#(yeah this is after I read some takes about Asha)

[lieutenant-amuel]

People always justify “awkward quirky teenage girls” by saying what teenage girl would not be awkward and quirky as if all teenage girls are the same.

[kingmagnificoofrosas]

I just cannot get over this one kid in the cinema who went "But he isn't evil!"

We are talking children here! Children don't really know or understand anything about ptsd and trauma (mostly, yet) they just observe! And if a KID between the age of 5 and 10 observes Magnifico and can read between the lines and conclude he isn't evil, what excuse does that leave for haters calling him one?

Now, more analysing cause you've been loving those and I enjoy doing them 🛡⚔️ (I might repeat some points but in a alightly different way)

Every single arguement I've seen haters or anti-Magnifico people make so far was either straight up stupid, ignorant, uneducated, defiant, baseless and or senseless. And then we also have the hardcore Amaya/Asha fans who just go on hating on Magnifico just "because!"

Or those who go "He's the worst villain ever." Yeah, Sherlock, maybe thats because he isn't one? 🤨 Like, seriously, you take Magnifico, compare him to aaaaall the REAL villains like Jafar, Frollo, Scar etc. And you wanna tell me he was anything like them because his trauma forced him to get himself posessed by evil trapped in an evil book and only went bonkers after he was literally posessed? And his sole motivation was to protect and keep safe at all costs ?

And then come the arguements 🫴🏼

"He's vain and narcissistic!"

Because he acknowledges the fact that he's handsome and like's to see himself in mirrors? 🤨

"He didn't grant every single wish! He shouldn't have kept them."

He didn't grant every single wish because of his trauma caused fear/paranoia and kept them for the same exact reason. However, he always meant well.

Yes, I agree that a traumatized person shouldn't be in any leading position, nor should they be in the position of making important decissions. But lets take a look at his motivations and goals again!

His motivations :

- Never have anyone suffer a fate like he did

- Never have people have to see their hopes and dreams get shattered

- Never have his past repeat

Quote - "Everything I do is to make sure that never happens again!"

His goals :

- Protect and keep people safe

- Make sure people live happy, content, free of hardships and strive

Further comparisons

All the other villains when singing - Sing openly about their evil plans, desires etc. showing they're evil!

Magnifico when bursting into song :

"promise as one does, I will protect you at all costs. Keep you safe here in my arms. I will protect you at all costs."

"If you're ever feeling like you're lost, I'll come find you. Man all fronts, there's no ocean I won't swim across to be right by you. And not just once, here and now I swear on my response. I'll remind you-"

"I let you live here for free and I don't even charge you rent. I clean up all your messes and I'm always there when you need to vent. I give and give and give and give, you'd think they'd all be content. And all I really want is just a little respect."

Back to the arguements Anti-Magnifico people make and even more comparisons ⬇️

More for the vain and narcissistic

Gaston - treats everyone like trash and thinks the whole globe spinns around him only. Doesn't care if he walks over dead bodies looking good.

Evil queen - Wants to kill her stepdaughter because she's prettier than her.

Mother gothel - Kidnaps the baby princess, locks her up because the magic hair makes her stay young and pretty, doesn't give a toot that the king and queen are suffering immense heartbreak and guilt. And to keep the princess locked in, gaslights and belittles her.

And then we have Magnifico ✨️

"I'm handsome and I know it." Likes to look at himself in the mirror and is happy and content with his looks. Hurts not one single fly with it. Doesn't put others down.

"He's power hungry!"

Why did he want to keep his power? - Because he was terrified if he would lose it, he wouldn't be able to protect anymore and his past would repeat.

"He threatened everyone and destroyed wishes!"

Again, he was posessed? Do people understand what posessed means? Amaya knew this book would control him! Not him controling the book!

In the end, I don't even care for people who disagree with me. But one thing I just don't get is : Why are some people so out to prove to us Magnifico-defenders that he's evil? Like, are these guys for real? We push forgiveness and love and the other side pushes hate, ignorance, unforgiveness and bitterness. Why does someone feel the need to spread negativity rather than positivity?

I won't stop defending Magnifico 🛡⚔️🩵

[hezekiahwakely]

After spending literally multiple days and nights listening to hours of new music, here are my thoughts on what the Protocol playlists might tell us about the characters. I'm gonna break it down by large themes and I'm putting it under a read more bc I don't know how to not ramble about this. its SO MUCH

Gwendolyn Bouchard 👁️

Hers is the most self-explanatory. Girlboss is girlbossing and paying for it. But I did pick up several nuances.

Gwen is: Cold, power-hungry, and ambitious (you should see me in a crown, Are You Satisfied?, Severance theme). Suffering from her own hubris (Oh No!, Gasoline). Resentful and envious, especially about family, wealth, and power (Family Jewels, 24 hours, Warriors). Touching the dark and being supernaturally influenced (Mr. Bonzo theme, Evil Eye, We Don't Talk About Bruno, Making Love to the Dead).

Special mention to the 'daddy's money' reference in 24 hours.

Samama Khalid 😶‍🌫️

Sam makes ridiculously long playlists, like me, so this entry is gonna be long, but the emotional vibes were pretty easy to pick out once I got through it.

Sam is: Straight chillin' to some lo-fi beats, desi hip hop, and melodic bops (literally too many to list but, Remind Me, Forgive the Mess, 93 'Til Infinity, Magpie, Fire Sale, Iniesta Flow, I Guess, Prarthana, Hai Hai, etc., etc.). Rebellious (The Adults Are Talking, Reptilia). Bonded with someone (Halo Flip, soulboy). Yearning, romantic, and playful (Girl Like You, Mr. Sandman, New House, Meteor, You Only Live Once, Be Your Girl, Dear Jean, Say The Word, My Girl/Hey Girl, Smiley, The Real Sugar). Reminiscing about a break-up (Oui, Afterparty Lover, Last Nite, Stick Season, Turn off the Lights, Jessie (i miss you), WONDERING, Afterthought, I Love You, I'm Trying). Full of regrets, pain, and melancholy bitterness (Seasons, Can't Call It, Let It Go, nightmares, Pretty Insane, different tomorrow..., Cigarette Daydreams, CABIN FEVER, Self destruct, Go Back, Stuck Here With Me, Bliss City). Alienated, yet wanting to be alone (uh-oh) (Creep, Alone, Stone cold., Paint it, Black).

Special shout-out to all the implications about the old Sam/Alice relationship. And I'm especially worried by the potential meanings of Downside Up, Let It Go, Go Back, and Stuck Here With Me.

Also, interesting that there's a lyric-free track just called 'drained' at the end of his playlist. I'm sure that's fine.

Alice Dyer 🌀

Oh my girl. What is going on with you. She has impeccable and predictable taste, at least. But... then there's the Ominous Implications again...

Alice is: Rebellious, anarchic, and irreverent (Underclass Hero, Toxicity, Tribute, Buddy Holly, Dragostea din tei, Feel Good Inc., Piss Off, Rebel Rebel, Ghost Town, Brimful of Asha, Surrender, Uncle Walter, United States of Whatever). Blasting high-confidence power anthems (Material Girl, Therefore I Am, Jump, Bad Reputation, The Middle). Depressed behind a mask of high energy and false cheeriness (SugarCrash!, Mad World, Bathroom Floor). Yearning after someone's love (A.M. 180, Zombie Love Song, Nearer Than Heaven, Save Tonight, Ms. California, Because I Love You, Fell In Love With A Girl, Take Me Out). Reminiscing about a break-up (Ciao!, Built This Way, Kidz 'N' Stuff, FRIENDS, Free Fallin', Not In Love, Who Knew, Song for the Dumped, When It All Falls Apart, Laid, Complicated). Feeling crazy and overwhelmed (uh-oh) (Basket Case, In Too Deep, Bonkers, I'm A Robot, Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, 19-2000, Wonderland, High, Undone, Cosmic Castaway). Creeped out and brushing up against the supernatural (Walking On Air, The Blue Wrath, Pet Sematary).

Oooh. Oh, the implications. The Sam/Alice break-up. The potential for feelings that remain. I HAVE to know what happened between them.

Also, here are some select lines from five Alice songs presented without comment: "Yeah, I'm a zombie, baby," "I'm a robot, I'm a robot/I don't have any feeling in my heart," "I don't wanna be buried in a Pet Sematary/I don't want to live my life again," "Take me down, six underground/The ground beneath your feet," "Walking like a zombie, like a zombie."

I'm sure that's all fine.

Celia Ripley 🕸️

The most mysterious new member of the OIAR, her music choices are appropriately enigmatic. The Vibes make me excited to see what she's hiding under the surface.

Celia is: Raring for a fight (Seven Nation Army, Rumble, know your place, Run from Me). Fed up with the system (Blood//Water, Run You). Bold, sexy, headstrong, and self-confident (Creature, Took A Trip, River, Do It For Me, Aerials, Uber). Struggling against supernatural influence, feeling trapped and helpless (Mama! There's a Spider in My Room, Where Is My Mind?, I Feel Like I'm Drowning, Closer, Space Dementia, Rain)

So we've all but confirmed the theory that she's from the OG Archives timeline and that she has continuing ties to the Web from passing through Hill Top Road. I think we have hints here that she's manipulating the others, but I also think there are signs that she's fighting her own battle against an evil trying to take her. There also seems to be an overarching theme of water in many of her songs for some reason 🤔

I can't wait to get more of Celia. Even if she is lying, I'm rooting for her (<hoping this doesn't come back to bite me in the ass)

In conclusion, I love them all already your honor, and I want to thank the cast for putting such loving care into crafting these for us. Thank you for such great food to feed our wild theorizing.

[annymation]

A fluffy Asha x Star Boy scene??? I'm begging you T-Tv the shipping thirst is not quenching 😭😭😭😭😭

@sylvieserene

I wrote a lot of Magnifico and Amaya content lately so let's answer some Asha x Aster asks before I talk more about the villains

Both because you guys miss them and I miss them too lol

So here's two lil cute stories I came up with the help of @uva124 and @emillyverse

Library Date

Asha and Aster go visit library for the first time since Aster turned into a human, Asha can't wait to show them her favorite books, and Aster can't wait to learn even more about human history.

Once they're in there, Asha takes him to the fairytales section:

"This one is my favorite! "1001 Nights", one of the tales is about a boy who finds a genie that grants him 3 wishes and- OH you know that flying carpet I drew? I got the idea from this book." She shows him the book excitedly

"Have you read aaaaall of these?" Aster looks in awe to all the other fairytale books

"Hehehe I don't think I even could, both because time and I can't reach those more high up" She points to the books on the tallest shelf

"I can get them for ya-" Aster jumps up with a smile, but when he lands back down he remembers "... Oh yeah hheheh I can't fly anymore" they looks embarrassed but not sad that he can't fly, just getting used to it.

Asha giggles a little

"But hey, thats fine, I can reach them like this" Aster starts climbing the book shelves

Asha is startled and holds him by the shirt "A-Aster no! Get down! You don't have to get them!"

"SHHHH" Some people around shush them.

Aster get's down and they just laugh quietly.

They sit together and Asha hands Aster the book for him to read, he opens it excitedly but as soon as he sees the words his smile deflated as he realizes

“… Oh… I don’t know how to read…” Aster says a bit embarrassed.

Asha is surprised for a second, but it does make sense he wouldn’t learn how to read living up in space

Asha smiles reassuringly and sits closer to him

“That’s alright, I can teach you. Here, let me show you”

And from this day on Asha and Aster go to the library everyday so Asha can teach him ho to read, like Jane and Tarzan or Belle and the beast.

Baking Chocolate Cookies 🍪

Aster wanted to make a surprise for Asha, so he asked for help from the 7 teens.

They suggested they should bake cookies. While the girls distracted Asha outside of the house Aster and the boys naked the cookies.

“Are you sure you guys can handle this? Maybe I should stay to help” Dahlia said, not trusting them alone in the kitchen

“Pfft relax! You’re the one who knows Asha the most, so you know how to distract her better than anyone, besides, it’s just a simple recipe, what’s the worst that could happen?” Aster says, pushing the girls out the kitchen

5 minutes later

The boys are running around panicking because there’s a huge fire coming out of a pan that Aster was cooking

“ASTER, HOW THE $&%£ DID YOU BURN THE WATER!? BOILING WATER WASNT EVEN IN THE RECIPE!” Gabo yelled trying to extinguish the fire coming from the pan

Asha and the girls are talking outside and Asha has her back turned away from the house, while the girls can see it from behind her, and they see the smoke coming from it, they try to hide their panic

“Do you girls smell that?” Asha asks, smelling smoke coming from somewhere

“NOPE!” They answered

Eventually the boys put out the fire and continue to make the cookies, that turned out…

Disappointing, but hey, at least they managed to make something.

Asha comes back with the girls soon after they finish baking, she looks around in shock with how the kitchen is a mess, Dahlia looks like she wants to kill the boys then and there

“Asha! You’re just in time!” Aster says excitedly going to gab the cookies “Look what we made fo- YAAOUUGH!!” Aster touched the baking tray without gloves and for the first time got himself burnt.

Later, Asha bandaged up his hands while eating one of the cookies

“They taste great!” Asha said with a smile, she was being honest, Aster felt really happy with that besides his hands still hurting.

[wuzhere75]

I love WoF AUs that go “what if different eggs got taken for the dragonet prophecy” and we get a different set of dragonets for an alternate version of the 1st arc.

So yeah I decided to make my own (I’ve gone through a couple of different iterations, but this is the most current.

The quirk here is that I basically thought “wait what if the dragonets where everything Morrowseer had wanted”. Like they just ended up with with a perfectly normal set of a Mud, Sand, Sea, Night, and Skywing. No replacement-that-is-of-a-different-tribe-because-one-of-the-guardians-fucked-something-up. No obvious hybrids. They get left alone for another year, and emerge from the cave to the chaos of the events of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd arcs all at once.

(Also another quirk is that they are all related in some way to a canon character; Asha and Hviter are also still alive)

Bigshadow (She/They)

-She’s the big soft himbo-type character. Due to severe nearsightedness, they’ve always had difficulty reading/writing. The guardians just assume she’s dumb, but she really loves learning and art.

-I can’t remember if it’s canon that Secretkeeper and Morrowseer had tried to had dragonets before Moonwatcher and that they had “lost” them, but I decided for this AU, an attempt had produced a viable egg and Morrowseer decided “what would be a better dragonet to lead the dragonets of destiny than my own”, stealing the egg and flying through the night to the cave.

-Due to this, Bigshadow was partially exposed to the moonlight of the Brightest Night, giving her somewhat unreliable psychic powers. Most of the time she misinterprets them as being very weird dreams/intrusive thoughts.

-Shortly after Morrowseer did his year-prior check in, they start to feel a strange presence in their dreams and swear they hear someone calling to them from outside the cave when things are quiet (*cough* *cough* Darkstalker).

Mangrove (He/They) (yes I know there is already a canon character named Mangrove; it’s a sick name)

-Gumpy quiet sad man who’s in to medicine and nature

-In this universe, Gill gets a “funny feeling” during the Brightest Night and decides to take what would be Tsunami’s egg so he can “be with his new daughter during her hatching”. Webs, then, takes one of the male eggs instead when he breaks into the hatching room.

-The AU Sandwing minder; Jackal (more on her later), was a little too rough on him when was younger during fight practice (maybe I should have featured a scar somewhere in his design?). Due to this, he abhors violence.

Mole (She/Her)

-The softly spoken nerd who gets picked on for not being the big strong meatbag Mudwing the guardians had wanted. She has a secretly love for war history and is probably really good at strategically fighting (in a real world AU she would be an American Civil War or WWII nerd).

-Asha couldn’t get Cattail to give up Clay’s egg, so Crocodile (remember that lady?) gives Asha “her” blood red egg (she actually stole it from her sister, Toad) at the last minute.

-I originally had her as being from a non-blood red egg Crocodile just painting red but the Sandwing minder probably just would have incinerated her.

Coyote (Any Pronouns) (I’m not sure about the name; I wanted something related to new world deserts but not named after a cactus and I don’t feel like Gila or Mesa fit).

-Apathetic bastard who hates everyone except her adoptive siblings (basically as far as you could get from Sunny without being an outright evil asshole).

-In this AU, Dune never left the Outclaws (the dragonet that would have been Sunny is raised among them). Due to this, a different Sandwing minder was chosen from the TOP; Jackal.

-Jackal was…umm…very devout to the prophecy and willing to “weed out anything that wasn’t promised in the prophecy” (she probably would have killed both Glory and Sunny immediately, Starflight not having psychic powers probably would have set her off as well).

-Jackal stole the egg of her brother, Corsac, a general in Blaze’s army. Corsac and his wife, Bison, caught her in the middle of the act, but she got away (they would later have a son, Pronghorn, like the one from JMA).

Shrike (They/Them)

-The artsy goth kid who loves supernatural stuff (they go wild every time Hviter or Webs starts talking about amunism).

-Kestrel in this AU either doesn’t have Peril/Sky in the first place or chooses to fuck off into the mountains with her kids (perhaps with the help of Soar/Chameleon?). Maroon (name also pending), a different Skywing, is instead chosen. Due to Maroon being less “high profile” than Kestrel, he is chosen to steal the Skywing egg, being more familiar with what hatcheries are more or less highly guarded than others (unlike, say, Hviter).

-This version of the dragonets have made a giant cave mural with the help of Asha and the Maroon. Shrike is the primary contributor to this mural even though the other dragonets have “grown out of it”. Mostly, they paint Bigshadow’s “dreams”.

-They are intrigued by Bigshadow’s dreams and is the only one who thinks they are more than just dreams.

-They make jewelry out of bones from the prey animals the guardians bring them (originally I was going to include a necklace with some skulls and stuff, but that shit’s hard to draw).

-I had no smooth way of tying to fit this in but he is either the half-sibling or cousin (I haven’t decided) to the Skywing False Dragonet, Flame.

[wish-incorrect-quotes]

Fairy Godmother Practice: Chapter 7

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Asha had to admit, it was difficult to guess what Dario’s wish might be, or what she could do to try and help with it. His mind could really be a bit of an enigma.

She figured that her best chance of figuring it out would be to spend some extra time with him and keep an eye out for any hints. So, she’d spent the past day tagging along while he got up to whatever kinds of things he decided to do.

So far, that had included following a butterfly around for a while, checking on all of the statues near the castle to see if there were signs that any of them had moved while no one was looking, making their way through the checkered tiles in the courtyard while only stepping on the darker stones, carefully reading through the list of groceries Dahlia wanted him to get from the market to see if the first letters could be used to form an anagram, and figuring out whether walnuts or berries were better for playing a game of marbles.

By the time the sun was setting, she still hadn’t really figured anything out, but Dario was in good spirits nonetheless.

“Today was fun. I like when people want to do things with me.”

“Yeah…” Asha was finding it hard to share the same sense of cheerfulness. She’d hoped she would have at least come up with some idea by now. But she had learned that Dario had a tendency to speak up about whatever thought popped into his head, so maybe she should try it herself. “I’m gonna be honest here, I don’t have the first clue what your wish might be.”

“That’s okay.” Dario assured her with a nonchalant shrug. “Gabo says it would take a whole team of scientists to figure out what’s going on in my head.”

That did sound like something he’d say.

“Still, I’ve tried to help out everyone else. I should find something to give you.” Asha insisted. “I’m just gonna make a guess, okay? And you can tell me if I get anywhere close.”

Dario’s eyes suddenly brightened with an idea. “Could it come wrapped up like a birthday present? ‘Cause it’s not my birthday, but I still love birthday presents.”

Asha smiled. “Alright, I think I can manage that.”

Trying to let her magic reach out and sense what made up his star inside wasn’t proving to be anything less confusing. But at the very least, she could make sure she accomplished what he had asked for. Before long, she had made a package appear, wrapped up in shiny paper and a ribbon tied up in a large bow.

Well, he looked happy, at least.

“Okay, thank you!”

He started to walk away with his box, but Asha quickly called out to stop him.

“Whoa, hold on! Don’t you want to see what’s inside?”

Dario glanced down at the present in his hands, and he seemed a bit hesitant about the idea.

“Do I have to open it already? It’s more fun when you don’t know what it is yet. That’s when it could be anything!”

While, probably not anything, Asha thought. The box wasn’t all that big. But that didn’t seem like the right thing to say at the moment.

“No, you don’t have to open it now. You hold onto that feeling as long as you want to, okay?”

“I will!”

She supposed she had learned something important, after all. Perhaps, for Dario, there was nothing better than the idea that everything was possible.

[your-ne1ghbor]

Random question, does the reason you chose "The Kingdom of Roses and Thorns" instead of "The Kingdom of Thorns and Roses" have anything to do with ACoTaR

No, i haven't read the book "ACoTaR". This is actually the first time I've heard of it. I mainly called the story "The Kingdom of Roses and Thorns" not only has foreshadowing of what will happen, but also a metaphor, plus also paying homage to the longer titles old Disney had with their movies.

The roses represent the good of all people, but like some roses, they aren't always as they appear to be, hense the thorns. On the topic of thorns, a lot of roses symbolize love and sacrifice, which pretty much sums up some of the story in a way, or my idea of it I guess.

You can say I just took that one metaphor where "not everything is what it appears to be". This can also be applied to the current state of the Kingdom. The kingdom might SEEM nice, but in reality, you are miserable when you live there.

Plus it is applied to the king and Queen of Rosas. They might seem like good people, and seem well intended, but they aren't. They hurt people, just like when you try to pick a flower with your bare hands.

It also goes into Maggy's power set plus somewhat on Asha's as well.

Maggy used to use flowers and whenever he grew vines, the vines usually had flowers on them! However, after everything that happened to him, he became cold, and bitter, hense the vines mainly being thorns since he is now hurting the people around him. Asha I'd imagine has more a creative take in terms of powers, but when she does uses flowers, Maggy gets reminded of who he was back then, but not in a good way you know?? 💀💀💀

Anddddd I didn't want to make it obvious that the story is also about wishes lmao 💀

There is ofc so many meanings of a Rose, so I most likely will take that into concideration since at the time I was writing the title, I just was like:

"wait...Rosas= roses, and roses has thorns...GASP Kingdom of Roses and Thorns hell yeah 💀"

this is also in the king's and queens design.

Older maggy has more sharp edges, same goes for amaya, while their younger selves have more soft edges and had mainly flowers in their design.

[dontbotherwiththepronunciation]

Warning: Anti-God, religion, not overall a very coherent thing these are just thoughts with not a lot of canon foundation but really just thoughts

A while ago I got a response on the survey that was very enthusiastic about the Jesus-Theon comparison and while it remained at enthusiasm and didn't really change my mind about anything, it made me reconsider it because I really enjoyed most of that persons takes and how open and honest they were on the survey and I overall finished reading it and idiotically thought "I want to be friends!", but yeah whatever. It just lead me into rotating the entire issue in my mind again and my opinion hasn't fundamentally changed, but I realised that if one were to compare Theon to Jesus, the angle that could convince me or at least interest me wouldn't be Throbb = Judas/Jesus or TheonJesus = crosses + suffering but instead Jesus & God ≈ Theon & Balon.

This isn't a very well thought type of thing it's just a concept that has been occupying a part of my brain because there aren't a lot of textual similitudes and at the end of the day God is always portrayed in a positive light in abrahamic texts while Balon is written somewhat antagonistically in ASOIAF and fandom also tends to exaggerate him as to turn him into a conservative fascist caricature, but I just really love the "my son is my own sacrificial lamb to the slaughter" idea and I feel that to some extent this is played with in ASOIAF.

In Saramago's The Gospel According to Jesus Christ Jesus has a few conversations with God before starting his journey as messiah and this has always been one of my favourite quotes to come from it.

As duas palavras, mártir, vítima, saíram da boca de Deus como se a língua que dentro tinha fosse de leite e mel,

which, since I only have that book in Portuguese, I will translate to:

Those two words, martyr, victim, came out of his mouth as if the tongue inside him was made of milk and honey,

That text is written right after God tells him that Jesus' only fate on earth is to suffer and die to spread his father's (God) word and greatness, in exchange for that sacrifice he promises martyrdom and the heroism and veneration that comes from martyrdom.

There's also the fact that both of these characters up to their calvary, (symbolic) death and (symbolic) resurrection have been lead partly by the wishes of their fathers. In Jesus' case there is no refusal and he does so willingly and in Theon's case this take usually annoys me since it transforms the cultural alienation and rootlessness into daddy issues, when in my opinion the daddy issues are a by-product of the rootlessness and cultural alienation, but still!

This also leads me into wondering a lot about how Balon was already planning ahead for the war even before Theon's arrival and yes, I think fandom vilifies this far more than it should, but it's still a fun idea to wonder about how certain of his sons safety he was. Aeron mentions how the two had this conversation surrounding Theon and how Balon was praying God that the Starks killed him so he would not stand in Asha's way, in Balon's way. It wouldn't be Balon who killed him, it'd be the Starks. It wouldn't have mattered if Balon prayed for it or not.

In the abrahamic scriptures Jesus relationship with his father is one of the more interesting ones to me because God is horrible and they are both the same, but God has sentenced his son and sends him to the slaughter as a sacrifice to his own greatness only to then let the narrative unfold in a way that is favourable to him and puts the blame on others. It's not God that kills him, it's the romans. It doesn't matter if God planned all this or not.

And this kind of opens a few fun scenarios for me to think about.

I am a very canon person who rarely reads anything that isn't pre-canon, post-adwd or a gap filler, but the few fics I have read in which Theon dies during his captivity are usually appalling or uninteresting to me because of the Stark goggles. The weight of the murder is put on Ned or Robb and we readers are meant to feel sympathetic for their emotional struggle. In Robb's case we don't even get to blame him since part of his lyannafication has made most of the fandom forget that he condoned Theon's torture, was overall cruel with the "I ought to chain you" thing and seemed to be driven more by politics and a messed up concept of duty than personal affections (which are already kind of sketchy for Theon but whatever I don't like fanon Robb I like canon Enjolras-Robb who is a charming, young, rich, revolutionary with anger issues who is capable of being fucking horrible ), so he never gets to be the one to kill him either, he just watches and feels sad. I've enjoyed a few of those! I even have a favourite that is pretty much what I criticised above! But I think the consequences of Theon's potential death during his time with the Starks are a lot more interesting to me when seen through the Greyjoy + Ironborn lenses. Would he become a martyr in order to glorify his father's image as the liberator of his people, as the man who fought for their freedom even at the cost of his own son's life? Would they mourn him? What if Theon would have died during his captivity but not because of rebellion? A while ago I wondered about who Cat would choose to save (if she had to) between Theon & Jon and Jon is the more fun answer for me because it would affect both of these households tremendously and in Theon's case it again leads me to think about martyrdom and sanctity. He wouldn't be the cost of rebellion but the cause, and his place in Ironborn history would probably become closer to that of a saint but how would Balon react to it? Would he play along and claim vengeance the same way Theon does when he claims Bran and Rickon's deaths were payback for his brothers, even if the emotional connection was not as strong as he pretends? Would he feel guilt for it? How would Asha react to this?

And I want to reiterate this because the cons of talking about things you don't hate but don't agree on on the internet is that people willingly misconstruct what you say as to fit a narrative but I lost the irl friend whom I could talk about this with, so: I DON'T BELIEVE IN ANY OF THIS AND I STILL DON'T LIKE THE JESUS-THEON THING but now I am more open minded about it and if I were to be convinced I think this could be a way.

[pickypickypeak]

Adding onto the red string of fate thing, I feel like another thing that needs to be mentioned is that it's an East Asian concept, when Rosas' world clearly takes inspiration from European and Middle Eastern cultures instead (specifically Spanish, Jewish, and Muslim, something which can be seen in both the clothes as well as the languages Asha uses, given its source of inspiration). As far as I know, this doesn't exist in either Judaism or Islam (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong). Yeah, Disney is Disney, but even regardless if Star was meant to be her soulmate in a romantic way or not, tying (no pun intended) the red string of fate into this really doesn't make much sense, at least not from a cultural perspective.

Actually, now that I think about it, the closest thing that comes to mind is how some Jewish customs practice wearing a strand of red wool to ward off misfortune, and since Asha is implied to be Jewish (saba is Hebrew for grandfather), hey, maybe the red yarn does have significance after all! Just not in the way people think!

I didn’t know about this symbolism or its origins and I think it’s very interesting, what you added about red wool being used in Jewish customs also perfectly fits! Cool!

I don’t know where that person read about that concept being used in wish, but I wanna believe they actually read it somewhere and did not just come up with it on the spot, because otherwise, I could take a random symbolism from any culture and just say “this wasn’t done properly in wish which proves they should have kept starboy and make them kiss”. Also that backfired because the concept still works in their own words, the string can very much still symbolize fate and love. Their post sounded more like “I personally wanted this to be a love story but I’m trying to cover it up with a random deep unrelated symbolism that I’m telling people was meant to be in the movie”.

BUT I’m choosing to believe they read it somewhere else. Maybe it’s on the art book?

[conspire24]

Tldr; Attached above is a special arrangement I made of "At All Costs" from Disney's Wish; I've made it so that it works as a 4-part harmony between the characters Asha, Magnifico, Amaya, and the scrapped StarBoy. It acts as two duets (one for each couple) sung simultaneously. Hoping to inspire someone with this.

So, I've been thinking about how so many fans have chosen to look at "At All Costs." I find it so funny how we as a fandom collectively looked at it, went "yeah, that's a love song," then saw a potential love interest for Asha and immediately thrusted the song onto them, assuming it was always meant for them. I've absolutely loved all the animatics and rewrites that involve Star Boy. Even though I haven't seen Wish, as a Disney fan, I feel so crushed to see Disney scrap concepts that could've made a story better, and I assumed "At All Costs" being a love song was one of them.

And yet, having read interviews with Julia Michaels, the actual context feels so bizarre to me. So, it was always intended as a duet between Asha and Magnifico, but Michaels really wanted to write a love song, so she wrote it for the hero and villain while also making it sound like a love song out of context. Like, I guess that's kinda funny, but then why does the song not have language that takes advantage of the fact that it's a hero and villain singing together? It just feels off.

So then one day, I thought, what if there was a way it could work in both contexts? As both a hero-villain song a love song within the actual context of the story? And then it hit me, why not turn the duet into a quartet made of two duets - i.e., why not have it be sung between Magnifico, Amaya, Star Boy, and Asha in a 4-part harmony?

Essentially, how I'd picture it is that the song would take place over a scene between Magnifico and Amaya singing with each other as well a scene with Asha and Star Boy singing with each other, with the film cutting intermittently between them. As I was arranging this, I wanted to make sure each duet had one person with the melody and the other with harmony, that would both duets would work well if it was just them singing on their own - because in the context of this song, they are. Neither duet knows the other duet is singing the same thing because they're in different locations.

Verse 1 starts with Magnifico singing, similar to the movie version, with Amaya either listening or joining in with her own harmony by the chorus, showing how both are in love with each other (or not, depending on your preferred characterization - I marked the harmony as optional in the score). Then after the chorus, we cut to Asha singing to Star Boy in Verse 2, again similar to the movie version, with Star Boy taking the harmony by the chorus. Then, as we enter the bridge and the final verse, all four are singing together, with Asha and Magnifico taking the melody in different octaves, while Amaya and Star Boy taking different harmonies, as we cut between each couple for the rest of the song.

What I love about this version is that it shows each person is expressing their own desires for love and the future and protecting each other, yet through the different harmonies, we know each couple's desires are separate from the other. I'm also glad I got to give Star Boy that one harmony in the bridge that's non-diegetic in the original song. I love cool little moving harmonies like that, so I'm glad it could be sung by someone with the diegetic context (even though it does sound a little high on him - sorry tenors). I also gave Amaya her own harmony for the chorus, which depending on context, could serve to show how different her views are from the other characters.

So anyway, I have attached my arrangement of the vocals to an unlisted MuseScore document. (Hopefully it doesn't get taken down, still fairly new to MuseScore). Maybe at some point, I can get a fully-sung version going, but for now, I'm proud of how the score turned out.

Feel free to steal this idea for any potential rewrites or animatics if you are so inspired! Also, let me know if you have any feedback/suggestions for this idea.

[masschase]

SR Boss Asks Answers

I realised how much space long reblogs take up on the reblog page (yeah, I'm new to tumblr) so I've copied this onto a new post.

But yeah, did them all, and I implore anyone who wants to talk about their Boss to do these, because even if no-one reads it, it was fun. There were a couple of things I didn't really think about, like the #16 Casey-cat moment which is my new favourite thing.

#17 is something I've just done a longer post on.

Apologies for formatting issues.

1.What’s their backstory? Cassandra ‘Casey’ Michaiła Clark was born in Stilwater. Her dad left when she was very young citing that he couldn't handle two kids. Ofc he leaves and has two kids with his new wife and barely sees Casey and her sister. He later claims he wanted to leave their mom, not them. Her sister rightfully points out that for all her flaws, their mom never actually stopped him seeing them so that's on him.

Her mom was from a slightly more affluent background than her dad (they met in college but dropped out when her mom got pregnant) and they were scraping by until he left. After that, her mom worked very hard to maintain the appearance to the outside world that they were not struggling with money, even though it sent them into debt. She was always very judgemental and religious, but also had a genuine anxiety disorder. She eventually got addicted to Xanax and would drag Casey with her to make excuses like that she'd flushed her last lot down the toilet/took them to school and they got confiscated etc.

It got to the point where she was pretty checked out and Casey's sister had to make sure they were getting to school on time, that there was food on the table etc.. When she was 14, her sister left home and this derailed her pretty bad.

Her best friend Mori(OC: Moriarty Alleyne- hoping to post more about him soon)'s mom Angela was instrumental in taking care of her from about the age of 12. She always made sure Casey was fed when at her house and gave her some of Mori's old clothes when she outgrew her sister's hand-me-downs. She did try to help where she could but wasn't fully aware of the situation for a long time. Even though Mori's friendship with Casey became a little strained due to his girlfriend disliking her, Angela would still invite her around.

When Casey was 15 her mom caught her making out with a girl she liked and it led to her mom throwing her out of the house. She stayed with Mori and Angela for two weeks straight but Angela started saying Casey should go check on her mom, and offers to go with her- having realised by this point that drugs are involved she's worried her mom might have OD'ed (Casey doesn't realise that's why until years later). Casey assures her she has been in contact with her mom (technically she has been, she's been sent texts about repenting her sins and guilt trips about leaving her at home the whole time) and pretends to go home but obviously can't.

So instead she finds herself on Saints Row at a really stupid time of night and… well, you know… Saints Row happens.

2. How old were they when they first joined the Saints? Fifteen, almost sixteen. Weird little angry kid born 29th June 1990. I think she has pretty obvious millenial tastes and tendencies. I find the post-SRIV dynamic pretty fascinating actually. She probably has a lot more in common with Pierce and Shaundi who I hc as similar ages compared to Johnny who is xennial, Kinzie and Asha who I think are borderline millenial/gen z, and 110% zoomer Matt. Then you've got Keith and Ben complaining that the ship is ran by kids and CID, Jane and Jezebel being extreme outliers to the whole thing.

3. Did they have a happy childhood? I mean overall she says it wasn't terrible. She had some nice moments with her sister. Kinzie calls her backstory "tragic" when she hears it and Casey disagrees calling it "just, y'know, a bit shitty". She heard stories of other kids going through physical and sexual abuse, she saw how Mori was affected by his dad's death and had to help him through some very dark times with his depression. She doesn't class her borderline sociopathy as a mental health issue until much later on. She starts therapy around the time the Saints rise to fame, around 2012-2013.

4. Do they have any siblings? Yes, she has a sister called Phoebe who is approximately 4 years older than her and as above, pretty much had to raise her. She left home when she was 18 which led Casey to feel pretty abandoned all over again, especially because she didn't fully understand her reasons.

5. Did they graduate high school? What about college? No, she dropped out of high school. She had plans to study English Literature at college had she got that far. She held on to school for almost a year after Phoebe left, still scraping Bs, but eventually it all took its toll. She got a job as a dishwasher in a small restaurant. If it wasn't for stealing food off of plates for a few months she wouldn't have had the muscle mass for the physical strength she displays in the first game.

6. What’s their sexuality?She self-defines as bisexual. Later she wonders if it should be pansexual. She didn't know what pan was in like 2003 when she was figuring it out, but either would fit her. Equally she would describe herself as panromantic but many of her friends assume she is fraysexual or otherwise arospec based on her choices around relationships.

7. What do they look for in a partner? She doesn't. She ignores or downright avoids that sort of interaction if possible. Suddenly becomes fucking mute again if she tries to talk about feelings. But she seems to be romantically attracted to people that are quite physically affectionate because she is very friendly emotionally but has trouble initiating non-sexual physical contact.

She does have the odd short-term partner, but tends to be drawn to people she doesn’t like all that much as something in her brain knows it won't last (talking days, I think her longest was like 10 days for many years). She has a lot of one-night stands/other casual hookups.

8. Are they currently dating anyone? Currently when? ;) Throughout the games, no, unless it’s a matter of days as described above. She's capable of romantic attraction but as above, doesn't want a relationship for practical reasons (actually fear) because a partner could be used against her.

9. Who do they love most in the world? Her friends. They are her family. She is unwavering on that. This doesn't change when she gets a partner or meets a blood relative from the pods. But it does shift a little some time in 2024.

10. Is there someone from their past they will never forgive?

Her parents. Anyone who contributes to the several deaths of her friends also but the difference there is that she doesn't let them live. So no need to forgive them. Hell she only considered letting Matt live because he reminded her of herself when she got dragged into the gang life at 15-16. The upgrades just sealed the deal.

11. What is their favorite food? Mori and his mom are Bajan-American so Barbadian food is a comfort food for her, especially salt fish and macaroni pie. Unfortunately none of the lieutenants stationed with her are of that heritage, so she often seeks out Carribean restaurants while still on earth. Phoebe's pecan pie is also a comfort, it was their grandma's recipe but she died when Casey was 6 and Phoebe was 9-10. Casey has the recipe but can't cook anything besides like frozen pizzas, instant ramen etc. She eventually tries to make the pie and realises burnt pecan pie is still good pecan pie! Despite this, lemon meringue pie is her favourite dessert. When the nice manager was on shift at the restaurant she would sneak her a piece every night. She also has a soft spot for fries because when she the dishwasher in the diner they were the easiest things to eat off plates before scraping them. Also pieces of burgers and ribs.

12. What are their pet peeves? She gets really restless when waiting on someone. Like she'll say meet at 2 and by the time Johnny gets there by 2.03 she's been pacing back and forth for five minutes. She doesn't mind all the gang being sarcastic with each other but if they all start talking each other at once she usually has to silence them. She is open to being called out on things like her white cis privelege or some of the hetronormative bias instilled by her background but she doesn't much like being challenged on some of her more bullshit 'rules' or lieutenants pushing back on her decisions once she's made them. She does eventually mature out of the latter.

13. What are some of their fears? Her biggest fear is losing someone she cares about. Unfortunately she's frequently had to live it. This is one of the things that contributes to her feelings on relationships.

14. How do they deal with injuries? Major: the Saints have a heavily bribed doctor in Stilwater, Steelport and DC. Minor: She usually asks Johnny to bandage if needed bc everyone else is too slow and gentle. Then more or less runs and hides until she's feeling better.

15. What is the MOST embarrassing moment in their life? That time she almost slow danced with Josh Birk at the 4th of July party is certainly up there.

16. Are they a cat or dog person? Cat, I think. I think she wouldn't have thought of herself of much a pet person in general because she grew up without any and she assumes she'd be too lazy to take care of them. But then she goes to a friends house who has a cat. Maybe Mori(which would be funny because his mom affectionately compares Casey to a stray cat). And she doesn't really know how to react around them so she's just kind of like "Sup.". Then the cat just kind of comes and sits on her lap and she's like… oh… warm! Soft. You are my new homie now.

17. Beside the 1950s sitcom, what else would their hell be?Again, just losing all the people she cares about. The only reason that was not her simulation is because Zinyak/the system he uses has a very shallow understanding of the human psyche, not surprising because Zin have a very conscious mind compared to humans where a lot is subconscious. This makes them fairly intelligent but also means they can adapt to changes due to their time travel easily because they just go "oh, a memory has changed.". See also: Pierce's simulation. Maybe everyone's.

18. Which death affects them the most? (Besides Johnny)

Oh this is different because they all impact such different areas of her life. Lin’s death probably had the greatest impact on her actions as a leader.She becomes very front-and centre/self sacrificing because of Lin.

On a more personal level I was going to say Carlos because she had pretty strong feelings for him but actually it's Aisha. Watching how her best friend, who she looks up to more than anyone and basically wanted to be, was just walking around with a piece of him missing really solidified her fear of relationships and anger at the injustice of life and death; things she might have otherwise grown out of/conquered with therapy.

19. What is their favorite music? She likes a pretty wide range of music because she doesn’t want to let anyone down by not following their recommendations and always finds at least one song she likes from the artists they like. Not taking that into account, she really likes '80s shit' and also ska but as a 00s teen she went through the pop punk phase pretty hard too.

20. What are some of their hobbies? Reading, definitely. Almost every spare moment when she gets to the stage where there are spare moments. In high school, Yu-Gi-Oh cards were big for her. Tbh she is pretty nerdy but because she's so technologically challenged her friends don't seem to pick up on that. I feel like in an AU 2020 she would get really into cottagecore during the pandemic then get really pissed because she can't bake or draw or knit.

[emjayewrites]

Under His Influence - LH (1/14)

SYNOPSIS: Several years after his last submissive, Lewis finally decides to look for another. His search brings him back to The Obsidian Lotus, where he encounters Nikki, a law student working as a cocktail waitress to make ends meet.

PAIRINGS: Billionaire/CEO!AU Lewis Hamilton x Nikita "Nikki" Gaines

WARNINGS: minors do not engage, 18+ only, contains themes of BDSM. (do not read if not comfortable)

A/N: Please let me know if you would like to be on the taglist or removed.

Nikki adjusted her fishnet stockings and then smoothed down her corset, taking a deep breath before pushing through the heavy velvet curtain into the main room of The Obsidian Lotus. The exclusive BDSM club hummed with energy, its dim lighting and plush decor a stark contrast to the austere halls of her law school.

Just a month ago, she'd been struggling to make ends meet. Her scholarships covered tuition and some supplies, but living expenses in New York City were crushing. Now, here she was, navigating a world she'd only read about in steamy novels. The vetting process had been intense - background checks, interviews, health screenings, and a crash course in club etiquette and safety protocols. But the pay was worth it, especially for a broke law student.

"Girl, you won't believe what happened in my training session today," Asha, Nikki's best friend and fellow law student, sidled up next to her at the bar.

Nikki raised an eyebrow as she arranged drinks on her tray. "Oh yeah? Spill."

Asha leaned in, lowering her voice. "I met this tech mogul. He's looking for a permanent sub. The allowance he's offering?" She whistled low. "Let's just say I could pay off some of my undergrad loans and have enough left over for a cushy apartment."

Nikki's eyes widened. She'd known the real money was in being a sub, especially to the wealthy elites who frequented The Obsidian Lotus and its sister clubs in London, Paris, and Los Angeles.

"Just be careful, okay?" Nikki cautioned, genuine concern coloring her voice.

Asha nodded, her expression serious. "Always. That's why I love this place. The safety measures are no joke."

As if on cue, Nikki noticed one of the ever-present security staff doing a subtle sweep of the room. The club's reputation for discretion and safety was what attracted its high-profile clientele - politicians, celebrities, and business tycoons from around the world.

Nikki hefted her tray and made her way into the crowd, weaving between leather-clad bodies and elegant evening wear. As she straightened after serving a table, movement on the main stage caught her eye. A scene was starting, featuring none other than Madam Penny herself.

Madam Penny was a striking figure - a Black woman in her forties with flawless skin and an aura of unshakeable confidence. Her natural hair was styled in an elegant updo, and her curvaceous figure was accentuated by a form-fitting leather dress. As the CEO of a thriving beauty empire, she exuded power and grace.

Circling her on the stage was her sub for the evening - a lithe Asian man in his late twenties. His jet-black hair was artfully tousled, and his lean muscles rippled under smooth, pale skin as he knelt before Madam Penny. His dark eyes never left her face, a mix of adoration and anticipation clear in his gaze.

Madam Penny traced the crop along the man's bare back, focusing on his shoulders and the curve of his spine. "Color?" she asked firmly.

"Green," the man responded, his voice husky.

She brought the crop down with a sharp crack against his upper thigh. The man gasped, his muscles tensing visibly.

"Thank you, Mistress," he breathed.

She alternated between gentle caresses and firmer strikes across his back, buttocks, and thighs. Each impact elicited a different reaction - sometimes a soft moan, other times a sharp intake of breath.

Nikki was transfixed as Madam Penny continued to bring her crop down on the man's skin with practiced precision.

"Careful there, sweetheart," one of the men at the booth chuckled, noticing Nikki's distraction.

Nikki felt her cheeks warm. "My apologies, sir. Enjoy your evening."

As she moved to the next table, she couldn't help but steal glances at the stage. The intensity between Madam Penny and her sub was palpable, even from a distance. She watched as the powerful CEO leaned down to whisper something to the man, saw his full-body shudder in response.

A month in, and Nikki still found herself fascinated by these displays. The trust, the power exchange, the raw vulnerability - it was unlike anything she'd ever seen.

"Nikki! Table 12 needs their order taken," her supervisor, Nigel, voice crackled through her earpiece.

Right. She was here to work, not gawk. Nikki straightened her shoulders and turned towards Table 12, pushing thoughts of the scene from her mind. She had bills to pay, after all.

Nikki walked over to the table, her eyes landing on a handsome man sitting in the booth. His tawny brown skin seemed to glow even in the dim lighting, and his soulful whiskey-colored eyes captivated her immediately. His hair was neatly styled in braids with a sharp faded edges, and the sleeves of his crisp button-down shirt were rolled up, proudly displaying intricate tattoos along his forearms.

Lost in her observations, Nikki was startled when the man cleared his throat. "Sorry, sir," she muttered, quickly glancing down respectfully. It was the first rule she'd learned during her thorough training: always show respect. Between not being allowed to look a Dom or Madam directly in the eyes unless instructed, addressing them correctly, and various other protocols, it had been a lot to take in when she first began working there.

From beneath her lashes, she noticed the man's lips quirk into a slight grin. "It's okay, sweetheart," he said, his accented voice a rich baritone that sent a shiver down her spine. It was warm and smooth, like aged bourbon. "Look up for me."

His command caused her brows to furrow in confusion, but she obeyed, lifting her chin and meeting his gaze. Now that she had a better view, she noticed the glint of piercings in both his nostrils, adding an edge to his refined appearance.

"Fuck, you're gorgeous. Do you have-"

"Lewis!" a voice called, interrupting their exchange. A Black man approached, and Nikki immediately recognized him as Marcus, the club's manager. The two men greeted each other with a familiar dap, and Marcus glanced in Nikki's direction, causing her to instantly avert her eyes.

"Is everything to your liking?" Marcus asked, addressing Lewis but keeping Nikki in his peripheral vision.

"Yes, it is. Just wanted to know about this beautiful woman here."

"Ah…" Marcus said, gently taking Nikki's arm and revealing the flower bracelet on her wrist: a white lily, signifying her status as a simple cocktail waitress - off limits.

"Sorry, my friend," Marcus said, almost regretfully, to Lewis. Nikki could have sworn she heard Lewis grumble his displeasure. "Don't fret, we have many subs available if you'd like to do a scene."

"Mmhmm," was Lewis' only response. He held Nikki's gaze for a few more beats before finally speaking. "In that case, I'll take a scotch, neat."

"Of course, sir," Nikki replied, then quickly made her way to the bar. Once there, she let out a held breath, her eyes drifting to her bracelet.

The Obsidian Lotus used a system of flower bracelets to denote each person's status:

White lily for regular employees and non-subs, like Nikki. Pink rose for subs in training, like Asha. Red tulip for unattached subs, available for scenes or potential long-term arrangements. Purple orchid for attached subs, indicating they were in an ongoing dynamic.

All Doms and Madams wore an obsidian lotus pendant bracelet, marking their status and authority within the club.

Nikki's fingers brushed over her white lily bracelet. For a brief moment, she wondered what it might be like to wear a different flower, to step into that world fully. But she shook off the thought. She had a law degree to focus on. This job was a means to an end - nothing more, nothing less.

Gathering her composure, she prepared Lewis' drink, all too aware of his eyes following her movements from across the room.

Lewis watched as she walked away, his eyes tracing the curves accentuated by her required uniform. The corset-style top hugged her breasts perfectly, while the skirt flared slightly, ending just at the tops of her thighs, showing her wide hips and just the slightest hint of her pert backside. Fishnet stockings disappeared into black stilettos, the ensemble completed by a delicate white lily bracelet that now felt like a barrier between them.

Disappointment settled in his chest. Off limits. The words echoed in his mind, fueling a frustration that had been building for months. As a billionaire with stakes in beverage empires, fashion houses, and lucrative investments, Lewis was used to getting what he wanted. But here, in The Obsidian Lotus, different rules applied.

The last few months of "vanilla sex" had left him feeling hollow, and he was almost desperate enough to step in front of a bus just to feel something. He craved the intensity, the power exchange that only BDSM could provide. His mind drifted to his last sub - a relationship that had ended with security escorting her out and a hastily terminated contract. The memory was a stark reminder of why he avoided emotional entanglements.

Lewis had discovered his dominant side ten years ago, thrown into the deep end by a seasoned submissive who recognized his potential. Since then, he'd honed his skills relentlessly, attending workshops, reading voraciously, and practicing with willing partners. The Obsidian Lotus membership had come later, a natural progression for someone of his status and inclinations.

"Everything alright?" Marcus asked, pulling Lewis from his thoughts.

"Yeah, just… frustrated," Lewis admitted, running a hand over his braids.

Marcus nodded knowingly. "I could arrange a scene for you. We have several experienced subs available tonight."

Lewis considered the offer. He wasn't thrilled by the idea, but he was here, wasn't he? Might as well make the most of it. "Sure, why not?"

As they discussed options, she returned with his drink. Lewis found his gaze drawn to her once more, shaking his head at the cruel twist of fate. Here was a woman who genuinely intrigued him, and she was untouchable.

She was a vision of quiet allure. Her smooth dark skin, high cheekbones and full lips. Her hair was styled in neat box braids, pulled back into a high ponytail that swayed gently as she moved. Almond-shaped eyes, framed by long lashes, held a depth of intelligence that belied her demure demeanor.

She set the scotch down with practiced grace. "Will there be anything else, sir?" she asked, eyes appropriately lowered.

"No, thank you," Lewis replied, noting the perfect balance of deference and poise in her manner. Yet there was something else - a hint of defiance, perhaps? A spark that suggested depths untapped. It both frustrated and fascinated him.

As Nikki retreated, Lewis sipped his scotch, lamenting his poor luck. He'd love to explore that rebellious streak he sensed in her, to see how she'd respond to his dominance. But unless she changed her status, all he could do was imagine the possibilities.

With a sigh, he turned back to Marcus. "So, about those available subs…"

Marcus nodded, his expression a mix of understanding and professional detachment. "We have a few options tonight. There's Jasmine, a petite brunette who specializes in rope play. Or perhaps Alexis, a statuesque blonde who enjoys impact play. Both are experienced and highly recommended."

Lewis listened, but found his attention drifting. He nodded mechanically as Marcus continued his descriptions, his mind still lingering on her. From the corner of his eye, he could see her expertly navigating the room, balancing trays, and taking orders with effortless efficiency.

"You know what," Lewis interrupted, surprising himself. "I think I'll pass tonight. Just not in the right headspace."

Marcus raised an eyebrow but didn't push. "Of course. The offer stands if you change your mind."

As Marcus excused himself, Lewis sipped his scotch, savoring the burn. He found himself wondering about her story. What brought a woman like her to work in a place like this? Was she just here for the money, or was there a curiosity that drove her?

He shook his head, trying to dispel the thoughts. It was pointless to speculate. She was off-limits, end of story. Yet as the night wore on, he couldn't help but track her movements, imagining what could have been if circumstances were different.

The frustration that had driven him here tonight remained, but it had shifted. No longer was it just sexual tension, but a deeper, more complex ache. Lewis finished his drink, deciding it was time to call it a night. As he stood to leave, he caught her eye across the room. For a brief moment, he thought he saw a flicker of something - interest? - before she quickly looked away.

Lewis left The Obsidian Lotus, the cool night air hitting him like a wall of bricks as he slipped into the backseat of his awaiting town car. He knew he should be focused on finding a suitable submissive, on scratching the itch that had been plaguing him for months. Instead, his mind was filled with images of dark skin, almond eyes, and a white lily bracelet.

He wanted her.

Now he just had to figure out a way to get her.

As Nikki left Professor Larson's Constitutional Law class, her mind was still reeling from the complex legal theories they'd discussed. The course was challenging, pushing her analytical skills to their limits, but she found it exhilarating. Today's lecture on the Commerce Clause had been particularly intense, leaving her with a mix of excitement and mental exhaustion.

"Hey Nikki, want to grab coffee and study?" Jake asked, falling into step beside her. His warm brown eyes and easy smile were as charming as ever. With his wavy black hair and sharp jawline, Jake was undeniably handsome. But Nikki had promised herself not to get involved with classmates, no matter how tempting.

"Sorry, Jake. I've got plans," she replied, adjusting her backpack.

Stepping out of Columbia Law School's imposing stone building, Nikki was greeted by a crisp autumn breeze. Golden leaves swirled across the campus green, a picturesque scene that still amazed her even after months of attendance.

As she walked the path towards the subway, she spotted Professor Greene. The anthology professor and department chair was also a member of The Obsidian Lotus. Bald with a neatly trimmed salt-and-pepper beard, his dark skin had a healthy glow that belied his years. Kind eyes behind wire-rimmed glasses exuded a gentle authority. Nikki knew from club gossip that his demeanor changed dramatically in scenes - he was known for his strict discipline and penchant for orgasm control.

"Nikki, how are you?" he greeted warmly.

"I'm well, Professor. Just finished Con Law with Professor Larson."

"Ah, the Commerce Clause, if I remember the syllabus correctly. Tough stuff."

They chatted about the upcoming Moot Court competition, with Professor Greene offering some advice on presentation techniques. Though not his student, Nikki always appreciated these friendly exchanges.

On the train, her thoughts turned to her grandmother as she headed to the nursing home in Queens. Nikki was essentially an orphan - her father unknown, her mother more interested in chasing men than raising a child. Her grandmother had stepped in, caring for Nikki until two strokes left her in poor health.

The nursing home, Sunnyside Gardens, was a modest but clean facility. Its beige walls and linoleum floors weren't luxurious, but the staff was caring, which mattered most.

In her grandmother's room, Nikki took in the frail form of the woman who raised her. Despite her weakness, her grandmother's eyes lit up at Nikki's presence. Her once-dark hair was now completely white, her brown skin papery thin, but her spirit remained strong.

"How's school, baby?" she asked, her voice thin but warm.

"It's good, Gran. Challenging, but I'm loving it," Nikki shared, settling into the worn armchair beside the bed. "I made it to the second round of interviews at Pearson Hardman for their spring internship program."

"That's my girl," her grandmother beamed. "You always were a fighter. Now, when are you going to start dating?"

Nikki laughed, "Gran, you know I'm too busy for that."

"Nonsense. You're young, beautiful. Live a little."

They continued chatting, Nikki filling her in on school gossip and her part-time job (carefully omitting the exact nature of the club). As always, leaving was hard. When she was about to exit, the nursing home director stopped her.

"Ms. Gaines, a moment please," the director said, her tone serious.

Nikki's heart raced, fearing bad news about her grandmother's health.

"I wanted to thank you for this month's payment, but I need to inform you that our rates will be increasing soon," the director explained.

Shock coursed through Nikki as the director revealed the new rate - almost double the current fee, even with a "discount."

"When does this take effect?" Nikki managed to ask.

"In two months," the director replied.

Later, on the subway ride home, Nikki's mind raced on how will she would be able to afford the new rates. More shifts at the club? A second job? Campus tutoring? None seemed feasible with her study schedule.

Then, an intrusive thought: sub training and its stipend. It would cover her grandmother's care, and a wealthy Dom might cover the rest. It was risky, but what choice did she have?

With shaking hands, Nikki texted Asha: "Hey girl, can we talk about that sub training? Might be interested…"

TAGLIST: @mauvecherie-writes @cocobutterqwueen @serpenttines @queenshikongo3 @blowmymbackout @yeea-nah

[archerincombat]

ok i have a prompt!! you know how buck occasionally stutters? (seems to usually be in high emotion situations but i haven't Analysed it) maybe a bit of h/c around that?? times eddie has noticed it? eddie being endeared/concerned/reassuring? anything that strikes your fancy tbh.

asha i'm so sorry this has taken me literally forever. it got away from me a bit in that it was supposed to be a 5 + 1 but ended up just being extremely fluffy instead, my apologies for both xx

(trying this thing where i write prompt fills in one day so i'm accepting some — sentence starters, prompts from another list, song lyrics, anything — just...don't expect them done immediately lol)

1.7k | read on ao3

The first time Eddie hears Buck stutter, he doesn’t think much of it past the blush high on Buck’s cheeks as they shake hands. He half expects a banner to wave above their heads — Achievement! New Friend Unlocked! — or at the very least some sort of speech from Bobby, a little too sentimental to be about someone that isn’t actually his son.

None of that happens. Instead, Eddie’s watching Buck chew his french fries and speak at the same time — which shouldn’t be so endearing but is — and Bobby, sitting beside Buck, shoots Eddie a glance that could mean anything and apply to any one of the several other firefighters that are watching this weird ritual in process, but Eddie takes it for himself to mean thank you.

Not that — and Eddie’s just assuming by the way Buck’s chattering in his right ear about the history of milkshakes, lit-up like a string of Christmas lights — not that staying friends with Buck will be much of a hardship.

“I haven’t, um, actually had a milkshake in a while,” Buck finishes, his voice dying down when he realizes that Green, who’s typically on C-shift, is looking at him like Buck announced he just came back from Mars, or maybe Green is just unfamiliar with the Los Angeles Public Library. “You know, hot firefighter calendar and all.”

Eddie shrugs, if he knocks Green’s shoulder a little bit and makes one of the tomatoes fall out of his burger no one has to know. “I saw your deadlift at the station,” Eddie replies. “You have me beat for sure.”

The tips of Buck’s ears turn bright red. “I gue—I guess,” he mumbles as Casey snorts and nudges Buck with her elbow to try and get him to take the compliment. It’s been less than 24 hours, but Eddie’s noticed that Buck’s bad at that, accepting credit where it’s due. “Thanks, man.”

For all of Buck’s posturing around the station, probably rubbing his hands together in the supply closet like some sort of plotting mastermind, he’s really just like a big puppy dog. Blond hair and that heart of gold Chimney assured him of, a wild laugh that has everyone joining in. Dios, Eddie thinks, shaking his head when Buck vows to tell him about how to get out of doing the worst chores around the station, which Bobby raises his eyebrows at. He’s…

Just look at him.

“Anytime,” Eddie replies. “Have each others’ backs, right?”

Buck startles, like he’d forgotten, or maybe like he’d thought Eddie hadn’t been serious when he said it. “Y-yeah,” he says finally. “Right.”

—

They’re at a water rescue, at the pier, two years after the tsunami, and the only thing Eddie can pinpoint through the whistling of summer wind is the odd cadence to Buck’s voice.

They’ve been back to this spot before — for Christopher, braver than both of them, who asked for it — and Buck was perfectly fine. A little shaky, maybe, but nothing like this.

This time, Buck’s shivering and has the demeanor of a drowned rat. He was in the water — their victim, a child of all things, slipped through the metal bar of the Ferris Wheel that Eddie was about to free him from and took a dive into the ocean from 10 meters in the air — enough to kill him if Buck hadn’t leapt in to cushion the blow.

There was a moment, when the force of the fall pushed Buck and their victim beneath the surface, that Eddie thought about jumping in after them, from his spot on the crane. They’re on dry land now, and Hen is pulling a blanket around Buck’s shoulders while Chim checks out the kid, and Eddie’s scrambling down from the ladder so fast he might trip on it and in a few days, laying in his bed at night, it’ll scare him, how ready he was to follow Buck anywhere, no matter the stakes. But for now, all Eddie wants to do is get his feet on the ground and his hands on Buck’s shoulders, by the crook of his neck.

“Hey,” he murmurs, slinging his arm around Buck’s shoulders, never mind the seawater. Buck’s eyes look a little too glassy for Eddie’s liking, but he’s been holding conversation with Hen, and he’d managed to stop shivering quite so violently, so Eddie’ll take it.

“Hey b-back,” Buck mutters, clenching and unclenching his hands where they grip the aluminum. “I’m fine.”

He’s not. Eddie can tell if only by stutter in his voice, a precursor of more to come, maybe, because it’s summer and 95 degrees out. But it’s Buck, and they’ve gotten better at talking about it but they’re still not perfect and the tsunami is harder to talk about than the shooting. So what else is Eddie supposed to do except be there for him when it comes crashing down?

“I know you are,” Eddie says carefully.

“Yeah, the expression on your face says that,” Buck replies drily. He shifts closer to Eddie’s chest anyway and Eddie resists the urge to do something weird like kiss Buck’s forehead. When Buck looks up at him, they’re close enough that Eddie can count every sun-kissed freckle. “You and—you and your…”

“Cow eyes,” Hen offers, with a small smile.

“Very funny,” Eddie says. He’s under no impression that this is a battle he even cares to win. They’re long past qualifying Eddie’s feelings for Buck, ones that have been compounding from the day they met, drawing closer and closer to the surface of his chest with every exhale. “I’m just looking out for my partner.”

Ravi, who’d been triaging over to the side, lets out a surprised little cough that makes Buck snort and grin at Eddie and rest his hand on his thigh. The glassy look in his eyes is fading and being replaced with something too real. Eddie allows himself to thread his fingers through the hair on the back of Buck’s neck.

Hen leaves them alone. Buck puts his head on Eddie’s shoulder. Eddie lets the feeling sink in until they have to get back to the station.

—

Like most things that have to do with Buck and Eddie, the proposal doesn’t go according to plan.

Eddie’s been dating Buck for one year now, or almost, and there’s probably a wisdom in waiting until after the first honeymoon period is over to start another one but really they’ve gone through more fights and makeups before they started dating than a non-actually-divorced couple needs to. And Eddie’s never been more sure of anything.

Except well, except the whole getting down on one knee…making a speech that sums up their entire relationship thus far into about 1 minute…managing to keep track of the ring without someone (Buck) discovering it part.

Eddie’s doing great, why do you ask?

He’s pretty confident that Buck will say yes — they’ve been through too much together for this not to be a forever kind of thing — but Eddie needs it to be perfect. It’s Buck, who deserves more than the world will ever be able to give him. Buck, who’s so wholeheartedly good that Eddie doesn’t know what to do with it sometimes.

Buck, who’s standing in the kitchen, Christopher beside him, flour streaked through his hair and clothes, baking Eddie’s favorite cookies because he’d had a rough shift.

What the fuck.

“Hey!” Buck only notices Eddie leaning against the wall a few beats late, probably because he’s been standing there unmoving for the last several minutes. “When did you get home?”

“Dad,” Christopher says seriously. “Buck threw flour at me first.”

“Wha-Chris,” Buck protests, swinging back around so fast that he almost slips. Christopher laughs at the expression he’s pulling and pinches more flour between his fingers as if readying himself for battle. Eddie’s heart is so full he thinks he might explode.

“Come on, bud,” Buck continues, backing into a corner and shielding himself from the onslaught. “I thought we were a team.”

“You’re my dad now,” Christopher says simply. “You can’t be on my team. You’re on dad’s team.”

And the look on Buck’s face, it’s so — there’s a — he’s speechless and turning to look at Eddie like he’s just been handed the world in a neat, little chocolate tin and Eddie’s…

“Hold that thought,” he says, digging into his go bag. He pulls out the ring box with more elegance than he has any right to and crosses the kitchen to kiss some of the words back into Buck’s brain. “I had a speech.”

“And—and I have a ring upstairs,” Buck replies, quick-witted as ever, because he only stutters when it’s Eddie and for some reason that makes all the sense in the world. He puts a hand on Eddie’s left cheek, leans in and kisses him again. Distinctly, Eddie’s aware of Christopher making faces and also holding out his new cellphone to record the whole thing.

“I think I should be on one knee,” Eddie murmurs, but Buck’s hand doesn’t let go from where it’s practically woven into Eddie’s sweater, touching the curve of his back.

“You’re getting old,” Buck teases back. “I forgive you.”

“Say the words, dad,” Chris says, in a hushed, half-impatient, half-aweish whisper.

“Which one?” Buck and Eddie say at the same time. Christopher groans.

(They both ask the question. Buck stutters the whole way through).

—

Eddie’s standing at the altar and everything is perfect.

They’re amassed in Bobby and Athena’s backyard in the middle of September — a small, warm thing covered with just enough fairy lights and love to take Eddie out at the knees. Everything’s starlike at this time of the evening. In front of him, Buck’s speaking. He’s got flecks of gold in his eyes where the light of the handmade white arch reflects in them.

“I’m going first because Eddie will make me cry,” Buck starts. “He’s got a, um, hidden talent for emotional speeches or something. The first day we met, he told me I could have his back any day. I said something back at him. It was probably unintelligible or maybe it was super suave and cool, I uh, I kinda was—I was distracted, by um, other things.”

He winks at Eddie, and Buck couldn’t possibly have fallen for Eddie that day, but it’s nice to think about. Eddie felt something similar. Not love at first sight but something like it. A sort of inevitability. Eddie grins and winks back. Someone in the audience groans light-heartedly. Eddie swears he hears Chim sniffle.

“Anyway,” Buck continues. “I think that worked out well…for us.”

And he keeps going and keeps stuttering and Eddie kind of wants to kiss him stupid but Bobby’s right there, fixing Eddie with a look like he knows what he’s thinking, so Eddie just settles for watching the rose pink blush high on Buck’s cheeks like a painted sunset and tries not to propose a second time before their wedding’s even over.

Everything is kind of, a little bit, perfect.

[jq37]

The Report Card – Fantasy High: The Seven Ep 3

Let’s Split Up and Look for Clues! 

Welcome back to the Seven and the Museum of Adventuring. My previous pronouncement of combat was a little premature but hold tight, we’ll get there. For now, we’re back with Antiope who just saw a glimpse of the Ending of Things (aka, Ending) and is freaking out a bit. She tells the others and they all do various checks to see what they can find out.

Ostentatia casts Commune With City and clocks that there is some kind of abjuration shield magic on the government buildings in town, stopping them from being spied on. She also clocks some lingering undead-ish magic and a weird divination effect on Antiope, specifically on the Aguefort logo of her jacket, like someone scryed on her and just got that she had something to do with Aguefort. At this, Penny reminds her that the only true piece of info they gave Ending when they broke her out is that they were from Aguefort.

Sam with a 19 Insight still feels the connection she and Ant have with Ending because of their spells turned against them in the initial encounter. Yelle does a Perception check (27) and once again doesn’t really get bad, dreadful, menacing vibes. But also, she recognizes that she’s chill with a lot of things most people don’t love. 

Antiope reiterates that she texted Charity that she’s interested in the internship so she can learn more info--even better now that they know the buildings are safe from scrying. Yelle remembers Aguefort’s warning about people watching them and Sam asks Zelda if her “weird boyfriend” (“he’s actually really cool”) is friends with the elven oracle. Zelda says yeah, they’re both friends with Adaine, she can ask about any weird divination stuff. Sam makes sure to specify she should look into TK but NOT Ending, no doubt remembering what happened when she tried to do a spell on her. 

It’s been a big day as Zelda says so they all go to the TGIF-esque Slappy McFinnigans to celebrate (which Sam has problems with--the fact that they’re celebrating I mean, but she’s mainly ignored). They’re quickly kicked out because Katja can’t help herself from trying to brush the mane of their centaur server and they reconvene at the more their speed SlamBurger, where a horse can fully destroy a soda machine to absolutely zero reaction.  Zelda says that Ostentatia was right in that they should all do the quest because it doesn’t close any doors and they have the 2 weeks to figure things out. They all seem a bit more on the same page (though Sam is still pretty frosty towards Ant) and start making plans.

Before they leave, Yelle pulls aside Ant and Sam and says hey, first of all, you two are still linked to Ending from before. Second of all, I know y’all are Going Through It right now and you don’t have to talk about it or make up right away but you need to get your heads in the game and you need to know that you’re both loved and still family. 

Penny, Zelda, Katja, and Ostentatia go back to the museum to try and get more information for their quest. Katja goes to the information desk (horse in tow, of course) and just starts asking information about TK. She’s told that she’s one of the museum’s benefactors and has been missing for years, and hey, do you understand that a museum’s info desk is about where the water fountains and exhibits are, not just random information about the world?

Ostentatia bails her out by calling her over so she can do her plan which is just to walk into the back area like she owns the place. Now, Aguefort students do have a certain level of clearance to be back there and she does have her school ID. But instead of explaining that, she tried to use her Earrings of Diamond Charm to charm the employee she runs into which fails. And then she does a pretty good tag-team lie with Katja about how they NEED to pass a class but that doesn’t fly. Then Ostentatia tries flirting which ALSO doesn’t work. Zelda at this point steps in and just headbuts the dude so they can book it away. I personally would have gone with, “Do you know who we are? We killed the dragon that’s your current main exhibit,” but you know. No backseat adventuring. 

While this is happening, Penny is stealthing like a pro, looking for anything Arcana related. Ostentatia and Katja also did checks (O getting a nat 20) and we’ll go through all their info gathered now. 

Katja basically gets info on TK we kind of already knew. She was a benefactor of the museum. She’s centuries old like Aguefort. She was concerned with consciousness and divinity and specifically how will and divine will manifested, as well as elemental magic.  

Ostentatia gets a lot of info with her Nat 20. She gets a full map to the temple where TK went which is called the Temple of Earth Defiant. The point of the temple is that it’s up in the open air and harsh winds--wind being a symbol of chaos and unpredictability to dwarves--but they still use it as a place to honor their heroes and they rebuild and upkeep it despite the erosion and how hard it is to get there. It’s hallowed from evil and lots of stories about it involve heroes racing there for sanctuary. It was made by dwarves but it’s a pilgrimage site for other primordial beings like goliaths and earth genasi (which is what TK is). There are 3 heroes who have big statues here: Asha Hammerheart (a SUPER dope name I must say), Yvonna of the Sundering Hills , and Kora Ironbrow.

Penny finds that, amongst Kalvaxus’s hoard there were 7 unrecovered artifacts--the Mirrors of the Eidolons (which are the smashed mirrors they found it seems). Eidelons are kind of like the elemental plane version of angels/celestials. They’re primordial (remember Katja saw primordial language on the wall of the dragon cave) and kind of aligned with things like titans and genies. Raw element with no agenda (unlike celestials and demons and such which have a clear alignment which makes up the D&D religious system). It is said by wizards--who look at these things in more of a nuts and bolts way than say clerics who take the fuzzier religions view--that Eidolons are the hands of the gods because gods are beings of spirit--how could they form the physical world. Will of the divine manifested by elemental beings? Sounds right up TK’s alley.

Sam decides she’s desperate enough for information that she calls her mom who she is understandably snippy with. Her mom gives her a contact to talk to when she asks about TK but Sam stonewalls her on show business talk. She tries to play the “mother knows best, you’ll thank me later,” in a kind of Gothel-y way while acting like anything in the past never happened and says Sam is attacking her but when Sam accuses her of neglect, she proves her right by hanging up the phone.

Sam then calls the number and it turns out to be Lola Embers (Fig’s agent) who has been waiting for Sam’s call for ages and wants to talk to her, even though she’s currently chasing her dog across the park. She says she met TK once at a genasi woman networking thing and also says she once saw Charity get into an argument with TK over government funding or not getting a grant or something similar. She then says she’s in a lake trying to get her dog and Sam, being a water genasi who can breathe underwater and also a fundamentally good person even though she’s currently being aggro as hell, goes to the park to help her. Lola assures her that if she’s ready, she’ll help her get new acting gigs and that the world is ready for the new her. 

Yelle meanwhile casts Speak With Plants on some trees near TK’s office and, after a super stoner to stoner conversation, gets a magical footprint trail of where she ran off to when she absconded 12 years ago. 

Antiope (who is in a sports bra because she destroyed her top with the Aguefort logo since that’s what was pinged, revealing in a wild, nat-1 fueled retcon that she got a tramp stamp reading “Leader” in the Red Waste) goes to see Charity to fill out some paperwork, ingratiate herself, and perhaps get some info. Charity has her hot, young, assistant (who Antiope is instantly crushing on) give Ant his shirt (and Charity’s lack of surprise at seeing his 4 horses pulling a chariot tattoo makes the group think they’re def banging). She kind of explains what the Ministry does and Antiope boils it down a bit to snitching on other adventurers. Charity says it’s more of a who watches the watchmen situation and visibly twitches when she has to say the word “snitch”. 

When she takes a second to call Antiope’s dad, she accidentally leaves a tab open on her computer which has TK’s file open (probably up from when the Maidens asked about her earlier). Antiope sneaks a peek and learns that the artifact that TK stole is called the Legendarium Extrodia and it tracks quests. It seems that at some point TK must have had top level access to get her hands on it. It also shows that TK was marked for assassination (which seems like a pretty good reason to get the heck out of dodge). Brennan also says she’s learned enough that she can use the L.E. if she finds it. 

At this point, Yelle tells everyone to come back ASAP so they can follow the magic footsteps. Antiope wants to come but doesn’t want to burn bridges with Charity (or chances with Preston--equally important) so she, at Katja’s suggestion--pretends to have diarrhea and is Nat 20 convincing. Interesting choice for the end of the first meeting with a person you’re crushing on. But Preston is actually pretty supportive as she races out the door as fast as possible.

The Seven follow the footsteps out of Solace and it becomes clear that TK was headed to the dwarven temple Ostentatia learned about. This is a multi-day journey so Cinnamon sings a glorious, magical, horse song and summons mounts for everyone which I will now name because this is obviously the most important part of the episode:

Snowfire - Danielle

Taffodill - Sam

Alagonia - Antiope

Candyheart - Penny

Starforge - Ostentatia 

Strawberry Dancer - Zelda 

Crucial info. 

As they travel, Antiope casts Primeval Awareness and gets that there is something ancient in the mountain. They travel through Pilgrim’s Pass (a village area most travelers to the temple pass through) but find it completely razed to the ground. They investigate. 

With an 18 Survival check, Antiope finds tracks that seem halfway between dog and cat. There are more than 4 legs and it’s hard to tell how old they are because there’s not a lot of rain in the area. They could have been left long ago and been undisturbed. Regardless, these are clearly from monstrosities. On a 26 History Check, Katja knows that this area used to be protected by Blink Dogs (teleporting dogs) but they seem to be all gone now. On a 22 Nature check, Yelle sees a weird feather made out of plant material. It seems like fae stuff but bad vibes. On an 18 Insight check, Sam knows this was a purposeful slaughter.

And on Penny’s 30 Arcana check, oh boy. Penny finds broken common scrawled on the wall in human blood talking about a queen of the mountain who rules the skies. That only the queen may see and none may see themselves. And that the people were told to destroy the seeing glass and did not obey. In from of that message is a bear hide covering something magic. Penny lifts it with reckless abandon and sees tons of mirror shards.

Friendship bracelets! She thinks.

Gotcha bitch, the thing in the mirror says.

Uh-oh.   

Penny calls over her friends to let them knows she may have made a tiny mistake. The group is pretty split between, “Understandable,” and “Girl, WHAT?” In her defense, she did try to cast Friends on the person on the other side of the mirror shards but that’s not enough to stop an entire pack of 50-60 Displacer Beast (magic tentacle cats)/Blink Dog hybrid monstrosities along with the Harpy Queen (voice from the mirror) and her plant feathered harpy minions to start rapidly making their way to their location. 

It is at this point that Ostentatia remembers that abominations and monstrosities cannot step into the temple which means it’s time to RUN. 

And NOW it’s combat time. 

The premise of this fight is that the girls are on their horses, moving towards the center of the temple as fast as they can while fending off the closest enemies. I won’t give an exact play by play but the two highlights are as follows:

Yelle conjures up a bunch of geese with raptor stats (...so normal geese) to swarm the head cat/dog abomination and has to do a truly stunning amount of math for which she is rewarded with SEVENTY POINTS OF DAMAGE. 

Antiope does some insane arrow trickery and gets the Queen Harpy in the wing (which Ostentatia helpfully gets on video so she can show Preston later) and then forces her to take damage as she falls. If not for an extremely lucky Box of Doom nat 20, she may have been down for the count. Antiope still comes away with more than FIFTY points of damage on her though. 

And we end the episode mid-combat! We will catch up on our girls next time!

Superlatives 

Penny: Most Likely to Make Friends During a Hostage Situation 

As a companion to Danielle’s superlative last episode, Penny gets this award for reading or misreading every situation as an opportunity to make friends or make friendship bracelets for the ones she already has. 

Random Thoughts

Did you guys notice that with Katja having Cinnamon and Charity’s assistant being Preston, that’s two of the main pet NPCs from A Crown of Candy?

Antiope’s Reaction to Yelle Saying That Maybe Things Ending Isn’t So Bad: Rail against the dying of the light! Why are you OK with this?

Penny’s Reaction to Yelle Saying That Maybe Things Ending Isn’t So Bad: Entropy is TERRIBLE! Everything needs order!

The greasy cashier’s response to Ostentatia’s flirty, “Come here often?” is “To my job? Honestly no.” Brennan? Chef’s kiss. 

My other fave line this episode is from Sam. “I believe Cinnamon fucks.”

It’s very cute that Penny is like, “I gotta text Riz about this Eidelon stuff!” Not because she wants help. Just so they can geek out together. 

The joke that Brennan didn’t think about the birds is so funny considering all the bird facts in Misfits.

Also re Birds attacking: “They made a movie about this Brennan!” 

Good on Ant for refusing an Aguefort sweatshirt from Charity when offered after the little scrying incident before. Remembering things like this saves lives. 

It has been brought up several times that Ending isn’t necessarily Bad just Ancient and Powerful and I trust Yelle’s vibe check but also, like, a forest fire doesn’t have malice behind it but it can still devastate a city while it clears out dead trees that need to be cleared, you know? Not ready to start wild speculation yet but I am curious. And am similarly curious about the sisters Ending has mentioned. Oh and the parallels of 7 Maidens, 7 mirrors. It’s all there, we just need a little more info. 

Honestly, get you a man who will see you rushing out of a building, loudly claiming to have diarrhea, and instead of being grosses out will just supportively confess his own stomach issues. I wish he was just a little younger cause I want that for Ant. 

I do like that D20 has been playing a little more fast and loose with the RP ep/combat ep format. I think it really helps with story flow. 

In this episode Antiope and Brennan as various non-Zelda NPCs rolled 2 Nat 20s. O rolled one. Ant rolled 1 Nat 1--which was on a self imposed roll to see how she responded to Sephie’s tramp stamp improv. And O may have rolled one for initiative also but I wasn’t sure. 

[jackoshadows]

TWoW speculation and other rambling thoughts.  

One of the things I am most curious/interested about in the next book is if Jon Snow is going to lose his POV. I think there is a 50% chance that he does because of two possible factors:

Jon comes back as a zombie fire wight. In which case, like Lady Stoneheart, we don’t get to read his thoughts anymore.

Jon becomes KITN in the next book through Robb’s will and as per GRRM’s unofficial rule, kings in the books don’t have POVs.

So there is a strong possibility that we will start seeing Jon through Melisandre, Theon, Asha and Davos - POVs in the North. GRRM has mentioned that he will bring together as many POVs as possible in TWoW. We already have confirmed Mel chapters in TWoW.

If he does lose his POV, it would make for a different take on Jon since we are no longer in his head. We would read him as we did Robb Stark. The issue would be that Jon is a very internal character. He does not say a lot but we understand where he is coming from with his POV. So I am not going to be happy losing that viewpoint.

Especially since we have the much awaited Jon-Arya reunion still pending. Him having to meet Dany. Jon and Tyrion.  And the revelation of his parentage -  one of those moments I am very much looking forward to reading.

Jon has very complex feelings about Ned. He loves and admires his father very much. The only fault that he attributes to Ned is his bastardy - that even the honorable Ned did this. He blames Ned in a way for his suffering. His relationship with Ygritte is complicated by the fact that he does not want a child of his to go through what he did. So finding out that Ned’s only fault - fathering a bastard - is not even true any more? That Ned forsake honor for his sister and her son. The emotional upheaval of everything he believed in being wrong. Is he going to be conflicted about Ned sending him to the wall without telling the truth?

I don’t think Jon is going to have any strong feelings one way or another about Rhaegar and Lyanna. I have read speculations of Jon either hating Rhaegar or loving him. Jon is going to be really surprised and be like “Whoa...Wut?”. But other than hearing the rare story about them, he does not know them enough to engender strong emotions about them. Ned never talked of Lyanna - she’s a statue in the crypt. Rhaegar is this mythological figure. I think Jon’s strongest emotions are going to be reserved for Ned Stark and a re-examination of his bastardy.

I have often read of how Jon wants to be a Stark more than anything else and that’s rather different to how I interpret the character’s need for belonging. Having grown up being otherized, Jon just wants to belong. He wants a tribe, a pack that he can call his own. Even his desire for family - for a wife and child - are connected to that feeling of having something of his own.

And we see that as he gradually embraces the brothers of the NW as family and considers Samwell to be a brother as dear to him as Robb. As the books progress, Jon’s notion of family widens farther than just the Starks. Arya being the only exception of course, because their bond is special. They belonged to each other. Jon thinks that Arya’s home is with him.

His feeling here are similar to Dany’s desire for the house with the red door, family and a childhood she never got to experience. Not about being Targaryen, but to belong and experience family and love.

This is the same underlying message of ‘The lone wolf dies while the pack survives’ that Arya is embodying in her narrative arc. This is something that Ned tells her to ask that she get along with her sister, but at it’s base is about ‘United we Stand, Divided we Fall’ and being about togetherness instead of division. It’s not just about the Starks.  Arya makes her own pack and tribe wherever she goes. Lommy, Gendry, Hot Pie. Syrion and Yoren. Brusco and Talea and Brea. Merry and her whores. This idea of packs is so entrenched in her that even her direwolf Nymeria has formed her own pack in the Riverlands.

And that’s why it’s so disappointing that the show took this theme of unity in Arya’s story and gave it to Sansa to make it all about the idiotic ‘Northern independence’ and turned the Starks into isolationist, xenophobic, traitorous fucks backstabbing an ally who helped save their lives against an existential apocalyptic threat.  That’s why it’s a sacrilege of everything Arya stands for in the books to reject Dany because ‘She’s not one of us’. That’s why Sansa wearing that crown and sitting on the throne after sowing division and hate instead of unity against the Others and Cersei makes the ending entirely nihilistic and bitter instead of bittersweet.

Three of GRRM’s main POV characters deal specifically with the underprivileged and dehumanized sections of society.  Jon and the Freefolk, Jon and the uneducated, common folk, prostitutes and thieves serving at the wall, Dany and the slaves, Dany and the Dothraki/unsullied, Arya and the smallfolk brutalized by war, Arya and outlaws and whores. They are each forming their own packs and tribes and unifying across cultures and class. And yet, D&D turned GRRM’s message of unity beyond borders and people to some twisted notion of Northern nationalism and supremacy.

So yeah, that’s why the show ending continues to be so unsatisfying in every way that matters and why GRRM’s books are telling an entirely different story. Will the reveal of Jon’s parentage make a difference in any way? I am not sure. But I sure hope that we don’t lose Jon’s POV and I get to read that emotional punch that is Jon’s reaction to this truth.

Write the bloody books, George 🙏🏼. Please.

[the-l-spacer]

Summary: Lloyd Allen is sick and alone at his house. This is unacceptable.

Written for Day 7 of Shaperaverse week, for the prompt ‘Family, Home’ - and is a continuation of the theatre kids au in chapter 1! I had a blast writing for this event. Thank you for reading!!

- 

Lloyd Allen is sick. Like, sick sick. Not the sort where he gets a runny nose and maybe a hoarse throat that clears up in a day.

No, this is the everything-at-once, Chernobyl-nuclear-fucking-meltdown-anthropomorphised kind of sick. He’s hot (and not in the good way that, as Kelis once put it, brings all the boys to the yard). His throat feels like someone attempted to make him swallow hot control rods (to continue the Chernobyl metaphor). About every facial orifice is leaking steadily. Looking at himself in the mirror is an experience akin to staring at the Elephant’s Foot.

To put it sparingly, he feels like shit.

And, he laments, lying on his side on the living room couch, today is the absolute worst day to fall sick.

Through half open eyes, he gazes at the clock hung on the wall, — an old-fashioned thing circled with Roman numerals, because everything about his dad is old fashioned, a trait that passed from father to son — ticking steadily to 10am, when rehearsal is slated to start.

He briefly considers pushing himself off the couch, wrapping himself in a warm coat, and going anyways. After all, they’re just starting to rehearse Janissary in earnest, having almost memorized the scripts and choreography and blocking, and it physically pains him to be absent just when the real work is about to begin.

On the other hand, he can’t have the entire cast be bedridden because of him.

Mulling over his choices, he doesn’t remember when exactly he blacked out, only to be woken up again by the vibrating of his phone on the floor next to him.

Groaning, he reaches out his hand to answer it, and the very action feels like moving through slow, thick honey. He manages, but by the time he brings the phone to his face, the call ends.

The too-bright display tells him he missed a call from Asha.

A slight smile crosses his face. Of course she’d be the first to call him.

He dials back, and she picks up right away. “Lloyd?” Her voice is high and hurried. “Thank goodness you picked up. Me and the others are so worried. Are you all right?”

Try to sound like nothing’s wrong. “I’m fi-achOO!”

Well, so much for that.

“Oh Lloyd, you’re sick?”

“That- that much is obvious, Asha.” He forces the words out through a stuck throat, and is too busy cringing as sneeze-gunk runs down his face (gross) to regret his curt tone.

She sucks in a breath. “Sorry, sorry, god I’m such an asshole. Is it a fever?”

He wants to tell her that the asshole is him, that she shouldn’t waste her breath on someone as ungrateful as he, but all he manages is a short, “Yeah.”

“And from the sound of it, a sore throat and a stuffy nose as well. Do you have a glass of water somewhere nearby? Do you feel well enough to see the doctor?”

“No, and… no.”

“Lloyd- “

“Sorry.”

“- stop- stop hating yourself for one second. I was going to say I can come over right now, if you want me to.”

That’s enough to snap him awake. “NO!” He pauses, wiping his nose. “No. Continue rehearsing, take over for me. I want everyone’s lines fully memorized by next week.”

Now it’s Asha’s turn to be the naysayer of the conversation. He listens, with some grim satisfaction, as she splutters on the phone. “M-me? You want me to be- bu-“

“I’m sick, remember?” He coughs once, for emphasis. “You have to do what I say.”

“Alright, alright. I’ll do my best, and I’ll let the others know you can’t make it. In the meantime, you’re sure you’re okay?”

“Yyyyes?”

“And you’re sure you’re getting enough water? Did you take a panadol? I could get some soup delivered to you-“

The rest of the conversation passes in a blurry haze. He vaguely remembers telling Asha to very much not waste precious rehearsal time by ordering food for him, and was it a fever-induced hallucination, or did he tell David to take over as narrator? Did he comfort the fraught third year until he no longer could, Asha finally stepping in to tell him to rest?

Well that he can certainly do. As Asha says something about sleeping in a cold place, he is already drifting off on the couch. He watches the (decidedly not cold) living room’s ceiling fan turn lazy circles, he murmurs a half-conscious ‘I love you’ to Asha, and he finally surrenders to unconsciousness.

- 

Knock knock.

Knock knock knock.

“Lloyd? Are you there?”

What….

Lloyd stirs, and immediately regrets doing so. His hair sticks to the nape of his neck, and a layer of awful post-nap sweat coats his skin. Yet, despite the warm, stuffy air, he’s shivering, curling into himself, trying to figure out if the knocks on the door are figments of his fevered imagination.

“I think he’s still asleep.” The voices he hears are muffled, but definitely there. Is that David?

“Nothing else for it, we gotta pick the lock. I can use my hairpin.”

“Jill, NO!” His ears pick up Asha’s shrill soprano.

Michael’s telltale drawl comes next. “Doesn’t Lloyd keep a key outside the house somewhere? Was it the doormat, or the flowerpot…”

Lloyd’s eyes drift closed once again, until…

“LLOYD!!!” Two blurs bound toward him, but are quickly yanked back.

“Don’t crowd him! He’s way too warm as is.”

Lloyd rasps, “Asha... ? And Jill and Michael a.. And David? What are you all doing here?”

He feels himself being lifted, bridal style, and pressed against a sturdy chest, can feel the vibrations as Michael speaks. “We’re here’ta take care of our favourite stage manager, of course!”

“But.. you.. Rehearsals?”

“Done and dusted,” David says, hovering behind Michael as he carries Lloyd into the bedroom, depositing him gently on his soft mattress. “It went… not terribly, if that’s what you’re wondering.”

“Pfft, Davey here’s bein’ waaay too modest. As you predicted, he makes a pre-tty awesome narrator.”

David opens his mouth to protest, but Michael shushes him. “Go, set up the Switch so our boy Lloyd has somethin’ to entertain himself with once he’s feelin’ better.”

The obliging theatre techie in David wins out over his self-deprecating side, and he obediently trots off, leaving Michael in the room with a rather overwhelmed Lloyd.

“Don’t lie,” Lloyd begins, “was he really…”

“Yes.” Michael fishes out a thermometer from his backpack and takes Lloyd’s temperature. “Woof, 38 degrees. You’re burnin’ up. Aaanyways, David’s a little nervous, sure, I’ll let Asha fill you in on all the specific details, but he’s got potential. A loootta potential.”

Lloyd lets out a breath. “Good.”

“Now less talkin’, more tryna’ get better soon, yeah?”

“Yeah.” Lloyd gives a small nod.

The other boy pats his arm, and leaves Lloyd, giving room for Jill to breeze in, pushing cups of honey lemon and hot herbal tea and instructing him to drink, opening the windows to let the cool spring air in, and twining small flowers around his shelves and bedposts, before finally pulling his rolling study chair over to his bedside.

“Asha’s in overdrive,” she says conspiratorially, “been freaking out ever since the call. She tried to hide it, obviously, but we could tell. She’s, like, super worried about you, so real talk. Are you okay?”

The chamomile tea warms his throat as he drinks, and he finds his voice flowing freer than before. “I’m all right, really. Some irresponsible delinquent in my lit class came in with a flu, which no doubt passed on to me.”

“But you’ve never been sick before, at least, you haven’t been like the entire time we’ve known you!”

“When my immune system is down, it’s down, I suppose.”

Jill’s face pulls in a sympathetic pout. “Oof, that’s rough. Least it’s not anything serious. If it was something serious, you’d tell us, right?”

Lloyd must have paused too long, because Jill leans forward with sudden seriousness, necklaces adorned with tiny silver trinkets dangling in front of his face. “We care about you. I know Michael and I like to give you grief, but we really do. We’ve been friends for years now, and if something happened, it’d be like I lost my- my brother or something!”

His face heats. “Jill… I... of course. Of course I’d tell you. I care for you all greatly as well, even if I don’t show it.” His hand finds Jill’s. “Thank you, for saying that.”

She gives his hand a squeeze. “Just saying what we’re all thinking. I’m gonna go play Smash with Michael and David. You,” she stands up, tapping his shoulder lightly, “rest.”

“I will.”

She leaves Lloyd, a little confused at the interaction, though all that falls away when Asha enters the room, a bowl of hot ginseng chicken broth in hand.

“I’m sorry for being so curt on the phone, just now,” he blurts out.

Asha waves his apology off. “Water under the bridge. Eat up.”

Time passes, Lloyd savouring spoonfuls of soup as Asha sponges him with cold water, giving him a play-by-play of their rehearsal. The details remain hazy in his mind, though Lloyd does chuckle when his friend tells him of David forgetting he was so far downstage that he almost missed his cue and fell right off the raised platform, saved only when Michael yanked him backwards.

“That.. certainly explains why his shirt is hanging off of him a little looser than before.” Lloyd remarks.

Asha sweeps the finished bowl of soup from his grasp, replacing it with a glass of water and a Panadol. “Interesting that even with a fever, you notice how David’s shirt fits on him.”

It’s lucky that Lloyd only has the glass raised to his lips, else he would have done a spit-take. “Wh- what?!?? Who said anything about me staring at David’s shirt?! It’s just a- a casual observation, anyone would notice it!”

Asha grins. “Naturally, naturally.”

“What does that mean?!”

“Nothing!” She says breezily.

Lloyd stares at Asha, currently sending a text on her phone to someone. From the living room outside, he hears Jill snort.

Ordinarily, he would press, but as is, his information-overloaded brain begins to shut down once again.

“Sure,” he says finally.

Asha looks at him with surprise. “That it? You’re letting me off that easy?”

“ ‘m tired,” he simply says, sinking lower into his sheets. “I’ll ask again if I remember.”

Asha busies herself switching on the AC, drawing the curtains so they don’t let in the late afternoon sun. “Sleep, and properly this time, okay? We’ll be waiting outside for you once you wake up.”

“M’kay.” His eyes are already half-closed, watching Asha hover in the doorway.

“I love you, Lloyd.”

I really did say that on the phone, huh. 

Nothing else for it, then. “Love you too.”

- 

When Lloyd wakes, his senses come alive one at a time. He feels better than he did in the morning, the medicine doing its work so he’s no longer covered in a cold sweat. His nose is no longer stuffy, and the room’s cool air is permeated with the faint scent of chrysanthemum.

He sits up. It’s properly dark, now, and he can hear faint voices outside.

Gingerly, Lloyd pads out of his room, peeks around the entrance to the living room, and sees his friends, crammed together on the couch, whisper-screaming as Princess Peach beat the shit out of Link on the TV screen.

It’s hard to tell who it was who notices him standing in the shadows first, but it’s David who says, “Guys, Lloyd’s up!”, followed by a responding chorus of cheers from his friends.

His friends.

Is it his fever, or is the warmth he feels rushing through him as they make room on the couch coming from someplace else entirely?

Is him resting his head on David’s shoulder a result of fatigue, or… something else?

And is David tilting his head so it rests on his in turn coming from the same place too?

Later, they sit at the kitchen table, eating soupy noodles ordered in by Michael, and Lloyd wonders if it's the hunger from his previously light meals, or if the food, eaten as he sits surrounded by his friends, is the best he’s ever had?

Is it the thinking of his sickness-muddled mind, or is his house, filled with inane chatter and loud, boisterous laughter, so unlike the cold, quiet days spent with his father, more like a home to him than it ever was before?

And is it his imagination, or is this small group of theatre nerds truly his family? Family he never had, family that disappeared when his mother left?

Even after his father does return, frowning at the mess and noise, and his friends sheepishly clear the takeout boxes and unplug the switch and wash the dirty plates and cups, finally bidding him forlorn goodbyes and get-well-soons, the thoughts don’t go away.

Lloyd pops another pill and heads back to bed, sending a short ‘thank you’ in the main cast and crew group chat, switching off his phone as he sees the wall of responding texts and stickers flooding in.

He settles his sheets back around him, catches sight of evidence that the afternoon and evening truly happened - flowers adding a splash of colour to the space, a scribbled ‘gws’ post-it from David on his bedside table.

Lloyd Allen goes back to sleep with a small smile. After all, the sooner he gets better, the sooner he can return to the theatre. The sooner he can see his family. The sooner he can come home.