#mystic prodigy news

[khlegacynexus]

Aftermath Cover is finally Finished

[ushsblog]

Headcanons and Ideas that Episode “Through the Looking Back Glass” Left Me With

(Long post)

1. Wandless magic

First of all, every time I see the incident scene, I can't help but wonder about the magic without a wand. I mean the part where Child Cedric performs a spell with his bare hands, when he tries to fix Cordelia's hair.

That got me thinking because (and correct me if I'm wrong) I don't have seen another sorcerer or sorceress do magic only with their hands. My headcanon about this is that some wizards, with a long lineage of magic, can do some spells without a wand.

And, well, it makes sense to me knowing that Cedric came from a long line of wizards.

Anyway, I don't know if doing this kind of magic is somewhat advanced for a child. It caught my attention when Child Cordelia says: "But you can't cast a spell like that, Ceddy. You're too young".

And then, Cedric shows her he actually CAN do the spell. That, more than a headcanon, makes me wonder if Cedric was a prodigy in magic before losing his self-confidence due to the incident.

And it makes me a little sad thinking about whether Cedric could have had a brighter future if that incident had never happened.

2. Goodwyn being a terrible father

I always found it so unfair the way everyone treats Child Cedric when the smoke serum failed, and even more so, the way his parents let it happen. I know this doesn't even happen in the episode, but I think it's somewhat implicit that Goodwyn didn't defend or at least comfort Cedric. He doesn't even seem to forgive him for his "mistake."

I mean, if your son accidentally hurts his sister, I understand your anger at first. Maybe saying he shouldn't be playing with things he doesn't know or punishing him for his carelessness, perhaps. But eventually, you should tell him it's fine, that you know it wasn't his intention, right? I don't know, something like that, because despite everything, HE'S A CHILD.

Children make mistakes. Cedric's "mistake" was serious, of course. But I think that, as a father, anyone should not let it grow so much that it becomes social rejection. I don't know if I explain myself. But I mean that the way Goodwyn (and Winnifred) handled the matter was terrible.

This brings me to my idea: something was wrong in that family even before the incident. (Explained more in the later points)

Maybe not as bad as it sounds, but personally, I believe something was happening at least between Goodwyn and Cedric for Goodwyn to act like that. I could also say, my headcanon is that Goodwyn had all his hopes and expectations on Cedric. He was going to be his replacement, the new Royal sorcerer, even if he was a child.

I believe part of the way Goodwyn probably reacts and treats Cedric after the incident (I'm referring to all the scolding and interrupting him, as seen in the Mystic Meadows episode) comes from that idea of him disgracing his legacy. Sorry if it's a very basic idea, but this takes me to another point.

3. Goodwyn shit-talking about Cedric

So, similar to the part before, I think that even before the incident, Goodwyn was very hard on Cedric. For the reasons I explained before, I think Goodwyn put pressure on Cedric to get his spells right and that kind of thing. Because, surely even before everything, Cedric did not meet his expectations.

And one of the reasons I believe this is because of that part when Child Cordelia screams at Cedric during the incident: “This is all your fault.”

Because even if, at that moment, it definitely looked like it was his fault, why was Child Cordelia's first reaction to scream and blame Cedric? Because it's a learned habit.

From nothing more than Goodwyn. A child doesn’t learn alone; they imitate behaviors from their home and environment. He doesn't care to say it in front of Sofia (a girl who shouldn't be involved in it) in that buttercups episode, after all. That’s my headcanon here.

Cordelia saw the way her father scolded Cedric, and then, she learned to do it. The incident was only the trigger, so to speak.

It obviously got worse after the incident.

4. Winnifred and Cordelia Relationship

I know it was such a short scene and maybe the animators didn't want to make a young Winnifred model, but where the fuck was Winnifred during the incident? It's your daughter's big special entrance; shouldn't you be in the front row to see her?

That was just a thought I wanted to share, anyway…

This episode, and others about Cedric’s family, gave me the headcanon that just as Cedric had a bad relationship with his father, Cordelia had it with her mother.

Maybe not as bad as Cedric with Goodwyn, but something like that. Let me explain my thought. When Child Cordelia needs comfort, she doesn't look for her mother; she runs to her father. (Well, yeah, because Winnifred wasn't there, so we don't know if Cordelia could have gone to her instead.)

I think Cordelia and Goodwyn had a better relationship because Winnifred always had a slight preference for Cedric that only grew after the incident. With Goodwyn and Cordelia attacking Cedric, Winnifred may have felt an obligation to be on her son’s side.

That probably would make Child Cordelia feel like her mother is betraying her. I mean, if your mother tries to defend the person that hurt you (that left you bald), you probably feel angry at her.

Even more so when she spends her time saying he's a “great sorcerer” despite everything he did. You live permanently bald because of him, and he's a great sorcerer? That's totally bullshit. (At least, that's what Cordelia must have thought.)

And, as it seems in “Cedric be good,” she also supports him in anything he does. Even when it’s something bad and a legit crime. I just imagine Winnifred defending Child and young Cedric for everything he did, even if, sometimes, it was really his fault. So, in part, that makes me understand Cordelia's anger.

Yeah, I made a headcanon to understand and empathize with Cordelia a little.

So, probably Cordelia got closer to her dad. I also can see them talking shit about Cedric while doing some activity together, lol. It's like their recreational time.

Summary: Cedric is a mommy’s boy and Cordelia is a daddy’s girl. (Is that expression well used? I don't speak English but I have seen some people use it. I'm a little afraid of using the wrong expressions and having something else understood.)

5. Sorceress/ sorcerer balls are a presentation to magical society.

Yep. That's my other headcanon. (And I think it's for any gender)

I belive this because of the other wizards we can see in the background. Again, I know it's because it's probably easier for animators to use the same models of other characters, but let’s leave that aside.

These wizards are the same as in the episode “Hexley Hall” during the song the other familiars sing to Wormwood. These people are academics from Hexley Hall and, apparently, very important people in the world of wizards. (Because of the number of portraits they have around the series and so on.)

I think the ball is a way of presenting the new little wizards who will join the world of sorcery. Also, I think that after 10 years old, is the time they enter Hexley Hall. So, it makes sense for people from Hexley Hall to come to these parties to see their future students and members.

I say it's from the age of ten because in Cedric's flashback in Hexley Hall, he already has white locks. Personally, I think Cedric was 8 or 9 during the incident, and that Cordelia is the older sister. In fact, I thought that was canon until I saw some people disputing it.

Anyway, that only makes Cedric's mistake more significant. Because he, in front of the eyes of the most important people in the magic community, looked like a failure. And maybe that's why he had such a bad reputation in Hexley Hall.

Plus whatever he did in his school years.

Thank you for your time! I would like to know what you think about it. I can't believe how interesting a scene that's less than five minutes long is.

[tmntaucompetition]

As promised here’s the full list of every submission plus the creator! Keep in mind I’m only human and might’ve missed a few AUs. If so, let me know! (This does not mean every au on here is in the competition! Refer to the other two lists for those who are.)

Mystic Prodigy Series - KHLegacyNexus (+ao3)

Rabbit’s Broach - Pigeonsgrame

RatTrap AU - RatTrap tmnt

Uprising Dystopia AU (ROTTMNT) - alexthenerdbird

Uprising (2012) - hypernovasmash

Down with the Stockholm - devotedtoasadpoetry

Donnie Disaster - 5ilent5ilence

Until I Found You - PhoebePheebsPhibs

Little Subjects - AllyHeart707

Snapdragon - bluesgras

Remember Forever - uncannyAlien (ao3)

Totpocalypse - pastadorable

Warriors Heart - PeanutRat20

Gemini AU - tangledinink

Kid Leo - Angelpuns

Mama’s Boys - honey_rye

Feral Casey - azucar-skull

Lone Turtle and Hunter - MidnightCreator12 (+ao3)

We ran out of rats - breadle_doodles and sheltered-uno

Tmnt search for our colors - breadle_doodles

Minor interference - bambiraptorx (+ao3)

Rita’s AU - ProbablyNotARutabaga

Catch You - mudlurkspur (ao3)

Spikerangleo - Sweeenydino

Sorry I’m Late - GeminiForest

Kendratello childhood - zeawesomeness

Kendra tells Childhood AU - AlleyHeart707

Empyrean Weeping - cupcakeslushie

Open your shell to find - Onejellyfishplease

The lemonade leak - turtleinsoup

Fears embrace - Karonkar and OwlieDoesNothing

Their memories - 3mutantsinatrenchcoat

The last ronin becomes a discord admin - MelonPaloonza

Lost and found - LilliputianDuckling (ao3)

Two souls - virgilsspidey

Jacob’s Ladder - Tapakah0

Happily ever after - Phykoha

Ghost in the shell - amevello-blue (+ao3)

Of mutants, mystics, and magic - clanofjones (sideblog: of-mutants-mystics–and-magic)

Rise of the parallel - Indieyuugure

The mutation situation - Indieyuugure

Quilt au - Cokowee

Difference (2012) - NeptuneIsaPlanet (ao3)

The colors of yesterday - boots-with-the-fur

Tmnt greyscale - broken-slime-boi

Good genes 2012 - lordshroom

Two shades of blue a new timeline - Leon/Blue

Aberration - ProbablyNotARutabaga

I’m sorry teenage mutant what now? - tangledinink

TMNT stabilize - tangledinink

Slice of life – Theawesomeninja_XD (+ao3)

Memories - Theawesomeninja_XD (+ao3)

Miraculous hamato - Theawesomeninja_XD (+ao3)

Twin-Sync (More than you think) - little-banjo-frog

Snapper and stinkpot - Paytato435

Blood Orange Multiverse - JadeClementine, Mylenapony11, Cherry-Blossom-Consumer

Teenage turtle ninja mutants - idiot-mushroom

Revelations Timeline - idk-im-just-here-now (+ao3)

Through your hollow bones - idiot-mushroom

Age Gap - pezhead

The Lonely Buzz in Blue - Overthinkingbluesparks (+ao3)

Flowers amongst ashes - Spacemimz

TMNT Reticent - tmnt-reticent

Tabletop turtles - caffetato-the-caffinated-potato

Who rescued who - shardkn1ght

Purple squared - debb987 and bluepeachstudios

Michelangalone - error-code400

TMNT Street punks - Sir Concon (DeviantArt previously, Instagram currently)

Wrong home - Demonwitchcat (TikTok)

Subnautica leon au - havendoesthings

Space pirate leon au - havendoesthings

Pacific turtles - FantasiaWandering (ao3)

Snapdonnie - Onejellyfishplease

TMNA (Tortugas Mutantes Ninja Adolescents) - matuito

Prime Leo - Darth Sonny

Onryo leo - Aquariumgirls (+ao3)

Lost in the pink mist - lost-in-the-pink-mist

Hues of mystic neon - Overthinkingbluesparks (+ao3)

The Neon void - sugarpastelTMNT (+Twitter)

TMNT but warrior cats - Fireheartfan

Reptile rampage - lexa-ocean

What once was calm - lucatea

Soulmates (evil) – error-core-animations (Oofiescreams - ao3)

The somber sunrise - Mocha_Mochaccino (ao3)

Sorrow is an autumn heart - Srloc_Elbisivni (ao3)

Replica - Kathaynesart

Mitosis - Varian_dislikes_cheese (ao3)

Vengeance is yours - that_one_dork (+ao3)

The likeness of mirrored souls - enthblaze and omgselinabeckendorf

Future!rise mandalorian - TinyP3ncil (+Twitter)

The employees - theemployees

Hello, Clairvoyant? - cogentsummoner (+ao3)

When the world crumbles - tmnt-obessesed-ace

Same story different font - tmnt-obsessed-ace

Non-canonical chronicles - tritailed-shenanigans

The cupboard game - pianokantzart (mollykittykat - ao3)

Sidelined au - Dandylovesturtles

100 feet and a world away - Dandylovesturtles

Villain leo – villainleoau

Bloom from oblivion - Aliteraladhdmess

2012 sep au - Jaydrawsdoodles

Scraps - Skrapadoodlez

Magic au - Vaudeville-Moggie

TMNT unified - Bellaizumi13

Surp-Rise! - TheWritingDork (what_in_the - ao3)

Shades of purple - the_lavender_clown (+TikTok)

Never better - less-depresso-more-espresso

TMT Croc pot - less-depresso-more-espresso

Multiple red masks - Insane_lollypop

Eclipse - G0LD_Tea (Twitter)

Mama’s Wishes - Bucketofbugz

Twins Stick Together - YourGlitchedFandom (ao3)

The last something that meant to me - kinky-asexual

Forgive me - reagi-df

Rottmnt x TADC - insane-ace

Teenage Mutant Meddling Turtles - kaysdenofchaos

Ghost au - Melliedoodles

Difference between the appearance - jasminegazer

Bayverse rewrite - ragathaempanda

Feral leo - cupcakeslushie

Feral Leo (2012) - Tmntforeverinmyheart

Just this once everybody lives - TheDragonTribes (ao3)

The rift - Mathclassd00dles

Multi-Mutant Verse - MerakiMagic

Guess i’ve been disarmed - PhoenixDeleted (+ao3)

The Little Prince - Beannary

Same as it never will be - Hecktail

Is this right - cruilty-ink

Turtles all the way down - Pommigranite

Call me here I will appear - callmehere-iwillappear (rbt_lvr - ao3)

Firefight au - remedyturtles (remrose - ao3)

Death wish - remedyturtles (remrose - ao3)

Strawberry skys - frogandbird

Swanatello - tangledinink

Finding home - sad-leon

Once more, with feeling - oncemorewithfeeling

Causa scienta - urlocalllama (ao3)

Tmnt 04 - koolaidashley

DNAngel - blye-flower

Spider-lily au - tinker-the-dragon

No crime only brooches - olliethescribe

Villain PB and J duo - onionninjasstuff

Size upgrade - twin-disaster-tutel-brainrot

Know peace - less-depresso-more-espresso

Childhood dreams - chaos-potat

Wow, what a coincidence - Mathmusic8 (ao3)

Monophobia - MarukisSnack

Little Scraps of Wisdom - spectralsleuth

Mystic Malfunction - VanillaVengeance (ao3)

Softshell in human clothing - HoonHarpoon (ao3)

Puppet tightly strung - clairakitty (ao3)

Even more a disaster - 3lectricinsomnia and teaableu (mainblog: evenmoreofadisaster)

Red rover - Red-Rover-AU

Old soul - Delicatechildwitch

Camp hamato - P0t3n1al

Ktech - dontfindmeimscared

The sky is still red - cartoonhostage

At my worst - teainthesnow

No fun in fungus - boots-with-the-fur

August’s au - star-sparkler

Years we’ve lost - reagi-df (Reagy_jay - ao3)

Hueso raised leo - shardkn1ght

Remnant au - SelinaBeckendorf

Alt ninpo au - azure-fl0wers

Bad end ninja turtles - butterfilledpockets

Teetlez-verse - shiveagit

The girl who was once human - YourGlitchedFandom

Killer donnie - Yumeleo

wanderer - vangh17a

Live life - centerofleesmind

Twinpathy - vangh17a and centerofleesmind (mainblog: twinpathy)

Wouldn’t it be easier - 12Muffinz

Portal baby - Quartergremlin

Clarification - Quartergremlin

Caseys high school disaster era - Quartergremlin

Teenage mutant neglected turtles - nerves-nebula

Krang infection - Abbeyofcyn

Mutant Menace - 3m0n3rd

One turtle short of a lair - bucketofbugz (+ao3)

Remember your mission - Srae13 (+ao3)

Two arms left - intotheeliwoods

Rise rodeo - wanderinguteruspress

Dadatello - dadatello

Tlr rise - x bluebell (TikTok)

True colors - V-albion

TMNT 1999 - ezguple

Five Nights at the Mad Dogs - cj-can-art

2000s au - Youtube (???)

Mutinis - mutinau

Same as it never was – Kittynumyumm

Dee-evolution au - cnwolf-brainrot

The dragon on 5th ave - Lavender_Chaos (ao3)

Please Don’t Leave I Need You - TownFowl (ao3)

Battle scars - kaysdenofchaos

Blood is thicker than ooze - Linkymew

Loyalty leash - Nicoforlife (ao3)

Little brother au - Sharkfinn

Spider’s web - blue-star-doodles

Multidimensional turtles - multi-dimensional-turtles

Raised by the capybara au - rube-tmntluver and auggie-arts

Minecraft isekai - calebscornerofart

Ronin plural au – cpunkhobie

We’ll go from there - koolaidashley

Universes - XxLea_nardoxX

Honor bound - Terrazooid

New home au - clovers-super-cool-ask-blog

Crusade of a lonely turtle - revitalizationrat

Mustachello - revitalizationrat

Little warrior - NovelistServant (ao3)

TMNT x Sonic the Hedgehog - theelvishfiddeler

Aftermath - Happyfoxx-art

August and papatello au - Star-Sparkler

Her inspiration - Onejellyfishplease

Memories of a tyrant - Idk_im_just_here_now

TMNT Pokemon au - rubie-tmntluver

Bad end friends x tmnt - Landon Discher

Tmnt masa - Masadesign

Separated leo au - dianagj-art

Sewer punks - kettle-bird

Rottmnt ghost au – melliedoodles

Its not always the rabbit that takes a wrong turn (Dimension Hopper Leo AU) - nights-flying-fox (nightsfox - ao3)

Snapper lou au - Kittynomore

Reboot: a second chance - donniesbrows

Tmnt foodie au - Sleepis4theweak

But first they must catch you - mudlarkspur (+ao3)

Mirror maze au - idk-im-just-here-now

Omniverse - glitter-alienz

Life goes on - Andromeda_Galaxy2877 (ao3)

The unicorn paradox – Mushangaa

Starblind - WeirdNCrazy (ao3)

Prison leo au - Turtleblogatlast

Tiz sep au - Tizeline

Mutanimatronics - patate.frenchie (TokTok)

Not quite kintsugi, but close - terveneula

There must be something in the water - Filsamek (ao3)

Once upon a turtle - Metalshootingstar

Hunger games - daboyau

Fireflght - dandylovesturles

Tmnt chicago style - its-captain-sir

Tmnt shen and the lesbian league - genderfluid-envy

Broken trifecta - genderfluid-envy

Prodigy AU - koolaidashley

Leomori - koolaidashley

Four knights - lactoseintolerantswag

Leaves from the vine au - Cheetochild989

The extracurriculars - Nameissmile

Unfamiliar Familiar - Torable (ao3)

Goosey Leo au - GooseyLeo

A ninjas life for me - Triona-tribblescore

Grown apart - Chriscribbs

Turtle torchwood - Kiaxet

[book--brackets]

Note: Good Omens is by both Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, it just doesn't fit in the character limit lol

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (2011)

The circus arrives without warning. No announcement precedes it, no paper notices plastered on lampposts and billboards. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not.

Within these nocturnal black-and-white-striped tents awaits an utterly unquie experience, a feast did the senses, where no one can be lost in a maze of clouds, meander through a lush garden muse of ice, stare in wonderment as the tattooed contortionist folds herself into a small glass box, and become deliciously tipsy from the scents of caramel and cinnamon that waft through the air.

Welcome to Le Cirque des Rêvez.

Beyond the smoke and mirrors, however, a fierce competition is under way—a contest between two young illusionists, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood to compete in a “game” to which they have been irrevocably bound by their mercurial masters. Unbeknownst to the players, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battles of imagination and will.

As the circus travels around the world, the feats of magic gain fantastical new heights with every stop. The game is well under way and the lives of all those involved—the eccentric circus owner, the elusive contortionist, the mystical fortune-teller, and a pair of red-haired twins born backstage among them—are swept up in a wake of spells and charms.

But when Celia discovers Marco is her adversary, they begin to think of the game not as a competition but as a wonderful collaboration. With no knowledge of how the game must end, they innocently tumble headfirst into love. A deep, passionate, and magical love that makes the light flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.

Their masters still pull the strings, however, and this unforeseen occurrence forces them to intervene with dangerous consequences, leaving the lives of everyone from the performers to the patrons hanging in the balance.

The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss (2007-present)

My name is Kvothe.   I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep.   You may have heard of me.

So begins a tale unequaled in fantasy literature--the story of a hero told in his own voice. It is a tale of sorrow, a tale of survival, a tale of one man's search for meaning in his universe, and how that search, and the indomitable will that drove it, gave birth to a legend.

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo (2015-2016)

Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can’t pull it off alone. . . .

A convict with a thirst for revenge A sharpshooter who can’t walk away from a wager A runaway with a privileged past A spy known as the Wraith A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes

Kaz’s crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction—if they don’t kill each other first.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman (2001)

Days before his release from prison, Shadow's wife, Laura, dies in a mysterious car crash. Numbly, he makes his way back home. On the plane, he encounters the enigmatic Mr Wednesday, who claims to be a refugee from a distant war, a former god and the king of America.

Together they embark on a profoundly strange journey across the heart of the USA, whilst all around them a storm of preternatural and epic proportions threatens to break.

Scary, gripping and deeply unsettling, American Gods takes a long, hard look into the soul of America. You'll be surprised by what - and who - it finds there...

The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer (2012-2015)

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth's fate hinges on one girl. . . . 

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She's a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister's illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai's, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world's future. 

The Princess Bride by William Goldman (1973)

Westley ... handsome farm boy who risks death and much, much worse for the woman he loves; Inigo ... the Spanish swordsman who lives only to avenge his father's death; Fezzik ... the Turk, the gentlest giant ever to have uprooted a tree with his bare hands; Vizzini ... the evil Sicilian, with a mind so keen he's foiled by his own perfect logic; Prince Humperdinck ... the eviler ruler of Guilder, who has an equally insatiable thirst for war and the beauteous Buttercup; Count Rugen ... the evilest man of all, who thrives on the excruciating pain of others; Miracle Max ... the King's ex-Miracle Man, who can raise the dead (kind of); The Dread Pirate Roberts ... supreme looter and plunderer of the high seas; and, of course, Buttercup ... the princess bride, the most perfect, beautiful woman in the history of the world.

S. Morgenstern's timeless tale--discovered and wonderfully abridged by William Goldman--pits country against country, good against evil, love against hate. From the Cliffs of Insanity through the Fire Swamp and down into the Zoo of Death, this incredible journey and brilliant tale is peppered with strange beasties both monstrous and gentle, and memorable surprises both terrible and sublime.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl (1964)

Willy Wonka's famous chocolate factory is opening at last!

But only five lucky children will be allowed inside. And the winners are: Augustus Gloop, an enormously fat boy whose hobby is eating; Veruca Salt, a spoiled-rotten brat whose parents are wrapped around her little finger; Violet Beauregarde, a dim-witted gum-chewer with the fastest jaws around; Mike Teavee, a toy pistol-toting gangster-in-training who is obsessed with television; and Charlie Bucket, Our Hero, a boy who is honest and kind, brave and true, and good and ready for the wildest time of his life! 

The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare (2010-2013)

Magic is dangerous--but love is more dangerous still. 

When sixteen-year-old Tessa Gray crosses the ocean to find her brother, her destination is England, the time is the reign of Queen Victoria, and something terrifying is waiting for her in London's Downworld, where vampires, warlocks and other supernatural folk stalk the gaslit streets. Only the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the world of demons, keep order amidst the chaos. 

Kidnapped by the mysterious Dark Sisters, members of a secret organization called The Pandemonium Club, Tessa soon learns that she herself is a Downworlder with a rare ability: the power to transform, at will, into another person. What's more, the Magister, the shadowy figure who runs the Club, will stop at nothing to claim Tessa's power for his own. 

Friendless and hunted, Tessa takes refuge with the Shadowhunters of the London Institute, who swear to find her brother if she will use her power to help them. She soon finds herself fascinated by--and torn between--two best friends: James, whose fragile beauty hides a deadly secret, and blue-eyed Will, whose caustic wit and volatile moods keep everyone in his life at arm's length . . . everyone, that is, but Tessa. As their search draws them deep into the heart of an arcane plot that threatens to destroy the Shadowhunters, Tessa realizes that she may need to choose between saving her brother and helping her new friends save the world. . . . and that love may be the most dangerous magic of all.

Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman (1990)

The world is preparing to come to an end according to the Divine Plan recorded in the Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch (recorded 1655). Meanwhile, a fussy angel and a fast-living demon have grown fond of living among the earth's mortals for many millennia and are not looking forward to the apocalypse. If Crowley and Aziraphale are going to stop it from happening, they must find and kill the Antichrist.

Coraline by Neil Gaiman (2002)

In Coraline's family's new flat there's a locked door. On the other side is a brick wall—until Coraline unlocks the door . . . and finds a passage to another flat in another house just like her own. Only different.

The food is better there. Books have pictures that writhe and crawl and shimmer. And there's another mother and father there who want Coraline to be their little girl. They want to change her and keep her with them. . . . Forever.

[selfaware-bungou-stray-dogs]

I have a question

What does BEAST!BSD cast call GL? If you don't have an idea set for that yet, feel free to ignore.

- 🃏 anon

BEAST! Cast's nicknames (and comparison with OG! BSD nicknames)

Universal - Light of hope/Guiding Light (Guiding Light)

Reason: Self-awareness and Reader helped BEAST! Dazai (because now he was sure, that Oda won't die). So, he demanded for Port Mafia calling Reader that. Others equally use Light of hope and Guiding Light.

For OG! BSD Cast Guiding Light were explained here (in point 2).

And to characters nicknames.

____________

Armed Detective Agency

BEAST! Akutagawa - Sunshine (Sparkle)

Reason: Both Akutagawas will deny it, but they adored Little Light, so they choose light related nicknames.

BEAST! Oda - Muse (Novel Luck)

Reason: Writer-themed nicknames.

BEAST! Kunikida - Perfection (Ideal)

Reason: Reader became a Perfection/Reachable Ideal for both Kunikidas, while they tried to deal with the fact, that they were fictional.

BEAST! Yosano - Suama (Dango)

Reason: Both Suama and Dango are Japanese desserts/sweets. And both Yosanos think that Reader are sweet and nice.

BEAST! Tanizaki - Mystic (Rice Cracker)

Reason: For BEAST! - from Tanizaki's Illusion. For OG- from Tanizaki's love of Chinese food. With a bit of "me" lore, ever since I was little I loved Chinese rice crackers. I still love them.

BEAST! Ranpo - Trusted Assistant (Best Assistant)

Reason: Both Ranpos see Reader as their future assistant.

BEAST! Fukuzawa - Purrfect (Kitten)

Reason: Cat lovers

Port Mafia

BEAST! Dazai - Eranthis Flower (Iris Flower)

Reason: here and here

BEAST! Chuuya - Melody (Symphony)

Reason: From Chuuyas' love of music.

BEAST! Atsushi - Chamy (Beacon)

Reason: For BEAST! - From Atsushi's love of chameleons.

For OG! - The first week of self-awareness, that OG! Atsushi has to live alone in a fictional world, surrounded by empty husks of his friends were a pure torture for Atsushi. But, when he learned, that Reader were here, despite him not feeling their gaze, Reader immediately became a "beacon" for him. Because, he wasn't really alone.

BEAST! Gin - Cloud (Tea Leave)

Reason: Came from the fact, that Reader's presence is calming for Ryunosuke. While BEAST! Gin simply use something soft, OG! Gin use her and her brother's favorite drink.

BEAST! Higuchi - Pumpkin (Honey)

Reason: Higuchis are more "traditionally romantic" and picked up traditional nicknames.

BEAST! Tachihara - Pencil Prodigy (Hyacinth)

Reason: From Tachihara's likes (pencils and hyacinths).

Government

BEAST! Ango - Butterfly (Almond blossom)

Reason: Both Butterfly and Almond blossoms are symbols of hope.

Angos were in hacker teams, reason for BSD Cast having an access to Reader's phone. For BEAST! Ango Reader became a symbol of hope for a new world. For OG! Ango Reader became a hope for a new life and repairing of old friendship.

Others

BEAST! Fyodor - Myshka (Myshonok)

Reason: BEAST! also called Reader Myshonok, but, after a long talk/near fight with OG, he agreed to call Reader Myshka instead. The difference:

Myshonok is baby mouse in Russian.

Myshka is an "affectionate" form of the word "mouse".

BEAST! Shibusawa - Green peridot (dragon's jewel)

Reason: Green Peridot stone is a symbol of strength, creativity, vibrance, energy, and a naturally curious nature. BEAST! Shibusawa, who didn't become a singularity, saw Reader as someone interesting.

OG! Shibusawa view Reader not only as interesting, but the most valuable jewel in his "collection" [of people he knew].

BEAST! Mori - Helping Heart (Sweet Bean)

Reason: For BEAST! - medical themed

For OG! - from him liking sweet red bean chazuke

[vonpharma]

w[h]ip wednesday: blocked by sicktember edition

welcome to whip wednesday! did you know the sicktember mods blocked me despite me being an avid fan of theirs for years, contributing 60 works and over 190k words, and hyping up their event in my social circles the whole time? i still do not know why this happened! i am pretty sure it's because i posted some very lukewarm critique about how the event was being run, on my personal blog where they had to go digging to find it.

i'm obviously heartbroken and pretty stressed about that but i've got a whole spreadsheet of planning done and a shit ton of fills ready to go so whatever. highly recommend not supporting the event this year or for the foreseeable future (there's talks of a new mod. if you're reading this, wanna unblock me?) because i'm starting to think the event runners might just be mean!

do, however, lavish me with praise. i will be writing sickfic until the end of the fucking universe, and when the new sickfic event makes their grand debut i will be kissing their feet.

here's some franmaya from my day 4!

With a confirmation of their reservation—curious, Franziska’s twisting expression seems to say, why would one need a reservation for a botanical garden?—the single employee standing stationary heaves the lock off the gates. They part as if heralding the arrival of something far grander than two young prodigies celebrating an anniversary—not even a proper one, something far more juvenile. Still, Maya feels nothing short of royal as she’s entering the sprawling, lush grounds—and the wonder sewn into every square of Franziska’s face tells her she’s not alone.

“Maya,” Franziska says, wandering toward the boundless stretch of camellia bushes, “what did you… the whole place is…”

“Empty?” Maya grins. “Yeah, happy anniversary, babe. Go wild.”

And Franziska looks at her like she’s hung the stars. How long Maya has waited for that look.

Because Franziska is rich. Loaded, even. There was so little you could buy for the woman who could buy herself anything, especially on Maya’s comparatively meager income. Her only saving grace was in the fact that Franziska was a workaholic to a fault who rarely thought of leisure, or pleasure, or earthly desires—so much so that the religious acolyte from the mountain commune was somehow less detached from those pleasures than she. Maya couldn’t often pay, but she could conceptualize.

This time, though. A year’s worth of saving, and planning, and praying… and finally, with all her ducks in a line, Maya was able to find a gift befitting of the wonderful creature who’d allowed her a space in their shared life. A few hours in the moonlight, wandering around the emerald sprawl of the biggest botanical garden in all of SoCal, with no one to bother them but the bugs chirping in the thicket.

A Franziskan paradise. A perfect night. Or it would be, if not for…

Another muffled sneeze escapes into the collar of her winter jacket, and it takes all of Maya’s willpower not to groan in sore irritation on the tail end of it. They’re starting to hurt, now, barreling through her with little regard for the shredded state of her throat or the date with the pretty girl she is currently trying to go on. It’s been relentless ever since last night, and Maya had hoped and prayed to Mystic Ami herself that she not be sick on her two-year anniversary that she’d spent ages arranging. As fate would have it, though, even Mystic Ami could not cure the common cold.

(Despite what the dusty tomes buried in the archives back home said….)

Luckily, even overdoting Franziska seems far too distracted right about now to notice that’s what’s happening. If this were any other situation, Maya’s sure Franziska’s searing blues would lock onto her like a vulture that’s just spotted a bloating corpse. Thankfully, the flowers are very distracting.

“It’s all…” Franziska is powerwalking from bush to bush in an erratic, excitable zigzag. “Maya Fey, is this whole garden nothing but camellias?”

“I dunno babe,” Maya sniffles once, twice, “you’re the expert. You tell me.”

Coming to a slow halt, Franziska allows herself to look out across the expanse—flowers as far as the eye can see, still in full bloom despite the bite of winter. In all colours, in all sizes, lit only by the far-off insomnia of the city, the moonlight peeking through the cloudy skies.

“I just—” Franziska turns back to Maya, glowing brightest of all, “—can’t believe the variety here, look at all this…”

Maya wanders closer to her side, feeling sunlit despite the chills that are quickly growing harder to ignore. Franziska kneels down to graze a gloved thumb across a velvety red petal, and Maya squats far less elegantly beside her, tilting her head awkwardly back in an attempt to keep her nose from running. 

“I can’t believe it,” Franziska marvels, “Maya, this is quite literally a historical specimen. You’ve brought me to the home of the oldest camellia in all of Southern California.”

“Yo, for real?” Maya stares at the flower, completely unremarkable to her own untrained eye. “Did this bitch know the dinosaurs?”

“No, nothing like that…” Franziska chuckles, continuing to cradle the flower in her hands as though it is the most precious thing in the world. “They’re Asian in origin. This one in particular is one of a kind, having traveled here from Japan in the 1800s.”

“Woah. Just like me for real.”

As she says it, Maya presses her cheek against Franziska’s own, that brand of endearing obnoxiousness that the two of them loved so much. Their hair bunches and tangles in between them, but Franziska leans into her beloved rather than away.

“I didn’t know winter flowers were a thing,” Maya lies, prompting her girlfriend to spring back to her feet, gesticulating vastly and passionately with her arms. 

“Oh, they’re some of the loveliest flowers in existence!” God, she’s so cute when she’s infodumping. “Camellias are some of my favourite of all, in fact I’d even heard of the breadth of this collection of them before coming to the states! It’s comprehensive reputation is largely the work of a single German botanist who traveled here in 1878, so naturally I was already in the know…”

Ever the savant, she carries on. Maya thinks she could listen to a phonebook being read, so long as it was drenched in Franziska’s wonderful, captivating, rounded accent.

[tobiasdrake]

(Re: The Ginyu Post) 1. If Ginyu had only ever body changed with other mutants, then that might explain why he hadn't encountered the same problem he did with Goku. Goku's power requires a lot more skill to access. 2. Not really relevent to anything but I just want to note that we also see someone who may be a Namekian Mutant: Nail, who Friexa clocks at about 42,000. Though he's also the personal guard of the Grand elder, so it's also possible he reaped the benefits of unlocked potential like Krillin did

Yeah, Nail is pretty amazing for such a short-lived character.

Vegeta should be grateful that the Ginyus showed up because this was probably about to end badly for him.

Jeice's line here has been through some fixing. The original version had him astonishedly reading that Vegeta's battle power is coming up to 20k. This, of course, doesn't seem that impressive since he was said to have been 18k on Earth and, in fact, read at 24k earlier in this very arc.

The line was later revised to set Vegeta's current BP at 30k, following his zenkai from Zarbon.

Viz hedges their bets here by using the original 20k number, but adding "And still rising!" Which is still kinda janky because now Burter's reacting with astonishment to an explicitly lowball estimate of Vegeta's ki.

Either way, uh.

Yeah, if Vegeta had succeeded in starting shit back there, he was about to find out real fast and in a hurry why you don't fuck with the Grand Elder's bodyguard. Nail was about to happen to Vegeta in very much the same way that Recoome later did.

Pictured: An approximate estimation of what Vegeta didn't realize he was volunteering for back at Saichoro's home.

It is a pretty popular theory that the reason Nail is this powerful is because he's already had his dormant power drawn out by Saichoro. It is the logical conclusion. Saichoro can draw out a person's dormant ability from someone and there doesn't seem to be any reason he wouldn't do that for his personal bodyguard and attendant. He does it for Krillin, Gohan, and even Dende.

This is never confirmed nor refuted in the manga. The only explanation ever offered for Nail's power is that he's Senshi Taipu or a "Warrior-Type Namekian". This sets him apart from those earlier 3k BP Namekian fighters, as Saichoro notes that he's the only Senshi Taipu on Namek.

Viz says "true warrior" in place of Senshi Taipu which is kind of a slap in the face to those other guys. Now it just sounds like he's shit-talking the dead. Rude.

But the idea is that Senshi Taipu is the other special class of Namekian. The other being Ryuzoku or "Dragon Clan", the sorts of Namekian mystics who do things like create Dragon Balls. The Nameless Namekian was Ryuzoku - and a prodigy Ryuzoku, at that.

It's weird to me that one is a "Taipu" and the other is a "-zoku". We have Ryuzoku, the corrupted Mazoku, and Senshi Taipu. Why isn't that one a -zoku? But I digress.

Something interesting to note about this is that it retroactively implies explanation for how Piccolo was able to reincarnate himself stronger.

"He broke off a piece of himself that's even more powerful than he is because, uh, of reasons." Kind of a weird thing for him to be able to do, right? Why doesn't our Piccolo ever spit out an egg and make Piccolo III who's 8x more powerful than Piccolo? If spawning copies of himself that are superior to the original is a thing he can do then that implies some brand new options.

The Namek arc implies some explanations. During the Frieza battle, Dende explains to Piccolo that he's Senshi Taipu, so he can't learn mystical arts like healing magic.

But the Nameless Namekian and by extension God and PIccolo were Ryuzoku like Dende. So the implied retroactive explanation for how Piccolo was able to make his new self more powerful is because he reincarnated as Senshi Taipu, trading in the mystical package for pure battle power.

[wolfcubx2]

Until eternity ends

The Fountain of Youth - a beautiful clear mystic pool that can grant eternal life. A single priceless existence or a least that is what most believe. The True fountain of youth is not a singular existence and it most definitely has a price. Every Fountain has their curse.

One the curse of insanity.

One the curse of need.

Another the curse of blood.

A millennia ago a war was fought for one such existence. A millennia ago it's once clear waters bled crimson, and the land around filled with a perpetual resentment.

An age ago a young man was thrown in to this mound of resentment. Bathed in a power no other had controlled before, his mind on empathy instead of domination he drank from this cursed pool. In this he found both death and immortality.. he became a progenitor of a new race.

This is the story of the Yiling Wei Sect, of the Yiling Patriarch (Guāngyǐng-Mo.. Wei Wuxian) and his Husband the immortal Hanguang-jun (Lan Wangji).

Lan Wangji was the prodigie of the Lan Sect, one of it's precious jades, someone who knew the precepts of his ancestors by heart. In fact as a child he had spent many hours reciteing them. That was why he was absolutely certain he was breaking at least seven of those rules currently, most involving the invasion of another's privacy... the last having to do with the fact that he was technically running.

'But that is something that can not be helped',..

Or at least that was what Lan Wangji was telling himself. He was only following Wei Ying out of concern for his heath.

The day Lan Wangji and Jiang Wanyin had found Wei Wuxian, he had been all to thin and deathly pale. In the months since his return his condition had barely improved and in the recent days it seemed to have worsened. Which was why when Lan Wangji saw Wei Ying running into the forest outside of camp, he could not help but follow.

"*gag*"

By the time Lan Wangji caught up with Wei Wuxian, he was clinging to the side of a tree gaging and coughing up the small amount of food Lan Wangji had seen him eat that night. The thought flashed in his mind that this was likely an effect of the other's use of resentment, but he shook it off. Wei Ying's health was more important right now and he could not afford to fight with him if he had taken ill.

"Wei Ying."

Lan Wangji voice seemed to startle the other as he jumped backwards stumbling. Wei Wuxian would have crumbled to the ground completely had Lan Wangji not rushed forward to catch him.

"Lan zhan..?"

Wei Wuxian was freezing to the touch and his eyes unfocused in a way that reminded Lan Wangji all to keenly of his fever after their fight with the Xuanwu of Slaughter. It was worse than he had thought,..

"Wei Ying... "

"Lan Zhan your so.. warm."

The younger seemed almost dazed by their contact. It was almost ironic considering how he had acted in the past.

"Mn"

Lan Wangji adjusted the other in his arms as he made to stand, he would take Wei Ying to the healers immediately. However as he made to transfer him some of his spiritual energy he froze. Dread suddenly coursed through his veins, thoughts filling his mind were almost to much to bear.

'Was I to late?'

He felt sick... had his inability to express himself... Had he let his beloved ruin himself in his- it took everything in Lan Wangji to look down.

"Wei.. Ying"

But Wei Ying was staring back at him, mercury eyes watched Lan Wangji with the same emotions he felt. Then suddenly everything made a terrible sort of sense. Wei Ying had always been so sure he could pay any price that would come his new cultivation... but how could one be so sure..how could he be so sure unless... the price had already been paid.

"Hey Lan Zhan... can you put me down?"

Lan Wangji nodded and did as he was asked his mind realing.

"Wei Ying .. wha-"

The sentence stuck in his throat. In response Wei Wuxian let out a somewhat bitter laugh one hand coming up to rub his arm.

"I think you already know the answer to that, Lan Zhan."

Lan Wangji felt his heart sink, he didn't want to believe it, but how could he not when the proof was so obvious, so blaringly right infront of him in the shape of his beloved.

"Wei Ying"

There was a almost relived look on Wei Wuxian face. His grey eyes flickered over him, gauging him as he spoke.

"I always sort of figured it would be you, I mean you're you Lan Zhan and.. you'll make it quick right?.. *oh uh* if you want it to stick you should probably behead me so... *ah haha*."

Lan Wangji couldn't believe what he was hearing, what he was being asked to do. His mind felt muddled as he tried to processed everything. It hurt that Wei Ying would expect this of him.

"Will not kill Wei Ying."

He watched as a bit of hope flashed in the younger's silver eyes before Wei Ying's face darken and he gave another of those self-deprecating laughs.

"Right.. of course even if you do hate me, I'm a necessary tool for the campaign."

The words all but slapped Lan Wangji.

"Do not hate Wei Ying.. if- does"

Lan Wangji could not bring himself to finish the sentence, he promised himself that he would not let Wei Ying suffer, but only.. only if it was what the other truly wanted and that he would follow. On the other hand Wei Wuxian seemed frozen in shock.

"You don't? "

The question was quiet and hopeful but before Lan Wangji could answer Wei Wuxian came to his own conclusions.

"Ah right there was a rule about that wasn't there."

Wei Ying was correct but Lan Wangji couldn't help but dispises the way that caused the other to wilt.

"Not a Rule, like Wei Ying."

Wei Wuxian brighten immediately and as much as the sight brought Lan Wangji joy it also hurt knowing that was it took to bring light back to his beloved. This was something he should have done months ago, but instead he.. he was being stubborn. In his worry Lan Wangji had never stopped to question why the other would go down such a path, because of that he had added to the suffering Wei Ying's condition and secret caused.

"Wei Ying I-!!!"

Lan Wangji's words once again caught in his throat, as he watched Wei Wuxian doubled over in pain. How could he think of anything else when his love was still clearly suffering.

"Wei Ying what is wrong?"

"Lan.. zhan"

Wei Wuxian's voice had a lisp to it that hadn't been there before and his body was still in a way that told Lan Wangji he was holding his breath

"Lan zhan you- you need.. To go."

He muttered pushing him away, his eyes were flickering red like they did in battle, like when he used Demonic cultivation.

"Wei Ying.."

Wei Wuxian forced himself further away, the corners of his eyes tinging black. Lan Wangji hated how small, how scared this made the usually confidence cutavator looked.

"Lan Zhan.. please Lan zhan.. your not safe.. I-Im... so hun... I'll hurt- . "

He seemed more pained with every word.

"Wei Ying would not hurt me."

The younger startled slightly at his words, but then he was shaking is his head as if to deny Lan Wangji's trust.

"Please Lan Zhan.. please just.."

"Wei Ying what do you need?"

Wei Wuxian scrunched his eyes shut and shook his head.

"What do you need?"

" I- blood... Lan Zhan it's.. I need blood "

Wei Ying started at the ground not daring to even glance at Lan Wangji, worse than that was the resigned look that flashed across Wei Ying's face when he reached for Bichen. How he once again just excepted that Lan Wangji would kill him,...

"Lan Zhan! What-what did you do?"

Lan Wangji started at Wei Ying as he held out his sliced palm. His eyes had gone a crimson almost blood red as ink-like tears ran down his cheeks. He looked somewhere between horrified and shocked but his eyes never left the blood welling up on Lan Wangji palm.

"Drink Wei Ying."

Those crimson eyes flickered up towards his face once more before the hunger in them took over. Wei Wuxian surged forward at a speed a lesser cultivator could have never seen much less stopped, but Lan Wangji could only think it suited him.

'Wei Ying has always been agile.'

The second Wei Ying's mouth made contact with his palm Lan Wangji felt the scrape of what must have been fangs, but instead of the pain he had been expecting at sort of comfortable warmth spread through him. It was almost nostalgic, it reminded him of a once warm house, and the woman who lived there. Lan Wangji couldn't help but think that anyone under this venom, because it couldn't be anything else; would die happily.

"Wei Ying is good."

Lan Wangji muttered softly his thumb rubbing softly on an ink stained cheek. Wei Wuxian sobbed slightly into his palm. By the time Wei Ying had finished drinking Lan Wangji was slightly light headed and he was vaguely aware that if his core was weaker it would have never kept up with the blood loss.

'Any other would have been much more greatly affected. '

It felt like fate that he would be the one strong enough to give his beloved what he needed.

"How.. how could you...how could you..? *sob* Lan Zhan"

Wei Ying still had his face buried in his palm his saliva having longsence healed the wound.

"Wei Ying?"

The responding sob was enough of an answer. Lan Wangji was at something of a loss as for what to do.

"L-an *sniff* Zhan "

Currently Lan Wangji though his beloved looked very young (a somewhat hypocritical thought considering he was only ten months older), but his cheeks were fuller and the color had even returned to them. He seemed more alive than he had in months.

"That wasn't fair."

Wei Wuxian muttered glancing up from where he had been trying to bury his face in Lan Wangji's palm.

"Mn?"

Lan Wangji didn't have a clue about what nonsense Wei Ying was spouting. He thought it was very fair.

"Lan Zhan! your being way to nice, it's not fair."

"Mn.. is fair."

"Lan Zhan!!!"

This was the Wei Wuxian he had been worried about losing, he had just been wrong about the cause. It wasn't his new cultivation style, at least not completely, no it was this war in general. It was eating away at the kind and mischievous boy he had met on the walls of his own home.

"Wei Ying comforted me.. it is fair that I do the same."

"I did?"

Wei Wuxian tilted his head in confusion getting a nod from the other.

"*Oh * I guess I forgot? "

"Mn"

Lan Wangji though for a moment before holding out his arms in invitation. Wei Ying's response was instantaneous, his whole face lighting up as if he had been offered the greatest treasure, like this single hug was worth more than all the riches of the cultivation world.

"Lan Zhan!!!"

Wei Ying all but tackled him ink-like tears once again dripping down his face and soon staining Lan Wangji white robes with the mutter of a thousand thank yous.

"Wei.. Ying?"

It took a second for Lan Wangji to understand what had happened. To understand why the other seemed so.. he didn't know how to describe his reaction, but then it clicked. Wei Wuxian had always been a tactile person in all the way Lan Wangji himself was not. Clinging to anyone who would let him, and even with those who wouldn't he would still be seen patting their sholders or back. That had changed in the months since his return, he seemed to avoid touch and the few times someone had managed to Wei Ying had startle almost violently. Lan Wangji didn't know what had happened during those months but it had left the other traumatized and scared to touch others less his secrets be found out. So it almost made since that Wei Ying would react like this having been staving himself of touch.

"Hey Lan Zhan.. does this mean we're friends now?"

Lan Wangji blinked a bit at the boy in his lap, Wei Ying could not be this dense right. After all in this position, he was relying on ever ounce of his own self control and possibly a blessing from the heavens not to react in a way that would embarrasse both of them.

"Not friends. "

Wei Wuxian's face dropped and he pouted a bit. His now blood colored lips pointing out in a way that was almost too much of a temptation.

"Eh Lan Zhan that's not what you're supposed to say when you like someone."

"Mn like Wei Ying"

And suddenly Wei Ying was smiling that sunlight smile. Lan Wangji couldn't help but feel like he was on the edge of something that could be very dangerous..

"Then we're friends right!"

Lan Wangji almost wanted to sigh. A small part of him thought Wei Ying must be messing with him at this point, but Wei Wuxian wasn't that cruel.

"Wei Ying is playing dumb?"

"Eh no I'm not look I'm very talk a- ohh.. Lan Zhan did you want to be best friends. "

It was then that something clicked and Lan Wangji felt almost incredulous.

"Wei Ying is very.. innocent?"

"I-i'm not!!"

Wei Ying sputtered, his hands flailing around as if he could wave away Lan Wangji's assumption.

"I'm not and Lan Zhan.. and-And even if I was you can't say anything, I mean remember what happened to that spring book, so you can't say anything, and I'm not 'cause I definitely flirt more than Jiang Cheng."

"So Wei Ying is aware?"

Lan Wangji felt almost amused as he watched the other's reaction. Wei Wuxian's face had turned slightly red, a need to prove Lan Wangji wrong flashing in his silver eyes.

"Of course I am, I know flirting is how you decide if you want to court someone or not, and if you do you get married and do the sort of thing they do in Nie-xiong's spring books right? But how else am I supposed to make friends and Lan Zhan I even get snacks out of it sometimes. "

Lan Wangji wonder slightly if he had lost more blood than he thought. The world didn't seem to be making the sense it should.

"Wei Ying flirts for food."

"Lan Zhan!! You can't say it like that it makes me sound like some sort of begger, I am not anymore so you can't say it like that."

And just like that Wei Ying had dropped something else on his head. He had known the Jiang sect had taken his beloved in at some point after his parents death but he had realized what that had ment for Wei Ying.

"*ah* we should head back shouldn't we, I don't think anyone will be looking for me but it would do to have them thinking their Hanguang-jun has been carried off by Wens right."

Wei Wuxian stated with a laugh. He dusted himself off after standing before holding out a hand to help Lan Wangji. It wasn't necessary but he excepted anyway.

"*Ah!* Lan Zhan you should have said something I completely ruined your robes!"

"Mn"

"Lan Zhan!!! You not supposed to agree"

Wei Wuxian shreaked. Seeing this Lan Wangji smiled softly.

"Wei Ying."

"Yeah? "

"Want to help Wei Ying."

Wei Wuxian wilted slightly shrugging, they had argued over this topic just days ago.

"Ah Lan Zhan.."

"Wei Ying.."

"No Lan Zhan I need you to listen.. you felt it didn't you.. I'm not. I can't go back from this Lan Zhan. "

Wei Ying stated gesturing to himself.

"Mn"

"Don't Mn me, Lan Zhan... Don't you get it... I'm dead... I'm the same as the things I control.. I have been ever since Wen Cheo threw me in the Burial Mounds... your music can't change that, Lan Zhan. "

A sigh punctuated Wei Wuxian sentence. He stared at the ground once again not daring to look up.

"Wei Ying. "

"Hmm"

Lan Wangji moved slowly as he took the other's hand not wanting to startle him.

"Want to help Wei Ying, will not ask you to stop cultivating any more, and if my sect's music does not work then I am willing to try anything, whatever you need. Please just let me help, Wei Ying. "

A few seconds past before Wei Wuxian responded, but Lan Wangji saw the build up of black tears before they fell.

"Lan Zhan you fuddy-duddy."

He muttered wiping his arm across his eyes harshly. The black cloth of his sleeve didn't stain like the white of Lan silk.

"You keep making me cry you meany"

When Lan Zhan just blinked at him clearly unimpressed by his antics, Wei Wuxian let out a wet chuckle.

"Okay sure, but only if you promise to keep my secret... and.. maybe give me more hugs. "

It was odd to see the other look so shy.

"Mn promise. "

They both nodded, before the seriousness of the moment got Wei Wuxian and he began cackling.

"Haha sorry it's just your face looks so cute~ when you're serious, Lan Zhan. "

Wei Wuxian said wiping away the last of his tears.

"Does Wei Ying want more blood."

He blinked a bit.

"Huh?"

"Wei Ying flirts for food."

"Eh Lan Zhan~!!!"

.........

"A-Xian are you in there? "

Jiang Yanli asked as she pushed open the tent flap. Her A-Xian had changed since the war began, been hurt so much. Because unlike the many cultivators she could see how paper thin his smiles were, how the arrogance he exuded wasn't pride but protection... it had always been slightly so, but she was weak.

'If I was stronger then, maybe A-Xian wouldn't be carring the weight he does.'

Having never been the one to force A-Xian to tell her what or who was hurting him. She wasn't able to do so now, and it was becoming her greatest regret as she watched the boy she raised wither under the force of a war and its people who saw him as little more than a weapon.

"I'm here Shije. "

Wei Wuxian watched as his Shije nodded before glanceing at the bowl of broth she had brought. He hadn't been able to keep anything even remotely solid down since the Burial Mounds, Shije had picked up on that. Wei Wuxian suspected she suspected something, but his Shije was too kind to ask and he didn't have the heart to tell her.

'But now Lan Zhan knows so maybe it won't be so bad.'

"I was worried you'd made yourself sick again, but..."

Her hand made it's way up to his face. Jiang Yanli couldn't help the smile that made it's way onto her face at seeing the color returned to her A-Xian.

"My XiaoXian looks better. "

Wei Wuxian rubbed his face against her hand; it was a calming motion one he had done many times; before remembering something he wanted to tell her. It really wasn't his fault he was easily distracted, like when Lan Zhan caught him earlier he couldn't be blamed. After all Lan Zhan was very warm and he always sme- and he was getting distracted again.

"Shije I spoke with Lan Zhan earlier and do you want to know what that fuddy-duddy told me.."

Shije smirked.

"And what did he tell my A-Xian?"

"Shije!!!"

Her tone was teasing so if he pouted it was only fair.

" Anyway he said that he didn't hate me after all!!! and that he even liked me, but Shije!!"

"Hmm but what A-xian"

'Shije was really to good for that peacock, she was playing along with him and everything. '

"That fuddy-duddy still doesn't want to be my friend. "

"Well that is a problem.."

His Shije tapped a finger to her chin as if she was thinking, then she flashed him a smile.

"Perhaps he wants to be more than friends."

"That's what I said but he doesn't want to be best friends either... and Shije I have to figure something out because Lan Zhan must have magic healing hugs or something.."

"*pffft * is that why my A-Xian look so much better."

"Shije!!!"

Really Jiang Yanli felt quite bad for the second young master Lan, as smart as her A-Xian was years of living on the street and with her mother had made the poor boy very dense. But she shouldn't tease him too much.

..........

Lan Wangji made his way to his brother's tent with the same a surety he did with everything in his life; which right now wasn't as much as most believed.

"Brother"

"Yes Wangji?"

Lan Xichen asked looking up from the temporary desk he had been given. Lan Wangji paused seeing the amount of scrolls piled around his brother, as sect leader his brother had to do much more that just raise his sword.

"I'm almost done Didi you can tell me whatever you need to. "

"Mn"

Lan Wangji nodded but chose to make tea first, he should do at least this much for his brother, considering he was here for advice. Lan Xichen smiled seeing this.

"So what brings you to my tent Wangji, it seems like something more personal than information involveing the war?"

"Mn spoke with Wei Ying.."

Lan Xichen's smile brightened, Wangji didn't look angry meaning they hadn't fought. That was good, his brother had been hurt enough.

"That's great Didi, did you manage to tell him how you feel? "

"Yes"

Lan Wangji felt his brother was waiting for him to continue, he glanced at his brother before stating.

"Wei Ying is very innocent. "

An now Lan Xichen was blinking at his brother. He wasn't sure what to make of his brother's statement, especially considering the rumors he had heard about young master Wei, the ones that as a Lan he wasn't supposed to be hearing.

"I see?"

He didn't see he really didn't, and Lan Wangji just nodded as if he had gotten his point across.

"Wangji are you telling me you confessed to young master Wei?"

His brother nodded.

"And that instead of responding, young master Wei was confused? "

Lan Wangji shook his head.

"Wei Ying did not understand my words as a confession."

"Ah Didi.. that doesn't necessarily mean he is innocent. "

And now his brother was giving him a flat look. The one he gave him when he missed what Wangji considered a simple problem on one of their uncle's tests.

"Wei Ying flirts for food."

Lan Wangji stated as if that explained everything, it didn't but Lan Xichen went along with it. He was really beginning to wonder what went on in the conversation his brother had had with Wei Wuxian.

"Brother"

Lan Xichen couldn't help but feel his brother would sighing at him if he could.

"Yes?"

"Wei Ying is only vaguely aware of what he is inviting when he flirts."

After a moment in thought Lan Xichen nodded.

' if Wangji is sure as his brother I should believe him.'

"Then perhaps now would be a good time to begin courting him officially."

His didi startled a bit at his statement.

"Brother? "

"It will be very hard for Young master Wei to misunderstand if you state you intentions formally."

Lan Wangji though for a few seconds then nodded.

"Brother is wise."

He bowed respectfully then went to leave.

"Wangji. "

"Yes?"

"Be careful when you do so, Sect Leader Jiang seems to be of the same temperament as Nie Mingjue. I can only imagine how my friend would react if someone asked to court his brother."

Lan Wangji nodded.

"I will act accordingly."

.........

"What the h*ll"

Lan Wangji had gone to speak with Sect Leader Jiang the next morning.

"What the actual h*ll!"

Even Wei Ying who had join on Lan Wangji request had frozen out of shock when he heard his statement, so Lan Wangji could only think to repeat himself.

"I would like to court Wei Ying."

"What the hell! Why would you... he's not a cutsleave, he likes girls and only flirts with other guys on accident, and besides that You Hate Him... and You why aren't you rejecting him already?"

Jiang Wanyin questioned pointing at Wei Wuxian, who seemed to startle out of his daze.

"Oh!!! So that's.. Ohh!"

"Wei Ying? "

"I like you too!! Lan Zhan!!!"

And just as suddenly as his own words Wei Ying was in Lan Wangji's arms. Wei Ying may be freezing to the touch, but Lan Wangji though this moment was quite warm. He was even half considering this might be a dream.

"What the h*ll... you know what I'm getting A-jie."

Neither saw as Jiang Wanyin left to caught up in each other's gaze.

"Hey Lan Zhan, does your clan have some sort of rule against couples being friends? "

Lan Wangji blinked a bit, and thought of his parents.

"No?"

"Then why did you keep rejecting me, you were so mean about it too *sniff *"

"Wei Ying!"

Lan Wangji didn't know what to do, he hadn't meant to upset Wei Ying, but then the younger was chuckling into his chest.

"I'm just teasing Lan Zhan."

"Boring."

"Lan Zhan!!"

Lan Wangji wasn't sure he would ever understand what Wei Ying found so amusing about his face, but he was certain he didn't care.

"Wei Ying."

"Hmm?"

"Will not follow that rule."

"Huh what rule?"

"Will be Wei Ying friend.. but Wei Ying must be my partner as well."

"Lan Zhan!!!"

He blinked a bit at the younger's reaction, but then silver eyes were staring up at him again and Wei Ying was blushing that pale red he did.

"You can't say things like that Lan Zhan My Heart can't take it."

"Wei Ying? "

"I know, I know but Lan Zhan even like it is you make it go all fluttery and and... but yes, to your question I mean. "

Wei Ying was smiling that smile that wasn't good for His heart, and Lan Wangji was once again wondering if this might be a dream. When another voice came from the door.

"Oh my, am I interrupting something?"

Jiang Yanli voice was kind and unlike her brother's reaction she sounded vaguely amused, but Wei Ying still jumped away from him like they had be caught doing something much worse than hugging.

"Shije!!!"

"Oh so you'll listen to A-jie, but not your Sect Leader. Not that that matters A-jie will put an end to all this nonsense. "

She just chuckle softly, before turning to Lan Wangji.

"I glad the two of you finally figured things out, A-Xian was so upset when you fought."

"Shije! You can't tell him that!"

"She can tell him whatever she wants as long as she kicks the b**tard out when she done."

"Jiang Cheng you take that back!"

Lan Wangji could only watch as Wei Ying began squabbling with Jiang Wanyin.

"A-Cheng you're being rude."

"Eh but A-jie. "

"A-Cheng."

Sect Leader Jiang huffed but bowed slightly in apology.

"You always take his side."

Maiden Jiang rolled her eyes before turning back to him.

"I apologize A-Cheng is quite upset, he is very attached to A-Xian and he thinks you want to steal him away completely. "

"That..was not my intention."

"I am glad to hear that, and in my brother's place"

She shot Jiang Wanyin a look, who grumbled something under his breath an continued glaring at Lan Wangji.

" will agree to your courtship of our A-Xian."

As she spoke Jiang Yanli thought of the little boy who had come to the lotus Pier all those years ago. How small he had been then, and a promise she made to him, that first time she realized her father wasn't going to be much of a help. As kind as her father was, he was also indifferent to this little boy who smiled even though their healer told him he was broken.

" However for the sake of protecting my Didi"

Wei Ying lit up at the endearment.

" there are a few things I would like to speak with you about. I hope you will be amenable to joining me after dinner."

Lan Wangji nodded which earned him a soft smile.

.......

"Ah Wangji there you are.. how did it go?"

Lan Wangji paused and looked at his brother.

"Jiang Wanyin was distressed by my request. "

"I see, I could attempt to speak with him."

His brother shook his head.

"No need, after he informed their sister when Wei Ying did not reject me as he wish, she approved my request in his stead."

Lan Xichen was once again at a loss for words involving his brother's love life. Really it was to complicated for his tastes.

"I-i see that is good Didi."

"Mn, Madien Jiang expressed her wishes to speak with me at another time."

Really he was very worried for his Didi.

" I have made plans to eat with Wei Ying."

"Yes of course."

"Thank you Brother. "

Lan Xichen could only smile as his brother walked away. Sometimes he just wished Lan Wangji would tell him a bit more, maybe then he would understand what was going on a bit better.

..........

"Lan Zhan your here!!"

Wei Ying smiled at him so happly, he couldn't help but be glad as well. A small part of him the darker part had thought that with time to think Wei Ying would decide that he didn't in fact like him back.

"Here Lan Zhan."

Lan Wangji held the bowl he was handed, glancing Wei Ying he noted that his bowl had only broth.

"Ah yeah normal food doesn't really sit right since well you know,"

"Mn"

He frown slightly, but it did explain a few things.

"but I can still drink stuff so I'm good."

Lan Wangji nodded, he didn't like the sad look on Wei Ying's face, but the only thing he was sure would comfort him (a hug) wasn't viable while holding soup.

"So what do you think?"

Wei Wuxian asked gesturing to the area around them as they sat. The clearing was a little ways from the main camp, but someone had built up a suitable fire pit.

"It's sort of peaceful right?"

"Mn"

The other let out a laugh at Lan Wangji's response, before smiling at him.

"Lan Zhan you have to try Shije's soup she made it with tofu just for you.."

"Mn"

Lan Wangji blinked a bit after tasting said soup, it was very good, he could see why Wei Ying was always praising it. They were quiet after that. However Lan Wangji while used to quite meals knew something was off. Wei Wuxian was not one to be quiet.

"Wei Ying? "

The other startled.

"*ah* sorry Lan Zhan I was just thinking about something. "

Wei Wuxian stated as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Hey Lan Zhan.. I think I know what shijie wants to talk to you about, and it's sort of a secret so *um* well you know."

*Mn *

"But well it's something we plan- talked about a while.., me and Shijie I mean back when I first joined the Jiangs, anyway I should probably take you over there."

After that Wei Ying lead him back to the Jiang sect leader's tent. Jiang Yanli was standing by the entrance with a soft smile, while Jiang Wanyin stood there glaring.

"Good evening Second young master Lan"

"Maiden Jiang, Sect Leader Jiang. "

Lan Wangji bowed in greeting at which Jiang Wanyin snorted.

"I hope you don't mind but my brother is here for propriety's sake."

"Mn I understand"

Jiang Yanli nodded before directing them to a small table where she had prepared tea. She smiled softly at her Sect brother, before turning to Lan Wangji.

"I am glad you could join us Lan-er-gongse, I had a promise to keep after all."

Lan Wangji saw Jiang Yanli glance towards Wei Ying as she spoke.

"A promise? "

"Yes, one made to a certain young boy just a few months after my father brought him into the sect."

Watching his beloved, Lan Wangji felt the other looked nervous even as he shared a sentimental smile with Jiang Yanli.

"Where should I start.. it is a somewhat well known fact that my father was not brave enough to risk my mother's wrath by adopting A-Xian.."

Wei Ying cringe slightly at her words, and something about her words made Lan Wangji's protectiveness flare. A small part of him wanted to grab the other's hand comfertingly, but he wasn't sure Wei Ying would except.

"which is why I sit here infront of you now not as a sister, but as the person who raised A-Xian."

As soon as her words processed into Lan Wangji mind, he was making to bow. This ment the woman in front of him was basically his mother-law he should show her his respect.

"Lan Zhan!..Shije!!"

This of course flustered Wei Ying.

"What hell?"

And confused Jiang Wanyin.

"There is no need for that Lan-er-gongse, I am only telling you because I want you to understand how important Wei Wuxian is to me."

Lan Wangji nodded. Seeing that Jiang Yanli stopped to think, coming to a decision she said.

"Three months after A-Xian came to Lotus Pier our sect healers diagnosed him with Focus Scattering Disorder (Aka Adhd)"

He glanced a Wei Ying, who seemed to find something very interesting about his own robes.

"they determined it wasn't a result of a pre-natal curse, but instead infantile Qi syndrome. While common in the children of cultivators, A-Xian has a somewhat severe case causeing his focus disorder. "

She paused trying to gage his reaction. Lan Wangji wasn't sure how he felt, a part of him was almost happy to hear this information; that they shared another common ground, but the rest of him was upset to learn his Wei Ying was likely struggling even before the war.

"I have spoken with A-Xian before and we thought it was best we told his partner before we begin the official Marriage Talks."

Jiang Yanli stood as she finished, she squeezed Wei Wuxian's shoulder gently as she left taking Jiang Wanyin with her.

"I still have obligations to attend to, however I hope Lan-er-gongse is aware of the consequences he will face should he hurt my A-Xian. "

Her eyes flashed with what he suspected was a bit of her mother's temper, like lightning that threatened pain should he hurt her A-Xian.

"Wei Ying. "

A few minutes passed but Wei Ying still wasn't looking at him and Lan Wangji felt almost angry.

"Does Wei Ying think I will revoke our courtship?"

Whatever anger Lan Wangji had felt however fizzled out when Wei Ying flinched.

"I... lan zhan.."

At this point Lan Wangji was contemplating ruining anyone and everyone who had caused his beloved to be so unsure of himself, that was until he realized he was among them.

"Wei Ying..."

Thankfully Wei Ying glanced up at him when he spoke.

"I will not abandon Wei Ying. "

The flinch was even more obvious this time.

"I.. don't.. I didn't.. say that"

"Wei Ying does not have to be perfect, will take Wei Ying however he is."

Lan Wangji saw the argument in the other's stormy gray eyes before the words even finished leaving his mouth.

"But that's the problem Lan Zhan... you just keep excepting, maybe.. not when we were younger, but now..."

Wei Ying muttered, standing suddenly.

"Lan Zhan! anyone else would have ended me in those woods! But you..."

He was pacing now.

"You Lan Zhan you're so nice to me, and you act like nothing happened and and."

Their eyes met.

"You even chose to court me and everything,.. and I should be happy right."

Wei Ying seemed to be searching for something in Lan Wangji's eyes.

"And I am happy, so so very happy that I feel like I might just vibrate right out of my skin, but Lan Zhan."

He paused, his throat making swallowing motions.

"I just keep thinking what if this is the thing... you know the thing that makes me to much trouble... that will make you leave... and You say you won't but they all do Lan Z-zhan... *sob*"

Ink-like tears dripped down Wei Ying's face... and suddenly Lan Wangji was kneeling on the ground with him as rubbed harshly on his own cheeks.

"Lan Z--zhan! *sniff* they.. it's all my fault Lan Zhan.. my shidi.... everybody."

And then Lan Zhan was pulling him into one of those magic hugs, and everything felt just a little less overwhelming.

"Wei Ying."

"Hmm"

"I am not perfect. "

Wei Wuxian blinked not quite understanding what he was hearing.

"I.. have trouble with words."

"Lan Zhan? "

Lan Zhan was looking him straight in the eyes.

"As a child I did not truly speak until my third summer. My sect healers even suspected I was dumb (mute), "

Lan Wangji grabbed his hand gently.

"but my uncle did not believe them, he insisted I could learn... I was able to quote our sect's rules long before I ever called him uncle."

Wei Wuxian though Lan Zhan looked regretful as he spoke.

"I am not perfect Wei Ying..."

There was a pause.

"Will Wei Ying abandon me?"

He shook his head vehemently.

"No! Lan Zhan.. how could I..i"

"Mn.. Wei Ying is good. "

"But I'm not Lan zhan I'm.. I... It's my fault.."

Lan Zhan shook his head, bringing a hand up to wipe away Wei Wuxian's tears.

"Not Wei Ying's fault. Wei Ying is good. Love Wei Ying"

"Lan Zhan? You- "

Lan Wangji couldn't be blamed if he felt now was a good time to kiss his Wei Ying... and if Wei Wuxian lost his train of thought that really wasn't his fault. After all he did just have his first kiss stolen.

.......

A week had passed since Lan Wangji had learned his beloved's secret. He had watch as the color once again drained from Wei Ying's face and by the seventh day how he was beginning to look stretched all to thin.

"Wei Ying."

Wei Wuxian's eyes still flickered red, dispite the battle being longsence over.

"Wei Ying needs to feed."

It was a statement not a question, and how could it be when his Wei Ying still lingered among the dead a hungry look in his eyes.

"*Ah* Lan Zhan, I'm fine."

"WEI YING."

The younger flinched slightly at the elder's tone.

"Okay Okay... I might be a little hungry... but there's a lot of blood around.. I will be fine."

"Wei Ying can feed from the dead? "

Lan Wangji wasn't entirely sure what he thought about that.

"*Ah* yeah.. But it doesn't last as long, in fact even animal blood is better than it, considering the dead have basically no Yang.. which means it does nothing to help with the su- I'm rambling aren't I."

Perhaps a bit but Lan Wangji didn't care, so he shook his head.

"Like hearing Wei Ying speak, want to understand what you.. Wei Ying's condition. "

Wei Ying blinked at him.

"Lan Zhan!!!~ *pffhaha *"

From an outside perspective the two of them made quite a sight. Standing there talking among the dead they appeared almost like two desended imortals surrounded by the carnage of the War.

"Wei Ying?"

"Yeah Lan Zhan?"

"Does Wei Ying require Qi as well?"

"Huh.. no? I mean all blood has a certain amount of spiritual energy, but I don't need Yang specificly.."

Wei Wuxian shuffled his feet, kicking at a rock.

"it helps sometimes, but that's mostly because the sun is one big ball of Yang so any weaker Yin has trouble with it.."

Lan Wangji nodded, beginning to understand what the other was implying.

"and since I'm basically Yin in human form right now, it's a little uncomfortable,"

He shrugged, before smiling softly at Lan Zhan.

"but I'm fine Lan Zhan. "

"Will feed Wei Ying. "

Just seeing his lovers baffled face made Lan Wangji's statement worth it.

"Huh... No Lan Zhan you know how dangerous that is."

"Wei Ying did not hurt me. Wei Ying requires blood with a strong Yang, mine is suitable. "

Lan Wangji stepped forward and grabbed Wei Wuxian's hands.

"I-i don't want you to see me like that Lan Zhan."

"I have seen Wei Ying feed..?"

Wei Ying chuckled but shook his head.

"Not everything.. I was planning to go hunting that day anyways.. so I had already prepared... Lan Zhan I- .. I don't want you to see."

"Wei Ying agreed to let me help."

"..."

They stared at each other for a long moment, silently trying to convince the other.

"*sigh* Fine Lan Zhan you win,.. but you have to promise that you won't get mad."

"Mn"

Seeing Lan Wangji nod Wei Wuxian's head bobbed a few times in thought.

"We should head back to my tent."

Wei Ying was subdued as they made their way back.

"Wei Ying? "

And Lan Wangji could not help but question as he watched the other do a full circle around his tent, checking both inside and out as if he was worried about being followed.

"*Ah-haha* sorry.."

Wei Wuxian muttered rubbing at the back of his neck.

"Hey Lan Zhan it's not as bad as it looks, and it really is necessary."

Kneeling as he pulled as small sliver dagger from under his bedding, Wei Wuxian stated. Lan Wangji didn't understand until the knife made contact with Wei Ying's wrist drawing black blood to the surface.

"Wei..Ying.?"

At Lan Wangji question Wei Ying glanced up from the bowl he had prepared to catch his blood. Flashing a nervous smile he continued.

"Just think of it like blood letting, I mean that's basically what it is... and I really wouldn't do this if I didn't need to. I promise Lan Zhan."

Lan Wangji watch as he trembled slightly, causing the blade to cut deeper.

"Wei Ying "

He knelt besides him, and Wei Ying chuckled as he took the knife.

"You know being dead is pretty annoying.. my body doesn't replace its own blood anymore, I think that's why I have to drink it..."

Wei Ying gave one of those self-deprecating laughs.

"but worse than that it can't get rid of the dead blood either, so..."

Lan Wangji felt the other shrug into him.

"I have to do this."

He nodded, and held the dagger steady. If it was necessary he would not let Wei Ying do this alone.

"It really is necessary, if I forget... the blood will start dripping out of my qiao.."

Wei Wuxian muttered as he leaned further into Lan Wangji's side.

"Wei Ying. "

"Ah sorry Lan Zhan."

"Unnecessary... How long?"

"*Oh umm* you can stop when the blood stops bleeding black."

Lan Zhan nodded.

"Mn, Wei Ying can continue."

"I- I don't..."

He was flattered that Wei Ying did want him to feel upset, but he would rather him be distracted in such circumstances.

"Wei Ying. "

"Okay sure where was I... I ... hey Lan Zhan did you know my nails have sharpen... that's actually how I did this the first time.. back in the Burial Mounds. "

"Mn"

Wei Ying's blood no longer bled black. Lan Wangji removed the blade from his lovers skin, blinking in awe as the wound sealed itself. Wiping the reminder of the blood away he brought the pale wrist to his own lips. Kissing it softly

"*Eep!* Lan~Zhan!!"

"Wei Ying can feed now."

Lan Wangji stated placing a second kiss, on Wei Wuxian's pale cheek.

"*A-ha* Y-yeah."

"Good"

He pulled Wei Ying further into his lap, before placing his own wrist infront of the younger's mouth.

"Wei Ying."

"You know you don't have to do this Lan Zhan. "

"Wei Ying."

That seemed to be the last straw in whatever it was holding Wei Ying back, a second later Lan Wangji felt a familiar warmth spread through his body. It was a very comfortable feeling, he was beginning to think he may become addicted feeding his Wei Ying.

"Wei Ying "

He muttered softly as the other melted even further into him, trailing sloppy kisses down his injured wrist once he finished. Lan Wangji had noticed this last time, but..

"Wei Ying is able to heal as well."

"Hmm"

Wei Wuxian looked up dazedly from where he was currently nuzzling into Lan Wangji chest.

"Oh-Yeah I haven't figured that one out either. "

"Mn"

Lan Wangji nodded placing a kiss behind his lovers ear. The part of him he often allotted to his father's blood wanted to go further, however the wiser part of himself reminded Lan Wangji of propriety (and a softer voice said to be careful lest he scare off his more innocent lover).

"Lan~Zhan"

Even if he and Wei Ying had come to an understanding on their relationship, the rest of the world was still at war, that put any sort of marriage bearing elopement off the table.

"What's on your mind?"

"Want to marry Wei Ying."

"Lan Zhan!!!~"

It would never cease to surprise him how easily he could make his Wei Ying a blushing mess. No matter what Lan Wangji loved seeing it, that flush of red told him his love was both healthy and fed.

.....

"Hey Lan Zhan"

"Mn?"

Lan Wangji glanced towards his beloved who lay proan on the floor beside him.

"I think I drowned... that day in the Burial Mounds... I don't think I was dead before then."

Wei Wuxian paused to steady his voice. He was looking at the tent ceiling he didn't dare look at Lan Wangji.

"At least not like I am now, I was just so thirsty Lan Zhan.. that was when I found it.. it was the first clean water I had seen in days.. I shouldn't have drank it..... nothing safe is the color of blood..."

Lan Wangji sat up from where they were laying.

"Wei Ying."

His voice was soft a he pulled the other close.

"I.. just didn't care, I think maybe I had figured I was going to die down there any ways... Not that I drown myself Lan Zhan, I wouldn't. "

"Mn"

He nodded as he ran a comforting hand down the younger's arm.

"That pool was made up of pure Yi, not resentment but something different.. similar.. I'm not sure, after I drank it, it was almost like what happens when Qi overloads."

Wei Ying shuttered in his arms.

"I don't remember how long I was down there, maybe minute, or hours, maybe even longer."

"Mn, Wei Ying is here now."

That sparked a laugh from his beloved.

"That's true."

They lapsed into a comfortable silence for a moment before Wei Ying was chatting about something else, a compass he was planning on making. They stay like that until morning, neither of them required much sleep.

.......

Many titles were given as the Sunshot Campain processed, however one was more of a rumor than a title to be used. A whisper no one dared say aloud.

"Guāngyǐng-Mo"

It was whispered among the Wens like a curse, muttered among the common people with fearful awe. For them it was one of a pair.. the completion of another's title. The Yin to a bright Yang.

"Hanguang-jun's Guāngyǐng-Mo."

How could it not be whispered as such when the two were so clearly in love. Together they were a symbol of balance, but alone the people whispered of a man who controlled the dead, of a demon who killed with its hands and dared not touch a sword.

When Wei Wuxian first heard the rumors he couldn't keep himself from laughing.

"Lan~Zhan!! Lan Zhan! Their calling me your shadow."

"Mn."

"The light's shadow for the light bearing lord.. *pffft hahaha*."

Lan Wangji had two reasons why he didn't like his lovers unofficial title. The first being his Wei Ying was not a demon and should not be called as such. The second was more possessive as only he was allowed to use Ying when it came to his fiancee even if it was a different ying.

"They say if you say the name to loud you will summon Guāngyǐng-Mo."

"If that's true then you should be more worried about Hanguang-jun."

"Eh why?"

"Well how would you feel if someone summoned your wife."

"S**t"

Soon the name was whispered not just for fear of it owner, but also for the light that it followed. Like this Wei Wuxian never officially received a title, after all who would dare use a title that would put them on the bad side of a man who was controlling a demon.

......

Mdzs vampire Au- is the blood pool was a corrupted version of the fountain of youth, and turn Wei Wuxian into a vampire. This is a story idea I wrote out partially but couldn't finish, so I'm posting it in the hopes someone else can.

[mari-the-tortured-poet]

“i’m at war with myself, it’s a losing game”

✧ mari ♡ 17 y/o cryptid fem ✧ s.her ♡ christian ✧ biromantic asexual ♡ 🇵🇸🫒 ✧

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proud member of @theboizgc

ABSOLUTELY everything to know about me ->

american (derogatory) // christian (the good kind, shouldn’t have to clarify but here we are😭) // scorpio // bday oct 25 // music lover and writer // fanfic consumer // local neighborhood ace with the dirtiest jokes // i swear like a sailor to offput certain men // spring supremacy tbh // avid disneyworld enjoyer and corporate disney hater 🤝 // conflict makes me itch but i’m a professional debator // singer and stuff i already said // dwdw if i hate you, you will KNOW straight up // a downbad schemer, evil even // call me a double A battery the way i be autistic and asexual // whump enjoyer and writer at times // i do rp on minecraft a lot // and then there’s chunky he’s DEAD

music ->

swiftie (taylor’s version) // k/da // heartsteel // itzy // everglow // blackpink in your area // little monster for mother monster gaga <3 // olivia rodrigo // chappell roan // Jesus was a Carpenter!!! // boygenius // emei! // precious jewel amor // derivakat // cg5 // reinaeiry // mave: MAKE A NEW WAVE!!!!! // dua lipa // ive // the warning // dove cameron // tobymac // daft punk // britney spears // madonna // gracie abrams // thomas sanders

movies & tv ->

miraculous ladybug aw yiss // vaguely intrigued in pokemon sun & moon // felix fathom and gladion mohn you are forever famous and not at all similar nono // mha // murder drones // hellaverse // tadc // saiki k // bsd // tangled the series NO SPOILERS // kimmy schmidt // schitt’s creek // the mindy project // atla // downton abbey // pride and prejudice miniseries with colin firth if you prefer the movie i’ll fight you // big bang theory // friends // star wars enthusiast // maleficent // guardians of the galaxy (what do you mean there are three movies??? there are only two uh huh….) // juno // the perks of being a wallflower // spiderverse // barbie // enchanted // hunger games // narnia // everything everywhere all at once // RAINBOW ROCKS // princess diaries // enola holmes // klaus // princess protection program // high school musical (no spoils for the series) // legally blonde // mean girls // frozen // alien stage!!! // project mc2 // the owl house

games ->

star guardians xayah x rakan truther // minecraft // sims 4 // prodigy // yandere sim

broadway ->

wicked // moulin rouge (not the movie) // she loves me // jeremy jordan is God’s gift to earth have you even heard him giggle tho. have you // newsies // shrek the musical >>>>>>> // holiday inn // dear evan hansen // mean girls // anastasia URGH brainrot // six // heathers // mystic glen // frozen

books/fanfic ->

keeper of the lost cities // the impossible quest // septimus heap // the land of stories // school for good and evil // narnia // artemis fowl don’t even TALK to me about the movie i’m still fuming // amulet // wonder // star of deltora // passerine // thirteen

DNI: transphobes, zionists, aphobes, homophobes, bots or those that appear as such, potterheads, fatphobes, xenophobes, racists, pedos, misogynists, taylor antis, antifeminists, and the like! YOU WILL BE BLOCKED IF I SEE YOU IN MY NOTES. SERIOUSLY.

caution to my younger followers: this blog DOES contain sensitive content and language, but i’m not your mom so legally i can’t stop you. and if your mom doesn’t accept you or your identity, i’m adopting.

the boiz gc (my guys! my dudes! my homies) : @yaboieif // @princeteeb // @jingledbell

other faves: @halucynator // @ninadove // @demyxdancer // @emmafaeru // @pwippy

tagging system ->

#mari reblogs -> anything i reblog!

#mari rambles -> i talk sometimes

#mari rants -> i’m mad sometimes

#ask mari -> used for any ask games i reblog, the box is always open

#mari answers -> i answer sometimes

#mari fangirls -> i’m in fandoms sometimes

#mari’s mutuals -> i post about/with cool peeps sometimes

#mari and eifie/teeb/jingle/lucy/spes/etc. -> i post with specific cool peeps sometimes

#mari writes -> i write sometimes

#mari whumps -> i whump sometimes

don’t forget to do your daily clicks! in addition to palestinian support and relief, there are so many other causes that arab.org has to support. i know esp as a minor without a solid banking situation that it can be easy to feel helpless when you can’t donate, but this is something meaningful without having to pay money that truly makes a difference!

[disastardly]

Have an assortment of Mystic Force headcanons that I've accumulated since I started rewriting CoD/CoL (now known as Emergence and ???):

Madison is an unabashed niche horror movie aficionado. This always surprises people, but she could talk about early 90s SOV, giallo, or the evolution of the slasher film for ages.

Her happy place in Briarwood is an old movie shop. They know her by name there, and always have recommendations among the new finds.

Briarwood itself is a super hippie town. Drum circles in the park, vegan bakeries, a huge pride parade every year. They're on the forefront of both marriage equality and cannabis legalization, even by California standards.

Nick has lived EVERYWHERE. His parents moved for work constantly, and so he and his sister have lived on every continent except Antarctica.

Xander and Chip are incredible cooks. Nick is pretty good too. Maddie is passable, and Vida is a complete disaster. Do not let Vida near a kitchen.

Leelee inherits the Vampire Queen throne after Necrolai/Nikki is turned human. She's surprisingly good at it. After some bumps, her rule becomes an unparalleled time of peace for vampires.

After high school, Chip tries a million things, and he's pretty successful at most of them. He takes over his uncle's farm, starts a meadery, does freelance alchemy, runs the local COUNTV chapter, and helps train new knights and wizards, and that's just the everyday stuff.

Leelee works to improve human-vampire relations, and teams up with Chip to help smooth things out. He begrudgingly helps, but warms up to it eventually.

Maddie and Xander are the only ones of the core 5 to go to college. Maddie studies film and Xander gets a business degree (so he can manage Chip's constantly-growing sprawl of ventures).

Vida goes on tour. She wins her first Grammy a year or two later, and eventually goes the Trent Reznor route of scoring films. It starts with Maddie asking for help with a hard-to-score film and spirals from there.

Nick gets taken on as an apprentice at a body shop. He's a prodigy with fixing things, especially vehicles, and when the owner decides to retire, Nick buys the shop off him. They mainly fix cars and motorcycles, but if you have something no one else can fix, he'll take a crack at it.

Maddie's first film does numbers on the smaller festival circuits; her second film is screened at Cannes and wins a Palme d'Or.

In Briarwood, everyone knows they're the Rangers, but the knowledge doesn't travel very far outside the borders. A few people know, but it's such an open secret that it almost never comes up. It's just a fact of life in Briarwood, so most people never really mention it.

[focsle]

Whaler Living Quarters

Good morning! As promised last night, here's a Post about the different living quarters on a whaleship.

On an unnamed whaler in 1850, Charles Nordhoff and his friend ‘Bill’ boarded the ship that was to be their home for years. Upon passing the captain’s quarters they were surprised to see, scrawled in large chalk letters above the door, ��Hezekiah Ellsprett’s berth”. Hezekiah was not the captain, but instead a greenhand who had quite a trick played on him.

When a whaleship first put to sea, men clambered into the ship with their belongings to claim their preferred bunk. Nordhoff discussed Hezekiah’s search, writing “after a deliberate scrutiny of the premises, fore and aft, [he] had arrived at the sage conclusion, that a certain state-room contained more of the elements of comfort, than any other place which had met his eye”. Unsure if such a room was his to claim, Hezekiah asked the ship keeper if it was available to him. The ship keeper, apparently in the mood to do a bit of mischief, wryly told the new sailor that “he had an indisputable right to choose whatever berth suited him best - and advised him for further security to write his name upon the door, and place his bedding in the bunk or standing bed-place - which he immediately did.”

“One can imagine the Captain’s surprise, on coming on board the next day, to find himself a trespasser in his own domain,” Nordhoff wrote. “But words would fail to describe the unaffected look of astonishment displayed in Hezekiah's sapient countenance, when he was informed that that was ‘not his end of the ship.’ “

So, let us begin at the part of the ship that was truly set aside for Hezekiah and his fellows. Everything else under a readmore so people don't hate me because there are many pictures and journal entries. And also cw for some of the descriptions being Gross.

The Forecastle

The forecastle (fo'c'sle) was the home of the ordinary sailors and greenhands. Located at the forward part of the ship—where the pitch would be most greatly felt—was the home of some 20-odd men. It was incredibly cramped, lined with bunks and hammocks and, once everyone’s seachests were brought in, very little floor space. Still, this is where men would sleep, eat, and pass their leisure, and would be their enduring home for 3-4 years.

It was the space on the Charles W. Morgan (now located at the Mystic Seaport Museum) that, along with the blubber room, felt most visceral to me when I visited. Even on a cold day when I was the only one there, the humidity and closeness of the air was palpable. But even standing among that network of bunks, the reality of that space couldn’t be fully understood without also bringing back those 20 sailors who shared it, and all the sensory elements their presence entailed. Whalers wrote frequently about the terrible living conditions on their ship, but in my opinion none wrote so grotesquely of his quarters than greenhand William Abbe aboard the Atkins Adams in 1858. He discussed the first night:

“I turned in + spite of the close air of the forecastle I slept soundly for two or three hours — By this time the forecastle was filthy in the extreme. The sick men vomited on the floor and the vomit ran down between the chests or collected in heaps on the floor. To this was added bits of meat and bread—onion skins—spilt coffee—tobacco spittle—forming in all a disgusting compound.”

Even when the seasickness abated, the filth of the forecastle didn’t improve. A year in, he described the olfactory quality of the whalers’ home in his characteristic prose:

“What habits we have? Cleaning our pans with a rinse of coffee or tea in the bucket — wiped off with some chance oakum — coffee bucket sometimes mistaken for slop bucket or — “prodigious” Domine Sampson would swear—for the — barrel—[referencing the communal urine barrel] meat kids [wooden mess tubs] kicking about forecastle, molasses kegs the haunts of the cockroach, our bunks + heads the established homes of vermin of decidedly enterprising genius — hands — faces — + backs in a state of very dirty nature + our clothes patched like a fancy quilt — + still further variegated by the various stains of tar — slush + oil — or not sweetly but strongly redolent of the barrel or the mingled fragrance of lye and oil soap — + lastly the forecastle — unlike Coleridge’s Cologne — filled with a combination of lesser stinks that would defy analysis — but presided over + overpowered by “one grand Monarque” — the audible — sensible — almost visible Mephitis that selects the forecastle for its peculiar abode + the theater of its loudest speeches + the display of its wildest + most fantastic tricks — Bah! What an idea! Personifying a —whew—! My faecal fancy is worse than the forecastle.”

The hygienic challenges experienced in the fo'c'sle took on a particularly gruesome quality compared to other sailing vessels due to the nature of the job. Ultimately, a whale ship was transformed into a massive slaughterhouse and oil refinery. The tryworks to render blubber down was located almost right above the fo'c'sle, and the heat of it when fired up would not only radiate downwards to where everyone had to live, where all that grossness could REALLY simmer, but it would also send all the vermin scampering out of the woodwork and across the bunks and belongings of those men to escape the heat. The blubber room, where large strips of blubber were hacked up into smaller ones, was just outside the threshold of the fo’c’sle. As a result, oil and gore would be tracked all over the ship, and most definitely into the crews quarters as well. It would find its way into every corner of that living space. Men would turn in wearing clothes soaked with it, hands soaked with it, everything they touched becoming tainted with the work.

“Yet strange to say, with all this I could get along quite well." Abbe wrote. "The Sea air and sea work gives one strange courage and endurance."

Steerage

Moving aft, just through the blubber room, we would find our way to another space set aside for living quarters: steerage.

Steerage was where the boatsteerers—who essentially operated as petty officers—would live. ‘Idlers’, such as the cooper, carpenter, cook, blacksmith, or steward would also call a place in steerage their home. While still a shared space, it didn’t have the same chaos or density of the forecastle, with fewer bunks to a room that were arranged uniformly along the walls rather than in a labyrinth of hanging fabric and seachests.

Still, descriptions of steerage didn’t fare too much better than the fo’c’sle. In 1904, Clifford W. Ashley of maritime fame joined the whaler Sunbeam for part of the voyage. He was there to research for writings and illustrations he was going to make about the work. Even in the final days of the industry, the ships were virtually unchanged from their golden era. The owners of the ship set aside a place for Ashley in steerage, the captain allowed him free use of his own cabin, and suggested that, as far as sleeping was concerned, Ashley ask the Cooper if he might set up a bunk for him in his room.

“The steerage that night was not an inviting place in which to sleep. On a clutter of chests and dunnage the boat-steerers sprawled, drinking, wrangling, smoking.” Ashley wrote. “The floor was littered with rubbish, the walls hung deep with clothing; squalid, congested, filthy; even the glamour of novelty could not disguise the wretchedness of the scene. The floor was wet and slippery, the air smoky and foul; often a bottle was dropped in the passing or an empty one was smashed to the floor. Through it all was an undertone of water bubbling at the ports and a rustle of oilskins swinging to and fro like pendulums from their hooks on the bulkhead. Roaches scurried about the walls. A chimneyless whale-oil lamp guttered in the draft from the booby hatch and cast a fitful light over the jumble of forms sitting on the chests beneath.”

After two nights in steerage Ashley decided to take up the Captain’s suggestion of putting up with the cooper. This was a small room that was once a sail pen located off the steerage quarters, later turned into a small cabin for the cooper and steward. Of this room, Ashley said:

“It was scarcely larger than a good-sized drygoods box, and an average man could not stand erect in it. Here I had a fore-and-aft berth, the upper one. Our only port opened directly into it, and, worse than its leak, the stench from the bilge reeked up through the trap. It was a simple matter after I turned in for the night to span with one hand the distance from my nose to the deck planking. Hard by my head slept Cooper; beneath me slumbered Steward. In the slight floor space remaining reposed our several seachests.”

Mate Cabins

After steerage came the cabins for the mates. Depending on how many there were, a mate might get his own cabin, but between 2nd, 3rd, and 4th mates they were often were shared as well with two bunks to a room.

It’s important to note that, for all the filth of a whaleship, it was still ultimately home at least for as long as they voyage lasted. Some men found these spaces their refuge, such as 2nd mate of the Arnolda, Benjamin Boodry in 1852. Perhaps because he didn’t share a sleeping space with dozens of others, his room became a bulwark of sorts from the whaling life that made him so miserable and homesick.

“all the comfort I take is when I get in my state room shut the doors and think or imagine myself at home or get to reading and then one half of the time my eyes are on the book and my mind is some wher else”

Often his mind turned back to his shore life, and his cabin became a reflective space for that.

“here I set in my state room the door shut and my whole family of Daguerreotypes around me and my Accordion in my hand and I try to imagine myself in old Mattapoisett but it is far from the reality”

Captain's State-rooms

Lastly, we have the best berth aboard: The captain’s cabin. Unlike in the forecastle where men simply ate sitting on their seachests, there was a mess table available in this general area for the Captain and officers. Sometimes boat-steerers and idlers would share this table too, eating in a shift after their superior officers. Sometimes they’d have a second table of their own. In the photo below, the two doors to the left are the rooms for the mates' berths. The door to the right of those leads on into steerage.

Beyond this, the Captain’s quarters often consisted of a stateroom for sitting, receiving, and working. If his wife was aboard as well, this often also became her domain (though sometimes a captain would build an additional little sitting room for his wife above deck in the hurricane house). Henrietta Deblois, who accompanied her husband on the Merlin in 1856, described some of the pieces in their cabin:

“In the after cabin with have a green Brussels carpet with a tiny red flower sprinkled all over it, a blk walnut sofa, one chair, a small mirror with a gilt frame — over this is the Barometer — at the side of this hangs the thermometer. Under the mirror is a beautiful carved Sofa. A Melodeon, Music books work baskets and bags, give this room quite a home-look.”

When five Japanese fishermen—Fudenojo, Jusuke, Goemon, Toraemon, and Manjiro—were wrecked on the uninhabited island of Tori Shima, they were eventually rescued by an American whaleship called the John Howland. In an 1841 account written by a Japanese scholar interviewing the castaways, of the captain’s quarters they recalled being “brought inside the ship to the captain’s quarters. Here they saw a row of rooms furnished gorgeously enough to serve as a small shrine for Buddha. The rooms looked so dignified that the castaways were awed and could hardly approach them.”

Mary Brewster, who joined her husband on his ship Tiger in 1845, wrote of the ways she tried to brighten up her rooms throughout the voyage.

“William the cabin boy brought a bunch of flowers amongst them Nasturtiums which remind me of my home. If my friends could look in my rooms they would see a large bundle of herbs, Spearmint and balsam which have perfumed the room, several bunches of green grapes.”

Beyond the sitting room was where the captain would sleep, the most private room on the ship. There was also an instance of one captain of the Charles W. Morgan, Thomas Landers, creating a gimballed bed for his wife Lydia when she joined him in 1864. This was done in an effort to make things more comfortable for her and spare her from seasickness. The bed would swing on a gimbal system, thus remaining level no matter how the ship rolled.

The captain also had his own private Head too; no such Barrel which Abbe called to mind in the fo’c’sle or going over the bows.

But for all the room’s privacy, it was still a whaler.

“I am obliged to stop below all the while decks are full, grease and smoke in an abundance and my own apartments often bear some such footmarks but I have it cleaned every morning and Steward scrubs the stairs and cabin. So we keep tolerable clean below,” said Mary Brewster.

Other whaling wives expressed anxiety over how the oil was finding its way down below end edging towards the threshold of their rooms, hoping that it wouldn’t infiltrate there too.

Charles Nordhoff described it as inescapable regardless of the hierarchy of living conditions:

“From this smell and taste of blubber, raw, boiling, and burning, there is no relief or place of refuge. The cabin, the forecastle, even the mastheads, all are filled with it, and were it possible to get for a moment to clean quarters, one would loathe himself—reeking as everybody is, with oil.”

When I made my pilgrimage to the Charles W. Morgan, there was something profound standing in the last wooden whaler in the world. But she survived all her crews and she survived her industry. The paint is clean, the rooms feel oddly cozy. Superimposing within those beams the lives of everyone who called her home (and the hundreds of other vessels like her now long gone) really takes the space to a different level. Even though so many men were writing about the dreadfulness of it all, their words populate the space that’s now so vacant without them, and truly makes it real.

[khlegacynexus]

I am working on the Next Chapter of Others! But I’m slowing it down until A03’s disruption issue is resolved. Also stream the movie 🎥 if you can today guys as part of the celebration of its release.

Also inspired from the third Q&A here’s some Mystic Prodigy Trivia

I do want to incorporate the recent description of Frida’s Ninpo. I figured out how But I can’t do much more than that right now. Beyond Frida is actually Self taught.

Bonds for the MP kids are as follows Strongest to Weakest currently

Leo: Donnie/Mikey>Lizzie>Raph

Donnie: Leo/Mikey>Raph>Lizzie

Raph: Mikey>Lizzie>Donnie>Leo

Mikey: Leo/Donnie>Lizzie\Raph

Lizzie: Frida/Mikey>Donnie>Leo>Raph

Frida: Lizzie>The boys

Ages for the Turtles are as follows youngest to oldest

Elizabeth- 13

Michelangelo 14 1/2

Leonardo 15

Donatello 15 1/2 (there is a 6 month difference between Their hatching. I have a try to show with the human form if they have been born human they definitely would’ve been twins.)

Raphael, Slash and Frida: 17

So Apparently the sibling that was lost in another dimension was the Brother. And the actual Oldest. While I had always planned for Raph Frida and Later Slash to share that status. Wholly shit I feel so bad for Raph here! First his Leadership position (which if you pay attention to the show closely wasn’t always long for this world.) and now his title as the oldest. I’m not changing that now. 🤣

Also while Slash is a Hamato by blood He has his own life and family in Oaishu

[oinonsana]

Huge ass detail map for the region of the first few Arcs of THE KNIGHT VAGRANT. Pemi Archipelago is a sun-scourged land inspired by the likes of Borneo, Bali, Sulawesi, Mindanao, and the Ryukyu Archipelago. It is situated right beside the End of the World to the Southeast, where the islands eventually end into eternal sea.

THE KNIGHT VAGRANT is my ongoing new weird progression spirit cultivation fantasy web serial on Royal Road! If you're interested, blurb below the cut hehe

A world shorn of light. A mystic swordhand shorn of memory. Let your Will be done. Until all beings are free.

Death held them, once, for the quickest second. Until the Adamantine Path reaped its due.

Raxri Uttara the Once-Dead walks again, rejuvenated by the Medicine Awoken. A swordgendered blade saint now shorn of their accumulation. Arisen, without memory, they must wander again this Wheel of Wandering, wield the God-Dissolving Darkness to flense away the forgetting's dirt, so that they may arrive again at the truth, and learn new mystic and martial arts to recover their failing Will Furnace. They must seek revelation from their past, understand again the vaunted world of the Utter Islands, and choose, ultimately, between vengeance or enlightenment. If they could remember who or what wronged them...

Upon that peak, will they choose the right blade? Let their enlightenment be that such a duality is delusion.The Termagant Buddha watches closely.

Giant cats turned into apartment complexes, ghost horse steeds that tire not, walking giant mechanical armors turned into public transportation, charnel wizards summoning the long-dead, witches wielding the Pureflame of Creation, the Machine God beginning its slick advance into forever progress... the Age of Furor is upon us.

The Latter Day of the Law.

THE KNIGHT VAGRANT is a new weird progression fantasy web novel in the universe of Wandering, a world wrought from Esoteric Buddhism and Maritime Asia!

WHAT TO EXPECT

- Progression Fantasy that is Journey to the West meets Naruto meets Cradle by Will Wight, Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin, and Grace of Kings by Ken Liu.

- An MC that has lost all memory and power and must claw their way back up, relearning everything they've done during their years as a prodigious cultivator, accumulator and attainer. They're also essentially an attractive androgynous nonbinary femboy MC who is not a twink and is an archetypical Holy Fool Trickster (with an emphasis on the Fool early on!) inspired by the likes of Sun Wukong, Shakyamuni Buddha, Monkey D Luffy, and Padmasambhava.

- Multiple Cultivation Systems within the world, with the primary one inspired by Esoteric/Tantric Buddhism. Expect classic Daoist Cultivation, Dual Cultivation, Animistic Cultivation, Hermetic Cultivation, Esoteric Muslim Cultivation, Tantric Shaivist Cultivation, Esoteric Catholic Cultivation and more!

- A mystic esoteric fantasy archipelago inspired by cultures and faiths of the Nirvana Route/Maritime Silk Road (From the Arabian Sea to India to Indonesia to the Philippines to China to Korea to Japan)!

- In depth supernatural martial arts inspired by my own practices in FMA, Muay Thai, Karate, and MMA!

- A unique, Southeast Asian twist on the cultivation genre, emphasizing unique combinations and interesting parallels from Southeast Asian cultures with East Asian cultures!

- An adventure story inspired by the likes of Elden Ring, One Piece, Dragon Ball, and Journey to the West!

- Content Warnings for the following: Violence, Body Horror, Mild Horror, Mild Sexual Content (can get racy but nowhere near smut!), Bigotry, Warfare, Class Struggle, Revolution, Betrayals, Strong Language

[tmntseparatedaucompetition]

Competitors Masterpost

How Its Set Up: Name (linked description post) - Creator // #tag i use for it

The creators are on the description post, I just didn’t want to ping a bunch of people.

Gemini AU - @/tangledinink // #gemini

Separated Leo AU - @/dianagj-art // #sep leo au

The Night - @/y0unginhumans // #the night

How I Met Our Brothers - @/soapiemomorphine // #how i met our brothers

Ripples and Fate - @/bluesgras // #ripples and fate

Split by Space - @/purplescience // split by space

Mikey’s Imaginary Friends - @/tblsomedoodles // #mikeys imaginary friends

Michelangalone - @/error-code400 // #michelangalone

Diamond in the Repo Yard - @/kqrmen1 // #diamond in repo yard

Through the Thicket - @/gayest-squrrel // #through the thicket

Sometimes Plans Change - @/waytoobsessed // #sometimes plans change

Magic and Masks - @/bucketofbugz // #magic and masks

Shattered Puzzle - @/thevoidisscreamingbackatyou // #shattered puzzle

Lost Under the Sea - @/easterartist // #lost under the sea

Growing Pains - @/cuuno // #growing pains

Lost in the Storm - @/masquerain-with-a-mask // #lost in storm

Prodigy - @/khlegacynexus // #prodigy

Bowboys - @/gl4ssfan // #bowboys

Spare Parts - @/miniyunart // #spare parts

Shadow of the Krang - @/0ddbugs // #shadow of the krang

Tentative Devotee - @/s0ftiw1tch // #tentative devotee

Villain PB&J Duo - @/onionninjasstuff // #villain pbj duo

Mutant Manhunt - @/baskeigh-ball // #mutant manhunt

Never Better - @/less-depresso-more-espresso // #never better

Red Rover - @/red-rover-au // #red rover

The Little Prince - @/beannary // #little prince

Even More of a Disaster - @/3lectricinsomnia + @/teaablue // #emd

Not a Run of the Mill Family - @/moontidemints // #not run of mill family

Adolescence of a Hidden Hero - @/egg04 // #hidden hero

Under Wraps - @/soulsavepoint // #under wraps

Hueso Raised Leo - @/shardkn1ght // #hueso raised leo

Snapdragon AU - @/bluesgras // #snapdragon

Empyrean Weeping - @/cupcakeslushie // #empyrean weeping

Bloodbath - @/trubblegumm // #bloodbath

Adopted Mikey AU - @/tblsomedoodles // #adopted mikey

Life Mission: Save My Brothers - @/daedelweiss // #life mission

Honey’s Mama’s Boys - @/honey-rye // #honeys mamas boys

100 Feet and a World Away - @/dandylovesturtles // #100 feet and a world away

Where You Belong - @/nights-flying-fox // #where you belong

New Phone Who Dis - @/rbtlvr // #new phone who dis

Lights of the City - @/cuuno // #lights of city

Banana Split - @/alexcant578 // #banana split

Warriors Heart - @/peanutrat20 // #warriors heart

Autumn Leaves Grow Premavera Strings - @/mystic-findings-collection // #algps

[quasi-normalcy]

How different "legacy" Star Treks are reflected in current series:

TOS: The main character on Discovery is prominently related to Spock; Strange New Worlds is basically a sort of "TOS season zero"; George Takei reprised his role as Sulu in a mystic vision in an episode of Lower Decks; Picard brought back Walter Koenig as Chekov's grandson; Prodigy did a whole episode about the fate of a one-off redshirt; constant references to Kirk and company; constant references to Khan

TNG: Spinoff series about the main character, with a third season that's basically a reunion special for the main cast; Lower Decks closely follows its tone and narrative style; even exceedingly minor characters like Jellico, Okona, and Locarno get followed up upon

VOY: Seven of Nine is a main character on Picard; Prodigy is a stealth sequel, bringing back Janeway, Chakotay, and the Doctor; Tom Paris appeared in an episode of LWD, which also made its fourth season premiere a Voyager tribute.

DS9: Crossover episode with Lower Decks featuring Kira and Quark; Section 31 turns up all over the place (unfortunately); villains in Picard season 3 are (supposedly) Changelings; lots of references to Quark

ENT: Um. ...Connor Trineer turned up in the least awful episode of "Very Short Treks"

[james5-doe]

The New Tori Article

From DoE Database. Info on her parents, Ian and Janet, has been added as well. Thank you to all creators of Tori for the contributions. This is their presentation. Like the artists, I'm taking a little break now.

PLATINUM Race: Human Skills: Genius-level intellect, strategy, mechanics, supernatural abilities

Family: Gordons

Victoria "Tori" Gordon (née Elisonne) is a character created by AmandaDoE, featured in tales set on Earth S and Earth N.

A brilliant girl born into a family of adventurers, she is initially undecided with regard to her path in life. When two of her relatives are victimized by an alien tyrant, Tori lends her aid in battle, deals with other personal matters, and unravels certain mysteries concerning her past and her future.

The Original Defenders

Accounts of Tori's history vary, with different tales told across different worlds.

In at least one dimension, Victoria was born to Ian and Janet Elisonne while both were working as secret agents in America. Two years later, Earth made its first contact with a planet called Mongo, and Janet's brother Flash Gordon, alongside his fiancé Dale, discovered that Mongo's ruler Ming was planning to invade.

As a result, Tori's uncle Flash and aunt Dale fought to sabotage Ming's plans in space, while Tori's parents, Ian and Janet, provided backup at a defense agency on the ground.

This team remained intact for a couple of years, during which time Dale took a break to birth twins, April and Rick.

The Day That Changed Everything

Weary of conflict, Janet concluded — without proof — that the famed magician Mandrake and other mystical beings were making Earth a target for Ming. Against the wishes of teammates, she donned a soldier's uniform, collected a rifle, and snuck off to assassinate Mandrake — all while Dale and the Defenders rushed to stop her.

Mandrake was saved from harm when Ian arrived at the last moment and took the shot for him. Moments later, Ian bled in the arms of a remorseful Janet — who grew highly resentful toward all aliens and supernatural humans, blaming them for her mistake.

Ultimately, this event changed several things. It left Janet incarcerated, ended Ian's career, and weakened Earth's most successful defense team. It also rendered Ian unfit mentally to care for his child, costing them several moments that they would have shared.

An enraged Dale confronted Janet in captivity and had to be restrained from beating her to death. Dale filed for custody of Tori immediately, gaining the right to raise her with Flash and their children for several years. However, she made it clear that the situation wasn't motivated by hatred for Janet, but by love for Tori, whom she wanted to ensure would be brought up properly. She allowed the girl's surname to remain Elisonne, in honor of Ian.

Following her release from jail, an ostracized Janet became an operative for the Intergalactic Union Agency (IUA), an alliance dedicated to interplanetary law enforcement.

Tori's Upbringing

In the midst of all of these conflicts around her, young Victoria Elisonne was beginning to display prodigy-like intelligence, excelling at all subjects in school. During a visit to the IUA, she surprised her mother by proposing a successful solution for a unit engaged in a training mission. She also took an interest in mechanics, gaining extensive knowledge of aircrafts, computer assembly, and computer science. Additionally, upon being taken in by Flash and Dale, she learned that her new home was protected by laser-proof glass, armored door frames, and video cameras that overlooked traps, all of which increased her fascination with security and gadgetry.

A key moment of Tori's upbringing occurred when her aunt Dale revealed that not all members of Mongo's royal family were like Ming, and that people should not be judged prematurely. Dale also explained that while Tori's intelligence was admirable, humility was important, because no one, no matter how wise, could be right all the time.

Janet tried to regain custody of Tori twice, but was denied by law. Following the second occasion, Dale vowed that Janet wouldn't be getting Tori back, and told the woman calmly to cease her efforts.

As was promised, Tori essentially grew up with Dale, Flash, April, and Rick. She also bonded with another cousin, Sara, the daughter of Flash's other sister, Abigail. While she visited Ian and Janet occasionally, she was not given the details of their separation, and remained closest to her household family members.

Though Dale and Flash never intended to relinquish custody, their busy schedules would eventually prompt a court to return Tori to her mother, who later became head of the IUA.

As she grew, Tori developed a fondness for surfing, which she used as a means of escape on occasion to avoid friction with Janet, issues with her crushes, and other personal matters. Though her friends commended her surf ability, they always stated that she was meant for something more, and suggested that she find a true calling in life.

With numerous avenues available to her, Tori was, at first, undecided about what she would do. Being a member of the Gordon family, she had often considered joining her relatives in interplanetary law enforcement. She ultimately opted not to following the Great Rebellion — a battle on Mongo that left Ming devastated — believing that victory for Earth was near. Upon learning that her cousin Rick and her aunt Dale had been captured and victimized by Ming, however, Tori chose to become a researcher and an occasional combatant with the Intergalactic Union Agency. In recognition of her family's legacy, she changed her last name from Elisonne to Gordon.

Within this dimension, she used research to learn the truth about what happened to her father, leading to a temporary rift between herself and Janet. She later replaced her mother, took control of the IUA, and engaged in diplomacy with alien worlds.

Earth S

Tori is featured in the Earth S story Sailor Moon Defenders and its related works. She is introduced as a compassionate and athletic researcher who has gained prominence at the Intergalactic Union Agency. Unlike her mother, she believes that not all supernatural beings deserve to be persecuted, and should instead be judged as individuals.

Earth N

Tori has a prominent role in the tales of Earth N, separate from those of Earth S, created by AmandaDoE. This series features characters appearing in DC Comics and related media, along with players from the Highlander works.

During this narrative, Tori ends up involved in a supernatural struggle, and uses her talents to unravel various mysteries — some concerning herself. As events unfold, she gains paranormal abilities, and develops unexpected bonds.

Skills and Demeanor

"That girl could rule this world, and probably will. She just doesn't know it yet."

— Abigail Gordon on her niece, Tori

Possibly the smartest girl on the planet, Victoria is a prodigy who possesses genius-level intelligence in numerous fields. Her mother, Janet, once compared her potential to that of the Necklace of Oros.

Tori has multiple certificates in psychology, and has earned the IUA Gold Medal in strategy. As a tactician who monitors combat teams, she is widely renowned for finding weaknesses in powerful opponents while devising clever ways of subduing them. She will typically use every psychological and technological technique available to her, from researching a target's personality and baiting them into draining their strength, to setting physical traps that negate an enemy's abilities. Her tactics enabled the IUA to capture a pre-heroic Veena Dark in Veena's earliest appearance, and she has also proven capable of outsmarting other magicians, along with units of soldiers. Tori's mind is so potent that government leaders of the highest rank, outside of the IUA, have expressed interest in recruiting her, though she has usually declined in order to keep an eye on the agency and her mother.

Like her cousins, she is a talented mechanic who knows a great deal about the assembly and functionality of weapons and vehicles, particularly combat vehicles. In addition, she has created advanced gadgetry that has been used both in and out of battle, including remote-controlled weaponry, observance devices, and tools to protect her mind from telepathic influence.

Though she has not engaged in combat as often as some of the other Gordons, she maintains an above-average level of skill as a fighter. Her creators, AmandaDoE and Neldorwen, introduced her as a kickboxer who appears to have basic Muay Thai training. In unarmed clashes, she typically uses her feet to attack an opponent, along with light grappling. Among her preferred strikes are outside crescent kicks, midsection kicks, axe kicks, and high side kicks. On most occasions, if her swings connect directly, she can subdue an enemy with one blow.

Rick, having trained with both women, once concluded that Jedda Walker kicked a tad faster than Tori, but that Tori's strikes were more powerful. He attributed this to the fact that Jedda was a sprinter during her childhood (as revealed in Sailor Moon Defenders), while Tori's training, handled by Dale and others, was focused more on strength.

In armed battle, notably on Earth N, Tori sometimes employs a sword for self-defense. This Tori also gains mystical abilities that heighten her physical potency. In addition, she has created powerful suits of armor, equipped with laser weaponry and other tools.

Tori is an expert in the field of computer science. She is particularly skilled at creating defensive programs, and at bypassing others, allowing her to gain the information that she needs on opponents and on additional subjects of interest. Some of the finest programmers employed by national governments have been outfoxed by her abilities. She is rumored to have viewed surveillance feeds — clandestinely — in several federal buildings across the world, obtaining knowledge of strengths and weaknesses.

Tori is fluent in multiple languages, including Mandarin, English, German, and Spanish. She was one of the first people on Earth to learn the language of an alien world, and has made several visits to other planets as a diplomat.

Tori's achievements have brought her recognition on a global scale. She also maintains a following among those who admire her allure. Because she is used to success, she tends to be hard on herself when she makes mistakes, though she tries to remember her aunt Dale's teachings with regard to humility. At other times, her dedication to work can affect her relationships.

While Tori is generally humble when it comes to her accomplishments and beauty, during a visit to Hadea's kingdom, she once noticed an admirer kneeling before her out of respect, and did not ask the young man to rise. Though she is sometimes compared to certain members of nobility, she ultimately avoids being vain, and simply considers herself proud.

Creation

AmandaDoE was looking to create one of the most memorable original characters in DoE storytelling. She wanted Tori to be alluring on the outside, but troubled within — a girl with a somewhat difficult home life, possessing sensibilities that divided her and her mother. She also envisioned Tori as very knowledgeable, with value similar to that of the computers Dynak and Octon, but with more versatility and actual reasoning ability. The character was to have a romantic life, and, ultimately, great potential.

In designing Tori, artist Neldorwen created a somewhat innocent and positive look, but made her appear confident and capable at times. Plustina, the second illustrator to draw her, maintained the same basic concepts.

Art:

Neldorwen and Plustina -- Images 1, 2, 3, 5, and 10

Neldorwen -- Images 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 11

Plustina, Neldorwen, Katzueki, and Zetarok -- Image 12