#I know lots of people prefer the ace of spades in general

[mysunfreckle]

Suits for all my Aces~

Feel free to use for anything non commercial! Happy Pride💜

[cupids-chamber]

❝ 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐄𝐓𝐒 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐂𝐇𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐌𝐀𝐒.. .ᐟ ❞ Shall we look underneath the tree? And see what he got you..

GENDER NEUTRAL READER A/N: Ortho's part is strictly platonic, each part is different. Also, I do not think I wrote the letters well, but I did smthing!!

— MALLEUS

Matching charm bracelets, engraved with the date the two of you first met. One of the greatest moments of his life. Small little dangling charms of Gargoyles attached to each bracelet. And if you squint your eyes, and check behind the heart charm, you'll find the engravings "M.Dracona +Y.L/n"

— LILIA

A scrapbook of all the memories he had shared with you, each page filled with your favorite colors and aesthetic. He put a lot of effort decorating everything just for you..

— SILVER

A small album, filled with all his favorite moments with you. He couldn't think of anything better, it seemed like the best gift.. A album of all the best memories he shared with you..

That's not to say that all the memories and moments he has created with you were bad, he loved all of them! But their are particular memories that fill him up with immeasurable warmth, and he hopes you'll feel the same.

— SEBEK

Sebek couldn't figure out what to give you, something that could highlight and really show you how much he loves you.. that's when Lilia pitched in a idea to him...

Sebek's gift was filled with multiple letters, in a handmade/hand painted box, the letters were filled with sweet messages for anytime he may have upset you.. He's not the best at expressing his love, but he hopes this gift could provide you some comfort..

— IDIA

He personally hands you the gift, it was a photo frame of sorts, a small blue bow displayed at it's front. The device flipped through photo's of the two of you together, and it held gif's and whatnot.. Attached with a audio box of your favorite songs.. "I made it myself.."

— ORTHO

A perfectly wrapped gift was displayed underneath the the tree, inside there's a small figure of you and Ortho holding hands, he didn't know what to give you, to be exact.. so, instead he choose to get you something sentimental.. He heard from a certain somewhere that sentimental gifts were much more thoughtful then others!

— KALIM

Kalim decided not to go too grand for the scenario, giving you a multitude of gifts would erase the sentiment of a gift in general..

Instead he choose to give you a few small handmade trinkets, and small things he saw you eyeing, efficiently showing that he pays attention to where your eyes travel when going out shopping or on dates.

— JAMIL

A small bracelet with your birthstone, he didn't quite know how to leave a lasting impression with his gift, but he knew he was happy for your birth.. so the aspect of a birth stone suited the scenario well..

— RIDDLE

A customized pen, with a small spell attached, so you can change the smoothness and colour, it's pretty friendly with people who want to learn cursive..

It'll have his name engraved, in a place where he assumes you wouldn't have noticed.. The gesture itself was lovely!

— TREY

A beautiful large basket, filled with all sorts of pastries.. Savory and spicy snacks. Everything specialized to your tastes, he paid close detail as to what you preferred eating when creating the basket, it was sure to last you for quite the while.

— CATER

A personalized acrylic map, it displayed the date of your first ever confession, and the place. The painting could have used a bit of work, but the gesture was filled with love..

— DEUCE

The gift box was black, with a blue spade on the top instead of a bow. The ribbon was carefully done, to have the gift look as pleasing as possible.. Inside you could find a music box, with a message! It read:

"To my dearest partner, I can't really express how I feel within words but you brighten up my day Seeing you smile makes me smile.. I love you"

— ACE

Couples bracelets, that looks like handcuffs. It's a stupid joke, when you ask him he'll say, "Then we'll literally be attached together". The joke may have not been what you expected, but the gesture was cute.

— VIL

A personally hand picked and assorted candle set, he finds candles extremely calming, and uses them when he needs a light stress reliever, he's been noticing you felt a bit stressed lately.. maybe it was Crowley? Regardless.. he can't have you dying on him, can he!?

So, he took the time and effort to make you a personally assorted candle set.

— ROOK

A collection of small bow pins, and whatnot.. Things to go on your hair, etc.. Essentially, a box of trinkets, that follow a hunting theme, some were cute bunnies the others were a variety of things!

He hand picked the trinkets, to make it all the more meaningful!

— EPEL

And engraved wood sculpture of an apple, carved with beautiful details.. The wood work was utterly beautiful, the gift would be wrapped in a small white box, with a sparkly purple ribbon..

A small note would be at the front:

"Not to be sweet or anything.. The design is inspired by my heart racing.. Whenever I speak with you"

— AZUL

A mini piano, it's completely playable. Yet it seems like it came out of a doll house, it's custom made to match one similar to what Azul has.. Something you have witnessed Azul playing first hand..

— JADE

A small necklace, in the shape of a letter.. In the back of it a small note and declaration of love was written, signed off as J.Leech.. (Yes these exist)

— FLOYD

A stunning art piece of you.. in puzzle form.. The trick is that there are over 1000 pieces.. And the two of you will need to work together to put it together..

Halfway through he'll get slightly bored, but since he caused this mess.. and he's doing it with you.. He'll enjoy it.

Plus your focused face is cute.

— LEONA

He's not good at sentimental gestures and whatnot, and definitely sucks in this category of giving. So, he decided to give you a necklace, engraved with his name of course..

He is your al-mighty Leona Kingscholar. (Who will never be king)

— RUGGIE

A handmade 30 day, scratch off.. Each day, you'll scratch and find a goovy picture of you two together, or a sweet message he wrote to you..

At the very last day, you'll find a small letter, it'll be a letter where he expresses his more vulnerable side, writing down how he truly feels for you..

— JACK

A personalized gift box, once unfolding it there will be many compartments you can open up and read notes, letters, quotes, etc from your lover!... As for the gift, he had a given you a handmade candle!

© cupids-chamber, do not repost, plagiarize, translate, or adapt my work without prior permission and or confirmation from me.

[awoogahonkhonk]

There’s actually a lot of TWST characters who I think would (or wouldn’t) partake in the devils lettuce sooo here are some TWST weed Headcanons.

~~~

Also, Ik they teens. Teens, don’t do drugs. But I did as a teen and am still not of age, high while writing this soooo yeah. Please remember that this is fiction and these are fictional characters.

Note: not all characters are in this list. If I didn’t add a character it’s either cause I had nothing of substance to say about them or I don’t know the character enough to make a proper headcanon. Also if I say something wrong I’m sorry I’m not a connoisseur I just do what I get.

Warning(s): General talk about weed, Yuu is a stoner(maybe idk) in this, cursing, unedited and written by someone under the influence

~~~

Riddle Rosehearts: As much as I want him to, and I think he would actually benefit from it, he wouldn’t. Especially pre overblot but also post. And it’s more than it’s against the rules. All he knows about marijuana is what he’s learned from the anti drug PSA’s his moms had him watch. And he hates the smell. And his fragile lungs can’t take smoke. And he doesn’t trust edibles or like the taste. So, as much as I want him to just give it a chance and chill tf out, it’s a firm no.

Trey Clover: He’s impartial. Doesn’t like smoking, or getting high in general but he doesn’t have anything against others doing it. May smoke in group settings but rarely. He will 100% make some fire weed brownies if you ask. Also, number one guy to be with if you get the munchies.

Cater Diamond: I think he’s tried it, had a bad high, and never touched the stuff again. Might be convinced to try again with some close friends but only if they know what they’re doing. Also, acts like he knows what he’s doing but ends up hacking up a lung.

Ace Trappola: Yeah why not. He’s down to try anything once. Actually likes being high with people, like him and Deuce and Yuu have reg smoke sessions and he loves it. Just likes the feeling idk. I don’t think he smokes alone tho. Likes flavored pens.

Deuce Spade: Will attend every smoke session and get a second hand high but will rarely actually participate. He thinks he has to be the responsible one while Yuu and Ace get high off their asses. But he’s not against smoking a little every once in awhile.

Leona Kingscholar: For sure dude. Someone is almost always on something in Savanaclaw so he’s been around his fair share and tried a couple things. Doesn’t like the smell from joints cause yk beast man heightened everything. So he prefers edibles or pens. Pens still stink to him but not as bad. Casual stoner. It helps him sleep when everyone in his dorm is all riled up over nothing. Gave Ruggie his first edible but was not happy when he had to take care of him after he greened out. (I have so many nsfw thoughts about Leona and smoking with Yuu omg don’t)

Ruggie Bucchi: Like I said, first time he had an edible he greened out. In his defense, the dosage was way too much. Leona kinda forgot he wasn’t as tolerant as him. He didn’t really want to do it again after that but he figured out smoking was easier cause he could gage where he was better. So now he’s a lil stoner. High Ruggie = ravenous Ruggie. Like Fr you’d think this kid was starving the way he was shoveling shredded cheese into his mouth, straight out the bag.

Azul Ashengrotto: Just gonna make a blanket statement now, none of the mer students smoke. They aren’t technically supposed to have lungs and filling those lungs with smoke is just painful. So he doesn’t smoke. He’ll do an edible every so often, usually to help him sleep, but that’s it. IS the campus dealer tho. He knows a guy. He knows quite a few guys actually. Hooks everyone up, for a price.

Jade Leech: Never has, never will. Has absolutely no interest in it. Doesn’t like not being in control of himself. Will be around when others get high though, he thinks it’s hilarious. Especially when people do too much and get sick.

Floyd Leech: Complete opposite of his brother. Will get high anytime, anywhere, with anyone. It hurts to smoke, like I said previously, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t trying. It’s actually getting better. He also thinks smoking looks cooler than edibles. High Floyd is a very cuddly monster. Will squeeze anyone who gets close enough. Just be thankful that he’s too out of it to use his full strength.

Vil Schoenheit: Will loudly advocate against it and ban his dorm from doing it but probably has a secret stash somewhere. Only Rook knows about it. He’s stressed ok?! You try being a famous actor/model/fairest in the land.

Epel Felmier: My boy wants to. He really does. He thinks it looks so cool, and if Yuu can do it so can he! But the smoke burns his lungs and edibles taste bad. But that doesn’t stop him from trying!

Idia Shroud: OKAY so there are two ways I could write this. Cannon how he probably is, or headcannon how I want him to be and see him as. Cannon, he probably talks a big game but actually knows jack shit about drugs of any kind. And is kinda scared to try. But he will, to seem cool. Ends up coughing up his heart but he tried and that’s what counts. And now he can officially say he’s ‘done weed’. Headcannon, Idia as a little loner stoner. It calms his nerves and makes it easier to talk to people. Usually if he’s out of his dorm, he’s high. He’s also high when he’s in his dorm. It helps him sleep and he thinks better with a lil weed in his system. May have developed a small codependency but that’s okay(no it’s not seek help). Mr wake and bake.

Malleus Draconia: Weed? Like, dandelions? What? He’s so confused when someone offers. Why would you smoke weeds? Lilia has to explain it to him three different ways before he gets it. He’ll try, but please give him an edible. It’s for your own safety. His lungs could probably take the smoke but if he ends up taking a hit too big he will cough up flames and not little ones. Very spacey once he’s high. Will stair at the ceiling for hours and say absolutely nothing.

Lilia Vanrouge: Has, will, wants to rn actually. Lilia lived through the 70s, he’s done almost every drug known to man, and probably some not yet known, at least once. Why not? He can take it. Doesn’t smoke often but also does? Idk how to explain it. Likes flavored cartridges more than anything else. The weirdo who fucks with cotton candy. He gets bad cotton mouth tho so… I mean, if you believe in the vampire theory like I do…👀

Silver: The first time he smoked was with his dad. He walked in on Lilia and a bong when he was like 15 and Lilia was like cmon m’boy. Now, he’s concerned that Lilia wasn’t more careful and exposed him so young but that also means he has an okay relationship with weed. Like, he’s able to make his decision firmly due to plenty of experimentation. He hates smoking and edibles generally but will absolutely body some weed brownies.

[caycaysdiamond]

Puff Puff Pass ~ Smoking HCs

No request just like writing to not be stressed.

All characters/dorms | what they smoke and how they act around others who do Just for fun. Smoking is bad blah blah. Mentions of weed, hookah, cigarettes, vape. Cursing.

Heartslabyul ~

Riddle Rosehearts

No.

Don't even try it around him.

Trey Clover

Trey occasionally smokes weed with Cater but that's it.

Great at rolling 🙏🏽

Don't even THINK about smoking cigarettes around him because he's immediately rating for hours about how bad it is for your teeth.

Has a PowerPoint and everything.

Cater Diamond

Cater def smokes weed AND vapes

His vapes aren’t the sweet ones either, it’s like mint, spearmint and all those variants

Pulled his vape out around Riddle one day and almost lost his life

Riddle was like what was that cloud and Cater was like lmao you’re seeing things silly~

Anyways when it comes to weed, he smokes pretty regularly. Usually alone too, it’s a relaxing thing for him.

Can roll however will make Trey do it for him regardless if Trey smoking with him or not

Prefers to smoke from a bong or pipe and has a pretty collection

Doesn’t really fuck with edibles too heavily

Has gone to hookah places with Kalim and Lilia, not often but occasionally tags along with the two

Ace Trappola

Ace will occasionally smoke weed and that’s it

HE CANNOT ROLL DO NOT LET HIM FOOL YOU!!!!!

Also doesn’t like bongs he’s lost on his own fr

Cigarettes , vape etc is GROSS to him and he will shame you for doing it

“EW IS THAT A VAPE!?!!” Bro shut up—

Ace doesn’t smoke alone however says it’s like drinking alone and that’s lame

His favorite people to smoke with is Epel because he’s “10 times funnier high” according to Ace and Cater because it’s a rare to see his upperclassman not faking how he’s feeling

More often than not Ace pops edibles because it’s just easier than smoking and no smell since he shares a room with 3 others.

Has tried to make his own but it’s either not strong at all or wayyy too strong

Deuce Spade

Deuce has definitely tried smoking (weed) at parties but he’s really not for it

It’s not something he’ll go out of the way to do yk, it’s a social thing for him and only occasionally

He won’t try anything other than weed !! He will not hit your vape or your cig, weirdo

He also doesn’t really fuck with edibles because he feels like the high is way too long and it makes him a bit anxious that someone might catch him like that (he’s so real for this)

He will smoke with Ace when no one wants to / is around

Savanaclaw ~

Leona Kingscholar

Leona has smoked weed before HOWEVER I don’t think he does it very recreationally

He doesn’t smoke with others, no one even knows

It’s more of a thing to help him relax occasionally when he’s stressed

Ruggie rolls for him because what does he look like doing that for himself????

Has a pipe too but like just prefers to make Ruggie roll for him yk ???

Nothing else smoking wise touches his lips, he really cares about his health in that way

Ruggie Bucchi

Dealer #1 of NRC (money is money and rich kids don’t know the real prices of anything)

Makes edibles and sells them with Floyd

Ruggie has tried everything, okay ? Personally doesn’t like cigarettes and usually is high from smoking.

Can roll, godbless.

Does not care if it’s rolled or from bongs/pipes—weed is weed!

Smokes both alone and with others fairly equally

He’s really just vibing tbh

He’s a lot of people’s favorite person to get high with because he’s the dealer (duh) and because he’s just fun in general to smoke with. Ruggie just has amazing vibes love him fr

Jack Howl

Another big fat no

He cares about his health way to much

He’s a star athlete like cmon

He won’t heavy lecture others on why they shouldn’t but he will be like bro :////

Octavinelle ~

Azul Ashengrotto

Another no, he doesn’t care for it or see the appeal but doesn’t care what others do

He does, however, HATE the smell of weed

However, he does know a good business opportunity when he sees it

He lets Ruggie and Floyd use the lounge kitchen after hours for their edibles and he gets a share of the profits 🫡

Floyd Leech

Dealer #2 of NCR

Floyd smokes weed however usually he’s eating his own edibles !

Usually if he’s smoking it’s a bong or pipe because bro cannot roll lmaooo

Bro is a heavy vape user however,,,like it’s bad

Floyd hits in class and everyone around is like !??!?!?!? BRO???

RIGHT IN FRONT OF TRIEN???

Crowley has definitely had an assembly about not vaping in class because of him

He definitely has a drawer(s) full of his old cartridges and single use vapes

He loves the sickeningly sweet flavors so much

Definitely turns into the where’s my juul song when he can’t find his (we’re going to get you help fr…)

Nooot big on cigarettes or hookah however but not like that matters when he vapes too damn much

Jade Leech

Not a smoker, doesn’t care

He loves, however, observing people high.

Jade does shrooms that’s enough. Do not drink his “special blends” of teas

Scarabia ~

Kalim Al Asim

Y’all are gonna hate me for this take but they hated Jesus because he told the truth!1!1!1

Kalim is one of the biggest smokers at NCR and I’m NAWT debating it.

The only thing he doesn’t do is vape but weed?? hookah?? cigarettes?? Yes.

9 times out of 10 Kalim is high and no one realizes it

“That’s just how Kalim is.”

People have staged an intervention for Floyd and his smoking and he’s always is like Kalim is really the one who needs this and no one believes him it’s so damn funny

Anyways Kalim has an extensive bong and pipe collection, often he buys some for Cater <3

He kinda sucks at rolling a blunt tbh but he’s trying :)

Has hookah dates with Lilia <3

Loves social smoking

Just enjoys in general

He’s rich he doesn’t have to think about is health 🥱 jk but

I think Kalim started smoking as stress relief, bro has had multiple death threats over the years that’s terrifying

Jamil Viper

Jamil cannot stand any type of smoking and it’s mostly because Kalim does it

Certified hater

If anyone needs to smoke weed it’s this bitch

Pomfiore ~

Vil Schonheit

Okay, another one people may not see the vision of but these are MY hcs damn it !!!

We know that Vil is theeee health guru so like no one can really see him being a smoker of like…anything

No one would believe it either

However, Vil does smoke, it’s rare but it happens

He smokes the same cigarettes as his parents

It’s a stress thing for him. It builds up and like the only thing that helps him is sitting in front of his vanity and smoking like his mother did

Or sitting in front of his window and smoking like his father does

The smell brings him to home and to somewhat simpler times

He has one of those old fancy cigarette holders

A pack last him a while

Vil had smoked around Rook and doesn’t mind him being around when he does

Rook Hunt

Another non smoker

How can he hunt if is prey could smell him

He doesn’t care about others doing it as much

Epel Felmier

Another weed smoker and edible eater

Another person who shames vapers 💀

And shames cigarette smokers

Him and Ace are so ANNOOOYING

Definitely eats edibles more than smokes just cause Vil definitely beat his ass after he came back to the dorm reeking of Mary Jane

Epel can roll…ish. Its not pretty by any means but who cares

It’s better than Ace

Erm doesn’t own any bongs/pipes anymore cause Vil found them

Mostly Epel smokes at parties/hangouts and like desperately sprays those fancy perfumes to hope Vil doesn’t notice (he does)

When intoxicated in general Epel is funny to be around (according to Ace)

Ignihyde ~

Idia Shroud

Iiiii really can’t imagine Idia doing anything ???

Like there’s no particular reason either, I just can’t imagine that loser (affectionate) smoking ANYTHING

caffeine addiction via energy drinks is ENOUGH me thinks

Ortho Shroud

Um…I don’t think…

I don’t think mechanical life forms can smoke 🤓☝🏽

However if he was able, I think he would have smoked weed before bc of Ace and Epel

Diasomnia ~

Malleus Draconia

I don’t see him smoking anything tbh ???

Maybe I’m lame 🧍🏽

Lilia Vanrouge

Yes.

Yes everything.

He’s lived for years so I can see him trying just about everything

However I think his favorite thing is hookah!

I’ve already mentioned his hookah dates w/ Kalim (and sometimes Cater)

That’s about the only thing he regularly does tbh

Weed/Vape etc. definitely would just be a more “oh someone offered at a party sooo…”

Though he can roll pretty well!

I gotta be honest now he’s the only person in diasomnia I see as a smoker fr….

This section is gonna be so empty sobs

Silver

Okay maybe I lied literally JUST two bullet points up

I feel like Silver has definitely *tried* things because he’s close with Kalim

I don’t think he necessarily likes to smoke though

Doesn’t mind what other do however, very chill about it

Sebek Zigvolt

Definitely NOT chill about it

Public shaming, LOUD public shaming

ARE YOU VAPING IN CLASS????

IS THAT WEED? THATS NOT ALLOW-

It’s kinda funny

Everyone knows to steer clear of him when smoking anything <333

[floral-poisons]

!! dolled up anon here! sorry i didn't specify but yes whole cast if possible <333 thank you skjdhfsdjk

gotcha anon!! time to get into it!!

NRC STAFF

dire crowley

“personally i’m not one to dress up. but i’m starting to regret it.” you laugh a bit seeing as crowley was in something more casual. “but you look radiant (y/n). anyways we should get going. i am paying for dinner after all. how generous of me.”

ashton vargas

“i guess i’m lucky you chose where we’re going for the first date.” he laughs. you ask why. “well you’re all dressed up. and i would hate to take you somewhere that might ruin your new clothes, you know.”

mozus trein

“i haven’t been on a date in a while. but i guess it’s appropriate to dress up for a first date.” mozus wiped off some imaginary dust on your shoulder. “you do look amazing (y/n).”

divus crewel

“well, i didn’t think you’d outdo me.” divus moves his sunglasses to let them rest on top of his head. “you didn’t. but i’m happy to know that you dressed up so we can be fashionably late. let us go (y/n) and show the world our style!”

sam

“we’re only going bowling you know.” he teases. “either way, you look great. but i’m more excited to see the look on your face when i win.” you gasp and immediately remark that you will win instead. “oh we’ll see (y/n)~”

RAMSHACKLE

enma yuuken

“hey (y/n), you ready to go?” he asks before you turn around, telling him you’re all ready. a faint blush covers his cheeks. “you look amazing...” his mouth suddenly felt dry and words were on the tip of his tongue. but he couldn’t say anything really.

DIASOMNIA

malleus draconia

“you were already stunning. but i never thought you could exceed that.” malleus gently takes your hand and presses a small kiss on your knuckles. “truly, nothing can compare to you. not even the stars.”

lilia vanrouge

“i’ve seen a fair share of people getting dressed up for events and first dates.” you ask if it was too much. “never dear (y/n). let me tell you about this one first date my friend went on...”

silver

“i wasn’t expecting you to dress up.” he smiles. “i don’t mind. you just didn’t have to. but it means a lot that you did and that you’re thinking about yourself. plus that eyeshadow looks amazing on you~”

sebek zigvolt

“this is a bit nostalgic for me...i guess.” his cheeks go pink. you ask what about it. “well it reminds me of my parents. sometimes they’d have date nights you know. and my father would dress up for my mother. and it was...sweet. you remind me of him actually.” he smiles. “particularly with your love of cardigans.”

HEARTSLABYUL

riddle rosehearts

“well, it’s nice to see that you got dressed up.” it made riddle feel a lot better since he had gotten dressed up. “i know we’re not going anywhere fancy. but i wanted to look my best for you. and you also look amazing.”

trey clover

“you know, your outfit kind of fits the rules for the queen of hearts.” trey teases to which you scoff and roll your eyes. “but seriously, you look amazing. and i think red is definitely your color.”

cater diamond

“oh (y/n)! you got all dressed up! and you look amazing.” cater immediately pulls out his phone and takes a selfie with you. he quickly captions it. Our first date! Don’t they look amazing? #FirstDate #(Y/N)sBestLook #GreenIs(Y/N)sColor

ace trappola

“this is certainly different from your normal attire!” ace looks at your whole outfit, circling you and your makeup. “and it’s also different from your usual makeup.” you ask if there’s something wrong. “no! never! you just look amazing. which you always do!”

deuce spade

“(y/n)!” his face goes red. you ask if something’s wrong while trying to keep the laughter to yourself. his face was so cute and priceless! “i...i...” he was completely speechless.

POMEFIORE

vil schoenheit

“i know you don’t prefer makeup. but it definitely is your thing.” he smiles. you say it’s because you learned from the best. “well, i am honored you think i am the best. though of course, purple is my color~”

rook hunt

“my, my trickster! you look so stunning! i am blinded by your beauty!” rook placed a hand on his forehead and feigned a slight fainting motion. “i am not worthy to gaze upon your beautiful form!”

epel felmier

“you didn’t have to wear makeup and dress up you know! we’re only going to dinner and then see a movie!” epel’s cheeks were pink. he had refrained from dressing up too much and doing his makeup. you tell him you wanted to make your first date special. “well it’s special because i have you...”

SAVANACLAW

leona kingscholar

“we’re just going to go watch a magift game you know. and it’s hot.” leona purses his lips. you respond that you wanted to look good in the pics on magicam. “i mean you look great regardless. but i’m just warning you ahead of time in case your makeup starts melting off your face.”

ruggie bucchi

“oh, dressing up?” he chuckled. “you look amazing. but we’re not really doing anything aside from going into town and having food.” you tell him you want to look good when you take pictures. “well just don’t be like cater and take too many okay? i wanna spend time with you~”

jack howl

“you got dressed up for our date?” jack becomes flushed. “well i didn’t dress up. mostly because i just got back from a game.” you tell him it’s okay and that he looks handsome regardless. “i can’t help but feel like i’m one of those guys who puts 0 effort in their looks and their partner puts 110% effort.” you laugh and tell him he could never be one of those guys.

OCTAVINELLE

azul ashengrotto

“oh (y/n)! are you ready to go on our date-” azul stopped in his tracks seeing you. “w...wow...you look amazing. i don’t feel too bad that i’m all dressed up. it is quite the prestigious restaurant we are going to. i heard their fried food is amazing!”

jade leech

“(y/n) i have arrived.” jade saw you and his cheeks went pink. “my you look stunning. as stunning as these flowers i got you.” he smiles. “here. they compliment your outfit too!”

floyd leech

“oi, oi shrimpy~ i didn’t know you were capable of getting dressed up.” floyd saw you wear casual clothes a lot more often. “you didn’t have to get dressed up though you know. but i can’t help but think of how all the first years will be jealous of me hee hee~”

SCARABIA

kalim al-asim

“whoa! (y/n)! you look stunning!” he exclaims giddily before squealing. “and that eyeliner! it looks amazing! next time i should just come here early so you can do my makeup!” you laugh in response and tell him it sounds like a plan.

jamil viper

“you know it’s just a date, right?” he asks, flushed. “you didn’t have to get dressed up...” you respond that you wanted to. “well that’s okay. you do you. you look great though.” he smiles before taking your hand. “let’s go.”

IGNIHYDE

idia shroud

“you look amazing!” he managed to say without a shake in his voice. it was a surprise to you. “you’re so attractive. well i mean you’re always attractive!” his face goes red. you laugh and say you know what he meant which allows his shoulders to slump and relax.

[problemsleuth]

Please it's pride month u legally have to tell us ur midnight crew and problem sleuth gay headcanons

ALKFDSJF MAN WHAT tbh i havent been thinking about them that much this much but i will do it for you buddy

edit: ok now that i'm done im actually all jazzed about ps/intermission again so thank you for this ask anon LOL i had a lot of fun getting to ramble on about stuff and have an excuse to neglect work HAHAHA

guess we'll stay topical and go with like gay awakening headcanons or related. just as a general reminder this is assuming theyre all humans since carapacians probably dont have sexualities defined

Problem Sleuth - I like the whole deal where sleuth assumed he was milquetoast straight for most of his life until he met slick and was like uh oh im bisexual arent i! i think he had other close call moments but sort of mental-gymnastics'ed himself into believing it was just admiration for their hardboiledness or like Friendly Comradery fit with all the intricate rituals to touch another man. fighting and arm over each others shoulders while drinking away at the bar sort of thing. falling in love with slick sort of hit him like a truck, injuries and all. he still sometimes grapples with old habits dying hard though. no i will not elaborate :( sorry.

Hysterical Dame - think she knew for forever she was bi, like i think she had a lot of anime ass moments back when she was in school where a lot of girls would fall for her Roguish Charms and outgoing personality and it was relatively easy for her to explore from there. very much the girl knight in shining armor sort of effect from her willingness to get into fights as well.

Pickle Inspector - wow i think he was well aware he was queer from the get-go. he always knew he was weird or whatever because of his grab bag of issues and quirks, so i think him realizing he was attracted to whoever was not really that big of a deal to him. less of a gay awakening more of a gay "oh i accidentally put an extra box of cereal in my shopping cart. ok". i think if he wasn't literally crawling out of his skin with psychosis and anxiety he would enjoy old drag culture a lot. but as it stands now its way too elbow-to-elbow social and young for him to really get into it. and he's much too busy... (excuse)

Nervous Broad - similar to Sleuth surprisingly i think she had a very late sort of deal where she had the classic "wait, you dont act this way when you see cute girl?" moment with her gal pals from uni. HD being very easy to get along with and very direct made it easy for NB to realize she was developing feelings for another woman. i think NB is very much like bi/pan (she doesnt really get or feel strongly about labels) but she has a really strong preference for femmes.

Ace Dick - apologies to ace dick likers who disagree but AD to me is like the Staple Early 1900s Man from the Adverts. he has a lovely wife who he loves so much and a rambunctious boy he plays catch with on the weekends and they sit around the radio to catch the regular mystery hour. he's aware that there's been a few men about town that he'd probably be willing to get to know more personally in another life, but he's fully satisfied with his little city-suburbia Classic Heterosexual Middle Aged Couple dynamic. so basically no salient gay awakening type moments, just in tune with himself to be aware hes probably not classically as straight as people assume him to be. i also like to joke internally that he considered sleuth one of those aforementioned "men about town" before the guy went and opened his mouth, demolishing the thought before it had even finished forming HAHAHA

===

now for the midnight crew...

Spades Slick - very much has lived by the code of living dangerously, down to his partners. usually tends to be drawn to the kind of people who give the impression of someone who would not have many qualms about slitting your throat in the middle of a hookup. scarysexual. think thats why in my head he's had a few on and off moments with droog (even though truthfully, droog is a lazy stringbean of a guy, despite the outward reputation that precedes him). its for sure why he's so drawn to Snowman, even though their dynamic from start to finish has never been anything close to a healthy relationship. but they both feel it works for them, so they keep going. (i think this is why him shacking up with sleuth was such a surprise to everyone that knew him well - sleuth's soft, and worse, he's got a working moral compass. that's not slick's typical mark. but he gives as good as he gets all the same, in both fighting and fucking, so slick doesnt think twice about how he's breaking status quo. and thats how he ends up catching feelings along the way). i got off topic. tldr; slicks never really thought about his sexuality so no real gay awakening moment either. more of a whoops caught feelings moment, since that was rarer and later in life.

Diamonds Droog - WORST case of hetero posturing you'll ever encounter ever in your life. kept a lot of Tasteful Female Nudes on and around him to """""accidentally"""" let slip to ascertain YES he is SO HETEROSEXUAL. there is NO DOUBT that he LOVES WOMEN. in reality he's been painfully aware that he's into men since he was practically a teen and has worked to cover that fact as thoroughly as possible since. i like to think that contributed to how he got so good at lying. and also why he's repressed as all get out fuck and extremely extremely private about his sex life. normal relationships whomst? anyways id like to direct everyone to helen's (@jawbonejoe) catholic guilt portion of the droog headcanon corner because that basically sums up a similar idea LOL

Hearts Boxcars - he's like droog where he had his gay awakening in his teen years but he was normal about it. he's just not as obvious to clock because one of his biggest hobbies is indulging in corny romance novels which are (for the most part) hetero, is passively religious, and happens to be very courteous to women as well which paints him a little as a stereotypical southern gentleman. but no hes very much a big gay man who hopes to settle down someday right proper.

Clubs Deuce - kind of a natural airhead sort of charmer, so has naturally had a lot of people of various gender identities approach him for a date or two early on. he also doesn't see the point of saying no as long as he likes them somewhat, and boy he sure does love people! later he finds out there's nifty names for the kind of people you like to date, and they come with fun colored flags - well ain't that just swell? when he gets later into his crew involvement in his early 30's, he gets less people approaching him right off the bat for intimate socializing, and since he's not really the type to reach out himself, he kind of stagnates for a while dating-wise until he hits his middle years. then he becomes Kind Of A Dilf and gets back into the dating scene. so not so much a gay awakening either.

===

im zooted atm so apologies if anything is confusing or run-on, but that's basically the 411 on my sexuality headcanons for the team and crew respectively. hope u enjoyed anon!! sorry it's long. i didnt get too much into gender stuff because to be honest, my headcanons on their gender journeys are a lot less solidified in my head. i like to go with whatever headcanons the people around me lean into, since i dont feel strongly about them. this is probably because i dont feel a strong attachment to my own gender. like if gender is a spectrum i am a mote of dust that is floating nearby. generally my defaults tend to be that PI and NB are very much genderfluid and nonbinary, slick is trans (if human - i assume that due to the nature of carapacian production, gender doesnt have the same meaning or impact as it does with humans, and therefore gender identity isnt really something that's needed for them. unless specifically they're formed and prototyped into a universe that is heavily impacted by gender, in which case they can understand it conceptually. otherwise theyre out here presenting however they want down to like re-prototyping their bodies to comfort), DMSG is intersex and identifies as a woman (whoops shes not technically team sleuth but i think about here a lot), and sonhearst likes to identify as transmasc (i like to imagine AD and WH sort of being boomers about the lingo but very much being fully supportive and loving parents about it. heart in the right place sort of comedy vibes).

[takuyakistall]

to yuu.

Note: I wanted to write short HCs for each character as they wrote the letter when I finished reading everyone's thank you messages (◕ᴗ◕✿) ! All of them are very cute and I couldn't help but get some midnight rot so I had to write it down. Here's the link to the post where every message is listed down. Before you start reading, just a heads up, most of these are written in a romantic light. I also recommend reading the letters themselves first before heading here.

Characters: All students + Grim (Excluding Ortho)

Riddle Rosehearts

"Dear friend," Riddle thought that it was the most appropriate way to address you—or at least, that's what his brain is trying to make him think. Ever since overblotting and you helping him snap out of his frenzy, he had difficulty in labeling what exactly you were to him.

Before everything, you were supposed to be just a mere acquaintance to him and yet here you were sending him gifts out of the blue. The general "rule" towards receiving gifts was to give the giver your thanks. Albeit the better option was to thank you personally, he thought that maybe a letter would be better so that he can sort out his thoughts.

Friend. He nodded, proceeding to write down the rest of his message until he realized that this was an opportunity to invite you to tea with him under the pretense of paying you back for the gift. He furrowed his eyebrows slightly as he continued writing.

Surely, you would accept his invitation, right?

Trey Clover

"Hey you," was that too casual? Too rude sounding? Trey shook his head as he stared at the two words. He hadn't been expecting a gift from you and frankly, he was more than a bit surprised. Though perhaps he hadn't read the "gift" part when he suddenly started writing down questions about what you liked.

He immediately started thinking of how he should pay you back—gifts? He doesn't know your taste that well. Favours? Hmm, he's not too sure about that one. That's why he decided to ask, if there was something you wanted—he'll do his best to find it for you. A tempting offer, right?

It seems like you have to tell him that this wasn't a trade.

Cater Diamond

"Helloooooo," he started off. The extra amount of Os he used was proof that he's trying to take this occurrence casually. Though in the inside he was absolutely beaming. Gifts never fail to put a smile on his face, especially if it came from someone you didn't expect to give you a gift or someone special to him.

In this case, it was probably the latter. He took a small break as he stared at your gift, wondering what he should write. A small smile took over his face as he picked up his phone and snapped a few selfies of him with your gift with a caption before hitting the post button.

"Received a gift from a dear friend, isn't it amazing? ♪"

Deuce Spade

"Friend," Deuce rarely got to experience receiving gifts from friends to one another judging how his past years were spent as a delinquent. To say that he was happy to receive one from you was an understatement, he was over the moon.

He felt the need to mention it to you with a huge grin on his face. He thought of various ways to give you something back as he let out a small hum, he felt like he was having a field day. He signed the message and told himself that today was going to be a great day.

Ace Trappola

"Hey you," Ace was terribly suspicious of the fact that you sent him a gift out of the blue. Were you trying to buy him silence over something you did? Were you trying to convince him to do your homework for you? A lot of questions springed up inside his mind but not once did he think that it was just a genuine, sweet gift with no ulterior motives hidden beneath.

He knew that you would get mad at him if he continued to suspect you so he said that he was kidding in all caps with three dots after that—which didn't help his situation at all.

He felt awkward trying to convey his feelings like this and he ruffled his own hair as he told you that he just needed to tell you something later, when you're face-to-face. That would make it easier for him to speak.

Leona Kingscholar

"Good day," Leona uncharacteristically typed. He felt like he was being held at gunpoint by his past etiquette teachers as he tried to think of an appropriate response. If it were up to him, he would've just slapped a "thank you" on a piece of paper and asked Ruggie to give it to you.

Though he thought that perhaps it was better for him to actually put in effort for once. Even if it seemed like his so called effort seemed like something he just stole from the internet—that was more than enough, right? He'll just put his signature at the bottom and ask Ruggie to give it to you.

Ruggie Bucchi

"Hey you," a big grin took over his face as he wrote down his first few words. He wasn't as experienced as other people when it came to writing down messages of gratitude, he once tried consulting Leona about it—asking how to make it sound decent only to be met with an answer that went like: "Just put whatever."

And that's what he did! Truly, he's thankful for receiving a gift. For a split second, he wondered if he should share it with the people back in his homeland. Though he pushed that thought to the back of his head as he signed the bottom of the paper with his signature. He'll figure that out once he gives the letter to you.

Jack Howl

"Friend," he doesn't know what to say it's embarassing. Even in letters, he still manages to retain that straightforward yet somewhat roundabout personality of his. A tinge of embarrassment seeping through the letter.

He wished he could've just talked to you in person instead but alas, he was stuck here trying to rack his brain for words. In the end, he felt like it was best to keep it simple—the slightly demanding tone at the end was the result of him getting flustered at the thought that it's possible that it could be a date between the two of you.

Azul Ashengrotto

"My dear friend," Azul couldn't count the number of times he had crumpled a piece of paper and threw it into the trashcan only to get a new one—rinse and repeat. Jade and Floyd had to stifle their laughter when they saw how distressed he was over a single message. Though, perhaps that was the fruit of his unconventional feelings towards the giver.

He didn't want to sound too stiff and professional to the point that he sounded like a robot but also, he didn't want to sound too casual to the point that you might find it weird. He had to let out a small sigh as he ruffled his hair, another piece of paper thrown into the trash can before deciding that he should just play it safe and give you a free drink.

Jade Leech

"To my dearest," oh no. His hand slipped and accidentally made his greeting more intimate than it should be, he could go back and change it but—fufu, where's the fun in all of that? His lips tugged up into a smirk as he continued writing, knowing full well that what he was implying would evoke an interesting reaction out of you. But, if that wasn't enough to stir you up a bit then why not put a little more something? He was a prick this way.

He spotted an empty space on one of his shelves in the corner of his eye, glancing at it for a few seconds before an idea popped into his head. A smile that barely showed off his sharp canines, hidden beneath his gloved hand.

"Truly. Would I lie to you?"

Floyd Leech

"Little shrimpy," he grinned. Floyd was in an especially good mood today after receiving such a thoughtful gift from you. He played with his pen in hand, spinning it around as a distant look took over his face when he tried thinking about the reason why you gave him a gift out of nowhere.

Knowing that Floyd pays a little more attention to you than others, he was bound to be curious and he was more than eager to find out—there's always a reason behind someone's actions, after all. He tried expressing his intent to get the answer out of you which came out a little threatening but if you saw the look on his face there's no mistaking that it was an even bigger threat than you initially thought.

Kalim Al-Asim

"Hey love," Kalim was as straightforward as ever. Not a single filter as he wrote down his raw feelings. There was no reason for him to hesitate especially now that he was practically about to shake from pure joy—he was incredibly close to signing the letter and hopping into his magic carpet to give it to you personally but Jamil was there beside him to stop him if he ever does that.

Though that didn't mean that it was gonna stop him from wanting to ask you out on a magic carpet date with him, he'll just have to explain to Jamil when you accept his invitation. That is assuming you'll accept, right?

Jamil Viper

"Dear friend," Kalim practically forced him to write a letter back to you. Jamil wasn't an ingrate, he knew when to show gratitude when it was appropriate but he preferred thanking you in person. He had to settle for this in the meantime, he thought that maybe he'll just invite you to Scarabia to talk about what he could give in return.

He hadn't really expected a gift from you, especially with all the trouble he might've caused you due to his overblot. Though he didn't think it was all that bad. In fact, he felt a little relieved that you didn't hold any grudge against him.

Vil Schoenheit

"My dear," Vil had an unmistakable smirk placed upon his lips. The choice of words he wrote managed to give out a slightly smug vibe as he stared at your gift on his desk. Impressed by your ability for finding him a suitable gift, he decided to give you a little bit in return.

His smirk slowly turned into a gentle smile as he imagined your face probably tearing up at the thought of him giving you a signed card, he couldn't help but put an offhanded comment near the end. But it was quickly followed up with a single bit of rare praise from him.

Rook Hunt

"Hey love," Rook was always one to act dramatically whenever he had the chance and even in letters, he managed to sound dramatic. As soon as he realized that you had sent him a gift he started gushing about how wonderful it was and how inspiration was raining down on him like tiny droplets.

What's a better way to let his raw emotions out than poetry? That's right, this man wrote you a poem expressing how he feels because of your gift. He almost forgot to say his gratitude because he got carried away but thankfully, Epel pointed it out to him before he could give it to you.

Epel Felmier

"Dear friend," he rarely got any gifts from anyone outside his relatives so when he saw you give him a gift, he was excited to say the least. There's always a certain joy you can evoke in a person when you give them a gift it was almost euphoric for some. He thought that it was sweet of you to give him a gift and decided to give one back with a small message.

Friend. For some reason, it felt a bit off addressing you as that but he quickly shook his head and shot down that thought. As for his gift, he prepared a little something he made himself. Hehe, he's quite proud of it too!

Idia Shroud

"@YOU" it was interesting how Idia didn't bother changing to formal speech when he decided to give you a thank you message for your gift. He's typing the same way he would to his friend, namely "Crimson Muscle", but perhaps that was because he didn't know of any other way to talk to you without sounding unnatural or weird.

People would normally not even think about giving him something and yet you gave him one. He couldn't help but smile a bit when he said how you were a bit of an oddball—he came up with various nicknames for you inside his head. Most of them being different words for the term "weirdo". Yet they always had a hint of affection whenever he would think of it.

Malleus Draconia

"Dearest," Malleus started off. It was rare that he received gifts from people outside his family or nobles back in the Valley since a lot of people found him intimidating—terrifying for some, even. He was glad that you felt comfortable enough around him to show simple gestures such as these. Upon receiving your gift, Lilia noticed how it came from you and urged Malleus to write his thank you message differently from how he usually writes it.

Did you perhaps know of the legends surrounding the Thorn Witch...? If so, then maybe he could sneak in a little joke. The gift of beauty and the gift of song—ah, nevermind. He pursed his lips slightly, he'll just handpick a gift for you himself. A small gargoyle statue, maybe. Or he could ask the other members of Diasomnia to help him.

Lilia Vanrouge

"My dear," his lips formed a small smirk. Lilia appreciated all surprises, big or small. Though, in particular, something about your surprise gift made him more excited about it than usual. Was that just his old age getting to him or was it something else? He couldn't be bothered to think about it that much.

As a form of gratitude, he weighed his options. It was either giving you a gift back or letting you ask a favour of him. He thought the latter would be more acceptable until an idea popped into his head as his eyes sparkled with a hint of mischief. He knew you didn't know what it exactly meant but he gave you his signature nonetheless—he'll leave you to figure out.

Silver

"Hey you," Lilia taught Silver that it was common courtesy to show gratitude when someone gives him a gift. He tried thinking of countless ways to say thank you with his old man bugging him to ask you out on a date instead in the background. In the end, he paid Lilia no attention and instead went with the standard short message and giving a gift back.

He urged himself not to fall asleep as he typed out his message even though he already let out a yawn without him noticing. He glanced at the screen blankly, wondering if he forgot to add anything until he slowly felt himself snoozing off. Head resting on the keyboard and typing out whatnot. When Lilia arrived at the scene, he didn't bother waking him up and just sent the message as it is.

Silver was so embarassed the next day and refused to talk to Lilia temporarily.

Sebek Zigvolt

"Human," he didn't even try addressing you as anything else other than that even in letters. When he found a gift lying by his room, he was a tad suspicious but loosened up when he read the tag attached to it. As stated, it came from you and the gift was meant for Malleus—wait, what. Sebek scrunched up his face as his eyes scanned the words printed on it.

"To Sebek Zigvolt" This was a mistake, right? Sebek was a bit flushed but quickly shook it off by saying how it was probably a subterfuge or whatever that was. There was no way it was for actually for him, right? Surely, you must've sent this in hopes of hearing more about the great Malleus Draconia. Right?

That is... Wonderful!

Grim

"Dear underling," it was cute how he made an effort to write you a letter despite being in the same dorm wherein he could just talk to you directly. But perhaps he was so touched to the extent that he wanted to do this—did you give him tuna? He struggled thanking you properly and ended up boasting about how he was going to be the greatest sorcerer.

Even though he called you underling at first, he couldn't help but soften up a bit. That didn't sit right with him somehow, he didn't know why. He let out a groan as he racked his head for a more appropriate word until-!

Partner... Sounds about right.

[alexsfictionaddiction]

10 Dark Academia Books You (And I) Should Read This Autumn

Over the last couple of years, books set in academic institutions with a general spooky vibe have been given the label ‘dark academia’. I’m not sure whether there are enough books of this nature to say that it is a genre all on its own but it definitely has its roots under the horror/thriller umbrella. These books often follow young, smart characters and feature brutal violence, intricate plot twists and settings that are haunted by their own dark history. Classic dark academia darlings include Donna Tartt’s The Secret History and The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde.

As someone who loves both school and college settings and mind-bending mysteries, dark academia could have been created for readers like me. I’ve been lucky enough to enjoy a handful of them over the years and there are a lot more of them on my TBR. Here are 10 books that tick the dark academia boxes that I think you should check out this spooky season.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke.

Piranesi may have always lived in the House. He knows the endless Halls and Vestibules bedecked with stunning statues very well and keeps meticulous records of everything that happens there. Piranesi is alone most of the time but twice a week, he meets The Other, who also lives in the House. The Other is on a mission to find the Great Knowledge and he’s sure it’s somewhere in the House. But then, evidence that there is someone else in the House begins to appear and suddenly Piranesi’s World starts to feel very strange and scary. As the recent winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction, this book is everywhere at the moment and it was even in my most recent Alex Recommends post. However, it more than deserves all the hype it gets. It’s beautifully written, intoxicatingly absorbing and fantastically strange with a mind-blowing twist that lingers long after you’ve finished it.

The Devil Makes Three by Tori Bovalino.

Tess is working the library of her boarding school over the summer, when the grimoire-obsessed Eliot Birch begins his search for forbidden tomes. Together, they discover an ancient book in the depths of the library and unleash a demon, who is intent on staying free from his inky prison whatever the cost. The premise of this book is thoroughly unique and Bovalino manages to create a very tense, chilling atmosphere with malevolent eyes everywhere. It’s haunting, genuinely scary and manages to throw in a sprinkle of romance and wit too.

Bunny by Mona Awad.

Samantha prefers to spend time in her own head than with the rest of her creative writing class, which includes the Bunnies -a clique of cutesy girls. But she is also strangely bewitched by them and can’t resist an invitation to join them in a private writing workshop and into the world of the Bunnies. However, reality and fantasy begin to blur and this could have very dark consequences. With very strong Heathers vibes, Bunny is a much-loved story exploring the loneliness and desire for belonging inherent in so many young women as well as the horrific power of our imaginations.

Never Saw Me Coming by Vera Kurian.

Chloe is a smart, regular looking girl with a long-term grudge that must be avenged. She also happens to be a psychopath. At her college in DC, she is part of an innovative study on psychopathy led by experimental professor Leonard Wyman. No one outside of Dr Wyman’s research team know who else is in the program -not even the participants themselves. But then, a couple of students are murdered on campus and coincidentally, they were both part of Dr Wyman’s program. Chloe takes it upon herself to find out who the killer is because she knows that statistically, it must be one of her fellow psychopaths and it appears that they’re hunting people just like her. This psychological thriller combines a page-turning mystery with scientific discussion on psychopathy and characters who shouldn’t be easy to love but who somehow are. There’s also a fantastic twist at the end that may well actually be unguessable!

Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé.

Chiamaka is head girl at the elite Niveus Private Academy and will stop at nothing to get what she wants. Devon is a promising musician, thoroughly focused on his performance. An anonymous secret spiller, known only as Aces, is determined to bring these two high fliers down and let everyone know what the only two Black kids at Niveus did to climb the ranks of the school. This YA thriller has been a hugely popular and much talked about release of 2021 due to its shocking twist and intricate commentary on institutional racism. 

Oligarchy by Scarlett Thomas.

Within the walls of a Hertfordshire girls’ boarding school, Natasha arrives to discover a student hierarchy based on being thin. All the girls have eating disorders and Instagram obsessions and are constantly competing to be the best. The story of Princess Augusta, whose portraits adorn the walls and whose ghost is said to haunt the corridors, is known by everyone but no one really knows much about the princess herself, which Natasha finds odd. Then Natasha’s friend Bianca goes missing and the school becomes even stranger and darker. Touching on the need to be loved, teenage female friendship and the darkness that both of these things can unleash, Oligarchy is an intriguing mystery with humour and social commentary running through it.

If We Were Villains by M. L. Rio.

At a prestigious arts college, seven actors are immersed in the works of William Shakespeare. In fact, they’re so immersed in their characterisations that they seem to all play the same roles off stage as they do on stage. When one of them is found dead, it’s up to the remaining six to pull out the best acting performances of their lives as they try to convince the police and each other that they’re all innocent. Cleverly written with some very unique, complex characters, If We Were Villains is a twisty ride with plenty of Shakespeare appreciation and an ending you won’t forget in a hurry.

People Like Us by Dana Mele.

Kay has reinvented herself and become one of the most popular girls at Bates Academy but the death of a girl leaves a coded scavenger hunt littered with clues as to what really happened. Soon enough, Kay finds herself on a list of suspects and her new life of luxurious popularity could be about to cave in, so she has to do whatever it takes to run from her past. This character-driven,, queer YA thriller is an intense ride, full of secrets and multiple possible outcomes that will keep you guessing.

The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake.

Recruited by the enigmatic Atlas, six supremely talented magicians bring a wide range of unique powers to the initiation selection process for the Alexandrian Society -keepers of antiquity knowledge. For a year, the six magicians will have access to the Alexandrian Society’s archives and will have to contribute their ideas on abstract topics such as life, death, time, space, luck and thought. But only five of them can be initiated. So who will be the unlucky one? The first in a new series, The Atlas Six is making waves for its fantastic, distinctive characterisations, beautiful writing and admirable amount of research that fits seamlessly into the story. 

Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth.

In 1902, The Brookhants School for Girls was closed after no less than five mysterious deaths on its property. Over 100 years later, a new writer publishes a book centred around the school’s queer feminist history and the story of two girls, who established a secret society in honour of their favourite author. The success of the book prompts a horror movie adaptation but filming on the Brookhants site itself means that the past and the present are about to collide and some long-buried secrets could be about to emerge. Strange and chilling, Plain Bad Heroines is full of sapphic energy and gothic vibes that could well kick off your Halloween mood.

[kadeu]

THE DECK; OCTOBER 2024

Sweet breeze! Good riddance summer. Now, usually we adore the summer season, the fashion, the events, the lively shows and all the trouble the socialites get up to. And yes, the fashion was there but eyepatches in the heat are not ideal. Our beloved socialites flocked to the beach and we have enough tales of drunken debauchery yes, and even those who remained in the city with their enchanted blocks of ice and selective guest lists, we still have heard the deeds. But the heat, something about this summer’s heat, made it not as enjoyable.

Speaking of the beach, there is mourning up in the highranked hills of Diamonds. Once Kings, demoted in scandal to Jacks, the Sobongs have met rough waters while enjoying what was supposed to be a calming row out to sea in Umibe. Their staff reported that, “the once peaceful seas suddenly became enraged as if a Tempest beset it and pulled them under.” The Sobong fortune is now up in the air as the only true heir, their son Korain, has long been presumed dead. Korain's only heir is none other than Ace of Diamonds Moon Ara, but sources say the Sobong's will doesn't name their estranged granddaughter at all. 

It is rather fortunate though, inheriting a vast sum, especially when one half of the marital income pool couldn’t even afford box seats at the other’s place of employment. We wonder just how much money is in that estate. Enough to kill for? Only time will tell.

In Hearts, once jeweler to the elite facecards yet now blacklisted from those circles, Lee Hyeonju seems to be looking from Hearts for a way into Diamonds. Formerly disgraced now reinstated Academy Professor Parker Luke, seems to have accepted the advances of Hyeonju and has been spotted every night for two whole weeks within his apartment. Sources close to both men say that Hyeonju has been giving the professor the royal treatment in hopes he sponsors his defection!

Whispers throughout Heart society say that the Ace of Hearts, once an avid patron of Hyeonju’s has refused his service in lieu of newly popular Fae artisans. The Ace’s mood as of late is unreadable on that topic, but sources say Hyeonju has been barred from his presence and that has other highrankers and artisans have been following suit, preferring to not gain the Ace’s disfavor. This has lead to instability in Hyeonju’s prospects in Hearts. No wonder he is looking to flee to Diamonds. 

But he’s not the only one out of favor in Hearts. Ex-courtesan turned restaurant owner, Meesong Nari has been seen without her usual entourage of Zuihuo guards and attendants. Rumor has it she has been kicked from that mansion she was gifted and the Clan favor mark is gone from her arm. Not sure what she did to separate herself from that protection and comfort but we are sure all those bridges she burned ascending in the ranks will happily revisit her. They tell us as kids right? What goes up must come down. Watch your back Nari.

THE TENSION BETWEEN CLUBS AND SPADES;

Amidst the growing tensions between Clubs and Spades, Ace of Clubs Mallick Sai Shah,  held the opening for his Hunter’s Lair. It seems it was mostly a hit, with fights breaking out away from the venue, not in it! One club said, “it’s better to just enjoy things now than wait for whatever comes next,” and we’re considering stitching it on tunics and selling them as aid relief! Business owners suffering from Spade mandated ban through the Joker found it hard to mingle and feast while their own stores suffered. Worse, a gag order was in place against all negative comments on Spades. We sense a lot of fake smiles and grumblings over bread but can’t confirm as we were refused an exclusive invite to report the event!

Still, as an unbiased news source, we gladly accepted the request for a sit down with Ace Shah to address the actions taken in his faction. Our reporter braved the streets of Clubs to give a completely impartial interview. 

How has it been as an Ace? The jump from low ranker to sitting atop the faction must be hard.

Hard? Surprising and unexpected would be the words I would use to describe how this whole situation feels. I used to be a highranker after all and making my way up to even higher ranks before a tragedy struck me, was that an unknown fact?

But you’ve never been Ace? How is that jump?

No, never been. The title itself is not omnipotent, it has its limitations and brings forth unwanted attention that stands in the way of the current progress we wish to bring to the faction. But it's an important role even if only in word, one has to still use it respectably. But the short answer is the jump is still happening. Ask again in a few years when I've landed where it takes me.

How did you think of the Club council? Is it true you were inspired by the Diamond council?

I didn’t think of the Club council, it was a meeting of minds, I wouldn’t have been able to have any council at all if it was only my contribution going into the making of said council. While I have a deep respect for Diamonds and how they tend to go about their politics, I can’t say I was thinking about them when the idea came to be, I was more concerned on how it would affect Clubs in general and how it would be accepted within the faction. But I can now see why they have one, it has its benefits and I applaud them for having the idea to immediately instill it in their system.

How many people really support you as ex-resistance? Can we even believe you’ve left the criminal enterprise?

I can’t possibly begin to tell who truly supports me as ex-resistance or not, but so far I haven’t had anyone personally challenge me in the faction so in this case I think that means even through reticence people might just believe in the good I want for this faction. 

That’s definitely a tough one, all I can say is I was young, hurt and I made mistakes. If I can be forgiven for them then I will be happy, if not I will understand. However, to be judged for the mistakes of your pasts when you’ve recognized them and clearly show that you’ve completely turned away from them, that’s an unfortunate way to see the world or the people around us if you ask me. But yes, to your question, you can believe that I’ve left the criminal enterprise.

I suppose you maintain your innocence in the killing and raid on spade? If you didn’t do it then who is behind such a foul act?

I absolutely do, I had nothing to do with the unfortunate incident even if allegations brought forth the information that some key evidence might link me to it. My hands are clean and I can’t even begin to think of who would be behind this. But whoever it is, the council has decided to lead an investigation into the matter because it’s not just my name and reputation that is on the line, it is also the honor of this faction that will be yet again tarnished. If you find any more clues before we do, I’m certain you’ll pass the message to the rest of the city, won’t you?

Of course! So you suppose you are being framed? Why would anyone frame an already known murderer?

I don’t take lightly to being called a murderer, but if that’s a title I have to wear for ridding the faction of an Ace who cared none for the lives of the people he wanted to lead to an unending civil war and unrest, then there’s not much I can do about it. But yes, I’m being framed, because of the criminal enterprise’s affiliation I had in the past and the label of murderer I have on my back. I mean, wouldn’t you say it’s easier to believe that I would be the one behind someone’s death and demise considering those two demeaning factors? It’s even a little unfair to not see how blatantly obvious they went about it.

You must know, the Academy was attacked a few years ago with your resistance taking ownership. Were you not involved?

The resistance I was part of and that I do not own, you mean? I did hear of it when the incident occurred. I was not involved and I found it disheartening. I'm against attacking innocents and causing the loss of innocent lives.

We’ve heard that your people were harassing Spades in your faction? Our sources say, ‘Urine and feces were tossed on a patron in a popular tavern for saying ‘Spades should be respected.’ Should Spades not be respected?

I’ve had no time to hear these rumors but of course Spades should be respected. Everyone deserves respect for that matter, tossing urine and feces doesn’t seem like a respectful action taken either. But if this rumor is true I can simply apologize for the mistreatment and ask that less impulsive measures are taken in the future because, as you can see, I don’t have any means to control anyone to stop tragedies from occurring. If I did you wouldn’t be here as no shipment would have been ambushed and no lives would have been lost. Unfortunate, isn’t it?

This Ace of Clubs only brings more questions when questions are asked.  He made it clear to our interviewer that the resistance was a mistake he made in youth and he acknowledges them as all as criminals. He even seemed scared to admit the inspiration for the council he created in Clubs. Maybe those on his council are the real danger here. ‘A meeting of minds’ he claims, but it sounds more like he was coerced by darker agents. We’re certain this council is filled with the same resistance criminals he is trying so hard to claim he has separated himself from.

And yet he proclaims his innocence, insists he is being framed. In round about words he points to some conspiracy with no proof of innocence offered. And where is this council if they are unified in their ruling? Should they not have joined this interview to show their unified cause? The future of Clubs is bound to be as blood soaked under this Ace as the last. At least that Ace stood solidly on one point without a questionable background and motive. 

His unwillingness to out other vagrants that would no doubt bring that peace to the faction like he claims to want, make his alleged innocence and investigation a joke. Our own investigation finds King of Clubs, Wainwright Rook, with high suspicion for the fight that broke out in his tavern. There a Spade had feces and urine thrown on them which led to a brawl that left the very foundation of the tavern with a cracked that travelled up the building.  Yet Ace Shah acts ignorant of it. No wonder Spades must do their own investigation.

In Spades, they are increasing drills and the policing of their border. We wonder if an invasion will come soon. Whispers amongst their ranks lean to disdain for the Club Council. Refugees who chose to leave the safety of Spades were met at the border with medical personnel and fighters as if the Club Council thought that Spades were abusing those they rescued during the terror of the war between their last Ace and the new one and his resistance criminals. The council passing suspicion to Spades who have done more for their corner of the city is laughable.

Well, at least the weather is cooling down. Hopefully that eases some of the tensions. The weather is predicted to be far more comfortable though still a bit warmer for the season. We’re calling it a second attempt at summer.  

NOW PLAYING AT THE PALACE;

Fresh from the mind of director Ace Moon Ara, comes a gruesome tale of lost love and revenge. With intense, dark themes, The Palace recommends not bringing children to this production and reminds all of it’s patrons that the theater is NOT responsible for the adverse affects the production may have on younger minds or weak stomachs.

The Fiendish Barber of Kadeu

Evil Judge Turpin (Budrelda Beryl) lusts for the beautiful wife of a simple barber, Benjamin Barker (Adrian!). In order to claim the beautiful woman for herself, Turpin frames the barber, and has him transported to a far away prison for a crime he did not commit. Returning after 15 years and calling himself Sweeney Todd - the new name given to him by the fiend he managed to conscript, the now-mad man vows revenge, applying his razor to unlucky customers and shuttling the bodies down to Mrs. Lovett (played by Ara’s protégé from Wing Theatrics), who uses them in her meat-pie shop. Though many fall to his blade, he will not be satisfied until he slits Turpin's throat.

Its a wonderful start to the fall season, our reporters loved their screening but warn of its hauntingly good effects.

[twistedtranslations]

Animage 2020-09 - Translation of Twisted Wonderland’s corner

So the latest Animage featured 6 pages (3 spreads) of information on Riddle and Ortho (+ the other members of their dorm) and their respective dorms in general because their birthday was in August.

Huge thanks to @time-phoenix​ for proofreading!

I won’t share the magazine scans here, but rest assured you can buy these on amazon and find them on tumblr as well. They do not feature new illustrations.

Translation under the cut

Page 1

Happy Birthday Riddle and Ortho!

Riddle and Ortho's birthdays are in August! To celebrate their birthday, we have a special feature on their affiliated dorms. Let's take a secret peek at the student life in the Heartslabyul and Ignihyde dorm!

Riddle Rosehearts/VA: Hanae Natsuki

He is the dorm leader of Heartslabyul. He fervently protects the laws of the Queen of Hearts and harshly punishes those who break them, making him feared by the students. 

The Heartslabyul dorm is inspired by the worldview of "Alice in Wonderland." They are guided by the rules of the Queen of Hearts, the dorm leader decides to hold an "Unbirthday party" on the days when it's no one's birthday according to his mood, so at a first glimpse, they seem to be a dorm with a showy and peaceful atmosphere. However, it's an imperative rule to strictly follow the strange laws made by the Queen of Hearts. Riddle, whose birthday was on 24/08, is a powerful person who became the dorm leader in his first week of entering the college. Compared to the past dorm leaders, he is particularly respectful of the laws of the Queen of Hearts, and thoroughly enforces the rules on the students, cracking down harshly on the lawbreakers.

There are few students who know all 810 laws exactly, and even for those students who break the laws unintentionally, Riddle is unforgiving. Ever since Riddle became the dorm leader, there have been no students dropping out or staying back a year in the dorm, all thanks to his strictness. Even though the vice dorm leader Trey Clover and Cater follow up, the results-focused Riddle undoubtedly guides the dorm students. However, it can’t be disputed that there's a considerable number of people who are displeased. It would be fine if that displeasure never erupted but…. If you are interested in Heartslabyul's future, please check out chapter 1 of the main story, The Crimson Tyrant!

Page 2

A blessing that will envelop the heart!

Riddle's unique magic

Riddle's unique magic, Off with your head, puts a collar on the victim so they can't use magic. Someone who cannot use magic at a magic school like NRC, cannot go to classes normally…

His growth period is still going on!?

He's the smallest of the 2nd years introduced thus far, with a length of 160 cm. He is bothered by his height, and gets angry when Floyd makes fun of it. During the limited June event "Ghost Marriage, Destiny's proposal", he was one of the first people to "rush" for Eliza, but his height excluded him.

Dissecting Riddle

Eye: Because he's so serious, he's unfamiliar with trends, and it’s quite obvious he doesn't understand street topics. The person himself insists on saying that "It isn’t an inconvenience to be unaware of such things," though…

Heart: At Riddle's strict personality lies a peaceful base, however there are many things that can press his buttons. One can often see his face grow red in anger.

Hand: Riddle can also cook if there's a recipe, even though it isn't his speciality. However, he's aware that his sense of proportion when it comes to measuring ingredients is lacking.

Brain: Because of his diligence, he gets amazing grades and is ranked 1st in his year. On tests he gets full marks in every subject. He can also accurately remember the 810 laws of the Queen of Hearts.

Mouth: Riddle actually has a sweet tooth and loves the strawberry tarts of his childhood friend, the vice dorm leader Trey.  He especially favors the latest pie slice (TN: A slice of an unspecified cake). Adversely, he dislikes foods with a strong taste and that are bad for your health, which explains his dislike of junk food. It seems he prefers mild flavours.

Leg and waist: Because he has few muscles, he's below average when it comes to physical measurements, but his reflexes aren't bad. One can see him skilfully manoeuvring a horse with high techniques in the equestrian club.

Absolutely adhere to the rules!

This is a dorm based on the strict attitude of the Queen of Hearts. Students have to live their lives accordingly, adhering to strict laws such as "Do not eat the tarts without being given permission by the Queen" and "Stand up from your seat within 15 minutes after eating lunch".

Page 3

4 patriots of the redness of Heartslabyul!

Ace Trappola/VA: Yamashita Seiichirou

He's a 1st year student like the main character. He knows how to swim with the tides and has a bright personality, but he can also be a bit malicious. He's rivals with Deuce, a fellow 1st year from Heartslabyul.

 He's afraid of nothing!?

Ace says exactly what he thinks without fear. He always makes his statements without any hint of cowardice. He doesn't hold back against the dorm leader Riddle, and says the things he wants to say without reading the atmosphere, and makes slightly malicious remarks.

Deuce Spade/VA: Kobayashi Chiaki

He's a 1st year student like the main character. He enrolled in NRC to become a splendid magician. He's serious but he's bad at swimming with the tide.

He gets full marks on seriousness

Deuce cannot remember all the laws of the Queen of Hearts, but fundamentally he's an honest and exemplary student.It seems Riddle approves of his serious personality if only "He was a little bit more thoughtful"…

Page 4

Trey Clover/VA: Suzuki Ryouta

He is a 3rd year and the vice dorm leader of Heartslabyul. He has a gentle personality and has a guardian-like presence for all the dorm’s students. He also backs up the overbearing Riddle.

(TN: lit. Riddle, who is too strict on his surroundings)

He's good at backing up but…

As Riddle's childhood friend, he frequently backs up the overbearing Riddle. He plays the role of lubricating oil towards Heartslabyul and he's indispensable. However, he almost never rebukes Riddle.

Cater Diamond/VA: Kobayashi Tatsuyuki

He is a 3rd year of Heartslabyul. He's a communicator who can read the mood. He's well informed of things like popularity rankings, food and crazes. However, sometimes he shows his heartless side…

A cheery moodmaker

Cater is the moodmaker of Heartslabyul who is good at communicating. He has built a good friendship with the feared Riddle. Together with Trey he deals with Riddle and his environment and backs him up.

Page 5

The high-tech younger brother's birthday!

The Ignihyde dorm is inspired by the worldview of the world of Hercules. There are many students who are good at magical energy engineering and digital related things, so both the lounge rooms and the corridors have many monitors installed. The main story picturing Ignihyde hasn't been distributed yet, and there have not been many appearances of the general Ignihyde students until chapter 4, so even now, many parts of the dorm remain shrouded in mystery. In the midst of that, there's one person with a lot of mysteries to him, the dorm leader Idia's "younger brother", Ortho. He's always lightly floating, because he's a robot. Furthermore, Idia made his body himself, with the latest and newest features, and is packed with maniacal functions that Idia even forgot he equipped him with. The nature of Ortho’s existence hasn’t been revealed, but his relationship with Idia is genuine. While they might be awkward, the feelings they have for each other aren't lies. The next 14th of August, Idia will surely celebrate Ortho's birthday from his heart!

Ortho Shroud/VA: Aoi Shouta

Idia's "younger brother". He's always seen with Idia, and he cares a lot about his brother. In contrast to Idia, he's lively and  honest, and brimming with curiosity.

Dissecting Ortho

Flame: He can shoot a beam with strong fire power from his chest by charging magical energy. He's not good at regulating his strength, and sometimes overdoes it, and sometimes has to be stopped by the principal.

Body: His feet have anti gravity apparatus installed, so he's always floating. His sports body grants him the wish of "Wanting to walk on the earth" and has springs installed in his feet so he can run.

Brain: Recollecting his brother, all his thoughts and actions center around Idia. He can even hack into a GPS to search for him!

Eye: He's equipped with the cutting edge of medical tools, and can also read the vital signs of his subject. He can also do things like see through lies by sensing the variation in their pulse.

Mouth: He differs from Idia who is bad with social dispositions in a way that he can talk to anyone without care. He's one of the few people Idia can talk to face to face.

Is he too coddling?

Ortho loves his older brother Idia, who is a shut in and attends the dorm leader meetings by tablet, while Ortho carries out preparations for assemblies and ceremonies in his stead. If he keeps getting coddled by Ortho like that, he might never get cured from his bashfulness!?

Unusual means

During the Ghost Marriage event, he was about to annihilate the school building in order to save his older brother from the ghost bride who fell in love with Idia at first sight. He was by no means careless and it's terrifying how he chose that method by thinking calmly about it, but that's all because his brother is dear to him.

Page 6

Idia Shroud/VA: Uchiyama Kouki

The dorm leader of Ignihyde. He's shy and gloomy, and is a shut in that doesn't like being in contact with people. However, it seems that's not the case online.

Both the dorm leader and the students are reserved and quiet

It is a dorm based on the diligent spirit of the ruler of the underworld. There are many docile students, who don't appear often before others. According to Cater they're the total opposite of the cheery people from Heartslabyul.

Older brother and "younger brother"

One would think that Idia and Ortho are siblings based on their blue flamed hair and golden eyes. However, Ortho's whole body is a robot, and it hasn't been revealed yet if they're real siblings or if he was originally a human to begin with.

[whyispickingausernamesohard]

Remember when we were having friends vibe check the mechs? Yeah this was with @astronautjaws​

Note that I do talk to this friend about the mechs a Lot so they did know some stuff (a Jonny ramble had happened literally the night before for example). (Also the Sasha mentioned in Ivy's is Sasha Sienna bc I also ramble about them)

Images descriptions under read more, if there’s a better way to format them please let me know!

[Image ID:

Ten images, each with 1 to 5 pictures of a given Mechanism and comments edited over.

Three pictures of Raphaella la Cognizi, featuring both of her wing styles. Comments read “She looks like a Juliet but she’s wearing all red so imma guess Red Rose? Clone or otherwise. Nice wings tho” “Okay but she does look like a Juliet” “Holy fuck Juliet” “wings and just straight up gay vibes, uh idk much about ships positions so imma go sword girl, now thinking about it her mechanism can be sword wlw”

One picture of Gunpowder Tim. Comments read “Jonny, human disaster and feral bastard, cannibal, tax fraud committee, captain?, gay dads that he killed both of” and a conversation between the person sending, “What’s his mechanism” and the person commenting, “Oh fuck. Uh compass?”

Two pictures of Jonny D’Ville. Comments read “he gives me a Nils vibe so let’s go with that, uh I go with him being a navigator but a badass one cause I feel like he would be looking at a map then turn around and shoot whoever was behind him without flinching, I feel like he’s 5′2″ tho which tbh the shorter you are the closer to satan you are so, that gun be his mech.” Comments from the sender read “You have no idea how much discourse there is over how tall he is” and “He has such short ppl energy but Insists he isn’t short (I think I remember seeing his height somewhere but I don’t remember it)”

Three pictures of Ashes O’Reilly. Comments read “they are the one who paved the way to enbies using random nouns as their names and i love it, tbh I was gonna go with like June as their name but I really think August/Auggie is more their vibe, Fucking shit is that a 5 string bass I love them, Their mech better be that bass, Lieutenant? Like is that a position used on this ship?, In regards to my first point their middle name is definitely Quill”

Two pictures of Nastya Rasputina. Comments read “those blue streaks of hair in the first pic bonus points there, she looks innocent but she’s definitely the kind of person who has a first name that’s minimum 3-4 syllables and she has 5 different middle names, Genevieve or Rebekah for sure (yes I did look at a name generator for this cause I can’t think of words let alone names with more than 3 syllables), I feel like her mech is a ring some jewelry, rank??? Seriously I know nothing of rank”

Five pictures of the Toy Soldier. Comments read “Toy Soldier babey, the child, it will either destroy baby yoda or team up with baby yoda for world domination, its mech I feel like is like the metal lumberjack from wizard of oz where it’s a metal heart that ticks, it has no rank cause nothing can contain The Feral Babey/Child - only chaos, timetraveling babey but wherever it lands everybody just goes ‘aw’ and TS commits crimes.” A conversation between the sender, “Yea basically fuck I talk too much about TS,” and the person commenting, “Oh for sure.” Another comment from the sender is placed over two pictures of the Toy Soldier with its hair down. It reads “These two pics in particular unlock secret emotions in me”

Two pictures of Drumbot Brian. In both pictures he is wearing the bronze face paint. Comments read “gold boi, shiny 10/10, I feel like Leo/Leonardo fits him, it might be the beart/long hair but I feel like he’s friends with the lesbians- like Hozier, mech is that drumstick? Cause you can’t play the accordion and drums at the same time?, cook probs, he’s just smiley all the time - he’s definitely the capybara of the group”

Five pictures of Marius von Raum. In two pictures an ace of hearts card is clearly visible in his hat. Comments read “Zack or Max, he’s the one who has been pulling stupid pranks everywhere like whoopie cushions under every seat, I spy with my little eye an ace in his hat so he’s confirmed canon asexual (would have preferred the ace of spades but I’ll take it), his mech is that card, no one wants to give him a rank cause he came on the ship stealing snacks and never left but he’s good at fighting in battle so he can stay” “K he’s aroace”

Three pictures of Ivy Alexandria. Comments read “[many question marks] Hello??, I may have just found a reason to start listening to the mechs, hey wait is this Sasha or nah, eh might as well go with Sasha cause why not, last pic got a knife so the knife is definitely the mech cause knife, That vest! That style! WTF! I love it!, feels like she’s off reading books while the rest of the crew is out fighting and only joins as a last resort. Plus if/when she joins the fight it’s over in 5 minutes cause gotta go back to reading that book before you’re out of the zone and you lose motivation for reading the book and it sits unfinished on a table (adhd mood but still) also if she occasionally fights while reading the book, just a book in one hand and a sword in another fighting off whoever is in front of her never breaking eye contact with the book”

One black and white picture of Dr. Carmilla. Comments read “her mech is the Spencer’s or hot topic gift card cause piercings, and if you don’t like that answer then I’d say it’s a dried/pressed flower or clover that’s been made into a bookmark cause that vibes, feel like her name is Rain or Millie, I feel like she doesn’t have a position but more of a location and that is the crow’s nest cause if you have a ukulele people are going to ask you to play the TOP cover of Falling in Love With You song over and over again or House Of Gold, and there’s no escaping it when you have your ukulele in hand”

End ID]

[the-light-finds-its-way]

Magnus Thorbjorn

Guardians name: Magnus Thorbjorn

Age: Roughly 34 when resurrected, currently unknown

Race: Awoken

Call signs/alias: Peacebroker, Traveler’s Favored, Evocate General

Pronouns: He/him

Class: Titan

Preferred subclass(es): Solar

Ghost’s name: Einar

Their Vanguard: Zavala, Ikora, Cayde-6

Fireteam name: Harbingers of Destiny

Fireteam teammates: Magnus, Dominus Ghaul, Anthem-99, Velliks, Gadrax, Kahun

Favorite legendary weapon: Steelfeather Repeater

Favorite exotic weapon: Ace of Spades

Favorite exotic armor: Crest of Alpha Lupi

Favorite ornament armor set: Empyrean Titan

Favorite weapon ornament: Glee Barrage

What stats do they focus on: Resilience, Recovery, Strength

Are they offense, defence, or support: Offense

Do they prefer being close, mid, or long range: Mid range

Do they lean more “Element of Surprise” or “Upfront and Aggressive”: Upfront and aggressive

Strikes, Gambit, or Crucible: Strikes and Crucible evenly

Who was their mentor(if they had one. If it is a character you created, tell us about them!): Ikora and Zavala

Who are they mentoring(if they are. If it is a character you created, tell us about them!): Dominus Ghaul

What ship do they have: Saint’s Invocation

What is their Sparrow: Praxic Finery

Favorite Ghost shell: In Memoriam

Favorite shader: Circadian Chill /Virtified Chronology

Favorite color: Blue

Favorite food: Pizza

Favorite piece of Pre-Collapse tech(if they’ve seen any): None, Magnus hasn’t really seen any

Favorite Pre-Collapse music(if they’ve heard any): Anything from Twilight Force

Favorite place in The Last City(if it’s a place you created, give a little description!): The Hollow Cairn. This is a place where many once-invading species have attacked throughout history, and it has sunken into the ground since due to the massive destruction created over centuries. However, the place has since become a point of unity for everyone, with communities of Hive, Cabal, Humans, Eliksni, etc. all building shelters within the crater and living together. It’s a bustling district, and only because Magnus sacrificed so much of himself and his efforts to unify everyone.

Favorite NPC(s): Zavala, Ikora, Cayde-6, Saint-14, Banshee-44, Eris Morn, Mithrax, Spider, Failsafe, Devrim Kay, Suraya Hawthorne, Sjur Eido

Favorite patrol location: Anywhere on the Tangled Shore

5 things your Guardian likes(can be anything): Diplomacy, metal music, leading, sleeping, using the Hammer of Sol

Least favorite food: Steak

Least favorite shader: Lilac Bombast

Least favorite patrol location: Braytech Futurescape on Mars

Least favorite Pre-Collapse tech(if they’ve seen any): N/A

Least favorite NPC(s): Oryx, Savathun, Mara Sov, Lakshmi-2

Least favorite weapon ornament: Jade Countenance

Least favorite ornament armor set: Pandemonic (skeletal Titan) set

Least favorite legendary weapon: Literally any fusion rifle ever

Least favorite exotic weapon: Telesto

Least favorite exotic armor: One-Eyed Mask

5 things your Guardian dislikes(this can be anything): Dishonesty, disloyalty, feeling hopeless, giving up, loss

Your Guardian has to rest. What is their living space like: It’s well-managed, with a LOT of collectibles from all around the galaxy in display cases, organized on shelves and wall hangers, and on tables. Magnus loves to collect trinkets that have meaning to him.

Does your Guardian have any casual wear?(Y'all remember Polyvore? The website URSTYLE works very similar if that helps!):

What hobbies and/or skills does you Guardian have: Writing and reciting poetry, learning languages (speaks English, Ulurent, Eliksni all fluently), fighting, crafting armor, singing

What would your Guardian’s lore book be called: Broken Broker

Where was your Guardian reborn?(If you created the location, give us a little description!): Sector 25 in The Last City

What were they wearing when they were reborn: Scorched black cotton hoodie, worn-out black jeans, beat-up sneakers

What was their reaction to being reborn: FIGHT, AND DEFEND THE PEOPLE!!!

What was their reaction to their first rez: Sheer confusion, then immediate duty

After being reborn, did they meet friendlies first or hostiles: Both. He met Vex who were attacking and rampaging The Last City, but fought them and was then met by Zavala who’d come to handle the situation, only to see a new Guardian had already done this. Zavala saw the distress on Magnus’s face at this, and assured him over and over again.

Who was the first other Guardian they met?(Same thing! If you made them, give a little description!): Zavala

Did your Guardian get reborn with, or find, any indication of their past life? If so what do they have/found: Magnus has no indication of his past life, and knows nothing about it. He assumes he wasn’t Reefborn, but he partially wonders if he was just because of his vehement hatred for Mara Sov. Magnus can’t find anything on who he was, nor does he really care to know.

How did your Guardian get their name(if they didn’t rez with past life momentos): He knew/remembered it, and also Einar addressed him by “Magnus” when he was first revived and woke up.

Going back to your Guardian’s lore book, what would be some some quotes or passages from their book: Two passages are actually readable at my Ao3, dawnbreakerdystopia! Most of the lorebook passages would recount the tales of Magnus’s efforts to join the warring species of the galaxy together in unity, and would likely use the Hammer of Sol which he wields as a metaphor, leading those who read them to wonder if Magnus actually wielded it (he does). The passages would also recount the daring exploits he’s done to protect his friends, family, the training he put Ghaul through to be a strong and independent Guardian, and overall they’d just be written like poetic legends.

Does your Guardian have a significant other: Cayde-6, and they’re married.

Did your Guardian go explore first before going to The Last City? If so, where to: Magnus never explored until he was resurrected.

What was their reaction to first seeing The Last City: This place needs defenders.

Is your Guardian a part of a clan: Not officially. He’s sort of a part of every group regardless of whether he chooses to be or not. Life finds a way to drag him into them all.

Does your Guardian’s clan have a back story? If so, what is it?(if you want to or able to share): N/A

If your Guardian would have a quote as a flavor text for a weapon and/or piece of armor, what would they be: “I’ve got a thousand years on me, and for each year, a million lives. I can’t bear to sacrifice any one but my own.”

If your Guardian has had any interactions with any civilians (The Last City/The Farm), Eliksni, Cabal, Vex, Hive, Taken, Scorn, Rouge Lightbearers, or Iron Lords/War Lords(if your Guardian is an Old Light) tell us about it!: Magnus has unified Cabal and Humankind, mostly, because he was brought by the Traveler to Ghaul who was resurrected as a Guardian himself. He’s had plenty of rough encounters with them, but nowadays, they accept him as their Evocate General, and bend to his every command (Magnus NEVER abuses this). Magnus has had very few positive interactions with Hive, as Savathun and Oryx have constantly tried to seduce him with Darkness and ruin him. He struggles to trust Hive, but knows that there is good in everything just as there is bad, nothing is inherently evil, and thus, he has to and does accept Hive who are willing to be his allies. Magnus’s interactions with Eliksni have always been positive, and he’s always gotten along with them. Scorn and Vex, he has yet to meet any who’d be willing to work with him. Magnus personally hates the Vex entirely, but still holds out the belief that there is at least one out there who’s good and friendly.

Does your Guardian have any unconventional allies or connections(By Vanguard standards): PLENTY!!!! Ghaul, Spider, being Evocate General of Cabal, you name it.

How does your Guardian feel about themselves or others using Stasis: Magnus is against himself using it. He understands that others can make use of the power, but he HATES the Darkness, and would never trust a single thing from it, let alone a “gift” which would inevitably corrupt him, not to mention bring him nearer to it which he refuses to do.

Did they run The Last Wish raid? How did they react to seeing a live Ahamkara a.k.a Riven: Magnus has not run this raid yet.

Did they run The Deep Stone Crypt raid? How did they react to the Crypt and seeing Exo Eliskni: Magnus has not run this raid yet, either.

Is your Guardian from D1? How did they react to seeing Taniks alive once again: He’s not from D1

Where did they go and what did they do during The Red War: Magnus followed the main story, and was the only Lightbearer, thus he spearheaded the entire operation and literally held the fate of every single life on his shoulders and his alone. He fought, nonstop, and never gave up or slowed down.

Here are some characters that are either polarizing or have created a strong enough mass emotion within the community. What opinion does your Guardian hold on each of them(These are only a handful of characters!)>>>

Osiris, First Warlock Vanguard, originally exiled: Magnus looks up to Osiris for his wisdom, only a little, though, and he’d never tell Osiris this. Both of them know it, though, and words are not necessary to convey their mutual respect.

Eris Morn, Bane of the Swarm: He loves her, he wants to help her at all costs, and he knows to never pity Eris, or try protecting her without asking if she needs protection first, as she’s highly capable and strong-willed.

Cayde-6, Sixth Hunter Vanguard: Magnus is fucking head over HEELS for him, and would lay his life on the line for Cayde. He was devastated beyond words when Uldren killed him, but came to understand that it was the Darkness’s doing, not Uldren’s. And thus, he forgave him.

Ikora Rey, Second Warlock Vanguard: Mom. She’s just straight-up his mom.

Commander Zavala, Second Titan Vanguard: Mentor, dad-like friend, always reliable.

Saint-14, legendary Titan, First Titan Vanguard: Extreme respect, love, honors him deeply, aspires to be like him, MUST PROTECT!!!

Lord Saladin, Iron Banner handler, One of the last remaining Iron Lords: Indifferent. Magnus entirely disagrees with and somewhat hates what the Iron Lords did, but he senses good in Saladin and sees it as well. He holds onto that good, as he does for everything and everyone.

Lord Shaxx, Crucible handler, Hero of Twilight Gap, living megaphone: FRIEND!!! Always a good motivator, always reliable, selfless af which Magnus respects, and Magnus aspires to be so much like him. Is also slightly intimidated by Shaxx.

The Crow, New Light, Ex-Enforcer to The Spider: Friend, must be protected, is a new person and not Uldren, is capable of great things and must be guided to do just that. Magnus sees Crow follows his heart, and that’s more than enough for him to know this man is on the right path.

The Spider, The Shore’s Only Law, founder of “House” Spider: DAD!!! Spider adopted Magnus after (reluctantly at first) he went to Spider with a bounty from the Vanguard saying to kill him. Magnus knew this had to be a setup, it was, and Spider was immediately thankful, and then began calling Magnus his son. Both of them trust each other with everything and anything, and Magnus knows Spider is a good man at heart.

Uldren Sov, Prince of the Reef, Master of Crows: No. Don’t trust him, he’s misguided as FUCK!

Mara Sov, Queen of the Reef, Queen of the Awoken, Ex-Kell of Wolves: FUCK! YOU!!! Magnus would throw her off the throne and take it himself if he wasn’t so busy being Evocate General. He’d imprison her until her natural death. The things Mara has done, to the Awoken, the galaxy, and her brother, are unforgiveable, and she MUST pay for that.

Variks, the Loyal, founder of House Judgement: A friend, an ally, someone Magnus can rely on. He values Variks, even if he made mistakes in the past, but Magnus is a firm believer in destiny, and thus thinks Variks’s actions have been done for a reason which is to bring the world to the present it’s at.

Mithrax, the Forsaken, Kell of Light, founder of House Light: Absolutely reliable, always a good friend, Magnus will drop everything and go help protect Mithrax or aid him in his endeavors if he’s able. Magnus loves him as a close friend, and is deeply bound to House Light.

The Exo Stranger/Elizabeth “Elsie” Bray, Granddaughter of Clovis I and Sister to Ana Bray: Can be trusted, must be trusted, and Magnus also takes pity on her for what she went through both in the future, and by the hands of Clovis Bray.

Eramis, of House Salvation, Kell of Darkness: FUCK NOPE, don’t trust, avoid at all costs.

Empress Caiatl of the Cabal Imperial Empire: An ally and definitely trustable. Her motives are questionable, but Magnus understands where she’s coming from, and therefore believes she can be a great companion with some compromise.

Taniks the Scarred, the Perfected, the Abomination, the Shadow Thief: Nooooooooooooo get away get away get away GET AWAY!!!

The Darkness is fast approaching. How is your Guardian handling it: A N X I E T Y! !! !!!! ! !! But Magnus is taking action, fighting it head-on and never backing down for even a moment. He refuses to let the Darkness take hold, and aims to destroy it entirely once and for all.

And finally, does your Guardian have any advice for any New Lights: “The Darkness is a lie, but the Light is true. Nobody can see in the shadows of night, so it’s your duty as a Guardian to eclipse the world in endless sun, and create a world everyone can see within and beyond.”

[theprodigypenguin]

I have a question. Just how protective is Ace over Deuce? I mean in like a healthy way.

I always viewed Ace as a generally protective person because of how caring he is, though it's not shown that much in canon (aside from that big part during the war when he goes "let me protect you for now" to Luffy which 🥺 the fact that he asks is so pure, Ace is so pure) (edit: and also the fact he literally DIED protecting Luffy).

In Novel A, it's not as if we see Ace scrambling or panicking when Deuce is in danger (that brawl on the ship where Deuce high kicks a bounty hunter off the ship, or later in Sabaody Archipelago when Deuce ends up throwing up blood after getting kicked in the stomach while protecting Ace). Both those scenes make sense to me.

On the ship, Mihal protected Deuce from getting hurt when he wasn't paying attention, proving that the entire Spade crew is there to watch his back. Ace doesn't have to be worried about Deuce when they're surrounded by friends.

On Sabaody Archipelago, Ace couldn't reach Deuce because of Dorrow's flame throwers, and was later distracted by his own self deprecation, but he probably felt really guilty about Deuce getting hurt and later tried to ensure Deuce wasn't too injured once they reached their ship (it doesn't show Ace checking on Deuce in novel, which I think is hella out of character considering how caring he is towards his entire crew - not just Deuce - but you know, whatever).

Against the Whitebeard pirates, we see in both the novel and in the anime that Ace puts up a flame fence to protect not only Deuce but the entire Spade crew. Even though they all come back to rescue Ace and ultimately fail, that's just a few examples of how much Ace cares and how much he loves his crew, but also how much he trusts them.

Pre-Marineford I think his protective streak was pretty subdued and a lot more casual, because he had no real reason to fear for Deuce's life. Even though it was stated in novel that Deuce is NOT a combatant and preferred to let Ace and the other fighters do all the work, he can clearly hold his own in most situations (though I really don't think Deuce is built for fighting in wars, which makes Marineford all the more depressing to me).

Anyway this is a long winded way of me saying Deuce has always been surrounded by people who can protect him if Ace isn't around, so Ace trusts Deuce and the crew to stay safe if he's occupied.

Now in i.s.h.'s timeline, post Marineford, he's a lot more protective, but on that same vein Deuce is more capable of combat than he was before thanks to his newly awoken Observation Haki and his training with Benn, Yasopp, and Roux. So Ace's protective streak is still pretty casual because Deuce can protect himself better now, but at the same time Ace overthinks and obsesses over Deuce's safety more than he used to.

He trusts Deuce and their friends just as much as he used to, but the trauma of dying and knowing that Deuce endured SO much during the war left Ace with a lot of shame and anxiety. He knows Deuce can protect himself but at the same time doesn't think he should have to because HE wants to protect Deuce. But Ace isn't the kind of person who would force Deuce to sit there and be protected, so he opts to stay by his side instead, fighting with him instead of for him 🥰

As an addition, I consider Ace to be pretty protective of Deuce's identity as well. As far as we know, Ace had no idea WHO Deuce was before meeting on Sixis, but it doesn't matter to Ace. He understands not wanting to be associated with your family or your past (Rogers) and he understands that Deuce is near nauseated by his noble blood (thanks to knowing Sabo), so Ace is protective of Deuce's identity and personal comfort.

Ace would be the first to step in if someone tried to remove Deuce's mask for example. In my fic "you be love" Ace hides Deuce's face when Marco comes into the room, because he knows how much the mask means to Deuce (I also like to think Ace is the only person Deuce doesn't feel the need to wear his mask in front of when they're alone, because he trusts Ace that much).

Anyway thank you for the ask! It was fun!

[cosplayinamerica]

Honest John from Disney's Pinocchio : Juju Creative Cosplay

 I watched Pinocchio for the first time in 15 years back in 2018. I had forgotten how funny some characters were. Honest John and Gideon caught my eye. They were very entertaining and I'm sad Disney didn't do more with them! As a result-- not only did it inspire me to make my Honest John cosplay, but I was inspired to create my own script about the backstory of these two characters. 

I write scripts I hope to one day present to Disney with my manager and agent and this one is called "Foulfellow and company". I have also created a lot of fun original characters and I intend to cosplay one from the story in the future!

I get so many great responses at cons! Sometimes people stand in shock when they see me because its not a character people typically cosplay. It is also a character that appeals to all generations old and young.

I have 2 notable interactions that were very fun:

1. A man in his mid 50s started singing "Hi diddle dee dee" behind me.... I don’t think he expected me to burst out into song, but when i did we went skipping down the hall singing the song and people recorded us and applauded. It was a lot of fun!

2. A small boy came up to me and asked to take a photo. After the photo, I gave him an ace of spades card and told him it was his "ticket to pleasure island". He handed it back to me saying "I'm a good boy who goes to school, but you can send my little brother to pleasure island if you want!"

I couldn’t contain my laughter. The child was about 8 and it was so funny I high five him and gave him a big hug. His parents were so happy. Overall. I believe I get the best interactions with this character because he is very rare. Whenever I cosplay him, i go all out with my impressions and mannerisms. So much so, my boyfriend tells me that I intimidate people! But it's all in good fun

(Photo by @oceania1618)

I had never worked with fur before this point so learning how to sew with fur was a bit of a challenge. The costume itself was pretty simple in my opinion (I have been sewing for years). I made the entire thing from scratch. My favorite prop is probably the top hat he has which I made from foam. Sometimes I put Jimmy Cricket on top of the hat like in the scene where Honest John sings "hi diddle dee dee". The cloak I made for him is fun to wear and there is a little space in between where the tail fits perfectly. To make the tail, I had to use wiring and foam to give it the shape I wanted but overall I was satisfied with how the cosplay turned out!

The quote I associate most with cosplay is "If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself" You have so much room to be creative with cosplays. A lot of people don't know how to sew and prefer their own cosplays which is completely awesome and valid, but I like to have the freedom for creativity in cosplay which is why I make my own. I like being able to design costumes from scratch and then show off the outcome! I've learned a lot of patience in cosplay. If you want something to look the way you want, it's not a good idea to rush it! Take your time and make it yours!

Cosplay is for everyone! It doesn’t matter who you are, what your race is, your your gender, your ethnic background etc... if you love a character and you're scared to cosplay them because you don’t "look" like them.... DO IT ANYWAY. The one rule I have is do not alter your skin if you are white/white passing and you wish to cosplay a character of a different race. Do your research and be respectful. I have cosplayed out of my race for characters without the need to alter my skin, and I do this simply because I love the characters! Never be afraid to express your love for a character regardless of who they are. And of course, make it yours and own it! As long as you are respectful, do your research and do not appropriate any culture, your options are limitless

[bigbadwolf-16]

anyway heres the thing for wolf and i am SO sorry if the readmore doesnt work oof this bitch long

slightly modified it

Name:

Wolf-16

Age:

Mentally twelve, but roughly Dark Age old.

Race:

Exo

Call signs/alias:

Wolf. One syllable, easy.

Pronouns:

He / Him

Class:

Hunter

Preferred subclass(es):

Gunslinger, but he’s handy with Void and Stasis. Never got the hang of Arc.

Ghost's name:

Serenity, but she reluctantly answers to Red sometimes.

Their Vanguard:

He came late to the party and properly joined the Guardian ranks sometime after Tallulah died, but he was closest to Cayde-6, rip.

Fireteam name:

Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo (former) Maelstrom (former) Exodus (current)

Fireteam teammates:

In Foxtrot: Liz Cabrera, King-3, Armani-7 In Maelstrom: Amelia-9, Atticus Maav In Exodus: Puck-13, Aera-9, Emmanuel-7

Favorite legendary weapon:

Dire Promise IKELOS SMG Seventh Seraph SAW

Favorite exotic weapon:

Ace of Spades Riskrunner The Lament

Favorite exotic armor:

Sealed Ahamkara Grasps The Sixth Coyote St0mp-335

Are they offense, defense, or support:

Generally offense, he’s blindingly fast and is a crackshot with any weapon you put in his hands.

Do they prefer being close, mid, or long range:

He prefers mid to long, but ends up getting in close more often than he’d like. The agility kind of nerfs his ability to take a lot of damage all at once, so he goes airborne the second he gets surrounded.

Do they lean more "Element of Surprise" or "Upfront and Aggressive":

A bit of both! He’ll pull a surprise attack and jump in to get his hands dirty if he has to, which makes him a pretty good distraction if there’s a lot of enemies looking for a bullet sponge, but he prefers a little bit of distance if he can get it.

Strikes, Gambit, or Crucible:

Getting him into strikes takes a lot of perseverance, honestly. He’ll do them if Zavala can actually hold him down long enough. Hunters are elusive as hell anymore, and the amount of times he’s been back to the Tower or even within the City’s walls since the Red War can be counted on one hand.

Crucible is also kind of a gamble. Serenity doesn’t like him doing it because he gets ruthlessly competitive and tends to favor Stasis which gets... ahhh, intense...

He fucks super hard with Gambit, tho. If he’s anywhere near the City, he’s probably playing Gambit because the Drifter won’t give him the good stuff until he does.

Who was their mentor:

If anyone was, it was probably Serenity and only insofar as teaching him how to be fucking normal. It hasn’t worked very well.

Who are they mentoring:

He went through a brief stint where he mentored Atticus. He couldn’t teach him any Warlock things, of course, but other stuff like no-scoping an Acolyte or picking locks? Absolutely.

What ship do they have:

After Forsaken, all of Cayde’s stuff was pretty much left alone, but Wolf asked the Vanguard if he could take the Queen of Hearts and they let him.

What is their Sparrow:

Blood in the Water

Favorite Ghost shell:

Serenity picks her own shells. When they met, she pretty much had the Rust Punk shell after the one she was created with got messed up pretty badly. The new one didn’t stand up very well against the elements.

Wolf keeps a handful of them in the ship so that she can go between them and her favorites are Wisteria Orbit and In Fine Omnium, but she goes back to her old one occasionally if she doesn’t want to get the others dirty.

Favorite color:

Red, but sometimes purple.

Favorite food:

Any kind of spicy ramen and shawarma.

Least favorite food:

He doesn’t like anything with a bitter taste and there are a lot of veggie-based things he just genuinely cannot stand the thought of.

Favorite Pre-Collapse music:

He discovered classic rock and hasn’t looked back once.

Favorite place in The Last City:

Before the Red War when he spent more time in the city itself, his apartment. It was small and pretty cozy and also loaded with his hauls from various jobs. He’d sit in the window and play video games on his off days and just chill with Serenity for hours.

There was also a bar he’d frequent with his old fireteam (and sneakretly sometimes with Cayde) where they pretty much knew everyone who worked there by name. It’s the one place he never got kicked out of for causing a ruckus.

Favorite NPC(s):

Cayde and Wolf hung out a lot when either one of them had the time. These days, if he’s anywhere near the Tower, it’s only to see Amanda or Banshee.

He also likes to kick it with Devrim, Variks, and Failsafe. Osiris finds him frustrating at best, but he and Crow are kind of a package deal at this point.

Least favorite NPC(s):

He finds Rahool kind of dry and nerdy and has nothing but bad things to say about Hideo.

Favorite patrol location:

The EDZ. It’s more or less his home now and he knows every square inch of it by heart.

Least favorite patrol location:

Anywhere on Europa or the Moon. Europa he’ll at least go to without being dragged, if only just to say hi to Variks or Elsie and check up on how things are going, but after the Lunar Incident he won’t step foot on the Moon unless Eris requests him specifically.

5 things your Guardian likes:

Glimmer, babeyyyy!! Also food, bad jokes, going real fast, and springtime.

5 things your Guardian dislikes(this can be anything):

Handling trauma in a healthy way like normal person, having to be responsible for people, being told what to do, big open spaces, and waiting.

Your Guardian has to rest. What is their living space like:

Wolf can and will sleep just about anywhere and in pretty much any position. His old apartment in the City was destroyed during the war, and he just never went back, so now he knocks out in whatever place has enough cover or is out of the way enough he won’t be found.

Does your Guardian have any casual wear?:

Lots. He usually goes for a more urban style, so lots of huge hoodies, joggers, chunky sneakers, snapbacks, that kind of thing. He generally only wears armor when he’s actively working.

What hobbies and/or skills does you Guardian have:

Outside of Guardian stuff, he’s picked up a handful of skills over the years. He can rap and sing and figured out how to autotune his voice/mimic others, he’s pretty good at woodcarving and making little things out of scrap metal, and even if his designs are intentionally tacky he’s good at custom paint jobs for jumpships and Sparrows.

As for hobbies, that mostly consists of exploring. He’s got a lot of patrol areas memorized, and does a lot of urbex in places that aren’t very thoroughly mapped because he likes finding pre-Collapse artifacts and seeing places not very many others have. Mostly for selling.

He also does a lot of gambling, but whether or not he’s any good at it is arguable.

What would your Guardian's lore book be called:

Sixteen Wolves

Where was your Guardian reborn?:

Somewhere in the humid and shitty swamp that used to be Houston, Texas. It was tough going for a while, but they eventually traveled all the way to what would eventually be the City.

What were they wearing when they were reborn:

Rapidly disintegrating work gear from, presumably, some kind of security job.

What was their reaction to being reborn:

Confusion and alarm, but he warmed up to Serenity pretty quickly, so it wasn’t too bad after the initial shock.

What was their reaction to their first rez:

Very surprised until Serenity explained what had just happened. After that, all bets were off.

After being reborn, did they meet friendlies first or hostiles:

Like many, the first sentient form of life he met was hostile, but it wasn’t aliens. His first run-in with other people was a group of survivors who had a lot of mistrust regarding the Risen and he didn’t want to fight them, so he took off.

Who was the first other Guardian they met?:

He definitely doesn’t remember, but it probably wasn’t a pleasant encounter.

Did your Guardian get reborn with, or find, any indication of their past life? If so what do they have/found:

Exos get the luxury of at least knowing their name, but Wolf found his etched into a corner of his chest plate in cool letters. He didn’t remember anything from his past life beyond random glimpses if he dug hard enough, and nowadays those glimpses are pretty rare and extremely vague. There’s never any memory fragment that’s enough to really grab onto, so he tends not to bother with it.

How did your Guardian get their name(if they didn't rez with past life mementos):

Exo thing! He doesn’t remember if it was just some kind of moniker or part of his actual original human name, but Wolf sounds cool so he’s not worried about it.

Going back to your Guardian's lore book, what would be some quotes or passages from their book:

The Hunter dove for the ball and caught it, whipped it back across to his companion with a well-practiced flick of his wrist and tumbled. The Warlock caught it a bit more gracefully and without getting dirt on his clothes.

“Do you ever think about home?”

“What do you mean?”

The Warlock shrugged, tossing the ball back and forth between his palms. “Home. You know. Where you’re from. Your people, I mean. I think about the Dreaming City a lot. I don’t remember how it used to be, but... I like to think maybe I had family there once. Someone to miss me when I was gone. Dreadful to think of how it’s been destroyed...”

“Hm.” Wolf considered the question, then it was his turn to shrug. “Dunno. Guess we don’t really have one.”

“You must have something, Wolf. Exos had to come from somewhere. Everyone has a home.”

“Y’all might have a home. All we got’s a graveyard.”

Does your Guardian have a significant other:

He’s had a handful over the years. He’s still friends with Liz, not that anyone can tell because all they do is fuck with each other and cause trouble when they’re together. He and Amelia were a thing briefly but that one had to be called off to preserve their friendship because, even though they’ve known each other for decades and get along surprisingly well, they are very, very different people.

The last one was Cayde, and that didn’t end well for anyone. Cringe culture is dead, don’t @ me.

Did your Guardian go explore first before going to The Last City? If so, where to:

That was kinda the name of the game back then. The City was just a dinky little encampment and Wolf was on a completely different continent, so by the time he actually got there it was a dinky little town with not much to explore. He ended up breezing through a few times before anyone even really realized he was a Risen. The section of the wall he helped build is actually still there.

What was their reaction to first seeing The Last City:

A little bit surprised, honestly. He already knew there were a lot of little camps and small towns scattered around, but he hadn’t expected to find any that were that organized and so full of lightbearers and mortals, just working side by side.

Is your Guardian a part of a clan:

Yes! He’s part of the Exodus Family.

Does your Guardian's clan have a back story? If so, what is it?(if you want to or able to share):

Not much that I’m personally aware of, just cus my friends and I haven’t talked about it at length, but basically everyone is an Exo and having a fairytale/biblical theme is pretty common. Like. Puck is an obvious one. Wolf and Serenity are a little bit Little Red Riding Hood themed, only insomuch as Serenity having an affinity for red shells and Wolf thinking he’s all big and bad and tough.

(He’s not, he’s a baby.)

If your Guardian would have a quote as a flavor text for a weapon and/or piece of armor, what would they be:

I have a couple of these actually, all inspired by some really good quotes I’ve seen.

Wolf Moon’s Chase (Exotic) “Don’t look back. You’re not going that way.” A hand cannon with a wolf head grip and the Howlin’ Wolves perk; Successive precision kills gradually reload the clip and boost Super energy regen even if stowed. Missed shots have a chance to track enemies and explode.

Last Man Standing (Exotic) ”I was always taught that if you shoot for the Moon and miss, the vacuum of space will suck out your eyeballs. Failure is not an option. Go kill ‘em.” Chest armor with the Knock ‘Em Dead perk: Low health massively boosts damage, resilience, and mobility for a short amount of time.

Bad Blood (Legendary) ”The strength of the pack is the Wolf. The strength of the Wolf is the pack.” A Hunter’s cloak with the Vermilion Stripe down one side and a moon shattered into three pieces on the back.

If your Guardian has had any interactions with any civilians, Eliksni, Cabal, Vex, Hive, Taken, Scorn, Rogue Lightbearers, or Iron Lords/War Lords tell us about it!:

Wolf’s been around a while and he’s seen a lot of things, so let’s dig into this one.

He’s not as well known in the City except by name unless he’s wearing his wolf mask, but he drops in at the Farm pretty often and he’s on good terms with everyone there. He does a lot of supply runs for them and will stick around if they’re shorthanded to help with upkeep or defense if there’s a lot of hostile activity in the area. In general, he doesn’t interact a whole lot with mortals unless they’ve been out on the front lines like Devrim or Suraya. There’s way too much cultural and social disconnect there and he doesn’t have the patience or really even the language to try and explain to them that he, even as a Guardian and Old Light, is just as human as they are and while he may be immortal and have crazy cosmic superpowers given to him by a mysterious and sentient white spheroid, dying hurts and the trauma every Guardian walks around with just is not worth it.

Where Eliksni are concerned, he tends not to initiate fights with them. If they shoot first, all bets are off, but for the most part he has a lot of respect for what they’ve been through and can relate to feeling lost and completely adrift with no identity. He helps rebels on Europa either fight back against Salvation or escape to Earth to join the House of Light. He’s made a lot of friends that way.

Cabal he has a lot of respect for as well, for similar reasons. They lost their home to the Hive and are trying to survive in the best way they know how, even if he doesn’t agree with their politics. He doesn’t know what’s going to happen with Caiatl, but he’s trying to maintain hope that her empire and humanity will eventually reach an understanding. They’d be unstoppable as allies.

He doesn’t fuck with the Vex. Even before things came to light on Europa, even being near them made his brain itch and one of his biggest fears is being infected with some kind of Vex virus that’ll turn him into one of them and spread to other Exos or Ghosts, almost to the point he’d prefer to avoid them altogether.

He is terrified of the Hive. I’ve mentioned the Lunar Incident before, and the trauma of it caused such an intense meltdown that it forced a reset. Unless Eris Morn specifically asks him personally to go to the Moon for any reason, he doesn’t go anywhere near it. He can deal with them in other places like the Reef or on Earth, but the combination of Moon + Hive just scares him to death.

Taken and Scorn both are kind of a wobbly thing for him. He feels bad for what happened to them, but knowing that it can’t be reversed and that just killing them is a mercy makes it easier to deal with them. With Taken and anything relating to them, the spatial distortion they cause kind of overwhelms his processes if he’s dealing with it for too long and can make him feel a little sick, but that usually subsides once he’s gotten some distance. (Scorn are just... Oof. On the one hand, he kind of feels like they’re not too dissimilar to lightbearers just in that they were brought back from the dead and now won’t stay dead, but he always wonders if they’re suffering or if they even know where they are or what they’re doing. It’s just incredibly sad to see them like that, and the same goes for the Wrathborn.)

Rogue lightbearers? He kind of is one. He didn’t join the Vanguard until long after the City was established and before that he was just kind of doing his own thing being a thieving little shithead. It was Amelia who encouraged him to do it, and he’s shaped up a lot since then and become a lot more sympathetic toward other people. He still has that wild edge and always plays it fast and loose with the rules, more so than even most other Hunters, so he’s always butting heads with Zavala about that. In general, he doesn’t think much of them unless they’ve genuinely gone bad and are actively out there hunting and hurting other people.

Warlords/Iron Lords, uhhh. He was friends with a Warlord back in their day, but he didn’t pay them much mind outside of that. As far as he was concerned, if they stayed out of his way and he stayed out of theirs, everything was fine because other people’s problems weren’t his problem and he had no intention of getting tangled up with all that shit when he had a free pass to do all the petty crimes he wanted. He’s always thought the Iron Lords were stuffy and holier-than-thou, but he does kind of respect what they did back then and he might rip on Lord Saladin, but he understands his perspective on things. That kind of survival instinct and total victory or death philosophy, like... ya know. Wolf grew up in different times, too, and back then it was genuinely kill or be killed and you couldn’t trust anyone not to stab you in the back over scraps. He gets it. He may not always agree, but he gets it.

Does your Guardian have any unconventional allies or connections(By Vanguard standards):

Definitely. It didn’t start with Crow and Spider of course, but they’re a pretty good example. As a Hunter, he is connected. He knows a guy for everything you can think of and most of that knowledge is very under the table kind of shit. If the gains are good, he’ll partner up with just about anyone and his only hard limit is probably wholesale murder and not necessarily even because he isn’t comfortable with it. It’s a lot of mess, and a lot of potential to get his ass into really deep trouble he’d rather avoid.

He’s got a lot of Eliksni and Cabal buddies out in the system, most of whom he met in some makeshift prison or while trapped somewhere. More than once it’s been a situation of kidnapping where he just accidentally became friends with his captors.

One of his best friends for years was an Eliksni vandal out on the Tangled Shore, so he has absolutely no issue with having unconventional allies.

(Plus, like. With the system in total fucking chaos, you’re gonna need all the friends you can get. He’s dumb but he’s not stupid.)

How does your Guardian feel about themselves or others using Stasis:

Wolf has mixed feelings about Stasis. With Exos being pretty much literally born of Darkness, he has a natural affinity for it but being such a sensitive dude makes it very easy for the Darkness to manipulate him through. Any time he uses Stasis, he gets weird and a little bloodthirsty, so he tries to only use it when nothing else is working. He’s got a lot of willpower, but you can only hold out for so long when someone’s promising you salvation, peace, and power after the sort of life an Old Light has to deal with. Fear and trauma are very easy to appeal to when everything is looking increasingly more bleak all around you.

As far as other people using it, he’s still very “not my circus, not my clowns” about it. The only time he’d take issue is if someone was using it like legitimately trying to RTL someone he cares about.

Did they run The Last Wish raid? How did they react to seeing a live Ahamkara a.k.a Riven:

I’ve only done parts of it myself, but if he has met Riven he definitely almost short-circuited. I think anyone would if they met a supposedly extinct magic space dragon for the first time.

Did they run The Deep Stone Crypt raid? How did they react to the Crypt and seeing Exo Eliskni:

It was harrowing to say the least. Everything on Europa has been a nightmare, just from his own standpoint as an Exo. He goes through phases where he thinks that being one is the greatest thing ever because you’re faster, stronger, and tougher than anyone else, but at the same time, like. Look at what they have to deal with.

And all the secrets that came out as we learned more about Exoscience and Clovis Bray? Yikes, dude. Any time he’s not feeling cheeky or neutral about it, he just feels this weird sense of shame and guilt. Why would anyone want to be an Exo? Why would anyone willingly hand over their peace of mind and their security in their own identity like that? Most Exos don’t know who they were before, some don’t even know who they are now, and all because they got too close to the truth or their fundamentally unsustainable existence backfired again and they had to completely erase everything and start over.

Seeing Atraks was like watching a car crash knowing you wouldn’t be able to do anything to stop it. All these people seeking that out, wanting to make themselves or their allies into Exos just to be top notch unstoppable war machines when they don’t even slightly understand what it’s really like to live inside a completely foreign body is something he just can’t wrap his head around. He tries not to think about it too hard.

Is your Guardian from D1? How did they react to seeing Taniks alive once again:

He has his own beef with Taniks, but like. If he kept being killed and revived in shittier and shittier conditions, he’d probably be really pissed off too.

Where did they go and what did they do during The Red War:

The Red War kind of spelled the end of him transiently living in the City proper. His apartment was in one of the residential areas that got leveled, and he just never went back once the dust settled.

He did what he could to help, but his main concern was just keeping Serenity safe. He’d never admit it out loud in mixed company but if it came to having to choose between her and a handful of mortals, he’d choose her every time. She’s been the one constant in his life since he was revived and he couldn’t imagine having to try and carry on without her.

It really brought home just how much abuse he could take before his body would quit on him, and he almost didn’t make it through the whole thing. He’s way too reckless now to survive long without his Ghost, but it brought them a whole lot closer together.

For the most part, he teamed up with other Hunters to scout for safe exits and round up survivors, and when the Vanguard left to take care of business he stayed to help keep his lil classmates on task. After that he stayed at the Farm for a while dealing with the whole self-repair and maintenance deal, and he spent a whole lot more time out in the field when it was over.

Here are some characters that are either polarizing or have created a strong enough mass emotion within the community. What opinion does your Guardian hold on each of them >>>

Osiris, First Warlock Vanguard, originally exiled:

Wolf likes Osiris. Anyone who’s reckless, stubborn, uncouth, and a little bit feral is always going to be someone that Wolf likes and wants to be friends with. They get along for the most part, but because focusing doesn’t even make the list of Wolf’s strong points, Osiris can get exasperated with him pretty quickly when they’re going over some kind of batshit strategy and Wolf is over there in his corner texting. Osiris has no idea how he’s survived this long and has definitely said as much to his face. Wolf isn’t so sure either.

Eris Morn, Bane of the Swarm:

He’s a bit intimidated by her. She was kind of the catalyst for one of the most traumatizing events of his life, so being around her now still makes him feel a little bit weird and very nervous. Despite that, he still respects and trusts her immensely and will always come if she needs him.

They’ve taken time since All That Mess to talk to each other and she’s incredibly remorseful over what happened, but Wolf doesn’t blame her for any of it.

She has a very unique perspective on the Darkness and the Hive what all of this shit means, and he generally will trust her word over someone else’s when the topic comes up. She’s got a lot of wisdom in that crazy head of hers and they have a bit of a shared experience when it comes to being trapped in a Hive nest.

Cayde-6, Sixth Hunter Vanguard:

Lemme roll out the simp wagon for this one, ahem.

Wolf adored Cayde. Before The Dare, he joined in on Cayde’s little crew every so often for jobs and over time they got to know each other about as well as anyone can know Cayde or Wolf, and Wolf ended up falling for him pretty hard between all the snarky banter and watching him in action. They did some casual messing around and I’m sure anyone with eyes could see how bad he had it, but he never got the gumption to really confess and never tried to actually pursue anything beyond casual fun.

Cayde’s death absolutely destroyed his entire world. He’s seen plenty of death and his fair share of RTLs, but none have hit him as hard as that one. He spent a little while just immobilized by grief until it morphed into anger because, honestly, I don’t think any Guardian handles loss very well, and he decided after the memorial service to hunt down Uldren regardless of the cost.

The whole thing caused a bit of a rift between himself and his old fireteam and the Spider got a few good laughs out of calling him ‘Killer’. He doesn’t remember a lot of it now due to his reset around Shadowkeep, but he still gets flashes, and he definitely still blames himself. If he could have gotten there just a few minutes sooner, he knows Cayde and Sundance could have survived.

Ikora Rey, Second Warlock Vanguard:

Mad respect for Ikora Rey, especially when she low key high key supported his revenge mission. She has a unique way of being shady about things that Wolf really likes, and they don’t have much in common but he’s enjoyed working with her any time he’s gotten the chance.

When he has things to report on that he knows Zavala won’t like, Wolf goes to her first since she knows best how to soften the blow, and when he has the forethought to even bother, he runs strategies by her to get input. She’s the best Crucible player in history and he kind of sees her as a Warlock that thinks like a Hunter in a lot of ways. In the absence of Cayde, she’s the Vanguard he answers to the quickest.

Commander Zavala, Second Titan Vanguard:

Wolf and Zavala have a tense relationship. They don’t agree on most things and any time you put them in the same room together it inevitably devolves into some kind of argument about the best course of action to take on anything. Wolf’s story has him kind of lined up to be promoted to Vanguard because of experience and technicalities on the Dare, and while it’s not entirely up to Zavala, he does have a lot of sway as the Vanguard Commander. Wolf could not be less interested in the seat if someone was holding a gun to his Ghost.

He’s intentionally unprofessional as hell any time he has to work with Zavala directly and tends to go out of his way to use very unconventional methods that he know Big Blue won’t approve of, because he’s a child. Being petty is the spice of life, and Wolf is still mad that Zavala forbid him from going after Uldren. That he does remember.

With all of that said though! He does respect Zavala. You wouldn’t know it, but he truly does. The guy has the weight of the entire Sol System on his shoulders and never once has he complained.

Saint-14, legendary Titan, First Titan Vanguard:

Wolf is very fond of Saint and Saint is probably one of the few people left who has a way of getting Wolf to slow down and just take it easy for a while. Before Wolf dipped out for good, he’d sometimes just track the guy down to spend time with him and listen to his various wisdoms.

These days, he still calls him up sometimes to shoot the shit and check in on things and he always asks Saint to tell the pigeons and the Colonel that he said hi.

Lord Saladin, Iron Banner handler, One of the last remaining Iron Lords:

Wolf clowns on Saladin a lot but he does understand his point of view when it comes to survival. I’ve mentioned it before, but Wolf “grew up” in the same time period and gets where the intensity and giving no quarter comes from, because back then it really was a life or death decision with way more immediate consequences. Table politics are kind of lost to him and the turning tide between humanity versus the Eliksni or the Cabal is calling for a more open and foreward-thinking willingness to take that risk in allying with them against a common enemy. Wolf’s a quicker learner though, and spending as much time as he has with both has taught him that, in a lot of ways, they’re just like us. They had their homes taken and destroyed, they’ve lost loved ones in droves, and they’re struggling to hang onto a thread in the only way they know how.

Wolf hopes that Lord Saladin will come around and let go of his dated worldviews, because the old ways aren’t what’s going to win wars anymore. Things are far, far bigger than us versus them now and Wolf has a feeling that humanity is gonna need more resolute leaders like Saladin to survive what’s coming.

Lord Shaxx, Crucible handler, Hero of Twilight Gap, living megaphone:

Don’t leave Shaxx and Wolf alone together unless you want complete and utter chaos to unfold. Any time they get together, they get rowdy, and no piece of furniture is safe from having one of them suplexed or dropkicked into it. Shaxx is kind of like a cool uncle to Wolf and they have been known to test new weapons on each other.

The Crow, New Light, Ex-Enforcer to The Spider:

Whoof. When Wolf first met Crow, he was absolutely gobsmacked. Of all the things running through his head, the biggest question he had was why. He almost shot Crow on sight, but he hesitated for some reason. It took a long time for Wolf to warm up to him and in that time he was uncharacteristically quiet and a little cold. Serenity managed to get him to keep his stupid mouth shut, and he’s glad he listened for once.

I think just spending all that time with him hunting Wrathborn, just being a team and really going through it together, was what brought Wolf closer to him. Learning about what Crow was dealing with in his personal life, everything he was going through just as a consequence of existing. Wolf opened up over time himself and once he worked through that big C6 obstacle, he found himself really endeared to both Crow and Glint.

These days, Wolf would probably consider Crow one of his best friends. He’s taught the kid a lot of old Hunter tricks and they hang out a lot, to Glint and Serenity’s immense relief. Crow is like the little brother he never had.

The Spider, The Shore's Only Law, founder of "House" Spider:

He may or may not have low key threatened Spider before he left the Tangled Shore with Crow. From day one, even as someone who is by default insufferably cheeky, the amount of disrespect. Ooh, bitch.

Spider calling him Killer (especially around Crow) got under his skin so fast, you would not even believe, and it was all Wolf could do not to leap across the room and strangle him to death any time they had to do deals.

As far as Wolf is concerned, if he never sees the Spider again, it’ll be too soon.

Uldren Sov, Prince of the Reef, Master of Crows:

Khhhh, hoo boy. The hate. The Frothing Hatred he had for this little man. Wolf had never in his life wanted someone dead as badly as he wanted Uldren Sov dead.

Being friends with Crow and his 16th reset has softened that a lot, and he’s learned a few things about Uldren that have made other things make a lot more since sense then, but. Yeesh.

Mara Sov, Queen of the Reef, Queen of the Awoken, Ex-Kell of Wolves:

Very mixed. He never dealt with her directly, but Wolf has a natural aversion to any form of leadership just by nature. That she cornered the House of Wolves into subservience doesn’t help, but on the other hand, if she hadn’t been at war with them, things would have turned out a lot different for humanity at Twilight Gap.

Variks, the Loyal, founder of House Judgement:

Speaking of shifty motherfuckers.

Wolf definitely likes Variks and his reset between Shadowkeep and now has conveniently erased the memory of knowing Variks had a hand in Cayde’s death.

He does what he can on Europa to help Variks get Salvation rebels to safety if they just want to get the fuck up out of there and is happy to do knife tricks for him when he asks. Variks has made a lot of questionable decisions, but it’s all been done for what he believes is the good of his people, and Wolf can respect that.

Mithrax, the Forsaken, Kell of Light, founder of House Light:

Hasn’t met him, but he’s heard... a lot. With Mithrax being the Kell of the House of Light, Wolf is hopeful it’ll be a good step in the right direction toward uniting humanity and Eliksni. He’s pretty sure they’re both doomed if they can’t at least fight alongside each other temporarily.

The Exo Stranger/Elizabeth "Elsie" Bray, Granddaughter of Clovis I and Sister to Ana Bray:

Wolf is incurably nosy, so he finds Elsie pretty frustrating. She’s full of secrets and never hangs around long enough to explain what the hell she’s talking about or what her end goal is, but she’s been invaluable on Europa. Once she finally opened up a little bit and started actually telling him important things, he found her a whole lot easier to get along with and it helped to have her around when he was discovering a lot of things on his own about where Exos came from.

Eramis, of House Salvation, Kell of Darkness:

He... gets where she was coming from, in a way. She was angry and desperate and that kind of thing is easy for the Darkness to take advantage of. He can’t rightly blame her for grabbing onto anything she thought might save her people, even though it’s ended in yet more trauma for them.

Eramis isn’t someone he’d go out of his way to try to be friends with if she was ever freed from Stasis, but he would hope she’d more or less see the Light and realize that her methods needed some serious rethinking.

Empress Caiatl of the Cabal Imperial Empire:

Wolf has a lot of respect for Caiatl. She watched her home burn down around her and has used that pain to fuel a cause he thinks is pretty noble. Humanity has been at war with the Cabal for a long time now, and both sides have suffered incredible losses because of it. He thinks that trying to mend that and join forces is a good idea, but for once he’s kind of with Zavala on something: They shouldn’t have to swear fealty or subservience to a foreign empire to have their support against a threat that’s coming for both.

He’s holding out hope that if they show their strength against her greatest warriors, she’ll understand that Guardians and humanity as a whole are more beneficial as equals, not cannon fodder. It only takes one Guardian to decimate an entire Cabal squad, after all.

The Darkness is fast approaching. How is your Guardian handling it:

He’s... handling it. It’s been getting harder in recent years to just not think about things which has been his entire motto since he was first revived. More and more he’s having to confront head-on the things that scare him the most, and there’s only so much running away you can do before you run straight into a corner and have to choose between extinction and fighting until you draw your last breath.

Wolf isn’t a pacifist by any means, but it’s just one of those things where he’s starting to realize his way of living just isn’t sustainable with the system in such chaos. The Hive used to be just another threat he had to deal with every so often, but now they’ve become the Big Bad that are outpacing even the Vex in terms of imminent destruction of several species all at once. His biggest hope right now is that humanity, Eliksni, and Cabal can all set their differences aside, at least long enough to try and put up a defense against the Hive and the Darkness. If they can’t, then... well, they won’t have to worry about it for very long, at least.

And finally, does your Guardian have any advice for any New Lights:

Be good. Be understanding. Tell the people you love that you love them every single chance you get, because you never know what could happen out there. Don’t treat everyone as your enemy, because you may find friends in strange places, and how you treat someone may be the difference between waking up dead and surviving to see morning, but most importantly; Don’t look back. You’re not going that way.

[eos-teric]

Relationship Reading 101

I often find requests in my mailbox for readings related to love life, couples, romantic interests. By personal choice I don't do that: it’s already extremely difficult to be precise with readings made via web, not having the chance of interacting live with the querent; it’s even more complicated if I’m asked to include a third person. Moreover, this kind of reading is most effective if the person concerned chooses the cards and interacts with the deck themselves.

Nonetheless, during these months, I’ve done some research and have even been lucky enough to meet a diviner specialized in love reading. In this post I’ll gradually collect the methods I learn. I’ll choose the ones within everyone's reach, to allow you to easily interrogate your own cards!

[last update: Oct 10th, 2020]

SETUP

All you need is a common deck of poker cards. If it’s included, I personally prefer to remove the Joker to keep the deck balanced; if you’re a beginner, I also recommend this setup! You can still choose to keep the Joker, knowing that if it does come up in a reading it’d be a harbinger of immaturity, uncertainty or even infidelity. Alternatively you can also use a tarot deck if you have one. As for the Joker, you can choose whether or not to remove the Major Arcana. I advise you not to keep them all, but to prefer The Lovers, The Hanged Man, The Devil, The Fool. If you feel that a card resonates well with your relationship, include it as well.

You’ll end up with – at least – the 52 (or 56) cards of the four suits: Hearts/Cups, Diamonds/Pentacles, Clubs/Wands, Spades/Swords.

Each method may have its own correspondences with the suits. In general, however, Hearts stand for good news, stability and love; Spades for obstacles, conflicts and sadness.

Remember to cleanse your deck. If you’ve chosen to use playing cards, make sure they’re no longer used to play: they’d absorb bad energies and lose concentration, i.e. divinatory effectiveness. The best practice is to purify and charge the deck before each reading.

METHOD #1 • Daily compatibility

Do you ever think about a special someone, wondering if today is the right day for that idea you've been putting off so far? Or are you interested in that someone, not sure if they like you as much? Then grab and shuffle your deck!

Draw the cards from the top: you discard two and keep the third until the deck runs out. Eventually you count how many Hearts and Spades you have – exactly the number of symbols on each card, not the number of cards of that suit; royal figures count as 15, Major Arcana have no value, and the Joker is worth 30 Spades!

Result: if Hearts are more than Spades your compatibility is good, otherwise it’s better to give ‘em some space and focus on something else.

If the Joker or any Major Arcana are present among the cards drawn, you can interpret them for further insight. Which cards and suits are they close to? The red suits (or Cups and Pentacles) are positive, while the black ones (or Swords and Wands) are negative.

e.g. — Suppose that the Joker is next to the Queen of Spades: one could suspect a betrayal or the malicious intervention of another person.

METHOD #2 • Two bodies, two souls

I was expressly advised to do this reading only during the night before the new moon – it’s believed that when the moon is new, one should never divine –, to check the status and changes in your relationship over the last lunar month as the Moon is the celestial body linked to the soul. It’s also possible to repeat this reading in the same night only by changing at least one of the two subjects in question; this means that you should never ask twice about the status of the same couple, ‘cause it would offend the cards! You’ll then have to wait for the following lunar cycle.

It works like this: first of all you have to choose a card that represents you (or the querent) and one that represents the partner. Specifically, the choice falls between the royal figures of Diamonds for one, and those of Clubs for the other. There isn't exactly a rule but, if it helps, Kings are for men, Queens for women, and Jacks are gender neutral and younger than the two regents. Hearts and Spades remain independent, as they represent love and suffering respectively, as mentioned in the setup.

e.g. — I identify myself with the Jack of Diamonds and my partner, pretending he’s a man older than me, should therefore be the King of Clubs. (I could have chosen the Jack of Clubs instead, so he would have been the King of Diamonds. Easy, right?)

You’re now both associated with one of the four suits. As the name of this method suggests, you finally have two bodies. Your two souls will be the Aces of each suit respectively. We’ll call these four cards Stakes.

e.g. — My soul will be represented by the Ace of Diamonds and his by the Ace of Clubs.

As always, shuffle the cards and draw them one at a time from the top of the deck; distribute them in four stacks, until there are none left, then scroll through each one: your bodies and souls now function as brackets, which include some cards and exclude others. Five intuitive cases can arise, but make sure you've checked well. If it helps, arrange the cards in a row, following their order, and look at them carefully.

1. You found only one Stake: keep it and the following cards, if any; discard the rest. 2. You found two Stakes: keep them and the eventual cards between; discard the rest. 3. You found three Stakes: keep the first two Stakes with what they eventually include, discarding the previous cards, if any; also keep the third Stake and eventually the subsequent cards, thus discarding those included between the second and third Stake, if any. 4. You found four Stakes: as for two Stakes, but twice. 5. The stack contains no Stake: discard it all.

Now stack up all the remaining cards in one deck (don’t shuffle it!) and repeat the operation, this time dividing it into three stacks; next time will be only two stacks; finally, reverse the order of the remaining cards, as if you were forming a single last stack.

It’s time to check: deal out the cards, drawing them from the top and placing them from left to right. You’ll know everything went well if in the end you still have at least the four Stakes and no more than 6 other cards, for a maximum amount of 10 and a minimum of 4. If there are more than ten cards left, it means that the deck has nothing to tell you: maybe the couple isn't close enough, or there hasn't been any progress since last reading. If one of the Stakes is missing, you have clearly messed up and wasted the opportunity for this lunar cycle – that sucks, so be thorough!

But if the numbers add up, you can proceed with the interpretation! Again, follow your intuition by first observing the distance and position of the respective souls from the bodies (remember: it’s the same suit!); then observe the distance between the respective bodies and souls of the couple; finally, consider everything as a whole, paying attention to additional cards and their position. In particular, the further cards of Diamonds and Clubs are related to the partner associated with the same suit; the royal figures are people outside the couple, and the aces can be memories or hopes.

e.g. — I ended up with: Q♦, A♦, A♣, 7♥, J♦, K♣. I immediately notice that our bodies are equidistant from our souls, and that both souls and bodies are side by side; the two planes are separated by a card of Hearts. The interpretation is almost spontaneous: there’s a perfect balance between emotional and physical levels, and in that Seven I see a growth in our relationship. Evidently, in the last lunar month, everything between us has tried to put itself in the right place, and over the next cycle it may be possible to exploit this state as a fertile ground. The key to succeeding in this intent could depend on that Queen of Diamonds, a woman I know that’s also close to my soul. I instinctively thought of a dear friend of mine, who might be able to give me the right advice. Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

METHOD #3 • PRIORITY

We often forget that love isn’t everything, and by virtue of it we sacrifice a lot. This method is a fairly simple and mechanical solitaire game, but when played with your divination cards it can give general feedback on which aspects of your life you should pay attention to.

Shuffle the deck and take out four cards, face down: set them aside. We will call ‘em Revelations. Deal out the remaining cards, placing them face down evenly in four rows. If you’re using a poker deck, when you’re done with the setup you’ll have a 12x4 grid in front of you, i.e. 48 cells.

Your aim is to gradually arrange the cards of the same suit in each row, in ascending order from 2 to King – thus excluding the Ace. The "game" is divided into four rounds, one for each Revelation. Draw the first one and find its position on the first row, which will then be associated with that suit. Be careful: don't forget that the first card of a row is actually meant for a 2, not the Ace, and so on! To place the card you currently have in your hand, you’ll need to swap it with the faced-down one that occupies its correct cell. When you draw a new suit, its row will be the next unused one.

e.g. — My first Revelation is a 7♥, which I place on the sixth cell of the first row, swapping it with what I discover to be the J♣, that will go to the tenth cell of the second row because the first one is already for Hearts.

Continue until you draw an Ace: place it to the left of the row corresponding to its suit: the round is over and you must draw the next Revelation. The game ends when all the Aces have been found, and therefore when you have no more Revelations. Flip all the cards that are still faced-down, leaving them where they are. This solitaire is successful when all the cards are correctly ordered on the grid.

e.g. — To complete the solitaire I have three faced-down cards left, but I draw the last Ace so I can’t help but check if those other two cards were already in the right position. Indeed yes, so I won!

Whether the game was succeeded or not, it’s time to divine: first of all, if it has failed, it might mean that you’ll soon have some setbacks or that there’s not enough clarity in your life. Analyze the order of appearance of the suits, from top to bottom: this will help you understand which aspect of your life you should focus on (first rows), suggesting you temporarily leave out something else (last rows). Spades represent the causes of your pain; Hearts are your relationships; Clubs stand for study or career, Diamonds for what makes you materially satisfied and safe. For a good divination you must as well pay attention to each Revelation, to the order of appearance of the Aces, and especially to the order of completion of the four suits: be glad when Spades are the last to be completed, 'cause it means that sadness is far away!