#this one is based on “now I understand mechanical hands are the ruler of everything

[avicryptidbard]

Take this quick sketch of Heart and Mind that I’m working on before I start painting it and hopefully don’t mess it up while doing so lol

[birdo-is-here]

analysis/description (in some cases) of Chonny Jash’s Tally Hall/Joe Hawley/Miracle Musical covers because apparently the new hyperfixation has emerged. Most of these are just my interpretation, and there’s many ways someone can interpret these! (I would like to say i am no academic genius or anything, i get Bs in english, at best an A- every so often, this is nothing professional so i’m not trying to make it sound professional, this is just me rambling about a thing i like a totally normal amount)

Let me know if there’s anything you’d like to add to this analysis

TW: Talks of suicide (i mean it when i say let me know if i missed any TWs! I can be incredibly dumb sometimes and miss/forget them)

Analysis under cut

Spring & a storm + Never meant to know:

It's a bit difficult to relate these ones to the CJ’s narrative, since there’s no added or changed lyrics (aside from an added line in S&aS that goes “So observe these blues and greens, and embrace this harmony, all you see and you and me, we came from the stars …”) you also can’t find heart or mind (and potentially soul?) in them.

We do know that this may be intentional though, seeing as not long ago CJ redid the “Spring & a Storm” cover. They might be made to make the covers look relatively normal, just of a guy covering a band he likes, until it's not that of course.

Hidden in the sand:

This is where it gets a bit more like the Chonny Jash we know and love. From what i’ve gathered this one is about a man who gets rejected by a woman. The man tries to write her a song to try “win her back,” but his frustration at her and life in general leads him to make the lyrics sound angry and resentful, maybe not intentionally. Even when the frustration went away, he couldn’t make the lyrics work.

This is a fun one, and one of my favorites of CJ’s covers. Still no immediate sign of Mind or Heart in this one, though there is some speculation this one is sung by Heart instead of Soul, since in the Mucka Blucka cover, he’s the one to make the reference to Hidden in the sand, as well as the reference to the Haiku cover — which is most likely based on the same or similar situations.

Ruler of Everything:

Now THIS cover is where it gets good. It starts off with the usual lyrics of “Juno was mad, he knew he’d been had, so he shot at the sun with a gun …” Until it quickly shifts into the usual CJ sound, also with our first traces of Mind! Right away when listening to the next part talking about how “Juno” in this situation missed, and so he “got what he deserved,” you can easily hear Mind singing along with Soul. Even in the beginning you can very barely hear Mind singing, until you can hear him much better in the next part.

The paragraph immediately after that doesn’t include Mind, although the next pre-chorus you can very easily hear our bestie again.

“Juno” in this situation is most likely to be Heart, when you listen to Mind’s attitude towards him as well as the evidence in Mucka Blucka: “And right is he (i) missed, my eyes in a mist, i finally realised, i shot at myself …” Here Heart is the one to say “I” instead of “he” in that first line, as well as the rest of that verse.

Speaking of this next pre-chorus, the lyrics go as follows: “You understand, mechanical hands are the ruler of everything …” Now as we know, Mind is VERY commonly referred to as an “automaton” or “robotic”, most often by Heart. This is probably due to his habit of using logic and reasoning instead of his emotions. Knowing this, makes that line very interesting! Going back to Mucka Blucka YET AGAIN we are looking at the reference to Ruler of Everything where the lyrics go: “But mechanical hands decided where the heart would be: Just apathy.” This also includes CJ’s cover of Just Apathy, which we’ll get into later. This probably means that, as a result of Heart trying to shoot Mind, they end up having a chat where Mind explains his reasoning for never using his emotions to dictate decisions, or something like that to be honest I got a bit lost on that one.

Now we get to the “do you like how i walk” part, which is sung by both Heart and Mind, Heart of course doing the “goofier” lyrics with Mind butting in to sing the “consequential” line, i'm not typing the whole verse out. When Heart sings the “disintegrates into chalk” line, this may be an allusion to his blindness, it clearly has a bit more importance seeing as Mind also joins in when he sings this, who knows though.

The first half of the flibbity-jibber-jabber verse (yes, that one) seems to be sung by our boy Soul, with the second part sung by Heart and Mind. The lyrics don’t really change from the original here, but my bets are they’re all going through some sort of either identity or existential crisis.

And finally, the last verse is sung in a duet by both Heart and Mind, both singing specifically about mind, with the only lyrical variation between the two versions being Heart says “you” while Mind says “I”. This is probably Heart accepting that Mind does have the high ground in this situation, and there’s not much he can do about it.

Variations on a Cloud:

This cover is a doozy! Mainly just a trio between Heart, Mind and Soul with some lyrical changes (mainly being from Soul). This is excluding one of the last parts, where the three start singing all at once completely out of harmony.

In this part Soul’s lyrics are almost completely original, where one of his lyrics is: “They say we're not worth the time, they wouldn’t spare us a dime, while they spend all their days devouring cocaine and wine,” This seems to be a jab at people who don’t do anything to help others who need it, such as people mental illnesses or physical diseases, even though they have the funding to do so.

This also includes another one of Soul’s lines: “I’ve suffered agony, relentlessly, helplessly since you came,” He’s probably saying this to Heart and Mind, for obvious reasons.

Also on that last line, “Join if you wish,” it might say something if Heart’s was the one to stick around the longest before all the texts disappeared, idk just something to point out.

I’m sure there’s more to this one, but I couldn’t find much for it apart from that last section.

Bad Day:

This one’s a bit more complicated, it doesn’t seem to directly include Mind or Heart in it.

There’s a good chance this one isn’t involved in the narrative being built here and was just a song about CJ’s health, which is what it most likely is. Though there are a few lyrics that feel a bit off, such as the repeated line of “let us sing,” as well as “you want me to sing? Fine,” But it’s also very easy to tie this to Chonny’s fans requesting songs so often, who knows.

It might also be a way of speaking the truth about one’s health instead of just the normal lyrics, which I got from the last part of the song where it goes: “Fine I'll play the happy version, free from sadness and perversion, eyes be blocked from devastation …” but who knows with this one.

Haiku:

Haiku!!! Love this one, really nice and wholesome amirite haha. Anyway, going back to Hidden in the sand, there’s a good chance this cover is likely based on the same story as Hidden. The first half of this song is about a man trying to figure out how to write a haiku for someone.

The next half is the actual haiku, which seems normal at first, until in typical Mr. Jash fashion, it turns out our subject has been stabbed, where at first he thought the love-interest had stabbed him, saying “i swore that i smelled your smell” until it goes on to say “but i stabbed myself,”

From what I've gathered, he asked a lady out, and she rejected him, so he tried to write a haiku/song for her, which he struggled to write for a while, until he finally did it, but it still wasn’t enough for her as she turned him down again.

Let’s see if this relates to the Heart, Mind and Soul narrative. At first glance it doesn’t seem like it does, but when you look more into it (as well as the Mucka Blucka cover referencing BOTH songs), you might be able to see it at least has some symbolism to Heart and Mind’s fallout.

Banana Man:

This one probably doesn’t have as much to do with our narrative we're analyzing here, mainly meant to criticise the issues with the original song, so I won’t be saying too much about it.

I suppose It CAN still be debated that it DOES include Mind and Heart, seeing as you do have a voice with Mind’s lower octave, as well as a few lines that might reference them, such as the part that goes: “forget about the voices lying deep inside, the one that’s screaming screaming and screeching, proclaiming wrong and right,” although that line can also very well be interpreted as someone’s morals that might say “hey this is kinda weird,” so we’ll see.

It states in the cover’s description that the song is meant to over-dramatize an argument Jash may have been having with a “past version of himself as well as people who refuse to acknowledge things that can be good but have problems” so this cover is most likely just that, not really much to do with our narrative and more about the problems with the song.

There is still some evidence of Mucka Blucka briefly referencing the song in the cover, as well as some of the lyrics and of course, being able to hear a voice similar to Mind’s in it, so maybe they’re vaguely involved, idk.

We’re Gonna Win:

Now THIS is a good one! I’d say this cover is where it really starts getting into the narrative of our favourite guys, with the “plots” of each song being a bit more clear.

This cover, as we know if you’ve heard it, is a combination cover of Rob Cantor’s “I’m gonna win” and Tally Hall’s “All of my friends”, and it’s definitely one of my top 5 fav covers!

The song starts with the first verse and chorus of Cantor’s “I'm gonna win,” seemingly being another trio between Heart, Mind and potentially Soul, though the chorus does sing a bit of “all of my friends” sung by Mind.

There’s a brief intermission with a distinct “click” sound, similar to a finger click or a light switch, before the second verse and chorus switches to the lyrics of “all of my friends” with a bit of “im gonna win” in the background also sung by Mind.

It then goes into the bridge, where the first actual lyrical change happens, where instead of saying either song’s actual lyrics, it goes “but we’re not so different, you see” before it goes back into both of the songs’ respective lyrics sung by both Heart and Mind, until they start singing at once, “but it’s just you and me, it’s just myself and I, we are all that we need, we are all that survives,” Now i don’t normally bring up the actual music video here, but it might be important to mention that this next part i’m gonna talk about here, up until this point as usual, Mind and Heart’s sections have been split up as black and white, but here it is entirely black, with the funny little face you see so often appearing coloured. Coolie!

In this section they are almost singing in harmony, with only the lyrics being different and some parts being dragged out a bit more. Here is possibly one of the few times they’ve been in agreement about something, basically singing about how they’ve harmonized their tones, but they’re not done, they’ll keep singing no matter what until they're “dead in the ground.” fun times!

So one can depict this as the boys finally coming to an agreement about something, at least (most likely) temporarily. That’s how i’m gonna depict it as there’s not much else to see it as.

Welcome to Tally Hall:

This is the one where we finally got the name for this little narrative, “Chonny Charming Chaos Compendium” quite a mouthful! And why i’m just calling it CCCC.

This one mostly seems like an introduction to the Jash himself, at least for the first half. When we get to the second half, we hear our first glimpses of Heart and Mind, who sing their own parts for a bit, with yet another reference to mind being some sort of robot. Whereas the first half seemed fairly normal and was just him covering the song normally, the first bit of the second half is much more like Chonny Jash’s usual style, until it goes back into the ‘normal’ cover.

Like i said, seems mostly like an introduction to Jash himself, admittedly I don’t listen to this one as much (im so sorry) so i haven’t had as much time to hyper analyse it, but maybe i’ll come back to this one day and look more into it.

Just Apathy:

I love this one! It’s so good! Definitely an underrated one compared to the others, for both Chonny and Tally Hall!

This one is fairly easy to understand, it seems to be an exchange between Mind and Soul, (or Mind and Heart, it’s a bit hard to tell) with a bit of Heart/Soul appearing at times. It seems to be highlighting their apathy to things in general, and trying to justify it.

“I’m sick and tired of holding fire, when all I feel is violence,” Wanted to single this line out, firstly, because i want to MARRY it, it is AMAZING, and also because, it being sung by Heart, can also allude to the grudges he holds.

Greener:

This one is mostly a metaphor, the “yards” being mental health. And Soul is either experiencing mania, delusional or is actually doing a bit better here. Mind also briefly shows up in this one to state that he doesn’t think this better mental health state will last, so thank you Mind appreciate it.

This one seems to be our subject, potentially Soul, seeing someone’s mental state is pretty bad and being like “same bestie,”

I haven’t got as much to say about this one either, this one is a bit clearer to me than others have been, so that’s gamers champion.

The Whole World & You:

This one is always gonna be in my top 5 favourites because it’s actually the one to introduce me to CJ in the first place! That’s right, not the mind electric, so there’s a few bragging rights for me.

This is a very funky one, with Mind very prominent in it, not so sure Heart is though - still unsure if this is Soul or Heart singing in this, but it seems like Soul so i’ll say it’s Soul. This one seems like, partially, a eulogy to Tally Hall, while also bringing our favourite CCCC lads into it.

As usual with some of the covers Jash does, it starts off sounding like a “normal” cover, before it goes into the narrative we’re familiar with. I should mention, they’ve been mention “Blues and greens” a lot in these recent covers, including greener, and this one, probably as a reference to the first cover he did, Spring & a storm.

We also hear a small tease to the mind electric when he says “Love, duality” at 1:29, ain’t that fun, speaking of this part. An interesting line would be when he says “So when the darker side had found out about the songs, i’d hidden for so long, i finally had the courage to say say ‘this is what i can do’” While Mind is heard singing in the background the whole time about him passing his “test”, this might be him talking about or TO Heart, but it’s a bit dubious.

The next part, when analysing the lyrics, seems fairly passive aggressive, with Soul (or Heart) saying “I hope you’re happy now, I've merged dark and light,” And Mind adds in “I must admit you took your sweet time,” in response. He then says “This slope I'm headed down has turned to a slide,” and mind’s line is “I always knew that we could be intertwined,” and finally Soul/heart says “So i’ll throw my hands up high and enjoy the ride,” while Mind says “You played Dr. Jekyll so I played Mr. Hyde” and the back and forth goes on for a bit, until they finally say at once “But at least now i’m mine,”

It then goes on for both of them to start singing “Please don’t just laugh and clap right now, this is serious, i'm not delirious,” which is most likely in reference to that last line, and how others may not believe it, perhaps the other side that wasn’t featured in this song.

After that the eulogy for Tally Hall happens, we know this because he says “consider this a eulogy to the colourly band that used to be” (And colourly is definitely a word trust me The Jash said so)

Be Born:

This one is a big one, and definitely a cover i need to listen to more often

This one seems to be sung by Mind, directed at Soul, saying there’s no good or evil here, they’re both just fucked up individuals who rlly need some therapy (paraphrasing), “But what if I told you, I am not the villain? What if I told you, you’re the same as I? …”

Also included are the first glimpses of their names (since we haven’t had any mention of their names til this point) by mentioning Heart and Mind a few times.

It also repeats how at one point, Mind was the one in charge, but not anymore, probably due to our buddy Soul.

So basically Mind humbles Soul THOROUGHLY in this song. Including the end, where Mind states, directed at Soul, “these facts entwine to form a sign, to craft your voice in heart and mind. So make your choice, and make it right. Will we be ours? Or will you die?” So basically, Soul has to choose between the two of them, or else he’ll just run himself into the ground from depression. Yay..!

Going back to the idea that Mind used to be the host, now run by Soul or Heart, it seems like whichever one is “running the vessel” is, consequently, getting very tired of it, as Mind says “So if you’re sick, and if you’re tired, then soothe your heart with songs inspired,” This seems to also be directed at Soul, due to that last point of him saying that Soul has to make a decision.

Special:

From Soul’s perspective, it mainly seems to be about his struggles in terms of his morals and how ‘special’ he is.

One line that is definitely in reference to Heart and Mind would be: “If there’s one person in this world that I can’t trick it’s myself,” It’s pretty self-explanatory. Soul can’t lie to Mind and Heart, they know about him too well.

He later goes on to say “And anyway, who am I to fret like this? Maybe a keychange can pull me out of this abyss.” The tone of the song changes significantly, going on to say with a more hopeful tone to it “Sooner or later I shall find myself and make amends with the me left on the shelf,” Soul wants to make amends with Mind (we can tell the “me left on the shelf” is Mind thanks to our bestie Mucka Blucka cover, where it references this, and the “me left on the shelf” part is sung by the one and only automaton man)

They eventually go on to sing 4 different lyrics at once, two being the usual special lyrics (one of which uses we/us pronouns instead of i/me pronouns, and also fades into the lyrics of Time Machine by Miracle Musical) and the other two being two different sets of lyrics from Variations on a cloud.

This is also the cover where he starts using live action more instead of just the funky little face with lyrics and blacks and whites.

Two Wuv:

Again, from Soul’s perspective, but more about the public’s opinion of his duality. Specifically, parents, family, as well as churches and whatnot.

“Father, saint and Mary, I hope you understand … I think that you’ve been playing this wrong, I've come around a thousand times but I'm still singing this song,” This line is directed at the churches, how he’s gone there so many times but praying has never worked, he’s still making this music, he’s still got issues.

“I wrote a couple rhymes, over tunes I didn’t write, In an attempt to reconcile what keeps me up at night,” In reference to the last song, where Soul tried to make amends with Mind.

You can also use the next line, “But as ideas began to grow, and the tracklist followed suit, the halves I once reviled had finally settled their dispute,” the songs and ideas are a metaphor for Soul’s mental state, and when it started deteriorating, Mind and Heart decided to “settle their dispute”. This is also told from Mind’s perspective in "Storm & a Spring,” where he sees a “soul so deep, and dark, and eternally cold, and an oath formed from us both that it would stay whole,” Mind and Heart made an oath to keep Soul together.

“The person you see is a dark, divided man, but the fact is that is just who I am, and I can’t keep selling this facade when I know that it’s a scam,” This one is fairly self-explanatory, his family knows that he is suffering like this, but he’s come to accept it, and he can’t keep acting like he’s okay when everyone knows he’s not.

“But I think for the first time in my life, that these oddities that bonded me aren’t worth the fucking strife,” Despite Mind and Heart making an oath to keep Soul bonded, he can’t deal with them and the constant alienation from society they bring him.

“Fog so thick and hazy” may be a reference to Heart’s blindness, as well as the one quote from Mucka Blucka “… My eyes in a mist, I finally realised I shot at myself …” though it feels a bit out of place, so possibly not.

This is also the cover where CJ brings the boys signature colours into the videos, the electric guitar having a blue edge, likely to symbolise it’s Mind playing the guitar.

This can also have two meanings to it, obviously the one we’ve just covered, but also the idea of being queer in a christian household or town, and having to deal with the issues that brings. “I refuse to be the person that my parents eulogise,” and “… But i’m an egoistic queer under any definition of the word,” these are normally interpreted as coming out to your parents and them not accepting you or being different to what they wanted you to be. The line “Fog so thick and hazy, calls for holy light,” can be in reference to how people might say he needs “God’s guidance”.

The Bidding:

This is a good one! First song I was there to experience be released, it’s also in the favs list. This is mostly Mind and Heart arguing while Soul suffers in the background. I'm not gonna go hugely into detail with every little line in this one for Heart and Mind’s parts because it can all be summed up as “they fightin’” but i’ll go more into detail for Soul’s and whatnot.

Mind seems pretty much tired of the arguments, but still adding to them and egging Heart on. He points out how Heart keeps “putting in his dimes” or, contributing to the argument.

Heart’s part is him pointing out Mind’s hypocrisy, and how he is doing the exact same thing he is, yet he acts so much higher than Heart.

Soul’s chorus is him trying to get them to stop arguing, saying “time is short, life even more, yet you wage this silly war,” they have these petty arguments so often they’re letting life pass them by. He then threatens to “tie the rope” if you catch my drift.

The next part of the chorus is Mind and Heart singing in harmony about how they have been in “total agony” ever since the other came around, they then lose the harmony, going back to insulting each other.

Soul obviously notices that temporary harmony, and urges them to try again, saying that even if it is just from them insulting each other like children they harmonised none-the-less, saying even if they won’t do it for each other, he wants them to do it for him, that he doesn’t know how much more he can take of their arguing, but if they can harmonise maybe he can finally be himself.

In this section they are briefly able to harmonise to say one word, and then say the last sentence “this dissonance could disappear” in harmony. Let's go girlies!

Mucka Blucka:

Hooey! finally the song i mentioned so much! to be fair it’s absolutely littered with references that are really useful for evidence, soooo…

This one seems like a sort of recap of Mind, Heart and Soul’s characters, with several references to past songs as well as the very much more in-your-face reveal of our boys' names (though technically they were revealed last song, but I didn’t notice that until 20 minutes ago soo… shhhh) and also the plethora of chicken puns.

We also get a retelling of Heart and Mind’s fallout, where Heart shot at Mind, which led to Heart going blind, and him realising that he kind of brought that upon himself.

Time Machine by MM also makes a reappearance in this one, at the very end using the melody of the original song.

The state they’re all in is often described as a “personal hell” or the likes, they’re all trapped and suffering for eternity here.

“It’s painful to admit, but even I can see through my bullshit,” can be seen as a reference to the Special cover, where Soul mentions how he can’t really trick himself, aka Mind and Heart.

Dream:

Mind and Heart’s fights have gotten worse, seemingly physical, and Soul seems to be getting increasingly paranoid, thinking they’re trying to take control and probably kill him.

You may have noticed, Mind and Heart have not been trying to do this, they’ve been far too busy being mad at eachother. Outside of them arguing, they’ve still been trying to keep Soul together (as far as i’m aware) so them trying to kill him is a bit contradictory, isn’t it? But maybe they don’t realise that their arguing is slowly breaking Soul down, mentally and possibly physically, so he may be assuming they’re doing this on purpose to usurp him.

Still they’re arguing, and it seems in this song Mind and Heart are possibly getting ready for another fight, and Soul is having a breakdown over it because he wants to live, so he decides to try one more time, what this is? I have no clue, it’s probably obvious and i’m just stupid and sleep deprived, maybe something like giving them one more chance to sort their issues i have no idea.

The Heart Acoustic:

Yeah that’s right i’m splitting them up. You’ll catch me dead before I put the TWELVE MINUTE SONG into it’s own section. Fuck that.

Anyway, here’s where we first see Heart’s face with the blindfold, as well as his perspective on things. It seems He wants everyone to stay alive, but he knows that “one plus one can’t equal two if happiness is both our truths,” He knows that Soul will have to pick ONE of them.

It’s also where we first see signs of Heart’s chest pains, since he’s seen several times holding his chest in the way someone would if it was hurting.

“… And you beg for it to stop, but you’ve already dug your lot in the ground,” This line is likely in reference to later on in the song, during Mind’s part where he mentions how Heart “fell into a hole he dug for him”

He antagonises Mind saying he tricked Soul into becoming what it is, and while he certainly had a part in it, if we’re talking about the constant arguments wearing Soul down, we know that both of them had a part in that.

In the last verse of Heart’s acoustic, he once again calls Mind an “automaton freak” and saying he doesn’t care anymore, the “vessel” is becoming worn.

I also noticed how Heart barely gets that last “fare” out before it immediately switches into Mind’s perspective, how kind.

The Mind Electric:

Mind is a really good one, although it’s the shortest, he certainly uses the time well to give us the good ol’ tiktok audios

As stated previously, Mind switches in and is IMMEDIATELY singing, like a millisecond intermission before he’s insulting Heart. You go dude, I think.

The first paragraph is pretty much a diss track on Heart, insulting him CONSTANTLY, before it shifts to the second paragraph where he keeps insulting him, but also saying his logic is the absolute!

Third paragraph is a little different, he mentions how Heart probably sees him as just a “simple, cynical machine,” (which he does, admittedly), but despite that, he still has Soul’s best interests in mind (pun not intended).

He goes on to say he doesn’t enjoy covering these songs — likely because he’s the one most often there in the covers, maybe not the main focus but he’s THERE. He then says he’s knows its “hard to see my rhyme behind the entropy, but if he’d just once humour me, he’d see we need to live life logically,” The “he” in this situation is most likely Soul, but it might be Heart.

He goes back to insulting Heart, saying he sounds profound but it’s “insincere,”

“See how his feet miss the ground, and he falls inside a hole he dug for me.” This line is in reference to Mind and Heart’s fallout, which we all know by now.

He then goes on to say “Though I seem harsh in all my assessments, we each seek a life lived in the light …” Yeah no shit half the song has been you insulting Heart, anyway, he goes on to say that they can’t live in this “light” because Heart has been hella resentful and stubborn.

And now unlike the transition between Heart to Mind, the transition from Mind to Soul is much different. Mind gets PLENTY of time to say that last word, in fact he gets to enunciate the T iin “akaryocyte” before it switches, lucky him!

The Soul Eclectic:

Now unlike Mind’s part, Soul waits like a whole 10 years before singing, adding distortions and instrumentals for a whole 5 second intermission before the “Yo”.

He introduces himself to the audience as The Soul, his name (which he promptly doesn’t say, thanks man), your host or insane. The whole range!

Mind and Heart then butt in briefly to once again try to persuade Soul to make a choice on who to pick, through insults at each other, ofc.

Now Soul is much different in this song, he’s aggressive and snippy, probably at his limit, saying “you seem to forget, you answer to me,” reminding them that they can’t be too pushy or smth idk.

He still goes on to say however, that neither Heart or Mind is wrong or right.

“You must be so arrogant to think that either of you can control The Soul so wholly, when to be one whole you can’t hold solely” This one’s pretty self-explanatory. He’s reminding them that it needs to either be BOTH of them in harmony here, or that it would have to be shared with Soul himself.

The next verse is another reminder of his power over the two, he’s the “lord” in this situation.

After an intermission, he goes on to say “‘Cos I’m not nearly kind enough to leave you parasites inside me …” Fun times! Surely I don’t need to explain that one, I am very tired.

There’s another intermission, with some additional lyrics that i don’t need to get into bc we get the message, before they bring in the next section with all three saying “I am me”, not quite at once.

We then get to the serfs work the ground verse, where the lyrics remain mostly the same, except for a small shift saying “See how the brain plays around, and it splits what once was whole down into three,”

We then get to the Demo 4 section, that’s right WE GOT DEMO 4 IN THIS BITCH i literally screamed when I heard that part not even joking. Anyway, you know this you’ve probably heard the song. The first part of the Demo 4 section is sung in unison by Heart and Mind, as they pretty much insult each other repeatedly.

The next part is sung by Soul, and how they are always fighting, never hearing what the other has to say.

And then the last verse. God help me. It pans to a clip of Soul singing the last part, with his usual red lipstick, but with Heart’s nail paint and Mind’s blue guitar. He’s given Mind and Heart one last chance to sort their shit out, or else he’s gonna “take them down with him” if you know what I mean. Yeah. Fun times!

Storm & a Spring:

Mind slays yet again in this, and once again it is directed at Heart!

“One time I tried to sing … But it was nothing fucking new.” Ironically enough, this one DOESN'T seem to give much new information, but instead reinforcing some old information we got from Mind’s perspective, such as the oath and seemingly the idea that Heart can’t/won’t let them “live in the light” (likely a metaphor for healing or letting go of old grudges).

It DOES however, proposes the idea of Mind’s headaches for (I think) the first time, (at least visually) seeing as several times throughout the song he’s holding/rubbing his head.

“You thought they were listening? …” This is most likely talking about Soul, maybe both Mind and Soul, never actually listening to Heart’s laments.

“I’m sure you really sang your Heart out, … that’s how it seemed. … Looks can be deceiving.” This line might be one of the few new bits of information we get, or not and my brain didn’t connect it to anything idk. It seems like Soul/Mind tried to ‘kick Heart out’ (possibly kill him) but it didn’t work. It might also be a reference to Heart and Mind’s fallout, which resulted in Heart’s blindness, but that's a theory.

There’s also hints that Heart may have tried to off himself, but Mind stopped him because it would’ve also killed Soul, but I admit I cannot find much evidence for this outside of the song.

“So if you insist on crying, while our host is slowly dying, then i’ll cut you loose and spare this noose the deadweight,” as well as “if i left it to you, you’d fall under its weight and kill it too,” are some key points, it might also be a new event that happened between TMA and S&aS, so who knows.

Part I: Night:

Fun fact about this one, for some reason I thought the song was started by Mind for so long. Like as of writing this the song is about a month old right?? I only realised a couple of days ago that it was started off by Heart. And I'm sure you can tell by this entire post that I probably listen to Chonny Jash a bit more than the average person, right? So why the hell did I not notice it till now? My brain works in mysterious ways dawg.

Another thing I noticed when drawing them once that has absolutely nothing to do with their lore (as far as i'm aware) is the fact that Heart is absolutely DRIPLESS. Like Mind and Soul have these cool jackets going, Soul with the fur and Mind with the hot-topic, but Heart just has his hoodie and sweatpants, and I find that hilarious. I think I will draw that.

Anyway, within the first 30 seconds, as I just mentioned, the song is started off by our bestie Heart, and we can also see two fairly brief clips of Mind and Soul sitting down, facing the camera. Very interesting! Maybe they’re finally having group therapy (wishful thinking)

“Open the window, look out and see me,” This quote is started off by Heart, but then fades into Mind by time he says “out”, this is clearly meant to give the image of Heart opening the window, looking out, and seeing Mind! wow!

“Tonight, I’m arriving alive and alight, … All the black, and the gray, and the white,” The boys have finally made up! They’re “in the light”, and harmonising!

The next verse, sung by our boy Soul, seems to be him inviting Mind and Heart to “look out through” his eyes.

Basically this one seems fairly upbeat, right? The best outcome, everyone’s united, Soul doesn’t want to kill Heart or Mind, Heart and Mind don’t seem to want to kill each other, they all WANT to unite, it’s a good outcome!

Although, from what i’ve gathered of the bridge here, they’re not fully sure it’s real, something feels off, Heart and Mind still seem to be at least a little passive-aggressive, but we don’t get to hear much else about it as it fades into the last chorus.

Part II: Light:

So I'm not the greatest at expressions, especially reading them but I figured I could do it this time seeing as their faces are there this time.

Something I noticed in the first few seconds as it switches between Heart and Mind is Mind’s expression. Not really sure how to describe it, but I find it very interesting. In the first shot of him it’s pretty unreadable, he’s just staring ahead into the camera, a little stoically maybe, the second time is pretty much the same, only he blinks slowly, but the third and fourth times seem VERY interesting to me. Now it might just be the autism misinterpreting facial expressions here, but he seems almost solemn? maybe regretful even. In the third part he looks away from the camera, his eyes downturned, and the fourth is him in that same expression, looking down away from the camera.

Now that previous analysis is very interesting considering what Heart’s lyrics are going to be about. “Sitting in the sight of that which blinds [sun], tore me at the seams. Harsh palpitations that tunneled my view, eyesight grew warped, distorted and skewed.” Now anyone with a brain (That of which i certainly have and noticed the first time I heard the song yes certainly) would know that Heart is describing how and why he went blind. Heart’s eyes are extremely sensitive to light, and considering the other two want to live in the light, that is a problem! It’s likely why he wore the blindfold previously if he wasn’t blind then. Now as we established in the Night section, we know they’ve all managed to start living in the light, and so I'm sure I don’t need to explain any more.

Now the next verse is also very good (this whole song is ngl), it’s sung by our bestie Mind once again, and it seems like he’s finally having some empathy for Heart here, at least a little maybe. possibly. “Striving to be right, I fight this sordid fight against the other one,” He says, it seems like he’s finally admitting that these arguments with Heart have not been justified in any way, they’ve been stupid and infantile, simply looking to win the arguments.

“Transmute the pain to kinetic energy,” Now if you’ve taken your science classes children, you’d know that kinetic energy is the action of movement. He probably got physical with Heart at times, which we do have some evidence of in Dream, where Soul describes them as “covered in their blood and sweat,” which is not usually something that can be achieved just verbally, unless you’re in an anime maybe but I don’t think this counts as an anime.

“Tonight you’ve survived out of pity and spite, all night you have vied for your place in the light,” slay Soul, you go, clearly he’s speaking to both of them here.

“But I won’t be split in two, won’t be him or you, we will be combined whether that be dead or alive, let’s blur these lines,” He doesn’t want either of them to become him, he wants them to be combined, all sharing a place if u know what I mean.

“Please help decipher this life that we lead, for each step that we take, the answer takes three,” I got a feeling this one is directed at Heart, seeing as he would probably be least willing to figure things out or go into the light (if they’re the same, i’m not totally sure), and also the fact that Heart’s part is immediately after, and while it’s not a response, it feels like a response, yk?

After Heart’s verse, Mind and Heart then go on to sing the chorus in unison one more time (altered at the beginning to fit Soul’s “split in two” segment from before), two halves of their faces have been split to form one full face, and our boy Soul appearing at the very end with “mine,” all three then go on to take turns singing some lines about how “something must feel lest they rot,” and how things ARE different. They’re understanding each other more. “Something has shone,” seems like the best line to use.

“All of the else will fade away” they then all sing in unison, Mind and Heart’s faces split to form a whole new face, with Soul’s layered over the top.

And now this last verse sung by Heart is about him accepting the others and his own humanity. “That sad, sulking mess. This human you’re being,” FUCK OFF /pos

And finally, the second last chorus sung by Heart at first, “tonight i’m arriving alive and alight,” im sure i need not say anymore about that. It then transitions into another mix of all three faces, saying “with doubt consigned to drought let ardour sprout cos …” This brief statement basically means, even in doubt, let passion grow. Normal-wordified.

And finally, the last chorus is sung by all three mixed together still, where basically they sing about how they’re going to combine, they’re all onboard, they’re letting that “ardour sprout,” “fuse the moon, and sun, change your point of view, let us variate these hues” or, more familiarly, “blur these lines,” you go girls!

A theory I have is that Night & Light is more based on the same experience, night being the more upbeat “wow everything instantly turned out great!” ending where we’re kinda left “in the dark” about it perhaps. While Light is the more realistic approach, where they had their own struggles to go through, and still have more struggles to go through, but they’re trying now, working together, and that's a REALLY big step.

And that’s it! Final thoughts have been reposted (if you’ve already seen this and are coming back to it to see it has more added to it, you didn’t notice anything. For some reason it didn’t paste some of the end, very mean of it)

“But I won’t be split in two, won’t be him or you, we will be combined whether that be dead or alive, let’s blur these lines,” He doesn’t want either of them to become him, he wants them to be combined, all sharing a place if u know what I mean.

“Please help decipher this life that we lead, for each step that we take, the answer takes three,” I got a feeling this one is directed at Heart, seeing as he would probably be least willing to figure things out or go into the light (if they’re the same, i’m not totally sure), and also the fact that Heart’s part is immediately after, and while it’s not a response, it feels like a response, yk?

After Heart’s verse, Mind and Heart then go on to sing the chorus in unison one more time (altered at the beginning to fit Soul’s “split in two” segment from before), two halves of their faces have been split to form one full face, and our boy Soul appearing at the very end with “mine,” all three then go on to take turns singing some lines about how “something must feel lest they rot,” and how things ARE different. They’re understanding each other more. “Something has shone,” seems like the best line to use.

“All of the else will fade away” they then all sing in unison, Mind and Heart’s faces split to form a whole new face, with Soul’s layered over the top.

And now this last verse sung by Heart is about him accepting the others and his own humanity. “That sad, sulking mess. This human you’re being,” FUCK OFF /pos

And finally, the second last chorus sung by Heart at first, “tonight i’m arriving alive and alight,” im sure i need not say anymore about that. It then transitions into another mix of all three faces, saying “with doubt consigned to drought let ardour sprout cos …” This brief statement basically means, even in doubt, let passion grow. Normal-wordified.

And finally, the last chorus is sung by all three mixed together still, where basically they sing about how they’re going to combine, they’re all onboard, they’re letting that “ardour sprout,” “fuse the moon, and sun, change your point of view, let us variate these hues” or, more familiarly, “blur these lines,” you go girls!

A theory I have is that Night & Light is more based on the same experience, night being the more upbeat “wow everything instantly turned out great!” ending where we’re kinda left “in the dark” about it perhaps. While Light is the more realistic approach, where they had their own struggles to go through, and still have more struggles to go through, but they’re trying now, working together, and that's a REALLY big step.

And that’s it! I’m gonna reblog this with some “final thoughts” that didn’t really need to go into the whole post.

[akutasoda]

✧. ┊ : ̗̀➛ of melodies and sonnets

『••✎••』 a plain stack of sheet music and an anthology of empty pages, a composer and a poet.

forewords and mentions ~ wowee first time doing something like this and hoping it works, remember all prompts are limited to one request and probablywill take me a while to complete! + shouts to @mitsvriii and a few anons for lyric ideas!!

↦ rules

same rules as usual, just don't be weird okay!

↦ formats

- please select one of the following...

ep - fic

sonnnet - oneshot

- remember, mention who you wish to be included! amyone from genshin, star rail or bungo stray dogs!

- and then...

1. 'but i dont ever wanna fall in love again' - you've had your heartbroken before and you turn them down in fear of repetition, not because you don't love them

2. ''contemplation' beg your pardon' - they ask you for your hand in marriage and you decide to tease them

3. 'left the heart from the depths it's fallen through' - they broke your heart once and you don't think they deserve a second chance - UNDER COMPOSITION FOR ARLECCHINO

4. 'you understand mechanical hands are the ruler of everything' - how does your relationship stand the test of time - UNDER COMPOSITION FOR ROBIN

5. 'so before we die, i'd like to do something nice' - they realise they messed up and they will do anything to make it up to you

6. 'my baby, here on earth / showed me what my heart was worth' - you never really understood what it meant to love or to be in love but after meeting them, you think you understand now - UNDER COMPOSITION FOR LUOCHA

7. 'my heart that once was beating / bleeding in the palm of your hand' - you once held an unmatched love for them, but now you think they take it for granted - UNDER COMPOSITION FOR BLADE

8. 'holding out both my hands / over fire, over flames / just to keep you safe' - they've been very busy lately but you hesitantly ask them to do a task, underestimating just how much they would actually do for you

9. 'and i couldn't ignore the fact that he makes me look like a fool' - they hesitate to ask you out for many reasons, now seeing you with someone else makes them regret it deeply

10. 'you turn this horrible place / into / orange light, sunset sight' - you're mood has been horrible lately and your stress is towering, fortunately your lover is there for you always

- for example - 'can i request a [ep/sonnet] dedicated to [your choice of character(s)] based upon [a prompt from the list (you can say the number!)]'

⎯⎯ ୨lyrical compositions୧ ⎯⎯

⇢''contemplation' beg your pardon' - dedicated to jing yuan

⎯⎯ ୨leatherbound anthologies୧ ⎯⎯

⇢so before we die, i'd like to do something nice' - dedicated to jouno

⇢'holding out both my hands / over fire, over flames / just to keep you safe' - dedicated to fyodor

⇢'and i couldn't ignore the fact that he makes me look like a fool' - dedicated to aventurine

[aurabird]

Desire Remains

Based off of this little thing from @theres-an-impulstor-among-us that I stumbled across~ Have some Empires!Joel angst with a happy ending.

TW: Mentions of blood/violence, implied/referenced self harm using video game respawn mechanics because Joel likes to kill himself for his head in Empires (nothing is described in detail though don't worry).

Now also on Ao3!

--------------------------

When they had awoken in this world, none of them knew where they’d come from, nor how they’d gotten there. All they knew was their names, and that they’d come to this land to build empires of their own.

These other individuals seemed nice, Joel had realized that rather quickly; and yet he could feel something in his chest, something dark...something violent.

When he held a sword or bow in his hand the feeling only intensified. He wanted to spill blood, bask in the deaths of his enemies. It frightened him, had he always been like this? Did he kill others before coming to this land?

Joel’s instinct told him to kill the rulers of the other empires whenever he was with one...kill his newfound friends. But he couldn’t do it, not without provocation.

The mental turmoil was downright maddening.

It was the worst when he slept, flashes of events he didn’t know were from his unknown past or just conjured by his mind.

A group of fourteen, including himself. He could make out most of the faces, but two of them were blurry in his mind; the ones that looked eerily similar to two of the other royals.

A man in a hat and no shirt ordering another with a red jumper to set him aflame for gathering dead bushes in the desert, forcing him to give up the diamond sword he held as payment for a promise of saplings.

The same man, eyes red and now glowing with mischief and madness, threatening him for his enchanting table.

A blonde dressed in crimson and grey giving him a grin as they gestured to a stone box with timed lava streams pouring down from above, a chest in the back holding a lucrative award inside.

Himself getting caught up in the white-hot liquid, the laughter of the game’s creator echoing around him as he burned.

A man with white hair and a mask over his face asking him for something while holding TNT, a mischievous and satisfied glint in duel-colored eyes as the contraption was sent at a castle nearby.

His house being set ablaze as revenge by one of those that had lived in the castle, an inferno once more taking his life.

A banner stained with blood, an army of wolves at his heels as he joyously pursued a King and their Hand like a predator hunting its prey...

...and an arrow that killed him instantly.

Phantom pain would rack his body when he’d awaken, his face wet with tears. But the dreams did nothing to tame the unbridled bloodlust that fueled his every waking hour.

Killing animals helped with the constant urge, but after awhile even that proved dissatisfactory to him. When this happened, he would aim his bow at the sky, letting his own arrow strike him down.

The two things together seemed to help. The multitude of animal skulls and morbidly enough, his own, easing his desire to kill.

As time went on and eras of tension and peace came and went, Joel began to notice that when he spent time with Lizzie, ruler of the Ocean Empire, that the bloodlust would fade into the back of his mind. He rejoiced in these moments of mental peace and found himself feeling something new when in her presence.

Love.

But even his moments with the Ocean Queen were a temporary fix for the rage that boiled in his blood.

Caught up in his work, the Mezalean King hadn’t killed anything for awhile, so when he turned to face the one that approached him and his eyes caught sight of the golden crown atop the other royal’s head, something inside him snapped.

A crown stained by blood, the symbol of the Red King...

...the last thing he’d seen before a shot to the heart took his final life.

Joel couldn’t stop himself from the events that followed. Swing after swing, arrow after arrow; all he could see was red, all he could hear was his own maniac laughter as he attacked the individual without mercy or remorse.

Three lives to live...and all he had to do was take the King’s last one!

Then, at the back of his mind something pulled; a familiar voice calling out his name, begging him to cease his madness. Joel’s sword stopped inches above his target’s heart as self-control came rushing back.

The sight before him was horrific. Mythland’s King lay on the ground with a terrified expression; blood staining them, the terracotta, and the diamond blade that Joel held in his hands.

Oh God, what had he done?!

His sword clattered to the ground as he collapsed to his knees, sobs resounding from him as reality set in.

He was a monster. And the worst part of it all, was that he didn’t understand why. Why was he like this? Why did he have the desire to kill? Why did the very idea of spilling blood bring him pleasure?!

A hand clasped his shoulder and he panicked at the fact someone else was so close to him. (No! Get away! I’m dangerous!)

When they spun him around his brown eyes met blue ones, a gentle face full of concern and fear for him.

Lizzie...

He collapsed into her embrace, tears streaming down his cheeks as he stammered repeated apologies. He was sorry; so, so sorry. He didn’t mean it, he didn’t know what came over him!

But here, in the arms of the Ocean Queen, his mind was silent. No desire to spill blood, no nightmares of events foreign to him. Just peaceful bliss.

After the events that day, Joel made it a habit to try and sate his desire for bloodshed whenever even a fraction of the feeling reared its head.

He had good days, where he was able to keep it at bay. And bad days, where he’d lock himself within the walls of his empire until the feeling passed lest he hurt those he called friends and allies.

In his darkest moments, Lizzie would come console him. When he awoke in tears from the nightmares, she would come stay by his side until well after morning. In her presence, he could forget everything.

But it was the day he married her that he finally felt the bloodlust vanish entirely, never to return.

[jess-the-vampire]

Theory: Is Belos a Puppet?

Food for thought on the new episode.

Spoilers under the cut

Y’know before this point I think most people assumed belos never was speaking to the titan and made it up for his own goals because "evil villian ruler is evil and lies to get what he wants”. And that’s fair because there’s little reason at that point to really believe he’s talking to anyone since we never get to see it nor much of belos in general.

But consider, based on the new episode, what if he really is speaking to someone, it’s just not the titan.

Its THIS thing that fought king’s dad a long time ago:

And that it may be able to posses his body or curse his body, explaining this:

(Because these are def similar, too much to be a coincidence, though not perfect matches)

As in, belos is a puppet to this thing, because while its fair to also assume this could be belos himself, he's only been around for 50 years at the least and the episode seems to establish king’s castle and his father’s story was WAY BACK to a time when no one much can remember it. It's also highly unlikely belos would've let this place stay if he had been aware of it since he’s clearly hiding....whatever it is under his mask that he doesn’t want to show and he would’ve def destroyed this place after he took over cause it seems very clear something attacked king’s father in this place and it’s more then likely the same creature.

No one who wants to hide their identity so badly would’ve let this place slide. Makes more sense if belos had never been there, being his own separate being.

Not to mention, if belos was this beast he has no reason to not unleash this form fulltime and instead pretend to be someone else because this creature seems very powerful and it seems weird he’d just take a new identity when taking over. Perhaps this creature was weakened during the battle so long ago and saw an opportunity in belos after its fight with king's dad depleted it. And now that king’s father is.....not here for the time being it’s finding it’s own way back to power.

Not to mention the clip of belos transforming is.....him transforming, alluding this isn’t his natural form and he turns into this thing. Whereas demons in this universe don’t seem to be able to transform, especially since they’re all weak and depowered oddly so there’s no reason belos should be transforming if this is his natural form.

What if this thing used him to take over the isles for itself? Giving him commands and him just following its orders? Thinking the entire time he's taking commands from the titan?

And belos has been as duped as everyone else, believing he was in contact with the titan the entire time and taking its word at every angle? It would even explain his own va considering belos more misunderstood then evil, because he's not doing this out of evil, he really believes he's serving the titan and doing good in that but he isn’t aware of who he’s actually helping.

Consider it:

We think belos is the endgame villian but it turns out to be a third party working behind the scenes the entire time. And this episode is setting up the fact this creature is our actual main threat. Because there is no way they can show this thing and not have it come back, you know it is.

There's definitely something wrong with belos at the very least, especially if he needs to consume palismans to help with his health. Not to mention his staff being mechanical and just everything about him in general is off-putting, but this demon creature and demons in general don't use witch magic nor have reason to as far as we’re aware, so they're unlikely to be exactly the same being.

But, if a demon (Or whatever this is) was able to take control of a witch on the other hand to carry out their deeds by tricking them-

And well, I'm sure letting some evil entity take over his body like a leech wouldn't be doing belos much favors in the health department.....

Food for thought, perhaps belos is exactly as he seems and is this monster....or perhaps belos isn’t the main threat after all and just a unknowing pawn in all of this to a higher power he doesn’t fully understand. But there’s def a link between the two worth looking into.

[memes-in-a-half-shell]

Business AU - Working Late, Part 1

Just a quick idea to test more and play around this AU I’m trying to build. For the sake of taking it easy, I’ll use my OC Vee 😊

Vee didn’t realize how late it was starting to get until she finally glanced away from her computer screen and towards the large windows the building had to offer. The sky was turning to a dark blue, the city’s lights creating a halo around the various skyscrapers. Many coworkers had already left the place and most of the main lights were off, leaving only some bulbs on towards the main hallways here and there for the cleaning team. Well, at least those hours will give me a better pay..., thought Vee as she stretched her arms, trying to ease the stiffness in her shoulders and at the base of her neck. ... All she could think about was getting home and enjoying a nice warm drink to ease her into a better sleep. Or she could always enjoy a nice glass of red wine - the latter much more enticing. Collecting her handbag and coat, her feet instinctively proceeded towards the large room’s exit, until her eyes caught on a glow that wasn’t usually there. It was coming from the nook of a small hallway that led to a room not usually used by any employee. Vee’s reasoning first led her to believe that someone forgot to turn off a switch, but her curiosity actually wondered if another soul was still occupied in this building. She approached the source calmly, taking a peek while still standing by the doorframe of the small space. At first she noticed many tables and shelves, a plethora of paper rolls, books and drawing equipment decorating the room in an organized chaos. Then she noticed him. She had seen the turtle brothers many times ever since she’d been employed barely a month ago. At first it had been a surprise, but now it was simply pure fascination. Vee recognized this one to be Donatello, the tallest of the bunch. His shell was facing her, his attention all on a large sheet of paper laid on a drafting board. The woman couldn’t help watching him for a moment, his movements ever so precise with his scale ruler and his pencil. As he paused to admire his work, Vee studied his form. Even with his white shirt, with the sleeves rolled to his elbows, she could still decipher the subtle shape of his muscles - all thanks to his trainings. He wasn’t as built as his brothers, but he was toned enough to bring a blush on the woman’s cheeks... “You can come forward, I won’t mind.” His voice broke her thoughts. He didn’t even turn around as he had said that, probably feeling observed anyway. Vee suddenly felt embarassed, her audible gasp finally grasping the turtle’s attention. “Oh, uhm, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to disturb your work. ... I saw some lights in the distance and was wondering if someone forgot to turn off something...”

His golden eyes made her trail off her last words, internally melting as she saw the sweet smile on his lips.

“No worries, I know it’s late,” he added. “I’m mostly surprised someone was still working as well.”

“Yeah, that tends to happen whenever I’m too focused,” shyly answered back the woman with a smile.

“What were you working on?”

Vee was silent for some seconds. Am I really having a casual conversation with one of my bosses? she thought with a slight frown. Donatello’s soft chuckle made her realize she was probably taking too much time to answer.

“Please, I won’t bite,” he said. “I’m actually enjoying this break from my work. If you have a minute or two to spare before leaving, I don’t mind having a little conversation!”

The woman conceeded, finally entering the room and taking seat on a chair that was nearby the mutant’s desk. In the process she did not notice the other taking a good look at her, most presumably enjoying her presence. Vee first straightened her back once seated, extending a hand for a shake.

“Well, first of all, hi. I’m Véronique, but you may call me Vee. I’m the newest project manager overseeing the creative team. Everything regarding the company’s outer image has to go through me first.”

“Color me impressed, that’s quite the title,” replied Donatello, shaking her hand. “I do recall seeing and hearing your name a couple of times for the past weeks. You’re our newest addition coming from Montréal, if I stand correct?”

“Indeed! It’s been a dream of mine to come work in New York City, so I am extremely grateful for this job.”

Her hand felt so small in his. Gosh, she could feel her cheeks warm up...

“But I’m blabbering now,” she added, freeing herself from his hold. “I was trying to get through the upcoming evaluations I’ll have to give to the team and revise some designs that are supposed to come out by the end of this month. So it’s crunch time much.”

“Oh I do get that,” smiled the other. “Deadlines can be such a curse. ... I’ve been working late myself as well for a Lower East Side project.”

“What would that be, if it’s okay to ask?”

The turtle gave a better view to his board, revealing some intricate structure designs laid down on paper.

“The Lowline,” he started. “I can quickly summarize it as an underground park that allows sunlight in and vegetation all around. It’s been years since the city had this under work, and I’m trying to push it into completion. ... But there’s a lot of structure issues that needs to be addressed.”

Vee stood up, taking a better look to the drawings. Some calculations could be seen on the sides, but the trickiest parts were clearly the solar collection disks and underground domes that would distribute light. The whole idea in its whole was great, but in the long run it would prove to be a challenge in terms of weather changes and various issues - may they be of human nature or not.

“I’ve heard about it,” added the woman. “And I do hope it’ll come into fruition. It sounds like a great idea overall.”

“Indeed, but I feel like my lines are not organic enough for this line of work,” sighed the mutant. “I’m used to buildings, mechanics, and more ‘structured’ work. ... The city has more of a round and nature-friendly image in mind, so I’m trying to keep that in mind for my designs. Alas my drawings are resembling a prescholer trying to learn how to draw a circle.”

Vee couldn’t help a small laugh at that last remark, smiling as she looked back to the male.

“Don’t be so harsh with yourself, it’s already better compared to some employees around here.” She then pointed some lines. “I could definitely see an improvement here and there if you were to use a compass and smooth the lines, rather than guessing with a ruler and free-handing it. I understand the calculations, but you’ll have to trust the papers’ measure lines for it to truly work and give better measurements for whichever company would handle the creation of those structures.”

“... Have you worked in architecture before?” asked Donatello with a small smile.

“No, but I’ve done plenty of illustration works before and I can recognize the different needs for when you’re drawing buildings, compared to ‘organic’ structures or just plain vegetation.”

Their eyes met, Vee noticing the other’s amusement. She promptly moved away from the drawing, moving away a stray strand of teal colored hair from her face.

“... I’m sorry, I shouldn’t tell you what to do...”

“Oh no, no, I appreciate the insight!” reassured Donatello. “I should ask more of it in the future, in fact. ... Would you mind surpervising my work once this hellish end of the month has gone by? I could even help you, if you accept.”

Did she hear that right? Her slight astonishement made her feel like everything was a dream.

“I wouldn’t mind at all,” she answered. “I’d look forward to it, in fact.”

“Excellent!” added the turtle with a small clasp of his hands. “Then I guess I’m done for tonight and I can rest easy for now.”

He backed his chair a bit, allowing him enough space to stand up afterward. Vee could feel this knot forming in her stomach and throat, truly noticing their differences in size as the top of her head only came up to the height of his shoulders.

“If you don’t mind, we can head towards the exit together? I wouldn’t want you to get attracted to another light source and get lost once more,” he joked lightly.

Vee did a small snort in amusement, suddenly blushing after such display. She did nod through her shyness:

“Yes, that would be fine!”

She tried not to think too much about his smile, his presence such a nice feeling overall... After a small detour to his office so he could collect some of his belongings, they next headed to the building’s exit, and all Vee could feel was as if she was floating on a cloud...

((PART 2))

[mavspeed]

First Line Meme

Rules: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all). See if there are any patterns. Choose your favorite opening line, then tag 10 of your favorite authors!

Hey @applesfallingfromblondehair, thanks for the tag love!! likewise i dont usually do this but this feels interesting so lets see if my ass has improved over the last few stories lmfkjgjk

also this will prob be a mix of xmcu fic + kingsman fic bc i think i have a more or less equal number of fics written for both

1.

The first time Charles meets Lucifer Morningstar, actual devil from hell, ruler of the underworld, fallen son of the lord above and god knows what else, it had been after Erik had been sentenced to life imprisonment in the highest security cell in the Pentagon. 

- this is from a professor and a devil walk into a bar, which is kinda a crossover rarepair fic that rose out of me and mutuals on twitter discussing tom ellis and james mcavoy being roommates and kinda... devolved from there. i am proud of this one lmfnjgkj

2.

“Are you okay, Professor?” Hank asks quietly.

Charles blinks. He supposes it’s a valid question. He’s been in a bit of a funk the past few days- scratch that actually, the past few years. He’s just lost so much- his father, and then his mother’s love, and then Raven and Erik and Sean and countless others. Building a school, gaining students he loved to teach and nurture hadn’t helped him in the slightest, and he’s as lost as he ever was, wandering the halls of a drafty mansion alone, feeling like he’s been stranded at sea even whilst surrounded by people.

- from in the belly of the beast, which again came out of me wondering what would have happened if fox had gone w their original plan and charles had been that last horseman instead of erik. this story will prob gain a sequel... sometime in the near future when im not too bogged down by current wips

3. 

The Xavier family hall of the deceased- because of course they’re weird enough to have a cemetery- is full of rows upon rows of holograms. Charles is four and gets bored of his father crying over his mother’s hologram, so he toddles over to the other rows. Unfamiliar names, all of them- Charles is young, and he doesn’t understand death. He doesn’t even know who his mother is, who’d died at childbirth and left him with a father still at a loss when it came to bringing up a kid.

- from tequila on a spaceship, the sequel to a fic that still has some people angry at me i think. this fic never did gain as much traction as the first one but im still proud of it esp since it discusses certain themes of reincarnation that ive always wanted to see explored for myself in reincarnation aus (and i only ever saw it in danveresque’s reincarnation au)

4.

There are cork boards covering every inch of the wall. Red strings, photographs, conspiracy threads, everything. Raven takes it in, swallowing, noticing the picture in the middle.

It’s one of Charles, when he’d been in university. His final year- he'd just been done presenting his year- end project, his fringe a tumbled mess and a bright smile on his lips. Erik had taken the picture, Charles scurrying to his side once he’d been done and demanding to look at the image, his tongue poking out the corner of his mouth. He looks like how Raven had always imagined him to be.

“He wouldn’t want this,” she finally says, turning to look at Erik.

- from tequila on a beach, the first fic to the fic above. this fic is v special to me because i actually wrote this on a spiral after having a very tough visit with one of my parents in the hospital after a surgery for organ removal to prevent the onset of cancer. its simpler than my other fics yet i think more powerful because of what happens. also i think the first time i killed charles off lol (spoiler alert). also idk if ppl were aware of this but this is called tequila on a beach precisely bc charles and erik were tipsy from tequila at a frat party and then went to a beach. its the way they first met (and will continue to meet for all their next lives)

5. 

Erik doesn’t know how it all started. Maybe it was when his insane sergeant had started rambling about imaginary cities, treasures of gold and cursed incantations. Maybe it was when trickles of rumours had started pouring down about the higher ups wanting to investigate unfound territory, disregard the Egyptian government’s feelings on the matter, and put a previously unfound myth on the map for all the world to see. Or maybe, Erik thinks, it was when archaeologist Klaus Schmidt put a bullet through his mother’s head and he ended up going to America armed with dual citizenship and the sole intent of wanting to drive a coin directly between Schmidt’s eyes, joining a division of the American military focused solely on guarding archaeological digs- more importantly, in Egypt, where Schmidt’s interest had shifted.

- from courting the end of the world, another one i’m just insanely proud of! this is the first time i’ve ever attempted a multichapter movie au and it actually managed to work pretty well, i at least haven’t run out of inspiration for it yet lmfjgjg. also erik as himbo rick connell... very rent free in my head

6. 

The day after they murder Shaw and leave his house of horrors, Erik crosses the Canadian border with Charles across his back. Charles had started getting tired while they’d been walking, stumbling and nearly tripping until Erik had forced him to get on his back, ignoring Charles’ protests.

The blood’s seeping out steadily from Charles’ nose, staining his shirt and soaking it through. It’s been leaking on and off, and the effects are already obvious in the dark circles beneath Charles’ eyes. Any more, and Erik knows they’ll have to find him a doctor. He hopes the nearest town in Canada has one that would be willing to treat them.

- from a world built for two. i actually dk where the inspiration for this came from, i think i was once again on a depressive spiral and wanted to break my comfort characters into pieces and put them together again. this also deals with codependency and unhealthy coping mechanisms as a result of trauma which i showed as sweet in the fic but i would def not recommend in real life. pls if u relate to either charles or erik in this go see a therapist

7. 

The call comes in the afternoon, an hour before Charles is supposed to teach his Intro to Genetics class. Frowning, Charles abandons the game of Candy Crush he’d admittedly been playing rather badly and picks it up. “Charles sp-”

“We need you, Prof,” Kitty says desperately into the phone. “He’s been in a temper all morning, and then Alex’s reports missed out a whole subsection, so he’s fired the entire marketing team! Please, Professor, you have to come immediately!”

- from and we can be pirates. i wrote this in like 4 seconds for my friend who wanted professor charles and ceo erik and actually did not expect this to gain the attention it did... its always the fics u write in like 4 seconds lmfjggj. a sequel for this Is coming too probably at some point in the very far future

8. 

Charles Xavier can admit as he sits across from Essex, hands cuffed to the desk, that in hindsight, this had perhaps not been one of his better ideas.

He refuses to admit it as he controls Erik’s mind, preventing him from lashing out and making him close his eyes to the nightmare unfolding in front of him. He refuses to admit it as he gets shoved into the back of a black pickup truck, and the butt of a gun is smashed across his forehead hard enough to knock him out cold for a few hours. He refuses to admit it when he wakes up what appears to be hours later in a cold interrogation room, hands cuffed to the table in front of him, with a suppression collar rendering his mind dark and almost achingly silent.

- from from the land of gods (bring me home). i’ve been struggling w this fic a lot (it didnt come as easily to me as the first one did) but its getting there. also i put charles through hell in this rip sorry mister xavier

9.

In the aftermath, both of them stand at the border of the mansion. The air feels frigid, slicing into Raven’s lungs like a thousand paper cuts. “Charles, please,” she begs, heart in her throat and voice hoarse. “He wouldn’t want you to be like this. He wouldn’t want you to do this. It’s not too late, you can come back.”

Charles gazes back, a brick wall. He hasn’t even cleaned up, still in that damnable yellow and blue suit with blood drying in the corners of his mouth, the bridge of his nose. There’s nothing in his eyes- blank, almost see through. He looks as if he’s a mere shade, a ghost lounging about where he once was. Raven knows better.

“I will raze the world to the ground,” he finally says, his voice free of any inflection, “and when I’m done, no one will be left standing. Not you, and certainly not me.”

- from where all the poets went to die, a dark fic based on what would have happened if moira had killed erik with the bullets. its the first time ive written dark charles and it was v fun if im being honest

10. 

Charles is a light sleeper. It’s a trait that stays with him- all the way from his father and the tests to taking care of his mother to Cain Marko and his fists to Cuba and then now, the dust of Washington settling over him and making the waking world lie an inch beyond his eyelids. It therefore stands to reason that the second the windowsill creaks he’s up in a shot, hoisting himself up and lashing out with his telepathy instantly.

That’s not a trait that had stayed with him. That’s a newly formed trait, bitter and bold, carved into existence by Cuba by his students disappearing one by one in Vietnam by the letters that announce Sean’s death in black unfriendly print by-

The tendrils of his telepathy forged cold and distant meet a barrier and recoil, stunned. He focuses his eyes and then widens them, staring at Erik who stares back, hidden beneath that infernal muddied magenta helmet of his. They stare at each other for a moment before Erik clears his throat.

- from in the valley of kings (you will come home). my first ever cherik fic! im actually also proud of this one even if i ended it horribly and half my mutuals refuse to read it bc of how it ended LMFJGJGJ. i cant believe this was supposed to be a funny and cute kid fic and then i turned it into an angst ridden mess. also leo is actually an oc whose adult version is fancasted as charlie rowe by me and another mutual on twitter and im v proud that readers are willing to die for the baby

11. 

Mike has to google it, finding a crafts shop nestled into the corner of the street right smack in the middle of Louisiana, past a long and winding dirt road and the crumbling farmhouses relics of a time long past. The air is hot, humid, sticking to the back of his neck like an unwieldy parasite as he pushes the door of the shop open to the sound of the bell tinkling above.

He finds the origami paper quickly enough and has a momentary breakdown about what Bill’s favourite colour even is- he had never thought to ask him. Twenty seven years of following every single footstep of his like a dedicated, most definitely creepy stalker, three months of more than a few states traversed with Bill’s laughter now echoing in his ears like a shadow that trails after him, and this is what stumps him. It takes ten minutes, but he finally settles on light green.

- my first and last entry into the IT fandom bc i love these two but to be very fair there isn’t much content out there for him (and twitter content actually intimidates me lmfjgjjg) a thousand paper cranes never got much traction either but i suspect its bc i was horrible at promoting it. also i very much love this fic even if it never did that well bc ive always wanted to write a fic like this after watching the movie in cinemas in 2019

12.

ok nsfw i guess 

Mornings start like this- Eggsy snuffling into David’s neck, attempting to work his way back up to wakefulness as David sleeps the sleep of the dead, the streams of morning sunlight gradually lightening up the room. It’s a while before he gets the energy to sit up, pushing an eager V off the bed- V for Vendetta, a kitten named after one of David’s favourite movies that they’d adopted about a month after moving in together- before stumbling to the loo. He’s already in the shower when David comes in, naked as the day he’s born with his arms entwining themselves around Eggsy’s waist as he murmurs a sleep-soft, “Good morning, love,” as he presses a kiss into the two-days-old hickey on Eggsy’s shoulder. His breath smells of toothpaste, the minty fresh kind he insists on buying from Target no matter how much Eggsy insists that the other brand is much better. Without fail, Eggsy always has a split second thought of thinking that he must truly be in heaven because no way can this be his reality, every single day, before sinking to his knees and allowing David’s cock to hit the back of his throat.

- from that’s the kind of love i’ve been dreaming of. i genuinely wish i had an opinion for this but i don’t remember writing this its been way too long

13. 

The first time Eggsy sees her is in Trafalgar Square.

Trafalgar Square is uncomfortably packed on any normal day, but on New Year’s it is quite the hothouse. Sweating armpits and hot bodies plastered against each other, the twinkling lights overhead providing a flash of blue and green and yellow and red, screaming children and giggling teenagers shoving their way through- it’s a recipe for disaster. Eggsy doesn’t know how he ends up there. It happens sometimes- one second he blinks, sequestered in the comfort of his living room, and the next he’s somewhere else, as if he’s been teleported. “Life goes past you,” Tilde had said once, “and you don’t even notice.” Tilde would be right.

- this is a roxy and eggsy friendship centric fic that i abandoned bc i lost my ardor for this world about the same time i got into xmen lmfjgjg. all the king’s horses also had some great fancasts in it with dev patel fancasted too... rip ig

14. 

once again, nsfw

Eggsy, truth be told, doesn’t actually like having sex in bathrooms. First of all, bathrooms generally have an unsanitary air about them. Besides that, the granite of the sinks always feel cold against his hips, there is the ever present fear of being walked in on and unlike what people might say, he actually really isn’t that much of an exhibitionist- and truth be told, he’s never liked the look of himself in the mirror mid coitus.

For David Budd, however, he suspects he might be up for anything.

- from do you ever dream of me. im actually proud of this fic and this series, i never usually write straight up porn or friends w benefits and i think it worked well in here. once again didnt get much traction but that was very of the norm for my kingsman fics lmfjgj

15.

It is on his fifth meeting with the therapist on site that she brings the issue up. The elephant in the room- or the bomb , David thinks morbidly. If asked, he can’t remember specifics about that day now. All he remembers is this- the burn of Julia’s picture in his wallet against his thigh, the Botticelli painting on the far wall and Miss Paulson’s face, severe and unsmiling.

“When you couldn’t reach Julia,” she says, after he finishes describing the feeling of running to Julia, the panic searing his chest as he’d prayed for his legs to work faster so he could do something, anything to reach her hand. “How did that make you feel?”

- from your haunted social scene. i genuinely... do not remember anything about this either helpfkjgjg,,, this has 55 comments tho which. Nice

16.

David brings her home on- in a move far too cliche for it to be reality- a stormy night. It’s in fact storming so hard the windowpanes shudder like leaves in the wind, droplets crashing against the glass in a cacophony so loud Eggsy more than once considers turning the radio all the way up to drown it out. He’d gone scrounging for David’s sweatshirts instead of his own halfway through, wincing intermittently at the flashes of thunder. At a particularly loud one JB had jumped up, squeaked in a very undoglike manner and skidded across the floor to cower beneath the sofa, only coming out when coaxed by Eggsy to do so. Officer Oatmeal had watched the proceedings from her regal place by the armchair, dozy eyed and blinking heavily.

- from a cat named lavender. from what i remember this was also my first try at bringing up trans eggsy

17.

He first appears at the black prince on a cold Monday evening, eyes like Frank Sinatra and lips arresting anyone’s gaze if they weren’t careful enough. He stood out too, clad in a respectable bomber jacket and boots that clicked against the tile rhythmically and loudly, a sort of organised, measured cacophony.

“Go and serve him,” Andrew said, fat and disinterested, seated behind the counter and idly flicking through bills, less than ten percent of which he pays Eggsy. “I’m busy.”

- from trust is left in lovers after all. i never continued this which is sad bc this did get a lot of attention... it was just v hard to keep the story going

18.

It usually rains cats and dogs in London but for some reason, the rain is heavier than usual today. The droplets splatter against the windows in a constant buzzing rhythm, the sound meshing together in a melody not altogether pleasant to the ears. It’s half past five and yet the light has to be kept on because that’s how dark the sky has gotten- thunder rolls like a loud crack, abrupt and deafening, causing Daisy to jump in her seat.

“Just a thunderstorm, flower,” Eggsy says. They’re seated at the dinner table, Eggsy going over her homework while David sits opposite them, hunched over his laptop as he attempts to finish a post mission report. Eggsy is half convinced he gave up ten minutes ago- he’s got his earbuds in and he hasn’t really typed anything in a while, eyes focused on the screen. His eyebrows are scrunched up in a glare that’s too adorable for his own good- and for Eggsy’s.

- from could feel like kryptonite. a lot of my kingsman fics are actually so much happier than my cherik ones... i should prob look into that rip

19.

“When you’re done lazing around you can come in, you dozy dog,” he tells Officer Oatmeal, who butts her nose into his knee. She’s the only one not on a diet in the house, Eggsy deeming her far too healthy and skinny to need one anyway. In fact, she’s under strict instructions by Eggsy to fatten up instead.

Once the animals are done feeding- Eggsy sporting a suspicious scratch on his left forearm- they settle down to eat their scrambled eggs and toast. David’s taken a large gulp of his scalding coffee when Eggsy says, all of a sudden, “So, I have a school reunion.”

- from gonna set this dance alight. don’t remember much about this either tbh

20. (the last one FINALLY)

It isn’t a big event or explosion that makes David realise he wants to see his father’s ring sitting pretty on Eggsy’s index finger. No teary confessions in the rain like in the rom coms Eggsy loves to rent out and sniffle his way through, or a fight that makes David see sense. In the end, it’s breakfast that cinches the deal for him.

The day had started out normally enough. David wakes up at eight like clockwork, the soft downy hair at the base of Eggsy’s neck tickling his nose with his arm locked tight around his waist. He’d yawned, exhausted- mostly because they’d stayed up very late into the night making good use of the bed- before standing up and shucking his shirt off to head for the shower. Eggsy had shifted in his sleep, mumbling something unintelligible, and the sight had been too endearing to resist so he’d bent down, pressing a kiss to his forehead and smiling when Eggsy groaned out loud.

- from lover boy rules. i actually started a lot of my kingsman fics in the same way which is rather awful of me. im glad thats changed with my xmen fics lmfjgjk. also this has 15 comments???? i dont even get that much attention with my xmcu fics these days... which is arguably a more active fandom... Hello

anyway that’s the end of it needless to say i do not know 10 other authors so im just gonna tag whoever i know rn: @hellfre , @queerneto, @ikeracity, @drinkingstars, @zebraljb

[experimental-failures]

Rianoc Feiler Introduction

Every day on earth ended up feeling kinda the same after a while, not much really seemed to change from day to day. I had basically lived a normal life up until a certain day when a shadow suddenly covered up miles of land. No one really thought much of it, probably thinking it was just a cloud, until people actually started looking up and could saw what looked like a big ship just hovering in the sky.

Obviously there must have been a decent number of people that thought this was just a dream, myself included. But when things started to drop from the ship and open up to gray skinned creatures with horns, people started to panic and run as is expected when faced with something never before seen. Though, all the alien invasion games and movies probably didn't help the matter, I wouldn't be surprised if someone thought it would be funny to start blasting 'It's the end of the world as we know it' or something stupid.

Like the rest of the people that figured out this probably wasn't a dream, I started running. I wasn't really sure where to actually run too in a situation like this, but where ever my body was taking me ended up being possibly the wrong way.

One of the things these creatures were coming down in crashed right in front of me. I could feel the ground shaking as it hit and the shock wave, if that is the right term, of it hitting the ground knocked me back a couple steps before throwing me to the ground.

I don't remember much detail after that; Things started happening really fast. One of the horned creatures came out of the thing that had falling right in front of me and didn't even seem to hesitate before swinging something that I only remember as looking like an ax.

Then it was suddenly night and I couldn't recognize anything around me, the buildings nearby were all made so strangely and the sky looked different. I couldn't even recognize the grass I was sitting in. But all of that faded when I started to feel an intense white-hot pain coming from my right shoulder. I swear I could feel my right arm moving so I could check it but when I looked over, it was gone. I didn't scream or anything when I saw that, I'm not even sure if I could have. It felt like I couldn't even make a sound.

I could tell I lost a lot of blood up to that point because I started to feel cold all of a sudden. I thought I heard something and I felt like I was turning to look for the sound, but everything faded out at that point.

The next thing I remember was finally waking up in a cold room with what looked like strange medical equipment. For only a moment I thought I could have dreamed up everything and maybe I just passed out somewhere, but some of the equipment seemed to be possibly alive. Some even looked like they had legs.

My vision kept going in an out for what felt like hours and from what I could partially see, three of the horned creatures were watching me from a few feet away. A fourth was sitting next to me and using the equipment on what was left of where my arm was. Even when I was conscious enough to see what was happening, I couldn't feel any pain from where that fourth creature was working.

When I could finally start seeing clearer and actually move my body, I could see the three standing further away. One with only one horn, the second standing shorter than the other two, and the third being taller than the other two and horns that looked more like antlers. From behind them I could see a door that was partially opened and with even more creatures peeking in at me.

The one working on where my arm formerly was looked odder than the others. It's left eye was a solid gold color while the right eye was the same as what the others had but with a couple scars around it. It's horns weren't all the way the same as the others either, seemingly stopping half-way up and being replaced with machinery, an arc of electricity sparked between the horns every few minutes. His hands even had claws coming from its knuckles and scars coming from them as if they had been surgically put there.

Eventually it seemed like the one working on me had finished and I started getting back to normal, obviously still tired from the blood loss and shock of everything, I listened when one of the creatures started talking and was surprised I could understand them. Small universe, right?

While I was still awake, they told me how they found me just suddenly showing up out of thin air with another of their kind, they call themselves trolls, and then the one I was with disappeared just as suddenly but leaving me behind. Even though I'm an alien to these things that are aliens to me, they decided to help me out when they saw my missing arm.

They then asked how I got here and I told them the events I could remember up to this point.

They didn't have a way for me to get back to Earth but said they would help me get along on this planet which they called Alternia. Though they said if their fleet had arrived at my planet then they didn't know what I would be going back to. With no other options that I could think of, I let them tell me how their society works and mostly everything they knew about night to night life on Alternia.

I was also told I could be given a new arm as losing a limb on this planet seemed to be a pretty common occurrence. After not much thought I agreed and another said they could get some fake horns for me to wear. After seeing what the troll working on me had done to himself and now knowing how life was on this planet, I decided on a more permanent horn option and asked if he could surgically give me horns, so they wouldn't accidentally move or fall off. He agreed and after being put to sleep for who knows how long, I woke up with my new arm and horns. The horns were detachable due to a set of sockets that released them if I twisted the horns in a specific way. The arm was a surprise when I saw it, made from three pieces of metal. Two that simulated the bone structure, and one that simulated a hand. Then a red slime like substance that formed an actual arm by using the three metal pieces as a base and seemed to harden when force was applied to it, making it malleable but able to withstand a hit from something. The troll with half mechanical horns, whose name turned out to be Torxen, admitted that the arm was a prototype that just needed to be tested, which was annoying that I was the tester, but it worked much better than I thought it would.

Eventually as I adjusted to moving around with horns on the sides of my head and found out my new arm could stretch and expand as I wanted, the troll with one horn, whose name is Dravas, gave me some of his old clothes to wear since mine was missing a sleeve and covered in blood. We also decided on a new name for me to use that fit how Alternian names worked and settled on Rianoc Feiler. They also told me about how they were rebels to the current ruler of their society and wanted to know if I would like to help them. And I agreed after some thought. I didn't have a goal in mind other than finding out what happened on earth but with no was to do that, this was probably the best chance I would get right out the gate, and I wasn't about to just sit around and do nothing.

I did ask for one condition to this agreement though I wouldn't leave whatever building I was in until I could at least beat one of them in a fight, since it seemed like as a rebel one would need to be able to fight. With some hesitation, they agreed and also made a pauldron for me to wear over the device connecting my new arm to my body since it was a weak point for my new arm.

We also decided on a weapon after figuring out how I could measure up to any of them in a fight. Turns out as they go higher in blood color they get ridiculously more physically capable. To make up for my lack of strength I settled on using one of their laser pistols, though Torxen modified it to be able to switch between firing lasers and shooting specially made cartridges of different types of ammunition to give me more options to play with.

With all this and what felt like an eternity of practicing, I eventually am able to beat the three of them. Though I do feel like they may have been holding something back during those fights.

Either way, I need to just keep going.

[inventors-fair]

Mechanical Commentary: All across the spectrum

People went pretty far with this one, honestly. There were a lot of overlapping mechanics and ideas that were related, but across the board, there was a mix of flavor and pure gameplay that came together in an interesting way. 

I think that if I had to give advice for doing this contest again, I would encourage everyone to keep it SIMPLE in their card submission choices. What is the best example of your mechanic, not your card? What’s the best choice for how this mechanic can work and be grokable? Contests like this aren’t about showing off the coolest thing or the most radical notion. No, they’re about proof of concept, presenting that concept, and creating clarity above all else. Unless we’re asking for a contest in which you make a confusing card, clarity is pivotal in all things.

@cas-420 — Flayed Alive

This card by itself is very good, probably an uncommon but very good. My main concern with the mechanic is that it can either only exist on reactive instants OR be in a set where life loss is a key concept. That’s what I’m not a fan of. Losing life during your own turn doesn’t come naturally to Magic. Some mechanics require support and certain environments, like, say, modular, or constellation, but “having artifact creatures” and “playing enchantment cards” are things that more or less happen in the game already. So, I would consider this a cool one-off card, but Agonize as a mechanic feels too narrow.

@dabudder​ — Drownyard Crawler

This is the reason why Ikoria introduced ability counters, besides being a design experiment. Memory issues with this card are crazy hard. If you have multiple copies of the same creature, and one of them is viral, how do you know? Swap places like magic cups, and it becomes impossible. Conceptually and flavorfully, this ability is fine. I won’t call it reinventing the wheel, but I don’t dislike it. There are a couple wording issues. I would change “to a creature” to “to another creature,” and I would have it say “Creatures with viral have skulk and “Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, draw a card.”” in quotes. I like how this makes combat more complex.

@dancepatternalpha​ — Arkelas, Ruler of the Lost

I don’t really understand what ephemeral’s place as a mechanic is, but I think I’m seeing the set you’re trying to build around. I imagine there are a few cards that would also interact with exile? And as the game went on, the more cards exiled created more powerful effects? I can see it. Ephemeral doesn’t make me tingle with excitement, but I can’t be harsh with it. I think I understand where you’re coming from, and I feel that a common or uncommon submission might have been more favorable.

@deafeningsandwichpeach​ — Bursting Beetle

FEWER, NOT LESS. Ahem. Sorry, that was harsh. But there are a couple wording issues. “Swarm X (When this creature enters the battlefield, if you control fewer creatures than each opponent, create three tapped 1/1 green Insect creature tokens.)” Fewer words, easier to grok. Not a bad mechanic. Feels reactive, though, less of a choice and more of a “I’m gonna hold onto this card because it’s a little useless otherwise.” It’s worth tweaking, though. I love token mechanics. Maybe this card could have been five or six mana.

@demimonde-semigoddess​ — Blood Remora

Ey, a fishy! Ooh, an evil fishy. An evil fishy with one big issue: if it deals combat damage to an opponent and there are no other targets, it has to target itself. And that’s my main issue. “Whenever this creature deals combat damage to an opponent, you may attach it to target creature that player controls. It can’t attack or block as long as it’s attached this way” could work? Might have a couple memory issues, but that’s not a major issue. You can just move cards around. It’s not a bad mechanic, but it’s a little hard to parse at first glance.

@dimestoretajic​ — Strike From Above

So, this is the conflict between “simple” and “exciting.” Everything about this card is more or less exactly understandable. But the name, the mechanic name, and the flavor text don’t feel as inspired as they should be. I don’t get a sense of quality from them. It’s an intangible aspect, and I’m sorry because I know that sounds like a real jerk way of putting this, but: for future cards, consider the world, the story, and what the card would look like once you open it up. I don’t get a sense of MTG from this card yet. Instead, it feels like a concept. That’s fine for personal reasons, but as a submission, I’m not excited. Airstrike itself I wouldn’t keyword as a mechanic. This card would be better without that aspect.

@emmypupcake — Aftermarket Additions

 Great name, great flavor text, great ability name... Super limiting. The as-fan of artifact creatures in this theoretical set would have to be hella huge, like Mirrodin-block big, and I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing? Maybe you could batch it into “charge, haste or +1/+1 counter”s so it could interact with noncreature artifacts? Wait, this also works for vehicles. Man, this is probably a cooler mechanic than I thought originally. Call it a B- for relying on a specific sub-category of cards. A+ for badass bikers.

@fractured-infinity​ — Thunder Hammer

This mechanic was real close to being a runner-up. Quickdraw would need a bit of flash interaction to really make it worthwhile, though, and a strong equipment/aura theme as well. Could it work with auras? Would it make sense, or are you going for a wild-west-ish theme? Kind of? The card itself is good limited fodder and equipment tribal goodstuff for commander, I suppose. Not a fan of the name or flavor text personally, but it’s simple enough to make sense. Green and “thunder” don’t always go together, y’know. In my opinion. Which is not always a good one.

@ghost31415926535 — Storm Fleet Rapscallion

Plunder: a fine mechanic. I like the artifact synergy. Now, let’s go over the wording issues.

You forgot a card type in your submission. That’s a big one.

“When” should be capitalized.

“Treasure” should be capitalized.

“Tap” should have just been a symbol T followed by a comma. Was this what you meant? It wasn’t entirely clear.

There should be a period and an end-quote at the end before the paren.

@gollumni​ — Nayan Cataloguers

I kept reading this as “cartographers.” My fault, not yours. Anyway. So, I can see this is based off explore. Honestly, it doesn’t really...feel as good? Partially because it’s similar in both mechanic AND flavor, and partially because you’re forced to put the card on the bottom of your library. I would also have it say “Reveal the top card of your library. If that card’s converted mana cost is greater than this card’s, put it into your hand.” I think that groks? 

@i-am-the-one-who-wololoes​ — Dragons’ Secrets

I would not have made this spell modal. Honestly, I would have picked a simpler submission in general, but I don’t dislike this card. It feels a little cheap and it’s an insane storm enabler. What if the modes were together for both of them, and the mana echoes did the same? DM me if that doesn’t make sense. In general, mana echoes isn’t a bad ability. This card is wordy and cluttered. I like how you went for “converted mana cost.” Makes sense, good in limited, I think.

@ignorantturtlegaming​ — Underground Network

Too much. I would much rather you have submitted just a common Wurm with burrow and some flavor text instead of this card, and even then, I’m not a fan of burrow as a mechanic. Why the alternate cost, plus the counters, plus the upkeep, plus the status effect? It’s all grokable individually but together it’s too much to keep track of for one mechanic. And what does “during each player’s end step” mean? Can you do it at instant-speed? Should it be a trigger? Why is it each player’s end step instead of just yours? There are a lot of questions this card raises that I don’t think it answers satisfactorily. 

@juggernaut-is-a-metalhead — Embercoil Serpent

So out of the two cards you submitted, I felt that this one was the best designed. There are a couple questions I have. One, should mono-red be able to have this? Yes, I know it’s hybrid, but if a mono-red deck could play it, would it? It’s a pretty powerful ability, a la Scrying Sheets. Two, I assume that the number after Dig refers to the number of untapped lands you have to sacrifice, and I think that it’s pretty cool in the late game, but why not just have it be “you may cast this spell from your graveyard by sacrificing an untapped land in addition to its other costs” instead of a number? I feel it could have worked better that way. Also, Udon is adorable!

@kavinika​ — Iron Guardian

That’s a cool character asset. They should put that in a game! So, I would have made this a keyword action ability word instead of a keyword ability, personally. Like, “Craft — You may pay (4) and sacrifice an artifact and a basic land rather than pay this spell’s mana cost.” Would that have made the last ability weird? I don’t know, I don’t think so, but. Wait, no, it wouldn’t have, they had clash things in Lorwyn that worked the same way. Not a bad concept. Pretty flavorful for artifact creatures and other artifacts. 

@koth-of-the-hammerpants — Wanderwood Warden

I love alliterative names. I don’t love angels without flying, but that’s a “me” issue. So, for this card, I like obscure, but I don’t like the darkness counters. I think that the face-down stuff works well on its own. And I would change “obscured cards” to “face-down exiled cards” so it could work with other cards from Magic’s past. I do like the gist of your flavor text, and I like this card and I like obscure. I wouldn’t call this one a stellar example, and I would have submitted a more straightforward card, but that’s just me being pedantic. Speaking of pedantic, “its owner’s,” not “it’s.”

@misterstingyjack​ — Time Mage’s Teachings

I’m going to be pedantic again, yay. My issue with this card for this contest is that, well, it’s not a new mechanic. Technically, everything on this card could exist within Magic’s rules text as-is and wouldn’t add anything new to the rules. We were looking for a new NAMED mechanic. I thought that was evident, but I suppose not. This card’s great, so keep it around for that, but it technically is not eligible. Personally, I would have also made it uncommon for limited purposes.

@nicolbolas96​ — Gitaxian Surgeon

Combining Phyrexian mana, permanent control, AND infect onto a single card, two of which exist within the same mechanic? Let’s take a step back. Phyresis, besides already existing as a card, is a cool concept to bring to the table. As a mechanic, permanent control of any creature, including your own, turning it into a 5/5 with infect, is bonkers. If this existed with any number, then 1) it would be useless half the time considering it has to target things with specific mana costs and 2) it would be busted beyond belief. I think that this card would be fine with the exile cost as a singular card. I don’t think Phyresis is a mechanic worth exploring for the time being.

@nine-effing-hells​ — Phlogiston Burst

Good on you for making me look up a word I didn’t know! This card is... Definitely uncommon, that’s for sure. But hm. I don’t DISLIKE Overchannel. So, in theory, you can exile three random cards and two red cards to cast it for free? Okay, maybe it’s common, forget my previous rambling. It’s an interesting take on Delve that isn’t broken, and this one was pretty close to being a runner-up. I worry about free stuff, but the hand isn’t an infinite resource. It’s probably fine. I’ll give this card and mechanic kudos. A rare one might break a format, but remains to be seen, y’know?

@nvijork​ — Grenzo, Fist of the Queen

I love the fact that you did your own art for this! So, locks are interesting. They’re a little bit of a non-issue in the late game, but I’d have to really play with them to see just how frustrating they are. I think there’s plenty of room for exploration and I think that this card (which IMO should be rare) is a...fine example? Not blowing my socks off, and you could have shown an example of something that happened when you had multiple locks or that triggers based on locks or something. Keep this mechanic around. I like it. Bad news: in the story, Marchesa actually fired Grenzo. So is this an alternate universe, or do I have to get out my Story Correction Rod of Spanking?

@partytimesdeluxe​ — Stringplayer

Like kavinika’s crafting, this is a mechanic that definitely needed to be a keyword action ability word. “Crescendo — Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control, if it has the greatest power among creatures you control, gain control of target creature.” The mechanic is probably fine, I’d love to see it played in limited, and the potential play with multiple crescendo triggers would be so much fun. Not bad, but the wording on this specific card as presented could use work.

@real-aspen-hours​ — Drag Away // Umbral Kidnapper

If your MSE is acting up, feel free to message me on Discord or Tumblr and tell me so we can help you out. So, my main concern with this card is that I’m not sure if you’re submitting abduction counters as your new mechanic, or if you’re submitting Twist as your new mechanic; I’m going with Twist. It’s not bad! Someone’s going to correct me, but I think that in this instance you would use “return” instead of “put.” Again, correct me if I’m wrong. I think that it’s a cool way to turn instants and sorceries into permanents. I won’t call it the most flavorful or mind-blowing mechanic in the world, but I like it. I don’t see why you can’t put the exile clause on the flip side instead of on Twist where it won’t really be remembered. Also, the second side should have “those spells” — see Haldan, Avid Arcanist.

@reaperfromtheabyss​ — Dark Reprise

I think it should be “This spell costs” instead of the name, but aside from that and a period at the end of the sentence, it’s fine enough. There really isn’t much to say about this card. It’s a fine example and I like how the name creates flavor without flavor text. The mechanic and card don’t excite me enough to give it a place, but I mean, this is probably the safest example you could have gone for, and you know what, I can respect it.

@shandylamb​ — Fidi, Alluring Lamia

I love the uncommon legend, heh. As a mechanic, I don’t really like siphon. I don’t like how there’s a number attached instead of just “exile it and gain 2 life.” And I don’t like how it’s only cards from a graveyard. Why can’t you siphon cards from player’s hands and libraries and the battlefield as well? It would be so cool to, like, have powerful cards that suck away hidden power and turn the world into your vampyric victims. Instead, there’s...this. It gave me inspiration, but I wouldn’t call this one a slam-dunk.

@teaxch​ — Vyne Rowe Vagrant

You know, this mechanic is making me think of Adamant, except...different. And I’m leaning a little more towards Adamant, although I can see this card’s properties. The problem that comes up is that this card doesn’t feel tailored to a limited environment, nor does it feel tailored to Commander. Dedicated feels like a mechanic based solely around constructed environments, and I don’t know if I like that? It’s a build-around-me card without the big payoff. As a card, and as a concept, again, I don’t...dislike anything about it. But the mechanical feel is off. It’s not something that I feel like I’m attaining or that I’m synergizing with. I’m not sure exactly how to explain myself here, and I’m sorry about that, but I hope that the contrast is enough to make some sense.

@tmstage​ — Precise Pikeman

Handsome feller. Lol, and he fells indeed. I think this should be a replacement effect, like, “If this would deal damage to a creature with toughness 6 or greater, it deals double that damage instead.” I’m gonna side with your own personal feelings as you submitted this one. It’s not a fantastic mechanic, because it’s just so crazy limiting in what it requires to work. I think that as a single card without Tankbuster it would be fine.

@walker-of-the-yellow-path​ — Grand Annex of Elesh Norn // Elesh Norn, Voice of New Phyrexia

Technically, and I say this being a giant ass, this isn’t a new ‘mechanic.’ It’s a new card type and it would add things to the comprehensive rules, but it’s not a mechanic. Doesn’t matter, it’s worth commenting on anyway. I don’t hate it! Every part of this card by itself is pretty cool. I personally don’t like how it only requires one creature to attack, and I don’t like how the vault abilities aren’t static like a changing enchantment could be. Y’know? It feels like a saga more than it does an artifact. Again, this card is cool and would be great in a custom cube, but I would make some changes before adding vaults to a set.

~

Thank you all for your entries! New contest tomorrow. Spooky. Or not.

[readingsbylibramc]

birth chart reading for @joonie5

hello! welcome to your reading. I’m gonna give you a quick overview of what I’m going to analyze about your natal chart. feel free to ask me anything if something isn’t clear, of course. you’ll find out your dominants’ influence on your persona, your physical appearance, impression on others and the way you approach the world; your ego, identity, the real you; your reactions, your desires, inner emotions; your way of expressing your feelings, your mind and ideas; your desires and approach to love; your energy tank, instincts and temperament; in-depth analysis of each house with their rulers and analysis of heavy aspects; love life + soulmates/karmic partners interpretation; your relationship with your friends; your family life; your approach to career and work in general + possible jobs suggestion; your style, fashion sense analysis; life purpose and past life description; basic transits’ analysis to describe your current mood and, last but not least, your secret skills, how to make the most out of your soul and manifest what you desire based on your birth chart.

🦋 chart shape, dominants

your chart is a bucket shape, with mars as the handle of the bucket. your mars is in the 6th house, hence matters regarding work, health and routine will be your priorities in this lifetime. you also have clear ideas about your future and who you want to be. even though you may have different passions and talents you’re capable of only sticking to one and mastering it, giving your all.

your dominant planets are uranus, mercury venus. you are a particularly smart individual, you're probably very witty and you always manage to come up with original and innovative ideas. in fact, you're very creative, and you may even express yourself through some sort of artistic hobby for example.

your dominant sign is aquarius. you're eccentric and rebel, you don't like being told what to do. you're very considerate of others, as you focus more on the development of a group rather than your persona. that's because you want the people you frequent to be as open-minded as you are. aquarius people are capable of elaborating different ideas in a short amount of time; hence, you either overwork yourself, or you're not able to keep up with all your ideas, leaving projects unfinished.

your dominant element is air. in your life, you adore seeking for knowledge of any kind. you may be interested in studying different subjects, from those you study at school like science, maths, literature etc. to more unconventional ones, such as astrology, psychology, criminology and so on. you enjoy interacting with people; even if you’re not that sociable, you’ll still be interested in their point of view and their ideals, as you see it as a way to expand your own mind. you’re also interested in vintage, and you may have a retro aesthetic or just like history in general.

🌎 ascendant in gemini, 11° / 2nd decan ruled by mercury and venus

you enjoy communicating and intellectualism. you’re very curious about everything that surrounds you. you love expanding your knowledge, ideas and mind in general through communication, interactions and media. you have the ability to adapt quickly to new situations; your mind is fast, usually impulsive, even though this energy may not be much prominent; it may be perceived differently due to your virgo energy, in fact. that’s because virgo prefers organizing things, rather than acting impulsively. yet, this placement still helps you being adaptable to changes, even though you may only be able to see it after a few years if you manage to balance it well. you may also be able to match the energy of the people you’re talking to in order to be perceived as more likeable and connect with everyone on a deeper level. you may be so focused on making up your emotions, that you could forget to feel them, though. this may eventually cause crisis in an individual. you may be fond of books, poetry, literature… both writing and reading. it’s also a way to let yourself tune to your emotions. since you’re constantly mentally active, physically you may also tend to play with your fingers or hair, or maybe you tend to gesticulate while you speak. appearance-wise, I assume you’re at least of average height, with long limbs and fingers. you have something small about your face; you may either have a small nose, or eyes, lips etc. same thing goes for your bones. you may be naturally skinny. you also tend to look younger than you actually are, especially when growing up.

gemini ascendant opposite sagittarius pluto: you're aware that the world is too nasty for your honesty, hence you may have trust issues. even though you are friendly, you're very picky about who you decide to actually call your friend. you may constantly feel lonely, as if no one were willing to listen and understand you. you live with the fear that others may take advantage of you, hence you end up doing it yourself, unconsciously. you may be controlling, but your chart hints that it's not too much of a big deal. you may have the tendency to do it sometimes, but it's mostly a bad trait of your past life. the universe is testing you to see if you've learned your lesson or not. you have all the skills to avoid this type of behaviour now that you're aware of it.

🌞 sun in capricorn, 13° / 2nd decan ruled by saturn and venus

you're an extremely ambitious and hard-working person. you have a goofy side to you, and with your gemini rising I don't think it's hard to let it out. nonetheless, you put a lot of seriousness in your goals. you aspire to be the best, not only for yourself, but also to be recognized. you don't do it to brag, though. you just want to feel fulfilled, being good at something boosts your self-esteem. in fact, you're quite insecure about yourself. you're a perfectionist, you always want to be at your best state, and that could pressure you. since you were a child, you always took care of your responsibilities, in fact you probably didn't find yourself at ease around your peers at school. you get along more with older people, or that are at least as mature as you, as you grew up sooner than other kids, with a strong sense of duty. you tend to be a bit too materialistic; for example, when thinking about a gift, you immediately think about something material that costs money, not something handmade, for example. money is very important for you, and you aspire to achieve a great status in life. you're also quite pessimistic, you never set your expectations too high, mostly out of fear. you're constantly afraid that things could turn out the way you don't want them to be, as you always want to have everything under control. because of that, you may even appear as bossy or snobby, as you may have the impulse to control people as well. you don't do it out of malice, though, it's something very subconscious that comes from fear. fear of not being able to achieve your goals and being criticized by others.

capricorn sun conjunct capricorn mercury: you express your ego and identity through your words and ideas. you’re very opinionated and you protect strongly your beliefs. after all, you probably came up with your ideals after thinking deeply about them, you were too precise to be wrong. you’re also probably an avid reader, and you could do well in writing yourself, as you’re able to properly convey your ideals with your words. also, your heavy gemini dominance makes you naturally good at writing poetry, or even philosophical quotes. your mind is very active, and you feel comfortable letting all your thoughts out. it’s actually a way to relieve stress. you also have a wide vocabulary, and you’re capable of making a formal speech if you have to. you have a memorable way of speaking, as your words are very sharp. it’s hard for you to be ignored for your intellect.

🌙 moon in aries, 24° / 3rd decan ruled by mars and venus

you aim for greatness. this is where your strong desire to be the #1 comes from, pretty much. you're very proud of yourself, and you don't like to acknowledge your mistakes. you always want to look like you have your life together, even in certain moments when you feel lost. I would say that this is a sort of self-sabotaging mechanism, as you can literally go as far as forcing a smile if it shows the world that you can stand by yourself. overall, I would say you deal with your emotions in a very 'child-like' way; after all, aries is pretty self-centered. you tend to preserve yourself more, unless someone really special to you is involved. in fact, aries moon makes you really protective of your loved and trusted ones, even though they're not many because of your high standards. you're also very honest, you speak from your heart. while it's a positive trait, you may be too blunt and ruin your relationships because of that. you're both smart and fast, hence you may get annoyed when people mishear or misunderstand your words.

aries moon square capricorn mercury: your thoughts and feelings are constantly in contrast with each other. your capricorn mercury desires privacy and formal, mannered relationships, your cancer moon wants more fun and action. this results in indecisiveness, you change your mind pretty often, and that can cause you conflicts due to communication problems. you're also pretty opinionated, you don't hide your feelings when you act by impulse. at least, the positive side of this placement is that you're probably very intellectual, capable of taking in consideration both the subjective and objective side of an argument.

🗣 mercury in capricorn, 18° / 2nd decan ruled by saturn and venus

you can come off as cold by the way you speak. when you're speaking to someone you're not close to, you choose your words more wisely and patiently; with your friends, on the other hand, you take off your mask and you just act the way you feel to. you may also be the type to give dry answers, such as 'ok', 'alright', 'good' and so on. your tone is calm and placid, while your voice sounds quite youthful, but still with a note of steadiness. you're funny, but your humor is more sarcasm-based. you're not intimidated easily; even when someone tries to argue with you, you don't back up from it. you may dive deep into your mind to find the right answer you to your problem. even if it takes you some time, you manage to find a solution. a downside to this is that you may lack patience; you are very efficient, and you want people to match your standards.

❤️ venus in pisces, 0° / 1st decan ruled by neptune

you’re hopelessly romantic, to the point that you almost look naive. you’re not simply looking for a partner or spouse, you’re looking for a soulmate; someone you can literally communicate with just using your eyes, someone that knows how to make you feel even messier on the inside. you like to nurture and feel nurtured in a relationship. your ideal lover would be sensitive and empathetic, yet still with a sort of rebel vibe to them. this placement is indeed very lovely, but it has its downsides too, of course. the problem is, pisces makes you idealize your crushes/partners way too much, to the point that you create an image of someone in your head that turns out to be the opposite at the end. you ignore your partner’s flaws, as they seem perfect to you. pisces also attracts 'broken’ persons, so you may be prone to find yourself people with any kind of illness or addiction. you also have the tendency to fall for people who may hurt you because they’re unavailable, either physically or emotionally. you could possibly also crush on celebrities, movie characters etc. that’s because you’re more the type to fall in love with love, rather than with the actual person.

pisces venus square gemini jupiter: you come off as a very positive, happy-go-lucky person. you're extremely friendly, and this makes you be good at social relationships. you may have lots of friends, or at least you have the potential to make many if you opened up and talked to them. yet, while this energy gives you positive vibes, some people may take advantage of that, as you could easily be mistaken for naive. people can try to dominate you unconsciously (sometimes even on purpose) not only in relationships but even in friendships. aside from that, I don't think this placement causes you many problems. you may have the tendency to procrastinate and not work. you could be quite lazy and get easily distracted, as you're constantly with your head in the clouds. yet, thanks to your capricorn energy, you still manage to find some motivation to do your work.

pisces venus square taurus saturn: you feel unable to love someone, or perhaps you feel pressured from others to hide your love, maybe it's your shyness or it could as well be other factors. this placement usually brings fear of committing, causing the individual to be flaky. there are two possibilities; I assume you directly avoid to get into relationships. your mind may unconsciously repress any thought about an eventual crush or love interest. it is caused by your insecurity, especially regarding your looks. or perhaps, it’s the other way around: you literally jump into relationships, resulting in you getting hurt from time to time. you could feel pressured to be in a relationship, even though it’s not your priority. this is something that is mainly caused by insecurity, whether you realize it or not, even though it's something that will get better with time, especially since you have a strong capricorn dominance. don’t be afraid of not being enough, because you are. but if you don’t realize it first, others won’t. you have to be your own healer, and you’re totally capable of doing that.

☄️ mars in scorpio, 6° / 1st decan ruled by pluto

you’re an extremely goal-oriented person. you want to be the best at everything you do, not only to be better than others but also the best for yourself. you’re very astute, it’s impossible to trick you, and you always find a way to be in charge and get what you want. yet, you can get quite obsessed about your goals, that you could do extreme things to get what you want. in fact, people with this placement can even manipulate others, as they’re totally capable of doing that. yet, I don’t see many placements that point out to that in the rest of your chart, aside from your gemini rising. in fact, you are probably a very smooth talker, as I've already mentioned above. people are naturally attracted to you, you have a way with words, and hence you’re always able to convince others into giving you what you want. but luckily, this doesn’t turn into manipulation, you probably don’t even realize this skill of yours, and hence you don’t use it to damage others. when you get angry, you could actually seem scary. your emotions are very intense, it’s hard to calm you down. mixed with your aries moon and capricorn mercury, you may be very sarcastic and aggressive with your words. you could hurt people, but you don’t do it on purpose. most of the time, you don’t even mean the things you say. you may also vent your anger with physical action, hence you could slam doors, punch or break things etc.

🏡 houses

your 1st house is in gemini. your ego feels fulfilled when you express your opinions, ideas and creativity. people probably see you as an intelligent, wise individual. maybe even as a know-it-all. you care about both your inner and outer self, which may be the cause of your confidence issues. you try to fit into society, and you tend to change your approach to people based on who you’re interacting with. while this gives you great social skills, it may confuse you quite a bit. in fact, you may forget who you are. you may often have identity crisis, especially since you always feel as if you have to fit somewhere. with the ruler of the 1st house in the 8th house, your life is oriented towards experiences and earning money. you probably love having deep, meaningful bonds with others, and you could also be quite picky in choosing your friends. you may be interested in the the occult and spiritual matters, like tarots, astrology, etc. you probably ask yourself about the meaning of existence a lot, for example, you’re constantly looking for the truth. above all, you love learning about yourself, and that also explains why you decided to book a reading.

your 2nd house is in cancer. your family, home and cultural background may play a big role in your finances. you may earn money through your family’s business, or maybe you actually work with your family. you may also work from home, especially online/through social media. your adaptability is your greatest strenght; you’re probably good at a different variety of jobs, hence it may not be hard for you to find something to cope before deciding your definite career. this also confirms that your values, self-worth and security were shaped by your roots, childhood and family. the ruler of the 2nd house is in the 11th house; having a dream, a goal to pursue and working hard for it is a great help to boost your self-esteem and be more self-aware. you may actually make money out of it, you could pursue the career of your dreams and earn a nice income from it. the 11th house also rules friendship, hence you could have many wealthy friends, or perhaps they help you feeling more confident. you’re probably more sociable when you’re in their company.

your 3rd house is in cancer. your parents were probably successful in school and university, and they passed down their knowledge to you. maybe, you felt so pressured to meet their expectations that you became insecure about your abilities. you may also find yourself talking about your memories, as you’re very attached to them, or even directly about your childhood/parents. you could, for example, write very personal poetry or books, you can’t help but tune in all of your feelings when you express yourself through words. the ruler of the 3rd house is in the 11th house: you may often find yourself thinking and talking about your goals. especially with your capricorn dominance, you are an hard-working individual who always tries to get their job done, and hence you may often talk about your achievements, your goals and expectations. you may also have lots of friends, especially from school, or at least you love talking to them, you have witty friends who you can have interesting and stimulating conversations with.

your 4th house is in leo. your family had great expectations of you, which could eventually led to anxiety/self-esteem issues. on the other hand, your parents cared about you, and they always made sure they let you have everything you needed. if you have siblings, you were most likely the favourite child in the family, or at least you were spoiled by your parents, both with material things and affection. overall, your childhood wasn’t much turbulent, I don’t see any kind of trauma. the ruler of the 4th house is in the 8th house: you could come from a possibly wealthy family, or perhaps you have quite of a secretive family. they may not go out too often, you may not like inviting people over for example. also, your family could have received an inheritance, or perhaps you’re the one who’s going to receive an inheritance from your family.

your 5th house is in virgo. you enjoy relax, yet you may feel guilty to abandon work for a while. you always feel like you have something to do, and that doesn’t allow you to fully enjoy your rest time. make sure to always find some space for yourself, though. it’s where your energy resides, you feel at home and comfortable exploring your abilities, you shouldn’t take them for granted. also, this enhances your writing abilities even more. in fact, you’re both creative to create stories and rational to tell them objectively and in a clear manner. the ruler of the 5th house is in the 8th house: your hobbies involve occult topics, such as astrology, tarots, horror etc. you probably also love spending your spare time by yourself. you’re quite of a loner, from this point of view, and you may possibly feel sad about it.

your 6th house is scorpio, with mars placed here as well. you may be passionate about routine, self-care, health and work, to the point that it looks (and feels) obsessive. you may attract enemies in your daily life, e.g co-workers that are jealous of your ambition. you might have to undergo different changes in your routine and health throughout your life, which can literally transform you both physically and emotionally. mars here makes you extremely hard-working and effecient, especially combined with your capricorn energy. you are a precise person who always strives to be the best at everything you do. the ruler of the 6th house is in the 7th house: you may come in contact with people very often in your day-to-day life. you may have a job that requires social interactions, for instance, or perhaps you're just the type to spend and enjoy time around others. possibly, you could even find yourself dating your co-workers, and you may actually marry someone from your workplace.

your 7th house is in sagittarius, with also pluto tightly conjunct the descendant. you want your marriage to be a constant travel for you, in which you can both relax and learn. you want to marry a witty and impulsive partner, that is also fun to live with. you may often find yourself falling for unavailable people, either physically or emotionally (or even both). pluto here can make things a bit complicated, though. in fact, pluto in the 7th house indicates that you may have a turbulent marriage, you may often fight with your spouse. in the worst case, this could even escalate as physical violence, not only verbal. there could also be lots of power struggles and competitiveness, you feel as if you always the need to be superior to feel secure, and this could interfer in your relationships. of course, this doesn't have to be 100% accurate, you have lots of easy aspects in your chart, but I'd keep that in mind if I were in you. the fact that jupiter, the ruler of this house, is in the 12th house, indicates that you may actually dream about your future spouse, or just about your lovers and people that surround you in general. actually, you may even have a connection with your spouse, you could've already met in another lifetime and therefore you two are soulmates.

your 8th house is in sagittarius, and the sun and mercury are also placed here. you’re very curious when it comes to taboo topics, you like learning about them, especially with also mercury being in this house. you’re probably into conspiracy theories, as well as matters like astrology, tarots, horror, tragedies, violence… you’re most likely interested in them, and you may work in a field related to these topics, for example you may become a criminologist, a detective, a psychologist etc. you could also experience lots of karma in your life; that is, if you’re mean to someone, then others will be mean to you too. try to always do your best, the universe will surely appreciate that. you could have strong feelings, but you probably struggle to let them all out. you may particularly good at public-speaking, but actually you’re overall quite secretive, you don’t mind being by yourself. the good thing about 8th house is that, while you suffer, you also transform and grow up to learn from your mistakes. therefore, having an 8th house stellium isn’t a curse like other astrologers say. the ruler of the 8th house is in the 12th house: your self-growth process happens when you’re able to stay by yourself and explore your own mind, you probably think a lot. you also love learning about psychology in general, spirituality, etc. actually, you may even be skilled at reading tarots, birth charts, or at least you have the potential to be good at it.

your 9th house is in capricorn, with also uranus and neptune sitting there. you have a pragmatic approach to philosophy, school and experiences in general. for example, you may be the type to plan every day of a travel. at school, you were probably the type to prefer more logical subjects, but I assume that you were good at all of them. you’re most likely extremely curious about anything the world has to offer. you want to make new experiences and adventures, you want to find out anything about other cultures, places, etc. to open your mind and gain some new knowledge. you probably love travelling, and you may have quite a few dream destinations to visit. the 9th house is also about higher education, and hence you’re probably successful at school. you most likely enjoy studying, and you could get more than one degree actually. or perhaps, you got to study different subjects before choosing your final university, you were quite indecisive at first. neptune is also placed in this house, while the ruler of the 9th house is placed in the 12th, enhancing this energy. you may be a very creative and imaginative individual, you could daydream very often and you tend to literally 'travel' with your mind. you may even be a good writer, you may like reading fantasy books or perhaps you're goot at writing that genre. you could also be fascinated by abroad lands, you may see them as a dream in your eyes.

your 10th house is in aquarius with also your venus placed there. you want to stand out from the crowd, you strive to establish your own morals and beliefs. you don’t want to conform to anything and anyone, as you’re a trend-setter and you want to be seen as such. you’d rather have a job where you can handle your work yourself, rather than having a boss. in fact, aquarius in this house makes you extremely resolute and motivated to achieve your goals and be independent. you may not be much interested in love, and if you are, you don’t overlook career either. having a stable and successful future that makes you happy is the key for happiness in your life. it could take you some time at first to be recognized for your efforts. you may easily experience 'almost-winner’ situation, and hence you could often make silly mistakes that ruin your work. it’s important to be focused when working, especially for you. yet, once you know how to balance this tricky energy and get your stuff together, you'll earn a reputation for being an innovative and original person. you may be quite artistic, creative and emotional, you'll probably focus your life on self-expression. venus in this house is another placement that indicates that you may often date people from your work place, or maybe even people older than you. also, since venus is your most elevated planet, your life probably revolves around love, as well as creativity. in fact, your career could possibly involve beauty, like fashion, make-up, etc. or maybe arts. you could be a singer, a writer... you would also do particularly well at politics or law.

your 11th house is in pisces, with also your moon sitting there. you probably had problems with your friendships in your early years. you could have been too shy to approach people, hence you struggled to befriend them. or maybe, you used to gossip around, and that led you to lose them. or perhaps, you’re too work-oriented to find some spare time to hang out with others, and hence you end up losing your bond with them. in the best case, you may have quite spiritual / religious friends, or perhaps they’re your soulmates, they were a part of your past life. you have this habit of idealizing them a bit; that is, you may be too picky in choosing your friends. you’re probably looking for the type of friend that’d literally throw themselves under a car to save you, but it’s hard to actually find someone like that. open up more and accept others as they are. you don’t necessarily need to be with them for a long time, but make sure to learn your lessons from them. it’s what your life revolves around, after all. the moon here makes you care a lot about your friends; even though you may argue a bit, their presence in your life is still very fundamental for you, they're most likely the ones to bring fun and adventure in your life. we could say that they literally feel like home to you, you feel completely comfortable with them, and you may even have lots of childhood friends. with the ruler of the 11th house being in the 9th house, you may have friends that live far away from you, maybe even abroad, and that have a different cultural background from you. you may also have long-term goals related to the abroad, you may want to learn another language or travel around the world. perhaps, you may even want to go live abroad, or at least you strive to learn as much as you can about the world.

lastly, your 12th house is in the sign of taurus. you’re secretly sensitive and affectionate, but you may have issues finding it out at first. in fact, the center of your life is your own intellectuality, these venusian traits are probably yet to develop. you may feel attracted to spirituality, but you’re quite lazy to actually dive into it, as your jupiter and saturn conjunction suggests. you’re quite secretive, but maybe because you don’t know how to get in touch with your feelings. using tools like meditation, astrology etc. are important for you to understand what you truly need from life. luckily, I assume that you're already working on getting more in touch with your higher self, otherwise you wouldn't have booked a reading. anyways, spirituality for you is particularly important; in fact, with this saturn and jupiter influence, all you need to do is work hard for yourself, as much as you work for others. the universe is going to pay you back. plus, I assume that manifestation and law of attractions work particularly well for you, I'd definitely try that out. your 12th house’s ruler is in the 10th house: getting in touch with your hidden, subconscious and higher self will be crucial to help you grow up and gain success. you may be interested in topics like astrology, psychology etc. most likely to get to know yourself, but your chart points out that you could easily turn these hobbies into a job! or perhaps, you may have a reputation for being secretive, you may not say much about yourself in professional relationships.

❤️ love life, soulmates

in love, you attract sagittarius, virgo, libra, scorpio, pisces and aries placements. your future spouse may also have sagittarius/scorpio energy, maybe a sagittarius - scorpio cusp. you need someone who’s adventurous, funny, outgoing and witty, that can also stand up for themselves with no hesitation. you’re also into the magnetic, sexy type. you’re looking for someone independent, but that wouldn’t mind dedicating their time to you. you may feel unlucky in love, as your sagittarius descendant makes you attract people that are usually unavailable, whether it’s physically (they’re abroad) or emotionally. you may marry someone of a different culture/country/religion from yours. you may also meet and marry abroad. you may meet through your family, or maybe at your workplace as I’ve already mentioned before. they could also be someone you already know, probably from your childhood. your children will most probably have very prominent mercurian energy, hence gemini or virgo, or maybe they could also have leo or cancer placements; they’ll love to be spoiled with affection, they’ll love material things like toys, food, clothes etc. but they’ll also be very smart and creative.

👶🏻 family life

your mother is probably very hard-working, and she has a strong role in your family. she loves being spoiled and appreciated, together with receiving attention. yet, she could sometimes be quite superficial because of that, but deep down she's very romantic and mannered. she may have leo placements, or any fire / 5th house placement in general. your father is a bit colder than your mother, and he might be an aquarius or have any type of air/capricorn placement in his chart. your father could be a bit moody and / or unpredictable, and he may also have some addictions in the worst case. yet, he also has a very sweet and romantic side to him that he may struggle to let out. he could possibly also have taurus placements. if you have siblings, they’re probably cancers/ water signs. if you’re the elder sibling, you probably used to take care of them to help your mother. on the other hand, if you’re younger, then your siblings were the ones who nurtured you with your parents.

📊 career

as I’ve already mentioned above, you could work abroad, or at least with different languages/cultures. you’re probably naturally talented in this field, it would be a shame to overlook it. you also most likely have great communication skills and writing abilities. you’re very logical and precise, you’d definitely do well in a field that requires calm and organization. I can also picture you being an amazing teacher or even professor. based on your other placements, you could also do well at literally any creative career! you may be a dancer, a singer, or even something more complex like a creative director. in fact, with your aquarius midheaven, I feel like you'd rather be in charge in your job rather than be submissed to a boss. you’re very intuitive and observant, but also logical and rational. otherwise, you could also be successful as a designer, an architect, a scientist… something that allows you to be mostly independent, but that can still guarantee you mental stimulation and a decent income, and that also allows you to use your creative uranian energy.

👕 fashion sense, style analysis

you love wearing comfy, even over-sized fits, but that still look stylish and modern. for example, you may be fond of wide leg trousers, oversized t-shirts or sweatshirts... for the colors, you may fancy pastel colors, especially different shades of blue, or even just natural colors, such as white, beige, kaki etc. you may also like wearing baby/pastel colors, and you may experiment a lot with accessories. you may wear lots of bracelets.

👁 past life, life purpose

during your past life, you probably didn’t have as many challenges as in this life. you most likely used to depend on someone else; perhaps, you married someone rich, hence you didn’t really have to work for your resources. this lifetime, you need to step up your game and become independent. your path to luck and abundance may be long and steep, but your venus being conjunct the north node indicates that you may achieve great personal success in this lifetime. you just need to work on your self-esteem and have stable finances, you shouldn’t over-indulge. to boost your security, you could try using loa, as well as the advices I gave you above.

🤔 major transits analysis, december 25th

in the last few months, you could have had (and you may still have) problems with your friends, as mars and chiron, two malefics, are both transiting your 11th house. you may argue and discuss often, or perhaps you even lost a few friend during this span of time. also, since your natal pluto is conjunct your transit venus, you may feel particularly moody in these days. it could be that you're starting to crave love or communicating in general in the first place, but in addition you also feel the need to change. you may feel very intense emotions, but at least you have a stronger will-power, therefore your manifestations may come true quicker for instance. just be careful not to stress yourself by being too bossy or suspicious.

🧿 manifest what you want, secret skills

your secret skills revolve around finances and just security in general. with a positive attitude, you may attract material luck: money, clothes, houses… everything that you desire. since you’re a logical person, I assume the most efficient way for you to manifest through the LOA is writing! take a notebook and just write down positive affirmations, such as 'I have the car of my dreams’ etc. you may also write them on post-its and glue them around your house, so that you can accelerate the progress. you can also try to idealize your wish before trying to manifest it. for example, if you want a new sweatshirt, try to imagine yourself wearing it. you could also go into a shop and actually try that sweatshirt it on; being in contact with it will boost the law of attraction even more.

this is the end! thank you again for booking a reading, let me know if you have any questions :) - libramc xx

[rainforestgeek]

If you lose your strength to stand (I”m gonna reach for your hand) pt. 12 “Enemies, and their Power”

Part 11

AO3 link

Being American, I reserve the right to make digs at the U.S.

--

Pidge took a deep gulp from her caffeinated fruit-tea (God bless Hunk, honestly). The hangar where Hunk, Lotor, and Allura worked on the quintessence ships was huge and had catwalks all along the walls. Pidge had hit dead end after dead end with tracking Haggar through the clone until she was absolutely ready to scream. Once she realized she was just staring at the wall instead of working, Pidge took her equipment from the Green hangar to perch on one of the catwalks.

Allura had just walked out to go to the bridge. She passed by Pidge’s perch close enough that Pidge overheard her conversation with Lance – those comm earrings were pretty loud.

Keith was such a fucking hypocrite.

Pidge had never quite forgotten the day that, over a year ago, Keith yelled at her for trying to leave Voltron and find her family. He’d hurled accusations at her like a firing squad. He’d called her selfish. That’d hit too close to home. She remembered his voice echoing in her head alongside the voices of school kids who’d said she was cold or weird or didn’t care about anyone but her robots. She didn’t get that expectation that she had to feel for strangers; it’s not like she had the time or energy to prioritize everyone in the world.

Of course Pidge had learned a lot since then. There was such a thing as caring without that visceral wrench in her stomach. She could understand and prioritize the good for people she didn’t know and love. There was such a thing as empathy without instinct.

But it wasn’t fair that Keith thought he could run away from the war he used to dive headfirst into. He’d been all invested when Shiro had been here, when he’d had his family. He shouldn’t talk about selfish.

Pidge hoped Lance would snap him out of whatever weird-ass funk this was. If she had to work despite her grief then so did Keith.

Meanwhile, the Shiro-clone was still in stasis. Presumably, if he was being monitored, manipulated, and controlled by Haggar, it would be through the mechanical arm. It’s probably not as efficient as having it hooked up directly to the brain, but Hunk was certain that access through the shoulder into the central nervous system was sufficient. Even with the change of scenery (which often helped her think) Pidge was about ready to throw her laptop at the wall, though, because no matter what she tried the arm software was a fucking dead end.

Actually, no, never the laptop no matter how angry or frustrated she got. That computer was her baby. She’d built it back on Earth and added a ton of Altean modifications to the hardware – including some incredibly impressive RAM that allowed her to multitask like a crazy person and put the computer’s original 64 GB to shame.

Pidge pulled up the clone’s medical records. The cryo-pod did a full body scan twice a varga and she’d linked the data to continuously upload to her laptop (thank you, alien random access memory), focusing on the CNS. And –

Okay, that was different. The original clone scans showed no distinction between those of the real Shiro, allowing for expected discrepancies on the cellular and molecular levels due to time passing. One of the things the pods monitored closely was an individual’s quintessence. She was no biologist, but Pidge did grasp the basic concepts of thermodynamics and the quintessence seemed to be deteriorating. She didn’t know what it meant, though.

A hefty creaking noise distracted her. Hunk pulled his way onto the catwalk and settled in beside her. “Pidge. Can I chew your ear for a minute?”

“Aren’t you busy?”

“Lotor went to make some, uh, conference calls, I think.”

Pidge glared at the computer screen and decided to fuck it, she’s not getting anywhere with this anyway. “Yeah, why not. Shoot.”

Hunk blew out a puff of air. “We’ve made a lot of progress on the technology. Allura’s been working on adapting the ships to travel between universes and I’m really close to finding the most efficient ways to collect and contain the energy. It’s just, um…what if we aren’t doing the right thing here, Pidge?”

She eyed him. “If we can end the war without more war, I’m all for it. I know I wasn’t on board at first, and I’m no economist, but this seems like a good way to stabilize the universe.”

“I’m just thinking. Humans and galra have one big thing in common: exhausting resources. Sure, the quintessence field seems endless now, but the same can be said for every single resource humans overexploited in history. We don’t know how this could affect the universe.” He was getting worked up.

“Hunk.” Pidge placed a hand on his wrist, knowing he takes comfort from even small touches. “You’re a huge part of this project. You and Allura can find a way to make this harvesting sustainable.”

He hummed. His bushy eyebrows drew together.

Pidge continued, “Is this really the only thing bugging you?”

“I’m not…convinced doing this harvesting will lead to peace. Like, I get why Lotor thinks this will solve things,” Hunk said in a low voice. “Increase supply, satisfy demand, spare bad harvesting practices etc. But what do the galra need all this quintessence for?”

“I don’t know, space ships? Power grids? Fuel?…Weapons?”

“Exactly. These guys have been conquering for thousands of years. How can we be sure they won’t just keep conquering when we hand over the power?”

Pidge massaged her temples. “I hear you Hunk, but I’m way out of my depth here. I’d rather trust that Allura and Lotor know way more about alien politics and economics than I do, you know, being born rulers and everything.”

“Since when did you trust Lotor?”

Pidge finally tore her eyes away from the screen and leaned in close to Hunk. “I trust Allura. Do you, do you think Lotor can pull the wool over her eyes?”

“Yeah, well, the man has only been a military strategist for several millennia, I think it’s probable.”

Pidge pulled up another window. “If it makes you feel any better, I’ve been keeping up with the news. Lotor is on the manhunt for any and all galra factions who don’t pledge loyalty to him. And most of the ones who have are extracting their control over recently conquered sectors. It’s a start.”

“How do you completely reform a culture that’s built on war and conquest?”

“Rome and America became republics, didn’t they?”

Hunk groaned and rubbed his eyes. “It’s so complicated. I wish I could just fix up these ships and that would automatically make everything okay.”

She patted his shoulder. “I know the feeling. I’m confused here, too. Look.”

“Aren’t those scans of the fake Shiro? Why…man I can’t read these, why’s the blue glowing in the middle getting dimmer in each picture?”

“It’s his quintessence. It’s deteriorating. But look, it didn’t start until after we put him in stasis, see? The readings are exactly the same between the scan of Shiro and the very first scan of the clone.”

Understanding lit up Hunk’s face. Good, good, thermodynamics were safe, comprehensible ground. “And that’s when the energy started wasting away. Nothing’s regenerating the quintessence. Pidge, Haggar’s magic!”

She banged her fist on the catwalk. The echoing clang make Hunk flinch. “Of course! I should’ve figured that out. If it doesn’t make sense, then magic.” She huffed a sigh. “But if there’s no magic connected to the clone then that means I can’t trace it. It’s another dead end.”

Hunk was quiet for a few minutes, while Pidge stewed in her failure.

"Although," Hunk said, "Zarkon was obsessed with quintessence for his own personal use. He's gone now and if we get rid of Haggar too, then the demand should go down significantly. She's our biggest threat right now and with so much of the military devoted to Lotor he should be able to keep the rogues in check, right?"

Pidge shut her laptop. "See, you figured it out. What do you need me for."

---

“So let me get this straight.”

It was first thing in the morning, and they were in the Blade-equivalent of a conference room with Krolia and Kolivan. Lance pressed his fingertips to his temple like he was trying to organize something in his head (except in Keith’s experience, that usually happened out loud).

Lance gestured to Krolia. “You were undercover at Ranveig’s base, where he intercepted mega-powerful quintessence and accidentally used it to create a terrifying robeast but without the robot parts. Which you both then sic-ed onto a different general attacking the base so you could escape and presumably that thing is still on the planet.

“And you’ve tracked the quintessence to its source but it’s guarded by impenetrable space-time anomalies and we don’t know who was shipping it.”

Keith said, “It does fit Haggar’s M.O.”

Lance sighed. “We should call the Castle of Lions and get them in on this meeting.”

--

Pidge just about leapt out of her skin (and did leap out of her bed) at the loud, insistent banging on her door. She tripped over something on her floor and narrowly avoided face-planting in a pile of dirty socks.

“Pidge! Pidge, wake up!”

Vision still kinda fuzzy from sleep, she scrambled to her feet to slam her hand against the door panel. It hissed open as Hunk prepared to pound on it again. Had he been any shorter he would have punched Pidge in the head, but as it was his fist met thin air and he had to windmill his arms to not fall on her.

“Hunk! What is it? What’s happening?” Pidge demanded.

“Whoa, hey chill out. There’s no emergency.”

She glared at him. “Did you just scare me awake for shits and giggles? Do you have any idea how loud it is when you bang on a metal surface?!”

Because he was the worst, Hunk flat-out ignored her tirade. “Your brother, Lance, and Keith want everyone on a conference call. We’ve been trying to wake you up for half an hour.”

Pidge took a deep breath in through her nose. Then let it out. “If you value our continued friendship, you will get me the largest canteen you can find and fill it to the brim with the not-coffee. And it better fucking be hot.”

It was hot, and she and everyone else were soon in front of multiple huge screens showing her brother, her missing teammates, Kolivan, and another galra she didn’t recognize. The first thing that happened was Keith held up a placating hand before Allura could lay into him.

“I know what you’re going to say, and I’m sorry for leaving without telling you guys why. I got overwhelmed and needed to do something. But it won’t happen again.”

Allura drummed her fingers irritably. “It better not.”

“And by something,” Lance interjected, “Keith here means he had to have some face time with his LONG LOST MOTHER. Guys, meet Krolia, Keith’s galra mom!”

Pidge choked mid-drink and spewed liquid all over Hunk. Fucking what????

“Pidge, did you just do an actual spit take?” Lance demanded, blatantly ignoring the irritated glare Keith was shooting him.

“Did you deliberately wait until I was taking a sip to say that?”

“Depends.”

“Okay, you two can flirt later,” Matt said. Lance’s entire face and neck flushed. “We have important news.”

They proceeded to explain the quintessence the super-powerful quintessence, the spacetime equivalent of a minefield they’d tracked it to, and their suspicions that Haggar was somehow mining it to fuel her military and her magic.

Pidge downed the rest of her “caffeine” in two gulps.

“We believe the source is behind the quantum abyss, rather than the abyss itself,” Kolivan was explaining. “If we can cut Haggar off from her major quintessence supply then we stand a far greater chance at permanently vanquishing her forces.”

Krolia spoke, “The tricky part is navigating the abyss. It requires precise calculations and the consequences of being trapped inside would be dire.”

“Hunk, Pidge, think you can work through those calculations?” Keith asked.

They responded with a synchronous “probably.” Pidge thanked God she now had a new project to work on. One more day with the stupid clone arm and she was gonna lose her hair.

“I believe I know where that quintessence is coming from.” Lotor’s cool voice silenced the entire room. Pidge noticed with shock that his face had gone paper-white. He looked like the ghost of a general rather than a living emperor.

“It is a place I have not been to in some time."

Part 13

[nylonsandlipstick]

People want to judge Susan on Jill’s nylons and lipstick commentary but considering the way the Second World War effected the production of things like nylon stockings and lipsticks, Susan was just being a young girl of her age in the era she lived in.

Just some background information: Before World War II, things like lipsticks and stockings were a known staple of most women’s daily lives. Nylon stockings had been introduced in 1939 and became very popular due to their durability and affordability compared to silk stockings. Then comes war time and labor and resources were redirected away from civilians and all efforts were put into the war. DuPont, the company that invented nylon, eventually (and by eventually, I mean about a year or two later) had to redirect their nylon productions to be able to aid in the war efforts. Nylon began being manufactured into parachutes, cords, ropes, and several other things for the military to utilize. So women had to resort to buying stockings that were available before the war broke out or buying them off of the black market (one dude literally got $100,000 from nylons produced from a shipment of diverted nylon, which would be our modern equivalent of over $2 million). Those who couldn’t get stockings from either, had to resort to painting on stockings using gravy browning or paint. Nylon stocking productions wouldn’t begin again until after the war where women would be so starved for nylon stockings that “Nylon Riots” would break out. That would be when women would get into mile-long lines at stores in 1945 and ‘46 and there would be thousands more women in line than there were stockings available to purchase. Women would resort to cat fights in lines to get their hands on a pair of stockings. One of the most extreme nylon riots was in Pittsburgh in June 1946 when 40,000 women were lined up to buy an available stock of only 13,000 stockings. Nylon wasn’t licensed to other producers until 1951 so women were forced to go only to DuPont for stockings which is why it was even more difficult to get any nylon stockings.

Naturally, lipstick was also limited during the war. Cosmetics in general were difficult to receive. Once the war began, companies were effected and either were unable to produce their old products because their ingredients were being deployed to be used for armaments or ships were sunk and factories bombed. Women that wanted to conserve their last bits and scraps of makeup left in their tubes for special occasions or who didn’t have any scraps or bits left to use would have to use beetroot (which was one of the safer ingredients used to apply makeup) as lip stains or if they were lucky enough, when there was availability they would get a few lipstick refills in cardboard boxes (metal was banned from being used for compacts and lipstick cases in 1942) and even powder but without its puff to apply it with. And those that decided to buy from the black market would find products created from some dangerous ingredients such as margarine-based potions or shoe-polish mascaras. Aside from women trying to keep around a semblance of normalcy, makeup, specifically red lipstick, became something patriotic to do. Hitler would give the women that visited his country retreat a small list of things they couldn’t do, which included wearing red lipstick, painting their nails, and having overall “excessive” makeup on (it had to do with how apparently the “Aryan ideal” was that their faces were scrubbed and clean). So women from the Allied countries would use makeup as a way of sticking it to Hitler and red lipstick became more prominent among women and that’s where that fashion trend basically began.

And one of the major reasons why women during the war were so adamant in trying their best to attain those things that had been easily accessible before the war was to keep a semblance of normalcy. These women had sons and husbands and fathers and basically all of the men around them that could fight, off in a bloody war that ended in an insane amount of carnage, just a few decades after a previous war that was also just as bloody and gruesome. They feared for their lives as they were terrified that they would be killed during the fighting, especially the women living in Europe, and that the Nazis would win. These women were only just beginning to readapt into a world after the Great War, only to have a second just as deadly war begin. They needed normalcy, it was the only way they would stay sane. Yes, they started working to help with the war efforts and to keep themselves busy, but keeping up with their appearances wasn’t about not taking the situation seriously and being “wily women wont to do what women do,” it was about staying sane. They were going through some of those petrifying times of their lives and they knew that if they didn’t try to do something that was normal, they’d begin to crack and start to lose themselves.

All I’m saying is that if everyone can defend Edmund for his betraying of his family because sweets were rationed during the war (forget the fact that the Turkish Delight was enchanted and Edmund had no idea who Jadis even was to begin with), then we can be more understandable when Jill claims that Susan has an affinity for nylons and lipsticks. No, Britain didn’t have any official ban or rationing of clothing or cosmetics, but the production and distribution of things like lipstick and nylon stockings had been hit hard by the war, so for a girl like Susan who was growing up in that era of being deprived of those two things - things that were supposed to be a huge part of women’s lives - it’s no surprise that she would seek them out.

And also, Susan was born in a post-WWI world where she grew up hearing about the horrors of the Great War only to be thrown into a Second World War, she was shipped off to the countryside away from her parents which, for however much of a good reason that was for, it was still pretty hard for a child to be separated from their parents, she was thrust into Narnia where she had to deal with another war and made a ruler of it even though she was only twelve at the time, she experienced so many things during her fifteen years in Narnia, was thrown back out into her real world where she was forced back into a life she hadn’t lived in over a dozen years, thrown back into Narnia after trying to readapt to her old life where now in Narnia she had to help a different prince fight for her kingdom’s freedom only to be told she was too old to be in Narnia so she was thrown right back into her old life. I don’t despise Aslan for anything he’s done and I don’t hate Susan for anything she’s done either.

It’s why I truthfully believe that her “materialism” (as people tend to call her “obsession” with nylons and lipsticks) wasn’t the disease but rather the symptom. She’d always had a wobbly faith and having experienced everything she had, it wasn’t that shocking that she would try to be a normal young English lady like the rest of her classmates. Her “materialism” was just her coping mechanism. Just as the women around her had used normalcy as their coping mechanisms during the Second World War, Susan used nylons and lipsticks as her coping mechanism after Narnia.

[reuska]

6, 18 and 42

6. Something they instantly liked about the place?

The landscapes and architecture. Shortly followed by the fact that all the knightly traits were still alive in that place. You know, honor, chivalry, selflessness, bravery… Especially in men, that was very attractive to her. And made her feel even more like a complete trash. xD

18. How are their tactician abilities discovered?

It was Chrom’s doing. Besides Sharena who’s universally friendly, Chrom was Reuska’s first friend in the FE realms. While the Order (mainly Anna and Alfonse) perceived her as a complete disappointment and a joke of a Summoner, Chrom’s first impression of her was completely different. He was Reuska’s first summon and he eavesdropped on her as she was arguing with Geir (seemingly with herself). She was refusing to perform the summoning on a country’s ruler, that was strongly against her morals. But Chrom was in a difficult stage of his life, three years after the war, feeling like a prisoner in a golden cage and mourning for his lost wife. The more Reuska tried to talk him out of going, the more he wanted to rebel and do just that. But he saw that she was putting his country’s interest before her own and that earned his respect. Besides, something about her demeanor reminded him of Skara and it felt intriguing and refreshing to him. That’s their dynamics in a nutshell.

Well, and during the first stage of her stay, Reuska spent her time by just slacking around, feeling like a miserable piece of trash, only summoning when possible. No one wanted more from her, no one expected she would be capable of more. She was already framed as a useless human being. Well, not at summoning, she made an impression by bringing Chrom so early, but that was pretty much all.

At some point she got a short introduction to basic strategy, just so she would not mess up and go in someone’s way. I’m not yet sure who would teach her, maybe even Alfonse, out of obligation, but certainly someone else with him.

Since the strategy is not decided by just one person in my HC, but a war council consisting of important royals and commanders, Chrom one day suggests they should invite Reuska as well because she is crucial for the whole thing. It doesn’t exactly meet with an excitement on neither side but the invitation is made and as much as Reuska doesn’t want to go (she always tries to avoid any exposure of her uselessness), she would feel even worse to refuse. She feels really bad at the meeting, trying to stay back, out of sight, only imagining what a bother she must be for everyone. It gets worse when Anna starts to present her strategy plan because Reuska just can’t see any sense in it. As she is listening to Anna’s presentation, she’s making faces: frowning, raising eyebrows, raising her lips… and Chrom notices. Skara used to do exactly the same thing when she didn’t agree with something which makes him ask Reuska what’s wrong. As happy as she can be, Reuska has to admit that even though she has been introduced to the strategy basics, she still fails to understand the positioning in Anna’s plan. That sparks some interest in the council and Reuska is asked, by Anna herself, to explain.

Well, and Reuska burns down the whole plan. One by one, she points out gaps in the troop positioning, unconsidered scenarios,… and she’s completely oblivious. She’s seriously convinced she’s just exposing her lack of knowledge, making herself look like an even bigger idiot.

I don’t have to add she made an impression that day… ;D

42. How will their story end?

That’s a long and detailed story, get ready xD

Nearly at the very end of the Feh story, whatever the final battle will be, Reuska makes an attempt to summon Skara - to make Chrom happy, as a thank you for everything he has done for her. She almost suffocates in the process but she actually manages to bring Skara back from the void (in a really bad shape, skinny, almost bald) which sparks a negative reaction among most of the Heroes as they fear that bringing back Skara brought Grima back as well. Alfonse is not part of the opposition, he freshly discovered the true nature of his feelings for Reuska so he tends to make excuses for her, besides, he’s worried about her as she has been unconscious ever since the summoning. The final battle draws near and neither Reuska, nor Skara have awoken yet so the Order has to leave them behind in a base camp. When Reuska finally wakes up, Skara is already conscious and the two talk. It turns out, to Reuska’s horror, that Skara is still Grima as well. Even though the Fell Dragon is under Skara’s control now, she has changed, becoming more “grima-ish” (more selfish, little caring about the greater good, she only cares about her closest ones). However, upon talking with Reuska who’s strikingly honest in her terror, Skara takes a liking of her and decides to join her cause. She summons the dragon and the two women fly on its back to the battlefield where they side with the Order and kick the final villain’s ass.

There is this moment of happiness when Reuska hugs with Alfonse and he whispers to her that she did it, she won the war. But since the war is really over, Geir’s curse is finally lifted and the original summoner finally materializes in front of them. It’s not a happy meeting, though, as he immediately informs them that together with the curse, his unique ability to open a portal to Earth is vanishing as well and they have literal seconds to send Reuska back. He opens the portal and Reuska has to choose. She’s still paralyzed by the sudden turn of events so she looks at Alfonse and he, just as paralyzed, says “Go!”. So she leaves. The portal closes and it’s over.

This pretty much breaks Alfonse. We all know how badly he took Bruno’s disappearance and he had already developed a tighter bond with Reuska during the years of war. And that doesn’t even take his romantic feelings in account. And worst of all, he can’t handle the guilt that he chased her away himself (as he sees it). (It’s not hard to guess why he did it, in the limited time he had, he thought more of her than of himself and he didn’t want Reuska to miss the chance to get back home.) He drops his Order membership, stops his daily sword training and locks himself away from the world in a library and his study and rarely comes outside. He begins to study magic which he always had a decent affinity for but never liked. Generally he gives up all the things he loved and takes on things he hated - to punish himself and keep twisting the dagger in the wound. He doesn’t really care much about his appearance, he lets his hair grow, that’s why my older Alfonse has a ponytail.

This takes two years. In that time, while Alfonse is emo in his quarters, Geir is actually working hard to find a way to Earth to fix things (this all is ultimately his fault, it all goes back to his failure hundreds years ago). After two years he is finally successful and approaches emo Alfonse with his findings which kicks up the emo boy (well, emo man now) back into a hopeful mood. They need both Askran and Emblan royal blood so they are joined by Veronica and together travel to Reuska’s home city. Luckily, Geir knows the place a bit thanks to the years of him “living” in Reuska’s mind so they manage to find her and she, overjoyed, accomodates them at her place. What was two years in Zenith was only four months on Earth but it was still very painful for her. And Alfonse, similar to Reuska after entering the FE realms, experiences a heavy case of suddenly lowered self-esteem. He loves the place, all the technology, science, knowledge - but it also means a painful realization that his own world is stuck with its development and has been stuck for centuries. Suddenly he’s certain that they all must have seemed like savages to Reuska which kind of complicates his initial plan to confess, grab her and live happily ever after. He is certain she would never willingly leave that wonderful place and go back with him. And Reuska never considered the option that Al could actually love her back, so she thinks they just came for a visit to properly say good bye and will leave soon. So the two dance around each other in a denser and denser atmosphere, they actually even have a fight because of all those unspoken things. And then they finally have a proper, honest talk, confess and after a round of getting parent’s consent (it’s an honor issue for Al) they leave for Askr and marry. Yaaayy.

They have three children, Geir, Zacharias and Alice. After Zacharias is born, Alfonse becomes the king (this version counts with either of his parents being alive at the time - might change) because there is a tradition of handing over the rule once the successor successfully fathers at least two of his own successors xD Geir (named after “uncle Geir”) is an impudent pacifistic healer and that kind of person you really, REALLY don’t want to get into an argument with because he won’t stop. But he’s a direct, just man and a good king material. Zacharias is a technical mind and the family black sheep. All he thinks about is Earth (they occasionally visit their granparents) and he doesn’t care about his Askran heritage, training and studies. He would probably be a green mage but… he studies physics texbooks from Earth instead. And once Alice profiles as an another ideal, responsible royal child, he makes a scene that he’s moving to Earth and eventually gets an unhappy consent from both his parents (Al is especially salty because that’s what he would do as well if he could) and leaves for Earth where he becomes a mechanical engineer (with the support of Reuska’s parents).

After Geir marries and has his own two children, Alfonse gives him the crown and that’s when Reuska can finally tell him that they are moving to Earth as well. She knew Alfonse never stopped loving that place, no matter what she told him, and that he dreamed of living and studying there. She waited for Geir to start his family because she didn’t want Al to be impatient with his son and giving up the rule. Alfonse is thrilled and SOOO happy when he’s finally told about the plan :). So the two finally go back to Earth. Alfonse gets his degree in astrophysics and becomes a professor. He might give it a try as a local politician too, I’m not yet sure. They travel a lot and stay in touch with Zacharias and his family. Interesting note: they are about the same age with Reuska’s parents when they leave Askr (the time difference).

Phew.

[lizartgurl]

Jaina Solo as Anastasia

So I was listening to the Anastasia soundtrack as I did my Jaina doodles and so enjoy this bullet-pointed AU with Jaina Solo as the Princess Anastasia, based on the Don Bluth Movie.

(I am so sorry this got so freaking long)

The Amidala family has ruled the planet of Naboo for a hundred years or so, the most recent being Padme Amidala, who married Anakin Skywalker and had two children, the twins Leia and Luke

Padme abdicated after her husband died, bestowing her grand kingdom to her daughter, the Princess Leia, who married General Han Solo and had three children, Anakin, the youngest, Jacen, and his twin, Jaina Solo, the oldest and designated heir.

Padme dotes on her only granddaughter, helping prepare the wild girl for ruling the planet one day.

During Padme’s reign with Anakin, they relied heavily on the advice of their counselor, Shiv Palpatine, who had mentored them both

Once Leia took the throne, she discovered that Palpatine had a hand in the death of her father, and would have executed him had he not escaped.

The Amidalas forget him, dedicating their efforts to improving their kingdom and trying to repair any damage that Palpatine had done to their people.

Jaina and her brothers grow up in the lap of luxury and want for nothing. Jaina learns to ride Fathiers and fly speeders like her father. Jacen is better with the Fatheirs than she is and she’s jealous of that fact because Jacen gets along great with ALL animals, and Fathiers are her favorite

All three children are strong in the force, like the rest of their family, and their Master Uncle Luke trains them to protect their friends and to fight for justice for their people.

One of the servants is the orphan boy Zekk, who often escapes from the palace with the Amidala children, searching for adventure. As much as they try to be friends, there is an entire world separating their very different lives.

Padme lives on the planet of Naboo, very similar to Alderaan, and all her grandchildren hate how far away she lives.

She returns to Alderaan for the Anniversary ball to celebrate the Hundredth year of the Amidala reign, with special gifts for all of her grandchildren to remember her by.

Jacen receives a rare Crystal Snake, Anakin gets a puzzle to test his wits, but Jaina’s is the most special. A tiny music box that she can tinker with so that it plays their favorite Alderaanian lullaby. 

The night of the Ball, Palpatine returns, revealing his true form of Darth Sidious. He curses the Amidala family with death and unhappiness, and uses his newly found dark powers to stir the peace-loving people of Alderaan to violence against their beloved rulers.

The planet is racked with war, tearing at its seams. The Amidalas try to stay as long as they can, insisting that they can stop the violence in some way.  

They cannot, and they must escape as a deadly weapon orchestrated by Darth Sidious aims for the planet’s core.

Desperate to keep a hold on her precious music box, Jaina is separated from her family in the spaceport, but is aided by Zekk, who directs her to a ship full of orphan children.

The two are cornered by Sidious himself, though Jaina drives him back with her wild powers, just barely defeating him. 

This leaves her without her memories, but she is preserved somehow and stowed onboard the ship, but separated from Zekk, who now has Jaina’s beloved music box in his possession.

Alderaan is destroyed by Sidious’s hatred, its people scattered throughout the galaxy.

Much of the diaspora is concentrated in the capital of the galaxy, Coruscaunt, including Jaina, Zekk, and Lando Calrissian, a conman by nature and an old friend of Han Solo.

Having lost their daughter, Han, Leia, and Padme refuse to believe that she died with Alderaan, and offer a reward for anyone who can produce the heir of the Alderaanian throne, or any information leading to her.

Jaina has grown to adulthood being called “Jaya” by the other orphan children, no memory of the esteemed life she once led. She leaves the orphanage, to find work, wandering across the planet as a mechanic.

Lando has somewhat adopted Zekk the street rat, and they think they know how to get the reward money for the location of Jaina Solo.

They hold auditions for someone to pose as the lost heir, who they will teach the ways of courtly life, specifically the life of Jaina Solo.

Jaya is called in to fix their ship, and she is amazed by the familiarity of Alderaanian tech, and the lullaby Zekk is humming as he plays with the silent music box hanging around his neck.

Lando is struck with a brilliant idea, scruffy-looking mechanic Jaya will pose as the wild Jaina Solo Amidala, giving him and Zekk a shot at the reward money and Jaya a chance to leave Coruscaunt for once in her life and see the galaxy.

Their ship is attacked by Sidious’s demons, forcing them to take a public cruiser to Naboo, where the Amidalas now live.

Jaya is getting increasingly frustrated with the courtly rules and the fancy clothes Lando tries to make her dress up in. Zekk is getting just as frustrated with trying to teach her, and can’t help but feel like he’s missing something, and Lando keeps insisting that Jaya can pull it off perfectly, all with a winning smile.

While transferring between ships, Lando decides to teach Jaya to ride a fathier, as Jaina was so fond of doing

Suddenly it just clicks.

Jaya is sprinting ahead of Zekk and Lando, and remembering just about everything they’ve taught her. She carries herself like a princess, and discusses Alderaanian history with Lando, bringing up some points Zekk is very certain they’ve never taught her.

Finally it comes time to teach Jaya the Alderaanian waltz.

Lando tries first, but Jaya’s too stiff and awkward, so he makes Zekk do it.

Jaya doesn’t even question it but she is comfortable with Zekk. She trusts him, somehow, and hopes that he trusts her in return.

Zekk’s stomach aches as the though flits across his mind that maybe this is Jaina, his old friend, the princess of the Alderaanian Empire. If it’s true, she will find her family, and he will be happy for her, but it also means he will never see the princess again. He is a simply a common man, they cannot be.

Jaya doesn’t understand why Zekk is suddenly not talking to her.

Then she has a nightmare. Brothers, parents, family she does not recognize, all turn to demons before her eyes and try to pull her in with them, she is pulled through the ship as she sleepwalks, unable to awaken.

(another of sidious’s ploys to tear the amidalas apart)

Zekk awakens her as she is about to throw herself into the ship’s core, banishing the demons, how he doesn’t know.

He refuses to leave her side for the rest of the night.

Jaya doesn’t mind.

They arrive at Naboo, and Lando takes them to the estate of Master Skywalker, his former lover, and sister to Queen Leia Amidala. All attempting to prove themselves the Princess Jaina must speak to him before the Queen and her mother.

Jaya’s presence is dim in the force, almost severed somehow. Luke cannot get a reading on her, but she answers all his questions with sincere honesty.

Then she is asked to relay the story of her escape from Alderaan. 

Her memory is fuzzy, but it’s been returning since her lessons. 

She mentions the servant boy with emerald eyes and a sad sort of smile, how he pulled her by the hand through a crowd, and then he was gone.

Zekk is astonished. He has to leave the room. He has never told anyone of this, not even Lando. He wanted to forget his life on Alderaan until Lando concocted his get-rich-quick-slash-reunite-with-his-ex-boyfriend scheme.

Luke determines to take a chance on Jaya, inviting her to the Calamari opera Padme Amidala will be attending with him that evening. He takes them on a shopping spree around Naboo for fancy new clothes.

Zekk is even more in love with her than before, though he knows he shouldn’t. Jaya can’t understand why Zekk seems so upset when they are having so much fun.

They arrive at the opera, Zekk is still debating whether or not to tell Lando. Jaya dons an elegantly simple suit, rather than a dress, and follows Lando’s style with a flashy cape, and Zekk is speechless as he guides her into the opera.

At the end, they make their way to the Amidala’s private box.

Zekk tries to introduce Jaya as the Princess Jaina, but Padme will not have it. She is tired of girls trying to claim her money and legacy and break her heart as she searches for her family.

Zekk insists, he has to get Jaina back to her family.

Padme’s guard recognizes him as one whom they heard organizing auditions for a Jaina look-alike. Padme has him thrown out. Jaya overhears.

She leaves in tears, refusing to speak to Zekk or Lando. 

Lando is just about to give up when Zekk tells him the truth, and makes one more attempt to reunite the Amidalas.

An expert pilot, he steals Padme Amidala away in her cruiser before her driver can get in, and shows her the music box Jaina dropped with him on the night the planet was destroyed.

Padme agrees to meet Jaya just once, in return for the music box.

Jaya is just leaving with her meager bag when Padme intercepts her, looking the girl up and down. The girl looks remarkably similar to herself and her daughter and grandson. Then again, so did many other girls.

She notices the key hanging around Jaina’s necklace, and asks what it’s for.

Jaya doesn’t know, it’s the only thing she’s always had, her only connection to her past life.

Padme looks again at the music box. It is definitely the one she gave Jaina, but a small lock is fastened on the side. A amateur’s handiwork, but a dedicated amateur.

Curious, she asks Jaya to humor an old woman, and Jaya holds the music box she thought was Zekk’s. Her key twists inside the lock, plinking out a gentle melody.

It isn’t until she hears the old Queen’s voice singing that she realizes she is singing with the music too.

Her memories accompany the words of the lullaby, and Padme embraces her. Jaina reunites with her parents, brothers, and meets Jacen’s golden-haired fiancee within an hour.

Lando settles in with Luke again, and so Padme tries to offer the reward to Zekk, who refuses. He is simply happy to see Jaina with her family.

A ball is organized to celebrate the return of the Princess.

Jaina is fitted for a dress, to her mother’s delight, and it isn’t so bad. It feels more like a cloud than yards and yards of ridiculous fabric. Jacen himself even says he can’t find anything to tease her about.

At the ball, Jaian tries to deny that she’s looking for Zekk but her grandmother knows her too well, even after all these years.

Jaina goes to the gardens to think, away from the parties and celebrations that are far too foreign to her now.

Sidious appears and attacks. Taken by surprise, Jaina is barely able to hold him off.

Zekk tries to leave and go back to Coruscaunt, but the bad feeling in his stomach won’t go away. He runs back to the palace just in time to distract Sidious. 

Jaina snatches Sidious’s reliquary, the source of his power, and smashes it on the ground. 

Sidious’s body disintegrates, left without a soul, and his curse upon the Amidalas does too.

Jaina returns to her family with her childhood friend, where he is welcomed into the family with open arms, by Jacen especially.

They know too well what it is like to live without an important part of their family.

It is far better to add more family members than to reject them.

Jacen marries the Princess of the Hapan Empire, and Zekk feels a lot of pressure, but Jaina reminds him that her title is simply honorary, because Alderaan no longer exists.

And they all live happily ever after on Naboo.

The end.

[royal-writer]

Missing Piece

just an au I can’t get out of my head written in shit snippets

Everyone was busy mulling the puzzling architecture and alien scripture on the wall. Their eyes transfixed, absorbing the text of a long-forgotten people. It soared from the floor high up towards the ceiling; towering at least thirty-feet high. All but a few of the ancient chandeliers had rotted and given way to rust, fallen to the floor in a shamble. The building groaned. Cracks littered the structure and the pillars, which supported the bracing weight of something looking close to crumbling.

What a terribly unsafe place to venture, Essie thought. But it was a realization placed further back, behind her curiosity. The setting was so elaborate; the pictures on the wall and faded, soiled spoils of cloth banners rotting on the floor once vibrant now ruined. A royal estate, perhaps? Did the people prosper here, or just the rulers?

She approached the far side of the room. Everyone scattered; staying within a reasonable distance to easily hurry the distance should something arise from the shadows. Their footsteps echoed across the cold stone. Nothing gave off the prickled sense of unease of a trap or taste of magic in the air.

As the murmured voices of her friends discussed their next course of action, and tried to depict the meaning of the building’s origin and graphics, Essätha looked up the towering set of doors. They did not come close to the ceiling, but it could easily fit a large dragon through its gates in height. Not in girth however, the beast would need to shove their shoulders through.

Marveling the design built into the ancient framework, she squinted upon the entrance. It had more ruins, and what appeared to be a hole. A keyhole? But it had no shape she recognized, and was large enough to fit a gnome. Unless the folk who lived here were ogres or giants, it seemed unreasonable to be a keyhole. Blasted in by enemies, maybe? By why was everything around it still pristine; unscorched, unmarked, untouched by time?

She brushed her hand against the bottom of the gaping cavity.

A whisper breathed in the back of her mind.

Mesmerized to the point of fixation, the Yuan-Ti woman pawed curiously at the hollow.

Pain.

Howling, Essätha lurched back as something grabbed for her wrist. Whatever it was; it held to her with the grip of a vice. It launched her forward, slamming chest-first into the heavy stone that knocked the wind out of her.

There was an echo of cries behind her. Some alarm; some carrying her name. Boots scrambled against the tiles on their way to her as she struggled, eyes dilated and breathing fast.

“Hold on just a second-”

Cold hands grabbed her forearm, others at her shoulder and her waist. With a violent heave, the group tugged her backwards.

She shrieked; joints popping.

“One, two- pull!”

Another yank. Her arm was freezing now; almost numb.

Seizing their strength, they jerked her backwards once more. Her arm came free of the void.

Essätha cried out once more. Agony like piercing ice zapped into her veins. She looked down, horrified at the inky black tendrils upon her hand. They began to creep up rapidly upon her arm. Where it touched, she felt ice and fire. Burning and freezing, aching with agony.

“What is that-”

“Get it off!” she squealed, the infectious sprouts climbing up her skin at a rapid pace. It consumed her fingers. Her fingers appeared less like fingers, and more like bony, thin digits wrapped in black plastic.

Pri’cha was the first to act. Jumping into action, the cleric wrapped their trio of tiny fingers to her elbow, and muttered a prayer.

Holy light sprang up her arm. It vanished amongst the darkness devouring her appendage. It continued to approach, unaffected by the holy light of Pelor.

Essätha whimpered and groaned, her expression growing pale.

Abernathy and Sulhadur pushed past the Thri-Kreen, who squeaked gently with surprise. The Paladins laid their hands upon her shoulder; a divine course of colorful light brewing from their touch.

The persistent stain of darkness festered, but didn’t retreat. It began to advance faster; moving up towards her elbow.

A dizziness began to swim in her head. Voices in languages she couldn’t understand echoing in her thoughts. Essätha screamed without hearing her own voice; without realizing she was doing it at all. Her arm lurched. Her fingers curled; a darker magic, older than the creation of her own, spoiled from her fingers which shook uncontrollably.

“Get it off! Get it off! Get it off!”

There was a series of clipped cursing. A blast of grim magic surged from her hand and crackled in the air. It narrowly missing Amon and Penimra, who jerked out of the way reflexively.

“What are we going to do?” Adela panicked, her voice filled with venomous scorn as she seethed, “I knew it. I knew we shouldn’t have taken this mission-”

“I don’t think now’s the time,” Rava gasped. “Look!”

The contagion surged; swallowing up to the elbow.

With terror in his voice, the half-elf orc let out a single, guttural curse.

His axe swung.

The limb came off with a sickening crunch of bone.

Appalled, Essie could only stare down at her mutated appendage with a gaping mouth. It writhed and twisted around on the ground as though still alive. The noise in her head stopped.

She saw the blood draining fast from her arm. She could hear the muffled voices of everyone as Adela blasted fire upon the arm- her arm- as it tried to claw its way over towards the closest one of them.

Her vision went fuzzy.

Then everything went black.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

She stared from it, to Lord Amon, and back again. Her insides felt desensitized. She felt desensitized.

Essätha knew he meant well. It was the absolute best prosthetic limb you could possibly get. The most advanced model, based off warforged technology. It had even been artistically designed to her taste; tattooed with various symbols and designs that had meaning but also class and elegance. Painted on with a steady hand, brushed with an artist’s perfect brush. The mechanics and gears inside mostly hidden, with a few areas where you could see the delicate detail of wiring control.

“I know it’s no replacement…” he stated, his voice husky with worry.

Thank him, she scolded herself. But she could not. She only felt numb. Her arm; or what remained of it from the elbow, throbbed. The ghostly sensation of fingers a distant memory.

She mutely nodded. It was all the thanks she could offer. This was more than she earned; more than she deserved, yet the nobleman had stubbornly insisted and, after careful measurements and lengthy months, she now had the final results before her.

Like a dog still wounded from a fresh injury, she wanted to bite. Anyone; anything. She was broken.

Broken things did not have a use in this world.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Gritting her teeth, Essie hissed as she extracted the artificial limb from her arm.

It was a rough first day.

The motor skills weren’t quite as keen as a real hand, but more refined than she’d expected. She was still left to use her other hand for magic, she discovered. No matter how hard she worked to summon, the metal implant was silent to the wills of her mind.

It chaffed at the mended horror of her mutilated remains of her arm. Her skin was bruised with discoloration; the scars a harsh reminder of the sharp blade that had sliced through like butter. Her nerves hurt from the strain of trying to function something not-human. It wasn’t very heavy; no more so than her real arm, but the muscles in her arms had become weaker with disuse these past months.

She reached for the cream meant to lessen the inflammation sitting by her bedside, and tore off the mechanism that aided in locking her new arm in place, before getting to work.

She was numb.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Unconsciously, she reached for Amon’s hand. Her mechanical digits brushed her hand, and he jolted.

He moved to reciprocate, but it was too late. As his fingers went to curl around hers, she tugged her limb wordlessly away, and stared vacantly off into space.

Things would never work out between them.

Who would want all the trouble? Who would want all of this? Someone not whole, not even fully human.

It was a lost cause. She should snuff the feelings out, before they choked her for good.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A spring snapped; the coil jumping out to snap upon up and struck her in the face. She yelped with pained surprised as a wire was severed in the process; flopping out of the bottom of the device.

Her arm was rendered useless.

Paralyzed with her astonishment, the next blow struck her so hard, it sent her to her butt. It didn’t take the rest of them long to come to her aid as she sat there.

Utterly fucking worthless.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The second model was built even better than the first. Wreathed with serpents and intricate designs still, it had been modified just as much for comfort this time as it was functionally. The interior where it was connected to her arm had been pressed with carefully stitched fabric, so it didn’t aggravate her skin as badly. It reacted better; faster, more readily to her commands.

But it was still not the same.

Clicking it into place, Essie checked the mobility of her fingers. She picked up a coin delicately from the table, and flipped it around her digits. It was a steady, fluid motion.

She flicked the copper aside, hearing it clatter to the floor as she lowered her head. Her bread fell over her shoulder, and she tried tossing it back; getting strands of ebony stuck in the crevices of the device. She yanked; tearing out strands in the process for freedom, before frustratingly slamming the fist into her thigh. Bruising. Painful.

She cried out sharply with pain. Burying her face against her chest, she curled up; dragging her feet into the mattress to sob.

It was her fault. It was all her own fault.

She hadn’t known what the voices said, but she felt compelled. Charmed. Eager to please, wanting to listen; to understand.

A mess. She’d been a mess before this.

Now she was a messy inconvenience.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

She leaned against the doorframe, shivering.

Beautiful.

He’d called her beautiful.

Her eyes drifted down to her appendage. Cold metal. Unfeeling.

Shaking, she clipped it free of its base, and placed it on the table near the door. Swallowing her self-pity tears, she made her way over to the bed to climb beneath the covers. Shrinking into a ball.

She wasn’t beautiful. Beautiful people didn’t flee from compliments, they thrived beneath them. Maybe a bit sheepish, but ultimately empowered.

If losing any charm or looks she still had could give her back her arm, she’d take it. Anything to not be half a person. Anything to be more than this.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Her heart skipped a beat when Amon stared at her. His gaze was caring; soft and filtered in the light of the fading sunlight. It didn’t matter she told herself not to stare. She couldn’t stop herself. He was just too lovely; his wind-swept hair, his trimmed beard, the smile on his face.

That. That looks was attractiveness. Magnificent. Regal. Stunning. Dignified. Majestic. Both a nobleman, and a noble man.

His hand brushed locks of hair from her face, sweeping them to the side. Too close, her mind whispered. He was too close.

Not close enough.

As he leaned in, brushing a tentative kiss against her lips, a million volts of electricity hummed in her veins. She instinctively reached for his jerkin, her fingers gripping to the fabric.

It was a dazzling kiss.

It made her forget.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Panting heavily, she paused mid-way through ripping the garment from his shoulders.

Her arm.

Her arm.

Essie froze, locked into place as Amon tore his shirt the remainder of the way off. He kissed her without hesitation; taking her daze for awestruck lust rather than fear.

The tension gave her away. He pulled away after a few seconds, breathing ragged. Close. Wild eyes dark.

Her mouth moved. A waning smile as she lifted the false limb, waving the fingers back and forth.

With a tender smile, he gently reached up to wrap his fingers around the unfeeling digits, and squeezed. He other hand found hers at her side, and he lifted them both. Kisses freckled the knuckles on both. Real. Not real. He stepped back. Cautious; respectful as his grip released her hands slowly.

She licked her lips tentatively. Her voice cracked; daring the words: “W… Would it be better with or…”

Silence. She lowered her gaze, the fan of her black lashes hanging over her eyes. Stupid. She shouldn’t have brought it up. It was awkward. Weird. It could have been quick, maybe they both could have forgotten-

“What would feel more comfortable for you?”

His voice was husky. A drawl.

Glancing up, she could see the arousal still against his trousers. The love in his eyes.

It was surreal.

“If I keep it out of the way so it doesn’t pinch anything, maybe it’d be okay?” She rushed nervously. “I mean if- If I only grab at your shoulders or your thighs or something- you could always ask me to stop we- don’t have to-”

“I want to.” Raw. A sensual, deep rasp.

She jumped for him. A bit too eagerly, nearly knocking him from his feet in her haste. Fingers in his hair, her artificial limb around his waist.

It was amazing. With or without a little bit of fumbling.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

She nearly sobbed, wriggling the base off the swollen nub remains of her arm. She had to rock it back and forth to remove the damn thing, it was too puffy from bruising.

“Essätha,” a deep sigh echoed with concern, stepping closer with the warm wet cloth. They wrapped it around her appendage carefully, and she flinched. It smelled of lavender, and tingled from the aloe’s melted into the water.

“What did I tell you about lifting heavy things by yourself?”

She smiled weakly at the disapproval in her husbands voice.

“I had it.”

Amon scoffed, squinting at her. “Just because you had it, doesn’t mean you had to do it alone.”

She shrugged. A bit too proud still, she didn’t like to ask for help. Even if it had cut into her circulation, and aggravated the old wound tremendously.

“The doctor should be here shortly,” he remarked. He leaned in, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “Until then: your under house arrest, strictly speaking, to the bed alone.”

A minkish smile tugged at her lips. “You can’t arrest me if you can’t put my arms behind my back, officer.”

“Essie.”

“Okay okay!” she laughed at the disapproval in his tone. She sighed, murmuring, “I’ll take it easy.” Not that she liked it. She already knew just what the doctor would say. Pain medications, more therapy, more massages, more ointments and other things. Less use of her arm.

Which although she’d grown more and more accustomed to daily rituals and life without it, it really did help to use the damn thing.

It helped a lot more, having such an understanding husband willing to lend a hand (ha!). Even when she tried telling him not to.

Pushing lightly at her chest, Amon encouraged her back into the bed with a gentle tut. She rolled her eyes, obediently lounging as he got up to fetch some wrappings to keep the damp towel in place.

Her eyes shut with a blissful sigh.

Rest, she mused. Let him see how long he could keep her down.

[thegreatpikminzx789]

In the Deepest Darkness | Etrian Odyssey II Untold: The Fafnir Knight Fanfiction | A Dangerous Fear

So remember my EO Prompt I had with @theshatteredrose​ with the CtS guild? Yeah, figured I'd give it an actual story, since it's going to be part of the timeline of EO stories that I have in store. This is just one chapter out of five for this particular story, since this will be a full-fledged story on my Wattpad and Archive of Our Own accounts, and will take place after the Gungnir Guild defeats Ur-Child.

Plus I needed to post more on my Tumblr, it’s barely had any use since I had it...

Thank goodness I read through CtS before continuing to write this... Anyways, here ya go.

Summary: The Gungnir Guild had just defeated the labyrinth's most dangerous creature, and had just entered town. Before the guild can even settle on their hard earned victory, a Ronin runs past them in order to get deeper into Lagaard. Although explorers running around at night wasn't unusual, something felt off about the Ronin more than just his appearance... The Highlander and Fafnir Knight advance to find the Ronin and ask him a couple of questions.

Story based on a CtS Prompt from @theshatteredrose​. Be warned as it contains spoilers from Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold's final DLC.

"Another day in the labyrinth completed... God, that Ur-Child was such a pain in the ass to fight." Flavio complained, feeling incredibly worn out after the guild had defeated the strongest monster in the labyrinth. Fafnir turned to his best friend and patted his shoulder.

"No kidding... Seems like the Overlord had his reasons for sealing it away while he did." Fafnir admitted, scratching the back of his head with his free hand.

"Regardless, now that the damned thing is dead, and we can relax for the night. Right Arianna?" Chloe asked the Sovereign, as she nodded her head an clasped her hands together.

"Yes, exactly. We also need to replenish our supplies for our next trip into the labyrinth, so I'm kinda glad we managed to defeat the Ur-Child at a reasonable time."

"Agreed. But first, let's head back to the inn and-"

"Pardon me!"

"Huh-?!"

"Wha?!"

A male Ronin accidentally bumped into the Highlander and Fafnir Knight, as he continued to move forward, running at a pace Korey thought he would not see from a worried explorer. "...The fuck? Was that a Ronin just now?" Korey inquired, scratching his head as he had to wonder why the Ronin had ran past them.

"It almost looked like he was in a rush. Or he was likely fleeing from something. Either way, someone's gotta check up on him." Bertrand continued, looking at Fafnir, silently asking him what they should do. Fafnir seemed to understood him and faced where the Ronin went.

"Korey, you and I will ask the Ronin. Everyone else can wait here. Better make sure we don't overwhelm him with out numbers." Fafnir announced, as the Highlander nodded.

"Alright, we'll be right back." The brown haired Highlander addressed, as Fafnir and Korey ran in the direction the Ronin went. Although they've been through Lagaard many times before, trying to think of where he could have went was quite a different story.

They eventually found him, resting near the stairs to the bar. When the Ronin heard footsteps, he quickly took out his weapon and pointed at the duo who was approaching him. "Don't come any fucking closer!"

The knight and highlander stopped where they were. Korey noticed that the Ronin had taken severe damage, thankfully, wasn't to the point where he was bleeding, but it was quite obvious just from looking at him. "Your injured, aren't you?"

The Ronin's expression changed when Korey asked him. He thought it wouldn't be obvious if he ran faster, but he was quite breathless from the running he did. The Ronin tried to open his mouth to ask them a question, but the Highlander seemed to respond faster than he can ask.

"I'm Korey, and this is Fafnir, the leader of the Gungnir Guild. We saw you run by us just now, and we wanted to make sure you were alright..." Gungnir Guild... Weren't they the ones who took down that mechanical being in Heaven's Keep?

The Ronin lowered his weapon, laying back against the wall behind him. "Is it alright for us to come closer?" Fafnir inquired.

"...Yes."

Gaining the Ronin's trust, the knight and highlander approached him to look at his injuries. "...The name's Shen, by the way. Lynus has told me about the two of you before. I apologize for not recognizing you by name." He uttered, just enough that Korey and Fafnir would hear.

"It's fine, Shen. Though may I ask, how did you receive these injuries? These don't look recognizable from any FOEs we've encountered."

Shen looked at the Fafnir Knight, who had inquired him. "I've... uh, how do I explain this..." He started, trying to find the right words. The silence between the three of them was understandable, as Korey nor Fafnir wanted to rush the Ronin on his words.

"...Have you ever found that there was more to the labyrinth than just the thirtieth floor?"

More than just the thirtieth floor...? That was honestly baffling to both Korey and Fafnir. What did he even mean by that?

"I don't recall hearing anything of the sort, cause we were fighting Ur-Child just a couple of hours ago..." Korey replied, as Fafnir concurred with the Highlander. There was no possible way they would've missed stairs to this new floor Shen was speaking of.

"Well, there were rumors that there is a thirty-first floor that has no monsters whatsoever. Just a bunch of mysterious F.O.E's that move randomly." Shen articulated, getting surprised looks from the Knight and Highlander.

"No normal enemies? A floor literally filled with only random moving F.O.E's already sounds problematic, but the fact that there's no normal enemies is very worrying... How is such a thing even possible?" Fafnir was rather perplexed by this as much as Shen and Korey was.

"Exactly what I wonder, as well. But, when I was entering the final room, I found something that I would only describe as... pure malice and darkness. Here."

The Ronin took out a piece of paper and handed it to the Highlander, who motioned Fafnir to come look at it with him. Unfolding the huge amount of paper that was folded, something on the paper caused Fafnir and Korey to freeze in place. There, on the large sheet of taped paper...

...Well, how can he even describe it? It was still just a sketch, yet Shen managed to capture the image of what was residing within that floor, despite it showing signs of being drawn in a rush. Colored as well, despite the map making tools having a limited color palette.

"Wha-what even is this thing...? The ultimate evolution of the Ruler of Heaven?"

"The power of ruin and reckoning?"

Korey and Fafnir were honestly perplexed by the sheer fact that it looks so indescribable, and the sketch was not helping matters. Folding the paper away, Korey uttered to the Ronin before him. "Could it be connected to the Overlord's creations, somehow?"

"It could be, but I can't confirm this, as you guys dealt with him on your trip through Yggdrasil... And though I'm not sure what it's officially called, I decided to give it the name 'Ur-Devil'."

Silence befell the Knight and Highlander. This was truly some heavy news that Shen was dropping on them. Mere words weren't enough to describe the anger and confusion both Fafnir and Korey had been building up within them.

"So you're telling me that the Ur-Child, the one we have defeated, was not enough for the Overlord, and he decided to make another one?!" Shen simply shrugged in response to the Highlander's question. After all, the Overlord was dead, so it was kinda too late to ask him in person.

"Even then, that... thing, is too dangerous to let it live. But it's too powerful to battle it. It seems to be contained within that floor, but for how long? It might eventually break out, and just my guild alone might not survive the fight against it, and-"

Shen was stopped mid-sentence by Fafnir placing his hand on the Ronin's shoulder. He looked at the Fafnir Knight with worry on his face, something he hadn't had in some time. Fafnir took a deep breath, and decided that now was not the time to panic and question things.

"Relax, Shen. If we have faced the Ur-Child, we will be capable of defeating this Ur-Devil. But we'll require twice the preparation from when we entered to fight Ur-Child. Perhaps you can fight alongside us to ensure your guild's safety."

Fighting alongside the Gungnir Guild? Without his fellow guildmates? Shen only got more worried when Fafnir even mentioned that they will fight it, regardless of his warnings.

"F-Fafnir, are you sure about this? This Ur-Devil seems like it'd be an even tougher opponent than the Ur-Child! Are you really sure-"

"Yes, I'm sure. We may lose our lives, but the protection of Lagaard- no, the world, is what we're striving for. If we don't stop it, no one in the world may be capable of standing up to it. Isn't that right, Highlander?"

Both Fafnir and Shen looked towards the Highlander, who had been lost in thought for a bit before noticing that he was the center of attention. Regardless, Korey knew a threat as big as that must be eradicated, no matter how long it takes...

"...Yes. Where I came from, my Yggdrasil had a very similar threat that was willing to cause massive chaos to my world, and potentially more worlds had I fallen in battle against it. This Ur-Devil... Although it brings back painful similarities to the foe I despise, it must not be allowed to live. You even said it yourself, Shen. I'm willing to sacrifice everything to protect the world I love so much."

He couldn't believe it. Even though he had literally met the greatest known warriors in the Gungnir Guild, being asked to defeat the very foe that brought him into this predicament. It was weird, but if he had declined it, and his guild would find the very same floor he investigated...

"Korey... Fafnir..."

Shen fell silent again, giving some thought to his next move. Surely, he will be working along with the two famous warriors of the Gungnir Guild, but would he really risk it all? Was he really willing to die to protect those he cared and loved for...?

"...Alright, if you insist. We will prepare for it within a few days. I'll let you know when I am ready."

Korey and Fafnir couldn't hold back a smile, relieved that they'll be working together to defeat the Ur-Devil. "Thanks, Shen. Now, why don't you see Lynus about those injuries?"

Oh yeah. He was so busy conversing with the two that he had forgotten his own injuries. Didn't help that it still hurt as he pushed himself away from the wall, but pain was better than bleeding out where he stood in that floor he mentioned.

"...Fine. I suppose I'll see you later then." Shen breathed, as he began walking to the inn.

"Hey Shen..."

The Ronin looked back, as the Highlander continued to speak. "Make sure your guild doesn't know about the Ur-Devil. Wouldn't want them to risk their lives trying to defeat it. The less casualties, the better."

Not tell his own guildmates...? He already navigated the floor, and mapped it out of sheer safety, but... No, Korey was right. Better to have less casualties than having an entire guild wiped from history.

"That... is going to be very hard to do, but I'll try." Shen responded, continuing to make his way back to the inn.

"Man, things just keep piling up, don't they? This Ur-Devil seems like it won't stop til all of Lagaard knows its name." Fafnir sighed, scratching his head. Korey turned to face Fafnir, as he sighed as well.

"No kidding... And I thought the Yggdrasil Core would've been the most concerning of all things, much less, Ur-Child. But regardless, now that we know what happened, let's head back to our guild."

Fafnir nodded, as they wasted no time in running back to their guild, who had been chatting among themselves, until Arianna turned around and saw them return.

"Sir Fafnir, Sir Korey, you're back. How was the Ronin? Did you find out what happened to him?"

"Well you see..." Fafnir started, as he and Korey alternated sharing what they were told by Shen to the Guild. Korey even took out the piece of paper he got from Shen and unfolded it, showing it to the rest of the guild. Everyone was surprised at what its appearance, despite being sketched in a rush.

"So you mean to tell me, that the Overlord didn't make not one, not two, but THREE creations in an attempt at this 'eternal life' crap?" Bertrand spoke up as soon as Fafnir and Korey ended their explanation. The Highlander could only nod his head in response.

"My thoughts exactly, Bertrand. It's quite ridiculous how the Overlord still manages to befuddle us, even after we defeated him." Korey concurred, as he began to refold the paper once more.

"But, why? Why must there be something that's so dangerous that it has to be contained on a different floor...?" Ricky inquired, despite her perplexed face.

"Perhaps it was just needed. After all, this Ur-Devil crap reeks of similarities to Ur-Child." The War Magus attempted to answer the Millennium Girl's question.

"It must be... Though, we did manage to defeat his two previous creations, so I'm confident we can take out the Overlord's strongest creation." Fafnir confidently spoke, until Flavio sighed in annoyance.

"I dunno, Fafnir... This feels like it's putting way too much pressure on us." Flavio commented.

"Despite that pressure, we must press on. This will likely be our last mission together, so we must make it count by all means. Not just for us, or Shen, but for the world." Arianna chimed in, as Ricky seemed to face Flavio as well.

"Arianna's right. Despite the difficulty we're faced with, ignoring it will only bring about the deaths of casual explorers who might get TOO curious about that floor. Just like the Yggdrasil Core back in Etria: we simply can't ignore the dangers it may put to the world if it does escape."

Korey didn't even WANT to imagine what would become of Lagaard and the world should Ur-Devil escape from it's containment. It's name literally reeks of 'ragnarok'. The end of the world. He took a deep breath, and a face of determination appeared on the Highlander's face.

"Alright... Fafnir, Ricky, Bertrand, Flavio, Chloe, Arianna, let's give it all we've got when we are prepared to face it in battle. We'll show this Ur-Devil who the greatest guild in all of Lagaard can really do, and we'll protect my homeland and the world!"

"Yes. We must do it for the world's sake. I'll stand by you til the very end, Korey." Ricky's face beamed, despite the pressure of losing her life after a thousand years of sleep.

"Personally, I'm feeling rather nervous. But you guys are gonna need a Protector by your side. And I'll stick with you until the end." Bertrand concurred, as he smirked at Korey and Fafnir.

"This doesn't feel right, and I won't lie when trying to face something we don't know feels disastrous... But we aren't gonna let it get to us. Count me in, Korey and Fafnir." Flavio commented, despite being worried a few minutes earlier.

"Count Chloe in as well. Might as help somewhat with healing you guys." Chloe declared.

"Sir Fafnir, Sir Korey, Sir Flavio, Sir Bertrand, Miss Chloe, and Miss Ricky... I will lend you my support to the best of my ability. Together, we'll end this devil and bring peace to the world!" Arianna was the last one to give her support to the guild. And Fafnir couldn't be any prouder.

"Thanks, everyone... Let's head to the inn and prepare for that fateful day." Fafnir declared, determined with their final mission in mind.

Followed by an 'okay' from everyone, the Gungnir Guild began to head back to the inn, their original destination before Shen diverged their attention. They had to be prepared for it, even if they may have some restless nights. But they couldn't let it overwhelm them before their fateful battle. It wouldn't be allowed.

Fear can be a dangerous enemy...