#you just know who's taking it easy on the dragon boats in the lake and who's queueing for the adrenaline stuff

[helianskies]

i think this has only just occured to me because i've spent the last 5 hours going thru pics from my Denmark trip back in summer but imagine Den taking the other nations to Tivoli Gardens (a sort of theme park right in the centre of Copenhagen) to wind down after a conference he's been hosting lmao

[shanastoryteller]

how different do you think the story would be if draco malfoy had been picked as the hogwarts champion?

draco doesn’t know how this happened, and he’s pissed off in between being terrified. he stands up, nose in the air, and walks to the front of the great hall, taking his place between fleur and viktor. 

he expects them to look thrilled. if he’s the hogwarts champion, they’re going to have an easy time of it, but instead the both of them just look concerned. he’s been talking with both of them, friendly with both of them, because he’s not an idiot, he knows what power looks like. 

he knows what it isn’t, and it’s him. he’s smart, and strong, but he’s a fourth year and even with all the spells he’s not supposed to know, he doesn’t have the easy, solid presence of viktor of fleur, people who are not only powerful but know how to wield their power, unlike potter who just stumbles around accidentally defeating monsters with that stupid confused look on his face. 

then, as if this whole situation isn’t bad enough all on it’s own, the goblet spits out one more name. 

harry potter. 

of course. draco doesn’t know what he expected, really. 

severus yells. his parents make an awful lot of scary threats that he knows they’re prepared to deliver on. his aunt floos over from the magical artifacts office to try and declare the goblet faulty, but it’s not use. 

his name came out of the goblet, so he has to compete. 

he can’t help but notice, however, that no one yells on behalf of potter, no one comes to his defense in the face of this ridiculous task they’re supposed to complete, not even dumbledore, even though potter’s supposed to be some sort of golden boy. it seems, maybe, that everyone’s forgotten along the way that he’s a kid too. 

that night his parents send him a package, and he rolls his eyes because he hasn’t worn something like this since he was a kid, but it’s not like he doesn’t understand the rational behind it. he slips the dainty silver ring on his middle finger, and makes a mental note to fidget with it. 

~

his housemates rally around him when he gets back, faces solemn, quiet as severus towers behind him. 

he sighs, rubbing his hand over his face. “well,” he says, “are we going to win this or not?” 

a slytherin is the hogwarts champion. he can’t get out of it, so he’s going to win it, he’s going to rub silver and green in the face of everyone who’s ever looked at him sideways because of his house. 

over a hundred eager smiles meet him. if he succeeds, all of slytherin succeeds, and so all of slytherin is going to help him. 

~

he finds out about the dragons from Flora, who’s cousin is an intern in the department of magical creatures. snape ropes his newts level slytherins into devising a sleeping potion powerful enough to take out a dragon, and cassius drills him in manipulating the bubblehead charm until he’s exhausted and his fingers ache and lungs hurt. pansy promises to carry the potion with her on the day of the first task so draco can cast a simple summoning charm to get it from her in the stands. 

the day of the first task, he summons the potion, casts a giant bubblehead charm around them, then a smaller one on himself, and smashes the potion in the center of the dragon’s forehead. it roars, and blue mist surrounds them, and then there’s a thunderous crash as the dragon falls to the ground, asleep. draco cautiously darts forward to collect the golden egg, darts away, and casts a dissipation spell before ending both bubblehead charms and running as far away from angry, sleep muddled dragon as he can get. 

he thinks it’s a pretty impressive display until potter flies around the horntail, outflying and out maneuvering her, and coming away victorious with the golden egg tucked under his arm. 

the second task seems to throw everyone for a loop. even severus looks perplexed by the screaming egg, and nearly his whole house writes their parents and uncles and cousins for advice. 

it all ends up being worthless.

everyone’s huddled around the egg in the common room, and there’s a pounding sound. draco closes the egg and they all look out the window, which of course leads out to the great lake.they are in the dudgeon after all. 

there’s a merperson, young based on the pattern of their scales, who’s pointing towards the egg, and them pointing towards themselves, then gives an approximation of a wink and swims away. 

marcus flint, of all people, is the one who figures it out. “water,” he says, “listen to it under water. it’s a mermaid singing.” 

his prefect takes him to the baths, and him and as many people as they can cram in there listen to the egg sing it’s pretty song. there’s some debate about what the merpeople will take, with vincent suggesting all his hair products and daphne offering up his broom, but it doesn’t actually matter what it is, because what they take doesn’t change what he has to do, which is get it back from them. 

severus offers gillyweed, adrien pucey says that draco might as well take advantage of the bubblehead charm he already knows, and theo, who is terrifying and brilliant, says it’s too bad he doesn’t have the durmstrang ship. 

they all go quiet, and severus stands up and says that he can’t hear this, then leaves, “hear what?” theo asks, blinking, and marla, who’s already been accepted to cairo’s curse breaking graduate program, leans forward, eyes bright, and starts coming up with a plan. 

then draco finds out they’re taking people, not things, and that’s just not on. 

they’ve taken his cousin. 

“luna lovegood?” potter asks, confused, because he’s an idiot, and draco ignores him. 

the stakes are suddenly much higher. he doesn’t think they’d actually let the hostages get seriously hurt for this contest, but intentions don’t mean much to him right now. 

the other three champions go bolting into the water. draco turns and goes the other direction. 

everyone’s in the stands, so the durmstrang ship is completely empty. people must be figuring out what he’s doing, because there’s some angry yelling, but stealing a ship isn’t against the rules, so. he does just as marla told him to, and he doesn’t know what and who she had to do to get this information, but he’s too grateful to question it. he steps to the captain’s helm, activates the underwater mode, and the boat sinks into the great lake.

steering is extremely difficult and requires more upper body strength than he’s thrilled with, but he’s surrounded by a pocket of air as the ship zooms past the other contestants, so he doesn’t care all that much. he throws up the shield to barrel through the line of merpeople acting as a barrier. he uses a severing spell to cut the ropes and summons luna into the ship. as soon as he crosses the barrier, into the air, she gasps awake, and he carefully sets her on her feet. 

“cousin!” she greets, smiling. “headmaster dumbledore said that i would be thing you most sorely miss. that means you like me, right?” 

“wrong,” he says gruffly, flicking her radish earring. “i love you, but i don’t like you, you’re weird and annoying.” 

she just keeps smiling at him, eyebrows raised, and uhg, this is the worst, she’ll never leave him alone now. “well,” she says, “we are related, after all.” 

“hey!” he says, but she only giggles. 

they should be leaving, he’s gotten here first and he can get back first, with his cousin in tow. 

but. 

what if something happens to the others after he leaves? viktor and fleur will be so upset if something happens to their girlfriend and little sister, and well, it’s not like harry will be any fun to poke fun at if he’s busy mourning his best friend. 

he can’t just say that though, and it’s not like he’s willing to come in last just to make sure everything gets back okay. 

“cousin?” luna asks, head tilted to the side. 

“shut up,” he says, and taps his wand on his hand. 

he transforms three wooden dummies with the hostages respective names carved into their chest, then right below it adds early bird captures all the prizes, xoxo draco and swaps them out, although he has to keep the ships shield’s activated while he does because the merpeople are pissed. 

gabrielle huddles into luna’s side, who speaks even less french than gabrielle does english, but draco’s too busy steering the ship to play translator. 

granger and weasley stand next to each other, staring at him like they’ve never seen him before, and he really wishes they’d stop looking at him. “what?” he snaps. “i just - i’m just trying to - to make them angry, is all.” 

“right,” weasley says, eyebrows pushed together. he and granger share a look. draco doesn’t know what it means, but he hates it. 

“oh, piss off,” he grumbles as the ship breaks the surface. 

the durmstrang students are clustered near the shore. their headmaster looks pissed, but all the students are laughing, so draco doesn’t feel too bad about the whole thing. 

viktor and potter bring back their wooden figures, and fleur stops crying and kisses him on both cheeks when she realizes draco’s gotten her sister. potter hugs granger and weasley, and the three of them keep looking at him. 

draco gets nines across the board, with each judge deducting a point for stealing, which he doesn’t think is fair. no one said stealing wasn’t allowed after all. 

~

the third task happens, and everything goes wrong. viktor attacks him, and later he finds fleur unconscious and sends up red sparks for her. he ends up fighting back to back with potter, which is hell, and the golden trophy is across from them. he and potter look at each other, for a moment completely still, and then they both go running. draco’s so close, he’s not going to let harry win this, even if the whole thing does seem a bit unfair what with viktor having lost his mind and attacking fleur, but draco’s not about to be a hufflepuff about this. 

because there’s no justice in this world, they grab it at the same time. 

draco’s used a portkey plenty of times, and it doesn’t disorient him. he lands on his feet with his wand out, and pointed right at a man with overly large front teeth. 

a crackly voice says, “kill the-”

draco doesn’t wait around for him to finish that sentence. “stupefy!” 

the stunning spell works, and the man falls to the ground with a loud crunch  that would be concerning if draco cared. “malfoy?” potter mutters, finally getting to his feet, looking too pale and green around the edges. his hand is pressed against his forehead. “i-i think something is wrong. we should leave.” 

“malfoy,” that same crackly voice says, and draco leans forward cautiously. “good, good. lucius’s boy. you’ll finish this, then.” 

cradled in the man’s stupified arms is a scaly creature about the size of a large toddler with beady red eyes. 

draco’s hit with overwhelming wave of revulsion, with wrongness, that he’s never felt before and can’t explain. “I-I,” he pauses, stepping back, and in front of potter, who still looks like he’s going to be sick at any moment. he keeps his wand out, but uses his other hand to twist the ring around his middle finger three times. 

“pick me up,” the thing commands, “we have work to do. i need your flesh.” 

oh, merlin above. 

there’s two pops, and then his parents are here, following the distress signal sent off by his ring. 

“mum, dad,” he says, taking another stumbling step back, finally able to breath when they step in front of him, wands raised, “that’s - i think,” he pauses, “that’s the - the dark lord.” then, because he wants them to make informed decisions, “he tried to kill me.” 

“did he,” his mother says, voice icy. his father sighs, like he already knows what’s coming, but makes no move to stop it. “avada kedavra.” 

there’s a flash of green light, and when draco peeks around his father’s shoulder, the scaly creature is unmoving. 

“dear,” lucius says mildly. 

narcissa turns, holding out her arm, and draco tucks himself against his mother’s side. “yes darling? surely you didn’t really want to get involved in this mess again. and,” her voice drops, “he tried to hurt our son.” 

“yes, of course,” he says, reaching out a hand to brush it through draco’s hair, “but keep in mind there are plenty of people who will want explanations of what just occurred. he’s not actually dead, you know.” 

his mother hums, “well, i suppose we’re changing sides.” 

lucius frowns, but it’s not like he’s going to argue with narcissa, so he says, “very well.” 

“um,” potter says, and the three of them turn to look at him, “what?” 

“that’s a portkey then?” lucius asks, looking to the trophy on the ground. daring, “i’ll handle things here, you go back with the boys. surely there’s someone who set this up waiting for whoever returns.” 

“uh,” potter says, “er, sorry, i just - can we take pettigrew too? he - i can use him to clear my godfather’s name, is all.” 

his parents both make a face like they’ve smelled something rotten, and his mother sighs. “i suppose dealing with sirius is one of the many prices we’ll pay for switching sides. very well. petrificus totalus! wingardium leviosa!” the mans stunned body rises, and voldemorts’ pathetic corpse falls with a dull thump. she looks expectantly towards them. “ready?” 

potter shoots him a desperate look, but if he’s looking for draco to explain his mother, he’ll be waiting for a long time. draco had given up on that by the time he turned five. he wonders if all this means that he and potter will actually manage to be friends. 

“come on, potter,” he holds out his hand, “mum’s probably going to kill at least one more person tonight, so best not to start questioning things now.” 

“at least two, if i get my hands on dumbledore,” she sniffs, grabbing draco’s other hand so she can travel with them by portkey. 

potter looks down at his outstretched hand, then back up, and only hesitates a moment more before taking it. “call me harry. isn’t ant of this, you know, weird for you?” 

draco shrugs. “we’re wizards, harry. weirdness is relative, don’t you think?” 

harry’s just grabbed the portkey, so his laughter gets cut off, and draco tries not to mourn the loss. 

hopefully, now he’ll get a chance to hear it again, after all. 

[queenof-literature]

Something with Wind and Wild finding out Wild’s actually related to Wind? (It’s a personal hc of mine that they’re related due to vah medoh being named after Medli and the fact that there are rito in the first place + rito’s village theme being a variant of the dragon roost island theme)

Thank you for the prompt anon! That’s a fun headcanon and I did my best with it! I hope you enjoy!

I said in an announcement I’m putting shorter requests/drabbles in its own story and place in my masterlist to make things a bit more organized. Here’s the Ao3 link to that.

Related

“When will we learn to stop trying to figure out the timeline.” Warriors deadpanned to Sky as he watched the others fight.

“Do we ever learn?” Sky replied, laughing at the sight before him. He supposed there were benefits to being the forger of the Master Sword. His place in the timeline was relatively solid.

“No, no, no. We all know there are different timelines, there has to be.” Hyrule waved his hands.

“Yes, and you and Legend are in the same one, we know that at least.” Four nodded.

“Why does it matter?” Wild whispered to Twilight.

“It doesn’t.” Twilight said simply. 

“That’s funny coming from you! Legend pointed. “You have blood relation to prove your place in the timeline!”

“It’s Time’s fault for breaking the timeline in the first place.” Four accused.

“Hey! Blame the sages, not me.” Time spoke up, holding his hands up in defense.

“Do you know where you are in the timeline?” Twilight asked Wild curiously while the others fought around their campfire.

“It’s been 10,000 years since the last hero in my Hyrule.” Wild shrugged. “So, I mean, does it even matter in my timeline?” 

“I’ve never been big on blood meaning everything, the people in Ordon are my family even though I was found in the woods. But if you’re curious, we may be able to figure it out.” Twilight assured. Wild never knew how he and the others somehow always knew what to say to him.

The truth was, Wild wasn’t sure that he wanted to know the answer. The group had helped him understand that the events of 100 years ago was out of his control, even if he had a hard time believing it sometimes. But he wasn’t stupid, he saw the forlorn gazes the others cast towards the ruins of his Hyrule. Castletown was a ghost of itself, even if Zelda had plans to begin rebuilding, it wouldn’t be the bustling city the other Links knew for a long time, perhaps with the small population of his Hyrule it never would be.

But he loved his Hyrule. He knew every inch of the land yet it still managed to surprise him. The land nurtured him, and he nurtured the land. He ensured monsters didn’t destroy nature, and nature forgave him for letting wildfires. He killed animals for food and ensured he used every part. The others could make fun of him all they wanted, but it was a mutual bond he longed for when he was far from it. To see the others look at it with such sad gazes after a long journey… he understood, but it hurt.

“Meh.” Wild answered. “If we happen to figure it out, then we figure it out.” Wild ignored the suspicious look Twi sent him. Wolf boy was too perceptive for his own good.

“Well Wild and I are obviously in similar timelines!” Wind, with ever impeccable timing, proclaimed.

“Don’t sound so sure.” Warriors challenged. “Don’t forget that almost your entire world is water.” Warriors said, as if Wind could forget that. As if Wind could forget that his entire kingdom of Hyrule flooded, the kingdom Time worked so hard to protect.

“Yeah, no shit!” Wind cursed to let out some steam. “But water dries, I’ve seen entire places in other Hyrules that used to be covered in water.”

“Those are lakes and rivers, not entire oceans.” Legend spoke up.

“Yeah but Wild has said before that the last hero came 10,000 years before him! Who knows what has happened since my time! And before the hero who knows how long it’s been since I was there!” Wind puffed out his chest.

“What makes you so sure it’s you anyway?” Hyrule asked.

“Easy! Our Koroks are practically identical! I mean evolution takes time right?” Wind asked with arms wide. “And Vah Medoh, that divine beast Wild told us about, sounds like Medli from the Rito in my world. And you guys don’t even have Rito! Maybe they originated in my Hyrule and continued on in Wild’s Hyrule! The music they play and their instruments are really similar!” As Wind kept listing off points, Wild didn’t know what to think. Wind? His predecessor? Perhaps even his blood? How was he supposed to react?

“And what does Wild think of this theory?” Sky raised an eyebrow. Despite his teasing tone, Wild knew Sky was making sure he wasn’t left out of this conversation, and it wasn't for the first time Wild was extremely grateful for Sky. 

“Yeah Wild! What do you think?” Wind was practically vibrating with excitement and nerves. What did Wild think? He didn’t have any better theories, and besides, Wind made a lot of valid points. Wild bit his lip.

“W-well.” Shit, Wild could feel the words bubbling in his throat again. It’s been so long though! “I mean, I- well.” Wild tried to repeat what he had been thinking about, how Wind made great points and how the boy had obviously thought long and hard about this. Instead, with a frustrated huff, he raised his hands to sign, as usual he appreciated that no one interrupted him. ‘Sounds good to me.’ Wild signed simply, hoping his message came across well enough.

“Yes! I’m a grandfather!” Wind cried cheerfully, much to the shock of the other Links.

“We never agreed you were blood related-” Four tried to argue, only to be shushed by Wind.

“Shut it, sonny!” Wind pointed with a glare he most likely thought was threatening.

“You have to at least put a thousand ‘greats’ in front of that grandfather title.” Warriors lectured with an amused smirk.

“No one has time for that! I’m near the end of my life and you want me to waste time on that?” Wind shot back, as if they were the ones being ludicrous.

“Wind, you’re 14-”

“I’m old!” Wind cried out. “I’m decrepit! My joints ache! My knees pop every time I bend down!” Wind rambled.

“Looks like you’re being replaced.” Legend whispered to Time, who simply glared back. He did not sound like that!

Hyrule glanced towards Wild, slightly afraid this conversation would make him upset. Finding out where you were in the timeline was… odd. It was nice to know where you stood but the answer wasn’t always happy, or it wasn’t always what you wanted. Hyrule relaxed upon seeing Wild smiling and laughing at Wind’s antics with the rest of them, only getting louder as Wind continued on. Wait, didn’t this mean Wild was a part of Time’s line? And so Twilight’s as well? Oh well, better not go there tonight.

~

“Hey Wind?” Wild questioned turning in his bed roll to face the younger boy. The others had mostly turned in, and Wind had settled next to Wild’s bed roll, causing Wild’s chest to light up with an odd warmth.

“Yeah Wild?” Wind ceased his joking tone at Wild’s serious one.

“Are you… upset? That it's me who's your potential predecessor?” Wild asked hesitantly.

“Wild we’ve talked about this-”

“No, no, not that.” Wild really did not want to get into his, what Four called, ‘self esteem issues’. “But… I’ve seen the way you all look at my ruins. Aren’t you, you know, sad, that that’s what Hyrule turned into?” There was an awkward silence and Wild as glad Sky was probably far enough away for his watch he couldn’t hear them.

“Do you remember when we first got to my Hyrule, I mean the first time with you there?” Wind asked, and Wild didn’t see how this related but let the boy continue. “And you were stunned by how much water there was. I mean the look on your face.” Wind joked, but it was stiff and dry. “I was self conscious too. Especially with the Hero of Time there, I loved visiting my home but having Time there always made me nervous. I mean I was already suspecting that he was perhaps part of my timeline. What if he found out his Hyrule, the one he worked so hard to save, was flooded during my quest?”

“That wasn’t your fault-”

“I know.” Wind interrupted Wild, with a small smile that this time seemed genuine. “Still at the time, the way you were all were still talking about how much water there was, how irritating it was to go around on boats all the time, how odd it was that there were so few land masses. It scared me, I thought they all hated what their land had become.” Wild’s eyes widened in surprise. He never even knew…

“But Time knew something was wrong, of course he did. I couldn’t tell him yet, I had to be sure. I didn’t want him to know until I knew for sure, as excited as I was to meet the Hero of Time, I was so scared what he would think of me, of my Hyrule.” Wind’s voice trailed off into a whisper, and wrestled his arm out of his bed roll and placed it on Wind’s shoulder. That’s what he was supposed to do, right? He relaxed when Wind smiled and nodded in thanks.

“What he said, it stuck with me. I told him how I felt, how the others seemed to hate my Hyrule. You know what he said?” Wild knew it was a rhetorical question, still he shook his head. “He said ‘It’s not bad, it’s different.’ I know it's simple, but he’s right. We’re just not used to each other’s Hyrules, that includes you Wild. We’re not used to ruins, or Guardians, or insane lightning storms. But the giant mushrooms you have are amazing.” They weren’t really mushrooms, but it still caused Wild to smile. “And those super tall islands you showed us! And your Rito have an amazing village. You know how I see it?” Wind waited for Wild to tilt his head against his bed roll. “I think our Hyrules just prove that no matter what, we’ll endure. There’s been cataclysms, great floods, calamity, but no matter what, Hyrule finds a way. That’s pretty great, don’t you think?” Huh, Wild had never thought about it in that grand of a way. He knew that the people of Hyrule, all of them, Hylian or no, were strong. But Wind put it into perspective. Wild wondered if Wind knew how good he was. Just… good. A good kid, a good hero, a good person, a good brother. Just genuinely good. Wild didn’t know how to say that, especially without sounding patronizing, so he settled for something else.

“You’re right Wind, thank you.” Wind knew the words were simple, but the emotion behind them got Wild’s point across perfectly. Wind smiled brightly.

“That’s Grandpa Wind to you.” Wild had to muffle his laughter in his bed roll.

~~~

This turned out a lot more fluffy/little angsty I hope that’s alright anon! Thank you for reading all, I hope you enjoyed!

[feliciamint]

My Treasure

( not my gif )

Hey everyone, so this is my first one-shot so I don’t know how it will go but hopefully it won’t be absolute trash so here we go x 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Hey Ced’

‘Hey Dove”

He said, opening his arms to me and enveloping me in a hug that I could stay in for hours. 

“ I heard about the second task, how are you feeling about it all?”

“ I mean the first thing I did in this tournament was fight a dragon so I think I’ll be fine” he said,with his cheesy smile plastered on his face. The same smile I fell in love with. 

“ So all you have to do is retrieve something? That sounds easy enough?”

“ At first yes, but it’s in the lake, so I have to swim through hundreds of strange plants and mermaids before I can even find the damn thing” His voice had shifted to a frustrated one, filled with underlying anger and distress. 

“ Hey I’m sure you will do fine bub, do you know what you have to retrieve?” I said quizzically

“ All they said was “treasure”, so It could honestly be anything”, 

“ Have you got all your charms ready? Everything you need before tomorrow?” 

“ Yes don’t worry my love, I got help from Mcgonagall with the Bubble Head Charm so everything is sorted” He uttered, with a tone of reassurance to calm my mind.  

“ Hey I have a free period if you want to go take a walk” I suggested, needing the warmth of Cedric and the breeze of the courtyard. 

“ Anything for you bub” he said, planting a small peck on my lips, grinning into it like the handsome fool he is, and placing me under his arm as we walk the next few paces”

“ Miss… Miss!” Professor Mcgonagall announced in my direction,

“ Yes Professor Mcgonagall?” I said, wondering what she wanted, I had handed in my transfiguration work, I hadn't lost any house points, so what was it?

“ I need you to accompany me to Headmaster Dumbledore’s study, you’re not in trouble, but we just need to speak to you and a couple others. “

“ Oh ok, sorry Ced this seems important” I said, with the feeling of guilt already trickling up my throat and chest. 

“ Don’t worry bub, I’ll see you in the stands tomorrow won’t I?”

“ What kind of girlfriend would I be if I wasn’t there to support you?” I proclaimed, with a smile plastered across my face ear to ear. 

He gave me a kiss on the cheek and began walking forwards to the courtyard, 

“  Professor Mcgonagall  “

“ Mr Diggory “ Mcgonagall said, nodding her head at the Triwizard champion. 

“ Now if you wouldn’t mind following me to the headmaster’s office “

“ Of course “ I said, not wanting to upset the professor before this “important meeting”.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------*Cedric’s Pov*

“Where is she?” I thought to myself, as my legs and arms freezed to ice as the cold wind enwrapped me. 

I hadn’t seen her all day, I would have expected at least good luck, as my nerves took over my body every second, and Dumbledore’s powering voice did not help, 

“Yesterday, a treasure of sorts was taken from each of the four champions, a treasure that if lost, would be sorely missed, the champions must retrieve their individual treasure from the lake by the hour, or their treasure will be lost forever…”

“ On the sound of the cannon, the champions will begin their search for their stolen treasures”, Dumbledore said ,eyeing Harry as he aggressively choked on some gillyweed. 

The cannon went off, and before I knew it, I was lost in a freezing lake surrounded by kelp and the faint sound of singing echoing through my ears. 

I swam and swam until I saw a sight that broke my heart. 

The girl I loved strapped to a rope, with the eyes I had lovingly stared at so many times sealed shut from my sight. 

Swimming with my life and soul, I broke the rope from her ankle, and touched her arctic-like arm, before turning to Harry and warning him about the remaining time. 

 All I had to do was get us out of there. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Your POV*

I was cold. 

Freezing. 

I didn’t know where I was.

I didn’t know why I was here. 

My heart was racing each second.

I was surrounded by darkness.

I couldn’t breathe.

I didn’t know what to do. 

Until I opened my eyes,

And saw those grey orbs staring at me like they had started at me all those times before,  

“ It’s ok dove, I have you don’t worry, “ Cedric said, with his arm wrapped around my waist tightly as though he would never let go. 

I could hear faint cheering from behind, as a realisation came over me, was I his treasure?”

We swam forwards until we reached the dock, where we were swaddled in towels by Cedric’s friends. 

Madame Pomfrey treated us, checking that we didn’t have a fever or any side effects from being in a haunting lake for god knows how long. 

All the other champions had come out, Krum with Hermione, Fleur without anyone, as she got lost and couldn’t find her sister, but Harry was nowhere to be seen…

My eyes were trained on the water, waiting for a large splash of black hair to erupt from the water, as I felt a pair of strong eyes on me. 

“ I could have lost you ya know, all because of this tournament, “ he said, with that look of utter guilt and sorrow smothered on his perfect face. 

“ But you didn’t, you still have me” I said, with my cold hands placing themselves on his jaw, 

Going in for a kiss, we heard the splash of three people coming out the water, Ron Weasley, Harry of course, and a small blonde girl, who I assumed was Fleur’s sister. 

Caused by the freezing cold and the ringing in my ear, all I could get from Dumbledore’s speech was, 

Fleur didn’t manage to rescue her hostage and only got 25 points; 

Ced brought me to the up a minute outside the hour, getting 47 points; 

Krum was second and got 40 points. 

Harry was last, but would have arrived first with Ced but took longer because he saved Fleur’s sister, so he got awarded 45 points, tying him for first place with Ced. 

After the rather long announcement, as  we walked to the boats, Ced grabbed my arms and kissed me with a loving embrace and pulled away and said, 

“You are my treasure, my soul and my life, and I will love you for as long as you will have me” 

“ I love you Cedric Diggory”

“ I love you too dove  “

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sorry It took me so long to write another fic x

I kind of adoree this one because I’m a speed reader. It seems too quick but I feel quite dramatic though…

Taglist: ( If you want to be added or removed just dm me :) )

@

@faeinorbit @mullthingsoverinthehotwater @daisyyy2516 @inks-and-jinx @whoreforbucky @freddieweasleyswife @georgeweasleysgirl @toms-wife ​@punkrific​ @annasdani @luvxlovegood

[alexwritesfiction]

Hey Micah Excerpt

Word Count: Not Sure

Warnings: Fluff

A/N: Just a really sweet Alyssa/Micah moment because they’re my otp okay? Leave me alone. Not me who’s obsessed.

Perhaps you could recommend me to your mutuals for my writing? :)

Taglist at the end. Reply or ask to be added/removed.

*This ain’t edited, folks.*

“And that’s why Wolfstar deserved better,” I say defiantly, my voice betraying me and breaking on the last word. Damn it. I look away from the mess i’ve made on the whiteboard. My gaze flows over to Micah, who should be paying attention, but he’s eating popcorn. Popcorn. Where the heck did those come from?

“Ahem,” i clear my throat, hoping to make Micah look my away. He looks up from the mess he’s made on the sofa with an adorable grin. And that’s why i can’t be mad at him. Infuriating, really.

“I was paying attention, I swear!”

“Like hell you were,” i snort, cringing right after at the un-ladylike gesture. Micah starts laughing but sobers up a bit at my glare.

“Sorry,” he utters through pierced lips, trying to keep his laughter in. I roll my eyes in disappointment and turn back to the whiteboard.

I can feel his gaze on me from the tingling on the back of my neck. It takes everything in me to not look at him, because i know that if i do, i’ll see the same smouldering eyes i fell for three years ago. and i can’t have that.

so i keep rubbing and rubbing at the whiteboard until it’s squeaky clean and the duster gets unravelled and my eyes glisten with unshed tears.

it’s only when i hear a deep sigh from him that i turn around. and almost immediately his piercing gaze is on me. on my tears. his lips press into a thin line from seeing the look on my face.

the light mood from earlier is gone now. the popcorn is forgotten. i look at him and he looks at me. green eyes to grey. it’s all that exists between us.

he pierced into my eyes like he can see right though me. and maybe he can, and i don’t like the fact that he can tear my walls down so easy. it’s unfair. so i harden my eyes as much as i can, but it doesn’t leave Micah’s notice.

His sharp intake of breath tells me he knows. That he saw right through me. I stand there unmoving, unable to take a breath in. Judging by the raw look in Micah’s eyes, he’s shattered by what he saw. He’s confused and wild now.

His eyes shut. A hand raises from him to take though his brown hair. He lets go of the breath now, slowly opening his eyes. He’s calm now. It scares me, that look.

And then he’s there in a flash. Enveloping me into his arms like it’s the last he’s going to see for me. He hits me with a force that makes us stumble, but he quickly regains his composure.

His arms tighten around me, and i can feel heavy breathing down my neck. i’m completely pressed to him, overwhelmed by the feeling of him in my senses.

I hug him back with trembling hands as my eyes shut close and commit this moment to memory.

I hide my face in the crook of his neck, and surrender myself to him. One last time. He lets go of me slowly and i whimper by the loss of contact.

But he doesn’t let me feel alone. He grabs my face and pulls my chin up. His touch is like a wildfire, and i’m craving for more. I cant get my eyes to open. I’m scared, no, scratch that, i’m terrified of seeing that vulnerable look in his eyes.

“Open up your eyes, Alyssa,” he says is a soft voice, commanding, but not quite compelling me to.

I bite my lip and open my eyes to his request. And i’m shattered. Completely unravelled to bits. I knew this would happen. I shouldn’t have opened my eyes. I never should have come over to his house just for the sake of a book. Stupid stupid stupid of me.

The way he’s looking at me right now, i can’t handle it. Because it’s not vulnerable, it’s not. It’s something else that i cannot comprehend. It looks too much like a feeling i’m way too familiar with. I cant do that to Ayla. No. I cant.

But cant I? I dare to look into his eyes again, and his eyes spark with delight that i’m looking at him. My eyes fill with tears again, but he never lets them fall.

His feverish lips press to my forehead, his touch feeling like lava on my skin. I completely lose control of myself then, leaning into his hands around my waist for support. Because with this gesture, he tells me he’ll never let me fall. But it’s too late, cause I’m already falling. And i hope he catches me before it’s too late.

His lips linger a few seconds, his body shaking under my hands as i grip his back and cling myself to him.

His lips leave me forehead leaving me lightheaded. But still conscious enough to feel him heave a breath.

His head comes down on mine, and he engulfs me in a way that i disappear completely.

I’m shivering, but he must think he’s not had enough of an effect on me yet, because he doesn’t hesitate to whisper his next words huskily into the nothingness, only for them to be locked away into my heart forever.

“You know I love you, Alyssa,”

And then I’ve fallen.

———

Taglist (ask/reply to be +/-):

1. everything

@some-letters-some-words @petitpancakes @skinni-ciggis @bubblegum18 @cbfjdx @fckingpernico @5sos-taylor-b99 @dumbsouvenir @i-like-5sos @heartbreakgirlisagoodsongcalum @neptune-falls @metanoiamorii @thescatteredscribbles @little-boats-on-a-lake @talesofsorrowandofruin @w-l-ink @baguettethebooklover @euphoniouspandemonium @wannabeauthorzofija @lady-of-himring

2. hey micah

@your-local-book-worm345 @mel-writes-with-her-dragons @zoya-writes

[apothecarinomicon]

Spring week 4 part 3

After my hectic experience with the marshbloom, I decided to take a day for myself. Greenmoor isn’t anywhere near the ocean, but Meltwater Loch is big enough that I figured a day spent there could be considered a beach day. And after the couple of weeks I’d had, boy did I need a beach day.

But anyone who’s read this far ought to be familiar with my luck by now. There’s a lot to record, but I’ll try to get it down in order.

 ────⊱⁜⊰──── 

It was a beautiful day—clear blue sky, warm air, and (at least when I first arrived) no one around at Meltwater Loch. I spread out a towel on the beach and laid down for a good session of sunbathing. I’ve never been one for tanning, but  simply laying doing nothing while being warmed by the sun and cooled by the breeze felt absolutely decadent.

After a while of simply existing, I became aware of the sound of a bird calling above me. I cracked my eyes open and recognized the large forms of a pair of gull-drakes flying overhead. Gull-drakes are a strange hybrid, both reptilian and avian. Their torsos and wings are feathered, while their heads, tails, and talons are scaled. They do have beaks like gulls, but their tails are prehensile like their alleged draconic ancestors’. I say ‘alleged’ because no one knows how the hybrid gull-drake came into being. The sheer anatomy and scale discrepancy between the average seagull and the average dragon fossil (they were much larger in ancient times than the pocket-sized lizards we have today) seems to rule out any cross-breeding. Additionally, the typical combination of traits displayed by gull-drakes is too awkward and ungainly to be the result of natural selection. And yet, there have been records of the gull-drake’s existence for just about as long as there have been records—the third-oldest surviving written document, in fact, is a bestiary which includes them along dozens of other species, most of which are now extinct.

Nature is a strange thing.

Digressions aside, there was a reason this caught my attention. Gull-drakes are scavengers, and have been known to leave catches uneaten while they go out to hunt for more. It’s just an evolutionary quirk—they prefer to feast only once per day. This means that, as they leave their nests unattended, some other opportunistic creature could come by and steal their catch. 

It’s easy to identify a gull-drake nest, too—they tend to be very large, and are often positioned balanced atop large, pointy rocks. If a gull-drake catches you stealing, though, it’ll chase you and squawk at you and try to peck you until you drop the stolen goods and flee. They’re not too smart, though, so hiding in nearby foliage (say, a patch of large ferns) will fool them easily.

All of this to say, I managed to get myself a shock fish without a rod, all while only getting chased a little ways by a jealous, stupid bird.

 ────⊱⁜⊰──── 

As I returned to my towel, I heard an unusual sound—the put-put-put of a motor. Machinery of that kind is a fairly new invention, and unless you know how to make it, very expensive.

The woman driving the boat certainly looked like she knew how to make a motor. She was dwarven, with russet hair and a long beard, both held in thick braids. She was (as dwarves are) rather short—I'd estimate maybe one-and-a-fifth meters tall, and nearly as wide—with large hands and feet, and limbs thickly corded with muscle. She wore dark green coveralls and had a fairly heavy-duty fishing rod held in one hand so that it rested on her shoulder.

She shut the motor off as she neared and called out to me, asking if I was the village witch. I said that I was, and she told me that she was friends with my crocodilian patient. She thanked me for helping him, and said he would have been a goner without my potion-making skills. I demurred just a bit, saying I wasn't the only healer who helped him that day. She scoffed and dismissed my humility outright, saying that I might as well have been the only one—that without my care the village doctor wouldn't have been able to do anything.

She introduced herself as Janneth Hillhorn, and I told her my name in turn. She asked what I was doing out by Meltwater Loch and I told her I was taking a day off. She let me know that her cottage was just around the other side of the lake, near Glimmerwood Grove and right on the border of Blastfire Bog, and that I should feel free to stop in any time. I thanked her.

At this point, there was a tremor in the water. It couldn't have been an earthquake because the land wasn't shaking, but the water abruptly became much more active. Ocean-like waves crashed into the shore and Janneth held tight onto the sides of her boat, doing her best not to capsize. I would have been quite alarmed in her situation, but Janneth barely seemed preturbed. I asked something along the lines of "what the blight is going on?!" As the water settled, Janneth told me that this was a common occurence on Meltwater Loch, a quirk that—many said—was due to the emotions of its guardian sea-dragon, Bàs Bàta. I found this explanation rather silly, reminiscent of an old wives' tale. I'd never heard of a sea-dragon before, and given that the name ‘Bàs Bàta’ directly translated to "boat death," I figured it was just a local story told to frighten children and dismissed it out of hand.

Astute readers should be growing worried for me right about now.

Janneth offered to give me one of the fish she'd caught as a thanks for helping her friend. I initially refused, but she insisted. She looked through her basket and pulled out a dentist crab. The gel their claws produce is good for the mouth and plenty else besides, so I accepted and thanked her. She thanked me right back and said (perhaps jokingly?) not to run afoul of Bàs Bàta while I was out by the loch. I forced a laugh as she sped away.

Once she was out of sight, I collected some claw gel from the dentist crab and released it back into the water.

 ────⊱⁜⊰──── 

There was another rumbling as I made my way back to the beach, and as it abated I saw something bob up to the surface of the water close to the shore. It presented itself, et cetera et cetera, I waded in to see what it was.

I scooped it out of the water and found myself holding a glass bottle, like the kind that rum or sweet wine would come in, sealed with a cork and containing a rolled-up sheet of paper. Of course, I opened it immediately. I found that the sheet inside wasn’t quite *paper,* but something more slippery—maybe made of seaweed? It did have writing on it, though. As I unfurled it, a few things that looked like pebbles fell out. I barely managed to catch them before they hit the surface of the water. I put them in my pocket for safe keeping.

The writing on the note was as follows, with no spelling changes by me:

Let it be known that I fink this whole exercise is stupid. And pointless. And probly meant as some kind of sick, twisted punishment. No one but little kids believe in terrafolk, so I don’t know why the instructress is making us do this.

Even if anyfing could live above the water, there’s no way its advanced enough to read. How would it get all the minerals it needs wivout processing the water?

But anyway. I guess I ave to fulfill the prompt. 

Me name is Genoveva, I live in the I.S.A.C.S. (that's short for 'Isolated Sovereign Aquatic City-State, but we all just pronounce it like 'Isax") and I’m in the fifth year of me education. I hate me name. I wish I could ave somefing exotic like a John or a Steve or a Sarah, but I’m stuck wiv boring old Genoveva. If you’re somehow able to read this, that must mean you ave schools on the surface, too. Wat ar they like? Ar they as boring up there? We all ave to sit in a circle and listen to the instructress drone on and on and on.

I live wiv me merma and me perpa and me two baby brothers. Do you ave family? I've got loads of cousins too.

On the rubric it says I ave to include a small gift, so I'm putting some fossil fish scales in wiv this letter. I found em on me way to school this morning and there not of use to me, but I figure you probly don't ave fish on land so maybe scales ar valuable up there.

If you're inclined to write back (no pressure), you can just pop your note in the bottle and put it back into the water. It'll find its way to me—there's magic all around, don't you know.

Signed,

Genoveva Galbrait, 5th year

[An accessible version of this letter can be found here.]

The letter obviously has some pretty complex implications. An entire society under the surface of Meltwater Loch, entirely unaware of the world above the surface beyond fairy stories? What must life be like down there? What kind of society must they have? How do they supply food? Get rid of waste?

What resources might be available there that can't be found on the surface?

I decided that somehow I was going to find a way to visit ISACS, and learn everything I could about it. I bet that would impress the University of Arcbridge. I wasn't sure how I would breathe under the water for long enough, but I was determined to find a way.

Take your final guesses now what happened next.

That water-quaking started up again, this time stronger than before. Waves crashed against the beach where I stood, and I felt a great vibration in my chest and in my head. 

And then, it broke the surface of the water.

Giant and blue-green and serpentine, Bàs Bàta rose up before me. A blighting sea-dragon, it stood straight up in the air at least twice as tall as my cottage—and that was just the part of its body I could see. Its head was shaped like the tip of an arrow, with three great spikes sprouting out of the back (the outer two longer than the middle one). It let loose another deep roar, dousing me in spittle. It thrashed about, causing great waves to crash onto the shore, and through my shock I realized its movements might be less characteristic of anger than of pain.

My suspicions were confirmed when it roared again: one of the fangs right near the front of its mouth was missing a chip, and had a great crack running nearly all the way up to the root. That had to hurt. I'd never treated a non-humanoid  before—or, for that matter, a cracked tooth—but I realized even past the moral obligation to help, there was no way I could access the underwater city-state without calming Bàs Bàta down.

I found out later, after I'd scrambled away from the lake and sprinted back to the cottage, after wiping the saliva off of me and getting at least some of it in a bottle for potion use, that the saliva was actually a really useful ingredient in treating shattered teeth. As it turns out, it's a pretty strong painkiller. Unfortunately, I knew I'd need more than just that to make a cure, and with the sheer size of Bàs Bàta, I suspected I'd need to make more than one potion.

That will have to be a longer term project, then, because the events of my relaxation day have worn me out. I've got to get to bed. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

⇦●〇●⇨

[laws-yellow-submarine]

Invisible Strings

Ok, like I mentioned earlier, I wanted to share an excerpt from a new fic I’m working on, as a “happy birthday” to myself lol It’s not One Piece related, at all, and if you’ve never played Dragon Age (specifically Origins) you’ll probably be confused and disinterested, so if this gets zero engagement I’ll understand lmao I’m waiting to post more of this until more of it’s written, because I actually know (for the most part) what direction I want it to take, all the major plot points, everything; I just need to sit down and write it, and with as difficult as that’s been lately, I don’t wanna get anyone too excited over something new and then abandon it when I burn out (that being said, Together With Fruit is NOT abandoned! It’s just obviously been taking a very very very long, unanticipated break).

For those who ARE still interested, I hope you enjoy what I’m willing to share right now; it was difficult to find a piece that didn’t rely so heavily on in-game dialogue and cutscenes. Ria Amell has gone through a lot, she deserves to be introduced with more than just a transcribed cutscene lol so without further ado, here’s a short snippet of my Alistair/Amell fic, “Invisible Strings”!

--------

She had never realized just how big Lake Calenhad was. From up in the tower, Ria could easily see the shore. But now, riding in the little rowboat tucked next to Duncan and Kester, the lake seemed to stretch on for miles. The breeze blew through her hair, brushing the white strands against her nose. The sun still shone low in the sky, the clouds painted a brilliant orange. From down here, the tower looked pretty as a painting, but Ria found she couldn’t appreciate the beauty of it. She’d finally gotten out, but it felt...wrong, somehow.

The boat bumped against the dock, startling the girl. She stood, the boat wobbling beneath her, but as she reached to take Duncan’s outstretched hand she froze. She couldn’t tear her gaze away from the wooden pier, the rocks littering the sand around it, and couldn’t will her feet to move. The last time she’d been on that dock, she’d been a five year old girl; a plain dress and strawberry blonde pigtails and blue eyes too large for her face staring in fear at her new home.

Home.

This really would be the furthest she’d ever been.

“Illaria?” a concerned voice broke her out of her trance, and without grabbing the man’s hand Ria stepped fully onto the dock, one foot then the other. It was over before she could second guess herself. Kester left them soon after, muttering about a pint at the inn, and without another word Duncan started on his way, expecting Ria to follow him.

Eventually, the sun sank lower in the sky, the orange clouds taking on shades of blue, and Duncan finally called for them to stop. Taking in her surroundings for the first time, the first thing Ria noticed was green. There was so much green. Not the deep, soft green of an elfroot’s leaves, or the thick stem of an embrium. It was a dry, yellowy-green, and as Duncan busied himself setting up their bedrolls, she couldn’t stop her body from collapsing into it. She held her bare hands out over the grass, aching to touch it, but held back by an unknown fear; like when you know the book has ended but you can’t bear to close it. Then she took a deep breath, and took the plunge. 

Ignoring the weight clenched around her heart, Ria trudged on, gripping her pack and hitching up her robes. She ignored the urge to turn around, to glance at the tower one last time, and as the pair walked she ignored the world around her. Duncan said little, only to inform her that they’d be making the most of the daylight they had left, and it became easy to numb herself to everything but putting one foot in front of the other. Note to self, invest in new shoes ASAP.

“Oh!” Ria gasped as the blades scratched at her palms. “It’s prickly!” The world grew misty around her, her cheeks became wet. She’d wanted to be free of the tower for so long...but now that she was here, it was almost too much to bear. The day’s events crashed over her like a wave, yanking the breath from her lungs, leaving her gasping on the ground and clutching at her new favorite plant. She heard heavy footsteps beside her. “I’m sorry!” Ria gasped out, painfully. “I’m sorry, Duncan. I promise, I’m not normally-” sob “-not normally like this.” She rubbed at her eyes, pleading for them to stop leaking so much. She was a Circle mage - no, she was a Grey Warden, now. The darkspawn wouldn’t wait for her to get over her blubbering like a newborn babe.

Duncan was quiet for a moment, and Ria didn’t know if he was watching her, regretting his decision to bring her along. “I am going to get a campfire started. Join me when you’re ready,” and he walked away, leaving her to her grief. When she finally came up for air, Ria could hear the crackling of the fire, and she could smell something cooking. She sat on the hard ground beside her new commander, wordlessly accepting his offer of a meager meal. Nothing was said of her outburst, and Ria once again found herself eternally grateful to the man beside her. He’s done so much for me, she thought. I need to prove I’m worthy of it.

Duncan declared he’d take the watch that first night, and while she wanted to help, to pull her own weight, Ria also knew it was for the best. She wasn’t used to all this walking, or roughing it in the wilderness, or staying awake all night to watch for attackers. Not to mention, she’d already had a very long day. Tomorrow, things would be different. Better. As she bunkered down on her bedroll against the prickly ground, blue eyes turned to stars instead of stone ceilings, and for the first time, the sound of crickets put her to sleep.

[atomic-thomas]

Fake ASMR ~ Friendly Giantess (Part 3)

-----------------------------------------

"Wow. What a view. This place reminds of a lake that I used to swim in when I was a child. This terrain feels... Very nostalgic & reminiscent of the area around the lake. It's strange, really. Even as a child, I was still over 50 feet tall. Hardly seemed like a child to the humans around me who still had to bend their heads back just to make eye contact with me."

"..."

"How tall am I now? Well... I stand at a staggering 100 feet which is exceptional even for giants. Yeah, I'm certainly a grower. Haha. Most of my kind usually cap out at 80 feet. Maybe 90 if they're lucky. Yet here I am in the triple digits. Guess I'm just... A prodigy or something. Perhaps I got strong genes from my father's side of the family. He was a brute that towered over 90 feet. Maybe that trait was amplified when I was conceived. That's the best conclusion I can think of."

"..."

"You wanna know how strong I am? Oh gosh. It's too much if you ask me, but... I can move over 56,000 pounds. I could punch a mountain &... Well, there wouldn't be a mountain anymore. This power I possess is quite the responsibility, but... I manage."

"..."

"Oh, so now you want to know how much I weigh, huh? You know you should never ask a girl's weight. *giggle* Ahh, it's okay. I understand your curiosity. I weigh over 775,000 pounds. Yeah... Not exactly a lightweight, but that shouldn't be a surprise to you."

"..."

"Oh! Look, human. There's the village I was talking about. We're here. Ahh, it's been so long. I can't wait to see my friends again."

"Aww... They're already waving at me. So cute. I wonder how they'll react when I show you off."

"Hello everyone! Chieftain, kids & all humans alike. Your favorite giantess has returned! How have you been?"

"..."

"That's great to hear. Glad to see that no dragons have given you any trouble. Villages such as these are easy targets. You should always be prepared for the worst if I'm not around."

"..."

"Ah ha! I knew you'd ask what I'm holding. Check this out."

"Ta da! It's a human just like you. I met them just last night. They were freezing to death out in the night of a blizzard. It's nothing short of a miracle that I found them just in time. They seem rather endowed to me. I haven't even known them for a full day, yet I've already accustomed myself to being their caretaker."

"..."

"Yes, they live with me. I assure you, they're not burdensome at all. I've been quite endeared to the little one. It's nice having a human for company."

"...What?"

"Have I... Developed feelings for them? Well... That came out of nowhere. I, uh... I... Don't know. I mean... I do like them. They're sweet & nice. They're polite & well mannered. They're fun to hold & talk to."

"Huh? Human... What are you...? You're climbing up my arm again. Ah-... Please be careful. It's a long way down. You could fall. You know what... Here. Let me bring you up to my face. I won't allow you to take such a risk. Not like this."

"There. Nice & safe in my hands. Now... What did you want to tell me?"

"..."

"Wha-...?! Really?! You... You love me?! Seriously?! You mean... In that way? Romantically?"

"Oh... Oh my... I'm so flustered right now. It's just so sudden. And so soon to. I don't know how to process this."

"Uh... Chieftain?"

"..."

"You're right. Interspecies relationships aren't exactly a foreign concept in this world. I've heard of humans getting together with fairies so... This is fair game as well."

"Human... I'm more than happy to oblige, but... Are you sure this is what you want? You do understand the scope of this, right?"

"..."

"It feels like fate... Like this was destined to happen. A lone human connecting with a lone giantess. So this is the symbiosis that I was feeling earlier."

"Yes... I get it now. It all makes sense."

"Human... *smooch* I love you to."

"..."

*door opening & closing sound*

"Whew... Home at last. What a day. Wasn't expecting to return with a tiny boyfriend."

"Oh, of course. Now you get to show off your giant girlfriend. *giggle*"

"Now then... It's about that time of evening so I shall ask you a poetic question."

"Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum. Would you like some Giant's Gumbo?"

"..."

"Oh, come on! That was close enough to rhyming. Hmph! Well I'll still count it."

"..."

"Hahahahahaha! You're joking, right? You actually want to swim in the gumbo? You do realize just how messy you'll get, right?"

"..."

"An excuse to bathe with me later. Oh, I see how it is."

"..."

"No, no, no. I get it. I understand. I agree that does sound very nice. Tell you what. If I can find my old rubber ducky or toy boat, you can ride those in the tub. You're just the right size for them."

"As for when we go to bed... Hmmm... Well you can't really sleep... On me. There's the possibility that I'll roll over & crush you in my sleep so..."

"You know what? We'll cross that bridge when we get to it later tonight. For now, let's just enjoy some gumbo. I'm famished."

[THE END]

[bluebellhairpin]

The Girl Who Knew The End {17}

Thorin Oakenshield X Fem!Reader Watching, Waiting, No More

Chapter Fifteen // No King to Me 

Chapter Sixteen //  (You’re Here!)

Chapter Seventeen // My Brother, My Father, My King

A/N: *sobs* there's only nine more parts to write after this. We’re really on the home stretch now guys. I’m gonna miss writing this, and it isn’t evEN OVER ET! - Nemo

Warning(s): Death. Angst. Descriptions of the effects of fire. 

Summary: (y/n) decides to go find Fili, and bring him home - whether that means carrying a body or helping him walk, she doesn’t care. But when she gets to Laketown, she get’s a little more than what she bargained for. 

Series Masterlist  

Masterlist  

[Like my writing? Want to support me? Why not buy me a coffee? Times are hard now, so I don’t expect you to. Only if you want.]

It didn’t take you long to pack your things, especially since you never really unpacked. But before you could leave, two brothers stood in your way.

“Move, please.” you said, closing your eyes with a tight sigh.

“We want to know exactly what you’re planning to do.” Balin said, stepping forwards, down off the crumbled rocks of Erebor’s gates. “You can’t just go and expect everything to be fine and dandy. What if you do find Fili?” You looked up at Balin, pursing your lips together.

“I’ll know what to do.”

“You won’t.” Dwalin said, speaking softly, “Nothing can prepare anyone for what you might find if you go, even if the person is as special as you.” 

You looked down at your feet, holding your bag a little tighter, then stood up straight, looking between them both.

“Even if I find the worst, he still deserves to come to Erebor. I’m still bringing him home.” They looked between themselves, having a silent conversation in a way only siblings could. You wondered if you could do that with Legolas. 

Dwalin then came to you, wrapping his arms around you in one massive hug. You practically sobbed right there. He was warm, and welcoming, and felt exactly like a friend would. You hadn’t been hugged since the night before you left Laketown. 

At this point, after everything you’d seen, you were cracking at the edges. Nothing was going like it should be, and nothing would after this either. 

The Woodland Elves chased after the Company longer than they were supposed to. Orcs were after your blood as much as they were after Thorin’s. Thorin’s dragon sickness seemed to be worse than before. Fili was dead. 

Nothing would go by the script anymore. 

“You’ll be okay.” Dwalin said, pulling away and holding you at arm's length. “Do you need one of us to come with ya?” 

“No Dwalin,” you said, shaking your head as you wiped your eyes, “You need to stick with Thorin and Kili. If anything happens to them -”

“- We’ll look after them.” Balin said, smiling as he patted your shoulder. “Just look after yourself.” 

“I’ll do my best.” 

----------

Erebor looked beautiful from where you were. 

Looking back at the mountain from over the ruined Dale properly was something you decided to skip on before, you looked a little longer now. The destruction was still the same, but there was some beauty behind it. Sometimes things like this were less destruction, and more clearing a path for rebirth. Now there were refugees from Laketown there, faintly seen, but still there. 

But you knew you couldn’t stay long. If Fili was still alive - as unbelievable as it was - he might not have long left. So you went back on your way again. Laketown was behind you, some parts still smoking, and a lot of it was complete ruins, even from the distance you stood. Hell, you even had a lake to cross to get to the ruins. 

To your right you heard a noise, still faint, but still there. What you saw made your heart both sink and almost beat out of your chest. 

Thranduil was coming.

But you weren’t going to wait around for him. You had a dwarf to find - you were not going to Thranduil. 

You kept on walking, stones and grass both flattening under your feet. You kept your head down, clutching your cloak around you further. It was cold, and stopping to gawk at Dale didn’t help in keeping your blood circulation up. 

“Princess!” someone called behind you. You turned, now only walking backwards. You were not stopping. 

“Who are you?” you asked, looking up at the elf - clearly one of Thranduil's guards - who had ridden over to you. Further behind him was Thranduil. He obviously wasn’t going to make the effort to stray from his path - honestly neither were you. 

“I am Maether,” he said, circling you as you walked, “The King wishes you to join him.” 

“I am not joining him, I’m going to Laketown.” you said, stopping as you looked up at the elf, him stopping in front of you, “You can tell him he can either help me get there or leave me alone.” 

Maether looked at you, slightly shocked, before smiling slightly down at you, nodding once.

“As you will. I’ll tell him.” He rode off, and you kept walking. Until you heard him coming back with someone else. You sighed deeply, closing your eyes as you stopped again. You didn’t feel like talking at all, let alone to some elves that wouldn’t leave you alone.

“Listen - Maether - I don’t want to go with Thranduil, I need to get to Laketown, so just tell your King that -” Your words caught in your throat, having turned around now you could see that Maether wasn’t there at all. It was Thranduil, looking down at you with a smile in his eyes, and a riderless horse beside him. 

“Tell me what, my dear?” he said, letting the smile reah his face as he tilted his head at you. “That you can or cannot use a ride to get to Laketown?” 

“I would - I would use it! But, why?” you asked, coming closet to take the reins from him. “I thought you were against dwarves?”

“Maybe.” He said, shifting in his saddle. “But you’ve reminded me it shouldn’t matter, grudges don’t get anyone anywhere. You’re mother was a lot like you when she was here. Selfless. Kind. She looked after her kin - just like you.” 

“I can’t thank you enough - really.” You said, somehow managing to mount the horse and get somewhat closer to his level. “I wish I could repay you, but I have to go.”

“May I ask why you’re going back there?” Thranduil asked, nodding to Laketown as he turned his elk back to his army of elves. “Aren’t your dwarves in the Mountain?”

“One isn’t. I need to find him and bring him home.” He frowned at that.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“They say Fili, the Heir after Thorin, has died. I don’t believe them.” you explained, looking over at the Lake rather than him. “So I’m going to find him.” 

“You may need more than one horse to help you, if you’re so sure. Will you need me to send someone to go with you?” Your brain seemed to short-circuit. Would you actually need help? 

You had already said no to Balin and Dwalin, but that was because their place was with Thorin and Kili, not with you. Could you need the assistance Thranduil is offering? 

“No, I think I’ll best do it alone.” 

“Very well. You’ll know where to find us.” Thranduil said, nodding at you once more before starting off to his kin, shouting back to you one last time. “Stay safe!” 

----------

The trip down to the Lake was easy enough, especially with the horse. He was a very gentle and nice horse, and since Thranduil didn't tell you his name you decided to give him one. 

Tom Hiddleston seemed perfect. 

Your next challenge was getting from the shore to Laketown. You had no idea how to do that, and you had no idea what to do with Tom Hiddleston. Would he stay where you left him, or would he go back to the elves? 

“Where will you go, hm?” you asked, holding onto the reins. You took his head in your hands, having already dismounted, and looked into his eyes. “You seem smart enough to do the right thing, don’t you?” 

He let out a nicker, then sighed, bumping his head with yours. 

“Okay, okay. Don’t get into trouble.” you said, laughing lightly as you let his reins go and then searched for a boat. Finding one wasn’t hard. Figuring out how to use it with one person was. But like everything else over these past months you sorted yourself out without losing too much more time.

Rowing was the hardest part, since you weren’t exactly used to it. You tried remembering what Bard did - he had a pole-thing, one used to move the barge. Your oars weren’t big, but there was a larger oar in the boat with you, and in its own way that worked better. 

Despite rowing being the hardest part, the worst part was actually getting to Laketown. By now it was hard to see, the darkness of night had reached you - but that still wasn’t the worst of it. You could stop the darkness with your own light.

Death was everywhere. 

Buildings were burnt to ash. Soot covered everything. There were bodies both in the water and on the wooden walkways. Some places were still burning, days after they were first set alight. 

Anyone that didn’t make it out before now would be dead - if only from the amount of death they were surrounded by. 

But you weren’t going to give up yet.

“Fili!” you called, waiting in hopes of something in reply aside from the water lapping at your boat and the small crackles from the torch in your hand. “Fili, are you there?” 

Eventually you couldn’t differentiate between the cracks in your voice and the crackles from your fire. 

You boat stopped, caught by something in the water. You thought it was probably just ruins - that’d happened at least twice by now - but when you placed your torch down at the water to see how you could remove it, you jolted back. 

Your heart was beating up your throat, and you had to remind yourself Smaug was dead, and the dark of night was helping play tricks on your mind. 

After all, it was only his body. 

You peaked over the boat's edge again, taking another look. His eye stared back at you, blanck and glassy. 

He wasn’t any less scary in death, but he did seem a little more harmless. Like seeing a shark in an aquarium - you know it can’t hurt you, but the respect for what it could do is still there. 

“Sheesh Smaug,” you said, your breath festering in front of you in puffs, “You’re one big dragon.” You looked ahead, seeing where his body landed. Crushed buildings lay in its wake - both large and small. 

If Fili got caught under the dragon, he’d be dead for sure. 

“Fili!” you said, mustering as much strength as you could to try and project your voice further than before. And for a moment you got the same reply as a millions of times before - silence.

But then there was a crash, and a very distinct moan of pain. 

“Fili.” you breathed, not believing what you heard. Could that really be him? 

You pushed the boat off Smaug and towards a dockable part of the ruins, tying it to a pole as quickly as you could before jumping onto the wood deck and running to where the noise came from.

“Fili?” you said, rounding another fruitless corner. Maybe you were just hearing things? “Fili, please, tell me where you are!” You screamed, tilting your head back to speak to the stars above you.

A grunt came from your left. It was close. But now you were close you could tell it wasn’t Fili. It wasn’t even a man’s voice. You came here for Fili, but if there was another survivor, then what kind of person would you be to leave them here to die if they could be saved? 

“Hello, anyone?” you called again, and another noise came. You followed it, keeping a hand tight on your sword just in case. You stopped at a supply-closet type of room. You lent against the door, there was definitely someone inside. But what were they doing in a  closet?

“Hello? I’m going to let you out, if that’s okay?” you told them, somehow thinking that could calm them down. You tried the handle, but found it was locked. 

“The hard way then.” you said to yourself, placing the torch against the wall, and took your sword out. You swung at the lock, and again, and again, before it finally came loose enough to break. 

You pried the lock off the door, leaving a nice hole in the door to use as a handle instead. With nothing left stopping you, you swung the door open. What you saw almost made you fall into the water behind you.

“Mom?”

----------

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[tenleaguesbeneath]

There are a lot of, like, setting-building things in Awakening that I want to push on in ways the setting doesn’t support. Which might mean rewriting aspects of the plot, or exploring what comes after.

Like, Vigil’s Keep was once built to hold a signal fire when Tevinter ships showed up. But some of the details for the setup for the final battle seem to imply that the city of Amaranthine is not within sight of the Vigil, even from its highest towers

Also the layout of the city map as a level doesn’t track with how it fits in on the world map, nor with the city’s description as having a very large natural deep-water port (like, where are the docks? also, since apparently almost every city has one, where is the alienage or why isn’t there one?)

Which only makes it even more strange because that’s the natural Tevinter landing site just as it was the Orlesian one. I mean I guess the Avvars could have had separate scouts watching for Tevinter ships coming to shore, then returning to the Vigil or lighting their own signal fires to relay that warning inland

On another point, the “castle at the foot of a cliff” map layout, while it keeps your bailey conveniently on one side of the map and it also gives some truly breathtaking views, is absolutely silly for 1) a place where you light signal fires to warn people inland, and 2) defensibility. I’m going to forgive that for game design reasons, though

The other thing is that losing the road through the Wending Wood makes it impossible to supply the city. Which if it’s such a good port, supplying the city by sea should be trivial. I’m going to assume that “they lost the path and that made it impossible to supply the city” was a simplification told by someone who doesn’t understand anything about logistics; perhaps they took a lot of cargo in by sea, but most of it had to be sold inland. Without the land routes to sell their goods, they don’t have the draw for the ships they’re used to.

I can actually do some math on my intuition regarding sight lines from the Vigil, under the cut

The Vigil is built on a hillside; the foot of the keep is maybe 5 stories above the gatehouse. The tallest tower of the keep itself looks to be another maybe nine stories up. Let’s assume 8 feet to a story, being somewhat more cramped than how Dragon Age actually uses space, and we’re looking at something about 110′ tall. Wikipedia has the distance to the horizon in miles as 1.22 sqrt(height in feet), relative to whatever the underlying in-between area you’re looking at is. So if the underlying terrain is level with the Vigil’s gatehouse, the Vigil can see the ground out to 12 miles (a more-than-respectable distance for something within the same county, which an arling seems roughly equivalent to. Four leagues, which means four hours’ march on foot). If you want to see something else, you can add the horizon distances together, using the height of the thing you’re looking at below the part that you need to see (this would make sense with a diagram, but basically the horizon here is the ground, which you want to get above so you can see past it. The lower part of the target brings it above the ground as well). For, say, a 30-foot gatehouse, let’s say you need 14 feet of its height to wave signal flags (you probably don’t; a person could stand on the gatehouse and wave flags in semaphore if they had to, but this is a conservative estimate). So that gives you almost five miles extra. If you wanted to get a message from Amaranthine to the Vigil by signal flags (i.e. instantly as long as someone’s watching), then the architecture that they both are shown to have is capable of doing this directly at a distance of up to 17 miles (a day’s march on foot if you’re moving an army), assuming that the trip inland from the port of Amaranthine is not uphill (if it is, the range is longer)

This assumes an earth-sized planet. This visible distance goes with the square root of the planetary radius; one which is half earth-radius would have a horizon eight and a half miles away from the Vigil (about three hours easy walk), and semaphore range down to 12 miles. A quarter earth radius would exactly halve the original numbers.

Next I’d have to get out a ruler and compare things on the map of Ferelden from Origins to the map of Amaranthine from Awakening to work out how big they are. It’s established that the trip from Redcliffe to the Circle Tower takes about a day each way (the map has you going the long way around the lake, but I’m gonna be charitable and assume the one-day time estimate involves a boat), and that moving an army from Redcliffe to Denerim takes more than two days, but not much more with a forced march. So with those numbers, unless the planet is tiny, the Vigil should be able to see, like, the entire arling and possibly into Highever. That’s why you build a giant tower on a hill, after all, and makes it worthy of the name “The Vigil”.

I’m not counting the lack of a flag-signalling system as a plot hole. As far as I know, nobody in Thedas has invented semaphore yet. Nor do they seem to have carrier pigeons, which are even longer-range (pigeons exist, according to Shale, though, but there aren’t any carrier pigeon references that I’ve seen) That seems like the kind of thing that someone might invent in response to a small city getting swallowed up by a sneak attack that the keep that’s supposed to be protecting it doesn’t even find out about until the second wave of

[meteor752]

Dragon Individuals

Will I ever stop with the Lotr dragons? Nope.

This time I will talk specifically about certain Dragons/Dragonlings, and their lives before and after the title of Dragon Slayer was brought upon them. We will have one person for each type of dragons.

Smaug

Kinda given that I’d choose him, because I love him.

Smaug was known as Sirvil when he was still human, and grew up in an eastern village of middle earth. Sirvil was never a considered a rich or successful person. He was born as the youngest in a family of eleven, with a relatively weak and frail body that wasn’t useful at all on the crop fields that his family worked on, and he was often teased by his nine older sisters and brothers.

What Sirvil did have going for him was his looks however, at least when he got older. As a teenager, both young men and women would try to get it on with him, but he was never particularly interested in anyone. His entire focus was to become something great that everyone would remember, even after his death.

The moment he came of age, Sirvil left his simple eastern village for the west, searching for a way to move up in life. He became a merchant for a while, and worked under a lot of wealthy buisness men, which sure made him money, but no one still knew his name.

It was when he heard a whisper of the great ice dragon moln in the north that he got an idéa. Every great dragon were known through out middle earth, like the Sky dragon Rilva, king of the southern skies and the mountain dragon Diavanta, protector of the misty mountains. So as a dragon, everyone would know his name.

It took a lot of studying in the library of Minas Tirith, until he decided for the powerful fire dragon, more specifically Ember, the resting dragon in the volcano.

I won’t go into details on how Sirvil killed a dragon, he just did and boom he’s a Dragonling.

Sirvil’s time as a Dragonling was...tough, to say the least. A fire Dragonling takes almost five hundred years to fully transform, which was way too long in his opinion.

He started doing stuff that would get people’s attention, like as fast as he could breathe fire he would just burn everything, and as soon as his wings grew out (Which took years by the way, painful as fuck), he would use them to his advantage to spread his fire’s far and wide.

A Dragonling can feel when the time is near. Just a few months before they fully transform, their body starts to itch in a way, and they start to act a lot less human/elven/whatever species you are.

Sirvil was not fully aware of what would happen when he one day woke up and knew that he would shed his old skin and fully spread his wings, all he knew was that it was going to happen.

Just a few hours later, a burst of flames escaped his body and fully surrounded it, making him feel the most excruciating pain he’d ever felt, but not just from the dragon fire.

His mind was wiped, every memory of his past stolen from him greedily, leaving him a confused Wyvern with his mind on only one thing, gold.

His name was replaced by Smaug, a name that just came to him, as dragon names do. Their old ones are replaced by the new, just like their old lives were.

And you know the rest. A day or two later he burnt down Dale, claimed Erebor and became Lord Smaug, the King under the Mountain.

While the world never knew Sirvil’s name, it definitely knew Smaug’s.

Vrilta

Vrilta was a water dragon, who previously were an elf by the name of Elva.

Elva was born to a fisher by the name of Kamarind and an artist by the name of Vivian. Some of you may remember who these people are.

Elva was the first born of the two, back when the two were still monogamous and didn’t sleep with everyone they met. Elva was an only child for a long time, which she loved a lot, and when her younger brother Jessah was born, she showed endless love for him as well.

 She showed an early appriciation for her Nana’s art, but her true love was to follow her ada out on the sea, just to feel the waves beneath her feet. She could sit for hours and listen to her ada talk about legends and myths about the depht of the sea, and she always used to draw a thousand different made up sea creatures as a child.

It changed when her parents started taking different lovers to bed, and there was suddenly always someone new that took their attention. It got even worse when her ada got a female dwarf pregnant, and she suddenly had a dwelf sister that hung after her constantly everytime she was around.

Elva left Mirkwood as soon as she could, having no idea what she wanted to do with her life, except that it was going to be near the sea. So she went to the northern coast, not minding the cold as long as she could still feel the sea breeze in her hair as she walked bare foot down the beach.

She started to hang around a northern human village, mostly for food and shelter at the local tavern, but also for a chance to meet a human with a boat that could take her out on the ocean.

It was on a particullary cold night when she sat cooped up in the local library reading about sea life, when she stumbled upon the Water Dragon. She read about it, thought it was cool but nothing more, until she tearned the page where it stood about Water Dragonlings, her her being froze. There was a way to become a water creature, to live under the water without a care in the world?

Elva started researching about the way to become a dragon, which is fairly simple you just have to kill one, and her mind was set. She was going to become a dragonslayer.

The Water dragons lurked in the dept of lakes and oceans, and rarely came anywhere near the surface, so it was going to become a challange to do, but Elva was patient. She started trying to find ways to lock a Water Dragon up to the surface, to get it close so she could kill it.

She made a visit to Erebor to retrieve a Black dagger, a weapon made from the same material as the famous black arrows of Dale. It was not easy to make them make her one, as she was an elf and dwarves and elves were infamous for hating each other, but she eventually had it done for a very high price. It didn’t matter, soon she would be swimming around in the waters depht.

After five years of hunting for a Water Dragon, of being known as the mad water elf by the village she stayed in,of spending days by the cold shores of the night, her luck finally struck.

A small Water Dragon Hatchling, not more than a few months old, washed up on shore. Elva, who’d been there all night waiting and way half asleep, sprung up at the sight of the curious little thing that were inspecting a nearby crab.

She knew she had to be quick, since the Hatchlings parents would be there to retrieve it, so she sneaked up on the turqoise and cerise little creature and stabbed it quickly, ending it’s life.

She quickly fled the scene, feeling the slight tingle under her skin, a wide smile covering her features.

She had a relatively easy five hundred years as a Dragonling. Her parents were horrified by her decision, while their friend Tilda where just vibing by the side being supportive. Her brother Bain, had become Elva’s parents new lover and had brought them their fourth child,a Half-elf named Brand, but he a pretty pure creature and she loved him. The Dwelf was still a pain though.

After two hundred years of Light and Marine blue scales growing on her body and wings spurting out off her back, her lungs started to change to gills, which was more weird than painful. The change from having two legs to having one fin was more uncomfortable though, but then finally she was a water creature.

Elva refused to end the curse, despite the pleading of her parents and siblings (Especially Brand, who lost both his aunt and his grandfather to the curse), because she’d been working so hard to finally be able to swim freely, and even if she would loose her identity, she would still have control of her being.

So when the dragon fire surrounded her, she was calm despite the pain, and she was truly happy when she dove deep into the water, reincarnated as Vrilta.

Moln

No one knows anything about Moln’s past. Moln doesn’t even know his past. He’s one of the oldest beings in middle earth, and is actually kinda chill (Pun intended).

A lot of new Dragonlings that don’t know what’s going on go (Or fly, depends on how far into the dragon process they are) to his ice cave in the far north for advice, and he’s sorta like an old wise mentor, despite the fact that he barely remembers anything and just sorta guesses.

He also makes a bunch of ice puns, because ice puns are cool.

Qrikti

Qrikti is a forest dragon, that was actually the forest dragon that Tilda killed, fun fact. I thought about doing her, but I have so much about her so it would add nothing.

Qrikti was known as Hijami back when they were still human, and they grew up in a relatively small but friendly village in the south. They were a happy single child with two wonderful moms and a bunch of friends, and life couldn’t be better.

When Hijami got into their early teens however, things changed. Their moms and a couple of other people from their village was out on a simple hunt, but never returned. The village found what was left of the group a few days later, and the local healer identified it as a Dragon Attack.

Hijami was obviously devastated about their moms deaths, and during the funeral they decided that they were going to get revenge and slay the dragon

So they literally devoted their entire life to it. While their friends started relationships, got jobs, made a life for themselves, Hijami learner how to use weapons and how to take down a dragon.

Unfortunately they didn’t do much research on Dragons themselves, as they lived in a pretty isolated village and thought the only kind of dragons there were were the ones from the stories, which was huge fire breathing monsters that kidnapped maidens.

Instead, after they’d turned thirty five and went out to hunt it down, they found a pretty small dark green dragon that were chewing away on a giant branch without a care in the world.

Hijami were of course confused at first, but they thought that they could think about that later as they quickly attacked the dragon and slayed it by stabbing it in its eye.

And for them it was fine, they went home to their village, the dragons head in their hand, and got the title dragon slayer.

And then...they were pretty lost. They had devoted twenty years to training to kill the thing, and they didn’t know what to do.

So for a while, they didn’t do anything.

They became a story teller for the village kids, telling them about how they slayed the dragon (Often romanticizing it all of course), but otherwise they mostly just hung around.

Until something weird happened with their skin.

The skin around their neck started to harden and crack, and then suddenly there was a strange green thing there that refused to go away. And then another one. And just a year later their whole neck was covered in them.

No one in their village had any idea of what was going on, not even the healer. No one had seen such a thing before, but how would they? Again, they were pretty isolated from the rest of the world.

But it didn’t hurt or anything, it just itched sometimes, so Hijami just shrugged it off as some weird skin disease that would pass.

It was when the bump started to appear on their back, that slowly turned into their skin breaking open and wings spreading out (that took a year) and they thought that it might have something to do with the dragon they killed.

So they did a little more research about dragons, and found that when you kill one you turn into one, a phenomenon called The Dragon Curse.

And Hijami had the emotional breakdown of the century.

They chose not to inform anyone about it however, as they were too embarrassed that their blind hatred of the creature kept them from actually trying to find out anything about them.

So they just simply left their village, just wishing to wait out the Dragonling part.

Hijami had a rough time as a Dragonling, as they hated how they looked with the wings, horns and tail. They mostly lived in the wild, away from all the people, hoping that it would all be over soon.

Hijami never visited Moln, or met with any other Dragonling, so they had no idea what would happen when they three hundred years later started to transform.

But suddenly all their hate towards dragons, towards themselves, towards their own anger, was turned into hate towards the world.

Hijami was gone, left was only Qrikti.

Qrikti returned to th forest near Hijami’s old village in the south, and they stayed there for a few decades, killing anyone who dared to threaten their home.

It was when the village had enough and hired a woman with the companion of an elk that Qrikti met their end, and another was sent to hate themselves over her blindness.

Yalye

Yalye used to be a dwarf maiden by the name of Remdi before they were turned into a Spike Dragon.

Remdi was a proud Dwarf, with long thick hair and a long thick beard that she loved to style. She was a jeweler together with her brother and sister Reivi and Relli, and the three loved to craft jewelry such as necklaces, hair clips and rings just to wear them. They hoarded it like dragons. Which we will get to.

Remdi and her siblings used to live in Erebor before Smaug attacked (Dammit Sirvil this is why we can’t have nice things), where they lost their home and all they had ever known. Remdi, as the oldest, acted strong though, and did her best to encourage her siblings.

Remdi and her family found a place where they could settle down along with some other dwarves in a particularly dry spot of Middle Earth. The other dwarves would do stuff like mine for silver and gems, and Remdi and her family would turn them into beautiful jewelry they could sell to locals.

Their earned a lot less after the loss of their home, but there wasn’t much they could do.

It was one day where Remdi’s sister Relli needed a particularly sized and colored sapphire for the necklace she was working on, that Remdi followed some of the dwarves down to the mines to look, as Relli was busy crafting the chain for the necklace.

Remdi is though not a dwarf of physical action, but one that is more about careful crafting, so while walking through the desert on the way to the mine she ends up falling behind the other dwarves, which leads to her being lost.

In the desert.

In the middle of summer.

Oh boy.

She decides to stay where she is in hopes that the dwarves would return and find her, but when the night comes and goes, there’s still no sign for them and she starts to get dehydrated, so she leaves the rock she was sitting on in a quest for water.

The water problem is actually not that hard, she finds a water hole after only a few hours, it’s the food that’s the issue.

She had some rations with her, but not enough to last for long, and she’s scared to leave the water hole in case it would take days for her to get back and she would die of dehydration, so she sticks around.

It’s after a day that she sees a small figure move in the corner of her eye, and upon closer inspection it’s a small spiky little wyvern that’s drinking out of the water hole.

Now, keep in mind here, that Remdi is desperate. Like really, really desperate. So she slowly sneaks up on the thing, grabs onto it and breaks its neck with a quick motion.

After peeling off the scales and spikes from the small little thing, she cooks and eats it, and it’s surprisingly tasty according to her.

So continues doing that.

She binds the dragons spikes together to create a knife which would make it easier to kill the small little things.

It’s only a few weeks later that a sandy scale appears on her neck, and she suddenly remembers that the dragon curse is a thing, which is a problem.

The scales spread quickly, and small little spikes start popping out of her neck. She’s forced to quit her beard short because it’s in the way and also really hot, which is devastating to her.

She makes a few attempts to return to her home and her siblings, but somehow she always ends up at the same water hole, and after her wings grow out around her arms (Which only takes a few weeks, lucky bastard), she decides that it’s no use and simply stays at the water hole, eating whatever meat she could find.

She stopped using the knife though, as her claws, teeth and skin is pretty much knives at this point, that aren’t called Spike Dragons for nothing.

Fifty years pass, and the dwarf turns from Remdi to Yalye, which also makes her a lot smaller.

That is to her advantage though, as she quickly finds a tiny crack that leads her to a cave that’s relatively cold for being the desert.

It also leads her to her downfall, as the other spike dragons kill her pretty quickly since she killed many of their pack.

Yeah, Yalye has a short and tragic life.

Diavanta

Diavanta was a Mountain dragon of the Misty Mountains, and used to be known as Jessamine Took. Yep, she was a hobbit.

Jessamine, or Jessie, was your standard Took. Always a glint of adventure in her eyes, and a smile that would make anyone question her motives.

She grew up in The Shire like most hobbits, and was actually a pretty normal female hobbit. She had a curvy body, beautiful locks, big feet, pointed ears, all that Jazz. She wasn’t too different in the personality aspect either. She was just your standard hobbit basically.

But the thing is, Jessie easily got bored. And when she got bored, she would find something to do no matter what.

So one day when she was bored while watching some ponies, she was just like ‘Hey, I’m gonna ride one of those!’

So she rented a pony named Kimmie, got some supplies and took off, leaving The Shire behind. Why? Because she was bored!

Jessie travelled for many months, never really having a goal in mind apart from adventure! which doesn’t really lead to much.

Whenever she felt like it was too uninteresting, she took a new path, that would hopefully lead her to a more fun thing.

Which eventually lead her to the misty mountains, a mountain range that among other things were said to inhabit the great Mountain Dragon Grailli.

So Jessie was all for that.

So she traveled through the mountains with Kimmie, resupplied in Rivendell, neatly avoided any inhabitants of Goblin Town, you know, the usual.

It was when she took rest in a cave, that she first caught sight of Grailli. And with caught sight of, I mean the wall behind her cracked and collapsed, and she looked right into the silver eyes of the dragon.

And Jessie was just welp, I guess this is how I’ll die, it was fun, but everything has to end.

But the dragon simply stared intensely at her, tilting its head a little bit as if it was inspecting her.

After a full two minutes of the two staring at each other, the dragon was the one who broke eye contact by, closing its eyes and leaning its head down, exposing its scaly forehead.

Jessie was very confused at first, but when she tried to take a step away from the large thing it growled in her direction, but when she took a step forward it was fine.

So she walked up to the dragon, and the moment she was close enough the dragon snatched her in the middle of a step and pulled her down through the formed hole by biting onto her arm.

Jessie barely had time to scream as the dragon lead (Dragged) her into a enormous hole in the mountain, filled with gold, jewelry and all of that stuff that Hobbits never had cared too much about.

The second Jessie was placed carefully on the gold by help of the Dragons tail, it started to change. Shrink. Become less reptilian and more like a person.

And suddenly the gray dragon Grailli, protector of the misty mountains, was replaced by a scaly person with wings, horns, and a tail.

The person (Whose species and gender couldn’t make out because of the dragony traits, but she was sure that it was one of them tall folk) kneeled down to Jessie’s height and explained in a deep gravelly voice that they were getting old, stiff, forgetful. That they needed a replecement for the role of the protector of the Misty Mountains and the protector of the treasure.

And Jessie was just like Yeah sure whatever, so Grailli gave her a knife from the pile of gold, and instructed her how to properly kill them.

And sure, that was a little gross, but she still did as instructed mostly because she was curious of what would happen.

And for a long while, nothing did. She would just chill in the mountain hole, look through the gold for something fun, the goblins would bring her an offering of fruit and meat twice a week which was probably intended for Grailli, but it was still nice, and she mostly just talked with Kimmie.

It’s almost a few decades later that the first scale appeared, itching away on her skin. It’s weird, but honestly not that bad. Then they just keep appearing, and spread down from her neck to her back, and then there’s the bump on her shoulder blades and oh Valars the effing pain.

It took Jessie ten years to fully grow out her wings, ten years of barely being able to stand, of only being able to eat when she was practically starving, of spending all that time cuddled up to Kimmie because honestly it kind of helps by having her there.

When she finally is able to spread her wings however (That are waaaaay to large for her small Hobbit body, she has some problems learning how to fly) she takes a trip back to the shire for a few days just to show off.

Which is then that she realizes that her friends from youth, her sibling, all have become old. Some have died. And she’s till in her prime, barely thirty four, flapping around with her enormous bat wings.

When Jessie returned to the mountain, she’d changed. She was less bubbly, less adventurous, less tookish, and more...cold. One could argue that it was the hard nature of the Mountain Dragon that made it, while one could say it was the realization of what her curiosity had left behind. In reality, it was kind of both.

Kimmie passed, she lived a long life for a pony, and Jessie was alone. And bored.

So she took new animals into the mountain hole, just to have as company. Bunnies, goats, an alligator once, some say she had a warg as a pet for a while, but they all died as well.

Jessie went through her transformation a thousand years after she’d first met the might Grailli, and even as Diavanta she felt sad and lonely.

She still do.

King Rilva

This one’s fun.

King Rilva was an ordinary man named Stjarna before he became who he was.

Stjarna has always been a fucking psychopath. Even in his childhood.

He was raised in a pretty large town, with constant buzzing and noise. Stjarna hated it.

He wanted it quiet so he could write his pretty creepy texts and paint his horrifying pictures based on his dreams in peace. He couldn’t do that with the sound of the market from outside or his younger sister and brothers constant nagging on how they wanted to play with him.

So he did what all good brothers do, lead them into the forest behind the town and killed them both in cold blood, before dumping them in a lake.

His parents were devestated of course, and he played the part as a hurting brother perfectly, though he was happy that he could finally write and draw in peace.

Until a new family moved in next door, and they had a daughter around his age that just wouldn’t stop singing.

So he killed her too.

Stjarna normally didn’t feel much, but when he first watched the life drain out of first his siblings and then the girls eyes as they screamed, he couldn’t help but like it a little.

So he kept doing it, stalking someone until he knew he could steal them away to murder them.

He was discovered about the murders in his mid twenties by a small child walking in on him killing its mother, and he didn’t manage to catch up with it.

So instead he ran to his house, grabbed the bag he had pre packed for occasions like this and fled from his town, going south.

Probably the best decision he’d ever done, as he could find plenty of calm places to draw and write in nature, and sometimes someone innocent would be spotted that he could take out just to feel that rush on sensation. And for food, time and time again.

It was after almost two years of traveling that he stumbled upon a castle ruin, where he got captured by a group of people dressed in similar white clothing with face paint.

The group of people were a form of cult that worshipped a beautiful pearly white dragon by the name of Lord Parla, and they were meaning to sacrifice Stjarna to him.

When Stjarna was brought before Parla, just kind of accepting his demise, he was surprised to see that the dragon smiled slightly at him, and spoke that he should be spared. For now.

At first Stjarna didn’t like that at all, especially considering how the people, or Skylings as they called themselves, treated the dragon like he was a gift from above, and Stjarna had never believed in a high mightier power.

But when one of the Skylings tried to steal food they were going to offer, and the punishment for it was public execution by the blue fire of Parla, he saw a benefit he hadn’t seen before.

So he started to play along with the whole cult thingy, acting utterly devoted while planning to take Parla’s place as dragon lord and leader of the Skylings, with the power to kill in seconds.

After almost ten years as a part of the cult, he finally saw his chance to slay the dragon, when he was the one to bring the offer gift of food.

While Parla ate, he took out the knife he’d used on all of his victims, and stabbed the thing right in the eye before the lord had time to realize what he was doing.

So now came the problem of explaining to the Skylings about what happened, but Stjarna had always been a fast thinker and good with words.

So he told the cult that Parla had started to become old, and that he was chosen as to be the replacement for him.

And the cultists actually believed him.

Stjarna had an easy time as a Dragonling thanks to his followers. He barely had to do anything, as they would give him all he wanted, and if someone didn’t satisfy him then he would kill them.

When Stjarna fully transformed and became Lord Rilva, he was at first a bit confused, but the Skylings told him that he was their lord and protector, and they would follow him to the end of time.

And Rilva was all for that.

He loved the power that came with being a Dragon Lord and ordering around his followers, and he quickly became addicted to it.

It got to the point where he started to invade nearby villages with the skylings just to have more land and more people following him.

And so his status changed from Lord Rilva to King Rilva of the south.

And he wasn’t a bad king either, in fact he was kinda good at his job.

As a dragon, he was able to give powerful protection to his people. Sky dragons possess the second hottest flames in Middle Earth, and few dared to threaten that. Those who did were quickly killed.

Rilva didn’t take prisoners either, if someone broke one of his laws then they were executed on the spot, which meant that most people followed his rules.

And Rilva thrived in seeing the life leave his victims eyes, so he didn’t always mind when people did break the law.

Eniph

Eniph was a man by the name of Alleth before his time as a Swamp Dragon, and with man I mean boy because he was twelve.

Alleth was a pretty odd child in comparison to others. He was born in a home just outside of a small village, not too far away from a swamp.

The swamp was something that always fascinated Alleth, mostly because it was different from everything else around it. It had its own unique plants, its own odd animals, its own enviorment that he wanted to explore.

So everyday when Alleth was done with his chores, he would run to the swamp to write down what he saw in a notebook.

It was one day, a month or two after his twelth birthday when he was walking on a soggy path that he stumbled on a root and fell right into the swamp water.

Except, it wasn’t a root. 

At first he thought it was an alligator or something and he panicked, until he saw the club like tail, and he realized he’d stumbled upon a Swamp Dragon.

The Swamp dragon seemed to just have woken up considering how it blinked lazily at him, and Alleth knew that there was a big chance that he was going to die.

So he quickly grabbed a nearby branch with a relatively pointy end, and stabbed the dragon with it, and he managed to pierce the eye as it soon bled out and died before him before it had time to fully understand what was going on.

Alleth broke down crying after the dragon had passed, as he loved the swamp and he knew killing the Swamp’s protector really wasn’t a good thing.

He snuck home, burned the clothes that were covered thick murky blood, and decided to not tell his family of what he’d done.

It took two years for Alleth to realize he was no longer aging, and the same went for his parents, but there weren’t any local healers that knew what exactly was happening to him.

It became ever more evident when his younger brother started aging past him.

His parents were frantic, and it got to the point were they had to search up a wizard for aid, more specifically Radagast the brown.

When Alleth sat in front of the odd wizard, technically fifteen but physically and mentally twelve, he was asked pretty standard stuff, if he’d been cursed in any way and stuff like that.

But then Radagast asked his parents to leave so he could talk with him alone, and he started asking more serious questions.

One of which was if he’d ever killed a dragon.

After Alleth told Radagast of the day he slayed the swamp dragon, he was quiet for a minute before telling him of the dragon curse.

Alleth’s heart stopped.

He left his family after that, and was sent away by Radagast to live with another Swamp Dragonling named Reskal. Reskal used to be an elf before he killed the dragon a few decades prior, and was generally just living through the same confusion as Alleth.

Alleth became famous among the Dragons and Dragonlings, as he was the youngest Dragon Slayer that had ever lived. Reskal and Alleth made a home in a large and pretty comfortable swamp, and every other month there was everything from a Mountain Dragon to a Spike Dragonling there, just to see if the rumours were true.

Alleth and Reskal both had a hard time during the wing growth, and they made sure to be there for each other when they each had theirs. 

After a few decades a young Forest Dragonling named Tilda visited their swamp, just to ask for advice about what she’d expect from her transformation. Reskal handled most of the talking, while Alleth petted her elk.

It was when Reskal’s behavior started to change, when he became more territorial and more defensive, that Alleth was forced to leave. His wings were weak and his tail heavy so it wasn’t easy flying, but he managed to get back to the swamp that he’d killed the dragon.

Because of the death of the Swamp’s Swamp Dragon, that he’d learned was named Bibban, the swamp was a lot less friendly and cozy and a lot more toxic.

So he made it his goal that he would restore the swamp to its formal glory, and then when he transformed he would protect it with his life.

And when he left his twelve year old body behind, and became a tiny little hatchling named Eniph, he did just that.

And the swamp still stands to this day.

Giftatt

Oh how I love the venom dragons.

Giftatt used to be a man named Poiyo, who was one of those protagonists. 

And with that I mean the ones who are all “I work alone” and “I only dress in black” and “Oh I’m so sad the night is my one true friend”. 

You know, your Geralt, your Batman, your fucking Thorin.

Poiyo has his tragic backstory of how his parents died, of how he was raised in some abusive orphanage and how he swore to protect those who could not be protected so they wouldn’t end up like him, you get the idea.

So Poiyo gets a request by some random village to take out a large black and purple dragon that had been plaguing their village and poisoning their crops, and he was just like yeah sure whatever.

So he tracked down the dragon, who was huge by the way, and he had a tough time killing it as it was pretty bouncy and its tail constantly wagging back and forth which was really hard to avoid, as he could possibly die if he would have touched it.

But after a long and rough battle, the black and purple dragon finally laid slayn in front of him.

And Poiyo felt a strange sensation in his body. He didn’t feel much anymore, and when he did it was mostly anger or sadness. But the feeling in his chest, it was the opposite of that. He felt warm.

Poiyo found out later that the dragon had been a Venom Dragon, the most dangerous species alive. He felt a weird sense of pride in having killed one, which was also something he didn’t feel often.

The warm feeling continued to appear in his chest during seemingly random moments. Once when he saw a child laugh, when someone smiled at him, when he ate a food he liked. None of it made sense to him.

He found out about the dragon curse and didn’t have too much of a problem with it. To have wings instead of a horse, to have claws instead of a sword, to be a being of pure poison and venom, it all seemed useful to him.

Until he found a perculiar fact about Venom Dragons, and their puppy like behavior.

And he realized what the warm feeling in his chest was. Happiness.

He is disgusted.

As times goes on and he starts to change physically more, his behavior changes as well. He starts to smile more at people, greet them when he walks by, when kids ask him questions he actually answers them instead of snarling.

He barely has any control of his actions, he’s just suddenly all friendly and stuff.

He starts to want people around him more, and he gets sad and lonely whenever he’s alone.

He starts feeling negatve things too, like anxiety and stuff, which he hates just as much as the fluffy lovey stuff.

He even has a lover for a while. Not for long of course, because he starts to become poisonos and he doesn’t want to hurt him so he breaks it off, but still. 

(Though sometimes Poiyo thinks back to dark curly hair, pale soft skin and green shining eyes).

After the wings appeared after almost six years of pain, he begins to have the problem of accidentally killing people, which becomes more of an issue when he wants to be around them all the time. But at the same time he still don’t, so it’s just a constant inner conflict when it comes to this boy.

So instead of seeking out people to please his inner dragon, he starts to look for other Venom Dragonlings, which is easier said than done.

He meets quite a few Spike Dragonlings, a Fire Dragonling obssessed with fame (Whom he has a brief relationship with), two water dragonlings, two Swamp Dragonlings, a Mountain Dragonling, and the mighty Moln himself, but Venom Dragonlings are hard to find.

So he just finds a cave in the first mountain he can find and just waits it out, thinking it will just be easier when he becomes a full fledged dragon.

And when Poiyo vanishes and Giftatt emerges, he still has a bit of his human traits by feeling weird everytime he’s happy for seeing someone new.

***

OH MY GOD THIS TOOK TIME

Like I don’t think you understand, I’ve been writing this for weeks.

BRIEF SMALL FACTS ABOUT THESE BOYS.

Sirvil/Smaug is Demiromantic Asexual

Elva/Vrilta is Aromantic Asexual

Moln has no idea what he is

Hijami/Qrikti is Bisexual and Non-Binary

Remdi/Yalye is heterosexual and Transgender

Jessie/Diavanta is Pansexual

Stjarna/Rilva is Aromantic Pansexual

Alleth/Eniph is a god damn child thank you very much

Poiyo/Giftatt is Homosexual

Elva means eleven in Swedish

Moln means cloud in Swedish

Stjarna (Or Stjärna) means Star in Swedish

Parla (Or Pärla) means pearl in Swedish

Giftatt comes from the word Gift, which means venom/poison in Swedish

When I don’t have ideas for names, I just take some random Swedish word.

All the other names comes from me Keyboard smashing

Hijami and Alleth’s stories comes from my uncle

Jessie’s story comes from a friend of mine

Stjarna’s story comes from another friend of mine

Remdi’s story comes from a typo from a third friend of mine

I JUST LOVE DRAGONS OKAY!!!!!!

AU Masterpost

[pigeontheoneandonly]

The Rescue

A Dragon Age / Mass Effect crossover, because that’s apparently what my brain wanted to work on today. (Part 2)

Kaidan Alenko was twenty-two years old when he started awake to the rattling of the iron window frame nearest his bed, one of several in the mage barracks of Kinloch Hold. Though less than thirty feet above the ground, it was rare for anything more than the breeze to trouble it; once, shortly after he first moved to this room, a bird flew into the panes and he hadn’t been able to sleep for a week.

But now something scrabbled at it.  He reached for his staff, trying not to make a sound.  The cords supporting his straw-stuffed mattress creaked as he sat up. Wishing for a fleeting moment he had his full robes on, instead of only the linen chemise, feeling defenseless without the layers of wool.  But that was ridiculous.  Not a stitch of it was enchanted.  The only item he owned that had such expensive work was the wooden staff.  He carved it himself and affixed the lyrium-inscribed crystal, issued with great solemnity from the senior enchanter’s stores a few years after his Harrowing.  All mages were entitled to a staff, if only because they couldn’t do the Circle’s work without one.

Kaidan held it now, pointed at the window, unable to see more than a flicker of a dark form in the night beyond its glass.  Waiting.

The lock snicked. The window swung inward.  He gripped the wood tightly, a spell rising on his lips—

A face appeared. Brown and weathered, blue eyes bright even in the faint torchlight from the hall, lockpicks in its mouth and a flag of red hair tied up in a scarf.  

“Mmmph!” it said, eyes widening at the sight of the staff.

Kaidan half-strangled himself pulling back the magic.  Still holding the staff out in shock.  More than a dozen years, and somehow he still knew her instantly.  It shouldn’t be possible.  They’d been children.

She saw his flicker of recognition, and relaxed into a smile, levering herself into the room and spitting out her tools so she could talk.  “Excellent, this is the right room.  For what I paid the information should’ve been good, but you never know with templar types—”

“Nathaly?” A hoarse whisper.  Not believing what he saw, and not wanting any of the other mages sleeping nearby to notice regardless of whether this was real. Much less the templar guard half-dozing beyond the doorway.  

She padded into the room, enough to peer out beyond the walls of his cubby, checking to see if anyone else had noticed her arrival.  Her clothes had changed.  No more the coarse homespun of a herder’s daughter; she wore well-fitted leather armor over dyed shirt and leggings, the brightness of their colors telling the expense, and carried a sword and bow on her back with all evidence of frequent use. He stared at her back, disconcerted.

Nathaly returned, her voice low.  “Nobody’s heard us.  Get dressed. We’re leaving.”

He finally managed to lower his staff. Stammering to his feet.  “I— what— you—”

She flashed him a broad smile, smug and almost giddy.  His stomach fluttered.  “I promised I’d come and get you out.  Just took a little longer than I planned, is all.”

They’d been eight and and nine, respectively.  Fetching water in the village.  She’d attacked the templars who grabbed him, bashing her fists bloody against their armor because futility only encouraged her.  Jumping up one’s back after they brushed her aside and hanging onto his hair like a burr.  It took both of the others to remove her, and the baker and his wife to restrain her so they could leave.  He remembered it well because it was the last nice thing anyone had done for him.  His own parents hadn’t fought; in a village that size, the Chantry’s orders might as well be the word of the Maker Himself.

And she had screamed reassurances, as the templars loaded him onto a horse and carried him off. Just sit tight, I’m coming.  

He never believed it.  And yet here she was.

Nathaly touched his shoulder, gave him a shake.  “Kaidan, we have to go.  It’s not safe here.”

Not safe here. A hysterical laugh bubbled up his throat.  He clamped a hand over his mouth.  She couldn’t know the half of it.  “It’s not safe out there, either.  They steal children, but they kill apostates.”

Her brow furrowed. “You haven’t heard?”

“Heard what?”

“Some apostate in Kirkwall blew up their Chantry.  Not the little ones down in the districts— the big one, gilded up by the high mucks.”  She took a breath.  “It’s all going to come apart, sooner rather than later.  I’m not leaving you here to twist in the wind.”

Kaidan’s knees failed him and he sat back on the bed, heavily enough to make her wince at the noise.  Her hand straying to a dagger on her belt as she glanced again at the other cubbies. If that was true… if the Chantry decided mages were an active threat rather than a mere danger… But apostates would find no refuge anywhere.  There wouldn’t be an option to come back and face whatever punishment awaited. Sleeping in various chambers on this floor and one above it were the only people he’d known for most of his life, and if he did this, he’d never see any of them again.

The indecision must have shown on his face, because Nathaly crouched in front of him, and took both his hands in hers.  Her face nearly level squatting on the floor, she’d gotten so tall.  “Kaidan, I will protect you.  I’ll take you out of Ferelden, or to Tevinter, or across the Amaranthine Ocean if I have to.  If this tower is what you want, I’ll go, but if you want more than this… Do you trust me?”

He stared into her eyes.  On the Circle’s best days, he’d never wanted this.  And in the face of all sanity, he believed her, every word, because even at eight years old Nathaly was still the strongest person he’d ever known, strong enough to keep an impossible vow across more than a decade.  “I trust you.”

“Then let’s go. We don’t have much time.  I have a boat waiting, but we have to be across before the moon rises.”

“Right.”  He pulled his robe off its hook and over his head, and then found his cloak in the trunk.  He’d rarely needed it and it remained like new, deep blue wool lacking all insignia, a small blessing.  Belting on a pouch with his meager stash of coin and throwing a handful of useful or sentimental items into a knapsack, and then at last grabbed his staff, because he was damned if he was leaving his only real defense behind.  “My phylactery—”

“A friend’s taking care of it.  Owes me a favor.  We’ll give the signal when we’re clear.”

He wanted to ask how, but realized it didn’t matter.  His mind was made up.  “I don’t know how I’m getting down.”

“I’ve got a rope.” Again that smile. “All you have to do is hang on.  Then I’ll untie it up here and climb down to you.”

The next bell had just started to ring when she dropped lightly onto the grass beside him, and took his arm.  “Come on. It’s this way.”

They stole across the open field surrounding the Circle Tower.  Kaidan’s shoulders itched, as if he could feel a hundred templar eyes fixed on him through the stone walls.  So distracted he found the boat with his shins and had to stop himself from cursing aloud.  

It sloshed gently in the water.  A tall, spare man reached out to help him in.  “Easy there.  So, you’re Kaidan, huh?”

“Yes?”  The man talked as if he recognized him, but Kaidan never saw him before in his life.

“We can do introductions later,” Nathaly interrupted, grasping the rowboat by its prow and pushing off from the shore.  “Garrus.”

“I’ve got it.” He stood up straight and cupped his hands around his mouth.  A sound emerged, a birdcall, nothing native to this area.  So loud that Kaidan cringed down into the boat.

Her hand rubbed his back.  And he was almost more surprised by that small act of thoughtless comfort than the noise. “It’s just the signal.  Telling our friends we’re ready.”

“Do we wait for them, or…?”  

She shook her head and swung herself into the boat, boots soaked.  “They’re getting out another way.  Our part here’s done.  We’ll meet them at the rendezvous in Crestwood in three days.”  Then, catching his expression, “Don’t worry.  We’re not going into the village proper.  Or at least, you’re not and they’re not. Garrus and I will go for supplies and hear the news.  That’ll decide what we do next.”

They settled in the boat, Garrus drawing a paddle out from beneath the seats and cutting into the surface with barely a ripple.  Tonight, Lake Calenhad was smooth as glass, and quiet as a graveyard.  Kaidan glanced at the stars.  “We’re not headed towards the mainland docks.”

Nathaly nodded. “We’ll take the coast on foot and range north until we reach the Imperial Highway.  From there, we’ll be another group of travelers.  We’ve got clothes stashed for you on the shore.  I had to guess the sizing, but they’ll do for now.”

“Quiet,” Garrus said.  For the first time, Kaidan noticed the massive compound bow under his cloak, and the way his drab brown-gray clothes melded into the dark.  “Night like this, voices carry.”

Good sense prevailed, and they made the rest of the journey in silence.  At some point, Nathaly reached over and took his hand. He clung to her fingers and watched the tower and his life of thirteen years grow small on the horizon until the night swallowed them both.

[kurogabae]

TSUBASA: TRAINWRECK CHRONICLES

And Why Bee Train Are Officially Being Labeled, By Me, As The Boomers Of Animation

PART 1 – PART 2 – PART 3 -- Part 4

[Slim Shady’s “Guess Who’s Back” plays in the distance, muffled but threatening]

Look, I know I usually have something to say at the start of these, but honestly? Let’s just go because we’re starting knee-deep in some bullshit. 

Tsarastora (yes... fucking AGAIN):

Well, it didn’t take long for us to return to the land of the walking Not Dead Anymore. Rumor has it that Bee Train was ordered to retcon the S1 finale immediately because who do you think you are to break one of CLAMP’s cardinal rules like that?!? But I’ve never seen any proof of exactly what went down about this plot. But I’m forced to believe Ohkawa materialized behind the director one day and threatened to eat his spine or some shit. 

Anyway. We’re here. Again. And for some reason this is where they decide to have Sakura give Yuuko her White Day gift? Instead of in Piffle? Where she made it? With Tomoyo?

Stop stealing my moments Bee Train. It’s like you’re the crew who edited CCS for America back in the day and tried to market it towards boys so you pushed Syaoran as the main character and tried to remove all romance. Let Sakura have friends! Let her interact with people and have a story! LET HER BE BI!!!

So Yuuko has a dress and Fai makes a joke about being in heaven because the place is so pretty and Kurogane says not to, quote, “say such unlucky things” and it’s moments like this that make you wonder if they Knew and just didn’t care about Fai’s past or if they really were just as in the dark as the rest of us. I flip flop a lot between the two. 

Either way, now the dads are talking about the kids and how brave Syaoran is (why the bullshit in Piffle prompted this I do not know but whatever I guess?) and basically just about how badly they want them to succeed but without just saying it. Meanwhile Sakura is telling Syaoran about her latest memory and I could not for the life of me tell you which one it was and I refuse to go check. The important thing here is that the lazy animation trick that has given Mokona the power of flight is back and she’s hovering around the gang now. Not sitting on shoulders or anything. Just... flying around like she’s Kero. This is fine. I guess.

And then, after what has to be like a solid half hour of just dicking around Mokona Very Suddenly senses a feather. Why so suddenly? Because they wanted to get everything else out of the way first and it was convenient. No other reason. The feather isn’t moving. Neither are they really. She just decides to turn her sensors on now? IDK. Maybe she needs a tune up.

They find the feather not far away just casually sitting inside a rock and everyone but Kurogane is like “Yay! Easy find! Go us!” because apparently no one can learn anything in this anime about what those fucking feathers do. Spoilers: it’s not a rock, it’s a dragon.

[Kurogane voice]: kin

The dragon fucks off and here we come to a Thing. Now, Kurogane is ready to slaughter this thing and wear its bones basically. He is Ready to Fight in a real way. I found that odd and really didn’t care for it. In Hanshin he seems in awe of Celes when it appears to him and even though it’s mostly fanon that Kurogane respects and likes dragons that makes sense. His family’s guardian was a dragon, his sword was modeled after a dragon. His whole motif is dragons! Why is he so ready to kill this one? Does it not count if it’s not a Nihon dragon? Does only Ginryuu get respect? It just feels bad???

But none of that matters because guess what! Dragon shaped as it might be, the thing is a demon? At least, that’s what they’re calling it. Sometimes. Fai says demon, Syaoran says dragon. They don’t.... agree on the term? Shut up. It’s a dragon.

So they soon realize that they are back in Should Be Very Dead-ville and oh no everyone is going to die again unless we get this OTHER feather because if one feather can buy us a month of living surely one more will fix our deaths forever right? ....right? (On a side note; Fai makes a comment about how weird it is that two feathers fell in the same world while he’s from Celes and knows damn well he found two and is unaware of a third!!!) 

Either way the family is gonna help because, you know. Feather. If memory serves, the dragon is hiding in a lake, so what does Kurogane (who is now in charge because of course) have them do? They set the lake on fucking fire. And it delights him. It do not, however, delight the dragon, who, understandably, goes apeshit. Luckily, no one dies and they just hack off the horn that the feather was stuck in. And then they... take it to God again because wow they really do think this will work. Sakura, honey, I know how sweet you are but it only got them one month last time. What good will this do?

The answer is no good!

God basically tells them it’s tough tits, the month long visitation was all they could manage and no matter how many super powered magic bird parts they bring the dead are dead and that’s that. Which sucks for those villagers but haha, bummer for FAi to have to hear. Again. After watching Sakura wish someone to life with a mere piece of her soul. Again. Wonder how that felt. (Short post about Kurogane and Fai’s possible feelings here.)

So to end the episode, Sakura gets her feather back and then the family leaves town but sticks around on the outskirts to watch everyone fucking die again like some sick ass fuckers!!!

I’m not even going to talk about the stupid memory she gets with papa!Clow and learning about how death is a Thing via her dead pet bunny. It happens. It’s inorganic. I hate it. Shut up Clow.

The episode is over and I’ll leave you with this to heal your souls.

I am a simple woman.

Portoria:

WE’RE ON A BOAT MOTHA FUCKER!

If you’re too young to recognize that joke, click the link for... an experience. Wear headphones. Everyone else, please join me in this not-a-Wind-Waker-AU. 

We’re gonna skip all of my bad sailor jokes and focus for a minute on Kurogane’s Sinbad cosplay here because yes good hello I am easily distracted. 

Anyway, the captain is this world’s version of Koryo’s shitty Ryanban and Kurogane and Fai have a moment to wax philosophical about whether or not souls are inherently good or evil, which is fine and I would hardly mention if, while they were doing this, the “camera” wasn’t stood still on an image of Syaoran and Sakura just... smiling at each other while the dads spoke. Like the kids aren’t even doing anything, they’re just smiling. It’s weird. It’s also almost like accidental foreshadowing because HAHA THOSE ARE CLONES! But I’m not gonna go into it for the sake of this joke.

On the ship everyone has to work, Kurogane is terrorizing his new shipmates into compliance under his leadership, Fai and Sakura are cooking fish, and Syaoran is in the engine room with a child version of Fujitaka AKA his father. Understandably, Syaoran is Feeling Emotions, not that the animation is any indicator of this. He also calls a ten year old daddy so things are going great. 

Now yes, Syaoran must miss his father terribly, not only has he been dead for who knows how long exactly (anywhere upwards of 5 years possibly) but Syaoran is far from home without any pictures or familiarity to remind him of Fujitaka, and now he’s got some savant elementary schooler who is an AU version of his dad basically sharing his deepest hopes and dreams.  It’s a weird episode. Oh, and there is no feather, but Mokona is sweet as can be and stays so Syaoran can get to know this version of Fujitaka. Which honestly seems more like a punishment than anything to me, but hey. 

Also, there’s a sea monster. And a haunted island. And something that sounds suspiciously like Piedmon from Digimon. 

Syaoran and Fujitaka get stranded on the island after getting yeeted overboard and the captain telling the rest of the family that his ancestors forbid people from going to the island is enough to stop a rescue mission? Like. Kurogane AND Sakura are sitting there, letting nothing happen. This is fine. Everything is fine. 

And it kinda is because the island if filled with old shit and Syaoran is geeking out like a kid surrounded by his special interest would be expected to. 

In the end, the creepy laughter was wind, the island isn’t haunted, the family tries to row out to save Syaoran and a sea monster is on screen for all of 30 seconds. This episode was boring. Dull. It wasn’t even particularly angsty because Bee Train has no concept of emotional DEPTH!! Their expressions and emotions are as flat as Fai’s ass and as dry as Clow’s deserts. This could have been a very moving and fascinating filler episode, but Bee Train remains in capable of doing ANYTHING AT ALL EVER! I’m bored. This is boring.

At least Sakura looked cute in her little sailor outfit. 

The next episode is “A Date With a Wizard” and that shitshow is getting its own post. Peace. 

PART 1 – PART 2 – PART 3 -- Part 4

[eyesopen2019]

Last stop in China - Kunming

On 16th October we were dropped at the tiny Shangri-la airport for our short flight to Kunming which is a city of 6.6 million and 625km away.  There were no trains servicing Shangri-la and the bus journeys were too long for me, especially with kids who get motion sick, due to the mountainous terrain.  But it was amazing to see the close mountain ranges on both sides of the plane as we took off, and I hoped the pilots had good training.  We’d decided to stay for the remaining time we had in China in Kunming as we’d heard it was a pleasant city with lots to do nearby and we didn’t think we had time to go to Guilin as we’d earlier planned.  Kai especially was getting very fatigued with our constant travel and was keen to stay in one place for a bit longer.  Our Airbnb was a small but clean and recently renovated apartment right next to Green Lake Park which was where we’d been recommended to stay.

On our first night in the city, Hung and I stumbled across one of the snack street areas which was next to several large shopping malls. We tried some Chinese noodle dishes which were different to others we’d had previously then we found a supermarket and stocked up on cereal, eggs, bread, milk, pasta, pesto, bacon and cheese which were the staples we were always looking for when we arrived somewhere new and kept the kids, especially Kai, going.  The following day we met Anders (a Swedish man we met in the TLG) for lunch at Salvador’s which is supposed to have the best western food in town and enjoyed some Mexican food which was pretty good.  We wandered around checking out the surrounding streets for the afternoon and on our way home we found the Kunming Zoo which was 60 rmp ($11) for us all to visit so we decided to check it out.  Some of the enclosures were fairly small but they have a huge variety of animals, including a black panther, and we didn’t manage to see them all.  Leon’s favourite was the sloth while Lani loved the otters and snakes.  They both were surprised how big the camels were and said that was the first time they’d seen a camel in real life.

The next day Leon woke early and for some reason suddenly thought that there must be some new books out that he hadn’t read and we spent a morning checking out bookshops looking for the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid, but after some online research we found out it wasn’t being released for another month.  We did find some bilingual versions of books he has, as well as a couple of new books in English which we bought.  Then we spent a few hours in a café with a good coffee enjoying them.  We came home to get Lani and we visited the zoo for the afternoon to check out the rest of the animals we hadn’t seen on our first visit. We also managed to see an acrobatic show in the zoo theatre which was as good as the one we’d seen in Beijing, although the clowns were really annoying and noisy.  Hung and Kai went for a wander in town together for the afternoon to check out the shopping areas while we were at the zoo.  

There were several interesting day trips from Kunming. One day we got a car out to the western hills area or Xishan scenic spot which is an area to the west of Kunming with forested mountains and various temples.  From the ticket office we got a bus to the cable car station to get the cable car to Dragon Gate overlooking Dian Lake from where we could walk along a rocky path cut into the steep cliffs looking at the views and temples along the way. The area, like most places we visited in China, was very crowded with domestic tourists which definitely takes away from the quietness of visiting these natural areas.  Lani wasn’t too happy to find out that we had to walk down the side of the mountain once we had arrived by cable car with her asking, ‘What’s the point of going up if you just have to walk down?’.  But once we had descended down the path we got another cable car which crossed a section of Dian Lake from where we got a bus back home.

Another day we caught a bus to the Stone Forest which is 75km from Kunming and apparently just far enough away from Kunming so most people who live there never visit it.  It is a set of limestone peaks which looks like a stone forest and covers over 400 sq kilometres.  As you wander through the site it feels like a stone maze with huge limestone peaks with many different formations.  The kids enjoyed exploring the different areas, especially once we got away from where the bulk of tourists seemed to be.  After a couple of hours we decided to get a taxi to the Jiuxiang caves which are about 40km away.  After we arrived our taxi driver wanted to wait for us to see the caves and take us the 45min back to the stone forest and he refused to shut off the meter, but after some discussions with broken English we told him that we didn’t need him to stay and wait for us.  The caves are a cluster of 100s of caves and we walked along the designated path through some of the largest caves which were interesting but filled with coloured lights which made it seem artificial.  It was quite busy and we followed along behind several tour groups all talking very loudly and taking many photos.  There were several large waterfalls inside the caves which were very beautiful and there was meant to be a boat ride but we couldn’t seem to find it.  At the end of the path, we got a cable car back to the entrance and had to rush as we were told the last bus out was about 5pm. After getting on the bus we waited for about an hour before leaving which was annoying as we’d rushed through the caves to get on it but the kids were all tired and enjoyed just sitting as we’d walked a lot in the heat during the day.  We then had one of the bumpiest bus rides I have ever had with the road very poorly maintained and the bus with either too much or not enough suspension, I’m not sure.  I just know it was about 2 hours of constant bumping and almost hitting the roof with our heads.  We arrived at a  central bus station in I’m not sure where but from there we got another bus back to Kunming. It was a very long day but I was pleased we’d managed to see both areas in one day.  When we got back to Kunming, Hung was keen to jump on a bus for a few hours and to checkout some other local surrounding areas but in the end decided he was too tired.  

We spent several mornings and evenings wandering through the Green Lake Park and found a constant supply of Chinese people, young and old, playing games, singing, chatting and dancing together.  On the weekend, there were groups of 100’s of people dancing together for hours in different areas according to their dancing style.  This aspect of Chinese culture, with people joining together in parks, promotes community togetherness and encourages people to participate and I’m sure there are less people alone at home than in many western countries.  

Several other things are really well done in China, including the public toilets which you can find on most streets.  They are free and fairly clean, although smelly, but a necessity with several children in tow.  We also appreciate their various delivery services which are cheap and very efficient. One evening we needed water and after contacting our Airbnb host we had a deliver driver at our door 20mins later with a full bottle of water ready for installation.

On our last Sunday in Kunming we had a relaxing day, as Lani and I got up early and wandered around the park.  We found a man selling fishfood and she fed fish with another girl for a long time.  After a couple of hours we went home to get the boys and Kai took Leon and Lani for a ride in one of the electric boats for rent on the lake and they went around all over the place shooting things with water and crashing into bouys.  It was good to see Kai out enjoying the ride with Leon and Lani as it is easy to forget that at over 6ft he is still a 13yo kid. We all enjoyed Kunming but especially Kai, as he had a desk in his room overlooking the lake where he could play computer games as well as a Starbucks around the corner where he could duck out for drink when he wanted.  But by the end of our stay we were looking forward to traveling onto Vietnam.

[bespokeminutiae]

8 Phoenix 1325

8 Phoenix 1325

Feorylle,

I apologize again for the delay in my responses to your notes. Still, I’ve had an interesting week, and I hope you’ll find something satisfying in my letters.

Trahearne

3 Phoenix 1325

Finally, a quiet moment.

We couldn’t find a way to make it to the area with the reliquaries by land, so at our supply drop two days ago, our quartermaster took us south by sea, around the mountains. I’m still in shock, I think. There’s just so much here, and it’s comparatively untouched! Miss Fans is positively beside herself, and I think even Olio was impressed, and his purpose here is just to be sure Miss Fans and I make it back. He’s currently probing the mainland to try and find places we can explore without dying. There’s so much magical activity here that we can’t charge in without a plan.

Miss Fans and I have set up camp on an island, at the base of an impossibly tall spire, stone interwoven with wrecked ships. It’s the first thing you see when you round the cape. They’re mostly pirate ships, all from before the dragon woke and Orr rose. I wonder if they were trying to get to Elona? There’s a small group in the Order of Whispers that occasionally mentions corsairs from the South, but I haven't heard anything specific. Miss Fans has been searching them for anything of historical importance and I’ve been largely useless except as a pack dolyak. She’s mostly interested in human history and artifacts of the gods, and though it’s always interesting to hear someone talk about a topic they’re passionate about, I can’t say I share her enthusiasm for the field or her expertise in discerning what’s actually useful. We've cleared all the hazards, so I’ve let her go on ahead for a couple hours so I have some time to read and answer your letters.

I don’t envy you for having to participate in the priory’s fundraiser. I have been before, and I try and go if I’m in the neighborhood, but as I’m sure you’ve gathered, I’m not very comfortable at parties. Even the priory’s unique brand of fun is not to my taste. I’ve never been part of the preparations, and it sounds like they’re similarly stressful. I feel for you. I’m no use in the kitchen either, unless it’s for making field rations. I know this is already late and the party itself was a week ago, but I hope you at least enjoy the party itself. You deserve to have some fun. You can throw yourself into work later, so enjoy the breaks as you get them. For next time, if it stresses you to simply go where you’re needed, follow Sieran instead. It’s very easy to get caught up in her passion, and I’ve always found her very loud in the dream, which helps with the cacophony of other people. You’ll be busier than you’ve ever been, but given how much you enjoy her company, I think it’ll work out better for you.

There are many who hope that with my Wyld Hunt, we may also find an opportunity to take down Zhaitan. That alone is an astronomical undertaking, so I think Kralkatorrik is a problem for us to discuss at a later date. And Jormag. Let’s deal with one dragon at a time, shall we? In the meantime the Sanguinary blade is safe and that spear is so far lost as to be out of our realm of concern. I have my own fears about the dragons, but if I let them rule me, I’d never get anything done. We’ll just go as things come to us. Since the party’s already passed even as I write this, hopefully you have a mission to focus on, and I have an expedition. I hope at some point we’ll have the honor of facing the future’s difficulties together.

I’m so glad the mail is making it. I miss you.

P.S. You did indeed find my chair. Enjoy it while you can; I’ll be kicking you out of it as soon as I get to return to the priory.

6 Phoenix 1325

Olio found us a way onto the mainland. I wouldn’t call it safe, but it’s better than anything else we’ve got right now. There’s a river that flows from the center of a region, out from a storm that Okobii says is full of Dwayna's magic. it connects all the way to the sea, and with the exception of the river’s source, there’s very little magic in the area, in contrast with the five tornadoes of magic set in a ring around the edge of this region. There's a storm of Lyssa's energy that backs up to the coast, and we set our boat on fire trying to get close there.

We’re fairly sure the reliquaries are in the eye of each storm, which makes investigate them somewhat complicated. We spent almost a day and a half poking at the boundaries of the reliquaries, trying to figure out if it’s safe to investigate them directly, and gathering what information we can from a distance. So far, we’ve found a storm for each god except Abbadon, in its own area, with a host of elementals or spirits inside the magic field. They’re so corrupted we haven’t been able to get close, but that hasn’t stopped us from trying. We’ve all picked up a few magical burns to show for it. Okobii thinks that she at least might have luck trying to approach Lyssa’s reliquary, because she has her blessing. I’m much more interested in the metal vault in the center of the region, that we cannot seem to open, and from which there’s no magic activity. If I can’t find anything that will help cleanse Orr, then I’d at least like to investigate the anomalous area. It seems more interesting and less hazardous.

Speaking of hazards, there’s far fewer risen here than in the Straits of Devastation. I wonder why it’s been left alone. Perhaps any risen Zhaitan sends get killed by the sheer force of the magic storms. Perhaps I’m being too optimistic.

I’ll tell you more as there’s more to tell, but my watch is finally over and I need to wake Olio. I’ve been awake for almost two days straight and it’s time for some well-deserved rest.

7 Phoenix 1325

There’s life here, Feorylle!

Every time I’ve been here before I’ve only seen sea life clinging to the few pockets that Zhaitan’s corruption hasn’t touched. But we got up close to the storm of Melandru’s energy today, and through the storm you can see plants! It looks like grass! Real grass! Okobii took a jaunt through the storm and into Lyssa’s reliquary and came back unharmed, thank the pale tree, except for a little nausea. More importantly, she brought back these beautiful orchids, the likes of which I’ve never seen before. We sacrificed some fresh water to stand them in and they’re still fresh. It’s a nice addition to our otherwise gloomy campsite.

I’ll have to talk to Okobii about the gods and their presence here. I’ve not given them enough thought in my quest to purify Orr. If Melandru and Lyssa can put down a lawn over Zhaitan’s corruption than I clearly have things to learn from them. I haven’t felt this excited in ages. Do you know how much scholarship there is on the human gods? I’m going to have so much reading to do when I get back.

We've discovered a lake at the head of the stream that bisects this region, inside Dwayna's reliquary. I wonder if inside, protected by the storm, there are fish.

I’m sure you’re on your next assignment by now. I hope it’s going as well as mine is.

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[odderancyart]

Welcome Home

I presenteth to thee, a Hogwarts AU, because why the fuck not?

On AO3

No warnings

Word count: 4186

You can find the Hat’s song here

Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home

Edge gazed out the window, placing his fingertips against the cold glass. Their father stood outside, wearing the elegant suit that unnerved Edge so much. It was a casual suit, so normal, and Dr Gaster never wore that kind of clothes unless they were going to London. Like now. He looked just like the other parents, except for the two cracks on his face and glowing red eyelights. It was odd. Far away from his usual domain, inconspicuous. Edge wasn’t sure whether he preferred this or the usual. This gives a sense of normalcy. A normalcy they’d never had, and it was a constant reminder of that they never would. There were no traces of the man who’d come home from work the same they were going to buy school supplies, blood splattered over his face.

Not his blood, of course. It never was.

Dr Gaster nodded at him as he caught his gaze, and Edge nodded back before sitting back down, tearing his eyes from the colourful platform. Platform 9 ¾. Feelings he couldn’t name coiled inside him. They were leaving home to go to a boarding school – a magical boarding school – and in all honesty, it was hard to swallow the guilt over how relieved he was over it. Their father was a good parent and had always done his best, but growing up in the middle of a gang war wasn’t easy. Particularly not when your parent was incredibly involved in it.

He ran his fingers over the carvings he’d found beneath the table between the seats. Four names. James, Sirius, Remus, Peter. And two words. Marauders Forever. Who they were, he had no idea, but they must’ve been friends. Friends going to magic school together. Edge glanced at his brother. Red lounged in the opposite, leaning against the wall with his nose in one of his physics-books. Another book laid on the table: The Wisdom of Stars: a ground course in astrology. Bullshit, of course. Astrology wasn’t a thing, everyone with a teaspoon of sense knew that. Why the fuck they taught in in a school, he didn’t know.

Oh Angel, magic school. When, on their eleventh birthday, that lady had shown up and claimed that all the weird shit happening around them was because they were wizards, Red had slammed the door in her face. But since father had insisted they hear her out, they had. He smiled faintly, pulling out the wand he’d bought two weeks ago from his backpack. Hornbeam with a dragon heartstring core, whatever that meant. Thank the Angel they had listened.

In all honesty, until now he’d been expecting to wake up and find it all to be a dream. But now, as the old train puffed and pulled away from the station, it actually felt real.

“Fuck,” he said, pulling at his leather jacket. “This is happening.” Red grunted noncommittally. The only time he had looked up since he pulled out his book was to growl at whoever tried to enter the compartment.

His biggest issue with this all, though, was that there was a school uniform. And those wizard robes were a far cry from the clothes he and his brother had always worn. Back in their town, there were basically two choices: suits or leather. And he was not comfortable surrendering his leatherjacket for that weird-ass uniform.

But it wasn’t like they lacked money. Maybe he could bribe the headmistress into letting them keep their own clothes.

He looked up as the door to their compartment slid open, revealing three older girls. The one at the front had blue skin and the reddest hair he’d ever seen. Behind her stood a lizard and a brown-haired human. Red looked up from his book, glaring at them and letting out a growl Usually, it made people retreat but the redhead only raised an eyebrow.

“First-years?” she asked. Her voice was dark and laced with amusement.

“What’s that to ya?” Red grunted. Edge could hear the defensiveness in his voice, though he doubted anyone else could.

“This is our compartment, punk. But since you’re first-years I’ll give you some slack. You didn’t know. Now get out of here.”

Stiffening in his seat, Edge glared at her. “No.”

“No?”

“No. We were here first, asshole. And we don’t take orders from anybody.” His soul pounded in his chest as he met her gaze unflinchingly. She was obviously older, and so likely knew magic already. And despite his knowledge about fighting, he couldn’t battle magic. Yet. But he’d never taken orders by anyone other than his father in his life, and he wasn’t about to start with some random teenager.

The girl guffawed. “I like your spirit, punk,” she exclaimed, seating herself next to him. Her friends stepped in after her. The human was smiling while the lizard’s eyes flickered between Edge and his brother. She held out her hand, and cautiously, he shook it. “I don’t usually talk with kids, but I’ll make an exception for you. I’m Undyne. They’re Alphys and Frisk.”

“How generous.” Edge’s voice dripped with sarcasm, even though he smiled. “I’m Edge. This is my brother Red.”

“Cool names!”

Was she sincere or mocking them? He narrowed his eyes. It was fifty/fifty. Edge quite liked his name, but many found them amusing. Particularly in combination with their edgy style and red magic. But there were no signs of mockery on her face. “Thank you,” he replied cautiously.

Undyne grinned sharply. “Any thoughts on which house you’re gonna be in, punk? Personally, I’m in the coolest of all the houses: Gryffindor!”

Edge shrugged. “No idea. I don’t know anything about them.”

“Oh, muggleborn, are you?”

In the corner of his eye, he could see Red peek up, glancing suspiciously on her. The witch lady had warned them there still were a few people who looked down upon ‘muggleborns’ even though they apparently were much fewer after the Second War – and Edge hadn’t the faintest idea what this war was.

She threw her arm over his shoulders, grinning down at him. “No worries, edgy lil’ pal. Aunt Undyne is gonna tell you everything you need to know.”

…

When the train arrived at the end stop, Edge had made a deal with himself regarding his uniform. The girls left for a while to let him and Red get changed before they afforded them the same courtesy, and now when he stepped off the train it was with the cape-like thing still stuffed into his bag and his leatherjacket over the rest of the black robes. Red had done the same. Neither of them was willing to give up either the pure aesthetics of it nor the safety the symbol on their jackets, the Delta Rune, had always granted them at home. No one at home would hurt a child wearing the Rune unless they wished for a painful death. Edge had never left their apartment without it.

The activity on the platform was frantic as students flooded out of the train. At least their stuff was still on the train: Frisk had said to leave it. Though the thought made him slightly nervous, he had listened. Except his backpack – he had the black leather bag slung over one of his shoulders. He wasn’t leaving his most precious belongings for some stranger to take.

Undyne grinned sharply at him as someone yelled from behind the crowd, “First-years over here! First-years!”

“Go over there, punk. I’ll be waiting after the Sorting ceremony. Can’t wait to have ya in my house.” Gryffindor, as earlier mentioned. Frisk was a Hufflepuff – “The only cool one in that bunch,” Undyne had said and then received hard poke that made her grin – and Alphys a Ravenclaw. According to Undyne, it went, Gryffindor – the cool house for the brave and daring ones, Hufflepuff – “They say they’re hard-working, but they don’t seem to do much, sorry Frisk but it’s true,” Ravenclaw – for the weird nerds, and Slytherin – the stuck-up kids. Edge had a feeling she was biased.

Nonetheless, he really hoped he’d go to Gryffindor like her. He’d only known her for a couple hours, but he really wanted to make her proud. It kind of worried him, that he already liked her so much. After all, he didn’t know her.

But Red grabbed his wrist before he could continue pondering and pulled him toward the crowd of their peers that had gathered around a man in a huge green witch hat with flowers in the hatband. He beamed at them. “Welcome to Hogwarts, children. I am the groundskeeper, Asgore Swapp – call me Asgore – and I am going to bring you to the castle. Come with me, please.”

Edge regarded the other new students as he and Red did as asked, following the crowd away from the platform. Surprisingly, there were quite a few skeletons in the group. Of course, they weren’t an uncommon species, but he still had never seen that many in the same place. The group was otherwise very mixed between monsters and humans.

“-older brother is starting second grade!” one of the skeletons said, and Edge listened intently, trying to gather what kind of people he would be attending school with. Hopefully, they weren’t like his old classmates. Especially since he would have to live with them. “He says the Sorting is super cool, though not as cool as me, of course!”

“-I’ve got no idea what house I’m going to be in-”

“-can’t wait! I’ve been looking forward to this all my life-”

“-I miss my baby sister already. What if she forgets me-”

As they stepped away from the lights of the platform, Red gasped. When he turned around, he found his brother staring up at the sky, eyelights glittering. Edge followed his gaze, and his eyes widened. Stars. Thousands of them, or millions. Twinkling up there, bright and gorgeous. His mouth fell open. He’d never seen anything like it.

“Holy shit,” Red whispered, awe shining on his face. Edge smiled. The view was beautiful, but he’d never heard his brother so enchanted before. It was nice.

Then a lake appeared in front of them, the stars glittering on its calm, dark surface, and Asgore started directing them into small boats with a single light in the front. And on the other side of the lake, a castle towered. Edge’s soul skipped a beat in his chest. Wow. It was enormous, lights shining in every window and tower, and the full moon was rising behind it.

He wasn’t certain how he ended up in a boat sitting next to Red, but somehow, he did. Two other students sat in the same boat: a skeleton who was even taller than him who beamed at them, and a human with blonde hair. The skeleton held out his hand, offering it to Red. He didn’t even seem to notice, too entranced by the stars. Shrugging, the skeleton gave it to Edge instead, who shook it.

“Hi!” he said, smiling widely. “I’m Papyrus Gaster! Who are you?”

“Edge Griffin.” He hesitated before giving the other a smile in return, regarding him. This skeleton looked very different from every skeleton he’d ever met. Softer. His teeth were even and his shapes round. How strange. “Nice to meet you.”

“You too! Any thoughts on which house you’re going to be in? My brother is in Ravenclaw, because he’s a huge nerd for the stars, and he says I’m probably a Hufflepuff because I’m so nice. Dad agrees.” The words were thrown at him so fast Edge almost couldn’t comprehend them at first.

He blinked. “No, I haven’t. I didn’t even know what the houses meant before I got them explained on the train.”

“Oh!” Papyrus leaned forward, grinning widely. “Well, Gryffindor is for the courageous and chivalrous, Hufflepuff is for the fair and loyal, Ravenclaw is for creative and passionate people, and Slytherin is for the shrewd and ambitious! Personally, I think I’d fit right into any of them!”

Edge couldn’t help but return his grin. “I’m sure. Well, Ravenclaw doesn’t really fit me then. I don’t claim to be particularly creative or passionate.” Except when it comes to fighting, maybe. His Krav Maga-teacher said he was quite creative. He didn’t tell the other that though. Didn’t know him anywhere near well enough to reveal that he was a trained fighter – he’d started classes at six.

“Well you’ll surely be placed in the house that’s perfect for you! Say have you ever played Quidditch?”

Obviously, he had not. But as he listened to Papyrus explain while regarding the castle, which grew bigger and bigger, he couldn’t help but smile. He had a good feeling about this.

…

The entrance hall of the castle was enormous. The ceiling was so high the crystal chandeliers almost looked tiny, and the staircase at its end was in marble, Edge could see that. On its lower steps, a yellow wyvern lady in a huge brown hat waited, smiling at them. “Welcome to Hogwarts,” she said as they all crowded in front of her. “I am Professor Dunbar, the deputy headmistress of this school. I will bring you to the Great Hall for the Sorting ceremony. Come with me.”

The walk through the castle never seemed to end. Papyrus was still by his side, chatting about various subjects, and Edge did listen but there was so much to look at.

“I remember my first time coming here,” Papyrus said, startling him. The other was grinning at him, something knowing in his eyes. “I was nine, and dad was doing a guest lecture in Potions, and since he couldn’t find anyone to look after me and my brother we got to come too. It’s amazing, isn’t it?”

Edge only nodded. It really was.

Abruptly, the group stopped. His soul jumped up in his throat as he stopped, almost running straight into the student in front of him. Professor Dunbar gestured toward the huge door in front of them. In the back of his mind, Edge wondered if everything wizardly would be that enormous. Was he destined to feel small, despite his unusual height for his age, during the next seven years?

“On the other side of this door, we’ll find the Great Hall. This is where the Sorting ceremony will take place. There are four houses in this school: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. They will function as your family during the schoolyear, so do your best to get off with a good start. Now, let’s proceed.”

The doors opened, revealing yet another hall with supremely high ceiling. Candles floated mid-air, and even Red gawked at that. Four long tables filled with students were in there, two on each side of the pathway in the middle, and at a platform yet another table stood. Adults sat there – likely the teachers. In front of the table, there was a single stool with a huge, frayed hat on and-

“Red,” he whispered, blinking rapidly. “Is the hat singing?”

“One thousand years ago this story starts

There were four sorcerers with strong and wise hearts,” the hat sang.

“Fucking hell it is.” Shock was painted on Red’s face as they made their way along the path, up to the platform.

Papyrus giggled. “Yeah, that’s not that cool. Wait until you see what we’re doing in class!”

“Bold Gryffindor from wild moor

Fair Ravenclaw from glen

Sweet Hufflepuff from valley broad

Shrewd Slytherin from fen.

They had a dream to teach all that they knew

Witches and wizards came far and it grew

‘Til a castle stood tall by the shore of a lake

And a thousand years later, the magic remains.”

Once more, they all stopped, gathering into a crowd. Professor Dunbar stepped up by the stool, holding up the hat and a parchment. “When I call your name, you will come up here and the Sorting Hat will sort you into your houses.” Many of the students nodded. “Julia Clarke.”

The blonde kid who had been in the boat with them climbed the platform, sitting down on the chair. She hadn’t said a word during the entire trip. The Hat didn’t even have time to sit down completely on her head before it yelled, “RAVENCLAW!”

Edge twitches, staring at the Hat. His mouth fell open, and Papyrus giggled again. An applause broke out at one of the tables, and she walked over to them, sitting down.

“Papyrus Gaster.”

He squealed in excitement before half-running up to the stool, sitting down. The Hat’s face, because it had a face, turned contemplative. A few moments passed. A drop of wax fell from one of the candles, down on the small staircase before the platform. “SLYTHERIN!”

Papyrus’ mouth formed an O before he shrugged, beaming as he bounced over to the applauding table on the far left of the hall. He waved at his new housemates.

“Edge Griffin.”

He swallowed before straightening his back, marching up on the platform. He put a cocky grin onto his face, sweeping his gaze over the audience as he sat down. As he did, he swept a hand over the well-worn leather of his jacket, feeling his soul calm somewhat. The deputy headmistress eyed it but didn’t comment as she put the Hat down on his head.

“Oh, interesting.”

Edge twitched, breath hitching. What the hell?

“Language.” The voice sounded amused, and Edge’s eyes widened unnoticeably as he realized it must be the Hat. It was talking to him. Inside his head.

“Indeed I am.” It chuckled. “Now where to put you? You’re right that you’re not a Ravenclaw. The other three houses, though… you could fit into all of them. You’re as valiant and courageous as a true Gryffindor, but…” It hesitated. “No, maybe not. You’re either a Slytherin or a Hufflepuff. You’re cunning and ambitious, no denying that. Resourceful as well. But those aren’t your defining traits, no. Despite the hardships you’ve lived through already, the horrors you’ve seen, you’re kind at soul. Loyal almost to a fault. Hard-working and dedicated, for sure. And fair as well as patient, yes. Yes, I think I know where you belong, young warrior.”

“HUFFLEPUFF!”

The table where everyone wore sunshine-yellow and black ties broke out in loud applauses, cheering as he slid off the stool and made his way over to them. He glanced toward the red table, anxiety coiling in his stomach as he searched for a certain redhead. Undyne looked surprised as she met his gaze but gave him the thumbs up and something loosened inside him as he slid into a seat next to a teenager. He smiled at him, offering his hand. A goat-monster with white fluffy fur. Edge took it.

“Hello, I’m Asriel Dreemurr, one of the prefects.” His voice and smile were gentle. “We’re so happy to have you here and if you ever need help, don’t hesitate to ask.”

“Thank you.” Edge nodded. Just then, his brother’s name was called, and he twisted around to get a good look. Red sauntered up to the stool, hands shoved into his jacket pockets.

The Hat didn’t stay on his head for more than a second before it shouted, “SLYTHERIN!”

Grinning, Red went over to the Slytherin-table, sitting down next to Papyrus. Papyrus beamed at him.

Edge bit down on his tongue, balling the hand he had in his lap into a fist. His stomach squeezed. Oh Angel. Not being in the same house as his twin would be difficult. They’d never been away from each other for any longer while before.

The Sorting continued, and they were joined by more students, among others two more skeletons. One who, almost whispering, revealed his name as Slim Serif, and another who smiled lazily and said, “Rus Shacklebolt, as you heard. Yes, I’m related to Kingsley Shacklebolt, he’s my second cousin.” Edge immediately disliked him. He slouched worse than Red and anyone who introduced themselves that way was bound to be insufferable.

Once everyone was sorted, the headmistress, Professor Greengrass, told them, “Welcome to another year at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. And an extra welcome to our new students. I am certain you will feel at home in no time at all. I will waste no more time – bon appetite everyone!”

He stayed quiet most of the dinner, listening to the others and trying to gather what sort of company he’d ended up in. Everyone seemed to nice – well, except from Rus that is – and it was freaking him out a little. How the fuck did anyone dare to be so openly friendly, didn’t they know that was dangerous? Then again, so had Undyne. Neither Slim nor Rus spoke a lot either, though when Rus did speak, it was with a confidence that seemed almost exaggerated. It grated on Edge’s nerves, to say the least.

Frisk waved at him from down the table, smiling brightly.

Supper was delicious, he had to say that. He’d always eaten very well, seeing how his father was one of the more influential people at home, but never anything like this. There were roasted beef and chicken, and roasted potatoes and boiled potatoes and lamb and bacon and more food than Edge even knew the name off. And all of it was marvellous – except the roasted turnips. He’d always hated turnip.

Eventually, the dinner had to end, though. Asriel was showing them to the common room as they passed by a group of Gryffindors, among them Undyne. She grinned at him, and that anxiety returned as he freed himself from the group.

“Hufflepuff, eh, punk?” she said, eyeing him up and down. “Wouldn’t have pegged you like one.”

“Yes,” he replied. “So it seems.” Discomfort crept up his spine as he watched her, searching for a hint of disapproval. She seemed to think Hufflepuffs were kind or boring, even if she was friends with Frisk. Maybe she would think he was boring too now?

She guffawed, slapping his back. “Well I guess that bunch of duffers needs someone to spice things up a little! Seems that’s your job now. You’ll do great.”

Relief flooded him, though he hid it behind a smirk. “Of course. I always do.”

Snorting, she nodded. “Keep that attitude, punk.” She nodded toward the group who had stayed a distance away. “Don’t keep them waiting, or they might get tired of it. No one but the Puffs know how the hell to get into your common room, so you better not let that happen. It’s Hogwarts’ most well-guarded secret.” She tilted her head. “But maybe you’ll let me know, eh?”

“Hardly,” he snorted. If it was a secret, he wouldn’t reveal it. But he nodded, grinning as he made his way back to them. He wouldn’t admit it, but he was very happy she still seemed to be his friend. He didn’t have a lot of those – or any, if he was honest. Alliances, yes, but not friends. Asriel smiled at him as they made their way down, down in the castle, until they reached what Edge must assume to be the lowest level possible over the basement itself.

Asriel waved them closer as they gathered around a pile of barrels. He looked around to ensure no one else was there before he placed his hand over one of the barrels – the second from the floor, middle of the second row. “To open Hufflepuff basement,” he murmured, voice hushed so Edge had to lean forward to hear properly, “tap the rhythm of Helga Hufflepuff on this barrel. If you forget which barrel it is, just wait for someone else to come. If you do it on the wrong one, you’ll get doused in vinegar, and that’s not fun.”

Edge couldn’t help but get the impression he was speaking from experience.

He demonstrated, and a secret passageway was revealed, much to the delight of multiple students. Even Edge watched in intrigue as they entered it. The passageway was sloping and earthy, and at its end, a warm light appeared.

When they stepped into the common room, multiple students were already there, lounging in the many light-yellow couches. The walls were made of dark yellow bricks, though honey-coloured wood made up a meter-high lath from the wooden floor of the same colour. A fire crackled in a fireplace on the opposite side of the circular room, and a portrait of a brown-haired woman in a yellow dress hung above it. She toasted them with the golden goblet she was holding, and Edge didn’t even twitch this time. It wasn’t the weirdest thing he’d seen today. Why the hell not have living paintings too?

“That’s our founder, Helga Hufflepuff,” Asriel let them know. “She’s amazing if you want help with homework or just talk with someone who isn’t a student or teacher.”

Plants filled the shelves and hung from the ceiling, and light washed in from the circular windows just beneath it. In all honesty, it was beautiful.

As Asriel let them know where the dormitories were, Edge couldn’t help but smile at the sunny room.

He thought he’d like it here.