#he has the highest affinity and I’m not even trying for it

[cryptidowl]

It’s kinda funny seeing how people are collectively struggling to get the romance they want in BG3.

Not me tho, I’m as curious and morally bankrupt as the vampire.

[trappedinafantasy37]

It’s 2 o’clock in the morning and I can’t sleep so I’m just gonna start rambling about what’s on my mind. You wanna know what that is? Isobel. To be specific, Durge and Isobel.

Since my very first Durge run, it never quite made sense to me as to why the Urge would specifically want you to kill Isobel. Up until that point, the Urge has kinda been impulsive and acted without thought. But with Isobel, that’s very deliberate. Sceleritas Fel literally shows up in the middle of the night and gives you a name and a face. That’s never happened before. With Alfira, she was just a victim of convenience. Same thing with Gale, Arabella, the squirrel the grove, all victims of convenience. None of their deaths were planned before hand, but Isobel’s very much is premeditated and the only one that is.

But, there is something about the interaction with Fel that is super easy to overlook. If you talk to Fel about Isobel before you actually meet Isobel, you can ask him as to why you should kill her. He tries to reason with you by saying that the inn will fall if she dies and it will be a mass spectacle of murder... How the fuck does Fel know that? You aren’t even informed of that possibility of the inn falling upon her death until you meet Isobel herself.

Even if you don’t talk to Fel before hand and you meet Isobel first, the Urge and the narrator constantly keep trying to push you into killing Isobel. Now, the narrator does kinda goad Durge a lot, but not quite as much as when interacting with Isobel.

If you choose not to kill Isobel, Fel shows back up again and tells you of another premeditated murder and that is your companion with the highest affinity, or your romantic partner. Again, very weird. With Isobel, it’s a premeditated murder that you are in control of. But with your favorite person, it’s premeditated, but you’re not in control. But why? Sure, you can believe Fel at his word when he says that your body craves violence and it hasn’t gotten its full when you chose not to kill Isobel. But, it could be anybody. You can satiate your bloodlust on literally anybody. So, why your favorite companion?

It’s almost like the urge can only be satiated with your favorite companion because something, or someone, is punishing you for not killing Isobel. But again, why is Isobel so god damn fucking important?

If you kill Isobel or you kill your romance partner, you are granted the Slayer form. Yay! But there’s a very unique scenario that can happen in which you can be granted the Slayer form without killing Isobel yourself and that is if you allow Shadowheart to become a Dark Justiciar. This, I always found to be super weird. Technically, Shadow is responsible for the death of Isobel, and yet, you get rewarded for it anyway and your urge is considered satiated even though you didn’t directly do anything.

If your approval with Shadow is like 40 or higher, by default, she will always choose to spare the Nightsong on her own. Which means if you are above the 40 threshold, the only way Shadow becomes a DJ is if you tell her to. So, although you didn’t kill Isobel, you become indirectly responsible for her death which is why you get rewarded.

But you love doing the direct killing themselves. You love getting your hands wet with blood and gore. And this indirect route is… well… too clean for you. If anything, it’s Shadow’s hands that are bloody, not yours. So, why is your urge satiated when you didn’t do the killing yourself and the blood isn’t even on your hands?

That’s because the murder of Isobel is a fucking hit job. It’s an assassination. It doesn’t matter how she dies or when she dies, just that she dies. Now, I’m sure that this really isn’t some kind of monumental revelation, but the Urge is Bhaal. In the moments where you lose control, yeah, that’s Bhaal basically possessing you. It makes sense as to why you’re forced to target your favorite person after failing to kill Isobel, Bhaal is pissed that you disobeyed and is trying to teach you a lesson.

But, it also means that, for whatever reason, Bhaal wants Isobel dead. The only explanation I have is because it fucks over Ketheric which by consequence fucks over Myrkul. And we know for sure that the Dead Three and their Chosen entered into this alliance with the intention of betraying the other two eventually. It also pieces together how Fel knows that killing Isobel guarantees the fall of the inn and that’s because Bhaal knows. Marcus has been hanging around the inn for some time so he would already know of Isobel’s importance to the inn and relayed that information to Ketheric. It’s very much possible that Orin could have stumbled upon that info herself, or even pre-lobotomy Durge.

But, Bhaal is the pure definition of chaotic stupid. Killing Isobel in of itself doesn’t necessarily hurt Ketheric. In fact, when she dies, he may not always know. I think the only way that he does know that Isobel is dead is if Marcus ends up taking her corpse back to Moonrise in which Ketheric resurrects her and puts a worm in her brain. At that point, he can guarantee that not only will Isobel always be alive, but she will always be by his side. It’s pretty morbid and fucked up, but it actually ends up strengthening Ketheric.

Anyways, it’s 2 o’clock in the morning and I’ve been awake for 22 hours. Sorry if the rambling is a little incoherent. I just really had to get this shit outta my head. Now, I’m gonna go lay in bed and stare at the ceiling for another 3 hours cause I’m still not tired.

[fantomette22]

HELLO THERE

So, we’ve had a lot of discussions about this (you know mine by now skwhwwhwh) but what do you think Gehrman did pre-Byrgenwerth/hunting? His family, class status, occupation etcetera, things like that.

Alright is it TIME!!!

Thank you so much, I can finally share my « headcanons »/story about Gehrman’s backstory! Yes I have those ideas since September too…

I won’t talk about everything in details + there’s things I’m not settle with but it’s still going to be long and a bit messy sorry. It could have some dark theme too just so you know. I hope you will enjoy! Oh, and this is mostly in the interpretation of my current fic verse

His family first: 

He’s from a middle/working Class, I think. It’s not the big bourgeoisie for sure but they were not super poor either (I will talk about it just after but for going around buying books and a few fancy toys you need a bit of money XD)

His family lived at Hemwick then Yharnam. I have this idea that his family might have help Cainhurst and the nobles with their hunt parties for a while. (There’s were a lil accident here too at some point…) 

Besides that they might have worked in the fields. that's where he got his affinity with scythes !

So, there’s his father, and his little sister principally + there’s his mom and grandma who taught him to sew, cook and everything but I feel those two weren’t around for long :(

Oh, and there’s his aunt (a badass) who taught him to use weapons too and I like the idea she could be THE Evelyn you know. (but forget it)

And of course, they had some dogs while in Hemwick I think :)

I wouldn’t say he was a “weird” kid, but he was a bit different than the children his age. He didn’t pass that much with others his age either. He passed more time with people younger or older. Or generally he passed lot of times alone.

But I like the idea he could have been friend with Dores as a child. Dores who was really super weird and scared others and Gehrman just didn’t mind XD Also his family was a bit worried for a time because he thought that mercy killed a wounded bird was the best idea… well instead his family forced him to take care of the bird until he either die or get better. The bird lived and was release afterwards.

It might be linked to an another huge moment in his childhood/pre-teens : a wolf had attack cattle and possibly humans as well. Many people have been called to try to catch the beast. Gehrman tried to find it as well. Oh well he found it. It was hurt and sick and trapped in a jaw trap. He knew people were going to really make surfer the wolf who was already dying so he mercy killed it. During this adventure our lil hunter might have gone trapped too and hurt his leg as well. But nothing too serious lol (he hurt his right foot/leg way too many times when he was younger...)

(i made this back in September too...)

His education was not the highest thing possible either but still, he learned to read (and really like it) and wrote etc. and he loved going to expositions in Yharnam organized by Byrgenwerth. One day he even found a meteorite in a field and went to Byrgenwerth so that the scholars could explain and share to him everything they know! (yes! he made the burial blade and hunter badge years later from it!) yes a lil stone collector, like me <3 Oh and I headcanon he could play Cello (violoncelle) but I don't know where/when he learned.

He loved making toys and sew clothes too. He made a few dresses for his sister and a few little clothes for her plushies when she was younger. Of course, they had little dolls has well he and liked to make them various outfits. He also had/made a few wooden figures and some with mechanisms. I feel it would have been his dream job to make toys or even become a tailor. I headcanons he continued to make little articulated toys and sew clothes (he made his own) in addition to the weapons x)

At some points it becomes a bit complicated, I imagined when he was a teenager it was just him his sister and his dad. His father wasn’t super present and super fun it was a bit complicated (to resume)

And then the plague strike. (Yeah, I thought that having a tuberculosis epidemy 15y or smt before everyone met at Byrgenwerth and killed at least 1 member of everyone family was a good idea…I still think it is). 

His sister sadly passed away from it T_T this really hurt him intensely if not destroy him. He was quite close to her and that’s a part how he got huge issues with dealing with grief of persons really close to him.

I need a name for her eventually, but I might never cited her by name, I guess so I got times…

After that idk maybe his father died too? or later? idk

Anyway, he went to do many little jobs around Yharnam, not the best things really but well you need a shelter and to eat so he did many various things : manufacturing, butcher, gardening, constructions, take people/object from to place A to B.

That’s where he met Patches who was one of his roommates lmao. Patches probably stoles stuff to everyone. Gehrman was very clear that if he ever witnesses directly the thief, that one was really gonna have a bad time… thankfully it kinda stops XD 

By the way teen Gehrman is legit the type of person to gives weapons to people/lil kids so they can defend themselves just in case XD I’m not telling to who he gives a knife for exemple but the only thing I would say was that Cainhurst was really surprised XD

But there were something beginning to bother him. To bother him a lot. His right leg/foot really begin to hurt. To hurt really bad, he began to limp and smt even need to use a cane. At some points he couldn’t take it anymore, he went to Byrgenwerth so he could be properly healed. Well he got some really bad news… the tuberculosis from years ago have stayed dormant in his body for years and was now attacking his bones (it’s what a call tuberculosis of the bone/skeletal tuberculosis yes I’ve made quite some researches on it ). There was nothing to do so he asks them to amputee him. During his convalescence and reeducation, he spends lots of time with Dores & Liam (gatekeeper) (and also a bit with Willem + he met Laurence for the first time) who were sick too and didn’t work at Byrgenwerth yet.

After he was heal he decides to leave to work in a foreign regions/country a few years (Ahah you thought he was gonna stayed at Byrgenwerth ? Not yet!). To the places he went he did many things (mining for ex) and meet many people. I believed the first hunters /prospectors were almost all from Yharnam but the first foreigners might be people he meet there.  (it’s the case of the grandfather of my OC hunter and maybe the first hunter of hunters and well it could be fun if he meet Archibald or others don’t you think ? Oh and an idea I have is that he met someone linked with Yamamura who even worked on the Rakuyo much later ! Yeah he got some contacts XD)

So after this he returned to Yharnam and wanted to finally realized one of his dreams: takes a few class a Byrgenwerth. While he was working next to it, that wasn't easy too but with all his efforts Willem noticed him (+saw his huge potential) and after discussion proposed to him if he wanted to work at Byrgenwerth. Gehrman accepted and that’s how he become Groundskeeper. The rest is another story. One you might be familiar with 😉

(I've got nothing really new so here's some old drawings)

[ashscreamsaboutfallout]

saw your tags in the post abt fallout companions & how you havent done x6 yet bc institute ending

you dont have to do an institute ending to keep x6 as a companion! i regularly do railroad and minuteman stuff and have never done anything with the institute outside of the espionage type shit for the railroad and subsequently blowing them up... and i still have reached max affinity with x6 on all my saves. the only unfortunate things about him are

1: you cant take him even NEAR railroad hq, or else they will become hostile to you and if you take him into the church he will start shooting (im sure theres a mod or something to fix this bc it does get annoying constantly having to make sure youre not in the perimeter of old north church with him)

2: he has no post-institute destruction dialogue. his highest affinity talk still has him talking like the institute still exists and that youre next in line for director.

i love x6 with my whole heart and soul but i'd say hes the weakest companion story-wise in the game. like they did not even try with him lol. even preston makes a comment on the destruction of the institute, as do several non-companion npcs... but x6, who lived there never does??? its super strange

Holy shit Tumblr says this is from 2 years ago but I’m only just seeing it now????? Thank you for this, I really want to try having him as a companion because he is one of two I’ve never finished the story for, him and Danse. I so badly want to have a playthrough where I just get all of the companions and we’re just all living in sanctuary together like a weird little family. Maybe there’s also a mod to make it easier? Only way I was able to get Gage was if I got the ‘skip raiding settlements’ mod haha! Thank you for this!! I’m so sorry it took me so long to see this 😭

[serosfan]

I’m watching TDI Season 1 so now everyone has to hear my headcanons

Geoff and Trent are the two opposite ends of the himbo spectrum. I will not be elaborating.

Noah is gay. Owen, Geoff, Courtney, Leshawna, and Cody are bi. Heather is a lesbian.

Sadie and Katie are girlfriends.

Gwen, DJ, and Lindsey are nonbianary.

Heather’s not playing up a personality she really is just a bitch. Duncan however is playing up his “bad boy image”

After TDI ends DJ adopts a bunch of bunnies

Courtney isn’t actually THAT high strung it’s the stress of being on reality tv and trying to maintain a good image for the world. (I refuse to aknowedge the destruction of her character from that dumb love triangle)

Lindsey so the shock of literally everybody is a straight A student. It’s a mix of good guesses and a weird affinity for numbers.

Tyler isn’t actually on any sports teams. He’s a cheerleader.

Courtney’s jello fear comes from a severely unpleasant hospital experience where that’s all she could eat.

All the POC contestants(Leshawna, Katie, DJ, Courtney, Noah, Heather, and Justin) have a post TDI group chat. They didn’t wanna put Heather in it but eventually they did add her for solidarity. Doesn’t mean they have to like her.

Geoff does eventually take Gwen to a party. It’s the most excited anyones ever seen him at a party which is saying something.

Noah and Cody were dating even before TDI and thought it’d be funny to play up Cody’s crush on Gwen. That’s why he wasn’t that cut up about her rejecting him.

When Noah got eliminated he gave Cody the go ahead to try harder to impress Gwen bc if she did actually say yes(which he knew she wouldn’t) Cody would’ve earned it.

Beth is a Girl Scout. She got the highest rank. Like Eagle Scout but the Girl Scout one idk what it’s called.

Bridget Geoff Duncan and Courtney go on double dates sometimes. The girls and Geoff have fun. Duncan a little less so. But more than he’d willingly admit

Courtney relaxed her hair for TDI. Leshawna helped her fix it after they did water competitions.

[kayleezra]

Secret Santa // (Marcus Pike x GN!Reader)

Word Count: 1875

Warnings: None, fluff only

Summary: During secret Santa, you and Marcus end up getting each other-ish.

A/N: I hate that this is posted after the holidays but hopefully it's timely enough. Not beta-read

‘Marcus’ the slip in your hand read.

You mentally celebrate while keeping a poker face before folding the paper back up and placing it in your pocket.

You and Marcus have been close friends since he relocated and you two started working together. Marcus told you about Teresa and his divorce and you shared your failed attempts at love. Both of you had an affinity for art, literature and love, though you both lacked the latter.

The rest of the name draw was relatively boring. The only time you truly paid attention was when Marcus was asked to pull a name. You watched Marcus pull and read the slip of paper, trying to decipher his poker face but, to no avail. Marcus could have pulled anyone's name or even a winning lottery ticket and you’d have no idea.

When all names were drawn and everyone was dismissed you went to catch up with Marcus. Marcus was talking with Andre, a coworker.

“What’re you two secret Santa’s up to?”

The two of them spin around, slightly startled by your presence.

“I was asking Andre if he’d had a chance to comb through some old CCTV footage.” Marcus explains nonchalantly.

“Which I have not… so excuse me while I get my hands on that footage.” Andre jokes.

You give him a small wave and turn to Marcus.

“So who’d you pull?”, you ask, raising your brows.

“Well fellow secret Santa, I believe if I told you that would make us just Santas. Not secret Santas” Marcus teases you.

“Oh boo. You’re no fun.”, you lightly nudge him.

Marcus chuckles at you, “Yeah yeah, I know. We still on for our leisure literature tonight?”

You and Marcus had a shared love for reading and would plan outings to libraries or book stores, anywhere that had books really, and would pick a piece for the other to read. Then after a little bit, you’d share opinions. Some books were bought and brought home and others never left the place of establishment. Sharing your literary thoughts with someone was refreshing and you had each other reading things you’d otherwise never pick up.

“Of course! Ugh, it’s been the only thing keeping me going”, you dramatically roll your eyes and slump over, most of it is for show but some is genuine exhaustion.

“Work’s almost over. Then, you’re stuck with me for an evening. And then, and only then, may you have peace.”, Marcus finishes with a wink before walking away.

Little did Marcus know, you found peace in him.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. Tonight’s leisure literature night was at a small used book store. So with a brief stop at home, you change from work clothes into something a little more forgiving. When you open the door, a cheery bell rings signalling your arrival as though life were a television drama series. Marcus is already there and chatting with the elderly gentlemen at the till, both look at you and welcome you with warm smiles.

“Good evening, dear. You must be the y/n Marcus talks about. I’m Harvey.”, the elderly gentleman introduces himself.

Once you make your way to the till you rest your hands on the counter, “I am. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Harvey. I’m worried as to what Marcus has told you.” you joke.

“No need to fret, he's only spoken of you in the highest regard.”

“Is that true?”, you glance at Marcus.

“I’ve only told the truth.”, he responds.

“Well, I’ll let you kids get to your date night alone.” Harvey goes to the front door, turns the ‘open’ sign to ‘close’ and locks the door. “ I’ll be back to lock up at 11 pm.” he then goes into a private door which probably goes to a loft.

When Harvey's steps dissipate, the silence surrounding you and Marcus becomes heavy.

“Date night?”, you teasingly ask Marcus.

Marcus chuckles, “Harvey’s a- he doesn't-.” stumbling on his words.

“Relax, I’m only kidding.”

And you are telling the truth, you had only said what you said to tease him. However, deep down you wish you weren’t; you’d love to be on a date with Marcus at this quaint bookshop.

Nonetheless, you and Marcus fall into the comfortable routine of browsing the shelves side by side, trying to find the perfect piece for each other.

It’d only been 20 minutes, while in the non-fiction section when Marcus chuckles next to you. You look up from the well-loved book in hand and look up to the handsome man next to you.

“What’s up?”

“It’s an old university textbook. Art history, published in .”

You lean into Marcus looking at the yellowed book in his hands. Marcus flips it over and squints at the small print.

“Published in 1926.”, Marcus whistles, flipping it on its back, “I bet you it's filled with mistakes and missing facts.”

You giggle, “I bet it’s nothing in comparison to what we know now, especially in our field of work.”

“Imagine correcting this bad boy.”

“Might as well write a new book.”

“Which we’ve done.”

“Yeah, we’ve written and rewritten quite a lot of books since 1962.”

“You gonna make me read it?”, you ask looking up at Marcus, suddenly realizing how close you are to Marcus. You are nearly flesh against him, head a mere inch away from resting upon his shoulder. You don’t want to move away, his warmth is comforting, and moving away would signal that you acknowledged your proximity and potential discomfort.

Marcus looks down at you, your lips the closest to his they’ve ever been.

“No, I wouldn’t make you suffer through this.”

Silence blankets the both of you. The two of you both seem to notice how close you are to one another, neither wanting to break away.

“We should probably keep looking for books then.”, you whisper.

Marcus clears his throat, “Right, yes.” He then puts the textbook back and continues looking through books.

You regret your words instantly, wishing you’d stayed how you were. At least nothing was weird between the two of you afterwards. Per usual you fell into pleasant conversation and book browsing. Soon enough you find a book that makes you laugh in nostalgia.

“Whatcha find?” Marcus asks curiously.

“I found the book I want you to read.” you say while hiding it behind your back.

“Is that so?”

“Mhmm”

“What is it?”, he laughs.

“It’s a book I used to be obsessed with as a kid.”

You then pull the book out from hiding and Marcus once again laughs, it’s hearty and loving.

“Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.”, he reads out.

“An original. Bet you can’t beat that!”

“I don’t think I can. But I do have a book for you however, it’s not as pleasant.”

Marcus then pulls a book that was sitting atop the organized others, the title reads The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas. You look at him quizzically.

“It’s a short story, it contrasts itself by being both ambiguous and heavily detailed.”

“Alright, well in that case Mr. Pike, it seems as though we’re ready to read.”

“Seems to be. C’mon.”

Marcus then walks to the back of the bookshop to what you guess is the employee area. There there's a small coffee table placed in front of a loveseat atop a large rug.

“Well, well well. Looks like you might have had some leeway in setting this place up.”

“I may or may not have been planning on bringing you here for a while.”

“Well, it did not disappoint. Consider me impressed and then some. Maybe this is a date, huh?”

“Maybe”

— 2 Weeks Later —

“Hey we’re gathering for Secret Santa, let's go.”, a co-worker informs you.

You get up and a huge smile takes over your face, unable to control it. You find Marcus sitting around the large round table covered in gifts and sit next to him.

“So do you think you nailed the gift?”, you ask.

“I can only hope. Did you nail yours?”

“We’ll have to wait and see.”

“You seem pretty confident.”

You give him a cheeky smile in return. Then the co-worker who set up the whole event begins calling on people to open gifts and guess their secret Santa. Laughs are shared and the whole thing is light-hearted and fun. When Marcus's name is called you put on the best poker face you’ve ever employed, even leaning over a bit when he begins opening the gift. Marcus stops unwrapping it when he sees the cover. Looking at you, you play coy and give him encouraging eyes. Marcus pulls the book out from the wrapping and reads the cover aloud.

“An old textbook?” someone asks

Marcus only nods while opening the book. The biggest smile and chortles when he sees the inside is covered with corrections, sticky notes and diagrams.

Finally, Marcus explains what's in front of him.

“It’s an old art history textbook, published in 1926 filled with corrections.”

A few ‘wow’s and whistles emerge in the room, some in genuine awe and others faking interest.

“So who do you think your secret Santa was?”

“Without a doubt, Y/N.”

You giggle and applaud him, “Correct.”, the rest of the room joins your applause.

“Okay Y/N, your turn.”

You grab the gift with your name on it. You begin unwrapping the thin rectangular gift. Inside is a book from your favourite local art museum, featuring the attraction you’ve been begging to see and Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

“No way.”, you say shocked, staring at the gift in your hand.

“Well?”, a co-worker asks.

“It’s my favourite childhood story and a book from my favourite museum.”

“Awn that’s cute, who do you think it’s from?”

“It’s from Marcus.”

“Marcus, is that right?”

With a smile, he confirms your answer.

Once again the room applauds and then moves on to the next person.

You can’t help but look at Marcus astonished at the thoughtful gift with a warm smile.

The gift exchange finishes just as it started. Marcus places his hand on your knee, “come to my office with me?”

You nod, following him to his office aware of how hot your face feels. Marcus closes the door behind you.

“We were each other's secret Santa, how cute is that?”, you say with a smile.

“Actually,” Marcus begins nervously scratching his neck, “We weren’t each other's secret Santa.”

You look at him confused, “What do you mean?”

“Andre was your secret Santa, I bribed him to trade with me so I was yours because I have this.”

Marcus then opens a desk drawer and pulls out a ticket. He hands it to you and your jaw drops.

“A ticket to the museum. Marcus, you shouldn't have.”

“I was hoping you’d join me on an official date.”, Marcus says while pulling his own ticket from his desk.

You close the space between the two of you and kiss him. He quickly responds, kissing back and holding you against him. When the two of you pull away you’re both smiling gayly at each other.

“It’s about damn time, Mr. Pike.”

Marcus laughs and pulls you in for another kiss.

Taglist: @spideysimpossiblegirl @littlemisspascal

[misselko]

How would the Blue Lions (Dimitri) react to his short lover?

DETENTION

Professor gave everyone different extra assignments for this weekend. You got paired up with your lover, Dimitri, to make an essay about magic and battle strategy. It had not been a big assignment. From what Dimitri remembered, the Professor had told them to pair up and write a detailed essay about magic and battle strategy for the upcoming monthly exam. But... it is hard to keep his focus when he is paired up with his lover, (Y/N). He wanted to finish this as soon as possible and spend some time with you.

 

It was like a dream come true for both of you. Everyone in the Officers Academy knew that you love each other but being so oblivious, neither of you ever realized it. The young prince’s blatant affection towards you, side glances, and what a stuttering mess he is around your presence. The same thing happened to the dense class leader as well. He never realized your nervousness and adoring look towards him. What a match made in heaven! Thanks to the Blue Lions persistence, Professor Byleth’s help, Claude’s teasing, and even Edelgard’s remarks, Dimitri confessed his feelings to you. It’s been almost a year full of nothing but beautiful and tender moments for both of you.

 

“I’m certain at least one of these books will contain a military strategy usable by the cavalry and flier units, but I can’t seem to remember which,” Dimitri said, his back to you as he skimmed the spines of the dozens of books shelved in the library.  “I’m sure they put some books about Faith and Reason magic on the opposite side of this shelf...” Dimitri trailed off, and although his back was on you, you could sense his frown.

 

People do excel at different things, whether due to affinity, aptitude, motivation or some other reasons. Being not proficient at magic, the young prince decided to look for some extra knowledge in library books with you. Another good reason to get to spend time together.

 

“Individual performance can improve if each person is allowed to focus on what they’re good at. You were good at magic while I’m doing pretty decent at battle strategy. It will be better for us to share the assignments, (Y/N).”

 

Hummed again in assent, you tried to reminisce about some advanced magic books that will be useful for your assignment. “Yes, that will do, Dimitri. I will try to look for something in this section. Lindhardt showed me some good books about magic and Crests some days ago. It may be useful for this assignment.”

“We can learn about it together when we are done. Let’s split up for now.” The Blue Lions class leader waved his hands and began to skim the spines of the dozens of books shelved in the library.

 

And with that, you were busy peeling over some books and running your quill over the paper, describing Faith and Reason magic in an elaborate manner. This won’t do. You still need more materials about highest rank magic. Ragnarok, Bolting, Excalibur, and Agnea’s Arrow. They were on the furthermost shelves in the library. They will be very useful in the next exam.

Being so short made it impossible for you to reach that book. Should you ask for Dimitri’s help? You tried to look over to him, but that idea was thrown out of the window instantly when you saw that your lover was busy scribbling down his quill furiously on his assignment on the faraway side of the library. His quill kept on dancing swiftly over the papers. You decided to not bother him with such trivial things. His diligence has spurred you to do the best on your part as well.

 

Unfortunately, the ladder wasn’t enough to help you to do it! You have no other option. Dragging a table carefully, you put the ladder above it then begin to climb. Just a little bit more! You almost reached it. Just a little to the left and...

“(Y/N)? Where are you? I’m just done with the assignment. Is there anything I can help you with?”

 

Dimitri screamed when he saw you way up high above and starting to lose your balance. The ladder began to shake in an alarming manner. He was horrified when he had to watch his lover in such danger, terrified out of his mind that you would fall and hurt yourself.

“I-It’s okay. I got this, Dimitri. Just a little bit more and I will grab that bo—”

Losing your balance, the ladder gave away with a deafening crash. You fell forward to the bookshelf with a loud thud, accidentally pulled down the entire bookshelves. Oh no. This won’t end well. You would get stuck in tons of books and shelves. This will be painful. A LOT.

It was supposed to hurt. But it is not. You opened your eyes to see that Dimitri managed to catch you before you hit the floor. He is doing his best to protect you from the multiple falling bookshelves with his hands. Unfortunately, his Crest of Blaiddyd activated and broke down several shelves. Jagged lines flashed bright as countless books poured down and scattered haphazardly into the open space between segments. Numerous thick books fell down on your head really hard. It hurts like hell.

 

Dimitri had braced himself to take the most impact on his back. Despite some cuts on his hands and a couple of horrid bruises on his back from the broken shelves, Dimitri took your safety as his priority. He rushed you to infirmary and helped Professor Manuela to put some bandages over your bleeding head and injured legs. The older woman kept on yelling at both of you for being so careless. 

 

More scolding came from Seteth, Professor Byleth, and even Rhea when they took a step into the infirmary. They gave you two scolding of your life from that library incident. It felt like this was never going to end. The green-haired man called you to his Advisory Room that afternoon. He gave you both a good lecture and mandatory Group Tasks for three moons as detention. It was almost evening when you were done with all of it. Such an unnerving experience.

 

You got back to your room separately and agreed to eat dinner together later. Dining hall was eerily quiet as you two ate your dinner in complete awkward silence. The golden haired prince even refused to stare at your eyes. He did mention that the book that you were trying to picked was given to him by Seteth after the commotion. It was an uncomfortable walk to his quarter to fetch the book. 

 

“Did I do something wrong? You didn’t even ask for my help!  ....Was I not good enough?” He stopped in front of his quarter and sighed.

 

“No! I just... didn’t want to bother you with such a trivial matter, Dimitri.” Not daring to look straight at Dimitri, your eyes strained to see his forward-facing posture in your periphery.

 

“There’s no such thing as insignificant when it comes to you, (Y/N). I am always more than willing to help you.” Dimitri brushed your hair aside with his fingers gingerly, placing his hand on your bandaged forehead. “I’m really sorry for today. I have failed to protect you.”

 

Holding his hands with yours, you looked at him apologetically. “Don’t be. It was my fault, Dimitri. Not yours. And I have brought way much MORE assignments upon us now. I’m so sorry.” You said as you rubbed your hands softly against his bandaged one.

 

It was in that silence that his fingers, warm and calloused, intertwined with yours. Long seconds unfurled into minutes, and the quiet settled around the two of you as a near physical entity. Alone, together.

 

“Your hands are so warm... Have they always been? Now that I hold them within my own, I see how tiny and fragile they are.”

Dimitri’s touch was tentative, almost awkward, stilted. The contact, limited as it was, made your heart skip a beat. Interlacing and clutching your fingers with his hands tightly, Dimitri squeezed back; a little less gently than you would have expected. Bending his head, Dimitri brushed your lips with his. Cerulean blue eyes staring deeply into your eyes as he lightly slid his tongue across your bottom lip.

 

You drew a deep, staggered breath in response to the wave of heat you felt flushing through your body. Dimitri smiled affectionately at you. Then, he softly kissed you, lightly swept his tongue between your lips, pressing his warm, soft lips to yours. He slid his hands up her body and cradled your face with his hands. Then, he passionately kissed you, tickling your tongue with his. He sucked your lips gently, as though he was sampling nectar on a delicate petal. Then, with an intense urgency, he dipped his tongue past your lips, caressing your tongue with his. Your mind dropped off in a haze of pleasure.

 

“Dimi—”

 

“Whoa!! Get a room, would you? No one needs to see two people tongue wrestling like that. Never knew that you had it in you, Your Highness.” 

You jumped and hid behind Dimitri abruptly.

 

Sylvain whistled and flashed his signature wicked grin. “Just got back from a late night walk from the town for a date and I got to see... a bold display of affection from our uptight Blue Lions Leader! Please feel free to keep going at it!”

 

“Sylvain!!!”

Your lover yelled and scowled deeply at Sylvain, sending the philanderer scurried to his room with a devilish laugh quickly.

 

“S-sorry, it was my fault. I don’t know what has gotten into me. I will fetch the book. Please wait here, (Y/N).” The young prince’s face was burning red to the tips of his ears as he averted his gaze and dashed into his room. There will be no end to Sylvain’s pesters. Hopefully the skirt chaser won’t harass you for this tomorrow...

---

Dimitri walked you hand in hand to your own quarter. There wasn’t too much talking between you, just the sound of two people walking in the late night.

 

“We have to wake up early to do our Stable Duty tomorrow. But I’m going to finish my part of the assignments with this book before I hit the bed,” you said as you hug the book to your  chest. The damned book that brought you so much misfortune today. 

 

“Don’t push yourself too hard. You need to rest,” He let go of your hands and wrapped his arms around you. “I don’t know what I'd do if anything happened to you, (Y/N)”

 

“Dimitri.”

“Yes.”

“Thank you for protecting me when we were trapped between those fallen shelves.”

 

“But you got hit by those heavy books....”

 

“It’s nothing compared to your bruised back. And you even took care of my injury first... Thank you very much, Dimitri. You always made me feel safe.” You took his hands in your palms as you gave his bandaged hand reverent kisses. 

 

A genuine smile appeared on your face as you squeezed his hands gently. You could clearly see that got Dimitri a little as he smiled and squeezed back your hand tighter. At this moment everything seemed so right. You felt it and by looking at his cerulean blue eyes, you knew he felt it as well. 

 

Then you kissed. It was nice and slow and long and deep. One could lose all sense of time and space and even themselves. This kiss was that good. He know sooner or later he would have to break your lips loose and disengage reluctantly from your embrace because you had your own places to go. 

 

“To be honest, I don’t mind it.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“The detention. I thought that as another reason to spend more time together with you, (Y/N).” 

 

Dimitri leaned closer, pressing a kiss on your forehead and smiled warmly. This was a moment that both of you did not want to end. He let go of your hands and wrapped his arms around you. You pressed your head against his chest and hugged him, relishing his warmth. 

 

“Good night, Dimitri.” You said as you rubbed your hands on his back softly before letting him go.

 

“See you tomorrow, (Y/N).” The gentle prince bowed deeply and took his leave. 

 

Tomorrow couldn’t come soon enough. At least the detention wouldn’t be so bad with Dimitri by your side. 

[fallstreakfeathers]

[More] Obey Me Headcanons

[ I didn’t edit this at all, really, but I have around 30 headcanons so far that I’m using for my fic and would like several backups- so, I’m posting it here.) 

The ‘Devildom’ is a planet that is larger than ours. ‘Hell’ refers to a part of each territory the Avatar’s govern that is reserved for retaining and torturing human souls. These areas are actually quite small compared to the rest of the land. Each environment is unique, with its own native flora, fauna, land formations, climates, and dangers.

The Devildom resides on a tall, mountain-ringed plateau that towers over the lands around it. It is not the tallest point in the demon world.

Demons have elemental affinities that also define certain weaknesses. A demon that’s used to the heat and gasses of flowing magma would have difficulties in the colder parts of the world, or fighting against a demon or creature who uses a lot of freezing attacks.

There are many places in their realm that even Demons refrain from going, or simply cannot. One such area is a vast frozen land in the far northeast that drops to temperatures low enough that even demons that are developed for icy area’s cannot survive without magical assistance. However, this also makes the area a great place for criminals and the exiled to live should they be able to fight the cold. Demons and such that failed to pass the test of the cold are frequently found encased in the tall, pointed ice spires that jut from the ground- trapped in an unending preservation until the end of days.

There’s a massive crater in one part of the world, in the land Mammon governs, that’s referred to as the ‘Fear Pit’. It’s the aftermath of a massive battle between two demons, and the entire area is cursed with illusions that prey on your fears. It gets worse the closer you are to the bottom. Demons occasionally travel to test their own resolve, though few ever make it to the center- usually opting to turn back before their fear drives them mad.

Beelzebub dislikes thunder because it sounds similar to some sounds he heard in the war

Demon’s are immortal only in that time cannot destroy them, They can still die from wounds and even disease.

Not all demons can speak human languages. There’s plenty in the Devildom/Hell who’ve never set foot in the human realm and have never bothered to learn the realms languages.

On that note, there are more than a few specific demonic dialects spoken in the devildom. The Avatars and most high nobility are required to be fluent in the most common 3 demonic languages.

Demons who came to the Devildom by falling from the Celestial Realm are not considered ‘true demons’, and many have challenged the Avatars solely because of their origins

Demons may have pacts with multiple humans. If a demon who has more than one pact is ordered to do something by multiple pact holders, the demon will obey whoever has the strongest bond with them OR the orders will cancel each other out.

Many species found in the Devildom/Hell and the Celestial Realm are not exclusive to one or the other- dragons and unicorns are found in both, for example, but with different traits and personalities. Dragons in the Devildom are ugly things that spit an acidic venom, while those in the Celestial Realm are sleek and able to shoot blasts of fire from their throats. Some creatures remain the same in each realm, but are referred to by different names. Many mythic creatures from every human culture can be found in both the Devildom and Celestial realm

Though their human forms look rather perfect, everyone who fought in the Celestial War bears a great number of physical scars, some of which affect their human guise as well

Belphegor's right eye is completely blind in all his forms. He tends to hide it in his human appearance because it’s sometimes seen as a weakness by other demons who might try to challenge him. He has the most trouble with demon’s attempting to fight him because he’s often seen as the weakest Avatar due to his sleeping habits and general outward appearance. This is, of course, a massive mistake.

Belphegor frequently wraps his tail around himself (like a hug) for comfort- particularly when he’s alone

Belphegor’s horseshoe was broken during a fight with a demon who wanted to challenge his title/status.

Demons don't usually bury their dead because many simply disappear upon death. How they disappear depends on their primary sin (Wrath erupts in a blast of fire)

Leviathan changes the order of the smiley pins on his clothes depending on his mood (green for happy/content, yellow for neutral, red for angry/upset)

Satan dislikes chocolate

Demons are practically infertile. Children born naturally (human standard) are extremely rare. As such, all demon children are cherished and protected by modern demonic societies as a whole, and intending to harm one is punished harshly.

Lucifer may have birthed Satan from rage, but a demon can create another being from any emotion so long as it’s powerful enough (love, envy, etc). This is much more common than the physical way of creating children. The offspring will generally exhibit whatever emotion spawned them and will behave accordingly to whoever the emotion was directed at. After their birth, they grow very fast until they appear 10-15 years old, and their growth slows immensely.

A specific ritual is required for a demon( or angel) and human to crossbreed with each other, as they are completely different species. It would be like trying to cross a dog with a giraffe. These births are always extremely dangerous for the human mother. There are a few exceptions to this, such as Incubi/Succubi but successful crossbreeding is still extremely rare.

The older a demon is, the more horrific their true forms are. Anyone who has existed before the Celestial War is referred to as an ‘Ancient/Old World’ demon. Those born after and those who fell are considered ‘New Age/Modern’ demons. There are a handful of creatures referred to as ‘Primordials’. These beings are neither demons nor angels, but are immensely powerful and are very secretive. Not much is known about any of them, and they rarely show themselves. They also rarely partake in the social/political conflicts of the three realms. They did not have a presence in the Celestial War.

These titles have no bearing on how civilised someone may be.

There are technically four realms known. The Celestial, Devildom, and Human realms are commonly spoken about but the fourth realm is known as ‘Oblivion’ and isn’t so much a world as it is multitudes of platforms floating throughout a nebula. It’s useless overall but is used as a prison and punishment for the worst of demonkind. Few have ever made it out, but those that have come back a blubbering, maddened shell of who they were. Diavolo and Barbatos both are capable of opening a portal to it.

All demons/Fallen have the capability to return to a monstrous form, but Ancient demons have a particularly difficult time making themselves look human again (some Ancient’s are incapable of returning at all). New Age demons are able to transform much more freely, but if the transformation is brought on by strong negative emotion (rage, fear, or a physical reaction such as pain), it takes much longer to change back

The final stage of demonic courtship involves seeing each other's truest self. This display is a form of trust in the highest regard, the goal being total acceptance of each other. It should never be taken lightly. Not every couple goes through this, but those that do form a deeply personal and permanent bond.

A demon in full form is rare outside battle, though some choose to remain in their appearance as a way of showing off.

Some demons (nobility and such) have several forms outside of their human/humanoid guises

Demons are compelled to chew on things. There are several businesses specializing in ‘demon chew toys’. Gnawing on these can release both stress and anxiety and also helps maintain healthy teeth.

Demons shed their horns, scales, teeth and fur, and will often use these shed materials in their own clothing, jewelry, and other such items. Shedding season differs for every demon- it happens to some every half year, year, couple years, or even centuries. Being given an item made from a demon’s shed is considered a personal gift

Demons can tell the basic emotional state of any human they have a pact with. Whether they react to it or care is another story.

Despite the common opinion that the Devildom doesn’t have a sun, the sky brightens every 3 human world days thanks to the passing of a dwarf star. However, it would be a mistake to believe that the demon world is devoid of light without it! There are plenty of natural light sources that provide the lands with a way to see (for those without night vision), such as glowing crystals and mushrooms, magma, etc.

The Devildom’s planet’s core burns hotter than ours, which counteracts how cold it would be otherwise (though it’s still quite chilly in many parts of the planet)

When Diavolo ordered that no human be harmed in the Devildom again, he also banned all media portraying humans as prey. These books, videos, and movies are now sold on the black markets and hoarded by those who disagree with Diavolo

[theresnosafeharbor4myships]

Ichabbie ways of saying ‘I love you’

“Our fates are intertwined now. Running away isn't going to change that.”

“I do take comfort knowing that this strange road we find ourselves on can only be traveled together.”

“So if she dies in the dream...”  "She dies. Period."  "I see." *Ichabod marches over and drinks a concoction.  "Crane!"  ....  "What are you thinking?"  "Well, i'm coming with you now, so no point in discussing it."

“Believe me when I say that you belong in Sleepy Hollow. In the here and now.”

“You are home, Crane.”

“I look forward to you expanding my horizons further.”

“You know how important Crane is.”   “To you?”  “Yeah, to me.”

“Through these centuries, against the impossibility that we would find each other, we did. And I am most grateful for it.”

“Perhaps it would be easier if you left.”  “There's no way. Too many people I never got a chance to say goodbye to. You are not gonna be one of them.”

“You were right. There's always another way.”

“Next time listen to me, okay? I can't go through that again.”

“If it makes you feel any better, I feel pretty alone sometimes too.”  “Perhaps this is the sacrifice that witnesses must carry. all we really get is one another.”

“Your company holds the greatest value to me.”

*lifts glass in a toast* “To family.”  “To finding family.”

“If using this map meant betraying your trust, that's something I cannot do.”  *burns the map  “For the world. For our friendship. You and I will choose our own destiny. We have free will. I choose to forge my fate with you.”

“When I remembered you, I saw this world for what it truly is.”

“I swear to you, for as long as I can draw breath--”  “Our work is not done. You will come back for me. That I know.”  *precious Ichabbie hug  “Remember our bond. I'll come back for you.”

“I just...I don't think I would've made it without you, Crane.”  “Nor I you, Lieutenant.”

“I promise you: I will return for you!”

*precious Ichabbie hug  “Crane! You're alive.”  “We are survivors, you and I.”

“Maybe you don't come back.”  “And leave you here? No. Lieutenant, I do not accept good-bye.”  “...we're fighting a war, crane. Coming back for me is a risk I cannot let you take.”  “The Bible foretells two witnesses. You and I must remain together if there is any hope of victory. The only risk, Lieutenant, is in leaving you behind.”  “No matter what I say, you're coming back, aren't you?”  “I made a promise.”

“Hold fast, Abigail Mills. I'm on my way.”

“You never did tell me the full extent of your ordeal in that place.”  “Truth is, it got to me. Everywhere I went, I felt it slowly clawing at my mind, my soul. You know what the worst part was? Seeing you.”  “Must be why you beheaded me.”  “That demon version of you appeared just when that place was about to break me. I'd never been so happy to see anyone in my life.”

“That's what scares me. My faith in you is my greatest weakness.”  “That's what they want you to believe.”

“The only ones we can count on now are each other.”

“What matters now more than ever is that you and I stay true. Trust is the only currency with any value. All other forms are too easily counterfeited.”

“...but hear me, Grace Abigail Mills: it is not our fate for one of us to bury the other. We shall be victorious or defeated together.”

“I will be with you at every moment.”

“Our duty must be to one another before anything or anyone.”

“Of course I'm coming with you!”

“Be careful.”  “You too.”

“Thank you, Lieutenant. It is thru your eyes that I see myself most clearly.”

“I swear to you, his sacrifice will not be in vain.”

“No matter what obstacles we face, no matter how many disagreements we have, our bond cannot be broken.”

“Even in times of great peril, we could always rely on one another.”

“I'm glad I'm not in this alone.”  “I echo that sentiment, Lieutenant.”

“We're partners. More than that, we're friends.”

“You knew I'd not survive without you.”

“No matter what the course of fate, and no matter how I get there, I look forward to experiencing your America. It will be a pleasure to make your acquaintance all over again, Miss Mills.”

“You know, Crane, you don't need some stone tablet to justify your place in the world. You belong here just as much as anyone else.”

“You were wrong when you said that Henry and Katrina's death meant that you were alone. You may not have family, but you are not alone.”

“Of course having you by my side is the greatest boon.”

“After you passed out, she showed up.”  “Pandora? Did she harm you?”

“I'm most grateful, Lieutenant, that you and I have found one another once again.”

“We are a partnership of opposites, yet our affinity for one another bears the ripest of fruit.”

“You noted that I've been off my game of late. When I pledged my allegiance to this country in 1776, I had a very clear vision of what my future would hold. Nowhere in that vision did I imagine waking in the 21st century, and yet,,,more and more, I feel this desire to acculturate. But the idea of losing the archives, of losing my fight for citizenship for a country that I, in part, founded, the idea of losing you...to some wretched federal promotion to...I don't know, Dallas or Los Angeles or... Sometimes it seems as though the unbeatable enemy is the 21st century.”  “Yeah, but the thing is, Crane, Joe, me, Jenny, we are the 21st century. And every day, we take you a step further in that direction. That is the unbeatable enemy beating itself. And we ain't goin' nowhere.”

“I'd like to think you and I have developed, over the years, Lieutenant.”

“With all respect to my fellow compatriot, Major Revere, your spirit and mine is made of far heartier stock. Hence our most impressive roster of victories. Tis because we care. Come what may.”

“You ready to fight some bad guys, Crane?”  “Indeed.”  “My man.”

“If the Lieutenant were here, she would say something tough yet encouraging. Of which I would wholeheartedly concur. She is very good at that.”

“This particular (monster) feeds off for desperation. The locator spell I cast must have brought it to the area. And it focused on me because of my... emotional state [from missing Abbie].”

“I have worked and fought alongside many people in my time. It was only recently that I truly understood what a partner is. What it means to have someone who makes you more than you are simply by being by your side. Truly your better half.”

“I will never cease my efforts to find the Lieutenant.”

“Our shared connection as witnesses means I am the Lieutenant's best chance.”

“Tis a relief to find you hale and hearty, Lieutenant. I knew you were alive.”

“Thank you, Crane, for never giving up on me.”

“I meant what I said before: you're always here. With me. Ever since we first met. There's no explaining it. Two people could not be any more different. But we work things out. Together.”

“Stay with me, Crane.”

“[He's] not alone. Not ever!”

“In the darkness. Lost. I heard your voice. I followed it.”  “We made it.”

“You were my Wilson.”

“In all candor, Lieutenant, whilst you were away, I spent every waking hour endeavoring to bring you home. All other responsibilities fell by the wayside.”

“I'm trying really hard.”  “And you will succeed. Just as you were by my side when I returned to Sleepy Hollow, so I shall be by yours.”

[Jenny to Crane] “You seem happier.”  “Yes, I admit I do feel rather suffonsified. And your sister's mood appears to have taken a significant upturn of late.”

“I knew Crane was out there looking for me. I held on to that.”

“The supernatural has given you a lot of good too. It led you to Crane.”

“Lieutenant--”  “Oh. Yes. I'm scared out of my mind of seeing that place again, and no, I'm not letting you go without me. Whatever you do, I do. That's the deal.”  “Truth bomb if I ever heard one.”

“I prefer to focus on what we have, and I have a partner of the highest caliber.”  “Better than Betsy Ross?”  “Well, she was occasionally rather pushy. Prone to talking with a mouth full of food.”  “George Washington?”  “Well, now there was a great man. But a great man with legendary halitosis.”  “I really beat those guys?”  “Oh...handily.”  “You...never waiver in your faith. In what we do. In me. And you know how rare that is, don’t you?”  “When it concerns you and me, Lieutenant, there is no greater certainty.”

“I'm really going back there.”  “Only this time you're not alone.”

[erinptah]

Annotated Leif & Thorn AU

As I write these back in 2021, I’m trying to avoid any “present-day” statements about Leif & Thorn. Sure, my plan is to have it still running a long ways into The Future — but if I take that for granted in my writing, you just know that’s gonna jinx it.

That said, even here in The Past, the strips for Volume 5 are almost completely drawn! Barring any huge unforeseen problems, it should be launching on Kickstarter next month.

(Knock wood.)

So it seems like a good time to cross-promote with the annotated Crossover Art.

As of writing, about half these BICP characters have turned up in Leif & Thorn:

Katya (Kara Lynn): Embassy servant, turned out to be a pretty major character

Pine (Poe): recast as a minor miner, alongside Patrik (Patrick)

Briony (Bianca): still a Presidential archivist

Camellia and Lily: appeared among the Kolpovision contestants, along with cameos of Kaguya, Ilsa, Freyda, and a bunch of others

I’d like to use Ana Wagner at some point. Also, Strawberry and Morinda, though they’d have to be redesigned — right now, their outfits are “variations on Holly’s magical girl outfit,” instead of “unique homages to different magical girl series.” (Morinda is perfect for a Princess Tutu homage…)

Original character concepts:

Strawberry and Morinda: Both identified young as having serious magical potential. Strawberry is friendliest with earth spirits; Morinda has a strong affinity with water. They argue a lot about which spell techniques are most practical, most effective, and/or most morally acceptable.

Pine: Morinda’s patient and loving boyfriend. Totally normal human in this universe. Works at a wildlife center, rehabilitating injured birds.

Ana Wagner: Trade mogul from Leif’s home country. Always wearing classy furs. Has some lucrative business partnerships with vampires.

Katya: Embassy servant, same position as Leif, though she has different specialties. Taller than he is.

Briony: Works at the highest level with the Ceannic government’s technomagical databases. (They have computer-esque technology, it just all runs on giant crystals.)

Reseda and Lily: Separate characters! Twins, but not hard to tell apart. Reseda is the outspoken fighter; Lily is the mild-mannered dreamer.

Camellia (Torvald): Openly lives the bigender life, because this society doesn’t understand transness as something controversial. Work buddies with Reseda; met Lily in a literature class. You can imagine the rom-com mistaken-identity shenanigans.

(Originally posted here on But I'm A Cat Person.)

[txtdreamss]

mirrorball // [g.w.]

sequel to tolerate it

warnings: angst, fem!reader

summary: It’s been 2 weeks since George told you he has a date to the yule ball. As of now, it’s the night before and you are reflecting on your feelings for him and wondering if you can continue as his best friend.

word count: 1.5k

A/N: So, here it is! I am hoping to get this posted as soon as possible for those of you who wanted to see a part 2 to tolerate it. I had a really difficult time deciding on how I wanted to end this, and I really hope it pleases you guys (not sure I’m happy with the ending, but that is to be expected). Sorry in advance for any errors, as this is a one-woman show and I sometimes miss my own mistakes. :) Special thanks to @ajusquishy for being the first to ask about this addition to tolerate it!

*****

I want you to know I'm a mirrorball I'll show you every version of yourself tonight

The past 2 weeks had been the most difficult time of your life. George had been following Alicia around like a lost puppy, and even Fred was getting sick of it. Oddly enough, it seemed like George couldn’t get through one interaction with you without mentioning the girl’s name.

“Oh Y/N, we decided to match my tie to her dress!”

“Did you know she said I am the cutest quidditch player she has ever met?”

“I’m thinking about asking mum to knit her a sweater this Christmas!”

At first you could handle it. As his best friend of nearly 6 years, it was your job to handle it. Why didn’t that make any of this easier?

There wasn’t a change in George that you had neglected to notice. Hell, your heart dropped when he showed up with a new bruise after quidditch practice. You were the one who had told him to grow his hair out (and damn, was that a good piece of advice). George had even been with you when he chose his first pair of dress robes for merlin’s sake!

Molly Weasley saw you as her stand-in while the boys and Ginny were at Hogwarts. Of course, she didn’t know that George and Fred had grown in their pranking abilities thanks to your sugar-sweet exterior, but that didn’t change the role you played in the Weasley children’s life. You were the responsible friend who also just happened to lead a double life when it came to the twins.  It was thanks to you that they had received only 3 detentions this quarter, and it was their fault that you now had an affinity for “accidentally” leaving dung bombs in the outer pockets of Cormac McLaggen’s bag.

“Hey, Y/N... I haven’t seen you around much. You aren’t avoiding me, are ya?” George’s baritone voice broke you out of your thoughts. He settled his arms on the top of your head, and sighed deeply, letting his head drop. “Fred and I need your help figuring out what the best escape route from the dungeons is.”

“Go ask Lee, he can do some math too.” Yes, you were being harsh, but George’s presence was enough to shatter any semblance of self control you still had left.  “Now, if you excuse me, I have a study date with some ancient runes and Hermione.”

As you stalked out of the common room, George couldn’t bear to bring up how he hadn’t been able to come up with any solid pranks in exactly 14 days.

*****

You'll find me on my tallest tiptoes Spinning in my highest heels, love Shining just for you

Tonight was the night; your hair was curled to perfection, and the gown your mother had sent you was the color of holly. The heels you had strapped on were a matte black dusted with the occasional piece of red glitter. Despite the fact that George was not your date, you couldn’t help my let your thoughts drift to him as you got ready. Would he think you looked pretty? Would he think you looked as good as her?

Lee tapped you on the shoulder, and you steadied yourself before letting him gently grab your hand. “Don’t let that prat get you down. You look like a goddess, Y/N. Now, let’s go show Georgie what he is missing.” 

Lee was a great friend for doing this for you; he knew about your feelings (Fred apparently can’t keep his mouth shut), and immediately became set on helping you get back on your feet. He had become your greatest cheerleader as of late, and claimed that George doesn’t know it, but he definitely has feelings for you.

As you both walked into the great hall, you couldn’t help but let out a gasp. There were snowflakes and all types of seasonal decor strung up across the room, and it was almost like the room had transformed into a winter dreamscape. Fred and George had beat you there, already sipping punch with Angelina and Alicia.

“You boys clean up nice.” The twins and Lee let out a chorus of ‘hey’s, clearly displeased with your mockery of their appearances.

“Oi, I was betting 5 galleons that Fred would show up in his trainers...” George’s voice was surprisingly meek, almost as if he was looking for your approval with his jabs towards his brother.

The boys immediately began discussing their plan to spike the punch bowl with firewhiskey, and Angelina and Alicia launched into a conversation about where they had purchased their gowns. You felt more than out of place at this point, and decided to relocate after notifying Lee that you’d be fine on your own for a bit. Almost immediately after, Angelina went to distract McGonagall while Fred and Lee snuck under the table of refreshments.

You went to talk with Hermione and the younger trio, and were drawn into a lesson in muggle dancing.

“No, Ron, that is not how you hit the woah.” (I’m sorry I felt so inclined to include this cuz the image makes me chuckle lol).

“Well, ‘Mione, why don’t you and Y/N show us how this is done then?” Harry and Ron crossed their arms, and Hermione slipped her arm around your shoulders.

“C’mon, Y/N. You look like you could use something fun.” She dragged you onto the dance floor, and you both began dramatically spinning each other to the sound of your wheezing laughter.

If only you had noticed a certain red-headed prankster gazing at you like you had hung the stars in the sky...

*****

You are not like the regulars The masquerade revelers Drunk as they watch my shattered edges glisten

Fred and Angelina had taken to the floor as soon as the waltzing began. After watching them twirl to the crescendos of the music, you finally decided enough was enough. All it too was a look at Lee, and he understood what you needed to do. You slipped out of the doors to the great hall, and found yourself wandering amongst the carriages powdered with snow, occasionally stopping to draw shapes into the piles of flakes.

Following five-ish minutes of mucking about, you finally decided to sit on the steps that bridged the courtyard and the hallways. Snowflakes continued floating, but you quickly realized the droplets of water on your face were from small tears and not the weather. Sniffles escaped your nose, and you crossed your arms in a poor attempt to keep warm despite your lack of sleeves.

Out of nowhere, you felt heavy cloth drop onto your bare shoulders.

“Be careful, love. Ya look like you’re halfway to becoming an ice lolly.” George shuffled his long, lanky body onto the steps. You looked at him through your lashes, and he seemed almost squeamish.

“Don’t you have Alicia waiting for you inside? I’m sure she wouldn’t be thrilled to see you out here.”

“Bloody hell, Y/N, I think we have been pretty dense.” Confusion evident on your features, George let his larger hand cover yours. “I didn’t want to ask Alicia. I wanted to ask you.”

“What do you mean? You’ve been talking my ear off about how much you like her for weeks now...”

“I was trying to make you jealous.” Silence overtook the interaction.

“So you’re saying that we both have been blind to our feelings?” 

George let out a small chuckle, and pulled his hand away. To be quite honest, you felt like maybe you had been ignoring the signs: the subtle stares, the extended physical contact, the willingness to be there whenever and wherever you asked him to.

“I think we may want to start over and forget the last few weeks.”

“I think I would quite like that.” You stood up, and brushed the snow off your skirt before extending your hand towards George. “Well, George, the yule ball is in... now... would you like to be my date?”

“I would enjoy that a bunch, Y/N.” He took your hand, and pulled you into his chest. “May have a dance to start off the evening?”

“...There isn’t any music.” You chuckled, but George simply grinned at you before beginning to hum.

“Problem solved. So, may I have this dance?”

“You may.” You dropped your head into the nook of his shoulder, and George began to sway and spin you, leaving 2 pairs of footprints in the snow beneath your feet.

From just beyond your view, Fred, Lee, Angelina, and Alicia let out somewhat of a “oomph” and high-fived each other before turning to go back inside.

Shining just for you.

[milkacchan]

Request for anon: can I request Present mic and a American exchange student (southern reader if you could??) (Aka her being his favorite student)?? ((Bc I know you have an Aizawa one and all might one))

REQUESTS ARE NOW OPEN!!!

😌😌😌😌 yes.

• His class is your favorite but also your least favorite

• Because you have a natural affinity for english and you ACE the tests but also Japanese is SO HARD

• Anyway from day one, you're his favorite

• he heard you mumble a pun under your breath at something he said then laugh to yourself and he's like

• Yes. This one.

• he is that english teacher

• the ones that kids will flock to if they feel alone

• This man practically becomes dad 2

• and you're so thankful for that because it's someone you can be with

• Anyway it starts with you sitting alone in his class room during lunch

• bc theres no one else to talk to lmao

• Dumb small talk

• that turns into pun contests and dad jokes

"Hey, Mr. Hizashi, did you hear about the kidnapping at school?"

He perked up, "What?! No I-"

"It's okay, he woke up."

• and that was when he knew you were going to be best friends

• You eat in his room a lot

• and when he finally questions it, he feels his heart break a little

"So why do you always eat in here? Not that I mind- just students rather not spend more time with teachers."

You shrug. "I feel better in here, I don't really fit in with my class right now- I don't know them and the prospect of interacting kinda scares me. Besides it's fun in here."

• he's 🥺🥺

• but he totally understands!!! Because he was the same way in highschool. Unsure if he was liked

• and as you do start to really make friends, he see's you in the room a little less but you're still there a majority of the time

• Hizashi also speaks english and he likes talking to you in english Because he can talk shit with you

• Aizawa only understands about 45% of what you're saying

• All might understands a majority though so you gotta watch it w him

• He's a fuckin sNITCH

• "Did you see that?" He mumbles under his breath, his attention still on his paper

"I was going to pretend I didn't- that was awful,"

"Sounds like a plan,"

• Y'all talk- a lot

• father daughter vibes

• you got his number

• Deadass

• "(Y/N)!!! I'M GETTING FOOD! WANT ANYTHING?"

"Whatever is cheapest,"

• He'll absolutely leave to get you something if you really needed it

• Like one time you needed tampons and there were none to be found

• and you admit it to Hizashi (with so much embarrassment) and before you even ask he's running to the store

• Thankfully it was during lunch so he didn't ditch any classes he was supposed to teach or anything

• mans is a god send

• if you dont have enough money to get food or sumn

• he got you covered

• "You're literally going to go broke Mr. Hizashi,"

"No, I am what you call r i c h,"

"You really aren't,"

"Stooop, I'm getting it for you."

• one time you accidently called him dad and you thought you were going die if embarrassment

• YOU DONT EVEN REALIZE YOU SAID IT UNTIL YOU WERE OUT OF HIS CLASSROOM

• Eye contact?? Idk her

• But mic feels honored

• theres the dad trio, Aizawa, All might, and now Hizashi

• They have an on going competition likes dads do, bragging about their kids

• "Did you hear? Young Midoryia figured out his power move,"

"Little late if you ask me, However Shinsou is ready to move to 1A,"

"(Y/N) got the highest score in her class by 10 on the english test we took AND she's cooler than yalls kids,"

• At the sports festival he's cheering for you

• Bitch is SCREAMING

• He's got your back 100% all the time

• He helps you come out of your shell no doubt

• yall are stupid, together.

• yall also vibe, together

• #staying after school to watch a movie in his class

• Occasionally Aizawa will join

• Being close with Hizashi automatically means being close with Aizawa I mean this man WILL protect you with his life

• Even if he denies it

• They're called movie Wednesdays

• because its half way through the week and you definitely want to die by then so it's time for a break

• Aizawa won't assign homework on wednesdays for this reason (even if he doesnt go)

• the rest of class 1a doesnt know

• Sometimes even Hitoshi will join, fam squad

• No, seriously tho

• Yall deadass stay being a family

• Hizashi would 100% adopt you if he could

• HE'LL COPY YOUR SOUTH LINGO

• Like phrases he hears you say? He'll memorize it

• He started saying y'all and all the teachers clowned him but he didn't even care

• He'll also ask a lot about America

• he wants to know as much as he can

• specifically about where you live

• He thinks traditions and certain aspects are cool there

• like piercings? If you have those he'll think its dope

• and he'll ask about the attitude towards them in America

• Dyed hair? Same questions

• he'll def have you in his radio show to talk about it

• starting a podcast??? Maybe.

• okay lets talk about papa bear mode for a sec

• Present Mic, Hizashi Yamada, 100% has a papa bear mode

• it's scary bc he has red eyes

• I'm talking about like yelling at other teachers who yell at you

• Pulling you out of actual first fights (he'll rarely get you in trouble)

• Absolutely wrecking people who try you

• Pulling you out of rubble that one time during training and giving Bakugou the scare of his LIFE

• Like yall thought his mom was scary? Just wait. Hizashi tops that.

• Bakugou is quiet for the rest of the day

• but his papa bear also includes emotional support

• you open up to him more than you've opened up to people at home

• like full on crying in his chest. Maybe bc you were stressed or homesick- but he's there if you ever need it.

• and lastly, reading manga together then talking about it

[twh-news]

To land ‘Loki,’ Kate Herron had to pull out all the stops. How she won over Marvel

As a teenager, Kate Herron was obsessed with the “Lord of the Rings” films.

In particular, she recalls heading to theaters repeatedly with friends who shared her passion to see “The Two Towers” (2002), the second installment in director Peter Jackson’s trilogy based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic fantasy novel. She even wrote “Lord of the Rings” fan fiction.

“It was very silly,” the British filmmaker insists, revealing that one of her stories saw the heroic Fellowship traveling through a magical fountain and getting trapped in New York. “Honestly, I was just writing the stories to make my friends laugh. I guess it was kind of that first foray for me: ‘How do I tell a story?’”

Years later, Herron is again involved in telling a story about a protagonist displaced from the world he knows. But this time, her audience is much bigger.

Herron, 33, is the director of “Loki,” the Marvel Studios series that follows the adventures of the titular god of mischief after he has been plucked out of time by an agency charged with maintaining the sanctity of the timeline. Thus, the six-episode series, which premiered earlier this month on Disney+, features a slightly different version of Loki than the fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe have grown to love since his first appearance in “Thor” (2011) through “Avengers: Endgame” (2019).

“I love villains,” says Herron during a recent video call from Atlanta, where she is putting the final touches on “Loki.” “I think that if a villain’s done right, you don’t necessarily have to like their actions, but you have to understand them. And I think that Tom [Hiddleston], in the last decade, has brought such empathy and wit and pain to a very real character for so many people. I just wanted to be part of whatever [Loki’s] next chapter was going to be.”

The series, on which the self-described Loki fan also serves as an executive producer, is Herron’s highest-profile project to date. Her previous credits include directing on Netflix’s “Sex Education,” as well as “Five by Five,” a series of short films executive produced by Idris Elba.

While growing up in South East London, Herron never considered filmmaking as a career. Her love of movies manifested as the aspiration to become an actor, and she often goaded her peers into putting on plays or making movies using a friend’s father’s camcorder. It wasn’t until some astute and encouraging teachers at Herron’s secondary school pointed out that she seemed more interested in storytelling that she changed course.

By introducing Herron to new texts, these teachers — as well as a film studies class that covered films directed by Stanley Kubrick and Akira Kurosawa — helped expand her perspective.

“I just didn’t know that you could have a voice and an authorship over a film, which probably sounds a bit silly. But I just hadn’t really thought about films in that way,” says Herron. Soon enough, she was on the path to film school at the University for the Creative Arts in Farnham, England, where she graduated with a degree in film production.

Herron laughs as she remembers how she believed she would just go off and find work in film straight out of school. “Obviously that did not happen,” she says.

With no post-graduate roadmap (or job offer) to help her break into the industry, Herron eventually started writing and directing short films with “no money” while juggling a day job as a temp. Both experiences provided Herron with material for “Loki,” which introduces a new bureaucratic agency called the Time Variance Authority to the MCU.

“I’ve worked at a lot of random places, which weirdly has influenced ‘Loki’ in some ways because we have this office culture kind of running through it,” says Herron. “I’ve worked in a lot of offices.”

In order to give the retro-futuristic offices of the TVA “a real lived-[in], breathed-in office” feel, Herron incorporated details that viewers could recognize from the real world — from paper files to the posters on the walls — and gave them a fantastical twist befitting the superhero series.

“One of the most exciting things to me about Kate is she has this amazing attention to detail,” says “Loki” co-executive producer Kevin Wright. “That was something that we saw on her very first pitch [and] it works its way into every frame of the show. Every monitor, every piece of paper in the TVA … she has looked over and approved everything you see.”

In an email, “Loki” star Hiddleston described Herron as “a dream collaborator” who possesses “a unique combination of extraordinary diligence, stamina, energy, respect and kindness.”

“Her affection for and understanding of Loki was so deep, profound and wide-ranging,” Hiddleston wrote. “She built a new world for these characters to play in with incredible precision, but she was also acutely sensitive to their emotional journey.”

Herron’s affinity for outsiders is apparent throughout the course of our conversation. There is of course her love for Loki — the heir to the king of Frost Giants raised as the prince of Asgard who has become one of the MCU’s most beloved villain-turned-antiheroes. Herron’s first introduction to the world of Marvel as a kid was through “X-Men: The Animated Series,” about the superhero team with mutant powers that set them apart from average humans. Herron cites Lisa Simpson — the overachieving, opinionated middle child from the animated sitcom “The Simpsons” — as the reason she is a vegetarian who can play the saxophone.

And although Herron describes herself as shy, it’s no match for the passion she brings to discussing film and television.

She calls Wes Anderson’s 2001 film “The Royal Tenenbaums,” co-written by “Loki” actor Owen Wilson, “a perfect movie.” In addition to being obsessed with “The Simpsons,” Herron gravitated toward genre shows such as “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” the updated “Battlestar Galactica” and “The X-Files” when growing up.

As Herron enthusiastically dives into “Loki’s” influences — which include “Alien” (1979), “Blade Runner” (1982), “Brazil” (1985), “Metropolis” (1927) and, yes, even “Teletubbies” — it’s easy to see why Wright knew she was the right person to bring “Loki” to life from their very first meeting.

Upon learning that Marvel was developing a show about Loki, Herron tasked her agents with calling Marvel every day until they would meet with her. And it worked.

“I was just so excited that somebody was chasing the project,” says Wright. “Which sounds crazy, that Marvel would be excited somebody’s chasing us. But it was the early days of us trying to get this Disney+ streaming stuff off the ground, so people were very hesitant … they didn’t know what it was yet.”

Herron’s enthusiasm for the show landed her a video meeting with Wright and executive producer Stephen Broussard. Believing it might be her only shot at the project, Herron came armed with so many stills and clips to illustrate her discussion of the scripts she’d been sent that a simple meet-and-greet turned into a four-hour conversation.

“Over the course of the next week or so,” Wright explains, “it was really figuring out how to set Kate up to succeed when we got her in front of Kevin Feige to pitch this.”

Herron put together a 60-page bible of ideas for the characters, the story, the visual references and more. The rest is Marvel history.

She learned not to wait for permission, she says, after graduating from film school and becoming involved with improv and stand-up to both develop her comedy chops and to meet funny collaborators to be in her short films.

“I think I’d always find excuses, almost, [to not do it],” says Herron. “It was that thing of being like, ‘Oh, well, I’m not ready. So I’ll wait. I’ll wait until I’m perfect at it and then I’ll go do it.’”

Taking inspiration from Robert Rodriguez’s “Rebel Without a Crew” and a SXSW keynote speech by Mark Duplass, Herron realized that she just needed to start making things. She told herself it was OK if the films were messy. If a short was bad, nobody had to see it. If a short was “halfway to good,” she would submit them to festivals.

It’s this tenacious creativity that connects the dots between her early fan fiction, her short films, her pitch presentations — and now “Loki” itself. It’s a trait that has helped her navigate the industry to her current success, even during the periods it’s been most frustrating. As a female director, “I got asked crazy stuff in interviews sometimes,” she says of life on the festival circuit. “I remember being asked, ‘Are you sure you’re ready? Are you sure you’re ready?’ And male colleagues of mine were never asked that in interviews. I think that’s probably why I was so driven to just go out and make stuff.”

[hogwartsfirebolt]

Aaaand we’re back!!! I can’t believe it’s been a year since the last time I found myself typing one of these, but here we are, and WHAT. A. YEAR. Full of the highest ups and the lowest downs and through it all, so, so many wonderful stories that have made this my best reading year in fandom, ever. If you’re interested, in no particular order, I’d like to share some of my absolute favorites with you ❤️ Banner art is by the immensely talented @upthehillart and with nothing else to add, here’s my

FAVORITE FICS I READ IN 2019 PART ONE

1. Grounds for Divorce - @tepre - 122k - Malfoy finds a coin. Harry finds a letter. A story about histories, a story about families. A story about a lemon tree somewhere in Upper Egypt.

This is the only thing on this list that is actually in order because DAMN. Because HOLY SHIT. This is my absolute favorite fic of all time and that’s not... I’m not exaggerating. I have INFINITE things to say about it, and actually, I have. Let me refer you to my long, gushy rec specifically about this masterpiece and just BEG you again to read it because it’s beautiful and it will change you and and and-

2. amid this warm and steady sweetness - warmfoothills - 21k - Harry is not living in a period drama, no matter what his friends or his new house or Malfoy’s sudden affinity for horse-riding might suggest, and if one more person uses the word courting, he’s going to start hexing people.

This is just beautiful. Every word feels like it’s been laid down with gentleness and the entire setting is vibrant, sweet, so lovely it’s almost palpable. I had never read anything for this pairing that was modeled after a period drama, and it was perfectly done, it made me laugh at the outfits and the teasing and the ridiculous situations all around, and go “awww” when it became sweet and now I just want to keep it close inside my heart. You simply have to read this. 

3. Star Quality - who_la_hoop - 118k - Two years after the war, and Harry’s content with his life. OK, so it’s a little annoying that he keeps winning Witch Weekly’s Most Eligible Bachelor award, and he’s really not looking forward to the unveiling of an enormous gold statue of himself, but he loves his friends, and he loves being an Auror. And if he yearns for something more, something he can barely bring himself to think about, well, he’ll probably get over it. No one’s happy all the time, are they? But then everything changes, and Harry’s thrown into a new and dazzling world he’s not sure he can actually escape from. And as time goes on, he starts to wonder: does he actually want to?

Incredibly creative and executed so masterfully that I couldn’t stop reading and finished it in a day. Features a fed up Harry (always appreciated in this house), alternate realities, concerts, retail jobs, wishes upon stars, balloons, boys not knowing how to communicate but still inevitably falling in love, and just hours and hours of FUN. 

4. And One To Play - @tackytigerfic - 21k - Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter are the best team in the Auror Department, even when they're driving Gawain Robards up the wall. When Malfoy is injured on a mission, it causes Harry's magic to go haywire. Meanwhile, a mysterious criminal is draining people's magical cores and turning them into Squibs. Can Harry stop blowing Malfoy away in time to solve the case? And will Malfoy ever stop trying to get the last word?

GUYS THEIR DYNAMIC IN THIS ONE IS JUST PERFECT. The author wrote this absolutely incredible relationship where they trust each other and have so much fun and are so perfectly attuned to each other and I just sucked it right up because it’s so good. The case is interesting and engaging, Harry’s little predicament makes such a mess, and still their dynamic and friendship is the backdrop of it all. This fic is a really, really good time all around. 

5. That Old Black Magic - @bixgirl1 - 77k - Centuries ago, marriage contracts were the norm — ready-made alliances between families, expected and complied with, without complaint. But norms have a way of changing, and when a long-dormant contract flares to life, Harry has to navigate an unexpected splintering of the path he'd thought would be easy after the war... with Draco Malfoy.

Reading this was one of the best moments of my entire year. I read it in a day, couldn’t put it down because the writing and the pacing and the dynamic are so incredibly good it blew my mind a little bit. It’s a slightly different take on the arranged marriage trope than what I was used to, and I loved it so, so much. It might be my favorite fic of Bix’s, ever. 

6. On a Clear Day - saras_girl - 41k - Draco Malfoy is waiting for his real life to begin, and it appears that he’s not the only one. Coffee, charity, and the wisdom of the elderly.

!!!!!! That’s all I can think to say!!!! In trying to read ALL of saras_girl fics I have found such ABSOLUTE GEMS and this is definitely, definitely one of the best of them in my opinion, it’s just so incredibly lovely in every way and I’m so weak for when they slowly let themselves be vulnerable with each other the more they get to know each other, and help each other be brave and !!!! again. This paints it so beautifully I just want to read it again and again. 

7. Renaissance - dysonrules - 33k - Harry awakens after a long sleep to find things terribly changed. He's not in an alternate universe... it just seems like it.

Surly, moody Harry is a weakness of mine, and the way he navigates the extremely difficult situation he finds himself in in this one was so interesting to read. I always do love Draco being capable and good at what he does, trying to become a better person through his work. A really, really good fic with fantastic characterizations and a plot that kept me on my toes the whole time. Definitely recommended. 

8. At the End of the Day - sara_holmes - 7k - No brooms, a distinct lack of balls, no comprehension of the offside rule and a Malfoy who apparently has magic feet. Harry never knew this stupid game could be so much fun.

This fic is so light, so lovely and young that I went back to it over and over again during the year. It carries that feeling of tentative new beginnings, letting go and reconnecting with those around you after going through terrible things, all of that in a way that never loses sight of the fact that they’re still teenagers and still deserve some fun and light in their lives. So, so cute.

9. take my hand once more - @candybarrnerd - 8k - Harry finds himself standing in front of the door to the Room of Requirement with no memory of having walked there or having walked past the required three times either.-Everything feels like it's falling apart, his second marriage is failing, and he would actually kill for a decent nights sleep, which must be why the Room of Requirement provides him with the solution of a bed when Harry steps through the door. When he wakes though, he finds it's so much more.

Oh god I ache just remembering this. It’s so, so good. Every word paints every feeling so effectively that I felt it etched into my chest and all of Harry’s love for Draco was mine and his sorrow was mine and what he felt after the Room of Requirement gives him what he needs is what I felt too and I was just broken and repaired completely in 8k words in the best way ever. You MUST read this now. 

10. Eternally Consistent - @alychelms - 44k - Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter assumed they would never be anything but civil enemies, until Potter lands on Malfoy's doorstep, bleeding, covered in curses, and acting very strangely indeed.

THIS IS EXCELLENT, REMARKABLE, EXTRAORDINARY!!! Omg every word, I swear every word had me on the edge of my seat and you see that time turner tag? Do you see it? It’s played in the BEST possible way, the case is so freaky and incredible and the work with the destroyed time turners and those... wizarding physics applied to it were so incredibly interesting. The characterizations are delicious, every moment Draco and Harry work together is fantastic, and in the end, when everything falls into place, it’s perfect. I LOVE THIS SO MUCH. 1000000/10. 

---------------------------------------

Each of these fics is incredibly close to my heart and I enjoyed them immensely. I hope they bring you all joy as well, and I’m ALWAYS here to gush about any of them ❤️ Happy holidays!

[lulzyrobot]

Pokemon Dynamorph AU Masterpost

Based on THIS POST 

The short of this AU is that the climax of the Eternatus fight had an even more profound effect on the Galar region and its people. The excess energy made people fuse with their pokemon! Oh boy! So below the cut I’m going to outline all the ideas behind this AU thanks to everyone’s asks showing an increasing curiosity about all this! I’m used to writing original content, nothing based on an existing property so bare with me…

Events Leading Up to The Dynamorph Event

So for this AU, the events of the game leading up to the Eternatus conflict are the SAME except for some details. 

Gloria/Victor and Hop never encounter Zacian or Zamazenta. The Rusty Sword and Shield were lost to time.

When Leon goes to confront Eternatus, he is joined by everyone up on the roof. The Gloria/ Victor, Hop, Bede, Marnie, the Gym Leaders (minus Opal because she’s back in Ballonlea enjoying retirement.) 

This confrontation happens AFTER Gloria/ Victor beats Leon, for simplicity’s sake.

So when everyone confronts Eternatus, thanks to Rose’s eager impatience to do good for the Galar region, they are unable to stop it properly since Zacian and Zamazenta are nowhere to be found. Instead, the combined efforts of everyone force Eternatus to flee.

But not without releasing an overwhelming blast of Dynamax energy.

The blast rippled throughout a portion of Galar, and had a chain reaction with power spots and the dens of the Wild Area. When the dust settled, the pokemon everyone had out that they were using in the big fight were...gone. Not in their pokeball, just..gone. Naturally, people assume the worst but they have a lingering feeling that the Pokemon are still...here somehow. But they don’t know why. So when everyone’s calmed down, and clean up begins, they all go their separate ways.

About a day passes, and then it starts to happen. From the time of the blast and when the changes start to happen externally, everyone experiences some oddities superficially (better hearing, acute sensitivity to stuff etc.)

 Leon was in his newly acquired office and the just obtained Battle Tower. He had the blind closed, sat in the darkened room thinking over everything that happened, and his loss of the Champion title. When the changes started happening, he nearly burned the office, leaving claw marks in his desk, the floor, and the walls. The noise attracted someone from the Battle Tower staff and he yelled at them in panic to call Sonia. His own phone started ringing. It was Hop.

Gloria/ Victor (I separate them cuz it's more of a ‘who you imagine in this role.’ Can only have one Champion) were being briefed on Champion duties and what that entails. It’s a boring meeting, but they excuse themself to go to the bathroom. In reality they duck away outside to just get a breather. They suddenly feel a sharp pain and start to change, probably biting into their arm to muffle any scream to prevent causing a scene.

Bede headed back to Ballonlea, distraught that Hatterine was nowhere to be found. He wanted to distract himself by continuing his gym leader training, but Opal sat him down for some tea to talk about grief and loss. She’s way older and definitely has experience in that field. What she doesn’t have experience in, is what to do when your protege starts growing traits of a pokemon…

Hop, after that whole ordeal, missing Dubwool, and having lost the gym challenge just had so many feelings to vent out, he wanted to just scream. So he heads deep into the Slumbering Weald to just scream out his frustrations. When he sits down after tiring himself out, his changes start happening. In pain, scared, and alone, he calls Leon.

Marnie went back to Spikemuth with Piers. Team Yell welcomed them with open arms and gave them the idea to have a tribute concert for the pokemon they believe they lost. Marnie declined, electing to stay at home and be alone for a while. She didn’t want to be around people right now. Then her changes started happening, and she uncontrollably let out a burst of electricity, causing an outage in Spikemuth. 

Piers, meanwhile, was setting up for an impromptu concert. He dealt with his feelings by doing literally anything to distract him from them so yelling into a microphone for a couple hours seemed like a good idea. Just as he was about to test the mic, a huge power surge came from his place and shut down all of Spikemuth’s power. Concerned for his sister he runs off stage, taking alleys as a shortcut. In his adrenaline he doesn’t even realize his changes started until he tripped over his own new claws and writhes just outside their place.

Raihan, being in Hammerlocke, wastes no time in helping with the clean up. While at the highest point in the city, he and his gym trainers were hard at work. Until Raihan collapsed, trying to hold himself up with his broom. His trainers looked on in concern and horror as he began changing, even starting up a sandstorm in the process. As a result, one trainer almost gets pushed off the roof but, bearing through the pain, Raihan leaps in and grabs them in time.

Gordie and Melony head back to Circhester. On the way, they had talked a lot about their issues and gripes that had torn a rift in their family, in earnest. The assumed loss of their pokemon worked as good common ground to remind them about the importance of family. They were both at Melony’s home when it happened. The heat and cold put a completely new kind of barrier between the two.

Bea wanted to get her mind off everything that happened by training in the outskirts of Stow-on-Side. She pushed herself too far, and her pokemon urged her to stop. But she fought them off. At first with difficulty, but then as her changes happened, more easily. Her pokemon backed off and started looking for help.

Alister, figuring that his Gengar maybe wandered off on its own again, headed to the graveyard during the night. One of Gengar’s favourite spots. For a moment, Alister thought he heard Gengar’s chuckle and it’s cry but turned to see nothing. Something compelled him to look down at himself and he could see himself becoming translucent and a suspicious shade of purple. He had always had an affinity with ghosts but becoming one was something else entirely. Ensue panic attack.

Kabu returned home to quietly meditate and think rationally about everything that happened. In a trance-like state, he could feel Centiskorch right there next to him. He felt at peace. The smell of burning snapped him out of it, however when he realized he, as well as a good part of the room, was on fire. He quickly escaped, realizing the fire didn’t hurt him. 

Nessa just wanted to be alone, so back at Hulberry, she walked along the docks, shrouded in early morning fog. Her changes started happening, but she really only felt itchy as the scales came in. Upon checking her phone, did she herself in the screen’s reflection and freak out.

Life moves on and Milo had a farm to tend to. His family urged him to take a break but he smiled back at them and assured them he was okay. He wasn’t. While working was when his changes happened. His whole family rushed to his aid. And again, through a smile, he insisted he was okay.

Oleana was working feverishly on getting money together for lawyers and bail money to get Rose out of his self-imposed jail sentence. She knew all he wanted was good for the region, but he was just too blind to see the potential damage he was causing. She wanted him to have a second chance. But her changes slowed her down. 

Rose, in a cell, reflected on his actions. How rash he was that he didn’t see the big picture. He should’ve listened. When his changes happened in his cell, he was horrified. Not at what happened to him, but what was no doubt, happening to the others. And probably more. What had he done? He needed to fix his mistake. 

The ones present at the event were not the only ones to change, however. This was happening all over the region, closer to power spots (which includes the towns, but the morphs aren’t all as drastic) and the wild area (trainers fused with wild pokemon and went hostile. This is covered in depth in another section). After one of the quickest trials, Rose had offered to the court that instead of a full prison sentence, he spent his entire resources and wealth into funding on solving this new, now coined ‘Dynamorph Crisis.’ They agreed and the Macro Cosmos got to work.

How the Dynamorph Actually Works

Bare with me because this is where I kind of bend canon and make assumptions about things for the sake of explaining how this AU even works. So. Eternatus caused all this by basically converting things into energy. On humans, it would just tear them apart. On pokemon it would just turn them into dynamax energy temporarily. The normal situation is that dynamaxing makes the pokemon grow and change form, yeah? Well for this AU, the pokemon, seeing that their trainers are potentially going to die, decide to fuse with them to ‘fill in the gaps.’ Saving them. At first, it appears like they were able to change into the parts missing, but after a while, the pokemon traits start showing, which is my excuse for why the actual changes were delayed. 

The severity of the dynamorph is dependent on proximity to the blast/ powerspot. And just personal preference if you wanted to make your own trainersona dynamorphed (which I totally encourage! It’s fun and I like seeing what you all come up with!!). 

Dynamorphed trainers gain the physical traits, special abilities, movesets and odd quirks that come with the pokemon they are dynamorphed with. (Bonding with Morpeko makes you hungry, bonding with a Xatu lets you see the future, etc) Though, since the humanity is still there, they are able to curb some of the more aggressive quirks with diligence.

If the pokemon bonded is not fully evolved, applying the correct evolutionary method will evolve and change the outward appearance of the dynamorphed trainer. Normal level up are accomplished by fighting, not by age. 

Since being part pokemon, the trainer is a lot more resilient and could, if they REALLY wanted to, fight other morphed trainers. Trainers feel the type weakness and resistances. They would faint just like a pokemon fight. Potions and pokemon centres would help them recover. Though death is still something that can happen. 

Trainers fused with food-like pokemon are not edible please don't eat them, there's a place where the food stops and the flesh starts and we don’t need to find out where that is ok??

Normal pokemon that are caught and trained will REFUSE to attack a dynamorphed trainer unless absolutely provoked. So you can’t really have a pokemon battle where a dynamoprhed trainer is beating up a pokemon or vice versa. That’s messed up.

Dynamorphed trainers cannot be caught in any kind of pokeballs. That’s also messed up.

They cannot breed to make a weird hybrid plz stop asking.

Dynamorphed Trainers can NOT be Dynamaxed. Too much energy, man.

Trainers CAN bond with more than one pokemon, but that's where complications start to occur. The more pokemon bonded to the trainer, the harder it is form them to hold on to their humanity. 

1 Pokemon = Okay

2 Pokemon = A struggle to keep humanity, but it’s possible.

3+ Pokemon = This is not a person. It is a hostile beast.

There are no legendary pokemon/ ultra beasts dynamorphed. They’re all in other regions and wouldn’t be in the Galar region when it happened so there just wouldn’t be. But if ya’ll make one with one anyway, I won’t stop you but the legendary pokemon may be too strong for a trainer to handle.

If the pokemon’s nature is different than the trainer’s than it might affect their personality. The extent of this is varied.

**No two dynamorphs look the same! If you have two trainers bonded with like...a Pikachu for example. One might get yellow fur, ears, and a tail while the other only gets a tail and the cheeks. Go nuts.

If the pokemon dynamorphed with the trainer is the opposite gender, the result is whatever you want. 

Speaking of complications, that brings us to the next part…

The Wild Area Trainers

During this whole event, I previously mentioned that the Wild Area was significantly affected. Those unfortunate enough to be out camping during the blast had the chance of 1 of 3 things happening:

They dynamorphed with one of their pokemon. 

They dynamorphed with with more than one of their pokemon

They dynamorphed with one or more wild pokemon Examples found HERE.

In the case of being bonded to a wild pokemon, this takes a heavy toll on the trainer’s mind as its constantly fighting with a wild pokemon. This causes them to lose their minds and become hostile, just like a wild pokemon. Unfortunately a large number of “Wild Trainers” roam the Wild Area. Their previously caught pokemon usually try to flee or stick around to protect their trainer out of sheer devotion. As mentioned before, they cannot be caught with a pokeball. But the region is working on a program to deal with this. …

How the Galar Region is dealing with the Dynamorph Crisis

Professors Sonia and Magnolia are appointed the top researchers, being granted the resources of the Macro Cosmos thanks to Oleana and Rose, wanting to atone for his mistakes. However the government, doubting Rose’s competence, sends out their own officials to oversee and make decisions. (I have no idea how the government of this region works. Is there a parliament? Is the gym league the authority? I’ll say for this AU there is actually a system of government…). 

They have labs and rehabilitation centres set up to be able to study and help help dynamorphed trainers cope and eventually go back home. They are not kept there against their will. Most, anyway. The main cast were quarantined in a lab/ facility for the early stages of the crisis so they could learn/ test their capabilities in a safe environment. Shenanigans ensue. Because of this, the crisis put a hold on the gym challenge league entirely. 

At first, the authorities wanted to keep this under wraps in case their morphs were an isolated incident but quickly realized that was going to be impossible. Travel to and from the Galar region became incredibly restricted. Dynamorphed trainers are not allowed to leave the region, for everyone’s safety (don’t want to risk an outburst that could harm anyone :c ), but unchanged people were free to travel once they were confirmed as ‘human’ by a mandatory test. 

The Wild Area became a huge problem, what with Wild Trainers running about. Defenses were set up just in case to prevent Wild Trainers from wandering into populated areas and causing havoc, though a few occurrences still happen, what with flying pokemon and all. Eventually, a special force was assembled that consisted of consenting dynamorphed trainers that were tasked with going into the Wild Area and subduing and retrieving Wild Trainers to bring them to a more secured location to help study them and to try and find a cure. And to confirm to families the fate of their missing family member(s). The attempt is to be as humane as possible. 

The special force (Do I really wanna call it Dynaforce? I feel like I’m abusing the prefix if I do), consists of all the current gym leaders, Piers, Leon, Victor/ Gloria and a bunch of other trainers who signed up who are 18+. (you don't want to send kids out doing this kind of dangerous work, I know pokemon is all about children taming powerful animals but you gotta draw the line in the sand somewhere. Gym leaders are exempt because they why not. They insisted and already proved their strength to the region. It’s an AU based off a fuckin game/ anime.) This force has two jobs:

Go into the Wild Area to subdue Wild Trainers and bring them home

Protect the towns in case any wild trainers get in. 

So what happened to Eternatus if it just escaped? Theories indicate it might be living in a massive den in the heart of the Wild Area, waiting to strike again. There are a lot more Wild Trainers near this area, so excursions here are difficult.

Is a cure eventually found? Honestly this is just an AU so that's up to you. My personal answer is no. Improvise. Adapt. Overcome. //Bear Grylls voice

So….this is a lot. This is just some silly AU that inspired me to expand on it for fun since you guys showed a lot of interest! I’ll edit this as I get more asks about things I may have missed, but I will be going in and deleting a lot of previous asks so I can clean up my blog a bit. I had WANTED to keep a lot of this ‘secret’ cuz I wanted to draw stuff for it. I STILL WILL DRAW for it, but realistically I don’t have the time or energy ahah. Especially for an AU of a published franchise aha. 

If you want to make a dynamorph trainersona, totally go for it! Just tag me when its done! I love seeing what people do!

[cinaja]

Before the Wall part 47

Masterlist

Tw: Mentions of torture in the entire chapter (no descriptions of any kind, though). It's lighter than in canon, though.

----

It has been sixteen hours. Sixteen hours since Miryam vanished. At least that’s the estimation. They don’t know for sure, since it took them hours to even notice something was wrong. Drakon spent the entire afternoon at the Callian Pass, assuming that Miryam was simply stuck in negotiations. He only got suspicious when he still hadn’t received word from her by sunset, and from there, it took another couple of hours to get the Alliance to even look into it. By the time they finally received word that King Johno had betrayed them to the Loyalists, Miryam was long gone.

“What do you mean, you can’t do anything?” Drakon asks, looking incredulously around the table. It took him two hours to even get a council meeting, and now, no one seems to be inclined to help him.

“There is precedent,” one of the other Fae says with cool aloofness. “This council does not sent out troops to save prisoners. You ought to know this, Prince.”

Of course Drakon knows. You get caught, you’re on your own. Your family and friends might negotiate your safe return, but there will be no military action. But Drakon also knows that he was the highest-ranking Alliance member to ever get captured, and that there’s a huge difference between choosing not to save him and doing the same with Miryam.

“But Miryam is the leader of this Alliance,” Drakon says. “We can’t just let her die.”

It’s impossible. Completely impossible. They wouldn’t… Without Miryam, there would be no Alliance, no war. And he may not understand a whole lot about politics, but he does understand that this council needs Miryam. Without her, they would have torn each other to shreds years ago already.

“There are no exceptions,” Shey says.

Nakia gives him a cold look. “That’s completely unacceptable.”

“I’d have to agree,” Andromache says. She nods to the other human councilmembers. “I believe we all do.”

Looks are exchanged across the table. Even Drakon notices the growing dissent between humans and Fae. They would need Miryam to help ease the tensions, but Miryam isn’t there. And Drakon can’t quite shake the feeling that if the Fae now choose to let her die, the humans might interpret it as them turning against the alliance, against them.

“My spies report that Amarantha brought her to the Heseia Fort,” Zeku says.

Drakon bites back a curse. Carved into a mountain, it has been known to outlast even the longest of sieges. It would take thousands of soldiers to stage a big enough attack that they might have a chance to get Miryam out in the ensuing chaos. Sinna with the entire Erithian army would likely be able to do it, but that would mean abandoning the Callian Pass.

“We’d lose many soldiers,” Zeku adds.

Drakon slowly shakes his head. Zeku is one of Miryam’s closest allies, he should be speaking out in favour of helping her. Instead, he abandons her, leaves her to be killed by Amarantha.

The accusation must have been clear in his eyes, because Zeku looks directly at him. “I am truly sorry,” he says.

Drakon doesn’t want his pity. He wants this council to stop arguing and start thinking of ways to save Miryam.

But they don’t help. For all that most of the human councilmembers complain, for all that they make their displeasure known, no one seems to care. Drakon and all the humans present vote in favour of acting, but with both Jurian and Miryam missing and most of their Fae allies (Zeku among them) abstaining, they don’t have enough votes on their side. Most of the Fae don’t even seem sorry.

Nakia jumps to her feet, face tight. “You’ll regret this yet,” she snaps at no one in particular and storms out of the room.

Andromache seems inclined to follow after her, but remains seated. Slowly, the meeting begins to disperse, some councilmembers leaving, others remaining to talk amongst themselves. Drakon remains seated.

They aren’t going to help. They will just let Miryam die. And with his army stuck at the Callian Pass, Drakon’s hands are tied.

Miryam will die. Amarantha will kill her as revenge for what Jurian did to her sister, or she will hand her over to the other Loyalists, who will be delighted to kill the leader of the Alliance. For all he knows, she might already be dead. But no, he would know if she was dead.

Wouldn’t he? According to legend, mates are supposed to know if something happens to one of them.

He fumbles for the bond that should be between them, tries to feel it. Nomal mating bonds allow people to sense the others’ emotions, they even let them communicate mind-to-mind. But he doesn’t sense anything. Maybe Miryam didn’t go this much into detail when she forged the mating bond, or maybe he is simply too stupid to figure out how the bond works.

Miryam would find a way. If their situations were reversed, she would find a way to save him. She did find a way when he had been in Ravenia’s dungeon. But Drakon lacks her affinity for doing the impossible, as well as the considerable magical powers that would be necessary for a break-in into an enemy fort. Without his army, he has no way of getting into that fort, and his army remains stuck at the Callian Pass. It always seems to come back to that.

“Your Highness,” a voice says behind him, startling Drakon.

He hadn’t realized everyone else gotten up by now, making him the only one still sitting at the table, and he didn’t notice Shey approaching. The emperor looks polished as always, his face a perfectly neutral mask that doesn’t betray a hint of emotion save for the occasional hint of annoyance, anger, or boredom.

“I wanted to offer my condolences,” he says. “I hope you know that there’s nothing personal about my voting against trying to free Miryam. I pray for her save return.”

“Sure you do,” Drakon mutters. He is distantly aware that he should not be doing this, that his emissary and his political advisors will likely be losing their minds, but he is too drained to care.

“How am I to understand that?” Shey challenges.

“You want Miryam dead,” he says bitterly. “Maybe you even knew what King Johno was planning when you told her she had to be the one to go to Tehne.”

“I’m sure you do not mean to imply what you were just implying,” Shey says. He offers Drakon a thin smile. “So I will kind enough to see this comment as your grief speaking and not take offense.”

Drakon stares back at him for a moment, wishing desperately he knew some way to throw his faked friendliness back in his face. But he doesn’t know how, and even if he did, Shey is a far bigger player than he is in Continental politics. He’d be mad to start this fight. So Drakon ducks his head and nods, hating himself for giving in.

“You’ll excuse me,” he says, rising to his feet.

He can’t quite bring himself to apologize, even though he knows the rules would demand it. It doesn’t matter, anyways. They’ll just jot it down as him being terrible at politics. Without sparing Shey another look, he turns around and stalks out of the room. Andromache intercepts him at the door.

“We have a problem,” she says softly and promptly pushes him into the nearest room. Once the door is safely closed behind him, she hands Drakon a letter. The seal is already broken and Drakon slowly unfolds the paper.

Jurian,

You may find I’m not the only one who was careless with their belongings. If you wish to have yours back, come to the Heseia Fort. You have a day. Should you decide not to come, I’ll see if I can make your little mortal much scream loudly enough that you hear her all the way to your camp.

Drakon slowly lowers the letter. His mind is full of screaming. Part of him wants to damn the orders to hell, take his army and get Miryam out no matter the cost. But he knows he cannot do it. The Pass is too important, and while losing it might not cost them this war, it would certainly prolong it.

He knows what Miryam would want him to do, what he has to do. It still tears him apart that he can’t help her.

“We should…” Drakon begins, but his voice sounds far too rough. He clears his throat and starts over. “We probably shouldn’t show this to Jurian.”

Andromache nods. “We’ll need to tell him something, though,” she says.

----

Miryam is caught in a haze of pain. She isn't truly sleeping, but she isn't awake either. All around her, the world is black, darkness pressing in on her like a wet banket. She struggles against its hold, but it doesn’t let go. Time loses all meaning, there is no longer a difference between days and hours and seconds.

Something cold slams into Miryam and the darkness shatters. She gasps for air, and suddenly, she is awake, is lying on a rough stone floor. Water is running over her face, wet hair falls into her eyes. She tries to push herself up, but her arms give out from under her and she slides back to the floor.

Then, the pain registers and Miryam groans, doubling over. Her body is burning, her insides seem to be twisting around themselves. She gasps, trying hard not to sob in pain.

"You're alive," a rough voice says from behind her. "Good."

Miryam twists around. Around her wrists, shackles clink with the movement, and now, Miryam does sob. The shackles are tight enough that her wrists are already bruised and sore. It has been a while since anyone shackled Miryam like this. Desperately, she tugs at the shackles, but they won't give. She tries to reach for her power, but it doesn’t answer. Panic flares through her, turning her breathing shallow and uneven.

"I was worried the poison might have been too strong when you didn't wake up," the voice continues. "You would have been rather useless to me as a corpse."

Miryam turns further and finds Amarantha leaning against a wall mere feet away from her. The general is wearing a light leather armour, her red hair tied back in a tight braid. She looks down at Miryam like she is an insect she considers crushing under her boot.

What happened? Why is she here, how did Amarantha... Johno. But why? Why would he sell her put to the Loyalists? It goes against every rule of Continental politics, and she hasn't done anything to him. Certainly nothing to give him reason to hate her this much.

Against her will, she starts to tremble. Amarantha's mouth twists into a smile, and Miryam forces her body to still. She has faced bigger monsters than the general and remained calm, she won't show fear now. Getting her body under control when she is in pain, chained to the ground and alone with an enemy general isn't exactly easy, but it's not like this is the first time Miryam is at the mercy of a Fae. She has managed to control herself in worse situations, she will do so now.

Slowly, her head clears. The water Amarantha apparently dumped over her head helps, although it makes her shiver in her soaked dress. Now that she's thinking straight again, she begins to notice that something about this situation is off – namely Amarantha’s oresence. If she got captured by the Loyalists, it shouldn't be Amarantha who deals with her. By all logic, she should have been brought straight to Ravenia, or at least to someone with a higher rank than Amarantha.

Quick as lightning, Amarantha pushes off the wall she was leaning against. Before Miryam can so much as flinch, she stands before her, knife in hand. Miryam doesn't move, wills her body to remain entirely still. Amarantha places the knife on her chest, just above her heart. Miryam simply stares back at her. She will not kill me, she tells herself, and I won't give her the satisfaction of seeing me afraid.

"You should be glad that you were unconscious for so long," Amarantha says softly. "It gave me time to reconsider my plans for you." Slowly, she moves the knife up until it is resting at Miryam’s throat. One wrong move now and she is dead. There's a dangerous glint in Amarantha's eyes. Miryam isn't sure if it is hate or madness. "My original plan," she continues, "was to kill you right away. To spike you to an ash cross and make you scream for hours - days, maybe - before killing you. Everything Jurian did to my sister, I would have done to you, and then, I would have left you for him to find, like he left her for me. It would have been very poetic."

Miryam doesn't show her surprise. Jurian killed Clythia. Tortured and then killed her, unless Amarantha is exaggerating that part. She wants to shake her head. Wants to cry, or maybe laugh, but the knife is still dangerously close to her skin. She didn't get captured by the Loyalists, she got captured by Amarantha. This has nothing to do with her or with the Alliance, it is just the next act of Amarantha’s private war with Jurian. It's ridiculous, really.

"But I reconsidered," Amarantha says. "Killing you would be a waste. It might offer me momentary satisfaction, but in the long run, it would be stupid." She presses the knife more tightly against Miryam's skin, hard enough to draw blood. There’s a sting of pain, and Miryam can feel a drop running down her throat. "After all, you make a far more useful hostage."

Now, Miryam can't keep from flinching. Immediately, the knife presses in harder, and she stills. Being killed and tortured would have been bad enough, but to be used as bait – that is worse. Don't come for me, she thinks at Jurian, at Drakon. As if her thoughts will somehow reach them if she only focuses hard enough. Please don't come for me.

Amrantha rises to her feet in a smooth motion. "I've given Jurian a day to come fetch you," she says. "After that..." Amarantha smiles, dark eyes glittering. "Well, you probably ought to start praying that someone turns up to get you before then."

----

Drakon winnows himself and Andromache to Jurian’s camp in the early hours of the morning. The camp is still asleep, as it took Andromache’s soldiers until far into the night to settle in. Only the guards posted all around are wide awake and vigilant.

“Do you already know what you’re going to say?” Andromache asks softly as they walk from the edge of the wards towards the camp.

Drakon shakes his head. He barely had time to think about it, not when his thoughts keep circling and circling around Miryam and what might be happening to her. Besides, he highly doubts that there’s a good way to tell Jurian. How is he to explain that Miryam got captured and might be killed as a consequence to his actions?

“I’ll improvise,” he says. He isn’t good at improvising.

Andromache looks inclined to say something, but before she gets the chance, Jurian appears from between two tents. He looks worse than yesterday, something Drakon didn’t think possible. His gaze seems unfocused and the shadows under them are even darker. But he smiles at them as he walks towards them. It’s the first time Drakon has seen him smile in years, and something in his chest twists at the sight. Especially when the smile fades as soon as Jurian sees the looks on their faces.

“Did something happen?” He asks. His tone is tense, but somehow resigned. Like he has grown so used to bad news that he has learned to expect them.

Drakon swallows. “Miryam got captured,” he says. “By Amarantha.”

For a moment, Jurian simply stares, frozen, as if it takes him a moment to process the words. Then, his face crumbles and he begins to shake his head.

“But…” He stumbles over the words, voice shaking. “That’s all wrong. She couldn’t have…” He shakes his head. “But why?”

That Jurian has to ask at all shows how badly he’s faring. Anyone can see why, and it’s entirely unlike Jurian to miss such an obvious reasoning. But maybe he is subconsciously pushing away the truth to protect himself. Maybe a part of him knows, but he can’t stand it, so he denies the truth as long as possible.

“It’s…” Drakon begins, but doesn’t manage to finish the sentence.

Jurian is already so dangerously close to the edge. If Drakon now tells him that Miryam got captured by Amarantha because of him, might get tortured and killed because he murdered Clythia, it might push him over for good. It would certainly be another blow at a time when that’s the last thing Jurian needs. And Drakon can’t do that to him.

“It’s because of me,” he blurts out. Both Andromache and Jurian stare at him incredulously, the former catching herself quickly and schooling her face back into careful neutrality.

“Because of you?” Jurian asks. His tone has gained an edge, but his eyes are still searching Drakon’s face as if waiting for him to take the words back.

“My forces are currently in the Callian Pass,” Drakon says. He has no idea where he’s going with it. Why didn’t he think about that before speaking? “So, uhm… Amarantha captured Miryam to get me to remove my forces?” He looks over at Andromache, who simply shrugs. Drakon resists the urge to grimace at her. She’s certainly being helpful. “She thinks I’ll withdraw my armies to save her,” he says. “Leave the Callian Pass unprotected."

It is possibly the worst lie Drakon ever told. None of it even makes sense. Why would Amarantha ever use Miryam to set a trap for Drakon when she has no reason at all to care about him? When it was Jurian who just killed her sister.

“But you are going to get her out,” Jurian says, still staring at Drakon. “You are going to save her regardless. Right?”

He actually believes him. Jurian barely believes it. He must be truly desperate for any version of the story that places the blame away from him if he believes this lie.

“I can’t,” Drakon says softly. “We can’t lose the Callian Pass, so my army needs to remain where it is.”

Jurian’s eyes darken, his hands curl to fists. “So you are just going to let her die?”

A small part of Drakon very badly wants to point out that Jurian also has an army and would be just as capable of trying to save Miryam as Drakon is. But of course, getting Jurian to rush off after Amarantha is exactly what he is trying to keep from happening.

“Miryam wouldn’t want me to – “ he begins.

Jurian shoves him backwards hard enough to make Drakon stumble backwards. He follows, arm lifted as if he wants to punch him, but Andromache grips his arm and forces it down before he gets the chance.

“Are you mad?” She snaps. “Stop it!”

Jurian tries to shake her off and fails. Over her shoulder, he snaps at Drakon, “If she dies because of you, I am going to kill you.”

Andromache shoves Jurian back. “You will do no such thing!” She turns around to Drakon, who still stands frozen. “I think it would be best is you left now.”

Drakon nods numbly. He can’t tear his eyes from Jurian, who stares at him like he hates him. Slowly, he turns around and walks out of the camp. A few of the soldiers look at him strangely, but he mostly ignores them. Outside of the camp, he sits down on a flat stone.

He did the right thing, he knows he did. It is better if Jurian hates him than if he hates himself. And it’s not like he will spend eternity believing the lie Drakon told. He would be surprised if it took him more than a few days to figure out the truth.

Andromache arrives a few minutes later. With a sigh, she sits down next to Drakon. “That,” she says, “was without doubt the worst lie I’ve ever heard. I hope you know that Jurian believing it can only be chalked up to wilful ignorance.”

“Yes, I know,” Drakon mutters. “I didn’t think it through.”

“It was a good idea, though.” Andromache lets out a dark laugh. “I mean, it was a completely terrible lie, but it actually worked. You probably just saved Jurian’s life.”

Drakon stares down at his feet. Today seems to be the day of him constantly being forced to make choices that are strategically and likely morally correct, but completely catastrophic on a personal level.

----

The door to Miryam's cell bursts open and blinding light floods in. Miryam blinks as her eyes try to adjust. She has been alone in the dark cell for what she assumes was a day. No light, no food or water. Her head is spinning and the pain from the poison hasn’t entirely faded, but she is nearly certain she can stand if necessary.

Amarantha rushes into the room with all the force of an autumn storm. Where her fury was a cold, lethal thing yesterday, today, it is burning hot. Miryam remains sitting with her back against the wall, knees drawn up to her chest, and calmly looks up at the general.

"No one came?" She asks, voice hoarse.

Amarantha stalks across the room and slaps her. Hard. Miryam's head snaps to the side, blood shoots out of her nose. The world starts spinning and she lets herself drop to the ground, allows herself to gasp in pain.

"I'll admit," Amarantha says, voice burning, "that I am disappointed. I assumed at least one of your lovers - which one is it you're with, anyways? - would turn up to help you. But maybe they don't care as much about you as I thought they would."

"Or maybe they're too smart to fall for your trap," Miryam whispers. She lets her voice to tremble a bit at the words.

She tries to summon a feeling of triumph. After all, she spent the past day hoping desperately that Jurian and Drakon wouldn’t come to save her. But now that they actually didn’t come, she can no longer push away the knowledge that them not coming means that she will get tortured and killed.

"None of your other allies came to help you, either," Amarantha taunts. "Leader of the Alliance, and yet none of them care enough to try and save you. It's almost like they are glad to have you gone."

Miryam hates that the words sting, hates that deep down, she hoped someone would come. Expected the Alliance to care enough to save her, even though she knew it was unlikely. But no one came for her.

She will die. Likely slowly and extremely painfully. Amarantha will torture her, likely until one of her friends can't take it anymore and tries to rescue her. Which will only result in their death.

Miryam refuses to be part of that. She won't let anyone use her to harm her friends, harm the Alliance. And she refuses to die like this, slowly, painfully and on someone else's term. She may be quickly running out of choices, but she at least wants to be able to dictate the circumstances of her own death.

Amarantha gestures to two guards posted in front of the cell. To Miryam, she says, "I believe things are about to become truly unpleasant for you."

Miryam lets herself be pulled to her feet by the guards. She stays limp in their grip, forcing them to hold her by the arms to keep her from falling back to the ground.

“Move,” one of the guards snaps at her.

Miryam tries to stand up on her own feet, but her legs give out from under her. She makes a great show of only barely managing to keep up her head. (She doesn’t have to pretend to be weak as much as she would have liked to.)

“I always forget how pathetic you mortals are,” Amarantha drawls. “Drag her if you must.” With that, she turns around and stalks out of the room.

The guards do drag Miryam along, and not all too pleasantly. They walk her out of the cell and through a narrow corridor. There are small slits of windows let in the stone walls, and through them, Miryam glimpses the ground at least forty feet below. She must have been imprisoned in a tower or high up in some castle.

She slowly turns her head to survey the guards. They are both a little bigger than her, and both armed. Miryam, on the other hand, is still weak from being poisoned and locked up, and she is shackled. The odds aren’t exactly stacked in her favour, but she doesn’t have anything to lose.

Miryam waits until they reach the end of the corridor. Amarantha opens a door to a narrow stairway that leads down to what Miryam can only assume will be a torture chamber.  Amarantha steps aside to allow Miryam and the guards through.

Miryam waits until they are almost at the stairs, then, she twists in their guards’ grip, slamming her elbow into the side of the left guard the way Jurian showed her to ages ago. He lets go of her, likely more out of surprise than pain. The ground is shifting under Miryam’s feet, but she manages to keep her footing as she whirls towards the second guard.

She twists her arm out of his grip. Still moving, she manages to reach for his weapon’s belt. The chains hinder her movements, but she gets hold of a knife and jumps back, weapon in hand.

“Oh, stop it,” Amarantha says. She stepped aside and doesn’t seem inclined to get involved in the struggle at all. If anything, she looks bored. “You don’t really think you’ll be able to escape, do you?”

She isn’t trying to escape.

Miryam flips the knife around and points the blade towards herself. She is about to plunge it down, but now, their guards seem to have overcome their surprise. One of them reaches for her and Miryam jumps back, narrowly avoiding his outstretched hand. When she lands, her legs give out from under her. She stumbles back, arms flared in an attempt to regain her balance and only barely manages to keep her grip on the knife.

The guard makes to grab for her again, and Miryam stumbles another step. But suddenly, there is no ground under her foot. She feels her body tilting backwards and realizes with a start that she will not be able to find her balance again now.

The world seems to slow down. With sudden clarity, Miryam remembers the stairs that were there, somewhere behind her. Remembers one of the few times she trained with Jurian, when she stumbled over a branch and he told her to always keep track of her surroundings in a fight.

Then, time returns to its normal pace. Oh shit, is all Miryam manages to think before she goes tumbling down the stairs.

----

Amarantha lets the guards scream for three hours, imagining their screams are Jurians. She would have let it go on for longer, but they die quickly like the pathetic weaklings they are. Perhaps she should have been more careful with how much she cut them up, but she was too furious to care. She wipes the blood off her hands and snaps at her torture master to select one of the slaves at random and make them scream loud enough that the entire fort will hear it. Today, she needs to hear the sounds of something dying.

By the time she stalks out of the torture chamber, one of the humans is already screaming. The sounds fails to take the edge off Amarantha's anger, though. No, the only thing that could perhaps ease her fury would be if it was Jurian screaming in that torture chamber.

He killed her Clythia. Clythia, who loved him in spite of his lesser standing, who refused to heed any of Amarantha's warnings regarding his true nature. Mortals aren't worthy of a Fae's love. They are lesser creatures, spiteful and backstabbing. Amaratha should have listened to what her instincts told her, should have killed Jurian instead of listening to her sister's pleas to spare him.

Her lovely, sweet Clythia. Slaughtered like an animal by some unworthy mortal.

Amarantha never understood what her sister saw in him. A decent general he might be, but he's still mortal, little more than an animal compared to them. Amarantha owns dogs that are good at their tasks, but she certainly wouldn't take any of them to bed.

But Clythia had so much trust in her visions that she was ready to disregard his lesser station. She loved him in spite of it. Even when she hated mortals as much as Amarantha, was as repulsed by their quest for freedom - who are these animals to demand being treated as equal to them? - even then, she was willing to make an exception for Jurian. And he killed her for it.

Amarantha will tear him apart limb by limb. Every moment of suffering he caused her sister, he will repay tenfold, and even then, they won't be close to even. But she will think of something. Clythia promised Jurian he would live forever, and Amarantha will gladly spend her eternity making his hell.

But to do that, she needs to catch him first. And thanks to the idiocy of her guards, that is now further away than it was hours ago.

She had assumed Jurian would come running the moment he got word that she had caught his little lover. Assumed he would throw caution to the wind in some misguided attempt to save the girl. But maybe he cares less for her than he thought, now that she married another – something Amarantha only found out about after she already captured her, no thanks to her incompetent spies – since he made no move to help her so far.

Still, Amarantha was sure he would come once she started working on the girl, was sure he wouldn't be able to stand her getting tortured for his deeds. (And maybe destroying something Jurian holds dear would have eased some of the pain raging in her, maybe it would have brought them closer to being even.)

But now, she can't have Miryam tortured. Instead, she had to call in a healer to make sure that stupid girl doesn't die. All because she fell down a flight of stairs. Mortals are so very breakable, she keeps forgetting about it. No Fae would ever die from falling down thirty ridiculous steps, yet her healer informed her that she can count herself lucky that the half-breed is still alive. And that she can forget about any ideas of torturing her for at least a week if she doesn't want her dead within hours.

She should have taken more time killing those guards.

"General!" A soldier calls from behind her. There's a slight quiver in his voice and his face seems pale as Amarantha turns around.

"What?" She snaps.

"Queen Ravenia is here," the soldier says. "She requests to speak to you."

Knowing Ravenia, it was likely more of an order than a request. Amarantha certainly understands the soldier's nervousness. Ravenia tends to have that effect on people. Being the most powerful person on the entire Continent will do that to you. Even though that power has been dwindling lately, largely due to the girl Amarantha currently has locked in her dungeon. Which probably explains the visit.

"I'll meet her in the courtyard," Amarantha says and the soldier hurries off.

The screams of the slave are still ringing through the fort by the time Amarantha arrives in the courtyard. If Amarantha tries hard enough, she can imagine they are Jurian's.

Ravenia stands in the centre of the courtyard, head held high, golden jewellery glimmering in the light. She looks for all the world like she owns the fort. At least she didn’t bring Artax. Amarantha already works for one witcher – that’s more than enough.

Amarantha bows. "Your Majesty. To what do I owe the pleasure?" It is no pleasure at all.

"You have something I want," Ravenia says. She snaps her fingers, making a letter appear in her hands, and holds it out to Amarantha. "You are to hand Miryam over to me. I already cleared everything with your king."

Amarantha scans the contents of the letter, then crumbles it in her hand. Her face twists with fury. "No," she says far less politely than she probably should. In the background, the screams turn more high-pitched. "I still have use for her."

Ravenia's eyes darken further. A flame flickers at her fingertips. (Amarantha wonders how often anyone told her no in her life. She is sure it hasn't happened often.)

"Miryam is leader of the Alliance," Ravenia says. "The Alliance we are currently losing this war to, in case you forgot. This might just be the biggest chance we’ll ever get to turn the tide and you are not going to squander it for your private feud with some inconsequential mortal general."

Amaratha's fury boils over. Anger rushes through her. "If you wanted to catch her so badly," she snaps, "you should have done so in the past several years. Now, it's my turn and you will wait."

"I will do no such thing." Ravenia gives her a withering glare. "You think anyone cares that your idiot of a sister was stupid enough to fuck a mortal and got murdered for it?"

Amarantha's hand clenches around the hilt of her sword. She has to resist the urge to draw it. Ravenia and her fucking arrogance. She has always been like this, arrogant and always so damn superior. Even now that she must realize everything is crumbling around her, she still acts all high and mighty.

"You're one to talk," Amarantha hisses. "If you had managed to control your slaves, we wouldn't even have these problems." She lets out a humourless laugh. "What does it feel like to be constantly bested by a mortal? To have one start a war against you and win." Amarantha relishes the fury that clouds Ravenia's face at the words. It’s almost as good as the screams. "The most powerful Fae in the world," she taunts, "bested by an unworthy mortal worm."

Ravenia's face turns cold, but flames dance in her eyes. For a moment, Amarantha thinks - almost hopes, really - that she will attack her. But Ravenia merely shakes her head, fury vanishing from her face like she put on a mask.

"You are to hand Miryam over," she repeats.

"Why?" Amarantha laughs again. "So we can win this war, or so you can punish her for crossing you? Because to me, it looks like the latter." She grins. "Tell me, are you upset that your would-be fiancé prefers a little mortal to you?"

The taunt is more of a guess, if Amarantha is being honest. She never quite understood Ravenia's obsession with the young prince. As far as she knows, the only interesting thing about Prince Drakon of Erithia is that people who are far more powerful than him keep taking an interest in him. Otherwise, he always seemed like a distinctly uninteresting young man from a slightly more interesting and very old family.

Ravenia's face darkens at the mention, though, either out of embarrassment or genuine annoyance at having a person she wanted choose a mortal over her. "I am giving you a direct order to hand Miryam over to me," she says sharply. Apparently, she is done playing games.

"And I’m disregarding it," Amarantha says. "She is my prisoner, and if you want her, you should have come up with a way to catch her yourself. Now kindly leave my fort, I have more important things to do."

There really is no need for her to cower before Ravenia. Why would she need to listen to a queen who can't even defeat one of her former slaves in war? No, Ravenia's age is over, gone are the times when the world danced at her command. Maybe it might have changed if she managed to win this war, and maybe handing Miryam over might bring that about.

But Amarantha doesn't care about Ravenia's power games, and she doesn't care about this war. These things lost all importance the moment Clythia died. Now, all Amarantha wants is revenge. And she will have it.

----

Drakon stands on the highest tower of the castle that guards the Callian Pass and looks down at the army stretching out below. A brisk wind pulls at his hair and ruffles his feathers. Down below, red flags imprinted with Ravenia's crowned sun flap wildly over the camp her army erected a safe distance away from the walls.

What he sees down below isn't Ravenia's entire army, but still a large enough part of it that Drakon's soldiers are outnumbered two-to-one. The odds still aren't too bad for them. They can remain behind their walls and barricades, wards and traps, while Ravenia's soldiers will need to leave theirs behind if they want to attack. Should it come to battle, they’ll have all the advantages.

But there's still Artax to contend with, him and the second witch Ravenia sent to support her army. The Alliance sent over Helion Spellcleaver to help with that, but he already told Drakon that he will be able to do little against one witch, let alone two. Let alone Artax. Brilliant as Helion might be, it is nearly impossible for a non-witch to best one in spell work, and Artax is the most powerful witcher in the Guild. Even Miryam, Helion pointed out with a rueful smile, would likely not be able to hold out against him.

Drakon knows he should be thinking of battle, of the army before him. But no matter how hard he tries, his thoughts keep drifting back to Miryam. Amarantha’s ultimatum has run out hours ago, he let it run out. That means that Miryam is likely being tortured right now and he stands here, doing nothing.

Drakon turns away from his lookout and walks back into the castle. As he passes, soldiers keep shooting him strange looks. He can basically hear them thinking about how Miryam got kidnapped less than one day after they married. They didn’t even get time to officially announce their marriage.

He is almost glad when he closes the door to his rooms behind himself. The guards that have been trailing him without pause ever since Miryam vanished remain outside.

“Anything?” He asks Sinna, who is sitting in his living room side by side with Nephelle.

They both look tired and miserable enough that he doesn’t even need the answer to his question to know they have no news. He lets himself slump on the sofa opposite them. Nephelle abandons her place next to Sinna and walks over to him, puts an arm around his shoulder as she sits down.

“She isn’t getting tortured, at least as far as I know,” Sinna says. “We have a spy inside, and he says they haven’t brought her to the dungeons.” The word yet seems to ring through the room unsaid, but Drakon is still relived.

“If we have someone on the inside, can’t we use them to get her out?” He asks. The hope will likely be in vain if Sinna hasn’t brought it up yet, but at this point, he is willing to grasp for straws.

Indeed, Sinna shakes her head. “One person isn’t enough to break out Amarantha’s most valuable prisoner. It would never work, and we’d lose our only inside source.”

Drakon presses his lips together and nods, trying not to let the disappointment sting. Nephelle squeezes his arm.

“We’ll keep trying,” she says softly, but Drakon isn’t stupid enough to take the reassurance for anything but empty words.

Before either of them can say anything else, the door bursts open. Drakon flinches, Sinna immediately jumps to her feet, hand going to her sword. She doesn’t let go of it even after it’s long clear that they aren’t being attacked.

“Knocking,” she says sharply, “is generally expected before entering a room.”

Rhysand barely spares her a look before turning towards Drakon. He stalks into the room, face tight. Drakon gestures to the guards hovering in the doorway behind them and they slip out of the room.

“Hello Rhys,” he says.

“I heard what happened,” Rhys says. “I’m surprised you are still here.”

Nephelle frowns at him but remains silent. Slowly, Sinna returns to her seat, flipping over the papers she had strewn out over the table as she does. She doesn’t even try to hide that she doesn’t want him seeing the documents.

“I have orders,” Drakon says. His voice sounds flat. “It is vital we hold this pass, and the Alliance refuses to send replacements. There’s nothing I can do.”

Rhys shakes his head. He is wearing his dark armour, still splattered in mud at places, and for some reason, he lets his power flow freely. Drakon isn’t sure if he knows that this is impolite – impolite enough that even Drakon knows you shouldn’t do it. It demonstrates a lack of control at best, and is seen as an intimidation attempt at worst.

“She’s your mate,” Rhys says. “And you’re just… You’re just going to let her die? Mere days after you married?” He shakes his head. “Who cares about this stupid pass?”

Drakon lowers his eyes and begins drumming a rhythm on his leg. “I can’t risk this war,” he says. “Miryam would never forgive me.” He wouldn’t forgive himself, either. But it’s not like he’ll ever forgive himself for letting her die.

“At least she’d be alive to hate you,” Rhys snaps and Drakon thinks they might have very different ideas of what it means to respect your partner’s wishes even if they contradict your own. Or of the importance individual lives hold in comparison to the millions of lives at stake in this war.

Nephelle sighs. “Is there a reason why you’re here, Rhys, or do you just want to make everyone feel worse about necessary choices?”

Rhys winces slightly and runs a hand through his hair. His anger seems to ease slightly, although his power remains uncontrolled. “I’m sorry,” he says, looking at Drakon. “That was stupid of me. If you say you can’t do anything, you’re probably right.” He pauses. “But maybe I could…”

“Don’t even think about it,” Sinna snaps before Drakon has fully realized what Rhys is implying.

Rhys crosses his arms. “Why not? I have an army, and we aren’t defending anything vital right now.”

“Your army is too small,” Sinna says. “You won’t even make a dent in the fort’s defences. And even if you could, you don’t have the necessary skill to be able to pull it off without accidentally getting Miryam killed instead of freeing her.”

Rhys’s face tightens. “I could do it,” he says. Drakon doesn’t quite understand where he takes the confidence to doubt the assessment of a general several centuries his senior.

“Thank you for offering,” he says before Sinna can give a reply that would likely send this conversation spiralling into an argument. “I truly appreciate it. But there’s nothing you can do.”

Rhys seems to consider for a moment. Too long for Sinna’s taste, apparently, since she straightens in her seat. “You will get your soldiers killed,” she says, “each an every one of them. And Miryam on top of it, if you are unlucky.”

Still, Rhys remains silent. Only after another moment does he finally nod. “Fine.” His tone is clipped. “I should get back to my soldiers, then. I wish you good luck.”

With that, he turns around and stalks out of the room, leaving Sinna, Nephelle and Drakon to stare after him in surprise. Whatever kind of visit was this?

“Odious boy,” Sinna mutters. “I really don’t know what you see in him.”

Drakon wraps his arms around himself. “He was just worried,” he says. After all, Miryam is his friend. Not a close friend, but still.

Sinna snorts. “About what? Not being able to use Miryam’s name for protection anymore?”

Drakon shakes his head but doesn’t reply. It isn’t worth it, really. What’s the point in arguing about Rhys when Miryam is still being held prisoner by Amarantha. He leans his head against his knees.

“Are you alright?” Nephelle asks. “You aren’t going to do anything stupid, are you?”

“No.” Drakon sighs and looks up. “I’ve been perfectly reasonable the entire time, haven’t I? I went to that meeting, I made sure Jurian doesn’t run off and get himself killed, I reassured my soldiers.” He shakes his head. “I’m being so fucking reasonable I can’t even look at myself in the mirror anymore.”

He knows what he’s doing is the right thing, knows it’s what Miryam would have wanted. But it also means that he’s choosing to let her die, and he isn’t sure if that’s a choice he can bear.

“I don’t know if this is any consolation,” Sinna says, “but I would have locked you in your rooms if you had shown any inclination for being less than reasonable.”

Drakon gives her a weak glare. “If you ever lock me up in my room, I’ll give your position to Nikine,” he says, naming Sinna’s least favourite co-general.

Sinna grins and Drakon shakes his head. It’s not like she would actually lock him up – if only because she knows that being locked up makes him uncomfortable. Still, it occurs to Drakon that conversations like this might actually be part of the reason some of the other Continental leaders believe that he isn’t actually in charge of his own country.

Nephelle rolls her eyes at their antics, but a smile has stolen itself on her face. “I’ll see if you can find us some food,” she says. “I’m sure you both forgot all about eating again.”

Drakon is the furthest thing from hungry, but he still nods, if only because he doesn’t want anyone to tell him that not eating won’t bring Miryam back. He knows, but that doesn’t change anything about the fact that the thought of eating anything makes him feel sick. He’ll have to try to at least force a few bites down.

Nephelle closes the door behind herself. Drakon looks over at Sinna.

“If it was Nephelle,” he says, “you wouldn’t just sit around and wait.”

Sinna watches him for a moment, considering. Then, she nods. “Yes, I’m afraid I might be less reasonable than you are if our situations were reversed,” she says. “But they aren’t, so I can regard these matters from an outsider’s perspective and tell you that you’re doing the right thing.”

“I know,” Drakon mutters. It just doesn’t make him feel better.

----

A/N: The Amarantha pov will probably be a singular thing, but I needed it to convey certain plot informations. I hope I handled her pov okay, I don't usually write the pov of villains. Also, you might have noticed that I don't like Rhys, and while I have to include him in the next few chapters, the way I write him won't be too favourable. (It also won't bee as bad as I'd like it to be, simply because I have to write him as a person Miryam and Drakon might be friends with, but I really don't feel like making him a great person.) But he barely plays a role, anyways.

Tags: @croissantcitysucks