#like from knowing that base; you can expand and branch out and still make it feel engaging and new and different

[darabeatha]

[alexanderlightweight]

You're back! I'm so utterly delighted that you're feeling better <3

I would love to see either another snippet of Elysium's Tears or a bit of the verse where hair holds power for the nephilim. I adore the scenes where Alec gives Magnus a bracelet of his hair (and also the earlier one with Clary's bone bead dissolving because she didn't earn it no matter what Jace and Izzy say lol).

Thank you for sharing your wonderful ideas and writing with us!!

hi laws! i'm so happy to be back too, its insane how much it lifts my mood to be writing and on here again.

so I know you like both but I do know how much you love the hair!lore verse so this is a bit in the future and also because I wanted the excuse to finally expand on some warlock lore. it's really easy to be fluid with nephilim culture based on verse but I wanted to build a stable base for warlock customs and cultures that can branch differently out depending on the verse but has the same foundation. because I think it's a far longer legacy than nephilim and therefore it deserves something lingering and lasting as the cornerstone. which means I was really picky about it and then picked my favorite.

so this bit of warlock culture is actually universal in my verses. I also know that you enjoy the cultural tidbits so ^_^ I hope you enjoy <3

~lumine

-

my path is set

It thrills Magnus, to discover that even after he’s left the Institute — left Alexander ruined for all others and still aching for his touch — that he can still feel him through the soft hair coiled around his wrist.

Magnus had lingered, satiating not just the wards until they were primed — full of rich energy and deep magic — but his own desires.

Magnus had wanted to bring him home.

Take him to bed properly, with silk soft under his bruised back rather than the rough stone of an altar.

Instead Magnus had to leave him there. 

Oh he helped him to his room first, unwilling to let anyone else see or touch Alexander like that.  Had even let himself in, tucked a barely conscious Alexander in with magic and a smirk. Knowing that he would wake covered in the evidence of Magnus ardor and his own passion. 

It’s also convenient that there’s no one to stop Magnus from leaving, the strands of Alexander’s braid still wrapped covetously across his skin.

Magnus wonders at the magic imbued in it and marvels, relieved that it doesn’t fade even when the portal closes, cutting off any true connection.

But the bracelet stays, tying him to Alexander.

It will keep him tied to Alexander long after the residue of the sex ritual fades and the bruises and marks heal.

And it will bring Alexander to him again.

Magnus is sure of it, with the way he feels an almost-echo when he imbues magic upon the braid.

—

Magnus doesn’t sleep that night.

Instead he reaches out to Ragnor and Catarina, requesting all of their notes and encounters regarding the culture of shadowhunter customs.  It’s suddenly deeply important for him to know so that he can match Alexander in turn, even if Alexander might not understand at first.

Because Magnus is going to match him in his own unique way.

There are parts of warlock culture that while not hidden away, aren’t advertised to the outside.

Warlocks are somewhat insular after all, at least from the other races. 

However there are no rules keeping Magnus from displaying his own accomplishments. The way Alexander does with his braids and charms and hand-hewn beads.

Warlocks display their accomplishments in the bones of those who came before.  Honoring them with legacy, so that parts of them will never be forgotten or wholly wiped away.

The nephilim used to try to and burn their bodies for this very purpose, to deny them their legacies. It's part of why heavenly fire is used to dispose of 'so-called-criminals' caught by the Clave.

It makes Magnus darkly pleased, to realize that someday he will drape Alexander in the very essence of what his boy’s ancestors despise.

And Alexander will delight in it.

Magnus can tell from the way his fingers had lingered on the bone armbands — that Magnus hadn’t bothered to take off— and caressed bone and skin together. How he'd moved towards the magic sparking off of Magic rather than away.

And considering that Magnus has personally reformed — and possibly wiped out — the Council of the Elder's a few times, he has still always made sure to respect the legacy of his own kind.

Which means he has quite a collection to choose from and the ability to make as much more as he wants.

Platinum and bone are the pride of warlocks — and true, Magnus doesn’t know a single warlock who wouldn’t kill for abyssal gems — but platinum and bone have always been theirs in a different way.

Especially bone.

Even before they ever discovered platinum, warlocks had their bones.

For a moment, Magnus wonders what feeding Alexander the marrow of an Elder would do to him, and then decides that as delicious a delicacy as it is. 

He’d rather not risk it.

Not until he finds out how sturdy his shadowhunter is.

Magnus is going to want to keep him for quite a long time, after all.

—

AN:

Soooo... i think i’ve hinted at it but in the background of both warlock and nephilim culture is cannibalism. In most verses nephilim cultures don’t continue the trend especially because they’re short on nephilim and warlocks rarely use it except for specific things but i don’t actually think cannibalism is that big taboo in the shadowworld. There’s too much blood related stuff. Like raziel’s blood and vampires and sires and blood etc. and werewolf biting each other etc. 

So for warlock in the case of the Elders. I won’t fully get into it here but cannibalism is always involved in elder council rituals once an elder is deceased.  Magnus/Cat/Ragnor have in a few different verses had to weed out or recreate the council of elders from scratch. No one actually knows whats causing it, but everyone knows that those three (though sometimes they take turns because they hate it) are the longest surviving  elders. So they’re pretty respected because they have a higher rank, even if a newer elder is older than any of them. Which does happen sometimes.

Magnus is not in charge of the council, he doesn’t want to be. 

But anyways. 

So the bone thing is actually across all verses for warlocks. Because its a way they’ve always been able to share wisdom with future warlocks because even the recluse warlocks look out for their own. It’s a legacy thing too. They can’t have children. They pass on their bones to leave behind something that another warlock will connect to in a way. It’s very important to them and while all warlocks wear at least one piece, not all warlocks have the ability to handle a lot of jewelry. Depending on how powerful the magic of who it was from.

There isn’t a single faction of the shadowworld that doesn’t keep trophies of their kills. It’s not like every single person does it but it is a practice in every race at some point in time. And warlocks also use pretty much anything as potion ingredients (that fact is actually canon, werewolf teeth and hair and nails lol and vampire as well lol) or magical artifacts. 

In this though, shadowhunters carve their charms into demon bones or non-sentient magical beasts/creatures (which is actually a pretty big deal. They have to harvest a bone or horn/fang basically something with a non-adamas blade so it doesn’t disintegrate.  It’s why you have to be a really good hunter to have so many charms because you’re given one from the clave on your first kill but you have to make all the rest yourself. Its a skill thing.  Alec is really skilled which is surprising because he’s an archer. He should have a harder time getting things from so far away but he’s pretty tricky with his traps. (also shadowhunter charms and beads carved from anything but demon bone/magical creatures are banned. The circle (and some houses and shadowhunters ofc secretly which means parts of the clave too) did make charms from downworlders. Which is literally illegal in the accords. It wasn’t illegal before the accords... which should say something.) 

Anyways, yes Magnus is planning on going full on warlock culture and then teach alec because his alexander deserves knowing how a big a predator he caught.

Alec is so fucking thrilled. He’s out here living the best life the minute magnus walks in just radiating old, necromantic power and he’s like... wow. He’s amazing, he’s impressive.

This will also eventually come up especially in pray to the hunters verse because uh. Alec is going to be so very into Magnus’ old bone legacy jewelry with whats basically ancestral magic for warlocks.  Magnus has never been so attractive to him and Magnus is always unfairly attractive to him.

Also if you’re powerful enough you can draw on the magic or specific things unique to the warlock of the bones you’re wearing. 

Magnus just really likes the idea of Alec dressed in a bunch of powerful warlock bone magical artifacts something that would absolutely horrify most nephilim

[aishangotome]

Azel Radwan: Dramatic Ending Epilogue

Dramatic Ending Ch. 25 His Side Story

Thank you @passthechloroform for providing the video for this chapter!

Tanzanite, with its god gone, did not change overnight.

People still revered Azel, and the markets were lined with commemorative coins and statues of him.

But to say that nothing had changed would also be untrue.

Before, every three steps you took in the city would lead you to a divination shop, but now their numbers had dwindled.

Instead, you could stumble upon bookstores, which had been impossible to find before, no matter how much you wandered around.

(Just as the letter said…)

(Tanzanite now presents a golden opportunity for booksellers to expand their market.)

*flashback*

Akatsuki: You want to do business in Tanzanite?

Emma: Yes. I thought that if we open a sales channel now, we might be able to establish a Tanzanite branch eventually.

Emma: Wouldn’t it be easier for the Owner, who travels to every country on the continent, to operate with several bases?

Akatsuki: …That makes sense.

Emma: Right? Actually, it seems Tanzanite is making a national effort to attract booksellers…

Emma: I think it’s a good opportunity to make a lot of money.

Akatsuki: Do you want to go?

Emma: If you’ll allow it.

Akatsuki: I’ll allow the business.

Emma: …!

Akatsuki: But, I won’t allow any unhealthy relationships before marriage.

Emma: Wh-What do you mean?

Akatsuki: Your objective is the dead god.

Akatsuki: He even sends you letters every time. How unsightly.

Emma: …Then, would you allow a healthy relationship?

Akatsuki: …

Akatsuki: If anything happens to you, I’ll kill that god.

*flashback over*

(I can’t tell the Owner about that night, not even if my mouth is torn apart.)

Just remembering it made me blush, and I shook my head as if to dispel those thoughts.

My objective today was market research –– to assess the demand and see what kind of books were needed. That was my job.

(Huh? There’s a crowd over there.)

(It doesn’t seem to be related to bookstores, but this is also part of market research.)

(I might be able to learn about the current trends in Tanzanite, so let’s go.)

I never imagined that my casual decision to join the crowd out of curiosity would ––

––lead to a tragedy later on.

-

Azel: …And?

Emma: …It was a soap shop.

Emma: They sell soap made by a famous perfumer, and it seems to have a reputation for smelling very good.

Emma: I thought I’d like to try it too… so I reached for it.

Azel: There must have been other selling points besides it smelling good.

Emma: ………… That it can captivate the person you’re interested in.

Azel: Sigh… Why do you fall for such obvious traps?

Emma: Because I wouldn’t think something like that would be sold openly in the city!

(This sense of déjà vu… I remember this.)

When I used the soap I bought at the market in the bath, my body started to feel strange by the time I got out.

The enchantingly pleasant scent gradually induced a feverish heat, making my skin unbearably sensitive.

The mere rubbing of my negligee against my skin made my stomach tingle strangely, and my heart pounded like a drum.

I felt like I could faint from shame at any moment.

Azel: Listen, Tanzanite is famous for its songs, dances, and harem.

Azel: It’s not uncommon for people from the harem to sell shady goods in the city to earn some extra money.

Emma: …I didn’t know that.

Azel: Think of “captivating the person you’re interested in” as a catchphrase for aphrodisiacs. It was a good lesson, wasn’t it?

(I never thought I’d experience this feeling again.)

The effects of this aphrodisiac seemed to be even stronger than the perfume mixed with the aphrodisiac ingredients from last time, and if I let my guard down, indecent sounds would escape my lips.

(…I want to cry…)

Azel: Hey, don't make that face like you're about to cry.

Azel: The quickest way to get rid of an aphrodisiac is–

*flashback*

Azel: In reality, an aphrodisiac will naturally leave your system with time.

Azel: All you can do is sleep or distract yourself, those are your two options.

*flashback over*

(I’ll just hide in the kitchen like last time, that’s what I’ll do.)

(I can’t let Azel see my unsightly behavior.)

In the middle of his lecture, I turned my back on him and reached for the door as if to escape.

Azel: Where are you going?

Emma: To cook.

Azel: Huh?

Emma: I’m going to cool my head, so please don’t mind me and go to sleep, Prince Azel.

Emma: Good night!

-

Emma: …Why are you following me!?

Azel: …I’m not following you. I’m thirsty.

Azel, who had followed me to the kitchen without a care in the world, poured water into a ceramic cup, just as he had said.

Even after taking a sip and wetting his throat, he showed no sign of leaving.

Azel: Do you want some too?

Emma: …

(Last time, you confined me here and left on your own.)

(…Thinking about it now, that was probably an act of mercy to prevent anyone from seeing my embarrassing behavior.)

(I’d like you to show me the same mercy this time…)

Azel: What is it? You’ve been staring at me.

Emma: You know what I want to say, right?

Azel: Not at all.

Emma: Leave me alone.

Azel: This is my castle.

Emma: Are you okay with being attacked by me?

I tried to push Azel out of the kitchen, but–

(H-He won’t budge…!)

He looked at me with a mixture of amusement and pity.

Azel: What are you doing?

Emma: You wicked god– Ah, no, you’re not a god anymore.

Emma: Um… Wicked person!

Azel: Congratulations on increasing your debt through insults.

Emma: …I understand. You don’t want tomorrow’s meal, then. It was going to be a special dish with meat.

Azel: If that’s what you wish, I’ll obediently return to my room. Goodbye.

(This tactic was the most effective after all.)

Azel briskly headed for the exit, but he turned around before leaving the kitchen.

Azel: However, you should know what an aphrodisiac is.

Azel: It’s actually easier to let it out than to endure it.

(…I know.)

My body, forcibly heated by the aphrodisiac, was aching to the point that I wanted to scratch it, and I unconsciously followed Azel's hand with my eyes.

(If I could just have his hand touch me…)

I slapped my cheeks with both hands as if to resist the temptation and shook my head.

Emma: Thank you for your concern. But I’m fine.

Azel: Why are you so stubborn?

Azel: We’ve already crossed the line.

Emma: …That’s true, but…

Emma: If you touch me like that night, I’ll probably become a mess.

Azel: It might be a good lesson.

Emma: …If Prince Azel were to hate me, I wouldn’t be able to recover.

Azel: Why would that happen?

(Because…)

Emma: You don’t have good memories of aphrodisiacs, do you?

*flashback*

Emma: In the first place, I’ve never used or even seen an aphrodisiac, so I don’t know what it’s like…

Azel: Huh? You’ve never seen one in your life?

Emma: Of course not!

Azel: There are people like that?

*flashback over*

(Because of his position as God, people around Azel-sama tried every trick in the book to get him interested in women.)

(I’ve never asked for details, but I’m sure he’s been tormented by unwanted aphrodisiacs.)

Azel: …Indeed, as you said, I’ve been through a lot with aphrodisiacs.

Azel: I have nothing but unpleasant memories of being forced to watch women lose control in front of me.

Emma: Then–

Azel: But you’re not…

Azel: …

Emma: …Prince Azel?

Azel: ..............

Azel: I hate being attacked.

Emma: I think anyone would.

Azel: That’s right. So I came up with a great idea.

(Huh, the atmosphere suddenly became ominous.)

Even though he was supposed to be heading outside, Azel came back to me for some reason.

When I casually tried to move away, he wrapped his arms around my waist.

Emma: Ah…

An unfamiliar sensation set my entire body ablaze with shame, and I reflexively pushed back against his chest.

But instead of moving away, Azel brought his lips to my ear and breathed a sigh.

Azel: It’s fine to attack before you’re attacked, like this.

Emma: That’s not good, not good at all… Mm!

My ear was nibbled, and indecent gasps melted into the kitchen air.

Emma: No… This really… won’t end well… so… Ah.

The hand that had been resting on my waist slid down and slipped between my legs, along with my negligee.

With just a light touch, my vision went white, and my body trembled as my strength gave out.

Azel: How could you say you were fine in this state?

Azel lifted me up as I collapsed on the floor.

Emma: …I could… evaporate from embarrassment right now…

Azel: If you haven’t evaporated yet, you’ll be fine.

Azel carried me outside and headed for his room with quick steps.

Even the wind that enveloped my body brought me slight pleasure, and I felt a sensation of honey dripping from my lower abdomen.

Emma: ………… Prince Azel.

Azel: It’s not unpleasant or uncomfortable.

Azel: …You’re different from other women.

Just as he said, Azel didn’t seem uncomfortable at all. In fact, his slightly unfocused gaze seemed to reveal his true feelings.

Azel: I can stop if you’re seriously against it.

(Honestly, I’m scared… but…)

(…If… Azel… doesn’t mind…)

I grabbed Azel's clothes and exhaled as if to release the intense heat within me.

Emma: …Touch… me… please…

-

As soon as we returned to the room, Azel stripped me of my negligee and sat me on the bed, embracing me from behind.

Emma: Gasp... Ah...

The mere act of his palm cupping my breast sent a jolt through my core, and when he pressed against my hardened nipple, my vision blurred to white.

Each time his lips grazed my ear, a sweet nectar overflowed in response, and my whole body trembled as his finger, coated with it, slipped inside me.

Even after all this, the aphrodisiac still lingered in my body, and my hips moved involuntarily, matching the rhythm of his finger swirling within me.

Emma: Nn... ...Aah...

Azel effortlessly supported me as I slumped against him, limp.

Azel: Are you alive?

Emma: Barely... alive...

Azel: That's good to hear.

Azel: Learn from this and never touch those "captivate your beloved" concoctions again.

Azel: Besides, even without using such things––

Azel: ...

Emma: ...Even without?

Azel: Why are you so focused on that part?

Emma: Nn...! Don't touch me th-there... aaah!

He hooked a finger around the sensitive swell, now slick with nectar, and another burst of wicked pleasure exploded from my core.

My breath hitched, hot and ragged, and my consciousness almost drifted off into a dream.

Azel: You make that kind of face too, huh?

Azel: ...I feel like I'm the one who's been ravished, even though I'm the one who attacked you.

(I'm... too scared to ask what kind of face I'm making... but...)

Azel's expression as he gazed at me was so alluring it made my heart ache.

That unexpected, worldly expression, so far removed from his usual sanctity—

Our eyes met, and our lips found each other as if drawn together by an invisible force.

(I've had enough of aphrodisiacs... )

(But if it means I can see that look on your face when you desire me... maybe it's not all bad.)

---

(Suspicious Solicitation)

※ This letter has been sent to all booksellers ※

In Tanzanite, a city overflowing with tourist attractions, bookstores are opening one after another.

With the decline of divination, once a symbolic industry of the nation, the demand for knowledge is on the rise.

Furthermore, the nation is currently offering generous support to foreign booksellers, allowing you to start your business immediately.

Tanzanite is now a dreamland where anyone with the skills of a bookseller can easily become a business owner – an opportunity no one in the trade would want to miss.

So, what do you think? It's piqued your interest, hasn't it? It would be a shame to let this big-money chance slip away.

We are currently offering passage to Tanzanite at a special price.

If you are interested in visiting, please contact us at the address below.

P.S. This letter has been sent to all booksellers. Don't try to investigate this offer with your colleagues out of suspicion.

Also, we don't particularly need you to come quickly, nor do we necessarily want a reply.

Don't misunderstand... Absolutely do not misunderstand.

Azel Radwan

--

FIN

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.

.

Both Endings Epilogue

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[formylovetodaryldixon]

"Paper Cuts." CH3—Daryl Dixon.

Chapter summary: As if taken from your most romantic, most cliché book, the incessant rain drives you to take refuge in Daryl's house.

A/N: Since life didn't let me live out my teenage romance, I have to write it hehe, this chapter raises a question that Daryl discovers in "Like There was no tomorrow," what did you write in his arm? which is why I'm posting this first. This series will only have a few chapters, too, based on your relationship with him—a span of three and a half years in maybe 10 chapters. But thank you so much to those who follow this story, and the other one. I won't go into the stories of Daryl's scars in case anyone here has one or more that are self–inflicted, or caused by someone else. But I hope you all are okay or at least trying to be. That's all. Thanks!

When life and the four walls of the office where you worked became a prison, suffocating and dangerous, the bench in the backyard was idyllic for taking a break.

The day was gray, but the grass was greener with the occasional rain that passed through the week and that was about to end. Although the place was small, it was always better than the sight of the surrounding concrete inside the building. Gazing down at whatever book you were reading at the time, you could still occasionally feel the burning in the corners of your eyes, your skin slightly reddened according to the mirror. Because even if at that very moment you had become a concrete wall, sadness would still find a way out through some crack.

Sensitive, not weak.

Living with your dad was never easy, a bumpy road that made your body ache. He was obsessed with making sense of everything, constantly destroying your goals, making them appear like the cold reality you would eventually have to face. But why the hell hadn't you left yet? You kept asking yourself that, all the time.

But now the view you used to see every day for at least an hour has expanded, turning a yard into a whole park with a labyrinth of walls made of branches hidden among wildflowers that seemed to grow up to the sky—which was still beautiful and gray and filled with rain clouds—a field of daisies that looked endless, like a small paradise of your dreams and hopes, and a natural pond, a little so large that you can barely hear the laughter of the family on the other side.

"How do you know this place?"

Beside you, sitting on the grass, Daryl shrugs.

“Ma brother brought me here once when we were lil'. Haven't been here in a long time actually, but I thought ya'd like it.” He swallows, still slightly nervous, fighting the thought of being selfish and keeping his traumas to himself, because saying them out loud still feels like reliving them. “At my house, everyone... talked shoutin' so I prefer silence. That's why I like the woods, but this place is fine too.”

Your nerves seem to rise with his confession, because you can sense his own insecurity about sharing a piece of his life in those words. Almost everything about Daryl was a sign of loneliness and pain. His posture looked like he was always expecting nothing but bad, prepared for the worst–case scenario, and his gaze, cold almost all the time. Amid all that emptiness, there were places he seemed to have filled with silence, because that company wasn't always bad if you knew how to make it your friend. Although in his case, loneliness and the lack of sounds felt like an imposition, an obligation, a: this is all you have now, deal with it.

“In my house there was only silence cause no one knew how to communicate at all, so no one talked and I used to make up for the gaps by talking to my grandparents all the time. I was quite talkative until they passed away.”

Daryl snorts.

“Was?”

His thoughtful expression had completely disappeared, leaving only his mocking gaze.

“Screw you.” You chuckle, and he does with you, a low but sincere sound. “I have to make up for your silence, not mine. Grunting and huffing aren't words, you know.”

Daryl lets out a short sound, amused by your words, but also embarrassed by himself and his inexperience.

“Sorry. M'used to keepin' ma mouth shut. I think m' a better listener.”

You nod softly, still surprised by his ability to pick up on the small details.

“Don't be sorry. You really know how to listen.”

He shrugs again, only to dismiss your words as Daryl glances at you out of the corner of his eye.

“Only 'cause I care 'bout what ya say.”

Nerves make you clear your throat, gently so he doesn't hear the sound that fades into the nature, but even in the cold breeze, you can feel the warmth blooming on your cheeks. Fortunately, out there, breathing in the fresh air, you can calm the pounding of your teenage heart and the temperature change that hits you hard on the pieces of your exposed skin.

“Tell me something no one would believe about you.” You say just to change the subject, in a more cheerful tone, chuckling when Daryl looks at you in confusion.

“Why?”

“I don't know. I think it's funny.” You shrug, but when he grunts, you know he's embarrassed. “Oh, come on. Please don't get all shy with me now.”

Daryl scoffs, trying to hide the heat burning in his own cheeks.

“Fine…” He exhales, trying to find something deep in his mind, something that doesn’t fit with who he is now. “I remember the first time I went to the woods with my brother when we were kids.”

You nod for him to continue.

“Was all right 'cause that asshole wasn’t always a shitty brotha. We swam in the lake for a bit, but while we were puttin' our clothes back on, he pushed me into poison ivy jus’ 'cause I made a joke 'bout him.”

Your mouth threatens to open, remembering the time your brother tripped and his hands clutched at that same plant to keep from falling flat on his face.

“And how old were you?”

“Six, maybe seven. Came home with a horrible rash and the jerk laughin' at me.” Daryl frowns at the memory, but thinking about him as a kid suffering like that makes you sad, and it’s starting to feel hilarious.

“Please tell me you fell on your face.”

He looks at you, unafraid this time, as serious as life had forced him to be, and Daryl shakes his head. His quiet no makes you press your lips together even harder, and the sound comes out muffled, but like sadness finding its way through cracks, laughter finds a way out too.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

You even cover your mouth with your hands for a moment, though trying to avert your face from his eyes only causes you to miss the way Daryl smiles, as if the colorful sound of your laughter, without a hint of mockery, has awakened that dormant expression, forgotten God knew where.

“Yeah. He laughed at me jus' like ya.”

His voice doesn't command you to shut up, but you clear your throat to force yourself to do so.

"I'm sorry, it's just that your story went from sad to funny in a single second."

Daryl doesn't want to start reconsidering his entire life, the missed opportunities to laugh when he had them, as if he'd forced himself to always make everything so dull when he could have avoided it, punishing himself with his apathy when he knew full well that nothing that happened along the way was his fault.

"Yer turn. Somethin' embarrassin' would be nice."

"Well… I'm not kidding when I tell you nothing embarrassing has ever happened to me."

He frowns.

“How so?”

You shrug.

“All my life I was so… careful with what I did or said that I never dared to expose myself in front of others. Now that I think about it, I never lived my life having fun for fear of making a fool of myself. Maybe that's why I'm friends with Sam, because she's the complete opposite of me. That's why I studied to be a journalist too. It's easier for me to write than to talk.” You stop when you feel yourself rambling again, so you decide to change the subject, again. “But I guess people would never believe I trained to shoot for years.”

Daryl frowns in surprise, but his blue eyes widen slightly for a second.

“Yer shittin' with me.”

You laugh at his obvious disbelief, the same reaction everyone who's ever heard about it has had.

“No. I really don’t. Ever since I was a little girl, I had a hell of an aim, and my dad saw that, so when I grew up, he kind of forced me to learn in the hopes of being like him, I think. I swear, if an apocalypse ever happens, that will save me.”

A natural talent, like his and his crossbow, and yet, Daryl can’t help but keep his brow furrowed. He isn’t judging you, but he is contemplating with seriousness and wonder that you are more than you let on, more than he assumed you were the moment Daryl first laid eyes on you, connecting with that kind gaze that right now put you on the other side of something as crude as holding a gun and knowing how to shoot it.

Finally, Daryl exhales a short laugh.

“Shit. Ya really are more interestin' than I thought.”

You scoff, being the one who's skeptical now, not when you always had a hard time letting people see you—your essence, the person behind your reserved personality.

“I'm not, believe me.”

Daryl maintains that honest, soft smile.

“Believe me, sunshine, yer the most interestin' person I've ever met in my life.” You subtly look away, just for a few short seconds, trying not to let the nickname sink too deep into your heart. But taking it as a refusal, Daryl scratches his forehead with the back of his hand, cursing internally. “Ya write for yerself, too?”

“Uh? Well…” You consider his question, just to buy time because you know he knows there's only one answer. “Why?”

Daryl can see the evasion in your answer, but he chooses to ignore it.

“Ya said writin' was easier than talkin'.”

“Yeah, well, you could say so, but I haven’t shown it to anyone.”

“Would ya show it to me?”

Knowing there’s no one in line causes a strange feeling in him, the thought that Daryl doesn’t have to wait for a place in first row on something he sees as special to you, noticing the way that even through your nervous tone, he could still hear how important it was in your life—that passion, that fire, that love.

“I would, but I don’t have anything with me now, Daryl.” You see that he’ll push the subject further, but maybe for that very reason—even though it was still embarrassing to think about showing something you considered a part of your soul—you would show it to him, because you know he wouldn’t judge you in any way. “Why do I feel like you’re going to keep pushing it?”

“Oh, come on. Don’ get all shy with me now.”

His poor imitation of your voice makes you roll your eyes, but you pat your jeans down for the pen you used to carry.

“Would you mind lending me your arm? I don’t have any paper on me.” Daryl swallows, an involuntary movement, but he nods, his own excitement making his heart race. Feeling your own pounding in your throat, your fingers curl around his arm, eager to let the breath out of your lungs and determined that your nervous hands won’t betray their trembling. “Please, don’t read it until you get home.”

The heat of your skin against his seems to burn away everything like a forest fire, but Daryl doesn’t take his gaze off you the entire time you take to write a sentence in cursive on the outside of his arm in case he wants to cheat.

When you finish, you look up, your gaze meeting his: and yes, in that moment, the sentence comes alive like his eyes.

"I think we should go now; it's getting dark."

He nods, extending his hand to help you stand.

The rain begins to patter down the city the moment you two reach the exit, his motorcycle close to only two cars. The view is still somewhat gray, but never sad with the day ending this way. Daryl hands you the only helmet, and you turn it over in your hands until a thought flashes through your mind, so fast it makes you dizzy.

“You wear it.”

He frowns, stopping.

“Why?”

“I don’t know. Please?”

The rude part of him wants to laugh and tell you that he cares more about your life than his own, but Daryl tries not to use sarcasm as an attack or his way of defending himself, not with you when he has no need to build walls around himself, so he takes the helmet, only to put it on you.

“Now get on the bike 'fore Daddy starts askin' where his baby is.”

Sarcasm all the same, but Daryl ignores it as he climbs onto the bike, missing the way you narrow your eyes at him before hopping on as well. More trustingly, you cling to the sides of his shirt the whole way, your fingers still touching a bit of his skin as the rain falls almost mercilessly now, making the avenue so dangerous that Daryl has to speak over the sound of the drops pitter-pattering on the uneven pavement.

The cold doesn't manage to quell the sudden surge of heat that fear brings—the thought that your dad won't be happy if he finds out—but you stay silent until Daryl pulls into a brown–fronted building that's peeling with the harshness of time, among other things.

The closest place.

Your clothes still stick to your skin as you get off the bike and take off the helmet.

The full night makes the view even more bleak.

"Nothing's gon’ happen to ya if that's what yer thinkin'."

You hear the mockery in his voice as Daryl hooks his helmet before leading you down the path to the main entrance.

“Sorry, I’m not judging. In fact, my concern isn’t about me.”

The moment you reach the shelter of the roof, Daryl pauses for a moment, as if standing still will give him the stability to weigh your words.

“Ya really care 'bout me?” The lights above you flicker dimly, as if they’re threatening to plunge the world into darkness, but you can still see his smirk trying to hide his own surprise—though you don’t know that—so you wave your hand, dismissing your concern, which makes him snort as he uses his key to unlock the door. “Ya ain't that nice, y'know? Not as much as I thought.”

You chuckle, stepping into the hallway.

“I never said I was.”

Daryl chuckles too, wanting to say more words, as many as he's ever spoken in a single day, only for them to drown out the sound he can hear in his chest—maybe saying you're as sarcastic as he is, or more so, but now all he can think about is that he didn't plan all of this, and it's all happening so fast it's making his world unreal.

"S' three floors up."

You nod, finding the top of the stairs at the far end.

“Is your brother home?”

You’d heard little from his older brother, but enough to keep your distance.

Daryl shakes his head.

“Nah. He’s never here on the weekends.” The walk up is easy, but the lump in your throat only seems to get bigger and bigger, as heavy as the pounding of your heart. For a moment, when the key fits in the lock, Daryl stops to look at you. “Listen, this place ain't a five–star hotel or some shit like that. Ya jus' need a safe place 'fore I take ya back to Daddy.”

Frustration hits suddenly, so fast you can feel it in your stomach.

“I know.”

Daryl opens the door and lets you in first. The place is small, and the empty gray walls feel cold, just like your house: a house, never a home. The silence lasts a few seconds, but it's long enough for Daryl to feel like you really didn't belong in a place like that, to think of you as a shining sapphire among a pile of discolored rocks, or the dull color of the place.

"No tour?"

He ignores you.

"I'll get ya some clothes jus' for a while at least. Don' move."

Daryl heads down the hall, but he can hear your voice behind him.

"You're grumpy.”

In an attempt to rid himself of the feelings and sensations that suddenly, almost brutally, overwhelm him, Daryl shakes his head, entering his room. It's even smaller, like a mousetrap before his eyes, and he picks up the two pieces of clothing from the floor before heading to his dresser, the center of it housing the only photo in the entire house. All the days of his life, walking around without looking at his mom's smile, with a child version of himself there beside her—when she was present and aware, when she was kind and loving.

"The fuck am I doin'?" He curses under his breath, pushing the photo frame down before searching his drawer for something decent. The walk back feels suffocating but not long enough to give him more time, and when Daryl reaches the kitchen that connects to the dining room table, he sees you putting your phone away. "Ya lied to dadd—"

"Say daddy again, asshole."

Daryl lets out a chuckle even though he can hear the sour taste on the tip of your tongue, and yet, his lip lifts slightly in a smirk.

“Ya got a dirty mouth, y'know?”

A blank expression spreads across your face.

“Whatever you say. Can I use your bathroom, please?”

You take the clothes from him, watching the way he nods down the hallway.

“The second door on the left.”

It takes you a few minutes to change, to take off your clothes in a place that wasn’t your bedroom.

Like being in a strange sea, you can almost feel that feeling of suffocation as you feel his clothes on you, his T–shirt and his pajama pants, which almost feel new, perhaps worn only once. The T–shirt has an almost imperceptible scent of detergent, but it's also imbued with the memory of his life in the woods, because that was his place to exist in peace: that's why the smell of dirt after the rain makes you smile.

Years had passed since your only relationship, so healthy but so flat and boring until it became the monotony you fear now. Just existing next to another person, that terror is still latent. Living on automatic all the time. Life was so tasteless.

Live as if there were no tomorrow, your mother often tells you, because for her, mortality became terribly visible—as if it didn't exist for you, as if you were immortal—but you hadn't lived that desire of hers for years.

Your white sneakers make almost no noise until you reach the kitchen, watching Daryl, leaning against the counter next to the stove, a cigarette between his fingers, resting it against his lips, his brow furrowing with the severity of his thoughts.

“Ya mind?” He points to his hand with his chin, but you shake your head.

“No. Do you have anything edible in the fridge? Something I could cook with, maybe?”

Daryl curses under his breath.

“Maybe two vegetables an' noodles in the drawers. My brother an' I don’ cook.”

His words make you smile as you walk to the other side of the room.

"Ah. That's why you're so grumpy, it's because you haven't been fed well." He chuckles at your joke, briefly—although it's actually funny for him—but half embarrassed because that had been his reality, half sarcastic because he didn't let you see that you seemed to be able to see right through him again. "Aren't you going to change?"

"Nah." He shrugs, dismissing the subject with his disinterest.

"You're going to get sick."

"Whatever, Mom."

You laugh, a soft and imperceptibly melancholic sound, pausing in the empty space of the counter between him and the stove, placing the only two vegetables on top.

"Did I tell you my mom's in the hospital with lung cancer?"

The last words that leave your lips make that sentence real, something tragic and violent, and Daryl chokes on the smoke. It takes him a second to compose himself as he turns his entire body toward you, waving away the smoke still hanging in the air with one hand.

"Fuck. M'sorry. M'sorry, sunshine." This time, his face completely distorts into a pained expression with the apology, his brow furrowing in concern. "I didn't know. I mean, I knew, bu—"

“How did you know?”

His expression changes, into a deep, thoughtful one.

“Yer brother came to pick up his bike a few days after we met, an' he jus'… we started talkin', an' he told me his mom was in the hospital, but not for what reason.”

You nod.

“It’s okay. You don’t have to apologize. Thanks anyway.”

He nods back, scanning your face for a lie to his next question.

"Ya okay?"

You smile softly.

"I am."

But like nature’s trick, the rain started to batter the city harder an hour later. The stars seem to have aligned for a cruel joke, you think bitterly as Sam is the last one you call, your perfect cover for a few hours until everything calms down.

“I can be your cover for the whole night if you want, baby.” She laughs shamelessly, making you rub your face with your free hand. “Uncle Jeff is going to believe you because you’ve never lied to him. Another night at my house. I can tell him that if he calls. Just give me a sign.”

You shake your head, feeling the scorching heat in your stomach again.

“I’m not giving you any signs.”

“Oh, please. At least if you're going to do it again, you should do it with that rough man.”

“Sam, shut up. Right now I'm embarrassed to be your friend.”

Sam laughs openly.

“Okay. Let me know the moment you're home. I love you.”

“Okay. I love you.”

You hang up.

We're adults, behave like it.

You tell yourself that like a cheap mantra as you walk into the second bedroom down the hall, the one in the middle of the hall. It's small and strangely comfortable, his own little world just like yours. Daryl is lying sideways on his own bed, his boots nearly falling off the edge, arms flexed behind his head—trying to act as nonchalantly as if this isn't the first time someone he's interested in has entered his most personal space.

“Ya gon' get in trouble for being late?”

You sit back against the headboard as you kick off your sneakers, tucking your legs over each other and leaving your phone on his nightstand that holds the single amber lamp.

This time, there's no mockery in his voice, only concern.

“No. I usually spend the weekends at my best friend's house, or she at mine.”

“No offense, but yer dad sounds like a jerk with all those rules for ya.”

You shrug, laughing softly.

“He’s a jerk with a severe alcohol problem, but he’s okay, I guess.”

Daryl frowns slightly, thoughtful, though the weight of hundreds of questions want to push his brown even deeper—why did you lock your bedroom door? Why did your dad seem like a dictator in his own home? And why did Daryl feel like maybe 0.1% of your story was just like his?

“Why haven’t ya left?” His gaze takes on a different depth, with infinite curiosity, but mixed with fear of hearing your whole story if you’re willing to tell it, even scared of hearing that you were thinking of leaving. “Got rid of my father a long time ago, but yer still livin' in his shadow. Why the hell haven’t ya left? Yer smart as hell, (Y/N), ya can make a life for yerself elsewhere.”

You feel like that sigh you make has been the longest yet, but now, that haze that kept you from seeing the answer seems to dissipate, just a little. You rub your eyes, feeling the instant burning in them that's strangely pleasurable.

"Do you mind if I lie down for a while?"

Daryl swallows, but the sound of the stormy rain outside the window drowns it out, and he shakes his head, telling you to do it without a single word. You place the pillow next to him, but not so close that you overstep his boundaries, and you lie back, your gaze fixed on the ceiling.

“If you want the long version, I thought about leaving when my mom leaves. I believe in heaven and I wait for the moment when she'll be back with her parents because we all know my mom will be gone soon. But Austin respects Dad too much, and he wouldn't leave him alone, and I couldn't leave my brother. Any day now, Dad will drown in his vomit, and someone has to save him, he often says, half–mockingly, but I also know he means it. Besides, my best friend is from here too, and she's happy, and I couldn't leave her alone or ask her to leave her perfect parents. And do it on my own…” You chuckle shyly. “I can't fly solo. I'm not that brave.”

What about me?

And what about you?

Your thought and his don't merge or even hear each other, but he wants to ask—Daryl wants to know if having met him would destabilize the entire escape plan, he wants to know if that nervousness was a good thing or just a potential disaster in disguise, if all this happening is the birth of a life together that might be fleeting—or maybe not—but one that he is beginning to want to live with you.

"Let's talk about something else."

"Okay." He nods softly. "Ya fell on yer knees a lot as a kid, did ya?"

Your eyes widen slightly, and surprise compels you to roll over until you're on your side.

“Of course not."

Daryl chuckles, but the feeling in his chest as a result of teasing you is a funny, almost expectant tingle because he's beginning to understand that, if he teases you long enough, there would be colorful laughter and a mean name at the end—and that was even funnier, hot as hell when he sees that ballsy look in your eyes.

"I saw the scars. Ya fell a lot."

“Well, I was a bit of an uncoordinated kid, that's all.”

He scoffs.

“A bit much, like Bambi when he was born.”

“Asshole, that's rude.” You laugh in surprise, though the comparison is funny. “Thanks for the comparison. Don't you have scars?”

His joy fades, without being drastic, without feeling it like a cold shower, but his expression turning somewhat thoughtful as he moves to lie on his side, too.

“I do.” His voice is husky as always, but soft, like a deep whisper, almost a melody that accompanies the echo of the drops outside hitting a surface. “I’ma kiss ya now. Can I?"

Breathless for a second, you nod, his gaze shifting between your face and your lips as Daryl moves closer, his arm snaking around your face to cup the back of your head, and your eyes and his close the moment you feel the warmth of each other's lips. It feels hot but cozy, the feeling becoming overwhelming, but closing the door on all the fears, all the doubts, all the questions with a possible bad outcome.

Nothing could be so bad in the end if the now felt so good, so right.

“Yer like a drug.” His lips brush yours, his hand still on you to keep you close, eyes pleading for so many things at once. “An’ I already hooked on ya.”

You exhale slowly, his words so strong they steal your breath again.

“I hope that’s not a bad thing.”

Daryl tries to smile, but his nerves make the corner of his lips tremble in the attempt.

“S’not… for the first time in my life, s’ not.”

His lips crush against yours again, and for the first time in your life, you spend the night in a bed that wasn't yours.

Between letting you see all the scars on his body and holding yours without a single piece of clothing between you and him, recognizing each other, a lifetime together seems to have passed in the hours of the night until dawn. The rain leaves a trail as it passes through the city too, and Daryl can finally relate it to something other than sadness. Finally, something good in the midst of that storm, something he hoped would last for a long time.

If you don't want to be tag, please let me know :) It's okay, promise!

@spookygothmommy @walkingtalkingsomething @m1nda0 @fluffy-dixon @stunkbiggu @kurogxrix @ffsjustletmesleep @kaz11283 @daryldixmedown @enretrogue @confusebiassbitch @onlyrealjoy @secretlettersfromyourlove @chateaujoon

[vm-haunts]

Me: haha I'll just make up a timeline for this crazy crossover idea.

Me, a week later: what the fuck what the fuck how did I end up with so much plot how is it still expanding oh my god stooooop.

Aaaanyways. I don't know if I'll ever got it properly written, but this monster of a plot bunny now covers several major events and I'm losing my mind...

But anyways, cliff notes version on the plot and how far it stretches:

..

College trio was involved in the dionesium (aka Lazarus water) research, and somehow they're actually the more ethical bunch. Which is saying a lot considering.

DP events happened but they encountered and got help from several DC magic users during it. Budding occultist Sam for the win. (no agit yet and no phantom planet either)

The GIW got somewhat reformed, thanks to the help of Team Phantom's JLD friends. However at some point they got new management. Now instead of destroying ghost, the new comers are interested in the correlation of ecto-contamination, liminality... And secretly, in the increased success rate of induced metagene activation in liminals. Yikes, they somehow got worse.

Again, the Fenton parents are somehow the ethical ones here, despite everything. They refused to work with the new branch of GIW, stuff escalated (don't they always), and now they're dead. And in ghost jail. At least Vlad is there with them for the heartwarming reunion.

So Team Phantom ended up faking their death and goes on the run while raiding GIW bases, and along the way they found a weird guy (Jason). Weird guy's mom showed up and. Well guess they're involved with assassin cult's power struggle now, at least they get to help a guy out.

More shenanigans later they ended up with some monks in the Himalayas, and- wait Danny what do you mean you know them? Oh yeah Plasmius's little stint with the Infi-map... Gotta love time travel.

Anyway, after Danny got scammed for long overdue property damage fees and Jason got a pair of cool swords, they met Talia again and she brings news! Totally no ulterior motives or anything :) (Sam called her out to her face and she just smiled)

Jason, considerably more chill in this au, is still unhappy about... Well. Everything in Gotham.

Cue the Red Hood stint but with much more control and less blood shed. Which ironically made RH more intimidating because he moves like a ghost(duh). Especially when Jason's main act of revenge is 'pranks', which reads as mild psychology warfare actually. But hey the bats did that to themselves, he did nothing wrong (besides being a drug lord).

Red Hood peaceful mode does however attracted some unwanted bird themed attention, the Owl's not the Robin's. And well, undead Talons sneaking around undead experts, what could go wrong?

Everything apparently. Because on top of the Rh stint, Jason is somehow also infiltrating the Court of Owls now. As his real identity Jason Todd-Wayne no less. But the real suprise is Danny running into his parent's old researches, and. Well, the poor talons need help, might as well join in with the infiltration.

Some more shenanigans later it ends in Jason and co. quietly turning the talons against their old masters, and oh boy did they overachieved the goal of getting a foot into Gotham's crime world. Must be Danny's Fenton luck.

Ol' Batsy is very very not happy about that development by the way. But he can die mad about it as far as Jason is concerned.

...

The end. Of part one.

Stay tuned for part two, where we cross AGIT with crisis.

And massive thanks to @taddy-cat, a large part of this is inspired by the lovely discussion with you!

[leonawriter]

What we KNOW Lobotomy Corporation was like:

Honestly, this is gonna be an ongoing list. Not comprehensive. Will expand with each Canto (if I remember to add to it).

Due to that, safe to say this will contain spoilers for all games.

-Their Singularity created Abnormalities within the main Facility through use of Cogito, in order to manufacture energy from them.

-L Corp would hire people based on the recruitment criteria that Carmen had set out (as per what KJH said in an interview once), which was more about whether they had trauma and not based on money, influence, or a person's place in the nest. Because of that, many people were hired from the Backstreets, such as Johann (as seen in the RCU Intervallo; Hohenheim would carry on hiring people from the backstreets as a knock-on effect.)

-According to some sources (Wonderlab; unknown if there are others since the artist cut ties with PM), the employees of other branches are compensated well for their work, with benefits to their families as well.

-Those employed by L Corp were equipped with defensive suits and weapons against the Abnormalities they were handling. The Managers of each branch may have had different methods, but the standards the Wing Director set were that keeping your employees alive is more cost-effective than sacrificing them to Abnormalities whenever possible.

-Employees are given doses of Enkephalin (a drug that inhibits emotional responses, causing some emotional numbness) to handle the work they are given. This may be seen as a bad thing, but it is also ensuring that said employees are able to maintain functionality - especially in the main branch, where it is literally impossible to resign.

-Ideal management of Abnormalities results in a minimal loss of life. While this is not always feasible, it is the aim and goal to keep abnormalities safely in containment.

-We do not yet know the taboos that L Corp would have put on District 12 - we can only assume that there may have been something about not looking into the Singularity, and not telling anyone of what the Singularity is, or not saying anything about what happens at work. Hopefully we'll get more information on this later, but if I'm right there, it'd have to do with preventing the Head from coming down on them again - and also, the prevention of civilian loss of life. -We currently have no proof that there was anything to the effect of the Taboo Hunters of Nests such as S Corp, or N Corp.

-We have not yet heard of anything like H Corp's "restructuring days" or U Corp's "accidental merging of two things, if you get caught between them."

-Incidents such as Kromer and Sinclair being able to sneak into a lab were entirely outside of L Corp's intent. They should not have had access to that key, which should not have been left lying around for a school-aged boy (nowhere near being an Agent-level to even see an Abnormality, and not wearing any gear) to handle.

-Ayin collaborated with T Corp, W Corp, and R Corp in order to create the TT2 Protocol, which was then used in other parts of the City, and the energy created by L Corp was used to accelerate the growth of other Wings' Singularities. However, this was all for the sake of the Seed of Light Scenario - with the idea that once it was fully germinated, people would become better in time.

-As far as an average citizen of the City would be aware, L Corp enabled many technological advances that made life better for everyone, as well as enabling those that would make life worse. It may have been seen as morally neutral in that respect - however, given the mentality of your average City dweller, "morally neutral" would equate to "there is no reason to fight against it, or overthrow it. It is better to leave it standing."

-In spite of us knowing where the energy was from, "clean" energy to the City was still energy produced at good rates to most if not all of the City.

-A great many people chose to fight on the side of L Corp on its rise, in the Smoke War. The old L Corp's business practices were alienating them from those who had to deal with them.

-Ayin himself would have been absent for the better part of ten years (to the eyes of the City). We do not know precisely how dwellers of District 12 perceived him in a general sense, but there are canonically those who revered him as some kind of saint (as seen in Gebura's story).

-There may or may not have been rumours of how people might go missing in relation to L Corp, because of those employed by the main branch never being seen again, not to mention those used to create Abnormalities. However, these people would have been left on record as having been "employed by a Wing," and it is possible that this would have been enough of an answer for most to be satisfied with.

-Although the Burial Protocol has been seen as a bad thing due to the way it affects survivors (which, understandable), it was also the most secure way to block Abnormalities from escaping, which would cause an untold amount of loss of life for normal City dwellers (as seen the introduction to Canto IV, when the Brazen Bull was attacking the streets of District 11's Nest).

-Clerks may be given guns that do hardly anything to the Abnormalities and are mostly for ending their own lives - however, compared to other Wings, and considering how Abnormalities can affect people, this could be considered a mercy. If one did not have a gun, then they would find some other way, or succumb to an Abnormality's influence for longer, which would endanger more people.

-Although Ayin was the one who suggested that the lab needed the resources of a Wing in order to germinate the Seed of Light, he was never, truly, after the power or influence of being a Wing Director. Therefore, L Corp's financial earnings would have been going into keeping the Company running, but not into the Director's pockets. We can only speculate where the rest of the money went.

-No one as yet has said that the streets of District 12 had anything near as bad going for them as the Backstreets of District 23 (known as the most dangerous place to live, and where there are cannibals) or District 9 (the Streets of Music, where the Pianist originated from).

[that-foul-legacy-lover]

Ok but that ask about Reader and Foul Legacy watching the stars gave me an idea:

Sparkly moth deserves an astronomer/astrologist Reader, who's completely in awe with the stars that cover the abyss and it's denizens, and loves the patterns they form, like constellations they don't know but want to comprehend. Imagine them mentioning that if they discover a new constellation or star, they'd name it after Foul Legacy.

Also, this quote is really sappy but "my fate written in the stars" sounds like a super endearing way they'd describe Foul Legacy at some point

listen listen LISTEN, you're part of the Rtawahist Darshan at the Akademiya, too

the Sages certainly don't agree with your study of the Abyss- too dangerous, they say. it's against everything the Archon of Dendro stands for! and yet, they can't exactly stop you. it's an area of knowledge that needs expanding on, now perhaps more than ever, and technically you are still studying the stars. even more irritating is just how wonderfully all of your papers are written, so they reluctantly oblige and allow you to continue your investigations. of course, you're not telling them everything. while some of your fellow scholars might scold you for it, you know it's best to keep a few things secret- such as the lovely creature you found while exploring, this curious Foul Legacy who seems so monstrous yet acts so sweet. no no, you couldn't possibly inform the Sages and send him off to be tormented and experimented on, and Legacy seems to think the same

so for now, he's your special secret

you spend a lot of nights awake together, trying to scale the grand tree that holds up the Akademiya. you can see the stars best from that position, of course, all the way at the top, perched upon the highest branch. if you're too tired that day, Legacy scoops you into his arms and flies, delicate wings glimmering just like the stars as he gently sets you down on the branch. here, you can point out everything you know, then ask him if the Abyss has them, too. some stay constant, others are mirrored, and more still are completely new. you promise to chart them all with him, making the first ever rough map of the Abyss based on the patterns he tells you, the speckles of light flecked across his wings

sometimes, if you tilt your head enough and think sideways, you can almost see your fate written out across them

[rainbowvally]

Small Trolls Rant Thing

Don't at all hold any hate for Viva with this, I was just reading some stuff and it got me thinking about it and I just wanna put it out somewhere. Maybe someone will like change my mind or something even??

Unpopular opinion?? I feel like Viva had no reason to exist as a character. 💔

She didn't really do anything/bring anything new to the table or even really effect Poppy much? Taking her out probably wouldn't change a lot past giving more screen time to the giant gap in information we were left with. And allowed for more focus on the accountability that we didn't get to see taken you know.

It's a kids movie and all but like ahh I know they can tackle these things better than this. I still love the movie but Viva is such a ?? for me.

The first film did such a perfect job at giving both leads balance. The second one handed the focus to Poppy, but Branch was still important as a strong support. Why wasn't he allowed to solely take the wheel this time with her as the support? Like why did they need to shove something in for her you know? It just bugs m, and it's something that ultimately made things confused with some past information? She was just not necessary to me I guess. 😭

As a character I don't hate her or anything but the idea of what we could have used her time for is just so hmm. Like there's so much there that felt missing in the end, even though I love the film.

Like why did she get a whole song and back story drop scene just for her to not really be anything?? While we didn't get any sort of information on how the main problem even started. That just feels sort of crazy you know? Like there's no point where we learn why and how they got Floyd. I guess it leaves us in the same position as Branch with not knowing that, or what any of the brothers' journeys were for the last 20 years butttt ahhhh

There wasn't really anything fresh that came with her as a character either to be honest? Cause I mean on a base level she's just Branch but not pessimistic? Like her situation is similar where she's living in fear, and it's stopping her from doing things; there's basically just less there than with him? If that makes any sense? Mhhh It's just a shame.

What did she even ultimately do for Poppy as well that she maybe could have found through coming to understand Branch's situation once the rosed-coloured glasses fell off?

It feels like while a lot of fans are invested in learning more about the brothers the company's kind of running with the sisters at the moment? Which is just odd; the balance has always felt so well done but something just feels off right now to me. It's weird.

Last note: Poppy has multiple friends they could build upon that could give her a sisterly relationship. She already had one going on with Bridget so. Could have focused the energy with Viva on her connecting with the brothers beyond the idolization? I don't know! It just feels so ahhh I don't hate her but I don't understand her inclusion? Viva's part ends up feeling so random the more I think about it all. I feel like the movie's so good, I love it so much and it's like full but also weirdly empty? Like I know these characters by the end but I also don't as well. I feel like I know more about her than I do some of the brothers sometimes and they're like pivotal characters. The movie's entire plot wouldn't exist with out them.

I literally don't even know how to conclude my thoughts so I'm just cutting it off. I guess I just really need more canon information and stuff? I do hope they expand on her more I guess.

[pssp-lore]

Troll Jobs/The UBI System (part 1 of ???)

OK as i mentioned in the poll this whole thing got very out of hand so apologies in advance for the multi-parter lol BUT this particular post is gonna open with the foundation of this whole thing: Alternian money! how do you get it and what the hell is it even good for?

the short answer is basically all kinds! we know by the literal throne of riches that HIC sits upon there's value placed on precious metals (such as gold) and representative money (as seen with caegars, boonbucks, etc); however, while use of gold, jewels, and banknotes is likely still common for those who have it to maintain trade of power--or else why would it be around?-- like in our world, fiat money seems to carry the brunt of buying power for most daily practical use. Obviously on the micro level, colonies of the empire are going to have their nuances based in what goods they produce and export, but by-and-large the "worth" of Alternian money is backed entirely by the empress's say-so!

This also conveniently makes it very easy for the economy on Alternia to not come to a grinding halt every time someone dies, which as we know is pretty fuckin often. lower hues don't earn enough for it to matter if they stop spending, and if it's someone important, that wealth doesn't stay stagnant cos it can be as easily redistributed or disappeared as any imaginary number, while actual physical assets are essentially up for grabs to anyone who likes a bit of treasure hunting.

That said: while lowbloods clearly don't get nearly as much leeway as highbloods, they can at least afford decent housing (Xefros and even Karkat have reasonably large abodes that are well maintained!) and obviously are able to get things like food, clothes, and hobby items as well. This can be attributed to gigs and work when they're old enough, but we know trolls must have someplace to shelter before then; after all, the population needed to sustain the empire has to remain steady enough to account for all the other ways a troll can die, and letting literal toddlers just starve or freeze the moment they're set free in the world kneecaps that from the get-go. they must have means of self-efficiency before being able to work.

So when trolls who pass their trials are sent along with carpenter droids to build/renovate their hive, an allowance account based on their place in the hemospectrum is opened, and pretty much all purchases thereafter are made using that account's unique number*. A young troll's first purchase is their home, and depending on the account limit, they can go on to expand and customize that hive to suit their interests after the basics (kitchen/bed/bath) are placed. After that, the account auto-refills in regular intervals for as long as the account is open. if the account goes inactive for too long, the troll is presumed dead and as mentioned above, that money just disappears/assets are redistributed.

When a troll is old enough to work, finds a hobby to monetize, or otherwise finds a source of income outside their allowance, money earned can be put into that account/any branch accounts off of the main one! this works best with fiat money (there are ways to convert physical assets to imaginary numbers for this account but it's a massive pain in the ass so most won't bother**), but any physical cash can be kept the good old fashioned way: piggy banks. some goods can ONLY be purchased with the account money, as online shopping pretty much dominates the modern landscape, but local places may take cash for any number of uses; such as arcade games, tips to your servers (this is mostly done as a show of irony or disdain), betting pools, or purchases that the buyer would want to keep discreet for any reason.

because a troll's allowance is pretty rigidly assigned, any accounts that become especially high or low relative to their hue can draw scrutiny, so cash is also handy to circumvent that issue in some cases, though is harder in others (you're not gonna have much luck being paid cash only as a vtuber, for example). And while cash can make for a clean and easy purchase if you don't want it in your shopping history, it is FAR more susceptible to the random fluctuations due to local inflation or by new acquisitions of the empire messing with the agreed upon value of goods and services.

obviously either way you're kinda fucked if those goods and services are no longer able to be acquired. so it very much behooves a troll, especially one in a lower neighborhood, to not piss off drones, highbloods, or even other lowbloods if they're batty enough. No one wants their town exploded after all! but even if it happens, as long as you're alive and have enough in your account, you can always have another hive built--though that takes having a droid handy, having enough saved up (without your account being shut down ofc), and making sure your new place doesn't stick out like a big ol target amongst the rubble, and is near enough still-standing civilization you can buy stuff like groceries. most trolls who find themself in this situation will simply take to a nomadic lifestyle, though this obviously comes with its own perils. At least they have decent public transit!***

Supposing you survive to adulthood, that account is maintained and used much the same way, with the difference being your allowance is cut off and your ability to maintain yourself is now wholly dependent on your job, a benefactor/quadrant, or your environment's resources. the exception to this is if you become an Overseer (which i will define and get into in the part about adult jobs), whereupon your cut of the empire's total wealth is gifted to you along with the planet/s you're now in charge of handling. For everyone else, you better hope your boss doesn't suck, and that the colony or ship you're plopped on is one where you can prove your usefulness well enough to live comfortably.

so that's the UBI! Next post will get into jobs on alternia (might split it up between lowbloods and highbloods cos it's genuinely so fucking much), and after that i'll cover what work as an adult looks like~

OBLIGATORY CAVEAT: this is all hc not just for HS but based on the rules of Stellar Parallax, so if you disagree it's ok and i'm not gonna argue with you, this is all silly blorbo funnnn

*with so many accounts, the number can get quite long. sometimes when an account is shut down, the number is recycled, which can cause some fun (stupid and annoying) glitches for the person unfortunate enough to get it. **if you are the sort to bother, you're either a highblood where it kind of actually makes it worth the trouble, or you're doing stuff that needs multiple accounts and probably some kind of encryption service, e.g., WILDLY illegal shit ***trains and buses are not safer, just less walking to do.

[lilyblackdrawside]

Leizi, the power of upgrades and performance in alternate game modes

Long post. Click to expand at your own risk. There are no images or sound files to break up the text.

Leizi was released in Stories of Afternoon in the first year of the game alongside Ceobe.

Ceobe was and is a very popular and powerful operator, so a lot of people ended up also getting Leizi in rolling for her and she was widely written off as being terrible.

That is probably what happened. I wasn’t there.

But I do know that she was seen as bad and for a long time really was pretty bad.

She introduced the Chain Caster branch to the game, which at the time was just Caster like everyone else.

This is one of the few branches that underperformed so badly, they buffed it.

The others are Dreadnought Guards and Splash Casters, both of which were graced with some stat buffs when Dossoles Holiday happened.

Chain Casters however got a whole other treatment:

On release, they had a damage falloff of 25% per jump.

A year later when A Walk in the Dust happened, this was buffed to 20% when Passenger came out (who was also widely mocked for being kinda terrible. He wasn’t as bad as people made him out to be, but really not great. I was around for this one.) and then half a year later with Dossoles Holiday this was changed again from 20% to the 15% we still have to this day.

They also upgraded the Slow on hit from 0.2 seconds to 0.5 seconds.

Chain Casters had a ZERO POINT TWO SECONDS SLOW for two years of their existence.

With the right module, they can have a 0.8s Slow now, same as Decel Binders.

Dossoles also brought a roughly 15% increase in base atk for our two Chain Casters, which together with the Slow buff and Falloff reduction made Passenger pretty good and Leizi kinda decent.

Another half year later we got the ChaX Module with Near Light, which further improved the Slow to the aforementioned 0.8s and the damage falloff to just 10% per hit now.

To illustrate the impact the damage falloff reductions had, here are the numbers per jump:

25%: 100% -> 75% -> 56.3% -> 42.2%

20%: 100% -> 80% -> 64% -> 51.2%

15%: 100% -> 85% -> 72.3% -> 61.4%

10%: 100% -> 90% -> 81% -> 73%

The final hit is now doing 50% more damage than it used to after all these improvements.

Passenger’s 5th hit with his S2 deals 31.7%, 41%, 52.2% and 65.7% respectively.

A quarter year after Near Light we got Integrated Strategies 2: Phantom & Crimson Solitaire which introduced the Hand of Diffusion collectible.

This item causes Blast, Splash and Chain Casters to gain 2 sp whenever they hit an enemy.

The intent is obvious: All of these branches can hit multiple enemies per attack, so they can gain a lot of sp to fuel their skills. Certain operators can use this better than others and Passenger is the one who made it infamous with his S3, which places a lingering zone of rapid-fire lightning strikes that just by having three enemies in it for its full duration of 4 will generate more sp than was used for the skill.

Half a year later, Lingering Echoes introduced Module Upgrades to a generally favourable reception.

It also introduced Stationary Security Service to a generally unfavourable reception.

Yeah we used to only have the basic modules a long time ago. Can you believe it? And even longer ago there were no modules at all!

Anyway.

When it comes to module upgrades, there are two employees at Hypergryph who handle them.

There’s Good Module Guy and Bad Module Guy.

Bad Module Guy brought us all-time classics like May’s and Utage’s modules, Dusk X,Fartooth Y and Archetto X.

Good Module Guy got us Hellagur X, Dusk Y, Passenger X, Bibeak’s, Gladiia X, Aak’s, Greyy’s and of course Leizi’s.

Leizi’s talent makes her do 123% damage to unblocked enemies.

Her module upgrades this to 126% damage and gain 1 SP when attacking unblocked enemies at level 2

and 129% damage and gain 1 SP at level 3.

The level 2 upgrade is the critical point here. She basically gets half a Hand of Diffusion always.

This means up to 4 sp per attack!

At this point, I should probably go over her skills. What little there is to go over anyway.

As the first Chain Caster, she is very simple. The most simple among them to this day still.

Her S1 is ATK Up Gamma, it’s whatever.

Because her S2 is Thunderclap: +150% ATK, damage falloff negated. That’s it.

It also turns her lightning from blue to red, which is rad.

As a year 1 operator, the +150% ATK buff is massive. It’s on the level of operators like Mostima and SilverAsh.

It’s not like these days where you get +260% ATK on a 25 sp cost skill and also fifty other bonus effects.

And that’s the sticking point, really. Because Leizi’s S2 lasts for 35 seconds and costs 80 SP.

You’re paying 80 SP for - these days - pretty much just +150% ATK, because after all these buffs the damage falloff of 10% is very manageable.

Of course, back in the day the falloff negation was much, much better than now (I don’t want to underplay it, but compared to on release it doesn’t amount to nearly as much of a damage increase).

Instead of doing 273.5% damage on a fully-chained hit, she’d do the full, proper 400% with S2 active, so under the best conditions it presented a damage multiplier of x3.7.

Nowadays with module, it’s „just“ x2.9. So all these trait buffs really made a difference.

But yeah, the cost is atrocious. Real Year 1 design right there.

And her module helps a lot with patching it up. With an attack interval of 2.3s, she can generate a lot of SP with proper placement and busy enough lanes, so now she can use her skill more than once per stage!

This has made her quite adequate for regular gameplay, but where she really shines is in certain alternate game modes.

Specifically SSS.

Now, I actually really like SSS. I’m the one SSS fan on the planet. I’ve enjoyed it from the start in its first incarnation, thought the Danger Level nerfs weren’t needed and really just want them to make the old dungeons available for playing. Or bring some of the bosses back. A lot of them could work really well even outside of the mode.

Anyway, in SSS you can give operators +200 ASPD quite easily and Leizi does a lot with it.

This much ASPD lets her attack every 0.77 seconds, which is just under her 0.8s Slow duration, so that’s permanent now. It also makes her generate sp three times as fast and now her skill has like no downtime anymore.

SSS also loves to throw a ton of enemies at you, so a Chain Caster’s Splash-Caster adjacent nature really shines in this mode and she can always make the most of her chain attacks.

I always bring her and she’s always the core of my strategy.

They’ve tried to stop me from using Leizi and other arts-damage operators, but even in the currently-running Leithanien dungeon she’s viable. Even on Emergency mode.

You cannot stop Leizi.

She’s really the SSS all star, which is kinda poetic since the update that introduced the mode also gave her the upgrade that she really needed.

Integrated Strategies also makes it easy for her to shine, since some of the versions also make it really easy to get attackspeed increases. Unlike Passenger, she already has The Hand! (Though he obviously vastly outperforms her if you get it)

Lastly, I also want to touch on her personality. I quite like her constantly harsh tone, her aggressive and confident nature and expressions. It’s very charming.

The way her 3 star victory line makes it sound like you didn’t even clear the stage properly, how her 4 star victory line is „Well done.As my standards are quite high, you should be proud of yourself.“ so she’s still hardly praising you and more going on about how hearing so little from her is basically worth as much as other operators exploding from the sheer joy of clearing a Challenge Mode stage.

Both of her portraits are also excellent, the E0 one displaying her stoic, untouchable stature and the E2 one flaunting her superiourity.

And then they FUCKED IT UP with her alt outfit by giving her a soft expression. YOU CANNOT DO THAT! Imagine seeing that artwork with her 3 star victory line IT DOESN’T WORK!!!!

Leizi went through a very unique progression over the course of the game’s lifespan, going from barely functional, to kinda okay to being a solid operator in the regular game and excellent in some side modes.

Maybe there are other operators like her, who look just alright on the surface, but just need a little something to stand out that an alternate game mode might give them. Could be worth giving someone you’ve been setting aside until now a second look.

[nameless-victory]

Belatedly answering the 50 Lamb Questions posted by @transtistic in regard to tbos!Lamb/Butcher !!

I've had this rotting in the drafts for way longer than intended, and I just...completely forgot about it. Oops. Well, better late than never! Some of the answers here are left a little vague on purpose as I intend to expand on them more later. Also beware this is EXTREMELY long </3

Feel free to ask me other stuff about my Lamb that aren't related to this as well! I love talking about my strange and off-putting son-daughter /aff

// Usual tbos AU warning for mentions of cannibalism and a bit of body horror and the general stuff discussed in cotl + the 50 questions

1. Does your lamb go by any name other than The Lamb? If so, what?

Obviously, we mainly call them Butch or (the) Butcher, and their official title is "The Butcher of Souls", but in-universe they usually go by Butcher or just "the Lamb". They also still identify with their birth name, but they haven't shared it with anybody.

2. How old was your lamb when they were sacrificed?

In their mid to late 20's.

3. How long was your lamb held captive by heretics before their sacrifice?

Around ten years.

4. Did your lamb kill anyone prior to their first death? If so, who?

[Answered!]

5. When your lamb mourns a dead loved one from their past.. who is it?

Mainly themselves. Lots of identity issues with this one

6, 7, 9. Who raised your lamb? Where was your lamb raised? A village? A prison? Constantly on the run? How or where was your lamb caught?

They were raised by a flock of other sheep in a village buried deep within Darkwood's forests. It was far away from the Old Faith's gaze, so their life was rather peaceful and unaffected by the heretics' antics. That is, of course, until The Horrors happened👍

8. Did your lamb have any specific skills pre-sacrifice?

They learned how to sew, chop wood, wield an axe, and do a few other things when they were still alive. Those skills still show their uses today.

10. How did your lamb feel with their head on the pedestal? Afraid? Relieved? Angry?

Scared, betrayed...And shortly after, absolutely furious.

11. Does your lamb have any notable or unique features?

I assume it'd be the sideways horns and the fully red eyes! And that their execution scar is thicker on one side than on the other because of the way their execution went, though it is covered by the bell regardless

12. How tall is your lamb?

They are tall for a sheep...which is to say average, slightly leaning towards short. The most threatening creature you know has to look up to talk to half of their followers /j

13. Is your lamb petite? Curvy? Fucking jacked?

They're just pretty average, kinda skinny(?) They're strong enough to wield a battle axe as well, but it's not really visible + part of it is just the godhood power-ups anyway. I just like how unassuming they look when they can actually kick your ass. Even if it doesn't make too much sense, it ties into the whole wolf in sheeps clothing motif which I like for them. Idk the words to describe it sorry, just go look at their ref💔

14. Is your lamb's wool pure white?

Nope, it's grey! And the lighter patch on their head is supposed to be the result of a birthmark. Idk if either of those things work like that irl, but I make the rules here /j (also fun fact the actual color I use for their wool is a desaturated purple, so I've also joked about them being straight up purple before)

15. How does your lamb prefer to keep their wool? Short and shorn neat? Wild and untrimmed? Be honest are there branches in that bitch?

They keep the wool on their head/their 'hair' very long! They have completely refused to cut it after their sacrifice. This has lead to a couple deaths in Anchordeep, because when their wool gets wet it becomes so fucking heavy that they literally cannot swim out if they're pulled under water, but it's sentimental. (Also...yeah, probably.)

16. Do you base your lamb on any specific species of sheep? If so, which?

Unfortunately no </3 somehow they draw inspiration from both a bull and a wolf in certain aspects but not any actual sheep...Huh.

17. Do they use their own wool for anything?

Not really, not much of it to use if they never cut it in the first place

18. On a scale of one to ten how floppy are their ears?

It' a 1-4 I fear, stiff as hell ears smh </3 (Their ears do move a lot when they're emoting though)

19. Do they bear any traits of forced domestication? Is their tail docked? Was their ear tagged? Do they have scars from being shorn (and nicked) against their will? Were they ever painted with or assigned a number rather than a name?

Yes, their tail is docked.

20. What do their horns look like?

They're based off bull horns! I just think it looks cool :3 They do kind of function as weapons as well, so that also comes in handy. Except when they get stuck on the doorframe.

Insert joke about them being just as prone to anger as a bull

21. Was your lamb born male, female, intersex, or do you have no opinion on their sex at birth?

That's for them to know, and for you to never find out /j

22. Does your lamb use pronouns other than they/them? If so, which ones!

It/its as well! I don't correct people if they unknowingly use she/he for them because in-universe they honestly wouldn't care, but they do prefer the neutral ones. Still, they don't mind too much about being called by other gendered terms (sir/miss etc) in either direction.

23. Are they capable of having children and would they want to have children?

I assume they cannot (thanks to unknowingly getting themselves "sick" with The Horrors Beyond Mortal Comprehension and in turn fucking up their body to an extent even they are still unsure of) but I am certain they wouldn't want to even if they could.

24. If they were to be a parent or are, what epithet would they have their child use? Mom? Mama? Dad? Baba? Nony? Abba?

As I said they wouldn't want a kid, but hypothetically...no it'd probably still be just "Lamb"☠️

25. Do they wear something other than the canon cloak?

Yes! They got the beserker fit because I thought it would fit their personality, and also their whole TOWW-inspired outfit under that. They sewed it themselves from scraps + pieces of their old clothes the first night they spent at the red crown's cult.

26. Does your lamb wear jewelry or makeup?

Nah. If you'd call either the bell or the bell silencer jewelry then yes, but those both have practical uses so to them it probably wouldn't count.

27. Is your lamb flirtatious?

Generally polite/charismatic for the sake of getting their way? From one point onward, yeah. Actually flirtatious? No.

But hey, do violent threats also count as flirting? If so, then maybe, but only towards a select few.

28. Did your lamb have any partners pre-sacrifice?

Nope, didn't get much time to look into that before things went to shit. They're also aromantic, so even if they did have the time to think about that, they probably would've preferred not to engage in romance either way.

29. Did your lamb take any followers as a partner?

Followers no. They did not take anyone else either but one could still argue the opposite /hj

*Additionally for the last 3 questions, they do value the platonic relationships (or sometimes secret-third-things that do not conform to common labels, take your pick) + family they have more than they could value (or really understand) romance, and that's enough for them to feel fulfilled, or at least as fulfilled as someone in their situation gets. This is also just me hitting them with the arofication/irl projection beam. Can you guess my own stance on romance /j

30. Who is your lamb's second in command or closest follower?

Tulip and Sfish, their two (and only) disciples! Tulip is a black palla cat, Butcher's first follower, and works at the cult's morgue. Sfish is one of the gods who went into hiding during the god war, whom Butch ran into in Anchordeep and eventually befriended. He sometimes helps with crusades and co-leading the cult. He has existed longer than the Goat but is basically our version of the Goat. Sfish is my friend @//maddiespadez's OC and Tulip is also based off my other friend (@//tin1xxia on insta) who helped with parts of her design process + ideas for her story :3

However I think it would be blasphemous not to include the Fox in here as well. Fortunately he's not in the cult, nor does he even know where it is, but he's had quite the influence on certain decisions being made.

31. Is your lamb ever honest about their feelings or past? With who?

No <3 they've mentioned some small aspects of their past to trusted friends, but only one person knows about their whole past, and it's not because they told them.

32. Is your lamb merciful? Did they ever refuse to spare someone? If so, why?

To their loyal followers + their family/friends? Yeah! Very much!! To anyone else? Well let’s just say they hold their grudges.

33. Is your lamb trustworthy?

No!!!!!! That doesn’t always mean they’re actively out to get you or cause you harm, but they will mostly just do whatever they decide is best and not tell you if they know you’d disagree.

34. Is your lamb quick or slow to trust others?

Very slow. They're polite to their followers and the other vendors/npcs, and they obviously do place some trust in them, but they only actually fully trust like three people they've known for centuries, and even then they keep some secrets.

35. If your lamb could pick a cult job other than leader what would it be?

If it was up to them, they would not be working. But if you insist, they'd be either a musician/bard or a lumberjack.

36. Is your lamb a good cook?

They must be at least somewhat good at it to have kept the followers fed in the early days of the cult, but I don't think they have any special talent. They did eat mainly grass and berries before the cult though, so I imagine it was Ratau who lent them a recipe book so they could learn to actually cook for the cult. Also, it's mostly the followers cooking for themselves now, and Butcher doesn't cook any of the food they themselves eat either...so I suppose there is a genuine chance my guy has literally forgotten how to cook after so many centuries of not cooking.

37. Does your lamb let cult members cook or heal or do they restrict them from certain duties?

They have a dedicated cook, I think it's actually Yarlen! And I've not really thought about it, but there's probably doctors too, and followers are expected to handle more trivial/common health issues without help from the leader or their inner circle, but super serious stuff is handled by the disciples due to them having greater experience, being centuries old and all. And also sometimes you gotta keep secrets. Potentially dangerous materials, like mushrooms + ambrosia for example, are also locked away from the access of regular followers.

38. What is your lamb's favorite food or dish?

Heretic hearts were the best. But since we kind of ran out of those a while ago, God Tears or just fresh meat also act as a good replacement.

39. Does your lamb eat meat/fish/eggs?

They exclusively eat follower meat because anything else just doesn't sate them anymore. The Horrors Beyond Mortal Comprehension👍

40. What is your lamb's stance on cannibalism?

It's dangerous and harmful to both your body and your mind and it's entirely prohibited in their cult and discouraged!

...Unless you're Butcher or like 2 of their friends, then it's a-ok. No hypocrisy in this house.

41. What about their stance on torture?

Not worth the time usually, they'd much rather just get things over with if they have to kill someone. There's approximately 5 exceptions to that rule, but even then they were not directly involved in the torture for the most part. Trapping people in the psychological and literal hell that is purgatory can occasionally be an accident.

42. Would your lamb ever kill a cult member?

Yes, and they sure have. They do prefer to dispose of them in ways aren't as messy for them through.

43. How does your lamb deal with dissenters?

Eating them is of no use because they lack any devotion for them to actually feast on. When they were newer to the leader bizz, they lacked the charisma needed to properly reeducate them, and by the time their leader persona improved they had already found a simpler solution, so they don't even bother anymore. Sacrificing them would concern the followers. Killing them directly gets their cloak dirty. So they just lure them away from the cult in the night and throw them to the Fox. It shouldn't do much for him either, but for whatever reason he enjoys it more than them. He is just weird like that...but it has proven useful. It also gives them an excuse to visit him.

44. What is your lamb's favorite weapon? Their least favorite?

They main the battle axe because it was familiar to them from even before the sacrifice. I headcanon the crown defaults to whichever weapon best suits its bearer instead of starting as a sword, so Butcher naturally just got the axe from the beginning. They also like the dagger, but more so for intricate work rather than combat, and they probably enjoy a few other weapons (gun/blunderbust + mace/hammer), but the axe is on top.

I also think their least favourite would actually be the sword. They're so used to wielding heavy weapons that when they try to lift a sword they horribly overshoot it and throw it straight into the ceiling, Noelle Genshin Impact style.

45. Would they ever let a follower embrace their dark desire to eat poop?

No, for hygiene reasons. But also you're getting fed to the wolves for asking that as well, second worst sin after dissent /j

46. What is your lamb's favorite season?

I don't think my AU has seasons, at least not in Butcher's lifetime (because of the whole theory that the god responsible for the seasons changing was killed alongside the others so they just kinda. Froze on the spring/summer we have in-game) but maybe that'll change with the next game update?

47. Is your lamb's favorite color something other than red?

I think it would be green.

48. How does your lamb really feel about death?

Funnily enough, I think they're pretty chill about it most of the time. You live and you die. Unless you're special, then you live and you live. They've gotten used to that cycle a while ago, not much to stress about. The only people they care about now are immortal anyway.

49. Does your lamb use substances? Are substance banned from cult grounds?

[Answered!]

50. Freebie! Tell us any headcanon you want!

Well they really love music! They can play the drums and a mandolin as well :3

They're self taught on both of them and way too stubborn to ask for help though, so I assume (especially for the mandolin) that they got good at playing exclusively through years of trial and error and fucking around until something worked. Fortunately, when you're immortal, you get a lot of time to practice. They're hoping to learn more instruments in the future, maybe a lyre or a violin but they'll probably need to find someone to teach them that.

[gingersnaptaff]

Arawn headcannons?

Hi, anon!!!! Arawn beloved!!!! God, I love him. I think he's neat and also, anybody who is a fellow dog lover gets brownie points.

Okay, so, Arawn to me is a full-formed God straight out the gate. He doesn't have a family, really unlike say the family of Llŷr and the family of Dôn. He, to me, is similar to Cerridwen and Aerfen in that they make their families because they're vital concepts to the Celts if that makes sense? Like Death (Arawn), Warfare/Fate (Aerfen), and Awen (that's basically like the act of creation in Welsh culture. So Cerridwen's cauldron is the cauldron of Awen. It's roughly translated to inspiration or divine inspiration and it a big deal tbh) are vital things so they took shape pretty quickly. (I'd also say that Amaethon and Gofannon were fully-formed instead of growing up into adulthood but, as can be seen with Dylan Ail Don, gods probably grew into adults like within a day. Like those t-shirts you have to wet so they expand.)

ANYWAYS. He has a wife called Alaw (means melody. It's also the name of a river which features in the Second Branch of the Mabinogion) and she's the deity of said river (I've made that up, but it's cuz Annwfn is associated with water and I was like 'Arawn marries a river deity' to preserve that theme) and, yes, she's the lady who Pwyll has to share a bed with for a year and gets super pissed off when Arawn's like 'BUT BABE WE'VE ALWAYS TALKED' and she's like 'NOT ANYMORE, BITCH, WHERE THE FUCK WERE YOU?!' Anyways, they really do love each other and also they have a daughter called Morwen (sea white) who marries a guy and they have a kid called Alwen (also river name) who gets together with Urien Rheged and Modron in a menage á trois)

Originally, I headcannoned him as like a guy who could shape-shift into a 'black scrap' that was a bit ravenish so he could attack those he hated but he's now more fluid and water-based because of the whole Annwfn deal. Plus, idk a God of death being foreboding because of thr fact he's water-based is scary when you think about it! Water is incredibly destructive and nurturing and Arawn can be both. Like, dude is benevolent in The Mabinogion for the most part but when Pwyll first meets him you as the reader think 'JESUS, MY BOI PENDEFID DYFED'S ABOUT TO BE MURKED' because he just shows up and is like 'U SET UR HOUNDS UPON MY STAG.'

He and Alaw met because Arawn can use any river as pathways to his domain and he was out hunting and thr dogs were like 'A PERSON!!!!' Those dogs meet-cuted their master. He just walks on water with all his hounds behind him like a mini procession whenever they wanna hunt.

He is, as discussed, beesties with the Pwyll fam. I know this, I believe this. If the family of Pwyll has one fan it's me, if the family of Pwyll has a hundred fans I'm one of them, if the fam of Pwyll has no fans I'm dead and typing this from my grave. Pryderi sends Arawn letters CONSTANTLY. Arawn still dines with Pwyll's shade.

Chill guy. Any dog he sees he must pet.

He's very ambivalent about the family of Dôn. Like, Pryderi nearly died because of Gwydion (becauss of the one strike thing. I know it should be over running water, but I think the water would spit Pryderi back out because Arawn Does Not Want Him Dead unlike Hafgan. In my book Pryderi doesn't die because that's my brother in booboo and I LOVE him) and he went to Y Felen Rhyd to retrieve Pryderi's body instead of having Gwyn ap Nudd do it so Pryderi could get treatment from Cerridwen, Taliesin, and a tiny string bean of an Emrys/Myrddin.

He loves poetry. His job comes with the perk of having every poet who has ever died in his hall. Of course Arawn's gonna have poetry read to him every night. He even listens to Alaw read her pierty and she's BANGING AT POETRY. (Basing her on Gwerful Mechain, my absolute beloved. Women absolutely did master the Welsh bardic craft and I wish we had more of their works surviving) He commissions poetry for his and Alaw's wedding and gets Alaw to do it so his court knows how fuckin great his wife is at poetry because he's like 'EVERYBODY PLS LOOK AT MY WIFE OKAY SHUT UP SHE'S PERFORMING'

Is besties with Llŷr who is now, uh, chained up by Euroswydd somewhere in a silver chair (my invention idk how boi is chained up because MYTHS DON'T TELL) in a dungeon away from the sea. Euroswydd doesn't know that Arawn's been sending river water to Llŷr on the down low so he can keep his strength up. Although it's not the sea, Llŷr is endlessly grateful.

Arawn has met Cigfa because Pryderi was like 'u gotta meet my third dad' soon after they were married and basically trekked the poor girl to the Afon Cych and was like 'dw, dw, dw, I'm not a weirdo but I've been telling Arawn all about u' ans she's like THE GOD OF THE FUCKING DEAD?! And this close -> 🤏 to filing for divorce then and there. Fortunately, Arawn was like 'nice to meet u do u wanna meet my dogs and my KICKASS WIFE?' and Cigfa was like 'dogs 🥰🥰🥰'

(What if I told u she walks out of there with two Cŵn Annwfn pups who are only a few days old with the reddest ears and whitest coats? What then?)

The whole Hafgan thing is turned into Annwfn's biggest propaganda spin ever. Arawn is like 'Pwyll and I defeated Hafgan who was legit The Worst.' It's probably like Damnatio Memoriae in that no traces of Hafgan's rule over Y Gwlad y Haf exist. Arawn is absolutely ruthless in that.

Gwyn ap Nudd is Arawn's psychopomp but have you also considered be rules Annwfn whenever Arawn takes a holiday? The Wild Hunt is an exercise for the doggos at this point. Mallt-y-Nos screams because she's excited. (God, I've cutesified Welsh myth. Kill me.)

Anyways, anon hope these are good. Arawn is actually a bit more foreboding in the book. Morrígan's dead clutter his halls, he has a whole run-in with Oisín and Gwyn in a stable before he realises who they are, and murks a load of people. Also, his aura is white and red because of his hounds and also because those are Otherworldy colours.

[multiversetravelingjournalist]

Honkai: Star Rail Path Languages.

I was hit with the idea of an Aeon and Emanators of a path speaking a language unique to that path that might not be found anywhere else in the setting that could be used for Aeon-to-emanator and/or emanator-to-emanator communication and embody that path's philosophy. For Example:

Destruction being made from the remaining fragments of other languages of the speakers who dedicated their lives to this path. In other words, the members' languages get reduced to a specific phrase that is only used in that context alongside of the other phrases from the other languages used in other contexts. Hopefully, this gives the language of Destruction a patchwork feeling similar to how I head-canon the followers and Emanators' aesthetic being similar to Nanook, a kintsugi patchwork/hodge podge of pieces barely held together yet working exactly as needed. There is also the possibility that morphemes in this langauage are incredibly long and use destructive morphology to reduce the word till the inflected form is shorter than the root form. Perhaps the "roots" are composed of other roots all glommed together with subtle differences of meanings depending on how the fragments are arranged before being conjugated.

Propagation being a self-permutating language that changes with each generation of the Swarm that is born. That an individual's language can be used to trace their lineage back in different branches. That all idiolects have different forms based upon which stage of an individual's lifecycle is being perceived and/or experienced. Not to mention that all of them have a metric-ton of derivational systems to allow new words to be created for new concepts the swarm comes across.

Abundance has roots that start out small but then collect morphemes that make the inflected forms even larger the more concepts a speaker wants to express with that word. Like trees, each morpheme has a unique word form when inflected that makes it unique and require memorizing. Perhaps sentences in the Abundance language act like actual trees in that each utterance can branch off other ones and create a fractal of possible sentences and speeches that are somehow spoken at the same time.

That's about it. I don't know if I will also cover the languages of the various planets, species, and/or groups of the setting. Granted, I was tempted to develop Adventurine's people's after reading more about the Avgin on the Wiki. Also, the Trailblazer is able to understand all of these languages... for some reason, lol.

Still, I have always had that drive to create languages for god-like beings and I feel surer of what those languages could be like with the Aeons than anything else. Perhaps expanding this project further could give me insight to making the languages of other such beings from other franchises as well.

Anyways, this is all I have to say for now. I might come back to this. Till then, I will share this with all of you HSR fans and fellow conlangers in the hope that at least one of you would feel inspired enough by these ramblings to expand on it (just link me the ideas when you do).

With all that said, I wish you all a pleasant day. Take care and till next time... ;)

[alltimefail-sims]

https://www.tumblr.com/alltimefail-sims/748883412368179200/i-thought-what-you-said-about-using-granite-falls?source=share where would you put forgotten hallow and glimmerbrook?

Again, not 1:1 here, but I personally imagine Forgotten Hollow would be in a state like Massachusetts/Connecticut/Delaware. I'm a history nerd at heart, and due to the Colony lore surrounding Vlad I can't help but personally headcanon Forgotten Hollow as a part of the original 13 British colonies. Anywhere in here would work:

Knowing what we know about Glimmerbrook, the (alluded to be) original Mesopotamian-adjacent spellcasters, and the accidental invention of vampires, we can confidently say that spellcasters predate their companion occults by a significant margin. Because of this, I see the OG Spellcasters as existing most prominently all over the Eastern part of the world (Europe, Asia, Africa, etc.), but not specifically central to any one area. They've had lots of time to travel and expand their kind for one thing, but also I think magic comes in all different forms and therefore is just accessible to every person/place/culture/ethnicity/etc. You get the idea!

For me, Glimmerbrook has always felt more like a place a lot of spellcasters fled to after the initial magical war, not a place of origin for their occult type. But as for where it is specifically in our real world, I group Glimmerbrook, Windenburg, and Henford together and would palce them all somewhere in central/western Europe!

But again, I don't think Spellcasters as a whole are isolated to one location! In my mind, the "newer" an occult is, the less likely you are to find them outside of their "source location" that houses peers of their same condition. This is why Werewolves, being the newest of the three, are still mainly based in Moonwood Mill and why the oldest and most prominent vampire clans are still located in Forgotten Hollow but do have a few other established clans that have branched out elsewhere (in places like San Myshuno, my NYC adjacent world, for example).

Because spellcasters are just sort of everywhere, I imagine there are well-hidden entrances to the magic realm all over the world and various ways to access the magic relam that don't require you to go to the portal in Glimmerbrook or any portal for thag matter - thus the stone they cary around, for example. Glimmerbrook just happens to have the largest and most obvious entrance because it was really never meant to be there in the first place! The Glimmerbrook portal is the remaining evidence of the spellcasters who had to make a hasty escape in the realm explosion and ultimately created a tear of that size in our world. There was no thought behind the location, the tear was just the result of a quick escape, thus why the location of Glimmerbrook has little to do with how spellcasters behave, speek, look, and so on. This would also explain why no one lives in the magic realm any more, and why Glimmerbrook is so unremarkably magical in its appearance by comparison. Today the Glimmerbrook portal is protected and monitored by the sages and other high ranking "protectors," but by and large Spellcasters have come and gone from Glimmerbrook over the years with no issue and no attachment. Some spellcasters weren't even in the magic realm, nor did they live there, when the explosion happened! Although some families have chosen to stay in order to be closer to the realm's entrance and their family's history to the realm itself, for the most part it was never intended to be a place spellcasters would be forced to stay forever; they don't need to live in Glimmerbrook to find individuals like themselves, as they're all over the world!

I hope that all made sense and that I didn't get too redundant; again I don't want to get into the governances of the magical world that I've made up unless people are really interested haha, so I tried to keep this as short and concise as I could. As always feel free to ask for clarification! Thank you so much for this ask!!! ❤

[practically-an-x-man]

It's another TST and my brain can't focus. So...

please tell me a little about how you make your own mark on canon works for your fanfictions? I know Fanfic writers usually have a lot of the worldbuilding done already, but how much do you shift things around for your stories?

Thank you so much!!!

Talk Shop Tuesday

Oooh, that's a complicated one. It really depends on the story and how much the characters really can impact canon, but it's generally a combination of two things

How the characters I create or include would reasonably interact with the story. They don't know it's a story, it's just life to them, so it makes no sense for them to just be swept along with canon and sit in the background unless there's a reason for them to choose to sit in the background. But at the same time, they don't know what is "canon" and what is "not canon" for the plot, so they can't just change every plot line for the hell of it

How I can expand on the themes that have already been established. This is partly related to the characters, since I create my OCs as tools to expand on those themes, but it also branches out into the rest of canon

Basically, I use canon as a jumping point, and it's rare for me to just change something about canon just because, but I won't shy away from changing the individual scenes or the shape of the story based on how the OCs play into it.

Y'know, like... Night at the Museum gives us a lot of Egyptian mythology, but those themes could still be expanded. Enter Katherine - an artist with ties to Egyptian myth, in a museum where art comes to life under magic powered by Egyptian gods. She is a conduit for the core themes of the movies, and that allows me to use her to dig into those themes without outright rewriting canon from scratch. The third movie still happens even though she's there, but her presence allows me to expand on the connection to Ancient Egyptian lore and legend.

Or Jasper: a nurse with empathic powers, placed into AHS Coven. I admit, those details are intended as a fix-it for Kyle and how he's treated in canon (he's very much neglected after the whole necromancy plot, the show focuses less on his experiences and how difficult those must have been, and more on this weird love triangle between Zoe and Madison), and Jasper being present in the story is going to affect canon, but they don't have the foresight to know that Kyle is going to die or be brought back - they can only react to it when it does happen.

Even with my newest OC, Spider - A Quiet Place is based on how people would have to survive in a world where any noise is deadly, and the canon characters all get around this by being as quiet as possible. So how about a character that reflects not that silence, but the creatures that make that silence dangerous? How about a character that uses sound to his advantage rather that hiding from it? He doesn't control the Death Angels, and he only has a limited level of impact on the decisions other characters may make - but since we've never seen in canon how the creatures react to some of the things Spider will try, I can do a bit of worldbuilding on that front.

I'd say as a whole... I don't really rewrite canon so much as I expand on it. I take the scraps of worldbuilding and symbolism I can see from the original media and just... add my own flair where I can.

And of course, sometimes I come up with plots all from scratch (like Desert Song, Smoke and Mirrors, and most of my oneshots and side pieces), and that's where you can see a bit more of my personal technique with plot and worldbuilding.

[satoshi-mochida]

Kimi ga Nozomu Eien: Enhanced Edition launches October 17 - Gematsu

Romance visual Kimi ga Nozomu Eien: Enhanced Edition will launch for PC via Steam on October 17 with English and Japanese language support, aNCHOR announced.

Kimi ga Nozomu Eien first launched for PC on August 3, 2001. Kimi ga Nozomu Eien: Latest Edition, on which Kimi ga Nozomu Eien: Enhanced Edition is based, launched on March 28, 2008. Kimi ga Nozomu Eien: Enhanced Edition will be the game’s first official English release.

Here is an overview of the game, via its Steam page:

About

Experience the visual novel that shook a generation. Kimi ga Nozomu Eien (The Eternity You Desire) comes to Steam in an enhanced edition, offering a poignant journey through love, loss, and the complexities of human relationships.

A Classic Reborn

First released in 2001, Kimi ga Nozomu Eien quickly became a cornerstone of the visual novel genre, influencing countless stories that followed. Now, everyone can experience this incredible story in English for the first time.

Key Features

Massive Narrative – Immerse yourself in a mature, dramatic storyline that explores the depths of human emotion and the consequences of life-altering decisions.

Unforgettable, Realistic Characters – Connect with a cast of deep, well-developed characters whose growth and relationships evolve throughout the story.

Expanded Content – This definitive edition includes the original game plus three afterstories and a full-length retelling of Chapter 1 with new endings for each heroine. It also includes the the bonus episode Kanashimi wa Kaze no You ni (Sorrow, Like the Wind) from the first edition printing of Kimi ga Nozomu Eien: Latest Edition!

Hours and Hours of Gameplay – Dive into a rich, branching narrative that offers tremendous replay value and multiple endings to discover.

Story

“Time is both the kindest and the cruelest thing… It heals the wounds in my heart, but steals away my love for you.” Choosing one person always means hurting someone else… A realistic love story about a boy who’s growing up. Narumi Takayuki is a young man in his last year at Hakuryo Hiiragi academy. There’s not much time left before he graduates, but he still has no idea what he’s going to do with the rest of his life. He spends his days not doing much of anything in particular, and feeling a vague sense that he’s running out of time. One day, his classmate and female friend Hayase Mitsuki invites him and his buddy, Taira Shinji, to a summer festival. There, she introduces him to a friend of hers, Suzumiya Haruka. Haruka is an extremely shy, introverted girl, and since Mitsuki’s trying hard to make her feel like part of the gang, Takayuki does his best to make her feel comfortable as well. But for some reason, instead of thanking him, she goes out of her way to avoid him. He leaves the festival frustrated and annoyed. Days later, though, Haruka calls him out to the hill behind the school and tells him that she’s in love with him. Knowing how much courage it must have taken a shy girl like her to ask him out, he says finds himself unable to say no. The two begin dating, even though he’s not really interested in her. Just like he predicted, his conversations with her are strained and awkward. But as time passes, the two of them grow closer, and Takayuki finds himself falling in love with her sweet, innocent nature. And then one day…

Additional Information

This work is an all-ages version of the original game based on Kimi ga Nozomu Eien: Latest Edition. As the player, you will take on the role of the protagonist (Takayuki Narumi) and deepen your relationships with the heroines. There are no right or wrong answers to the choices you face, and you’re free to follow the story however you desire. The voice recordings used are from Kimi ga Nozomu Eien Latest Edition and existing consumer versions. We have also updated the menu screens for a more modern experience. This version of the game can be enjoyed by anyone, regardless of whether they’ve played the game before.