#not like he minds being the collectors father figure

[qcoded]

So DOES Collector call Belos Papa in the baby AU? (if so, canon chars reacting to that would be hilarious)

Oh DEFINITELY xd

The Collector to some extent does have a concept of what parents are, so it was kinda natural for them to start calling Belos papa.

Ofc, Belos denied it at first but slowly it just kinda stuck (and let me tell you, Hexsquad did find out about it through Hunter snd they lost their shit 💀)

[livmadart]

Ran vs. the Phantom Thieves

Set in the Phantom Thief Twins AU and taking the place during the Black Star heist! Please enjoy this, it was really fun to write! Shoutout to my amazing lovely editor ^_^ <3

One by one, the lights flickered off down the hallway. Ran suppressed a shiver, hunching her shoulders and drawing her hands to her chest. Clutched tightly in her grip was the Black Star, a giant, flawless pearl: the target of the night’s heist.

Why did it have to be me? Ran grimaced. Of all the bad luck…

Problems had followed one after another that night, each escalating in cosmic ridiculousness. Her dress had been late from the cleaners, delivered by an apologetic employee only moments before she had planned to leave. Her father slipped away from her the moment they stepped foot on the boat, becoming embarrassingly drunk in record speed. Then there was the collision with Sonoko’s mother, sending their broaches—which were supposed to be replicas of the Black Star—clattering to the floor, evidently mixing them up in the process. When Kaito KID, landing lightly as a dove, deduced that the real Black Star was being held safe by its owner, a pit opened up in Ran’s stomach. Slowly, she sidled through the crowd and towards the nearest door.

Gloating at the futile ruse, the thief held the pearl delicately up to the light—and cut his monologue short. Shrouded by top hat and monocle, he cast his gaze over the room, and seemed to lock on to Ran’s soul itself with uncanny speed. His stance shifted from a poised gentleman into that of a predator preparing for pursuit. But before he could make a move, a wave of undercover police crashed into the thief. Ran seized the chance to dash out the door and down the hall.

And yet, that only won her a brief respite. The lights switched off, one by one by one…and she soon found herself stranded in the darkened corridor, cursing the strange way her luck had drained away.

The police are probably arresting him now… right? She told herself, ignoring the unsteady tattoo beating in her chest. As a champion black belt, Ran would never be afraid of some measly thief whose tricks were no match for her fists. But one distinctly nasty rumor, whispered about the thief after his miraculous return, just wouldn’t leave her mind.

Before his disappearance eight years ago, Kaito KID was known as a relentless, but chivalrous, gentleman thief, descending like an angel in white to whisk away his target. But now, witnesses told tales of a team: Kaito KID, sweeping and grand as he ever was, and a second, ragged figure lurking in his wake like a detached shadow. They called this one the Phantom Baron—king among ghosts—and described a wraith wrapped in bandages and tattered clothes, armed with a shining, wicked blade. It seemed to take pleasure in scaring guards senseless—and all too frequently, those guards would turn up dead before the night was ended. Although the killer was usually quickly caught, be it a jilted lover, a cruel debt collector, or a slighted friend, the trail of bodies was simply too clear to ignore—

Sure, Ran could handle a human thief, but a demon was another matter entirely.

A rattle overhead broke her out of her thoughts. In the dim light, she could make out a vent cover above her, which trembled, then swung open silently like the lid of a tomb. Stumbling back, she watched, transfixed, as a liquid shadow dropped bonelessly to the ground.

Writhing in a way no human should, the pool of darkness collected itself, rising up on four spindly limbs. Its wrapped bandages unraveled to reveal a half-shrouded face—leering at her upside down.

The thief balanced in a backbend, spine arched severely. Its single visible eye—a startling, piercing blue—never leaving her face, the thief pushed upwards, contorting around to face her, flowing forward in a single move to reach for the pearl in Ran’s hands, its long fingers grasping like claws.

Deep, primal fear washed through Ran in an icy rush—and when faced with such fear, Ran was a girl whose instincts would always firmly choose fight.

Faster than the eye could follow, her foot snapped up in a deadly kick, forcing the thief to rear back at the last moment, its eye blowing wide. Ran closed the distance in an instant, ready with a deluge of punches strong enough to crack concrete. Again, the thief barely dodged, slipping under her flying fists like a snake. It brushed her side ever so lightly, but when she whipped around, the Black Star pearl was already shining in its grasp. At that moment, the moon burst through its cover of clouds, flooding through the portholes to illuminate the thief’s sharp, toothy grin.

“That could’ve really hurt,” the Phantom Baron exclaimed breathlessly. He spoke in a rough voice, but its higher pitch gave Ran the impression of someone young. The crazed grin remained fixed on his face—he seemed almost excited. “You almost caught me.”

Ran stepped back, shifting into a defensive position for a retaliation which never came. Instead, the thief reached for his saber, which hung from the bandages wrapping his waist. With a flinch, Ran’s eyes shrank to pinpricks—is he really going to attack?—but the thief just whirled his weapon deftly before launching it at the porthole. The glass shattered into a spray of tiny diamonds, glittering in the moonlight like the caps of the waves far below.

Without a word, the Phantom Baron dove for the porthole, slipping through the impossibly tight window. Ran stood for a moment, stunned, before rushing to the porthole, mindful of the jagged shards of glass left behind. She could see the thief plummeting through the night air, holding tight to a length of bandage attached firmly to the saber’s hilt. The weapon sailed forward before him, its blade separating and segmenting strangely until it looked more like a grappling hook, latching neatly onto the railing of a lower deck. He used the sudden tension to swing off the side of the ship, the long tails of his scarf-like bandages trailing behind him until they suddenly snapped into shape, forming a pair of tattered wings. Gliding on the ocean winds, his distant figure was swallowed shortly by the night, and followed closely by a silent white sail.

With a shuddering breath, the adrenaline left Ran all at once—just in time for the lights to snap on and for the clatter of the police’s clumsy pursuit to reach her ears.

“Don’t blame yourself,” Sonoko chided, not for the first time. “Kaito KID is unstoppable! It was all my mother’s fault for the stupid trick anyways.”

Still, Ran hunched lower, unable to forget the events of the night before. Was there anything different she could have done? Was there something she had missed? Even now, walking to school in the plain light of day, the memory of that dark hall turned over and over in her head.

“…There were two,” she mumbled, which may have been an excuse—or perhaps an admission that things had truly been out of her hands.

Sonoko blinked. “So it’s true? You saw it? The Phantom?”

Ran nodded, a little numbly. “It—he—moved weirdly. All twisty limbs. But I think… it almost sounded like he was having fun.”

They came to an intersection, waiting on the curb for the light to turn. Sonoko, stars in her eyes, leaned her head back into the clouds where her head so often resided.

“Dark and mysterious!” she gushed. “The polar opposite of my lovely, charming KID. I wonder what he looks like under those bandages—!”

She cut off abruptly, fixed on something across the street. Ran followed her gaze to find a trio of teens on the opposite curb. A girl, notable for her mane of wild, wavy hair, chatted happily with her companions: a pair of perfectly, completely identical boys, differentiated only by the unkempt appearance of one, and the carefully combed look of the other.

“Twins!” she exclaimed, in a slightly crazed tone that warned Ran of the ridiculous fantasies to come. She gripped her best friend’s arm, looking at the boys appraisingly. “They’re cute, too… Can you imagine, Ran? If we married twins, we’d be sisters!”

The light changed, and the three teens started to cross. Ran cringed, hoping Sonoko wouldn’t speak so loudly as they passed.

Except, just as Sonoko’s idealized future reached a fevered pitch—joint weddings, vacations, even conjoined homes—the twin with the messy hair offered a spray of playing cards to the girl walking alongside them. While she was distracted, his other hand reached around to unzip her backpack, causing her belongings to spill out onto the ground behind her. He laughed loudly as she dropped to the ground, cursing him out the whole way.

Seeing this, Sonoko cut herself short, curling her lip.

“What a childish prank. How disappointing,” she huffed.

The other brother watched his twin’s antics blankly, looking distinctly bored. Without a word, he pressed the toe of his shoe to his brother’s shoelace, holding it down against the ground. Still taunting the girl, the unkempt brother moved to leave her, only to come crashing to the ground himself.

Regarding him through half-lidded eyes, the neater brother smiled coldly.

“Might as well help Aoko out while you’re down there,” he suggested, before turning on his heel and walking off. The girl, having collected her things, stuck her tongue out at the boy still sprawled on the pavement before running off.

“Serves you right!”

The crosswalk counter ticked down, forcing Ran and Sonoko past the scene. Sonoko moved on as soon as they were out of sight, circling back to her theories on the pair of phantom thieves. Ran, however, couldn’t help but look back over her shoulder at the retreating figure of the reserved boy, who had doled out his strange, lopsided justice.

[slowthypiglordblr]

Toh Theory: Will the Titan aid Luz in the Final Battle, and has he been helping her?

Throughout the course of the Owl house (especially after the revelations from S2b) a question has been in the back of my mind. Has the Titan of the Boiling Isles been secretly helping Luz this whole time?

A major element of season 1 and early season 2 was Luz’s uncanny ability to discover and utilize glyphs, something witches and demons didn’t know existed until then. In a matter of weeks, Luz had mastered all four glyphs, and would eventually learn to combine them in only a few months. While this also stems from her artistic ingenuity (and reading some of Philip’s journal), it’s almost like the Titan itself had been guiding her as a sort omniscient second mentor. On the opposite, it took Belos/Philip Witterbane years to figure out the gylphs even requiring Luz to teach his past self the light spell (her first glyph). He even speculated that Titan would have such knowledge to begin with and was actively sabotaging him to prevent him from threatening the people of the isles. It’s fitting that the self-proclaiming “Humble Messenger of the Titan” was actually a false prophet despised by the being he claimed to serve where as Luz was unknowingly the Titan’s true champion.

Another interesting thing in “For The Future” of all the Hexsquad, Luz was the only one to stuck in the rift (a place she had previously visited in Yesterday’s Lie). The spiritual figure (who I presume is the titan’s soul) is desperately trying to reach, even waving at her to get her attention. Whatever the reason, the Titan clearly wishes to speak with Luz specifically as if he needs her for something important. 

This is mostly just a guess on my end, but I’m starting to wonder if Dana has been hinting this connection from the beginning. During the countdown for the season 2 premiere, Luz is shown resting inside the skull of a giant beast which seems to greatly resembles a Titan’s head. Another art piece shows Luz playing with a massive paper mache King’s skull, wearing it and even sitting inside of it. 

In the show proper, in the episode “Thanks to Them”, Luz and Hunter adorn themselves with a King and Owl mask respectively to face what they think is Belos returned. While this was mostly helped to give Hunter a much needed confidence boost, it might also serve as a symbolic function in the narrative. Hunter is revitalizing a part of his former identity as the Golden Guard whereas Luz wears the likeness of someone she views as a younger brother for emotional support. It also may foreshadow Luz drawing strength from the Titan itself in order to be on par with the Collector as what Lilith mentioned in “For the Future”, Titan’s magic can negate Collector magic. (Makes you wonder if instead of a CollectorLuz, we got TitanLuz, but that’s probably just me.)

.Before we get into Titan’s plans for Luz, we need to take reflect on elements on the small tidbits of information revolving around the Titans in general. As we can recall, the Titans were once the ruling species of the Demon Realm for an unspecified amount of time. One day, the Collectors arrived on their crusade of capturing and taking over other planets for their own agenda. The Titans stepped forth to oppose the Collector and drive them back, with the latter alongside the witches and demons who worshiped them and sought their extinction. This would lead to a long and bloody war which ended in both sides wiping each other out, save a youngster from each opposing species (King and our Collector). 

During this period of time, it helps to shed a small light on the Boiling Isles Titan likely as a person. While we don’t know much about King’s father, it’s in the face of the war and the slaughter of his kin, a he sought to protect his son (the last Titan) at all costs. He created an island hidden away from the Collector through a protective sigil inside a massive tower which King’s egg would be nurtured. As a last line of defense against any intruder seeking to harm his son, the Titan created an army of golems made from flesh and bone to protect and care for King. This proves to us that regardless of circumstance, King’s father loved and cherished his son more than anything in the world, even before his own life. 

This leads into the reason for the Titan seeking out Luz, the answer is as simple as it is profound, to be there for King. Ever since Luz arrived on the Isles, she’s had a massive positive impact on the island and it’s inhabitants (despite her believing the contrary). She helped Eda reconcile with her curse and her sister, she helped Willow, Gus, Hunter, and Amity overcome their personal struggles, reforge their friendships and come into their own, as well as play an important role in stopping the Day of Unity. But one of major accomplishments was with King, at the start of the show, he was self-centered attention seeking child lost in delusions of grandeur who often caused a lot of trouble her and others around him. But thanks in part to Luz, King not only learned that actions have consequences and to appreciate what he has, but also resolve his own identity crisis and discover his nature as a Titan. If not for Luz’s influence would’ve never become the mature, responsible, empathetic boy he is by season 3. Through that, it’s easy to see why the Titan would see Luz as the perfect person to watch over King, as well the world he created in his own death. 

While the idea of prophecy and chosen ones does not fit the themes of the owl house, but take away the Titan’s preconceived divinity to the witches and demons of the BI and a new picture is formed. A father who in death left behind a world for his son to call home and a family to cherish, with Luz serving to guide him into becoming a good person in a way he could not. 

[nayziiz]

Shadows | LN4

Summary: [Mafia] In the face of dire financial troubles, Lando receives a desperate plea from his father to unearth a lucrative solution within the family business. Fueled by the pressure to rescue his family from ruin, Lando stumbles upon a seemingly perfect venture—using luxury cars as a facade for the clandestine world of drug trafficking. With the unexpected partnership of Amelia Rossi, his father's best friend's daughter, Lando believes he has found the ideal accomplice. However, as the Norris family collides with the ambitious Russells in a ruthless bid to establish their dominance, the perilous path Lando has chosen places not only his newfound enterprise at stake but also entangles Amelia in the dangerous crossfire that unfolds.

Warning: Violence, drugs, blood, smut, fluff, guns

Pairing: Lando Norris x OC (Amelia Rossi) - appearances from other drivers

Masterlist

Chapter 3

From an early age, Amelia had grown accustomed to the protective cocoon created by her father's men, a presence that had surrounded her throughout her childhood. However, as she reached her twenty-first birthday, her desire for independence clashed with her father's protective instincts. In an attempt to break free from the stifling security, she insisted on enjoying her celebration without the constant surveillance. Unbeknownst to her, this decision would lead to unforeseen consequences.

During her birthday celebration, things took a sinister turn as gunmen entered the club, and her father's men had to intervene, ruining what was supposed to be a joyous occasion. This incident left a bitter taste in Amelia's mouth, prompting her to assert her independence even more vehemently. She demanded space to live her life without constant interference, blissfully unaware that this newfound freedom would come at a high cost.

As Amelia and Lando ventured into their risky business collaboration, the exportation of luxury vehicles from her showroom became a subject of scrutiny, especially for keen observers like the Russells. The patriarch of the Russell family, a fervent antique vehicle collector, had an extensive knowledge of cars in the London area. Their family operated like vigilant police dogs, adept at sniffing out anything suspicious and often open to being persuaded into silence through bribes.

The shift in Amelia's business activities did not go unnoticed, and the Russells were the first to raise an eyebrow. They were astute and methodical, always keeping a watchful eye on the activities within their realm of interest. The luxury vehicles, once displayed as previously owned gems in Amelia's showroom, now caught their attention, setting off alarm bells in the meticulous mind of the patriarch.

The Russells' modus operandi involved uncovering anything unusual and then leveraging that information to their advantage. In this case, they sensed an opportunity to exploit the situation, fully aware that Amelia's sudden shift in business practices could be used to their benefit. Their penchant for detecting irregularities made them formidable adversaries, skilled at navigating the intricate underworld of deals and secrets.

Adding to the complexity of the situation was George, the Russells’ son, a figure from their high school days whose unsettling crush on Amelia cast a lingering discomfort over their interactions. Despite his older age, George had consistently hovered around Lando and Amelia's social circle during their school years. His presence, coupled with his family’s reputation, added an element of personal tension to the already precarious business dealings.

As George Russell strode into the showroom, his imposing presence seemed to fill the space with an air of tension and unease. His eyes scanned the rows of luxury vehicles with a predatory gleam, his gaze lingering on each car as if assessing its worth.

Amelia's heart sank as she watched George move through the showroom, his every step sending a ripple of apprehension through her. She knew that his interest in the vehicles was more than just casual curiosity; it was a calculated move, designed to probe for weaknesses and exploit any vulnerabilities he might find.

Summoning all her courage, Amelia made her way down to where George was. As George inspected the vehicles on display, his attention was immediately drawn to a sleek and aerodynamic Aston Martin DBS Superleggera. Its polished silver exterior gleamed under the showroom lights, exuding an air of sophistication and power. She forced a smile onto her face, hoping to conceal the unease that churned in the pit of her stomach.

“George, it's been a while.” She greeted him, her voice strained with forced cheerfulness. George turned to face her, his expression unreadable.

“Amelia.” He replied, his tone cool and measured.

As they stood face to face, the tension between them was palpable, a silent undercurrent that threatened to pull them under. George's presence was a reminder of a past that Amelia would rather forget, a time when his unwelcome advances made her skin crawl with discomfort.

But now, faced with the reality of George's scrutiny, Amelia knew that she couldn't afford to let her personal feelings cloud her judgement. She forced herself to focus on the task at hand, determined to navigate this encounter with as much grace and composure as she could muster.

“So, what brings you to the showroom today?” She asked, her voice carefully neutral. George's lips curled into a sly smile.

“Oh, just thought I'd stop by and see what treasures you have hidden away here. I had my heart set on a Mercedes.” He replied, his tone tinged with a hint of mockery.

Amelia couldn't help but feel a sense of relief wash over her at George's response, though his tone still sent a shiver down her spine.

“Well, we have some exquisite Mercedes models as well. Let me show you.” She replied, forcing a smile to hide her growing discomfort.

Leading George away from the Aston Martin DBS Superleggera, Amelia guided him towards a row of Mercedes-Benz vehicles, each one a testament to German engineering and luxury craftsmanship. As they approached a gleaming Mercedes-AMG GT R, its vibrant red paint catching the light, Amelia couldn't help but feel a twinge of satisfaction. The GT R was a performance powerhouse, with a handcrafted V8 engine and precision-tuned handling that promised an exhilarating driving experience.

“This is our newest addition.” Amelia said, gesturing towards the Mercedes-AMG GT R. “It's a masterpiece of engineering, with unparalleled performance and luxury.”

George's eyes lit up with interest as he examined the car, his earlier air of mockery replaced by genuine intrigue.

“Impressive.” He admitted, running a hand along the smooth lines of the bodywork. “I must say, you have quite the selection here.”

“Thank you. We take pride in offering only the finest vehicles to our clients.” Amelia nodded, her smile growing more genuine.

As George continued to inspect the Mercedes-AMG GT R, Amelia couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to his visit than just a casual interest in luxury cars. She knew that she would need to tread carefully if she hoped to navigate this encounter without revealing too much about their illicit business dealings.

“And, how would I go about getting one of these to my property in Dubai?” George wondered, his eyes glancing up to study Amelia.

Amelia's heart skipped a beat at George's question, knowing that transporting a luxury vehicle like the Mercedes-AMG GT R to Dubai would require careful planning and discretion.

“We have reputable shipping partners who specialise in transporting vehicles internationally. They handle all the logistics and ensure that your car arrives safely and discreetly at your property in Dubai.” She paused for a moment, gauging George's reaction before continuing. “Of course, we understand the importance of privacy and confidentiality in these matters. Our shipping partners operate with the utmost discretion, ensuring that your purchase remains confidential every step of the way.”

Amelia's words were carefully chosen, designed to reassure George while subtly reminding him of the need for secrecy. She knew that their business dealings could not afford any unnecessary attention, especially from someone as astute and perceptive as George Russell. George nodded thoughtfully, seemingly satisfied with her response.

“Excellent.” He said, a glint of anticipation in his eyes. “I'll need to consider my options.”

He suddenly stood upright and watched her intently as he circled around the car back to her.

“If I'm being honest, Amelia. I'm not really here for a car.” He admitted.

Amelia's heart skipped a beat as George's words hung heavy in the air, her instincts screaming at her to tread carefully. She maintained her composure, though her mind raced with apprehension as she met George's intense gaze.

“Oh?” She replied, her voice steady despite the turmoil churning within her. “Then what brings you to the showroom, George?”

George's lips curled into a sly smile, a predatory gleam dancing in his eyes.

“I've heard whispers, Amelia. Whispers of a different kind of treasure hidden away here.” He said, his voice low and conspiratorial.

Amelia's pulse quickened at his words, her mind racing to comprehend the implications of his revelation. She knew that their secret dealings had drawn attention from all corners, but to have George standing before her, openly acknowledging their illicit activities, sent a chill down her spine.

She forced herself to maintain her composure, though her nerves threatened to betray her. 

“I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about.” She replied, her voice tinged with a hint of unease. George chuckled softly, his gaze never wavering from hers.

“Oh, I think you do, Amelia. And I must say, I'm intrigued, especially with little Lando Norris involved.” He said, his tone dripping with menace.

Amelia's breath caught in her throat at George's ominous words, her heart pounding in her chest as a chill raced down her spine. The mention of Lando's name sent a surge of fear coursing through her veins.

“You should be very careful about the company you keep. Lando’s changed since high school.” He whispered, his eyes glittering with malice as he leaned in closer, his presence suffocating.

“George, I truly have no idea what you’re talking about.” She replied, her voice trembling slightly despite her best efforts to sound confident.

“Just know we are on your trail, Rossi. This won’t end well. Not for you and certainly not for Lando and his family.” George added.

Amelia's heart sank as George's ominous words hung heavy in the air, her mind reeling with the implications of his threat. But George's cold stare bore into her, his eyes flashing with a dangerous intensity. As he turned to leave, leaving her alone in the showroom with her thoughts and the looming threat of his scrutiny, Amelia couldn't help but feel a sense of foreboding wash over her. She knew that their encounter with George had  raised the stakes to a whole new level, and that they would need to proceed with caution if they hoped to emerge from the ordeal unscathed.

She slowly made her way back up to her office, shutting the door behind her as she entered her safe space. With trembling hands, Amelia retrieved the burner phone from the depths of her bag, her heart pounding in her chest as she carefully avoided using her own phone for any communication with Lando. There was a possibility her phone had been tapped.

As she stared at the screen of the burner phone, her mind raced with the urgency of the situation. She knew that every moment counted, that they had to act swiftly and decisively if they hoped to stay one step ahead of George and his relentless pursuit of the truth.

With a steadying breath, Amelia began to type out a message to Lando, her fingers flying over the keys in a desperate bid to convey the gravity of their predicament. “Meet me at home after work tonight. Urgent.” She wrote, her words, a silent plea for help in the face of impending danger.

As she hit send, a wave of relief washed over her, knowing that she had taken the first step towards securing their safety. But even as she waited for Lando's response, a sense of unease gnawed at her, reminding her that their troubles were far from over.

As Lando's phone buzzed with the incoming message from Amelia, he felt a surge of apprehension wash over him. The urgency in her words had sent a chill down his spine, and he knew instinctively that something was terribly wrong.

Lando's heart raced as he stepped into the familiar confines of the Rossi estate, his mind swirling with a thousand questions and fears. The urgency of Amelia's message had spurred him into action, driving him to her side without a moment's hesitation. He found her waiting for him in the modest living room. The tension in the air was palpable as he took a seat opposite her, their eyes meeting in silent understanding.

“Amelia.” Lando began, his voice filled with concern. “What's going on? What's so urgent?”

Amelia's expression was grave as she met his gaze, her eyes reflecting the turmoil swirling within her.

“Does the name George Russell ring any bells?” She asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

“No fucking way.” Lando huffed, already adding up the pieces in his mind.

“He knows, Lando. He knows about our... dealings.” Amelia added.

“How?” Lando asked, his mind racing with possibilities. “How could he possibly know?”

“I don't know.” She admitted.

“Please tell me he didn’t approach you at the showroom.” Lando quipped, worry etched on his face.

“He did. He threatened us, Lando. He threatened you and your family.” Amelia shook her head, her brow furrowed with worry.

Feeling the weight of Amelia's worries pressing down on them both, Lando rose from his seat and moved to sit beside her, his instinct guiding him to offer comfort in the face of uncertainty. With a gentle touch, he pulled her into his embrace, enveloping her in warmth and reassurance.

Amelia leaned into him, seeking solace in the strength of his embrace. The tension that had gripped her began to melt away in the comfort of his arms, replaced by a sense of safety and security that only Lando could provide.

For a moment, they sat in silence, drawing strength from each other's presence as they faced the daunting challenges that lay ahead. In that moment, the world outside faded away, leaving only the two of them together, united in their determination to overcome whatever obstacles stood in their way.

“We need to be smart about this.” Lando said, his voice steady despite the turmoil raging around them. “We can't let George intimidate us. We need to stay one step ahead of him, no matter what it takes.”

As they held each other close, Lando gently brushed his fingers through Amelia's hair, his touch tender and comforting. He whispered words of encouragement into her ear, his voice a soothing melody that calmed the tumultuous storm raging within her heart.

Feeling the warmth of his breath against her skin, Amelia closed her eyes and let herself be enveloped by his embrace, finding solace in the strength of his arms. His words washed over her like a healing balm, easing the knots of worry and fear that had gripped her. In that moment, she felt a sense of peace wash over her, knowing that no matter what trials lay ahead, they would face them together just like the many other times they had done so previously.

[ben-drowned-me]

hi! could you write some general hc for Jeff and Toby? Also could you talk about more about your canon plsss?

✧.* gen jeff and toby headcanons

-aaa of course !! i love jeff and toby so much

for my canon, I like to think that i just kind of make the characters more real. For most of their original canon stories, or for the fanon versions of them, their characters are made to be just killing machines with a little bit of angst and the story of whatever caused it. I base them off my favourite versions of their stories (or combine), but i give them flaws and little quirks that make them into an actual character rather than a person. I also try to write in how they are all traumatized people because thats usually brushed off. I wouldn't mind going into more detail if you'd like :3

jeff the killer

 incredibly close with liu before everything went down, now he just feels guilty being around him

hardcore metal and punk fan. Screeching Weasel, Benighted, To The Grave. stuff like that

Has night terrors. Rooms with Ben because he's the only one who can calm him down when he awakes. 

Soft spot for animals (usually prefers cats but doesn't say anything to Smile)

Grew up in a very strict catholic family

Is the self-proclaimed "white boy" of the mansion but is hispanic

Pushes his emotions away until something really triggers him

When he finally gets triggered, it does not end well

Full breakdowns. Rage, Depression. He goes through all of it in the span of like 2 days. 

Everyone gives him space except Ben

No mirrors in his room. Avoids ones outside

phantom pain from the burns 

he looks absolutely atrocious. Probably the worst of all the creeps but to be fair he went through severe body trauma

For a grown man, he's on the skinner side 

still really fucking strong though

Can't sleep without noise. One of the reasons he rooms with Ben so much bc hes loud

Messy room. Does not clean, does not know where anything is

only really uses the top of his face to show emotion because he's scared of re-opening his mouth scars

He would spend hundreds of dollars at bath and body works but all the scents he picks up would clash so badly

the kind of guy to say no when someone asks for something but then get 3 of it

listens to british rap unironically

toby rogers

mentioned before, but hates waffles. Any classic breakfast food he dislikes but those are the worst

a collector. His room is filled with small little trinkets he's picked up. Has a rock or button collection

Probably the worst of the creeps emotionally

Was raised in a pretty toxic environment.. Never learned how to manage his emotions. Has too many of them and they change too often so he kind of just. explodes

Usually extreme rage or goes nonverbal

is autistic idc

very ! bad ! ptsd

nervous around male authoritative figures

initially refused to eat at the dinner table since it was a requirement of his fathers, but is getting better at it

soft spot for kids, will let sally dress him up and do his makeup

religious guilt though he was never religious

finds EJ to be very good company, he enjoys the atmosphere

speaking of EJ, he taught Toby a lot of medical care since he's not always available

sleeps on the floor pretty often

kind of an asshole sometimes

master of sarcasm tbh

[dresshistorynerd]

I had the idea of writing about some historical queer figures I find interesting and drawing them for this pride month as a little project of mine. I will see how many I'll have time to do, I have in mind at least four other historical people, but knowing myself, I'm not holding my breath for all of them. Julie d'Aubigny she been one of my favorite historical figures for years so I decided to start with her.

Historical Queer Figures - Julie d'Aubigny

Julie d'Aubigny, also known as Mademoiselle Maupin and La Maupin, was a French opera singer and fencer in the late 1600s. She was infamous for having sapphic relationships, being aggressive and dramatic, having androgynous presentation by occasionally dressing in men's clothing in public and being a fencer and duelist. Trans and genderqueer readings of her are very possible, but because none of the accounts of her (at least those I've read) suggests she ever used any other than feminine first names or terms or she/her pronouns about herself, I will use she/her pronouns when talking about her.

The French court absolutely loved to gossip and people were constantly making up libel about the people they didn't like, and Julie had a lot of enemies and was very controversial figure. During the 18th and 19th centuries she was written about a lot in these highly sensationalized Encyclopedias, where the rumors from her lifetime got increasingly wilder and sensational. She was accused for example of seducing noble women in court balls, burning down a convent and murder. There's not much primary sources left or available from her actual lifetime so distinguishing truth from fiction is not an easy task in her case. Kaz Rowe did great job in their youtube video about her to try to actually find out where the stories of her life comes from. They go through some great context too about the rumor industry in the French court at the time so I highly recommend checking it out.

CW: very brief mentions of child sexual abuse and self-harming

The Timeline of Most Concrete Events

Let's first go through the things that have at least a bit more backing than a rumor started 100 years after her death. Julie d'Aubigny was born between 1670 and 1673. Her father was Gaston d'Aubigny, the secretary of Louis of Lorraine, count d’Armagnac, who was Master of Horses to King Loius XIV, and her mother is unknown. She was probably brought to the Versailles court in 1682, where she got a full education including academic subjects, riding and fencing, usually only thought for boys. She was married off to a Sieur de Maupin (first name unknown) probably around 1687, when she would have been 14 to 17 years old. He apparently got a position from a southern province as a tax collector. The stories about her claim she remained in Paris, but I don't think there's evidence of this, though what we do know of her adult life does suggest she was estranged from her husband and lived apart from him. Nevertheless, she did end up in Marseilles, where she first appeared on stage in Marseilles Opéra between 1687 and 1690. She didn't have education in music, but her good looks and beautiful voice landed her the role.

Her first appearances in the Paris Opéra are listed to 1690, so that is probably when she had her debut there. She became a very talked about figure and she gained both friends and enemies in the opera and the court. She performed in the Paris Opéra for probably four years, after which she went to Brussels, Bavaria, where she performed with the Opéra du Quai au Foin at least during 1697 and early 1698, after which she returned to France to perform again with the Paris Opéra.

It was the period when her career peaked and she got a lot of leading female roles. Those roles in French opera were at the time soprano roles, but Julie's natural voice range was lower, contralto. (There's a whole thing where at the time she was described as mezzo-soprano, but the music historian consensus is that her range matches contralto in modern terms as opera was sang on lower cords across the board at the time. (I understand nothing about music theory so I just hope I managed to explain this correctly)) She excelled in secondary female roles of goddesses and warrior women. For the leading roles she had to sing on higher notes than was natural to her and the naive and dainty personalities of those roles clashed with her own personality. Some later retellings of her life claim she performed male roles for female singers (which was common practice, and these roles were often those of young boys), but all known records of her roles are female roles. In 1702 on the leading composers of the Paris Opéra, André Campra, wrote her a leading lady role in Tamcréde, which is often credited to have the first leading female role for contralto. But her perhaps most famous role was as Médée in Medus, which was considered to be a very difficult role. Apparently the original leading singer had fallen ill before the debut so Julie was quickly trained in her stead, but succeeded well and got a lot of praise for the role.

In 1703 Julie started an affair with Madame la Marquise de Florensac, who was said to have been the most beautiful woman in France. This is the affair of hers of which there's most evidence. De Florensac was married and had children, but she was also rumored to have many affairs. Julie lived quietly together with her for two years. They were described by a contemporary to have lived in perfect harmony, always spending time together and only appearing in public when necessarily. Julie deputed in her last role in 1705 and ended her career after De Floransac died of sudden fever. Nothing concrete is known about the rest of her life, not even how or when she died, but she is usually speculated to have died in 1707.

Parsing History from Fantasy

Chronologically the rumor that places earliest in her life was that she had "an affair" with count d’Armagnac (age 46 at the time), before she got married in the same year so as a 14 to 17 year old. There doesn't seem to be any actual evidence of this and even if that really happened, it wouldn't have been an affair, it would have been grooming and sexual violence. Related to it is the rumor that the count arranged her marriage and sent her husband away, but kept her in the court with him. Then she "got bored" of the count and ran away with an assistant sword-master, Séranne, to southern France. They got money by performing fencing matches in fairs and taverns while they were traveling till they got to Marseilles, where she first appeared in opera.

The stories of her in this period are generally written in a super nasty tone, and she (as supposed 14 yo) is written as the seductress and the adult men are written as the victims of her fiery temper and fitfulness. All these stories seem pretty unlikely though. The rumor about the count seems (unfortunately) most possible, but accounts from 18th and 19th century about these early events in her life don't seem to be based on any information from her lifetime. I find it most likely that the writers in 18th and 19th centuries were filling out the blanks we don't know from her life and painting her as this (in their eyes) degenerate seductress from an early age. An alternative possible explanation could have been that she indeed accompanied her husband to south, perhaps near Marseilles, where she then performed with the Marseilles Opéra. Many sources claim though that she performed with her maiden name there, which would be odd if she was living with her husband. I don't know where that claim comes originally, but it could be false of course. Although the generally proposed year of her marriage could also be false, which would explain why she at first performed with her maiden name, and later in Paris and always after that with her husband's name. That would not explain how she ended up going to Marseilles though.

The next and perhaps the most infamous and coolest story of her sets somewhere shortly before 1690. In that story she fell in love with a girl in Marseilles and the girls parents sent her to a convent to avoid a scandal. Julie went to the convent with the premise of wanting to become a novice. They tried to frame the girl's death by putting a dead nun's body into the girls bed and setting it on fire and then went on the run for couple of months. While on the run Julie was sentenced to death in absentia, but after returning to Paris and rekindling her relationship with count d'Armagnac, he got the king to pardon her. As amazing as this story is, it's very likely not true. It seems quite unlikely that the 15 to 19 year old Julie would have done that, but even more unlikely that she'd just get all her charges dropped and these crimes wouldn't have hindered at all her career, which hadn't even properly begun yet. The first surviving description of this incident comes from a letter of her contemporary court lady, Madame Dunoyer, who was basically an early gossip columnist and despised her. Her story doesn't mention Julie at all, but talks about a nun, who tried to frame her own death in a similar manner to escape with her male lover (which still sounds very unlikely story). The first surviving description that attaches that story to Julie, comes year after her death from the very suspect writings of a known liar, Cardinal Debois, who did personally know and hate Julie. He claimed that Dumenil, who was an actor in Paris Opéra the same time as Julie, related him the story, while also acknowledging he probably did it because he too hated her. So very likely not a true story, but possibly something that was rumored during her lifetime already.

In the stories of her, after escaping from the convent and before going to Paris, she traveled again in male attire and met Louis Joseph d'Albert de Luynes von Grimberghen, commonly known as count d'Albert. He was an interesting character in his own right, roughly her age, and like her, his real story is a little hard to parse from the legend (though in his case, he was a nobleman so there's also a lot of actual records of his life). In the story though, he thought she was a man, they had some disagreement, a fight broke out, she won, injured him and nursed him back to health. And then they had a brief affair before d'Albert went to war again. They were lifelong friends, so this is not entirely made up. It's entirely possible they had a brief affair (and according to many stories an on and off type of affair that was re-kindled at many points in their lives) and there was rumors about it even in her lifetime, but the story of this first meeting seems to lack validity.

Next in her stories she met Gabriel-Vincent Thévenard, who was another famous singer and her contemporary, either right before or right after she arrived in Paris. They became lovers and after Thévenard auditioned and got accepted into the Paris Opéra, he helped to get Julie accepted too. It is true that as far as we know, they both debuted in 1690. They were also said to have been life long friends and again it's possible they were lovers at some point, but the details of their meeting are difficult to know.

There are many stories about her antics of both of her times in the Paris Opéra. In those stories she fought duels, assaulted Dumenil with a cane, robbed Dumenil, had fights with men after they insulted her or another women or harassed other women, tried to kill herself after her love was not reciprocated, threatened to shoot a duchess in the head, threatened to slit Cardinal Debois' throat, bit Thévenard in the ear on stage and had affairs with men and women. According to Cardinal Debois the feud between Dumenil and Julie started because Dumenil was interested in her but she rejected him. The Cardinal was a liar but it does sound pretty believable. So if it's true and he spread in retaliation a lie that she burned down a convent, her beating him up or beating him up, stealing his valuables and returning them to him by humiliating him in front of other actors, would align well with everything else told about her personality. Maybe her retaliation wasn't exactly as in the stories, but if the other things about Dumenil were true, I'm sure she retaliated in some way. Same applies to her threatening the Cardinal's life. He wrote about it, but he was a liar, but, but because he was a liar who lied about her, it sounds like something she might do. Madame Dunoyer wrote about her threatening the Duchess of Luxembourg apparently because of jealousy over count d'Albert. The duchess was d'Albert's mistress at one point and apparently he even fought a duel over her in 1700. So there is some validity to this rumor, though the circumstances were perfect to fabricate that kind of rumor. I haven't found as much backing to other rumors, but many of them sound possible or at least maybe rooted in some reality and exaggerated.

The rumored explanation for why she left the Paris Opéra around 1694 was that she went into a court ball in men's clothing, kissed a woman on the dance floor and got challenge to a duel by three noblemen. They went outside and she won, but because dueling was illegal, she had to flee to Bavaria, and later when she returned, she was supposedly pardoned by the king again. In the more sensational versions of the story she killed the noblemen. This whole story is very unlikely. Even count d'Albert was imprisoned for engaging in an illegal duel (the one in 1700). He got eventually pardoned, but he was a nobleman and basically a war hero. The first surviving accounts of this story come much after her dead and it sounds more like a very exaggerated version of the other stories of her. There's many more plausible reason why she would have left to Bavaria. If her contemporaries descriptions of her behavior were even half true, those could have been scandal enough. Or if the rumors of her burning down a convent were circling that time already, that alone could have been damaging enough to her career that she thought it best to leave for a while.

In Bavaria, she's rumored to have another scandal. She supposedly became lover of the Max Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria, but she was too dramatic and after she stabbed herself with a real knife during a performance, the Elector decided she was too much, demanded her to leave Bavaria and gave her money for it. She supposedly threw the money to the feet of the messenger and left. The first surviving account of this story comes again from Madame Dunoyer, the details of which have changed, but were always quite exaggerated and unbelievable. Still the core events might be true, it's possible she was the Elector's lover for a while and it's also possible she stabbed herself on stage for real, being very dramatic as she was.

Was she queer?

There are enough accounts of her attraction and relationships with women from people who actually knew her, that I do find it very likely that she was sapphic. Cardinal Debois even implied she was exclusive interested in women or at least heavily preferred them, though other accounts by the people who knew her did talk about her attraction to men too. Her dressing in men's clothing is also mentioned enough times by her contemporaries that I do believe it. Because gender was so heavily tied to clothing and sexuality and fashion was less about what you wanted to wear and more about what you wanted others to think about you, I think she probably had some gender feelings. Even her aggressive and assertive behavior was very much seen as crossing gender boundaries. There's no more evidence of her feelings on gender than her androgynous presentation, so it's mostly speculation.

In conclusion, she was definitely a flavor of queer.

Julie circa 1700 in opera costume.

The most notable source I used:

Julie D'Aubigny: the 17th Century Sapphic Swordfighting Opera Singer, video by Kaz Rowe - I mentioned this before but it bears repeating

Research page by Jim Burrows - This was great since there's gathered multiple sources on le Maupin, historical and more recent, some of which are hard to access fully otherwise

Julie d'Aubigny: La Maupin and Early French Opera, LAPL blog post - It repeats most of the rumors of questionable origin about her as truth, but the sections about her career, which have more backing than just rumors, are really helpful

Mademoiselle De Maupin; Biographical sketches & anecdotes, The Dublin University Magazine - One of those questionable biographies of her from 1854, really only good as a source of what the rumors were after her death

Chevalier, Louis-Joseph, prince de Grimberghen, essay by Neil Jeffares - Biography of count d'Albert, which includes a lot of unsourced rumors about both le Maupin and d'Albert, but recounts his life events in great detail, and references to each claim show which parts are sourced well

[idyllic-affections]

i love “a winter nights lazzo” that you just posted!!! now all i’m thinking about is childe being kind and caring towards the kid the second they get to liyue. and the kid immediately figures out where his money is going when he gets them nice weapons/meals and gets them quality clothes suitable for liyue (and potentially other regions if they wish to go).

summary. a general expansion on what childe's relationship with pantalone's kid is like.

trigger & content warnings. mentions of childe (accidentially) injuring reader.

tropes, pairings, fic length, & other notes. fluff, found family-ish. childe & pantalone's child!reader. 0.3k words. they/them pronouns for reader. prev | next

author's thoughts. REAL!!!! i don't usually write for childe, since i'm still working on getting his personality right, but these are just some of the thoughts i've had about him and pantalone's child.

among the harbingers, it is a well known fact that childe absolutely spoils [name] (as if their own father doesn't do that enough...). he is the closest in age to them and tends to view them as if they were another sibling of his, so it's no wonder that he's so... doting.

i like to think childe is an impulse spender tbh, especially when they arrive in liyue. he pays close attention to the little things they mention. he listens and remembers. if they express interest in something, he'll absolutely get it for them, even though they are capable of paying for themselves.

he def gets them cool weapons idc!!! should he be giving a 16 year old this really dangerous sword? no, probably not, but it's fine!!!!! he spars with them on a regular basis anyways!!! he knows what they can and can't handle!!!!!!! actually, childe was forbidden from sparring with them after he accidentially hurt them one time. he got his pay cut in half that month as a consequence... now arlecchino is the only one allowed to physically train them, but still!! childe does pay attention to their physical state. he swears he knows what they can and can't handle.

(childe also encourages them to take on weapons they aren't good with. i personally think they have a weak upper body, so things like claymores, bows... yeah. they refuse to work with claymores, but admit that knowing how to use a bow might be useful. childe isn't allowed to teach them, but he is thrilled nonetheless.)

he totally does get them really high quality clothes made only from the finest silk flowers. of course, he also gets them clothes that have good functionality. they can't really say they mind this, because... i mean. they are a debt collector. they need clothes with good functionality.

he's also rather fascinated by their ability to use pyro without a vision. he knows someone else like that... he doesn't dare compare them to the traveler, though; childe knows that they'd be pissed if he so much as implied that they're anything like the vile one responsible for their mother figure's death.

overall he's just a pretty kind, doting brother figure that treats [name] like a normal-ish kid, and honestly?

i think they'd appreciate that a lot.

please consider reblogging, it helps me out quite a lot!

[forever-animated]

GUYS

My spouse and I were rewatching The Owl House, and we noticed something that could come into play for the finale.

In the flashback in “O Titan, Where Art Thou?”, Luz says that King is the son of the Boiling Isles. So we’ve all been working under the assumption that the dead Titan was King’s father.

In the episode, “Edge of the World”, the Titan Trappers talk a lot about how there’s one living titan left, and how the Grand Huntsman wants them to find him. Then Bill talks about how he’s seen a titan and how their roar blew out his eardrums. We all remember this.

But pay attention specifically to WHAT Bill says.

(I pulled up the episode to make sure I got it right.)

“The last living titan, I saw it once before it disappeared.”

So, Bill is saying that he saw not just a titan, but specifically the last living one.

We’ve assumed that the last living Titan is King. But King just got his powers. Only had them for about a month before the events of Edge of the World. And as far as we know, he’s never met Bill. Why would he have? Bill is on the other side of the world.

So ...

Who is the titan Bill is talking about? And where did it go?

Could it be the figure we saw in For the Future?

What if King is not the child of the Boiling Isles? What if the Titan we saw trapped in the in-between world is actually King’s father?

I know what you’re thinking, “But Luz says in the flashback that King is the son of the Boiling Isles.” Yes, she does say this.

But we’ve had flashbacks from Luz before. (A flashback from Hollow Mind in Edge of the World, A flashback from Yesterday’s Lie in Follies at the Coven Day Parade.) And there’s always one element in these flashbacks that Luz mishears or gets completely wrong.

In Follies, Luz remembers her mom telling her to “promise that you’ll never go back to that terrible place.” Which is not what Camila said in that episode. And then in Edge of the World, she completely mishears what the Collector said. This is especially important, because she remembers the Collector being a lot more malevolent then they were. In her memory, he’s talking about actively destroying and cursing the land, but in reality, he’s just talking about wanting to play forever with Belos. This is backed up by how he’s portrayed in For the Future.

So...

Luz could be wrong. She’s been wrong before And it could be an intentional misdirect.

(Plus it never really made sense to me that King is the child of the island. Because everything evolved from that Titan. I feel like it would be too old to be King’s father.)

What do you think?

[icy-watch]

I'm kinda in shock rn.

But ok.

King is a prisoner new BFF to the Collector. So, going to have to save him. Somehow.

Eda's lost an arm to the curse. But at least she's alive.

And Belos is... not quite dead. A bit of him stayed with Hunter and went thru the portal with the Owl Squad.

Obviously the point of the next season is going to be to get back to the Boiling Isles to save everyone. Belos is going to make a comeback at some point, and try to take them down, but they'll be ready this time.

And Luz's Palisman still needs to hatch.

Yeah.

I forgot the message at the top of the episode again, but I was right. The message is "seek the key fear the lock."

Tomorrow is an in person movie night with my cousin, his wife, and our group. So, I won't be able to liveblog tomorrow. I'm planning on liveblogging at least 10 to 15 minutes of the first episode of s3 the next day earlier than normal. Much earlier. I have a family thing that evening, but the day after that should be normal.

So, until then!

Correct and incorrect predictions below the cut.

Correct

The Abominations Belos bought from the Blights will have something to do with the Day of Unity. *sad laughter*

King is a Titan. I'm gonna go find an apple blood recipe and make it for s3. I deserve it. As a treat for being able to predict this in the third episode of the season.

Belos is going to use an axe against Luz. His did. In his mind. I still feel like it'll happen in the show again.

Eda will explore the control she has over her curse. And she's gathered a great hold over it.

The Abominations Belos bought from the Blights will have something to do with the Day of Unity. *sad laughter*

King is a Titan. I'm gonna go find an apple blood recipe and make it for s3. I deserve it. As a treat for being able to predict this in the third episode of the season.

Belos is going to use an axe against Luz. His did. In his mind. I still feel like it'll happen in the show again.

Eda will explore the control she has over her curse. And she's gathered a great hold over it.

We're going to see Gus utilizing his powers to their full potential later in the series. Albeit out of his control, he did technically use them against Adrian and the Emperor's Coven.

The figure we saw who looked like King is not his dad. Yeeeeee! Guessed right.

When we see Lily and Eda's dad again, he doesn't hold it against Eda for injuring him. I... y'all. I am so happy he doesn't.

Hunter's going to leave the castle soon. BUT I WASN'T EXPECTING UNDER THOSE CIRCUMSTANCES

We are going to learn a little more about Luz's father and how he passed away. Ouch.

Luz is never going to make an actual portal home. She didn't. She ended up getting back using the 1 Belos made for himself.

Something will happen to stop Luz's Palisman from hatching. Crossing over into the human world is probably a big 1.

Luz, King, and Eda will be separated further. OUCH!

Incorrect

There are more than 4 glyphs. There are only 4 glyphs, but there's more combos than there are variations of Oreos and Doritos.

The item the first human to the Boiling Isles left in the library will be in Amity's little hideout. It would have made it soooooo much easier to get if it had been.

Something will happen to the coven heads - they'll disappear ro be killed off or something - thru the season. This was such a great idea at the time. Belos might have been better off if he listened to me. An L on his end, tbh.

Luz's Palisman is going to take a couple of episodes to appear. *sad laughter*

Belos got the ownership of Philip's journal by being friends or something. More like they're the same person.

Eda's going to help Luz carve her Palisman. She did and we only got to see a little bit of it, and I am sad.

Francois will become animate. Sadly, nope.

King will animate Francois by talking to him. Y'all have no idea how disappointed I am about Francois, let me tell you.

Owlbert won't make it to s3. I have never been so happy to be wrong.

Belosis going to bring the Boiling Isles to the human world. More like murder everyone to return.

Raine has memory loss from the spell. Thankfully, they were just faking it to trick Belos and Terra.

Powerful witches needed for the Day of Unity ritual will have glowing eyes when they use their powers. Surprisingly no. They might be needed for something else tho.

Eda's going to die. Thank the sun, moon, stars, and Spongebob she didn't.

Partial

Belos is infected by something. Putting this here, bc yes but no. The Palismen he consumed have sort of infected him, but not in the sense that I was actually thinking. My thought was he got hit with some Wild Magic or something.

Hunter comes from a line of witches who were descendants of humans, and he is somehow related to Philip Wittebane. Yes, but no. He is technically related to Philip by being a clone of his brother, but he doesn't come from a line of powerless witches who were descended from humans.

Our friends are going to lose the fight against Belos. Technically, they did lose, as it was the Collector who splattered him.

Unconfirmed

The footprints. 2 of them appear what 1 would expect for the time period. The barefoot tracks can be from any time. And the other 2 were too modern. Time travel? Either way, people end up dying. I'm thinking this'll be addressed in s3.

Something happened to Belos's brother at Eclipse Lake. Most likely, his death. This'll be addressed in s3 with the previous 1.

Belos Jurassic Parked the Basilisks to learn how to use the draining spell. This was kind of answered by people in my reblogs and comments, but it hasn't been outwardly stated in the show. And I have no idea if it will be.

The thing King's dad was fighting on the wall is similar to whatever Belos is turning into. This might be addressed in s3. I have my doubts tho.

Birds. The Clawthorns and the Wittebanes are related somehow. I'm thinking the connection might be Belos's brother, but unconfirmed atm.

The circle tablet was broken in a fight between Belos and his brother. Might be addressed in s3.

The dagger was used by Belos to kill his brother. This was heavily implied. It was also implied that the same dagger was used to mutilate his ears.

[folkloric-love]

"A handsome young man wearing white vestments gently takes the woman by the hand. His face is incomparably beautiful, his hair gleaming in the firelight like burnished gold. A holy symbol that depicts the sun hangs from the chain around his neck. He moves with the grace of a saint." Shout out to @luclovestruck yet again for another beautiful CoS commission! I love seeing all the wonderful designs fandom has come up with for one of my favorite characters, so here's another one for your consideration. Playing as Vasilka means that I get to dig into some wonderfully juicy themes concerning the relationship between father and daughter, creator and creation, the autonomy of the self, and filial piety. Of course, the character of Vasilka was obviously inspired by Frankenstein, but my love of fairy tales means that I'm leaning harder into the themes presented in Pinocchio, though I hold both novels very near and dear to my heart. I've joked at the table many times that the Abbot would be an avid collector of ball-jointed dolls, but despite her organic nature, Vasilka really is more of a "living doll" than a person, at least as of now. She does not speak unless directly addressed, emotes very little, and her movements are somewhat stiff and almost mechanical. She does not question the Abbot's commands and believes his wisdom is beyond reproach. In her mind, "God" and "Father" are synonymous concepts. She believes that the Abbot is guiding her down the proper path and that she was created to fulfill a special purpose -- a divine duty, as it were. Where does Vasilka figure into the Abbot's plans? For what purpose was she created? What exactly is this "divine duty" that is being alluded to? These are the sort of questions I hope to see answered as the narrative unfolds.

[gakriele-lvs-blog]

The Owl House overlooked/loose Plot treads (Updated)

There are a LOT of unresolved, unaddressed, and forgotten mysteries, characters, and plots that had to be cut short because of the shortening so... I decided to search and list as many of these as possible! Because there is just so much we missed and this is my way to cope.

Plot threads:

What was Darius's mentor's name? and why/how was he "eliminated"? (was he who inspired/influenced Darius to form his own rebellion?)

How did Darius even uncover the Draining spell? did he sneak inside Belos's office and snatch the paper? did he overhear Belos talking with the Collector? did the previous Golden Guard leave him some hints as to what Belos' plan was all about?

How did the CATTs (Amber, Derwin, and Skara) escape the Conformatorium after Eda's requiem? Did Raine break them out? was it Darius? Steve? [Possible Answer: it seems that the cell they were throw-in was actually open]

How did Bump manage to implement multitracking in Hexide? Assuming that at one point, the Emperor's coven sent an actual inspector to the school, how did the detention kids and Bump deal with that?

What about the other magic schools? we never got to see Glandus High or St. Epiderm.

What happened with the Greater Basilisk? It was implied that the emperor's coven took her so... is she dead?

How did belos revive the basilisks? was the Collector involved in that or did he figure out that one on his own? what method did he use? If the collector give him the draining spell, then what was even the point of resurrecting them in the first place?

What exactly is the relationship between Hunter and Darius like? mentor? father figure? friend? After giving Hunter a scroll and promising him to keep Flapjack secret we really never got a proper look at their relationship after all of that. After all of those years of giving Hunter the cold shoulder, Darius must have dedicated a lot of time to gain Hunter's trust.

Grimwalkers, how did Belos discover their existence? The only explanation that comes to mind is that he found the "recipe" in some forgotten temple or that The Collector help him develop it throught trial and error. Althrought the books Hunter found imply that the Demon Realm knows to a certain extent of their existence.

What was that little box containing the puzzle and map to the Titan's Blood? and who put it there and why? Because I genuinely find it disjointed from everything, like, not even a hint was placed about who made it and for who.

What happened to the other basilisk that escaped with Vee, and what was their relationship like? We know they are fine at the end but where did they go? Were they just hiding, or were they searching for Vee? Were they like siblings to her? if not then why bother to stick together? maybe they did care for her...

During Vee's flashback of her time in captivity, we saw 5 cages... We know who inhabited cages 5, 4, and 3. Assuming that the greater basilisk was part of this row of cages, we are missing one basilisk. Who are they and where did they go? What did Belos do to them?

What was the aftermath of Eda's first transformation into the Owl Beast like? what did Lilith do after Eda ran away? What was Gween and Deell's first reaction to the whole situation?

Who was the owner of the Bat Queen? After what was said in the last PostHoot, and the possible connection between her and the tower of the Owl House, well, now I really want to know who.

How many Titans/islands exit in the Demon Realm? We know that other landmasses exist beyond the Demon realm, but we only know of two civilizations, The boiling Isles and the Titan Trappers Island. Are there the only ones? are there more somewhere out there?

Luz and Vee's relationship. There are obviously some unresolved issues between them which we never got to see being resolved. How did Luz feel about Vee being a better daughter to Camila? about Vee making friends in only a few months while she never got one throught her whole life in the human realm? How did she feel about getting a new demon sibling after seemingly losing one just a few days/weeks ago?

Philip and Caleb's relationship. We can only assume and interpret things based on what we saw in Belos's mindscape and what Masha told the Hexsquad.

Evelyn and Caleb's relationship. During the last PostHoot Dana described their relationship as something that developed slowly, but apart from that, we have nothing

Philip's arrival to the Demon realm. We don't have any specifics about when and how Philip ended up in the demon realm, did he follow Caleb exactly when he crossed with Evelyn? did it take him years to muster the courage to cross the portal or find him or it took him years just to find him when already in the demon realm?

What's up with the other coven heads? Hettie Cutborn? maybe she is a buff vampire. Vitmir? no idea what his deal is but he is definitely evil. Osran? also evil, but in a more cynical way. Mason? He gives me family man vibes.

How did Masha and the other Cabin 7 kids feel about the real Luz? it wasn't even addressed how Vee feels about the whole situation, heck she seemingly replaced them with Luz's friends! there is just a lot to unpack there...

What exactly is Raine's relationship with their... apprentices? (Amber, Katay, and Derwin) how did they all meet each other and how did they end up forming the rebellion?

Amity's palisman, how and when did she get them? Was the Bat Queen involved? Was Ghost Odalia's palisman?

Darius and Eberwolf… They seem so close, yet so personality-wise so different from one another. Maybe one day we will see how deep their dynamic goes.

Steve and Matt, we know they are half brothers, but what is their relationship really like? Wouldn't be a surprise if Matt resents him for "abandoning" him for the Emperor's coven.

Flora D'splora's original role and relevance to the story. The crew released a painting that was meant to be part of Hollow mind's background that depicts an unsettling scene of Belos alongside Flora... What was supposed to mean? Was Florea meant to be an antagonist? Or was it all just because of driving Lilith to find the time pools?

Vee and Hunter are literally siblings: kids artificially created by Belos to accomplish a single purpose, had to lie about their identity to make friends, both belong to an extinct species, their names are literally just titles the dynamic between them was literally the thing I wanted to most from Season 3... cries

Viney, Barcus, and Jerbo. I genuinely wanted to see what their newfound freedom to study any type of magic led them to. Possibly nothing important but considerating how multitracking became a thing at one point during the second season...

Hunter, buddy, how did you not recognize Kikimora's voice in For the Future? you worked alongside her your whole life! Don't take this one seriusly

How did Camila and Vee's relationship develop after the lie was no more? we know that at the end Vee is practically a Noceda, but how did they both handle the aftermath of Yesterday's lie? Did Camila at one point resent Vee for what she did, aware that if it wasn't for Luz's arrival, the lie would have continued indefinitely? Did Vee apologize and/or told Camila why she did it? Again, there is a lot to unpack there.

Personally, considerating all of these, I believe that if the Owl House ever gets a spin-off, it needs to be about what we missed because of the shortening. Like, don't get me wrong, A Young Eda and/or Evelyn sounds nice but I don't think that a whole series dedicated to them is necessary. Why not a little bit of everything? 1 episode for each one of these, maybe 2 if it seems necessary. We can finally get some closure for some of the characters that suffered from the shortening (Vee, Darius, Raine, Bosha, the Catss, etc) and get some well-needed answers for much of everything.

If I miss something, make me know and I will add them!

[skkfujoshi]

I feel so stupid and so abused…

“Mmm…You’re a really good kisser.”Chuuya said as him and the brunette separated,though the other man was still on top of him “Not too bad yourself…”he lazily remarked,mouth moving to Chuuya’s neck

Unfortunately before Chuuya could enjoy it much or ,if he was being completely honest,whatsoever,his lover’s mouth was no longer at this neck.In fact Chuuya felt the other man’s weight shift on top of him as he leaned upwards.

“Quite a bit of wine you got there.You an alcoholic or something?” “No,just a collector for the most part.”“Jeez,sometimes I forget you were a rich kid and then stuff like this just slaps me in the face.Is your whole bartender job just some sort of weird poverty cosplay?”he joked getting off of Chuuya.

Chuuya only stuck his tongue out as his gaze followed the man.He truly was gorgeous.

Dark brown hair that grew just past his shoulders .Light brown eyes framed by pretty,dark eyelashes and a beuty mark right next to his lips.

“If you have a problem with me paying,Ousei,you only have to say so.Next check’s all yours.”

He laughed dryly as he rolled his eyes,reaching for one of the bottles on the top shelf,Chuuya admiring his figure while he did so.

Ousei was significantly taller than Chuuya and definitely on the skinnier side of things,waist more pronounced than that of most men,arms lacking in definition,thought his hands made up for it.They were calloused with long,thin fingers and more importantly pointy nails that dug nicely into Chuuya’s tigh in their first round.Not to mention that one of his hands was currently bandaged because of an injury he got at work.

Overall,great first time.

“Hmm this one looks nice…”Ousei said inspecting a purple wine bottle

Chuuya stood up and took it out of his hand.

“Oh absolutely not..My dad gave me that.”“Your dad who fired you?” “Yeah,he gave me this when he fired me.For the “contribution I made to the organization”.”“You’re making it sound like you were in some sort of crime syndicate.”

Oh,poor guy,if only he knew.

“Something like that…” “Why did he fire you?” “…He had this employee who he had to undercut for reasons…Completely sabotaged him behind his back and none of us knew about it.So to us it just looked like he was fired for no reason.”

He swallowed.

“My best friend was friends with the guy though and figured out what really happened.He quit after that and cut all contact.I was devastated so my dad gave me smaller jobs from there on out.That’s how I found out the truth.I confronted my dad about it and the same day he fired me.”

Ousei cringed.

“Oof,touchy.” “Yeah,with minors.” “Yikes.Lucky that you got out of there.”“Yeah.And that I met you.” “Aww…Stop being so sweet,you’ll make me vomit.”

Chuuya chuckled,taking the other man’s jaw and pressing their lips together.He wasn’t lying when he said Ousei was a good kisser.He held firmly and reciprocated with equal enthusiasm though he was nowhere near as clingy as Osamu used to be to be.

He leaned away from Ousei shortly after the thought entered his mind.

“Getting shy?” “No,just tired.That’s all.”

Ousei smiled softly and patted his cheek.

“Wanna take a sip of your dad’s wine before you go?”he teased “No way in hell.But you can knock yourself out,sweetheart.”

Ousei sighed in exaggerated disappointment 

“Fine,if you wanna be boring.” “Better boring than giving my father a win.” Chuuya said,waving him off as he walked to the bedroom “I’ll see you in bed.”

~

Ousei wasn’t in bed next morning.Chuuya wasn’t particularly alarmed at first.From what he heard one night stands were just like that sometimes,deciding to leave on a whim and without explanation.

Stung a little,but easy enough to live with.

So,Chuuya stretched his arms above his head and made his way over to the living room where-

“Ousei?”Chuuya asked to himself more than the other man 

His one night stand was lying on the couch,face buried in the pillows and arm limply laying against one of the armrests.

Before he could probe more,Chuuya felt two distinct smells hit him.Piss and vomit.He ran over and his gut sank as he got to Ousei’s side.His skin had turned purple and cold.He was dead.

He turned the man around and sure enough there was vomit around his mouth.

How did this happen?They only drank one glass of wine each before getting to Chuuya’s apartment and…Well there was Mori’s wine which…

Chuuya’s eyes widened.Surely there must be…He turned towards the coffee table where the wine was.

There was barely a dent in the liquid.Enough for one glass.

Vomiting and…He turned to the corpse and inspected it again.Ousei’s hands currently experiencing rigor mortis were clutching at his stomach.

He went to check the bathroom and it reeked of shit.He lifted the toilet seat and there was clear evidence of diarrhea inside.

Cantarella poisoning.

Fuck.

~

“Pick up,pick up,pick up…”Chuuya gritted,tapping his foot against the pavement as he waited for the train to arrive.

He should’ve gotten rid of the body instead of just packing up and leaving it on the couch.That was fucking stupid.What was he?A newbie!?

He supposed that was faster at least.The cops weren’t catching up to him anytime soon with a tactic like that.He was already waiting for the train from Tokyo to Yokohama,odds were he was gonna be long gone before the investigation even started.

His own damn father…Trying to kill him…Just for disobeying him!?Well…Chuuya wouldn’t be the first person Mori stabbed in the back.Fuck…

“Chuuya!?” “Hey Kōyo,I-“ “I thought you were dead!”

Chuuya blinked.

“Excuse me…What!?” “Ougai told us you died from alcohol poisoning like a week ago.” “Alcohol poisoning?How interesting.” “I have to tell him,he’ll be-“ “No,no…I want it to be a surprise.I was planning to visit anyway,since I got into some…Trouble,you could say.Think surprising him with his son being alive would be nice,wouldn’t you?”

Kōyo stood quiet for a moment,before she hummed.

“I suppose.Though he won’t be back until tonight.” “That’s fine,not like I have anywhere to be.”

Not now that he quit his bar job and had to get on the run because of something that was Mori’s fault.

“Well then…Welcome back.”

~

It felt like years since he’d been in his father’s office.In reality it was only two weeks,but…Even though it had only been such a short time he had almost forgotten what it felt like to be in this…

In this world,in this place.

Chuuya laughed within the empty room.What a fool he was.Kōyo had always told him that flowers of darkness have no place in the light and he’d been arrogant enough to think he was an exception.

No wonder he had gotten sloppy.He’d become too relaxed.

He looked at the time.It was 13:20.

Four more hours plus some change.Since he’s already here,might as well snoop around .What’s Mori gonna do?Fire him again?

He went for the drawers first going through a bunch of Elise’s drawings before finding anything interesting.Randou’s notes and Chuuya’s lab files.

He settled into one of Mori’s armchairs and skimmed.Chuuya already eyed some parts a while ago,others having been spied from over Dazai’s shoulder trough the years.He could comfortably skip around half of the contents and not feel like he was losing out on much.

Then something caught his eye.A short paragraph in the lab files.

“In case of an escape attempt the clone and original can easily be different via scarring.

In this particular case,said scar would be located on the original’s wrist.Unsure of it’s origin,but it’s a group of close by,shallow indents on skin.”

Chuuya stared at the passage for a few moments,bug eyed.

He did have one injury since he could remember.One that he could never explain.On his wrist.Mori couldn’t account for it either.

Wasn’t from needles or anything,he’d know that…

No way,no way…He was a clone.Verlaine thought so and well…Pot recognizes kettle.

He pulled up his sleeve and read over the passage again.And again after that.He shook his head.

He was human.He was human and Mori lied to him about it.

~

“Chuuya,how nice to see you.” “Nice to see you too,dad.Odd how well you’re taking this,since you supposedly thought I was dead right before you walked in.”Chuuya said,turning his head towards him

Mori sighed.

“I had my reasons for telling them that.I wanted to give you a clean break.” “Was poisoning the wine you got me part of that ‘clean break’ too?”

Mori laughed.

“What?” “I had a man over last night.He drank it and guess how I found him?”Chuuya said getting out of the armchair.

Mori didn’t say anything.

“That’s right.Dead.”  “How unfortunate.Thankfully you’re alright.” “I didn’t touch it till last night.And before you say alcohol poisoning,he only had one glass before the one that killed him.Not to mention the vomit and diarrhea.”

His father tilted his head and crossed his arms 

“What are you saying?That I’d kill my own son?” “I’m saying you’re willing to do whatever it takes to get rid of a loose end…And an ability user as strong as me?One hell of a loose end.”

Mori leaned against the window.

“So why are you here?Aside from throwing accusations?” “Initially I was just gonna show up and try to beat the shit out of you to see if I could,maybe knock a tooth out and break your nose,but…That was before I found this.”

He fished the small ripped out part of the lab files from his pocket and shoved it in Mori’s face.The older man’s eyes widened in recognition for just a moment but for Chuuya that was more than enough.

“I threw away all of my teenage years on this organization.To help you,to serve you,to kill for you and yet…”

He swallowed so his voice wouldn’t break with the next sentence.

“You knew how much thinking I was stealing someone else’s life was hurting me.Four years you knew and you never even thought to take that burden of off my shoulders?!”

Mori didn’t defend himself,simply  looking at Chuuya as if he were throwing a tantrum.

Chuuya stopped considering Mori a good person and while ago,but…He still thought that somewhere,deep down,Mori gave even the slightest damn about him.

“Did you ever even care?” “No matter what I say you won’t believe me.So is there really a point?”

Chuuya laughed bitterly and took the collar of Mori’s coat.

“The point is that depending on your answer I might change my mind on killing you.” “Killing me?And get yourself killed shortly thereafter?” “Think I might have a bit more time than that.Considering the suicide note.” “What?!” “What did you think that little letter on your desk was?”

Mori scoffed as Chuuya activated his ability,increasing his father’s density.

“Chuuya…Even if you make it look like a suicide,it’s only a matter of time before they figure it out.Will killing me over a secret I kept from you really be worth it when you’re dead?”

Considering that these past two years he’d only lived half a life…He heard the glass begin to crack.

“It’ll be worth every damn moment that you’re out of my life.”

He let go of Mori and shut his eyes as he heard the window shatter.He only opened them again when he heard his father’s body hit the concrete below.

He peaked over the broken window,not caring for the shards that might dig into the sole of his shoes.His father looked so small from this distance…

They wouldn’t find any fingerprints since Chuuya wore gloves.He got off scott free.He killed the boss of the Port Mafia and he didn’t even need a witness to cover it up…

A hysterical,quiet laughter broke out of Chuuya as he collapsed to the floor.

Mori’s dead.That lying,piece of shit is gone…

He killed Mori…

He killed his father…

The only father he ever had…

Kōyo found him sobbing an hour or so later.

Boss Chuuya AU Masterpost

Previous fic part <— Next fic part —>

First overall AU info post

[thiswasinevitableid]

Beasts (Sternclay)

Werebear wasn't a big winner in the polls, but I wrote some as a treat. It's NSFW, and there is some mention of breeding talk.

Joseph doesn’t believe in luck. 

Things happen for reasons varying from unfair to understandable. They have to. Because if they don’t, then his fathers sudden death and his sisters each losing their jobs two days before Joseph was supposed to set sail with a team of like-minded researchers for the farthest reaches of American West is all to do with unhappy chance and there’s nothing he can do to fix it or keep it from happening again.

Well, his dad can’t die a second time, but his mom hasn’t been well since his death. With Lily and Vivian frantically searching for work, it falls to Joseph to make enough in the meantime to keep everyone housed and healthy. 

So, no, stepping onto the Hayes Estate doesn’t make him feel lucky, no matter how many rare creatures he’ll encounter. He got here by his own skill and knowledge, not good luck. Which means all he has to do to help his family is not fuck up.

Lord William Hayes spends the better part of an hour showing him around the enclosed aviary, small aquarium, and stables. Joseph laughs in delight at the fur bearing trout and offers the pair cactus cats his hand to investigate, all the while taking notes on Haye’s instructions for their care. The lord and his servants had been managing on their own at first, but the collection is so large he needs a cryptid expert on staff to ensure it remains the best in the country. 

Joseph is deep in a bulleted list of cryptid sleep habits when they come to a gilded, double locked door. 

“This is the hall of great beasts. There’s only three right now but they are the pinnacle of my menagerie.” Hayes undoes the locks and ushers him into a white marble room with cavernous ceilings. There are three enclosures: two large ones on the east and west walls, and a third, smaller one on the north wall. The eastern one is full of plant life, lush and every shade of green, and the western one is filled with smooth, black stones and a trickling creek. And the smaller one is a square of silver bars on a platform, with a door leading back into an equally small, covered room. It contains a large, fur-covered object that Joseph can’t identify. 

Hayes blows a silver whistle and the cages on either side of them rustle. In the forested cage, a creature with horns and a woman’s face appears, gold hair ties messily atop her head. In the stone-filled one, a silvery, serpentine figure wriggles out from a back portion of the cage. 

The fur covered lump in the small cage raises its head, looking at them only a second before returning its chin to its paws. 

“That…that’s a werebear. You have a werebear, a leshen, and a dragon.”

“A pygmy dragon, but yes.”

Joseph chooses his words carefully, “I wasn’t aware anyone had these beings. It’s still being debated whether it’s legal to hold them captive at all.”

“And why is that?”

“Well, because they’re all human to a significant degree. They talk and think in the exact way you or I do.” 

“Yet they’re monsters all the same. And monsters are the purview of collectors such as myself. I trust their care will not be an issue for you?”

His conscience screams in protest as it’s crushed beneath the images of his mother rationing out her medication and Lily swearing that if this doesn’t pan out she’s getting a job in a cloth factory to tide them over.

“No, sir, not at all.”

He’s escorted from the room and spends the rest of his day being given the appropriate keys and moving his things into the small bedroom in the servants wing that’s his for the time being. Worry keeps him from sleeping for the bulk of the night, but he rises at when the clock chimes six.

The “great beasts” are the last on his list of morning rounds, and when he arrives only the werebear is within view. And that’s because his cage has no hiding place. 

Joseph starts with the Leshen, calling out “hello?” as he removes her food tray through a slot. When there’s no reply, he adds, “I’m Joseph Stern. I feel like we ought to have an actual introduction instead of Lord Hayes just…showing you to me. He didn’t even tell me your name.”

“Dani.” The voice comes from the ground across from him, and the Leshen peers out of a shrub, “and put your hand back. I’m not going to shake it. No offense.”

He places his hand back in his pocket, “None taken. It’s nice to meet you, Dani. Oh, here” he slides the new, covered tray through, “breakfast.”

“Porridge or pemmican?”

“Um, I’m not sure. I didn’t look.”

She waves him away and he goes, peeking under the next tray to see a bowl of porridge. This one is for the dragon, who is laying on his back in his anteroom, morning sun glinting on his scales. 

“Good morning-”

“Indrid” he lilts, not looking Joseph’s way, “My name is Indrid. I see the future, which means I will always be a little bit ahead of the conversation. And no, I cannot tell you how to make money or what date you will die.”

“That’s….well, that’s fascinating, honestly, but I’m not planning on asking anything like that. I’m-”

“-Joseph Stern” The dragon rolls over and stretches, then cocks his head, “a true cryptozoologist. Interesting. We had a bet going he’d hire a prison warden.”

Joseph does his best not to take that personally as Indrid prowls to the front of his enclosure. His scales are not just silver; they’re dotted with black on the underside and there are streaks of red on his wings, which matches the glowing red of his eyes. When the dragon passes him the empty tray through the open slot, the eyes stay on his face the whole time.

“Do you like Haye’s collection?”

Joseph meets his eyes, “So far I find it raises some interesting questions.”

The answer seems to satisfy the dragon, who takes the offered tray with a mild, “thank you” and returns to his sunny spot. 

In the cage, the werebear is so still Joseph is afraid he’s dead. Then there’s a long, drawn out huff and a wiggle of dark brown ears. 

“You’ve probably heard me introduce myself so I’ll skip that. What’s your name?”

There’s no reply. Joseph decides two out of three is a good start. When he opens the food slot to retrieve an untouched bowl of porridge, a large back paw kicks out, sending the contents through the gaps in the bars and all down his dress shirt. 

“Shit!” He tries to wipe it off and finds it horrifically sticky. There’s a muffled laugh from Dani’s cage, and Indrid’s snout is now poking around the side of the anteroom. 

“Barclay, such beastly behavior.” He snickers and then disappears. Joseph takes three, deep breaths, sets the new food through the slot, and goes to change his shirt. 

His interactions with the trio go much the same way for the next four and a half days. On the evening by the fifth day, he finds Barclay still hasn’t eaten anything. According to Indrid he hasn’t eaten in over a week. 

“He thinks that whatever is keeping him in his bear form is in the food. I have assured him this is not the case, as I see no future where his starvation leads to him becoming human again. But it is his choice.” Indrid’s tail flicks in an unfamiliar way as he clicks the claws of his hands together. The dragon is worried 

It’s that exchange, plus the raging headache he has from Hayes overwatering his hydra plant to the point it emitted distress vibrations, that drives his next decision.

“Barclay, please, you really need to eat something. A human can go ten days without food before there starts being a real issue and I don’t know how that translates to werebears. So please eat something.”

The werebear just stares at him from where he’s sitting against the other wall of bars. 

“If you don’t eat soon, I am coming in there and feeding it to you myself.”

In one leap, the monster is to him, claws reaching through the bars and yanking him forward by his waistcoat. Joseph’s face slams into the bars, the metal all that keeps him safe as Barclay snarls, “Try it, pretty boy. Fucking try it and I’ll make it so all you eat your dinner through a straw for the rest of your fucking life.”

He lets go and Joseph drops to the tiled floor. The room is dead silent as Barclay stalks into his cramped anteroom. It’s only when Joseph hurries out, heart pounding for more reasons than fear, that he hears Dani say, “nicely done.”

—--------------------------------------------------------------------

It takes him until Sunday to get what he needs for his new plan. He also has to get up at four, but it’s nice to watch the sun come up through the little kitchen window. When he brings breakfast to the trio this time, he needs a dinner cart to get it there. 

He starts with Dani, sliding a bowl of grain salad and tray of flatbread into the cage. It’s when he slides in a tiny side-bowl that she actually appears. 

“Oh my god, is that what I think it is?”

“Haye’s files said you’re from a region where dill and spiced olive oil sauces are a favorite of Leshen cooks.”

“Really?”

“Well, his notes said where you were found. I figured it out from there.”

She picks up the meal, “Thanks, Stern.”

He smiles and pushes the cart over to Indrid, whose hands are flapping before he even tells him what he has. 

“Fruit! Oh where on earth did you find Star Melon?”

“Mr. Newton had a few in his garden. Which is weird, since I can’t imagine they’re easy to grow here.”

The dragon goes golden around his cheeks, “No, they are native to the hills near Sylvain. I haven’t had one in a long time.”

Stern’s heart tightens, scolding him even as he passes the plate into the cage. Dani has been here a year, Indrid nine months, and Barclay a little over one. And all that time no one bothered to feed them anything other than gluey porridge and stale pemmican. 

He approaches Barclay’s cage and uncovers the final plate. Steam curls up from a breakfast pie, one that’s barely in the cage before Barclay is picking it up and staring at it. Then he sniffs it an murmurs, “coriander” another sniff, “cinnamon” and another, “cheese?”

“The recipe said it’d make the end result richer. I wasn’t sure what food you might like best or be…missing. So I went with something that would be filling.”

Barclay picks up the wooden fork and knife Joseph was allowed to include, cutting carefully into the pie and studying his forkfull before taking a bite. After two more he swallows and says, “Crust is kinda tough.” It doesn’t feel like an insult. More like Barclay is solving a puzzle. 

“I’m not much of a baker.” 

“Don’t work it so long next time.” He sits down, cross-legged, and sets the plate in his lap, “I’m not gonna thank you for doing the bare fucking minimum for us. But” he takes another bite and there’s a glimpse of a smile, “this is still good.”

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------

“If you want such accommodations you will have to demonstrate you can behave.”

This is what Hayes told Barclay on his first day, when he’d asked why his prison was so small compared to the other. He hasn’t been able to do it; he’s glad Indrid and Dani have been smart enough to work out how to play the kept beast to get views of the sky, bigger anterooms, some semblance of privacy. But he can’t manage it. He spent his whole adult life afraid of being no better than a beast. He won’t give Hayes the satisfaction of treating him like one (more than he already does).

A clock in some far wing of the house tells him it’s noon and he sighs, deciding to circle his cage before taking another nap. Lunch time is lonely these days; it’s spring, and his friends are taking advantage of the sunshine in their anterooms. Dani’s horns are sprouting lime green flowers and Indrid’s scales are brighter, and Barclay can feel his winter coat changing to the rich auburn of the rest of the year. 

When his friends aren’t enjoying the sunshine, they’re sitting against the walls of their enclosures in close conversation with a human. For Indrid, it’s often the gardener who visits. Duck is kind and sociable, makes his disdain for their situation clear, and sneaks them produce from his garden on the rare occasions he can hide it under his coat. And Barclay’s certain that if the room was unlocked at night, Duck might stay there until dawn talking with Indrid. 

For her part, Dani’s caught the eye of a human magician. Apparently she’d been performing at a party shortly after Dani was captured, and insisted on getting herself ready in the room of great beasts. Hayes must have enjoyed her act, for she performs at his parties at least once a month, and more than once has snuck in to visit Dani. 

There are no humans visiting today, and his friends are out of sight. So there’s no one to trade annoyed glances with when Stern appears, notebook in hand and a lunch pail from the town grocer in the other. Their keeper gives him a pleasant hello, then sits down on one of the many benches installed for people to gawk at their suffering–the one nearest Barclay, lucky him–and opens his lunch. He’s never eaten in here before, and Barclay watches in spite of himself, curious as to what he’s brought. You can learn a lot about a guy  by his meals. 

A sandwich appears, as does a slice of cake and a small, green salad. It’s the sandwich that catches his attention, and he noses at the bars trying to work out what’s in it. 

“Hmm, that’s no good.” Stern  reaches into the pail and produces a second, wrapped sandwich, “I accidentally ordered two. I’m not hungry enough for that and while these are delicious, they don’t keep.” He turns his blue eyes on Barclay, “do you want one? It’s smoked turkey with cranberry preserves.”

“Yes. Please.” He waits by the bars as Stern moves his things to sit on the platform. The sandwich has been pressed, so it passes between the bars and Barclay rips the paper away and takes a bite, “fuck that’s nice.”

“Right? I know I should be saving money but sometimes I just want someone who knows what they’re doing to make me something incredible.”

“Hayes not paying you enough?” He polishes off the first half and eats the second one in two bites. 

“The opposite. But there are a lot of expenses at home and my father….well, he was in debt when he died and none of us knew. I thought he was a cautious man. Or at least one who understood to only accept loans with low interest. But I guess not.” Joseph’s fork prods a lettuce leaf. His voice is so tired Barclay feels something dangerously close to sympathy. 

“You’re in Starbrook, right?” 

Joseph nods. 

“You ever get hard up, you tell either the butcher or the dairy that Barclay Cobb knows you, they’ll give you a nice discount.”

“That’s…that’s incredibly generous. Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.” Barclay grumbles, brushing off his hands.

Joseph nudges the napkin with the cake closer, “Do you want half? It’s lemon cream.”

“I wanna say no but I really, really do.”

The human cuts the slice perfectly down the middle. He’s probably great help in the kitchen. Especially if he’s wearing an apron and nothing else.

Barclay has eyes; Joseph Stern is gorgeous, and he’s fallen asleep more than a few nights imagining how satisfying it would be to hold him down and ruin his put-together clothes and make him beg to be fucked like a bitch in heat. 

But sitting next to him now, studying the lines already forming at the corners of his eyes, smelling his aftershave, is more intense than those fantasies have ever been. Barclay wants to reach out a claw and trace it down his neck, see if he sighs or shies away. 

He expects Joseph to leave once he divvies up the food, but instead the human stays and just talks with him, asking him questions about home, about his family, and smiling whenever one of Barclay’s stories wanders off into a detailed description of a meal. 

When the clock tells them an hour is gone, Joseph sighs and stands, “I have to go check on the Jackalopes. One of them keeps burrowing out and getting into the liquor and I cannot work out how. But, um” he runs a hand over his hair, “I really enjoyed having lunch with you. If you ever want me to join you again, just let me know.”

Barclay says he will, then settles down for a nap. It’s only as he’s drifting off that it occurs to him that Joseph Stern is not careless enough to “accidentally” order two sandwiches.

—--------------------------------------------------------------------

A spring storm patters on his umbrella as Joseph waits for Duck to open the cottage door. The gardener was initially wary of him, and would greet him with only a nod and a “need anything, sir?”

Then Joseph had caught him sneaking letters from Aubrey into Dani. After he said nothing and instead announced loudly “Oops, I forgot to check the tree octopus enclosure,” Duck actually began talking with him. 

The gardener's frequent lunches seated next to Indrid, talking in hushed tones, makes Joseph feel less weird about his own, now daily, meals with Barclay.

The cottage door opens and Duck is immediately bending down to scoop up a ball of orange fluff. 

“No ma’am, you ain’t going out there. We got bluebirds nesting in the hedge and you ain’t about to make a dinner of ‘em.” He holds the door with his shoulder, “come on in, Joe.”

Once they’re seated by the stove, Joseph explains, “I’m hoping you have a few books I could borrow. I’ve been bringing them for Barclay and the others to read and I’m running out of things to loan.”

“Happy to see what I have, but ain’t there a way to get ‘em stuff from Haye’s library?”

“His books are mainly dense, historical ones he keeps around to look smart. Or they’re the kind of books that portray cryptids as, well, as the kind of things you get to keep in cages. I only convinced him to let me give them books in the first place by saying how impressed his guests would be if his ‘beasts’ could converse on a variety of topics.”

Duck frowns, shakes his head, “I ain’t sure how you’re managing it, Joe. Acting for even a second like you believe that bullshit. I’d have quit after a day if they made me treat people—I meant that literally, Barclay’s just some guy most of the time–that way.”

“I know. But if I leave I’m afraid Hayes will bring in someone who sees them how he does.” He runs his finger over the rim of his water glass, “And I think I worked out why Barclay can’t go back to being human. It’s the bars; they’re made of silver from a specific region, one most were-beasts historically won’t go to, even under desperate circumstances. I think that silver has a special property that forces them to remain in their beast form.”

“Seems as likely as anything else at this point.”

“Hayes all but confirmed it when I asked if he ever thought of making a new cage out of something else; silver isn’t that strong of a metal. He acted like I’d suggested he eat his pistol.” 

“Maybe we could bust it open ourselves if it ain’t that strong?”

“I mean, it’s still a very solid cage. And even if we got him out, Dani and Indrid’s cages are made of very different materials. We need a way to get them all out at once. Ideally one that doesn’t lead them immediately back to us.”

Duck thinks a moment, then sighs, “Aubrey could rig us something to blow all three cages open, but I’ve still got nothin’ on that second part. If all it meant was I got chucked in jail, might be worth it to know ‘Drid was okay. But I can’t lie for shit and Hayes knows that; might get the truth outta me and ‘Drid would be right back in a goddamn cage.”

Joseph thinks of Barclay, sitting shoulder to shoulder with him, bars keeping them from touching, telling him how much he misses home. 

“We’ll get them out, Duck. We just have to be patient a little longer.”

—---------------------------------------------------------------

It’s just the spring. 

This is Barclay’s new mantra, one he’s used for the last two weeks and the one he uses as Joseph steps into the room. 

It’s just the spring that’s making him want to growl and yell until Joseph comes and sleeps next to his cage. 

It’s just the spring that’s making him imagine taking Joseph home, the pair of them sprucing it up into the perfect little den for two. 

It’s just the spring telling him that he needed to have his dick inside Joseph yesterday and if he waits much longer he might die from how badly he wants to fuck him. 

“Barclay? I brought you something.”  The human holds out a small, square tin, “Some softening oil for your coat. Duck helped me find a few of the plants. I wanted to surprise you, so I used a recipe from a book by another werebear and I hope it’s the right one.” 

Barclay catches the tin when it drops through the food slot. Opening it, he gasps, “Holy fuck, it’s just like the stuff I have at home. Thanks, Joseph.”

“You’re very welcome.”

This oil calls for stinging nettle leaves, boiled down. Joseph’s forearms sport several small, irritated red scratches.

“You didn’t have to do this.” Barclay murmurs. 

“I wanted to.” Joseph slips his hand through the bars, touching his arm, “I want to take care of you.”

Barclay whines, low in his throat, and busies himself oiling his fur to stop from thinking about what a good mate Joseph would be. That’s a pointless, heartbreaking train of thought, and also the human part of him can never tell if it’s creepy or not. 

They talk as he grooms, mostly about the mystery novel Joseph lent him. When no amount of twisting around lets him reach a patch of his back, the human says, “Want some help?”

“Please.” He passes the tin and rests his back against the bars. He wonders how Joseph will manage to get it deep enough without claws when the teeth of a comb lightly and pleasantly scratch his skin.

“I brought it from home, just in case.”

Barclay smiles and closes his eyes, relaxing into the meticulous, tender touches. Soon he’s purring and Joseph is more petting him than anything else. 

“You don’t have to tell me but….how did you end up here. You told me you were careful not to show your were-form around strangers.” A hand reaches up and rubs below his right ear. 

“It was after Indrid got caught. He’d gone looking for Dani, and Hayes fucking ambushed him when he was asleep and couldn’t see it coming. He got a letter to us through Duck, and me and a few others decided to break them both out. It’s a fuck of a lot easier to chase of guards when you’re a werebear. Then it all went to hell and it was either get caught myself or watch everyone I love end up in here or in a human jail. I couldn’t let that happen.”

“My brave, beautiful beast.” Joseph whispers. 

It turns out Barclay doesn’t hate that word, Not when Joseph says it like that.

He shifts on the floor of the cage so he and the human are facing each other. Joseph reaches his other hand between the bars without a trace of fear and rests them both on Barclay’s cheeks. 

“You are getting out of here. Come hell or high water, I will get you out. I promise.”

Barclay doesn’t have much hope these days. But he closes his eyes and rests his hands atop Joseph’s, and allows himself a glimmer of it. 

—--------------------------------------------------------

Hayes is celebrating spring by inviting all his wealthy friends to enjoy his collection, with the bulk of the evening being spent in the Hall of Great Beasts. Joseph’s been dreading it ever since it was announced, and unfortunately it’s been just as trying a night as he feared. 

The guests ask him questions with little interest in the answers, and not a single one of them seems to have any issue with talking about the trio like they’re mindless, bloodthirsty monsters. Dani is having the most luck staying out of sight in her trees, while Indrid is forced to tell the fortunes of whoever asks. Barclay is trying to sleep through it, but people keep poking their canes through the bars to pester him. Or they were, until Joseph told them the next person he caught doing that would be hit over the head with the offending item. 

Aubrey is performing, and her show–along with the exhausted looks he trades with Duck, who’s been press-ganged into acting as a waiter–are the highlights of the night. Joseph is watching her produce flaming scarves from her coat, helping himself to a smoked salmon toast and wondering if he can sneak one into Barclay’s cage when there’s a commotion by Dani’s enclosure. 

Afraid she might be hurt or sick, he hurries over. He finds the Leshen at the very top of her cage, snarling down at Hayes and another man who is leering at her. 

“Mr. Stern, good, go do your job and get her down from there.” Hayes points into the branches.

“Why?” He looks up at his friend, who frantically shakes her head. 

“Because she’ll be moving from my house this evening and joining Mr. Colliers collection.”

There’s a trill of alarm from Indrid, and Barclay is on his feet in his cage, growling loud enough to shake the chandeliers. 

Joseph’s blood turns glacial, “No, she won’t. Because it’s illegal to sell humanoid cryptids, even if the jury is still out on owning them.”

“Well then, we’ll just consider this a gift.” Hayes winks at Collier. 

Joseph draws himself up to his full height, “As their keeper, I absolutely cannot allow this. Dani isn’t a thing to be sold.” He realizes how that sounds and adds, “especially not to someone who’s done nothing to convince me he can care for her.”

Collier rolls his eyes, “Alright. Stern, was it? How much do you want?”

“There is no amount of money you could offer to get me to agree to this.” He digs his nails into his palms. In the corner of his eye, he watches Barclay paw the ground of his cage.

“Surely these beasts aren’t that important to you. After all, William can always get more.”

He takes a deep breath and then calmly replies, “These ‘beasts’ are some of the kindest, intelligent, and caring people I’ve ever met. And they are far more human than an ignorant, greedy, useless, and self-entitled piece of shit like you.”

Collier's fist connects with his face and he drops to the ground. As he’s trying to get his feet under him, confident in his willingness and ability to strangle a man with his own cravat, there’s a world-splitting crack from the center of the room. 

The crowd parts in screaming waves as Barclay barrels across the tiles. There’s something wild and unfamiliar in his expression, but Joseph doesn’t get to examine it before he rears up on his hind legs and smashes the lock on Dani’s cage. In the commotion, Joseph spots Duck and Aubrey converging on Indrid’s enclosure. 

Barclay whirls on Collier and Hayes, roaring in their faces. 

Hayes stumbles back, shouting “Stern, for god's sake if you don’t do your job I will beat you black and blue myself.”

Barclay lunges forward, grabbing both men and hurling them out into the hallway, snapping his jaws at anyone who comes near him. Then he lowers his gaze directly onto Joseph, and he understands. 

There's feral werebear growling down at him.

“Barclay? Do you know who I am?”

The werebear nods. Then he reaches down and hauls Joseph into his arms, manhandling him onto his back and barking, “hold on.”

Joseph obeys, breath leaving him as Barclay takes off in huge, loping strides. He’s faster than any horse Hayes could send after them, and the manor, town, and countryside pass Joseph at a staggering speed. It must be close to an hour before he slows, strides still quick and determined. An hour after that he comes to a stop at the base of a rocky hillside covered with moss. 

The werebear approaches a patch of greenery and pulls it aside with his paw, revealing a wooden door. Opening that reveals a homey cave; there’s a pile of blankets and furs in one corner, a larder in another, and books stacked next to a lantern on a low table. Joseph eases himself off Barclay’s back and looks around as the werebear manages to light the lantern, then close and lock the door. 

Joseph reads the spines on the books “This is your safehouse, isn’t it? For if you get feral and have to hide?”

“Or there’s hunters.” Barclay stacks several, thick furs on the floor, then spreads a blanket over them. Then he points a claw at the make-shift bed, “lay down.”

“I appreciate the bed, big guy.” He sits down, “but there’s no way I can sleep after all that excitement.”

Barclay lowers to all fours and pads forward, nosing at Joseph's shoulder, “You won’t be.”

“I, um, I’m not sure what you mean.” He watches claws inch towards his hips, goosebumps rising on his skin as hot breath caresses his neck. 

The werebear lifts his head, smiling at him with eyes that remain wilder than Joseph’s ever seen them, “You’re my mate.”

Every inch of him blushes at the word, “Why do you say that?”

“You take care of me. Clean my fur. Bring me dinner.” He brushes his snout against Joseph’s nose, “didn’t leave even though you hated it there.”

“I wasn’t going to abandon any of you. But you’re right” he strokes Barclay’s cheek, “part of why I stayed was because I couldn’t stand the thought of getting away from there without you coming too.”

Barclay growls, pleased, at the contact, “Gonna make sure you can’t leave me now either.”

“How?” He rubs one rounded ear playfully, “I don’t see any rope.”

“Don’t need it.” Barclay sits back on his heels, pawing at his crotch. When he moves his hand, Joseph goes cross-eyed staring at a cock that, while short and vaguely human in shape, is bigger around than both his fists put together. If he ends up on it, he will absolutely be there until Barclay decides he’s done with him. But that’s not the most salient issue right now. 

He rests a hand on a furry thigh, “Barclay, I’m flattered that a gorgeous, incredible beast like you wants me for his mate. And it’s not as if I haven’t thought of you, um, having your way with me before.” It’s the first time he’s admitted it out loud, and at his shy expression Barclay leans down and snuffles his face reassuringly. He continues, “In other words, I’m not opposed to being your mate, but I have no idea if that will even fit in me.”

Barclay looks down, then back up at him, “It will. 

“Are you….saying that from experience or-”

“I’ll make it fit, pretty boy.” 

Joseph moans, the nickname relaxing him with its familiarity even as he realizes he’s more turned on than he’s ever been in his entire life.

Barclay smirks, “You like that? Like knowing I’ll make you be a good mate whether you like it or not?”

“Ohjesuschrist yes” Joseph yanks off his shoes, fumbling with his belt and pants as Barclay starts on his shirt. The buttons prove too much for his semi-feral state and he rips the fabric in half, shoving the cloth away and pinning Joseph to the ground by his shoulders. 

When Barclay’s gaze flicks down, Joseph wonders if he was expecting something else.

“I’m um, I’m not exactly a, um, ‘traditional man. The top half is easier to change than the bottom.”

The werebear manages a kiss to his cheek, “I knew. Could smell how you got turned on when we talked sometimes.” He scoots back, hooking his hands under Joseph's knees to hold them open, “made me wanna do this.”

Joseph’s response comes in the cut-off cry he makes as Barclay buries his face between his thighs, lapping affectionately at his dick and folds. 

“Barclay, Barclay ohmygod” he laughs as a the tongue fucks experimentally into him, moving his hand down until he can rest it in auburn fur, “good boy, oh good boy.”

The werebear growls happily, pressing his tongue against him more firmly as he does. 

“Do you like that? Like knowing you’re being good for your…mate?” The word is odd in his mouth, but the response from Barclay makes it worthwhile. The werebear growls again, far louder, and grinds his hips like he’ll die if Joseph doesn’t let him fuck him soon. His tongue focuses on Joseph’s dick, the relentless attention bringing him closer and closer to the edge. 

Just as he’s about to have the best orgasm of his life, Barclay pulls back.

“Please don’t stop.”

“Can’t let you cum yet.” Barclay carefully lowers Joseph’s legs back down, “only want you doing it with my cum inside you.”

Joseph covers his face to hide the embarrassingly loud moan.

“I know. You like the idea of being my mate. Of everyone knowing it.” He licks a lazy stripe up Joseph’s chest, “elbows and knees.”

He changes position, palms sinking into the blankets. Barclay blankets him with his body, nuzzling the back of his neck and nipping his shoulders, “You look good like this, pretty boy. Like it’s where you belong.”

“You’re making a convincing case for me staying here forever.” Joseph turns his head to kiss Barclay’s forearm. 

“Yeah?” Barclay sits back, and a moment later the head of his cock teases Joseph’s folds, “you wanna just lay around and get fucked like a good mate? I can do that.” The paw not holding his cock settles on Joseph’s ass, kneading it possessively, “My house in Kepler is big enough for two. Or more. Lot’s of houses nearby, your family could move out here and we could make sure they’re okay. I’d make you breakfast every day, come home at lunch just to eat you out…”

Joseph moans and pushes his hips back, suddenly desperate to have Barclay inside him. But the werebear continues rubbing the head against him, lost in his fantasy, “could do this every night. Train you to take me, make you love being on my dick so much you beg for it.” Barclay’s hips change tempo as he ruts against him. There’s a deep, honeyed chuckle, “man, listen to me. Used to daydream about breaking outta my cage, holding you down on the floor and making a mess of you while I knocked you up.”

Joseph’s mouth moves faster than his brain, which is why he moans out “godyes” before adding, “please don’t.”

Barclay pauses, pets his thigh, “Can’t happen when I’m a Were and you’re human. No one knows why. But that’s how it works.  And even if I could breed you like this, I wouldn’t, not without asking. So,” his paw smacks into Joseph’s ass, “you can think about everyone knowing you got knocked up by the beast you were supposed to be keeping tamed to your heart's content.”

He turns his head and after a deep, steadying breath says, “I’d like it better if the beast actually tried to.”

Brown eyes go huge in the lamplight. Then Joseph is hauled backwards, flipped around, and dragged into Barclay’s lap. 

“No fair, blue eyes, being feral was fading away and then you had to go and say that.” He guides Joseph over his cock, breath coming in puffing growls, “and now I can’t think of anything but giving into instinct.”

Joseph wraps his arms over Barclay’s shoulders, “I trust my mate to take care of me.”

Claws prick his hips and shove them down. The moan ripping out of him is undignified and obscene, but it pales in comparison to the roaring one Barclay releases as he cums the instant he bottoms out. 

The werebear blinks sheepishly, “Sorry. It’s just so tight I kinda couldn’t help it.”

Joseph kisses his snout, “I forgive you, big guy. But if you don’t get me off soon I’ll…I’ll find another werebear who will.”

Teeth give his shoulder a warning bite as a paw rubs furiously at his dick, “Like hell you will, pretty boy. You’re gonna stay right here on my dick until I’m done with you, and then you’re come home with me, lemme feed you a fucking amazing meal, then get in bed and raise your ass like a good little mate.”

“Yes, yes” he grinds on Barclay’s cock, the thin portion at the base making the rest feel all the thicker as it rubs at every sensitive spot inside him. He never knew he could enjoy being filled like this, being used like this. 

He cums with a gasp, hands flying to Barclay’s chest and clinging to his fur as he shakes and whimpers through the waves of intense pleasure. When he’s done, he raises his head and discovers Barclay licking his lips. 

“Fuck that was hot. And” he thrusts up, cock fully hard again, “now you’re nice and loose for however much I wanna fill you.” He lifts Joseph’s hand in one paw, kissing it, “how’s that sound.”

“Incredible.”

“Good” the cock inside him thrusts deeper with wet, pornographic noises as he fucks his cum up into him, “because this beast is gonna breed you the whole fucking night.”

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Joseph wakes up to faint bird calls and a human hand stroking his hair. 

“Morning, blue eyes.” A less growl-filled, familiar voice whispers to him. 

He looks up and finds a handsome face with an auburn beard and coffee-brown eyes smiling at him. 

“Still like me when I’m not as hairy?” Barclay teases.

“Like is not even a remotely strong enough word.” Joseph pets his beard, “you know, I had no idea werebears were able to talk when feral.”

“We can but it’s really, really hard. But I did it so you’d know it was still me and not be scared.” Barclay holds him closer; there are tattoos on his arms and Joseph can’t wait to get a better look at them, “I meant what I said last night. About you coming to Kepler with me and bringing your family. It’s a good town, and way cheaper to live in than Starbrook. So…” he turns impressive puppy-eyes on Joseph, “what do you say?”

Joseph kisses full, welcoming lips, “I’d say it’s my lucky day.”

[lampmanliveblogs]

Ah, I see The Collector used his space magic to summon a book filled with the completed version of all the fanfics I’ve never finished. I know I always say it’ll be a miracle if I ever get all my ideas written down, but I didn’t think it’d take an actual miracle.

You guys might think I’m exaggerating, and I am for comedic effect, but not by much. Just today, I started jotting down yet more notes on my phone while eating lunch at work. What if Masha discovered that they had psychic powers? I have so many unfinished first chapters, short snippets of dialogue, and premises for stories written down on my computer, phone, in various notebooks, pieces of cardboard, and reciept paper lying around. It’s honestly a bit ridiculous.

Oh wait, the pages are stone slabs? Or maybe they’re supposed to be clay tablets? That’s kinda cool actually, brings to mind the earliest stories written down by man in our own world. You know, like the Epic of Gilgamesh.

…hold on, I gotta go get myself a drink to dramatically spit out in shock and disbelief, give me a sec.

…

”Right, now where was I?” I say as I sit back down with a refreshing beverage. I rewind the video by a few seconds and hits play as I take a sip of my drink.

”Collectors live long, we watch things pass.”

”Pfft!” I spit out my drink in shock and disbelief, spraying my computer screen with liquid. ”What!?” I exclaim between coughs. ”Other Collectors?

I mean yeah, sure, The Collector is a child of the stars and whatnot, I kinda figured there’d maybe be some subtle hint at a larger pantheon out there, but, uh… I guess we get it confirmed right here, right now. I was even thinking of including a joke about The Collector’s parents being Mother Nature and Father Time, I just couldn’t figure out how to work it in.

Alright, calm down Lampman, think…

Based on this short summary, it appears that the collectors are if not gods, then at the very least god-like beings. They travel the cosmos and collect specimen of various lifeforms to preserve them in their collections. That in and of itself doesn’t sound all that horrible… but, ah… that second paragraph is a bit concerning.

Should the mortal beings they collect begin to meddle in the affairs of the Collectors (like, oh, I dunno, maybe NOT wanting to be turned into a collectible), they’ll scorch the planet and wipe them all out. Which… yeah that sounds about right for gods of mythology.

Our little Lord of the Fireflies doesn't like that mentality though, they’d rather play games and have fun and make friends (though evidently, The Collector still don’t care too much about what the mortals want).

Right of the bat, this does make me wonder something: is it possible that The Collector we saw in the Owlbeast’s flashback in Knock, Knock, Knockin’ on Hooty’s Door wasn’t THE Collector, but another collector? Cause that’d explain why that one didn’t look a whole lot like this Prince of Plastic

It also makes we wonder if maybe The Collector ISN’T the Grand Huntsman worshipped by the Titan Trappers, but rather, another collector (or several of them). Indeed, we see at the bottom of the page, three collectors looming over several worshipping humans. Because’s I’ve been wondering about that; aside from calling King’s dad a bully for putting him in divine time-out, The Collector really didn’t seem to have much against Titans from what we’ve seen thus far. Heck, he was super excited to meet King. So could it be that The Collector was not the one responsible for wiping out the Titans, but rather some other collector?

What I’m thinking right now is that The Collector is the divine equivalent of a kid that ran away from home. And their family either doesn’t care, doesn’t know, or enough time has not passed for them to notice.

(hm… a kid that ran away from home because they didn’t fit in with their peers… where have I heard a similar story before…?)

(the book mentions that the collectors would scorch the air… the demon realm planet is covered in a boiling sea… perhaps scorching the air is a more poetic way of saying ”set off a bunch of volcanoes”? In real life, the worst mass extinction event known was caused not by the meteorite that wiped out the non-avian dinosaurs, but a massive flood basalt taking place about 251.9 million years ago, colloquially referred to as ”The Great Dying.” Volcanoes are good at killing stuff, is my point. and undersea volcanoes spewing out lava would explain why the sea is always boiling)

I mean, look at this face. Does this look like the face of someone who could wipe out a race of giants? Look at him! He couldn’t hurt a fly.

Except Belos, but he doesn’t count.

And I guess they did turn an island’s worth of people into puppets and force them to play along in their games, hmmm…

[fuzzydreamin]

Random Headcanons for: Codsworth

⚙ Can quote the entirely of the ‘Grognak and the Jungle of the Bat Babies’ comic, because he read it multiple times during his 210 year wait. He really isn’t keen on reading any more of them.

⚙ While as a domestic use Mr Handy he was programmed to be an acceptable cook, his real skill is with drinks. He could brew some of the best tea and coffee, and he still makes post-war grounds bareable. Also decent at putting together a mixed drink.

⚙ His memory over the past 210 years isn't quite as intact as it might seem most of the time. There's quite a bit of information that 'slips his mind' until it's directly brought back to his attention, in which case he is then 'suddenly' able to recall the details again. He hasn't forgotten so much as there was both a lot of time to remember and most of it was very routine and unnoteworthy.

⚙ During the first decade after the bombs, Codsworth, like many robots, was stuck in a state of refusing to believe that the world had really ended, and carried on like normal during this time. He wasn't as stuck in this state as other robots though, he sort of intentionally clung to it a little, and finally kicked it for good after Sole returned.

⚙ He may have taken to a brief habit of speaking to skeletons as if they were alive.

⚙ He did leave Sanctuary quite a few times during his 210 year wait, but he'd never go too far and always returned. He was always anxious about going too far from home and where he last saw his people. He spent more time in Sanctuary than out.

⚙ Enjoys combat sports, such as boxing and fencing. He used to set the TV to channels that hosted matches to watch while he cleaned up. He would be quite vocal about the matches and mimic the movements.

⚙ Absolutely overjoyed when Sole came back to Sanctuary from Concord with Preston and his group. Then again every time Sole returned with more settlers and/or companions. He was lonely for so long and now he has all of these people to help! He's a bit of a people collector, he wants all of them!

⚙ He especially cares for Mama Murphy, she's frail and can't be getting up and doing everything for herself anymore, no matter how much she might insist. So he's happy to make her tea or bring her something to read or fiddle with while she's awake, and the two just love talking. They share a similar level of polite snark.

⚙ His honesty and manner settings keep him polite for the most part, but he does tend towards making obvious backhanded remarks when someone has been a bit of a dick to someone else to show his displeasure. Rarely lets his subroutines slip but if he's pressed he will absolutely tear into people. Really, has no one heard of civility anymore?

⚙ Takes on a bit of a paternal role to Ada when she joins the gang and is still rather lost in her feelings. She's no mythical child-handy, but it'll do. Satisfies his mother hen urge some more. Asks Nick about the intricacies of being a father figure to an adult woman, which is as awkward as it sounds.

⚙ You'd think the lack of legs would hinder a Mr Handy's ability to dance, but catch Codsworth getting into the vibe and busting out some pretty decent moves with those arms, all things considered. Might be that liking for fencing and such coming into play.

[claire-ashe]

Lemure Family Collector

Again and again, the world had beaten her down. Again and again, everywhere rejected her. Again and again, nothing seemed to last. Again and again, she was bloodied and bruised. Again and again, she rose to her feet. Again and again, she carved a place to call home.

Hello, and thank you for stopping by my blog! I'm Hazel and this is one of my alt characters for FFXIV RP. My pronouns are he/him, I'm an early 20's college student still trying to figure out what to do with my life, but I'm getting there!

I'm still very new to roleplaying but I've always had a ton of thoughts and ideas about my characters so this blog is both to help consolidate those thoughts and to also share them with anyone who wants to see them.

Claire's Carrd can be found here if you want a quick overview of things, though I will be going more in depth with who she is on this blog. My main FFXIV character's page can be found here as well.

I'm situated on Zalera (Crystal) and spend most of my time either raiding or taking GPose shots, but regardless I look forward to seeing everyone around the great, vast star we find ourselves on.

About Claire

Claire's past is a mystery to everyone who meets her, and she prefers to keep it that way. Claiming to hail from Ala Mhigo during the peak of Garlemald's occupation, she has since traveled to and taken up residency in Uldah. Her reasons for leaving Ala Mhigo behind are left up for debate, but most simply assume her to be a refugee like most others. Claire also claims to have been involved with the liberation effort of her previous home, though no formal records of her enlistment in any Eorzean Grand Company or the Uldahn Brass Blades can support this claim. Her only ties to any combative history is as a member of the Lemure Family, a group of mercenaries stationed in Uldah. To this day Claire works as one of their top sellswords and collectors, having been personally trained by the head of the Lemures herself.

Her attitude during jobs is always strict and to the point, she doesn't linger for much small talk, and she always takes on missions alone. All of this only adds fuel to the blazing fire in many minds: who is Claire Ashe, and why is she trying so hard to bury the answer? . . . . . You really want to know?

Who are you, really?

Claire's full, true name is Claire bas Syndris, a pure blooded Garlean born and raised in Ala Mhigo during the height of Garlemald's occupation. Her father was a well enough off commander put in charge of one of the platoons securing the capital, and her mother ran a fairly successful restaurant near the palace's front gate. 22 years of Claire's life passed by behind the blinding veil of Garlemald's propaganda, with the exception of one small hole: her Ala Mhigan friends.

After one fateful, painful day Claire decided to defect from the life she knew and sought to join the liberation efforts in Eorzea. Donning a headband and taking her now late best friend's name as her new surname, Claire spent the next six years training as a Lemure, being recognized as a potential Reaper and given a Soul Crystal. From then on Claire received personal training from Drusilla in the nearly forgotten Garlean art. When the time came, she aided in any way she could as a freelance mercenary, helping to return Ala Mhigo to the people it truly belonged to. Claire never saw her parents again, and to this day she is unsure whether or not they're still alive. Nowadays Claire puts her all into aiding her newfound family, the Lemures, taking every step towards the future she can to help bury her past behind her.