn’t taught Emma but she had taught August and Henry whom Emma was close to, Snow had looked after Emma for David some times. Emma looked from her mom to her four other parents who were stood behind where her mom was crouched in front of her. “You’re all my mommies and daddies, really, really?”

“Yes baby, this is real. We’re really your mommies and daddies.” Snow promised. “And we’re never, ever, going to be apart from you again.”

Emma let Snow pull her into her arms. Emma buried her head in the crook between her shoulder and neck. She started to cry, silently and unnoticeably, the way she had automatically learnt to do growing up in foster care.

Snow and the others didn’t notice Emma crying, she just looked like she was cuddling close, but Snow rocked her a little automatically calming the child. “I love you so much. We all love you more than you can imagine.”

Eventually Snow stood up and smiled at David, he was the only one she hadn’t reunited with now. “Charming.” She smiled as his hands went to her cheeks. “You found me.” Her voice was slightly teasing as it always was when she said that line, she knew what he would say in response.

“Did you ever doubt I would?” He kissed her gently at first before they deepened it, the same as he had kissed his other wives and his husband, they were finally all reunited.

The adults started to discuss which of their places they would be staying in, David felt a weight against his leg, clinging onto it. He placed his hand on top of Emma’s head and had a short but silent conversation with his spouses using only their eyes.

They took a couple of steps away from David and Emma. It killed all of them knowing that Emma was only attached to David, they knew she liked them all, but she was uncertain at the moment and they knew that it would take some time for her to be able to trust them.

David crouched down so that he was eye to eye with his sleepy daughter. He cupped her cheek with his hand. “How you doing kiddo?”

Emma shrugged her shoulders avoiding what he really meant. “I’m not tired.”

David chuckled, this was something they were always having to talk about, Emma was stubborn and insisted she could take care of herself no matter what, he was always having to remind her it was his job to look after her. “It’s way after bedtime, princess, and you need to rest. Now, I have a question for you: We’re going to go home now, but we need to decide which one, we can go to ours, or we can go to mommy’s, it’s a lot bigger and we could move the mattresses to have a big sleepover together.” No matter where they spent the night there was no way she was leaving their sight for the next fifty years. “I have your backpack with your blankie and some clothes and other bits in my truck so you don’t have to worry about that. It’s up to you where we go.”

Emma leant forward so that she was leaning against him, her thumb went to her mouth and this time she didn’t even care that everyone could see her, she felt David wrap his arms around her and he picked her up.

David stroked her hair and rocked her soothingly. He kissed her forehead. “I know, baby, it’s been a long day. I know this must be hard, but it’s all going to be okay, I’ll be right there with you the entire time. Do you remember my promise to you when you first came to live with me? I’ll always look after you and make sure that you’re safe. You just have to let me. Deal?”

Emma looked into his blue eyes, as he willed her to believe him, and she did. She knew that he loved her, completely, but she was still terrified that she would do something to mess it up. But she was too tired to care about that right now. “Deal.” She agreed. She could feel herself growing sleepier, she sighed gently, and led her head against his shoulder trying to stay awake. “Can we go to mommy’s?” She murmured.

“That sounds like a good plan to me kiddo.” He kissed her head again and walked back towards his spouses. “Now, who should we make ride in the bed of my truck instead of the seat, Emmy?”

“How come I have a feeling I’m going to end up being the one?” Kristoff piped up. He knew that they were one seat short of getting them all inside David’s truck, and he was the only one to have brought a car.

“Because we love you?” Snow offered fluttering her eyes and leaning against him.

“I mean… I think we should make the dog…” His eyes twinkled mischievously.

“Ooh.” David chuckled knowing he was going to be in trouble.

“You are so going to be the one in the doghouse.” Anna told him wrapping her arm around Ruby’s waist.

“I will get my own back, stable boy.” Ruby promised playfully. Truthfully she was so happy that they could finally be reunited and they could finally tease and joke with each other again. Ruby shot a smile at a very sleepy Emma who was watching them, she wasn’t tense, which was good as it meant she knew that they weren’t really fighting. “What do you think, pup, Dada has to ride in the back and he gives us all ice cream tomorrow?”

Emma looked at Kristoff and saw him smiling, she knew it was safe for her to answer freely, she looked back at Ruby and grinned properly, her smile was identical to David’s. “Yeah.”

They all smiled at Emma sounding less scared or uncertain than she had all night.

“Okay, cheeky monkey, you can help me scoop everyone’s then.” Kristoff told her watching her smile at getting to do that job.

“We should get going.” Ruby told them. “The sooner we do the sooner we make sure a certain someone gets some rest.” Her eyes flickered to Emma who was close to falling asleep in David’s arms.

They began to walk, Anna and Ruby had their arms around each other, Kristoff held onto Anna and Snow’s hands, and Snow rubbed her hand down Emma’s back as David carried her, Emma was facing down the line at all of her parents, she didn’t want to lose any of them.

“I’ll make some hot chocolate and cinnamon when we get home. I make it better than mama.”

“Only because I taught you how.” Ruby pointed out.

“Yes, but I make it extra chocolatey.”

“Chocolatey’s good.” Emma stated she watched Snow beam with pride and felt a warm feeling in her chest. She was proud of her. Her mom was proud of her.

Once they reached the truck Ruby climbed into the front passenger seat while Snow raced to be able to sit next to Emma’s car seat in the back, Anna sat next to Snow, the two cuddling up slightly. Anna found Emma’s backpack, David had packed for the hospital, and held onto it carefully so they would remember to take it inside.

“Be careful Kris.” David worried watching him climb onto the truck bed, he wasn’t about to lose his husband, though he knew it was fairly safe… safer than the horse races they used to have as kids.

“Always Davey.”

David rolled his eyes at the nickname but smiled as he placed Emma into her carseat and made sure she was strapped in tight.

“Let’s go home.” David told her kissing her forehead.

Emma let her eyes drift shut as soon as David climbed into the driver’s seat, she knew that she had all her parents now, they were together and safe. They were going home. They would never again be separated.

[bonduniversity]

My experience studying abroad at Bond | Laura from Germany

Laura Albrecht travelled from her home in Germany to the Gold Coast to study abroad at Bond University for a semester. She’s sharing and reflecting on her experiences to help other students make the most out of their Study Abroad Program. 

Choosing to study abroad at Bond 

I had studied abroad earlier in my studies before deciding to take another adventure across the world. In choosing my destination for my second semester abroad, I had several options to choose from. What ultimately convinced me was when I was at a presentation about the University, and a representative of Bond asked me if I had already decided where I was going to study. As it turned out, the good man was born Canadian and told me if I wanted to experience winter with a similar mentality and great nature, then I should go to Vancouver. However, if I want to experience summer with a very different mentality and great nature then I should choose Australia. And I am certainly glad that I did!

Choosing accommodation 

After choosing Bond, I got an overview of the accommodation options. You should think about whether you would rather live in student accommodation on campus or in one of the surrounding neighborhoods. I looked at Flatmates.com, where I found my Norwegian and Swiss roommates in Varsity Lakes.

My recommendation is to look for an apartment within walking distance of the University. You can choose between Varsity Shores (5-6 people per apartment, 5-10 minutes walk, older privately owned apartment, $200-300 per week*) and the Reserve, the Retreat & the Cape (1-3 people per apartment, 5-10 minutes walk, very new apartments, gym & pool etc., $300-500 per week*). There are also the H2O apartments, the Chancellor apartments and others around the University.

From my point of view, paying only $200 per week was very cheap in comparison to the other alternatives, so I recommend you to be prepared to pay at least as much as I did per week. In regards to good areas, I would recommend Robina, Varsity Lakes and Miami as they are all quiet and safe. You will be able to reach the two larger shopping centres on the Gold Coast within 15 minutes by public transport; Robina Town Centre including shopping options such as Coles and Woolworths (supermarkets) and Pacific Fair Shopping Centre (Zara, H&M, Coles, Woolworths etc).

The student experience 

What makes Bond University appreciated in Australia and internationally is its student experience. I would agree! I got to take advantage of free food, as every Wednesday we were allowed to enjoy a free BBQ with fruits and drinks put on by the Bond University Student Association (BUSA). In Week 2, there was a big sign-up day to sign up for clubs and activities like volleyball, badminton, basketball and swimming which was a great way to meet new people quickly. 

Another highlight was the social events. On Thursdays, the campus bar Don’s Tavern hosted themed parties organised by BUSA.There was also a Secret Location Party, as well as events from the Law, Society & Design, Business, Medicine and Architecture faculty. 

My courses

Bond offers three semesters per year, all of which consist of 12 weeks of instruction and two weeks of assessment. I took four courses and chose: Leadership & Team Dynamics, Advertising, Brand Image & Cultural Space, Business Statistics and International Business, each with 7.5 ECTS (10 CPs).

In Brand Image we were allowed to advise our client HiSmile - maybe you know the company from Instagram? They work with Kylie and Kendall Jenner and Connor McGregor and the group work was really interesting. Above all, the course is practice-oriented and deals with trends a lot. For my two essays I had to deal intensively with two brands, True Fruits and Weight Watchers, and learned a lot.

In Leadership & Team Dynamics, I learned so much about my strengths and weaknesses. The course is part of the CORE program and compulsory for all full-time undergraduate students, which meant the classes included students from all the different faculties. Our whole course has worked together very closely and was really dynamic, as well as diverse.

Orientation Week and excursions 

Before classes start, the University organises an Orientation Week. My Orientation Week included BBQs, trivia, campus tours, a visit to a local theme park and the local shopping centre Robina Town Centre, as well as information events and more. Here, you will meet fellow students for the first time. I  recommend you take advantage of the opportunities during Orientation Week. In addition, paid trips are offered throughout the semester, for example to New Zealand, Sydney, Byron Bay and so on. Right on campus, you'll also find a travel agent that can help you organise your travel.

My final advice

The opportunities for further learning, sports and entertainment make Bond University something special and it was a whole new, different experience than I have had in Germany.

I am so happy that I decided to spend my second semester abroad and ended up with Australia in the end. It is always a wonderful and enriching experience to get to know a new culture and meet so many friendly people who have made the same choices as me!

This blog was written by Laura Albrecht. She’s now working abroad in Amsterdam. Follow her adventures and connect with her about all things study abroad on Instagram. 

*Prices are indicative only. 

[evak-isakxeven]

The third season of Norwegian teen series Skam dismantled stereotypes, coerced schoolkids into skiving off classes and turned homophobes into rainbow flag-waving defenders—and it first began airing one year ago today. It was the “gay” season, charting the blossoming relationship of Isak Valtersen and Even Bech Næsheim, both coming to terms with their sexuality amidst a cutting background of teenage angst. Taking every fan poll I’ve ever come across into account, season three was by far Skam’s most popular. It broke streaming records in Norway, and television viewership records in neighboring Denmark and Sweden. Throughout its 10-episode run, it hardly left the list of worldwide trending topics on any given social platform. With a short promo clip that could have been a stand in for a gay snuff film—jockish throbs in a locker room being showered with milk in slow motion—the series wasn’t afraid to shy away from explicitly homosexual subject matter. Or any hot button subject. Homophobia, bullying, mental health—nothing was off the cards for series creator Julie Andem. Only a few episodes deep and the series’ popularity reached a fever pitch. Its progressive narrative rested squarely on the sinewy backs of two hunky young actors. Tarjei Sandvik Moe, 18, and Henrik Holm, 22, who embodied these characters for several short years. The monumental shift from tiny Scandi show to international hit uploaded to Google Drive with bootleg subtitles didn’t go unnoticed. “While we were shooting it, we were kind of living in the Skam universe, and suddenly there were people trying to take pictures of us,” remembers Holm. A fourth season came and went centering on the Muslim character, Sana, and though it garnered both debate and praise, people couldn’t help but ache for the return of Isak and Even. Then the series ended, seemingly without warning. Fans were left reeling. Pillows were cried into. And the explanation for its conclusion was a bit weak. However, Holm and Moe pulled it off, providing a thrilling true-to-life coming out story that was neither navel-gazing nor embellished. It felt real, which is why fans—gay and straight alike—have rallied behind this show and reevaluated their attitudes toward sexuality and mental health. Now, the show is headed for impending doom of an American remake. And Tarjei Sandvik Moe and Henrik Holm are teetering on the precipice of intensely promising careers, leaving their beloved characters behind. But we’ll always have Isak and Even. TREY TAYLOR: Can you tell me how you got the role on Skam? TARJEI SANDVIK MOE: It was an open audition and they announced that they needed people born between 1996 and 1999. So the casting guy came to our school and 1,000 people or more came to audition, and I just signed up. In the last round [of auditions], I got told that I was going to audition for Isak. I also auditioned for the role of Jonas but I got the Isak role. I was watching a movie when I found out I got the part. They said it would take a couple of weeks to find out, so I wasn’t stressing at all because it had just been one week since the audition. They called me and told me they wanted to offer me the part of Isak and I didn’t know what that was but I was happy because nobody had cast me professionally before that. It was only my second audition so I didn’t think it would happen. I didn’t want to tell my mom so I just walked into a room where I could be by myself and I just screamed “Yes!” [laughs] HENRIK HOLM: I was introduced in the third season. Skam had its breakthrough in Scandinavia in its second season. Everybody knew what Skam was and there were so many people that wanted to join the “Skamily”. They had open auditions for the third season. They were looking for someone between the ages of 17 and 19. I was thinking about [auditioning] but after two days they had a press release in the Norwegian media where they said, “Hold up, we can’t take anymore resumes.” A few months later, during summer vacation, I found out that my mother had sent in my resume for me and they had tried to contact me through messenger on Facebook. But I wasn’t friends with the girl who was casting so it was in the message requests folder. So I hadn’t seen it and I checked the message and it was dated two months ago. So I got so stressed and messaged her back saying, “Hi, please let me know if you have any more chances!” I put my phone in my pocket and went to work at a local café. On my lunch break, I took my phone out of my pocket and realized I hadn’t pressed the lock button, so I was basically pocket texting her for two hours and sending her voice messages. I was so embarrassed. I thought, “This is the end of me. I’m not going to get any more jobs in this industry.” But for some reason she was very cool and was like, “This could happen to anyone.” And they brought me in for the last week of auditioning. I think it might have been the last day. MOE: You were the last one! I think you were the last person to audition. HOLM: Wow, that’s so cool. First I auditioned with another guy and the second round I got to meet Tarjei and we started talking and it was a good fit. The same day I was at the audition with Tarjei they wanted us to do a [role-playing] test. Tarjei was going to tell me that he slept with my girlfriend and I walked out of that room. I really felt that part went bad. I was so down and I was like, “Oh my god, he actually slept with my girlfriend.” MOE: Because I was so cocky when I was saying it! [laughs] I was like, “Sorry man!” HOLM: Yeah, you were a douchebag! [laughs] So I started walking home with my head hung, because I was so depressed—I thought I blew my last shot! I got home to my friends that I lived with and I was like, “It didn’t go well.” I was really depressed for like two hours and then [Skam creator] Julie [Andem] called me and was like, “Henrik, how would you feel if I told you you were going to play the part of Even?” and I immediately started screaming. It went from the bottom to the top. TAYLOR: Tarjei, you said you wanted to play the part of Jonas and not Isak. Why? MOE: I didn’t know anything about the series and we got to read about all the characters. So I got to read about Yousef, Isak, Mikael, William, Chris … and when I read about Jonas, he seemed like the coolest dude ever! We didn’t know who was going to be the main character, and I was like why can’t I play the cool dude?! I want to be the cool dude, the dressed up guy. In the information about Isak, it said he was manipulative and stuff like that. It also said he was gay and I was like … hmm. There was no problem with that, I just thought that Jonas was the coolest guy ever. I think Marlon [Langeland] did a good job of it. So it was a good thing that they cast me for Isak and Marlon for Jonas, that was the right choice. But back then I wanted to be Jonas so much. HOLM: Did it really say in the description that your character was gay? MOE: Yeah! The last sentences of each character’s description included the biggest secrets of that character. Isak’s secret was that he liked boys. So I knew it from the start. TAYLOR: I thought it was decided later on when characters in the show kept making comments that Isak was gay. MOE: Even though I knew it the whole time, I wasn’t thinking about it. I don’t know how it is but I don’t think that gay people walk around [thinking about how] they’re gay. My job was playing Isak, not playing “gay”—you know what I mean? TAYLOR: I also heard that you asked Julie if your character could hook up with Vilde on the show. MOE: Yeah, that was Ulrikke [Falch]. She was the one hoping for that. I was like, “Yeah, that would be cool,” because I like Ulrikke. She’s so fun and cute, so I thought that would be cool. TAYLOR: Why did Julie say no? MOE: I don’t know. I think because she had her own plan for everything. That was just a secret thing Ulrikke and I [shared]. We were just like, “Oh my god we should hook up on the show!” Julie was more like, “How about you guys hook up outside of the show?” [laughs] TAYLOR: Tarjei, how did you find out that you were going to be the main character in season three? MOE: She called me from the start of season one, so I knew then. But I didn’t take it seriously. I said, “Julie, this thing is not going to work for three seasons.” I doubted there was even going to be a second season. When we got to season two and [the show] started to get big I thought, “I have a big responsibility.” I wasn’t sure if I could do it. Julie said, “You can do it, if you couldn’t do it I wouldn’t have chosen you to be a main character.” So I trusted Julie more than I trusted myself. TAYLOR: Have you heard any particular stories that people have told you about how you helped them come out, or helped in dealing with their mental illness? MOE: I’ve had those experiences when people are so surprised when they meet me and they start shaking and saying stuff like, “You saved me”. Also people who are really deep and serious and are like, “Man, I came out of the closet because of Isak.” That’s big. I think it defends the work of making TV and doing acting. It can change people and it’s such fun work. When I’m acting I’m thinking like, “Oh my god I get paid to do this.” But when you see it could change the world like that I think, “Okay, I deserve my paycheck.” [laughs] HOLM: I’ve met people who understood that they were bipolar by watching our performances. I’ve also met people that have gotten the courage to tell their families that they were gay, but also so many young people who have struggled with their mental health, for years, and they found something that wasn’t only glamorous and pretty to look at but also very raw and understanding. There aren’t a lot of series that have such a deep level of understanding of homosexuality and mental illnesses. MOE: I’ve also met straight people—straight people have said like, “When I first saw Isak and Even kissing, I thought that was disgusting, but after watching it and understanding the characters I realized it’s actually not disgusting. They’re just loving each other like everyone else.” So it’s not only gay people accepting that they’re gay but straight people accepting that other people are gay. TAYLOR: So you have met homophobic people that have changed their mind? MOE: Yeah they stopped being homophobic because they saw that it’s not the worst thing [to be gay]. TAYLOR: I want to talk about that kardemomme scene—you said it was mostly improvised. I heard you rapped the entire “Express Yourself” song by N.W.A. but it got cut. HOLM: [laughs] What did happen that day? MOE: I did rap the whole thing and it got cut out because my rapping was too long. That would’ve made people turn off their TV and be like, “What the fuck is this?! If I wanted to see rapping I would go see rapping!” HOLM: With my bad beat boxing. TAYLOR: When you were making the toast was that improvised? HOLM: We were shooting in Marlon [Langeland]’s apartment. Even’s room is Marlon’s room in real life. They didn’t know what kind of herbs were in his kitchen cupboard, so they just threw out a lot of herbs.There were so many strange names of spices that we had never heard of before. TAYLOR: Did they let you smoke weed? Was that real? HOLM: Oh, no! [laughs] I didn’t even get to roll my own joint! I really had a big dream that I was going to get to roll my own joint as the character. But then I got on set, and the costume boss had one of her friends roll up the whole pack; it was like seven joints or something. I was so depressed because I really wanted to do it myself, and personally I didn’t think it was very well rolled, so I wasn’t too satisfied with the joint—but it wasn’t real weed. We had to smoke herbal cigarettes. MOE: Yeah, it wasn’t tobacco. We smoked some herbs or something. It wasn’t good! HOLM: It was worse than cigarettes because it made you feel glossed over, and you felt really weird in your mouth and you got a bad taste and a headache. I wish it was real weed but it wasn’t. MOE: Earlier that day I also shot the scene, which is the first scene in the episode, when I’m laying in the bath and I smoke from that bong. So I did so much smoking that day, I was depressed afterwards. [laughs] TAYLOR: Henrik, did you have to learn the lyrics to Gabrielle’s “5 Fine Frøkner” for that kitchen scene? HOLMS: I got a text from Julie the day before and she was like, “Henrik you need to help me find a cool song and it’ll be the song that Even will sing to Isak. She proposed “Ah-Ha” by Take On Me, but that was going to be too cliché. So she proposed Gabrielle, and I personally like Gabrielle, but I haven’t listened to much of her songs, and that special song, “5 Fine Frøkner” is a song that was on the radio all the time. The whole summer it had been playing and people were kind of sick of it, like “Despacito.” So my immediate response to Julie was, “Please no, don’t make me do that!” I sat down and listened to the song about three times and started dancing and was like, “Yeah, I really dig this song now!” I had to rehearse the lyrics but when we got on set I had only rehearsed it like three times, so it made it more natural that I didn’t know all the lyrics. TAYLOR: That’s funny because when the show came out and that song played, everybody started downloading it and it became even more popular. [“5 Fine Frøkner” saw a 3,018 percent increase in listening on Spotify after the episode aired, with over 13 million streams]. MOE: I think that Gabrielle owes us some money… [laughs] TAYLOR: Did you guys have a favorite music moment from the show? HOLM: I watched [Skam] when it aired on television, but I must say “O Helga Natt” was the first time I watched that scene and heard the song; I was getting goosebumps all over my neck. MOE: It was so surprising to watch because as we were shooting it, it didn’t sound like that. I always thought it was good but I was just running around the streets of Oslo, and it was the scene where we meet each other and go to the school yard. They were playing this music— HOLM: It made all the focus go away because we were doing maybe the most sensitive and fragile scene in the whole series. But the moment we walked out in the schoolyard, there was a party next door. It was very funny. I almost forgot that. [laughs] TAYLOR: Have either of you ever connected with a piece of media or a piece of art as intensely as viewers connected with Skam? MOE: Yeah in theater, with small theater things. HOLM: But in the same way as fans who have traveled to see the place and meet the people and everything? MOE: Well no, but I have also had those big experiences where I’ve thought, “Okay, I’m going to change my life and do things differently after seeing this.” HOLM: There are so many movies that have changed my view on acting and my perspective of the world and everything, but what was most absurd to me was that these people were actually praising us, or coming to Oslo and walking in our footsteps. It was like, why are they doing this? But my mother explained it very well to me when she reminded me of my huge crush when I was a teenage boy. I was so in love with Jessica Alba, and I was willing to do anything to meet her. I was sitting at home the day I realized I was never going to meet Jessica Alba crying my eyes out. I was so down, and I actually had to go back to that place where I was idolizing who Jessica Alba was, and how she was going to be with me and everything—that made me understand how these people who really connected with Isak and Even’s story wanted to meet us and show us how much it meant to them. That made me open up my eyes to what this show has done for people and that it had a very positive impact on people’s lives. TAYLOR: How old were you when you were obsessed with Jessica Alba? HOLM: Oh I don’t know, I was not old at all. I was like 12 years old or something, 12 or 13. I was dreaming about her every night. [laughs] TAYLOR: Why did the show end? HOLM: Julie is such an artist that when she started thinking about this project, she was thinking about it and dreaming about it all the time. Doing that on and on for two years, I feel like that was enough. But at the same time I think she also thought about the actors. She didn’t want us to be too connected to our roles, in the way that many series go on for year after year, and the actors become more or less their role. TAYLOR: Were you shocked when you found out it was ending? HOLM: It was a shock, but it wasn’t a surprise. MOE: She made four seasons of TV in two years and she wrote everything; she directed everything; she even chose the music! So the fact that she even did one season is impressive to me, and the fact that she made four is fantastic. TAYLOR: I’m part of all these Skam Facebook groups. I saw in one of them that these two guys booked a trip to that hotel you stayed in and found the room and ate some mini burgers just like Isak and Even. How does it make you feel when people do things like that? MOE: I hope they know that that’s not our life, it’s our characters. [laughs] It’s funny, I basically do that without trying because I’m attending [the school the show was filmed in], Hartvig Nissen, and I’m the same age as Isak, which is a total coincidence. But I’m still going to Nissen. I am basically on the set everyday. I also meet a lot of people who come to the school to take pictures of the school and also take pictures of me too. If someone told me two years ago that I would be in a series that would make people from China go to Oslo to take pictures of not that pretty of a school, I would be saying, “What the fuck?!” [laughs] HOLM: I must say that the greatest part of it is that we achieved something of an impact on people. Skam has actually changed people’s lives for the better. That’s why I think people are trying to walk in Isak and Even’s shoes—their lives actually changed for the better. I’ve meet so many people that were affected by, not only the characters and how we portray them, but also the fan base and the warmth inside of all the fans that it became a family that started connecting with each other from across the world. They found something that they could enjoy together and can talk about as much as they wanted. It has much more than race and culture, it was something that was so real to people, irrespective of where you were from or what sexuality you were. Julie made a series that was possible for everyone to understand even if you were 14 or 90 years old. That’s what I think was so special about Skam. http://www.interviewmagazine.com/film/skams-isak-even-revolutionized-teen-tv

[chocolatequeennk]

To Bring Them Home, 2/5

Losing Rose only a month after they bonded hurt more than the Doctor could have imagined. Then he discovered he’d lost more than he’d realised, and he was determined to bring them home–Rose and their unborn baby. But how could he do that, without two universes collapsing?

Ten x Rose, pregnancy fic

This story is part of The Course of True Love, following With This Ring. If the end seems familiar, “What He Didn’t Know” was an early version of this scene and I reused a few paragraphs from it.

This was written for the beaches and goodbyes drabble prompts on @legendslikestardust​, and “Mum, Dad, Mickey, and the baby” prompt on @doctorroseprompts​, plus this fanart.

Betaed by @lastbluetardis​.

AO3 | FF.NET | TSP | Ch 1

Rose.

Rose pressed her face to the window, watching the sun set over the German countryside. It felt so good to have the Doctor in her head again, even if he was still too far away to actually talk to. The relentless headache that had started the moment the breach closed completely was gone.

Her fingers curled around the edge of the seat at the memory of the first few days in Pete’s World. The pain from the broken bond had left her in a daze—she still didn’t remember how she’d actually gotten from Torchwood to the mansion. But finally, she’d gotten used to it, had learned which pills would soften the pain to a dull ache she could work through.

The loneliness was harder to fight. Waking up every day, expecting the Doctor to be beside her. Reaching for his hand whenever she wanted to show him something.

Tears sprang to her eyes when she remembered the loneliest moment—looking at the two blue lines on the white stick that announced they were going to have a baby. If she could have had the Doctor with her for just one day out of the last three months, that’s the day she would have chosen.

She sniffed and wiped the tears away. But I’m going home now, she reminded herself.

The road curved, and the sun disappeared entirely behind the hills in the distance. Rose glanced at the SatNav mounted on the dash, wondering how much further they had to go. The Doctor’s voice got stronger with every mile, but she thought they were probably only about halfway there.

Rose.

I’m coming, Doctor, she told him, though she doubted he would be able to hear her. His telepathy was stronger than hers, and it had been three months since she’d practiced talking to him over their bond.

Tiredness hit her suddenly, as it had been doing for the last two months. “Keep going this way,” she told Pete through a yawn. “I’m gonna sleep for a bit. Wake me up if we get to a crossroads.”

Pete nodded, and Rose’s mum patted her shoulder. “You rest, sweetheart. We’ll wake you up if we need to.”

Rose shifted in her seat until her neck and head were supported by the headrest. Then she rested a hand on her still-flat belly and let herself drift to sleep, imagining how the Doctor’s face would light up when he found out they were having a baby.

oOoOoOoOo

Twelve hours later, Rose was on the edge of her seat as Pete drove the Jeep straight onto the Norwegian beach. As soon as she’d seen the first signs twenty miles back, she’d known where they were going. Dårlig Ulv Stranden—Bad Wolf Bay. A message to lead myself here, she remembered.

Rose’s stomach gurgled uncomfortably as the vehicle lurched to a stop, and she took a few deep breaths and a sip of herbal tea before opening the door. She wanted to tell the Doctor she was pregnant; she didn’t want him to find out when she threw up all over his Chucks.

The sea breeze blew her hair into her face as soon as she got out of the Jeep, and she was grateful her leather coat kept the wind from cutting through her. The surf pounded against the rocks behind her and seagulls cawed overhead, but those were the only sounds Rose heard as she walked across the wet sand.

Even the Doctor’s telepathic voice had gone silent, and Rose stopped and stared at the ocean, rather than take a step in the wrong direction. She knew this was the right place, but seeing an empty beach instead of the Doctor with the TARDIS sent a shiver of trepidation down her back.

Her left hand clenched into a fist as she fought back her sudden fears, and her right rested on her stomach. Are you ready to meet your daddy, little one? she asked, refusing to believe the day would go any differently.

The air shifted around her, and Rose turned towards the disturbance, dropping her hand as she did. Her fears sharpened when she saw a holographic projection of the Doctor, instead of the Doctor himself.

“Where are you?” she asked, immediately hating how small and weak her voice sounded.

“Inside the TARDIS.” The Doctor’s voice echoed, as if it were coming over a poor mobile connection. “There’s one tiny little gap in the universe left, just about to close.”

He took a deep breath, the way he did when he was upset, and Rose clasped her hands in front of her as the truth became painfully clear. He hadn’t found a way to bring her home after all.

“And it takes a lot of power to send this projection—I’m in orbit around a supernova.” He paused and tried to smile at her, but she could feel his grief over the bond. “I’m burning up a sun just to say goodbye.”

Rose stared at the hologram of her bondmate and shook her head. She heard his voice, but her heart struggled to accept the words.

“You look like a ghost,” she told him, needing to say something so the word “goodbye” wasn’t lingering on the air.

“Hold on.” The Doctor pointed his sonic screwdriver at something Rose couldn’t see.  

Finally, he was standing in front of her, looking as real as possible. Rose crossed the remaining distance between them and reached for his face. “Can I—”

The Doctor shook his head and blinked back tears. “I’m still just an image, love,” he told her, his voice raspy. “No touch.”

Rose dropped her hand and nodded quickly, swallowing back the tears that threatened. “Can’t you come through properly?” Maybe he couldn’t bring her home, but if he could come through, they could build a life here—the two of them and their baby. She brushed her hand over her belly at the thought, holding her breath as she waited for his answer.

The muscle in the Doctor’s jaw twitched. “I tried to find a way, Rose, but no matter what I did, two universes would collapse.”

Rose reached up to smooth away the furrow between his brows before she remembered, no touch. In his voice, she could hear the long hours spent in the library, looking for a way to bring her home. The need to soothe his pain made her heart ache, and she had to press her lips together to hold back a whimper.

After they took a moment to compose themselves, the Doctor looked around, like he was checking out their surroundings. “Where are we? Where did the gap come out?”

Another gust of wind came up and blew Rose’s hair in her face. She pushed it back, then answered the Doctor. “We’re in Norway.”

“Norway.” The Doctor nodded. “Right.”

Rose smiled at him. There was something so familiar and Doctor-ish about the way he pretended this was all going according to his plan. “About fifty miles out of Bergen,” she elaborated. “It’s called Dårlig Ulv Stranden.”

The Doctor’s eyes went wide, and he reached out as if to shield her, before he remembered he was just a projection. “Dalek?” he asked, his voice sharp and fearful.

“Dårlig,” Rose repeated, enunciating the g. “It’s Norwegian for ‘bad.’ This translates as Bad Wolf Bay.”

They shared another pained smile. How could she have seen everything, and only given them a way to say goodbye? What was the point of being a goddess of Time if you couldn’t bend reality to your will?

Rose clamped down on her bitterness and asked the most important question. “How long have we got?”

The Doctor’s Adam’s apple bobbed. “About two minutes.”

A sob caught in Rose’s throat. She’d been so certain when she heard his voice that she was going home, and instead they only had time for the briefest goodbye.

But if they only had two minutes, she wouldn’t waste it talking about things that didn’t matter. “I love you,” she told the Doctor, keeping her voice as steady as possible.

“Oh, Rose.” The Doctor’s hands flexed at his sides, and the muscle in his jaw worked. “I love you, too.”

“Am I ever going to see you again?”

“You can’t, love,” he whispered, and she saw tears glistening in his eyes.

Rose closed her eyes and ran her hand through her hair as she considered her next words. This was not how she’d planned to tell the Doctor he was going to be a father, but who knew how long it would take her to find a way across the Void?

“I see the whole family came,” the Doctor said after a brief pause.

Rose smiled. He couldn’t have given her a better opening. “There’s five of us now,” she told him. “Mum, Dad, Mickey… and the baby.”

“You’re not…?”

Even though their bond was weak, separated as they still were by the Void, the Doctor’s devastation was strong enough to push its way across dimensions. Rose gasped when it washed over her, and in an instant, she knew what she had to do.

She licked her lips, then pasted a smile on her face and shook her head. “No.” Rose attempted a laugh. “It’s Mum. She’s three months gone. More Tylers on the way.”

The lie was sour in her mouth, but she told herself she was denying her baby to protect them. If the Doctor knew what he’d lost, he would force his way through this tiny crack and bring them both home, and damn the universes it would destroy.

The Doctor narrowed his eyes and his forehead creased, and Rose held her breath. Had he believed her?

“I miss you,” she blurted out, hoping to distract him. “Is there… the bond. My head’s been killing me.”

Remorse pinched the Doctor’s features. “I’m so sorry, love. If I’d known, I never would have…”

Rose slashed her arm through the air, cutting him off. “Don’t you dare,” she said fiercely. “I don’t regret it—I never have. If we’d only had a day together before we were separated, it would have been worth it.”

The Doctor breathed out a shaky laugh. “Rose Tyler,” he said, “you are brilliant.”

Rose tipped her head back, feeling a bit of her spirit return. “I am,” she agreed. “And do you know what I’m going to do with that brilliance? I’m gonna find a way to come home.”

“You can’t, Rose.” The Doctor’s shoulders were slumped, his mouth turned down in defeat. “It’s impossible.”

She snorted softly and raised an eyebrow. “When’s that ever stopped us?” she challenged. “There’s still a Torchwood open for business on this planet, and we’re already studying the old dimension hoppers.”

“Rose…”

She shook her head quickly. “Nope. Nothing you say will stop me, Doctor. I promise I’ll be careful, but I’m not staying here.” She tried to smile, but she suspected it looked more like a twisted grimace. “I promised you forever, remember?”

The Doctor’s mouth opened and closed a few times, and finally he nodded. “Just be careful, love,” he begged.

The air shifted again, and Rose knew their time was almost over. She stepped closer to the Doctor’s hologram and raised her hand to his face. Even though she couldn’t touch him, it just felt right to try.

“I love you.” She projected all her love and adoration over the bond, and was rewarded when he drew a sharp breath.

He leaned forward as if to press his forehead to hers, and Rose pushed herself up on her toes like she would if he were really there. Then a wave of love swept over her, and she cried out as her eyes flew open.

The Doctor’s eyes were dark with grief and tears as he looked down at her. “Rose Tyler, I love you.”

The final syllable came through faintly as the Doctor disappeared from the beach. A moment later, sharp pain stabbed through Rose’s temple, telling her the bond had broken again.

Rose curled in on herself, with her arms wrapped around her waist. Tears welled up inside her, and she let them fall onto the sandy beach.

A moment later, she felt a hand on her elbow, and she turned into her mother’s waiting embrace. “It’s all right, sweetheart,” Jackie crooned as Rose sobbed on her shoulder. “Just let it all out.” She paused for a moment, then asked, “Did you tell him?”

Rose sniffed and shook her head. “I started to, but he looked so… I just couldn’t tell him he’d lost his whole family, again.” She stepped back and wiped the tears from her eyes. “So I told him it was you having a baby.”

Jackie snorted. “No, ta,” she said. “Moving universes is enough stress for my life–I don’t need to add chasing after a toddler to that.”

Rose pressed her lips together and tried to swallow back the tears, but a few leaked out. “I wanted him to know,” she said hoarsely. “I wanted to tell him. I don’t want to do this without him.” Her voice broke on the last word.

Jackie wrapped her in another tight hug. “You may not have him, but you won’t be alone,” she whispered fiercely. “And as soon as this baby’s born, we’ll start looking for a way to send you both back to your Doctor.”

[nyonoreg]

Rainy

Anders - Denmark;  Bjørn - Norway; Eirikur - Iceland

Domestic Anko family; 1235 words

written for a writing contest

The door closed with a creak as the soaked pair walked in. The man holding onto child's hand pressed a finger to his lips, immediately letting the boy know that they had to act as quiet as mice. The boy didn't realise what was coming, but it was definitely downing on the man. He made a mistake and he just hoped he still had time to cover it up. They kicked off their shoes and started sneaking towards the stairs, leaving footprints, big and small ones, on the floor. They almost made it when a quiet, but gelid voice came from behind. “Did I not tell you to check the weather forecast?” It was worse than receiving a blow in the face. Honestly, a blow in the face would be more pleasant than this situation. “I expect you to mop the floor after you take a hot bath.” Slender figure disappeared in the kitchen, leaving the sound of silence behind him and uneasy air. “He's really angry.” Eirikur whispered, his fair brows knitted in worry and smart eyes looking up into the man's face. “He is..” Anders only breathed out. “But come on, quick as a bunny! I feel my shirt sticking to my back! Can't wait to get rid of it. I'll get ya washed! Run, run!” He tried to add cheer to his voice, but the corners of his mouth kept moving down involuntarily. Sheesh, he really messed up this time... His bright blue eyes were thoughtful and concerned as they set for the bathroom. Both of them climbed into hot water silently. It felt like a blessing. Anders combed his fingers through spiky hair, letting out a sigh. The boy's chin rested on the tube's edge, his eyes cast down. A squeak right to his ear made the boy wince, batting his thick lashes. Rubber duckie came to his face, speaking in a funny voice. “Don't ye be sad! Duckie smooch!” Eirikur began to laugh, but the laughter suddenly turned into cough and that made Anders feel a rush of panic. He almost jumped out of bath and ran naked as he was, but he collected himself the last moment. “I think I got sick..” The boy muttered, his cheeks warm, from both water and upcoming fever. The bath was not enough to prevent their little one from falling ill and Anders felt terrible. When Bjørn learned, he said nothing, just sat them down for dinner and made the boy take some medicine. “I hope it works. I'll send for doctor, if it doesn't... If I have to drive there myself, I will-” he was talking to a turned back, dishes washed methodically. “This wouldn't have happened in first place if you had listened to me and checked the weather.” This pulled at something inside him. Some unpleasant emotion shifted inside and spilled out before he could stop himself. “Yes, but you gave him a jacket too light even for this weather. So that's not only me, you know! The forecast isn't always true either.” Anders pressed his lips in a thin line. The dishes clinked together loudly. “I beg your pardon, are you seriously going to blame it on me? Okay. We're in this together. And I get it, the jacket might have been a little too light, but shoes, Anders. Have you seen all the mud you've brought in the house?” Bjørn was now facing him, pressing moist finger pad right into his chest. His eyes were peered and sparkling dangerously. “You let him jump in the puddles, didn't you? After how many times I've asked you not to?” Anders already opened his mouth, but he was cut short. His lip quivering a little as he bit down on it. “And don't you try to tell me otherwise, Nielsen. The mop is waiting on you.” Bjørn returned his attention back to the dishes, his expression concealed from him. Anders' eyes went down to the floor. He stood next to him for another moment before going off to do the appointed task. The boy who's heard everything his parents said felt restless. He tucked himself in bed, too weak from fever, but when Anders walked in, his eyes were still open. “Hey, you want a bedtime story?..” The man in the doorway held himself a little self-consciously. But he smiled ever so kindly and proceeded in when the boy nodded at him. “Read me my favourite, please.. about a mage who fell in love with a princess.” Anders laid out a thick book of fairytales on his lap. This one he almost knew by heart, and he also felt fondness for the story. It reminded him of someone. So he began to read. He was a good reader and made sure that every word is pronounced clearly. He made the story sound even more interesting with little remarks. He was very attentive and always tried his best to make sure his boy is enjoying. Sometimes he changed his voice to fit the character. But today, none of this seemed to work, as the boy's eyes remained hooded, detached. “What's wrong?” Bushy brows went up a little. “Are you feeling so bad?.. Did I tire you more?” Big palm touched the boy's forehead, pushing his fringe away.. “No.. I am better.. It's just.. I made Bjørn angry, right?.. It's all my fault- if I hadn't jumped in the puddles, you two wouldn't have gotten into fight..” Just as the boy finished speaking, the door opened and a fair Norwegian came in. His eyes were looking back at the two surprised faces. He was holding hot chocolate in front of himself. “I'm not angry, you know- I just.. I worry about you a lot..” His eyes were cast to side. He followed further into the room, setting mug on the bedside table. “You are my treasure.” The boy sniffed and whispered, “I won't jump in the puddles anymore..” The boy's arms reached up to hug his neck, foreheads lingering close... Bjørn pulled away and looked at Anders. “Please, continue reading... Don't mind me.” Their eyes met and Anders released a sigh of relief and smiled a little. He read in Bjørn's eyes that they were over it and said nothing, but continued reading. The boy eventually fell asleep, holding onto Bjørn's hand. Fever and worry did their job. Bjørn got up and Anders did the same. They were gazing at each other. Anders was too afraid to move. But then his hand was taken, cold fingers slipping between his own and lacing. His cheeks heated up. Bjørn pulled him out of Eirikur's bedroom and he followed, careful not to wake the sleeping boy. They were standing in the corridor, Bjørn's hand a pleasant weight in his own. He watched him turn to face him, distance growing shorter between them. The Norwegian was still gazing up at him. “I might have been a little too harsh there, but... That's because I wanted you to hear me..” Anders saw how his eyes darkened in the dim light, and he couldn't find him less charming. Anders held his breath as he listened to him. “I want you to take care of me too, you know..” “I know, just- let me.” Anders' hands found his way to Bjørn's face and cupped it. The rain tapped cozily on the windows as two figures stood close in the dark.  

[the-winter-warlord]

The Legend **HETALIA MYTH AU**

((Alright, @sufin5ever, I did it. I don't know if this'll meet want you we're thinking with that AU, but I tried ^^ I hope this is good enough)) There was a legend told by many about two mystical beasts that dwelled deep in the Cavri Mountains. These beasts brought with them peace and prosperity, despite all the ill rumours about the species they were. These beasts were magical dragons, able to shift between beast and man as if it were simply nothing. As the years went on, however, the rumours and stories about these mythical, magical dragons began to disappear. Now, in the present day, it is but a legend, a telltale for young children. However, to Tino Väinämöinen and Lukas Bondevik, this was no story. The two men were myth busters and would do anything to find out if the legends they've heard of were true or false. The two men were currently climbing the Cavri Mountains in search of the fabled dragons. They were taking a water break before they would shimmy across the narrow ridge in front of them to continue their climbing. "How long do you think it'll take until we get to the spot they're supposed to be?" Tino, who was taking in the scenery, barely missed Lukas's question. After taking a swig of water from his canteen, he screwed the lid back on and took a moment to think about the question." I don't know. It should be around here somewhere. I think we need to go a little deeper. If these dragons do exist, they'll be well hidden inside the mountain." Tino glanced over at the ridge and pursed his lips. That might be a problem." Lukas, does that look stable enough for us to walk across?" The Norwegian man walked over to it and stomped down on it a few times. It seemed firm and it was probably very unlikely that it would break. Though, he wasn't an expert on rocks and their stability so he couldn't be too sure." Lukas began securing the harnesses they wore and their latches before he nodded over at Tino." We should be good to go. C'mon." Personally, Tino was a little terrified as they made their way across the narrow rock. Below them was foggy so they couldn't even see what they'd be falling into if they fell. Which was rather terrifying. He made sure to take deep breaths, occasionally glancing over at Lukas to see if he was alright. The man only had on an expression of pure concentration, so it was hard to tell if he was fearful too. Suddenly, there was a cracking noise and Tino found himself falling. He managed to hold onto the ledge, but that ended up being a fruitless task as the rock broke apart. "Fuck, Tino!!" Both men were now free-falling to their awaiting grave, which would be whatever was beyond the fog. But as they fell, a dark shadow came upon them and just as Tino tried to figure out what the cause of the shadow was, everything went black. When Tino came to, he found himself staring at the ceiling of what seemed to be a cave. He sat up with a groan, glancing around confusingly. One moment he were falling to his death, the next he was in a cave and laying in a bunch of furs. Lukas was beside him and still unconscious. There was no one else in the cave. Panicking slightly, he began to shake his friend." Lukas... hey, Lukas! Wake up!" It took a moment or two, but the man stirred and opened his eyes groggily." Uh..." He clenched at the furs under him as he sat up." Damn... are we dead? Is this Valhalla?" Tino shook his head." Of course we aren't dead! And we wouldn't have gone to Valhalla... we didn't do anything heroic... but, we're in a cave. Do you think...?" They two met each other's gaze, eyes widening. Before they could say anything, a noise alerted them of something's presence... something gigantic by the sound of its footfalls. The two shared a nervous expression and glanced over to the mouth of the cave. "I'm not saying we should keep them," a voice came. It was deep and gravelly... too deep to be a human's voice. But could that mean..? They made eye contact again and Lukas mouthed "dragon". Tino's eyes widened. Was this really it? Was this really the legends? A massive crimson scaled dragon with sparkling blue eyes made its way into the chamber and huffed out a stream of smoke from its nostrils." Berwald, they're awake." Another dragon came into view after a couple moments. Its scales were a nice deep blue and its eyes were greenish blue, colours swirling together in an interesting manner. It huffed as well, turning its head towards the other beast." Well then we have to switch. Don't want ta squish them." Suddenly, there was a flash of blue and red light and two rather handsomely naked men stood at the foot of the cave. The tallest of the two tossed the other a long fur that was situated at the entrance to the cave, then took one for himself, wrapping it around his shoulders. The two men made their way to Lukas and Tino and sat down on the ground in front of them. Was Tino freaking out? Well, yes. But not externally. He had to keep his cool. "Um... what the fuck?" So much for keeping his cool. Lukas elbowed him in the ribs and shot him a look. Okay, so he was doing all the talking it seemed." Do you two happen to be the dragons of legend?" The two blond men shared a look. The tall one seemed to pull out a pair of glasses from the folds of the furs he wore and slipped them on." If you are referring to the peaceful dragons that used to roam the earth, yes." His voice was deep and heavily accented. But Tino knew that accent anywhere. It was Swedish. The other man smiled widely. He seemed a little too... energetic." Yep! That would be us! I'm Mathias and this is-" "Berwald," the other continued." But we're not here for introductions. Why're you here?" Tino managed to take control of his nervousness and excitement so he could speak." Well, I'm Tino and my friend here is Lukas. We're myth busters and we're looking for the red and blue dragon of an ancient legend. But we found you so... I guess myth busted?" "Can you tell us how you ended up like this," asked Lukas." We want to know the true story." Mathias and Berwald shared another look. This one looked a little more grim than the last. There was a few moments of silence and a nod shared between the two, signalling the end of a silent conversation. Berwald was the next to speak." We will make a deal: we will tell you our story but in return..." He trailed off, taking a breath." You have to kill us." Clearly, Lukas was taking none of this." Kill you? But why would we do that?" "You don't know how tiring it is to have a lifespan this long," Mathias said, energetic voice turned to something much more saddened." We can't die from old age or illness... we could've gone to any humans and asked, but they'd just experiment on us. I'd rather die then go through that." Lukas was about to say something, but then he closed his mouth. It was clear he wasn't going to argue through this. He was sympathizing. He looked at Tino." What do you think?" He shifted uncomfortably." U-Uh... alright. But how do we get out after...?" "There's a cave that leads to a secret entrance by the front of the cave," Mathias replied." It should bring you to the foot of the mountain where you began." Tino nodded. He didn't think he could kill a man, but what if he asked for it? Would that be a different story? Then, Berwald cleared his throat." It started long ago. We were dragon hunters about thousands of years ago. One day, we were hunting this one dragon and it cursed us. It said that we'd be stuck like this for the rest of eternity." Mathias nodded, continuing the story for his friend." We could shift back to this form, but it would only last an hour at a time. Only once every twelve hours. We couldn't stay home, not with how we were, so we moved around. Unfortunately... people kept wanting to get close to us. We would move every time because what's the point of having someone close if you're just going to watch them grow old and pass? Not to mention, we're stuck as dragons twenty two hours a day. Each time we moved, we'd be friendly towards the people leaving there so they wouldn't feel the need to attack us. For awhile, we were fine living like this. After the years passed and the world changed around us... it became rather depressing." "We had to move back into the mountains," Berwald explained." As the technology grew, we figured they'd want to find out why we were like this through experimentation. Now, we want nothing but to go to the halls of Valhalla where we belong." Tino made the thought of "what heroic act did they perform", but then he realized that fighting dragons and bringing peace was pretty heroic, so he didn't mention anything. But their story was over. And that meant... "I guess it's time now," Mathias said with a weak smile." Do you have a knife or something sharp?" Lukas pulled out the two hunting knives they brought. The purpose of the knives were just in case they ran into any wolves or any type of hostile creature. The men didn't know they'd have to use them on the beings they climbed this mountain to see. The Norwegian passed Tino's knife over to him and frowned." Are you ready?" Tino stood and motioned over to the fur bedding." Would you like to lie down or...?" Berwald stood and nodded, muttering a small thank you to him as he passed. Soon, both men were laying in the bed of furs. Both of their eyes were shut and they were both rapidly breathing. They were ready for this, it seemed, but were they scared? Lukas and Tino brandished their weapons and moved over to the men. Tino had decided to pick Berwald. He found himself drawn to the man, but why was beyond him. Taking a shaky breath, he cleared his throat to speak." Are you ready, Berwald?" His eyelids opened and they made eye contact. His eyes were still swirling in a mystical way and they looked so beautiful it made Tino wish that this moment would last forever. But then he remembered why he was here. He positioned the blade over the beast's heart, but he felt his grip become shaky and he couldn't keep the knife straight over where the organ was. He felt warm hands around his own, keeping them steady. They were Berwald's. "Remember that this isn't you killing a person," he whispered, his voice way too calm for what was about to happen." You're killing a curse and setting us free. Just think about that." Tino found himself nodding. He cleared his mind and drew in another breath, this one a little calmer than the last. Closing his eyes, he plunged the knife forward. The warm hands around his removed them from the knife and let their fingers intertwine. "Your hands are warmer than mine," he heard Berwald whisper. His voice sounded a little too ragged. He was dying." Do you mind?" "No," he found himself whispering. If this man wanted to hold his hand until he died, that would be fine. He was dying after all and a man's last wish was an important one. It wasn't long until the hands in his grew lax. He opened his eyes slowly. Berwald was dead. He stood up shakily and tried to get his bearings. When he looked over at Lukas, he found him wrapping a now dead Mathias in furs, the bloody knife laying on the cave floor. Tino decided to go along with that and took the knife out of Berwald's chest and covered his cooling body in furs as well. Lukas patted his shoulder." Let's go. We should get to the car before the sun sets." There was a legend about two mythical beasts that brought peace and prosperity to the lands they travelled to. But along with this legend was the story of two curious men that helped break this legend to a truth and break the curse that plagued these beasts. And no matter how old Tino Väinämöinen and Lukas Bondevik got, they would never forget the day they met and set free those beasts of legends. ~The End~ ((Could've added more of Denmark and Norway but I felt the need to focus more on Sweden and Finland XD There's SuFin if ya squint))