#call them toxic and I will punt you to the sun

[blissfulscreamss]

Adamil >:)

[danmei-in-polls]

Submissions Open masterpost

blue for tournaments that haven't been updated in a while, and it's unclear when or if they will be ran

Characters:

Autism swag summit (new!)

Autistic headcanon bracket

Best regressor tournament

Bisexual swag competition (new!)

Character most screwed by writers

Characters who need to be put in the incinerator suggested: old palace master (svsss)

Characters with numbers in their names suggested: shen jiu, yue qingyuan, six balls (svsss), jing beiyuan (qi ye)

Cringefail biromantic poll

Disabled Characters Showdown confirmed: wen kexing (tian ya ke, shan he ling), zhou zishu (shan he ling) suggested: hua cheng (tgcf), zhou zishu (tian ya ke), cui buqu (wushuang), xiao xingchen (mdzs), xue xian (tqks)

Favorite disabled webnovel character suggested: see the list for "Disabled Characters Showdown" above

Favorite webnovel men

Feral MILFs

Fuckable faves

Guy followed around by a Voice

Guys you'd call mommy suggested: shen qingqiu (svsss)

Hidden webnovel character tournament (wn character tournament with voting based solely on ganda)

Hot moms in media

I'd call her sir (horny)

Lied on their resume tournament

Modern webnovel character

Most attractive fucked-up character

Most feral webnovel character (new!)

Most Meaningless Character Death

Pure Beef Bean (as opposed to smol bean)

Queer-coded characters

Revived revenge (characters who were murdered, came back to life, and took revenge)

Smartest webnovel character

Trans webnovel character

Transmigration destination protagonists' showdown confirmed: luo binghe (svsss), baili qingmiao (dvawtk)

Ultimate bottom

Ultimate top

Women with big dicks / BDE suggested: su xiyan (svsss)

Couples / ships:

Fucked-up ships

Toxic Old Men Yaoi

Webnovel rarepair

Groups:

Other:

Anything from any webnovel

Best book to movie adaptation (TV shows included)

Best gothic horror/gothic romance

Leverage teams tournament

Misogynistic Media Tournament

Queer shows and movies (i asked, censored bl goes!)

Webnovel monster (non-humanoid)

Not tournaments:

Are they queer? (similar to 'could x have saved them' blogs)

Are they queerplatonic?

Can they lift Thor's hammer? Could they wield Mjolnir? (different blog with same/similar theme)

Could aromanticism save them?

Could fatness have saved them?

Could lesbianism save them?

Could polyamory have saved them?

Could they assemble IKEA furniture?

Could transition have saved her? (for potential transfems)

Could transition have saved them?

Could transition save him?

Could being trans save them? Did transitioning save them? (different blog with same/similar theme) Are they trans? (different blog with same/similar theme)

Do you know this ADHD character?

Do you know this autistic character?

Do you know this baby?

Do you know this disabled LGBTQ+ character?

Do you know this stuttering character?

Do you ship this queer ship?

Have you read this webnovel?

Is your blorbo neurodivergent?

Is this character aroacespec?

Should they be emancipated? (freed from their parents)

Should they divorce?

The Babygirl Polls

Throuple or love triangle?

Webnovel tournaments suggestions

Would gay sex fix them? (temporarily closed)

Would being different gender affect their popularity?

Would it fix them?

Would you date this character?

Would you punt them into the sun?

[lurkinglurkerwholurks]

My Head Is Stripped

First posted: August 7, 2019

Focuses on: Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent

Favorite bookmark: "things that make me happy"

Tier: Middle-ish

This is my “behind the scenes” series where I indulge myself horribly by annotating my fics. Link to the fic itself above. Thoughts below the cut.

I am a deeply unhappy sick person. I rarely get sick, so when I do finally succumb, I am miserable and I, regrettably, make no effort to keep the misery from spreading. (Germs, yes. Misery, no.)

Clark's rambling, grumbly, petulant opening thoughts are very me.

Clark tightened his grip on his fabric shield and shuffled toward the sound. X-ray vision felt like too much work, so he leaned in and pressed his eye to the peephole. He wiped the moisture from his eye and tried again.

This fic was, if I remember correctly, one of those that was incredibly easy to write because it was less like creating and more like dictating. I sat back and watched them do their thing and just had to find the right ways to describe what was happening—or, in the case of Clark choosing to look through the peephole, explain why what I was seeing happen did actually make sense to be happening.

When the door opened, Bruce Wayne blinked at him. Just once. It was Bruce’s way of showing deliberate surprise, like taking a beat.

It's a very cat mannerism of him and I love it. I think I've used it in other fics, too.

Bruce Wayne didn’t look like he had ever wanted to discorporate in his life. Artfully tousled hair, tastefully expensive clothes without so much as a wrinkle, a good, healthy tan—even his shoes were shiny. Clark wanted to punt him into the sun.

Like I said, he's a crankypants.

Or the way Clark’s gripe came out closer to Dank ew, Wod’s Greadess Dedekdiv, wad gab id away?

I sat on my bed in my room quietly sounding this one out to figure out how to write it phonetically.

“I didn’t think you could get sick.” Bruce made a dismissive gesture down the length of Clark’s body, then turned away.

This specific line came back to BITE ME in a later fic in this series. We have elected to roundly ignore the error.

“Feed a cold, Clark.” “What?” Clark asked, though the word was muffled by the couch curtain. “Feed a cold, starve a fever. It’s a saying.”

I had to google it. I can never remember which goes with which.

Something cold and hard touched his face. Clark jerked and cracked open one eye. A thermometer hovered in front of his face. “Where?” Clark croaked. “I don’t have one.” “It’s mine.” At Clark’s look, Bruce shrugged. “Kids. Someone’s always sick at my house. Besides, I said I thought it was code, not that I was sure.”

Another moment for explanations, knowing Bruce absolutely would insist on taking Clark's temperature but also clocking that Clark would never own one and it felt a bridge too far to be like "oh it's on his belt next to the shark repellent spray."

Cool fingertips ghosted behind Clark’s ear, lingering just long enough to gauge the heat of his skin, then disappeared as Bruce retreated into the kitchen. “You don’t feel warm. Leave it in until it beeps, then tell me what the display says.”

He's such a dad. And no toxic masculinity here folks!!!

In the kitchen, Bruce was silent and Clark could picture Bruce’s long, flat-browed look. Barry called it his Don’t be stupid look.

That's what my friends called my dad's look. And mine. It's an inherited trait.

Also, Bruce mentions the thermometer's blue button which was literally just me describing my thermometer at the time, thank you, Target.

When the thermometer beeped, Clark pulled it out and squinted at the display. “Thirty-six? That doesn’t seem right.” “It’s in Celsius. You don’t have a fever. Good. How did you get sick?”

I thiiiiiink the chat had been having a discussion before about Alfred keeping the Manor stocked and this being his preferred thermometer brand. Or maybe just what Bruce was used to reading.

“You weren’t even there,” Clark whined, returning to the matter of the sickly translator.

No, because it wouldn't have happened if Bruce had been there.

There was a tug on Clark’s quilt, and the bare foot that had fallen off the end of the couch was tucked back in.

Such a daaaaaaaad! I was so delighted mentally picturing Bruce in his true element, sleeves rolled up, puttering from living room to kitchen and back as he got Clark's crap in order.

“Uhhh…” Clark struggled to sit up and keep himself fully wrapped in the quilt. “Head. Hurts. Feels… full? Like, full.” “Use your words, Mr. Reporter.”

Bruce grunted. Use your words… Ha.

I love them.

“I understand the saying is ‘Game recognizes game.’” Bruce gave another shrug. “I have the experience.”

I was dyyyyyyyinggggggg to use that line and the comments section rewarded me for the choice.

“Budge over,” he instructed, nudging Clark to the end of the couch so he could sit and rest the tray on the coffee table. Clark scooted and mentally added the phrase to his running list of words that made Bruce sound like Alfred.

I did make sure to weave that back in again in... N&N, I think? Yeah. In one of the Tim chapters.

“Bruce, I don’t think some salt and heat are going to fix this,” Clark mumbled.

Clark is so ANNOYING to make sick when he's not also robbed of his invulnerability. So many things we do to comfort sick people don't WORK if your skin doesn't respond to heat or cold or pressure!!

Bruce frowned down at the quilt. “Your layers are wrong. Where’s your linen closet?”

Bruce is correct, it is VITAL to get your layers right, or you'll overheat or freeze at just the wrong time and there might be too much PRESSURE and if that happens you'll just want to lay down and die because you're already sick and everything is the worst.

Bruce placed Clark’s head on his thigh just above his knee and said, “I’m going to place some eucalyptus oil under your nose. It’s an irritant to human skin, but it shouldn’t bother you, and the smell will help.”

I genuinely did not know eucalyptus oil was an irritant before writing this fic. My mom used to put it in a diffuser when we were sick, and I liked the smell a lot. Clark would likely not own a diffuser and it would be bulky for Bruce to carry.

A calloused thumb swiped gently at the corners of Clark’s eyes without comment, as if the tears were nothing more than the product of sinuses gone mad.

I just really needed them to be soft together, okay

Bruce’s hands, steady and sure, began to gently press against his face. “Facial massage can relieve sinus pressure,” Bruce explained. Clark doubted that any amount of pressing and massaging could ease pressure in a skull built to withstand an atomic bomb. And maybe it didn’t, but the contact felt good, and when Bruce’s blunted fingers scraped upward and began running through Clark’s hair, he sighed again and let himself relax against Bruce’s soft Italian slacks.

This was me DESPERATELY wanting Bruce to play with Clark's hair because that's all I want when I'm miserable and sick, and justifying making it happen any possible way I could. My dad, when he was trying to get us to sleep, would trace his finger across our brows, down the bridge of our nose, and across our cheekbones in a loop, too, and I wanted to add a little of that.

Clark half-expected a gruff “Goodnight, Clark-boy” from his pa.

My mom tells me this is a reference to The Waltons. It's a TV show.

Instead, Clark was enfolded in the subtle musk of Bruce’s aftershave as lips pressed to his forehead.

I wrote this whole thing so I get a little treat for me.

And in the cruelest of ironies, I posted this and not two weeks afterwards was sick and so so so so so so sad I didn't have a Bruce to take care of me.

[leastdatablebracket]

ROUND 3, MATCH 5

Propaganda under the cut!

Drake Walker

Propaganda

Jobless complainer with a codependent relationship with his best friend (Liam) who bitches about monarchy and nobility constantly, even though he benefits from staying at the royal castle for free. I think it might be mentioned once... in book 3 or the sequels that he actually does some work around the place... seems like something that the writers threw in to make Drake seem less like a useless freeloader. Rude as fuck for literal no reason, obsessed with being a man, he's chock full of toxic masculinity. Won't ice skate, hates the opera, won't drink wine or "girly" drinks, sees fancy food and I feel like he complains just for the hell of it. Just a general pill of a human to be around. Grown ass man (mid to late 20s) who hates the royal life so much, he can just leave! Get a job! Move out! He doesn't have to 24/7 be on call to emotionally support Liam! He can move into the city and call or visit his BFF whenever Liam is having a crisis or needs support or advice or whatever. Utterly ridiculous situation to have Drake there constantly hating on everything. Obsessed with manly stuff only like whiskey and eating BBQ or sloppy joes or some shit like that. Complained in the third book about a pink wedding cake (or decorations?), which caused Drake Walker stans to actually get angry (although he would literally do this, he 100% would bitch about pink) and the writers took out that line. I guess dissing on pink things was just Too Much finally for Drake Walker fans. You have to pay diamonds (the premium currency) to see the soft side of this RO, which is so hilarious to me... why would I ever pay diamonds to spend MORE time with this guy??? I don't need to see Drake's "soft for only one person" scenes, I need to punt him into the sun. Drake Walker fans used to be or still are insane so god help you if you put this horrible man in the bracket. Choices has really fallen though, they lost 90% of their tumblrinas when they introduced their subscription model, so you might avoid the DW discourse. 

His vibes are rancid 

The propaganda here is perfect, but to add a bit for Drake, at one point they rewrote some of the original game, and do you know how they tried to make Drake more likable? They made the main LI of the game, normally a sweetie, a jerk fuck boi. Like the only way the creators of Drake could think to make him more likable was to just make the other characters worse.

Vace

Propaganda

well you (the pollrunner) already know cause hes ur icon but i will say that at least he is meant to suck as a romantic partner with only one ending (two if you include astronaut) having him and sol (the player character) staying together on the other end tho there's three ways to start dating him one is to make him go to therapy n then start dating after he is no longer abusing his girlfriend (either breaking them up by convincing him to dump nemmie or convincing nemmie that hes the scumbag he is n she deserves better) another is to be his side piece and the third way is getting him so mad he drags sol off by the neck to beat the shit out of them with this event ending with either him n sol sleeping together (also causing him and nemmie to break up) sol getting the living daylights beat out of them (to the point they got knocked out n needed medical care) with the implicit threat of vace will do this again if they dont stay out of his way and sol avoiding both of those things but being so shaken by the experience that theyre struggling to breath until theyre outside and fully away from him which gives a very different undertone to hooking up with him in this event

[letters-from-eros]

I know you don't have rules for that already but can I ask for relationship hc's for Chuuya and Dazai with a fem or gender neutral s/o?😳❤

A/N: Am I foaming from the mouth for my first BSD request? Maybe. I hope this is good though. I added in a short part on how they asked you out cause I wanted this to be different and unique from most dating HCs.

Pairing(s): Dazai Osamu, Chuuya Nakahara x GN!Reader

Warnings: Slight mention of suicide in Dazai's, cursing

Form: Headcanon

Also: These ran super duper long I'm so sorry

You managed to cuff the suicidal maniac, huh?

Well done, my friend, well done

It took him so long to ask you out, and even when he did it wasn't planned. In all honesty, he never planned to tell you about his feelings. The excruciating part for him is that he did fall pretty fast, and realized he was falling even faster.

He didn't deny them, that wouldn't make it go away. He knew that. He sat and let it festered, hoping it would just disappear at some point.

Had the mindset of anything he loved he'd lose, y'know? Sad but so.

The way I'd imagine it happening is that you both are either working late at the ADA (with just the two of you there) or just at his place hanging out into all hours of the night.

Both of you are laughing at some dumb joke Dazai made and as the laughter dies out he feels.. Bittersweet. You make him feel genuinely happy, like there's no need to put on any mask or facade. That was not a feeling he had with anyone else.

Once silence fully overtakes you both it slips out of his mouth, purely on accident.

"I love you"

"More than suicide?"

"Y/n I'm serious!"

From that night forward you had the pleasure of being the partner of Dazai Osamu, with his feelings being released in an extremely cliche coming-of-age-movie way.

Okay, onto actually dating Dazai

Still goofy as all hell. Honestly the only thing that has really changed is the he lets you in a lot less hesitantly on small things. Its easier to put cracks in his walls, per se

Unbothered by PDA and will probably make out with you in public and not see why that isn't a thing that should be done or why you wouldn't like it.

(Just tell him if you don't, he'll get over it eventually)

Will kiss you everywhere, doesn't exactly have a favorite place, but where he does end up kissing you the most is your forehead for convenience. He'll kiss your wrist if he's holding your hand, too.

Clingy as all hell, always wants to be touching you in some way and becomes the biggest dramatic bitch when he can't be around you.

Kunikida will actually punt him if he says he'll die if he's away from you for another second. For the tenth time

No more suicide attempts once you two are dating, and doesn't ask for a double suicide with you because he knows it'll upset you quite a bit

He flirts with you like he's trying to get you to date him lmao he will never ease up, especially if it gets you bashful.

Dazai would NOT be dating you if he did not trust you a whole lot, so thats something that is pretty vital to the relationship.

That being said, please be understanding of the pieces of Dazai he keeps locked away to never see the light of day again and trust him just as much as he trust you. Its important especially if you don't want the relationship to be one-sided

Also with the high amount of trust he places in you, he doesn't get jealous easily. I mean he may get pissy that you're not giving him any attention but jealous is never the right word to use

Mf finally washes his fucking clothes once he starts dating you. Doesn't smell like the bottom of the ocean on a regular basis anymore.

Dates are always chill and rarely super extravagant. Park dates are often but Dazai's truly preferred date is snuggling inside, watching a few movies and slipping in and out of naps.

Belladonna is his go-to petname for you, of course, but he may bounce around with other petnames for kicks.

He will start calling you weird shit if you ignore him for to long.

Never raises his voice at you unless its in some joking manner. On the rare occurrence that you two have an argument he would need to get extremely riled up before he resorts to raising his voice. He tries to have patience and usually succeeds.

Dazai gets SO soft and SO loving sometimes, and it can be out of no where or something minuscule could have sparked it. All I know is that its nice and cute 🥰

He's usually pretty vulnerable himself when he gets like that so match his energy, alright? If you don't he might end up a little sour for some short amount of time and be more hesitant to get like that

10/10 Lover. This is by no means an effortless relationship, its a constant battle of figuring out boundaries, running into walls and respecting them. Dating Dazai isn't toxic if you treat him right and when you do? It definitely pays off.

(This got so long. I've had so much pent-up Dazai love and all around BSD love and I finally had an outlet to completely let it out)

HUSBAND. THE LOML

Okay, sorry. But this man is the love of my life, and he will be yours as well.

Took him a while to really figure out his feelings for you, or to better put it, it took him a while to label the feeling he had towards you "love"

But ONCE HE DID mans was practically whipped before you officially started dating omg.

You could notice the shift in attitude when he figured out his feelings. He got nervous, went stiff and blushy all against his will. Maybe a tad bit more snappy.

He'd try to keep his cool and then just eat shit and become a babbling angry mess.

After every encounter and interaction with you he'd end up overthinking all of it and when he catches himself doing that he gets so upset with himself. It's really when he realized that he won't be able to keep his feelings a secret forever.

Definitely started avoiding you when planning on the 🌈perfect🌈 way to ask you out and blamed work if you asked him why he was avoiding you.

Anyway, the way he asks you out was almost as calculated as a proposal.

He asks you to meet him at the port and dress comfortably towards the end of the day

When you get there, Chuuya has a nice place set up for you both. A blanket and a bottle of expensive wine because we all know he's lowkey an alcoholic along with a very nice view of the ocean/port.

Chuuya made sure it didn't radiate too much romantic energy to give his plans away; also, he wasn't that nervous. Once he gets truly determined to do something, he doesn't let something like anxiety get in the way of it. The idea of being rejected was essentially an afterthough

Made an effort to make sure he didn't drink too much and neither did you. He didn't want to take advantage of the possibility of you being drunk by the time he asks you out and he knows he himself has a low tolerance

Once the sun began to set is when he asks. Stutters a little bit towards the beginning but smooths it out.

"Y/n, I uh.. I brought you to tell you that I love you."

"Have you drank too much already, Chuuya?"

"No! I'm completely sober!"

It was overall super cute and unforgettable, just as he planned.

Honestly, being in a relationship with this boy is just 🥰

Spoils you so much. You'll deadass be dripped out head to toe purely in stuff Chuuya has bought you.

Dw, he has an alright sense of fashion

Don't try to discourage him, that'll only get him to buy more stuff.

Chuuya's short and the concept of a size difference doesn't bother him at all, he'll find a way to kiss you regardless lol

On the topic of kissing, his favorite places are your lips and hands

He takes of his gloves whenever he's with you and let me tell you his hands are the softest things ever. Albeit his knuckles are a little calloused sometimes.

If you're anything like me, you'd want his soft hands on you 24/7 and y'know what? Chu would happily oblige.

He isn't like the biggest fan of PDA but certainly isn't against it. He'd rather keep things behind doors as much as he can. Holding hands and small kisses on the cheek are very fine by him.

He isn't like the biggest jealous type? He doesn't become overly irate or anything but certainly doesn't take any pleasure in watching you talk to other guys.

Chuuya does have some form of self restraint when it comes to that. Him getting a lil jealous is one of the only things that'll have him completely make-out with you in public or smth

Chuuya is very snuggly and touchy behind closed doors. He practically becomes Dazai but a lot less goofy

Oh yeah he definitely rants about how much he fucking hates Dazai now n again

Isn't huge on petnames but definitely calls you them every now and again.

Princess, babe and baby are his top few.

Chuuya definitely has a morning voice where it drops 2 octaves and its just 🥰

Never yells at you, its pretty shocking. The only times he's ever raised his voice with you is when its very obvious that he's not genuinely upset with you. Almost for comedic affect because it is angry short boy Chuuya

One may think arguments are often with Chuuya, but they're sort of not. He may be a pretty stubborn individual but he never argues to argue unless its Dazai-

He always works towards and agreement to end the argument as soon as possible. He keeps his cool and will never raise his voice. You can barely call them arguments because of how much he tries to keep his cool.

When he's stressed or had a bad day he gets extremely quiet because he doesn't even want the opportunity to open his mouth and take it out on you. The only words he'll say to you while he's in that state is that he's stress and you didn't do anything wrong just to make sure you're not worried over it.

All and all? Chuuya is the best and there's no way around it. He has his faults but always tries to improve and be his best self for you :)

(I had even more pent-up love for Chuuya and it got even longer, whoops-)

[crewhonk]

alexa google how to deal with toxic people in my life

omg boy do I have experience

u are hopefully quarantining well, and staying at home, so you know what that means— every friendship is a long distance one

u can mute people on Instagram, and i put my profile on private and if you do that you can remove followers. They will not be notified.

On Twitter you can mute people. They do not get a notification. You can still visit their profile on both Instagram and Twitter after they’re muted and removed, and you WILL want to check their account. You can do so, but make a serious effort to not do The Thing

If they’re a tumblr friend if you go into your settings you can turn off the little green light that tells people ur online! Also break the mutual! And delete any conversation!

I deleted my Snapchat

I muted my Toxic People on my phone, and turned off the notification badge to the app, so if they text I see it on my own accord.

Do not text them! Do not contact them! Eventually the relationship will wilt and YOULL go ur own ways! When things get back to normal, maybe you’ll have both done some healing and you’ll have set up mental boundaries (or in my case brick walls) and they’ll effect you less and less.

If they live with you call me I’ll cough on them and then punt them into the fucking sun

[centeris2]

Evergray, Louisa, and Rebecca beat Anna back to the head quarters, giving Evergray time to be amused by the theories left up on the boards.

“You think Xin and The Jester are different people?” Evergray muttered, not really asking as he looked over the papers.

“Different personalities, different speech patterns,” Louisa said offhand, knowing Evergray was half listening.

“I miss the Jester and his riddles,” Rebecca sighed, once more looking up the roots of the word ‘labyrinth’.

“Darlings, I’m home!” Anna declared, Ydris in tow as she entered.

“Oh, did we need to make tea?” Louisa asked, realizing that Ydris was supposed to be invited to tea with them.

“Nah, he already got some,” Anna showed off a bottle of partially consumed dark liquid.

“Well, hello Ydris! Surprised you accepted the invitation,” Rebecca offered a greeting, put off by Ydris’ too wide smile.

“Of course! Anything you say!” Ydris chirped, voice a bit higher than normal.

“Anything I- Anna,” Louisa gave the woman a critical glare, “did you drug him?”

“I figured suggestibility powder wouldn’t ACTUALLY work on a Pandorian, but the druids might not know that, so that would give Ydris deniability if anyone asked. It’s not like I hid what I was giving him,” Anna reasoned with a shrug.

“Ah, so this is just a show,” Rebecca reasoned, Ydris’ smile turning into a cocky smirk as he bowed.

“Evergray, stop looking at theories,” Louisa called, the exiled druid jerking around at his name. The Grey Pilgrim and Pandorian stared at each other for a moment.

“Fascinating!” they both declared at the same time, approaching before circling each other, studying each other.

“Aww, true love,” Anna cooed as the men grew more excited, both talking over each other as they made observations. Rebecca grabbed a notebook and started writing down what the two men were saying as best as she could. Louisa followed suit.

“Maybe we should have gotten Pi in here as well, could you imagine their conversations?” Rebecca muttered to Louisa.

“The druids would erase our memories because we’d know too much,” Louisa chuckled, though the joke itself was dark. There was a strong possibility the druids would do exactly that.

“Boys! Ahem!” Anna called to get the two men to stop fawning, “let’s sit down and have a lovely chat!” she beckoned to the seats, getting the pair to sit down.

“I do believe, my darling dove, that I was promised tea,” Ydris drawled, looking at Anna.

“I’ll get some started,” she promised.

“How did you get Concorde?” Rebecca blurted, getting to business.

“Mon cheri! A magician never reveals his secrets!”

“Yeah, the French thing, is that because you were in France?” Louisa asked.

“Oui! That is a logical-”

“Were you in France when Anne and Concorde went missing?” Rebecca pressed, Ydris choking a bit on his tongue.

“So nosey, are you sure you aren’t scent hounds cursed to be human?” Ydris scolded.

“Sorry, we just want to know. Concorde is safe, and it is logical that you would want to keep him safe,” Rebecca acknowledged.

“Oh?” Ydris asked with a teasing grin.

“You know who and what Concorde is, which means you know his powers,” Rebecca explained.

“Ah yes, the Fantastic Flying Foal!”

“Exactly, the flying bit being connected to the portals. With Concorde you can no doubt make stable portals between here and Pandoria,” Anna continued for Rebecca, placing a cup of tea in front of Ydris.

“Well aren’t you girls clever-”

“We’ve also suspected that you’ve had Concorde all along, given your weird questions about seeing what was in your cages when we first set up the circus,” Louisa added.

“First set up-?”

“Concorde’s powers no doubt also help stabilize the time bubble around the circus, negating the toxicity of time on you, and acts as a sort of connector helping to supply you with direct and continuous energy from Pandoria,” Rebecca reasoned.

“And since you called him a Flying Foal that means either he is already awakened or you can awaken soul steed spirits. This could be due to a few reasons, such as Concorde was not killed and you merely reverse aged him-” Louisa paused long enough for Rebecca to interject with her comment.

“Understandable, a full grown horse is very strong, and Concorde has been known to punt people through portals.”

“- as a foal is easier to manage. Or Concorde did in fact die, either by your hands or as a mistake on Dark Core’s, and you were able to track down his soul. If he is merely reversed aged then Concorde is already awakened and has full access to his powers, albeit weakened without Anne. If he was reborn he had to be reawakened, which was either done by you or some other Pandorian, or you got him to Anne in Pandoria and triggered his reawakening, or you found a new soul rider for him. I’m curious to know how you did it,” Louisa finished and accepted the teacup from Anna.

“Either way you need Concorde, thus Concorde is not in danger from you because he wouldn’t do you any good if he died, you’d have to go find him all over again. Ironically the safest place for Concorde is probably in your circus tent, though that does complicate us rescuing Anne, unless you want to help with that,” Rebecca brought up.

“And why would Anne need rescuing? Pandoria is lovely this time of year!” Ydris scoffed, insulted.

“Because Anne is currently trapped in a crystal guarded by Dark Core, prisons aren’t pleasant regardless of what dimension they are in,” Rebecca said flatly.

“And it seems to be hurting her, even though she is the Sun of Pandoria,” Louisa chimed in.

“Probably because Concorde isn’t with her,” Anna pointed out, Louisa and Rebecca humming in agreement.

“She’d be better, and rescued, if you gave us Concorde. But you don’t want to help us because that’d mean helping the druids-” Louisa explained.

“Because of the whole ‘trapping an energy being in a dimension not suitable for containing it’ thing. It is understandable that you might consider it an act of war at worst, gross negligence at best,” Rebecca interjected again, going quiet to let Louisa continue.

“- but lucky for you, we’re not with the druids and are not okay with Garnok’s entropic effects on Pandoria,” Louisa wrapped up.

“Destroying dimensions isn’t really our thing,” Anna added before she took a sip of tea.

There was silence for a moment before Ydris burst into laughter, clapping wildly.

“How off are we?” Rebecca asked as the wizard’s laughter died down.

“Oh my little darling fleas, you have no idea… you really expect me to believe you? You! Little puppets, dancing on strings pulled by the druids! You-” Ydris stood to taunt them but was cut off.

“Aideen is dead,” Rebecca blurted, arms crossed and not amused. It shut up Ydris long enough for the others to get a word in.

“The Druids locked her away and let her die,” Anna added.

“And they either exile or lock away anyone who doesn’t conform. Asking too many questions gets you punished,” Louisa nodded toward Evergray as an example but was thinking of Lisa.

“Or they keep you from asking questions-” Anna muttered.

“We, well I, have also met Garnok. I promised to free him from the druids,” Rebecca added.

“Oh really,” Ydris was skeptical until Rebecca pulled out the jar of black ooze and presented it to him.

“This is from Garnok, as far as I can tell it’s how he kept me alive,” Rebecca explained, Ydris staring at the goop in awestruck wonder. No doubt he could see something more than just black slime.

“And Aideen, she really is…?” Ydris asked, less skeptical now.

“Found her body and everything, the druids freaked out,” Rebecca managed to smile at the distress of the druids, they are least felt some consequence for their actions.

Ydris was silent as he thought, gently touching the black ooze in the jar.

“And you, Pilgrim?” Ydris finally looked at Evergray, who had remained silent.

“I was exiled for asking questions. Makes the answers even more tempting, doesn’t it?” Evergray offered with a hungry smirk, “I’d love to learn the truth.”