#~ s.s. threads ~

[deletreatualma]

@perilousxlives said:

[ EMBRACE ] sender hugs the receiver from behind (Sirius and Sev!)

Severus tensed up at the initial contact; it was a reflex at this point. He inhaled quickly and leaned into the embrace, letting out a slow breath in the process in an attempt to consciously relax his muscles. A soft, barely visible smile formed on his lips and he turned just enough to kiss the edge of the other's jaw, "good morning to you as well." He let a hand fall to Sirius' side and squeezed.

[jsbashirmd]

@lietwice sent:

[ smooth ] sender takes their time caressing over every part of receiver's body

Their first moment alone. After the camp and the rescue and the incredible mess of feelings that was watching Garak suffer through hell to save them all. After the gut-wrenching revelation that people hadn't even known he was gone--that a changeling had picked up his life...

But now it's just them. Julian hasn't even gone back to his quarters. He took what was possibly the longest shower of his life, dressed in newly-replicated boxer briefs that he could be certain the changeling had never worn, and laid himself down on Garak's bed, which somehow feels safer than his own now. And now he's being petted, which he can hardly blame Garak for with the mess of fur he's grown out in captivity. If nothing else, it's a novelty, and Julian does enjoy the feeling of Garak's hands carding through the hair on his chest.

"Garak?" he finally says, when hands rise to touch his face. He doesn't stop them, of course. "Did you think I was alive? When you realized, I mean. Did you believe I was alive or did you think I'd been killed for the changeling to take my place?"

[damnedrainbows]

tomorrow I will be diving more into my drafts and inbox. I got hundreds to go through and I don’t want people to feel abandoned

[theealbatross]

fight the alchemy (s.s)

Plot | After a tumultuous year, Sebastian’s life was finally okay – passable, up-to-scratch, satisfactory. And he had just almost reached peace – when his brilliant, painfully observant, carelessly crude genius of a friend, Garreth Weasley, started pointing out unnecessary facts that could rip all that harmony to shreds.

or, Garreth asks why Sebastian isn’t dating you. Sebastian spirals.

Tags | fluff, sebastian is a thought daughter, low self esteem, seb is a playboy BUT NOT REALLY, horny thots but we keep it pg, insecurity so deep you try to fight cupid, cupid fights back

An Ashwinder’s wand to his neck and Sebastian could honestly and truly say that he was … alright.

Life wasn’t perfect, by any means. His uncle was murdered dead, an estranged twin sister in Paris who refuses to answer his letters, a mistrustful Ominis that breathes on his neck, and a tattered companionship that was barely hanging on by a thread.

But he was okay.

Thankfully, Solomon was still dead, Anne was still alive, and still cranky Ominis is now open to reconciliation. Plus, if all else had fallen, he at least managed to save your cherished friendship thanks to your forgiving nature.

Thus, as thanks to the people who had not yet given up on him, he had sworn to live the rest of his academic life as a meek, unassuming, law-abiding student of Hogwarts.

And he did such a good job at it.

The professors are now impressed at his steadily increasing grades (so much so that the Ravenclaws are now finally seeing him as a threat again) and he even managed to make Imelda’s team as her beater to keep him occupied.

The latter, however, had a grating consequence – he had become popular.

It was thrilling, at first, he went on dates to make up for the years he had lost, kissed the pretty girls because it felt like he should (as one of the few bastards lucky enough to live every raging teenager’s dream), and accepted the slaps on the face politely when they inevitably broke up.

But now he’s just gotten tired and bored of it all.

Ominis says it’s a genius’ folly, to always find a fault in something and then drop it when it doesn’t quite meet his standard of perfect. Leander says he’s just a bastard.

He cups his face with his hand, wincing. Her fucking ring caught on his skin and he can’t be arsed to suffer through the bitterness of a Wiggenweld Potion for a mere scratch.

Garreth doesn’t bother to swallow his bread before saying, “Really, mate? I thought you liked this one?”

“Liked her rack, more likely,” Andrew quipped from his seat on the stone steps of the boathouse.

Sebastian threw his scarf on his face, satisfied at his squawk.

“No talking about my ex-girlfriends,” he warned. It was one of his few rules when it came to his male friends. He may be a bastard but as someone with a sister and a couple of good female friendships, he makes it a point to never become one of those losers who talk badly about women they have a history with. Just so he can have a moral high ground when he beats up anyone who might do it to his friends.

“All right, all right,” Andrew raised his hands in playful surrender, throwing Sebastian’s scarf back to him. “But as your friend, I think it’s about time you stop swapping out girls every time you get bored of them.”

“I don’t swap them out,” he rolls his eyes. “Breakups are normal.”

“Breakups are normal,” Garreth points out. “Six breakups in 2 years is an issue.”

“Maybe I’m just meant for the bachelor life,” he mumbles, ignoring the pointed accusation from Garreth. Fucking perceptive prick. “Not everyone gets to meet their soulmate in Hogwarts, asshole.”

Garreth grins, “Natty’s great, isn’t she?”

Sebastian and Andrew both throw their scarves at him, the three of them bursting out in laughter and boos.

“To the Three Broomsticks, then?” Andrew stood up, patting his pants.

As 7th years it was nearly impossible to take a breather with the looming threat of exams that will dictate the rest of your life and the inescapable trap of adulthood that awaits them in a couple of months. So, his friends had made it a point to at least go out once every week whenever they could, really take advantage of their last year as students where they had no other responsibility but to survive the week.

In a year’s time, seeing each other as often as they do will be nothing short of a miracle.

“Leander and Everett are already there, saved up a table since it’s a Friday, it’s gonna be packed full,” Andrew explains.

Sebastian looks around, eyes scanning the castle in the setting sun. “You go on ahead I’m waiting for –”

“Sebastian!”

A flash of movement appeared rushing down the stairs towards the boathouse, your face beaming as you waved to the three of them. When you were a foot away from him you jumped into his arms, shrieking energetically when he grabbed your waist and lifted you above his head.

“Sorry, I’m late,” you pant, smiling at your friends once you’re back on the ground. “Professor Hecate asked me to stay back for a minute, something about revisions on my research.”

“I can’t believe you got permission to research in The Restricted Section after the crazy nonsense you pulled in 5th year,” Garreth shook his head. Sebastian wrapped an arm around your shoulders, pulling you closer to his side, beaming in pride. Nobody knows but the two of you that the very thing you were researching were the technicalities of how you broke Anne’s curse so it could be taught to the nurses in St. Mungos and hopefully spread to the rest of wizardkind.

“It’s exactly because I had the nerve to break the rules that I was given the honorable opportunity,” you dramatically curtsied. “And they said Gryffindors were the brave ones.”

That made Sebastian laugh. Garreth blinks, eyes squinting at him for a second but he doesn’t look offended, more … focused on Sebastian.

“Alright, no more of that House Rivalry. Quidditch Season is over,” Andrew quips.

“Wiped your asses there too, Larson,” he quipped, Andrew’s jaw drops, looking at Garreth for help and receiving none. He was still staring at Sebastian, eyes shifting between him and you.

Andrew groans. “Slytherins are assholes.”

Slytherins are, apparently, also light-weights.

Well, at least one of them is.

He adjusts his hold on your body as the other hand wraps his coat around your body properly. After your last ‘improved’ butterbeer you had slumped into his lap, rudely snoozing off on the crook of his neck and refusing to wake up even when it was time for your group to leave – not that he would’ve allowed that to happen, with your demanding research it was a miracle to get you to sleep let alone let loose.

The rest of the group had gone in first to scope the scenery and bribe the patrolling Head students with leftover chips while he and Garreth were stuck carrying you and an unconscious Amit that they had managed to catch last-minute in Hogsmeade. Poor bastard.

“I was thinking –”

“Please don’t,” he groans.

“Why have you two never dated?”

Sebastian stops his fussing, barely able to use his head to ensure he keeps walking, and continue to Act Normal, now using both of his hands to hold you tighter.

“You’re drunk,” he deflects. The puffs of your breath warm his entire body.

“Because! When I think about it …”

Please, for the love of the great Merlin stop thinking.

“You’ve been inseparable from the start! I can’t believe it’s escaped my notice you’ve never dated. You say your past relationships got boring and got annoying but you’ve never been bored and annoyed with her and you’ve been friends for years!”

Bored with you? He’s had more near-fatal heart attacks because of you than breakups. Sebastian barely had the time to be bored. And sometimes you do get at each other’s throats but it was always fixed after a proper conversation. If his killing his uncle couldn’t turn you away then he doubts anything you do could ever turn him away.

“Plus, with all the respect and love to my beautiful darling Natty, she’s a fucking catch, mate!”

If Garreth wasn’t carrying a sinless half-dead Amit, Sebastian would’ve punched him in his mouth just to stop him from talking.

“I’m just saying,” Garreth walks ahead of him, clearly aware of the fuse he had just lit. Sebastian was tempted to kick the back of his knees just for the satisfaction of seeing him fall.  “Maybe you can join the club and find your soulmate in Hogwarts.”

Garreth winks.

“We’re still accepting members.”

He’s decided.

He needs to kill Garreth.

He has not been able to sleep properly for the past week and it’s all because of that ginger prick and his needless remarks.

“Why have you two never dated?”

Sebastian’s pencil cracks in his hand.

“Is he alright?” he hears an underclassman whisper on the other table. He glances at them and they flinch. Quickly, he softens his expression ("You really need to stop scowling at people, Sebastian."), unaware he had glared at them and sent a wary smile in apology. It would just be unfair to aim his ire at innocent people when he could just use it to rip out every strand of Weasley’s hair.

“He’s been staring at that page for an hour. Maybe we should call –”

He stands up, escaping.

Sebastian never realized just how much he spent his time with you until people were looking at him funny when he was walking or sitting alone in public places. At first, he thought there had been crumbs on his face or one of his asshole friends stuck a note on his back like a kid. Plus, he hadn’t been feeling his best since that night but he thought it had been the lack of sleep.

It wasn’t until he had met Imelda on the grounds that he found his answer:

“Where’s the rest of you?”

He blinked at his captain, “I’m sorry?”

She shook her head. “Man, it feels weird seeing you alone. Did you guys have a fight? You’re usually shadowing her like a puppy after class.”

Then everything clicks, the strange looks, the feeling of missing something (like a forgotten important homework after he had reached the top of the Astronomy Tower) – it’s been a side effect of avoiding you.

Okay, it’s not that he’s avoiding you per se. He just needs space. He needs to think and he finds that can’t do that once he feels your eyes on him. With his luck, you’re going to see right through him and that would just be unideal if not a fucking catastrophe.

That’s why he’s taken it upon himself to stay off your way until he puts his thoughts in a row and finally screws his head on straight again. Or he could just kill Garreth, get sent straight to Azakaban, and avoid confronting these complicated thoughts altogether.

“I can’t believe it’s escaped my notice you’ve never dated!”

He sits on a bench, hands on his head as he let out a prolonged groan, “The fucking bastard.”

Why did he have to point it out? Why did Garreth have to bring what he, upon reflection, had buried on the back of his head, just waiting for that one little flick of acknowledgment before it blew his brains out.

Because Sebastian is a lot of things but he’s not a fucking moron.

It’s not that the thought of being together is unpleasant. If he lets himself consider it his chest feels like it would escape his ribcage both in excitement and utter terror.

But Garreth was right: he’d never thought about it before – hadn’t thought the idea was conceivable in this reality.

He has a feeling it was his way of preserving whatever pure relationship he had left. He’s not exactly rich with true companionship and he’s not idiotic enough to risk it all over a bloody crush. 

And not just any crush – his best friend, the person who saved his life and then helped him rebuild it when he was finished smashing it to pieces. The one who never turned her back even when his blood had given up. The girl who has a line of eligible bachelors following her on their knees for a single chance, ones who could offer her more than he ever could – ones who could offer her the world.

So, yeah – forgive him, but he’s never really allowed himself to entertain the idea of them dating. Sebastian has tested his luck enough.

Unless the roles switch and he gets to save the wizarding world this time then maybe … yeah, maybe -- maybe in another fucking life.

The thought makes him stand up, walking straight out of the campus to hopefully drown the sorrows of the depressing state of his love life with the best fire whiskey Hogshead could offer. How does he even move on from this? How does he make peace with the fact that he has sealed his fate of living the rest of his life alone? 

It’s impossible, he’s decided. Even if he graduates at the top of the classes he is taking and gets accepted into the Auror Programme that Sharp had recommended him for, their social standing is still heavens apart. He’s an orphan, with a husk of an extended family and no money to his name.

It wouldn’t matter to you, never really cared for pure bloodlines or lineages and he knows anyone who brings that up when they’re courting you will receive the most disgusted look on your face. 

But he cares – you are the most special person in his life. He wants the best for you. And the best is not something he can provide.

His depressing thoughts halt as his steps falter, a familiar scent tickling his nose. A familiar scent that leads straight into the Forbidden Forest. When he looks up to the sky, he realizes the sun has almost finished setting.

She can’t be that reckless, right?

He was barely surprised when he chanted the incantation that triggered the charm they had both put in their necklaces, the sparkling thread leads straight into the forest. And if he knows you half as well as he thinks he does then he knows exactly where it’s gonna lead to.

There goes his late-night plan.

It isn’t exactly his first jaunt in the forbidden space but it still gives him the creeps especially so close to the night. Why you’re so fond of the place is something he’ll never understand.

But that’s just the way you were, just another part of your quirks that makes you so endearing.

How you throw your head back when you laugh, that you get so cranky when you’re studying that no one dares to approach you but him, even the way you messily eat your favorite chocolate pastry of the week yet never fail to share a piece with him.

With this new revelation, he bitterly accepts the reason for his philandering ways. That he simply is another prick who is coping with not being able to attain the love of his life at the expense of those poor girls.

His self-condemnation however was cut short when he heard the waterfall, not being able to help the smirk on his face when he turned the corner and found you just as he had expected: in the middle of the clear, dark, water, floating carelessly on your back.

Gods, you are a beauty. He’s always thought so, the entire male population in Hogwarts thought so too. If they somehow get to break through your walls and manage to get to know you, he might just have to beat them away with an actual stick.

“Sebastian,” you smile, his heart stops. “I knew you’d find me.”

You swim to him gracefully, barely disturbing the water with only your eyes above the water but there was no hiding the grin in your face. Like a pitiful sailor seduced by a siren, his feet dragged him to the edge, a short ledge above from where you were looking up at him.

“You left your scent on purpose,” he states, kneeling to get a closer look at you. What a beauty – mischievous, cunning, irresistible. He’s never loved anyone more. “Naughty, naughty, darling.”

She pulls herself up the ledge, their faces inches away from each other. He nails his eyes to yours so they wouldn’t be tempted to look down at your soaking figure cloaked only by a thin chemise “I had to get you somehow, knew you couldn’t resist a damsel in distress.”

“Funny,” he softly glares, chuckling when she preens, clearly satisfied that her plan worked perfectly. “With all the water in the Black Lake, you had to pick the Forbidden Forest to swim in.”

You dip yourself back down in the water, swimming away but still facing him. “Come, Sebastian. I’ve been bored all week since you’ve been avoiding me.”

Guilt runs through his spine at the sudden coldness in your offhanded comment. Clearly, his absence hasn’t escaped your notice as he had hoped.

Like a scolded pup, he follows your command to a T. Eyes never leaving your floating figure as he removed his coat, folding it neatly along with the rest of his clothes until he was left in his underclothes.

He winces at the touch of the freezing water. A heating charm would do wonders but the way your unsympathetic eyes never left his figure gave him a feeling that this was a punishment he was meant to endure.

He steels himself, diving into the water and only resurfacing when he is right in front of you. “You called?”

“You’re so fucking full of yourself,” you splash the cold water at him, shrieking when he reaches out for your arms and barely managing to slip away.

He dives again, grinning at your confused flounder, until you realize your mistake, looking down just as he catches your waist, your surprised shriek, and his unrestrained laughter breaks through the quiet of the forest.

“You done running now, pet?” he locks his hands on your back, pushing you close until he is carrying both your weight in the water, chin resting on your chest as your hands run through his soaking hair.

Your darkened hair frames your face, like a sheer curtain it drops, teasing his cheeks, and hiding your conversation from the rest of the forest – in the dimness, your eyes have never been more radiant, even if it was clearly pissed at him.

Skinship wasn’t foreign between the two of you. When you’ve saved each other’s lives from certain death more times than you care to count, cuddling is the least of your worries.

But there is something about the forest's silence, the sparse moonlight that peaks through the dense trees, the sound of the droplets falling from your hair to the water, and the distant echoes of the animals that make everything intimate. -- more intimate than usual.

“Are you?” you throw his question back at him mercilessly, your hands on the back of his neck, locking his face to look up at you – finally at you. The weeklong separation had been torture and now that the distance had cut his regular contact with his favorite witch, he finally realized how fast his heart was beating when he was around her.

He smiles.

He was satisfied, he swore he was.

Sebastian’s life was finally okay – passable, up-to-scratch, satisfactory. He shouldn’t strive for more, couldn’t allow himself that luxury – the luxury of love, the luxury of you.

But as he stares at your eyes, as he feels the ice in your skin, as he imagines a future where it wasn't him that gets to bite the plump of your lips – that dirty, greedy part of him crawls out of the hole he had shoved it in.

He feels it win.

“Are you done running now?” you whisper, a droplet falls from the tip of your nose to the space just below his eyes, his breath hitches, like your magnetic presence had sucked out all the air of the forest.

“I wasn’t running,” she raises a brow, and Sebastian presses his lips to your ears. “I was thinking.”

“And?”

Leander was right: he really is a bastard.

But he’s a bastard who will no longer wait for another life to love you. He's a bastard who will get what he wants.

“I think,” he whispers, at peace. “I think I’m gonna marry you someday.”

[liv2post]

Professors and Plants

Severus Snape x Herbology!Reader Wordcount: ~2.4k Summary: You're the new replacement for Professor Sprout and one day you require someone to plant-sit for you.

Read here or on ao3

Severus was struck the first time he saw you enter the Great Hall for breakfast at the start of the new term. You were Professor Sprout’s replacement as well as her cousin, but most people wouldn’t have thought the latter due to your appearance. Your dark robes resembled his and you donned a pair of boots with yellow thread sewn into the tops of the soles. What really stood out was your hair. It was snow white, transitioning into black at the bottom third of your hair length like a gradient. Your eyes met his and held his gaze for no more than a second as you took the last available seat that happened to be at the opposite end of the head table.

Despite your dark appearance, you were perfectly amicable and polite with the other teachers, even Lockhart, but you weren’t one to ever start conversations with any of them, preferring to keep more to yourself unless someone wished to converse with you. 

The first time he talked to you was that same day before classes would start tomorrow to get a proper read on you. 

“Hello, Professor Snape,” you greeted mildly, turning away from a Sopophorous Bean plant to face him as he barely clicked the door to the greenhouse behind him.

“How do you know my name?” His eyebrows furrowed and his soft baritone voice floated through the air.

“I know your first name, too. We went to school together, but you were older. I graduated just before you took over for Professor Slughorn.”

“I see…”

“Is there something you need from me?”

“Dittany leaves. Surely, Pomona left a plant or two in your care.”

“She most definitely did. Will a standard 16 oz jar’s worth do?”

“Yes.”

You smiled softly, retrieving a mason jar and a pair of snippers, and began trimming the fuzzy green leaves of one of the tall dittany plants that sat in the corner. “Did you and Pomona have any arrangements?” you called back to him.

“Arrangements?” Snape repeated, his eyes flicking over a decorative succulent whose pot was shaped like a mushroom before looking back at you. 

“Given our positions, I imagine you and I will be supplying each other with inventory and remedies or what have you. I was just wondering if you and Pomona had any arrangements that made each other's lives easier or more efficient work-wise. Do you like your ingredients bottled a certain way? Are there certain things you find yourself running out of more often than others?”

“We didn’t have any specific protocols established. Pomona was annoyingly protective of her plants,” he stated coolly. “But…now that you mention it, my store of wormwood tends to fluctuate. The younger years can be…unapologetically wasteful.”

“Noted. I will try to remain well-stocked on wormwood. And by the way,” you screwed on the jar lid, the glass filled to the brim with leaves—not so compactly that they were squashed inside, but certainly not leaving much wiggle room either, “I’m not as crazy a plant lady as my cousin is. Minerva tells me you're quite competent at your job and it sounds like I can trust you so…if you ever need to grab something feel free to come and go through the greenhouses as you please. I just ask that if I happen to not be present to leave a note citing what you took and the quantity. Y’know, for proper record keeping ‘n all. If I know what I have then I know what I can still provide you with.”

Snape nodded lightly. “Yes… That sounds practical enough.”

“Good,” you hummed, handing him the mason jar, your fingertips just barely brushing as he took it from you. “Glad we understand each other."

______________________________________________________________

Duties aside, you and Professor Snape got along rather well. He respected your need for notes and wrote what he took crystal clear, signing them off with “S.S”. You delivered ingredients he’d sent for in a timely manner, ensuring they weren’t overly compacted or bottled improperly. He returned the courtesy when it came to any potion meant to help your plants’ growth, sometimes brewing them fresh rather than giving you a bottle that had sat on the shelf for months at a time. Sometimes he’d add a sarcastic little comment on the notes about a student or a certain DADA teacher who you’d both found to be pretentious. 

From the notes blossomed more sociable interactions. Despite being separated by multiple floors, your classes were within the same vicinity of the castle’s layout, which meant, more often than not, you’d run into him when descending down to meals as he ascended up. You’d walk with each other, and talk a little bit, whether it be about incidents in the classroom or happenings informed to the both of you from the Prophet. The conversations would continue at meals where you’d start sitting next to one another. You didn’t get to know each other beyond a collegial level until around early November when the temperature started to get colder every day and the leaves were a vibrant wash of yellow, orange, and red. Your open-door policy on your greenhouses remained the same, but you had clarified that if he ever wanted to have tea or escape the chill of the dungeons, that open-door policy extended to your warm and cozy office. One day he knocked and when you opened the door he simply stated, “It’s cold,” before you promptly held the door back further, allowing him entry. 

You’d drink tea often, sometimes while the both of you graded, passively enjoying one another’s company as you did so, sometimes sitting on the couch or chairs and having direct conversations with one another. You compared each other's schooling experience with one another, gaping at the fact that he knew so many curses and had even invented a few spells. He confessed that it was actually Lockhart’s position he wanted, not to teach potions. 

“I didn’t take you for a Hufflepuff when I first saw you,” he admitted one afternoon.

“Was there anything else to take me as, Severus? My being here was not only to satisfy the Herbology teacher role, but also to fill the Head of Hufflepuff spot.”

“Of course, just outwardly…you didn’t seem the type. And the students have joked that your creatively witty chiding ought to have landed you in Slytherin.”

You exhaled quietly. “My whole family is mostly Hufflepuff with a few Gryffindors sprinkled in, but even so I understand my general dark attire and reticence made me a bit of a black sheep amongst my peers. I can’t really disagree with you much on that second point. All I can say in my defense is that my loyalty is sharper than my tongue. If you ever need a reminder that I am indeed a Hufflepuff, know that I am always wearing this.” You rolled up the left sleeve of your dark robe to reveal a beaded bracelet around your wrist, each bead yellow with black text stamped in on the sides, spelling out “HUFFLEPUFF.”

An unexpected, incredulous smirk tugged on Severus’s lips. “You really wear that all the time?”

“Only when I’m not bathing or sleeping. My sister made it for me after we got sorted. We, unfortunately, were not placed in the same house… Don’t look at me like that!” you chuckled at the mostly feigned repulsed expression regarding your sibling's sickly sweet behavior. “I happen to like this bracelet, thank you very much!”

“Who knew under your robes was something so garishly bright,” he sneered playfully.

“You’re not as slick as you think either, Severus. Don’t think I didn’t see that Slytherin scarf beneath your cloak at the last Quidditch match,” you eyed him knowingly. He parted his lips to refute but found he had no argument and grumbled while blushing against his tea cup.

______________________________________________________________

“Pardon me, Professor Lockhart, but could I speak to you for a moment?” 

The DADA teacher replied with an “Of course, dear” as he followed you to a spot off to the side from the entrance of the Great Hall after you had finished lunch one Friday afternoon. Severus eyed the both of you as he himself was slowly exiting the Great Hall as well. He slowed his pace down significantly as he floated through the corridor so he could pick up on what you two were saying. You had never willingly started a conversation with Lockhart before.

“...going to be gone this weekend. Leaving tonight, actually…

…take care of a few plants…? I left instructions in Greenhouse 4…”

“...ourse I can! Watering a few plants should be easier than defeating a vampire or two…”

You wanted Lockhart to plant-sit for you this weekend? That actually stung him a bit. Why wouldn’t you ask him to plant-sit for you? He was perfectly capable of doing so and he knew your greenhouses like the back of his hand. Did you not actually trust him like you claimed to?

He kept silent on the matter, his expression remaining impassive as he saw you off to the midnight train in Hogsmeade that same night. 

“See you Monday, Severus,” you bid softly, lightly patting his upper arm before stepping off the platform and disappearing into the night on the train until it was no more than a dot in the distance.

Severus didn’t trust Lockhart to do what was asked of him. Not one bit. Unless it was DADA-related or stroked his ego directly, the man couldn’t be bothered to accomplish what was asked of him. He imagined the fool would pass off the task to a student. Severus unlocked Greenhouse 4 the next morning and found the instructions you had left behind for Lockhart. They were simple and bullet-pointed, detailing exactly what to do and where he could find what. All that was asked of him was to spray a batch of Alihotsy plants with a germinating solution that sat on the third shelf in the supply cabinet, rotate them out of the sun at three o’clock each day, place them back at dawn, trim the matured leaves and store them in a jar. “Eventually to be delivered to our amazing potion master,” it noted, making him smile.

Severus kept a watchful eye on Lockhart that first day. Lockhart remained in his office until lunch, and after that made a trip down to Hogsmeade, no doubt to drink and find some entertaining company. At 2:45, Snape went up to Greenhouse 4 and confirmed that nothing had been moved from when he entered there this morning, the germinating solution still sitting in the exact same spot. He sprayed them all heartily and shifted the plants to a shelf away from the sun’s sight. A few leaves had matured so he gingerly snipped them from the stem and placed them in a standard mason jar. He also noticed several snails trying to sneak their way into some Potted Mandrake and disposed of them as well as repaired some worn netting protecting the Shrivelfig that was meant to keep out aphids.

He came by Sunday morning and treated the Alihotsy the same, making sure to place them in the sun at dawn so they had absorbed plenty of light by mid-afternoon. Once again, Lockhart hadn’t even bothered. 

______________________________________________________________

You returned Monday morning while everyone was at breakfast. Upon stepping into Greenhouse 4, you sighed in relief when it looked as though your plants had indeed been taken care of in your absence. You smiled pleasantly when you noticed some protective netting had been repaired, a task you planned on getting to when you had returned, but your smile broadened even more when you noticed a muddy boot print on the ground, one that did not at all belong to Professor Lockhart.

“Thank you for taking care of the Alihotsy this weekend,” you said to Lockhart who happened to be passing by the door that led down to the kitchen as you had come back from retrieving a snack that would substitute breakfast.

“Huh? Oh!” The man quickly recovered. The look of confusion lasted not even a second before plastering on a smile. “Yes, it was nothing! You can always count on me, Y/N!” he winked. You nodded once, drifting away from the man in favor of walking alongside the potion master who was breezing by in the same corridor.

“Hi,” you greeted. 

“Welcome back,” he replied, hiding his delight at your return. 

“Did anything interesting happen while I was gone?”

“Not particularly, though I was tempted to push Lockhart down a flight of stairs multiple times.” 

“Aren’t we all,” you laughed.

He walked with you all the way back to your office, select words hanging on the tip of his tongue until finally, he couldn’t hold them back anymore as you pushed on the handle of the door.

“Lockhart didn’t take care of your plants,” Severus blurted. 

“Oh?” Your hand slipped from the handle to face him with feigned curiosity.

“I didn’t trust him and…was proven correct when he ignored the task and instead spent his time in Hogsmeade, so I took care of them,” he explained carefully.

You smiled sweetly at him, lacing your fingers together in front of you. “I know, Severus.”

His breath caught in his throat. “You do?”

“Mhm. Truthfully it wouldn't have been the end of the world had those plants gone a couple of days without treatment, but I wanted to see what Lockhart would do and how he’d react to receiving false praise. I can’t say I’m surprised by the results, really. He’s as phony as ever.”

The potion master smirked. “Quite.”

You took a small step forward, stood on your tippy toes, and pressed a kiss to his forehead, making him flush pink when you pulled back and looked at him with twinkling eyes. “Thank you for taking care of my plants, Severus,” you murmured, affectionately squeezing his shoulders, before slipping inside of your office. Severus stood frozen in shock, his heart drumming in his chest before he managed to stop his brain from short-circuiting further. Without warning, he entered your office as well—you did have an open door policy after all—where he received another kiss. And another. And another…

He should plant-sit for you more often.

[jsbashirmd]

"Okay, okay," he responds, not letting himself panic no matter how much he wants to. He drops with Garak, though more slowly, and once he's settled on the floor, squeezes his hands back. "I'm going to count out some breaths, and even if it doesn't feel like you're getting any air, I want you to follow along. You can do this. In, one, two, out, one, two, in, one, two..." Once Garak was matching him, he could add to the count, moving from just two to three and then up to five or six. Patiently, he kept counting, squeezing his hands with every 'in' and 'out' and rubbing his thumbs over the backs of his hands.

@jsbashirmd said: "Hey, hey hey, Garak, my love, I need you to breathe with me. squeeze my hands and take a big breath. Trust me."

COLD AIR SAPS OXYGEN FROM HIS LUNGS, STEALING EVERY BREATH HE TAKES. There's not enough space in the room, not enough air, but every cell in his body is fighting to breathe it in anyway, and it hurts. Each dizzying attempt to take a new breath only makes him shudder, chest tight and throat raw with his panting. He can't tell how long he's been here, bent over his workstation, trying pointlessly to control himself, to control the swirling panic in his head and the way his eyes flick from wall to wall. A disciplined mind ought to be able to work through this, and yet, it feels like he's been struggling for hours. It could've been mere minutes, though, for all he's able to accurately assess his surroundings and the passage of time. All he knows is this: "I can't--- breathe."

HE CAN SQUEEZE JULIAN'S HANDS. He's not sure when Julian got here, actually. He's not in the infirmary. But as he tries to recall, or figure a reason for his arrival, he finds every strand of thought evaporates too quickly for him to catch hold of it, replaced with the clawing grip of anxiety. He wobbles, and all at once, loses the ability to stand. His knees hit the floor hard, and it should hurt, but it registers only as a distant sting, knocking at the very furthest door of Garak's panic-filled consciousness. His grip on Julian's hands tightens, even as his chin drops, wide eyes fixing on the floor in front of him. Black hair, usually so sleek and immaculately styled, falls forward over his face.

[brunchable]

2319 Chapter 9 — Start of Love & War || Young!S.S × F!Reader.

Word Count: 2K Genre: Young Love, Diary Entry, Flashbacks. A/N: Inspired by the Korean Drama 2521. Thank you for being patient guys, I do apologize if it's short! I admit I've sorta forgotten some stuff so I'm rereading everything lol. I might focus on the present next chapter.

The night of July 25 1999, it was a hot, scorching summer, and night had come with a breeze like a balm. It was noisy all around the camp; not only your group was the one waiting for the meteor shower to start. The radio was on for the forecast and some people were singing, others were telling stories and laughing around the fire. 

The midnight blue sky is exuberant, twinkling with bright, white sparkles and fireflies.  Stephen turns his head to look at you, his face illuminated by the stars. He digs his fingers into the soft grass of the hill.  

At some point, you caught Stephen staring at you as you blew a deep sigh out of your lungs and you felt embarrassed, somehow. Especially after confessing to each other that both of you have lingering feelings mutually. 

"Oh my! Look up!" Donna gasped and pointed skyward as millions of diamond streams fell from the sky.

Stephem smiled at you and asked you if you had ever seen a meteor shower before. “No, it’s for the first time”, you answered and suddenly quickly turned away to hide the hint of pink blooming on your cheeks.

He pretended he did not notice and he went on, “It’s interesting how people are fascinated by this phenomenon, when the Earth basically passes through the tail of a comet, which collects everything it finds in its journey through the Universe.”

Both of you gazed up at this dark, vast canopy sprinkled with millions of diamond lights. So mesmerised were you by the sight of it, your voice took on a dreamy tone when you answered him, “Yes, but how beautiful it all looks from down here.” you softly chuckled. 

He laughed softly together with your silvery laugh. It was so sweet and sunshiney, he half-expected flowers to sprout on the ground wherever you walked and a coterie of singing woodland animals to trail behind you while you traipsed through meadows or whatever girls like you did.

Both of you lifted your gaze and saw small shiny globes shooting across the sky, leaving behind a neon-like effect. Exclamations and applause could be heard around you, and you felt him take your hand and clutch it slightly. All he seemed to notice were your bright eyes, they were close enough that he could see the way the lights from the comets reflected in your eyes, like tiny star-beams streaking across an endless night. Your lips parted, lush and pink, and an insane desire to find out whether they tasted as sweet as they looked now gripped him. He nodded with a very warm glow in his eyes, a very softened looking face and an almost hidden smile.

You were too absorbed by the meteors to react to his actions but your heart did skip a beat as you watched the whole show on an indigo background, like a huge canvas, which would lift with the sunrise. 

Stephen closed his eyes and made a wish for time to stop for a short while, so that he can savour the moment with you. His chest aches at the idea of losing the thread of this night, and the ease that has shaped between you, an ease born of weeks instead of months or years, but it is something, fragile and lovely.

Stephen sighed softly, stealing glances at you whenever he can so that his photographic memory will have your image seared into his brain. Then, he looks skyward to see the night sky, twinkling with myriads of mysterious stars, blue-black velvet, making the heart stop from the power of mystical attraction.

Something inside Stephen sparked and right there and then, he has made up his mind. He was going to finish what he started, he will graduate university. 

Stephen's Flashback 

“It’s laughable, isn’t it?” He says. 

“What?” Beverly asks him.

Stephen gestures to himself. “This.” He leaned his head against the headrest and closed his eyes. “I should just quit Mom. I’m obviously not cut out for this.” 

Beverly sighs. “Not cut out for what? College? Real life?” 

Stephen shakes his head. “Responsibility in general, really. Dad was right when he told me that I'm no better than his estranged brother, Uncle Rainer. He was right about that, at least.”

"This year is just a really bad year, Stephen. A really, really challenging year. Sometimes in life, we need a few bad days in order to keep the good ones in perspective.” His mother reached out to hold his hand while keeping the other one controlling the steering wheel.

"You might not see it yet, Stephen but you have what it takes. Your grandfather always tells me to finish what I started, thrust aside your trepidation and self-doubt. Bare your teeth and embrace the process. Most importantly, finish what you start. You’ll be surprised by what unfolds and presents itself before your very eyes." Beverly continued with a slight imitation of her father. 

She continued, "And if at the end of it all, you still don’t like medicine, you can do whatever you want to do. You're young, this is not the end of the world."

▪︎▪︎▪︎

August 5th 1999

“Again, (Y/N)!” If you hear the words 'again' and (Y/N) together in a sentence one more time, it might be the thing that finally tips you over the edge. 

You've been on the edge since you woke up this morning with a headache sent directly from the pits of hell, so the last thing you need right now is more grief from Coach George Laurier. You focus on suppressing your annoyance, like you do every training session when he makes it his mission to push you to your limits. 

Rationalising it’s his dedication that makes him such a successful coach, he decided throwing your ice skates at him is something that should stay in your imagination. 

It’s been a few days since the camp and right when you got back home, your father instantly gave you a condition. A condition to make it ‘fair’ according to him. Since they allowed you to go on that trip, the least you could do was start training. So here you were, training for the next olympic games. You’ve been so focused that you haven’t been able to hang out with Donna.

“You’re being sloppy, (Y/N)!” he yells as you fly straight past him. “Sloppy skaters don’t get gold medals!” 

What did I say about not throwing skates at him? I already have a gold medal.

“Come on, (Y/N)! Put in some effort for once.” Alex snickers, poking his tongue out at you when you shoot him a cold glare. 

Stupid Alex Laurier. Just because he is the best male hockey player the University of Washington, Devonport has to offer and having an ex-figure skater as a father, Alex acts like knew everything about both figure skating. 

“It’s coming, Coach,” you say with as much fake enthusiasm as possible. “I’m getting there; it’s not perfect yet, but I’ll keep practising.” It’s a minor lie, a harmless one. You are getting there. What you've failed to mention is you're only getting there off the ice, specifically when you're attached to equipment that helps you get there. 

“She’s getting there,” Alex lies, throwing an arm around his Dad's shoulders. “Hang in there just a bit longer, (Y/N).” 

It was nice for Alex to be on your side and show a united front to his father. 

George mutters something inaudible and waves you off flippantly. “I’ll see you two back here tomorrow, and if you could both not be late, that would be great. I’m fairly certain eating McDonalds before training isn’t going to get either of you onto the Olympic team. Understood?” 

Shit. “Yes, Coach,” you say in harmony. 

Alex is staring at his phone, waiting for you in the lobby when you finally exit the women’s locker room. 

“I freaking told you he’d know.” you groan, swinging your bag toward him as soon as you're close enough to hit him in the stomach with it. “I didn’t even have anything!” 

He grunts at the impact, tugging the bag from your hands and flinging it over his shoulder. “The man has the nose of a bloodhound.”

You climb into Alex's new SUV, the latest guilt gift from his uncle, and head home. Alex and you decided it would be cool for him to be your ride since he has practice two hours after yours. 

Alex stops at a stop light and looks over at you while you rummage through your purse for your most prized possession. 

“What does the planner say you’re doing tonight?” 

 You snicker, ignoring his teasing tone. “Getting laid.” 

“Ew,” he says, the tip of his nose wrinkling as he grimaces. “Keep your imaginations to yourself.”

“What is that supposed to mean?!”

“Nothing,” Alex smiles to himself while you roll your eyes, “So. . . I heard Paris talked to you before we left camp. . .What did she say?”

You scoff at the memory of that morning before separating, “Y'know she apologised but then she said I should've let everyone know I couldn't swim.”

“Wow.” Alex widens his eyes, “What a massive bitch.”

“I'm over it, just as long as I don't see her again. . . Robbie was more upset than her.”

Alex pulls over in front of your house and lifts the handbrake, “To be honest, me too,” Alex said. “You know what?” 

“What?” You asked, looking over at him. Before you could even register what was happening, he leaned across the car and pressed his lips against your cheek. You almost jerked back in surprise. 

“All right,” he said, pointing at his cheek. “Lay one on me.” 

Before you could think twice, you planted a kiss right on his cheek. He smelled like pine trees. “There.” 

He grinned, sitting back just as fast as he’d leaned over. “That fixes it for both of us—and by that I mean my Dad being a pain in the ass.” 

And that’s when I fainted. Okay, I didn’t really faint. But something inside you snapped like an elevator cable, your heart plummeting to your feet. You felt light-headed and combustible, your neck hot beneath your collar. 

“Thanks,” You said, laughing a little. Thanks?! Someone kisses you and you say thanks?! Did you learn nothing from Stephen Strange? 

“That takes the pressure off.” 

No, it doesn’t! Now I have no idea what’s going on! Do you like me or are you just being a good friend in the most confusing, lip-touching possible way?! 

“Hey,” he said. “What are friends for, right?” 

Not this! You climbed out of the car onto shaky legs. Alex Laurier kissed you. Alex. Laurier. Kissed. You.

▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎

You shut the door of your room and that’s when you snapped out of your trance. You dropped your bag on the floor and combed back your hair, “What the hell was that guy thinking?”

You rushed to the window to let some fresh air in, not realising that Stephen was there, “You look frazzled.” He looked up from the guitar he was holding.

You jumped slightly and cleared your throat, "It's nothing."

“Really? That didn't seem like nothing to Alex.” 

Your face flushed at the mention of his name. You sat down, wondering if Stephen saw Alex kissing you on the cheek. He seemed so casual about it—he probably wouldn’t even think about it again. 

“He was just trying to cheer me up. His dad was very hard on me during training today.” You replied, which was not all a lie since you think that's what Alex was doing—at least that's what 'taking pressure off' is to him.

“Nice to see that it worked.” Stephen chuckles and sets his guitar on his stand, “Enjoy your sessions with him.” With that, Stephen grabbed his jacket and left his room, shutting the door behind him. Stephen's actions stung and it caught you off guard, rendering you speechless. Even though he was casual about it, it felt as though there was a blizzard right beneath his calm persona.

SERIES TAGS: @goldencherriess @lokislov3 @strangesweetheart @mydearalmira @veryladyqueen @seasonofthenerd @artsherlocked @bobateadaydreams @classicrebound @holygalaxyprincess @sobeautifullyobsessed @winsteria @allie131313 @gaitwae @sherlux @the-royal-petals @keistange @omgstarks @evelynrosestuff @withalittlehoney @strangeions @gwephen @cemak @patbrdac @siredlust @downtownshabby @nicoletk @lilithskywalker @youcantseem3 @samisubi @strangelockd @bloodyxsaint @lady-harvey @paola-carter @jotaros-bara-tiddies @delightfulheartdream @strangefilms @strangeobsessed

[artsy-hobbitses]

… I realized that Stefan and Sergio have the same initials. Could you imagine the Rom Com chaotic vibes if Stella accidentally read a love letter written by Wariko or read her diary processing her love for a guy with the initials ‘S.S’.

HSAFHGAHDHFFGSAJFGJAGFF OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOO

BOTH ITALIANS. BOTH WITH RED-BLACK HAIR/RED EYES, BOTH CAN COOK, BOTH VERY WIFE GUYS

The absolute CHAOS of poor Windblade having to explain an unsent love letter that IT'S NOT SOMEONE ON THIS BASE when Strongarm confronts her about it (REMEMBER! SHE WAS INITIALLY SECRETLY JEALOUS OF THE TIME SIDESWIPE SPENT WITH HIS NEW BLADE-SPARRING PARTNER) and Windblade having to explain IT IS UNSENT FOR A REASON NO ONE CAN KNOW BECAUSE THE DUDE IS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FIELD!!!!

And Strongarm is like Oh. OH (BECAUSE WHO ELSE HAS S.S AS HIS INITIALS) . GIRL U DIDN'T 8C

(She does keep Windblade's secret---Windy's GOIN THRU IT RIGHT NOW but Windy's decision-making can be trusted---but tells her to please be careful with where she's threading, because maybe Windy's right about him, but we're in the middle of a war, and we can't afford one of our best to be compromised, y'know?)

[vesvius]

ELIZA | "THE FAVORITE'S FORSAKEN"

"THE FAVORITE'S FORSAKEN" by BASTIAN S.S.

"Oh, my dear daughter, if only you knew how special you are to us, to me..."

In the shadows of a sprawling forest, 16-year-old Maude finds herself torn between gratitude and unease. Abandoned by her parents and adopted by the enigmatic Apatow family at the tender age of ten, she has grown accustomed to their unnervingly perfect treatment. They clothe her in silks, serve her the finest feasts, and lavish her with affection beyond measure. Yet, beneath their benevolent facade lies a chilling mystery.

Maude's suspicions deepen as she struggles to fit into the Apatow family's meticulously crafted world. Her siblings, each peculiar in their own right, harbor secrets that whisper of ancient rites and arcane rituals. The mansion they call home echoes with voices from a forgotten past, and Maude's dreams are haunted by cryptic visions of a life she can't remember.

Driven by a yearning for truth and a primal fear of belonging where she doesn't fit, Maude embarks on a clandestine journey through hidden chambers and forbidden realms. With each revelation, she unravels the dark threads of her adoption and uncovers a web of deceit, confronting ancient evils to break free from the Apatow family's sinister grip.

Bastian S.S.'s 2nd published book "The Favorite's Forsaken" following the success of his debut novel, Bastian reached the Best Seller List once again with this captivating tale of abandonment and magic.

© @lookclike

[jsbashirmd]

"I'll tell you about it later," he says quietly, his chin propped on Morse's shoulder. He closes his eyes and tips his face forward to breathe in the scent of his partner as he squeezes him just a little tighter. "Just let me hug you for a minute?"

It feels like it's been days since they last had a moment to themselves like this. He stays, quiet, his chest pressed up against Morse's back and his arms around his waist, for a long two minutes before he kisses behind his ear and shifts his weight onto one foot so he can reach for the glass and steal a sip. "It was long, but mostly boring. Nothing terribly unexpected. Are you alright?"

[ behind ] sender comes up to receiver from behind and wraps their arms around their waist ~@jsbashirmd

HE'S A LITTLE DISTRACTED THIS EVENING. It's been a difficult day at work, as his days often are, and he's come home with his mind still whirring away with it all. He's home before Julian today. He's got his music playing, there's a drink on the side, and he's standing in the living room, staring out of the window with a hand tangled in his own hair. Nothing is quite working to satisfy the odd feeling he seems stuck with tonight, and it's absolutely infuriating. There's nothing more he can do on the case now, otherwise he'd be doing it, so he's going to have to direct his attention elsewhere, somehow. It's as though his whole body aches, except that it doesn't exactly hurt, and he doesn't know what it's aching for. He tugs at his own hair, fidgets with a button on his shirt, and then---

THEN THERE ARE ARMS AROUND HIM. Morse makes a startled sound, but surprise dissolves quickly into a smile. Julian. "I didn't hear you come in," he says, dropping the hand from his hair to cover Julian's arms with his own. Maybe he did hear, and just didn't process the sound. He's not sure. With this sort of distraction, either is plausible. He's not even sure how long he's been standing here. Already, though, he's feeling a bit more grounded. Julian always hugs him so firmly, and it's one of the best feelings in the world. Morse is leaning into him before he even realises he's doing it, seeking more contact. "How... how was your day?" he asks, trying to pull his mind back into the realm of polite conversation instead of focusing on the perfect hug he's being given and how much he never wants Julian to let go.

[deletreatualma]

@writingshae ₊˚⊹♡'ed for a starter:

Severus smirked up at them, dark eyes made both darker and brighter by his hunger for them. Thumbs pressed into soft thighs, certain there'd be proof of their passion on multiple areas of the other's body. Tongue swiped along his lower lip as he gathered stray drops of their essence, gaze still ravenous and on them as he said, "I'll need you to say that louder for me." The statement punctuated by a bite to their inner thigh, tongue slowly lapping over the reddened flesh.

[jsbashirmd]

[[ barely plotted soulmate au for @lietwice

"Hello, Mister Garak." When Julian enters the shop, he looks wary. More than that, he looks feverish, hair damp and face pale. More than that, he looks intense.

His eyes are wide when they finally fall on Garak, and his entire posture straightens in response. This very well could be the man who has caused his terrible, unbearable, wonderfully-promising agony. And if it is, he simply can't afford to miss the signs. His chest pain even eases a little at the thought, though he's careful not to read into that.

"I'm here because there's been a minor outbreak. Have you been experiencing any head or chest pain? Fever? Nausea or other stomach upset? Tightness in the chest? Hands shaking? Malaise or melancholy? Or, perhaps, unusual muscle tightness?"

[jsbashirmd]

Julian tells him what he had planned to do with the root vegetables and fish while he awkwardly kicks off his remaining shoe as well, though it increases his limp to do so, then he happily leans into Garak's side for the journey to the nearest comfortable chair. When he sits, it's with a relieved sigh and a quiet, "Thank you, my love. Really. I don't know what I would do without you."

@lietwice asked:

“Are you hurt?”

Julian shakes his head, then tries to get up and swiftly changes his mind. They'd reached and rescued 14 injured people, including two small children, before the secondary collapse, so it was certainly worth a bruised hip and a fractured ankle, but that didn't mean he had to be pleased about it. At least Garak had been far enough away from the building at the time to not be caught in it. "Yes. It's probably not bad, but I'd rather not do more damage. Can you help me up and let me use you as a crutch?"

[gracie-bird]

Grace Kelly's luxury suite on the cruise liner S.S Constitution, located on the port side deck during her 8-days voyage to from New York to Monaco.

The view herewith shows the large main room of the suite arranged as a living room for daytime occupancy. The back of the 7-foot sofa singes down to form a spacious, soft bed. There are two such sofas in this room.

The door shows in the photo leads to a private veranda. Not shown to the right of the picture is a dressing room with vanity stable trunk space, hat box and shoe storage, and simple closet space. There is a little bathroom with tub and shower.

The floor is covered with a soft hand woven wall to wall blue rug. The sofas are covered with hand woven fabric of "cherry" shade with metal threads that give off a silver glow. On the wall is an original bird print from Audubon's renown "elephantine" portfolio. The forward wall of the room is covered with an 8 ft. by 8 ft. mirror. The room is equipped with a telephone and air-conditioning control.

All suites aboard the Constitution are named for former commanders.

[figure8ponderer]

Her Eyes of Pyrite

I bleed in strands of red thread, Tangled knots of leaking fabric, Woven by her calloused hands. Her essence sewn deep into the cloth of my skin, Each pore a stinging stitch. Felt burns through the riverbed of my veins, Now dry, a barren drought where clarity once flowed.  The thread pulls tighter, binding what remains. Her touch, a wound I wear but never show. Once prosperously blue beneath, now damned to crimson, Impossible without heaven’s yellow rays, Somehow made possible with her golden deception. Metallic gleams, her eyes like pyrite. I bartered gold for brass, traded blue for red, and my own skin for scars.

-S.S.

[faunastanza]

Stolas: First Speech pt. 1

(part 2)

Stolas: First Speech by Stolas, River, Razca, Shizukan, Tzebel, Gaap, Mavi, Phoebe, Caskette, Nuez, etc.

Another long one, credited to all the people in the RP again. We're still in Althar where some random stuff is happening. A whole bunch of old plot things come back as fun cameos though. I think Glip was doing some backreading.

We start at the Synemetricism temple of the sun where someone named Prince Stolas, the central cardinal, is going to take the stage. President Gaap is the south cardinal with Thorn and Check as east and west, although River (north) is not at his podium and Azlyn seems to be missing. Stolas is supposed to give a speech but he's 20 minutes late. River shows up late and scurries to their podium.

With River in place, Stolas finally decides to start talking. He looks sort of like a weird Hollow Knight character. The title card reveals this is just a stupid outfit the actual Stolas is wearing, who you'll see in a moment.

i can never tell you all how much i love stripes

Stolas says that he's been trying to figure out how to express himself for days. He says he has intentions of granting a wish. We get an overlap of Mesund whining as usual to some poor unfortunate who's stuck listening to him. He complains that he hates this and he hates hearing this from whoever he's talking to, and that it feels like this person made everything bad with Nuez when Mesund didn't want it to be bad in the first place. He says he tried very hard from the beginning to listen to her and include her in everything. "I tried," Mesund says, "I was doing this on my own. I was trying on my own because I cared on my own."

Reminder that Nuez is one of Pengo's characters. No reason.

Mesund continues, saying that if Nuez had told him that she felt hurt from what he did, he would have listened. He hates that this person's fear interfered and that he wishes that it hadn't. It turns out he's talking to that weird bear thing from before that talked about wanting to disengage from Mesund's yelling in that deranged way.

got two little xylophone hammers on my head, nodding like yeah

Mesund continues tantruming about how they wish Bear would stop making his relationships worse with other people and how much he hates it. Always someone else's fault. We cut back to Stolas at the podium, saying that granting a wish is the focus of the ritual he wants to begin today. The narration says that Stolas speaks in a slow, measured way. He says he'll grant the wish in several months (when the RP ends, presumably).

We get a cut-in of Deca and Mesund again, with Mesund crying about how he wishes he could do something safe with Deca. They frame the center shot of Stolas, so we're kind of cutting back and forth with the narrative focus. Stolas says that the wish's focus should be about uniting Althar. Mesund continues, saying that he can't even hug Deca. "What does it mean to unite Althar?" Stolas asks.

this is what i mean by two scenes at once

Mesund says that they don't know if Deca would even want a hug anyway, although the text has a background to it that sort of looks like it's been erased or rewritten. Stolas says he wants to explore what it means to unite Althar. Part of Mesund's dialogue disappears, leaving "cannot... know it" while Stolas says he doesn't know what it'd mean to unite Althar. Both the scenes are bleeding into each other as you've probably guessed at this point, I'm just trying to be specific because it gets easy to lose the thread of one scene when it cuts to the next.

Mesund keeps crying and talks about "the boat thing", and says it reminds him of a phrase Sleebee (who? also lol) said to him that it (who?) said it was very important, or that it treated it as important. Stolas says that Psia'ago, you know what, Pengoists, has barred Synemetricism from their grounds. I'm just going to call Synemetricism Synmet from now on.

Going back to Mesund, he says it was called the "S.S. Friend Drowner", which is a reference again to the very early pages of Seeds which was a time of simple hijinx. Cress made herself a boat at one point to get Min across a river and Min kept roasting Cress for falling asleep while sailing. Min writes in her journal sarcastically about how the "S.S. Friend Drowner" will reach the other side of the lake eventually before she takes a nap. Mesund says that it made him sad, and he realized that he couldn't know if he was wanted, and he might not be. Implications of Mesund being Cress now, for whatever sense that makes.

Stolas asks why the Pengoists blocked the Synmets, rhetorically. Mesund continues his previous thought, saying he'd "find out, once..." but then trails off. He says he doesn't know, it just made him sad. Stolas says he was given no reason. Deca finally decides to speak up and says that it does sound sad, and he's sorry for contributing to that feeling (how?). Stolas rhetorically asks why.

Deca says that his statement of "you cannot know" could have been misinterpreted in a very robotic way.

still can't figure out where my face is

Stolas says he's wondering about the Pengoists behavior. Dialogue comes from Mesund but with a different background and it sounds a bit like Deca, so I'm not sure if it's Mesund or Deca talking here, but let's assume it's Mesund. Mesund says that if Deca doesn't have a feeling, then he doesn't have it, and that if he doesn't want to connect to security in that way, "it doesn't... it's not... I don't expect it."

Stolas is quiet in thought for a long while. Eventually he says that some of the congregation might know why the Pengoists blocked the Synmet where he does not. "Maybe this is so," he says, "It doesn't feel like unity to me." He says he wants to change this. Stolas goes on to say that today his head was full of noise. We then cut fully to another scene, this time with River and a bird thing with Andre's wand in his head. River asks where they're going, and Stolas says they're going to a place about noise. River asks if they're going to a temple, and Stolas clarifies that they're going to the temple of Sample, the troupe member associated with music. You know who hasn't shown up much? The troupe. I know saying that is inviting disaster but god I hated all of them, I'm glad they're gone. Especially Double/Extra. Double/Extra can go to Hell.

Anyway, Stolas in this form talks differently with very short broken sentences. River asks who Sample is, and Stolas says that they're a sibling of his and Gaap's. River asks for more details about what Sample looks like, and asks if Sample's good at wiggling. Stolas says she is, and River gets an odd look on his face and asks if Sample's better at it than Stolas is.

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

This is set up like some fun teasing thing but instead a big web of those weird crying cat keys show up. They say a lot of stuff about dying for doing something wrong, along the lines of "if you make a mistake, you'll die, if they make a mistake, you'll die" "if you tell anyone,  you'll die" "they want you to die" and things like that. Some of it mentions things like "forever screaming" "always bad" "it's your fault" "you don't care, you never did" and other things that sound like stuff Glip would write whenever Marl or a stand-in would show up. Marl venting or in-character anxiety? You decide!

these things are ridiculous looking

Anyway, all the lines get crossed out except a few, leaving "if you make a mistake, it's your fault, not theirs. You can't tell anyone." River asks what's wrong and Stolas says everything is noise. We get a clearer shot of Stolas.

get used to him, he's going to show up a lot

River asks if it's like the noise bomb dream that Stolas has sometimes. Stolas abruptly asks what River would do if he killed himself. We cut back to podium Stolas in his goofy outfit. He says he woke up dreaming of death and the threat of death, and he's been trying to understand what death means, and what it means for a united Althar. He says this might sound somewhat disconnected, but he's thinking of Hellside. Stolas pauses to let everyone linger on the thought of Hellside for a bit. He says that disease of an angelic nature threatens to come through from Hellside, in one of the few callbacks to the old plot we've had in a while.

We cut to little Stolas who sort of resembles a basketball looking at some weird swirlies on a wall.

my tangela looks weird

Gaap tells Stolas that the circle with the dot inside is very important since it represents Synmet in Althar, as well as Andrealphus and Stolas. Stolas mainly parrots Gaap as she tells him that he'll find this language easy to grasp, although none will be beyond him. Gaap explains how words can be used to tell stories and gets a note from Check, one of the other cardinals. She says that Check's words are concerning about a potential future. We get a glimpse of the note as Gaap shows it to Stolas. From what I can gather, it says that River's been spending time with Razca and that's not a good thing for some reason.

got my... saladfingers

She points out the sigil on the left of the note and says that Stolas can write that at any time to contact her. Stolas is delighted by this and still mostly parrots single words back at her, clearly supposed to be a toddler or around that age. She says that words can make a world smaller or larger, and Stolas is intrigued by the idea of using tools for other worlds. Referring to himself as Andre, he says he wants to write and see "sing symbols". Saying that he write sing symbols "of in the heart" he says he saw Static. Gaap doesn't seem that surprised by this.

mommy mommy guess what i did in school today mommy

Stolas tries to write a sing symbol, which he does. This song showed up before in Itchy Itchy - Andre wrote it on the wall for Biff to relay to his zombie, Loppy, to sing to the angel to neutralize it. It did work I think although Loppy doubledied in the process.

haha, this song's gonna cause so many problems

Gaap asks what the song is about. We do an abrupt cut back to Itchy Itchy with Andre and Beleth. Beleth is tripping out under the angel's influence, saying that they think the angel is gone, while Andre says that has nothing to do with what he said. Originally, Beleth repeated themselves because they were tripping out, but now Beleth turns to look at Andre and says "What does that matter? Nothing you say ever has to do with others. Why's it bad when others do it?"

Andre is startled, saying that's not what Beleth said next. Beleth agrees, saying that they repeated themselves and that's how Andre KNEW, he could hear it in the repetition. "You hear my death in that repetition," they say, "you KNOW that repetition". Beleth goes on, saying that Andre then trashes the story and gives up, just going through the motions until he gets Double (god damn it!!) to burn Beleth, and then Double paints for Andre and does everything for Andre, and feels when Andre doesn't want to feel. This does explain the split mask/full mask imagery we've seen with Andre before. Beleth says "And NOW you act like you care about imitators? Disease? Death? Don't make me laugh." After a pause, Beleth looks away and calls him a coward.

We cut back to Stolas at the podium. He says he's working on sealing the Hellside portal currently, and that the thought it'd be a shorter endeavor than it has been, saying he thought it'd only take a week. He goes on to say that he felt like Hellside was like a second home to him. Leaving it and sealing "ourselves" away gives him a dull ache.

We cut to Amdusias and Andre talking. Andre asks how Amdusias has been enjoying it so far. Amdusias says that there are a lot of Andres there (more paintings of him). Andre rolls his eyes saying of course there are, it's his pyramid, it's for him. Amdusias then gets angry and says that this is where she asks him why Beleth's body wasn't accounted for when they developed the cures for Itchy Itchy disease. I don't remember this scene happening at any point, although it could have happened off-screen, although the on-screen explanation we were given for this was because Beleth was "embarrassed" about the makeup of their body. But a lot of this feels like retconning anyway, so.

andre in the corner all, i'm not involved in this Amdusias goes on to say that this is where Andre pretends he's not in his painting anymore, and that she corners him and makes him think about how much he hates helping the Hellside military, although he told no one about that. He wished he could have stopped Beleth's death, but he can't even be honest with her. The screen goes black with the text "You shut everyone out, and then act like some great, noble deed is being performed". This doesn't sound much like Andre as we've seen him in the comic but it DOES sure sound like how Glip's described Marl and also themselves at points.

We go back to Stolas at the podium, looking away. He thanks Pengoists for shutting Synmet out, saying it gave him direction on sealing Hellside. He then says he wants to talk about something else that's been on his mind. He says that his Art Pyramid, the one in Trebol Hellside (where Andre is), has been stolen. He then says it was the one that was SUPPOSED to be in Hellside (what?). Stolas ponders outloud how someone could steal an entire building, and says he's started to track the thief down.

We get a shot of Phesund from the Spirit of Art VN, with a side frame of Phesund talking. He says he's been thinking about the work he's doing and says it's like meditation, which involves noting things around you and letting them go to purely exist in the moment. Going back to Stolas, he says he can't confirm the thief tracking because he can't go to Hellside since it's being sealed due to the disease. He says it feels true however.

Back to Phesund, he talks about how art can resonate and flow within you and to others. We then get this silly shot of Phesund making bedroom eyes going ~Flow~

oh god they're all around me, don't panic

Phesund says that the flow of life is spirit and the basis of spirit magic. Stolas says that he doesn't like that his home was stolen from him. It was one home of several, but it was built for him specifically. Spirit magic is about creation, Phesund says, we are creative beings! Stolas says the pyramid was to house him and his creative expressions. Phesund says that everything has the potential to be creative, including the art pyramid itself and the angel on it. Uh oh!

Clarifying, Stolas says that not only was the pyramid for him, the criminal angel called the Principal, was allowed into the art pyramid as well. The angel was supposed to be sealed away on Pike, and is singlehandedly responsible for countless tragedies in Hellside. We get a shot of some weird thing that looks like it has manhole covers for hands.

RED LIGHT The snake thing goes up... the MOON IN HELLSIDE!! THIS IS THAT STORY CALLIOPE WAS TELLING ABOUT BIG STAR A MILLION YEARS AGO! HOLY CRAP!! It grabs the rim of Big Star and pulls it off to eat it. Stolas says that this angel led the initial charge, and yet the thief saw fit to let the angel loose in his home. He doesn't think he needs to explain why letting the Principal, one of the most destructively powerful angels ever, into a giant amplifying artifact was a bad idea. He does stress it is a bad idea though, and to that end, he's divined a new map of Owel, saying it's changed. The Principal's doing, he thinks, since it changed the landscape in Hellside whenever they fought it before. Lots of people died. It was only due to Gaap's ingenuity with words that any demons or imps were recovered.

River mentioned a barrier around Althar before, and Stolas now thinks this barrier is the work of the Principal. Who knows what's beyond the barrier or what happened to everything out there? This is what happens when you let the Principal out carelessly and let it defile his home, he says. He's already started work on how to address this problem and will continue it. He's going to capture the thief and question them! They're apparently pretending to be him. "I wish they understood... what... they are doing, when they lie and deceive as they are," he says. He wishes he could understand why they've stolen from him. Stolen from Stolas, haha! Ha haha. He says he WILL understand.

He's still talking in a flat and measured way, the narration reassures us. Stolas says that things have changed in his absence, and it's strange. His last memories are being sucked dry by a parasite (THAT'S YOU, SILAS!! THIS IS YOUR FAULT!! maybe marl too!! i don't know!!) and then being born again. "Just a blip" he says. An angel found him, moved him, and isolated him, and then eventually another one sucked him dry. Andre keeps getting sucked off here.

He says "collaboration" and then trails off. It has another shot of the Worthworm on Andre's mural, then we get a shot of a big temple. It's the temple where Mel and TALwire went to see Razca from the last one with the egg. Gaap is there. TALwire tells Gaap to touch her nib to the egg to complete the ritual, and the timing of is it critical down to the last minute. Gaap narrates her actions in a way she hasn't done in a while.

splort

The egg turns into basketball baby Stolas. Teary, Gaap asks Stolas if he knows who he is. Stolas parrots her, so she explains who she is, adding that she's his friend. She tells him he's Prince Stolas, holy mother of Althar... for now. Gaap asks River to keep an eye on Stolas to keep him from falling in the water. River is very chatty and goes on about his rocks for a bit, eventually getting Stolas to get excited about different colors. Gaap says that it's right he should like different colors, and takes them to the observatory, saying that Stolas should look out over Althar. As they go up the steps, Gaap says that it's okay for Stolas to ask for help if he needs it.

Stolas dances around happily when Gaap praises him, and River says that he likes her. Gaap says that's good, as they're friends, and promises she'll do better by Stolas than she did before.

writing failed in the previous arcs but THIS time i'll do it right

River says that Stolas REALLY likes her, and Gaap says this is at it should be, and that everyone should love Stolas. River enthusiastically says that he's his friend too and will love him forever if he wants. Stolas runs around him while River is delighted that he likes him, which Gaap says is also as it should be.

River asks what happens if something isn't as it should be, and Gaap says it has to be corrected. River asks how to do that, do you paint a different color over it? After a moment Gaap says yes. They go up to the observatory to see Althar. River and Stolas are amazed, and Gaap says that people in Althar are kind, kinder than she expected, and helped return him to her.

don't mind the constant eclipse

She wants to give that love back to Stolas. She goes and gets a journal to give to Stolas, telling him he should write in it every day. Teary again, she says it's her wish that Stolas love himself as much as she loves him. She tells him to write or draw anything in it he wants, it's proof that he exists.

Back with podium Stolas, he says that during the past few weeks since his revival, he's been studying and thinking. He never liked words before, but he finds them useful now. He then says it's strange, he hasn't felt like painting. It was all he was and all he did before but now everything feels different. He says that he writes every day and he thinks about words. Glip feeling more writing inspiration than art inspiration lately? Trying to meld them both into one thing? Could be.

Stolas says he wants to hear the stories of Althar, and that he wants to grant life to someone's wish of a story. He says he can do this, but only if he feels it. He really wants to feel it. I'm reading this as whoever "wins" the rp has a chance to get an actual arc based on their story after its over but i'm just speculating. Stolas says that it's so hard to feel it. A united Althar, why, for what?

We cut to Stolas and RIver riding one of those horse cagroo things. They come to what looks like a barn. River says it reminds him of a dream he had, and when Stolas asks about it it's typical dream rambling nonsense. Maybe it's plot important and maybe not, but no one wants to hear about your dreams, man.

this sort of describes lily and neon at ever hopeful/teslic yard if you squint River says in his dream that people were hopping in big moving things, then points at an extremely vague looking car, saying that's what people were jumping over. Stolas goes to knock on the door while River keeps looking around. He asks if this is where the cave is, and Stolas says yes and no. He clarifies that there are many caves, not just one. Inside the car, under a seat, is Shizukan holding... something. I can't tell what. Some kind of plush toy...?

a book with bunny ears?

Stolas goes poking around the car. Razca comes out and RIver asks her what the car is, and Stolas meanwhile goes to knock on it. Razca comes and picks him up, which angers Stolas and makes him peck her. Razca calmly says its rude to touch things without permission while Stolas kicks her with his little chicken legs. She says she won't open the car for him if he won't cooperate. River, dismayed, says Stolas doesn't like that. Razca says she doesn't like him putting his hands (a generous term for Stolas's little tentacle things) on the vehicle. Stolas abruptly says that he won't save the angel if she won't put him down.

Razca is taken aback and puts him down. She asks what he means. Stolas says the angel inside will die, and "in church someone has death mark, angel will die". River asks if this is like when Stolas turned a curse into a wish, and Stolas says yes. Razca asks how Stolas will help. Stolas says to unlock the angel. Razca asks what happens next, and Stolas says "Stolas will make another map for next. In new day."

Razca asks if this means he wants to unlock the angel and then continue on the next day, and Stolas says no. When River asks if maybe there's another angel, Stolas suddenly gets mad and says there's too many questions. River asks how to get in the car, and Razca says she doesn't know since it's not hers. Stolas says that Razca is clever and can learn about it, and tells her to ask.

We go back to podium Stolas, asking what story "you and I" would tell together. What kind of story makes sense to bring to life, to make true? What kind of story includes everyone? What kind of story includes everyone in ways they want? What will the next RP be? Who can know.

Back to Razca, she's brought two other people - Myandery and some cat in a big sweater - saying they can open the car.

help we locked our kid in the car what do we do Stolas stomps over to the car and yells OPEN. Myandery is concerned that Stolas will hurt Shizukan, and asks if Stolas will tell others that there are angels here. Stolas looks mad as Myandery says that the angel is its friend and it just wants to know if it'll die. Stolas reiterates that the angel will die if not set free, and Razca says they're trying to save it. The cat in the sweater asks why in a very particular way.

i can just see this written out in discord

Stolas says that he "makes wish of River out of curse of angel" and again demands they open the car. Myandery says they want to talk to Shizukan before letting Stolas in there. This just pisses Stolas off further. Cat asks River what the wish and curse is. River rambles another dream where he was cursed and a lady with long black hair held a towel to another lady with black hair on all fours who was REALLY SCARY and River couldn't get away, and only felt like he could get away if she hurt someone else, and then when he told Stolas he said he'd turn the curse into a wish instead.

Myandery is taken aback and asks when River had the dream. He checks a notepad and says he had it yesterday. Myandery says to itself that Shizukan might be the most clever individual its ever met, and says it still wants to talk to the angel. The cat says fine and they'll open the car so they won't make "new Andre" mad.

Going back to podium Stolas, he says those questions about what kind of story he'll eventually make real with a wish are always on his mind. He says something else has been on his mind, then pauses for a while. He says there's a future where he dies, and it's the future where Althar does not unite. He says he dies by his own hand, and he wonders why.

Back with the others, Shizukan is out of the car. Stolas calls over Razca, saying he needs "keys or pins" to open the lock. Razca asks if he means "Angel Groupings" and Stolas says yes. Razca asks what keys he wants, and he puts a tendril to his head and says Ob-serve, who Phoebe has, and Shrou-desty, which Mavi has. Razca tells sweater cat to go get them.

how long have those line keys been a thing and yet they remain unclear

Myandery asks if Shizukan is scared as it holds some kind of bundle. Shizukan shakes and looks at Stolas, and Myandery offers to hold its hand, saying that its mother used to hold its hand when it shook. Shizukan does so. Phoebe and Mavi show up, looking like a cat with antlers and a gerbil with a tentacle ear respectively, and Stolas says he wants more of Ob-serve and Diff-frent. Myandery wonders aloud at wanting more Ob-serve, while sweater cat asks antler cat if there's another one. Stolas runs over and stares intently at Phoebe, then looks over at Myandery and Shizukan.

Stolas says "talking ritual?" and Phoebe says she did that. Stolas says good, and that means they're halfway to the lock. He points out some symbols in his journal and says "talking ritual" and "close hole". Stolas says they need four to play the talking ritual. Phoebe clarifies it as them needing another participant and another "Observe". Presumably in the discord this meant another person watching while another person joined the scene but again I'm speculating. Sweater cat says that Nuez did ask if Stolas was open to visitors.

Back to podium Stolas, he says he's spent a lot of time thinking about why he kills himself in that alternate future, and he doesn't understand. Still, he can see it clearly.

And back to the others again, with Nuez and a little mascot dragon. River identifies Nuez as a rabbat, which I wouldn't have guessed since they always looked like a jackal to me, but hey. The little Spyro dragon is called Caskette.

so now two people at least in this scene are being played by pengo

River tells Nuez that he had a dream where a rabbat came out of a cave and then fell over and changed, wondering if she's going to do that. Nuez says she's "unaware" and hopes that doesn't happen since it'd be weird. Myandery says it also hopes that doesn't happen and that it'd be "super omega weird" which is a bit jarring.

Nuez tentatively says hi to Stolas who looks mad. River goes on about his dream where the grey rabbat turned into a scraggly brown jackal (hey!), saying that some officials came after him who sort of liked him and sort of didn't. Anyway, they start the talking ritual to "show hidden thing of angel". Nuez is concerned about this, asking what Stolas means, while Shizukan looks scared.

Stolas sets up the word game, with someone eventually figuring out that it's basically hide and seek with words and it'll show what the angel is hiding. Shizukan squeezes Myandery's hand. It kind of looks like its holding the same bundle TALwire was a while back.

the virgin shizukan

Stolas reiterates that the game will save the angel's life. Some of the panels in this bit are overlapping each other with each pass and I'm not sure if its supposed to be the passage of time or multiple versions of the same conversation. In one pass, when Phoebe asks if the game will prevent a death, Stolas just laughs. When Stolas goes and hides behind River to illustrate what he means by hide and seek, River says that it's so he won't get "the poke". When asked, River says that he poked Stolas once and Stolas went and hid behind Gaap so he couldn't poke him anymore. In a SECOND pass of this conversation, when the person asks what the poke means, it cuts to Phoebe saying "Principal". Ugh this narrative choice is so hard to summarize.

Anyway, Stolas breaks them up into two teams, saying that he will find and break angel's goal. He's looking very ominous through this whole thing btw.  One team is "talking" and one is "collar", and the basic format is that he'll ask one team something and then ask the other team something else. You get snippets of the conversation in the Discord as the two players decide how to respond.

observe our thought processes

Nuez's team asks how breaking the goal contributes to saving the angel's life. Stolas just laughs. He asks the collar team to think of a word to say to Stolas about Undertown while Shizukan looks increasingly scared. River asks what Undertown is, and Stolas says it's the home of angels. The collar team decides on the word melody. Stolas flips through his book, says the angel's goal is revealed, and laughs maniacally. Shizukan looks crestfallen.

Stolas asks the collar team to ask him a question. They ask what the angel's goal is. Stolas looks in his book, then looks at Shizukan who looks away. He then asks the other team to agree on a word to say to him about Andrealphus. Shizukan hides its face and then hides behind a blanket or towel, not sure what it is. Maybe it's from the bundle its carrying.

Nuez says that she and Phesund had a dream about Andre. "Mesund made a story with me... and used that character... it was a nightmare actually... but he was... um..." Nuez says. Andre got caught in a loop trying to help people he wanted to protect, but those he was trying to protect were encouraging him in ways that weren't sustainable, like getting praise for hurting those "invading". Nuez says its complicated, and Phoebe says Mesund showed the nightmare thing in class, which is great because we never got to see it. That's great.

mesund is the real nightmare, am i right guys! tip your waiter

They settle on changing, but then change their minds again to go with growing since it has more positive connotations. Stolas looks through his book, then stares at Shizukan again. It's still hard to tell but it might be Myandery covering its face, I'm not sure. Stolas says "I see", then asks the team to come up with a question for him. Nuez and Phoebe discuss again what to ask and it seems like everyone in the discord talks in this distant, detached way. I guess it must just be the accepted style there.

nuez got that junk in the trunk

They think about asking about why this would make Stolas happy, but settle on "Why do you choose to move" which is an odd tangent. The other team reveals that they went with Melody because that's the name of an angel that one of them knows in Undertown. So are angels dangerous or not!! Stolas tells them to say a word to him about wishes.

maybe it's all just two or three people talking to themselves

They decide on connection. Stolas looks at his book and asks them for a question. They ask what Stolas's feelings are about angels. Again Stolas flips through his book and doesn't address it at all. He asks the other team for a word about the Art Pyramid. They go with gravity. He flips through the book again, although this time his eyes widen and he says yes.

Back to podium Stolas. He says someone in Althar leads him to kill himself. Then right back to the word game, this time with River. Stolas asks for a question. River asks how are you. Stolas asks him for a word that's the opposite of rain, and he says plume. Stolas asks why and River's reasoning is kind of interesting, I have to say.

i mean... not wrong