#the answer to this but the consequences are intersting to think about

[rexdosethings]

I have even more thoughts about the campaign and it's possible ending. As were ever approaching the 100th episode it reminds me that no matter if this campaign spans a similar time frame to C1 or C2 we've more then crossed the halfway point and are approaching the final acr of them campaign. (Especially with this final stretch to Eiselcross)

What does winning look like? I understand stopping Luidy is the goal but after that, what happens to the bloody bridge? And the people on the moon? A whole society dreaming of Exandria do they cut them off? Keep the bridge open? But even with Luidy dead/gone/arrested/stopped there are plenty of people who knew of his plans and would jump at the chance to finish what he started so sealing away Rudis again makes sense banishing a whole world of people seems cruel. All they ever dream of finally becomes a place they can go to and we take that from them?

[sgiandubh]

My curious and random thought: Why ask about Shat and why now? It’s ancient fandom history. Is it only because Star Trek has been an iconic IP at the comic cons, or could there be some clean up planned to close out the last 11 years. And if so what other interesting nuggets might be next.

Dear Ancient Fandom History,

What a #silly, #silly way to minimize/discount something so tragically wrong and so embarrassing to many luminaries across the street! What this sad, cheap troll did to many people is borderline mystifying, if you ignore (I said that before, I will probably say it again) that his leverage was based on the fact this was an almost exclusively feminine fandom and an ageing one, at that. It is my understanding, after reading what happened then, that nobody managed or even wanted to properly put him in his place. His empty threats (and, as a legal specialist, I know what I am saying) terrified and even traumatized many, but also served other trolls, who wanted to either portray themselves as victims, or invincible.

People who were embroiled and/or affected by this had no idea things could go that far in a fandom, an environment that seems absolutely benign (and a bit #silly, too, to be honest) to a perfect outsider. That made the shockwave even more violent .***, Shatner and the gossip press are all guilty and/or tainted by this. They tacitly tolerated, even condoned this troll's abuse of an entire fandom. Why? Because it was convenient, at the time and, on the long run, because OL's PR repeatedly proved itself to be tone-deaf and blatantly incompetent when it comes to crisis management.

Sock puppetry is a fraud (see US courts' jurisprudence, such as United States v. Drew, People v. Golb, etc). Doxing people is a crime, still insufficiently sanctioned by the US legislation (the Interstate Communications Statute and the Interstate Stalking Statute), unlike South Korea or (soon to be) Australia, just to take two random examples. The reasons why they still happen probably are public complacency and lack of proper information, spare the sketchy legislation, allowing many loops.

There were consequences to this. People were hurt, dishonored, despised and shunned. And for what? A not so uncommon love story? This is so wrong, in so many ways, I could be only glad, Anon that some light has been finally shed on this heavy, toxic garbage. Kudos to S for being brave enough to open up Pandora's box. I have to say I was surprised: makes his honesty even more valued.

Why now? Because we are slowly reaching the end, when nothing else matters, as Metallica once famously sang (still one of my favorite ballads, mind you). Will there be more interesting nuggets? Logically yes, but at this point in time, my guess is as good as anyone else's.

Not even sorry for this very long answer. I tend to get very invested in this, reminds me of a former professional life of mine. Happy days.

[Later edit]: forgot to answer your first question. If you think these discussion topics are not discussed before recording and vetted, you are naive, Anon. Very interesting, huh? There was nothing organic in that episode. Nothing.

[sugar-coated-prat-dragon]

Question and answers post: (Merlin book edition)

Episode: "The Gates of Avalon" S1, E7

Questions written by @tansyuduri

Question: I think Gaius mentioning being afraid of it and trying to persuade himself otherwise is intersting.

I think IF the theory that Gaius actually kinda agreed with Uthers viewpoint about magic because he saw so many bad things happen is true, this might have been his turning point. He saw Morgana who he took care of being a seer and decided not to tell Uther.

My answer: During the “Poisoned Chalice” episode, Gaius legitimately fears using magic because he fears it’ll corrupt him and yet he steps over that line to save Merlin’s life, because he loves him like his own son.

1st Book description: Gaius raised the mortar, grasping it firmly in both hands, and attempted to whisper an incantation - but he found that his voice wouldn't work.

Gaius had served the king loyally and faithfully for over twenty years - and then Merlin had come along. Suddenly the doctor had found himself harbouring a warlock. Still, Gaius knew he was acting for the best, although Uther himself would not see it like that.

But actually to cast magic himself - to disobey the king's most fundamental law ...

It was an enormous step to take, and Gaius was scared.

He was serving the king and the kingdom, but he had to utterly betray Uther to do so.

For such a loyal subject, this was the most difficult thing of all.

There was another worry too. 'Magic corrupts, he'd told Merlin, not that long ago. Once he'd stepped over that line again, would he ever be able to go back?

But of course, he knew he had to do it.

Whatever the consequences. Even if he hadn't already come to love Merlin as a son, even if Merlin wasn't destined to be a great warlock, Gaius had promised the boy's mother he would look after him. The doctor drew in a breath, and began the spell again.

2nd Book description: When Merlin is dying from the Mortaus poison and Gaius realizes only sorcery can save him, his love for the boy forces his hand - but he takes his first steps back into the world of magic with great trepidation.

Question: It also fits a lot with what we know about Gaius even if that theory is not the case.

If he cares about someone with magic he will keep their secret. (or perhaps if he knows them as good).

My answer: Originally in the pilot, Gaius decided to harbor Merlin, even though his status as a sorcerer was illegal, but at that point, he wouldn’t have risked everything to save him if he’d been found out.

Gaius would have pleaded for Merlin’s life, but he wouldn’t have disobeyed his king by attempting a rescue or sticking out his own neck.

It wasn’t until around the episode “A Remedy to Cure All Ills” (S1;E6), that Gaius realizes that when given the choice between Merlin and Uther… he chooses the boy he’s grown to view as a son.

Book description: WHAT WOULD GAIUS DO IF UTHER FOUND OUT ABOUT MERLIN?

Would Gaius deny the boy he claims is like a son to him? Early on in their acquaintance, Merlin asks Gaius what he would do if Uther discovered the truth and Gaius avoids answering.

Back then, although Gaius felt a responsibility for Merlin, he might not have risked his own neck for the boy. He might have pleaded for mercy, but it's less likely that he would have courted certain death by admitting to concealing a criminal or attempting a rescue.

However, being with Merlin has changed Gaius. It is not just his growing love for the boy that makes him stand up to Uther, but a realization that he cannot always remain on the sidelines - 'turning a blind eye'.

There's little question that the physician would offer up his own life to Uther to save Merlin - and perhaps, more crucially for Gaius, he would accept the disgrace and humiliation that would be a consequence of the king's discovering his betrayal.

[fear-and-riddles]

John what is fear for you? How do you define it?

… An interestin’ question. Let’s see… Let’s return to the old faithful comparison. Fear is like lights on th’ interstate.

Imagine the circumstances. Now, you’ve got a choice t’ make as th’ lights first begin to approach with no signs of slowing; and believe me when I say you’re allowed t’ make it. There’s no tricks, no shortcuts. … All you have t’ do is get out of th’ way.

… But see, it’s cold. You’ve had a rough day. You didn’t sleep enough, you didn’t eat enough, your mind hasn’t been in great places for far too long, nobody checked on you — there’s no surprises there.

Your boots are too heavy, or maybe they’re too thin and letting the cold in — the nights get real cold and you really should have known better — an’ they make you feel like you’re frozen to th’ spot.

Come on. Think faster now, the headlights are coming closer. You’ll have all the time to dream up complaints if only you just move out of th’ way.

The jacket feels heavy, smeared with mud from years outside. It feels right, even if it weighs down your shoulders and makes you feel like you’re frozen in place.

There’s no tricks to stepping out of th’ way. It’s one foot after th’ other an’ if you want t’ be safely out of th’ way then you’ve got to take them.

There’s no shortcuts for what feels like something that’ll take all th’ strength in the world. You’ve got a choice here.

… Stay put, or suffer. … Which choice would you make?

Fear is hardly ever about th’ phobias or th’ quick screams or cries. It’s about th’ moments of irrationality that spiral into lifelong consequences — however dramatic those consequences may be.

It’s about taking one single moment t’ doubt yourself; doubting your years of experiences and intellect and making a poor decision, slipping up and knowing there’s nothing you can do to correct it.

It’s about being the worst version of yourself and knowing where it went wrong with no chance of redemption. It’s about constant reminders that you could have gone differently.

It’s about knowing what’s building up on th’ next page of your story and feeling that little hesitation to turn the page so that you can try and stave off th’ nagging dread of what’s to come just a little while longer.

Now, I am not saying that the phobias or quick screams are all that bad, but they lack a particular depth to them. Why wade in a puddle when you can throw yourself in th’ pond?

…

… That’s my answer. Fear isn’t th’ headlights of a car approaching — though such things may evoke a bit of anxiety. Fear is th’ blurred taillights in th’ distance while the darkness begins to take over as you recognize in a split second of clarity—…

… That it’s far too late. That is fear. Taillights on an interstate.

[dol-dee]

comes to your inbox with a 📱 and a 🍬

✨Ask Game✨

📱 - How did you encountered DoL? From a friend, through social media etc.

Not all too intersting tbh. It was via social media. I used to follow quite a few more yandere blogs and kept encountering artworks of dol through those (mostly kylar ofc), as well as through other nsfw accounts. It was an occasional yet consistent occurance that i got curious over the years. I took one look at the game the first time around and went: lol no. not interested - this shit is ugly.

I only remembered it as "that ugly porn game" from then when fanart popped up again. Generally just forgot about it again after that first time though.

but yeah the crumbs of dol art kept popping up. and it was persistent enough that I went: okay. I dont fucking get it, i keep seeing art for this game. why is this so popular?? and decided to sit down and actually try it to figure out why people are so into it.

I did NOT like it at all when i first played it and i had (well partly still have) so many issues with it.

🍬 - Something you want to see in the game in the next update.

✨Initial answer✨

Answered this one already! but... yeah.. a more thorough fleshing out of the existing LIs before they add a new one. I know most people want another LI but i really REALLY dont. the content is already spread thin across the ones they have.. (tbf idc much about GH and BW but Avery is a prime example of a LI that barely has any content unless you grab her and run with it in your beautiful mind palace..)

Eden is all over the place and doesnt really have much personality imo. All of the LIs are kind of... static? which ig is due to the endless nature of the game but i wish theyd add some variations to the LIs reactions/actions.

OH... another thing would be more consequences PLEASE.. its kind of whack to me that you can just 'romance' all of them no problem gfdgdf I want robin to get angry or colder if you abuse them /use them as your little trauma dump station. Or when you outright sabotage her meager attempt to earn money.

I want Whitney to have some kind of reaction when you keep beating them down again and again. I'm happy with my interpretation of an overly masochistic, down atrocious whitney but like.. could we get an event or reaction or smth??

Oh and of course: I'd like it if the game would stop assuming that the PCs actions are always inherently good. I'd love to actually be awful back to people. not necessarily in a "dom" way. but theres already hints of ambiguity and id like them to lean more into that. as if living in this morally bankrupt shithole wouldnt corrupt you in some way be so fr.

Plus, Its way more meaningful/compelling to be kind when you have a choice to be awful.

Like the game already does a good job at slowly assimilating you into this hypersexual world and the sexual violence. At first you think: This is awful, why would i ever do this to another person but oh- pinching this persons ass helps you regain control- and suddenly its not quite as easy anymore to not to fall into that same behavior (not impossible ofc but yknow. i found that really compelling. reminded me a lot of how VRising slowly makes you treat and speak about humans just as coldly as a vampire with its mechanics.)

Wow i cant stfu lmao but uhhh what else... ig more customization? would love more expressions/faces, an option to not smile. BETTER COLORS!! BLACK EYES!!! DARK BROWN HAIR TONES

GAAHHHH

this kind of just turned into me complaining and criticizing the game huh? oh well

[sugar-coated-prat-dragon]

Title: “A Remedy to Cure All ill’s” answers

So I know these questions were just kind of send out into the void, but I decided to try to answer them anyway.

@tansyuduri

Notes:

If a section of text has an (📕📗📘📙) emoji next to it. Then I am using something from one of the Merlin novels or books as an example to answer the question.

If it has an (❓) emoji then it means that was the question that was asked by the original poster.

If it has an (✏️) emoji then that means that’s my answer to the question and in my own words.

————-

❓ Great Dragon: 20 years almost a lifetime to make the short journey back to were you begun.

❓OKAY! so asuming Arthur is 21 in his of age ceremony in later season one episode EXCALIBUR, it means Gaius likely has not visited the great dragon since Arthur's birth.

❓What I find especially intersting here is "Back to where you begun" I'm assuming this means the great dragon and not the caves under Camalot.

✏️ - {The books don’t specify exactly how many years it’s been since Gaius last visited the great dragon. The only thing we know is that it was “many, many years”.

✏️ - The ‘Merlin Annual 2013’ book states that the dragons captivity lasted 22 years. ….Years in captivity: 22

📕 - [Novel: “A Fighting Chance”. The Dragon had called Merlin and told the boy of his destiny, and since then Merlin had made his way down through the twisting turning tunnels into the darkness many times, asking the creature for advice and help. Now a figure once again trod those paths- but it was not Merlin.

- It was Gaius. And he had not been this way for many, many years.

- He had not taken lightly the decision to venture beneath the palace. Once again, he was risking execution. But the choice he faced was so huge, and he had no one in whom he could confide.

- The Dragon greeted him contemptuously.

- 'How old a man can become... and yet change so little.']

- ❓I think it would imply that the great dragon might have been the one to give Gaius the idea to go to the Priestessess about making Arthur. Then Gaius came back after Ygraine died to be like "Dude WTF" to the Dragon.

-📙 From the Merlin novel, “Dangerous Quests”.

[This was not the first time that Gaius had visited the Isle of the Blessed. More than two decades ago, he had been charged with securing an heir for the king. He had not known then what his request would lead to. This time, he was fully aware of what the consequences must be.

- Once again, it was Nimueh who greeted him, though her appearance was very different now. Only a sorceress could look younger and more beautiful than ever after so many years had passed. 'I never thought I'd see you here again,' she said, not sounding at all welcoming.

- Gaius bowed his head. 'My lady. I have come to ask for your help.'

- 'As you did once before, for Uther?' she said. "You did not like the outcome?]

✏️ - {Gaius was the one to go to the Isle of the Blessed twenty years before, where he sought out Nimeuh on the kings behalf and asked her to give the queen a child.

✏️ - However, the episode “Excaliber” pointed out that Gaius warned Uther the price was too steep and he had ignored the physicians warnings. So Gaius sought out Nimeuh originally, but once he found out the price, he warned the king not to do it and was ignored.

✏️ - The novel “Sword and Sorcery” also makes this point as well.

📗- ['I'm sorry? Uther came further into the room. You knew that one day this business would come back to haunt me, he continued.

- 'Not quite so literally, said Gaius.

- 'I should have listened to you. You said that no good would come of using witchcraft at Arthur's birth.

- Gaius was in no mood to argue with the king over things long since past. 'You wanted an heir, he said. 'You thought it was the only way?

- Nimueh told me there would be a price to pay, said Uther.

- "You weren't to know that the price would be Ygraine's life?

- Both physician and king fell silent, thinking of that terrible time.]

❓ If the mentioning 20 years is not directly connected to "where you began" it could mean that Gaius somehow started on his journey of learning magic with the great dragon. This could explain more about how he knew Balinor.

❓ Did the dragon teach Gaius magic knowing Merlin would turn up one day?

✏️ - The first episode of Merlin and the book “The Magic Begins” said that Gaius was given his magic book when he was Merlin’s age. So around 16 or 17 years old as he was in the pilot.

✏️ - It’s never even hinted at Gaius knowing the dragon until it was tricked their Uther, when he had the dragonlords summon them and then killed all but one.

📘 - [Gaius pushed the cloth-wrapped bundle towards him. "This book was given to me when I was your age. But I've a feeling it will be of more use to you than it was to me."

- Merlin carefully lifted the cloth. There lay a large leather-bound book with silver clasps. He clicked them open. Inside ...

- "But this is a book of magic!" Page after page of spells, of charms and enchantments, pictures of flowers and herbs and magical beasts ...]

❓ - Great Dragon: You have struggled against his destiny but you can no more prevent it than he can! What is the dragon referring to here? We know Gaius has in fact encouraged Merlin to protect Arthur.

📕 - In the “A Fighting Chance” book it states….

- [But, in the vaults deep beneath Camelot, the Great Dragon was not cowed.

- Instead it had waited for the one it knew would come, the one whose arrival heralded the beginning of the end for Uther and his magic-free world. The warlock, Merlin.”]

- The dragon means that Merlin’s destiny can not truly begin until Uther is dead. Gaius is the one standing in the way of that.

❓- Also, Merlin has not yet done anything to protect Uther at Gaius's urge yet. Later this episode is the first time he does.

✏️ - The dragon can see the future. He knows that Gaius will be the one thing standing in the way of Merlin allowing Uther to die. Gaius knows as much when he has Merlin save Uther at the end of the episode and manipulates him into doing so, without being entirely truthful with him.

📙 - [The boy was alarmed. 'We can't use magic on Uther - he'd kill us!'

- 'We don't have a choice' In truth, there was always a choice. Gaius had learned that now. But he could not explain the whirling thoughts in his head; not now, not to Merlin.

- If it was his risk to take, he would take it without hesitation. He had asked Merlin to step into danger before - although enchanting a weapon to kill the Griffin was not in the same league as performing magic on the king himself. He had just saved Merlin's life - how could he bear to put it at risk again so soon? But once again, this was not a choice between Merlin and Uther, however it might appear. There was a chance that both could be saved. 'There are times when it's necessary, he told the boy.]

❓ - Gaius has given Merlin the book of spells to help him learn more powerful magic. Does he mean Gaius's urging not to use magic for little things? coresponding to the "Gaius doesn't like me to use it" line Merlin says to Edwin. I think this is the only thing the dragon can possibly mean.

✏️ - The dragon definitely means Gaius loyalty to Uther standing in the way of him allowing Uther to die and his destiny to begin.

❓ - Great Dragon: Then turn a blind eye. That is afterall your talent. OOF okay more about Gaius letting the purge happen and siding with Uther. And I don't think that reason can be all of it?

❓ Was he scared? Was he really that dedicated to Uther? Possibly because Uther united the kingdom and the mess it was in?

📘 - Novel: “A Fighting Chance”. [Gaius turned to where the king lay - the king he had tried to serve so faithfully. 'If you don't, he's going to die? ]

- ['Gaius' - he turned back to the king - once again, you have saved my life. You have always served me well. And I know there are things I have asked you to do that you found difficult.

- 'You have always done what you believe to be right, the doctor answered.

- He knew that was true. There were many things that Gaius did not like to think of, both in the past and the present. Many of the threats Uther faced were down to things that the king himself had done. Just in the last few months... a mother seeking revenge for her son's execution; the plots of a sorceress who, Gaius knew, had many, many reasons to hate the king, and now Edwin, whose life had been blighted by Uther's actions.

- But through it all, the king had believed he was acting for the best. He believed that a world without magic was the right one for his people. Whatever he had done, he had done it for his kingdom.

- And knowing that, Gaius remained loyal.

- Despite everything.]

❓- The dragon interestingly does not mention magic returning to Albion but Gaius does assure Merlin that one day his gifts will be reconized. So apparently he is all alright with magic coming back eventually. So he cannot have been overly invested in it being destroyed.

- Novel: “A Fighting Chance”. [Gaius should have been surprised. But that one powerful magical being should know about another was perhaps not so unexpected. 'Merlin is in danger, he said.

- 'No, said the Dragon, 'it is my jailer who stands in peril?

- This was at the very heart of Gaius' dilemma. 'Must Uther be sacrificed for the boy?'

- "The time of Arthur and Merlin cannot come until Uther's is past, replied the Dragon.

- 'But is that time now?'

- 'That is of your choosing ..

- What sympathy could there be for Uther from this creature he had imprisoned - or from the orphan who had watched his parents burn? What sympathy could there be from either of them for the physician who had stood by the king's side throughout?]

❓ - WHOA hold up! Gaius has only been in the court of Camelot since around Arthurs's birth? I mean judging by other conversations I assumed it was a lot longer. AND HE WAS CLOSLY INVOLVED IN MAKING IT HAPPEN? Why did Uther trust him so much, Why did Uther not turn on him? This could be another reason he went along with the purge for the most part.

✏️ - In “Dangerous Quests” it states that Gaius went to the Isle of the Blessed to seek out Nimeuh in order to give Uther a child. Which means Gaius was very loyal to the king and that closeness had developed into a strong bond.

📗 - In the “A Fighting Chance” novel. Gaius considered himself to still be a faithful servant to the point that he didn’t tell Merlin he had a choice not to risk being killed and instead urged him to heal the king at his own expense.

- [Gaius turned to where the king lay - the king he had tried to serve so faithfully. 'If you don't, he's going to die?]

- [This was not the first time that Gaius had visited the Isle of the Blessed. More than two decades ago, he had been charged with securing an heir for the king. He had not known then what his request would lead to. This time, he was fully aware of what the consequences must be.

- Once again, it was Nimueh who greeted him, though her appearance was very different now. Only a sorceress could look younger and more beautiful than ever after so many years had passed. 'I never thought I'd see you here again,' she said, not sounding at all welcoming.

- Gaius bowed his head. 'My lady. I have come to ask for your help.'

- 'As you did once before, for Uther?' she said. "You did not like the outcome?]

❓ - So he became court physician around the birth of arthur... Events he helped make happen. I mean it could help explain Uther's hot and cold attitude to Gaius. Gaius helped him get a son.

❓ But that son cost him his wife, Gaius blamed magic and went along with him to try to destroy it?

✏️ - Uther truly believes magic to ‘come with a friendly face, as offers of help, only for those offers to be mere masks that hid the horror beneath’. That’s why he hates magic so much and believes it to be evil.

✏️ - Whereas Gaius sided with Uther, because he truly believed that despite the horrors of what the king had done in the past. He knew that Uther truly believed them to be necessary and that he believed in a world without magic.

✏️ I do think the way things transpired is the reason Uther is so hot and cold towards his oldest friend. The whole ‘friendly face’ aspect.

✏️ Uther trusted him to find a way for him to have a heir and the option he found cost him the one person he loved more than anything.

📕 - Novel: “A Fighting Chance”. [And Uther, as his mind drifted away, thought not of his pain, but the pain that would be in store for Camelot. He had dedicated more than two decades to protecting his beloved kingdom from the evils of magic, but now it would suffer and he felt such despair. Magic came with a friendly face, it brought offers of help, but these were mere masks that hid the horror beneath - as this wicked sorcerer was proving now.Within his mind, Uther begged Camelot for for-giveness, that he had finally failed it - that it would know the misery of magic again.]

- Gaius in “A Fighting Chance”: ['You have always done what you believe to be right, the doctor answered.

- He knew that was true. There were many things that Gaius did not like to think of, both in the past and the present. Many of the threats Uther faced were down to things that the king himself had done. But through it all, the king had believed he was acting for the best. He believed that a world without magic was the right one for his people. Whatever he had done, he had done it for his kingdom.

- And knowing that, Gaius remained loyal.

- Despite everything.]

❓ - I forgot to mention this earlier BUT WHO THE FUCK let a litteral child attend his parent's death by burning? Was he made to by someone? was there simply no one to stop him? AND HE JUMPED INTO THE FIRE TO SAVE THEM WTF

✏️ - This one is kind of self explanatory. 😓 Edwin was the son of two sorcerers who used dark magic and who were executed for it. No one cared, because he was a child of two ‘evil’ people who had magic. If anything, Edwin’s lucky the knights didn’t throw him on the pyre too?

✏️ - Especially, since people like Cerdan (Mordred’s father) had done nothing wrong except dare to be into the kingdom and he was instantly sentenced to death, along with his child.

✏️ - And an entire family was executed in “To Kill the King” just because they allowed a sorcerer to pay for room and board in their home.

❓- Edwin: “With your death magic will return to Camelot.” UH how does he figure? Even assuming no one ever finds out he used magic to kill Uther. Is he just gonna slowly bring it back? What is his game plan?

❓ Is he just gonna enchant Arthur or...? If he has that kind of power why did he not use it before?

✏️ - Edwin planned to take over Camelot with Merlin by his side and be all powerful.

📙 - Novel “A Fighting Chance”: Edwin stared Merlin straight in the eye. ‘I can rule the kingdom now. With you at my side, we can be all-powerful?

- A life of magic. All that Merlin had ever wanted. But Gaius knew that he would never be tempted for a moment.]

❓- Gaius: Your parents where practicing dark magic, just like you

❓ Ok so in this case they were practicing dark magic. But it could not have been in every case.

✏️ - It wasn’t. Gaius feels some guilt over the deaths of magic users, because most were innocent and yet he sided with Uther, because he is loyal to the king despite it all.

✏️ - Gaius also didn’t agree with the king over Arthur not knowing the truth of his birth and yet he was devoted enough to do as his king wished.

- 📘 Novel: “Sword and Sorcery” [Gaius did not agree with the king; he thought Arthur should know the truth. But he was the king's faithful servant, and he must do this thing that was asked of him. As far as it was in his power to grant, he must let Uther go to his death in peace. 'I will take the secret to my grave, he said.]

❓- Okay Man Edwin you really did not think this through! If you could cure it once you would be expected to cure it again. And you are not even hiding so you are hard to find. You are in your freaking room. You would be expected to cure it! So how the hell was magic going to come back. Were you just planing to say "Sorry I cannot cure it this time?"

✏️ - I mean honestly? Edwin could have very well done exactly that? No one knew how he cured Morgana the first time and even if they brought in another physician, they wouldn’t have been able to cure the king. Edwin could have easily tried a bunch of fake treatments and then when they failed no one would suspect anything.

❓- Also this was his plan? Take the kingdom by force, possibly with Merlin. That would not have gone over well or worked well.

📗 - In the novel “A Fighting Chance”. It specifically mentions that Edwin planned to take over the kingdom and rule with Merlin by his side. He believed that together they would be all powerful.

- [Edwin stared Merlin straight in the eye. “I can rule the kingdom now. With you at my side, we can be all-powerful.”]

- A life of magic. All that Merlin had ever wanted. But Gaius knew that he would never be tempted for a moment.

- 'Release him!' the boy shouted.

- Edwin shrugged. 'Your loss, Merlin.' He gestured towards an axe that was hanging on the wall. It sprang off its supports and spun through the air towards the boy.

❓ - It’s interesting they can be enchanted to enter the brain and feed on it until they devour the soul. This implies the Soul kinda lives in the brain in the Merlin word.

✏️ - {Not necessarily. Nathair (the small, serpent-like creatures that inhabit the Mountains of Asgorath’) have a bite that not only causes pain beyond all imagining to the victim's physical body, but in their very soul. Therefore, a soul isn’t in a persons brain per say, but rather something attached to the human body spiritually that can be harmed by specific magical creatures like the Nathair and the Elanthia Beetle.

❓- Uther (looking sad) "Do you remember them? His parents?

❓Gaius: I remember them all Sire.

❓Interstingly this implies Uther is kind of haunted by the people he has killed but possibly not enough to remember faces. (or he could just be asking if Gaius remembers them too).

✏️ - {Uthers asking Gaius did he remembers them}

📗 - ['I was not right to betray you, the king said then. 'I'm sorry. Uther apologizing was a rare thing indeed, and Gaius felt a rush of pleasure. But the king's next words shattered his composure. 'From now on, I will remember that in the fight against magic, you are the one person I can trust?]

- {Uther doesn’t feel guilty about what happened to Edwin’s parents. He’s simply thinking about Gaius loyalty to him and the things they’d done together during that time.}

❓ - Also what did he ask Gaius to do? Everyone else talks about Gaius standing by, is that what he refers to? Or did he ask Gaius to be an active part in finding magic users? Gosh I hope not.

✏️ - The “Merlin Annual 2013” book states, “Gaius has been at Uther's side for more than twenty years as his advisor, while also secretly rescuing many people from his dungeons.”

✏️ - So despite being loyal to Uther, over the years Gaius has secretly released many people from the dungeons and allowed them to escape.

❓- Uther: But hencforth you are a free man of camalot.

❓In feudalism, a free man is someone not nobility but higher in status than a serf. In traditional feudalism Sefdom was the state of most peasants they were given a plot of land but in exchange for having it were required to work it for the lord and give up a portion of what they made. It was basically a form of indentured servitude.

❓CLEARLY that is not happening here, and prior to becoming this Gaius was still allowed to just leave.

❓My guess is, in the Merlin World, this means Gaius is now higher in rank than most commoners and lower than a noble. He might have more social rights and protections or have to pay no taxes for example. (taxes are mentioned later in Merlin so seemed a good example)

📕 - Novel: “A Fighting Chance”. The next day, all the great and the good of Camelot assembled in the council chambers.

- Uther smiled as he addressed the man who stood before his throne.

- I, my family and my kingdom are deeply indebted to you. And in honour of this, 1 not only reinstate you as court physician, but henceforth you are a freeman of Camelot.'

- Gaius accepted the scroll the king offered him, the document that granted him the rights and privileges of his new status.

- Uther clapped, as did Arthur and Morgana beside him. Merlin cheered, and Gwen's face was radiant. As he left the room on a sea of applause, Gaius felt quite overwhelmed - but very, very happy.]

✏️ - Personally, I take that to mean that even though Gaius still works and lives under the crown of Camelot. That he would now be able to go to another kingdom if he wished without the kings permission and become a court physician there… without it seeming like a betrayal. Which it would have been seen as otherwise, because of his status as a prominent figure in the castle and an appointed member of the royal household.

Below are the pages from the Merlin novels that I referenced above.

Mostly “A Fighting Chance”, “Sword and Sorcery” and “Merlin Annual 2013” book

Merlin Loregasm Rewatch S1E6 (Part2)

Hi Everyone! Welcome to my rewatch of Merlin focusing on the lore. I am a giant nerd so pretty excited about this. We’re on A REMEDY TO CURE ALL ILLS So this is part two because last time I cut off early because there was so much lore and I accidentally posted it! ANYHOW lets continue.

Great Dragon: 20 years almost a lifetime to make the short journey back to were you begun. OKAY! so asuming Arthur is 21 in his of age ceremony in later season one episode EXCALIBUR, it means Gaius likely has not visited the great dragon since Arthur's birth.

What I find especially intersting here is "Back to where you begun" I'm assuming this means the great dragon and not the caves under Camalot.

I think this could have three meanings. If it's connected to the previous statement of 20 years I think it would imply that the great dragon might have been the one to give Gaius the idea to go to the Priestessess about making Arthur. Then Gaius came back after Ygraine died to be like "Dude WTF" to the Dragon. If the mentioning 20 years is not directly connected to "where you began" it could mean that Gaius somehow started on his journey of learning magic with the great dragon. This could explain more about how he knew Balinor ETC. And would be an interesting detail. Did the dragon teach Gaius magic knowing Merlin would turn up one day? Did Gaius just see the dragon doing a spell and be like THAT I WANT THAT. How much did Gaius study with the dragon vrs the godess priesthood he mentions later vrs books?

ANOTHER possibility is that Gaius used to go to the dragon for advice like Merlin did. I think this is less likely because the dragon at that time would not have been conveniently locked up in the basment.

It could also be both of the top two passabilies!

Great Dragon: You have struggled against his destiny but you can no more prevent it than he can! What is the dragon referring to here? We know Gaius has in fact encouraged Merlin to protect Arthur. ALSO, Merlin has not yet done anything to protect Uther at Gaius's urge yet. Later this episode is the first time he does. Gaius has given Merlin the book of spells to help him learn more powerful magic. Does he mean Gaius's urging not to use magic for little things? coresponding to the "Gaius doesn't like me to use it" line Merlin says to Edwin. I think this is the only thing the dragon can possibly mean. He thinks Merlin should be able to use the magic for many things and Gaius is not encouraging him to use it enough.

Great Dragon "He and you young pendragon one day will unite the land of Albion. I mean I guess they will in the sense that they help it be at peace as far as all I know?

Gaius: I will not choose between them (Merlin and Uther)

Great Dragon: Then turn a blind eye. That is afterall your talent.

OOF okay more about Gaius letting the purge happen and siding with Uther. I speculated in the last post about why he might have done this. But still this is REALLY not a good look. And I don't think that reason can be all of it? Was he scared? Was he really that dedicated to Uther? Possibly because Uther united the kingdom and the mess it was in? Or my merlin rewatch discord (this rewatch is seperate from that) is right besides the jokes and Utherus is real. Did he stay behind to try to protect Alice (As she later says) I mean the only time we see him helping sorcerers is with Merlin and Alice. (And in his own twisted reasoning Morgana) He tends to keep their magic a secret at times (Like with Gilli) But doesn't really go out of his way to help them.

The dragon interestingly does not mention magic returning to Albion but Gaius does assure Merlin that one day his gifts will be reconized. So apparently he is all alright with magic coming back eventually. So he cannot have been overly invested in it being destroyed. Even if he does fear it some like I theorized. It was to be one of the other reasons. Personally my bet is it's a mix of a lot of them. People tend to be complicated and it was a HUGE decision Gaius made. It makes sense to me he had a lot of reasons.

WHOA hold up! Gaius has only been in the court of Camelot since around Arthurs's birth? I mean judging by other conversations I assumed it was a lot longer. AND HE WAS CLOSLY INVOLVED IN MAKING IT HAPPEN? Why did Uther trust him so much, Why did Uther not turn on him? This could be another reason he went along with the purge for the most part. Freaking out about Uther blaming and executing him? Liking his new gig? So he became court physician around the birth of arthur... Events he helped make happen. I mean it could help explain Uther's hot and cold attitude to Gaius. Gaius helped him get a son. But that son cost him his wife, Gaius blamed magic and went along with him to try to destroy it? Also did Gaius become a "Legend, and THE VERY BEST" viewed physician during those 20 years? I have a suspicion he was before hand and Uther was like I can't do anything to get a baby don't we have that legendary physician somewhere in the kingdom? Then just up and fired the physician he had or something. (I'm assuming he already had one partly out of basic logic and party because it would explain why Gaius was not ALREADY court Physician if he was so good.) BUT this all assumes that Gaius was already so renowned that Also could have happened AFTR becoming court physician. If it was before it could also explain why uther did not just off him. He is the BEST Legendary. That would be some status to have him.

Arnica being prescribed for an old battle wound on the shouldor that gives a lot of pain makes sence. It's been used for centuries as a pain remedy. HELL you can get Arnica Gell today to help with a variety of issues. (Try rubbing it on the belly if you get period cramps.) Arnica also specializes in muscle pain, stiffness, swelling from injuries, and bruising. Its poisonous if ingested but rubbed on the body that stuff is a miracle.

I forgot to mention this earlier BUT WHO THE FUCK let a litteral child attend his parent's death by burning? Was he made to by someone? was there simply no one to stop him? AND HE JUMPED INTO THE FIRE TO SAVE THEM WTF

Edwin: with your death magic will return to camalot.

UH how does he figure? Even assuming no one ever finds out he used magic to kill Uther. Is he just gonna slowly bring it back? What is his game plan? I mean he has to know it's gonna hurt his credibility when Morgana's dreams return. (And another thing I will go into later) Is he just gonna enchant Arthur or...? If he has that kind of power why did he not use it before?

Gaius: I will not allow you to kill Uther

Edwin: You've never had a problem letting people die before

Gaius: Your parents where practicing dark magic, just like you

Ok so in this case they were practicing dark magic. But it could not have been in every case. I do like a lot of Aspects of Gaius's relationship with Merlin but MAAAAN

Okay Man Edwin you really did not think this through! If you could cure it once you would be expected to cure it again. And you are not even hiding so you are hard to find. You are in your freaking room. You would be expected to cure it! So how the hell was magic going to come back. Were you just planing to say "Sorry I cannot cure it this time?"

HEY! first time a baddie does the "join me Merlin" thing. Also this was his plan? Take the kingdom by force, possibly with Merlin. That would not have gone over well or worked well. Unless he was planning top just dominate and rule through Arthur? But if he had that kinda power why did he have to go though all this? I really don't think this guy has thought through his long term plan.

Okay so Elanthia is the name of the world in a text based computer game about dragons... Melanthia means "black flower" in greek. So not much behind the name here. Also it's interesting they can be enchanted to enter the brain and feed on it until they devour the soul. This implies the Soul kinda lives in the brain in the Merlin word.

Uther (looking sad) "There is nothing wrong with my strength. Do you remember them? His parents?

Gaius: I remember them all Sire.

Uther: Gaius, Once again you've saved my life. You've always served me well. And I know there are things that I've asked you to do, which you've found difficult

Gaius: You've always done what you believed to be right.

Uther: I was not right to betray you. I'm sorry. From now on I will remember, that in the fight against magic, you are the one person I can trust

Interstingly this implies Uther is kind of haunted by the people he has killed but possibly not enough to remember faces. (or he could just be asking if Gaius remembers them too) this is futher evidenced by the mandrake later using images of people he killed to torment him. Its an interesting detail that humanises him a TINY bit despite him being just a horrible horrible person. Also what did he ask Gaius to do? Everyone else talks about Gaius standing by, is that what he refers to? Or did he ask Gaius to be an active part in finding magic users? Gosh I hope not. This scene also shows that Gaius is in fact haunted by what happened as he remembers all the faces. The line he uses to reassure Uther is actually one Merlin uses on Arthur. The difference is what Arthur believes to be right is WAY better than what Uther believes to be right. Also Uther will only remember this until next season. Another difference between him and Arthur.

Uther: But hencforth you are a free man of camalot In feudalism, a free man is someone not nobility but higher in status than a serf. In traditional feudalism Sefdom was the state of most peasants they were given a plot of land but in exchange for having it were required to work it for the lord and give up a portion of what they made. It was basically a form of indentured servitude. CLEARLY that is not happening here, and prior to becoming this Gaius was still allowed to just leave. So we need to look beyond that! In England it later came to mean a man possessing the full privileges and immunities of a place which admission was usually by birth. HOWEVER Gaius later mentions growing up in Camalot. My guess is, in the Merlin World, this means Gaius is now higher in rank than most commoners and lower than a noble. He might have more social rights and protections or have to pay no taxes for example. (taxes are mentioned later in Merlin so seemed a good example)

[blackberrybrambles]

Oh yeah! (same anon as before but I figure I should probably ask here instead haha), I imagine the perspective on the situation will change as Briar finds out the true nature of the berries! I just really like imagining the angst possibilities heh. Like they very much had tasted the berries, so the flavor alone could bring back the feeling of absolute fear of that night when Moon came for them.

I'm intersted in a lot of things honestly! Sun mentions that they have to be mean due to the reader's actions, which I suppose is a diffenrence in perspective between fae and humans? Because technically to a human, no matter how they phrase it, it's still a choice. One that means their whole life will be uprooted. (Also I wonder if there was an effect to eating the berries that will come into play later)

Also, reading the lore post, I imagine Briar will become one of these touched by the Fae, I think it was called? So they would become sort of immortal in order to be able to go through the whole one year per berry punishment deal. Which also makes me think of a whole angst potential for that as well. If time runs in a similar manner in the fae realm than it does in the human one, if by the end of the punishment they wanted to return to their own world, how would they even right? Because if so many years have passed, their home and belongings would no longer be there, anyone that knew them would probably be dead, and how would they explain their sudden reappearance (unless taken by the fae is something known to be common enough)

And oh! I'm curious of the human perspective about the fae. I know there are offerings and gifts, but how well known are they? Sun said there were signs to prevent people from taking the blackberries, but why did no one warn the reader of what they were? Did people assume they would know already? Did they just get particularly unlucky comming across a generally unknown group of berries? And also are people who are knowlegeable about the fae only respect them? Or would they react negatively to one touched by the Fae?

Sorry for so many questions haha!

Going through and reading this, there's a LOT of very good questions here which I'm happy to answer!

The importance of the berries is very, very major in the grand scheme of things. But it's something I'd rather answer in the form of a story prompt than through directly revealing it in a question. But without giving away any major details; eating the blackberries won't do anything to people.

The instant they're consumed or destroyed (as in through cooking or cutting, etc), the magical properties that make them so important disappear. And THAT in and of itself is part of why Moon (and Sun) have been left so greatly infuriated by what "Briar" has done. Its not entirely about the blackberries, but more about the consequences of what can or will happen with the blackberries gone. And those potential consequences do directly tie into why the reader is being punished the way that they are.

The Fae are getting even. And in expanding upon the story, it'll become easy to see how it is that they're getting even through their chosen means of punishing "Briar". Because what Briar has done will have major, major effects. And they must be held accountable for their actions.

Moving on to the "Fae Touched" aspect - you're right on the money! In fact, mortal creatures in general will just stop aging once in the Fae Realm. Because that's sort of just how the magic in the realm will work. Whether you go there for a year or for a thousand years, you will not age a day (though your hair and nails will grow, albeit as a slow pace). But the actual process of becoming magical involves so much more than just being in the realm. You have to consume of Fae Food and drink and even interact with the Fae of the realm for the effects to really start to take root, and even then it takes decades for anything to start happening. And you might not even be aware of these effects at all, for a while!

But part of the punishment (aka part of how the Fae are being cruel to the reader) has been specifically made to strip them of their former life. They have lost their home. They have lost any friends or family. Their life, as they knew it, is gone. And it all ties back to the consequences that the Fae now face because of Briar stealing the blackberries.

As for the Fae realm itself and how it ties into the mortal realm: by and large, Fae are considered to be a silly superstition to humans. There are groups who firmly believe these superstitions, those who don't, and then those special few (witches or Fae descendants) who know the truth.

Fae Forests, like the forest that Sun and Moon live in, act as tourist traps or as wildlife reserves in the human world. Leaving an offering is a superstitious thing to some, but just a silly game to others. It all depends on the induvial and where they come from.

In "Briar's" case, these "signs" discouraging people from picking the blackberries were treated as another silly part of local superstition. Because people pick blackberries there all the time. It all narrows down to when they chose to pick these berries (poor timing on their part, as the blackberries are normally perfectly fine to take. They just happened to pick the berries during a point in time where the berries were said to be "off limits").

[cosmicpines]

code lyoko for the fandom meme ?

anon i am so happy you have asked me this

blorbo: aelita! she's always been my blorbo, ever since the second grade :) i've appreciated her more as I've gotten older -- her entire concept is such wasted potential on This Show. like, both the idea that she thinks she's an AI who just wants to be human to finding out she's human but her father ripped her life away from her -- that she can still barely remember, that she is displaced so many years from... I love how she grows over the show and finds her personality and place in the world.

scrunkly (my “baby”): I mean... probably also aelita, if I'm gonna be honest, haha. ulrich also gets to be my baby, though. he's so much more than just a little grump but when he's being a little grump i appreciate it so much, haha. i genuinely like how he's written that he just doesn't know what emotional hints are *cough*ace*cough* and is just ??? about his own. angry boy. baby boy. baby.

scrimblo bimblo (underrated/underappreciated fave): jeremie. so many people don't like jeremie and like... i get it, okay? he's the Tech Support to a t. he doesn't get the big personality. he's kind of a jerk to the group. but like... fuck man, can you imagine the pressure this guy is under? like, the show tosses us several episodes about this alone and i find it so interesting how little empathy his friends have for it in the episodes we have. and then you get to the finale and he's so sure they're all going to leave him now that it's all over i just??? there's so much intersting shit there we don't get because you know. it's code lyoko. but. augh. jeremie loves his friends so fucking much but he's so tired from workign so hard and doesn't take time to rest he just doesn't know how to Be Their Friend. (side note: i will never forgive the show for not showing jeremie and yumi being friends after season one :c. also just generally showing the gang hanging out lmao)

glup shitto (obscure fave): okay so there's this one guy named matthias (i think?? why do i still remember this) who in the episode where aelita is opening for the subdigitals sells odd tickets for AeroSmooth and i have no idea why but I always thought this was the funniest fucking joke just. the way he says AeroSmooth! it cracks me up every time. (real answer tho is Theo from that one season one episode where he decides he wants to be Sissi's friend. like i have many thoughts about sissi (see my poor little meow meow) and this is one of the few characters who genuinely wanted to be nice to her and to her friends which I think pretty much none of them have ever really... had. he also wasn't afraid to call ulrich and odd out on their shit. I have literally no idea why the gang decided to make them not be friends after the RTTP other than the season one writers hated lasting consequences)

poor little meow meow (“problematic”): this one goes to sissi, but shout out to everyone out there fixing the writing around laura in evo. Sissi. Honey. She is truly terrible with some of the things she does, don't get me wrong. but fuck this kid is lonely. like, they took the traits of the popular girl and gave them to somebody that literally nobody likes. even her "friends" don't really like her and just follow her around. everyone at the school is mean to sissi, and I just?? sissi suffers so much from "depending on the writer, she's either doing her best or Really Evil" and it drives me nuts. episode THREE gives her more depth than most episodes do!!! it's those episodes where's she's treated like a person that really get me. there's something deeply interesting about a character whose redemption arcs keep getting rewound and forgotten. I wish the show did more with that -- the fact that sissi really can be a better person, but she keeps forgetting.

horse plinko (character I would torment for fun, for whatever reason): herb. i can't believe he didn't want to go on a fantastic and breaktaking experience in the moonlight with nicholas :(

eeby deeby (character I would send to superhell): johnny. im sorry, johnny, but your "drama" in the ulumi will they wont they is so fucking terrible and poorly written.

[klorophile]

I agree and I don't at the same time... I've been having mixed feelings about this take and I'm gonna try to put some words on it.

First of, Arcane absolutely is a modern tragedy, yes, of course, no doubts about that. It's even presented with a classic theatre colored structure: different acts composed of episodes (scenes), and even works in threes to be fancy. And I mean... the characters, their actions, the consequences, the themes, ... You see how things will go bad, and they do go bad because of their premices. Tragedy all the way.

Yes. ...For season 1. But season 2? I personally expected season 2 not to be a tragedy, or at least not fully. Because I feel like... "what's the point?" Season 1 was already fantastically sad. Absolutely all the characters were shaken at their core (to the point of death for some), everyone was facing their big ass consequences by the end of it. Why repeat that in season 2? Because the message of "you always pay the consequences of your actions" had already been 100% delivered, I feel like there was no need to repeat it for another 9 episodes. In a way, I feel like it's redundant.

And maybe that wouldn't have been a problem. I mean, Game of Thrones told us from the start "you're gonna cry, 'cause the world is horrible and that's it" and repeated it throughout all the seasons, sure, but I think one of the differences is that Game of Thrones never promised anything else. While I know I feel like Arcane did.

One of their motto for the second season was that everything was going to be turned upside down, a 'story of opposites' as Silco says, they wanted to force the characters to be the opposite of what they usually are (Vi with no one to protect, Jinx a hero, ruthless Caitlyn, not alive silco ToT etc). And well... If season 1 was a complete tragedy and season 2 is going to be the upside down version, then why is it still a tragedy?

And I know, writing those words, that the obvious answer is "because everyone still face consequences", "because the world is a tragedy no matter who you are", "because you can't escape", etc etc. Okay. Maybe (most probably) I'm just a pussy who can't stand sad endings, especially when I have a blorbo from this show. Maybe.

But I think a lot of us are feeling betrayed, not just disappointed, hence the strong reactions. For @angelinthefire's "Because I think a lot of the complaints you see come from some people result from expecting it to be a certain kind of story that it's not." I wonder: Wasn't it the story itself that made us expect another genre at the end? Like I said, the part 1 tragedy then part 2 same tragedy feels weird.

And, in all honesty, I hate that I am saying all of that, because I completely agree that people should just tell the story they want to tell however they want to tell it. I did not expect to find myself complain about something being a tragedy instead of having a good ending.

But the other thing is that I feel like season 2 is not completely consistant about its 'consequences', and also, well, a bit cruel... Because if you look at Caitlyn, she paid very little, she's just forgiven by the narrative like that, because the writers decided that she was 'good', and that in spite of her actions. And don't read this as Caitlyn hate, I absolutely love her, but I think that doing this to her kept her away from the character development she could have had. I feel like they made her narratively good, but also less narratively intersting than she could have been.

Meanwhile, Jinx had to die with Warwick, and the message is that she finally pays the consequences of her actions from when she was 12 and accidentally got her family killed. And that's... brutal. Of course, I am a Jinx stan, so I'm not objective at all, I am aware. But if I am a Jinx stan, it's because the show made her oh so relatable. A lot of people see themselves in her. And that makes killing her a little tricky I think... Especially as what she is being 'punished' for was an accident, that in the end does not get to be forgiven.

And I mean... I think all of this could have been okay, actually. Season 2 could have been a second tragedy, why not. But what bothers me the most is simply that it does not work as well as season 1.

In season 1, the end is unescapable. That is precisely why it's a tragedy. Everyone is aiming towards it, everything is falling falling falling to this. But I am not convinced by season 2. Viktor and Jayce had to be obliterated by the arcane to save the world? Ok, sure, but then explain it! How does it work? What did they actually stop? Because the Hexgate is still standing there, hextech still exists, Piltover is still what it is... Events are going to repeat themselves. And sure, there won't be Viktor for a new Glorious Evolution, which is for the better, but what how why Ekko what what happened?? It's just not explained enough. If it's all about consequences then the arcane and the wild rune should be explained better because nothing feels like consequences, it just feel like plot written for itself. It doesn't feel like a tragedy, it feels like a story written by people trying to knot an ending. Vi and Jinx can't have a relationship anymore, because they always fall in this codependant nocious thing so Jinx has to fake her own death and flee the country all on her own? Ok, that's interesting. But why show that they could and actually did begin to mend things between each other then? (the both of them working together as equals, Vi asking for Jinx's opinion, Jinx learning to be the big sister with Isha and by seeing Vi with her alcohol problem, ...) Why show Vander and Silco (Vi and Jinx parallels) together if by the end the conclusion is that you cannot mend a relationship when it's been too bad for too long?

Anyway, I feel like what I disagree with in season 2 (one of the things at least, because we're not talking about the Piltover/Zaun storytelling here, amongst other things) is that we were told that it did not have to end badly, and then it did anyway, and for reasons that are not solid enough. I agree with season 1 because I see how it couldn't have turned differently. It shows us its heroes, and because they are what they are, the end is what it is. But in season 2, I just feel like the sad ending was forced. It's the other way around: the end has to be sad, so the characters are going to do this and that. And I think that is also a part of why we read the 'consequences' with the morale glasses on: because if it is more forced than logically flowing, then we see the choices the writers deliberately made, who they chose to keep alive and who they did not, and we wonder why.

They say it's about consequences, but it feels more like they are forcing their characters in a direction because they want the end to go a certain way. It's not inescapable like season 1. And if it's not inescapable, then maybe we deserved a good ending for season 2. Or at least an episode 10 that would be an alternate ending or something.

I've been thinking about how I would most concisely sum up the plot of Acane. Because I think a lot of the complaints you see come from some people result from expecting it to be a certain kind of story that it's not.

And I think the most concise way to put it is that Arcane is about consequences. The first episode starts with an explosion, that the characters spend the rest of the arc dealing with the repercussions of. And then the first arc ends with two massive events - Powder killing her family and the invention of hextech - that they spend the entire rest of the show dealing with.

I think most of the stories we get from Western media are about achieving or accomplishing something, or the failure to achieve something. And you can frame Arcane in those terms. But I think to best understand the story, you have to step out of that typical framework. Because the thing with an achievement-based story is that there is a particular end goal in mind, and I don't think Arcand has that.

Like take Vi and Jinx, for example. A typical way to frame their story would be that it's about two sisters trying to rebuild their relationship. That presupposes a certain ending: They either succeed or fail at their relationship, and that's what the focus is on.

But it's not about that. It's about - how do you deal with an event that fundamentally changes you?

In season 1, Vi's answer was to recapture what things were like before. In season 2, they try to redo the past (saving Vander) and get a different outcome, but that's impossible. The answer comes with Ekko - to build something new.

And this is all over the show - action and reaction, how the arcane wakes up, killing is a cycle.

[archiesoniconline]

QnA: Zone Cop Briefing

Zally: Hello there everyone.  I’m Zally, Head of Communications for the Zone Cops.  Joining me today is our top officer Zonic...

Zonic: Hi there! Zally: And his protege, Zails. Zails: Uh, hello.  That’s a lot of people w-we’re talking too. Zally: The staff at Archie Sonic Online have received a lot of questions about Zones, Zone Travel, Time Travel, and several covering some combinations of these topics.  And so, they have asked us to give this briefing, to hopefully explain some of the basics about Zones and Time Travel, and with luck we’ll answer your questions as we do so. Just before we begin however, it’s important to say that, while what we will say today is the case for… hmm…. At least 9 out of 10 situations, there are several exceptions.  Zonic: Not to mention Nega and that Genesis Wave messing everything up… Zally: Ahem!  Going into all of them would take far too much time, so we’ll just say for now that ‘exceptions to these rules do exist’ and start the briefing. To begin, most Zones fall into two distinct types.  There are the True Zones, such as say the Prime Zone and the Sol Zone, complete universes in themselves.  Then there are the Pocket Zones, which have limited internal dimensions, can often be found within a True Zone, and can also be disrupted by tremendous emissions of energy.  The Special Zone, formally the Zone of Silence, was one such Zone, as was the Pocket Zone destroyed when Super Sonic and Hyper Knuckles from the Prime Zone fought. There are multiple ways that Pocket Zones can be created, natural and artificial.  But for True Zones, they are only created when a Triggering Event occurs in the Prime Zone.  Other Zones cannot split to form new Zones.  It might help to think of the Multiverse almost like a tree, with the Prime Zone as the trunk, and other Zones the branches growing from it. Triggering Events have a few requirements.  There has to be a number of likely possible outcomes.  And the different outcomes must have fundamentally different effects on the future of the Prime Zone.  For example, Prime Sonic choosing how many chilli-dogs to eat might have several different likely outcomes, but none would result in any fundamental change, so it would not be a Triggering Event.  In the opposite way, Prime Robotnik debating whether to use the Robotizer certainly had a massive effect on the events in the Prime Zone, but the chances of him choosing to not use the device were so slim, no new Zone was created. A Triggering Event need not be a single decision made by one person.  It could be several smaller decisions made by a group of people that nevertheless results in a different outcome.  It could even be the results of a natural occurrence.  When life was reforming after the Gene Bomb in the Prime Zone, there were so many different directions it could take, that this is where the vast majority of Zones were created.  Numerous Zones were also created when the Prime Zone first formed, some with wildly different laws of physics. When a new Zone is created, it is completely duplicated.  The entire timeline is copied, not just from the Triggering Event.  Though on that subject, the passage of time can be different between Zones.  Time runs faster in some Zones compared to the Prime Zone, such as the Zone Robo-Robotnik hailed from.  In some, it runs slower, such as in the Twilight Cage.  And in others, it can run at the same rate as the Prime Zone, but the point where the Prime Zone and the other Zone meets are at different points in their timelines. That covers the creation of Zones.  So moving onto Zone Cop operations, I’ll turn to Zonic. Zonic: Thanks Zal… uh, Zally.  As I’m sure most of you are aware, the Zone Cops monitor activity within the different Zones, as well as travel between the different Zones.  Different units of Cops have different roles, from general monitoring, to patrolling the Cosmic Interstate, to protecting against threats to the Multiverse.  For me, my job means I’m called in when direct action is required in another Zone. This is… a difficult job.  You could well ask why don’t we help out whenever something bad happens in the other Zone.  Truth is, that could cause a horrible imbalance, and lead to more disastrous consequences further down the line.  It’s not easy sitting on the sidelines, but sometimes we have to. But then, there are times we do need to act to make sure a greater threat doesn’t rise.  You’re likely aware of some of those times, as that’s when I’ve brought in Prime Sonic.  Why him?  Well, the Prime Zone is only a step away from all the other Zones, even wildly different ones like the Sol Zone.  And Prime Sonic is, in all honesty, one of the most capable Sonic’s in the multiverse, so I know it’s in good hands.  We could send in a squad of Zone Cops instead, but one Sonic can do, with very little disruption, what it would take several squads to accomplish. This has all gotten a lot harder recently, with Eggman Naga swarming over the Multiverse causing massive disruption, and the recent damage inflicted to Zone Jails. Alright, there’s a bit more to cover, but that’s for the end.  Right now, I’m gonna turn to Zails.  He’s still training to be a Zone Cop, but as one of his training projects, he’s done a Case Study on Silver the Hedgehog, so he’s here to talk about time travel.  Take it away Zails. Zails: Uh… Alright *deep breath* You can do this Zails.  Silver the Hedgehog is a time travelling Hedgehog… That’s redundant, isn’t it?  Uh… so… Silver has travelled through time, but there have also been incidents where he’s interacted with different Zones aside from the Prime Zone, known as Light Mobius and Dark Mobius. So, er, Time Travel and Zone Travel do share many similar principles.  Travelling between Zones is easy, as No-Zone and the Cosmic Highway connect all Zones.  Even travel that doesn’t use the Cosmic Interstate, such as Star Posts, tend to make use of that connection.  Time Travel is much harder, though it is easier to travel forwards, going with the flow of time, than backwards, working against it. This means it’s very easy, if you don’t know what you’re doing, to accidently move between Zones when Time Travelling.  Er… *checks notes* Jani-ca from Dark Mobius did this, accidentally travelling to the Prime Zone when she went back in time.  It’s easier to do when you are going back before the Triggering Event that created your Zone. And so, if you know how to Time Travel, it is much easier to travel to other Zones. Which leads us, uh, to the next question.  ‘Does time travel create new Zones?’  The answer is ‘it depends’.  Keep in mind, looking at Silver, given the chance it was unlikely he wouldn’t go back in time.  And when he found out about Mecha-Sally, also unlikely that he wouldn’t stop her.  So his actions changed the future, without creating a new Zone. On the other hand, King Sonic of Light Mobius.  Once, it was the future of the Prime Zone.  But when he went back in time, his actions created such wild changes, that Light Mobius became its own Zone, and the future of the Prime Zone was shifted away from it. Which then leads to a bigger question.  *takes a breath, checks notes*  ‘If you change the future, doesn’t that create a paradox where you wouldn’t have gone back to change the future?’  Okay, when someone goes back in time, they become part of the past, as if they always existed there.  So when they return to the future, they’ll still remember their old life, even if their actions have created massive changes.  We think.  This is partially theoretical, based on observing Silver.  There is one last question: ‘Why are some things from Light Mobius seen in Silver’s future?’  This is because of the way Light Mobius was created.  There is still a connection between Light Mobius and the Prime Zone.  Sometimes, things leak through.  Maybe just objects, but at some point, even Tikchaos, or part of her, was able to slip into the Prime Zone. *looks over notes* Uh… that’s everything from me, so, er, back to Zonic. Zonic: Thanks Zails, you did great. *gives thumbs up*  Our last topic is on Zone Numbering and Naming.  There are countless Zones, and each is given an ‘official numbering’, based on the date and exact time of its creation.  These numbers, as you might expect, are VERY long.  So instead, we usually refer to the ‘Case File’ Numbers.  These numbers, after the first 100, are based on when we start to take an interest in that Zone.  The first 100, well, we were trying to rate the Zone’s by importance.  We really messed that up! *chuckles*  For naming a Zone, that honour is given to the team who first open a Case File on a Zone.  *communicator beeps* Oh, that’s right!  Just one other thing to note.  We've heard rumours of another 'Sonic Prime'.  We don't know any details yet, but we're investigating.

Okay, I think that is everything.  Zally? Zally: Yes, we’ve just about covered everything.  I hope we’ve managed to answer most of your questions.  But before we leave, we’ve had numerous requests for knowing the name and designation of a number of Zones.  So we’ll leave those with you. Thank you so much for listening.  Now, here’s the list:

#001 – The Prime Zone – This is the zone where all others originate from, where Sonic and the heroes of Mobius fight against the tyranny of Dr. Eggman.

#017 – The Stealth Zone – This zone features a planet Mobius where the superhero Stealth the Hedgehog fights villains such as Professor Egg.

#059 - The Serene Zone - This Zone features a Mobius where Julian Kintobor never managed to gain control after the Great War, and the Kingdom of Acorn stood strong.

#100 – The No Zone – Our Zone, from here the Zone Cops organization strives to maintain order across the multiverse.

#109 – The Legal Zone – This zone features a Mobius with a city called Litigopolis where law and order are the way of the world.

#196 – The Freedom Zone – This zone features a planet Freedom which is divided into two realms – the Land of the Sky and the Land of Darkness.

#199 – The Underground Zone – This zone features a planet Mobius where Prince Sonic and his siblings, Manic and Sonia, seek to find their mother, Queen Aleena, and become the Council of Four to overthrow the dictator Dr. Robotnik.

#220 – The Lightning Zone – This zone features a planet Earth where Sonic has traveled and been adopted by a police officer named Tom and stops the plans of the overzealous scientist Dr. Robotnik.

#372 – The Anti Zone – This zone is a mirror reflection of the Prime Zone, where our heroes are bad and their villains are good.

#403 – The Earth X Zone – This zone features a planet Earth with a city called Station Square. It is the home of Chris Thorndyke and his friends and has been protected by Sonic the Hedgehog.

#492 – The Image Zone – This zone features a planet Earth that is protected by heroes such as Spawn, Savage Dragon, and The Maxx.

#496 – The Dark Zone – This zone features a planet Mobius nearly purged of life from a corrupted Knuckles the Echidna who became Enerjak.

#589 – The Discovery Zone – This zone features a planet Mobius resembling a gritty film noir.

#593 – The Boomer Zone – This zone features a planet Mobius where Sonic and the Freedom Fighters; Johnny Lightfoot, Porker Lewis, Tails, and Amy, face various foes including the evil Dr. Robotnik.

#623 – The Real Zone – This zone features a planet Earth where Sonic the Hedgehog is a video game character.

#905 – The Mobius X Zone – This zone features a planet Mobius where Sonic and his friends call home. Sonic and his friends have been transported off this planet into the X Earth Zone.

#1054 – The Kaiju Zone – This zone features a planet Mobius where Dr. J Kintobor uses a super sized mecha, Giant Robotno, to fight enlarged mutants.

#1072 – The Sentai Zone – This zone features a planet Mobius where Sonicman and the Chaos Ninja Team fight the villainous Sallactor.

#1084 – The Cyborg Zone – This zone is home to a planet Mobius that has been left a ruined wasteland thanks to it’s Dr. Robotnik. This is the zone from which Dr. Eggman hails.

#1100 – Maginary Zone – This zone is where the dreams of all other zones are born from. It is entered via the Precioustone and is guarded by the powerful Illumina.

#1103 – The Light Zone – This zone features a planet Mobius very similar to our heroes’ world. King Sonic and Queen Sally rule the Kingdom of Acorn in this zone.

#1105 – The Sol Zone – This zone features a planet Mobius where Blaze the Cat guards the Jewelled Sceptre and the Sol Emeralds.

#1114 – The Boom Zone – This zone features a planet Mobius where Sonic and his friends live on Bygone Island and deal with regular shenanigans from Dr. Eggman.

#1241 – The Archie Zone – This zone features a planet Earth with a town called Riverdale. It is the home of Archie Andrews, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and Josie and the Pussycats amongst others.

#1291 – The Luna Zone – This zone features a Mobius that is protected by the pretty guardian Sally Moon and her crush Tuxedo Knux.

#4235 – The Galaxy Zone – This zone is the home of the Freedom Fighters of the Galaxy, a group that patrols their universe facing cosmic threats such as Robolactus.

[supernaturalnovelsandmore]

Supernatural Novel: Heart of the Dragon

Welcome to my not-quite review of the fourth Supernatural novel, Heart of the Dragon.

Author: Keith R.A. DeCandido

Timeline: Set after Episode 5.08 Changing Channels

Location: San Francisco, California (Chinatown)

Synopsis: An old foe has come back to terrorize San Francisco, but what is the connection between the Campbells, John Winchester and Sam and Dean? Read to find out!

Warning: Spoilers abound!

Oh, where do I start? Heart of the Dragon has a very different feel to it, one that I'm not entirely on board with. Basically, it's a flashback book that spends the first third on Samuel, Deanna, and Mary Campbell, the second third on John Winchester and the last quarter on Sam and Dean. In fact, out of 28 chapters, Sam and Dean were only featured in about 7 of them. It leaves the book feeling hollow and me, a little meh. But, there are some additional insights into the Winchester family history which I'll try and parse out.

One more thought, I'm glad this is the last book from this particular author. Once again he has utilized a culture/race to tell the story, and not well. When the story is in 1969, he utilizes the world Orientals to explain Japanese and Chinese characters. He might have been trying to use the wording of the day, and that's fine if it's in dialogue, but to use it as a descriptor is problematic, at best. He also plays up multiple stereotypes from the Chinese mob to the Japanese Samurai. I'm hoping this book is the Route 666 of the novels and that they can only get better.

I decided to sort my thoughts within the different timelines, so here we go:

1969: Samuel, Deanna, and Mary Campbell

We open with the family hunting a vampire and Samuel using 15-year-old Mary as willing bait. It turns out to be a nest, but they quickly dispatch them without casualties. Deanna appears to be quite the hunter in her own right (her skill with a Claymore outstanding.) Within this hunt we learn a few things about Mary and the Campbell family.

The Campbells have a strong link to their Scottish heritage.

Samuel hates Christmas

Mary is willful, annoying, and disrespectful, but an amazing hunter who was raised practically from birth to how to hunt and defend herself. (Sam parallels, perhaps?)

Mary learned about monsters at 11 when she saw her parents dispatch an avenging spirit.

Samuel hates the idea of Mary hanging out with any boys, though she has a particular fondness for a John Winchester who works as a local auto-mechanic.

Samuel owns a dry-cleaning business and Deanna substitute teaches to help maintain some kind of income.

Mary often wondered about having a normal life, but would dismiss it knowing she couldn't have that and still know monsters are out there. (Seems like a combination of Sam and Dean here).

Other than that, the hunt they go to San Francisco for seems fairly perfunctory. They do a bunch of research, talk to a few locals. Samuel dons his FBI agent schtick, they locate the source of the problem, and quickly dispatch it. There's nothing too dramatic there, just a lot of backstory.

1989: John Winchester

There's a bit more insight here because now we're getting some insight into Dad John, as well as 6-year-old Sam and 10-year-old Dean. I'll touch on a few points.

Leaving his boys with others: We open with John returning to his kids whom he left at Bobby's while he took care of a hunt. He left them long enough that they were enrolled in school and he planned on keeping them there for the fall semester. He felt bad about using Bobby's hospitality for so long.

Training his boys: "John knew his boys would need to be able to defend themselves against whatever was out there - he'd already started that process with Dean... Dean was a crack shot with John's M1911 and could load the shotgun with iron rounds and fire them off in one smooth motion. Eventually he'd need to train Sammy too. But not yet."

Loving his boys: When he arrives at Bobby's, Sam runs out to meet him and wraps his arms around John's legs as he walks in. Sam also tattles on Dean for eating the last donut.

There are also some fun moments between young Sam and Dean, mostly sibling bickering.

Dean and Sam enjoy playing hide-and-seek among Bobby's car on the weekends and Sam enjoys going to school during the week. Dean, not so much.

Sam proudly shares that he's doing 3rd grade work in 1st grade and then teases Dean about also doing 3rd grade work even though he's in 5th grade (Dean then sticks his tongue out at Sam and says "Screw you, Sammy.") At this John calls them out and both boys are chagrined.

Later on, when John calls Bobby for more information, we find Dean holding a pen out of Sam's reach and teasing him with it.

Of course, that call means we also get this heartbreaking line moment from Dean, who wants to talk to his Dad, but can't before John hangs up. Bobby tries to explain: "'Sorry, Dean, he, uh, was on his way out the door. But he told me to tell you both to behave yourselves and do what I tell you. And that he loves you.' Dean: 'Did he really say that?'"

When Bobby presents the next case, John is torn between wanting to spend time with his kids, but going after something that could cause people to burn spontaneously, in the hopes that it might lead him to the demon who killed Mary. I think the book did a good job of capturing John's struggle between revenge and caring for his boys. He's not the abusive, neglectful father people tend to think he is. He's someone struggling to make things right.

"John didn't answer at first. Instead, he looked over at Sam and Dean in the dining room, playing that oh-so-common game of 'I touched you last.'

Christmas was coming up and he did want to spend it with the boys..."

Finally, when John returns and Bobby and the boys meet him at the airport, we get some additional insight into 10-year-old Dean's thoughts regarding his father and his place in the family.

"Waiting there in the airport, he understood how important it was for Dad to be away so much - more than Sammy ever could. Sammy hadn't really known Mom, since he was just a baby when she died. Dean couldn't imagine that his baby brother would ever truly understand what had happened to her.

If he was honest with himself, he didn't really understand it, either. There were some days - though he'd never admit this to anyone - when he couldn't even remember what she looked like.

Some kind of monster had killed Mom, and Dad wouldn't rest until he found that monster and killed it. Along the way, he'd kill any other monsters who tried to kill other people's moms...

Dad still fought the bad guys and saved people, but he also cared about his sons.

Because Dad was a hero, and that was what heroes did."

2009 - Sam and Dean

There isn't much to write about here, because they weren't featured in the book. I will just add a couple of notes.

Dean recognizes Samuel Campbell in a newspaper article about the killings. (He'd already been sent back in time and met his grandfather).

It's seems reasonable to Sam that Mary and her parents were hunters. What freaks him out is that he and Dean were named after their grandparents and John never told them.

Sam's been a nerd about the American Interstate system since he was 10 and loved poring over maps.

Sam feels more guilt from trusting Ruby over Dean than starting the apocalypse.

Final notes:

This book introduces Castiel who brings the case to the boys attention. We get the same stuff in here that you see on screen, he has issues with personal space, comes and goes at will, and Bobby's still mad at him for not being able to heal his paralysis. He's only there for a few pages, and then disappears again.

Bobby gets a bit more screen time, as a pseudo-dad to young Sam and Dean, and later as their resource when researching the case and it's history. Favorite quote: "As he went into the fridge for butter to spread onto the pan, Bobby decided it was the entire Winchester family that was making him bald."

We briefly get Hurt Sam who is punched repeatedly by a hulk of a man, but with no lasting consequences and very little caring Dean.

We find out at the end that Zachariah orchestrated the whole thing by planting the idea in Castiel's head.

So, like I said at the beginning, not my favorite, but hopefully I was able to share some of the more interesting parts. Read at your own risk!

[criquette-was-here]

Long Awaited Replies

Hello everyone! It’s been awhile since my last activity here. Stuff’s just got real last few months and I am now experiencing some heavy RLS which makes the future of the whole Feverfew project quite uncertain. I’m very annoyed by the fact I have to move the release date over and over again, but, fingers crossed, I’ll be able to manage to make it this year. But before I post any updates, I need to answer my inbox!

@landgraabsims​ said:

feverfew is absolutely gorgeous!! is it inspired by any real-life places or towns? i live in england and it reminds me of a few in-the-middle-of-nowhere villages i've visited c:

Thanks @landgraabsims​! Yes, Feverfew is based on British countryside aesthetics without any towns or villages in particular. It has a bit of everything, really. It’s a fantasy place after all. But I do use a lot of real life references for making landmarks for it.

Anonymous said:

any idea of the date of release for feverwood? just redownloaded sims 2 and im in loveee

Hey Anon! I’m glad you like it! I really hope to make it happen this year.

Anonymous said:

i would die (or pay) for zagoskin omg it looks like TS3

Oh, thank you, Anon!

@katzengirl​ said:

Hello Criquette! I don't have a challenge or a question or a request. I just wanted to tell you that I appreciate the things you've shared with us! I hope you're having a good day.

Hello Kristina! That is so sweet, thank you ^___^ I hope you’re doing fine too!

Anonymous said:

Hi there, Criquette. Been having fun with your Rural Charm set and the Better Lighting.  Ran into one small problem with the RC. One of the narrow curves picks up the texture from a road section with a crosswalk, so that looks a bit odd (30degree inner?).  And a question - is there a Better Lighting for the Iron Bracket street lamp with the seasons banner?  Thought the iron bracket would work, but it's not. Anywho, Thank You for ALL the work you put into making our hoods look fantastic!

Hey Anon! Thanks! Depending on the road DR you’re using, there can be some  texture issues here and there since Rural Charm is optimised for road texture without any markings (apart from the broken white line). As for the Iron light post with a banner – no. I’ve only made 2 Maxis’ base game lamp posts.

Anonymous said:

It's amazing how this one game embraces so many different types of players. I'm planning to create my very own nh from scratch, and I'd be a liar not to recognize how your game pics inspired me to the task (not to mention your ever impressive work of hood deco cc throughout these years). For all that, as much as I'm just another anon, thank you, sincerely. But that left me wondering: do you also/still play with the other ts2 game modes or they no longer interest you?

Oh, that is so kind, Anon. Thank you! Yes, I do love to actually play the game. I enjoy building/decorating lots as much as live mode. In fact, I often get carried away during playtest sessions and just keep playing in lot mode and that’s why there are lots like ‘The Tower Inn’ or ‘The Moose & Beaver’ or sims like Tilda Phidbach, WHT-FC28 servo and their field lab.

Anonymous said:

Criquette, do you know something about this project? thesims1master tumblr (the idea is to make the game look like the beta version. I ask, because I liked it so much, but I haven't been able to find the person behind it and I'm very curious to see more or download it, as well as his world, which I've been waiting for since last year lol)

Hey Anon! Oh, I don’t think I know anything about this project, no. But it looks rather interesting!

@forever-evenfall​ said:

Hey Criquette! I just downloaded your Lighting Remedy (because I only just realised I needed to change the txt file and not just download it lol) and when I placed your lighting text in the program files, the lighting itself worked, but the terrain itself was flashing red. Do you know what I did wrong? I literally don’t think I can play without the fix lol. I am using UC and I placed it in the Fun With Pets/SP9/TSData/Res/Lights folder. Should I have put it somewhere else?

Hello Eve! I might be wrong, but isn’t it Mansions & Gardens SP that stands for UC? Anyway, flashing red terrain is really weird consequence for just replacing a txt file. Neighborhood terrain doesn’t have any dynamic light. It has a light map instead which comes with Lighting remedy too. If you only just replace the lighting txt file without putting LR light map into your ‘Downloads’ folder, the only issue you should get would by unsynchronized light directions for hood decos and the terrain itself.

Anonymous said:

I'm having a problem: not all the decorations I put in the neighborhood are showing up in simulation mode, even with the fade off and the long-range vision on. I think there is some code that I need to add to the game files to make all the decorations appear. But I can't find how to do this: c Can you help me?

Hello Anon! Basically, there’s only one type of hood deco that isn’t showing up in lot mode and that is neighborhood effects. All the decals, flowers, fields, all the animated stuff (except for texture animation, e.g. Maxis’ marquee sign) is not showing up in lot mode. There’s nothing we can do about it. Yet. If you think that there’s a proper hood deco that isn’t showing up in lot mode, please PM me with some screenshots and we could try to sort it out.

Anonymous said:

Hello--Anon who asked about additional pieces for the Rural Charm set--I see now, thank you for explaining about the floating intersections.  Is there anything you recommend then, to add on to existing roads? Otherwise, thanks for taking the time to explain.

Hello Anon! Oh, you’re most welcome. There is a tedious way to replace a texture on the existing tile of the real road, to make in into intersection so that it would connect better visually with decorative road pieces. But that takes time. What you have to do is to determine the tile you want to edit using technique described in this tutorial and then you have to change the texture name in the corresponding line. The texture names for the intersections (their index name parts) can be found in any road DR beforehand.

@sunradersimblr​ said:

Hi, I'm just wondering if you've ever done hood deco of a highway rest stop like the type we see in the U.S. along interstates and state highways, just a green space, usually, with toilet facilities and a place for a picnic and parking lot? I need one for a story and thought I'd check with you. Thanks for all the great work you share! 

Hello Sunrader! That would be really nice addition for the highway set, but I haven’t made it. Thought it’s quite possible to make something similar if you use ‘One side exit piece’ from the motorway set and add some picnic tables, umbrellas and benches using street tables & benches set. There’s also many 4t2 deco conversions for toilets and other small size decos that would help to create a decent resting stop.

@nataliepop​ said:

Hi there Criquette! There's a new game called Townscaper which I think you'd like. The architecture has an English aesthetic and you build cities or towns but it all starts on an ocean. It's in early access, so I hope by the time it officially releases they add boats and piers. Look it up on Steam or Youtube. I saw it via someone who usually does Cities Skylines videos. Btw, have you ever played that? Also, apart from sims what else do you enjoy playing? Anyway, hope you are having a good day!

Hey Natpop! Thanks for a lovely game suggestion! I’ve checked it out and it looks really fun. Can’t say I’d play it though XD All my free time (which I don’t have atm) is reserved for simming hood deco making working on Feverfew ^^

Anonymous said:

hey~ i love all of your stuff, you're so talented (๑♡⌓♡๑) i wanted to ask, do you think you'll ever release feverfew's sc4 map? 

Thank you Anon! That’s very kind. I’m not sure if there’s any point in releasing SC4 map I used for Feverfew because it’s completely differs from the way it looks now. The road layout is different, there’s no canal, no islands on the river, hills are different, etc. It has been heavily terraformed and edited during development process. I’d recommend just to wait till the Feverfew neigborhood release.

Anonymous said:

Hi! Do you have any idea of when Feverfew will be released? :) 

Hey Anon! It will be released this year, hopefully!

Anonymous said:

Hello :D Is it possible to get your linden trees as lot objects in build/garden section? I love them and they beautify my neighborhood but could really use an option to select them on lots too :)

Hello Anon! Yes, that’s possible, though I can’t say if I could make it myself. What I can say though, is that there’s a linden trees redux coming soon. It would make linden trees look better and highly optimised so that it would only take 4,5 Mb instead of 60 Mb without any losses in texture quality and resolution. 

[mittensmorgul]

I've watched season 11 again, and I have a question if you're willing to answer. In season 5, Cas was very disappointed about learning God was basically a "dead beat dad," as Dean called it. But when Cas had an opportunity to talk to Chuck, he didn't seem all that interested in talking to him or even asking a question or two. Why do you think they never had Cas interact with Chuck as a son talking to his father when it was such a huge deal for Cas in season 5?

Hi there! I’m happy to talk about this, because honestly I was personally GLAD that Cas treated Chuck the way he did in s11.

(A/N: I was halfway through writing this when my power went out last night, so now that everything is back on I’m gonna see if I remember wtf I was even talking about... if this goes sideways halfway through, blame Potomac Edison)

Cas had already realized long before exactly who and what Chuck was. I mean, not that Chuck was actually God, but that God and “His Plan” was always a load of BS.

Chuck left the angels a lot of conflicting information, and not a lot in the Free Will and Critical Thinking arena. I was just thinking about season 6, and this sort of feeds into a lot of the same distinction between Cas and the rest of the angels. My personal line of thinking earlier this evening was this line in 6.20:

CASTIEL I'm doing this for you, Dean. I'm doing this because of you. DEAN Because of me. Yeah. You got to be kidding me. CASTIEL You're the one who taught me that freedom and free will -- DEAN You're a freakin' child, you know that? Just because you can do what you want doesn't mean that you get to do whatever you want!

Major Tangent Warning, because I gotta write out what I was thinking earlier in order to explain why I am So Pleased with Cas and his reaction to Chuck in s11, which I think of as abject disdain. This is key to everything Cas had learned, to all of his growth as a person up to that point.

What Dean tells Cas here is in direct contradiction to what Raphael’s self-stated motive in restarting the apocalypse was. Also from 6.20:

RAPHAEL You rebelled - against God, heaven, and me. Now you will atone. We'll start by freeing Lucifer and Michael from their cage. And then we'll get our show back on the road. CASTIEL Raphael...No. The Apocalypse doesn't have to be fought! RAPHAEL Of course it does. It's God's will. CASTIEL How can you say that?! RAPHAEL Because it's what I want. CASTIEL Well, the other angels won't let you. RAPHAEL Are you sure? You know better than anyone, Castiel. They're soldiers. They weren't built for freedom. They were built to follow.

Raphael is just doing “whatever he wants,” in the way Dean was trying to convince Cas NOT to. Because if Dean learns anything in s6, it is the cosmic cost of his own actions. Think 6.11, and the lessons he learns having to play Death for a day. As much as Dean tries to work around the Bigger Picture of the Universe, he does understand that there is a right and a wrong, and that some things are worth fighting or even dying for, but the cost might sometimes just be too great. And unleashing all the souls in purgatory on the planet seems like just a different sort of apocalyptic level of bad... like putting out a fire with a flamethrower.

Cas had to make a choice here. He’d chosen his path every step of the way, wrestled with each decision he’d had to make over the previous year leading up to that point, but he’d passed the point of no return, and his direct prayer to Chuck went unanswered, and he never got a sign whether he was doing the right thing or not.

I’ve argued in the past that he absolutely DID get a sign, in the form of Dean telling him to stop in 6.20. But Cas dismissed him, out of pride, out of hubris, out  of desperation to do the one thing he believed could give him the power to stop Apocalypse 2.0, save Heaven, and also save Dean in the process, since Dean would be back on the radar to be Michael’s vessel if Raphael succeeded in breaking him out of the Cage.

And here’s the really tangenty part of the tangent: it just made me think of all the nitwits who won’t wear a mask in public, or follow social distancing rules because MAH FREEDUMB, you’re impinging on MAH LIBERTY. BUT THE CONSTITUTION!

Because yes, we can do what we want, but we can’t do WHATEVER we want when our actions are harmful to others!

The framers of the Constitution could never have foreseen a pandemic like this. But any SOCIETY where people must coexist needs to put some constraints on liberty, and the framers absolutely DID understand this.

They also couldn’t have foreseen air travel, but we have established rules about this. They couldn’t have foreseen cars and traffic lights and interstate highways, and yet we have rules that govern our behavior there, as well. Air traffic controllers, stop signs, speed limits-- we don’t just have the right to drive 90 mph through a school zone and run through red lights. And yet nobody yells BUT MAH FREEDUMB! when they get a speeding ticket.

Polite society ALSO must include *MY* right not to be killed because someone else decided that traffic laws didn’t apply to them, see?

Basically, wear your mask and shut up about it, whiny pissbabies. This is what is required of you to live in a functioning society. You do NOT have the right to infect others with a potentially deadly illness. Full stop.

But back to Cas and the Leviathan infection he’s about to infest the entire planet with...

Dean was effectively giving him the “wear a mask, nitwit” speech, but on a cosmic level.

And Cas had to live with the consequences of his choice, with the GUILT and DEPRESSION that resulted. And he spent the next few seasons desperately trying to make up for what he’d done, to atone and do whatever he could to redeem himself-- to Dean. He’d tried to redeem himself to Heaven, but the more he eventually began to learn about Humanity, the less affinity he felt for his fellow angels, and for Chuck’s construct of Heaven.

Because back to another previous point, Chuck effectively left the angels two opposing sets of instructions: orders to watch over the earth and act as shepherds to humanity, and orders to bring on the apocalypse at any cost. Can’t do both, truly. Even Naomi will eventually say, right before Metatron stabs her in the head, that she (and the other angels) forgot that their true mission was to protect and defend humanity, and she didn’t know when or why that ever changed.

FINALLY back to the point! WHEEE!

Basically, Cas has, in the six years between s5 and s11, experienced “god-ness” from every angle, experienced his own guilt over what he now believes were misguided actions, that sometimes Humanity has a better answer, and there are some things that just aren’t worth it in the long run.

Mostly, he’s realized just HOW deadbeat Chuck has always been. And the revelation that Chuck had actually been God all along? Saw their pain and suffering at trying to STOP the apocalypse all those years before? KNEW FULL WELL that Sam, Dean and Cas were doing everything they could to try and save the world from basically the entirety of Heaven and Hell, who were plotting the destruction of humanity and most of creation with it. I mean... Cas spent s5 begging for God’s help, to save the world, to convince Michael and Lucifer that they did not have to destroy humanity, and Chuck... had done LESS than nothing. He’d sat there and ghoulishly watched the entire mess unfold like a bad tv show... oh wait... :’D

By s11, Lucifer had not reached that point that Cas had. Lucifer had many other issues, having been rejected and locked up for most of existence, and even HE had been the one in 5.22 to try and talk Michael out of enacting Chuck’s battle plan. Lucifer never had the experiences Cas did (and despite being given every opportunity to have them over the next few seasons after s11, he continues to reject those experienced at every turn anyway, only serving to highlight the difference between Cas and, honestly, most of the rest of the angels). Lucifer had a personal need for a direct apology from Chuck for everything he’d been put through-- starting with taking on the original Mark and ending with the cage.

Of course Lucifer didn’t get an honest apology, because in the end, it was all just a theoretical production to Chuck. He had never apologized, in any of his universes, to any of the beings he created. And he never would. And on some level, Cas-- via his experiences, what he himself had already come to understand about God and creation-- already understood this about Chuck.

Cas... didn’t care about him anymore. He cared about HUMANITY, about Chuck’s CREATION. The creator might be a worthless jerk, but what came out of his creation is a thing of ultimate beauty. Humanity, love, free will, and the beauty of the universe is what ends up saving the world in 11.23, so I’ve chosen to accept this read of Cas and his relationship and opinions of Chuck. Because it’s perfectly in line with the “moral” of season 11.

Plus it’s just so personally satisfying to me watching each individual character’s reactions to Chuck, and understanding how that aligns with all of their personal arcs.

Dean: brought the “how could your forsake your creation” of a broken-hearted son who has finally seen the truth. something he worked out YEARS ago between himself and his own father, so it didn’t come with that particular personal baggage and didn’t completely break him in the process (as it may have done with Cas had Chuck revealed himself, say, in 7.01...)

Sam: brought his life-long hope that God was real, his faith in God’s inherent “goodness,” did the Chuck Fanboy for a bit before seeing Chuck a lot more clearly. He was able to relinquish his idol worship of Chuck as the Savior of Humanity.

Cas: had brought his experience of Humanity and Godhood, the entire spectrum of Creation that he had experienced for himself and grown through. Cas, for all his mistakes, had never stopped TRYING to do the right thing, never stopped doing everything in his power to save humanity and creation from every cosmic threat, while Chuck himself had only hidden away and watched from the sidelines, when he’d ALWAYS had the power to make everything good and right and allow the Winchesters their peace. Honestly, what BETTER response than to treat Chuck like a bit of gum stuck to his shoe?

Metatron: who had basically spent s9 trying to turn himself into Chuck Lite, literally plagiarizing his Supernatural novels to create his own origin story as the new God, and failed miserably. What other angel could truly confront Chuck, writer to writer, and call him out for His Story? Even fallen as low as he could go, Metatron understood first-hand the responsibility of The Cosmic Author in ways even Cas couldn’t, because narrative symmetry. Metatron was always about the Word, as God’s Scribe. He was a bad copy of the original with the names scratched out. He basically wrote the worst self-insert fanfic of all time. And that gave him the narrative space to confront Chuck about everything that Cas no longer had. Cas had long since rejected that role, sided with Humanity, and smashed Chuck’s Word. The original tablet-breaker.

Crowley: carried on Crowley-ing. Doing the best he could with what he had, and somehow miraculously BS’ing his way through.

Rowena: recognized the Biggest Power in the room and ingratiated herself to it for comfort and protection, and hopefully for a bit of power and security.

Billie: gosh she just stepped in at the 11th hour to annoy Chuck. :’D

But yeah, I’ve always been incredibly pleased that Cas basically ignored Chuck in s11. Good for him.

[a-winchester-fairytale]

What Would You Wish For?

Summary:  A stranger gives the gift of one wish, but all magic comes with a price.

Word Count: 4798       

Warnings:  little angst maybe, some fluff - none really

A/N:  This was written for @covered-byroses​ Myths and Magic Challenge.  My prompt was Three Wishes. Thank you for a really fun idea.  It ended up being lighter than I first imagined, but I hope you like it. 

Thank you for reading and please feel free to let me know what you think :)  

“We are almost to the intersection with I95.”  You said from the back seat as the impala continued down the dirt road.  “After that, it looks like about 7 hours to the bunker.”

You heard Dean groan and you knew he was looking forward to being back in the bunker after several days in the dollar motel.   It seemed like since the brothers had found the bunker, those motels just weren’t as comfortable as they used to be.

“What’s that up there?” Sam muttered.  As the car got closer you could see that it was an older model pickup sitting on the side of the road with the hood up.  An man who appeared to be in his 70s was anxiously standing next to it with his hands on his sides.

“Maybe we should stop and help him, or give him a ride to town.”  You said sympathetically.

“Come on, Y/N.  We still have so far to go before we make it home.”  Dean argued.

“Dean!  He’s an old man.  We can’t just leave him out here.”  You argued. “Sam?”  You added, glancing to his younger brother for help.

“It may not take that long.” He added, hopefully.  Dean grumbled the word fine and slowed down the impala.

You watched as Dean took a look at the man’s truck.  You had always enjoyed watching him work on cars.  The concentration and care he showed made you adore him more than you secretly already did.  With a few adjustments, he was able to fix the truck without much time lost.

“There you go.  Should be good now, but I’d have somebody take a look once you get where you are going.  You may need to replace that part altogether.’  Dean said to him, shaking his hand when he offered it.

“You have done me a kind service today.  Allow me to repay you.”  The stranger said, holding out a large gold coin to you.  

“You don’t have to pay us anything.  It was nothing.”  You told him, but he held it out further.

“This is not a monetary payment.”  He started to explain.  “It is a wish coin.  I am offering a single wish to each of you.”

“A wish coin?”  Sam asked, unsure if he heard him correctly. The stranger nodded.

“Please take it.”  He begged, offering it to Sam and Dean when you didn’t move.  “Just hold it tightly and say your wish and it will come.  There are very few exceptions.”

“You’re telling me that if I hold this coin in my hand and say I wish, then whatever follows will just magically appear?”  Dean asked, taking the coin from him and turning it suspiciously over in his hand.

“Yes, that is exactly what I’m saying.  But be careful what you wish for Dean.  It may not turn out exactly the way you think, and you will have to deal with the consequences of that wish.”  The old man told him, raising a finger for emphasis.

“I think the cheese has slid a little far off your cracker man.”

“Dean!!”  Sam shouted.

“What?  This is ridiculous, even for us.”  He said, turning to face Sam impatiently.

“You believe in all manner of supernatural beings, but you refuse to believe that I could grant you a small token of appreciation?”  He challenged.  

“Yes.”  Dean insisted.  You glanced between them, the old man grinning slightly at his certainty.

“May I ask why?”

“Because….I’ve spent my whole life scraping by, fighting for everything we had – and everything we didn’t. Now - you expect me to believe that it is as simple as saying….”

“Dean…don’t!”  Sam shouted, but it was too late.

“I wish for 10 million dollars.”  The words flew past Dean’s lips before either of you could stop him.

“Well,” the stranger began, a sly grin on his face.  “If you won’t take my word for it, just open the trunk of your car.”

At the mention of his precious baby, Dean’s eyes narrowed and he glared at him.  Sam glanced to you, but you only shrugged and watched as he carefully made his way to the impala.  When he popped open the truck, he found several bags laying on top of the false bottom.  He unzipped the first one and saw that it was full of money.

Dean finally broke his stare when he heard you gasp.  His face lit up and the stranger was momentarily forgotten as the three of you opened the remaining bags to find more strapped cash.  Although you didn’t count it, there was no reason to believe it was anything other than 10 million dollars.

“How did you…?”  You began, but stopped when you turned around to an empty street.

“Where did he go?” Sam asked, but there was no trace of him ever being there.  Dean glanced down at the coin still sitting in the palm of his hand and then back up at the two of you.

“We’re rich.  We really are rich!”  He exclaimed, laughing in disbelief.

“Dean, where did this even come from?  I mean, we can’t just take this money like that.  I’m telling you, something terrible is going to come out of all this wish nonsense.”

“Oh yes, we can.  Is it selfish? maybe.  Will it come back to bite me tomorrow?  Probably.  But just for one night, I want to know what it’s like.”

“What what’s like?”  You couldn’t help but ask.  Dean had never really struck you as someone fixated on money.

“To not have to worry about whether or not the credit card will work, or if we will have enough for dinner and a motel room, or if the guys I’m playing pool against are too stupid to realize we are scamming them for gas money, or whether I’m going to get caught stealing peanut butter and sent back to a boys home.”  He answered you.

“I guess I never really thought about it like that.”  Sam said, looking down.

“That was the point, Sammy. You weren’t supposed to worry about stuff like that.”  Dean said, his voice softer.  “I don’t regret any of it.  I did what I had to, and I’d do it again.”  He added, patting Sam’s face gently with his hand to reassure him.

“Okay.”  You reluctantly agreed.  You hadn’t been with them when they were children, but you had heard stories. You knew enough to be able to picture John leaving them alone for days to fend for themselves.  

“Look, if I had known it wasn’t a crock, I would have wished for something different - Making the monsters of the world go away or world peace or something meaningful.”  Dean said.  “But I can’t change that.”

“It’s not what you wished for that worries me.”  You admitted. “It’s more about the ‘consequences’ he mentioned.”  

“I know.”  Dean said, flipping the coin over a couple of times and then handing it to Sam.  “Here, take this thing.  Let’s just get going.  We can figure all of this out later.”

Dean paused when he finally got the interstate until you both raised an eyebrow at him.  “What’s wrong?”  You asked, worried.

“What if we stopped in that big city for tonight?”  He asked, turning in the seat so he could face you both.

“I thought you were in a hurry to get back to the bunker.”  Sam told him. Dean shrugged.

“I was, but come on man. We could use a vacation.  When was the last time we did anything that wasn’t about hunting and was just fun?”

“It has been a while.” Sam admitted.

“Okay, let’s do it.” You encouraged.

“That’s my girl.” Dean exclaimed, making your heart skip a beat as he put his arm around your shoulders and hugged you against him. Sam just laughed.

Dean drove into the city and the three of you spent the evening doing whatever you all felt like doing. At the end of the evening, Dean spotted a high class hotel and you could almost see the light bulb flash in his eyes.

“No way are we staying in another ratty motel tonight.”  He said, pulling into the driveway.

Dean pulled a handful of cash from the bags, setting on the counter in defiance when the front desk clerk pompously told him the price of the penthouse suite he requested.  It was hard not to laugh when the clerk almost choked on his own words while Dean causally asked, “Does that about cover it?”

After that, it was all “yes sir, let me help you with your things sir”.  Although you could tell that Sam felt awkward about all of the extra attention, he kept quiet and just let Dean enjoy it.

It had three bedrooms, two oversized luxury bathrooms, heated floors, waterfall shower, swimming pool, game room, private bar, floor to ceiling windows with the most beautiful view of the city below.  There were marble floors, private elevator, two living areas.

You spent extra time in the bathroom, knowing that for once it was all your own.  Afterwards, you slipped on the cozy soft bathrobe and slippers, stepping out into the bedroom and jumping up onto the feather bed.  At first it was fun, but after a while it was too quiet and you couldn’t relax enough to feel sleepy.

You wandered around the penthouse suite, looking out at the city and wondering about the people living in the houses below.  You heard a car horn and tires squeal below, grabbing your attention.  You thought you saw a shadow crossing the road below, but when you looked again it had disappeared into the night and traffic had resumed.  You told yourself that you would never get used to being in a large city, thankful no one appeared to have been hurt.   You turned away from the window and could see the light coming from Dean’s bedroom, the door slightly ajar.  

You snickered under your breath to see the fearless hunter chilling on the king size bed in his bathrobe, a large pizza and beer sitting next to him.  

“All that money, and you are still eating pizza and beer.”  You teased.  Dean just shrugged, but you could see the color come to his cheeks briefly.

“24 hour room service.” He replied.  “You want something?  They have everything you could possibly think of.”  He told you, picking up the leather bound menu and holding it out toward you.

“No thanks.”  You replied, stepping into the room and stealing a piece of pizza from the box.  Dean laughed and moved the box so you could climb onto the bed next to him. “Where’s Sam?”  

“Oh, he went to his room. He is determined to find something about that coin.”  Dean replied. “Hey, check this out…”  He exclaimed, pushing a button on the remote to make a huge flat screen TV lower itself from the ceiling.  You couldn’t help but get a kick out of seeing him act like a little kid at Christmas.

He flipped through the channels, raving about how many there were to choose from.  “Wait…”  You told him. “Go back a couple.”

Dean did as you asked, stopping on The Princess Bride, just as they were about to enter the home of Mad Max.

“I love this movie.” You said, laughing at Max and his wife argue over what Wesley had said.

“So do I.”  Dean admitted, setting the remote aside and the two of you watched the rest of the movie, occasionally quoting the lines together.

You were so engrossed in the scenes on the TV, that you didn’t notice that Dean had stopped watching the screen and started watching you until it was almost over. “What?”  You asked, blushing as soon as you caught him.

“You know, you really are beautiful.”  Dean said, watching you intensely.

You looked at him, shocked to hear those words and unable to look away from his gaze.  For a moment, you wondered if it the wish coin could hear wishes inside your head, but then you remembered that you had yet to hold the coin in your hand.  No, this couldn’t be the thoughts you constantly had running through your mind.

Dean leaned forward and kissed you.  The instant his lips touched yours, all of your thoughts went silent.  You could hear the end of the movie and the words written about the greatest kiss of all time as you leaned into his kiss and returned it eagerly.  

“Hey Dean…”  Sam said as he entered Dean’s room and the two of you flew apart like shrapnel.  “Y/N, good, you’re here too.”  He added, not noticing.

“Yeah, Dean was just showing off the big screen tv.”  You lied, glancing over at Dean.  

“Did you find something about the coin?”  Dean asked.

“Not exactly, but I think there is something weird going on not far from here.”  He began.  “Now where did I see that?”  he muttered, flipping through the book he was carrying in his hands.

Dean leaned close to your ear while Sam was searching for the page and whispered, “next time we will have to remember to close and lock the door.”

You simply nodded, biting down on your lip to try and keep calm.  Your body still felt warm where he had touched you and you felt a tingle when he said ‘next time’, excited at the idea that he wanted to do that again.

“Here it is.”  Sam said, flipping the page and laying the book down on the end of the bed so you could both see it.  

“Says there is a myth about a creature that lures small children from their homes.”  You read out loud.  “says she is usually seen along the Interstate 95 corridor during the month of September.”

“Right.  And it’s September, and that is the I95 running right outside.”  Sam pointed out.

“Okay, but that also runs over 1100 miles either way, Sam.  What makes you think that this myth is real and that she is near here?”  Dean asked.

“Because, I just heard on the news that there are 3 kids missing in Rawlee all within the last 24 hours.”  He replied.

“That sounds familiar.” You said, thinking back to the map you had been studying in the car.  “Wait, that’s only about 100 miles further north.”

“Exactly.”

“We’ve certainly looked into cases with less to go on.”  Dean sighed, looking around the room.  “Guess this vacation will have to wait.”

The three of you packed up and headed down the road to start in Rawlee.  By the time you arrived and got settled, it was early morning and you split up to interview the families and the police.  Sam was able to determine that you were hunting a Splinterwaif that would have to keep the children alive for several days before killing them and feeding on their spirits.  That meant that the three of you had almost a week to find them.

Although it was good news that no more kids went missing, it also didn’t give any of you much to go on. It had been a long week, with little sleep, and lots of ideas that didn’t pan out.

“We’ve been at it for days, man.  We officially have less than 2 hours to find those kids and we are still nowhere close to figuring this out.  There has to be something we can do.”  Dean said, slamming the book closed.

“Well there is one thing…” Sam said, reaching in his pocket and pulling out the coin.

“I thought you didn’t want to use any more wishes.”

“I don’t, but I don’t see any other way, and I can’t just let this happen.  Besides, maybe this is only a gift.  I mean, we have had that money for a week and nothing has happened.” He said, sounding more like he was trying to convince himself.

“Let’s do it.”  Dean encouraged.  You thought about for a second and then nodded in agreement.

“I wish we could save those kids before the time is up.”  Sam said, squeezing the coin tightly in the palm of his hand.

Just like it had done the first time, the wish came true immediately.  The three of you were standing in front of the impala outside of a cellar door several hours away.  Dean broke the lock on the doors and pulled one side open so the three of you could climb down to the bottom.

You immediately saw the three kids and breathed a sigh of relief when they began crying for help. Even though the legend said she would keep them for a week to prepare before killing them, you were terrified that you would be too late.  

“Shh…”  You warned the children.  “It’s going to be ok.  We are going to get you out of here and back home.”

You began working on the lock the keep them caged when the door opened again and a woman descended.

“it’s you….”  She hissed when she saw the three of you in the cellar.  “I thought I got rid of you when I left you back at that motel.”

“Motel?”  Sam asked, his brow scrunched.

“Yeah.  Everyone knows to stay clear when you see that car of yours. It startled me so much I froze. Good thing too, I would have been hit by a truck if I had kept walking.  Guess I should thank you for that.”  She added, sounding anything but grateful.

“So you get a few days and this is what you do with it?  Take a bunch of little kids?”  Dean growled. She glared at him.

“Well, a girl’s gotta eat.” She replied, arrogantly.

Dean lunged forward, swinging the angel blade in his hand as he did.  “Damn it, I can’t get a shot.”  Sam mumbled, not wanting to hit Dean accidentally with the way the two of them were dancing around each other.  

“Keep trying.”  You yelled, working the lock on their cage loose. When it finally broke, Sam insisted that you take the kids outside and rushed forward to help Dean fight her.  

You led the children out of the cellar and into the impala, giving them water and snacks from the cooler in the back seat.  Sam and Dean rushed out of the cellar a few moments later and jumped into the impala where you were waiting with the kids.  

The children, although a little shaken, were fine.  You waited with them at the local sheriff’s office until their parents arrived to pick them up and then you returned to the motel room with Sam and Dean.

“We are only a few hours from the bunker.  Let’s just go home.”  Dean was saying when you walked in the door.

“Are you okay?”  You asked immediately, noticing the way he was shielding his eyes from the light and holding his head.

“It’s just a headache. I’ve had worse.”  He answered, but one glance at Sam’s face told you it was more than he was letting on.  

“He got thrown across that cellar and hit the wall pretty hard earlier.”  Sam explained.

“Come on, Sam.  Stop worrying.”  Dean begged.  “I just want to go home to my own bed and if it isn’t gone in the morning I’ll call Cas to come heal me.  Okay?”

“Fine.”  Sam agreed reluctantly.  

Sam drove the impala back to the bunker while Dean stretched out in the back seat, his arm covering his face.  You kept him talking to be sure he stayed awake in case of a concussion.  He was coherent and you could see Sam start to relax, convincing himself that Dean was right about it just being a headache.

When you pulled into the garage, however, Dean was unsteady getting out of the car and before either of you could ask him if he was alright, he collapsed.  Sam took him inside to his room and you immediately called Castiel.  

You watched nervously beside Sam as Cas studied Dean with his angelic powers.  Finally he took his hand away and shook his head, letting out a deep sigh.

“I don’t believe he is suffering from the fight with the Splinterwaif.”  Cas began. “There is no physical damage for me to heal.  This feels more……magical.”

“Magical?”  Sam asked him in disbelief.  “How is that even possible?  We haven’t been anywhere near a witch for months.  Not since we stopped that coven in Washington.”

“I don’t know, Sam.  I just can’t find anything that I can fix in his head.”  Cas admitted.

“Well, if it’s magical, then we call Rowena.  She can fix him.”  You told him, reaching out to squeeze his hand for reassurance.

“I’ll find her.” Cas volunteered, happy to be able to do something and he disappeared.

“Do you think it has anything to do with that coin?”  You couldn’t stop yourself from asking.  Sam shrugged.

“I don’t know.  I never could find anything out about it. Maybe Rowena will know something.” He answered.

It didn’t take long for Cas to return with Rowena.  “Samuel, you could just pick up the phone.  You know I don’t like to be summoned here like this.”  She complained, straightening her dress and pushing her hair back from her face.  

“Well, it was no picnic for me either.”  Cas replied sarcastically before turning to face Sam again.  “I’m going to talk to a few angels in Heaven and see if I can find out anything that might be helpful.”

“Look, I’m sorry but we are desperate.”  Sam began as soon as Cas disappeared.  “Dean collapsed and Cas says it has to be something magic keeping him from waking up.”

“Well, if the angel says it is magical it probably is, but without knowing what happened I don’t know how much help I can be.”  She replied.

“What about this thing? Do you know anything about it?” Sam asked, pulling the coin from his pocket and holding it up where she could see it.  Rowena gasped.

“What is….that’s a leprechaun’s wish coin.  Where did you get that?”  She asked, her voice both wary and curious.

“Well, that explains the disappearing act.”  You mumbled.

“That is dangerous magic you are playing with.  You best be careful.”  Rowena warned.

“It’s a little late for that, but thanks.”  Sam replied, rolling his eyes.  “I just don’t understand why it happened to him.  I’m the one that made the wish.”

“Can you fix Dean – wake him up?”  You pleaded. Rowena started to respond, but stopped herself.  She went to pick up the book of the damned that Sam had laid out for her and started flipping through the pages frantically.

“I can try dearie, but I don’t think so.”  She mumbled.

You pushed away the tears of frustration pooling in your eyes.  In all the years you had known them, in all the fights they had been backed against the wall, and now the man you loved would be beaten by what – your good heart?  It was more than you could take.  You glared at the coin in Sam’s outstretched hand, hating it and yourself for feeling sorry for the man standing on the side of the road that day.

You angrily yanked the coin from Sam’s hand.  “I wish we had never seen that stupid man in the first place.”  You yelled as you reared back and threw the coin across the room in frustration.

The coin hit the wall with a pang and a shock wave shot out from it, the current throwing all of you several feet as it ran through the room.  You rubbed your head as you struggled to stand up.

“Are you okay?”  You asked Sam, who squeezed his eyes shut tightly and groaned as he pulled himself back to his feet.

“I think so.”  He replied.  He glanced to his left and then back to you, concerned.  “Where’s Rowena?”

The two of you scanned the room, but there was no sign of her.  Sam pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed her number as you moved to the corner of the room to see if you could spot the coin.

“Rowena, where are you?” You heard him exclaim when he picked up.

“Why Samuel…good to hear from you too.  I don’t really have time for a chat though.  I’m in the middle of some very intensive, shall we say physical therapy?” She replied and Sam made a disgusted face at the implication.  “Gotta go. Talk to you later.”  She added cheerily before hanging up the phone.

“She acted like she didn’t know anything about today.”  Sam answered. “Do you think…?”  He stuttered, pointing to the wall where the coin had landed.

You were stunned, letting his question sink in.  It would explain why the coin was gone.  Suddenly the two of you locked eyes as the same thought occurred both of you.

“Dean.”  You said simultaneously, turning and racing down the hall to the bedroom.

You burst in the door and saw him sitting against the headboard with the laptop on his legs. You leaped onto the bed, throwing your arms around him and Sam released the breath he had been holding for what felt like hours.

“Dean!  You’re ok!”

“Well, yeah I’m ok. Except that the two of you about gave me a heart attack.  What’s going on?”  He asked, his eyes flickering worriedly between you and his brother.

“My wish backfired, and I didn’t know if we were ever going to be able to wake you up, but then Rowena…” Sam started explaining, but Dean cut him off.

“Rowena?  Your wish?  What the hell are you talking about?”  He asked.  You pulled back from him to look him in the eyes, glancing over your shoulder to Sam who stood frozen in the doorway.

“You don’t remember any of it?”  You asked.

“All I know is that we got home from hunting a vamp nest in Mississippi last night and I spent most of the morning watching this trilogy that Charlie said was ‘a must watch’”  He explained, lovingly mimicking her voice. “I thought you two were just going on a supply run to town since we were out of stuff in the kitchen, but by the look on your face, I think I’m missing a lot.”

You looked at Sam and he shrugged.  He walked into the room and the two of you relayed the things that had happened over the last few days to Dean.  He listened intently, smiling a bit at the idea of a penthouse suite.  

“I wonder why the two of you remember and me and Rowena have no memories of it at all.”  He mused out loud.  

“I don’t know.  I’m just glad it’s over.”  Sam said, standing up and heading out of the room.  You stood up to follow, but Dean reached out and grabbed your wrist to stop you.

“Why do I get the feeling there is something else?”  He asked you. You turned away, trying to hide the blush on your face.  “tell me.” He insisted.

“Nothing.”  You lied, standing up once more and walked to the door.

It stung that he didn’t remember what had happened that night in the suite, but if giving that up was what you had to do to make sure he was safe then you would be grateful that you got to keep that memory.

“Y/N?”  Dean asked.  You paused, turning to see him set the laptop down on the bed next to him and stand up to move toward you until he was standing only inches away.

“What is it?”  You asked, concerned that maybe the three of you had been too hasty to think it was over.

Dean smiled then, reaching up and taking your face gently in his hands, and he leaned down to kiss you. It shocked you, and for a moment you froze.  Finally, you began to relax and kiss him back, your hands running along his sides and up around his back.

“Was that it?”  He whispered when he pulled back.

“Hm-mm”  You nodded, still feeling a little dizzy.  You slowly opened your eyes to find him watching you and you blushed again.  “Did you remember?”

“No”  he smirked.  “I’d been wanting to do that for a while though, and the way you hugged me, and the way you blushed when I asked.  I just took a chance and hoped I was right.”

“It was the first night, in the penthouse.”  You admitted. He leaned down and kissed you again, softer this time.

“Would you want to spend the night refreshing my memory?”  He whispered against your lips.

You smiled, pulling him closer and kissing him deeper.  With one hand, you reached out and pushed his bedroom door closed, locking it in response.

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[daughterofthehighlands]

This is my first time writing in the PD world, but this story came out of nowhere and demanded to be written (it happens when you fall asleep reading fanfiction guess). It is also un-betaed. This story is also outside of what I normally write, and is a difficult subject.

Trigger warning child trafficking, nothing graphic.

I own nothing.

JHJH

Kim Burgess climbed into the passenger seat of Detective Jay Halstead's truck, as Hailey Upton started the vehicle.

Looking over at the blond, Kim noticed the bloodshot, rimmed eyed and sighed, knowing that this was going to be harder than it already was.

The team had been called in to investigate possible child abuse at a local school.

It turned out that the abuse was actually trafficking of kids in foster care.

They would be assigned to certain families, stay for a few weeks, then disappear from the distict, school officials being told the children were found permanent homes or were placed with family.

They sent Jay in, undercover, as a gym teacher for the 3rd graders, and where there were 6 kids who were in four different homes.

Jay had become a trusted figure to the children when one girl came to him with a story of a 'brother' that had been taken by a stranger at night and not seen again. The little girl then went missing from school, and her foster sister said that that same stranger had taken her.

Adam Ruzek finally found the missing piece; a Jennifer Winslow worked for the adoption services and had links to black market trading of children. She found families that would take the children and then sent one of the thugs to pick up the child. The parents none the wiser of what was going on, since they were sent by Ms. Winslow and had the badge of the adoption agency.

Jay had called Voight, and had told him his suspicions, adding that he was at the home where 9 kids had gone missing from.

When they had arrived, they found Jay's car door open and blood on the seat.

Now, they were in the process of locating the missing children and hoping that Halstead would be found with them.

Fifteen hours had passed, when they finally got a viable lead, and now they were bringing the children home.

JHJH

Jay woke up to a splitting headache, his shoulder killing him and his hands tied behind his back. He heard the sobs of children and slowly took in his surroundings.

They were in a large horse trailer, if the hay and smell was anything to go by, and they were moving.

JHJH

Hailey was so focused on trying to reach her partner, she was barely paying attention to the tractor in front of them.

"Hailey! Look out!" Kim yelled, reaching for the handle above the door and bracing herself against the dash.

Hailey slammed on the breaks, the bumper of Jay's truck millimeters from the back tire of the truck in front of them. Traffic at a standstill, due to the roadblock that had been set up to check all tractor/ trailers, RVs and other vehicles that could be transporting the children.

Kim looked over at the blond, "That was close. Do you want me to drive?"

Wordlessly, Hailey nodded, both getting out, and switching spaces.

JHJH

Detective Hank Voight looked at the map in front of him that set on the hood of a patrol car and studied it. He looked up as Al stepped next to him, "You got anything?"

Al nodded, "Winslow said that she uses her brother's ranch as a way to smuggle the kids out. She said that they borrow a truck and horse trailer to move them to another location." He pointed at the map, "She also said that they are using this road today and that her brother is innocent."

"Get people over to the ranch, see what truck is missing and if they have the tag number. Same for the trailer. We bring those kids home. TODAY!"

Al nodded once and disappeared into the crowd of officers.

So, I'm not very good at knowing the inside of horse trailers, but this is kind of what I envisioned for it to look like, especially for what I needed to take place.

Fanfiction at it's (not so) finest

And Part 2

Jay fought to stay awake, but it was hard. His shoulder hadn't quit bleeding and his head was pounding. But he had to get these kids somewhere safe, he just didnt know how. Then he saw Kelsey Jennings and hoped she could help.

"Kelsey? Can you help me out? You k ow how you untied those knots at school for that project?"

The eight year old nodded, "Do you think you can untie my hands?"

Again, the little redhead nodded and went to work.

JHJH

Voight sighed as he looked at the passing signs. If there was one thing he knew, it was that they had to stop the truck before it reached the interstate, or those children would be lost, possibly forever.

And they were running out of time. Hailey and Kim were stuck in a road block, unable to move.

Atwater and Ruzek were coming from the opposite direction.

And he and Al were speeding down a back road towards the turn off they were informed would be used.

JHJH

Jay sighed when he hands were freed, and nodded to Kelsey, "Thank you, Kelsey. Steven, come here, please."

Steven was the oldest boy and Kelsy the oldest girl. He was going to need them both, if his plan was to work. Luckily, there was no loose equipment in the trailer, and the windows were cracked to allow them fresh air.

The children were soon all tied as safely to the walls as they could be. If the trailer tipped, they would not be thrown all over the trailer, but would be bounced around in place. Sore and bruised, but hopefully no broken bones, and not possibly thrown out of a window if one busted.

With one more look back at the children, and a smile that showed more confidence than he felt, Detective Jay Halstead went to work on freeing the children.

JHJH

Kim and Hailey finally made their way around the block and started down the side road they were told about. They had been driving for a while when they came upon a horse trailer parked across the road at an angle.

Throwing the truck in park, the jumped out and pulled their side arms.

Hoping that the children were okay and Jay was taking care of them.

That all went out the window when they opened the doors and the children were the only ones available.

Quickly untying them and ushering them outside, Steven and Kelsey told the two women what had happened.

JHJH

"Voight," the sergeant said, answering his phone, "Thanks, Haliey."

Without being told, Al stepped on the gas, neatly passing another vehicle.

"Jay got the children out, but isn't with them. One of the kids said he climbed out the emergency hatch on top and found a way to release the trailer from the truck. Other than some bruising, the kids are all fine."

Al nodded. Their boy was in trouble and he was going to make sure they were there to help him. And as they came around, yet another curve, they saw a truck turned over and no movement.

JHJH

Jay watched at the trailer disconnected and swerved before coming to a complete stop at an angle. He sighed in relief, knowing that the kids were fine, since it didnt tip.

The truck sped faster after the trailer was removed, and that was when he could just barely pick up the sounds of a police scanner.

His team had been made and these guys were going to try and escape the consequences of kidnapping.

He wasn't going to allow it.

And, apparently, the kidnappers weren't going to go down easy. The driver started to swerve and the old road, being uneven, cause them to over correct and the truck to flip.

Jay jumped and rolled as he hit the ground, when he realized what was happening, but still felt the discomfort of drawing in breath, and the cracked ribs that caused it.

Seeing the two men get out of the truck, Jay started towards them. One fell to the ground, halfway out of the vehicle, and didn't move again.

The other saw the detective and attacked.

The fight was over in a matter of minutes, both me on the ground, one with his neck broke, the other with multiple stab wounds and a knife in their chest.

JHJH

Al and Voight ran to the scene and briefly paused.

A man lay halfway out of the over turned truck, clearly dead, unseeing eyes looking up at the cold December sky.

A second perp was laying on the ground, neck at a weird angle, staring at Jay Halstead, who was clearly trying to stay awake.

Voight knelt by Jay and turned his face to look at him, "Hey, kid. You with me?"

Jay tried to focus on the hands that touched him, at first trying to fight them, until his wrists were caught in warm, calloused hands. Hands that were comforting, and the voice was familiar, safe.

Al held Jay's wrists, gently, but firmly, seeing the abrasions on them, but trying to keep him from giving Voight another black eye.

Hank still spoke calmly to the kid, never moving his hand from Jay's face, while Al tried to access the injuries that covered the detective. Both feeling the heat rolling off of Halstead, and worried about what injuries were hidden by the jacket he wore.

"Hank," Olinsky spoke quietly, "he's been shot in the shoulder, has a knife wound in the side, wrists are a mess and then the knife in his chest."

Jay finally got a clear look of the person over him, "Voight, don... wanna die ...lone," it was whispered, paper thin and barely eligible, but the best thing either officer had heard.

Until the younger man started to pass out, "Jay? Halstead! Stay with me, kid! That's an order! Jay!"

JHJH

Dr. Will Halstead stood in the breakroom of Chicago Med and scrubbed his hand down his face, clearing the tears.

Sgt. Hank Voight walked in as Will's fist went through the wall, "I don't think Ms. Goodwin is going to be happy about that."

Will huffed out a laugh, "Probably not. They lost him twice, Hank."

The cop sighed, hands going into his pockets, "I know, kid, I know."

"Connor is doing everything he can. Said it'll take hours to fix the artery the knife was in."

The doctor sat on the couch, leaning forward, head between his hands, "I was worried when he went overseas. Afraid he wouldn't come home. Then he became a cop. And a good one. He's all I have left, and I don't know,-"

Voight sat by him and put his hand on his shoulder, "And you won't ever have to find out, Will. He's the strongest person I know, and we are going to be there for him."

After a moment's thought, he continued, "Plus, he has to take my place as lead over Intelligence, when that time comes. I think I he will take it far beyond what I could ever could. And he will do well. But don't you tell him I said that. I'll deny it."

Will choked out a laugh, and looked at the hole he had put in the wall, "You think she'll notice?"

Sharon Goodwin walked in, "Will, Jay is out of surgery. They'll be moving him to SICU once he is out of recovery. I thought you might want to go up to the waiting room so you'll be there when he gets moved."

Will stood, as did Voight, "Thank you. We'll go there now."

As she went to leave, she spoke again, not bothering to turn, "And Will? Make sure you patch that wall. And don't put a picture in front of it, either. Egg shell paint is what we used in here."

Voight slightly smiled, "Yep. She'll notice."

JHJH

The return to consciousness isn't what isn't seems like in the movies. You don't wake up immediately and go on about your daily life. You don't hold conversations for several minutes either.

No, it's so much slower.

You hear things around you, but it doesn't automatically click what it is. You may try to wake up, but you pretty much are out of it for quite a while.

The same went for Jay, the first several times he tried to wake up. But one thing that he could count on, was knowing his big brother was there. He could feel him, may not physically, but he knew.

And when he finally did wake up, several hours later, it was dark outside, and snow was falling, the lights outside making it glitter and shine.

Will was beside him, asleep, his hand on Jay's arm, comforting and familiar.

He must have made a sound of some sort, because the next thing his groggy mind knew, a hand was on his face and his name was being called.

His eyes rolled about, trying to focus, and finally finding his boss at his side.

"You're going to be okay, kid. We're here for you."

And with that, Detective Jay Halstead of Chicago PD's Intelligence Unit fell into a deep, peaceful and healing sleep, knowing that he was safe and he wasn't alone.

JHJH

I figured this was the best place to end it. After having a brief dream of him being in a horse trailer with young kids, (kids not much younger than my oldest) this story was born.

There are some very nice horse trailers out there, some with an air conditioned kitchenette and/ or sleeping area.

Yes, I had to come up with a way for the kids to be rescued, and I know it probably isn't possible to release such a heavy trailer while it is moving, but hey, fanfiction right?

And thank you to everyone who has written their favorite comfort bits and pieces on Tumblr. That helped me so much when I was trying to end this story, but wanting to show the comfort as well.

This story has been posted on fanfiction. net and Tumblr. Tha k you to everyone who has commented and followed. It means so much to me.

I own nothing

[sylvanfreckles]

Allergies (FebuWhump 01)

Here we go again!

This is also posted on AO3

Fandom: Supernatural Summary: Dean and a newly-human Castiel try to interview the owner of a restaurant for a case. Things go badly...and, as usual, Cas faces the consequences. Warnings: Mild warning for allergic reactions, but this one is pretty tame.

* * *

“Here we go,” Dean announced, pulling the car into one of the restaurant's parking spaces. “This the place?”

Castiel, sitting in the passenger's seat, stared down at his phone with a frown for a moment. “According to Sam the chicken bone from the hex bag showed signs of being deep-fried, and three of the members of city council who opposed Deputy Mayor Sloane's proposed interstate bypass operate restaurants that serve deep-fried chicken...”

“Short story, Cas,” Dean cut in, holding a hand up. “I was there for, y'know, the exposition the first time.” He shoved open the door to the Impala and climbed out, automatically checking his pocket for the wallet with his counterfeit FBI badge.

Cas had climbed out, too, and stared at him over the roof of the car for a moment. “That was a rhetorical question.”

“Yeah, see, he gets it!” Dean shot him a grin to take the edge off of his words. “Let's go.”

He felt more than heard Cas fall into step beside him. Cas had been returned to them three months ago—alive and whole and human, thanks to Jack. Chuck was gone, they finally had full control over their own lives, and even more important they had the time to figure things out now.

Providing, of course, Dean could ever bring himself to say anything out loud.

“Here we go,” he said, pushing the restaurant's door open. There was a teenager behind the counter, dressed in a ridiculous apron and hat that went with the restaurant's theme.

“Hey there,” Dean approached the kid, wallet out to show his badge. “We need to speak to the boss.”

The teen's eyes widened behind her glasses. “He's, uh, he's out back. Disposing of the oil.”

“Thanks.” If he'd been a younger man...and if things were less complicated...he might have flirted with her. But as it was, now that he was past forty and Cas was right behind him snuffling into his sleeve (Dude, come on), it really didn't seem appropriate.

Cas sneezed.

“Bless you. Jeez,” Dean held the door open to let Cas exit first. “You getting sick, man?”

“I don't think so,” Cas shook his head and sniffed and rubbed the bridge of his nose with two fingers. “I feel a sudden...discomfort.”

Dean pulled a face. “Well, let's talk to Mr Chicken, then we can get you back to the hotel to get some rest, all right?”

“I'm fine, Dean.”

Right. Fine. With the way he was blinking and trying to surreptitiously wipe the corners of his eyes on his sleeves. Either Cas was coming down with a cold or he'd gotten a lungful of something that didn't agree with him.

They made their way around to the back of the restaurant, where Dean spotted a man pouring out a bucket of oil into some kind of bio-waste bin. “Excuse me, Mr. Graham?”

Graham looked up, and when the two of them got closer Dean pulled his wallet out again so the other man could see his ID. “We'd just like to ask you some questions.”

The man hesitated, looking from Dean to Cas for a moment, then with a low oath he hauled the bucket up and around and threw its contents at the two Hunters.

Dean shouted and ducked and managed to avoid most of the mess, but when he looked up he realized Cas's reflexes hadn't been as good and the former angel was covered in disgusting, filthy frying oil.

“Duck next time, jeez,” Dean half-snarled, pushing himself up to his feet to take off after Graham. Cas was usually quicker than that...either he was still adjusting to the whole “things can hurt me now” stuff, or whatever was making him sick was hitting harder than Dean had thought.

“D-Dean?”

The stammered cry had him wheeling back around. Cas was pawing at his face, rubbing his sleeve across his eyes. “Cas?”

“It's—something—something's wrong. I can't...” Cas let out a gagging cough and doubled over, and when he glanced up at Dean there were already bright red spots blooming on his exposed skin.

“Son of a bitch,” Dean grabbed the back of Cas's jacket and hauled it off. “Take it off. Get it all off.”

“Dean...”

“It's the oil, Cas, you're covered in it.”

Shit. Shit. Shit. The redness was spreading. Dean could already see the rash spreading down Cas's neck, puffing up the skin as it went. “Take it off,” he repeated. “I'll get the kit.”

It was Sam who'd made the unfortunate discovery that Cas's humanity came at a cost. His immune system was basically non-existent, and with that came a broad spectrum of allergies. And, judging by the smell, Mr. Graham's restaurant fried their chicken in peanut oil.

(It turned out bees were one of the few things Cas wasn't allergic to, and Dean suspected it was actually some hive-mind magic to protect the angel that had once watched over them so lovingly. He was happy about it, of course, and seeing Cas sitting in his little garden reading ancient Sumerian to his little beehives always brought a warm feeling to his chest.)

Dean grabbed the kit out of the Impala's trunk and tucked it under one arm to sprint back to Cas. It had some basics for an emergency like this—antihistamines, hydrocortisone cream, epi-pens, baby wipes. He rounded the corner and found Cas bent over at the waist, shirt hanging loose from his arms, fingers clenched into the fabric of his pants as he gasped for breath.

“Son of a bitch,” Dean muttered again. He slid to a stop next to Cas and dropped the kit. “Cas?”

The former angel looked up at him, face already swollen and mottled red and white. He tried to talk but let out a cough and clawed at his throat.

“No, no, hey, don't do that,” Dean caught his wrist. “Let's get this shit off you.”

There was a spigot with a hose near the back door. Dean cranked the water on and hunted down the end of the hose, pulling out his phone to call for paramedics.

“Yeah, hey,” he said, when the emergency operator picked up. “My buddy's having an allergic reaction to peanut oil, some asshole threw it all over him.”

Cas let out a wheeze of protest. Dean rolled his eyes and tucked the phone between his shoulder and ear, redirecting the water in the hose toward Cas's face. He hadn't turned it up too high, just wanting to rinse as much of that shit off as possible. “Yeah, I'm still here.”

He listened as the emergency operator listed off things to check for, relaying Cas's answers to their questions. “Ambulance on its way, man,” he said, helping Cas sit down on the curb behind the restaurant. “Nope, no buts about this one.”

Cas's face was already swollen, and his breaths were a painful-sounding wheeze. He hung his head and slumped against Dean with a pitiful sound.

Dean shifted the phone to one hand and gently rubbed Cas's back with the other. “Yes, he's still awake,” he said into the phone. “I have an epi-pen...no, no, I haven't used it. Yeah, yeah, I can hear the sirens.”

As the flash of red lights came around the corner, Dean shifted his hand up to the back of Cas's neck. “Dude,” he finally whispered with a shaky laugh. “Why are you allergic to everything?”