#And are using it to trick callum

[wolfythewitch]

Hi! I haven't seen Hadestown but from what I read of Hermes... Wouldn't Annabelle or Helen Disotrtion have fun with that? Well they are more about tricks than they are about tests but there's seeing the tragedy unfold as it was always meant to and "guiding" someone lost in corridors... Idk.

(Also having Martin be Persephone kinda makes Peter the most logical Demeter. Seasonal depression explained.)

And okay but who's the artist that moves them? Jack Barnabas's love for Agnes? Callum Brodie, pleading for what? Gerry looking for his father? Tim coming down for Sasha?

Please tell us more.

In this au, it's tim and sasha! that's why I went for Jon and Martin as Hades and Persephone, because they have a closest connection timsasha, and vice versa

And I've thought about annabelle or the distortion for Hermes but my problem is connection again. In the musical hermes acts as a sort of mentor figure for orpheus, taking him under his wing and guiding him down hadestown. While it doesn't have to be a mentor figure, i still want to keep a connection between tim and the hermes stand in. I was also thinking gertrude (who knew sasha and had expected her to be archivist, was an archivist and would fit a narrator role) or gerry (served under the eye, also has ties to statements and stuff) as Hermes. The problem is they have never really interacted in canon, though it's a degree of separation closer than, say, annabelle haha.

Melanie is another interesting one because she does know Tim, and is one of the few to remember old Sasha. Plus she's a youtuber she knows how to narrate lmao. Though she doesn't feel as right to the role as gertrude

[3d-wifey]

would you ever write for young Snow? like outside of the 10th hunger games au you talked about for And They'd Find Us in A Week? Please mother I hungerrrr

tbh I don't find Tom Blithe attractive. Like, nothing against the actor, but I felt like I was being gaslit into thinking he was a heartthrob, but I just don't get it! It feels like the Paul Dano plague that happened when Batman came out. Like, Tom had the craziness down, but the pretty boy, trusting act Corio used to trick everyone in the book doesn't translate well in the movie for me bc that man is neither a pretty boy OR trusting. Like, fr I don't know how anyone trusted a thing outta that man's mouth, he does NOT look trustworthy!!!! I wouldn't trust him to piss on me if I was on fire.

You know who I would trust and follow blindly? Blond Callum Turner!!!! Look at him!

LOOOOOOKKKKKKKKK

I knows he's brunet in the last one but that's my man and you WILL listen

IT EVEN LOOKS LIKE HE'S IN THE PEACEKEEPER JUMPSUIT IN THIS ONE

Mannnn yall don't wanna hear me, you just wanna dance 🙄

But, yeah, I'll write for young Corio, but ONLY this one.

[its-leethee]

My thoughts are running around in circles about incantation-less and ingredient-less magic right now, thanks to this panel from Puzzle House:

I had speculated that Claudia's hand-flashlight spell and Viren's candle-lighting spell were perhaps a sort of dark magic cantrip that they'd prepped ahead of time and stored up charges for.

But in this Puzzle House scene, Claudia doesn't categorize the candle-lighting trick as dark magic. She explains that Kpp'ar coined the term "snap magic" and that it was powered by "a 'spark of fun' instead of primal sources or..." or what remains a mystery, because Claudia interrupts herself there and doesn't finish her explanation.

There's an intriguing passage in ToX explaining that experienced* dark mages can cast some "simple" spells, specifically like lighting a candle, without dice rolls (bypassing the pass/fail mechanic of the game); however, it's not clear if that means they wouldn't still have to use a reagent to perform the spell.

--Tales of Xadia, page 147

*"Experienced" dark mages as in, possessing dark magic trauma from the accumulated and untreated stress brought about casting dark magic spells.... Do you really consider that a "spark of fun," Kpp'ar?

The other time I've heard mention of magical sparks is from Lujanne's lecture about arcanums in 2x01 (emphasis mine):

"Wait, what's an arcanum?" "It's like... the secret of the Primal, or its meaning." "The secret of the Primal?" "Yes. That secret becomes a spark. The tiniest possible flicker of a Primal Source inside you. But enough to ignite the world with its magic."

There are two other examples within the show where mages cast spells without voicing a spell or incantation. Every instance where Aaravos casts a spell, he is silent, and Callum is able to cast spells underwater in 5x09 without breathing a word. They both still do need to trace out runes/do some kind of hand-waving for their spellcasting.

So, we have sparks, we have secrets, we have silent mages... and I wish I had more of the pieces to this puzzle, because I can't put together a conclusion.

[raayllum]

We don't appreciate Soren's batshit evolving view of Rayla (and Rayllum enough) tbh.

Think about it: you're Soren. Your dad and sister tell you the princes you were sworn to protect got kidnapped by a Moonshadow elf (some of whom you just fought, killed, and watched your fellow crownguard be killed by). You never met her and never saw the encounter in the dungeons that Claudia did, so you have no reason to doubt this. Then your dad gives you a mission that curdles your stomach and you find yourself more than half hoping that elf has just killed the boys because that means you don't have to dirty your hands and have plausible deniability of your own and your dad's involvement in all of this.

Then you find the Moonshadow elf and she's young. Younger than you. Asleep; it feels wrong. But then it's a trick and she's got the momentary upper hand! She's talented. She's sarcastic(?) and pretty. She's dead meat—

Then Callum runs in, in front of your raised sword, and defends her. He says she's his friend. He says she's a good elf. (How can that be possible?) He says you have to learn to put aside your differences. Your brain is breaking. You assume nothing will change in the morning. And then the weirdest thing is that the elf has the same reaction to your sister and Callum flirting as you do, a big ugh. What's up with that?

You speculate about Moonshadow madness and lie about the king, and the elf gives you an Intense Look that, unfortunately, is not because she's hot and talented, but because she's suspicious. She looks after Ezran like he's her own little brother. When she tricks you guys, again, it's just her on the ground and the princes safely on the stupid moon bird.

Then you don't see her again until it's raining, and she's shown up seemingly of nowhere to save this dumb monstrous dragon. She can't cut the chains and she's outnumbered. An easy prize. Claudia tells you not to kill her because she might be useful. You haven't really made up your mind about it when—

Callum is there in the rain, following after her like a good loyal knight of his own. Callum does dark magic. You wonder if this was the plan all along or not, since the elf doesn't look happy about it. In her your periphery you see her run to him anyway once the dragon is freed. Then it smashes you into the rocks, and everything gets fuzzy.

You don't see her again until at least a week and a half later at the Storm Spire. Ezran calls for both of them (are they always a package deal) and they come running. They exchange wary looks as you give explanations. You can hear their voices, dimly, in the queen's antechamber while you play a game of chase with Ezran and the Dragon Prince. Callum looks to her when you ask to speak and she gives you an eye-roll of permission. Her name is Rayla. She thinks you're more than just a big dump lump (compliment). And maybe you wonder if she's a little more than a friend to Callum as she takes his hand and squeezes, watching Ezran fly off into the night. Maybe you don't.

But they're not holding hands when you find them the next morning so it's fine to interrupt, and you don't know for sure they're a thing until everything is said and done—until you learn that not only is Callum more than over your sister, he flung himself off the top of that tall tall mountain to catch Rayla without even knowing the spell would work.

It's intense and overwhelming to the point you might worry about it if she didn't also look at him like he hung the stars, holding hands in front of the Dragon Queen—on the way back home to Katolis. Ezran gives you pieces of whatever Callum's told him, that Rayla needs a new home. That she got banished.

Every time you're with her at the castle it's a group activity, like sparring or dinner. She doesn't open up easily, even if she's softer—more awkward. You learn that her people like dancing and not much else. Ez and Callum are both very protective of her, Callum especially. She sleeps in a lot. She seems lost. You come along to the Moon Nexus because your king is going, and when Rayla finally asks to talk with you one-on-one, it's because she's chasing answers about your father, and an elf you think she might consider family.

You help Callum and Allen rebuild the Moon Nexus. You don't know what it's for till she's under the water (you don't know that she's scared of water) and Callum is kneeling at the shoreline like he's going to lose his mind with every second that she doesn't surface. The weird Moon lady says your mind will be shattered, that you can be stuck there between life and death forever. Ezran helps Callum dive beneath the waves anyway. It's one of the longest hours of your life, waiting there—because Rayla was brave enough to do what you couldn't, in looking after the boys, and you still have so much to make up for with Callum (plus, Opeli will kill you if you don't come back with the crown prince).

Finally, as the sky begins ever so slightly to lighten, you help drag them out of the water. Callum embraces her—"I couldn't lose you"—like he's never going to let go. Rayla hugs him back just as tight before she kisses him sweetly. You think you'll have to try and entertain Ez tomorrow to give them some privacy, a bit, for Callum's birthday tomorrow.

Rayla is gone in the morning. You don't even hear about what happened from him; Ezran tells you, eyes rimmed in red. Gone without a trace in the middle of the night, leaving only a letter and promises of love behind.

Something bristles inside you; at least your mother had the decency to say goodbye.

Callum is miserable on the way back to Katolis. He doesn't sleep. He doesn't eat. He lasts three weeks before he gets angry, and you never knew his temper could be that bad. He goes off to Xadia to search guided by his wings, and brought back by the cold every few weeks or so, continually empty handed. Opeli grounds him (literally); his mood worsens as snow thickens.

You take the brunt of his anger without complaint, because you is also smirking and good with a sword and worried about Viren, and because Callum took the brunt of your projection and resentment and jealousy for years. You can handle a few months.

It is not just a few months. Callum gets worse, and then, slowly, after the first anniversary of her being gone, he gets better. It means less shouting, but also less of him—he spends more hours locked away in your father's old study, throwing more and more of himself into magic. You remind yourself that it's okay. It's just primal magic.

(Surely, Callum got rid of your father's old dark magic books. Why would he keep them?)

Another year passes. You're upset at Rayla for leaving, for how much she upset both the boys, for how miserable Callum has been. At the same time, you want her to return, not only for their happiness, but for your peace of mind, because if she does, it'll either be with her mission successful and your family vanquished for good, or because there was nothing to find. She might even have information about Claudia.

Then she does show up, and Callum can barely look at her. He brings the mirror to the Storm Spire. When he falls, Rayla catches him. When he retreats to the Pinnacle, she follows, and you interrupt. You protest in the Drakewood, because your father told you that you had to carry burdens alone and that never did anyone good, and Callum lays down distance that feels strange and exclusionary. When Rayla is standoffish amongst the trees, you critique her—over your younger brother figure, but also over the dragon. You don't know how she's become so changed (how she could leave the same way your mother did).

The next time you see her, she's radiantly happy you're alive and gone just as quickly. Then Callum pulls her from the rubble after one heart wrenching moment, because Callum when she was just gone was rough enough, but a Callum when she's dead is awful to imagine, and—

You watch him forgive her in every way that matters. He stays with her at the castle even as you go off with Ezran and Corvus to do important dragon stuff, and holds her hand as they climb out of the water. He gets madder than you've ever seen him when Finnegrin torments her. You watch him do the impossible first hand to save her life.

You watch him offer to get out of the water, to delay the mission, when she's too scared to. (You didn't even know she was scared of water.) You embrace both of them when everything is said and done, once Callum has nearly fallen over in his haste to just hold her hand.

You still, at the end of the day, don't know Rayla that well—bits and pieces to construct a fragmented but real view of someone who's bold and beautiful and brave and kind, but snarky and judgemental and prone to leaving, too. Balanced, even if it's not deep.

But Callum's love for her? It's as deep as the ocean, and that's kinda what matters most.

[bittrlys]

I have heard some people saying that the show is going to address the issues of humans being discriminated against will be addressed in season 7 dark. What do you think about that?

Personally, I think it might be a bit too late for them to properly address it and do it in a satisfactory way especially because the main ship rayllum had rayla being prejudice against humans but her actions don't get called compared to Callum so i doubt her actions will be called out next season as both the fandom and the narrative love to frame her in the right when she can sometimes be quite hypocritical and in the wrong.

Also, I want zubeia to be called out for her actions and zyms father but I doubt that will happen either.

Another question I also don't like the series framing of dark magic. Now in season 6 (took us 6 seasons) to learn that dark magic creates a hole in your spirit and it corrupts you to aaravos but that feels like the writers adding it in there so people don't bring up the whole arguement that dark magic is bad because the narrative says so. Also the show doesn't convince me dark magic is so bad that viren SHOULDN'T of used it to save soren or that Callum SHOULDN'T of used it to save rayla.

Idk to be honest the handling of dark magic within the narrative is so confusing and bad.

Anyway sorry this got so long

My very upfront opinion is that there is clearly some dissonance, and perhaps even conflict, in the writer's room about Viren and Claudia, dark magic, the cost of it, and the intended take away from these characters and their actions.

Now, when writing, there's no particular requirement to be honest with your audience or to not accurately represent how history can be muddled and shift. "Humans learned dark magic" to "Unicorns taught humans magic and were slaughtered in thanks" to "Aaravos is implied to have taught humans dark magic" to "Aaravos's daughter Leola (a uni-horned elf) taught humans magic and was killed" is cohesive enough, even considering the writers are on record saying they may be changing things as they go, as happens with writing. (With dark magic being the main sticking point of anti-human sentiments, how and why it occurred matters.) I also don't think the show has never wanted us to sympathize with humans or not see their discrimination -- the sight of them in tears as they're exiled, evoking the Trail of Tears (still bonkers), or Ziard's bitterness over how humans starved or his terror when Sol Regem tricks him in hopes to destroy Elarion are moments of raw feeling where the camera centres humans and their pain. Most of our protagonists are humans, and Callum, though occasionally punished for his ambitions, is a character who wants magic who is heroic.

The ultimate problem, however, is that the show wants to have its cake and eat it too, which goes back to my earliest complaints in how they 'meta write' from what we expect of fantasy and muddle their own messages. Certainly this show could be a long-form exercise in tricking people into rooting for ethnic cleansing racists but like, it's a show for kids. Sol Regem is a bad dragon and he is obviously bad. Zubeia is a good dragon and she is obviously good. We're supposed to understand Sol Regem kinda had it coming and understand that Zubeia being hurt is allegedly sad. There's no deceit to this straightforward presentation. Viren, Claudia, and now Aaravos are sympathetic villains, but they're still villains. And when your villains come in two main flavours of Team Anti-Human (arising after humans wronged Xadians initially, natch) or Team Human (or adjacent) and every hero is Team Xadia because humans fighting against the disparity of their world is Causing Trouble while humans who extend the hand of friendship to Xadians are Bringing Peace, it ultimately teaches us that "Maybe humans had a hard time of it, but it's time they suck it up." I don't think there was anything more explicit to this than having our Out Of The Mouth Of Babes protagonist Ezran's Zubeia-backed speech at the Many Thunder Victims Memorial Valley.

A lot of writers like villains who have a point, because they feel it adds depth to them, but they often jump straight to "the villain is a marginalized person who is fighting for change in the Wrong Way" and this creates an implication that Fighting For Change At All is wrong because our heroes are never passionate champions for equality. They may like equality, but they say "Not now -- not like this --" and it isn't central to their beliefs. Team Xadia are not nominally Anti Equality or Anti Humanity, but their framing vis a vis our villains makes this lack of investment in the liberation of humanity quite clear.

All of this is to say that I agree, it would be too little, too late, and that the fact the show has *already established* humans as being victims of discrimination makes the narratives around them all the more galling and difficult to untangle. I absolutely would like to have the show deliver one of its extremely straightforward, directly to the camera-type messages on how humans were discriminated against, yes, but it doesn't fix six seasons of presenting all anger on behalf of humanity as something that is ultimately morally unsound and in need of changing. And how much further can they take it? Can they portray Xadians as a whole as privileged beings who have benefited from the mistreatment of humans? Not just a few bad apples -- can they actually, truly acknowledge Xadians as less than idealized? Can they take seasons upon seasons of trying to make us love Xadians and turn it around with frank questions about things like "reparations" and "acknowledging generational trauma without both-sides-ing it"? Can they give us a purely heroic human protagonist who is firmly Team Human and centres human interests? I don't think so. They prefer keeping to their "Callum and Amaya and Ezran constantly apologizing and putting down humanity in favour of their Xadian betters" agenda. (So bonkers they do this with three characters of colour, sidenote.)

Rayla is interesting because I think they have a fundamental disinterest in her inner world. She's so defined by her relationships with others and traumatic things that happen to her personally are ignored (her feelings on her banishment getting sidelined into Callum stuff, or her overcoming her fear of water to save Callum and Ezran happening off screen.) Her prejudice is a standard result of her upbringing but it's another thing that hasn't really come up in a while. I don't know if they so much want her as a character to be right, or prejudiced, or whatever, so much as they use her as a mouthpiece for particular opinions they need stated. She was learning about humans as much as Callum and Ezran were learning about elves and now she's learned she's just chilling being another one of Ezran's inexplicably pro-monarchy shooters.

Onto the second half of your ask about dark magic -- this season has firmly shifted the dark magic usage into an addiction metaphor, and so we get the "hole in your soul" (the anti-Birdhouse In Your Soul.) I do think this makes sense with earlier seasons. Dark magic has always been shown as corrupting the user (hence the monstrosity, and hence Viren being likely to die if purified of it, because it's become so entwined with his inner core) and this destruction of the self has been a reason to avoid it. I'll even be generous and say it's not entirely "Evil People Are Ugly" but instead a lot of "Self-Destruction Is Terrifying." However, I've been obsessed with this since I saw it:

"He shouldn't be monstrous in his final moments of heroism" is very funny. The writers are aware they have thoroughly codified Ugly, Monstrous = Bad and would try to bend themselves over backwards to let a Good Act be done via Evil Means in a way that minimizes the evidence of the evil means. This is why you have to put that "inherent evil" in quotation marks because real inherent evils don't tend to get a pass. And because they want dark magic to still exist in the show and still be used by sympathetic characters like Callum and Claudia without rendering them utterly reprehensible they have to make it the hole-in-your-soul addiction metaphor and say it costs the user as much as, if not more than, it costs the world around them.

Which is, like, fine, but at a certain point it is like -- Yeah, if we can see times where dark magic is basically a necessity because your choice is either "dark magic, or let your child die" or "dark magic, or let a dragon flambé your people" -- which many of us would consider non-choices -- then you have to respect that people maybe will have to make that choice. And if the cost is more on them, then ...? It's practically a noble sacrifice. To oppose it for reasons of Aaravos is a non-argument. Viren was mainlining dark magic for decades and it wasn't until he got that mirror that Aaravos became a problem and Aaravos isn't always going to be around ... not to mention that now that he's free I think he has abilities that go well beyond "souljacking." Aaravos in this case represents more the 'spiritual death' associated with this internal corruption. So can we find reasons to oppose it that go beyond The Harm It Causes To An Individual, Who Should Be Allowed their Autonomy?

They still throw half-hearted nods to the previous seasons much more heavy-handed "omg the beautiful butterfly" "omg the baby deer" (single crying tear) "stop hurting the environment" "magical beings are superior to you" type anti-dark magic rhetoric (see Claudia and the cat thing) but it seems the writers have come to realize they need dark magic to exist as much as the people in universe need it to exist, and so they're trying to focus more on the internal cost. Personally, I think this is a fine place to take it and if the intent is to return the discussion to how humans have been discriminated against, it's a wise thing to do. So I won't protest it much, although we can discuss villainizing addicts and so forth and why Rayla's lack of compassion in approaching Callum's dark magic use is difficult to watch.

It's funny, because I wouldn't even call myself "pro dark magic" as I do see it as harmful, but the hypocritical and condescending treatment of dark magic users in the narrative is something I take issue with more than the use of dark magic itself. This is why, if they are leaning into this more sympathetic reason for rejecting dark magic, I hope we see increased sympathy as to why dark magic is used and why, until humans are liberated (i.e. given equal access to magic and Xadian resources) it's pretty much essential.

Thank you very much for the ask! ♥ Don't apologize for the length, as you can see I love to ramble away myself. Also yeah didn't fit this in anywhere else but fuck that narrative deadweight Zubeia. Thunder at least got shaded by Rex Igneous even if Rex Igneous was Mean and Scary.

[eerna]

I came across one of your posts about tdp (they're great btw I really like reading them) and one of the tags talked about how the show writers treat Callum like a vile character whose done evil things when he hasn't. Can you elaborate on that? And do you think there's a huge difference between on how the show and fandom treat Callum and rayla?

Aww thanks~ Sure, I don't mind elaborating!

So Callum. This show has a problem where the characters have no logical progress, they just do whatever the plot needs them to do, and Callum is a great example of this. Callum is meant to be an awkward average guy who feels like he doesn't belong anywhere. He's the adopted son of the royal family, which means he's not a peasant who is born into a career, but neither is he a real prince, since he is passed over in the inheritance line. He's not good at being a warrior, or a leader, or any other things that might guarantee him a place in court. Things change when he discovers he has a talent for magic, but since he is human and can't connect to an arcanum, he is forced to choose between letting this one useful thing he's good at go, or doing the "evil" dark magic. An interesting character setup: will he go against what he believes is right to realize his full potential? I wonder where this arc will go! The answer is nowhere, he becomes the first human in history to be able to connect to true arcanum magic the way magical creatures do. Okay, so here is his second character setup: the one and only creature in the world who can connect to EVERY arcanum at once! He will spend each season learning how to connect to different arcanums, and through him, we as the audience will understand the world better. That is exciting, as it's something the magical creatures can't do! Except THAT'S also abandoned right away, and his THIRD setup pretends it never happened and we return to a continuation of the first setup: will he join the dark side and become a vessel for the evil guys to use, will he fall into the same trap of "I would do anything for those I love" as the villains? This could be interesting, but it is now over halfway through the story, so the writers have to resort to cheap writing tricks to make the stakes higher and the tension more real. You see, Callum's "downward spiral" relies on him making bad choices for the right reason, but those bad choices aren't truly bad because the writers are scared of writing a hero who messes up for real. Those bad choices are using dark magic twice, but both times he used it out of selflessness, as a personal sacrifice to save Rayla. He used an already dead ingredient to turn some chains into snakes to save his friend... twice. Both times Rayla reacts as if he'd just slaughtered a whole herd of adorable magical baby deer in front of her. The Starscraper elves say his soul is dark and he has been consumed by evil. The only logical reprimand is given by Sol Regem, who just says "I can smell you've done dark magic before" and gets upset bc Sol Regem is a racist asshole character so it makes sense a single whiff of human magic would anger him. But these other characters are meant to be 100% correct in their assessment of Callum's morality. There is no discussion of whether the end justifies the means, there is no nuance or suggestion that maybe a dead bug is worth saving a life, Callum has done something objectively wrong and should never repeat it again. Here it all dissolves into the age old "is dark magic as presented in TDP morally ok" discourse, which I won't rehash here bc it is well discussed and the TL;DR is: no, TDP didn't do a good job setting dark magic up as an inflexible evil, but the story still acts as if it is one. And it is dumb, because Callum doesn't need to do dark magic to make mistakes! Several times throughout the season I thought they were gonna put him at odds with the rest of the cast, and maybe mess up and "fall into darkness" that way. For example, I thought that when everyone disagreed with him on the topic of destroying Aaravos' prison, he was going to defy everyone out of paranoia (since he is the most sensitive one about this subject) and accidently cause Aaravos' escape that way. But no, they don't even argue over it before finding a solution that makes everyone happy and it turns out that Aaravos was freed by a series of contrivances that tell us nothing new or interesting about any character involved in it, which is CLEARLY a much better story.

This third storyline gets even more muddled by Callum choosing to do the Starscraper Morality Challenge or whatever it's called to try and fix the damage dark magic did to his soul. Okay, so we've established that Callum's love for Rayla makes him act in morally questionable ways, which led to his soul deteriorating, and now this ritual will help him find his way back from it. And so the ritual reveals that he can redeem himself if he focuses on... wait. Am I reading this right? The answer to his issues is RAYLA????? So this means that somehow, loving Rayla is both the reason for his evil deeds, and a way for him not to do evil deeds??? I suppose the story could be saying that loving Rayla doesn't mean doing whatever it takes to save her, but listening to her advice and trusting her when she says she doesn't want to be saved by dark magic, but that is just such a dumb character arc that isn't about Callum or his character arc in the least. His way to deal with his issues has nothing to do with his realizing his potential, it has nothing to do with his journey of connecting to the arcanums. It is a "man needs a woman to act normal" story, and that is just plain dumb and boring and no proper character arc.

And here we transition into your second question. I am not sure what exactly you meant, so feel free to clarify, but I will do my best to answer as is. I think that Rayla and Callum are treated by the fandom EXACTLY the same way as by the show, but sadly this means they suck (it is no secret I was super duper into shipping them once upon a time, so no one is allowed to call me a hater over this opinion). The first two seasons were fine, but from s3 onwards their relationship also faces a lack of a proper arc. In the beginning it seemed like the emotional, gentle Callum was going to de-radicalize the cold, emotionally constipated Rayla and teach her the joys of having people who care for her as a person and not just a weapon. However, this was quickly abandoned for reasons listed in my Runaan family post - Rayla needed a quick escape from her emotional issues to remove any bad parenting responsibility from Runaan and Ethari's backs. From then on their writing problems are a mix of the previously mentioned "characters doing what the plot needs them to do" issue and playing into fan shipping expectations. And thus when they start dating in s3 it is in the blandest, most boring way possible. They are super happy together, they have no friction, Rayla is suddenly more than happy to be emotionally open. Then the plot needs them separated, so she remembers she is supposed to have emotional issues and leaves. Then the plot needs them back together so they start dating. None of this is supported by a logical arc. S3 and onwards reads like a fanfic in the most negative way possible. The "frozen ship" monologue from s6 made me feel like my brain was actively trying to escape my skull, so I KNOW the crew working on the show is aware of the fan perception and are actively playing into them on purpose. Fan tropes are perfect in the context of fanworks, but they also make canon material worse.

Whew. This was long. But Yeah that's basically what I have to say about that.

[moondustgleam]

Every Armor Description in TDP: Xadia

There will be no accompanying visuals on this post, the designs are already on my blog under the individual character's tags. This is a compilation of all of them for people who don't want to scroll through all the images to get to the juicy lore. I reccomend everyone read Rayla/Runaan's, Callum/Karim's, Claudia's, and Soren/Viren's if you care about the show's lore.

They're organized by order they appear in the hero select menu in TDP: Xadia, region, and type of armor if you were wondering.

Rayla & Runaan’s Armor

Firebrand Wraps - Seize what is yours and burn away the rest.

Firebrand Waistcoat - Meant to keep the heat out!

Firebrand Runners - Let your colors shine in the light of the Sun.

Shadowblade Gloves - An assassin knows she holds fate in her hands.

Shadowblade Cover - An assassin knows she is already dead.

Shadowblade Footpads - An assassin knows we are all, in the end, alone.

Nightsky Grips - The Nightsky Bandit had no interest in the Great Climb, only in its climbers’ pockets.

Nightsky Vest - While the others sought a single treasure, he had his pick of plenty.

Nightsky Buckleboots - Only the Nightsky Bandit ever grew rich from the Great Climb - and his feet never left the ground.

Amaya & Zeph’s Armor

Katolian Gauntlets - “We are the hands of our kingdom…”

Katolian Surcoat -“...we raise blades, we bear shields, we carry the scars of the past…” 

Katolian Greaves - “...but we are the strongest when joined with others.” - Katolian Soldier’s Oath

Nightguard Gauntlets A relic of long-ago warriors who served the Dragon Queen, Luna Tenebris.

Nightguard Brestplate The Nightguard vanished with their Queen, but their spirits remained.

NIghtguard Sabatons Now they roam the Moonshadow Forest, searching for Luna’s heir.

Stormrunner Gauntlets - Maybe you could punch the Eternal Storm in the face!

Stormrunner Cuirass - Armor that really says, “Come at me, Eternal Storm! Bring it on!”

Stormrunner Sabatons - You know what? The Eternal Storm could use a good kick in the butt, too.

Callum and Karim’s Armor

Flamedance Tassels - Dance, little flame, dans to a silent song.

Flamedance Chemise - Warm our hearts and bodies, keep our spirits strong.

Flamedance Sandals - Dance, little flame, dance - for the night is very long.

Illusionist Handwraps - “Most people believe that reality is truth and appearances are deceiving…”

Illusionist Amice - “...but the Moon Arcanum tells us we can only truly know the appearance itself…”

Illusionist Treads - “You can never touch the so-called reality that lies just beyond the reach of your own perception.” -Lujanne

Feathered Wrists - Let nothing clip your wings.

Feathered Jerkin - Let nothing weigh you down.

Feathered Footwraps - Let nothing keep you from the sky.

Claudia’s Armor

Dawnheart Maniple - No shadows escape the wrath of the Sun at its zenith.

Dawnheart Amice - You buried your shadows deep - but the Light sees them still.

Dawnheart Slippers - When the darkness in you burns away, what remains?

Silvergrove Bracers - The traveler told a breathless tale: a village, there one moment and gone the next.

Silvergrove Vest - Impossible, they laughed at him: the forest’s magic has simply played a cruel trick.

Silvergrove Boots - But when the Moon is dark, is she not still there in the sky…?

Daybreak Reach - “I found my lover weeping, gazing up at the night skies…”

Daybreak Doublet - “... I took his hands in mine and said, my darling, dry your eyes…”

Daybreak Walkers - “...the dark is not forever, love! The sun must always rise.” -Skywing Song

Janai’s Armor

Golden Knight Vambraces - Gold, for the Sun’s light.

Golden Knight Hauberk - White, for her radiance.

Golden Knight Treads - Red, for her power.

Moonfire Grips - Some say the Moon is the Sun’s shadow, a pale imitator, a sad reflection.

Moonfire Tunic - Some say the Sun kills the Moon hen she dares grow bright enough to challenge her radiance.

Moonfire Greaves - The truth? The Moon and the Sun are sisters, a fire charred between them.

Empyrean Gloves Some - Great Climbers keep an open mind about strategy.

Empyrean Brigandine - One path to victory is to beat everyone else to the prize…

Empyrean Stompers -  …another path to victory is to beat everyone else with your fists.

Soren and Viren’s Armor

Blacksteel Grips - Something echoes in the metal.

Blacksteel Aegis - Does it sing, or does it scream?

Blacksteel Boots - What did they bury down there beneath the earth?

Ghostfeather bands - “Bit by bit the moon fades away, then bit by bit it will brighten again. That is our cycle.”

Ghostfeather Tunic - “For those you have left behind, think on all they have given you…”

Ghostfeather Treads - “...for those who will come after you, think on all you will give them.” - Lujanne

Skyblazer Vambraces - A group of elves called the Skyblazers were the first to ever attempt the Great Climb

Skyblazer Collar - Their ambition drove them higher, higher, and higher still…

Skyblazer Sandals - …but hubris brought them down again.

[beautifulterriblequeen]

All that's Left is Aaravos

I realized allasudden that I haven't rolled around in Callum's left-handed possession motif yet, so let's poke it with a stick!

First off, I wrote this meta post about how Viren goes left-handed when Aaravos is directly controlling him some while ago. This is going to be Callum's version.

Let's start way back in the beginning, with the first time Callum cast a dark magic spell:

Callum is right handed - we see him sketching with his right hand - but when he does this dark magic spell, he uses his left. I don't see this as any sort of hard indicator of possession that far back, but he could've cast this spell with either hand, and they chose to animate him doing it with his left. A light bit of foreshadowing about handedness.

The next time this becomes an issue is in S4, when Callum gets possessed by Aaravos, which is only possible because he did cast that spell above. There's some very deliberate mirroring with Callum's and Aaravos's stances and reflections, where right = left. We get to see Aaravos, who is left-handed, deliberately using his right hand so that Callum's left hand is the one that gets used:

Later in S4, Callum tries to drop the Key of Aaravos in the lava with his left hand, but he can't manage it.

Once the Pearl is back in Katolis in S6, Callum has a One Ring-esque staring contest with it and seems to lose:

he immediately starts doing left-handed things near the Pearl:

There's even another left-handed cube moment that gets pretty blatant with its Aaravos coding:

In the moment, it's lighting up because Stella is present. But it's also foreshadowing for Aaravos's trickery with the Pearl switcheroo plan - he's already watching and listening to Callum's secret plan.

When Callum sleepwalks to the dark magic dungeon and picks up the pearl, he reaches to open the painting left handed too:

The shock of being overtaken in his sleep forces Callum to make a new plan for the Pearl, and when he says this line out loud, Aaravos sees some wiggle room for himself:

Aaravos needs the Pearl unswaddled by Callum's anti-magic blankie - which tells me that those stitched spells would have worked, if Callum had the real deal. And he also needs the Pearl defenseless in Katolis. He already has a Pharos-shaped pawn, a blind, human-hating dragon who's about to get his wings healed, and a devastated daughter in need of a new father figure.

All Aaravos needs to do to get his Pearl into Claudia's hands and get free is to trick Callum about which pearl he's really holding. The rest will fall into place like clockwork.

And when the dust of Katolis Castle settles, along with the scorched bones of Sol Regem... all that's left is Aaravos.

[lobstermobster-95]

Down in the Wicked Depths Below

Woe to the man

The dark-eyed sailor

Ship’s adrift

And the sea’s his jailor

Drag him down

Down, down, down

Down in the wicked depths below

Woe to the man

The dark-eyed sailor

Ship’s adrift

And the sea’s his jailor

Drag him down

Down, down, down

Down in the wicked depths below

Lost at sea, the sailor cried

I will not die

The sea shall bow to me

“That was quite a display,” Finnegrin said as he rummaged through the piles of assorted junk on his desk. His gruff voice drowning out the singing voices of the crew on deck. “All that talk about how love makes you stronger, but the second you see that elf girl in pain, you completely lost yourself.”

Callum looked away.

The tidebound captain wasn’t wrong. Seeing Rayla like that – writhing and screaming in pain, skin turning blue as if she were already dead – it did something to him. Just like it always did something to him when he thought he’d lost her.

That spell had simultaneously caused a pain in Callum that was so deep that he couldn’t think or see straight. He’d forgotten any spells or tricks that could have helped him and instead did the only thing he could think of.

It had at least been a solid hit – something his younger self would be in awe of for several reasons. A lot of good it had done him though.

At that moment, Callum caught sight of Bait’s empty cage and for a terrible, brief second, thought perhaps the little guy had already been cast into the depths. However, Finnegrin stepped aside and revealed the glow toad had been crammed into another smaller cage.

“What are you doing?” Callum asked, feeling confident he already knew the answer.

“Oh, don’t worry. The cage is for his protection,” the captain replied with a smug smile. “This way, he lures us a leviathan but doesn’t get eaten.”

He crossed the room and stood before Callum, looking down at him with the black-hearted confidence of a man who had spilled more than his fair share of blood. “The one getting thrown into the sea serpent’s hungry mouth is your elf girl.”

He may as well have been strapped to an anchor and dropped into the sea for how quickly Callum became submerged in the crushing weight of dread and panic. He struggled against the chains that bound him to the post, but there was no give.

He couldn’t lose Rayla. Not again. Not ever again.

“No, no wait!” The words leapt from his tongue without his consent. “A dying breath, blood filled with hatred, and a unicorn horn. That’s the dark magic you want. Just…just let her go.”

They could deal with the ramifications. They would find a way to protect Domina Profundis, but Callum had to protect Rayla first.

A beat passed as Finnegrin paused in the doorway before he began to click his tongue in disappointment like a parent about to scold their child. “Oh, my poor lad,” he said. “That deal was no longer on the table.” He chuckled, pulling the door open and quickly disappearing through it, leaving Callum alone as he sunk even deeper into despair.

“No!” He called out to no avail. “No!”

Again he struggled and again the chains around his wrists did not budge.

Hot tears began cutting their way down his cheeks. This was really it. Rayla would die and a piece of him would die right alongside her. They had only just begun to truly mend their relationship. The last few weeks began replaying in Callum’s mind

Staying in his and Ez’s old, adjoining rooms had been his idea. After Umber Tor, he’d shed the last piece of the already-cracked and crumbling armor he’d built around his heart over the last two years. He’d opened himself back up to her, and it was wonderful. They’d often stayed up late during those nights, fretting over Ezran and the others or just talking like they used to.

Then they’d traveled to Lux Aurea, retracing the steps they’d taken together on that first world-changing journey. The route had been easier this time. There was no dragon egg to hide and protect, no duplicitous aid from Soren and Claudia, and no race to outrun an impending battle with Viren’s corrupted army.

And with the border open, the route itself had become more traveled, leading to amenities like the inn they’d stayed at. Seeing Rayla happy and at peace that night had filled Callum’s heart in a way it hadn’t been in two years. He’d wanted to kiss her again, to hold her and tell her he loved her.

Now he desperately wished he had.

He could hear shouts and thuds from above him and his heart began to pound. He didn’t have much time.

Looking around for something, anything he could use to free himself, Callum spotted it. The slug Finnegrin had offered as a dark magic conduit.

No. No he couldn’t. He wouldn’t.

He’d sworn to himself that he would never do dark magic again. It wasn’t him. It wasn’t who he wanted to be. He’d vowed to write his own destiny.

…But what would that destiny look like without Rayla?

The question seared his heart like a brand because he knew the answer immediately. Without Rayla, he had no destiny. If he allowed her to die when there was something, anything , he could have done to save her, the anguish would fester in his body like a blight and consume him from the inside out.

He would do anything for her.

Anything.

Pulling against the chains one last time, Callum reached out and grabbed the slug.

~

The sunrise was beautiful, almost mockingly so after all that had happened the night before.

Callum sat at the base of the mast, feeling no modicum of triumph or elation at their victory. He felt like a liar, a sham. He was the first human mage to do primal magic and still he’d resorted to dark magic.

He thought he was better than this. But was he? Was he any better than Viren or Claudia if he would dirty his hands with the lives of innocent creatures if pushed far enough?

“So…” Came a voice through the fog. “Two primal sources? Now you’re just getting greedy, mister mage.”

Callum saw Rayla as she sat down next to him, felt the warmth of her living, breathing body, but he didn’t feel any less ashamed. If she knew what he’d done to save her, she’d be disgusted and furious, as she should be.

“Callum, are you okay?”

Was he? He let the question sink deep before nodding his head and letting his eyes finally unfocus from the abyss he’d been staring into.

“Yeah,” he said, pulling a smile up along with him. “Yeah, I’m okay. I am.”

He looked at Rayla as she smiled back at him, his heart feeling full and complete as she brought a hand up to his cheek.

“I’m glad,” she said softly.

She pulled him into a hug and Callum felt guilt wrap itself around him along with her arms. Below them, somewhere in the guts of the hull, two dark magic snakes now slithered and slunk because he’d brought them to life.

He’d broken his oath, and as Rayla sighed contentedly, holding Callum like she had when they’d first fallen in love, he knew that he would do it again in a heartbeat to save her.

And that’s what scared him more than anything.

[reminiscentrainclouds]

The Dragon Prince season 6 spoilers below! Just a bunch of my thoughts because boy do I have a lot of them!

I still can't believe the way that whole switcheroo trick with the pearl backfired on Callum. It was so painful to watch because I knewwww it was going to happen the minute he decided to carry the fake down there by himself. Rayla was literally offering to go down there with him!! It would have been so easy for both of them to go down there just in case! I mean, the fake and the pearl both looked exactly the same; it would be easy to make a simple mistake and confuse them, so you'd want to make extra sure you were taking the right one with you!! Callum's confidence is very admirable, but considering he was so worried about it, he really should have been more cautious!

I just really like the way that part of the plot played out. This whole season had soooo much irony in it, but especially with this whole thing. The second it was revealed to be the fake pearl, I was like, "Yippee I was right!!" But also, "They're doomed." Because!! It's left completely unattended!!

And then Sol Regem started attacking Katolis and I was like NOOO IT'S ALL COMING TOGETHER. Although at first I was thinking it was gonna get like, smashed or something in the rubble and that would release Aaravos but man. MAN. There was so much more in store, that was a wild ride... Don't even get me started on Viren's sacrifice. I hate him and I think he got what he deserved, both in terms of what he lost and the crushing guilt he felt, but man. I was really sympathizing with him ever since he got revived, and that last scene with him hurt.

But it was a satisfying and fitting conclusion for him. He had intended on swearing off dark magic and attempting to right his wrongs, but instead, after a lifetime of sacrificing other lives for magic, he ends things by sacrificing his own life, which was already stolen after being revived anyway, to help save the people of Katolis. Sucks that he ultimately was convinced to use dark magic again, as if it was something he could never really escape, as if he never really learned anything, but the big difference was that he was sacrificing no other life than his own here. And he did help people. I'm probably massively misinterpreting everything because my interpretations are always kind of off...but he's just a really interesting character.... He made a lot of bad decisions but I understand his motivations, and I feel like he was really quite Doomed By The Narrative, pushed into a corner and faced with two equally bad decisions in many cases. He's the kind of bad guy who I really wish could have had the opportunity of not being a bad guy, y'know?

Aaravos is much worse and much less redeemable to me, but I feel a similar way about him. Like I Get It. Can't relate to what appears to be his thirst for revenge but I can understand. Learning about what happened to his daughter makes me angry on his behalf! The fact that all this had to happen in the first place hurts a lot! All this could really be blamed on that council of Startouch Elves, for what seemed like an extremely unnecessary punishment for his daughter. Although I'm curious about what more information we might get on the whole cosmic order and everything, I don't know. Taking Aaravos's child like that was unnecessarily cruel though; regardless of how serious of a crime or whatever giving humans magic was, there's no way she had bad intentions, and it's not like killing her would reverse what happened. AUGH anyway. What a season.

[sage-nebula]

It's kind of funny to me that there are people who seem to be surprised when Claudia does things like depersonalize Rayla by referring to her as "[Callum and Ezran's] elf" in the Reflections short story when it's been clear from the very first episodes of season one that Claudia doesn't really see elves as people—or at least, not people worthy of basic rights or dignity.

When Runaan was cornered om the balcony and Soren was about to kill him, Claudia protested. Not because of any mercy, but rather the opposite. "We have more practical uses for this one," she said. "Tie him up!"

Earlier, Viren describes dark magic as "practical," so it's obvious what Claudia is referring to here. Runaan will be tied up and harvested for dark magic ingredients. Viren has slightly different plans, of course, but Runaan still ends up coined in the end. A fate arguably worse than death, by his own estimation.

Silly, goofy Claudia at her happiest saw an entire person as dark magic ingredients. There was no reason for that; she still had her father and brother, Runaan was dead to rights, Soren could have ended him with a single blow. But Claudia saw this person and thought, no, lets squeeze the magic out of him instead.

Claudia's actions have become more overtly brutal over time, yes. But she has always been like this. She has always had the same cruelty in her that led her to pretend to hand over Rayla's family, only for it to be a trick instead. Claudia does love Terry, but she says she loves him in the very same season that she tells Soren that elves are actually terrible and are just using him. For Claudia, Terry is the exception. One of "the good ones."

She has always been like this. Desperation has just driven those traits out more often. And it's part of what makes her so interesting.

[joseopher]

The Atlas Six Halloween Headcannons👻

Nico

Loves decorating the apartment

Still goes tricker-treating as an adult

ADORES CANDY

He has the goofiest costumes

WANTS THE OTHER ATLAS SIX TO GO TRICKER-TREATING WITH HIM🥺

(even if it means he has to use ✨extreme force✨)

Gideon has to put a limit on how much candy he's allowed because otherwise, he'll get an INTENSE sugar rush and his powers will threaten to bring down the city

However, when Nico does get sugar rushes, afterwards the chaos he gets really tired and woozy from all the magic he used and he curls up with Gideon, mumbling about how much he loves him

Gideon always excuses this by thinking that Nico is just dazed so it obviously doesn't mean anything

But if Gideon occasionally lets Nico break the sugar limit...who can blame him🤷

Libby

Does not go tricker-treating and thinks Nico is a child for doing so

She does dress up in very casual costumes

Mostly spends her Halloween studying but oh...this year Nico ropes her into his shenanigans because he wants to see her

...

I mean, wants to see her suffer (lying)

She likes dark chocolate PROVE ME WRONG!!!'

She steals all of Nico's chocolate in revenge after he bothers her

(Nico holds a funeral for his chocolate, it is very sad)

Parisa

She uses Halloween as an opportunity to go to exclusive parties filled with the richest of guests and seduce them, both for chaos and money

Somehow has invitations to every gala and celebration

This becomes more difficult when the other Atlas Six (Nico) are intent on following her around like puppies (it's really just Nico) because they think they should all trick or treat together (Nico please, she's trying to be edgy and mysterious)

Reina

She is not doing anything for Halloween fuck off

Oh? Whose this?

Why it's Nico, of course! And what's this with him?

Oh! His big sad puppy dog eyes.

And his ability to chant please until she goes tricker-treating with him

Tristan

Slams the door in Nico's face

Locks the door

Bolts the door

Puts a chair in front of the door

He is not going to do something fun, he needs to brood

One explosion and a plastic set of vampire teeth later, Tristan is trudging behind Nico on this fantastic Halloween night.

Callum

@asimplesweettart said this Callum headcanon on the ta6 discord and I thought IT WAS PERFECT, so naturally I had to include it~

Nico comes to Callum's door, Callum opens it before he can knock

Oh, Nico wants to go tricker-treating? Why, of course, Callum will come, it sounds delightful.

No, he doesn't need a costume, he's already in one. Don't you see it?

No? Pity.

(Callum's costume was the clothes he wore the day that Tristan tried to kill him)

(He is pretending he is totally fine but he actually feels like he might throw up so hopefully Tristan will have the same reaction. Peak Halloween Festivity💖)

[thedivided]

Gabrielle Cole - tracking device

Jack Sato - stealthy

Elijah Songaa - breathrough

Seoung Kwan - spiritual connection

Makoto Shizuka - shortcut

Cora Madden - investigative eye

Adriana Penn - self control

Yara Valle - second wind

Taylor Dalton - good teacher

Callum - team spirit

Yronica (( I forgot how to spell her last name )) - egocentric leech

Eman Attia - evanesce

Aaaqil Che - adaptability

Amari Tamiyyah - vagrants trick

Emery Rivera - disappearing act

Jun Inagaki - tough

Eiji Inagaki - old camera

Chaoxing Lai - xingxings mic

Gavin Prescott - gavins pistol

Becca Prescott - sole survivor

Rayner Byrne - rayner's shield

Crosby Aldrich - royal rule

Serena 'Sera' Vera - smooth skating

Jonas Weber - sanity soda

Nami Deng - hard times

Mamo Ikaika - mamos bat

Dakota Nicole - flame spray

Crystal Kaur - clear quartz

Sanjana Dewan - quiet steps

Kelvin Mars - sonar dart (( ? ))

Arlo Flores - healers touch

Iris Daley - pot of life

Saadiya Ali - course control

Anais Desir (( ? )) - complete control

Kiara Cruz - life of the party (( ? ))

Sarah - lone wolf

Yvonne Kojo - fight or flight (( ??? ))

Elizabeth Payne - self assurance

Lyndon Davenport - rauhm

Dante Fontana-Rosa - plane of elysium

Serena Wolfe - hunters instinct

Kyle Wolfe - bear trap

Yeona Jeung - obsessed

Yan Tian - detection machine

Ryder - detail oriented

Riley West - cheap thrill

Dae-Jung Pak - charm

Dakari Bowens - heal gun

Tabitha Harris - maternal instinct

Wren Harris - menial work

Parker - triple mocktail

Nathan Reyes - wits end

Emil - inspire

Evelyn Maurelle - dirty work

I can also name a few killer abilites

Werewolf - feral rage (active) / the hunt (passive)

Polluted - oil trail (active) / corruption consumes (passive)

ghost - blood phase (active) / sixth sense (passive)

Principal - extended strike (active) / hall pass (passive)

Showstopper - foul play (active)

Apostate - salvation (passive)

Watcher - watchful eye (active)

Janitor - worked ground (active) / no escape (passive)

Experiment - deep terror (active) / aftershock (passive??)

Surgeon - swift strikes (active) / surgical precision (passive)

Idol - you're mine (active) / obsessive nature (passive)

Host - ice trap (active)

Unforgotten - malefic shadows (active) / manifest (passive?)

Android - technological eye (active) / automation (passive)

explodes

NERDD

ill list off what i remember, using the same list as you but some grouped together. Ill also only list what actually brought them to the mist

Gabrielle - tried making a ghost tracker gone wrong

Jack - last delivery of the night gone wrong

Elijah - only survivor of a camp massacre caused by banshee

Seoung - messed up a ritual and summoned ghost?

Makoto - fell asleep on a subway while going to a new job

Cora - all i remember is she was skeptical of people? and she lost her mom i think

Adrianna - dont remember, ive read it though

Yara - havent read it

Taylor - havent read it

Callum, Yronica, Aaaqil, Eman - detention, almost got killed by principal?

Amari - plane crash

Emery - pushed into the mist by showstopper

Jun - forgot

Eiji - forgot

Chaoxing - havent read, i think she disappeared while going offstage at a concert? Yara or Taylor followed her i think idk….

Gavin + Parker - car crash?

Becca - babysitting job turned final girl situation

Rayner - sentenced for execution, disappeared

Crosby - smth to do with rayners

Sera - havent read

Jonas - contacted by a company?

Nami - havent read

Mamo - bus crash??

Dakota - forgot

Crystal - forgot

Sanjana - got sweeped away by the mist while monitoring it?

Kelvin - sweeped away by mist before sanjana(all i remember)

Arlo - fell asleep in a library or smth

Iris - forgot

Saadiya - forgot

Anais - dad died when she thought she found love? got taken by mist while grieving

Kiara - escaped the party her alternate timeline self got kidnapped at

Sarah - got tossed into a lake??

Yvonne - framed? disappeared in a prison riot

Elizabeth - framed?? disappeared in a prison riot?

Lyndon - forgot

Dante - speared through the chest while sending out an SOS signal

Serena and Kyle - dad got killed by werewolf on a hunting trip

Yeona - went to look in STAR*STRUCKs dorm gone wrong

Yan and Nathan - partially forgot, all i remember is Yan’s dad got killed by an enemy organization

Ryder - didnt read

Riley - skydiving gone wrong

Dae - came back to dorm to see Ye-Jun’s confrontation gone wrong

DAKARI💙💙💙💙 - boat got punctured, he thought it was an injured marine animal. Came back w/ healing gun to find the boat top empty and a polluted fish creature

Tabitha - forgot

Wren - forgot

Emil - bled out in a protest turned riot?

Evelyn - didnt read

NOW. For killers

Werewolf - parents got mauled by a pack of wolves and he got bit, turned into a ww and killed serena and kyles dad

Polluted - lost his mom to pollution, pretty sure he washed up on a shore at one point

Ghost - kidnapped from a party. Tried escaping her captors on christmas(?) and got killed

Principal - lost his daughter because of yronica, tried killing her and her group

Show - forgot

Apostate - drowned in a lake?

Watcher - all i remember is hes a terrorist for attention

Janitor - killed by principal?

Experiment - didnt read

Surgeon - forgot

Idol - got confronted gone wrong

Host - containment breach????

Unforgotten - purely made of hatred of humans

Android - killed someone i think

Stalker - pushed sarah into a lake?

Voidskulk - got infected by a thing that killed her godfather or uncle or wtv

Warden - i think he got electrocuted to death in a prison riot

Empress - betrayed and beheaded

Stareater - hit by a shooting star

Possessed - near same as seoung, got possessed by an evil spirit instead

Banshee - killed herself to reunite with her sister? massacred elijahs camp

Boss - forgot

[littlesliceofimmortality]

hey henry i was going through ur circus au tag and i was wondering do u have any lore for this specific au??? im VERY curious i really like the designs esp mingus and norm (worlds most predictable phrase) :-)

HII MICH :-) smile! my circus au started as "lol wouldnt it be funny if cowboys instead of clowns were a separate species & went extinct". & now it makes me sick

ITS NOT EVENthat much different than the canon story ingame!!!! its just flashier & showy-er & LOUD. mingus demands attention, especially. her being a lioness does in fact mean callum had a pet lion. Alot wrong with him

she had callums ringleader outfit retailored to fit her, fun fact! (shes VERY large, almost scraping 7ft). its different cloth though & the gold studs had to be replaced & coattails needed lengthening & etc... so maybe it really isnt the same

(GINGIs made up of the same cloth as callum, however! the original CIRCUS tent, with polka dots and all !!! and who am i to argue that callum didnt embody the entire city of dialtown?) (mingus is very mad about this fact & actively denounces it)

rather than living on the outskirts of town, norm was found as a lone ranger out in the open prairies of Wisconsin (i cant elaborate here. thats another rant & theres too many parenthesis already) . instead of being immediately executed As is normal procedure, mingus recognizes him as a fragment of history & essentially forces him to join the ragtag rundown circus she runs

since dialtown is already a group of misfits, not many of the cast oogled at the new rodeo clown (it was a HUGE fight on what he'd "star as", & mingus finally relented to him keeping the cowboy hat & paper bag) (if he acts up she threatens to categorize him as a "freak show" and shred his bag)

mingus doesnt treat him as a thing with feelings alot of the time & moreso a thing to help get her pawpaw back. since right now hes. kind of a statue. shes opened up & put back together his head so many times & had to repair him & ward off rust so often that now ALL of his head is golden. not patchworked, but rather, polished

the city is only KNOWN as a city & NOT a travelling circus anymore is because of this, actually. its too much work to transport callum around in the state he is. so mingus dug her heels in & hammered in the tent poles hard. immovable force. not going anywhere til she can step down & let her pawpaw lead again

he was objectively better at it, anyhow. she knows this but WILL bite you if you say it to her face. callum was a magician too, after all! had tricks up his sleeve. much sneakier when hes pulling strings behind the curtains. he had his "assistant" too (aka the other half of the entire show) , which mingus TRIES to replicate, which... i love tango, but nobody can compare to marla

all of this is very upsetting to norm. everything about it, really. worst anyones ever done it. however hes just as stubborn as mingus and will NOT be used as a tool! (thats the ONLY reason, trust) (theres totally nothing about how he'd rather idolize crown in his mind & is a little terrified of whatd happen if he came back & saw the state of everything)

[raayllum]

one of the things i love most about arc 2, i think, is the breaking down of "this action is always bad" from arc 1 into "this action is always circumstantial" in arc 2. not that arc 1 is devoid of morality complexity and ambiguity, but there's definitely more examinations of said things and said unforeseen consequences in arc 2.

in arc 1, Claudia doesn't break away from her father (isn't familial morality good?) and Rayla does (becoming the first real traitor in the series in a lot of ways). In arc 1, Nyx is our primary (bad) thief who steals for self-centred (monetary) reasons, but in S5 we see both Ezran and Rayla engage in thievery with good intentions, even if for Rayla it is also for 'monetary' reasons (ha!) and Callum spares/helps her much the way Rayla spared/helped Nyx, even after being 'tricked' and certainly lied to. Nyx's thievery has the least consequence with Ezran's having the most, but their intentions (to return a baby creature for money / to save baby creatures from a truly terrible fate and existence) is what divvies up the actions accordingly.

Soren and Terry are both crestfallen and wracked with guilt upon killing someone - for Soren, his father, which is extra complicated given that Viren clearly paid quite a steep price to keep his son alive; for Terry, a relative stranger - but both murders affect them in similar ways. For Terry, it was something he'd never been trained to do and wholly in defense of someone he loves; for Soren, it was fulfilling his purpose as a knight and a crownguard for someone he loves, but also reflective of the strength it took to stand up against his father for what was right.

When Callum breaks away from Aaravos in future seasons, he will be retreading Viren's path in 5x09. Claudia and Rayla continue to parallel each other quite strongly, particularly with 6x01 in mind. Callum, like Viren and Claudia, has used dark magic two times now for Good reasons, yet is clearly still worried by what path it may set him on, while Viren is forced to recognize his own agency (much like Callum did in S2).

IDK if this makes sense but I really like the way TDP takes intention, circumstance, and consequence into account, and doesn't let any character off the hook for their choices within those circumstances, but also doesn't demonize any of them for their choices either

[climbthemountain2020]

Flame of Autumn - Chapter 11

Part 12/26 | Ao3

[A little NSFW towards the end]

Tilly

Even after months of waking up with Eris by her side, the novelty never seemed to wear off. If she woke first, she would typically trace her fingers lightly over his freckled face, letting them ghost over his perfect skin and into his scarlet curls, scratching his scalp until his sleepy eyes opened and a smile lit his face. If Eris woke first, he usually liked to wake her by placing soft kisses across her face–cheeks, eyelids, brow, nose–until she cracked an eye to look at him. But sometimes, when Tilly woke up first, she would slide her hands down, down, down, gripping him softly in her hands and stroking him awake as he groaned into her neck. And sometimes, when Eris woke first, his deft, elegant fingers would slip into her, drawing her breathlessly into the land of the living with him.

In the weeks since the first time they’d been together, there wasn’t an inch of their rooms that they hadn’t defiled. The dogs had taken to skulking out of the rooms they entered with annoyance in their eyes, huffing at again being disturbed from their beds at the antics of their owners. They couldn’t help it–once they’d touched, it was as though they couldn’t get enough of each other. A sidelong gaze here, an errant touch there, and clothes would be flying without any words exchanged, breaths hot and sharp on each other as lips skated over skin.

Tilly was enamored with him–words couldn’t do it justice. She had never in her wildest dreams dared to imagine an arranged marriage could turn out this way, let alone one to the heir of Autumn. But every time his eyes met hers, her heart felt as though it grew wings and exploded into the sky. His smile set her on fire, knowing that it was for her and only her. This version of him, the true version of himself, was hers and hers alone. She had taken a leap and trusted him with her guarded heart, and he had held it with a tenderness that she didn’t believe was possible. She couldn’t help but adore him with every piece of her.

He’d never once held her back from the things she wanted, and the fact that he’d encouraged her training was one of the many things she loved about him. The times when she was able to train with Cormac and his brothers were, without fail, the most she’d ever felt embraced by anyone outside of her father. They’d grown so comfortable with each other over the weeks that there was true joy in these training sessions of theirs. Though they were all familiar with archery, she was able to teach them a litany of trick shots and techniques that they were all comfortable using now, though none of them could even come close to outshooting her. She loved training hand-to-hand with Cormac, despite how he goaded her into cheap shots. Which is where she found herself today, laying on the pitch, staring at the cloudless sky and catching her breath.

“If you weren’t so focused on smart ass comments, Tilly, you might be able to land a punch.”

“Now, Cormac, what fun would I be if I didn’t call you on your absolute shit fashion sense at least once a day.” She heard Bray’s laugh from the side of the ring as she took a stab at an element of surprise to sweep his feet. She’d almost caught him, but he jumped at the last minute as she twirled and rose, meeting her practice sword with his mid-downswing. “You might find yourself a nice female if you put a little effort into your looks.” She threw a punch at his gut, but missed by mere centimeters. “Or a male.” She added, a brow up and a wicked smile on her face, and the second his eyes widened she planted a kick to his ribs that sent him sprawling.

“Cauldron, Til. Don’t kill him!” She heard Callum guffaw from the sides as Cormac coughed.

“Should have seen that coming,” he laughed from his back.

“What was that you were saying about my smart ass comments being unhelpful?” She extended a hand to him, which he took and pulled to his feet.

“Yeah, yeah. You win.” He rubbed the back of his neck and smiled. “Eris, your turn. She’s kicking our asses today.” Tilly felt her heart leap into her throat as she turned to see Eris closing in across the field. Eris’ smile filled her with glee and a feral need to have her hands on him again. As he joined them in the ring, she bounced on the balls of her feet, wrists up.

“What do you say, love?” The gleam reflected in his eyes and she could tell the challenge was accepted.

Eris

Sparring with Tilly was a battle of wills in and of itself. Eris already could barely contain himself around her, a blazing inferno always simply seconds away from consuming him whole when he found himself around her. The smell of her in his nose drove him to near madness if he couldn’t get his hands on her, and the thought of her sweaty against his chest or beneath him or on top of him or wrapped around him…

He grit his teeth as she landed a punch to his shoulder and he grabbed her wrist, spinning her back to his front and letting his hand wander across her abdomen.

“Losing focus, dear?” He whispered into her ear, the smell of her arousal slapping him in the face with the force of a gale. She wriggled against him and he heard Bray’s voice ring out across the pitch.

“We’ll be leaving! Have fun!” He heard her giggle, the sound rolling through him like the chime of bells and loosening his grip for just a moment, exactly as she’d intended. She threw the entirety of her body weight down and forward as she kneeled, tossing him off her the second he lost balance. Eris rolled, ready to tackle her into the pitch and take her right then and there as she shot him a feral grin.

He was about to lunge when he stopped short, pulling upright. Tilly could tell immediately something was wrong. Eris did tackle her then, but it was into an immediate winnow. They resurfaced behind the weapons barracks, not thirty yards from where they’d been. Eris pressed a finger to her lips and pulled her close to him. Beron and Aradnus emerged from the treeline, not even feet from where they’d just been training, seeming to be deep in discussion about something.

Eris felt Tilly tense in his arms, so he pressed a kiss to the back of her head. Aradnus was nodding, looking particularly excited about whatever information was being passed to him. Beron, while serious, seemed to be explaining something with more energy than Eris was used to. Aradnus was Beron’s right hand; he knew each and every plan that Beron attempted to carry out, and instinct told Eris that whatever he was detailing currently was not a small matter.

With a last nod, Beron winnowed off, Aradnus stalking back towards the Forest House, and Eris felt Tilly let out the breath she’d been holding in. His hands went to her shoulders immediately, squeezing tightly to show he was there, grounding her but also himself.

“What do you think that was about?” Her voice no higher than a whisper, even though they were already long gone.

“I don’t know, but it wasn’t good.” Eris had a feeling of dread creeping into his very bones. It was rare Beron ever looked so invested in a conversation. And despite him still keeping some things from Eris, he was typically let in on the larger plans as heir. Nothing about this sat well with him, and he felt a great sweeping sense of doom beginning to build. Her rubbed his hands on her shoulders once more, all sense of fun and arousal seemed miles behind them now. “Come, let’s get back to the house.”

Tilly

Over the past few weeks, Eris and Tilly had begun efforts in earnest to hatch a plan. This new development of a potential overarching plot by Beron had them doubling down. Tilly had been spending more time in the library, switching the covers of books from simple history texts to books on botany and flora. She and Eris hoped they might find something in the way of poison that would help them achieve an end to all this sooner rather than later.

Today, she’d grabbed two new tomes on the local flora of Autumn, hoping she might accidentally stumble upon something useful. She’d snuck them into History of Autumn Rulers VII and IX covers, and also grabbed a book on etiquette to throw off any potential suspicion. She was balancing the heavy books as she pulled the library doors shut behind her, preparing to make her way down the dark hall she still hated so much, when she slammed into a hard body, falling backwards and hitting the ground with an inelegant grunt.

“Watch where you’re going, bitch.” Her eyes shot up at the cold voice, finding Beron’s cruel eyes staring down at her. He let his eyes gaze over the books she had dropped and her heart jumped into her throat. Blessed Mother, they’d all stayed closed in the tumble, the covers tight. But Beron’s eyes did not leave them. “Studying up on our history, hmm? Shouldn’t you already be familiar?”

She shot her eyes to the ground in a move of submission, willing her voice into that quiet, demure bleating that she used in his presence. “Yes, High Lord. I have just been brushing up to keep myself occupied. That, and etiquette lessons. A lady can never be too polite.” He snorted derisively at her.

“You could certainly benefit from them, girl.” She nodded, keeping her eyes downcast as she gathered the books in her arms. His gaze lingered on her longer than she was comfortable with, eyeing her chest for quite a few beats longer than was necessary. The creeping cold swept through her, disgust crawling through her veins and she heard him sniff the air. “Perhaps you can find a book on how to produce an heir, since it seems you’re failing in that still,” he sneered down at her coldly, then turned on his heel to walk into the library. Looking over his shoulder he said, tauntingly, “Time ticks away,” and then he was gone.

Tilly gritted her teeth as she walked the rest of the way back to their rooms. Of course there’d been no heirs sired yet, despite the fact that she and Eris were on each other constantly. They’d procured contraceptive tonic on one of their trips to another court. They brewed it in their rooms and each took it every morning, ensuring that there would be no heirs any time soon. There was zero chance they’d be bringing a child into the current situation with Beron intentionally, and it wasn’t like it was uncommon for fae actively trying to conceive a child to take years. Still, they wouldn’t dare risk it.

She took the wards down, setting the books within the door and then stepping back out. Perhaps she would go to the garden and see if Alanna had made it down today. She pulled the wards back and turned down the main hallway.

It’s not like she hadn’t thought about it from time to time, having children with Eris. She was guilty of letting her mind wander as she drifted off at night in his arms, his warm heat at her back, what it might be like to raise a child, or children, with him one day. To the world, he was as cruel and calculating as Beron. But with her, his tender heart was always on display. Though they hadn’t spoken about it in depth–she wasn’t sure if he even wanted children–she knew he would be good at the job. Regardless, it was a conversation they would need to table until after Beron was taken care of, but it couldn’t hurt to dream.

As she turned the corner towards the final hall to the gardens, she was grabbed roughly from behind. Before she could even scream, she was being winnowed, the darkness between places pulling at her body until she was deposited into the other location, a hand at her back. She whirled around the second she could to find–

“Killian? What the fuck?” She pushed at his chest as he put a hand to her lips.

“Quiet! Quiet. I will explain everything. Come here.” He pulled her to stand near the line of trees with him. “I need a favor, but I need you to swear on your life that it stays between us.” She swatted his hand away from her.

“Could you not just–stop touching me–could you not have just asked like a normal person?” She was ready to whack him in the skull. “You scared me half to death,” she hissed. “I thought you were Beron!”

“Okay, well, I’m not, and you’re already here, and I really need you to help me, sister, so please can we–” He gestured broadly, and she noticed the small village on the other side of the clearing.

“Fine! Fine, Killian. What can I do for you?” The relief on his face almost made her worry more. He reached into the pocket realm and grabbed a deep maroon cloak, a blanket, and –a wooden doll? “What in the Cauldron’s name–?”

“It’s my mate. My mate and my daughter. They live here, and no one knows about them. I never get to see them, because if Beron were to find out…” Tilly’s heart caved in at the confession.

“Does Eris know?” She asked tentatively.

“No one knows.” He responded.

“Okay, yes. I’m in, what do I need to do?” His relief was so immense on his face that she could have cried for him.

“Thank you. Gods, Tilly, thank you. I will glamour you and then the doll. I just want a few hours. Just carry the fake baby around the house, do motherly things, maybe walk into the yard and wave to a neighbor from a distance. I just…I just need time with them.” She put a hand on his arm.

“Take whatever time you need, Killian. I will gladly do it. Eris is gone all day, and I have nowhere else to be” He nodded, and she didn’t fail to catch the silver lining his eyes. It was so harshly contrasted to the harsh scars and usual sneer on his face.

He lifted his hand and she felt the tang of a glamour run over her, shivering as it passed. He then sent the smallest flare of magic to the house closest to the woods. Within moments, the back door opened and a female with brown hair and big green eyes looked both ways and ran to the treeline with a bundle in her arms. The light in Killian’s eyes was almost too much to bear. Tilly winnowed to the step of the house before the female reached Killian. She turned as she reached the door, spinning just in time to see Killian sweep the female into his arms and twirl her around, being careful of the baby she was holding before all three winnowed off.

Yes, she would do this, because mate or not, she could not imagine the pain of being forcibly separated from Eris for her own good. Even thinking about it shot a pang of anguish through her heart. As she sat in a chair, visible through the front windows to anyone passing by with her “baby”, she thought about the joy she’d never before seen on Killian’s face, and she wondered what else she might have been wrong about in her original assumptions coming to the Forest House.

Eris

Eris was about to go to his least favorite place, and this time, he’d have to drag Tilly into it with him. But he was long past due for an update with the Night Court’s inner circle, and Beron expected an update from that slimy lecher Kier, so he would go.

Tilly seemed excited to travel to a court she’d never been to when he told her where they’d be going, but he still felt the need to warn her ad nauseam about the idiots she was about to endure. She wouldn’t be involved in his meeting with Kier–he didn’t like the idea of Kier even seeing his wife, let alone being in close proximity to her. But he’d keep her close to him when he met with the Night Court. He’d already explained to her the situation with his alliance–the terms and conditions that went along with it–but he had spent the morning laying in bed with her and telling her about the members of Rhysand’s inner circle, as he called it, and telling her all the details he had about each of them.

Tilly already knew some of the information–knew Cassian was the general of the Night Court’s armies and that Azriel was their spymaster. She knew Rhysand was a daemati, and that his wife and mate was, too. Tilly told Eris her father had spent a good deal of time teaching her how to shield her mind as a child, so she wasn’t particularly concerned. But Eris was also mostly certain that Rhys would never enter her mind without permission–he cautioned her to keep those walls up just in case, regardless.

Finally, he knew it would come up–it always did–so he knew he needed to explain to her the situation with Morrigan.

“Many centuries ago, I was engaged to a member of their inner circle, Morrigan. She is Kier’s daughter, though she doesn’t claim him. Neither of us particularly wanted the engagement, for our own reasons, but she slept with the General, and her family tortured her and dumped her on the border of Autumn. When I came upon her in the woods, I refused to touch her–wouldn’t let the guards–”

“--because by Autumn law it would have been declared sanctuary, and she would have been yours.”

“Yes. I knew her beloved friends wouldn’t be far behind. She could still have a life if I left her there. I had to claim that it was because I did not want a sullied female as a bride, lest Beron beat me to a pulp for showing compassion, but the honest truth is that I refused to condemn her to a life here where she would never be happy.”

“How could you have known she would never be happy with you?”

“Let’s say I’m not her type.” He raised a brow and Tilly nodded as though she caught his meaning.

“So, what does this have to do with now? They saved her, yes?”

“It’s complicated, but the short of it is that Morrigan refuses to tell the whole truth to her family. They will always see me as the villain who left her to die in the woods. I understand, partly, I do–I have been respectful of her choice in what she wants to tell them. But her reluctance to just be honest about herself has caused much unnecessary tension over the centuries. I regret how things needed to unfold then, and I regret how they have played out now, but she knew better than anyone how the situation needed to be handled.” He hated this story–hated the guilt and shame that wound through him every time he thought about it.

He wanted to hate Morrigan for her insistence that her truth was the only one that mattered, wanted to scream at everyone about the beating he’d still taken for what happened. It had resulted in the brands on his legs, in fact. Eris knew that Morrigan needed to be the one to tell her court her own secrets before his were brought to light, and if she hadn’t after four centuries, she likely never would.

“When we are there, as always, I will be the person you see me as with Beron. But they are, as much as it pains me to admit, relatively good people. You can present yourself however you see fit. With the alliance, they cannot report anything of consequence back to Beron, so I will let you determine how comfortable you feel.” He kissed her on the forehead as he moved to the couch to pull his boots on. He was more nervous than anything that Tilly would leave the Night Court thinking less of him once she saw the way they treated him.

With Beron, it was a given. He had to allow himself to be beaten, battered, torn apart because it was what allowed him to survive. But if she saw another group of strangers facing his cruel mask and still verbally abusing him? Would she think him weak? The brand on his thigh practically burned anew with the shame of it.

“Ready?” Tilly asked sweetly, dressed in a beautiful deep green dress with gold and maroon embroidered leaves trailing across the bodice. She was a vision of fall, and despite his nerves, he was filled with pride to be anywhere with her on his arm. He forced a smile to his face, rising and holding his arm out to her.

“Ready.” They walked to the edge of the wards, the day cool and gray, and winnowed quickly off, landing in a dark hallway made of stone. He hated how damp everything smelled here all the time. It was all he could do to force away the horrid trauma from his time under the mountain as the musty smell filled his nostrils and overwhelmed his senses. Instead, he leaned in and placed another kiss to Tilly’s head as she looked around, inhaling deeply and replacing the horrid smell of this place with the only smell he ever wanted anymore.

He went to take her hand and walk towards the meeting place, but she surprised him by stopping him and pulling him back to her. She wrapped her arms around him and whispered low, “I can tell you are nervous to be here. I just wanted to tell you that I love you, and nothing that happens here is going to change that, Eris.” He closed his eyes, fighting a prickling relief in the back of his throat.

Gods, what have I done to deserve her?

He took a few moments just to hold her and allow himself to be held in return before he pulled away, sniffing and straightening his clothes. He held out a hand again to her, and she took it without hesitation.

“To the Court of Nightmares, then.”

++++++

The meeting room, as always, was deserted when they arrived, the overly large table with enough chairs to seat at least fifteen. Eris walked to the furthest seats from the door, leading Tilly and pulling out a chair for her then sitting next to her. She scooted in, grabbing his hand beneath the cover of the table and giving it a firm squeeze. As nervous as he felt, the anxiety buzzing frantically through his veins, he was grateful she’d come with him.

The doors slammed open and, dramatic as always, Rhysand came stomping into the room, dark mists swirling around him like a cloud of flies. Eris fought to roll his eyes, and he felt Tilly stiffen next to him. Cassian and Azriel followed behind him, of course, but Eris was surprised to see Nesta and two females follow in before shutting the door behind them. One was an Illyrian like Cassian and Azriel, though his stomach turned to see the way her wings were shredded. You’d never guess it from her face, though–she looked like she could fight her way through any room she was in. On the other side of her was a female who looked–well–for lack of better descriptors–looked like him. Her scarlet hair pulled back into a braid away from her pale, freckled face. Her eyes, however, were a teal so deep they reminded him of the ocean.

Curious.

Nesta stalked over to stand in front of Cassian, and the two females joined Azriel on the other side of the two large chairs at the head of the table. He felt Tilly twitch beside him as though she thought to stand, but he placed a hand on her thigh to stop her before she could.

All part of the game here.

Rhysand spoke first, his typical bored drawl setting Eris’ teeth on edge immediately. “Eris, a pleasure, as always. I’m afraid we didn’t have the chance to be properly introduced to your bride at the wedding.” He shot a mocking smile across the table, and Eris willed the inferno starting to blaze within him to calm.

Why was this so much more difficult than usual?

“This is Matilda, my wife.” He could see her out of his periphery, and she sat up, spine straight as a queen, staring down her nose at them in practiced indifference. He could have kissed her on the mouth. She did not speak, but inclined her chin in their direction.

“A true pleasure to meet you, Matilda.” Eris felt the snarl ripping up his throat and choked the life out of it before it could take form. He hated the way her name sounded on his tongue. The spymaster, of course, caught the action and smirked, eyes boring into him. “Kier won’t be meeting with you today. Something has unexpectedly….come up. What news have you brought us, Eris?”

“Hmm.” He’d need to come up with a story for Beron about not meeting with him. “More deposits of faebane found in the mountain villa and reported by my personal guard. Again, no stores found, but the evidence had yet to be cleared. Perhaps Beron does not bother, as no one typically goes to these residences without him. We beheld Aradnus and Beron discussing something animatedly the other day. We were unable to glean any information, but it seemed as though they were planning something.”

“So, you’ve got no real information for us, then?” Eris hated this. He felt Tilly twitch beside him, beneath his hand on her thigh. Her face hadn’t changed, but he could feel the tension coiled within her.

“The information I have, I have shared. My guards and I are actively tracking the issue, but I will urge you again to keep your eyes and your generals aware. While I was inclined to believe that Beron is hoarding simply to keep them for himself, the plotting with his second in command makes me believe there may be more nefarious and pressing plans in motion.”

“But you haven’t actually figured anything out, Eris. Surely, you can’t expect me to take this meager report and station a guard at the border?” Eris tried again to push that mask of boredom and indifference back at Rhysand, but he was being more difficult than usual today. He went to respond, but Rhysand beat him to it.

“What do you think, Azriel? Would you waste your time sending spies to Autumn over this hunch the fireling has?” Azriel, the overgrown bat, simply sent a dark smile across the table. He heard Cassian chuckle.

“No, I would need much more evidence than this before I waste any more time than necessary in the Autumn court.” Cassian laughed again, and Rhys smiled.

“Perhaps, Eris, you can do a better job of finding information, then we can reopen this conversation. But if this is all you can give to us, I am starting to doubt the benefits of keeping you around.”

So this was the plan, then. Mortify him in front of his wife. He desperately fought to regain his mask of stone, fought tooth and nail to drag it back over his face and reply with the utmost nonchalance. But before he could, Tilly was on her feet, and Nesta had drawn a sword.

“You will not speak to him that way anymore. Enough.” Rhysand’s eyebrows shot sky high, and the look of shock on Cassian’s face would have been comical if the entire room hadn’t been holding their breath.

“Apologies, dear Matilda. I am simply stating–”

“You are simply posturing, you great peacock. Is this how you treat your allies? You should be ashamed.” She spit the words at him, and Eris did not miss the smirk Nesta tried to hide by pressing her lips together. Azriel’s brows furrowed and Cassian still looked as though someone had stepped on the great hooves he called feet. Rhysand made to speak again, but Tilly cut him off. “Speaking of the benefits of keeping you around, someone has done substantially less in this alliance than the other, and it isn’t Eris. What I see happening here is that Eris is providing you with valuable information to keep you, our court, and Prythian safe, but you’d rather engage in verbal sparring over semantics and berate him for fun. Pathetic behavior, especially for a High Lord.”

Eris was speechless. Tilly had read Rhysand to absolute filth, and truly, despite the amused look still firmly planted on his face, Rhysand looked almost deflated. Tilly looked him up and down like he was mud beneath her boot. She wasn’t done.

“When you’re done playing at High Lord and want to take a true threat seriously, perhaps then we can meet again if we deem it worthy of our time.”

“And if we deem it worthy of our time to tell Beron of your involvement with Night instead?” Rhysand was grasping at straws now, and Eris could tell. Everyone in the room could tell. Tilly did not back down.

“Then I will kill you and everyone you love. And I’ll rejoice in dancing around your funeral pyres.” A knife could cut through the air in the room as Rhysand narrowed his eyes on her, as though finally seeing a new opponent for what she was. “You know nothing of Beron or of what we endure. For us to even be here–” She cut herself off. “Do not speak of things which you have no knowledge of. It’s beneath even you.” She pushed her chair back, and Eris was smart enough to follow suit. She grabbed his hand and made for the door without so much as a parting word to the Night Court.

As they made it to the doors, though, Rhysand spoke again. “Wait.”

Tilly halted, only centuries of training allowed Eris to not slam into her back. “What?” She growled. Rhysand stood from his chair and approached them.

“I apologize, Matilda. It has become somewhat of a game between Eris and I over the years. I had not considered–”

“Had not considered what? How rude of you it might be to be a little extra cruel to him in front of his new wife? How you might try to belittle him in my eyes for the fun of it?” Rhysand had the dignity to cast his eyes down. “What sort of a male are you?”

“I apologize.” He turned to Eris. “I am sorry. We will have our spies in Autumn look into any suspicious activity on the borders.” Eris nodded. Rhysand turned back to Tilly. “I apologize for my actions today. I would never betray you to Beron.” Tilly nodded but did not back down, still lifting her chin to face Rhysand head on. Had anyone ever treated him so bluntly outside of his own family?

She had never been more beautiful to him; she commanded this entire room without a drop of magic used.

“And you will speak to Eris with respect. Brutish behavior does not suit you, Rhysand, and it’s unbecoming of someone in your position. I see the mask you wear, High Lord. Perhaps it would behoove you to see a bit of yourself in others, too.” With those final words, she turned on her heel and exited the room. Eris couldn’t help but turn over his shoulder and give his most stunning smile to the still gaping members of the inner circle as they departed.

Hands still grasped between them, they rapidly made their way through the dark tunnels to the deserted hall from which they came, not saying a word. Eris was a mess, his thoughts swimming all around in his mind, but in the forefront all he could see was his wife, his Tilly, standing up for him, standing against a High Lord on his behalf and scolding him as though he was a child.

He was giddy, he was emotional, he was more aroused than he had ever been in his life.

They rounded the final corner near the alcove where they could winnow out, and Eris pulled her hand back and slammed her against the wall closest to them, crashing his lips to hers. She made a whining sound into his mouth and he was gone. He dragged his lips from hers and pressed them hungrily across her jaw and down her neck, down her collarbone and across her chest. She wound her fingers through his hair and gods, he loved when she did that.

Eris dropped to his knees in front of her as her eyes shot wide. “What are you doing? Some will see!” She squealed, but the darkness in her eyes told Eris she wasn’t entirely concerned.

“Let them see.” He growled as he ran his hands up her legs beneath her skirts, ducking below and lifting one of her perfectly freckled thighs onto his shoulder. It was dark, and he was surrounded by nothing but the sweet smell of her–his wife, the love of his life, his defender, his partner in all things, his best friend.

Her pulled her undergarments to the side roughly and tasted her immediately, the need overcoming him before he could take even a moment to tease her. He could feel her already beginning to shake as he licked long, harsh strokes up and down her. He grabbed a handful of her lovely ass and pulled her even closer, smiling against her as the increased pressure caused her to buck against his face. He could feel her hands clawing through the skirts to unsuccessfully gain purchase on his hair as she spiraled out of control. He inserted a finger into her, then another.

Wet, she was so wet for him.

And he could hear her losing control of the noises she was making as he spun tight circles with his tongue around her clit as she fucked herself on his fingers.

With a strangled cry, she came hard, tightening around him and making him strain almost painfully against his trousers. There would be time for that later.

He slowed his movements and allowed her to ride out the waves of her orgasm, licking the last of her from his fingers as he emerged from her skirts to look up and find her blushed and heaving and undone, eyes looking feral and only at him.

He kissed her roughly on the mouth, but she grabbed his tunic at his hips and pulled his body roughly to hers.

“Mine.” She growled roughly, kissing him again.

And though they were still in the dark, horrid halls of the Hewn City, though Beron still held them beneath his thumb, Eris thought he might be the happiest he’d ever remembered being in his life.

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