#I wanted to draw Michael and Abby again getting along

[chloesimaginationthings]

An important FNAF question, why is Michael purple?

[alipeeps]

New tag game: Post pictures of your first ever (fictional/celeb) crush to the latest one and tag five others to continue the game

Thanks to @minmoyu for tagging me and ooof, are you sure you’re ready for this?!! :D I have been around/in fandom for a loooooong time and at first I thought, okay, no way I can list all my crushes, there have been SO many and we’ll be here all day but then as I started compiling a list I found I was having fun reminiscing and decided, what the heck, yeah, let’s do em all... or at least all I can remember! :D

There have absolutely for sure been other more minor crushes and passing fancies along the way, but these are the big ones that I remember (and that, in more recent years, I can track by going through my posted fanfics on AO3 and even *shudder* FFNET and seeing which shows I was into enough to want to write fic about the characters).

[Quick note: with rare exceptions, for actors I am listing them by the character they played rather than just the actor. Whilst there are actors that I like in multiple roles (and conversely, characters who on paper I would normally be into but are played by actors who do nothing for me, and hence the character generally does nothing for me either), for the most part it is the character I really have the crush on.]

I’m going to put this under a readmore cos it has gotten ridiculously long:

So... without further ado:

1. MORTEN HARKET from a-ha - OKay so, dating myself badly here but... I had the *biggest* crush on Morten Harket when I was a teenager. Pretty much the entirety of my side of the bedroom I shared with my sister was covered in posters of a-ha, and Morten in particular. I even had a heart-shaped Morten Harket pillow! :D I loved a-ha’s music (still do!) and I wanted to go see them in concert when I was 14 but my parents wouldn’t let me (*sob*). I did finally get to see them in concert in the early 2000s and they were BRILLIANT live (and Morten was still very very pretty)! 

2. RICHARD DEAN ANDERSON as MACGYVER - MacGyver is the first tv character I remember being really into and having a crush on, to the extent that I would record episodes of the show off the tv (onto VHS tape - yes, I am *that* old!) so that I could rewatch them (especially the ones where he got hurt - yeah, I was a whumper even then! :D)

3. KEIFER SUTHERLAND - One of my rare exceptions. I think I first saw him in Lost Boys (and loved him in that film) but it was his role as Doc Scurlock in Young Guns that really made me fall for both the character and him. I definitely remember seeking out any and all films he was in and buying any magazine he was interviewed in (and knowing far more facts about him than was probably healthy! :D) and even drawing a fanart portrait of him. :)

4. KYLE MACLACHLAN as SPECIAL AGENT DALE COOPER - I remember hearing about Twin Peaks before it started airing in the UK and it sounded so different and interesting... I watched it from the very first episode and very quickly developed a crush on Coop.  

5. BRENT SPINER as DATA - I think ST: TNG had been airing for a while before I stumbled across it but I quickly became hooked and Data was my favourite character right from the start. I definitely remember at one point buying an (unofficial) episode guide book so that I could look up which episodes were good Data-focused ones (especially ones where he got hurt! :D) so I could go out and buy the videos that had those episodes on (at the time the show was available to buy on VHS-tape with 2 episodes on each tape).

6. DAVID DUCHOVNY as FOX MULDER - Another show that I heard the buzz about and started watching right from the start and, like so many others, I immediately developed a crush on the snarky, enigmatic, troubled FBI agent with the weird name. The X-Files was the first show I ever tried writing (one, never-finished) fanfic for.

7. PAUL GROSS as BENTON FRASER - Man, Due South was such a good show! It was so quirky and clever and funny and Benton Fraser, with his huge heart and his serious demeanour and his gorgeous blue eyes, was just so darn attractive! He also got whumped a fair bit too! :D Due South was also the show that introduced me to the music of Sarah McLachlan (I was enough of a fan that I bought the show soundtrack on CD).

8. HUGH LAURIE as DR GREGORY HOUSE - This was a bit of an odd one for me because I had grown up knowing Hugh Laurie solely as a comedian/comic actor, known mostly for playing buffoons and genial idiots. And suddenly here he was with stubble, an American accent, and a limp, and he was hawt AF! :D It caused quite the feedback loop in my brain for a while which pretty much went “Wow, House is hot.... but it’s Hugh Laurie... but he’s hot... but it’s HUGH LAURIE!!1!”

I *loved* House (the first few seasons, at least) and oof a character with persistent pain (and a self-destructive streak a mile wide!) was a whumper’s dream. House was the first show for which I wrote - and published online - completed fanfics.

8. JOE FLANIGAN as JOHN SHEPPARD - Stargate Atlantis was my first proper online fandom, the first show I prolifically and repeatedly wrote fanfic for, and the first time I ever met in person an actor I was a big fan of (and while the show was still airing, to boot!). It was also my first introduction to the online community of whumpers! A bunch of us from the Shep Whump thread on Gateworld heard that Joe was going to be at a convention in London and we decided to book hotel rooms and meet up and go to the convention together and it was AWESOME! I can still remember seeing Joe *in person* for the first time and just,,,, struggling to believe he was actually here, in person, in front of me! He was super super lovely and humble too and took time to chat to everyone at the signing table and I clearly remember my brain just pretty much fritzing out during the photo session and being intensely aware of the sensation of Joe’s hand on my shoulder....

It was also super lovely to meet fellow fans, and online friends, in person for the first time and we had so much fun, and it kickstarted me going to lots of other conventions, including specific Stargate/SGA ones where I got to know lots of other lovely fans and online friends. I’ve met Joe about 4 or 5 times in total now and he’s been lovely every time.

9. PAUL BLACKTHORNE as HARRY DRESDEN - Gosh I loved the shortlived tv adaptation of The Dresden Files. I loved the fantasy aspect, the stories, the humour, and I especially loved Harry Dresden and how often he got whumped! :D 

10. DAVID TENNANT as THE 10TH DOCTOR - I had watched the Christopher Ecclestone revival of Doctor Who and enjoyed it well enough but I can clearly remember watching David Tennant’s first episode as The Doctor - on Christmas Day, at my brother-in-law’s house - and being aware, as I watched it that... ooookay, yes, I’m in trouble here... I like him... I like him a lot... :D I mean, I’m sure the fact that he got whumped so thoroughly in his very first episode had nothing to do with how quickly I fell for him... right? :)

11. ALEX O’LAUGHLIN as MICK ST JOHN - Another show that ended far too soon and just as it was getting *seriously* good. But also a prime example of my point about having a crush on the character not the actor. I looooooved Alex as Mick St John... and yet in Hawaii 5.0 he pretty much does nothing for me (the character is too stoic and the whump often too unrealistically glossed over). Anyway, in Moonlight he was my favourite kind of character - angsty, brooding, dangerous AF when he needed to be... and essentially immortal so you could whump the heck out of him and he’d recover so you could whump him again! :D

12. SIMON BAKER as PATRICK JANE - There is so much to love about Patrick Jane... his smarts, his sass, his angst... and Simon is a rare “against type” blonde crush for me (you may have noticed by now that most of my crushes follow a similar physical aesthetic - tall, slim/wiry, and dark-haired) and again here I think my crush is almost all to do with the character rather than the actor.

12. BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH as SHERLOCK HOLMES - I’m almost ashamed to admit it, given the clusterfuck that both the show and its fandom became, but in the earlier seasons I had quite the crush on Benedict’s Sherlock (and okay, a little bit on Benedict himself - I did definitely enjoy some of his other roles too). It helps that I was already a huge fan of the Sherlock Holmes character (I’ve read all the stories and novels multiple times and was a big fan of the Granada adaptation starring Jeremy Brett - whose Holmes would definitely count as one of my more minor/passing crushes) already. Benedict is another crush that I have met in person, at a (actually, the first!) Sherlock convention and he was lovely in person - very genuine, very articulate and thoughtful.

13. TOM MISON as ICHABOD CRANE - I was excited for Sleepy Hollow as soon as I heard about it and I was SUCH a fan for the first couple of seasons (before TPTB completely destroyed it and it inevitably got cancelled (I didn’t even watch the last season and a half)) and Tom’s Ichabod (and his amazing chemistry with Nicole’s Abbie) was a large part of why. I also quickly became a big fan of Tom himself as he came across as so witty and self-deprecating and *fun* in all the behind the scenes/convention clips etc. I was lucky enough to also meet Tom at a convention and he genuinely is that witty and charming and lovely.

14. TOM WISDOM as ARCHANGEL MICHAEL - I think Dominion was possibly the first show that I got sucked into by seeing whumpy gifsets on tumblr! :D It was such a great show and also to date the most immersive, welcoming, cast-and-crew-interactive fandom I have ever been in. The cast and crew regularly live-tweeted the episodes, and interacted with fans on Twitter, and it was SO much fun. And Tom’s Michael was my favourite character right from the start - seemingly aloof but so much going on under the surface... and some really nice whump, especially in season 2! I was heartbroken when it was cancelled after only 2 seasons (and just as the plot was getting *really* interesting).

15. OLIVER JACKSON-COHEN as LUCAS - I was hooked on Emerald City right from the first episode. It was visually stunning, so atmospheric, and really intruiging. I love love loved Adria Arjona’s Dorothy (ngl, I had a bit of a crush on her too) and she and Lucas together were just... *chef’s kiss*. I mean... what an introduction to a character... she finds him crucified, bleeding, his wrists tied with barbed wire, and amnesiac.... and the whump only gets better and better from there on in! Like the entire first two episodes are just... Lucas whump! :D And his devotion to her... Emerald City was honestly the first show where I really got into a ship. I was *invested* in Dorcas, dammit! Aaaand sadly another excellent show that never made it past its first season.

16. JASON RALPH as QUENTIN COLDWATER - Another show that I watched right from the start, was heavily invested in.... and that the writers absolutely tanked and destroyed in later seasons. *cries* Quentin was such a brilliant viewpoint character for the show and I loved his awkwardness, and his angst, and his enthusiasm, and his adorable floppy hair... and how often he got whumped! 

17. COLIN MORGAN - I fell for Colin in Merlin (which I stumbled upon late, long after it had finished airing, and hence was able to binge-watch the entire 5 seasons!) and liked him enough to seek out his other works, such as The Fall, and Humans, and The Living and the Dead, and he was brilliant (and very pretty) in all of them... and his characters also seem to get whumped quite a lot! :D 

18. MATT LANTER as WYATT LOGAN - Wyatt was another of my favourite archetypes... absolutely badass and competent... but also tortured and angsty and capable of intense devotion. Another show that I watched because of whumpy gifs on tumblr and the second ever show where I actually got invested in a ship - Lyatt all the way, baby!! :D - aaaaaand yet another show cancelled before its time.

19. NOCTIS LUCIS CAELUM from FINAL FANTASY XV - my very first video game crush! I was recommended to play FFXV by fellow whumpers on the whumpshire discord because it was whumpy... and they were not wrong and I loved the game and I absolutely adored Noctis. FFXV is one of very very VERY few video games that I have actually played right through to the end. And possibly the only video game that has ever affected me to such an extent... I became so invested in the characters and their world and I actually found the last couple of chapters really hard to play because it was actually upsetting me emotionally. I had to take a break for a couple of weeks before I could go back and finish it!

20. CONNOR from DETROIT BECOME HUMAN - and from there I jumped straight into another video game crush! DBH was another game recommended to me for its whump potential and I, and many others, immediately fell in love with the quirky, sassy, self-sacrificing (if you play the game right!) “android sent by Cyberlife”. The game itself is really good too... although, I have tried to play through all the different endings to the story but have never yet managed to make myself play the machine Connor storyline.... I want to complete all the story branches... but I also just want Hank and Connor to be friends and to be happy! :D

21. ZHU YILONG - Ahhh... the beginning of the asian drama arc of my fandom life! I first came across Zhu Yilong after getting sucked into watching Guardian because of pretty (and whumpy) gifs on tumblr... and I’ve never looked back. He is one of the rare entries where I am pretty much guaranteed to like him in pretty much anything he does and my crush extends beyond Shen Wei, or his other characters, and into reblogging his fashion shoot photos, and keeping up with news of his work in general. He’s just... so darn pretty! And also so... blur! :D And the behind the scenes stuff and interviews of him with Bai Yu, during the Guardian era, just made me fall for him all the more. He’s also ridiculously talented - not only a fantastic actor, but a really good singer (I love his singing voice), he plays guitar and piano, and he can paint too!!

He’s also pretty much what made me start learning Chinese... because after Guardian I went seeking his other dramas to watch... only to find that many of them are only partially, or not at all, subbed. So I thought... why not try learning Chinese and then I’ll be able to watch his other shows? :D

21. JI CHANG WOOK - My first kdrama crush, and what a good one to start with! Healer was the first drama I ever watched and can you blame me for falling for JCW... especially when I followed up Healer with The K2?! I’ve liked him in pretty much everything I’ve watched him in. Although I do wish he would go back to doing more action-based shows as he is sooo good at them... but he seems to prefer the romcom genre these days, which is something I am nottt always a fan of tbh.

22. JAKE HSU as MENG SHAO FEI - Yet another show that I got sucked into by tumblr - and also one with a great, fun fandom through which I met lots of lovely people who I still follow/am mutuals with to this day. I just *adored* Jake’s character in History and I also loved the ship - Tang Fan and Meng Shaofei were awesome and adorable together and I was totally invested in both the ship and the gangster/cop/what happened years ago story happening alongside the ship. And Jake is just all kinds of cute.

23. XIAO ZHAN - Aaaand we are pretty much up to current day now... where The Untamed took over my life in the summer of 2019 and has yet to let me go. Xiao Zhan is another disgustingly talented human being - a fantastic singer and a really good actor, and also an artist - and he also just comes across as a genuinely sweet and charming person, and a very thoughful and earnest one too. And lbr he is ridiculously pretty, and his smile is just pure sunshine. 

24. LEE DONG WOOK as LEE YEON - The most recent entry to the charts.... a Korean actor I was aware of but whose work I hadn’t watched and whose looks didn’t particularly seem to grab me... until I watched Tale of the Nine Tailed and fell head over heels for Lee Yeon (and daaayum does red hair suit LDW!!) and very quickly began to find LDW’s looks very appealing (and oh my, does Lee Yeon whump well!!). And yes, I have now started watching Goblin. :D

Phew! Aaaand we are done! I’ll admit, I did think of a few more as I was compiling this list but I decided to categorise them as more “minor” crushes and not include them... otherwise we really could be here all day!!

I’m going to tag: @sarah-yyy​, @arlothia​, @howdydowdy​, @thepromiseweheldforlife​ and @the-wandering-whumper​!

[wildstormoralhistory]

Director’s Cut Material #5- Playtime with J. Scott Campbell

J. Scott Campbell is known the world over for his stylistic take on comics' most famous characters but before his time as a cover artist, he breathed life into the hit books, Gen 13 and Danger Girl. Both titles were fortunate to expand out from comics into licensing opportunities that Campbell was a part of.

J. Scott Campbell (Artist): With Gen 13, I didn’t have as much to do with it as much as Jim would say, “We’re going to do an action figure of Fairchild.” “Oh, we are?” “Could you do some turnarounds for it?” and “We’re going to do some 12" fingers for KB Toys, and I’m like, “No way! Really?” They would just kind of happen in a weird way. I was already trying to get the book done and I was already missing a bunch of-- I told you that was around the time when I was going to take my eye off the ball and losing that motivation towards the end of Gen 13  and, strangely enough, that was when a lot of the products were starting to happen. There was also a video game in development for a long time that never came out. I remember doing load screens for something.           Very quickly into Danger Girl, I would say within the first issue or two, Jim Lee approached me and said, “Todd McFarlane wants you to call him,” and I just felt like, “He does?” and at that point I never met Todd; I knew he was always around, but you wouldn’t see him, he was not in California. He was based out of Arizona. But we all knew he had a toy company and a lot of us had already been buying some of his action figures. So, sure enough, I had a conference call with him. He had a very energetic way of talking. He never picked up the phone; it was always on speaker phone. You got the sense that he was doing 20 other things, but he pitched me the idea that he was doing these different comic book properties. He was going to do a Sin City Marv, he was going to do a Dawn for Michael Linsner and he said he was interested in a few other comic book properties, and mine was one of them, and I did want to do some toys with him. And I was like, “Oh my god, yes.” I would have done it for nothing. It actually turned out to be a pretty nice financial windfall actually. I literally said whatever he wanted to pay me; I was cool with. The only thing I said was, at that point some of those Gen 13 toys that came out, I wasn’t super thrilled with how they looked, so I was like, “I really want to be involved in these toys,” and he said, “That’s cool, you can have a direct contact with the designers.” There was actually two brothers who worked in the design area of it and we would have conference calls once a week, and at that time we had email, but for some reason, there was a lot of packages being sent back and forth with printouts, and I remember drawing over the printouts to say like, “No, no, the nose has to be a little bit more like this,” and I was very hands-on with those action figures and, to this day, they’re probably some of my favorite things I’ve ever done. Those action figures, when they came out it was a like a dream come true. I’ve actually been fortunate enough to have done a lot of 3D stuff; I’ve done statues for Spider-man, I’ve done other statues of things that I’ve worked on, but those were probably my absolute favorite things I ever did, as far as 3D representations of what I drew. They just really, really came out well.          And a funny story to that too is: Joe Madureira was approached as well, and Todd wanted to do Battle Chasers toys, and I remember talking to Joe, and Joe was really like, “I don’t know, I’m really more into these Japanese toys. I’d really much rather have them made from this Japanese company etc.” Joe Mad always had these very specific thoughts about what he liked, what he didn’t like; he was always a little bit off the mainstream; he always wanted something very specific. Just like his influences were always very eclectic and, sometimes, things none of us knew. In the end, he just dilly-dallied, and Todd moved on, and the toys were never made. Somewhat recently Joe told me, “Man, I really should have done these toys.” He really, actually, has regrets about it to this day. I think, ultimately, he feels that that slipped through his fingers, because I think he would’ve loved to have had the toys, and I know he loved how mine came out, so it’s a shame that he missed out on that. I remember too that really legitimized the whole thing very quickly too.           Right off the bat after the first issue we were flown out to Florida by a company, a video game developer named n-Space. They were an up-and-comer; they had contracts with THQ, which was, of course, a much bigger name in video games and we very quickly signed on the dotted line to have a video game produced. That was one of the very first things we did. Right after the first issue so many things were happening- we got a video game going, we were approached by Hollywood to get a movie produced.          A guy by the name of J.C. Spink who continues to be a pretty big deal in producing movies, and another guy named Warren Zide approached us to, basically, pitch Danger Girl as a movie. And we got pretty far along in that process too; we ended up, in fact, selling it to New Line Cinema at the time, and it was for a pretty big amount. It was over six figures the amount that we optioned Danger Girl for. We were looking pretty good there for a while until, all of a sudden, out of the blue, they brought back Charlie’s Angels, and it was that Drew Barrymore re-launch of Charlie’s Angels. I knew that there was a noticeable comparison visually to Charlie’s Angels, although I always thought the tone of Danger Girl was nothing like Charlie’s Angels. But that movie came out, did really well, and that pretty much, sunk us, because, I think, it was Mike De Luca was head of New Line at the time, and the way it was told to me, he walked out of the premier of Charlie’s Angels and just said, “Danger Girl is dead.” And it was just literally like that. And again, we had a pretty nice payday, but that was, pretty much, what killed Danger Girl from moving forward. And since then we’ve had it  optioned and re-optioned a few times, once for a TV show and another time for a movie again, but it never really-- That was when it was most on fire, because it was the new thing; the comic book and the preview, we always pictured it to look like it was a movie in comic book form, and that really worked; people really responded that way.          Right off the bat we were just having tons of success with Danger Girl. The toys, the video game. The video game, ultimately, ended up coming out in a weird bubble. It started off very strong; we really were pushing for all these things; by the end, I think, the money was put in weird areas and I feel it didn’t show up on the screen of the video game. I actually did little run test of things that actually ended up in the Danger Girl sketchbook where you flip the corners and you see Abby running and stuff. That was actually meant for the video game, to show how Abby should run, and there was a part where you see Sidney whipping, and that was me, animating flip form, so I could show them how she should whip in the game. Those were little bits. There’s actually quite a bit in the Danger Girl Sketchbook, concept-wise, that was designed for the game that never ended up in the game. That actually made up quite a bit of the Danger Girl Sketchbook. In the end, PlayStation 2 was announced, and our game was almost nearing completion for PlayStation 1, so already we looked passé before the game even came out, because “Oh my gosh, it’s a game for PlayStation 1? Gross! Why isn’t it for PlayStation 2?” and that kind of thing. That was a shame, because I like to think of Danger Girl as this thing that should look cutting edge in every way, and instead it looked like it was old before it even came out, because, again, everybody wanted PlayStation 2 games; those were the exciting things.          The other thing, I remember, Tomb Raider came out around that time, and we had an Indiana Jones element to the game as well, so, by comparison, Tomb Raider was just the hot commodity at that time, so if you weren’t going to be as good as that, you know you’re already looking second best. Years later, I have people come up to me and tell me they generally like the game, and a lot of people did have pretty fun memories of it. I drew load screens for all the chapters, and we made these funny titles for each of the chapters, Andy wrote dialogue for the game- a lot of that stuff ended up in the Danger Girl Sketchbook.

[eachainn]

I’ve been thinking about something like this since I finished watching Berseria. Then I somehow managed to convince @defragmentise to draw Exorcist Sorey and Malak Mikleo. And then @neodiji nudged me about crossover/fusion ideas and I couldn’t stop myself. Minor spoilers for action sequences in Berseria but I’m avoiding larger story line based spoilers as a whole.

The explosion rocked the dock despite its sturdy rock and concrete base. More damaging was the smoke that it threw up.

Sorey pressed an arm against his mouth and nose, stumbling forward through the smoke. He was sure that he would run into Maltran while he was stumbling around blind but he managed to avoid the Exorcist Praetor by some sort of miracle.

He coughed, stepping out of the billowing cloud and into the open air. Sorey blinked rapidly looking around the dock in a panic. There had been the two humans and the daemon just a moment ago, and Sorey was sure that he would have run into the two malakim that Maltran used, but the dock was empty save for the man running towards the end of it and the ship that was pulling away.

Sorey pivoted to stare at the ship his heart pounding. He scanned over the deck, spotting a woman with brown hair frantically tying down loose lines before she lunged for the wheel. The other woman, the daemon, was leaning out from one of the shrouds at the back of the ship. 

She leaned out, the wind blowing her hair back and allowing her circlet to glint in the sunlight. Her free hand hung in the air, the daemon reaching out for the man stumbling along the dock. “Michael! Hurry!”

Michael must have shouted something, but it was lost to the wind and the explosions still coming from the warehouses. The daemon must have heard it because she twisted to look back at someone on the ship. “Lailah! Again, please!”

Sorey jerked his gaze up, staring at the woman in red standing on the main top. His eyes widened as he watched her call up a ball of fire, taking a step back as it started to grow.

The woman held the ball for a moment before directing it into the ocean, making steam spray up to join the smoke. 

Sorey cursed and stumbled away, watching the steam rise before looking back at the ship.

The woman in red was a malak, he could feel that, but he couldn’t feel a tether. Because of that, it was hard to believe what his senses were telling him. Sorey couldn’t remember what a malak that wasn’t tethered felt like, and it made his heart race. 

There was no tether and there had been no order, which could only mean one thing. 

The malak was free and acting on her own. She had her own thoughts and feelings. She was more than a pair of blank eyes that stared back and haunted him.

She was everything, and she was getting away.

Sorey broke into a run, chasing after Michael even as his gaze was fixed on the ship. He saw the woman at the wheel look back at him, not able to hear what she was shouting out to the others, but that didn’t matter. He had to get them on that ship. He had to get them away.

He fumbled his sword back into his scabbard, taking a deep breath. “Amenoch, Eumacia!”

Sorey felt the familiar tug as his two tethered malakim were drawn out. The names didn’t matter, they never had, but Sorey wouldn’t have been able to live with himself if he had just numbered them. He’d heard too many stories about the malakim in the past, of the wonders that they had created with humans. He had gone into the Abby searching for that and stumbled into a nightmare. But he had found something that felt like a way out, and he was going to take it.

He glanced to the side as the two malakhim materialized, making sure that they were keeping up with them before sprinting ahead.

It was laughably easy to catch up to where Michael was running, Sorey reaching out to grab his shoulder. He expected the man to stop, not for him to turn and draw his sword.

Sorey had to jump back to avoid the swing, stumbling back further as Michael lunged at him. He held his hands up in the air, his stomach twisting as Michael looked at the two malakim, his expression morphing into fury.

“How dare-”

“Help them!” His plea stopped Michael in his tracks. Sorey watched the man for a moment before reaching back to push Eumacia and then Amenoch forward. “Please. You have a malak, one who isn’t tethered and she looks alive. I don’t know how to break a tether and I don’t know how to make this right other than doing this. So please, help them!”

Michael stared at him for a moment more before sheathing his sword. The fury on his face didn’t go away, but it was slowly being replaced by consideration. 

Sorey curled his fingers into Amenoch’s shoulders, feeling the malak start a bit under the pressure. He muttered and apology and loosened his hold, the motion almost making him miss the short nod. 

Sorey practically sobbed in relief, any thanks getting tangled on his tongue. He leaned forward in an awkward bow around the malak, only looking up when he saw Michael turn away.

He watched as Michael rushed towards the ship, waving at it.

The daemon had clambered off the shroud and had kicked the gangplank down, the wooden boards dragging along the dock.

Sorey took a few deep breaths before letting go of Amenoch. He looked at the two malakhim, taking in their blank stares. Hopefully they wouldn’t be like that much longer. If not, then he didn’t know what else to do. All he knew was that it was wrong to keep them the way that they were.

He took a step back, holding out a hand when the malakhim went to follow him. “No. I want you to go with Michael. I...I order you to go with Michael.”

Sorey watched at the two of them snapped to attention at the order, relief seeping through them. They wouldn’t disobey a direct order, but he hoped that it would be the last one that they would ever have to act on.

The malakhim turned and walked to where Michael was waiting by the gangplank, the man rushing them along with a shove. The malakhim stumbled up onto deck, the daemon quick to gather them up and herd them towards the center of the ship. Sorey watched her carefully, but she showed no sign of trying to do anything to them.

He turned his gaze back towards Michael in time to see the man pause at the top of the gangplank, Michael turning back to look at him.

The man met his gaze, Sorey surprised by the way Michael narrowed his eyes, the man startling a moment later.

He took a step back, like he was intending to rush down the gangplank again, but the whole structure wobbled. Michael stumbled backwards, jumping onto the deck just as the gangplank ran off of the dock before dropping and smacking against the side of the ship.

Sorey rushed to the end of the dock, holding onto one of the pylons there as the ship caught the wind and picked up speed. His gaze darted between the malak still up on the mast and the two on deck, feeling some of the tension that he had always carried unwind.

It wasn’t the solution that he had been looking for, but it was far better than any of his other attempts. The two of them had another malak to protect them. They were free.

He leaned heavily against the pylon, sure that he saw Amenoch turn back to look at him, but the ship was too far away for Sorey to see the expression in the malak’s purple eyes.

Sorey closed his eyes, taking a few deep breaths to calm his racing heart. Sending the malakhim away left the problem only half solved, he still had to figure out what to tell Maltran and his superiors at the Abby.

As if the thought had summoned her, Sorey felt a brisk wind blow past him. He tore his gaze away from the ship, staring back at where Maltran was running towards the end of the dock.

The Praetor glanced out at the ship, cursing before looking back at him. Sorey flinched as she tapped the butt of her spear against the ground. “Why didn’t you stop them?”

“I...I couldn’t.”

She narrowed her eyes, Sorey trying not to shift too much as she studied him. He opened his mouth to say something else, but he was quick to snap it shut as Maltran took a step closer to him. “Where are your malakhim?”

“They took them.” Sorey gestured back at the ship. “Through an arte...or something.”

“Or something...” Maltran hummed to herself before abruptly grabbing onto his arm.

Sorey jumped at the contact, wincing as her fingers closed tightly around his arm. He looked up at her, his heart sinking at the carefully blank expression on her face.

“Then we should report this to the General.”

“S-should we?”

“Of course, if that creature and her companions have an arte that can tear malakhim away from their rightful owners, then we must be careful. And, since you experienced it, only you can tell him exactly what it was.”

She tugged him away from the end of the dock before he could say something else. Sorey stared at the back of her head, trying to ignore the nervous twisting of his stomach. If he kept talking then Sorey was sure that he was going to get into more trouble. It was better to keep silent and hope for the best. If not, then it would give Michael and the others time to get away and maybe come up with a way to permanently remove Amenoch and Eumacia’s tether.

It took everything that he had not to look back at the ship, because Sorey was sure that it would reveal too much. Instead, he kept his gaze fixed on Maltran’s shoulders and prayed to the Empyreans for luck.

Sorey squinted as he was brought into the room. With his hands bound behind his back he couldn’t shield his eyes, and he wasn’t used to such bright light after being locked in the cells under the royal villa for so long. The silence was strange too, he was used to the screaming from the prisoners waiting to be sent away. 

He didn’t know where they would be sent to, especially since Titania was out of the Abby’s control. But that didn’t explain the fluctuating numbers, unless the Abby had found another prison to send them to. Then again, that wasn’t an explanation for why he was still there. Certainly if he was under enough suspicion to be stripped of his title and kept under the villa then he would be one of the first to be sent away.

He looked up from the floor as the door opened, his eyes widening as he saw Heldalf walk into the room.

The general looked at him and shook his head, Sorey used to the look of disappointment that he was shot. Heldalf had always looked at him that way.

Heldalf shook his head and sighed, holding his arms behind his back. “What am I going to so with you?”

“Sir, I-”

“I told you that going into the Abby was the wrong thing for you, did I not?” Sorey snapped his mouth shut at the question. Heldalf nodded at him before walking over to stand in front of him. “I told you that you didn’t have the strength to be an exorcist because it was like become a soldier, and you were ill suited for that as well. But you wouldn’t listen, your mind was too focused on those foolish stories from books and what your mother told you. You are not a Shepherd, Sorey. That is a foolish dream invented by weak people.”

“But I’ve heard-”

“Ah yes, Shepherd Georg.” Heldalf gave him a mocking smile. “It’s what the royals wanted and what the people needed to hear. And the people, they are weak.”

Sorey frowned but kept his mouth shut. They had had this argument too many times, and he was too tired to continue it. Besides, he always lost. And his father had always said that fighting on the right battlefield was the only smart way to fight a war.

Heldalf considered him for a moment before shaking his head. “We’re wasting time. I’ve heard concerning reports about you, about how you lost your malakhim when Hellawes was attacked by monsters.”

“It’s true.”

“If it is, then we have a problem that we need to solve, and quickly. If not...” Heldalf shrugged, making an idle motion with his hand.

Sorey sucked in a quick breath as a young malak appeared, her gaze fixed on the floor. He looked back at Heldalf as the man sat down in a chair. Heldalf smirked at him before motioning for him to speak, Sorey ducking his head out of habit.

He took a few deep breaths, trying to set his story in order. He’d had plenty of time to work it out after all, with the trip back to Loegres and his time in the cells. Sorey just hadn’t had the time to practice it much, aside from muttering it to himself in the dark.

He bit his lip, considering looking up to meet Heldalf’s gaze, but the habit of always speaking to him with his head down was too much.

“It...it was on the docks. It was hard to tell what was going on because of the smoke, but then the daemon was there. She reached out with her arm and touched the tether between me and Am- my malak and it just...disappeared. I didn’t have the time to think on it before-”

“That’s...a lie.”

Sorey stumbled to a stop as Heldalf’s malak spoke. She picked at the divide between purple and black on her sleeve before she looked back at Heldalf.

The general drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair before nodding. “You heard her, Sorey. Try again.”

“I was-”

“That’s a lie too.”

“Again.”

Sorey gritted his teeth. “The daemon that-”

“Lie.”

He looked up at Heldalf, anything that he was about to say dying on his tongue.

The general was glaring at him, the man shaking his head slowly. “I gave you three chances, which is far more generous than I give the others. Consider it in memory of your mother that I allowed you to get this far, but I will not tolerate anything more.”

Heldalf stood up, glaring down at him. “I hereby formally strip you of your title and condemn you as a traitor to the empire. The Abby will no longer support you and I...I wash my hands of you.”

Sorey stared at him, trying to speak around the yawning pit of fear that opened up in his stomach.

He had never needed Heldalf’s protection before, but the man had never been against him. And Heldalf had never been in the position that he had been now. He swallowed, and shifted on the floor, about to call Heldalf back and attempt another explanation. As long as he could keep coming up with excuses then maybe he could come up with one that would get him back into his old position. Even if he was never trusted with malakhim again he could at least try to free others.

Sorey started what could have been a word, but he stopped when Heldalf made an impatient motion. “I’ve heard enough. You’ve left me no choice anyway. Malak!”

The last was addressed to the malak girl. She wavered before disappearing, Sorey leaning after her. He shifted on his knees to regain his balance, freezing when two more exorcists entered the room.

Heldalf paused by them, looking back over his shoulder. “Don’t make him unrecognizable. We need to make an example of what happens to those who try to go against the empire. And the people need to work off their anger too. It’ll be no fun if he dies the first day.”

Sorey heard one of the men laugh as they walked towards him, but he didn’t dare look at them, he was too busy staring at Heldalf’s back as the man walked off. There was nothing he could think of that would bring Heldalf back, but he didn’t want to. If anything, Heldalf would be too excited to watch what he had just been ordered.

He gritted his teeth and looked at the men. He’d failed his attempt, which just left Michael, the daemon and the malak that he traveled with. They had seemed to be prepared to take on Heldalf and everything he had done so far. They were the only hope as far as he could see.

Sorey grunted as he was lifted up but the arms, not bothering to struggle. It wouldn’t do him any good. He might not be in a great position to do anything about Heldalf and his use of the malakhim, but at least he could hold on hope for a bit longer. And, if he wanted to do that, then he would need his strength to hold out through whatever Heldalf planned to do to him.