#captain lonely gale

[omegatheimmortaldragonborn]

Some of my favourite characters in skyrim, and why 👹

Balgruuf The Greater: i think this speaks for itself tbh, my favourite Jarl

Balimund: I don't actually know, kinda just looked at him and said "yes, he's the one." Or at least one of them anyway lmfao

Brynjolf: cocky thief with a *small amount* of issues, need i say more?

Captain Aldis: Self Explanatory. he's pretty, good personality, wants books, and lots of muscle? Yes please

Captain Gjalund Salt-Sage: idk he just smiled at my character once and it did things LMFAOOO

Captain Lonely-Gale: Father? Sorry, Father? Sorry-

Falk Firebeard: Steward whos probably a borderline alcoholic? Possibly involved in scandals? Pretty? Yes please

Glover Mallory: no.1 Smith, thief gone good, first I've found to sell Daedric stuff, what more can you want?

Halbarn Iron-Fur: personality is on point, easily lovable, one of my favourite smiths along side Glover

Idolaf Battle-Born: Dilf with an attitude, fuck yeah

Igmund: As with Balimund, I'm not even sure

Korir: if Siddgeir and Balgruuf had a child, he's them. Personality wise anyway, bit of a wanker tho

Kraldar: idk he's just there and he's sweet

Roggi Knot-Beard: Our favourite alcoholic, lovable character, ray of sunshine.

Rune: He's baby. Todd let me help him find out who his parents are i beg

Torbjorn Shatter-Shield: Dilf, I feel so bad tho oh my god, I killed Nilsine in Muiri's quest... never again. I don't need the bonus.

Ulfric Stormcloak: I can fix him

[kroosluvr]

votv stuff

[sombersolanaceae]

Skyrim Dilfs | Captain Lonely-Gale

[sorrelchestnut]

I've seen a fair number of posts both here and on reddit that question why Tav (or the Dark Urge) would end up as a group leader for any other reason that "game mechanics say so." There's the requisite "okay, well if you play a high charisma character I guess it makes sense," or on the other end of the spectrum, "if you're playing Durge and murder someone right off the bat everyone would be too scared to tell you no." And I get where people are going with this! I really do. But it also fundamentally misunderstands a facet of human nature, which is that the vast majority of people do not actually want to be in charge, because that means being held responsible for the outcome. Accordingly, most people will dither when a group consensus is needed: have none of you ever tried to get a group of friends to agree where to go for dinner? Yeah, it's like that, but waaaay worse.

A lot of times "leadership" is just the willingness to say, "fuck it, y'all do what you want, but I'm doing this." I see it all the time in a corporate environment, where people will go back and forth on group meetings without anyone making a decision until finally one brave soul goes "in my opinion the clear answer is x" and then everyone gratefully goes along with it. Because now it's not their responsibility when something goes wrong! They're just following along with someone else's suggestion, and maybe it works or maybe it doesn't, but at the end of the day they don't have to worry about the consequences unless they're personally affected. In which case they might step up and argue back, and then they're stuck being a leader, too. Welcome to adulthood!

Lae'zel is the only one who ever even tries to exert some kind of control, when she tells you to follow her lead on the ship, or calls you her subordinate in the Grove. But, crucially, she doesn't ever make any serious attempt to take control: you can just tell her, "lol, no," and she sort of confusedly gives way, because she doesn't know how to handle this scenario. In her world there are commanders and subordinates, and everyone knows where they stand and falls in line. She's never actually had to take control of a situation and so at the first sign of resistance she falls back on the dynamic that's familiar to her, which is executing the commands of someone older and more experienced. She goes through a lot of growth over the game, to the point that she can take over as a resistance leader in her own right by the end, but at the beginning she's a wet-behind-her-ears private with some decent combat chops and it shows.

Otherwise, your party consists of:

Shadowheart, who's trained in infiltration and assassination and does NOT want a lot of attention brought to her or her mission for a variety of reasons;

Astarion, who has literally been a slave for two centuries and canonically takes a while to realize that he can exert an opinion beyond complaining about it;

Gale, whose only friend is his cat and couldn't project-manage his way out of a wet paper bag;

Wyll, who was probably trained for command at one point but has been doing the lone-hero thing for a decade and has a very large secret that he's trying to conceal; and,

Karlach, who's only ever been a bodyguard and a soldier and is genuinely just happy to be here.

Honestly, it would be more a surprise if Tav/Durge didn't end up as their unofficial leader, given the general power dynamics at play. The first time Tav/Durge says something like, "fuck it, we need to do something instead of stand around arguing about it, let's go check out those ruins over there," it's a done deal. They're The Captain Now! As long as they don't make decisions that fundamentally oppose something dear and important to the other group members, they're not even going to get any argument. Because at the end of the day, not one of these walking disasters has enough trust in themselves and their decision-making skills to feel any kind of certainty that they can choose the right path forward. If someone else is going to take that decision out of their hands? They're going to follow, no questions asked, right up until the moment they can't.

[luminouslywriting]

How do you think the guys would react when one of their friends starts dating their sister? Like maybe she read in a letter that their buddy wasn’t getting any and decided to take matters into her own hands and strike up a pen pal-ship with them that becomes serious…

Imagine coming home from war and your baby sister runs straight past you to jump your buddy who she can’t possibly know

DeMarco?? As a brother? And Brady? As a lover?? I can see it now. LISTEN, I have thoughts under the cut, so buckle up kiddos haha! Reminder that my requests are definitely open and I don't mind spam :)

Cut for length, more under the cut, some light occasional spice haha:

-It doesn't mean to happen??? Like actually though?? Benny mentions in one of his letters home that a friend of his does not have a girlfriend and is feeling a little lonely at times

-And you, being the angel that you are, just take matters into your own hands

-So imagine Brady's surprise the week before he goes down in the Stalag to receiving a letter signed Y/N DeMarco

-There he is, going about his day, trying to get training in, and just minding his own business, and mail call comes and he has a letter?? He doesn't recognize the return address and he's a little baffled. But he's not about to turn down mail.

-So he opens it up and starts reading and it's this very sweet letter explaining that your brother mentioned he had a friend who didn't have anyone writing him and you were just going to fix that for Brady :)

-John Brady is many things—including flattered—but he's also like WTF?? Like where did this person come from, how old are you (is this allowed lol), and maybe it'll be nice to have a friend??

-So he writes you a letter back with these questions included and he fully means to mention it to DeMarco

-It's just that DeMarco goes down on a mission with Gale Cleven and there's nothing he can do about that

-And then HE goes down on a mission with Bucky Egan

-He honestly forgets all about it until letters to the Stalag start to arrive

-The thing about this entire situation is that he likes having a little something to himself? It's hard to get privacy and anything that's really 'yours' in the Stalag, and so these letters become an escape and a safe place for him

-He relies on your good humor and stories to get him through the day and all the while, he's falling in love with the person that you are without ever having seen you

-And it's the exact same situation for you

-Brady isn't stupid though, he burns all of the letters that you send him so that the Germans can't use anything against him when it comes to you

-So by the time that they switch Stalags again and again and he hasn't gotten a letter in months, he's already decided that he's in love with you and is going to ask you to marry him

-The only problem in this foolproof little plan of his is a short king with a dog named Benny DeMarco who will be absolutely furious about the turn of events that he has not been clued in on for over a year and a half

-So he figures that it's probably best to just....not mention anything until he sees you??

-LOL SIR NO

-But anyways, the war ends and the boys get to go home

-And Benny DeMarco is having a GREAT day. He's ready to see his family, his beloved little sister, eat some good chow, and sleep in an actual bed.

-He's fully prepared for the tears on the train platform and everything else

-What he's not prepared for is to see you run PAST him and jump into the arms of none other than Captain John Brady

^Actual footage of Benny DeMarco, seconds after seeing you and Brady kissing at the train station^

-So yes, he's baffled, bamboozled, shocked, dismayed, BETRAYED and majorly confused

-But after a whole sit down conversation about the letters and everything, he's super jazzed to be getting Brady as a brother in law and he's actually pretty happy about the whole thing

-But he absolutely turns to the younger siblings that you both have and warns them to never do something like this lol

-And yes, there may have been a fist fight that you heard about later between Brady and DeMarco, but it was never really that serious....just a protective older brother making sure Brady was good enough for you lol

[dwarf-vader-of-middle-earth]

Hiring paid voice actor!!!

I'm a Skyrim modmaker, and I've currently got an unvoiced, dialogue-based mod that gives a previously unmarriageable voice type the potential for marriage. In the game, subtitles show up for marriage-related dialogue, however I have no actual voice acting since the game never had it programmed, and I'm looking to fix that by hiring someone who can voice act this specific voice type, therefore giving the dialogue accompanying audio.

Details are in the article linked to my mod.

The voice type is MaleNordCommander (if you've ever played Skyrim, the voice type is used by NPCs like male hold guards, Eorlund Gray-Mane, Hrongar, and Captain Lonely-Gale).

I WILL NOT ACCEPT AI-GENERATED SUBMISSIONS!!!! I am paying for voice acting only, not a generator that would otherwise steal this job opportunity from an actual artist, as well as use the voice of the original MaleNordCommander actor without permission.

Please, if you're interested, read the article linked above, and if you have any questions, my contact details are listed in there as well at the end, and you can absolutely reach out to me with whatever you'd like to know, and I'll answer asap!

If you're a voice actor capable of voicing this mod, please consider, and if not, please share so others who may be able to voice it can consider!

[brotherwtf]

i just have to say the pictures you have of these two are criminal (i need more) but also yes yes yes firefighter john x police officer gale it immediately gave me carlos x tk vibes from 911 : lone star & also they would so be THE power couple

haha I got a whole fucking arsenal anon aka a Pinterest board that I stock up on images for when I get au ideas. ask and you shall receive (I might do a dump of all my favorite ones lol)

GOD after they start dating it's like swanky music just starts playing every time they walk into a room together. Everyone is turning their head to see Gale with his coat thrown over his shoulder and John at his side, probably holding something of Gale's. Somehow, they're always wearing sunglasses, and their captains just mutter smth like "we're inside you don't need to be wearing those all the time"

but imagine the angst bro ughhhh they're so worried for each other all of the time, being a firefighter and a cop is fucking dangerous bro. Imagine like John hears there's an active shooter and Gale is on the case, his coworkers having to literally hold him down to stop him from running after Gale and using his own body as a shield. Or alternatively Gale hears of a building fire gone wrong; some firefighters, including John, got stuck in the debris and he ALSO has to be physically restrained so he doesn't lift the building up with his bare hands to rescue John.

the hurt/comfort ?! head in my hands I'm gonna start weeping. they're always there for each other when they have bad cases, always comforting when the other is shaken to their core. God they just make me so 😭😭

thanks for the ask anon! I'm glad you like the au lolol

[basilone]

'Heat' and 'threshold' for Buck? Juno xx

Yes hello! 👀 Always game to write more Buck. And, well, I really wanted to take a moment to write him with Lottie, with whom he's got a bit of a complex something going on. I've set this after the events in full of grace, but it can be read as a standalone for sure. Half of this was written as a voice exercise for their relationship ages ago, and finally repurposed here in what feels like its proper place. 😊I don't think this piece needs a warning that isn't covered by the blanket "Lottie's a bi disaster"-tag, so... we're good to go!

heat / threshold

“I ain’t apologizin’ any.”

The shadow cast over her seems to shift slightly at the snap-and-bite she’s laced her words with. Lottie doesn’t bother looking up. Keeps her arms locked around her knees. Presses her face against her legs when the shadow doesn’t go away. Something curdles in her belly – low, aching, sharp like the bile in the back of her throat – that makes her feel all wrong. Makes her want to jump out of her skin in a way that leaves her head spinning and her choices less than fine.

“Jesus, Ace.”

She hates his long pause that makes her nickname a punctuation mark in his mouth. He sounds flat. Tired. She hates that she’s not Lot to him now. He calls her that every other time – even when he’s Major and she’s Captain and they’ve got a job to be doing – but never when he’s mad at her. The fact that she’s Ace to him now stings worse than the scrape on her knuckle that hasn’t stopped bleeding yet.

“You’ve got to stop fighting,” he says, then, and that’s a tune she’s heard from him before. “Hey? You have to.” His boots meet her toes. His flight jacket lands on the sand beside her. His sigh fills the air as much as his lingering aftershave does. “You listenin’ to me?”

“Yeah.” She allows a beat to pass. “Sorta.”

“I mean it.”

“I heard ya just fine, Major. Sir. Gilly Gale Cleven of the three-five-oh.”

He scrapes his throat. “Jesus, you’re really gunning for it now.” He still doesn’t go away. If anything, he moves that much closer. Folds himself into her space as he sinks down onto his jacket. He nudges her shoulder as they come to sit arm-to-arm, foot-to-foot, jacket-to-jacket. “What happened out there, Ace? Tiny said something about you and some of Blakely’s crowd?”

“Something like that.” Lottie shrugs. Keeps her gaze fixed on the small dent in the lone water canister Benny hasn’t picked up yet. “They ain’t learned to keep their mouths shut yet. Carter especially. Shutting them for ’em seemed… prudent.” She affects her mother’s tone on the last word. All debutante-socialite judgment rendered with the precision of a bullet. Is rewarded for it when he snorts out something that, in a better universe than this one, could very well be a laugh. “You give them a talking-to, too? Little lecture? Or am I the lone lucky one to face Major Cleven’s disapproval, sir?”

“Put a lid on the sirs, Ace.”

“Stop callin’ me Ace and I’ll think about it, sir.”

“Lot,” he rasps out, then, and goddamn she doesn’t like how her eyes sting when he nudges her again, “you really need to stop fighting us.” You need to stop fighting me is what she hears, exhaustion lacing his voice, not even an admonishment in place for the tone she’s taken with him. “All right?”

“I hear ya, Gilly. Y’all just get under my damn skin sometimes.” She tries to not make it sound too much like she’s sulking. Ain’t sure she’s succeeding when he chuckles and stretches his legs out beside her. “I don’t know. I don’t got anywhere else to put that feelin’, ya know?”

“Sky ain’t enough, huh.”

“The sky shoots back these days,” she says conversationally. “Gotta leave the pain on the ground. Take anything up with ya, it’s gonna make ya crash.”

“Ain’t that a truth.”

“I ain’t Val, I ain’t good at lyin’ to ya. Unless Bucky asks me to, of course.”

“Of course.”

Lottie exhales a noisy breath. “I’m sorry.”

“I know.” Gale’s face is serene when she glances at him. His hand finds her bruised knuckles. “Do better, Lot. I know you can.”

“You really believe that horseshit, huh.”

His hand squeezes hers none too gently before he releases her. “Manage a week. I’ll take you flying after. How’s that sound?”

“Like a damn impossibility.” Her voice cracks. She blinks furiously as her lower lip starts to wobble. “I… I don’t think…”

“Gotta start somewhere. This heat’s got all tempers at a high. Perrault has yet to take a breath without insulting John in the process.”

Lottie sniffs. Wipes at her cheeks. “Bucky deserves it.”

“I’m sure he does.” His smile is wry. His cheeks are flushed with heat. The start of a sunburn is already sprawling over his bare chest, beneath the glint of his dog tags. “You wanna talk about it now or later, Squeaky?”

“Not at all?” she hedges. Ignores the way his eyes narrow at that to the best of her ability. “I’m sick of talkin’, Gilly. Sick of people askin’ me shit.” She bites her lip. Wishes she could draw blood with the action. “You might as well be the only one who’s nice to me lately. Even if ya call me Squeaky.”

“Benny was plenty nice to you after we landed.”

And she can’t fault him for it. Can’t even hate him for it. “Yeah. He was.” She swallows thickly. Her head feels like it’s about to start swimming. “Darlene likes him a lot, ya know? Can’t be mean to him when she’s all soft about the guy.” Can’t be mean to him even when he makes Darlene smile in a way she hasn’t smiled at Lottie in a long time now. “I ain’t got a problem with Benny, all right?”

“All right,” agrees Gale, even when his tone suggests it’s anything but. He scrapes his throat. Pointedly doesn’t look at her. “Next time you want to fight a guy, Lot… You try me first.”

Lottie blinks. Stares. He is looking at the same water canister she was, earlier. “You? Gilly,” she laughs, breathless all of a sudden, “I ain’t gonna fight you.” I like you too much for that. “You’re my superior officer and all that shit, remember? You tryin’a get me into trouble here?”

He grunts a little. “Trying to keep you out of it, actually.”

“That don’t make sense.”

“What, me wanting to keep you out of trouble?” He laughs. Glances at her, all crinkled eyes and far too much warmth in his gaze, and her belly swoops the same way it did when she first stood on the threshold of a cockpit. “If you fight me,” he continues, speaking straight through the static that fizzes to life inside her, “I can chalk it up to training. Say it’s friendly. If you fight anybody else, they’ll demote you eventually. Send you home, if you keep going.”

“So, what, you’ll be my punching bag?”

“This bag will still punch back, Squeaky,” he snorts, nudging her. “And hard, too. You’re not the only one with a mean right hook in this squadron.”

“You’d punch a lady like me, Gilly?” She flutters her eyelashes at him. Nudges his shoulder none too gently. Anything to shake that feeling inside her that feels treacherously like butterflies. “No warnings, no takebacks, no apologies? Give it to me good and hard?”

His cheeks flush a deeper crimson than before. “Jesus, Lot…”

“Yeah, yeah, I know, you’ve already hit your max on dirty chatter for the day,” she laughs, lifting her sunglasses out of her hair and donning them again. “Can’t fault a girl for jumping on it though. Think of it as me perfectin’ your poker face in case you run into them Nazis. They ain’t gonna crack you during interrogation.”

“Pretty sure them Nazis won’t crack a hundred crude jokes like you do.”

“Pretty sure that makes them more boring than me.”

His answering laugh is soft. Doesn’t carry beyond where they’re seated. “Pretty sure you’re the least boring person in my world, Lot.”

Her cheeks feel warmer than the rest of her does, even though she’s been sunning herself in this mid-day heat for at least an hour now. “Bucky’s gonna cry if you tell him that,” she says, leaning her head on his shoulder long enough for him to tense and then relax under her touch. “But ya sure know how to make a girl feel special, sir. Marge is damn lucky to have ya.”

His shoulder tenses just a fraction beneath her cheek. Just enough.

It’s easier when she draws this line for both of them, or so she’ll tell herself half a million times more.

[la-femme-au-collier-vert]

A List of Works Influencing and Referenced by IWTV Season 1

Works Directly Referenced

Marriage in a Free Society by Edward Carpenter

A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

Cheri by Collete

A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams

La Nausee by Jean-Paul Sartre (credit to @demonicdomarmand )

Complete Poetry of Emily Dickinson edited by Thomas H. Johnson*

Blue Book by Tom Anderson

The Book of Abramelin the Mage

Don Pasquale by Gaetano Donizetti with libretto by Giovanni Ruffini

Iolanta by Pyotr Tchaikovsky with libretto by Modest Tchaikovsky

Pelleas et Melisande by Claude Debussy

Epigraphes Antiques by Claude Debussy

Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)

Nosferatu (1922)

The Graduate (1967)

Marie Antoinette (1938)

On the Origin of the Species by Charles Darwin

De Masticatione Mortuorum in Tumulis by Michael Ranft (1728)

Emily Post’s Etiquette

Bach’s Minuet in G Major (arranged as vampire minuet in G major)

Artworks referenced (much credit in this section to @iwtvfanevents and to @nicodelenfent )

Fall of The Rebel Angels by Peter Bruegel The Elder (1562)

The Storm on the Sea of Galilee by Rembrandt (1633)

Three Peaches on a Stone Plinth by Adriaen Coorte (1705)

Strawberries and Cream Raphaelle Peale, (1816) credit to @diasdelfeugo

Red Mullet and Eel by Edouard Manet (1864)

Starry Night by Edvard Munch (1893)

Self Portrait by Edvard Munch (1881)

Captain Percy Williams on a Favorite Irish Hunter by Samuel Sidney (1881)

Autumn at Arkville by Alexander H. Wyant 

Cumulus Clouds, East River by Robert Henri 

Mildred-O Hat by Robert Henri (Undated)

Ship in the Night James Gale Tyler (1870)

Bouquet in a Theater Box by Renoir (1871)

Berthe Morisot with a Fan by Édouard Manet (1872)

La Vierge D’aurore by Odilon Redon (1890) credit to @vampirepoem on twt

Still Life with Blue Vase and Mushrooms by Otto Sholderer (1891)

After the Bath: Woman Drying her Hair by Edgar Degas (1898)

Bust of a Woman with Her Left Hand on Her

Chin by Edgar Degas (1898) credit to @terrifique

Backstage at the Opera by Jean Beraud (1889)

Roman Bacchanal by Vasily Alexandrovich Kotarbiński (1898)

Dancers by Edgar Degas (1899)

Calling the Hounds Out of Cover by Haywood Hardy (1906)

Dolls by Witold Wojtkiewicz (1906) credit to @gyzeppelis on twt

Forty-two Kids by George Bellows (1907)

The Artist's Sister Melanie by Egon Schiele (1908)

Paddy Flannigan by George Bellows (1908)

Stag at Sharkey’s by George Bellows (1909)

The Lone Tenement by George Bellows (1909)

Ode to Flower After Anacreon by Auguste Renoir (1909) credit to @iwtvasart on twt

New York by George Bellows (1911)

Young Man kneeling before God the Father

Egon Schiele (1909)

Kneeling Girl with Spanish Skirt by Egon Schiele (1911)

Portrait of Erich Lederer by Egon Schiele (1912)

Krumau on the Molde by Egon Schiele (1912)

Weeping Nude by Edvard Munch (1913)

The Cliff Dwellers by George Bellows (1913)

Church in Stein on the Danube by Egon Schiele (1913)

Self Portrait in a Jerkin by Egon Schiele (1914)

The Kitten's Art Lesson by Henriette Ronner Knip credit to @terrifique

Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion by Francis Bacon (1944)

New York by Vivian Maier (1953)

Self Portrait by Vivian Maier (Undated)

Self Portrait by Vivian Maier (1954)

Slave Auction by Jean-Michelle Basquiat (1982)

(Untitled) photo of St. Paul Loading Docks by Bradley Olson (2015)

Transformation by Ron Bechet (2021)

(Untitled) sculpture in the shape of vines by Sadie Sheldon

(Untitled) Ceramic Totems by Julie Silvers (Undated)

Mother Daughter by Rahmon Oluganna

Twins I by Raymon Oluganna

@iwtvfanevents made a post of unidentified works here.

Works Cited by the Writer’s Room as Influences

Bourbon Street: A History by Richard Campanella (as it hardly mentions Storyville I think interested parties would be better served by additional titles if they want a complete history of New Orleans)

Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino (This was also adapted into an award winning opera)

poetry by Charles Simic (possibly A Wedding in Hell?)

poetry by Mark Strand (possibly Dark Harbour?)

Works IWTV may be in conversation with (This is the most open to criticism and additions)

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, uncensored (There are two very different versions of this which exist today, as Harvard Press republished the unedited original with permission from the Wilde family.)

Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner

Warsan Shire for Beyoncé’s Lemonade

Faust: A Tragedy by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

La Morte Amoreuse by Theophile Gautier

Carmilla by Sheridan LeFanu

Maurice by E.M. Forster

Sailing to Byzantium by Yeats

The Circus Animal's Desertion by Yeats

The Second Coming by Yeats

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (credit to @johnlockdynamic )

1984 by George Orwell (credit to @savage-garden-nights for picking this up)

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner

Gone With the Wind film (1939)

Hannibal (2013)

Beauty and the Beast by Gabrielle Suzanne de Villenueve

Music used in Season 1 collected by @greedandenby here

*if collected or in translation most of the best editions today would not have been available to the characters pre-1940. It’s possible Louis is meant to have read them in their original French in some cases, but it would provide for a different experience. Lydia Davis’ Madame Bovary, for example, attempts to replicate this.

** I've tagged and linked relevant excerpts under quote series as I've been working my way through the list.

Season 2 here

Season 3 here

[writingamongther0ses]

WIP Re-Intro: Hiraeth

Themes: Homesickness, obsession, magic, friendship, found family, desire, moving past childhood, LGBTQIA+

Contains: Obsession, mentions of war, mental illness

Four girls. Four lands.

On Earth, three years after she left the kingdom of Camelot, sixteen-year-old Anna Bethel has been obsessed with leaving her small town in Wales and returning to the kingdom to reunite with her best friend, Princeling Ari. An experiment leaves her stumbling between Earth and the World Between Worlds, where a lonely guardian tries to keep things together as things start to fall apart- including in Camelot.

In Neverland, the chief's daughter and warrior Liliha can only watch as the fairies begin to die, time begins to catch up to Peter Pan as the Lost Boys disappear, and Captain Hook claims to have captured and killed a Wendy Bird. When things reach her tribe, and her family begins to age rapidly, Liliha must get to the bottom of things.

In Wonderland, things are twisted and strange, especially since the four queens were killed and Queen Alice took the throne. The Hatter is a loyal companion, but Alice wants all her friends as they are pushed further and further away as her mind reflects the land. Outside, she is a warrior determined to conquer the land. Inside, she's screaming.

In Oz, Princess Tip has had to suddenly take the throne in the wake of an identity crisis, thankfully with the help of Tin Man and Cowardly Lion. The Champion of Oz, Dorothy Gale, has vanished without a trace and King Scarecrow has taken ill. Oz is starting to rot, reflecting the ill and distressed state of its rulers, and Glinda refuses to help.

All four must look to each other to get to the bottom of things and save their homes.

[melissamasakari]

Confessions you didn`t notice

Chapter seven. Bright sun

Persistent and loud knocking on the door distracted me from an important engineering problem. Who the fuck is that? The third prototype was ruined! Covering the needlework with a blanket I went to find out what I am needed for this time. Definitely that’s not my red blockhead. He would simply take the door off its hinges and walk in as if this house was his own.

“Here you are! I’ve searched the whole city for you! Why didn't you come to catch gifts from the sky?”

“What should I do there? I have already donated gifts for the city so there are lots and lots there with my logo. It won't be fun to catch two more umbrellas or three more jewelry boxes.”

“You're are overthinking! What about the spirit of competition? And don’t you believe in miracles?”

“It would be a miracle not to get hit in the head with a desk lamp. The broken one.”

“Whatever. Oh, you’re bleeding, kid,” and it’s true, apparently, I pierced my finger somehow.

“Damn it. I’ll treat it now, and it will heal in a couple of days. The main point here is not to catch any infection. That would be just the best thing to catch on that Day of the Bright Sun of yours.”

“An injury like that is quite unusual for you.” Sam looked around at the blanket-covered mess on the dining table. “What are you making?”

“Secret device for neutralizing blockheads. Do not touch! It bites as you’ve seen.”

“Okay,” my beloved friend pulled her hand back and made a funny face. “You didn’t come to the feast, so WE were worried. Cap sent me to check on you and, if possible, bring you with me back.”

“Whose princess am I supposed to be this time? And they even gave me a guard of honor. I'm impressed!”

“I have no idea. You have more and more heart pillows here. Who showed off this time? Gust, Dr. Xu, Albert or someone else?”

“Nobody. I bought it myself. I got used to sleeping on them on my lonely cold nights. What is the dress code?”

“Any, even oil stains on the face would do. But it’s going to be a group photo there. So take the blue uniform and let's go out. They are waiting for us. Wait. No. Not a uniform. Blue shirt, cargo jeans and sneakers.” Sam pointed to hangers one by one.

“I obey your orders, comrade escort! Should I send gifts for friends by mail? But they are over-sized,” I muttered from behind the screen.

“Oh, so you are prepared. Can't wait to see.”

“Certainly. Practical, useful or something for the soul. Children will get toys, certainly. Adults...well, you'll see soon.” I left my shelter and looked into the mirror. “Well, how do I look?”

“Intimidating! Just fit for a ‘wanted’ poster.”

“Fine by me.”

There was a typical celebratory chaos in the Central Plaza. Cheerful townspeople showed off their prizes to each other. The airship flew majestically over the waterfall, having completed its mission. That’s nice - I missed the whole dull part. Now Gale will begin another solemn speech and will herd people onto the platform under the tree. And Sam took me to a bench near the school.

“Captain Arlo, on your orders, the dangerous recluse has been delivered! She did not resist the arrest. Please take this circumstance into account when passing your sentence.”

“At ease, soldier! I promise to file a report on additional days off!”

“Well, I'll catch you later, you cunning cat!” I pretended to have my hands tied behind my back and trying to kick Sam in the knee.

“And this is an insult to the authorities,” Remy added with a sly smile, coming to my other side.

“So exceeding official powers for personal gain does not offend your authorities enough? I'll file a complaint! To your boss directly.”

“Don't kick up the heels” Their so-called boss muttered through his teeth. He threw his arm over my shoulder and pulled me against him by the neck. His palm was now resting on my breast. Mmm, his familiar scent. I'm starting to melt again just fro, that! Wait, what did just happen? “Your lady love,” I nodded towards the church robes flashing through the crowd, “doesn’t mind that you're groping dangerous criminals in front of everyone?” I said in exactly the same conspiratorial whisper.

His reaction exceeded all of later my expectations. Arlo immediately blushed deeply. He hiccuped nervously and abruptly let me go, straightening up, to the roar of laughter from the rest of the team. Worth it! I might regret this later, but not just now. Nora giving away a vibe of a jealous wife, pouted like a huge duck and ran away as I was watching her attentively. Hm. Friendship with her is l definitely out of the question now. I hope she will not stand beside me this time for a group photo.

“You promised not to tell anyone!” It seems that Arlo was seriously insulted and angry.

“Don’t you think it’s already too late to care? The whole city is talking about it. I was the only one who was silent. The statute of limitations should have expired three times already,” I retorted without raising my voice. So are they dating or not? If so, then why am I here? So cruel. Why do you, red blockhead, still insist on giving me false hopes?!

“Stop it immediately! Or I’ll lock you both in a cage, you dumb redheads!”

“Let’s go,” Remy added, “everyone else has already taken they places, they’re just waiting for us.”

“Civil Corps! Do you need a special invitation?” Our good mayor yelled.

Oh, what nice gangster faces we made for the photo! I'll hang this picture on the wall. I can almost see the steam coming out of Arlo's ears. Nora took off her hat and crumpled it in her hands, looking at the floor. Sam, standing behind me, put her elbows on my shoulders, almost like her boss had done before, but much less intimately. Remy, as always, smiled cheerfully, but for some reason it looked very scary today. Django...yes, he is sad. Apparently this friendship is over. Well, okay. I'll survive. The mayor tried to put his arm around my waist. And pet a little just below. WHAT?! Is this a harassment already? I'll kill you, nasty old pervert!.. I couldn’t wait to wriggle free from him!

I was brought in specifically for this photo, wasn’t I? So that Gale has somewhere to put his hand. Old fart, I'll kick a shit out of you! But why it is me who are feeling SO ashamed now? In order not to do something terrible, I decided to flee.

“Hey, guys! Your accusations are void, so I’ll go about my business. Bye-bye,” I made a teasing gesture with a hand and walked towards the Western Gate.

“Stand down! Nobody’s let you go!” Wow, what a statement! I wish I could hear this in a different situation.

“Ha. Try to catch me! Your princess is in another castle!” The gaze Nora gave me definitely deserved a separate photo. That’s a pity I don't have camera though.

“Fuck it!” The unlucky dragon swore. He abruptly gave out several commands and rushed to catch up. I wonder if I have a chance of sneaking away? At least he won't see me bursting into tears.

Now here is the opportunity to check if I have surpassed my personal trainer. And where should I go? At home they will quickly catch me. So, lets go to the left. Rushing past the Papa Bear's home, I headed towards the Bassanio Plateau. Elevator. A great opportunity to get lost in the forest there. All that was left was to climb up the hill. I should hide my hair – it’s too noticeable against the fresh grass. Why didn’t I think to grab a cap? Okay, I’ll hide it with my shirt and turn up the collar. Out of breath, I finally made it to the elevator. I was lucky that it was downstairs. Breathing heavily, I poked at the controls and pulled the lever. Now you can only get here through the Wasteland. Or from a cave on Amber island. By the way, that’s a great plan. I can go down there through the ventilation and return home by nightfall. Surely by this time the supposed siege on my ‘castle’ will be broken. No matter what I am guilty of... It is unlikely that such seriousness is due to the disclosure of his unclassified great secret. Well, they are dating. So what? Here in this small town near everyone is somebody’s significant other, a relative or an ex. What does he want from me now? And why does this very thought make me cry and want to throw sharp objects? I already decided that we are friends. True, after today’s prank it’s no longer a fact.

Oh, the hatch into the caves is not pressed tightly. I can rest there. And I won’t even reveal where I'm hiding with noise. Great. The coolest thing is to climb a tree, but, my height does not allow me to do this quickly. I made my way inside, found a shelter behind some half-broken boxes and sat down in the shadows, clasping my knees with my hands. If something happens, I can even clearly see the stairs to the hatch from here.

I have no idea for how long I sat there in the twilight. For some reason I felt very painful and disgusting. The guys are probably worried. Seeing the stopped lift they should have realized that I had been here. Maybe even Higgins was called in for repairs. What if Arlo went through the Wasteland? What if he got hurt there, it will be my fault! Wiping away my tears with my sleeve I nearly already decided to follow the planned course, but then the roller rails of the hatch began to move with a nasty squeal. I hid back, covering my ears with my palms.

“Well, she definitely passed here, Cap. There's traces in the dust, do you see?”

“The question is where to look next. And what if she needs our help?” Sam and Arlo walked briskly down the stairs and along the wall opposite of my hiding place.

“She herself can help just anyone. You know that.”

“I’m still worried.”

“Why were you so angry? It’s true, Nora’s crush is not a secret for a long time already. And everyone already knows for sure that you mercilessly blow off any girl who dares to bring you a heart knot. Why should Nora be an exception?”

“Oh, leave me be, little thorn. Better take a closer look.”

“I see something. Let's go ahead. Little fella seemed to have rushed into the haunted cave direction through this corridor.” Sam walked past my hiding place, pushing Arlo’s back with her palms and guiding him into a long passage. “Come on, move.”

Then she turned around and winked, supposedly into empty space. In response, I made a closed-mouth gesture. So I have an accomplice, cool! Let them go. It's definitely safe there. And I’ll have time to get out and at least wash myself clean. Wait! Sam DID say that he blew Nora off TOO?! At that time, she already realized that I could hear everything, so this is a hint for me! And what should I do now? First, get out and make my way home to hide the handicraft I have started. In case of unexpected guests, that is.

Great, it's even not dark yet. I can rush through the Eastern gate and up the hill, for example. Most likely, they will come to my house a little bit later. I hope that Sam will effectively hide my trail giving the redhead some extra loops so I can restore some peace of the mind.

To my incredible surprise, there was no ambush near the house. And I didn’t even meet anyone on my way home from the waterfall across the field. Climbing into the window through the hole in the stable I found myself in my kitchen. I listened. I looked out. Silence. Just in case, I blocked the front door with a bedside table and went into the shower. Even if they hear any noise, they will at least not break in right away. Oh...that's right, I almost forgot. I grabbed the blanket from the dining table, threw everything into it, rolled it up in a knot and stuffed it under the bed. Looking in the closet, I took out some sportswear and finally went to the bathroom.

I barely had time to change clothes when I heard the clatter of hooves from behind the fence. Remy? The rest could have came on foot. Judging by the fading sounds, he is now galloping towards Amber island. Did he guess everything too, or I’m delusional? Well, what a show is going on! I’m hiding in my own house from those who swore to guard and protect me here, from my best friends and from the guy I’m in love with. They were so unlucky with me. I myself didn’t notice how I dozed off, sitting behind the screen near my closet. I was awakened by a knock on the kitchen window. Three long, two short. And repeat. Okay, that’s Sam. I carefully peeked out.

“There is no tail. Let me in. I know you're here.”

“Then climb through the window. The door is blocked. Then we’ll tell everyone that there was a rummage here,” following my instructions, Sam successfully climbed inside.

“Where did the chase go?”

“They rush around the field and around the pond. Don't worry, it's good for them. Why did you run off?”

“I won’t tell you, definitely not now. I haven’t really gotten my head around it yet.”

“As you wish. Are you okay now?”

“I doubt it. I told you it was a bad idea to drag me to a party. I was just sitting here and was not bothering anyone. Why did you need to drag me in?”

“You’ll find out when our pepper-breather will finish blowing of steam and will cool down. You should have seen Higgins in his pajamas at the elevator! He yelled, he swore and he absolutely demanded a double price for urgency.”

“What a moron. There were only three buttons that had to be pressed on the panel down the side. How long did he fumble?”

“About two hours exactly. Then he just pried open the plug with a knife and connected the wires directly.”

“Was he at least electrocuted? Now I have to repair this crap nearly from scratch all over again after this.”

“Certainly. Phyllis also have had some extracurricular work. Sooo nasty. Let's dismantle your barricades, okay?”

“Your boss won’t destroy my door later, will he? After his kicks I merely have time to repair the gates.”

“If we don’t sort it out ourselves, he’ll take it out along with the furniture. And, perhaps, with walls, if he understands that I found you a long time ago and now hiding you from him.”

“Won’t you get punished for this?” We carefully lifted the bedside table and dragged it to its place.

“I’ll get away with a couple of extra shifts. Trivial matter.”

“But can you not drag me out of the house?”

“Certainly. Let me get out and run around for show. Then we'll turn on the light. And pretend that this is my first time here. It's already dark enough that I won't be noticed ahead of time.”

Sam left. After some time, the sound of hooves became clearly audible. - from the kitchen side. There are more than two horses. Are those some kind of glitches or else? One of the riders dismounted. His steps were heavy and nonrhythmic. Remington. And the other is Sam. I can hardly hear her steps at all. Oh, here came the wide brusque steps. Predictably, the door was thrown open with a powerful kick. It’s good that I managed to open the lock and didn’t come close.

“Alive,” Arlo breathed and rushed forward. He abruptly grabbed me like a doll and pressed me onto himself, burying his beard on the top of my head.

“You keep squeezing me like this, and this will change pretty soon,” I squeaked in response. He relaxed a little, but did not release me from the hug. What's wrong with him? He stroke my back. And since this is already a pretty long physical contact, now I will either blush, or burst into tears, or suffocate. Or maybe all at once. Well, at least I'll die happy.

“Hmm. We're all ready, Cap.”

“I'll be back soon. Close the door. From the outside,” wow, his heartbeat is at extreme rate. Now I can even feel it with my cheek. And my blood is pounding in my ears so terribly. I just wanna bury my face in his chest. Maybe forever. Should I probably say something?

“Sorry for causing so much trouble. I don't know what came over me.”

“It's okay. The main thing is that you are safe. I don’t even want to know how you got here before us.”

“Agreed. And what do they have ready?”

“You'll see now. Let's go.”

Arlo took me by the hand and led me out into the yard. We walked around the house and found ourselves near the stables. I was not mistaken, there were more than two horses here. But Teddy isn't here. This white one is Spacer. Brown mare in dapples is Arrow. And for some reason, some balloons were tied to the saddle of a cream-colored young filly.

“Surprise!” All three shouted in unison.

“Come and greet her.” Sam lightly pushed me in the back. The redhead released my hand with obvious reluctance.

“What?” I was surprised to recognize the very same filly for which I had been saving money since last fall. I asked McDonald not to sell her to anyone. “Guys, have you all gone crazy? I planned to go buy her next week!”

“Now there is no need. So what will you say?”

“I say – welcome home, Shifter. I hope you’ll like it here as much as I do,” the horse trustingly poked her wet nose into my neck. That looks like a start of a new friendship. I would really like that

Spacer whinnied and tried to bite my ear. That's a nasty horsemeat sausage!

“What kind of tricks are there?! Calm down! If you behave like this, we’ll miss the land run!” The mischievous horse stiffened and calmed down. What a commanding voice Arlo used. I'm so impressed.

“Admit it, whose idea it was?”

“You won’t believe it, but it’s yours. I just remembered and organized everything. The rest of us supported. And besides, if you’ll decide to join Corps, you won’t be able to do this without a horse. And the territory will soon get larger so we will probably have to expand our staff.”

“I love you guys!” I extended my arms invitingly for a group hug. “Thank you all so very, very much!”

[omegatheimmortaldragonborn]

They're having a moment leave them be

[dross-the-fish]

JANE??? OMG JANE???? PLEASE TELL ME MORE ABOUT HER- I LOVED RETURN TO NEVERLAND WHEN I WAS A KID.

Does Jane and Alice’s kids become friends????

Jane Darling is Wendy's daughter who was kidnapped in early childhood by Peter Pan. Wendy, Dorothy Gale and Alice Liddell manged to get her back unharmed but the trauma from nearly losing her daughter instilled in Wendy a need to rescue other lost children and put an end to the entity known as Peter Pan. Knowing she wouldn't be able to care for Jane and devote herself to her mission she gave Jane to Alice and Dorothy, both of whom are the girl's godmothers. Peter has attempted to steal Jane away on more than one occasion, prompting Dorothy to take the little girl to Oz with her since Peter is unable to reach her there. Jane has been largely raised in Oz and is currently 17 years old and studying at an academy in the Emerald City. She hopes one day to be able to join her mother in Neverland. Jane's feelings are complicated, she was very young when Wendy became the new captain of the Jolly Roger and she only got to see Wendy for short periods of time, such as when Wendy returned to London with lost children to give back to their homes. She was well cared for by Alice and by Dorothy and is friends with Alice's sons, both of whom are a bit older than her. Both of her godmothers loved her as though she were their own but Alice has a tendency to be over protective and Dorothy frequently has her own hands full seeing to her duties as Witch of the West. Jane does tend to feel lonely and out of place despite the best intentions of those who care for her. I had briefly considered making Jane part of the motley crew but I feel like she has her own story that would require a lot more focus and maybe should get it's own individual telling. While they exist in the same universe Alice, Wendy and Dorothy are their own group with their own interests outside of what the crew is doing.

[megidonitram]

Everyone's Running From Something (ch.2)

A Baldur's Gate 3 University Professor AU

Rating: M

Quick Summary: Astarion and Gale are two University English professors precariously mentoring a troubled 19-year-old and falling in love.

💖Main Pairing : BloodWeave,(Astarion/Gale) 💕Side Pairings: Shadowheart/Nocturne, Karlach/Dammon, Wyll/The Dark Urge, Tav/Tav 💔Past Pairings: Gale/Mystra, Astarion/Sebastian, Astarion/Tav

<== Previous Chapter | Master List | Ao3 | Next Chapter =>

**Please see Master List Entry for Full Content Warnings**

⏰Chapter Warning⏰

Institutional discrimination against a person with a mental disability | sexual coercion | implied: self-harm | referenced: suicide attempt | referenced: involuntary commitment | referenced: murder.

Gale was happy to share an office with someone, even if Astarion didn’t seem too thrilled about it. Having another soul haunting the space made him feel slightly less lonely.

Minsc stuck around for a little while to help shelve books and chat about students. It turned out that both of the English department’s graduating seniors were into martial sports. Wyll (Spelled with a ‘y’) Ravengard was an English and secondary education major and was the captain of the school’s fencing team, and Lae’zel -Minsc couldn’t recall her last name- was a sports communications and exercise science double major with an English minor wrestled, kick-boxed, and did jiu-jitsu (she seemed like she was going to be incredibly intense).

Minsc didn’t bring up Xenia again, and Gale didn’t ask, even if he was desperately curious. Because she deserved the dignity of meeting new people without letting her past actions color their perception of her. After all, it wasn’t like she was dangerous. Surely, they wouldn’t let her back on campus if that was the case.

An hour or so went by, and Minsc had to leave for a meeting, and Astarion still hadn’t returned. Gale hoped everything was okay. He seemed genuinely angry when he left. Shadowheart had made an off-handed comment about how Astarion was department chair because he was a “law school type who refused to lose even the pettiest argument,” but this seemed like a far more intense situation than just squabbling over a textbook requirement.

Gale tried logging on to his work computer to see if his credentials were active yet- nothing. Six days out from the start of class, and he still didn’t have access to a work email or his class roster… maybe he should get Astarion to yell at someone in IT next.

The heat kicked on, and the naked air vent overhead made a shrill grinding noise and shuttered as it belched rubber-scented hot air into the room. That was unpleasant. Gale tried to distract himself by arranging things on his desk, but all he could think about was how many fewer picture frames he had to put out now. He had never considered this aspect of divorce before… how many of his family photos he couldn’t bear to look at anymore. He had precisely three pictures now: the old Sears portrait of his parents they’d used for his dad’s obituary, a popsicle stick and pom-pom framed picture of his niece on a zipline at summer camp, and a picture of his cat Tara as a kitten curled up cozy in the dirty linen basket. He would have to ask his sister to look through her family photos to see if she’d kept any without Mystra in them.

“I… um- did Dr. Ancunín change offices?”

Gale nearly jumped out of his skin- he hadn’t even heard the door to the stairwell open. He looked up to see a young woman with a jagged scar across one cheek and the blackest eyes Gale had ever seen slumped tentatively in the doorway like she thought she might be trespassing. She was sickly pale with long dark hair thrown into a half-hazard lopsided bun on the top of her head and her right arm secured firmly against her abdomen in a mesh grey shoulder sling.

“No! no, this is still his office. We’re just sharing the space.”  Gale replied. “I’m Dr. Dekarios.” He stood to shake her hand, reaching out with the wrong hand and quickly correcting.

The young woman gave him a suspicious look as if she expected him to already know who she was. “Xenia…” She said flatly. “Do you know when he’s going to be back?”

“I think he should be back shortly.” Gale checked his watch- he’d have to be back soon; they were supposed to be at a staff meeting in 30 minutes. “You’re welcome to wait here for him- unless it’s something I can help you with.”

“It’s not,” Xenia replied. She sat down in the plastic chair in front of Astarion’s desk and started scrolling through something on her phone.

Gale tried not to take her short answers personally. It didn’t seem like she was in a particularly good headspace. “Xenia’s a pretty name. Greek, isn’t it?” He felt weird just ignoring her, especially since he had nothing else he could be doing right now.

She gave him a long, blank stare before she answered. “I guess. I haven’t thought about my name much- my father named me, and he’s… ah, not around to ask.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” Gale said. “Were the two of you close?”

Xenia’s lips upturned in disgust. She looked past Gale to study the cracks in the wall’s plaster, and he sensed he made a horrible mistake even before she spoke. “I killed my father.” The words were as casual as if she were commenting on the weather “Stabbed him in the neck with a box cutter.”

Gale laughed nervously, at first thinking -hoping even- that she was just making a bad attempt at a dark joke. But she just watched him with a bored malaise, as if this was a story she’d told a hundred times and was very tired of telling it.

The horror of her confession slowly started to set in.

***

Astarion took the steps up to the administration building two at a time. Most of the administration was housed in the only original building on campus: a large pink granite monolith with some vaguely Grecian architectural flourishes that was meant to evoke the splendid “grandeur” of higher education- though now it mainly just served to make sure people where out of breath when they came to sort out their finances. The building unsettled him. The whole place creaked and groaned at the slightest movement, like it was going to fall apart under his weight at any given moment.

He threw open the heavy oak doors at the main entrance, but his theatrics were met with dead silence. Most of the hourly staff hadn’t returned from their holiday break, so the main floor was empty, and the ancient elevator in the back of the building was still out of order, so Astarion had to climb the narrow staircase up the provost’s office on the third floor. Astarion knew for a fact he would be here by now -the fucking micromanager wouldn’t take a day off to save his life- he could smell his cologne underneath the antique smell of wood lacquer.

The secretary at the front desk perked up a bit as Astarion crested the stairs but her smile strained when she realized it was him. “Astarion, how are you today?” She asked. Her voice was just a touch too loud, like she was trying to warn someone in the other room that he was here.

“I’m just fine, Korrilla.” Astarion snapped as he stormed past her into the bank of offices beyond.

“Oh, Raphiel isn’t available right-” Slam!

Astarion burst into the provost’s office before she could finish her sentence. Raphael swiveled around in his desk chair, his office phone pressed to his ear, looking miffed but not the least bit surprised to see Astarion standing in front of him. He held up a finger bidding Astarion to wait as he spouted a series of ‘yes’s, ‘no’s, and ‘understood’s to whoever was on the other line.

Astarion leaned over and pressed the phone’s switch hook, disconnecting the call.

“You’re certainly wasting no time to start being a nuisance this semester, Dr. Ancunín.” Raphael spat as he slammed the phone’s handset back into its cradle. He was seething, but he’d never willingly admit it. “Could you not even wait for classes to start?”

Astarion ignored him. “Why was Xenia Bellona’s petition for deferment rejected?”

Raphael paused, an amused smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth for a split second. He evidently thought this was going to be about office space. “I’m afraid that’s proprietary information.”

Astarion slammed his fist down on Raphael’s desk hard enough to make his computer monitor rattle. “Is it proprietary, or do you not have a good excuse for forcing a 19-year-old girl to come back to school less than a month after she was involuntarily committed?”

“Now, Dr. Ancunín, there’s no need to let passions run so hot.” Raphael seized back control over the conversation, tutting at Astarion like he was a belligerent child. “You’ve been in academia for a very long time, surely this isn’t your first pet lost cause.”

It was all Astarion could do not to lunge across the desk. “So, she’s not giving you the marketable little success story you were promised, and you’re going to hang her out to dry.”

“Not at all. Miss Bellona still has access to every mental health resource Balduran University has to offer, but she isn’t entitled to any special treatment from the administration just because she’s had a hard go of it.”

Astarion ran his tongue over the top row of his teeth. “Deferring a student's education because they are seeking mental health treatment isn’t special treatment.”

“I agree with you, and if Miss Bellona had presented disability services with a documented history of mental health struggles, we likely could have done more for her. Unfortunately, without documentation, my hands are tied.”

That was a fucking lie. Part of the appeal of private universes was that they were far less beholden to the public in their decision-making, so it was much easier to bend the rules. “Does a 5150 form not count as documentation?”

 “You would have to yell at disability services for a more comprehensive answer, but I believe it counts as a point of history, but not a documented history,” Raphael replied.

“Couldn’t an involuntary commitment infer a history of mental health concerns?”

“In some circumstances, I’m sure it would.”

“But not this one?”

“She is more than welcome to contest the decision if she feels she has been wrong, but you do not have any right or responsibility to be demanding things on her behalf.” Raphael spat, looking down his nose at Astarion. “If you wanted to be anything more than that girl’s English professor, you shouldn’t have dropped out of law school.”

Astarion bristled but regained his composure, quickly seizing on that little pearl of knowledge Raphael had let slip. “Excellent. Can you let me know what steps she needs to take to make a contentment? Better yet, why don’t you get me whatever forms she needs to fill out, and I’ll take them to her.”

“Dr. Ancunín, that’s hardly necessary. If she has a problem with the administration’s decision, she can tell us herself.” Raphiel turned to his computer and pretended to browse his email.

“Is it not pertinent job information? Shouldn’t I know how the school’s bureaucratic channels work? What if I have another student in the future who has questions?”

Raphael glared up at him. “If I email you the paperwork, will you get out of my office?”

“Hmm… no.” Astarion pretended to mull the question over in his head for a moment. “I think you’d better print it out for me, actually. We wouldn’t want that email to get conveniently lost, would we? I’d hate to have to come all the way back up here.”

Raphael let out a long-beleaguered sigh and leaned back in his chair. “One of these days, your doggedness will land you in one hell of a pot of hot water.”

“So, you keep telling me.” Astarion dismissed him. “Should I expect Korrilla to get those forms printed out for me or…”

“I’ll have her get those to you shortly… though I must say I’m not inclined to let you think you can just burst into my office -interrupt my work- and get exactly what you want out of me without giving anything in return.”

Astarion’s skin prickled as Raphael’s eyes roamed over his body. He crossed his arms over his chest. He knew Raphael wasn’t in this for the thrill- this was far from their first rodeo- to him, this was just another avenue for exerting his control. “I’d hardly say I’m getting exactly what I want… I mean, I wouldn’t be here at all if you’d just-”

“I won’t ask for anything right now. I simply want a favor I can cash in at my leisure.” That was, in fact, much worse than if he’d just forced him to do something right now; he could hold this over his head for years.

“What kind of favor?” He knew he wouldn’t get him to admit anything out loud, not so bluntly.

“Nothing bigger than you can handle, I assure you.”

“I could just figure out the back channels myself, you know.”

“You could certainly try, but you know as well as I do that bureaucracy is a finicky thing. There’s no guarantee you’d get it right.”

Astarion set his jaw. “Fine. One favor and you personally oversee this appeal.”

“I will do my utmost best to ensure this university serves Miss Bellona to the best of its abilities.”

[jdtrashman]

Countdown To Dawntrail Week 3: Yotsuyu

Week 3 of @voidsentprinces' countdown to dawntrail series. About damn time I got around to Beloch

---

The legend lives on, from the Chippewa on down

Of the big lake they called Gitche Gumee.

The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead

When the skies of November turn gloomy.

Beloch Bluesail stood up and back from the corpse of his father, blood dripping from his still-clenched fist. For a while there was no sound but the creak of the wood as the seas wrapped against the walls of the great barque they rode aboard. The Maritime Maiden. The only home Beloch had ever known for 19 years.

The pirates had found him as a baby off the coast of Doma, the lone survivor of a shipwreck. The au ra's small, scaly blue body had been wrapped in a blue sail - hence the name - as a final, desperate act by his birth father to keep his son warm. Beloch was raised by the captain of the crew as his only son, and for 19 years, things were good. Or at least he thought they were.

The truth was, in the past year, there had been signs that the captain had been hiding things from him. More money had been coming in, whose source was unknown. Then, earlier tonight, Beloch had come to bid his father goodnight and heard...strange sounds coming from his quarters. The door was cracked open, from which the sound of strangled sobs and heavy breathing could be heard. Against all better judgement, Beloch inched closer to the door and peered inside.

The next thing he knew, he was standing over his father, dead. He slowly turned to the girl. No older than he was, clothes torn, body curled up and shaking with sobs, a single terrified eye gazing at him through long black hair. Twelve only knew what he looked like to her.

Beloch's mind began to race. How long had this sort of thing been happening? He slowly walked over to his fathe-to the captain's desk, and began rifling through the drawers. What he found chilled him to the bone. A while, turns out. A long, long while. For the past year and a half, this ship had taken up the business of smuggling people. With the captain clearly getting to enjoy some of the goods himself. This latest...shipment, was from a bunch of raiders who kidnapped half a village's worth of people. Nothing in the papers spoke of anyone else being bought, just this one. Which made things simpler.

Beloch made his way back over to the young woman. Gently, slowly, he crouched down on one knee and held out the hand that wasn't covered in blood. "Come with me," he said. "we need to get you off this ship."

With a load of iron ore, twenty-six thousand tons more

Than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty,

That good ship and crew was a bone to be chewed,

When the gales of November came early

13 years later, Beloch found himself back in Doma. Last time he was here was the day before he burnt his life to the bottom of the sea. Now he was here to help set it free from Garlean occupation. Not quite what he had signed up for when he accepted Minfillia's job offer 2 years ago, but whatever.

"There she is," growled Gosetsu. Beloch peeked over Allie and Rhea to get a look at the "Witch of Doma". And when he saw her face, no longer twisted in fear, but now stretched into a contemptuous sneer as Garlean soldiers at her flank bullied the helpless villagers, his heart sank into his knotted-up stomach. His head felt light and woozy, and he almost fell over from the shock.

"Beloch?" asked Allie, placing a hand on his arm. "Yo, babe, you okay?" Rhea perked up at Allie's concern and joined her in checking on him. It was here that he finally noticed how hard he had been breathing.

"I-I uh, I just," he sputtered, trying to stay calm and quiet. Now everyone was looking at him. He never liked sharing his past, so burdened with shame he had been for the past decade. But Musosai's wisdom rang in his head: it was time to tell them. If not now, then when? "I...I know her."

The ship was the pride of the American side

Coming back from some mill in Wisconsin

As the big freighters go, it was bigger than most

With a crew and a captain well seasoned

Concluding some terms, with a couple of steel firms

When they left, fully loaded, for Cleveland

Then later that night, when the ship's bell rang out

Could it be the north wind they'd been feelin'?

Later that night, Beloch did indeed tell them everything around the fire. Ophianne didn't look surprised, but she was clearly relieved at him finally getting this off his back. Q'ihnn remained stoic, unreadable, but relaxed. Maybe that was compassion, maybe not. It was hard to tell with him. Mitnu tried to remain stoic, but it was clear that she wasn't expecting it. The twins looked horrified, and Lyse looked pissed. Neither emotion seemed directed at him, though, which was a good sign.

Allie and Rhea, meanwhile, stayed close to him, even as he curled in on himself when the story reached its bloody end. The look in Allie's eyes...he had never seen her make that face before. It was like the girl she used to be had come out and put the beast away for just a moment. If this wasn't one of the most uncomfortable nights of his entire life, he'd commit the face to memory. And Rhea, his Starshine, just held his hand and kept her gaze firmly on him as he talked. He definitely did not deserve even one of these girls, so what'd a lunkhead like him do to get two at once?

"So you saved her?" Lyse asked with an edge to her voice. Understandable, given what Yotsuyu had turned into.

"Yes." he made no excuses. He was the reason these people were suffering, no covering that up.

Lyse crossed her arms and breathed outward, hard. "Good."

"Good?"

"Good. You saved a girl being brutalized, even though it cost you everything."

"You did the right thing, Beloch," Rhea chimed in softly.

"Yeah," Allie added. "what she did with her life ain't your bill to foot."

Beloch wanted to believe them. But something in his mind held onto the responsibility.

No, it had to be him that ended this.

Well the wind in the wires made a tattle-tale sound

When the wave broke over the railing

And every man knew, as the captain did too

T'was the witch of November come stealin'

The plan was to assassinate Zenos and Yotsuyu both in one fell swoop. It would be done quickly, cleanly, under cover of night.

And according to Q'ihnn, it would be done without him.

"I get it, I do," Q'ihnn said with arms crossed. "But you're too close to this, too close to her. You and her meeting won't go well, and we're only going to get one shot at this."

"Golden boy, do not fuck me on this, I swear," Beloch growled down at the miqote.

"I'm sorry, Beloch, but you know I'm right on this." With that, Q'ihnn left to join up with Yugiri and Allie.

There was no way that he was convinced that that was going to keep him away, was there? He didn't even lock the door. Honestly, Beloch was disappointed more than anything else.

He waited until they were far enough ahead that they wouldn't notice a trail, and he found a hiding spot out of their sight.

And he waited.

The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait

When the gales of November came slashin'

When afternoon came, it was freezin' with rain

In the face of a hurricane westwind

By the time Beloch got there, the fighting was already well underway. Allie and Q'ihnn had Zenos handled - well, better handled than they did back in Ala Mhigo - while past them laid...her.

"Where is my brute?!" she demanded. "Honestly, of all the times."

"Yotsuyu." she stopped, and looked to her right, and found Beloch standing there. It took a moment, but recognition finally dawned on her, summoning a look in her eyes that lay somewhere between shock and rage.

"You..."

It began to rain.

When suppertime came, the old cook came on deck, sayin'

"Fellas, it's too rough to feed ya."

At seven PM, a main hatchway caved in,

He said, "Fellas, it's been good to know ya."

"What are ya doin, Yotsuyu?" he asked. The rain picked up speed, great sheets of water blowing across the land. The clangs and booms of Allie and Q'ihnn's battle with the prince battled for dominance against the whoosh of the winds.

"What am I doing?!" she asked, growing angrier. "How dare you! How dare you ask me that!!!" from her kimono, she pulled a revolver and pointed it at him. Sadly, he drew his sword. "I am learning from the lessons you taught me! The lesson I learned the night a man tore my abuser off of me and beat him to death with his bare hands. The lesson I learned as that man proceeded to slaughter an entire ship's crew. The lesson I learned, watching that ship burn and sink from my dingy bound back for Doma."

"...alright, kid," he muttered, readying his blade. "What did I teach you that led to all this?"

"That the world only makes sense, when you FORCE IT TO!!!"

She fired.

The captain wired in, he had water comin' in

And the good ship and crew was in peril

His sword, and a bullet. A move Musosai taught him. A move he had pulled off a thousand times, requiring total focus and center of self. His focused eyes caught the bullet, his senses slowing time for accuracy, and he swung.

And the bullet shattered his blade, and struck into his chest.

And later that night, when his lights went outta sight

Came The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald!

His consciousness drifted in and out after that, only the loudest noises making it through the haze. He faintly remembered Allie screaming as he fell, the feeling of his body being moved, the sound of Yugiri screaming for a table to be cleared. After that, all went quiet.

Does anyone know where the love of god goes

When the waves turn the minutes to hours?

The searchers all say they'd have made whitefish bay

If they'd put fifteen more miles behind her.

Allie and Rhea stayed by Beloch's side for the week that followed, as he drifted in and out of consciousness. Occasionally he would wake up, but not look at them. Judging by his eyes whenever they opened, it was out of shame.

Rhea gently held Allie by the shoulders as she watched their lover sleep. "He'll be alright, darling," she said softly. "C'mon, you need to sleep."

"Not until he wakes up for good," she said. She took one of Rhea's hands in hers. Off to the side, Ophianne sat and quietly read. Somehow more certain than either of them that he would wake up any minute. "At least this time I'll be here to greet him when he wakes up."

They might have split up, or they might have capsized

They may have broke deep and took water

And all that remains, is the faces and names

Of the wives and the sons and the daughters

For a moment, Beloch is back in that horrible night, watching his life burn from a dingy, the girl he burnt it all for sailing away in her own boat, growing harder to see with each passing moment.

He looked down at his hands. Bathed in firelight, the blood practically glimmered. Or perhaps that was simply the tears?

The young Beloch's face fell into his bloody hands and sobbed loudly. But no one was there.

Lake Huron rolls, Superior sings

In the rooms of her ice-water mansion

Ole Michigan steams like a young man's dreams

The islands and bays are for sportsmen

And farther below Lake Ontario

Takes in what Lake Erie can send her

And the iron boats go, as the mariners all know

With the gales of November remembered

Beloch awoke at last. Everything hurt, but nowhere more than his heart. Whether it was because of the bullet wound, or having to admit that Q'ihnn was absolutely correct in his assessment.

He looked around, saw Allie, Rhea, and Ophianne, all asleep. That was what he had expected. What he didn't expect was all the others, and even a few Namai villagers, all sleeping as well. It was late at night, and no one, clearly, had expected him to awaken until morning. Yet they were all there anyway.

Beloch gazed up at the ceiling. That night, he had considered going with Yotsuyu. Make sure she got to shore safely. He had let her go alone, concluding that she didn't want to be around him. Maybe if he had insisted, things would've turned out differently. If he had just let go of his stubborn pride for one minute, these people wouldn't have suffered. Maybe.

He was too weak still to wake them, and Allie in particular looked like she was overdue for sleep. So, he just stared at his two favorite girls. kept his eyes firmly on them, to keep himself going. He needed to keep going.

He needed to settle things with Yotsuyu.

In a musty old hall, in Detroit they prayed

In the maritime sailor's cathedral

The church bell chimed, til it rang twenty-nine times

For each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald

The legend lives on, from the Chippewa on down,

Of the big lake they called Gitche Gumee

Superior they said, never gives up her dead

When the gales of November come early...

[ohlookanothercartoontofallinto]

Finally able to discuss this idea! So yes, 

Vigilante Wind au with the rest of the chain as heroes that want to adopt him! This would be set in a Modern/Fantasy setting. 

Let’s start with the main boy Wind, Wind would have grown up on a small island that the kingdom and the royal family didn’t really care about. He would have lived with his parent's Grandma and Aryll. Until a typhoon hit the island and destroyed everything. Wind was the lone survivor, because of his natural born powers that kept him safe. Before anyone from the mainland could get to him, Wind would be kidnapped by the Yiga organization. Becoming one of the experiments of a project known as project sheik and becoming number 745360. His fellow prisoner would be 7488110, a little kokiri boy whose real name is Makar, and 518110 a rito girl whose real name is Medli. Wind would become super protective of his co-prisoners and do everything he could to protect them from the scientist. Even if it means giving himself up for more experiments. Not all the people are bad though, slowly but surely he grows attached to an employee who has no idea what’s going on in the organization. A man that goes by the name  Linebeck. 

Linebeck, is just really, really stupid and has no idea the children are being experiment on. He is led to believe the children just have a rare disease. Resulting in him being compassionate to the kids and developing a kinship with Wind. He finally realizes something is up when Wind is forcibly dragged to  a room, while coughing up blood. When he saw linebeck Wind would cry and call for him.  “LINEBECK PLEASE! PLEASE DON’T LET THEM HURT ME PLEASE LINEBECK! LINEBECK!” The boy's scream rang out as he was dragged through the door. The old captain, rushing towards the door. “I���m sorry sir but I can not allow you to enter.” The guard halted the man’s entrance. Linebeck did not allow that to be an answer. “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING TO MY KID!”  

After that linebeck would look into what was really going on and find everything. Deciding then and there to save the kids. He get in contact with Makar, and Medli families who were still alive, and made a plan to help all three of them disappear, using an old friend of his. Only on the day of the escape, something happened. They had successfully gotten away from the building, with the help of the children's powers, only at the last minute the alarms started blaring forcing Linebeck to pick up the kids and go. Handing Rito and Kokiri back to their families and handing Wind off to his friend Jolene. He was planning on going back to the building to make him look less suspicious. Wind protested and cried because he wanted Linebeck to come with them now. In an attempt to comfort the child he took off his blue trench coat and wrapped it around his boy. Whispering “We’ll be together again soon…I promise.” 

He lied. 

Two years would pass since that day, and Wind would become part of a Vigilante group known as the Pirates. Composed of the Pirate Queen Jolene (Jolene), Nest their tech man (Niko), Canon their muscle (gonzo). Then Gallows & Gale, Tetra and Wind. Tetra is actually the second youngest princess of the kingdom, but became friends with wind by chance when he saved her as Gales from a assassination attempt.  If you're wondering what Gales looks like he has white hair, wears Linebeck's coat he was gifted, and a black mask that wraps completely around his face with gold paint that resembles the hero's charm on the front.  His powers of course are controlling the Winds, only because of the experiments he's incredibly unstable so he has to be careful. Sometimes because of his powers it takes the air from his lungs so he can't breath and needs an oxygen mask, and sometimes he loses control and just makes a tornado. 

As for the rest of the chain. 

Crimson Rider aka Sky A hero who tamed a legendary bird and now patrols the cities.  Sky is actually the main reason they realised Wind was nice. One day during a battle Crimson was falling with sky and Wind saved them using his powers. 

Deity aka Time/Old man He controls time, and can somehow shapeshift. Was not always known as Deity, when he was a child he was known as the sidekick Mask. To the superhero Fierce Deity, who tragically passed. In honor of his fallen partner he took on the name Deity. One of the few Heroes who married someone who is not involved at all in the hero world or political world, but that's how he likes it. 

Captain Aka Warrior  Think if Sailor moon and Captain planet and America fused. This is warrior. 

Genie Aka Legend/Vet  Has 5 magical rings and 2 magical gauntlets that he can wish upon once to get any power for that day, then resets the next day. Will say he turns into a Siren a lot.  

R-G Biv aka Four or Red Blue Green Vio Shadow  Shadow is considered indigo. They were five brothers who could become one or five as well as shrink. Until tragedy stuck and Indigo was killed during a battle.  Leaving only four, and none of them had the heart to remove the I from their name. 

Wild Card aka Wild/Champion  He's like Ben Ten with the Shieka slate as a watch, but instead of shapeshifting he's given at random different weapons or items. Kind of similar to Legend only, absolutely no shapeshifting allowed. Outfits on the other hand. He also just can't die like literally someone shot him but his body refused to react. 

White Cross aka Hyrule  He's a healer, what did you expect? He prefers to be at H.Q. but when he's forced to fight he turns into a moth fairy hybrid and acts like the hulk. 

The Engineer aka Spirit (emphasis on the The) This kid is scary smart when it comes to technology. Figured out how to build a car at six. And was the one who built Wild's watch, and adds more weapons to it. Doesn't normally fight but when he does prepared to be smacked by a train.

Shaded Knight aka Twilight  Is actually Malon's younger brother. Who got dragged into this world because of Mask by accident. Yes he can shapeshift into a wolf. However he naturally had super strength, and is a beast with a crossbow. 

Dang did not mean to make it this long. If you guys have any questions please feel free to ask. It helps me develop this more or if you're just confused.

Also when you imagine Linebeck please think of @smilesrobotlover when I started picturing the scene with him all I could see was how she draws him 

Anyways I hope you enjoyed it and will explain more later.