#wayward guide theories

[thedrunkenreadersreviews]

Alastor's Villain Era ...

EDIT: It has been confirmed on Alastor's official Hazbin Hotel Wiki page that he was, indeed, having a panic attack.

Fireball seemed fitting.

*Long sip, sip*

Okay, I have had some time to calm down and think about things. I rewatched it all and thought long and hard.

*Sip, sip*

What the heck was going on with Alastor in the finale? Well, I think it is tremendously complicated.

To be honest, I know the popular theory is that via his deal he HAS to be at the hotel probably to defend it. While I want to agree with this theory, I can't put my full faith in it. It is a good theory, a great one, one that I held onto for most of season one. Now I'm not saying I'm dismissing it, rather, I am having doubts.

Because he left after he was hit. And who in their right mind would send Alastor, a deal-making demon, to where Charlie is?

But for the sake of this post, I'm going with the popular theory that he is there because of the deal he made.

*Sip, sip*

But let's look at episode 7 and episode 8 as sort of a package. Viv is the most detailed animator I have ever seen. She puts the smallest details in everything; from the news crawls to Vox's blue screen, Alastor's coffee mug, Adam eating ribs, the pictures in the background of everyone's rooms, like there are so many things that give you more information than what the characters could give you themselves. Nothing is in there just to be there; it is all connected.

*Sip, sip*

Alastor's microphone is an extension of himself and that is made exceptionally clear in episode 8.

In episode 7, he gives Charlie his microphone.

He's slipping. And by that "fuck" moment in episode 8, he knows he is slipping.

I am of the mind that Alastor made that deal with Charlie for future plans regarding breaking his contract. He didn't ask for her soul (not entirely sure, but I have some theories as to why), and then took her to see Rosie.

Rosie, who he considers to be one of his only few friends. And while Charlie, who is going through a rough spot that Alastor is completely aware of, is trying to speak to the crowd, Alastor offers her his microphone---an extension of himself. He gives her a small thumbs up (such a dad move), and builds her up throughout the number.

And when he is alone with Rosie, watching Charlie sing about her stepping up to be the Princess of Hell, this is what they tell each other:

Rosie: They're marching along. They're singing her song!

Alastor: Surprised? Why, I knew she could do it all along!

Both: She's bound to pass the test as Princess of Hell! Like her daddy, she is madly powerful!

Alastor: She's filled with potential that I could guide.

Rosie: I concur!

Both: Stick with her and you'll be on the winning side!

Now let's look at episode 8 and what he says to Niffty, his other close friend:

Alastor: It's been a surprising thrill to witness these wayward souls find connection. It almost makes one sentimental, ay, Niffty?

Niffty: I really like them, Alastor. They let me put on roach puppet shows without booing.

Alastor: Ah, an enjoyable collective to be around. I admit, one could become accustomed.

It should be noted, that he is looking at them from above with his face in his hands, leaning on the rail of a balcony, as if he doesn't feel like he belongs among them ... but almost wants to be.

*Sip, sip*

While I think his verse with Rosie is more about being on Charlie's side for power, he didn't need to give her his microphone. And he was alone with Niffty, he didn't have to put on a front or say anything like that but he did.

*Sip, sip*

It is obvious that they talked battle strategy prior to the fight. Charlie, without question, is the strongest person in the hotel. Even Alastor knows this as he also knows Charlie does not know how to use her powers in such circumstances. So it is decided that he, the second strongest who knows how to use his powers in a battle-way, would go onto the roof of the hotel. It is decided that Alastor will cast the forcefield.

But more than that. After the "fuck" moment, when Charlie sees Adam return to the main melee, she says, "But Alastor was supposed to ..."

Meaning they agreed that Alastor was going to SOLO fight ADAM! That was the arrangement. And Alastor seemed all too happy to agree to it. But this is how he handles beings he knows have superior powers to him.

With Lucifer, he finds something he knows will get under Lucifer's skin.

With Adam, he openly mocks him and for a while, he may think that Adam is too sloppy to really do any damage.

*Sip, sip*

And then ... "ffffffuuck."

And he nearly dies. That wound is not small. Alastor is cut. Bad. And in that moment, when he is on the ground, looking around, manic eyes, that is pure prey behavior. That is pure terror.

Alastor is terrified. Because he got hit. Bad. And he is on the threshold of death.

In the stream before the premier, Amir refused to answer the question of what scares Alastor, saying it would be too much of a spoiler and Viv agreed with him.

Alastor is terrified of dying. He retreats to heal up; granted, after a blow like that, I am not sure he would have been any help should he have lingered. Was it cowardly? Yes. Did it make sense? Absolutely. He is terrified and too badly wounded to push on after that.

*Sip, sip*

And then we hear his verse in the song. And these lyrics, coupled with Amir's fantastic ability to convey so much emotion into Alastor's voice (who needs it the most on account of his permanent grin), and the eyes, the hand placements, his body language, even his smile is off.

Alastor is having a mental breakdown. He is having the mother of all panic attacks. He is on the brink of foaming at the mouth in madness.

Because he knows he is slipping, and this deal is going to get him killed.

He defended that hotel (probably because he was forced to) but also in part because he cares to some extent for the hazbins. At least, he is rather fond of them, as we see when he speaks to Niffty.

And the thought that he is slipping, starting to have emotions, is forced to be there (possibly), and cannot access all of his powers (as is implied in the lyrics of his verse) because of the deal he made, he cannot fathom it. He cannot accept it. It is mentally destroying him.

I got hurt. I got hurt bad. I almost died. I barely escaped. All because of this damn hotel and my damn deal!

The visuals of that scene, from the background and the accompanying music---which is much darker for Alastor's than any of the other character's verses---compounded spectacularly by Alastor's movements show us that he is slipping into madness. He is becoming desperate to be free of his deal, he wants not power per se but security. If enough people are afraid of him, if he has enough power and influence (which is where I think Charlie comes in) then others won't try to hurt him.

*sip, sip*

Alastor's verse starts off somber, him reflecting on the fact that he almost got killed. And then it is shifts into his own mocking.

I do not think he sings, "Great Alastor, altruist, died for his friends," seriously. He says it like it is a headline in a newspaper. And his expression! His eyes are wide and wild, his smile large and somber, his brows are furrowed, he's dragging a hand down his face. He is distraught at the thought of this. Me? Dying for them? No! Not going to happen! I won't let that happen!

And he immediately corrects us and himself for thinking that that is the case. "Sorry to disappoint [us, those watching]. That is not where this ends!" Here, he is angry. He slams his fist into the control panel, draws his claws through it, and emphasizes that not. He is telling us as much as himself that he will not die for such a noble reason. And he is certainly not done in Hell yet, as obvious by his very next line.

"I'm hungry for freedom like never before." His hands are around him---around where he got cut---before spreading outwards. His eyes, the whole time, are on his hands. This deal is suppressing his powers. And this deal probably put him into the hotel. He is looking at his hands as if willing his freedom and his power to come back to him, because if he had them, he wouldn't have nearly gotten killed.

*Sip, sip*

Now is where we truly start to see him slipping into madness.

This deal, this oppression of my powers, and the people I have met because of those two things nearly got me killed! No way in Hell can I accept that.

Alastor is now more desperate than ever.

"The constraints of my deal surely have a back door."

The animators zoom in on his face. His eyes are going all over the place, his hands are approximately covering his ears, his smile is more clenched teeth than anything. It is the purest expression of a panic attack I have ever seen (and as someone who has suffered from panic attacks so severe I had to be hospitalized on numerous occasions), it is spot on. Everything just seems so loud when you are in that bout of excessive worry. You look all over the place for possible dangers, it is difficult to stand up straight (Alastor has been slouching this entire scene when he usually has perfect posture) and you hunt for an answer with such eagerness that your mind runs a million miles a minute trying to find one while also sifting through every possibility of what could go wrong. That is Alastor's expression at that moment. I have seen myself having attacks. It looks exactly like that.

"Once I figure out how to unclip my wings ..."

You don't even see his face anymore. It's a back shot and he's walking toward an ominous green light, the color of his power when it is manifesting. And he is still slouched slightly, still unsteady.

*Sip, sip*

Now here is the tumble.

"Guess [his "ears" are down in airplane mode, guess who is tormenting me right now] who will [now his ears go up and he fully turns around to face us, but I won't be leashed to them for long] be pulling all the strings!"

This is when we see his face again, back to its more calm appearance. That is him telling himself that he will never be put in such a situation again. He is going to be the one moving the pieces, not the other way around. And he slowly comes out of that slouching position as this line progresses. And he lifts his arms up while emerging from the green light is his shadow---his powers---rising with his voice, his body, his eyes too.

*sip, sip*

And what seals it for me is that laugh. That is not the laugh we have heard from Alastor all season. Alastor starts with like a giggle in his throat that bubbles up into something louder and more sadistic. The laugh that we hear at the end of episode 2 is very similar to the one in episode 5 just before he goes on his rampage.

This laugh is manic. It doesn't start as a low giggle in the throat. It is in full volume from the get-go. The only way I can describe it is sort of like a Joker laugh. He is gone.

*Sip, sip*

It is a treat, a true treasure, to see an evil character again. Every time Alastor is on the screen, you really don't know what he is going to do next. Even though he said he is at the hotel to see people fail, I call BS as I think most people do. Sure, that may be just a perk to him, but that is not the main reason. At the end of season 1, we still do not know for sure what Alastor's motivation is. We still don't know beyond getting himself free what is his goal.

That is why he is so incredible to watch. He can go anywhere, he could do anything, and it will surprise us.

I don't think he is leashed to Lilith but there is certainly something there. As for being gone for 7 years, I have a few theories. Lilith apparently made a deal with Adam or Lute or someone, as when Lute tells her that Adam is dead she mentions that their deal is off now. I want to think more on my theories before I post them but the main one is, for whatever reason, I think Alastor was in purgatory for 7 years.

"How to unclip my wings." That's a very interesting choice of lyric and if there is one thing we know for sure about this show, every lyrical line is chosen very carefully.

*Sip, sip*

Well, I think this post is long enough. I see Alastor soon going into a manic rampage. What I wanted most since the trailer for season 1 dropped (based on some of the scenes that were in it) was for Adam and Alastor to fight on the roof of the hotel. And man, even though Alastor lost, I still loved it! It showed us so much about Alastor's character and why he thought he could handle Adam alone. Going into season 2, I want to see Alastor unleashed. Fully unhinged, manic out of his mind, unleashed.

And please, let me know what you guys think! I love reading your comments. It helps me develop new theories too.

As the King Roach himself said in the Pilot:

Stay tuned!

*Sip, sip*

[imari4444]

My reaction to the Natlan archon quest I guess (very much spoilers BEWARE)

MY DAUGHTER!!!! MY CHILD!!!! NOTHING BAD BETTER HAPPEN TO YOU MY SWEET PEA!!!! (bad stuff happened and I am not okay-)

No… you didn’t-

NOOOOOOOO!!!!!! (Crying cat in the BG is me-)

I HAD A WHOLE GAG IN MY FIC FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER ABOUT HOW THE TRAVELER NEVER REMEMBERED THAT POWER AND IT WAS GOING TO BE SUPER IMPORTANT WHY HOYO?!?! WHY NOW!?!? YOU COULDNT WAIT LIKE ONE MORE UPDATE 😭 (this is my fault for taking to long tbh-)

BAHAHAHA!!!! Venti mentioned(?)

We love the broken holy lyre <3

This made me laugh… this lady is slowly becoming one of my favorite archons (which this is very odd to think about but human archons? I feel like venti would’ve done something like this since he wanted humanity to be free of gods? Why didn’t he do it((well I have an idea as of why but more importantly why does venti seem to dislike the ‘pyro archon’ or at least describe them as a war mongering wrench? Could he perhaps be speaking of a specific archon or is there more to the human archon than just humans? Maybe we have another Furina situation? So many questions!!! So many theories how exciting!))

This brings up more similaritiesand quesitos I have about Natlan and Mond (you know I have to bring up Mond because I’m constantly thinking about how to fit everything into my messed up fics timeline. forgive me 🙏🙏🙏) but the Abyss/abyss order.

This is the first time they attacked another nation and was the main perpetrator since Mondstadt and Dvalin!

Liyue was the fatui, Inazuma was the fatui, sumeru was… the fatui. Fontaine was celestia and one of the sinners pet narwhal(plz let me know if I’m wrong on that-) now finally the abyss makes an appearance again but I don’t think it’s the abyss order, just the abyss (?) how Intresting. So many ties with Natlan and Mond already it has been at a puzzle.

That brings up a sort of theory that’s been in my head recently.

There are six tribes and one each represents an element in Natlan. But we’re missing pyro, which could be because it’s the nation of pyro but then we remember that Vanessa’s clan left Natlan. The ‘children of murata’ I’m starting to realize was not the pyro archons name but the tribes name, like the children of echoes.

So Vanessa’s tribe was the pyro tribe and maybe Vanessa being able to ascend to godhood like the OG pyro archon suggests that maybe only Natlan humans can ascend, and if so why?

Does it have something to do with natlans non existent leylines? That also suggests why we’re currently being introduced to another ‘spirit realm’

So far we have four (five?) different mentions of the afterlife and how it world of genshin.

Venti: being able to guide souls to the afterlife or ‘home’ hu Tao and the exorcists in liyue introducing wayward souls, sumeru and the rebirth of life(? Samsara??? Idkkk :|) (it’s complicated I might be wrong I’m not going further into it-) and also the possible shade of death (like istoroth shade of time) but now we have the night kindom and the ode of resurrection which sorta reminds me of the souls stuck on the island in Inazuma…. Also the night kingdom lowkey feels like hell- so…

AHHH SO COMPLICATED, I wonder how it all ties together… what is the actual afterlife? Maybe non of them are and they are all just different levels of ghostly shenanigans.

Anyways no more ramble apologies… (I’m not really good with lore despite my love for learning it , so please tell me if you have any canon info or if I made an error in assumptions 😓)

OKAY! OUCH- (someone write a fic where her family reincarnates right now, I beg of you-)

Im so proud of her I feel like a mom UHABNAA

…. I’m building her DPS

She’s going to be unstoppable >:)

I’ll put her on my Klee team too muahahhahaha!!!!

[misqnon]

one piece x inuyasha au bc I'm insane and wrote this during my break today

luffy is a human kid* sent to the great demon era (I'm great at naming <3) where demons rule the lands after he falls through a cursed well in the forest where he and sabo and Ace grew up. he seeks to collect all the pieces of the shikon jewel and put them back together into....one piece. (loud booing) listen,

in this era, the wielder of the shikon jewel becomes the most powerful demon that rules over all the others. luffy does not care that he's human. he wants that damn jewel

zoro is still a swordsman. not much changes. people think he's a demon, but he's actually just a really strong human who can use techniques like asura. he was a demon hunter for spare change after he got lost leaving his home village. not much changes there, either

nami is a petty thief and navigator who used to work for the demon arlong. she starts to awaken some priestess powers with usopp's help and the staff he gives her, though she doesn't really follow any other priestess rules. she learns other magic, too, still messing with the weather and wielding a variety of attacks without a care for whether they're sacred or demonic

usopp's following in the footsteps of his father- a priest turned adventurer killing wayward demons along the way. his weapon of choice in this au is a bow and arrow which sometimes he and Nami will work together to bless the arrows!

sanji is a travelling cook who's secretly the son of a daiyoukai. due to his mother's intervention, he's a hanyou, but he passes as human and his crew doesnt know he is one.

chopper is a little reindeer demon who's learning medicine and priesthood under the care of lady kureha, joining luffy's crew after they defeat the demon wapol

robin is a demon from ohara who works under the demon warlord Crocodile for a little while, fulfilling a role similar to kaguya. she deserts him after luffy and crew save vivi and the alabasta region from his reign, but she's still wanted by the world at large for being a "dangerous type of demon" with knowledge of the old world and the creation of the shikon jewel passed down in her clan.

franky is a human/zombie/demon hybrid who survived an explosion after his mentor, a demon named tom, was attacked. he put himself back together with human and demon parts alike, similarly to how sesshomaru and naraku would absorb spare body parts in the og show. he's a blacksmith!

Brook is a revived man much like kikyo was brought back by demonic methods. he has to consume souls to keep living, but he only steals the souls of their enemies. he's also pretty bad at it. he's still a musician, though his instruments are a bit more traditional

jinbei is a whale shark yokai, so a fish yokai from the same clan as Arlong...but not evil lmao. he used to be a warlord too, but decided he didn't like the whole feudal part. he's the crew's cultural guide and diplomat of sorts, attempting to keep peace between demon territories and human villages they visit alike from freaking out when a rag tag group of thieves, demons, priests, and fighters show up on their doorstep. he and robin discuss history and archeology often, and in theory robin has a lot of the same knowledge jinbei does, but jinbei has better....people skills.

the setting would be the inuyasha universe, feudal / yokai infested Japan. however, the world government is an issue in luffy's time (1500's fictional goa kingdom) that secretly has ties to accessing the demon world. I haven't thought out the logistics fully, yet. but you can bet your ass luffy's mentor shanks, who is often gone on long "journeys," was actually traveling back and forth from the feudal era and the goa kingdom this whole time.

* spoilers below

* I haven't gotten ro gear 5 yet myself but I imagine luffy is secretly the reincarnation of the demon "joy boy", which will. aid the whole shikon jewel thing. and is also why he is able to traverse the cursed well.

though, humans like shanks seek out the jewel too, for the power it can hold in controlling demons or perhaps (myth?) giving them the power of one.

[pasharuu]

THIS IS THE SECOND PART.

so yeah, a lil technical issue, lets move on.

IX the hermit - waywardness, detachment, self-knowledge. i'll be honest, this is my favorite card of all. i firstly wanted to put Arana here since she fits here well, but she went on the lovers card so there is Arakunti. Arakunti is a literal troll, the man of charisma, using his detachment from people excellently, he is unfairly underrated among others. yet he is hiding in his grove of dreams for whatever reason (fr i dont know). this is where he is on the card btw, but this place doesnt have any red shiny stuff, i added these for the sake of catching the classic scene of this card. AND IT WORKED SO WELL, NONE OTHER BUT RED WOULD WORK THIS GOOD. really, i love how smoothy this card just works, and Arakunti's stare of course. 11/10 best card.

X wheel of fortune - destination, knowing of the higher powers. "the higher powers" is the source song in this case, and these guys are really willing to find out what it is. not even i know... forever a mystery. 7/10, looks appealing.

XI strength - taming the beast, fondness of life. once again, epic card that i dont have to explain, this dude is too popular with people. solid 8/10.

XII the hanged man - the dead end, uncertainty. i already made a tractate about Ararycan that explains much about why i chose him for this card, but for those who doesnt want to spend their time reading that tractate, heres it in a nutshell.

i hate Dottore clone theory. i personally think that once Ararycan used to be a strong lad like he says nowdays, but one day he forgot everything due to casting his powers for something important and since then he is kinda lost, since around that time he as well loses his good friend. that may be why he mentions us being his friends so often, simply because he worships it so much. i find this scenario cute in a way. 8/10, protect my child Ararycan.

XIII death - the end, tendancy to renovation. oops, a bad bad thingie. but in the whole picture, the Marana avatar might be just a symbol of that renovation, it had to be destroyed to create something beautiful after it. 7/10.

XIV temperance - the angel, guidance, reaching the perfect middle. this was the first card i ever drew btw, which is ironic cuz Aramuhukunda was the first aranara. this card kinda differs from other, showing some rather abstract scene, but i decided to just leave it as it is.

Aramuhukunda was sort of a guide for us in the quest, the one who blessed us by giving his memories to Arama and removing the last seal, which was closing the way to Marana avatar - the end of our journey. he also was some really epic dude in the past, giving him some cheers for that. 6/10, rest in peace, small ancient wise vegetable.

XV the devil - the enemy, overcoming internal contradictions. Arashakun because of the meaning, the hilichurl because of the devil. i recall Arashakun called it something like "masked furry demon" which is hilarious. i actually couldnt decide anything for this card for a long time cuz i placed Arashakun in the moon card already, but eventually i understood the potential of this card. 7/10, worked well.

XVI the tower - redemption, a phase of drastic changes. if "death" may be interpreted as a drastic change, then im not wrong with the choice. usually tower also has some defending motives, so shall Mawtiyima be their tower then. 8/10.

XVII the star - wisdom, desire for knowledge. we dont know who the hell is Arakarman, but this lad indeed knows a lot. maybe he is as well ancient, although he still refers to his knowledge as "stories", not "memories". but keeping in mind the fact that he is technically cinnamon, he still might be ass old. however, for now we know very little about him. 7/10, this card looks nice.

XVIII the moon - the rise, changing direction. since i removed Arashakun from here, i had a chance to put my little silly Arakanta somewhere in this deck. however, he is here just because he is lucky, but i dont know any alternative that fits well for this card. Nahida would do, but by the meaning she is not really connected to Aranyaka questline. so yeah i placed Arakanta here just because. 7/10.

AND THAT IS ALL. only three cards left... to the third post.

[man-down-in-hatchet-town]

Wayward Guide Crack Theory: Ryan Reynolds is Low-Key Psychic

Okay, yeah, this sounds ridiculous. But it's actually not that far out there? After all, Prism seems to be an absolute cash-grabbing hack, but her tarot cards nonetheless predict her death from a werewolf attack, establishing that Divination and psychic happenings are very much a part of Connor Creek's world. And Ryan... just seems to know things. He feels the most strongly of anyone that Miner Mole is up to no good, reads Artemis like a book and believes she's the person to help save Connor Creek, predicts his own death just like Prism's cards, and even pre-quotes exactly what Lesly is going to say about his story. (Yeah, okay, that last one is a repetition joke but why can't it be both that and a prediction??)

Ryan obviously doesn't consider himself psychic--he doubts himself when he talks about people trying to kill him--but he still picks up on a lot, including some things people would rather keep hidden. Maybe his powers aren't strong enough for him to know they're there, but impact his behavior and world-view all the same.

(The big hole in this theory is that Ryan doesn't seem to have picked up on the town's biggest secret--the existence of werewolves. But who's to really say he hadn't? Maybe part of the reason for reaching out to Artemis was to save them...)

[sleepy-shinx]

Identity Theft - a submas fic

I had a crack theory and it turned into a crack fic. Here ya go.

Summary: A story based on the events of Pokemon Legends: Arceus, except something's not quite... right. Seems there was a slight mishap when a certain amnesiac warden fell into Hisui...

Warnings: Some swearing. At the very end. I initially said there was a brief identity crisis then realized the ENTIRE FIC is one long identity crisis so plz forgive me

Pairings: none. especially not bl@nkshipping. blankshippers DNI!

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/44985460

His name was Ingo.

When he’d first fallen, he’d woke in a strange land, confused, injured, and with no memories except his name. He’d been only half coherent, brain muddled with exhaustion and pain. They’d asked him his name, and he’d looked down at himself in a panic, taking a moment to center himself before he spoke the only memory he’d retained from his unexpected detour. 

His name was Ingo.

He wore a black coat, with red accents and a blue band around the upper left arm. The hat that rested atop his head matched the coat, black with a red band and an odd emblem in the middle. Items of clothing that matched no other in Hisui, that made him stand out from everyone else in the region. Even the other clothes he’d been wearing when he fell had stood out from everyone else’s, an odd, white button-down shirt and black pants, accompanied by a pair of oddly shaped black shoes as well.

When he looked at the items, the name Ingo was always associated with them.

When he looked at himself in the mirror as he was wearing them, he saw Ingo. 

And yet. 

The name had never felt quite… right.

He had no justification for the feeling, no reason to believe that the only name he’d ever known since falling in Hisui wouldn’t be his own. The one time he brought it up with Lady Irida, it had only confused her beyond belief. Because how could his name not be Ingo? 

He hadn’t brought it up with her again.

But the feeling never left him.

It wasn’t enough to derail him beyond function, so he had stopped thinking too much into it long ago. 

As far as he or anyone else was concerned, he was Warden Ingo.

⇅ ⇅ ⇅

“Take care not to come uncoupled from me!” He called back to his young companion, the one he was guiding through Wayward Cave. The cave was, frustratingly enough, unlit, despite the dangers traversing through an unlit cave wrought for passengers unaccustomed to traveling through the area. He highly suspected Melli was at fault for removing them, but he had no basis for the suspicions, at least not of yet. 

The young girl nodded, trailing only slightly behind him as she followed him through the cave. 

“So you don’t remember anything from before Hisui?” Akari asked, clearly trying to prevent an awkward silence.

“Very little,” he admitted with a nod. “Though I will admit, leading a young companion through tunnels to safety… seems to ring some bells.”

Talking a lot always seemed to take a lot out of him, though he could never quite understand why. That was supposed to be his thing… right? Yet, it always felt like a chore, drawing out his words to the length he thought they were intended to be. 

“Maybe this will help you remember some other things, then?”

He hummed, letting his thoughts wander, though he still kept a watchful eye out for danger. “Perhaps…”

Something, a vague, incomplete wisp of a thought passed through his mind, and he decided he may as well tell her about it, hoping it might lead him further down those tracks. “I recall, faintly, that I had a partner once…” Lightning danced across his mind, accompanied by dancing flames. “A precious one.” He initially felt pulled to the sparks, but no, that couldn’t be quite right. His partner was the one with purple flames, it had to be… “Its name escapes me, but I remember that it wielded flames with mastery. If only it were here, I’m sure it would light the way, luring us onward…” 

Their path was impeded by an Alpha Crobat. He quickly rerouted, leading her down the other way towards the exit so they would not be forced to fight such a powerful Alpha in the dark. 

“Have you remembered anything else?” Akari asked, looking at him curiously.

Anything else… yes. Another memory briefly flashed by, spurred on by the vague familiarity of traversing dark tunnels alongside another. “I’m starting to recall a man who looked… like me. We’d battle and discuss Pokemon, I think…”

Two scripts began warring in his head as vague battle memories flashed through, too scrambled together to be anything coherent. He was almost completely unable to get anything out of it, but then… “The words ‘I like winning more than anything else’ flashed through my mind just now…”

⇅ ⇅ ⇅

He stared in the mirror, frowning. Warden Ingo stared back at him.

Frowning, he had realized, took almost the same amount of energy out of him as talking so much did. He couldn’t quite understand. He was supposed to frown, it went right alongside his words and the black of his coat and hat. 

So why did it feel so exhausting? Feel, so deeply inside, so wrong?

Without thinking too much, he allowed the corners of his lips to move, to curl up into a smile. It felt… right. 

A stranger stared back at him.

It looked wrongwrongwrongwrongwrong

⇅ ⇅ ⇅

“Now then… Follow the rules and drive safely! We’re headed for victory! All aboard!”

The script felt right and yet still wrong as it came out. He knows he’s spoken these words before, but drawing them out, carrying them on this much, felt so wrong. 

He didn’t quite understand. His brain kept telling him this was right. He was Ingo, was he not? He was supposed to be the one who talked a lot, who frowned, who expressed himself through words less than his face. Who wore black and battled with one Pokemon at a time (why wouldn’t he? One Pokemon at a time… that was how battling worked, was it not??)?

Who was he comparing himself to? Was there someone he knew back then, before Hisui, who didn’t do these things? 

He didn’t have time to ponder these things, right now. He had a challenger- Akari was stood in front of him, her first time challenging him at the Training Grounds in Jubilife Village. He sent out his Gliscor, and she sent out her Samurott (who looked… different, somehow, than he expected. He isn’t sure what it was that he expected). She had been training hard, in the time since she’d closed the rift, trying to prove to Jubilife and to herself that she was worthy of the nine stars that adorned her scarf.

When she beat him, he wasn’t able to prevent his lips from curling into a more natural-feeling smile, even for just a few seconds.

⇅ ⇅ ⇅

He walked into the cave his Lady called her home.

He enjoyed spending time with Lady Sneasler and her kits, he’d soon come to realize after being appointed Warden. She was a wonderful distraction from the thoughts that plagued his mind, stopping him from constantly wondering who he was.

She didn’t quite have kits at this point, however. The eggs that laid comfortably in her nest were due to hatch any day now. Akari, who he’d surprisingly found himself growing closer to over the last few months, was beyond excited to see them after they hatched. She’d started calling him Uncle of all things, which felt strange yet still incredibly endearing. He hadn’t seen her for a few days, however, as she had told him she was heading out with Volo, one of the Ginkgo Guild merchants, to look into the local legends. She said she should be back in only three days.

Today was the third, and she had not shown up in Jubilife that day while he had been situated at the training grounds. To say he was worried was a slight understatement.

Lady Sneasler mewled contentedly at him as he entered, curled up near her nest as she watched her unmoving eggs. Well, not quite- one wobbled right after he thought that. A good sign! He hadn’t quite understood why helping his lady with her eggs felt so… right, to him. Like he’d done this before. But he never questioned it, just lent his assistance to his noble whenever the time for a new litter came around.

“No major changes?” he asked, approaching her nest. The eggs had been moving slightly for a day or so. Lady Sneasler shook her head, but didn’t seem worried. Things were progressing on schedule. 

Suddenly, they both heard the frantic call of a flute from somewhere above the cave. He recognized Akari’s tune for Lady Sneasler almost immediately, and alarm bells went off almost immediately in his head. He’d never heard his niece’s playing sound like this. 

Sneasler jumped to action immediately. He desperately wanted to accompany her, to see why Akari sounded so desperate- but he knew his Lady would feel a lot more comfortable if her eggs were not left completely unattended this close to hatching. 

“I will make sure nothing happens to them,” he promised her as she nodded, knocking his hat over his eyes before taking off quickly.

His answers came not long after, as it turned out Akari asked Lady Sneasler to bring her straight to him for comfort. Volo had betrayed her, had turned on her as soon as she’d had the 17 plates he didn’t have and likely would have killed her if she hadn’t managed to scrape a win. His blood boiled with anger, but there was nothing to be done now. Volo had disappeared after his loss, and left her with the last plate she’d needed. 

He hugged her close as she sobbed into his shoulder.

⇅ ⇅ ⇅

Akari was missing.

He had spent the last week or so frantically scouring every corner of Hisui for his niece, alongside what felt like the entirety of the Galaxy Team (and Irida and Adaman).

The last time he’d seen her, she had told him she’d almost completed the Pokedex, had only one more Pokemon left to catch. Arceus. Creator of all. She had been heading to fight it, had stopped to ask him a question.

“Do you… want to go home?”

He hadn’t given her a definitive answer and had spent the rest of the day pondering it (getting no closer to making a decision) before growing worried over the fact that he hadn’t seen her by the time night fell. He’d went back to Jubilife to see if she’d gone home, and Laventon thought she was with him.

She hadn’t been seen since.

He was beyond worried, had barely ate or slept as he helped search for her, only taking breaks to stop and refuel and recharge when his Lady physically forced him to. He could tell she was worried as well, but didn’t let that stop her from making him take care of himself. 

It reminded him of someone. He wasn’t sure who, but more flashes of electricity and also soft yellow fabric danced through his mind.

Right now was one such occasion, as she’d forced him into her basket and brought him back to his tent to eat before he collapsed on her. 

He was nibbling on an oran berry when he heard it.

The familiar pattering of running feet, but that wasn’t quite all, there were… multiple sets? 

All he knew is one belonged to his niece, and he leapt up and threw the door to his tent open as Akari launched himself into his arms.

“Uncle!” she cried happily, throwing her arms around his neck. 

“Akari! I was so worried!” he exclaimed, relief exploding through him.

“I’m so sorry I disappeared, Arceus accidentally sent me back home before I was ready, but you’re never gonna believe who I found and brought back to Hisui with me!”

“Who?” he asked curiously, setting her down.

“EMMET!”

…

“Emmet, why are you wearing my pants?”

Emmet looked down, coffee in hand, still waking up. “Ah! It would seem I grabbed the wrong pair.”

Ingo snorted, grabbing a tie and throwing it around his neck. “Well, you’ll want to change quickly, so we still make it in to the station on schedule.”

Emmet stood to change, then had a mischievous idea pop into his head. His smile turned sly as he leaned over and pulled Ingo’s hat off his head, putting it on his own. 

“Or maybe I will go as Ingo to work today!”

Ingo looked exasperated as Emmet snickered. “We are not swapping places again today.”

“Aw, but why not?” Emmet made his way over to the coatrack, grabbing Ingo’s coat and throwing it over his shoulders with a dramatic flair. 

“We have never been able to pull off a successful swap ever in our lives,” Ingo pointed out, walking over to snatch his hat back. “Mostly because someone can’t be loud enough to save his life.”

“Says you who can’t be quiet enough to throw suspicion!” Emmet countered, pulling Ingo’s shoes on. He threw his arms up in a mirror of his own normal pose, raising his voice as loudly as he could get it to go as he yelled, 

“ALL ABOOOOARD!”

It was not nearly as loud as Ingo’s, and he even heard his voice crack. Ingo snorted, and it quickly turned into laughter. “See?! Case in point!”

Emmet pouted, but the mischievous light refused to leave his eyes. “Well, let’s see what the depot agents have to say about your theory!” He threw the door open. Ingo rolled his eyes. 

“Well, don’t blame me when you get caught in less than a minute.”

Ingo headed back down the hallway as Emmet cackled and walked out of the door to make his way to work ahead of his brother, who clearly was not going to play along. He could at least have a little fun before his brother inevitably joined him there and brought his harmless ruse to light.

Unbeknownst to either of them, Emmet would never make it to the station.

…

A man, frowning, in a black coat and hat and slacks and shoes, stood in front of him, looking like he was about to completely fall apart.

“Ingo,” Emmet breathed, realization and subsequently, memories crashing over him like a tsunami.

Ingo broke, throwing himself at Emmet, who was more than happy to catch his sobbing brother in his arms. He soon found himself joining him in his cries as memory after memory of his twin brother played through his mind, memories of the subway, of their beloved partners (his first partner was Eelektross, not Chandelure, the lightning that he had recalled suddenly making much more sense), of their friends and family. The two of them collapsed to the ground in each other’s arms.

“You’re alive,” Ingo sobbed, clutching Emmet close. “I was so scared, Emmet, I thought I had lost you, that- that you’d-”

“I’m alive,” he whispered, holding Ingo just as tightly, his quiet voice making sense to him for the first time in years. “I’m here, Ingo, I’m here. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to leave.”

“I know, it’s not your fault, Dawn- er, you still know her as Akari- explained everything she could. I’m just so relieved. I missed you so, so much.”

They didn’t move for several minutes more, until they both had calmed enough to break from their hug, but they didn’t move far. Emmet held his brothers trembling arms as Ingo cupped his face, the two of them touching their foreheads together. 

“So, I guess you’re Uncle Emmet now, huh?” Akari piped up. Emmet looked over at her with a smile on his face (it felt so much better, so much more like himself), and nodded. 

“Though I guess you do still have an Uncle Ingo, if that’s what you want.”

⇅ ⇅ ⇅

Explaining the situation to everyone in Hisui had been an… odd experience, to say the least. Lady Sneasler at least didn’t seem to care, more interested in the new coat he wore (Ingo had brought his regular white coat for him, which Emmet felt so much more at home in) and the identical man in black who refused to leave his side. She could tell them apart with ease, which didn’t surprise him much. For his team, it was much the same. 

Lady Irida and the other Pearl Clan wardens had been confused, to say the least. It had required quite the explanation to fully get across to them that the man they had known as Warden Ingo for the last four years was, in fact, named Emmet, who had remembered his brother’s name before even his own. But eventually the point got across, and it especially helped having Akari there to back them up. The Galaxy Team and Diamond Clan had, at one point, just decided to stop questioning it and just go along with it. 

At the very least, it had been easy to prove that Ingo wasn’t a Zoroark.

Being called Warden Emmet was odd. But in a verrrrrry good way. He definitely was struggling a bit with identity, having grown so used to accidentally pretending to be his brother for four years. But Ingo was helping him to remember what being Emmet meant, and he was most certainly happier than he’d ever been before in Hisui.

And as more and more of his memories returned to him, he quickly grew more and more homesick for the life he’d left behind when he disappeared. He had a whole team of Pokemon waiting for him, dozens of Joltik who Ingo had spent so long caring for in his absence. Elesa, Uncle Drayden, and Iris waiting to welcome him home with open arms. An entire subway full of trainers stronger than he could ever have imagined in Hisui.

He missed it so, so much.

So it was to no one’s surprise when he decided, only days after Ingo had appeared in Hisui, that it was time for him to go home. Akari- who also had not been going by her real name in Hisui, he’d discovered, and was actually named Dawn- had already had her happy reunions with everyone she’d left behind, and had only come back to Hisui to help Ingo get there and to reassure everyone there that she was okay, that she had found her own true home again.

Lady Irida had taken his resignation better than he expected, admitting she knew that it was an inevitable possibility. She saw no reason to prevent him from returning to his own space when he so clearly longed for it. 

Lady Sneasler had promptly decided not to accept his resignation at all, and decided she was, instead, coming along with him, along with three kits from her most recent litter. She handed her title down to her eldest child. 

Emmet vehemently refused to admit he had cried a bit when she had told him. Leaving her was going to be the hardest part of leaving Hisui, and now he didn’t have to!

After that, he’d only had a few scarce goodbyes to say, his Hisuian team also deciding to join him even after he gave them all the opportunity to stay behind with Zisu (the third hardest goodbye out of all of them). 

Then, as soon as he was ready, with Ingo and Dawn by his side, Arceus sent them all back home.

⇅ ⇅ ⇅

“YOU ABSOLUTE FUCKING DUMBASS!”

This was exactly the reaction he had been expecting from Elesa, Emmet realized, as she threw her arms around him, and he snorted as he returned her embrace, holding her tightly and not even trying to stop the tears that formed in his eyes. This was the reunion he was most looking forward to. 

“You scared the shit out of us, you asshole,” she sobbed. “Don’t ever do that to us again.”

“I won’t. So long as I have any say in it. I promise I won’t.”

⇅ ⇅ ⇅

His Pokemon had been left in Elesa’s care while Ingo had gone to find him, he found out. Elesa, much more calm than she had been not even thirty minutes ago, handed him one Pokeball in particular with a soft smile. He cradled the ball carefully, eyes shimmering as he let his beloved partner out.

Eelektross spun on him, screeching with joy as it slammed into him, wrapping its body around him in its own version of a desperate hug. Emmet curled around the Pokemon. “I missed you, too,” he whispered.

⇅ ⇅ ⇅

“So you ended up in Ancient Sinnoh, with no memories, except Ingo’s name?” Drayden’s eyebrow rose. “Because you were wearing his coat and hat when you disappeared.”

“Yup!” Emmet popped the p. At his side was a very clingy Iris, who he had one arm around. His other hand was in Ingo’s, as it had been for most of the last week or so.

Elesa buried her head in her hands. “I cannot believe this. You two are so identical, you mistook yourself for Ingo. Despite remembering nothing about him or yourself.”

He looked at Ingo with a smirk on his face. “See? I told you I could pass as you if I really wanted to.”

“NO ONE IN HISUI KNEW EITHER OF US BEFORE YOU FELL THERE.”

[daisyishedwig]

A not so short introduction

Hello! My name is Milo, I am 28 and have been on tumblr for more than a decade.

I am primarily a fandom blog, but I really post whatever I want. So what you will find here will vary from day to day. My biggest fandoms are Glee and Starkid, but you will also find Woe.Begone, Magnus Archives, Malevolent, Good Omens, Heartstopper, Marvel, DC, Omgcheckplease, Stargate, Farscape, Supernatural, Doctor Who, and any myriad of other pieces of fiction that strike my fancy.

For everything fandom related, I do tag so if you don't want to see a particular fandom's content, feel free to block the tag. For the majority of them, it will simply be the name of the media, but for Glee and Starkid I have specialized tags that I will list below a read more for ease of knowing what to block.

I am a fic writer, though I only recently started writing again. Previously I wrote exclusively Klaine fics but more recently I've switched to primarily writing Seblaine with a sprinkling of Hevans and Klaine. You can find my AO3 here and my old FF.net here. I no longer post to FF.net so if you want to keep up with what I'm currently writing, you'll want to follow my AO3.

Lastly, for the Glee fans. I am a multishipper and I have been for years. I welcome fans of any and all ships and I love to hear theories and ideas about pretty much any ship involving Kurt, Blaine, Sebastian, or Sam. So feel free to tag me in anything, message me about anything, or send me anything that you think I might like to see. I am always open to making new Glee friends since there's simply not enough of us out here anymore.

That being said, Klaine is obviously the most popular ship that I will be posting about and as such you will see a lot more content for them than for my other ships, simply because there is more out there. So if you don't like Klaine, it is probably imperative that you block my Klaine tag. I also understand if for that reason you don't want to follow me, but you can still come chat with me about the ships you do enjoy, even if we're not mutuals.

And as stated before, Glee and Starkid tags listed below the cut

(any character or ships not listed will be tagged simply with their name)

Glee

General tag - F: land of misfit toys

Klaine - OTP: bowties and neckerchiefs

Seblaine - OTP: you're kind of my favorite person (this one is new, so also block Seblaine in general as I get in the habit of using this one)

Kurt - C: Im still here

Blaine - C: little ball of sunshine

Glee Cast (and partners)

Miarren - OTP: partners in crime

Darren Criss - P: sexy mcderpy pants

Mia Swier/Criss - P: sexy is a state of mind

Chill - OTP: xo

Chris Colfer - P: porcelain prince

Will Sherrod - P: Disneyland boy

Starkid/Tin Can Bros

General tag - F: actual five year olds

Jeff Blim - P: rumbleroar

Curtwen (Spies are Forever) - OTP: the warmest hello

Show titles will usually be abbreviated - tgwdlm, npmd, nmt, nmt2, avpm, avps, avpsy, mamd, tto, hmb.

Unabbreviated show tags - Starship, Twisted, Ani, Little White Lie, Black Friday, Firebringer, Spies are Forever, Solve it Squad, Wayward Guide.

And my overall tag for the Hatchetfield shows is Hatchetfield Verse

I did once upon a time have unique tags for more of the starkids, but at this point Jeff's and Darren's are the only ones I still use. Now everyone else just get tagged with their names.

[valiantvillain]

WIP Wednesday

Chapter 3 of Duty, Diligence, Devotion (The Bastard of House Cordaign)

Snippet from my more Miraz-centric chapter for this fic. Also I meant to do this earlier today but totally forgot so sorry for late night tags to my mutuals.

-----

One would think they could get used to walking into nightmares at this point. Everyday another corpse. Everyday another tragedy. A raging fire seemed so mundane compared to the slimy stinking bodies of mindflayers and the violent depraved delights of goblins. It inspired a most shameful relief in the knowledge that the screams were the result of smoke and flame and not broken bodies bursting with the snapping of bones and shifting of sinews. You could help someone from a fire and leave them in tact. Disturbed and changed in spirit, but still themselves, minds and bodies yet their own. The mindflayers offered no such mercy. 

Fires Miraz could handle. Even if the ghostly tendrils of gray were more akin to tentacles than she would have cared to admit.

With Wyll, Karlach, and Gale not far behind, Miraz strode into the still burning ruins of Waukeen’s Rest with purpose. She saw the wide doors of a building and the line of Flaming Fist straining against the burning wood and hissing iron. From there she did not think. Only acted, guided by the unerring flow of experience. Without hesitation the paladin joined the struggling soldiers and, clasping her hands, bore the weight of her broad shoulder upon the door. Heat flared against her cheek, wrought forth beads of sweat upon her brow, as it gave with a groan. Miraz was vaguely aware of Karlach’s bulk beside her, adding her strength to the chain. A flash of memory. Of breaking down similar obstacles with Armand gritting his teeth at her side, synchronizing into a rhythm of one…two…three. This door proved no different, caving in on itself in a shower of splinters as it surrendered to their collective assault. 

Miraz drew in a long, acrid breath before she followed the lot within, the party close at her heels as she followed the lot inside, up the stairs. Then they repeated the process twice more to allow a slender elven woman to race out to safety and a poor fellow far more injured to be guided along until the mere sight of a sliver of blue sky spelled safety and he stumbled off on his own. 

So busy had they been with freeing those trapped within the flames that Miraz had hardly bothered to look at them save for the passing realization that the woman had been dressed too splendidly to be a commoner. Perhaps even a distant inkling of familiarity in her low voice swiftly forgotten in the chaos. She had not expected to recognize the elf that stood before them as they exited the building, coughing smoke from their lungs and half-heartedly shaking ash from their hair. She had not expected Counsellor Florrick, even less so that she would recognize her and Wyll. 

The shock at his new fiendish appearance however, was sadly a little too expected. She called upon him first and so it was revealed that the Blade of Frontiers was in fact Duke Ulder Ravengard’s wayward son who had been whispered to have been unceremoniously exiled from beloved Baldur’s Gate. A shock to say the least, but it made sense, when Miraz thought about it, followed the path through the years past. When she and her old crew had returned from a job dealing with a group of Shadow Druids trying to breed manticores to find hushed whispers of the boy’s forced departure abound. You could have scarcely stumbled from one market stall to the next without catching wind of another wild theory or speculation. It was a matter of great interest to Lord Cordaign at the time, Miraz remembered. Or rather the potential for political gain, the subtle poking and prodding of a powerful man nearly as aloof as he to find a newly received chink in his armor. A sliver of grief to seize and exploit. She had always been rather pleased to know he had come up with little opportunity. 

Now the boy of rumor stood shoulder to…well, not exactly, more like shoulder-to-some-unclear-point-on-his-jaw with the boy of legend. Now a young man of age with her second brother and with a career of heroics behind him. Who would have thought that the Blade of Frontiers and the young Ravengard had been one in the same all this time? 

It begged the question of whether Mizora might have been involved. How very like wily patrons to isolate their charges. 

Miraz offered a silent prayer to Helm that the reunion between father and son would be far warmer than any she would have with her own family. Provided avoiding one entirely was out of the question. 

Rescuing the duke. Yet another reason to pursue the trail of this Absolute cult, if the glowing members of bodies of drow and goblins were any indication. What was another item on the list of impossible tasks? 

Then the Counsellor turned her steely gaze on Miraz. Instinctively, her spine straightened, shoulders rolling back as though a soldier awaiting orders. Instead, the woman’s eyes narrowed, scrutinizing her an instant before something like a knowing relief eased the creases in her face. 

“Saer Miraz Cordaign,” she said, letting each word fall with a gravity befitting of something more dignified than a bastard. “How fortunate I am that you bear little in common with the rest of your family. Though I rather imagined I'd not see you again, given the circumstances of your departure.”

Shame tore through her, burning and white hot. The phantom of fear, however, gripped her heart with icy fingers. The shattering of bones and screams rang in her ears. She had not thought then either. Only acted. Only swung her hammer. Up, down. Up, down. Until her arms were nearly numb. 

It hadn't been justice. It shouldn't have been justice. It should have broken. Why had it held? Why was it guilt that haunted her and not a broken path?

Miraz’s hands clasped behind her back, then squeezed one hand around the other's wrist. She sensed the eyes of her companions upon her. The astonishment of wide-eyed revelation bore into her skull at three angles. She stared straight on at Florrick, just as she was taught. Muscles made rigid by memories of blue-veined hands manipulating her posture until it was acceptable and made to stand still as a statue. 

“They were most regrettable circumstances, Counsellor.” Miraz’s answer was level, formal as befitting one of Florrick’s lofty status. Though if she knew of what Miraz had done, than regrettable was a gross understatement. The paladin swallowed a sudden hard lump in her throat. “How does Aldred Cordaign fare?”

Her jaw clenched at the thought of his death. Tighter when Florrick arched a brow, her own face as meticulously unreadable as that of Miraz. 

“Your brother yet lives, if that is what you are asking. Though if there exist healers capable of restoring bones from dust, then they are not to be found in Baldur’s Gate. He will never walk again. As well as a fair few other things. Some, given his reputation, might consider it a just punishment. Would you agree, Saer Cordaign?” 

The briefest bubble of relief to learn that her brother had not succumbed to his injuries. But then Miraz’s grip tightened around her wrist, so hard she could already feel the steady bloom of a bruise like a flower unfurling under sunlight. Tension hung thick in the air, thicker than the smoke that burned her nostrils and irritated her throat. 

“I…am not sure I can say, Counsellor. Judgment was warranted, I will say that much. Whether the one I gave was fitting however, of that I have my doubts.”

“Does your oath still hold?” 

Miraz nodded. “It does.”

“You are certain?” She asked, the tentative shadow of skepticism creeping across her unlined features. 

“With all due respect, I am a paladin. I would know if I was an oathbreaker.” 

A half-truth. In the heat of the moment it was easy to mistake the sick sensation of guilt rising in your gullet for the sundering of an oath. Yet all the abilities granted to her by the oath of devotion had been just as present as before even after days of doubt had gnawed at her heart. Miraz certainly did not relish the thought of losing them, of losing that which had defined her by the virtue of her own deeds, her own will, the one thing that had always been well and truly hers to claim. But it seemed so very, very wrong to consider what it meant: that violence, raw and angry and uncontrolled, unburdened by restraint, had been justice. 

The elven woman’s shoulders sagged incrementally, almost imperceptibly, with what looked like relief. Why would she be relieved? What did a single inconsequential bastard of a disreputable noble house matter to her? Especially one who had fled before the blood could stain the carpet.

“Should you rescue Duke Ravengard, I shall ensure you may return to Baldur’s Gate without being accosted.” Florrick’s words were sharp with the edge of an offer, likely an additional incentive should Miraz consider the duke’s rescue low on the list of priorities. If there was one thing the Counsellor had in common with her grandfather, it was that they were both shrewd. “From the Flaming Fist anyway. I unfortunately cannot say the same for whatever sellswords Gaetan may have hired.” 

Of course he had. She had finally given him reason to retaliate in full force, hadn’t she? All these years spent loathing her ugly illegitimate existence and now he could justifiably persecute her in the eyes of the coin-swayed law. 

A rueful grin worked it way across her lips with a snort. “So he’s already set his sights on arresting me.” 

“To the fullest extent of what the law will allow, from what my people have told me.” 

In a way it was a relief, to have the breadth of the animosity laid bare. The threats would be veiled no longer, all the aggression divested of the passivity he’d displayed for so long for fear of a broken jaw. 

She supposed it was too much to hope that Aldred would have grown a conscience. The sigh that left her lips tasted of cinders and regrets. 

“I thank you for the generous offer, Counsellor Florrick but such promises will not be necessary. I would have agreed regardless, with or without Wyll. Nor do I intend to return to the city once our work is done.”

“You would prefer a self-imposed exile? When even your oath sees fit not to condemn you. Most in your position would argue their innocence far more vehemently.” 

“My intent is not penance,” replied Miraz, shaking her head. “Merely to get out from under the Cordaigns’ long shadow. Nor was I innocent. What that means for my oath, however, is something to ponder in time.” 

Preferably when her head was blissfully absent of a parasite. 

Florrick, however, seemed to remain unconvinced, frowning haughtily. Truthfully, Miraz had only seen the woman a handful of times when her grandfather had dragged her to those cursed balls and events of the Gate’s rich and powerful, and always at a distance. Standing near the walls, ever in the backdrop like a piece of crudely hewn decoration someone had placed there more for the novelty than any sense of aesthetic pleasure. Yet it appeared that the Counsellor had taken more notice of the bastard of House Cordaign than she once thought. Did Miraz dare to consider such interest may have carried a touch of admiration? That an illegitimate half-orc such as her could garner enough of a cutthroat patriarch’s respect to yank her out of the temple to which he had given her at his discretion? To sculpt and chisel her into his version of perfection? 

Nonetheless, in that moment the woman did not yield, only nodded in an imitation of acceptance. 

“Be that as it may, the offer will stand,” she eventually said, after having given Miraz one last appraising once over. Perhaps trying to catch a hint of trepidation, an uncertain shuffle of her feet or an instant’s aversion of her eyes but finding nothing. “Baldur’s Gate may yet benefit from your strength.” 

You mean my hammer, Miraz thought to herself. Such was always the case, wasn’t it? Both beneath notice when all was at peace and yet vital when something needed doing. Either way, some form of ridicule or reticence usually came with it. At least when it came to nobles anyway. 

“Of that I have no doubt, Counsellor. Rare is the city that does not have a use for strong arms and stronger wills. May Helm watch over you on your journey.” 

“You as well, Saer Cordaign, Wyll.” 

It wasn’t until the Counsellor and her retinue of Fists had passed beyond the smoldering outer gate that a long exhale released from Miraz’s lungs. Her eyes briefly shut with relief and the muscles pulled taut in her shoulders finally relaxed. A faint soreness ringed the wrist she had held for the entirety of their conversation. Even so, her heart thudded knowing that she still felt the weight of her companions’ stares. 

No pressure tags: @poetikat, @arendaes, @captastra, @perhapsrampancy, @isobel-thorm, @mxanigel

[artemismatchalatte]

"You can only keep 20 books out of all the books you own" tag

I saw this originally on @theinquisitxor 's page. I thought I'd do my own version of their tag.

Hypothetically, you are only able to keep 20 of your books. Only one book per author/series. So what books are you keeping?

This was hard. I only picked from books I've read all the way through. This list also includes two honorable mentions (because I couldn't limit myself :/). I'll list the titles and authors at the end.

Frankenstein (1818 edition) by Mary Shelley

Mary's Monster by Lita Judge

Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte

Take Courage: Anne Bronte and the Art of Life by Samantha Ellis

A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf

The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Stories by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls by Emilie Autumn

Byron in Love by Edna O' Brien

Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo and Me by Ellen Forney

The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee

Female Husbands: A Trans History by Jen Manion

Persuasion by Jane Austen

My Plain Jane by Cythnia Hand, Brodi Ashton and Jodi Meadows

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Hark! A Vagrant by Kate Beaton

Literary Theory by Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan

Black Beauty by Anna Sewell

My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness by Nagata Kabi

The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall

(Honorable mentions)

Abigail by Magda Szabo

The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy

The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity and Love by bell hooks (not pictured here- but I do own a copy, I just couldn't find it in time for this post).

I tag: @paperbackpropensity, @thatwritererinoriordan, @godzilla-reads, and anyone else who wants to do this! :)

Because of how long my post already is, please make a new post for your own version of the tag. Feel free to tag me back, if you want, but also credit @theinquisitxor for making the original tag.

Thank you and have fun, everyone! :D

[dailycharacteroption]

Drowned Channeler (Spiritualist Archetype)

(art by Thomas Griffith on Artstation)

 Sea shanties and stories of the sea often speak of ghosts, of wayward souls lost at sea to drowning, to piracy, and to the fierce creatures that dwell within it.

Such tragedies would only naturally lead to undeath in a fantasy setting, and where there is undeath, there are spiritualists who provide solace from that terrible fate, accepting such spirits into their hearts and minds.

Whether they happened upon them by chance while their soul was still wandering, or they used mystic rituals to rescue a ghost from the watery trap they had been doomed to, some spiritualists bind with spirits lost at sea, and gain unique power over water as a result.

Regardless of their disposition, these spiritualists carry with them the terrible fear of drowning, of perishing in cold darkness, which they may leverage just as easily as their watery powers, not to mention how their phantom companion is also changed by their fate.

 Dripping with phantom water and leaving patches of moisture on everything they touch, the phantoms of these mystics have a strong bond to the water, whether they like it or not. Such phantoms can move swiftly in water, fight as an aquatic creature, and venture further from their living partner in the water. However, they are forced to stay closer while on land, and the benefits of the phantom being inside their head don’t manifest unless water is nearby, though they can grant their gift for swimming to them.

These channelers can also choose to learn a variety of watery spells, ranging from transforming the body into a watery form, moving easily through the water, channeling life or unlife into the water, surviving in water and extreme pressure, and even using water as an attack.

In addition to these spells, they also learn how to spontaneously manifest similar magic, starting with a basic jet of pushing water, and improving to creating mobility-enhancing currents, enhanced mobility underwater, and even transforming themselves to a fluid form.

If you’re interested in playing a spiritualist in an aquatic or nautical campaign, this archetype might be right for you, the duo of channeler and aquatic phantom being very powerful in the water. However, if your campaign spends most of the time miles from the sea, perhaps this archetype is best left ignored. If you do choose to take it, consider building with underwater utility and combat in mind, as well as what phantom emotion to take. Desperation is thematically appropriate, but people can feel a lot of different things while death comes to them at sea.

 This archetype paints a certain picture of a mystic guiding a drowned phantom away from their final resting place and back towards shore, though the water pulls them back, as evidenced by their strength when in or nearby water. A spiritualist with intentions to set their phantom free in the great beyond may have to work hard to find their family on the shore or anything else that may guide them away from the water and towards final judgement.

However, consider also if the channeler is a member of an aquatic race. How estranged may they feel with a phantom that died in a way they cannot relate with? Do they pity them? Seek to use them?

  Legend has it that occasionally the dwarven maritime god visits the material plane on his ironclad vessel, a mighty craft that is crewed by chalkost sailors and other divine servants. Among them, surprisingly, are mortal crew as well. In addition to their normal duties, these crew are selected for their psychic potential, as vessels for any wayward souls or seabound spirits that the vessel encounters, something it does with uncanny frequency.

 They say that there exists a ritual called the Rite of the Rescuing Hand, one meant to be performed at sea. The caster paints a myriad of sigils on their hand to turn it into a binding circle of sorts. When done correctly, the caster may offer a hand to a reaching spirit, and bind them to them. While it could be in theory used for nefarious ends, it’s intended purpose is to end the threat of spectral undead that try to grab and drag the living into the water, pulling them up out of the water and binding them as phantoms to the caster.

 Rumors persist of a strange sight, that of a halfling man carrying an oar over his shoulder. If found an asked about it, he relates a strange tale. He claims that he bound to a spirit that drowned at sea, and that he must find some place so far from the ocean that they do not recognize the oar for its purpose. Only then will the phantom be set free.

[lina-does-anthro]

anthropology tbr

will i read all of these? no lol. but the ones with ** I'd really like to

owned

Gender, Race, Class, & Health by Amy Schulz and Leith Mullings

Archaeological Theory: An Introduction by Matthew Johnson

Wayward Women: Sexuality and Agency in a New Guinea Society by Holly Wardlow

Vanishing Voices by Suzanne Romaine and Daniel Nettle

Population: Quantity vs. Quality by Shirley Hartley

Writing Anthropology edited by Carole McGranahan

Anthropology: A Student’s Guide to Theory and Method by Stanley Barrett

The City Cultures Reader edited by Malcolm Miles et al.

textbooks I might skim ;

A History of Anthropological Theory + Readings by Paul Erickson and Liam Murphy

Sociocultural Anthropology: A Problem-Based Approach by Maggie Cummings et al.

Cultural Anthropology by William Haviland et al.

at library

** Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence by Mark Juergensmeyer

** Censors at Work: How States Shaped Literature by Robert Darnton

Context & Method in Qualitative Research edited by Gale Miller and Robert Dingwall

Designing & Conducting Ethnographic Research by Margaret Lecompte and Jean Schensul

Fieldwork in the Library: A Guide to Research in Anthropology and Related Area Studies by R.C. Westerman

The Call of the Mall by Paco Underhill

to find

Field Ethnography: A Manual for Doing Cultural Anthropology by Paul Kutsche

** Deculturalization and the Struggle for Equality: A Brief History of the Education of Dominated Cultures in the United States by Joel Spring

The Essence of Anthropology by William Haviland et al.

Research Methods in Anthropology by H. Russell Bernard

** Anatomy of a Civil War: Sociopolitical Impacts of the Kurdish Conflict in Turkey by Mehmet Gurses

** Material Perspectives on Religion, Conflict, & Violence by Lucien van Liere and Erik Meinema

[ubersatzofficial]

A strange store

Poverty is an unfortunately dire problem in Übersatz. People all across this great Galaxy are struggling for cash- after all, warships need to be built and schools on exoplanets need to be firebombed, so there’s no taxpayer money left over to feed the hungry of any nation. But thankfully, citizens have always had one way to get food not for free, but for cheap! And no we don’t mean farming or some solar-punk luxury like hydroponics, most people are far too busy on their fifty hour work weeks for that! No, we are of course speaking of the revolutionary Supermarket chain known as Delta Plus™. Nobody quite knows when Delta Plus first appeared; it seems everyone has memories of it, nobody can remember a time when it wasn’t around, and unrelated historical documents curiously keep bringing it up. What is known, at least to some degree of certainty, is that Delta Plus is, by all accounts, a discount supermarket with an ironclad reputation for stocking just about everything. “Feels like Home, wherever you’re from!” reads the tagline in friendly neighborhood cursive lettering, just below the bold-faced type reading DELTA PLUS, with the A cheekily replaced with the Delta symbol. A worthy tagline indeed, as those who enter the store, from everyday König searching for Borkleberry jam, to Insettia attempting to find Skibbledeep eggs, to even the wayward [NULL] who just wants a single carton of Bilk to remind them of their homeworld. Delta Plus has everything they could ever need, and more. Nobody is entirely sure how this is achieved. While specialty items to a single species could be sourced, the store routinely contains vast arrays of interdimensional products, usually to the point that the aisles are packed with shelves of wholly alien products. While the store boasts cruelty-free, minimally-caged staff, not a single soul ever isolated by any galactic census has ever claimed to work for, or previously worked for the chain. Though, some reports have claimed eyewitness accounts of missing persons appearing as store staff. Theories range from occult patronage with Gro-Seer, Spirit of Supermarkets, to advanced particle randomizers which manifest groceries out of sheer probability, the possibility that all staff members are secretly Anules participating in some strange court with obscure rules, to the very outlandish, but often conspiracized possibility, that this Discount Supermarket, is one of the only locations in all of Übersatz, that can make contact with the outside omniverse.

For centuries, science attempted to understand what made Delta Plus so curious, and why so many products would leave their consumers with equally curious bodily mutations. After decades of research into the most volatile of these strange products, Researchers began to notice a strange and unusual substance packed within each flavorful bite of the Delta Plus name-brand calorie bars. When concentrated through use of an atomizing nuclear press and four blenders, the glowing green ooze left over from the process was confirmed to possess the fabled ability to manipulate and splice DNA from wildly different species, causing mutations. This byproduct was quickly patented, branded, refined, and put into just about all medicine we know today. This product was known as Mutagen™. For tips on how to survive in this strange supermarket, please follow us for our Survival Tips guide.

[not-mary-sue]

I think Desmond knows something more than he's letting on and that's why he's trying to push the Shue-Hoyrns out (I also think he's trying to protect them without directly saying anything that might put him under suspicion)

[salfur]

Analysis on the Jewelry/Accessories in Wayward Guide

So, I was rewatching episode 6 again when I noticed that some of the townsfolk had pieces of jewelry on that I didn’t notice before (specifically my sweet bean Sybilus).

So, I decided to go back and rewatch the whole series again, going frame-by-frame whenever a townsperson was on screen to see if any of the jewelry/accessories could be clues.

CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR: Wayward Guide episode 2, 3, 4, & 6

Sybilus wears a ring on his left ring finger that has a wolf paw on it. You can’t really see it very clearly in episode 3 (when he’s first seen) or 6 but it is very clear in episode 4.

I noticed that Desmond has a bracelet on before but didn’t think too much of it initially. I know that it had some words on it but there aren’t any clear shots of the bracelet in the show yet to see what it says.

Agnes, in episode 2 has a cat pin and a ring. The ring had flowers on it and she wears the pin again in episode 6.

Rita, in episode 2 has a necklace or pin or something that’s a small skull. Assuming I know my animal skulls I’m pretty sure that it’s a wolf skull. She doesn’t wear this exact piece again but she does have a jawbone of some animal in her other appearances. I don’t know what kind of animal jaw though.

Riley and Olivia both have dogtags but we’re never shown what is on them. I’m thinking the dogtags might be their form of BFF necklaces but the idea of dogtags in general when it comes to werewolves is suspicous.

Helen has some sort of watch on but not always. The watch also switches wrists every now and then. In addition to the watch or whatever she has some sort of metal bracelet. I think it has words on it but I can’t make anything out.

Jeremiah has a rosary which makes sense since he’s the town’s pastor.

Donny doesn’t have any accessories/jewelry when he first appears on screen and I’m just going to gloss over his whole ‘fit in episode 6 because, well, you know.

So, from my findings, the only accessories that either are or could be wolf related are worn by Sybilus, Desmond, Rita, Riley, Olivia, and Helen. 

Of these people, Sybilus has the biggest possibility of being confirmed as a wolf by jewelry/accessories alone. However, despite probably being a wolf I don’t think he’s the killer(s) given how he was in town hall when Barney was killed, And, despite working for Silas, I’m pretty sure Sybilus is anti-mining (as mentioned in one of my previous theories).

[cetidswell-author]

Prediction

That keychain in the prologue wasn’t just a setup for the silver conversation, it’s actually really important to Paul. Silver is the only thing that prevents the werewolves from being beholden to the moon (in small amounts) and before the plot starts the Iron’s family were only allowed to mine enough for the keychains. I suspect that the keychains contain exactly enough silver to prevent the Connor Creek wolves from turning, so the Schue-Horyn’s having one is what allows Paul to return home and have a relevantly normal life. 

[noobsomeexagerjunk]

i rewatched the trailer and ooh boy

shots from future episodes + info from up to ep 7 hit different

spoilers, obviously

this is Aubrey’s house, and he is learning things--wolf things???

I’m sus of Olivia and if this affirms werewolf identity then so be it

Because Paul is here, and if I could discern who that third person was, this is a wolf info gathering thing given that Paul and Artie split in ep 7

this feels deja vu but it’s def a new angle

paul also looks alone, but new angle is new angle

hey aren’t we all sus of vern too???

there’s also this scene at the end

all these have identical lighting

this implies a split in the next episode; paul went to look out on more werewolf info while artie went down to miner mole as she said

something climactic happens and Madison got dragged along in it

is this at town hall??? the chairs and curtain seem to imply it