#dark powers of sappho

[a-dauntless-daffodil]

Chaggie AU where Vaggie is a member of a holy order devoted to slaying monsters. As part of her becoming a holy knight, she must commune with an Angel to be granted their divine power... only something goes wrong with the ritual, and the being that appears before her is none other than the Princess of Hell.

Lute: “Gay?! She’s supposed to be HOLY!”

Adam: “Yeah, hot.”

Lute: “…let. Me. See. That. SuMMOnINg sCRiPTuRE.”

Adam: “Sure thing dude. Here.”

Lute: “This isn’t a holy rite, this is… WRITINGS OF SAPPHO!”

Adam: "Heh, heathen and homoerotic. WLWhoops?"

-

Charlie: “You should really be more careful next time!"

Vaggie: "Uh."

Charlie: "Lot’s of other demons would be thrilled to get yanked into the mortal world without a circle of binding to hold them- especially by someone as cute as you-

Vaggie: "Excuse me?"

Charlie: "And when I say thrilled, I mean in the blood and guts and screaming kinda way, NOT just in the 'can feel hellfire in my cheeks' kinda way. Safe summoning is important!!”

Vaggie: “Why’re you drawing the circle in yourself, then. With your… claws.”

Charlie: “Because you didn’t?” (dusts fire off her hands) “Anyway you should be good now, ask me anything!”

Vaggie: “You’re seriously not taking advantage of being summoned but not bound?"

Charlie: "I'm taking advantage of the view!"

Charlie: (beat)

Charlie: "Of the, mortal world, I am enjoying the pretty scenery."

Vaggie: "It's dark."

Charlie: "I'm enjoying the beautiful knight. Night. Night without a 'K'. Not knight like YOU'RE a knight, not that you aren't beautiful-"

Vaggie: "I'm. What."

Charlie: "The one who should be talking now! Not me. I think I've done enough talking for now. I think I'm good on having said stuff recently. I think I should be quiet for a bit."

Vaggie: (gay) (not immune to adorable ladies) "WHY are you here. You're not, what I expected."

Charlie: “I'm not the usual demon- As hell princess I get first dibs on all summons! After dad anyway.”

Vaggie: (of COURSE she's a princess) “Why answer this one.”

Charlie: “You’re missing an eye? It looks painful?"

Vaggie: "...so?

Charlie: "?? I thought maybe you wanted help with that.”

Vaggie: "It's a penance. You can't help with it."

Charlie: "oh."

Vaggie: “...That’s it? You're not here for anything else?”

Charlie: “….”

Charlie: “You um. You look very cool in that armor.” (cringes) “Awesome.” (cringes more)

Vaggie: “Are you a siren or a succubus or something.”

Charlie: “What!? No! No I’m just, I just think girls are hot! Cool! You look great!! …girls all look great, and you’re a girl, and you…”

Vaggie: “…”

Vaggie: “Do you need any demons slayed?”

Charlie: “Ahaa, no.”

Vaggie: “Holy quests completed?”

Charlie: “No?”

Vaggie: “Are you gonna eat me.”

Charlie: “N-not on the first date- I- OH YOU MEAN ACTUALLY-? No no no! I don’t, I’m, I don’t eat souls. Or people.”

Vaggie: “So what’s the catch here. The price.”

Charlie: “Nothing. I just wanted to help.”

Charlie: “Okay and maaaaybe have a nice conversation for once. Kinda short on them in hell.”

Vaggie: “… is there ANYTHING I can help you with?”

Charlie: “Well I just broke up with-”

Vaggie: “I’ll kill them.”

Charlie: “-and I could really use a date for the ball, I mean! No killing needed!! Dad isn’t going again, mom’s um, busy. And it’ll be a lot less awkward if I already have a dance partner, you know?”

Vaggie: “You want me to find you a dance partner.”

Charlie: “Oh no I, I was hoping- do YOU dance?”

Vaggie: "Me."

Charlie: "If you want to?"

Vaggie: “You’re asking me to go to hell.”

Charlie: “Shit. Right, dumb idea. It’s my home but, yeah. It’s not like anyone enjoys being here.”

Vaggie: (fuck she's cute) (fuck she's SAD)

Vaggie: “No one does? What about you?”

Charlie: “I… just wish the people would be nicer. A place is the people who live there, right?”

Vaggie: “…”

Vaggie: “I’ll come.”

Charlie: “You wha?”

Vaggie: “I’ll come to the dance.”

Charlie: "But- hell! Why-"

Vaggie: "Hell’s a better place than I thought."

Charlie: "You've never even BEEN here!"

Vaggie: "I've met you."

Charlie: ".... I'm not... the usual demon."

Vaggie: "I'll take my chances. I'll need to borrow a dress though. All I have up here is, armor."

Charlie: "I can, I can change that. A dress. N- no problem."

Vaggie: "It's a deal then." (holds out hand) "A dance for a dress?"

Charlie: (takes her hand and shakes it eagerly while bowing) "ITS A DATE!"

Vaggie: (chuckles) "Yeah, I guess that's a better word for it."

Charlie: "And I PROMISE when we dance I WON'T trample your toes with my hooves!"

Vaggie: "... should I just keep the sabatons on?"

Charlie: "I promise to find you a dress that goes good with your armored shoes so your toes don't get trampled on."

Vaggie: "We're gonna be quite the pair, aren't we."

Charlie: "Heheh~"

-

Lute: "WHAT HAPPENED WHY WAS THERE FIRE AND BRIMSTONE INSTEAD OF HOLY LIGHT WHY WERE YOU COMMUNING WITH A FIEND SO LONG IS IT DEAD DID YOU KILL IT???"

Vaggie: "Does taking her heart count?"

Adam: "Whoooo VaGEEE! Totally FUCKED that demon huh!!"

Vaggie: "Mm, not totally sir."

Vaggie: (smiling) (softly to herself) "Not on the first date."

[cinnamonnangel]

ASTEROIDS RELATED TO ATTRACTIVENESS

ASC - MC, sun, moon, venus, mars or jupiter conjunction, trine and sextile (0-1orb)

Aglaja (47) — Splendor

Alkmene (82) — Faithfulness, Intelligence

Aphrodite (1388) — Sexual Attractiveness

Bella (695) — Beautiful Woman

Candy (3015) — Candy Girl

Casanova (7328) — Charm

Chariklo (10199) — Sensitive

Charis (627) — Charisma

Eva (164) — Femininity

Fay (4820) — Ethereal Beauty

Flora (8) — Ethereal, Fairy Beauty

Freia (76) — Beauty, Fertility

Glo (3267) — Shine and Glow

Hera (103) — Sexual Attractiveness

Kallisto (204) — The Most Beautiful

Kleopatra (216) — Strength, Authority

Lilith (1181) — The Dark Side of Sexuality

Lotis (429) — Pure Beauty

Medusa (149) — Enviable Beauty

Nadherna (5089) — Gorgeous

Nefertiti (3199) — Graceful

Narcissus (37117) — Vanity and Attractivenes

Nymphe (875) — Ageless, Natural Beauty

Peitho (118) — The Goddess of Persuasion

Persephone (399) — Queen of the Underworld

Psyche (16) — Enviable Beauty

Ptah (5011) — Magical Beauty

Queen (5457) — Elegant, Strength, Powerful

Salome (562) — Seductive, Fatal Beauty

Sappho (80) — Bisexual Energy

Sassi (7500) — Sassy Girl

Sirene (1009) — Dangerous, Femme Fatale

Shigemi (7597) — Luxuriant Beauty

Zerlina (531) — Leading Energy

How to find the asteroids in your birth chart:

visit Astro.com >> Extended Chart Selection >> Additional Objects >> Manuel Entry >> type the asteroid number

[cursedbyastro]

ASTEROIDS RELATED TO ATTRACTIVENESS

from (post here!) ✿

ASC - MC, sun, moon, venus, mars or jupiter conjunction, trine and sextile (0-2 orb)

*added by me* Adonis (2101) — magnetic, charismatic beauty (sextile moon 1º)

Aglaja (47) — Splendor

Alkmene (82) — Faithfulness, Intelligence

*added by me* Apollo (1862) — attraction, beauty (sextile mars 2º, trine MC 2º)

Aphrodite (1388) — Sexual Attractiveness (honorable mention conjunct mercury 3°)

*added by me* Bathseba (592) — lusted after beauty (honorable mention conjunct merucry 3°)

Bella (695) — Beautiful Woman

Candy (3015) — Candy Girl (sextile Sun at 1º)

Casanova (7328) — Charm

Chariklo (10199) — Sensitive

Charis (627) — Charisma

*added by me* Erato (62) — sensual, lovely beauty (trine MC 0º)

Eva (164) — Femininity

Fay (4820) — Ethereal Beauty (trine ASC 0º)

Flora (8) — Ethereal, Fairy Beauty

Freia (76) — Beauty, Fertility (sextile moon 0º)

Glo (3267) — Shine and Glow (sextile moon 0º)

*added by me* Godiva (3018) — untainted, pure beauty (conjunct moon 1º)

*added by me* Helena (101) — The Most Beautiful (conjunct ASC 1°)

Hera (103) — Sexual Attractiveness (sextile Jupiter 2°)

Kallisto (204) — The Most Beautiful (sextile Moon 0º, honorable mention conjunct Saturn at 0º)

Kleopatra (216) — Strength, Authority (trine Moon at 0º)

Lilith (1181) — The Dark Side of Sexuality (trine Moon at 0º)

Lotis (429) — Pure Beauty (trine ASC 2°)

Medusa (149) — Enviable Beauty (trine ASC at 2°)

Nadherna (5089) — Gorgeous (sextile Sun at 2°)

Nefertiti (3199) — Graceful

Narcissus (37117) — Vanity and Attractiveness

Nymphe (875) — Ageless, Natural Beauty

Peitho (118) — The Goddess of Persuasion (trine MC at 1º)

Persephone (399) — Queen of the Underworld (trine ASC °2)

Psyche (16) — Enviable Beauty (conjunct Mars 2º)

Ptah (5011) — Magical Beauty (conjunct Mars 0º, conjunct Venus at 2º)

Queen (5457) — Elegant, Strength, Powerful

Salome (562) — Seductive, Fatal Beauty (sextile Moon at 0º)

Sappho (80) — Bisexual Energy (sextile Sun 2°)

Sassi (7500) — Sassy Girl (sextile Venus 1º, sextile Mars º0)

Sirene (1009) — Dangerous, Femme Fatale (trine ASC 2°)

Shigemi (7597) — Luxuriant Beauty (sextile Jupiter 1º)

Zerlina (531) — Leading Energy

[ianthe-is-a-bitch-and-i-love-her]

Sapphic vampire fiction mini reviews, ranked from least favorite to most:

House of Hunger: Bland characters, a story that barely scratches the surface of the implications of its premise, and a central relationship with nothing underpinning it make for an aimless story with a climax that hits like a limp noodle. If the dynamic between a vampire and her indentured maid appeals to you, try The Wicked and the Willing instead.

An Education in Malice: For a Carmilla retelling, the titular character really lacks bite. Laura at least has some interesting contradictions in her, and De Lafontaine could be quite compelling if we saw things through her eyes, but the central relationship isn't built on a lot, and Carmilla herself is really disappointingly bland. The prose comes off as overwrought and melodramatic in the first act, and the constant leaning on poetry feels gratuitous, but it picks up steam and becomes appropriately gripping by the one-third mark, and it carries the book enough that I had an enjoyable but rather shallow experience. I struggle to think of a reason to recommend this over In the Roses of Pieria, which plays with similar thematic and aesthetic elements much more adeptly. Also, it's a pet peeve of mine when a story makes a point to establish a specific historical era for its setting but has characters that feel utterly modern.

The Deathless Girls: This book does a much better job with its sense of time and place, and the characters and their motivations are quite strong. I only rate this one low on this list because the main characters don't actually deal with vampirism as a condition until the very end of the book. On its surface, the premise might seem quite similar to A Dowry of Blood, but there's actually very little thematic or narrative overlap.

Ex-Wives of Dracula: An excellent exploration of the queer teenage experience in conservative small town ~2015 USA along with some pretty novel twists on vampire and horror movie tropes. Strong, vibrant characters with a rich, messy, and compelling relationship carry a solid mystery plot and some pretty pointed critiques of its setting, but the actual climax and resolution don't quite hold up to the quality of the rest. Also I simply must warn anyone who didn't grow up in the time and place this book explores about the profound and casual bigotry and nastiness of that setting, which this book replicates to a T.

The Wicked and the Willing: A thrilling and compelling dark romantic drama centered on a British vampire in 1920s Singapore, her newly hired and desperate to escape poverty personal maid, and her majordomo who is struggling to keep her conscience under control after years of aiding and abetting her mistress's dark appetites. Extremely strong character writing pairs with deft exploration of themes of colonialism, entitlement, class divisions, sexism, and the ways in which certain types of status can and cannot afford one leeway to be nonconforming in other ways. Intermixes diagetic and non-diagetic BDSM very organically also, if that's your thing.

In the Roses of Pieria: Rich prose dripping with atmosphere follows an obscure academic as she digs into a series of ancient correspondences and discovers a millenia spanning love story between two vampires. The character writing is solid, if not quite as impressive as some other entries on this list, but the quality of the prose more than elevates it. The text makes elegant and powerful references to Sappho throughout, and the whole experience is heady and compelling in ways that I struggle to describe in greater detail. Funnily enough, the vampires are the least interesting part of the world building. This one has a sequel coming, and I can't wait.

A Dowry of Blood: A darkly enchanting epistolary novel that takes the form of letters written by the first of Dracula's wives to him as she attempts to make peace with killing him. She unpicks a delicious and horrifying knot of feeling and history as she revisits their millenia together, recounting and reckoning with the manipulations and abuses that defined the good times and the bad. The characters are evocative and rich, the narrative voice by turns sparse, longing, furious, contemplative, and mournful, and the story simply springs to life. It accomplishes an incredible amount in approximately 200 pages, and I absolutely cannot recommend this one enough.

[theoihalioistuff]

Natural 'Love Remedies' in the lanscapes of ancient greek myths. Part I: The White Rock

Sorry for the long post in advance, there are too many references and too much scholarly discussion to make a short snappy post. I abridged as much as I could :)

The White Rock is first mentioned in passing in the Odyssey, as part of the westward journey that the shades of the suitors undertake as they're led to to the underworld:

And they passed by the streams of Okeanos and the White Rock [Λευκάδα πέτρην] and past the Gates of the Sun and the District of Dreams. (Od. 24. 11-12)

This passage has at first glance little thematic relevance to the rest of the attestations to come (if you're interested in theories see further reading below), but I'd be remiss not to mention this first source for a "White Rock". The rest or these sources refer specifically to the White Rock of the island of Leukas (the Leukadian Rock), which was said to have the property of relieving the lovesick from their passion. According to Menander (in Fragment 258 quoted in Stabo's Geography):

It contains the temple of Apollo Leucatas, and also the 'Leap', which was believed to put an end to the longings of love. As Menander says, "Where Sappho is said to have been the first, when through frantic longing she was chasing the haughty Phaon, to fling herself with a leap from the far-seen rock, calling upon thee in prayer, O lord and master". Now although Menander says that Sappho was the first to take the leap, those who are better versed than he in antiquities say that it was Cephalus, the son of Deïoneus, who was in love with Pterelas. (Strab. 10.2.9)

Strabo is presumably quoting Menander's lost play The Leukadia. Unrelated to love but still interesting, Strabo continues:

It was an ancestral custom among the Leucadians, every year at the sacrifice performed in honor of Apollo, for some criminal to be flung from this rocky look-out for the sake of averting evil, wings and birds of all kinds being fastened to him, since by their fluttering they could lighten the leap, and also for a number of men, stationed all round below the rock in small fishing-boats, to take the victim in, and, when he had been taken on board* (alternatively: resuscitated), to do all in their power to get him safely outside their borders. (Strab. 10.2.9 continued) ~~ This might be seen as somewhat paralleling Pausanias 10.32.6 for those who are curious.

According to Wilamowitz 1913 (again see further reading below), Menander chose for his play a setting that was known for its exotic cult practice involving a white rock, and conflated it in the quoted passage with a literary theme likewise involving a white rock. There are two surviving attestations of this theme, in which falling off the white rock is apparently a metaphor for fainting (due to lust and wine respectively):

One more time taking off in the air, down from the White Rock into the dark waves do I dive, intoxicated with lust. (Anacreon PMG 370)

I would be crazy not to give all the herds of the Cyclopes in return for drinking one cup [of that wine] and throw myself from the White Rock into the brine, once I am intoxicated, with eyebrows relaxed. Whoever is not happy when he drinks is crazy. (Euripides Cyclops 163-168)

Sappho's legendary (and unfortunately fatal) leap off the Leucadian Rock to relieve herself of her love for the handsome Phaon (a figure that deserves a post of their own) is found also in Ovid's Heroines:

Here, when, weeping, I laid down my weary limbs, a Naiad stood before my eyes. She stood there and said: ‘Since you burn with the fires of injustice, Ambracia’s the land to be sought by you. Apollo on the heights watches the open sea: summoning the people of Actium and Leucadia. Here Deucalion, fired by love of Pyrrha, cast himself down and struck the sea without harming his body. Without delay love turned and fled from his slowly sinking breast: Deucalion was eased of his passion. The place obeys that law. Seek out the Leucadian height right away, and don’t be afraid to leap from the rock! (Ov. Her. 15. 165–220)

Finally, according to the mythographer Ptolemy Chennos (know for his bizarre stories) as quoted by Photius in his Library:

Those who leapt off the cliff are said to have freed themselves from erotic desire. And this is the story that lies behind it: it is said that, after the death of Adonis, Aphrodite wandered about in search of him until she found him in the city of Argos in Cyprus in the sanctuary of Apollo Erithios. She carried him away [for a funeral], having told Apollo about her love for Adonis. Apollo took her to the Leucadic Rock and ordered her to jump off the cliff. As she leapt, she freed herself of her love. They say that when she inquired about the reason, Apollo replied that as a seer he knew that whenever Zeus felt desire for Hera, he would come to the rock, sit there and free himself from the desire. Many other men and women who suffered from lovesickness got rid of it when they jumped off that cliff. (Photius Bibliotheca. 152-153. Bekker)

What follows is a long list of people who are said to have jumped off said cliff, some surviving while others not (in any case, quite darkly, all were relieved of their passions). Notably Sappho, the most celebrated leaper, is not mentioned.

The fact that Zeus is mentioned as only sitting on the rock and not hurling himself from it is interesting. Nagy 1990 (see below) notes the similarities between the Leucadic Rock and the "proverbially white" Thoríkios pétros ‘Leap Rock’ of Attic Kolonos (Sophocles Oedipus at Colonus). He also notes the double etymology of "Thoríkios" as derivable from the noun thorós ‘semen’ (e.g. Herodotus 2.93.1) as well as of the verb thrṓiskō ‘leap’ (which can also have the side-meaning ‘mount, fecundate’ e.g. Aeschylus Eumenides 600), and connects it with one of the myths that is said to have taken place on this mountain:

Others say that, in the vicinity of the rocks at Athenian Kolonos, he [Poseidon], falling asleep, had an emission of semen, and a horse Skúphios came out, who is also called Skīrōnítēs. (Scholia to Lycophron 766)

Poseidon Petraîos [= of the rocks] has a cult among the Thessalians … because he, having fallen asleep at some rock, had an emission of semen; and the earth, receiving the semen, produced the first horse, whom they called Skúphios. (Scholia tο Pindar Pythian 4.246)

According to Bednarek 2019 (see below), in view of Ptolemy’s humorous intentions in his collection of weird narratives, the story becomes a sort of "sophomoric riddle": What cure does Zeus have to administer "repeatedly" (εὶ ἐρῶν … ἐκαθέζετο καὶ ἀνεπαύετο), while sitting down, presumably alone and in secrecy, that clearly only provides a temporary relief, and provides an aitiological name for the White Rock, to free himself from his desire?

All this long-winded post just to make a fucking joke about Zeus having a wank. Worth it.

~~ Cape Lefkatas

Secondary Sources and Futher Reading (these are only the ones I mentioned in this post, apparently there's a lot to say on the subject):

Greek Mythology and Poetics, Gregory Nagy 1990. Ch. 9. Phaethon, Sappho’s Phaon, and the White Rock of Leukas: “Reading” the Symbols of Greek Lyric. https://chs.harvard.edu/chapter/chapter-9-phaethon-sapphos-phaon-and-the-white-rock-of-leukas-reading-the-symbols-of-greek-lyric-pp-223-262/

Levaniouk, Olga. 2011. Eve of the Festival: Making Myth in Odyssey 19. Hellenic Studies Series 46. Washington, DC: Center for Hellenic Studies https://chs.harvard.edu/chapter/17-penelope-and-the-penelops/

Bednarek, Bartłomiej. “Zeus on the Leucadic Rock. White magic of an obscene passage in Ptolemy Chennos.” Acta Classica 62 (2019): 219–27. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26945053.

Sappho und Simonides, Untersuchungen über griechische Lyriker by Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, 1913

[animation-is-my-jam]

Hey!! I just read through you're blog and I noticed youre Tobecky kids! I wondered about them! Why did you choose those names for them? and how they were received by both Becky and Tobey?

Hello! And Thank you for the ask. (^_^)v

Ngl, I do get very excited about questions regarding any fankids from future AU since they have been the biggest fixation I have regarding my AU. And of course, plus it's Tobecky.

For the names, for context of anyone who doesn't know my Tobecky fankids bc maybe its been a while, it goes:

-Tori (Anactoria) [The oldest]

-Luis [middle child]

-Matilda [youngest]

(They're on my banner now. The easiest way to tell them apart is by their obvious color coordination) (Tori is in purples, Luis dark magenta/crimson, Matilda aquamarine/green-blues)

But yeah, the names!

I came up with their names about in 2018. Yeah, the same year I got fixated on the Wordgirl fandom. At first, I just had the concept of future AU only going from when Becky and the gang went to college, but I got worms in my head casting a vision of a next generation wordgirl story and of course the idea of domestic older Tobecky shenanigans with kids. And I have been sick ever since...my brain it has not recovered.

At first, I only designed one kid, Tori. Which was initially short for Victory since it fits her character, but then I remembered like a dumbass that there is literally a character named Victoria. And I tried to change it in lore that no....um her full name is actually something embarrassingly unique like Anactoria (based on one of Sapphos poems, because local literature nerd Becky might name her daughter that) so she shortens it to Tori. Where then some ppl mistake that she was named after family friend Victoria, and that's the gag for her name. She's named after a poem subject and real funny that it's from Sappho considering who Tori is lmao, but also fits some of her Greek aesthetics.

Luis. Now Luis was a strange one. As I said, I only intended at first for Becky and Tobey in future AU to have one kid, and I only focused on her character. Eventually (aka like 5 months later), I wanted to design other tobecky fankids since the family didn't feel complete for me just yet. So I thought of a little brother, like a TJ to a Becky. But I wanted a baby in there too, so um, middle child Luis was forced to be/lh. But you can tell with some of his characterization and how the family treats him. He was supposed to be the youngest or at least act like the youngest, but nope, he's the middle kid, but he is the most spoiled. His name when I designed him was Lewis, as both references to the protagonist of Meet the Robinsons and to Lewis Carrol of "Alice and Wonderland" (for another literature reference and cause his aesthetic is fairytales). However, I realized that I at least wanted one kid of their's to have a more Hispanic sounding name since y'know I can't lose the culture here, just because Becky married a Brit. So I just had his name and pronunciation easily changed to Luis! (Not said like Lewis or Louise).

Matilda is funny because her name has not changed at all. From her creation, I always imagined her as the youngest and mysteriously smartest of the family. Where Tori and Luis would be messes, she's the one who apparently has it together. She's the Dexter of the family, born a genius, and acts above her age, like a little scientist. I also made it that she's the one with the unique ability of telekinesis and eventually other psychic powers. And for that, she was named after another iconic smart little girl with such abilities. Yep, her name is refence to Matilda from the book and movie (and ig musical too) (that also counts as a literature refence, Becky was 2 for 2 in the naming, too bad Luis couldn't make it 3 lol). She's also nicknamed Matilde, Matty, and Tilly by her siblings and friends.

As for how Tobey and Becky reacted to each of them...hmm while I could just say that they just appeared one day because that's the funniest answer but not canon. I'll just say vaugley how they reacted to them knowing about a kid/how the kids were when they arrived.

All three are ages apart, mainly Tori, since she wasn't intended to have siblings, and I first had her be 12 when Luis came home, but I retconned that a year ago. Where she was 7. The timeline of the McCallister-Botsford family is kinda all over the place, but I'll make it more streamlined one day. (Grrr, I'm now mad at "Stars that shine in your eyes is what matters" because it implies that Luis isn't born yet when now he should be)

So first things first. Tori. Tobey and Becky, after two years of marriage, wanted a kid. And even though, in retrospect, they probably should have waited a bit, they still had their energetic gremlin. They were prepared, excited, and, of course, nervous. And even with the planning they've done, they still didn't anticipate how much of a handful their first would be. Tori was a chaotic little thing, her half Lexiconian abilities definitely causing headaches. There was also her headstrong personality, which made playtime with her an exercise. Tobey and Becky were really preoccupied with her and their own adjectives that there's even a plot line about how they haven't been romantic in years and realize it one day.

When Tori was 7 and she started to become quickly independent, like her mom was at that age (maybe it's a Lexiconian thing), it gave Becky and Tobey time to think about their family more and how it will be smooth sailing from here with Tori getting older...Until Luis happened. He was a surprise, and unlike Tori, he would be a handful too, but in a different way. Tori never cried as much or fussed when she was a baby. The tiredness of taking care of her was all her bountiful energy. However, Luis was clingy, reactive, and sensitive. He was a heavy crier, and it wouldn't go well if they didn't read him a bedtime story. He acted more typical of a human baby, then his sister (and later other sister). He liked to be picked up or carried. Usually, he would also cling to people like some sort of koala.

4 years after Luis was Matilda. She was another surprise. The thing with Matilda is that as a baby, she was already pretty gifted, both in her mind and powers (which were one). Matilda was born with gradual paraplegia. She was given a few chances to learn to crawl and walk, but by age 3, she did have to use a wheelchair. She had other health problems by her birth, but her and the rest of the family learned to adapt. Matilda and Luis formed a bond since they were only 4 years apart versus Tori, who was almost a decade ahead of them. Surprising since Luis would easily get jealous of anyone stealing their parents' time, but he didn't mind being a big brother now and protective of his sister.

[thequeendomhq]

The Stumble Inn

“Our hero- Our hero- Claims a warrior’s heart-”

“I tell you, I tell you, Manetheren comes.”

“With a Heart wielding power Of the ancient King’s heart-”

“Believe, believe, Manetheren comes.”

“It’s an end to the Dark One, So beware, beware, Manetheren comes.”

“For the darkness has passed, And the legend yet grows. You’ll know, you’ll know, Manetheren comes.” - A ballad by Alessandra Fraioli

In a Lysaran staple on the outskirts of Eterna, a warm fire crackled from the heart of the Stumble Inn. Last call round the fire and there were only a few wayward standards left but the dedicated barflies that would be peeled off the tavern floor come dawn. It was they, and those just packing up their kits to see themselves home, enjoying the bard’s final song as Alessandra Fraioli played her gilded lute.

She, too, was a staple of Eterna. An artisan of the Great Game, her status in The Harmonium is unknown to all, elusive, secretive, and sought after from Caribella to Sinaria. Now and again Alessandra stopped along the road without notice, bringing with her a small crowd as she played her lute into the small hours of the night.

For now, she set the lute aside as her violet eyes appraised the crowd, soaking in their applause as another drink landed in front of her. Alessandra didn’t need their coin, as far as the world knew her debts were paid - considering her rates, they had to be. As the crowd died the ambiguous elvhen creature smiled, some called her a faiman, others claimed her from a distant line, but like so much of the bard’s life, her nature was shrouded in mystery.

“To end the evening, I offer a tale: be weary gentle listeners, lest it send you to your dreams with a scare.”

“Our story begins with the Mad King: Orhan Gökhan and the Iskaran curse. The Hand who traded his soul for status, the Princess who consorted with the blight, and the Heir who runs from every battle.”

“This is not the romantic tales constructed by my dear friend Sappho, nor the idioms by the mythologist Homeo. We venture into a realm of cruelty and savagery because our neighbours have never known any other way.”

“It’s a common tale, and a sad one really. Cruelty begets cruelty and violence begets violence. Brave, stubborn Iskarans running with their tails between their legs. Fleeing like dogs from a storm stoked by the flames they long ignored. Aetheron has returned, those with a bastion in the sky: they who broke the world returned to mend it, to right the wrongs of the past as liberators and saviors.~”

“~Magic did not break the world. The Dark One did. Witches did not cause the Blight. The Dark One did. Can anyone tell me who is more friendly with the dark, those who’d sentence good people to a life of hard labor and imprisonment - or those who would break their chains.” Alessandra laughed, “~I know what I would choose. I would not choose to damn someone by virtue of their birth, but I might send them to the Tower: I might introduce them to the Laurelin. I might take their hand and help them along their path. Any Lysaran worth their salt knows the adage of the Legionnaires: there is only one battle that matters, the battle between the light and the dark.”

Alessandra seemed to settle into the tale, she’d stood in the halls of Yggdrasildal under a glamor of disguise, had played the harp for Arethusa and held tea with the Divine. Rumors one and all, she played the Game she’d been born for. “It was quiet in the Southlands, save for the distant toil of pickaxes against silver, the fog stretched silence over the land with fingers akin to the ore that the Iskarans forced their own people to mine.”

“When suddenly! Fire bannered across the sky, it drenched their shores, washed like the tide, and BROKE against the land. Liberation at last! Came the cry of our kind, for the first time in an age Iskarans ran while the miners chased after them, brandishing the weapons of their indentured servitude, screaming ‘WE WILL NEVER BE TAKEN AGAIN!”

“Orhan Gökhan.Mad King Orhan Gökhan.” She whispered so the crowd would be forced to hear. “The Mad High King Orhan Gökhan, when he was just a boy his father called him soft, delicate, because he preferred to torture his people rather than see him restrained. His father needed an heir though, a boy you see because as we all know, in Iskaldrik, women aren’t fit to rule.”

“The Mad High King who killed his only friend: poor Cnut was a noble son, as good as they can be as far as Iskarans are concerned. Orhan had him restrained and poured hot oil over him just to set him on fire, and watch the boy burn. He’d never seen it up close, and he liked it.”

“Then came the Raven Feeder, the dark sword of the Astorian battlefield. One look at the Mad King’s tactics and he saw his opportunity, finding a crossroads and selling his soul: yes, a Darkfriend of all things. That is what his people say. One that has had the Mad King’s ear for years. In the shadows he whispers the will of the Dark One, bringing forth entertainment for the Mad King’s sick delight. To his credit he has no penchant for cruelty, his constitution so weak that he shrinks at even the sight of a dog. But even cowards can have ambition.”

“Ambition to…. Do whatever they must to get their way. To placate Madness with a madness of their own, this is why they say The Hand speaks for the Mad King, but he speaks also for the Dark One. Sitting idle while magic stays in chains and witchers assault the Iskaran people.”

“They say that the Princess inherited her father’s madness. One look at her and you can see it written all over her face. They say that as the people of Iskaldrik fled screaming, she delighted in their terror, and at Nornwatch Keep they whispered of her butchery. Carving away at blighted flesh, eating it raw like some ghoul skittering about the dark.” A man in the corner lost his supper as Alessandra spoke, “She, perhaps, is most dangerous of all, because unlike her father she’s a pitiable creature: a woman born of Iskaldrik, someone who can hold nothing in her hands but an ax she wields like a monster. Cannibal and fiend, the Princess did not need to sell her soul to become a darkfriend, she was the Dark One’s by choice.”

“Last is the great coward, the sniveling son that looks nothing like his father.” Alessandra smiled as she said this, “An heir that can’t hold the crown, who can’t even hold a sword, and was sired from the seed of a servant. Why else would his mother have run if not to flee from the Mad King’s ire? It was the road or certain death, torture, or perhaps worse.” The distasteful look on Alessandra’s face was mirrored by the people. “Worst of all is that he knows, he knows he’s unworthy, he knows the Hand serves the dark, he knows his half-sister is a beast, and he knows that the man who is not his father is mad. What’s worse, I ask you? To be born a mad beast, or to simply allow its cruelty?” Alessandra shook her head, “At Nornwatch the Heir was not seen, not a trace of his steps, save perhaps for when the fighting was done - hiding behind the shelter of the Mad King’s name.”

“Where are they now…?”

“Why, in the Lostlands. Knocking at our borders, and crawling from the dark. Iskaran dogs, draped in hunger, blight, and sickness. This is the Dark One’s missive: to see his curse spread across our Queendom, and perhaps he’ll succeed.”

“Who’s to say?”

“Who will be the hero of this age?”

“Who will stop the Dark One before it’s too late.”

“Yes, that’s right: this story is unfinished.”

Alessandra landed on the floor from the table and scooped the hat up off the edge from where she’d placed it down, she walked toward the door and held it aloft before hesitating.

“~ and don’t forget to tip your barmaids,” she tossed a wink toward the owner and disappeared into the night.

Lost in the Lostlands

Vast and expansive, the Lostlands are a treacherous swampland, uninhabited by humans and known for being a region of great mystery and danger. Technically a region of Iskaldrik, the remote area is difficult to traverse and protected by mountains on almost all sides. It was once said that it was here where the Isseya discovered the secret of the blight, and here where the Old Gods first traveled as they took to laying waste to the continent.

Despite its northern region, the air is thick with humidity, and sulfur pits churn beneath the murky bogs, releasing toxic gasses and mingling with the perpetual fog that lines the stagnant waters. Visibility here is obscured as a result and the veil is remarkably thing - making it easy for creatures like spirits, devils, and demons to press against it.

From the loose sediments beneath the muck, twisted, gnarled trees with protruding roots like skeletal fingers ride from the murky waters. Their branches covered in a dense canopy of moss and vines block out much of the sparse sunlight from above. These trees tower above, spiraling and twisting upon one another, casting the bogs of the Lostlands in shadow and perpetual twilight.

What ground that the troupe finds is a deceptive mix of soft, sucking mud and shallow pools of stagnant water. Poisonous insects dwell within, taking advantage of the still waters as necrotizing illnesses linger across mosses and fungi alike - which says nothing of the peril surrounding even the amphibians. Beneath the surface are treacherous sinkholes and quicksand pits, one wrong step can lead to disaster - or the loss of a limb in a hasty escape.

Dangerous creatures teem in the waters: venomous snakes move silently through the reeds, and predatory alligators lurk just below the surface, their eyes barely visible above the waterline. Occasionally, the guttural croaks of unseen frogs and the haunting calls of night birds break the oppressive silence, watching the troupe as they make their way through the dark fog.

Elven ruins predating the broken veil poke out of the water’s surface, some buried, completely as the bones of this old world. If the stones ever knew what they were, they’ve long forgotten now. Sporadically littered across the Lostlands, the air around them holds a sweetness, but is overpowered by the scent of decay and still waters.

Now and then wisps of light blink over the horizon, visible even through the fog. The witches spared this advice to those who traversed this region: do not stray from the path, and do not follow the lights: If you are approached by a stranger, do not give them your name, do not accept their help, and do not offer to help them.

In the Lostlands compasses spin wildly, the only true sense of direction can come from following a predetermined path.

Those who wander may be lost forever.

At one such ruinous bastion, the camp has settled amid the fog as they await the distant rise of lanterns and revelry. The King would rendezvous here, the legionnaires claimed as much, as had the witchers who knew this terrain well. It was here that prismatic light began to filter from the sky above, it fell like a dome over the fog and landed in the distance, a beacon at the border of the ruined village.

Magic, clearly, but what kind? One soul was foolish enough to try and was reduced to ash.

The Iskarans were trapped within their own borders.

The Quest

As the women of The Ones Taken by the darkspawn battled their way from the catacombs below the wastelands, traversing the frigid tundra and contesting a region with a sundered veil: they might have died several times, but the five Daughters of Manetheren awakened something within themselves: Hrimthur’s Heart. The scouts for The King’s Road made their way through the mountains. An avalanche had already divided his forces, some were cut off from the King’s Army, while another was sent into an underground system of caves, these were The Ones Lost. 

Together at the mouth of Ymir’s Northern Spine, at the foot of Isengrim’s Embrace, The Ones Taken and The King’s Road were reunited but were halted by Magister Anthin and her siblings, along with her daughter - the five-headed dragon Tiamat. Their Archon told them to conquer Iskaldrik and to find out everything they could about the Blight, a task that soon became personal as Anthin’s brother was revealed to have contracted the taint. 

No blood was spilled between them, but the interaction was cut short when darkspawn attacked the party. The magisters vanished as Tiamat took off over the mountains, in clear search of High King Orhan: their plan for him was clear, he’d be brought back to Yggdrasildal, but kept under their control. 

The Ones Lost made their way through the caves, battling frostbiters and giants before their leader stood in their path. A blademaster and spellsword, the storm giant was once a trusted ally and friend of King Hrimthur, resolved to smite them where they stood, the group managed to escape through an eluvian. The Sword stood in the giant’s way, securing the others escape, and awakening something within: Hrimthur’s Heart.

With a blighted dragon slain, The Princess proved herself every bit her father’s daughter before a member of the party opened a door for them to escape - transporting the troupe to the Lostlands, rejoining those who traveled away from the High King. They now camp within an ancient ruin at the edge of the Lostlands, their way blocked by a prismatic field that is far thicker than the one they encountered previously. 

The Ones Lost moved as a smaller force, more capable of navigating the mountains, to reunite with the High King, but what they came upon was ruin and disaster instead. The army that Orhan had gathered was decimated with few survivors, as Tiamat ascended they pursued, but were halted by Magister Aelthryth: she declared herself The Blade of the Golden House of Minrathous, and in ten-thousand years she’d never known defeat. Bested and left for dead, The Sword lost his arm in the altercation before The Ones Lost were recovered by the divided forces and transported in critical condition to The Lostlands.

The High King has been taken by Aetheron, and the entirety of the Iskaran refugees have now gathered in The Lostlands, but they’re trapped within. 

The Legion of the Dead had dwindled over the years, and one of The Ones Lost remained sick with the blight: The Gaze. Secrets of The Joining were tightly guarded, but The Oathsworn and The Devout gathered what they needed from the blighted dragon before departing for The Lostlands. The Gaze underwent The Joining, as a witcher she was sworn to defend Iskaldrik, and as a member of the Legion of the Dead she was now sworn to spend the rest of her life battling the blight. 

The Princess stepped forward afterwards, willingly joining The Legion of the Dead after all that she had endured: it was said that the Legion could not rule, that they didn’t carry titles, perhaps she would be the first. 

The door is open for any other members of The Ones Taken to join The Legion of the Dead. 

Munin activated a phylactery ring and took over the body of a nearby darkspawn, he still lives, but will take time to recover his strength. 

Lilith used her blood manipulation to reconsitute her body elsewhere, she lives, and now holds a vendetta after one of her swords was taken from her: she still has six more.

ooc info:

The dramatic conclusion of TQH Troupe 1: Road to Our Queendom will be posted on Friday, June 21st at 8pm EST.

A barrier has been erected over the entirety of Iskaldrik, it is inaccessible by land, sea, and even underground. Imagine a very large, prismatic dome has covered the entire of the Kingdom. Anything that tries to pass through it is immediately incinerated.

Individuals making their way TOWARD the Iskaran refugees will be stopped by the barrier.

Refugees making their way FROM Iskaldrik will be stopped by the barrier.

They can communicate verbally across the barrier, but any spells will be refracted off of it. Painfully.

The story told by the bard has spread quickly across Taravell, public opinion is that The Heir may not be Orhan's son, High King Orhan has lost his mind, The Hand is a darkfriend, and The Princess is as unhinged as her father (missing eye binch).

The refugees are not yet aware of the bard's tale, but the rest of Iskaldrik will have heard it by now.

All the Iskaran refugees are now in The Lostlands together.

The Quests for Troupe 1 have ended, thank you all so much for participating, I had the best time <3

[cloudlessly-light]

Find me where the wild things are (chapter 1/5)

A/N: For one of my favorites @sapphoe-sun zodiac sign month so she’s getting gifts in the form of fics! Happy Cancer month to you pretty girl! So happy we both got raging daddy issues!

(I am aware that this is NOT everyone's thing so if it's not, please don't read it, this is the only warning I'll give!)

Summary:  AU story. Emily is just shy of 18 when she meets her mother’s new boyfriend, Aaron Hotchner. He’s 30 years older, he’s brooding, he’s kind of boring, he’s gorgeous. And she was screwed Word Count: 1,9k Rating: Explicit Warnings: Smut, power dynamics, oral, dirty talk, daddy kink, daddy issues galore, restraints, praise kink, additional tags to be added if needed in later chapters

Emily met her stepfather as her mother called him the summer before she turned 18. She looks at Aaron Hotchner with a raised eyebrow and a scoff because he had obviously no idea what he was getting himself into. After her parent’s divorce there had been a handful of men that Elizabeth had introduced to her daughter, all of them taking off running in less than a year, either too intimidated by a powerful woman or getting tired of Elizabeth’s travels and schedule. Emily didn’t expect anything different from this one. 

Except she underestimated Aaron Hotchner. She realized quickly that this man, was different. He didn’t talk much but there was something about him that made Emily pause, something stoic and intriguing about him. He works almost as much as her mother but instead of traveling all over the world he travels within the country, works from DC when he’s not. Maybe that’s why it works between them, because they both were busy and knew that kind of life came with strings. To her surprise he stays, moves in and puts a ring on her mother’s finger and when she packs up to go to college a year later he’s there helping her load boxes into her car. It’s one of the few times she get’s to see how strong he is, carrying heavy boxes like they weigh nothing and she wonders what his large hands would feel like wrapping around her waist.

There was always tension between her and Aaron, had been from the start but he was never unkind. He was determined, stiff, keeping her at a detached distance but she came to find that maybe that was what was best, after all she shouldn’t be fantasizing about her stepdad, she knew that, even if she sometimes had to remind herself of that fact.

After she has places the last box in her car and he closes the trunk, ready to start college, to get away she turns to him, hoping that he doesn’t notice the slight blush on her cheeks.

“Thanks for helping me carry those.” She says and he shrugs halfheartedly.

“Not a problem. Drive safe.”

She avoids his gaze after a somewhat awkward goodbye and tries to blame the fact that she shivers when he hugs her is because of the slight wind, not actually him and his big hands and dark eyes. It couldn’t be him, he was her stepfather.  

When she’s at Yale her mother seems adamant to try and keep some sort of contact even though they never had before. ‘It was different now, you’re an adult’ Elizabeth would say if Emily asked about it. So they get into the habit of skyping once a month and as much as Emily hates it, she does it without fighting.

“How are you Emily?” Her mother asks as Aaron sits beside her on the couch.

“I’m fine, mother.” She says with a sigh. “Everything good with you?” It’s awkward and tense, there always seemed to be when Aaron was on the call, her attraction to him not lessening but after almost a year at college she had learned to accept the fact instead of denying it.

“We’re good.” Elizabeth says and looks to her husband who nods. “Busy with planning the wedding and all that.”

“That’s great mother.” She didn’t want to think about the wedding that was occurring in just a couple of weeks, about the fact that she’d have to go be a bridesmaid just to appease Elizabeth.

“How are your studies?” Aaron asks, as if he can tell that she’s uncomfortable with the subject. She realizes that he probably is, his job making it easy for him to read people. She sees the way he sits straight, always imposing even through a screen and she bites her bottom lip to distract herself from his dark gaze.

“It’s all going good…” She starts but then Elizabeth stands up abruptly as her assistant asks about a call and she leaves with a quick goodbye. Emily rolls her eyes and clears her throat as Aaron simply looks at her, dark eyes and slightly furrowed eyebrows and she forces a laugh. “Like I said, it’s going well.”

Aaron nods as he looks at her through the screen and clenches his jaw as she sighs softly.

“Well, I guess we can do this later, your mom will probably be a while.” He mumbles quietly and Emily chuckles sarcastically.

“Yeah, what else is new.” She swallows hard as his eyes narrow a little and she feels a tingle down her spine. “I should go, going to meet a friend for dinner.” It’s not a lie, but he doesn’t need to know that it was still another hour before she had to leave.

“Goodbye, Emily.” He says curtly, always an aloofness to him that Emily found more attractive than she should.

“See you at the wedding. Bye.” She hangs up the call and shuts her laptop quickly. As she’s getting ready can’t help but wonder what his face would look like lost in pleasure. What her name would sound like as she pulled pleasure from his body.

 She comes back for the summer before starting her second year of college. Elizabeth would be gone and Emily took advantage of the fact that she could be home without the pressure of her mother, their relationship, although better than it had been in years, still strained to say the least. What she hadn’t counted on however, was the fact that Aaron would stay in DC. They were married now and Emily hated that her mother had found and married a man that she herself felt so drawn to.

The first few days go pretty smoothly as she sets back into her old room, intent to spend the summer reading and relaxing and spending her nights out dancing. Aaron was working long hours so she hadn’t seen much of him, nothing but a short nod in acknowledgement from him if they saw each other in the kitchen. He knew that she was not a morning person and she was thankful that he respected that. Her mother never did.

She’s been back in DC for almost a week when she’s getting ready to go out for drinks, her fake ID in her purse and a glass of wine beside her on the vanity as she is finishing up her makeup. There’s a knock on the door and she turns just as Aaron opens it. 

“Are you going out?” He asks as she stands, his eyes moving quickly over her exposed legs, the hem of her dress ending high on her thigh and the heels looking dangerous. He averts his gaze instantly and tries not to notice that the pink lipstick she’s wearing is making her eyes look even darker than usual.

“Uhm, clearly?” She refrains from rolling her eyes but the sarcasm is clear. “I told you that you can’t just walk into my room.”

His eyebrows narrow at her response but he doesn’t reprimand her, it was still sometimes hard to know where he stood with Emily. He wasn’t her dad, far from it he barely knew her, but spending the summer in the same house as her was starting to blur the line of where they stood as she clearly had no respect for him, and he still expected some level of respect from her.

“I was going to see if you were having dinner here tonight, but I’ll take that as a no.” His eyes landed on the glass of wine on her desk. “I think I’ll take that.” He said and gestured to the glass. 

“Good one.” She scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest, enhancing her cleavage as she did. 

“You’re not 21, give it to me.” He walked a couple of steps closer and held his hand out. “Now, Emily.”

“Yeah right,” She snatched the glass of the table and took a sip just to spite him while she felt her thighs clench in response to his authoritative tone. “Mother doesn’t mind.” It wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t completely true either. Elizabeth knew she drank but Emily had never actually had a drink in front of her mother. 

“That doesn’t matter, she’s not here I am and I’m deciding what goes and what doesn’t while you’re here.” He reached his hand out for the glass, and Emily frowned at him. “This is my house, you’re going to live by my rules.”

“It’s not your house.” She chuckled dryly and his eyes flashed with something dark, something dangerous and she felt the familiar tingle down her spine. They were caught in a stare-down, a battle of wills and she had to force herself not to squirm as he walked another couple of steps closer.  

“Fine.” She finally huffed and gave him the mostly empty glass before grabbing her purse from her bed. She started to walk out but turned back to him the doorway, and that’s when she saw it. His eyes, roaming over her, a split second of want in them as his jaw clenched and she knew that she didn’t imagine the way he had just looked at her. He looked at her like she wanted to look at him.

“Don’t wait up.” She smirked at him, wordlessly letting him know that he’d been caught and she saw his eyes widen slightly. She was out the door and halfway down the stairs when he called after her and then his footsteps came up behind her. But she was fast, even in her heels and she turned in the doorway.

“I said, don’t wait up.”  

He stared at the closed door for long moments, his mind reeling. He was sure he didn’t miss that look on her face, was sure that instead of her shying away from his clear want, she leaned into it. He knew that he had to put a stop to it before it even began, but how could he when all he felt was aching desire every time he looked at her?

It was going to be a long summer, he thought. 

 Aaron didn’t want to think about Emily the way that he did, didn’t want to acknowledge things he had thought about a girl 30 years younger than himself, about a girl that was the daughter of his wife. He had ignored that he was almost taken back by her beauty the first time he had met her. Then she would open her mouth and she was stubborn, disrespectful and for reasons unbeknown to him, he found himself thinking about her at the most unacceptable times. He shouldn’t find her attractive, he shouldn’t find that his first instinct when she was flat out rude was that he wanted to grab her and shut her up in the most inappropriate ways.

Then she comes home to stay at the house and he has to deal with her without Elizabeth there to remind him that he shouldn’t stare at her 20 year old daughter. And then there were the outfits, short dresses and skirts, tops that barely covered her, bikinis so tiny he wondered why she bothered to wear them at all. 

He knew that he was in trouble, but Emily Prentiss was a menace but he already felt like he’d be willing to risk it all.  

[issa-wasteland]

I have a few things I took note of watching Xena Warrior Princess and one of them is how they handled Meg's character. I personally loved her out of Xena's doppelgangers as she had more spunk and funny. It sucks how they paired her with Joxer who has some feelings towards her while he's in love with Gabrielle at the same time. Like Joxer knows that Gabrielle doesn't love him romantically, so it could've been an opportunity for him to slowly move on and they build their own relationship.

Watching "The Furies" episode is actually dark and sad because the whole time Xena was losing her mind and just imagined Gabrielle by her side like it was a normal day. I believe she was slowly losing it but the furies just amplified her losing her insanity. It went as far as imagining what would Gabrielle do while dealing with the furies situation.

The fight between Najara and Xena was so good especially because they both are at a equal standpoint in combat and both have a common weakness -- > Gabrielle

Even when Xena was pregnant that was not stopping her from fighting.

I loved seeing the forgiveness between Gabrielle and Callisto as Xena gave up her passage to heaven so she can reunite with her family. It felt like a full circle when Callisto reincarnated to Eve because both her and Xena lost family in the past, but only to have a family in the end. Plus I did enjoy seeing Callisto be with her family again.

I kinda tuned out with the whole Christianity thing it followed but I did enjoy the "Fallen Angel" episode cause it was fun to see Callisto and Xena as demons.

I see why most people didn't like "Married with Fishsticks" episode.

The ring trilogy was just pure perfection 🥰

Idk but for the Gods to be powerful, half of them got bodied by Xena. The whole prophecy with Eve was.....something. Like I understand that Eve was the reason why some people converted to believing in Eli rather than the Gods. They made it easy for Xena to kill these Gods as there was many opportunities where they could've got an upper hand but lost.

Eve's character should've been fleshed out more as I did appreciate the little moments with her and her moms or bond with Varia.

Imo Ares and Joxer were running each other's money on who can be the most annoying somewhat unbearable man to Xena and Gabrielle.

Autolycus was another character I wished had his final moments with Xena and Gabrielle before they end off his story.

What if Xena had ended on "Many Happy Returns" as Xena and Gabrielle fly away into the sunset? I mean Xena gave a love poem to Gabrielle that was written by Sappho as a birthday gift.

[skywalking-through-life]

WIP TITLE GAME

RULES: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! And then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

I was tagged by both @ashilrak and @60sec400, which is honestly fantastic, because I love this idea! My wip folder is deeply hilarious and probably incomprehensible to anyone other than me, so enjoy! I have titles, but also describe scenarios, and use lines I've written that I like as fic placeholders. There is no order to this, it's just how it appears in the folder! Italics indicate what I'm currently actively working on! Feel free to ask questions, lmao!

Post-HoO Truth or Dare beach party

'Percy Jackson's Six Steps to Seducing Your Girlfriend'

Post-HoO summer Chariot race

Titan War Memorial service + bonfire - explore grief ritual?

'[conduct] not unbecoming men who [strive] with gods'

Percabeth wedding

'still half-perfect' - working title for dark as shit wip, feat. percabeth fuck or die

'The Firefighter of the Month Club'

Poseidon and Ms. Lafayette parent- teacher conference

Percy graduates high school!!!!!!!!!!

'a name adds context, not truth'

Percabeth strip poker, Annabeth cheats

'kindness justifies itself'

Percy&Poseidon&Paul, wedding day shaving/ritual

Annabeth&Rachel&Piper&Hazel&Sally&Clarisse&etc, wedding day bath/getting ready ritual

Percabeth first time, in Percy's dorm

'like two birds on a power line'

'I drown in you' - kinky percabeth hotel sequel to 'to burn and to boil'

Percy teaches Estelle how to swim

Demigods talk to Estelle about death

Percy talks to Estelle about differences between mortals and demigods

Percy/Annabeth/Apollo negotiations? Just sex friends or more - have to decide

Percy/Annabeth/Aphrodite negotiations? Just sex friends or more - have to decide

Fed kidnapping fic - dark, long, big angst, outline currently: 20k

Jackson-Blofis Family winter cabin trip multichap

Whale pregnancy wip lololol

Percy&Calypso missing moment conversation in TOA; follow up, Percy's missing moment conversation with Chiron - 2 shot?

College Percy, Annabeth, Frank, and Piper 'rent' a sailboat for the day and go exploring, there are shenanigans, Hazel has to send the Roman navy after them

"Oh, bite me.  Why should I have to choose between being a lover or a fighter?"

"I'm not sure of much, but I know my body can take a pretty good beating and then just get up and keep on going. There's always been something comforting about knowing that. It keeps me moving."

"If actual hell couldn't separate us, then what makes you think that you can?"

"Face it, dude. You have the eyes of a lovable aquatic mammal."

"I've seen what you like as a corpse, "Annabeth. Did you really think I wouldn't recognize you when you look like a queen?"

"You are alive. Let me celebrate that, won't you?"

"You are only a man, but one who could have been a god. I'm sure that weighs."

"Wisdom's daughter, afraid of new knowledge?"

"And so he acted, out of that place of peace and clarity and resolve within him that one might call a conscience."

"One of the best things about Percy Jackson was that he rarely said something he didn't mean. It was also one of the worst things about him."

"A soul like his is more alive than most."

Lolololololol. I hope you enjoyed this? I'm going to tag as many people as I can, but I don't know if I have enough, given the number of wips I have! Tagging everyone who pops into my brain: @tater-tots-last-of-the-romanovs @timemachinechaos @timelesslords @finalgirlmoment @judoflipped @imaginmatrix @mrthology @celestialepiphany @phykios @darkmagyk @no2ticonderoga @ashilrak @moonlacess @moonfrost41 @templarhalo @soleil-in-retrograde @campercabeth @percabeth4life @sappho-of-space @perseannabeth @ananbeth @annabethy @punkflame @zambomarti @hellomomo @duender-writes @melancholic-pigeon @captain-jackson @posallys @faemischief

[serenanymph]

find the word tag

Thanks for the tag, @loopyhoopywrites! My words were grass, great and grave. Gently tagging @arctic-oceans, @sam-glade @lorenfinch, @muddshadow and @morganwriteblr (+ open tag) for the words summer, smear and smash!

grass

Lights on is at five sharp, and they’re given half an hour before they have to be on the field, breaths misting in the air and hopping on the spot in a desperate attempt to retain some semblance of warmth. Then it’s laps around the freezing circle of dirt peppered by dead grass and scraggly weeds, trying not to trip on the uneven ground when there’s all of three torches lighting up the area and the sun hasn’t even risen. Nozack stands on the sidelines and yells at anyone who so much as slows to a jog, with entire speeches full of encouraging, inspiring comments that include insulting your face, your speed, and your entire family tree.

great

Still, mysterious new arrivals or not, lessons are lessons, and lessons must continue. Mama picks up the book full of great-great-great-grandmama’s notes and carries on: magic items, the difference between lesser artifacts and capital ‘A’ Artifacts, one kind requiring power sources but never taking Bonds; the other requiring Bonds but never power sources. Madge shoots more looks out the window and trades glances with Zephyr and vibrates in her seat until she finally bursts. “Mama, why did you allow humans inside?” Mama hesitates. “How did –” She looks towards Zephyr, gaze softening with realization. “Of course. The Eye of Klysmos sees all.”

(en)grave(d) [does this count????]

“I’ll come back. You know I will.” “But what if you don’t –” “Okay,” [Zephyr] says again. He takes a deep breath, reaches up to the gleaming metal pin in his hair – silver, engraved with wind motifs, something her and Kas had worked on cleaning and restoring and polishing for months – and pulls it free of his dark curls. Ruffles [Madge's] hair and clips it on, shoving several strands of her fringe to the side. “Here. How about this, then? Now I have two reaaaaally important things I need to come back for. So, you keep this safe for me” – another hair ruffle, she sniffles – “and I’ll go get Kas, and I’ll be back in no time for you.” He tilts his head to the side, amends, “Both of you. Got it?”

beast taglist (lmk if you want to be +/-): @sapphos-scientist, @allianaavelinjackson, @arctic-oceans, @space-writes, @reneesbooks

[hippodamoi]

"The first star is visible over where dazzling the sun has disappeared. I entreat Sappho she who gleams more than the moon among the constellations of our heavens. I implore Sappho in a very loud voice. I ask Sappho the all-powerful to mark on your forehead as on m/ine the signs of your star. I solicit allsmiling Sappho to exhale over you as over m/e the breezes which make us pale when we contemplate the sky and night comes. Then I stand beside you facing the sea. I await the arrival of the comets with their smoky flashes, they are here thanks be to Sappho, the stones of your star are fallen, those which marked you above your cheek at the level of the temple with a violet seal exactly like m/y own, glory to Sappho for as long as we shall live in this dark continent."

Monique Wittig, The Lesbian Body

[hero-adjacent]

Imagine if AtS s4 & BtVS s7 were fully utilizing the fact their arcs take place in the same universe and the main characters know each other so it's really one big story. (yeah I know different networks)

In Lessons, Willow moved a flower via magic 6,112 miles from Paraguay to England. She explained, "It's all connected. The root system, the molecules...the energy. Everything's connected."

Buffy turned her house into a shelter for outcasts, orphans, & refugees. Crowded together for months, sleeping on the floor, in line for the one bathroom. It's cabin fever that started the mutiny.

Meanwhile Angel owned a hotel with a huge lobby, offices, elevators, 68 suites (living room, bedroom, kitchenette, bathroom), a few unexplored rooms.

Willow drove to LA to tell Angel that Buffy died. In AtS s4 AI never told Buffy that Angel was missing. In AtS s3 Gunn said she's the "love of his life & that ain't no short life." Yet it didn't occur to them she would want to know or could help find him. In s7 Buffy (a month post rescue) says "I would've given up everything I had to be with--I loved him more than I will ever love anything in this life."

Willow could've tethered Buffy's house to Angel's hotel, only a 120 mile distance. Every Potential as well as every Scooby & AI member could have their own private apartment with suites to spare.

Buffy lived in Los Angeles 16.5 of 22 years. It's on her mind in s6 when talking of the hallucinations. "And I was just some nutcase in LA." In s7 did she see the news reporting on the city raining fireballs and a localized eclipse with 24/7 darkness?

In BtVS s1 Buffy was Jocasta (Oedipus' mom-wife) on stage. In AtS s4 Angelus mocks Connor/Cordy saying "there should be a play." In The Puppet Show a demon hunter who had an affair with a Slayer was turned into a ventriloquist dummy. Angel has been a puppet literally & figuratively with the PTB.

Hyperion is named after a titan from Greek myth, dad of Eos (dawn), Helios (sun), & Selene (moon). Does Angel know Dawn is Buffy's daughter?

Greek is big in the verse. Willow writing a Sappho poem in Greek. Anya, "It's like a Greek tragedy." Willow called upon the titan Kronos for revenge on Glory. In s8 comics Buffy's Sysiphus analogy.

Met Oracles--portal connected post office to their realm, entrance written in Greek "gateway for lost souls"--the day Angel & Buffy reunited. "Together you were powerful, alone you are dead."

If the Scooby Gang & Fang Gang shared info they'd realize they were in the same situation.

Ra-Tet (conduit for Senior Partners) were the five manifestations of the Egyptian god Ra. It was the Egyptian god Osiris who resurrected Buffy.

AtS s4/BtVS s7 -- Power That Be/First Evil wants to be corporeal and influence everyone on earth for tranquility/chaos, right hand Beast/Caleb hunted down WR&H/WC, the gang take over the ruins

Imagine Wood meeting Connor (both raised by man grieving the victims of Spike & Angelus).

Buffy (nonstop Hellmouth horror):

Faith (bored in Northern CA):

The millennias old Watcher's Council is dismantled and there's a global genocide against the Slayer line but AtS broke Faith out to fight Angelus.

Buffy dreamt of Potentials in September and they started to arrive at her door in December yet Faith didn't know a thing til late April or early May.

[defiance-of-endless]

Define femininity, man.

What will you see in your mind -

Venus? Laced and long garments?

Bride or a mother benign?

Maybe more cheesy descriptions

Of stale dark aged sterotypes

Even more social restrictions,

More of our broken lives?..

You see, if you'd actually care

You'd find out that it's so much more -

Regardless of your filthy stare

And of any men long before.

I will tell you the biggest secret,

I won't repeat myself so listen closely:

My best perfume maybe cheap but

You won't feel any difference mostly.

My arms are extremely strong,

My hair is lavender and short,

I always call love with a song,

My belly is round and soft.

I wear dresses and heels like a devil,

I wear cargos in bielvilles with pride,

I am written by China Mieville,

By Neil Gaiman and Oscar Wilde.

I'll assemble almost all types of weapons

I wear too musch silver rings

My eyecolor changes with seasons

When I walk, my jewelry blings.

I am knitted from analog horror,

New wave and victorian lace,

Wiccan magic, ukranian flora,

Freya's power and Easter's grace.

I am blessed by Sappho,

I am cursed by God,

I was there before you,

I'll be there long after.

That's what Femininity is.

Remember it and don't forget -

I can steal your life with one kiss,

I'll rip your evil eye out, you're dead.

[cryptid-s-wips]

WIP Themes Tag

Tagged by the wonderful @enchanted-lightning-aes! Thank you so much for the tag :)

Yes, I am finally getting back to responding to tag games! I'm gonna do this one for MBP because I've been getting back into it lately.

Rules: Bold the themes that appear in your WIP (& italicize those that are loosely covered) then tag 10 people.

addiction | beauty | betrayal | change vs. tradition | chaos vs. order | circle of life | coming of age | communication | convention vs. rebellion | corruption | courage | crime and law | dangers of ignorance | darkness and light | death | desire to escape | dreams | displacement | empowerment | facing darkness | facing reality | faith vs. doubt | fall from grace | fame and fortune | family | fate | fear | fear of failure | free will | friendship | fulfilment | good vs. bad | government | greed | guilt and forgiveness | hard work | heroism | hierarchy | honesty | hope | identity crisis | immortality | independence | individual vs. society | inner vs. outer strength | innocence | injustice | isolation | knowledge vs. ignorance | life | loneliness | lost love | love | man vs. nature | manipulation | materialism | motherhood | nature | nature vs. nurture | oppression | optimism | peer pressure | poverty | power | power of words | prejudice | pride | progress | quest | racism | rebirth | relationships | religion | responsibility | revenge | sacrifice | secrets | self-awareness | self-preservation | self-reliance | sexuality | social class structure | survival | technology | temptation and destruction | time | totalitarianism | weakness | vanity | war | wealth | wisdom of experience | youth

Tagging @sergeantnarwhalwrites, @aether-wasteland-s, @careful-pyromancer, @sapphos-scientist, and anyone else who'd like to!

[tisiphonewolfe]

wip theme tag

Tagged bn @writingmoth in this post! Thank you~!

Rules: Bold the themes that appear in your WIP (& italicize those that are loosely covered) then tag 10 people.

Tagging gently: @doublegoblin @sapphos-scientist @jasminewalkerauthor @sarahlizziewrites @heymacareyna

I did this before for The Tectomancy Saga, I think. So now I'll do it for 'Naenia Through Murder'. Enjoy!

addiction | beauty | betrayal | change vs. tradition | chaos vs. order | circle of life | coming of age | communication | convention vs. rebellion | corruption | courage | crime and law | dangers of ignorance | darkness and light | death | desire to escape | dreams | displacement | empowerment | facing darkness | facing reality | faith vs. doubt | fall from grace | fame and fortune | family | fate | fear | fear of failure | free will | friendship | fulfilment | good vs. bad | government | greed | guilt and forgiveness | hard work | heroism | hierarchy | honesty | hope | identity crisis | immortality | independence | individual vs. society | inner vs. outer strength | innocence | injustice | isolation | knowledge vs. ignorance | life | loneliness | lost love | love | man vs. nature | manipulation | materialism | motherhood | nature | nature vs. nurture | oppression | optimism | peer pressure | poverty | power | power of words | prejudice | pride | progress | quest | racism | rebirth | relationships | religion | responsibility | revenge | sacrifice | secrets | self-awareness | self-preservation | self-reliance | sexuality | social class structure | survival | technology | temptation and destruction | time | totalitarianism | weakness | vanity | war | wealth | wisdom of experience | youth 

Easy-to-read list below the cut!

Appear: Change vs Tradition Circle of Life Convention vs Rebellion Crime and Law Death Displacement Fall from Grace Fate Immortality Injustice Isolation Love Loneliness

Loosely covered: Betrayal Corruption Family Honesty Identity Crisis Life Nature Pride Relationshps Responsibility