#WHERE THE WHOLE THING WITH ABYSS ORDER / ABYSS POWER IS VERY INTENSE

[lunaetis]

@maquiscursed asked :

an abrupt kiss that you melt into after a moment of hesitation . (for xiao and lumine, listen he probably hasn't kisses anyone in centuries or millenia or ever, he's doing his best okay)

↪     𝑲𝑰𝑺𝑺  ﹠ ᵀᴱᴸᴸ . || accepting

─「荧」─  the OUTLANDER was the type to protect others at an expense of herself. it was something innate to her, something that had earned her the titles of hero many a time whether intentionally or unintentionally. that was probably also why she felt herself connecting to a certain yaksha even when they didn't exchange much words with one another initially. the way he pulled himself away from others was his own way of protecting them from the KARMIC DEBT plaguing his very soul. and, perhaps, that was also why he could see through what she was doing ever since she returned from SUMERU.

                the latest meeting with the boughkeeper unveiled a piece of the past unique to her twin brother. the words she heard, the SIGHT she witnessed, the gaze of the sinner and the voice ringing at the back of her mind invaded her dream at night. ABYSS PRINCE, chlothar alberich had called her. no, he ... wasn't calling her. he was calling her twin brother, but the words pierced at her still even now. it felt like she was dragged down to the abyss when she looked at the cracked mirror to see aether's face instead of her own.

                i'm not him. i'm lumine. i'm me. i'm me. i'm me ... i'm —

                " i'm okay ... i ... i'm okay ... " words that were uttered when NIGHT TERROR forcefully snapped her to reality, and she found her golden hues being filled with tears. lumine could feel her whole body shaking. no ... power of the abyss. she didn't want any of it to taint him. not him. not when she finally was able to CLEANSE that darkness of karmic debt from his soul. he should remain free, untainted. he should stay away ... she's okay, she's ...

                that was when she felt her lips being sealed by his own. it was abrupted, unplanned, a touch that felt both foreign and familiar all at the same time. the CELESTIAL could even feel hesitation in his movement, she could feel him pausing as if unsure, like it wasn't what he's used to at all, like ... he had never done this before. but ... his lips were warm. it was ... so, so warm.

                " ying. "

                xiao ...

                the sound of her TRUE NAME was like a spell, it was like a wake up call that pulled her mind from the deepest, darkest abyss she was being dragged down by the ankle. it was an oath, a summon, a reminder. at that split second the sound of her true name being uttered upon his lips, any shadow of doubts she felt from the crawling nightmare was gone. it disappeared like it had never existed before, and it made crystal droplets fall from her quivering, melting liquid gold. they wouldn't stop.

                i'm not okay. the voice echoed in their now linked minds. there was no keeping any secret from her name holder, not when he invoked his right by uttering it. there was nothing keeping their thoughts separate, and the vigilant yaksha would start to feel and see the things she had witnessed. the journey down the memory lane of the abyss twin she almost mixed with her own past. and he would see, and hear the words she kept locked inside.

                the truth.

                i'm not okay. i'm not okay. i —

                " i'm scared ... " of losing you, of losing myself.

                and ying felt his warmth coming around her, the tears that cascaded down her eyes wetting his cheeks now that the gap between them was gone once more. their lips met, the salty taste mixed with the tender kiss as this time, they both melted right into that lip-lock while both minds melted into one as well. his thoughts, her thoughts, they were becoming one. through the touch of his lips, the feel of his breath spilling against her own, the taste of his mouth and tongue, their hearts resonating with one another. he was reminding her who she was.

                she heard it, his voice, through their connected minds.

                you're not alone anymore, ying.

[moni-harmonia]

Chapter 2 Act IV

I knew this would be good. But honestly? It surpassed my expectations. I really believe this was my favourite story/archon quest up until now. So I have a lot to comment about it. Spoilers below

Well, first of all I have to say that I wasn’t a fan of how Hoyo did this quest alongside the Chasm. I mean that having to explore a completely new place while wanted to continue the story wasn’t a good idea in my opinion. Unless it’s a new region I think they shouldn’t have done this. I think this should have been added in the second half of this update so that we had time to explore first.

But anyway, the quests in the Chasm were actually fun, I liked the NPCs and the place is amazing. Also I love the little mention of Klee and Kaeya, I really appreciate that, it helps with worldbuilding too. It’s also funny how they make it a point to prevent Kaeya to be near Dainsleif. Anyway, I haven’t had time to explore it fully yet as I wanted to reach the story as soon as possible.

And what a story it was! Seeing Dainsleif again made me smile so hard. After a whole year we finally see him again!

I like that we waste no time in asking him about last time. That he was a royal guard from Khaenri’ah. We don’t have any reason not to trust Dainsleif, but I like how the Traveler is weary of him because he still holds some secrets and he’s against their sibling.

The plotline in this quest was interesting, intense and very emotional. So we learn that all people who have the curse are immortal, not only him. It’s just that for some reason he was able to resist becoming a monster like the others (I hope they explain why later).

It was incredibly sad what we learned about the Hilichurls, how they go to the center of the Chasm to finally die. I really like when games make their enemies pitiful, when we have a reason to feel sad for them even though we have to fight them. It makes it more deep and realistic, they’re not just monsters, they used to be people.

And by the way, the fact that Dainsleif says that these upside down ruins are from a civilization even older than Khaenri’ah is very intriguing, I’m assuming that’s going to play an important part in the future.

Meeting the other royal guards, now monsters, and them protecting the Hilichurls was both endearing and very tragic. And the fact that one of them, Halfdan, was someone Dainsleif knew and somehow he retained some of his consciousness as well.

But then we reach the scene with the flowers...

I really wasn’t expecting Lumine’s flowers to be from Khaenri’ah. And their lore is interesting. First, they’re called “inteyvat”. In-Teyvat? What a curious name... I’m surprised they didn’t bring that up. The fact that they stay frozen in place until they return home is very interesting. And the one who left them there for the Hilichurls...

Every time the Traveler actually speaks is emotional...

So now we have a more clear idea of what the Abyss Order wants. Aside from wanting revenge against the heavens, they want to reconstruct Khaenri’ah, and for that they want to break the curse. It’s very interesting, and morally is very hard. Because of course you want them to stop suffering and be humans again. But Dainsleif is convinced there’s no way to do that, and we saw that the method they tried to use this time was actually very bad for them, it made them suffer even more.

It’s a very hard choice, and when they tried the thing it was really impactful. Even Dainsleif was greatly affected by it. And Halfdan gave his life to stop it...

Even if their goals are noble, what they’re doing is clearly the wrong way. It’s tragic but if there’s no way to break the curse they just have to accept their fate. Halfdan last words... they’re powerful. “Khaenri’ah’s not gone yet, after all, you’re still here right?”. And we know that there are more, so don’t you worry Halfdan...

Even as an NPC we can clearly see his eyes. The star pupils, they’re definitely the proof that you’re from Khaenri’ah.

Makes you wonder even more about Kaeya and where he came from. Do they actually know there are survivors? I actually don’t think so. If they knew, they would have said something already, wouldn’t they?

The lesson that we take from those last words is that there are still people carrying the will of Khaenri’ah, even if it’s not there anymore. You don’t have to look at the past, but at the present and future.

Dainsleif had to leave to rest for a bit, at first I thought that we may see him again soon but the quest felt very complete. Since now they have a solid excuse for him to be absent again, I don’t think we’ll see him again until we go through Sumeru, we never know though, it would be great to see him sooner.

This storyline is definitely the high point of Genshin for me. It’s exciting and emotional. Can’t wait for more. I wonder what we’ll focus on after this.

[ventiiology]

— ✦ || home

title . windtrace characters . kaeya , diluc , venti , childe type . fluff , bullet-point headcanons

an interesting man in mondstadt is advertising for a game that represented mondstadt’s history but eventually got less played and forgotten over the years. he wanted to bring back the tradition, with more exciting edits made to the game in hopes of attracting more players. you have convinced your boyfriend to play it with you, and hell, it was a wild ride.

kaeya, upon hearing about the game from you, would already be interested

it sounded really fun, so he played it with you asap

he may or may not have skipped some duties from the knights, but in his eyes it was completely within reason

he didn’t tell you about that, of course, or else you would’ve forced him to go back to favonius headquarters and finish up whatever boring paperwork he needed to sign.

anyways..

as a hunter he would be quite experienced, as expected, since he was a knight and had to do similar activities when hunting down criminals like treasure hoarders, the abyss order, etc

you’d have to be good at hiding, otherwise the game would end very quickly

“hm? i’m surprised how you were able to outrun me the first time with your height. i don’t usually fall for the same thing twice, that’s why i was able to catch you~”

as a rebel kaeya would also be surprisingly good at the role

he’s scarily good at hiding and even with your perks as a hunter to trace wherever he is, he still made it really challenging

if you ever get too close to wherever he’s hiding or disguising he might take advantage of having a cryo vision to slip you up somehow

whether that be literal or not

although he’ll get called out for cheating later

“my, you’re freezing up. come on, don’t be salty you lost. you were pretty close to catching me, i’ll give you that.” kaeya says as be brings you into his embrace, warming you up in dragonspine’s bitter cold.

diluc would honestly not be interested at first

it would take quite some pleading, daily bugging, and perhaps a bit of bribery to get him to agree to play

tell him that he wouldn’t have to see kaeya around for the week or something

as a hunter he would spend a good 30 seconds just standing there wondering what he should do. there are a lot of places to hide, and the map was very big. also you could’ve disguised yourself as something from the area, so how could he be completely sure it’s you?

he’s really quiet so you wouldn’t hear him coming

using the hunter ability to trace where you went, he’d be somewhat indecisive on whether he should take his time or run to follow the traces

will use hunter abilities at the most inconvenient moments

for you, as the rebel, at least

like when you think he didn’t notice you and is walking away he’ll activate the hunter ability ‘insight’, which reveals your location and points you out with a pillar of light

diluc will be annoyingly good at finding you this way

“did i scare you? i— i’m sorry. i’ll try not to repeat my actions.”

as a rebel, he’d probably be more hesitant than when being a hunter

multiple times throughout the game, he will mutter to himself that he is not suited for this role

however diluc always seemed to take the longest to find... you wondered how he pulled it off every time

he’s definitely aware of this game

venti, of all people, should know about windtrace, especially its origins...

so he’s actually the one who invited you to play with him

as a hunter he’d love the thrill and challenge of finding you

he would much prefer to be a rebel, but the hunter role was still fun to play as!

he’d take his sweet, sweet time as a hunter

not sprinting all over the place will give him more time to examine places

but if he gets as much as a glimpse of action, he’ll go running towards that

“heeeey! that’s not faaaair! i declare a rematch! if i win this one, you owe me... an apple! no, five apples!”

“deal!”

as a rebel he’ll be able to find hiding spots in places you didn’t even know existed within the map

he might use a little bit of his anemo powers to let him climb up to higher places... if needed

will climb trees a lot, so when you start looking in trees, he alternates his hiding style

and he’s a speedy little shit too— so speedy you can hear him leaving sonic behind

like if you manage to get his disguise out of commission and you spot him since he’s unable to hide, he’ll literally just speed away behind something then you lose track of him

like???? what??? how does he??????

he will taunt you

one time he was disguising and you got pretty close

when your back was turned, he whispered, “missed me~” then will use the rebel skill ‘transparency’ to just disappear and sprint away since he knew that your hunter abilities’ cooldown wasn’t done yet.

“let’s play again! hold on, let me write a song about this...”

you didn’t even get to finish asking him if he wanted to play windtrace with you and he already agreed

this man is a simp

he’ll never admit that, though. he has pride.

as a hunter, the games played with childe will be so nerve-racking and intense

while he’s hunting for you, it’s like his whole aura’s changed

he seemed far more intimidating and scary than usual

“[name]~ where are you~? i can tell i’m getting close...”

why was he taking this game so seriously????????

when playing with childe, you could truly feel like you were the prey and he was the predator

he’ll give you a false sense of security. he’ll make you think that you’re safe from his watchful gaze.

you used your ‘transparency’ ability to become invisible to him

he’ll pass by and you hold your breath, nervous that if he hears a single movement, whether it be an exhale or the small brushing sound of your sleeve moving against your shirt, he’ll be able to find you

he walks away and sprints out of sight. he probably saw movement ahead and went to track that

you started to calm down and your tense shoulders relaxed. phew, he was gone.

then, you heard a whisper behind you as someone grabbed your shoulders.

“boo~”

you jump out of shock and he starts laughing at the scare he gave you

“that was not funny. i’m gonna hate you forever for that one.”

“you can’t hold it against me for that long, and you and i are both aware of it.”

as a rebel he would be annoyingly good at it too

after him scaring you as a hunter you got somewhat paranoid. who says he won’t pull off the same kind of thing as a rebel?

you swore you saw a wooden crate move so you turned around to face it but then it was gone

childe’s light on his feet and barely makes a sound

you’d get more panicked as the timer ticked closer to the end of the game. you really wanted to win this one.

according to the ‘hunter’s intuition’ skill you were able to pinpoint the place where childe was at

you sprinted closer to the beam that gave away his location

you wandered around the area, trying to find where exactly the pillar of light was pointing you to... then the light disappeared

you saw a hay roll near a house which definitely wasn’t there last time you checked, so you took your chance

you were 5 metres away from it when you felt a certain someone pull you into a hug from the back.

at the same time, your timer rang, signifying the end of the match.

how does childe keep sneaking up behind you?

“hah, was it really that hard to find me, love?”

“HOW DID YOU DO THAT?”

“i’m just a natural at it, i guess. haha, don’t worry~ with enough practise, you might surpass my skill level!”

[klixxy]

Genshin Fic Recs

so... i ventured into the vast world of Google looking for some good GI fic recs... only to find such a pitiful amount that i was promptly devastated. therefore, the solution is to make my own! :D

keep in mind most of these will be ChiLi or XingYun, and yes, i will try not to include smut unless it was one i really really liked. if anyone wants a separate list for just smut (though that will most likely be shorter) i can try to make one later.`

ft. my bookmark comments :)

CHILI

wrapped up in pure gold by beyondwinter

(chili; accidental marriage; chili/childe-centric; 22k words; ongoing)

"Do you understand its meaning, Childe?" He finally asks. There's a hard glint in his eyes, like he's trying to steel himself for his answer.

"Yeah." Loyalty and devotion, right? Between business partners? "I do. It's traditional, isn't it?"

Zhongli's eyes glow a warm amber in the near darkness, reflecting the soft shine of the lanterns. He studies his face with a strange intensity, as though Childe were a piece of high quality Nocticulous Jade being sold for suspiciously small sum and he's trying to find the blemishes that would explain the price. The weight of his gaze should be uncomfortable, boring into him like he can see into the very depths of his abyss-tainted soul, but Childe finds himself preening under the attention instead.

Childe accidentally proposes to Zhongli. Zhongli accepts.

The World is Water by Millereflets

(chili; smut; hurt/comfort; chili-centric; 7k words; oneshot)

Childe doesn't visit Zhongli until it's almost too late.

(my bookmarks: HOW DO YOU MAKE A SMUT SCENE SO POETIC HOLY SHITTTTT)

Set in Stone by seredemia

(chili; fake dating au; angst; some smut?; chili/chiilde-centric; 55k words; ongoing)

What do you do when you write about a certain six thousand year old consultant so much in your letters that it somehow convinces your entire family you're not only dating each other, but that you're also engaged?

In Childe's case, the answer is plain and simple: he goes along with it, of course. Absolutely nothing can go wrong if he makes a contract with the God of Contracts, vowing that the two of them will pretend to be lovers for the duration of his family's stay in Liyue. Afterwards, they'll return as normal and speak no more of this mess. No feelings or complications involved whatsoever.

Contract accepted. A fool-proof plan set in stone. Right?

Private Ledger of the Eleventh Harbinger by JuHuaTai

(chili; humor; getting together; chili/ekaterina-centric; 5k words; oneshot)

“So guess what I did next?”

Ekaterina contemplated not answering, but Harbinger Tartaglia was just… grinning and waiting. It’s honestly rather creepy the longer time passed.

In the end, she gave a long suffering sigh that seems lost on him, “You bought him the Erhu—“

“I bought him the antique, cor lapis based Erhu,”

-

When she first left her homeland for the unknown nation of Liyue, Ekaterina was ready to be many things: To be a soldier, to fell Tsaritsa’s enemies in her name, to bring glory to Snezhnaya and her leader.

Being a receptionist in a cozy bank wasn’t so bad in comparison, but she absolutely can do without the front row seat to Harbinger Tartaglia’s (expensive) love life.

i know i'm where i'm meant to go by paperclips (pastel_paperclips)

(chili; humor; fluff; chili-centric; 12k words; ongoing)

"Childe," Zhongli says suddenly. "I am enjoying myself greatly." Childe’s face breaks into a grin. "Then-" Zhongli gasps, grabbing his wrist and tugging him over to an unsuspecting peddler with a cart full of rocks. "Is that an intrusive igneous pegmatite formed in the Inazuma regions?" Childe’s grin smooths into a small, adoring smile. He has all the time in the world to figure the other man out.

OR: Finding the Geo Archon is on Childe's to-do list but hanging out with Zhongli is significantly more fun.

CHILIVEN

Crumbling Stone by avtorSola

(chiliven; ANGST; PAIN; mind control; zhongli-centric; 74k words; ongoing)

When Morax unleashes his plan to test the Liyue Qixing and his adepti, he does not take into account the stirring of the Abyss Order in the north and the corruption of Dvalin - for why would he fear an organization that works in such shadows? He is secure in his power, after all, unlike his flighty ex, the absentee archon of Mondstadt who rises only when his people are in danger.

But, somehow, the Abyss Order discovers his plan. Somehow, they capitalize on it. And he, the God of Stone who cannot sicken, is struck down - taken by an order bent on destroying all of humanity as Liyue crumbles around him. For even Archons aren't immune to Durin's blood, and Morax is no exception. But then the question becomes - if even Archons may fall to the agony of this corrupting burn - how is their traveling friend Aether immune?

The answer comes from beyond the stars - an ancient malice that knows no kindness or mercy. A malice whose legacy the Abyss Order now bears, seeking to topple all the Archons and their people into the void of utter destruction. And they have begun in Liyue.

Fortunately, it takes a long time to erode stone.

(my bookmarks: IM SCREAMING AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA)

PLATONIC ZHONGVEN

left-behind city by trixstar

(platonic zhongven; angst; ANGST; venti-centric; 1k words; oneshot)

"An associate of mine has just informed me that Rex Lapis, the Geo Archon has been assassinated."

Venti blinks.

Or: Venti and how he copes with finding out he is all that remains.

i circle ten thousand years long; and i still do not know if i am a falcon, a storm, or an unfinished song by birdsofpassage

(platonic zhongven; angst; hurt/comfort; zhongven-centric; 4k words; oneshot)

Venti and Zhongli, and the vignettes of a much-needed vacation around Mondstadt.

(my bookmarks: ; - ;      ;  -  ; )

oh ye with little faith by air_fried_air

(platonic zhongven; angst; hurt/comfort; zhongven-centric; 2k words; oneshot)

Two former archons do a little tour around Mondstadt.

(my bookmarks: why are all genshin angst fics so melancholy.... i feel so empty)

the wind through the mountain tops by glassdrachma

(platonic zhongven; humor; hurt/comfort; zhongven-centric; 21k words; finished)

Boredom brings Barbatos of Mondstadt to bother a certain ex-Archon of the Earth.

(my bookmarks: venti zhongli friendship venti zhongli friendship venti zhongli friendship venti zhongli friendship venti zhongli friendship venti zhongli friendship venti zhongli friendship venti zhongli friendship venti zhongli friendship venti zhongli friendship venti zhongli friendship venti zhongli friendship venti zhongli friendship venti zhongli friendship venti zhongli friendship venti zhongli friendship venti zhongli friendship-)

XINGYUN

the art of exorcism by Agried

(xingyun; ghost au; hurt/comfort; chongyun-centric; 9k words; oneshot)

On the road back from one of his jobs, Chongyun runs into Xingqiu, the wandering swordsman. And then they keep meeting, over and over again. or, alternately; how a ghost and an exorcist learn how to love, one step at a time.

Bane of All Evil by tzitzimeme

(xingyun; humor; romance; chongyun-centric; 24k words; hiatus)

When Chongyun unintentionally offends Liyue's second most powerful adepti, he vows to mend the thorny relationship between Adeptus Xiao and human exorcists-- even though no one has succeeded in currying Xiao's favor for over a thousand years.

His best friend Xingqiu offers to come alone, mainly because he's worried about what kind of trouble Chongyun will run into. Along the way, they receive help from others: Xiangling packs them meals for their journeys, while Zhongli gives them advice on what demons to track.

Childe is just there because he thinks the whole thing is hilarious.

[On indefinite hiatus due to burnout; sorry!]

kiss me slowly (so i don't forget) by xiwangmu

(xingyun; humor; romance; light angst; xingqiu-centric; 8k words; oneshot)

Wangshu Inn Bulletin Board

Guest Message: My best friend whom I harbor affections for kissed me last night, but due to his special condition he does not recall a single moment of it. I am quite conflicted about whether to disclose these events to him or not, because that would most certainly require me to confess my feelings as well. If anyone has experience in romancing boys with excessive positive energy, this one humbly asks you to share some advice.

Reply: Our greatest apologies—although we would like to offer some words in response, we simply cannot decipher your handwriting. Perhaps you may return with a neater message next time?

time trials by idlestars

(xingyun/many ships; humor; modern au; xingyun-centric; 2k words; oneshot)

A modern social media AU.

Xingqiu Teases Demons. Chongyun Almost Cries. [The clip shows Xingqiu, lit by the sickly green of night vision, as he stares bored into a dark room. He’s alone - Chongyun left to see if Xingqiu could lure out the ghosts. Xingqiu glances at the camera, smirks, and then opens his mouth.

“Hey demons, it’s me, yah boy.”]

OTHER/GEN

woe be the wallet of the god of wealth by glassdrachma

(gen; humor; identity reveal; keqing/zhongli-centric; 12k words; finished)

Or, the story of how the Yuheng of the Qixing came to idolize, befriend, and discover the identity of the God of Geo, in that order.

(personal comments: hilarious, made me burst out into laughter multiple times, and was just a masterful piece of writing)

to dream of dust by miao_x

(guili/gen; ANGST; hurt/no comfort; zhongli-centric; 5k words; oneshot)

Some nights, Zhongli dreams.

He dreams of soft light, golden song, and a gentle breeze whispering tales of millennia past. It is warm, familiar, and comforting.

It feels like home.

And then he opens his eyes, and awakes to reality.

(my bookmarks: oh zhongli... made me cry)

To drown in your own tears by C_rin_nyan

(guili/gen; ANGST; TEARS; PAIN; zhongli-centric; 2k words; oneshot)

As Rex Lapis, he had never shed a tear, even as he slaughtered hundreds, destruction following his every step. As Zhongli, he had shed much more than he would like to admit, however.

Or, “Zhongli’s soul gave its last scream long ago, yet even now, the echo of said sound was still strong enough to reach Rex Lapis.”

[moony-meadow]

Food Envy (2)

Previous Part / Next Part

After spending about ten minutes explaining to Leviathan the rules and regulations involved in being allowed to temporarily eat me, we had finally gotten to the part where I actually, you know...got eaten.

Levi was still in his demon form, although much calmer than he had been previously. He’d been remarkably receptive to the little speech I had given, listening intently and nodding along in understanding. It seemed he was just so jazzed about the prospect of devouring a human that he didn’t care about all the stipulations that came with it.

“Okay so you’ve ordered me not to digest you, now I shrink you, right?” Levi inquired, not bothering to conceal his giddiness.

I sighed, giving a reluctant nod. I wasn’t a huge fan of being shrunken down. It was endlessly intimidating to be surrounded by people and things several times my size, and it had a way of making me feel quite insignificant. But, considering I’d already agreed to let Levi swallow me, I couldn’t really get out of being miniaturized. I had a feeling being swallowed at my normal size would be even more unpleasant, if it was even possible at all.

“This is gonna be just like that scene in I Drank a Weird Potion and Now I Have Crazy Magical Powers!” Levi mused excitedly.

Before I could weigh the pros and cons of inquiring about what he was talking about, I found myself struck with the (unfortunately) familiar tingling sensation that announced my oncoming change in size.

In a matter of seconds, for the third time in my life, I was reduced to a mere few inches in height. I stood in the center of one of the tiles that made up the floor of Leviathan’s room, to my right was the now towering bathtub that weirdly served as Levi’s bed. And of course, in front of me was the absolutely massive figure of my purple haired demon friend.

“Aahhh!” he exclaimed, a faint pink color dusting his cheeks. “You look like an anime figurine!” Then, with abrupt speed that made my heart race, the Avatar of Envy moved forward to crouch in front of me.

I fidgeted uncomfortably under Levi’s intense gaze, which, after a few moments he seemed to take notice of. “Gah! S-sorry!” he stammered, his stumbling backwards causing the ground to quake beneath me. “You just look really--ugh! I-it’s nothing!” he insisted, his face now positively flushed with red.

Using the back of my hand, I stifled a chuckle. It was bizarre how different this version of Levi--the awkward, dorky one, was from the furiously jealous one I had just been faced with a little bit ago. I had to say, I much preferred this version.

“Alright, alright, let’s not waste time,” I said firmly, folding my arms over my chest. “I still have homework I’ve gotta work on tonight.”

“Right, yeah!” Levi responded hastily, and the next thing I knew, a pair of pale hands were reaching out for me.

With perhaps less care and caution than I would have liked, I was swept off the ground and carried into the air. When the stomach churning movement came to an end, I found myself cupped in Levi’s hands. He was standing at his full height now, meaning I was being held several (relative) stories up in the air.

“You look like Mai the Pixie Princess from Fantasy Quest VII,” Levi beamed, staring down at me with orange eyes full of wonder.

“Minus the wings, I’d imagine,” I commented as I carefully pushed myself up to my feet on the unsteady surface that was Levi’s palms.

“Ooh, I should make you a cosplay costume! I could be Knight Jiro and you could ride on my shoulder just like that one cutscene in Fantasy Quest--” Levi’s eager rambling was cut short as he took note of the impatient look on my face. Under normal circumstances I was more than willing to listen to Levi go on and on about what he was passionate about, but considering the circumstances, now really wasn’t the time. “Uh--right, okay, let’s get on with it,” Levi said sheepishly.

Despite what Levi had said, a long stretch of silence and inaction stretched out between the two of us. He stared at me, and I could swear I saw beads of sweat popping up on his face. I stared back, suddenly feeling very awkward. It seemed as though, at the same moment, we had both been struck with just how weird this whole situation was.

With Beel, it had been different because I had been against my will and Beel hadn’t been in his right mind. With Mammon, it had been a little uncomfortable, but he’d just been so smug about it that I’d been too preoccupied with that to feel too awkward. That was clearly not the case with Levi.

“I--I’m sorry, it’s just been so long since I’ve…” the sentence trailed off as Levi seemed to come to a sudden realization about what he’d been about to say. He didn’t need to finish the sentence for me to be able to guess at what he’d been getting at.

As much as I hated to acknowledge it, the chances were incredibly high that all seven of the demon brothers had eaten humans in the past--and unlike with me, they probably didn’t let those poor souls back out.

Did that knowledge make me sick to my stomach? Absolutely. But it didn’t seem right to hold it against them now. They’d never eaten a human, or even harmed one since I’d known them. As far as I knew, they were reformed. Whether or not the change had anything to do with my presence, I couldn’t be sure.

“Don’t worry about it,” I said dismissively. “You just gotta do it, don’t spend too much time thinking about it.” Levi was clearly conflicted. On one hand, he wanted desperately to eat me, on the other, he obviously felt weird about swallowing someone he considered to be a friend. It certainly wasn’t a predicament I could ever imagine myself in, but I could sympathize at the very least.

Levi gave a firm nod, as if he was trying to hype himself up. “Right, okay. Hold on tight then.” That was all the warning I got before the hands beneath me abruptly jerked into motion.

Suddenly, instead of standing on cupped palms, I was being pinched on each side by one of Levi’s fingers. The soft pad of his thumb dug into my hip, while his index finger was situated on my waist.

I sucked in a sharp breath as I was carried up into the air. Rather than stopping in front of Levi’s face as I had expected, I was lifted up even higher. When the movement came to a halt and I looked down to see Levi tilting his face up towards me, I realized what the demon was planning on doing.

“Woah--uh okay,” the words tumbled out of my mouth but I couldn’t form them into anything coherent.

Meanwhile, Levi had opened his mouth below me, revealing the long forked tongue that only appeared when he was in his demon form. I swallowed hard. “What the hell did I get myself into?”

“I’ll be careful, I promise,” Levi assured me. His words sounded genuine, though it was still hard not to be freaked out when staring down into the dark abyss of a demon’s maw.

[gale-gentlepenguin]

ML Fic: Nathalie’s Gift Part 1

She sat up in the middle of the night.

She took a moment to let her eyes adjust to the darkness. She knew it was late, likely an hour or two away from sunrise.

She examined her surroundings until she saw him. There he was, sleeping in the chair at the end of the room. Gabriel Agreste, her boss, her ally, and the one she had fallen for, was asleep in a chair several feet away.

Ever since the defeat of the guardian and the plan to use Chloé to get the miraculous, she had been far too weak to be as mobile as she was in the past. Gabriel had set her up in his quarters, despite the mansion having dozens of rooms. He had reasoned that Adrien would never walk into his room without permission, so that it would never become apparent how her condition was deteriorating.

His logic wasn't entirely unfounded. She was constantly teetering towards the brink. Overuse of the once broken peacock miraculous has left her bedridden most days. Despite the miraculous no longer having such a negative effect now, she knew the damage was already done. 

Yet he hasn't discarded her, was it out of loyalty that he felt the need to care for her despite being more of a burden? Did he perhaps start to feel something more for her as this whole debacle went on.

The later of which was unlikely, she knew better than anyone that Gabriel was far too loyal to his wife to entertain such a notion. So long as he believed there was a chance of bringing her back, he wont stop. She could never be Emilie Agreste, the love of his life and mother of Adrien. She was Nathalie Sancoeur, trusted assistant, and partner in crime. 

She forced herself out of bed. Moving quietly as to not awaken the sleeping mogul.

She snagged her tablet, and the peacock miraculous that was next to it.

She moved to the office and sat in the office chair. Perhaps she could get some work done while she was awake. And should she feel the need to speak to someone, the blue bird Kwami would be a fitting companion.

She started looking through work but her mind kept wandering to one thought

So long as Emilie could be brought back, he could never love me. I could never replace her.

She coughed.

“Not that it matters, I am on borrowed time as it is.” She commented to herself.

She stopped herself as she let her own comment sink in.

She was on borrowed time.

With how she was now, how much time did she have, a few months? A year? Maybe a decade if she really tried to take care of herself. But it wasn't like she was sick with a normal illness. But would Gabriel be able to get the miraculous? Even with everything they had, Ladybug and Chat noir always seemed to best them at every turn. At the rate things were going, she would likely end up in a glass coffin as well, and if Gabriel fails...

In that moment of worry. An idea that could fix everything slipped into her brain.

It was a long shot sure, there was a possibility that everything will backfire. But she needed to do it.

She exited out of her work and went into the security feed using her tablet. She disabled the secret camera hidden in the lair below.

She started making a few preparations.

_______________________________________________________________________

Gabriel awoke to his phone’s sudden vibrating.

He quickly shook himself and looked at his phone.

“The alarm was tripped. Someone damaged Emilie’s chamber!”

The fashion mogul rushed out of the room. His thoughts were firing through his brain a mile a minute.

Who found the lair? Was it one of the heroes? A spy? Who would dare desecrate my beloved wife’s container?

The fashion mogul made his way to the secret elevator.

A purple Kwami emerged from the pocket of the rushing fashion designer.

“Is something wrong master?”

“It appears there is an intruder in the secret sanctum.”

“What are you planning to do?”

“Im going to show them the error of their ways. Nooru, Dark wings rise.”

Gabriel transformed into the villainous hawkmoth, His face covered by a silver mask, and is candy cane color scheme replaced with a purple suit. 

He was armed and ready to fight should. 

As the elevator reaches the bottom. Hawkmoth dashes out as soon as it opens.

He would strike quick, and take care of the intruder before they realized who they were facing.

As he approached, he stopped dead in his tracks. As he noticed someone standing infront of the Glass container.

“Hello?” The figure called out. Her voice having a familiar tone that caught the butterfly villain off guard.

As his rage diminished, he felt his vision clear and noticed the shattered glass on the floor, along with the glass container that was now broken.

“It... It can't be...” Hawkmoth’s words escaped as he realized who was standing in front of him.

“Can you tell me where I am? I woke up in this... thing over hear. Im not entirely sure what’s going on.”

“Emilie... is that you?” Hawkmoth questioned, unsure if this was a dream, or if by some miracle the love of his life was indeed back from the abyss.

“How do you know my name Mr. Masked man?”

“Nooru, dark wings fall.”

The blond woman watched as the costumed stranger revealed himself.

“Gabriel? Is that you?”

A tear spilled from his eyes as he rushed to her. 

“You're here. How is... How is this possible?”

“I... I dont...” She started to stumble as she walked towards him. Her vision was starting to fade and the world was spinning.  

Gabriel quickly moved to catch her as she suddenly fell.

He felt his heart panic, but he could hear her breathing. She was simply sleeping.

“Perhaps it would be best to take her out of her.”

Gabriel walked to the elevator, his wife in his arms, asleep yet very alive. 

His mind had 1000 questions, but in this moment, he didn't care. He was holding the woman he loved in his arms again, and thats all that mattered.

___________________________________________________________________

“Gabriel!” She cried out as she woke up.

Sunlight was beaming from the window, it was clear it had been bright out for sometime.

She felt sheets underneath her. What she expected was a hard floor in a weird sanctum but now she felt the comfort of a room that felt familiar.

She heard the door open and looked to see her husband carrying a tray.

“Oh good, you're awake.” He spoke with soft relief.

She looked at the tray.

“Are those.”

“Lemon tea cookies. Your favorite.”

She smiled at him as he brought the tray to her bedside. Allowing her to snag a bite of one of them.

“So good!” She said as she finished her first cookie. “I feel like I haven't eaten in years!”

Gabriel’s expression faltered. She could see the pained expression as she said that.

“Gabriel... how long was I gone?” Her question verbally stabbed him.

He took a moment to process the curious expression on his wife’s face as she continued eating the tray of treats.

He looked down at his hands.

“A year and 6 months.”

She gulped down her cookie hard at the revelation.

“Wow... I've been gone for so long... Adrien must be taller then... ADRIEN!”

Emilie grabbed her husband by the collar.

“Where is Adrien?!”

“He’s at school” Gabriel answered.

Emilie blinked.

“School? You mean he is no longer being homeschooled?”

“He still has some lessons, but he was insistent on trying to go to school like other children his age. It was more ideal for him to go out than for him to be stuck here most hours of the day.”

Emilie processed that information.

“I see, I am surprised you said yes. You always said you hated public schooling.”

“I still believe the school systems are... inferior, but Adrien’s grades haven't faltered according to Nathalie. So I don't bother intervening.”

“My boy has grown up so much since Ive been gone. Wait, is he dating yet? Please tell me I didn’t miss his first crush!”

“Emilie, I am sure that you didnt miss anything. You and Adrien can catch up once you are rested and he is back from school.”

Emilie took a deep breathe.

“Okay, You're right. It will be nice to hear everything from him.”

She looked around the room a bit and noticed the vase full of roses.

“Oh, fresh roses. Gabe-y you cheesy romantic.”

Gabriel felt his cheeks go pink.

“It was... the room needed some color in it.”

“Much like those red pants you insist on wearing.”

“They are fashionable.”

“If you were in charge of candyland perhaps.”

Emilie loved to tease him about is fashion calls.

“Who is the fashion designer here?” He said with a mock stern tone.

“Speaking of fashion, that costume that you were wearing. That didn’t look like the peacock miraculous.”

Gabriel’s tone shifted to genuinely serious. He figured the time would come to answer that question.

“It is the butterfly miraculous. After your...departure. Nathalie and I investigated the temple where you and I had found the peacock miraculous. We discovered a new miraculous, one that wasn't damaged.”

Gabriel felt a twinge mentioning Nathalie. When he had rushed to bring Emilie up here, he felt guilt and relief that his assistant wasn't in the bed. He would have quite a difficult time explaining that one, even if nothing happened.

“So with that miraculous you were trying to find a way to bring me back.”

“It was a means to an end.”

Emilie processed the information she was told.

“Gabriel, I want you to do something for me.”

“Anything.”

“No more miraculous. None.”

Gabriel blinked.

“But...”

“Those jewels are nothing but trouble. It has only caused our family suffering and pain.”

Gabriel was surprised by the claim, but he knew she was correct. The miraculous have been quite the curse on the family, despite the powers they gave.

“It will take time for me to stop using it outright, there is a... situation with how I’ve been using it. Your sudden appearance and the disappearance of Hawkmoth might be suspicious.”

Emilie looked at Gabriel intensely.

“Hawkmoth? Gabriel what did you do?”

“Well... in order to try an bring you back, the butterfly miraculous wasn't going to be able to accomplish that goal. So the only way I could bring you back with certainty was to attain the ladybug and Cat miraculous.”

The former actress listened as her husband explained how he became a super villain for the sake of getting the jewels.

“Unbelievable.”

“I admit, explaining it makes it sound a lot worse than it actually is. I planned to fix any damage caused once I got the jewels”

“And what if people found out your identity!? You would have been thrown in prison and left our son an Orphan!” Emilie pointed her finger in his chest.

“It was the only way I could think of to attain the miraculous. How else would I have been able to confirm the miraculous were in Paris?”

Emilie was ready to let him have it. But she felt herself calm down. She had to admit, in a weird way, it was quite romantic. Something out of a tragic romance novel.

“I should be angrier with you, but I know if the situation was reversed and I had a way of bringing you back, I would have likely tried the same thing, albeit in a smarter way.”

Gabriel felt a bit of relief seeing his wife not so cross with him.

“So we figure out how to orchestrate your ‘Defeat’ and then we say good bye to the miraculous for good.”

“We will plan it out when you are completely better. Though this does raise the question. How are you back?”

Emilie pauses, she tries to think back.

Protect the Agreste family... no matter what.

She heard that phrase echoing in her head. But she couldn't figure out why. Who said that to her. Why is everything so fuzzy?

“I don't know... I remember hearing glass shatter, and a flash of blue. But the next thing I remember was... seeing you.

Gabriel looks at her, he could tell from her eyes she was telling the truth.

“I will look into that later. In the meantime, you should rest. I will check on you in a few hours.”

He moves the empty tray from the bed.

“Wait.”

Gabriel stopped.

“Get Adrien here. I want to see him now.”

“Dear, he is in school. It will dismiss in a few hours. Besides you should rest.”

Emilie got up from the bed.

“Nonsense. Ive been resting long enough. I am sure Adrien can miss a few hours of school. I want to see my baby boy.”

Gabriel wanted to find some way to dismiss her request, but he knew he couldn't say no to her. She was far to headstrong and determined... and man did he miss her.

“Okay, I will have his driver go an pick him up.”

“You aren't going to pick him up yourself?”

“Emilie I have work to do. Besides that is why we have...”

“You can take some time off to bond with your son. Seriously, you need to stop putting up walls Gabe-y.”

Gabriel took a calming breath to compose himself.

“Very well. But do use this time to rest.”

She moves to kiss her husband.

“I promise.”

Gabriel’s expression turned into a soft smile.

“I will be back with our son shortly.”

Gabriel left the room to go pick up Adrien.

Emilie smiled as she moved to vase of roses. She picked on up and sniffed it.

The rose in her hand began wilting and shriveled up.

She looked in the mirror.

“Everything went perfectly.”

______________________________________________________________________

End of part one

(Should I continue? Let me know your thoughts)

[vickyvicarious]

OMG your tags on that Eliot/Experimental Job gifset!!!! And especially "eliot just becomes that abyss staring back" because wow a) what an amazing phrasing and b) the general tone of incredibly sad but beautiful reading of the scene/character/background. Such an amazing scene and phenomenal acting and writing.

(the post and little tag meta in question.)

.

Ahaha, thank you! It really struck me - that scene has always gotten to me. Not only is Eliot’s part in that whole episode showcasing a part of him we rarely see so clearly, but that particular scene involves him weaponizing it. He so often is assured in his skills, enjoys being underestimated and then showing off and freaking people out with his competency, but it’s almost always softer than here. It’s nonlethal, it’s him using his skill to take his opponents down but not permanently. He generally has fun fighting, you can see it on his face. Only when things get serious does he get like this - not to say he doesn’t take his opponents seriously usually, but the level of intensity and lethality he displays is totally different.

One of the earliest scenes where you see him not messing around in this way is when he just grabs that gun the thug has tucked in his belt in The Miracle Job. It’s not nearly as intense, and honestly just comes off hilarious in the scene, but it also stands out to me as an early moment where he just moves forward and very deliberately shuts his opposition down by exposing the vast difference between their perceived toughness and someone who is actually deadly. You stick your gun in your pants to show off you have a gun? That’s not scary. What’s scary is the man you were trying to threaten stepping right up into your space and holding the trigger ready to fire directly into your junk.

This is that same kind of psych-out, except with far more rage behind it, and no physical threat whatsoever. Nothing directly stated or even too openly implied. But Eliot (who is literally resisting torture before and after this conversation) says just enough, lets his voice and gaze and complete calm say the rest. This man is completely out of his league in trying to get into Eliot’s head, and Eliot shows him that.

I love it. It’s really badass, really scary like I said, and honestly, yeah. Very sad. Because in order to do that sort of thing, you have to be genuinely deadly. You have to be the kind of person who has done those sorts of things. Not just fighting, but deliberate murder. Not just once, but enough that hesitation is a choice rather than an instinct. Eliot can, has, and if the situation required potentially would again be able to calmly kill someone. And that’s one of the other scariest parts of his little speech: he mentions names, who begged, who didn’t, he mentions “what food was on their breath” and that’s the one that floors me. That means he was up close and personal with them. Not just physically - to remember something like that, something so specific, means there is no mental distancing whatsoever. It’s no sniping from a distance, or pressing a button to set off a bomb, and not really processing that you just killed a person. Eliot was there every time, he did that and he knows it and will never forget. He regrets what he’s done so much, but he doesn’t waste time just wallowing in guilt any more than he blames anyone else: the fact is that he killed those people. It’s done. And his acceptance of that, combined with his certainty that he’s already brought upon himself the worst sort of torture by doing so, allows him to have these moments. 

He knows what he’s done, knows he can do it again. He doesn’t want to, but Eliot already knows how to live with himself after the fact. And when he shows that in this scene, it is such a powerful moment. I do stand by “abyss staring back” because honestly, when you watch that guy’s face - look at how smug he still is in the third gif. Then when Eliot starts talking in the fourth, his eyes are caught. He is pulled in, staring, gets so still and so unnerved. He can’t look away until Eliot finishes and the moment is broken, and at that point he is shaken. Trying not to show it but he can’t even fully meet Eliot’s eyes.

I really, really do love that scene so much. Like you said: great idea, fantastic execution.

[michaelbogild]

Quotes by Mehmet Murat ildan

A beautiful mind is like a beautiful path! The more you travel with it, the more you find peace and happiness!

A beautiful smile without any reason is the smile of the existence!

A bird without wings and a man without art are both condemned to wander in low places; they can never soar up to those unrivalled heights.

A cat’s New Year dream is mostly a bird! Don’t be like a cat; in New Year, dream something that you have never dreamed! Target for new things!

A good book is a lighthouse; a wise man is a lighthouse; conscience is a lighthouse; compassion is a lighthouse; science is a lighthouse! They all show us the true path! Keep them in your life to remain safe in the rocky and dark waters of life!

A little happy house is the strongest castle in this whole universe!

A long walk in a long beach shortens every kind of sorrow!

A romantic person will know from the bottom of his heart that no source of light can ever replace the mysterious beauty of a candle!

A street full of shadows will teach you what life is much better than the street full of lights!

A waterfall cannot be silent, just as the wisdom! When they speak, the voice of power speaks!

An uneducated society will eventually turn into something lower than a herd of animals!

Are you a stupid sheep in the flock or a free eagle in the sky? Look at the mirror, what are you? Are you some dullish cattle in the herd or a wise owl in the forest? Look at the mirror, what are you?

Autumn is the greatest reminder: It reminds us how dreamlike beauties our earth has and it reminds us how all these beautiful dreams can easily vanish!

Carry your bag by yourself; carry your umbrella by yourself; open your door by yourself; light your own candle! Do your job by yourself! Don’t use others! Don’t behave like a king, don’t behave like a queen! Be humble!

Clouds in the sky very much resembles the thoughts in our minds! Both changes perpetually from one second to another!

Cowards cannot pass beyond the walls or beyond the wire fences! For them, frontiers are always the end of the road!

Disappointment means that things haven’t worked out the way you wanted! And now what to do? Very simple: Stand up and walk! Cut the tragedy because our limited time must always be used for the forward movements!

Don’t follow any leader; don’t obey to anyone; crowds are slaves; take an independent stance; take orders only from your own mind!

Don’t say deep things to shallow people and don’t talk about shallow things with the deep people!

Elephants don’t know anything about the world of ants; the peaks of mountains are oblivious of what is happening on the plains!

Enlarge your windows till you get a window where you can see the whole universe with one look!

Every long separation is a test: A test to see how powerful or how weak the will of reuniting is!

Every morning is a revolution against the darkness!

Every New Year must be celebrated at the heart of nature - in the middle of a forest or by the side of a lake under billions of stars - because it is nature who has made our existence possible!

Every season has its own art and the art of autumn is to bewitch the people!

Every time it rains, the soil counts every drop to know exactly how many times to thank to God!

Farewell is a beautiful and a soft word and yet it is a horrible and a heavy thing too!

Flowers are the Romeos and the Juliets of the nature!

Flowers have the greatest talent in converting an ordinary place into a magical palace!

For a dark street, sunshine is most welcome; for a wounded soul, love is most welcome!

For a new year to bring you something new, make a move, like a butterfly tearing its cocoon! Make a move!

For the cowards, all doors are locked; for the daring, all doors are open!

For the land, the sea is beautiful; for the sea, the land is beautiful!

Forest is a dream where you may find yourself and dream is a forest where you may lose yourself!

Full moon is a good fisherman; every eyes are easily caught in his net!

Genius tries to conquer the world with art, with songs, with words; stupid tries to conquer it with sword, with guns, with arrows!

Give freedom to colours and then you shall meet the rainbow everywhere!

Great artists come and go; they are born and they die; but there is one exception who has been living for thousands of years and still continues creating new works, new beauties every year: The Autumn!

Happiness has only one colour: The Bright! The bright of red, the bright of green, the bright of any colour! Happiness is bright! It shines, it sparkles, it glints!

He who does not walk against the arrows cannot talk about the strength of his shield!

If the storm underestimates your power, nothing happens to him; but if you underestimate the power of the storm, you sink!

If we had known everything in this universe, we would have had to find another universe to feed our curiosity, because what keeps alive man is the curiosity!

If you are good at building bridges, you will never fall into the abyss!

If you are sure of tomorrow, there is no fool greater than you!

If you close your eyes, no lighthouse can help you!

If you do not have the concept of distance, you may reach an unreachable place!

If you feel you have to open a particular door, open it, otherwise all your life that door will haunt your mind!

If you have carefully examined hundred people you met in your life journey, it means that you have read hundred different books! Every person you know is a book; world is full of walking books; some are boring, some are marvellous, some are weak, some are powerful, but they are all useful because they all carry different experiences of different paths!

If you have ever walked in Paris, you will see that Paris will ever walk in your memoires!

If you love yourself first, you will find your Valentine much quicker!

If you move faster than the music, it will look strange; if you move slower than the music, it will look strange! Be like autumn leaves which follow exactly the rhythm of the wind!

If you open your eyes very wide and look around you carefully, you will always see a lighthouse which will lead you to the right path! Just watch around you carefully!

If you see a castle under fog, you must walk there to meet the extraordinary dreams!

In a society where everyman is fox-minded, you need to be foxier than the fox!

In autumn, don’t go to jewelers to see gold; go to the parks!

In deep waters, you encounter only the wise and the brave; in shallow waters, the ignorant and the coward!

In defeat, look at the stars; in victory, look at the ground! From the stars, you get hope; from the ground, you get caution.

In the middle of nowhere, an old wooden bridge is a golden bridge!

Instead of politicians, let the monkeys govern the countries; at least they will steal only the bananas!

Leave city, leave reality; enter forest, enter fantasy!

Let me tell you something big: Give importance to little things!

Let the people discover you! You might have the key of the locked doors in their lives! Open yourself to the world; you might be the magic the world needs!

Let yourself disappear in the darkness; if you are loved, people will come and find you with torches in their hands! Love is a great searcher; it always searches the loved one! To see who really love you, just disappear!

Lighten your life with a simple life!

Magic of the nights is always much impressive than the magic of the days!

Man must be able to think freely and he must be able to express his thoughts freely! He who is against this is not only fascist and primitive but at the same time is a very great coward also! Only the brave and the honourable men are never afraid of freedom of thought and freedom of expression of ideas! Just like the cockroaches do not like the light, evil minds also do not like the freedom of thoughts!

Man must behave like a lighthouse; he must shine day and night for the goodness of everyman.

Max Lucado says that ‘A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd.’ That is true and a man who wants to find out the truth must also do the same thing!

New Year’s most glorious light is sweet hope!

No flower is happy in a vase, because vase is nothing but an ornate coffin for the flower.

No king has a throne more beautiful than a bench covered with the autumn leaves!

No matter how right or how beautiful your path is, never try to impose your path on others! Remember that flowers by no means pull bees by force to their world! Your path is your poem; if people like your poem, they will fondly join you in your path!

No season appeals to the eyes as much as autumn; no season touches the souls as powerfully as autumn and no season invites us to the world of mournful thoughts as intensely as autumn!

Not every lake dreams to be an ocean. Blessed are the ones who are happy with whom they are.

Nothing is more mysterious than watching a lonely man who is taking for a night walk in a foggy street!

Photography is an art of teleporting the past into the future.

Pigs are dirty, but I will tell you something dirtier: Liars! Untruth always smells like rotten garbage!

Rain is nature’s art; umbrella is man’s art.

Real love and Sun have something in common; they are so bright that they don't have shadows, they are free of darkness!

Rumi says love turns thorns into flowers. This means that hate turns flowers into thorns!

Searching for the real faces of every face we met! This is what our life is!

Silent streets have many things to say.

Similar souls wander in the similar places! They may not know each other, but often they touch the same winds, they step on the same leaves, their looks are lost in the same horizons!

Simple life and peaceful mind are very close friends!

Smile is a good reply to the dark world.

Some looks are heavier than the thickest books because they carry the saddest stories of life!

Something reduces the speed of the world and that something is stupidity! Stupidity is a boring friction!

Sometimes you must do crazy things to discover the life beyond your life, to enter the unknown zone beyond your known zone!

Strong winds create giant waves; strong wills create giant men!

Sun gives light; torch gives light, candle gives light; smiling gives light.

Sunset is so marvellous that even the sun itself watches it every day in the reflections of the infinite oceans!

Sunset is the opening music of the night.

The best thing you can give to a child is to create an environment where the child can develop an independent mind so that he will be the man of no one and the instrument of no system!

The fate of the bridges is to be lonely; because bridges are to cross not to stay!

The first step to be a good man is this: You must deeply feel the burden of the stones someone else carrying.

The greatest storms on our Earth break not in nature but in our minds!

The Moon always finds an opportunity to turn our attention from the ground beneath our feet to the sky above our head!

The most beautiful springs are those that come after the most horrible winters!

The most beautiful sunset is the one which suddenly appears in front of you while you are walking pensively!

The most precious light is the one that visits you in your darkest hour!

The scent of the morning is prepared by the night; the scent of the night is prepared by the day; everything helps everything!

The trains always arrive at your station. The question is which one to take?

The wisdom of bridges comes from the fact that they know the both sides, they know the both shores!

There is a hidden message in every waterfall. It says, if you are flexible, falling will not hurt you!

There is no real silence for the sensitive ears and there is no real tranquility for the sensitive hearts!

There is nothing more beautiful than living a simple life in this complex universe!

There is so much beauty in autumn and so much wisdom; so much separation and so much sorrow!

There is so much hope in a little flower and so many flowers in a little hope!

Those who mastered in the art of falling have no fear of rising!

To get inspiration, go to the nature; for silence, go to the nature; to question the meaning of life, go to the nature; to feel the existence, go to the nature; to protect your mind, to reach the truth, to think about the universe go to the nature!

To speak with the shadow, you must know the language of the darkness!

To think is sacred; let every person think freely! To express what you think is sacred; let every person express his thought freely! If you do this, you prove that you are a conscientious and a moral human being! If you don’t do this, you just declare yourself being fascist!

Tradition kills originality; you keep repeating the same things in tradition! Behave like the sky; always create new and different things; be original!

Umbrella is comfort, rain is life! You must often leave comfort to touch the life!

Watching the infinite horizons gives you infinite dreams, infinite ideas, infinite paths! Choose a great target and then you will see that great instruments will appear for you to reach that target!

Water is the most perfect traveller because when it travels it becomes the path itself!

We are all on the stairs, my friend; some of us are going down, some us are going up!

We see what we are only through reflection and thus the more our reflections occur, the less our mistakes will be!

What do you need in the New Year? You need a dream; your dream needs an action; and your action needs right thinking! Without right thinking, you can have only unrealised dreams!

What is the name of your dream? A lovely wooden cottage in the middle of a forest? Or walking in an endless autumn path? What is the name of your dream? Don’t give a name, always give a list! Fill yourself with dreams because dream is the path to reality!

What you do when nobody is there is your true you!

When everything looks like a magical oil painting, you know you are in Autumn!

When the moonlight and the waterfall come together, all other things fade from the scene!

When the spirit of nature touches us, our hearts turn into a butterfly!

When the sun is setting, leave whatever you are doing and watch it.

When you are happy, you feel the sunshine even inside the fog; when you are unhappy, you feel the fog even in the sunshine.

When you are on the bright side of life, do not forget the people who are on the dark side and remember that man can easily slip from one side to the other!

When you increase the number of gardens, you increase the number of heavens too!

When you lose your path, you get an opportunity to discover a world you have never known! And better worlds are often found this way! Darkness and uncertainty hide presents in itself!

When you read a book, book also reads you! The book will know who you are from the sentences you underline!

Winter invites white; white invites silence; silence invites peace. You see, there is so much peace in walking on the snow!

Winter is dead; spring is crazy; summer is cheerful and autumn is wise!

Wise man is the rooster of the universe: He awakens the unawake!

Without the stairs of the past, you cannot arrive at the future!

You can never leave a place unless you leave that place in your mind!

You can walk in a dream while you are awake: Just walk in the misty morning of a forest!

You either keep your childhood innocence or you rot!

You need a temple to feel good spiritually? Go to a beautiful garden!

You need new roads to discover new places!

[goldenhydreigon47]

I have returned with more Rebel Hearts Infodumping™. This time, we'll focus on the triplets of Cal, Cat, Cataclysm, and Dev.

So first up are the triplets. Their birthnames are Calamitas, Catastrophe, and Cataclysm. However, they each have different preferred sexualities and preferred pronouns, as well as preferred names. First up is Cal. She is usually pretty quiet and reserved, but open up easier around her allies, especially her siblings as well as Dev and Mariko. She is also a pyromancer, much like in the official canon. Cal is demigirl, uses she/her pronouns, and, much like the official canon, is aroace. She is 20 when Rebel Hearts takes place. Catastrophe's preferred name is Cat. Why is it Cat? Well, for one thing, he found it easier for him and Cal to shorten their birthnames to make a preferred name. The other reason is, in Cal's opinion, he has the most, "cat-like," personality, appearing calm and unfeeling, with some skittishness, but is super loving when around his siblings or friends (Fun Fact: In Rebel Hearts, Cal, Cat, Cataclysm, and even Mariko all purr and wag their tails [yes they have tails in this story. I saw one of my friends draw the siblings with tails {hi Juno :)} and I've always had Mariko with a tail]). Cat is demiboy, uses he/him pronouns, and, much like his sister, is aroace. He is 22 in Rebel Hearts. Finally, the youngest of the three at age 18 is Cataclysm. Their hair is a floof in my story and they are the most upbeat and adorable of the three (Also, all three of the siblings have English accents. Cal has an English accent canonically, so it seems appropriate for Cat and Cataclysm to have English accents too). Cataclysm is non-binary, uses they/them pronouns, and is pansexual, quickly ending up in a relationship with Mariko.

So, backstory time for them. These three lived deep in the mountains with their parents, but sadly, their parents died shortly when Cal was age 6 (Cat was 8 and Cataclysm was 4). Enraged and saddend by their parent's deaths (their parents were mistaken for two other wanted criminals and shot by some mercenaries in this story btw), Cal swore revenge on humanity. Cat agreed but didn't really want to, hoping to drag Cal out of this whole "vengeance" thing, and Cataclysm was too young to know what was going on. This rage inside of Cal manifested into her pyromancy skills, specifically her brand of fire: Abyssal Fireballs. Cat's cryomancy and Cataclysm's electromancy wouldn't develop until a few years later. After about two years, Cal found and burned the very souls of these mercenaries. Her wrath was exploited, however, as she was lured to a jungle temple, along with her siblings. This, of course, led to her brainwashing by Yharim, who also brainwashed Cat and Cataclysm, awakening their powers. From that day forward, Cal and her siblings proved to be Yharim's most powerful soldiers, killing players multiple times. Her greatest feats were burning down Mariko's village, despite the regret she held in constantly ever since, even apologizing about it to Mariko in a letter she wrote a year after she first met him, an apology which Mariko accepted, and burning the entire ocean kingdom of Amidias, who held no ill will towards Cal for the incident, as he only blamed Yharim for this. She was so great, an inferior clone was made of her and her siblings. She continued to take command from the tyrant without conflict, until 8 years later, when they met Mariko. After her slowly defeated them in battle, Cal asked Mariko to finish her and her siblings so they may join their parents. Mariko, who was 18 at the time, told the then 18 year old Cal that he too had lost his parents, and wished for death to come to him as well. However, he saw that life was worth living and knows that everyone can have a second chance, except for Yharim of course. He then fully healed Cal and her siblings, much like he did to Dev a few months prior (we'll get to that) and told Cal that he saw good inside the hearts of her and her siblings, before flying away. It was here that Cal saw more good in humanity. However, her torture at the hands of Yharim grew more intense after she failed to kill Mariko. Her siblings were also tortured. She had begun to see what Mariko was talking about, how Yharim was irredeemable. After they were freed from their torture chamber by Dev, Cal's best friend, the four began to plot escape plans. Eventually, after two years, Cat and Cataclysm escaped after their brainwashing "juices" ran dry, telling Cal and Dev where they went so they may follow. Upon escape, Cat and Cataclysm bumped into the former Sea King, Amidias. Upon recognizing who they were, Amidias, a former father figure himself as he raised his late daughter alongside his late husband, decided to care for Cat, now 22, and Cataclysm, now 18, while they waited for Cal and Dev to join them. Mariko even made frequent visits to check up on the three, which is when his friendship, and eventual love relationship, with Cataclysm kicked into high gear. After about a month and a half, the brainwash "juices" in Cal and Dev ran dry, and the two escaped, following directions to get to Amidias' place, whom they affectionately called "Ami." Dev and Cal bump into Mariko, explain what's they're doing, Mariko approves of their decision to escape from the tyrant while also reiterating that he holds no grudges or hatred to Cal and Dev for eliminating his village while brainwashed, the trio make it to Ami's, reunite with Cat and Cataclysm, and thus, the initial five members of Rebel Hearts are founded.

And now, we move on to Dev. Dev is also enby and uses they/them or he/him pronouns. They're permanently 19, even after they were "born", and is asexual. Dev was born on another entire planet, but sent to the Terraria Calamity mod planet (I seriously don't know if it has a namd or if I should just name it Earth) to stay fed, as their home planet was dying. Upon emerging from his space pod, he was quickly "rescued" by Yharim and brainwashed by a robot made by Draedon. It was here Dev met their best friends, Cal, Cat, and Cataclysm. Dev was always the most rebellious of the four, constantly defying Yharim's demands, and thus, was tortured quite often, usually by being denied food. This just caused his inner hatred towards Yharim to grow, and it would only fuel his want to escape with Cal and her siblings. The torture would only cause Dev's hunger to grow, now wanting to feast on the essence of living beings or deities, especially Gods and Goddesses. In an attack on the Brimstone Crags by Yharim's troops, Dev encountered, killed, and devoured Providence. Sure, she would revive because of Mariko, but that's what would drive Yharim to make the biggest mistake of his life: Sending Dev to attack Mariko. Upon seeing Mariko, Dev knew he wasn't a God, but would feast upon his essence regardless, especially since he knew this was the same "weakling" Yharim found when Dev and Cal decimated Mariko's village while brainwashed. However, surprising Dev, Mariko defeated him in his much more powerful worm form. Now back in their humanoid form, which they took on more often, he tried to off himself out of disgracing Yharim, but Mariko knocked the weapon out of Dev's hands. Mariko then told Dev that he saw good in their heart, healed them, gave them a large amount of food, and told them that Yharim was irredeemable, unlike them, Cal, and her siblings. Now fully enraged at Yharim, he tried to kill Yharim, only to nearly get killed himself. After being healed by Draedon, the next two years saw Dev continue to defy Yharim's orders, even more often than usual, even refusing to battle the newly revived Providence. Yharim tried to have the brainwash "juices" put deeper into Dev's brain, but their headstrong nature just pushed the juices out by themself. After two years of torture and manipulation, Dev finally grabbed Cal and escaped. Cue the two of them bumpung into Mariko, going to Ami's, reuniting with Cat and Cataclysm, and Rebel Hearts beginning.

Infodump on Cal, Cat, Cataclysm, and Dev complete. Yharim, Draedon, Yharon, and Sunork infodump coming soon.

[ivegotbreadinmypants]

okay okay, after being heavily inspired by watching Man From UNCLE again, let's just say that this geraskier au is sort of like a reincarnation 60s spy au.

Hear me out

Geralt is one of Kaer Morhen's top agents (its a secret agency tasked to wipe out the worst threats to governments and humankind. The secret agency isn't specifically tied to one country, their agents are hired by governments over the world to wipe out the worst type of threats) and one day he gets the assignment from CIA of all things.

He's hired to finish an underground job because one of their best agents is nearly compromised in an eight month secret mission (Geralt holds back the urge to roll his eyes because really? That's their best agent?)

So then he's told he doesn't have to know who the agent is, all he gets is the information on what needs to be done to complete the mission.

Under any circumstance, Geralt must not fail the mission, even if it means the CIA agent has to take the fall.

So Geralt understands it. Yes, it's a little cold to leave their best in the dust to die but for the sake of thousands of other endangered lives, Geralt gets why he must finish the job.

So then he's in, and then he finds out he's dealing with the worst type of people. Human trafficking, multiple drug rings, a black market for basically anything, and plans of dangerous weapons that should never be seen in the light of day.

Geralt has dealt with each of those things separately, and for a moment he feels out of his depth. But he's Geralt of fucking Rivia, known to have killed a small army on his way out of captivity; The Butcher, they called him.

So soon enough, he finds himself neck deep in fake identities and a web of lies. He slowly makes his way up the ladder, taking down supervisors and getting his hands necessarily dirty.

He's violently efficient enough that one night, he's invited to meet with the higher ups, the ones in charge of the drug rings. An invitation to an elite speakeasy.

So he goes. Sits there around a table, on his second whiskey for the night. He's told there's live entertainment, the best singer they've had at the establishment. And Geralt nods and grins easily like he belongs there, like he isn't planning on spiking their cigarettes in an hour. He waits and waits for the opportunity, and then the lights dim, the curtains draw and there—Geralt can take the moment of distraction to pour the cyanide lined powder into their drinks.

But then a voice rings out, curling over the people like smoke—

And he stops and looks up.

The entertainment of the night stands upon the stage, a mic cradled gently in his hand, lips brushing over it with every smooth word spilling of his mouth, wearing a bowtie and a suit that looks like sin.

Bright cornflower eyes stare into the crowd and Geralt feels a full-body shiver run through him, the words—no, the voice, that voice—resonates deeply within him, pulling a thick string in his body taut and tight, pulling and tugging until Geralt has no choice but to keep looking at him, listening to him.

Because he knows him. He knows him.

He keeps staring, unable to tear his eyes away no matter how hard he wills his body to because there's no way he should recognise the man but he does, he does and there's a haunting hollow pit within him, pushing him into the hole to the point he's free-falling and fuck—

He knows him.

And the empty abyss within also tells Geralt that he lost him.

His eyes roam over the man's face, body, something twinging with recognition at the sight of his tall, lanky body, but it also pinches with the empty air in the man's hands, feels like he should be holding something, nimble fingers playing over the fretboard—

Geralt swallows hard when those blue eyes dance around the room and they stop on his. The man's voice barely catches in the middle of his performance, but his eyes stop, staring, focused back at Geralt with the intensity of a hot camp fire—

Tell me, why even bother setting up a camp fire when you can wave a hand and do it in a second?

The voice of the man in utterly enchanting, enrapturing Geralt in a vice he doesn't even know if he wants to get out of—

It's like ordering a pie and finding out it has no filling.

Geralt loses his breath, the tight rope in him coming loose when the corner of the man's lips quirks up, keeping his gaze steady, still singing with immeasurable passion.

The man beside him guffaws, slapping his shoulder with amusement and the fog in Geralt’s senses recedes, shaken out of... whatever the fuck that was.

They tell him Geralt’s not the first fan their singer has had and they offer him a chance to meet him face to face.

Geralt agrees.

They bring him to the back of the establishment, giving him and their entertainer privacy.

Geralt can feel him through the door, something in the air vibrating with unseen energy.

Then the door opens without Geralt needing to knock and a slender hand pulls him inside.

The second their skin made contact, Geralt chokes, intense power rocking through his body and

You're the witcher, Geralt of Rivia

It's one night bodyguarding your very best friend in the whole wide world, how hard could it be

Well, who knows, maybe someone out there will want you

She saved your life, Jaskier, I can't let her die

We could head to the coast, get away for a while

If life could give me one blessing—

"Jaskier," he breathes, cracks lining the edges of his heart with unrelenting grief

Brilliant blue eyes stare up at him, widened by shock and relief and everything Geralt can't even imagine Jaskier has felt after the dragon hunt, after everything.

Then Jaskier slaps a hand over his mouth, leaning in and pressing a finger to his own lips, signalling him to be quiet. Geralt is silent, but he can hardly hold back from gripping the sides of Jaskier's suit and breathing in the scent of sandalwood, flowers and—

"In this room and out of it, my name is Edwin," he whispers, his blue eyes desperately searching Geralt's, fingers almost digging into his chin.

Geralt furrows his brows, squinting at his bard—at the performer and quietly hums, questioning.

What does he mean his name is—

Geralt's eyes go wide, his heart plummeting.

Jaskier smiles but the sight is saddened, and Geralt finally sees the exhaustion and pressure and worry weighing heavily on Jaskier

Fuck.

Jaskier is the CIA agent.

The man leans in, hand still pressed over Geralt's mouth, and he utters, lips brushing against his ear, "I'm guessing you're the agent they sent in to finish the mission."

Geralt's eyes search the room, looking for anything that would tip off a bug. Because Geralt hates the idea he might be adding onto the risk of Jaskier's cover getting blown.

"You're compromised, aren't you?" Geralt quietly says once Jaskier's hand moves away. The man nods, curtly, eyes hardening. He chuckles darkly. "Had to clear up my trail, get rid of any evidence."

A small smirk makes its way to Jaskier's mouth, and fuck, it reminds Geralt of the many times Jaskier would shamelessly flirt with everyone and everything and Gods, he didn't know he missed it until now.

"Just like you taught me, Geralt." And Geralt huffs a small laugh, the memory of painstakingly explain to Jaskier the importance of clearing their tracks when hunted.

Gods, Jaskier is holding him, pressing up against him, smelling the same way he did in their other life—

And Geralt can't find it within himself to let go, melting protectively against Jaskier.

He can hardly breathe because he's here, he's here

And he'd be damned if he's letting any of the bastards get their hands on his bard.

Geralt changes tactics, changes the mission.

He doesn't care if the mission will go sideways, he doesn't care if he'll have to burn the entire organisation down to the ground himself because—

Under any circumstances, will he ever let Jaskier get hurt again, whether it be by his words or anyone's hand.

Cue every espionage romance clichés there is.

Having to kiss in public to get rid of suspicion?

Hiding in small closets, chest to chest, just as a guard walks past the door?

A moment where Jaskier has to seduce his way out of trouble and Geralt being unbearably jealous?

Geralt getting close to death and Jaskier getting super emotional just before Geralt wakes up?

Competence kink? Geralt quickly finds out that Jaskier is rather handy with knives. Jaskier says he always wondered why it came so easily to him when he first trained in the CIA, and Jaskier reveals that in their other life, his bard already knew how to wield daggers like Geralt did with his silver sword.

All yes.

It ends with Geralt and Jaskier saving the world by a hair and ending up as partners when Jaskier resigns from the CIA and applies for K.M.

[itsbenedict]

Two-Faced Jewel: Session 7

A half-elf conwoman (and the moth tasked with keeping her out of trouble) travel the Jewel in search of, uh, whatever a fashionable accessory is pointing them at. [Campaign log]

Last time, Saelhen and Looseleaf continued their scouring of the evil torture wizard's evil torture tower for clues as to the identity of the murderer terrorizing the towns of Barley and Wheat. They found a bunch of mysterious documents of ominous character, but they've yet to check out the tower's hidden basement- and the ne'er-do-well lurking within...

The basement doesn't immediately contain any horrors, unless you're the type to get the jibblies from a messy room. There's dirty dishes (recently used), empty beer bottles from a Zeishus Brewery, and discarded clothes everywhere. It's very lived-in, and whoever lives-in here doesn't seem like they were expecting visitors.

Saelhen takes a look at the desk nearest the stairs, next to a well-used recliner and a recently-extinguished candle. She gets a nat 20 on her Investigation, and finds that the desk has been rotated to face the wall, concealing a drawer that doesn't look like it's been opened in some time, judging by the cobwebs.

What's inside is mainly more of the sort of thing they found on the sixth floor- technical notes on neurology and pain magic. With the critical success, she's able to piece together that the odd numbers on the abrasive letter found upstairs were some sort of pain measurements the letter-writer was providing to Lumiere.

They also find a less academic, more personal note, expressing frustration with his own research.

"Why would the Burnscreamer's rituals require Abyssal? Even a god like him shouldn't have any connection to the demons- what is he playing at?" "If I could just correct the sigil, I could bypass so much of this nonsense..."

Saelhen then gets a nat 1 on her Religion roll to know what that means, and assumes the Burnscreamer is the frontman for a metal band her dad likes.

As they search the rest of the room, they notice- at the bottom of the central shaft- a circular basin in the stone floor. It's stained red, but it's dry- not as much blood as you'd expect to see given the carnage on the sixth floor, so it seems like it's been recently emptied or cleaned out.

Oyobi, meanwhile, checks the locked door by the stairs, and finds it... cold? I wonder what that means vis-a-vis-

The extremely sneaky +9 Stealth person hiding braced against the walls of the central shaft fucks up right about then, and slips a little, letting out an involuntary "Gh- shit!", alerting the party to his presence.

Saelhen tries to chase after this person by parkouring off those same walls, gets a 9, and faceplants in the blood basin, leaving the issue to the party member who has wings. As the hider flees through one of the doors in the shaft, Looseleaf uses her darkvision and 24 Investigation roll to pick out the right door and give chase.

(Meanwhile, the rest of the party heads up the stairs normally- and Saelhen orders Orluthe to bust down the front door, so they can go outside and catch anyone trying to escape by rappelling down the side of the building. This turns out to be unnecessary, because when Looseleaf detected that the front door was magic and assumed it was a trap, this was incorrect.)

Benedict I. (GM): ("who knows what kind of trap could be on this magic door? better go up and through the window into the room full of traps, instead") (i was laughing so hard) (it's just an automatic door!) Looseleaf: Honestly, the people in town oversold this place. They made it sound like such a deathtrap and really it was just a bunch of spiky bots. And knives. And comfy pillows. Benedict I. (GM): Well, when they were there, there was a living evil torture wizard actively trying to take them prisoner and torture them.

Looseleaf botches her Investigation roll to search the torture lab she emerges in, but... that doesn't stop her from just checking each and every possible hiding place one by one, manually. She alights upon the correct solution swiftly- checking inside the broken remains of the iron maiden.

bBenedict I. (GM): Anyway, Looseleaf, inside the corpse of the iron maiden, you find. A rather heavy man, performing a downright heroic feat of contortionism to suspend himself inside the door without getting impaled on the spikes. Arnie: "Uh." "Can you pretend you never saw me?" Looseleaf: "That depends on what you're doing here, I guess. Who are you and what are you doing here?" Saelhen du Fishercrown: oh that is a nervous man Arnie: "No one. Nothing. I'm, uh, supposed to be like, dead, probably." "So I'm not here." "Yeah?"

Arnie Zeishus is the deadbeat husband of Cassie, the innkeeper from Barley, who fled town a while back. He explains that after fleeing his responsibilities in Barley, he tried to set up shop in Wheat running a brewery, but got in trouble flouting the brewing regulations of the Ecumene of Harmony. So after getting arrested there and breaking out of prison, he decided to sneak into the torture wizard's tower and lay low as a squatter in the guy's basement. He figured he might get caught and tortured, but it couldn't be worse than what the townspeople wanted to do to him.

Except, as luck would have it, the torture wizard was already dead when he arrived! So he's been making a home of the place with Lumiere's old animated housekeepers, using the torture wizard's fearsome reputation as a way to keep anyone from tracking him down and making him do stuff like clean up a distillery explosion or pay child support or what have you.

On the other hand, someone has been sneaking around his tower doing something sinister on the sixth floor that results in blood pouring down into the basin periodically, and he's stressed out of his mind wondering who the hell is doing that and how he's supposed to avoid getting caught and/or killed by them.

(He notes that the "KEEP SHOUTING" sign was his attempt to get intruders to at least give themselves away by making noise, after they were clearly ignoring the "KEEP OUT" sign he put up.)

Looseleaf also takes the time to ask if Arnie here knows anything about someone named Choss.

Arnie: He looks surprised. "You know Choss?" Looseleaf: "Let's say that Choss is a figure of importance in this investigation." "Anything you could tell us about how they arrived in town and what they did in town would be appreciated." Arnie: He shrugs. "Choss was there before I was- she's a real weirdo." "Knows how to party, but- gotta say, her stuff's a little too strong for me." "A crazy high at first, but it gets- whoof, intense." Looseleaf: "She's an apothecary of some kind?" Arnie: He laughs. "You could say that. She's got herself a little drug lab in town, always smells like burning. Don't know how she gets away with it- some of that stuff's gotta be illegal." Saelhen du Fishercrown: "And how old is she, approximately?" Arnie: "Eh? She's- hard to tell with lizardfolk, s'not like you can read the wrinkles..." Looseleaf: Ah, of course. Lizardfolk. Saelhen du Fishercrown: yep Arnie: "Seems youngish, though? Party girl through and through." "Just, uh, if she offers you a blend, don't take it unless you're ready to spend the next hour feelin' like fire ants are chewin' their way out of your skin." He shudders a little. Looseleaf: "Hm. Sounds painful." Arnie: "You have no idea," he laughs.

They also inquire about the locked freezer room- and why Arnie would hide out here, in dangerous torture tower, rather than just running off to a city, which is a little weird that he didn't do. Arnie claims there's just groceries in there, and no stolen wine bottles whatsoever, he certainly isn't a thief and he definitely hasn't been lying low out here because if he goes to a city some old pals from Thunderbrush might find him and want him dead, no sir! He would never ever commit a crime, ["wink wink" in hand-signed Thieves' Cant].

Saelhen du Fishercrown: "Of course. I can't imagine we have any thieves here." [Nudge nudge.] Looseleaf: "In the meantime, Mr. Zeishus, you mentioned having done something that.. makes going anywhere where you might meet someone from Thunderbrush a dangerous thing?" Arnie: He fidgets. "Uh, well..." "I, I try to leave all that behind me." "You just... don't want to get involved with the ghost dryad mafia. Just a tip."

He drops a little bit of exposition about something that may be coming up- apparently, Thunderbrush used to have these huge skyscraper-sized trees, but they got chopped down in some sort of war or raid a while back, and now the Stumps are ruled by the necromancer ghost dryads of those trees who used the last vestiges of their power to cheat death. Apparently Arnie was strongarmed into doing crimes for various ghost dryad mafiosos and made too many enemies, so he fled to Barley to shake the heat.

Looseleaf also comes to a realization regarding some hints dropped earlier in the townsfolks' tragic backstories:

Looseleaf: (actually, wait, i just realized: choss is probably chitch's daughter, the timelines there line up perfectly and maybe this whole dragonborn business is a total red herring we invented for ourselves) (what the shit, lumiere, you kidnap a guy's daughter and raise them as your own child? that's fucked.)

Looseleaf occupies this Arnie guy by interrogating him about these things, while Saelhen slips downstairs to try to pick the lock to the freezer room.

Eventually, after a bunch of failed rolls and more small talk from Looseleaf to keep Arnie occupied, Saelhen pops open the lock. Inside, she finds a fairly large and frigid room. There are meathooks hanging from the ceiling, empty. There are shelves lining the edges full of frozen food.

And to her right, there's another door- this one out of place with the rest of the construction, made of a strange stone shot through with rivulets of glowing orange. There's a symbol on a stone circle embedded in the door:

Before she checks that out, though, she checks the darkened back of the room- which contains some tubs filled with ice.

And those tubs have corpses in them, with the four-pointed wounds.

It is not especially likely that Arnie had no idea these were here, in a room he claims to use to store groceries and has the key to.

Looseleaf, meanwhile, attempts to read Arnie's spirit to determine his alignment and general intentions. His Deception beats her Insight, but what she does manage to get is...

Arnie is afraid. He is filled to bursting with terror and desperation more intense than you've ever felt from anyone before. And the fear does not seem directed at you.

Meanwhile, Saelhen tries to get that door open. What's the deal with that thing, huh? There's no handle, so... she has the bright idea of slapping her mysterious god icon bracer (the one that when previously slapped against a magic thing opened a pit to infinite bats) against it, see what happens. And I get very excited, because ohohoho, I didn't expect that, I had to think through the ramifications of doing that, and...

...then I work through those ramifications, and what I realize is that, as far as the players would know, the end result is just that the door slides open, and nothing else of note occurs.

Saelhen du Fishercrown: "Why am I even here I just wanted to help a nice little girl show up her dipshit inquisitor mom now I'm in a pain room investigating pain machines..." Looseleaf: (looseleaf warned you about getting involved in the case, she warned you dog)

There's also a bunch of weird machines, and more of Lumiere's notes, which Saelhen goes and nabs as many of as she can. Then she beats feet immediately, not wanting to spend any longer than necessary in the hell lab. The problem is, she doesn't want to leave any sign she was in there, so...

Saelhen du Fishercrown: Does tapping the exposed bit of stone with the bracer again close the secret hell door? Benedict I. (GM): Nope. Saelhen du Fishercrown: hmm. poking it with her finger? Benedict I. (GM): Ouch. Nope. Saelhen du Fishercrown: physically pulling the stone upwards while muttering "fuck fuck fuck ow ow ow"? Benedict I. (GM): Oh, hm, yeah, that would work. At first there's no effect, but as you continue to pull and the pain gets worse and worse... Roll me a Constitution save. Saelhen du Fishercrown: 16 CONSTITUTION SAVE (3) Benedict I. (GM): That'll do it! Your pain feeds the door, and, satisfied, the mouth closes. Looseleaf: How extremely concerning!

Cool!

So Saelhen goes back upstairs, the party secretly confers and exchanges information, and... something has to be done about Arnie.

His expression changes, suddenly.

Arnie: "You don't know what you're talking about." "This doesn't have to happen."

Looseleaf continues to try to offer help to this guy, inferring that he's being forced to do someone else's dirty work. She rolls a 20 on Persuasion! So... what happens following them cornering and exposing the culprit is not the rolling of initiative. Still, though...

Arnie: Arnie... backs up a step. "You're morons." "You have no idea." "You're talking like you can help me?" "That's impossible. No one can help me." "I- I'm fucking cursed, dammit!" Looseleaf: is he? i have magic sense, he is clearly not actually magically cursed, right Arnie: "What are you clowns going to do about it? Nothing!" "What are you going to do, kill a dragon?" Saelhen du Fishercrown: "You are entangled here. If Looseleaf says so, then I trust her intuition and her investigative prowess. This doesn't necessarily mean you're entangled in such a way that there is no way out for you." Saelhen shrugs. "Theoretically, the device on my arm is responsible for drowning a small city in vampiric monsters from beyond the stars. And yet there was a way out of that, and a genuine silver lining into the bargain." "I want you to understand that I am absolutely sincere when I say: There is always a way out." Arnie: "That's- there's no way! There's only one way out!" "He'll free me from the curse if I do what he says, and that's the only way!" Looseleaf: ...That is not how dragon-curses work at all. Benedict I. (GM): Not as far as you're aware, no. Doesn't seem like anyone's told Arnie.

They continue to try to convince him that there's hope, that he doesn't need to do what the dragon says, that they can help him. And Arnie just keeps pushing back, refusing to acknowledge any of it, weeping and shouting and doing whatever he can to avoid believing that he didn't have to do any of that, that there was any other way- because if there was, he'd be a monster, right?

Meanwhile, Vayen... is standing a ways away and staring at them all, as usual... but this time, he's smiling. No one here has ever seen Vayen smile before. He looks like his birthday came early. And as they're on the verge of a breakthrough...

Arnie: "Fucking- you don't think I know that?" "I know that! I know he's manipulating me!" "But what else do I do?" Vayen: "You could kill yourself," Vayen suggests. Looseleaf: "Vayen what the FUCK?" Arnie: "What the fuck- shut up, asshole!" "I'm not dying! Not here, not nowhere!" Saelhen du Fishercrown: "...Vayen, you are placing a remarkable number of ticks in the 'leave you at the side of the road' column." Vayen: Vayen shrugs. "It's the most reliable way to neutralize a dragon's curse." "It's the sensible thing to do, if you don't want to cause collateral damage."

It's as though he deliberately picked the one thing to say to ensure that this argument would keep happening, and not reach a friendly resolution. The hell is his problem?

Still, the party keeps trying to talk this guy down.

Saelhen du Fishercrown: "And -- Arnie, surely you don't think the dragon would hunt you down? Dragons don't go out of their way to punish us; they just use us to accomplish whatever it is they're planning. He'll make it someone else's problem." "I know the type. Arnie, it wouldn't care enough to hunt you down. What seems like a personal connection, like it caring about you -- if it tries that at all -- it's just an implement. It's a way of getting you to do what it wants. Go to ground effectively, and it won't bother to spare the effort." Arnie: "What are you, talking like some kinda dragonologist? The hell do you know about dragons?" Saelhen du Fishercrown: "...I am not a dragonologist, no," admits Saelhen. Looseleaf: "...Are you a dragonologist?" Arnie: "Of course it could hunt me down! Damn thing's got magic items out the ass and it flies faster than I can run!" "As soon as it saw me going somewhere it didn't tell me to, I'd get turned into a midnight snack!" "And then I go to ground, and the curse kicks in, and I end up dead or worse anyway. Sounds great." "Or, I stay here, gut a few self-righteous fucks who treated me like dirt for a while, and maybe the thing keeps its end of the bargain and lets me go!"

Yeah, that's a confession, and like, not one that makes him look great. Still, given this guy's weirdly high rolls on physical stuff, and his apparent aptitude for murdering people, they're not super sure they want to fight this guy- on top of just, not exactly wanting to fight this guy.

What are they going to do? They have to come up with a plan- and their plan has to take less than three weeks to pull off, since Arnie only has six corpses left in the bathtubs, and the dragon wants two corpses a week to prove he's still doing the job.

(And is it even worth going to all that trouble just to protect this guy from the consequences of his actions?)

Next time: a plan is hatched, and the party gets back on the road.

[sasorikigai]

"five times touched" ( can I have u h h some Hanryou goodness plz )

send me "five times touched" for a drabble about five times my muse touched yours! || @sonxflight || selective accepting!

▬▬ι═══════ﺤ 🔥 || 一. Lost in the throes of unstable world without everything he had lost in the relentless tides of his tragedies, Hanzo Hasashi would often aimlessly stroll down a broken path, staring out a window with no view, unable to count the things he has. While the times are indeed intense, the feelings within them are immense, and they come undone raw; broken and shattered, seeking a consolation for their hearts, battered. Without Ryou Sakai in the swelling niche of his heart, he would no longer resonate his life with screams of passion - from the paper drenched with ardor, blooming bleeding words. For the phrases swell the raging flames within, and keep he will, these words, etched forever in his heart, inscribed into the depths of his core. Even when a song of melancholy fills the air mingling with the torrential wind his soul beams in his chest, and even familiar death kindly grabs hold of his hand and wraps its arm along his back pulling him closer, charmingly twriling him round and round, with a dip, his passion-filled eyes would gaze at Ryou Sakai, as he would slowly drift into the open ground as his conscious will be tugged at tenebrous shadows, to be consumed beneath the darkness. Lest the ephemerality of it will soon relinquish beneath the radiance of dawning presence; not only of his own magnificent flames, but of Ryou Sakai’s sunshine, so glorious that his own demons would recede at its very sight. 

二. Hanzo Hasashi sees nothing; for he is an abyss, like something that he shouldn’t be able to see. A nightmare, and Scorpion’s presence had been nothing, but a hindrance to his progress. How could he be so daring, evermore defiantly and stubbornly so, for his test of patience is worth his lifetime. The Grandmaster still stands still and yet, he feels the lulling breath of excruciating fatigue on the back of his neck, and his breathing is rapid, his eyes full of tear, as he stands rigidly, itching to run from invisible foes. He will face the great volcanoes of dawning magma and chase the demons of the sky, dousing the stars with catalytic fuel of his love and exert the sweetest, softest touch brushing against his beloved, causing warmth to spread throughout the samurai. The persistent wind causes his eyes to transfix upon the dancing desiccated leaves, and Hanzo joins in in tandem, swaying and twirling a smile that makes its way to his flushed face. Near the throes of his heavenly meditation, it manifests as his resilient strength, as in his candor, brazen revealing of his vulnerability, comes the strength of Hanzo Hasashi’s human nature. How he hopes to become Ryou Sakai’s pillar, the bedrock of his architecture, as his beloved had immensely helped him to break the life’s paradigm to live in the present, not in unalterable past. 

三. He almost forgets this feeling; the knot in his chest, asphyxiating and cold sweat inducing. Rotting his soul, devouring him whole, keeping his body locked into place until the next morning. This feeling makes him Scorpion’s prey, not as much a clueless white tailed deer stuck in monsoon mud pits, paralyzed by the struggle and steadily suffocating under his hungry gaze, but of becoming unraveled beneath the drifting nightmares, as his shadows would play him oh so softly. For his history is full of scars - from countless attempts of opening his heart, with a slaughtered romance in the stars, as he often sinks back to the lowest valley of disappointment or fly up to the highest empyrean sky of happiness. Yet, there are glacier icicles in his vertebrae, along the sharp contours where tendrils of darkness lay dormant and hibernate, until his most vulnerable moment strikes. In the throes of swelling unconsciousness, how his limbs seek a consolation for his heart, battered. When the times are indeed intense and unbearable, as the feelings within him become evermore immense, Hanzo Hasashi seeks Ryou Sakai’s embracing presence, calming the roaring restless thunder within; through echoing heartbeats and shared exhalations, as the near-suffocated fire begins to effulgently burn. 

四. If the red string of fate is true, Hanzo Hasashi would imagine that all around them is a cluster of strings that can't be helped be tangled all up. Maybe that's why they cross each other's paths before the right one, cause they needed to untangle their knots first to clearly know what's at the end. He likes the certainty, that no matter what, he will get there, to his beloved. In a lightning flash moment of clarity, he would find himself entangled and coalesced, until their boundaries became indefinable, as his eyes, fierce and gorgeous like the scorching embers he commands, would trail Ryou’s warm, well-muscled body pressing against his more heavier and bulkier form. Balmy and calloused fingers heating up the defined expanse of revealed skin, in reverence and absolute devotion, the mantras of serenading symphony emanating within as the once-wandering path of his gossamer touch traces the fine trail of hair dipping lower and lower to paint a visible stroke in a slow, leisurely path, until the wet heat of both their hardness as waves of trembling pleasure cascades, becomes lapping surge of waves through his body. And he moves, akin to a heatwave, all sun-roughened and muscle, lithe and graceful like a panther, as the heady, dark, and alluring scent of him intermingles with the fire and deep wood. He shifts, intending to press a passionate kiss as the intoxicating drag against Ryou’s walls begins the probing ministration, as his fevered, unhurried words become almost trance-like. “How you plunge me, towards carnality’s insanity and its inevitable eternity.” A tantalizing smile is painted raw and warm against his beloved’s cheek, as he thrusts slow and even, asserting, filling Ryou Sakai, in order to be filled in return as the fervent drag continues to cause him to roll his hips. 

五. Ecstasy consumes him, with the electrifying, skin on skin, and a certain urgency that almost makes the air become ablaze around them. The burning pleasure at the base of his belly builds, crashing over him like a series of well-choreographed waves. They move together, joined as one, and all Hanzo Hasashi could think of is the building heat in his core that threatens to overwhelm him. How he reels, in the quieted moans as he seeks purchase against the expanse of Ryou’s back. Fused at one another’s hips, with each powerful thrust sending numbing electricity lancing up his spine. They are simply dancing through the golden twilight hour after the saturating rain, as slick perspiration plasters them beneath the splendor of effulgent landscape, through the radiant basking swell of dawn’s break. The fire begins to surge and soar, as he meets his beloved in impassioned and eager purchase, the carnal smacks rendering his awareness to float towards cloud nine. Mandibles of his hold painting expressionistic strokes over Ryou’s shoulders and small of his back as his demands are being met with the heated breaths and the press of teeth against the shell of Ryou’s ear, he finds himself erupting, spurting his own essence with much abandon as light olive paints with pristine, pearly white. ▬▬ι═══════ﺤ 🔥 || 

[carnistcervine]

A Dragon Named Icarus

So, I was talking with @mistystarshine about my Bending Curse AU and they gave me some ideas and then I got the idea of a what if scenario for Zuko’s Agni Kai. Like, in the AU, bending isn’t really something people are born with, it’s more akin to vampirism/lycanthropy where it’s a curse that spreads when benders attack non-benders. Originally I had the thought that royal firebenders are given their fire when they’re babies, but then I thought well what if it’s a special ceremony that happens at like 16 or something and my brain was all and Zuko gets his fire from Ozai burning his face off.

And then I wrote this.

I’m not entire sure if I’ll keep it in the “canon” of the AU or not, because it means no wicked fire scar for Zuko. But on the other hand, I quite like this idea. :’D I may continue this or expand upon it at a later date, but IDK.

~~~

Zuko walked up to the blood red curtains of his father's war room. But, without even turning his head, a guard swiftly moved to block his entry. Zuko bounced back, slightly startled, but also annoyed.

"Hey!" The boy huffed. "Let me in!" He felt a warm hand on his shoulder. He turned his head to see his Uncle.

"Prince Zuko, what's wrong?"

"I want to go into the war chamber," he pointed to the guard blocking the entrance. "But the guard wont let me pass!" Uncle gave Zuko a gentle smile and carefully began to lead him away.

"You're not missing anything, trust me. These meetings are dreadfully boring." His elder mused. "Besides, it's only three years until you receive your firebending. I've heard you're a little behind." Zuko flushed and looked away at this. "I can help you catch up." Uncle offered.

Zuko turned back to his Uncle, determination burning in his soft brown eyes. "But Uncle, if I am going to rule this country one day, don't you think I should get a taste of how things work?" His uncle nodded slightly in a silent concession. "Besides I want to learn as much as I can." He looked away a little shyly. "And maybe afterward, it would be nice if you could help me work on my katas..."

Uncle Iroh smiled softly at the boy. "Very well. But you must promise me you will not speak." He leaned down and whispered. "These old folks are a bit sensitive, you know?" Zuko nodded happily. Iroh put an arm around Zuko. "And afterward I'll make us some tea and show you some of my tricks. Why, you'll be even better than Azula when you get your firebending!"

Zuko gasped in delight. "Better than Azula? Dad says she was born with her firebending!"

Iroh nodded. "Yes, a rare occurance indeed. Even I had to be given the fire." He looked quite thoughtful for a moment, before walking with Zuko into the war room.

X~X

The meeting went on very uneventfully. However, Zuko couldn't escape a growing unease in his gut. The way these people spoke, like this war was just a game to them. These were people, people who dedicated their lives because they loved their country. Not pawns to be sacrificed for minor gains.

"The Earth Kingdom defenses are concentrated here." General Bujing said, shuffling pieces around on the war map. "It's a dangerous battalion of their most powerful earthbenders and ferocious warriors." He grinned maliciously. "My recommendation is the forty-first division."

Zuko couldn't help but frown at the face the man was making. He didn't exactly know who or what the forty-first division was, but Bujing's grin was making his imagination go wild.

"But the forty-first is entirely new recruits!" An elder soldier proclaimed, slightly horrified. "How in the name of Agni do you honestly expect them to defeat a powerful Earth Kingdom battalion."

"I don't." Bujing said, grin full on predatory. Zuko felt his stomach sink to the floor. He was sure that if he had an inner fire, it would have dimmed. "They'll just be the distraction while the real attack is launched from the rear." Bujing chuckled slightly. Zuko bit his lip, trying hard to hold his tongue. "Those Earth barbarians won't be able to resist stomping out any flame they see." His dark brown eyes appeared downright black. "What better bait for the dirt stompers than fresh meat?"

Unable to take it anymore, Zuko shot up. "You can't just sacrifice an entire division like that!" The young prince shouted, looking over the room and the shocked old faces. "Those soldiers love our country and dedicate themselves to us! They are loyal to the Fire Nation! How could you just betray them like that?"

Suddenly an unbearable angry heat overcame the whole of the room. The flames of the Fire Lord's throne flaring up.

"Zuko," the Fire Lord hissed. "You have spoken out of turn in a show of complete disrespect. Do you understand what this means?"

Zuko looked back at the old general he had disrespected. His normal, dark brown eyes. Hmpf, not only was he old, but also a non-bender. Zuko could take him.

Zuko huffed, challenging. "I'm not scared!"

"Very well." the Fire Lord said, still radiating angry heat, his inferno obscuring his image. "An Agni Kai it is."

X~X

"Prince Zuko," Iroh implored. "I'm not quite sure you understand the seriousness of this situation."

Zuko turned back to Uncle, placing a hand over his. "It's okay, Uncle." Zuko said, his brown eyes shimmering. "I'll be fine." With that, he was ushered off by the Fire Sages. When he stepped out onto the arena, Zuko couldn't help but notice that the air seemed abnormally hot. Sure, it was quite sunny, but the sun seemed especially harsh in that time. He decided not to concern himself with it. So he took his place and waited for the match to begin.

As soon as he stood up, his heart dropped, his blood freezing as the tippet on his shoulders fluttered to the ground. His heart began to race, time itself slowed to a snail-turtle's pace. Uncle's words finally hitting him. He wasn't going to duel against an old, fellow nonbender.

He was to duel against his father.

The Fire Lord.

And the most powerful firebender on earth.

Zuko dropped to his knees, his legs having given out on him. His heart raced, he didn't mean to disrespect his father! He really didn't!

"Please, Father. I-I only had my nation's best interest at heart!" The boy begged. "I didn't mean you any disrespect! I'm sorry I spoke out of turn!" He lowered his head, on his hands and knees. "Please forgive me!"

But the Fire Lord wasn't having it.

"Pathetic!” He spat. “You are supposed to be my son?" The sun shone brightly behind him, casting his figure in darkness. "Fight, fight for your honor!"

Zuko started to shake, tears flowing from his eyes. He only barely managed to croak. "I am your loyal son..."

"Get on your feet and fight! That is an order, Prince Zuko!"

"N-no..." Zuko whimpered. "I won't do it. You are my father, I won't fight you..." Ozai's feet came into view, and Zuko knew the man was standing over him.

"Coward." The Fire Lord hissed. "I have no son."

Zuko looked up, a shriek thundered in his ears as fire filled his vision. One eye staring into the flames, one into the sun.

It wasn't like anything he'd ever felt before. The intensity and ferocity of the energy invading him. It felt as if his very soul had been set ablaze. Like the sun itself was trying to climb into his mortal flesh.

Then both of the boy's eyes gazed into the abyss.

X~X

Iroh sat by Zuko's side as he lay in bed, out from a combination of drugs and having half his face melted. The old general stroked the boy's hair gently.

"Leaves from the vine," He sang softly, only able to hold onto the hope that somewhere deep down the boy could hear him. That his soul hadn't been completely burned away. "Falling so slow..."

Zuko moaned, the unbandaged half of his face scrunching up slightly. "'m sorry..."

The Dragon of The West took a breath and gave his nephew's hand a firm squeeze as he bit back the tide of rage welling within him. "You have nothing to be sorry for."

But Zuko kept repeating it like a mantra, his one eye slowly starting to peel open. "Sorry... sorry... m' so sorry..."

Iroh leaned in closer, angry tears threatening to spill from his golden eyes. "You haven't done anything wrong, Zuko."

Zuko peered at him with a glossy, golden eye. "Uncle, 'm sorry."

The old man felt like his flame had been snuffed.

[hedonisthierophant]

SW thing

Foils/Complementary Contrasts

He was a Miraluka, to him the galaxy appeared in innumerable transparent shades and outlines of gray, the flicker of the force inside living beings making them glow softly with colorless light. The stronger the being was with the force, the more intense their light. All his people saw thus through the force, having gained the ability as an adaptation after their migration to a world with very little light. Jayzen Vicarr had come to the temple like all the others in his infancy. It was not unheard of for members of his species to join the Jedi order but it was rare, his people were passive and peaceful. Although they all possessed and innate sensitivity to the force, few had the strong connection that was a prerequisite for membership within the order. Many parents among his people were askance at the idea of ending their children to a group with such a martial focus, however noble its intentions of peacekeeping may have been. They preferred for their children to remain on Alpheridies and join the Luka Sene, the Miraluka’s own order of force sensitives focused on the expansion of their inherent abilities to sense through the force. The force, if it could be said to have a will of its own, most certainly had something different in mind for Jayzen. His mother was a powerful seer who used her precognitive abilities to find and capture those who broke the law on Alpheridies. His father had weaker abilities but used them to provide therapy to those in need, observing them and helping them make sense of their feelings. When Jayzen was born his mother was overwhelmed with visions that he would have a role to play in attempting to prevent a calamity of galactic proportions, his parents gathered with other members of the Luka Sene, doctors, teachers, and sages, the child’s light was so much brighter than all the others around him even that of many adults who’d received training from the Luka Sene. His parents, realizing an education on Alpheridies would not unlock the child’s full potential and deciding not to attempt to contend with the will of the force. They sent a message to the Jedi Temple and summoned a Jedi seeker to their home. They surrendered Jayzen to the monastic order knowing that being trained in the ways of the force by the Jedi was a necessary step to the fulfillment of his destiny.

           He had spent all his life within the temple, he learns that outside its walls, the site of a young humanoid who covered the area where his presumed ocular receiving organs were would be considered quite strange. Beneath the covering where in many species there would be eyes of one variety or another, lay only smooth, uninterrupted skin. Miraluka covered this part of their faces for social reasons as it tended to unnerve members of other species even those who were much further from human themselves. Everyone in the temple had at least the potential if not the habit of seeing the galaxy as Jayzen did. He knew that the force was what provided him with the colorless picture that came into focus the moment he became conscious every day, his clan mates and the other youngling’s sparked with some degree of the force inside them but at his young age Jayzen did not comprehend the purpose of bringing this disparate collection of young beings together from across the galaxy. To him, they were a group of children like any other. Until he began to understand the potential that the force placed before them. He remembers clearly the first time he felt the whisper of the force inside him. He had been about four or perhaps five and sitting in a meditative stance under a tree of blossoms focusing on clearing his mind to better feel the force as he’d been taught to exist in tranquility, he could sense the slightest echo of waves of energy all around him but the carefree distractible mind of a child has little patience for seeing such things through.

Batti was a Twi’lek youngling from another clan who was equal parts boisterous and rambunctious. His favorite past time was climbing the very tree that Jayzen sat beneath. Members of the two clans chased each other to and fro some sat in silence like Jayzen as Batti began his ascent. Jayzen observed as the grey impression of Batti’s form hopped upward and began to energetically scale the tree from gnarled roots to winding branches first one, then another. Further from the ground, higher and higher, up and up again until, until the young boy towered above the rest of them, his body perched at the edge of one of the higher branches as he let out a jubilant yell of triumph and members of both clans began to clap and whoop in appreciation of his daring feat of athletic acrobatics.

Jayzen would wonder later whether he heard the murmur of the force through powers of foresight he’d inherited from his mother for suddenly he looked up and stared at where Botti alighted upon the tree though there was no physical need for him to do so. As Botti’s happiness made him reckless and his foot began to slip after taking a single step to begin his dissent no surprise ran through Jayzen, merely a horrified grim certainty that had been bestowed upon him by hearing the faintest echo of an echo of Botti’s terrified scream seconds before it actually left his mouth. An instinct to protect, to reach out and stop this hurt from the falling someone he knew gripped Jayzen, with the fumbling determination of a neophyte he reached out and imposed his will to intercede on Botti’s behalf with unfeeling gravity and impetuous downward acceleration. Jayzen felt the dam burst within him and for the briefest few moments Botti’s dissent was halted as though he had been plucked upward into the grasp of an invisible hand, for that stretch of time Jayzen’s will defied physics, arrested momentum, but he was young and this power was new and untested. Still he felt like he could’ve held on until help arrived had he not been encircled suddenly by vicious tendrils of Botti’s fear, they tore at his concentration and crashed upon him in waves, fraying the delicate freshly formed link between Jayzen’s outstretched hands and Botti’s gentle suspension. Botti’s dismay overwhelmed Jayzen’s inexperienced mind as he felt the despair as though it were his own, severed the connection, and ended the all too brief reprieve he had granted the other boy from the unforgiving judgment of solid ground beneath him.

Jayzen collapsed as Botti’s terror took him and was suddenly released as the child struck the ground with a dire thud. The stunned silence around them was pierced by a shrieking wail of pain issuing from Botti’s throat. Jayzen struggled to his feet and focused his vision on the scene before him, members of both clans were crowded around the injured boy, a couple of the older ones had already run for an adult but the younger ones were howling in misery as though grieving their own agony and shock rather than Botti’s. Anguish ruled inside Jayzen as well, if only he’d been stronger he could have spared Botti this pain and the others their fear. His breathing came in rapid gasps as his vision began to blur, what had once been distinct shapes and shades of gray blurring in to one another, he felt weightless, unmoored, ready to collapse again, this time perhaps into the sweet embrace of unconsciousness where he could have time away from his failure away from the frenzied whirlpool of emotions emanating from his clan mates and but was sure to be the disappointed that would suffuse the instructors when they learned of his failure.

Amidst this turmoil a quiet certainty bloomed, it grew and grew until it filled him seeming to take an eternity to drown out the abyss of negativity but in truth it took only the space between ticks of a chronometer. He could help. He had to help, had to make it right. Shaking and unsteady, he advanced towards Botti’s prone whimpering form in the center of the circle as quickly as his small legs would carry him. By some unspoken agreement the crowd of frightened children parted around him although he was far from being an authority, a moment ago he was simply treated as just another one of them, no more.

He knelt at Botti’s side, “May I help?” he asked in his high, airy, child’s voice, doing his best to incorporate the kindness and calm that their caretakers would show in a situation like this, sincerity filling him. Botti ceased mewling long enough to give a trembling nod of assent. He turned the full power of his ethereal gaze upon body and opened his mind. Pain and fear that were not his own suffused is being, but there was now a brightness at the core of him, he didn’t have to just endure this, neither did Botti, he could help. Blood oozed out of a nasty gash on Botti’s leg, Jayzen reached out for the wound, his hands far steadier than they had any right to be in light of his inexperience. He could sense the pain flared up in an area encircling the point of impact, moving like angry buzzing insects inside the outline of Botti’s form, which had once seemed the very picture of youthful invulnerability and now had been violently proven to be so mortally fragile. Jayzen acted on pure primitive intuition, some long buried and forgotten instinct passed down from the earliest of his people to witness one of their number in pain. He tugged on the energy inside of him and pushed at it, directing it, willing it to flow into the laceration that marred Botti’s leg, to ease his suffering. As though commanded to do so by the application of universal imperative, the trauma began to heal, the world around Jayzen had gone dull and muted as his whole being was focused on the task inf front of him. Distantly, he was aware that Botti’s voice no longer kept up an agonized refrain and that the others had ceased their mourning as well. Micrometer by single micrometer, bleeding ebbed and torn flesh began to insistently knit itself back together. Enveloped by the energy at Jayzen’s command the damage repaired itself and when he lifted his hands not even the smallest remnant of a cut remained, it had been forcefully consigned to the realm of memory.

 A storm of hurried, anxious steps heralded the arrival of their caretakers, their haste making their steps echo loudly in the silence that had descended upon the group. As several harried seeming jedi matrons herded the children away and examined Botti, Jayzen felt lost in the blur of noise and motion. The expenditure of so much of the nascent power within him left him feeling drained and weary but his hearing of a quiet tapping, wood upon ferro-crete and the approach of the brightest light Jayzen knew signaled the approach of master Yoda. Mustering strength he didn’t feel he had left him, he straightened and bowed respectfully before the grandmaster of his order even at this tender age he was slightly taller than the wizened Jedi sage.  Differences in species meant he could not meet Yoda’s gaze but he could feel the intensity of it upon him. Yoda was even more capable of seeing him as Jayzen saw the rest of the galaxy, of seeing without eyes, of hearing whispers of stray thought and feeling wisps of stray emotion and sensing the energy of those around him. Standing before Yoda he was as a single meek candle is before a blazing inferno. Yoda’s voice snaps him back to the present. “Done well you have youngling, proud of you we are.” Behind the grandmaster stood the young knight Stass Ailee. “You were indeed correct master Yoda, this young one does posses an aptitude for healing as well as empathy, and prodigious strength in the force besides. I would like to speak with you more of the proposal you made earlier.” She spoke in a queenly voice, dripping with refinement. She bent down to Jayzen’s level, he could feel interest, curiosity, and…decision within her. “Hello Jayzen, I think you and I are going to get along very well, I shall watch your training with great interest.” It was not until a few years later that Jayzen would realize that in that moment he had been chosen by a master.

The boy from Tatooine was different from the day he arrived. Anakin Skywalker’s energy was not the new spark of a youngling, nor the eager flicker of a padawan, nor the steady glow of a knight, nor the concentrated fire of a master, no…to look upon Anakin Skywalker through the force was to see a blinding tempest of light.

[kokkuri3]

As a Vincent analysis, what are your thoughts on his relationship with Leo?

It’s I wasn’t sure how to answer this ask at ALL when I first got it so I just let it sit in my inbox for a while and then forgot about it and then suddenly remembered it while I was on a walk and then thought about it for a while.

The tl;dr of my feelings on them is they sure are two characters who have like 3 really intense scenes together that all feel a little weird because the first thing that’s established about their relationship is they straight up did not have one until the first really intense scene. They weren’t even like, acquaintances they just actually had not talked despite presumably having lived together for at least a couple months.

That said it’s not like i have nothing to say about their relationship. The two most fundamental points of interest are A. the parallels between Vincent’s relationship with Leo and Gil’s relationship with Oz that the narrative clearly wants you to notice, and B. the fact that they care for each other as individuals at all.

The parallels between Vince/Leo and Gil/Oz are obviously meant to be noticed, especially with the visual composition of this scene. 

There are a few official art pieces where the pairings are meant to stand equal/opposite one another, and I think that Oz/Leo’s and Gil/Vince positions as a call to attention of their parallels is supplemented by Alice/Echo (who don’t really have meaningful parallels, at least not within the context of this dynamic) not standing at all equivalent to one another.

At first I was inclined to say that their dynamic only has superficial similarities, but with a bit more thought, I’m willing to say that’s untrue. Gil and Vincent feel bound to Oz and Leo respectively in part because they feel there is a shared sympathy for what each is in the dark. Of course, how and why this manifests is completely different, mostly for differences in personality between Gil and Vincent. Still, Leo is probably the person Vincent felt most safe in being vulnerable around, being the first person he presumably ever told about his intention to kill himself. Hell, Vincent probably wouldn’t have told Gil if he hadn’t been having a complete breakdown at the time, and he still seeks out Leo in favor of Gil while it’s happening.

Still, there are a lot of obvious, fundamental differences. Oz is still Gil’s most important person, while Vincent pretty consistently chooses Gil over Leo. How much of Gil’s devotion is natural is… debatable, but we know it’s at least most of it, developed over years, because Oz is Gil’s friend who he loves very much. Vincent and Leo’s relationship developed over the course of a few hours through a series of traumatic circumstances forcing the two of them to bond. Vincent clearly holds fondness Leo as an individual, regardless of whatever circumstances force the two of them together, but it’s ultimately not that fondness that controls the relationship. It’s the difference between a contract signed by two kids around ten scribbled on by a three year old and one made with the clear terms and conditions that one would die at the end of their partnership.

As for how and why Vincent cares for Leo… my first impression was that Vincent was susceptible to the same ingrained devotion to Glen as the other Baskervilles. There are a few problems with that interpretation, though– Vincent specifically tells Oswald that his devotion is not to Glen, but to Leo. He actively goes against Oswald’s orders despite Oswald presumably having the same powers of influence as Leo, both being Glen. As I previously mentioned, Leo is important to Vincent, but he’s still not the most important– Vincent can and does choose to go with someone else when he feels like it. I’d also call to intention how we know Children of Ill Omen are not susceptible to many of the effects of Abyss, and that this may extend to the influence Glen has on Baskervilles– but that’s not anything certain, and probably best left to another post.

So then with the assumption that Vincent’s devotion is natural, something he came to because of feelings and thoughts he had of his own accord, it’s… strange. With Leo he’s genuine and vulnerable to a degree he doesn’t approach with any other character. I think it comes back to his first interaction with Leo, where he states his intent to die. Leo was the first person he ever told about this, and Leo immediately sympathized. Vincent tends not to get on well with people he sees as like himself, but with Break and Noise he was not in a position to be genuine. That, and Vincent’s desire to die was probably the part of himself he found least detestable, so that Leo say he understands the conclusion Vincent reached was probably important to him.

Leo clearly holds Vincent more closely than the other Baskervilles, and seems inclined to keep him by his side whenever possible. Which is weird, considering how… disjointed? their first interaction was. I especially want to bring attention to this omake, which is . Well it sure is a thing that exists and is about Vincent and that’s the only content warning I can really give. Ultimately it seems like Vincent was just… there while Leo was in a very vulnerable period, and did seem to support him. He might’ve felt some attachment to him as Elliot’s older brother. Or maybe he didn’t. I’m not sure. I’m glad Leo did get a friend, though, and I guess I’m glad for Vincent, too. Neither had a whole lot of people.

This was honestly a really hard question to answer and I’m sure you weren’t anticipating it being so. I kept going back and changing what I’d written because my opinions on the matter changed while I wrote and there’s a ton I still feel unsure about. Still. I hope this is a satisfactory answer.

[thanksjro]

Eugenesis, Part Six Scene Two: Even Roberts Is Concerned At This Point

Ultra Magnus, Death’s Head, Siren, and Galvatron have just reached Aquaria, thanks to the transwarp drive. They reenter reg-space and find themselves faced with the Thermopylae, leaving the orbit of a collapsing planet. Someone brings up whether or not they shouldn’t, you know, go down to the planet that looks about two minutes from self-destructing, but they’ve got to go get the Matrix, which they still believe to be in the underwater base.

We, as followers of the narrative, already know that the Matrix, Xenon, Haxian, and a bunch of nasty little baby makers are on that ship, and decidedly not on the planet anymore. The Aquaria team, unfortunately, does not have access to such information, and they dive down into the ocean, into that massive abyss that the Quintesson base is tucked into.

Siren, I am so sorry, dude.

Over with Optimus in the Ark, we’re still being ridiculous.

Optimus Prime, who has been around these folks (all of whom have literally millions of years of experience on him when it comes to fighting thanks to his dirt nap) for a grand total of maybe a day, thinks he’s fit to judge and damn everyone, in one of the most arguably high-stress situations to have ever befallen this entire race. Maybe the whole “turn out you only get to live for three more years after you wake up on Earth” thing is getting to him more than he cares to admit. I know I’d be a bit bleak if I found out I died in a video game made by some nerd with two first names.

The first Tridents are coming towards them over the horizon, and Optimus orders the aerial forces to take them down.  

I like this little snippet.

Joining the Quintesson ships are our Quintessential Flying Fucks, using their jet bodies to their advantage- let’s not forget, for as much time they’ve spent within the story, they haven’t been seen by a vast majority of the Transformers. Most of the robot who saw them on Earth are either off-world or dead. It’s a hell of an advantage for them.

Sevax, no, you fool! If you leave now, we’ll never get your lore!

While all this is happening up in the air, Optimus tells Mirage to move in. He and his team of ground troops jump out of the back of the ship, losing about half of their numbers to missile fire and lasers. It’s messy. Those who weren’t killed on the way down find themselves surrounded by Sharkticons and hoverbikers. This, too, is messy. Tracks is dead. Bonecrusher’s wounded enough to need to be picked up by Mirage.  

How do you keep surviving these things, Swindle? Roberts must really like you or something.

Although, given what he’s done to some of his favorites, maybe not. Swindle may just be one lucky bastard.

A few of the remaining team members nab some hoverbikes and start making their way over to the Fortress proper. The battle rages on, more and more robots getting killed in violent, awful ways, to the point where I think even Roberts might have sat back and said “maybe this is a bit much,” because this little section is ended with:

Back on the Ark, it’s just Optimus and Bluestreak.

I mean, it’s just Bluestreak now.

Now this is an interesting idea, a form of hierarchy based on computing power in the brain. A sort of genetic class-system, that only those who have extra abilities can benefit from. Sort of reminds me of the cold-construction racism in the IDW comics. Yes, I know Roberts didn’t come up with that all on his lonesome, it’s just an interesting comparison.

It also explains just why Thunderclash was kidnapped as opposed to Rodimus after the bomb went off.

This little hiccup in their biology really bites them in the ass here, as none of the Quintessons realize that it’s Optimus Friggin’ Prime that’s coming towards them. He promptly starts kicking tail.

Optimus Prime trying to be as cool as Soundwave, but he’s already shown what a jackass he is in this. Too little too late, Optimus. Better luck next continuity. I bet he’s still thinking “fuck, I hope we all get killed for our warmongering”, as he’s bashing skulls in.

Back on the Ark, Bluestreak’s feeling a little lonely, now being the only one aboard. It’s honestly sort of surprising that a ship that big can be flown by a single pilot, but looks like he’s managing alright. He blasts a hole in the Fortress, we’re reminded that it’s the shape of a pentagon, because Quintessons, and then he zips up into the night sky.

Over at Delphi, Sygnet’s bothering Chromedome by screaming about getting a signal from the folks over at the Fortress. This wouldn’t be such a problem, but Chromedome’s busy working on the new microchip to counteract the Inhibitor Chip, and he’s actually running a little behind on the timeline for the whole thing. Sygnet, in a surprising show of understanding, leaves the room.

Sygnet takes the time to reflect on his personal experience with the Autobot/Decepticon war. He’s not a fighter, you see, not in the traditional sense. He spent his time devising and constructing weapons- traditional, biological, some that would violate the Geneva convention- and that was how he liked it. He wasn’t interested in being an active participant.

And yet he can’t help but wish he were fighting alongside Optimus Prime. No one is immune to his charm, it would seem.

As he’s thinking about Cybertron’s collective crush, he follows a set of cables tied to the wall, which lead him to a rather grim scene.

…Did they take his legs? Why did they take his legs off? How much processing power could one’s leg’s possibly require when you’re flat on your back? I know that he’s about to do some intense stuff and probably needs all the help he can get, but-

It just seems a little overkill is all.

Soundwave’s all trussed up like a life-saving turkey, hooked up to the Delphi transmitter and ready to go with the anti-Inhibitor Chip signal.

Soundwave’s not taking shit from anyone anymore. He’s had too long a week.

They radio in Chromedome, making sure he’s also good to go on his end- he’s meant to be piggybacking a secondary message alongside Soundwave’s signal, giving the prisoners coordinates to follow. He says that he is.

Oh, well that’s very nice of you, Chromedome.

Perceptor doesn’t care about niceties though, just giving Soundwave a second of warning that this will probably hurt before flipping the switch.

Soundwave does his thing and then the lights go out.

For, like, the bottom half of the planet.

Luckily, the message got through before that happened.

Over in Kledji, the prisoners are busting out. Shrapnel, an Insecticon, manages to overload the generator for the entire prison, releasing everyone. Folks are transforming like there’s no tomorrow- honestly, there might not be at this rate- and moving towards the ships outside to get to the Sonic Canyons as fast as they can.

Back over at the Fortress battle, Quantax is standing out on the balcony having a little ego stroke.  

It’s got him feeling good. So good, in fact, he decides to join in on the fun, pulling out a rifle and aiming for something easy.

Looks like Mainframe wasn’t fast enough this time.

The sight of a fellow Autobot’s head just disappearing makes something snap inside Optimus, or something, because that’s the point when he decides it’s time to regroup, retreat, and move on to phase two of the plan. He sends out a long-range message to everyone stating this.

Quantax watches as the Ark returns to the field, loads up all its passengers, and then zooms away. Some Sharkticons had climbed onto the front in an attempt to stop it, but they’re no match for the power of gravity.

Thank goodness that smile wasn’t sad or proud, or we might be in trouble here.

Man, I hope he remembered to turn on the artificial gravity before he did that.

Quantax is friggin’ pissed at this turn of events. He storms into the control room and orders every still-functioning trooper to hunt down the Transformers and eliminate them. This battle ain’t over ’til he says it is.