#Genuinely I don't know how to tag this

[banannabethchase]

Supernatural, Cocky - also on AO3

~

Julia and Brody have to deal with the consequences of their actions: babysit the amnesiacs.

~

*wiggles magic fingers* We do not question the timelines of this series. The magic is creating time compressions. Shhhhh. Tis the finale of the House of Black Magic series! It is also the finale of my Bingo board for square G3! A double finale in one. This series was incredibly hard to write - brand new tropes, my least favorite fic framing device (supernatural/magical elements in non-magical canon my eternal rival), and the Pressures made this series a kick in the pants. But it's done, and I'm proud of it, and I hope other people enjoy it! Title from Moonlight Magic, like all the fics in this series. And, without further ado:

~

Julia’s blinded for a second before she hears Matt Jackson speaking down to Page like he doesn’t know him.

“Malakai,” she says. “Malakai, what happened?”

He starts swearing. “Get them in here,” he says. “And then you and Brody are getting everybody you cursed in here.” He sighs. “I think my magic was premature. I intended to wipe the lingering magical effects, not their entire identities.”

Julia stomps out and grabs Matt’s arm. “Get in here.”

Matt turns to her, giant, pretty eyes blank. “Who are you?”

“I’m your worst nightmare,” she growls. “Now get in the room.” She looks down at Page, looking surprisingly innocent and sweet on the floor. “You, too. Get your boyfriend to cooperate.”

“Boyfriend?” Matt says. Julia turns to him, and he’s lit up like a Christmas tree as he stares at Page. “You’re my boyfriend?”

“If the lady says so, I suppose.” Page draws himself to his feet, almost sheepish as he smiles at them all. “C’mon, sir. Let’s get in the room. I’m ain’t feelin’ quite myself.”

“Do I have a boyfriend?” Cutler asks, looking sad. “Or a girlfriend? I don’t even know my own name and I’m already a third wheel.”

“Jesus Christ,” Julia grumbles. “Just – go sit! Malakai will figure you out.”

She slams the door behind them. She has to find Brody – he has the worst timing to go get lunch. She misses her magic in the moment. She keeps bumping into people she would otherwise be able to skip past.

Brody’s snacking on some carrots, mid conversation with Danhausen, when Julia gets to him.

“You, go anywhere else,” she snaps.

“Danhausen does not appreciate your attitude,” the weird little creep says. “But he understands that this must be stressful for you what with losing your powers, so Danhausen will depart.” He stares at her. “But he will request an apology at a later date.”

“Whatever – Brody, come on.” She grabs his arm and yanks him toward the room. “We have to check on everybody we, um, interfered with. Magically.”

“Why?” Brody asks. “Danhausen and I were planning a toy run.”

“Yeah, well, Matt fucking Jackson opened the door when Malakai was mid-spell, so everything got messed up,” she hisses, low and quick under her breath. “So we’re on collection duty.”

“Collecting what?”

“Everybody we magicked,” Julia says. “Jesus, Brody, keep up!”

“You could be kinder about it,” Brody grumbles, allowing himself to be dragged by Julia. “Who’s next?”

They find Danny and Yuta, bickering with each other even without memories, and throw them into the room with Matt, Brandon, and Page. Malakai looks more and more furious as each person joins the room.

“Have you stumbled upon Castagnoli and Nick?” he asks.

“We didn’t affect them with our magic,” Julia says. “Why would we?”

Brody snickers. “Oh, I know what happened.”

Julia turns to him. “Share with the class.”

“I used my magic on Castagnoli back in WWE,” Malakai says, dropping his head into his hands. “And, from what I understand, he used the…gift, I gave him, you could say, with Nick.”

“Hah!” Julia says. “You aren’t perfect after all with the magic.”

“Watch yourself, Princess,” Malakai demands. “And go find them.”

Brody yanks Julia by the arm before she can say anything else, and they continue their search. It’s not hard to find the younger Jackson - Nick is walking around confusedly with a headset on, as if looking for someone. And they manage to find Claudio frowning in the BCC’s locker room.

“Oh, hello,” he says, annoyingly charming as always. “I don’t suppose you would be able to assist me with something.”

“With what?” Julia asks.

“I seem to have forgotten my identity,” Claudio says, and it’s so casual Julia could almost mistake it for a normal conversation.

“You’re Claudio Castagnoli, Swiss, and you like coffee,” Brody says. “Now come with me so we can get that identity back.”

“Of course I like coffee,” Claudio says, but at least he walks with them willingly.

“Get – go sit,” Julia says. “And nobody make out or anything.” She specifically glares at Nick, who’s looking at Claudio like he’s a piece of meat and Nick is hungry. Malakai is flipping with absurd speed through a glowing blue book Julia’s not even sure is corporeal.

“Isn’t he my boyfriend?” Matt asks, pointing to Hangman. “Wouldn’t we be expected to make out?”

“Not when you have no memories. God, you – watch the stupid show.” She turns on the channel to the feed of the network. “Great. Jurassic Park. You’ll love this.” Julia turns to see Brody watching the screen. “Get – Brody, come on!”

They search the venue and can’t find the Dark Order anywhere. After some attempts at covert questioning, they’re not booked today.

“I’ll text Alex,” Brody says. “See if he’s okay.”

Julia’s eyes narrow. “What do you mean text?”

He looks down, frowning. “What, I’m not allowed to have friends?”

Brody texts Alex, then gets a call back.

“Hey,” Julia hears Alex say. “What’s up?”

“Do you know who you are?” Brody asks.

Julia rolls her eyes. “That is not how you ask.” She takes the phone from his hand. “What’s your name?”

“Alex – Reynolds, is this Julia?”

“Yes,” she says. “Where are you?”

“I’m at home,” Alex says slowly. “Are you okay?”

Julia frowns. “Good.” She hangs up and gives the phone back to Brody. “Looks like people were only affected if they’re close enough to the venue and were strongly affected by the magic.”

“Which means we also need to find Kris and Willow,” Brody says. “And Mox.”

Julia groans. “Goddamnit. I hope his boyfriend isn’t here.”

“He’s not,” Brody says. “He’s got some house show.”

Julia raises an eyebrow. “How do you know so much about Seth Rollins?”

“Leave me and my google search history alone,” Brody grumbles. “Come on. Let’s go find everybody else.”

~

Mox is in the shower, staring at a wall in his clothes, in the BCC locker room. He hadn’t made a sound when they were in there before, which might be the strangest part of all of this.

“This is – fucking weird,” Brody says, turning to Julia. “Moxley? Hello?”

Mox turns to them, face blank. Julia’s beginning to wish she had her powers just to be safe. “That me?” he asks. “Moxley?”

Brody nods. “We can help.”

“Cool,” he says, frowning. “Woke up with no memory. Figured a shower would help, but…” He trails off as Julia turns off the shower, his clothes dripping. “Forgot to take my clothes off.”

“That’s probably a good thing,” Julia says, as gently as she knows how to be. “Come on. We can probably fix this.”

“You’re not gonna, like, kill me?” Mox asks.

“Definitely not,” Brody assures. “We save that for the ring.”

“Ring?” Mox looks down at his hand.

“Wrestling ring.” Julia leads Brody and Mox toward what she’s now referring to, in her head, as the cat herding room.

“Stay here,” she says, “see that guy in the back?”

Mox turns and nods. Malakai is hard to miss even without magic that allows you to see beyond the corporeality.

“You got questions, anybody messes with you,” Brody explains, “you talk to him.”

“New guy,” Matt says, “why are you wet?”

“And that’s my cue to leave,” Julia says.

“Be back soon,” Malakai says, voice deadly calm. “I’ll need both of your assistance.”

~

After mild begging, Julia gets Kris’ phone number from Chuck.

“Are you gonna try to kill her with your weird magic again?” Chuck asks, frowning. “She told me everything.”

“I’m going to try and protect her from magic,” Julia says.

Chuck frowns. “What the hell did you do now?”

“Just give me the number so I can fix it!”

She calls Kris five times in a row. She’s about to panic when, on the sixth ring, someone answers. They sounds out of breath.

“What the hell is so important you can’t let me get laid?!”

“Willow?” Julia asks.

“Yes, it’s Willow,” she snaps. “Six calls. In two minutes. I can only assume this is Julia.”

“Where’s Kris?”

There’s mild snipping and shuffling, and a new voice speaks. “I’m between Willow’s legs. Can you call us in, like, an hour? Or never?”

Julia blinks. “So you two – you know who you are?”

“Yes, somebody trying to get laid in a hotel.”

“And your names are…?”

 Kris groans. “Oh my god. I’m hanging up.”

There’s a click.

“Did you just cockblock Willow and Kris?” Brody asks. Julia decides not to acknowledge that he’s fighting laughter.

“Shut up,” she grumbles. “You have Ricky’s number, right?”

Brody nods and dials. Maybe, if they’re lucky, Ricky and Eddie are off in the hotel, as well. Maybe it’s just people here right now.

“Hello?” Ricky says. “Surprised to hear from you, Brody, after everything.”

“Where are you?” Julia demands.

“I’m sorry, how did you get my number and why do you think you get to demand a goddamned thing from me?” Ricky says on his phone.

“You remember who you are, but you’re booked this week so you’re definitely not at home,” Julia says mostly to herself, frowning. “How? Are you at the venue?”

“My boyfriend and I,” Ricky says, ice in his tone, “are attempting to have a nice lunch out together without interference from meddling idiots. Apparently, we didn’t do enough to prevent it.”

“Fine,” Julia says. “You two seem to have avoided the magic.” She hangs up while Ricky’s still complaining. “Brody, Eddie and Ricky seem okay.”

“That’s good,” he says, exhaling. “So…”

“So now we have to get back and see if Malakai has fixed things yet.”

When they arrive, Malakai is flaring reds and stark whites. Never a good sign.

“Are you good, man?” Brody asks. Buddy is next to Malakai, his magic a pool of soft, dusky oranges and forest-floor greens around him as Malakai borrows his magic.

“I’m fine,” Buddy says, “but Malakai here may be ready to commit murder.”

“Ready implies I’m ever unable to do so,” Malakai says, not lifting his eyes. “Glad to see the two of you back.” He closes the book and stands, using magic from his hand to lift Buddy to standing. At the very least, Buddy looks content and happy. “The only responsible magic user of mine and I must go solve this problem without people bitching around me nonstop.” His glares land on Matt, Nick, and Mox. “So, now you two get to babysit them,” Malakai says, striding to the door, gesturing to the rest of the people in the room. “I have to go do research on my own.”

“What?!” Julia and Brody yell in tandem.

“You two caused these problems,” Malakai says, leveling them with a glare. “You two will help me fix it. And the only way for you to help is if the two of you stop getting in the way for five minutes and I lock you in a room.”

“It was all her idea,” Brody says. “You know that, right?”

“Suck up,” Julia mutters, but the worst part is that he’s right.

“Your responsibility is to keep them in this room to the best of your abilities and escort them anywhere else they have to go to,” Malakai says. “Buddy and I will be elsewhere solving this problem of yours.” He reaches up and runs his fingers through Buddy’s hair. Buddy arches into it, and Julia is suddenly very struck by how much she screwed up here.

“Okay,” she says. She hasn’t felt like she’s disappointed Malakai like this before.

The door closes behind the two of them, and she and Brody turn to see all the others staring up at them.

“Matt,” Brody says, “why are you braiding Nick’s hair?”

There’s no response for a second.

“You, the one braiding the hair,” Julia says. Matt’s head snaps up. “What are you doing?”

Matt shrugs. “He has nice hair. I like braiding. I was bored.”

“Did – did you ask him to do that?” Brody asks Nick.

Nick shrugs. “No, but it’s nice.”

“Ugh, brothers,” Julia says, flopping on the couch next to Claudio. He offers her a bland, almost politically polite, smile.

“Brothers?” Matt asks. He drops Nick’s braided ponytail and steps in front of him. “We’re brothers?”

Brody nods and sits on the arm of the big chair that a dripping wet Mox seems to have commandeered. “Yeah. It’s a whole thing with you two.”

Matt flops onto the couch next to Page, who moves an arm to throw around Matt’s shoulders without a second thought. “You must be the older brother,” Matt says, and Julia’s a little baffled at how easily he curls into Page’s side, even without a memory.

“Why?” Nick asks. Despite being fully in a conversation, Julia catches him repeatedly glancing over at Claudio.

“Well,” Matt says, gently, “you’re a little taller, for one. And you’ve got that hairline thing going.”

“I do?!” Nick stands and looks at himself in the mirror. With a little shuffling, he yelps when he finds a bald spot. “I must be older, based on the hair.” He looks over at Matt, with an expression surprisingly bitchy for the Buck Julia can usually stand a little more. “You’ll lose yours soon, I assume.”

Julia snickers. “This is fun. I genuinely don’t think I’ve enjoyed myself like this since I got my belt.”

“Why?” Matt snaps, leveling her with a glare.

“Because you’re all still just as annoying without your memory.” She stands and gestures to the couch, where Brody sits easily. When he puts his hands on her waist, she drapes herself over him. “Also, Matt’s the older brother.”

Matt’s jaw drops. “I am?!”

“He is?!” Nick asks. He looks at himself in the mirror, pushing back his hair. “Fuck, I’m screwed.”

Julia blinks. “Did you just swear?”

“Yeah,” Nick says. “Why?”

“You and Matt have a thing about swearing,” Julia tells them. “You say second-grade shit like ‘what the eff’ and ‘eff you’ instead of being an adult and saying fuck.”

Nick wrinkles his nose. “That can’t be right.”

“Maybe we’re above that kind of language,” Matt says, and he mirrors Julia’s position, only on top of Page. Julia rolls her eyes. Even mind wiped they’re cute.

“From the look of it, you’re just annoying,” Mox says.

Danny and Yuta pause from where they’ve been bickering quietly in the corner. It strikes Julia as very possible this is the first time they’ve realized other people are in the room. “Do I know you?” Yuta asks, frowning toward Mox. “I feel like – I think I’ve heard those words from that voice before.”

“You two are in a faction together, along with this one,” Brody says, clapping Claudio on the shoulder. Claudio jumps. “Oops. Sorry.”

“I’m alright, thanks,” Claudio says. “Faction?”

“Like – okay, we’re all pro wrestlers. Right?”

Julia watches as Matt’s, Nick’s, and Danny’s eyes lightup like sunbeams. “We are?” Danny breathes.

“Yeah,” Julia says. Unfortunately, this is kind of fun. “Yeah, most of you guys in here have won some sort of big ass match or whatever.”

Brandon grins. “We have?!”

Julia grimaces. “Well. Okay, maybe not big matches, but big for you?”

“I can’t get anything,” Brandon mutters.

“You do have a boyfriend, I think,” Brody says. “He’s at home though.”

“It appears statistically unlikely that all those in this room would be partnered with men,” Claudio says. “Are you joking with us?”

“Okay, first off,” Julia says, “we’re in wrestling, so we’d call it a rib. Second.” She pauses as Brody adjusts her on his lap so she can get a better look at everyone in the room. “Second, no, I’m not joking.”

Claudio huffs. “Well then. I suppose at some point we have to prove a rule using the exceptions.”

“Why are you fucking with the vibes, man?” Mox asks. “You’re not the one dripping wet in a…” He trails off. “Is this merch for the channel where they show Doctor Who or something?”

Julia can’t help but laugh a little. “No, that’s the BBC. You – and him, and him,” he points to Yuta and Claudio, “are all part of the Blackpool Combat Club. The BCC.”

“I can assure all of you, I’m not from Blackpool,” Claudio says. Which is weird for someone with no memory to claim.

“None of you are,” comes Brody’s soothing rumble from behind Julia. “It’s a long story, but you guys have the name in honor of another dude. William Regal.”

Mox blinks. “That…somehow feels familiar.” He turns to Julia. “Is my name Dean?”

“Oh, no,” Julia says. “Not, um. Not anymore.”

“Okay,” Mox says, but he looks uncertain. “Then who am I?”

“Jon Moxley,” Julia says. “That’s who you are.”

The room goes silent for a moment. It’s a little unsettling.

And then the Shield theme rockets through the room.

“I think that’s you, Mox,” Julia says gently. “You don’t have to answer it if you don’t want to.”

Mox pulls out the phone and reads. “Seth…” He looks up at Julia. “I love Seth, don’t I.”

“You do!” Brody says. Julia can feel his excitement.

“Hello?” Mox says. “Hi, yeah – I love you, right?”

Julia can just make out Seth saying, “Yeah, of course you do. And I love you, too. Are you okay?”

“I think my memory. Um.” He looks up at Julia. “I don’t know what to say.”

Julia takes the phone. “Hey, Seth.”

“Who am I speaking with?”

“Julia,” she says. “Julia Hart.”

There’s a pause on the other end of the line. “Oh, god. Did you make him the feral animal man again when I’m not there?”

“No!” Julia says. “No, that, um. That one was actually on Malakai. Sort of.” She pauses. “It’s not relevant. You know who you are?”

“I do,” Seth says slowly. “Does Mox?”

“Actually,” Julia says, “he heard the ringtone – your old Shield theme – and knew he loves you.” She tries not to gag at how infuriatingly romantic that is. “Which is, I don’t know. What he feels for you overrode elemental chaos magic. That’s pretty impressive.”

Seth, and the whole room, are silent. “Can you put him on the phone?”

Julia hands it back to Mox.

“Hi,” Mox says. Julia’s never heard him speak this way.

She can’t hear what Seth says on the other end of the line, but Mox starts tearing up.

“Here,” Page says, leaning over Matt. He hands Mox a box of tissues. “It’s alright, man. Let it out.”

“One week he’s drinking blood, another week he’s being emotionally aware while being mindwiped,” Brody mutters in Julia’s ear. She laughs.

“What?” Page asks, frowning. “You got somethin’ against men showin’ emotion?”

“No!” Julia says. “Just – okay, recently you got in a match with a guy where you drank his blood. It’s a big shift.”

Matt’s eyes go wide and he turns to Page, who looks similarly disturbed. “You drank somebody’s blood?”

“I – apparently so,” Page replies.

“Don’t worry,” Matt says, shifting on Page’s lap. “I think that’s kind of hot.”

“Oh, god,” Yuta says, rolling his eyes.

“You get covered in blood all the time, too,” Julia says. “He,” she nods over to Mox, who’s hung up the phone and is patting his cheeks dry, “beat the crap out of you in a match, and you wrote BCC on your chest in your own blood.”

Yuta’s face goes a bit blank.

“Damn,” Danny says. “Okay, big man. Maybe you would win in a fight.”

“That’s what I’ve been saying this whole fucking time,” Yuta mumbles. “Hey, lady in charge.”

“Me?” Julia asks.

“Yeah, you,” Yuta says. “Are he and I a thing?”

She nods. “Yeah. We, uh. Brody and I body swapped you while back and you two have been together ever since.”

Yuta turns to Danny. “You wanna make out?”

“No!” Julia says. “Nobody is making out when you don’t have memories!”

Danny grabs Yuta by the front of the shirt and hauls him in, and Julia decides that fighting their basest instincts to fuck and fight each other really isn’t worth it.

“I assure you, ma’am, I will not be participating in any of this,” Claudio says. Julia’s eyes flick to where Mox is scrolling something on his phone with a smile on his lips, where Matt and Page and gazing into each other’s eyes, where Danny and Yuta are practically going at it on the floor.

“At least somebody’s listening,” Brody sighs.

“I’m listening!” Brandon says. He stands up and falls on the couch next to Claudio. “I’m not making out with anybody.”

“That’s because Reynolds is at home,” Brody replies. “Don’t worry. You have your own person.”

Brandon visibly relaxes. “After all this, I’m going to call him. Just to…just to know.”

Nick grumbles from where he’s still messing with his hair in the mirror. “Glad to hear everybody else is in love or whatever.”

“I –”

“I wouldn’t get into that if I were you,” Brody murmurs in her ear. “That one was Malakai’s fault, in the end.”

“Good point.” She looks back over at Nick. “I’m sure your memory will come back any time, and then you’ll remember that you and your friends and your brother created this company and you’ll be all happy again or whatever.”

Nick pauses. “I…created a wrestling company?”

Julia nods. “You and Matt, a guy named Tony Khan. Big wrestling mark, our boss. Two guys named Cody and Kenny, but Cody’s not here anymore.” She tries her best sincere smile. “This exists because a bunch of weird nerds took a chance.”

“The insult feels unnecessary, but okay,” Nick says. He relaxes, looking content.

The rest of the afternoon ticks by so slowly Julia feels like clawing out of her skin. She puts on another movie – Transformers seems least likely to cause problems – and waits for Malakai. And waits. And waits.

“The show’s going to start soon,” Brody says. His leg is bouncing so hard Julia’s slipped off of his lap and next to him. She’s a little squished between Claudio and Brody, but she’s distracted.

“I know,” Julia mutters. “Do you think we’re in serious trouble?” She glances around the room. Not everybody in here has a match, but most of them have something to do this evening. She leans in closer. “Should we start worrying about their memories yet?”

“No,” Brody says quietly. “I think we’re good.”

“Think?”

“Hope.”

Julia buries her face into his arm until he reaches out and pulls her in. “It’s going to be okay, Jules.”

“I know,” she says with a sigh. “But I miss my magic.”

“I miss mine, too,” Brody says. He adjusts her hat.

There’s a lot more she wants to say. She can see the effects of her actions around the room, though some are less negative than others.

She waits a little longer, until the ending scenes of the movie.

“We’ve got it.”

Everyone in the room looks up at Malakai.

“Everyone affected, stand.” His glare toward Julia and Brody is clear as day. They stay seated.

Malakai turns the deepest red, blood and rubies sparkling in a sunrise before a storm. He spins his magic in front of him. “Return their minds,” he speaks, in a language Julia doesn’t know how she understands, “return their memories but take none of the past few hours. Keep them whole.”

The red is almost too powerful. Looking at it hurts, somewhere deep in her mind, but she forces herself to keep looking. She wants to know how the magic can fix all of this.

If she knows how to fix it, maybe she can use it better next time.

It swirls and grows, with Malakai carefully instructing its placement. The magic seems to have a mind of its own, but Julia can understand that they’re lucky the ideas of the magic seem to align with theirs. She’d never known how powerful it was until she sees it laid over the bodies of her coworkers, working to turn them back to themselves.

Time, she’s fairly certain, has stopped. And then it hasn’t.

The room settles back to normal, the red dissipating until it’s nothing but a faint fog, and then gone.

“Okay,” Page says, shaking his head. “That was the weirdest thing that’s ever happened to me, and that’s saying something.” He wiggles his hand at Matt, who laughs.

“I don’t want to know,” Malakai says, dropping his head in his hands.

They go around the room, Malakai asking very pointed questions to ensure all memories have returned.

“Alright,” he says, nodding. “It feels appropriate to release all of you at this point. If anything – and I mean anything­ – feels like it’s wrong, you come to me.” He glares at Julia and Brody again. “You hear me? Me only.”

The group of recently re-memoried wrestlers nod and mutter in agreement as they leave.

“Thank god that’s over,” Brody says, falling sideways on the couch. Julia would be annoyed, but she’s just as relieved.

“Oh, it’s not over,” Malakai says. “Buddy, find a safe seat. We need to have them meet with the true origins of their powers.

“Meet with – what?:”

She can’t react. The world is swirling colors and patterns that Julia can’t name or understand, and she feels suspended.

Now you understand the responsibility of the magic, she understands through what’s around her, now you know that your motivations come second to mine.

“Who am I speaking with?” she asks. It’s less words than lightning coming from her.

The deepest of magic is the most dangerous, Julia understands, but lighter level magic also harnesses my power. Your Malakai has done his best to educate you on his own, but you required further reminders of your powers.

“I’m sorry,” Julia says with sparks. “I didn’t – I hadn’t realized –”

But you do now, Julia understands. And using magic as a toy is your way to lose it forever. And possibly your life.

Julia feels fear like liquid ice run up her spine. “Is this how I die?”

No, child, Julia understands, death is not for you for many years, if ever. Immortality can be given to those who wield power well and carefully. Do you think yourself capable of this?

“I don’t know,” Julia whispers with the flicker of a candle.

Good, Julia understands, for if you were sure so early, it would be proof you are not. Julia feels the whisper of a caress against her cheek. You are prepared to be a leader, little Princess. You will become Queen. But lessons will be learned along the way. Julia feels the liquid ice melt into comfort. And you’ve learned your first.

“Thank you.” Julia’s voice is a spark again. “I won’t – I’ll be more careful next time. More intentional.”

My princess, Julia understands, you may have some of your magic back. You will continue to earn more as the years go by, as long as your intentions remain true and you demonstrate the intentionality. It’s a brush like lips against hers, a touch Julia would do anything to feel again.

And then her eyes open. And she’s on the couch next to Brody.

“Holy fuck,” Brody says, his eyes opening. “What was that?”

“That,” Malakai says, looking far too calm for the situation. Buddy’s got his head on his lap, content. Little suckup. “Was the Goddess.”

“The Goddess?” Julia asks. “We – we spoke to the person we get our powers from?!”

Malakai nods, carding fingers through Buddy’s hair.

“I thought we got our powers from you,” Brody says. He rests his hand on Julia’s thigh until she takes his hand.

“If you’d listened,” Buddy says, “you’d know we’d always gotten our powers from the Goddess.” He looks up at Malakai with unbridled adoration. “Malakai is our conduit.”

“Did she forgive the two of you?” Malakai asks. “Do you have your powers back?”

Julia presses her lips together and holds out her hand. Her colors are slightly different now – a hint of magenta instead of pure red, but the majority is ocean-teal instead of pure green. “They feel…different,” she says.

“They represent the nuance you understand now,” Malakai says. The blue-grey of his skin, the deep blackened purple of his eyes. Julia’s never understood the meaning before.

“That’s why Cutler had yellow and blue,” she murmurs. “Why we had green, and blue, and pink.”

Malakai nods. “And why Buddy here has had sages, forest greens, and sunset oranges,” he murmurs. “He understood the responsibility from day one.”

“Always the perfect one,” Julia mutters.

“No one is perfect,” Buddy says. “But, yeah, I am.”

Brody chucks a pillow at Buddy using his newly orange-pink and ocean-teal powers.

“Hey,” Julia says, showing Brody her own greyish teal, “we match now.”

He beams over at her. “We do.”

~

Mini Playlist: Moonlight Magic - Ashnikko Magic - One Direction Magic - The Cars God is a Woman - Ariana Grande

[hollowwish]

You guys do realize a lot of watcher fans complaining about the six dollars don't just need to "cancel their disney+ or hulu subscriptions." They're the people who ALREADY can't afford streaming services. It's not that they should be supporting independent creators over big corporations, it's that they literally cannot afford to do either.

[wonboos]

favourite genre of gose editing

[gabe-lovebot]

councilor 3D model

i learnt 3d modelling from the ground up to bring him to life. he's yours now. do whatever you want with him

[link]

please credit me if you make something using the model (or even ping/link me to it, i would love to see what you made!)

currently available as a .blend, .fbx and an SFM port.

[aq2003]

has anyone gotten the idea that odysseus' storyline in hades 2 is a depiction/exploration of trauma over his SA and how he's blaming himself for things that were out of his control? because that's the impression i'm getting from what i've seen. he talks about "goddesses" as his "greatest weakness" and that "he's not one to say no to them"...

when mel invites him to the bath, he brings up mortals having different standards for intimacy than gods and how it usually has a more romantic/sexual connotation. she then asks if he's uncomfortable and he has a startled reaction and brings up circe and calypso again (but never actually by name)

(this isn't ship/romance bait btw. odysseus knew mel as a kid and they're stated in-game to have a sibling/uncle-niece relationship)

also he grew apart from penelope after his return, but the game makes a point of showing that his love for penelope and telemachus is what drove him on at all so that element of his character isn't brought into question

[starrysharks]

evilution

[elspeth-catton]

i'm so so sorry to the people that didn't get to see saltburn in theaters because imo it was truly the best way to watch it

feeding off of the energy of all the other people in a packed theater, it feels SO much more voyeuristic with strangers sitting right next to you in a dark room with all your senses heightened, the soft gasps, the shocked laughs, people mumbling "what the fuck" to their movie partner next to them under their breath, i cannot describe the high i got off of seeing it in theaters

the genuine goosebumps i had from the soundtrack in surround sound, from rosamund's gut-wrenching scream, it is just not the same at home

i feel like if you didn't see it in theaters, it's not fair to give it a terrible review because it is really a completely different experience

[uncanny-tranny]

The obsession with "natural = good" isn't truly rooted in what is "natural" but is rooted in complex politics based on what is deemed "natural" by others - those in power. The whole "natural is pure, is right, is morally just" has not historically applied to the marginalized because of our supposed proximity to the "unnatural." Our bodies, our behaviour, our lives and souls will continuously be defined as "unnatural" so long as "natural" remains seen as pure and godly, so long as "natural" is equal to power.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

A-i-t-a because my now former friend's bf was pretending to be a trans male and talking about bottom surgery on a forum and it made me very uncomfortable around him? Everyone is 20+

For context, my friends boyfriend started saying online he was an afab trans male, when no, he was a cis male. I asked my friend about it cause I'm sorry, she has shown me his penis before, and she had a talk with him about it. I told them both his actions were inappropriate because he was being very vocal about being afab trans male and a lot of underage people were contacting him for advice on transitioning . This resorted in him deleting his social media and remaking. Well, he didn't delete everything. I found out he was in this forum that talked about bottom growth for afab transitioning. I read things that made me very uncomfortable, like him lying about his bottom growth. So, I confronted him and said how inappropriate it is for him to be doing that cause one of the people he became friends with was underage and I found out they sent him photos of you know. My friend said I was being an asshole and I had to respect his fascination with bottom growth.

I'm not friends with either of them anymore, and he's began lying again online he's a afab transmasc. So, am I an asshole for being uncomfortable about this? Now, I'm not trying to be the moral police, but I feel so uneasy knowing he's talking to minors about their bottom growth. Maybe I need to go touch grass, but idk if maybe it's my moral obligation to be worried he's being like this with minors. Also, there's other reasons besides this why I cut off ties.

What are these acronyms?

[mothric]

hello my fellow autism havers I have a favour to ask

so I've discovered one of my special interests is "people in extremely niche video game communities with extremely specific skills who do insane things with limited technology that was not designed to do the insane things they're making it do"

FOR EXAMPLE:

the 13 year old kid who just beat Tetris by reaching its killscreen for the first time in 35 years of Tetris history

Tim Follin, who made ridiculously good video game soundtracks for the most mediocre NES, SNES, and arcade games that all pushed their soundchips to their absolute limit

the half-A-press mario 64 guy who talked about parallel universes, does anyone remember that guy??

the guy who used Super Mario World's code to overwrite itself with a fully playable version of Flappy Bird

the guy who made Pokemon Red (also fully playable) inside Minecraft

I do not understand what any of these people do or how they do it, and I have no interest in doing what they do. but every single time I find out about some absolutely bonkers hyperspecific accomplishment like this, 500 million neurons fire in my brain all at once and I am enveloped in such rapturous joy that I feel like I'm going to fold up and transform into a giant mech and blast the sun into smithereens. I love these people and their achievements so so much. I love trying and failing to understand the logistics of what they did.

so basically what I am asking is if anyone knows any more about ANYTHING like this - any pro gamer, speedrunner, ROM hacker, etc, who's devoted inordinate amounts of time and energy into breaking games, pushing primitive machines to their limits, setting records I didn't know existed, and accomplishing things that have very few real-world ramifications but are cool as hell within their respective communities. the types of things that make bystanders sneer "imagine if they put this much energy into curing cancer" but make ME go "yes! yes!!! I love you for achieving your deranged goals!!! do it more!!!!!!"

be it videos, articles, or your own infodumps, I'll happily devour any information you have. thank you in advance my compatriots

[captainswhore]

@chamomiletealeaf and i are discussing some things 👀👀

how y'all feeling about a poly!141 x barracks bunny sorta situation

(rouge i wholeheartedly encourage you to post this before i can- PLEASE. you'd do it more justice than i ever could!!!)

[noa-ciharu]

Way too many people online need to learn that minding your own business and not caring about fandom stuff you don't agree with is actually a healthy thing to do

See hc, fanart, fic, ship, character, piece of media etc. that you don't like? Scroll further. Block the op if you must or blacklist the tag or eventually vent in your own private space or to a friend in DMs. But don't make your discomfort everyone's problem by harassing people and make fandoms worse place for everyone

[castoff-comic]

Y'all are spoiling me with fanart lately oh my goodness ;-;

Thank you so much for drawing my babies I've genuinely been in shock for months at how much stuff is in the tag lately

w-weh ;n;

[revvethasmythh]

It is interesting, in retrospect, how during and immediately after their encounter with Delilah in episode 77, you can see it actively dawn on Imogen that Delilah is a 24/7 voyeur to everything that happens to/around Laudna, including her relationship with Laudna. Delilah taunts them by saying, "I'm always here" and Imogen whispers to herself, "Always," like this is the first time she's realized it and then immediately starts trying to plan a way, any way, to separate them, including saving the gods from Predathos specifically to call in a favor from one of them. It's such a numb, sudden, harrowing realization. It build perfectly to her admission of disgust when they were in the Fey Realm a couple episodes later

[mrmarielda]

aria meets a fan....

Ali (as Aria)[extremely awkward]: So yeah! If you just follow me on, um... [pained laugh]

Austin (as a fan)[confused]: I can't-- We can't-- But once we go inside, we can't access the mesh. How am i gonna know... Also I follow you already, you haven't posted anything about a secret show! Unless, do you have like a secret account i can follow?

Ali (as Aria): Right! Yeah, it's no longer @AriaJoieOfficial [bursts into laughter]

Austin (as the fan) [intrigued]: Ooooooh?!

[Keith and Ali laughing in the background]

Art: This is like one of those Instagram scams, except that the actual person is telling you to your face!

Austin (as the fan): What? It's no--

Keith [interrupting]: You've actually gotta sign up to my Whatsapp.

Austin (as the fan): It's NOT @AriaJoieOfficial? But Aria Joie Official still posts?

Ali (as Aria): Well, yes! Right! Right! It's, like, um, exclusive!

Austin (as the fan) [intrigued again]: Ooh! What's the-- What's the account name?

[Ali takes a deep breath]

Ali (as Aria): Um. Um. It's Aria Joie, but the As are fours.

Austin (as the fan) [palpably disappointed]: Oh. [Forcing themself to sound excited] Okay! I'll look it up!

Keith: This has gotta be, at this point, this person's like, "Someone has gotten plastic surgery to look like Aria Joie.

Austin: This is exactly it.

[Ali laughs]

Keith: Yeah.

Austin: The camera looks down and sees how many-- So the camera looks at their phone, or their interface, right, 'cause they're not looking at their phone. They have, like, you know, digital eyes, or whatever. Robot eyes. And they're looking at the, uh, screen. And we saw the Aria Joie account that has, like, three trillion subscribers, or whatever. But then it shows the Fouria Four-Foie account.

[All laughing]

Austin: How many subscribers do you have? [long pause as Ali thinks] 'Cause it ain't trillions!

Keith: It's--

Ali: It's not a trillion! But it's-- Is it-- [starts to say a number but quickly changes her mind]

Keith: Can I tell you my first thought was 334.

[cross-talking]

Austin: Yeah! I think it's NOT many!

Ali: 334! Okay! I was-- I was like-- What's the--

Keith: I think it can be whatever you want it to be, but that was my what's the funniest low number of followers? 334.

Ali: I didn't know if, like, 26 or, like, 300 was it. Because it's like are there only-- Is this the only people she's spoken to, like, on COUNTER/Weight so far? Or is it, presumably, somebody who googled Aria and accidentally, like, pressed on her.

Austin: No, you did not. No. You did not get the SEO at all. There's no fucking way.

Ali: There's stans, there's a reddit, you know!

[crosstalk]

Keith: For Fouria Joie?

Austin: There are Aria Joie RP accounts that have more followers than you!

Ali: Right.

Keith: Right.

Ali: Well, yes. Yeah. Uh-huh.

[Austin laughs]

Austin: I think it's low. I think 300's probably right.

Ali: 300 is... yeah.

Austin: And I think that they just go--

Austin (as fan)[weirded out] : Very exclusive!

Ali (as Aria): Well, yeah! I--It's, um. I'm just reaching out to the people on COUNTER/Weight right now.

Austin (as fan)[dismissive]: Okay.

Ali (as Aria): Are you just visiting? Or are you from the...

Austin (as fan): Yeah? Im-- Y-yeah. Mhm. I'm visiting. Yeah.

Keith: Oh my god. Now it's this person that's trying to get away.

Austin: Yeah. Uh-huh! Exactly.

[All laughing]

Art: Let's see where this person goes to get away, we'll follow them in.

Keith: Oh my god.

Austin (as fan): I have some-- Oh, you know, it was so good to meet you. I'm gonna tell all my friends. But I'm--

Ali (as Aria) [interrupting]: Is this your first time to the Sill?

Austin (as fan): Yeah, I haven't been here-- In fact, I have to go take a call. For Work. Uh. If that's okay. Sorry.

Ali (as Aria): Oh, I understand! Yeah!

Austin (as fan): Big fan! I love... all the songs.

Ali (as Aria): Do you wanna take a picture?

Austin (as fan): No.

[Ali laughs]

Austin (as fan): I don't wanna, uh.

[Art and Ali laughing]

Austin (as fan): I couldn't post it anywhere. 'Cause I don't wanna give away the exclusive part!

Ali (as Aria): Oh, no, you could!

Art: You should fuckin' play a show when this is over just to mess with this person.

Ali (as Aria): It's like, submersive, you know?

Austin (as fan): It's submersive?

Ali (as Aria): It's like unscheduled.

Austin (as fan): Like it goes under water?

Keith: Underwater!

[All laugh]

Keith: Canonical.

Austin: Ca-nautical!

[beat of quiet and then everyone laughs]

Art: Heeeyyyy!

Keith [laughing]: Ca-nautical!

Austin (as fan): Yeah, we could. We could take a picture. You wanna? Come over-- We could take a picture.

Austin: And they're wait for YOU to come over to them.

[All laugh]

Austin: And they're doing--

Jack [interrupting]: This is the most busted Aria Joie interaction, and we did a full series of...

Austin: They're doing-- They're making-- They're standing in such a way that you're hover-handing!

[Ali and Jack laugh]

Keith: Um. Mako is very loudly sipping on the end of... You know when you're done with a soda and you can [imitates the sound of sipping through a straw from an empty cup]. Like, this is the noise I've been making for like twelve seconds.

Austin: We're back, baybey!!!

[steakout-05]

i might get some hate for this depending on where this post goes but i think lesboys are so valid and the discourse about them is so ridiculous. like you guys shouldn't have to deal with all that and it frustrates me that people throw hissy fits over an identity that literally does not affect them at all.

"but men cant be lesbians-" wrong. butch lesbians and trans men have a really closely connected history with each other that practically intersects and you should really do some research on that before you make blanket statements, not to mention that gender and sexuality is weird and wobbly and fluid and a very personal experience. it means a different thing to each person. being a man can be something completely different and saying stuff like this ignores people like demiboys, demigirls, genderfluid and genderflux people etc. these people will really preach "demolish the gender binary!! love is love!!" until someone's relationship with gender and sexuality is a little too freaky for them to handle and be challenged by lmaoo

"ohhh but what about the cishet men who say they're lesbians to prey on women-" YEAH WHAT ABOUT THEM????? THIS AIN'T ABOUT THEM BRO!!!!! this argument also REEKS of terfy "trans women are just predatory men!!!111!!1" rhetoric and it grosses me out. yeah some men are gross and do try to pull this but that does not negate someone's entire identity completely just because of a few bad actors, you know that right? actual black and white behaviour.

queer discourse is silly and i don't know why it's a thing. just let people exist. it isn't that hard. we have worse things to worry about than whether someone calls themselves a lesboy or not. i think we need to unplug our ears and yank our heads out of the sand and remember that the queer community is what it is because of our unique and amazing diversity. arguing over labels like school children isn't gonna help that. damn.