#i keep putting the TMA cast in anything I come across

[fleshqb]

Time travel shenanigans with Jon! :D

Based on a meme I saw. I could totally imagine Jons paranoid ass doing something like this.

Poor, poor tiny Jon though- he doesnt understand ToT

[ollieofthebeholder]

leaves too high to touch (roots too strong to fall): a TMA fanfic

Tumblr tag || Also on AO3

Chapter 45: Martin Prime

“I Spy, with my mental eye, something that begins with…C.”

“Croft?”

“N—yes. Wait, how did you know that?” Jon sounded slightly indignant. “I didn’t even know you knew that word.”

Martin snorted. “Then you’re cheating.”

Jon sighed theatrically. “All right, fine, but which croft?”

“Hmm.” Martin pursed his lips thoughtfully. “The one two hills over, with the stone fence that was falling down in places. The one you had a hard time not seeing as sinister.”

“Well done.” Jon cupped Martin’s cheek in his hand and gave him a gentle kiss. “Right, your turn. Let’s go with…hmm. Let’s say Gertrude’s storage unit.”

It was a silly and relatively pointless game, but Martin loved Jon so much for coming up with it. They’d played I Spy several times when they were in Scotland because Jon had misunderstood Martin’s attempt to explain the one helpful thing he’d been given during his brief stint in therapy, but it had helped both of them, so Martin hadn’t told Jon until much, much later that it wasn’t what he’d meant. Still, it had been fun to play, and it had given them a brief moment of levity during their trek through the fearscapes between their tiny haven of sanctuary in Scotland and their ultimate destination in London. Martin had joked about playing it at Christmas, and Jon had apparently taken that to heart.

He’d come up with this variant not long after, and they’d played it a few times since. One of them would select a location they were both familiar with, and the other had to try and remember what it looked like, then pick something to “spy”. One part game, one part memory exercise, it was a continual surprise to Martin how many little details he could still picture in his head.

He sometimes suspected Jon of changing his answers solely so Martin could be “correct,” in the same way that Martin had never had a favorite color until Jon had guessed it to be green, but at least it was a fun exercise.

“Right,” he said, trying to cast his mind back over the storage unit. That one would be trickier. There’d just been so much crammed into a relatively small space, and Martin had admittedly been a little distracted by relief over having Jon back and talking to him, seeming to actually enjoy his company. It was hard to focus on details beyond the plastic explosives crammed in the hard case.

“I Spy, with my mental eye—” he began.

Jon’s fingers suddenly touched Martin’s lips as he hissed a warning to stay quiet. Martin froze and held his breath, and then he heard what Jon did—voices in the corridor. They were muffled but distinct, which did at least mean it wasn’t someone who didn’t need to be down there, but…

After a moment, though, Martin caught a laugh that sounded familiar and relaxed. “It’s them.”

“That’s…not good. It’s the middle of the day.” There was a rustle as Jon got to his feet. “God, what happened now?”

Martin bit his lip. Being blind and living essentially underground meant his internal clock was a bit off, but he trusted Jon. If it was midday, that meant it was Wednesday; Past Jon had been gone less than two days. He was probably still in Beijing. Nothing bad had happened to Jon while he was in China, unless there was something he hadn’t told Martin, and he probably hadn’t even had time to get into Pu Songling yet. Which meant something had happened to one of the others. Best case scenario, they’d uncovered a statement that bothered them or they wanted clarification on. Worst-case…

The door opened, and Past Martin’s voice came in, obviously in the middle of a sentence. “—like I’m offering to show you a pipe of Amontillado we’re keeping down here, it’s—oh, hey, you’re up already, that’s good.”

“What’s happened? Did something go wrong?” Jon asked urgently.

“Depends on your definition of ‘wrong,’ I suppose.”

There was a slight, nearly imperceptible creak as the door opened wider, and then a short pause before a female voice that sounded rather familiar spoke. “Is this some kind of a joke?”

Martin sat up a little straighter. “Melanie?”

He felt a surprising mix of delight and regret. He’d come to like the feisty firebrand in the short time they’d actually been able to get to know each other, despite the strain of the world having ended, and one thing he’d privately lamented when they’d made the decision to come back in time was that he wouldn’t get the chance to talk with her again, so having the opportunity was an unexpected pleasure. On the other hand, the fact that she was here and being brought down probably meant that she’d been trapped into working at the Institute, and that sent a stab of aching melancholy through his heart. They’d wanted so badly to keep her from turning bitter and angry…

She didn’t sound angry, though, at least not yet. Then again, their Melanie hadn’t at first either. “Are you clones or—you knew my name. What are you?”

Martin couldn’t help the grin that curled across his mouth, even as he got to his feet. “Me? Oh, I’m the Antichrist’s plus-one.”

The surprised laugh sounded like Tim’s. Melanie actually sounded delighted. “Does that mean he’s the Antichrist?”

“Assuming you’re pointing to Jon, yes.”

“Melanie.” Jon sounded like he was struggling to keep his composure. “It’s—it’s good to see you. What are you doing here?”

“Getting initiated. Or hazed, maybe. Depends on how you want to call it.” There was a rustle of fabric, and Martin guessed Melanie had just folded her arms across her chest. “You’re looking at the newest Archival Assistant.”

“Oh, Melanie,” Jon murmured, his voice full of regret.

“Yeah, yeah, I know, evil fear things, spooky stories, you can check out any time you like but you can never leave, today we are canceling the Apocalypse, blah blah blah.”

“Any other pop culture references you want to throw out there?” Martin asked dryly.

He could imagine Melanie shrugging. “I mean, you might have to give me a minute to come up with a few. But they told me all about the crap they have to put up with. We have to put up with, I guess.” She paused. “So, neither of you really answered my question.”

“Melanie King, meet the Primes,” Tim said. “Jon and Martin, meet the crazy woman who knew what she was getting into and did it anyway. Ow!” he added, punctuated by the dull, wet smack of somebody being punched in the side. “Jeez, what were you, a boxer in another life?”

“You say that like I’m not a boxer in this one,” Melanie grumbled. “I just don’t compete is all. Prime whats?”

“So you know those pop culture references?” Past Martin said. “Here’s one more. They’re—they’re Jon and me, from the future. They’re the reason we’re trying to stop the Apocalypse. The reason we know we need to stop the Apocalypse,” he corrected himself. “Tim calls them the Primes, like—”

“Like Spock Prime. Got it. Okay.” Martin could picture Melanie’s scowl pretty clearly; it had been more or less her default expression for a while. “Well, then. Unless one of you can mind-meld, you’re going to have to prove that some other way.”

“No, fortunately, the ability to plant thoughts and memories in someone’s head is one I was spared.” Jon sighed heavily. “I—I don’t know if there’s anything I can…m-most of what I know about, about your future counterpart are things that haven’t happened yet, o-or the others could have told us.”

Martin pursed his lips as a thought occurred to him. “I can think of one thing, but you probably don’t want it bruited about.”

“I seriously doubt that there’s anything you can come up with I wouldn’t want them knowing.” There was a challenging edge to Melanie’s voice that was all too familiar.

“Melanie—” Sasha began. Great, everyone was there.

“No. You think you know some big secret about me, something I wouldn’t have told you until later? Fine. Say it. I look forward to being able to look you in the eye and tell you you’re wrong.”

Martin sighed in exasperation. “You got shot by a ghost while you were in India. In the leg. You told the doctors it was a—a mugging, right? They couldn’t find anything in the scans, but trust me when I say it’s probably still in there.”

There was another one of those long pauses. “Fuck.”

“I did warn you,” Martin pointed out.

“You did, and I should have listened.” Melanie snorted. “I mean, obviously. I’ve only been working here for three hours and I already know that’s the number one Archives rule: Always listen to Martin.”

“Excellent life advice, both in the Archives and out,” Tim agreed.

“Both of you shut up,” Past Martin muttered, but without a lot of heat behind it.

Martin laughed. “It really is good to—we have missed you, Melanie.”

“You guys must have had a really rough few years if we’ve known each other long enough for you to miss me,” Melanie said, but he could hear the smile in her voice anyway. “For what it’s worth, it’s good to meet you.”

There was a bit of an expectant silence before Jon made a flustered-sounding noise of surprise and tapped Martin’s arm. “She wants to shake.”

“He’s not an idiot,” Melanie snapped. “If he doesn’t—”

“No, I’m blind. Sorry, should have warned you.” Martin reached out and found Melanie’s outstretched hand.

“Oh.” The slight pull against Martin’s arm was the only clue he got before Melanie—at least he assumed it was Melanie—surged forward and hugged him instead. In his ear, she said, “You look like you need it.”

“Well, I’ll never say no.” Martin didn’t need physical contact quite the same way Jon did, but it did give him comfort to feel a friendly touch once in a while. And it was substantially more important now that he was blind to have a tactile connection to the world around him. He was just momentarily caught off-guard; he’d forgotten how much shorter than him Melanie was.

After a moment, Melanie pulled back. “Right. Do I get an explanation or is it ‘you’re from the future’ and we leave it at that?”

“We can explain. Right, Jon?” Martin added, raising an eyebrow in his fiancé’s direction.

“Right. Of course. Ha-have a seat.” Jon sounded like the entire situation had put him off balance. “We’ll see what we can do.”

In a lot of ways, it was easier than when they’d told their story to the crew the first time, close to a year ago now. First of all, the team was aware now of a lot of things they’d had to explain, and Melanie had lived through at least some of it, so there was less to catch up on. Second of all, Tim, Sasha, and Past Martin were able to help fill in a lot of details. Including some things even Jon and Martin hadn’t been aware of.

“And then the world ended,” Jon concluded, much as he had the previous year. “And Martin and I…well, eventually we decided to try and put it back.”

“By coming back in time? How’d you even know you could do that?” Melanie asked. “Is it in one of those statements up there?”

“No. N-no, I don’t—I don’t think so. I don’t know how the Keeper found out about that passage back. That wasn’t our original plan,” Jon said slowly. “I’m not completely sure we had a plan, come to think of it.”

“Head to London, kill Jonah Magnus, and hope for the best,” Martin said with a shrug. “Push the big red reset button. I don’t know. I think we were still figuring it out when we got there.”

He could hear the frown when Melanie spoke next. “Sorry, I’m new to all this, I’m sure you’ve been over it a lot, but—how did you know you could? Can’t imagine the big scary fear god that thinks it’s won just…giving you a map to all its vulnerable spots or whatever. How did you know there was even a way to fix it?”

“We didn’t,” Martin said simply. He felt Jon lean against his shoulder and wrapped an arm around him. “But we had to try.”

There was another long pause before Melanie spoke again, her voice almost too soft to be audible. “Who else survived? Besides you two?”

“What?” Jon asked with a frown.

Martin realized she had almost been too soft to be heard; he’d only caught it because he had to concentrate so hard. “You, Georgie, and Basira. And the Admiral. But in our timeline…Sasha’d been gone for years at that point, she died when Jane Prentiss attacked us. And our Tim died in the Unknowing. Once Daisy went over to the Hunt, we were the only ones left.”

“The whole rest of the world died?” Melanie demanded.

“No,” Jon said quickly. “No, not—not yet. They would have. Eventually. But no. After the Fears came through…the world divided largely into two categories. Watcher or Watched. You were either trapped in a fear’s domain or—or observing one.”

“So which one was I?”

“Neither. You and Georgie, you were both sort of…outside it. I don’t know that you were the only ones, either, but you were the only ones we knew about.” Jon paused, then added, “You kept going into domains and—rescuing people, actually. Or trying to. These tunnels are a blind spot, and that didn’t change even when the Institute became the literal center of the world. You and Georgie would run into a domain, get someone out, and bring them down here.”

“And inadvertently started a cult,” Martin added. He couldn’t help the slight smile that tugged at his mouth. “You hated it.”

“God, yeah, I would have. I swear, the worst part of Ghost Hunt UK is dealing with the fans. I just got into it to investigate the paranormal, not to be famous doing it.” Melanie sighed heavily. Martin felt bad for her. “So what happened to us? After you left. Did you erase the whole future timeline so none of it ever happened, or did the three of us have to either fix it ourselves or live in a post-apocalyptic hellscape for the rest of our natural lives?”

“I—I don’t know.” Jon sounded incredibly shaken.

Martin rubbed comfortingly at Jon’s shoulder. “We left before…we didn’t get to tell them we were going. The Keeper—the one who helped us get back in time—he promised he’d let them know what was going on, he said they’d be safe. As far as I know, we didn’t…that timeline still continued to its end. I just don’t know when its end was. And unfortunately, we never will. Personally, I think what would have happened is that when the Keeper told everyone that our plan went to hell and Jonah got away, your counterpart would have said ‘fuck this’, got a knife, and gone after him herself. She kept trying to kill him in our timeline and he saw her every time. I don’t doubt for a minute that she’d take advantage of the fact that he literally wouldn’t have been able to see her.”

“Why not?”

“Same reason he can’t see me. Because she was blind, she was immune to the Eye. And as hard as she was working on her anger, I think she knew how to turn it into a weapon. Also, she hated Jonah.” Martin sighed. “So yeah. We don’t know what happened to everybody in our timeline, but if anyone could fix it, it’d be our Melanie. Correcting the Apocalypse with a knife and sheer spite.”

“Damn right,” Melanie said. Someone turned a laugh into a hacking cough.

Jon sighed and leaned against Martin’s shoulder. Martin shifted slightly to settle him into a more comfortable position. After all these months, the movement was as natural as breathing. “I’m so sorry, Melanie. We—we’d hoped we could keep you out of all this.”

“Hey, don’t take away my right to choose. I knew what I was getting into.”

“Did he ask?” Jon asked. “Or did he just hire you?”

“Of course he asked.” Melanie sounded exasperated. She dropped her voice to a lower register and did a very poor, mocking imitation of Elias’ drawl. “‘I understand that your show is on a hiatus, and with Jon off traveling, I’m sure Martin and the others could use some assistance. Jon spoke quite highly of your research abilities. Would you be interested in a paid position here in the Archives?’ I could have told him to fuck off if I’d really wanted to.”

Martin replayed the words in his head a couple of times. “Yeah, sounds like he flattered and dangled bait in front of you, but didn’t actually force you. Very carrot and stick.”

“So why did you say yes?” Sasha asked, sounding curious. “Knowing what you were getting into, more or less?”

Melanie sighed heavily—Martin was incredibly familiar with that sound—but to his mild surprise, it was Past Martin who answered. “She told us that, Sasha. Or at least indirectly. She—you said you started Ghost Hunt UK to investigate. And when we were having lunch before you left for India…I saw how animated you got when you were talking about that student film you did. The supernatural, the paranormal, it’s genuinely something you’re interested in. You agreed to join the Institute because it lets you do all that and get paid for it, with the added bonus of not having to deal with people if you don’t want to.”

“Yeah, basically. And, you know, if I can help save the world, that’s a nice little plus, too.”

Martin heard the rustling of fabric, but he honestly couldn’t have said if it was a hug or a light shove or what, and Tim’s next words made him none the wiser. “Thought you couldn’t read minds.”

“I can’t. I just know people.” Past Martin’s voice softened. “I promise, Tim. I’m not developing any new abilities.”

From the way he said that, Martin could picture quite vividly what Tim’s face had to look like. It was probably somewhere between the way he’d looked when he’d brought Sasha her coffee after she’d been attacked by Michael and the way he’d looked when telling Martin what had happened to his brother—a mixture of concern and fear and maybe a little bit of heartbreak. Tim really did worry about the others developing powers from the Eye, but there was probably an additional layer here because it was Past Martin.

Martin did know people. He had a fairly intuitive sense for the mood of a room and the way people interacted. In his timeline it had led him to play peacemaker, or try to, attempting to mediate between Jon and their Tim. In this…go-round, he supposed…it mostly meant he was picking up on a lot of things that weren’t being said, or at least weren’t being said aloud. He’d heard the fabric rustling, the lighthearted banter, the genuine laughter. He’d picked up on the gentleness in Past Jon’s voice that reminded him of the way Jon had spoken to him so often after Prentiss attacked, after he’d been accused of murder, and especially during those agonizing months he’d been working with Peter Lukas and they’d been so close and yet so far apart. He’d noted the affection in Tim’s voice, the way he’d tried so hard to control his anger and fear and actually talk to them. And of course he knew himself, and by extension his past self, knew what he sounded like when he was trying to navigate a simple conversation without wearing his heart on his sleeve, when he was trying to throttle back an emotion he desperately wanted to express but didn’t think would be welcome…or safe.

He knew love when he heard it, and dear God, if it had been that obvious to him for so long, he was already mentally betting with himself against how long it would take Melanie to call them out on it. Because he also knew hidden love, and he was willing to venture that they weren’t trying to hide their relationship because they thought it was inappropriate in the workplace. He was willing to bet all three of them thought it was unrequited on their part and that they had to keep it hidden from the others lest they be shot down.

He’d never really thought about polyamory himself, but in retrospect, yeah, maybe he had had a bit of a crush on their Tim. At least for a while. That would never have gone anywhere, though.

“Do we need to get out of here?” Melanie asked. “I mean, is Big Nose McCreepy going to notice we left the Archives essentially abandoned?”

“No, we’ve got a bit,” Sasha said. “He’s supposed to be meeting some of the Institute donors for a lunch of some kind. He’s not on site and he’s going to be occupied for a good while. I’m kind of hoping he gets a little tipsy, too. Anyway, he thinks he’s got us over a barrel right now. He thinks he trapped you into the Institute, so he’s feeling smug enough that he’s not going to pay attention to us for a while. His plan is to give us the rest of the week, at least, to let you ‘settle in’ before—”

“Sasha!” Jon said sharply. He sat up so suddenly it almost pulled Martin off-balance.

“Oh. Oh, shit.” Sasha inhaled abruptly. “I swear that wasn’t on purpose.”

“That’s—Christ, Sasha, you shouldn’t be able to do that from down here—”

“I didn’t—I Knew that before we came down. I’m pretty sure.” Sasha took another deep breath. “Right, okay. I don’t know who’s nominally in charge while Jon’s away, but—I think maybe I should take tomorrow off? Just to…recalibrate. Ground myself. Get some distance.”

“Take the rest of the week,” Tim suggested. “I don’t know who’s nominally in charge either, but—”

“I’ll stand in for your Jon,” Jon said. “Tim’s right. Take a good long weekend. Don’t think about the Institute, or the Archives, or the Fears. Just…I know it’s easier said than done, but try to distract yourself.”

“I think I have a way of doing that.” Sasha sounded thoughtful. Martin was pretty sure it was sincere.

“What do you do?” There was a hint of a challenge in Melanie’s voice, but also a good deal of curiosity. She was genuinely asking. “When it gets too much. What do you have that keeps you from—doing whatever it is you shouldn’t do?”

“Going out and pouncing random people to draw their traumas out of them,” Jon said dryly. “And I have Martin. He’s been my anchor for…much longer than I realized at the time. We’ll read or—or talk, or take a walk or something. We played cards a lot when we were in Scotland.”

“We were playing I Spy earlier,” Martin added.

Sasha snorted, but Past Martin seemed to actually understand. “Like a memory game type version?”

“Basically, yes. We pick someplace we both know—or knew—think about what was in it, and pick something for the other to try and guess. Five tries or less. And no mind-reading.”

“It’s still your turn,” Jon reminded him. “The storage unit.”

“Hmm.” Martin thought for a moment, then smiled as he remembered the one thing he’d fixated on while they were there. “I Spy, with my mental eye, something…brown.”

Jon made an exasperated noise. “I swear that must have been her favorite color. That could be anything.”

“Well, then, you’d best get guessing.”

“Fine.” Jon sighed heavily. “The…box full of dolls.”

“Nope. Guess again.”

“The book? The one we didn’t know what it was?”

“That was black.”

“It was—never mind.” Jon sighed again. “The notebook?”

Martin shook his head. “Come on, Jon, think. This is me we’re talking about. What would I have been looking at?”

“The…the frame on the painting with the dogs in it.”

“One guess left.”

“Give me one more hint.”

“It was the first thing that gave me hope in weeks.”

Jon was silent for a long while. Finally, he said, “I give up. I honestly, genuinely cannot think of anything that was brown that might fit the criteria you’ve given me. What do you spy?”

Martin’s smile widened. “Your eyes.”

There was a chorus of awws and exaggerated gagging sounds in equal measure from the other four, but from the way Jon took his face in both hands and kissed him, tenderly but thoroughly, Martin could tell that his choice had had the effect he wanted.

[numinousnic]

“Evan Lukas. Remember him?”

Now Nora turns her head to face him. “There’s no need to sound so confrontational,” she remarks. “But yes, I do remember him. Nathaniel’s youngest.” She takes another drag of her cigarette, then sighs out the smoke, sending it billowing across the office. “Such a shame, how he ended.”

“And how did he ‘end’?” Jon asks harshly.

— Be Bold, Be Bold (But Not Too Bold), Chapter 1: Sea Change

... I didn’t expect to pause halfway through writing Be Bold, Be Bold (But Not Too Bold) to prepare this meta on the off chance anyone asks about this detail in the comments, but here I am, I guess! And even though I’ve thought about this a lot lately in the context of an AU, the question (as far as canon goes) still stands:

Why did Evan Lukas die?

[Spoilers through the end of S4 and a prolonged discussion of just how dysfunctional and terrible the Lukas family is under the cut]

So, let’s start by tracing what little we know about how the Lukas family relates to one another. Though Evan’s death seems to be natural (if very sudden) when Naomi first gives her statement in MAG 13, by the time we get to MAG 111, his death gets cast in quite a different light.

GERRY Families are just useful ‘cause they can push you in the right direction. And the Lukases are very good at that.

JON And I imagine they’re not… reluctant to remove any members that might put that legacy at risk.

— MAG 111: Family Business

So the implication here is that Evan died was killed because he didn’t want anything to do with his family or the Lonely, and the Lukases weren’t about to “put that legacy at risk,” as Jon puts it. A straightforward enough explanation.

And then we come to MAG 159, and we get some more information about the Lukases and their terrible family dynamics. And while that information doesn’t really complicate things, it does give rise to some new questions.

PETER I suppose to call myself an “only child” is, technically, untrue. Two of my sisters still live, though they disavowed the family and moved far, far away. Still… to be cut off from one’s family is its own very special sort of loneliness, isn’t it? So we all serve, in our own ways.

The other two — my brother, Aaron, and sister, Judith — well, they weren’t considerate enough to quietly grow to adulthood and disappear. They simply didn’t have the temperament to thrive in the Lukas household, always trying to… instigate games. Make friends. Connect with people.

As far as I’m aware, they were sent away to live their lives with very distant relatives, never to return. I’m sure it’s possible my mother resolved the matter in a less pleasant manner, but in my limited interaction with her, she never struck me as a cruel woman, and I would imagine for children that age, the fear and isolation of being uprooted and sent away is just as strong as that of meeting a more… grisly fate.

— MAG 159: The Last

So what have we learned here? First, the Lukases who cut themselves off from their family are not quite as free from the Lonely as they would probably like to be. This isn’t an unsurprising fact, given the many characters in TMA who struggle against the entities they’ve been marked by (Daisy resisting the Hunt in S4, for instance), but... just keep that in mind for now.

Second, Peter indirectly corroborates the fact that the Lukases are willing to kill wayward family members who are actively endangering their legacy (i.e., their particular relationship to the Lonely). Even though what exactly happened to Aaron and Judith is left deliberately murky, what we do know is that they “didn’t have the temperament to thrive in the Lukas household.” Instead of isolating themselves, they openly tried to connect with people and they paid a steep price for it.

So what differentiates Aaron and Judith (who may or may not be dead) from Peter’s other two sisters (who are likely still alive somewhere)? Peter says that Aaron and Judith didn’t “quietly grow to adulthood and disappear,” which would seem to imply that’s what happened with Peter’s other two sisters — and, I suspect, Evan as well.

Why do I think this? Education. Simon makes a joke in MAG 151 about Peter’s social awkwardness being due to homeschooling, and Peter also mentions in MAG 159 that his mother didn’t send him to boarding school as a child because “the danger of friendship was too acute.” In contrast, Evan very likely went to college — even with family money and connections (to the extent that the Lukases have those), I’m guessing it would be very difficult for him to get a job as a “lab assistant in one of the UCL Biochemistry departments” (the job Naomi’s interviewing for when she meets him) if he didn’t have at least an undergrad degree. Besides, college would have given Evan ample opportunity to make friends, and in her statement, Naomi attests that he has plenty of friends and an active social life.

But this begs the question: if Peter’s sisters were left alone to live their lives after they defected from the Lukases... why wasn’t Evan?

GERRY You know, for a group that worships a power of loneliness, they never seem to have any problems breeding, or finding spooky singles to marry them.

— MAG 111: Family Business

Unlike the Lukases, who (paradoxically!) seem to marry and have children with the sole intent of carrying on the family legacy of loneliness, Evan, who wants nothing to do with his family, most assuredly is not doing that. But he’s still in a loving, happy relationship with Naomi, and when she proposes to him, he says yes. (God, they love each other so much, and their story just breaks my heart.)

Let me rephrase that. Evan fell in love and eventually got engaged. To a woman who is undeniably marked by the Lonely.

NAOMI I’ve never really been the social type. I’ve always been more comfortable alone, you know?

— MAG 13: Alone

How much do you want to bet that the Lukases were absolutely enraged by this? Between his distance from his family, his schooling, and his social life, Evan’s already made it very clear that he wants nothing to do with the Lukases and with the Lonely. And the Lukases are probably peeved enough about that already! But Evan potentially breaking his ties with the Lonely for good? Evan getting engaged? Evan getting engaged to Naomi? Naomi, who definitely falls into the category of “spooky single”? Naomi, the kind of chronically lonely person who the Lukases would target in a heartbeat (either as a victim or as a potential addition to the family)?

From your average Lukas perspective, this is the final straw.

NAOMI Each wore the same hard expression as his father, and I might have been imagining it, but I could have sworn that when they looked at me, their eyes were full of something dark. Anger, maybe? Blame? God knows I felt guilty enough about his death, though I have no idea why.

— MAG 13: Alone

But. The Lukases still have a chance to correct this, to rectify Evan’s slight against them and their god. So, Evan is disposed of. And they invite Naomi to his funeral, fully intending to sacrifice her to the Lonely for her part in Evan’s defiance, unwitting as it is.

NAOMI Evan never really talked about his family. He said he wasn’t on good terms with them because they were very religious, and he never had been. I’d never met or visited them, or even been told their names, as far as I remember. But they must have known me enough to invite me, as I somehow ended up at the right place.

— MAG 13: Alone

But but BUT. Even though Evan supposedly died from a congenital heart defect (file this one under: LINES THAT MAKE ME SCREAM IN HINDSIGHT), it’s his heart — his sheer love for Naomi — that ultimately saves her from the Lonely. His connection to the Lonely isn’t something he was born with, but something he was raised with and then actively struggled against for the rest of his life. Because he made those human connections. Because he fell in love. And even in death, Evan’s not about to let his family hurt Naomi — Naomi, lonely all her life until she met and fell in love with Evan — the same way they hurt him.

(I like to think that Evan’s no longer suffering in the Lonely after saving Naomi, that he’s actually found some kind of peace in death. Because that kind of act of love is just about the most anti-Lonely thing someone can do.)

TL;DR: Evan Lukas didn’t die just because he cut himself off from his family and their expectations of upholding their legacy. Rather, he died because he got engaged to Naomi, who was deeply touched by the Lonely and could potentially be targeted by his family, and this profoundly anti-Lonely act was so utterly antithetical to the Lukas legacy, they killed him for it — but they still couldn’t stop Evan from saving Naomi! Because that’s the power of love!

(Also, if I’m right, then wow, the Lukases are WAY more awful than I could have ever imagined.)

[the-ipre]

Fantasy High TMA AU for @rabdoidal, happy birthday! can be read here on ao3

half human

“End recording.” Adaine put the statement she had been reading back on the desk, pushing her glasses up as she rubbed at the bridge of her nose. The statement had been about a man who had collapsed into a pile of bones when a book he carried everywhere was stolen, and she could almost feel the flesh sloughing off of her own skeleton.

That had been happening more often as of late. Not specifically the feeling that she was going to lose all her skin, although that did sometimes happen, but more that strange sensation that she was taking on the stories that she recorded. Vertigo and the tickle of legs crawling on the back of her neck and a dozen other things really didn’t help lessen her anxiety, and she found herself getting even less sleep than she had before.

Adaine knew that the dark circles under her eyes had just been getting worse, and she had her meds but they weren’t as helpful as they used to be and that was just one more thing on the list of things she had to do, but instead she just picked up the next statement to record.

She heard her recorder click on, but before she could open the folder her eyes were drawn to the doorway, a moment before a figure stepped into it.

Fabian was pinned in place by her gaze for a second, and then he visibly shrugged it off and sauntered into the room. “Hello, Adaine,” he said, dropping himself in the chair across from her. “Why haven’t you replaced this yet? I swear, it’s poking into me in at least three places.”

“Hi? And usually it’s just me, people don’t usually stay here for longer than just dropping things off.” Adaine let her unspoken question hang in the air while Fabian adjusted, crossing one leg over the other and avoiding her eyes.

He lifted a shoulder up in a shrug and put on that sharp smile he wore when he needed the world to believe he knew what he was doing. “It is your lucky day, then, because I am not just here to drop something off.” Fabian paused, and Adaine folded her hands and raised her eyebrows, waiting to see if he was going to actually tell her what he was doing. When she didn’t say anything, he sighed, floating a hand in the air in what was probably exasperation. “Fine, I was talking to Kristen, and she told me that I needed to give you a statement, which is honestly ridiculous, but now here I am, so.”

Adaine blinked at that. Fabian talked a lot, blustering with enough stories to fill the archive by himself, but he hadn’t given a statement before, and he seemed heavily opposed the times that she had asked. “You want to give a statement.”

“I don’t want to, Adaine, but Kristen told me to, and if I had stayed and argued she would have, I don’t know, tried to make me actually deal with the issues she says I have and I know I don’t have, so. Here I am!” He smiled, put his hands on his knees as he leaned forward. “I am Fabian Aramais Seacaster, and I have a story to tell. Look, your recorder is already on, might as well!”

“Oh, it is. Huh.” Adaine pushed up her glasses and locked eyes with Fabian. “Statement taken directly from subject, February 29th, 2016. Statement begins.”

Fabian seemed to sit up straighter, dramatic movements of his arms becoming more intentional, pointed, even though they wouldn’t be caught by the tape recorder. “So, this particular story takes place in high school. Junior year, if my memory serves.” The tone of his voice said of course it serves, with the constant undercurrent of because I’m Fabian Aramais Seacaster . “It was Christmas Eve, and my buddy, Ragh – Ragh Barkrock, if you need his full name for research – called me up, and asked if I wanted to go fuck shit up. I said yes, of course.”

Fabian sighed, lowered his voice. Adaine did her best to keep her face neutral, because for the moment, his posturing seemed to be slipping away. It usually did when she took statements – for some reason, people seemed to want to tell the truth when the recorder got turned on – but Fabian was a fan of stories, especially ones that made him look good. From the hunch of his shoulders, she didn’t know if this would be one of those.

“My parents were, ah, what’s a good word. They were difficult to be around, sometimes, and the holidays didn’t exactly help with that. So when Ragh gave me an out, I grabbed my letterman jacket and left. We were on the football team together, and we weren’t really friends, because who has friends in high school, but it was, again, high school , so we both had a lot of unresolved issues. Easier to not discuss your unresolved issues together, you know? “ Fabian huffed out a laugh, but it wasn’t the kind that he usually threw around, the one that was all show and look over here . It was just a self-deprecating huff of breath, and Adaine nodded, encouraging him to keep going.

Adaine hadn’t had quite the same high school experience – also bad, but in a different direction – but she let him keep talking. She wasn’t a therapist, despite once thinking that she might like to help people like that. Instead, she just listened, and recorded, and gently encouraged Fabian to keep talking.

“We met up at the old arcade. It was locked and dark – I don’t think that I had ever seen it open the whole time I lived in that town – but Ragh had a scowl on his face and a crowbar in each hand, so when he tossed me one I took it. See, football is a good way to get out your aggression, but there are still rules to it. You have to play by them, even if you don’t play fair , but for all of the tackling it is still so…” Fabian ran his fingers through his carefully styled hair. “It’s so civilized . What happened that night- well, football can’t really compare, can it?”

“We broke in – I was kind of surprised that there wasn’t an alarm, honestly, but by the time I was worrying about that Ragh had already broken the glass of the door and we were inside. It was- have you ever been in an abandoned place at night?” Adaine shook her head. Her high school experience was much more along the lines of staying home and barricading herself in her room as best she could. “Well, the only light came from the street lights outside and the flashlight on my phone, but the colors of the carpet were still garish. The glass and plastic of the games reflected light that I wasn’t able to see the source of, and it felt like the whole place was just, I don’t know, holding its breath.”

Fabian flexed his hand like he was remembering the feeling of a crowbar in his hands, and Adaine realized that she hadn’t blinked since Fabian started giving his statement. She did, just to show that she could, and that this was normal, and that Fabian was still just Fabian .

“I realized that neither of us had said anything yet. It’s a strange thing, to just accept a crowbar from someone and break into an abandoned arcade, but I suppose that’s just what it’s like to be in high school. Well, it was all so quiet, and then, suddenly, it wasn’t. Ragh let out a scream, smashing his crowbar against one of the games, and there was no point in asking how his day was going then , so I took a swing as well.”

As Fabian lifted his chin and grimaced, Adaine almost thought that his teeth were more pointed than they had been when he first came into her small office. “At some point one of us broke into the money collector of one of the games and there were quarters rolling across the floor. Honestly, most of that night was a blur, but there was...there was this one game that I stayed away from, at least at first. It had a little pixie on it, a tiny dude with a weird grin and big glasses, and above the screen were the words ‘Beat Biz.’” Fabaian cracked his neck, barked out another laugh. It seemed like there was an energy crawling under his skin as he spoke, fingers starting to move restlessly, twisting in his pressed pant legs or tugging at the air.

“The vibes of that game were just putrid , so I stayed away, and I’m pretty sure that together Ragh and I pushed over a different game. But then, it was the only thing left untouched in the whole room. It almost looked like it was, I don’t know, glowing, or something, but there wasn’t really much light coming in from outside at that point, and I didn’t know where my phone had gone. I turned to look at Ragh, and I was pretty sure that he had started crying at some point. Then, something in his eyes...changed.” At that, Fabian stood up, paced a few steps, and then returned to stand in front of the desk, casting a shadow over the tape recorder and Adaine’s hands.

“He ran past me, and he swung his crowbar into the screen, and there had been a lot of noise in that arcade that night but that one seemed to break through everything else.” Fabian exhaled, crossed his arms, and looked at the wall over Adaine’s head.

“The game screamed .”

With that he started pacing again, steps growing less and less measured and more movement for the sake of moving, letting off energy, chasing without running and the barely contained need to sprint. “He went crazy, hitting it again and again.” Fabian’s voice grew quiet. “I helped him push it over.” There was a tension in his shoulders, and his hands were flexing, and all Adaine could do – wanted to do, if she were honest, and she really didn’t want to be in this moment – was just watch. “I looked down, and there was blood on my sneakers. It was- the broken screen had shattered inwards, and the glass was stuck in some sort of meat , and the game was oozing blood onto the floor, and it was soaking into my socks , and Ragh was still there, crying and screaming and attacking the thing with a crowbar.”

All the energy seemed to leave Fabian at that, body tense and hands curled at his sides as some horror played out before his eyes again. Adaine glanced down at the recorder to make sure that it was still recording. It was.

“I went home. I couldn’t stay, and I knew that if I tried to get Ragh to stop he would attack me just as brutally as he had that machine. Don’t ask me how I knew, but I did , and so I just went home. My papa saw the blood on my shoes and he congratulated me.” Fabian sat back down. “Ragh was back at school in January, but something was different. He seemed...hollow. After that night, he didn’t invite me out again. I think...I think I’m glad that he didn’t. I don’t know if I would have gone, or if I would have been able to escape again.”

Adaine spoke, throat dry even as her voice was clear and even. “Statement ends.”

When Fabian blinked, he seemed to come back to himself, and he drew his shoulders up. Those layers of defenses rose again, and hidden was the high school boy who had been lost to that destruction of the arcade. “Well, that was, ah-”

Adaine clicked her recorder off before she spoke. She wasn’t a therapist, she was just someone who was supposed to listen and watch and record, but this was her friend. She didn’t want to be someone who only wanted to observe. “Fabian, are you okay?”

Fabian shook his head and took a breath, and for a moment Adaine thought that he was actually going to process an emotion for the first time in his life. Then, she smelled the copper tang of blood, faint but unable to get away from in the small room, and Fabian lifted his chin and put that smile back on again. “Tell Kristen that I gave a statement so she gets off my back about it.”

With that, he stood up and left, taking the smell of blood with him.

Adaine was left alone in her small office, surrounded by files and dust and stories that were not her own, and she had the sinking feeling that she wasn’t going to be getting much sleep that night.

[transhitman]

TMA D&D Homebrew

So fellas, I’ve been working on a TMA dnd homebrew, and I thought I’d share what I have so far. I’m not sure if it’s balanced. I’ve never really delved deep into the rules of dnd, so I would love some input! I’ve been writing this with a modern setting in mind, and so far I’ve been working on the powers as warlock patrons. I have 5 done so far: Beholding, Buried, Corruption, Dark, and End. I also added a level 20 patron ability since there seems to be some kind of ascendance point where the avatars become irreversibly inhuman, and it felt a little anticlimactic to just have the final ability at level 14. I’ve also nerfed the actual spellcasting, so there are less spell slots, and the actual spells you can know (as well as the eldritch invocations) are limited by patron. It seemed fair since the actual patron abilities might be a little bit OP. I’m aiming to edit most of the other classes, but I might remove some classes altogether (druids wouldn’t really work IMO). I’ve also been trying trying to word in in a way that’s accessible to people who aren’t familiar with TMA, so it gets a bit verbose at times. It’s not meant to reflect cannon 100% accurately, but I did my best. I also made it so that a lot of abilities can be subject to house rules, and some abilities rely on the RP aspect of the game. If you end up using this stuff, feel free to edit it! Since it’s built around a modern universe, a lot of it might not fit with actual dnd lore. Anyway, the five “finished” patrons are under the cut. If you read, please tell me if I should keep on this track or if I should change some things up before I commit to it completely : )

THE BEHOLDING

Expanded Spell List

1st - Identify, Healing Word 2nd - Detect Thoughts, See Invisibility 3rd - Clairvoyance, Sending 4th - Arcane Eye, Divination 5th - Legend Lore, Modify Memory

Lv.1 - The Pen is Mightier

You are proficient in all intelligence skills, as well as the medicine and insight skills, and you may learn one extra language of your choice. In addition, when attacking, you may choose to use your intelligence modifier in place of your strength or dexterity.

Lv.6 - Media Consumption

The acquisition of new factual knowledge restores your strength and sustains your body. When you acquire a large amount of knowledge at any time, you may choose one of the following effects:

You heal yourself for 2d6 health. This increases to 2d8 at level 10, 2d10 at level 14, 3d10 at level 17, and 4d12 at level 20.

You negate any effects of exhaustion.

You regain expended spell slots in a quantity equal to your proficiency bonus.

For the next 24 hours, you don’t have to sleep in order to gain the benefits of a long rest, rather you may use the time to do non-strenuous activities.

You do not need to eat for the next 6 hours. If you were previously hungry, no are no longer hungry.

You gain a +1 bonus to dexterity for the next 6 hours.

The knowledge you gain in order to create this effect must be substantial. You can not simply google a list of facts and read them one at a time in order to abuse this ability. If you are reading the information, it must be a complete series of events that takes place over more than 5 minutes, or it must be an academic paper long enough that it would take a narrator at least 10 minutes to read out loud. You may read it more quickly to yourself and still gain the benefits if you are able. If a creature is telling you the information, it must sustain communication with you for at least 5 minutes or until its story has come to a close. If the new information you gain is related to true supernatural events, you may heal yourself for the maximum amount possible, or if you choose to use another ability, heal yourself for one warlock hit die + your constitution modifier. This ability can be used once per day.

Lv.10 - The Truth and Nothing But

If you ask a creature a question, they are compelled to answer truthfully no matter what. There is no limit to what kind of questions you can ask, or the amount of times you can ask a creature questions. A creature can only answer your question if it knows the answer. If a creature is aware of the nature of this compulsion, it may make wisdom save against your spell save DC. The player in control of the compelled creature makes the roll in secret. On a success, the creature resists your compulsion and may answer however it likes. This ability bypasses any spells that would normally prevent a similar compulsion. Creatures that don’t understand your language, or who can not speak are immune to the effects of this ability. You are automatically aware of this compulsion if it is used on you. Any acolyte of the Beholding has advantage when trying to resist the compulsion.

Lv.14 - Found in Translation

You are able to comprehend any language that exists, be it written, verbal, visual, digital, or psychic. However, you can not speak the language. If a humanoid is communicating in a way that is not a real language, you automatically know the general message it is trying to get across.

Lv.20 - The Watcher’s Crown

You look human, but no man could know such things. Choose a creature whose name you know or whose face you can recall with decent accuracy. No matter where they are, you can see and hear exactly what they are doing. This ability bypasses any anti-divination effects. While in the watcher state, you are aware of your own surroundings, but moving or focusing on a different subject breaks the effect of this ability. In addition, you have disadvantage on perception checks regarding your actual surroundings, and your AC drops to 10. The subject feels like they’re being watched, but has no way to detect you. Furthermore, if you are familiar with a subject, you may learn anything about their past, even things the subject does not know themselves, such as things that happened to them as a young child, or the feelings and memories of people they knew in the past. Using this ability, you may attempt to break the subject’s will by revealing information to them that they don’t want to hear, and planting detailed information in their minds. For example, you could show them how painfully one of their loved ones died, or you could tell them the reason their family hates them. Doing so will emotionally incapacitate the subject, the effect of which is up to the DM’s discretion. You can stay in the watcher state for as long as you can concentrate. You may use this ability once per short rest.

THE BURIED

Expanded Spell List

1st - Catapult, Earth Tremor 2nd - Dust Devil, Earthen Grasp 3rd - Erupting Earth, Meld Into Stone 4th - Stone Shape, Stone Skin 5th - Transmute Rock, Wall of Stone

Lv.1 - Deepsight

When in complete darkness, magical or not, you see your surroundings as vague, white outlines and shapes against a dark background, similar to a wireframe in animation. Creatures concealed by illusion magic still remain hidden, and your sight is not detailed. If you are lost in an enclosed space, such as a cave or subterranean building, a bright point of light will appear, leading you toward an exit.

Lv.6 - Architectural Nightmare

You are able to alter the architecture of the building you are currently in. You may choose a room that is no more than 20 ft wide, 20 ft tall, and 100 ft long. The alterations you make do not damage the structural integrity of the building, and the room returns to normal after a set amount of time. Choose one of the following effects to apply to the room:

The walls begin to slowly close in on the occupants at a rate no more than 12 ft per minute. The occupants must make a perception check to notice the moving walls, and will take no action to leave the room if they don’t notice it. (The creature may still leave the room for unrelated reasons.) If the creature notices, it will attempt to leave through the nearest possible exit. If it is unable to exit, the walls will close in on the target, trapping it in a tight box. While it is trapped, you may deal 2d6 bludgeoning damage per round until the creature drops to 0 hit points. If the creature dies, the walls return to their original place, and any objects in the room are also put back in place. If you choose to simply trap the creature, you may maintain concentration for up to an hour, after which the walls return to their original position at the same rate they closed in,

An empty room becomes a maze of small passages. The maze must have a path from one entrance to another, but can be as complex as you want it to be. If a creature attempts to navigate the maze, they will take an amount of time in minutes equal to your warlock level (a minimum of 6). You can extend this time by a minute by using your action to change the layout of the maze. You can change the layout an amount of times equal to your proficiency bonus. The maze lasts for an hour, until you dismiss it, or until you become incapacitated.

You create a stairway leading downward in any part of a room you occupy. This stairway ignores the layout of the building you’re in and can not be seen from the outside. It extends up to 500 ft underground and terminates in a plain oak door. The way down is shrouded in total darkness, and lights can not illuminate it for more than 5 ft. If you are not on ground level, your distance above the ground does not count toward the 500 ft limit. The door at the bottom of the stairs leads into the nearest man made underground structure. The door is locked to anyone aside from you and creatures you specify when you create the stairs. The entrance to the stairway lasts for only a minute after you cast it, but the stairs and the exit last until no creatures remain inside the space you created. Anything trapped in the stairway, such as creatures and objects, will be able to exit through the top of the tunnel again when you next use this ability. While within this space, creatures do not need to eat or drink. No health can be regained in this space, and for every hour a creature aside from you remains within, it takes 1d4 psychic damage until it has 1HP remaining. If you die while a creature is in this space, it is ejected in the empty space nearest to where you last used this ability.

You may remove all windows from a room, replacing them with walls that mimic the appearance of the rest of the room for 8 hours.

This ability can only be used in man made structures. You can use this ability once per long rest.

Lv.10 - Pressure Cooker

Choose a target. It makes a constitution save against your spell save DC. On a failure, roll a d10. The result of the roll determines the effects of the spell.

1: The target takes 1d10 bludgeoning damage.

2-3: The target takes 3d10 bludgeoning damage.

4-6: The target takes 3d10 bludgeoning damage and is knocked prone.

7-8: The target takes 1d12 bludgeoning damage every round for 4 rounds, and must make a constitution save against your spell save DC or be paralyzed.

9: The target takes 1d12 bludgeoning damage every round for 4 rounds, and is paralyzed for the duration.

10: The pressure hits, then reverses itself, creating a vacuum around the target. It takes 4d12 bludgeoning damage with the initial strike, then 2d6 fire damage as its blood boils inside its body. It is knocked prone.

On a successful save, the target takes 1d8 bludgeoning damage. You may use this ability once per long rest.

Lv.14 - Waking Grave

Choose a creature. If it is unwilling, it must make a wisdom save against your spell save DC. The creature is teleported into a box just big enough to fit it inside. For every minute that passes in real time, the creature in the box experiences 10. The creature has absolutely no way to contact anything outside the box, and while in the box is immune to any divination spells and psychic damage. It also does not have to eat, drink, or defecate, and it is unable to sleep. Every minute in box time (6 seconds real time), the creature may attempt to make a strength save against your spell save DC, though it does not have to. On a success, the creature frees itself from the box and reappears back in the real world, taking 1d6 piercing damage in the process. On a failure, the creature takes 2d8 piercing damage from splinters lining its coffin. If you so choose, you may summon the box into the real world. It appears where the creature was before it was teleported. All the same effects still apply, but you may move the box freely and it can be opened from the outside. The spell lasts for a week in real time, until you release the creature, or until the creature breaks free of its own volition. You may target only one creature at a time, but you can have up to 5 creatures trapped this way at once. Per long rest, you may use this feature a number of times equal to your charisma modifier.

Lv.20 - DIG.

Dig. The earth within 20 ft of you begins to sink at a rate of up to 10 ft per round, the ground at your feet sinking faster than the rest and creating a slope. The area becomes difficult terrain for any creature that is not an acolyte of the buried. You remain suspended above the center of the area and can not move until the hole stops sinking. If a creature who is not an acolyte of the buried starts its turn within the sinkhole or enters the sinkhole at any point during its turn, it must make a dexterity save against your spell save DC or slip 5 ft toward the center. Upon reaching the center of the hole, the creature is pulled beneath the earth and takes 3d12 piercing damage per round. A creature may use its action to make a dexterity or strength save against your spell save DC to pull itself out of the earth. The body of a creature that dies while in any part of the sinkhole is pulled beneath the earth and lost forever. The hole can be up to 100 ft deep. As an action on your turn while the spell is active, you can attempt to compel a creature to enter the sinkhole through a contest of charisma. If you succeed, the creature moves toward the hole to the best of its ability. The sinkhole lasts for 10 minutes, until you dismiss it, or you are incapacitated. When the spell ends, the earth reverts to its previous state with no trace of the hole. If a creature is submerged in the earth when the spell ends, it remains submerged but moves toward the surface as the ground returns to normal. In order to use this ability, you must be standing on unpaved ground. You can use this ability once per long rest.

THE CORRUPTION

Expanded Spell List

1st - Detect Poison and Disease, Ray of Sickness 2nd - Acid Arrow, Lesser Restoration 3rd - Life Transference, Stinking Cloud 4th - Giant Insect, Vitriolic Sphere 5th - Contagion, Insect Plague

Lv.1 - We Swarm

You are immune to all disease and resist poison damage. Eusocial insects, rodents, and birds associated with disease or scavenging are drawn to you. As an action, if such creatures are within 120 ft of you, you may command them to take one of the following actions on your behalf:

Attack a creature. Make a ranged spell attack. On a hit, the swarm deals 1d4 piercing damage and 1d4 poison damage. The damage for both damage types is increased to 1d6 at 6th level, 1d8 at 10th level, 1d10 at 14th level, and 1d12 at 20th level.

Scout out an area that you can’t reach. Upon their return, you know the general layout of the area, how many creatures are in the area, and the location of any traps in the area.

Cover any artificial light sources.

Swarm a creature and attempt to frighten it. The target makes a constitution save against your spell save DC. If it fails, it is frightened for a minute or until it takes damage.

Per long rest, you may take this action a number of times equal to your warlock level.

Lv.6 - Taken Ill

Choose a creature. It makes a constitution save against your spell save DC. On a failed save, it suffers one level of exhaustion and takes double damage from poison attacks for the next 12 hours. The sickness can not be cured by non-magical means. You may use this ability once per long rest.

Lv.10 - Subdermal Residents

A colony of eusocial insects of your choice has made its home inside your body. Most of your organs have stopped working. You have resistance to piercing and necrotic damage. You no longer need to eat, drink, or sleep. These insects are vital to your survival, so you must protect them and keep track of how many units you have left. Losing 70% of them inflicts one point of exhaustion on you, and losing all of your swarm will result in your death. Using your swarm, as an action, you can use one of the following abilities:

Your swarm revitalizes you. Recover 1d8 heath for every 10% of your swarm that remains. This increases to 1d12 at level 15. You lose 1d4x10% of your swarm.

You may sacrifice 1d12 health to regain 10% of your swarm.

Your swarm eats through a barrier. It takes a base time of 15 minutes, with one minute subtracted for every 10% of your swarm that remains. This causes you to lose 5% of your swarm for every inch they bore through.

Make a ranged spell attack. On a hit, the target takes 1d6 poison damage and 1d6 piercing damage for every 10% of your swarm that remains. This causes you to lose 20% of your swarm. Both types of damage increase to 1d12 at level 15.

Your swarm protects you. You may use your reaction to negate all physical damage of one attack at the expense of 20% of your swarm.

When you kill an enemy, insects burst from the corpse. You regain 1d4x5% of your swarm.

Your swarm lies in wait for its next victim. You can plant a trap that deals 3d12 poison damage when it is triggered at the expense of 30% of your swarm.

Your swarm stows away in a person’s belongings. You may track a creature over a distance of up to 50 miles at the expense of 10% of your swarm.

The first time you drop to 0HP while over 50% of your swarm remains, you are automatically stabilized. A return to full health restores the use of this ability. During a short rest, you regenerate 20% of your swarm, and during a long rest you regenerate 50%. If you have access to meat of any kind, you may use it to regenerate you swarm at any time you aren’t in combat, regaining 1% of your swarm per pound of meat.

Lv.14 - Fetid Aura

Any time a creature within 30 ft of you takes damage, you may add 1d8 poison damage to the attack. This increases to 1d10 at level 17, and to 1d12 at level 20. Furthermore, if an ally within 30 ft of you takes poison damage, they may roll the same die and reduce the damage by the rolled amount.

Lv. 20 - Postmortumorphasis

For all intents and purposes, you have become your swarm. You are immune to poison, piercing, and necrotic damage. You may now exceed 100% of your swarm, and all attacks you make with your swarm deal an extra 1d12 psychic damage. If you die and have at least 5% of your swarm left, you have 1 hour to find a new host. The host can be any living human. In order to infect a person, at least one of your bugs must burrow into the hosts flesh for at least a minute. From the time of infection, it takes you a week to fully infest the new body and take control. While completing your infection, you can compel your host to perform the tasks you want through a contest of charisma. Once your infestation is complete, your host will die and you will have complete control of their husk. The new body takes on the stats your original body had, but you can’t alter your appearance. You may also attempt to infect others with this method while you are still alive. If you manage to do so, the creature retains its own will, but becomes a new acolyte of the corruption, and thus entirely loyal to it. You may have only one such infection in progress at a time, and such an infection takes a month rather than a week.

THE DARK

Expanded Spell List

1st - Faerie Fire, Sleep 2nd - Blindness/Deafness, Pass Without Trace 3rd - Blink, Nondetection 4th - Black Tentacles, Greater Invisibility 5th - Mislead, Teleportation Circle

Lv.1 - Shadowcery

You do not have darkvision, but you have a 6th sense with which to navigate the dark. You can sense creatures and objects up to 30ft around you, and if a creature you’re familiar with is in the dark with you, you know exactly who and where it is up to 60 ft away. You have command over the shape and darkness of shadows. You can not create new shadows or erase shadows, but can extend existing shadows up to 10 ft as an action. While in shadows (dim light or total darkness), your speed increases by 5 ft. This increases to 10 ft at level 10.

Lv.6 - Blackout

You can snuff light sources with a thought. Roll a d10. The result determines the result:

1: Light bulbs within 10 ft of you flicker for a minute.

2-3: Light bulbs within 10ft of you burn out instantly, and those within 15 ft of you flicker for a minute.

4-5: Light bulbs within 20 ft of you burn out instantly, and any torch-sized fires within 10 ft of you are snuffed. Flashlights cease to work for a minute.

6-7: Light bulbs within 30 ft of you burn out instantly, light bulbs within 50 ft of you flicker for 5 minutes, and any campfire-sized fires within 30 ft of you are snuffed. Flashlights cease to work for 5 minutes.

8-9: Light bulbs within 60 ft of you burn out instantly, any campfire-sized fires within 60 ft of you are snuffed, and any screen that emits light bluescreens for 5 minutes. Flashlights cease working for a half hour.

10 - Light bulbs within 60 ft of you explode. Bonfire-sized fires within 60 ft of you are snuffed. Flashlights cease working for an hour. All electronic devices show static for 10 minutes.

You may use this ability once per long rest.

Lv.10 - Antilight

Choose a point within 30 ft of you. This point emanates darkness for 120 ft in all directions. The dark acts as light does, being blocked by opaque objects and diffused by translucent ones. Where the dark is blocked from reaching, light can still shine, but the dark does not create new light. Concentrated beams of light (strong flashlights) can penetrate the dark, but fade away after 5 ft. While in this darkness, your shadowcery extends to any place the antilight touches. Creatures with darkvision can only see half as far, and divination spells, including The Watcher’s Crown, have a 50% chance of being blocked. The darkness lasts for 10 minutes. As an action, you can move the antilight source up to 30 ft per turn. The antilight dissipates if you are incapacitated. You can use this ability once per long rest.

Lv.14 - Predatory Dark

You can make shadows tangible, and very, very aggressive. As an action, on your turn, if a creature is within 10 ft of a shadow or within an area of darkness, you can make a spell attack roll against that creature. On a hit, deal 3d10 necrotic or cold damage to the target. Once you have successfully dealt damage to a target, the shadows latch onto it and deal 1d10 necrotic damage per round for 5 rounds, or until you dismiss it. On its turn, the target may try to make a strength save against your spell save DC. On a success, the shadows detach and you regain an amount of health equal to the damage the shadow dealt. If a creature dies while the shadow is attached to it, choose another target. The shadows automatically attach to that creature and you gain 20HP instantly. The health you regain stacks until the shadows return to you. Per long rest, you can use this ability a number of times equal to your charisma modifier. This ability deals an extra 2d8 damage when used in tandem with antilight.

Lv.20 - Sandman

Pray the Sandman only brings you sleep. Choose a creature. That creature must make a wisdom save against your spell save DC. On a success, the creature takes 3d10 psychic damage and falls asleep for 10 minutes, until its allies rouse it, or until it takes damage. On a failed save, the creature falls into a deep state of sleep paralysis. It can not be roused by any means short of your own will. While in this state, the target begins its hallucinations. It sees a creature, the sandman, carrying a sack. Black sand flows from its mouth, warping the world where it touches until there is nothing left. Darkness surrounds the target, pressing in around it everywhere but their eyes. The creature takes 30 psychic damage per round for 10 rounds or until it escapes or dies. While in the nightmare state, the creature can perform actions on itself (such as healing), but not on any other creature. As a bonus action, the target can attempt to break free by rolling a d20, to varying effects:

20: The target breaks free.

17-19: The target breaks free and is blinded for 24 hours.

14-15: The target breaks free and is blinded for a week.

2-13: The target remains trapped in the hallucination.

1: The target breaks free, takes 1d10 slashing damage, and is blinded permanently.

The blindness inflicted by this ability can not be healed by any means short of replacing the damaged eyes. If an acolyte of the beholding rolls a 1 to escape, they are blinded for a week, and lose the use of one eye rather than suffer total permanent blindness.

THE END

Expanded Spell List

1st - False Life, Wrathful Smite 2nd - Healing Spirit, Silence 3rd - Feign Death, Revivify 4th - Aura of Life, Death Ward 5th - Raise Dead, Cone of Cold

Lv.1 - Life’s a Game

Once, you gambled for a second chance at life. You won, and thus were damned. You have advantage when playing any kind of game that involves chance. If you are subject to an effect that would normally insta kill you, you can still make your death saves. Once per long rest when you drop to 0 HP, you return to life with 5% of your maximum health instead. You no longer age.

Lv. 6 - Planchet

As an action, point at a creature you can see. You now know exactly how much HP it has, any disease or injury it suffers from, how many people it has killed, and in certain cases, how it is fated to die. Using this ability on an ally reveals the source of its next injury to it, and grants it a +1 to AC until its next turn. Using this ability on a corpse reveals the wound it died from, but nothing more. The creature you use this ability on knows that you cast a spell on it.

Lv.10 - Rigor Mortis

Death does not come easy to someone like you. You gain a +2 bonus to AC and are resistant to bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage (chose one). Any time you are healed, add your constitution modifier to the amount healed.

Lv.14 - Cauterize Emotions

You and any ally within 30 ft of you is immune to the frightened condition. As an action, you may choose a target. The target makes a wisdom save against your spell save DC. On a failed save, the creature does not feel emotion for 24 hours and becomes incapacitated. On a critical failure, choose an emotion. The creature can not feel that emotion ever again. A creature can only ever have one emotion cauterized. You may take this action once per long rest.

Lv.20 - Exxus

You are death incarnate, and you don’t have to play by your own rules. You literally can not be killed by anything short of having your soul destroyed. If you fail your death saving throws, your body appears dead until you are sufficiently healed. Even in the event of the total destruction of your body, part of you is guaranteed to survive and find a way to rise to full power once again. You may extend this immortality to one other creature. The creature you choose becomes exempt from death. They cease aging and gain the benefits of your Life’s a Game and Rigor Mortis abilities, and if their body should die, their ghost becomes bound to you for as long as your soul remains intact. In exchange, they become entirely loyal to The End. You can grant immortality only once, and it can not be revoked. Chose wisely.