#defeating sol and leaving the tunnels

[harriertail]

“We have to let the Warrior Code rule our hearts. The death of a warrior does not mean victory.”

[powerofthesunau]

Time-Keeper

From Rock, Jayfeather learns that he is a deity more powerful than StarClan... sort of. He is one of many reincarnations. Upon finding the stick Jayfeather is able to use it as device to travel back in time to contact his previous selves.

Note: Unlike in canon where Jayfeather posseses the body of Jay's Wing, instead he is an invisible observer.

Top Left: Rock

Top Right: Jay Wing (Son of Dove's Wing)

Bottom Left: Jay's Wing (sister of Dove's Wing)

Bottom Right: Jayfeather

Rock

Once an ancient healer of his tribe Rock is an immortal guardian of the tunnels, keeping count of the cats who entered and which have left alive. Not much is known about him. Legend has it that he made a deal with ancient gods to sell part of his soul in exchange for immortality. To mock him the deities put his soul into a gnarled stick. However a tiny piece of his soul has been reincarnated into many cats over time which he can contact through the stick.

Jay's Wing (The First) - Po3 era

The Ancients are allowed to worship any gods or deities of their choosing. Jay's Wing commits his life to the worship of Rock, a deity of time who promises protection to his followers. Upon his best friend Fallen Leave's death the lake starts flooding. The other Ancient Tribes believe this is caused by Jay's Wing's tribe as they are the only ones who carry out the softpaw tunnel trials and have displeased some kind of deity. Jay's Wing learns of the mountains and tries to persuade the others in his tribe to go there for refuge to leave but they refuse. With the help of his sister Dove's Wing and young softpaw Lion's Roar, he tries to persuade the lake tribes to work together. He is hunted down and executed, his sister mourns for him and accepts defeat, changing her name to Half Moon as her tribe leaves the lake.

Jay Wing (The Second) - OotS era

Sometime on the journey and arrival to the mountains Half Moon and Lion's Roar get together and have a son, Jay Wing who they name after their dear friend and brother. The tribe are struggling in the mountains and are considering leaving again. Prompted by Rock, Jayfeather speaks to Jay Wing and with the help of future reincarnations shares the tribe's eagle hunting techniques with him. Jay Wing passes this information onto his reluctant group and the Tribe of Rushing Water thrives. Despite gaining the respect of the tribe he appoints his mother Half Moon as Stoneteller and healer. He leads a pretty uneventful life, dying by throwing himself in front of his newly pregnant mate Quiet Rain and his two young sons to protect them from an eagle attack.

Jayfeather

While searching for herbs near FourTrees, Jayfeather comes across the stick which he uses to contact Rock, a spirit from a faraway lake who tells him more about the phrophcey. Jayfeather is able to travel back in time and speak to Jay's Wing and Jay Wing in their dreams in a pocket dimension. He grows angry at Rock when he tells Jayfeather that if the Three were never born Sol would not have taken over the clans and hinting that if their connection is severed Jayfeather will be the most powerful link of all. Not wanting to be simply a "link", Jayfeather snaps the stick, killing Rock and destroying the link to previous reincarnations and his abilities to dream-walk are improved, he can manipulate the dreams of the cats he chooses to speak to.

[bonefall]

Are the Three going to have actual feelings about Brambleclaw and the way he treats them after the reveal in your Redux?

EDIT FROM THE FUTURE: hello. Events were further shuffled. Jayfeather is now the biological parent of Dovekit and Ivykit, and this happens a few months after this reveal.

Timeline-wise this also means he totally broke the code by having kittens as a medicine cat. Good job being a Generational Xerox, Jayf.

GOD yes. They all also have very different emotions about it.

Events are also heavily shuffled, so Bramble is already Star by the time the lie is revealed. He demotes Squilf as deputy, appointing someone else in her stead.

ThunderClan as a whole is actually SUPER politically divided on this issue-- the Queen’s Rights has created a culture where Squilf wouldn't have been socially required to disclose a father.

Lionblaze is in a lot of pain and feels like his whole life has been upended, but quickly becomes a hard supporter of Squilf. He comes to see her as his ONLY parent in response to how Bramble basically disowns them both.

His first litter is born a few short months later, Dovekit and Ivykit, after he has to adopt them from Jayfeather. The emotional turmoil he's in and the loss of his support system makes him a terrible father to them-- something he desperately wants to atone for post-OotS and with his second litter.

Jayfeather is... mixed. I think he WANTS to be rational about it, "Brambleclaw is right to be upset. Squirrelflight didn't have to reveal the secret. Our childhood was peaceful because of this." But he's BOILING deep down.

After all, he's been the only one grappling with the prophecy at this point in this redux. StarClan does NOT share the Kin Of Your Kin prophecy willingly; Jayfeather had to rip it out of their paws, sometime towards the end of Po3. "OH so I could have known why God fucking hates me?? All along??? And both of the people I thought were my parents are assholes? And im RELATED TO BREEZEPELT?"

Hollyleaf, lastly... well, this is the point where we enter some heavy WIP territory

But she McFreaking loses it. She's lost her mentor Brackenfur who she idolized, her grandpa Firestar who she adored, she was always espousing the value of the code, she killed a man to hide the secret but buckled under the weight of keeping it hidden

The Queen’s Rights have a contradiction, of sorts. A queen does not have to reveal the sire, but what if they HAVE been disloyal? The law says that the disloyalty must be judged by StarClan; but obviously the code must be enforced in clans. Hollyleaf is living in that painful space.

If a medicine cat could avoid punishment with this law, then she thinks that the law is wrong. And if this one's wrong, what else has she been wrong on? For her the Code is falling apart.

I know she needs to do more harm to the Clans themselves somehow, before she vanishes into the tunnels. ALSO; Sol has to be a part of it.

And when she vanishes into the tunnels, it's actually Sol whisking her away... 100 years into the past. ALL of the time travel stuff is being removed from Jayfeather. Hollyleaf has no reincarnation because SHE was actually there, and ends up opposing Jay's Wing, Lion's Roar, and Dove's Wing.

After her defeat (still fuzzy on the details of this story; I'm tentatively calling it Hollyleaf's Century) she goes to the tunnels as a ghost, and waits for her family to return. She IS Fallen Leaves, forgetting her own name after all that time spent alone, only knowing she's waiting for someone.

Sooo TL;DR yes they have a Lot of Feelings about Brambleclaw and the reveal different from canon

[ursaminortarot]

Pick-a-card Reading

I did another pick-a-card reading, this time focusing on love and romance. Also, if this is relevant to you or resonated with you at all, can you leave a comment with your astrological sign and which pile you picked? If you know your moon, rising, and venus, could you leave those as well? I have a theory I want to test.

The piles you can pick from are:

Pile 1: Hyena

Pile 2: Swan

Pile 3: Frog

Pile 4: Lion

Pile 5: Fire Ant

Pile 6: Black Egg

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Pile 1: Hyena

Wheel of Fortune, 5 of Wands, 3 of Swords reversed, Soulmates reversed, Wisdom Ace of Swords, 8 of Pentacles reversed, Father of Swords reversed, Co-create, Vision 10 of swords, 10 of Wands reversed, The Moon reversed, Go the Distance, Bond Knight of Wands reversed, 9 of Swords, The Sun reversed, Regenerate, Message Knight of Cups, 8 of Wands reversed, 6 of Swords reversed, Yin reversed, Achievement Bonus Cards: 3 of Pentacles reversed, 3 of Wands reversed, Death, 5 of Cups reversed, 6 of Swords

You haven’t had the best of luck with your past relationships. You’ve dealt with heartbreak and disappointment and that’s made you skeptical of love; and if you ever believed in soulmates, you don’t anymore. The positive to all this pain is that you’ve learned a lot about yourself and how to assert your boundaries. You’re the type of person to throw yourself into work as a distraction. Keeping yourself busy to avoid processing your emotions is something that can only work for so long. You need to focus less on work, it’s preventing you from doing the work you need to do in order to move on. You may even begin having dreams about your most recent relationship until this is done. Ending negative cycles can be a difficult and daunting task, but in this case it’s necessary. Otherwise you won’t find your peace. You are healing, it may not be progressing at the speed you want, but these things take time. You were meant to find this message: “there’s light at the end of the tunnel”. Healing isn’t linear, so don’t feel defeated after a hard day, week, month, or even a hard year. At this moment, you should focus on finding harmony within yourself.

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Pile 2: Swan

The Chariot, The Tower, Ace of Wands reversed, A leg Up, Poised, Death, Reflect 3 of Cups, Temperance reversed, The Chariot reversed, Co-create, Regeneration, Deceit 5 of Pentacles reversed, Page of Wands, Temperance reversed, Time to go, Protect Page of Wands, Two of Swords reversed, 9 of Pentacles, Why? reversed, Tick-tock reversed, Luck 4 of Cups reversed, Queen of Wands, 6 of Wands reversed, Breath, Come to the Edge, Terra, Vision

I get the feeling that you don’t have a type, or if you do it’s always changing. Sometimes you can be a little rash with love and this can get you in trouble. You’re the kind of person who will turn someone’s world upside down - and then you ghost them. You haven't always been this way. At one point you were in a serious relationship, and for some of you, possibly engaged or planning a family. This relationship didn’t end well, it was a very messy break up. I get the impression that you were likely cheated on. You end relationships so quickly, and sometimes harshly, because you would rather hurt the other person than risk being hurt again. You haven’t felt safe with a partner in a long time, but the problem here is that you don’t stick around long enough to develop the level of trust that you want to have within a relationship. What you need to do right now is spend time alone, dig deep, and really think about what it is that you want. Do you even want a relationship right now, or are you just looking to have fun? You’re not very grounded at the moment, this is a contributing factor to your restlessness. If you can, take some time to enjoy nature and find your center. If you’re the kind of person who likes to party, you’re being asked to slow down and pace yourself.

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Pile 3: Frog

[Before getting into the reading, I’m getting a distinct feeling from this pile. Either, you’ve never been in a relationship or you don’t have a lot of experience with them.]

The Moon reversed, Knight of Pentacles, The Hanged Man reversed, Building Blocks reversed, Balance The Empress, Queen of Swords reversed, Ace of Cups reversed, To Be Fair, Achievement 5 of Cups reversed, King of Wands reversed, 10 of Wands reversed, Milk and Honey, Simplicity 3 of Cups, 4 of Pentacles, The Tower reversed, Higher Power, Sol 2 of Cups, 6 of Pentacles, Daughter of Cups reversed, Never-ending story, Transformation Bonus Cards: 8 of Wands reversed, 7 of Wands reversed, Clean it up reversed

You’re very cautious or picky when it comes to relationships. There are a lot of fears present here, but we’ll handle them one at a time. There’s a fear of not finding stability or being trapped. You want everything to be fair and equal in a relationship, but this can make it difficult to ask for what you want or need. You don’t want to be too much, but you also don’t want to be giving more than you’re receiving. You hold yourself and other people to high standards, some might say that they’re impossible to meet. You know exactly what you want in a partner, and that makes you afraid of disappointment.  It’s not that you need to lower your standards, but you need to realize that it’ll be difficult to find someone who meets all of your expectations. If you don’t want to wait until that person crosses your path, or if you don’t even believe that they’re real, then you’re going to need to discern what standards are a necessity and which one’s are preferences that you can go without. People like being around you, because you have the ability to put them at ease. You built up this skill and put a lot of work into it. You have this need to make sure others feel safe when they're with you. You don’t want others to feel like they can’t be themselves around you, because you know how awful that can feel. You can connect with people on a deep level very easily. This is what’s frustrating for you, because if you can bond with people so easily then why haven’t you found your person? You are an extremely lonely person, but you need to accept that things will progress at their own pace and you need to get comfortable being alone.

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Pile 4: Lion

Queen of Swords, Queen of Pentacles reversed, 2 of Pentacles reversed, Soulmates reversed, Deceit The Fool, The Page of Cups, The Fool reversed, Poised, Breath, Sleep 10 of Cups, Six of Wands reversed, The Magician reversed, Here and Now, Cycle 3 of Pentacles, High Priestess, The Chariot reversed, Not for you, Exchanging Gifts, Bond The Hermit, Justice, Daughter of Wands reversed, Go the Distance, Wisdom Bonus Cards: Ace of Swords, Ace of Swords reversed

You’re a very strong and intelligent person, but you can be cold and calculating. You’re at odds with yourself because you want to be softer. You are a hopeless romantic at heart, but you can’t bring yourself to express it. You restrain that softer, more romantic side of yourself to save face. You don’t want to look stupid, but you also want to do all the sappy, silly lovey-dovey shit. You have a very creative side to you and you could use that as a way to explore your softer side. You don’t have to share your art with anyone, but it could help shift the way people perceive you. It could make it easier to express to people that there’s more to you than the cold front you’ve been putting up. Finding balance is key. You are analytical & calculating, but you’re also romantic & nurturing, and you need to find a way to exist as both, or you’re never going to get anywhere.

You should focus less on the future. You’re so worried about having this perfect fairytale ending, that you’re just getting in your own way.

You see the world in a very unique way and you don’t think you’ll meet someone who understands how you process and think about the world around you. You have a lot of conflicting feelings right now, and that’s okay, it’s human. You can’t be perfect all of the time.

 Also, you need to chill, you’re taking this way too seriously. Love, romance, and relationships are supposed to be fun. Go meditate in a forest or something, run away to the mountains, just find a way to relax. I can’t fully describe with words the extent of the uptight/tightly-wound energy I’m getting from you. 

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Pile 5: Fire Ant

7 of Cups reversed, 3 of Wands, Daughter of Swords, Truth be Told reversed, Simplicity The Empress, 10 of Wands reversed, 5 of Pentacles reversed, Observer reversed, Go the Distance, Deceit 2 of Wands, Queen of Swords, The Hanged Man, 9 of Swords reversed, Soulmates reversed, Fork in the Road, Healing Queen of Cups, King of Wands reversed, Ace of Swords reversed, Building Blocks reversed, Exchanging Gifts reversed, Balance   3 of Pentacles reversed, Queen of Wands reversed, Death, 8 of Pentacles, Poised reversed, Sol

You’re juggling a lot emotionally and I feel like you cope with these feelings through art. You are highly perceptive and you have a piercing gaze that can see through everybody’s bullshit. You value truth above anything else in relationships. You see so much that it makes it difficult for you to feel. It’s not that you don’t have feelings, it’s that you break everything down to the smallest detail and your feelings stop being feelings and become observations and data. You’ve become overly analytical and it’s getting in the way of potential relationships. I feel like you are this way because you saw something in someone once and you ignored it, and then you really wish you hadn’t. You thought that you had a future with someone who thought of themself as kind of a sacrificial lamb, so to speak. This person could not take accountability, everything was someone else's fault, and most of the time, they blamed you. Even though most of it was self-inflicted because they didn’t know how to say no and just went along with everyone and everything. Your view on relationships and love has been changed by this experience. The good news is that you’re starting to heal, but you’ll likely never see love the same way and you won’t be able to trust people as readily as you once did. You still believe in love and romance, for other people, but not for yourself. You don’t believe that you’ll ever be able to share that much of yourself with another person again. You have this ‘once was enough’ energy to you. If you want romance in the future, which I’m assuming you do because you’re reading this, you need to work on rebuilding the parts of yourself that got damaged by that relationship. Put yourself and your healing first and maybe, one day, you’ll be able to open yourself up to the prospect of romance again. Nothing’s impossible. This lack of confidence you have in yourself is starting to impact your professional life. You need to find yourself again, and that’s not going to be easy.

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Pile 6: Black Egg

[This reading is all over the place. I can’t tell if that’s because I was tired after doing the other 5 readings or if it’s because you, the person who picked pile 6, are someone who has energy that bounces from one thing to another very quickly.]

Wheel Of Fortune, Ace of Pentacles, 4 of Wands reversed, 6 of Pentacles, Treasure Island reversed, Sol King of Wands reversed, 6 of Swords, Justice, Mother of Swords reversed, Chop Wood, Achievement 5 of Pentacles, The Hierophant reversed, 6 of pentacles reversed, Father of swords reversed, All that Glitters, Bond 3 of Swords reversed, 10 of Wands, Son of Wands reversed, Daughter of Swords, A Leg Up, Arcana The World reversed, Death reversed, Ace of Wands reversed, 2 of Wands reversed, Blessed reversed, Air

You’ve had a rocky love life up until this point. All you want is stability because that’s something that has been lacking in your life, you need a balance between the domestic side of a relationship and having the freedom to be able to go off and do whatever you want. You don’t want to be pinned down, and yet, you want to pin someone else down. You need to allow potential partners the freedom you’re asking for.

You’ve gotten some bad relationship advice in the past. Someone told you that you need to be something you're not, or at least pretend to be something you’re not. The problem with this kind of thinking is that once your partner discovers that you haven’t been entirely truthful with them, they're not gonna want to stick around. Because, you know, people don’t like being lied to. 

You’ve had your heart broken in past relationships because you felt like you couldn’t turn to your partner for help. They were someone that asked a lot of you, but wouldn’t reciprocate. 

You’re an intelligent, and perceptive person, but you’re also incredibly passionate and a little head-strong. So, sometimes you don’t think before you act and that’s been a point of tension in past relationships. You want to rush everything, but there are no shortcuts in love. You need to slow down or find someone who can match your energy.

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I know that readings with 30ish cards take me about an hour to do, so why was I surprised that this took me 6 hours? 

I don’t know how much of my personality to let show throughout these kinds of readings. I don’t want them to be dry or too detached, but at the same time people probably just want to know what their piles have to say.

[The decks I used were the Modern Witch Tarot, the Wild Unknown tarot, the Earthbound Oracle, the Wisdom of the Oracle and the Wild Unknown Animal Spirit oracle.]

I feel like these were too specific to apply to a lot of people, but also not specific enough. So, if you want a more personalized reading check out my Etsy shop.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/UrsaMinorTarot

[squirrelcrow-po3]

SOOO this will be a long post

context: during night whispers in oots, feathermist (jayfeather equivalent) is overwhelmed with stress and emotion that he decides to go with stormheart (stormfur) and brook to go to the mountains, despite boartusk screaming at him not to. while there, he has a nightmare of the clans being destroyed and goes home without telling anyone. he finds that because he was gone, the dark forest has taken over the clans. basically, in my rewrite, there is a 'head' of starclan and the dark forest. they dont fade away, but the existence as they know it of starclan and the dark forest hinges on them. if they are killed by another cat from their afterlife, they ake over. but if they are killed from an outside source.. bad things happen. for awhile, this cat for the dark forest was one eye. but when tigerstar died, he killed one eye and took over. this cat for starclan was gray wing, but as he tried to defend the clans against the dark forests' surprise attack, he was killed. this banished starclan away forever, and made them unable to come into the living world or send dreams to living cats (though later, leaders find out they still get nine lives, they just don't have a ceremony. they fall asleep at the moonpool and wake up without seeing any starclan cats). anyways, the clans were merged into one big clan under tigerstar's rule, forced to worship the dark forest. most cats were brutally killed, especially old cats and cats deemed by tigerstar "not fit to serve him". the one good thing sunchaser has done was hide briarlight in the twolegplace so she wouldn't be harmed. okay so the prophecy cats are trying to figure out what to do. dovewing begs ashflake to do SOMETHING to help her. and he actually does, for once. he tells her that before he came into her body, he witnessed something: cherryflight was alive in the tunnels. dovewing tells feathermist and sunchaser, and they do to find cherryflight. ivypool stops them, still loyal to the dark forest. but dovewing convinces her to let them go. they find cherryflight and kill tigerclaw. the end! except literally most of the clan cats are dead :[

alive cats:

thunderclan: thornsnap (thornclaw, who is elected the clan's new leader), mousewhisker, feathermist, squirrelflight, sunchaser, cherryflight, icecloud, dovewing, ivypool, rosepetal, honeyfern, molepaw, pepperpaw (cherrypaw), brambleclaw (though mortally wounded), daisy, sandstorm, antkit (honeyfern's kit)

windclan: gorsefire (gorsepaw who lives, is elected the clan's new leader), heathertail, kestrelflight, crowfeather, nightcloud, squallstrike (breezepelt), hootwhisker, sedgewhisker, featherpaw, oatpaw, leaftail, harespring, slightfoot, tigerkit (sunchaser and heathertail's kit), frecklekit (sunchaser and heathertail's kit)

riverclan: willowshine, mothwing, hollowflight, minnowtail, havenpelt, sneezecloud, beetlewhisker, reedwhisker, podpaw, curlpaw, lakeheart, harekit, gorsekit, dapplekit, softkit

shadowclan: murkystar (blackstar), tawnyspark (tawnypelt), spruceheart (tigerheart), snowbird, sparrowtail, wasptail, berryheart, sleekkit, juniperkit, strikekit, needlekit, pinenose, puddlekit, slatekit, birchkit, lionkit

outside of the clans: briarlight, brook, stormheart, fern (fernsong, who is a kittypet), flip, bristle, lark, thrift, stem, sol, earth

with that out of the way. these are the 'books' though i imagine them more like novellas within the same big book

book one:

pov character: antkit

thunderclan is in ruins, but has the most surviving warriors out of any clan. brambleclaw gives up his place as deputy, as he is incredibly injured. he asks squirrelflight to be leader, but she refuses. everyone agrees that thornsnap should become leader, as a surviving senior warrior. thornstar wants everything to return to how the clans once were. antkit becomes feathermist's apprentice. he soon realizes that squirrelflight is pregnant again and tells thornstar, who is outraged that she is still in a half-clan relationship. squirrelflight decides to leave and join windclan.

at the next medicine cat meeting, antpaw realizes that riverclan is doing worse than thunderclan because they have no leader or deputy. they cannot agree on who should become leader: reedwhisker, mistyfoot's son and the most likely candidate that she would choose as her deputy, or mothwing, who was once deputy. shadowclan also has no trained medicine cat.

brambleclaw is dying, and squirrelflight returns with crowfeather to witness his last moments. thornstar relents and the clans agree that half-clan relationships should not be against the new code. squirrelflight has her kits, two toms. who she names maplekit after her father, and bramblekit after her dear friend.

feathermist and antpaw go into the twolegplace to bring briarlight back. he learns she had been taken care of by a kittypet named fern, alongside his four kits. fern agrees to join the clan with briarlight.

book two:

pov character: tigerpaw

in windclan, tigerpaw and his sister frecklepaw have recently been made apprentices. ever since he was a kit, he felt as though heathertail didn't like him. and with the new rules, tigerpaw is excited to go to thunderclan to meet his father. but he soon realizes that sunchaser is an aging, bitter tom, nothing like the hero he thought he would be.

suddenly, news comes out that shadowclan has annexed riverclan by force. but murkystar isn't working alone. two strange cats named sol and earth have come to shadowclan, claiming to be in contact to starclan. sol predicts the eclipse to prove this. he says that starclan wants the clans to become one strong clan. the other clans are outraged, claiming that that's what tigerstar wanted to do. but murkystar is too far gone to listen.

tigerpaw decides that he isn't wanted in windclan or thunderclan, so he joins shadowclan, much to frecklepaw's horror. there, he meets needlepaw, sleekpaw, and juniperpaw (who is training under willowshine to be a medicine cat). he especially bonds with sleekpaw and juniperpaw, who were orphaned in the great battle. as well as earth, who is his age. and was also abandoned by his mother and father, and was taken in by sol. tigerpaw relates to this. needlepaw is the only cat that tigerpaw doesn't get along well with, mostly because she doesn't necessarily trust sol.

however, riverclan is suffering under shadowclan. they aren't treated fairly, and are thought more of as soldiers to do murkystar's bidding than clanmates. but tigerpaw thinks this is for the best. but with needlepaw, he begins to question why starclan would want this. but juniperpaw and sleekpaw shame him for thinking this. he sees minnowtail sneaking out of camp, but keeps quiet for now.

third book:

pov character: frecklepaw

in windclan, frecklepaw is coping with her brother's absence. soon, skyclan appears at the edges of the lake territory, and frecklepaw convinces gorsestar to allow her to greet them, desperate to escape the clan and her family situation.

there, she meets hawkstar (hawkwing) and leafdapple, who retired before the journey. she tells them about the clans' situation, and about sol. leafdapple is shocked, and recognizes him as the kittypet that she turned away in the gorge. she realizes that he must have come to get his revenge on the clans by turning the clans against each other.

frecklepaw returns and realizes that gorsestar and thornstar plan to raid shadowclan to forcefully release riverclan. frecklepaw tries to get tigerpaw to listen to her and return home before he gets hurt, but he refuses. but he does believe that sol is a fraud. frecklepaw gains her warrior name, frecklecreek. she realizes the only thing left to do is help riverclan by herself.

in secret, she meets with minnowtail to plan an uprising.

fourth book:

pov character: minnowtail

minnowtail tries to drum up support from her riverclan clanmates, but they refuse out of fear. she is turned into murkystar, but manages to escape before she is killed. she shows up in thunderclan to gain help from them and windclan. frecklepaw fears for her brother's safety, and wishes they could peacefully do something. but minnowtail assures her that they will try to avoid too much death.

the clans try to warn murkystar to surrender before fighting happens. but sol assures him that starclan wouldn't let them lose. with no other options, the battle begins.

im getting kinda lazy at this point, but shadowclan is defeated and riverclan is released. sol is chased out. earth surrenders. murkystar is demoted to an elder, and tawnyspark earns her nine lives. riverclan agrees that minnowtail should be their new leader. they begin to start to revise the code, but recognize that the clans will always be changing and adapting.

[apropensityforcharm]

The Betrayer Gods Arc: Synopsis

I realised last episode that I had no idea what was happening in the current main plot of Critical Role when they started talking about Caedogeists and I’d never heard that word in my life. I am bad at processing verbal information (it goes in one ear and out the other) and I’d been travelling for much of the past episodes, so I was completely lost on this current Betrayer Gods arc. 

Naturally, I decided to spend the whole weekend trawling through summaries, episode transcripts, and youtube timestamps to piece together the current Betrayer Gods plot which has spread over the past 30 episodes. I hope to God someone other than me finds this useful. I tried so hard to keep it under 1000 words. So hard. 

Pt. I: the Abyssal Anchors (ep. 52 - 62)

The Mighty Nein begin discovering rifts underneath cities in Xhorhas which connect to the Abyssal plane, triggered by Abyssal anchors which shred the barrier between planes. These rifts allow increasing amounts of fiends and demons to pass through to the Material Plane, who then create local disrest and violence. (Caleb immediately connects the demons and stories of local madness to Tharizdun, but it goes largely ignored and then forgotten.)

Beau discovers a scrap of fabric trapped in a second Abyssal anchor, which belongs to a person dubbed “Blondie” that they observe through scrying. During the scry Blondie finalises plans for a meeting, mentions an ‘Angel’s Eye’, and reads a book about the Betrayer God Torog (the Crawling King), the patron god of tunnels and and torturers. Later, they learn Blondie serves the Empire in an official capacity, and has direct contact with King Dwendal, the Empire’s monarch.

Yasha begins having dreams in which she is shackled, and in which a red devil appears, watching her. 

Pt. II - the Orphanmaker (ep. 63 - 70)

The Mighty Nein intercept assassation plans from the Empire in the Dynasty and attempt to head it off; there they meet a drow who recognises Yasha, calling her “Orphanmaker”. The drow escapes, but goads the Mighty Nein into bringing Yasha north, to Bazzoxan. They track the drow through the Barbed Fields, learning that his name is Obann and he worships the Angel of Irons, which none of them have heard of.

Upon reaching Bazzoxan, the Mighty Nein head to the temple known as the Umbra Gates, which had been used as a place of worship to Torog in ages past. Outside the tomb is an inscription: Let lie the king’s instrument, deathless and detained, until the world ends. Further within the tomb is a second inscription: Build every bridge. Become every nightmare. Feast on every heart.

While travelling further into the temple, the party discover that the first inscription refers to the Laughing Hand, the ancient and unkillable champion of Torog, who is contained within this temple. 

The Mighty Nein reach the Laughing Hand’s tomb and are interrupted by Obann, who followed them in. He reveals himself to be the red devil from Yasha’s dreams and calls out to her, calling her his colleague under the Angel of Irons. Though the Mighty Nein fight fiercely to stop him, he succeeds in releasing the Laughing Hand from his tomb and bringing him under his control. The Mighty Nein kill Obann, but in his dying breath he Charms Yasha, turning her against the Mighty Nein at his will. The party are forced to flee the tomb, and leave both Yasha and the Laughing Hand behind. Yasha resurrects Obann the next day.

Pt. III - The Return of the Betrayer Gods’ Champions (ep. 71 - 84)

Dairon shares that Abyssal anchors were found in Zadash, suggesting that the Abyssal incursions come from a third party rather than either the Empire or Dynasty. Dairon also recognises Blondie, identifying him as Vence Nuthaleus, annex to Ludinus Da’leth (head of the Cerberus Assembly). Meanwhile, Jester scries as Yasha, Obann, and the Laughing Hand attack the Zadash branch of the Cobalt Soul, taking a book with them.

The Mighty Nein delve into an intense research project about the Calamity, the Betrayer Gods, and cults. They learn a lot of general information about the Calamity and Betrayer Gods, some highlights being:  the Laughing Hand was once a man known as Ganix who aimed to defeat Torog, but failed and was twisted into servitude forevermore, while his heart was tossed into an extraplanar space and never seen again. Obann was a servant of demon prince Graz’zt, but was “destroyed” after failing his prince on one occasion. The book taken by Obann contained information about a being named Jourrael. They find very little about the Angel of Irons. 

Though it takes time, they learn that Jourrael was also known as the Caedogeist or the Inevitable End. Jourrael was the Chosen Assassin of Lolth, the god of deceit, shadows, and spiders, who had a famous fear of Tharizdun. Jourrael was unkillable, similar to the Laughing hand, and was therefore bisected, their heart sent to the Lotusden in Xhorhas and their head sent to elves in Veluthil. 

Through continued scrying on Yasha, the Mighty Nein watch as her trio travels from Zadash to Kamordah, then to Xhorhasian swamps, then to dense forests. They determine that Obann aims to rejoin Jourrael into one piece, and embark on a chase to stop him. Though they reach the Lotusden in time to intercept him, they are once more unable to prevent him from retrieving Jourrael’s heart. He escapes, and they presume he raises Jourrael to being once more.

The Mighty Nein travel to speak with Yussah Erenis, a neutral party, but must enter the Archmage’s Bane to find him. While there, they come across a room labelled the Permaheart, which Beau realises may contain the heart of the Laughing Hand. The destroy the heart, and confirm through scrying that the Laughing Hand is noticeably weakened. 

Meanwhile, their new ally Allura Vysoren researches the Angel of Irons, and upon their exit from the Archmage’s Bane, she draws them into a ritual designed to reveal the Angel’s identity. Through this spell, they discover the Angel’s ruse: there is no Angel of Irons, only a puppet figure spreading the deeds and desires of Tharizdun, the Chained Oblivion, a being older even than the Betrayer Gods, and a vessel of hunger, madness, and violence.

And then Jourrael (presumably) appears and stabs Caduceus while they’re speaking to Pumat Sol. To be continued!

[4shfur]

MAKE that big au post!!

‘HERE

All my au shit together in one place.

Feel free to send asks about any of them

Au ideas

au where Sasha goes to thunderclan instead of riverclan and mothwing and hawkfrost get raised with their brother :)))

-

Au where Petal became leader of SkyClan

-

au where Smudge joins the clans with Rusty

-

Au where Spiresight lived

-

Au where Fluttering Bird survived

-

Warriors but Mothwing is Brambleclaw, Hawkfrost is Tawnypelt, Brambleclaw is Mothwing, and Tawnypelt is Hawkfrost

-

how about an au where sedgekit and her siblings meet Fallen Leaves and Rock in the tunnels in Dark River. She comes back to the tunnels frequently as an apprentice and after that a warrior, forming a close bond with Fallen Leaves.

The night of the gathering, she realizes it’s getting late, and she should get back to camp before the clan comes back.

Suddenly she hears rocks falling, and the screams of two tomcats. “Hollyleaf!”

She picks her way through the rubble with Fallen Leaves and finds a black she-cat under the rocks.

-

Au where Ivypool kills Tigerheart in the dark forest, and while being stuck there (with Antpelt hmm) he desperately tries to contact Dovewing to show her what’s going on and ends up being the spy for the three instead of Ivy

-

au where instead of Lionpaw and Heatherpaw playing in the tunnels, it’s Jaypaw and Kestrelpaw

-

Au where Smudge has a kit who joins the clans

-

Human au where it's just a big summer camp (would take place around po3)

-

Au where Jaques and Susan join ShadowClan

-

Au where Thriftear replaces Spotfur, essentially making Bristlefrost and Thriftear a parallel to Ivypool and Dovewing

-

au where Spiderpaw is hit on the thunderpath instead, trying to save his brother

-

Au where Kestrelflight is Breezepelt's brother

Or Crowfeather as Darktail’s brother (breeze and dark parallels anyone?)

-

au where Fallen Leaves, desperate to get out of the tunnels, forces himself to be reincarnated into little Hollykit’s body.

as Hollyleaf ran towards the tunnels, Fallen Leaves couldn’t believe he was back

-

hvkjsnhesrfgdmvjn what about an au where Cloudtail is Princess’s brother, and Firestar is Princess’s kit

-

Au where Tadpole is Bramble and Tawny's littermate instead

-

Fire scene au where Leafpool is there instead of Squirrelflight

Au where BRAMBLECLAW is in the fire instead of Squirrelflight

-

Au where Princess gives Fireheart ALL her kits and he ends up raising seven fluffy babies with his boyfriend Graystripe

-

Au where Blossompaw gets hit by the tree instead of Briarpaw

-

Au where Squirrelflight is leader and Brambleclaw is deputy

-

Au where the three don't find out about their heritage until AVoS

-

Au where the whole reincarnation thing with the three is actually relevant and they have lots of flashes of their part life, and the ancients had to move for some unknown reason, and the three have to solve it like Frozen two but the reason is not what it seems like Frozen two

-

Au where the the fox cubs from The Sight become friends with the three

-

Au where Lionpaw and Hollypaw switch mentors and Ashfur is Holly's mentor instead

-

Au where Breezekit is Leafpool's kit and the three are Crowfeather and Nightcloud's. The three are Breezekit and his dead siblings so that causes problems. Breeze is the only cat of the prophecy and Jay, Lion, and Holly are his best buddies who help defeat the dark forest

-

Au where TigerClan defeated LionClan in the darkest hour, and currently have control of a weak and frightened ThunderClan and WindClan. Tigerstar recieves the prophecy about the three, who are destined to destroy him, so he goes to search for them.

-

Au where Dovewing and Tigerheart stay in the city (Tawnypelt becomes leader) and during Tbc, Shadowpaw and his sisters make their way to the lake on behalf of some suspicious visions

-

Au where Holly, Lion, and Ivy are three, and Jay and Dove are spies in the dark forest

-

Au where Tigerstar II is possessed instead of Bramblestar

Aus I’ve completed/expanded on

au where Dovewing has a miscarriage and Shadowkit, lightkit, and pouncekit are three abandoned kittens that she found. Expanded upon here

-

au where Bramblestar dies before tbc. Expanded on here

-

Au where Holly, lion, and Jay are the three and Breezepelt is the fourth cat. Expanded upon here

-

Animal au - an au where all the characters are different animals - tag is #animal au

-

Au where Needleclaw/Pouncestep/Lightleap are important. Expanded on here

-

Au where Hollyleaf keeps Leafpool's secret and doesn't confess to killing Ashfur and doesn't run away. The next arc continues as usual, but something doesn't seem right.

Leafpool is found dead in the medicine den, supposedly having eaten deathberries, and Hollyleaf is unusually quiet. Expanded upon here

-

Au where the three are born in SkyClan. Expanded on here and here

-

Au where Half Moon is reincarnated as one of the three instead of Jay’s Wing. The expanded post is here

-

Nightpaw is there when Tigerclaw attacks Tiny, and she tries to stop him, but he ends up permanently nicking her ear. The full post is here

-

Instead of her brother, Goldenflower is made deputy after Redtail. Here’s the full post

-

Au where Firestar gets taken by twolegs instead of Graystripe, and he’s thrown into the leader position, unsure of what to do. here’s the full post

-

au where Jaypaw, Kestrelpaw, and Willowpaw are the three and the have their own little gang. The expanded posts are here and here

-

Au where Leafpool doesn't tell Squirrelflight about her illegal children, goes out to give birth, and promptly dies. Purdy finds the three in the snow and takes care of them. The expanded post is here

Au with the same thing but Sol finds them instead?

-

au where, upon being attacked, Ashfur manages to kill Hollyleaf instead. The expanded post is here

-

Lionblaze au

-

Aldersong and Needletuft au - 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

-

Reincarnation au - 1 | 2 | 3 

-

3 musketeers au (the tag is ttmwc au)

-

StormClan/Lake au (parts 1 and 2)

-

Tigerfoot au

-

WindClan au

[o1ivenose-aus]

Au Masterpost

All of my aus in one place. Feel free to send asks about any of them

- 

Au ideas

au where firestar, sandstorm, redtail, and spottedleaf all switch places. Sandstorm is the deputy, Fireheart is the medicine cat, spottedleaf is the kittypet, and redtail is the apprentice. also sandstorm and fireheart don’t die either

-

Au where Turtle Tail and Bumble lived

- 

au where Sasha goes to thunderclan instead of riverclan and mothwing and hawkfrost get raised with their brother :)))

-

Au where Petal became leader of SkyClan

-

au where Smudge joins the clans with Rusty

-

Au where Spiresight lived

-

Au where Fluttering Bird survived

-

Warriors but Mothwing is Brambleclaw, Hawkfrost is Tawnypelt, Brambleclaw is Mothwing, and Tawnypelt is Hawkfrost

-

how about an au where sedgekit and her siblings meet Fallen Leaves and Rock in the tunnels in Dark River. She comes back to the tunnels frequently as an apprentice and after that a warrior, forming a close bond with Fallen Leaves.

The night of the gathering, she realizes it’s getting late, and she should get back to camp before the clan comes back.

Suddenly she hears rocks falling, and the screams of two tomcats. “Hollyleaf!”

She picks her way through the rubble with Fallen Leaves and finds a black she-cat under the rocks.

-

Au where Ivypool kills Tigerheart in the dark forest, and while being stuck there (with Antpelt hmm) he desperately tries to contact Dovewing to show her what’s going on and ends up being the spy for the three instead of Ivy

-

au where instead of Lionpaw and Heatherpaw playing in the tunnels, it’s Jaypaw and Kestrelpaw

-

Au where Smudge has a kit who joins the clans

-

Human au where it's just a big summer camp (would take place around po3)

-

Au where Jaques and Susan join ShadowClan

-

Au where Thriftear replaces Spotfur, essentially making Bristlefrost and Thriftear a parallel to Ivypool and Dovewing

-

au where Spiderpaw is hit on the thunderpath instead, trying to save his brother

-

Au where Kestrelflight is Breezepelt's brother

Or Crowfeather as Darktail’s brother (breeze and dark parallels anyone?)

-

au where Fallen Leaves, desperate to get out of the tunnels, forces himself to be reincarnated into little Hollykit’s body.

as Hollyleaf ran towards the tunnels, Fallen Leaves couldn’t believe he was back

-

hvkjsnhesrfgdmvjn what about an au where Cloudtail is Princess’s brother, and Firestar is Princess’s kit

-

Au where Tadpole is Bramble and Tawny's littermate instead

-

Fire scene au where Leafpool is there instead of Squirrelflight

Au where BRAMBLECLAW is in the fire instead of Squirrelflight

-

Au where Princess gives Fireheart ALL her kits and he ends up raising seven fluffy babies with his boyfriend Graystripe

-

Au where Blossompaw gets hit by the tree instead of Briarpaw

-

Au where Squirrelflight is leader and Brambleclaw is deputy

-

Au where the three don't find out about their heritage until AVoS

-

Au where the whole reincarnation thing with the three is actually relevant and they have lots of flashes of their part life, and the ancients had to move for some unknown reason, and the three have to solve it like Frozen two but the reason is not what it seems like Frozen two

-

Au where the the fox cubs from The Sight become friends with the three

-

Au where Lionpaw and Hollypaw switch mentors and Ashfur is Holly's mentor instead

-

Au where Breezekit is Leafpool's kit and the three are Crowfeather and Nightcloud's. The three are Breezekit and his dead siblings so that causes problems. Breeze is the only cat of the prophecy and Jay, Lion, and Holly are his best buddies who help defeat the dark forest

-

Au where TigerClan defeated LionClan in the darkest hour, and currently have control of a weak and frightened ThunderClan and WindClan. Tigerstar recieves the prophecy about the three, who are destined to destroy him, so he goes to search for them.

-

Au where Dovewing and Tigerheart stay in the city (Tawnypelt becomes leader) and during Tbc, Shadowpaw and his sisters make their way to the lake on behalf of some suspicious visions

-

Au where Holly, Lion, and Ivy are three, and Jay and Dove are spies in the dark forest

-

Au where Tigerstar II is possessed instead of Bramblestar

Aus I’ve completed/expanded on

Au where the tbc protagonist are switched. Bristlefrost is in SkyClan, Rootspring is in ShadowClan, and Shadowsight is in ThunderClan. Expanded on here

-

Au where all important Kittypet characters are switched with their clan counterparts - tag is #kittypet au

-

Au where Nightkit, Mistkit, and Tigerclaw are partners in crime. Expanded upon here

au where Dovewing has a miscarriage and Shadowkit, lightkit, and pouncekit are three abandoned kittens that she found. Expanded upon here

-

au where Bramblestar dies before tbc. Expanded on here

-

Au where Holly, lion, and Jay are the three and Breezepelt is the fourth cat. Expanded upon here

-

Animal au - an au where all the characters are different animals - tag is #animal au

-

Au where Needleclaw/Pouncestep/Lightleap are important. Expanded on here

-

Au where Hollyleaf keeps Leafpool's secret and doesn't confess to killing Ashfur and doesn't run away. The next arc continues as usual, but something doesn't seem right.

Leafpool is found dead in the medicine den, supposedly having eaten deathberries, and Hollyleaf is unusually quiet. Expanded upon here

-

Au where the three are born in SkyClan. Expanded on here and here

-

Au where Half Moon is reincarnated as one of the three instead of Jay’s Wing. The expanded post is here

-

Nightpaw is there when Tigerclaw attacks Tiny, and she tries to stop him, but he ends up permanently nicking her ear. The full post is here

-

Instead of her brother, Goldenflower is made deputy after Redtail. Here’s the full post

-

Au where Firestar gets taken by twolegs instead of Graystripe, and he’s thrown into the leader position, unsure of what to do. here’s the full post

-

au where Jaypaw, Kestrelpaw, and Willowpaw are the three and the have their own little gang. The expanded posts are here and here

-

Au where Leafpool doesn't tell Squirrelflight about her illegal children, goes out to give birth, and promptly dies. Purdy finds the three in the snow and takes care of them. The expanded post is here

Au with the same thing but Sol finds them instead?

-

au where, upon being attacked, Ashfur manages to kill Hollyleaf instead. The expanded post is here

-

Lionblaze au

-

Aldersong and Needletuft au - 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

-

Reincarnation au - tag is #reincarnation au

-

3 musketeers au - tag is #ttmwc au

-

StormClan/Lake au (parts 1 and 2)

-

Tigerfoot au

-

WindClan au

[poorlytunedukulele]

Day 12 - Roses and Thorns

The Black Garden is stunning in more ways than one.  It’s gorgeous, if just slightly alien.  It makes sense, Azra supposes.  This place was not crafted with an eye for Human ideals of beauty.  Or perhaps Humans were not properly raised to enjoy this place.

In any case, it is still beautiful.  There is greenery everywhere.  The fertile plains of flowers give way in the distance to untamed crags.  The air is clean and sweet, with hardly a breeze to rustle the plants.

The plants rustle anyway. Azra stares down at the rolling hills and watches.  The ripples in the flowers form patterns, ones that she recognizes.   She’s seen those same patterns time and again on the trembling surface of Radiolaria.  They echo and split and combine with themselves in an eternal dance.

If that weren’t odd enough, the sky isn’t the right color.  It’s not quite a color at all.  Instead of Rayleigh-scattered blues and purples, it’s the rainbow-edged gray of sun refracted through water.

And the light is weird.  Spark takes a spectral analysis and finds not only that it’s not from Sol, but the wavelengths present couldn’t be produced by the simple blackbody radiation of any star. It lends itself to the otherworldliness of this place.  Azra can’t tell if anything is the actual color it is, or if the light casts different hues.  Her green gear should blend in with the plants, but it doesn’t.

The ground follows the worrying trend.  Though Azra knows it should be rich, full of Carbon and Nitrogen and Phosphorus, the scans Spark takes are all contradictory.  She can smell the decaying organics, feel the loam between her fingers, but when viewed with a cold, hard eye, the illusion falls apart.  There are things that are not beetles and ants crawling through the dirt.

Azra dusts the soil from her fingers and turns her attention to the flowers.  They’re absolutely everywhere.  They’re unlike quite any she’s seen on Earth (or Venus or Io, for that matter).  But they’re not some alien plant, spawned for different conditions, they’re flowers. Red-petaled, black-throated, with stems and leaves-

And thorns, Azra learns. She draws her hand back and watches in fascination as a drop of blood wells from the thick pad of her thumb. She sticks the offended finger in her mouth, but the wound is already closed.  The pain fades quickly, but the iron tang on her tongue persists.

With a shrug, Guardian and Ghost leave behind the intensive scanning.  All it will tell them is that this place is not what it seems, and they already know that.  It’s the Black Garden.  Besides, for all the Warlocks back in the City would kill for data, Azra is not here to study this place; she’s here to scout it.

She stows her helmet and gloves, picks a mountain peak on the horizon, and sets off.

She’s not stupid.  She leaves a trail of beacons behind her. Spark hovers high above, keeping watch for any wandering Vex.  He takes video of the flowers rippling in the nonexistent breeze, noting how the patterns change in the wake of his Guardian’s passage.  He charts the imperceptibly slow movements of the unfamiliar planets in the sky.

They make their way through the flower-fields, across straight pathways of Vex bronze (unpowered, disconnected), over a few small canals and down into and across some larger ones. The fields quickly become monotonous. The mountains in the distance don’t appear to be getting any closer.

Then they come to someplace interesting.

Azra skirts a stone ridge and comes across a cavern in the rock face- more like a crevice.  It seems out-of-place, too real.  Like a broken bit of scenery, a tear in the curtain.  She takes a few steps inside and finds the space lit by an odd fungus that glows like foxfire.

Spark had pinged radar, giving them a vague map of the terrain for miles.  But outside of the Vex-heavy areas, away from the center where the Heart had been killed, the Garden is incredibly boring.  Rolling hill after rolling hill, canal after canal.  This is something new, something worthy of exploration.

She is prepared to mark the walls and make cave-maps to keep track of the branching pathways, but the tunnel only has one channel.  It twists, dips, and climbs, but offers no alternate avenues to choose from.  The walls are the same whitish granite-looking stone, but in the dark and illuminated by the eerie light of the fungus, they look green and slick.

She’s lost track of how long it’s been-

No.

Azra stops dead in her tracks.  Some part of her urges her to brush off the creeping discomfort and keep going, but she knows that part isn’t real.  She has spent far too long wandering Vex installations, fell too far in the Vault, suffered too much in her climb back out to not know her own thoughts.  Azra Jax does not lose track of time easily.

Or rather, she has, so deeply and keenly, that she holds on with an iron grip.

But she’s lost it now. Though she can start counting seconds and stringing together her thoughts like a chain of daisies, it won’t matter.  The difference between zero times and one time is infinite- the needle has already skipped the track.  Azra feels a very familiar nausea roiling in her stomach.

Let’s go, Spark thinks, and Azra turns to- only to realize she has no idea which direction she’d come from.  It’s as if all of her object permanence has been stripped away- both tunnels (or the same tunnel from different directions) look equally unfamiliar.  She is struck with the odd terror that nothing exists outside of her gaze, that the world is in some superposition, collapsing into reality only when she observes it.  That she’ll turn away from one pathway only for it to be replaced by another when she’s not looking.

You’re having a panic attack, Spark says.

She is.  Her hands are shaking and her heart pounds loud in her ears. It’s so loud it drowns out everything else- or perhaps there is simply nothing left in the universe that makes sound.

Breathe, her Ghost commands.  Focus on that and it will get better.

Even though she knows with absolute certainty that it won’t work (that’s how it always is, panic trumps logic every time), she breathes.  She closes her eyes and focuses on how her Light echoes off of the walls.

Then-

You are lost.  For a brief infinity, you know nothing but this fact.  This is not where you belong.  

Eventually knowledge drips down to you and you drink it like sweet fructose- you are here, in the vascular tissue of some giant plant.  The plant is the universe, or perhaps just the City.  You’ve gone adrift from your place and it is vital you find your way back to it. The knowledge that you belong somewhere, that there is a hole tailor-made for your soul, is comforting.  It makes it all the more urgent that you find your home.

You wander with a restless, frantic energy.  This would be so much easier if you knew where you should go but you’ve forgotten what you are.  Are you a petal, bright and alluring, communicating with minds unlike your own through scent and color and shape?  Or a piece of the stem, maybe, straining in tension to keep the plant vertical?  Perhaps you are a seed, ungrown potential waiting to spring forth.

No, you are the thorn. Hadn’t people always called you sharp? And that is your purpose- to cause harm. Deal damage to any that seek to affect what you guard.  You kill Fallen and Vex and Hive and Cabal alike.  That is all you do, kill in the sake of preservation.

Azra stops, tasting the old doubts on her tongue like cloying corn syrup.  It would be very easy to agree.  Some part of her wants to (and this part is her, she knows).  

But Spark touches her thoughts, worried, and she knows better.  She knows herself.  She has been shaken to her core many times, stripped bare from all of her comforts, broken down and down until the universe found something unbreakable in her.  She knows this self-defeating worry, she has traced it back to its roots and torn it out.

She knows that things are not so simple.  She does kill, and not just to protect, but she does so much more than that. She dances and laughs and learns. She not here in the Garden to kill every threat, but to scout, take the shape of the land and listen to its sounds and know it.  If she is indeed a thorn, then she is also the phloem that delivers nutrients and information.  She is the roots that test the ground below, the leaves that spread in search of sunlight.

And she knows this, deep down in her core: she is more than the sum of her parts.  She is more than what she has done and what has been done to her.

You are dead, a voice whispers.  A dead thing walking through a place of life.  A migraine is building behind her eyes.  The sweet scent on the air has turned into the rich tang of rotting fruit.  And still she has no idea which way is out.  Her feet have carried her even further, but the walls remain unremarkable.  Perhaps there is no ‘out’ anymore.

No.  This is not like Earth or Venus or Mars.  This is like the Vault of Glass.  To adapt to this place is to be lost to it.  Azra has to subvert herself, gather her willpower and demand the world change to suit her needs instead of the other way around.

She turns back and forces the word backwards to have meaning.  Simple directions will be her way out of this.  Her Light burns like a star.

Suddenly, the mouth of the cave yawns before her.  She steps out, squinting as her eyes adjust.  The not-sunlight is very bright in comparison to the fungus glow.  The air is just as stagnant, however.  The flowers glitter with a recent rainfall.

She notices immediately that her beacons are gone.  Maybe she’ll find a few broken shells on her way back, but their radio signals have fallen silent, leaving her adrift with no GPS.  For a gut-wrenching moment, the scenery is unfamiliar.

Then Azra laughs, loud and long.  The sound echoes and echoes and echoes until the air rings with it and the flowers ripple to its pattern.  It’s going to take a lot more than that to get her lost now that she’s learned.  She turns in the direction she instinctually knows the gate is in and fixes a feature on the horizon in her head.

Listen. I know logically that Day 8 was prompting for Black Garden stuff and today really suits Shin Malphur/Jaren Ward/Dredgen Yor's story. But listen. I do what I want. You can't stop me.

AO3 Link

[moprocrastinates]

STRANGER THINGS S4 THEORY:

mkay... now that we’ve all digested *that* ending with Hopper, I have theories for S4 (if it is S4) based on snippets of things we’ve heard in s1-s3. SPOILERS FOR S1-S3 OF STRANGER THINGS.

p.s.--- i don’t know shit about anything. this is just my dumb guess/wishful thinking. keep your negative comments to yourself.

- Hopper went through the gate. @strangergotham has a really great, plausible theory about it. Their summary, in short--somehow, Hop got into the Upside Down through the Russian’s drilled gate. Whether he jumped in or was blown in by the explosion, the camera does not let us see. He walks through the Upside Down and finds another gate (like El does in S2E1 after defeating the Demogorgon and disappearing in S1E8). Only this gate leads him to Russia, where, on the *OTHER* side of that Hawkins-Upside Down-Russian gate, Russian officials capture him. He is indeed the American the Russians have captive. @strangergotham is spot-on.

- What are the Russians doing? In S1, when we get El’s scenes in Hawkins lab, Brenner or someone there is talking about using El as a weapon against the Russians. This means two things: 1) All of the “experiments” (numbers 01-011/El) were meant to be weapons against Russia, and 2) If the Americans felt a threat against Russia and needed a deadly weapon, why wouldn’t the Russians ALSO be doing the same thing? But the Russians failed more than the Americans in developing people with powers because the Russians are generally better with technology (as evidenced by S3 and the Russians’ weird spinny gate-opener), and were kind of SOL about the whole developing-people-with-powers-to-use-as-weapons, until one day, a Demogorgon broke through on THEIR side of the gate. Somehow, they managed to wrangle it and train it, using their prisoners as a reward for a good little Demodog. However, they’ve now reached a point where the Demogorgon is reaching its full power, and can utilize it to their full advantage. In S1, the Demogorgon was a loner, likened by Nancy to a bear. However, we saw in S2 that Demodogs (a less evolved version) are pack animals. Have they evolved from lone to pack? Does Russia have an army of trained Demogorgons that attack in pack formation? ... Maybe.

- We saw at the end of S3 that the crack in the Hawkins’ side isn’t closed completely. Like a scar with feeble stitches, it can be busted open. Essentially, the Upside Down will act as a tunnel from Russia to Hawkins. What better place to destroy America than from the inside out? 

- So, El, still having not completely recharged, tries to fit in normally in her new home. But it sucks, and she’s not around all of her friends and family. She’s been, mentally, in that cave Hopper mentioned, and she tries to remember her happiest memory with Hopper and searches for that feeling. But like with Billy, she somehow gets caught in HOPPER’S memories and realizes he’s alive. She tells Joyce, and the Byers go back to Hawkins. Joyce has to deal with her feelings for Hopper as El discovers that the gate is still open. 

- But El isn’t strong enough. So she searches, and finds her “siblings.” They too have all lost someone they loved and want retribution on Brenner, who is still on the lookout for his “child prodigy,” El. All of the Experiments come back to Hawkins. They help El recharge/reconnect to her powers, and prepare to extract their vengeance on Brenner.

- LITERALLY IT’S JUST GONNA BE A GIGANTIC SHOWDOWN BETWEEN MONSTERS AND HUMANS. 

Storylines ST Needs to Wrap Up... In One Season????:

- Brenner storyline

- Joyce/Hopper date storyline

- El/Kali/The Other Experiments --> where are they? 

- Steve gets someone who loves him (or not)

- closing the gate once and for all, giving Barb, Bob, Billy, etc... justice. (Why do all the people who die have B names? Do the Duffers have an issue with B names...? wtf)

- Will gets to be the person he wants to be, free of pain and suffering

- Nancy and Jonathan reunite

- Mileven

- Max grieving over Billy while dealing with her conflicted feelings towards him/dealing with her abusive stepfather

- Robin becoming more open and comfortable with her sexuality (in the 80s!!!)

- El and Hopper being a peaceful family together family

- El, Hopper, Will, Joyce, and Jonathan... as a family???

- El getting to be a normal kid

- Karen leaving Ted or something bc she deserves better 

I really want the whole thing to end with a flash forward-- some of the Party’s kids watching a documentary about Hawkins like the one at the end of S3, and turning to ask their parents if they remember anything about the mysterious leaks, deaths, explosions, etc., and I want someone (preferably El) to shrug and say something like, “There were stranger things out there.” 

give me s4 and give it to me NOW

[starweird03]

Cadmus

(Something I wrote for English)

“Come to the edge.

We might fall.

Come to the edge.

It’s too high!

COME TO THE EDGE!

And they came

And he pushed

And they flew.”

-Christopher Logue

“You know that if you fail, you will not be remembered?” Cadmus ignores the Serpent, pressing on through the darkness of the cave. Erebus has held sway over the pitch-black and dripping crevice for untold eons; not a soul has set foot inside since the Gods had walked the Earth like peddlers, selling shiny miracles to their adoring followers. The shadows that call the tunnel home reel in disgust away from the torch that the hero grasps in his hand.

“If you cannot conquer the Beast of Saturn, your body will rot here forever.” The Snake hisses, slithering at the edge of the dragon-slayers vision. Its color is indeterminable in the ruddy and dim light of the flame, but its scales make a slick scraping noise against the stone floor of the cave. It makes Cadmus cringe, though he doesn’t slow his determined pace. He has fought great Wyverns and Manticores, monsters of black, red, white, and every harsh color that the mortal eye may behold.

“Your family will be slaughtered if you allow your Enemy to win.” At that insinuation, that overstep of a boundary, Cadmus stops.

“I will allow nothing.” He says with the conviction of Sol Invictus, the Sun Invincible, the force that he knows is behind him. He can feel solar warmth beneath his skin after using that tone, that command of fate. But the Serpent is undaunted and continues its mockery as they descend deeper and deeper, and deeper still, into the viscera of the Earth.

There is an otherworldly cold in this ancient cavern, one that carries stiffness to the bones and a breeze to the chest and face but no shivering of the flesh. It is as though a winter wind blows, but no frost ever follows it. This is the Frigid Despair of the Earth that haunts deserted cemeteries and old homes; places where no one likes to dwell for very long, where there is no correct place to stand, no safety, no love.

Slowly, the rough tunnel gives way to smooth walls. Cadmus can ignore the insults of the Serpent now and give his full attention to his surroundings. He doesn’t stop to inspect anything, but he can make out the vague outlines of carvings on the sides of the corridor. Yes, it is a corridor now, every surface is wonderfully, familiarly artificial. It is a strange comfort, to be confined in a place, but to know that it was other Men who carved it out of Gaia’s carcass.

Finally, Cadmus sights an end to the tunnel ahead. Not a light, no, not in these buried halls that have only just seen fire for the first time in an epoch. No, it appears to be another wall, with an elaborate carving adorning its face. A wooden pole stands like a sentry before the termination of the path.

“Is this the trial set to ensure my dedication?” The hero wonders aloud.

“No, that would be myself.” Cadmus starts at the sudden statement by the Snake. He realizes that it had stopped talking for quite some time, leaving him in silence. The Serpent approaches the rod and climbs it, intertwining its flexible body around the stiff, unyielding wood.

“What is your trial, Serpent?” Cadmus asks. He is tiring of this creature, which does naught but make jest and mockery of him. Holding his torch closer to the reptile, he sees that its scales are of many different colors, like a peacock’s tail. As soon as he notices this, a bright light fills his vision, blinding him.

Cadmus steps back and draws his blade, preparing for an attack. As his eyes recover, however, he sees that no attack is coming. In place of the Serpent and its pole is a figure, seemingly Human and quite beautiful. Red-blonde hair cascades down their shoulders, parting around a face combining the angular beauties of both the feline and the serpentine. Their body is slender and lithe, covered with robes of red and white.

“I was your Trial, Cadmus, for I am the Guardian at the Threshold. You have survived me many times, and therefore you have the right to face the Beast. I will answer your questions.” The trickster gestures as they speak, though the movements are not random. They range from the Sign of the Cross to the Sign of the Horns, symbols of protection and good fortune.

“What are you?” Cadmus asks, awestruck.

“I am Lucifer, the Trial. It is my duty to test a person’s resolve, to improve and strengthen Mortals. I temper every person in the low flames of the daily grind and in the white-hot inferno of tragedy. When I set you an ordeal, and you rise to defeat it, you become stronger for it.” Cadmus nods.

“I thought that the Beast I had come to face was the Enemy? Unless you are the Beast?” The hero still has his sword in hand, ready to cut his way out of a deadly situation.

“Oh, Olympus, no!” Cadmus relaxes slightly. “It is simply my duty to prepare you so that you may face the Beast of Saturn, Satan. We are very different, the two of us. I am the necessary evil, the trainer, the teacher. The Beast is... something else. It’s complicated.”

“I have time.” The warrior says, bidding that Lucifer continue.

“The Beast is representative of everything that stands between Humans and Gods. It is Death and Materialism, Hate and Greed. It is a vile Seducer that seeks to destroy the spirit and reduce existence to a hollow shell. It is not a God, nor is it Mortal. It’s not even a Primordial, like Darkness or Love. It is simply... it.” Lucifer spit the word out as though it’s the most terrible-tasting morsel in the world. “At one point, you Humans were pure spirit. You were like plants, roses in a garden, tended to by the Mother Goddess. Then the Beast arrived, and with it brought a venom that could poison the soil in which you grew. The Mother begged me to help her, so I designed the first hardship; I crucified your souls on a material body. You grew legs that could carry you out of the toxic ground, teeth and hands that could defend you, heads that could think for you, hearts that could feel for you. I made you Mortal so that you could live forever.” Cadmus mulls the paradox over in his head.

“So, what am I really facing ahead?” He asks, still confused.

“The same Beast as everyone else: Death. Beyond that door,” Lucifer gestures to the wall behind them, and Cadmus realizes that it is in fact a set of doors, “You will face your doom, and you will lie prostrate before it. But do not despair, for you will have Eternal Life. That is the blessing that I guarantee to all who pass my tests.”

“And if I choose not to go in? Not to accept my death?” But he already knows that he won’t.

“Then you will spend the rest of your days regretting the one time that you failed to rise to a challenge, that you turned down the only escape from your Mortality, which is to face it head on.” Lucifer’s face is impartial, cut from stone just like the cave, the hall, the door.

Cadmus steps forward until he is an arm’s length away from Lucifer. He kneels to accept the Serpent’s gift.

“Cadmus, I bless you with Eternal Life, and with the Courage to face the one Trial that I cannot take responsibility for. May you fight with mirth and honor.” With a kiss to the hero’s forehead, the boon is granted. A new power runs through Cadmus’ veins.

The Beast-Slayer rises and finds that Lucifer is vanished. Not gone, no, he can still feel their power, and see with their light, but the body, the Serpent, is gone. Cadmus inspects the carving on the door. A cross rises from the ground, a rose nailed to its center. A field of stars stretches overhead, those strange eyes of fate that shine with divine light. The door splits open, and he rushes in without hesitation. A single realization occupies his mind:

The secret to defeating Death is to accept it.