#gavin grieve has so many problems i know he does

[llewnanith]

gavin grieve makes me want to start eating my floorboards like i cannot stop thinking about him and the grieve family. i can’t stop thinking about gavin knowing how to duck and weave between clawing to get people to look at him and knowing how to make people’s eyes slide off of him for safety. how his first spell was a silencing spell on his room. how he was shocked when his family got rid of his stuff - as if he knew he was unloveable but didnt know he was that unloveable. how he was willing to maim himself for the chance to win, just for the approval of it all. how even he didn’t think he’d live. i can’t stop thinking about scenarios where he would have eaten separately from his family, hearing talking from the room over. how no matter how many times he searched those pictures he still was disappointed about not being in them. how when his family talked about his death as already having happened, he would have had to learn to stop arguing, to find an exit as quick as possible. to swallow his grief of his own life. how he probably feels stranded with no concrete plans of the future. how he probably learned to cry silently. how he brushes off his family treatment as something inevitable, typical, deserved. how the taste of neglect is something that fits in his mouth like a bit, silencing him at night when he wants to scream from it all. literally how do you recover from this. when you build your life around your own ghost, what happens after that’s gone and all that’s left is you?

[elisacaleisa]

People say I am a big brain. Idk about any of those things but to that I say: have one more again. This one is weaker but you get it, same thing as the ones before

Jax's Personality Swap AU (4)

Pipeline: Elliott > Morgan > Vega > Regulus > Caelum > Camelopardalis > Hush > Elliott

Elliott > Morgan

Hopeless Seer

- ok but childhood friend seer cooks

- Morgan is a deeply caring person

- Seer Obscura gets a nickname: Dreamer

- "dreamer... I've been calling you that for ten years. maybe more, heh."

- the softest boy ever, he is a walking teddy bear

- "I've realized... we will never reach the future, but we will always live in the present. it's the time, that changes. the time changes us"

- slow burn perhaps? But...

- "dreamer... i... I'm sorry, it's just... You're so warm and... i wish to hold you. please."

- he is alone in this world. it's just you, that keeps him alive. he doesn't have hope for this planet, but you are his world.

- he sleeps, eats, walks on the path, that was established for him since he was born. But you... You became his future...

- he craves you as a lover, but is afraid to lose you as a friend

----

Morgan > Vega

Melancholic Demon

- sigh trademark

- "... what do you want, warden? Cant you see im grieving for my pet?"

- you ask many questions, but barely get any answers around of him

- he only talks to you out of everyone

- "why? heh. Dumb question, warden."

- you still ask anyway. he laughs. full of pain

- "did you kill my pet, warden?"

- what? What is he talking about? And why would you do that...

- vega turns his back to you. Until you confess, he says

- he has been in here for a long time. maybe it was someone from the past and he can't live in the present.

- he wants his pet back. he wants noone else but them. but you dont know who that was...

----

Vega > Regulus

Raging Fallen Daemon

- he is pretty pissed i imagine

- "if i can't have you, no-one can."

- OH HE KIDNAPS YOU

- he is angry, upset, but never alone. Now that he found you.

- everyone is looking for you two

- "precious, don't leave"

- you try to resist, but he is in your head now

- and you dont. You listen. You are now his company. He never stops holding your hand.

(jax note: this specific swap might be edited or completely reworked later)

----

Regulus > Caelum

Self-claimed Prince Daemon

- Was Polaris' greatest student, perhaps that got into his brain a bit,,

- this is a headcanon fun bit of what if Regulus wasnt fallen and was Leo constellation, so enjoy!

- he is all huffy and puffy at first

- "hey! Wake up! You do not sleep on Caelum like that!" owie! Did he just hit you by a pillow??

- "you are awake. Good. Now up! We have so much to do!" god what is this flying pipsqueak?

- "pipsqueak?! I beg your pardon?? I am Caelum, an empathy daemon and now, you are my charge! Simple to understand, now chop chop! Clean your face and ugh... Please, wear some clean clothes, looks like you didnt change for three days. We have to fix that! Coooomeeeee ooooonnnnn!!" okay he is pulling you from the bed. You cant win here freelancer

- he sounds like a spoiled brat and he maybe is, but slowly by time, you get to know him more and see that he is just a little guy with a job and heart on the right place. His methods can be dramatic, but he means well

- he says that you are ready for D.A.M.N., that the hidden talent in you is more than just your powers.

- "i think Gavin will help us here. He is a bit stupid, but he always gives me cookies!" blunt much, Caelum?

----

Caelum > Cam

Bubbly Serenity Daemon

- always so curious about human culture, both old and modern

- he especially likes bubbles

- "wow, how fascinating... this is truly wonderful!" he loves colors too

- "e-ehm, pardon my, uh... excitement. My name is C-Cam-Cam-Camelopardalis and i am your today's... wait, no, that doesn't make sense... does it?"

- he is a very polite, kind guy. he tries to always help, he just had a problem put words to the correct order (me fr)

- he loves walking outside in the sun. He is like a cat - he likes sunbathing and is kinda afraid of water (hmmm)

- he is a very tall guy, always hits himself in the head, god bless,,,

- he just stands out by how pretty and tall he is

- he writes little notes about his clients, mostly positive ones with stars and hearts! Perhaps mostly about you

- the walls of his office are full of fun stuff, like globe, astrology maps of constellations, dreamcatchers, oil paintings, etc.

- "i... i cant believe i found a friend between humans... thank you."

----

Cam > Hush

Soothing Entity

- you dont know who he is, what he is, but he is following you for days like a lost cat. Something about you is... attracting him. He wants to be near you.

- he is always sitting in your window, watching, but never daring to take a step inside

- "what are you doing?" he finally asks, after days of just watching you.

- "you're always here. And im always waiting" but for what? You ask

- "i dont know, doctor." and he goes to rest.

- you believe thats not true and you might be right. He seems to be hiding.

- there are demons around your place, around Dahlia. It drives you insane. You feel afraid. What are even those guys doing here? You did nothing wrong, right?

- and with hush, it got worse...

- "please, dont be afraid of me, doctor. I'm here for you. Please, doctor."

(jax note: this one might be changed too)

----

Hush > Elliott

Unknown Dreamwalker

- you didnt have to do any of this. You could've just leave him there, you could've had a normal life. Normal in rubbish and loneliness, but...

- just look at him. He is not normal. He is a fucking... superhero?? Supervillain??

- "sunshine..." oh yeah and that dumb nickname. Better than a nightmare, but... why does he looks at you that way??

- "I'm grateful." yeah yeah

- apparently, those guys are from some department he escaped. He was always an orphan, somehow sneaked into a normal orphanage and got adopted, but a mess happened and now... You dont understand any of it

(jax note: i just didnt have more ideas but take it as Elliott being mysterious /j)

[luckloveandwaterfalls]

In response to my AoUV poll, here we go! This will be long and I might have more to come later, but thanks so much to everyone who participated, it was great to see your thoughts :D

First of all, I'm so grateful that no one picked the Lowes. That would have been terrifying.

For the others, I'm going to share my thoughts on each of the families because I've thought about this extensively. But obviously it's just my personal opinion, and all of them are at least a little fucked up in their own way. It is Ilvernath, after all.

The Macaslans. Isobel has my whole heart, I swear she does, but the Macaslans as a rule are atrocious. Showing up to every funeral in the city and stealing magick from dead bodies as they're put in the ground is beyond tacky and disrespectful, and Cormac is beyond slappable. His "how many ways can we commodify Isobel to make money, 15% goes to the champions" bullshit gets me so upset. We haven't met many Macaslans but if he's the representative, hard pass.

The Grieves. I disagree with the people who picked them, but I do understand. I've talked about the Grieves a lot lately, so I'll just summarize and say that they're in a truly awful situation where they have few options other than to give up. None of that excuses what they did to Gavin and, tbh, their other kids too. This family is a hot mess.

The Thorburns. They're serial killers. They lie and cheat and cut deals with the government to control high magick, and murder people in Ilvernath and drain them of their life magick and frame someone else for it. Then they call themselves the heroes, enforcing this idea so strongly that their champion causes an insane amount of damage trying to live up to it. I really struggle to get past this.

The Blairs. They won the poll, and I absolutely get it. They're straitlaced and dependable, and they keep to an honor code. My issue comes with the severity of this honor code, and the collateral damage that comes with it. Blairs keep the code and their word, but all that honor and protection is for the cause of...the exact same cause that everyone else has. They do better things than the others do, but only to pat themselves on the back over it and claim their prize. Their honor code blinds them to everything that isn't black-and-white—see how Finley's moms respond to him suggesting there's a way to break the tournament. Don't get me wrong, they're way better than Elder Malvina, but the Blairs are not saints, and I think part of what makes them so insidious is that they make it look like they are.

I'm briefly grouping the last two together, because they're the families we know least about and that (in my opinion) seem like the most reasonable. I'm going to preface this by saying that yes, the Paynes and Darrows trick Briony and the others by swapping their stories in All of Our Demise. Yes, this causes problems for them in the tournament.

But honestly, can you fucking blame them? Their kids were just murdered, and these people who are trying to stop people from being murdered do not seem to care. From the Paynes' perspective, their champion died brutally and Briony and the others mentioned her literally zero times in their appeals for help. From the Darrows' perspective, it's even more justified. Briony killed their champion and then she and Isobel publicly lied about it, responding with little more than an "oh oops" when they're called out on it. I don't blame the Darrows and Paynes for not wanting to help them.

Taking a closer look, these two families want high magick for very different reasons from the others. The Lowes and Grieves want it for power, the Macaslans want it for money, and the Thorburns and Blairs want it for glory. Granted, we don’t get to see too much of the other two, but by all appearances they’re more interested in how high magick works.

The Darrows are all about studying, keeping records, and learning. It seems like they’re interested in figuring out the what and why of high magick for the sake of knowledge, not necessarily using it. As for the Paynes, All of Our Demise reveals that they’re inventors, which explains so much. They make things. And sure, there’s no guarantee that they would use high magick for good, but the general vibe we get from them is that they want to make things and be left the fuck alone. So even if the Paynes and Darrows originally agreed to join the curse with the other families, the current situation heavily implies that they’re doing it for far less selfish and destructive reasons.

All of this is to say that, in my opinion, it would be between these two. And I’d give the edge to the Paynes for two reasons, one being that, I’m sorry, any family that picks Carbry as a champion for a death tournament needs a reality check. If it turns out that there were literally no other siblings or cousins, I will apologize. Don’t get me wrong, I like Carbry, but he is not death tournament material. Also, firsthand knowledge is admirable, but it’s kind of a flimsy reason to send your kids to be killed every twenty years. None of the families are really morally defensible here, but at least you could make the argument that one of them has the means of and interest in using the high magick for something practical. So ultimately, that one family is the one that gets my vote.

Long story short, I wish we got more information about these last two families. But considering the information we do have, and the dots that are left to connect, I would have to pick the Paynes.