#also night of the living dead for the original reference and the reason why she used the name Barbara so much

[elyvorg]

The Real Reason That Sissel Refused to Help

(or: the subtle genius of Ghost Trick’s tutorial)

“I just want to find my own lost memory. I’m sorry, but I can’t help you.”

Here’s a post in which I talk about this particular part of Ghost Trick’s story, which I’m keeping as vague as possible outside of the spoiler cut, but those who’ve finished the game should know what I’m referring to. What’s actually going on here is rather interesting, and paints our friend Sissel in a much less negative light than the face-value assumption I tend to see most people jumping to with this.

First, though, I have written a fic illustrating this idea in narrative form rather than lengthily explaining it. If you’re interested, I recommend you go read that first before reading this, because being shown is more fun than being told!

(Also, spoilers, obviously. Go play Ghost Trick if you haven’t; it’s so good and absolutely not the kind of thing you want to be spoiled for.)

So, in the original timeline, Sissel refused to help Missile save his mistresses, stating that he just wants to find his own lost memories.

It could easily seem at a glance like Sissel’s character development over the course of the game is that he started off selfish, only caring about his own mystery, and it’s only through getting attached to everyone throughout the night that he begins to care about others and the bigger picture. As such, his refusal to help Missile in the original timeline is easy to read as being born of that, since this was early on when Sissel still only cared about himself.

But… it’s not actually that simple, because Sissel isn’t as selfish in the beginning as one might think. Sure, he’ll say things like “I have to focus on my own mystery”, or “this is all for my own benefit”. But that doesn’t actually match up with his actions. His own mystery may be, in theory, his number one priority, but a remarkably close second priority for him is to save the lives of any dead person he happens to come across. Even very early on, before he’s grown to care about any of these people!

He doesn’t hesitate to save Missile, despite having zero reason to assume that this little doggie will be any help with his mystery. The second time he finds Lynne dead, when he’s getting to talk to her and learns that she doesn’t actually know much about him and probably won’t be able to help him because she’s got her own case to pursue tonight, he still reassures her that she doesn’t owe him and he’s going to save her life anyway.

And even right at Lynne’s very first death, in the game’s opening narration, Sissel makes a point that he doesn’t want to stand back and let her get shot, and that he feels bad for her, despite her being a complete stranger!

Evidently, even right at the beginning, Sissel isn’t selfish. He just thinks he is. Because cats can be tsundere like that.

Sissel:  “Why am I so determined to save this woman? After all, it’s not as if I know her. My reason is twofold. Number one, I’m not the type to leave women lying around, discarded like trash.”

(Here’s a bit from later in chapter 1 featuring Sissel being amusingly surprised by his own altruistic streak. He seems to expect to only care about himself – yet here he is, not wanting to leave a stranger lying dead if he can help it. Not so selfish after all, huh?)

So if that’s not the problem in the original timeline, then what is? Why does Sissel leave Missile to deal with saving his ladies alone when he’d have no reason not to try and help? – after all, he hasn’t been given a fake time limit in this timeline! He’s not even in a hurry with his own mystery! For that matter, Sissel was still there in the junkyard at the beginning – why didn’t he just save Lynne himself?

We can get a good indication of what the issue is from that very same opening narration I was just talking about.

Sissel:  “Now, I’m not the kind of guy who can just stand back and watch a poor woman get shot. But I have just one little problem… I’m already dead myself.”

Sissel:  “I feel bad for her, sure. But what can I do? I’m dead. But just as I was thinking that…”

The real problem is not that he doesn’t care about saving a stranger’s life. Rather, it’s that, because he’s dead, he doesn’t think he can. He’s not expecting to magically have ghost superpowers; why would he?

And it’s just as he was thinking that he can’t do anything (which, while part of his screen-filling monologue narration, was still his thoughts and therefore something any nearby ghost could hear)… that Ray speaks up to tell him that actually he can save her.

Sissel:  “Huh?” (Me? Save her? Uh, how?)

Immediately, Sissel questions the notion once again, not with a why but with a how. It’s not that he doesn’t want to; he simply doesn’t think it’s possible.

This general idea continues throughout the entire tutorial, which is absolutely packed with lines that show Sissel being deeply sceptical about the idea that he could possibly save someone’s life or alter someone’s fate.

Once Ray’s taught him about his basic ghost tricks and he’s managed to delay Lynne’s death by a few moments… she still ends up dead anyway. And Sissel thinks that’s it. Because of course he does. Even if he can stop time and manipulate objects, he has zero reason to believe that his powers can undo a death that’s already happened.

Sissel:  “In the end, it looks like her fate remains unchanged. So what good are these ‘ghost tricks’ of mine? But just as I was thinking this…”

Sissel:  “It looks like my ghost tricks didn’t do much good.” (She still ended up just as dead as before.)

He even ends up feeling like his new superpowers are barely worth anything, because he can play a few little tricks on someone, but that’s not enough to save someone’s life, is it?

Ray:  “Isn’t it a shame to see such a pretty young woman lying here discarded like a piece of trash?” Sissel:  “But what can I do? She’s already dead.”

Ray:  “And while she’s resting, you can save her life.” Sissel:  “Oh, sure. You make it sound so easy.”

And again, he’s very dismissive of Ray implying or telling him that he can do something about this. After all, how could that be possible any more?

In particular, there’s this vital little bit of trickery here…

Ray:  “Now what do you suppose will happen if you possess a corpse?” Sissel:  “Nothing, because I already tried that, remember? And nothing happened at all.”

…in which Sissel assumes his powers just don’t work on corpses, because he’s already tried and failed to do anything with “his” corpse. If he’d been alone, without Ray to guide him through things, he most likely wouldn’t have even tried to possess Lynne’s corpse in the first place, because he would have had no reason to believe it would achieve anything!

(Meanwhile, Missile in the original timeline also had zero reason to believe he could do anything for Kamila, but he was so anguished and desperate that of course he would have tried anyway. He’d try anything to save her, because he is good and loyal and Dog. So he was able to discover his time-rewinding powers where Sissel didn’t, and thus he passed that knowledge onto Sissel in the game’s timeline.)

And as Ray tells Sissel that he can in fact rewind time to redo the last moments of Lynne’s life, he’s completely dumbfounded and bewildered by the very idea of it.

Sissel:  “Are you serious?! Back through time?!”

Sissel:  “But this is crazy! None of it makes any sense!”

Ray:  “To the time four minutes before this woman was murdered!” Sissel:  “H-Hey, wait a second! I still don’t know what you’re talking about!”

What is this lamp even talking about?! Of course turning back time isn’t possible! He had no reason to believe it was possible, even as part of his new wacky ghost powers.

(Meanwhile, when Sissel is saving Missile in the game, we get a little exchange that shows Missile being completely unfazed by the idea that Sissel’s brought them back in time. It’s no weirder than humans walking around on two legs, right? One way or another, the cat can barely wrap his head around it, while the dog sees it as perfectly plausible.)

One thing Ray says more than once during the tutorial is, “The best thing to do is try it.” Because Sissel is being so stubbornly cynical that he will not take this desk lamp’s word about how useful his powers are and has to literally be pushed into trying it himself in order to believe it, every time.

Even after seeing for himself that he can go back in time and watch Lynne’s death again, Sissel still manages to be pessimistic about this.

Ray:  “And there you have it. The last four minutes of her life.” Sissel:  [strained] “No…!” Ray:  “It’s kind of ironic, when you think about it. A woman toyed with by fate, and a man toyed with by a ghost.” Sissel:  “But she still died.”

He went back in time, and she still died. There’s still apparently nothing he can do, right? No, Sissel, just have a bit of patience! This is just the mechanic that lets you understand what happens before you dive in and start changing things; you’ll get your chance soon!

And once he’s finally successfully saved Lynne…

Ray:  “You used your powers to avert that woman’s fate.” Sissel: “So I did that?”

Sissel still has a moment of being surprised at the notion that he was capable of something like this.

It’s really striking to me, watching over chapter 1 again with this thought about original-timeline Sissel in mind, just how many lines to this effect there are throughout the whole thing. The writers did not need to include this many moments of Sissel being sceptical, or even any of them at all, really, in order for the tutorial to do its job as a tutorial! But they’re here anyway, because it is in fact really important to the story that Sissel is somebody who would not have tried hard enough to figure out that his powers can undo deaths unless he had someone holding his hand through it the whole way.

The way old-Missile talks about it when he’s explaining himself at the end, it’s easy to get the takeaway that the most important thing he did as Ray was to take advantage of Sissel’s supposed self-interest: by not contradicting his misconception that he’s the man in red, by telling him Lynne is the key to his mystery (a half-truth at best), and by giving him a fake time limit. And it’s not that those things didn’t help, but they’re not really the most important thing at all.

The most important thing Ray did for Sissel, the thing that Missile absolutely most needed to spend those ten years waiting to do, was exactly what it appeared to be during chapter 1: to teach him how to use his powers to save lives. Because the number one thing the Sissel from the original timeline needed but didn’t get was, quite literally, a tutorial.

There’s a little bit more to it than this, though. So, okay, Sissel in the original timeline didn’t know he had the vital time-rewinding power. But then that begs the question: why didn’t Missile just tell him that while asking for his help?

For that matter, why did Sissel leave Missile shortly after being asked for help? It can’t just be because he urgently had to go and look elsewhere for answers to his own mystery, because he’s not pressed for time here. And he was apparently chilling at the junkyard just eavesdropping on the investigators’ conversations before Missile showed up. Why the sudden shift in locations now of all times, when there’s someone here who’s actually talking to him – the first person Sissel would have been able to talk to all night – and asking him for help?

The issue here, I believe, is that this isn’t just a matter of Sissel’s lack of understanding what his powers can do. It’s also a matter of emotional state – both Sissel’s, and Missile’s. Both of them would have been incredibly stressed out and upset, Sissel due to his loss of memory and seeing deaths in front of him that he doesn’t think he can do anything about, and Missile due to his mistresses’ deaths that he also can’t do anything about, even though he has a superpower that lets him try but it just isn’t quite enough.

How would Missile and Sissel’s interaction go when they’re both so upset like this? There’s actually a fun little bite-sized example of this in the actual canon timeline. During the last desperate struggle to escape the sinking submarine…

Missile:  “Sissel! Y-Y-Y… You’re not telling Miss Lynne to leave poor Miss Kamila behind, ARE YOU?!” Sissel:  *sigh* “Could you just be quiet for a minute, Missile?”

Missile and Sissel are bound to be both extremely anxious and stressed in this situation – trapped in the submarine, Lynne and Kamila in danger of drowning if they don’t do something. And in that state of mind, it seems that Missile is prone to eschewing logic to be even more loudly desperately protective of his mistresses… while Sissel especially does not enjoy Missile being Loudly Boisterously Dog in his ear when he’s stressed out. After all, cats and dogs have very opposite and very incompatible ways of dealing with stress!

So it follows that the conversation between Sissel and Missile in the original timeline would likely have been an incoherent emotional mess, in which neither of them properly communicated their side of things at all. Missile must have just never even thought to tell Sissel that he can rewind time and therefore saving his ladies is actually possible in theory, because that was already obvious to him! He wouldn’t be capable of understanding why Sissel would be so reluctant about this.

As for why Sissel wasn’t just reluctant to help but outright ran away and sealed the deal – I think, more than anything, it’s got to be down to the fact that he couldn’t stand having Missile being so loud and energetic at him when he was this upset. Especially not while repeatedly saying that he can save them, which would be the exact thing Sissel has been miserably convinced that he just can’t. It follows that he’d just have wanted to run and hide somewhere Missile isn’t, where he can have some peace and quiet. Cats who are upset often like to hide and isolate themselves to feel safer.

There’s one other part in the game’s tutorial that suggests the problem originally might have been partly a matter of Sissel’s emotions:

Ray:  “Hello there. How are you feeling? Not very well, I imagine. A terrible tragedy, what happened tonight.” Sissel:  “………” [neutral face] Ray:  “Ah, ignoring me, are you? It’s a little too early for you to be so stiff and cold, I’d say.” Sissel:  [smiling] “Ah, so it was you. You were that voice in my head, right?”

This is very noteworthy, because Ray is the only person in the entire game who ever takes the time to ask Sissel how he’s feeling. He wouldn’t be feeling great after waking up dead, watching a woman die in front of him and failing to save her, would he?

It seems like old-Missile, with his years of wisdom and time to reflect on everything, realised that his approach to getting Sissel’s help last time really was way too focused on his own problems, and he never even stopped to think about how Sissel must have been feeling. So here, he presents himself as a friend, someone who cares about Sissel and his journey, because that’s exactly what Sissel needs! This poor kitty must have felt so lonely and sad and helpless in the original timeline. But hearing Ray’s words, and realising that this desk lamp is someone semi-familiar, does seem to cheer him up at least a little bit here! Sissel really is a character whose core desperate need is to just not be alone, even if you’d be hard-pressed to get him to admit that at the beginning.

Interestingly, way back when I first played Ghost Trick, on the DS soon after it came out, I found myself intrigued by Sissel in the original timeline. I vaguely toyed with the idea of writing a fic exploring how he was feeling and why he refused, though I never got around to actually doing so. Then recently, the game coming out in HD rekindled my hyperfixation and made me think about it some more and actually end up writing that fic after all. And the thing is, back then, I didn’t remotely consciously understand any of this stuff I’ve just explained here. But even so, I find it neat how I still had this wordless sense that what was going on with Sissel must have been so much more than just selfishness – that he must have been so sad in that timeline and that had to be the real basis of why he didn’t help.

[emilystheories]

The Dusk Court: A Gateway Between Worlds.

There is so much mystery and intrigue surrounding the Dusk Court. Why did it vanish? Where did its people go? I've mulled over many different theories, but I always come back to how dusk (or nightfall) is described in Throne of Glass:

"Nightfall. That was when Maeve had told Erawan to meet. That liminal space between light and dark, when one force yielded to another. When she would open the portal for Dorian from rooms away."

Light and dark. Opening portals.

As such, I believe the Dusk Court was home to a Wyrdgate (portal) of immense power, where the people of Midgard and Prythian once crossed over into each other's worlds.

[Spoilers for ACOTAR and CC ahead].

Autumnal Equinox.

To explain this theory, I first need to break down some observations I have noted about the workings of the ACOTAR and Crescent City worlds.

The first involves the Autumnal Equinox, as mentioned in HOSAB. In a conversation between Hypaxia and Ruhn, it is noted that the Autumnal Equinox is when the "veil between the realms is thinnest."

"Hypaxia nodded sagely. “There is a ritual I could perform … It’d need to be on the Autumnal Equinox, though.” “When the veil between realms is thinnest,” Ruhn said."

We know this is true, as on the night of the Autumnal Equinox, Apollion visits Bryce in her dreams, and is able to physically touch her:

"This night, I might appear to you—as more than a vision.” He reached out a hand, and Bryce flinched as it touched her. Truly touched her, ice so cold it ached."

However, the Autumnal Equinox is also known as Death's Day. Note how it is described here (as it becomes important for a later part of this theory):

"On the Autumnal Equinox, we shall have our mating ceremony here in Lunathion.” A month away. The holiday known as Death’s Day was a lively one, despite its name: it was a day of balance between the light and dark, when the veil between the living and dead was thinnest."

The Autumnal Equinox/Death's Day is celebrated by people dressing up in costumes (such as Danika and Bryce dressing up as trash one year, lol). Because of this, one can assume that SJM is referencing Halloween.

[art by Emilia Mildner]

This is further corroborated in the Throne of Glass books, as Aelin notes that on Samhuinn, again, the "veil between the worlds [is] thinnest" (and this is when she interacts with Elena, the dead queen).

"Until the previous kingdom, the previous city, the packed streets full of revellers out to celebrate Samhuinn, to honor the gods when the veil between worlds was thinnest."

Samhuinn is in reference to Samhain; the Celtic version (and origins of) Halloween.

To summarise; in Midgard, Death's Day (or what we know as Halloween) occurs on the Autumnal Equinox. It is a day to honour the dead. It takes place on the one night of the year when the veil between the realms/worlds is thinnest.

Starfall.

In Prythian (and more specifically, the Night Court), we have Starfall; the one night of the year when the spirits of the deceased (which manifest as stars) make their yearly migration across the sky.

However, as many have already pointed out, there seems to be a connection between Starfall, and Midgard. This is because Rhys notes that the number of stars participating in Starfall is dwindling:

“Thousands,” he said. “They’ll keep coming until dawn. Or, I hope they will. There were less and less of them the last time I witnessed Starfall.”

This aligns with what we know of the Asteri, who, instead of letting the souls of the dead pass onto the next life (and presumably, participate in Starfall), will consume these souls for food.

[Art by Clarywhy]

However, Rhys mentions that no one knows why the stars choose this particular date to make their journey across the sky. But, I have a theory about this.

I actually believe that Starfall is happening at all times - every single night. Instead, the only reason that they can see the stars (spirits) on Starfall... is because on that particular date, the veil between the realms is the thinnest. This makes sense, as again - the stars are the spirits of the deceased; you shouldn't be able to see them.

Essentially, it's the Prythian version of Death's Day... a celebration of the deceased (which is exactly what Starfall is...).

But this is where it gets interesting; Starfall occurs on the Spring Equinox (or what is known as the 'vernal' equinox).

In Midgard, as we just discussed, Death's Day occurs on the Autumnal Equinox.

So, if there is only one single date per year when the veil between the worlds is thinnest... for Prythian, this is occurring on the Spring Equinox, and for Midgard, this is occurring on the Autumnal Equinox.

This suggests that Prythian and Midgard are... mirror worlds (which perhaps explains why Bryce was yanked across into Prythian, as opposed to being pulled down?). Or, at the very least, it suggests that these two worlds are operating as opposites to each other. It may also help to explain why SJM stated that there was 6 months between the ACOTAR timeline and the CC timeline.

The Dusk Court.

Towards the end of HOSAB, Rigelus states that the Starborn fae originated from an island of "near permanent twilight," that was "a few miles from the mainland."

“Not your kind of Fae, of course—your breed dwelled in a lovely, verdant land, rich with magic. If it’s of any interest to you, your Starborn bloodline specifically hailed from a small isle a few miles from the mainland. And while the mainland had all manner of climes, the isle existed in beautiful, near-permanent twilight."

This all but confirms that the Starborn fae originated from the Dusk Court, and that this was situated on the Prison Island (which is a few miles away from the mainland of Prythian). Rhys corroborates this by suggesting that the Prison Island once used to be an "eighth court."

"Rhys told me once that this island might have even been an eighth court.”

And, as even more proof, Nesta witnesses the marking of an eight-pointed star on the floor of the Prison; the symbol of the Starborn fae.

However, there is one other location that ties into the narrative around the Dusk Court - Avallen Island (in Midgard).

Avallen Island.

The Prison Island isn't the only place that is jam-packed with hints of the Starborn fae. Instead, Avallen Island, in Midgard, is too. For example:

Avallen Island was where Ruhn found the Starsword (where he was surrounded by the sarcophagi/statues of the "sleeping" Starborn Princes...)

The Avallen fae (or some of them) are said to be Starborn themselves (Cormac says he has Starborn blood, but "not enough to be worthy of the blade"). However, instead of starlight, their powers typically manifest as shadows.

With this in mind, it's also noteworthy that Bryce's star glows for Cormac (and we know that her star glows for those who are connected to Prythian).

Additionally, there are a number of stark similarities between Avallen Island and the Prison Island. Most prominently, both islands are enshrouded in the same mysterious mist, and both are guarded by ancient magic. For example:

Avallen Island:

"I want you in Avallen because it is a safehold. Even the Asteri cannot pierce its mists without permission, so old is the magic that guards it.”

Prison Island:

“When you’re in there,” Rhys said, the words barely audible over the wind and silver streams running down the mountainside, “you won’t be able to reach me.” “Why?” I rubbed my already-freezing hands together before puffing a hot breath into the cradle of my palms. “Wards and spells far older than Prythian,” was all Rhys said."

In sum, the similarities between Avallen Island and the Prison Island are so stark, that I believe they were once connected (and perhaps still are). There are two ways this could be possible:

A Wyrdgate or portal that once existed between the two worlds (joining the two islands together).

They are literally the same place.

Option 1: Wyrdgate or portal.

Towards the end of HOSAB, Rigelus tells us that the Dusk Court existed in a "near permanent twilight," but, that doesn't make much sense -- you can't alter the sun like that (which is why it’s not permanently night-time in the Night Court, or not always day-time in the Day Court, etc). So, what else could this be referring to?

I believe that the Dusk Court used to be the place where there was a Wyrdgate (or a portal) between the ACOTAR world (on the Prison Island) and the Crescent City world (on Avallen Island). They are two separate worlds, but the people on both islands merged and interacted due to the Wyrdgate (portal).

And, as I mentioned at the start of this post, there is evidence to suggest that the ACOTAR and CC worlds are mirrors of each other - or opposites. Thus:

If it's nighttime on Avallen Island, it would be daytime on the Prison island.

If it was dawn on Avallen Island, it would be dusk on the Prison Island.

As such, there is a continual contrast between the light and the dark between the two islands. And that is what dusk is; the merging of the light and the dark. This is what Rigelus is referring to.

Thus, I believe that Dusk Court -- as it existed 15,000 (+) years ago -- didn't just involve the Prison Island... but it encompassed Avallen Island too.

I believe this also explains the powers of the Starborn:

Shadow wielders lived on Avallen Island (and they are represented by Truth-Teller; a knife that glows with a dark, BLACK light).

Starlight wielders lived on the Prison Island (and they are represented by the Starsword, which glows with a bright, WHITE light).

Both make up the two halves of the Dusk Court.

However, although they were separate worlds, evidently, they interacted. Because of this, I believe Queen Theia (who possessed starlight) married/mated and had children with whoever was the King of Avallen (who likely possessed shadow powers). I believe this was High King Fionn, given that the ruler of Avallen is also referred to as "High King"... but that's a theory for another day.

Yet most importantly, this is why their children, such as Helena, were said to have skin that glowed with "starlight AND shadows."

“So does Helena’s,” Ruhn shot back, then recited, “Night-haired Helena, from whose golden skin poured starlight and shadows.”

Eventually however, it is presumed that something happened to the Starborn who lived on the Prison Island (and Nesta senses that they were stuck in stone, or perhaps sent in time somewhere using the Harp?).

"Fae screamed, pounding on stone that hadn’t been there a moment before, pleading for their children’s sakes, begging to be let out let out let out— Nesta had the sensation of falling, tumbling through air and stars and time— It was a trap, and our people were too blind to see it—"

This is likely why the shadow wielders (such as Cormac, Ruhn) still exist on Avallen... but the starlight wielders (such as Bryce) are much more rare.

In the present day, Bryce (a starlight wielder) possesses the Starsword, but resides in Midgard (the Avallen side of the Dusk Court).

In comparison, Azriel (a shadow wielder), possesses Truth-teller, but lives in Prythian (the Prison Island side of the Dusk Court).

Just in reference to their power, it's almost like they're both stuck on the wrong side?

Option 2: Avallen Island and the Prison Island are the exact same place.

In ACOSF, readers are given a hypothesis about how the multiverse works; that the worlds are stacked on top of each other, perhaps even SHARING THE SAME SPACE, but are then separated by time.

"Merrill’s brilliant. Horrible, but brilliant. When she first came here, she was obsessed with theories regarding the existence of different realms—different worlds. Living on top of each other without even knowing it. Whether there is merely one existence, our existence, or if it might be possible for worlds to overlap, occupying the same space but separated by time and a whole bunch of other things I can’t even begin to explain to you because I barely understand them myself.”

But, given the mists and and the "ancient magic" involved in both the Prison Island and Avallen Island... what if the worlds are not separated in this one specific location? So, those in Midgard know of Avallen Island... those in Prythian know of the Prison Island... but, they're the same exact place.

This might seem insane, but there are two points of evidence that make me think it's possible.

The Avallen fae live and dress in the same way as the Prythian fae.

The Avallen fae are said to follow the "old ways." They don't have phones, and don't watch TV. Just like Prythian.

Then when Bryce lands in Prythian and meets the Inner Circle, she notes that they're all dressed the same as the Avallen fae.

"This female was … Fae. Clad in beautiful, yet thoroughly old-fashioned clothes. Like the stuff they wore on Avallen."

This is really damn suspicious. And it leads me to my second point:

2. The Avallen fae have the power to "veil the physical world."

As demonstrated in this passage here:

"[...] power to summon shadows or mist that could not only veil the physical world, but the mind as well.“

The Prison Island looks empty and barren... but is it? What if instead, everything is veiled?

If we entertain the thought that the Prison Island and Avallen Island are one and the same... then what if this has been hidden from the Prythian fae...?

Most of us agree that the Dusk Court is going to play a huge role in upcoming books. However, at present, the Prison Island is barren land. To re-establish the Dusk Court, they'll need to rebuild an entire court from the ground up... which seems rather implausible, given the timeline.

But if the Dusk Court is instead veiled, that's a different story...

Plot-wise, this makes perfect sense for CC3.

From the Midgard POV, exploring Avallen seems like the next logical step. It is the only place that the Asteri cannot enter, so if Ruhn, Hunt and Baxian manage to escape the Asteri's dungeons, it would make sense that they go there.

From the Prythian POV, it seems logical that Bryce will be finding the answers to 'Dusk's Truth,' and will end up exploring the Prison Island.

Both POV's are about exploring the Dusk Court.

As someone who is of the opinion that SJM is going full multiverse (and that CC3 won't be the end of Bryce's adventures in Prythian), my guess is at the end of CC3, when Bryce is at the Prison Island, and Ruhn, Hunt, Baxian are at Avallen Island... someone, on one side (likely the Avallen side), will be stepping through that gate.

Bryce's role in all of this.

It has been my mission over the past few months to emphasise just how important Bryce is to Prythian - that her returning home to Midgard at the end of CC3 (to then just pass the torch onto another character for a supposed spin-off novel) makes no sense.

Instead, Bryce has Queen Theia's exact starlight (to the point where I am pretty sure she is some sort of reincarnation). She is the heir to the Starborn fae, whose true home is the Dusk Court in Prythian (even her scent is of dusk!) And most of all, the star on her chest is a beacon for Prythian; she quite literally glows for the ACOTAR world.

Additionally, given how the Avallen fae tie into this narrative too, it's also worth mentioning that Bryce has been repeatedly foreshadowed to be the High Queen of Avallen.

"Cormac cut in, “One day, she’ll be Queen of Avallen. She’d be a fool to throw it away on a bastard angel.”

"Jesiba said, “I suppose I should consider it an honor, to be called a friend by the Starborn Princess daughter of the Autumn King.” A slight pause, and Bryce knew what was coming next. “And the future Queen of Avallen.”

In fact, Cormac's final words to Bryce were about leading their people forward.

But after today …” Cormac’s words grew heavy. Weary. “I think the choice about whether to lead our people forward will be up to you.”

Which, sounds an awful lot like the ancient fae prophecy connected to all of this:

"When knife and sword are reunited, so shall our people be."

[Art by wavyhues]

And, if Bryce is destined to become High Queen of Avallen, as well as High Lady of the Dusk Court... isn't it fitting that she possesses the Horn, which grants her the ability to enter other worlds?

The Queen who walked between worlds...

[fyrefrostanimus]

More Slay The Princess posting because I had an AU idea that was so simple yet so stupidly funny to me.

Suburbia AU. All the Voices and Chapter II Princesses are not inside The Construct and are instead people living in a little suburb town: since the Voices are not voices and the Princesses are not really princesses here, I'll just refer to them as their titles. The Narrator is not counted as he does not have a parallel Princess.

I'll start with the Not-Voices as the drawing of the player character I posted earlier today inspired these headshots, which later spiraled into this AU.

To start, Hero and Princess are a newlywed couple who just moved here. The others are also technically married to each other (except for Hunted) but I wanted to specify these two. They saw the housing prices were low and moved here, not knowing the batshit crazy things that go on there. Hero always tries to do the right thing, to varying degrees of success. He'll listen to all sides before deciding if he can, just as in game as a voice.

Contrarian is a funny guy. He's always cracking jokes with Stranger, and whenever someone visits (or, in the case of Hero, moves in), he calls this place a normal town. Because compared to the things he has seen with his multi-headed wife (wives?), this is normal. Ask him and he will describe the most bizzare things you have ever heard, leaving you to question if this is actually something he has witnessed or if he's making shit up for fun (he has been known to do both).

Stubborn originally concerned everyone when they heard physical fights break out every night from their house. Then they realized that this is just how him and Adversary usually act. They both like fighting each other and yes Stubborn got fired from a job at one point for starting a fight club. If you manage to break his fighting spirit, Skeptic woukd like to talk to you to ask how the hell you managed to do it.

Smitten really can't see the problem with most of the odd couples in town. He really believes in treating your wife how she wishes to be treated, whether that be daily brawls or something that escalates further than that. Really he only has issues with Cheated, since he can't tell how Razor feels.

Cold killed his wife. Let's get that out of the way. Only he can see and hear her ghost and he's genuinely surprised she still loves him. He moved to town because the law was on his tail and they couldn't do anything in this little town. He talks about his wife in past tense but everyone knows he talks to himself like she's still here (he's actually talking to Spectre).

Opportunist and Witch always think the other is up to something. This causes the Pygmalion Effect to go into action, retroactively making both of them right. No one on the outside understands how they're still married, but Smitten somehow has concluded this is a game they play with each other, no matter how much Skeptic tries to tell him they are not kidding each other.

Cheated has to keep Razor locked up because she will kill everyone else she can if she's free. The only reason he's not dead is because she can't bring herself to kill him: not that she'd weep at the idea, it's that killing someone she loves would feel slightly weird when there are other possible victims. The problem is that no one understands why he has to keep his wife in the basement.

No one believes Broken when he says his wife is a goddess. Smitten says all of them are, but everyone else has picked up on the fact that Broken is being completely serious. Everyone thinks it's part of his religion that his goddess is his wife as he is her priest, but Tower refuses to tell them because she finds it funny that they don't just take his word for it. It's entertaining enough to her that she's fine with being in the background. For now.

Hunted fears for his own life. Beast is deeply obsessed with him and knowing her, you can see how this is going to go. He always carries a weapon on the off chance she shows up, and sticks with grouos whenever he can since she'll only come after him when he's alone. Ironically he's more paranoid than Paranoid half the time.

Skeptic likes setting up escape rooms and letting Prisoner test-run them before giving everyone else a go: if she can't solve a puzzle, there's no way in hell anyone who doesn't already know the answer can. He's also usually the last one to come to a conclusion about anything.

Paranoid knows that he needs to be careful around Nightmare, because she could easily kill him by accident. He's also been sure to tell everyone else how to survive being around her since he'd feel extremely bad if they died because they didn't know.

[dalishious]

Beginner’s Lore Guide to Possession

Possession is when a spirit/demon from the Fade enters the waking world through inhabiting a host.

Why do spirits/demons want to possess people?

According to the Chantry, spirits/demons are jealous of mortals for being the favoured children of the Maker, and crave life’s experiences. This may be at least to some degree true, as Kitty, a desire demon in the Dragon Age: Origins DLC “The Stone Prisoner”, says she wants to experience the mortal realm through mortal eyes.

Can only mages be possessed?

It is true that mages are more vulnerable to becoming possessed—theorized that due to their innate connection to the Fade, they are a juicier target for demons. However, anyone and anything is capable of being possessed by a spirit/demon. It is only a common misconception among Thedas that mages are uniquely susceptible. Living people who become possessed are referred to as abominations.

Examples of non-mage people and possession:

In Dragon Age: Origins, Uldred will say he plans for any PC, mage or not-mage, to forcefully put a demon inside them, during the quest “The Broken Circle”

In Dragon Age II, Wilmod, a templar recruit, is possessed by a demon that was forcefully put inside him during the quest “Enemies Among Us”

In Dragon Age: Inquisition, the PC becomes briefly possessed by an Envy demon looking to study them during the quest “Champions of the Just”

Most cases above were through the use of blood magic, and all against the actual host’s will.

Animals and plants can become possessed by spirits/demons as well:

Kitty in the Dragon Age: Origins DLC “The Stone Prisoner” is actually a desire demon

Sylvans are the result of spirits/demons possessing trees

Lord Woolsley in Dragon Age: Inquisition’s quest “The Ballad of Lord Woolsley” is actually a rage demon

Even inanimate objects can become hosts to spirits/demons if drawn into them by a mage—this is what spellbinders do, then channel said objects for power.

Does becoming tranquil make you immune to possession?

The Rite of Tranquility severs one’s connection from the Fade, making possession less likely. It does not, however, make one completely immune. This is proven by Pharamond, a tranquil mage in Dragon Age: Asunder, becoming possessed.

Can only living creatures be possessed?

Walking corpses are the result of spirits possessing the body of a deceased person. This is purposely done in Nevarra as part of their culture; the Mortalitasi mages perform a ritual to draw a spirit into the deceased’s body as part of funerary rites. But it can also unintentionally happen, making it a practical choice in most cultures to cremate their dead.

In some cases, a spirit possessing a corpse can maintain some semblance of itself: for example, Justice in Dragon Age: Origins’s expansion “Awakening”. And in other cases, the spirit may take on the identity of the deceased: for example, Audric in the Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights story “Down Among the Dead Men”. But mostly, spirits who possess corpses are just confused, and can become aggressive.

Among walking corpses are uniquely classified “arcane horrors”, which are the result of pride demons (considered the most powerful demon) taking control of mage corpses. They maintain all the spellcasting abilities of a living mage.

Is possession always malicious?

While the most common form of possession is from a demon seeking power in the waking world, it is not always the case. There at least three examples of spirits taking possession of a host for benevolent reasons:

In Dragon Age: Origins, Wynne reveals that she is hosting a spirit of faith that is keeping her alive after a deadly encounter during Uldred’s uprising

In Dragon Age II, Anders reveals that he is hosting a spirit of Justice that he befriended in the “Awakening” expansion of Dragon Age: Origins—a deal the two made to fight for mage freedoms*

In Dragon Age: Asunder, Wynne passes on her spirit of faith into Evangeline, to save Evangeline’s life as it once did hers

*It should be noted though, that Anders believes that because of his rage, the spirit of Justice transformed into a demon of Vengeance in the possession process. Still, the act itself was not one out of ill intent, and Wynne and Evangeline’s cases prove that this is not always the result.

Are abominations always monstrous looking?

Most abominations encountered appear monstrous and disfigured. They are described in one codex entry as “looking as if a demon were wearing a man like a twisted suit of skin”.

Dragon Age: The Calling describes Fiona becoming possessed as the following:

“The elf threw back her head and let out a horrible, keening wail. Her entire body tensed, her hands flying out at her sides. Her skin became a pale white, and then began to change. It bulged, and twisted. Her body grew, and took on a hideous form, her head becoming something gnarled and fanged even as she shrieked in torment. And then the transformation was done. A demonic abomination now stood where Fiona once had, a thing of rent flesh and claws, its gender no longer even apparent. The thing’s eyes glowed with menace.”

Additionally, Dragon Age: Asunder describes possessed Pharamond thus so:

“He looked misshapen, his flesh hideously twisted across his frame. His arms were too long and thin, his fingers ending in talons, his lips pulled back from his teeth in a disturbing grimace.”

This is not always the case, though:

Wynne maintains her human form, possessed by a spirit of faith

Connor maintains his human form, possessed by a desire demon

Anders maintains his human form, possessed by a spirit/demon of justice/vengeance

Wilmod maintains his human form, possessed by a demon

Evangeline maintains her human form, possessed by a spirit of faith

Mihris maintains her elf form, possessed by Imshael, an ancient desire demon (one of The Forbidden Ones)

What determines if this physical transformation takes place or not is unknown.

What happens to a spirit/demon if its host dies?

There is conflicting information about what happens to a spirit/demon after its host is killed. Marethari in Dragon Age II claims that killing her will kill the pride demon she took inside of her. The narrative certainly treats this as true, though it is possible she didn’t know what she was really talking about. Because according to Anders in the same game, killing him would set Justice free back into the Fade. This is the case in the Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights story “Hunger”, where the main characters think they have killed the hunger demon attacking them, but in truth have only banished it. Given the later scenario outnumbers the former, I think it’s safe to assume that the spirit/demon is released from the host after the host dies, until concretely proven otherwise.

Can possession be reversed?

Morrigan explains that the process to reverse possession is not an easy one, but entirely possible. There are known cases of it:

Fiona in Dragon Age: The Calling is possessed by a demon, while the others in the party are sucked into Fade dreams as well. After Maric breaks out of his dream sequence with the help of a friendly spirit, he and the rest of the party defeat the demon, freeing Fiona. (Although it was ultimately Fiona who defeated the demon and freed herself)

Connor in the Dragon Age: Origins quest “The Arl of Redcliffe” is possessed by a desire demon, and the PC may choose to save him by going into the Fade and defeating the demon there, freeing him. This can be done using lots of lyrium and a group of mages, or by one mage (Jowan) using blood magic

Pharamond in Dragon Age: Asunder is possessed by a pride demon. The party performs the same ritual used on Connor and frees him, which also cures him of tranquility

Dragon Age: Asunder clarifies that you need at least three mages to perform the Circle’s known ritual of de-possession.

This is all contrary to what is said by Vivienne and Cassandra in Dragon Age: Inquisition, who you would think know otherwise, though. But hey, so are so many things.

SOURCES

Dragon Age: Origins

Dragon Age II

Dragon Age: Inquisition

Dragon Age: Asunder

Dragon Age: The Masked Empire

Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights

Dragon Age: The World of Thedas vol. 1

Codex entry: Demonic Possession (DA:O)

Codex entry: Abomination (DA:O)

Codex entry: Wild Sylvan (DA:O)

Codex entry: Arcane Horror (DA:O)

Codex entry: Corpse (DA:O)

Codex entry: Spellbinder (DA:I)

Dialogue with Wynne about her spirit of faith (DA:O)

Dialogue with Morrigan about possession (DA:O)

Dialogue with Kitty about wanting to possess Amalia (DA:O)

Dialogue with Anders about Justice (DA:2)

Dialogue with Marethari about Audacity (DA:2)

Dialogue with Solas about spirits/demons and possession (DA:I)

-----

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[lavalais76]

I was reading terrible things about Sansa Stark and now my blood is boiling. How could people HATE an 11 yr old child who has absolutely no control over her own life. They went as far as to saying the mountain-clan will kidnap her and she will marry Timit!!!!😳

They also say Sansa will remain in the Vale until the end of the last book, but have no objections to Arya and Dany on a revenge killing spree. And for God's sake don't mention Sansa with Jon. They absolutely go INSANE, saying Dany and Jon will save humanity. Dany can't save anyone if she is killing millions of people and burning others alive.

Sansa will kill LF with the help of Timit is what they say and OHHH, Jon will marry Val. How TF can Val be QINT when she is a wilding and no real princess. She looks the part as Jon says, but we ALL know what kind of woman Jon REALLY CRAVE. A high born willowy creature who brushes her hair waiting for some knight to save her.

Jon craves Sansa Stark aNd I personally believe he always HAVE. My response to "these idiots was this: (and I could be wrong) but who knows.

Alyas Karstark was a red herring. Sansa is definitely the girl in grey. Miranda also has a grey cloak that went missing and WHY would Miranda mention Jon being LC to Sansa? There is a reason for all of that. Just like Arya and Jon were to fall in love in original version, it's going to be Sansa and Jon.

Jon even says he has no sister (,5Never considered Sansa a sister) he then says “my half sister truly” (that's what he and Sansa referred to each other as) He mistakes Melsandra for Ygritte, and says all robes are GREY in the dark, yet suddenly hers were RED. Martin is a hell of a writer, and I was in denial about Sansa being the grey girl as well. Not anymore.

Sansa is getting the hell out of the Vale. There will be no kidnapping from mointain-clans or falling in love with a secondary character such as Timit. What sense would that even make? Some people act as if Sansa doesn't matter, or she is some side character when she has one of the most tragic SAD stories in the whole series. She is scared and do whatever she has to do to survive, even if it means allowing LF to kiss her and molest her in which she has NO CONTROL over. It also blows my mind how people were “shipping” (and I hate that word) Sansa Stark and the HOUND of all monsters. Sansa has had 4 FALE BEASTS in her life. Joffery, Tyrion, The Hound, and LF. These men are evil and takes advantage of a young lonely 11 yr old girl who has been captured like a butterfly in a Jar. They are evil, YES; BUT they are NOT the real BEAST.

The real BEAST is Jon Snow. As we know, Jon was already a bit ruthless before the stabbings. (I do not think Jon died that night) For ONE: We need to think about the SNOW and hypothermia which can save the lives of people who are bleeding by knife wound or gunshot would. It's simple Science. Will Jon be on the brink of death and have a Near death experience? YES. There will be a lot of chaos at Castle Black and the wildings are very loyal to Jon. Eventually they will be ruling the wall while Jon recovers along with a few other loyal CROWS that love and respect Jon.

Master Ameon had a dragon dream when him, Gilly and Sam sailed off. He couldn't shake the feeling that he needed to tell Jon Snow that “ the cold preserves.” A fan asked GRRM about Jon's resurrection, and Martin said, “You think Jon is dead do you?” Maybe he was toying around, but everyone automatically assumed he DIED when there is absolutely NO EVIDENCE.

“He never felt the 4 knife only the cold” How do we even know there was a 4th knife or any other knives afterwards? Why was Jon’s hand clumsy when he tried to pull his sword out? Did they drug him? Why was Ghost acting hostile before the stabbings? Of course Ghost knew what was up. There is no telling who is involved in the attempt on Jon's life. Melsandra told him to watch the ones who smile in his face while they sharpen their daggers. I don't even rule Satin out, as Ive said many, many times.

On the show, Ollie was Satin in my opinion. They did not want to give it away. Back to Jon and Sansa and a few other things. First I want to say, Melsandra will definitely burn Shrinee thinking Stannis is actually dead. She will play absolutely NO PART in bringing Jon back from his “coma”. It's going to be Jon's wolf who saves him and release his soul back into his body, and Ghost will die, also sliding his shadow into Jon because Jon IS GHOST.

He will definitely be a beast and he will not be the same Jon as we know him. This is where Sansa Stark ( girl in grey) will come along and temper Jon just like she did the hound. They will eventually work together and fall in love and struggle with these feelings because keep in mind, Jon and Sansa does not know each other AT ALL. Yes, he will welcome her in open arms and be extremely protective of her, and yes they will fight while trying to get their home back or when they have to rebuild Winterfell together. (The blood of Winterfell)

Sansa Stark is destined to go North because she is the only one out of all the Stark children who has her wolf buried at Winterfell, and as Melsandra like to say: “the bones remember"

[paradoxcase]

Chapter 27 of Nona the Ninth

Looks like the Nook app had a character encoding issue, haha. Going into the ebook file, it looks like it was supposed to be Takṣa, which seems to be the name of a person who's important to Hinduism in some way. I'm guessing the rest of those names that I don't recognize are probably also random Earth references

That's pretty interesting, and makes a lot of sense, and follows on from Pash talking about being in BOE from a young age. And I guess maybe also explains why We Suffer tolerates Pash and gives her important assignments in spite of the fact that they seem to clash a bit, personality-wise

Man, so many people have come back that I hope G1deon does come back at some point, both for Pyrrha's sake, and also, I'd like to actually learn what kind of person he was. I know that G-- there is probably just her saying [g], but it makes me think of the way he is referred to in the John sections, like she is saying his original name? But even if she knows what that is, I don't think there's any reason for Nona to not hear it here

Manifesting cosmic spider Alecto

She just, like - she's not having a tantrum or anything right now, she just sticks a sword into her leg because it's inconvenient to carry it and she's only worried about damaging her shirt

Also, I don't think it is ever clarified in this chapter what she actually needs the sword for? Was she planning on fighting the Heralds?

I'm not sure exactly when she had this communication? She doesn't talk about it at all, the only time she really mentions Number Seven is when she said good night to it that one time, and she doesn't mention ever having had like, a conversation with it. I also don't think she knows it's possessing Judith at this point or she would probably have addressed Judith in the truck, I would guess. Number Seven also claims that she asked it for help, but I can't find anywhere in the story where she did that or mentions having done that

This has to refer to John, right? I don't think there are any other relevant male characters left in this story, except Palamedes, who is definitely not who's being referred to here. But John hasn't been present at all in any of the Nona-narrated sections of this story and is probably on the other side of the galaxy right now, so I'm not sure how he could be fleeing from Number Seven here

Again, I'm not sure when this happened, unless it's referring to something that happened 10,000 years ago? Or how a planet can somehow give "blood for blood", or what exactly it was supposed to help with, or how

Yeah, I think she knows what it means. She's standing up here begging Number Seven to not eat the planet and not kill all the people she cares about, so yeah, I think she does

So this was what Judith was talking about earlier:

And:

Alecto is a "green thing" I guess because Earth has plantlife? But if you see it from space, it looks more blue than green. I guess she is green-and-breathing because she has a physical body? I'm not sure who Number Seven saw in the waves, here. The people fighting it were G1deon, Mercy, Augustine, Ianthe, and briefly Nonius and co. Is it talking about how it noticed Ianthe arriving in the shuttle via the River and remembered that she was one of the people who had fought it earlier?

Here on truck, I'm not sure if Number Seven is talking about Nona expending Harrow's body or something else when it says "you eat yourself". And so far, we are to understand that the resurrection beasts do eat living planets and aren't interested in the dead ones, so I'm not sure what it means by "unliving marrow", either

I mean it did work on one resurrection beast

I don't know what the significance of this is

More references to whatever this tower is. Is this some new thing that John made to fight resurrection beasts now that he's down to just one Lyctor?

Maybe Judith is going to be ok, but she's not up to date on recent events, haha

[derekscorner]

Fated Rantings: El motherf**kin Melloi

I'm back! I don't even know how many this makes but by hell welcome back to my trip through Fate! I've been looking forward to this one for a while now. Ever since I finished Fate Zero (click here <-) in fact. (-> here's part two)

The "why done it" in this case being due to Waver Velvet and Iskandar. When I sat through Fate Zero I absolutely loved their arc and dynamic as the story progressed. Iskandar is one of the best bros I've seen written within Fate which is a praise I also give to Astolfo from Apocrypha.

Of course, with Astolfo I was also shocked by the sheer dissonance between the meme and the actual character. In Iskandar's case, I was shocked by the sheer misinterpretation of the Banquet of Kings scene.

I'll fight any of you on that scene and his character. It left me questioning the critical thinking skills of many given what I had heard vs what I actually saw.

But that's for another post, I linked the part two of the fate zero post if you're curious about my feelings of that scene.

What's most important for this post is just how much Waver changed after Fate Zero or more specifically the 4th Holy Grail War.

Multiple Histories, One World

Now, as with nearly every post these days, I do feel the need to preface the multiverse nature of Fate and it's Type-Moon cousins. This multiverse has fed a lot of the complicated reputation for these stories and many movies are adapting a specific route or ending from a novel.

Fate Stay Night, Fate Hollow Ataraxia, Tsukihime, so many have multiple routes and endings. FSN in particular has had two anime and three movies depicting each main route.

This is relevant because the El Melloi Case files are based on actual light novels rather than visual novels. The anime is only 13 episodes long and it by no means has the time to truly adapt every novel in that series.

This should also be kept in mind because events and terms are shared among the various stories but that does not mean each story is connected.

For example, in most stories where Waver Velvet exists usually depict him as a participant in the 4th Holy Grail War but this does not mean that every Waver you see lived through Fate Zero.

Fate Zero is a specific retelling of the 4th Grail War but not the universal depiction. A good example of what I mean is with Saber (Artoria) from Fate Stay Night.

In the original visual novel as well as the UBW anime (and others) Saber references the 4th Grail War and Kiritsugu. Even though servants aren't supposed to remember previous summons she does but the war she remembers in those stories is not the same story from Fate Zero.

Fate Zero is just one alternative version of the 4th Grail War. The war itself happens in several alternate worlds but none of them are exactly the same series of events.

In other words, you'll see Waver cameo in many stories but never assume they all had the same history. They probably had similar histories.

With that out of the way let us focus on the version of Waver we did see, the boy from Fate Zero that's grown into a lord of the Clocktower.

What a true life changing experience just meeting someone can be

l've said it before but it's entirely possible to see the anime from the 2010s as their own pocket continuity. I won't claim that as 100% accurate since even 'ol Nasu said Fate Zero is it's own timeline but I do fully believe it can apply here.

El Melloi calls back to Fate Zero often and while the anime leaves out a lot that the novel covers it's still worth seeing. It focuses well on what became of Waver after Fate Zero and how Iskandar changed him.

It's even a plot point that he's obsessed with Iskandar and that war. Waver wishes to see Iskandar again and aims for the 5th Grail War. This obsession is often seen as a dangerous thing as well by those around Waver and for good reason.

Iskandar is a heroic spirit, he is dead and within Type-Moon it is the livings job to move forward not the dead.

What I mean is that Waver is seemingly chasing the dead, running towards an end to prove himself to his king. Waver is not suicidal or the like but he's missed a bit of Iskandar's message.

In Fate Zero Iskandar does his damnedest to get the, then impatient and temperamental, Waver to enjoy the journey. Iskandar loves life and new things and pushes Waver to experience new things.

But as El Melloi Waver has come to a stand still. I saw this as sad but not unbelievable for it is very human to find yourself stuck as an adult.

l see this as Waver "missing the forest for the trees" in a sense because;

A) He knows that servants typically do not recall previous summons. His desire to see if Iskandar remembers or approves of him is moot from the get go. He is effectively chasing shadows. B) Waver's entire personality as the tired teacher El Melloi was shaped by Iskandar. Waver has already changed in a positive way but does not reflect on that. He remembers their time together fondly but doesn't think of his present much.

Waver only regrets or remembers a past, he's not living life to the fullest like Iskandar would push him to do. It is a very believable fault to have and a very real rut that many of you will experience once as you age.

The beauty of Waver's time as El Melloi is seeing him learn to let go and live life with an attitude more akin to what Iskandar spouted.

The man vs the Boy

Even then, even with that focus on Waver's obsession with the past, the story also shows just how much Waver changed after the 4th Grail War. They're not things Waver speaks up about himself but they are things both the viewer and cast take note of.

The first big change is seen in the flashback of how Waver became the lord El Melloi II. It is a few years before the first episode but a year or two after Fate Zero. After borrowing money (beginning his perpetual debt) Waver bought the nearly defunct classroom of his mentor Kayneth, the previous lord el Melloi.

The very man that Waver stole his relic from, the same man that was dealt a death so shameful by Kiritsugu that I found him more disgusting than Saber in that moment.

This not only took mage society by surprise but he shocked everyone still by making the class successful. Waver moans his lack of talent but he's proving Iskandar right by putting his head to use.

Within Fate Zero Iskandar pointed out Waver's problem solving skills and how solving something simpler than others is a talent to be proud of.

It's obvious that others recognize this talent as well since he's often called to solve cases. He uses the money to pay off debts but the very fact that a society as prideful and traitorous as the Clocktower would even call him for help is a feat that I do not think Waver even considers.

The fact that he'd even buy Kayneth's class to keep it alive also shows a sharp change. As a boy he was irresponsible and was partly the cause of Kayneth's death but as a man he accepts that responsibility.

He's not making excuses as he did when you saw him in Fate Zero. I do not feel that my words are doing this trait justice because so many people grow up and never learn to accept the responsibility of their actions.

Let alone go out of their way to amend the issues they cause.

By hell his acceptance of responsibility even takes the characters in story by surprise. The whole reason Waver is 'lord el melloi' is because the family was put on the cusp of ruin by Waver's actions and Kayneth's death.

They chose Reines as the next head out of political logic and necessity. When she kidnaps him (as a small child mind you) she fully expected Waver to throw a fit and go into denial because that's the personality he had prior to the war.

She was joking in earnest (probably plotting something bad too) but no. Waver accept all her demands and only asked they add the "II" to his title.

Both because Waver does not think he's worthy of the el melloi title and because his station is temporary.

It may seem like minor rambling to you but I found this shift rather interesting and praise worthy.

Waver's mage family is new, he essentially had no father, so when I see this change I see a boy that learned a sense of responsibility from Iskandar. Perhaps not a father-figure in the truest sense but he was an example Waver needed.

Iskandar was a king and accepted all that it brought and from his words you see that he did consider his men and their view of him.

Even if by a fraction Waver emulated that and I consider that beautiful in hindsight of Fate Zero to here.

As a teacher

To the shock of the Clocktower (and me tbh) Waver is a damn good teacher. He may lack power and potential as a mage himself but his problem solving mindset and his experiences have made him damn near prodigal as an instructor.

By the end of the anime he had at least 3 students of "pride" rank. I won't go into the whole detail but the best way to sum that up for you is by saying mages have ranks.

To have students who achieved a "pride" rank at such young ages is basically like a teacher in our world having three kids skip their way to college.

All of Waver's students have more talent than him but his class tends to draw the unwanted or odd so few of them have the actual mentality to put that power to use.

The Clocktower essentially throws problem children at him and he turns them into respectable mages much to the higher ups annoyance.

Sadly the anime only showed a few of his class but I loved it when I got to see him being a teacher. The cases he solves are fun as well but the class draws out the easily annoyed aspect of Waver.

The parts of him that is still the young Waver which becomes a funny contrast in a way. I'd even argue that Waver draws annoying people to him unconsciously.

His "best friend" Melvin, the overly fond Flat, or actually talented/respectable mages like Luvia who wants him to be her tutor.

Hell, he's even on a list of people that female students wish to sleep with. No, I am not joking. One of them is even in his class. Her name is Yvette and I am certain that she's unhinged.

His social circle is endearing and it draws out a bit of young Waver and I love it.

Sorry, I lost my own plot there. I don't really have a structure to my rambles since my brain just does not work that way but I hope that I got across how much I love what this story has done with Waver.

He was one of the best parts of Fate Zero and I loved seeing how Iskandar changed him. I see it almost like a man adopting an unruly kid and making them into a better person.

Only for that same person to do the same for his students. Of course, I also just genuinely love to see the Fate world in motion outside a Grail War.

You hear a lot about Clocktowers, mage society, and so on but this is a story in which you see it. You're getting the backdrop of the Type-Moon universe and I'm sad this anime didn't get more seasons to explore it.

However, before I finish up what has become a part one I have to mention a foil to Waver. Not another mage or case but his foil as a subject to Iskandar.

I found you, FAKER

Hephaestion was an interesting character to me. I was interested in her prior due to lore but actually seeing her in action made me more interested in her dichotomy to Waver.

Both are heavily shaped by Iskandar himself but while Waver is a subject of the king Hephaestion was a body double. It's a bit more complex than that of course but she's essentially a body double he had in life.

Due to the magecraft used that let her play such a role she had no name of her own and her mark on history is odd compared to actual heroic spirits.

Thanks to this and the way in which she was summoned she manifested as a new class "pretender". Or as this anime called it "Faker".

However, all things in Fate have a grain of truth. No matter how fantastical the spirit or spell there was something real it was based on.

This "faker" was a real woman and her hatred for Waver is a foil since he sees himself as a subject to Iskandar. She respects her king as much, if not more, than Waver but she hated his army.

For Waver to call himself a subject, for him to mention the Ionioi Hetairoi and her absence in it, these things anger her.

She saw that army as a detriment that lead to Iskandar's death. She even counts among the Ionioi Hetairoi by technicality but refuses to appear when Iskandar uses it due to her hatred of the army.

There's likely more there as well but I sadly lack knowledge on her as of typing this. I do know the basic gist of Dr. Heartless' plan and her role in it but her personal history I know little.

But her foil to Waver I do find interesting because both were shown Iskandar's kindness yet she views herself apart as special confidant while Waver wishes to be a subject.

It is like they gained two opposite lessons from the same man. She even rejected Iskandar's numerous attempts to name her due to her respect for him. She was fine being his double while Iskandar saw it as horribly inhumane.

She hates the army, Waver would happily join it. She is a warrior and strong, Waver is weak. Yet Waver is the only one that can say things to get under her skin. On some level she knows he's right, on some level he understands her thanks to their shared experiences with Iskandar.

To be honest the anime doesn't explore them as much as I wish it did. I'm rambling, hoping to stretch it, but in truth the anime ended before I got to see this truly explored. It's a neat parallel to see but an incomplete one.

Thanks to lore videos I watch I do have a grander scope than most whole watch the anime. A very similar situation to when I watched the 2006 Fate anime, I have context.

I won't spoil it but do know that Hephaestion and Dr Heartless' plot does lead to a proper build up and resolution to Waver's lingering feelings of Iskandar and the war.

I do think the anime did a good job, I truly wish it had more, but knowing what I do about these novels I wish they had gave it another season.

The dynamic of Iskandar to his two subjects also plays a greater role and one day I hope we get to see it.

For now I think I'll stop this here and make that part two. I know I rambled a lot with no direction and it fell thin toward the end there so I appreciate you reading regardless.

Hopefully you'll enjoy part two more where I can talk about other things aside my obsession with Waver and his character.

I'll leave my other better written Fate posts linked below as well. Bye~

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El Motherf**Kin Melloi pt2: https://www.tumblr.com/derekscorner/757996566277701632/fated-rantings-clocktowers-business-hours

For my other experiences with Fate click here: https://derekscorner.tumblr.com/tagged/fated-rantings

[paradizetobefound]

So Doctor's major aspect as a character (when they are their own character) is memory. They claim their role, even after they became a tactician for Theresa, to be an observer to her history. They are a witness, they are to remember her. That appears in the event referred to as "Vigilo", which is something like " I watch, remain awake, keep or am awake at night". To keep vigil, is something done either to pray or to be on a watchout. A common reason to keep vigil over dead, to mourn then and to give them the last farewell, to pay respect.

Nian tells Doctor that she wants a witness too, whatever fate befalls her and her siblings to be seen and remembered.

Priestess' request towards Doctor is to remember her. The society Doctor came from, their past, it all appears to be lost in sands of time. There's few indication that most even know it ever existed, only songs that mention cities buried under ice, only rediscovery of old artefacts. Doctor, in a way, is one of the few people still carrying the history of that time in their memory.

When FrostNova dies, arguably, Doctor is here to witness her anger and her despair and they carry it with themselves, as well as her hope.

In Vigilo they are feel lost and despairing over their lost memory, of those who died, of people they used to know and no longer remember. They grieve but they are also frantic.

Being a witness, a carrier of history is a part of their identity even if they seem not quite cognizant of that.

But why is it interesting aside from their way to conceptualize their role in the world or whatever hidden duty they may have?

Originium and Civilight Eterna.

Fundamental nature of originium is that it keeps memory of everything it consumes. It stores so much information about living things, that it may as well be a repository of the Terra's history of its own. It is a fossil, it is something that consumes. In a way, perhaps, it will remember people better than any historian, as terrible as iti is. Essentially, the subject of Doctor's study is such that it will remember all dead it had into contact with.

Civilight Eterna meanwhile was initially designed as an archive meant to record the history. It is to be a witness, to remember, too.

As in, there is a clear mirror between Doctor's self-stated role as an observer, originium nature and the origins of the CE, which was implied as a highly important achievement of the civilization that created it.

In a sense, Doctor's always to keep vigil over ruins, over dead, over past, it reflecting in their occupation, in their study. Brain, oripathy.

It makes their war against originium doubly interesting, both share that connection to memory.

So everything about Doctor is about history (mirroring how Kal'tsit herself is all about history of civilizations that lived in Terra and what they did and how they lived). Which is also a major theme for Arknights.

[forever-fan]

Ninjago Oni and Dragon Headcanons

Look... I just need to rant about my made-up lore for the Oni (and some for the dragons), because I hate that the show basically said the Oni are just born evil. This will also talk about reproduction and stuff, just so you know. It's mostly just a way for me to keep track of the made-up lore.

This has spoilers for everything including the first two seasons of Dragons Rising!!!

The First Dragon — First things first, we have to touch on the balance of the Oni, which means talking about the dragons. Dragons Rising introduces us to the concept of Source Dragons, which brings up the question, "Did the Source Dragons come before or after Firstbourne?" I'm gonna say that the Source Dragons came before Firstbourne and therefore, she wasn't actually the first dragon. The actual first dragon, in my headcanon, is long dead and the Source Dragons were her first seven eggs. I'd like to say the first dragon was creation manifested into a physical form, and she has returned to being an energy and power, rather than a living being.

The First Oni — All things have a balance, so as there was a first dragon, there is also a first Oni. It seems like most people turn to the Omega for that role, but to me he doesn't act like a being that saw the dawn of reality. So just like the unnamed first dragon, the unnamed first Oni is also long dead. This first Oni didn't have a concept of gender, but will mostly be referred to with masculine terminology. He was destruction and change manifested in a physical form. He too has returned to the nothing-space as pure power.

Oni Coloring — I didn't like that all Oni were simply black as night, except for Lloyd. It just felt like a cheap way of being like "Lookie here! The Green Ninja is super special! He's the shiny Oni!" Also, Oni can shape shift and can change their color, so why was it that during Season 10, all the Oni were the same uniform color? This question led me to two headcanons, one about reproduction and the other about the Omega being a dictator similar to Empress Beatrix.

Oni Reproduction Processes — I think that Oni are capable of both sexual reproduction and non-sexual reproduction. The non-sexual process is what I call "Spawning" and I got the idea for it from the few times we've seen Oni affect and reshape their environment. When it comes to spawning, I think Oni take the void itself and reshape it into a being resembling the Oni species and then imbue the spawn with some of their own power. With the rush of power, the spawn is brought to life. Any and all Oni spawn technically have no biological family, unless they decide to sexually reproduce and have children. Spawn are also naturally black, because they gain their pigmentation from the void itself. (I would like to note that born Oni can also be born black, but it's rare, especially when compared to spawned Oni, which are all naturally black.) This is how Oni gained in numbers quickly, even without the power to create. Of course, there has to be some sort of cap, so I say at most Oni can spawn only three times without putting themselves in danger. If an Oni attempted to spawn a fourth child, they would run the risk of dying. Six spawns has never been successfully attempted as all the Oni who tried it dyed during the "Powering Ritual," killing both the potential spawner and potential spawn.

The Omega — I like to imagine that "Omega" is a title that has been passed down. The reason for it being a title is the fact there is near alway a "the" in front of the word. I wouldn't call Lloyd "the Lloyd" or Kai "the Kai." I would however say "the king" of "the empress." In my headcanon the Omega is a title which basically means the supreme leader of the Oni, and I headcanon the position was originally made right before the FSM was born (about a thousand years already into the war). The Omega we meet in season 10 is a power-hungry tyrannical dictator, who is forcing those that exist under his rule to conform. This specific Omega is also a spawn and therefore naturally a black color. He is the reason all the Oni who weren't naturally black were forced to appear so.

The Three Warlords — In the show, we learn that there were three Oni warlords and Tommy (one of the creators) said that Mystake was one of those warlords. I'll touch on each specific warlord later, this is a general look at all three of them. I think these warlords were the three Oni who came after the first Oni. Because the first Oni was the first and only member of his kind and he didn't have the power to create using magic, he must have spawned the warlords, hence why Mystake is naturally a pitch black. Because all three were spawned, none of them were actually biologically related and I don't think they would have had the same familial constructs back then. I like to say the masks represent the three tenets of Oni warfare. Hatred is the beginning of all wars, battles fought during wars are just a back-and-forth of vengeance, and most Oni wars ended with deception of some kind. The powers granted by the masks were actually very symbolic. The Mask of Hatred gave one the strength and toughness needed to begin a fight, the Mask of Vengeance gave one the assets necessary to fight longer and harder with an advantage on the battlefield, and the Mask of Deception gave one the power to change their situation and almost guarantee victory. But yeah, that's how I see the warlords and their masks.

Ha'eed — Ha'eed was the first Oni to be spawned by the original Oni. This was still in a time before gender constructs, but Ha'eed would later find himself being drawn more to masculine presentation, once it was introduced to Oni culture by humans. I for one am not a fan of the whole "Ha'eed, Venge, and Decer are just Oni words for what the masks are called." In my mind, Ha'eed's name has an actual meaning. I imagine the comma in the middle of his name means "of," and that will come into play. I've decided "Ha" means strength and "Eed" means passion. In the end, his name would have meant the strength of passion. I personally think that the Oni didn't originally name themselves and instead were given names by the humans of the first realm. This eventually became a custom adopted by the Oni and they started naming young Oni when they first came into the world. Ha'eed was the last of the warlords to spawn, for he hadn't seen a reason too until the war. (It was this thought of his that began the age of "spawn three then leave" which allowed certain Oni to abandon the fight by replacing their efforts three times over with the efforts of their spawned. This later evolved into the age of the Omegas, who then forced every adult Oni to spawn five and still wouldn't let the spawner to leave the fight.)

Decer — Decer was the second to be made. (*gasp* I know, I just established an order in which the tenets of Oni warfare appear, but I do not think that should mean the warlords were spawned in the same order.) Decer's name means growth and wisdom, because the ancient humans of the first realm admired Decer's intelligence and her love for learning. (This is, of course, before the war began.) Decer would later go on to successfully spawn five Oni and was the first to do so. It took a lot out of her, and she never made an emotional connection with them, for they were only a means of keeping the species alive. Decer would later watch as the species flourished and as familial culture and bonds began to take the rest of the Oni by storm. She would find herself alone with no parents, siblings, or children. She had been made in a time when that hadn't been what mattered to the Oni... hadn't been what mattered to her. Decer, of course, would later follow the FSM into the realm of Ninjago. She would watch as Wojira was defeated and as the FSM erected the lands of her future home. Decer ended up killing her fellow warlords, and took upon herself the name "Mystake." She then dedicated her life to watching over the young Dragoni hybrid, his children, and his two grandsons. (Yes I am including Morro as one of the FSM's grandchildren, and I like to think Mystake taught the boy quite a bit.) I'm gonna be for real for a moment, I don't think Mystake is actually dead. I know she is in canon, but in one of the episodes in Master of the Mountain, we see a sky folk woman who is voiced by Mystake's voice actor and is doing the same exact voice. I think Mystake was just gravely injured and went to Shintaro to heal and take a break from all the insanity in Ninjago City.

Venge — Venge was the youngest and was the most open to new ideas and ways of life. In other words, Venge was the weird one. She was the first to give herself a defined gender, and she was the first to spawn Oni. (She only did three, for she did not think she could handle even trying to spawn a fourth.) Venge was the first of the warlords to approach humankind and was the first to be given a name. Her name means spirit or kind spirit, because the humans still thought Oni were spirits of nature back then. She also didn't connect with her spawned, but she would be the only one of the warlords to ever have her own blood child. She really cared for her son, but she also believed he had been manipulated by the dragons and he refused to embrace her side of his heritage. (Yes, I think Venge was the Oni parent of the First Spinjitzu Master.) Venge became a bit too forceful with wanting to drag her son back to the first realm and bring the war to an end, and so after Mystake got rid of Ha'eed she gave Venge a choice. (Really, it was more like a test and Venge failed.) Mystake ended Venge's life as well.

Oni Culture — I'm not subscribed to the whole idea of there being three types of Oni; the Oni tribe of Hatred, the tribe of Vengeance, and the tribe of Deception Oni. I am fond of the concept of Oni originally having a tribal society, but I do not think there were only three, and I do not think they were based on the masks. I think at the height of Oni society, right before the war, the Oni would have been spread out across the first realm in over 1000 tribes of about seventy different Oni at least. I also think these tribes had human members and members who were part human and part Oni. I like to imagine Oni were very tight-knit and loyal. I also think they loved to use their ability of changing the environment to create structures. I think Oni loved to make art and music. I just think they were passionate. (I headcanon that Oni powers are made stronger with passion, but using passionate anger and hatred is dangerous because those are the most uncontrollable passions. Most Oni would resort instead to using passionate love and joy to fuel their powers. This is why they had such loving communities and took pride in creating new things, they were empowering themselves and others with passion.)

The True Beginning of the War — I feel like the war began with one Oni tribe, a singular dragon, and a misunderstanding. (We've never gotten a true reason for the war so I've resorted to saying that no one remembers the true reason because it was forgettable and insignificant.) The scenario I usually go with is that a young Oni child had some sort of shiny thing that held sentimental value, which they left outside. A young dragon, who was going through its first hoarding season picked up the object and flew off with it. (I headcanon hoarding season as a time when dragons are instinctually inclined to hoard a lot in preparation for mating season. Their hoards are used to impress each other and draw in a dragon who enjoys hoarding the same kind of thing.) The small Oni child ran off to the young dragon's nest and attempted to retrieve their item. The dragon apologized for their behavior and gave it back, but the Oni child, who was new to their powers, accidentally destroyed the item. The dragon's instincts screamed about how the child had disrespected the dragon's hoard and would therefore have to pay. The child left in a fit, but the dragon was hounded by its instincts to a maddening degree. It burned down the child's home... luckily no one was hurt. This action confused the Oni of the tribe, for they had no quarrels with this young dragon, or any dragon for that matter. They decided to fight back against the one dragon. Word among dragonkind spread about a tribe of Oni and a young dragon fighting. It angered the other dragons, who did not know the true reason for the ongoing fight. Dragons were well aware that Oni were loyal to each other and were very tight-knit; however, they were unaware that this only applied to the Oni within an Oni's tribe and not all Oni in the entire world. A dragon attacked an Oni tribe that existed multiple miles away from the original tribe and young dragon. This tribe didn't know why they were attacked, but they fought back against the dragon who had harmed them. This continued on until the Oni realized that they were being killed much faster than the dragons, and if they were to survive, they would have to let go of tribal issues and unite the entire species. And so, the war between the dragons and the Oni began.

The War Progresses and Hope Returns — Full-blooded Oni weren't the only ones being harmed by the dragons. Dragons also attacked halflings and partlings. The human parents and relatives of these halfling and partlings were horrified. I feel like at some point a part Oni child was killed and their human parent couldn't let it go. This is why the Mask of Hatred was crafted. The human parent had demanded to be allowed to fight for their deceased child. Two other humans also watched their halfling children die, and they too joined the fray of battle. At the beginning of the war, some humans sided with Oni and others sided with dragons, one day humans would side with neither. As time stretched on, some Oni begged to leave the fight, for while they had the power to destroy, they longed only to create, and they couldn't do so in a time of war. Those Oni were allowed to leave after spawning three, and they always fled to a different realm. It was the Oni who fled to the Never-Realm that watched as a new species evolved from the union between humanity and Onikind, they were called the Formlings. Venge one day returned from a mission into draconic territory acting a little off. This continued until it was revealed that Venge was pregnant with a blood child. When the child was born, everyone could tell it had draconic blood, and they felt hope that maybe this child would end the long war. The child was given an Oni name meaning precious hope, for he embodied every last bit of hope the Oni had. After many years without, Oni began to sing and dance again, enjoying life.

How Not to End a War — The FSM was raised by humans, or at least he thought he was. (I've never given him a proper name, but I have decided he has two. His Oni name means precious hope and his draconic name means little might.) You see, the FSM was given to humans, so he would be raised with no bias for either side; however, Venge visited very often and showered her baby boy with love. The only issue with being raised outside of the war, was the fact that the humans gave him some unreliable information. By the time he had been born, the last human to ever fight on either side of the war was long dead, so humans were very removed from the situation and from the cultures of both Oni and dragons. They only taught the FSM about what they saw. They mentioned how Oni were clearly evil because all they did was destroy everything, and they didn't remember that it was the Oni who had manipulated the wood and stone to craft the humans' sturdy houses. They talked about how nature was dying out and claimed it was all the Oni's fault, never thinking about how the dragons also torched the battlefields and killed any animal in sight in case it was an Oni in disguise. The humans were simpleminded and couldn't see how much the Oni loved to create, so they poisoned the FSM's view of his own heritage. When the FSM was sixteen, the age of maturity according to the ancient humans of the first realm, he traveled to the side of the dragons and befriended the dragon the humans claimed mothered all other dragons. With that dragon, he forged armor and charged into battle, deciding that the only way to end the war was if there was a victory, and he planned for the dragons to be the victorious side.

The Age of the Omega and Ninjago — After the initial betrayal of the FSM against Onikind, Venge was inconsolable. She, the kindest of the three warlords, became hateful and cruel. She killed dragons with the ferocity of a mindless beast, for she blamed them for turning her baby against her. As the other two warlords scrambled to make Venge actually follow a strategy rather than rush into battle with a thirst for blood, the collective leaders of all the combined tribes fell into a depression. Finally, one rose up and claimed they needed one leader, just like the dragons only had one leader. This leader became known as the Omega. All Oni bowed before the Omega, even the three ancient warlords. With the Omega came the darkest age of Oni history, an age that stretched from the days of the FSM up to the Oni March on Ninjago. The first Omega demanded that her subjects draw from their anger and hatred, for they had almost no joy or love anymore, the war had killed such feelings. This caused the other Oni to act more beastly and cruelly. After many years, the FSM ran away from the first realm to the unnamed realm that housed Wojira. The second Omega demanded the three generals retrieve the boy and sway him to their side. The generals stayed in the shadows and watched from afar. They made a few attempts to get the FSM to listen to their words. As time passed, Decer fell in love with the realm, Ninjago was its new name. Ha'eed became bitter, being forced out of the first realm to complete a task he thought impossible. Venge had some hope that her precious child would ally himself with her if he only knew she was his mother. One day, Ha'eed lashed out and decided it would be best to harm the young man and force him back, but Venge became immediately territorial and Decer also stood against him. Tired of waiting, Ha'eed attacked the other two. In the end, Decer was the one who ended Ha'eed's life. After many more years, Venge began to slip into thoughts that maybe hurting her baby momentarily was worth it in the long run. Decer killed Venge as well.

The March of the Oni — The newest and current Omega was a spawn who had grown up in a toxic and horrible environment. He gained power and fought for his title. When he won the duel, he instated new rules, including one that forced all Oni to conform and look like he did. The Omega proceeded to lead the Oni out of the first realm and on a long hunt through the other realms to find any full-blooded Oni who were descended from those that had abandoned the fight. He forced them to enter his army, otherwise he would kill them. Those too young to fight were nursed by those too crippled in the war to fight any longer. When the young turned twelve, they were forced to fight, the Omega deciding that was a viable age for fighting. When the Oni marched on Ninjago, some that were done with the Omega's cruelty had managed to sneak away while Lloyd and Garmadon were distracting the Omega and his loyal soldiers. Those Oni would build lives for themselves and lay low until a time elapsed in which they were less hated for simply existing. As for the Oni who were present for the Tornado of Creation, they were banished to the Nothing-Space or Etherial Divide. They will claw at the fabric of the Merged Realms until they can break in and be a problem.

Random little things (might add more in the future)

Oni are large cats with bad attitudes and dragons are weird dogs.

Oni have fur and can purr when content and happy.

Look, I just can't if dragons are allowed to be unique and interesting with their colors and body types, and the Oni are forced to be nothing more that evil beings born black as the night itself, with very little variation. It's just not fair! So yes, my Oni are one hundred percent multicolored and have varying body types.

Oni = Passionate People with a love for living and existing. I don't make the rules! (I totally do, these are my headcanons after all.)

The element of creation is powered by calmness and serenity.

I've made lore for only one specific Oni tribe, and it's the one that used to live in the place the boys found with Faith. I call this tribe the Shal'iec, which I say means Mountain of Melodies. They would have been known for their folk music. I say that when the war broke out, they began to house people in their home and dug it out more to make room for more people. Eventually the sacred ancestral home of the Shal'iec Oni tribe became the main fortress of the war. The Shal'iec themselves all fled to the Never-Realm, for they could feel themselves losing their passionate spark the longer the war went on around them.

I honestly just love a story about how a society can be broken down and robbed of their very identity and then called monsters. Like, it scratches an itch in brain to make it so the Oni weren't totally evil, and to actually give them personalities beyond "I crave destruction and death."

[dwarf-vader-of-middle-earth]

Hah, I had to drive out and grab a box of pasta to cook since grain moths ate all my others again. Anyway!!

On the drive home, I thought she was gone. LONG gone. But I swear, I saw my old neighbor and uhh... "friend" whom I haven't seen since... 15 years ago? Yeah about then. She was a garbage asshole.

I was so close to this girl for years, we talked on the phone every day for at least an hour or two, and we hung out whenever we could, and we shared all our secrets with each other.

But that "friend" kept saying I was too masculine a girl, that no guys would want a girl stronger than they are. I'd have to give up MMA and videogames and all around be more feminine if I wanted guys. And she tried SO DAMN HARD to convince me to give up being masculine as fuck.

She once asked about what boys I liked. I told her about the boys I was interested in, and she noticed they were all "outcasts". Not the popular kids. Not one guy on my radar was in the popular crowd. She wanted exclusively popular boys, and said I should also be seeking to gain the attention of popular boys instead of outcasts, because everyone should want to be popular!!

Mind you the popular kids are the reason I wound up in therapy with PTSD all these years later.

We had our second ever sleepover one night, and the next morning I went to make her chocolate chip pancakes! On my own!! She didn't even ask!!

But they weren't good enough and so she called me the next day and said she didn't want to be friends anymore because I made bad pancakes. She blocked my number, and in school, since we attended the same school together, she would literally cover herself in a hood and duck into crowds to avoid seeing me or my mother who worked the kitchen there.

Even her own father couldn't figure out why she was acting as she was. He tried to figure it out, and he was a great guy, but his daughter HATES him to this day for literally no reason. She didn't even call him dad, she used his first name to refer to him, even when talking directly to him.

I haven't seen this girl, heard from her, etc. in 15 years at least. I thought she moved away.

But I saw her tonight on my way home, and I laughed. Because I am nothing she wanted me to be. At all.

And her? She looked MISERABLE!!!!!

I'm the gayest manliest dudebro ever, and I love men. And well... men love me, too. But they don't love a miserable sexist sod.

And yeah, my life is far from beautiful. It's nowhere near perfect. But at least I'm living as my original and authentic self, not a carbon copy of what a bunch of asshats deem is worthy of recognition and praise just so I can gain their false favor and be at their whims as a literal puppet that spews hate and disdain for anyone different.

For frame of reference, those same popular kids told an actual legitimate long time friend of mine, word for word, "You have to leave <deadname> if you want to be popular." That friend wouldn't do it. She turned down popularity and stuck by me through and through until graduation.

Those same popular kids jumped me, ganged up on me, and threw food at me several times a week every week every year until we graduated. Even outside of school, I could not leave my house because they literally waited in the trees to spew swears at me from above and throw acorns and bark and stones.

Toward the last two weeks before graduating, I legally changed my name for transition purposes. I had deleted everyone I knew off all social media unless they were a close friend, and changed my media name as well, and nobody but 1 person has found me since in the following 6 years.

None of them know where I'm at, where I live, what my name is, they most likely cannot and will not find me. And that's how I like it.

Leave me dead to the fuckers who hurt me. I was dead to them before I changed my name, and what difference does it make that I killed the girl they knew and became the man I am today? I'm me, I'm an author who writes queer fiction mainly about men like myself, who all find the men of their dreams and they kiss, and it's great. I've got two books published in print paperback currently, and a bunch more in the works! And best of all is I've currently got another trans guy, also super masculine, who likes me and we've been talking!! And the feelings he's got for me are pretty mutual!!

Dudes love other dudes that are confident and capable and authentic. They don't like carbon copies of a damsel in distress that can't think or act for herself because she's so worried about losing the favor of the ruling populous.

Fuck the majority, and fuck what anyone else thinks of me. I'm gonna fuck a gay man and snuggle him as we make out dirty while giving the mental middle finger to all those who told us we weren't enough.

[neapologist873]

Who killed Katerina?

If you are not already familiar with our theory about Katerina being Maria, please read it here. It is also advised that you read this other theory of ours.

DGM is full of unreliable narrators, and there is no better example than Mana. Take this scene from his memories, for example. We see a looming figure that appears to be Nea, a younger Bookman watching with a disinterested eye, the wheat fields of the Campbell Manor, and the Earl's elvish form standing before the Cornelia tree with a lifeless Katerina.

This begs the question; who was the one to have killed her? This is all Mana's memories, the same Mana that has been consumed by the presence of the original Earl and Adam, and the very fact that he considered the Noah to be his family in the past suggests he's always been easy to manipulate. So it's possible that this memory of his is really more his perceivement of everything based around how he remembers things or the lies he's been fed. What I mean by that is that perhaps "The Betrayal" to Mana was believing that Nea killed their mother. But if Cross is really the brother of Katerina, then why the hell would he be helping Nea? Because it wasn't Nea that killed her, but Joyd.

Reasons why I believe this to be, include:

1.) It's the perfect way for Mana to go against Nea and to be vulnerable enough to return to being the Earl. And I really do think Joyd has to be at the center of that all, as it makes too much sense in being the Noah of Hedonism.

2.) The fact Tykki looks like Nea could really suggest that Joyd has always taken up forms that resemble Nea. I speculated that Joyd feels like an imperfect copy almost, or like he wants to take Nea's place beside the Earl, and so he could have staged this all in hopes of him dying. It brings me back to my theory that Tykki might not be a regular human, as his symbol (butterflies) seem to suggest as well, being the symbol of reincarnation and rebirth.

3.) The Earl hovering over the dead Katerina could be him grieving. He resents Mana and Nea, and the death of the only human he loved could have been enough of a shock to bring him back. After all, this is Mana's subconscious and Nea and Allen have shown that it's possible for the two to bleed together in memories and dreams.

4.) We keep having these moments where we see Joyd grinning, but he's just a blacked out silhouette and so there are no key features to associate with him outside of Tykki's appearance. I did once point out that of the silhouettes from the original Noahs (art can be found in Night 187), there were two that seemed to resemble Nea.

5.) This could explain why Nea and Joyd always have these moments showcasing that they are connected somehow on a deeper level than their looks (i.e., both of their exorcist sword scars throbbing at the same time). And if Nea is aware of the fact that Joyd used their similar appearances to trick Mana, it's no wonder why he hates him in particular so much.

6.) In Night 187, the Earl had said that Wisely took so long to be reborn because his memory was damaged after Nea killed him, and yet when Wisely looks at Tykki, he says "I'm surprised. Joyd looks just like that man...". Wisely tends to refer to the Noahs by the memory they possess, but it is interesting that he specifically said Joyd looks so similar to Nea. Road also said to keep this a secret, as she's the only other one to remember what Nea looks like. So that suggests that Noahs forget details about their past life, but would this apply to Joyd when we know that

Tykki unconsciously wards against his memories so that Joyd isn't able to take over

Joyd smiles with malice whenever he sees Nea, hinting that he remembers exactly what Nea did to him.

Also, while only Wisely remembers his previous lives, Devit said "so they're working for your side now?" in reference to Lavi, a Bookman. This insinuates that Bookman could have even done nothing while Katerina died because they don't pick sides, they just record history and don't necessarily care about saving lives. As Nea doesn't side with the Noah, this could further add to the fact that Katerina's death was a catalyst of sorts.

You could also turn this theory on its head and suggest that the look on Nea's face is because Mana was the one to have killed Katerina under the Noahs' influence, as depicted here:

Of course, this is all purely speculation, but it would make sense within the realm of theories we've made here previously. The fact that Cross seems to hold sympathy for Road and not Joyd has also been on my mind a lot, and this theory could explain some things regarding that. Potentially even Road's fear of Joyd.

[viciouslyfilthy]

“ The Westerville Cryptid. “ 

Raatma.

Unknown age. (supposedly has lived since the late 1800's)

Human/rat hybrid 'Goddess'.

Personality:

Raatma's behaviour, much like her physical appearence, is an amalgamation between the coherent nature of a human, and the animalistic nature of a wild sewer rat. She is as intelligent as a human, but her etiquette can be as feral as an untamed rat.

She is a rather shy entity, she prefers staying hidden and away from large crowds, due to her rodent-like nature, sudden things happening- such as a flashlight turning on or someone coming up behind her to surprise her, will cause her fright; she will either flee or defend herself if she feels trapped. She might not have the sharp, long incisors of a rat- but her giant, gaping maw and her seemingly-endless row of human teeth can still cause a rather nasty bite wound, if not cause a quick broken bone if she bites hard enough.

She's quite the curious gal as well, which is the reason behind most of her escapades out in the city of Westerville in the dead of night, besides her goal to find food. Her usual go-to during her night-roaming sessions is the dump or the trash cans outside people's homes; if she's lucky enough to find an open window during the Summer, she'll crawl in and rummage through the kitchen for any tasty treats.

Overall- I'd say she's mostly neutral. She's shy, cautious, observant, calm and curious. Also a massive bookworm. Ever since she's gained 'popularity' with her cult, the 'leader' of it all- that old pastor- has given her access to many books. All different kinds of knowledge, and she adores it.

Biology (maybe more info tba eventually):

If you saw the movie, you'll know that during the short from where she originates, 'Storm Drain', Raatma is known as a cryptid that gets often referred to as 'Rat Man', because it looks like a rat, and a man...so why do I use female pronouns for Raatma?

Well, this started off as my own headcanon due to the simple fact that female rats only have teats, males do not have any because they don't have a use for them; Raatma has around 10-12 very visible teats, which is pretty much the same number a female rat would have. And after some digging- and coming across this page, I came to the conclusion- at least for this interpretation of the character- that Raatma is meant to be a female. (When it comes to her preferred pronouns though, I like to think she doesn't care- whatever you view/refer to her as won't affect her negatively nor positively in the slighest. As long as it doesn't directly harm her, she's neutral.)

And to conclude- I can't not talk about the odd, seemingly acidic goo she produces. The black goo seems to be of an acid-like nature to some people but completely harmless to others. I like to think it only affects the person depending on their immune system and blood type (kind of like how an illness can leave someone bed-ridden and have fatal consecuences, yet it can be as harmless as a common cold to others); this also goes to those people that did not perish from the black goo and were unharmed by it, which ended up producing it as well after exposure- it could be possible that due to their blood type and how resistant their immune system is, they were able to manage the exposure- and their body somehow adapted the black liquid into their system and started producing it.

Backstory:

I would like to leave some things wrapped in mystery for this muse just because it fits with her whole cryptid aspect...but I will say that Raatma (mostly the black goo she produces) is the result of exposure and/or constant consumption of toxic waste left by humans in the sewers, which led to mutations.

But the questions, such as- ...was Raatma just a helpless orphaned child, forced to grow up in the sewers and ended up turning into a more feral beast rather than an every-day citizen? Or is she truly something supernatural that just decided to manifest itself in the darkest pits of a town, carefully choosing which humans were worthy of becoming part of her new world? (After all, who says Gods are all holy and squeaky clean angelic beings? Who says Gods can't also be grotesque and revolting?)-- those questions, I leave them up for you to decide.

Raatma has lived most of her life hidden deep in the darkest pits of the Earth she could come across, ever since she can remember. The sewers of Westerville, Ohio, are the closest thing she can call a home since she's settled down in them for the longest time without feeling the need to move elsewhere- either to scavage for food or to be safe. She made the sewers her home around the mid 90's; she was not discovered by people who would later worship her as a God until the early 2000's up to the Present.

At first she was frightened and mildly annoyed to have humans around in Her home, in fact- the first times she would chase out any tresspassers that settled too deep, where she often resided, and wanted to keep a large distance between herself and these strangers- but she's not a heartless creature, and as time went on, she grew to take pity on these people since most were homeless, and just needed shelter. They weren't here with malicious intents for her.

She would start to bring them things to keep warm whenever she could (usually things she could in the dump or inside people's homes when she went out for food). This is how the worshipping slowly began. As of recent times, Raatma has been living a less-lonely, slightly better life. She has some people to keep her company, she has easier access to food (most offerings that are given to her are in the form of cooked meals or fresh fruits & veggies), knownledge in the form of books and other pieces of literature, and as of very recently- she's been gifted with a little tablet she can use specifically to communicate

[garthcelyn]

Original Thieves chapter 2: Featuring a fun mention of Atlas(Dogteeth)'s ex girlfriend, Marlowe. Dogteeth really is just a reference to unfinished projects huh?

TW for slight body horror in this, it's not major, but it's there.

4217 Words

Dorothy Marlowe had been missing for weeks. She was a woman that Blue had served many times over the years at his father’s tailor shop. He sold her rolls upon rolls of deep blue yarn every few months, a detail that had lived in his mind since they had met. And now she was missing, suspected dead. Blue had the honour of working with the suspected culprit. Dougall, the self-proclaimed charmer of the Ivory Rose, who used her boyish good looks to gain whatever it was she needed. Or so she said. Blue had yet to see it work, as they now sat outside a museum where they had been tossed after Dougall’s failed attempt at seducing a guard. Dougall kicked rocks along the pavement, scaring away the doves that pecked happily at scraps that had been thrown for them. She bristled against the wind in her deep blue knitted jumper, tugging its sleeves over her hands as she refused to look upon the newcomer to the team. He was now a member of The Ivory Rose, an organised crime unit who famously stole the Crown jewels and had yet to be caught. A group made up of unidentified, disgruntled mages of varying Mabrisian origins, who had several bones to pick with the justice system and the monarchy. That Ivory Rose had also stolen Blue’s memories in what he’d consider being an ever greater heist. That is whose home Blue had fucked his way into. That is who had him shot on sight and promptly recruited purely to spite Dougall. He had never regretted a one-night stand more.

Dougall shot him one last glare before she set off down the street. He kept hot on her heels, eager to keep his mentor in his sights. She hadn’t looked like much, in fact, she had barely looked as charming as she seemed to believe, and had the personality to match. She looked closer to a weasel, her face pointing in a long point to the ground. Gaunt cheeks and ashen skin, as if she had been deprived of basic necessities such as sleep and water, paired with her shadowed blue eyes. She barely seemed alive. He watched as she sucked down one cigarette after another, barely slowing her movements. Not even his customer service smiles and demeanour had broken through to the woman.

His trial assignment had been to break into the Museum of Arts undetected and steal a painting by Rennyn Navarre. It was simple, according to the Ivory Rose ringleader who simply went by J. However, it seemed impossible. Dougall huffed yet again, tossing her stub to the ground and letting it fizzle out.

“Alright, your turn,” she growled, “see if you can do any better.”

He pointed at himself, scowling. “Aren’t you supposed to be the expert? You know what happened back there.”

Dougall grunted. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting from the woman who had ordered his memories to be erased. Her brother was far nicer, despite him being the reason why he was in the situation in the first place. Blue fought back the urge to roll his eyes at the display.

“Alright,” he sighed, annoyance seeping into his tone. “I’ll try again when they swap shifts.”

Dougall had actually rolled her eyes, much like a petulant child not getting her way. She couldn’t have been much younger than him, at the ripe old age of twenty-four. Her attitude was one of a grouchy teen, and yet she looked far older in a way that her brother Ezra didn’t, despite them being identical. Her brother held himself with his head high, energised by his sheer excitement for life. Dougall, not so much.

Blue sat on a park bench, overlooking the fountain at the centre of the square. He idly picked at his sandwich that he had bought from a vendor, overfilled and dripping shredded lettuce over his lap. Dougall sucked through her pack of cigarettes early on and had been drumming her fingers against the wooden seat for a lack of a better thing to do. Blue glanced at her now and again, watching how she did everything in her power to escape a conversation. He tore off half of his sandwich and handed it to her, gaining a suspicious glance.

It had relieved him when the hour had been up. Surely stealing a painting would be far easier than dealing with the young woman. His joints cracked as he stood, stretching and popping his back. He looked towards Dougall for guidance; any hints or tricks she found useful over her years as a thief. He wasn’t sure what he had expected but wasn’t surprised when she stared back at him in silent loathing.

“What? Nothing?” he asked in a jeer, crossing his arms and staring at the mess of a woman before him. “You’re supposed to help me, J said -”

“J says a lot of things,” she mirrored his stance with a look of sheer apathy, “she’s still the newest to the team, besides you. She needs to earn my respect.”

“I’m sure your respect means a lot,” he muttered, “whatever, let’s get this done so we can go back, and I can keep my memory this time.”

Dougall barked out a laugh. “You’re still hung up on that?”

Blue didn’t dignify her with a response.

The museum hid in the back alleys of the major city, overshadowed by tall homes of the rich, the manors that they buried themselves away in. It had been sponsored by Earl Henry Douglas of Greyhaven and had was used as a boast of his wealth. It was his collection on display, after all. Things he had imported from Shales and hid, or outright stolen. For that reason alone, Blue was happy that it was the Douglas Museum Of Arts that they had sent him to pilfer, not that he had a choice in the matter.

He wandered in through the large wooden doors, taking in the scenery as if he were just any other visitor. The inside was built like a cathedral, which shouldn’t have phased him too much since it had been built in the hollowed-out carcass of the Temple of Omos. The Queen had refused the Temples their right to exist upon her coronation - an action that hadn’t won her any favour. Its corpse was now the home of the Douglas family’s stolen artefacts. A fitting end, he supposed.

The rows of art and sculpture lead all the way to the back of the building and branched off into what used to be the military barracks. Blue couldn’t help but stand in awe, despite himself and his situation. The collection was impressive after all, despite their origins. Unfortunately, the large space had also been full of visitors gaping at the displays, and guards. Blue could count at least a dozen, and that had only been close to the entrance. Beside him, Dougall tensed yet again, seemingly uncomfortable with being in the museum despite her dubious occupation. Blue couldn’t spend too much time thinking about her. His memories were on the line after all.

He meandered through the rows of paintings, just as any regular visitor would. Looking, before moving on with the crowd. He picked up a leaflet, flicking through as he went, looking for a glimpse of where the painting the Rose wanted could be. The portrait of Sheridan Sørensen, the last wolf of Bannaheimr. He wasn’t into art, not truly, but even he knew the stories behind it. How she gave up everything to chase a woman across Kirus. He didn’t like the story very much.

He had found the partner painting, that of the husband, Maxwell Waverley, and yet the painting he needed was nowhere in sight. He huffed and turned to Dougall, who had been busy picking at her fingernails and avoiding eye contact with anyone and everyone.

“What now?” he asked, “it’s not on display. Do they have storage? Restoration facilities?”

Dougall shrugged. “I heard they have a warehouse which is almost impossible to break into.”

“Almost impossible?”

“There’s a reason I’m here and not the entire team, and it’s not just for punishment.”

She left it at that, beckoning him to follow with no further explanation.

Dougall swiftly led him back outside, eyeing him curiously as she grabbed him by the arm and steered him away from the museum and down the street. He looked at her bewildered but decided against asking what the hell she was doing until she offered the information up herself. She kept walking, half dragging him down the street to Daver Lane.

Daver Lane was a quiet street, mostly populated by the elderly and not much else. Corner shops sold their necessary wares, the local newspaper set up their office for easy access to their larger client base, and the smell of grease and oil-polluted the area from the abundance of takeaways. Daver Lane - a perfectly mediocre street. Dougall pulled Blue around the corner, bodies mostly hidden by the Farspeech Box.

“Are you going to help?” he asked in a low hiss. Not that the grand majority of the street could overhear, let alone care about what two young adults pressed into a corner could say. Quite the opposite, in fact. No matter how uncomfortable Blue was with the situation, they’d be safe from prying eyes. At the very least none would suspect anything other than two idiots in lust having a private moment, and not the two thieves’ nefarious planning.

Dougall smiled sardonically, baring her teeth. Her left canine broken, levelling it out to the same height as the rest of her teeth. “You really want my help?”

“As much as I despise having to ask help from some fucking alleged murderer,” he groaned. Dougall stopped smiling. Whatever act she had disappeared, replaced by a look of sheer hurt. “yes, I want your help. Where’s this warehouse?”

An old woman toddled down the pavement, walking frame clicking against the ground before her with each movement. Dougall made a sour face and pressed herself into Blue. He let out a sigh and hid his face near her shoulder.

“Do you know where the warehouse is?” he whispered, hoping to sell the act that Dougall had unfortunately cast upon him.

“It’s at Lakeside,” she whispered back, “Y’know, close to the Douglas Lake house in Greyhaven.”

She spat out the name as if it were poison on her tongue. There must have been an old grudge there somewhere, but Blue didn’t want to ask aloud. Not when he seemed so close to getting this errand accomplished.

“Then… we’ll drive over?” he asked, “do you guys even have a car?”

Dougall shook her head. “Do you?”

“Well,” Blue tilted his head to one side in hesitation, “yes. It’s my father’s. He needs it for work.”

“Then we steal it for the night, it’s fine.”

“Oh, it’s not fine.”

Blue drove into Lakeside in the car that he had borrowed from his father. His father, who had voluntarily handed him the keys to their “Carlisle & Son” branded van for him to ‘show his girlfriend a good time’. He had fought back the urge to gag and gladly took the keys before fleeing the establishment. It had been bad enough that the man he had met up with, so to speak, was Dougall’s identical twin brother. He would prefer it if he would never be involved with both siblings. Makes for an awkward family reunion.

He pulled into an alleyway, just wide enough for them both to open their doors a crack to slink out, and thin enough to obscure his name that was blatantly painted on the sides.

“So, Jake,” said Dougall with a grin. He regretted letting her inside his house, letting her meet his father even more so, “what do you want to do now?”

“Don’t call me that,” he said sternly. Little Jake Carlisle Jr may as well have been dead for years. The name of the father who’d never understand, who was never there. “It’s Blue. Now, where’s this warehouse?”

“You’re a shit boyfriend,” she joked. It had been the most he’d seen her smile since meeting her this time around. “you’re lucky you’re pretty.”

Blue massaged at his temples. “Please, just answer the question.”

“It’s close to here.”

Blue nodded, ushering her to lead the way.

The founders had built the town around a lake, much like the name suggested. The buildings followed the curvature of the water, overlooking the boats that bobbed along its surface. Nice buildings, unlike the outskirts of Kingshill. Tall, white and gleaming leading into the more rustic cabin-style houses. Night had begun to fall, the twin moons reflecting in broken semi circles over the ripples in the lake.

It was peaceful.

The perfect night for a break-in.

The warehouse sat barely hidden in the residential area. A wide building compared to its counterparts and teeming with guards. Blue swallowed hard and looked to Dougall for advice.

“So you said there were other reasons for you to be here-”

Dougall sighed. “I’m what most would call a dark mage, my magic is siphon based.”

“Which means?”

“I can copy or steal other’s magic. I’m basically a jack of all trades.”

“Good to know.”

The two crouched in the shadows of a cabin-house, watching the guards do their patrol like hawks. Blue tensed, Dougall grabbed his arm to keep him steady. He nodded a thanks, hoping that she knew what he meant by the gesture. She grunted and gave him a thumbs up.

“So, dark mage, you got anything up your sleeve?” he asked in a hushed whisper.

Dougall threw her hands up in an overdramatic shrug. “I… can mess with their memories a bit? Got that off of Remy.”

“Will it hurt them?”

“Has it hurt you?”

He tilted his head in a half shrugging gesture, “no, I guess not. Can it buy us a few minutes to get a better look at the place?”

“Thinking like a true thief, perhaps you’re one of us after all.”

“Can you get on with it?”

Dougall let out a low chuckle and flashed a grin. This was her element, and she made sure to show it. With one last glance, she moved, going as fast as she could while sticking close to the ground. Blue deflated, watching her go, debating his next move. The guards looked heavily armed, and he was not looking forward to another gun in his face that day. One had been too many.

Dougall stood once she had crossed the road, waving a hand in greeting. The guards shifted, pointing their drawn weapons at the young woman. Blue moved to follow, to get her out of trouble, or do anything, but Dougall held up a finger in a stopping motion. Whatever she had planned, she seemed confident that she would not fail. Her hands seeped a glittering grey mist that slowly thickened to dense fog. Her skin seemed to crystallise, turning to glass with her movements until Blue could see all the nerves and veins and bone. He almost recoiled, but felt drawn to the sight at the same moment. He had never seen magic so close, only in tricks, and even then the mages used staffs to protect themselves - to funnel away any damage that they could do to flesh.

In a quick burst, she threw her arms forward, the fog that she had accumulated shooting forward in two quick shots. One guard fired, but if it had hit, Dougall showed no reaction.

“You’re on a break,” she yelled at the guards, “go on, get.”

The guards looked at each other in confusion, then back at Dougall. She shook her head.

“You know who I am, don’t make me tell you again.” she held herself tall and proud, staring down the two guards. They hesitantly nodded and left the door clear for the two to run in. Blue stared up at her, curious how much had been the magic and how much had relied on her reputation.

“Impressive,” he said, standing and making his way to her side, “did they hit you?”

Dougall looked at him, confused, then patted herself down. Once satisfied, she gave him a thumbs up and a forced smile, which he returned.

Time to get the job done.

Regardless of having to deal with two fewer guards, the two made their way over as silently as possible, cracking open the large wooden doors of the warehouse.

Blue held back a cough as he entered. The interior was brimming with dust and the smell of oil and rust. Boxes and crates stacked high to the ceiling, likely having never disturbed or seen in years. The sight alone made his blood boil. Earl Douglas was a wealthy old bastard who kept culture in boxes to fade away to nothing. People had fought and died to keep their rights to their own history, and yet here it was. Collecting dust, mingling with other stolen artefacts, to be forgotten by the gentry that cared not for its own people, let alone foreign rights.

“We’re never going to be able to shift through all of this,” he groaned, “Creator, I hope it’s not boxed up.”

“It’s disgusting,” agreed Dougall, a sneer pulling at her rough features. “come on, best crack on. We don’t have long and I’d rather make the most of my time, don’t you?”

Blue nodded and rolled his shoulders. He dreaded what had come of his weekend. Dougall blew on her transparent fingers, rubbing heat into them and shoving them into the pockets of her dark leather jacket, setting off towards the back of the warehouse, her form disappearing into the darkness. Blue sighed and closed the door behind them, hoping to look as inconspicuous as possible, and hopefully buying the budding thieves more time to search for their needle in a haystack.

He climbed on top of one box, ripping off the lid of a taller crate with a pop. The motion caused him to sway backwards, but he caught himself before he could topple onto the ground and cause harm to himself or draw attention. Placing the lid to lean against the taller crate, he rifled through what he could see. Pots, mainly, hidden haphazardly in loose hay. There were onto jewels that cost more than his entire worth, but not what they had asked him to acquire. The night was still young, he figured, and he had plenty more crates to keep him occupied for weeks.

He cracked open a few more crates to no avail. More pots and vases, and some shiny jewels he pocketed so at the least he wouldn’t return empty-handed. Dougall had yet to return from the blackened void that was the back of the warehouse. He had heard nothing at all from the woman since she sauntered off and feared the worse. They couldn’t have had much time left, surely. He hopped off of the crate with a grunt, knees popping.

He wandered the darkening maze, hoping to at least find his mentor and partner in crime. He pulled a lighter from his trouser pocket, flicking it once, twice, three times for the spark to catch. The soft glow illuminated next to nothing, but Blue pressed on, hoping to find his partner safe. He wasn’t sure how he’d ever explain that she got hurt or worse on his watch.

Running his fingers across wood and metal, subconsciously counting how many boxes deep he had gone. He counted eighteen long, and the warehouse’s end was nowhere in sight. He had gone too far in, the light from the entrance no longer guiding him. A soft breeze threatened his tiny flame, he quickly cupped his spare hand around it to keep it alight, to the loss of counting each crate. He’d just have to rely on his footsteps now.

Two voices muttered words that Blue couldn’t pick up. A tangled mess of hushed words and garbled tongues. He walked softer now, hoping to get a glimpse before he scared them off, or worse, startled an attack. He took his thumb off his lighter, extinguishing the flame. He plunged into darkness, hobbling along the best he could.

The voices grew louder, more heated as he got closer. Blue hesitated, waiting around a corner to not be caught by the flickering light that hovered in between two people. One was definitely a guard, clean suit and armed to the teeth, her hair tugged back tightly out of her face. Yet he couldn’t catch a glimpse of the other, but it was definitely a woman speaking.

“You can’t keep doing this,” said the guards woman, an exasperated tone that one might use on a younger family member trying to break into the snack cupboard.

“He doesn’t own me,” hissed the other woman, the voice he could now recognise as Dougall. “He never has. I don’t owe him anything.”

“This isn’t a matter of owing, Dot. He’s your-”

“I know who he is,” Dougall snarled, the air seemingly growing colder as the seconds ticked by, “now let me go. I have my own business to attend to. That’s an order.”

Dougall brushed past where he hid, storming down the aisle of crates. Blue let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. He could hear a door squeak open and closed, presumably from the guard exiting the building.

He stood slowly, careful not to knock over any of the boxes as he went, flicking his lighter yet again. The soft yellow light barely lighting his way, but it was enough to make his way back the way he came. To pretend not to have heard whatever had transpired. He wasn’t a true member of The Ivory Rose, not yet. As much as the situation had been against his will, he refused to mess up his chance at a life of adventure just yet. It was in his blood after all. If he could not follow his mother, to travel across the seas, this was the next best thing.

He reached the end with little trouble, standing before the double doors of the warehouse. Returning to his crates, rifling through them again in case Dougall found him. He’d at least have plausible deniability in case questioned.

Dougall sauntered over from the left of the warehouse, letting out a single sharp whistle to get his attention. He looked over, almost dropping the vase he had found. There, in her hands, was the large framed painting of the one and only Sheridan Sørensen. The professional thief grinned, carefree and proud. Blue looked at the painting then slowly back at her in distrust. If she caught any of his doubt, she didn’t waver.

“Time to go,” she grinned, tossing him the painting - which he barely caught - and running out the door. He huffed and chased after her, feet pounding against the dense earth floor. Blue couldn’t be sure why they were running, what with the sudden lack of guards. Dougall’s order seemed to have worked, for whatever reason.

Blue parked the car in front of the Den, after an underwhelming drive back to the capital. He unbelted the painting from where it lay in the back of the van, following Dougall back inside. Dougall, who yelled at the top of her lungs the very second she entered despite the late hour.

“We’re back!” she whooped, sauntering into the living room, where the gaggle of women sat around; exhausted from waiting.

J, the team leader, rolled her eyes.“What do you want, a medal?”

Blue stepped in cautiously, painting held in front of him as if it could shield him from the many pairs of judging eyes of women he knew no name.

“Ey, he did it!” grinned one, a tall woman with purple ribbons braided into her hair, from where she sat cross-legged in front of the fire.

“Took longer than it should have - but yes, I suppose he did. Congratulations, Mr Blue.”

“You really can just call me Blue,” he said sheepishly, carefully setting the painting up against the wall. Sheridan Sørensen’s piercing gaze glared over the room as if her ghost lived on within the oil paint.

With a pop of a bottle and a thump on the door, the group froze. They stared warily towards the front door, looking amongst themselves as if daring someone to move. Blue braced himself, opting to take initiative, hoping that it would gain favour with the women.

He crept to the passageway, peaking out through the frosted glass panes that bordered the door, no matter how unhelpful they proved to be. A blur of black and silver stood swaying, moving forward to rap at the knocker again. Blue bit his lip, taking in a deep breath, and opened the door. Two of the Kingshill guards, pistols drawn, pushed past him into the house, no matter Blue’s yelps of discouragement.

They filed into the living room where the crew sat like statues, the froth from the popped alcohol dripping languidly down the side of the glass untouched.

“Dorothy Douglas,” boomed the male guard, pistol pointing towards Dougall’s face. Dougall hardly looked surprised, much less interested. “You’re under arrest for the murder of Dorothy Marlowe.”

[pleasantspark]

Little Kuriza - Chapter One (Desirable) Frieza x Saiyan! OC (Orion) + Kuriza Genre: Action, Adventure, Romance(?), Thriller Tropes: Part of the Little Kuriza Series. Warnings: 50% of this is just flashback and little has to do with Kuriza until the other 50%. AUs Utilized: Overhaul AU A/n: There was a Transformers Fanfiction where the Reader had a child with some random seeker, and was shipped with Starscream while also dealing with working for the Decepticons. The fic has been cancelled unfortunately, which was sad, so when I was showering, I was like, "Hey, why don't I use that book as inspo for a storyline about my Saiyan OC having a one night stand with Lord Frieza which led to the baby Kuriza? Where she has to balance keeping him away from Lord Frieza and keeping him a secret to also working with the Frieza Force." and thus, this story is born! Some plots would be inspired by the book, but ultimately most will be original. Enjoy~

He had his finger out, his tail flicking against the floor angrily, she had not seen him this mad before, since... Well, when she and Vegeta failed to retrieve and handle a rebellion.

"Lord Frieza..." She choked out a gasp. "Please, it wasn't our fault, we were outnumbered and-"

Frieza placed his hand up, silencing her from responding. It was clear he was not having any of her excuses. "Shut up, Monkey."

The word "Monkey" being emphasized. She was so used to him calling her that, but for some reason it sounded... Fond? She sputters feeling embarrassed but complied with her lords order.

"Now, you do realize I don't tolerate failure in the ranks, hm?" Frieza asked, and her heart sank, she looked back up to Frieza and saw his tail thump against the floor in a fast flick motion.

The flick of death, some said if you see this, you're good as dead, she shuts her eyes tightly in hopes that Frieza just kills her now. But he had other plans.

"Yes, I am very sorry for failing you, My Lord." She said.

"I appreciate your honesty, Orion." Frieza said. Which made Orion gasp. This was the first time he called her by her name, usually he referred to all saiyans as monkeys... But... He seemed to- Wait, is this his way to distract her?

"I... Thank you, My Lord." She said.

"You are well aware of what happens when one of my members fails, do you?" Frieza asked.

Certain Death.

Public execution in front of a bunch of High Elites, you're even lucky to be executed in private. Which is rare.

"Yes my lord, I promise you, it won't happen again." Orion said, her eyes still tightly closed.

A menacing chuckle erupts from the space tyrants mouth, as she hears padding, footsteps approach her, before feeling his hands caress her hair. "You're right, it won't happen again."

This is it, she's dead.

"Just get it over with My Lord. Please." Orion said, Frieza raised an eyebrow and chuckles once more.

"What are you talking about?" Frieza asked.

"I... I mean you kill any soldiers that fail their missions!" Orion blubbers out.

Once again, Frieza chuckles. "Yes, while what you said is true, I am willing to give you a chance to prove yourself, a redemption if you will."

Frieza pauses, and smiled. "I am being generous, it would be merely foolish of me to kill off the last of that filthy monkey's kind he has in order to breed..."

Frieza stopped behind her, and placed hands on her shoulders. "Wouldn't it?"

Orion shivers, and looked towards the window, which showed the planet she and Vegeta were sent to quell the rebellion on. Her eyes widened. Since when did they move to the planet?

"What exactly do you want me to do?" Orion asked.

"It's simple, I want you, to destroy this planet." Frieza said, with almost sadistic glee. Orion was shocked.

"You want me- to what?" Orion asked.

"You heard me, destroy it." Frieza said.

"Why?" Orion asked.

"It's contract had ended. And it's your way of repaying me for your failure. It's either that, or die." Frieza hisses in her ear. She shivers.

"So, I'm trading my life for a billion lives?" Orion asked.

"A fair trade don't you think? Although it would be very selfish of you to make that decision. But the ball remains in your court." Frieza said. Frieza backs up and watches her.

Orion had a choice, she can either kill those people on that planet... Or... Die at the hands of Frieza. She didn't feel right killing a planet filled with sentient beings like her.

But then she is reminded Vegeta must have destroyed countless planets. And her attention refocused back to the point at hand.

It was clear, she had to make a very selfish decision, and with a almost pained sigh, her finger emits a glowing color that rapidly glows as Frieza grins with sadistic delight...

Frieza's behavior changed once she proved her loyalty to him, in a way, he viewed her as an equal but also kept her at an arms length to not show he was a softie.

Those later turned into late nights in his quarters. Which leads to... Interesting nights to occur. She spent most of her time sucking him off or giving him pleasure to which didn't really matter because she wanted to be loyal and provide him with something.

And unfortunately, she didn't take into account for the next few weeks she'll spend with the Lordship, one that would end up... with dire consequences. And she didn't heed her gut instincts.

Orion groans rubbing her head, and she awoken with the soft face of Kuriza. She blinks and chuckles. She picks up Kuriza, Kuriza's been her little bouncing baby boy since forever, and she's been keeping him a secret from the Force.

Having been conceived after one of her visits to Lord Frieza, she cut all contact and told shitty excuses just so she could not see him, she wanted to take care of Kuriza away from the evil of the Frieza Force. So she's been hiding him with her since his birth.

She gave birth to him alone and healed on her own. She caressed Kuriza's head, he looked so much like his father. Which terrified her, she was scared he will end up like Frieza. She respected him well used to since she became pregnant and raised Kuriza, she realized she wanted to raise Kuriza in a wonderful environment.

When Kuriza was born, he had a point on his head. She called him Chestnut as a nickname. Due to his sheltered upbringing she had to hide him behind in her quarters. Frieza had hooked her up with a full quarter suite on the ship, only reserved for Elite Warriors. It was back when he and her were in an agreement with one another.

The suite had, well. A Onsuite bathroom, a walk in kitchen and a entertainment center. This was enough for Kuriza when she was out. So she didn't have to worry about Kuriza wandering off or getting hungry when she was out on missions.

She gets up and pats his head.

"Mommy! Can you make me breakfast?" Kuriza's red eyes beamed, as Orion smiled.

"Of course baby."

She smiled at Kuriza's enthusiasm and he got down from the bed, and runs into the little mini hallway in the suite, leaving Orion sighing and rubbing her eyes.

She knew today was going to be rough.

But she had to put an act on for her kid.

>Next Chapter

[mediaevalmusereads]

Bright Young Women. By Jessica Knoll. Simon and Schuster, 2023.

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Genre: historical fiction

Series: N/A

Summary: January 1978. A serial killer has terrorized women across the Pacific Northwest, but his existence couldn’t be further from the minds of the vibrant young women at the top sorority on Florida State University’s campus in Tallahassee. Tonight is a night of promise, excitement, and desire, but Pamela Schumacher, president of the sorority, makes the unpopular decision to stay home—a decision that unwittingly saves her life. Startled awake at 3 a.m. by a strange sound, she makes the fateful decision to investigate. What she finds behind the door is a scene of implausible violence—two of her sisters dead; two others, maimed. Over the next few days, Pamela is thrust into a terrifying mystery inspired by the crime that’s captivated public interest for more than four decades.

On the other side of the country, Tina Cannon has found peace in Seattle after years of hardship. A chance encounter brings twenty-five-year-old Ruth Wachowsky into her life, a young woman with painful secrets of her own, and the two form an instant connection. When Ruth goes missing from Lake Sammamish State Park in broad daylight, surrounded by thousands of beachgoers on a beautiful summer day, Tina devotes herself to finding out what happened to her. When she hears about the tragedy in Tallahassee, she knows it’s the man the papers refer to as the All-American Sex Killer. Determined to make him answer for what he did to Ruth, she travels to Florida on a collision course with Pamela—and one last impending tragedy.

Bright Young Women is the story about two women from opposite sides of the country who become sisters in their fervent pursuit of the truth. It proposes a new narrative inspired by evidence that’s been glossed over for decades in favor of more salable headlines—that the so-called brilliant and charismatic serial killer from Seattle was far more average than the countless books, movies, and primetime specials have led us to believe, and that it was the women whose lives he cut short who were the exceptional ones.

***Full review below.***

Content Warnings: blood, disfigurement/mutilation, sexual assault, bullying a child, reference to incest, pedophelia/child molestation, disordered eating, homophobia, death of a queer character

Overview: I got curious about this book after seeing it on two different lists: one was best historical fiction of 2023 and one was YouTuber withcindy's best books of 2023. I wasn't originally going to give it a go, but I had just read The Nothing Man and figured "why not." I don't read a lot of crime or serial killer-related books, so maybe this would be an adventure. By the end, I was an emotional wreck. This book did a lot of things right, and I loved the conviction with which it dismissed the idea of the genius serial murderer while also centering victims. While I wouldn't recommend it to people who are sensitive to the deaths of queer people in fiction, I do think this is a fabulous example of how to do fiction. So for that reason, this book gets 4.5 stars from me.

Writing: Knoll's writing is very well-balanced and did an excellent job of evoking all kinds of reactions from me. It balances showing and telling well, and it contains so much raw emotion that it was bound to get me invested, whether I liked the characters or not. Unlike the previous thriller I read, I felt like I could connect with the characters' pain and desperation, and I appreciated that a lot of this was centered not just on the murders, but on familial and romantic relationships. It made this book feel like more than a thriller, and I liked that not every moment was spent trying to sensationalize the crimes.

I also really appreciated the fact that Knoll never calls the murderer by name. When he comes up in the text, he's generally referred to as "the Defendant," and I think this stylistic choice goes a long way in removing some of the star power around certain serial killers, especially the one this book is based on.

But above all, I think I mostly appreciated this book for having a strong central theme. This book is focused on highlighting the misogyny and sexism both around the real-life case and the judicial system, ultimately making the case that A.) serial killers are not geniuses and those that say so are covering for the judicial system's laziness or incompetence, and B.) the judicial system is incredibly dismissive of women, especially "bright young women" (to draw from the title). Because one of our main POV characters is a law student, I felt that the direct criticisms of sexism were appropriate, and honestly, I like my narratives a little direct. But also, I just loved the way Knoll took little shots at the media, the justice system, and serial killer fans who put such pathetic men on a pedestal.

Characters: Though this book has a number of characters, I'm only going to focus on our two POV characters, Pamela and Ruth, as well as Tina.

Plot: The plot of this book follows two women, Pamela and Ruth, during a fictionalized retelling of Ted Bundy's murders in Washington and Florida. Pamela's narration flips back and forth between 1978 (the time of the murders) and 2021 (where Pamela is tying up a few loose ends). Pamela is a pre-law student in Florida and the president of her sorority when the atta ks happen, killing her friend Denise. Ruth's narration stays in 1974, where Ruth is seeking group counseling to help deal with the death of her father (not a murder victim).

What I liked about these two perspectives was the way it focused on the lives of the two women. Pamela's narrative is largely dominated by the attacks, and we get a compelling look at what it was like to deal with the aftermath of such brutal murders. I also liked that amidst everything, Pamela learns to not allow men to dim her voice and her skills, and she finds a true friend in a woman named Tina. Ruth's narrative is not dominated by her attack and instead focuses on her life leading up to her disappearance. Ruth learns to stand up for herself and accept herself for who she is (a lesbian), starting a romantic relationship with Tina (who will later become friends with Pamela). With Ruth, Knoll invites the reader to feel connected to a woman whose life was unjustly cut short - and cut short at a time when she was finally living her truth.

But all this praise comes with a caveat. If you are a reader who does not want to read about queer people dying, you should skip this one. I can't say for certain whether Ruth and Tina's queerness and doomed relationship is used to evoke more sympathy, but I can say that it's tragic and does not make room for queer happiness. I don't want this to sound like a knock against the book; but I do think it's important to keep in mind that, going in, you need to be conscious that you're reading a story about the victims of one of America's most famous serial killers. Things aren't going to turn out well.

Pamela is a pre-law student who becomes involved in the murder case after seeing the Defendant flee her sorority house. She is characterized as somewhat uptight and incredibly organized, refusing to party when she has studying to do and being a stickler for sorority house rules. I liked that these qualities come to serve as a guiding star for the other sorority girls after the murders; Pam uses her need for order and sense of responsibility to be a steady presence, and I admired the way she supported her sisters in both big and small ways.

Ruth is a 25 year old divorcee who has moved in with her controlling, image-obsessed mother following the death of her father. Ruth is sympathetic in that she is rejected by everyone in her family, and over time, we learn that her rejection is centered around her queerness. Her story is hard to read, not because it has gratuitous scenes of violence or abuse, but because we know that her life is going to be cut short when we finally see her finding happiness. I was really (irrationally) hoping that somehow, Ruth would be ok in the end, but if you know anything about the Bundy murders, you know that's impossible.

Tina is the character that links Pamela and Ruth (aside from the Defendant). In 1974, Tina is an heiress who is trying to become a therapist, and she enters into a romantic relationship with Ruth after the two meet at a complex grief support group. In 1978, Tina teams up with Pamela to try to find proof that the Defendant is the same person who killed both Ruth and Denise. I really liked Tina in part because she was so confident and had no time for bullshit. Her story is also tragic in that she loses someone dear to her, but I did have some hope for her because she seemed to strike up a great friendship with Pamela (one that lasts decades). I also liked that she, rather than the Defendant, was the steady presence in both narratives because it put less focus on the male killer and more on the women who had to pick up the pieces of their lives.

TL;DR; Bright Young Women is a powerful retelling of two of the Ted Bundy murders with a strong central message about sexism and the idiotic veneration of male criminals. This book is so effective in part because it gives readers an in-depth look at three smart, promising young women whose lives were all affected by one man, and I appreciated the choices that Knoll made to remove the charismatic charm attached to figures like Bundy. If you're looking for a scathing criticism of America's justice system, this book might just be for you.

[petrovna-zamo]

Once you watch Clue, The Witches of Eastwick, Death Becomes Her, Kill Bill and Soapdish you’ll realize that 75% of Katya’s UNHhhh intros are just quotes from those movies lol