#Lucretia is panicking

[urfavoritewizard]

(ooc)

It’s been 10 years since TAZ: Balance came out and I’m still having such big feelings about Lucretia (I relistened to the entire season and it crushed me as always)

Anyways I need you all to imagine what Lucretia went through after the Stolen Century bc a lot of y’all still demonize her for what she did not realizing how young and scared she was bc y’all keep imagining her as a wisened 50-something

But she’s not actually in her 50s, that’s just how old her body ended up after her time in Wonderland

She and Magnus are around the same age, which means that before she spent that decade trying to find the Grand Relics by herself, she and Magnus were in their early/mid-20s

Imagine Lucretia falling in love with Magnus during the stolen century and not saying anything bc she spent so much of that period being shy and just taking notes on everything that happened around her and not really doing anything or actively spending time with anyone

Imagine Lucretia at 25 panicking about the Hunger and realizing that the only way to keep her friends safe was to make them forget about the Hunger and the relics they made, and make them forget about *her*

Imagine Lucretia at 25 meticulously choosing where to put her friends so that they’d live good lives, blissfully unaware of the oncoming apocalypse

Imagine Lucretia at 30 (now physically 50) learning that Taako’s career as a professional chef was cut short bc Sazed sabotaged him and poisoned and killed 40 people

Imagine Lucretia finding out that Merle was in a loveless marriage and walked out on his family, something he never would’ve done during the Stolen Century

Imagine Lucretia finding out that Magnus fell in love with someone *who wasn’t her* and got married and saved his town and then lost everything

Imagine Madame Director Lucretia looking him in the eyes, acting like she never knew him, crushed by the weight of the knowledge that he can never know who she is or how much she loves him, and that even if he remembered her, he would never love her the way he loved Julia

[anistarrose]

for @taznovembercelebration prompt: Vampire AU, except minus the AU portion! this is a canon compliant, mid-Stolen Century vampire fic :3

Upon awakening in an inexplicably cramped position, Barry Bluejeans notices, in order:

an empty feeling in his stomach,

a dull pain in the side of his neck, and

his own weight in cold, gritty soil piled atop of him, smelling of decay and blocking out all light.

He’s not going to panic. He can do anything but panic, he insists to himself. If he dies, he’ll just be back in a few months, remember? He’s not going to inhale any dirt, and he’s going to scour his last memories, calmly, for an explanation.

He was — he was searching for the Light. Same as always, really. And he was with Lucretia — but she was out of his sight, and so he was probably out of hers, when —

When he got jumped. He crit-failed a perception check, got jumped, and now he’s… buried alive?

This doesn’t add up. Not the fact that someone would bury him alive — he and the crew have died enough times that he figured it might as well happen to the unluckiest among them, eventually — but he doesn’t understand how he actually is handling it how he told himself he should, and not losing his entire mind already. He’s worried; he would very much like not to be in this situation, but he’s not panicking — and that’s a downright uncharacteristic lack of hyperventilating, or pounding heartbeat.

But now, come to think of it — he doesn’t seem to be breathing at all, for that matter. Or feel any heartbeat in his chest, nor a pulse beneath his chin.

Because he doesn’t have a fucking better guess than the first thing that pops into his head, he runs his tongue across his front few teeth — and yep, his incisors are a lot sharper than he remembers.

(keep reading on ao3!)

[halloweennut]

So I recently finished the balance Arc after....a few years of not listening and I basically just nonstop listened to it (and the first Amnesty Arc but don't worry about it) and yall I was emotionally just a lot of things. Like is this catharsis??? Wtf I'm holding my heart in my hand after that and I'm thinking about how love and bonds transcended after all that time and people were changed for the better, that so many people just loved and continued to love

And like, thinking back to the end of Petals to the Metal (I think it was in a lunar interlude) when lucretia is worried that the boys don't trust her and shes....worried? Panicked even. And yeah, she's their boss and kinda friend in a way, but otherwise they don't have too? But they had 100 years together where they trusted each other so deeply so not having that feels insane, even though she betrayed their trust by erasing their memories the way she did. But they don't remember, and she does.

I'm just really emotional over this podcast. And I really want to play dnd

[noodyl-blasstal]

Lup’s fingers knotted into her skirt in an effort to keep her frustration in check. The universe hated her, and she hated it back so hard right now. 

When she suggested playing spin the bottle she obviously wasn’t planning on kissing anyone specific. They were at college and everyone was friends, and friend kisses were totally a thing and it was fun. Just fun. And it was fun when she was only thinking about the tantalising possibility of kissing Barry, and how she could make sure it was really good so that he wanted to do it again… and again… and again.

What she didn’t consider, was everyone else. 

The stupid bottle kept landing on stupid Barry and so far she’d watched him kiss Johann (no tongue), Magnus (lots of tongue because Magnus wouldn’t do anything without enthusiasm), Lucretia (very respectfully on the cheek), Merle (kissed Barry on the nose and then ruffled his hair), and Magnus again… Twice. She’d watched him and Taako stare awkwardly at each other before Barry (clearly panicking) kissed his hand and Taako screeched about it. What she hadn’t watched, was the bottle she spun stopping anywhere near him.

When Kravitz watched the bottle he’d twirled scoot past Taako and stop, once again, pointing at Barry, Lup gave up. This was absolutely ridiculous. Everyone else, everyone else got a turn. Why couldn’t she? They’d probably never even considered what it might be like, and yet they just knew how kissing him tasted and what he looked like in the seconds before he closed his eyes and leaned into press his lips to theirs. Magnus, Magnus knew what it felt like to kiss him wild and open mouthed and it wasn’t FAIR.

As Kravitz stood awkwardly, pleading eyes fixed on Taako, Lup left the circle. She turned away before she saw how awkward Barry looked, or the longing glance he threw in her direction. She didn’t see him shake his head at Kravitz, and Kravitz’s palpable relief as he flopped down to lay his head in Taako’s lap.

Padding barefoot out of the kitchen door and into the garden, Lup found a secluded patch of grass and set to peeling the label very carefully off her bottle, drips of condensation helping it on its way. She could just tell him. She knew that. He’d probably kiss her if she asked, but she didn’t want him to feel obligated. It felt like their friendship was a fragile thing, and she was scared to break it; but if it happened accidentally? Part of a game? Well, that wasn’t anyone’s fault. Who could be blamed for that?

Label removed and pocketed, Lup absently stuck and unstuck her finger from a stubborn patch of glue as she sipped at the dregs of her drink. It was a clear night, so she flopped backwards and focused her eyes on the sky. Staring at the stars helped. What was her crush on Barold compared to everything out there? There were probably hundreds of planets and planes of existence and she’d never know anyone on them and they’d never know her. What was a teeny-tiny-barely-there crush in the face of that? Nothing important.

The soft footsteps in the grass alerted her to Barry’s approach before he did.

“Hey” he said, settling down next to her, cross legged, and concerned.

“Everything okay?”

“Just peachy” Lup replied, not daring to do more than glance at him.

“You okay? Having a good night?” She didn’t mean the last bit to come out with an edge, but it did. 

“No.” Barry sounded exasperated.

“I’m not having a good night actually.” He flopped down next to her in the grass. 

“I hate spin the bottle, Lup. I hate it.”

“Me too” Lup muttered

Barry leaned up on his elbow to look at her nonplussed

“Well why did you suggest it then?”

Lup didn’t reply.

“Lup? Why did you suggest it? I had to kiss Magnus twice, and I love him, but I was happy living my life without his tongue in my mouth.” Barry sounded so aghast that she couldn’t help but laugh.

“LUP!” He said incredulously

“Merle! I thought I was going to have to kiss Merle! Why did you do this to me? Were you mage handing the bottle? Lup, you have to tell me if you were mage handing the bottle!”

“Fuck!” Lup hadn’t even considered mage handing the fucking bottle. 

“I didn’t think of that”

“Lup, what’s going on?” Barry looked a bit concerned and a bit pissed off. It was time to come up with a convincing lie, or tell the truth.

“I thought the bottle might land on me.” 

“It did, you kissed Noelle, Lucretia, Avi, and Krav.” Barry had noticed the people she’d kissed, and he sounded equally unhappy about it as she was about his kisses. Lup squirrelled that fact away to over-analyse later.

“They weren’t who I wanted to kiss.” Lup kept her voice steady, and her face turned to the sky.

Barry breathed deeply through his nose.

“Who did you want to kiss, Lup?” There was still an edge to his voice - maybe this was finally going to come to a head.

“Johann? Magnus? Merle?” 

She couldn’t help but laugh. 

“No Barold. I didn’t want to kiss any of them.” 

“Was it me?” He asked, barely a whisper. Lup did look at him then. 

“Maybe.” 

“Lup, you’re a graduate student, you’ve done every advanced statistics course, you know probability. Why… why did you decide that spin the bottle in a massive group was the way forward?” Barry sounded absolutely baffled. Lup couldn’t be angry about it. It was a terrible idea, but she could solve that.

“You’re right, I’m a graduate student, I know my shit, I know statistics, I know probability, and I know what I want to happen. If you want it too, then spin it, Bluejeans.” She sat up quickly, and crossed her legs, placing the bottle in front of her. 

“Are you serious?” Barry pushed himself up, crossing his legs opposite her.

“Bottle’s in your court”

Barry spun the bottle with abandon, wild grin on his face. It took an age to slow. When it finally did and inched toward Lup she felt her stomach contract - this was finally it, she was going to kiss Barold J Bluejeans, and Taako was going to tease her about being a nerd lover, and she wasn’t going to care one bit. 

The bottle slipped past her and stopped, definitively pointing at Magnus, barely visible through the lounge window. 

“FOR FUCK’S SAKE!” yelled Lup as Barry laughed.

“Shall we try without the bottle?” 

“Maybe you should just go marry Magnus” 

“Lup?”

“Yeah?”

“Shut up and kiss me, or I might”

[balance-and-bonds]

Seven Nights (a TAZ Balance fic)

Chapter 3: Magnus’s Night (part 1)

Story Summary: Cycle 1. As far as they know, they’re the only ones left. Perhaps it was inevitable that they’d consider… re-population. Lucretia writes up a weekly schedule to try and address that. Absolutely no one is happy with this.

Chapter 3: Magnus has a Plan.

~~

Preview:

Tonight is his night with Lucretia. He’s looking forward to it, if nothing else because it has otherwise been a miserable day for Magnus Burnsides.

Breakfast was awful. Lup was beginning to actually terrify him, and he’s kinda glad the food wasn’t poisoned. Just to be safe, he declined the plate of rose apple slices placed in front of him. Lunch he avoided by grabbing a half-assed sandwich and heading outside, only coming back in when it began to downpour in the afternoon. The captain caught him on the way in for a private lecture, both warning and vaguely threatening him, and he had nodded and mumbled vague answers, unable to meet his eyes. He realized pretty quick it was best to avoid everyone, because, well, reasons, and so tried to make himself scarce on a ship that seemed smaller than when it was just him and Lucretia in the prior months. Speaking of, he hasn’t seen her all day, which sucks.

Dinner was equally awful, with Lucretia still notably absent and everyone else sullen and tense, with more than a few harsh glares sent his way. He can deal with it, though, as he excuses himself early and goes to the kitchen, taking the opportunity to steal more provisions: beans, salt, dried brown things that taste a bit like jerky, and the like. Taking extra food isn’t exactly against the rules, but it’s awfully close and everyone is already on a short fuse with him, so this is gonna get real ugly if he gets caught.

Read the rest Here

[kravkalackin]

so like of course the ‘who?’ line is heart wrenching and the total star of the scene but the thing that always gets me is the 

‘And as his body falls, further and further down, you realize you don’t know who that is. And as you fall to your knees on the deck of this ship that has served as your home for 100 long years you realize you don’t know where you are and you don’t know how you got here’ 

just the panic and confusion that taako’s gotta be going through as his entire life is rewritten in his mind and all that he knows is he’s lost and he killed a man who was smiling at him 

[holdmecloser-gandydancer]

Lucretia pulled the door of her room shut and scrubbed tears from her face. Magnus just needed to sleep it off. He’d be fine. They’d all be fine, Lucretia kept telling herself like some kind of chant to a long-forgotten god. She just had to find the others.

She happened upon Merle and Davenport first. They were at the dining room table. Merle watched Davenport carefully as the captain shook like a soaking wet dog. Lucretia plastered a tight smile on her face though she was certain it would fool nobody. At least, it wouldn’t have ten minutes prior.

“Are you both okay?” she asked, glancing between them.

“Uh. I’m a little confused myself. Who’re you? And where exactly are we?” Merle squinted his eyes at her.

Her stomach twisted. Her plan was working, it seemed. And she hated every moment. “I’m…I’m a friend, of sorts. And we are on a vessel that will dock very soon. And then I’m gonna take you home. Soon. I promise.” She spoke slowly, chose her words carefully, and hoped that Merle’s bad memory would give her some breathing room.

“Davenport.”

Lucretia turned and looked at Davenport, a slight furrow in her brow. “Yes, you’re Davenport.”

He looked up at her and she saw a look in his eyes she would never forget. She saw panic and fear on his face like she’d never seen before, not even during their closest encounters with the Hunger. “I-I’m Davenport,” he repeated, voice shaking.

No. Gods no there was no way. She nodded and forced her smile to widen. “Right. Davenport, do you know where you are?”

“Davenport.”

She looked back to Merle. “Has he said anything besides his name in the past ten or so minutes?”

He shook his head. “Nope. Just Davenport.” He thought for a second, tilting his head consideringly. “Well, I guess he said my name right before he started saying his. Kinda weird ‘cuz I never told him my name. But that’s what we’re working with.”

She already wanted to bring out cups of ichor and abort the plan. How could she do this? Her plan might work but at what cost? “Okay. How’s your head feel?”

“Davenport.” His voice was tight and pained.

“Shitty, now that you mention it. Kinda feels like I got hit over the head with a club or something,” Merle said, frowning deeply.

She nodded. “Right. Do you want to go lie down? A nap might help. I have a room for each of you.”

Davenport looked at her blankly. His gaze was haunted and filled Lucretia with sickening regret.

“I could use a nap,” Merle agreed before standing.

“If you’ll both follow me,” she said primly.

She led them wordlessly down to their rooms, surreptitiously grabbing obvious red flags that were present within them. She grabbed Merle’s jacket, a handful of trinkets from the beach cycle, a memento from the First Church of Fungston, and shut his door without another word. Davenport’s room was easier; his jacket was folded on the edge of his bed and few personal affects that would remind him of the mission were clearly visible.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered, almost more to herself than to him.

She left before she had to hear him say his own name again.

Barry and Taako were nowhere to be found inside the ship. Should have known that they’d be on the deck; they’d both been spending days on end pouring over maps of the realm, touching down to search for Lup, before coming back and feeling defeated.

What she found on the deck stopped her dead in her tracks. Taako’s wand was at his feet, he was staring into space, eyes welling with tears. He had a white-knuckle grip on the railing. Barry wasn’t there. Barry was nowhere on the ship.

She approached Taako carefully. “Taako?”

He snapped his head up and looked in her direction though his gaze seemed to pass right through her. “H-he told me to blast him. He said he was forgetting someone’s face and he told me to blast him. He was panicked and he was scared and I wanted to help him and I don’t know why. I don’t know why. I blasted him. I killed him. I-I just killed him and he smiledwhile I did it,” Taako babbled. He looked like he was about to snap the whole railing with his bare hands.

“Taako, it’s okay,” she said, reaching to put a hand on his shoulder.

He flinched away from her and glared. “Don’t fucking touch me! This isn’t okay! I-I killed a guy. I killed a guy and he probably had a fucking family or something at home.”

“Taako, please. I need you to breathe, okay?” Lucretia did her best to be firm and kind. It usually worked.

“How do you know my name? Who are you? A-and where are we? And who was that guy?” Taako snapped. He was putting on a big front but Lucretia knew what this was. He had on the same feral cat façade that he did when she first met him.

“I’m someone who can help. You told me your name a while ago. We’re on a ship right now. I’m going to get you off soon, though. Hopefully in a few days. That guy was…” she trailed off, at a loss. “I don’t know who he was,” she decided.

“I’m going to get locked up by the militia, aren’t I?” Taako sounded more despondent and less on the verge of a panic attack. Minor improvements are still improvements.

“No. I promise, I will not let that happen. Just come with me, okay? I have a room for you. You can lay down and relax a little, okay?”

Taako bent down to get his wand, regarding it carefully. “Okay.” He croaked out.

Lucretia began leading him down inside the Starblaster. She realized in almost an instant that she couldn’t take him to his room. Not yet. There was too much Lup in there. She stopped in front of Magnus’s room for a moment. “So, your room isn’t quite ready, but I do have one you can use for an hour or so. That okay?” She wasn’t sure when she’d gotten so good at deception. She wasn’t sure she liked it.

He nodded mutely and allowed himself to be led into Magnus’s room. A cursory glance and everything looked okay, for the most part. She did snag a few ducks off a shelf before leaving Taako.

--

It’s one thing to scrub a family from memory. It’s another to get rid of the traces in reality. Lucretia did a frantic onceover of Taako’s room, scooping photos and recipes and trinkets into her arms before dumping them all into Lup and Barry’s room. Not like she’ll be needing it anytime soon. She was careful with everything. She knew they’d all want the items back. And they’d get them back. She just had to carry out her plan.

Within two weeks, she was leading them all to their new lives. She cast Modify Memory on each of them before she left them, just to ensure that the fortnight of confusion would never resurface for any of them.

Merle was first. She’d found him the perfect place to call home. By some stroke of luck, perhaps by the grace of Pan, Merle inexplicably had family in this plane. She found him a clan, a home, and walked him to the beach in a daze. As she left, she was delighted to hear whoops of laughter and cheer. He’d be happy, she was certain.

Magnus was next. She’d been able to find the grandest society of craftsmen on the entire continent. She’d found a home for him, supplied him with all the tools he needed, and figured his rustic hospitality could take care of the rest.

Taako required a bit more reconnaissance. She had an idea for him but she couldn’t send him on his own. To Taako, he’d already spent his entire life alone. He needed a companion. Someone to watch over him and to keep him safe. She interviewed a number of applicants but decided on a human rogue named Sazed. He seemed competent; vehicle proficient, skilled in being a bodyguard, and interesting enough to not bore Taako. He seemed to have a good head on his shoulders. Lucretia procured a wagon and the pitch for a show. Taako would be adored by all. That’s what he deserved, especially given what Lucretia had taken from him.

She couldn’t do anything for Davenport. The two weeks had calmed him but his only method of communication remained saying his name. So to figure out a plan for Davenport, she first had to find a plan for herself. She figured the Starblaster could remain in the sky above the small farming town. Nothing had been said about it thus far. And it gave her a good space to start planning how to reclaim the relics herself. Certainly the plan would take no time at all. All would be well soon.

[pldubrahs]

oh god im very distraught

[liltaz-asatreat]

Day 2 of @blupjeansweek : Clown

Got a reference for the clown routine from the YouTube video on this website here

You can also read it on ao3!

~

Barry Accidentally Joins the Circus

“Lup, why am I here?” Barry whispers, trying to keep the nervousness out of his voice, though he's sure it wouldn't fool her at this point now that they're 63 cycles in. “Why couldn't Taako go with you? You know he's much better suited for this than I am.”

“He's got a bad cold, and he needs to sleep it off,” Lup whispers, waving her hand toward him in a slightly dismissive way. “You'll be okay, don't worry. We'll be in and out before anyone notices we're not supposed to be here.”

“Lup,” Barry says in a more distressed tone, “we're dressed like clowns.”

“Yeah, and there's enough clowns in this circus that we'll blend in with them just fine. We don't even have to worry about performing! This plan is fool proof.”

The two of them are having this quiet conversation behind one of the caravans parked outside a massive circus tent, and they are, in fact, dressed in very conspicuous brightly colored fashion with colorful wigs and red clown noses. Complete with a face full of make up that Lucretia had a lot of fun painting on them and big clown shoes that Barry is having a hard time walking in. The plan is far from fool proof as far as he's concerned. It sounds simple enough that all they have to do is infiltrate the circus grounds and find the Ring Master's caravan to steal the Light before running back to the ship, but he still feels like something major is going to go wrong. The first concern being that, as they are dressed as performers, they're still going to be dragged into the ring, and the second being that they're going to notice two extra clowns wandering around outside of the tent and into random empty caravans.

This is a bad plan, but he trusts Lup knows what she's doing as she and Taako had traveled with circuses before when they were kids. He just doesn't trust what he's doing which is why he's a little salty that Taako got sick right before this heist.

Lup turns to quickly tap him on the shoulder and points forward to a large and ostentatious looking caravan parked on the opposite side of the circus grounds. “There! I'd bet anything that's the Ring Master's wagon!”

Barry just nods, his stomach clenching slightly. “Right.” He looks around cautiously at the area between them and that caravan. There's a few people running in and out of the back of the tent and around the different wagons, no doubt grabbing things and setting things up for the show to continue. “Right,” he says again, tensely. “And all we have to do is walk over there like we belong here.”

“Exactly!” Lup says brightly. She turns her head toward him and bumps her large clown nose on him as she gives him a quick kiss on his cheek. “Are you ready?”

“Y-yeah.” No he absolutely is not.

“Alright! Show time!”

The two of them step out from behind the caravan and walk briskly toward the wagon Lup pointed out. Barry's heart thunders in his ears as he tries to not look around too much or act at all suspicious. They make it halfway there when someone runs up to him and taps him on the shoulder. “Hey! I need you to stop for a second.”

Barry stops and turns to see it's one of the clowns that actually works here. He seems panicked and slightly winded. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Lup continue walking at a little bit of a brisker pace. He knows the most important thing is for them to get the Light, and if their cover is about to be blown, she needs to get there as fast as possible. But he still feels slightly annoyed that he has to deal with whatever this situation is by himself.

“Gerald just got sick, and we need someone to fill in for him in five minutes. Do you know the routine after the tigers?” The clown asks hurriedly.

Would it be incriminating if he said no? “Um, sort of?” Barry says. Maybe if he sounds unsure, it won't blow their cover completely, but it will also prevent him from having to do what he knows this clown is going to ask of him next.

“That's good enough for me.” Damn it.

The clown grabs his arm and drags him into the back of the tent. There's people rushing around here too, grabbing props, warming up, and setting stuff up. They pass by a cage with some monkeys fighting over a banana as they go deeper into the area off stage. Please, Lup, bust him out of here before he actually has to do anything.

The clown leads him to a small stack of props, a stool, a couple of short tubes, three small rectangular pieces of painted plastic, some colorful rings, and a few balls. Then he turns to him and says, “Okay, here's the quick run down. I'm going to run into the ring with two of these rectangles and one of these tubes, and I'm going to put the tube laying down between the rectangles and balance on top of the top rectangle.” He puts the tube between the rectangles on top of the stool and rolls the top rectangle side to side. “Then you're going to pretend to push me off, and I'll fall to the floor with my feet up. You put the rectangles and tube just like that on top of my feet, and balance on top of it for a few seconds.”

Barry whips his head around to look at him. “You want me to do what?”

The clown gives him an annoyed expression. “You're going to balance on top of the tube on top of my feet. Then you're going to hop down, I stand back up, place the rectangles and pipe on the ground, and then prepare myself for you to do a handstand on my hands so I can carry you upside down and balance on the pipe where we'll work together to get you to sit upright on my shoulders.”

This is so something Lup would kick ass at and not something a 55-year-old non-acrobatic human with back issues is capable of doing well without prior practice.

“And now, lets give a warm welcome to our very own clown acrobats!” Someone announces from inside the ring, and the crowd goes wild as silly but intense performance clown music starts to play.

“Okay, we don't have time! I'll tell you the rest of the routine as we're up there, go go go!” The clown pushes him out toward the ring, and Barry stumbles into the spotlight, the clown right behind him.

The clown runs up and plops the rectangle sandwich on the ground and jumps on top with his hands high in the air. He's smiling as he gives a barely noticeable pointed nod in Barry's direction. Fuck him running, he's really going to have to do this. He runs up and pushes the clown slightly, and the clown falls dramatically forward, catching himself with his hands and lowering himself safely to the ground as he puts his feet in the air. Barry picks up the rectangle sandwich and places it carefully on the clown's feet. He takes a deep breath and steadies the top board before he puts one foot on, then the other. He wobbles with his hands splayed out to the sides and looks up at the audience who whistle and clap. He gives a nervous smile before hopping backward. He stumbles and almost lands on his butt, but he catches himself and takes the rectangle sandwich off of the clown's feet who stands up and motions for Barry to put it back on the ground. He obliges and looks at him for instruction, and unfortunately, he points back to himself before kneeling on the ground on his knees and puts his hands up above his shoulders like two platforms. Promising support for a handstand that he's only ever had to do on the ground, not on someone's hands.

Barry gulps and walks over and grabs his hands, suddenly very aware of how sweaty his own hands are. “What do I do now?” He whispers, and the clown sighs.

“Put your head down against my neck jump up into a handstand, and as you're going up, we're going to move our arms around so that I'm supporting you with my arms outstretched to the sides.”

Wonderful.

Barry does as he says and puts the back of his head against the clown's neck, and he kicks his legs up as hard as he can. The clown leans forward in shock a little, but he moves their arms as Barry struggles to keep his legs straight and in the air without falling backward over him. The clown stands up and yells before walking over to the rectangle sandwich. He steps on the one side of the top board that is leaning against the ground and takes a beat before stepping on the other side to get him up in the air and rolling on the pipe. Barry closes his eyes as he struggles to keep from falling and starts praying to Pan and every other deity who may or may not exist in this plane to help him through this until Lup quickly finds him again and saves him from this.

Suddenly, the clown starts lowering his arms and him down with them, and Barry remembers him saying earlier that he was supposed to sit on top of his shoulders after this. He opens his eyes in panic as he tries to carefully bring his legs down slowly while the clown raises their arms up, and he does manage to fully make it onto the clowns shoulders. However, the clown does stumble off the platform and almost sends Barry toppling forward and off him. He catches them though, and he lets go of Barry's arms and raises his own in the air and to the side in a congratulatory gesture. Barry copies him while the clown grabs onto his ankles and lifts him slightly.

Does he expect him to jump off?

Barry takes a second too long deliberating about that decision before the clown pushes him upward a little more aggressively, and Barry falls forward. There's a chorus of ooohs as the crowd reacts to that less than stellar display. The clown looks at him reproachfully as he stands up, and he hurries over to him and whispers, “Grab the pipe, and bring it to the stool. There's a board on top of the stool that you need to put on top of the pipe before you jump up and balance on it from side to side.”

“Can't you be the one who does that?” Barry hisses with out thinking, and the clown looks at him exasperatedly.

“That's basic shit! Are you new?”

“Yes?” Barry says tentatively.

“Out of everyone I could have picked,” the clown mutters and rolls his eyes before pushing him toward the rectangle sandwich.

Barry grabs the pipe as the clown grabs the boards, and he looks around to see the stool someone must have brought out during their handstand performance. He takes a second to scan the audience and the curtains in vain, but he doesn't see Lup. The clown motions for him to follow him, and he does so up to the stool where he picks up the board and puts the pipe underneath it. He rolls it from side to side for a few moments to get a feel for it before he climbs onto the stool itself first. He sways a little as the backs of his large clown shoes are hanging off the edge of the stool before he tries to climb on top of the top board. The pipe shoots out from underneath him, and he falls off the stool, hitting the ground with a loud thud. The audience boos, and the clown runs up to him, looking furious.

“Go in the back, find the jump rope, and come back out here while jumping rope. I've got this.” He motions angrily at the stool.

“Okay,” Barry says, his voice shaking slightly. Jumping rope he can do. Just please gods above let Lup be almost done.

He jogs back behind the curtains, and everyone stares daggers at him as someone forcefully pushes a jump rope in his hands. He mutters a quick, “Thanks,” before rushing back out into the ring.

The clown is balancing on top of the pipe and stool, and he glances back at Barry as Barry begins to jump rope forward toward him. When he reaches him, the clown whispers, “Give me the rope, stand there and point to me like you're proud of me and make sure the audience's attention is on me, then go back and grab the rings. Once you come back with the rings, toss them one at a time with both hands to me, and I'm going to toss them back to you as we juggle together. Think you can manage that?”

“I– Yes,” Barry mumbles before handing over the rope. He stands to the side and points up to the clown with an exaggerated smile on his face, and the clown swings the rope around really quickly before he starts jumping rope on top of the platform. Barry stands there mesmerized for a second before he shakes his head and runs back out of the ring. He grabs the rings and hurries back to see the clown throw the jump rope to the side and raise his arms in the air looking for praise, and the audience claps and cheers.

Barry takes up position to the side of the stool, and the clown turns toward him expectantly. He separates the rings into two bundles, and he starts throwing them at the clown. This slight of hand of being able to throw one at a time while still holding onto a bundle in the same hand is difficult, but while the throws are a bit messy, learning card tricks with Merle is helping him a lot in this endeavor. The clown catches them a little sloppily and tosses them back, and over all, the juggling seems to be going a little okay. Barry only drops one every once in a while, but he's able to pick it back up again surprisingly quickly. He smiles a little in relief. Maybe this isn't so bad.

The clown starts catching them, and as Barry throws the last two rings, the clown says quietly, “I'm going to juggle these into the air, if I drop one, throw it back to me. Then when I've juggled them twice and raise my arms to get applause, take the rings from me. Then come back with the ball spinning on your finger.”

“Got it.”

The clown throws the rings up in the air, one at a time in each hand, and he juggles them for a few seconds before he starts trying to catch them. He loses one though, and Barry runs to catch it before tossing it back to him. Then he does it again, but he manages to catch all of them this time. He raises his arms in the air, and the crowd claps and cheers. Barry runs up to him, grabs the rings, and runs around him back behind the curtains where someone greets him with the ball. A flash of fire catches his eye, and he turns toward it hopefully, but it's gone within a second.

Barry walks back out into the ring with the ball spinning on his finger. The crowd claps for him as the ball begins to wobble and slow down, but the clown, now on the ground, quickly grabs it from him. He then walks back to the stool, takes the top rectangle off, and hands him the pipe. “I'm going to balance on this,” he gestures to the ball, “and you're going to take that and the jump rope back before bringing out two more balls, and there's a ball of light in the very back corner. Grab that too.”

Barry starts a little at that. “There's a ball of light back there too?”

“Yeah, it's a new thing the Ring Master found and is really excited abou–”

And it's just at that moment when a loud explosion coming from behind the curtains rings through the tent. The crowd screams and starts running for the exit as flames climb up the curtains and start to set the outer tent ablaze. Barry drops the pipe and sprints out of the ring. It's chaos behind the curtains. There are as many people fleeing the scene as there are people rushing toward the fire. To do what? Barry isn't exactly sure. But he can hear spells firing, and he surmises that whatever they're doing, it isn't good.

He pushes his way through the crowd and finds Lup running through a tear in the tent as spells fly past her. “I've got her! Take care of the tent!” Barry yells at the mob as he pushes his way past them and through the tear too.

It looks like his ruse worked a little bit as half of the people who were fighting their way toward her don't follow him, but there's still four or five people on their tail. Lup glances behind her and grins when she sees him. She slows down a little and grabs onto his arm before saying, “New spell I've been working on.” She points her wand to a space in front of her and mutters a few words before a rift opens up, showing the back side of one of the wagons.

They run through it, and Lup grabs his arm and pulls him back up against the wagon as the rift closes behind them. She puts a finger to her lips, and they listen to the people screaming and shouting and the flames roaring behind them. A group of people come close to the wagon, and they can hear them debating about which direction they should go to find the two of them before they split up and run in different directions. None of them notice them pressed up against the wagon.

Lup smiles devilishly at Barry. “Got the Light,” she says as she opens her bag to show him. He looks down at it with a small smile as she quickly shuts it again, so it doesn't give away their position. “Also, I got to see the last bit of your performance.”

Barry blushes and looks away from her. “I probably could have done better if I had known what to prepare for.”

“No, you did great! I didn't know you could toss rings like that, babe.” Lup says genuinely.

Barry smiles and looks back up at her. “I guess that part was pretty okay. I did fall off the stool though when I was trying to balance on the pipe.”

Lup nuzzles her face against his neck. “Can't blame you for that, but I did hear the crowd cheering before that, so you must have done some other pretty cool things.”

“Yeah, I guess managing to do a handstand on someone else's hands while they balanced on the pipe was pretty cool.”

“You're a genuine acrobat! Maybe the circus is your true calling.”

Barry laughs quietly and kisses her on the top of her head. “While that may have been a cool moment, I can guarantee you I'd much rather remain a scientist.” Lup laughs quietly too, and it warms his chest. “Come on, let's get back to the Starblaster before they find us.”

[irojewne]

thinking about if magnus had reacted to the information post eleventh hour the way he does reacts to things early game , vis a vis " rushing in " . thinking about if he had gone in headfirst instead of keeping it to himself and plotting , if he had just walked straight into lucretia ' s office demanding answers . how would lucretia have reacted ? she would have no clue how he found out , only suspicions ( the red robe in particular ) , but the other boys never mentioned the red robe saying anything like the information that magnus has . would she have panicked ? done the same thing she ' d done over ten years ago , feeding everything she could to a voidfish and running ? what would she have done if he had rushed in then ? magnus doesn ' t know what she knows , and if he saw an injustice or funny business happening , he would have tried to stop it himself . would he have threatened her ? attacked her ? would lucretia be staring down this man who was her family not so long ago in the span of things , axe in hand , and unable to tell him the things she knows ? she wouldn ' t kill him , no , but would he kill her ?

[barry-j-blupjeans]

@taznovembercelebration day 12: enemies, lovers

“Okay, alright, Merle-” In front of him, Davenport looked at his wit’s end. Honestly, the whole crew was. Merle didn’t see the big deal. “I’m gonna try to explain this again, alright? When you go to- to talk to the Hunger-”

“John,” Merle put in.

“John,” Davenport said exhaustedly. “How about you get some information out of him, too? Because so far, things that we’ve learned about him is that he doesn’t have a favorite color and he- he exists inside the Hunger when you’re not talking to him. I don’t mean to be rude, Merle, but we could have figured out those things for ourselves.”

“Meanwhile,” Magnus leaned in, putting his hands down on the table. “You drew him a sketch of what the ship looks like, told him all our weak points, and asked him what his favorite color is. That’s not- sharing tactical information like this is not the best thing to do. Next time you go, ask something more, I don’t know, useful?”

“Useful,” Merle repeated, rolling his eyes. “I’m sorry, oh wise Magnus. You tell me somethin’ useful to ask the Hunger.”

“Ask him how it formed!” Magnus said, throwing his hands up. “Or- or why he’s in charge of it! Ask him why the Hunger does what it does, or why it looks like how it does-”

“He’s sensitive about those things!” Merle said. “I can’t just ask him-”

“Who cares, Merle!” Magnus said. “This isn’t a- a-”

“Enemies to lovers,” Lucretia put it.

“This isn’t an enemies to lovers situation!” Magnus said. “Wait- what-”

“I panicked,” Lucretia said awkwardly, at the same time Merle said,

“Nah, he’s not my type.”

Davenport looked like he was going to pass away, forever. He stood up, shaking his head, and said,

“Meeting dismissed, I can’t- I’m done for right now. Merle, if you do Parley again, come tell someone this time, so we can talk about it. Now let’s get back to work.”

“Whatever ya say, skipper,” Merle said, lifting himself out of his chair.

[dullahandyke]

:OO Can we hear about the animatic?

yess!! its not anything i'm like concretely working on, but it's something that lives so vividly in my brain <3

this is. quite long. so under the cut it goes. also it has big taz balance spoilers

You're trying to replace yourself (diddle diddle duh da duh da da): the Hunger's dark form takes up the screen, a mass of colours. On the jingle at the end of the line, a hundred eyes suddenly open, before the visage of the Hunger fades.

You're trying to replace yourself (x8) increasing in intensity: we pan out to see that the Hunger was a projection of sound from Barry's coin, nestled in the corner, which has clicked to a new channel. We see the StarBlaster flying through the air, bobbing up and down snappily in time with the music as the Hunger chases it. As the chanting gets louder, the projection fills with static, before a hand grabs the coin, shutting it off with a bang.

Carving out a fact from a reckoning, beckoning you back, skin sagging off its skeleton: we see a wide field, the Hunger encroaching upon it as dark magic lights the area around it. We see Barry and Lup begin to float as Taako watches.

Levitating off the ground is another man wearing your face: we zoom in on Barry, whose face melts away to reveal his lich form. As the phrase ends with a clash, the screen goes dark.

All the other false identities: we see flashes of the many planes the StarBlaster has traveled to.

Remedies or enemies to mitigate your memories: we pan out to see that the memories of the planes is actually the content of a dinner conversation aboard the StarBlaster, and soundless dialogue proceeds.

Shuddered at what they found when they stripped away the grace: we cut over to Lucretia doing the dishes, humming to herself and surrounded by static. Everyone else looks confused, and we zoom in on Barry in his lich form, who can hear it clearly. Another crash, another cut.

Eulogy or biography, I’m who I oughtta be, and that is God to me: we see Barry and Lup in the lab, finalising their relics plan. On 'God', we cut to the Light of Creation.

(never never never): cut to darkness.

So, my God, what’s wrong with me? If who I wanna be might be: Barry and Lup argue with Lucretia over the Light in the dining room of the StarBlaster.

Never, never, never: argument rises.

Never, never, never: the crew raise their arms in unanimous vote.

Never, never, never: Barry and Lup hold the light.

No, never!: Lucretia looks deeply betrayed.

You’ll never take me alive, baby! You’ll never take me alive: the StarBlaster flees from the Hunger through a dimensional space and arrives in Faerun.

You’ll never take me, you’ll never take me, you better pray that I die: Barry was a lich, but as he passes through the dimensional space, his skin is plastered back onto his body and he is alive.

You’ll never take me alive, baby! You’ll never take me alive: the Light falls from the sky and lands on a lab table.

You’ll never take me, you’ll never take me: the Light is divided into seven even pieces - the relics.

And no you’re never gon’ find: we cut to Lup in a tunnel of Wave Echo Cave, the gauntlet glowing in her hands.

Somebody to replace yourself, somebody to replace yourself (x2): Lup is stabbed. The gauntlet is taken. She looks unspeakably panicked. At the end of the first phrase, her lich form leaves her body, but it is then sucked into her UmbraStaff.

(instrumental): we pan from Wave Echo Cave up to the StarBlaster, where Barry and Taako are organising their search for Lup.

Damn, I thought you’re not you’re imposter: Barry looks at Taako sadly, ‘Taako, what if she’s just gone?’ You’re so sure you’re not gonna get caught: Taako tilts his head in innocent confusion, ‘who?’

Dead in your own skin: Barry’s eyes widen.

But you didn’t choose what you were born in: cut to a wide shot of the StarBlaster. Barry’s body falls over the side, and lands with a splash as the musical cue at the end of that line plays.

I’m another man in your repertoire: we zoom out on the liquid Barry landed in, and see that it’s a clone pod, with Barry’s body in it.

Ready in your head: the clone opens its eyes.

And fed upon your memoirs: his slimy hand holds a coin, which jolts into loud life.

Still the same rules apply: Barry gets up, suddenly wearing clothes and with a sword at his side.

From the birthday to the mourning: flames rise around him and he looks panicked.

What you feel and what you do, are those things really you, and if not then what is: Barry rushes to protect people from the blaze

But, my God, what’s wrong with you: flashbacks to the stolen century, inundated with static

And I’m still asking who that is: zoom in on Lup, standing and smiling on the stern of the StarBlaster.

Never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never: Lup is consumed by static.

No, never!: Cut to black.

You’ll never take me alive, baby, you’ll never take me alive: Barry rushes out and sees Gundren engulfed in flame.

You’ll never take me: Gundren growls.

You’ll never take me: Barry shouts nervously.

You better pray that I die: Barry explodes in flames.

You’ll never take me alive, baby, you’ll never take me alive: Phandolin turns to glass.

You’ll never take me, you’ll never take me: we see Barry’s lich form, hiding in the trees.

And no you’re never gon’ find: cut to the PCs crawling out of the well. Merle looks over into the trees. Immediately, Barry blinks away.

Somebody to replace yourself, somebody to replace yourself: Barry blinks into his cave and sighs.

Somebody to replace yourself, somebody to replace yourself: pan up to the cluttered walls of his cave.

(instrumental break): scenes of Barry throughout the year, tailing the PCs and showing himself to them. End on them outside Wonderland, them trekking in the forest, them in the cave watching Barry’s new body burst from the tube.

You’ll never take me alive, baby, you’ll never take me alive (This is not enough, this is not enough to prove it yet!) You’ll never take me, you’ll never take me, you better pray that I die (No, I need to hit the bottom) You’ll never take me alive, baby, you’ll never take me alive (This is not enough, this is not enough to prove it yet!) You’ll never take me, you’ll never take me, you better pray that I die (No, I need to hit the bottom) From now on, fast cuts of scenes from Reunion Tour. Traveling up to the moonbase, in the back of Fantasy CostCo, Barry in the Pocket Workshop, entering Lucretia’s inner office, drinking the juice of the second voidfish, Lup bursting from the staff.

Somebody to replace yourself, somebody to replace yourself (x4): the Hunger approaches on the horizon. Everyone readies to fight. Lup holds Barry’s hand. They’re going to win. Cut to black.

[theassthatquits]

In the Margins Ch 4

You can read the first three chapters here.

Notes: This was a tough one for me to write because I kept wanting to jump back in time and tell the story of what happened, so now I have a bunch of writing about the specifics of their experiences and might turn that into something, lmk if that is interesting to you!

The text from the book is in bold and Barry’s notes are italicized. 

40 years is not a particularly long time for an elf, but it has been a very eventful and long 40 years. Lup doesn’t remember a lot of things and will often go through the journals Lucrecia keeps in the common room to remember specific things. Sometimes it’s like she’s reading a biography about someone else, not her or the people she loves. 

Reading this textbook was kind of like that.

This was from very early on, maybe 5 cycles in? They were still new to the whole regeneration thing and despite spending every waking moment together for half a decade, the crew didn’t fully trust each other yet. They weren’t the family they are now and their personalities clashed a lot. While Lup and Taako were pretty sociable, they didn’t get close with people. Revisiting this year was a reminder of who they were before they found their family. It was uncomfortable to remember those feelings, yet satisfying and heartwarming to know how far they have come and what they have created.

The first thing that Lup noticed about this book was that Barry’s name (his real name) was written in the cover: Sildar Hallwinter. And underneath that, in parentheses, was scrawled in newer ink: (Barry Bluejeans).  She smiled to herself and grazed her fingers over the older print, as if attempting to feel the spirit of the man who once wrote that. Lup and Taako weren’t the only ones who have changed in the last several decades. 

The first chapter was all about the history of the celebrations: The plane was in constant strife, people weren’t happy. Then the 7 deities came down from the Astral Plane and claimed to have the solution to all of their problems. Everyone was desperate for a reprieve and followed everything they said. Each God had their own lesson and thus the seven celebrations were born:

The Day of Sacrifice

The Day of Humility

The Day of Honesty

The Day of Reconciliation

The Day of Love

The Day of Warmth

The Day of Dance

It was easy to tell which notes were made by Sildar and which were made by Barry. (Her Barry she thought subconsciously and then shook the thought away because he isn’t hers, necessarily). 

The older notes were in more faded ink, its age clearly showing. They were also more focused on the academic side of history, adding in details that he had learned from the residents or theorizing about different things. The newer notes were in crisp, dark ink and they told the story of what had actually happened during those different celebrations while they lived there. It seems Barry was recently doing quite the walk down memory lane. 

Flipping to the first celebration, Lup tried to recall any specifics about this year. She remembered having a lot of fun at the different parties and events they went to, there were some weird ones and uncomfortableness, but she remembered mostly positive feelings. This was the year she and Barry started to become actual friends, she’s pretty sure. They fought side by side against the hunger at the end of that year, backs pressed up together shooting off spells as the Starblaster took off. She was stabbed through the abdomen and collapsed in his arms. The last thing she remembers of that year was staring into his eyes as he yelled her name while holding her tight, even though they were about to regenerate on the ship in a matter of minutes.

This was something she wouldn’t find out about Barry until much later in their journey - he felt everything, and he felt it incredibly deeply. 

----

The Day of Sacrifice

Tedes, the God of Humility, had watched over the town very closely for a long time. He had observed how they tended to use their best traits and strengths against one another, instead of using them to come together. After some consideration, he thought his lesson would be to take away what they valued the most. These were not material goods that were so casually ripped away from everyone’s being; Tedes took away the sense of self.

He took traits, abilities, memories that were so intrinsically tied to everyone’s being and simply took it away for the day. 

On the side, Sildar had written what each of them lost:

Davenport - Confidence/Ability to lead

Taako - Taste

Lucretia - Writing ability

Magnus - Strength

Merle - Healing powers

Lup - Fire Magic

Barry - Desire to learn

Oh, yeah. It was starting to come back to her, waking up that morning and everyone realizing that they had lost something. Taako was first, he woke up the ship with his distressed wail about not being able to taste his morning iced coffee. They had just thought he was catching a cold, nothing to be super concerned about. Davenport brought Merle over to try to maybe help but no matter how hard he tried, Merle couldn’t cast any healing magic. Things just spiraled from there until Lup, in her fury to figure out what the fuck was going on, found this book. She remembered being angry at Barry, that he didn’t seem to want to know what was going on and why. The horrible realization that she couldn’t cast anything, couldn’t defend her and Taako. She was afraid it would last forever, having to rely on the other members of the group for their magical abilities. Magnus went through something similar, the man designated to protect them all could barely lift his weapon. 

It had been a tense day, full of snark and attitude. Lucrecia had decided to go back to bed, hoping to sleep through the day. Taako furiously whipped up every potent recipe he could, throwing his spoon across the kitchen every time he tried to taste something and couldn’t. Barry just….actually, she wasn’t sure what Barry did during that day. She didn’t remember seeing him after snapping at him for not helping her. 

A little pang of guilt showed up in her chest, she was pretty nasty to him that day. He didn’t deserve that. Maybe she could make it up to him somehow. 

The first Day of Sacrifice was chaos. Everyone panicked, losing something so important to them without knowing for sure if it would ever return was devastating to so many. Then something remarkable happened - they turned to each other. That night, after arguing and fighting and mass panic, the village gathered in the center of town and simply talked. Those who could still cook brought food and the townspeople, who had been so divided just hours before, told stories of their past. What they lost and what that had meant to them. What they would do if it never returned. 

This is an exercise in trust, Sildar had written. Trust others enough to be vulnerable in front of them, trust that others will help when it is needed, trust that what was lost will be returned. It took a long time for us to figure this out. Talked with Magnus, Lucrecia, Davenport, and Merle. I think we are stronger for it now. I only made the connection after Lup threw this book at me. 

So that’s what he was doing, holding a therapy session with the rest of the crew. A little jealous that she wasn’t involved, but she did take off into the woods soon after throwing said book at Barry. There was another note underneath that one, written by Barry many years later. 

Trust that others will help when it is needed. I will trust her until the end of my days. 

Still prefer trust fall exercises instead of this, though.

She blushed and smiled, heart skipping at the thought of him writing about her. Putting the book, Lup stood up and went to go find him, suddenly eager to be in his presence. 

[jennyin]

The truth behind the terror

For those people who have lost their true path in life ask yourself this question; Don't you think that being so afraid has made you feel exquisitely alive? Whenever you watch horror films you get scared yet feel alive.

The horror novel “Afraid” is written by Jeffery Deaver (born May 6, 1950) is an American mystery and crime writer. Deaver was born near Chicago in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. His mother was an artist, and his father was an advertising writer. His sister Julie Deaver is an author of young adult novels. The book that inspired him to write was From Russia With Love, a James Bond novel by Ian Fleming. Deaver also created the characters and—in a collaboration with 14 other noted writers—wrote the 17-part serial thriller The Chopin Manuscript narrated by Alfred Molina that was broadcast on Audible.com from September 25 to November 13, 2007. It is also available in print.

The story started with the main character Marrisa in a gallery fascinated by a painting and met a guy named Antonio, soon after their first interaction Marissa fell in love with Antonio, as she found him easy to talk to and had much in common. Marissa was attracted as he’d deliver his word with such self-effacing charm. They struck up a conversation about art and later were sharing their experiences. As the conversation continued Marissa started complaining and sharing her life with Antonio, then blushed as she realized she talked too much. Then they spent their time walking down the street. A boy came to sell roses but instead, Antonio bought a Lucretia Borgia Poison Ring that made Marissa laugh and kissed him on the cheek. After the night they decided to go for a trip to a “surprise” destination.

Upon arriving at the villa, after dinner, Marisa came to the wine cellar, she saw the football down the stairs, and the photograph hanging on the wall there was Antonio and a girl who looked like her. The girl in the photo is wearing the same robe that Antonio gave her as a gift. This caused her to fall into contemplation and feel scared.When she walked into the wine cellar, she discovered Antonio's true identity. She realized that Antonio was not the person she knew. He was lying to her from the beginning, and their encounter was a carefully arranged design. The boy playing football, the photos, the yellow powder, and the crazy old woman, all of this made her very sure that he was lying to her, tricked her into coming to the villa, put her on his wife's robe, and gave her the poison. It made her very panicked and scared.She remembered what he had said he was unmarried, the lunatic woman Olga, and the little boy who had drowned in the sluice. Thinking back to what he said, she felt puzzled. How could he know clearly about the death of the little boy? She knows well now and is pretty sure that Antonio killed his wife, and witnessed the little boy's death. She also saw a gray bag next to the photograph. After opening, there is a pile of yellow powder inside. As yellow as the eyes of Olga lunatic. She now knows why the grappa was more bitter than what she had before. And now realization hits her that she has been poisoned, she then thought she had to leave the place as soon as possible.

At the end of the chapter Antonio revealed what all this “surprise” was actually about, Antonio had planned all this from the start since the day they met in a gallery until the ”surprise” day. He explained that during the time Marissa was waiting in the car there was no Lucia as the old woman has mentioned she was paid 100 euros for her performance. There was no little boy who drowned; Antonio placed the flowers and cross by the stream by himself before he came to pick Marissa up at the station that day. The football was merely a prop. The blood on the wall of the cell is paint. The drugs were candy (though the grappa was real and quite rare, he added ). The photograph of Antonio and his "wife" was created by computer.He has never been married, he made a fortune in computers. As a child, Antonio spent much time in loneliness and boredom. He immersed himself in the books of the great writers of horror.

[comradelup]

30, mermaids blupcretia ?

30. kiss under a full moon

i’m soooo sorry for how late this is akfnakfnsjfn but i like how it turned out!

“This is a bad idea,” Lucretia says, but she still keeps up with Lup, which has to count for something.

“But it’ll be fun!” Lup insists, the current plus her swimming speed letting her hair trail after her. Lucretia’s always been envious of Lup’s talent when it came to swimming, but they both know Lucretia is way more agile.

“Not if it gets us killed,” Lucretia remarks, sounding more than a bit apprehensive.

“C’mon Lucy!” Lup says, sending a beaming smile over her shoulder. “It’s a full moon tonight! I know you love seeing it as much as I do.”

Lucretia sighs, unable to argue with that. They have done this multiple times before and yes, it’s dangerous, but they’ve never been hurt before. Plus, it’s so fun!

Lup gives her one last smile before turning back forward. “Look at that!” she exclaims, finding a burst of speed as she climbs higher and higher. In the distance is a massive ship that casts a shadow from the moonlight over the ocean floor.

Lucretia catches up and puts her hands on Lup’s upper arm. “We should go back.”

“Babe, we’ll be fine,” Lup assures her, her hands over Lucretia’s. “I promise.”

“Are you sure?” Lucretia asks, eyes darting between Lup and the ship’s wooden hull.

Lup nods, and she gently removes Lucretia’s arms in order to wrap her arms around Lucretia’s waist holding her close. “I’ll always keep you safe.”

Lucretia blushes and ducks her head. “Flattery won’t save you if humans attack,” she says, but she has a cute little smile on her face.

Lup uses one hand to tilt Lucretia’s chin up, smirking as she leans in and captures Lucretia’s lips in her own.

Lup’s hand moves to cup Lucretia’s face, while Lucretia’s hands move to Lup’s shoulders. Their tails twist together and Lup keeps hugging her closer and closer; she can’t get enough of this feeling, and the light of the full moon makes Lucretia look beautiful.

Then there’s a splash.

Both girls break the kiss as their heads whip to the source of the disturbance. And they see a body sinking— a human body. Pale skin, dark hair, a white shirt, and strange blue garments around his weird human legs. A weight is tied to his feet, keeping him from floating to the surface, and his arms are bound.

He’s conscious, but facing away from them. He jerks violently, trying in vain to free himself.

“Let’s go,” they both say as they pull apart, quietly and in unison; Lup swims towards him and Lucretia swims away.

“Lup, what are you doing?” Lucretia hisses, begrudgingly following her girlfriend.

But Lup doesn’t answer, too busy swimming up behind the man and wrapping her arms under his. She pulls with all her might, but he’s still struggling and the weight is too heavy. He flinches at her presence and looks like he wants to speak, but only bubbles come out; right, humans breathe air.

Lup lets go, letting the weight sink the last few feet until it thuds against the ocean floor. She swims around until she’s facing his… well, face.

He has a bit of stubble on his face, and he’s puffed out his cheeks to try and hold in some air. His eyes are wide as he stares at Lup and in front of them is some strange contraption. A small black frame holding together pieces of glass in front of his eyes and supporting themself on his nose and weird human ears. Though, it isn’t held well, the impact of being thrown overboard his ship dislocating it pretty thoroughly. Lup does him the kindness of getting the thing off of him and tossing it to the side, letting it sink to the floor.

Now he should be able to see better, but also it’s freed up his face so she can lean in and give him oxygen.

Her mouths meets his in what could almost be considered a recreation of her kiss with Lucretia, but instead of their lips moving together, Lup pushes air into his mouth, letting him take in a breath through her.

She pulls back and studies his face for any reaction. He seems to be getting re-oxygenated, but he also looks bewildered by the event that just took place.

“Yeah yeah, mermaids are real and one just kissed you, let’s focus on keeping you alive?” Lup tells him, even though she knows humans can’t understand her language. She turns to Lucretia and points down at the weight. “Break the chain! Use some rocks.”

The man tries to look over his shoulder at who Lup’s speaking to, but Lucretia’s already diving down to follow the order. Meanwhile Lup’s swimming behind him in order to undo the binding on his arms. It’s cloth, much easier to rip, so she does it no problem.

As soon as he’s able to he reaches for his legs (more specifically the part right above his feet— there’s probably a name for that) and tries to shake off the heavy metal shackles keeping him tied to the weight. Lup reaches down too and tries to do the same, both to no avail. Feet below them, Lucretia’s got a sharp looking rock and is attacking the chain at the base of the weight.

The man suddenly looks back to Lup with a panicked expression. Wordlessly, she sucks in a breath, takes his face in her hands, and brings his lips to hers in order to feed him air again. Really, humans should have developed gills before they started trying to sail over the water.

As they pull away Lup hears a crack and a yell from Lucretia. “Got it!”

Already, the man is floating up towards the surface. Lup puts her arms around him and starts swimming, much faster than he could ever hope to go. She angles them towards the ship so they can break the surface in its shadow and hide from the hostile humans that did this to him in the first place.

Once they’re there, she hears him suck in a huge breath. Seconds later Lucretia joins them, and the three of them tread water to keep their heads in the air. It seems to be much easier for the girls than him, but Lup isn’t surprised.

“We really shouldn’t be out here,” Lucretia says, and she’s staring at the ship. “They could realize that he didn’t drown.”

“No, we’ll be fine,” Lup says, “Humans can’t see through the water as well as us.”

Lucretia turns back to her. “Then what do we do with him?”

She nods to the man, who looks incredibly lost. Of course he is, he can’t understand a single word they’re saying. They ignore him.

“We’ll get him to shore somehow,” Lup says, “We can give him air underwater and swim him to land.”

Lucretia’s face twists into apprehension. “I don’t like the idea of going to land.”

Lup resists the urge to roll her eyes. She loves Lucretia, but she’s so scared. “We’ll drop him off near land, then. Look, we can’t exactly leave him here!”

Lucretia opens her mouth to respond, but the man interrupts her. They don’t understand what he says, but they watch him turn between the two of them and repeat himself.

Lup shrugs and shakes her head, her best way of saying she doesn’t get it. The man takes a beat, thinking, then points to himself and says, “Barry.”

“Huh?” Lup says. Her confusion is evident.

“Barry,” he repeats, pointing at himself.

“Lucretia,” Lucretia says, pointing to herself with a small smile.

“Oh,” Lup says. Both of them look to her and she points to herself. “Lup.”

Barry smiles. Pointing to each of them in turn, he says, “Barry, Lucretia, Lup.”

Lup nods, a smile of her own rising on her face. This is gonna be… well, interesting for sure, but maybe a bit fun too.

The man suddenly gestures to his face, saying something as he makes shapes with his hands. He makes little squares in front of his eyes and realization hits Lup a second time.

“Right! Whoops! Hold on,” she says, and Lucretia starts laughing. Barry laughs along with her as Lup dives under the waves to go find his accessory.

[kravkalackin]

okay actually i’ve been thinking about this au all night and consider a balance au where everyone is just sort of... jumbled around

in this lucretia’s plan goes off almost without a hitch. Lup dodged the knife, got the gauntlet put away, and was able to come back. She’s there when they forget, and even though Barry is panicking because he doesn’t know who she is it’s too late by the time he realizes what’s wrong, and he doesn’t die (yet, anyway).

No, Lup stays, but they haven’t seen Magnus in over a year now. He went out to place his relic, and he just... never came back. It leaves an emptiness in the crew, even as they celebrate their plan working, watch as the hunger doesn’t arrive. It worked, so his relic must still be out there. He must still be out there somewhere. 

Magnus’s absence is another reason why Lucretia feels she needs to enact her plan. One of the relics took him immediately, how can they call that a success? Still, by the time she starts he’s already been gone for over a year, there isn’t quite that same urgent search as there had been for Lup. She forces herself to take her time, to be as careful as possible. She can edit Davenport’s life around the mission better, and even he can be sent out to the world. 

The one, tiiiiny problem is when she goes to place Merle, and he... didn’t forget. He asks if this is some kind of prank they’re pulling on him, real funny guys, and eventually admits that okay, sometimes he uses water from Fisher’s tank to water his plants because it’s closer than the kitchen and maybe sometimes when he’s tired he drinks from his watering can and sometimes those two things overlap. 

So Lucretia explains her plan, explains that this is temporary, that the relics weren’t working and her shield will, and she begs him not to stop her and he doesn’t. Maybe she’s right, maybe the others do deserve a break, but she’s not getting out of this so easy missy. Oh no, ain’t no reason to do any of this without backup.  

They set the others up with their lives. Taako and Lup with a cooking show, Davenport with his own boat and a small but hardworking crew, and Barry... Barry’s hard to place. She had hoped to place him working at a school, maybe a university, but with the mission erased so much of his knowledge of the arcane and sciences were as well. 

Merle’s the one who suggests putting him up at a temple. The creep always did like weird dead things, he is a weird dead thing, he’ll be right at home. Lucretia supposes that’ll work and sets him up at a temple of the Raven Queen. 

It doesn’t last long. Maybe a bit longer than it should have, but Kravitz doesn’t think anyone would blame him for not looking for liches in their own temples. It doesn’t take much to kill him, but once he’s a lich he’s able to get away. To realize what’s going on, and to try to set it right. 

He finds the cloning pod, sets up a coin recording and gives himself a few simple instructions. He has a wife, he needs to find her no matter what the cost and find a way to get back the memories that were lost. Also, if a handsome man in a black suit with raven motifs shows up run away please. 

Davenport’s time on the sea is as far as he can remember, the happiest he’s ever been. This is what he was born to do, what his life should be. He cares about his crew and they care about him and they take care of each other. 

One day he pushes too far though. He always wanted to go further, to have more dangerous adventures, to push the limits and come out on top. Some of those limits are there for a reason though. When they end up being attacked, Davenport almost manages to out run the pirates. He always expects his ship to be able to do more than it should though, and the old girl finally gives out on him. 

He’s thrown overboard, small enough to be able to hide among the debris from the ship, to cling to a piece of wood and wet cloth until they leave. The rest of his crew isn’t so lucky. Once he finally manages to get back to shore, Davenport decides to take a break on the ocean for a while. 

Sizzle It Up with Lup and Taako is great. They’re a well oiled machine, and they’re well on their way to make something of themselves. They have an audience that loves them, their cookbook sales are great, they’re happy. Everything is perfect. 

And then one day Lup wakes up and Taako is just... gone. There’s a note on the table saying he went out for supplies for their show tonight, and she doesn’t think anything of it. Not until the hours pass, and he’s still not there. Not until she goes to town, and no one has seen him all day. It doesn’t make any sense, she went to sleep and her brother was here and now he’s not and he’s not dead, he can’t be dead, she has to find him. 

She puts the show on hiatus and starts to look. 

After Barry, Kravitz was already on the look out. Finding Taako had been a bit more intentional, and he thought he would be more prepared when one of these things turned into a lich, but Taako was surprising in a whole new way. As soon as he fell and the lich form arose, he wasn’t going in for a fight. No, he wanted to make a deal. 

The end of the world was coming, and they all just forgot. Really, it was a simple compromise. Kravitz leaves his sister and Barry alone. He stops trying to kill his fucking family, and Taako will get this whole mess sorted out. He’ll find Lucretia and Merle and make them stop, make sure the hunger doesn’t destroy this plane, and won’t cause anymore undead problems.

Kravitz agrees, mostly on the behest of the Lady of Fate, but Taako needs to work with them. Taako gets rid of the body, he doesn’t want Lup to find it and get upset, and he tells himself it’ll be quick. As soon as she remembers she’ll understand him leaving, she would have done the same. 

Lup, Barry, and Davenport end up being hired by one Gundren Rockseeker, on the recommendation of one of his cousins. They join the Bureau of Balance, and even though the Director is standoffish her kindness shines through, and even though Merle is... odd there’s something comforting about him. They like it here. 

Magnus has been in Refuge for about a week. Magnus was just stopping through, thankful for the rest after Jack and June found him in the desert. He didn’t plan on staying for very long. This bubble makes it hard to leave, but he’s only been gone for about a week. He can’t remember where he was supposed to go at this point, so it must not have been that important. 

Besides, it’s only been about a week.