#raging flame sprite

[megalony]

Perfectly Inadequate

This is a new Aemond Targaryen idea that I'm hoping to make into a series. Any feedback is always amazing.

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Masterlist

Summary: Aemond loves (Y/n), his youngest sister, more than anyone and won't stop trying to change Alicent's mind on betrothing them. After all, he knows (Y/n)'s secret that their mother is desperate to keep hidden and he can look after her better than anyone else ever could.

Enjoy.

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The palace was calmer at night. All of the hustle and bustle died out when the sun began to dissipate behind the clouds and when the frozen corridors were basking in a dim orange glow, everything felt different. The atmosphere shifted in the dark but instead of becoming gloomy and worrisome, it became peaceful and ideal.

(Y/n) liked it when the darkness rolled in, she liked to be out when the sun disappeared and she could watch from the shadows and bask in their confines.

Deep down, she knew she probably got her love of the dark from Aemond. Her elder brother cast himself into the darkness after his accident and from then on, it became a comfort to him. He loved to roam the palace at night and sneak out of his chambers and go for a wander. Sometimes he would go to the roof to watch the stars and count them in the vast midnight sky and sometimes he would go down to visit Vhagar when he was feeling especially lonesome or blue. She would always brighten his mood.

(Y/n) had grown up following her big brother around, it was why so many people, family and servants included, called her Aemond's little shadow because that was essentially what (Y/n) was when growing up. She wasn't so much a princess as she was a follower. Wherever Aemond went, (Y/n) went too and neither of them would have it any other way.

It was far too entertaining to watch Aemond practise his swordsmanship and (Y/n) could never take her eyes off him. The few times he would have a small battle with (Y/n), she always lost because she concentrated on studying his features far too much to realise he was besting her in a duel.

With the thought of Aemond at the front of her mind, (Y/n) tightened her shawl around her shoulders and ventured out of her room and down the long corridor.

Sleep was evading her tonight so a long walk around the Red Keep, and maybe the gardens too, was in order.

Part of (Y/n) wished she was still a child, she wished she was one and ten to find Aemond knocking lightly on her chamber door to sneak her out to stargaze. Everything seemed simpler when they were little. Now they were older, it wasn't proper to scout Aemond out in the middle of the night and go out at night. It wouldn't be good if (Y/n) tried to enter Aemond's room or if he came knocking on her door and entered her room, something he hadn't done in many moons.

When their mother caught Aemond in (Y/n)'s bed one morning a few years ago, she had gone blind with rage. It was innocent enough, nothing had happened except (Y/n) being unable to sleep and Aemond staying with her until she did, and both of them sleeping in past their usual time.

She scolded them, it wasn't appropriate when they weren't betrothed to one another and when Aemond was in the sprite of his teens.

A noticeable slouch set in (Y/n)'s shoulders from her impending thoughts but she tried to push them aside. Rounding the corner, (Y/n) crept down the stairs and out onto a new hallway, lit only by two flames at least ten feet apart.

Three feet down the hallway, (Y/n) could feel a headache forming behind her eyes and igniting the back of her head and down the base of her neck.

After another five or so feet, (Y/n)'s whole frame went rigid up against the wall as an icicle of fear pierced her heart. A figure loomed from the adjoining hallway like a spectre roaming the halls and it moved so swiftly and fast that (Y/n) could barely see their feet moving, it was as if they were gliding on air.

"Little Dragon, what are you doing this late at night?"

A noticeable sigh passed her lips and her frame relaxed like melting candle wax the moment that rugged voice hit her ears.

When the tall frame got closer, she could see the outlines more clearly. The tense, high shoulders hidden beneath the raven black cape. The small circle of violet around the one good eye clearing through the darkness towards her. Those high cheekbones coming to light beneath the flames lighting the long hallway and of course, the clenched hands resting at his sides.

Aemond.

The very one who had been at the forefront of her mind was now standing before her. His lips were pursed out and as budding as a rose, it was a look that almost resembled a smile, there was the tiniest crack at the side of his lips like he was about to smirk but held it back. And the way his head dropped to the left like he was hanging from a noose made (Y/n) shiver down to her toes.

"I could ask you the same thing, brother." (Y/n) could see he had to have left the Keep if he was wearing his cloak and had his hair tucked into the back of his tunic to keep himself hidden and inconspicuous. She could also guess that he had a dagger or a sword strapped to his right hip.

"Taking a midnight stroll, now where are you going?"

(Y/n) watched with something Aemond thought was close to admiration as he pulled down the hood on his cloak, revealing his silver hair that glistened with shimmers of gold in the candle light. And the eye patch he rarely took off unless he was in her presence and her presence alone.

"I couldn't sleep so I decided to take a walk,"

"After you then."

A soft smile pulled at (Y/n)'s lips when she watched Aemond hold his hand out, signalling for her to go ahead and he would follow. He wasn't the least bit tired yet anyway and he didn't want to be responsible for letting his little sister wander the halls at night and something happen to her. That would be all on him.

Neither of them knew where they were heading or what their destination was, but they found comfort in the silence that wrapped around them. (Y/n) could feel her headache pulsing through her blood but it wasn't as bad when she felt Aemond's arm bumping against hers beneath the cloak. Standing so close to his tall figure always made (Y/n) feel protected and safe.

Aemond let his eye cast down to glance over at (Y/n) every now and then as they walked. He liked the way she held her hands together in front of her waist like she was a bridesmaid holding a bouquet of flowers. And he liked the way her sparkling white hair curled in ringlets around her ears, even with half of it still pinned to the back of her head.

He found himself becoming lost when he looked at (Y/n), sometimes Aemond wondered if he looked at her for too long he might become lost forever.

The spell (Y/n) cast over him started to break when he watched her steps start to falter and become slower than his, causing him to hang back to let her catch up. But it was when her hand curled around his bicep like a viper's grip that stopped Aemond in his tracks and sent a shiver bolting up his spine.

"What is it, what's wrong?"

When the seconds ticked by and (Y/n) didn't answer him, Aemond swept his eye around the deserted hallway before he moved to stand in front of (Y/n), noticing that her hand stayed gripped around his arm as he did so.

Moving his hands, Aemond carefully snaked his fingers along (Y/n)'s jaw and up until he could cup her face in his hands and tilt her head up so they were looking at one another. A deep sigh rattled past his pursed lips when he saw her pupils; they were blown wide like rock pools and her neck muscles were so tense they were popping through her skin. The subtle but noticeable shaking that seeped through (Y/n)'s system made Aemond growl deep in his chest.

She was having one of her spells.

"Alright, little dragon, I've got you." Aemond lowered his arm that (Y/n) was gripping until his hand ghosted down her waist and he could grip her hip through her dress. His other hand stayed firmly against her cheek and he tilted his head down to kiss her temple.

There was nothing Aemond could do but wait for the spell to pass, that was what the Maesters had always told them.

Neither him, Aegon or Helaenahad the bout of spells and fits that (Y/n) suffered constantly since she was ten and one and the Maesters could not understand why it only affected her or why she had them. Nothing seemed to trigger her spells, they didn't happen because she fell or hurt herself or when she was scared or worked up. They just appeared out of nowhere like shooting stars racing across the sky.

Aemond didn't like (Y/n) suffering these spells, mostly because he could do nothing to alleviate or stop them or make it easier for his little sister. They weren't under his control and he didn't like that.

At least this kind of spell was easier to handle, if she had to suffer them, Aemond wished it could always be ones like this. Ones where her body tensed and sometimes trembled, but stayed relatively motionless and came back to her control after only a few moments.

He hated the other ones she suffered, the ones nobody in the Seven Kingdoms knew about.

They were horrible. Aemond had watched his sister thrash about on the floor, legs kicking, arms violently shaking and bashing into anything and everything. Her head would bash into the floor, her body would spasm and shake and rivot around like she was being beaten to a pulp by an invisible threat Aemond couldn't fight off for her. He had watched her suddenly go into one of her spells and collide her temple with the stone fireplace which required five stitches. He'd seen her bite her tongue so hard a river of blood seeped onto the floor and through his knees when he tried in vain to help.

And there was nothing Aemond could do to help her.

When the shaking started to subside, Aemond began to rub his hand up and down (Y/n)'s waist while he steadied his breathing, slowing each breath that fanned against her temple he was longingly kissing.

"A-Aemond…?"

"I'm here," An ache began to spread through his arm when (Y/n) finally loosened her tight grip she didn't realise she had on him but her fingertips still hovered on his bruised arm.

"I'm sorry,"

"Don't apologise for what you can't control, can you still walk?" He was fairly certain she would be fine on her feet but he knew sometimes (Y/n)'s muscles would tense and lock up or she became too disorientated to move.

"Yes, where are we going?" (Y/n) buried her face into Aemond's firm chest when he swept an arm around her waist beneath her shawl and slowly started guiding her down the hallway. She coiled her arms around his slim torso and let him take control, steering her this way and that, clearly with a destination in his mind.

"Back to my chamber, of course."

"But mother said-"

"Do you believe I'm going to leave you alone after one of your spells? You can spend the night with me, mother won't find out."

There was no way that Aemond was going to take (Y/n) back to her own room after seeing her have one of her spells. Another one could come on just as easily and last a lot longer and he didn't want the risk of her being alone if that happened. Their mother wouldn't find out anyway, he could smuggle (Y/n) back to her own room before dawn approached and no one would be any the wiser. And it wasn't like they were doing anything wrong; not like Aemond had been desperate to since before their mother caught them in bed together the last time.

It was all Aemond could think about and imagine when he got (Y/n) back to his chamber without anyone noticing.

Every ounce of self control in his body went into stopping himself from advancing on (Y/n) when he watched her undress with lustful eyes until she was in her thin night gown beneath her dress.

All of the things he wanted to do to her flashed before his eye to the point he was ripping the leather from his body to speed up the process.

It didn't help matters when he laid down in bed beside her. Feeling (Y/n) so close to him beneath the sheets, feeling every inch of her skin on him with a mere gown and his shorts separating them from being skin to skin with one another. It was as torturous as it was invigorating. He was sure she must have noticed how tense he felt when she laid her chin on his chest and stared up at him with those doe eyes that were drowning and out of focus.

She didn't know what effect she had on him when she dragged her finger over his cheekbone and around his scar now that his eye patch was off for the night. Nor did she seem to realise that being pressed up against his chest and abdomen like this meant that he could feel her breasts pressed into him and her heartbeat that was pulsing through his skin.

"I've missed this,"

Oh, she had no idea how much Aemond had missed it too, but for vastly different reasons.

If she didn't have her spells, Aemond would most probably have been able to convince their mother to betrothe them by now. He knew since he was three and ten that (Y/n) was the one for him, the one he wanted and desperately desired to be with. There was no one else out there that could compete with his sweet (Y/n) and he was determined to get his mother to see that too.

Aemond knew why they hadn't been betrothed. Aegon was married to Haelena, it wasn't an ideal match, they didn't want to be together and they had no connection, not like Aemond and (Y/n). But it meant that other choices were being searched for, other high connections to spread the Targaryen name. Good matches to other noble families, that was what was waiting for (Y/n) and Aemond.

He also knew the other reason was of (Y/n)'s spells. Nobody else in the Kingdom knew about it, not even their father the King knew, that was how well their mother had hidden the secret.

If noblemen found out that the Princess (Y/n) had a condition the maesters couldn't name nor cure, no one would want to be betrothed to her. She would be a risk, a liability and Alicent was desperate to stop that from happening. Telling no one seemed easier until they could find a way to control it but if people found out, life would only get harder for (Y/n) and if she passed it down to any offspring, she would be at the mercy of many people and deemed as damaged.

With a deep growl masked as a sigh, Aemond kissed the top of (Y/n)'s head before he hooked his arm around her waist to keep her in place against his chest, where he knew she belonged.

If only their mother could see things from his point of view.

Aemond loved (Y/n) to the end of the Earth, he would do anything for her all she had to do was ask and it shall be done. He didn't care about her spells, he would always love her and look after her and protect her. That was what mattered, he could keep her and her secret safe.

He had looked after her all her life so far, hadn't he?

Something burned deep in Aemond's chest when he felt (Y/n)'s lips feathering against his sternum. Did she know what she was doing? Did she know what reaction she was getting from him?

He could of screamed when she kissed his neck, keeping (Y/n) this close the whole night was going to take all the will power and strength Aemond had within him. But if she kept kissing him so sweet and innocently like this, he wasn't going to last five minutes, let alone the rest of the night.

A squeak bubbled past (Y/n)'s lips when Aemond's arm that was around her waist suddenly tightened before he rolled her over onto her back and laid on top of her, shifting their positions in less than a second.

His head tucked into the crook of her neck and (Y/n) could feel his hair splayed out on her chest, tickling her skin. She smiled to herself when his leg wedged itself between her thighs and he burrowed down on top of her, clearly tired and getting comfy.

When she tried to card her fingers through the ends of his hair, all the air got stuck at the back of her throat when his fingers curled around her wrist. In less than a second, her hand was pinned down to the pillow beside her head and her stomach twisted in painful pleasure when Aemond growled into her neck. He always used to love it when she would run her hand through his hair, he said it was calming and it always used to help him sleep.

"Sleep, little dragon."

With a huff, (Y/n) kissed the top of Aemond's head before she closed her eyes and tried to do as she was told.

With his head burrowed into her neck, Aemond could feel her heartbeat calming down and the rise and fall of her chest beneath him started to soften and it made him want to smile. (Y/n), his little sister, his girl, wrapped up in his arms, where she belonged.

He could remember the first time she had experienced a spell; he had been with her when it happened.

Up until she was ten and one, nothing like it had ever happened and none of them were ever drastically ill as children. (Y/n) had followed Aemond down to visit Vhagar and he had promised to take her for a ride, he thanked every star in the sky that he didn't in the end, he dared not think what would have happened if he did.

They had been down with Vhagar all of five minutes before (Y/n) suddenly crashed into him and took them both down to the floor. Aemond had vowed to himself never to cry since his accident which lost him his eye, but he had shed more than one tear when he stared down at his little sister thrashing across the floor. He could still see the whites of her eyes when they rolled to the back of her sweet little head and the amount of twigs and thistles and bits of dirt that got stuck in her tangled hair when she rolled around.

Every part of (Y/n) that could move had moved, her arms thrashed, her legs tensed and kicked and twinged. Her head was violent, going from side to side and bashing back into the floor enough to give her a concussion. But it was the foam froffing past her lips that made Aemond cry and the fact that he could do nothing but watch, fearing his little sister was being possessed by something horrid.

He had screamed for help, sent guards to fetch his mother but by the time she arrived, (Y/n) had become motionless on the ground.

The guards wouldn't allow Aemond to carry her up to her room, no matter how hard he tried or how many times he screamed and kicked at them to let her go. And when they shut him out of her room, Aemond all but thrashed the door down.

It had taken until the Maesters were fetched for (Y/n) to wake up and when she started to sob for Aemond, they had no choice but to let him in.

Aemond shook his head to rid himself of the horrid memory he knew he would never forget. He needed to sleep. He was tired after all, wandering the streets after dark was enough to wipe out the excess energy he felt earlier but being wrapped around (Y/n) built up a different kind of energy within him that he couldn't control. He needed to sleep, he desperately needed to sleep so he could wake up before anyone noticed (Y/n) wasn't in her room. And before he did something he shouldn't to the girl wrapped up in his arms.

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Crossing one leg over the other, Aemond leaned back in his chair and reached out for the glass resting on the table beside him. He could feel his back and the base of his neck clicking into place when he pushed back in the chair and tilted his head over the back of the chair.

It was a tempting thought to go wandering the streets again like he had done a few nights ago. When he was in moods such as these where nothing would satisfy him and his energy was peaked, he couldn't rest like everyone else. The rest of the family had retired to their rooms and would be settling down for the night but Aemond could never quite do that.

He never slept long enough to retire to bed early and if he stayed up he would turn into Aegon, drinking himself into oblivion deep into the night.

He needed something to occupy himself other than the thought of going to find (Y/n). Something which was forbidden to him.

When the last remnants of wine were drained from his glass, Aemond uncrossed his legs and stooped over. His elbows rested on his knees and his fingers carded through his straight locks of hair and hovered over the strap of his eyepatch. He was about to take it off when a soft but rapid knock at the door caught him by surprise.

It was even more surprising when he lifted his head and saw Helaena appearing round the door. She barged open the door in less than a second and glided across the floor, leaving the door wide open behind her in her haste to reach her brother. It made him uneasy when he watched her kneel at his side next to the chair he was sitting in. But when she placed her shaking hands on his knee, he knew something was wrong and he stopped himself from pouring another glass of wine.

"What's happened?" It was evident in her face that something was amiss but Aemond didn't dare try and guess what was wrong.

"It's (Y/n)…"

That was all Helaena needed to say to set off the alarm bells ringing in her brother's mind. She could see the darkness that swept across his face and the churning colours that came to life in his eye. His legs tensed next to her, his hands curled into fists on his lap and his biceps strained against the black leather he was wearing.

"Where is she?" Aemond was about to burst to life and jump into action if his sister hadn't of moved her hands to his shoulders to make him stay seated. He couldn't be running off when he didn't know what was wrong.

"Mother went to see her since she missed supper, she was having a bad spell and it wouldn't stop. She told me to come get you… she's called the Maesters."

This time when Aemond went to stand, his sister didn't stop him. She got to her feet, smoothed down the creases in her dress and followed after Aemond when he bolted from the room.

Helaena knew it was bad when her mother had ordered someone to call for the Maesters. Alicent hardly ever did that, not since the spells became more frequent and none of the Maesters knew what the problem was or how to help. Helaena herself had only witnessed one or two of her sister's spells and they had been short and vacant, nothing on the scale of what she had heard her mother and brother talking about.

But when she peered into her sister's room to see what the commotion was, she saw her younger sister curled up on the floor with their mother holding onto her, trying to stop the spell to no avail.

And Helaena knew how protective Aemond was of their family, especially (Y/n). If she had a bad spell, he was always there by her side and when her mother shouted at her to go and fetch Aemond, Helaena ran. Gods forbid anyone didn't tell him something like this had happened and he found out second hand hours later, there would be a big price to pay.

It didn't take long for the prince to storm down the halls and make his way to the chambers he visited almost every day when growing up. He could hear the chaos from the other end of the corridor.

The sight Aemond walked into was one he was familiar with but one he did not like.

(Y/n), his little sister was laid contorted on the floor with her arms bound trembling to her chest and her whole body fluttering back and forth. But it was the blood pooling and froffing from her lips that made Aemond pale significantly. Alicent had rolled her onto her side and was laid half over (Y/n), holding onto her and keeping her as still as she could, waiting for the spell to pass.

The moment she locked eyes with Aemond, a rush of relief flooded onto her face.

Aemond didn't like the look of the two Maesters stood near the bed. They had viles, bowls and cups scattered around on the chest of drawers beside the bed but Aemond didn't want them here. They caused more harm than good when (Y/n) was concerned.

"Aemond, I- I think it's stopping. Help me get her on the bed."

He crouched down on (Y/n)'s other side opposite his mother but up close, he could see the strain on her face and how her copper hair was unfolding and coming loose from her plats. She had been struggling.

Aemond curled over until his chest was pressing on his bent knees and he reached his hands out to cup (Y/n)'s face. He could see her eyes shaking behind her eyelids and her breaths were raspy and bubbling from the blood welling in her mouth from her tongue. When he hooked his thumb beneath her upper lip and lifted it up, he could see her teeth were chomped down on her tongue.

His mother had been right, the jerking movements were coming to a stop, replaced by a slow shaking that rattled throughout her body but it was preferrable to the spasms.

He waited for his mother to pull away and watched her sit back on her heels and take deep breaths while she brushed her hair out of her eyes. When she moved, Aemond carefully slipped his arms beneath (Y/n)'s broken form and ground his jaw when he lifted her up into his arms. He could feel her trembling vibrating through into him and it made his knees feel like they were about to give way.

Why did this have to happen to (Y/n), his sweet girl?

He was careful when he pushed his knees into the bed and lowered (Y/n) down on top of the sheets he had admittedly slept beneath last night when he snook into her room.

He swallowed down a burning growl hiding in his chest before he pulled back enough to strip the sword belt from his hips and take off the jacket that now felt too constricting before he sat back on the bed beside (Y/n) and his mother sat on the opposite side.

A look passed between mother and son before Alicent sighed and moved away to stand up when it was clear one of them had to move for the Maesters to assess (Y/n).

And it certainly wasn't going to be Aemond.

"Come here," He quietly tutted while he took (Y/n)'s chin between his fingers and tilted her head towards him while the Maester busied himself taking some of her blood.

With a damp cloth in hand, curtesy of the Maester behind him, Aemond busied himself wiping the blood from her face and parting her lips with his thumb to check that she wasn't still clamping her teeth down on her tongue. He couldn't have that in case her tongue became swollen and she couldn't breathe properly. Not to mention the pain she was going to feel soon.

"A-Aem…"

"I'm here, it's me Princess."

Shivers bolted up his arm when (Y/n)'s hand clamped down on his wrist and her head moved towards his voice. She wanted to be closer to him, she wanted to touch him and be soothed by his touch and his skin and she wanted to keep hearing his voice whispering in her ear.

Heeding to her silent command, Aemond inched closer until (Y/n)'s temple was pressed into his bare chest just beneath his sternum and he could lean down to kiss the top of her head. He ignored the burning intensity of his mother's stare because he knew what she would be thinking.

But at the same time, she had called for him. His mother had told Helaena to find him because deep down she knew he would be more help to (Y/n) than the Maesters ever would be. She knew he would calm her down and soothe her and look after her, she knew (Y/n) wouldn't settle unless Aemond was by her side and Alicent had given in. In her moment of panic, she had given in and called for Aemond.

"Here M'lady, drink some of this,"

One of the men pressed a cup to (Y/n)'s parted lips and nudged her, inclining her to take a large sip but when she did, she coughed. It was a foul taste and a horrid smell she recognised far too well. The whimper that passed her lips made Aemond tense beside her and his gaze shot to glare at the man opposite him.

"What is it?"

"Milk of the poppy, sir, to stop any more fits. Drink some more,"

"And you think drugging her will stop them? Mother please,"

Aemond turned his attention to Alicent but the way she tightened her hands in front of her and inclined her head made him angry.

How could they believe this was helpful? It was a herbal remedy, something used when someone was in pain and it would often make (Y/n) sleep whenever she was given it. Dosing her up to sleep was not the answer to stopping the spells that plagued her constantly. They couldn't keep her on the milk of the poppy forever, it wouldn't work.

"Just a little, Aemond, she needs rest and it will make her feel better." Alicent's word was final, just as it always had been and Aemond didn't have the strength to argue with her when he felt (Y/n)'s hands clawing at his skin, desperate for his loving attention.

(Y/n) did as she was told but once she'd choked down half the cup, she shook her head and burrowed deeper into Aemond's bare chest. She couldn't force down any more of the horrid concoction that would make her sleep and turn her head into mush. She hated it, she hated them trying to give her that horrible white remedy.

"Shh, sleep now, Little Dragon. I'll be here when you wake up."

[in-memoriam-tgwk]

There, in the mouth of a cave, stands a cat.

He stands many lengths below its ceiling, his long tabby fur bristled against a chilly southernly wind, staring into the darkness ahead of him. He has only been in this cave once before; a cat gone seasons before led the way down, down, down to its center, following the ancient limestone walls with twitching whiskers and anticipatory breaths. At its lowest sits a cavern bathed in the blue light of glowing toadstools, full of dripping stone teeth and stale mineral air. It’s where he earned his name from Fate; it’s where he was gifted Her blessing. He remembers looking on in awe and wonder back then.

He stares with less reverence than before. His brow is set and his eyes are steely in the growing dusk hour. No hesitance trips his steps as he walks into the maw of the cliffside.

The darkness quickly eats him whole as he walks, relying on vague memory and intuition to guide him to where he seeks. He walks with purpose, old paws landing one by one on older stone, pushed along by determination and, to a lesser extent, grief. The last time he came here he was promised safety and security, plentiful food and peaceful moons, a life made better by banding together instead of not. She had promised him these things, had filled him with the pain and the warmth of one thousand fires, had given him the lives needed to defend his new family with every fibre of his being. He needs to know why She lied to him.

It left as quickly as it had arrived; sickness weaved its way through the Colony, affecting more cats than not with its rattling lungs and sour stench. Oaktrail and Emma had little time to prepare, and very few herbs to help. It was a battle lost before the fight had begun.

Iciclestalk, Frozentuft, Hailkit. These names hug his mind like a barbed vine, drawing blood as their spines dig into his flesh.

Iciclestalk was older, tall, perhaps too thin even for his age. His brows hung in a perpetual scowl, but there was a softness in his blue eyes. Perhaps he was the only one who saw it; perhaps he was the only one Iciclestalk would let see. The sickness stole the air from his lungs in less than a sun cycle.

Frozentuft, the adopted daughter of Hollyspeckle. She had been healing from a broken bone, having taken a terrible fall two moons prior from the cliffside. She was young, but she was weak. The sickness in the medicine den infected her lungs, and she lost her battle in her father’s paws.

Hailkit was… She was a kit. One of the Colony’s first, the only daughter to Rainpool and Heatherdash. She was spritely and kind, inquisitive and talkative, and had so much more life to live. Her mother became ill, and in turn she did too. She was too young to stand a chance.

Iciclestalk. Frozentuft. Hailkit. Their names slice through his bones like gnashing wolf fangs, alighting the fire burning in his soul. He picks up his pace, scraping against walls, baring his teeth and unsheathing his claws. There is a rage broiling beneath the grief, battering against his ribcage and climbing up his throat, stinging his nose and eyes.

He rounds the corner and arrives to a room of spikes and blue light, and he bellows out the flames scorching in his belly.

“Blasphemy!” he cries out, his raspy timbre echoing out in all directions. He stands, fur bristled not by the wind but by anger and pain, broad and challenging at the mouth of the cavern. He glares eagle talons to the air around him. “Your tongue ought to be fed to crows for the lies behind your teeth!”

He expects no answer, but the rhythmic drip, drip, drip that follows only fuels his fury. “Cowardice is unbecoming,” he continues, venom coating his abrasive taunting. “Reveal yourself to me, o Dictator of Fate, I demand an audience!”

He stalks to the center of the room, surrounded on all sides by stone daggers taller than they are wide, splashing through tiny pools without care or trepidation. He harbors little respect for the One he calls out to.

“I offered my service to You,” he says. “I’ve lived by Your guidance, by Your blessings, by Your will. You promised me— You promised us your protection. You promised our moons would be without strife! You promised!”

He stomps a paw into the puddle he occupies, spraying droplets in every direction. His lips curl as he seethes.

“Tell me, where are Your blessings?! You took my healer from me! You took his mate! You took two warriors in their prime, my mate, a child! You stole a child from her mother! In what way is that a blessing, My Lady?!”

His caterwaul reverberates back to him in antagonizing waves, as though they mock his plight. His claws scrape terribly against silt and stone below.

“ANSWER ME!”

One moment, he is bathed in the pale blue glow of underground fungus. He blinks, and he finds himself in a pine forest. The pine forest, shrouded in cool spring morning mists. His home. His shock cuts through his brimstone ire in an instant.

He opens his jaw to speak, but a translucent white tail just catches the edge of his vision. It flickers, disturbing the fog around it, before disappearing behind a wide tree trunk. He narrows his eyes. “Your ways are no clearer than a muddied pool,” he hisses, trailing after the elusive feline.

He walks until the tree line breaks, and the familiar sight of cliffs and a cascading waterfall greets him. The wisp of starlight zips along with him in tow, across the large stepping stones that disturbs the river’s flow, up the well-worn path that weaves its way up the sharp incline, around the corner…

He pauses. Not for the tail of Fate, which has now hidden itself from view entirely.

Ahead of him, cats of all shapes and sizes envelop his vision; kits come bounding from the Nursery, their mothers following closely behind. Cats with soft, round faces and kitten fluff clinging to their cheeks brush noses with their mentors, ready to start the day right with patrol or training. There are a few he recognizes; his deputy Amberfuzz speaks to a pair of dark grey tabbies and sends them to collect a grey and white cat for what looks like a hunting party, and they brush past him as though he is nothing but a stone on the path. Mottledwhisker presses his muzzle to the head of a grey tabby lying across the sunning boulder, mumbling something intelligible before leaving their side. Oaktrail lounges nearby, and it’s here he realizes something odd; Oaktrail looks to be moons older than the tom cat he knows now. His thin brown muzzle is tinged with silver, and his sallow cheeks are a startling sight.

“Is…” he mumbles, his brows creasing in confusion. “Is this my Colony? My family?”

No voice responds, but a warm breeze blows his fur the wrong direction. It sends tingles up his spine.

“Alright… Why show me this? What do you want to tell me?”

The wind blows harder, buffeting his back with staccato gusts.

“Use your words, My Lady,” he says, glaring to his left. “I know you are capable enough.”

Another gust brushes past his ears, his eyes, his nose— A scent on the wind, warm amber and cool evergreen, painfully familiar. It seizes his lungs. His head whips to the right, and he sees… He sees…

“Hello, old man.”

The voice belongs to a tall frame, an older frame, one perhaps too thin for its age. He’s not thin any longer; he looks strong, well-fed, like a weathered face on a youthful body. His brows are not furrowed, and his soft blue eyes crease at the corners.

“You,” he breathes, unable to keep the quiver from his tone. “You… Mouse-brain.”

Iciclestalk chuckles, the fond expression growing even brighter. “I told you I’d go first, didn’t I?”

The shaking in his voice bleeds into his limbs, and he falls forwards to bury his face in his mate’s neck fur. He inhales the sharp scent like anything else would be inadequate.

“You left me too soon,” he whines, lifting his paws up to circle around Iciclestalk’s shoulders. “Why did She let you leave me? Why did She take you away?”

A tail wraps itself around his own, as Iciclestalk’s response rumbles through his head. “It was my time, love. I was getting old and slow anyway.”

The anger threatens to bubble back up, but his mate’s presence keeps it at bay for the time being. “She took a child, Icy. She took Hailkit… Rainpool didn’t deserve that.”

The tail tightens slightly. “I know, I know… It’s an unfortunate thing. But she is safe with us. Frozentuft, Mousetuft… Cliffclaw and Shinefreckle, too. We’re all safe here.” His tongue rasps gently across his ear, and then his nose nuzzles the top of his head. “Please don’t fret, alright? We’re okay. And the Colony will be okay, too.”

He glances away from Iciclestalk’s neck, towards the bustling camp before them. There looks to be many more cats than he realized, more than who he can recall at home. The confirmation of a surviving generation brings a sort of calm to his troubled heart. The Colony will be okay.

For a long time they rest like that, entwined and pressed together in every place they can, living within the other’s scent in silence. Long is still not long enough when Iciclestalk begins to pull away.

“Don’t go,” he mumbles into the taller cat’s fur, tears prickling behind his eye lids. He feels he’s cried too much the past few days.

Iciclestalk gives him a sad smile, one that breaks his wounded heart all over again. “Not a goodbye,” he replies, tipping his head to bump their foreheads together one more time. “It’s not a goodbye. It’s a ‘see you in a little while’. I’ll be here waiting.”

His eyes open, and just as swiftly as the vision began, he finds himself back in that damp, dreary cave. His paws are soaked nearly to his ankles, sending a shiver up and through his spine in an unpleasant way. He huffs to himself, and glares back and the dagger-encrusted ceiling above.

“If what you’ve shown me is true,” he says, his tone now lacking the ire and accusation from before, “then I expect you to keep your word to me. You will ensure the prosperity of my Colony— my family. I will not let your will be its downfall. Do what you must; I will do the same.”

There, at the mouth of a cave, stands a cat. A warm wind blows in from the north, and in spite of loss, Glowstar cracks a smile; spring has arrived.

[internetskiff]

I just remembered a dream I had where Undertale had a "post-ending" area that you can enter by loading your save after completing the game. So I did that. I loaded into some kind of weird dark mansion area and as I walked around in the halls I noticed a faint amber light begin to get more intense up ahead. At some point I stumbled on the mysteryman, and his sprite changed to the smiling one, before an.. emotionally charged orchestral version of His Theme began to play as his sprite began to rapidly shrink?? I was so moved and afraid for him that I scrambled to a nearby dresser, picked up a plastic cup and put him inside, so I was carrying that around now? Yay? I began to pass by windows with different Undertale characters banging on them, screaming while a fire raged on behind them. (I distinctly remember passing by Undyne and Toriel) Eventually the flame began to spread into the hall at which point I entered a massive living room-type area and Mettaton burst through a wall.

So anyways, this is exactly what he said, word for word, before pulling out a gun and shooting Frisk in the chest, at which point the game crashed.

[fireflyflarenight]

Dark in CRK concept art

Once upon a time, fireflyflarenight randomly thought, hmm... What if TDL in CRK??????

Here are the results of that thought

The Gacha sprite? [Quality kinda bad, sorry]

This would probably be one of the story sprites?

crk stats and descriptions

You see something in the distance. Someone, rather. They're floating, high above the raging amber flames that consume the ruins of the city. It's the infamous internet terrorist, The Dark Lord! With hands full of fire and an aura that inflicts terror, they have destroyed countless websites and lives. Their overwhelming power renders them unstoppable. Recently, however, they have been suspiciously quiet. Is the internet safe at last or are they plotting something terrible?

type: charge

position: front

rarity: legendary [or Super Epic]

skill: [how do you come up with a skill name???]

The Dark Lord slashes the opponents within range with their blades, deleting parts of the opposing team's code. The corrosive nature of the attack dispels all buffs and inflicts stun and shock debuffs while increasing CRIT DMG received and decreasing DEF. The Dark Lord gains CRIT%, CRIT DMG, and healing. The Dark Lord's ATK SPD increases if The Chosen One is on the opposing team. If The Chosen One is on The Dark Lord's team, DMG focus will be activated (The Dark Lord reduces The Chosen One's DMG received and takes a portion of the DMG received by The Chosen One.) and The Chosen One will gain DEF and healing buffs. When using this skill, they become temporarily immune to interrupting effects.

Soulstone Description: This stone holds a piece of The Dark Lord's soul. Youch! It gave you a static shock. [???]

Debuffs given to opposing team: Injury, Fatal wound, DEF Down, Shock, CRIT DMG Received Up, Stun, Dispel [Should injury and fatal wound be replaced by data corruption?]

Buffs: CRIT% Up, CRIT DMG Up, Healing Up

Random things I want to say:

These stats aren't very balanced. Dark deletes your buffs, stuns you, and reduces your max hp. That feels incredibly unfair.

^I thought it would be funny if I gave Dark cutesy eyes^

^me using scratch instead of a normal drawing app^

Some of the writing in this post might be questionable because I have a low English grade :D

Also, I used they/them pronouns for this goofy stick because yes.

[k4n4n1]

[ ɴᴇᴡᴇsᴛ ᴍᴇssᴀɢᴇ !! ]

sᴜʙᴊᴇᴄᴛ // A Mɪsᴄᴀʀʀɪᴀɢᴇ ᴏꜰ Jᴜsᴛɪᴄᴇ

ᴀᴜ. sᴀɢ!ɪᴍᴘ!ᴀᴜ

ᴘᴀɪʀɪɴɢ. ɴ/ᴀ

ᴘʀᴇ́ᴄɪs. ʏᴏᴜ ᴋɴᴏᴡ ʏᴏᴜ’ᴅ ᴅɪᴇ ꜰᴏʀ ᴛᴇʏᴠᴀᴛ. ᴀɴᴅ sᴏ, ʏᴏᴜ ᴅᴏ.

ᴛᴡ/ᴄᴡ. sᴇᴄᴏɴᴅ ᴘᴏᴠ, ɢɴ! ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ, ᴜsᴇ ᴏꜰ ɢᴏʟᴅᴇɴ ʙʟᴏᴏᴅ, ɢʀᴀᴘʜɪᴄ ɢᴏʀᴇ, ᴄᴜʟᴛɪsᴛ ʙᴇʜᴀᴠɪᴏʀ, ɴᴏ ɪ ᴅᴏɴᴛ ᴜsᴇ ᴛʜɪs ꜰᴏɴᴛ ᴅᴜʀɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡʀɪᴛɪɴɢ ᴘɪᴇᴄᴇ

ᴀ/ɴ. ɪᴍ ʙᴀᴄᴋ, ʙᴀʙʏ ;)

— YOURE ROUSED FROM your slumber, a content smile resting on your face. You’ve woken with a rush of the freshest, most floral air to adorn Teyvat; the sun blanketing the land in a vibrant sheen.

Velvety sprites of wind kiss your cheek, swiping up your breath along with as they run to hide behind clouds. You hear the sprites crescendo erratically, almost as if they giggled at you.

In awe, “If this is simply a dream, I’d be godforsaken…” You say.

Oh, but you know. You are acutely aware of how the palpitations of Teyvat’s heart approximate with your own.

Now, you are in Teyvat.

You are no longer a towering skyscraper, trying it’s damnest to reach the clouds; unaware of how distant this artisan reality is.

“Nevermore,” you think.

Now? Now you could pluck earth-borne flowers from windblown grass. Now you could see the interweaving of shadows, putting together an intricate pattern.

Now, Teyvat is fond of you.

You sigh — pure affection, “This world, so romantic…” You hum a familiar tune, a sigil of your heart laying in peace.

Affection couldn’t help you now.

Choked up apologies aren’t adequate payment for mercy, “No, no no— please!—“

Mora couldn’t help you either.

A deep purple and scarlet red bolt along your vision, sprinting with inhuman agility; as if they weren’t aware of their own body.

Not even God could help you.

As if Van Gogh was holding these clashing colors with his bare hands and used feeling to lead his god-given paintbrushes — they took the syrupy red of your blood and by the archons, did they paint.

God doesn’t help thief’s.

Raging flames encase the blade tearing open your skin, offering gold-lined blood as the flames outshine the evening sun.

Turbulent strings of electro energy floods your veins — invading your body; robbing you of your balance.

“Damn you overloaded,” you curse.

A dainty hand encloses upon your throat, the blurs of color stilling before you. Diluc and Ei are revealed as the artists of this nightmarish painting.

Barbatos stands in front of them both, staring you down.

Your wounds cradle ichor within the cradles of cauterized flesh, courtesy of white anger translated through relentless stabs.

“Please,” you beg. “I don’t want to die, not like this.”

Barbatos giggles, mocking your foolishness, “Oh please. You — my dear thief,” his grips traps air in your lungs. “Deserve to endure a fate more despairing than death.”

You would’ve never imagined being born with your own face have you deemed a thief.

Tenuous breaths rattle your bones, but they couldn’t break through Barbatos’s clutch, though they tried, tried, and tried. He grins at your suffering — and it shakes you to the very core of your being.

Barbatos will kill you. Ei will kill you. Diluc will kill you. All of them will kill you and they won’t extend grace of a remorseful frown, even in the moments after your death.

Through gloss-tinted vision, plain as the setting sun, you see the anger that would run you down and wash you with your own blood.

Their eyes — they twinkle with satisfaction when they see the streams of blood running down your body.

It looks just like the nigh sky above.

You’re going to bleed to death at any moment — so why is his hand still around your neck?

No more than crushed bones and crushed hopes, “haven’t you had enough?” The betrayal you feel runs through the ground, staining the patches of grass beneath you red.

You feel the wind grazing upon open wounds and it burns — throbbing and swollen your body burns.

Just behind your attackers, a rich voice erupts into a gruff scowl, “Barbatos! Stand down!” You see amber eyes, piercing as they are — they pale in comparison to your blood.

The wind picks up, forming an aggravated wind current above you, drowning out another voice that conducted unintelligible cries.

For every argument exchanged, the wind would pick up another note.

The wind sweeps you away from those sent to deal your demise. A wave of despondent cries rouses from the crowd; a feeling of despair shared by them all.

The gold-lined red was not an illusion presented by fire, it was simply your blood. And surely enough, the golden blood running up the crevices of your wounds was healing them as fast as they were given to you…

You were indeed godforsaken.

TAGLIST — @thevictoriousmoon

[thatfailedpokemontrainer]

// sprite as a character makes me have thoughts so lemme share them melodramatically! May not be accurate to Sprite’s character, but I feel it’s inspired enough

// something about a child born with determination. A raging ball of hot, ranging from deceptively cool iron to a blinding white warning all who dare look

// something about that child being trapped in a cage, a wooden cage, but a cage nonetheless. The captors that had thought they had quelled the fire within, only to find an empty cage with smoldering bars

// something about that ball of determination, shrunk and beaten into feigned submission.

// something about that ball of determination becoming no smaller than a pea in comparison to its host

// something about that ball of determination that gave its host- the child, a will. A will to exist. A will to fight. And fight he did.

// something about the child, forced into false adulthood far, far too quickly, being consumed by misery.

// something about the little, screaming, kicking, raging ball of flames inside not letting it give up.

// something about determination kicking and screaming and screeching and hitting and destroying; all to keep the child alive

// the child, a teen, is still a child in some ways. The ball of firey determination that he denied existed. It gives him a will to fight. And by god, fight it does

// ANON WHAT IF I CRIED. WHAT THEN- YOU FUCKING-

YOU!!! YOU GET IT YOU UNDERSTAND. THIS IS ONE OF THE GREATEST THINGS I HAVE RECEIVED IN MY INBOX!!! LIKE- A PERSON HAVING BLORBO THOUGHTS ABOUT MY OC!??!

He's **so** driven- to - just- continue- despite everything he keeps going- he just continues to live despite at times hating everything and everyone he continues, despite what he has been through. He is going to get better- he is going to persist. He continues. And that is what makes him the blorbo!!!

Yet yeah- he's still a child in a lot of ways- and an adult in others. He can't let himself be vunerable, and immedailty assumes the worst in everyone- having a real 2D veiw of the world despite knowing its nuisances.

uaghhhh you understand it you get it anon I hope both of the sides of your pillows are cold at night and you sleep well <333

[ashs-random-writing]

a burning feeling

Chapter 9

Ao3

—

When Patton, a young-ish human, feels drawn to the mountains that house dragons, he doesn't know why he follows the feeling.

He definitely doesn't know why the dragons seem so... protective

—

When Virgil woke up to the sound of a whine, he was prepared to comfort his kid from whatever night-terror it had, and then he heard the sound of shifting metal. He growled, opening his eyes and finding a scene horrible enough to be one of his own night-terrors. Of course, the one time they didn’t put it back in the nest

The knight stood next to the sprite, with its sword far too close to its neck. Virgil noticed Logan growling, next to him. Both stood up, immediately stopping as the knight moved the sword a little closer to their kid

“What should we do? Close range attacks could hurt our child, but fire attacks would be too obvious and the knight would kill it before we had a chance to fight” Virgil rambled quietly, looking at the enemy with wide eyes.

Logan stayed silent a few moments, in which Virgil noticed just how scared the sprite looked. He was going to burn the human settlement to the ground after this.

“You get closer, slowly, draw the attention to yourself. I will help the sprite” Virgil sighed in almost-relief

Logan always had a plan. Virgil took a slow step forward, noticing that the knight simply watched him, unmoving. Virgil got closer and closer, and suddenly the knight was moving, lunging at Virgil’s chest. Virgil staggered backwards with a hiss of pain. The knight kept attacking. Virgil noticed Logan checking over the sprite and focused his energy on the fight.

The knight rolled away from the fire, but happened to catch its arm in the flames. It grasped at the appendage, and attacked again. Virgil was fuelled by pure rage, enough to ignore his injuries. The knight cut Virgil’s leg, a deep cut that would take at least a week to heal, before running away like the coward it was.

Virgil limped over to Logan and the child.

“How is it?” He asked, looking down at the crying sprite. It was curled up, and it sounded so upset, so scared, so- so unlike the happy child they were playing with a few hours prior

“It doesn’t have any physical injuries, except a scratch just beneath its neck. But it’s very upset. I am scared that it will be affected by this entire situation permanently”

Virgil growled at the thought. This was not how a child’s life should go. Children should be happy and carefree, not dealing with hostage situations and knights. He gently nudged it, and it looked up at him, steam rising from its head. His heart ached

“Don’t worry, little one, the danger is gone, and everyone is okay, everyone is safe now” he reassured it, only slightly lying. The humans certainly wouldn’t be okay after he healed enough to enact revenge

He laid himself down on the ground, as Logan tended to his injuries. He winced. The sprite was still crying, leaning into his side

Virgil was never falling asleep with it outside the nest again. He let his mind wander.

Where did knights come from? He had never seen a baby knight, so he wondered if they looked the same as normal humans until they matured and grew metal skin. Why were knights more aggressive than regular humans? He sighed

“Logan, can you please put the sprite in the nest, I think it’s time we all had a sleep, maybe” he conceded

He was riddled with anxiety, but he was almost too tired to care, and besides, the knight wouldn’t return for a while.

Logan carried the sprite gently to the nest and stayed there for a while, presumably until it fell asleep, before helping Virgil to his own section of the cave. He wanted to know exactly what problem humans had with them, why they hadn’t had a moments peace since the settlement was founded, just over a century or two ago.

That wasn’t entirely true; they had had little moments of peace for a few years, very occasionally a decade or more, but knights always returned. He had to say that this one was smarter than some of the others, unfortunately, and had caused the most damage and kept getting away.

He fell asleep after a while of attempting to get comfortable without aggravating his wounds. He woke up a while later, when his wounds had started closing up. His mind felt clearer, not in the haze it was after a tiring fight and extreme panic and pain. He looked around tiredly, before standing up.

His leg hurt like hell, and so did his chest, and his side, and everywhere that the knight had hit. He limped further into the cave and checked on the little sprite. Sleeping. Safe.

How could he have been so careless to let it stay out unsupervised? How could he have let the knight that close to it, how could he have endangered his child so badly? He groaned, resting his head on the floor next to the nest. The child shivered slightly, turning over. Virgil gently breathed some more fire onto it, keeping it warm.

He had spoken to some older sprites when they were at the festival, asking if he was doing everything right, if he could do any more. They had told him that he was doing great, but that the sprite would likely have permanent effects of the years of neglect it faced, and perhaps some small difficulties with regulating its own temperature for too long. Logan and Virgil were helping as much as they could

It would mostly face only mild effects, but still too many. Virgil’s heart ached for the difficult life it had already been leading so young. He crooned softly, hopefully helping the little sprite sleep.

It was still tossing and turning, and Virgil recognised it as a sign that it was having a night terror. He sang a lullaby as quietly as he could.

—

Patton was upset. Once again, the dragons got hurt because of him. Because he couldn’t convince the knight, because he couldn’t fight, because the knight was there because of him to begin with.

He had nightmares that night. Of what might’ve happened had the knight not run away, of them coated in golden blood and a dragons head on the floor, of himself being slaughtered next, of everything that could go wrong. He started calming down eventually, a noise breaking through his mind and nightmares.

When he eventually woke up, he noticed the purple dragon before he noticed anything else. He propped himself up on his hands and greeted, quietly.

They pushed their head through the protective barrier, and gently nudged him. Patton laughed, ignoring his pain and his negative thoughts. The dragons would heal, and they didn’t seem to care that it was his fault that they were hurt to begin with

He shook his head, before trying to get out of the nest. The dragon seemed to think for a minute before gently lifting him out and placing him next to the fire. Patton put his arm into the flames, marvelling at the way those flames turned blue as well. He could control them as though they were another extension of his limbs, which he never knew that sprites could do.

He giggled, moving the flame, entirely transfixed for what might’ve been hours, but also could’ve been minutes.

He felt like a little kid again. He was grinning the largest grin to ever be grinned, and he could hear the dragons encouraging chirps behind him. Maybe he could forget about the knight for now, maybe he could just enjoy the moment

—

Roman sharpened his sword as he waited for his arm to heal. Those monsters were up to something , he knew it! Monsters always were, always. Everything he ever did was justified; monsters were never peaceful, they were always biding time, waiting for the best time to strike, or- or recovering from the last attack they pulled!

No matter what they did, how peaceful they looked, they were always ready to kill. He heard a knock at the door of the room he was staying in.

“Come in,” he said, voice annoyed

The innkeeper’s seemingly permanent scowl greeted him.

“Kid. You want some advice?”

Roman raised an eyebrow, before shaking his head. Every piece of ‘advice’ that the innkeeper had given him so far had been utterly unhelpful, and unwelcome

“Well, woe is me, I guess. But, because I am so kind , you are still hearing it” their voice was biting, an underlying venom lacing it

“Look, kid. I used to be a knight myself. You always think you’re doing the right thing, right? But you’re eventually going to grapple with the fact that you’re not always doing the right thing. You’re gonna have to grapple with the fact that you’ve killed more than some of the monsters have, you’re gonna have to grapple with the fact that no one and nothing is automatically evil, or automatically good” their voice had become softer, obviously thinking of past experiences

They sighed, looking him in the eyes for the first time. He realised that they were blind in one eye, one of their many scars dragging over it.

“Are humans fundamentally good, or are they just people?” They asked, startling Roman. What did that have to do with anything?

“People, I guess?”

“Exactly. It’s the same with magical creatures. They’re just trying to live. Some of them are bad, but not all of them. Some just want to spend time with their families, or things like that. You can’t judge entire species’ based on a few people”

Roman narrowed his eyes. He knew they were lying- he knew that these things were evil, he just- he just knew

—

Tag list : @a-chilly-pepper

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: Avengers #309: To Find OLYMPIA!

November, 1989

Namor looks like he's got some negative things to say, in the zone.

And it is canon sometimes that the Negative Zone makes a person feel negative. Its the Bad Vibes Place.

I have no idea why dead Gilgamesh was drawn with the What's Going On He-Man face. Or why She-Hulk is in her Fantastic Four duds.

So, lets get into it.

Last times, in Avengers: Captain America held a meeting to declare that all the Avengers teams were one team and he was in charge of the Avengers. Also, the Avengers got kidnapped by Lava Men. And so did Namor. They were taken to the Last Lava Man, a priest called Jinku, who accused the Avengers of genociding the Lava Men, which they kinda sorta did do by killing a random demon named Cha'sa'dra during Inferno. The Avengers don't beat Jinku and the giant monster he summoned so much as run out the clock. Some of the dead Lava Men turned out to not be dead so much as incubating. They hatched into golden men and told Jinku to knock it off. Alas?, Gilgamesh got fatally slapped while fighting the lava monster and is now exceptionally dead. The Avengers take Gilgamesh to Sersi who can't help and suggests they take him to the Eternal city Olympia. Except Eternal Sprite managed to blow it up like ten minutes before they get there. The whole city.

Just a big, steaming crater now.

Thanks Sprite, you screw-up.

Sersi: "It is... gone! All of fabled Olympia! Snuffed out as a flickering candle flame! How can this be??"

Captain America tries to offer any help the Avengers can do. But Sersi just dramatically faints after psychically scanning for any trace of Olympia.

She murmurs about emptiness and enormity and the loneliness of endless space.

Such a dramatic person.

There's also a weird bit of choreography where Captain America caught Sersi when she fainted. So he's clearly not holding his shield. He tells She-Hulk to hold it for him but she's already holding it and must have grabbed it when he dropped it to pick up Sersi, since she's right behind him in that panel.

And she gives it right back to him as soon as he's put Sersi down.

So why was it necessary for Cap to tell She-Hulk to do something she was already doing? Did Byrne worry that the choreography wouldn't stand on its own?

Ah well.

The Avengers wonder if there's something wrong with the Eternals lately. Because, well, Gilgamesh is mostly dead despite being Eternal and the Lava Monster didn't hit him THAT hard.

Gilgamesh should have been able to heal himself, since all Eternals have the power of molecular manipulation over their own bodies.

Sersi drifts back to consciousness and explains that "all Eternals an sense the minds of all other Eternals no matter the range" so she tried reaching out.

She sensed them near but not on Earth.

Which Cap finds baffling. But Thor has an idea what she means.

Remember how his hammer used to be able to create dimensional portals and then it couldn't? Well, it can again.

He figures that near but far probably means another dimension. And he doesn't have to be precise. When all you have is a hammer, it helps if its a really, really cool hammer.

Thor just wills "let the powers that split the raging heavens now be focused here, into a single place, a single purpose... and let any barrier betwixt us and Olympia... be SUNDERED!"

And bippity boppity boo, a portal is opened through.

To the Negative Zone, apparently. Well, the cover spoiled that. You're not special for realizing it on sight, She-Hulk.

Sersi confirms that Thor hit the nail on the head. In the Negative Zone she can indeed sense Olympia.

She-Hulk: "In the Negative Zone? But... how the heck did it get there? I thought the only access was through the portal in the Fantastic Four's headquarters." Thor: "Nay, green one. That is but one way to reach this parallel dimension. Mjolnir hath opened this small gateway by drawing on the residual energies of whatever force dispatched Oympia hence."

Namor says that the time for discussion is over. If Olympia is in the Negative Zone, the only hope for Gilgamesh will be to find it.

Sersi agrees.

Sersi: "We must go now where Olympia has gone... into the Negative Zone!"

"Meanwhile, elsewhere" we check back in on old guy who blew up his own house subplot.

Professor Harker takes the blueprints for his fantabulous new invention to the Polydyne company and blows them away!

A guy in a tie: "It's absolutely amazing! Something like this is going to make cold fusion seem as antiquated as rubbing two sticks together! Why... the kind of power that could be harnessed from a single such device would be enough to supply the needs of the whole world for centuries!"

Professor Harker himself prefers to think of it as more the power to re-shape the whole universe maybe. But the Polydyne peeps warn him the money men won't understand that so maybe stick with the 'makes cold fusion look like a joke' sales pitch.

Meanwhile, elsewhere, the Great Lakes Avengers!

Huh, I guess Byrne really is writing three teams in two books since the GLA is showing up in East Coast Avengers now.

I do worry that it's going to be hard to balance between the needs of the book's actual team and whatever Great Lakes Avengers content is showing up this month.

Hawkeye tells the Great Lakes Avengers that they did okay against the Absolom University chumps but they could have done a lot better.

I mean. They were only in action for a few pages so I don't know how you can tell.

But anyway, Hawkeye and Mockingbird have come up with carefully tailored training for the team!

Carefully tailored until they ran out of steam halfway and decided Mr Immortal and Doorman's powers were too weird to train and just have them training in athletics.

Didn't even try with Flatman. Hawkeye just tells him to do whatever he wants.

Pretty amazing how quickly Hawkeye goes from Tough Coach to half-assed.

So they have Dinah Soar flying while dodging hay bales, Big Bertha doing track and field, Mr Immortal and Doorman doing an obstacle course, and Flatman also doing an obstacle course but with more wiggling.

Hawkeye decides to throw a wrinkle in the training by shooting a grease arrow right in front of Big Bertha.

She slips, bumps into a fatphobic Mr Immortal, and he falls into Doorman.

Literally into.

This is weird because Doorman's powers are only supposed to work if he's against a door or a wall. Y'know, so his body can function as a door?

He's never had someone go through him when there wasn't a through.

Dinah Soar doesn't wait around for them to talk through the situation.

She flies right into Doorman. Literally into. And soon after flies out carrying Mr Immortal.

She cradles him against her chest as he shivers that it was so cold inside wherever he was.

Y'know... Next time the Great Lakes Avengers gets a miniseries or whatever, they should resurrect Dinah Soar. She missed out on a lot of the modern fleshing out the team got because her death basically kicked off the plot of the Dan Slott miniseries.

A new Great Lakes Avengers thing could have a lot of fun bringing her back and making it a whole thing about comic book resurrections.

C'mon, do it.

Anyway, Hawkeye decides they're gonna do a bunch of tests on Doorman, until they figure out how he works.

I was going to joke about Hawkeye trying to do science but I did then remember that Mockingbird does have a Ph.D.

In biology which may or may not wholly cover whatever is going on here. But in comics, a Ph.D. can do all the science.

Look at Hank Pym, revolutionizing robotics (derogatory) when his degree was in biochemistry. Almost as far from robotics as you can get.

Meanwhile, the A-plot.

I've missed it so.

... Actually, its the Save Gilgamesh plot so I didn't miss it so much.

Byrne is blatantly pushing to make the Great Lakes Avengers a thing but the main plots in both the Avengers plots are so blah that I don't actually mind the Great Lakes Avengers panel-time takeover so much.

Anyway, instead of just walking through the portal, the Avengers stopped to go get their Quinjet and are flying it through the Negative Zone.

I guess this is one of the space capable ones.

They're relying on Sersi's psychic connection with all other Eternals to guide them and she says they're on the right track.

Although the Avengers are doubtful about that since they just passed themselves.

I didn't know the Negative Zone did that.

Sersi insists that they're going the right way but she doesn't sound sure.

Cap agrees to keep going the way she's indicating but only for another hour or so! After that, they'll presumably have a very serious conversation about trying something else!

But Sersi was leading them right. Because right after that interaction, they find Olympia.

Just floating in the Negative Zone.

(Dammit, Sprite!)

The place is deserted - although most of the population was already gone before Sprite blew the place up so grain of salt on it looking deserted when it practically already was.

But it also looks decrepit, like its crumbling into ruin.

Sersi still senses her fellow Eternals... somewhere. So they land to look.

Namor flies off on his little ankle wings to scout around the city. And soon returns reporting he found nothing but a vague sense of unease.

He didn't see anyone in the city but he felt a presence all around.

Cap echoes his unease. The place feels haunted. Which Sersi dismisses since Eternals can't die.

Namor: "Yet that is precisely what is happening to Gilgamesh."

Acksually, he's only mostly dead.

Sersi wonders whether Olympia being lost in the Negative Zone and the Eternals being missing might somehow be related to Gilgamesh's advanced case of being sorta but not really dead.

Cap suggests they Split Up, They'll Cover More Ground That Way.

Thor is sent off on his own because he's a big, tough guy. She-Hulk and Sersi are sent off as a team. And Namor and Captain America make up the last team.

=_= Like. Did he put all the girls (all two girls) on the same team on purpose? Did he just want to hang out with his Nazi-punching World War II buddy, Namor?

Because. They discuss World War II as they're hopping and flying around the city. So it could very well be the second reason.

Captain America and Namor discuss how Olympia feels similar to Berlin in the last days of World War II. How it feels like there's an emptiness of spirit or the bitterness of "the death of dreams."

Cap worries that all they've accomplished on this journey is bringing Sersi to witness the end of the Eternals.

BUT NAMOR DOESN'T HAVE TIME TO CARE ABOUT THAT.

He re-steers the conversation back to how cool it is to hang out with an old-Nazi punching buddy. He misses the old gang.

Cap mentions that hey, recent revelations are that Vision wasn't made out of the Human Torch which means the Human Torch is maybe, probably, still around!

Namor: "Aye, and aye again! If he could be found... reactivated! The Invaders might well live again..."

Ugh.

I assume that was a huge part of Byrne's reasoning to do the VisionQuest plot.

He was big mad that robot Human Torch got tied up in Vision's origin and he wanted to peel him away so he could bring the Invaders back as a team again.

Either as a third book he'd be writing or as a fourth team he'd be writing in the two books he already had.

Every so many years, Marvel tries to bring the Invaders back.

I assume due to trademark reasons.

And it never lasts. Because the team doesn't make much sense outside a war. And any modern wars they've been shoved into are... just fraught with issues.

A new Invaders book was spun off from the Avengers way down the line to deal with the War on Terror and it was not great.

Anyway, a mystery off-screen person also agrees with me that reforming the Invaders is stupid as fuck and blows up Captain America and Namor.

Alas.

Meanwhile, She-Hulk and Sersi (designated lady team not cool enough to hang out with the Nazi punching boys) walk through the High Tower of Olympia, toward the Great Hall.

She-Hulk tries to mention she heard a far-off distant sound like thunder and also muses on how weird it is that the Negative Zone has breathable atmosphere but Sersi tells her to shut up.

THIS IS THE HIGH TOWER OF OLYMPIA, HUMANS DON'T USUALLY GET TO WALK THIS PASSAGE. BE IMPRESSED BY THE GRANDEUR, SHE-HULK.

Sersi: "This is the High Tower of Olympia -- the seat of our government, the holy of holies. No human has ever walked this passageway... Ahead lies the Great Hall, the central meeting place of all Eternals. Tread softly now in this hallowed place. Choose every word with care. Beyond these doors lies the very heart of Olympia. Draw your breath in awe at what will now unfold..."

Then she walks into a door.

Honestly, that's a funny gag.

Presumably the doors are supposed to swing open when an Eternal approaches them.

But, obviously, that's not happening.

So She-Hulk just shoves the doors open and strides on through.

She-Hulk: "Excuse me if I don't pay this place quite the respect you seem to think it's due, Sers... but let's try a more direct approach to opening these doors."

I hope She-Hulk sticks with the team whenever Sersi ends up joining. These two seem like they would have a hilarious dynamic.

The Great Hall seems to have been through a war, of some kind.

There's holes in the walls, pillars are shattered, the stonework is cracked.

In shock, Sersi declares no force on Earth could do this kind of damage. Especially not the Deviants. Not that there are any on Earth, since they were all launched into space as a cube. Probably.

Also, they're not on Earth. There's a lot of things in the Negative Zone that are heavy hitters. It's why people don't go there for fun. That and it makes people depressed to be there.

Weirder than the damaged state of the hall, Sersi can sense her fellow Eternals here, somehow! Here in this room! Everywhere around She-Hulk and Sersi! Despite the two seeming to be alone here!

Still angered by the idea of the Invaders reforming, someone blows up the Great Hall.

She-Hulk and Sersi are sent flying by the explosion.

And despite being gamma strong, there's something weird with gravity, so the fall knocks She-Hulk out despite cannonballing through seventeen stories of building in Avengers West Coast. Gravity is to blame.

Thor is aggroed by all these explosions. Like She-Hulk, he assumes that its the sound of thunder and this is a man who loves thunder.

He flies to the central tower and finds the place in ruins and Sersi in a weird intangible state.

Then Thor must have been thinking about the Invaders or something because he also blows up.

Nahhh just kidding.

It's Blastaar. He's been blowing people up.

He's incorrigible.

Unsurprisingly for a guy designed by Jack Kirby, he looks incredibly like a Kirby character. I think he goes to the same tailor as Darkseid. And the same beard barber as Highfather.

Anyway, Blastaar being the answer of 'what happened to the missing Eternals' sure is something. Not very satisfying as an answer but maybe him getting his ass kicked will be cathartic.

Follow @essential-avengers because one day that sub-tumblr will be up to date. One day, yes. Also, like, reblog, comment, and other such ways of interacting with this post.

[selfdiagnosedeyemotif]

Chapter Three (Aestia):

Takes place in Abershine, in the Stonelands

Aestia first goes to consult the greatest scholars to walk the land, they who have travelled the world and gathered the knowledge of many: her parents (mortifying: good ol' mom and dad are your best sources in your world-saving mission)

Fun banter, the parents convince Aestia to stay for dinner, have a very thinly veiled meet-the-parents encounter with Lylah

Mentions of their travels to the Farlands and their encounters with The Great Seer, amoung other topics ("Dad, you've told this story hundreds of times")

Specifically suggest that the two speak to the Archbishop on the matter ("That's strange, shouldn't he be meeting with the Pontifex? Why's he still here?")

Aestia and Lylah stay up doing some reading before the smash cut to the following day

The archbishop is nowhere to be found in the church, in spite of eyewitness accounts of him entering

Eventually discover a hidden door behind the altar, leading to a set of catacombs, also known as…

The Third Dungeon: Secret Study

Enemies: Ratkin, Elementals, Armour, rarely Revenants

Modelled similarly to the Forbidden Shrine from Temenos's Stormhail route but with lower ceilings and thinner corridors

Passing by/entering one room will trigger an infodump cutscene

Strange writings about uses of Sacred Flame that make reference to the same sickly green form Aestia encountered earlier

Experiments in converting living beings into "palimpsests", emptying them to be refilled with something else

References to Aschei the Great Seer as a source for knowledge that will be needed

Plans outlined for a "false break-in" in which Flamelit Paladins pose as heretics, raid the Flamecrest Cathedral, and kidnap someone to stir up fear

Most disturbingly, diagrams that appear to depict Lylah chained to a pair of braziers being burned by green flames, calling her "human test subject #1"

Aestia and Lylah conclude that Lylah was supposed to be kidnapped the day she arrived in Flamecrest and used in… this ("But why would the church do such a thing?" "No one better to ask than the archbishop, I suppose")

Enter the final room to find the archbishop talking to a figure in dark robes

The figure talks about moving on The Great Seer with Sir Eldroy and "obtaining the last piece we need"

He turns to leave, accidently showing his face to Aestia and Lylah and…

Wait.

Hold on.

That's him.

He was on the farm three years ago.

He was there the night before Mal disappeared.

He killed Mal Cheshire.

Aestia rushes up in a rage and alerts the archbishop and the mysterious figure, has to be held back by Lylah

The figure escapes through a back entrance, the archbishop turns to fight the duo

In-cutscene lobs a fireball at Lylah, who is pushed away by Aestia, right before…

The Third Boss: Archbishop Ronaldo Effiva, Unholy Experimenteur

Focus on fire attacks w/ some weaker physical attacks

Can inflict Terror and Silence

Has two brazier sprites present in the fight; cannot be attacked

At start of fight, Lylah runs into frame, tells the player to handle the archbishop while she handles the braziers, runs out of frame

Each time you break the archbishop, Lylah is able to knock over a brazier

With each knocked-over brazier, the archbishop's fire attacks weaken and physical attacks strengthen

Will favour physical attacks more as they get stronger

Has a boost mode attack with a name that also features the word Ending but I lack the details

Has lackeys but they don't protect his shields: 2 Ratkin Vessels and later Greater Embers

Vessels are similar in shape to Ratkin but have no features (blank skin in place of eyes/mouths) and are wreathed in green flame

Greater Embers are the same as regular Embers from CH1 but bigger

After the battle the archbishop pulls a pendant from his neck and smashes it on the ground

Flames gather at his feet and begin rising

"Why… why isn't it working?... What is it… no… no… NOOOO…"

He burns to death :)

Aestia and Lylah have a talk (divorce era)

Aestia returns alone to her parents, tells them of what has happened and asks what they know about The Great Seer

General vibe is mysterious, but thing is that they have seen Orsa and Finis

Leaves with very little knowledge but leaves nonetheless, heading for the Farlands

Divorce Era Conversation:

A: Lylah, what in the Flame’s name was that?

L: Aestia?

A: Why were you rushing in? You could have been hurt! [paused] You are hurt! What am I to do if something worse befalls you?

L: Aestia, I -

A: It was the same in Flamecrest! You know you’re not a fighter! I can’t… [pause] I can’t have you getting hurt trying to be a hero.

L: We can’t keep doing this, Aestia.

A: What?

L: Do you think I didn’t notice? I could have easily gotten away from the fire the archbishop threw at me. You didn’t need to push me out of the way.

A: But, Lylah -

L: You cling to others like a mother to her child. We’re not children, Aestia! We don’t need to be protected from even the slightest harm! [pause] And especially not if you’re going to hurt yourself doing it.

A: I know it’s selfish, but please, Lylah. I don’t want to lose you.

L: And what of my selfish reasons? What of my feelings, what of my peace? How am I supposed to handle your loss?

A: …

L: You are not an island, Aestia. Yours is a soul that shines with the light of the stars, and we would be at a loss without you. I would be at a loss without you.

A: …

L: If you refuse to take care of yourself, then I will be on my way. Farewell.

[antihibikase-archive]

OKAY LAST OF YGO POSTING FOR NOW. I GUESS.

Duelists tend to get like. Spirit partners (aka just the monsters in the card), so I was thinking of the spirit partners of the Blur/Blight guys; some of these are small, while the bigger ones are either.. pocket-sized, or are their Actual Size, but they just don't appear as often as the smaller ones.

Additionally, they can have more than one, which tends to be the case as some of them may have connections to more than just their ace card! So, they have both a regular monster and their ace card as partners!

Also, some of them can talk, some are just making noises, and some are.. both. Either way, they mostly communicate telepathically.

Under readmore since there's pictures!

Hilbert : Masked Dragon & Blue-Eyes White Dragon

Cheren : Kuribon & Ancient Sacred Wyvern

Bianca : Naturia Cosmobeet & Naturia Leondrake

Hilda : Raging Flame Sprite & Sacred Phoneix of Nepyths

Nate : Red-Eyes B. Chick / Black Dragon's Chick & Red-Eyes Black Dragon

Hugh : Blackwing - Blizzard the Far North & Blackwing - Nothung the Starlight

Rosa : Watt Kiwi & Watt Chimera

N : Luster Dragon & Labradorite Dragon

Colress : Krebons & Thought Ruler Archfiend

[william-barnes-poetry]

"Lita of the Dark ~ William Barnes Poetry: The Ineffable Ramblings of a Loveless Lover

'Despondent creature, morose and sullen frame, what curls your eyes to meet those you love; your bullies fully to blame. They silence every whimper of desperate malaphors; one part pain, the other part utility, they keep evening the scores.

In what they spit when you rage, does rise its bile and smoke, of which no innocence can endure, on your pleas you always choke. They take all; a bit at a time, obtuse and obvious they flay, with knives made from fractured love, the flesh falls away, what remains is never thought of, they don't worry for your pain, it's all about what you do for them in this emotional Rollercoaster game.

But I see you under all this gore; you sit there where you were before! But something has moved, something has changed, now you bleed; bloodied and caged. Your a sprite protecting a dying light, to the torments of the creeping night, meant to banish loved ones fright!... with no one there to hold it tight.

She does not see she is the source, she rages an eternal remorse, and begs for life and death of course! For those she loves against willful force. A fractured flame inside a glass, where the air depletes as they remove their mask. No clemency from a haunting past, made even now inside every task.

Under it all is just a face empty of all that is true, they cannot see what's in front of them; especially if it's you. "Their monsters!" she might scream, if she could feel surprise, she accepted that here in this place; The sun will never rise.

But little light within the dark, I tell you this is true; you are the light within the dark, the light you guard is you.

It's powerful out in the world about and its warmth outshines the sun. it craves for love, craves for light! For good memories and fun. Hear it beckon to the dark; it gives and never takes, that's why these vampiric souls around seem to always take.

So hear me when i say this, i know that it is true, that the little light within the dark they take; is really you.'

[beantothemax]

Chapter Three:

Takes place in Abershine, in the Stonelands

Aestia first goes to consult the greatest scholars to walk the land, they who have traveled the world and gathered the knowledge of many: her parents (mortifying: good ol' mom and dad are your best sources in your world-saving mission)

Fun banter, the parents convince Aestia to stay for dinner, have a very thinly veiled meet-the-parents encounter with Lylah 

Mentions of their travels to the Farlands and their encounters with The Great Seer, amoung other topics ("Dad, you've told this story hundreds of times")

Specifically suggest that the two speak to the Archbishop on the matter ("That's strange, shouldn't he be meeting with the Pontifex? Why's he still here?")

Aestia and Lylah stay up doing some reading before the smash cut to the following day

The archbishop is nowhere to be found in the church, in spite of eyewitness accounts of him entering

Eventually discover a hidden door behind the altar, leading to a set of catacombs, also know as…

The Third Dungeon: Secret Study

Enemies: Ratkin, Elementals, Armour, rarely Revenants

Modelled similarly to the Forbidden Shrine from Temenos's Stormhail route but with lower ceilings and thinner corridors

Passing by/entering one room will trigger an infodump cutscene 

Strange writings about uses of Sacred Flame that make reference to the same sickly green form Aestia encountered earlier

Experiments in converting living beings into "palimpsests", emptying them to be refilled with something else

References to Aschei the Great Seer as a source for knowledge that will be needed

Plans outlined for a "false breakin" in which Flamelit Paladins pose as heretics, raid the Flamecrest Cathedral, and kidnap someone to stir up fear

Most disturbingly, diagrams that appear to depict Lylah chained to a pair of braziers being burned by green flames, calling her "human test subject #1"

Aestia and Lylah conclude that Lylah was supposed to be kidnapped the day she arrived in Flamecrest and used in… this ("But why would the church do such a thing?" "No one better to ask than the archbishop, I suppose")

Enter the final room to find the archbishop talking to a figure in dark robes

The figure talks about moving on The Great Seer with Sir Eldroy and "obtaining the last piece we need"

He turns to leave, accidently showing his face to Aestia and Lylah and…

Wait.

Hold on.

That's him.

He was on the farm three years ago.

He was there the night before Mal disappeared.

He killed Mal Cheshire.

Aestia rushes up in a rage and alerts the archbishop and the mysterious figure, has to be held back by Lylah

The figure escapes through a back entrance, the archbishop turns to fight the duo

In-cutscene lobs a fireball at Lylah, who is pushed away by Aestia, right before…

The Third Boss: Archbishop Ronaldo Effiva, Unholy Experimenteur 

Focus on fire attacks w/ some weaker physical attacks

Can inflict Terror and Silence

Has two brazier sprites present in the fight; cannot be attacked

At start of fight, Lylah runs into frame, tells the player to handle the archbishop while she handles the braziers, runs out of frame

Each time you break the archbishop, Lylah is able to knock over a brazier

With each knocked-over brazier, the archbishop's fire attacks weaken and physical attacks strengthen

Will favour physical attacks more as they get stronger

Has a boost mode attack with a name that also features the word Ending but I lack the details

Has lackeys but they don't protect his shields: 2 Ratkin Vessels and later Greater Embers

Vessels are similar in shape to Ratkin but have no features (blank skin in place of eyes/mouths) and are wreathed in green flame

Greater Embers are the same as regular Embers from CH1 but bigger

After the battle the archbishop pulls a pendant from his neck and smashes it on the ground

Flames gather at his feet and begin rising

"Why… why isn't it working?... What is it… no… no… NOOOO…"

He burns to death :)

Aestia and Lylah have a talk (divorce era)

Aestia returns alone to her parents, tells them of what has happened and asks what they know about The Great Seer

General vibe is mysterious, but thing is that they have seen Orsa and Finis

Leaves with very little knowledge but leaves nonetheless, heading for the Farlands

WHHHGGHFG. SFSJDVDFFXC BFVVV WHAT. WWWWWWHAT. HUH.

this is! a LOT! and! wow! where do I start!

ok lylah meeting aestia’s parents sounds very fun and I wish i could see it. ALSO THE AMOUNT OF DETAIL YOU JUST. PUT INTO EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS IS ABSOLUTELY INSANE. HOW.

‘Aestia and Lylah have a talk (divorce era)’ what do you MEAN by that chaotic. I need answers.

I am chewing on your oc very slowly. Much like a golden retriever would on tennis ball. (that means it’s good and I like it!)

[lockejhaven]

↪ 𝚎𝚕𝚊𝚗 𝚟𝚒𝚝𝚊𝚕 --- snippet / 2019

»»—————————-　𓆩❤︎𓆪　-—————————««

Hello my sprites!

I'm quite excited to share a favorite piece of mine; it's a standalone I wrote back in 2019, and it's possibly the piece I'm most proud of.

If you enjoy what I create, please reblog or consider buying me a coffee!

Keep yourselves safe and let me know if I missed anything! cw: blood, violence, death, wound descriptions, burnings, weapons, vague vomit mention, grief, parental loss, corpses, injury, fire

Vaenvi stared at the floor in front of her, refusing to look up at her saf. The aydlings holding her let out a series of clicks, their grips on her arms tightening and she flinched. Her lip trembled and she fought to stay calm. Saf would never let anything happen to her, nor would they let this threat to the kingdom last for long. A sob rose in her throat as one of the aydlings grasped her jaw, forcing her to meet their cold, hungry gaze. It examined her, another series of clicks escaping its mouth, before stepping back and jerking her head back. Why had they not yet killed her or the maire? She tried to turn her head away from her saf, not wanting to see them bruised and bleeding, but the aydling’s hold refused to waver.  “Fedä, it is natural to feel afraid, but you must not let it control you; everything will be alright.” A soft smile crossed her saf’s face, and the sob that had built in Vaenvi’s throat finally escaped as hot tears flowed down her cheeks. She glanced at Colxian’s unconscious form, slumped against the wall, and hoped with desperation that he would wake and help her, but he did not.  The sound of metal singing flesh caused her to flinch and turn her gaze back to her saf. Vaenvi let out a wail, watching in horror as the aydling leader drove the sunstone blade straight through her saf’s neck, the heat burning their skin. She struggled once more, kicking out at her captors and letting out another grief-stricken scream as the aydling sank their long fangs into the lifeless body of the former Maire. 

Why had no one come? Did they not care? 

Her vision brightened with rage as she twisted out of the aydling’s grip and, without thinking, she thrust a hand out towards the aydling leader, releasing a wave of flames from her fingertips. The aydling leader only had time to stare at her in shock before they were vaporized on the spot. Clicks of distress sounded from the others around her, and they quickly let go of her as she turned to face them. They seemed to be deciding just how to deal with this new threat, but Vaenvi did not let them figure that out; fueled by adrenaline, she released another wave of flames and vaporized them as well. In a matter of seconds she had cleared every aydling in the room, and with her rage now spent, she collapsed to her knees, overtaken by grief.  She crawled over to her saf, her vision blurry with tears.  “Saf?” She whimpered. “Safir?” She knew there was no possible way that their body was still alive; that much was clear by the singed gash across their throat, but it was possible that their energy still lingered. Her gaze swept the surrounding area in desperation, searching, flinching away from burnt corpses and her safir. When there was no sign of them, she turned away, gagging on the smell of blood and burnt flesh. Closing her eyes tight, she wrapped her arms around their waist.  Vaenvi did not know how long she had stayed that way for before the guards pulled her away, nor did she know how long she had been cooped up in her quarters afterward; all she knew was that her saf was gone forever. The thought that they might one day reincarnate did nothing to ease her fear.  She had always felt as if she were alone; even with Colxian, or the other guards. Only her saf had made her feel as if she belonged, as kind as Colxian had been to her. Now, as she stared blankly at the painting across from her bed, a suffocating loneliness crept in on her and her saf’s broken body flashed into her mind once more. Exhaustion numbed her enough that only silent tears escaped, yet all it took were a few moments with the memory to send her to the bathroom.  She shivered with revulsion, crouched by the waste basket, willing for the contents of her stomach to stop swirling. Unable to remember when she had last slept, her eyelids drooped with fatigue and her mind drifted off with her face pressed against the cool, stone wall.

As she slept, she dreamed. And she dreamed with hope; a hope that blinded the future with a bright flare. She dreamt of warm skin, blazing eyes, a hand tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. Her eyes remained closed, even when a soft voice spoke up beside her. She only half turned, with the fear that if she opened her eyes, this reality would shatter in the wake of another.  Quiet, my sweet child.  The voice spoke again and she jumped. A light touch of fingertips against her eyelids sent warmth shuddering through her. The warmth quickly turned to blistering heat within her eyes and she cried out in fear.  It will all be alright; I know it hurts, I know. It will be alright. The pain subsided and she kept her eyes squeezed shut, even as the urge to open them increased. Silence stretched. Her eyelids twitched in protest. The sensation of cold stone against her cheek roused her and, with hesitation, she cracked an eye open. Instead of the harsh light she had expected, the pale walls of the bathroom swam into view. She hauled herself up from beside the wastebasket with a shaky grip. She managed to get herself mostly upright, unaware of how much time had passed, and took a few unsteady steps toward the door only to freeze as she caught sight of herself in the mirror. It was not her own reflection staring back. She blinked a few times, almost convinced she was hallucinating, but they didn’t go away. The blazing eyes of Naiz themself stared back at her, the rune on their jawline pulsing with raw energy.  She took another step forward. Closer.  Stories flowed through her memory; stories of their presence burning people alive. Their gaze blinding those unfortunate enough to meet it. And yet, here she was, staring straight back at them without flinching. Perhaps it was only an image of them, but even so, she was certain that the meeting of their gazes should have rendered her blind.

Their features were softer than she had expected. With shaky hesitance, she raised her hand to the mirror and they did the same, mimicking her movements. A gentle, reassuring smile lit their face and all at once she felt tears prick her eyes. She could have sworn she felt delicate lips brush against her forehead as they leaned forward, until they faded into sunstone dust and she was left staring into her own eyes.  But they were no longer her own; instead, they were Naiz’s; vibrant, and sunlit. A gift given to her. Tears flowed down her cheeks freely as her gaze shifted to the rune on her own jawline, identical to theirs, and she ran fingertips against it with a light touch. She dropped her hand in shock when Naiz’s energy flowed through the rune and warmed her skin, only to bring it back in wonder. A knock on the door startled her away from the mirror and she roughly wiped the tears from her face. Her saf, wherever they were, would want her to be strong; for herself, and for the people. That was exactly what she was going to do, regardless of whether there was belief in it; belief in her.

»»—————————-　𓆩❤︎𓆪　-—————————««

~ Of Fables & Feathers,

🕊️ Locke J. Haven

locket’s tags:  ╔═════════════════════╗

@365runesofwriting   @enchanted-lightning-aes   @thepixiediaries   @midnight-and-his-melodiverse   @perasperaadastrawriting @fearofahumanplanet @orphicpoieses @writeblrsupport [ your tag could be here… ]

╚═════════════════════╝

[these-detestable-hands]

Chapter Three:

Takes place in Abershine, in the Stonelands

Aestia first goes to consult the greatest scholars to walk the land, they who have traveled the world and gathered the knowledge of many: her parents (mortifying: good ol' mom and dad are your best sources in your world-saving mission)

Fun banter, the parents convince Aestia to stay for dinner, have a very thinly veiled meet-the-parents encounter with Lylah 

Mentions of their travels to the Farlands and their encounters with The Great Seer, amoung other topics ("Dad, you've told this story hundreds of times")

Specifically suggest that the two speak to the Archbishop on the matter ("That's strange, shouldn't he be meeting with the Pontifex? Why's he still here?")

Aestia and Lylah stay up doing some reading before the smash cut to the following day

The archbishop is nowhere to be found in the church, in spite of eyewitness accounts of him entering

Eventually discover a hidden door behind the altar, leading to a set of catacombs, also know as…

The Third Dungeon: Secret Study

Enemies: Ratkin, Elementals, Armour, rarely Revenants

Modelled similarly to the Forbidden Shrine from Temenos's Stormhail route but with lower ceilings and thinner corridors

Passing by/entering one room will trigger an infodump cutscene 

Strange writings about uses of Sacred Flame that make reference to the same sickly green form Aestia encountered earlier

Experiments in converting living beings into "palimpsests", emptying them to be refilled with something else

References to Aschei the Great Seer as a source for knowledge that will be needed

Plans outlined for a "false breakin" in which Flamelit Paladins pose as heretics, raid the Flamecrest Cathedral, and kidnap someone to stir up fear

Most disturbingly, diagrams that appear to depict Lylah chained to a pair of braziers being burned by green flames, calling her "human test subject #1"

Aestia and Lylah conclude that Lylah was supposed to be kidnapped the day she arrived in Flamecrest and used in… this ("But why would the church do such a thing?" "No one better to ask than the archbishop, I suppose")

Enter the final room to find the archbishop talking to a figure in dark robes

The figure talks about moving on The Great Seer with Sir Eldroy and "obtaining the last piece we need"

He turns to leave, accidently showing his face to Aestia and Lylah and…

Wait.

Hold on.

That's him.

He was on the farm three years ago.

He was there the night before Mal disappeared.

He killed Mal Cheshire.

Aestia rushes up in a rage and alerts the archbishop and the mysterious figure, has to be held back by Lylah

The figure escapes through a back entrance, the archbishop turns to fight the duo

In-cutscene lobs a fireball at Lylah, who is pushed away by Aestia, right before…

The Third Boss: Archbishop Ronaldo Effiva, Unholy Experimenteur 

Focus on fire attacks w/ some weaker physical attacks

Can inflict Terror and Silence

Has two brazier sprites present in the fight; cannot be attacked

At start of fight, Lylah runs into frame, tells the player to handle the archbishop while she handles the braziers, runs out of frame

Each time you break the archbishop, Lylah is able to knock over a brazier

With each knocked-over brazier, the archbishop's fire attacks weaken and physical attacks strengthen

Will favour physical attacks more as they get stronger

Has a boost mode attack with a name that also features the word Ending but I lack the details

Has lackeys but they don't protect his shields: 2 Ratkin Vessels and later Greater Embers

Vessels are similar in shape to Ratkin but have no features (blank skin in place of eyes/mouths) and are wreathed in green flame

Greater Embers are the same as regular Embers from CH1 but bigger

After the battle the archbishop pulls a pendant from his neck and smashes it on the ground

Flames gather at his feet and begin rising

"Why… why isn't it working?... What is it… no… no… NOOOO…"

He burns to death :)

Aestia and Lylah have a talk (divorce era)

Aestia returns alone to her parents, tells them of what has happened and asks what they know about The Great Seer

General vibe is mysterious, but thing is that they have seen Orsa and Finis

Leaves with very little knowledge but leaves nonetheless, heading for the Farlands

also i forgot to say last time but i have written up a draft for the divorce era chat if you want to see it

Actually fucking screamed

Lovely chapter (screaming and sobbing) I'm so excited for the next one

SHOW THE DIVORCE ERA CHAT‼️‼️

[yugiohcardsdaily]

Posted Cards Master List - 61.0

July 2024, 1st thru 20th

Majespecter Orthrus - Nue

Majespecter Porcupine - Yamarashi

Majespecter Wind

Master of Ham

Materialization

Mature Chronicle

Mementotlan Ghattic

Mokomoko

Mutamorphosis

Mystic Potato

Nightmare Pain

Obsidim, the Ashened City

Phantasmal Summoning Beast

Prayers of the Voiceless Voice

Priestess of the Ashened City

Principug

Procession of the Tea Jar

Promethean Princess, Bestower of Flames

Psiics, Moonlight of the Ghoti

Psychic Arsenal

Psychic Processor

Radiance of the Voiceless Voice

Raidraptor - Bloom Vulture

Raidraptor - Brave Strix

Raidraptor - Glorious Bright

Raidraptor - Noir Lanius

Raidraptor - Rising Rebellion Falcon

Raidraptor - Roost

Rise Rank-Up-Magic Raidraptor's Force

Royal Rhino with Deceitful Dice

Saffira, Dragon Queen of the Voiceless Voice

Samsara D Lotus

Sauravis, Dragon Sage of the Voiceless Voice

Skull Guardian, Protector of the Voiceless Voice

Snake-Eyes Poplar

Sorcerer of Sebek

Spirit of Yubel

Sunset Beat

Swallow's Cowrie

Swarm of Centipedes

Terrors of the Afterroot

The Black Goat Laughs

Three-Eyed Ghost

Time Reloader

Tricorn the Cacophonous Concert

Ultimeat Offering

Vagnawa the Moon-Eating Dragon

Veidos the Eruption Dragon of Extinction

Walls of the Imperial Tomb

White Reincarnation

White Sardine

White Sunfish

Xyz Force

Yubel - The Loving Defender Forever

Aiza the Dragoness of Deranged Devotion

Ancient Gear Advance

Ancient Gear Commander

Ancient Gear Dark Golem

Ancient Gear Duel

Ancient Gear Tanker

Ashened to Endlessness

Bacha the Melodious Maestra

Battleguard Echoes

Battleguard Howling

Battleguard Rage

Blessing of the Voiceless Voice

Blink Out

Centur-Ion Auxila

Centur-Ion Gargoyle II

Code of Soul

Cooling Embers

Couplet the Melodious Songstress

Cyclos the Circular Sprite

Dandylion

Dandy Whitelion

Diabellze the Original Sinkeeper

Dinovatus Docus

Double Dai

Embers of the Ashened

Enlightenment Dragon

Extinguishing the Ashened

Fishborg Harpooner

Flowering Etoile the Melodious Magnificat

Future Silence

Gadget Trio

Gandora-G the Dragon of Destruction

Goblin Biker Grand Pileup

Goblin Biker Troika Griare

Gold Pride - Eliminator

Gold Pride - Eradicator

Golgoil the Steel Seismic Smasher

Gruesome Grave Squirmer

Haggard Lizardose

Jungle Dweller

Krishnerd Witch

Lightsworn Aegis

Lightsworn Dragonling

Melodious Concerto

Mementotlan Fusion

Mementotlan Twin Dragon

[flutteragency]

The Future of Flutter Game Development | Flutter Game Engine

Flutter Game Dev enthusiasts, this one’s for you! If you’ve been looking to dabble in Flutter game app development, then you might wish to read this fully through.

If we go by stats, then mobile gaming is raking in about approximately $140 billion as of today, and seeing that it contributes more than 60% of the gaming industry revenue, it is understandable why game developers are always glued to screens themselves.

Whether you’re a new mobile game creator or a seasoned game engine master, you need to know that the future of Flutter Game development is here. The Flutter game engine is considerably the backbone of the mobile game development arena for a while now. And from what is apparent, it will continue to lead the framework for cross-platform game development.

Read ahead in this blog to understand how the Flutter Game Engine might just revolutionize the gaming industry soon.

But First: Why Flutter?

The current mobile gaming industry is a raging behemoth. With people from all ages glued to their phones and tablet screens for exciting and innovative experiences for that dopamine hit, this is a golden opportunity that Flutter Game Developers can tap into.

Flutter is Google’s open-source cross-platform software development kit (SDK), it uses a single codebase for multiple platform functions and yields high-performance apps with attractive and functional user interfaces. Currently, Flutter might just be the developers’ top choice for game development.

While there exist other frameworks that can be used to build both 2D and exploratory 3D interfaces, the game engine is heavier, which makes the process pretty demanding. Enter Flutter- the Flutter Game Engine is much more effortless, especially for interface-based game development.

The game engine is the entity doing the major heavy lifting when it comes to game development, while the developer mostly takes care of other things in the game interface. The Flutter game engine is now making developers relax further because of its performance output, access to customizable widgets, as well as faster development process, and cost efficiency, among others.

Flutter Game Engine: For The Ultimate Game Dev Experience

With users asking for more innovative and engaging mobile game applications, developers are often rushing to bring their game ideas to life. And for this, the Flutter Casual Game Toolkit is the perfect arsenal. It consists of tools like:

Separate Game Loop Functionality: This enables you to write your game without being dependent on the UI with the game loop, this allows updates within the game state before rendering the frame.

Amazing Template Collection: The template collection can give your game developmental process a better landing; from the base template to the more specific ones- take your pick.

Great Visual Effects: No game is ever going to appeal to users without great visuals. Thankfully, Flutter’s toolkit comes with a variety of different visual effects, allowing you to engage your gamers more visually.

Effective Collision Detection: As a 2D game developer, this will allow you to check collisions within certain game elements in casual gaming.

Game Analytics: You can gain insights into your game’s performance and user engagement and more from the analytics collection.

With such tools aimed to make the developer experience as smooth as the user’s, Flutter game app development might just be game developers’ top pick as of today. Apart from these, here are a couple other things that make Flutter 2D game development a complete cakewalk.

FLAME ENGINE:

The open-source flame engine allows you to give a solid foundation to your 2D games with Flutter. 2D game mechanics like sprites, collision detections, and other simulations are well taken care of with the Flame game engine.

The flame engine benefits from the Flutter widget framework and Dart’s object-oriented programming. Irrespective of iOS or Android, Flame engine allows you to design your game with a smoother experience, and lesser hassle as compared to other game development frameworks.

HOT RELOAD:

One of the coolest features in Flutter is its “Hot Reload”, which reduces developer time by a huge chunk. Hot reload in Flutter Game Engine basically allows you to insert changes into the dart VM without any changes to your preserved code. This also allows quick work of the new codes, and for you, a smoother overall interface build.

Since it runs on Just-In-Time (JIT) compilation, Hot Reload doesn’t present a complete recompilation of the pre-preserved Dart code but quickly shows you the results of your code revisions. As a Flutter game developer, you can see real-time changes without any major alterations in your game application.

The Future Of Flutter Game Development Is Now

With all the noise around Flutter game app development, you may be thinking about what lies in the future. While no one can accurately predict, there’s always a subtle idea of it. Here’s a couple of things we believe:

HIGH-PERFORMANCE FLUTTER GAME DEVELOPMENT

With the growing adoption of the Flutter framework, and game developers’ ideas coupled with Flutter’s growing rendering capabilities, there is a fat chance of high-performance games entering the market soon. And with that, we can expect a few more lines between native and cross-platform 3D game development to be blurred.

ADAPTING GAME DEVELOPMENT TO THE NEWEST DEVICES

One of the newest intriguing devices today is the foldable device. Now, for the ultimate gaming experience, game developers are excited about gaming ideas that perform highly on such devices. While it surely has more work written all over it, this might also mark a cornerstone of Flutter game development.

Giving gaming another dimension is always one of the most exciting things for a game developer; but when the dimension is a device- the possibilities are endless!

As Flutter Game Engine gains traction in the game development industry, expect to see a rise in the need for game developers, as well as bigger communities, resources, and ultimately, more open-source projects for Flutter game developers to try their hands on.

And if that doesn’t show how scalable Flutter can be, we don’t know what will.

Conclusion:

The gaming industry is always changing at raging speeds, it is always looking for more ways to discover engaging and innovative games. The Flutter Game engine has made game developers enjoy a smoother walk through the developmental process.

Flutter Agency provides developers with all the tools and flexibility to create engaging 2D games and explore the 3D game developmental space. And who knows, Flutter might just drop the coolest 3D game in the near future.

With Flutter’s eager focus on cross-platform development, efficient and streamlined workflow, and a thriving community, Flutter isn’t just a game engine- it might just be the future of game development very soon.