#is also on the surface and probably also going after the orb

[bravest-notts]

i spotted vax peering over the edge of my ottoman while we were playing dnd, so my DM made this (while still running a fight no less)--

"Meow do you want to do this?"

[magiturge]

Got any newbie tips for dream game? I've been playin' for a few hours and I'm totally lost annnnd the wiki isn't very helpful

i'm not sure.. what tips to give whether you mean it lore understanding wise or gameplay wise so i'll try to keep it general.

BUT IF YOU HAVE SOMETHING MORE SPECIFIC IN MIND, PLEASE ASK THAT.. if you need help with something i am more than happy to show you in game.

i'm assuming that you're playing in a private server since that is the recommended way to play the game, public servers become more of a social game.

if you're looking for more of a lore understanding of what is going on in dream game, i'd have to recommend reading and looking at things around windy island before even sleeping as there is a good amount of information missing.

the pools outside of the 12th mansion allow you to force certain surface dreams to visit by changing the numbers on them to match a dream's code from left to write. these dream codes can be found around windy island but for convenience sake, these codes as well as the dreams that they correspond to can be found on this page of the wiki in surface dreams. when you insert the code correctly, a sound cue will play.

more under cut for sake of it's going to be a little long.

i'd also recommend if you're looking to explore certain depth dreams that you force the surface dream pink swamp ( which has a pond code of 1, 2, 7 ) to obtain a mysterious crystal.

and to obtain a mysterious crystal in pink swamp, they can be found in this cave.

when you enter you'll find a the crystal machine giver, and interacting with this button will give you one crystal. obtaining certain badges will give you more ways to obtain crystals without having to constantly revisit pink swamp in one session but for now we'll keep it simple.

these mysterious crystals are used to put into depth orbs which will activate depth dreams which give you a sound cue upon activating them, so the next time you wake up and go to sleep, you will wake up in that respective depth orb's depth dream.

( example of what a depth orb looks like. some orbs might looks similar to depth orbs like the very large ones found in lower ten mou but arent actually )

i'd also recommend for exploration purposes that you obtain the pie in the dream ten mou, which is found in upper ten mou. it's kind of.. essential that you learn how to pie hike.

..my tip for pie hiking is to angle your camera down, it helps the pies get into a better / safer angle for you to stand on. you should also probably get used to changing the way that your character is standing / facing to get a better pie throwing angle as well as understanding where your pie will land if you threw it jumping or not.

pies fall off after awhile so keep that in mind.

i am sort of running out of.. general tips, i dont want to get too specific as i dont want to pinhole you to a certain thing to do. so i have 2 last things.

i would recommend when you find your way to the main island in graveyard sea to purchase the x2 repose slice cake. reposes are everytime you wake up / go to sleep and you can use these reposes to purchase certain things.

for example, these permanent upgrades. you of course are not required to obtain these, but they would be nice to obtain.

for last, if you are done mainly exploring.. from there you can aim for badges to obtain as MOST badges reward you with an item permanently.

these 2 badges are the ones beginners usually get. the ways to obtain these badges and every other badge can be found on the miraheze / wiki. there are also tutorials on youtube you can look up if you need visuals if the instructions are unclear.

while its encouraged to try exploring and figuring things out on your own, it's understandable if things get really confusing so it's okay to seek out guidance in these ways.

i'll reiterate that i'm.. unsure by what's meant by newbie tips but i hope these help. if you need something in specifics, please specify.

[ihavethedreamiesx]

Cherry | Juicy Fruit | Haechan [NSFW]

Lee Donghyuck (Haechan - NCT Dream)

Rating: M (18+) MDNI

Word Count: ~2.2k

Pairing: Haechan x AFAB!Reader

Genre: Reader-Insert, Smut, Established Relationship, Porn without Plot

!!This is smut…if that much isn't clear you should probably leave now!! MDNI!

Warnings: She/Her Pronouns used, Swearing, Kissing, Oral (F! Receiving), Couch Sex, Unprotected Sex (Don’t!!)

Summary: It all started with a cherry stem…

Author's Note: This series was supposed to be of drabbles, but as you can see by the word count, that didn't happen.

This is only vaguely based off of Smoothie…I say this because I got the idea for a fruit theme, but past that its unrelated.

🍉 Mark 🍉

🍇 Renjun 🍇

🍌 Jeno 🍌

🍑 Jaemin 🍑

🍓 Chenle 🍓

🍍 Jisung 🍍

Revised (1/31/25)

I am cross-posting this on Archive. Please reblog! Share, even if its to the other sites! Let me know if you want to be on the taglist!

"Do cherries come from the same trees as the flowers?" Your boyfriend is holding one of the red fruits by the stem. It spins back and forth in the air with prompting from his fingertips, another one being chewed in his mouth. You can hear the pit clacking against his teeth as he sucks it clean.

"I don't think so…" You wonder what prompted the question, only briefly glancing up from your phone at him. You’re sitting at your kitchen table to eat. You’ve been looking over the different delivery menus spread across the surface and you’re scrolling through your phone to see who’s open. Not only is it past normal meal hours, which is normally not too much of an issue, it’s some kind of political holiday that only old people care about. The only problem is that most of the people that’ll make the food you want are said old people. It’s also more of something for families, not young couples who do a lot of the baby-making practice but with not intended end product.

"Okay, this place is only open for fifteen more minutes so they're out." You take the noodle menu off the table, placing it on the discard stack.

"Anything else look good or do we need to go to the convenience store?" You ask and when he doesn’t reply, you slam your hand down to get his attention. He startles and his wide eyes are really very cute, but you’d never admit it out loud, even in private with just him. While you love him to pieces, you’re very reluctant to voice it. After trying to say he’s annoying for so many years, you’re loath to admit you don’t hate him. You never did, you’re just in denial about how much you like him despite your harsh words. He sees through it.

"Donghyuck!" You scold and he blinks.

"What?" He emphasizes the vowel, and you roll your eyes. His shocked face softens to a smug grin as he watches you watch him put the next cherry in his mouth, the other pit still in his cheek. His tongue wraps around the red orb as he takes it between his lips, and you shake your head to pull your attention away. He huffs in amusement, you’re such a tsundere.

"What are we going to have for supper? I only got snacks and stuff…" You poke the container holding the cherries. You’d planned on eating out or getting delivery, but the stupid holiday interferes with your regular Saturday night plans.

"We can have each other." Donghyuck smirks, chewing the last bits of fruit off the pit before rolling the two around his open mouth playfully. He knows your eyes are not just on his face, but specifically his tongue. You swallow hard and your eyebrows furrow, mouth open to scold him again. He lets the pits fall out of his mouth and onto the paper plate where the rest of them lay and his smug look turns bored.

"Idiot." You click your tongue, face pink, "I need actual food."

"Hm, you might, but I could just eat you?" He winks and you let out a disgusted grunt, getting up from the table and moving to leave the apartment and head down the street.

"(Y/N), wait!" He coos at you, skipping to follow you. When you start to wiggle your foot to slip it into your sneaker, he kneels down to tie his. You struggle to get the shoe on without untying it, so he leans forward to help you get them on. The sweet gesture makes your cheeks warm further, but you don’t say anything, so he helps you get the other on. He stands back up with a hop, still taller than you even though he’s standing on the lower part of the floor by the door.

"Ready, milady~?" He holds his arm out for you to link with, but you just mumble something and walk past him and out. Your boyfriend sighs dramatically but follows after you still. You always make up for your dismissive behavior after he rails you into the next morning, turning affectionate and playful. He continues to try and seduce you through the not subtle act of aegyo, and you keep shoving him away, especially as you walk down the road. Donghyuck holds the door open for you as you enter the convenience store. The inside is just as dead as the streets, and it feels nearly surreal. You each shop around a bit, and he gets nearly twice as much food as you, and for some reason he feels the need to buy everything he can find that’s cherry flavored.

"You know none of this stuff tastes like actual cherries, right?" you ask, watching him place the different candies and sweets down. The only thing you’d actually consume is the cherry flavored cola he gets as well.

"I know. That's what the actual cherries are for." He points out likes it’s the most obvious thing in the world. Not wanting to admit it even in your own head, the blank look he gives you is just as cute as everything else he does. It pisses you off a bit that he’s so endearing. The tired cashier tells you your price and your boyfriend has his card in the reader before you can even pull yours out. He takes all of the bags as well and you open the door for him this time.

"Did you need to buy all of that?" You grumble, eyeing the five bags he’s carrying.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Curiosity." He answers after donning a pondering look.

"Okay." You roll your eyes, not caring enough to delve further into that line of questioning.

"Did you get everything cherry flavored?"

"Not everything…"

"What did you leave behind, cough syrup?"

"The condoms." He states simply and you halt for a beat, then jog to catch up.

"Why not?" You finally relent to ask. He tosses you a coy look, "they didn’t have the right size." You halt a step but concede his point and jog to catch back up again. When you finally get back to the apartment, he puts the bags on the coffee table, and you grab your meal to heat it up in the microwave. As you plug in the numbers, Hyuck comes up behind you, wrapping his arms around your middle.

"What?" you ask flatly, and he whines pathetically, resting his cheek on the side of your head.

"Can't I hug my girlfriend?" You don’t reply to his question, so he takes that as the go ahead to continue. As he smells your food as it gets done, he realizes how famished he is and hurries to make his own. Some random variety show plays on the TV while you both eat, he devours twice as much food as you do in nearly half the time. Once you’re both done and everything is cleaned up, he lays out all the cherry candies and snacks, as well as some real ones.

"We shall judge them for quality." He motions broadly and you sit next to him at the coffee table. Hyuck is a bit surprised at how close you’ll willingly sit, pressed to his side. You’re warming up. You start to sort through them, pushing the ones you refused to try to the side.

"You need to have the full picture to make an informed decision." He tells you with false condescension. He sniffs and picks up the first packet to rip it open. The fake cherry scent hits your nose, and you sneer, reaching over the table to grab a real one. As you chew, he starts in on the candy and his face twists, putting the bag down and grabbing a fruit himself. You pull the pit from your mouth and set it on your napkin from supper and he does the same.

"Can you tie a knot with your tongue?" He holds up one of the stems and you hum.

"I don't know, I haven't tried." You take it from him, and he plucks another one off a cherry for himself.

"Let's see who can do it faster." He decides and you nod in agreement and you both watch the other as you take the stems into your mouths. You focus hard, trying to maneuver the little piece with your tongue into the right configuration, but it’s no use. When you almost choke on it, you pull it out, nose crinkled.

"Nope." You turn to look at him and he sticks his tongue out at you, the tied stem resting on the surface

"How the heck!?" You grab the little stem from where it lays, looking it over.

"Want me to show you?" His tone has deepened, but you’re too confused to register it.

"Yeah!" You turn to watch, not expecting his mouth to connect to yours. Your shocked inhalation allows his tongue entry, and you want to fight, but you also really don’t. Hyuck smirks into the kiss as you let out a tiny mewl, expertly twisting his tongue around yours. You moan when he leads you to straddle his lap, pushing the coffee table away with his foot. When you settle, his hands on your hips push you down, grinding your covered cunt over his hardening cock. You whine, trying to pull back, but he holds you still, sucking on your tongue so you can’t easily pull back. He has a hard time not laughing when your entire body shudders. Finally, he lets you go, and you lean back, panting hard.

"Fucking hell-" Your fingers are clenching the fabric of his sweatshirt.

"I can do more than that~" He hums playfully, and you blink, "huh?" Your noise of question is followed by a yelp as he lifts you, setting you on the couch behind him, turning so he faces you. Another tug brings your butt to the edge of the cushion, and he takes advantage of your surprise to yank your shorts and panties off without hinderance.

"H-Hyuck~!" You whimper when he instantly brings his skillful tongue to your cunt, wriggling it inside, nose hitting your clit. You sigh shakily, legs twitching when he hums, the vibration ringing through him to you.

"Wait-" You try to get him to stop, extremely embarrassed at your position and feeling weird about how fast he’s bringing you to climax. You shudder again as his tongue leaves your core, stroking up through your folds to flick your clit. Your eyes are closed, so you don’t see his stupid grin right before he sucks on your clit hard. Hyuck's hands fly to your hips to hold them down as you cum, helping you ride it out.

"Too bad I can't pop your cherry…" He mumbles, a little embarrassed at his stupid pun. You huff in disbelief, having heard him perfectly fine even though he kind of hid it.

"Doesn't fucking matter, get inside me-" he’s never heard you so impatient, but he’s more than willing to abide. He removes your top as you help him get rid of his own clothes, and your back barely hits the couch cushions before he’s pressing into you. Even if you hadn't just came on his tongue, you’re soaking wet, your gummy walls clenching desperately to his cock.

"Aw~ sweet girl~" He huffs in delight as your cunt quivers, getting used to the stretch and before you’re fully acclimated, he starts to move.

"Wait, Hyuck!" Your hands grab his shoulders. When he leans over you more, he takes your hands from him, holding them above your head with one of his. His lips hover over yours, hips rolling slowly but hard, fat cock battering your back wall. You practically cry when he kisses you again, tongue reentering your mouth to capture yours. You’re helpless under him, sanity quickly leaving between his cock in your cunt and his tongue down your throat. When air is getting a bit low, he finally removes his mouth from yours, moving it to your jaw and down the column of your throat. You whimper with each thrust, getting steadily faster and harder as he sucks your skin. His goal is to make the hickeys are red as the cherries you both had been eating earlier.

"Hyuck, I~" You can’t get the rest of your sentence out. His hand lets go of your wrists, both of them going to your waist so he can shift positions. He sits back up more, hiking your hips up to arch your back and after an extremely practiced and hard thrust, he chuckles as you cum again. He groans at the tight flutter of your walls and can’t help but fall over the edge himself. You whimper when he finally let your legs and hips relax, not pulling out of you yet. With a tired gaze, you watch him reach and grab a bottle you hadn't noticed before from the coffee table, barely within reach. He pops the cap on the red container, an equally red substance spilling out and dripping over your skin. You shiver at the cold, and he licks his lips.

"Hmm… cherry flavored (Y/N)~"

Master-List

[sunlight-shunlight]

I think probably in some older version of the story, having access to an awakened Titan through one of your companions was probably going to be involved in "curing" the Blight somehow, even though in Veilguard it's made completely irrelevant to the main plot.

!!!!

that is very neat... i was thinking the veil had to have done Something to the titans, since the descent one only woke up after the breach? also there's the fact that orzammar is in the frostbacks, and something there seems to be capable of resuscitating leliana as a lyrium ghost... i do also think the maker was probably a titan and leliana's rose vision thing was a communication from it, haha.

i think my guess would be that the time line went like:

the elves + maybe some faction of anti-titan dwarves sever the dragons from the titans, and bind the dragons to the evanuris somehow, weakening the titans ability to "broadcast" so to speak. i think the titans are naturally connected to the fade, but need the dragons to send out their... titan wifi signals into the physical world, if that makes sense, ahah.

i kind of wonder if that's what the orbs did? like the elves pulled them out of the titans and use them to control the dragons? idk. i think it means something that solas got SO freaked out by corypheus' dragon, bc maybe he thought it meant that corypheus had unlocked the orb fully enough to bind an archdemon with it, rather than using his weird blight stuff to control a random dragon?

i think mythal has a unique relationship to whatever dragon/titan she got her orb from - it may have been more voluntary on her part. that might be why she has the shapeshifting/blight resistance/cares so much about dragons.

the elves go hubris mode and fully kill one titan (the one under the vimmarks where the red lyrium originated). the death of the titan is what generates red lyrium, and why the red lyrium isn't everywhere in thedas, bc not all of them are actually dead.

mythal and solas have the whole area locked away, andruil starts poking around and digs it back up, mythal beats her up and wipes her memories.

time passes, the evil elven regime gets eviller. mythal gets ides-ed of marched. personally my opinion is that the other evanuris tried to kill her and then drink her blood to get her blight resistance, and it didn't work. a last supper + chronos eating his son type of mess.

solas puts up the veil, using the evanuris and their bound dragons as conduits to hold it up. this sunders the last remaining connections the titans had to the fade, and they go fully comatose - this probably turns the titan's... inner ecosystem space(?) much more barren and unlivable, since the descent looked really cool and pretty, and orzammar does NOT have that much biodiversity inside, haha. so the dwarves retreat closer to the surface to survive, and their civilization generally becomes more precarious despite its expansion.

the dwarves eventually forgot about the quarantined red lyrium area bc millennia have gone by. go back in to explore it, and then flee immediately and try to lock it back up. this might be when they remove all mentions of the titans from their records, if they got really scared and thought all the titans were this fucked up.

the tevinter magisters break into the black city, get blighted, and start generating darkspawn. blight time. for some reason, the grey wardens also have a cool idea of drinking blood to resist the blight, and this may be on advice from elves? presumably solas feels fine about this.

flemythal had a galaxy brain scheme of luring dwarven-blooded people to live in ferelden, puts an old god soul into andraste, who then starts hearing one of the titans, and makes a whole religion out of it.

this goes great! except flemythal did not plan for the most evil factor of all: andraste's cringe fail husband betraying her. andraste dies, the titan breaks its connection to her, the whole millennia of effort to get to that point is wasted. this probably makes flemythal corrupt further into vengeance bc she remembers elgar'nan, and after that she picks her next host on a shared Revenge Platform and starts directly possessing her daughters. she's no longer content with just putting the soul in someone and letting them have it, she would want direct control of it (thus, morrigan's whole thing).

the andraste titan is occasionally trying to reach out (leliana's vision!) but can't make much headway. orzammar dwarves still have stone sense sometimes, but that's it. it probably gets killed or severely damaged by corypheus, bc the red lyrium immediately starts spreading out from the sacred ashes temple? the descent titan wakes up when the breach happens, and then by fluke manages to connect to valta. fortunately valta does not have a cringe fail husband who kills her immediately afterwards, so that works fine i guess.

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Buboo

Debut: Kirby: Squeak Squad

Bubbles! Heehee! Hoohoo! What fun! I love bubbles a lot. They are not only fun, but really amazing things! Perfect wobbly orbs of gas, encased in a beautiful shine, sometimes flying around, sometimes just descending, sometimes even landing on the grass or your finger without popping, and it's like a magical moment of connection with an entity so different from you!

Sometimes they pop. This fragile and beautiful marvel of science, suddenly eliminated forever from existence. And that's ok! It's part of the fun! The world will never run out of bubbles, so feel free to obliterate them as you please! You can always make more, whether it's with a bubble wand, your own lips and saliva, or even by a happy little accident, squeezing a bottle of dish soap in just the right way to release a little tiny hovering wonder.

This all being said, I do not love bubbles as much as Buboo does. Buboo may be the number one bubbles fan. With the ability to create spit bubbles, I may be a Bubble Elemental, but even I cannot create enough bubbles to encase myself, and fly! I would if I could! Buboo literally lives at bubbles.

You will notice, however, that I cannot say Buboo IS bubbles. It is among bubbles, but it is not one of them! Like some kind of impostor. But who could this be? Who is red, and has eyes? A scarlet macaw? An angry sunburned dad? Red Jumbo Josh With Four Arms Plush? There are so many things that are red and have eyes! It's going to take me forever to dig through this pile of things that are red and have eyes. I can't eat them all by myself! I'm worried we'll never find out what Buboo's true form is after all...

Hi. I'm just playing around with you here. I know what it is.

It's a little crab! Isn't that a wonderful result? Once its bubbles are all popped, Buboo will fall to the ground and run around, continuing to blow bubbles as a final attack until defeated. I think Squeak Squad, which was my first Kirby game, may have been my first exposure to crabs blowing bubbles in media. I don't think I made the connection, and thought it was just an "elemental animal" without much deeper meaning (besides being really cool and cute, of course). But crabs and bubbles are best friends in real life!

You probably know that some crabs blow bubbles on land! But do you know why? They're not in distress or trying to intimidate another creature or anything. They're just breathing! When a crab breathes out through wet gills, it often comes out as bubbles. It doesn't serve any real purpose, but nothing wrong with bubbles! Also, I like to imagine an exhausted crab sighing, but only bubbles come out, and the sigh is only heard once the bubbles pop. Imagine it. It's whimsical.

Obviously, there is no actual crab that uses bubbles for locomotion... but there is a really awesome snail that does!

This is the violet sea snail! It creates bubbles using its slime, and makes an entire raft out of them, which it spends its whole life attached to upside-down, drifting at the ocean's surface! If you are stranded on an island in an ocean, as a human, you should absolutely not set off on nothing but a raft. But snails are different, and this snail eats Portuguese Men O' War, so clearly it knows what it's doing.

In conclusion, bubbles are so epic and awesome! They are delights and pockets of whimsy to us humans, and to some creature, they are an entire livelihood! I didn't even mention spittlebugs on this post. If you don't know spittlebugs, you should go learn about them! That is your homework. You get a passing grade if you smile at the thought of a spittlebug. Have fun!

[ilverlovelyink]

"Moon dust in your lungs stars in your eyes. You are a child of the cosmos and ruler of the skies." - Medusa

I caught a rogue galaxy once.

I was only sixteen.

It came to me willingly.

It dropped its weight into my hand, a sentient being too great to be held by mortal hands.

I later wondered if it became lighter for me.

No one noticed when I came home past twilight, walking calmly, although if one looked closer they would’ve seen dismay and the weight of the world in my eyes.

I walked with as much confidence I could muster, just another space intern, back from a walk past the moon, who had certainly not been sucked into a black hole that took her too far away to get back on her own.

The assignment had been simple: take a perfunctory visit to the Moon’s greenhouse sapling trials, deliver a box, and come back.

Instead, I decided to roam around a bit before going back.

Lost in thought, I had ventured too far, over to the dark side of the moon. Before I realised it, I was sucked in by a dark mass, snatching me from the surface to an unknown place.

The silence was replaced by screaming. My muddled mind did not realize it was my own, till I came to a stop, suspended in space.

It had been so dark, and even the space there seemed dense like I was floating in a liquid.

Fortunately, I could open my eyes and breathe, though my lungs were oddly strained. It looked like an endless pool of water, there were a thousand stars illuminated above and below me.

The space stretched on forever, and after calming down, I tried moving forward, though in which direction, I did not know.

There was a shining light ahead, a glowing orb suspended above me. I inched closer, till I was a few feet from it. Something in me whispered, ‘Take it.’ It was a foreign voice, rich and deeply accented. I did. The glowing ball was ice cold, and I almost dropped it.

It broke apart and became a dreamcatcher.

A blackish-blue fluid like ink dripped off its shining feathers onto my hand.

I had never seen anything like it in my two years of internship for the Space Locomotive Movement.

SLM was an International movement that had completely replaced the government in our debilitating economy. Launched in 2050, they had been a force too powerful for the leaders of the world, and they had slowly but surely taken over all matters concerning humanity.

They now ensured that the exploration of space and time was the utmost goal of everyone left on earth.

During orientation, in my first year, I had learnt about galaxies. Not the definition taught in school, a system of millions or billions of stars, held together by gravitational attraction, but another meaning, sentient beings older than the universe itself.

They were the most powerful things known to mankind, but where they came from, what they were made of and how they interacted was unknown to us. They could also take the form of ordinary objects.

I did not doubt in my mind that the thing I held in my hand was a galaxy.

Almost as if it could sense my thoughts, it began to move, wiggling around violently. It then vanished, taking me with it. I landed back on the Moon out of nowhere.

I had to get back home.

Running back to earth, I was scared, if the authorities caught even a whiff of what I held in my hand, I would be surrounded by SLM droids before I could open my mouth to explain.

What I had done was illegal at best, and a crime of national concern at worst. Either way, I would probably lose my job as the youngest intern at SLM.

My mind racing for an explanation, I reached my home planet, and in the safety of my room, took a closer look at what I had caught.

It was a dreamcatcher of normal size, dripping a never-exhausting supply of a dark blue liquid I chose to think of as ink, onto my arm. To my horror, it seemed to be absorbed by my skin.

I now had a swirling blue tattoo on the palm of my hand. I stifled a scream, and ran towards the sink, trying desperately to wash it off.

It didn’t fade, but there was a searing pain in my head when the water touched my blue palm. I must’ve made a noise because the door of my room opened behind me.

I turned around, surprised, forgetting to hide my arm.

My aunt, usually composed, took one look at me and fell back against the wall in shock. I tried to rush to her aid but she looked terrified of me. “You- what have you done!” I was shocked. She stared at my arm, which was now covered in swirling blue tattoos that almost seemed alive.

“I should’ve known. You were never normal.” I watched as the look in her eyes turned from shock to anger.

I was frozen on the spot, holding my breath, a million questions running through my brain.

“I know what you are,” she said, “You’re an Ink Witch.”

[medievalfantasist]

So I wrote a sequel to my Avengers fic.

The Historical Present: When Historical Analysis Becomes Current Events (and Tries to Destroy the World) by Clara Starr, PhD, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Part 2 of From the Neat and Tidy Files of Dr. Clara Starr

Since her initial adventure and run-in with Loki, Clara Starr has spent the last year doing her job and working on a secret project for Maria Hill and Phil Coulson. But when that secret project predicts the emergence of HYDRA from S.H.I.E.L.D., she finds herself caught up in another adventure she never asked for. Complicating matters are her feelings for Loki, feelings she's certain he doesn't share and wishes would go away. (Takes place before/during/after Captain America: The Winter Soldier.)

(Must be logged in because fuck AI.)

Snippet under the cut:

“This is either the coolest thing I’ve ever done or the most terrifying,” Amanda said, securing her waist-length locs at the nape of her neck with an enormous hair tie. We stood at the top of a concrete stairwell next to a steel door, wind audibly shrieking from the other side. The elevator that had brought us this far rumbled and started heading back down the shaft. It was ridiculous to feel like it was taking Amanda’s ability to change her mind about this trip away from her; we could just hit the button and it would come back. But there was something final about it, anyway.

“Trust me, it’s both,” I said. “Ready?”

She checked the security of her hair tie, tightened the shoulder strap on her messenger bag a bit, then took a deep breath and nodded at me.

I opened the door.

The wind immediately got louder by an order of magnitude and seemed to suck all the air out of the stairwell. The roof of Stark Tower was larger than it looked, but still felt too small for the height. Despite knowing that Dr. Selvig had built an entire contraption up here and not fallen off, I always worried about the wind whipping me over the railing. We stepped cautiously out onto the roof itself, the door slamming shut—but not locked; I always checked—behind us.

Amanda was far braver than I. She stared out at the city, eyes wide. “Ho-lee shit,” she whispered, the words snatched away by the wind. Her surface thoughts radiated awe and excitement, with little of the kind of apprehension I would have had in her position. We were very different people, and sometimes I wondered if she’d enjoy my weird-ass job than I did. I loved the parts of my job that were actually my job, but it also came with a lot of other weird shit that I hadn’t anticipated when I’d taken it. But it was fun to see her so excited, especially knowing that she’d only get more excited by what came next.

“You ain’t seen nothing yet,” I shouted, taking her hands and pulling her closer to me so we’d both be in the Bifrost’s circle when it descended. I turned my face up to the cloudless sky. “Heimdall!”

I knew I didn’t need to yell. He’d told me I didn’t need to yell. But I always yelled. It was instinct, almost. I was trying to catch the attention of a god who watched dozens of worlds at once, and I was hardly the most important of his duties. I probably sat nearly at the bottom of his list, somewhere below Jane Foster and above some slightly threatening lichen on another planet.

A silent blast of light descended, catching us up and throwing us into the heavens. I felt more than heard Amanda’s rising shriek—of fear or joy, I couldn’t tell—and then we stumbled out into Heimdall’s orb, sneakers squeaking against the metal floor, clutching each other for balance.

“Dr. Clara,” Heimdall said, and Amanda’s mouth dropped open as his voice rolled over us. “Welcome back. And welcome to your friend.”

“Holy jesus lord god in fucking heaven,” Amanda breathed, disentangling herself from me. The corner of Heimdall’s mouth twitched up, an amused gleam in his yellow eyes.

“Heimdall, Dr. Amanda Thomas,” I said. “Amanda, Heimdall.”

“Charmed,” Amanda said with a breathy giggle. I pinched my lips together to keep from laughing at her. I’d never seen her like this before, but I fully understood. Asgardians had that effect on people; they were all so pretty.

“I trust you know your way by now, Dr. Clara?” Heimdall said, pulling his sword from the Bifrost mechanism. His biceps rippled, and Amanda let out a faint eep.

“Yes, but Amanda’s going to the library,” I said. “I haven’t been up there yet.”

“Once you reach the palace, any of the guards can show you the way,” Heimdall said. “They have been notified that Thor has granted you access.”

“Thank you, Heimdall,” I said. “We’ll be back in a few hours.” I grabbed Amanda’s elbow, steering her toward the exit.

“Bye,” she called back to Heimdall, who merely inclined his head graciously.

[basuralindo]

YHMR ch. 17 is hereeee!!

With editing by @kamikazequail!

Commentary under the cut

-Shoutout to those surreal early morning encounters with almost-strangers after sleepovers

-Based on Jamil's beans vignette, I have a theory that Lilia actually does know quite a bit about cooking (I mean, he's had plenty of time to research and learn about it at least in theory), and either can't resist tampering because he's a menace, or just SUCKS at applying the knowledge.

-Everyone's tryna help Jamil out in their own way. He's just too distrusting to appreciate it

-Yes I'm implying that Azul still didn't think to google the name and checked the library for an Arabic dictionary instead. I like to pretend that the mermen still aren't really used to electronics. …I also needed an excuse for Azul to be wandering around campus. We can blame it on a hangover idfk

-Yeah so, personally, I think the kind of mind/magic that is inclined towards manipulating minds would also have an easier time getting into intricate, fiddly mechanisms like locks. Or breaking past wards. I just feel like if you can't keep Jamil out of your mind, you wouldn't be able to keep him out of a room either

-This actually plays into my previous headcanon about his approach to crafting wards through modified curses too. Instead of just a barrier to keep people out, it's more like a boundary that does someone serious harm when they cross/trigger it. It may not be the correct way to go about it, but it sure does keep people out anyway, and they don't get broken through the same way proper barriers would

-I don't actually have any headcanon of like, specific lighting spells that draw from childhood joy, though I realized it kinda sounded like it. My thinking was that there's probably a million ways to cast light, taking varying levels of skill or focus and producing different types of lighting results, but I think any mages that figured out their magic early on would have their own unique spells for it. Like, kids wanting a light at night is pretty universal, and so is wanting to entertain themselves when they should be sleeping (think about how many fancy lamps and projectors are targeted to children). So, I figure a lot of young mages would come up with ways to produce light pretty early on, and, using it mostly while alone in the dark, would probably start coming up with entertaining projections or snowglobe effects and stuff. 

-Continuing that thought: It was mentioned a few chapters ago that Jamil had developed his light sphere as a way of playing out scenes from stories (partially inspired by Jafar's hourglass scrying scene in the original movie). He also comes from a culture that, based on the game, seems to still use a lot of lanterns and firelight for atmosphere, so he easily associates light with a flame in the dark. Meanwhile, I picture Azul having a fascination with the surface (little mermaid ref), and kinda imagine him getting a few rare opportunities to visit the ocean surface, being dazzled by it, and wanting to recreate images of it later on. And, since pretty much all light he sees from the sky ends up filtered through water, his subconscious notion of what sunlight looks like is pale blue ripples. Also, bubbles underwater look shiny and luminous and come in clusters, so associating a series of small orbs with light would make sense for a merchild. So yeah, not a specific spell drawing on childlike wonder to create light, but just kids being kids, sorry.

-You might think Jamil's greatest skill would be cooking or combat, but in fact, it's the ability to drastically misinterpret all attempts at love and kindness

-Is Azul painfully dramatic? Yes. Does it absolutely work on Jamil? …Also yes. Their heads are in the wrong era

-Poor Azul out here getting the double whiplash of learning Jamil and Floyd are both crushing on each other without him knowing. …And Jade having his love for chaos tested -idk how to explain what I'm describing with Floyd here. It's like, coming back from a bipolar episode really can feel like waking up from a lucid dream. Like you're present, and you're conscious of what you're doing, but the world doesn't feel quite there the same way, the details feel fuzzy, and everything kinda slips in and out of control in a way? And usually you can feel it start to ease up a little, sometimes not. Either way, at some point the madness breaks like a fever and you're just, suddenly awake. So yeah, sometimes Floyd is lost in the pits, and his loved ones are stuck sitting by and waiting for him to come back.

[slusheeduck]

Fictober 2023 Day 21 - Prompt: "If you don't stop now--" Fandom: Baldur's Gate 3

If we’re all being honest, Gale had…never really considered befriending warlocks before. He’d be the first to admit that it was from a place of pettiness—wizards and sorcerers were already at odds due to the learned vs innate spellcraft, but warlocks? Well, warlocks just felt like they were cheating. He’d wanted nothing to do with someone who had to be given what he’d worked for decades to perfect.

Falerin changed that. Oh, he liked Wyll plenty, too, though his pact seemed like far more trouble than it was worth, what with Mizora seeming to relish in his ever-growing do-gooder burden. But Falerin was different—he came from a place of wanting to learn, and opted for his shortcut out of necessity. Gale could understand that. And currying the favor of a god-like patron and becoming her favorite for a time? Well, Gale could definitely understand that.

Perhaps, if Astarion hadn’t been in the picture, there might have been something more there, but no use dwelling on that. Besides, there was one very poignant fact that made him realize that, perhaps, he’d dodged a missile in that respect.

His dear friend Fal was fucking weird.

He’d heard that those who spent time in the Fey Courts would sometimes come home with peculiarities, and clearly Falerin was no exception. There were little things here and there that he’d noticed: periodic staring into space, with not a single thought behind his two-toned eyes; long conversations with animals followed by “Oh, no, I don’t know Speak with Animals. I just like chatting.” Once, when they’d set up camp next to a brook, Gale had had the fright of his life seeing the half-drow’s prone, fully-clothed body in the river water—he wasn’t dead, it turned out, since he’d kept his nose and mouth just poking over the surface.

“Why in the hells did you do that?” Gale had asked once he hoisted him out of the water. Falerin had simply shrugged, an odd faraway look in his eyes.

“Felt like it.”

The eccentricities went beyond that, though, and more than once veered into dangerous territory. His donations to Astarion could be excused—who hadn’t been curious, after reading a saucy vampire novel—and the whole bear thing was…well, Halsin was a person beneath it. Prob…ably? The wiggle of fingers and laughs he gave as greeting to Vlaakith and Mizora and every single Scrying Eye they’d passed had made his own blood pressure spike, but no one had died yet.

But the licking. Dear gods, the licking.

The spider incident went without saying, but there were also the mushrooms in the Underdark, what was probably a bit of roasted dwarf in the Goblin Camp, untold amounts of questionable looking fluids, a bit of slime from their more gelatinous enemies that had left him sick for the better part of the day…you would think that last bit would have been enough to stop him, but once he was recovered enough to continue on, that damned tongue was back out.

Half the time, Gale was tempted to spray a bit of water at him, much like how he did when Tara started getting into something that would likely kill her. But he imagined it going over about as well as it did with her—and Falerin had opposable thumbs.

But Gale had a limit. And that limit was reached in the Shadowlands, post-spider-licking, when he and Fal had settled down for the evening. Gale had opted for some light reading, and Falerin was looking over one of the items they’d managed to grab in their adventures for the day—a mace, engraved with spiderwebs. It pulsed with magic; even with the orb in his chest soothed, Gale could feel the phantom pull of it. Falerin glanced up at him, as if he could feel that pull as well.

“You don’t need to eat this one?” he asked.

“For the last time, I didn’t eat them, I…” Gale sighed. “No. I’m stabilized now. It’s yours to do as you like.”

Falerin nodded, looking back at it. “What was it like?” he asked. “When you consumed them?”

Gale glanced over at him, then looked up as he thought. “Satisfying, for a moment anyway. Like a glass of water on a hot day—or a glass of brandy after a hard one. Gratifying, too—like scratching an itch, but on a much bigger scale. And, of course, an influx of magic always comes with a rush in any form. I imagine Astarion and I could comis—oh, don’t you dare.”

As Gale had spoken, Falerin’s tongue had poked out between his lips, and the mace had moved incrementally closer to his face. He stopped, eyes on Gale, but he simply froze in place. Gale stared hard at him. Neither moved—this was a stand-off.

“Put it down,” Gale finally said.

Falerin kept his eyes locked on Gale’s, and the mace moved incrementally closer to the outstretched tongue.

“Falerin. Drop it.” The cat owner voice was coming out, he knew, but desperate times…

The mace was now well-within licking distance.

“If you don’t stop now—”

What happened next took place in the course of about two seconds. Falerin’s head dove down to lick the mace, a stream of water shot from Gale’s hand, and the half-drow was knocked clean off the log he’d been sitting on.

“Gale!” he sputtered out. “What was that?”

“Probably saving your life, you’re welcome.” Gale got up to his feet, snatching the mace as he did. “And I’m confiscating this until you can learn to keep your tongue in your mouth.”

Would it stop the licking? Probably not. But it bought him a little peace of mind until the next incident. And, as the still-dripping warlock watched him balefully lock the mace in camp trunk, Gale realized…yeah, actually, Astarion could have him. After all, who knew where that tongue had been?

Fictober 2023 Drabble Master Post

[cloudbattrolls]

If We Met at Midnight

Jikiro Takami | Present Night

As he stepped off the base of the stone stairs, Jikiro drank a vial of ink, and barely felt any fatigue. His enhanced undead stamina no longer troubled him, not after having Ashe as a moirail. 

It might be unnatural, but it was natural for them. They couldn’t help what they were; they might as well take advantage of it.

He looked around again, still awed by the size of the cave he was in. He’d been to Tuuya’s cavern, of course, but Kaningård had been inhabited and shaped by trolls for millennia. 

Here, spiderwebs several feet long hung between pointed rocks coming from the ceiling and floor, other larger bugs skittering about, and the little bugs from the stairs still flitted back and forth not far from him. The place smelled of animal life and decay, with faint sulfur from the water.

There were no paths in this place, nothing to guide him except his own magic.

He took out a vial of trailmaker’s ink and carefully painted a symbol on a nearby spur of rock. The mark glowed a brilliant teal that couldn’t be wiped off, and would also pulse and release a loud noise if he needed to find it from a distance. 

It had other effects, too, if he ran into hostile wildlife. Or the kidnapper.

Jikiro went carefully, alert for any animals that wanted to eat him, or hazardous terrain; he knew very well he needed to watch out for mud, or unstable rock. 

Every five minutes, he stopped to paint another marker on stone, ensuring he could find his way back. 

Most of the animals steered clear of Jikiro; either they could sense he was undead and a mage, or trolls were so completely unfamiliar to them after sweeps of isolation they didn’t care what he did, as long as he kept away from their webs and nests. 

What really bothered him was that he hadn’t seen or heard a single trace of Kana. 

Where was she? How had she been moved so quickly? 

He begun to suspect, with a sinking feeling, that whatever he was dealing with wasn’t a troll. Or if they were, they were incredibly powerful.

One of the bugs that been flitting around bit him.

Jikiro slapped at it, but he was too slow; it flew away. The bite hadn’t even hurt much, but he couldn’t afford the distraction right now. Every second mattered.

He drew a few quick symbols on his skin. There, that should repel them. 

Then he noticed the symbols sunk into the ground, when he realized the bottom of his shoes were getting slick.

Ink symbols. Weeping thick black droplets as if they had been inscribed only minutes ago.

His eyes narrowed, and he realized there was another further away, leading off into the dim teal light of the cave.

Probably a trap.

But he didn’t have any other leads.

He painted another trail mark, then kept going, mentally running through symbols he was sure he’d soon need. He slotted several vials of ink in holders on his belt for quick use.

He pressed onward, following the dark liquid, with a new symbol every twenty feet or so.

A dank, musty smell began to fill his nose and settle in, and he coughed. Then it became overlaid with sulfur as well; he realized he was about to cross the water, on a narrow bridge of stone.

He stared at the smooth, dark surface, undisturbed by wind or ripple of movement. He didn’t trust it.

The tealblood heard, very faintly, rustling behind him.

He didn’t think twice; he raised an arm and a thick, shifting shield of ink flowed out to receive the blow of a massive something that had been about to crash down on his head as he ran forward onto the bridge several feet.

He kept going, at slower pace to avoid falling off, but steady as he resisted the urge to look behind him.

Only once he had reached the other side, a few minutes later, did he turn around and look.

A giant spider…but in the dim glow of his orb and the cave’s luminescence, it looked wrong somehow, even if he couldn’t see it very well.

He felt even more like he was being watched, a sense of unease spreading through him from head to toe.

Yet he couldn’t sense anything magical down here aside from low-level background energy. Even the symbols - he saw another ahead - didn’t have a specific mage’s aura attached to them. They were just…there.

None of this made sense.

Was the Disgrace the one messing with him? Was it some sort of vengeful youkai? It didn’t feel like the ink demon. As far as he was aware, it couldn’t act outside of its realm without making a deal.

He made another trail mark. He reached out magically for the others - all still there. At least there was that.

A young troll’s cry rang out and he jolted in shock, running toward the noise. 

Another. 

Another.

“Kana!” He yelled, not caring if it was a trap. 

Whatever was making her sound that way had to be killed, destroyed - he felt his fangs lengthen and sharpen, his eyes begin to drip ink -

And then he came to a strange raised oval of stone, shutting his eyes against a sudden influx of light.

Green light.

Green?

He opened them as soon as he could, still blinking and cursing quietly.

He couldn’t see Kana.

This place was still filled with dots of green light - no, it was bugs. Hundreds of bugs. Their eyes glowed like fireflies, but that’s not what they were.

He looked around, vision clearer. There was…more ink, an entire array like the ones in his books, and -

Bones.

A skull that had horns like his, only bigger, like Akahan’s.

So the Disgrace was dead after all.

Then how…?

Wait.

Jikiro squinted. That skull shouldn’t be anything but dust, if she really had died thousands of sweeps ago. Unless she’d spent some time as a zombie and then died?

He stepped closer to examine it, to have better light than the gleam of the bugs’ strange eyes.

A few symbols gleamed on it.

He put a finger to them. They were fresh.

Jikiro’s blood ran cold.

Something far worse than another undead was here. Something that had been watching him the whole time. 

Something like whatever had dragged him to its world after Izanam had sprung her trap.

He looked into the eyes of the bugs, expression hardening, and they fled in a cloud of whirring wings before he could get his spell out.

“WHERE. IS KANA.” He shouted. “I’m sick of your fucking games! WHERE IS SHE?!”

As if by magic - no, technology, he knew this technology, what the hell was cloaking tech doing here? - his little signmate was revealed several feet away, curled up asleep with a peaceful expression, shifting slightly.

A small sopor patch had been placed on her cheek, of all things. 

This just kept getting weirder. 

Jikiro exhaled. At least she was safe. He could tell she wasn’t an illusion or anything like that.

He started walking over to her -

The bugs descended, surrounding him, covering him, biting him.

Tiny cuts. Hundreds of them. 

He couldn’t see. Couldn’t hear. His limbs were stuck in place.

He could only do one thing - activate his trailmarks.

Beams of light gathered from all over the cave and shot out at the swarm, and the few left scattered.

Jikiro gritted his teeth, going over to pick Kana up. She yawned and settled into his arms, blinking sleepily before snuggling up against him. She was…completely unhurt, he realized. Not a hair out of place.

Thank god. But he had so many damn questions.

Jikiro took out some paper, looking over the array he was standing on. Had the Disgrace made it? Had to be, right?

It was well made, he noted. The lines were perfectly drawn, practically ruler-straight. The ink was good quality.

Wait.

How the hell would she still have had good ink if she hadn’t been back to the surface in millennia?

His face split in a snarl that turned to shock as more symbols manifested out of thin air - more cloaking tech, he realized, as the remaining bugs who must have done it flew off again - and added themselves to the array.

Except these were - dark teal -

He didn’t dare move, not with Kana clutched in his arms. He had no idea what would happen as the symbols shifted and rearranged now that the new ink - his blood, he was sure of it - had been added. 

Yet he didn’t feel targeted by the spell, whatever it was - the array was an unfamiliar one. He recognized some symbols - the one for magic, another for repression - but the whole of the array was beyond him without a reference book. It was a big, complicated construct.

At last the symbols settled again, and after a few moments’ pause and no sight or sound of the bugs, he figured he might as well start what he’d meant to do in the first place.

He began drawing a one-time teleportation array to take them both back. He gently laid Kana aside and she continued napping, though she blinked and yawned as he ruffled her hair fondly. 

He downed a vial of ink and started drawing…then looked over at the disturbing if sad remains of what must have been the Disgrace. 

No matter who she’d been or what she’d done, she didn’t deserve to rot down here alone, even in death. She was still a Takami.

Reverently, Jikiro gathered her bones, placing them into his sylladex with care. Then he went to finish the array for him and Kana, painting carefully as the water lapped steadily in the background.

Soon, he was done, and he stowed his materials away.

Jikiro picked up his little signmate again, cradling her in his arms as the pair of them vanished, appearing in front of Kanako’s hive.

He smiled as Hanabi ran up to them, running around her charges in a circle as she barked in relief and joy. 

[liliallowed]

Since seelkie!Y/N probably doesn't know what the sky is cause they probably cant read they probably think the night sky is lke another ocean and i find that so funny.

"Do you think if we of sat on Crimson's head and went towards the sky we would be able to touch the glowing jellyfish in the sky?"

I have no idea how much the other two can comprehend science but I feel like they would still think "yeah no that's wrong"

But Crimson would also egg them on and be like "No I'm pretty sure there glowing sea stars" (They know that's not true but this is so funny)

So yeah that's my silly little thought that came to me. It makes me wonder how much are the three educated on stuff out of the sea?

lol yeah they have no idea.

out of the two dust is the nerdiest when it comes to stars. the dolphin mers are one of the most curious and knowledge seeking bunch out of any siren! he knows there's a pattern to stars and he often uses them to find his way around the sea in nighttime! he's also been interested in studying them ever since he was a pup!

he doesn't know what stars ARE. but he knows they're useful for mapping out places and finding general direction.

though they disappeare when it's cloudy or it rains. dust thinks stars are pretty. he doesn't want to think much about WHAT they are tho. the stars seem to be either afraid of the sun or the sun might simply just be covering them up like the clouds... he isn't sure.

dust can't read human languages but he can read his own native siren text and other mer carvings... the jumped mess of ancient leviathan text crimson brings him thoooo he has no idea wtf that is. it's just some gibberish squiggly lines.

crimson head canons stars as other leviathans in a VEEEEERRRRY distant ocean upwards. they think stars are albgler fish traps out there.

that's gotta be a BIIIIIIIG angler fish for it's light to reach this far. and the sun is like this... weird glowy orb that comes and goes in-between the sky ocean and ground ocean.

no they don't believe the earth is flat because to them instead of north south west and east you can also go "up" and "down"

so to them earth isn't a surface it's a MASS! they don't think it's flat either. that's just dump. where would all the water go?

crimson is completely illiterate lol. they have no idea how to read anything. it wasn't really useful when it came to developing survival skills in the ocean.

as for y/n? they can read other ocean people's interpretations of their own language. so... like after a few words and telepathic tuning they CAN speak any mer language!

as for reading... that might take longer for them to learn. even with direct telepathy they still need to memorize the text pattern TO the meaning. (kinda like how Anya from spy x family would solve difficult questions if she had someone who knew the answer next to her)

this isn't the case for humans as selkies cannot read human minds. so y/n PROBABLY doesn't know how to read or write in human language.

there are selkies who have jobs and bring in fish for humans, trade stuff with them and speak their language... but even they aren't fluent in human tongue as they wear ugly masks and carry weapons for self defense.

humans are dangerous. so unless there's a need to be involved with them there's no point learning their language is there?

out of all three y/n can speak and translate the most sealife languages due to their innate ability. they also know a bit of siren glyphs but it's basically just them knowing their alphabet and the word hello.

they're a quick learner tho!

[holdmytesseract]

Tom hiddleston & 'and baby I know, I know whatever city you're in your still be the boy that I'd pick in a line of over 30 hot guys' (vacation bible school)

a/n: Yep, I loved this. 😁 Hope you love it, too, nonny! ☺️

Warnings: this is veeery spicy, some swear words, jealousy, alcohol, Tom being quite a bit possessive

Also... Sorry Chris! 😬

Word Count: 1205

Tagging: @lokisgoodgirl @lovingchoices14 @evelyn-kingsley @jennyggggrrr @acefeather2002 @lulubelle814 @vbecker10 @lady-rose-moon @fictive-sl0th @muddyorbs @kimanne723 @simping-for-marvel @coldnique

Lyric-Drabble-Mania Masterlist

Based on this song: (I hope it's the right one!)

Possession

Had it been a good idea from Tom to drag you - his best friend, turned fuck buddy along with him to the premier of 'Infinity War'? Probably not. Like... Not at all. Especially after having a certain amount of alcohol flowing through your veins. And alcohol did funny things to you. For example, causing you to get more... self-conscious and lose (all) your inhibitions. Tom knew that - and nevertheless, he asked you to join him. Perhaps he hoped, that you'd never get this far to reach that point, but... of course, you did - and that was, where you were now; almost stumbling from one drink to the next on the afterparty.

At the beginning, everything had been fine, for sure. You were sober, happy that he asked you to join him, showing off as best friends on the red carpet - although, humour held it that you were more than just friends, which wasn't incorrect, but also not a hundred percent true either. Nobody knew of your 'dirty little secret'. That you were friends on the surface, but rolled around the sheets together, when nobody was watching. And the sex was without, a doubt, phenomenal. The best you ever had. So, after all, it was a win-win situation for both, you and Tom, so...

The premier itself was great. You got to meet so many cool and awesome people, ate exquisite food and enjoyed a succeeded movie. It was awesome. And then there was the afterparty... Which you and Tom wouldn't have missed, of course. Not with everybody else assuaging you to go as well; almost pleading you to join. So how could you say no? Especially to Chris Evans' puppy dog eyes. Speaking of... The man had laid an eye on, clearly. You knew it. Tom knew it - and perhaps everybody else knew. He wasn't exactly good at hiding it. And now here you were... On the party, drunk as hell, another drink in your hands and on the verge of dirty dancing with Chris fucking Evans. Yep, this all got messed up pretty bad very quickly...

Tom watched from the side-lines; his own drink in hands. The Brit's eyes never left yours. Blue orbs burning holes inside your laughing, drunk and utterly gorgeous body. He took a sip of his drink. Unbeknownst to you - and most likely everybody else, had the man developed over the few years he had known you now a little crush. Okay, admittedly it was a huge crush; those deep feelings he harboured inside his heart for you growing with every single day. It's just silly, that you both swore to not involve feelings into play. You agreed on friendship and sex - nothing more, nothing less. Nowadays, with every time he slept with you, it became more difficult for Tom to keep his feelings under control - and he wasn't sure how long he was able to hold back. But on the other hand... He didn't want to ruin the friendship you shared with him. You were a way too precious friend for him to lose, and if it meant for him that he could keep you as such, he was willing to hold back his feelings for the rest of his life. He had to.

Your shrieking laugh ripped the actor out of his thoughts, eyes immediately landing on you. You were dancing with Lizzie now - who was equally as drunk as you were, having the time of your life's. Tom frowned. Where was Ev- Before he could finish this thought, he saw said Chris more or less staggering over to him, fresh beer in hands. Tom cursed internally, ruffling his blonde-brown locks. Not now, please not now. The Brit liked Chris. He really did, with all his heart. He adorned this man and fellow acting colleague, but... Now was just not the right time. Not if he wanted to poke the bear. Not after Tom had seen him dancing so... sluttishly with his best friend; shamelessly placing his hands on her hips and grinding his crotch against her ass. No.

"Ahhh, mate!" Chris hollered, plopping down on the bar stool beside Tom. "What a great evening, right?" He clapped Tom on the shoulder. "You enjoying yourself? Because, o-ho-ho man, I do." The brown-haired man laughed - way too loud and wrapped an arm around Tom's shoulder. "Your friend is just... wow... She's fuckin' gorgeous! Man, believe me when I tell you, that woman's pushin' aaaall the right buttons." Tom gritted his teeth at his friend's words, trying hard to keep his cool and not let the alcohol and jealousy take over and punch his dear friend in the face. He couldn't do that. He shouldn't do that - but he would.

"Mhm, she is, indeed." Tom said, jaw still clenched. Chris giggled like a schoolboy, not paying quite attention to Tom's answer. "Maybe I can make it to take her home with me tonight. Do you think I can?" Thin ice, Evans... Very thin ice... "You can try, mate, but I think you won't be lucky. Usually, she doesn't do things like this, when she is drunk." Hence, of course you were absolutely doing things like this when you were drunk. Without that, Tom and you wouldn't have ended up as fuck buddies... "Aww, too bad." Chris said, pouting, before he started to wiggle his eyebrows. "Maybe I can show 'er what I got." Not if I do it first. "Good luck." Tom simply answered, before emptying his glass and stood up, making his way over to you, leaving his drunk friend behind. The Brit was on a mission now. He would not let this happen... You ending up in Chris' bed tonight. There was only one bed he ever wanted to see your sexy ass in - his. Only his.

Harshly grabbing your hips and pulling your ass back against his crotch - just like Chris did, Tom ripped you out of your dancing bubble, causing you to shriek up. Once you noticed it was Tom, you started to giggle, moving your hips in sync with his. Everybody here was too drunk anyway to remember how Tom danced with you, so... Tom didn't hold back. "Whatcha doin', Tommy?" You were drunk, but you could still tell that your 'best friend' was jealous, when you turned to face him. His eyes clearly betrayed him. "What does it look like, darling? Showing you how much better I am than Evans." Tom practically growled, before spinning your body around again, pressing his crotch even firmer against your bottom, causing you to moan shamelessly. Again, you were drunk. As if you had the strength to stifle that moan... Certainly not.

Though the moan faded into another giggle, as your foggy brain came to the conclusion, that he really must be jealous. "Are you jealous, Tommy?" You asked, still giggling. "Don't worry, 'cause baby I know, I know whatever city you're in, you're still the boy that I'd pick in a line up of, like 30 hot guys." "Is that so?" Tom growled, feeling the jealousy still pumping through his veins. "Mhm, yep, definitely." "Well, then you better start proving it to me, girl."

[mixedforestkitchenwitch]

Easy Rosemary Focaccia Loaf for Love and Protection ✨

With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, now is as good a time as any to enchant (metaphorically or literally, if you get their consent of course) your lover with this glorious loaf of focaccia. It is outrageously lovely; crunchy on the outside, tender on the inside, and brimming with the aroma and magic of rosemary. Magic or no, this loaf is so good it could win anyone’s favor ✨

Rosemary holds powers of love and protection, and has a history as an aphrodisiac. Rosemary is also traditionally burned to purify a space, so you can also enjoy the benefits of the aroma filling and purifying your home as this loaf bakes. In a more tangible sense, it has been shown to improve working memory and cognition, so it might behoove you to enjoy a bit more rosemary in your cooking if you need a boost.

Ingredients

* 1 Package of Active Dry Yeast (.25 oz, or 7 grams)

* 1 Cup or 237 grams of warm water (105 degree F, or thereabouts)

* 6 tablespoons or 81 grams of extra virgin olive oil, divided

* 3/4 teaspoon of salt (4 grams)

* 1/4 cup or 42 grams of semolina flour (you could probably get away with using bread flour if you don’t have semolina but I haven’t tried it myself)

* 2 teaspoons of fresh or dried chopped rosemary

* 2 1/2 cups or 300 grams of bread flour

* 3 more tablespoons or 40 grams of olive oil

* 2 more teaspoons of fresh or dried rosemary

* 2 big pinches of flaky sea salt

Instructions

Make some magic✨ Light a white candle in your kitchen and set your intention.

Enchant your rosemary with your intention. If you plan to make this as an aphrodisiac, imagine your person of choice being utterly smitten with you! Hold the rosemary in the palm of your hand, and focus and concentrate your intention as an orb of white light around the rosemary. If you have a mantra, recite it to yourself out loud or in your head.

Back to the practical! Whisk the yeast with the warm water. Then, add 2 tablespoons of oil, 3/4 teaspoon of salt, 2 teaspoons of rosemary, and semolina flour and whisk to combine.

Add all the bread flour and stir it in with a spoon, to the extent possible.

Dump out the dough onto a floured surface and knead for three minutes, until the dough is smooth, dusting with flour as needed to keep the dough from sticking to your surface.

Pour 2 tablespoons of olive oil right onto the dough ball and knead it into the dough. Honestly, this is going to seem like a mess at first, but after a minute, it will start to look right again. Then, pour 2 more tablespoons of olive oil on the dough and knead it in again. Knead the dough until it becomes extremely homogeneous and somewhat sticky.

Oil the dough ball and put it in a bowl, and cover that bowl with foil or a lid. At this point, you can either proof it at room temperature for an hour or two until it doubles in size, or you can put it in the fridge overnight. I prefer to fridge it overnight, because I think it makes the flavor better, but it’s up to you!

Grease a baking sheet or an 11 x 7 baking dish. Press and spread the dough out until it’s about a half inch high. If working with a baking dish, push and pull the dough to fill the space. Then rest for fifteen minutes to let the gluten relax.

Oil your fingers and dimple the dough, pushing all the way down (but making sure not to break through the dough.) Then, pour on 2 ish tablespoons of oil, distributing it across the whole surface of the dough. Then sprinkle with your remaining enchanted rosemary on top, along with your flaky sea salt. I use maldon salt, but any salt would probably do. Just use lots! This bread really wants to be quite salted. Rest the dough at room temp for 45 minutes, or until doubled in size.

Preheat your oven to 475ºF. When the oven comes up to temperature, put in your loaf, and bake it for 15 minutes.

Pull the loaf out of the oven and immediately transfer to a cooling rack so that the bottom doesn’t get soggy.

Slice into big hunks and devour gleefully, sharing with the object of your desire (with informed consent for any spells you have put on the loaf.) Enjoy with a mild jam, like fig or pear, or by itself.

[vespaer77]

To build on this, I also really like how his character views Mystra as the game progresses. In the beginning, during the Weave scene at camp, you find him channeling her image and the way he speaks about her is clearly the type a language a man in love would use. So much so that Tav even has the option to comment on it as such.

It's almost as if, at that time, he either is unaware of the abuse he experienced, or was aware but unwilling to face it or label it because doing so was a slight against her. His goddess. And he needed her, he was a wizard, he was nothing without her. He still was in that place of capitulation, the place she kept him in through the use of an inappropriate sexual relationship (with, honestly, dubious consent imo) to keep him in a place of servitude. Sex with her was weaponized in that aspect (hence why I believe the consent was dubious - he may have entered into that relationship willingly, but I don't think he did so having 100% of the truth about her motivations).

And oddly, that scene ends with the Weave pulling away the instant the moment becomes intimate... with someone else. Whether Gale is on a romance path with Tav or just a platonic one. Almost like a statement, saying, "This is just a fraction of what I could take away from you." And the way Gale shudders when it leaves... it's just interesting.

But anyhoo, I also find it interesting that in Act 2, when Mystra sets her terms for her new contract with Gale and the orb, he still seems very resigned to accept those terms. He's still in this place of complacent, self-sacrificial obedience. He tells you basically, oh well, the orb was going to explode someday anyway, then tries to rationalize it by stating at least he can set his own terms. Like his death is the only agency he is allowed to have. Even though you know he has to know that Mystra could have just... removed the orb this whole time. And let him live. But then his existence would no longer serve her. And in this way, in death, he can still serve her.

After, you know, already having served her to an unreasonable extent.

(It also makes me SUPER MAD that a magical bomb shows up in Mystra's domain and, instead of taking care of the problem safely and responsibly - especially considering that the reason the bomb showed up in the first place was as a result of a sexual relationship she created - she sets it loose into the world at large where, at any time, it could just explode and kill thousands of people. She chose to do that instead of removing it. But I digress.)

Gale's relationship with Tav throughout the game, regardless of whether or not it is romantic, is responsible for changing how he views his fate and how that fate came to be in the first place. After that, it's amazing how quickly he begins to start letting his true feelings about it leak out.

I have to be honest, it wasn't very long ago when I was still completely ambivalent about this character. I didn't dislike him, I just liked others better. And I think it was because I saw him as someone who still just had this blind devotion, and not being a spiritual person, it wasn't something I could relate to. But then in Sorcerous Sundries, when he read the Book of Karsus and when I talked to him afterwards, I used a response that maybe was a touch unkind or unfair to him. And he got angry. He yelled at me.

He yelled, "She left me to die!" so strongly that not only did my Tav and all of our companions jump back in shock when the camera panned back to us, I, too, jumped back in my seat. And it was like a light bulb came on in that moment for me about this guy. Suddenly I understood all the pain and anger and probably shame that this man had been swallowing for so long, not allowing it to reach the surface. Either for Mystra or for our benefit, or even just to not upset the bomb. And he did a great job, I certainly did not catch on.

Not until then.

But in that moment, I stopped seeing a man who was driven to stupidity by a senseless, single-minded devotion, and I started seeing a victim who was dragged headlong, from childhood even it turns out, into a situation he was helpless to stop or escape. I stopped seeing him as a man with an arrogant and bloviated sense of self-importance, and started seeing the void of self-esteem that spoke with well-practiced confidence so that you believed he had something to provide, something you needed. Because he does not believe he has value unless he is being used in some way.

And with this realization, I fell in love with him. And learned something about myself that I didn't like. I felt like I blamed a victim, even if he was just a fictional one.

His whole destiny was to be a tool for Mystra, and when he made a mistake as an act of devotion to her, she discarded him. He was eager to commit literal suicide because his death would give him back some sense of purpose. Some use. And what I got completely wrong until that very moment in the basement of that damned bookstore, is that what I was supposed to have been doing was spending the game convincing this poor, darling, beautiful man that he is important simply because he's kind. Because he protects innocence. Because he's nice to animals. Because he likes cooking and has a cool book collection and because he's just a good person that I know I certainly would feel very fortunate to have in my life. Or even spend my life with.

Anyhoo, what were we talking about? Oh yeah, haha! The crown and Gale's grab for power. No, I totally agree. Gale was never after power.

Gale just wants to feel useful. He wants to feel needed.

And he wants his love to be returned.

That is his greatest ambition. And aside from Tara and his mother, he's been denied it in such cosmically large amounts, it's no wonder he'd go through such extremes.

After all, who is more worthy of love than a god?

I don't think a lot of people realize that Gale gunning to get the crown and become a god is him lashing out.

Gale wanting to be a god isn't about godhood at all. It's his worth, he wants to rub it in Mystra's face that he doesn't need her. This is obvious if he meets with Mystra before the boat ride scene where you convince to not pursue godhood. In this scenario Gale is visibly and loudly pissed on how Mystra abandoned him.

He always seems so in control that people seem to miss that this attempt of a power grab is him lashing out to Mystra is similar to Astarion's grabbing and stabbing Cazador multiple times.

[chocolatemilksmoothie]

O Titan, Where Art Thou

aka pain, confusion, dread, and ultimately, hope. I felt like this episode ended so fast but also it had a LOT going on huh, this'll be long

King's strange dream seems to take place in that weird in between. Interesting that Luz was able to make it in there, kinda, through the unfinished door

Looks like the Collector is trapped there, in that weird orb thingy

remembering from Hollow Mind, to me who's trapped beneath these bones hmm how does the Titan's body connect to this place?

And he doesn't seem to have noticed the weird connection created between them and King back when he lit the Round Boi on fire (yes I'll keep calling it that, sue me). they were surprised to hear someone else there

He sounded so desperate... I won't be alone, don't leave, come back. huh, how long you been there you little chaos goblin?

(EDIT because I wonder if the Round Boi being a reflective surface is connected to Luz being able to see through mirrors/glass when she was in there)

god, poor King. he's supposed to grow to a gigantic size, and how long does a titan even live??? will he outlive everyone. depressing thoughts, too much, he is just a little kid why must we hurt him

Luz and King are siblings!!! she is concerned about him!!

HELP THEY LOOK SO COOL AJSKDA LILITH

I want all of these posters on my wall asap

"I still haven't recovered from that tea party, ugh" amazing callback, Hooty you absolute menace

heartbreaking to see the Owl House all broken and messy. Well, messier than usual

Loving Lily's winter look work it girl

I support putting snorse glue in Belos' shampoo!

"someone had to bury our bones" LILITH NO

Perfect merch opportunity

everyone's got a lot to process, especially King. wait til they remember the titan blood oh boy

oh Lily, once again trying to treat King like some deity. I think by the end she understood but old habits die hard

"I'm a god's aunt!" her dialogue is killing me this episode I swear

Luz wants to get him his bunny back Imma go cry

I liked the parallel of Eda lying to Luz, wanting to keep her safe but ultimately harming her and their relationship, and Raine doing the same to Eda. thank god we had honesty at the end

"I wanna go on a heist" "of course you do"

"I'd kill for you. please ask me to kill for you" _ Lilith at King, probably

"wouldn't you rather have a beach day?" "maybe if we had time for 20 more adventures, but we don't!" (oh man it's almost like our 20 episodes third season was unexpectedly shortened to just 3 specials so now we get no time for beach filler episodes, DISNEY)

everyone ominously marching to the Head *shudders*

obsessed with the shitty bootleg coven scout uniforms

STEVE MY BELOVED

why is he lowkey cool as hell. chillest dude ever. the voice of reason. wisest man alive. questioning authority and his beliefs. shoulder pats for Steve

Steve and King bonding on a soul searching motorcycle adventure helping people all over the Isles was not what I expected but it is what I NEEDED

Hooty consistently being Lilith's common sense is the funniest thing ever

I'm cackling

and he made a little origami demon with the pages later he is perfect

bro he is just a little kid who wanted to know where he came from and have his Owl Family meet his Demon Family don't touch me

Helihooty? Hootycopter? whatever

I too, cry when I see old sapphics in love, Steve

"this. is for my kids" GOD

and Raine has such a kind heart too, and they're a quick thinker!

no YOU look like a pile of compost, Terra!

this whole part was heartbreaking. Eda just wants them to get away, to be safe, she doesn't care what happens to her and has no plan to stop the Day of Unity from happening, and Luz is so sad and feels betrayed, after all they've been through, after how much she's grown, she refuses to give up without a fight

shout out to the acting, the music, the boarding, the colors, the everything this whole episode

remembering season 1 King wanting to be seen as a huge powerful demon and now it terrifies him, he has grown a lot. poor little guy

STEVE FACE REVEAL oh I love his design he is just a Guy with a gentle face and a mismatched horn. best boy

"hey girl, I've been there. I can recommend a good therapist" I love him your honor

also therapy coven confirmed? is it a branch of the healing coven? lmao

also also maybe give the therapist contact to uh. everyone else too. they need it

help him

I support Darius insulting Alador any chance he gets because his abomatrons keep hurting my children

"please try not to bite anybody" reluctant dad energy

Raine meeting Luz made me extremely happy thanks for the serotonin Owl Crew

I ADORE this Raine-Darius friendship they are so funny. gay on gay violence (affectionate)

"I'm starting to think I wasn't very good at my job" I think you were probably better than Kiki if that's any consolation

"PLEASE tell me you have a cool rebel name!" my brain immediately: " gasp, the LGBTs"

PLEASE MORE DARIUS AND RAINE SCENES. BESTIES

EVERYTHING'S COME FULL CIRCLE BABEY YEAAAAAHH

so many callbacks this episode we really are in the endgame now

Hopefully next week the Hexside team can reunite with the CATS (meowmeow!!) so we can all work together in the season finale

Also I'd like for Darius to have an honest chat with Hunter about the previous guard...

THE PALISTROM WOOD I love Eda so much

so by next week we will get to see Luz's palisman at last. I suspected she'd carve it during this season

I think a bat is still my favorite option at the moment. Amity already has a cat so I don't think they'd repeat that, and a bat is not a bird but can fly, she is a Clawthorne but also comes from somewhere else, she is between worlds!

a snake and a bird are also popular guesses. whatever it is, can't wait to see! and learn their name of course

Wonderful episode, packed with feelings, character relationships and plot development. it really hit me hard that we don't have a lot of the Owl House left... let's enjoy what we can together

[youngmasterwisdomperson]

So, spoilers for the finale of The Owl House, but I have a few unanswered questions I’d like to outsource, looking for theories, headcanons, perhaps subtle canon details I missed.

Is this far enough down? Reminder, there’s spoilers past this point, so if you don’t have “toh spoilers” filtered out, now’s the time to do that.

Okay so, King’s dad, right? He’s spent the whole series in the in-between realm, using the cubes to watch over King. But when Luz was in the in-between realm the first time, she could also appear in reflective surfaces and communicate with people through those surfaces.

So my question is why did King’s he/she dad never do that?

I have a theory as to why. Perhaps the fact that she wasn’t there physically, only spiritually, has an influence on what he can do with the cubes. After all, assuming Luz and Papa Titan both going to the in-between realm after death wasn’t a fluke, we can probably expect that it’s where everyone goes when they’re on their way to the afterlife. After all, according to Papa Titan, that realm is between many places, so two of those places could easily be construed to be life and death. Therefore, if everyone goes there when they die, it makes sense that spirits can’t use the cubes to communicate with the living, otherwise they’d be doing so all the time.

But obviously the Titan has some small amount of influence over the demon realm, at least the parts of it encompassed by his corpse specifically. He intentionally hid knowledge of her glyphs from Philip, but willingly showed them all to Luz by causing the glyphs to take shape out of their physical manifestations in the environment—in the center of a snowflake, on the screen of Luz’s phone and in the stars, on a flower, and in the scorch marks on a flaming grudgby ball.

Perhaps that’s how the Titan was able to bring Luz back to life? If he still has some direct control over his own innate magic, specifically that derived from his own body, that might have allowed him to, while Belos was partially possessing the boiling isles, convert Luz into balls of light that could be re-formed with said magic as opposed to just a lichen-infested corpse. Perhaps the reason Papa Titan can’t do that for herself because he’s already been dead for a long time and her corpse is very non-functional.

Still, what’s the deal with the collector’s prison? Sure, those circular tablets are reflective and it follows that communicating through them via the in-between realm should be possible, but why only those tablets specifically? What makes them so special? Perhaps part of the nature of the weird orb prison was to limit the collector’s vision and communication capabilities. I mean, the symbol King carved onto his tag from the tower he was born in made him invisible to the collector while they were still imprisoned, so there’s that. And the new portal door in the epilogue is presumably powered by the collector’s magic, so if not for that weird orb prison I think the collector could have probably left the in-between realm at any point.

Honestly most of this is just wild speculation. If anyone else in the fandom wants to weigh in on this, feel free. I’m going to go do chores.