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transdemigod · 3 years

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Cutting Yourself Off from the Entities: A Comprehensive Guide

I am once again overanalyzing the Magnus Archives for fun. This topic is super interesting to me, and I haven’t seen it explored as much as other theories, so here we go.

So, you’ve pledged yourself to one of the Dread Powers, but decided that you’ve had enough of terrorizing others. Not to worry, there is a way out. Melanie King did it and lived all the way to the end of the series!

Here is the summary, though I’m sure a full explanation will be more satisfying:

To escape the Buried, lose yourself to the emptiness. To escape the Corruption, kill what loves you. To escape the Dark, give yourself to the sunlight. To escape the Desolation, choose kindness. To escape the End, cut yourself off from dreams. To escape the Eye, blind yourself. To escape the Flesh, give up control of your body. To escape the Hunt, tear out your teeth and claws. To escape the Lonely, bind yourself to others. To escape the Slaughter, remove your emotions. To escape the Spiral, destroy your voice. To escape the Stranger, make yourself known. To escape the Vast, trap yourself in a small place. To escape the Web, give up your autonomy.

The rest is under the cut. Let me know if you have any ideas that you think I missed, I would love to discuss theories.

We know for sure that the way to escape the Eye is to gouge your own eyes out. The other entities have less information, but we get a few clues here and there. In the season 4 Q&A, Jonny and Alex joke about leaving the service of the Stranger by running naked through the streets. They also mention that the Desolation can be left by an act of true altruism. With these details, as well as other details in the rest of the canon, we can make a list of criteria that must be satisfied for an act that will cut someone off from each of the 14 Entities.

Firstly, it isn’t enough to just stop feeding your god. Daisy and Jon both tried to abstain and ended up wasting away, and it is implied that they would have died if they had continued. Dying is certainly one possible way to escape the service of a Fear, but we’re going for living out the rest of your natural life here.

Secondly, there has to be some sacrifice made that relates to the specific power. This is where the Desolation’s explanation kind of falls apart; doing one good act doesn’t stop you from just continuing to be destructive, so the act must also include giving up the thing that ties you to your Entity. In the Stranger’s case, one could argue that exposing yourself does count as giving up your anonymity, and there are several Stranger avatars that seem to thrive on being unknown. My theory is that each Entity has a draw of some kind, a power that it gives its followers, which you would have to completely give up if you are to leave it for good. Jon mentioned that the blinding has to be permanent, so I’m assuming this applies to the others as well. Basically, the avatar who wishes to leave must give up something that one who does not wish to leave would never want to.

Third, the change can be physical or symbolic. Obviously blinding yourself is a very physical change, while committing acts of altruism or making yourself known are less so. Some of the Entities will have pretty clear parts of the body that connect you to the power, others will need a bit more of an explanation. In special cases where a person gets their power from an artifact or a Leitner, destroying the thing would probably be enough to cut them off from that power. And of course, if you are as lucky as Georgie Barker and manage to completely get rid of your fear, that would probably be enough to cut you off from them as well.

So, here are my explanations for what you would have to do to cut yourself off from each of the 14. I’m basing it on examples we get in the series, the few rules I have decided to set, and what would seem thematically or symbolically appropriate. Realistically, each individual would have their own personal journey and each avatar is different, but it’s more fun this way.

The Buried- The draw of the Buried is a little difficult to narrow down, we’ve heard about restfulness, the comfort of enclosed spaces, the desire to be a part of the earth, etc. The thing Buried avatars seem to dislike the most is wide open spaces, though I don’t know how that would translate to something you can change about yourself. How would a person cut themselves off from the earth? You could move to a place that is very open, but you could also just leave. I’m not sure if there is a way a person could give up the concept of space, so I’m probably going to have this same problem when I get to the Vast. Probably the only thing you could give up that makes sense is the type of space the Buried is tied to, so you’d have to keep away from enclosed spaces. However you’re supposed to do that, I have no idea. This one is just going to have to be a less satisfying answer, unless I find another idea later.

To escape the Buried, lose yourself to the emptiness.

The Corruption- Most people who get into the Corruption get filled with bugs, and we know from Jane that it is appealing because you have a sense of belonging and purpose. The Corruption focuses a lot on toxic love, and I think communities specifically because the things we think of as infections are multitudinous: insect hives, bacteria, fungal colonies, etc. Even in the case of that one guy with the beetle wife, it was implied that there would soon be many more beetles. So, I think to stop being fed by the Corruption, you have to get rid of the infection in whatever form it takes. The one woman in the statement about the cult ended up leaving, but she wasn’t a full avatar, so I think that would require a bit more drastic action. If Jane had wanted to leave, she would probably have had to kill every worm inside of her. Knowing what we know about her, she would never want to do that, but she also had no regrets about becoming the Hive. Someone like John Amherst would have to get rid of all the diseases inside of him, so it might be as simple as a hospital visit and getting pumped full of antibiotics. If you got hollowed out by bugs, you might have to fill in the space somehow to be able to move, but I’m sure you could find a way. Maybe some help from the Flesh? It does seems to be in opposition to the Corruption in many ways, so that would work thematically.

To escape the Corruption, kill what loves you.

The Dark- Another abstract one. What’s the opposite of blinding yourself? The Dark, aside from the literal definition, includes things like weird science and unknowable things that lurk in the dark. Seeking knowledge would be a good opposite to darkness, but that’s not making a sacrifice or a permanent change. It’s not very clear what avatars of the Dark would hate to lose. Manuela Dominguez describes hating the light, how traditional divinity and knowledge are unnatural as opposed to the dark state of the world. This might be another location based one. Apparently, the sunniest places in the world are in northern Africa and the southwest parts of America, so moving there might do it. There isn’t an easy permanent change to make, but committing yourself to being in the sunlight as much as possible would probably work. Change your sleep schedule, move somewhere sunny, just avoid the dark in general. Maybe even start worshipping the sun; that would be in opposition to the cult following the Dark has.

To escape the Dark, give yourself to the sunlight.

The Desolation- We know it’s an act of altruism. I think it might need some adjusting, though, to make it more of a sacrifice by the person who serves the Desolation. This fear is all about sacrifice and loss, so it’s a bit tricky to think of something a Desolation avatar could give up when they’ve already committed to giving up everything. Well, everything except themselves. Many avatars, like Jude Perry, have shown themselves to be selfish, but I don’t think even they would be opposed to going out in a blaze of glory. No, the hardest thing for them would be to settle down and live a prosperous life. This one probably would have to be continuous effort instead of one grand sacrifice. It doesn’t fit with the others, but it does fit the theme of the Desolation. Yeah, I’ve just gone in a big circle. Altruism does make the most sense. Just make sure that selfless gesture counts. It’s not a real choice if you don’t mean it. I guess that would be really difficult if you’re used to burning everything around you, so maybe it’s more of a sacrifice than I thought.

To escape the Desolation, choose kindness.

The End- We actually already have a canon answer for this one: lobotomize yourself. Adelard Dekker found an End avatar that was killing people with carbon monoxide through their dreams, and he stopped him by cutting through his pre-frontal cortex- the part of the brain that lets you dream. It’s implied that this didn’t completely work, but I think the reason for that is that the avatar was not the one to make the choice. It’s emphasized again and again that serving the fears is all about personal choice, so it makes sense that any attempt to cut someone off wouldn’t take if the person hasn’t decided to give up their connection. The End is associated with dreams in most appearances, so I believe that a person who chooses not to dream would no longer be bound to it. Oliver Banks could see those whose deaths were coming in his dreams, which directly led to him becoming an avatar, so if he had decided to stop dreaming, that would be it. This procedure might be a bit difficult, I can’t imagine performing your own lobotomy would go very well, but I’m sure getting someone else to do it would count if you were the one to make the decision. Of course, Terminus would still have you in the end, but that will happen no matter what you do.

To escape the End, cut yourself off from dreams.

The Eye- This one is already answered. The draw of the Eye is the power to watch, so you have to give that ability up. Simple, straightforward, and definitely fits the theme.

To escape the Eye, blind yourself.

The Flesh- Oh boy, this is a weird one. We have dysphoria, consumption, body horror, I can’t say this one sounds very appealing. But it must be, or else it wouldn’t have people serving it. A lot of the draw to serve the fears could be interpreted as dishing out what you can’t take. You don’t have to be afraid of being watched if you do the watching, you don’t have to fear harm if you harm them first. Maybe the appeal of Flesh is making others share that fear that you are nothing but meat. I don’t think it’s really possible for people to give up their corporeal form, unless it’s metaphorical but I have no idea what that could mean. I think those who serve the Flesh thrive on being “more” than others. More body parts, more mass in general. You could go on a diet or become a vegetarian, which I think the writers may have joked about once? I want a more concrete solution, though. Diets are easy to break. You can’t fully give up food without dying, so I guess you could give up the control of food. Giving up your sense of taste would be interesting, but I’m going to keep it more general. No easy answer for this one either.

To escape the Flesh, give up control of your body.

The Hunt- People are drawn to the Hunt by that deep, primal desire to chase and attack. Humans have both predator and prey instincts inside of us, so you would have to completely leave the predator behind to escape the Hunt. I think a good way to do this would be the get rid of your teeth, or nails, whichever you use to cause harm. Daisy was able to temporarily leave behind her power in the Buried, but as soon as she got out, she started starving. I think this is a good argument that you could partially cut off your power by using a power that opposes it in some way, but you would have to give up a part of yourself to make it stick. As soon as she had the freedom and ability to hunt again, that was when the urge came back, and she eventually succumbed to it. Getting rid of the parts of your body that do harm wouldn’t completely stop you if you were dedicated enough, but it’s the choice to do so that matters. This one is a bit more of a symbolic choice, and you could probably do something else to your body that would prevent it from hunting, but I am going with the cooler option.

To escape the Hunt, tear out your teeth and claws.

The Lonely- Probably all you have to do to escape the Lonely is just…be around other people. I’m sure this is easier said than done, but there are lots of ways to commit to other humans. Get married, join a club, make a blood pact and permanently bind yourself to another human. The possibilities are endless! This one, I think more than the others, would require a bit more of a continued effort. I know that the whole point is to make one drastic, permanent change, but the Lonely feels like something that’s easy to relapse into. Maybe it’s the depression metaphor, I don’t know, but I don’t think this one has as easy a solution as the others. It’s hard work forcing yourself to stay connected to others, and it’s something most people in real life struggle with. Giving up any of these powers is a difficult choice, which is the whole point. Life is hard, and we have to make tough decisions. Anyway, I’m okay letting this one be a bit more abstract.

To escape the Lonely, bind yourself to others.

The Slaughter- This one is very similar to the Hunt in terms of actions, so I think the solution might be similar as well. Destroying your weapon would fit well, but it is just way too easy to pick up something else and continue hacking and slashing away. To give up violence entirely, you might have to destroy a significant part of your body. For the Slaughter, I think we should go with a less physical act. The opposite of violence is healing, so maybe become a doctor? You would have to really commit to helping others instead of hurting them, and that is too easy to go back on. I think the sacrifice made here would have to be emotion. Anger and the desire to hurt would go away if you couldn’t feel anymore. I don’t know how you would do this, except through drugs, but that isn’t permanent. There is probably a part of the brain you could destroy that causes emotion. It’s not the same as the prefrontal cortex, which we destroyed back in the End section, so at least it’s not the same solution twice. Honestly, the drugs could work if you did them long term, it’s about the choice anyway. However you do it:

To escape the Slaughter, remove your emotions.

The Spiral- The draw of the Spiral is the power to lie and deceive. There are many ways to do this, and there are probably just as many ways to stop yourself from doing it. However, there is one way that I think fits very well and is absolutely a permanent change: destroy your voice. This is actually the first one I thought of because even though it’s not technically the only way to stop yourself from lying, it fits very well thematically. Michael as the Distortion calls itself the Throat of Delusion Incarnate, so what better way to break yourself off from the same power then by tearing out your throat? It’s not perfect, but I like it so much that I’m going to pick it. I don’t know how one would go about destroying one’s voice, except with very careful surgery. Or screaming for a very long time.

To escape the Spiral, destroy your voice.

The Stranger- We got our answer to this one in the Q&A. Run naked through the streets, and make sure to engage with everyone who talks to you so that you can’t hide. Utterly terrifying. It makes perfect sense though; we heard from the Not!Them that beings of the Stranger hate losing their anonymity. Whether by switching skins, tricking the mind, or looking so generic that no one can remember your face, being known is antithetical to the Stranger. There are probably other ways to go about losing your anonymity then running around naked. You could get up on a stage somewhere and pour your heart out, or publish an autobiography. Basically anything the Eye would like. As long as you are putting yourself out there in a way that you can’t take back, you should be able to successfully cut yourself off from that uncanny fear.

To escape the Stranger, make yourself known.

The Vast- This one might actually be easier than the Buried, because it’s not purely spatial. It includes things like longevity, our insignificance in the face of a massive universe, and large scary things in general. A Vast avatar would hate to be enclosed, but they would also hate to be made responsible. They enjoy making others afraid of their insignificance, but what if they were important to the universe? What if the world was actually very small, and they fit neatly into it instead of being lost? There’s a lot of different ways to go here, so narrowing down one sacrifice might not be the best answer. I can’t really think of any one action that makes a person feel as though the world is small and trapping them. Giving themselves to the Buried would, probably. A direct contrast is the easiest answer.

To escape the Vast, trap yourself in a small place.

The Web- Avatars of the Web are manipulators, through and through. There are so many ways to manipulate a person that no one action could prevent you from doing that, so this one would likely vary a lot between individuals. That movie director who had people puppet him in his own house comes to mind, I think giving up your freedom like that is a good way to do it. Being paralyzed wouldn’t stop you if you used your voice to control others, and giving up both would suck, but if that’s what you need to do, then I guess it’s your choice to make. Maybe all you would need to do is let someone else tell you what to do, and fully trust them. That would be difficult, coming from the Web where everything is tied together and you know how easy it is to manipulate you.

To escape the Web, give up your autonomy.

#tma #the magnus archives #the buried #the corruption #the dark #the desolation #the end #the eye #the flesh #the hunt #the lonely #the slaughter #the spiral #the stranger #the vast #the web #tma entities #tma analysis

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mybg3notebook · 3 years

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Lore: Well-known Characters in Faerûn

Here I'm going to explain some interesting characters worth knowing in detail that some groups in the fandom keep saying are Gale's true identity.

Disclaimer Game Version: All these analyses were written up to the game version v4.1.104.3536 (Early access). As long as new content is added, and as long as I have free time for that, I will try to keep updating this information. Written in June 2021.

Additional disclaimers about meta-knowledge and interpretations in this (post)while disclaimers about Context and the popularisation and misuses of professional words in "Context, persuasion, and manipulation".

Azuth

He is the Patron of Wizards, his personal preference is toward wizardry rather than sorcery, and his philosophy fits better with the studious life of a wizard than the more haphazard practices of a sorcerer. Wizards invoke Azuth when they scribe scrolls, inscribe magic circles, attempt to memorise spells, and even when they cast spells. Often this acknowledgement comes in the form of silently forming Azuth's holy symbol, pointing the index finger of the left hand to the sky.For many wizards, the gesture is so commonplace in their lives that it becomes an unconscious habit. Azuth is represented at such sites as a hooded and bearded figure with his left hand held high, finger pointed up. Sometimes he is represented by merely the hand.

When he was a mortal, he was a wizard who showed prowess with spells and magical lore that attracted Mystryl’s attention, and after completing several quests to prove his worth, she named him Magister (old title in 1e and 2e, different to Chosen, related to a more bureaucratic role of Magic). With the new title, he taught magic to many people across Faerûn.

Azuth came into conflict with a minor southern deity: Savras the All-Seeing. Both were powerful spellcasters and Mystryl favoured both. They began a battle that lasted several years, using agents, magic traps, and personal spell-battles. Azuth managed to defeat the young deity and imprison him. With this victory Azuth ascended to godhood, became Mystryl's lover, and pledged to serve her.

During the Spellplague, Azuth fell to the Hells and Asmodeus consumed his divine spark to achieve godhood. It was thought that this had destroyed Azuth, but instead he ended up inhabiting Asmodeus' body together. Most of the time Asmodeus had control over the dormant Azuth. In 1486, Azuth managed to have a Cormyrian war wizard as a Chosen, and began to struggle with Asmodeus for dominion over their shared body. As a consequence, the hierarchy of the Nine Hells is jeopardized due to the unbalanced Asmodeus. After a while, The Chosen of Azuth sacrifices his life to be a vessel for the god and let him escape from the Hells. After the Second Sundering, Azuth returned to the faerunian pantheon.

Where is he in 1492?

Now, he has returned to the Faerunian pantheon, and considering Ao's ban, he can't be walking around Faerûn.

Can Gale be Azuth? I certainly can't see it. Azuth has been trapped in the Hells for most of Gale's life, returning to the pantheon recently. And we can't forget Ao's ban of direct contact: no god can have direct contact with mortals anymore, with the strange exception of Mystra (see the post about "Mystra and her Chosen ones" for more details). Besides, if Gale were to be Azuth's avatar, we are usually talking about characters over lvl 40.

The only link we can agree with Gale is that Azuth also has storm motif concepts in his design. Gale tends to explain with his pointing finger extended, but as it's said in the lore books, this is basically an unconscious common body language in most wizards. I cannot see any resemblance to make us infer “Gale is Azuth”.

What we can see by reading Azuth's story is why the Hells are so convoluted at this point. The blood war is unbalanced, since powerful figures such as Asmodeus had been having weak periods of leadership due to the inner fight with Azuth in his own body. For this detail alone, it is so important to give context to BG3 I considered worthy to mention.

Sources: 3e : Magic of Faerûn 5e: Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, Novels: Fire in the Blood. The devil you Know

Myrkul

Myrkul had a cold, malignant intelligence, and spoke in a high whisper. He was always alert, never slept, and was never surprised. He was never known to lose his temper or be anything other than coldly amused when a mortal succeeded in avoiding his directives or chosen fates. His influence in Faerûn was imposed through fear, and he was a master of making mortals terrified of him through his words and deeds. He was the one deity that almost all human mortals could picture clearly.

As a mortal, Myrkul's full name and title is said to have been Myrkul Bey al-Kursi. He was a powerful adventuring necromancer who travelled with Bane and Bhaal in order to acquire divinity for themselves. In -375 DR, they slayed one of the Seven Lost Gods, gaining a bit of divine power. Using it to go further, they embarked to Jergal's realm with the intention to slay him as well.

However, Jergal—tired of his godhood—freely agreed to hand over his dominion of the underworld. As the three could not decide who among them would sit upon the throne of the dead, they left the decision to chance with a game. More details and stories of several deaths and coming backs can be briefly read in the wiki. It makes no sense to add them here since they provide nothing interesting related to Gale.

Most of Myrkul's “recent” story can be seen/read in the game Neverwinter Nights 2, the Mask of the Betrayer. The game explains how Myrkul created the Wall of the Faithless (non existent anymore in 5e and nobody knows how it was destroyed) where the souls of the faithless or those abandoned by their gods got stuck in eternal pain. The main goal of the Wall was to use all that energy to feed Myrkul. The main character of Neverwinter 2 can visit the agonising God in the Astral Plane and kill him or leave him in a slow death.

Myrkul, with Bane and Bhaal, tried to seize the Tablets of Fate from the overgod Ao and use them to rule over Faerûn and its gods. They failed and were slain during the Time of Troubles. Since then, a variety of contingency plans they had in place allowed them to be reborn afterwards.

A small group of followers across Faerûn kept Myrkul's worshipping alive despite the dire events of the Spellplague and the Second Sundering. In the 1400’s, he is considered to have returned with the three dead in a quasi-deity condition.

While the Sundering forced the other gods to withdraw their direct influence from the mortal world, the Dead Three remained behind in mortal form as quasi-divine beings. While their power has diminished, they remain a formidable trio and play a malevolent role in influencing events on Faerûn.

Where is he in 1492?

He is clearly somewhere in Faerûn, with Bhaal and Bane most probably (we have strong leads to assume that the Absolute is them, getting as many worshippers as they can to recover their deity status, since now they are only quasi-deities)

Can Gale be Myrkul? I honestly can't see anything that we can use to link him to Myrkul without making it look like an absurdity. The easiest argument to revoke that nonsense is that Gale clearly is not a quasi-deity.

A quasi-deity is immune to every attempt to tamper with their mind (which would nullify the tadpole effect, and would make Gale immune to any tadpole intrusion, which is not the case as we saw in the post of "The Tadpole"). A quasi-deity is also immune to sap its vitality, or to force it into a different form. It has a strong defence against magic and a limited defence against heat. Weapons not enchanted with magic of an epic scope could not hurt a quasi-deity without problems. These defences against magic, heat, and non-magical physical attacks grew stronger as a deity rose in rank. It is crystal clear that none of this applies to Gale, the squishy wizard of the group.

This comparison is nonsense, especially if we think that some people supported it because “Gale's robes have clasps in the shape of triangles”, which was considered an incomplete symbol of Myrkul. So... I really won't waste time in this comparison. I just did it because I wanted to offer a summary to compare Myrkul (the three dead more precisely) with The Absolute. This idea is very strong when we think that in 5e DM book is explaining that a quasi-deity can recover their godhood condition if they amassed a sufficiently high number of followers (which is what The Absolute is doing). But this should be done in another post related to the Absolute.

Source: 2e: Faith and pantheon, 5e: Descent to Avernus, Dungeon Master's guide

Karsus

Karsus was born in Netheril in -696 DR. He was able to cast his first spell at the age of two, and by the age of twenty-two created his own floating city. He also founded a magic school encouraging radical thinking to keep pushing magical discoveries. A seer warned Karsus that soon Mystryl would face the greatest challenge of her divine life, so worried about the consequences of this, Karsus created his spell Karsus' Avatar with the objective to protect the Netheril civilization. This spell would steal the power of a deity and transfer it to him, giving him divine power to protect his people from Mystryl's challenge and destroy the magical aberrations that had been attacking Netheril (phaerimms) for years. He was very aware that the feat could cost him his life, but he accepted it as a worthy sacrifice to protect his people as well as remain in the History as an iconic figure.

In -339 DR, Karsus chose Mystryl, the goddess of magic, as his target, feeling that she was the most powerful deity and the most appropriate choice for his purposes. However, this was a mistake. The responsibilities of the deity of magic are to regulate the flow of magic to and from all beings, spells, and magic items in the world. Unable to fulfil Mystryl's function with the Weave, Karsus causes a surge of magic and violent fluctuations.

In an attempt to save the Weave, Mystryl sacrificed herself to block Karsus's access to the Weave, causing all magic to cease for several minutes. The flying cities of Netheril (fuelled by magic) fell to the ground. The severing of the link also killed Karsus, who turned into stone and fell to the ground, seeing his entire civilisation being destroyed because of his actions. This is known as Karsus's Folly.

The stone form of Karsus eventually landed in a part of the High Forest, now called the Dire Wood. Karsus was never accepted as a petitioner by any god, nor did he go to the Fugue Plane when he died. Instead, his soul was bound to the Material Plane. Those with experience in pact magic could call up his vestige, where he appeared as a giant blood-red boulder, like the one found in the High Forest where his petrified form landed. Blood burbles up from the top of the stone, trickling down the side facing the summoner, pooling at the base. Karsus granted the summoner a boost in magical ability, though he also imparted some of the arrogance he was renowned for.

Where is he in 1492?

Even in death, Karsus' undying spirit persists in the chaotic magic of the Dire Wood. His essence is ensnared in a single point of time by the magic of the lich Wulgreth, and it manifests in three separate pieces. Each manifestation contains one portion of Karsus' tripartite spirit. It is believed that Karsus cannot depart from the Realms until his sundered spirit is reforged into one.

Karsus' mortal body survives as a tall butte of red stone embedded in the ground and eroded by the elements. This manifestation radiates heavy magic (read the post about the "Orb" for more details)

Karsus' gigantic, ever bleeding heart beats within the butte itself. This manifestation is essentially powerless, but it cannot be destroyed. Karsus' heart continuously radiates an enchantment similar to the sadness effect produced by the 4th level wizard spell Emotion.

The final third piece is inside an animated golem created by Wulgreth. This manifestation bleeds an ever-flowing stream of blood like liquid which mingles with the Heartblood River, giving it its characteristic colour.

So, can Gale be Karsus? Hardly. Karsus' spirit is not even complete. One could ask if Gale is a part of Karsus? I don't see it either: each of these parts are stuck in the different stones across the Dire Wood, and since it was a lich who made the binding I see little reason to suspect how a piece of Karsus' spirit stuck in the middle of the continent reached a baby in Waterdeep.

Sources: 2e: Magic of Faerun, Powers and Pantheons 3e: Lords of Darkness

Elminster

Elminster was born in 212 DR, son of a prince of Athalantar. His parents were killed by mages and at the age of 12 he became a brigand and thief. With a friend thief, Elminster committed many acts of thievery together and lived life fully, creating the gang the Velvet Hands after a number of adventures.

Elminster tried to desecrate a temple of Mystra as a gesture of vengeance for the goddess having not defended his parents when they were killed by mages. Mystra appeared before him, and despite Elminster's defiance, she offered him the power to take revenge for his dead parents. Elminster accepted, and Mystra turned him into a woman to see “the world with female eyes” and to strengthen his bond with magic before being a proper Chosen. This transformation also helped Elminster to pass unnoticed among his enemies. He spent a long time learning magic in this shape, taught by Mystra's avatar in disguise. When her disguise was uncovered, she and Elminster slept together and she offered him to become her Chosen. By that time, Elminster accepted any command from the Goddess, his defiance was completely gone.

In 241DR he travelled to the city of Cormanthor and continued his magical studies.

Somewhere around the mid–7th century DR, Elminster entered a tomb and became trapped there in stasis for roughly a century. He emerged from the dusty tomb in 759 DR. By that time Magic was unreliable (Mystra was possessing Elué's body to conceive her daughters). The god Azuth told him that he couldn't rely on Mystra or magic for aid. Soon he had to learn how to survive without magic. He later underwent further magical training under the tutelage of a wicked sorceress who sought to tempt him away from Mystra's path. During a fake ritual for Bane, she revealed herself to be the goddess Mystra herself, once again testing him.

In 767 DR, Elminster became a foster parent to three other of Mystra's Chosen: Laeral Silverhand, Storm Silverhand, and Dove Falconhand.

In 851 DR, Elminster mentored the newly-appointed Chosen of Mystra, Sammaster, in how to use his new powers.

During the Harpstar Wars in 1222 DR, Elminster defeated the Zulkir of Necromancy, Szass Tam, and earned himself (and the Harpers) the enmity of Thay.

In 1358 DR, just before the Time of Troubles, Mystra gained some foreknowledge and backed up her power into Midnight, the human wizard, so it would not be lost. During this time, Elminster, like most wizards who received his power from Mystra/the Weave, was left powerless once more.

In 1371 DR, the new Mystra stripped away many of Elminster's memories of her former incarnation's secrets. By the end of that year, he was called to Blackstaff Tower to discuss the phaerimm attack. The whole event ended up being related to a planificated attack from the Shadovars. Since shadovar were living shadow magic, and silver fire was raw magic, the collision between the two tore at the fabric of reality, creating a rift to the Nine Hells. Elminster realized that the only way to close the portal before legions of devils spilled forth into Toril was to close it from the other side. He did it, being trapped on the other side and at the expense of much of his magical strength.

Once in Hell, he was abducted and enslaved by an outcast archdevil known as Nergal, who wished to discover the secret of Mystra's silver fire. Elminster was subject to brutal tortures, surviving only because of his exceptional endurance and ability to heal himself with silver fire. Mystra tried to save him herself, but ended up sending several Chosen ones instead. Only The Simbul was successful in his rescue.

In 1373 DR, Elminster discovered a daughter he had never known, conceived against his will with a dragon thanks to Mystra's intervention.

Following the death of Mystra in 1385 DR and the collapse of the Weave during the Spellplague, Elminster was stripped of many of his abilities as one of the Chosen, though he still aged as slowly as he had for the previous millennium and was still quite powerful magically. However, every use of his magic drove him insane. When this happened, only Storm was able to bring his mind back, giving off her own essence to soothe Elminster's mind. Despite these setbacks, Elminster and Storm continued with their campaign to save Faerûn, battling evil and fixing the Weave where they could.

In 1479 DR, Elminster sought to gain access to artifacts known to contain the spirits of the Nine—objects powerful enough to permanently restore the Simbul's sanity.

During one of his excursions for these artefacts, Elminster's body was destroyed by Manshoon, who had secretly been peeling away the Old Mage's contingency spells over several years. However, Manshoon departed before he realized that Elminster had survived his body's destruction in a near-undead state. With the agreement of Amarune and the aid of Storm, Elminster's essence was placed in Amarune's body with the aid of a spell the ex-Chosen had discovered in a cache once belonging to Azuth. Later, thanks to the sacrifice of the Simbul, he regained his former body again and ruined for good Manshoon's claim to the throne of Suzail.

In 1487 DR, Elminster (with the help of the Srinshee, Alustriel, and Laeral Silverhand) stopped Shar as well as Larloch from becoming the new deity of magic. He killed Telamont Tanthul and let Thultanthar fall upon Myth Drannor. Along the way, Mystra was completely restored.

In 1491 DR, Elminster returned to the city of Waterdeep, aiding the newly appointed Open Lord of Waterdeep, Laeral Silverhand, to uncover the culprits behind a string of murders of Masked Lords.

Sincerely, there is a lot of content left outside this summary because Elminster’s material is a lot. A LOT.

Where is he in 1492?

The last time we know about Elminster’s whereabouts is during the book Dead Masks, a year before BG3. He has been working in Mystra’s name in Waterdeep when Hidden Lords have been assassinated. It’s very hard to conceive Gale as Elminster in disguise. Elminster has a different personality and a very obvious pattern of speech, sounding more like a mixture of a scholar and a farmer, and using expressions like Nay, aye, and so on. Elminster being abandoned by Mystra is also a strange concept because if there is something very clear from all the material we can read about his adventures is that Mystra loves him with a particular and exceptional love. He was the only Chosen that, when he was being tortured in the Hells, she attempted to save him by herself, risking her life (obviously, then she changed her mind and sent several Chosen ones that died in the process).

Also, if Gale were Elminster, he should sustain a spell of disguise constantly (many people know Elminster, an old man of white hair and beard), which is also very unlikely for a lvl1 wizard to do.

Source: 3e: Elminster: The Making of a Mage. The Temptation of Elminster. Dead Masks

Sammaster

He was born in 800 DR, probably in Sembia, the Dalelands, or the North. At age of 17, fascinated by the theory of the Arts and how magic works, Sammaster became a follower of Mystra. He was a gaunt man of poor health, full of eccentricities: he never remained in one place for too long, he skipped his meals and sleep in favour of learning, and it's suspected to have fathered a countless number of children.

Before being 40 y/o he acquired the skills of an archmage and he discovered, rediscovered, or improved numerous spells in the advanced theory of magic known as "metamagic". All this discovery of knowledge and magic (so favoured by Mystra as we can see in the post about "Mystra and her Chosen ones") granted him the attention of the Goddess, who appeared before him.

At his 50 y/o Sammaster saw his most fervent dream appear before his very eyes. He was both awestruck and smitten with passion as he fell to his knees and wept upon Mystra’s feet. Raising him to meet her gaze, Mystra responded to his unspoken question and swept him into her embrace. They spent a tenday together, and at the end of that period, Mystra asked him if he thought he was worthy and strong enough to carry a part of her divine power within him. Despite not knowing what she meant, Sammaster accepted anyway, becoming the first Chosen after she conceived her seven daughters. Mystra explained that she had chosen him for his development in metamagic but also because she had foreseen the death of an already Chosen one (Syluné) whose place she wanted immediately filled with Sammaster.

Sammaster was ordered to be in contact with Elminster to learn more about his new condition of Chosen. Sammaster and Elminster developed a tense situation mostly because Sammaster's obsessive love for the Goddess deepened while Elminster kept reminding him that her only consort was Azuth.

Dejected for the truth that he would never have a personal long-lasting relationship with Mystra, Sammaster focused on understanding the powers of the Chosen and the mysteries of the Lady in himself and in Toril. However, a seed of resentment started to grow.

In 855 Sammaster found a Zhentarin slave caravan resting in a camp. In it, he found three large cage carts full of peasants taken from the farmlands in the surrounding area. Enraged, Sammaster attacked the Zhentarin using his spells and Silver Fire, but in the process he killed many innocents he wanted to save. His mind snapped that day. Despite trying to convince himself that the Zhentarins were to blame, this episode was—without any doubt—the seminal event that irrevocably turned Sammaster down the path to madness and, eventually, evil.

Years later he started to develop his interest in necromancy in an attempt to return those innocents he had killed, trying to find a way to revive the dead. During this time his interest was focused on the undead, and forged relationships with some liches. How did Mystra allow this? At that time, Mystra was a much more neutral deity. Her primary interest was the use and development of magic; she cared little about how it was used or by whom. As long as Sammaster continued to advance the theories of magic and push forward its frontiers for all mortals, Mystra turned a blind eye to his necromancy interests.

In 861 DR Sammaster met Alustriel, Chosen of Mystra, and fell in love with her. His unbalanced mind seemed to finally find some peace and stability, but his obsession —at first focused on Mystra—now turned upon Alustriel, wanting to master her, to make her entirely his, and to make her world revolve around him. Disturbed with Sammaster's necromancy research and his increasing need for control over her, Alustriel broke up with him.

Afterwards, while deepening in his experiments with necromancy, Sammaster befriended Algashon Nathaire, a priest of Bane who had formerly been a mage. In the unstable Sammaster, Algashon saw the chance to create a formidable tyrant. Bane must also have seen the chance to rob one of his most powerful enemy’s Chosen of his last vestiges of sanity and perhaps his powers or even his life.

Presented as a friend, Algashon manipulated Sammaster into thinking that all his failures and problems were the fault of that uncaring goddess and her equally inconsiderate servants, her so-called "Chosen". Sammaster resisted this subtle indoctrination at first, only to be painfully reminded of the events at the slavers' camp (the Zhents' fault, of course), his uneasy relationship with Elminster, his failure to win the love of Mystra (Azuth's fault and Elminster's for pointing it out so hard-heartedly), and his failure to win Alustriel (her fault and that of her Goddess). As time went on, Sammaster argued against these superficial, easy excuses less and less, and Algashon's lies wove their way deeper into the unhappy and unstable mage's mind. The next step of Algashon was to steal the secrets of the power of the Chosen. To do that, he encouraged Sammaster to use his Chosen power at every opportunity.

Rather than risking their pawn's life (yet) by attempting to strip the silver fire from Sammaster outright, Bane and Algashon decided to try and arrange to steal another Chosen's silver fire: given her past with Sammaster, Algashon chose Alturiel. This way Sammster fought Alturiel, aiming silver fire against her. Losing the battle against a maniacal Sammaster, Alustriel called for help from Laeral Silverhand and Khelben Arunsun. The three of them won the combat against Sammaster.

Azuth presented himself on Mystra's behalf and removed Sammaster's Chosen condition. When the other Chosen left the place, Algashon helped Sammaster, affixing the immortality of the Chosen ones in his body despite having lost his powers. While he could be destroyed, Sammaster continued to remain ageless and to heal from wounds very quickly. However, as a side-effect of this spell, Sammaster lost his last vestige of sanity and morality that may have remained in his clouded mind.

In 887 DR Sammaster retranslated old texts of a prophecy, highlighting the importance of undead dragons and creating soon afterward his own Cult. In his insanity, he kept doing more necromancy research focused on turning dragons into draconlich to follow this prophecy. His first success in turning a dragon (Shargrailar) into an undead made his cult famous. In this way, Sammaster earned a powerful weapon with which threatened many across Faerun and obtained an enormous amount of money. Even the rich nobles paid tribute when the Cult threatened to send Shargrailar to burn their farmlands and villages to ash. Sammaster did not think to oppress the peasants for their coppers, but the noble powerful ones.

In 960 DR, his cult finally adopted the name “Cult of the Dragon”, even though “Cult of the Dracolich” could be more appropriate, even though Shargrailar still looked like a normal dragon. By that time the cult increased too much for Sammaster and Algoshon to control, so Sammaster wrote all his wisdom in a book called Tome of the Dragon that would turn into the core of the cult, helping them to spread Sammaster's ideas beyond their limitations.

The popularity of the cult was not missed by several groups. The Harpers tried to destroy it, but they failed. The Zhentarims are also against Sammaster's cult since their activities are limited with the constant threat of the Dragon Shargrailar. More groups were added to the cult's list of foes, but Sammaster ignored them or sent them a dragon to destroy them. Not merely mad now, Sammaster was becoming drunk with a level of power he had not felt since before he had been stripped of his powers as one of the Chosen. Algashor suggested that he keep a low profile in order to protect the cult, but his advice was ignored.

In 916 DR, The Harpers developed a plan to eliminate Sammaster and weaken the cult itself. The battle was brutal and Sammaster seemed to win by the end of it, commanding an army of undead and experimental creatures. Sammaster would have won had not Lathander sent a battle avatar, enraged by the undead abominations that Sammaster created. After an intense battle, Lathander incinerated Sammaster. However, Sammaster had planned ahead: he had sent his mind to a phylactery before being killed.

With the phylactery and a special book of the Tome of the Dragon, a loyal cultist called Zotulla had been ordered by Sammaster to create a new cell of the cult in the Northwest. However, Zotulla failed and died at the hands of an orc war party who discarded the phylactery and the book. Both items were lost for more than 300 years, until a shaman may have deciphered the instructions in the book and raised Sammaster as a lich.

In 1282 Sammaster rose as a lich and began to gather the remnants of his cult once more. Harpers and some countries began to plan to defend themselves from this danger again. In 1285 a group of adventuring paladins known as the Company of Twelve supported by the Harpers, attacked the lich and killed him at a great cost. However, neither the phylactery nor the book were found. The possibility for him to return is high.

In 1373DR Sammaster completed the transformation of the Dracorage Mythal. This was a Mythal created by elves around -25.000DR which had a maddening effect on dragons, making them lose their minds for several tendays. This effect used to be linked to the appearance of the comet King-Killer Star in the sky. When Sammaster transformed this mythal by binding his phylactery to it, its maddening effect was no longer constrained by the appearance of the comet but linked instead to his own life force. Only Dracoliches remained unaffected by Sammaster’s endless, ever-intensifying Dracorage effect. This fact forced wyrms to join his Cult and accept to be transformed into dracoliches or suffer permanent madness. By manipulating this effect, Sammaster tried to retake control over his Cult. However, a group of adventurers destroyed the mythal—thus Sammaster’s phylactery—and put an end to this effect.

Where is he in 1492?

So, is Gale Sammaster? Lore-wise, to destroy a lich for good you need to destroy their phylactery. This has been done in 1373DR, therefore, I hardly see any potential for Sammaster to raise again. And here is where any possible argument ends.

What Sammaster's story shows us is that Mystra's sudden abandonment is not uncommon once she gave them their Chosen powers. In the report of the Harpers that narrate Sammaster's life in the book Cult of the dragon (2e), there are some comments pointing out how Mystra, despite noticing Sammaster's madness, allowed him to follow his dark path. One may speculate that maybe Mystra uses the obsession that she may cause in some of her Chosen ones, in order to make them eager to explore beyond their limits so she can acquire knowledge or control of new magic.

Certainly, what Sammaster and Gale share in common is how they were favoured by Mystra, had a affair with her, and soon afterwards she stopped “whispering” in their ears. Their condition as Chosen had been kept intact, but their madness in one case, or their devotion in the other, made them go too far. Sammaster ended up being a toy of a priest of Bane, while Gale simply made the mistake of thinking himself capable of controlling an unknown magic to impress Mystra in order to have once more her attention on him. More than this is walking on the headcanon terrain since the game in EA can't provide more information.

Source book: Cult of the dragon (2e), Dragons of Faerun (3.5e)

Conclusion

The truth is that Gale is Kirby. He doesn't only eat artefacts but also Faerûn iconic characters as well (joke done by a reddit user)

In my personal interpretation, I hardly see Gale as the incarnation of anyone. First, it would be very, very lazy writing. Characters such as Sammaster, Elminster, or Azuth tend to be NPCs. We found some of them in games such as previous Baldur’s Gate games or Neverwinter nights.

But the main and strongest argument against secretly being any of these characters is that he is an origin character. All companions are potential players in their origins. Anyone who played DOS2 AND played an origin character would understand this: there is no plot twist of that magnitude in their personal backstories that would erase completely the essence and the personality of the character. All that sensitive information is previously stated.

All what we need to know about the origin char is basically said in the BG3 webpage. Those descriptions are the same ones found in the game, which changed after EA was released in Astarion’s and Gale’s case, showing—in my opinion—that Larian changed them a bit at the last stage of development. These descriptions spoil every secret that the characters have. This doesn’t mean their more complex background should not be part of a plot twist later in the game, but it would not have the impact of erasing completely the RPG characters you were playing for a while.

Every companion has a secret spoiled in their descriptions: Astarion, his vampire condition; Shadowheart, her Shar faith and he mission; Wyll, Mizora; Lae’zel, the tadpole (not for the group, but for her people); Gale, the “orb”. All these secrets are informed beforehand to the player for them to pick an Origin if they want to play it and make it their own. As companions, we learn these secrets early (act 1). This happens in act 1 of DOS2 too.

A player choosing an origin has to be informed of the character’s secrets and motivations at the moment they pick it. Otherwise, it would ruin their RPG experience, making the player unaware of their own character’s true nature. This doesn’t mean that deepening their backgrounds would not make us discover information we don’t know. My point is, it won't remove the character’s persona turning him into a character very well known in lore.

Gale, so far, seems to be a pretty fair standard wizard who had a young obsession over Mystra (quite common in terms of lore for those who stand before her), which brought him troubles and made him prone to mistakes (as, once more, we know it tends to happen in lore). The justification why he was Chosen is also clear from a lore point of view: we have a context post-Spellplague that made Gale's skills more than useful for Mystra. In my opinion, there is nothing else abysmally suspicious beyond these points, and if there are more secrets, it seems fair to think that not even Gale is aware of them.

This post was written in June2021. → For more Gale: Analysis Series Index

#gale of waterdeep #bg3 meta #bg3 early access #bg3 gale #azuth #myrkul #karsus #elminster #sammaster #lore #chosen of mystra #FR lore

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spoondrifts · 4 years

Text

long post ahead I'm sorry-

crack au where Jonah Magnus is a good guy but everything keeps going wrong and he spends all of his time running around trying to stop his employees from diving headfirst into their Fuck Up™ of the week

in this au Jonah is almost entirely incompetent but he's got the exasperated parent thing down enough to make up for his lack of braincells

he's also at least 7% dumber than he is in canon

s1 Jon: please call pest control there are so many worms

s1 Elias: I already did

Jon: and??

Elias: they ate them

Jon: the worms?

Elias: the pest control guys. the worms ate them

Elias spends the entirety of season 2 desperately trying to convince Jon that none of them killed Gertrude (in this au Gertrude just had a stroke or something in the tunnels). Elias stops Jon from destroying the table but a week later something heavy falls on it and the NotThem escapes anyway. Elias bashes in Leitner's head with a pipe after mistaking him for the monster and Jon gets framed.

now Elias has to convince this hunter that Jon is innocent while Jon runs around and harasses various fear avatars (who are all very amused with Elias' wayward Archivist). Jon assumes Elias knows nothing about all this bullshit because Elias is just his weird and uptight boss who accidentally killed someone, he can't possibly know that there are literally fear gods ruling over them

olive ⚰ has named the group 'Avatars ✨'

JMagnus 👀: Jude please don't hurt him. I'll explain everything when he gets back to the Institute.

🔥: too late

JMagnus 👀: What?

🔥: too late

🔥: burned him

[JMagnus 👀 is typing]

JMagnus 👀: Where is he now.

🔥: going to mike

JMagnus 👀: Mike Crew???

🔥: ya

Elias RACES to Mike's house but he. he fucking misses them. the Beholding helpfully tells him that they're all going back to the Institute so Basira and Daisy can interrogate him, which isn't ideal, he'd really like to not go to jail, so he drafts up an employment contract on the way back and barely manages to escape the whole thing with his life intact.

then he explains everything to Jon because if Jon is going to end up being the Archivist, being uninformed won't do. Jon becomes the Archivist completely on accident and Elias is desperately trying to make all of this work because, haha, the Unknowing is coming up, and Elias is not in the fucking mood to deal with clowns.

olive ⚰ has named the group 'all that is terror uwu'

spidey🕸: lmfaooo jonah how do you make an archivist on accident

JMagnus 👀: He stumbled into it. All I can do now is ensure he doesn't die.

JMagnus 👀: Or get further injured by the rest of you.

🔥: woops

🎭: hEy gUyS lOnG tiMe nO sEe

🎭: gEt iT eLiAs

🎭: sEe

JMagnus 👀: Beholding puns are not amusing from a manifestation of the Stranger.

🎭 has named the group 'eLiAs bE niCe tO niKoLa cHaLlEnGe'

🔥: haha

spidey🕸: I'm sure Nikola will be on her best behavior

🎭: yEaH i wOnT kiDnAp yOuR aRcHiViSt

[JMagnus 👀 is typing]

mike n ike: hey guys what'd I miss

🔥: arent you dead

mike n ike: yeh but I came back

JMagnus 👀: NIKOLA ORSINOV WHERE IS JONATHAN SIMS

🔥: can't you see haha

mike n ike: heh "see"

JMagnus 👀: NIKOLA

spidey🕸: wow he must be pissed

spidey🕸: he left out the punctuation

JMagnus 👀: I WILL BREAK ALL OF YOUR PLASTIC BONES WHERE'S MY ARCHIVIST

🎭 has left the chat.

JMagnus 👀: what the FUCK

since he's still a coward Elias sends Michael to go fetch Jon, only finding out after the fact that he very nearly almost signed Jon's death warrant. Elias is now speedrunning Jon's development because fuck the Unknowing is coming up really quickly and Tim is a self destructive mess and Melanie keeps trying to stab Elias and Martin is a pining idiot and goddammit he didn't sign up for this

Elias prepares Jon the best he can for the Unknowing, because even though he knows the ritual will fail, the Circus can still cause a considerable amount of damage and he needs them out of the way.

the Unknowing happens. Jon ends up in a wack ass coma, Tim is dead, Daisy's in the coffin, and Basira is starting to look like the better choice of Archivist because jesus christ Jon has no self preservation instinct. Elias doesn't get arrested this time around but his ex husband starts coming by the Institute and fucking with all his employees. and the Flesh is attacking. jesus. goddamn.

olive ⚰ has named the group 'bully elias'

JMagnus 👀: Why are you all so mean to me? I'm arguably the nicest one here.

🔥: ur joking right

Peter Lukas: you're not nice you didn't buy me an anniversary gift 😢😢😢

JMagnus 👀: I was busy.

Peter Lukas: doing what

JMagnus 👀: Stopping the Flesh from destroying my Institute. Besides, you didn't remember my birthday.

Peter Lukas: you're 200 years old how could I remember 😓

helen!!!!!: We All Know I'm The Nicest One Here!!

JMagnus 👀: How did you make your text that colorful?

helen!!!!!: IDK

JMagnus 👀: Liar.

helen!!!!!: That's Literally My Job

olive ⚰: hey eli your archivist just woke up I think

🔥: ew why

helen!!!!!: How Delightful!! Maybe I'll Throw Him A Glad You're Alive Party!!

olive ⚰: should we invite him to this chat since he's an avatar now

Peter Lukas: no 🙅 🚫❌

Peter Lukas: I hate archivists 😤😤

olive ⚰: still mad about gertrude huh

🔥: were all still mad about gertrude

🔥: but jons fine once you burn some manners into him

JMagnus 👀: Can you all please stop hurting Jon? Or talking about hurting him? I would like my Archivist to not acquire any more scars.

🔥: damn

Peter Lukas: damn 😔

Elias keeps trying to teach Jon how to pick certain victims to feed off of because personally he has no qualms about feeding from innocents but Jon!! actually trusts him!!! so Elias doesn't want to push Jon into making decisions that will offend his moral sensitivities.

things are actually going okay for a while. Elias starts going home at a reasonable time in the evenings and Jon is actually getting some sleep. and then-

Elias is having a nice dream about Peter trying to fish Simon Fairchild out of a sky filled with eyes when he abruptly sits up in bed, wide awake.

"Ah, fuck," he says to Peter, who is laying on the floor where it is Lonelier™. "Jon's doing something stupid. I Know it."

Peter's mumbled "isn't he always" goes unnoticed as Elias hurries to the Institute, where he finds a fucking rib on Jon's desk and the coffin in the middle of the room.

Peter Lukas has named the chat 'archivists ruin my sleep schedule and my sex life'

JMagnus 👀: What the fuck do I do?? I can't go into the Buried! Why is Jon so stupid? I didn't know he had zero braincells when I hired him!

🔥: ngl why havent you fired him yet

JMagnus 👀: Beholding won't let me. We're all bound to the Institute.

🔥: F

JMagnus 👀: Why are there no Buried avatars in here? Please someone help me.

mike n ike: lol the buried is gross why would anyone go down there

spidey🕸: does he have an anchor?

[JMagnus 👀 sent an image]

🔥: is that a fucking rib

spidey🕸: wow that's not a good anchor at all

spidey🕸: he needs someone he loves

JMagnus 👀: Thanks. Gtg.

spidey🕸: np

🔥: are we not going to talk about his rib

🔥: how the fuck did he get that out of his body

🔥: yall

🔥: YALL

it takes three days for Elias to find Martin.

"Please tell me why the fuck you're dabbling in the Lonely," Elias says as Martin steps sheepishly out of the fog.

"Ah. Well. Jon can't See into it very well and sometimes we like to spice up our se-"

"Stop before I have to gouge my eyes out again."

"A-Again-?"

Elias drags Martin back to the Institute. Martin starts setting tapes on the coffin because "Jon loves these" and Elias starts bashing his head into the wall.

Jon climbs out of the coffin with Daisy and Elias almost considers locking Jon in his office so the damn archivist can't do anything else ridiculous. instead, Elias very calmly takes Jon by the shoulders, and shakes him like a rag doll.

"Stop fucking with entities, you stupid, stupid man," Elias says, shaking Jon more viciously now.

after several hours of breathing exercises Elias returns to his house and doesn't take his Sight off of Jon for the rest of the night, which is a fun experience for Peter when he wakes up and finds Elias' bloodshot eyes staring directly at him in the morning.

JMagnus 👀 added Daisy to 'archivists ruin my sleep schedule and my sex life'

Peter Lukas has named the chat 'archivist hate club'

JMagnus 👀 has named the chat 'shut up peter'

Peter Lukas has named the chat 'you love jon more than me'

JMagnus 👀 has named the chat 'I don't love either of you I'm heartless'

Peter Lukas has named the chat 'I want a divorce'

spidey🕸: jeez take your marital dispute elsewhere

spidey🕸 has named the chat 'lonelyeyes dni'

Daisy: wtf is this

mike n ike: it's a chat for avatars

mike n ike: and ex avatars ig

Daisy: didn't I kill you

mike n ike: yea

JMagnus 👀: Hello, Daisy. Welcome to the group chat.

Daisy: why is Jon not in here

Peter Lukas: because I hate him 😁

spidey🕸: Elias talks mad shit in here and Jon would get offended

Daisy: if you talk bad about Jon I'll rip your throat out

Daisy: :)

JMagnus 👀: Noted.

mike n ike: he's kinda rude tho

Daisy: I've killed you once

Elias' only goal now is to keep Jon and his assistants from pulling any more wild stunts without his supervision. his renewed involvement with the archival staff results in a few things he'd hoped to avoid: drink invites, physical contact (Martin is surprisingly quick to start hugging Elias once he realizes Elias won't stop him), and- shudder -feelings. because Elias genuinely cares about his staff and doesn't want any harm to befall them. especially Jon. Jon is his Archivist, the only one to ever succeed like this, and Elias will be damned if he lets anything happen to him.

"Why do you care?" Jon asks, once, compulsion thrumming like static on his tongue. "About us, I mean. I would've assumed you'd want to perform the Beholding's ritual."

Jonah Magnus attempted the Watcher's Crown once, when he was young and new. he'd brought his patron close, but not all the way through, and the backlash of power killed all the inmates at Millbank and severely crippled Jonah's connection to the Eye for months afterward. he grew to assume that the Beholding simply preferred the world as it was--ripe with fear for watching. it didn't need a ritual.

he instead dedicated himself to growing stronger, cultivating his Institute of knowledge, his stronghold. if he tore out a few people's eyes when he got too old, then, well, collateral. but he doesn't want the world to end, and knows now that no ritual will ever succeed unless it brings in all the Powers at once. and he doesn't want that either.

it's concerning to him that Jon seems to be collecting marks regardless. the only ones he's missing are the Dark and the Lonely, and Elias is determined to keep it that way.

he explains all of this to Jon who, to his credit, takes it pretty well. Jon is fascinated with historic life and Elias spends some time simply recounting tales of his youth, when he still bore the name Magnus.

they bond. it's good.

and one day Basira does a little too much research and discovers the dark sun waiting in Ny Alesund. she insists they need to go and see what's left of the People's Church, they need to ensure everything is taken care of. Jon is rather insistent too. and Elias wouldn't have been inclined to let them go, except Peter was finally home after weeks at sea, and it wasn't like Jon was defenseless, he could call Elias if anything went wrong...

so, very reluctantly, Elias gives them the all clear. Basira, Jon, and Martin head north, and Elias almost forgets they've gone when he arrives home and Peter already has dinner prepared.

Jon comes back marked by the Dark.

Elias curses himself, over and over, for being foolish enough to let them go, for not keeping a closer eye on them. he knows the ritual won't work unless a certain incantation is spoken, so he'll just have to keep world-ending written chants away from Jon. easy. and it's not like Jon will even get marked by the Lonely. Peter wouldn't.

(but Martin doesn't have the same level of control, and sometimes...)

it's an accident. Martin and Jon are testing it, pushing the boundaries, when Martin pulls them both into the Lonely. Elias threatens divorce until Peter caves and fetches them, but it's too late. Jon has been marked by all fourteen Powers.

Elias tells him, and warns him to check everything he reads.

helen!!!!! has named the chat 'apocalypse babey'

JMagnus 👀: How are you doing that?

JMagnus 👀: And the apocalypse is not imminent. I have the situation under control.

olive ⚰: ha yeah

JMagnus 👀: What do you mean by that?

olive ⚰: nothing

JMagnus 👀: Well, now I certainly think it's something.

olive ⚰: it's just

olive ⚰: don't you think it's kinda weird that @spidey🕸 has been offline for so long

🔥: thats weird shes always online

JMagnus 👀: Oliver, what are you implying?

olive ⚰: idk

olive ⚰: just weird, that's all

🔥: never good when the spiders are quiet

olive ⚰: hear hear

Elias gets a sinking feeling in his stomach, and beside him, Peter looks alarmed. meanwhile, in his flat with Martin making tea in the other room, Jon has a statement clutched in his grasp.

Hello, Jon.

I would apologize for the deception, but I'm afraid that's quite what I'm good at. I'm not one to monologue, that's more Jonah's shtick, so shall we get on with things?

I admit I underestimated Jonah Magnus. He's still remarkably easy to manipulate, but when he abandoned the Watcher's Crown ritual I knew I would have to take a different approach. The Mother is not so satisfied with the world as she may have insinuated. It is our turn to rise, Jon.

At the age of eight, you were marked by us. We sent you to the Magnus Institute in the hopes that a new Archivist would rekindle Jonah's desire to end the world. Unfortunately, it seemed as though he grew fond of you, and so we brought in a new plan. We marked you. One fear at a time. Jonah gave an admirable attempt at protecting you, but ultimately, he is an incompetent old fool, and I am a Weaver. Even Jonah Magnus dances to invisible strings.

Everyone underestimates a spider until it bites. Poison is poison, Jon, regardless of the medium in which it is served.

You will be safe in this new world. Martin, too. Perhaps even Jonah and his Lukas, if the Mother deems them worthy.

Now, please repeat after me...

Jon reads the ink scratched words, eyes welling up with tears and hands trembling, as thunder crashes outside and a howling gale picks up beyond the windows. Martin is shouting something, there's the crawling press of Elias' gaze as it rests heavy behind Jon, a silent observer. He can feel Elias' soothing presence, cool and calm in the raging storm.

Elias is still watching out for him.

Strings are wrapped around his wrists, jerking his arms up in a poor mockery of religious regard, strange hysterical laughter clawing out from his throat.

Jon's tears run red. Somewhere, Elias is still watching.

The door opens.

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janekfan · 4 years

Text

Starve

The slim aperture of light that fell across one unblinking eye illuminated its retina a soft, peculiar green, pupil dilating in a raw attempt to Know, as if the narrow gap Basira created by opening the door to take her turn in checking on Jon could slip it something new. Some relief for the weakness, the hunger, the pain of not feeding his god. She couldn’t help the visceral shudder; he was creepy, inhuman, there was no way around it, and as soon as his pale lids closed so did the door, key turning in the lock with dull finality.

“How’s he?” She couldn’t help the way she jumped when Daisy’s voice seemed to echo in her ear.

“Alive.”

Deftly, she pocketed the key. “You can bring him something to eat later.”

“A statement?” Daisy’s eyes narrowed.

“That would negate all the work he’s doing.” Before walking away she turned the handle a second time to make sure it was well and truly locked. He wanted this. He wanted to stop. More than that, he wanted to live and may have even found a reason. He was trying.

It didn’t stop her guilty disgust of him.

Funny that.

“Reheat the soup from yesterday.”

“He won’t, can’t, eat that.” Still not recovered fully from her stint in the Buried, Daisy was exerting herself to keep up with Basira’s quick and purposeful stride and when she stopped in the breakroom, bleak and empty despite the pair of them, she gulped down a glass of water.

“That’s not our fault.”

“Basira--”

“Jon chose this. He chose to feed off the trauma and fear of other people and they had no choice.” She wasn’t being fair. Anyone could see the strain being an avatar put on their human host. “But he had a choice, Daisy.” And now he, because of the pair of them, he has incentive.

“Just give me the key.” Basira rolled her eyes and Daisy narrowed hers.

“Fine, lock me in there with him then.” She made tea, used a mug for the soup and didn’t bother with adding a spoon to the tray with the napkins. Slipping a chilled bottle of water into her back pocket she glanced at Basira expectantly.

“It’s early.”

“And yet.”

Burning.

Gnawing.

Aching.

Jon swore he could feel the pieces of him being eaten away. If you won’t feed me, I’ll feed on you. Take all you’ve got until there’s nothing but monster left and the more he tried to resist, curl up around that spark of himself that was left, the more it hurt when the Eye lashed out in his mind, howling with hunger and rage and wrath at being denied.

It was dark here. Lonely here. Tim would laugh were he alive to see his old boss crying for the comfort of another living thing in this place. Someone, something to anchor him, console him, make him feel like any of this was worth it. That he wasn’t the biggest disappointment London had ever known.

Even if he didn’t deserve it.

Coward.

Beast.

Tormentor.

He wanted the Admiral.

A pang like a knife wound, he would know, ran him through the middle and he curled tightly into the jumper he’d found while rummaging in the early days when he had the strength to be bored. It hurt such that he found himself checking for the warmth and wetness of blood he was sure would be there.

Nothing.

Empty.

Cold.

He wanted Martin.

Daisy squeezed through the doorway and shut it with one hip, listening to the lock slide home before moving forward to set the tray on the desk and toss a spare shirt over the lamp. She hadn’t mentioned how easy it was for her to see in the dark to anyone yet. He was wrapped up in an unfamiliar jumper, shrouded in a familiar scent so faint she wasn’t sure he could smell it, and so oversized on him to the point he was nearly swallowed.

“Jon?” He never answered right away, taking at least a few moments to become aware of someone in the room with him since last week, but she warned him just the same. “Light’s coming on, Jon.” Settling beside the cot despite the pressure on her knees, she examined him in the dim. Despite the dark brown of his skin, he was pale and drawn. Diminished more each and every day without a statement. Withdrawal? Seemed more akin to starvation and she could relate. Daisy would need to discuss it with Basira. There wouldn’t be anything left if she let this continue.

“You’ve dropped a stone at least.” And was trembling. Gently she laid a hand against his neck, counting out his rapid pulse, taking note of his elevated temperature. “Feverish, too.” She mumbled. “Up you get.” It took some shoving and cajoling but she managed to get him propped against the wall with a mug of tea in his hands. Most days it was all he could stand. The sleeves of his stolen cable knit hung from wrists she could have held together in one hand.

“Ma’tin?” That was new. He’d recognized them up until now.

“No, but think of how cross he would be if you didn’t finish up your tea, hm?” She tapped the handle for emphasis but he didn’t seem to notice, blinking hard in an attempt to clear his vision.

“B’sira’s cross.”

“She is.” Cor, but he looked ill. “She’s not well pleased with your eating habits.” It was the wrong thing to say and immediately he folded in on himself, somehow becoming even smaller in a way she didn’t think was possible. “Hey, Jon, I didn’t mean--” It was eerily quiet, almost poetic. The tears scattering over his scarred, his marked hands, into the tea he gripped like a lifeline. “Alright, s’alright, Jon.” This wasn’t good for him. Locked down here all alone like an animal being taught a lesson it was helpless to learn. Awkwardly, Daisy patted his shoulder, wincing at the heat coming off him.

“Sorry.” He didn’t speak much anymore, too afraid of compelling either of them.

Too afraid.

Weren’t they all. But at least Daisy had Basira. At least Melanie had Georgie. At least Martin was sure he was making the correct decision for the rest of them.

“I brought soup? Think you could eat something?” Somehow he paled further, the sip he took from the cooling tea small and tentative and thankfully he kept it down, even finished close to half before swaying so abruptly she had to catch it out of his enervated fingers.

“Jon?”

“Jus,’ could I.” He swallowed and Daisy recognized the effort to avoid a compulsion and it looked so borderline painful she almost told him to go ahead and ask but he gained control of his wayward tongue, words clumsy and slow. “Lay down.” Licked chapped lips. “Please.” She helped him lest he just collapse there, going so far as to settle his head in her lap.

“There we go.” He turned his face into her soft shirt while she scrolled through a playlist, turning the Archers on low and ignoring the moisture steadily soaking her skin. She hadn’t been able to coax any water into him, instead using it to wet the napkins so she could provide some type of relief. Gently, she followed the slope and curve of his too prominent collarbones, swept up the column of his throat to brush over hollow cheeks and a damp forehead. With her other hand she pet back his salt and pepper hair, overgrown and long and filled with tangles she teased out with dexterous fingers. She let him rest like that for a while before the pain in her body forced her to move. Taking a swig from the water bottle after stretching, she knelt to offer him some, concerned when he didn’t shift. Patting his cheek elicited no reaction, she could hear the pulse in his overheated blood, thready and so fast.

“Jon, Jon, I need you to open your eyes for me.” No change, not even when she shook him hard by his boney shoulders, yelled into his face. She stumbled upwards. “Basira!” Legs on fire with pins and needles, Daisy held herself up by the door, pounding on it and calling out for Basira only to be met with silence. “Basira!” Shit. There was no reception down here. She glanced behind her. Jon hadn’t moved, just as slack as before, closed eyes wrung with black shadows, mouth slightly parted and chest barely moving with the effort of breathing. So caught up, Daisy nearly toppled forward when the door was removed and replaced with Basira, gun in hand, fear scent wafting off her in roiling waves.

“No! No, Jon’s ill. I can’t wake him.” She pushed past, “I’m getting a statement.” Basira held her shoulder fast.

“Maybe this is a good thing?”

“What?” Daisy all but shouted, pawing at Basira for the keys.

“Wait, wait. He can’t hurt people like this, take statements, maybe can’t even hover around in victims’ dreams. The Beholding will keep him alive, right?” Daisy was shell shocked into stillness and couldn’t even find anything to be angry about, not really. Basira had a point. Maybe this would be easier on all of them, Jon included. But just as quickly the thought passed as she remembered him crawling into a coffin for her after having the Boneturner rip pieces out of him for nothing.

“Well I don’t want to test it!” Her partner was currently stronger than she was. If Basira didn’t want to give up the keys there was no way to make her. “Please.”

“Daisy.”

“I get it, I know. But he’s. Our friend is still in there, Basira.” Frustration made her eyes prickle with tears she refused to let fall. “He’s tried so hard to do as we asked. Are we really going to abandon him completely because it’s convenient?” She could see the shift in Basira’s face and knew she was victorious.

“He wanted this. He wanted to be stopped.”

“I know.”

“One.”

“Thank you.”

“A short one. Wait here.”

The Dark was so heavy. Pressing in all around him, smothering, suffocating, strangling him. And he hurt. He was so hungry he hurt deep, deep, deep inside. Beyond the place where his ribs once were. Could he die like this? Would his god allow it?

What else was left to take?

The change was so slight he almost didn’t notice at first, almost didn’t hear. But the Eye did, searching, thirsting thing, hungrier than he could ever be for Knowing. And even this hurt, was agony after so long being deprived and if Jon were stronger, he’d be afraid of what would happen after. StabburnriptearremovecutslashwoundscarhealHURTKNOW

“Back with me?”

Who.

His eyes were open, staring, wide.

“Jon?”

His head in someone’s lap. Martin’s jumper, warm, safe, soft. Martin. Martin.

“I’ll keep going then, shall I?” She didn’t wait for an answer, just let the words come slowly, evenly, like a morphine drip steadily taking the edge off the worst of it all with each and every glorious syllable.

Unbidden, he cried for even that slight bit of relief. Sharp, stabbing, harsh, now dulled as the Eye turned its attentions from him to the statement Daisy, Daisy was reading. The pounding agony of his head retreated enough to think. To notice her hand stroking his hair, wiping away the tears he couldn’t seem to stop until long after she stopped speaking. Still cradling him, still touching him carefully like he might break under the weight of her palm.

“Jon?” He felt drugged. The larger share of the throbbing discomfort distanced while the last of the latent fear was devoured. Somehow, he dredged up a smile, watery and wavering. Somewhere in the room a tape recorder switched itself off.

“Daisy.” She sighed, the tension slipping out of her bones, and set aside the statement to lay the backs of her fingers along his skin.

“Fever’s down. That’s a relief.” Despite himself, Jon was exhausted, could already feel the drowsiness chipping away at his fear of sleep. When his eyes opened he realized he hadn’t been aware they’d closed in the first place. His head was on the pillow, a warm weight lined his side and he tipped just far enough to see when an arm slung itself over his skinny waist. “Rest, Jon. M’not going anywhere quite yet.”

https://archiveofourown.org/works/25724659

#the magnus archives #tma #jon sims #jonathan simms #daisy tonner #basira hussain #Hurt/comfort #fever #sickfic #my interests are like the tides #I'm so sorry #tma fanfic

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magnolia-penn · 4 years

Text

Future Vision Chapter 2

DIO? God?

Oop- sorry this took so long. It took me forever to write and I had no motivation to type it all from my notebook.

Also, brownie points to whoever finds the Avatar: The Last Airbender reference.

Warnings: Swearing (so much swearing), Spoilers (sorta), mention of death (no one important) lemme know if I missed anything

□■□■□■□■□■□■□■□■□■□■□■□■

"31 years!" Polnareff shouted in disbelief.

"Apparently." You shrugged, already over it.

The men were flabbergasted about your current predicament. Stands were a fairly new concept and to think that there was a Stand strong enough to pull you from the future, breaking all sorts of time and space laws? You'd have to be crazy!

Yet… There you were, completely adapted to the strange situation. You were thrown almost double the amount of years you existed and all it took was a quick scream session behind a sand dune for you to calm down?

"You seem so startled. Stands have crazy abilities. My friend, Magnolia, works alongside a mafia boss with the ability to create infinite life and make it so you can never truly reach death!" You pumped your fist in the air in excitement. "Time travel doesn't seem that far out. My Stand isn't too terribly special, especially compared to some of the other Stands I've seen, but it's pretty cool."

The group's confusion settled deeper as you went on a tangent about future Stands that your friend has described from her time working at the Speedwagon Foundation. You used words that didn't make sense, phrases they didn't understand, but your growing excitement caused them to nod along with you.

"OH! And Stands can be upgraded! Although we do-" You cut yourself off suddenly, eyes zoned out.

You didn't say anything, just stared into the endless expanse of sand and heat. It was Kakyoin who spoke up first.

"Y/n? Are you alright?"

You snapped out of your trance with a start. "I FORGOT TO FEED MY FISH SHIT SEND ME BACK!"

Your sudden outburst sent Polnareff jumping back into Mr. Joestar, your attention dragged to him as his face dropped from confusion to somber defeat.

You picked up on the nervous weight shifts and glances away. You tried to look back at the man who brought you here, only for Mr. Joestar to clear his throat, bringing the attention back to him. He fumbled with his words a bit, trying to justify the shift in attention, but he ultimately failed.

"Oh ho no, I see what's going on," You said after Mr. Joestar gave up on trying to explain. "This fuck-" a pointed finger towards the corpse behind you, "was my only ticket back to the future?"

"Well no. Technic-" You cut the older man off.

"'Uh well no'," you mocked. "Lemme guess, he would've been the easiest way?"

"Now, Miss Y/n, there is no need to be so aggressive. I'm sure we can figure everything out. Our enemy, DIO, has a lackey-"

You cut Avdol off as well.

"DIO? God? In Italian? What kind of narcissist names their kid 'God' in Italian?"

You gave a snort before falling into a fit of mocking laughter. Your humor was short lived, though, as Jotaro finally spoke up. Or shouted I guess.

"Can you shut up? Good grief, all you do is yap! God, all you women are the same."

You stopped your laughter to stare at the teen clad in black, sizing him up. It was a tense couple of minutes, an unstoppable force and an unmovable object locked in a stubborn standoff.

After a bit, you let out a chuckle and let your head fall back to face the sky. You watched the clouds for a second before sighing.

"You know, Joots," You catch him visibly tense from the nickname. "I see why you become a marine biologist in the future. The ocean is powerful and terrifying. It's been like that from the beginning. My friend often describes me like the ocean, although, unlike the tides, who have decided to kill you millions of years ago," You bring your hand up near your face before clenching it into a fist, shimmering from the effects of your Stand. "I still haven't made up my mind."

Jotaro's face turns sour in fear for a split second before returning to the default steely glare. You watched in amusement as his Stand began to manifest, but the hesitation you saw in the purple being's eyes told you all you needed to know.

Jotaro was, at the very least, cautious of you.

But also curious.

You managed to make full contact with Hierophant Green, something no one can do unless a Stand is initiating the contact. Kakyoin also couldn't see you, so how could it've climbed up you? Stand don't act on their own violations.

You also mentioned the future Jotaro. He becomes a marine biologist? And one famous enough to be known by teenagers? Jotaro can't even name a famous marine biologist.

He figured killing you know would be disastrous, there was still much to learn from you. Maybe you held knowledge that once came with hindsight.

"Nice to see we're in agreement." Jotaro gruffed out, allowing Star Platinum to fully dissipate.

A small smile graced your features as you extended the same hand you threatened him with.

"Well then, a truce. Until we decide to kill each other."

Jotaro nodded and took your hand, allowing a handshake to secure your mortalities.

For now.

"MON DIEU! I THOUGHT SHE WAS DEAD!" Polnareff wailed suddenly, startling the group.

Tension rolled off all of you as Avdol let out a sigh of relief. "I am quite surprised you are alive as well. Not many people can insult Jotaro and walk away intact, Y/n."

You chuckled and waved off the man's concern. "I may only have six brain cells, but I'm not stupid. He wouldn't do shit. Not without knowing what I can do."

"Is that so?" Jotaro let a small smirk slip out. It's hard not to grin when you were acting stupid.

You nodded and hummed in agreement. "I like to think I'm good at reading people."

Jotaro only scoffed and rolled his eyes, although there was an inset glimmer of amusement deep with those cerulean orbs.

"So what exactly does your Stand do?" Mr. Joestar asked the elephant in the room.

"Hmm? Oh, my Stand. Okay, so, here's the thing. My Stand is actually really weak." You confessed.

"My Stand, Chemical Romance, is only really good for getting info from people. I'm often called in to the Speedwagon Foundation to help with interrogations. My Stand allows me to talk to and understand other Stands. All those unintelligible noises your Stand makes are actually your soul trying to communicate, and Chem translates them for me. Even silent Stands or Stands with no humanoid form." You glanced at Mr. Joestar. "I can also touch and interact with them, like I did for Hierophant Green. Also, and we think this might just be a radius effect, but Stands become more sentient around me. They think for themselves."

And….. just like that you lost them. It's hard to understand such complex Stands when all they know is Many Punch, Tasteful Nudes, French Sword, Fire Bird, and Shiny Rock.

"So… You can't actually follow through with your previous threats?" Kakyoin asked cautiously.

"Excuse you! Just who in the hell do you think you are? I am a whole ass person shaped can of whoop ass and no weak ass Stand or Death Parade wannabe looking ass is going to beat me!" You pumped your fist in the air again.

"Whew- That's the sort of can-do attitude our team needs." Mr. Joestar chuckled. "Wait, that wouldn't be a bad idea!"

"Oh ho? Does the great Joseph Joestar have an idea? Careful, Old Man, thinking can hurt ya." You joked.

"No no no no no hear me out. You need to get back to the future, we need to stop DIO from murdering everybody and taking over the world." Mr. Joestar explained. "We both have to get to Cairo for DIO! Join us! You and your Stand are really useful!"

Surprise crossed your face before slipping back to its usual cool façade.

"Nah, I was kind of digging the idea of shriveling up dead in the desert. Although~" you drawled. "I guess, if you're so desperate for my help. It would be immoral for me not to help you, you're so old, even thinking about fighting DIO is going to trigger a heart attack."

You snorted out a laugh and Mr. Joestar did chuckle a bit before you realized something.

"Sooo. Who exactly DIO? Other than some bitch who wants to take over the world."

As quickly as a light flicking out of existence, the once humorous and airy atmosphere of the group became tense and tragic. The utter rage, disgust, and hatred for this mysterious man was palpable. Even the fun and boisterous Jean-Pierre Polnareff extruded murderous intent.

"DIO is a very bad man." Avdol broke the silence, but found himself unable to say more.

"Thanks for the life lesson, Dad," you spit sarcastically. "No. Who is he and what might he have done to sound so familiar."

"DIO is a monster that was created by greed and a lust for power. He is a vampire who ruthlessly slaughtered those who took him in when he was orphaned at the age of twelve." Mr. Joestar explained grimly. "He rejected his humanity to become something monstrous and immortal, but even now, that wasn't enough for him."

"He's notorious throughout the Speedwagon Foundation, whose founder fought him a hundred years ago. I wouldn't doubt it if his story still circulated in your years, Y/n." Avdol completed.

"All of us are here now because of DIO. Polnareff and I were under his control because of a flesh bud, Advol was almost conned into the same situation, and Jotaro's mother, Joseph's daughter, is under attack by her own Stand because it was forcibly awoken by him." Kakyoin said, then shot you a soft smile. "And I guess you as well."

"Oh yeah! Eli did mention they were looking for a girl who could strengthen DIO's Stand, so I guess he is why you're here!" Polnareff's smile returned to his face at the prospect of making a new friend who was in the same boat as them.

"Y'know, think back on it, I do vaguely remember my friend mentioning your mom, Joots." That damned nickname again. "Stand Sickness is what we call it now. That might be where I know DIO from." You shrugged like it wasn't a big deal. "Anywho, now that that's settled, can we get out of the desert? I'm roasting to death."

"Oh! Of course! We have to get to the next town before nightfall anyways. To the car!" Mr. Joestar cheered.

You all piled into the three rowed vehicle. Jotaro and Polnareff sat in the way back, you and Kakyoin sat in the middle, with Mr. Joestar and Avdol occupying the front.

The road to the next town was filled with fill ins. They explained how they came together and how they defeated their foes that found them at every turn. You spoke of how the world has changed and advanced. You showed them your music and all the apps on your phone. You found that you were still connected to your home wifi at full strength, but you couldn't comment or post anything. All true contact to those in the future was cut off, but you could still consume media.

As the dust and corpse was left behind, you could feel the newly forged bonds between you and the men around you strengthen and grow, becoming more entangled and intertwined. And you felt happy about it.

#Future Vision #chapter 2 bitches!#its finally here #the exposition #my english teacher would be appalled #jojo kakyoin #kakyoin x reader #kakyoin #noriaki kakyoin #tenmei kakyoin

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spaghetti-machete · 4 years

Text

TMA season 5 ending predictions

if everyone was jumping off a cliff would you do it? the answer is, I don't have a choice, Mother "Eight Legs McGee" of Puppets wants me to and therefore I also want to. everyone else is doing predictions why not throw my hat into the ring I'm callin this bad boy the "spider down the drain" theory. lemme give you a run down: - Anya Vilette being sent through the ripped seam in the shit $3 leggings fabric of reality in the basement of Hill Top Road? mama spiderlimbs just testing out the reality rip to see if it worked. sends Anya to the Institute as a gift and proof of experience. take that jonah. there's your blessing from the Web, stick it in your piehole - the Gang™ clamber up/crawl sobbingly to Hill Top Road and use it as a refuge. and it's weird, it kind of works but also it messes with them in a way that's not really better. outside is dangerous. inside is just another form of more concentrated, more scary dangerous. theyve walked into a spiderweb because everywhere else is taken. im not saying Jon is the Virgin Mary taking shelter in a stable to give birth to the Anti-Apocalyse, but im not not saying it - they start accidentally going through the crack in reality. at first its just jon, by accident, because he thinks he can control it. almost. he's wary but Basira is less wary, and decides to go through without him finding out. she comes back and this is when we, the listeners, find out - but it fucks her up, somehow, it messes with Basira, she's not really Basira Proper anymore. it's not the NotThem, but it's clear that she's evidently aware enough of her difference, and how she is supposed to be, and how she isn't that right now, for it to be distressing - eventually the climax of the story is (this is 3am im writing this cut me some slack) that the answer to Gerry's question - "are [the Fears] something we created, or are they the reason we're afraid? maybe they've always been here, maybe they turned up the first time something felt afraid" (paraphrased it is 3am) gets answered - the answer, to every single one, is yes. Jon gets sucked through the crack, he's closed off from the other side completely, and he's in this new world where the Magnus Institute doesn't exist because it doesn't need to exist. People are afraid but nothing feeds on that fear. There are no entities, no Avatars, no nothing. And what happens to a very very hungry Archive? An Archive that has a documented record of all the world's worst ebbs of every single fear a person could have? He starts bringing those fears to life himself. I don't know how, but seeing as Elias came out with the line "a living testament to people's fear" or some bullshit, it's clear that Jon isn't a passive record of these fears, he's actively involved in every single one of them. I mean - "the job I put everything into had trapped me into spreading evil" (Martin, Panopticon) - even the Archivist's assistants recognise that this is a thing that's happening and is possible. And what better, more satisfying end for Jon's emotional character arc than for him to be trapped in a new world, to have saved the old one somehow, but to have finally realised that the whole reason for his very existence is basically an ouroborous of fear that he cannot escape? that his timeline in space and reality is essentially self-perpetuating, that he'll never truly learn what the Mother of Puppets is, only that the Fears he chased for so long were ones he now brings himself to another world? I mean I almost feel like the Spider is nearing God in this situation. Every time an entity or an avatar talks about the Web, they downplay it so fucking hard that it's almost inconceivable that the Web wouldn't be pulling the strings of literally every entity at this point. The Hunt? trap you can't escape. "It didn't make me want it... just made me...need it" (Daisy, in the coffin) The Lonely? Peter Lukas describes falling into it (not literally) as if everything lined up so utterly perfectly. "I could scarcely believe that any God could line up so perfectly with my heart". The Vast? Very obviously everyone's Favourite Gay Uncle with Pizzazz Simon Fairchild literally fell into it. And it caught him. The sky caught him...like a web. it just kind of did. I mean, have we ever heard from a failed Avatar? one that didn't quite pass their SATs, their GCSEs, even the equivalent of a Fear BTEC PE? I don't know if it's simplifying it down too much, but in every instance, Avatars and their Kinder Horrific Suprise Happy Meals are the equivalent of spiders, webs and prey. And not always direct and unchanging comparisons, either. In this instance, was it Peter Lukas who was preyed upon and drawn in? Or was he the spider, when he made his very first victim disappear? Simply searching for a meal to feed another God without realising, or feeding himself? Did his desires and needs for Utter Loneliness develop from Shitall, Middle of Nowhere, Nonexistent Country? Or were they a gift bestowed upon him by the Mother of Puppets, ensuring she had enough playing pieces in the right colours to serve her endgame? As Oliver Banks said - easier to just do what she asks.

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mallowbees · 4 years

Note

i dont know much about TMA but ,, could you tell me a bit about avatars? I want to make a sona really bad because they look so cool haha

Oh heck YEAH I can!!

Right so!! Avatars are people who have had experiences with or behavior that aligned with one of the 14(15 kinda?) fear entities and end up serving them!! Throwing people to their, for lack of better words, god, to feed off of their fears and occasionally try to kick of rituals to make their god strong and getting some sweet powers as a reward!

!! It’s gonna be kinda hard to avoid spoilers with explaining this, so I’ll try to keep it to the minimum but some spoilers for avatar people’s stuff :’D !!

The 14 are as follows (I’m just gonna snag most of this from the wiki but anything not in italics is me):

The Burried :

Also called The Center, Choke, Too Close I Cannot Breathe.

The fear of claustrophobia, small spaces, of being unable to breathe and the underground and dust. Being at the centre of everything and it is all pushing down. Fear of being trapped without enough space.

Notable avatar person I can think of is 18th centry guy who worked in a grave yard and would nap in the graves cause it was quiet and when they installed bells incase someone was actually alive when they burried them they could ring it, so someone rang it and he cut the line because he thought they were nice and deserved to sleep, also early episode lost johns cave is a good example but doesnt have an avatar in it so hfgh

The Corruption :

Also called Filth, The Crawling Rot, or The Hive.

This entity is linked closely to our feelings of disgust, of feeling revulsion and fear of corruption, disease, filth. Manifests as mould, bugs, rot, decay, infection. The feeling of your skin crawling.

Jane Prentiss, she wanted to be loved and found love in a bunch of worms in a wasp nest in her attic, so she became their hive, she loves her worms and her worms love her, they sing

Also other guy I genuinely don't know his name he just made everyone sick at that retirement home with disease and hung out at hill top road a few times, got sealed in concrete and he always looked like he was skin and slightly rotting

The Dark :

Also called Mr. Pitch, The Forever Blind, The Sandman

A manifestation of our very primal fear of the dark, of what lies beyond what we can sense. What might be in it?

One of the oldest of the Entities.

Uhh cult kidnapped that one kid i think that was them, i dont know who the dark avatar is actually

The Desolation :

Also called The Lightless Flame, The Torturing Flame, The Devastation, Blackened Earth.

This entity deals in fear of pain, of loss, burning, fear of unthinking or cruel destruction.

Acolytes are enriched by destroying the lives of people who had things to live for, destroying things before their potential is realised. In exchange, the cult members can create heat--but not fire--and gain the ability to make their skin run like wax.

They burn from the inside and consume everything in flames, Jude Perry and Agnes Montague are the two i know, Agnes was born into it and died because of forbidden love and Jude set her girlfriends flat on fire so hgfhfg

The End :

Also called Death, Terminus, The Coming End That Waits For All And Cannot Be Ignored.

This entity deals in the fear of death itself, uncaring and unstoppable.

No known attempts at a ritual, presumably because it sees no need to, as Death claims all in the end.

Oliver Banks!! Had dreams of strings that tied people to their deaths, actual rational avatar, also didnt ask for this but he does pretty well. Also commited identity fraud

The Eye :

Also called Beholding, The Watcher, The Ceaseless Watcher, It Knows You.

This entity is fear of being watched, exposed, followed, of having secrets known, but also the drive to know and understand, even if your discoveries might destroy you. Fear that you’re suffering for the sake of something watching.

Elias!! Horrible man!! Can body hop! Just wants to watch the drama unfold and get more power. Knows lots of things and compulsion ! Also Jon because he reckless curiosity kinda screwed him over there and yeah. And that one security guy who got consumed by a watcher lietner watching other people via security camera, rip that guy

The Flesh :

Also called Viscera.

Born from the fear of animals bred for meat, and in the human realisation that we are just animated meat and bones.

Manifests as strange bodies being twisted, reshaped, and butchered.

Thought to be the newest of the 14, born around the time of the Industrial Revolution

Jared Hopworth! Got a Lietner, runs a gym to change bodies into what people want until they're practically not human anymore, likes most bones if they're good bones

The Hunt :

Hunting and chase and violence, this is an animalistic fear, very old and primal. Fear of being hunted, being prey.

Less able to affect people due to our self-removal from the food chain. Self-proclaimed monster hunters (and those who do the same without referring to themselves as such) run a strong chance of becoming Hunters and then having a need to hunt and kill monsters.

Daisy! Things get kinda messed up when you combine non-human impulses with a person so! Murder! violence!

The Lonely :

Also called Forsaken, The One Alone The fear of isolation, of being completely cut off and alone. Fear of being disconnected.

Peter lukas, Martin, grew up lonely and shunned idk what you expected, can literally vanish, cool aethetic- Also that one girl who married one of the lukas’, nayomi? But she wasnt an avatar just with one

The Slaughter :

This entity feeds off of pure, unpredictable, unmotivated violence. Strong ties to war. Fear of not knowing, where, when, how or if pain will come but that it will. Can be violent like a frenzied killer or calm and regimented like soldiers firing on the battlefield.

Melanie! Anger! Murder! Stabby stab! Justificated feeling that your anger is right!

The Spiral :

Also called Es Mentiras, It Is Lies, The Twisting Deceit, It Is Not What It Is.

This entity is fear of madness, of being lost, that your world is wrong, that your mind is lying to you. It deals with deception, lying, deceiving the mind and senses.

Michael! Helen! I don’t,, really know what to say on this one hgfhfg

The Stranger :

Also called I Do Not Know You.

Fear of the unknown. That creeping sense that something isn’t right. Also of unfamiliar people. Manifests as objects pretending to be humans, like mannequins and taxidermied people.

Theyre not people they arent who they arE

The Vast :

Also called The Falling Titan.

This entity deals in our fear of our own insignificance in this universe, of losing yourself in too much space. Its effects involve void, vertigo, and falling, but also anything to do with openness and open spaces, fears like Agoraphobia, fear of deep water.

Simon fairchild is honest to god just vibing hes having so much fun also reeeally long lifespan he likes watching people fall off this and falling off himelf, also mike crew who didnt ask for this but just kinda ended up there anyway cause he got struck by lightning on a hill and got a book

The Web :

Also called The Spider, Mother of Puppets.

Deals with fear of being controlled, entrapped, being trapped and not knowing it, and your will not being your own, of being manipulated. Manifests as spiders and spider webs and patterns like spider webs.

The Extiction :

Also called The Terrible Change, The Future Without Us, The World Is Always Ending

The 15th Entity hypothesized by Adelard Dekker to be currently emerging.

It is not yet confirmed to actually exist, if it is yet to be officially born, or if it is a combination of other powers and their overlap. It deals with the fear of catastrophic change, the destruction of humanity and its replacement by something different, especially via mankind's own causing.

Man-made elements are one of its hallmarks.

Avatars of other Entities would like to prevent it from emerging if possible.

Nobody on this one yet but yeah!!

So!! Usually it’s either the thing you are scared of embraces you and flips your behavior on its head, (Scared of being alone? Make other people alone! Scared of falling? Make other people fall!) Or something you like vibe with embraces and justifies you even if it scares you (Want to know?? Huh?? Buddy? Wanna Know? Or you just want some love? Get u some worms) Like if your experiences fall under one of the categories you probably go there if you’re not afraid of it, or if something happens and you’re terrified of it but not dead you’ll probably end up there hfhghgfh

Oh also here’s a what entity are you quiz if that helps ghfhfgh: https://uquiz.com/quiz/zxE9GQ/which-tma-entity-are-you-aligned-with?embed=False

Basically, does it scare you a little? Does it vibe with you a bit? There you go! You have an entity now! Have fun! HFGhfh

#the asks #tma #tma entities

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petulant-poet · 4 years

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So more on the eldritch au(not nearly done with this), I’m basically at the moment compiling all of the information I’ve come up with for each friend of Saul’s entity, and why they’re problems for them. Warning: a lot of angst coming up.

Jessica

Her entity is the Manifest

this particular god feeds off of strong emotion

Jessica made a deal with this entity as a joke in college but it got out of hand and now she’s here

she was drunk with a bunch of friends and one of them dared her to try and summon god

of course, she thought it was a joke, and went on the internet to pull up a summoning ritual, clicking on the first link that came up

they followed it, and out came the Manifest(or, at least a form that they could see and not go insane looking at)

it got angry, and threatened to kill one of them unless the summoner(Jess) swore allegiance to them

She did, and to this day she has kept that secret between her and her friends who were there

basically her Avatar powers are manifesting her emotions in a physical form

when she’s happy, she literally lights up, but when she’s sad she literally sucks the light out of the area

but when she’s angry

OH BOY

Jessica manifests herself into a monster that’s a direct representation of herself

that happened

it didn’t go well

(how it happened I’ll leave it up to you)

after she came out of it, she was in the middle of a ruined town square

of course, people had recorded videos of it and it went viral

the video was soon claimed to be a hoax, and the monster was soon cancelled

Jessica, however, was not left unscarred

she still checks her phone for notifications about the monster, compulsively refreshing to check for anything new, and she has small horns on her head that make it hard for her to blend in with crowds

Saul found her on Instagram

he reached out to her about the Friends of Saul, and she was skeptical at first

she eventually came along, with a lot of hesitation

Henry

he is an avatar of the Lost

this god feeds off of a feeling of being lost or loss, whether mentally, physically, emotionally, or spiritually

Henry had a run-in with the lost after he lost his father to suicide in high school

He had been lost after that, and turned to his games to fill the hole his dad had left behind

the loss struck when he was at his weakest, and welcomed him with open arms

the lost has a malleable domain that can change to entice an avatar best

he had always been obsessed with candy crush, and the lost for him took the form of a candy land

he would blip out of existence for a few minutes every day when first learning about it

minutes bled into hours, and soon entire weekends were spent in the lost

Henry loved going there at first, as he could spend hours on end in total isolation and get back as if nothing happened

but after a while he started noticing the aftereffects of being there so often

spending so much time in the lost was making start to lose memory of his reality, and he became nearly incorporeal on some occasions of spending too much time in it

his friends and family lost memory of him as well slowly but surely

after a while he stopped going when his mom confronted him about being gone from home for three days straight

however, the lost has ways of dragging people back

after getting out of college, he became lost with what path he was going to take

there was uncertainty everywhere, and soon enough he got fired from his first job out of stress

the lost struck in his sleep, and he was whisked off to his childhood candy land once more

he spent days in there, forgetting about his own world and giving in to the thrill of the lost

when he remembered his world again, it was nothing but a faint memory, but he knew he had to get back

by that time he was nearly one with the lost, and it took him nearly an hour to get back

after that event, the lost was out of control

he went back to it at the most random times, having no control over it anymore

he’d disappear in the rain, on the train, in the crowds, anywhere

Saul found him at a job interview and saw him disappear, knowing right away he was an avatar

Henry came back and the first thing Saul mentioned was joining the Friends of Saul

he was ecstatic he wasn’t the only one with these kind of experiences, and joined right away

Paula

Paula’s entity is the Divine

the Divine feeds off of dreams, which is what Paula severely lacks

instead of dreams, she receives premonitions and omens for the future in her dreams

she had been an avatar of the divine for as long as she could remember, as her parents had given her to the divine for a good shot in life

this wasn’t a problem for Paula in childhood

then, she saw all sorts of good futures and little useful visions, like the answers to the test or a world fixed of systematic racism

however, all of that changed when she reached middle school

as stress and tension rose, her visions began to get more vicious and dark

it truly got bad once she reached high school

at this point her visions had become so violent and horrifying, she feared going to sleep and became an insomniac

she soon turned to narcotics and pills to try and get rid of the visions once she reached college

drugs were the only thing that seemed to combat the visions

her parents told her about how she was an avatar and why they did what they did

Paula was furious, and cut them out of her life

over time, she curbed her drug addiction and was able to function in regular society

her visions became less violent as time went on, and she soon put two and two together figuring out her visions were directly related to her stress levels

as time went on, she began seeing her ability as a gift once more and felt she was ready to let her parents back into her life

however, after she got married, her visions began getting worse once more

her husband was often on his phone in bed looking up the worst things in the world

all of the suffering souls that he couldn’t control, and he’d invited them all in their bed

she was afraid of telling him the truth, so she went on to fighting sleep once more with her phone

that’s when Saul reached out

he gave her a chance to deal with her problem, and Paula jumped at the chance to put an end to her lifelong suffering

Karly

Karly is an avatar of the Pleasure

this entity feeds off of, well, pleasure

sexual pleasure more specifically

Karly had summoned the pleasure after a messy breakup

she wanted to be able to hold someone in her arms for once without them leaving for someone more attractive

the pleasure granted her this, and after that her tinder profile went viral

she loved rolling through her infinite scroll, it never grew old

the pleasure granted her the power to know what turns a person on and how they work just by looking at them

of course, this presented a few problems when going out and seeing what got someone going by looking at them

she learned to control this, but it occasionally slipped out every once in a while

it also gave her the power to manifest those turn-ons in physical form

Karly rarely uses this though, but will do some of the humanly possible stuff when she’s feeling she’s clicked with the right guy

however, none of them ever stuck around, they always saw her as nothing but a good one-night stand

she soon came to see them all as the same, wanting nothing but a night of free food, a good time and then walking out on her in the morning

occasionally there’d be times she was out for the night and the pleasure would make it much harder for her, as every drunk guy was trying to get into her pants, whether subtly or forcefully

it became a routine for her and she grew so fucking sick of it

of course, she was warned she couldn’t leave her deal with the pleasure so she just had to live with it

however, everything changed when a man named Saul showed up in her dm’s

he said that he knew what she was , and he had a way of helping her deal with what happened to her

she was told about the Friends of Saul, and how other people who had made deals with gods were there

she went to her first meeting without much expectation, but some kind of hope

Ed’s deity is the cocoon

the cocoon feeds off of sadness, which Ed was going to provide a lot of

Ed had first summoned the cocoon on complete accident as a toddler, while playing with bugs

Ed had loved bugs as a child, but he had accidentally did something with them that summoned a god

the god didn’t care that Ed was a child, he was marked as an avatar of the cocoon

he was then wrapped up in a cocoon and trapped inside in a comatose state for about six months

his parents had hidden him in their basement, waiting for him to come out

when he came out, he was...different

he was much more reclusive than before, and he had white irises with black scleras

despite this, his parents attempted to give him a normal childhood

when school began for him, his parents that sense of normalcy would come to an end

the kids at school loved to bully him, and he was the lowest of the low with no friends

he soon discovered one of his abilities when being chased by a group of bullies, that he could turn into a swarm of insects

from there on he became much more interested in bugs, as he now thought he was a superhero

he became known as bugboy at school, and he wore that nickname with pride

however, once reaching middle school, the nickname was truly used as an insult and his superhero idea faded into nothingness

he became isolated from everyone, not even the weird kids let him in

after a year of middle school, he turned to porn to try and fill the gaping hole in his heart

in high school, the cocoon had a field day every day

Ed became known as the emo kid, and fell into depression and turned to cutting himself

he had grown a pair of antennae at the end of his senior year, but they were small enough to be hidden effectively

he went into a job in retail after high school working at a Target in a new city

it was harsh, and he felt that he could be exposed any time

after an especially angry customer struck a couple of nerves, he went home angry, and found out the next day that he had grown a couple of extra bug appendages and a beetle shell

at this point, it was everything he could do in his power to make sure he didn’t reveal himself

he had ripped the bug parts off painfully, and left ugly scars across his back and sides

he had tried dating, but his dates had never made it past his eyes, not to mention the fact that he once grew a pair of mandibles in the middle of a date

he had a lovely time ripping those out of his jaw that night

Ed had sunk into a pit of self-loathing, with porn being the only thing that made him feel better

he truly became the most miserable man you could imagine

soon, Saul had reached out to him, as he had built a reputation on the dark web as the infamous “bug man”

he gave Ed a chance to be around other people like him, and he jumped on it

he had gone to the first meeting with hope and enthusiasm of meeting people like him

Toby

Toby is an avatar of the Gazing

the gazing feeds off of knowledge, and will do anything to get it

Toby had always been hungry for knowledge, and it had shown in his voracious appetite for reading

he first had an encounter with the gazing while looking for a book that was apparently banned

he was out of college and looking for something to read from the library, but as expected there were no copies there

he had then gone home fairly disappointed, but found that he had already owned the book

he read it, and from there the strange stuff began

he began hearing voices in the back of his head, that when listened to, could lead him straight to the book he was looking for

after a while, he started to hear other voices as well

Toby figured out after a few tries with this ability that he was hearing the thoughts of other people

he soon found himself able to identify certain facts without really thinking about it

he tried this power out, and it turned out that he could pull out facts in his head that he couldn’t possibly know

soon enough he tried finding out more about the evils of the government

that went very well

he became consumed with the injustices of the world, and soon isolated himself from his friends and family

as he used his power more and more, he became more and more paranoid that he was being watched

the gazing soon came to him in a dream though, explaining to him that it chose him because of his pursuit for the truth

in honesty, the gazing had been watching his each and every move since he reached out into him

the gazing also showed Toby the wider array of knowledge it had, and Toby was truly fascinated with what he had found

his will was not truly his own anymore, as the gazing had a bit of control

he then turned to online chatrooms and got to work trying to enlighten them

he exposed himself to the worst sides of the internet through this, able to see all of the terrible stuff posted onto it

his power was stronger, but more unpredictable, hence the internet sweep

he also realized soon enough that he manifested eyes in different ways when using his powers

after a few months of using his powers, he soon realized some of the eyes were staring to stick around, which he poked out with needles

fighting with people on chatrooms seemed to also get his power worked up, and he’d pull out facts left and right to crush his opponent

but at the end of the day he just felt tired. so fucking tired

it had gotten to a point where he couldn’t trust himself anymore, and loving someone else was out of the question

this didn’t last long though, as Saul had reached out to him and told him there was another way

Toby was skeptical, but he accepted and joined the Friends of Saul

Marvin

Marvin’s deity is the sacrifice

this deity is particularly rough, as it feeds off of trauma

Marvin was an atheist and didn’t believe in any god, making it very vocal when joking with one of his friends

that’s when the sacrifice swooped in

the same story with little god ensued, except the sacrifice seemed more prone to scare the scientists and make them afraid

in turn, they were getting the information they needed for their experiment

Marvin had one day become fed up and said to the sacrifice that there was no evidence that it was any kind of god

the sacrifice got angry, and sent some of itself into Marvin, making him an avatar

nothing changed at first, but after a while he noticed some of his stuff was going missing, car keys, clipboards, etc.

but in return he was coming up with more scientific discoveries

however, this wasn’t the only thing that started happening

Marvin soon began seeing things that were apparently not there

at first he thought he was hallucinating, but soon enough he ended up being able to touch them as well

he was even able to show his colleagues after touching them as well

he soon found that he was able to peer into different planes of existence

Marvin saw this as amazing at first, but soon enough he found that sometimes when he peered through, things were starting to look right back

it all came clear when he was attacked in his own home by an otherworldly creature that he was making other things aware that he was there and watching

and they didn’t like that very much

soon enough, he felt like he couldn’t keep his secret to himself forever

he reached out to a close friend of his, Saul

they went out for drinks, and soon enough he told Saul the truth about what was happening in his life

Saul told him shortly afterward that he was an avatar, and that he was making a group for people like him

Marvin was fairly skeptical at first, but obliged because Saul was one of his closest friends

Velma

Velma is an avatar of the Imitation

the imitation feeds off of blood

Velma knew nothing about this at first

she was part of an online tarot group that was going to meet up

she had gone to the meetup, but then the true intention of the group was revealed

they were a group comprised of avatars of the Imitation, and they had come for the blood of the non-avatars in the group

this included Velma

she was one of the ones to escape the meetup, but not before needing to take a life in the process

killing one of the avatars turned herself into an avatar of the imitation

Velma didn’t realize what had happened to her at first at all, and had continued with her life

with a little more caution on the internet obviously

however,that had changed when she accidentally got some of her dog’s blood on her hand

a patch of dog fur sprouted up on her hand almost immediately

she had shaved it off immediately, but the fur had grown back just as fast

from there on she had a strong aversion from blood

ironically, she grew to get a taste for blood when seeing it

she was obsessed with trying to get answers, and went to the darkest sides of the internet for them

that’s where she got herself the answers about avatars and the deities

she joined a chatroom, and learned about other avatars and joined a community they built for themselves

she met a lot of people there, including the girl across the sea, Daphne

the two hit it off immediately

Velma had found a new home with an online chatroom, and spent all of her free time on it

her family soon worried that she was spending too much time there, and not enough time with real people

but Velma argued that in the end, they were real people who had more in common with her than those in her life

Saul reached out to her then, seeing that Velma needed real life avatars to connect to

he invited her to join the friends of Saul, but she was wary of doing so, especially after the Imitation incident

Saul promised Velma that she would only benefit from this, and she went ahead and joined reluctantly

and so that’s everything on the au so far! I will possibly be writing more fleshed out stories on ao3 once I get around to writing again

#Octet #eldritch au #damn #this was kinda hard to write at some parts ngl #it gets kinda dark #tw: suidice #tw: body horror #tw: drugs #tw: r*pe #tw: self loathing #tw: killing #long post

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leavyes-a · 4 years

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levi and the eye, part one: being an avatar is bad for your health. so is too much tv. ( content warnings for toxic relationships with eldritch gods that can’t conceive of human concepts of ‘healthy engagement’, child abuse, addiction, and implied terminal illness. )

to say that levi has an unhealthy relationship with media would be putting it mildly. levi has been a fan of film since a young age, often rewatching vhs tapes over and over again to entertain themselves. the inherent escapism of imagining himself in a world completely separate from his own -- his controlling, abusive mother; his father who didn’t take action to stop it -- was appealing, and ‘appealing’ rapidly became ‘addictive’. he and his mother would often get into screaming fights about the amount of time levi spent watching movies and then writing about them, or talking about them, which he did endlessly whenever he got the chance.

his analytical skills secured him high grades in school, but hana never seemed to make the connection. when she limited what he could watch in the house, he snuck out to movie theatres. she barred the window. he convinced friends to buy him copies of film scripts or novel adaptations and slip them into his backpack at school, and he’d sit in his room for hours on end trying to visualize what the text would look like brought to life. he would write up his own film scripts based on books he liked, trying to nail down camera angles and shot order. he storyboarded on endless rolls of shredded paper he took from his father’s office. he plied his father with questions about working in the entertainment industry, but the answers never seemed to satisfy him.

sometimes being an avatar is about fear. sometimes it’s about love. sometimes it’s about both, and the consumption of the self via obsession. because giving in to an addiction to satisfy the itch almost never has positive results, and the entities know that. but when you’re filled with a hive that loves you unconditionally, or twisted into a form so heinous as to be unrecognizable but with complete control now over your own body, or so alone that even the faces of the people you swore to never forget start to slip away from you and leave you with a mind so empty that it borders on blissful, then the thing that’s killing you also becomes the thing that’s sustaining you. the powers feed the worst habits of their avatars, and it doesn’t care whether it’s “good for them” or not, because they’re getting something out of it.

taken by the eye, levi’s joy at consuming media and all the thinking that went into digesting a film or show or book became convulsive euphoria that leaves him bedridden for hours following a session. as his mind spirals out of his control to analyze and put together everything he’s witnessed, making leaps in logic to pair off symbolism faster than the human brain should be able to, and the eye swallows its tidal wave of fresh organized information, it double dips, and feeds on levi’s terror. because levi loses his hold on himself in these moments. he can’t pull back from the learning, because he needs the fresh stimulation of taking in something he hasn’t seen or looking at something in a new way to survive. his thirst for knowledge is grating his nerves down and putting an enormous strain on his body. but he loves the eye, because he would never be able to realize so much about his favorite things without it. he has to learn. he has to research. it’s the only thing that makes him happy anymore.

and though there’s something of the spiral in the fact that media is a prism, not a window, neither does media exist in a vacuum. there is truth to be found in the impact that it has on people in the world, and the way that it influences their fears. there is valuable knowledge in the history of media production that at times reveals the worst of mankind. film theorists don’t judge, or condemn, they just consume and understand. hooked up to the eldritch concept of looking, and knowing, and juggling secrets? they are consumed in turn.

#➢ photoplay expresses the action of the mind! ( headcanon. )#|| tldr being an avatar means getting what you want the most and it hurting you endlessly.#|| genuine punishment for hubris and self-indulgence.#|| but only internally.#|| i think about jude helen and jon the most!!!#|| becoming so not-you that all the negative parts of that thing you wanted hardly register anymore... miss helen distortion...#|| helen said 'my life is just eating people now and not quite being an individual but i'm still helen!'#|| levi said 'my life is just getting incredibly sick after taking in more information than my brain can handle but i love the way you leye'#|| AKA NONE OF THIS IS GOOD BUT IT IS WHAT IT IS.#abuse cw #neglect cw #terminal illness cw #toxic relationship cw #psychological horror cw #addiction cw

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itsmalachitenow · 5 years

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Magnus Archives Avatars

ALRIGHT HERE WE GO. Emetophobia warning (just one, right after Fugue)

Aria (The Eye) She came to the institute one day and swore herself to the Beholding. Very quiet. Does not talk much, unless it's to relay a message to Elias, as she's one of his personal assistants. She prefers to watch. Elias does not know much about her, if only because she herself doesn't know much about her, either. Would sacrifice her in an instant if he absolutely needed to, and she's well aware of that. But there is a fragment of a song she knows. There are other fragments out there. Should they all come together....who knows what would happen.

Capriccia (The Spiral) She can be found at festivals and communes, carrying her hurdy-gurdy with her and walking barefoot amongst the others. When she sits down to play her song, things get.....strange. The madness flows like wine and takes hold of everyone present. When it's all finished, she packs up and continues onward to the next event, or wherever her fancy might take her. Her song is incomplete. Only a fragment of what it could be. There are others.... Should they all come together....who knows what would happen.

Lacrimosa (The Lonely) She was always afraid of being alone. But depression changed that. Self isolation became a survival instinct, and she embraced loneliness as her companion. Many of the people who fall victim to her abilities are men who refuse to take the hint and won't stop trying to engage with her. Nothing makes her happy anymore. Nothing but the fragment of the song. There are others out there... Should they all come together....who knows what would happen.

Minuet (The Stranger) A doll made to entertain and to speak. Painfully aware that she's not a real person, but she tries to be. She tries to do real people things, tries to fight her patron. It doesn't end well for her most of the time. The fear she brings others as they watch her move and interact feeds the Stranger quite nicely, even though she tries not to scare people. A capable dancer, humming the fragment of a tune that was in her head from the moment she gained consciousness. Are there others like her out there? ....do they know the song, too...?

Bolero (The Desolation) She used to be such a sweet girl. So everyone says. It's amazing how people change, isn't it? ....unless it's not nearly as big of a change as people think it is. Some people are rotten from the start and just good at hiding it. Some people just want to watch the world burn. The song fragment is more annoying than anything. An itch she can never quite scratch. If there are more bits of the song out there, she can't wait to find them.

Ballad (The Slaughter) All over the world, there have been tales of entire regiments of soldiers wiped out by one careless action. The few survivors of these tales speak of a single soldier, masked and faceless, who suddenly ran out into the field or fired a shot that blew their cover. The soldier never spoke. The only sound audible was their breathing. ....and one mentioned something else.... .....a tune. Humming a tune. She carries nothing, except a revolver. Only one bullet. The first shot fired. The shout that begins the avalanche.

Fugue (The Vast) A bubbly, vibrant young debutante who is very big on charity and donating. Men and women alike are drawn to her charm and sincerity, and she's more than happy to share her hobbies with them! Skydiving, going to themeparks, deep sea diving.... It's just a shame that hardly any of her suitors come back. Something of a granddaughter to Simon Fairchild, even if the two aren't technically related. The two get along swimmingly. She was touched by the vast when she fell off the roof of her three story house as a little girl. She intended to jump down and float like Mary Poppins did with an umbrella, got second thoughts, but fell by accident. And it seemed to stretch on forever, and ever..... It gave her a very big fear of heights...but at the same time, it left her enthralled by them. So that's why she's got the umbrella/parasol. When she's falling, she likes to have it open. She even has a little piece of a song to sing when she does.

Dirge (The Buried) Some people are burdened with so many responsibilities. Supporting a family. Finishing education. Paying your debts. Every new obligation is another weight on your shoulders. Some people just can't handle it. Some people become buried in it. No one's really sure who Dirge was before the buried got her. It's not like she can speak properly--every time she opens her mouth, mud and dirt come pouring out. The most anyone gets is a gurgling moan. But they can hear her song through the mud.

Notturna (The Dark) ?????????? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ???? ? L???????? ???I???????G????? ?? ?? ?? ?? HT??????s??? ???????? ? ? ?? ?? ???? ?? ?? O?????? ? ?? ? ?????????? ????????U???????????T

Drone (The Corruption) Almost completely covered in clothes. Her coat is always tightly buttoned, even in a hundred degree weather. Plenty of coughing and wheezing and spitting of phlegm. She's covered in clothes because her flesh is a rotting mess. A stumbling, shambling wreck of a girl, desperate for a doctor that can cure her. But she will never find one. Music is the only thing to ease the constant pain she feels. Sometimes she likes to take the tube of her IV and slip it into her mask to sip from it. She'll offer you some, too. Don't take it.

Sister Lyric (The Web) Hey hey! Who's that pretty lady? Ha ha! Dresses as a nun, though the symbol around her neck tends to change. What can be more manipulative and controlling of people's actions than organized religion? She has quite a bit of gossip on all the other avatars. Whether she's inclined to share it, on the other hand, is an entirely different matter. She likes to come in and pester Jon (The main character), if only for the sole reason of messing with his head. If she can get her little tune stuck in his head, all the better.

Medley (The Flesh) Why bother working out when you can just steal the more muscular body parts from other people? She used to work in the morgue. She got her start by making little 'experiments'--aka sewing dead bodies together in new and interesting ways. Very creative, even if she doesn't express it in a healthy way. The little snippet of song in her head annoys her. One of these days, she's going to give herself an extra pair of arms and hands. She and Jarod Hopworth like to chat.

Allegra (The Hunt) She used to hunt humans. But it got boring. Too predictable. There's only so many times you can chase a human through the woods and have it feel like a thrill. It's not like any of them stood a chance of fighting back. Ah, that was the problem. Not strong enough prey. So now she hunts monsters. If only for a greater challenge.

Finale (The End) When you're an emergency responder, so many lives are in your hands. So many poor, frightened souls, afraid of death. As they should be. She hears them praying, you know. To a god they didn't even believe in before today. They'll do better, they say. Do more. Be good people. But when the end comes for you, there's not much you can do except spend your last few hours in horrible, beautiful, delicious terror. She only has the end of the song. And it’s all she feels she needs. ...though sometimes she does wonder, how the entire song would sound together.

#the magnus archives #magnus archives #tma #my art #fang's OCs

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armageddon-generation · 7 years

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AU where Aang remembers his past lives

AU where Aang was conscious when he went under the ice

To stop him going insane Raava feeds him a continuous stream of memories from past Avatars

So that when Katara and Sokka find him he remembers everything. Every day the Avatar has ever lived is jammed into his head

Katara and Sokka now have to deal with an ancient old god stuck in a twelve year old’s body

Aang’s personal identity has been buried under all his other lives; he views himself as a vessel for the Avatar Spirit, nothing more, and refers to himself as ‘we’

He is incredibly wise and all the loss he has suffered makes him incredibly kind. His spiritual connection to the global network of energy (which we see Korra access in Book 4) allows him to feel everything. The oceans, the mountains, the desert, all four nations. The earth feels like an extension of his body and they are all united as one in his head

He gets frustrated when normal people won’t take this big picture outlook, and cling to their personal problems and prejudices (can’t they see they’re all just ants under the march of time?)

Sokka teaches Aang the importance of the smaller picture and gives him perspective on the human side of the war

Imagine the past Avatars’ spirits like the ancestors from Mulan. They’re always surrounding and protecting Aang on the spiritual plane.

Iroh is the only other person who can see them. Whenever he and Zuko catch up with the Gaang he greets them respectfully and Zuko is like wtf you nutty old codger, you’re literally bowing to thin air

BUT because of this respect Roku saves Zuko when he destroys his island on the Winter Solstice.

As the Gaang travels into the Earth Kingdom Aang starts meditating. He spirit-projects across the country and starts helping Earth Kingdom peasants with the small problems of the war (e.g. finding extra rations for hungry children, helping care for the wounded, guiding seperated families home)

This takes a lot of energy out of him, which concerns Katara

Aang has a mild form of schizophrenia because he is so much more aware of his past lives, he can hear them whispering in his ear all the time,

He will flit from goofy to mournful to brilliant to bone tired in a moment

He also has memory problems that are like dementia, because he keeps getting confused as to what time he’s in (e.g. he keeps confusing Zuko and Sozin in his head)

Occasionally he will ‘relapse’ into a past Avatar’s personality. Imagine the stern Kyoshi swearing at Sokka’s antics through Aang’s mouth. Or Kurruk (the last Water Tribe Avatar deciding Aang needs help in the romance department and taking over so he can flirt with everyone he meets

Because of his ten thousand years of memories Aang has vast spiritual powers BUT these come at a cost

Because his past lives have much more influence over him, when Aang goes into the Avatar State he goes into stasis as the past Avatars hold parliament in his head and debate what to do

This makes the Avatar state incredibly powerful but slow and completely impractical, so Aang uses it very little

It also makes Aang more vulnerable. When the past Avatars (led by Kyoshi) disagree with how Aang is fighting the war, they stage a coup and try to take control of his body. The Gaang have to hold off Aang’s possessed body long enough for him to regain control

Aang will also slip in and out of the spirit world in his sleep. If he has a nightmare, Aang will unknowingly pull the others sleeping into the nightmare with him. The Gaang then have to find and calm him down amongst the worst evils of the last ten thousand years

Aang will ocassionally have a PTSD flashback to one of his past deaths and suffers from psychosomatic injuries (e.g. Kyoshi losing her hand). Katara heals the spiritual damage and roots him in the present moment

This Aang would completely change the relationships within the Gaang

While he was in the iceberg Aang reached out with his mind and connected the future Gaang with dreams

(Think a connection like Rey and Kylo Ren’s force bond in The Last Jedi or Sense8)

Aang first appears to Katara the night after her mom died to comfort her. They interact a lot over her childhood and he becomes her imaginary friend, and they are very protective of each other when he comes out of the ice

Aang recognises Zuko as his Grandson and actively tries to protect him when Zuko is chasing them (much to Zuko’s confusion; why did his sworn enemy just save him from that pirate?)

Their relationship becomes very familial

This affection extends to Azula as well, which makes her actively hate him (in the original series Aang was nothing more than a bonus prize to her)

Romantic relationships aren’t really possible for Aang with his ancient mind, but he can see souls, and thus recognise ying-yang soulmates. He acts as a matchmaker for Zuko and Katara

Aang recognises the spiritual connection between him and Toph (platonic soulmates)

Toph teaches Aang to reclaim his childhood; he stops referring to himself as ‘we’ and starts using ‘I’

Toph also gets him to take a break from helping people and have some fun. Aang does this by gently making fun of her crush on Sokka

When the Gaang is being chased by Azula’s group Aang recognises that Ty Lee is a reincarnated airbrnder, and that she is there against her will.

The Gaang capture her and each day Aang shows her more of the ten thousand years of Air Nation history in his head. They bond over their shared love of auras, and Ty Lee loves poking fun at his social ineptitude by flirting with everyone in the group

By the time the Crossroads of Destiny happens, Zuko turns against the Gaang (he is angry that Aang keeps telling him his destiny is to help them, and wants to be his own person. It takes a while for Zuko to realise Ozai has been manipulating him like this for years. Aang learns a lesson about the importance of personal autonomy) BUT Ty Lee decides to go with them

When Aang and Iroh have their talk in The Crossroads of Destiny, instead of talking about Katara (because ew, she’s like my little sister and I’ve known her since she was like six) Iroh acknowledges the presence of the past Avatars and defends Aang’s decision to choose his family over his training with the Guru, and Aang could cry because this means it’s not all in his head and he’s not crazy and he’s not alone.

Finally going to the Fire Nation removes the pressure of everyone knowing Aang is the Avatar for (it feels like) the first time in ten thousand years. It’s an oddly freeing experience

Because of his extreme empathy and sensitivity, Aang can feel strong emotions, including romantic and sexual tension like a pressure behind his temples. Eventually, when sitting around the fire at the Eastern Air Temple with Zuko and Katara, Sokka and Suki, and Toph and Ty Lee there, Aang has to retreat for fear of a migraine

As Aang builds up his own identity the past Avatars lose influence over him until, by the time he fights Ozai in the finale, he is able to overcome them and completely control the Avatar State for the first time

After the war Ty Lee becomes co-founder of the new Air Acolytes. She finds it hilarious that Aang chose someone who used to be so shallow to lead the most spiritual nation in the world

Aang is the only one to regularly visit Azula in the mental hospital because it takes crazy to know crazy

Zutara rule the Fire Nation together. Problems arise when their first born (and first in line for the throne) is a waterbender

But essentially everyone is happy

#avatar the last airbender #atla #aang #au #my writing #fanfiction #katara #sokka #toph beifong #zuko #ty lee #azula #zutara #the legend of korra #idk man #fic ideas

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beyondforks · 7 years

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Book Review: Our Dark Duet by Victoria Schwab

Our Dark Duet (Monsters of Verity #2) by Victoria Schwab Genre: Young Adult (Paranormal/Fantasy/Dystopian) Date Published: June 13, 2017 Publisher: Greenwillow Books

THE WORLD IS BREAKING. AND SO ARE THEY.

KATE HARKER isn't afraid of monsters. She hunts them. And she's good at it.

AUGUST FLYNN once yearned to be human. He has a part to play. And he will play it, no matter the cost.

THE WAR HAS BEGUN.

THE MONSTERS ARE WINNING.

Kate will have to return to Verity. August will have to let her back in. And a new monster is waiting—one that feeds on chaos and brings out its victims' inner demons.

Which will be harder to conquer: the monsters they face, or the monsters within?

Our Dark Duet is the second and final book in the Monsters of Verity duology by Victoria Schwab. I'm not sure what happened,but this wasn't the book I was expecting to read. While it has the action and gore that you'd expect it to have for this story line to work, I had such a hard time staying focused. The pacing was slow. I don't feel like we learned much more about the monsters(especially the newest monster), or really anything more about what's going on in their world than we already knew. There was no real plot progression. I didn't think so anyway. Did I miss something? And the ending just wasn't great. I needed more from it...or something. Through the book, things seemed to happen without any real reason, and I want to know those reasons. We really needed to know more about the Chaos Eater too. I have so many questions... where does this all leave their world now? Is is better? Is it worse? The same? I don't know.

I loved the first book quite a bit, so I was already going into this one with some pretty high expectations. The premise behind these books is fantastic. It makes complete sense that monsters would be created from the evil behind tragic events. The people behind those events are already monsters, so it fits. It's believable. I haven't read anything similar before. I love finding that kind of originality when I read. But, I don't feel like this second book lived up to the expectations created by the first book. And I know, a lot of people feel the opposite, and that's great. Maybe this second book just wasn't for me. I honestly don't know what to think now. Maybe I missed something. I really feel like must have missed something crucial. I'm at a loss.

VERSE ONE MONSTER HUNTER ONE PROSPERITY Kate Harker hit the ground running. Blood dripped from a shallow cut on her calf, and her lungs were sore from the blow she’d taken to the chest. Thank God for armor, even if it was makeshift. “Turn right.” Her boots slid on the slick pavement as she rounded the corner onto a side street. She swore when she saw it was full of people, restaurant canopies up and tables out despite the brewing storm. Teo’s voice rose in her ear. “It’s catching up.” Kate backtracked and took off down the main road. “If you don’t want a mass casualty event, find me somewhere else.” “Half a block, then cut right,” said Bea, and Kate felt like the avatar in some multiplayer game where a girl was chased by monsters through a massive city. Only this massive city was real—the capital at the heart of Prosperity—and so were the monsters. Well, monster. She’d taken out one, but a second was heading her way. The shadows wicked around her as she ran. A chill twisted through the damp night and fat drops of rain dripped under her collar and down her back. “Left up ahead,” instructed Bea, and Kate bolted past a row of shops and down an alley, leaving a trail of fear and blood like bread crumbs in her wake. She reached a narrow lot and a wall, only it wasn’t a wall, but a warehouse door, and for a split second she was back in the abandoned building in the Waste, cuffed to a bar in a blacked-out room while somewhere beyond the door, metal struck bone and someone— “Left.” Kate blinked the memory away as Bea repeated her instruction. But she was sick of running, and the door was ajar, so she went straight, out of the rain and into the vacant space. There were no windows in the warehouse, no light at all save that from the street behind her, which reached only a few feet—the rest of the steel structure was plunged into solid black. Kate’s pulse pounded in her head as she cracked a glorified glow stick—Liam’s idea—and tossed it into the shadows, flooding the warehouse with steady white light. “Kate . . . ,” chimed in Riley for the first time. “Be careful.” She snorted. Count on Riley to give useless advice. She scanned the warehouse, spotted crates piled within reach of the steel rafters overhead, and started to climb, hauling herself the last of the way up just as the door rattled on its hinges. Kate froze. She held her breath as fingers—not flesh and bone, but something else—curled around the door and slid it open. Static sounded in her good ear. “Status?” asked Liam nervously. “Busy,” she hissed, balancing on the rafters as the monster filled the doorway, and for an instant, Kate imagined Sloan’s red eyes, his shining fangs, his dark suit. Come out, little Katherine, he’d say. Let’s play a game. The sweat on her skin chilled, but it was just her mind playing tricks on her—the creature edging forward into the warehouse wasn’t a Malchai. It was something else entirely. It had a Malchai’s red eyes, yes, and a Corsai’s sharp claws, but its skin was the bluish black of a rotting corpse, and it wasn’t after flesh or blood. It fed on hearts. Kate didn’t know why she’d assumed the monsters would be the same. Verity had its triad, but here she had only come across a single kind. So far. Then again, Verity boasted the highest crime rate of all ten territories—thanks in large part, she was sure, to her father—while Prosperity’s sins were harder to place. On the books, Prosperity was the wealthiest territory by half, but it was a robust economy rotting from the inside out. If Verity’s sins were knives, quick and vicious, then Prosperity’s were poison. Slow, insidious, but just as deadly. And when the violence began to coalesce into something tangible, something monstrous, it didn’t happen all at once, as in Verity, but in a drip, slow enough that most of the city was still pretending the monsters weren’t real. The thing in the warehouse suggested otherwise. The monster inhaled, as though trying to smell her, a chilling reminder of which of them was the predator and which, for the moment, was prey. Fear scraped along her spine as its head swung from side to side. And then it looked up. At her. Kate didn’t wait. She dropped down, catching herself on the steel rafter to ease the fall. She landed in a crouch between the monster and the warehouse door, spikes flashing in her hands, each the length of her forearm and filed to a vicious point. “Looking for me?” The creature turned, flashing two dozen blue-black teeth in a feral grimace. “Kate?” pressed Teo. “You see it?” “Yeah,” she said dryly. “I see it.” Bea and Liam both started talking, but Kate tapped her ear and the voices dropped out, replaced a second later by a strong beat, a heavy bass. The music filled her head, drowning out her fear and her doubt and her pulse and every other useless thing. The monster curled its long fingers, and Kate braced herself—the first one had tried to punch right through her chest (she’d have the bruises to prove it). But the attack didn’t come. “What’s the matter?” she chided, her voice lost beneath the beat. “Is my heart not good enough?” She had wondered, briefly, in the beginning, if the crimes written on her soul would somehow make her less appetizing. Apparently not. A second later, the monster lunged. Kate was always surprised to discover that monsters were fast. No matter how big. No matter how ugly. She dodged back, quick on her feet. Five years’ and six private schools’ worth of self-defense had given her a head start, but the last six months hunting down things that went bump in Prosperity—that had been the real education. She danced between blows, trying to avoid the monster’s claws and get under its guard. Nails raked the air above Kate’s head as she ducked and slashed the iron spike across the creature’s outstretched hand. It snarled and swung at her, recoiling only after its claws bit into her sleeve and hit copper mesh beneath. The armor absorbed most of the damage, but Kate still hissed as somewhere on her arm the skin parted and blood welled up. She let out a curse and drove her boot into the creature’s chest. It was twice her size, made of hunger and gore and God knew what else, but the sole of her shoe was plated with iron, and the creature went staggering backward, clawing at itself as the pure metal burned away a stretch of mottled flesh, exposing the thick membrane that shielded its heart. Bull’s-eye. Kate launched herself forward, aiming for the still- sizzling mark. The spike punched through cartilage and muscle before sinking easily into that vital core. Funny, she thought, that even monsters had fragile hearts. Her momentum carried her forward, and the monster fell back, and they went down together, its body collapsing beneath her into a mound of gore and rot. Kate staggered to her feet, holding her breath against the noxious fumes until she reached the warehouse door. She slumped against it, pressing a palm to the gash on her arm. The song was ending in her ear, and she switched the feed back to Control. “How long has it been?” “We have to do something.” “Shut up,” she said. “I’m here.” A string of profanity. A few stock lines of relief. “Status?” asked Bea. Kate pulled the cell from her pocket, snapped a photo of the gory slick on the concrete, and hit send. “Jesus,” answered Bea. “Wicked,” said Liam. “Looks fake,” offered Teo. Riley sounded queasy. “Do they always . . . fall apart?” The litany in her ear was just another reminder that these people had no business being on this end of the fight. They had their purpose, but they weren’t like her. Weren’t hunters. “How about you, Kate?” asked Riley. “You okay?” Blood soaked her calf and dripped from her fingers, and truth be told, she felt a little dizzy, but Riley was human—she didn’t have to tell him the truth. “Peachy,” she said, killing the call before any of them could hear the catch in her breath. The glow stick flickered and faded, plunging her back into the dark. But she didn’t mind. It was empty now.

Check out my review of the first book in this duology!

Victoria is the product of a British mother, a Beverly Hills father, and a southern upbringing. Because of this, she has been known to say "tom-ah-toes," "like," and "y'all." She also tells stories. She loves fairy tales, and folklore, and stories that make her wonder if the world is really as it seems. To learn more about Victoria Schwab and her books, visit her website.You can also find her on Goodreads, Facebook, Tumblr, YouTube, Pinterest, and Twitter.

#monsters of verity #our dark duet #victoria schwab #young adult #dystopian #fantasy fiction #paranormal fiction #excerpt #Teaser #original teaser #book review

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mott-media-thoughts-blog · 8 years

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Little Shop of Horrors: Gender, Race, Genre Formatted from the original script I utilized for a video essay

At times, the Musical genre and necessity of its component parts do damage to the narrative through long musical interludes that appear to literally lose the plot for minutes at a time. So easily then, is the act of changing characters into caricatures, little avatars aspiring to be part of a larger and more cohesive film. Thus, one can discern the disregard the Film Industry as a whole appears to possess towards the Musical genre; an interesting escapade with little dots of worth sprinkled amongst childish attempts at narrative. While this stance appears fairly consistent in critical circles, it is an underhanded and weak avenue for which works such as Little Shop of Horrors (1986) and La La Land (2016) to name a few, scoff amidst their bounty of thematic value. Musicals utilize their tools to embolden the emotion and persona onscreen as director Edgar Wright stated in a 2010 interview with /SlashFilm regarding his then in development film, Scott Pilgrim VS. The World, “We thought it should play out like a musical in a way in terms of the fights are not dissimilar to the songs. I always thought there were a lot of martial arts films that were like musicals, so we wanted to take that further. Ya know, in a Gene Kelly film when he performs an amazing routine, at the end of the scene no one goes, ‘Oh my god, that was fucking amazing!’ The song is about something, and then there might be some dialogue at the end that is also about that theme. And that’s kind of how this works where people have these huge fights – and it’s kind of like how it is in the books – where everything goes back to normal, and there’s a little reaction to what just happened…” Wright’s summation of the genres dependency upon bursts of emotion contained to exclusive events, or more aptly put, songs, highlights the reason well-directed musicals possess just as much artistic merit as their counterparts outside the genre. However, emotion is not always the key ingredient in the boiling point that sets off a musical number as is evident in Frank Oz’s Little Shop of Horrors (1986) Rather, any number of thematic undertones can possess the narrative and induce the inner machinations of directorial intent to spur musical pieces with messages pertaining to, in this case, politics. Utilizing themes relevant to the era of release, and that of its Roger Corman original, Little Shop is a musical that portrays Racial tensions, Class, Heteronormativity,, the War on Drugs, Nixionisim, and the American Dream, through a musical lens which tells the tale of outlandish killer space plants subtly invading earth. Through catchy tracks and visual stimuli, Little Shop of Horrors tendrils pried its way into the public consciousness under the pretense of a genre flick, only to, much like Audrey II, unfurl into something much larger than originally anticipated, “And this terrifying enemy surfaced- as such enemies often do- in the seemingly most innocent and unlikely of places”(LSH)

The lineage of the work is a well storied revisiting and altering of the source material. The most arguably “famous” version of the work being 1986s aforementioned Little Shop of Horrors, directed by Frank OZ, a screen adaptation of the Off Broadway 1982 play of the same name. The play itself, however, was adapted from the original 1960 Roger Corman low-budget classic, The Little Shop of Horrors which itself is thought to conceptually based upon the 1932 short story, Green Thoughts, written by Jon Collier. The narrative of Little Shop of Horrors takes place at the same time as its 1960 predecessor and is set in the same decade. JFK is president and as the opening crawl tells the viewer, “On the twenty-third day of the month of September, in a year not too long before our own” (LSH) which would evidently mean it takes places somewhere between 1961 to 1963 as JFK’s assassination was not until November of 63. The reasoning for which this is important falls upon the thematic underlying of the film, namely that of issues between Black integration into White society. The 1960s were a hotbed for social upheaval, between the Vietnam War, Civil Rights Protests, assassinations of Martin Luther King and John F Kennedy, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and landing on the Moon; the world was rapidly undergoing massive change at an unprecedented rate. A hotbed setting regarding aliens subtly invading earth further played host to national distrust of authority which was further stoked by the fallout from Richard Nixon’s presidential term in office, resulting in a more cynical America than previously encountered. The original stage production’s creators, Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, understanding the political landscape of the two eras’s manipulated the original plot of The Little Shop of Horrors to service the needs of the American people, criticizing core values like the American Dream and the moral cost of pursuing it.

Utilizing the tools inherent within the genre, through the use of pastiche, the film conveys it’s characters personalities, setting immediate expectations for the unfolding narrative. The threesome interacting directly with the audience are an evident parody/reference the Moirai, or as they are known today, the Fates. White-robed fragments of Destiny, they were denoted by their actions, the Spinner, the Allotter, and the Unturnable. In Little Shop, they exist outside of the narrative, observers of a pivotal event in the course of the universe, as the weavers of Destiny, controlling the “metaphorical thread of life of every mortal from birth to death” (WIKI) While they themselves never appear to have this kind of agency in the narrative, their musical interludes, which themselves resemble a gospel choir, only appear at important points in the story. They are present so as to continue weaving the image of their whole. Audrey, high pitched and stereotypically feminine, literally wishing for nothing more than to be a housewife as seen in the playfully nihilistic “somewhere Green”, is represented by pretty woodwind instruments and chimes, gentle and optimistic music which conveys her nature and fragility. Seymour himself begins as a character represented by clumsy and mournfully sorrow representation with songs like “Grow for Me” which has playful charm and wit but is clearly about Seymour’s failure to convince his newfound plant life to grow. When, finally, it responds to him, he bemoans the circumstance as the only sustenance the plant, who is to become known as Audrey II, desires are human blood. When, finally, Seymour surrenders to the plant begins to feed it, his musical numbers warp and shift, becoming more flavourful and R&B inspired. With his musical voice shifting to a more ‘Urban’ style, to better suit Audrey II’s own voice, he becomes characterized as the other the further his own style shifts. Further reinforcing stereotypical views of urban lifestyles, this shift occurs as Seymour begins to act outside of the rules of society in order to continue his pursuit of fame. Audrey II itself is classified as the other through its visual style but also the stylistic choices that carry Seymour along with it, R&B. Audrey II, voiced by Levi Stubbs, lead singer of R&B group Four Tops, is clearly ethnicized as black. Vocal language, as well as evident musical style, denotes this and with this in mind, it is the “monster” that corrupts the genuine and wholesome Seymour. As Audrey II is racialized to fit into a specific ethnography, it appears that traditionally black music is a threat to the white standard of living and is to be feared.

Seymour’s journey to stardom through the public’s sudden obsession with Audrey II stems from the same healthy disdain the creators of the stage production held in regards to the path towards the American Dream which parallels the Nixon presidency, relevant at the time of the film's release as his time in office was completed barely a decade prior and the American people were still reeling from his term as president. The journey to greatness for both Seymour and Nixon were, as the quote goes, “paved with good intentions” however ultimately both led to corruption and ethical degradation of character. As Seymour pinned for the love of Audrey, Nixon attempted much the same with his country, attempting to rig his way to success. Both wanted more than was given to them and through the struggle to attain it, lost themselves in the process. This is what the two creators of the original stage production meant when they alluded to the American Dream being a worthy venture, as it is, however, as they themselves noted, it’s the journey that damns the soul, not the prize at the end of the road. The temptation to continue down the path to the desired goal is strongly presented in the narrative by the musical interludes which lend story-progression and thematic scoring to the academic context of the film. “Grow for Me” represents the beginning of this journey, a difficult first step onto a larger path which takes some time and accustomization to adapt to. Yet, before long, it begins to feel as though turning back no longer feels like an option as displayed by the song “Feed me (git it)”. However, when it actually is too late, “Meek Shall Inherit”, “Mean Green Mother”, and “Don’t Feed the Plants” there is nothing to be done but look back mournfully in hindsight, just as the U.S did post-Cambodian bombing and Watergate Scandal.

The musical piece “Skid Row” speaks at great length to both the realities and stereotypical depictions of living “downtown”. Everyone involved in the number is looking for a way out as is evident with quotes like “I’d move Heaven and Hell to get out of here” and “ I don’t know what I’d do to get out of here” downtown is painted as a horrific place to live but it’s also a place of great diversity. There are far more people of colour present in this number than whites and still, they don’t have the platform to speak to the further woes of living on skid row as the two white leads are the focus of attention. It’s not until Audrey II is nearly full grown that the shift begins to move from the white protagonists and over to the “other” That said, the three Do-op girls have a number to themselves prior to this, at the beginning of the film in the prologue “Little Shop of Horrors” yet as they function as an in-universe representation of the Fates as previously mentioned, no attention is paid to them as they are effectively invisible, just like minority representation in these communities. Unheard from until their voices become a loud roar, no longer able to be silenced.

Little Shop of Horrors is a momentous work which further validates the artistic legitimacy of the musical genre. With a nearly endless amount of respect for its viewing audience, the film is genuinely intelligent and navigates its own themes with grace. Immensely rewatchable and catchy, it easily crawls its way into the brain and stirs one’s mind. Subtly at first, until, all at once, the connections to larger themes become startlingly relevant to the viewer. At first glance, perhaps, a film about a giant singing plant appears like a fun shlock filled adventure. Meaningless in its content but properly constructed to kill a few hours of time. Which is why this iteration works so well, it leads to such a promise but, much like Seymour in the original cut of the film, it pulls one along until, suddenly, you are consumed.

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