#sacred lady bleed invisibly

[infinitesofnought]

Lady, whose shrine stands on the promontory, Pray for all those who are in ships, those Whose business has to do with fish, and Those concerned with every lawful traffic And those who conduct them.

Repeat a prayer also on behalf of Women who have seen their sons or husbands Setting forth, and not returning: Figlia del tuo figlio, Queen of Heaven.

Also pray for those who were in ships, and Ended their voyage on the sand, in the sea’s lips Or in the dark throat which will not reject them Or wherever cannot reach them the sound of the sea bell’s Perpetual angelus.

– T. S. Eliot, from “The Dry Salvages”, Four Quartets

[ailendolin]

Whump Wednesday - 4 - Loki

Fandom: Loki series

Characters / pairing: Loki, Mobius, Hunter B-15 - Lokius

Prompt: From this ask: Mobius is pushed (or hit with a blast of power) down a flight of stairs by a variant he and Loki are trying to capture.

My asks are open for prompts :)

Everything had gone according to plan until the moment Loki was just a second, a heartbeat too slow. Too late. By the time he was bursting through the door to the stairwell, chasing after Mobius and the variant, the fight was already over. A dozen versions of himself vanished right before his eyes and the variant was holding Mobius from behind in a chokehold.

There was a manic glint in his other self’s eyes as he grinned in triumph.

“I won,” he said gleefully, as if all of this was nothing but a game to him. Loki felt bile rise in his throat as the variant tightened his hold and Mobius gasped for breath.

Knowing he had to proceed with caution, Loki let his daggers clatter to the ground.

“You have,” he said with forced calm, eyeing the Scepter the variant held in his other hand warily. “Well done. Now let him go.”

The other Loki cocked his head to the side.

“Now why would I do that?” he asked, still with that insufferable grin on his face. “The fun’s only just begun.”

“Nothing about this is funny,” Loki said.

“Oh, on the contrary,” the variant said. “Everything about this is funny. And so very interesting.” He glanced down at Mobius with a look Loki didn’t like at all. “You care about him, don’t you? An ordinary human.” He scoffed and tightened his hold once more. Mobius’s eyes widened in barely concealed panic, and the variant let out a laugh. “How far the mighty have fallen. Let me do you a favour.”

Without warning, he shoved Mobius away from him and rammed the Scepter into his side.

“No!” Loki lunged forward but the variant raised his free hand, looking almost bored, and erected an invisible barrier between them. Loki slammed against it, hard. “Let him go, you bastard!”

The variant gave him a chilling smile, small and full of malicious glee. “With pleasure.”

In one swift movement, he used the Scepter to turn Mobius towards the stairs, pulled it out and kicked him in the back. Mobius fell backwards and a moment later the invisible wall in front Loki vanished. He stumbled forward, reaching for Mobius with both his hands and seiðr to stop his fall but he was too late. Mobius landed at the bottom of the stairs with a choked off cry and a sickening crack.

Loki didn’t think. He pushed past the variant, took the stairs three at a time and crashed onto his knees right beside Mobius – who wasn’t moving.

“Humans are so very fragile, don’t you think?” the other Loki laughed from above, that awful variant that won the Battle of New York and had his mind completely broken by Thanos as thanks for it. “I’ve just spared you a more painful loss at a later time. You’re welcome.”

With that he vanished through the very door Loki had burst through only minutes ago but Loki couldn’t care less. Let him leave, let him wreak havoc on the Sacred Timeline, he thought – the only thing that mattered right now was Mobius.

His eyes roamed over Mobius’s body, bleeding and broken in so many places, and a lump formed in his throat. He’d never seen Mobius like this before – so pale and unnaturally still. It was wrong, so terribly wrong, and it was all his fault.

He had to fix that. He had to fix him.

As gently as he could, Loki placed his trembling hands over the wound the Scepter had caused. It had been years, centuries even, since he’d used his seiðr for healing. Lady Eir had taught him well but he was rusty and this? This was far beyond anything he’d ever done before. He was terrified – of making a mistake, of making it worse.

Of losing the only person apart from his mother who looked at him and didn’t see a monster.

He couldn’t screw this up.

Taking a steadying breath, Loki carefully pressed onto the wound and let his seiðr travel through Mobius’s body. There was bleeding and tearing, broken ribs and bruises – all of it manageable if he got to work at once. Except –

“Oh no,” Loki breathed as his seiðr reached Mobius’s spine. There was a fracture there, in the lumbar region, and Loki could feel the damage to the spinal cord, the lack of signals the nerves sent to the limbs. His stomach sank. One wrong movement and Mobius would never walk again.

“Get away from him!”

Loki’s eyes snapped open as hands grabbed his arms and almost brutally pulled him away from Mobius. Hunter B-15 came up behind him, her face ashen as she walked up to Mobius’s prone body. “What did you do to him?”

“Nothing,” Loki said with a shake of his head. “The variant–.”

B-15 fixed him with a glare. “No, you did something to him. I saw it.” She motioned towards the wound in Mobius’s chest. “Is that why he’s bleeding? Because you saw a chance and stabbed him in the back when he couldn’t defend himself?”

“No!” Loki said. He struggled against the hands holding his arms behind his back. “No, I was trying to help him. Please, you have to believe me. I would never hurt him.”

For a moment Loki thought she would listen but then B-15 turned away from him and spoke into her radio, “We need a medevac right now. Agent Mobius is down.”

She knelt down at Mobius’s side and fished a bandage out of one of her pockets. Loki’s eyes widened in horror.

“Don’t!” he shouted. To his surprise, B-15 actually paused in her movements. “Please, you must not move him!” he hurriedly continued. “His spine is fractured. If you move him, he’ll be paralyzed. Or worse.”

B-15’s eyes narrowed. “And you know that how? Because you’re a god?”

She nearly spat out that last word.

“No,” Loki said, feeling tears of frustration prick the corners of his eyes. “I know that because I was trying to heal the damage when you pulled me away.”

A look Loki couldn’t read passed over B-15’s face. “You can do that? Heal him?”

“Yes!” Loki said. “I can stabilize his injuries so he can be transported back safely. But you have to let for that.”

B-15 hesitated. She glanced at Mobius, then at the minutemen around her and finally at Loki again. “Give me one good reason why I should trust you.”

“Because I do,” a weak voice suddenly said and both her and Loki’s heads whirled around to look at Mobius. His eyes were barely open but there was a small smile on his face when he met Loki’s eyes. “I trust him, Bee. Let him try.”

B-15 looked torn between wanting to help him and trying to protect him but in the end, she nodded and the minuteman holding Loki back let go of him. Loki scrambled back to Mobius’s side. There was so much he wanted to say, so much he needed Mobius to know, but enough time had been already wasted. He pushed the desperate words clawing their way up his throat viciously back down and let one of his hands hover over Mobius’s wound.

“This will hurt,” he whispered.

Mobius’s eyes softened. “I know. Not your fault.”

“Still, I’m sorry,” Loki said and pressed his right hand down on the wound. Mobius made a strangled sound and would have jolted off the ground in pain had Loki not immobilized him with his other hand. It was difficult to concentrate on two different forms of magic at once, especially with B-15 hovering over his shoulder and Mobius making those painful, hitched noises that tore at his heart but after a moment, Loki let instinct take over his left hand, the one that kept Mobius still, and shifted his whole focus to his right one. He stopped the bleeding first and mended as much tissue damage as he could without draining too much of his energy.

Then came the tricky part. As carefully as he could, he moved the fractured vertebra a fraction to the side so it was back in its original position and no longer putting pressure on the spinal cord. He weaved his seiðr around it, stabilized it from both the outside and the inside and willed the bone to regrow and close the fracture. Dimly, Loki heard Mobius groan. The sound was faint and dull, as if he heard it through water. All his energy, his desperation and guilt, were poured into his healing until he had nothing left to give.

His hands fell away from Mobius’s body and he gasped for breath. Shaking with both exhaustion and shock, Loki looked at Mobius, desperately hoping what he had done was enough. Mobius’s face was pale and drawn but his eyes were still as soft as they had been this morning when Mobius had given him the donut he had saved – and when Mobius’s fingers loosely wrapped around his hand, Loki let out a shuddering breath.

“I knew you could do it, Loki,” Mobius whispered. “Thank you.”

Loki’s shoulders began to shake as the first wave of relief crashed over him. He curled around their clasped hands protectively and stayed at Mobius’s side until the medevac team arrived and Hunter B-15 pulled him away, her touch gentler than Loki had ever known it.

“They’ll take it from here,” she said quietly, and Loki could do nothing but watch as Mobius was put on a stretcher and carried through a time door back to the TVA. “Come on, let’s go.”

She helped him to his feet and Loki staggered. The stairwell swam in and out of focus and darkness creeped in along the edges of his vision like a dark, foreboding cloud.

The last thing Loki heard was B-15 shouting his name before everything went black.

[tired-sunwitch]

Flowers Masterpost A - Z

Arisaema triphyllum Senecio vulgaris

A personal list of correspondences, as well as health facts and other names.

Arum - immortality, vitality (don't take while pregnant/breastfeeding)

Angelica (archangel) - wards, banishments, protection, purity. Soothes cough/cold, reduces fever. (Don't take w diabetic meds)

Arnica Montana (mountain daisy, mountain tobacco) - health, protection. Anti-inflammatory, oil eases muscle pain. ( poisonous in large amounts - severe gastrointestinal fever, nausea, fever, dizziness, diarrhea, internal bleeding)

Agrimony (rats tail) - reversal spells, protection, divination, sleep, revealed lies/secrets. Oil relieves muscle/nerve pain. Cream helps circulation, arthritis, and colds.

Azalea (Rhod odlendron) - happiness, spirit work, burial ritual offerings (poisonous - nausea, vomiting, coma, deep depression, difficulty breathing, fever, internal bleeding, abnormal heart rate)

African violet (saint paulia) - protection, spirit work

Althea (Hibiscus syriacus)  - purity, prosperity, anger, protection

Aster - love, offerings, protection, wishes

Astilbe (False goatsbeard)  - purity, prosperity, anger, protection

Avens (Geum) - exorcisms, purification, love

Bluebell (Hyacinthoides) - encouragement, subsequent danger, fields of them = fae are near, death omens (bulb is poisonous)

Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa) - an ill omen, warfare, death, secrets, murder, protection from fae, fertility, bad luck (poisonous in large amounts)

Bachelors Button (Centaurea, cornflower) love, death, offerings

Balm of Gilead (Ceclronella) - spirit work, love, secrets, beauty, confidence (skin irritation, severe stomach ache, don’t take if pregnant/breastfeeding)

Belladonna (nightshade, Atropa belladonna, death herb, devil’s cherries, devil’s herb) - death, dream magic, transformation, divination, astral projection, visions, curses (deadly poisonous - blurred vision, hallucinations, red skin, fever, dry mouth, loss of balance, coma, can be absorbed through skin)

Bryony (Bryonia diocia) - luck, money, life 

Burdock (Arctium Minus, fox dote)  - displeasure. Reduces throat infections, minor rashes and boils.

Buttercup (frog’s foot, Ranuculus areis) love, madness (poisonous - rash, blisters)

Bleeding heart (lamprocapnos spectabilis) - expression, love, passion, death, luck, bad omens, tragedy (poisonous in large amounts - convulsions, rashes)

Blue Cohosh (Caulophyllum thalictroides) - empowerment, purification, money, love breaking, protection (Don’t take if pregnant - miscarriages)

Black Cohosh (Actaea racemosa, cat’s foot, snakeroot)  - courage, power, love, potency, protection, happiness (don’t take if pregnant - miscarriages, nausea, rash, headache)

Betony (Stachys Officinalis, common hedge nettle, bishop wort) - purification, protection, cleansing, devotion

Bindweed (Convoluos arvensi, devel vine, devil guys) - humility, curses

Black - eye - Susan (rudbeckia hirta, brown betty, gloriosa, daisy, golden Jerusalem, English bullseye, yellow oxe eye) - transformation, life, healing, soul, love. Soothes swelling, back pain, earache, immune booster

Blue flag (Iris Versicolor, poisonous flag, chagon flower, dagger flower, dragon flower) - sorrow, hex breaking, don’t trust fae holding this, (poisonous - nausea, vomiting, irritation of mouth, skin, throat and digestion track, headache, watery eyes)

Bromeliad (chameleon star) - invisibility, stealth, remourse

Blue vervain (Verbena hastata, enchanters plant) - enchantment, protection, wards, celebration, sacred, marriage, love. relaxes the nervous system, pain relief for rheumatism, joint pain, and neuralgia (don’t take if pregnant/ breastfeeding)

Camellia (Taponica) - wealth, luxury. Oil treats burns

Calla (water arum) - death, curses. Treats cold/flu and snakebites. (poisonous in large amounts - tingly tongue)

Carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus, Alli flower) - strength, healing, death, love, bad omen for talents, agony. Aids sleep

yellow - disdain, contempt, rejection

white - offerings for funeral rituals, intuition

Calendula (bride of the sun, marigold, tagetes) - legal matters, rejection, Samhain, grief, vulgar, youth, jealousy, despair, joy. Energizer.

Cowslip (Primula Veris) - discoveries, treasure, youth, beauty, fae magic (Allergic - hypotension, high blood pressure, gastrointestinal irritation)

Chrysanthemum (mumindictum, mums) - fae magic, youth, fire, used in burial rituals, ancestry, blessings, bad luck on love, clairvoyance. Tea treats migraine, anti-bacterial.

Celandine (Chelidonium majus, devil’s milk, pilewort, fig buttercup) - protection, business, law, confusion (nausea, dizziness, fatigue, fever, liver damage)

Centaury (Centaurium erythraea, christ ladder, feverwort) - Luck, sun, ancestry. Aromatic, bitter, tonic, aids rheumatism, soothes, snake bites

Chamomile (from the loins, blood of Hestia) - fortune, protection, curses, fae magic, love, purification. Anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-spasmodic, calming, sleep (don’t take with blood thinners)

Colt’s foot (Tussilago, winter heliotrope, clay weed, fieldhore, British tobacco) - love, speed. treats cough, bronchitis, clogged nose, poultice. Don’t take if pregnant/breastfeeding, on blood pressure meds, if allergic to ragweed, don’t take with alcohol)

Columbine (aqaliqua) - foolishness, innocence, protection, love, courage

Crocus Sativvs - love, strength

Carlina acaulis - health, sex, fertility, protection. Anti-viral, helps cold/flu

Daffodil (Narcissus) - love, luck, fertility, innocense, water, fae realm, youth (poisonous - staggering, numbness, paralysis)

Daisy (Bellis perennis, Soapwort, little star, oxe eye) - good and bad luck, growth, water, returning innocence, cleansing burdens, love, youth, reincarnation. aids diahrea, anti-inflammatory, helps cough and sore throat.

Dittany of crete (origanum dictamnus) - fertility

Daphne (laurel, Daphne odora) - hex breaking, darkness, fear, ill omens, dream magic (nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, rarely but can be deadly)

Datura (Datura stramonium, angel’s trumpet, moonflower, devil’s apple, witchweed, jimson weed, Devil’s snare) - visions, divination, spirit work, love, charms, insomnia (deadly poisonous, don’t inhale or consume - dry mouth, vision problems, nausea, vomiting, constipation, fast heart rate, hallucinations, high temperature, breathing problems, confusion, death, seizures, convulsions)

Dahlia - Beauty, tragedy, bad luck, eloquence

Edelweiss (Leontopodium nivale) - invisibility

Eyebright - mental clarity

Eryngo (sea holly) - luck to travel, peace, luck, love, exorcism

Echinacea - power, strength, invisibility, love. reduces cold/flu, anti-bacterial, (don’t take if you have tuberculosis, have HIV/AID’s, any auto-immune diseases, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, or are allergic to ragweed)

Forget me not (Myosotis) - bad luck, love, earth, prosperity, hidden wealth, unlucky to lovers, don’t trust fae holding this

Foxglove (digitalis, bloody fingers, dead man's bells, fairy fingers, lady gloves) - fae magic, offerings, wards, immortality. (poisonous, toxic - upset stomach, blurred vision, slow pulse, nausea, vomiting, muscle weakness, tremors, confusion, convulsions, abnormal heart rate)

fleabane (Erigeron, colt’s tail, semen of Nepriesos) - exorcism, protection

Gardenia Japsminordes - love, harmony, healing, peace, purity, innocence, hope, trust, protection, breakups, steal love, spirit work

Goldenrod (Solidago, Aaron’s rod) - treasure, wealth. Relieves gout and cramps, aids digestion eases cold and hay fever) (don’t take with liver medications)

Geranium (pelargonium, chocolate flower, crane’s bill, crow/dove’s foot, old maid nightcap, shame face) - fertility, health, love, protection, death, weddings, friendship, wishes. Relieves stress and tension, uplifts mood, anti-inflammatory, soothes itchy skin.

Galega officinalis (goats rue, French lilac, Italian fitch, professor weed) - health, healing. Ant-bacterial, mild diuretic (don’t take if pregnant/breastfeeding)

Gorse (ullex, prickly broom, furze) - protection, fertility, restores faith, sun, Lammas, encouragement, good omen

Groundsel (  Senecio vulgaris, old man in the spring) - Health, healing

Gelsemium sempervirens - tradition, curses, death, ill omens (extremely poisonous - headache, vision problems, difficulty swallowing, dizziness, muscle problems, seizures, breathing problems, shallow heartrate)

Heather (Calluna Vulgaris) - health, luck, durietic, anti-inflammatory, detoxifying, aids cold and cough

Hawthorn (crataegus, bread and cheese, hagthorn, mayblossom)- fertility, chastity, happiness, water, luck, protection, wealth, beauty, don’t trust fae holding this, associated with fae underworld Berries - anti-spasmodic, cardiac, diuretic, tonic and vasodilator.

Heliotrope (turnsole, valerian tagara) - protection, dream magic, luck, deception, visions, astral projection. Calms, aids IBS and high blood pressure.

purple - new love

white - innocence

imperial - majesty

Hellebore (Helleborus, semen of helios, Christmas rose) - water, protection, invisibility, nature, banishments, intellect. (don’t eat - stomach ache, burning mouth, eyes and throat, vomiting. If applied to the skin - irritation of the mouth and throat lining, vomiting, diarrhea, nerve problems, blindness)

Hemlock (tsuga Canadensis, devil’s oatmeal/porridge) - power, astral projection, death, bad omens, destroys love, fertility (stomach ache, vomiting, progressive paralysis to the nerve system, neuromuscular block, can be fatal)

Henbane (hyoscyamus higer, devils eye, stinking nightshade) - love, reversal magic, shapeshifting, invisibility, binding, protection (dilated pupils, hallucinations, increased heart rate, convulsions, vomiting, hypertension, ataxia, delirium, mania, dry mouth, death)

honeysuckle (ionicera, woodbine, goat’s leaf) - protection, money, dream magic, luck, affection, weddings. Relieves gout, anti-inflammatory

Hyacinthus (old man’s bells) - peace, sleep, love, luck, grief, pain (nausea, vomiting, can be fatal)

Hibiscus (bats wing) - lust, love, divination, passion, independence, confidence

Holly - protection, luck, prophetic dreams, money (berries are poisonous)

Hydrangea - hex breaking

Iris Croatia - wisdom, beauty, purification, protection from fae, fae offerings (severe digestion problems)

Jasminum - love, meditation, harmony, sleep, moon magic. aromatherapy, Calms, regulates blood pressure

Juniper - protection, love, bad luck, dreams, exorcism, health

Jack-in-the-pulpit ( Arisaema triphyllum) - tragedy, ill omen, death, love, revenge (skin and mouth irritation, swelling, burning, difficulties breathing, upset stomach)

Lily (Lilium) - strength, success, faith, ill omen, death, bad luck, vitality, rebirth, beauty

water lily - purity

lily of the valley - happiness, sweetness, divination, bad omens, indoor protection, death

yellow - falsehood, happiness

white - purity, sweetness

tiger lily (figridia pavonia) friendship, pride

Lilac (syringa Vulgaris) - protection, banishment, rain, mourning, spirit work

Lotus (nelumbo Nucifera, sacred lotus) - eloquence, love, recantation

Lavender (Lavendula, elf leaf, nardus) protection, healing, beauty, air, attracts good and bad entities when worn, longevity, fertility. Reduces anxiety, tension, headache, stress, indigestion, low blood pressure, anti-bacterial, antiseptic, disinfectant (causes drowsiness, don’t take w sedatives/lithium)

Lobelia (Indian tobacco) - love, longevity, elegance, peace (toxic - dizziness, intense nausea, and vomiting, don’t take if under 18, if pregnant/breastfeeding, or have any heart conditions)

lovage - love

Life everlasting (Helichrysum arenarium) - longevity, health

Masterwort ( Peucedanum ostruthium) - Strength, protection, courage

Magnolia (cucumber tree) - love, persistence, death, wisdom, insight. Aids high blood pressure, dysentery, diarrhea, fidelity

Mallow (Malva) - protection, exorcisms, love

Morning glory (pomoea, devil’s gut, goats foot) - binding, banishments, attraction (toxic - diarrhea, gastrointestinal pain, anorexia, hallucinations)

Myrtus (myrtle, periwinkle, viena minor, devil’s eye) - love, fertility, peace, money, beauty (poisonous - should not be consumed, nausea, vomiting, hearing and hair loss, dizziness, seizures,low blood pressure, death )

Orchid (Orchidaceae) concentration, memory, focus

Oleander Nirium - sickness, bad luck, protection, transformation

Pansey (throla tricolor, var hortensis, love of idleness) thoughts, love, marriage, disappointment, divination, rain

Pennyroyal (mentha puleqiuem, stinking balm) - luck, resolution (severe kidney,, liver, and brain damage, stomach pain, nausea, burning of the throat, fever, vomiting, confusion, restlessness, dizziness, don’t take if pregnant - miscarriage)

peony (Paeonia) - shame, beauty, luck, charms (don’t take while pregnant/breastfeeding)

Pimpernell (angellis arvensis) - change, protection from deception, melancholy, sleep, banishment

petunia - relaxation

Plumeria - love

pipsissewa - money, spirit work

poppy (blind eye, papauer somni ferum) - luck, happiness, dream magic

red - consolation

white - dreams

scarlet - extravagance

primrose (password, butter rose, pimula Vulgaris) - youth, sadness, inconsistency, merit, healing, fae offering, bad omens

Rose - love, beauty, happiness, tranquility, curses, glamours, pride, grace, charms. Anti-bacterial, astringent, tonic, aids cold and flu and digestion pain.

white - worth, unity, purity

red - love, courage, respect, passion

yellow - jealousy, friendship, joy, creativity

white and red - unity

yellow and red - new love

peach - gratitude 

coral - desire

orange - desire, enthusiasm

light pink - sympathy, admiration, grace

lavender - love at first sight, enchantment

blue - unattainable, impossible

Burgandy- unconcious beauty

Senna- love, faith (irritable bowel lining, laxative)

snapdragon (calf's snout, antirrhinum) - protection

Spiderwort ( Tradescantia) - love

sunflower (helianthus annaus) happiness, optimism, health, luck, confidence. Diuretic and expectorant, aids fever, reduces swelling, aids an upset stomach

trillium - love, luck

Tulipa - love, beauty, glamours, grounding, protection

Valerian (bloody butcher, capon’s tail, cat’s herb, Ram’s horn) - nightmares, anxiety, sleep, purity, 

Veronica officinalis (birds-eye) - fidelity, trust

Violet - death, rebirth, love, luck, nervousness, anxiety, paranoia

wolfsbane (aconitum) protection, invisibility (disables nerves, lowers blood pressure, avoid skin contact, stops the heart)

Wisteria - enchantments, fae magic, longevity, adventure, purity. (poisonous - severe stomach pain)

Zephyr flower - expectation

[just-another-obsessed-fangirl]

Lover (2019) Sentence Prompts

feel free to change pronouns and other specific details

How many days did I spend thinking ‘bout how you did me wrong?

Lived in the shade you were throwing ‘til all of my sunshine was gone

I couldn’t get away from you

In my feelings more than Drake

Your name on my lips, tongue-tied

Free rent, living in my mind

But then something happened one magical night

I forgot that you existed

I thought that it would kill me, but it didn’t

It isn’t love, it isn’t hate, it’s just indifference

Got out some popcorn as soon as my rep started going down

Laughed on the schoolyard as soon as I tripped up and hit the ground

I would’ve stuck around for you, would’ve fought the whole town

Would’ve been right there, front row, even if nobody came to your show

But you showed who you are

Sent me a clear message

Taught me some hard lessons, I just forget what they were

Fever dream high in the quiet of the night

Bad, bad boy, shiny toy with a price

You know that I bought it

I’m always waiting for you to be waiting below

Devils roll the dice, angels roll their eyes

What doesn’t kill me makes me want you more

It’s new, the shape of your body

It’s blue, the feeling I’ve got

It’s a cruel summer

It’s cool, that’s what I tell ‘em

No rules in breakable heaven

Hang your head low in the glow of the vending machine

We say that we’ll just screw it up in these trying times

We’re not trying

Cut the headlights

Summer’s a knife

I’m always waiting for you just to cut to the bone

If I bleed, you’ll be the last to know

I’m drunk in the back of the car

I cried like a baby coming home from the bar

Said, “I’m fine,” but it wasn’t true

I don’t wanna keep secrets just to keep you

I snuck in through the garden gate every night that summer

Just to seal my fate

I love you, ain’t that the worst thing you ever heard?

He looks up grinning like a devil

We could leave the Christmas lights up ‘til January

This is our place, we make the rules

There’s a dazzling haze, a mysterious way about you, dear

Have I known you twenty seconds or twenty years?

Can I go where you go?

Can we always be this close?

Take me out and take me home

You’re my lover

We could let our friends crash in the living room

I’m highly suspicious that everyone who sees you wants you

I’ve loved you three summers now, honey, but I want ‘em all

Ladies and gentlemen, will you please stand?

With every guitar string scar on my hand

I take this magnetic force of a man to be my lover

My heart’s been borrowed and yours has been blue

All’s well that ends well to end up with you

Swear to be overdramatic and true

You’ll save all your dirtiest jokes for me

At every table, I’ll save you a seat

I would be complex

I would be cool

They’d say I played the field before I found someone to commit to

That would be okay for me to do

Every conquest I had made would make me more of a boss to you

I’d be a fearless leader, I’d be an alpha type

When everyone believes you, what’s that like?

I’m so sick of running as fast as I can

I’d get there quicker if I was a man

I’m so sick of them coming at me again

If I was a man

I’d be the man

I hustled, put in the work

Shake their heads and question how much of this I deserve

And they would toast to me

What’s it like to brag about raking in dollars and getting bitches and models?

It’s all good if you’re bad and it’s okay if you’re mad

I’d be a bitch, not a baller

They paint me out to be bad

It’s okay that I’m mad

I’m ready for combat

I don’t want that, but what if I do?

Cruelty wins in the movies

I’ve got a hundred thrown out speeches I almost said to you

I jump from the train, I ride off alone

I never grew up, it’s getting so old

Help me hold on to you

I’ve been the archer, I’ve been the prey

Who could ever leave me, darling, but who could stay?

I search for your dark side

What if I’m alright right here?

I cut off my nose just to spite my face

I hate my reflection for years and years

I pace like a ghost

The room is on fire, invisible smoke

All of my heroes die all alone

They see right through me

Can you see right through me?

I see right through me

All the king’s horses, all the king’s men, couldn’t put me together again

All of my enemies started out friends

His footprints on the sidewalk lead to where I can’t stop

His hands around a cold glass make me wanna know that body like it’s mine

He got that boyish look that I like in a man

I am an architect, I’m drawing up the plans

It’s like I’m seventeen, nobody understands

He got my heartbeat skipping down 16th Avenue

Wanna see what’s under that attitude

I want you, bless my soul

I ain’t gotta tell him, I think he knows

I’ll make myself at home and he’ll want me to stay

He’d better lock it down or I won’t stick around

Good ones never wait

He’s so obsessed with me and, boy, I understand

Lyrical smile, indigo eyes, hand on my thigh

We could follow the sparks

I’ll drive

Where we gonna go?

You know I adore you

I’m crazier for you than I was at sixteen

I’m lost in the lights

Ripped up my prom dress

Running through rose thorns

I saw the scoreboard and ran for my life

No cameras catch my pageant smile

I counted days, I counted miles 

It’s you and me, that’s my whole world

They whisper in the hallway, “She’s a bad, bad girl”

The whole school is rolling fake dice

You play stupid games, you win stupid prizes

We’re so sad, we paint the town blue

Voted most likely to run away with you

My team is losing, battered and bruising

I see the high fives between the bad guys

You are the only one who seems to care

The damsels are depressed

Boys will be boys, then where are the wise me?

Darling, I’m scared

No cameras catch my muffled cries

I don’t really wanna fight, ‘cause nobody’s gonna win

I think you should come home

I’ll never let you go, ‘cause I know this is a fight that someday we’re gonna win

She’s a bad, bad girl

High, like your friends were the night that we first met

Went home and tried to stalk you on the internet

I’ve read all of the books beside your bed

Cold, like the shoulder that I gave you in the street

Cat and mouse for a month or two or three

Now I wake up in the night and watch you breathe

Kiss me once ‘cause you know I had a long night

Kiss me twice ‘cause it’s gonna be alright

Three times ‘cause I waited my whole life

I like shiny things, but I’d marry you with paper rings

I hate accidents except when we went from friends to this

You’re the one I want in paper rings, in picture frames, in dirty dreams

In the icy outdoor pool, when you jumped in first, I went in too

I’m with you even if it makes blue

Takes me back to the color that we painted your brother’s wall

Without all the exes, fights, and flaws

We wouldn’t be standing here so tall

I want to drive away with you

I want your complications too

I want your dreary Mondays

Wrap your arms around me, baby boy

Drunk on something stronger than the drinks in the bar

I rent a place on Cornelia Street

We were a fresh page on the desk, filling in the blanks as we go

As if the street lights pointed in an arrow head leading us home

I hope I never lose you, hope it never ends

I’d never walk Cornelia Street again

That’s the kinda heartbreak time could never mend

I get mystified by how this city screams your name

I’m so terrified of it you ever walk away

Jacket ‘round my shoulders is yours

Memorize the creaks in the floor

Back when we were card sharks

I thought you were leading me on

I packed my bags, left Cornelia Street, before you even knew I was gone

You called, showed your hand

I turned around before I hit the tunnel

Sat on the roof, you and I

You hold my hand on the street

Walk me back to that apartment years ago

We were just inside barefoot in the kitchen

Sacred new beginnings that became my religion

Saying goodbye is death by a thousand cuts

Flashbacks waking me up

I get drunk but it’s not enough

The morning comes and you’re not my baby

I look through the windows of this love even though we boarded them up

Chandelier’s still flickering here

I can’t pretend it’s okay when it’s not

I dress to kill my time

I take the long way home

I ask the traffic lights if it’ll be alright, they say, “I don’t know”

What once was ours is no one’s now

The only thing we share is this small town

It was a great love, one for the ages

If the story’s over, why am I still writing pages?

My heart, my hips, my body, my love

Tryna find a part of me that you didn’t touch

Gave up on me like I was a bad drug

Now I’m searching for signs in a haunted club

Our songs, our films, united we stand 

Our country, guess it was a lawless land

Quiet my fears with a touch of your hand

Paper cut stings from out paper-thin plans

My time, my wine, my spirit, my trust

Tryna find a part of me you didn’t take up

Gave you so much, but it wasn’t enough

But I’ll be alright, it’s just a thousand cuts

I love my hometown as much as Motown

Something happened, I heard him laughing

I saw the dimples first and then I heard the accent

They say home is where the heart is, but that’s not where mine lives

You know I love a London boy

He likes my American smile

Like a child when our eyes meet

Darling, I fancy you

I guess all the rumors are true

Boy, I fancy you

Now I love high tea

You can find me in the pub

We are watching rugby with his school friends

Show me a gray sky, a rainy cab ride

Babes, don’t threaten me with a good time

God, I love the English

Doesn’t have to be Louis V up on Bond Street

Stick with me, I’m your queen

The buttons of my coat were tangled in my hair

I didn’t tell you I was scared

That was the first time we were there

Holy orange bottles, each night I pray to you

Desperate people find faith

Now I pray to Jesus too

Soon you’ll get better

You’ll get better soon ‘cause you have to

I know delusion when I see it in the mirror

You like the nicer nurses

You make the best of a bad deal

I just pretend it isn’t real

I’ll paint the kitchen neon

I’ll brighten up the sky

I know I’ll never get it, there’s not a day that I won’t try

I hate to make this all about me, but who am I supposed to talk to?

What am I supposed to do if there’s no you?

This won’t go back to normal, if it ever was

It’s been years of hoping

I keep saying it because I have to

You’ll get better

We were crazy to think that this could work

Remember how I said I’d die for you?

We were stupid to jump in the ocean separating us

Remember how I’d fly to you?

I can’t talk to you when you’re like this

Staring out the window like I’m not your favorite town

I’m New York City

I still do it for you, babe

They all warned us about times like this

The road gets hard and you get lost when you’re led by blind faith

We might just get away with it

Religion’s in your lips

Even if it’s a false god, we’d still worship

The altar is my hips

We’d still worship this love

I know heaven’s a thing, I go there when you touch me, honey

Hell is when I fight with you

We can patch it up good

Make confessions and we’re begging for forgiveness

Got the wine for you

You can’t talk to me when I’m like this

Daring you to leave me just so I can try and scare you

You’re the West Village

You still do it for me, babe

You are somebody that I don’t know

Taking shots at me like it’s Patrón

Damn, it’s 7 AM

Say it in the street, that’s a knock-out

Say it in a Tweet, that’s a cop-out

I ain’t tryna mess with your self-expression

I’ve learned a lesson that stressing and obsessing ‘bout somebody else is no fun

Snakes and stones never broke my bones

You need to calm down

You’re being too loud

Can you just not step on my gown?

You’re coming at my friends like a missile

Why are you mad when you could be glad?

Sunshine on the street at the parade

You would rather be in the dark ages

Making that sign must’ve taken all night

You just need to take several seats

Try to restore the peace

Control your urges to scream about all the people you hate

Shade never made anybody less gay

We see you over there on the internet

Comparing all the girls who are killing it

We figured you out

We all know now we all got crowns

I blew things out of proportion, now you’re blue

Put you in jail for something you didn’t do

I pinned your hands behind your back

Thought I had reason to attack, but no

Fighting with a true love is boxing with no gloves

Chemistry ‘til it blows up, ‘til there’s no us

Why’d I have to break what I love so much?

It’s on your face and I’m to blame

It’s all me in my head

I’m the one who burned us down

It’s not what I meant

Sorry that I hurt you

I don’t wanna do this to you

I don’t wanna lose this with you

It’s all me, just don’t go

Meet me in the afterglow

It’s so excruciating to see you low

Just wanna lift you up and not let you go

This ultraviolet morning light below tells me this love is worth the fight

I lived like an island, punished you with silence

Went off like sirens

Tell me that you’re still mine

Tell me that we’ll be just fine even when I lose my mind

Tell me that it’s not my fault

Tell me that I’m all you want even when I break my heart

I promise that you’ll never find another like me

I know that I’m a handful

I know I never think before I jump

You’re the kind of guy the ladies want

There’s a lot of cool chicks out there

I know that I went psycho on the phone

I never leave well enough alone

Trouble’s gonna follow where I go

One of these things is not like the others

When it comes to a lover

I’m the only one of me

Baby, that’s the fun of me

You’re the only one of you

Baby, that’s the fun of you

I promise that nobody’s gonna love you like me

I know I tend to make it about me

I know you never get just what you see

I will never bore you, baby

There’s a lot of lame guys out there

We had that fight out in the rain

You ran after me and called my name

I never wanna see you walk away

Living in winter, I am your summer

Hey kids, spelling is fun!

There ain’t no I in “team”, but you know there is a “me”

You can’t spell “awesome” without “me”

School bell rings, walk me home

Sidewalk chalk covered in snow

Lost my gloves, you give me one

“Wanna hang out?” Yeah, sounds like fun

Video games, you pass me a note, sleeping in tents

It’s nice to have a friend

Light pink sky, up on the roof

Sun sinks down, no curfew

20 questions, we tell the truth

You’ve been stressed out lately, yeah, me too

Something gave you the nerve to touch my hand

Church bells ring, carry me home

Rice on the ground looks like snow

Call my bluff, call you “Babe”

Have my back every day

Stay in bed the whole weekend

My love was as cruel as the cities I lived in

Everyone looked worse in the light

There are so many lines that I’ve crossed unforgiven

I’ll tell you the truth, but never goodbye

I don’t wanna look at anything else now that I saw you

I don’t wanna think of anything else now that I thought of you

I’ve been sleeping so long in a 20-year dark night 

Now I see daylight

Luck of the draw only draws the unlucky

I became the butt of the joke

I wounded the good and I trusted the wicked

Clearing the air, I breathed in the smoke

Maybe you ran with the wolves and refused to settle down

Maybe I’ve stormed out of every single room in this town

Threw out our cloaks and our daggers

Because it’s morning now

It’s brighter now

I can still see it all in my mind

All of you, all of me, intertwined

I once believed love would be black and white (but it’s golden)

I can still see it all in my head

Back and forth from New York, sneaking in your bed

I once believed love would be burning red

It’s golden like daylight

You gotta step into the daylight and let it go

I wanna be defined by the things that I love

Not the things I hate

Not the things I’m afraid of

The things that haunt me in the middle of the might

You are what you love

[eyesofmist]

Sansan Drabbles

Angst

Butterfly Wings

She placed her delicate hands over her rounded belly and felt a new life moving inside her, feather lightly, like butterfly wings. That was all that anchored her to a life of endless winter, because it was all that was left of him and the girl she had once been. A new life and the memory of a thousand kisses, sweet loving, and silent tears.

AU

What would have happened if Gregor had never burned Sandor’s face?

Queen Sansa looked at Lord Clegane and sighed. She had been a widow for ten years now but nobody knew why she refused to marry again.

She would never marry again because her heart’s desire could never be fulfilled. She had loved the tall, grey-eyed man since the day he arrived in Winterfell so many years before; a vain, ruggedly handsome knight in shining armour.

Graciously, the broken-hearted queen bestowed her permission for him to marry his latest lady love.

AU

Little Red Sansa and the Big Bad Hound

When Little Red Sansa arrived in her grandma’s house she was breathless and her cheeks were bright red.

She would never tell anyone she had crossed the forbidden forest and fallen into the grasp of the big bad Hound. Eventually he had let her go, but on one condition. He wanted some honey.

‘But I have no honey, ser,' she cried.

‘Oh, yes you do,' he rasped.

‘I don't understand'.

‘You will'.

Sansa blushed again, remembering his wicked smile and the way he had licked his lips before he let her go.

(You’ve guessed correctly. ‘Little Red Riding Hood’.)

CROSSOVER

(LOTR)

Sandor Clegane rode towards his doom, his head held high, his grasp on the bridle steady, ready to face the kind of death that came from the ice, because there was nothing he feared but fire, or returning to a barren land devoid of hope.

Next to him rode ser Dernhelm and that strange little squire called Meriadoc. The warrior came from a foreign land and was lithe and slim but strong and resilient, with eyes full of sorrow that mirrored his own.

He knew Dernhelm’s secret - he was no knight, no more than Sandor was - and when their bodies joined every night, she let him call her Eowyn.

DEATH

He walked to his death with no fear.

Since the night he had deserted King's Landing, he had known that the executioner would have his head, and the day had come. He had no fear, though, only regrets.

When she ran to him, her bright red hair a fiery waterfall all over her shaking shoulders, his heart wanted to bleed.

Nobody dared to stop lady Sansa and, there on the scaffold, in front of everyone, she stood on her tiptoes and joined her lips to his in a searing kiss, the kiss she had imagined so many times.

But she had never guessed that his mouth would be so sweet .... or the heartbreak so cruel.

EPISODE RELATED

S1 GOT

The wind was howling outside his tent, that relentless northern wind that never ceased and could chill a man’s bones, that hateful wind that never let him sleep.

It did not matter now that his skin felt on fire as he buried himself inside the girl, so willing and warm under his powerful body.

He lost himself in the sensation, fearless, careless, happy for once until one of the direwolves howled to the moon and he woke up startled, only to realise that he was as lonely as ever, only to hate himself bitterly, because the girl in his dream could never be his and he should never have dared to even dream about her.

THE FIRST TIME

The Hound dismounted, cursing the bloody North and those cold winds and chilling nights that made his old battle wounds hurt like hell. He looked around as uninterested and bored as he always was when he was not fighting, fucking or drinking.

They looked uncouth those northerners, not even the Starks looked regal enough.

He let his gaze wander over Ned Stark, his wife and children, but then the grey sky seemed to turn lighter and it let a ray of sunshine show.

Sandor Clegane felt his jaw go slack as his hard gaze got snared in the purest blue gaze he had ever seen and he drank the sight of the most beautiful face that surely existed.

The beauty averted her eyes immediately, obviously disgusted by his visage like everyone else , but the damage was done and the invisible arrow struck home piercing his heart, which was not, after all, made of stone.

FLUFF

He went into the godswood where Lady Stark was, wondering why they had allowed him, a southron stranger, to come into the lady’s sanctuary without being escorted or watched over.

He felt nervous and his hands were shaking, because he had not seen her for five long years, the time he had been fighting ice devils in that blood curdling hell that was the wild north beyond the wall.

When he saw her, his heart skipped a beat, because she was smiling at him and looked even more beautiful than her beloved memory in his dreams.

She was surrounded by a handful of people, all of them waiting for him as if they had not moved in five years.

She took his hand and said the words, the words that made them man and wife in front of the Starks’ sacred tree. He repeated the words like a litany and then he kissed her, with all the hunger and the yearning of a lifetime. It felt like coming home.

[sagamemes]

criminal minds: beyond borders sentence starters part 3.   contains a bit over a hundred lines of dialogue from episodes 12 through 16 out of 26 of the criminal minds spinoff, some edited to better fit roleplay purposes. contains no universe or profession specific lingo, so most of these can be used by anyone. this part contains a few mentions of violence and extorsion.

“ i can’t believe we’re doing this! ”

“ remember, if you fall, don’t try and get up. ”

“ ____ is a genius, and he’s adorable. ”

“ that was for charity. ”

“ you’ve been dealing with these issues for decades. ”

“ you’d be serving the cause of justice. ”

“ how often do you think killers confess to their priests? ”

“ guilt is a way of life. ”

“ these people are just concerned with how much money they're gonna make. ”

“ it’s a never-ending party fueled by equal parts adrenaline and sangria. ”

“ pretty easy to see how that could upset someone. ”

“ there's no shortage of bad behaviour around here. ”

“ it’s a sacred thing. ”

“ i am not hearing a lot of empathy for a loss of life. ”

“ there's a warrant out on me for a trumped-up charge. ”

“ are you here now to confess? ”

“ i see the worst humanity has to offer. ”

“ they’re excited to have a little brother. ”

“ ____’s little accent is amazing, isn’t it? ”

“ are your allergies still bothering you? ”

“ you wash. i will dry. ”

“ that’s the problem. i know what comes next. ”

“ i’m sorry i’m going so far away. ”

“ it’s rare, but it happens. ”

“ the media is gonna have a field day with that. ”

“ mama, you need a hug? ”

“ not human blood. ”

“ i saw the flyers all over the city. ”

“ i would never suggest practising this with such a young person. ”

“ during times of stress, details often get buried. ”

“ she's had a lifetime of stressors, more than anyone should bear. ”

“ she belongs with me. ”

“ my [relation] only knows how to cook in one size. ”

“ remember how to say ‘cheese’? ”

“ you gonna miss all the friends you made? ”

“ it means we're done working, and the rest of our trip is all about relaxing. ”

“ leading by example is the finest and hardest lesson in raising good people. ”

“ he wants to volunteer and make a difference. he grew up watching you do it. ”

“ you know that’s a cue for my phone to ring. ”

“ i debated whether i should say it out loud. ”

“ i think i may have finally found someone worthy of you. ”

“ well, it sounds like the beginning of a new chapter to me. ”

“ they’ll be two steps ahead of us. ”

“ little by little, a little becomes a lot. ”

“ i would love it if you could do both. i would also love it if we could clone ourselves. ”

“ if someone were to threaten your family, would you do whatever it took to protect them? ”

“ how many times have I told you to stop victimising yourself? ”

“ we all have to go through hell before we get to heaven. ”

“ your bruises may have healed on the outside, but inside, you are still broken and still bleeding. ”

“ my blood will be in your hands. ”

“ all you ever wanted was power and control. you have that now. ”

“ so you remember how I promised to show you something that'd just take your breath away? ”

“ i missed my connecting flight. so now it looks like I won't get there ‘til tomorrow night. ”

“ judgement is upon you now. ”

“ maybe together we can take the road not taken. ”

“ i’ve never seen anything like this. ”

“ calling me out there, ____? ”

“ oh, you are such the thoughtful one. ”

“ you know, i feel utterly safe in your warm and loving arms. ”

“ it was the biggest mistake of my life. ”

“ i was too naive at the time to realize that my position was merely for appearance. ”

“ i realised it was really about power, and i, of the fairer sex, had none. ”

“ it's the one that got away. we all have one. ”

“ innuendo and rumour---they can all go to hell. ”

“ i am surprised to hear that she is not completely consumed by a menagerie of cats. ”

“ this is my way of saying i am tired of being persecuted in this witch's hunt. i am innocent. ”

“ i have been down that rabbit hole. ”

“ you go to your death knowing you were right about me. ”

“ what makes you think i'm that kind of girl? ”

“ after three years together, now you're gonna play hard to get? ”

“ i'm sorry. i shouldn't run my mouth in someplace i don't know. ”

“ you know my weapon of choice is a computer. ”

“ ____ told you, didn’t s---that’s the last time i take her to happy hour! ”

“ poverty does not destroy virtue nor does wealth bestow it. ”

“ the unemployment, poverty, lack of housing has left their parents struggling and the children abandoned. ”

“ i apologise in advance for what i'm about to ask. ”

“ people do strange things out of character all the time. ”

“ big guy like you doesn't have many real fights. your game is intimidation. ”

“ most people back down before a punch is ever thrown, but i'm not one of those guys. ”

“ yeah, i'm the whole package. ”

“ i found myself wanting to know her story. ”

“ a lady of the night would explain who was drinking the champagne. ”

“ the poor and homeless are often invisible. ”

“ the fbi likes to lie. ”

“ i know you're just trying to take care of your friends. ”

“ i brought you here! i gave you all this! i gave you a family, a home! ”

[kuriquinn]

Telanadas [5/19]

Cover Page & Disclaimer

first chapter

Sasuke’s bowstring snaps before he even realises he has drawn his weapon. An arrow buries itself in the hapless shopkeeper’s throat with such force that the madman topples backward off Sakura.

Sakura stares down at the shopkeeper as he gives a last dying gurgle and gapes up at Sasuke. Her surprise is almost comical, given the rarity of catching her off-guard. The other two in their party do not seem to find the same amusement.

“What the hell was that?” Naruto demands, though he could be referring to either the shopkeeper’s sudden madness or Sasuke’s actions.

Kakashi is not so vague.

“Was that entirely necessary?” he asks Sasuke, tone wry with exasperated disapproval. “We might have interrogated him.”

“It would have been a waste of time,” Sasuke replies, unapologetic. “Considering how forthcoming the other villagers have been, it would likely take days that we do not have.”

He goes to the door he noticed before and shoves it open; it’s unlocked, surprising given the body dumped inside. The shopkeeper obviously was not expecting anyone to investigate—either because of lack of visitors or because murder is perhaps not so serious a crime in this strange place.

Likely both, Sasuke decides, staring down at the bloated corpse there. It is a day old, and signs of torture show on the skin beneath the tarnished armour and cloak.

His comrades shuffle in behind him.

“Those are Uzushiogakure colours,” Naruto breathes, pain and anger rising in his voice at the reminder of his childhood home. A rare darkness spread across the man’s face. “This is one of the knights Lady Biwako sent out looking for the Urn of Sacred Ashes.”

“This might explain why none of them returned,” Sakura adds softly.

Kakashi studies the corpse with a frown. “The question is, was he killed for being a stranger, or for looking for something they did not want him to find?”

“We will soon find out,” Sasuke determines, catching sight of something moving outside the shop window. “Since we fall into both categories.”

He brings up his bow again and nocks another arrow.

His comrades need no further explanation or prompting, hefting their own weapons. Using only hand signals and facial expressions, Sakura directs them into formation. With Sasuke covering from behind and Kakashi blowing the door open by magic, she and Naruto charge from the tiny shop.

Sasuke counts six enemies in their immediate vicinity, including the guard from earlier, and two archers just out of range. While Naruto charges forward, taking out three of the closest, Sakura clashes with the sentry and Kakashi turns the archers in the distance to statues of ice. The two remaining attackers are dispatched with arrows through their eye sockets.

“Is this whole village full of crazy people?” Naruto demands, gawking at the bodies surrounding them now. All of their adversaries are dressed like villagers, but their weapons are better quality than are normally crafted in a rural area.

“There’s something amiss here,” Sakura says. “In my experience, peasants don’t charge a party of well-armed strangers like this.”

“Not unless they are under the influence of magic,” Sasuke agrees.

“Blood magic, perhaps,” Kakashi corrects, shooting him a reproachful look. “Or it could just be they are determined to protect exactly what we have come to seek.”

“But that makes no sense,” Naruto says. “Kaguya was the Rabbit Goddess, a woman of peace. She stopped war throughout the land before the Maker took her as his bride. If these are her followers, they would be non-violent.”

“That is one version of the story,” Sasuke snorts. “Perhaps there is another we are not privy to.”

“Well, we won’t find out more just standing here,” Sakura points out. “Let’s go. I see a Chantry up ahead, and the guard told us we might find a cleric in there. I’m sure we can ask him.”

They trek out of the centre of the village and head up the incline of the mountain, only to be thrown backwards by the force of a giant, invisible fist.

“Mage,” Kakashi gasps belatedly.

“Really? I would never have guessed,” Sasuke sneers, clutching his ribs.

Bruised, probably, but not broken.

Over the crest of the hill, four men charge them; unlike the villagers, these are dressed in odd armour, with horned and fanged helmets protruding from them. And the swords they wield appear to be—

Another blast of magic explodes in the surrounding air, and the four of them duck out of the way. Rocks and tree branches fall all around them, and they scramble for cover.

Naruto struggles to his feet. “Split up?”

“Not with that mage up there protecting them,” Sakura replies, wiping a lip split by a stray rock. “We need to tempt them out his protective range.”

“And we do not know how many there are,” Sasuke adds.

“You two draw them down the mountain,” Kakashi says. “Sasuke can pick them off from here. I will deal with the mage.”

Without giving them a chance to argue, his form glows and shifts. He transforms into a hawk and takes to the sky.

“Right,” Sakura says. “Sasuke, get in position.”

“Hm.”

It is another odd quirk of hers that he has noticed, this willingness to hand over the reigns of command to any among their party. He has met no other leader that has so willing heeded the instincts of their underlings, but Sakura has a bewildering trust in her companions.

It has served her well so far, so who am I to question it?

Naruto and Sakura venture forward, preparing for the oncoming onslaught from the foot-soldiers. Even as they brandish their weapons, they are forced to dodge fireballs and projectiles of ice raining down on them from the sky. Sasuke, in turn, slips into the shade of the snow-laden trees, covering himself in shadow to keep the enemy from noticing him when he shoots. Just as he reaches for his first arrow, his ears twitch and the hair at the back of his neck stands on end.

Instantly, Sasuke ducks downward, hearing the swipe of a blade through the space once occupied by his head. His fingers fasten upon the dagger in his boot, and he twists, shoving it into the stomach of the unlucky rogue that attempted to sneak up on him.

“You breathe too loudly,” he growls, yanking the dagger out and rising to meet the blade of the second assassin waiting in the shadows.

Out in the open, Naruto and Sakura are faring about as well. The blond man catches an enemy blade on his shield and then charges forward with several swipes of his sword. Sakura, surrounded by three men, grunts with effort as she heaves her two-handed axe about, warning them away from her when they venture too close.

Fire continues to fall from the sky, narrowly missing Sasuke’s comrades. As soon as he dispatches his second attacker, he raises his bow again and fires a torrent of arrows into the sky, angling their trajectory to fall behind the enemy. Each volley forces the brigands around Sakura and Naruto to dart away, distracting them enough to give them both openings. Naruto bashes his shield up under the jaw of his assailant, while Sakura slices her axe in a broad arc, cleaving clean through the torso of her nearest opponent.

Before she can make a run at the third, a patch of icicles, sharp as knives, burst out of the snow around her. She is forced to throw herself to one side lest she be gored to death.

“Somebody needs to kill that void-damned—”

Until the magical onslaught suddenly stops.

Far up on the crest of the hill, a cage of lightning encircles the spellcaster. As he jerks and screeches, the electricity reducing him to a charred skeleton, Kakashi materialises beside him, waving them forward with his staff.

“—mage,” Sasuke finishes.

“Isn’t it funny how he can be on time when he wants to be?” Sakura asks cheerfully. She pushes herself up from where she landed and retrieves her axe.

She and Naruto hurry on up the hill, and Sasuke scowls.

“Show-off,” he mutters, picking up his pace.

The steep mountain path is ringed with trees and wooden arches, man-made and looking far too much like crucifixes for his liking. As soon as they round the bend, they are waylaid by yet another warrior, a taller and bulkier man than the others, also dressed in the gaudy, twisted armour.

He emits a roar of fury and winds his arms back, throwing a short-axe at them as they charge forward. The first almost hits its target, pinning Kakashi’s thick robe to a nearby cliff-face. While the mage busies himself with getting free, a second weapon is thrown at Sakura and Naruto, which they duck. It flies somewhere to Sasuke’s left as Naruto pushes forward with his shield.

The brute snarls, dodging to one side and roughly shoving Naruto away bodily. Sakura is waiting in the wings, swinging overhead with her two-handed blade—

Which he catches in between his hands.

For a moment shock rings through the snow-covered battlefield, because nothing has ever stopped Sakura’s axe before now.

The enemy warrior wrenches it away, taking advantage of the dwarf’s momentary loss of balance by grabbing her by the throat.

“Sakura!” Naruto cries, while Sasuke nocks an arrow.

One through the face and I can free her—!

There is a burning, stabbing pain in Sasuke’s hand, and an arrow that is not his punches through his palm. Both his bow and arrow drop, as Kakashi yells, “Archer!”; at the same time, Sakura is thrown backward by her assailant. She slams into the side of the cliff so hard that snow and rock rain down on her in a small avalanche.

“I will take care of this!” Kakashi declares, crackling electricity sprouting from the tip of his staff. Naruto is once more charging the indomitable warrior, and Sasuke’s eyes flit to the rubble beneath which Sakura is buried.

She could be—

He orders himself to focus and turns his attention to where the enemy has picked up Sakura’s axe and now seems to be trying to split Naruto in half.

Sasuke grasps for his bow, but his bleeding left hand is numb; likely a paralysing agent coating the arrow that hit him. Even if he were to power through it, any arrow he tries to shoot might hit Naruto instead.

With no other recourse, Sasuke ducks down and grabs enemy’s discarded small axe, hefting it with his uninjured right hand, and prepares. Just as the giant brute swings downward on Naruto, who has tumbled backward in the snow, Sasuke whips the axe forward.

It ploughs into the face of the man, sending him sprawling onto the snow several feet away.

In the distance, Kakashi finally deals with the archer.

“Nice shot!” Naruto tells Sasuke as he gets to his feet, but the elf ignores him, turning instead to the spot where Sakura fell earlier. A queer, hollow sensation trembles in his gut for a moment, until the snow and rock move. Sakura crawls out from beneath it, looking a little bruised but no worse for the wear.

“It’s a good thing dwarves have thick skulls,” she jokes, pulling off her spiked helmet and rubbing the back of her head. She glances over at the downed man, and whistles. “Nice shot, Naruto.”

“Nah, that was all Sasuke,” the blond man grins. “And here I didn’t think he could do anything without that pansy-ass bow of his.”

“Come here and I will show you how much I can do,” Sasuke growls, raising his hand to form a fist. He winces when he remembers there is a hole in it. The paralysing agent is wearing off, but that does nothing for the pain.

“Sasuke-kun!” Sakura cries and is instantly by his side examining the wound. “Are you alright?”

“Hey, what about me, Sakura?” Naruto wants to know. “I’m the one who almost died…”

“You’re not bleeding out in the snow,” she retorts.

“I am not bleeding out,” Sasuke mutters, trying to tug his hand away from her, but Sakura keeps a tight hold on his wrist. “Kakashi will see to it when he gets here.”

He doesn’t like being cured by magic, but his hands are too valuable to his trade and too necessary to their survival to heal by natural methods.

“I can’t believe you threw an axe in someone’s face,” Sakura says, shaking her head but with eyes dancing.

“Is that not how your people solve disputes?” he challenges. “Perhaps I am acclimating.”

“Mm, a man after my own heart,” she teases. “If I weren’t buckled into my armour or, you know, half-frozen to death, I’d take you right here and now.”

Sasuke stares at her, his brain slowing to process what he just heard. A second later, his treacherous mind offers him a brief, lewd image of the Warden straddling him in the snow, wearing nothing but her smallclothes.

Below his belt, a certain part of his anatomy gives an interested twitch before he can control himself. Naruto’s roar of laughter brings him back to himself, just as Kakashi makes his appearance.

“Did I miss something?” the masked man wonders.

“Just Sasuke, stunned beyond all forms of belief,” Naruto sniggers.

Sakura protests. “Oh, stop it!”

“A pity…I would have liked to see that,” Kakashi observes.

“Shut up and fix my hand, mage,” Sasuke orders, thrusting his fingers into his face. Business-like, the mage reaches over and presses his fingertips to Sasuke’s ruined palm. Blue energy encompasses the limb, and with a short burst of cool energy, bone, muscle and skin knit together. Not even a scar remains. “Now is not the time for childish antics—or have none of you noticed the weapons our attackers have been wielding?”

Sakura wanders over to the dead man and yanks the axe out of his skull; after cleaning it off in the snow, her eyebrows rise almost into her hair.

“Human bone,” she gasps, confirming what Sasuke’s keen eyes saw earlier. “Every weapon here is carved from bone…”

“But then…how are they so strong?” Naruto asks. “I mean, I know a bone can be strong, but against silverite?”

“It’s magic,” Kakashi says darkly. “Runes carved into the bone while the victim yet lives, and blood magic to prolong the process and bind it.”

“That’s barbaric!”

Kakashi nods. “It is a practice outlawed for centuries. Even the Suna Empire no longer practices this.”

“How horrible,” Sakura shudders.

“That is not the worst thing,” Sasuke murmurs. Sakura looks at him askance, and he hesitates to speak this truth to her, but she needs to know. “That blade you hold was hewn from the pelvis bone of a child.”

A horrified silence falls over them.

The gravity of Sasuke’s words takes a moment to sink in, but when they do his comrades expressions shift noticeably. Even Sakura’s habitual bright demeanour vanishes, something smouldering and angry entering her eyes. It is the same look he saw the time a blood mage suggested the only way to save a village from rampaging corpses was to sacrifice a child’s life.

“It seems we have discovered why the people are living in such a remote outpost,” he continues coolly. “This type of crime…this is punishable only by being removed from the land of the living.”

“Which is exactly what we’re going to do,” Naruto growls. “These bastards have just read themselves out of the human race. Out of any race! There’s some stuff you’re just not allowed to do, and killing kids…they might as well be darkspawn!”

Sakura does not speak for once. Instead, she stalks over to retrieve her own axe, grips it expertly in both hands, and then heads in the direction of the Chantry. Sasuke watches her go, a minor note of alarm simmering beneath his usual calm.

“I do not disagree with any of that, but recall that this quest is not just about weeding out the undesirables. We still need information, and someone has to remain breathing if we intend to get it from them,” Kakashi remarks.

“I guess,” Naruto allows, though the words are reluctant. He rubs the back of his head nervously. “Som which one of you wants to be the one to stop her and tell her that?”

Kakashi clears his throat and fiddles with his mask, raising an eyebrow at Sasuke in question.

The elf rolls his eyes and marches off after Sakura.

Comments and concrit are much appreciated, and very motivating! For information about supporting my original, non-fandom related works, you’re welcome to check out my ko-fi tip jar, or my patreon page. 

栗

Next Chapter

[pamphletstoinspire]

Witnessing Padre Pio's Mass

With Image:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/witnessing-padre-pios-mass-harold-baines/?published=t

The Mass of Padre Pio!

No one will be able to describe it.

Only one who has had the privilege of living it can understand…

***

Padre Pio at 5:00 a.m. would be at the altar. Crowds of people anxious to find a place near his altar would already be waiting for him. The Eucharistic Sacrifice would last more than an hour. Immersed in the divine mysteries, Padre Pio would re-live Jesus' Passion. His dialogue with the eternal was a time of evident suffering, great emotion, and mystical calm.

The holy Mass was " the fount and goal", " the heart and centre" of his life. And the people saw in him the living image of Christ, the light of the Resurrection.

***

Many before me have tried to describe the mystery of Padre Pio's Mass, what really took place every morning for fifty years at the altar of Our Lady of Grace Church in San Giovanni Rotondo.

I do not wish to attempt a description of this kind as I know that I would fall even more than others. So in these pages I will recount to you only my own thoughts and what I was able to see and witness while serving as I did on many occasions the Padre's Mass.

He taught me in person how to "serve" at the Eucharistic banquet. I would watch and observe Padre Pio closely every time, from the moment he left his cell at dawn to celebrate Mass.

I would see him in a state of suffering and anxiety. He seemed restless. As soon as he reached the sacristy where he put on his sacred vestments, I had the impression that already he was no longer aware of what went on around him.

He was totally absorbed and conscious of what he was about to fulfill.

If anyone dared to ask him anything, he shook himself and replied in monosyllables.

His face which was of normal color became frighteningly pale when he put on the amice. From that moment onward he paid no more attention to anyone. He seemed to be completely absent. Clothed in the sacred vestments, he made his way to the altar. Even though I walked ahead of him for that short distance, I was aware that his gait became more dragging, his face sorrowful. He seemed to stoop always more, as if, I thought, crushed beneath the weight of a gigantic invisible cross.

Once he arrived at the altar he kissed it lovingly and his pale face became inflamed. His cheeks would become crimson, his skin translucent so that one almost saw the flow of blood that rushed to his cheeks.

After the Confiteor, he beat his breast with hollow and heavy blows as if he accused himself of all the worst sins committed by man. His eyes remained closed without being able to prevent big tears that disappeared into his thick beard. At the Gospel, as he announced the Word of God, it seemed as if he fed himself with these words, tasting their infinite sweetness. Immediately after the intimate colloquy between Padre Pio and the Eternal began. This colloquy caused Padre Pio to weep abundant tears that I saw him wipe with a big handkerchief. Padre Pio who had received the gift of contemplation from the Lord, entered into the abyss of the Redemption. The veils of that mystery having been torn by the suffering of his faith and love, all things human disappeared from his sight.

Before his gaze was God alone!

Contemplation gave his soul a balmy gentleness which alternated with mystical suffering which was plainly reflected even physically. Everyone saw Padre Pio suffering. He pronounced the liturgical prayers with difficulty and interrupted by sobs. The embarrassment that Padre Pio felt at being in the presence and the searching gaze of the others was enormous. He would probably have preferred to celebrate Mass in solitude so as to be able to give free reign to his suffering and his indescribable love. His ecstatic soul, on fire with "devouring fire" must certainly have implored from heaven, beneficial flowers of grace.

In those moments Padre Pio lived sensitively and really felt the Passion of the Lord. Time went quickly, but he was outside time! That was why his Mass lasted an hour and a half or probably more. At the Sanctus he raised with great fervor the hymn of praise to the Lord which preceded the divine sacrifice.

At the Elevation his suffering reached its height. In his eyes I read the expression of a mother who assists at the agony of her son on the scaffold, who sees him expire and who, choked with suffering, silently receives the bloodless Body in her arms, able only to give slight caresses. Watching his weeping, his sobbing, I was afraid his heart would burst, that he was about to faint from one moment to the next. God's Spirit had by now penetrated his whole body. His soul was rapt in God. Padre Pio, mediator between Heaven and earth, offered himself with Christ victim for his brothers in exile. Each gesture of his denoted his relationship with God. His heart must have burned like a volcano. He prayed intensely for his spiritual children, for the sick, for those who had already left this world. Every now and then he leaned on the altar on his elbows, probably to relieve his wounded feet from the weight of his body. I heard him repeat often through his tears: "My God! My God!" A spectacle of faith, love, suffering and emotion that reached the point of drama when the Padre raised the host; the sleeves of the surplice came down and his torn, bleeding hands were in the sight of all. Whereas his gaze was on God!

At Communion he seemed to calm down. Transfigured in a passionate, ecstatic abandon, he fed on the Flesh and Blood of Jesus. The incorporation, the assimilation, the fusion was total! How much love emanated from his face! The people, astounded, could not by kneel before that mystical agony, to that total annihilation of himself. The Padre would remain as if stunned as he tasted all the divine sweetness that only Jesus in the Eucharist knows how to give.

So the sacrifice of the Mass would be completed with a real participation of love, of suffering and blood. And it brought about many conversions. At the end of the Mass, Padre Pio wood burn with a fire ignited by Christ in his soul, to draw him. Another suffering would devour him: that of going to the choir loft to remain alone and in silence recollected in prayer to be able to thank Jesus. He would remain immobile as if without life. If someone had shaken him he would not have noticed, so absorbed was he in divine contemplation.

Written by: Bro Modestino Fucci

[3d10fire-damage]

red sun summary (10/08/2020)

the party stood a bit awkwardly in the throne room, alone aside from the guard that escorted them through the palace. the guard didn’t appear fazed by the lack of dragon in this throne room; it seemed normal to her. then the water started to move, as if being displaced somehow. there was the sound of a large creature from behind the rock in the center of the room, and then the shimmery scales of the King rose from the water. the dragon climbed onto the rock and looked down on the party, taking a second to take in the sight. she then looked to her general and commanded her to leave. “your majesty--” “leave.” the guard then bowed and left.

the King remarked that she had told the party not to be in her sight. zoroe replied that the King’s general had brought them here, and calypso agreed that “your lady said it was your law.” during a bit of disrespectful banter about being in Misitu to do some sight seeing, the party downed their Potions of Poison Resistance. zoroe contended they were doing so because they’re heavy drinkers. “you are self-righteous morons who seek to remove me from my kingdom. you have made a mistake.” the King stepped forward, rising to her full height and extending her wings. she looked like a creature out of one’s worst nightmares. “it’s time i showed you what happens when mice stand up to the cat.” calypso meowed. roll for initiative

khaela and davke moved first, dashing along the stone path while the paladin activated her Vow of Enmity on the King. calypso launched the Javelin of Lightning at the King for some lightning damage, then uses Step of the Wind to run up next to davke (since the vines off the path were difficult terrain). Hex cast Protection from Poison on herself. calypso noticed some movement of the vines, and a Shambling Mound emerged from the water and attacked calypso. Ku-aya moved up to engage with the creature while zoroe, bracing for impact, used the naga ability Weave Sensitivity to add a bonus to her saving throws. she then hit the King with Sacred Flame. cluk cast Shatter on the King and Mistral produced a glass bottle and uncorked it, unleashing a harrowing gale of smoke, wind, and dust. the dust settled and revealed a living whirlwind, awaiting Mistral’s command. Mistral then joined the fight against the Shambling Mound. further up the path to the King’s rock, another Shambling Mound crawled out of the water.

the King leaped from her rock and landed heavily near zoroe, cluk, and phosphorra. she glared down at zoroe, saying “i didn’t appreciate that, little snake.” and attacking her with claws and teeth, landing the bite. phosphorra turned invisible again and backed up against the far wall. khaela apologized to the Shambling Mound in front of her (and maybe also her allies?) and Misty Stepped to be engage with the King, now that she had landed. with a bit of a feral look in her eyes, khaela started going ham on the King (with advantage on her attacks thanks to her vow). davke said bye to khaela and looked back and forth between calypso and the Shambling Mound before attacking the mound. calypso used Flurry of Blows on the mound, using the benefit of her Drunken Master techique to then disengage from the mound to run up to the King. she greeted the King with a “hey there, bitch” and zoroe answered with “hello, calypso.” Hex cast Toll the Dead on the Shambling Mound and the mound failed to hit davke.

Ku-aya landed a couple hits on the mound and zoroe summoned a Guardian of Faith just behind the King, taking the form of a shimmering naga baring the symbol of Hvare Khshaeta. cluk hit the King with Shatter again before flying over to the King’s rock in the middle of the throne room. Mistral failed to hit the Shambling Mound but her whirlwind, Sirocco, dealt some damage to the King in her stead. the second Shambling Mound continued its slow way down toward its closest opponents. the King began beating her wings as if she were going to fly again, creating a powerful gust of wind bearing down on calypso, zoroe, and khaela. the monk nimbly managed to avoid any damage from the attack, and zoroe held her ground thanks to her sturdy snake tail, but khaela fell prone from the force of the wind. the King then took to the sky and khaela managed to hit with an opportunity attack from the ground (King also took damage from zoroe’s Guardian). the King took a deep breath and exhaled a cloud of poisonous gas on the three party members she had just attacked. calypso didn’t quite make the CON save, but the poison resistant potions everyone had taken helped with the damage. calypso stubbornly remarked she had smelled worse things, and zoroe added that she’s smelled worse from diapers. the King hung in the air, leaving her out of reach from the melee fighters.

phosphorra cast Fire Ball on the King, also catching the two Shambling Mounds in the blast. this left the first mound “bloodied” and phosphorra then backed up even further. khaela got back to her feet and assumed a defensive stance while davke kept exchanging blows with the first Shambling Mound. calypso, complaining that the King kept running away, stood next to khaela and took the dodge action as well. Hex and Ku-aya kept up the damage on the mound as zoroe took shelter beneath her Guardian of Faith. she then threw a Fire Ball of her own to the King and the mounds, very nearly killing the first Shambling Mound. cluk, perched on the King’s rock, cast Shatter once more... bloodying the King. Mistral finished off the first mound with a critical hit and the second mound swiped and missed davke.

the King, infuriated, dropped onto the rock behind cluk, looming over the bard. “would you stop doing that?” everyone save for Mistral, Ku-aya, and khaela succumbed to the King’s frightening aura. then the King proceeded to tear right into cluk, scoring a critical hit with her claws and teeth in spite of zoroe’s Warding Flare, leaving cluk on her last dregs of strength. a very scared phosphorra used the last of her sorcery points to distantly cast Sanctuary on cluk before firing off an inaccurate Fire Bolt and moving even further away. khaela moved to fight the remaining Shambling Mound while davke continued to be very proud of everyone, in spite of their (and her own) fear. calypso, reaching into her honed monk mind her stubbornness and grit, shook off the fear, telling the King “you don’t scare me, you scaly brat.” Hex focused her attack on the remaining mound, unable to shake the frightened effect of the King. zoroe called out to the dragon “you liked this, right?!” as she fired a Sacred Flame at her. the King turned around on the rock, nearly taking cluk out with her tail whip, but luckily the attack missed thanks to Sanctuary.

wounded and bleeding, cluk got the hell off the King’s rock and zoroe called her over to the Guardian of Faith. cluk landed next to her, slapping her hand like they were in a relay race as zoroe overcame her fear and fretted over cluk’s wounds. Mistral engaged the second mound and her whirlwind, frightened, moved south and assumed a defensive pose. the Shambling Mound, apparently thinking that calypso was a bit too happy to be moving, attacked the tiefling. the King flew over toward this miniature combat, striking davke down before going to hover over the water. phosphorra, still invisible, launched another Fire Ball at the dragon and the mound, dealing full damage (finally). khaela kneeled down to use Cure Wounds on davke to bring her back to consciousness. calypso greeted the naga with a “mornin’ kid” as davke stood up to keep fighting the mound, shaking off her own fear.

calypso landed three hits on the Shambling Mound, leaving the creature looking pretty bad. Hex’s Toll the Dead finished off the creature. calypso shouted to the King “just you left, you green shit!” the dragon beat her wings and flew to the far northern end of the room, surveying the room full of enemies. cluk looked to zoroe with puppy dog eyes, asking for healing. zoroe assured her they’d be okay, patting down her feathers and healing some of her wounds. Ku-aya and Mistral headed further down the path and took the dodge action while Sirocco made the save on the King’s frightening aura.

the dragon landed on her rock, looking rough, panting and bleeding. she spat that the party were vermin, and calypso hit her with “i know you are but what am i?” “you think to challenge me... this royal bloodline that forged its strength and ruled while you worms crawled in the dirt?” the party nodded back at her, expectant. the King growled that she would show the party the true power of her bloodline, then gave a deafening roar. the vines choking the floor shifted and turned the air toxic until a poisonous tornado formed and spread throughout the throne room. zoroe, cluk, and calypso fell unconscious to the poisonous fumes, Hex was dropped very low, while Mistral, khaela, phosphorra, and Ku-aya were hanging in there (Ku-aya, being a ghost, didn’t take any damage). 

then phosphorra cast another Fire Ball on the King, the magical flames overtaking the dragon as she was unable to react in time. the King’s massive body slumped to the rock, falling unevenly before sliding into the water below. in her last moments the King no longer appeared nightmarish, instead looking broken and alone. khaela healed davke again, waking her up. Mistral and the others worked to stabilize their fallen allies. phosphorra immediately healed zoroe so the cleric could assist in healing and waking the others as well. zoroe used Cure Wounds on cluk, then began to send a Healing Word to calypso, only to see that Hex was already taking care of her. once back on her feet, calypso went to retrieve her javelin and to begin extracting one of the King’s teeth. phosphorra said that the group should probably leave soon, though she wasn’t sure what the plan was. Hex replied that they weren’t getting out the same way they came in, prompting zoroe looking to both doors leading out of the throne room, wondering where to go. calypso, covered in blood and vines, carried the dragon tooth over to khaela and offered it to her, as she had drunkenly promised back in Melu. “here's ya dragon fang, fangs.”

Hex suggested the group check for where the King swam in from. zoroe seemed a little nervous about the prospect of swimming out of the palace, not having swam before. Hex and phosphorra both turned to calypso, expecting her to do go swimming and look around for an underwater exit, seeing as she appeared the most fit for swimming. calypso wasn’t entirely convinced, since she had done much swimming herself, having grown up in a desert, so Hex cast Water Breathing on her. she then pushed calypso toward the water, not nearly strongly enough to make her fall, but calypso did a dramatic backwards fall anyway. thanks to a shitty roll, calypso wasted a bit of time searching for an opening in the wall, at one point actually swimming into the wall and hitting her head. eventually though, she found a tunnel that appeared to be a straight shot, large enough for the King to have come through. swimming down the tunnel for a couple minutes, the tunnel’s sides soon opened to an exit. meanwhile, zoroe was fretting at the water’s edge. 

even with her darkvision, calypso wasn’t making out many details in this dark underwater space, besides that she appeared to be in a larger body of water now. coming to the surface, she found herself in a small cavern without any torches, water lapping onto a stone beach. stepping onto the beach and taking a look around, calypso spotted a large makeshift bed, presumably for the King, as well as a tunnel leading further in. while the cavern appeared to be natural, the tunnel looked manmade. satisfied with what she had found so far, calypso returned to the party to report what she saw. there was a bit of banter between her and zoroe about healing that ended with zoroe patting her head and healing her a bit more.

out of concern for other options, it was suggested that someone sneaky check the other door to the throne room, to see what was on the other side, so maybe the party could go that way. again calypso was volunteered for this, though she protested a little, wondering what would happen if guards spotted her and came rushing in. zoroe offered some encouragement, suggested calypso would outrun them. this encouragement appeared to work; “I CAN OUTRUN ANYBODY!” calypso quietly approached the door and opened it silently, peering through to see tons of guards waiting, ready to run into the throne room. with that in mind, the plan was to swim out of here. everyone prepared to go swimming, taking off armor and rolling up sleeves. phosphorra asked Hex if she had anymore Water Breathing spells, to which Hex bluntly said no. zoroe was still worried about swimming, even with calypso insisting she’d help her if she was struggling. then zoroe began counting down for everyone to jump in. naturally, calypso jumped in at 2, then everyone else followed.

next time, DRAGON TREASURE. this was also cluk’s player Lily’s last game unfortunately. she was a lot of fun to play dnd with and we will miss our witty beacon bard.