#OF COURSE hes 'sampling' the continent

[belladonnaprice]

.

[koiiiji]

tourists

summary; your boyfriend loves traveling around the world with you, to explore new tastes, share new memories together and experience some local culture.

tw ; fluff, established relationships, chris being gentle giant and your pookie

— ˗ˋ ୨୧ ˊ˗ —

just as soon as chris finished trainings and won latest championship, his sponsor offered him opportunity to travel to Korea - to evaluate some new possible team members and train them. honestly chris didn’t really cared about new people in team, real interesting fact for him was newfound possibility to visit another continent and try new, local cuisine, and oh, of course he didn’t forget that you also had an area where your enthusiasm went wild. so before agreeing to this trip Chris requested two visas permissions, including flight tickets and went home with a calm soul, in anticipation of telling you good news.

— ˗ˋ ୨୧ ˊ˗ —

it’s been a while since you and Chris went somewhere on vacation. of course you followed him around on all his competitions, to show your support and assistance, if it was needed, but you honestly missed weekends when it was just you and your boyfriend. you missed time when you two explored new country through your own ways - Chris with his unstoppable urge to eat and endless stomach and you through the fashion. oh, how you like to explore new places with small shops that sells local handmade (bonus points for Chris if it's food, like homemade honey or jam, canned vegetables, local pastries or any kind of homemade alcohol), souvenir shops, shops of local brands, everything that is somehow connected with the new place where you just arrived and what it could be attributed to fashion or collecting!

there is a theory that if your energy doesn't match, or if you can't stand each other on vacation, then your relationship won't work out. well, you and Chris didn't have that problem. you have an idyll in this regard - all the places, and in general everything related to eating, were planned by Chris with special passion and trepidation. restaurants, cafes with good reviews and large portions, street food shops with the juiciest items, fairs where you can taste traditional dishes and see how they are prepared.

on the other hand, the cultural program was on you - museums, temples, exhibitions, where Chris obediently followed you as long as he was well-fed enough (you put an extra note in your head - to not leave a building if Chris hungry, pookie becomes really moody and whiny if he doesn’t eat enough… he is really dependent on food). and of course shopping - honestly, Chris shared your passion for souvenir shops. he could fill his stomach as much as he wanted, but you couldn't bring food with you as a memory, but collecting symbols in the form of animals from each country sounded fun. he has a separate shelf with a variety of animals that represent each country, and they all are in different styles - funny, realistic, cartoon, wooden, porcelain, stone.

— ˗ˋ ୨୧ ˊ˗ —

the flight to Korea was long but filled with excitement and anticipation. as soon as you landed, the vibrant energy of Seoul enveloped you. the city was a bustling mix of modern skyscrapers and ancient temples, and the aroma of street food wafted through the air.

Chris had already mapped out all the best places to eat, starting with a famous street food market. you spent hours wandering through the stalls, sampling everything from spicy tteokbokki to sweet hotteok. Chris's eyes lit up with every new dish, and you couldn't help but laugh at his enthusiasm.

after a few days of indulging in Korea's culinary delights, it was your turn to take the lead. you guided Chris through the narrow streets of Insadong, where traditional teahouses sat next to quirky boutiques and art galleries. you found a shop filled with some local clothes brands, their vibrant colors and intricate designs mesmerizing.

"Chris, look at this one," - you said, holding up a beautifully embroidered piece of clothing "isn't it stunning?" he nodded, appreciating the craftsmanship. "it's beautiful. you should try it on."

you spent the next hour trying on different items, each one more gorgeous than the last. Chris snapped pictures, his face beaming with pride as you modeled each outfit. next, you visited a quaint shop selling traditional Korean pottery. Chris found a small, intricately painted tiger that he added to his collection of animal souvenirs. "this will be a perfect addition," - he said, placing it carefully in his bag.

that evening, as the sun set over the Han River, you and Chris found a quiet spot to sit and watch the city lights come alive. he wrapped his arm around you, pulling you closer. "this has been perfect," - he murmured, pressing his lips to the top of your head "i love experiencing all of this with you." you leaned into him, resting your head on his shoulder. "i feel the same. thank you for bringing me here, Chris."

— ˗ˋ ୨୧ ˊ˗ —

one afternoon, after exploring Gyeongbokgung Palace and wandering through Bukchon Hanok Village, a sudden downpour caught you both by surprise. laughing and soaked to the skin, you and Chris dashed into a nearby café, shaking off the rain as you entered. the cozy atmosphere welcomed you with the warm scent of broths and herbs. you found a small table by the window, the glass fogged from the contrast of the cool rain outside and the warmth inside. the café was quaint, with low wooden tables and cushions on the floor, traditional Korean paintings adorning the walls. Chris ordered two bowls of something traditional, hoping to warm you both up after the unexpected drenching. when the steaming soup bowls arrived, you eagerly took a sip, the rich, spicy broth spreading warmth through your chilled body.

Chris watched you with a tender smile, his heart swelling with love and admiration. he adored these moments with you, the way your eyes lit up when you saw something you liked, the small smile that tugged at your lips as you savored new experiences. you were his anchor, his joy, and seeing you happy made him feel complete.

as you continued to enjoy the soup, Chris froze for a moment, mesmerized by the beauty that surrounded him. your hair was slightly damp, your clothes clinging to your body, but your cheeks were flushed from the heat of the soup. your eyes were closed as you savored the wonderful spicy taste and the long-awaited warmth in your throat. Chris hung there for a while, admiring you, the spoon still halfway to his mouth and his mouth slightly open.

"you're so beautiful," - he whispered, almost to himself. you opened your eyes, meeting his gaze and smiling softly. "what?" - you asked, a hint of amusement in your voice. "nothing," - he replied, shaking his head with a chuckle. "i just love you so much" you chuckle, looking away from the bowl, and gazing at him through your eyelashes. "i love you too, Chris. this trip is amazing. thank you for bringing me here." he mischievously grinned at you, his eyes shining with mix of pride for himself, what a good boyfriend he is and genuine joy of sharing memories together.

as you finished your meal and the rain continued to pour outside, the warmth of the café and the love between you made everything else fade away. you were content, happy, and deeply in love, ready to face any adventure as long as you were together.

— ˗ˋ ୨୧ ˊ˗ —

[minecraftbookshelf]

Marriage of State AU Character Designs: The Mad King of Mezalea

Joel actually has three major looks through the course of the AU; Prince of Mezalea, Trophy Husband, and King Joel, with the subcategories of "armor" for each.

They all have the same base design of "human", differing by (apparent) age and general sense of style.

Some Joel Skins to start us off and provide the base we're working off of, and also the Mezalean banner because color pallet

And also, because it is actually relevant, (bear with me here) some samples of Mezalean architecture.

The Matral Palace and the Villager area.

Based off of Joel's final skin, the vibe is kind of "Victorian military dress uniform" however there is something very, very important to take into consideration from a worldbuilding perspective.

The Mesa is a warm weather biome. Its a colorful desert. Which means high temperatures during the day and cold at night. So tight-fitting, thick fabrics in a Victorian style would be incredibly impractical.

So we turn to the second possible source for fashion inspiration: The architecture, which gives mostly Byzantine vibes.

So what would Byzantine clothing look like, especially for nobility?

First off, taking into account that the Byzantine Empire lasted for approximately a thousand years and, naturally, underwent some dramatic changes in clothing style during that time, we'll pick a specific vibe out of the options. I settled on a bit of a mix between Early Byzantine (think the Theodora Mosaic shown below) and Middle Byzantine (see the mosaic of Emperor Constantine IX below)

And here are just some screenshots from my pintrest board for Mezalea and Mezalean!Joel, because if I put all these on here separately I'll hit the image limit too soon.

(General disclaimer: yes, Pintrest has an art theft problem, yes Pintrest is much harder to effectively use now due to the pervasiveness of ads on everything, no I don't use it for like, formal things. It remains one of the best ways to collect visual references and figuring out The Vibes)

(Yes, we get to go full Material Gworl vibes for the Mezalean King, as is only right and proper.)

General characteristics I'm adopting here for Mezalean clothing:

Brocade (and bejeweled) kaftan/kaftan-esque outer layer. This is a formal wear thing, and is absolutely a "showing off the wealth" power move.

Lots of Big Chunky Colorful Jewelry

I don't know what it's actual name is, but that general style of having jeweled tassel-like things hanging from the front sides of the crown/headdress.

Light-weight and loose fitting under-layers.

And of course, bright colors.

Prince Joel: Before he became part of the main cast in an epic fantasy adventure spanning several hundreds of years and an entire continent (and the adjacent ocean) Joel was the youngest of three princes with two older brothers who were both married and had kids.

Which is to say, it did not look like he would ever be the king.

His role in the kingdom was very much that of an ambassador to and direct connection to their people. He spent a lot of time working on fishing boats and in the mines and quarries. While he did receive a standard royal education on things like diplomacy and combat, international interactions were not his focus at all, much more involved in the day to day operations of his own home. (And yes, that is a very vital aspect of the idea of "royalty" in general, supposedly, and that being a particular point of Joel's upbringing will make more sense when I get around to writing and posting the post about how royalty functions in the Empires. tldr; its related to the whole thing where Pixlriffs accidentally redefined "war")

Basically, Prince Joel = the first skin, the simple green one. He's wearing more lightweight, practical clothes that allow him to engage in physically demanding dirty work without costing a fortune every day. He still dresses up for formal events, but he doesn't even attend all of those and he is far from a daily sight in court.

Trophy Husband: For a couple hundred years, Joel didn't live in Mezalea. Instead, he was one half of the chronological first arranged marriage in the "au in which all the marriages are arranged" situation. And this one was the one that most resembles the set-up of a generic "period" bodice-ripper novel (though that is not how it played out ultimately, for the parties involved, despite the romance that does happen.)

Basically, this is his War Prize Era. In which Lizzie won a husband in combat and then didn't really know what to do with him.

During this time period, Joel mostly wore ocean styled clothing, though during formal occasions he would wear a notable amount of Mezalean accessories, that were part and parcel of the treaty with him. (I'm trying so hard not to derail this into just a breakdown of the events of the Joel & Lizzie arc of the au im trying so hard)

He did tend to mix Oceanic and Mezalean clothing, due in part to Oceanic clothing being primarily designed for underwater wear, while he lived above the surface, finding the balance of practicality and appearances demanded by the political nature of his existence at the time. (Also a personal comfort thing as Mezalean clothing tended to afford more skin coverage and also had shoes) Once he and Lizzie were more comfortable both in the world and with each other he had more opportunities for personalization and tended towards Mezalean styles in oceanic colors. He did develop a significant appreciation for the Oceanic idea of skin-tight under-layers for water travel.

King Joel: He did end up back in Mezalea as king, which is when we hit the style closest to the second skin, which mostly for this is really an indicator of color scheme. Formally, he is now wearing the full Kaftan and Jewelry look, day to day its more of "colorful, simple, and lightweight" because he still is very active in the day to day commerce of his empire. He does usually wear significantly more jewelry than he did as a prince, he grew a taste for it during his trophy husband era XD. The details of his day-to-day wear are also fancier. finer fabrics, more embroidery, brocade hems, etc.

Most of his earrings are gifts from Lizzie, some in Oceanic colors, some in Mezalean, but all with little chips of prismarine to remind him of her even when she can't be there.

Armor: Joel's armor preferences are simple netherite plate. He also does have a ceremonial trident, as a member of the Oceanic royal family. His is gold-plated.

-

art

Lizzie || Jimmy ||

AU Masterpost

[hyper-lynx]

Blue Moon Ball: Outfitting

“So what the hell, a ball? A formal ball?” Hemi looked over at Liam, ears ascanse. Liam’s long, clouded tail swished playfully behind him. 

“Yep~! That’s what the letter said. The Blue Moon Ball. Two weeks from now on the Wizard Island, planar registry WIS-α-1.”

The lynx groaned and stretched as he stood from his well-cushioned seat. His upper body was wholly unclothed -- indeed, only a pair of trusty cargo shorts girded his tan fur. The tufted tips of his ears tingled a little as the energy current beside this reality shifted slightly. He approached and snatched the letter from Liam’s grasp.

“To Queer Wizard Council MEMBER and Hyper-Lynx, Hemi. Hello Magical Friend~☆…” And the invitation continued. An open bar, festivities, and a formal dress code, all described in impeccable hand-written cursive.

“I see…” Hemi muttered. He regarded Liam, his closest friend -- adorned in his typical flowing skirt and well-fitted vest, tail meandering through the cool air behind him, and wondered for just a moment if he should ask the clouded leopard to take his place. Then, the pride flag mounted on the cavern wall caught his eye, and he remembered his obligations.

“What’s the matter?” Liam asked, ears lowering just slightly. “This should be a lot of fun!”

“I’ve never… been to a big formal party like this, so I… don’t really know how any of it works. I’ve also only been to Wizard Island Island for business before, it’s not really… like, I don’t know my way around there at all.”

Liam chuckled. “You’re not one to turn down an adventure, so I don’t buy that that’s the problem.”

“...There’s also the matter of the dress code.”

“Hm! I figured that was the issue. “ Liam began to pace through the workshop. Pieces of unfinished arcane devices littered the counters, glass containers housed samples from distant realities, and a few piles of boxes were still, after months, residing at the sides of the closed cavern chamber. He stopped in front of the makeshift wardrobe -- just a wooden frame around a bar with various shorts hanging, completely in the shadow of a large mechanical air purifier. “I know your outfit choices are usually pretty… spartan, but this is a big event! Dozens or more wizards will be there, and everyone will have put a lot of effort into their outfit. I don’t think just finding your least dirty pair of pants will help you here.”

“I-- hesitate to ask this, but, what alternative do you have in mind? I’m not likely to fit any of your clothes either…” It was true-- Liam was almost a full head taller than Hemi, so sharing clothes was out of the question.

“Well, then we’ll just have to go clothes shopping for you!”

“...Can’t I just, find a good cheesy wizard hat or something? Cut some ear holes, call it a day?”

Liam’s face darkened. “Well, you could do that. For a ball of wizards, you might not even stand out. But, aren’t you a member of the Queer Wizard Council? Specifically one of the ambassadors of the gay identity?”

“Oh, you’re not about to--”

“I am! Friend, there are Expectations on you, justified or not. I won’t condone you showing up with absolutely no effort in your outfit. It doesn’t have to be like what I wear, I just want you to make a good impression! These wizards are powerful allies -- don’t you want to get to know them?”

Hemi sighed and flopped back down onto the chair he was still next to. “...Fine. We’ll go clothes shopping. But you’re doing the astrogation.”

“Ehe, I knew you’d see things my way! You won’t regret this!” With that, he practically pounced over to the divining orb and began running the numbers.

Hemi had almost fallen asleep by the time that Liam returned to him with a piece of discarded scroll paper. 

“Here! A full charted course.”

Hemi sat up and looked it over. It was a pretty straight shot through the phantasmal plane to reach… “Terastra… Is this just an excuse to visit your homeworld, Liam?”

“I mean… no! It’s not. It’s almost spring on my continent of origin, so the blooming festivals will be kicking off soon. They’re tied to the new moon, so I figure the motifs should line up. Plus, if we get lucky with the time alignment, the plaza might already be pretty well decorated.”

Hemi hesitated for a moment, but then stood up again. “Alright. Let’s do this. Better to leap then stay in place, right?”

Liam’s grin widened. “That’s the spirit!”

They both stepped onto the pedestal that formed the center of the entire chamber -- the place set aside for traversal work. The tips of Hemi’s ears sparked and shone with indigo and lavender, bringing a strange vertigo over both of them for just a moment. Hemi traced his claw along the lines of the pattern from the paper, then huffed and crouched.

“Three seconds!” He called out. Liam crouched down too.

Hemi bobbed his head a few times, running the final calculations in his head, and then leapt into the air and sliced outward with extended claws. The air tore open, and from the wound a prismatic light burst onto the chamber. Hemi’s momentum carried him through, and a second later Liam lowered his eyes and leapt into the rift as well.

The void between worlds was beautiful, but in a fleeting way-- when one leaves it, the structure is lost as the story of a dream upon waking. So it was that Liam had almost no memory of the traversal itself when he came to his senses on the surface of his home planet. The air was crisp and cool, but the first tinge of spring’s humidity had already snuck into it. The grass around him was damp with morning dew. He found Hemi’s paw reaching down towards him and took it with a groan as he stood unsteadily.

“Feeling alright?” Hemi asked.

“Yes, sorry.”

“Not at all! It was my bad, I took us close to a turbulent zone. That being said… where are we?”

Liam blinked a few times and found that the two of them were, in fact, not in the plaza of any city, but were in the midst of a great pine forest. The untamed ground sloped upwards towards the gathering light of morning.

“Um-- hopefully, we’re just… next to the city?”

“...What precision did you use in the astrogation?”

“Five places?”

Hemi groaned. “We could be miles away…” He started trudging through the short grass towards the local peak. “Come on, maybe there’s a view over this bluff.”

It was a deceptively long distance to the bluff -- by the time they arrived, the sky was already very nearly blue. But, when they finally reached the top, both were wordlessly taken aback.

The cliff they had arrived at was, in fact, the edge of a great ridge that nearly surrounded the landed side of the vibrant city below.  The shadow of the opposing cliffs still cast darkness over the white buildings, but the miniscule impressions of hundreds of people were already milling about in the city center, were the colors of spring had been lavished upon the streets in minuscule strands. Liam’s tail and ears recovered their former, perky status immediately.

“Hmh! Not bad for five decimal places.” Hemi remarked. “I might come back here on purpose some time.”

“I’m still sorry for the trouble. It might take all morning to hike down there.”

“We’ve got two weeks, right? There’s no rush. If you mess up your skirt we’ll be in a good place to get a new one, too.”

“--Right! Okay…”

They sat for a moment to watch the sunrise finish, and then continued on their way. Thankfully, a reasonable series of switchbacks existed to allow the downward voyage to be done without any significant climbing.

“They won’t like-- recognize you here, right?” Hemi asked as they approached the base of the hills. “I know you’ve done some pretty heroic stuff…”

“No, we should be fine on that front. It was a while ago, and I looked different at the time.”

“Damn. Was hoping for some ‘divine messenger’ discounts.”

“Ha!” Liam shook his head. “We should hope they don’t have any ‘divine messenger’ flaming arrows for us. But, again, it should be fine.”

When they finally breached the city walls, both cats were somewhat exhausted, so before they reached the plaza proper, they found a tea-serving restaurant of some kind to relax at. As promised, none of the residents seemed to think the two of them were at all unusual -- the residents and tourists occupied a wide array of distinct species. Mostly canids, it seemed, but felines and the odd cervid could be sighted in the streets.

As Hemi sipped on his (quite good!) cup of green tea, Liam tilted his head, caught by a passing idea. “So, Hemi, there’s one big choice we have to make before finding you clothes.”

“And what’s that?” As Hemi asked, he already had some idea of what this ‘choice’ would be, judging from the mirthful display across Liam’s face.

“Suits or skirts?”

Hemi sighed, but had no immediate response. To tell the truth, he’d been mulling that over the entire hike so far. Suits were, of course, more traditional for masculine-appearing beings, but he was there as a representative of the Queer Wizard Council, so everything would be open to him, but if he looked bad in something, it would be worse than having shown up in just shorts and a hat, and suits and ties all seemed very restrictive compared to what he was used to… it continued spinning around from there. 

“I haven’t chosen.” He answered bluntly.

“Well, for what it’s worth, I’m sure you’d cut a dashing look in either. Since you don’t have a strong preference, we’ll have to try out some of both.”

Hemi squirmed a little in his seat, then tilted his head and let his ears fall back as he noticed Liam’s general expression. “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you--?”

“It’s not every day I get to see you, of all people, flustered~”

“I’m not flustered!”

“Yes you are. Don’t lie to yourself, sweetheart.”

“Don’t-- call me that… Damn it. Fine, it’s just not a comfortable thing, okay? Is that such a crime? I probably’ll look stupid no matter what I choose anyway so--”

“What? Don’t say that! I wasn’t joking earlier, I really do think you can pull it off!”

Hemi’s ears were low, and his little nub of a tail was moving back and forth through the cutout of the chair. His posture made him appear to be barely half of Liam’s size, and his voice became quiet but firm. “This is an important event, Liam. I’ve never even seen this many other wizards at once before, let alone-- partied with them. What if I end up making a bad impression? All of this is alien to me, literally more so than actual, like, alien life… I’ve literally been more comfortable climbing a volcano or spelunking a thousand miles under the surface of some rock no one has laid eyes upon since creation began.”

“Those things are physically perilous. That’s completely different then this-- social peril-- you’re feeling. I’m sorry for pressuring you… I, uh, think I got a little too excited.“ 

Liam was quiet for a moment. “If, you want to go home, this was still a nice day out. You can even discard the invitation if you want, I’m sure they’ve got plenty of attendees.”

“...No.” Hemi’s back straightened, and he took a deep breath in. “No, I need to do this. I can’t just live underground with you alone forever-- no offense. I need to get out there, get out of my own head and be seen by… anyone else. Anything else, then just me and the one writing all this down.”

“Huh?”

Hemi finished his tea and stood up. “I’m ready.”

Liam’s eyes went wild and he quickly finished the last small amount of his own tea as well. “Then, let’s do this--!”

The plaza burst and flowed with vibrant colors and moving bodies of all descriptions. A sea of horns and ears jostled about open-air stalls with perfumes, floral headdresses, fresh-grilled fish, and, finally, a veritable feast of clothes. Gowns, cocktail dresses, suits, ties… a hundred outfits for a thousand eyes. Above it all, streams of paper-made flowers that jostled in the gentle breeze, like candle fire against the immense blue sky.

Hemi tried on a suit first. As predicted, the feeling of his long body fur being constrained by the fabric was hard to stomach, and this particular suit made his head seem disproportionately too large. He tried another -- similar results, but it was a bit looser. Most of the outfits had some sort of floral design, but a few commemorated the moon as well -- unfortunately, each suit that had appropriate theming seemed to have some issue of comfort or price that disqualified it from consideration. Minutes passed, then tens of minutes. Almost an hour. Over an hour. Even Liam had begun to wear down, and that resolve the lynx had kindled within himself could only maintain itself for so long. The crowds kept throbbing and coursing down the cobblestones all the while.

In the distance, Hemi noticed something different as the attendant (a rather friendly coyote) and Liam were helping button together the latest too-tight suit. It was a cocktail dress (of the over-one-shoulder variety), formed from a deep blue-purple that matched the night sky above his home world on a clear night. Across its chest, it displayed a beautiful full moon, and it had a few frills down the sides that would match his face’s lynx-like cheek fur. It stood against a boutique stand that seemed to have little traction.

“How does it fit?” Liam asked of the suit he was already wearing, though he was able to guess given how much Hemi had squirmed while it was being fastened, when he caught Hemi’s gaze and followed it. “Oh~! Did you find something..?”

An invisible barrier formed around Hemi’s words as he was stricken again with doubt. It would be a bold statement -- one his generally not-that-attractive physique would butcher for sure. Liam took the coyote aside and whispered something in their ears. The coyote looked across the crowd, then back to Hemi, and put their paw under their chin for a moment before nodding. Liam’s smile became a gentle smirk.

“Well, what are you waiting for? You won’t know anything until you try it on.”

The lynx looked to Liam with a frightened expression, so Liam put a hand on his still-padded shoulder. “They’re wizards, Liam. Half of them will be wearing bones or slime or something.”

Hemi swallowed and, after another second nodded. “I want to try on that dress.” The words, alien as they might have been to his tongue, brought an electric feeling to the back of his mind. The coyote dutifully helped him remove the suit, and he and Liam entered the other stall.

The dress, once donned, hung loosely around Hemi’s frame. Somehow, his exposed shoulder felt almost salacious, compared to not wearing any shirt at all, but the feeling was a good one. The fabric was smooth and breathable, so it was not unbearable on his fur. Most importantly, the inner structure of the dress emphasized his physique without being explicit-- it was just a little more sensual than normal. He turned around and around in the mirror, while Liam watched on from the side.

“So… what do you think?”

Hemi looked down at himself, then back up at the mirror. “I think I actually like it--! What do you think?”

“I think it’s gorgeous. It fits you really well! The moon might make it hard to use at other events, but that’s the only downside.”

“I’m alright with that. I’m sure if I end up wearing it often I can find some illusion to cast over the moon -- it’s basically a big white disk, right? Perfect backdrop for an insignia.”

“Right! Well-- do you want to try any of the other dresses? Since we’re on this side of the aisle…?”

“...Um. No, no I think-- I like this one. Aha--” Hemi put a hand against the back of his head and gave a soft, genuine smile. Liam quickly moved to find the cashier -- who ended up being some kind of dog with very curly white fur.

“My friend would like to buy that dress, please!” 

The cashier nodded. “And why not! Oh, but the moon is out of season, isn’t it?”

“It’s fine, it’s for a different event. Actually, the moon was what drew us over here in the first place.”

“Oho!” The cashier dropped her voice. ”And, your friend is happy in… that kind of clothing? We have a suit with the same design in the back--”

Hemi approached. His large ears made it trivial to overhear the conversation from afar. He’d removed the dress and put it onto its hanger, but was still carrying it. He laid the fabric onto the purchase area. “Yes, I’d like to buy the dress. What’s your price?”

The cashier tapped her claw onto a rune engraved in her desk, and a circle of symbols appeared briefly in the air between her and the lynx. “You are a magician, yes? I will ask for a simple service -- production of some lumen oil for my silkworms to feed on. A cup should suffice as payment.”

“Lumen oil… very well. Do you have a cloche?”

The cashier directed Hemi to her alchemy room, and left him to provide his payment while she packaged the dress gently into a clear garment bag. A few minutes later, Hemi emerged with a small container of glowing golden liquid, formed from pure arcane energy. He wiped the sweat from his head -- he’d have to do a more complete grooming in a moment.

“Pleasure doing business with you.” He set the vial onto the payment section. The cashier tapped a rune, and the sign for equivalence appeared in the air. “Then the outfit is yours. I do hope you enjoy wearing it…!” The cashier announced. 

Liam took the dress into his hands. “Thank you!” Hemi nodded in thanks as well, and the two left into the plaza. As midday drew closer, the crows had settled into lines near the food vendors, and it was clearly time to take their leave. Hemi knew the way home by heart, so it was a quick matter to tear open the air again and lead the duo back to their place in another reality.

“You did good today, Hemi.” Liam literally patted the lynx on the back as he groomed.

“It’s strange… I never imagined I’d choose an outfit like that, but-- it really did look alright on me?”

“My friend, I could not have envisioned a dress that would fit you and the occasion better. I know I’m biased, but it’s really nice that you’re taking these kinds of risks now. It was a nice day! When we both get a while off of work, we should go out again -- and not just because I got to watch you try on suits for over an hour this time.”

“Hmph--! I’ll bet that was a real treat…”

“Oh, it was~” Liam said in a tone that made it truly impossible to discern if he was being sincere or just trying to get a rise out of him. Hemi just chuckled and looked back over at the garment bag, now hanging in his wardrobe.

“You should come with me. To the ball.”

“Um-- I’m not a wizard, though?”

“Any good ball allows plus ones. Besides, I know you’ve got some ridiculous giant gown or other in your storage somewhere.”

“I… may, but, I don’t think I’d look-- hey, you don’t get to turn the situation around on me like that!”

Hemi’s chuckle turned into a full laugh. “Revenge really is sweet~ But, seriously, you should come.”

“I’ll think about it. Home’s been pretty busy lately. Tsunamis, droughts-- the people need a nature prophet more than ever. But-- if I’m not actively mitigating some huge catastrophe-- I’ll put on a ‘ridiculous, giant gown’ and come with you to the ball. It’s the least I could do, after today.”

“Thank you.”

“Of-- course.”

The matter decided, each cat went on to enjoy the rest of the afternoon in their own ways.

[welcomingdisaster]

Scene Saturday!

i was tagged by @thescrapwitch and @eilinelsghost to share a little something from a WIP. here's something i'm writing for russingon week!

The last days of a stark, white-blue winter fade in the opening notes of the coming spring. Crisp light flecks of snow give way to heavy crystalline flakes, bunching together in formations as many-petalled flowers, or splayed out silhouettes of elves and men alike, twisted into oddly slumped figures. Then comes the spring rain, in fresh heavy drops that seem to wash the sky of clouds, the sprinkles of spring snowdrops in while spring ice, delicate as lace, the scatters of spring blooms, magnolia and cherry and apple, dogwood in bright pink and virgin white, quite as clean as the snow. Spring stars shine out of the spring sky, cheerful and fey, and Fingon Fingolfion goes to horse-races and sits sketching. Dives below ice into spring lakes while his lover shivers on the shore. Eats flat-bread with honey. Follows his lover to dog-shows, where they link arms in public, Fingon’s hand resting on the smooth, unscarred stub of Maedhros’ right arm, tracing circles around the bone of his wrist, and comes home with two wonderfully soft dachshund puppies, one a long-furred dark grey and one a mottled chestnut, little teeth sharp as needles and little velvet tongues stinking with puppy-breath. 

He smokes with his brother on the white cliffs overlooking the sea, sitting shoulder to shoulder, sampling new strains of pipe-weed brought over from other lands and laughing at jokes that would not be funny sober. He rides with his sister to the edges of isle, sleeping in the hollows of trees when they grow too exhausted to continue. He draws maps with his father, plotting out the outlines of new continents, and together they entertain the modest hobby of vineyard-keeping. 

He goes and worships at the temples of the air, shuts his eyes in meditation and sees himself quite contentedly as one small cog of a machine beyond his understanding. He runs his fingers over the prayer beads in his hair and breathes through them, feeling the air cycle through him, each vein humming with the greater powers of Arda. 

He comes to know his new body quite as well as he had known the old, and then better. He fucks Maedhros and is fucked by him; indulges in a variety of sex-acts that in a past life he might have left firmly to the realm of Men and Dwarves. He lays in his lover’s arms, most nights, and lets himself be soothed by the feeling of hands undoing his braid. 

It would be unfair to say all of his days are the same; indeed though sweet they are quite as different from one another as the snowflakes of the fading winter, and all the sweeter for the knowledge that he ought not expect them to end. 

Of course Fingon is not untroubled. Ill dreams find him, now and then. The weather turns and he feels a different cold in his bones, or else something catches him oddly in the mirror and the ghost of fire lingers in his blood, chasing him out of his sunlight villa and into the lake. Sometimes he misses Húrin so intensely his chest begins to ache with it, and he reads again and again of the Man’s fate, more unsettled each time. 

At times he worries for Maedhros, who is not precisely friendless but certainly not so well-loved as Fingon is, seeking company when the desire strikes him mostly from distant scholarly connections or Fingon’s friends. He has his hounds, of course; an endless stream of them, mostly quite small and rather useless, and when a certain mood strikes over him he goes down to work in the vineyards, to write something or other of the crossing of plants. 

At times he worries that Maglor has not come; that Maglor, they feel, shall not come. No ships will bear him here, he who has not died; and he will keep living, stubborn, in that other land which is now his home. 

(At times, Maedhros says, they share dreams. He wakes weeping, and longing, and sorry; but there is nothing, of course, to be done for it.)

But these troubles are scattered, and few. The morning that the Spring festival, the festival of rebirth, Fingon wakes quite content on his side of the mattress—pleasantly firm, unlike the horribly soft bedding on Maedhros’ side, because his lover likes best to be sucked into his bed’s embrace so well it is a miracle he can rise at all—and rises with a pleasant anticipation, perching in the windowsill with his silver mirror to do his makeup by the light of the sun. 

Maedhros groans, perhaps dreaming, but when he wakes he cannot remember it. There is nothing in the day that would make it seem a turning-point, a beginning, an end.    

credit to @sallysavestheday for the stoner turgon HCs lmao... i'll tag! sallysavestheday, @thelordofgifs @zealouswerewolfcollector @that-angry-noldo @polutrope @jouissants @searchingforserendipity25 @swanmaids @meadowlarkx and anyone else who wishes! <3

[twistedminutia]

Twst Talk: Hometown Events

This is more or less just me rambling about the hometown events and who might get one next (and who it might include.) This post will include spoilers for hometown have events that have not been announced on the EN server yet, so if that’s not something you want to see, stop reading now!

So far, we have gotten hometown events for Epel, Kalim and Jamil, Leona, and Deuce. These events have taken us to the Shaftlands, the Scalding Sands, the Sunset Savannah, and the Queendom of Roses. The only major continent we haven’t visited yet is the Sunshine Lands/Kingdom of Heroes (plus the Land of the Dawning, if you don’t count Sage Island as a part of that island already) and that seems to be the only continent we don’t have students from. These are also all lands that seem to be the most ‘accessible’ for lack of a better word. Briar Valley is the homeland of the fae, and it seems to generally be isolated, and the Coral Sea is, of course, underwater, necessitating the use of potions to go there.

Now, it’s possible that these aren’t going to be our next hometown events. In theory, we still could get events for characters like Vil or Cater, who live in the Shaftlands but not in Harveston, or Riddle and Trey, who live in the Queendom of Roses, but not Clock Town. Idia and Ortho are also wild cards in this, because we technically visited their hometown in Book 6 and it’s also supposed to be secret, so it’s not like they’re inviting friends over on the reg. Though I suppose this could also be handwaved if it happens post Book 6 by saying the students know about it already… but regardless, I think it’s likely TWST will cover all major areas of Twisted Wonderland before doubling back.

So if either the Coral Sea or Briar Valley are on the roster next, which one is first? Well, my money is for the Coral Sea. If the event comes out prior to the conclusion of Book 7, then it makes sense for it to steer clear of Briar Valley for potential spoiler reasons, or for the other reason I think they’ll hold off on the BV hometown event even if Book 7 is completed by then: they probably will want to take some time off of the Diasomnia focus so people don’t get too fatigued by it. I think having Book 7 AND a Briar Valley event at the same time or back to back would be too much at once.

Looking at the Coral Sea event, then, our next thought is: who’s going? Obviously, one of our Octavinelle boys is in. Jade is the least likely, since he’s already been in a hometown event (though this doesn’t rule him out entirely, since Kalim has been in his own hometown event and Leona’s hometown event). That leaves Azul and Floyd. My guess is for Azul. He’s popular, this would be a good event to show off his merform, and I have a hard time seeing Floyd going on his own to the Coral Sea and leaving Jade on land. However, I could also see Jade and Floyd going together without Azul.

Who would the guests be? Well, let’s look at who hasn’t been to a hometown event yet. People who have been in the events so far are: Epel, Idia, Jade, Sebek, Jamil, Kalim, Cater, Trey, Malleus, Leona, Vil, Jack, Lilia, Deuce, Ortho, Silver. Epel and Kalim have both been in two hometown events, one as host and one as guest, which makes them doubly unlikely to be picked. People who haven’t been in hometown events so far are: Ace, Riddle, Ruggie, Azul, Floyd, and Rook. Adding people who have only hosted (and are therefore still eligible to be guests in someone else’s hometown event) gives us Jamil, Leona, and Deuce. Not a massive list. Interestingly, Ignihyde and Diasomnia are the only dorms to have all of their members be guests in hometown events.

What does this sample tell us about the rules of hometown event guests? Well, there are always four to five people in every hometown event (four in Harveston and Clock Town, five in Tamashina-mina and the Scalding Sands.) It also seems like hosting your own hometown event doesn’t prevent you from being a guest in someone else’s, but being a guest in someone’s hometown even prevents you from being a guest elsewhere. This is probably not a hard and fast rule and is more to prevent card spreads from being too uneven. This also means that, because Azul and Floyd have been in no hometown events so far, they could both host their own event and be in the Briar Valley event back to back.

So potential guests for the Coral Sea hometown event are Ace, Deuce, Riddle, Ruggie, Leona, Jamil, and Rook. Anyone who gets picked for the Coral Sea event will not be picked for the Briar Valley event too, and there are seven options, so it seems to me that anyone who isn’t going to the Coral Sea will go to Briar Valley.

Now, these opinions aren’t really meant to be predictive so much as they are meant to just be, well, my opinions. Personally, I’d like to see Riddle in the Coral Sea event, along with Ace. Riddle because I think it would be hilarious if Floyd was hosting, and Ace because I think it would be fun to have a callback to Book 3, where he pretends to be a fan of merfolk. As for Briar Valley, I think Leona and Deuce would be good choices. Leona because, again, I think it would be funny if Malleus is hosting, and Deuce because he has a relatively positive relationship with Malleus in canon, and I think it would be cool to see him in Briar Valley. Admittedly both of these ideas rest on Malleus hosting, but I do still like the idea of them going to Briar Valley no matter who the host is.

I don’t have strong feelings about Rook, Jamil, or Ruggie. I lean Coral Sea for Jamil, if only because I think it’s funny when he interacts with Azul, and for Ruggie bc I just can’t see him being comfortable in Briar Valley. He knows when he’s outmatched. That puts Rook in Briar Valley. I’d like to give a preemptive apology to all the fae he is already hunting.

Speaking of Briar Valley, who’d host that event? In my mind, it’s a tossup between Malleus and Sebek. Yes, anyone from Diasomnia has an equal shot at the position, since they’ve all been in one event already, but Lilia and Silver strike me as the people with the least reason to go back to Briar Valley. They only have each other and Malleus, all of which are at school. Theoretically, Lilia could be called back for some kind of general duties, but unless he’s going with someone else, I don’t see him taking a bunch of classmates with him for that.

Malleus and Sebek both have decent reasons to need to return to the Valley. Malleus could have any number of princely duties to attend to, and might want to invite some friends along. Sebek has his family, who might call him home for any number of reasons. In my mind, Sebek is actually the most likely option for this reason, though this may also be because I think the character most likely to be introduced in a Briar Valley hometown event is Sebek’s dad. (No, no, hear me out- I know we want Maleficia, but I think she’s too important a character to introduce in a hometown event AND Leona’s hometown event is the only one to introduce a male character so far IT ALL FITS.) I could also see Malleus and Sebek hosting the event together, with Malleus leaving the guests in Sebek’s hands as he tends to his duties.

This was a long, rambling post that more or less sums up my thoughts on what might be coming up in the TWST hometown events. Agree? Disagree? I want to know what you guys think! Let me know!

[iamthekaijuking]

The God Children of Ana Chapter 4: Lindo or Limbo?

While Melalo was a failure, the Locolichi king was determined to create a “proper” god child. So when Melalo asked for a wife, it seemed like the perfect excuse to try again.

A formaerem sample was taken and another egg was fertilized, but Melalo, in an effort to get his father’s approval and reliance, made up a childish lie. He claimed that he could talk to formaerem and said that if the egg was dipped in the crop milk of a livestock that also had a fish (or their equivalent) soaking inside then it would increase the odds of the god child being a giant Locolichi like he wanted. While Melalo was just childishly making things up, he didn’t know that being able to communicate with formaerem was something that one out of a billion guardians could do.

The Locolichi king, in a stroke of idiocy, believed him and would continue to for the creation of five other children.

So following Melalo’s quackery he ordered for the egg to be dipped in crop milk saturated with fish juice, and then crossed his claws when a loyal Locolichi initiated an infusion event in a suicide mission. His wish was in vain of course. It didn’t influence formaerem at all.

The resulting guardian would be named Lilyi, and was an aquatic horror over 1,000 feet long.

Lilyi got much of the same duties as Melalo; a continent to manage, CEO business, and of course weeding out the “weak”. Just like Melalo she was a disease generating guardian, although her diseases were different from her counterpart. All of Lilyi’s diseases were bacterial and viral and caused excessive mucus production and dysentery. From severe diarrhea to snot production so excessive that people were leaving literal snail trails, almost everyone on her continent was expelling horrid waste and phlegm. The worst of her diseases was the “Phlegm Plague”, in which the digestive systems of infected individuals would begin secreting copious amounts of mucus. So much in fact that they would begin to expel it from both ends of their bodies. The infected always died either of dehydration or from choking to death on their own snotty vomit. Unlike Melalo who left clouds of disease carrying dander wherever he went, Lilyi caused her infections directly, and all her diseases had patient zeroes who were injected with pathogens via her 18 quantum tunneling facial tendrils.

Like all disease generating guardians, her illnesses mutated too fast for a cure to ever be viable.

Lilyi was paired with Melalo in an arranged marriage. Unfortunately Melalo, while genuinely infatuated with Lilyi, had no idea what healthy behaviors in a relationship were. It also didn’t help that his only point of reference were his “parents” the Locolichi king and Ana the queen of Keshali. As a result Lilyi and his marriage was an abusive one, with Lilyi even resenting him.

They frequently took breaks from each other by opening portals to travel to different universes, but their father didn’t like the idea of them going out and exploring the multiverse for fear of them abandoning the duties he dumped on them, so he forbid them and all subsequent god children from portaling unless to help acquire resources for factories.

The Locolichi king had two “failures” under his belt, but that only made him more determined to get what he wanted…

First chapter, Previous chapter, Next chapter

————————————————-

I know it’s no longer kaijune when I post this but screw you I’m tagging it as kaijune anyway

Also yea the diseases get grosser from here on out

[agentrouka-blog]

I never understood Brienne crashing the Vale Tourney. There is a lot of distance to cover and I bet Stoneheart is just going to let her go. At present I think her Winds Storyline will center around Stoneheart, Brotherhood, meeting Arya, knighted by Jaime I hope so etc. What are your predictions as to how her arc might shape in Winds?

I have no solid predictions, unfortunately!

I do agree that Brienne making it to the Vale seems an unlikely development, and I do agree that her focus in TWOW will be on the Lady Stoneheart plotline.

Of course, this plotline will be told out of chronological order with most of the Westerosi plot we've already been presented, essentially. 

Jaime disappears with Brienne - and stays disappeared - very soon after the surrender of Riverrun (which is before Sansa descends fron the Eyrie) and a not insignificant amount of time passes since then, including Cersei's entire imprisonment, part of which involves waiting for Kevan Lannister to make his way to KL from the other side of the continent, the Walk of Shame and the aftermath leading up to the ADWD Epilogue. Arianne's two TWOW sample chapters take place around that time, as well. As does Sansa's sample chapter. In theory, Brienne could well be on her way eastward again. We have no way of knowing, yet.

That said, the speculation I have developed so far (primarily with @istumpysk due to her excellent reread project) is that the Lady Stoneheart plotline could well lead up to a split in the Brotherhood. 

Whatever plan Brienne has formed in how to deal with the threat to Podrick and Hyle Hunt and Jaime, it's likely to receive help from within the Brotherhood as well. We have fully morally compromised members like Lady Stoneheart and Lem, and then we have ambiguous figures who regret the murderous turn from helping the smallfolk and conducting actual trials toward vengeful murder and mock trials.

Thoros is a prime candidate for turning on Lady Stoneheart and helping Brienne and her companions (perhaps even Jaime) escape, and the fact that he is a priest of R'hllor like Melisandre opens up many parallels to, say, the split in Stannis' camp between moderates and religious fanatics, which is also paralleled in the desire to kill a "guilty man" (Theon v. Jaime) and the threat to an innocent child (Shireen v. Podrick) and vengeance against usurping traitorous lords (Frey/Lannister v. Frey/Bolton).

The escape of Brienne and her companions may mirror the escape of Theon and Asha, and the fallout for the Brotherhood in their absence (yet more atrocities) may well mirror the lead-up to the burning of Shireen. At that later point, hopefully Arya would have made it back to Westeros to help tie up that plot with a turn toward something unexpected: mercy.

That said, I think - probably like Asha and Theon - Brienne and Jaime are likely to split paths before long. Hopefully their relationship will be crowned by a knighting (as suggested by the significant meeting place of Pennytree), and Brienne sets out to fulfill her promise to Catelyn while Jaime sets out toward his endgame: his children and his sister/wife, doing what Rhaegar failed to do and putting them before himself.

So, by the time the TWOW plot sets in, some of this may have already happened, actually. Brienne's path may be obscured from us until she shows up somewhere to meet/rescue one of the Stark sisters, be it Arya or Sansa.

I am starting to lean back toward it being Sansa, but I would still prefer it to be Arya, simply because of the juxtaposition of their different ways of being mortally dangerous female characters in a deeply sexist world. A true knight from the songs and a tiny assassin baby. Perhaps we'll get a mix of both and Brienne meets Arya without recognizing her, unknowlingly setting her on the path toward Lady Stoneheart while making her way north to trail Sansa.

If she does meet her there and begins to mirror her storyline with Catelyn (as suggested in the show) she may take up a role somewhat similar to Jonquil Darke for a while, until perhaps she is sent on another quest.

Bran was going to be a knight himself someday, one of the Kingsguard. Old Nan said they were the finest swords in all the realm. There were only seven of them, and they wore white armor and had no wives or children, but lived only to serve the king. Bran knew all the stories. Their names were like music to him. (AGOT, Bran II)

Brienne, Jaime and Catelyn's stories are connected through children, his three bastards but also Sansa, Arya and Bran, so I think it would be nice if Bran finally got to meet a real knight like he had dreamed of: a true knight.

[plethomacademia]

Tell us about the ascended astarion kinkmeme fill Laura :)

Thanks for taking my bait. Warning for non-con elements in the set up but not the actual sample I am going to post. There's a kinkmeme about ascended Astarion forcing Tav/Dark Urge to be his first spawn. It got in my head because I see ascended Astarion as this deeply insecure being and reading the prompt I just nodded along. He would. He absolutely would and he would justify it to himself and it would be heart wrenching.

If you couple this with that Dark Kiss ritual that ascended Astarion apologists try to use as cover for him, it is somehow even worse. Ohhh, you're his consortttt. Yeah ok, this ritual takes THREE DAYS. Three times where he will make the choice to go through with this. So of course I am going to write every single time and I am going to roll around in this man slipping more and more towards being like Cazador.

Jump is for length, only thing under here is feelings about being dumped

Astarion had never planned to claim the Szarr estate. He had expected to travel the world with Maeve. They had talked about it often as they had approached the city, how they would free each other from their masters — his Cazador, hers Bhaal — and then how they would crawl the entire continent, savor all that there was to be savored in the world.

With the ritual complete, he would be able to see things in the sunlight, live without the gnawing hunger that he had lived with for hundreds of years. When he had come to her a few days after the ritual, he had been ready to declare himself to her, make their partnership final in a way only he could make it final.

And then she had said no. He had offered her eternity as a vampire, as his consort, as his love, and she had said no.

He can see in retrospect that he perhaps had not received the news well. It was a bit of a shock, after all her help to take Cazador’s place. She had held the image of the scars on his back while he had drawn them into the flesh of his old master, never faltering once even as Cazador had screamed. When their other companions had told him to stop, she had not blinked as he had consumed seven thousand souls. She had even kissed him afterward, put her hands on his bare blood-covered chest as he hummed with new power.

She had trusted him with so much, but when he had offered her this gift, she had not trusted him with it.

[transingthoseformers]

Gonna write the most self-indulgent Dragon Age: Inquisition/Transformers.

Rodimus | Hot Rod (G1) has been upgraded with a Pretender shell temporarily for spying purposes and is playing scout on a planet where rogue Decepticons are rumored to be working with the local populace to take new uncharted planets for resources passed a space phenomenon that is considered unpassable. 

Hot Rod made his a pretty human woman which didn't stand out much. He ends up being forced to confront the Decepticons who were experimenting.

This is post-Optimus's return to life and the Matrix and vaguely G1 Cartoon with some IDW aesthetic. Hot Rod has basically gone as far from Cybertron and Earth and grief as possible. He ends up running into Cyclonus, who is also investigating "rebels" who were defying Lord Galvatron.

They agree to work together. It is being done by a Decepticon named Deluge who Hot Rod jokes he has never heard of. Cyclonus calls him "a pest".

Cyclonus and Hot Rod get in and the plan goes sideways when Cyclonus, who is usually more put together, punches one of the aliens for insulting Lord Galvatron. Hot Rod throws himself into it and they fight and confront Deluge who has acquired some samples he is interested in from small investigations. There is a confrontation, a miniaturized Space Bridge, magic bullshit, and an explosion that Hot Rod and Cyclonus are caught in.

They end up being dropped unceremoniously onto Thedas (the planet DA:I is on) in on separate parts of the continent stuck in what appears to be Pretender shells except they can't change back.

Oh that's super interesting!!

Spy shit okay okay

Dddkgjjf of course he ran into Cyc of course

deluge sounds intriguing

sdfgg ohh no

Our trusty dusty methods of causing a ruckus: space bridge malfunctions and magic!

Ohh so they're stuck looking like humans, and separated? Interesting!

[aristocraticvision]

Chapter 301: Welcome Home (Pt. 1)

“Thank you, Marta,” Dr. Mark Philson said to the nurse as she entered notes into the computer. “You can finish up here, and please see to it the blood and tissue samples get over to the lab.”

“Of course, doctor,” Marta replied without looking up.

“So I assume you’re giving me a clean bill of health?” Prince Stephen III of Weston said as Dr. Philson emerged from the examination area that had been set up in one of the palace’s rarely used chambers.

“That remains to be seen, your royal highness,” the doctor replied. “Once I have your test results back, I’ll know for sure. But for now, I think it’s safe to say you’re in relatively good health for a man your age.”

“Come now, doctor, I’ve only just turned 50,” Stephen replied, annoyed. “I certainly don’t consider myself old yet.”

“True,” Dr. Philson said. “But you drink too much and exercise too little, sir, so forgive me if I can’t declare you a model of good health.”

Stephen suppressed a grin.

“Fair enough,” he said. “But what about the stomach issues I’ve been having?”

“Again, I’ll defer judgement until the tests come back, but I would guess it’s simply a matter of diet. Too much rich food. I would recommend a more basic diet rich in fruits, vegetables, fish, poultry and whole grains – and cut back on red meat.”

“You’re simply determined to ruin my quality of life, aren’t you?” Stephen joked.

He turned to his majordomo, Bixby, who stood by the door.

“Bix, would you be so kind as to show the doctor out?”

“Of course, sir,” Bixby replied, resisting the urge to smile himself. “Prince Theodore is still waiting to see you in the library, your royal highness.”

“Yes,” Stephen replied.  “I’ll see him now.”

He turned back to the royal physician.

“Thank you, doctor,” he said. “I look forward to hearing from you soon.”

CHAPTER 1 | NEXT

Continent of Oceana | History of Weston | History of Corwyn | History of Torenth | History of Allycia

[iricathel]

"And... I think we've packed everything we need for our honeymoon."

After storing all the essential items in several luggage, including but not limited to enough clothing appropriate for the weather, toiletries independent of the hotels' inventory, itineraries, and other important 'tools,' Ruki heaved a sigh, rolling the belongings into the unit of transportation. The cruise in mind, while offering a beautiful vista of sapphire ahead, would require everything for both his and his wife's liking as they planned on visiting many tourist spots and countries of interest throughout the world teeming with abundant culture immemorial. Nara, Wakayama... Istanbul, Vienna, Madagascar, Seoul, and countless of gems in continents yet unexplored.

"Truth be told, it's been quite some time since I last went on a boat at all. Yet, seeing the ocean somehow puts me at peace. It's much like the nighttime that calms my restless thoughts," said the eldest Mukami with a genuine grin on his visage. "Are you looking forward to this excursion as much as I am, Irina? I do hope so."

When the Owl suggested a cruise for their cherished time together as newlyweds, Ruki internally hesitated at the idea simply because of his familial instinct to prepare everything for his brothers in his absence. Kou, Yuma, and Azusa had never sent him off for a long trip like this by himself, so part of him still somewhat fretted over what they would eat and the overall condition of the Mukami manor as well. However, he no longer had to worry about their ways of life. Going on this grand voyage to new places never yet seen by him, ready for exploration and adventure, honestly thrilled the Vampire, and now he only had one other person to look for on such a journey.

"This will truly be a honeymoon to remember always. In particular, I'm anticipating a thorough sampling of all the different cuisines we'll try away from home. And don't get me started on the books, either. I'm certain we'll find some for our collection that we don't have—but I'm rambling now."

Would they see rare species of wildlife at the safari? Tour the archives of literature at revered, foreign libraries? Indulge in romantic dates? Ironically enough, Ruki found himself having very human thoughts again so far on into his demonic lifespan, all thanks to his beloved. It was in these lighthearted moments that he could forsake the dark weighing on his shoulders and instead accept the light and warmth with Irina at his side as if they were the sun and moon complementing one another on this special expedition across the globe. Wearing his cherished golden puzzle piece bracelet from Valentine's, alongside the irreplaceable wedding ring to signify their unholy matrimony, the eldest Mukami took her hand in his own.

"Well, I'm ready whenever you are, Irina."

— Mm yes, you're right. The sea is quite a natural lullaby in some sense too, hearing its waves hit a surface and drag across the sand is most numbing, if not soothing to the soul. Well as you say, I also looked forward to this trip... Enjoying a trip with the two of us in basically a mobile hotel around the world sounds like a good adventure, not to say that I am excited about the idea of being able to record memories together in unique situations. —

Responding from time to time to the dialogue offered by her husband, Irina was preparing herself while the man packed their suitcase. With a wooden brush in hand, the blonde woman was defining the shape of her golden ringlets to keep her hair very presentable. And as final touches, she finished shaping her eyebrows with a colored brush and curling her eyelashes with black mascara, as well as giving her lips a nude color.

— Ah of course, fast as always to get ready. — She joked feeling how the golden bracelets were hooked together to show their union, as well as the resplendent wedding ring that was reunited with its mate.

Giving a firm squeeze to her hold as she laced her fingers together, Irina reached up to plant an affectionate kiss on the vampire's jaw. — Actually, I'm ready too. We can already take all our things and go to the port to get on our cruise ship. —

Making sure that everything was at hand, Irina took two cruise tickets out of one of her dresser drawers and then put them in her bag.

Images with fantastic ideas of how they could spend their time together invaded her mind as they made their way to the place. Private Jacuzzi where they could relax, including saunas, swimming pools, their spacious deluxe room where they could shelter from people to rest... In addition to different activities that can be done on the cruise while they do not reach the mainland.

— My, I can't wait to make some new photos together to make a beautiful and big photo album for both of us. It would be a joy to have those memories of our family at hand, don't you think, dear? —

[unconditionalcaretaker]

Dream Journal, August 1st, 2024

I dreamed about Michael Corleone for the first time. I was writing him with Kay. I held onto the image of him in the boathouse and said such beautiful things that I don't remember. I woke up at four AM and fell back to sleep.

I was riding the train to school, back to art school. At the same time, it was a long voyage through space, on a spaceship. In the bits where it was a train, I looked out the window into the night at other people on other trains passing by on the other track, with their heads bowed down reading or sleeping and their figures in total silhouette. I knew that if I looked too long, I would become afraid, because it looked like a ghost train to me in that moment. But of course it wasn't, of course...

I had many objects which belonged to the dead. A burgundy sweater. A teddy bear. Some of them were made by my middle school best friend who I now hate, and there was a picture of her on some of them, on a kind of tag that said "crafted by [her name]" and I stuffed that inside the bear, but it showed through a hole in the bear's foot. Everyone would think she had made what I had.

At last, the train came to the school. The sun was rising, and in the pale blue sky, the moon hung low over a distant side road, appearing massive as it often does. I stopped to take a photo of it, which I did by holding a water bottle in front of it. But as I did so, my mother told me to look up, because the moon was in the sky. I did, and there was the moon, much smaller. So what was I looking at? Mars, impossibly close to the Earth. And there was Venus next to it, a little thing shaped like a golden hot air balloon. But I plucked Venus out of the sky and it was just a sculpture. And I looked again at Mars, and it was in fact the Earth. I saw Earth's continents over its face and I was amazed. Filled with a sense of miracle.

I came at last to the school. It was a tiny room, filled with many objects, and had a kitchen and sink that everyone was responsible for cleaning. I went to the fridge and took a sample of the butter that I had left in it when I went away, to see if it was still good. I dropped it off the knife into the soapy water meant for washing the sink, so I had to wash out the soapy water. Even cleaning things can be dirtied by my presence...

My teacher approached me about the many objects I had just put into my desk, the ones from earlier that belonged to the dead. "That desk of yours with all the things in it - it's not dangerous?"

I asked him what he meant.

"It's not unknown for such objects to be dangerous, and for that danger to be accorded with - "

My alarm went off. But he was going to say that the danger those objects posed would be uncannily poetic with regard to the dead people who had owned them, as if they were haunted. Even though neither of us believed in ghosts.

Interpretation: I know this must have something to do with the strange phone call last night. For the "dead" to seem dangerous and yet to know that there is no such thing as ghosts (they are dangerous in a different way, a more real way, but I keep them close regardless), for my old friend who I hate to lurk hidden within myself (perhaps carried within soft things with love despite her nature), for there to be a need to wash the cleaning things themselves because of me (to wash away OCD, ironically, through exposure therapy, etc.), for Mars himself to stand close at hand and not be what I thought (but instead to be the Earth, the same as me), for Venus to be plucked from the sky and held (for love to be held)...all of these seem self-evident examples of a wish to reunite.

[captainmdhridoyhossain-blog]

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[freeeaglebasement]

Dating And Love - How They Are The Same

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“I would say there are double the number in the Bay Area alone from five years ago,” he added. There are three principal techniques used to measure carbon 14 content of any given sample- gas proportional counting, liquid scintillation counting, and accelerator mass spectrometry. There are tons of types of guys in the sea, and you know what you like. Security: Dating apps and websites are great - but like everything else online, you have to be careful. I would have to try to understand my pet's problem. I'll have to do that. You have a brand new chance to attract the kind of guy you've been dreaming about. Will he be the kind you are familiar with, or will he be something brand new? Are you in for a brand new adventure, or are you going to find something as comfortable as dating your best male friend? My best friend just went through a tough break up.

[iamthekaijuking]

The God Children of Ana Chapter 3: Bedevil

In an attempt to have giant Locolichi progeny, the Locolichi king ordered for the creation of a space station and the retrieval of all formaerem on the Keshali moon. A sterilized containment chamber held the formaerem, as the king now knew it coming into contact with anything organic would create another guardian thanks to the Golden Toad. He also ordered the extraction of some of queen Ana’s egg cells, and for his own sperm cells to be artificially injected into them. Of course, Locolichi and Keshali were from different planets and so hybridization was impossible, but the king knew this.

His actual plan was for a dedicated Locolichi to touch down on the Keshali moon with a sample of formaerem and one of the artificially “fertilized” eggs, and then to introduce it to the formaerem in a suicide mission. Of course, this doesn’t influence formaerem, but the king didn’t know this.

When the time came for the first attempt at a “god child”, the Locolichi king hoped and expected for the result to be a giant Locolichi.

That is not what he got.

What came out was a 700 foot tall green feathered monstrosity that would be named Melalo.

Melalo was deemed a failure by his own “father” but the king decided to put him to use regardless and appointed him as the head of an entire continent on the Locolichi homeworld, both so Melalo could learn the ins and outs of being part of the oligarchical family and so the king’s workload could be lessened.

Part of Melalo’s duties outside of being a CEO however, was to curb any protests or resistance from the populace much like the Golden Toad. This also occasionally resulted in destruction and casualties.

Citizens could recount horror stories about his sonic beams and massive talons cutting buildings in half and turning people to paste, or about the several hundred mile fast winds generated by just flying overhead. But these paled in comparison to the true terror that Melalo could unleash.

Melalo was a disease generating guardian.

Everywhere he went he shed millions of prions and viruses. These weren’t symbiotes that could be washed off. Melalo’s own cells generated these pathogens. These diseases were like nothing ever seen; they spread extremely quickly, they mutated too fast for an effective vaccine to ever be made, and if someone was immune to one, then there were at least a hundred other pathogens they could catch. All of these prions and viruses also altered the behavior of the infected.

But the worst one was a virus dubbed the “Wrath Plague”. It was a deceptively simple virus in structure, not unlike an infamous earth lyssavirus. Its incubation period was slow, and people didn’t know they were infected until it reached their brains by traveling through their nervous system. Once it did reach the brain it was too late. The Wrath Plague caused encephalitis in the infected, and caused severe damage to parts of the brain associated with critical thinking and mood. The results were droves of murderously violent citizens.

Travel between Melalo’s continent and the rest of the world became heavily regulated, and cases of assault, murder, and even cannibalism skyrocketed in the continent. The Locolichi king made a note to ensure that Melalo would be in designated quarantine areas when attending meetings. Outside of that though the king made little effort to correct anything. In his eyes Melalo’s diseases were eradicating the weak.

Despite being a being that caused the deaths of millions, Melalo didn’t see what he was doing as wrong. This was in large part due to the terrible parenting of the Locolichi king who did not particularly like him due to not being the Locolichi god child he wanted. In fact, both of Melalo’s “parents” despised him for their own reasons. But Melalo loved them wholeheartedly, and wanted their approval.

In a twisted attempt to get his father to rely on him more and to gain his approval, Melalo attacked and killed the Golden Toad, plucking his infinity organ out with giant talons and crushing it until it burst into stardust.

To say that this had the opposite effect of what Melalo wanted was an understatement.

As time went on Melalo’s loneliness grew until one day he asked his father for a wife. Surprisingly, the king complied, as he was looking to have another attempt at a god child…

First chapter, Prev chapter, Next chapter

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The first of Ana’s children is here! I also replaced the most horrible nonconsensual element of the original legend with gamete extraction and artificial insemination outside of parent bodies, just to eliminate very horrible squick. (Did the Romani tell the story to their kids??? Because if so that’s fucked.)

Also yes Melalo has a pair of sun spider jaws between his heads.