#i'm not used to doing backgrounds but i wanted to draw rubble

[several-ravens]

i'm rewatching episode 3 of the acolyte and i'm noticing a lot of weird things about the fire at the coven

conspiracy theory under the cut

since episode 1 this show is about appearances and deception

first with osha being arrested for mae's crimes and the twins being mistaken for one another, then with the stranger posing as innocent and awkward qimir before being revealed as mae's master, and more generally with the power of the jedi and the council being built on lies and them not being as good as they seem

and from the beginning, the show has been telling us that mae is the one that started the fire that burned the coven and killed everyone, but also that the four jedi feel extreme guilt (up to the point of comitting suicide for master torbin) for what happened that night

so as i said, i'm rewatching episode 3 and everything is going well up until osha packs her bag to leave with the jedi and mae confronts her in their room. here's what happens:

mae steals osha's notebook

she runs out of the room and locks the door behind her

she sees the drawing of the lightsaber and the logo of the jedi order

she's angry, and she picks up the lamp from the wall and sets the notebook on fire

then we get a shot of osha running to the window to call her mother, and we hear the sound of the lamp breaking

osha turns around, the fire starts to spread

then we get a shot of the empty corridor with no trace of mae

for now this still seems somewhat logical since mae told osha that she wanted to kill her (and has displayed some signs of cruelty before) but bear with me

osha escapes the room though the vent thing and starts looking for mae

we hear them calling out each other's name until they both stand on the opposite ends of the metal walkway and mae says "jump over to me"

that's what makes me think mae didn't mean what she said when she told her sister that she was going to kill her

but who do we see running around the coven? master sol.

what is he doing here? great question.

did he have the time to go through the forest, climb the mountain and find his way into the building since the fire started? absolutely not.

mae "dies"

sol saves osha

they run next to a bunch of witches who are very much dead but are not burned, have not been crushed by rubble and do not seem asphyxiated by smoke of any kind (since osha and sol are breathing perfectly fine)

SO since we have one jedi running around being suspicious, why not have four?

i think mae set fire to the notebook, but one of the jedi smashed the lamp and set fire to the building while the others killed the witches, probably in order to "save" both twins

but mae "died", and they realised they fucked up big time and set their story straight and pin the fire on the dead kid (who can never corroborate their story since, you know, she's dead)

which would explain the guilt they all seem to feel about that night, and why all the witches seemed to have died on the spot, and qimir's little speech about "galactic dominance in the name of peace which is a lie" from episode 2

one last thing: we don't have a clean shot on torbin's face but he appears in the background when they are back at the ship and even though he's blurry, you can clearly see he has a new wound on his face wich will leave the scar he has in episode 2

thank you for coming to my ted talk

[georgeharrisonshairymoustache]

@lasalebete more sio infodumping now wahoo *crowd goes fucking silent*

May as well start from the beginning...

To put some backstory context in, her family is from a long line of Coruscentian (the kingdoms name) Emperors since like....the year 625 (clarification that this is a fictional place and ADs and BCs aren't actually determined just yet cuz we haven't needed to do anything abt that) (and extra clarification that the current year in The Realghms is approx 1380).

If you were to imagine Sio race-wise then she's mixing between a slight middle-eastern (maternal) and a white Mediterranean (paternal)

Basically imagine pretty much Turkish and Greece

Cuz like...her ginger hair is SO common in Turkey and Greeceeeeeee (my only defense is that her features are entirely based on me I'm so sorry)

Reference:

(Shit drawing but ah well)

*ehem* anyway

Her dad, Demetrius (*insert surname that I won't use for personal reasons here*) was a traumatised war veteran who likely fought in the same war that Sio fought in when she was 16 (99 Years War). He came home veryyyyy traumatised, he was depressed, a heavy drinkerrrr, VERY victim-blaming, especially on Sio. Sio's Siblings, Zehraei and Bayezid were infinitely more favoured than her, even though Bayezid died of an illness when he was still little. As the years went on Demetrius went on to continue abusing her (via manipulation and guilt tripping), whereas her mother, Aylinei, seemed to be completely oblivious to his behaviour (I think that she knew all along but since she prefered Zehraei to Sio, and that she didn't want to be hurt by her husband, then she just never stood up for it HAHA GREAT MUM INNIT) !!!

Fast forward to 1361. VERYYYY important year for Sio and Elias (some reasons I won't indulge in yet cuz the essays would be far too long). In the capital city that they both resided in, called Annen, was sieged by the opposition army (Malusians) from the 99 Years War. During this time, Zehraei is brutally murdered by a soldier, and the family is destraught (obviously, icl Zehraei was actually a good person unlike many blursed characters). Her parents (and grandfather Orpheus) are SO destraught, not only because they're favourite daughter had died but also because this meant that all they could now rely on to continue their family tree was from this odd little teen who never found any interest in men whatsoever (oh how untrue that is mwahahah).

Then. Some bomb (or sumn like that) went off on the street while the family was fleeing the city, which knocked down the city watchtower. Fortunately, Sio was quite a bit further than them, having not noticed the large falling tower noises going on in the background since she was trying to calm herself via Stairway to Heaven playing in her headphones (long story as to why she's got access to both modern technology and led zeppelin that I won't go into yet).

So yeah, basically. Errrr maybe sound effects might put gjbe a better insight as to what happened to the rest of the family afterwsrds

*WEEEEEEEEEEEEEE* *RUBBLE RUBBLE CRUMBLE CRUMBLE* *WHAP BANG WHOP WOO* *WEEEEE* *CRASH BAM WHAP ZAP LED ZEP* *falling tower noises*

*CRASH BANG WAP CARDI. B.* *body-crushing noises*

dw, sio noticed her family had all just been killed by that watchtower eventually, however she was a little disappointed that she had to pause jimmy page's guitar solo nearing the end of the song (cuz it's banging).

After all this she is hella sad tho she's also a bit relieved they're dead cuz now she has some actual freedom (elias probably helped her get grounded numerous times for like, time travelling).

Then there's a bit of a gap in timelines from where her family dies and where she signs up for the army BUT THATS FOR ANOTHER ESSAY CUZ GODAMN THAT WAR GOT SOME IMPORTANT SHIT

(I AM SO SORRY THIS WAS NOT MEANT TO BE THIS LONG)

[just-a-whumping-racoon-with-wifi]

Hey! Asking various artists and writers, do you have a Playlist or specific songs you gravitate toward to help you get in the right headspace while creating whump?

Anon I'm so sorry but I wrote you a 1500 word essay on one specific album. I literally have no explanation for myself. Take Pity On Me.

TLDR: Listen to "The Draw" please it's my favorite for any type of turmoil, and just "Overjoyed" in general. Also this album is good for semi-dramatic dialog and ~vibes~.

Why ‘All This Bad Blood’ by Bastille 2013 is the best album to write to: 

Oh my god it’s 10 years old. 

This has been my go-to album for writing since I got a laptop and started writing. I’m 100% serious. Part of it is most probably because it’s nostalgic for me, but I’ve completed a full essay on why this is the best album (for my style) to write to. 

Part 1: Just a couple reasons 

The Accent. 

This is 100% also just My Brain because when my formative creative years were incredibly BBC/British heavy. We’re talking Chronicles of Narnia on audio books, Dr. Who, Sherlock, Merlin, Robin Hood, Adventures of Sara Jane. I’m honestly probably missing some but you get it. To the point where there was a period when I was around 15 or so I’d use british words/cadence with an American accent. (I still do it sometimes it’s weird). 

Honestly part of my writing process to this day is to speak dialog out loud, and more often or not it’s in a british accent. 

The Aesthetic

It’s pretty piano heavy, along with a main singer and some background singing that’s very easy to get lost in. There’s this nice kinda ethereal filter for many of the songs, so it just kinda slides into your brain and into the background. It’s listed in the alternative section but it’s very pop so it’s very common denominator. 

“Songs Write My Story” 

I literally put this album on shuffle once and made a plot based off of the vibes of each song. To my recollection there were some pretty decent parts. I’ll see if I can find it. 

Part 2: The songs.  

My absolute favorite reason to write to this album is the fact that so many of the songs have these wonderful, dramatic dialogue lines. When the music rises to the surface long enough to catch the words, they’re often good for like, semi-dramatic plot points/dialog lines. 

As requested by literally no one, in fact I believe they’re all begging me to literally write anything else, I will now go through each song and pull out some lines that I find specifically “semi-dramatic” that I would either want to or have used as inspiration for my writing, as well as rate them and give them vibes.

Pompeii -  6/10 Writingness. Good but Tik Tok kinda ruined it. However the concept of Pompeii itself is Very Vibes and helps save it.  Oh where do we begin, the rubble or our sins? 

Things We Lost to the Fire - 8/10 Writingness. Great Vibes. Very “our world collapsed and we’ve been living in the rubble and are numb to it.”  We were born with nothing and we sure as hell have nothing now. 

Bad Blood - 5/10. A bit too specific to be multifunctional. Great ‘Sarcastic Reunion with Adversarial Side Character.”  And you said you always had my back Oh, but how were we to know? That these are the days that bind you Together, forever And these little things define you Forever, forever

Overjoyed - 10/10. Perfect semi-dramatic vibes. Is your character, sarcastic, genuine, dazed, prophetic? Resentful? Longing? This song works for all of them. Just the word “overjoyed” is not used enough.  Oh I feel overjoyed. 

These Streets - 7/10 another nuanced one, but not quite as wide a range as Overjoyed.  I won’t show my face here anymore. 

Weight of Living Pt. II - 3/10. Too good of a bop. I wanna jam I’m not writing. Do you like the person you’ve become? 

Icarus - 8/10. Like a combination of Pompeii and Overjoyed. The concept of Icarus is such a rich creative one that it makes up for how much of a BOP it is (the “bop” index is a negative in this evaluation because it distracts me). This one is perfect for the “mentor trying to warn someone else of MC’s downfall.  Icarus is flying towards an early grave.  (also these are words but the vocal sections are just really inspiring on this one for me) 

Oblivion - 5/10. Good, I was waiting for you to be great. It can be in the background but it’s not going to inspire anything.  Are you going to age with grace? 

Flaws - 7/10. I kinda can’t listen to this one without mouthing along to it like I’m in a self-righteous argument, which is great for my writing style. The more I can inhibit a character the better and more I can write for them. So it’s a little narrow of inspiration but it always gets me there.  There’s a hole in my sole, I can’t fill it. Can you fill it? 

You have always worn your flaws on your sleeve, and I have always buried them deep beneath the ground. Dig them out, let’s finish what we started. 

Daniel in the Den - 9/10. Again, Daniel in the lion den is a great creative concept, gets me into the character, has emotion, it builds but i don’t find it fully distracting. Again not as broad as Overjoyed but I use this one often.  Felled in the night by the ones you think you love. 

Laura Palmer - 9/10. Another great general go to. Conviction. Motivation, direction. Feels multi-functional to me because of the variety from the verses to chorus to bridge.  What a year and what a night, what terrifying final sights. 

Get Home - 6/10. Honestly see “Oblivion”. Only got a little higher rating because the repeated “how am i going to get myself back home” is really good for inspiration. Still on the list, still great but nothing to write something home about (lol).  How am I going to get myself back home? 

Poet - 3/10. This is probably one my favorite “adoration” songs but I just don’t find it particularly inspirational - although that’s probably because I don’t tend to write love stories or the such.  I have written you down, you will live forever. 

The Silence - 4/10. Like Poet, a little too directly “adoration”, but I do appreciate it reminds me to use the term “my dear”.  My Dear, it is not enough to be dumbstruck. 

Haunt - 8/10 Yeah we’re back babey. I need the reminder to make my characters more ominous. All of your characters should haunt the reader (good or bad lol). It’s not like I’m above you. 

Weight of Living, Pt I - 8/10. There’s something solemnly hopeful about this to me. Are they regretful as they counsel the MC? Do they believe they can find happiness or are they resigned to their fate? You get to decide if this song is encouraging them or is someone giving up. I’m also a sucker for songs that set up a premise and evolve it through the song. It good.  Your albatross, let it go. 

Sleepsong - 7/10. Feels dangerous. A little evil, perhaps? What are their intentions? Are they trying to help? If so, why?  It scares you, being alone. 

Durban Skies - 5/10. See Oblivion. Probably a little better vibe, but not wildly inspiring like some of the others.  (honestly there’s isn’t a lyric that stands out to me in this one but I still like writing to it.) 

Laughter Lines - 3/10. I am. Seeing a pattern. Songs that have a strong “love” element to them get lower ratings from me lol. (Again, not a lyric but the section talking about carving on trees inspired me to write a character who was illiterate but kept her “diary” by carving her emotions into a tree trunk. Her world didn’t have a lot of light, so she would often run her fingers across the carvings to relive memories.) 

Previously on Other People’ Heartbreak - NA, it’s kinda a non song it’s just an intro to part II. 

Of the Night - 3/10, See Weight of Living Pt II. Too fun, too boppy. I am bouncing I am not writing. 

The Draw - 10/10. This one. This is one of the ones that I turn on if I’m having trouble writing anything. It just oozes conflict, specifically inner termoil which i just fucking eat up. I love it. This is my best writing song. So so so good. 

(Oh my god just the entire song please just listen to it. Just this one). 

What would you do - NA. I actually kinda skip this one for just Reasons. Again it’s a good song and I would write to it but I just don’t. This song has a TW for sexual assault and just. It’s kinda a lot to chew on. 

Skulls - 8/10. This one escapes the “too good to write to” because oh god. The attitude of this song. It’s possessive. It’s threatening. It wants something… but, what? (However it is absolutely a bop which is why it’s not a 9 or 10) (Again it’s just the whole song)

Tuning out - 6/10. It’s a haunting rendition of Silent Night? So Lyrically it’s not too impressive but the vibes are good for writing. 

Is this what you asked for? No not even a little bit. I did enjoy doing it tho that’s all that matters ...eheh....

[mangootsea]

I have been doing some sketching and I don't know if I'll finish this but I like it in its rough form

[celticcrossanon]

BRF Reading - 15th of June 2021

This is speculation only

Cards drawn 15th of June 2021

Question: Will the statue unveiling go ahead?

Background: Before I took the three day break, I reset my deck by rebuilding it from scratch. I then did not touch it for three days, to give the cards time to rest and the energy around them time to disperse. Before I did this reading, I rebuilt the deck again, so these cards are as clean and energy free as it is possible for them to be.

This was a hard reading to do. The energy was very heavy and I felt I had to literally push through the energy to get it done.

Interpretation: I don't know. There is a big change coming for the BRF, something that is shocking and unexpected.

Card One: The Two of Cups. This card is coming across as the past that led to the decision to erect a statue of Princess Diana in the garden at Kensington palace.

The Two of Cups is a card about relationships and about choosing to be in a relationship. The relationship can be romantic, familial, or business. In this reading this card stands for two relationships, the one between William and Harry, and the one between the sons and their mother.

The card shows Eros rescuing Psyche from a rock in the sea, where she has been left to be devoured by a sea monster. Similarly, William has rescued and sheltered Harry to the best of his ability throughout their turbulent childhood. As he himself put it, "I have had an arm around my brother all my life". They had a close, loving bond, and together they shared the pain of their parent's divorce and their mother's death. The two of them were bound together in a close sibling relationship.

The two brothers both loved their mother dearly. After her death they wanted to erect a statue of her at Kensington Palace. William and Harry have worked together over several years to get this statue commissioned and installed. The unveiling is going to those and other memories to the forefront of their minds: memories of their mother, memories of the two of them as brothers, and memories of working together to make the statue a reality.

Normally, I would expect this to be a healing event that would bring some sort of closure to the emotions that inspired the idea of the statue in the first place, but given Harry's relentless merchandising of his mother over the past few years and his erasure of William from the story of their mother, I expect that other emotions will surface as well, such as pain, disgust, anger, hurt etc, and they will not be easy to deal with.

Card Two: The Tower. This card is coming across as the immediate present with respect to the statue unveiling, i.e. something that happens around this time (say two weeks either side of the date).

The Tower is the card of an unexpected, shocking event, the sort that reduces a part of your life to rubble and leaves you to rebuild from scratch. Some unexpected and shocking event is going to disrupt the statue unveiling.

I drew three clarifiers to see what this was about, two in the first draw and one in the second draw.

Clarifier One: The Seven of Cups. This is a card about having choices and deciding which one to follow. Someone is going to have to make a choice, and I think it will be William, Harry, or both, as they are the two living people most closely involved in the statue.

The card shows the goddess Aphrodite, and in this deck the gods usually stand for members of the BRF, so someone in the BRF is going to make a choice, and I think the choice will be forced upon them by other events/actions. Either Harry will do something that forces William to make a choice, or William/the BRF will do something that forces Harry to make a choice, or both (e.g. the BRF says or does something that has Harry making a choice that then forces William to make a choice).

No one is going to be particularly happy about this. You can see the figure of Psyche pleading with the goddess on the card - there will be pleading and begging involved (and my gut instinct is that the answer to be begging will be No). There is a sense of sternness here, like Aphrodite giving Psyche next-to-impossible tasks to perform if she wanted to see her husband again (reunite the family). These are not happy choices, and they may lead to a permanent split in the family.

Clarifier Two: Death. I really, really do not want to interpret this card. It can be a symbolic death or a literal death. Coming after the Seven of Cups, it tells me that someone s going to make a choice that will lead to a symbolic death or a literal death. The symbolic death could be a change in their fortune, as the card I drew after these two is the Wheel of Fortune. The physical death - I would need to pull more cards to see what that is about. I'm not getting one energy (symbolic or physical) dominating over the other energy here.

Clarifier Three: The Wheel of Fortune. The Tower is going to cause a change of fortune, either for the people involved in the event (i.e. William and Harry) and/or for the event itself (i.e. it will go from being an event to being cancelled). With William and Harry, the change in fortune does not have to be the same for both of them - one can go up in fortune and one can go down, and I think that is what is going to happen - William will rise and Harry will fall.

So the Tower event is a shocking, unexpected event that involves a choice or choices that will lead to death (symbolic or literal, or both) and then to a change in fortune for both William and Harry.

Card Three: The Six of Cups. This is coming through as the future after the statue unveiling (or not) and after the Tower event.

The Six of Cups is a card about nostalgia, childhood, children, looking back to the past, having a dream from the past appear to be possible in the future (although in a different form), drawing strength from the past to build your future, home, a simpler, happier life, and so on.

The card shows Psyche after her husband has deserted her, sitting on the rocks and reviewing her past. She is abandoned by her husband, but she is not unhappy. She has learnt something about herself from this crisis. In the aftermath, her memories of the past will give her the strength to go forward and work for a future where she will be with her husband again.

In this reading, the Six of Cups is coming through strongly as a reversed card (I almost flipped the card in the picture because of this).

As a reversed card, the six of cups can mean something wrong with or pain around a child or the childhood, living in the past, clinging to the past and not allowing yourself to separate from it and grow from it, acting like a child, wanting to stay as a child in the childhood home forever (and not growing into an adult), repeating old patterns, losing your childhood dreams. In terms of Psyche, it means that she has not learnt something about herself from the past crisis, she is upset rather than calm, and reviewing her memories gives her no strength or goal for the future, but just causes her pain.

This card will be the result of the Tower card. Here it is coming across as a split between siblings. We have two people involved in the statue unveiling - William and Harry - but only one figure on the card. One person, William, will learn about himself from the crisis of the Tower and will be able to use his memories of the past to go forward. The other person, Harry, will not, and will remain stuck in the pain of their past.

This card is coming across as a split in the family, like Psyche is alone without her husband. There used to be two (Eros and Psyche in the Two of Cups, William and Harry as close brothers) and now there will be one (Psyche without Eros, William without Harry). The reaction of each brother to the Tower event will widen the divide between them instead of bringing them closer together.

Underlying Energy One: The Magician. This is a card of transformation, of transmutation, and of change. It is a card of new beginnings and opportunities, where you take action and make choices and everything comes together to manifest your goal. It can be a card about being guided by fate - the book you read, the chance visit, the meeting with another person that all help to guide you along your path.

In this reading the energy of this card comes across as change. Something will change, is going to change, not in essence but in form, as the alchemist tried to turn lead into gold - both metals, but different forms of metal. The inner core will be the same, but the outer appearance or way of working in the world will change. Some choices (as per the Seven of Cups card) are going to guide something into a different form, while keeping the essential part of it the same. The changes from the old form to the new form may involve a death, as one metal 'dies' so another can 'live' in alchemy.

Underlying Energy Two: The Hierophant. This is a card of institutions, and here it represents the BRF. Coming after the Magician card, it says that the changes of the Magician card will take place within the BRF as an institution. I feel those changes as being linked to the Tower card and its clarifiers, as they are about change as well. I feel the link particularly strongly with the Wheel of Fortune card. The changes will impact the way the BRF operates as an institution as well as affecting the BRF as a family.

Dominant Suit: All three minor arcana cards in this reading are from the Cups suit. Cups is the suit of emotions, so there are a lot of emotions around this event.

Major Arcana cards: Five of the eight cards in this reading are major arcana cards, so a bit more than half. This is an event that will be public (major arcana) but also charged with private emotions (minor arcana, the cups suit). The event and the disruption to it will be public, but the emotions engendered by the vent and the disruption will be private, as you would expect from the public face of the British Royal Family at such an emotional event.

Conclusion: This reading comes across to me as past, present, and future. In the past, we have William and Harry working together to bring about a statue of their mother in the grounds at Kensington Palace, and more recently we have Harry taking over the story of Diana and using that to build his brand. Then in the near present, around the time of the statue unveiling, we have an unexpected, shocking event which concerns a literal or symbolic death and which may lead to the statue unveiling being scaled down or cancelled. Finally, in the future, we have a change in the relationship between Harry and William. Underneath all this lies a major change to the BRF as an institution (and not just to them as a family).

Relevant Past Readings:

https://celticcrossanon.tumblr.com/post/650226588039954432/brf-reading-3rd-of-may-2021

https://celticcrossanon.tumblr.com/post/650232689639784448/brf-reading-4th-of-may-2021

https://celticcrossanon.tumblr.com/post/653042984654422016/brf-reading-4th-of-june-2021

[elriel-oblivion]

So it's been four days so here's part two 😁 Just wanted to say a huge thanks to everyone who read/liked/commented/reblogged the last part! It was such an amazing response, especially given it was my first time posting my writing here, so thanks for all the love you shared 🥰🥰

Heads up, this part is actually part one from Elain's pov. Initially I wanted to continue from where the last part left off in Elain's pov, but as I was writing the background, I realised I'd written too much to just skip when Az gets to the estate and cut straight into a continuation of part one, so I ended up rewriting the whole thing in her view. So there's no new elriel moments, but you'll get a lot of new stuff anyway 😅 I would've said you don't have to read this part to understand part three, but when I was rereading the later parts a few hours ago, I realised there's some stuff that alludes to things in this part, so I strongly recommend you don't skip this 😅😅

Also, wow, some of my fave paragraphs I've ever written are in this part 😁 Bonus points if you can find them; there are four I'm thinking of in particular 😉

Word count: ~ 3.1K. Lemme know if you'd like to be tagged/removed 😊 Next part up in two or three days 😊

AO3

Ashes from the Deep

Part II

__

It had been a pretty uneventful day as Elain worked through her new plant textbook. Feyre and Rhysand had decided to spend the weekend away at the mountain cabin, Cassian and Nesta were away doing things she wished not to think of, and Mor was at the Winter Court.

Amren had only been round in the mornings, probably to check Elain was still alive. She'd glance round the living room, examine some of those fine crystal glasses in the display cabinet and then leave. There was no difference today, though Elain always felt Amren's scrutiny upon her even when that muted silver gaze was directed elsewhere; perusing Rhys' wine collection had become a tired ruse.

So besides preparing and taking her meals with Nuala and Cerridwen, Elain had spent her afternoon with her book, making notes and copying drawings. The twins had gone off on some errands, so she'd wandered into the garden at some point to tend to her many plants, telling them how lovely they each were. The crocuses looked particularly stunning this autumn day, their pale violet colour breathing life into the shades beneath some of the trees.

With her book, she'd identified new weeds, digging into the soil to rip some pesky ones out. Sometimes she didn't want the help of a tool; sometimes she needed to feel those roots on her bare skin.

Harvesting the carrots and beetroot was also on the agenda today, along with seeding for some spectacular displays next year. She'd been collecting the seeds from some of her summer blooms, like those soft clouds of baby's breath, saving them to replant. These she sowed directly into ground she'd prepared days before, her fingers digging into the crumbly clumps of earth.

Autumn onions she'd plant tomorrow, perhaps. Feyre always remarked on how their strong taste complimented meats well, so Elain wanted to harvest some fresh for her sister for once. It'd take a few months of waiting, but there was little else better than picking out and eating food one had grown with their bare hands and the essential ingredients of love and care.

Setting her book on the patio table, Elain surveyed the garden. It was a good day's work. Plants watered and sown, weeds uprooted, and hands sweaty and soiled, Elain was proud of what she'd achieved today. There were no distractions, nothing to take her from the one thing she always found satisfaction in.

After a long shower, she found herself back in the garden with a cup of tea and a blanket. The sunset washed the sky in a blaze of red and orange glory before it yielded to the cool tones of twilight then night. Elain sat in silence, hands wrapped around her mug. How long would it be until someone's arms were wrapped around her, until she felt the warmth her sisters finally had?

Silly, these thoughts. Immortality stretched far ahead, there would be time to develop that companionship. Months and years were but a heartbeat in the life of a High Fae. She wouldn't even notice the years pass.

Or so everybody else kept saying.

With her tea finished, she perused the book of recipes she'd borrowed from Nuala. Some recipes jumped out, ingredients for which she'd been growing for a few months now. Pumpkin pie sounded especially delightful, the gourd having almost darkened and hardened to ripe quality just a couple days ago. They should be ready for harvest tomorrow.

A chill wind sent Elain inside to prepare and have her dinner in pleasant silence. Even her mind was quiet tonight. After washing her dishes, she stood by a bay window, fingers idly tapping the windowsill.

Faelights bobbed like tiny lamps, dotted through the garden. The full moon was now high in the sky, its ghostly glow illuminating the datura flowers she'd seeded half a year ago. She pulled on her blanket and went out again for a better look at those gorgeous blooms, the petals opening only at night.

Elain couldn't be happier she'd found seeds of a triple-flowered variety. They'd grown to produce large trumpets, three layers of petals ruffled against each other. Somehow she thought of her sisters as she crouched and stared at the flowers, each layer so similar, yet fighting for space and breath as it unfurled before another. It was only when they were all fully open that they could sigh along the night breeze as one, an ethereal song of togetherness, tinged with notes of poignancy, only heard by those with the will to look deeper.

The white petals were stained with velvet violet, a true vision in her garden. While the others had given her passing compliments on the flowers, Azriel had seemed stunned the first time he saw them, citing them his favourite of all the plants Elain had grown so far. Something about their shape and contrasting colours, he'd mentioned.

She smiled fondly at the memory, where his eyes sparkled as he reached for one of the soft petals.

Her hand lashed out to grab his wrist. 'Don't touch them; the leaves and stems are highly poisonous.'

His brows rose. 'You wouldn't think that at first sight. But they're beautiful, Elain. Truly magnificent,' he said, his smooth voice so low, a voice that was night given sound. And how befitting, as even those datura flowers seemed enraptured by his presence, one shy petal finally unfurling towards him.

She beamed at him. 'They like you. Flowers like it when you talk to and compliment them - but these ones haven't given me the same reaction as they have to you. I think they really like you, Azriel.'

His answering smile was heartbreakingly tender.

A few more seconds passed before she realised she still held his wrist. She silently let go.

It was a shame she'd have to dig out the datura shrub and move it inside for the winter; it did look magnificent in the moonlight.

The sky shifted past its midnight velvet, and still Elain crouched, admiring the flowers. She shivered in the night's chill. The stars above twinkled and glistened, cold and distant as ever, yet stunning - infinitely more striking than they'd ever been when she was human. A thousand different colours sparkled in that vast expanse, the moon a phosphorescent queen in the centre of her court.

The Night Court truly lived up to its name in the wee hours of the day. Its opulence never failed to mesmerise her; the enhanced Fae eyesight was at least one thing she was grateful for from this body.

Her eyelids became heavy and she yawned. Why was she still out here? It was late into the night; she should be in bed by now. But the night was so beautiful and it was so quiet and she wanted to appreciate it all just once. Just once without the expectations of others, without having to wear that miserable smile all the time.

Of course, it didn't look miserable, which is probably why almost nobody ever bothered to look deeper into Elain. She should be used to it by now, but it still felt - wrong. That most overlooked her so long as she wore a smile. That most didn't think her capable of feeling the utter bitterness and loneliness she had once seen so plain on her sisters' faces.

And in acknowledgement of her sisters' hardships, Elain didn't fault them for not looking, for not seeing her. To see past the thick blanket of darkness in one's own mind was a trial in itself. But it had been years since the war now. And still they didn't notice.

They didn't notice that Elain was being shredded from the inside out.

It was almost laughable. But not funny enough.

No, it was not funny that people still treated Elain like a child, that people wanted to keep Elain in some weird impasse of a stage between child and adult. She'd thought finally carrying out her duty and giving her hand in marriage would show everyone that she was growing up: Elain Archeron, middle born but first married. Of course it was still on her own terms, to a man whom she'd loved. A man who'd seen her through the rubble of her family's lives. But she'd overall hoped doing what was expected of her would be enough.

Clearly not. She didn't even know who she was any more. Did she ever? Everything she'd once yearned for, gone. That fragile human life would soon be just a speck on the horizon of her past.

She sighed. Rebuilding herself was going to take a long time.

But what would she have to do for people to see her, to listen to her? Throw a rage? Fall into a drunken stupor and break a few dozen bottles?

She definitely could, but those were not her. She was Elain Archeron. And so she would wait. Patience wasn't a bad thing at all; she saw it on the shadowsinger's face all the time, that tranquility and calmness she so wished to feel inside.

Azriel. Her heart softened as he entered her mind again, and she dug her fingers into the soil, if only to occupy her fidgety hands. As sure as the chaos of her visions these days, there was a mess of butterflies related to him she wasn't willing to show. Or understand.

Elain and the spymaster? Now that was laughable. Truly laughable. He was wise and patient, while she - well, everyone already thought her a child, and though he listened like no other around her, surely even he couldn't glimpse the adult she so desperately wanted everyone to see.

No, it was foolish to entertain the idea of a relationship with him. No matter how much he saw.

No matter that he was the first to see her since Graysen.

Elain exhaled. She stifled another yawn, smoothing out the soil, then brushed her hands clean. She wrapped the blanket closer around herself and stood. Twinkling stars and velvety darkness and -

There, a knot of shadows materialising at the far edge of the garden, collecting and swirling into a larger mass before Azriel himself stepped out and sagged against a tree. His shadows whirled and obscured him, a dark fire with him burning at the core.

Elain's voice left her throat before she even thought to call him and she ran over to his figure slumped in the dimness.

She couldn't help but say his name again as she neared. 'Azriel!'

Those beautiful hands fiddled with a Siphon, but he looked even worse up close. Fatigue dragged at his body, a second weight to all the muscle and armour he already had to carry. Sweat and dirt clung to him, his hair. At least the shadows were parting, swallowing each other and misting away as they often did around her. Perhaps she should ask someday why they did that. But not today, not when his breathing was so laboured.

She raised a hand - to do what, she had no idea. She couldn't just touch him right now. 'You don't look okay.'

Something else limned his features as he huffed a light laugh and said, 'I'm fine, don't worry.' His voice was raw, so starkly different to its usual icy smoothness. It was common for him to guard his emotions, but in his state, this kind of thinking was just unhealthy. What would it take for him to be honest with her?

'You don't have to pretend with me, Azriel,' she said, lowering her hand. She studied the ground, embarrassed that she'd come up to him. What could she even offer in her pathetic childlike state when he was so clearly affected by his mission right now?

His hand rose. Her heart faltered, she had to do something, and she blurted, 'Can I wash your hair, please?'

His eyes widened, his entire composure crumbling. It wasn't often that the shadowsinger looked startled, but Elain was far too shy to show that she quite liked the effect her question had on him.

'You want to wash my hair?'

His face was so exquisite, it hurt to look at it. His eyes would be even worse; it wouldn't be the first time she was rendered speechless by their kind gaze. A myriad of colours swirled in their glistening depths - gorgeous greens and brilliant browns, all so natural and rich, if only she could look at them long enough to find their matches in the garden around her. Though, his eyes were an entire spectrum of colour in their own right. How would she ever pick out each and every shade?

And if she somehow did have the courage to meet his eyes now, what would she see of herself in their reflection?

A lovesick puppy? A doe-eyed, fearful fawn?

No, she didn't want to know.

So she swallowed and focused on his hair. Perhaps this Fae eyesight was a curse, for even his hair was shockingly fascinating. Only flat black from a distance, the faelights bobbing about the trees highlighted layer upon layer of silky raven locks up close. His hair was so dark it seemed to absorb the surrounding light. Mud stained one side of his head, and it was an effort to keep her hands from brushing it away, so she said, 'I'm positive that's mud and you shouldn't sleep with that in your hair. It'll only take a few minutes.'

He ran a hand through his hair, clumps of dirt falling out.

'You've managed to get some on your face, too.' There were light specks of mud and blood across his face, a more noticeable patch along his cheekbone, thrown into sharper relief by the faelights and his own weariness. Was that a cut beneath the patch? And another on his temple?

She leashed her arms.

What had happened? He wore the signs of a fight, but why would he come here when he knew Elain was the only one home?

His eyes bored into her face, but she refused to meet them. He seemed to lean forward then, stumbling.

Ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous that he wouldn't even acknowledge he was in need. Azriel rarely stumbled. Any fatigue Elain had felt just a while ago was now burrowing down a little longer. Her voice was firm when she spoke. 'I'm washing your hair. It'll help relax you into falling asleep.'

His brows rose, but if Elain stood there one more moment she wouldn't have the courage to do anything for him. For herself - she could take care of someone else. She could do for Azriel what she hadn't done for Feyre all those years as a human.

And for Azriel, she could tend to the male who'd provided her with comfort and safety in this world of distress and danger.

So she pulled him along, clenching her jaw and refusing to look back. Her heart hammered in her chest but she continued, hand wrapped round his armoured arm. Her hand slid down to his wrist but just as she was about to replace her grip, he grabbed her other hand and pulled her into him.

The shadows instantly began to ensconce them, dozens of those cool tendrils twining like vines. The estate loomed huge before them, and Elain gripped Azriel's hand tighter. 

'My bathroom,' she said. Beneath the low whisper of those shadows, her blood thrummed, her heart so painfully obvious against her ribs now. It would be a wonder if the spymaster wasn't aware of it. Though she did hear another flutter above, right by her ear. But as expected, the shadows made quick work of their journey and she didn't have the chance to dwell on it further.

Now out of the comfort of Azriel's hold, Elain set down her blanket and made to grab a chair from her bedroom. His dark presence was so overwhelming that she exhaled lightly as she entered the room and took the chair. She dragged it to the sink, avoiding his gaze, and pulled a towel, soap and a large jug from the cupboard by the door.

As she settled the soap and jug on the sink, she dared a glance at him. He was still clad in full armour, those black scales gleaming like obsidian over his skin, his Siphons glistening jewels across his body. 'I think you'll have to collapse your armour for this,' she said.

He inclined his head and tapped a Siphon, those scales lashing back into each other with cruel elegance. They were a mirror of their master: cold, controlled and unyielding, forged from scintillating darkness. He was a night sky riddled with stars; light existed if only one bothered to look for it.

Azriel's great wings righted themselves as he stood straight, now looking smaller in just his black tunic and trousers. Something about him seemed vulnerable without the armour, so Elain breathed, 'It's beautiful, all of it.' The hulking armour, the classic simplicity of the tunic and trousers, and the male who wore them all.

He was just so wonderful, Azriel. An enigma that could see her own. Her heart clenched.

Azriel rustled his wings, colour blossoming on his cheeks.

Elain blinked and pulled the chair out a little. 'Please sit.' As he sunk down, she rested the towel on his shoulders, hovering her fingers above his forehead. Her body tensed and her fingers remained suspended. It was like a spark of tension flickered in the space between their skin, teasing her, tempting her, taunting her.

After all, she'd offered to wash his hair, an act that would certainly require touching. But why was she so hesitant? She'd touched him before - kissed his cheek, even. Although that had been in the heat of adrenaline, a mark of her gratitude where a simple thank you wouldn't suffice, not for risking his own life for hers.

This was - what was this?

She finally lowered her fingers through that tense spark, pushing his head back against the sink. It was exhilarating, this contact, but he lowered his wings, shifting on the seat. Elain moved into the space he gave, turning on the tap as he went still. Just as her body was taut, taut as the skin of a drum.

She checked the water. Warm. It was time to start.

Azriel was looking up at her. Something like yearning swirled in his eyes.

He looked so tired. It made her heart ache.

'You can close your eyes,' Elain whispered. And he did.

___

Feedback's welcomed; thanks for reading 😊

If anyone wants to know what the datura flowers look like, CTTO:

@illyrian-lover-flower @julesherondalex @nooriee @mis-lil-red @verifiefangirl @tswaney17

[nerdpiggy]

Tell us about your ocs!! I'm genuinely curios bc of the tags

[ID: Meme of Hatsune Miku smiling. Top text reads "Thanks for sending me a message". Bottom text reads "You're very cute and I will be replying to you".]

Robin "Robbie" Fuller: The character i play in a DND campaign.

they/them pronouns. they're nonbinary and asexual and don't care to label their romantic attraction.

They're 22 years old and 5'9" (175cm)

Their birthday is November 12th. they're a scorpio

They started off as a Mundane MOTW character and they're now a level 7 warlock in DND. They're a human

They live in a small coastal town in massachusetts called Holyoak and they go to the local college to learn culinary. They live in a single dorm and they have a cute widdle black cat named Chickadee

One day (for various reasons) their life was flip-turned upside down with discovering the existence of monsters, portals, different dimensions, and rifts in spacetime

One of the reasons for them discovering all of this was them meeting a man named Thomas who's a human from a different dimension called the Palisades. He's a well-known Judge over there. (Thomas is @bevtastic 's character)

Robbie gets an offer to join the Interdimensional Defence Agency (IDA), says fuck it and accepts, and Robbie and Thomas stay friends by virtue of their similar jobs.

Robbie is tasked to go to a different dimension (A half-medieval half-wild west desert town called Argyle) to stop a threat that was growing there. Threat turned out to be a massive mind-controlling dragon who wanted revenge for the rest of her dragon species that were killed off by medieval "heroes". Robbie was not cut out for this as their first job. They (with help) subdue the dragon eventually but not before she burned down multiple towns including Argyle to a crisp. Robbie feels very bad about this.

Robbie, Thomas, and the rest of the party receive a mysterious letter leading them to an old abandoned mansion in Holyoak and get roped into a rescue mission to save Thomas's old friend Percy who has apparently been bodysnatched by a bad guy and trapped somewhere for what felt like thousands of years. This is the arc where we switched from Monster of the Week to DND, and Robbie gets connected to a nature deity Adelaide through a purple necklace. They also get a familiar, who is an owl with pitch-black feathers and glowing yellow pupilless eyes that Robbie named Mr. Muffins.

Robbie and Thomas become very good friends :)

Thomas dies.

Robbie goes to the Palisades to find out what happened to him. Turns out he wanted to reveal the secret of interdimensional travel to the public and work to make it open, free, and safe. The people in charge did not allow him to do this by legal means so he aimed to do it illegally, which was when he was murdered by a group of bandits.

On top of that, one of the main reasons why he wanted to reveal the different dimensions is because there is a HUGE interdimensional threat coming our way, and we need to act on it if we want to live.

Percy finds Robbie and asks them to help with this threat, who apparently is a singular person named Siris that has been locked in a prison for thousands of years and somehow got out. Robbie doesn't have much of a choice and accepts.

In the Palisades, there are monsters called Behemoths. they emerge from people who get bitten by a behemoth or who touch the black tar-like substance that runs like rivers in certain areas of the Palisades. During a battle, Robbie gets bitten by a Behemoth, and now they're a candidate for Behemism (aka turning into big giant monster syndrome).

Because Robbie has Behemism and Siris is part of the reason for Behemism existing, they're mind roommates now. Robbie and Siris do not get along very well.

There's more to Robbie but this is their main backstory!!!

[ID: a drawing of Robbie holding a chrysanthemum. They have short pink curly hair, and they're wearing a yellow floral button-up and a purple necklace. They have bandages on their freckled face and they're looking down at the chrysanthemum with a neutral expression.]

Emile Azarel: A character i play in a different campaign that does MOTW.

He/him pronouns, he's trans, demisexual, and demiromantic.

He's 19 and he's 5'3

He doesn't know his actual birthday but the day he celebrates is January 23rd

His MOTW class is The Expert. He's a fire genasi

He was born in central Russia but he doesn't know his parents well because when he was ~8 months old there was a big monster attack that unfortunately killed his parents. A monster hunter named Avery Azarel found Emile, took him in and raised him.

Emile learned to hunt monsters with Avery and the two traveled around together as monster hunters.

Eventually Emile wished to have a solid place to live rather than constantly traveling, because he wanted friends. He found a town in the pacific northwest called Salmon Peak that had everything he wanted: Russian culture, a fairly small easy-to-get-around layout, and some very weird mysteries going on. (Just because Emile wanted to settle didnt mean he wanted to stop monster hunting!)

He moved to Salmon Peak and has met a bunch of new friends! He's also learning more and more about the town, which is turning out to be somehow even weirder than he expected.

Emile is a very sweet, polite boy, but considering the fact that he's only ever been around one person mainly for his entire life, he has a bit of a ways to go when it comes to interacting with people. The monster hunting life means that when there's a monster, you kill it and that usually solves all your problems. Emile has transferred this logic to people as well (if they're a monster, kill em!) and he's learning through friend influence that maybe human lives are a bit more sacred than that.

His favorite color is blue because he loves the sky!

A lot of people underestimate his skills because he's little and looks very young, but he is a very good monster hunter. Because of Avery (the best monster hunter in the biz), his last name has a bit of a reputation.

Emile is blind, autistic, and has vitiligo!

I have much more planned for Emile but I can't say it here because it is MAJOR spoilers!

[ID: a drawing of Emile walking forward. He is wearing a blue shirt with stars on it, blue jeans, a fluffy white jacket, a belt with a star on it, star earrings, a moon necklace, and black shoes. His blue hair is swaying behind him and he's holding a white cane with a red tip. He's smiling slightly.]

Avery Azarel: Emile's parent! I've not played them as a character yet but I've made a character sheet for them.

they/them pronouns. They're agender, aromantic, and pansexual

their age is (???) and their height is 5'7

they have a birthday but nobody knows when it is

Their MOTW class is The Chosen. they appear human

They're widely considered the best monster hunter in the biz. Their name is well-known and they're requested for help all around the world

Because of this, they're constantly traveling and having a house would not make sense. They just pack their things, stay at motels/hotels/etc., camp in the woods and move around to wherever people need them.

Since they've been pretty much everywhere, they always seem to know at least one person from each town. They never seem to get too close to anyone, though

They are fluent in many different languages!

In the past they were paired up with another monster hunter and they made a great duo. That was a couple decades ago; they go solo now.

Years ago, an unexpected and incredibly destructive monster rampaged a small town in Central Russia. Avery came as fast as they could (they were nearby in the area) but they still couldn't finish off the beast before it tore the whole town to shreds. Dozens of homes were crushed, but surprisingly most people survived, with the exception of a couple of people who died under the rubble. Avery felt awful (this was their biggest failure in a while), and as they were searching through the rubble for any more casualties they found little baby Emile, miraculously unscathed. They took him in and raised him from then on.

Nobody, not even Emile, knows very many details about Avery's childhood, their family, their age, or really any information about them. (Emile has been trying to figure out Avery's birthday for AGES so they can celebrate, but Avery has refused to budge)

Their main weapon is 2 pairs of bolas! those are those chains with 2 balls on either end, usually made to be thrown at people's legs to restrain and trip them. they use the bolas both as restraining tools and as their main weapon, because i think weapons where you spin them really fast in front of you are cool

There's a scar over their left eye; whenever someone asks how they got it they always spin a different elaborate tale of an epic monster battle. Nobody knows which (if any) is the true story

there is a WHOLE LOT that I am leaving out if you couldn't tell. There's a huge chunk of their past that I'm leaving out because it's all a big bundle of spoilers. Someday I will be able to elaborate more on Avery!

[ID: a picrew made by djarn of Avery. They're smiling, their head is tilted slightly, and there's a scar over their left eye. Their hair is tied half-up half-down. They're wearing a black shirt with "òwó" on it and a blue jacket with an aromantic flag pin and a pansexual flag pin. the background is an agender flag.]

These are my main OC's! I have more (Orion, Nottwyrm, "Noodlearms", etc.) but these 3 are the main ones that I post about. :3 thank u for asking!!!

If you have any questions about any of my characters I always welcome asks!!! 💖