#this is also how i feel leveling black mage so fair enough

[spoolesofthread]

ffxiv is a good game

[crossroadsdimension]

Reply from @metalmewtwo-kxb on this post Sincere question because I've never played FF games before, but is the gameplay that fun to do? Is it more item grindy, or is it like... more quests and story? Solely grinding for continued gameplay is what turned me off of recent pokemon games, so I'm actually sorta looking for other things that might be better 😅

Good questions! And I'd say that FF14 is very fun, since I've been playing it for the last two and a half years or so.

I'm going to preface the rest of this by saying Final Fantasy 14 specifically is an MMORPG, which means that occasional grinding is a given with this game. NOT for the main story (or "MSQ" for short), since that gives you enough experience to carry you through from start to finish. Some additional content requires grinding (the areas Eureka and Bozja, mainly, as well as grinding levels for additional jobs), but that additional content is not required.

FF14 as a whole is quest heavy, story heavy, and dialogue heavy, but there is a fair amount of combat. There are dungeons and boss fights you have to run for the sake of the story, but generally you only have to run them once for the sake of the plot. They can be run repeatedly for additional bonuses, like gear upgrades, music to be used in certain places, and later, little minion pets (they don't do anything, just look cute) and mounts. But again, that's all optional.

Now, the gameplay itself....I'm gonna have to put the rest of this under the cut because this is getting long.

FF14 has you start with one chosen job at the beginning of the game. You build up your number of skills over the course of leveling up, giving you the time needed to get used to each of your new skills. Like other MMOs, you have a choice between tank jobs, healer jobs, and damage-dealing jobs. The neat thing is that you can pick up all the jobs available on one character. The game is designed with this in mind, so if you don't like the job you start with, you can pick something different later.

For example, I went with Thaumaturge, which advances into Black Mage, and I've stuck with that because exploding things with fireballs is just far too much fun. Playing a job that wants to stay still while casting spells is a little difficult when boss fights require you to move frequently, but I've made it work! Maybe not to the level of efficiency as other players, but I don't really care about that too much.

The combat works this way: there are skills that are "on global cooldown" (meaning you have to wait 2.5 seconds before you can use it again,) and "off-global cooldown" (that have longer wait times). When you start the game, you don't have a lot of skills, so it feels slow when you fight, but the more you level up and the more skills you get, the more complicated fighting can become. I and other players have learned how to "weave" these two kinds of skills together in order to keep damage and/or healing moving, depending on the job type. It took me a bit to get used to, since I'm used to turn-based styles, but I think I've got a good handle on it!

Combat isn't the only type of job available, either -- there are crafting and gathering jobs as well, to make gear and other items that players might want. Like, say, housing items. Or more of those cute minions. Or glamour items to make your armor look stylish. And there's a mini-game attached to these which is also pretty fun!

The "grinding" aspect of FF14 comes about when you want to level multiple jobs. And there are multiple options for that, since the MSQ only has enough XP for one job. The FATE system that I was talking about grinding, for example, is optional side content that is constantly available. Easy XP when you're waiting for queue to pop for dungeon roulette runs...or the PvP system, which has its own set of combat skills separate from the rest of the game.

There's a repeatable quest system too, called "leves," but those are mostly used for crafting/gathering nowadays instead of the combat jobs.

If you want to give the game a try, I can promise that the game's story and music is all fantastic, and there's a free trial that's available on PS4/5, PC, and most recently Xbox. Play up to Level 70 out of 100, get access to the base game and two following expansions (A Realm Reborn, Heavensward, and Stormblood). If you don't want to play it, there's plenty of people who have recorded playthroughs online. Playframe is an easy one to find on YouTube, for example!

I'll be honest, I'm keeping any storyline stuff to a minimum because as much as I want to get more people into the game, if I gush too long I'll give spoilers and there are some surprises that just. Need to be experienced. But needless to say, the story is fantastic and intricate and can make you think some very deep thoughts the further into the game you go. The plot starts very simple -- almost deceptively so -- with your character becoming the Warrior of Light through deeds done and big boss battles fought. And everything progresses from there....

If you don't want to play an MMO, but do want to play an FF game and don't want to worry too much about level-grinding, I've been playing through the Pixel Remasters of FF1-6. The settings for these turn-based RPGs allows you to boost your XP and gold (or gil) gain, completely cutting out any need to grind. I've played FF1-4 so far, and I've started FF5, and I've enjoyed the experience! Especially since FF14, the game that I started with, has references from every single other FF game in the series. So I'm getting the references in reverse!

If you want something more recent that has a Devil May Cry-esque play style, FF16 could be right up your alley. The game also has difficulty settings to make it easier if you're not prepared to handle that kind of play style. The experience given in that game is enough to get you to where you need to for the sake of the plot, too, so I wouldn't have to worry about grinding in FF16.

As for the other games...well, I don't have much experience in the Final Fantasy anthology as a whole, sad to say. I'd love to get more experience, but that's going to take a while.

[enbyleighlines]

Leigh plays Tellius prt 26

I love how this game does not shy away from how fucked up some of the people can be. Like this man was seriously intending on stuffing a laguz and giving it to his child. The anti-laguz prejudice in Daein runs so deep, man.

It was around this moment that I realized that I didn't have a meteor tome for Soren to use on Micaiah, and if I wanted to get that conversation, I needed to steal the meteor tome on this map. Unfortunately, getting Heather close enough to the mage to steal the tome before the mage used up all 5 durability of meteor AND without Heather dying proved to be trickier than anticipated. And once I finally managed to get Heather to the mage in time, it turned out her strength wasn't at a high enough level to steal it.

And so I had to restart the map from the beginning, return to the base, and try to get Heather's strength stat up. I only had enough bxp to level her up twice, but she needed 3 more points of strength. So I gave her blossom and finally, finally, got her strength up to 19.

All of that hard work for one meteor tome. Ugh. I really should have remembered to transfer Calill's meteor tome to the Greil Mercs via Neph or Brom, but I guess I wasn't thinking that far ahead.

Oh, well. At least I managed to pull it off.

And we're back with the Dawn Brigade! I am glad that Sothe reacts so strongly here. I do understand where Micaiah is coming from— she can read Pelleas's heart, and knows that his intentions are good. Even knowing that, I can't help but feel frustrated at this part in the story. I'm not blaming Micaiah, but man. The whole situation just sucks.

However, I am judging Micaiah harshly for this line. What the hell, Micaiah? Why would you even say that? You do know that's the exact reason you shouldn't be joining this war, right?

Anyway, I'm going to skip ahead a couple of maps. The fog of war map was long and boring, and the whole time I was just distracted by how nervous I was about the next one. In order to get all the extra content that I want, I have to A. have Soren attack Micaiah, and B. have Ike attack the Black Knight without dying.

And I was right to be nervous, because this chapter was a nightmare. I lost count of how many times I had to redo this map.

Getting Soren to attack Micaiah was the easy part. He has already become a dodge tank, so I wasn't worried about leaving him within the range of the wyvern knights. I just gave him an Elthunder and he easily wiped them all out.

Anyway, I love this conversation. I really wish Soren and Micaiah got to interact more. I also love how Soren starts out cold and indifferent, but the second Micaiah brings Ike into the equation, Soren's temper flares to life. To be fair, I always thought it would be uncomfortable to interact with Micaiah. I love her, but imagine being around someone who can look into your heart and read your thoughts. I feel like it would feel so violating. Especially for Soren, a man who deeply values his privacy.

On the other hand, getting THIS conversation took a lot of trial and error. It wasn't necessarily getting Ike and the Black Knight to interact that was the hard part. It was 1. ensuring Ike's survival, and 2. making sure that no one else entered the Black Knight's range. Twice I made the mistake of leaving someone in the BK's range. Once it was Boyd, and once it was Soren. And the worst part was, I had battle saves that locked me into those situations, so Both Times I was forced to redo the battle from the beginning. Ugh.

However, at long last, I finally managed to make it to the end of this chapter without losing a single unit. Thank Ashera.

And that's it for this part. This was definitely the hardest part of my playthrough thus far, and I think I need a little break to rest and recover. See you all in part 27!

[nyxicnymph]

Swept Away

A TodoMomo oneshot for Mermay 2021

Shoto Todoroki shifted uncomfortably, feeling cold. He didn't open his eyes, unwilling to take in the damage he was sure was there. He remembered the impact, and the shattering noises of the side of the ship imploding, then an impact on the back of his head, a flash, and nothing more.

He casually wondered if he was dead.

As he drifted, something nagged at the back of his mind. He felt very even in temperature, not something you would normally feel if you were drifting across the surface of the ocean. He also wasn't feeling any splashes from the waves. Thoroughly confused, he opened his eyes.

A woman's face greeted him, her dark eyes gazing into his, her ebony hair drifting around in unidentifiable motions. He gasped in surprise, only to inhale a mouthful of salt water.

Salt water?

"You're awake!" The woman said excitedly, her voice rolling towards him through the water. "Oh, but don't breathe through your mouth, my magic charm only helps you breathe through your nose."

Shoto clamped his mouth shut once he expelled the water from it, and took a good look at the woman before him. She was black haired and fair, wearing a red seaweed top, and a golden belt around the top of her slightly darker red tail. Her fins along her forearms were the same color, and as she swam to grab something, he saw a fin along her back as well.

"You're a siren?" He asked, tentatively, the only possible explanation in his head at the moment.

She turned around and pulled a face. "No. Sirens are half bird predators, with enchanting voices. You wouldn't have woken up if I were a siren. No, I am a mermaid."

"A mermaid," Shoto repeated, his head spinning, no thanks to the throbbing on the back of his skull. He remembered a few lines from even fewer books, but nothing of actual importance. "Mermaids can do magic?" He asked, referring to the magic charm she mentioned before.

The mermaid blushed. "Some can. I learned from the seawitch, Tsuyu. I saw you sinking, and I thought I could help."

Shoto looked at her for a moment, having to brush his hair back before it floated into his eyes. "What's your name? I'd like to thank you properly."

"Oh!" She practically glowed with joy. "Momo Yaoyorozu!"

"Well, Momo Yaoyorozu, I, Shoto Todoroki, would like to thank you for saving my life. I owe you a debt." He attempted to bow to her, but ended up flipping himself over in the water.

Momo giggled as he tried to right himself. "Let me help you." She grabbed one of his hands, and pulled him so he was lateral. With her face inches from his, she told him, "This is the best swimming position. The water flows around you like this. If you intend to change your direction, tilt your body like this." She pushed his upper body around in a few positions.

"That sounds great, but how do I go forward?" He asked in confusion.

She looked at his legs and frowned. "That's a good question. You don't have a tail, so you can't push like I do." She hummed thoughtfully as she looked at his legs. "Hold on to the stalagmite right there, I'm going to test a few things."

Shoto did as she told him, but was unprepared for when she gently grabbed his legs and started moving them. She finished after only a few seconds and swam back up to his face. She then held her hand level with his face, the first two fingers pointing at him. He noted the web between them before she spoke.

"Move your legs like this." She demonstrated an up-and-down motion with her fingers, one going up as the other goes down, and then they reversed.

"Like scissors," he remarked absently.

Momo gazed at him with confusion in her eyes for a moment, not understanding, but then shrugged. "If that's what scissors do, then yes. Like scissors."

Shoto nodded, and kicked. At first, he didn't notice anything, so he kicked harder. He lost his grip on the stalagmite and rammed his head into a kelp-plated boulder. He gently pushed off of it, and rubbed his forehead.

"Now both sides hurt," he mumbled.

Momo shook her head clear. She'd been watching his two-toned hair float aimlessly, but his words hit her as odd. "Both sides?" She asked as she swam up to him.

His eyes met hers, and he nodded. "Front and back."

Momo's eyes widened. "I forgot you were injured! I can't heal things, though. I can only make things." She thought for a minute, tapping one finger against her chin. "Maybe Tsuyu can help." She grabbed his hand. "If you stick with me, you won't get lost. Remember to push! Use your arms if your... err... double tails... aren't enough."

Shoto frowned in confusion. "Double tails? You mean my legs?"

"Yeah, is that what they're called? Use your legs and arms!"

"Momo, I can't use both arms if you're holding my hand," he pointed out bluntly.

Momo felt her face heat up, and released his hand abruptly. "Sorry! I just wasn't sure if you would be able to keep up!"

"Can't you just swim slower?"

Momo let that sink in. "Oh. Yeah! Yes, I can. My apologies!" She turned around and started swimming.

Shoto looked at the hand she had released rather forlornly. He hadn't asked for it to be released, he just was trying to point something out. Then he had to blurt out the "swim slower".

He followed after the mermaid. At least a slower swim would mean more time to get to know her. He was quite intrigued.

He wasn't prepared for the multi-sleep trip.

"Ah, I should have told you that I live quite a ways from Tsuyu. It'll take us about three sleeps before we arrive, at the speed we're going. Here, I'll make you a sand bed." Momo swept her tail across the ocean floor, and placed a clump of seaweed in the middle of the circle she made. "I'm not sure how humans sleep, but we tend to sleep in circles, with our tails curled up. You can rearrange the bed however you like. I'll be over here," she said, pointing to a spot a little ways away. "You may also wish to use the kelp to cover yourself, should a shark come near."

Shoto nodded, and swam towards the kelp, intent on trying to figure out how he was going to lay down. He flinched when Momo suddenly clapped.

"I'll just make a shelter around us! I can't believe I've never done that!" She swam a ways away, then started swimming in a circle around the two sand beds, tracing her finger in the sand. Where her finger touched, a wall of coral started to rise. It flowed together into a dome over their heads. She snapped, and the coral flowed apart in a few spots, creating some doorways and windows.

Shoto watched her in amazement. He'd seen a few mages on land, but none with the skill and competence that she was exhibiting. The detail that the coral grew in at her command was impressive. He could easily tell the door handles from the hinges. He looked at Momo in wonder and awe.

She released the magic, and turned to catch him staring at her, his mouth hanging open just slightly. "Are you okay, Shoto?"

He shook his head, then pushed his hair aside. "You're very accomplished. I've never seen anyone so good at magic, and I've met several mages in my father's business."

Her face warmed, and she swam to float next to him. "You've met magic users above?"

He gazed at the ceiling. "A few. Mostly storm mages, since my father's company trades through a lot of the more dangerous trading routes. He's a fire mage, and I got that, and my mother's ice mage talents, but I don't like to show those off. I'm not talented enough."

"So you're a... mage... too? Fire and ice?" She asked, not sure what those were.

He understood her, though. "I'm not sure if they'll work underwater. Ice might work too well down here. Can you make a waterproof box or something?" He asked her, turning to face her better.

She tucked a stray lock behind her ear. "I can try. If you stay there, I'll make it around you. But then I won't be able to make anything until I find something to eat."

Shoto paused. "Then don't. We do need to find something to eat, though."

Momo smiled. "I have a fishnet."

Shoto looked bewildered. "Isn't that cannibalism??? Or something?"

Momo shook her head. "Our tails aren't actually connected to fish. Sometimes there are many similarities, but they aren't the same." She swam outside. "I'll be back soon. Don't go out, you can't read the ocean like we can," she said in an informative tone.

He nodded, and watched her swim away.

Timeskip: Three days later

"We're here!" Momo exclaimed excitedly.

Shoto flagged behind her. "I'm glad."

"Wait, are you okay? Did I push you too hard? Should I have invited Tsuyu to my place instead of dragging you here when you were injured and new to swimming?" Momo fretted.

"No, I enjoyed the trip, Momo. I got to know you, and it was an interesting experience," He said, honestly and earnestly, his dual eyes shining. "It's just the pressure is very intense down here, and I'm not a great swimmer." He cleared his throat. "But I wouldn't trade the experience for anything."

Momo turned red, and turned away from him. "I- That's so nice of you. Let's see if Tsuyu can help you at all."

"You should have sent a message fish," A croak-like voice said from behind them. "And why is there a human here?"

Momo spun around in surprise. "Tsuyu! I can explain!"

Tsuyu raised an eyebrow, her flippers twitching. "I hope so."

After Momo explained everything, Tsuyu took a look at Shoto. "Well, at this point, his injuries are mostly healed up. The problem is, he's a human, under hundreds of thousands of gallons of water. If he wants to return to the surface, it might be even more harmful than just staying here. How did he get here without dying?"

Momo shifted a bit. "He was sinking. He was almost at the bottom when I found him."

Tsuyu looked at her. "Still alive, even though he can't breathe water?"

Momo shrugged. "He was close to death, and I couldn't let him die. That's what the charm around his neck is for. It's kept him alive so far."

Shoto nervously fingered the necklace he had barely noticed. "Can I stay here?" When the ladies both looked at him, he looked at the floor. "I don't want to go back."

Momo looked at him with compassion, her eyes lingering on the scar on his face. Tsuyu looked at him more analytically. "Why?"

Shoto shrugged. "I'd rather prefer if my family thinks I'm never coming back. My father is not a good person, he's already run off the majority of my family in one way or another. I don't want to go back." If he could have cried underwater, he would have.

Momo rushed to him, but wasn't sure how to comfort him. Tsuyu gazed at him for a moment more. Then she spoke.

"Well, then I have a bargain for you." Shoto looked at her, confusion in his eyes. "You can become one of us, though it's a painful process, it's not undoable." When Shoto's eyes gleamed, she continued. "But. Everyone you know on the surface will forget about you. Not just your father, but siblings, your mother, any friends you might have had, everyone who's met you or knows about you." She raised an eyebrow at him. "Your choice. An equal amount of pain for if you choose to return. Your body will be in pain for days as you readjust to the surface pressure, and you will forget about your time here."

Shoto looked at Tsuyu for a minute or two, weighing his options. He looked at Momo, then his hands, then up towards the surface. He whispered, "I'm sorry, Mom."

When he met Tsuyu's eyes again, his were tinged slightly pink. "I'm choosing to stay here."

Tsuyu nodded, pulled a few hairs out of his head, and swam over to an enclosure holding a variety of fish. "Then let's get to it. Momo, I would suggest you go outside for a few minutes. Maybe swim around, or plug your ears."

Momo swallowed and nodded. She gave Shoto a hug, and swam outside.

Shoto turned to face Tsuyu, who dropped the hairs and the fish in a cauldron he hadn't noticed earlier. She threw a few more ingredients into the cauldron, snapped her padded fingers, and extracted a silver fluid from the pot. She placed it in a glass, and brought it over to him.

"Now listen, very carefully, Shoto Todoroki. This potion will do a few things." As he nodded, she continued. "It is going to temporarily mute you, so that you don't hurt yourself screaming. Then it will start the transformation. It should only take about five minutes, but you will probably be unconscious for a while. Once the transformation is complete, your voice will return." She grabbed his shoulder. "Are you still willing to go through with this?"

Shoto nodded, his gray eye looking steely. "I'm ready."

Tsuyu handed the glass to him, and he quaffed it down. He felt it trickling down his throat, and then the burning started. He crumpled over, as well as one can crumple in water, releasing the glass before he gripped it too hard and shattered it.

The feeling was like an intense rash, on his neck, the sides of his arms, his spine, and his legs. But, even if his voice hadn't been muted, he wouldn't have yelled. He went into this knowing what to expect, and he'd been through many painful situations. He closed his eyes and retreated inside himself to wait out the process.

When he opened his eyes again, Momo was waiting for him. He smiled at her, and took off her charm. He handed it back to her, saying. "I believe this belongs to you."

Momo smiled back, and pushed his hand back. "Keep it. I made it for you. Even if you don't need it anymore, keep it to remember me by."

"Why would I need it to remember you? I don't plan to leave you, Momo. You're why I decided to stay," he told her. He flexed his new tail. "Besides, you're the best swimming teacher I know, and I don't know how to use this yet."

Momo covered her face. "Uh, ok! I guess I can help you, and you can stay... With me. B-but! You'll have to get a house with the clan once you've mastered swimming!" She poked his nose. "For... reasons."

Shoto wrapped her in a hug. "Ok, Momo."

Tsuyu watched them embrace, then started drawing dates on the cave wall, trying to guess how long they'd stay "platonic".

The End!

[osakasshitpit]

I love Final Fantasy XIV

So I’ve been playing Final Fantasy XIV, and after playing for around 180 hours, I haven’t even finished A Realm Reborn. Normally, 180 hours is an insane time frame for a game to manage and hold my attention. Persona 5 Royal was 180 hours of game time, and that was slowly outstaying its welcome. FFXIV must be doing something right, because just recently I went to a convention and bought a Y’shtola Keychain in a heartbeat. I haven’t had time to play XIV a lot prior to this, since I was stupidly grinding Praetorium for days and got burned out. I haven’t played much in 2 months, and Y’shtola only really has a minor role during A Realm Reborn’s Storyline. Despite that, I started in Limsa and Y’shtola stuck with me since then. I just had to buy that keychain. My girlfriend asked me about it and despite me staying away from the game after being burned out, I explained to her in great enthusiasm why I loved Y’shtola and why I loved the game so much. I think that’s the first time I really realized how attached I was to this world, these characters, this game.

I came to FFXIV after having played WoW from Vanilla through WotLK, after having barely ever touched a MMO since quitting WoW. Honestly, I was very skeptical of XIV but holy fucking shit did it ever win me over. They are completely different games, mind you, but that is a good thing in my opinion.

So here is the longest tumblr rant post I have written so far, I think.

To be fair, the first 20 levels or so were kinda slow. You get thrown into the deep end and get bombarded with lore and characters, terms and phrases that you don't understand. For fucks sake, the opening cutscene shows Louisoix fighting Bahamut front and center. Its this big, epic moment of sacrifice, but to someone who has not played 1.0 and who doesn't know anything about the lore, this just zips right past you. During the main story of ARR, they keep talking about Louisoix and how important he is, but you haven't even seen the guy because he died before the game even started. I only really realized this today, it took me 180 hours and a look at the wiki to connect the dots. It really is a slow burn, but that slow burn was okay because everything else was so fantastic.

While the world can arguably be more subdued than Azeroth in parts, there is still this distinctive style that I quickly fell in love with. It’s fantastical, but it still feels grounded. Part of that has to do with how the game introduces you to the world, and how the main story quests explain to you the lore bit by bit. I feel like much of the world design of WoW was down to “the rule of cool”. Now, I’m not saying XIV doesn’t have that, but I feel like XIV always goes the extra mile to explain why this cool shit is here. Everything you see out there in the world feels like it has a purpose, a reason to be there and an explanation on how it works. The factions make sense, the political conflicts you get entangled in are believable. I feel like I am kind of biased to be honest. What got me to play FFXIV in the first place was seeing that Viera are a playable race. I’m a sucker for Final Fantasy, not in short part to my memories of Playing Final Fantasy Tactics and XII. XII is still my favorite game in the series, and much of that has to do with the world, Ivalice. Viera were always my favorite race of the ones seen in Ivalice. Seeing as you can play a Viera in XIV, I just had to try. Thinking about it, XII and XIV have a lot in common when it comes to world building.

One of the weirdest things to acclimate for me was how FFXIV handles story. I was used to WoW, where story was basically non-existent and you did what you did to see numbers rise and to unlock now content you could do. You are basically never involved in the story of WoW, you are just kind of there for the ride. In FFXIV, you are the main character. You are involved in what happens at all times, and that is kinda strange coming from WoW. At first I thought I wouldn’t like it, but the game made it work in my opinion. I also didn’t expect there to be so much of story to begin with. Kind of ironically the moment I realized just how much there was to experience was when I went through Ul’dah and saw a blue quest. Now, blue quest markers mean there is some content you can unlock by doing this quest. A lot of these are kinda short, with a bit of dialogue and some bits of lore for you to enjoy and I thought this one would be no difference. After all, the hook is basically just to help this lady mourn for the death of a friend. What I got was a fabulous detective adventure that spanned over the entire continent, where in I had to help the worlds most manly detective uncover the secret behind a mysterious phantom thief. To say the least, this 21 quest long quest line brought be hours upon hours of joy and had me in stitches throughout. And it was completely optional. I don’t think I even remember a single moment from any quest in WoW that made me this excited for it, optional or otherwise.

Ultimately these are very different games that try very different things.

Dungeons and Raids were a different thing. I remember when I rolled a new character for WotLK and wanted to do karazhan because I used to like doing that raid with my guild back in TBC. I could not for the live of me find a group willing to do it, because everyone was way more focused on the new content, so they could get better gear. Regardless, it just wouldn’t have been the same experience anyways I fear, because the new gear from the new Dungeons outclassed the raid gear from TBC, so karazhan would be way easier and a much different experience. In FFXIV, every dungeon is level synced by default, meaning if a higher level character joins, they get basically downgraded to the level the dungeon was designed for. Couple that with the Duty Roulette feature and suddenly, there was always someone to do any given dungeon with. I remember when I had to do the crystal tower raids and thought “why would they tie main story progression to a raid, I will never find a group to do that properly” but low and behold, I found a group within 30 minutes or less and raided through the entire set of raids within a day. Dungeons and Raids are generally a very pick up and play thing in FFXIV. To be fair, dungeons got easier and more pick up and play in WoW too, but Raids were always the endgame thing where you had to gear up and learn to play. In FFXIV, much more lenient. No corpse walking required. I say this, but I have yet to do the Coils of Bahamut or any Savage Raids. I have only heard that there is plenty of hardcore raid content for those who want that.

That’s nothing to say about the actual gameplay. FFXIV is a tab-target MMO, like so many others, but it manages to keep this kind of gameplay fresh by introducing a lot of mechanics that make the game more active than the typical “I stand here and hit my rotation a lot”. For starters, most enemies have special abilities that you can actually dodge by moving out of the way. There will a area marker on the floor and everyone within that area will be hit. It starts out easy, but later dungeons really start kicking your ass with this mechanic. You really need to say on your toes. In addition, every class is extremely different. They all have special mechanics unique to them, special meters and resources they will have to manage during combat and so on. For example, a Red Mage (the class I’m playing currently), has two meters that fill up as you cast spells. They generally have two types of spells, white and black magic. Each type fills its respective bar. Once they are both full enough, you can go in and do a more powerful melee rotation. However, if one bar is fuller than the other, the other bar will fill up slower. Since you need to fill both, you want to balance that out. You get instant casts for spells after performing a damaging spell, and you have some spells with a short cast time and good damage output that you want to cast and then use the instant cast of to cast a more damaging spell that has a long cast time. But these short cast, good damage spells require a you get from casting a spell of the respective type. So, in essence, you want to balance your use of black and white magic, but you also want to use the proc you get from casting your white and black magic, which means you cast more of the type which inherently unbalances your gauges. It becomes this micromanagement game you play with your procs and instant casts, so you can go in and do the big, flashy sword combo. And that’s just the red mage at around 50. Every class has something like this, and it’s all unique to them. Learning a class is not just learning the rotation and spells you have anymore, it’s really learning how to effectively play your class. Also, positioning. Some abilities do more damage from certain positions, so you will have to dance around an enemy to hit all the sweet spots with classes like monks. These complexities get introduced slowly as you level up, so you have plenty of time to learn the mechanics. My favorite feature might be the class system itself, though. In FFXIV, you aren’t limited to one class for the entire duration of your characters career. You can, from a certain point forwards, choose any class you wish and level that up instead. You can freely switch between classes outside of combat, too. If you are dedicated enough, you can level them all up to max, even. This means if you don’t like a class or the direction a class is going in, you can switch. I for my part started as an arcanist, so I unlocked Summoner at 30. I played Summoner up to 50 but I was just not meshing as well with the direction the summorer went in. So, I switched to Red Mage and after some getting used to, Its now my new favorite. Arcanists are special, because you actually unlock two classes at 30, so I also unlocked Scholars. Scholars are healers and that became my main dungeon class, since queue times are way shorter for healers. This would be unthinkable in WoW, and love the fact this is a thing here.

If I had to describe it, WoW is an MMO with RPG Elements, while FFXIV is a JRPG with MMO elements. I didn’t know I needed that, but in retrospect, it makes sense. The thing that really killed my progress in WoW was that I didn’t have anyone to play with anymore. My friends all dropped from the game and while I generally like doing solo content from time to time, I’m pretty introverted, after all... MMORPGs are usually most fun with friends. Final Fantasy XIV is a JRPG first, an MMO second. There is so much to keep your attention as a solo player, its nuts. All my friends who play this game, play on a different data center, so I can’t even visit them. Despite that, I had a lot of fun in my time with the game.

My experience with the game was incredibly positive, and I don’t think it will get worse from here. Everyone keeps telling me how great Heavensward is. I just have to finish 16 more quests and I’ll be able to see for myself what the fuss is about.

Honestly, if I had to say anything negative, it would be how longwinded ARR is. I mean, its not bad by any means, but I can see how someone could be turned off by this huge storyblock. Worst of all is, after you hit 50 and reach the end of ARR’s story line, there are 80 quests before you can even start with Heavensward. Since everyone keeps going on about how great it is, it’s kind of annoying how long you have to work to even get to it. In retrospect, it kinda makes sense though. These quests are meant to be played over months and months throughout a update cycle and bridge the narrative gap between one storyblock and the next, but holy fucking shit why did it have to be THAT long. They even cut like 20 of the quests from this already insanely long quest line. What the fuck. This is supposed to be an epilogue to ARR and it feels like I played a whole fucking JRPG in between ARR and Heavensward. Oh well. Thankfully, they learned from this and made the post-story blocks shorter.

I will just say that I can recommend this game. You should give it a try. Just... try not to drop the game before it gets really, really good.

[twistedtummies2]

Mia Corazón (Commission)

Another commission I got via my FA page. This is from the same person who commissioned “Tick Tock” and “A Grim Dinner.” It features his OC based on Tick Tock the Crocodile, Tock Crockwork...BUT, more importantly, it also acts as an introduction to his newest OC, Caelyum De Macabre - a character based on Davy Jones (with hints of Tia Dalma) from “Pirates of the Caribbean.”  And it’s NOT A KINK STORY. HERESY, I KNOW. I had a LOT of fun with this one; my only major regret is that I couldn’t make it longer than it already is. XD Also, just for the sake of making sure people know, I did not make up the lyrics to the song featured here. They’re actually fan-made lyrics for Davy Jones’ theme from the movies, originally created by a YouTube artist called Fiajela. I highly recommend looking up the song - it’s been covered by her and Man on the Internet, and they even made a duet version with the two stitched together. Anyway...hopefully you all enjoy. :)

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Valentine’s Day had come to Night Raven College. As you and Grim walked through the halls of the dark castle, you couldn’t help but chuckle at the decorations: pink paper hearts and streamers of white and crimson were everywhere, making it feel almost as if Heartslabyul had somehow managed to take over the entire palatial academy. Grim frowned up at you, trotting at your side, trident tail swishing as he went. “Nya? What’s so funny, Minion?” he demanded to know. “Nothing, nothing,” you responded with a shake of your head. “It’s just…everything looks so different.” Grim sniffed snootily, crinkling his nose at a poster of two young lovers embracing. “I don’t like it,” he remarked. “It’s all…mushy. It just doesn’t feel right for a School of Villains to be so…nya, what’s a good word…?” “Sentimental? Sappy? Saccharine?” “Gross,” was the word Grim chose, sticking out his tongue and shuddering like a small boy afraid of getting the dreaded cooties. You snorted with laughter. “Well, bring it up to the Headmaster,” you smirked, stuffing your hands in your pockets as you went. “I’d rather not,” Grim grumped. “Besides, we all know Crowley would just ramble on about it, or say he’ll get things done and never do…how come he’s Headmaster, anyway? He doesn’t do anything!” “Your guess is as good as mine,” you shrugged. “All I know is the only home I have is thanks to him, as is the only job. I’d like to keep both, thank you.” Grim shrugged back with an accepting sort of rumble as the two of you ascended the spiral staircase that led up to the Headmaster’s Office. Crowley had sent a call that morning; classes were dismissed for the day, so the university was a little quieter than usual: many of the students were off visiting family or loved ones, and those that were hanging around the campus still were largely engaged in…ahem…PRIVATE affairs. You, of course, could not leave; at least for now, Night Raven was your home, and as you were currently not in a relationship, Valentine’s Day wasn’t much different than any other day. Not that you minded much; it was still nice, in your mind, to see others happy and relaxed, and a holiday was a holiday, at any rate…though it seemed even St. Valentine’s holiday would not be saving you from helping clean up whatever mess Crowley needed dealt with this time. As you passed an image of two small, fluffy kittens holding a heart, a random thought came to your head: “Grim?” “Nya?” “Have you ever wanted to be in love?” “Not really,” the cat-like monster said. “Love is all…icky.” You frowned. “Icky?” you repeated. “All the kissing and hugging and…bleh!” Grim shuddered again, then went on: “Besides, it seems awfully difficult; makes you humans and even beast-men all crazy. I’ve got too much to deal with as it is, thank you very much! Nope. The World’s Greatest Mage won’t ever let love make him all soppy.” Grim stuck out his fluffy chest proudly at this, sticking his nose in the air. You smirked, and paused, reaching down to scratch behind his ears. He froze up…then purred and nuzzled into your touch. “Purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…o-okay…maybe I love some things,” he admitted.

“Good kitty,” you teased, and snickered as Grim growled at you and half-heartedly swiped at your hand with a paw. You retracted it and the two of you kept moving. “Come on. The sooner we deal with Crowley, the faster we can get to our own stuff.” Grim nodded, as the pair of you drew nearer to Crowley’s office. You knocked on the door and waited for the sing-song call of “Come in!” before entering. Inside the office, things looked the same as ever, floating portraits of the Great Seven and all…aside from a vase of roses, plus a couple of heart-shaped ornaments on the desk, as well as the fact the purple-and-green curtains had been exchanged for solid red velvet drapes. Dire Crowley himself was seated behind his desk, sorting through paperwork, dressed in his usual attire. His feathery cloak rustled as he lifted his top-hatted head, and smiled at both yourself and Grim as you shut the door to the office behind you, his yellow eyes sparkling behind his Plague-Doctor-esque Venetian mask. “Ahhh! Prefect of Ramshackle Dorm! And the Little Monster!” he greeted warmly, rising and waving his hands, bidding you closer as he stepped around his desk. “Come, come, you’re right on time!” “On time for what, dare we ask?” Grim meowed. “Aren’t you celebrating Valentine’s Day, too, Headmaster?” you asked, politely. “Later,” Crowley smirked, winking and tapping the side of his mask’s long nose. “I’ll be entertaining a cute little fairy sorceress from the Land of Oz later tonight.” He let out a dreamy sigh, placing a hand to his heart. “Ahhh, Miss Upland…one day, you will be mine…” You and Grim gave each other a look, shrugged, then turned back to Crowley. “What’s the problem, then?” you asked, knowing better than to think this was a social call. By now, Crowley had firmly established yourself and Grim as the chief problem solvers of the Academy, so it stood to reason he had a mission for your both. “Oh! Yes, well,” Crowley muttered, and cleared his throat, adjusting and straightening his stance before going on in a business-like way: “As I’m sure you’ll both know, tonight there’s a special performance, directed by our own Vil Schoenheit, for the holiday.” “Nya? Isn’t it that play about the Sea Witch?” Grim checked, tilting his head. “Correct,” nodded the Headmaster. “And the Little Mermaid she assisted. We have a special guest coming to see the show tonight…” He reached into the folds of his cloak and pulled out a small photograph, handing it over to you. You knelt down to get closer to Grim’s level, and showed him the photo as you both looked it over: the picture was a portrait of a dark-skinned mermaid, with hair black as ebony and scales of red and gold. Her eyes were brown and soft and warm as milk chocolate, and a silver locket in the shape of a heart was clasped about her throat. “Oooh…she’s pretty!” Grim smiled. “Very,” you agreed with a smile of your own. “She,” the Headmaster spoke up, “Is Young Lady Mia Corazón. Her family is one of the richest in the Coral Sea.” “Which is why you invited her,” you guessed, trying not to sound as bored as you were. To your surprise, Crowley answered, “I didn’t invite her! She wanted to see the show on her own…but there is one difficulty: her family insists that she be accompanied by at least two bodyguards at all times. Much like the Al-Asims, they’ve had…ISSUES in the past, and if their daughter is going to be on land for a spell, her parents want to make sure she’s adequately protected.” “That’s fair enough,” you supposed. “Let me guess,” sighed Grim, crossing his arms, “You want us to be the bodyguards then?” “Well, I suppose I COULD hire professionals,” Crowley murmured, scratching his chin in thought. “But they can cost a lot…I’d probably end up having to cut your pay just to-” “Forget it,” you grumbled, while Grim growled and slapped a paw to his forehead. “We’ll do it. But something is worrying me, if you don’t mind my bringing it up.” “What’s that?” “Are you sure WE’RE the right ones for this job?” you pressed, then before Crowley could speak up, you went on quickly: “We’ll do it, like I said, but…are you certain we should?” “How do you mean?” the Headmaster questioned, tilting his head. “Well, we’re not from the Coral Sea,” you explained. “Wouldn’t someone from that area be a better choice? Perhaps Azul could loan out the Leech Twins for a day!” Both Grim and Crowley looked at you as if you had grown a second skull. “…Right,” you sighed, quickly catching on. “Azul. ‘Loan’ us the Leech Twins. And us NOT expect things to go HORRIBLY wrong, one way or another. Yeah, that was a dumb suggestion, sorry.” Crowley chuckled and shook his head. “I have every confidence in you,” he said, with a wide smile. “You’ve solved so many problems in the past! And it’s only for tonight! What could possibly go wrong?” “Well, great, now something will DEFINITELY become a problem,” Grim grumbled. “Look, it’s not that I’m ungrateful,” you pressed on, “Or even that I’ve got a whole lot else to do, just…I’m worried because I don’t have magic. And Grim is…well…Grim.” “Hey!” Grim yapped indignantly. “I could roast any bad guy’s butt if they tried to get to Miss Coronation!” “Corazón,” corrected the Headmaster. “Whatever,” shrugged Grim. Crowley rolled his eyes, then turned his head upward. “You do raise a good point though, Prefect,” he conceded. “I didn’t think of that…at the very least, you two will need some help.” You were just about to agree…when suddenly, you heard Grim shiver. Both you and Crowley looked down as the cat-like demon quivered and hugged himself, the fire in his ears flickering. “Are you okay?” you asked, worriedly. “Y-Yeah,” Grim answered with a slight chattering of his teeth. “But…does anybody else feel like it suddenly got colder in here?” Now that Grim mentioned it, you DID suddenly feel a light chill crawl up and down your back…and it wasn’t too long afterward that the source of the cold made its presence known. With an authoritative BANG, the Headmaster’s office door burst open, causing both yourselves and Crowley to yelp and jump in alarm. You turned around fast, and gulped nervously as you perceived the imposing figure of Chief Jehan – the school’s head of security, garbed as ever in his military style cap and long, black trenchcoat. “Headmaster,” the darkly dressed security chief intoned, bowing his head respectfully to Dire Crowley, “Forgive this intrusion.” “Oh, it’s alright, Claude,” Crowley sighed out, then frowned. “Whatever is the matter?” “I apprehended this rule-breaking scallywag in the school cafeteria,” Jehan stated, indicating a second figure. “Ow! OW! H-Hey, let go of me, you old…! I’ll bite your legs off, you hear me?!” You and Grim were surprised to see the short, thick-hipped, green haired figure struggling in the icy grip of Claude Jehan, trying to pull away as his ear was all but being yanked from the side of his cranium. “Tock?” the two of you chorused. Tock Crockwork just snarled as Jehan glared at him. He tried to return the glower, but it came off more akin to a wounded animal trying to look tough than…well…looking tough. Crowley’s frown deepened, and he stepped past you and Grim – uttering a quiet, “One moment please” – before approaching the chief and the unruly Octavinelle student. “What is the meaning of this?” the Headmaster boomed. The Security Chief pushed Tock forward, releasing his ear. Tock stumbled a bit and caught himself, massaing his sore lobe. “This young ruffian,” Jehan explained, “Started a brawl with Mr. Bucchi over the last Deluxe Menchi Katsu Sandwich. As the latter student was merely defending himself, I felt his punishment should be more lenient; both have been banned from the cafeteria for the rest of the week…but as the one who started the whole affair…” He trailed off as Tock growled rather pathetically, looking down at the floor sullenly. Crowley scowled and hummed thoughtfully, clearly trying to determine a fitting punishment. Your eyes, as well as Grim’s, widened, and you looked to each other. “Grim,” you whispered, “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” “I think so, Minion, but a show about a math teacher who’s also a criminal mastermind? Who’d want to watch that?” You facepalmed. “What are you two whispering about?” Jehan asked, suspiciously, as Tock and Crowley both looked to you as well. “I think I know a way to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak,” you suggested. “You mean, a way to deal with Mr. Crockwork while also dealing with your dilemna?” Crowley guessed. “Exactly.” “Dilemna? What dilemna?” Tock asked. You grinned.

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“Thanks for sticking up for me, snack meat,” Tock groused, petulantly pouting as he walked by your side. “You’re the one who decided to pick a fight with the hyena,” you shrugged. “Honestly, I think I did you a favor.” “Nya…my Minion has a point,” Grim nodded. “Do you really think things would have been better if Crowley had decided to punish you himself?” “Or worse,” you put in, grimly, “Leave you to Chief Jehan?” All three of you shuddered, and Grim even crossed himself at the mention of the security chief. “Fine, I guess that’s fair,” Tock grumbled. “But I don’t like having to protect a fish filet from harm. I eat fish!” “Well, you won’t be eating Mia Corazón,” you sniffed. “Alright…guess I’ll just have to eat YOU instead,” smirked Tock, and licked his sharp teeth. Grim mewed and hid behind your leg. You blushed. “…We’ll worry about that later,” you grumbled, making Crockwork snicker with a wicked smile. “For now, let’s focus on getting you some actual lunch.” “You ARE an actual lunch,” snorted Tock. “I am not on the menu!” you snapped, flushed with embarrassment as Tock gave you a knowing grin. “Well…not till your work is done,” he teased, winking deviously, then smirking down at Grim. “Maybe I’ll have the little hairball for an appetizer, too…” Grim hissed at being referred to as a “hairball,” but said nothing. “Do you always have to be so antagonistic?” you sighed. “It’s what keeps getting you into trouble, you know.” Tock just shrugged carelessly, hips swaying as he walked side by side with you. “So, where are we heading?” he asked. “Can’t go to the cafeteria, and the Mostro Lounge is way too expensive…” “The Mystery Shop,” you answered. “I’m sure Sam’s got something in stock for us all to snack on before we head to the beach to pick up our special guest.” “Nya! Between my fiery awesomeness, my Minion’s brains, and lizard-breath’s strength, we’ll be the best bodyguards ever!” declared Grim. “Call me ‘lizard breath’ again,” Tock warned, “And we’ll be back down to two people, fuzz-face.” “Fuzz-face?!” Grim snapped. “How’d you like to BURN off a few of those calories you’re so proud of, hah?!” “Girls, girls, you’re both pretty,” you droned. The pair glared at you, then each other…then growled in unison as they stopped. “Thank you,” you sighed with relief. “Now, let’s be on our best behavior: I don’t want Sam’s Friends to give us a hard time…” As you spoke, your little trio reached the entrance to Mr. S’s Mystery Shop, and the three of you walked inside. Aside from a simple banner reading “Happy Valentine’s Day!” over the door, the shop was completely as it usually was…at least on the outside. To be fair, once you all entered the building, the store within seemed its usual self, too; no heart-shaped décor here, only the usual assortment of voodoo accessories. The strange part came when you not only realized Sam was nowhere to be seen…but you all also noticed who was tending to the store. Or rather, what. “Crabs?” all three of you gasped in surprise. Sure enough, crawling all over the Mystery Shop was an assortment of strange white sand crabs. Their shells seemed to have been made from smooth, ivory-colored stone…and as if the presence of the pale decapods wasn’t bizarre enough, their activities certainly would have gotten some unusual reactions. A few of the crabs were straightening out and sorting through items on the shelves, making sure everything was in top-notch condition. One crab was holding a miniature broom, while the other held a dustpan, the pair of them sweeping the floor. Still another crab was changing a lightbulb, while two more – clicking their claws encouragingly – were supervising. A bunch of crabs carrying a spray bottle and a wash cloth scuttled past you all, near your feet. Yourself and Croc stepped back, but Grim – with typical feline curiosity – leaned down and actually sniffed at one of the crustaceans… “ME-YOWCH!” he yelped, and jumped back, mewling and covering his muzzle after one of the crabs pinched his nose with their pincer. The crab seemed to strut away importantly afterward. “Heh…guess the crab cake bit back, huh?” teased Tock. Grim just growled and massaged his stinging snout. “This is new,” you muttered. “Where’d all these little guys come from?” “Cruel and cold, like winds on the sea. Will you ever return to me? Hear my voice sing with the tide: My Love Will Never Die…” The melodious voice soon sang into your ears, and you and your companions looked towards the source. In a corner of the shop, a lone figure was quietly mopping, and singing the lonely, haunting sea shanty you had heard. The figure was a young and slender man, dressed in a tan-colored jacket with ruffle-ended sleeves, and a brown hip-skirt. His legs were covered by dark beige trousers, while plain brown boots were on his feet. A fishnet scarf was loosely slung about his shoulders, almost like a shawl, and an orange muscle shirt festooned his abdomen. His hair was a curious pink hue, and done up in dreadlocks. “Ahem!” you coughed, catching the young man’s attention. He froze and looked up to you, blinking his brown eyes. For a moment, you noticed there was a look of pain and something…hollow in his face, as if something inside of him was missing and he longed to get it back. An overwhelming feeling of loneliness and sorrow seemed to wash over you…but it disappeared in an instant when the youth smiled. “Oh! Ahoy there! Didn’t hear you come in,” he greeted, bowing his head respectfully as he put the mop in its bucket and then walked towards you and your group. “Can I help you?” “Well, you can start by telling us who you are, and what happened to Sam,” Grim frowned. The young man chuckled, flipping his fishnet scarf over one shoulder. “Sam is taking the day off for the holiday,” he explained, then slowly added, “I don’t…make merry on Valentine’s Day, so I volunteered to keep the shop open and do some cleaning.” “Well, that answers one question,” Tock snorted, crossing his arms over his chest and lookin the taller youth up and down. “Mind answering the other?” “Oh! Right, right,” the young fellow chuckled, and cleared his throat before giving a mock-salute and answering: “Name’s Caelyum. Caelyum De Macabre. I’m Sam’s new assistant.” “Pleased to meet you,” you smiled, and shook Caelyum’s hand, and tilted your head. “Say…can I call you Cael for short?” The young man’s smile flickered, and he paused before quietly beseeching, “I’d…rather you didn’t, thank you.” “No problem, I’m sorry,” you apologized quickly. “Not at all, not at all,” the young man chuckled, and straightened his stance, recovering quickly. “So! What can I do for you, me hearties? Supplies, clothes?” “Food,” growled Tock. “I’m STARVING.” Caelyum chuckled and jabbed a thumb to one part of the shop. “You’ll find everything you need in that direction.” Tock nodded, and sashayed in the direction De Macabre had indicated. Caelyum smiled back at you and Grim in the meantime. “You’re the Prefect of Ramshackle Dorm, right?” he guessed. “That’s right,” you nodded. “It’s nice to meet you, then,” Caelyum smiled. “Sam’s told me all about you: he says you’re his favorite customer.” “He says that about everyone,” Grim snorted. Caelyum chuckled and knelt down. He extended a hand carefully. Grim sniffed it carefully…then smiled and allowed the shopkeeper’s assistant to pet him softly. “You have a beautiful singing voice,” you couldn’t help but comment. Caelyum looked up in surprise…then blushed a bit. “Oh, uh…you heard a little of that, did you?” he chuckled with embarrassment. “Nya! It sounded really sad, but…it was also really nice,” Grim mewed. “Thanks,” Caelyum said as he stood back up to his full height. “What song was that?” you asked, curiously. “I’ve never heard it before. Is it from your homeland?” Caelyum’s smile fell, and he looked askance. “Not exactly,” he murmured, then informed you aloud, in a matter-of-fact way: “It’s a song from the Coral Sea. I come from the Jubilee Port, near the Swamplands: same place as Sam. A…friend taught the song to me.” Catching the hitch in his voice, you smiled sympathetically. “It sounds like you two were close.” “We were,” Caelyum said softly. “Very.” “Nya…what happened?” Grim asked. Caelyum paused…then shrugged. “They left,” was all he said. Sensing the sensitive subject, you decided to drop the matter; Grim caught on and did the same. “How long have you been working for Sam? I haven’t seen you around before.” “Not long,” shrugged Caelyum, seemingly grateful the subject had changed. “He and I have some similar interests, and when I joined Night Raven, I applied for work.” “Oh, so you’re a first year?” “Yep.” “What house? Octavinelle?” you guessed, wondering why Tock wouldn’t have recognized the youth if so. “Scarabia, actually and weirdly enough,” laughed Caelyum, as if the placement struck him as some sort of very funny joke…he paused then leaned in and whispered: “Um…is it just me, or is the dorm head of that house a little…you know…how would you say it…?” “Too pure and innocent for this cruel, unholy world?” “…Yeah, that.” “Yes. Yes, he very much is.” The two of you were interrupted by the sound of Tock snarling in the food aisles. You all turned to see him trying to pry a bag of chips out of the pincers of one of the crabs, who looked very insulted to be interrupted in his work. “Hey! Can somebody make this crab cake let go?!” he snapped. “Oh, sorry!” Caelyum called out, and then snapped his fingers. Suddenly, every single crab inside the building froze…and then their claws and extremities retracted into their shells, leaving only a series of what looked like smooth, white stones scattered around the shop. With a second snap of his fingers, the stone crabs disappeared; there was no puff of smoke or flash of light. One second they were there…the next, they were not. Grim whistled, impressed. “Nice trick,” he murmured. “Is that your Unique Magic?” you asked. “Yep,” Caelyum nodded. “They’re called Locker Crabs, and you’d be surprised the kinds of things I can do with them…” “Cool!” Grim commented. “Hey, Tock!” you called out, hearing the rustling of snack food bags. “Leave some stuff for the rest of us, and hurry up! We need to get to the beach quickly!” “I’m hurrying, snack meat, I’m hurrying!” Tock called back dismissively. “The beach?” Caelyum spoke up, looking interested. “Why are you three heading there? What’s so important?” “We’re on a mission!” Grim cheered, puffing out his chest once more. “Oh, really?” smirked Caelyum, looking amused, and scoffed as he moved behind the front desk. “What for? Some sort of Valentine’s Day meeting, or something?” You frowned, sensing a bitterness to two particular words. “You mentioned you don’t make merry on Valentine’s Day,” you said slowly, approaching the desk and leaning on it. “What do you…y’know…have against it?” “Hm?” Caelyum murmured, then shrugged as he leaned back against the shelves behind the front desk. “Oh, well, it’s…not the day itself. More what it represents.” “Nya? What do you mean?” Grim asked, tilting his head. A shadow seemed to fall over Caelyum’s face, and he looked askance. Something icy and stormy flickered across his features. “Love,” he said, as if the word were some repellent toxin. You and Grim shared a look, then looked back to Caelyum. “Love is a lie,” Caelyum went on, seemingly talking more to himself than to either of you. “It’s like a parasite that burrows into your chest…and even once the sickness it spreads is cured, something in there remains, keeping you from ever knowing real peace. It pulls you along a blind alley, and just when you feel safe, it stabs you in every place it hurts most, and then leaves you to either heal on your own or die. It weakens your defenses, and confuses your resolve. And yet every year, every time this day comes around…I just see people acting like it’s the best thing in the universe.” He shuddered violently, looking positively ill. Grim meowed almost sadly. “I think love is mushy and gross, but…I don’t think it’s THAT bad,” he mewed. His words seemed to snap Caelyum out of it. The witch doctor’s assistant glanced up at you both…and, with a light chuckle, his helpful, friendly smile returned, the shadows departing in an instant. “Well…being mushy and gross doesn’t help,” he joked. Grim sniggered. Your own expression didn’t change, even as the employee leaned forward again. “Seriously, though, what IS your mission?” “We’re gonna be bodyguards!” Grim announced joyously. “Bodyguards?” “There’s a special guest coming to the show on campus tonight,” you explained. “The Headmaster assigned the three of us to look after her, since she’s a VIP.” “A really RICH VIP,” Grim added. “That’s our Headmaster,” Caelyum scoffed with a roll of his eyes. “So, who is this special guest?” “Mia Corazón.” Caelyum’s smile vanished, as if it had been smacked off his face. “Mia…Corazón?” he repeated. “Nya? Do you know her?” Grim asked. Caelyum didn’t answer, looking away; that hollow, haunted stare came to his face as he seemed lost in another world. “Mia Corazón,” he repeated again, then let out a soft, slightly hysterical laugh. “Of all the cursed days of the year…she chooses now…” Before you could ask what was wrong, Tock came lumbering over, arms loaded with various snacks and drinks. “There! That should be enough for all of us…or at least, for me,” he grinned, flashing you a wink that would have made you blush in an instant if your mind weren’t on other matters. He looked towards the assistant…then frowned, eyes narrowing. “Hey…who are you upset with?” The words once again snapped the brooding Caelyum out of it. He looked at Tock with surprise…then shook his head fast and brushed some of his pink hair away from his face. “No one. Nothing,” he insisted, and forced his smile back onto his face. “Now! Let’s, uh…let’s ring this up, aye?” In casual, business-like fashion, Caelyum charged Tock; you were grateful for the recent raise Crowley had given you as you paid for it all. The three of you then left the shop. Just before you exited, you turned to bid Caelyum one last farewell. He smiled and waved back… …But the moment you left, the darkness flooded his face once more, and he looked away, eyes smoldering like hot coals as he reached into his shirt… …Revealing the silver locket that was around his neck. The same sort in the photo Crowley had given you. The young man’s face became cold as an iceberg once more as he opened the locket…and sang to the tune the music box inside played. “Wild and strong, you can’t be contained. Never bound, nor ever chained. Wounds you caused will never mend, and you will never end…”

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“Why did you ask him that question?” Tock Crockwork belched and grunted as he finished up his lunch, licking and sucking on his fingers before looking to you, cheeks bulging as he still chewed his food. “Whuh queshun?” he mumbled out through a full mouth. “About why he was upset?” Grim spoke up, tilting his head. “I mean, he certainly looked upset, so…” “That wasn’t the question he asked though,” you clarified to Grim, then looked to Tock. “You specifically asked, ‘WHO are you upset WITH?’” Tock swallowed and let out a hiccupping burp before speaking. “Mph…yeah, and?” he grunted, patting his stomach and licking his lips free of any crumbs from the sandwich he had devoured. “Well…why did you assume he was upset with someone?” “I didn’t assume, I knew,” snorted Tock, and slung his arms behind his head as the three of you neared the beach of Sage Island. “That was the same look I saw in the mirror every day when I thought of Leona, or those boys back home.” Knowing what had happened in his conflict with Leona, you gulped at Tock Crockwork’s words. “Well, I hope he wasn’t mad at us,” murmured Grim. You smiled thinly; you had a very good idea you knew who Caelyum was mad at, given the context of things…and you were very much hoping you were wrong. You had the sinking feeling those hopes would be dashed as the three of you drew closer to the beach…and a familiar-sounding song, accompanied by the tinkling notes of a music box, drifted through the greenery and into your ears… “Over waves and deep in the blue; I will give up my heart for you. Ten long years I’ll wait to go by: My Love Will Never Die.” The source of the singing soon became clear as you pushed past the last few bushes of the wilderness and stepped onto the open, sunny beach. There was a single white bench nearby; standing beside the bench was a man in what looked like an almost Spartan uniform…and seated upon it was a young woman, with dark skin and long, black hair, dressed in a red and gold dress. In one of her hands, she lifted the pendant of a locket; the source of the music box tune. The lady snapped the locket shut, and she and her chaperone turned fast when they heard yourself and your companions approaching. She smiled, chocolate-toned eyes lighting up with interest. “Oh, hello!” she chuckled, seemingly a bit embarrassed at being caught in her reverie, and stood up as her suspicious compatriot narrowed his eyes at you. “Are you…my bodyguards?” “Yes, ma’am!” chirruped Grim, proudly. “Mia Corazón, I presume?” you smiled, respectfully. “That is right,” the young woman greeted, bowing her head in matching respect and lowering her locket. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.” “Wait a minute…why do you need us to guard you?” Tock spoke up, and pointed to the Spartan-looking fellow. “Wouldn’t he be enough?” “Oh, that’s Firme. He actually has a date with his wife,” Mia answered, giving the man a teasing smile.

The guard blushed. “Miss Corazón, not in front of civlians!” he pleaded. Mia chuckled. “Sorry, Firme,” she apologized. “Now go on; I know she’s waiting for you.” Firme nodded gratefully, then glared at the three of you more seriously. “Protect her at any cost; we’re depending on you,” he ordered. “Aww, don’t worry, we’ll keep the little fishstick safe!” Tock smirked, cracking his knuckles and neck. “You can start by NOT calling her ‘fishstick,’” you droned, noting the nervous look on Mia’s face and the anger on Firme’s. You gave both an apologetic smile. “Sorry. He’s half-crocodile. Trust me, though, he’s a softy when you get to know him.” “HEY! I AM NOT!” snapped Tock, angrily. Grim just giggled. The interaction and your promise seemed to relax both denizens of the Coral Sea. Firme bowed to Mia, and then walked towards the beach…and kept walking, straight into the sea, until his head disappeared under the waves. “Well!” Mia smiled, and cheerily hurried towards your group. “Can we go see the show now? I don’t wanna be late!” “Of course…um…Your Excellency?” “Oh, don’t bother with titles like that,” the girl giggled. “Just call me Mia! Everybody does!” “Okay, Mia,” you chuckled, quite liking her warmth and energy. “Follow us, and stay close.” “I will,” Mia promised as the three of you set off along the beach. “Thank you, by the way; I hope this doesn’t cause you too much trouble.” “Quite the opposite,” grumbled Grim, remembering what Crowley had said earlier. “Why do you wanna see some silly show anyway?” sneered Tock. “Oh, it’s not silly!” exclaimed Mia. “The story of the Sea Witch and the Little Mermaid is important among my people…and besides, I think theater is exciting! I always enjoy seeing it!” “Hopefully our show won’t disappoint,” you smiled. Tock just rolled his eyes and scoffed. “I still think it’s for wimps,” he mumbled…then abruptly froze. The rest of you stopped, too, looking to the croc boy as he sniffed the air and growled. “What is it?” Mia asked. “Something wrong?” “Very,” Tock nodded. “We are being watched.” “How do you know?” you asked. “Instinct? Intuition?” Tock growled and narrowed his eyes, looking at you determinedly. “No, meat. We. Are. Being. Watched.” “By who?” whispered Mia, nervously. “I have an idea,” you murmured with some dread. Before Mia could comment on your remark, all three of you heard a sharp yelp, and turned to see that Grim had inexplicably toppled over. The feline-like creature sat up and massaged his bumped noggin. “Owwww,” he moaned. “What happened?” Mia asked, sounding concerned. “I dunno!” Grim whined out. “Just…s-something seemed to come up from under me and…” “GAHR!” You jumped as, right on cue, Tock toppled over as well. Then it was your turn, as you felt something shift under the sand where you stood, and you dropped to the ground. The wind was knocked out of you for a moment, but you managed to sit up just in time to see three large, round humps in the sand…which seemed to move of their own accord. The three humps began to trace a path, circling Mia, who froze up and squeaked like a mouse, clearly confused and frightened. It only got worse when, suddenly, more and more humps seemed to appear out nowhere: at least a dozen or more, which shot through the sand, burrowing through it with a barely-audible scraping sound… …Then, dust flew up as the shapes burst from the ground. As the dust cleared, you and your friends watched wide-eyed as a consortium of familiar white crabs toppled Mia Corazón, and – working together to lift her, carried her off across the beachside. “HEY! PUT ME DOWN! STOP!” Mia cried out, but the crabs wouldn’t listen, and soon vanished from sight. “Nya…we’re off to a good start with this job,” sighed Grim dismally. “After them!” you barked, and leapt to your feet as you dashed after Mia and her arthropoid captors, Grim hot on your heels. Tock grumbled sourly as he dusted himself off then jogged after you. “Taking orders from my lunch…I’m gonna eat that stupid, mask-wearing, feather-loving…!”

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Mia cried out as the crabs carried her along the sand, her “volunteer” bodyguards soon out of sight. She tried to fight free, but the crabs pinched and held her fast, keeping her in place. She wasn’t sure how far or for how long they carried her…but suddenly they stopped, and she let out an “eep!” as they moved into a pillar, and pushed her up, allowing her to stand. The mermaid-in-disguise turned around, panting for breath as she watched the crabs swarm about each other…then, they seemed to coalesce and mesh together; their pale shells took on more colors; hints of pink, brown, and orange… …Until, finally, standing before her was a familiar young man with dreadlocks and a fishnet scarf. In his hand, he held a heart-shaped silver locket. “Come my love, be one with the sea. Rule with me for eternity. Drown all dreams so mercilessly, and leave their souls to me.” He snapped the locket shut at the end of the verse, and paused before uttering, in a mechanical, robotic tone, two words: “Ahoy, Mia.” Mia blinked slowly, absolutely stunned. “…C-Cael?” Caelyum blinked back and said nothing, his face emotionless and blank. Mia slowly smiled, her eyes lighting up…then squealed with joy and rushed forward, throwing her arms around the young man…who stood stiff and rigid, not even looking at her, as she hugged him close. “CAEL! I…oh, Gods, what do I even say?! It’s…it’s been so long…I’ve missed you so much! Where have you been?! Cael…Cael, I-I’m so happy…!” “Let. Go. Of. Me. You. BITCH.” Mia gasped as Caelyum harshly pushed her back, nearly knocking her over. Her heart sank as she stared at the young man, who glared at her, grinding his teeth and clenching his fists. She looked deeply hurt…and not because of the push. “Cael?” she whispered. “Cael…wh-what’s wrong? Why…why are you upset with me?” Cael’s eyes flashed with anger. “What’s wrong?! Why am I upset?!” he repeated. “What in Hades do you THINK is wrong?!” Mia flinched as the boy from the swamplands’ voice rose to a perfect scream. Cautiously, steadily, she approached. “Cael…please…I-I don’t understand. I…I’ve wanted to see you again for such a long time, and now-” “How DARE you?!” shouted Caelyum, silencing the aristocratic mermaid. “How dare you say something like that to me?! After what you did to me, do you expect to believe you’ve ever cared?!” “I…what…I do care!” Mia pleaded, and tears began to twinkle in her eyes. “Cael, what are you talking about?” Cael laughed; a dangerously unhinged, malicious sound. “Oh-ho-ho, you know EXACTLY what I’m talking about! You should!” he spat…then, the bitterness was replaced by pain as he went on. “Two years, Mia. Two years I waited, and you never returned. You…y-you broke your promise to me…and did you ever think of me in those two years? Did you think of me even once in all the time since, until now?” Cael’s eyes began to brim with tears of his own; he was shaking. Mia felt her heart sinking further in her chest. “Of course I did,” she said, softly. “You’re…you’re my best friend.” One could almost hear Caelyum’s last heartstring break. “Best friend,” he repeated, in a dead, soulless voice…then hung his head. “You still don’t get it, do you, Mia? You broke my heart, Corazón…” Head still hung low, dreadlocks casting shadow over his eyes, Caelyum De Macabre lifted one arm, and snapped his fingers…and Mia nervously stepped back as a swarm of crabs appeared to trail across his arm and mesh together…forming a silver cutlass. “…And now, I’m going to break yours. Literally.” Ominously, Caelyum began to approach. Mia felt panic rise in her, and started to back away…then yiped, almost comically, as she tripped on her own dress and tumbled back. “C-Cael…Cael, PLEASE!” she cried out, as the boy loomed over her, his face twisted in anger as he began to lift the sword above his head… “HEY! BACK OFF!” FWOOSH! A jet of blue flame shot between Mia Corazón and Cael De Macabre; the lad from the swamplands jumped back, then growled angrily, turning to face the source. You had finally arrive, with Grim at your side, both of you glaring at the bokor’s assistant. “That’s enough, Caelyum,” you warned. Cael sneered. “It’s not enough,” he hissed, “Until she endures the same amount of PAIN and AGONY I HAVE!” With a roar, he rounded about to try and strike Mia down…then froze in place when he found she had seemingly disappeared. Startled and caught greatly off guard, he was unable to avoid the green scaled fist that grabbed hold of the back of his jacket, and cried out as, with a roar, the owner of the fist hurled about seven feet away, sending him rolling through the send. His sword spun through the air before stabbing into the ground right at the edge of the shore. Caelyum coughed and snarled and spat as he got onto his hands and knees…then glared as he found Tock Crockwork – now in his full “true form” – glaring at him, fangs and claws bared. “Keep away from the fishstick, swamp meat,” he spat. “Thank you,” Mia whispered. Tock just smirked at her – somewhat cockily but not cruelly – then glarde back at Caelyum as yourself and Grim moved to stand beside him, all of you making sure to create a barrier before poor Mia. Cael rose to his feet shakily. “Leave her alone, Caelyum,” you said. “This is not your fight!” he snapped back. “Uh…yeah, it kinda is,” Grim snorted. “We told you, this is our job today!” “You don’t know who you’re protecting,” Cael viciously sneered, his shoulders trembling with fury, his fingers clenched so tight that his knuckles turned white as the bones under his skin. “She cursed me!” “Cursed you?!” Mia exclaimed. “Caelyum, I never did ANYTHING to you!” “Yes, you did!” Cael answered…and gulped back a sob before explaining: “You made me love you.” All eyes widened; you and your friends looked to Mia, then back at Caelyum. “Ohhhh…now the pieces are coming together,” Grim murmured. “I know the look in your eyes, meat, and it’s not love,” Tock said, darkly. “Not love as it should be, anyway.” “Cael…I-I’m so sorry,” Mia quavered. “Of course you’re sorry,” Cael scoffed. “Everyone’s sorry when it’s too late.” So saying, he lifted his hand…and the sword that had stabbed into the ground “dissolved” into a group of crabs. They scurried across the beach, crawled up his side…and reformed into a cutlass in his grasp once more. “Put the weapon away, Caelyum!” you beseeched. “It doesn’t have to be like this!” “Yes it does!” Cael yelled. “Don’t you get it?! I can’t be free! I’ll always remember! I’ll always feel that pain! Love is a curse; a curse that hurts me, every day of my existence…but after today, I’m going to change that.” He closed his eyes. You had a bad feeling you knew what you’d see when he opened them again…and you were correct. One of his eyes was suddenly surrounded by a fiery aura. “Today, I break the curse.” KA-ZAM! The familiar black cloud of Overblot surrounded the shopkeeper’s boy. Blue and orange light flashed in the gaps between the vapor as it swirled around the fellow from the swamplands…until finally, the mist parted. When it did, you all found that Caelyum De Macabre had gone through an alarming transformation. His brown-tinted clothes had vanished, replaced with a blue-gray uniform like a navy seaman. One of his arms was stuck into the sleeve of a long, tattered cerulean coat with gold lining, which hung about his shoulders almost like a cape. A blood red sash was lashed about his middle. While his left eye was surrounded by orange aura, a tattoo had appeared over his right, in the image of a pirate medallion. His dreadlocks had transformed into a head of writhing, wriggling, pinkish-purple tentacles, like those of a squid; each tendril’s tip was smeared with ink. His left arm had become a white crab claw, ink oozing from its joins; his right leg had become a crab’s leg, too, and was also oozing with Blot. A single black boot covered his one human foot…and he still held his cutlass in his one human hand. Cael grinned viciously, pupils pinpricks as he pointed his sword at you. “Yo-Ho, me hearties!” he bellowed. “Shiver ‘em from stem to stern!” At these words, the ground before his feet seemed to ripple…and then, a swarm of Locker Crabs came scrambling from the ground, racing towards your group. “I’ll take care of this!” Grim pronounced, and summoned a wall of flame. As the fire struck the crabs, they vanished in a cloud of silver smoke…but more just kept coming! Caelyum laughed and began to move towards your group, swaggering as the point of his crab-leg stabbed into the ground repeatedly. Seeing the approaching dark mage, Grim paused to hurl a fireball in his direction…only for Cael to split in half, crab legs showing in the “seam” of his being, as the fireball hurtled past without causing any harm. He stitched himself back together and kept moving forward, as if nothing had happened. Tock Crockwork roared and charged at Cael, swinging a punch at him…but De Macabre simply swept up his crab claw and, in a fluid, wrenching motion, whirled Tock about and flung him to the beach floor. He grinned with deranged excitement as he moved closer to yourself and Mia, leaving Tock to choke in the dust. “Hold them off, Grim!” you called out as he continued to scorch the crabs. “I’ll try!” Grim called back. “Run for it, Minion! RUN NOW!” And you did, holding onto Mia’s arm as you dragged her after yourself. With a wild laugh, Caelyum lifted his sword up…and then “melted” into a swarm of crabs, which scurried after the two of you as you raced along the beach. Behind you, Tock snarled, clutching his banged skull as he watched the horde of crabs vanish. He angrily kicked away a few that Grim didn’t manage to stop, and then charged forward. Grim panted; he was already growing weary. “I…I can’t hold them off!” he meowed. “There’s…there’s too many-EEP!” “Stop whining and shut up,” snarled Tock, whisking Grim up in one arm and sprinting on, the pair pursued by the remaining Locker Crabs. “We’ve got more important things to worry about, come on!” Unaware that your friends were on the chase, you hurried along with Mia Corazón. The crabs that made up Cael’s being clicked and scraped behind you with a deeply unsettling sound, urging you to go faster and faster. “Wait!” Mia gasped. “If…I…can…talk…to him…!” “I don’t think he’s in a mood to talk!” you replied. “Right now, all we can do is…!” You trailed off and stopped short as the crabs suddenly caught up with you…and then moved around you, reforming in front of you into a column. Thinking fast you looked around… …And were just in time to grab hold of sturdy tree branch, as a sword reshaped and then stabbed at you. You barely had a moment to parry the strike, the blade cutting a notch into the wooden limb you held. “Stay behind me!” you hissed to Mia, as Cael reformed fully. “So, it’s a duel then?” Cael cackled. “Alright! EN GARDE!” You yelped, instinctively blocking as the sword slashed at you once more. The slash was followed by a lunge; you jumped back quickly and parried that strike, too. CLING-CLANG-CLING-CLANG! The cutlass and the branch clattered against each other, the sound of the steel against wood that was tougher than it looked ringing out. Each time Cael tried to get around you to lunge at Mia, you blocked his path. You laughed softly, amazed you were holding out; guess one didn’t know how good they’d be at something like a swordfight till they tried! You ducked another slash, and responded by swinging your stick around. WHACK! Caelyum reeled as you managed to smack him across the face…then slowly turned back. He looked…annoyed. “Ow,” was all he said, almost sarcastically, before swinging his blade around again. You quickly lifted your branch… SWACK! And gulped nervously as the cutlass sliced it clean in half. “Oh, boy.” “HA HA!” laughed Cael, and lifted his crab leg, kicking you hard in the stomach. You coughed, dazed and winded as you crumpled to the ground. Now, nothing was standing between the enraged Caelyum and his prey: Mia. The mermaid with legs began to back away in fright…then cried out sharply as Cael thrust out his crab claw and grabbed her by the throat with it. A grin of evil triumph spread across his face as he lifted his weapon above his head. “And here we are at last,” he crooned with twisted delight, and squeezed, making Mia gasp for air. “Any last words, my dear?” Mia gulped…and looked pleadingly into the Swamplander’s eyes as she uttered five simple words. “Cael…please…I love you!” Just before the last three words were uttered, Cael had prepared to attack…but then he froze. The grip of his pincer loosened as she said those three golden words, and the demented smile vanished from his face. He hesitated, as if those words had caused something in his brain to just shut down… Which was all the opportunity you needed. CRACK! “GAH!” exclaimed Caelyum, and dropped Mia, who coughed as she hit the ground. His tentacle hairdo wriggled like a horde of angry snakes as he glared at you in rage: the stone you had thrown at his shoulder had hurt! With a furious roar, he swung his sword around his head three times, trying to cut you into pieces. You ducked and dodged each strike as fast as you could…only to fall back as Cael summoned a horde of sand crabs. You squirmed and grimaced as the crabs pinned you to the ground, acting like organic shackles. You winced as each time you moved, they pinched you hard, making you stay still. Caelyum smirked victoriously, and pointed the tip of his cutlass at your heart. “Tell me, Prefect,” he taunted. “Do you fear death?” “Do you?” CHOMP! Caelyum began to turn around towards the voice, his face etched with surprise…and stayed perfectly still, as if he’d become a statue, paralyzed in shock. The red marking of Tock Crockwork’s unique power – One Minute to Die – was evident on his left arm. “NOW!” the crocodile shouted, as Grim hurried over. The feline-like creature wasted no time: he focused his power, a bright blue aura surrounding him…before, with a spiteful hiss, sending a huge jet of flame towards Caelyum. Caelyum was sent flying through the air, clothing scorched, and rolled across the dirt, still in the position he had been stuck in. Only a few seconds later, he convulsed, and groaned, trying to stand up… …Only to find Tock looming over him. “This,” the crocodile hissed, “Is why I’M top of the food chain, snack meat!” WHAM! He spun around, slapping his tail across Cael’s face…and the Overblotting mage fell still and silent, rendered swiftly unconscious. The sword disappeared without warning from his hand, as if it had never been there. The crabs he had summoned all vanished in the blink of an eye: just like at the shop, one moment they were there, and the next they were not. All four of you – yourself, Mia, and your friends – sighed with relief. “Thanks,” you nodded to Tock as he helped you to your feet. “Hey, I’ve gotta protect my territory; that includes you,” Crockwork shrugged. You decided not to comment on that. “Are you okay, Miss Corazón?” meowed Grim, nuzzling up against the mermaid’s side. She smiled weakly and patted his head before standing. “Physically, yes,” she said. The teenaged girl’s eyes then lit up with concern as she hurried over to Cael’s side. “Cael…Cael, are you okay? S-Speak to me!” she pleaded. “He just tried to kill you!” Grim snapped out. “He wasn’t thinking straight,” Mia defended him. “Just…h-he didn’t understand…” She sniffled and bowed her head. “…C-Caelyum…I’m so sorry…” You and Grim shared a sad sort of look. Tock just looked confused, above all else. “What happened between you two?” the croc grimaced, crossing his scaly arms. “I think we’re about to find out,” you said, and pointed as silver mist began to wisp off of Caelyum De Macabre’s form. A moment later, a blinding white light surrounded the young man…and the mist formed a cloud, inside of which – as always seemed to happen – pictures from the past began to appear… “Tag! You’re it!” “I’ll get you! Ha Ha Ha!” In the swamplands of the Jubilee Port, a small boy with pink dreadlocks giggled and hid behind a tree by the riverbank. For several seconds, he sat anxiously…then yelped when, out of the river burst a familiar, dark face with flowing raven hair. “GOTCHA!” sang out the girl with the gold and ruby tail, and reached out a hand to playfully tap his shoulder. “No fair!” huffed the boy. “I always have to stay near the water; you never let me have an advantage!” The girl giggled and smirked teasingly. “Not my fault you’re a lousy swimmer,” she cooed. The boy grumbled and pouted. She smiled gently. “I’m sorry, Cael; I didn’t mean it,” she said, placing a hand on his leg… “AHA!” the boy laughed, and tapped her hand before jumping away. “You’re it again!” “HEY! THAT’S CHEATING!” The two laughed as the girl swam through the river, chasing the bayou boy up and down the banks…before finally leaping out of the river with a victorious cry. “RAAAAH!” “EEK!” Young Caelyum yelped as he was thrown to the ground. The girl with the fish tail grinned, flippers wagging happily as she kept him pinned. “Gotcha again!” she sang out. Young Cael giggled and wiggled under her. “Hey, lemme go!” he demanded with a slight laugh. “Hmmmm…if I do, will you just tag me again?” “…Maybe?” The mermaid glared…and tickled her friend with her tail. Cael squealed with laughter before flashing an evil smile. “Ohhhhh, you wanna play that way, huh?” He tickled her back and the two rolled across the bank…before yelping and splashing into the river. A moment later, both rose from the depths Caelyum coughing and floundering. “Help! Mia, help! I’m drowning!” “I’ve got you, hold on!” Mia said, and helped Cael back to shore. The boy sighed with relief and began to wring out his clothes. “Thank you,” he gasped out. “No problem,” Mia smiled. “I’m sorry you got all wet…” “It’s okay; I’ve got other clothes,” Cael smiled. Mia nodded, then smiled a bit more sadly. “I still should have been more careful: there may be more clothes, but there’s only one Caelyum.” Cael blushed. “Hush, you’re just teasing me now…” “No. I’m not,” Mia said seriously. “You’re my best friend, Cael.” Cael blinked, pausing in his activities. “…But…don’t you have other mermaid friends?” “I may have OTHER friends, but you’re my BEST friend,” smiled Mia. “And there’s only one of you. I don’t know what I’d do without you.” Cael blinked again…then smiled sentimentally. “Heh…well, um…you’re my best friend, too, Mia. And, uh…a-and I feel the same.” “I’m glad,” Mia smiled. A pause. “You should really suck less at swimming though.” “Oh, hush. Say! Maybe you can teach me?” “Sure!” That word seemed to be a cue, for the scene changed to a few years later; the same river on the bayou, the same boy and girl, just a little older. “MARCO!” “POLO!” The Mermaid floated with her upper half above the water, eyes closed, flapping her tail as she blindly searched for her friend. Cael would pop up now and again with a gleaming, gloating grin as he watched her try to find him: he’d learned to swim VERY well in the years since that time playing tag. “MARCO!” Mia called out again. “POLO!” laughed Cael. “Oh, this is impossible, you’re too fast!” “Suck less at swimming,” teased Caelyum. “I’m a MERMAID, all we DO is swim!” “You can walk!” “I need a potion or a spell for that,” huffed Mia, and turned around, trying to feel about for her friend. Cael smirked and dove under again, swimming cautiously around her in the wide river… …But as he popped up again, he was due for a terrible sight. He gasped as he saw Mia blindly reaching closer to the shore…where a venomous serpent glared at her oncoming form almost hungrily… “MARCO!” “MIA, WATCH OUT!” Confused, Mia opened her eyes…then gasped as she saw the snake rearing back to bite her! She pulled away just in time, and at the same moment, Cael glared and snapped his fingers. The snake heard a clicking noise, and turned its head to find a white crab snapping its pincers. The pincers swung towards its throat… SNICKER-SNACK! And that was the end of the snake. Mia swam back to Caelyum’s side as she snapped his fingers again and the crab disappeared. He hugged her close. “Are you okay?” he whispered, worriedly. “Yeah…i-it didn’t get me,” she panted with relief, and squeezed him tightly. “Thank…th-thank you…” Caelyum smiled warmly and returned the hug…then froze up as Mia leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you,” she said again, and nuzzled against his bare chest. Cael blinked…then blushed red as a tomato and grumbled. “…Hey, what are friends for…? More time passed, and the swamp disappeared. The scene now became a lonely pier. On it sat Caelyum and Mia, who was now in full human form. “Do you really have to go?” he whispered. Mia nodded sadly, hanging her head. Cael bit his lip, and looked away, tragedy in his eyes. “…When…w-when will you be back?” he asked, timidly. “I don’t know,” Mia admitted sadly, then smiled gently up at her friend. “My mother said I need to start learning more about the family business; spending less time on land and…well…with you.” Cael frowned and clenched his fists. “I see.” Mia’s smile fell…and she gave Caelyum a hug. He relaxed. “She’s set in her ways,” she said softly. “But I will never forget you. And I WILL come back.” “Do you promise?” “Of course. You’re my best friend,” smiled Mia…then reached into a bag she had with her, stationed between the two. “Here…I have proof…” Cael tilted his head as out of the bag she pulled two silver necklaces with heart shaped lockets. She gave him one, and clasped the other around her neck. “What is this?” Cael asked, crinkling his nose in confusion. “A sign that we both share the same heart,” Mia said, and giggled. “That’s the really sappy way of saying it, anyway. Put it on and open it!” Cael did, and at the same time he opened the locket, Mia did too…and soft, beautiful melody chimed from the music box contained. Caelyum’s eyes widened. “That’s the song you taught me,” he recognized, and looke dup to Mia. “The one about the pirate and the goddess of the sea?” Mia nodded. “It’s your favorite…my favorite…OUR favorite,” she said gently, and took Cael’s hands in hers, looking into his eyes with deep-rooted affection. “And as long as we share these lockets, share these songs…we’ll never truly be away from each other.” Caelyum smiled weakly. “I don’t know about that,” he chuckled, wryly. “But…thank you, Mia.” He paused. “You…you know I love you…right?” Mia blushed. “Yes. And I love you too.” Cael gaped. “You do?” “Of course, silly! You’re my best friend!” Cael blinked…then smiled and shook his head wearily. “Yeah…I know,” he said softly. “I…I know.” A pause…and the pair began to sing together to the mingled tune on their music boxes as they watched the sun sink on the horizon beyond the sea. “Warm and welcoming as the sea, someday I will return to thee. Hear my voice, sing with the tide: Our Love Will Never Die.” Time passed once more, but the music box still played. The next scene played in silence, as Cael lay on his bed silently one night. He hummed to the tune on the locket, and glanced sorrowfully towards a calendar on his wall. Every date was crossed out with a red X. He sighed…then snapped the locket shut…before a lightbulb seemed to go off over his head, and he reached towards his book case, grabbing a specific spell book… This short tableaux was followed by another as Caelyum was now found…underwater. His lower half had become a white-scaled fish’s tail as he swam through the water, using a spell that would turn him into a merman for a few short hours. He’d taken a boat out to the coordinates where he knew Mia lived. Now, he swam quickly and quietly through the city, looking for Mia. His eyes darted this way and that, seeking some sign of his long lost friend; two years without any sort of contact – never a call, never anything written – and he was now so close to seeing her again! He smiled wider as he moved into one of the higher rent neighborhoods of the underwater area, carefully brushing past other, natural merfolk going about their business. His heart was beating fast in his chest; when he found her, he’d tell her everything. How he felt, how much it hurt to be without her, how much he never wanted to be separated again! Then he found her, as he turned an alley…and that fast beating heart seemed to skip a beat… …As his face filled with sorrow. Only yards away – never noticing he was there, he saw a strong, burly-looking merman with blonde hair…hugging his Mia and kissing her full on the lips. He clamped his eyes shut…and swam away, out of the city and back towards the surface. His tears were lost with the tides. Thus ended the vision, as the blinding light faded, leaving an unconscious Caelyum De Macabre lying on the ground, back to his usual self. “…Prefect?” “Yeah, Grim?” “Is it, like…a requirement that we stand here for several seconds in total silence after we see those?” “No, I think it just happens.” “Ah. Okay then.” Tock Crockwork said nothing. A few moments later, Cael groaned and began to stir. He blinked his eyes and clutched his pink-haired head as he started to sit up. “Ugh…what…wh-what happened?” he slurred out. “You tried to turn my food into shish-kabob,” droned Tock, thumbing towards you. “Shut up,” you grumbled. Confused, Cael turned towards your voices, and looked about to say something…until he heard sniffling and whimpering. He turned…and found the teary-eyed face of Mia staring back at him. “C-Cael,” she whimpered…then let out a squealing cry that caught him off guard as she threw herself upon him and began to cry. “CAEL, I’M SO SORRY! I’m so, so sorry…please…please, I’m sorry, PLEASE…!” Caelyum, as you might imagine, looked beyond uncomfortable…and with a growl, he managed to push Mia off of him. She whimpered like a kicked puppy as, without a word, he got to his feet and turned away from her, one hand on his chest, clutching his silver locket. “Sorry isn’t enough,” he answered, coldly. Mia gulped…and stood up. “Cael…please don’t walk away,” she begged. “Why not?” Caelyum snarled back over his shoulder, and began to stumble away. “Because I love you!” Cael stopped. He didn’t turn around…but he stopped. Mia paused…and took a deep breath. “I love you,” she said, firmly now, not desperately. “I…I always loved you, but…but I was…I don’t know, I…I was worried…” She hung her head and paused before going on. Cael turned his head slightly to show he was listening. “When I returned to the sea, my mother didn’t want me to ever go back to the land. She forbid it. She told me I had to stay under the water, and…and find a proper husband. She told me to forget about you, and…that merman you saw? He was…my betrothed.” Cael growled. “WAS,” Mia pointed out, and then went on quickly: “Cael, I could NEVER forget you, and I could NEVER stop loving you. Those two years…they were agony for me. That time in the alley…I asked him to kiss me because I wanted to show him we WEREN’T right for each other. He agreed; there just…wasn’t a spark. We liked each other, but…we both knew it would be wrong.” She swallowed, and lifted her head. “So…we both spoke to my mother. And…she realized what she’d been doing was wrong. The very next day, I went back to the swamplands; I looked everywhere for you…you weren’t there.” Silence. “I’m so sorry, Caelyum,” she sniffled. “I’m…I’m so-” Cael stopped her with a raised hand…and slowly turned towards her. All of you were surprised to see tears in his eyes. “…I just tried to kill you.” “Yes.” “I ran off over this whole misunderstanding.” “Yes.” “All this pain, all this time…and you really loved me?” “Yes.” “And…you…still love me? After all that?” Mia smiled. “Yes.” Cael blinked…then let out a wet laugh. “Wow,” he chuckled. “I…I guess swimming isn’t the only thing we both suck at. I mean…we’re n-not very good at this whole ‘relationship’ thing, either, are we?” Mia shared a sniffling laugh…and the pair promptly ran into each other’s arms. “I’m so happy I found you,” Mia sobbed with joy. “I’ve missed you so much…” “Not half as much as I’ve missed you,” Cael choked. The pair squeezed each other…then backed up, holding each other’s hands and staring lovingly into each other’s eyes. “Play the song you sang long ago,” Cael began. “And wherever the storm may blow,” Mia continued. “You will find the key to my heart,” both finished. “We’ll never be apart.” “Aaaaand…kiss,” you murmured to yourself with a smile, as the pair did exactly that. Tock snorted, rolling his eyes as Grim stuck out his tongue and grumbled something about “soppy mush.” The two lovebirds parted after a few seconds…then seemed to remember you were all standing nearby, and blushed before backing away from each other like scalded cats. “Um…s-sorry,” Caelyum mumbled. “About trying to destroy us, or for that sappy display?” droned Tock. “Because I can forgive one of those…” “It’s the destroying us part, isn’t it?” you guessed. “Yyyyep.” Cael hung his head and shuffled his feet guiltily. “…I’ve…had a lot of pain bottled up for years,” he said silently. “And…when I heard she was coming here…I…well…” “It’s alright,” you soothed, moving closer. “I can understand. And for the record, we won’t tell the Headmaster.” “Nya…or Chief Jehan,” Grim added. “Claude Jehan?” Mia spoke up, and tilted her head. “Is he really as scary as they say back home? The Ashengrottos and Leeches have a LOT of stories to tell.” “I’d imagine,” you snickered. “And no. He’s not that scary.” “Right. He’s WORSE,” Tock responded. “Amen,” you and Grim chorused. Mia gulped nervously; Cael chuckled softly, smiling at her with puppy-eyed affection. “I…hope he’s not going to be at the play tonight,” she said slowly. “Trust me, you’ll be fine,” you soothed. “Well, we won’t be if we don’t get there on time!” Grim reminded you. “We’re already behind schedule, thanks to all this!” “The hairball has a point,” nodded Tock, stiffly, then grumbled under his breath: “I still say it’s all for pansies, though…” All of you chuckled…except Mia, who took Cael by the hand. “Can…can he come, too?” she asked, shyly. Cael looked shocked, as did Grim and Tock. You just smiled wider. “If he wants to,” you answered. Cael blinked…then grinned so wide his face nearly seemed to split in two. “Please!” he nodded eagerly. “Then come on!” you called, and gestured for the reunited lovers to follow. “Let’s get moving before my pay gets docked! I have a pet to feed, you know!” “I AM NOT YOUR PET!” snapped Grim, while Tock cackled with amusement, snapping his fingers and resuming his humanoid form. Caelyum De Macabre and Mia Corazón just smiled and squeezed each other’s hands, following at a steady pace. It took longer than it should have to reach the theater, in the end, but you still made it in the nick of time. When asked why it took so long, you had an honest answer: Cael and Mia were so busy staring into one another’s eyes with everlasting love, it made getting there quickly difficult. In your mind, and theirs, it was more than worth it.

 The End

[dumb-hat]

Character Sheet - Evander Winsome

—————- Link to blank template!

Rules: Things in brackets are meant only as guidelines, to be erased and your answers written in place of. Things separated by | are for bolding and italicising.

Tagged by: No one! I saw this reblogged by @mooglemeet​, so I went ahead and grabbed it directly from @bluespiritfire​. Link to the blank template is up above! Tagging: No one specific/anyone who wants to. Feel free to tag me back so I can see it!

Name: Evander Winsome Age: 26 Pronouns: He/him Birthdate: 12th Sun of the 5th Umbral Moon

~~PLACE OF ORIGIN~~ Race: Hyur From the First: Interracial heritage:

Hometown/city: Limsa Lominsa Current residence/popular haunt:Ul’dah

~~APPEARANCE~~

Eyes: brown | blue | green | gold | red | purple | multicoloured | other (amber) Hair: brunette | black | blonde | red (ginger or crimson?) | grey/white (aged or natural?) | multicoloured | none | other (…) Hair type: straight | curly | ringlets | wavy | wiry | frizzy | voluminous | thin | other (unruly) Hair style: A shaggy mop deeply in need of a trim, permanent hat hair. (It’s Aymeric hair. I can’t imagine he’ll ever wear the outfit, but the hair was worth it!) Body type: beefy | curvaceous | fat | lean | muscular | petite | skinny | stocky | other (…) Height: short | tall | specific measurement (5′9) Skin: ashen | caucasian | dark | fair | freckled | olive | tanned | other Facial features: birthmark | beard (stubble) | face paint | fur | scales | scars | tattoos | other (…) Body features: birthmark | beard | ears (anything unique about them) | face paint | fur | missing limb/s | scales | scars | tail | tattoos | other (…)

Favourite/commonly used clothes:

~~SKILLS~~ DoL/DoH Botanist | Fisher | Miner | Alchemist | Armorer | Blacksmith | Carpenter | Culinarian | Goldsmith | Leatherworker | Weaver fun | profit | self-sustainability

~~COMBAT~~ Main discipline Gladiator/Paladin | Marauder/Warrior | Dark Knight | Gunbreaker | Astrologian | Conjurer/White Mage | Arcanist/Scholar/Summoner | Thaumaturge/Black Mage | Blue Mage | Red Mage | Pugilist/Monk | Lancer/Dragoon | Rogue/Ninja | Samurai | Archer/Bard | Machinist | Dancer

Secondary/Tertiary/Extra Classes Gladiator/Paladin | Marauder/Warrior | Dark Knight | Gunbreaker | Astrologian | Conjurer/White Mage | Arcanist/Scholar/Summoner | Thaumaturge/Black Mage | Blue Mage | Red Mage | Pugilist/Monk | Lancer/Dragoon | Rogue/Ninja | Samurai | Archer/Bard | Machinist | Dancer

Fighting style aggressive | cautious | hard-and-fast | tactical | defensive | protective | all out | wait-and-see | charge in headlong | reckless | self-sacrificing | party-oriented | loner |

Any difficulties with magical/physical disciplines? Nothing in particular

~~PERSONALITY TRAITS~~ abrasive | abusive | accepting | aggressive | analytical | anxious | arrogant | assertive | brave | bossy | calm | caring | cautious | cheerful | chronic liar | confident | controlling | cowardly | creative/inventive | cunning | curious | determined | disinterested | envious | fearless | frosty | frugal | generous | greedy | gullible | honest | humorous | impatient | impulsive | indifferent | insecure | intelligent | irresponsible | jealous | just | kind | loyal | lustful | manipulative | materialistic | meek | modest | money-driven | naïve | narcissistic | oblivious | overbearing | patient | passive | perceptive | possessive | prickly | quiet | relaxed | religious | sarcastic | secretive | self-assured | self-conscious | self-deprecating | selfish | selfless | spiritual | strict | stubborn | tired | thoughtful | unpredictable | virtuous | vocal | wary | wise | other

~~LIKES~~ Environment: forest | city streets | markets | the beach | open sea/on the water | mountains | jungle | battlefield | being at home | surrounded by books | other (…) Weather: wind | snow | rain | sunshine | storms | cloudy days Flavors: sweet | salty | sour | bitter | spicy | tart | gamey | spiced | fruity | nutty | leafy greens | other Textures: silk | velvet | cotton | metal | leather | water | spongy | dry granules (sand, sugar, etc) | other (…) Favorite Dish: Dzo steak & popotoes (small, seasoned and baked ones are best, but he won’t turn away mashed or fried) Favorite Color: Whites, browns, grays Favorite Sound: Soft, quiet breaths; glasses tinking together, machinery clicking into place Favorite Smell: Juniper, jasmine, iris; citrus and sandalwood, hard liquor Favorite Place: Anywhere he can find a good drink and great company Favorite Holiday: the Moonfire Faire Other: Evander likes free-spirited people, people who know how to relax, people who aren’t afraid to call him out on his shit, but also aren’t too eager to do so

~~DISLIKES~~ Environment: forest | city streets | markets | the beach | open sea/on the water | mountains | jungle | battlefield | being at home | surrounded by books | other (…) Weather: wind | snow | rain | sunshine | storms | cloudy days Flavors: sweet | salty | sour | bitter | spicy | tart | gamey | spiced | fruity | nutty | leafy greens | other Textures: silk | velvet | cotton | metal | leather | water | spongy | dry granules (sand, sugar, etc) | other (sticky) Least Favorite Dish: Emerald soup, lutefisk. In general, he shies away from things that are really bitter or cloyingly sweet. Least Favorite Color: Really, really, really bright greens, yellows and pinks. Think neon.  Least Favorite Sound: Pained screams, metal grinding against metal Least Favorite Smell: Blood, rot, vomit Least Favorite Place: Jail Least Favorite Holiday: Starlight Other: He has a general disdain for nobility, law enforcement and people who take everything too seriously.

~~HOBBIES~~ art (what medium/s?) | adventuring | cooking | fighting/sparring | finance | gardening | golden saucer attractions (Lord of Verminion, chocobo racing, Doman mahjong, triple triad) | hiking | hunting (game or hunt marks) | lacks hobbies | music | physical sports | reading (almost anything he can get his hands on, though he regards romance novels as a kind of quiet, not-quite-guilty pleasure) | running | scrapbooking | sewing/knitting/other needlework | sightseeing | socializing | swimming | training | writing | other (…)

~~RELATIONSHIPS~~ Parents/Legal Guardian/Parental Figure: mother | father | aunt and/or uncle | grandparents | adoptive | foster | mentor | family friend/godparents | other Siblings: One older brother; deceased Children: None that he knows of Romantic: single | unrequited | crushing | dating | engaged | married | divorced/separated | widow/widower | recently split | it’s complicated (I mean, not to him. To him, it makes total sense. Well, most of it does.) | other (…) Friends: Evander tends to befriend and trust people fairly easily, though it can take him a bit to really open up. Once you’ve hit that point, you’ve likely got a friend for life. Rivals/Enemies: To the best of his knowledge, he’s left these all behind somewhere or other, thanks largely to his restless need to wander. That said, there’s surely a few lurking in the past and there’s always room for more, of course!

Any special gestures of affection they have with people in their life? He’ll often make complaining noises about paying for drinks and dinner, but he’ll do it every time and would be slightly hurt if people didn’t let him.

~~HAVE DEALT WITH/IS DEALING WITH~~ abuse (ongoing or recovering, verbal or physical) | acceptance | a new relationship (unlikely friendship, step-sibling/parent, etc) | a new romance | betrayal | broken heart | budgeting | bullying | caution | confidence | crisis of faith | depression | grief | health issues | how to trust | learning from a mistake (as in “doesn’t enough) | loss | love | new people | new place | opening up to someone/others | parenthood | physical changes (loss of a limb or other sense, inability to do things previously able to) | politics | PTSD | poverty | racism | reconciling previously held beliefs | responsibility | sacrifice (self or of another) | self-acceptance | self-esteem | to value myself | to value others | trauma (medical, mental, emotional) | war | wealth | other (…)

How are they dealing with the most prominent of the above? How does it affect their in day-to-day life, if at all? Poorly, typically.

~~ODDS AND ENDS~~ Notable Weapons He doesn’t have any particular bond with any of his weapons, really. He sees them as tools, and ones that he uses only reluctantly. He sometimes enjoys tinkering with the ones he builds, but that’s more of a hobby than anything. 

Notable Mounts He has various vehicles and machines he likes to fuss over and drive around, but he’s particularly fond of his SDS Fenrir.

In addition to his chocobo—a particularly stubborn beast named Doreen—he’s also fond of his battlesheep, Doctor One and a colossal crab he’s dubbed St. Barnabus.

Notable Minion/s Besides Doctor One and St. Barnabas, Evander is especially fond of various clockworks, automata, wind-ups and models that he’s put together. His favorite is a drone modeled after a Magitek bit that he’s named Valencia.

Keepsakes/Mementos

A pendant in the shape of a swan, a few too many flasks

Chronic Illnesses or Disabilities Evander lives with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. I’ve written about it a few places, most notably at length here and in brief here. How do they deal with these? Depends on the day, really. This isn’t really a thing he has a name for, so it’s not a thing he can easily address. He’s got a sloppily slapped together set coping mechanisms that work about half the time, if he’s lucky. Other than that, he mostly hopes for good days full of things he can convince himself he’s interested in.

Education Level He likes it when people underestimate him, so he’s not always quick to admit to the formal Ishgardian education afforded to him by the family that took him in when he left Limsa Lominsa. He’ll often try to pass it off as eclectic, self-driven studies... Which, admittedly, also played a big part in shaping him. 

Habits There’s a lot of excess in his life. He drinks too much. He eats too much. He stays up too late, too long, and then sleeps too late, too long. He’s almost always got a flask or four on his person, and he often finds that he’s picking up the dinner or drink tab wherever he goes. 

Other Nothing immediately springs to mind, but I’m sure there’s like a dozen things I should put here. This thing has been sitting in my drafts for god-knows-how-long, so I’m just glad to finally get it out there. 

[shadowdianne]

You wanted a prompt? The blob has a prompt! Cissamione, if that's OK. Boat ride from Azkaban -- both Narcissa and Hermione were there (the reasons are up to you) and share a Tense ride back. Bring on the angst!! (or don't! Maybe you've hit your head and become The Master of Fluff, who knows!)

Sweet sweet blob, fluff? I don’t know her!

Thanks for the prompt tho, Nara. I hope this one it’s to your liking 😉

PS: Some non-canon thingies going your way. JK can suck it. Also, pre-relationship. (Don’t say I didn’t warn you)

The soggy wood beneath her fingers gave up a fraction of an inch as Hermione grasped into it, eyes lost into the slowly disappearing Azkaban tower, the grey waters lapping mercilessly against the rocking boat that slowly made its way to shore. It didn’t matter how hard or long she stared at her back, however, as she could feel the stormy eyes that had been following her every move ever since she had looked at the enchanted boat with her feet firmly planted into the pebble-covered road that made its sinuous way towards the main entrance of the prison.

She had known what she had agreed to when she had offered up her name when rumors about Narcissa Black being permitted to visit her sister had spread all through the Ministry. Yet, when she had asked for the permit, pulling up the rank her status as one of the Golden Trio gave her, she had felt just as dirty as she now felt the back of her throat to be: as if something had gotten stuck there, a non-said spell, an almost swallowed curse. And now, as the blonde witch kept on looking at her, beyond the sea waters, beyond the invisible set of magical wards they kept on slowly trespassing as they moved away from Azkaban, she felt as if about to implode.

“You don’t need to keep on gloating.”

Narcissa’s voice reached her beyond the sound of the waves as they kept on moving: two witches aboard the only magical way left to reach and return from the dark island. She sounded defeated, tired, and the younger witch pursed her lips at the words, knowing there was very little she could say in order to defend herself. It was, after all, what could be perceived as what she was doing: staring, gloating.

She always had found difficult keeping her mouth shut, however. And knowing she already was halfway into a hopeless discussion couldn’t really make her do it.

“I wasn’t.”

She turned towards the prow of the boat, glancing at Narcissa fully for the first time since they had left the deepest caverns that took their root well beneath ground level back at Azkaban: the humidity of the air visible on the dampened rocky walls. The blonde looked paler than usual, grey tint around her usual ice-like eyes. Back straight, however, hands neatly folded on her lap, the previous Malfoy matriarch still looked very much the nobility-holding title witch she had once been.

A shadow of something close to a sneer colored the rictus on her lips, though, and Hermione couldn’t do anything but roll her shoulders, knowing the conversation they were about to have was long overdue. After all, she had expected to have it such when they first had embarked in that very same boat a few hours prior; with the blindness the still-yet-to-have met up brought with it.

But Narcissa had remained silent then, eyes piercing the horizon rather than Hermione and a part of the brunette had been happy for it. Relieved. It seemed, however, that her luck had run out.

“Don’t even try, I know you insisted on coming, Miss Granger.”

The words didn’t quite hurt as much as the use of her surname. The brunette could remember how their last lengthy conversation had ended: with them waiting, surrounding by press, witches, wizards, mages, as the Lestrange trial started beyond the Wizengamot’s closed doors. She had made a promise, after all. A deal with the devil.

She could remember Narcissa’s eyes then, blue, like gems, as she had tried to feign she wasn’t about to cry with every bit of shame and guilt making them glow with unshed magic. She could remember the way the older witch had broken, like glass against stone, the way she had used her name as she had uttered how she knew it was far too much to ask, for her, who had suffered so much back at Malfoy Manor, for, at least, the ability to be able to visit the dark-haired woman whose fate was already sealed.

And yet, when the resolution had been shared, despite her promise of trying, Hermione had eyed Harry, had eyed Ron, and she had walked away. She hadn’t felt remorse from her decision, but she had seen the eyes, the glances, the magic, the promise taken ahold inside her chest.

Lowering her eyes, she looked back to Narcissa’s fingers, to the way they were pressed together, interlocked, knuckles whiter, magic dribbling through.

“I know you had been insisting on the visit. I wanted…”

She halted there, not knowing what exactly she was supposed to say. She had asked for her being the witch assigned to the task out of a sense of duty she couldn’t quite understand after all. And so, not even explain.

Ron had gurgled out curses when she had shared what Narcissa had asked out of her, with Harry looking at her with that mix of curious and doubtful glimmering its way through his irises. She ought to have felt much more incensed, she had told to herself: the gall the blonde witch possessed of even asking maybe too much for her. Yet, she hadn’t quite reacted to the words, numbness slowly eating her insides while she merely nodded, knowing beforehand she couldn’t really give a straight answer of what she could do.

War wasn’t always about battlefields and dates that became important once they passed: it was the remains what mattered and, by the time of the trials, there were far too much fragmented pieces of her still being rebuilt for her to have been capable of answering the tiniest fraction of a question.

She also knew that Narcissa, deep down, had understood her hesitation. Yet, expecting a logical answer from either of them when Bellatrix was involved was too much on itself. And so, she let her tongue fell flat, firmly between her teeth as she tried to find a way of adding to an already rotten layer of words.

I was concerned.

That was probably the best type of answer, but it implied much more, and Hermione glanced at the foam gathered against the external walls of the boat as the tension kept on mounting: Narcissa’s eyes following her once again. She had, indeed, been concerned. About what could potentially happen to Narcissa, to Bellatrix, to the reunion that had been bound to be difficult from the start.

Because, as they had quickly confirmed, Narcissa’s own necessity of checking that her sister was alright despite her situation, her condemnation, the older Black sister didn’t feel the same. Her screams had followed them both out of the caverns, the expletives as bad as -and even probably worse than- the ones a younger Hermione had once heard in the Black mansion, when she had been little more than a teen and there still had been adults padding the way to war.

She feared what any other mage, any other wizard or witch, would have done with an obviously devastated Narcissa whose divorce had already been long and extraneous enough.

Yet, concern and pity hold the same image when reflected into the Black’s mirror and the brunette knew that it wouldn’t be accepted so she sighed, deeply, while glancing up once more, the shadow of something close to land beginning to extend at Narcissa’s back.

“You had the privilege of a visit. You deserved it.”

It wasn’t much of an explanation and she tensed as Narcissa tilted her head, eyes as piercing as before but a glow of rendition on them. The grey around them had been red before stepping into the boat, the very much mortal and human wardens around the island silently watching as they retrieved their wands from where they had needed to leave them: open mockery and hate on their postures. Hermione knew she should never mention that detail: not in her report, not to anyone else.

Looking away from the brunette for the first time, Narcissa crossed one leg over the other while remaining as upright and as unbothered by the rocky waters as before, pushing the question inside Hermione’s subconscious if she had gotten her clothes magicked in some way.

Ironing lines that weren’t truly there, picking up lint that was indeed invisible, the Black sister sighed, lips pouting for a moment, before she took into Hermione’s form once again.

“And I suppose you are expecting some grateful words due to it.”

The younger witch shook her head. She didn’t deserve them: she had been duplicitous and they both knew it, a way of both shooting the guilt she felt and the words they both had shared during the trials. She wasn’t proud of her decision, but she knew there were worse actions to take.

“But I will ask on being your assigned witch if you ever wish to come back. The permit let you such, if you wished it so.”

And, despite her words, Bellatrix hadn’t said she didn’t want to see her sister anymore so…

The blonde hummed as the boat rocked and stopped, the small bumping motion against the shore the signal they had reached their final destination with more gates to cross until they were considered to be completely clear. Standing, the older woman stepped outside the boat and looked quizzically at Hermione, following her steps while the scent of salt filled their nostrils, seagulls framing her answer.

“I suppose it’s fair. Hermione.”

And so, she turned, her footsteps leaving prints as light as smoke on the wet sand. Her words, however, heavy.

Thank you

[namjoonspiration]

ON [5]

Pairing: Jungkook x reader

Rating: M

Word Count: 10.1k

Warnings/tags: strong language and violence, scary creatures, battle scene, heartbreak, character death (not graphic)

Author’s Note: This is it... the last chapter of ON. Thank you readers for patiently sticking around for the whole thing and showing your support. I hope I did this justice. Put a comment or like the story if you enjoyed it 💜 Enjoy!

Masterlist

Part 5

Year 3062 – 401 years after the Fall of the World

“We should stop here for water,” you suggested, pointing at a little oasis in the far distance. You and Jungkook had been trekking for over three weeks now in the dry lands. Thankfully, the small ponds of water with trees had become more frequent.

Jungkook agreed, his horse trotting forward happily to the water. Both of you refreshed yourselves and refilled your canteens. You took of your shoes and dipped your hot feet into the edge of the water. Jungkook followed your lead, sighing at the pleasant feeling of the coolness. You sat there for a while, giving yourselves and the horses a little time to rest.

You closed your eyes for a bit. When you opened them, you caught the barest hint of a man on a horse looking down at you over a large sand dune before disappearing over the edge. “Someone is watching us,” you whisper to Jungkook. He nodded, having noticed too. Both of you quickly slip your shoes back and mount your horses.

You track the prints from the man’s horse over the sand dune and onward for another hour, the figure a tiny black dot in the distance. As you had predicted, trees, albeit scraggy and dry-looking, started to litter the environment. Sand turned into dirt, scattered with thick grass. You and Jungkook cleared through a forest of those scraggly trees before spotting a dark green truck under a weeping willow. Weirdly… in the truck bed was a giant red drum. Cautiously, you and Jungkook approached the truck, riding around it into a clearing.

A little man in a black shirt and striped pants sat on the hood of the truck, holding a brown drum that was about as half as big as him. “Hello?” Oddly, he didn’t even spare at glance at either of you. “Hello?” Jungkook tried again. He dismounted his horse and walked in front of the man. Although Jungkook faced him, the man’s eyes looked beyond him. “Do you need help?”

“He won’t talk.” A strange voice called from behind the mountain of drums piled under the tree. Another man waltzed from around the drums towards Jungkook. The loose white shirt and brown pants he wore rippled with the late afternoon breeze. “I’ve known him for over four hundred years, and he’s never said more than five minutes’ worth of words to me. I doubt he’d even get a syllable out in the thirty seconds you’ve been here.”

“I’m sorry, and you are?” You ask, not necessarily meaning to sound as sassy as you did.

He turns to you, smirk lighting up his face. The sun made his blue hair shine purple in the light. “Hello, beautiful. It’s been a while since such a lovely thing graced my presence. What’s your name, love?” He extended a hand to caress your face.

“That’s none of your concern,” Jungkook growled, stopping the man’s hand from touching you. You remained steady in your stance, staring down at the man. over your nose.

He merely chuckled. “Oh, is she taken?”

“I asked, who are you?” You replied sternly.

The man huffed, rolling his eyes. “You two are clearly together. I’ve never met a pair of people who are too serious to take a little humor.” He steps back and bows dramatically. “I am Park Jimin. And this little man over here,” he points a thumb, “is my dear friend. I would love to tell you his name except I actually don’t know what it is myself.”

“Oh!” You exclaim. “You’re the last descendant. The one Jin mentioned.” You directed your last comment towards Jungkook. Remembrance dawned on him.

“Jin? Whose Jin?” Jimin questions.

“The last descendant of the ‘all-powerful’ Park family,” you continued. Jimin’s eyes to narrowed at you.

“Are you mocking me?” His jaw set in anger. “I would be careful if I were you. My line descends from the Mother Goddess herself. I have the kind of power that levels cities in the blink of an eye. I may be the last of my family, but I’m more powerful than all of them combined. Those pathetic fucks only sent me away to be ‘watched’ by this monk because they were all threatened by my power, and you both should be too!” With every word, Jimin’s power began to emanate from behind him like a pair of wings.

“Quit with the façade, boy.” Those five words came from the monk sitting on the truck. He was gently patting the top of the drum.

Jimin’s power suddenly shattered, almost comically, like a pane of glass. His mouth opened in shock before spitting at the man. “You! You haven’t said a word to me in decades, and now you choose to? How dare you humiliate me?!” He took long, threatening strides towards the monk.

He simply held up a hand, which sent a wave of magic to knock Jimin flat on his ass. “Learn control and balance. Keep your emotions in check.” Those were the last words you would hear from the monk.

Jimin swiftly jumped back on his feet, dusting off the dirt from his clothes. “Stupid man going on about stupid stuff,” he mutters.

“Enough,” Jungkook said. “While this has been fun, this has also presented a timely opportunity.” Jimin quirked an eyebrow at him. “War against the darkness is on the horizon. We are from a Mage settlement down South looking for anyone who can help us fight it. Would you help us?”

“No,” Jimin retorted.

Anger sparked in your chest at his dismissive answer. “If you are really all-powerful, then you’d help us.”

“Wrong,” he hissed. “The strength of my power does not correlate with my desires. I do not desire to help you, but my magic remains the most powerful there is.”

“Why won’t you help us?” Jungkook pushed.

“Because I do not want to. I’ve seen the Fall of the World and walked this empty land for over four centuries, and I cannot wait for it to end. The power and immortality of my bloodline prevents me from simply dying, so I figure… Why not let the darkness created by the greed and violence of those living on this wretched earth swallow it whole and end it all? What’s the point of saving what’s left of mankind when it has brought me nothing but pain and endless loneliness?” His tone was despairing, but bitter more than anything.

Tense silence consumed the conversation. Jimin looked expectantly between the both of you like he was waiting for you or Jungkook to say something—anything. Like how that’s not true, or it’s going to be okay, or you shouldn’t think like that. But neither of you said anything of that. Jimin finally turned away from both of you in farewell.

“I’m not going to apologize or give you pity because I know that’s not what you’re looking for Jimin,” you suddenly said.

He scoffed. “Oh, yeah? If you know, then what is it that I’m looking for?”

“A reason to live. Not to survive or exist, but to live,” you continued. Jimin tilted his head, considering your words. “I’ll admit I don’t know what that reason is, but I know this. This is the one and only world we get to live in, and we can’t just sit by and let it be destroyed. There are good people, human and Mage, left on this earth that are fighting for it and the rebuilding of a better world that awaits. Some of these people have gone through hell and back,” you glanced at Jungkook, “but they haven’t given up hope.” Jimin remained unconvinced.

“There’s a man in our settlement. He and his sister narrowly escaped the darkness. He has lived the last thirteen years of his life with that darkness festering in his veins—”

“Sounds like a horrible existence,” he muttered.

You ignored his petulance. “But he doesn’t give up because of his reason to live. To leave his sister in a better world than the one they were born into.” Silence. “Jimin, she’s a Seer.” This piqued his interest; a little bit more than he would have liked to let on. “She’s had visions of a Promised Land. It’s coming soon. I’d say that’s a fair motivator to live.”

“But only if we fight the darkness out there,” Jungkook added, standing right behind you in support.

Jimin thought it over for a few minutes, sitting on a nearby rock. He stared at you and Jungkook skeptically, those ancient eyes practically reading through you both. Finally, “My answer is still no. For now.” He got up from the rock and shoved his hands in his pockets.

It was better than nothing. “Alright. If you change your mind, our settlement is about a three weeks ride South. You will always be welcome there.” You all said your farewells. Mounting your horses, you and Jungkook continued your journey north.

…

Another two months pass before you reached the Scholars Mountain. An early Fall chill has already reached the stone peaks and slopes. When you and Jungkook arrived, you were both sought out by the mountain’s guards. It was anything less than a friendly introduction; nonetheless, with some persuasion, you got inside the Scholars Mountain.

Swiftly, you were escorted to a meeting hall decorated in swaths of red silk that hung from the sling. Rows of scholars, dressed in dark robes, held lit candles between their palms. With their heads bowed, their bodies faced the back of the hall where a man, who wore a white cotton shirt, kneeled before several bright candles beneath a shrine to a deity you knew as the Mother Goddess.

The guards place you and Jungkook to stand behind him before settling back to their posts. After several minutes of silence, the man finally rose and stood in front of you. You glimpsed a flash of orange in his eyes briefly before returning to a brown color. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and scrutinized both of you. You opened your mouth to introduce yourselves, but he stopped you by holding up a hand. “I know who you are, and I know why you’re here.”

“I’m afraid we don’t know who you are.” You quickly felt impatience flare in your chest at his dismissive tone.

“My name is Min Yoongi. I’m the Principal Scholar of the Northern Mages. But you could say I’m the Principal Scholar of all Mages as I’m the last one.” He seemed rather smug with that last remark. You and Jungkook both eyed him suspiciously. Yoongi cocked his head to the side. “What? Whatever ones I didn’t fight to the death were foolish like you, thinking you can take on the Evil One.”

“Why does it seem so foolish?”

“Because you have nothing but your magic and no other weapons. What battles have your people and that irrational General of yours won?” He answered for you before you could even open your mouth. “None. Tell me, is he still releasing doves out onto the battlefield, praying that the dove returns—a sign of hope?” He chuckled at the thought, causing your jaw to clench in anger. “Your entire settlement is running a fool’s errand.” Yoongi said rather petulantly. “As I’ve told your war general before, my people and I will not be involved in your war.”

“Our war? Your people?” Jungkook scoffed. “This is everyone’s war. We all will die if we don’t find the darkness that’s out there. You’re a Mage, too, and I’m sure a number of your followers are Mages as well.”

“My followers are believers, scholars, conveyers of the final prophecy… They are not fighters. We simply wait for the day when the Mother Goddess returns and heals the earth.”

“How do you know she will return?”

“My followers and I can see visions of life and death. We are connected to the forces around us. We know the Mother Goddess is still watching over us. However, we cannot demand her to return. She knows the right time when to return and reveal the Promised Land to us.”

“What if she doesn’t return in time?” you objected. “The darkness is poisoning the land and killing and enslaving those who cannot escape fast enough. You are not protected here!”

Suddenly, Yoongi was nose-to-nose with you, as if he sped through the air in under the blink of an eye. His gaze flared that brilliant orange again. “You speak of blasphemy, Mage.” Yoongi sneered at you. “We are protected here. The Mother Goddess recognizes our devotion and protects us from the Evil One. It’s not wise to question her presence for I can assure you that she will not save you.”

You’ve absolutely had it with this arrogant coward. He had nothing to show for either.

“You’re the fool,” you bit back, matching his challenging gaze. “You’re condemning these people to death if you do nothing. Is that what the Mother Goddess would want? Leading your followers to a slow, cold, painful death shrouded in the darkest materials of this universe? Because that is what’s coming for you and everyone in this room.”

Yoongi looked murderous, but after several tense seconds, the orange faded back to brown. He took a step back. “I guess we’re all fools then. There’s no point in fighting something that cannot be fought with even the strongest Mages left.” He nodded towards Jungkook, “Not even him.”

Jungkook narrowed his gaze at Yoongi. “What do you know about me?”

“I know your magic is still driven by your rage and a need for revenge. Burning the Citadel was not enough for you, was it?” At Yoongi’s words, you looked at Jungkook in surprise. He seemed to shift uncomfortably on his feet. “You need more. You’ve had that fire in your soul much longer than when you were imprisoned as the last Mage. It sparked the day when you were taken away from your parents, and it became a wildfire when you had everything taken from you. It has fueled your desire to take revenge on the whole world. That blaze needs to be fed, Jeon Jungkook. Fortunately for you, the enemy is close, but you may just lose yourself in the process.”

What was he saying? That Jungkook might die in this world? That he might truly not be the Jungkook you know and love after he unleashes his magic on the battlefield? As of immediate concern, why wasn’t Jungkook objecting?

“It seems I’ve seen your past, present and future correctly.” After several moments of silence that sucked all the air from the room, “Are you scared, Jeon Jungkook?”

The old, familiar taste of heavy metallic weighed on your tongue, along with new heavy, rippling waves in the air. “No. Not anymore.”

Yoongi smirked. “Looks like you might have a weapon after all. However, just Jungkook alone won’t be enough.”

“We met Park Jimin on the road. We asked him for the help—”

“Ha!” Yoongi laughed. “I’m sure he said he wouldn’t do it. That loser has been sitting on the same pile of dirt since before the Fall of the World. I doubt he will be of any help when it comes to the end.”

“You get ahead of yourself Yoongi. Are you sure you’re connected with the forces of the future?” You took satisfaction in the jab, especially at his following expression of sheer annoyance. “He said his answer was no for now,” you continued. “But only after we told him of a special young girl in our village and her brother, who will stop at nothing to make sure she lives in a peaceful world.”

“Touching, but what’s so special about her?”

“She’s a Seer.” It was your turn to smirk this time. Yoongi’s reaction was nearly identical to Jimin’s.

The flames on the candles behind him flared to life. He fell to his knees, pressing the heels of his palms harshly into his eyes. A thin layer of sweat glistened on his skin. His breath came out in a low groan.

“Yoongi?” You questioned.

His head snapped up to look at you, hands dropping from his face. Chills tracked down your spine.

Frightening cold pools of silver swirled in his eyes, blinding him from human sight. Just like how Tae described his sister’s eyes. “Oh my god,” you gasped. “You’re one of them, too.”

As quickly as the vision came, it was gone, and Yoongi returned to the present. “Leave us,” he ordered his followers. They filed out swiftly and silently. He took in deep breaths as if he had been drowning moments ago. “I’m only half a Seer. My Sight is only a fraction of what hers was. She could see what the Evil One wanted to do, where he was going at any moment in time. I can only see the aftermath long after a possible scenario of what might happen. My Sight is of no use. But hers…” He rose to his feet. For several moments he seemed at odds with himself—fighting between reason, disbelief and fear.

Jungkook objected. “What do you mean ‘was’? His sister’s not dead.”

“That’s not possible. I saw her die.”  Yoongi explained gravelly.

Panic iced your blood. “What do you mean, you saw her die?! Just now?” Did something happen while you and Jungkook have been traveling? Would you go back to the settlement to find one less Mage and a lonely, heartbroken orphan?

To your relief, Yoongi shakes his head. “No.”

But you definitely weren’t prepared for his next answer.

“I saw her die over four hundred years ago.”

Quickly, Yoongi retreated into himself, becoming withdrawn and distraught.

“She was my little sister. Her name was Ella. She died trying to stop the Evil One from destroying the Old World, but she couldn’t… and no one came to help. She sacrificed herself to give us these last four centuries to figure out how to survive and defeat the Evil One.

“Ella disappeared completely. I never found her body. I couldn’t see her in my past memories. I remember her being there, but I couldn’t see her—interact with her to hopefully get answers to what she knew. I tried for so long to find her, but I couldn’t take the pain of it anymore. I just stopped trying.” He sat on a bench with his head in his hands, fingers gripping the silver ends of his hair.

You moved to sit in front of Yoongi, folding your legs underneath you. Jungkook took a careful seat next to Yoongi on the bench.

“I wondered… for the longest time,” Yoongi continued. “If she went to a happier place; if she and her soul were ripped apart into oblivion by the darkness… or if she was simply waiting in the wings for the right moment to return to the stage. I never knew the full extent of her powers. I learned here that Seers cannot just reveal the future in hopes of preventing tragedy. We can only just set up a catalyst and hope that someday that someone uses it to make the world better.”

“I believe you’re right, Yoongi. Ella has given us that. And, now might be the last chance to finish what she started. Now is the time for you to make her your reason to fight.” You tried to encourage him.

“I just can’t believe that she could be alive. Not after all this time…”

Yoongi kept talking himself in circles for the rest of the evening. Four hundred years’ worth of grief and pain gripped his heart like a vice. It made his magic fade to nothing in his veins. Never did he feel or look more human than he did that evening. He felt every part of his being break down into numbness.

Eventually, Yoongi asked for them to leave him. He was no longer interested in talking or thinking about anything of this.

You and Jungkook decided to head out at first light the next morning, both of you feeling as though all options had been exhausted. You weren’t sure where Yoongi stood. You write a letter to him, telling him about the settlement, the details of Jin’s timeline for the war, and where the final battle might take place if he decided to fight one last time.

…

Year 3063 – 402 years after the Fall of the World

The long three-month journey back to the settlement was miserable. The winter cold came much faster and stronger than you had anticipated. It was a relatively silent three month’s ride back home. You only conversed with Jungkook when it regarded food, directions and how to not freeze to death while you slept. He kept to himself, and it worried you greatly. Was he regressing back to before? He seemed millions of miles away some days, and you had no idea how to reach him.

With the new year and the flesh-biting cold of one of the harshest winters you’ve ever lived through trailing behind you, you and Jungkook arrive back at the settlement empty-handed. Seokjin had met you two at the entrance with a hopeful expression on his face that quickly dismantled into sheer disappointment and disappear. Then, it switched into something empty and emotionless, and he stormed off to direct and finish war preparations.

The settlement only had the rest of the winter and spring before it would happen.

While you and Jungkook were unpacking in your house, you began to ask him about what Yoongi had said to him back at the temple.“It’s hard to explain,” he murmured. You could sense he was teetering between wanting to open up and not wanting to. Even if he did, he didn’t know how.

“Do you want me to go get Taehyung? Or Namjoon?”

He shook his head softly. “No, they… already know.”

You weren’t going to lie to yourself. It stung, but you couldn’t blame him. You couldn’t take it to heart—not after everything that he’s been through. It’s only been a year and a half since he was freed, and he did appear to open up a lot more to the guys. It’s not that Jungkook didn’t trust you, but it was easier to be more vulnerable with Taehyung and Namjoon, who had become his best friends.

“I wanted to talk to you about it.” Jungkook began to explain. “I just didn’t want you to worry about me. I wanted to protect you.”

Tears prickled at your eyes. “Jungkook, you’re so selfless, and it’s so incredible and frustrating at the same time.” Your voice cracked with each word, and it became harder to speak.

He appeared bewildered. “What?”

You rushed forward and wrapped him in a hug, burying your face in his shoulder. “You don’t have to do that for me. I want to protect you, Jungkook. You’ve sacrificed yourself over and over again for me, and I can’t let you be the only one who does that. I want you to be able to feel like you can share your burdens with me. I’m ready when you want to share it.” And you leave it at that. You have no room to pry or force him to open about something that is strongly tied to the trauma he experienced for almost his whole life.

Jungkook wrapped his arms tight around you, pulling you close to him. He laid a kiss on your head. “Thank you, y/n. I love you.”

“I love you more than anything, Jungkook.” You pressed a loving kiss to his lips. “I’m always with you, no matter what.”

…

As the war drew close enough to be counted down in days, everyone became extremely anxious for more help to arrive. Seokjin convinced some more Mage tribes and settlements to join the fight. However, the two people you had asked for help hadn’t shown up. Not even a word from up North.

One evening, Taehyung became extremely desperate. He didn’t think the war could be won. He told his sister she must continue to travel as far East as she could, to the coast, and not to come back until it was safe—if it ever was. He wanted to give her another chance at life. “You must go with the other young children East. It’s not safe here. I don’t want you to be in danger, and I wouldn’t be able to protect you.”

“No!” She protested vehemently. “I want to stay with you!” She hugged her big brother tightly. Never in their whole lives had they been apart.

Taehyung was heartbroken. “I can’t protect you here. I’m… I’m very sick.” In truth, he was dying. The curse inside him finally started to tap at his heart, which puts him through very long fits of vomiting and passing in and out of consciousness regularly.

When sobs racketed her little, Taehyung couldn’t hold back his own tears. He had hoped he could give her a better world to live in before he passed from this world. However, that proved harder than what he was able to do. He thought that if he couldn’t give her that, he could still give her a chance to survive.

…

“Hello again, little Mage.” You whipped around from gathering herbs. Namjoon had sent you on a full day’s run to get surplus of materials to make medicines and salves.

“Jung Hoseok. It’s been a long time.”

“Almost three summers. It’s just in a couple days, little Mage. I believe you owe me something that will make me happy.” He took several steps toward, hands stuffed in the pockets of his dark jeans. His face was tilted in inquiry.

You hadn’t forgotten about your deal with the death spirit. You just didn’t figure it out, much less be able to work towards finding it. Truthfully, when Seokjin had declared that the war would happen this summer, which is less than a couple days away, it had presented a timely opportunity for you.

“Do you have it?”

You took a deep breath. “No. I don’t.”

Rage, frustration and then disappointment flickered across his face. “Why not, little Mage?”

“I have something better.” He quirked an eyebrow at you. “The Promised Land is within reach.”

Hoseok scoffed, rolling his eyes. “What the fuck? How is that better?”

“If we can just win the war—”

“Win the war?!” He shouted. He released a laugh of disbelief and one that was absolutely hysterical. “You’re such an idiot! You think you can bank this deal—a piece of happiness for me—on the most impossible chance that this war could be won?” You felt a shiver travel down your spine at his outburst. He pointed an accusatory finger at you, “I’m not going to feel bad when I drink your soul because you denied me something that could finally give me happiness after four hundred fucking years of sorrow and anguish.” Unexpectedly, Hoseok started to cry. You couldn’t but feel bad for him. He was living a horrible existence as a starving ghost doomed to walk the earth for eternity, watching and waiting for the death of fellow humans so he could get some relief.

“What would bring you happiness?” You inquired softly when he dried his tears.

He was silent for a few long moments before he said the most honest thing you’ve heard from him. “I want to see my sister again.”

“Where is she?”

“In Paradise.” More tears left his eyes. “I couldn’t save her from the Fall. I did everything I could, even selling my own soul… but it wasn’t enough. I’ve regretted that decision every moment of my immortal existence. If I hadn’t done that—if I had realized that there was a better place beyond this one—I would be able to see her in the clouds. But I’m forever bound to this fallen world.”

“I’m sorry, Hoseok,” you said sincerely. “I don’t know how to help you.”

His expression became hard. Suddenly, his tears had dried. “Then, you should expect me to come for your soul in a few days. Because I’m a merciful spirit, I’ll even let you fight on the battlefield for your cause before I collect it. Although, I don’t think that will be a very long time. I guess I’m also a patient spirit.” He said rather bitterly. He shoved his hands back in his pockets and turned on his heel.

“Wait, Hoseok,” you called him before he disappeared. “I know I’m in no position to ask for a favor, but I mean this sincerely. I know the chance of winning is slim, but what if we did win? The darkness would be gone. Things might change for everyone, including you… So, consider fighting with us. Gather other death spirits and help us achieve a different world.” You let your offer hang in the air. Hoseok was still, except for the turn of his head to give you a mournful glance.

Then, he was gone.

You were hopeful for a yes, but at least he didn’t outright give you a ‘no.’ You seemed to be experiencing a lot of that lately. You’ve just come to the conclusion that uncertainty was high and not many promises survived in this world. You just had to be hopeful that the right choices will be made when the right time comes.

…

With the next few passing days, the darkness drew closer, which sent the sun running for cover. It hurried the last of the preparations during the rare hours of light left in the day until there were none left. When complete darkness ascended the sky, Seokjin commanded everyone, except the frontline, to move to high ground. Up there on those several large rolls of hills, massive bonfires were lit in front of newly constructed shelter. When everyone was finally in position, it was a matter of waiting for the signal.

Despite the heavy silence in the air, you heard quickening breaths, hammering hearts and dripping sweat. Chitters even made your unsteady. You wrapped your fingers around Jungkook’s tightened fist, stabilizing yourself and providing a grounding force for him. You stood between him and Seokjin at the front at the top of the hill. Lines of Mages and human soldiers stood tall behind you. You all looked like a rag-tag team of street fighters, not a navy ready to take down the biggest threat in all the world. But sometimes that’s who was needed…

People.

Even people who couldn’t or chose not to fight. There were builders, craftsmen and healers all waiting inside the shelter. Namjoon stood right behind the fighting lines with a bag packed with medicines and bandages to help those hurt in action. Lastly, you still held out hope that not everyone had shown up yet.

Out of the corner of your eye, Seokjin surveyed the men and women he’s about to lead to victory or the end. The weight of it caused his wide shoulders to sag. But he could not show his fear or weakness. He had to be a strong leader for them. He took a deep breath of humid air, straightening his spine.

Below you, a sudden spark of the fire glowed between the thick, quiet trees.

A deep chill ran through the air.

The adrenaline kicked in to awaken still senses, fire muscles into action and rip war cries from dry throats.

The singing of a conch shell boomed in the air.

It left a ringing in your ears that soon muffled the shouts and screams of your fellow soldiers when darkness descended upon you. As planned, everyone broke their red Witch flares on their belts, revealing everyone’s location amongst the oppressing black air. You stuck back-to-back with Jungkook, drawing flames from the bonfire to burn the horrifying shadow monsters that left their refuge in the dark to destroy you.

It was fast and never ending. You swiped fire with one hand and then immediately had to dodge an oncoming attack. You had times where you missed, and the pain sent your blood rushing in your ears that were already straining to hear strategy and commands from various fighters against the screeches of the demons and the screams of the dying.

“ADVANCE!” You heard Seokjin roar. Down the hill, he met the feet of the darkness where they planted themselves on the plateau. You were gaining ground.

But at what cost?

It was hard not to trip over the bodies of the frontline soldiers at the base of the hill.

As you ran forward, everything became more suffocating and a bone-chilling freeze replaced the humid summer air.

And cries of temporary victory soon became cries of last words.

One particular cry made you turn in alarm. “Jungkook!” He clutched his arm, blood spilling through his fingers.

Then, he became absolutely enraged. With the blood that stained his hand and ran down his arm, he created his own white-hot fire, which he lashed out like a whip and ended the demonic being. You stared at him wide-eyed as he just ripped through shadow demon after demon, wielding his bright fire, until he cleared a full-on path behind him.

In your distraction, you failed to notice a disturbingly human-like creature tackle you to the ground. You fell flat on your belly with a yelp of surprise. You felt the wind get knocked out of you. You struggled to flip around, your hands flying out to try to get your magic to protect you. Before you could even feebly attempt to do so, the demon was already turning to ash above you. Jungkook grabbed you by the hands and hauled you to your feet.

“How—how did you do that?” You sputtered out after a shaky apology.

“No time.” He growled. He resumed position back-to-back with you. That’s when you felt how hot he was through his shirt that was soaked with sweat. He was burning up.

“Jungkook, cool it down! You’ll burn yourself out!”

“I feel fine!” He shouts back with a tone that doesn’t sound like him at all. It was so foreign to you that you spared a glance to make sure the words were leaving his mouth.

Any hesitation from the surrounding shadow demons at the demonstration of Jungkook’s power ceases, and they begin attacking again. You try to aid him in clearing the area around you by forcing the demons into Jungkook’s white flames with your magic. Although it appeared that you and Jungkook were making progress leading the front line, you hadn’t realized that your fellow soldiers were not. As a result, more and more demons came up behind you as Jungkook moved forward, effectively separating you from the rest of the army.

“Jungkook, stop!” But he couldn’t hear you. He just kept slashing through each creature with mad swings of his fiery whip. You tried to cover your 6 o’clock and the sides, but it slowed you down as Jungkook got farther and farther away. “Jungkook!” You tried to call for him again.

You lost him amongst the dark chaos. Panic swells up within you at the fact you’re now fighting alone against several demons. Your moment of distraction allows one of them to take a swipe at you. Its claws seared through the skin of your arm. You cried out in pain, clutching your bad arm as you were forced to defend yourself with it. You clenched your jaw in pain. However, your slowness had cost you as another demon hit you across the face. You flew back into the ground, a scream escaping your lips. Fresh, hot blood dripped down the side of your face. You only had a moment more before the demon descended on you again, raising a lethal looking claw to rip your guts out.

Suddenly, the demon withered into ashes with a loud pop. You whip around to see Namjoon flanked by two Mages helping him clear a way to you. “Y/n!”

“Namjoon! What are you doing out here? It’s too dangerous!” You get to your feet, and he met you halfway. Immediately, he dug through his bag and pulled out a salve and generously coated it on your wounds.

“I could say the same thing! You must be more careful. Where’s Jungkook?” He looked around frantically.

“I don’t know. He got ahead of me. Give me some of those grenades!” You demanded, rifling through his bag to grab a few. “I’m going to try to catch up with him. He needs help!” You turned on your heel, but Namjoon grabbed your shoulder to spin you around to face him again.

“Be careful! It’s not safe around him right now. I don’t think he’s in complete control of his power. “

“But I can’t just leave him by himself! He needs me with him! I told him he wouldn’t have to do any of this own,” tears prickled at the backs of your eyes. You looked ahead to the direction you saw him go last. Sure enough, you saw the blindingly white light of his fire in the far distance—so, so close to the center of the darkness.

He was going to confront the master controller of all this, and he was going in alone. He was going to get his revenge, even if it cost him his life.

Your biggest fear of today was coming to fruition. You shouted his name one last time into the air, pushing the waves of sound through the air to him with your magic. It was all you could do left to stop him.

But your effort proved futile. Mere moments later, his white fire was swallowed by the darkness. “NO!” You pusedh Namjoon’s hand off you and surge forward into the cluster of demons. You threw all your grenades to clear an area in front of you wide enough for your magic to be effective in throwing them out of the way or burning them to ashes. Sweat dripped off your face, signaling that most of your magic has been spent. You cursed at yourself for your magic never having as much depth and range as Jungkook’s.

Your hits became less powerful with each one. You could hear Namjoon and the other two Mages calling for you to come back to them rather than fight alone. But it was too late. More demons had already poured behind you and blocked the path like hedges in a never-ending maze in which you can never go back. It wore you down to the bone until you made a futile mistake that put you once again in a vulnerable position.

This was it. You were out of weapons and magic, surrounded by hundreds of horrifying monsters with no one able to help you. Your vision began to grow darker, and for several seconds, you thought you had just entered the deepest, darkest circle of hell.

Then, the sun started to come out. You blinked blearily eyes. The demons began to scurry away from the patches of light shining on the ground back towards their master. You hurried to your feet and dodged creature after creature as they ran past you.

You looked up.

And there was help up on the hill.

Park Jimin was standing in the front. Ripples of magic emanated from him, controlling black tendrils of the darkness from beyond. It twisted and writhed against Jimin’s magic. The monk stood next to him, beating a steady rhythm on his red drum.

Then, there was Min Yoongi, hand-in-hand with Tae’s sister. Around them were hundreds of Scholars dressed in red robes. You couldn’t believe it. They were actually here. You didn’t have much time to think how, but it was apparent enough that Tae’s sister had found Jimin and Yoongi on the road and had convinced them to come.

The way back to the hill became clearer. Teams of healers were dispatched to the wounded and the remaining able-bodied soldiers snuffed out the last of the demons. It invigorated you to keep forging forth. You ran towards Jungkook’s direction and found him lying on the ground. You roll him onto his back. To your relief, he becomes aware of your presence rather quickly. However, it is short-lived after you realize the horrible shape, he is in. Bloodied from fresh wounds, dirt covered his face, and sweat drenched his clothes. His skin was unusually pale, and his lips were cracked from dehydration.

“Hurry, we have to get back to base. You can’t fight like this.” You urge him as you help him get up and put an arm around him for support.

“I’m fine. I’m just a little tired,” he said breathlessly and unconvincingly.

“You’re burnt out.” You hissed at him. “Gosh, you’re so stupid. I can’t believe that you would just go that far alone without anyone to watch your back.” He didn’t have much energy left to fight you dragging him back towards the camp.

Above you, Jimin’s magic kept the darkness at bay. He didn’t seem to be defeating it, but rather buying everyone time to regroup and get back to safety. You crossed the open field back to the bottom of the hill.

“Take the of the injured, eat and rest. Unfortunately, this battle is not over yet.” Seokjin declared to the soldiers, patting them on the back, trying to encourage them. You had been fighting on the field for a number of hours already. Namjoon spotted you with Jungkook, and he rushed over to him to aid you. You refreshed yourself with some water and food as well.

Then, you heard Taehyung calling out his sister’s name, voice hoarse, as he stumbled around the base looking for her. He looked so sick. He was unnaturally pale, which provided a stark contrast against the darkness raging in his veins all over his body. When he finally spotted her, he cursed himself. “What are you doing? You should be on the coast right now! How could you be here?” With every word, he grew more and more upset, and he collapsed to his knees. His sister didn’t say anything; instead, she ran to her brother and wrapped him in a hug.

Yoongi approached them cautiously. Taehyung eyed him wearily and stood shakily to his feet. Yoongi held out his hand, “I’m assuming your Kim Taehyung. I’m Min Yoongi. It’s great to finally meet you.” They shook hands. “Your sister told me a lot about you. She found us. When she was traveling north. But, um… it sounds like she was supposed to go East,” He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. “Don’t blame her, though. It’s because of my stubborn ass that she had to come get me so I and my followers would be able to help.”

“Okay, I’ll blame you then,” Taehyung responded with a quip. It definitely wasn’t the politeness Taehyung should have showed to his elder, but also wasn’t a normal day for sure. And Yoongi must’ve also understood Taehyung’s frustration.

“Please don’t fight, Taetae. I couldn’t leave everyone when I need to be here to help win the war.” His sister explained. Immediately, Taehyung’s mood shifted to that of understanding, but concern as well. She has never said something that she didn’t mean or know to be true. “And it requires the help of the Scholars and the last descendant of the Mother Goddess.”

“We also need a vessel,” Yoongi interjected.

“What do you mean?”

“Someone who is willing to sacrifice themselves in order to destroy the Evil One. It has to be a Mage. Humans are not strong enough to handle the integration.”

Taehyung did not hesitate. “I’ll do it.”

“No!” His sister protested.

Yoongi stared at him, surprised that he would volunteer so quickly. “That’s very courageous of you. But you do know that this would mean complete obliteration of your soul? There will be no Paradise afterwards. Only oblivion.”

“I can’t let you do that Taehyung.” Seokjin spoke. “I do not wish for anybody who dies on this field today to go anywhere other than Paradise. There has to be another way.”

“Sadly, there isn’t.” Yoongi said sullenly. “Actually, Taehyung would have to—need to be the vessel. He has the darkness within him. If we are to destroy the Evil One, we have to destroy everywhere he is hiding, even in those that we know.”

“No! I don’t want this to happen!” Tae’s sister cried. “I didn’t want this part to be true…”

Taehyung looked shocked. He felt his heart breaking even more. He bent down to her level in front of her and wiped away her tears. “It’s okay. I’m sick anyway, and this way I can give you what I’ve always wanted for you—a better future. Nothing would make me happier than to have my dying wish for you be fulfilled.” Each word seemed calm and serene.

It only made her sob harder. “I don’t want to be in a world without you.”

“Please… I want to do this. I have to help make it right.” Taehyung pleaded. She didn’t accept it, but you realized she also didn’t have a choice. Taehyung gave her one last hug. He turned to Yoongi, and they headed back up the hill to Jimin.

Seokjin approached you and Jungkook. He spoke specifically to Jungkook, “How are feeling? Are you up for another fight?”

“Yes.”

“Good, because we’ll need your magic for this.”

…

Soon, Jimin’s magic slowed with the beat of the drum until the darkness was allowed to recede back to its master. If this was going to work, Jimin had to redirect his magic. Everyone was prepared this time, however. Soldiers were strategically placed in groups across the plain between the hill and the thunderheads of inky black. Taehyung stood in the center of all of it, chin raised to stare down the enemy. Jungkook was near him, slowly readying his magic for one last spiraling burst of power that could hopefully end this war.

Then, a new beat of the drum began, slow and steady yet more intense than the last time.

The young girl watched the Evil One with careful eyes, and then closed her own beneath her blindfold. She channeled into the depths of her visions until she broke through the bottom-most barrier of her mind into that of the evil entity across the plain. She could sense its unrelenting need to dominate and conquer every living thing it crossed. Everything that it wanted her to see. However, unaware of the true strength of this girl, the Evil One unwittingly revealed everything that she wasn’t meant to see.

Focused and sharp as a new blade, she opened up another channel in her mind—one that would let Jimin in. He saw what she was able to discover about the Evil One and his movements. Thus, began the final plan of attack.

Ever so slowly, Jimin coaxed the darkness away from its master, stealthy like a snake. Except this time, instead of leading it into his grasp, Jimin made it so Taehyung appeared as bait. An oasis amongst endless desert. It should be the easiest part—Taehyung had a piece of them within him. He should seem familiar like an old friend.

Soldiers readied their weapons of choice for when the moment came when the Evil One would soon realize what they were doing. A steady trickle of lesser demons ran out of the shadows but were swiftly defeated.

Everything seemed to be working according to plan. A thought after several tense minutes that sent cold sweat dripping down everyone’s’ spines.

The darkness was close to Taehyung. It curled and slithered towards him, tapping at the air around him until it seemed sure he was safe. It pushed against his chest and began to sink into his skin. Taehyung’s muscles started to tremble at the physical manifestation of evil wrapping around his heart. He tried to keep steady and control his reactions. If he spooked it at all, the plan would go to hell.

But it was so hard. With the intrusion came pain that started out as a deep ache but became so blinding that he couldn’t control his own body anymore.

He fell to his knees.

A forceful disturbance was palpable in the air with a spike of metallic fear that quickly followed.

The earth shook under your feet.

Around you, soldiers looked around wildly, bodies tensed for a fight.

Jimin struggled to maintain control of the hands and feet of the Evil One. Sweat plastered his blue hair to his forehead. The young girl by his side struggled herself to stay within the mind of the Evil One as he relentlessly tried to push her out.

Then, the dark creatures poured out from underneath the cloak of the Evil, and they came back with a vengeance. These were much faster, stronger and smarter—significantly harder to defeat. It took teams of two or three Mages to even take down one.  Seokjin called for everyone’s groups to close in on the center of the formation, where Taehyung was standing. He must be protected at all costs until it’s time. But you were getting hammered out there, much worse than before.

Your fellow Mages fell around you. You tried to help them or see if they could still be saved, but the demons were so aggressive. Each defense you put up they were already a step ahead of you with another offensive attack. It became too much, and you quickly found yourself on the losing side of the fight.

Within the grasp of the demon, ready to be mauled apart by its claws, you watch with wide eyes as a pair of human hands break the monster’s neck.

No. Not exactly human.

“Hoseok!”

“You should be more careful, little Mage. These guys aren’t as friendly as they appear.” He threw the carcass aside and spat on it. “Are you hurt?”

“A little, but I’m fine. Thank you for coming.” Your expression of gratitude was strained as you both work to fight off another demon.

“Don’t thank me. I didn’t come for your cause. My friends and I came here for revenge.” With another trick of the eye and snap of his wrist, he downed another enemy.

“We?”

As if in answer, the air chilled with the presence of thousands of death spirits—hungry for the blood of their masters who hold their souls hostage. “Fall back with the others, y/n. Protect your vessel. We’ll take care of the rest of these motherfuckers.” Hoseok cracked his knuckles and stretched his neck to the side in intimidation.

You fell back, urging others to follow you to form a defensive cluster around Taehyung. The darkness around him kept trying to pull back. Jimin wasn’t going to be able to do this alone. He needed help, and thankfully he had some.

Yoongi directed his followers to grab a hold of the Evil One and bring it to the vessel. Hundreds of red robed Scholars raised their hands in unison and created a force of energy that sucked all the air inward towards the circle around Taehyung like funnel. The dark clouds followed, allowing the sun to shine through.

The darkness became a tornado above you, more and more of it being sucked into the spiral that kept going down, down, down into Taehyung. His body blackened with the presence of the darkness inside him. He was crying out in pain or rage. It could not be distinguished because no one knew if it was still Taehyung or if it was the Evil One. One of them stopped fighting because then the rest of the Evil One rushed into Taehyung.

It was silent for several moments. The pounding sun was a shock to everyone, but a welcome one that helped to invigorate many of the soldiers. Taehyung was heaving on the ground, trying to catch his breath. His breathing slowed, and he stood up. But the eyes that stared back were not Taehyung’s.

“NOW!” Jimin bellowed from the hilltop.

Jungkook let his white fire rage forth towards the Evil One. You prepared for the winning blow, but it didn’t come. The Evil One was quick to react. He threw up a defensive wall of his own, blocking Jungkook’s flames from reaching him. Jungkook pushed harder, willing his magic to overcome the Evil One’s dark powers. You could tell it was wearing on him.

You had to do something.

You ran to him and threw your magic in with his.

“Y/n, what are you doing? Get back!” He urged you.

“I told you you’re not doing this alone because you don’t have to. You never let me fall, and I’m going to return the sentiment.” You grabbed his hand in yours and channeled your magic to him. The white flames got hotter and brighter.

He turned to face you and saw a familiar light in your gaze. He was reminded of that night in the dungeon in the Citadel all those years ago when he helped you express your magic. Suddenly, he didn’t see this war as revenge anymore. No, it was about burning out the impurities in this world and remolding in into something new and beautiful. It’s not about hate—it’s about love.

The world became much brighter, but the flow of magic persisted. The Evil One tried to fight it, but he couldn’t beat something that time and time again survived even the hardest of days. Jungkook’s fire broke through and penetrated the soul of the dark entity. The body that it held hostage roared in fury and pain. The rivers of black ink that covered the body burned away and disintegrated into ash in the air. The Evil One tried to escape the body, but the soul within kept him grounded and forced him to endure every second of his lasting defeat.

Around you and Jungkook, every Mage and human was silent as they watched the long era of death and suffering come to an end. No longer would they have to look West and wonder how long they had to run before they were next.

The last of the darkness left Taehyung’s body. The flow of magic stopped.

It was over.

Taehyung collapsed to the ground. Namjoon and Tae’s sister rush to him.

You barely catch Jungkook as he falls to the ground from exhaustion. This weight caused you to sink your own tired body to the grass. He groans. His skin was burning hot. You used the last bit of your energy left to cool him off. He appears to be alright otherwise.

You’re thankful. He chose not to lose himself or let the darkness take him with it.

“He’s not breathing!” Namjoon shouted. More medical personnel ran to help him. You watch helplessly as they tried to save him.

Yoongi and Jimin descended the hill to assess the situation. Their expressions mirrored everyone else’s of deep sadness. It was as though the war wasn’t won. Tae’s sister tugged on Jimin’s arm and pleaded, “Please, please do something to help him.” Tears fell down her face and soaked her blindfold.

“I can’t. I don’t have the power to bring anybody back.” He replies softly laced with disappointment.

“Ask her.” She begged. Jimin knew who she was referring too.

He looked at her in earnest. “I’ll try.” Jimin sat next to Taehyung’s body and placed his hands on his chest. He closed his eyes and steadied his breathing. “Mother…” He seemed to search for her, chin slightly swaying and turning until he stopped at the sky. “This man is… He’s a good man. Better than good—he is the most courageous and selfless person I’ve never met. He gave up his life for the world you’ve given us… And I think he deserves a second chance to live a great life.” Jimin opened his eyes, flooded with tears.

A tear fell from his face, and with it—

It started to rain. The droplets rejuvenated the life in every living thing around it. The grass perked up from its roots. The leaves on trees became greener. Men and women tilted their heads back to the skies to feel the cool water on their skin.

Taehyung took his first breath for the second time.

“Tae!” His sister was overjoyed.

He blinked blearily towards the sky before he began to focus on the scene around him. He finally saw a big smile on her face—for the first time since he could ever remember. “Hey,” he greets her with his own smile. “What happened? Did I hit my head or something?”

Everyone around him lets out a chuckle. “Something like that,” Jimin smiles at him. “Good to finally meet you formally, Kim Taehyung. I’m Park Jimin.” He shakes Taehyung’s hand. Taehyung returns the sentiment. It puts everything at ease, and the recovery finally can start.

…

A couple days later, after everyone tended to the wounded, buried their dead and began to rebuild the settlement, Tae was walking with his sister to find Jimin. Suddenly, she wandered off. Taehyung found her just outside the edge of the woods.

Standing before a gate that wasn’t there before.

These white walls were nothing like the walls of the Citadel. These walls were more like a white picket fence as opposed to towering giants. Vines crept up the sides of the walls as if nobody bothered to take care of the place. But still, there was something about it…

Then, he knew.

“This is it.” His sister said. Taehyung kneeled in front of her. She looked beyond him towards the gates. Carefully, Taehyung gently tugged the blindfold from his sister’s eyes. And was greeted with warm brown eyes instead of milky ones he saw so many years ago. She smiled at him. It made Taehyung’s heart soar.

She was no longer cursed with being a Seer, and she can now start living a real life. Now she was just another human girl.

A rumbling sounded from the white gates, and they began to open. Taehyung stood next to his sister and took her hand. They watched as a new world was revealed to them.

“Taehyung!” Jimin called from the tree line. Then, he saw the open gates. “What is that?”

Upon hearing the commotion, you, Jungkook, Namjoon and Yoongi emerge from the woods. You saw what was beyond the gates. Untouched earth that was luscious and green. A towering rock guarded over the whole oasis. Other people from the settlement came as well, wanting to see what the excitement was about. Seokjin appeared not too long after, carrying a bird cage in his hand.

He stepped to the front of the crowd and released the dove from its cage. Everyone waited anxiously. And then the dove came flying back with several over doves. No one could believe it. This was it.

The Promised Land.

Cheers went around the crowd. Seokjin, who grinned broadly, waved for everyone to follow him. They ran with him into the new land. You squeezed Jungkook’s hand in excitement. He looked so hopeful, eyes sparkling with happiness. He pulled you into a kiss. Like the first time he kissed you, everything seemed right.

“Little Mage,” you turned to see Hoseok behind you. He smiled at you in greeting, “I wanted to thank you.”

“For what?” You asked.

“For finally giving me something that brings me happiness. You and everyone.” He gazed towards the Promised Land. “I can finally be free.” The way he said free—he didn’t mean just on this Earth. Hoseok walked to the gates of the Promised Land.

And disappeared.

Hoseok’s spirit traveled to Paradise, where he was finally reunited with sister.

“Come on,” Jungkook jerked his head to the open gates, “let’s go in.” He smiled lovingly at you. Hand-in-hand, you walked into a new world together.

A world where Mages live freely and peacefully with humans.

Seokjin decided to retire his leadership position among the settlement. Namjoon took up the mantle and became a great leader. A leader that brought together mankind and the Mages so they would live in harmony.

Yoongi and his followers were released from their vows as Scholars and went on to live normal lives. He lost his Seer abilities just like Tae’s sister, who he realized was not his sister, Ella. However, after the Evil One was vanquished, he felt reunited with Ella in spirit.

Jimin chose to lead a quiet life after the war. He remained with the settlement, finally feeling like he has a family with the other boys.

In fact, even during all the hardship and tough days, all of you gained a new family; and the bonds between all of you were stronger than any force to exist on this earth.

[warsofasoiaf]

Hi again, just a friendly reminder for you about Disco Elysium. I played it myself 2 weeks ago and I thought it was a wonderful game, looking forward to hear your opinion.

Here’s the weekend reminder about disco elysium: at some point I’d like to hear your thoughts about Kim and the deserter, but I’m sure you have a lot of first thoughts about the game’s narrative and styles at large and the overall themes ?

Yep, I’ve got many thoughts on Disco Elysium. Overall, I found it an incredibly enjoyable throwback to the classic role-playing games of the old Infinity Engine in a good way. It’s dialogue-driven in the way Planescape: Torment was, but was confident enough to avoid the pitfalls of combat that punctuated the D&D games in favor of a mechanical challenge of skill checks. All conflict is done through dialogue, either through picking a dialogue choice or engaging in a skill check. The game also helpfully gives you feedback, not only in your skill totals, but in how your actions influence the choices you’ve made. Did you take the corrupt union boss’s check? He has you over a bit of a barrel so it’s harder to resist him. Did you impress Cuno with your marksmanship by shooting down the body? You have a bonus to impress him since you’ve already done it before. This sort of openness with the mechanics of the game helps smooth over understanding of the functions, as well as reinforce the themes. Since everything you do is in the dialogue trees, and all of these choices occur in dialogue, it stresses careful reading of the dialogue box as opposed to something you just blow through to get quest markers or goodies.

Alright, let’s talk about the plot. Since there will be spoilers and it’s a relatively recent game, I’m going to throw a cut in here.

One of the chief themes of the game is sadness and loss, it’s written all across the setting. Heck, it’s even written into the name. Disco is the archetypical music genre that is dead, despite its followers wishing that it could come back. Elysium, the afterlife of Greek mythology. It was a failed communist revolution followed by a failed monarchist rebellion followed by a capitalist invasion, and now exists as a pit of corruption, crime, and plenty of people within Martinase look back to the lost days by cleaving to the old political systems as a source of comfort. Communists and monarchists look back to the old communes that were established, capitalists look to the successful Coalition and the ability of capital to absorb its naysayers and failures into itself for success, and the moralists look at the other three and say “you extremists are absolutely insane!” and hold to their own centrist platform and the path of incremental caution. This is hardly unusual in our own history, with far too many historical examples to list here. There’s a longing there for something that is lost, the people you meet in the game are lost, even what seems to be simple comedic beats have their own secret wishes, like Cuno who ends up helping you in the final act if you lose Kim, and can even become a junior police officer once out of the thumb of Cunoeese. Harry can sing the saddest song about the littlest church, and it’s a perfect expression of his regret, as his reptile brain lets him know. The deserter is lost in regret, albeit an incredibly negative sort. He curses those who are not ‘committed’ like him, who aren’t willing to murder like him. He looks at the Rene, the old monarchist with his boule, and wishes only to pull the trigger and silence him. 

The main character you inhabit is a great twist on the blank slate character that dominates the ‘western RPG.’ The main character starts the game passed out in his own drug-fueled excess. Where most RPG’s either expect reading a large lore dump (this was the case with the Forgotten Realms Infinity Engine games, which expected people to know who Cyric or Auril was) or largely wave it off with bland exposition, this was a game that made what happened an integral part of your character. What drives such a man to try and destroy himself so completely? Going through the game reveals the answer: it’s Dora, your ex-wife. Before, your obsession with your job (your case load, as noted by Kim, is exceptionally high), seemed to be at odds with your character’s penchant for substance abuse and overall instability, but exploring the failed relationship with Dora sheds new light on Harry DuBois. Dora was a wealthy woman, and your character was clearly a member of the lower classes given his demeanor and salary. Your character tried to immerse themselves in the work perhaps to earn more money, or simply to earn prestige to help alleviate the mismatch. It didn’t work, Dora left six years ago, and the detective has been alone ever since. By calculating the ‘cop tracks’ that the character can be on, the game can populate dialogue with references to the behavior, allowing the character to fill out aspects of themselves in a character-driven way. Tyranny did this with its campaign character generation, and Disco Elysium does it here. Such things are always going to be niche in RPG’s, the driving trend these days is instead make a completely blank character and have them be built out from actions taking place in the game world, but this typically leads to characters who rationalize performing optimal paths and who do everything the game offers in the world, which translates either into a lot of time doing repetitive content (in order to built up other character builds to the same level of mastery to the original build) or leads to ludo-narrative dissonance at the ease of which the character plows through the content, like becoming the Arch-Mage in Skyrim without being able to cast a single adept-level spell.

However, that isn’t to say that Harry is alone. Instead, the detective is quite a crowd is his own head, with the 24 various skills that he has developed largely advising, suggesting, yelling, and talking over each other. This was almost certainly part of the reason the original name of the game was “No Truce with the Furies.” The Furies, in Greek mythology were embodiment of vengeance, primal feelings that sought out their goals. These 24 skills in your head almost cannot be compromised with, only accepted or rejected. They’ll yell inside your own head to listen to them. Electrochemistry wants its next fix, Volition is certain that Klaasje is trying to manipulate you and wants you to slap cuffs on her right now, Physical Instrument wants you to show everyone who’s boss with fists while Authority wants the same with words. This was almost overwhelming at first, 24 characters to figure out in addition to my own character as well as Kim, Cuno, Joyce, Everett, and the Hanged Man made me wonder what exactly I was going to do. What was the difference between Volition and Composure, or Shivers and Inland Empire? It helps on a replay once you figure out what the skills actually mean and can help shape your character into your preferred vehicle for exploring Revanchol West. Dealing with these characters can be fun, insightful, and incredibly heartwarming, as the player can understand when they finally find out that Reptile Brain and Limbic System are simply trying to help Harry out with the loss of his ex-wife by trying to get rid of the sad feelings as best they can. 

What helps with this though, is that failing skill checks is not a death sentence. One of the most annoying things in games comes when you depend upon success after success that is out of your control, it encourages save-scumming behavior. This isn’t to say that failure isn’t a valuable learning experience or that difficulty is something to be avoided; the enduring popularity of the Soulsborne genre suggests that difficulty is not itself a bad thing. But failure typically has to be fair. If instead a game drops you in a room with 25 gorgons, forcing you to roll 25 checks against petrification or die immediately, that’s not challenge, that’s just padding the length of the game by forcing repeat content. Disco Elysium instead makes failure, particularly of red skill checks, either entertaining or allowing alternate paths. I laughed with absolute glee when my character took off from Garte yelling at him about the trashed hotel room which ended up becoming a full sprint while flipping him the bird, causing me instead to run over the nice wheelchair-bound old lady, in true black comedy fashion, or that you can get into a nodding war with Kim that’s so intense that you actually break your neck. That the game offers so many different methods to the same path helps elevate the role-playing elements.

Similarly, one of the best moments of game design was when you looked at the billboard to find out where Ruby could have gone. It’s a difficult Shivers check, which might force people into an insurmountable wall if they haven’t upgraded their Shivers skill. However, doing stuff in the fishing village, from going on a date with the harpoon girl to tracking down what went on with the body on the boardwalk, gives you bonuses to the check, encouraging the character to perform the side quests and explore the bonus content. 

The game’s side content really does reward some more of the Dirk Gently type of character that sees connectivity in anything. The old lady reading outside the bookstore doesn’t have a missing husband only to later be the wife of the man who died on the boardwalk, or that a grounded character won’t walk out into the water to speak with the apparition of Dora as the mythical Dolores Dei (another great reference to what was lost, the lost wife seen as the lost mythic Moralist conqueror and crusader) means that the more grounded character does have the more grounded, less intense story. But the short length encourages replayability, and the idea that a grounded character has a more grounded story is in it’s own way a commitment to the game’s overall vision, even if it means you miss out on a key insight the first time around.

I’m incredibly impressed at how the developers stuck to their visions and the finished product that they developed. My hat is off to them.

Thanks for the question, Khef, the multiple Anon’s who reminded me, TBH, and everyone else who was looking forward to this essay.

SomethingLikeALawyer, Hand of the King

[bekahdoesnerdshit]

no one else has reblogged ask meme Mondays so I'm just going fucking apeshit with u. from the big boy: b7 for raini bc it's funny, c1 for cog bc it's inchresting, h3 for brilliance bc I know there's some gay shit going on and I want to hear more, then a17 (character proud of themselves or ur proud of ur rp as them) L5 and L6 for whomsoever u want to talk about

I won’t need a readmore for this one, I tell myself. There’s not that many questions, and they’re not proseboys. I was a fool. She’s too long to be allowed to run on people’s dashboards unrestrained 😔 Thank you! For going apeshit!!

Raini

B7. How do they respond to babies crying in public? I guarantee the image you have for how Raini would react to a crying baby is 10000% correct. She’s unhappy. Uncomfortable. Unimpressed. Can you please make that thing be quiet. Why did you have it if you can’t mange it. This is why she’s never having kids. Like she’s not gonna say anything to the parents or shoot them dirty looks, because she’s not that specific flavor of asshole, but she’s going Mind Her Business and vacate the premises if possible. People who want to take care of something should just get a cat. Goddamn. There is ONE (1) baby that may qualify for an exception, and that’s Red. This is because (and please, picture Raini, the absolute picture of ‘fed up’, squatting down to look a fussy Red in the eye while she says this) “Baby Lent. You’re better than this. I know you are, and you’re letting me down. You need to stop making that noise.” This is unrelated to the question, but please also picture a Raini who was asked (blackmailed?) into babysitting using her Mage Hand to change Red’s diaper. It has nothing to do with the question but I think it’s a Very funny mental image. Thank you.

Cog

C1. Does your OC have a moral code? If not, how do they base their actions? If so, where does it come from, and how seriously do they take it? Absolutely! The way Cog approaches the world is defined by three main mantras: - Kindness is a discipline, not a character trait. - Doing the right thing isn’t always easy, but it is always worth doing. - If you are able to help someone, you have an obligation to do so. Between these three things, Cog sees the world in pretty black and white terms. There are right decisions, and wrong ones. The difference between the two is usually clear to anyone who cares to look, and so most of the evil in the world is born of selfishness. Consequently, Cog does very poorly in morally grey situations. She will commit without hesitation to any course of action that she deems “right” and “kind” no matter how drastic or dangerous it is, but she pretty much shuts down the second she’s faced with a decision that has consequences for someone regardless of what she does.  I’m sure that has not, and will not, come in her life ever at all. Ahah!  I think originally, this worldview was born of naivety. She grew up that religious kind of super sheltered where everything in the secular world was dangerous and dirty, and so when Cog began to realize that definitely wasn’t the case she made the choice to intentionally see the best in people and the world around her to fight what she was told growing up. When she started traveling with her party and actually seeing more of the world than the extremes of a) shitty cult town b) shiny clean magic school, she began to realize that the true state of the Wasteland was somewhere between what her Mama had told her and what she wanted to believe it was. But I’ve never in my life made a character who is stubborn as hell deep down, so instead of letting the world she found herself in change her Cog took a deep breath, rolled up her sleeves, and settled in to be the one changing it by loving and helping the people around her.

Brilliance

H3. Does your OC believe there’s only one ideal partner (or multiple ideal if not monogamous) for everyone, or that there are many people who could be right? I think Brilliance absolutely adores the idea of two people being made for one another. Two souls, wandering the world looking for one another? Who slot together so perfectly that when they find each other it’s clear they never could have fit anywhere else? Bruh. Yes, she knows love takes work. Sometimes you and your partner are going to disagree, and sometimes there’s going to be conflict. The world isn’t “love at first sight” then smooth sailing for the rest of your life. But you put in the work to make your lives better, together, because the universe gave you this person to care for. Maybe there are many people who you could be happy with, and those relationships aren’t anything to look down on. But when you find The One, Brilliance thinks, you know. She certainly did.

Don’t Worry About It

A17. What’s one of your OC’s proudest moments of themselves? Gonna hijack this question to talk about rp moments I’m proud of because Alex sorta kinda gave me permission to do that! Alright! For Raini, the biggest rp moment I’m proud of was her “I’m getting our memories back” speech a few sessions ago, specifically the line, “We’ve been fighting with one hand tied behind our backs for too long. If we’re going to die fighting this thing, I want to know exactly what I’m fighting for.” Morgan and I had been planning to kick off our return from July Hell Hiatus with Wish Two for a couple of days, which meant I was lucky enough to be able to spend a little while planning what to say. I feel like that line in particular embodies Raini’s unwavering confidence in her magic, her determination, and her specific brand of caring for the people around her without actually admitting that’s what she’s doing. I also really liked the way the scene of her apologizing to the party for being Bitchy post losing Magic for a minute went! Idk if anyone else remembers it, because it was pretty short in game, but! I thought it was a very good moment of Raini finding the most Roundabout way to say “thank you for looking out for me while I was defenseless”.  If I can pat myself on the back a little, my Cog monologues kick Ass. The most recent one was when she was talking to Ace about how War is Bad (radical, I know) and there was a moment where she looked at him and said, “...I’m not going to ask for your help, because I don’t know what I’ll do if I do and you say no.” Which. OOF. That was her and I realizing in real time that she and Ace were very much on different sides of this issue. When the session ended everyone said they Loved how good and hurtful that conversation was and I :’) Also, there was a really small moment when Cog was pleading for Maelo’s life (when Sunny’s dad had him locked in a cat carrier. It’s a Long story, made slightly better by the fact that Maelo was wildshaped into a cat at the time) and Cog went Straight for the dad heartstrings by sniffling and asking if, please, would Robert at least let her say goodbye to her friend before he killed him? Please? 😢  She is using her baby face for EVIL!  And oh my god how could I forget! Arcane Timeout! When the party went back to New Alexandria and was confronted by Ace for helping a prisoner escape (which, in fairness, Maelo did do) and Cog brought the encounter screeching to a halt by casting Wall of Stone to make a timeout hut with herself and Ace inside. She then sat herself down, looked Ace dead in the eye, and told him that the wall wasn’t coming down until he actually talked to her, or until he broke her concentration on the spell. She banked hard on him not being willing to hurt her, and it paid off. There were tears all around, both in and out of character. It was Wonderful. Also! I do just want recognition for the fact that I did not give into my impulses to be a little Shit as Cog last session by subtle casting Heal in Ace’s face after he Counterspelled my Healing Word. it was what I Rebekah wanted to do more than anything; unfortunately Cog is a better person than I am. There is No worse feeling than wanting so badly to do something you have no choice but to admit isn’t in character. Rip.  For whatever reason, all of my favorite Brilliance rp moments came during combat. Pressing her forehead to Sabre’s after he died in silent grief, forcefully taking a Narzugon off his Nightmare and then using Misty Step to mount it herself and take off after her friend, planting herself in the chokepoint of a hallway to stare down three minotaurs so she could keep her party safe behind her, pushing deeper into the hellwasp nest to rescue Dembe and Sabre despite knowing that doing so all but destroyed her chance of making it out alive, the list goes on. There were good out of combat moments too (despite the rest of the party’s best efforts 🙄), but I feel like for once I made a character who really shone in combat.  oh GOD I just remembered one really really good rp moment, when our rogue Zihro died when he got separated from the party during combat. We finished taking care of the main devil we were fighting, then began searching the dungeon for Zihro and the npc he was with. We, instead, found both of their corpses. Dembe looked to Brilliance, our healer, and demanded to know why she was just standing there instead of fixing their friend. We were only level three or four at the time, so Brilliance had to tell Dembe, again and again, that she couldn’t fix Zihro. It was too late, she wasn’t powerful enough yet, her goddess wouldn’t answer a prayer like that- It was a rough scene, and without question one of the best rp moments I’ve had with that group. Tae, if you’re reading this, you’re the only one with rights. Also, please unfollow this blog immediately.  Now as a quick pick-me-up after that mess, Pip’s best rp moment was when our barbarian Durokal -who couldn’t read and had a habit of running off and causing Problems- found a plaque he could tell had five words on it, and called Pip over to read it for him when Pip finished chasing him down. Pip, annoyed and out of breath and all of two feet tall, looked up at this 7 foot half-orc and told him, “It says: I’m. Gonna. Kick. Your. Ass.” Also, he regularly called very powerful figures in Barovia by sweet nicknames with “Mr.” in the front. As a sign of Respect. Because he’s the Best. sdfhsdkfj he also he couldn’t think of a fake name quick enough one time so he told an npc that is name was Dick and he was Very embarrassed about it. She: bought it!

Brilliance, Again

L5. Which OC do you think is the most decent morally or behaviorally?  AKA, which is supposed to a “good guy”? The answer is Cog, but we already went in depth on her morals this ask. She’s HAD enough screen time let’s move on. Brilliance is the only other character who, if asked, would say they saw themselves as a good guy instead of just “a person”. She strives to do right by the people around her, and to protect the light and beauty found in the world. She doesn’t have the same illusions about the world wanting to be a good place that Cog does, and she very much understands that sometimes the best thing you can do for the world is to put the things that make it dangerous six feet under. What’s interesting I think is that, despite being a paladin, she isn’t Lawful Good! She’s Neutral Good, because you know what? She wants to do the right thing, and laws aren’t always right. It’s up to you, as a person with a mind and free will and agency, to look at a situation and decide what you think is the right thing to do. And, for Brilliance, generally the right thing to do is heft her sword, raise her shield, and face trouble head on.

Raini, Once More

L6. Which OC do you think is the worst morally or behaviorally? AKA, which is supposed to be a “bad guy”? I don’t have any evil aligned characters, because I personally find things like “getting along with my party members” sexy, but the character who’s the shittiest and the worst is obviously Raini. She’s not a bad person per say, she’s just selfish and results oriented. Very much “the ends justify the means” and in a party like hers she’s aware that somebody has to be the bad guy sometimes, and she’s not afraid to make sure that’s her. She’s also very very likely to fall victim to her hubris making her feel like she definitely knows what’s best, and acting on that maybe without consulting other people (see: the whole fucking premise of the campaign). She sees a goal, she sees a way to accomplish that goal, so why shouldn’t she begin taking the necessary steps to reach it? I think the events of the game have mellowed this flaw out a little bit, but you can still see traces of it in the way she, for example, wordlessly handed Lent a bunch of diamonds before launching her consciousness into the Abeast and very nearly dying in there without consulting with the party first. It happens!  Also, behaviorally, she’s just. I mean. She’s like that. The worst. And that, I promise, will never change. 

[pastel-cryptids]

For the sp wlw prompts, maybe some China/Tanith? I feel like they’re such an underrated ship idea - maybe an au when Tanith is still being forced to be China’s bodyguard ?

Oh, you genius!!!!

(Ao3 link here)

   “You’re joking, right?” 

   Tanith sat beside Valkyrie, slowly sinking into her couch. Valkyrie stared at the woman drowning in her couch and shrugged. “Nope, not at all. China said you owed her and this is the only way to appease her.”

   Tanith groaned and sank deeper into the couch. “It was an accident!” she cried. “It was only one vase!” 

   Valkyrie, Tanith, and Skulduggery were visiting China’s new collection of magical ancient tomes and objects. The woman had dedicated an entire section of the new Sanctuary just for her new collection. Valkyrie and Skulduggery were visiting to question China and give her information on a new case. Tanith joined along because she was bored. China quickly dismissed anything the duo said to her and dragged them through the Sanctuary. She opened a large door that revealed an already large collection of tomes and objects. The woman proudly walked them through each hallway. Tanith had zoned out the entire time. She had little care for historical objects. She’d lived through a lot of it already, what was the point of relearning it? Tanith strayed from the group and stared at a shelf filled with vases and other pottery. They all looked the same. She was saved from her boredom when Valkyrie called her name. Tanith turned quickly and her scabbard slammed into a vase.  It felt as though the moment was in slow motion. Valkyrie ran to try to catch the vase. Tanith grabbed her scabbard tightly. China yelped and stared with wide, horrified eyes. Skulduggery stood there. As the vase shattered on the ground, China screamed. The woman’s piercing blue eyes stared into Tanith’s soul.

   “What did you do!?” The woman screamed.

   Valkyrie began to apologize profusely. China ignored Valkyrie and pushed past her. “That was a five-thousand-year-old vase. Do you know how long it took me to acquire this?”

   The only reason why Tanith survived that encounter was due to Skulduggery diffusing the situation. He shoved some cash at China and dragged Tanith out of the room. Valkyrie was still apologizing as she walked out of the room. Tanith was scolded the entire ride home. It was not fun.

   Valkyrie sighed. “Yeah, sure. But there was also the time where you sneezed some of her faerie dust away or the time you somehow set an entire shelf of her’s on fire. Oh, and the time you threw a genuine crystal staff out of the window. And the time -”

   Tanith waved her arms. “I get it, I get it. I’ve ruined a lot of China’s stuff. She kind of deserves it though…”

   Valkyrie shook her head. “I won’t argue about that.” She grabbed Tanith’s shoulders and pulled the woman up from the couch. She turned Tanith and looked into her eyes.

   “It’s only for three weeks, Tanith. After that, you will never have to interact with her again. Probably.”

   Tanith rested her head on her hand. “You really want me to do this, huh?”

   Valkyrie nodded. Tanith smiled and ruffled Valkyrie’s hair. “You’re lucky I like you, Val.”

   Tanith’s Prometheus level of punishment was being China’s bodyguard for three weeks. China wanted Tanith to do something else, probably something worse, but Valkyrie refused anything other than some form of a simple job. So, there Tanith was, being led by the Sanctuary’s billionth administrator. She was given a black uniform that she was forced to wear. It wasn’t leather, but it was comfortable enough. 

   China sat on her throne with her legs crossed. She towered over Tanith and the administrator like a giant. She stood from her throne and gave a cold, unfeeling smile. “You’ve arrived,”

   Tanith’s hands were behind her back, fiddling with the fabric of her uniform. “Yep,” She said, popping her p.

   The Supreme Mage walked down the steps of her throne. She stepped in front of Tanith. Despite being shorter than Tanith, China still had an aura of power. The woman cocked her head. “You should thank Valkyrie for your fair punishment.”

   “Oh, don’t worry, I did.” Tanith cleared her throat and looked up at the ceiling. Staring at China’s face for too long was a horrible idea. She flipped her hair and tried to act casual. “So, am I supposed to be doing anything important right now?”

   A smile grew across China’s face. “Oh, nothing serious right now. I’m about to access the Whispering, so you just need to stand here.” She gestured to the space beside her throne. China then grabbed Tanith’s scabbard. Tanith tried to protest, but China placed a finger over her lips. “The last time you had this tool of death on you, you destroyed one of my most important artifacts. I refuse to let you have this until I can trust you with it.”

   Tanith groaned in annoyance but allowed China to have it. She would prefer to survive at least one week with China.

   Standing still was pure torture for Tanith. China was currently using the Whispering during a meeting. Her eyes were closed and her body was terrifyingly still. Tanith thought that if a small draft blew into the room, the woman would blow away. It was both a hilarious thought and an odd one.

   It wasn’t a single minute when Tanith gave up on standing still and began to wander. The throne room wasn’t very interesting, so Tanith decided to mess with China’s throne. She climbed up the stairs and studied the intricate design of the throne. The marble was cold against her fingers. Her hand suddenly brushed against China’s and her breath hitched. The woman’s hand barely flinched at her touch. Tanith leaned in and studied the sigils on her hands. 

   Each one was carefully carved to perfection. Tanith’s eyes wandered to her arms. The designs were asymmetrical, yet perfect. Her hand reached out and traced the swirls that ran up China’s arm. Her fingers traced up to China’s chin where the sigils suddenly stopped. Tanith pulled her hand away from China’s lips.

   Tanith began to study China’s face. There was no doubt that China was one of the most beautiful women on Earth. Her bronze skin shown like gold against the sun. The sigils under her eyes complemented her face perfectly. Tanith gently traced her fingernail across the sigils. Bright blue eyes met Tanith’s green and brown eyes. Tanith’s face turned red and she pulled her hand away.

   “What are you doing?” The woman asked.

   Tanith held onto her wrist tightly. “Nothing,” she mumbled. “You were very still and I… was worried.”

   China arched her eyebrow and stood. “Right, well, know that whenever I am accessing the Whispering, I won’t be aware of anything around me. No need to stand in my face.” She walked past Tanith and began to walk down the stairs. She turned and looked at Tanith. “Aren’t you coming?”

   Tanith frowned. “I didn’t know I was supposed to follow you.”

   China burst out laughing and clapped her hands. Her laugh was like a siren’s melody. Tanith liked it. The woman’s wide smile turned small. “You’re my bodyguard, are you not? You’re supposed to follow me.”

   Tanith’s face turned red with embarrassment. “Of course,”

   China turned around again and continued to walk down the stairs. “Come along now, it’s lunch and I prefer not to be late.”

   The two walked through the halls of the Sanctuary. Tanith hadn’t been able to experience its full splendor. She stared in awe as they passed through each hall. Every few minutes, China would turn her head and chuckle at Tanith’s face. After traversing several flights of stairs, they reach a plain door. China taps a sigil on the wall and a soft click is heard. She opens the door and reveals a gorgeous greenhouse. Unlike China’s throne room, the sunlight in the greenhouse felt natural. The simple windows warmed her flesh and was calming. There were no mirrors reflecting the rays of sun into Tanith’s eyes.

   China sat at a black metal table, two plates of food rested on it. A bowl of chocolate-covered strawberries sat in the middle. China grabbed a fork and took a bite of the food on her plate. She swallowed her food and looked at Tanith. “Go on, eat. I didn’t order a second plate for no reason.”

   “You want me to eat with you?”

   “Do you want to starve?” China asked.

   “Well, no. I just thought I would have to eat somewhere else.”

   China smiled and shook her head. “No, most Sanctuary agents eat in their office. Since you don’t have one, I allow you to eat with me. For now, at least.”

   Tanith bit her lip to fight a silly smile. She sat at the chair across from China. They ate in silence. Tanith stared out of the greenhouse window and watched the birds fly by. It was pure luck that it happened to be sunny that day. She was getting tired of all of the rain and clouds.

   “May I admit something to you?”

   Tanith turned to China, who was holding a strawberry with her fingertips. Tanith nodded.

   “It was my idea for you to be my bodyguard. Silly, I know.”

   Tanith frowned. “Really?” Out of all of the things she expected of China, she did not expect the woman to give such a merciful punishment.

   “I was truly angry at you for destroying that vase. But I was more angry at myself for yelling at you. Out of all of the time we’ve spent together this century, we’ve just been bickering. Yes, we have fought together, but other than that? Nothing.”

   “Oh…”

   “What happened to us? We used to be so close.”

   Tanith’s mind wandered to the past. China’s hands running through her wild, coily hair. Lips mingling and eyelashes fluttering. Tanith grabbed a strawberry and bit into it. Despite the sweet taste, she was not distracted.

   “I’m being silly talking about all of this. You probably don’t want to talk about this nonsense, anyway.” China bit into her strawberry.

   “No, no! It’s fine.”

   China gave a sad smile and nodded. She stood and pushed her chair in. “Well, we better get back to work, yes? No need to spend our entire day talking about young love.”

   Tanith smiled and stood beside China. The woman glanced at Tanith. “You can have your sword back soon, by the way. I just need to do something with it first.”

   Tanith was slightly nervous about whatever China was going to do to her sword, but she decided to give her the benefit of the doubt. China tapped a sigil in the room and walked out of the door. She gave one last smile to Tanith before returning to her calm yet serious state. Tanith walked confidently. Maybe this bodyguard job wasn’t as awful as she thought it was going to be.

[enchantment1385]

My most magnificent mega must (have) mods memo.

So, I’ve been putting this off (big surprise!), but the time has come! I am going to try and provide some recommendations of my favorite mods. Mods I will not play the game without, or mods I love so much, I can’t recommend them highly enough! Hopefully some of you will find a new excuse to play one of these games again! I will split the list up into games so you skip if you don’t play a certain game. Again, these are my personal recommendations, so please don’t get all bent out of shape over this people. I also won’t be adding the very amazing utility mods (such as SkyUI or mcm or mod organizers) as I feel these are required mods. Today's installment -  

~Skyrim~

VIGILANT  +  VIGILANT Voiced - English Addon Okay, where do I start with the amazingingness of the mod? It’s massive, compelling, scary (chapter 3 holy fucking shitballs, batman!), and just absolutely perfectly executed on every level horror mod! This is not a mod you complete in a couple of hours, this you need to put aside a day or 2 and go through all 5 chapters! 1 guy made this. 1 awesome japanese dovha, alas it’s not as adored as it should be as, when originally released, the english subtitles (literally translations from Google) didn’t really translate well... or at all at some points. Hence why you need the voiced addon which makes this mod a 15+ hour, fully awesomely voiced adventure to seek out daedra, and be physically, and morally tested by the one and only Daedric Prince of domination, Molag Bal. Your choices WILL affect the outcome. This mod gives you everything you want from a mod. New weapons, new armour, new enemies, dark soul like boss battles, new places, new people, new land. With Halloween quickly approaching, this is the perfect time to give this a shot! 

Legacy of the Dragonborn

I stayed away from this mod for SO long thinking it was just a massive oversize player home to put all your crap on display. I was wrong. I was SO wrong. This mod is the ultimate scavenger hunt turned up to 11. It adds some of the best mods out there and puts them all together to make you WANT to go find that bloody staff, or helm, because A, it now looks amazing, and B, there’s a place for EVERYTHING in the museum, it must be filled! It adds old relics, new quests, a very gorgeous fair sized player home, you get to go to Elsweyr, and even get an airship you CAN use later! And trust me when I say, there is nothing that looks quite as impressive as your dovah walking around a city with your massive ass airship looming overhead. The way everything gets placed into the world is fucking flawless, and if you’re bored or just want more out of Skyrim, this is the mod that does that, and WAY more. Also a massive bonus, it has several patches for other mods that didn’t get incorporated (vigilant being among them) to add extra wings for you to display the items from other mods! 

Interesting NPCs

Another mod I stupidly avoided to begin with. So as we know, vanilla followers are... meh. But now with all these new battles and exploring you have to do, you might want someone watching your back, right? Forget vanilla, time to go interesting! This mod adds -

• 250+ Voiced NPCs • 25+ Followers with Location Based Commentary • 15+ Marriage NPCs 

This mod makes Skyrim feel inhabited, but with REAL people. People who you can, should, and will want to talk to. The voice acting is just fantastic, the characters are an absolute joy, they fit into the world so perfectly you’d never know they weren’t there all along! Well... Except for the fact they’re actually interesting, and have more than 5 things to say! It also has something called ‘Super Followers’. These followers actually comment on what’s happening in your story. Just about to go kill your first dragon? They have something to say about it. Just joined the college of mages? Have a chat to see what they think! I can not express how much this will change your game, but 151% for the fucking better! Oh! And just in case you were running short on things to do, this also adds 50+ more quests! *(footnote) Pleaaassssee go to Soljund's Sinkhole and take Rumarin with you. What he says when you clear that place out has me laughing my ass off every time.

Immersive Citizens - AI Overhaul

Are you tired of being the only one is Skyrim who actually seems to DO anything? Are you weirded out by the fact when you walk into an inn at 4am everyone is doing the same thing as they were at 2pm last week? Confused as hell by the comment ‘Do you hunt? The plains outside Whiterun are ripe with game.’ How the fuck would you know, Anoriath?! You never leave Whiterun, dude! EVER! That ends with this mod. Now people have routines. They sleep, they eat, they walk around, they don’t just stay in one place all the time! It makes the npc’s go from a static feature and changes them into actual people, or goes a long way to help! Even people like carriage drivers now have a lil tent near the carriage, and will even take shelter under cover if it starts raining. (if it’s not too far from the carriage!) Random people will now not try and fight the big dragon who is burning everything to a crisp, but instead run away and take shelter, you know, like a normal person would? Which is helpful, as I tend to hit them with a stray spell then get into shit for accidentally electrocuting the blacksmith or someone who shouldn’t have stood in the way of the MASSIVE FUCKING DRAGON IN THE FIRST PLACE! Anyway... This mod is awesome and makes all the vanilla npc’s less static and weird!  

Relationship Dialogue Overhaul - RDO

Don’t know about you but, I’m kinda bored with the dialogue in this game. The same 5 lines on repeat, over and over and OVER again. I want people who hate me to say something a bit more nasty that ‘What do YOU want?’ This mod adds over 5000 lines of dialog that was never used. Braith finally has more insults to throw at you! Which is great, because I hate that kid and now you will too! Your rivals will be rude to you. Your friends will compliment you. And your spouse will finally say more than a handful of lines to you! With this and the AI overhaul Skyrim will finally feel like it’s come alive. It seems like such a small addition, but it makes a huge impact when you hear lines that you’ve never heard before! 

PC Head Tracking and Voice Type &  Expressive Facial Animation (M)  (F)

So we’ve finally got a living breathing Skyrim, and holy shit, it’s a beautiful thing, right? Time to focus on bringing you to life. Don’t know about you, but I found it plain fucking odd that I didn’t ever look at the person who’s talking to me. Like, not even accidently. I also found it creepy the only time I ever made any sound whatsoever was when I shouted. So the first mod is going to fix that shit. You’ll finally look at the person talking to you, or at that dagger you’re just about to steal. What's more, you’ll be able to assign a voice to yourself, so you’ll greet people who talk to you. Fun doesn’t stop there! You can download voice packs such as, Ciri, Yenifer and loads of others! But... What if you know who you want them to sound like and there isn’t a pack for them? Well, make your own! The page is really good and explains how. So we’re not a clueless goon anymore, we look and talk, but that basically makes us no better than the T 800 terminator. The second mod will make you actually have emotions, instead of constant blank face. You’ll smile at friends and loved ones, and scowl at people who you hate, like you Elrindir. For the last time, I didn’t mean to steal the fucking apple pie! But I think me spending HUNDREDS of gold should have made up for that and did NOT warrant you sending a group of thugs to come kick the shit out of me!  Sorry. Just... Some unfinished business between me and that bastard bosmer. 

Enhanced Lights and FX

I have a potato as a laptop, as such a lot of these amazing ENB’s are totally off the table for me. But... We all deserve a pretty Skyrim, right? Fuck yes we do! And this is the mod that does that for me. So there are two versions of this bad boy, and you will really want to think about which one you want to go for. You’ve got standard, or hardcore. The MAIN difference is, the hardcore version will make dungeons dark. No, I mean pitch black darkness. Really think you know bleak fall barrow? Install hardcore then go run through it. It make sense that it would be dark down in these places, but fuck me dark is now really dark, which I personally love, but you might not. Install at least the main file and the weather mod and I guarantee when you boot your game back up you’ll be saying ‘wow’.  

Enhanced Character Edit  OR  RaceMenu

Okay, first off you only need one or the other NOT both. Here’s the difference. If you want to make a character that looks like they’re from FFXV or korean mmo, you’ll want to get Enhanced character edit. They’re all so damn pretty! Even the men are pretty! If you want something a little less cute looking and maybe more mature, Racemenu is character creator for you. Both give you a TON more customization when creating your new oc, down to finger and toe length and what’s not to love about that?? 

Enhanced Camera

You finally have a body in first person mode. not just hands when attacking. Which FYI Bethesda, is creepy as fuck. Next mod. 

Familiar Faces

Right, last one as we could be here forever, but I need to do more of these things for other games so let's finish with something stupid, but awesome, shall we? You know who’d make the best companion? That spellsword character you made. Or the sneaky archer. Or that tanky as fuck warrior, but they’re on that other save.. No more! When you fire up the game with this mod installed, you get a portal stone placed in your inventory. Use it and get get warped into this empty hall. Go to any of the books on the pedestals and hit yes when prompted. You, your abilities, spells, shouts, game progress and inventory has just been recorded. Load up another save and do the same in a different book, then you can go recruit... you! You can even make yourself marribale! Got that perfect otp? Create them both and have them travel around with you! Want them to use their shouts? No problem! Want them to not use shouts? That’s fine too! Isn’t that overpowered? Who gives a flying fuck?! 

Now go have fun in Tamriel, Bahlaan fahdonne!

[october-rosehip]

30 Day OC Challenge: Anger

Yeah ok so day 4 of @luinquesse‘s challenge is supposed to be “fighting”, but this one made demands. @raymurata, you have created a monster and I CAN’T. STOP. WRITING.

This takes place during Blight year, at Broken Circle, which is, for Macsen Surana, the first stop.

The flames ruptured into a rushing orange cloud, thundering in Macsen's ears and searing orange across his eyes. The explosion blew him back to crash into the floor several feet from where he'd stood. And so, the rage abomination died with as much destructive force as it had lived.

Death Magic swirled around Macsen as it forever did, if he allowed it free rein. The last bit of life in the creature flowed into him. And with that, he knew the name of the mage who had succumbed to rage. I'm sorry, he thought. Go, Lilka, and find peace.

That knowledge was a fair price to pay for the fact that her last act in life was to restore him, even as the demon that took her made one last stab at taking him with. Macsen hauled himself to his feet. Lilka had been the last in the library, but the Circle held too many surprises so far.

“Everybody all right?” called Alistair. Leliana and Wynne murmured that they were. Behind a pile of debris that had been a bookcase, Macsen heard something else. A small gasp, or rustling cloth; he couldn't say. His ears still rang.

“Come out!” Macsen approached the tumbled stacks with caution. “I won't hurt you if you're still in control of yourself.”

“Macsen?! It's Iris. I'll throw my staff out first if you want. Pleasedon'thurtme.”

“All right. And I won't. Wynne's here, and Alistair the templar-”

“Ex templar.”

“Yes, I was getting there. And my new friend Leliana. Is it just you?”

A classroom staff, the kind used against training targets that never released a full-strength spell, rolled out across the floor with a soft clatter. Behind it, Iris slunk out as well, her strawberry blond hair in tangles, brown eyes wide, and her ear-points tipped low in an emotion even human-raised Macsen read easily. She held her hands folded in the way the templars directed them to when they caught trouble. Macsen's stomach plunged through the floor. They were doing the templar's work for them, and she knew it.

“It's just me,” she said. “I didn't have anything to do with this, I swear.”

“If you did, you wouldn't be using that staff. Anyway, I don't care. You're not a demon at the moment. Are you hurt?”

“No, I was in hiding when the abominations passed by. I think they planned an assault on Wynne's barrier.”

“Why didn't you ask me to let you through?” asked Wynne.

“I wasn't sure you'd let me. I was still working out what to do. I couldn't fight you, not with that.” The elven apprentice glowered at the practice weapon. “It took me so long to get here. I was working in the kitchen when the trouble started. I couldn't be seen. They've been... rounding everyone up.”

“Who has, the abominations?” Macsen couldn't picture it. That level of organization seemed beyond their single-minded abilities.

Iris shook her head and swallowed. “The senior enchanters... um. They're involved. Some are blood mages.” Her eyes darted to Wynne.

“Is Uldred among them, perhaps?” Wynne arched an eyebrow.

“Yes! How did you know?”

“It's a feeling I've had.” Wynne crossed her arms and glowered. “He was at Ostagar. He worked alongside Loghain, who abandoned the king and condemned us all to die in that ill-fated battle. When I made it back here to find people whispering about siding with Loghain, I'm sure you can imagine my thoughts on the matter.”

“Yeah. All... all right. That makes sense. Is the door open?”

“It is,” said Macsen. “You can stay with the others if you want, but if you're up for it, we could find you a real staff? You know what's going on better than I do, and we could really use the help.”

“I will if I can, but I have something I need to do first. Has... when was the last time  anyone went down to the dungeons?”

“No-one has. The door down has been locked all this time,” said Wynne.

Iris fell to her knees with a wail. “No! No... Maker, no...”

Macsen felt faint. He should have thought. Iris was as likely to be alone in a crisis as Macsen, himself. “Robin. Where is he?” But Macsen knew.

Iris gasped for breath before she could manage more words. “Irving found out he's my brother. They read our mail and put it all together. They took him to send away, but then all... this happened. I don't think they had a chance to leave. I have to... to know.”

Caged, hungry, dirty, cold. Didn't do anything WRONG. Fear demons whispering that you're abandoned, that you'll die down here. You believe it's true. What if you're forgotten? Or “forgotten”, by someone skipping the formality of an execution. What if. What if. What if.

The thought took Macsen no longer than a breath. He grabbed Leliana's arm and bolted back the way they had come.

“How long?” begged Macsen. “Oh, Falon'din, how long?”

Iris ran right behind him. “They took him just before all this started, so just over two weeks? I- I think?”

Macsen found himself whispering a prayer. They halted before the heavy door into the cellars. “Leliana, get us in there.”

She nodded and set to work. “It's a challenging one, but I'll get it.” Her brow wrinkled and her lips set into a line.

Macsen mentally smacked himself. He pulled out the skeleton key Phelan had given him as a parting gift, to keep him safe. He glanced around the wide, bright area and found Wynne  checking in with Petra, thank goodness. “Wait,”Macsen whispered. He shifted to put his body between Leliana and Wynne. He slipped her the key. “Try that. Keep it hidden.”

It worked. Leliana, bless her, pretended to struggle with the lock for a few moments more before straightening up with a satisfied smirk.

Macsen grabbed her arm again and they rushed down the stairs, Iris right behind them. The dungeons were carved out of a darker layer of stone than most of the circle, and only dim, blue, glowlights lit the way. Macsen summoned his faintly purple wisp, which wasn't as bright as some, but helped them see the steps at least a little more clearly.

“I don't know if they've repaired the sentinels,” Macsen said. “But-”

“No,” panted Iris. “Ever since they lost Beatrice, enchantments are taking forever. Nisha told me they chained him to make up for sniff the lack of security. He didn't DO ANYTHING!”

“You've seen Nisha?!”

“Not since...”

“Oh.” Macsen would not dwell on the possibilities now.

They ran on, finding no sentinels. Macsen's feet knew the way to the cages. They passed empty cells on the way, the nicer ones, with books and furniture, for respectable prisoners, Macsen reflected bitterly. Although, if Robin truly hadn't stood accused of anything but a lie of omission, then maybe... “Do you think they put him in here and he escaped already?” Macsen allowed himself to ask it, but didn't really believe it.

“Those aren't for elves.”

Macsen knew they weren't but it had felt right to ask. Beside him, Leliana sang the Chant out of order, each a verse about mercy and solace. He never knew where she found the breath at times like this. They kept running.

Heavy footfalls thundered up behind them. Alistair caught up with them, breathing heavily, as well. “Why... is this place... so huge. I asked... Wynne... to stay with children. Keep them from wandering down. Given what we might find.”

“How did you?” Macsen felt a surge of warm gratitude for his fellow Warden.

“Used templar voice.”

“Eugh.”

“Yeah. I feel icky.”

“Thanks though.”

Macsen ducked into one of the store rooms to grab a jar of cider and a random armload of food. They ran into nothing at all, not even a cat.

At last, they arrived.

A skinny heap of rags lay slumped against the bars of one of the cages. Alistair whispered “Oh, Maker,” as Iris leaped ahead of him. Leliana pushed past them all and tried Macsen's key in the lock. The hinges screeched and shards of metal fell on the floor as the door fell open.

“He's alive,” Leliana observed. She knelt beside him and removed the one manacle Robin still wore. It was indeed him, his black hair matted with neglect and his cheeks gone hollow. Alive still, somehow, and having wasted no time.

The other manacle and the chain that had affixed the cuffs to a ring in the floor lay discarded and cracked. The hinges showed scarring as well. Robin had come so close.

Macsen shook himself out of his thoughts and joined Leliana in waking the man. It didn't take long. He blinked at them all, and stared openly at Leliana. Macsen understood. Demons didn't usually do the unfamiliar.

Macsen looked at the things he'd grabbed. Cider was not going to do any good, or cheese. He found the water jar, still damp. Robin had been summoning drinking water, then. Macsen admired his determination and reserves. Macsen summoned water himself, heated it, and mixed rolled oats into it. He threw in a few raisins as well and crumbled in a travel cake. Robin could probably use the sugar and fat. He also had some sausage and a jar of herring, but those could wait. Robin needed a decent soup. Thin, weird, porridge would have to do.

Leliana helped Robin hold a waterskin. Iris wept openly. Alistair shuffled awkwardly and pulled something out of his pocket. “Will this help?” he asked as he handed it over to Leliana.

She set the waterskin down carefully and opened the small jar. “Oh yes, very much so! Thank you!”

Robin's eyes widened and he tried to say something. His voice came out as a croak.

“Don't try to talk yet, just take a few bites.”

“What is that?” Macsen asked.

“Apple butter.” Alistair looked pained. “I got it in Lothering. It was expensive but if we were headed to the Circle, well, you never know how many mages you might have to bribe, you know?”

“Oh.” Macsen felt glad but conflicted. So much he would have done for this treasure, and Alistair had judged him and found him lacking for that very fact. Yet, Alistair had come prepared to use the Market of Trades, even so.

Macsen's insult-to-food everywhere finished cooking enough and he cooled it down a bit. “I'm sorry, this is going to be a lot like late winter food, but it'll give you your energy back. Iris, when did you last eat?”

“I'm not sure.”

“Then, why don't you share this? He can't eat it all yet, anyway. And there are other foods. You know yourselves best.” He handed over the porridge jar and took Aistair's arm as he headed into the hallway. Macsen remembered too well how overwhelming people were after the forced solitude.

Alistair gaped at the scattered cages, most of which didn't share walls or even lines of sight around unnecessary corners. Piles of bedding molded in the damp. “I- I thought you were being dramatic about the dungeon. You've stayed down here?”

“Three times. For an afternoon, a week, and a month. It could have been worse. That last time, I had someone sneaking down to smuggle me things like blankets and tea.”

Alistair's eyes drifted upward to a chained collar dangling from the ceiling. “I can't believe it. Is it... very hard to see this?”

It was. Macsen felt a fist around his heart. It felt like the sentinels would emerge anyway, roaring their fury at him, for being out of place. It felt like Greagoir would come stomping down the stairs to yell at them for breaking the rules, and shut them in.

Alistair stared at him with increasing worry.

Macsen swallowed, and softly spoke. “You never forget. You're never the same. I'm not well in a way that's different from how I was before. It breaks something inside you, but they do it all the time. The templars don't think it's any big deal, or so they say. I'm never not angry about it. Never.”

Alistair chuckled, but with a wince. “You know, I got locked in a dog cage once. For one day. Guess I'll stop complaining about that.”

They fell silent. After a while, they heard voices behind them, pitched more normally. Macsen headed back to his friends to find Robin sitting upright and looking better, if like he could sleep for a week.

“Are you able to talk about what happened?” Macsen asked him.

He nodded. “They usually sent Nisha down with meals. The last time I saw her, she didn't have the keys. She shoved loaves of bread, some cheese, and carrots through the bars and said something was wrong. She didn't know what. She said she'd try to find out and would come back if she could. I tried to make the food last, and heated and froze the chains and then the hinges. What could they do to me that they weren't already planning? I had to try. I am so tired. I'd be worse than that if a tranquil hadn't thought to take care of me.”

“Thank the Maker for her,” said Iris. “I never thought I'd say that.”

Robin sighed with all the heaviness possible in one person's soul. “I did it backwards. I shouldn't have wasted time on the cuffs and just broke the ring, but I wanted them gone so badly.”

“I know what you mean,” growled Macsen. “Anyway, it's bad up there. Uldred's a blood mage and had a conspiracy going, I guess.”

Robin made a face at him. “Man, everybody knew that but you and Irving.”

“All right. Irving taught me about politics and court intrigue and I missed my very first practical lesson. I can accept this. I have one probably irrelevant question though. You're siblings? How didn't anyone know all this time?”

“I was betrothed young. I moved to my wife's alienage. When they picked Iris and I up from different cities, nobody even checked. Irving pieced the truth together from our mail. The rules say they had to separate us. I'd be gone already, but with the battle, they couldn't spare the templars to escort me.”

“What do you both want to do?”

“Go home, collect my wife, son, and dog, and run like blazes.” He turned to Iris. “You?”

“Sounds good. Maybe we could find a farm to hire on with somewhere. Nisha'd love the irony. Do you think the Dalish would take us?”

“I've no idea,” said Macsen. He had no real idea if the Dalish would take him after so long. “But if you're traveling, there's a storage room full of staves and old gear in the third hall to the right. I'll be right back.”

Macsen ran. He remembered the way. He would always remember the way. He should have done this then.

He arrived at the phylactery chamber. His fury raged anew, brighter and hotter as he ran. He stared once more at all the tiny little vials, each one neatly labeled, ready to hunt them all down one by one if they didn't sit here and die like they were supposed to. A Circle was annulled every fifty years or so. Every mage knew they'd live to see it if they were lucky enough to live so long. Every mage hoped the Circle that fell wouldn't be their own.

Macsen took a series of calming breaths as Mamae had taught him. He read the names. Amelie of Dragon's Peak. Ossian Weaver. Eadric...

And then he saw something he didn't expect.

Silvana Amell.

They'd never even bothered to get rid of it after it could be of no possible use any longer. Macsen let out a startled sob. She'd voluntarily trusted herself to the Circle. She'd believed in the Maker and also in her own right to exist. She could have been such a force for good within the system that Macsen hated, but it betrayed her. They'd thrown her away, but not her blood. He couldn't leave... her... here.

Macsen cradled the tiny crystal to his chest and wept. They had no time for this. He needed to be racing to save people, fighting. He had no time for nursing this old grief. His grief came for him, anyway. He'd watched so many people come to harm. Women, mostly. He'd be dead or tranquil himself, by now, if Irving hadn't thought him brilliant. Irving had spared half a thought for Silvie, and no thought at all for Nisha, who, even now, spared a thought for everyone.

Macsen rubbed the tears away. Nothing was right, or fair, or safe. He wondered if... yes, there it was. Lazy bastards. Nisha's phylactery lay among the others. Then again, maybe it wasn't an oversight. Irving still raged about Beatrice and might not want another tranquil “being stolen.” He tucked the crystals containing the essence of his friends into a pouch. He hid it in an inside pocket, safer than their owners ever were.

Macsen stood, regarded the chamber one last time.

Macsen freed his rage.

He smashed, and cast. Crystal shards sparkled in magical flames. Shelving creaked and crashed to the floor. Macsen howled. His cry of fury gave way to hysterical laughter. Everything around him exploded. In the end, only charred kindling and sparkling dust remained. It looked like a creature of the fade had vented itself against the contents of the room, and in a way, Macsen supposed that was a little bit true.

Whoever else they found alive, Macsen could give them this one gift: a good head start.

Macsen ran back to his friends, smashing a few more things here and there along the way. He felt his face settle into a satisfied grin.

“Something was loose down here,” he told the others. “It destroyed the phylactery chamber. What a bother for the templars.”

Leliana caught up with his mind immediately. “Macsen! You can't just-”

“I. Did. Just.” He snarled.

“But those exist for a reason!”

“It's an evil reason!”

“They'll just make new ones, anyway.”

“Of those they can, probably. They won't know who turned. They won't know who ran. They won't have a second chance to kill anyone else here through sheer fucking neglect.”

Alistair shifted uncomfortably. “It's... it's done, Leliana. They left everyone in here to face demons themselves, they plan to kill everyone. Idunno. Can you really blame him?”

Leliana shook her head. “It is done, I suppose. I do not like it. I can see why you felt the need to..” Her voice trailed off.

Macsen would have to deal with this later. He wasn't sure what to say.

Iris knew what to say. “Ma'am, with all due respect, you haven't seen anything yet. I think once you do, you might feel differently about whether we should stay in our proper, Maker-approved place.”

Robin looked at his sister with alarm. Now that Macsen knew of their relationship, he wondered how he'd missed it, even if they looked so little alike. But then again, his own brother was a shemlen.

“Do you wnt to help?” Robin asked.

“I do. The Circle is overrun with demons, I-I mean more than usual. But after, I think we should enact our plan.”

“You were always going to escape,” said Macsen. “I was too, but knew I only had one chance.”

“Just so,” said Iris.

“Aneirin,” added Robin, unnecessarily.

The name and the doom it spelled hung in the air for a silent moment. Macsen felt a flicker of old anger about that unfairness, as well. Shems, they brought back alive.

Macsen breathed a cleansing sigh. They were on their own. Whatever they found up there, the templars wouldn't be around to complicate matters. They'd sort this out as well as they could, and give everyone as much of a chance as they could ever have had. He straightened his shoulders, cleared his mind, and settled his soul as much as possible.

“Let's go.”

[kisaell]

In the Scions we Trust

So, I’ve been plucking my way through grinding the scions to 80 for that cute little title; and in hopes that there is some bigger reward waiting down the line…

Anyway, I just wanted to note down some interesting quirks of each of the Scions since … It’s a lot of runs to just get them out of each dungeon. It’s a long post, and has some spoilers in it~

Let’s start with the Disaster Twins (who I love with my whole heart);

Alisaie plays like a Red Mage, naturally. However, she drops the OGDC aether blades in favour of more powerful Vercures; should the healer fall, or the WoL get too low she will not hesitate to yell out, “I’ll handle the healing!” and use Vercure 3 to keep people alive. It’s a decent heal too. We all know how extra she can be, so on the first and second boss of a dungeon, should you have Limit Break ready, she will use it on pull. However, should the Limit Break not be ready, and it dings in the middle of the boss; she tends to wait until after her enhanced melee + Verholy/Verflare combo before popping it, so any melee WoL taking her along can use that time to pop it for yourself.

I personally didn’t encounter her dying to mechanics. She is a little ballsy with her placement, opting to get in a little extra damage if she can, but she performed very well whenever I took her with.

Alphinaud plays like a Scholar, no matter what his job title says. He uses his Moonstone Carbuncle rather than a fairy, which makes sense given he isn’t a Nymian-trained Scholar like the WoL can be. Moonstone Carbuncle provides some DPS as it attacks enemies on its own; it also provides a nice Damage up buff every 2 mins (it lined up with my Dancer burst perfectly, everytime).

As for Alphinaud himself, he offers the standard Scholar kit with Adlo shields and Lustrates when people fall low; he also uses Broil 2 for DPS between heals. He is also a little more cautious than his sister, often making sure to step out of AoEs unless he is caught mid-cast; he is unafraid to shield himself and take an AoE should he need to. 

Now we have the Father-Daughter combo;

Thancred plays like a Gunbreaker, because he is one. When I ran dungeons with him, I had not yet touched Gunbreaker, so I didn’t notice anything too off with his playstyle. He is quick enough to establish enmity and will face groups away from people if he can. One unique skill I’ve found is his Quick Slash, which is an AoE attack that also blinds any enemy it hits; it’s not often he uses it, seems to be a mob count thing given I saw it most often in Dohn Mheg with the Wasps.

Personally, he provided the quintessential tank role to the Scions. He held the enemies still, he bosses to either the middle or towards the exit and held them there. My only issue was found in, again, the 73 dungeon… Where he often tanked the final boss in such a way that poor Alphinaud got frogged more than once.

Baby Ryne plays like a Rogue with extra bits, why did Dadcred let a 12 year old have knives? Aside from Y’sthola, Ryne is perhaps the most unique in her kit; not only does she have a 20 second vulnerability up debuff with her Trick Attack (that she can use on every pull) but her unique version of Dream within a Dream - Called Artful Edge - puts a damage done down debuff on the enemy too. And if that wasn’t enough, she has a ranged attack in the form of the spell Banish 3; she only tends to use this after a close-ranged AoE forces her to step away from enemies and bosses. Something that is also neat, is that her Hide isn’t broken by her auto-attacking.

Ryne is again, second only to Y’sthola in terms of how cautious she is. I have yet to see her get hit needlessly when she can avoid it; double AoEs like the Forgiven Apathy’s Earthshakers confound her (like most Trusts) but she will try to only get hit by one rather than both.

Dungeons with Ryne feel a lot faster given how often she can pop that Trick Attack; she’s even uses the Limit Break once or twice which also speeds things up. Another interesting note is that she carries Phoenix Downs to resurrect fallen party members, should there be no one else that can. She is cute baby with a lot of support 10/10 would take her in more dungeons.

Now for Smart Squad;

Boss Ass Bitch Y’shtola plays like a Black Mage, but she has White Mage elements spells to remind you that she’s better than you in every way.

As mentioned, Y’sthola has one of the most unique kits of the Scions as of this moment; all of her spells are followed by the suffix “-of the seventh dawn” and enjoy such elements as, “Tornado”, “Foul”, “Fire 4” and “Water 4”; which as someone who also plays White Mage from time to time, makes me cry. I’ve not noticed her ever use leylines, but she does seem to have a very short recast Triple Cast - which she also pop swiftcast with and just churns out damage when she wants.

In my runs, I noticed that Y’shtola did very well to avoid unnecessary damage; and as we were told, she does pop Triple Cast to make up for lost damage when she’s dancing around AoEs. However, unlike what we were told; I’ve seen Y’sthola pop the Limit Break about as often as Alisaie does, although she will wait until a lot longer in the fight before she uses it. I think she’s mad at me because I looked at her ass in that one quest; hero, and thus LB, privileges revoked. ;~;

Urianger, he doth provide the support of one well versed in the Sharlayan art of Astromancy. Which ultimately means he plays favorites with the cards and waxes poetically about killing shit. Urianger uses Diurnal Sect, which means regens! However, he never uses Aspected Helios; just the regular one. The loss of sheilds can be felt in dungeons; when tanking for Urianger, the tank busters hit a lot harder than when Alphi had my back; but that’s to be expected. What Urianger brings, however, is two unique spells. Gravity of the Seventh Dawn is an AoE attack that puts slow and heavy on everything hit; very very useful when you have a lot of enemies plucking away at your HP; and… Death of the Seventh Dawn, where he literally just straight up kills something, and to be fair, he mostly uses it at 10% on trash but still that’s really wild that he has that.

As for his performance… Oh boy; if you thought Alisaie got hit by avoidable shit, you’ve never taken Uri into Holminster. Our Man of the Verbose likes to get hit by everything, which is fine because he can just Essential Dignity himself back to full but still! At least we know where Alisaie gets it from, haha…. 

And for the final wrap up;

If anyone is interested in doing the hell grind of getting all the Trusts to 80; I’d HIGHLY recommend you break them into two groups and level on set with a DPS and the other with a Tank. That will get you all of them 80 in only two sweeps of the gauntlet. 

Your rewards for doing so are;

Each Trust at 80 unlocks their old (SB) outfit; with Ryne getting her blonde look back.

And once they’re all 80, you get the Achievement “Bound by Faith” and the title “Trusted Friend”

[sdbjkksdnfkjsbagksbgakeovnsdfbjg]

Then/Now

I wrote a Fantasy High fanfiction a while ago and put in on ao3, [link here], but there’s a bigger community of D20 fans on Tumblr, so I thought I’d post it here as well!

It’s 1st person, Adaine-centric, and deals with the topic of anxiety and panic attacks in great detail, and has a small theme of self-harm (barely there, but worth noting), so trigger warnings for those topics in case you need them :)

Part 2 is here

Part One- Then

It's a fairly normal day. I'm sat on my large bed, in my large room, in my large house, and I am studying. The entrance exams for the upper school at Hudol are soon, and I have to do well. I have to get in. If I don't.. life literally wouldn't be worth living. I would never hear the end of it from my family, and I'd have to go to Augefort, or even Mumple. Besides, Hudole is the best, and I'm really good at magic.

Well, clearly not as good as my perfect sister. She's already in Hudol, and takes every opportunity to remind me. As do my parents.

So, I must pass this exam. I can't afford not to. I'd ridiculed, humiliated. And Aelwyn will look even better, because I failed where she succeeded.

I really, genuinely cannot afford to fuck this up. I'll probably be kicked out if I fail. Kicked out in a way that doesn't cause a public scandal, at least. And I have to show them that I can be just as good as Aelwen. If I just study very hard, learn everything I can, devote all of my time to practicing for these exams... work like Hell for everything that comes so easily to her, maybe I can prove to them that I'm not useless. Maybe they wouldn't compare me to her, because we'd be on the same level.

...I know that's not true. My parents love Aelwen more, and that's just a fact. I'm going to have to live with that. They have impossibly high standards that I can never seem to meet, where Aelwen can simply breathe and be showered in praise.

I do know that's it's not fair, but I also know that's it's probably justified. Aelwen is far more clever, pretty, skilled at magic, social, confident, charming... Perhaps if I were better, they'd love me more.

But, that's never going to happen. I'm not good enough. I'll never be good enough! I'm just a stupid fuck up- a blight on this family. I don't deserve to behold the name 'Abernant'!

My chest tightens, and the words in my book start to swim. No, not again. This has been happening more and more often, and I can't control it. If this keeps happening, when am I going to have the time to study?

I need to study to pass the exam! If I don't, I'm dead! My hands are tightly clasped together, and my breaths are short and quick. I need more air, there isn't enough. But I can't leave my room and let my parents see me- or worse, Aelwen! I can only stay here and hope to ride it out.

My knuckles are now white and I feel dizzy; shallow breaths escaping me. My head seems as though it's spinning, making me feel sick.

My book feels like a weight on my lap, the swirling words taunting me, jeering that I'm too stupid to understand, so pathetic that I get into such a state over nothing. My magic acts without my permission, and I Mage Hand the book across my room. It slams into the wall and thuds to the floor. A scream of frustration rips through my lungs, as tears begin to form in my eyes.

"Shut up, you little freak! I'm trying to study!" my sister yells through the wall. "God, you're so annoying!" I don't respond, afraid that I shall burst into tears the second I open my mouth.

My head takes solace in my hands as I try to control my breathing. I'm so dumb for letting this- this nothing- get to me. I'm supposed to be poised, and proper, and clever! Too clever to freak out like this for no reason! A diplomat's daughter does not behave in such a childish, immature manner! This is ridiculous!

Hyperventilation advances to great heaving sobs, forcing me to double over, a hand covering my mouth to stifle the noise. Waves of tears cascade down my cheeks, unrelenting and unwavering.

My door is flung open. "Adaine! Shut the fuck up!" Aelwen shouts.

Involuntarily, my hand shoots out towards the door, fear and anger and panic taking over, and I feel magic leaving me.

"Argh, what the fuck?!" she must have deflected, because she doesn't sound in pain. I pull my hand back to me. What the Hell was that?! Freak! "Mummy! Daddy!"

I wince pre-emptively, begging myself to stop crying before my parents get here. Fight or flight kicks in and I manage to shuffle back away from the door, bracing myself against the wall. Preparing for the worst.

"Adaine Ailenia Abernant, what the Hell do you think you're playing at?!" I don't hear exactly what my father is shouting, my hands protectively covering my ears. "Look at me while I am talking to you-! Aelwen has done nothing wrong-! a diplomat's child-! ungrateful, selfish little-! lucky that I don't-! grounded!"

His screaming surprisingly doesn't help and only succeeds in making me cry harder, apparently pissing him off even more. He slams my door closed and locks it from the outside. Trapping me.

The walls are closing in on me. I am suffocating. My father's voice richochets throughout my head, combining with my sister's insults, my mother's nonchalance, my own self-loathing... It's all just too much.

Unconsciously, I begin scratching at my legs. Tearing at my skin hysterically, trying to force all the bad feelings out. My nails have been bitten short during previous anxiety-inducing events ("Really Adaine, that is most unladylike"), and thusly cannot break my skin or cause any real damage- only frustrating me further.

After a while, I have run out of tears, and the sobbing quietens down into heavy panting, trying to get enough air into my lungs to think straight. My head is banging; a fierce ache taking root in my skull, worming its way into every crevice of my mind. It hurts

Everything hurts. Everything feels wrong and disjointed, like trying to put together two puzzles pieces that don't fit. A wave of nausea washes over me as I notice how hungry I am. I was too busy studying to eat so far today and, from previous experience, I know my father will not open my door until tomorrow, at least.

A sudden rush of dizziness hits me, and I have to lie down. Focusing my spell energy, carefully this time, I Mage Hand the light off.

Lying in the dark on top of my covers, tear tracks still staining my face, my head pounding and my stomach growling... I feel so weak. Why does this keep happening to me? I have an idyllic life- rich parents, a big house, an exceptional education. So why do I feel like crap all the time? Fresh tears well in my eyes.

Maybe if I work harder, I'll feel better. I shall study twice as much tomorrow. Focus more, quit being so pathetic. If I'm better, there'll be no need for this ridiculousness to keep happening. Right?

Right?

I can't keep my eyes open anymore, and I feel myself sinking into my bed. I quietly cry into my pillow until the inky blackness of sleep takes me.