#you can come back and start right at phase two with everything restored including being able to summon the spectre

[sazeracs]

Adding onto this, I personally ran Salamander Dagger head on Acidic Crystal Spear handle for some poking (the City Longspear has a longer reach but is slower in a way that’s unhelpful for this fight), fully upgraded Puppet String, and the Friendship Wishstone.

The Spectre is unfortunately hit or miss in boss fights wrt actually helping, but can be useful to draw aggro and let you get some attacks in, as @venigni said, or even give you a second to breathe, and that’s definitely true here. (There’s a specific Wishstone for it but imo you don’t even need to buy it because it happens naturally lol. Caveat: This works better in some fights than others because of tracking — not recommended for Black Rabbit Brotherhood gank.) If you’re using the Friendship Wishstone, pop ✨the Cube✨ when Giangio Romeo you from the future, stronger and cooler the Spectre has about half of his health left for maximum effect.

Use Puppet String to build up stagger while he’s on all fours. He’s fairly susceptible to it; I think it was about three times I had to use it before that health bar went white. (It’s also just goated.)

For his actual attacks, although his second phase is a spicier version of the Scrapped Watchman, try approaching him like Archbishop Andreus instead. That is, stay in his face and dodge INTO him. This sounds counterintuitive and in most other fights you’ll have a bad time, but for whatever reason he’s similarly less able to hit you at that close range, and he’s more manageable if you don’t give him an opportunity to ever use his ranged attacks. Ideally, roll into him at an angle (left) so you end up on his right side (many bosses are weak here it seems), or end up going right through his legs, because most of his attack AoE is directly right in front of him — and because just like Andreus you wanna target his ass. Just completely go to town on him back there, especially if the Spectre has his attention.

His burrowing attack can be avoided by running around, but if you learn the timing to dodge or even block/parry it it’s super punishable. He telegraphs pretty obviously: hit him with a charged heavy attack when he stands up on two legs, but watch out for whenever he shakes his head in particular.

If you’re trying to hone your parrying skills, my general advice is that it’s more practical to pick one or two specific attacks and focus on mastering perfect guarding those, rather than trying to do so with everything. His Scrapped Watchman punch with the windup is a good one to learn, for instance. Remember, too, that if you’ve played other Souls games before (Sekiro especially), you may actually need to unlearn some muscle memory, because Lies of P is the opposite and the window for a successful parry is based on you, not the enemy. Generally, you want to press the block button as soon as you see an attack start to connect (i.e. a limb moving toward you) and HOLD, not tap it — if you’re early, you still get a block and can regain health by attacking.

ok i tried everything. i just can't beat him. fuck the green monster. Got the scrapped watchmen first try but this thing? even with an specter? idk. king of puppets was somehow fun and even victor was "easy" after i knew his moves. but the monster seems to have no window for a attack? he's constantly moving and I can't land a punch. for the first time i really don't enjoy this game ffs.

[angelsndragons]

fjord’s feelings for caduceus changed in episodes 98-99

by which i mean, fjord finally realized how special and important he is to caduceus, which in turn set the tone of their relationship for the rest of the campaign. buckle up, this is a long one.

not when fjord threw away his sword and went to caduceus instead of jester. or when caduceus presented him with the star razor. or after the citadel fight when caduceus gave him his holy symbol. i think things changed for fjord in episode 98-99, when caduceus saved his life and removed the orb.

this is going to require some context.

because here’s the thing: fjord’s always looking for the price, waiting for the catch or other shoe to drop. people caring for him because of him with no strings attached is unprecedented. vandren and the world taught fjord that love is conditional, that only if you hide what others would find ugly and make yourself useful to them will they deign to give you a scrap of affection. i don’t think vandren did this maliciously, mind you, it was just part of his worldview and fjord’s life up to and beyond that point supported it. we can see that right up to the end of the show, where fjord is terrified that vandren didn’t remember him or that he didn’t mean nearly as much to the man as vandren did to him.

so we have fjord, who learned to don masks and hide his truest self, including his best and worst aspects. while fjord made the nein into a coherent group, into a force, a crew, a family, even, he still waited for that other shoe to drop. waited for the day that they would reject him because he was no longer useful or because he pushed them too far. you can see this waiting all over the early campaign; he’s not looking for an excuse like caleb to cut and run but he anticipates nearly all the moments that almost fractured the nein, in spite of that low wisdom score. while jester carried the guilt of not being able to save molly, fjord carried the guilt of not protecting the group in that crucial moment. travis confirmed on talks that fjord’s biggest fear when he lost his powers the first time was that he would no longer be useful and be kicked out of the group. 

that’s why fjord damn near broke down at the end of 72. the nein, no questions asked, with their standard level of snark, accepted that he was going to be a liability and kept him around anyway. armed him anyway. declared that he was no liability and that they would help him along until he could help himself and them again. this unconditional acceptance caught fjord completely off guard. it always does, really. because caduceus had said for months, an out of game half a year, that he was looking to reforge the sword as a gift for fjord. he said this to fjord’s face. he did not change course when he learned that the sword was a legendary blade forged by acolytes of the wildmother and moonweaver. the blade was still meant for fjord, even if fjord was still chained to uk’otoa. fjord extends his love and protection to the nein but is still not convinced the reverse is true. he was starting to believe it but he wasn’t quite there yet.

caduceus has a high enough wisdom to understand that’s fjord’s hang up even if he doesn’t quite understand the reasoning behind it. that’s why he pulls fjord aside in ep 75 and tells him that he doesn’t have to choose the wildmother, that there are other gods and other ideas out there looking for a champion. fjord, who at this point considers wildmom his only option (travis says she’s the only one who’s shown the slightest interest in fjord and that’s why he’s gunning for her), is befuddled by caduceus and this whole talk, so much so the pair end up talking past each other for the next several episodes.

after fjord officially becomes a paladin, things between him and caduceus become fairly...unsettled compared to their previous interactions. they talk past each other more, they aren’t in sync enough to double team those social interactions they were just starting to get good at. things are just weird for a while. to me, that’s fjord waiting for the catch, waiting for caduceus to call in some favor or something like it. and he keeps getting confused when caduceus doesn’t. so he tries once or twice to follow in caduceus’ footsteps and do as he would instead. and it just makes things weirder. these two don’t have a moment together that doesn’t leave one of them confused or unsatisfied until ep 87, when caduceus gives fjord the holy symbol and inadvertently kicks off the next phase of their relationship. because here, caduceus tries to put them back on equal footing and fjord recognizes it. caduceus rejects framing their relationship as mentor/student and tells fjord he doesn’t need caduceus to give him answers. fjord is “well on his way.”

by defining what they aren’t, mentor/student, our two boys inadvertently ask the question, “so what are we?” honestly, it’s a question that the entire group grapples with in the 90s as they reintegrate yasha, as veth struggles with the question of changing back and whether she can stay with the nein, as beau tries to sacrifice herself for veth, as jester learns some uncomfortable truths about the traveler, as caduceus finds his family again. fjord and caduceus can easily define what they aren’t - not mentor/student, not brothers or cousins- but what they actually are stumps both of them.

their relationship doesn't look like any of their relationships with the others: beau is fjord's bro and first mate, caleb is fjord's complicated mirror and admiree, jester his crush and first person he learned to be vulnerable with, veth his antagonistic sibling. on caduceus' side, caleb is the one he looks to for a fellow project nerd and clear, unvarnished goals, beau and jester are the sisters caduceus misses, yasha the quiet beloved barbarian he understands better than the rest, and veth a mess he wants to help but can't. but fjord and caduceus' relationship is highly undefined at this point. notably undefined, beyond their newly shared connection to melora. at the dinner with essek, we get the stone bomb. and travis and fjord panic. like no, seriously, they spend the next four episodes low key panicking over this revelation. this ties back to fjord waiting for those other shoes to drop but it’s also more than that.

when it comes to destiny, fjord has always been the answer, the self made man, to both caduceus and caleb’s questions about destiny. he makes choices about who he is, who he wants to be, and takes actions towards those goals. he is one of those rare people who can wear many different masks, take on many different roles, while still maintaining his sense of self and becoming a fuller version of who he is. when I say fjord is the answer to destiny, what i mean is that he is what ioun said way back in c1 about Fate: mortals make choices and through those choices, destiny is fulfilled. he is the answer to caduceus' own growth from passive instrument waiting for someone to play him to active communicator in this conversation between gods and mortals. in this sense, fjord is what caduceus learns to be (this is exactly why caduceus rejects a mentor role; he has as much to learn from fjord as vice versa).

so for this coincidence to pop up, this idea that maybe fjord only had the illusion of choice to extend his service to the wildmother, that maybe somehow he was manipulated again, that there was some grand destiny pushing things and fjord had no say in it, yeah, i can see why fjord was low-key terrified. so is this what fjord and caduceus are: just some predestined grand fairy tale partnership neither of them have that much say in? episode 96 resoundingly rejects that label too. for one thing, none of the stones or clays treat fjord's last name as anything amazing or spectacular. for another, this string of episodes gives us caduceus at his most human. the terror of not knowing what happened to his family, the uncertainty of his homecoming, the relief of saving his family and home, the irritation at the way the chaos crew treats the temple, the playful attitude caduceus cultivates after, it's all on display. caduceus drops much of his placid exterior and willingly allows the nein to see sheer depth of emotion he has.

which leads me back to episode 98-99. uk’otoa’s agents come for fjord. and caduceus is pissed. travis and ashley both said on talks that they hadn’t really seen taliesin that pissed, that it was like someone had threatened an actual loved one of his. fjord dies. and comes back to an exhausted, still pissed off firbolg who is five seconds away from snapping archmage vess derogna’s head off for interrupting his prayer of healing. taliesin doesn’t even begin to relax until they start interrogating the dead fish people the next day. once caduceus confirms the ball is still in fjord, notably caduceus and caleb were the two who remembered, fjord starts asking for a way to remove it. he asks caduceus to start a commune with wildmom in tandem with jester’s commune with the traveler. caleb tells fjord that caduceus fought “very hard for you while you were down, i don’t know if he’s up to it.” having heard that, caduceus still tries, with his first divine intervention attempt of the campaign. and when jester figures out that greater restoration will work, caduceus pushes through his exhaustion, takes charge, and goes through a truly terrifying greater restoration with fjord to remove the ball. convulsing, seizing, shuddering, collapsing, etc.

in those moments, and in the quiet after when fjord confirms that he still has his powers, it finally hits him that yes, people can protect, fight, and love him for who he is alone. there is no chain or other shoe waiting to be dropped here. the wildmother is no uk’otoa, to punish or take power at a whim. caduceus will fight with everything he has and then some for fjord because he loves him (not for nothing does fjord only realizes the depths of jester’s feelings when she uses heal on him). who are caduceus and fjord to each other? they are people who will fight for one another and the others as far as they can. fjord says over and over again that he wants to protect the nein and look out for them because he cares for them. he demonstrates it over and over again as well. caduceus says basically the same thing; he wants everyone safe and happily on their way and will stay until they are. he demonstrates this all the time as well. this is, i think, the first time that he demonstrates his dedication so unequivocally, free of the artifice of duty, fully committed through love. fjord recognizes this in caduceus and caduceus does in fjord.

i say this is a turning point because, while they don’t really have another super in depth conversation alone together, these two start clocking each other and openly help and look out for each other. there’s an ease and intimacy to the relationship after this. fjord watching caduceus swim near vokodo’s lair, fjord being ready to hand over his armor to caduceus when it looks like his won’t be ready, fjord, caduceus, and beau plotting behind jester’s back to keep her safe from the traveler, the absolute offense fjord takes to eadwulf after he spoke to caduceus like that, fjord levels up in paladin after caduceus tells him he’s proud to know him, all the way to the end of the show when fjord shelters the clerics and tells them to finish lucien, we get little moments like these from both of them. hell, caduceus is the first person in the campaign to tell fjord directly that he loves him.

[mercy-burning]

Payback

Summary: After Reader surprises Spencer at a BAU holiday party, he can’t stop thinking about her. Category: Fluff Word Count: 4.2k NOTE: This is my first little fic, I’ve had this idea for a while now and I’ve always wanted to write it, so please let me know what you think! I hope you like it! And if there’s anything I should include in the before/summaries of my stuff in the future, please let me know! I’d love to write more but I’m not sure what everyone wants to see. Thank you!

***

He could still taste peppermint. It's been 8 days and still, every time his lips press together, Spencer swears he can taste her peppermint lip gloss coating them. It's all he's been able to think about as of late.

And no sooner than he could taste her lips, he could see her face, the way her eyes had glimmered after just a glass of champagne, amused and proud of her actions. He tried not to think about how dumbfounded he must have looked, completely frozen and practically unable to function properly, let alone at all. His mind betrayed him, though only for a second before he focused on the way she'd lovingly patted his cheek and whispered, "There you go," before pressing her lips together and turning away.

The whole ordeal had only lasted no longer than five seconds, but to Spencer it had felt like a lifetime. Time had slowed to a stop and refused to move forward the very moment she grabbed his face.

Truth be told, he should have seen it coming. For years since Y/N had joined the BAU, his friends had teased him relentlessly about her. More specifically, Morgan had caught him staring at her from across the jet once upon a time, her first case with the team, and when she'd looked up and smiled at Spencer, causing him to give a small wave and immediately avert his gaze, Morgan laughed from beside him and stated, "You couldn't be more obvious if you tried, Pretty Boy."

Emily and Rossi, who were seated across from them, didn't even have to turn around to know what was happening, and the shared a knowing smile before Hotch had returned from the bathroom and started debriefing.

Spencer had tried to play it cool at first, blowing off his friends' teasing remarks and sometimes crude gestures, but deep down he knew they were all right. And if they were able to see just how badly he liked Y/N, then it was probably no secret that she'd been able to tell as well. The thought made him nervous, but in the three years since he and Y/N had come to be better friends, he'd gotten more comfortable and a little (but not by much) less blush-prone when she paid him a smile or occasionally brushed her hand against his.

Nonetheless, the teasing from the rest of the team had slowed significantly, though it hadn't entirely stopped. Every time they all got together for a dinner at Rossi's or a party for the holidays, Y/N got dressed up, and every time without fail Spencer couldn't help but admire her beauty. Of course he'd found her beautiful all the time, but there was something about the way she held herself during these events, almost like she knew she was the most stunning person in the room, that drove him crazy, and even intimidated him a little. (She's way out of my league, he'd thought to himself once.)

And every single time, either Morgan or Garcia, or pretty much anyone else, but those two specifically, would try to get him to talk to her, to ask her on a date, or to just flirt with her. But, as usual, Spencer brushed it off, and each night he would go the entire time without taking his friends' advice, much to their chagrin.

Sometimes he wished he had, that he was brave enough to say something to her, anything beyond the usual, "you look nice" before quickly changing the subject. And a few times he almost came close, but some small part of his conscience told him that she wouldn't reciprocate. That he was too weird and that she was too good for him. And then he would chastise himself for even thinking that he would have a shot, and he'd have to live with the fact that he would just be teased by his friends forever about this perfect woman that he would never have the courage to come clean to.

But all the same, he was just naïve enough to believe that he could get away that one night without any trouble.

It was the day before Christmas Eve, and Rossi had generously decided to host a small get-together before everyone would be with their families for the holidays. As usual his place was beautiful, but even more so with all the twinkling lights and garland.

The team was shuffling around the kitchen, talking amongst themselves and drinking their drinks of choice, when Y/N appeared next to Spencer, a glass of champagne in hand.

And just like every time before, he felt his heart tug at his chest as he looked at her, so close to him he could smell her perfume and feel her warmth. She wore an emerald green dress that stopped below her knees, the sleeves long and the neckline plunging down to the top of her stomach in a deep V-shape. Four thin, glittery strips of silver attached the two sides of the V together, getting smaller as they went down. Her hair was worn up, a high pony tail that tumbled in curls down the back of her head, a few strands curled and framing the sides of her face. Her eyelids glittered red and her lips were sheer and shimmering.

She practically sparkled as she spoke to him, a beacon of elegance and beauty, and it took everything inside of Spencer to resist grabbing her face and kissing her in front of all their friends.

She finished her glass of champagne as he was telling her about his holiday plans, setting the glass on the table in front of her before a squeal—no doubt from Garcia—cut him off, mostly out of concern.

"What is it?" Y/N asked for him.

Morgan and Emily came strolling up to see what the commotion was about before they laughed and fist-bumped.

"What?" Spencer repeated, thoroughly confused.

Rossi came up to join, nodding as he raised his drink. "Ah, the magic of mistletoe."

"Look up," Garcia added, pointing to the ceiling above where Spencer and Y/N were standing.

Sure enough, mistletoe was hanging above them, and though he knew what that meant, his first instinct was to talk.

"You know, the Druids came to view mistletoe as a symbol of liveliness due to the fact that it could blossom even during wintertime. In hopes of restoring fertility they would administer it to humans, and even animals."

He refused to look at Y/N. He couldn't. He knew that the second he did, he'd give himself away, if he hadn't already before. And just as he was about to spit out more facts about mistletoe, he felt time slow down.

The words caught in his throat, dissipated, and replaced themselves with the smallest of whimpers. He hoped to God she wouldn’t hear it, for fear of giving himself away even further.

Instead he froze, completely shell-shocked when Y/N reached over, grabbed his face in her hands, and turned it to meet hers, taking no time at all to press her lips against his in a burning kiss. At least, that's how it felt for him.

He wasn't sure how she was feeling, but in that moment he could only think about how his entire being burned at her touch. And though she only kissed him for no longer than three seconds, keeping the entire thing short and sweet, the taste of her peppermint flavored lip gloss lingering on his lips, the way she looked at him, and the way she patted his cheek and the way she whispered, "There you go," before turning away and taking her empty glass with her... All of it was enough to make Spencer feel like he'd just experienced Heaven itself.

She was the actual human embodiment of Heaven, he was sure of it.

So by the time he'd recovered from his haze and found it in himself to breathe again, Spencer went back to pretending he wasn't phased, because after all he was in a room with all his friends who knew better, and the more he could keep pretending, the less he would be left to think about how Y/N had completely shaken him to his core.

But now it's the night before New Year's Eve, and he'd been thinking for days now how to deal with this. Because every time she'd looked at him since then, every time she'd say his name or playfully wink at him, it drove him mad. He closed his eyes and there she was, in all her shimmering, heavenly glory, taking up every thought, every ounce of being he had to offer. She owned him and she didn't even know it.

Or maybe she did.

There was one day, December 28th to be precise, when he swore she was messing with him, gauging his reaction. First of all, she'd worn a skirt to work, which she barely ever did, not to mention it was cold and snowy, and hardly the right weather to comfortably wear one, and a tight one at that. And Y/N seemed to be particularly and unusually clumsy that day, because she'd conveniently dropped her pen in front of Spencer's desk, or accidentally spilled water on her white shirt, exposing some of her bra. And every single time, She'd looked up to see him staring at her, as he'd never been able to resist doing.

The way she talked to him was different, too, her voice almost lullaby-like. And when she'd ask a question about something she clearly knew, she bit her lip immediately afterwards, her head tilted down and her eyes fluttered up, almost like she was embarrassed to ask for help.

By the end of the day Spencer was exhausted, not to mention still overwhelmed and completely burned by her presence. And it didn't help that everyone else around him knew what was happening. The teasing then was just as relentless as it had been the first week Y/N started working with them, made worse by the fact that she'd kissed him and left him absolutely ruined.

He had to do something, or he was sure he wouldn't survive.

***

Even though the team had just been together for Christmas, once again they all found themselves gathered around a fancy setting for New Year's.

This time Y/N decided she wanted to host, since none of the team have ever been to her house. In the three years since she'd worked with them, she figured it would be a good way to ring in the new year.

Her house wasn't as big or extravagant as Rossi's—no one's was, really—but she'd made do with what elegance she had to offer.

Even though everyone was bringing a small dish to eat, Y/N wanted to go all out. So, she decided to bake two pecan pies and a chocolate chip banana bread, all that culinary training throughout her first two years of college not entirely going to waste. She'd even made complimentary cupcakes for the team, each one flavored and decorated uniquely to each new friend she'd made from her time at the BAU, their names piped on every one with icing.

For Garcia, she made a vegan lemon blueberry cupcake frosted with a homemade vegan whipped cream, complete with a little glitter and 'penny' piped in pink.

For Derek, a peanut butter mocha cupcake with chocolate frosting and decorated with gold glitter and peanut butter chips, his name piped in white.

For Emily, a red velvet with vanilla buttercream and a ring of red and white marbled frosting around it, her name piped in red.

For JJ, a chocolate cupcake filled with raspberry coulis and topped with dark chocolate buttercream, silver pearls making a circle around the outside and her name piped in pink.

Hotch's cupcake was a chocolate with coconut frosting and 'Hotch' piped in vibrant blue, along with some swirled patterns around the edges.

Rossi's was her favorite to make, simply because it was so out of the box. It was a chocolate cupcake filled and topped with maple whipped cream, sprinkled with chopped up, caramelized bacon. She hoped he'd like it, but just in case it was too unconventional, she whipped up extra cupcakes of each. That way everyone could also try different ones if they wanted.

And that left Spencer.

The whole week leading up to the party, Y/N was concocting her recipes, trying to figure out which flavors everyone would like the best. She knew that Spencer would gladly take anything she'd given him, but after the Christmas party, she wanted to give him something to remember.

Truth be told, she wasn't even going to kiss him that night. She was more than happy to let him go on about mistletoe in an attempt to avoid what everyone else so desperately wanted them to do, but right before he finished his first fact, Emily glanced at Y/N and nodded her head, mouthing "do it".

And in a split second decision, she decided screw it.

And then she kissed him.

Though Y/N wasn't sure how he would feel before she did it, she could tell almost immediately when she did that he'd wanted something like that to happen for a while, because he practically whined against her mouth. She felt it more than heard it, it was so small, but there was no mistaking that it had happened, only confirmed by the fact that he slightly leaned into her once it was happening.

And then she pulled away, and she could have swore he tried to chase after her, not wanting it to end. But shock won over, because he opened his eyes and they were as wide as she'd ever seen them, his lips parted and shimmering faintly from where her lip gloss had transferred.

Y/N didn't want him to know that she could hardly breathe, seeing him like that, feeling him embrace her action, so she'd quickly brushed it off, patted his cheek and whispered, "There you go".

In hindsight, she wasn't sure if that was the right thing to say. All the things she could have told him in the moment, and "There you go" is what came out? Really?

So she picked up her empty glass as the team laughed and clapped, putting distance between everyone to get more champagne and compose the rapid beating of her heart.

She went home that night and thought about Spencer. Naturally. She tried not to think about the small part of her brain that said he was only shocked because it was unexpected and not because he wanted her. Instead, she tried to recall every interaction they'd had together, wondering how she could have missed the obvious.

There'd been countless times where Y/N had caught him staring at her, only for him to look away and pretend like he hadn't been... And to think, every time she just thought maybe she'd had something stuck in her teeth or a stain on her shirt. She just had to think something was wrong, when in fact, everything was perfectly fine.

So she decided that after everyone went back to work, she'd test it out.

One tight skirt and a few 'accidental' mishaps later, Y/N was sure.

And so, as she laid out the cupcakes on the table, Y/N put Spencer's in the middle. It was a vanilla bean cupcake, filled with peppermint whipped cream and crushed candy canes. The peppermint whipped cream was piped on the top as well, and she topped it off with a silver shine and his last name piped in red cursive lettering. On the outside you couldn't tell it was peppermint, but he'd sure taste it. And Y/N couldn't wait to see the look on his face when he did.

Everyone started to arrive shortly after Y/N finished getting dressed. She decided on a sleeveless black velvet dress with a high neckline that fit snugly around her throat. It was tight and ended just above the knee, accentuating just about everything. She put her hair up in the same high ponytail as the Christmas party, though rather than curled, it was straight. Her makeup was simple, a little silver eyeshadow, black eyeliner, and red lipstick.

She'd just put in the second hoop earring when her doorbell rang. Y/N slipped on her black heels by the front door and opened it to find almost everyone there.

"Y/N!" Garcia's exuberance was the first thing she heard, and then she hugged her.

"Hey, guys, welcome!" she exclaimed with a smile as everyone filed in through the door, hugging her as they went on by.

"Morgan and Reid are on their way," Rossi said, handing her a bottle of wine. Blackberry merlot, her favorite.

"Man, it smells great in here," Emily noted, setting her jacket on the hook behind the door.

"Yeah, I might have went a little overboard and made everyone their own cupcakes," Y/N said. "And banana bread... and two pecan pies."

"Cupcakes?" Garcia inquired, almost devilishly.

Everyone laughed, and Y/N led the way to the dining room, where she had everything set up. In front was everyone's cupcakes lined up in a row, behind them the banana bread and the two pies on either side of it.

"Y/N, these look incredible!" JJ complimented. Everyone else agreed in unison, and it warmed Y/N's heart.

"Thanks guys. I made a few of each just in case you weren't happy with your cupcake. But you're free to have them now if you want." So she handed everyone their assigned cupcakes, explaining each of their contents and seeing their faces light up, save for Reid and Morgan, who still had yet to arrive.

And as if on cue, the doorbell rang again, and Y/N's heart almost jumped out of her chest.

"I'll go bring these out to them," she said, grabbing the remaining cupcakes and leaving her friends to enjoy.

Derek was at the door first, smiling as charmingly as ever. "Hey, Miss Thing."

"Hey, yourself," she laughed, opening the door and stepping aside for him to walk through. She handed him his cupcake after he took his coat off, setting it beside everyone else's. "I made everyone complimentary cupcakes. This one's for you. Peanut butter chocolate mocha."

Morgan's eyebrows raised and he smiled, taking the cupcake. "You didn't."

Y/N laughed again, nodding as he took a bite. "You can head inside through there, everyone else is enjoying their own."

He pulled her in for a side hug and muttered a 'thank you' through a mouth full of cupcake, making her laugh harder, before he disappeared into the kitchen.

When Y/N turned around, Spencer was taking off his coat, a smile plastered on his face. "You made cupcakes?"

She tried not to fall apart when she looked at him, his eyes as kind as ever, that smile so intoxicatingly sweet and so incredibly him. She gave him a small once-over, admiring the look he'd gone for, which consisted of black dress pants, a long-sleeved navy button down with the first few buttons opened and a tie hanging loose and open around his neck, revealing some of his chest. He'd opted to leave his hair rather messy, which was more than okay with her. If she hadn't known any better she'd say he'd just woken up, but the style choices seemed deliberate. Regardless, Y/N knew that whatever he'd shown up in would have taken her breath away.

She nodded, trying not to take too long to look him over. She held out her hands, the cupcake sitting in between them both. "Yeah, I did. Here's yours."

"You're not gonna tell me what kind it is?"

She laughed. "You'll just have to eat it and see."

"Well, thank you. It's pretty... You're pretty. Y-you look nice."

Y/N saw him take a breath right before blinking and looking down at the cupcake, peeling the wrapper away, and she almost forgot to say, "Thank you."

But she did.

And then he took a bite of the cupcake.

***

As soon as it passed his lips, Spencer knew. He'd been tasting peppermint all week, and of course that had just been him remembering the taste of her lip gloss before, but now the taste was unmistakably there.

It was the frosting, only faintly peppermint, but just enough to be highlighted against the sweet vanilla of the cupcake. The two flavors in harmony were just as much Heaven as she was.

He would have moved forward and kissed her right then had ne not already had a plan.

So, instead he nodded with a smile, swallowing the bite he'd taken and stepping forward to be closer to her. "It's amazing. Thank you."

He looked down at her, and she looked back up at him, her eyes just as beautiful as they had been the night of the Christmas party.

"You're welcome," she replied softly, eyes drifting to his lips.

Spencer smiled at her before passing her and walking to the kitchen, leaving her behind.

Little did she know, he was practically buzzing from head to toe.

***

The night passed quickly, everyone laughing, having drinks, and happily eating.

It amused Y/N that the vanilla peppermint cupcakes ended up being everyone's favorite by the end of the night. The team had no idea the reasoning behind the specific flavor, and she almost had to wonder what they'd say if they did know.

Though, she wasn't sure it mattered. Because Spencer had pretty much ignored her all night. Of course he'd talked to her if they were brought up in conversation together, but he rarely even looked at her, and in the event that he did, it felt purely platonic and unlike every other time before.

Was he ignoring her on purpose? Did he secretly hate the stunt she pulled with the cupcake and decide to punish her for it? Or maybe, she'd merely imagined the chemistry in the first place. It had all been a figment of her imagination, something her mind made up to make up for the fact that she sucked at dating and hadn't had affection from a man in years.

That last one seemed bit of a stretch, but at this point Y/N didn't rule anything out.

Eventually she shifted her focus to having fun with her friends, this found family she'd been happily apart of for three years. It was her first time hosting a get-together at her house, and she was proud to share it with them. In an effort to prove just how much it meant, Y/N made a toast right before midnight. The TV was muted, and she'd unmute it when the ball was ready to drop.

Looking around at all her friends, Y/N smiled gratefully. "I want to start this off by saying how sorry I am that it took me this long to invite you all over to my house. But hopefully I made up for it with all the sweets." A small group of laughter filled the room for a moment before she continued. "And I know New Year's is supposed to be celebrated in hopes of being a better person and bettering yourself in the future, but... I know all of you, so... That's already been taken care of. I love you guys."

"Here, here!" Rossi announced, raising his drink. Everyone else followed suit, and after taking a sip, Y/N unmuted the TV. There was about a minute left until the ball would drop, and it would be a new year.

After filling up her drink one more time, Y/N stood in the back of the living room to take in all of her friends, chatting amongst themselves as they waited for the new year to ring in.

But someone was missing.

Just as she'd thought it, Spencer showed up beside her, and she turned to smile at him. "Hey."

"That was a nice speech," he said, setting his drink down on the table beside him.

You followed suit and nodded. "Thanks. It was kind of cheesy, but..."

"No, I... I think it was sweet."

Y/N wasn't sure what else to say, so she nodded, and looked back at the TV. There was about 20 seconds left, and everyone started counting.

She started counting with them, Spencer still at her side.

"19, 18, 17, 16..."

Before she even knew what was happening, Spencer's hand brushed out against hers. She thought it was an accident, but he'd been moving closer as the seconds rolled by.

But that couldn't be. Because she'd imagined everything before, so why wouldn't she imagine this, too?

"12, 11, 10, 9, 8..."

His heart was beating so fast in his chest, he could have sworn everyone around would be able to hear it. Time was running out, and he knew that he couldn't chicken out this time. Morgan had even spent all afternoon and the entire car ride here helping him figure out how to do it properly. And if he backed out then the teasing would be relentless.

"4, 3, 2, 1..."

The second Y/N finished chanting the final number, she felt a pair of hands grab her face.

And then Spencer's mouth was on hers, even better than it'd been before. Only this time, she kept him close to her when he tried to pull away. But he was happy to oblige, and they stayed like that, lips pressed together and hands caressing each others' faces. Maybe their friends were watching them, and maybe they weren't. It didn't matter. Nothing else mattered but that kiss.

Y/N pulled away first, though she kept her forehead pressed against his. She opened her eyes and saw him looking at her, everything falling into place.

"What was that for?" she asked softly, though she didn't actually care.

"Payback," was his answer, plain and simple.

She rolled her eyes lovingly and then pressed another small, sweet kiss to his lips before they broke apart completely, and then she laughed.

"What?" Spencer asked.

Y/N ran her tongue over her bottom lip before patting his cheek. "You taste like peppermint."

[sussex-nature-lover]

Wednesday 13th January 2021

Entomology Anyone?

Entomology is the study of insects and their relationship to humans, the environment, and other organisms. Entomologists make great contributions to such diverse fields as agriculture, chemistry, biology, human/animal health, molecular science, criminology, and forensics

Author’s Note: no photographs of Spiders are included in this Blog and a warning will be given if links are likely to include any. Links will be safe to click through in the first instance

It’s great when the workers’ rights are championed 

We saw this sign closing off a path around Sissinghurst Castle Gardens (see tab under the main Blog header for more info on National Trust properties) 

And some time ago after climbing the renovated Tower, as seen below, I was charmed to spot a Ladybird, After all it was only March (2019)

Ladybird on the new shingles at the top of the Tower - see below. The shingles are hand carved from Oak as were the originals

On closer inspection, I’m assuming because of the number of spots, that this is the aggressive non-native Harlequin Ladybird, only in the UK since 2004, but now rampant. You can’t see the white triangle on its head from this angle, but the sheer number of spots suggests so.

Ladybird ID Guide

I found a really nice blog which will be of interest to Gardeners, called Pot to Pen and the author, Robyn, wrote at the time about the restoration work on the Tower, it’s well worth a look.

Not all bugs are quite as cute as a Ladybird, even the invasive ones. Don’t ask me why, but anything green and bug like always gets called Wilf in our house and when this one hitch-hiked on the mower, I had to look it up.

The Great Green Bush Cricket aka Tettigonia Veridissima

Apparently they’re common in this part of the country and they don’t stop at jumping on board local transport. This one was on our bathroom wall one evening. I didn’t know it at the time, but the link says they can nip (they didn’t though)

Oooh funny, Crow’s just seen the pics on my screen and said ‘is that that Wilf-thing?’ There you go, proved I don’t just make all this stuff up off the top of my head. 

We’ve never lived anywhere where we’ve had so many creatures invading the house. Then again we never lived anywhere quite so rural before. Some of the things we’ve seen have been just beautiful like this

White Ermine Moth aka Spilosoma lubricipeda

and this Broad Bodied Chaser in the garden

As you can imagine, I have no idea what all these things are - every day I marvel at having the internet at our disposal, although I never did establish what the snake was that we found underneath our stairs when all the doors and windows had been closed. I’m ashamed to say that rather base instinct kicked in and we evicted it with the aid of a pond dipping net (EVERY home should have one) and a very long handled sheepskin duster (ditto) With hindsight we really should’ve found something safe to put it in and done some investigation before setting it loose and these days we’d run for the camera first before anything. We’ve had Grass Snake in the garden, specifically in the grass compost heap where it was nice and warm. And we’ve encountered Adder up in the fields when we’ve been walking, so we could discount them. 

At the time we’d had a few items of wooden furniture delivered, made in Indonesia or somewhere and I think I panicked that it was something weird that had come over hidden in that - unlikely I know, but not beyond the realms of possibility.

With the benefit of hindsight, perhaps it was actually just a rather large Slowworm Too late now, but I sincerely hope so.

Regardless of species, how it ended up where it was indoors is anybody’s guess. I’ve digressed again. This is supposed to be about insects and the reason I was inspired to write on that topic today was seeing a Tweet.

The National Insect Week Twitter account is always active despite Insect Week being a two yearly event and not taking place again until June 2022. They were promoting Manchester Museum’s free virtual exhibition.

* Arachnophobes: link safe to click to first page (only one mention of the word but no illustration) beyond that BEWARE.

Manchester’s own site quotes

“If we and the rest of the back-boned animals were to disappear overnight, the rest of the world would get on pretty well. But if the invertebrates were to disappear, the world’s ecosystems would collapse.”

Sir David Attenborough

Once I’d mentioned insects, Crow was on the lookout and saw a couple of mentions of Beetles on a nature account he follows. There was a particularly nice photo of the Violet Ground Beetle and then coincidentally he read about the £367M Dung Beetle and how it helps British farming, which I had been looking at as well. And strangely, bear with me, it linked to another topic.

Years back I’d had a little bit of a frosty run-in with a nearish neighbour. We were experiencing a problem with very large Hornets and there was a lot of press at the time about their impact on the Bee, particularly Honey Bee, population. We were not at all keen to share our home with these fearsome creatures, whereas the neighbour strongly objected to their eradication and insisted they are not a threat.

This one was found dead on our hearth,

Anyway, the neighbour moved away and I hope she took her Hornets with her.

It’s topical though, the health of and the threats to. our Bee population and some of that arises from the forthcoming parliamentary debate on relaxing an EU ban on pesticide.

Screenshot below via Twitter

Although according to this article last year, a ruling isn’t always a ruling, a ban isn’t always a ban.

I was also looking at this from Twitter  The pesticide debate from a Farmer’s point of view...an experiment with natural predators. 

BBC Sounds for Farming Today.

We started our own benign neglect effort last year and let’s face it, if doing good takes absolutely zero effort, we can all do our bit. Actually our lawns are more meadow than show pieces, so we always do our bit.

It’s marvellous how nature evolves. I’ve always had a slight interest in the back of my mind about gardening in accordance with the phases of the Moon and in symbiotic relationships in nature (including man’s) not in a hippy kind of way, in a let’s see if it works and let’s be as natural as we can way. To which end, I loved this article - Bees’ Natural Pesticide - Bees Use Poo and it’s made me feel all the more protective towards our Bees and it wraps up the beginning and end of today’s thoughts quite neatly.

What Have I Learned Today?

Everything above and the Basis for some cracking home school lessons

 Link The learning resources can be filtered from age Early Years through to Adult  and by topic Here

There are videos, activity suggestions, partner links, photography tips and crafts, so something for everyone. Don’t be shy, tell your friends.

Apart from screenshots, all photos today my own.

[thechronickidneydiseases]

The Chronic Kidney Disease Solution Reviews

The Chronic Kidney Disease Solution Book Review:

 Besides the emotional torment that this news can bring, kidney disease can severely ravage your overall health, leading to noticeable physical deterioration and decrease in quality of life. The situation becomes even grimmer when you learn that kidney disease can only be managed to reduce symptoms but not really cured by conventional medicine.

 Fortunately, not every person in the medical field agrees with that view. And that is why people like Shelly Manning, creator of “The Chronic Kidney Disease Solution“, decided to seek alternative treatment for this debilitating disease. The following article is a thorough, honest review of The Chronic Kidney Disease Solution Program. The review contains all the useful information that you need to make an informed purchasing decision

 What Is The Chronic Kidney Disease Solution CKD By Shelly Manning Program About?

 The Chronic Kidney Disease Solution” is an alternative treatment method for kidney damage. The solution seeks to completely treat kidney disease through natural methods only. “The Chronic Kidney Disease Solution” is delivered as a step-by-step e-book guide that shows you exactly what to do in order to eliminate kidney disease.

 Conventional medicines only seek to manage symptoms of kidney impairment and in the long run, you end up spending thousands of dollars on ineffectual medicines, to the benefit of the manufacturers. This is probably why pharmaceutical companies that make those medicines wouldn’t want you to know about this alternative treatment. This treatment alternative tackles the underlying causes of kidney impairment such as other chronic illnesses or diet deficiencies. As such, once you start applying the methods, you’ll notice an increase in energy levels and overall health within seven days.

 About The Author Shelly Mannin

 As the author asserts, The Chronic Kidney Disease Solution program is much more than treatment for a terrible disease. It is an empowerment program that restores Shelly Manning is an international researcher and author in Naturopathy, specializing in natural treatment of kidney disease and kidney health in general. This guide is one of his most famous works, so you have every reason to use this program with absolute confidence that it will help you get rid of kidney disease

 The Contents And Package Of The Chronic Kidney Disease Solution PDF

 “The Chronic Kidney Disease Solution” main e-book guide comprises thirteen chapters that form the main program. The guide starts off with chapter one on page 8, a very informative chapter that discusses everything about the kidneys, kidney function, and kidney disease. You will learn what and how the kidney’s function (regulation), and what factors can increase stress on the kidneys, such as food types we eat, blood PH, and more. Still in chapter one, there’s a section that gives some interesting facts about kidneys in summarized points. One of the most important things you’ll learn in this chapter comes right at the very end, and that is the causes of kidney disease. Before you embark on treating kidney disease, it’s very important to know the factors caused it in the first place. Unsurprisingly, diabetes and high blood pressure are the culprits here, along with other urologic and cystic diseases. Chapter one concludes with the different tests that are done to diagnose kidney disease.

 Chapter two is a breakdown of the western treatment methods. Precisely, “The Chronic Kidney Disease Solution” guide dwells on the weaknesses with conventional medicine and also stresses the importance of disease prevention. Basically, the entire chapter gives the low down on how western medicine approaches the treatment of kidney disease and why it is considered inefficient treatment.

 Chapter three introduces the natural alternative to treating kidney disease. First, you will learn what exactly happens in your body when your kidneys become impaired. You will learn how your body gets devastated by this terrible condition, and how the functions of other vital organs are affected as well. The guide gives a full list of all the minerals, vitamins, and amino acids that are essential for healthy kidney function.

 Chapter four is about the tools needed to repair kidney function naturally. Predictably, nutrition is a big part of the kidney repair tools and it is aptly dealt with at the start of this chapter. The chapter contains a detailed breakdown of all the natural chemicals needed for healthy kidney function. The chapter concludes with a list of herbs that are useful in the treatment of kidney disease.

 Chapter five is the start of the treatment plan, which is the gist of the entire Kidney Disease Solution program. The treatment plan is split into three phases – phase one is ‘the essentials’; phase to is ‘treating the cause’; and phase three is ‘treating your symptoms’. When you go deeper into the chapter, you’ll learn the three phases in details. Essentially, the rest of the chapter is an elaboration of the three phases. It includes all the foods and supplements you’re supposed to take, in the appropriate proportions

 Chapter six discusses kidney stones in detail. It explains what they are, the causative factors, prevention, and treatment. It concludes with a diet recommendation for preventing kidney stones Chapter seven introduces the ‘foundations’ of a healthy life in general, including diet, exercise, meditation, and lifestyle. The proceeding chapters are an elaboration of these four foundations. You’ll particularly love chapter eight that discusses food and diet, with some interesting healthy recipes.

 The entire chapter nine is dedicated to a special type of tea known as ‘kidney tea’. It has such powerful effect that the author dedicated a whole chapter to it. You’re even shown how to make that tea using simple ingredients that you can get at the grocery store Then chapter ten is the juicy part of the guide as it’s entirely dedicated to ‘juicing’. You can juice vegetables or fruits, or sometimes mix the two together. It’s all in here in this chapter. You’ll learn how to augment your health with some powerful vegetable and fruit juices.

 Chapter eleven is pretty brief and dwells on lifestyle. Basically, it’s about the do’s and don’ts of a healthy life. You’ll learn about all the behavior and indulgences you must stay away from. The next chapter aptly discusses exercise and its core importance to healthy living. It’s a very interesting chapter about physical activity and it gives some useful guiding principles about each type of exercise you need to do. The guide conveniently closes with a chapter on meditation and relaxation, and then a FAQ section.

 This is truly a powerful ebook that will help you cleanse your kidneys from nearly all sorts of kidney diseases! Before you spend your hard earned money on expensive doctor consultations and medications; you should try out “The Chronic Kidney Disease Solution” for a mere $49.00! Best of all, it is clad with a 60-days refund guarantee if it doesn’t work for you! Such offer isn’t seen anywhere else!

 Pros

This program is easy to understand and uses completely natural methods.

The Chronic Kidney Disease Solution ckd will help you how to remove your kidney disease

permanently.

Instead of making yourself more sick with pharmaceutical drugs or having to resort to expensive

operations, this program reverses all your kidney issues naturally.

There’s a 100% money back guarantee, so it’s completely risk free.

The Chronic Kidney Disease Solution provides full email support in case you have any queries.

 Cons

The methods taught in this program must be strictly followed, otherwise you won’t see results. Don’t expect it to work without putting the effort in!

You have to be willing to make some dietary adjustments

 Our Conclusion

 The Chronic Kidney Disease Solution helps fix your kidneys, increases the strength of your immune system and helps you live a healthier and happier life. The product is completely risk free, so even in the unlikely event of you not being happy with it’s content, you get all your money back. It’s highly recommended if you have any kidney related illness – whether it’s Kidney Disease, Renal Disease, Renal Insufficiency, Stage 1-4 Kidney Disease, Kidney Failure, Renal Failure or Chronic Kidney Disease.

[carneaderunt]

𝙿𝙸𝙴𝙲𝙴𝚂 𝙾𝙵 𝙰 𝙿𝚄𝚉𝚉𝙻𝙴.   how two wrongs make a right.

                            𝚊𝚔𝚊.    how the two fragmented   &   distorted versions of qetsiyah’s immortality spell can combine to make someone a true immortal.

                            first up on my meta rewrites   ,   i’d like to address probably my favorite headcanon i’ve ever come up with over the past five years of writing kennedy.   it all starts with a simple question   ———   𝚆𝙷𝙰𝚃 𝚆𝙾𝚄𝙻𝙳 𝙷𝙰𝙿𝙿𝙴𝙽 𝙸𝙵 𝙺𝙴𝙽𝙽𝙴𝙳𝚈 𝙳𝙸𝙴𝙳 𝚆𝙸𝚃𝙷 𝚅𝙰𝙼𝙿𝙸𝚁𝙴 𝙱𝙻𝙾𝙾𝙳 𝙸𝙽 𝙷𝙴𝚁 𝚂𝚈𝚂𝚃𝙴𝙼   ?

                            so i first posed this question in october of 𝟸𝟶𝟷𝟻   ,   sometime around the beginning of season seven of 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚟𝚊𝚖𝚙𝚒𝚛𝚎 𝚍𝚒𝚊𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜.   i discussed my theory on what would happen   &   asked for any alternative ideas from my followers at the time.   it’s an interesting theory to look back on because i had been toying with the concept in my head for several months prior to making the post   (   i think since about may of that year   )   ,   &   little did i know at the time that later on in season seven   ,   kennedy would be dealing with this exact scenario.   originally   ,   i had no set plans on when   &   truly 𝚒𝚏 i would put kennedy through such an ordeal   ,   but the opportunity arouse in 𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚕 𝚒𝚜 𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚙𝚎𝚘𝚙𝚕𝚎   &   about a month later   &   with some helpful plotting with my dear friend @crazyimpulsive​​   ,   it was decided that kennedy did in fact die with vampire blood in her system at the end of the episode.

                            so before i delve into how kennedy dies in 𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚕 𝚒𝚜 𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚙𝚎𝚘𝚙𝚕𝚎   ,   let’s first look at why i’m posing this question in the first place.

                            for all of its flaws   ,   the mythology of the vampire diaries is vast   &   very interesting.   like most twenty-somethings i know   ,   i went through a vampires    /   werewolves   /   witches   /   &   other supernatural entities phase that sprung from the popularity of those characters   &   tropes in the media at the time.   i’m not saying i ever grew out of it because   ,   well   ,   i’m still here aren’t i   ?   but i was a little less interested in high school when i first started watching 𝚝𝚟𝚍 in vampires than i was in middle school   ,   &  so when i got to silas   &   amara   ,   a lovely couple of immortals in ancient greece   ,   well   ,   i found them a lot more interesting than i thought i would   (   𝚔𝚊𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚊𝚕𝚠𝚊𝚢𝚜 𝚋𝚎 𝚖𝚢 𝚏𝚊𝚟𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝚟𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚊𝚒𝚗 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚜𝚒𝚕𝚊𝚜 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝚊𝚝 𝚊 𝚌𝚕𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝚜𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚍    ).   what was more interesting than the characters themselves was the powerful immortality spell qetsiyah had developed   ,   which had been the originator for vampirism spell that runs through the blood of most of our favorite characters.

                            a spell that   ,   if kennedy died with vampire blood in her system   ,   would also now be running through her veins too.

                            okay   ,   cool   ,   awesome   ,   problem solved.   kennedy’s a vampire   ,   right   ?   no   ?   okay   ,   well why wouldn’t she be   ?

                            first   ,   let’s recall how the vampirism spell was created.   esther modified qetsiyah’s original spell.   ayana   ,   the bennett witch who was friends with esther   &    mikael   ,   refused to perform the spell believing it a crime against nature.   if i remember correctly   ,   it’s unclear whether esther had come across the spell or if ayana had informed her of the spell before warning her against it.   but what is clear is the spell is 𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚍 from qetsiyah’s immortality spell.   it’s basically a knock off   ,   generic version   ,   was probably poorly translated from the original greek   ,   some of the ingredients had to be changed   ,   etc   ,   so instead of creating immortal beings like silas   &   amara    &   starting a new line of doppelgängers in their wake   ,   it made the mikaelsons vampires.   &   every person from then on who died with vampire blood in their system would go into transition   ,   which upon the consumption of human blood would transform them into vampires.

                            so 𝚟𝚊𝚖𝚙𝚒𝚛𝚎 𝚋𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚍 + 𝚍𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚑 = 𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗.   𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 + 𝚑𝚞𝚖𝚊𝚗 𝚋𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚍 = 𝚟𝚊𝚖𝚙𝚒𝚛𝚎.   simple enough.   but what happens when you add another spell into the mix   ?   a spell that would halt the process of becoming a vampire.

                            does 𝚟𝚊𝚖𝚙𝚒𝚛𝚎 𝚋𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚍 + 𝚛𝚎𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚕𝚕 + 𝚍𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚑 = 𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗   ?

                            let me explain why i don’t think it would.   first   ,   because the reincarnation spell used on this blog is part of my own personal mythology i wanted to add into the 𝚝𝚟𝚍 universe   ,   it needs it’s own breakdown.   the gist of the spell works like this   ,   because kennedy has the spell on her soul   ,   when her body dies   ,   her soul moves onto her next life   &   body   ,   which appears identical to her last   (   this is mostly for convenience sake sake   &   also because some myths of reincarnation do include the person looking the same.   as for the scientific details   ,   i suppose somewhere along the line kennedy   ,   evelyn   ,   &   eliza can trace their lineage back to the petrovs but i have not expanded on how yet   ).   i’ve never discussed the specifics of what happens to her soul between her last life until her next   ,   but my current theory   (  which i hope to expand on later   ,   i need to rewatch the stuff involving alaric   &   matt   &   the gilbert ring   )   is that her soul lingers on the other side during this time with all the other deceased supernatural creatures    (   this of course begs a separate question about what would happen post-season six if kennedy had died 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚝 vampire blood in her system since the other side is 𝚜𝚞𝚙𝚙𝚘𝚜𝚎𝚍𝚕𝚢 destroyed   ).   during this time   ,   she has access to her memories still   (   &   perhaps even her former ones   ,   you’ll have to give me a pass on the details bc all my hcs regarding reincarnation + the other side have been lost on skype   )   ,   &   when it’s time for a new incarnation to begin   ,   her soul is pulled into her new body   &   her memories are gone again   ,   with hints of it sometime lingering around.

                            this particular form of a reincarnation spell can trace its first use   ,   of course   ,   to the 1400s when irina   ,   a bennett witch descended from the same line as qetsiyah   &   ayana   ,  created it.   like most bennett witches we know   ,   she got tangled up with the petrov lineage   ———   but instead of befriending amara’s doppelgänger   ,   she was friends with anastasia petrova   ,   kennedy’s first incarnation.   the two were best friends   &   told each other everything.   as we know   ,   ana was pretty much a two-faced bitch to most of the people she knew.   but never to irina.   irina was the only person ana was whole-heartedly genuine with.   she never lied to her.   she never betrayed her.   she told the girl everything there was to know about her   ———   her fears   ,   her loves   ,   her regrets.   irina was her confidant.   irina helped her learn more about magic after katherine stopped sneaking around   &   learning traveller spells behind their father back.   while katherine had begun seeking out attention from pretty men   ,   anastasia had continued seeking out more knowledge on witchcraft   ,   &   irina was always there with a helping hand   ,   trying to guide her to use it properly   &    respectfully.   because of their deep friendship   &   all the honesty ana put into it   ,   irina was faced with a terrible choice.   when the bennett witch had a terrible premonition about anastasia’s violent death   ,   she decided she had to do something to stop it.   she searched   &   searched for a way to prevent ana from dying but every trail turned up dry.   eventually   ,   irina came across a family heirloom   ,   an ancient translation of an immortality spell   ,   different from the vampire spell   ,   more permanent.   like with the vampirism spell   ,   some of the ingredients had been changed   &   some of the words had been translated wrong.   reading over the spell   ,   the witch was aware of what it would do   ———   it would not make anastasia immortal per say   ,   but instead it would allow her the chance to live again   &   perhaps make make amends to all the girl had wronged in her current life.   the bennett witch brewed the spell with one special addition   &   slipped it into ana’s drink one night.   two weeks later   ,   the entire petrov family had been slaughtered   ,   &   there were no signs the spell had worked.   anastasia’s soul didn’t pop up again until the 1800s in a small town in virginia   ,   a town where a few years later   ,   another bennett witch would be make an appearance.   the small addition irina had made to the spell   ?   an insurance policy that would link ana’s soul to the bennett line   ,   so when the time came to break the spell   &   restore balance to nature   ,   a bennett witch would be able to remove it.   however   ,   because of how much time had elapsed between irina    &   emily’s interactions with ana’s incarnations   ,   none of the bennett witches ana’s soul met had any idea how the spell came to be or how to break it.   little is known in-universe on how ana was able to reincarnate other than there was a spell   &   a bennett witch performed it   &   then linked it to the bennett bloodline.   it is only after kennedy’s death that katherine offers up what she has learned of the spell having researched it throughout the years since meeting eliza gilbert.

                            in summary   ,   just like the vampirism spell   ,   the reincarnation spell on kennedy’s soul is also derivived from qetsiyah’s immortality spell.   so what would happen if someone were to die with both of these fragmented   &   distorted versions of the spell were to co-occur   ?   would one win over the other   ?   would neither work at all   ?   they’re 𝚝𝚎𝚌𝚑𝚗𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 the same spell   ,   resulting in an imperfect form of immortality   ,   both with the ability to still die   (   vampirism with a stake   ,   reincarnation via a human death   ).   so what if instead of the two spell competing with another   ,   they instead completed each other   &   fused into one spell   ?   my solution to this problem is that the spells fit together like pieces of a puzzle   ,  combining to fix what had been distorted   &   fragmented until they form the complete   &   proper immortality spell the qetsiyah created all those years ago.

                            so if the 𝚒𝚖𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚕𝚕 = 𝚊 + 𝚋   ,   the 𝚟𝚊𝚖𝚙𝚒𝚛𝚎 𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚕𝚕 𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍 = 𝚊   ,   &   the 𝚛𝚎𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚒𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚊 𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍 = 𝚋   ,   then 𝚟𝚊𝚖𝚙𝚒𝚛𝚎 𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚕𝚕 + 𝚛𝚎𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚕𝚕 = 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚒𝚖𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚕𝚕.   meaning our previously forever reincarnating witch would no longer be a witch   &   she wouldn’t transition into a vampire either   ,   but instead would become a proper psychic immortal.   it would be just like she took the elixir silas   &   amara took.

                            which is really the gist of it.   i was gonna talk about how kennedy dies in 𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚕 𝚒𝚜 𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚙𝚎𝚘𝚙𝚕𝚎 but this post is long enough   &   i have a drabble on it already that i just need to spruce up before publishing again   ,   so i might do that later this week instead.   there is the caveat that because kennedy’s lived four different lives   &   the whole other side memory wipe thing i mentioned earlier   ,   that when kennedy wakes up after dying   ,   she doesn’t have any of her memories   &   there’s a whole process of having to trigger each incarnation’s set of memories in the order of who lived first to who lived last   ,   so we take a brief pause on the other nonsense occurring in season seven get to see ana   ,   eliza   ,   &   evelyn for a bit before finally reuniting with our lovely kennedy   ,   except she gets to keep all of those memories from her past lives this time as well.

[the-insomniac-cat]

ENDGAME BIG SPOILERS

Complete synopsis of the entire film below the cut.

If you want spoilers but not the whole shebang, scroll down to my other Spoiler post.

Why post this? Because some people want to know, either before they go, or instead of going, or to decide whether to or not.

Look, if you don’t want to know, then use the tag filter. In case you didn’t set it up, then I’ve put in the ‘keep reading’ cut. So you should be covered. So please, no more anon hate! (Haters are so brave when they go anon!)

PLEASE NOTE THIS IS NOT MY SYNOPSIS. I HAVE NOT SEEN THE FILM (and won’t) THIS IS FROM A REDDIT USER. BECAUSE LOTS OF SPOILERS OVER THERE ARE BEING TAKEN DOWN, I DECIDED TO CUT AND PASTE IT RATHER THAN JUST GIVE A LINK.

People who HAVE seen the film have been adding comments to this post on Reddit, saying it is ‘correct’, or ‘basically correct’.

CREDIT:  Reddit Posted byu/Wico90

12% credit to Brontcrab24 and others

First Scene is actually Hawkeye losing his family to the snap. He doesn’t actually see it happen as he is facing the other direction. We then get the Tony/Nebula sequence (paper football, etc). Tony records his message to Pepper. When he falls asleep, Nebula takes him to the front of the ship and sits him in the pilots seat. He wakes up and sees something glowing outside the window. Captain Marvel helps them return to Earth. Pepper, Rocket, Steve and Rhodey all come out to greet him. Tony is very shaken, particularly about losing Peter.

Movie starts with the Avengers trying to find Thanos. Steve wasn’t to know where Thanos is and asks Tony, but Tony says he doesn’t know, They argue. Nebula knows of Thanos’ garden he said he would once go to when he completed his goal. They found him because of the energy he released using the gauntlet. Thanos is alone, and tells them he used the gauntlet to destroy the gems. He is weak and Thor, angry, decapitates him.

Title Card and five years later.

Natasha is now basically in charge of what's left of the Avengers is talking to them via holograms. Basically the world is in ruins and they're trying to salvage it. Carol is there via hologram with a new haircut and uniform and tells them that she's covering thousands of planets and won't be able to come back to Earth for a "long time".

Steve and Nat talk about how the Avengers are family. Inside a storage shed is Luis’s van. A rat is crawling over the Quantum controls and activated the switch which brings Scott out. He’s now locked inside the cage but starts waving at the security cameras. A guard lets him out and he is walking the streets confused as to why everything is so overgrown and run down. He finds a memorial which lists the names of the ‘missing’ on large stones. He starts reading them panicking that Cassie might be listed on them. But she isn’t. He sees her at home, as an older version of herself. Scott drives to the Avengers facility and Nat and Steve let him in and he tells them about the Quantum realm and how they might be able to build a time machine to go back to the past before everything happened. They visit Tony, but he doesn’t want to help. He’s happy with the way that his life is, with Pepper and his daughter Morgan. They leave and to visit Bruce who is now Professor Hulk.

The plan becomes to start looking for the gems in the past. Initially Banner builds quantum time machine and sends Scott back to test but it is faulty, Tony refuses to help at this point, however, he returns Caps shield and they make up. He tweaks Banners Quantum Machine, The catch is that they need quantum particles for it to work.

Natasha goes to Japan to get Clint. He is mourning his family and is not certain of the plan. Rocket and Hulk go to get Thor who is drinking and playing video games with Korg and Meik. (Funny joke involving an online video game troll)

Finally the team then all suit up and discuss their plans to get the stones. They make it clear that they can not mess up because there is only enough Quantum particles for one trip for each of them.

Tony, Scott, Steve and Bruce go to the Battle of New York. Hulk meets the Ancient One at Dr Stranger's future home. Ancient One refuses to give the Time Stone to Bruce but relents when Bruce tells her that Dr Strange will give the stone to Thanos.

Cap, Iron Man and Scott tries to retrieve the Tessaract after Loki surrenders. SHIELD/Hydra agents Crossbones and that bald guy with glasses in Winter Soldier retrieve the brief case containing the Tessaract. Past Hulk funnily has to walk down lots of flights of stairs as he can't go on lift due to maximum capacity. Cap meets with Crossbones with the briefcase in elevator along with other Hydra agents. He convinces them to give him the briefcase containing the staff when he utters two words: Hail Hydra. Cap gets the briefcase. Tony in disguise as a SWAT soldier tells Scott to disable his past self's chest reactor to give him a minor seizure while his past self meets up with Alexander Pierce who demands the Mind Stone and Loki. Present Tony retrieves the briefcase but past Hulk accidentally knocks out Tony and Loki uses the confusion to teleport out with the Tessaract. Present Cap accidentally meets with his 2012 self, and 2012 self thinks he's Loki in disguise. They fought and 2012 has present self in chokehold when he tells his past self that Bucky is alive. He then taps his past self with staff to knock him out.

In Asgard, fat Thor and Rocket plans to retrieve the Aether out of Jane Foster's body. Thor's mother meets his 'son' and know he's from the future. Rocket retrieves the aether out of Jane by prodding her off screen and gets chased by guards. Before Thor leaves, he retrieves Mjolnir!

On Morag, War Machine and Nebula stays on Morag while Clint and Nat goes to Voromir via a ship that Rocket miniatures for Clint. Unknown to Nebula, her past self's nervous system and databanks are connected to each other and Thanos finds out where the stones are and how he meets his fate.

Cap and Tony transport back to 1970 at the SHIELD training site seen in Winter Soldier and goes underground to retrieve that era's Tessaract. Tony retrieves the Tesseract while meeting his dad. He calls himself Howard Potts. Cap makes a prank call to young Hank Pym and sneaks into his office to steal 4 vials of Pym Particles. Cap also sees Peggy. Cap and Tony teleport back to present.

WM and Nebula knocks out Quill during his dance in intro of GOTG. They got the stone and WM and Nebula was meant to teleport together but WM only succeeded. Present Nebula and past Nebula meets and fights and past Nebula takes her place to go back to present.

On Voromir, Clint and May meets the Red Skull as seen in Infinity War and is told how to retrieve the stone. Clint and Nat fought each other. Clint jumped off cliff but Nat catches him and held on by grappling rope. She falls off and dies like Gamora. Clint now has the Stone.

All members went back to present and everyone is devastated by Nat's death. Tony and Bruce constructs the Infinity Gauntlet and Thor wants to wield it but Hulk goes instead as he's the strongest one and the stones emit gamma radiation according to him. He wields it and snaps his fingers restoring all life lost. Clint's wife calls him on mobile. Hulk suffers extreme pain in his right arm due to IG. Past Nebula activates the Quantum teleporter and summons Thanos' warship and blasts the Avengers HQ to ruins with missiles.

Hulk lifting up rubble similar to Secret Wars cover where he lifts up a whole mountain except this is less in film lol.

Clint finds the gauntlet and is being chased by Outriders creatures in last film. He kills them and is met by past Nebula. Gamora and present Nebula meets up and Nebula kills her past self.

Cap, Tony and Thor teams up against Thanos. Thor is losing against Thanos even though he has Stormbreaker and Mjolnir. Thanos is about to kill Thor with SB when:

Cap lifts up Mjolnir and beats Thanos with hammer and shield.

Thanos uses his double blade weapon to break Cap's shield in half.

Thanos summons his whole army including the Black Order and some new creatures. Cap is all by himself against a whole army.

He hears Sam's voice and he turns around and see EVERYONE who has vanished PLUS huge armies of Wakandans, sorcerers and Asgardians (no signs of Warrior Three). Wong, Valkyrie, Wasp and Pepper Potts as Rescue turns up as well. Ant Man becomes Giant Man.

Clint plays American Football with IG and passes it to Black Panther then Spidey. Quill meets past Gamora and gets hit in the balls, not believing he is the one she loves lol. Scarlet Witch overpowers Thanos but Thanos orders missiles to hit everyone including his forces. Captain Marvel shows up to destroy Thanos' flagship and gets the IG and dashes towards the goal. There is a bit where Hope and Scott goes to the van with the Quantum teleporter in the middle of battlefield. Was lost in the moment so forgot why they doing that, sorry.

All female Marvel characters fight Thanos. Spidey's armoured suit goes autokill mode with the extra arms.

Thanos tries to take the gauntlet off Marvel by headbutting her but didn't phase her.

Thanos retrieves the gauntlet away from Stark and he snaps his fingers. Nothing happened. The stones went to Stark and before he snaps his fingers, he says 'I'm Iron Man'.

White flash of light.

All of Thanos' forces turn to dust including Thanos himself.

Tony dies from using the gauntlet. Everyone mourns.

The battle is won but at a cost.

Holographic Tony gives a message to everyone present including his daughter.

A wreath with Tony's chest reactor is laid to rest at the lake near Tony's hut.

Everyone is present including GOTG, Peter, Maria, Ross, Nick and Hank and Janet.

Thor, still fat designates Valkyrie as Queen of New Asgard in Tonnsberg. Thor is now travelling with GOTG to find Gamora and maybe more Asgardians. Quill and Thor are about to fight for leadership lol.

Scott, Cassie and Hope are together again. Wakanda is back with his King.

Cap goes on a mission to put back the stones and Mjolnir to their proper places. Hulk says to Sam and Buck that he should be back in 5 secs. He didn't. Sam sees a old man at a bench and it's Old Man Steve (who looks like Clint Eastwood now but less wrinkles and bit younger than he is lol). Steve has wedding ring and passes his shield to Sam. Sam is honoured.

Ending shows young Cap dancing with Peggy at their house. That's it.

Credits music is set to 1930s music then shows all cast members. The main cast is shown with their signatures on it.

There is NO post credit scenes which is a first for a MCU.

Stan Lee cameo is set in 1970s where he is shown in his 70s younger self driving a car with a woman, driving past a army base where Cap and Tony retrieves the Tesseract there.

[nozomijoestar]

Instead of following this meme as a list of ask prompts I love the idea so much I want to do everything in one go myself

The Bowl of Embers - What would be the title of your trial listed as in the duty-finder?

The Endless Dunes  - named this because of the fight location being in a secluded area deep in the Sagolii Desert at night; significant since thats where she was born and raised

Thok ast Thok - Write a brief flavor-text about your trial one would find as a listed description in the duty-finder

At the end of your winding road awaits a figure shrouded in the sands. Life has ceased to be in this barren land; there is but one path forward. The figure meets your gaze unshaken and expectant. The night winds howl in rage. Silence the Warrior of Light. 

Cape Westwind - What is the setting of the battle? Where will it take place?

Deep within the Sagolii Desert in Southern Thanalan, past her birthplace of Forgotten Springs. She used her power in anger to raise earth into a platform surrounded only by towering dunes and some of the locale’s rocky sand filled ravines. Its extremely difficult to enter and life threatening to leave if you aren’t careful. 

The Howling Eye - Write a description of the opening cut-scene preceding the fight

The questline leading up to this fight would involve the player discovering the WoL has gone rogue and wants to renounce the world and herself as Hydaelyn’s instrument. She’s been driven to her breaking point and despairs over the future and freedoms she feels were robbed from her when she was given Echo without consent; thereby made to endure pain and suffering she never asked for. 

Because at this stage she’s been unable to find a cure to get rid of Echo, all her hidden negative emotions have made her snap into a mass of destruction. The  player must fight her to make her come to her senses, which involves killing her multiple times only for her to be revived more pissed than before (due to Hydaelyn continuing to reconstruct her body to reinsert her soul upon any events that would kill her physically- this is my personal explanation for how the Echo buff in gameplay would work lorewise)

---

Player(s) enters the battle area at midnight and looks around to find only the stars and dunes they can’t see past. The entire land is swept by an unnaturally strong wind and sandstorm they shield their face from and as it ends the compact platform in front of them has Vaste standing with her back turned. She’s staring at the sky as you approach and unarmed, then closes her eyes hearing you. She’s known you, or something like you, was coming. When you reach almost halfway she sighs before opening her eyes and reaching her right hand out beside her. In a flash of energy that looks and sounds like lightening and thunder her spear is summoned. The player stops in their tracks, shocked. Slowly she turns appearing furious and assumes battle stance. Cue the traditional FF pan out then zoom in as the frame blurs white.

Thornmarch - What would be your character’s opening dialogue(s) upon the start of the battle?

Approaching party: “You should’ve let me stay gone.”

As players initiate their openers: “There is nothing here but your grave.”

The Chrysalis - What would be your character’s final words upon defeat?

As she falls to the ground: “I see it clear...a world of light.”

The Final Steps of Faith - How would some of the mechanics of the fight operate? Include as many as you want and specify whether it is for hard-mode or extreme (if applicable)

I’ll describe only the EX version but any lower difficulties would roughly the same just not as intensive

Initial phase she’ll hit the MT with enhanced damage Fang and Claw and Wheeling Thrust combos combined with the Heavy Thrust and Blood for Blood buffs; a special version of the Wheeling Thrust combo called Dragon’s Spin is a tankbuster with massive crit because it has Life Surge effect applied to its damage on final hit, this will come after 20% of total health bar is gone, due to LS 10% of her HP is restored from her damage dealt

As the MT activates their mitigation two cone AoEs will appear behind her diagonally shooting out Geirskogul attacks before alternating position to be two cones facing front of her and repeating the attack, finally the cones will become a pair of rectangles from her sides, she will then perform a centered circle AoE with Dragonfire Dive

The next mechanic sees her use Mirage Dive to chase the party around the arena with rapid small circle AoEs that fan out in position from the center to the edge of the platform before returning to neutral battle stance and using a platform wide AoE that starts at the center and which players will have to run to either the southeast or northwest corners of the arena to take the least damage, this is Dragonsong Dive

From here the arena is shattered and there’s an Active Time Maneuver to get yourself on a stable piece of debris as everyone is tossed into the sky, as the pieces crash back down they form a massive crater that hits down to the rock beneath the sands and the entire area is surrounded by a massive sandstorm 

All party members will gain a Buffeted debuff that does 150 damage constantly until the end of battle due to the environment and can be healed through to deal with but not Esuna’d away

She will land and target the MT with Spinshatter Dive, at this point she’ll buff herself with Battle Litany and enter red Blood of the Dragon to charge Nastrond

As she charges the attack adds will appear called Fragments of Agony that must be destroyed or they will charge her Agony gauge and the Nastrond will instant wipe everyone when it goes off, if everyone successfully kills the Fragments the Nastrond won’t wipe but deal massive damage

There is a brief resting period as she becomes untargetable and creates shades of Yugiri, Estinien, Lyse, Y’shtola, and Haurchefant from memory using leftover charge from her Agony gauge when it was prevented from being filled, players will then have to prioritize all adds in a dps check as they shield her and each has their own AoEs to look out for

After all adds are down she will rejoin the fight with Jump as a large centered AoE, then repeat her initial mechanics before the phase change until brought to 0%

Urth’s Fount - Would there be any mechanics that when ignored would result in an instant wipe?

Failing to stop the Agony gauge from reaching full or failing the dps check will be instant TPKs

The Royal Menagerie - Describe your OC’s techniques or special attacks that the party will have to avoid or be cautious dealing with

Players will need to be on the lookout for Geirskogul, Mirage Dive, Dragonfire and Dragonsong Dive whenever they appear as they’ll hit fast and hard, the entire first phase will also have her in Blood of the Dragon which will increase her attack potency

The Singularity Reactor - Will your character summon adds and companions throughout the encounter, or would it be a single-target fight?

The second phase will have shade memories of her closest NPC friends as adds

Akh Afah Amphitheater - Will your trial be a single-phase fight or will there be different segments to the encounter?

Two phases

Battle on the Big Bridge - What would the battle theme sound like? Will the music shift when the second phase of the fight begins?

The opening music for phase one will be something in the same vein and tone as Ramuh’s Rolling Thunder theme while the second phase shift goes into something closer to Shiva’s Oblivion theme; in both halves of the theme theres an undercurrent beat akin to Revenge Twofold

The Navel - How easy would it be for a DRG to fall off the edge of the stage in your trial?

Since she’s a DRG herself, pretty hard for another to fly off the side since there’s a lot of room just for her attacks to go off well

Castrum Fluminis - Would your OC drop any loot at the end of the fight? If so, describe them (tokens, tomes, weapons, crafting reagents, mounts, etc.)

Her completion reward is two chests with orchestrion rolls for both fight phases respectively, a minion of herself, and rarer a copy of Alba her chocobo mount alongside whatever gear is the current standard ilevel and 50 tomes of the current highest grade

Emanation - Name someone else’s OC you would like to see as a trial boss. Be sure to tag them

@uss-edsall @m14-mod3 and @aethernoise ! You guys don’t have to or you can just rb the meme list up top if you don’t want to do everything at once like I did

Ultima’s Bane - On a scale of 1 to 10, with ten being the most extreme, how would you rate the difficulty of your trial?

I feel like I probs went a little overboard so a 7-8, if I were to actually run it she’d beat me into the ground lol, gl trying to kill her cuz she’s no pushover

[marshmallow-phd]

My Soul to Burn

Part of the EXO Demon Series

Genre: Demon AU

Pairing: Fem!Reader x Minseok

Summary: Unknown to the mortals, the world was plunging into chaos. But Minseok couldn’t care less. He was still able to take assignments, able to continue in collecting souls of the gullible. As long as he could do his job, he didn’t care what the angels or his boss were up to. Out stalking his next target, he met you, someone who could see him even when he chose to be invisible. At first, he shrugged you off, not interest in the mystery. But after another chance encounter, Minseok was intrigued. As your abnormality could have a part to play in the war against the angels, he was reluctantly keeping you close. With you as warm as he was cold, he tried to stay the terrifying demon while being haunted by Kris’ last words…

Part: 1 I 2 I 3 I 4 I 5 I 6 I 7 I 8 I 9 I 10 I 11 I 12 I Final

**

Luhan stared at Minseok with a jaw that practically touching the floor.

“Are you completely crazy?” he hissed, looking around frantically as if the head honcho would magically appear out of nowhere. “You’re really thinking mutiny is the way to settle this?”

“Why not?” Minseok leaned forward eagerly. “All he ever does is sit on his butt and watch the rest of us do the work. Besides, this is his mess. He’s the one who wanted more power. He’s the one who manipulated the situation to throw off the balance. Maybe if we give him over to them, they’ll leave the rest of us out of it.”

Luhan shook his head. “I’m not so sure that that’ll work.”

Shrugging, Minseok shifted back in his chair, giving off the fake air of nonchalant. “Whatever. That’s my idea. I don’t care if you do it or not.”

“I am so sick of hearing those words from you,” Luhan sneered. “Obviously, you do care or you wouldn’t even have thought of a way to help.” Exhaling, he looked away, his eyes searching for something that wasn’t there. “You know, I never got it. Everyone else hates you and you do it on purpose. The ones who can tolerate you are me and Jongdae. And that’s just because you’re not as much as an asshole to us.”

“It’s not my fault everyone else is annoying,” Minseok grumbled. He wasn’t able to meet his friend’s eye. Could he even count Luhan as a friend? Did he really know what a friend was?

“No,” Luhan countered. “I think you’re scared of getting hurt.”

Minseok scoffed. “Demons don’t get hurt.”

“Stop!” Luhan looked around as if anyone would actually be able to hear his outburst beyond the shield they had up. Lowering his voice, he continued, “Stop hiding behind what we are. It’s obvious that we aren’t emotionless robots. Look at Kris. Look at Yixing. Look at Sehun and Tao. We can feel. And more than just anger. You need to get that through your thick head.”

The table rattled as Minseok jumped to his feet. “Are we done?”

Luhan simply waved his hand.

Not bothering to take the stairs, Minseok took the faster way to the apartment, shimmering away out of Luhan’s sight. The place was dark and deserted, no sign of you or anyone else occupying any of the rooms. So Minseok let loose.

Letting out his built up rage, he ripped the paintings from the wall, overturned the chairs and dining room table, and anything else he could get his hands on. When the only thing left would be to burn the place down, Minseok collapsed against one of the now bare walls, sliding down to the floor. Wouldn’t this be quite the mess to explain to you when you came back?

Because you would be coming back. You knew how much danger you were in. Yes, he’d hurt your feelings, but that was a temporary setback.

So he sat there, staring at the walls, staring at nothing. Time ticked by and you still didn’t waltz through the door.

Unable to stand the mess anymore, Minseok stood to his feet and started cleaning up the place. He made sure that any glass that had been broken was swept up and all the furniture was put back in its previous place. By the end, he made the apartment spotless. Just how he liked it.

But you still weren’t back.

The sun was starting to set outside. Minseok debated over and over again whether he should go look for you. Finally, he decided to go look for you and then give you hell once he found you. The first place he went was you apartment. It was the logical place for you to go, wasn’t? Everything was exactly how you’d left it, crap everywhere and all.

“(y/n)?” he called out. “Stop throwing a fit and come out.”

Nothing.

Grumbling to himself, Minseok shuffled through the apartment, careful not to step on anything as he searched for you. The Protectors’ smell was still heavily apparent, but you were most definitely absent.

So, Minseok started hopping from place to place. He searched coffee shops that he knew you preferred, he check your old coworkers’ places, your previous employer, Mr. Kwon’s house. Hell, he even checked that damned Thomas’ place. But he still couldn’t find you.

Knowing it was useless, he was going to have to give in and ask for help.

Junmyeon was going to kill him.

The front parlor was completely empty was he arrived. Good. Now, all he needed to do was find Jongdae and sneak out of here before anyone else noticed he was back. There were three people he especially needed to avoid: Luhan, Yixing, and Junmyeon. Simple enough.

Except Jongdae wasn’t in his room. Shit.

Listening carefully, Minseok heard the loud mouth mixed with other voices. Great. Just great.

Seeing no other choice, Minseok made his way down to the library where he’d heard everyone conjugated. All he needed to do was keep why he needed Jongdae to himself and he’d be fine.

Always one give a grand entrance, Minseok opened up the doors with very little effort in staying quiet. This was just a simple gathering after all. No need to try and be subtle.

Or so he thought.

All ten of his housemates were gathered in the library talking over each other as they were huddled in a very awkward and imperfect circle. But it was the figure they were gathered around that really threw Minseok off.

The overly tall demon standing in the middle of the circle turned around to investigate the rather obnoxious noise the slamming doors had made. Damn Minseok’s pride. He had a half a mind to just teleport out of there like he’d never arrived in the first place. Okay, a quarter of a mind. But he’d never hear the end of it.

Kris smirked as he met Minseok’s glare. “Look what the cat dragged in. I’ve been hearing some interesting stories about you lately.”

Minseok narrowed his eyes as he surveyed the others. Luhan looked away, unable to meet his eye. Traitor.

“Kris, stop it,” Junmyeon ordered. “Minseok, what are you doing here?”

Acting very casual, Minseok slipped his hands in his pockets and shrugged. “I got bored in that apartment. Figured I’d come see what you were all up to.”

“So, (y/n) came back?” Luhan asked.

Minseok cleared his throat, but before he could reply, Junmyeon stepped in.

“What do you mean ‘came back’?”

After throwing Luhan a particularly nasty look, Minseok answered with his eyes glancing anywhere but his superior, “She got mad and ran off.”

Junmyeon exhaled a deeply frustrated sigh. “Why am I not surprised? At least, she’s back in the apartment where she’s safe. Right?”

Minseok took a long breath. “No, she’s not,” he admitted, finally looking at Junmyeon. “She never came back. I searched a few places. I came here to grabbed Jongdae and look again.”

Junmyeon’s jaw was fidgeting back and forth. That meant trouble. The more he tried to stay calm, the more pissed off he was. Minseok was definitely in for it.

“One request, Minseok,” he growled. “One simple charge and then you would be free to go about your business. And you managed to actually screw that up.”

Sensing danger, Jongdae stepped up and held Minseok back with a strong grip on his elbow.

“I’ll find her!” Minseok roared. He had to. He was going insane not knowing where you were. If anything happened to you–

“You’re not going to find her searching like this.”

Minseok glared daggers at Kris and his bold statement. “Is that a challenge?”

Kris wasn’t even remotely phased. “No. It’s just a fact. If you can’t find her in any of her usual spots, that only means that they have her. Humans like familiarity. Her first instinct would have been to go some place that would make her feel better. You said you already tried those places, leaving one conclusion: the Protectors got her.”

Minseok felt his entire body deflate. He couldn’t even hold onto to his pride as Jongdae struggled to hold him on his feet. No.

No.

“How do you know?” Jongdae asked for him.

“They’ve come after us a few times,” Kris explained. “They kept going on about restoring the balance. I’ve been in contact with Yixing for the past few months and we’ve been trying to track the Protectors, find out what their exact goal is. They’re trying to restore that balance between the realms by any means necessary. That could include getting rid of demon energy.”

Minseok shook his head defiantly. Looking as Yixing, he said, “I thought they were just tracking her to get to us?”

“That’s what I thought too,” Yixing answered, deep in thought. “But Protectors tracked Kris down. And tried to kill him.”

Raising an eyebrow, Minseok turned back to Kris. “Really?”

“Sorry, they didn’t succeed,” Kris said sarcastically. “But apparently when I came back from… over there, a little bit of that place attached itself to me. From what I’ve gathered, they’re trying to extract mixed souls to try and restore the balance.”

“And how’d that work out for them?”

Kris laughed just a little. “They didn’t quite get that far.”

“Too bad,” Minseok murmured. Clearing his throat, he crossed his arms. “So, now what do we do? You think they have (y/n)? Okay, then. Where is she?”

“We can find her simply by following the Protectors,” Yixing answered instead. “Their scent should be easy enough to follow.”

“Great plan,” Minseok scoffed. “And then what?”

“And then you can rescue (y/n) and the two of you can live happily ever after,” Kris snickered.

“Don’t even think about it,” Junmyeon warned after taking one look at Minseok. “You throw one punch and I’m tossing you in the basement.”

Minseok reluctantly uncurled his fist. As much as he wanted to release a good swing onto Kris’ face, he’d be useless to you in that basement. And he’d be damned if he allowed someone else to go after you.

Satisfied that Minseok had restrained himself, Junmyeon sighed. “Okay. I think it best for now that we don’t all go after her. Minseok, you’ll go with Kris, Yixing, Jongdae, Tao, and Luhan. Find the girl, make sure the Protectors haven’t done anything to her, and then bring her back here. And try to do it without killing each other.”

Minseok shot him a mock salute. “Aye aye, Captain.”

Kriss rolled his eyes as he stalked out of the room. Yixing and Tao followed closely behind. Only Luhan and Jongdae waited for Minseok to head towards the doors as well.

Just as the doors shut behind them, luhan murmured. “This is going to be very interesting.”

**

You woke up just as suddenly as you passed out. But this time, you were lying on the floor in a cage, in a giant empty room. Maybe a basement?

The Protectors were milling about the room, aimlessly.

“Hey!” you called out as you stood to your feet. Moving slowly as your muscles work up, you leaned against the bars, trying to get their attention. “Hey! I’m talking to you!”

They continued walking around, doing nothing in particular. As if they were waiting for something.

“Is anyone going to answer me?” you shouted. You rattled the bars, hoping they just might budge and let you free. No such luck.

Giving up, you sat back down on the floor. You were hungry. You hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast. And you hated the fact that you were just left there to let your mind wander off.

And, naturally, it went down the Minseok path.

No. Nope. Turn around.

If you kept walking that way, you were just going to cry. Like the pathetic idiot you were.

Just your luck, a door opened and footsteps echoed off the stairs, coming as a welcomed distraction. A fourth Protector entered the basement.

He looked straight at you when he said, “It’s time.”

[theonyxpath]

Over a month ago, I was talking about Onyx Path‘s sales venues and things like that. Just kind of getting folks caught up on where they could find our stuff and which projects you could find there.

A different, but similar, thing that I wanted to touch on today is some of the other sorts of projects we have to offer beyond book-shaped things. Specifically, because Mighty Matt McElroy sent me some pics of the proofs for a couple of card projects, I’m going to touch on those today.

(Never mind that I haven’t received my card proof samples yet…sob.)

The Realm illustration by Yiyhoung Li

There are two types of card-based projects that we have been creating. The first, are card games. We don’t do a lot of them, as we need to see a clear connection to whatever TTRPG they are derived from or it’s tough to put effort towards them when there are books to be created.

Right now, we have Justin Achilli’s Prince’s Gambit for Vampire: The Masquerade, which we saw as a fun political machinations game that is waaay shorter than a VTES match. Something to play while waiting for your RPG or LARP session to start up.

And Fetch Quest for Realms of Pugmire, which has shipped to Kickstarter backers, should be available to order and in stores in May, and which we are waiting for the PoD proofs for. This is a cooperative card game set in the wilds around Pugmire that complements the TTRPG.

In fact, we’re looking to have the option for folks to make their own cards via DriveThruCards, so folks can play their TTRPG characters.

You might have noticed that the part of DriveThru that deals with these sorts of things is DriveThru Cards, which is a different Print on Demand company than the one who does our books. Everything still all goes through DTRPG, or OBS as it’s corporately known, but the card guys have their own little differences in how they proof, etc.

We’ve been really happy with the quality of their cards, and that’s one of the reasons we have made both the games, and the second type of card projects we put together: roleplaying aids. These can be the extensive selection of Charm Cards for Exalted 3rd, or Condition Cards for our CofD games, or Trick Cards for Pugmire, and more.

Pugmire also has Spell Cards, and right now we are proofing Spell Cards for the Scarred Lands that can be used for a SL campaign, or worked into any 5e fantasy roleplaying session.

If you’re saying, “Hey, what is this here Scarred Lands you keep going on about, Mr. Rich?“, then you should give a listen to last Friday’s Onyx Pathcast where our terrific trio take a Deep Dive into the Scarred Lands setting, and highlight the things that they think really work. Link below in the Blurbs!.

They do a fantastic job of conveying what they love and are intrigued by in Scarred Lands, which is actually really interesting to me, as a guy who helped create it way back in the crazy d20 Rush days. None of our Trio were around then, so to hear them go over the parts that compel them about our new edition and the first one, is kind of like hearing a whole new generation finding it.

Makes me feel both old and proud, by crackee!

C20 Players Guide illustration by Brian LeBlanc

Finally, to wrap up the Scion Errata situation I touched on the last couple of weeks, Neall, in his non-real-world-job time, was able to assemble and create a list of the corrections that he had made but which hadn’t stuck. We turned that into a downloadable PDF (in both full-color and easy to print versions) for any and all to get ahold of, and input the corrections and the backer credits into the PDF and the upcoming PoD files.

When all was said and done, there is a page of Scion: Origin errata, a page of Scion: Hero errata, a page for a FAQ Neall put together, and ten updated pre-generated character sheets. For perspective, Neall’s original list derived from backer input from all over the internet was well over 300 entries (many of them duplicates) across the two books so the vast majority of the fixes worked – except for a page per book’s worth.

While we wanted all of the errata we painstakingly gathered and collated to have stuck as we intended, and we’ve changed a couple of processes to try and make sure that when a change is made it by-gum sticks, we’re just glad that none of them were so bad that they wrecked the books and made them impossible to read and play.

As Neall noted in a message to the backers, we’re disappointed that the projects aren’t as polished as we intended, and we apologize to all involved for disappointing you too.

We will do better, as we continue to create:

Many Worlds, One Path!

BLURBS!

KICKSTARTER:

Our next Kickstarter starting in several weeks will be for Pirates of Pugmire!

ONYX PATH MEDIA

Illustration by Charles Bates

This Friday’s Onyx Pathcast is our 50th! So please join Dixie, Matthew, and Eddy, as they look at Fun! What is “fun” in gaming? Should games even be defined by the fun they provide? Come hear them answer these and other pressing questions of our time on: https://onyxpathcast.podbean.com/

And Here’s More Media About Our Worlds:

Here’s last week’s Onyx Path News, in which Matthew talks a little about the conclusion of the Contagion Chronicle Kickstarter and the movements on our schedule: https://youtu.be/UGERLK6nFQc

No Contagion Chronicle actual play this week, as our audio failed! We do however have a wonderful Scarred Lands actual play, run by Matthew for the Red Moon Roleplaying folks. Here’s the link to episode one: https://youtu.be/1xmU0HvT1Bw

If YOU have a podcast, YouTube or Twitch channel, or talk about games on a blog or other website, and want to perform actual plays or make reviews of our games, please reach out to the Gentleman Gamer on the Onyx Path forum. From there we’ll share emails and get you started, so when you do start producing content we’ll be able to promote it on our blog and YouTube channel!

Here’s the Story Told Podcast‘s superb Dragon-Blooded actual play, for all of you who are audio-inclined: http://thestorytold.libsyn.com/fall-of-jiara-episode-4

As well as Occultists Anonymous, which ventures into ghost territory with their Mage: The Awakening chronicle: https://youtu.be/_rMd7rda2a0

We’re never not going to promote the superb folks at Devil’s Luck Gaming, with their excellent Scarred Lands actual play: https://www.twitch.tv/DEVILSLUCKGAMING

The Dramatic Failure Podcast ventures into Mage territory over here with a big, big story arc filled with inspirational ideas: https://dramaticfailure.podbean.com/

Please check any of these out and let us know if you find or produce any actual plays of our games!

ELECTRONIC GAMING:

As we find ways to enable our community to more easily play our games, the Onyx Dice Rolling App is now live! Our dev team has been doing updates since we launched based on the excellent use-case comments by our community, and this thing is both rolling and rocking!

Here’s an update from the App devs:

Onyx Dice!  We’ve recently released the Changeling: The Lost, Trinity Continuum: Aeon dice, and now the Geist dice.  Next up on our radar is: Demon: The Fallen,  Mummy: The Resurrection,  Kindred of the East, Vampire Dark Ages, and Mummy: The Curse.

We have a serious issue on the Pixel and Motorola phones that prevent the user from using the app correctly.  A fix is coming shortly.  A temporary workaround is to minimize the app without shutting it down, and then restore it.

ON AMAZON AND BARNES & NOBLE:

You can now read our fiction from the comfort and convenience of your Kindle (from Amazon) and Nook (from Barnes & Noble).

If you enjoy these or any other of our books, please help us by writing reviews on the site of the sales venue you bought it from. Reviews really, really help us with getting folks interested in our amazing fiction!

Our selection includes these fiction books:

OUR SALES PARTNERS:

We’re working with Studio2 to get Pugmire out into stores, as well as to individuals through their online store. You can pick up the traditionally printed main book, the Screen, and the official Pugmire dice through our friends there! https://studio2publishing.com/search?q=pugmire

We’ve added Prince’s Gambit to our Studio2 catalog: https://studio2publishing.com/products/prince-s-gambit-card-game

Now, we’ve added Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition products to Studio2‘s store! See them here: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/all-products/changeling-the-lost

Scarred Lands (Pathfinder) books are also on sale at Studio 2: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/scarred-lands

Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books? Try this link! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Onyx-Path-Publishing/

And you can now order Pugmire, Monarchies of Mau, Cavaliers of Mars, and Changeling: The Lost 2e! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/manufacturers.php?manufacturerid=296

DRIVETHRURPG.COM:

On Sale This Week!

This Wednesday, we’ll be offering the Advance PDF of the Changeling: The Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition Players’ Guide!

CONVENTIONS

UK Games Expo: May 31st – June 2nd From the US comes Eddy Webb, Matt McElroy, and Rich Thomas to join with Matthew Dawkins, Steffie de Vann, John Burke, Chris Allen, and Klara Herbol! Gen Con: August 1st – August 4th Save Against Fear: Oct 12-14 GameHoleCon: October 31st – November 3rd We’ll also be back at PAX Unplugged later this year.

And now, the new project status updates!

DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM FAST EDDY WEBB (projects in bold have changed status since last week):

First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep)

M20 Victorian Mage (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

City of the Towered Tombs (Cavaliers of Mars)

Geist2e Fiction Anthology (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition)

Exalted Essay Collection (Exalted)

Kith and Kin (Changeling: The Lost 2e)

Scion: Demigod (Scion 2nd Edition)

Trinity Continuum Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum Core)

TC: Aeon Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Tales of Aquatic Terror (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

Masks of the Mythos (Scion 2nd Edition)

Scion: Dragon (Scion 2nd Edition)

Wraith20 Fiction Anthology (Wraith: The Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition)

DR:E Jumpstart (Dystopia Rising: Evolution)

One Foot in the Grave Jumpstart (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2e)

Dragon-Blooded Novella #2 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Exigents (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Redlines

Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition core rulebook (Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition)

Legendlore core book (Legendlore)

Heroic Land Dwellers (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

Monsters of the Deep (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

DR:E Threat Guide (Dystopia Rising: Evolution)

Second Draft

Tales of Good Dogs – Pugmire Fiction Anthology (Pugmire)

Let The Streets Run Red (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Dragon-Blooded Novella #1 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Chicago Folio/Dossier (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Cults of the Blood Gods (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Across the Eight Directions (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Blood Sea: Crimson Abyss for 5e (Scarred Lands)

TC: Aeon Ready Made Characters (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Development

Hunter: the Vigil 2e core (Hunter: the Vigil 2nd Edition)

WoD Ghost Hunters (World of Darkness)

Oak, Ash, and Thorn: Changeling: The Lost 2nd Companion (Changeling: The Lost 2nd)

Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)

Memento Mori: the GtSE 2e Companion (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition)

M20 The Technocracy Reloaded (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Creatures of the World Bestiary (Scion 2nd Edition)

Heirs to the Shogunate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Scion Companion: Mysteries of the World (Scion 2nd Edition)

Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)

Manuscript Approval:

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant core (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Scion Ready Made Characters (Scion 2nd Edition)

Pirates of Pugmire (Realms of Pugmire)

Lunars: Fangs at the Gate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Editing:

Spilled Blood (Vampire: The Requiem 2nd Edition)

CofD Dark Eras 2 (Chronicles of Darkness)

Distant Worlds (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Post-Editing Development:

M20 Book of the Fallen (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

V5 Chicago By Night (Vampire: The Masquerade)

V5 Chicago By Night Screen (Vampire: The Masquerade)

CofD Contagion Chronicle (Chronicles of Darkness)

Witch-Queen of the Shadowed Citadel (Cavaliers of Mars)

Indexing:

Trinity Core

Trinity Aeon

ART DIRECTION FROM MIRTHFUL MIKE:

In Art Direction

Ex3 Monthly Stuff  

Chicago By Night

They Came From Beneath the Sea!

EX3 Lunars

Hunter: The Vigil 2

Contagion Chronicle

VtR Spilled Blood – Hiring artists.

M20 Book of the Fallen

Dark Eras 2 – Getting the rest contracted out.

CoM – Witch Queen of the Shadowed Citadel

Pirates of Pugmire – KS art contracted, sketches and finals coming in.

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant – KS art started contracting.

Marketing Stuff

In Layout

Dystopia Rising: Evolution – With Josh.

Shunned By the Moon

Scion Jumpstart

C20 Novel: Cup of Dreams

Proofing

The Realm

Book of Oblivion – Inputting last corrections.

Signs of Sorcery – Dev comments back to layout.

Trinity Core and Aeon Screens – Prepping for printing.

Aeon Aexpansion

At Press

Scion Hero – Shipping to backers, PoD version processing.

Scion Origin – Shipping to backers, PoD version processing.

Scion Dice – Shipping to backers.

Scion Screen – Shipping to backers.

Fetch Quest – Waiting for PoD proofs.

In Media Res – PDF out to backers, gathering errata with new sheet.

Geist 2e – PDF out to backers, gathering errata with new sheet.

Scarred Lands Spell Cards – Waiting forPoD proofs.

Adventures for Curious Cats – Errata.

Tales of Excellent Cats – Errata.

Dragon-Blooded – Deluxe at printer.

Dragon-Blooded Screen – At printer.

C20 Player’s Guide – Advance PDF on sale this Wednesday!

TODAY’S REASON TO CELEBRATE: 

On this day in 1429 – Joan of Arc arrives to relieve the Siege of Orléans. (And then she got screwed over. I’ll leave the message you may derive from that to you.)

[violetsmoak]

No Safety or Surprise [Part I - Excerpt]

Summary: A haunting broadcast reveals the Joker’s final act and sets off a chain of events that will destroy the world. Terry finds himself collaborating once more with the estranged members of Bruce’s former team. As the end nears, however, he and the other Bats are faced with hard choices about survival—and forgiveness.

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything to do with Batman. I don’t make any money off this. It’s just me playing in a sandbox. (And I’ll put a better disclaimer on this at some other point.)

Author’s Note: First fic in the Batman universe, yay! (Well, second, but the first one was high school ago and was a blatant self-insert lol). I’ve been toying with this idea for a while now. It’s taken some in-depth planning, but I finally have something to show for it. This is only one part of a very large first chapter, but I thought I’d throw it out there into cyberspace and see what people think. I’ll post it here in mini excerpts, but eventually I’ll put it on FF.Net and Ao3, once it’s all shiny and edited.

Spoilers: Everything in Batman Beyond until but not including the “Rewired” storyline or anything afterward. Also, references to events and characters present in the DC ‘verse up to the New 52 (after the “Robin Rises” story arc) but before Rebirth. (And JFC do I hate keeping all these timelines straight!)

Warnings: Leading up to canon-divergence; eventual main character deaths (except not really, because timey wimey stuff); a few minor original characters; multiple POVs

Timeline: Takes place after the events of 10 000 Clowns but before Terry McGinnis graduates high school.

Bruce is beginning to wonder if a Lazarus Pit might not have been a better idea than the liver transplant. Of the methods for artificially prolonging life, at least with the Pit, he would eventually start to feel like he was recovering.

After the madness subsided, at least.

On days like today—when it’s damp and chilly, and there’s nothing going on in Gotham to keep him glued to the computer screen in the Cave—it’s hard to remember the arguments he’s always made against using the restorative powers of a Lazarus Pit. He body protests with every movement as he eases it through several slowed kata variations. Part of his physical therapy, as suggested (ordered) by his doctors.

Since his procedure, he feels the exhaustion much more keenly. It’s a bone-deep fatigue that seeps into every muscle, emphasizing the way his bones creak and grind against each other, cartilage worn away from age and decades of abuse. It’s the way his energy levels drain so much faster no, to the extent that even his usual ability to will himself into action seems to wane every day.

Not that he really had a choice in the matter. He was in end stage liver failure, and the nearest Pit is in New Cuba. He’d just been lucky that there was a suitable donor in the hospital at the right time.

‘Luck’ is one word for it. ‘Cruel irony’ might be a better phrase.

Douglas Tan is one of the names he’s going to carry on his conscience for the rest of his life; or, at least on his liver.

Terry still makes jokes about Batman having a piece of a Joker inside him, but then Terry tends to use humor to cover up when he’s worried. Dick always did that, too; and Jason.

Bruce scowls, bothered by the direction of his thoughts, as well as the raggedness to his breath. He isn’t even moving very fast, but it’s taking him every bit of strength to keep at it.

Ace is curled up in his usual spot in the cave, watching Bruce with what seems to be narrowed eyes. As if to say, don’t overdo it or I will knock you over.

He knows the dog is smarter than most people.

Ace is one of the reasons the doctors were willing to leave him to pursue recovery on his own and not under some beady-eyed nurse in hospital. Money isn’t as much an incentive as it once was, with so many legal and health standards in the way; the older he gets, the less likely people are to trust his ability to make decisions, lawyers or not.

He tolerated a private nurse for about a day while having Terry make other arrangements and manufacturing a piece of paper saying Ace was a certified service dog. He’s not, but Bruce has no doubt the dog would activate the medical alert button at the computer if something were to happen. And Terry has an alarm set up, keyed into the surveillance and motion sensors in the Cave. If anything were to happen, he can be here faster than any ambulance.

Old age has fed into long-buried fears, and it gives him an embarrassing sense of relief knowing there’s someone to look in on him. It has always bothered him, being dependent—being weak.

Some days he’s more accepting of it; some days he wishes he had Kryptonian DNA.

Which is usually the point at which he forces himself to occupy his mind with other things, because envying Clark Kent can only lead down a dark, frustrating path of self-pity. One he’s determinedly avoided ever since meeting the other man.

After another fifteen minutes of forcing himself to think about nothing but the movement of his limbs, Bruce finally finishes his exercises. Sweat coats his back and his limbs ache with the same burn as if he just spent several hours grappling through the Gotham skyline. Even if it took less challenging movements to reach this point, that burn is comforting.

Familiar.

And that’s a word that’s been cropping up more in his thoughts lately. History tends to repeat, after all, but it’s still strange to experience. Terry’s been an excellent example of that.

Like Bruce, the McGinnis boy started out with nothing but a suit and an old man’s voice in his ear. Now, he’s got a network. Friends who he trusts and who will keep his secret. A steadily growing list of allies in the field.

The Police Commissioner. The Justice League.

And a Catwoman too, for Christ sakes.

He wonders what Selina would think about that.

Bruce just hopes the kid won’t make his mistakes. Forty years is a long time to rack up regrets.

At least Dick’s back in contact now.

Sort of.

He showed up the second night that Bruce was recovering from his procedure at the hospital; he’d managed to convince Terry to go out on patrol instead of wasting his time watching an old man sleep.

“Batman doesn’t get a day off.”

Bruce had dosed for a bit, but not deeply; it wasn’t difficult to discern that he wasn’t alone.  

One minute the room was empty and in the next, Bruce could feel that familiar presence—the one of a man who had carried the mantles of Robin, Nightwing and Batman—and somehow lived to tell the tale. Then his estranged son was stepping out of the shadows, glaring down at him, muscles in his jaw working and fists clenching and unclenching.

“I know what you’re going to say,” Bruce had croaked, wishing he had thought to ask for ice chips before the nurse left. “I’m too stubborn to die.”

The silence hanging afterward was filled with everything he couldn’t say yet. For once, Dick didn’t call him on it.

“You’re more stubborn than God,” his boy countered.

(He’ll always be a boy to Bruce, grey hair and eye-patch be damned.)

And yet, he sat, arms crossed and spine stiff for the rest of the night. Still angry, but there nonetheless. He stayed until morning rounds without saying anything, and then left.

They haven’t seen each other since, but sometimes Bruce can hear feedback on the comms when he’s directing Terry’s patrols. The tinny whisper of signals crossing from the bug he pretends he doesn’t know Dick planted on the underside of his medical ID tag.

It’s not much, but it’s something. The opening of the possibility that at some point, he’ll come around.

Barbara did, after all.

Mostly because of Terry, but afterward Bruce started making the effort. They can have conversations alone now that don’t end with her yelling at him (or punching him, on one or two memorable occasions). Bruce forgot how much he enjoyed her sense of humor and intelligence—how much he enjoyed their friendship—from before they slept together.

(That might be one of his life’s biggest shames. Oh, he has regrets associated with all of the family for one thing or another, but this is the one that still wakes him up at night feeling dirty.)

In a way, it’s easier with Tim, and that’s a bridge Bruce thought had been obliterated long ago.

Granted, he’s leaving Gotham again—the last incident with the Joker army rattled him enough that he put in for a transfer to the Chinese division of Wayne Enterprises—but he stuck around long enough to collaborate with Bruce on a subdermal antitoxin deployment implant against Joker venom.

(None of them want to be caught unawares again.)

It’s in the prototype phase, with only five of the devices in existence; he, Tim and Terry are testing them personally. It’s not exactly something the FDA is going to approve for human testing anytime soon, not with all the new legislation, but with the state of Gotham, it’s unwise to wait on it.

(He sent one to Barbara and one to Dick but doesn’t know if they’ve bothered to activate them. At least they haven’t sent them back.)

If the implant works, Bruce is seriously considering modifying the tech for the Wayne Enterprises medical division. There are a lot of illnesses and viruses out there which require regular dosages of medicine to keep them under control.

Maybe that’s the next project, after CAIN, he muses, grabbing his towel from where he draped it over one of the computer processors.

His global Clean Air Initiative Network is something he’d been working on before stepping back from the company. It was shelved almost immediately by Derek Powers when he took over, but since Bruce has been back, he’s been revisiting a lot of old projects.

Lucius’ boy did most of the technical work on it, and Foxtecha will have joint ownership of the patent when it’s ready for public consumption. Bruce would have asked Tim, but he knows how determined he is to get out of Gotham. He can read it in the tone of his emails, which have thankfully lost the stilted, formal business tone they’ve had since he returned to the company.

(Bruce mentioned paying a visit in the future, and Tim didn’t say no, so he counts that as a win.)

It’s a little disconcerting how the family is coming together again; disconcerting but welcome.

He’s received a vid call last week from Cassandra expressing concern over his surgery, and then a short, gruff email from Duke all-but ordering him to get better. There’s even a letter from Stephanie—or Eurus, as she goes by these days—smelling of dust and desert sun and incense found only in Nanda Parbat. Her messy, looping scrawl, echoed Dick’s sentiment about Bruce’s stubbornness and alluded to its genetic inheritability.

(That said more than if she had actually mentioned Damian outright.)

Bruce lost track of her not long after his son’s short and brutal stint under the cowl; it had surprised him to find out she ended up in Tibet.

It also relieved him. Because no matter how dark a path his son wandered, there would be someone to challenge him. To not obey without question. To give him a link to the life he once had, to being human and alive.

(Bruce very carefully doesn’t think about Jason—doesn’t wonder if things had been different, if he wouldn’t have reached out as well. Even after so many years, that wound is still raw.)

The whole thing is a stark difference from the last few times he ended up in the hospital, including when he was dosed on Joker venom several months ago. He didn’t hear anything from them at that point, which makes him think someone really thought he was dying this time and reached out.

Barbara, maybe. Or Dick. However much tension there is between himself and Bruce, he does keep in touch with the others.

Hell, it might even have been Terry. The kid doesn’t know the rest of them personally, but he’s gotten adept at navigating the computer in the cave. And he’s always been curious about his predecessors.

Bruce’s first family.

Or maybe just the first phase of the family.

Bruce shies away from that secret bit of knowledge he has about Terry, and his brother Matt. What he discovered the first time the kid returned to the Cave with bloody gashes that needed stitching up. The files and medical information buried beneath every firewall he could fashion, so the boy never stumbles upon it accidentally.

The most he’s allowed himself to acknowledge it is an amendment in his will setting aside trust funds for both boys.

As if triggered by his thoughts, the screen of the Bat-Computer flickers to life. He rolls his shoulders, expecting an alert on some heist or robbery going on in the city; another case to add to the docket for Terry to investigate after school (depending on the severity).

Bruce doesn’t expect the Cave to suddenly fill with a jaunty, haunting carnival tune that makes his entire body seize in recognition. And yet, he already knows what’s coming even before the words HA HA HA coalesce upon the screen.  

TBC

NEXT

[crosbysierra95]

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