#which also! fine! but means she will be unavailable! again!

[just-some-random-blogger]

Safe Keeping | 2

Part 1 2 3

"What say you, lady? Don't you think the Hound would make a fine husband? He would protect you, yes, and you would bear him many babes." I curtsy again but this time, my voice falters when I speak, "I- I think he would," I turn to my left, "Lord Sandor would make a fine husband... a fine father."

Sandor Clegane x Reader | 5k+ | cw: fem!reader, forced marriage, enemies to lovers, slow burn, angst, smut (dub con, primal play, PIV, rough sex), emotional unavailability, The Hound being abrasive, canon typical casual misogyny, baby fever, typos, etc.

A/N: you guys, i dont want to edit the summary from p1 so i wont. also for future me here are the asks i got for this fic [x] [x] [x] which is like 🤯 cos i thought id get 5 notes on this tbh HAHAH originally posted on ao3 but felt like posting it on here

Tagging: @pinksirensong @aralezinspace @sloanexx @otteropera @poisonsage808 @glitterandgoldfinds

I refused to leave my chambers when I woke.

Not only had I cried myself to sleep, but I had woken with puffy eyes and ended up crying all over again. I was glad that my doting handmaiden was so fiercely loyal to me. Lucy didn't think my weeping childish. She was understanding and eternally on my side. I am immensely grateful for it; I don't know what I would have done without her.

She helped me bathe and dress and eat, then entertained me with gossip from the servants. For a while that was enough.

As the day passed though, my thoughts muddled and left me restless. I could not do anything but obsess over the fact my husband left me after wifing me up.

"Do you think he will come back tonight?" I mutter as I stare blankly at my reflection on the mirror.

Lucy ceases combing my hair and takes my chin in her fingers. Paired with a hand on my shoulder, she silently urges me to straighten my back from my seat. I do just that. She smiles at me through the mirror, "my lady, if you wish it, I will look for him and make him come to you."

I release a breath, "don't be ridiculous."

"I am not being ridiculous," she sets the brush down, "I am being serious."

I feel my throat tighten. My lips quiver but I refuse to break down in tears again. I shake my head rapidly, unwilling to speak, for I knew I would crack if I did.

Lucy frowns in concern then kneels down on my side, grabbing my hand, "my lady, I would die for you."

I screw my eyes shut and break into a whine, "please-"

"I owe you my life," she clasps my hand with hers and brings it to her cheek, "you freed me from my chains. You clothed me, fed me, and showed me kindness none of my masters have ever shown me before," she looks up at me with a solemn expression then repeats, "I would die for you."

I shake my head and lean into her, "live for me, Lucy. I've forgotten what's it was like before you and I don't want to remember."

She kisses my hand and presses her forehead on mine before standing, "I shall do as you command."

She stands behind me and gathers my hair back. She strokes my locks and offers me a smile through the mirror once more. I smile back at her this time around.

The comfort she offers me finally seeps through me as she massages my shoulders.

"I pray the gods will swiftly bless me with a child so that I will have other things to do than await my husband so helplessly and forlorn."

"Well, you said that he pleasured you," Lucy tilts her head, "women who have not been pleasured still bea-

Lucy is cut off by the crashing open of the door. She and I both whip back, hearts in our mouths as we stare at our Lord Clegane, who was staring right back at us.

"What's wrong with you?" he demands. The metal of his armor clanks. I eye the one Lucy tidied to the side, the one I undid the night before, and turn back to him. His brown eyes look at me with such intense accusation.

I feel my hands tremble. I cannot for the life of me find the words to speak. 

What did he even mean? How could he ask me this?

"No one has seen you all day," he says, "have you not left this room once?'

"She 'asn't," Lucy snaps, "milady has been feeling-"

"I wasn't talking to you, wench," the Hound does not turn to her when he says this. His eyes are very much still fixed on me, "I'm talking to my wife."

My wife. I look away. That's right, all that I am now is forfeit to him.

I gasp and turn back when I hear him marching over. Lucy places a protective hand on my shoulder and I find myself cowering into her touch. I clench my jaw and gulp when he stops in front of me.

He gazes upon me for the longest second of my life. He furrows his brows, "what's wrong with your fa-"

I flinch when he reaches out to my cheek.

Instantaneously, Lucy tightens her grip on me and blocks him, and Sandor cuts himself off and recoils before he can even touch my skin. He steps a few paces back then clenches his hand as if he'd gotten burnt.

We both evade each other's gaze. Sandor's eyes finally land on Lucy, "has she been crying?"

Lucy's blood boils. She hisses, "yes," then harshly pronounces, "milord."

Sandor turns away and twitches. He rolls his shoulders back and stretches his hands. He knocks on his chest plate. He looks to no one when he asks, "are you hurt?"

Lucy takes no care in masking her scoff or sigh. I take her arm and she watches me shake my head disapprovingly.

I do not look at anyone when I reply either, "I cannot say I'm not... lord husband."

A thick silence builds in the room within a moment.

When I dare too look at the Hound, he is already looking at me and suddenly speaks, "leave us, wench."

I turn to Lucy. She does not move an inch.

I give her an urging shake, but she is steadfast in her spot. Our Lord Clegane turns to her and grinds his teeth, "you will find I do not make habit of repeating myself."

I shoot up from my seat when Lucy presses forward and quips, "and you will find that I will not allow you to treat milady like this."

"Lucy!" I admonish, yanking her back.

Lucy glares daggers at him as I attempt to pacify and persuade her to leave us. Her eyes do not leave him as I sweep her out the room. I instruct her to walk around the gardens for a while then close the door after.

I press my back against the wooden surface as I look back to the man I was now alone with.

Sandor watches me expectantly. I do not say a word, for I did not know what he wanted to hear.

He finally breaks the silence, "you walk well enough."

I am dumbfounded by his choice of words. I dare not respond when I feel my lips quiver; instead, I nod quickly.

Sandor deeply furrows his brows. He shifts on his spot and chances a step in my direction, "why didn't you come out your room then?"

I lick my lips and shake my head. I turn away from him and mutter, "do I appear like I am in the state to be walking around when I look like this?"

"Like what?" he draws nearer.

I whip my head, "THIS!"

Sandor stops in his tracks. He looks at me, expressionless, "this what?"

I scoff in disbelief, feeling tears immediately soak my face. I whisper, "look at me."

"I am, with both eyes."

"And you see nothing?" I mutter shakily, "feel nothing?'

"Should I feel something?"

My chest sinks; it feels like it's caving in. He might as well gut me and spit on my bones. I turn to my feet and wipe my cheeks, "no. I suppose not."

Sandor curses under his breath. He rips at his collar, suddenly feeling his armour weigh down on him. He feels unbelievably hot. He clears his throat, "it hurts."

I look up at him.

"It hurts the first time, usually," he clarifies, "or in times you're not wet enough." He nods, "you were wet enough."

My entire being burns at his words, at his nonchalance. My face is searing in embarrassment and shame.

I want to scream at him, want to hurtle into him and demand to know why he left me, why he was so removed, but then I find the answers in my head. It dawns on me that he acted carelessly because he didn't care. He didn't want this. He didn't want me. All of it was forced. And so I hold my tongue.

Instead, I calmly explain, "my hurt is not bodily, Sandor."

Sandor's stomach rolls at the sound of his name.

"I was," I turn to space between us, "hurt that you left me. And-" I shake my head as tears rush from my eyes, "I've realized now that it's wrong of me to be."

I put a brave face on in spite of my weeping and hold his stare. The man is as stoic and hard as ever. I scoff at myself for feeling this way.

"Worry no longer, Hound," I open the door, "I will not cause you trouble again."

I step back and make way for him to exit.

He looks at me for what feels like an eternity then marches out the door.

"And have you-"

Lucy and I gasp and turn at once.

"-named it yet, Lady Clegane?"

I chuckle guilty, "Lord Varys."

The man nods to me in regard, "good morrow to you."

I curtsy to him, as does my handmaiden. Lucy lifts her skirt as inconspicuously as possible in hopes to block what was behind her.

Varys catches this and waves his hands, "there be no need for that, my dear. The stray is an obedient one, isn't it?"

I share a look with Lucy before we step back and reveal the dog behind us. Daisy was panting and wagging her tail. She had her front paw bent, for it had been broken and healed that way. I had a maester examine it. In the end, he said it was pointless to put a split because it would not fix her leg and Daisy just kept chewing it anyway.

Daisy closes her mouth and sniffs the man.

"Ah," Varys smiles at the creature, "may I pet it?"

Lucy nods and eagerly explains, "she's Daisy; she is incredibly sweet, milord."

Varys cheerfully scratches the crown of the dog's head.

Though he laughs, my own face contorts into an opposite expression, "please make no note of it to my husband."

Varys looks at me exaggeratedly, as though he was offended.

I continue, "she makes me happy."

"One does not need to be told that to know," he presses his lips together. He links his hands, "I imagine you must be rather heavyhearted since the arrival of your womanly bleeding."

I drop my gaze upon hearing this. The master of whispers truly knew all. Lucy turns to me, then back to him, "milord, it's not proper to mention these things."

Varys measures my reaction before turning to Lucy, "yes. I suppose one such as myself has no business speaking of such things." He raises a finger, "still, if you should ever need assistance with that or your stray, know that my services are available to you, my lady."

I smile at him and nod, "I thank you for it, Lord Varys."

With that, he walks away.

"Do you think he will tell him?" Lucy asks as she grabs my arm.

I sigh and turn Daisy.

I've only had her for few days but she's given me purpose. I named her Daisy because she turned up from a bush of daisies while I read in the gardens. I was shocked, puzzled with how she got there, and a little scared she would bite me. When I noticed her injury, I figured she must be very weak and offered her food. She had my heart the moment she licked my fingers.

It was fate, I figured. I had not read in the gardens since the Hound berated me for it, and she came out of nowhere. When I imagine what would have happened to her if anyone else found her, I dread to think of the fact she could have been struck dead. The gods must have sent her to me, to remedy my sorrow and fill in for the absence of my Hound.

I was meant to save Daisy, and she was meant to save me.

I shake my head, "I'll have someone keep her tonight."

The Hound stops in his tracks when he witnesses what he does from afar. A blazing fury engulfs him as he watches two women walk away. The guard, who was spoken to, ogle their figures as they did.

Sandor laughs under his breath, but of course, nothing about this situation was funny to him.

He immediately charges when the guard is left alone, stupidly attending to an open crate-- he'll fucking bash it into his skull.

The guard goes back to his post and spots the approaching giant. At first, he is unfazed by the Hound but fear quickly finds him when he realizes he was heading straight for him.

He does not speak. The Hound simply grabs him by the chest plate, lifts him up and slams him on to the stone wall. He was angry-- worse, he was irrational.

"Why was she speaking to you?!" he snaps, "what business do you have with her?!"

The guard does not waste a second in spilling his guts, "Lady Clegane paid me to watch her dog!" He sounded like he was about to piss his pants.

"What?!" he seethes.

"The crate! The crate! There's a dog in the crate!" 

Sandor shoves him away and walks toward the crate. Lo and behold, the Hound sees the mutt, fur a light shade of brown, tongue out as it pant, right arm curled up.

He draws his sword.

Lucy and I head back to my chambers after eating supper. Our chattering is abruptly cut when he step in and see the Hound's hulking figure.

To say I am shocked is an understatement. I am terrified. He has not come to my chambers since the day after our wedding night, and now, here he was after Lord Varys confronted me. I struggle to swallow the lump in my throat, "my lord, I-"

"Don't you have one too many dogs now?" he growls.

Lucy is unable to hide the sound that leaves her mouth. My eyes begin to water as trepidation rips up my neck. I whisper, "Sandor."

Sandor flinches. He huffs, "what were you doing with it? You playing dolls with it, girl?"

"I saved her!" I explain with a shaky voice. "I fed her, gave her water-"

"Its leg is broken. You keep it in a crate. It's mercy for me to kill it."

Lucy gasps. My stomach drops and I run up to him, "no. Please. Please, tell me you didn't-"

I start when I see something move on the bed. I let out a shaky breath when a bark echoes in the room. I had never been more relieved to see Daisy than now.

Sandor growls, "OFF!" He marches to the bed and charges at the her. I shriek and grab his arm, holding him back. Of course, I nearly shoot forward for what was my strength against his? Still, he turns back to me and huffs. Daisy jumps down the bed and comes to my side.

Lucy grabs her and leads her to the corner of the room.

I continue to beg, "please, don't kill her. Please, I beg of you."

"You pay the guards to watch the mutt," Sandor yanks his arm away; the action hurts my hand. He seethes, "you're better off selling the bitch to a butcher as pig food."

I wail, "it was only this time! I have kept her with me since before." I drop to my knees, "please, I will ask nothing more of you," hot tears burn down all the way down to my chest. "I beg that you just let her live."

Sandor steps back and looks down at me. I can see how pathetic he thinks I am at this moment, and yet I find myself unable to care.

"You will ask me nothing more, aye?" he scoffs. His lips curl, "don't you want a child?"

My expression drops.

"You would rather save the bitch than have a babe?"

I am unable to speak. 

Why is he doing this to me?

"Well?!" he demands.

I screw my eyes shut when some of his spit sputters to my face. I turn to the floor, "she's been keeping me company in your absence. She's-"

"Ah, so that's why she feels so comfortable on the bed. You sleep with her."

I look up at him, about to explain that she sleeps on the floor and has never done that before. I do not have the chance.

"Well then keep your stray," he scoffs, "and have it fuck a babe into you."

The Hound storms off right after.

He grips his hand and his hilt as he marches away.

He should have killed it, he shouldn't have hesitated. The only reason he did was because it didn't flinch at his sword. The mutt was so dumb it had no fear. It even propped on the crate and tried sniffing the steel. Brainless.

His insides feel like they were boiling.

He knew the little girl would weep if he killed it, yet he didn't and there were tears anyway. He curses loudly. It reverberates in the hall.

He should have killed it.

Now it was too late.

"I see you make friends even with stray cats now, my lady."

I look over my shoulder after the cat I was petting runs off because of the voice. Lord Baelish comes up to me, sparing a quick glance to the orange feline that jumped down the wall. He turns back to me with a smile, "pardon me, Lady Clegane, I did not mean to frighten the kitty."

I shake my head, returning a soft smile. I wrap my arms around myself, still not entirely used to the light fabric and freeness of the dresses I've been wearing lately, "it's alright, my lord. The cats do not like people."

Baelish walks in front of me and smiles wider, "they must see you their goddess then."

I shake my head and give a soft chuckle.

"Where is your hound?" he asks.

I stiffen.

He clarifies, "I mean the one with the broken leg."

I release a breath and look out to the view, "I had my handmaiden bathe her."

"Mmm," Baelish looks out to the view with me, "thus why you sought the cats."

A breeze brushes past us.

I do not turn to him, but I know he turns to me. He speaks, "one such as you should not be left alone or unaccompanied."

"Why? Would you hurt me, Lord Baelish?"

He chuckles, "and risk getting mauled by the Hound? I would not."

I watch as a flock of birds fly overhead.

"Other things perhaps," he says.

I do not respond to him.

A moment passes with nothing but looking and silence.

I feel his hot breath when he sighs deeply, "I remember clearly the day I first met you."

Baelish speaks my first name and it's enough to finally make me to turn to him. In truth, my name sounds foreign to me. Who I was has been long overshadowed by Lady Clegane... or, more accurately, the Hound himself.

"You were a vibrant flower. Your fragrance wafted through the room the moment you stepped in," he says, taking one step closer. "Being around you was a privilege; conversing with you, a prize."

I blink at his words, taking in the lines of his face, "and now," I clasp my hands together, "I've withered away, have I?"

His Baelish-blue eyes appear to be solemn. My lips part when he takes my hands in his. He speaks under his breath, "you are more radiant than ever."

I do not move an inch.

"Take heart," he speaks my name again, "hounds are crushed under heels of goddesses."

I pull away from him and shake my head, "do not speak blasphemy with me."

He laughs, bringing his hands behind him, "ever devout and god-fearing." He raises an arm, "shall we part ways by the stables? I will be heading out of the keep."

I debate for a moment. Ultimately, I offer polite smile and decide to agree.

We walk with no sense of urgency. I never knew Petyr to be one for small talk, and so I am surprised that he asks me about my dresses. In truth, I really shouldn't have been.

"Your dresses are Dornish, are they not?" he raises a brow.

"Dornish-like," I clarify, "it was my usual tailor that made my new dresses. I feared if I asked a Dornish tailor for a modest silhouette, I'd be colder than I am now."

We share a soft laugh.

He shrugs, "the style suits you still," he smiles. "Undoubtedly, the Dornes would love to dress you in their more traditional clothing."

I purse my lips and raise my brows, "wouldn't you like that, Petyr?"

He chuckles, slightly in disbelief by the casual referral. He raises his hands, "I said the Dornes. I am not Dornish, my dear."

When we reach the stables, I stop in my tracks, not because we're about to depart, but because his words freeze me in my spot.

"Surely, our Lord Clegane finds it hard to keep his hands off you."

I do my best to stay neutral, to not give myself away. Baelish holds back a smirk.

"Wouldn't you like to know what me and Lord Clegane get up to?"

Baelish laughs, "if I'm being honest, I do."

I roll my eyes at him and nod dismissively, "farewell, my lord."

He nods back with a chuckles, "and you, my lady."

I promptly head to my chambers after this. As I walk on, however, I remember that another day has passed with me not seeing Lord Clegane. I am unsure if it was deliberate or coincidental, but it was the fact either way.

It had been a handful of days since my monthly bleeding passed. I was never a regular bleeder, and when it came this time around, it stayed longer than usual. I was glad with his absence then, in not needing to explain myself to my him. The moment it had finished, however, I expected I would at least see him once.

I did not.

This lead to my decision to be more... seductive.

And, well yes, or course, he yelled at me and told me to have my bitch fuck me instead-- truly, there was a large pit of dread in my stomach because of this, but people say a lot of things in anger, things they don't mean. He could not have meant that.

I rub my belly, willing the dread away.

I refuse to believe he meant that.

I suck in a breath and decide to head to the king's chambers.

Besides, I've been assured over and under that men really like making babies.

My breath hitches when I catch sight of the Hound, guarding the door. I see him do a double take when he spots me, and yet he gazes into space in the end.

"Good evening, my lord," I curtsy at him.

He grunts with exasperation, "what are you doing here?"

"I wanted," I measure my words carefully, "to request you not stay out late tonight."

The man turns his head fully to me, "what?"

I feel my throat itch. I clear my throat, "I was hoping that you come to my chambers before too late."

Sandor shifts in his spot. He eyes me up and down. I feel like I am being burned alive under his gaze.

He looks away and shifts back in place.

I open my mouth but I don't get to speak at all.

"Dog. Dog! Come inside, I-" King Joffrey calls but then ceases when he steps out of the room and sees me. 

I immediately curtsy, "my king. Good evening."

Joffrey raises a brow and demands to know why I'm here, referring to me by the house I was born into.

I offer him a smile, "I wanted to speak to my lord husband, your grace."

His face contorts in deep bewilderment. He opens his mouth and raises a finger, "why would you come h-" he turns to the Hound and stops himself. He breaks into a laugh. He laughs so hard that he clutches his stomach, "oh!" He wheezes, "oh, I've forgotten about that!"

King Joffrey calms down with a sigh. He from to his Kingsguard then to me, eyeing my attire. He chuckles under his breath as his eyes rake me down, "I see your wife has dressed to seduce you, dog." His looks up to my face, "or wouldn't that make you bitch?"

I do not respond for a moment, put on the spot by his malice, but then my wits finally meet me. I curtsy to the king, "I am what my king makes me to be."

Joffrey laughs airily. He shakes his head, "my, dog," he turns to his guard, "I've truly matched you well," he pats his shoulder plate, "too well, in fact."

He then retreats into his chambers, calling out as he did, "you're dismissed, dog. Breed your bitch as you like."

The door slams shut.

I release a breath once the king leaves, clutching my belly as I did so.

Sandor does not move an inch from his spot. He does not look at me.

I begin to get nervous all over again. I try, "husband?"

"You think I'll answer to your whistle just because you're dressed like a whore?"

My face hardens. I look away from him. I mean I expected as much.

I swallow the lump in my throat, "I only wanted to please you-"

He scoffs.

I look back at him, "I will dress more modestly if it is what you'd like."

"I'd like not to see you whoring around."

I am unable to withhold my scoff, "I am what my lord makes me out to be."

The Hound finally spares me a glance. I glare at him as I curtsy, "apologies for the impertinence." I turn on my heels and walk away. My anger and vexation gets the best of me. I cannot help but jeer, "if my dress angers you so, take it off me then."

Sandor shifts on his spot.

I continue down the hall.

His lips curl as he growls lowly, "run."

I do not hear anything but my own grumbling.

"Run, little girl!" he barks, making me jolt and turn back to him with a scowl. The irritation is apparent in my face as I stop at the end of the hall, "what?"

The Hound begins to march over. My heart races as I hear him warn, "run, if you know what's good for you"

I begin to shuffle back.

"I'll tear that shit off your body when I catch you."

I break into a sprint at the sound of his threat.

I don't look back. I heave heavily as I rush down the halls. I don't hear him chasing after me, though once I'm far, I see him treading fast as the times he's dragged me by the arm. My stomach flurries with anxiousness and regret.

When I reach my chambers, I mentally debate whether or not I should lock the door. I gulp at the idea of him breaking it down. I decide I do not want a memory such as that to be branded into my brain.

I gasp when he bursts into the room. I grip my skirts from the edge of the bed where where I sat.

The Hound locks the door before walking over to me. He grabs my shoulders and shoves me down on my belly.

I squeak when he grabs my skirts and rips it all the way up my ribs. He scoffs, "fucking parchment."

I hear him grab something by my vanity. I do not dare to look at him. I proceed to hear him undo his armor and his clothes.

I hear a pop. I yelp when he grabs my smallclothes and yanks them down. I groan into the cushions when I feel his fingers toy with my folds.

"Don' fink you nee' vis," he speaks like something was in his mouth. He pulls his hand away and suddenly the smell of my lavender oil assaults my senses. I hear a squelch. Something is thrown to my side; it's my vial.

I squeak when he grabs my hips. He sighs, "you're ready on your own." We both make noises when he begins to thrust into me. The Hound growls, "little girl likes to be chased."

I am shoved into the cushions. My entire body tenses.

"You want to dress like a whore," he taunts, "I'll fuck you like a whore."

His tempo is brutal and harsh. He does not relent or give me leeway. It's strange and shameful that my body even feels tingles of pleasure.

I cannot help the screams that rip out of my throat. Had I not been faced down on the cushion, I fear that I would have woken the dead.

I call out his name when he hoists my hips up. My toes could no longer touch the floor. He begins moving faster. My hands dig into the sheets. I feel my eyes water.

The Hound howls. He shoves me down and suddenly my feet are on the ground. He plunges deep, it makes my eyes roll back. His thrusts become increasingly irregular and after with a few more slaps, he stops.

I catch my breath, thanking the gods he's shown mercy.

I whine when I feel him pull away. I gulp and shift on my spot. I anticipate his next movements. I hear a rustle. I lift my head up and look back at him, confused by the sight of him tying himself up.

Was... was it done?

"Don't think to have that dress mended, girl," he pants as he grabs something from the floor. I roll on my back, feeling uneasy because of the wetness between my thighs. I watch him unlock the door and slam the door on his way out.

All hells were breaking loose. King's Landing was under attack, the castle was on fire, and Stannis Baratheon was winning.

All the women and children holed up in the queen's retreat chamber spilled out to gods know where.

My mind was racing, yet all I could think was: run, flee, Lucy, Daisy, Hound.

I was already running. I was already fleeing. I was doing both with Lucy in my grip. I had Lucy, but I did not have Daisy.

We were running up to my chambers. I left Daisy there, my poor Daisy. We were fleeing up the stairs in haste, sparing no time to catch a breath.

I had no idea what we were to do. We could bar the door, block it with our bed. Lucy and I could manage it, I think. Was it a good idea? Would it guarantee our safety? There was only one way we'd know.

I quickly open the door and lock it once Lucy and I are inside.

We take a moment to finally catch our breath. Lucy grabs my arms and I grab hers. I can feel her shaking. I rub her skin, "it will be alright. No harm will reach us here."

Lucy shakes her head, "milday, you and me both know that's not true."

My heart shatters when I catch the way her eyes water. "Shhh," I pull her into a hug, "have I ever failed you, Lucy?"

She seals her arms around me and whispers, "no."

"Nothing will happen to us," I rub her back, "I will protect you."

"And I, you," she pulls away, "as will Daisy," she wipes her tears before they fall, "and the 'ound."

We scream when we hear a voice in the room. We press our back against the wall and turn to the bed. A figure is sat on the floor by its side. What was said was, "your mutt is stupid."

Lucy and I clutch each other for dear life. I recognized that voice. I muster the courage to tiptoe towards the figure and breathe out shakily when I confirm the presence, "Sandor?"

The man turns to me as we walk up to him. Sandor had Daisy on his lap. She looked up and blinked at me before closing her eyes. She was being pet a bloody hand and did not mind at all.

"She was jumped on me when I walked in. She looked excited," he turns to Daisy, "stupid bitch. Anyone else would have chopped her up."

I find myself releasing a breath of relief. Here now was Daisy, and Hound. I had nothing left to think about.

I walk up to him, kneeling on his side. He turns to me. I examine his face, dirtied and bloodied, "are you hurt?"

He looks at me for a moment. I watch him slowly raise his hand. He cautiously touches my cheek. I clutch his wrist in my hands. He swipes his thumb on my skin, "save your tears." I didn't even know I shed them. "None of the fuckers got close enough to try."

He draws his hand back. He grunts as he gets to his feet. Daisy moves back, wobbling on her three legs; I move back too.

"Take your valuables," the Hound grunts, "we're fucking leaving."

I pull my head back. I watch the man survey the room.

Lucy runs up to my side and she wipes my cheek with her skirt. She watches the red collect on the fabric and wonders who it belonged to. She wagers it's not from her lord.

I shake my head in confusion as Sandor grabs a satchel and stuffs my jewelry in it, "I don't understand. Aren't you going to fight?"

"Fuck the fight," he quips as he shoves objects down and raids through the drawers and closets.

Lucy finishes wiping my face. I walk off and grab all my hidden pouches of gold. I hand it to Sandor, "what about the king?"

"Fuck the king," he takes the pouches and stuffs it into the bag, "fuck him especially."

Sandor then chucks the satchel to Lucy, who grunts when she catches it.

"The stupid fuck's done nothing but fuck around," he picks up Daisy, propping her front legs on his shoulder, "no good thing's come from that fuck." He takes me by the hand and mumbles, " 'cept for one."

He releases me only to unlock the door and hold me again. He does not let me go until we reach the outside of the keep.

The whole lot was in disarray; dead bodies, debris, and fire littered the scene. He hands me Daisy, and I struggle slightly to carry her, considering she was not a small breed. He walks not too far off and brings a wandering horse over.

It's a wonder we do not encounter anyone on this side of the castle, more so that we find a horse.

Sandor takes Daisy and puts her down before helping me mount the steed. My stomach rolls with how his touch lingered on my thigh once I was on.

Next, he took the satchel from Lucy and handed it to me. He then eyed her when she stepped forward, as if debating whether or not he wanted to bring her along. Before she or I could speak up about it, Sandor is already helping her climb up behind me. Lucy takes the satchel from me and eyes him after. He rolls his eyes.

He picked up Daisy and tried handing her to me. However, she struggled too much and could not fit in my arms, so he cursed and threw her back onto his shoulders. He grabbed the horse's reins and started walking.

"Fucking bitch, fucking wench, fucking horse, fucking war, fucking-"

[jeeaark]

Previously on 'Orpheus' First Impressions'

Alternative Titles: Famous Last Words, Cue 'If You Like Pina Coladas' Epic Trailer Song, If Store-Bought is Unavailable, Self-Made Pina Colada is Fine, and It May Not Be The Pina Colada Anybody Wanted, but It's the Pina Colada Everyone Needed.

So I vaguely heard what could happen to Karlach and kept that in my in-case-of-emergency-break-glass reload mindset. But uh. Nah. Greygold had an ✨Agenda✨ after all of that.

Was so dedicated to volunteering, didn't even let Orpheus finish talking. nor read the other options. Nor said any goodbyes or talk it out with the others. No second thoughts, Just fully resonating the saying 'if you want things done right, you gotta do it yourself'

Kept wondering why Orpheus kept calling it a 'noble sacrifice' until the uh. Cutscene happened. Forgot that ceremorphis wasn't like a uh. wildshape shift or a magical girl transformation. Which means Greygold definitely hadn't been listening to Lae'zel's explicit descriptions of the process way back in the beginning. Too busy getting lost in babe's eyes, whoops.

Speaking of babe, she sounded pretty cranky again during the huddle talk to squidification (when I checked it out after the game), but I like to think it's because she was trying to put on a brave soldier face from how upset she really was about the situation.

Lae'zel after Orpheus' mindblown callout: This is the worst moment of my life. Lae'zel now, Drenched in her Joy's Blood: ........No, this is. This is worse.

But also I don't know if it's been confirmed what Orpheus' stance was on if he'd've worked with Emps or not, but in this reality? From the vibes I was was getting? Gonna play with the idea of it being a big 'nah'. More 'fun' this way.

[starwriterulia]

Tomb of the Goshenite Stargazer Dragon - Chapter 4

SUBJECT MATERIAL WARNINGS FOR THIS FANFICTION ARE INCLUDED IN THE MASTERLIST POST OF MY BLOG AND THE FIRST CHAPTER OF THIS FANFICTION.

Bat dividers by @violetbudd

Minors DNI, scene cut and creator support banners by @cafekitsune

Latest revision: August 18, 2024. Added minors DNI, scene cut and "Support your creators by reblogging" banners. Added ⏭️ emoji below end of chapter banner with text explaining its function as a navigational button.

Chapter summary: Faith, nude, is experiencing a lucid dream when Ra's, also nude, appears, and holds her left breast from behind while talking with Faith about how she could make this easier on everyone if she submitted to him. Faith reminds Ra's that it was a shared wet dream, and she follows her curiosity and sexual hormones, and allows Ra's to use her mouth. Before Ra's moves on to her vagina, the eight pairs of neon red eyes of a spider-demon appears in the darkness, and uses a tentacle to throw Ra's far into the sky. Faith flirts with the demon, who speaks Nerobzal, the language of the Nero Sprits of Faith's fictional galaxy, Thalassic Space, and they have sex using the demon's tentacles in Faith's mouth, vagina and anus. But Faith loses motivation and dispells the illusion, revealing to her that she had burned part of the forest near Wayne Manor, and is in shock.

Urania comes down from the sky in a beautiful cluster of stars within a beam of light, and scolds Faith, and inserts a finger into Faith's vagina to remove residue from the dream world to prevent a Nero Spirit from manifesting or possessing Faith. She leads Faith into the forest, where Batman was waiting, telling him to call if she's needed and Zatanna is unavailable, and they go to the mansion, where Urania departs. Stephanie waited inside, and helps Faith dress before making breakfast for the two girls, during which Faith tries to talk about her Fairy Persona, Solas, and her Mermaid Persona, Ønske, but instead talks about the alphabets and translation and pronunciation rules of Neofom and Nerobzal. Batman interrupts after this, saying they were late to the Belfry, and the girls put their dishes in the sink with water and leave with Batman. After Faith's training, while Barbara escorts Faith to the bathroom to shower while Tim and Stephanie prepare dinner, Dick reflects about the session, Ra's' actions earlier that day, and the other world-ending disaster that Ra's could initate with knowledge of its ritual. The Batkids eat dinner together, then Stephanie and Faith go upstairs to have some fun.

Fandoms: DC Comics, Batfamily, no Batcest, Thalassic Space (OC; takes inspiration The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Assassin's Creed: Black Flag, Silent Hill 2, Silent Hill 3, and other sci-fi, fantasy and horror titles, as well as original concepts, such as the science and lore of the galaxy.)

[In order of appearance] Characters: Faith Lawson (TBA; self-insert), Stephanie Brown (The Spoiler), Bruce Wayne (Batman), Barbara Gordon (Batgirl), Dick Grayson (Nightwing), Tim Drake (Red Robin).

Word Count: 11570 (Back to having a long chapter due to how much dialogue I tend to write, WHOOPS.) 15439 (August 10 revision, HOLY SHIT, I mean of course it got longer 'cause I added part of Chapter 3 onto it, but HOT DAMN)

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5

Content warnings: Nightmare related imagery, brief non-consensual breast holding, oral (male receiving), vaginal and anal teasing and penetration with a lucid dream manifested tentacle, face teasing (female receiving) with a lucid dream manifested tentacle, rough consensual vaginal and anal sex with a lucid dream manifested tentacle, dirty thoughts à la Dick Grayson about Faith's ass, thighs and boobs (it it may be slightly OOC, but then again... it's probably fine LOL)

I approached my high school that was also UNBC Prince George and the most horrifying yet thrilling indoor water park that could ever exist, taking large strides towards the front doors of the school and entering, slowing my pace as I neared the gymnasium hallway. The canteen to the left was open and tended by familiar faces, and to the right was a Japanese subway station clad in neon pink, and down that way, on the left side of the hall, was a McDonalds. The way its white, red and yellow lighting merged with the neon pink gave me a headache. I entered the gym, which no longer captured its appearance as I remembered it, basketball hoops, metal support structures, the laminate flooring and the bleachers with an opening to the locker hallway, and from there two stairs to the mezzanine, and displayed the water park with white tiles and blue tiles of various shades, cautionary signs on the floor and walls, and two massive pools that were probably from Vancouver or Surrey. I had flashes of going down the waterslide of too many impossible tubes, the drain-slide of doom, and the shocking feeling of my foster dad not quite catching me, and the curiosity of what would have remained if I had died, that day. Would my subconscious be trapped in the pool, or would it become one with the water and cease to exist?

I heard a man hum lustfully behind me. He slithered an arm over my left shoulder and cupped his hand around my breast. "Are you usually naked in your dreams?" It was Ra's, of course. I didn't even need to turn around to confirm that.

"No." I felt my body awaken as we were transported to the street in front of the high school at night, the yellow light of streetlamps keeping away the creatures and spirits that I couldn't name or describe, but the goosebumps on my skin had felt. Ra's had attracted an audience of Nero Spirits, and they would love a show. I rubbed my eyes and yawned while I said, "But, yawn, whenever I check what I'm wearing, or make any conscious effort to get information or change the Script, things break, and I wake up violently." Ra's hummed. "Are you bothering me because you've found my dragon tomb on Earth and want to tell me you're coming back for your new wife?"

"No, although I do very dearly want that. I was wondering if you could tell me how to get past that spider of yours so I can make that come true, and you won't have to worry about training for what would be a short, futile and rather painful battle, for you."

"Like hell I'm telling you that. Ra's, when I say, 'Stop, or it'll kill you', I mean it, and it won't be me who kills you."

"Oh, aha ha ha, how cute. You think anything in your little galaxy can hurt me or take my life?"

"You brought this upon yourself. You should have recognised how dangerous Platonia is, when you first stared into it. If you continue, and if you manage to defeat me, or whatever, I literally will be unable to stop what comes next until I'm resurrected, and Earth won't have much time for the heroes to gather the Four."

"What are you talking about?" Ra's said, curiously. He moved to stand in front of me. He was naked, too. I couldn't help how my face reacted, my lips parting and my eyes locking onto his cock, six inches and quite girthy. "You like what you see."

"I mean, I do like older men, and it was a shared wet dream."

"Then make this easier on yourself," R'as took hold of my shoulders, and forced me to my knees. His dick was becoming erect, and was close enough to my face that I could smell his pheromones. "And let me fuck you, Faith."

I was lost for words. And I was really curious. Also, it might make Ra's stop pursuing me. "I have a gag reflex, by the way." I said, taking his dick in my right hand and stroking it as I licked and kissed around his tip.

Ra's moaned in his throat. "Yes, mm. Why don't I help you with that?"

"I'm open to that." I said. Ra's started to insert his cock into my mouth, his left hand holding the back of my head. I sighed, my shoulders relaxing.

"Feels good, doesn't it?"

"Better than my dildo. You have a pulse."

"Oh, yes. Relax, relax everything, and just breathe through your nose calmly. I'll do the rest."

"Do you want me to swallow?" I said, making eye contact.

"Yes."

Oh God, my hormones. "Mm, fuck me." I slackened my jaw, inhaling. R'as pushed his dick into my mouth, and as I gagged and my eyes fluttered, he laughed with a smug expression.

"Good?"

"Mhm." It kinda hurt and was really awkward, but holy shit if wasn't a good hurt.

"Good." Ra's said. He grunted, and began to fuck my face. I moaned and concentrated on the rough feeling of his cock using me like a fleshlight. Breathing through my nose was so, so awkward and uncomfortable for the first fifteen seconds.

"Yes, like that. You've got it, now." I moaned, and reached my arms to hold the back of Ra's' legs. "Yes, good. Good, girl."

Ra's persisted, never easing up on his treatment of my mouth, and I felt the wetness of my cunt, and imagined how it might smell with the scent of Ra's' dick in my face. "You're wet for me, Faith." Ra's said, sultrily. I nodded a little, softly moaning. "Are you going to get on your hands and knees so I can fuck your little pussy?" I moaned.

"Nanoz." Said a masculine voice from the darkness behind Ra's.

"What was that? What did he say?"

I pulled my face down, removing Ra's from my mouth. "He said 'no'."

"Who was that?" Ra's looked over his shoulder as eight pairs of neon red eyes appeared.

"The demon I call Nerobzal. I don't know his actual name."

"It isr toz' preciozuzsr phzozr yabozuz toz knanozwz, labozve." I fluttered my eyes and blushed. I looked at Ra's face. He looked pissed.

"He said, 'It is too precious for you to know, love'."

"Well, get in line, pal."

"I azmam thze labinane."

"He is the line." I said. Ra's scoffed.

"Iphz yabozuz ever tryab toz tozuzchz mamyab labozve azgazinan, I wzilab' give yabozuz pazinan eternanazlab."

"'If you ever touch my love again, I will give you pain eternal'." I translated.

Ra's scoffed louder. "No pain you could ever give would qualify as pain to me." The eight-eyed demon was silent. "Makes you think twice, doesn't it?" Six. "Your 'love' is my bitch now, you hear me? I'm going to take her home a-AAAAND!" Ra's was lifted into the air by a scraggly neon red arm with a clawed hand, and swung about in tight circles like Thor winding Mjölnir.

"Send him home, honey." I said, kindly.

"Glabazdlabyab." 'Gladly.' The eight-eyed demon threw Ra's, whose scream followed his body into the silence of the dark.

"And the next time he tries to search for my dragon tomb, hunt him, and do anything but kill him. Batman wouldn't be happy about that."

"Yabesr, I uznandersrtaznand. Wze mamuzsrt plabazyab bzyab thze ruzlabesr ozphz ozthzersr, srozmametimamesr." 'Yes, I understand. We must play by the rules of others, sometimes.'

"Thank you. Do you… want anything from me as payment for this?" The demon hummed seductively. I felt his voice vibrate throughout my body, and I moaned loudly, my torso suddenly so heavy that I had to bend forward, leaning on my arms with my ass raised as I looked into the highest pair of the demon's eyes. "Labet mame plabeazsre yabozuz phzozr thze timame wze hzazve labephzt." 'Let me pleasure you for the time we have left.'

"Oh, yes! Yes, please!" I opened my mouth wide, licking the air. Three neon red tentacles, each with a tip the size of a naval orange and growing in width as they disappeared into the darkness, and another lanky arm came from the shadows. One tentacle placed itself in front of my face, and I desperately licked it and used my lips and jaw to put it my mouth to suck on, moaning. The demon grumbled four times. "Does that feel good, honey?"

"Yabesr." 'Yes.' I continued licking and sucking on the tentacle as the other two slathered my feet in the demon's liquid. The two tentacles traced up my legs, covering them in slick. When they reached my ass, the two arms he had produced grabbed my ass cheeks tightly. I moaned, sticking my tongue out. The tentacle I had been sucking on playing with my tongue, and moved around my face.

"Ohhhh, yes, honey, yes. Use me, honey, use me!" I pleaded. The tentacle pushed itself into my mouth, and I relaxed my jaw as it entered, flickering around, making me drool onto the asphalt. The hands spread my ass cheeks, and the two tentacles teased my holes, around and in the beginning of each opening. I moaned and gasped in pleasure, looking into the highest pair of eyes, and the demon hummed to me.

The tentacle lingering around my cunt entered, and I released a long, sputtered moan around the tentacle in my mouth. "Yes! Ohhhh!" The tentacle in my pussy began to thrust, the liquids that began to fill me making my head light with ecstasy. I tilted my head to the right with the sensation, the tentacle in my mouth beginning to pass into my throat, and I moaned softly.

The tentacle near my ass hole plunged in. "OH!" I gasped, moving my head back suddenly, leaving behind the tentacle in my mouth. "Oh, fuck yeah!" The tentacle in my ass worked quickly. "Oh, yes, honey, yes!"

The demon's tentacle that had been in my mouth travelled around my face, and I grabbed onto it with my left hand to lick it. "Wzhzazt wzilab' yabozuz doz wzhzenan hze chazlab'enangesr yabozuz azphzter yabozuz hzazve received trazinaninang phzrozmam thze mamozrtazlabsr yabozuz hzazve bzephzrienanded?" 'What will you do when he challenges you after you have received training from the mortals you have befriended?'

"I will try to win."

"Wzhzat iphz yabozuz labozsre?" 'What if you lose?'

"Will I not wander the darkness and find you?"

"Yabozuz wzilab', iphz thzazt isr wzhzazt yabozuz truzlabyab wzaznant." 'You will, if that is what you truly want.' The demon moved the tentacle from my face to my breasts, bringing forth two more tentacles. "Bzuzt yabozuz azre nanozt wzhzozlab'yab mamazde phzozr mame, labozve." 'But you are not wholly made for me, love.' The new tentacles wrapped around my waist and upper right thigh, hoisting my leg. "Yabozuz azre mamozrtazlan." 'You are mortal.' The tentacle that was in my cunt moved rougher, but not violently, aiming downwards and making me moan.

"Oznanlabyab yabozuzr srpirit isr eternanazlab." 'Only your spirit is eternal.' I hummed in acknowledgement, nodding. "Iphz yabozuz wzaznandered thze dazrknanesr' wzithzozuzt cozmamplabete cozmam'itmamenant toz phozrever be boznanded wzithz mame, azsr thze Labazdyab Wzhzoz Srozuzghzt thze Azrmamsr ozphz az Nanightmamazre, yabozuz wzozuzlabd never labeazve Inanphzernanoz." 'If you wandered the darkness without complete commitment to forever be bonded with me, as the Lady Who Sought the Arms of a Nightmare, you would never leave Inferno.'

"Wze wzozuzlabd be tozgethzer inan thze Perimameter ozphz thze Naninanthz Circlabe, buzt yabozuz wzozuzlabd be uznanazblabe toz die toz beginan ozr enand Red Srtozrmam Eazrthz, mameaznaninang wze wzozuzlabd hzazve creazted thzazt srcenanazrioz phzozr nanothzinang, aznand Thzalabazsr'ic Srpazce wzozuzlabd labozse oznane ozphz itsr Plabazyabwzrighztsr. I doz nanozt thzinank yabozuz srhzozuzlabd sreek mame." 'We would be together in the Perimeter of the Ninth Circle, but you would be unable to die to begin or end Red Storm Earth, meaning we would have created that scenario for nothing, and Thalassic Space would lose one of its Playwrights. I do not think you should seek me.'

I sighed. "You're right. Ra's has learned about Red Storm Earth now, right?"

"Yabesr, hze hzazsr. I hzeazrd hzimam labazuzghz phzrozmam thze roz'mam wzhzere yabozuz aznand Azrgozphzazelab wzere labazid toz resrt. Hze szazid it wzazsr perphzect." 'Yes, he has. I heard him laugh from the room where you and Argophael were laid to rest. He said it was perfect.'

"Thanks for letting me know. If I lose, Red Storm Earth will have to be ended, as it normally would."

"Yabesr. Aznand I wzilab' azccept mamyab rozlabe azsr oznane ozphz thze demamoznansr yabozuz mamuzsrt depheazt." 'Yes. And I will accept my role as one of the demons you must defeat.'

I nodded, and raised my cheeks to smile. "Oh, to finally see the climax of Thalassic Space!"

"Yabesr, it wzilab' bze quzite thze srpectazclabe." 'Yes, it will be quite the spectacle.' I nodded more. "I labike thze nanazme yabozuz gazve mame, labozve. It hzazsr aznan inanteresrtinang buzt srimamplabe ozriginan." 'I like the name you gave me, love. It has an interesting but simple origin.'

"Thank you. You won't leave me after this, will you?"

The demon laughed. "Nanoz. Wze hzazve beenan tozgethzer phozr srix hzuznandred aznand eighztyab srevenan yabeazrsr, aznand I hzozpe wze azre tozgethzer phzozr srix hzuznandred aznand eighztyab srevenan mamozre. Azsr equzazlab creaztive maminandsr wzhzoz srozmametimamesr mameet toz hzazve srex, inan dreazmamsr." 'No. We have been together for six hundred and eighty seven years, and I hope we are together for six hundred and eighty seven more. As equal creative minds who sometimes meet to have sex, in dreams.'

"Hm," I smiled. "This isn't a dream."

"Nanoz, it isr nanozt az dreazmam. Raz'sr azlab Ghzuzlab creazted az pazthz ozuzt ozphz thze tozmamb azsr hze phzlabed, wzhzenan hze wzozke mame phzrozmam mamyab wzeb aznand reazlabisred mamyab srize aznand pozwzer. I phzozlab'ozwzed hzimam toz az mamaznansrioznan aznand enantered thze roz'mam yabozuz srlabept inan azsr hzisr shzazdozwz. Wzhzenan hze remamozved hzisr clabozthzesr, I mamozved bozthz ozphz yabozuz hzere. I wzazited phzozr hzimam toz be nanuzde sroz hze cozuzlabd phzyabsricazlab'yab phzeelab mamyab Lawbzal, wzhzenan I grazbbed hzimam." 'No, it is not a dream. Ra's al Ghul created a path out of the tomb as he fled, after he woke me from my web and realised my size and power. I followed him to a mansion and entered the room you slept in as his shadow. When he removed his clothes, I moved both of you here. I waited for him to be nude so he could physically feel my Lawbzal, when I grabbed him.'

"Cool! Big, strong demon!" I giggled.

The demon hummed. "I azmam sroz veryab phzozrtuznanazte toz hzazve phzozuznand srozmameoznane sroz kinand, bzeazuztiphzuzlab aznand inantelab'igenant toz hzazuznant." 'I am so very fortunate to have found someone so kind, beautiful and intelligent to haunt.'

I smiled with my cheeks. "I'm glad to have met you in person, in this life. And I'm glad that we love each other."

"I azmam glanazd phzozr thzazt, toz', labozve. Nanozwz, hzozlabd oznan. Labet mame phzinanisrhz inan yabozuz." 'I am glad for that, too, love. Now, hold on. Let me finish in you.' I hummed, eagerly. "Labet mame cozmamplabete yabozuzr wzisrhz, aznand I wzilab' tazke mamyab pazyabmamenant." 'Let me complete your wish, and I will take my payment.'

"Let's do it, honey." I said, cheerfully. The demon pushed the tentacle in my vagina as far as it could go. I laid on my stomach from the overwhelming situation. "Oh! Oh, oh!"

"Isr thzazt toz' mamuzchz?" 'Is that too much?'

"Oh, I think you're right against my cervix, please try not to go further, it hurts as it is, and I don't think I would enjoy a dance with death that intimately."

"Veryab wzelab', labozve." 'Very well, love.' The tentacles continued to pump into my pussy and ass. But I was having trouble staying in the fantasy, and three seconds later, I released the illusion. I laid on a small clearing in the forest near Wayne Manor, and my solar magic had melted the snow and scorched the grass, and six layers of trees had been turned to ash.

"Oh my God, I did that!"

A cluster of golden stars spanning fifty kilometres (31 miles) gathered in the sky, and from the cluster came a golden beam of light that shot to the ground, four feet away from me. Urania must have given a Celestial Globe to Batman or the League. "Daughter," She said melodically, as she closed the distance, standing with her arms on her hips at my feet. "Were you not only pretending to have self-cestuous intercourse with your Animus in the forest, but role-playing as demon-spider and its wench?"

"Yes." I said, sitting up and crossing my legs. "I don't feel sick anymore, though."

"Tsk. Do you need me to look at your vagina and make sure you are not dying?"

"No, Mother. I lost motivation, just now. I didn't finish, or penetrate myself too deeply."

"Good. Still, I will clean you of any residue from the Dream World on Paper so that no Nero Spirit possesses or follows you." Urania knelt before me, and inserted a finger into my vagina. A soothing warmth captivated my body. Five seconds later, Urania removed her finger, and wiped it on her toga. "Oh, look at what you have done, in two minutes! You know how quickly your O-star eye burns everything around you, if you have lucid or waking fantasies without supervision! We are fortunate you had a sexual fantasy only involving yourself and your Animus instead of a destructive one like Red Storm Earth!"

"Yes, Mother. I'm sorry, I was dreaming and forgot I'm not on Earth-33 anymore, and that I have magic now."

"Mhm." Urania nodded firmly.

"I should have recognised the illusion I created, but I didn't because I wanted the fantasy so badly."

Urania held my hands in hers. "I know why you fell into the design of your subconscious, sweetheart. You are a lonely woman, and yes, most fault lays with your foster parents and some with your adoptive parents for not guiding you or talking to you about the how and why of relationships so you could at least use that knowledge to better your life. This was true during your life as a demigoddess, too. This dilemma of loneliness is also in part your fault, in this life. You understand the rules of monogamy, and the reasons for those rules, but when presented with online dating, you broke the rules of trust and exclusivity. You have not dated since August of last year, though that was two boyfriends later."

"Yeah." I exhaled. "Yeah. I keep making myself fictional love interests, but it never has, and never will, fill the hole I made."

"Precisely. Tell me, how did it actually feel to have intercourse with your Animus, in that form? What did your narration not describe?"

"I felt the strange, heightened sensation of having sex in a dream, but it went on for too long. That's when I remembered I don't have any real experience to base the scenario on. My depression broke me out of it, and, uh, I think that's fortunate."

"Yes, you are fortunate that your consciousness remembered its truth, albeit heavy on your emotions and health." I nodded, looking down. Urania sighed and lifted my chin with her left hand. "Ulia, I know you were only trying to please yourself and not have to ask for help. You have always had a hard time asking for help, even as a demigoddess. But this is something you should ask for help with. You are very lucky that your Animus has a tether of five kilometres (3 miles) to your physical location so that this short-sighted decision could not take you into the city, where all of the world would have beared witness to your debauchery and the natural horrors that the solar fire and gravitational vaccum sealed in your eyes that you were gifted to use for creation by your father can bring. Ask for help, next time. And not just when you need to be touched."

"Yes, Mother." I said, meekly. "I will ask for help, next time."

"Thank you. And I better see it! I do not want to see you put yourself in any more compromising situations, situations that will make the people who are supposed to trust you doubt your intentions, who you want to use your powers for, why you want to use magic, and I know this is especially important to you right now, why you are worthy of being Batgirl, if part of the Batfamily at all." I frowned as Urania said the last clause of her argument.

"You're right." I said, defeated but not broken. "I won't do this again."

"Thank you, Faith. Thank you." The second time, softly. Urania inhaled, stood up by pushing on her knees, and offered her left hand. I lifted my cheeks in a smile, and accepted the help to stand. "Let's get you back inside." We walked into the forest, where the grass became snow.

"Thank you for coming to help, Mother."

"It was my pleasure, Ulia." Urania wrapped her left arm around my right, and leaned close to whisper into my right ear, "When you do have sex with a penis, your IUD, Kyleena, won't do anything because of your reawakened spirit." I groaned into a laugh, smiling. Urania laughed in the way a mother who knows she's won would. "I love you." She said, melodically.

"I love you too, Mother." I said, kindly, and leaned into Urania, smiling with my cheeks and eyes. Urania hummed, pleased, and moved her weight away from me.

"Is all well, Batman?" Urania said, looking to her right. I inhaled and looked that way, and saw Batman emerge from the snowy trees.

"Yes. The only thing affected was the clearing, and those trees."

"Good. Her flu has been conquered, so I expect you will give her a meal and proceed with training?"

"Yes."

"Good. If she does anything like this again, but in the city, and you for whatever reason do not want to ask for Zatanna's assistance, or are unable to have her aid, please summon me with the Celestial Globe that I gifted you."

"I will, Urania. Thank you."

"Thank you, as well. For your patience, this morning, certainly." Urania said. Batman hummed. We reached the front yard. "All right, daughter. I will leave you, now. Until next time. Please try to behave yourself."

"Yes, Mother." I said, blushing bright red. "Thank you, Mother." Urania sighed with content. A smile came to her face, and she hugged me. I returned the hug, and several seconds later, Urania separated her body from mine.

"I will be on my way." Urania left for the sky the same way she appeared.

"Come on, Faith." Batman said, and walked with me inside the mansion.

"You're friggin' crazy, girl!" Said a feminine voice from upstairs. I looked, and there was—

"Stephanie!" I called out, beaming. Stephanie was not in costume, and leaned against the centre railing of the great hall stairs.

"Hi, crazy!" Stephanie replied. I laughed. "So like, you pretended to fuck your male-self, and you went out in the cold snow naked?"

"Yeah. I mean, I was sleeping naked, so."

"Faith!" Stephanie parkoured over the railing, and came towards me and Batman. "Faith, Faith, Fa-hey-haith." She put her hands on my shoulders with a smug grin. "You're crazy." I laughed. "And I will eat you out, tonight."

"Stephanie." Said Batman.

"Shut it, Bruce. Let's get you not naked, some food in your stomach, and then we'll get you to the Belfry."

"Oh-kay." I said, in my silly-time-at-work voice.

"OK?" Stephanie tilted her head forward, eyebrows raised.

"Yes, OK." I said, normally, with a light laugh.

"OK!" Stephanie linked her right arm with my left, and tried to skip, finding immediate resistance. "La—! Hey, why—?"

"I can't skip, either."

"Oh, right! Physical disability! You can't do shit, right now! I'm sorry."

"It's OK." I said, laughing. "We'll just walk, briskly, like the gays do."

"YES!" Stephanie and I began to walk at a fast pace. "Yes, we will walk briskly, like the gays do!"

"Woo hoo!"

"WOO!" Stephanie and I laughed. I heard a little something from Batman.

—

Faith and Stephanie entered the guest bedroom, and Faith searched in her dufflebag for something to wear. She chose black leggings and a full-length sleeved olive green shirt, vivid blue boxer briefs, a light blue sports bra, and black socks. Stephanie looked at the contents of the bag without touching anything. "Hm, you like earthy and jewel tones, eh?" Faith had brought a short-sleeved olive green shirt, a burgundy tank top, a dark blue shirt with a large rose pattern, two purple shirts, one full-sleeved and the other a T-shirt, and a brown tank top. She had brought two other pairs of black leggings, two pairs of black shorts, a grey pair of shorts, a pair of dark grey jogging pants, and a brown skirt that caught Stephanie's eye. Faith had brought two weeks' worth of black or dark coloured boxer briefs and a handful of loose-fitting bikini briefs, also black or dark coloured, black and grey socks, a pink sports bra and a purple sports bra that were the same style as the one Faith had picked to wear, and a grey sports bra with spaghetti straps and two darker shades of grey and black making a pattern of small lines.

"Yeah." Faith said, putting on the undergarments she picked. "Check out that brown skirt with the brown tank top, that's my favourite outfit."

"Yeah, I was looking at the skirt, lemme get a better look at it." Said Stephanie. She produced the item, letting it unfurl. "Ooh! That is so cuuuute!"

"Right? Thrift store find, along with the top I pair with it."

Stephanie pulled out the top, and gasped, seeing the dark olive green crochet work on its front. "Oh, that's so cute! I bet you look fabulous in it, with the skirt."

"Oh yeah!" Faith said, putting on the shirt she had chosen. "They look so good together that I get asked if it's a dress, and then I pull on the top of the skirt to show it's a skirt."

"Oh yeah." Stephanie said. Faith pulled on the leggings. "All good?"

"Uh, lemme brush my hair and wash my face."

"Sure, baby." Faith's cheeks reddened as they rose to smile, and Stephanie smiled in acknowledgement. 'I don't think she's ever been flirted with by a girl. This must be really special to her. Don't fuck this up, Steph!' Faith picked up the black vented hairbrush in her bag, strode to the bathroom, and went to work. "You're being so rough to your hair!"

"Yeah, well, if the curls win, it's a rat's nest, except for some parts in the back and front that stay curly."

"Mind if I help?"

"Sure!" Faith said, extending her right arm backwards. Stephanie entered the bathroom and accepted the brush. "I haven't had someone else brush my hair in a long time, that would feel nice."

"Yeah, it does, doesn't it?" Stephanie said, beginning to gently work the brush through Faith's hair.

"I'm getting it dyed, on Thursday."

Stephanie gasped. "Ooh, what colour?"

"Red."

"Ooh, that'll look nice! Are you just getting it on what's grown out for a bit of an ombre look, or are you getting it all bleached and dyed, or just some streaks that'll get done?"

"What's grown out, plus a bunch of streaks."

"Nice!"

"Yeah. It'll be bright, but when I do it again, it'll be burgundy."

"Oh, that's going to look amazing on you."

"Mhm." Faith nodded, humming and smiling with her cheeks.

"You should let Bruce know, so he can make your costume match!"

"Oh, I will."

"Good." Stephanie continued brushing Faith's hair for another minute, then dangled the brush over Faith's right shoulder.

"Oh, you can put it back in my bag, if you want."

"Sure." Stephanie exited the bathroom, and Faith opened the cupboard under the sink. She found a white face cloth, and ran it under hot water as Stephanie returned. "You don't use soap, or anything?"

"Eh, I use a face-cleaning wipe in the evening, if I feel gross or put on makeup for once, but this is usually enough to wake me up." Faith wrung out the cloth and applied it to her face.

Stephanie laughed. "You're not already?"

"Sorry, should've said "clean my eyes". I get eye mucus pretty bad."

"Oh yeah. So you don't sleep well?"

"No. Even with my meds, it takes about three hours if I'm on my phone, which I usually am, just to watch a YouTube video." Faith folded the cloth, and set it on the edge of the sink. She walked out of the bathroom with Stephanie, towards the door to the hallway. "It takes two, or less, like, sometimes I'm asleep in the first half hour, if I'm really tired and just need background ambiance."

"What do you like to watch to help you sleep?" Stephanie asked, as Faith opened the door, the pair leaving the bedroom. Stephanie closed the door, and the girls went downstairs.

"People playing or talking about video games, horror analysis videos, be it about a movie, game or what have you, and now and then I'll watch something funny. I usually gravitate towards whatever SMOSH uploads I've missed."

"Oh yeah. You like their modern stuff?"

"I like their modern cast, yeah." The two crossed the open part of the hallway, passing the great hall stairs and nearing the reception room. "I think they're funny, and they seem friendly enough. Sometimes I watch a MARVEL movie on Disney+, or an episode of Young Justice, Justice League or Justice League: Unlmited on my TELETOON+ subscription through Amazon Prime."

The girls rounded the corner, to the right, walking through the servery to a narrow hallway, and taking the first door on the left to the kitchen. "Have you watched the Netflix Gotham show yet?"

"I watched two seasons, I think? I forget where I left off. I thought it was really good." Faith opened the door to the kitchen, Stephanie following and closing it.

"It was! Whatchu in the mood for?" They stood near the island.

"Good question, my stomach doesn't like eggs, but it does like hashbrowns and meat."

"How do you usually cook your eggs?"

"Uh, well-cooked? The yolk is hard. I flip it over to cook it."

"That's over-hard. Have you tried scrambled?"

"That's sort of how I make an omlette? It doesn't make a difference."

"Maybe your tummy just doesn't like eggs."

"Yeah, it doesn't like lactose or gluten, either."

"Well, that's a bummer."

"Gluten is more of just a pasta thing though. I feel bloated, and if it's not cooked all the way and I don't eat carefully, it gets stuck in my eusophagus and I have to puke so I can breathe again."

"Aw! Why do you eat like that, then?"

"'Cause I'm usually trying to get back to writing, or solely watching whatever I was watching."

"Ohhh, OK."

"Also yes, gluten and sugar are why I'm overweight."

Stephanie clicked her tongue. "Hey. Your weight is just fine, Faith."

"I mean, I guess it is, but my joints and feet don't like it. I can stand for even less time because of my weight."

"Hm. And I guess you don't work out because of your disability."

"Yep, that's the thing."

"Aw, that sucks. Well, we'll take it slowly with you, and we'll get you into a shape that works for you!"

Faith lifted her cheeks to smile. "Thanks."

"So, no egg?"

"Well, I do need the iron."

"Meat has iron."

"Honestly, with my anxiety today, anything I eat this morning might not stick with me."

"Ah, that's why your stomach doesn't like eggs, or breakfast, I'm guessing, in a more broad term."

"Yeah." Faith nodded.

"Well, you should still eat." Faith nodded more. "How about I do the cooking, and you do the dishes?"

"Sure!"

"OK, have a seat at the island." Stephanie said, walking to the fridge as Faith rounded the corner of the island.

"Yeah, no."

"'No', what?" Stephanie placed ingredients from the fridge on the counter.

"I can't sit here." Faith sounded stressed. "They're too tall, and they don't have backs. My back'll get sore, and I'll have anxiety from sitting high up."

"You know we're gonna work on that, right?"

"I know."

"Oh, who am I kidding? There's a little table set, over in the corner, baby." Stephanie obtained a frying pan from the cabinets.

"Oh yeah, I saw." Faith went and sat at the table.

Stephanie laughed, turning on the burner. "Why didn't you just go there instead of stopping to have a panic attack about the stools?"

"Because I always make things difficult for myself."

"I think you told me that before." Stephanie opened the butter plate and cut into the butter with a spatula, plopping it on the pan.

"Oh, probably. If not, you figure it out pretty fast, from knowing me."

"Yep." Stephanie turned and leaned her back on the counter as the burner heated up.

"Haven't watched Titans, and I think I'll keep holding off on that."

"Yeah." Stephanie and I laughed. "Do you have a favourite Batman or DC movie?"

"Ooh, honestly? I thought Matt Reeves' The Batman nailed what it was going for. It was nice to see Robert Pattinson have a role that he was good at, well, at least I think he was good at." Stephanie turned to move the melting butter on the pan. "Sure, you could argue he's missing the massive build that Batman has, but he got the eye expression and mannerisms pretty spot-on, and they actually wrote Batman to care for people, that time. I'm looking forward to the next one."

"Nice." Stephanie cracked two eggs on the edge of the pan, and opened their contents onto the butter, tossing the egg shells into a green plastic bin beside a wood panelled bin under the island.

"I haven't watched any other DC film besides the first Aquaman movie with Jason Momoa."

"Oh, OK." Stephanie stabbed one of the yolks, and reached into a cupboard for seasonings. "What seasonings do you like?"

"Garlic, and a little bit of seasoning salt."

"OK!"

"It wasn't bad, honestly. Yes, seeing a whore with no common sense made me wanna eat her intestines every time she was on screen,"

"Pffft, oh my God, Faith! Savage!" Stephanie was placing bacon on the pan.

"Oh, bacon?"

"Yeah, you don't like it?"

"I'm picky with it. Do you have something else? Like Canadian bacon, or sausages?"

"I think I saw sausages in there, yeah." Stephanie sealed the Ziploc bag that held the package of bacon, and went into the fridge. "Yep! How many do you want?"

"Two, please!"

"And how much hashbrown?"

"Oh, it's the cut up kind?"

"Yep. Is that OK?"

"Yeah! I usually buy the patties. Um, but go with about a quarter of a cup."

"Sure, baby." Faith exhaled happily, Stephanie watching her happy expression and smiling back before focusing on opening the Ziploc bag containing the package of sausages and placing two on the pan.

"But she could have been a worse actress. She did the minimum, but I know sure as fucking shit that Mera deserved better."

"That's for sure." Stephanie leaned her back against the counter, glancing at the pan.

"I think a new star with the same beauty and a lot more talent would've made all the difference."

"Oh, absolutely."

"But other than that, it was not a waste of my time. It scratched the itch I had of a decent underwater fantasy adventure, but the itch was still there."

"Ooh, nice way of putting it."

"I hear Lost Kingdom was a mess, and I don't wanna waste my time when I could read something on Tumblr or AO3 that would be so much better."

Stephanie laughed, and turned to flip the eggs and meat. "Do you mostly reblog DC and MARVEL stuff?"

"Mostly DC, and now and then a smut fic with the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare or 2023's Mortal Combat 1 men."

"Pffft!"

"I have a type, but I also don't. It depends on what the horny needs." I laughed.

Stephanie removed the food sealing clip from the bag of hashbrowns and shook its opening over the pan. "Sorry, but I'm eyeballing this."

"Oh no, that's fine, I do that too."

"I couldn't see what you were doing, after your shadow-spider-demon disappeared and there was a beam that came down from a cluster of really pretty stars," Stephanie turned to Faith as she replaced the clip on the bag. "Which, hey, um, why did it have tentacles?"

"Because I wanted tentacles. My Animus is a shapeshifting Neo Spirit."

"Right, OK." Stephanie put away everything into the fridge. "Are you still a virgin, though?"

"Yeah, it was just an illusion."

"Ah."

"You know how, when you hump something, for me it's my bed or maternity pillow,"

Stephanie choked on air. "Yeah."

"Your body like, really gets into the fantasy?"

"Mhm."

"It was like that, but it was me and the ground."

"Ah, OK. How did you not wake up while crawling out of the window à la Kayako into the cold snow when the sun was just barely rising and then scampering off I think almost 1000 feet away to then hump and not only melt the snowy ground, but burn it along with a bunch of trees?"

Faith laughed with Stephanie. "Expert-level Dreamer mages, really meaning you have the skills equivalent to twenty years of training, are able to be so entranced by their own spells that they won't wake up without outside interference. But, like with sleep-walking, you must only wake a Dreamer if they're about to harm themselves, another living being, or a residential building, or have already done so. The best way to do this is with your voice and gentle physical contact, though the latter may not be effective or safe for the interrupter, and the former may not be effective with a normal voice. This is one of the reasons that Dragon Kin who can use the Thu'um and merfolk who can use the Mother Chords are so useful in Thalassic Space."

"Ooh, so someone like you, or a mermaid?"

"Dragon Kin include Dragon Form, Dragon Skin and Dragon Born people. Each are self-explanatory. Merfolk are, too, but some are born directly from Mother Mermaid and are called Mother-Born, and some Dragon Kin are direct offspring from Father Dragon and are, of course, called Father-Born. I'm not either of them."

"Oh, OK. I was gonna ask, 'cause that sounds cool!" Stephanie turned off the burner, reached up into a cupboard for plates and down into a drawer for cutlery, and filled the plates with food. "Do you want juice, milk, no, sorry, no milk for you," Faith laughed. Stephanie chortled. "Or just water?"

"What kind of juice is there?"

"Uh, let's see." Stephanie looked in the fridge. "Orange, apple, and peach mango."

"Orange."

"Same." Stephanie grabbed the jug and placed it on the counter. "Do you want a big glass or a little one?"

"Eh, a little one." Stephanie located a tall glass and a short glass from the cupboards, and filled them, then put the juice back. She brought the plates over, a fork on each plate, then the glasses of juice, Faith saying 'thank you' each time. "Wow, you've got really good table manners."

"For that part." Faith said, cutting the burnt pieces of egg away with her fork as Stephanie sat in a chair across from her. "Everything else I take after my dad, R-I-P."

"Pfft." Stephanie cut into her egg, and ate it. "So you eat like a redneck?"

"I eat like I'm in a hurry, again because I've got things to do,"

"Mhm."

"And because of my little arms and how I can move my wrists," Faith put down her fork and touched the area of her forearm above her wrists on the underside of her arms with the pinkie and ring finger of both hands. Stephanie's jaw opened. "I sometimes make messes when moving things. Even at work, that's how I drop stuff. Plus, having small hands." Faith cut into her egg, this time to eat it.

"I see." Stephanie chuckled, eating more egg. "What does that feel like?"

"It feels like I'm pulling on a muscle. My wrists are little sore, now, but it's not bad." Faith shook out her hands, and massaged the underside of her forearms.

"Are you flexible elsewhere?" Faith scooted back her chair, held her left foot with her right hand, and held it up to her head, her back barely having shifted. "Damn! Not bad."

"Yeah, my leg ain't straight, but it can go there."

"Nice. So really, the only issues here are your hypotonia, scoliosis, and your weight."

"No, my deformed feet, too."

"Right. I saw, when you were walking around naked. It looks painful."

"Only when I walk for too long, or I bump it against something."

"Right, I think you said that in the group chat." The two were silent, for about ten seconds. "Oh, how does your Fairy Persona work? 'Cause your Mermaid Persona works with your magic pearl, right?"

"Yep! Do you remember her name?" Faith drank some juice, then began eating her sausages.

Stephanie paused, chewing bacon. "I don't think you said that, in the group chat."

"Oh yeah. It's Ønske. And my Fairy Persona is named Solas."

"Ønske. What's that mean?"

"Desire."

"Ooh. Does they have their own stories, like your Dragon Persona?"

"Solas was earned by my demigoddess self after she saved some people for Danu, the Celtic Fairy Queen. Sunrise coloured wings until a new moon, then black and sparkly.”

Stephanie hummed with a mouth full of food, and swallowed to talk. “Cool!”

“And Ønske’s story is Anastasia, but in Thalassic Space."

Stephanie gasped. "I love that movie!"

"Honestly, who doesn't? Losers, that's who."

"Real."

"People who don't like musicals."

"True."

"And probably some guy named Daren."

"Ha! Some guy named Daren, ha ha!"

"No offense to my uncle Daren, he's a nice guy, I'm talking about the neckbeard Daren."

"Mhm."

Faith rested her fork, still in her hand, on the plate, just before she move onto the hashbrowns. She looked into Stephanie's eyes, making the other pause. "Do you want me to try and tell Ønske’s story, or is that enough for now?" Faith released her fork, and drank juice.

"Yes! Yes, I want to know the story, hee hee hee." More of a cackle than a giggle. Stephanie stabbed some hashbrowns and ate them. Faith giggled at Stephanie's cackle. "Ønske was born on planet Bafsina, meaning 'basin' in Neofom." She began to eat hashbrowns, too.

"What's that?"

"Oh, I think I only told this to Bruce, so I'll say it again. Man, I hope the others read the lore from TSRPG so I won't have to say this a third time. You know the rule for repeating exposition, in stories, right?"

"Yep! Three times is the max, unless you want your readers to get annoyed and bored."

"Unless it's for comedic affect."

"True."

"Neofom is the language of Neo Spirits, who are the opposite of Nero Spirits, who speak Nerobzal, and originate from the Suspensions of a person's Soul Bridge, while Nero Spirits are from the Underside. They represent self-love, dreams, and good memories, and again, Nero Spirits are the opposite."

"And you said your Animus is a Neo Spirit?"

"Yes. My Shadow would be a Nero Spirit. My Ego, which is just me, is the Canon Spirit."

"Oh, so the Map of the Soul is part of the lore, too?"

"Yeah, it helps to explain what everything is in terms that people would be more familar with."

"Who are 'people'?"

"The future readers of my novels."

"Ohhhh, oh, of course, sorry."

"It's fine." Faith chuckled. "Oh, I should say, though, since Bruce is definitely listening right now,"

"Yep."

"Argophael was speaking Nerobzal."

"He was?"

"Yes, but in character, because we were role-playing."

"Oh, OK. So Neo and Nero Spirits know each other's languages."

"Yes, and there's a petty rivalry over which is more natural for the Soul Bridge born Spirits of Thalassic Space to speak. As a reminder, and please repeat this to everyone, when anyone is doubting if I'm doing this to torment people, or if the Spirits are actually in control: the characters of Thalassic Space, meaning those named in the novel, are all Actors of the Rondo Theatre, and some come from the other eight Theatres that are run by the other muse children. All of us are friends and colleagues, and most of us are dead, in a coma, or are lucid dreaming. The only person, right now, who could potentially ruin the Theatres and their Actors is Ra's."

"Right. I'll remember that, Faith, thanks." Faith nodded. "Can you run me through the alphabet of each language, if that's not too complicated?"

"Sure! It's just a letter substitution language. Each has twenty-six letters, like the English alphabet. Rule number one: when writing and speaking either language, if you would repeat a translated letter, you do not write or speak the second letter, and put an apostrophe in the place of the second, and speak a light exhale, like," Faith vocalised a short exhale through her mouth. "Which you would right out as h, if you were to substitute the apostrophe for a letter." Stephanie mimicked the exhale. "Yes, just like that."

"Cool!"

"Rule number two: when reading or speaking either language, keep the tone of the word in English while merging the pronunciation of the translated letter, unless it conflicts with the tone of the syllable in the translated language. For example, mommy and daddy in Neofom is mam-ot-mam'-yab af-nad dafd-dyab. Note how the translated words now have more syllables, as we are wanting to speak each translated letter, secondly, that the expected e sound associated with the letter y becomes the translated letter entirely, which is common but not always applicable, hence why we keep in mind the tone of the word in English to guide how we speak a translated word, and third, that the accent and pace becomes breathy, slowed, and romantic, in the case of Neofom, or intimidating, in the case of Nerobzal. This is also meant to evoke memories of the bonds between Neofom and Neo Spirits, and Neofom when used in Elevifeb spells, as it is with Nerobzal and Nero Spirits, and Nerobzal when used in Eledisfeb spells.”

"I think you lost me, there."

"Oh, that's fine. It's in the planning document. I think the only people in the group that this will be interesting to are Bruce and Tim."

"Yeah." Stephanie laughed with Faith.

"So, for Neofom: af, spelled a-f, in reference to the word after, b, c, d, e, ph (fuh), spelled p-h, pronounced like the Vietnamese pho, again referencing the word after," Stephanie hummed. "G, ho, 'cause Santa, and yes, spelled h-o," Stephanie giggled. "K, la, chosen because it's a melodic word, ma, associated with motherhood, na, sounds like the babble of a baby, ot (oht), spelled o-t, and you say the o like a Skyrim Nord, not aught,"

Stephanie giggled more. "Not aught, OK."

"And chosen because the English word it sounds like, oat, of course, is associated with deities of agriculture, p, q, r, si (sigh), not see, because when you first come to the North Pole, you will sigh in relief that you are literally in the safest place in the galaxy,"

Stephanie hummed. "Wow, two Santa Claus references."

Faith giggled. "I dunno if I told you this, or Bruce, or none of you, but Santa is one of the eldest three Astral and Ebony Giant Elves, specifically an Astral Giant Elf. Do you know who Nerobzal is?"

"Yeah, he's the big bad of Thalassic Space, right?"

"Yes. Do you remember what his angel name was?"

"Uh. Uh."

"I'll take that as a no. It was Erophael, like ey-ro."

"Erophael. And your Animus is Argophael."

"Yes. Do you know what Argo was, in Greek Mythology?"

"Uh. No." Stephanie heaved a laugh. "I'm so sorry!" She swallowed the last of her hashbrowns, and drank more juice.

"Oh, it's fine. It was a ship built with the help of the gods that Jason and the Argonauts sailed from Iolcos to Colchis to retrieve the Golden Fleece. Part of the main novel is supposed to be an analogy of that because Thalaassic Space has pirates, and the captain who sails some of the main characters from Canada to England has a similar life story." Faith finished her meal. "Her deadname was Jason." Faith chuckled.

Stephanie laughed. "Oh, OK. Cool! Are there lots of trans and gender-queer people in your stories?"

Faith nodded. "Oh yeah, lots of 'em."

"Is ero Greek, too?"

"It has multiple meanings. In Creek, it means squirrel. In Esperanto, it means 'a bit, a single element, piece or component of a large mass or collection'. And in Finnish, it means 'difference, distinction,' is an ellipsis of avioero, meaning 'divorce', and also 'resignation, discharge, dismissal, separation, parting, and rid'. All relevant to who Erophael was, and became as Nerobzal."

"Huh. Wow, that's really well-thought out."

"Honestly, I typed out something that sounded like Argophael, and then I discovered it meant all those things, so I've kept it."

"Is that how you come up with everything?"

"Yep!"

Stephanie went limp in her chair, jaw open. Faith laughed. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah, most of the lore is me picking up a random thing from either Norse, Greek or Egyptian mythology, and rarely Buddhism and ancient Chinese mythology, even though Vishnu and the Four Symbols are most powerful, I don't actually have much fleshed out for them. I see if it fits, and try again if it doesn't. I usually get it right on the first or second try. And I connect things as I go, taking inspiration from my actual dreams and from all the media that I like, all so that people can both find familiar things and new things when they discover Thalassic Space."

"That is brilliant and so fucking cool, Faith!"

"Thank you! Uh, where was I? Oh! ut (ooht), like in root, v, wa (wah), like the baby from the "Look at the little baby" asdfmovie,"

"Wah!" Stephanie giggled.

"Wah!" Faith giggled. "X, yl (yihl), z."

"Mm, no footnotes for yl? Also, I wanna see all this written out, so I can see it in my mind."

"Yeah, nothing to note about yl. Also, uh, sure, I didn't bring my phone with me, though."

"I did! Here, lemme give you my Notes app." Stephanie produced her phone, unlocked and interacted with it, and offered it to Faith.

"Thank you."

"Mhm!" Faith typed on the phone. She set it down on the table.

"Ohhh, OK, I see. You even typed out the other language, and labelled them for me."

"As you can see, for Nerobzal: az (ahz), which doesn't have lore relevance but is supposed to sound like Black Speech from The Lord of the Rings,"

"Hell yeah!"

"Bz, which is literally part of the word-slash-name Nerobzal, c, d, e, phz, the sound of insect demons, collectively called The Hive, and is where lots of the rape porn comes from,"

"Eugh."

"Yeah, as a monster fucker, I actually fear infestation. The phallic parts I'm OK with, but they're always too big, and then there's the whole nesting part, and I just," Faith shuddered with her whole upper body. "Nope. No thank you. Sex is not supposed to be painful or life-endangering, much less non-consensual."

"Damn right."

"Next is g, hz, again, insect noise, k, lab, mam, nan, all three are Black Speech inspired, oz, which, if you say awz instead of ohz, fuck you," Faith said, casually. Stephanie guffawed. "P, q, r, sr (sir), which is relevant lore-wise because sometimes Nero Spirits call the Four Princes of Hell Sir or Sire instead of Master or Prince, t, uz (ooze), which evokes images of plague, relevant because of the undead of Nerobzal's army, also insect demons again, because ew," Stephanie made a vomiting noise. "V, wz (whz), meant to remind of the wicked voice of the Domain of Platonia, somewhere between a whisper and a rumble, x, yab, Black Speech inspired again, and z."

"Wow! That's cool! Thanks for the big, fun lesson, he he."

"You're welcome! You now know a little more about the chaos in my brain, yippee!" Faith mimicked the meme.

"Yippee!" Stephanie echoed. The girls giggled.

"And, uh… oh. Oh, we got here because you wanted to know the story of my Mermaid Persona, and then I was also gonna tell you Solas' story."

"Oh yeah, right." Stephanie laughed, Faith joining.

"You can do that later." Bruce said, stepping into the room. "You wasted almost ten extra minutes, just talking about lore, and we have to get to the Belfry."

"Whoops!" Faith said. She moved her eyes to Stephanie. "Later."

"Yes, later. Let's go." The girls put the dishes in the sink, Stephanie running water over them, then they exited the mansion with Bruce. Faith stared, mouth wide open, as the three walked to the black 2024 Rolls-Royce Spectre.

"Have you ever been in a car like this?" Bruce asked, a little smile on his face.

"You mean one that probably costs at least half a million?" Faith replied.

"Yes, actually, it was over half a mil'."

"No, never."

"Hm, well. Do you want to ride in the front?"

"Yes, please." Faith said. Stephanie giggled, and entered the right back door as Bruce and Faith entered the driver and passenger doors.

The Spectre slowed as it rolled into the Belfry and came to a stop and its ignition was killed. Stephanie quickly left the vehicle and opened the passenger door while Bruce exited at a normal pace and walked ahead. Faith's laughter echoed in the garage as Stephanie helped her out. Faith stumbled, and Stephanie, already holding her arm, snapped her other hand to support Faith's back.

"Is she OK?" Dick chuckled, as Bruce stopped at the computer screens, where Dick, Barbara and Tim had gathered, Barbara giggling along.

"Oh, just ask her." Bruce said. Stephanie guided Faith for a few strides, then released Faith. She was still laughing as the girls came to the others.

"YOU GUYS GO THAT FAST ALL THE TIME?!" Faith said, laughing. The others laughed. "I mean, I guess you do, with all the stuff you do on the rooftops, but holy unsprayed cat in a crate," More laughter from the others. "That was insane, and really fun!"

"We were running late because Faith decided to yap about the languages of Thalassic Space, and almost was going to yap about the stories of her Fairy and Mermaid Personas, which is what she was originally going to yap about." Bruce said.

"I'm still kinda confused on the rules, but Faith just confirmed to me how friggin' cool and smart she is." Stephanie laughed.

"Thanks." Faith giggled.

Tim said, "Yeah, I read, like, everything in your planning document, and you were super thorough with every possible detail, but all of it was easy to understand. Well, at least to people who can see the whole picture as you describe every last detail."

"Thank you! Yeah, big brains are who Thalassic Space was made for."

"Oh, it shows."

"I bet the rules of the languages made sense to you immediately."

"Oh yeah, that was easy to understand. And I mean that as a compliment." Tim said. Faith nodded.

Dick said, "You ready to start, Faith?" Faith nodded more. "Awesome." He gestured with a hand for Faith to follow him and Barbara to a more open part of the room. "First things first: stretching."

"She's actually kind of flexible!" Stephanie said. "She can touch her head with her foot, if she holds it."

"Oh?" Dick said, eyes returning to Faith.

"Not standing up, yet." Faith laughed. Barbara chuckled.

"Well, that'll make things a little easier, even if you can't do it while standing, yet. Still, this is day one, so we're just going to see what you can and cannot do, and do some exercises together. If you feel like it, we'll show you a few moves. We'll get to making you stronger and faster as the days roll on, 'kay?"

"OK!" Said Faith.

Faith dropped onto the couch on the upper level of the Belfry with a cold, wet rag on her forehead, wiping it around her face and neck, the pits and neckline of her shirt wet with perspiration, her chest heaving but slowing down. Barbara sat beside her, and Dick beside Barbara, Stephanie taking a seat on the arm of the couch to the right of Faith, Tim and Bruce standing in front of the couch. The sun was beginning to dim. Bruce handed Faith a bottle of water. "Thank you." Faith said.

"You're welcome."

"You still feeling OK, hon?" Said Barbara.

Faith nodded. "Yeah. Still feels better, but also super strained."

Dick said, "You only fell from your knees popping five times."

"That's a lot for one day, much less a week."

"And hey, we caught you, the other eight times." Tim said. "And! No knee dislocations!"

"Woo hoo!" Faith raised her stiff, tired arms in celebration, only able to reach her forehead. "Ow."

"Woo hoo!" Tim raised his arms at the elbow. The group laughed.

"Like we said," Said Dick. "At some point, you should be able to carry on, despite whatever your body does. Even if that's to safety." Faith nodded. "But you did good, today! Really good!"

"Yeah!" Said Tim.

"You sure did, Faith." Barbara said.

"Yeah, that was kind of impressive, your legs obviously aren't weak right now, you've just got a situation." Stephanie said.

"If you keep this up, it shouldn't be long before you'll able to go out with us." Said Bruce. Faith smiled with her cheeks. "How's that sound?"

"Sounds great! Thanks, everyone."

"You're welcome."

"You're very welcome!" Said Dick.

"We're here for you, hon." Barbara said.

"Heck yeah!" Said Tim.

"Always, baby." Stephanie said.

"'Baby'?" Repeated Tim, with a chuckle.

"What? I told you I'd pick her up, if she wanted." Stephanie said. Faith giggled.

"Yeah, you did." Tim, Dick, Barbara and Faith laughed.

"I brought your bag in the car, Faith." Said Bruce. "I thought you might want to stay here, so we don't have to bring you back and forth."

"Oh, perfect. Thanks, Bruce." Bruce hummed.

"I'll get it out for you and bring it up here, and then I think I'll head out."

"Thank you." Bruce nodded, then walked to the stairs to the lower level.

"All right, who's hungry?"

"C'est moi." Faith said, with a scoffed 'moi'. The group laughed.

"All right, you and me, Steph, let's get dinner out of the oven, and make a salad."

"OK!" Stephanie slid off the arm of the couch, and went with Tim.

"Shower time, miss Faith?" Barbara said, making eye contact.

"Yes, pliz." Barbara giggled, then rose to her feet, offering her hands to Faith. Faith accepted the help, and the two walked to one of the doors upstairs. Dick watched. Watched.

Hummed to himself. 'Babs has a perfectly formed ass, but Faith has a lot of ass. So much that it's part of her thighs, and mm, her thighs! Barbara's thighs are so, soooo good, don't get me wrong. And I'm not trying to say I'm going to jump into Faith-alley just for a taste, a feel. But I would. I totally would, if I wasn't trying to be loyal to Babs, for once, aaaand if she wouldn't beat the crap outta me.'

Bruce had ascended the Belfry and knocked on the bathroom door, giving Faith's dufflebag to Barbara, who closed the door afterwards, Bruce leaving for the stairs and his car.

'Barbara's got nice boobs, though.' Dick almost whistled, releasing the breath as an exhale instead. 'Hoo, that was close! Bab's got an even bigger personality, though, and a big mind and heart. I know her. She's just a beautiful, gorgeous woman.'

'Faith had a reduction for a very valid reason. I'm not saying I wish she hadn't had work done. I am curious to look at what she looks like, though. They bounce just as well as any other boobs do. She kept frowning at her legs and stomach, and Faith said she feels so bulky and bloated.'

'Babs told her that was OK, that it's a normal thing to feel that even she and Steph feel. It's a womanly experience, to do something and feel your body do something you don't like. Hell, even men feel that way, but in different places and with different thoughts behind the 'ick'. And Faith looked at her arms, and told us that she hated them 'cause it was taking more effort to connect hits with them. She has to lean and lunge for it to work, and right now, it's arguably her hardest task, aside from re-learning how to run and jump. But she'll get there. We all know that time is key, here. She's got a good attitude about it all, aside from that. She sure likes to make jokes.'

'Tim, Babs and I talked before Bruce, Steph and Faith got here. I'm sure Steph has realised this, too. I don't even need to think if Bruce has, I just know he has. But the reason Faith does it so frequently has to be her way to cope with anxiety. Her experience as a child who was told to stay in her room and be quiet, sometimes without toys or even permission to read or write. She had to sit and think until her mom came in, or called her out, and…' Dick sighed. 'All of us know what isolation like that is like.'

'I'm not saying we should steer her in the direction of using comedy less often, no, that's a part of her that we all enjoy, and she's not bad at comedy, either! She makes herself laugh because silence reminds her of that isolation, and she wants to make others laugh to try and make friends. It's not a stretch to think that's why she became a stortyteller, too. Friends; that's something we all know, including Faith, that she desperately needs. I think our strategy of not just going along with her jokes but guiding her back towards the relevant topic has been working out. And, while Faith was in the bathroom earlier, Bruce said that in a casual conversation where she isn't using laughter she might say something really out of nowhere that might hurt our feelings, and respond to that being called out with anger. I don't think so. Neither does Tim, Barbara or Stephanie.'

'Tim and I think she would freeze up and be unable to even apologise, but her face will say everything, and Babs thinks the frozen state will have a break, but her face will stay the same, except for her eyes, and she'll say 'sorry' then. Stephanie said Babs had taken the words right outta her mouth. That made sense to Tim, Bruce and I, too. Bruce told us what she did, around 5 AM. Hoo, wanna talk about someone who needs Zatanna as a tutor! And I mean that respectfully. She has Sagittarius A, a black hole for her left eye, and the O-type star from her now non-fictional galaxy for her right eye, if she uses, I think, her demigoddess powers! That's just wicked cool!'

'Sure, she burned some of the forest near the mansion, but as a creation dragon, she could have reversed the damage, right? And we haven't even seen her use the black hole, yet! All of us agree that, if Faith can be taught to control when and how much she uses her magic, and gets her strength back plus whatever else we can give her, she'll be golden! And that's really, really exciting. All of this is probably on her mind too. She'll be counting on us to remind her of it, until she won't need it, or at least as often.'

'Let's be honest, it'll be the latter. And that's OK. We all know that the past isn't something you can just leave behind. We carry it in different ways. Faith carries it in her heart, and is trusting enough to share it with others, as is in great need of doing so. She's a wonderful fit into the team.'

Dick sighed, Ra's face and retellings of his actions flashing into Dick's mind. 'I sure hope all of this will be enough to tell him to leave her the hell alone. If not, and he actually kills her in that one way, we're all going to be in deep trouble. We talked about who could summon which unicorn, too. It's one hundred percent possible to stop Red Storm Earth before the one hour mark, hell, the ten minute mark. But I have a sinking feeling that it won't be that easy. And I don't even know why. Tim doesn't either, and he read all of the lore.'

'Oh. It's that Ra's could use Platonia again, right? Is that how he entered Faith's dream? That led to her Animus leaving the dream world to defend her, among other things. I'm sorry, are we sure that was an illusion? It probably was just an illusion, Dick.'

'Platonia recognises Ra's as a demon, not a human, so after the first time he passed through, and found Faith's dragon tomb, it stopped trying to eat him. And, if he has a Nero Persona, it sounds like we're royally screwed. The Invitation of Nerobzal sounds just as scary as Red Storm Earth, even if it works differently. I have to make the comparison that I know everyone else has probably made: Faith is like Raven, in that if things aren't under control, things will be really bad. Could we even prevent all of that? Could Faith prevent all of that? We were going to ask her, during dinner. I bet there's lore that Faith hasn't written down, yet. She should write it down, and some more, so it's all there and Ra's can't cheat. Or cheat again.'

Dick's eyes were drawn to the bathroom door as it opened. He drew in and held a breath as he beheld Faith: her hair was very curly and voluminous, although the lower half was mostly still wet, and, bra-less, Dick could make out what her boobs were like, better than he had before. She had changed into black shorts and a purple short-sleeved shirt. 'Damn! Oh my God, her legs are so yummy looking.'

Barbara cleared her throat. Dick closed his mouth and blinked, making eye contact with her. "Sorry." He said to Faith, "Sorry."

She giggled. "You're fine with me, I'm too tired to sing Ashnikko lyrics right now."

Barbara said, "Pffft."

"And I'm not the probably slightly angry redhead." Faith walked to the stairs.

"Oh wow! Would you look at that!" Barbara said, approaching the couch, Dick swiftly standing up. "That would be me!"

"I swear that my eyes are the only thing that will go anywhere near her, Barbara."

"Oh, good! I'd hate to have to punish you for infidelity." Barbara patted Dick's upper chest. Dick just nodded. He followed her downstairs and to the table.

They heard Faith cheering, Stephanie echoing her and Tim laughing at them. Dinner was ready. Barbara sat at the left head, next to Tim, Stephanie at the right head, Faith occupying the chair to her left. Dick had three options: take the empty chair beside Tim, and play it safe but always have to look at Faith when he raised his head, or sit beside Faith, and accept Barbara's challenge. 'Oh, hell.' Thought Dick.

He sat beside Faith, who had her right foot crossed over her left thigh. She looked at him, her hair thankfully too wet to graze his arm, and she smiled with her cheeks at him. He returned the smile, then Faith sighed, looking at the meal before them. They were having chicken wings, salad and baked potatoes. Dick looked at Tim, who made an expression with one side of his face, looking at Barbara. Dick looked at Barbara, who rested her chin on the back of her hands, elbows on the table, and flashed a smile at him as they made eye contact. 'Oh boy.'

Barbara mouthed, 'I love you.' And scrunched up her eyes, smiling.

'I love you too.' Dick mouthed back, and smiled, his eyes failing to get with the program, blinking for help to the ceiling instead.

Barbara parted her lips to respond when Faith said, "Man, ya'll didn't think to get fixings for the baked potatoes?" There was only butter. No ranch dressing or sour cream, and no cheese, green onions or bacon bits. Stephanie wheezed a laugh.

"Sorry, we were on a budget." Tim said.

"Fair enough. Still, my dad would be sad." Faith giggled. Stephanie and Barbara laughed.

"OK, well, dig in!" Said Tim. Faith unfurled her leg onto the ground with a thud, and used her hands to move four chicken wings onto her plate. Tim laughed. "You know there's tongs, right?"

"Yeah, but this is faster." Faith said, while the others began to fill their plates. "Also, I don't care. I'm not putting them back, and I didn't lick my fingers or touch a dog or cat, or have a dog or cat lick my hands, and I just got out of the shower." Faith took a bite, the others laughing.

Dick thought, 'I guess she's also just a natural comedian. I'm sure she's learned how to be this funny, but it's still a good part of her personality.'

"OK, all right." Tim said. "Are you gonna scoop the salad with your hands, too?"

"No! What am I, a dog in a sweater controlled by a human?" More laughter from the group. Faith reached over the table. The group started to chuckle. Her arms were short by about a foot. "May I please have the salad?" Faith said, chuckling. Barbara and Stephanie giggled with her.

Dick laughed and said, "Sure." He moved his plate a little to make room for the bowl, then Faith used the salad tossers to put salad on her plate.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." Dick moved the bowl back. Faith picked up the chicken wing she had started. She stared at the wall for one second, and the next second, she tucked in her lips and her cheeks became red. "Uh-oh. What are you thinking, miss Faith?"

"I'm not a dog in a sweater," Faith's sentence devolved into wheezing laughter. "Controlled by a human." She pointed at Tim. "Silent Hill 2."

"Oh God." Tim said. Faith laughed. "The dog ending." The others laughed.

"I'm gonna write in the planning document that the next time Ra's goes into Platonia, it shows him the Door of Nonsense and triggers that ending, but the credits all say names of the Batfamily."

"Oh-ho-kay!" Tim laughed with the others.

"A-ha-and," Faith sniffled. "When he exits, the door will keep cycling him through different horror and JRPG titles until he demands to go home." She giggled, and bit into the chicken wing she held.

"OK, hon!" Said Barbara, the others laughing a little.

Tim asked, "Do you have any ideas on how to cut Ra's out of Thalassic Space that would work long term?"

"Mm, besides the Invitation of Nerobzal? We all know he won't agree to have the Departed take his memories and knowledge of Thalassic Space." Tim and Barbara hummed in agreement. "But if Ra's doesn't find out about the ritual, which is the only other disaster-level event he could learn about and trigger that I implemented in the lore so that zombies and demons felt more natural and important to the possible events of Thalassic Space,"

"It fits nicely." Said Barbara.

"Thank you. Uh, yes, I have one other idea, but it's not in the planning document."

"What's your idea?"

"I would commission the Father Born and Mother Born to hunt him non-lethally, and not only remove that information from him but program his brain to ignore it and deny it as true, no matter what methods he or others may try to use to restore it." The others hummed in interest, Faith taking another bite of her chicken wing.

"That sounds like it could work. You should write it down." Barbara said. Faith nodded.

"How would you convince the Father Born and Mother Born to help you?" Dick asked.

"I would give them each a treasure or sexual pleasure, or assist them in other ways, in exchange for this. I wrote down the names of the current Father Born and Mother Born somewhere."

"Yeah, it's not in the document." Tim said.

"I think it's currently exclusively in a story called Realm of Album, in which I'm summoned to help the Mages Guild there because the elf king is having problems that only a Jester Playwright like me could help with." The group hummed in interest. "I can't remember their names, off the top of my head. I'll open the document later and tell you before I put them in the document, Tim."

"Sure, OK."

"Like I said, the idea isn't written down, but it would work because of how the Guilds serve the people, and that's why it would pass the legislation of At'fman Lawbzal."

"What's that?" Stephanie asked.

"It means 'Amen to the Fate of Man, Law of Beyond Zone Acceleration Lord'. The first clause-word is what people who worship the O-type star's spirit say while raising their right arm, then left arm, diagonally." Faith did this motion. "It's the 'Praise the sun' gesture from Dark Souls, but as steps of a contemporary jazz choreography." Barbara wheezed, choked on her food a little. "Da da da," Faith sang breathily, lowering her right, then left arm, the others laughing and Barbara drinking water from a glass. "Da da, da da." Faith ended the routine with her arms raised, two da's per arm. Faith rested her arms and took a second to eat again.

"The second clause-word reminds worshippers of the O-star's spirit that Nerobzal is not evil and is actually an Actor, who is so dedicated to and perfect for his role that he fools hateful people, who I'll just call Kaleido because it's accurate to the lore, into believing he's real and the true God, hence the 'Lord' part of the clause-word, and why he's called Hebzal, Himbzal and Hisbzal by Kaleido, who believe in a literal theatrical act. Other Actors, like Neo and Nero Spirits, call Nerobzal's Actor he, him and his because they're Actors, too. The idea is for the Neo and Nero Spirits to shock Kaleido time and again by using those those pronouns and revealing that he's just an Actor, discrediting their claims that Nerobzal is God." Dick and Barbara hummed with intrigue, and Stephanie hummed in awe. Tim hummed, nodding. "'Beyond Zone Acceleration' is a reminder that the magic Kaleido are using is from Sagittarius A, meaning it's Eledisfeb, and Kaleido want to use it for evil instead of to naturally balance out Elevifeb, because that's just how magic systems works, and ecosystems, hence why Kaleido are so crazy and unwilling to listen, just as radical right-wing people are."

"Oh OK," Stephanie said. "So, the politics in Thalassic Space that you're arguing for is left wing."

"Yes." Faith gave a firm nod.

"That makes sense."

"You can't be gay or an ally, much less dress alternatively, in particular goth, and be conservative."

"That's right!" Said Barbara. Tim hummed in agreement.

"It is the people who take advantage of the Actor's in-story powers as a Fallen Angel who are the enemy."

"Right." Dick said.

Faith started her second chicken wing. "Kaleido was chosen as the name that conquered the mostly vampire cult of Kitsch in northern Italy, which worshipped demons and Satan respectfully and safely, because the people who abuse and murder those who don't fit their expectations of a human and-or a Christian look into chapels of God through the kaleidoscope created by the painted glass often used in churches rather than looking at the Bible and recognising its merits and faults in modern times."

"Ohhh. I actually really like that."

"Thank you! That confusion and misdirected anger is what the Cult of Asherah was supposed to clarify so the crimes that have happened across time could be prevented. But the Yahwehists, all those years ago, proclaimed Asherah to be an idol and the people who served her idol worshippers. The career of prostitution has been bastardised by too many men and women for too long."

"That's true!" Stephanie said.

"Even in modern times, when prostitution makes a lot of money, it's not safe to be a prostitute." The others hummed and nodded. "So, I fixed that, in Thalassic Space." Faith bit off and chew more chicken. "The Thieves, Assassins and Mages Guilds all support and shelter prostitutes and those at risk, allowing the revived Cult of Asherah to educate people about safe sex and how to protect themselves and others from predators."

"Kitsch wasn't a malicious organisation until the Cànova siblings fulfilled the Fool's Promise, which is the part of the Fool's Poem that describes what happens to people who submit themselves to Nerobzal. It was just supposed to be directions for the makeup artists and costume designers of the Theatres in the Dream World on Paper to use for Actors. Magdalene and Malakai took it seriously, and they roped Mamazsr'azcre into it too." Faith looked at Dick, Barbara and Stephanie. "His name means 'massacre', in Nerobzal."

"Oh!" Said Dick.

"Grand Vampire Lady Brunetta heard Father Dragon shout it in the sky in the dream she had, the night she went into labour, and she and Grand Vampire Lord Müth interpreted it as a challenge to overcome, which he was doing until Magdalene and Malakai came to drag him into their plan to murder their parents and seize Kitsch. They didn't know why Müth and Brunetta were in the master bedroom and didn't fight back. The reason was hidden by the Four Symbols of Chinese astrology until the third incarnation of the O-star's spirit returned to Thalassic Space to help the people stop Kaleido once and for all."

"Oh!" Said Dick, as Faith ate more. "Sorry, are you the third incarnation of the O-star's spirit, and that's why you have it for your right eye, when you use your demigoddess powers?"

"Eh, sort of? I'll get there."

"No worries."

"Why were Brunetta and Müth vulnerable?" Barbara asked.

"Brunetta was pregnant while Magdalene and Malakai counselled with dark sorcerers to find a portal to the Lightless Realm, where Krampus used to reign over the Astral Elves and where the siblings discovered a copy of the Fool's Poem in Krampus' hut."

"Oh, that answers a question I had." Said Dick.

"Oh, good." Faith giggled. Dick chuckled with her. "So, if you're wondering, there's no way for Ra's to learn about what he's getting himself into, in my dragon tomb."

"He deserves to find out the hard way."

"I hear that, yep. Um, the flight of the Astral and Snow Elves from the Lightless Realm and Lightful Realm, which Santa used to reign, is a story for another time. Believe it or not, I can stay on topic, when it comes to my lore." The others laughed. "Brunetta had an intersex child named Maury, a derivative of Maurice, which means 'dark skinned', because they were the first and only Obsidian Infant, their body made from one of the Eledisfeb-filled asteroids of the asteroid belt to the west of Sagittarius A. Its existence was seen as proof that Sagittarius A was not a destructive astral object as it is in the Milky Way galaxy. There's an asteroid belt of Elevifeb-filled asteroids to the east of the O-type star, too, but I can't tell you who has the first Goshenite Child because spoilers."

Barbara said, "Wait, is it your demigoddess-slash-dragon self?" "Nope! It's a child born in The Double Eight of Thalassic Space, but it's not my child."

"Hm, all right."

"There's also lore about the Oracles finding out what Sagittarius A* actually is, thanks to Hirokou, a member of the Cloud Casters, seven students who met when they enrolled at Cedillo Imagination Magic Academy in Princess Georgina, which, yes, is UNBC, Prince George. The Cloud Casters volunteered and were chosen by the Oracles to help the third incarnation of the O-star's spirit feel more welcomed. Again, skipping the lore."

"Thank you." Said Tim. The group chuckled. "As simple and good as the reveal is, thank you for skipping it this time."

"Maury had been sensed by the Four Symbols upon his conception, and when they were born, had split them into four Crowns, which they gave to the Guilds to present to the people of Thalassic Space for them to hide until the third incarnation of the O-star."

"Where was um, Mamaz…?"

"Mam-az-sir-h-az-cre. There's an apostrophe after the translated s, so there's a short breath."

"Mamazsr'azcre."

"Yeah, you got it!"

Dick said, "Mamazsr'azcre."

"Yep!"

"I don't even need to try." Tim said.

"Yeah, I don't doubt that." Faith said. The group laughed.

"I'm gonna skip on that, thanks." Stephanie said. Faith giggled. "Mamazsr'azcre was helping his cat anthro friends, Dohannar and Wysherah, free anthros and elves from the human traffickers that Magdalene and Malakai had wriggled into, thanks to their vampiric charisma, before they got frustrated with certain human traffickers for being fake radical right wingers and decided to find the Fool's Poem to put everyone under their boots."

"Right." Said Tim. "Faith, why don't you eat for a couple minutes, and I'll take it from here?"

"OK, yes, thank you." Faith sighed. The group chuckled.

"No problem. Magdalene and Malakai started a fire on the farm that Mamazsr'azcre, Dohannar and Wysherah sheltered people at."

"Uh-oh!" Said Dick.

"Malakai disembowelled Wysherah, who was nine months pregnant."

"Holy smokes! That's just evil!"

"Magdalene and Malakai won a mixed magic and melee duel against Dohannar and Mamazsr'azcre, and as Dohannar laid unconscious, Magdalene whispered into her brother's ear the Fool's Poem. Mamazsr'azcre tore off his jaw and gouged his eyes as Magdalene and Malakai had."

"Eugh!" Said Stephanie.

"That's what the Fool's Promise demands of the living to accept Nerobzal's as their God. Before the siblings returned to Italy to kill their parents, Mamazsr'azcre gifted Dohannar's soul to Nero Ba'al Berith, a demon whose name means Lord of the Covenant. Like Baalzebub, he's called the Lord of Flies. Ba'al Berith is a red-skinned soldier in red who rides a red horse and wears a crown."

Faith said, "It was literally the decisions of two awful people that began the First War for the O-star’s Spirit."

"Yep. She was first incarnated as Nith, the first daughter of Santa Claus, born September 4th, 1949."

"Oh, that's your birthday!" Said Stephanie to Faith.

"Nith was murdered by Magdalene, disguised as a Glacial Fairy, at two days old." Dick, Barbara and Stephanie clicked their tongues and made noises of pity. "The Snow Elves, Astral Elves, Santa and Mary Claus cast a spell at the catacomb chapel of Kaleido, directly hitting Magdalene. Malakai was doing his thing, which I can tell you about next, and Mamazsr'azcre worked with dark sorcerers to grow and improve the army of undead, vampires and werewolves that festered in the catacombs of the chapel until the end of the Third War. The elves and anthros came together to form the Guilds under the command of Father Dragon and Mother Mermaid and the Father Born and Mother Born, after the first war, and their human allies helped them. The O-star's spirit was quietly reincarnated twenty years later as Eal Volen, the first child and daughter of a mermaid mage named Eerie Glory and an astral elf mage named Lanech (ech is pronunced ehk, like echo) Volen who worked at the circus at the southern harbour of England, together."

"Hey, circus mentioned!" Dick said. The group laughed.

"Eerie had been stalked by Malakai since her early teenage years, but she had known Lanech for even longer, and she never faced Malakai alone, in the dreams where Malakai tormented and raped whoever he wanted." Barbara, Dick and Stephanie sounded disgruntled.

"Sorry," Faith said. "It was the most natural way for me to make Malakai a horrible person. Same with Magdalene."

"No no, it's fine, it works well for him."

"How was Magdalene a horrible person, besides killing a two-day old baby?" Dick asked.

"She got off on watching people get kidnapped and tortured by human traffickers."

"Oh, geez!"

Tim said, "She was a control freak, just like Malakai. Both were racist, sexist, and homophobic. Faith wrote Thalassic Space so everyone would feel safe and welcome, but some people learned about the awful things that happen on Earth through Nero Spirits who watched criminals from Earth that visited the Dream World on Paper. It's like how Ra's found out how to open a Door to Platonia, and all that's led to Faith being here, and the situation we're in."

"Ohhhh, OK."

"I hope it makes sense." Faith said. “Nero Spirits relaying information that wouldn’t have been otherwise available to people through the functions of the Soul Bridge.”

"Oh, it does, absolutely. You did a good job with that."

"Yeah, that's good writing, Faith."

"Thank you."

Tim said, "The Oracles were afraid of Malakai because he effortlessly and brutally manipulated Dreamer mages who were close to the power of the Oracles, many of them family members of the Oracles. Faith wrote a bit more about the crimes of Malakai, but we'll skip that for now. Eal was in the arms of Eerie after the circus had closed, Malakai having taken the disguise of a large black dog, and he leapt up with such force and speed to bite Eal's neck that neither Eerie or Lanech could react in time."

Barbara clicked her tongue. "Aw! No!"

"May I ask why the O-star's spirit died as a baby, twice?" Dick said.

"Yeah, yeah." Faith said. "Because babies are vulnerable. That's it."

"Oh OK, so it's a simple thing, this time."

"Yes."

Tim said, "Eerie and Lanech tore Malakai apart, each destroying a quarter of his spirit with their magic, but the other half of his spirit and his entire soul escaped to the Ninth Circle of Inferno, joining his sister and the demon they were actually giving souls to: Canon Lucifer."

Faith said, "If Ra's triggers either event, that's who the souls will be working to free from the ice."

"Oh shit." Said Stephanie.

"Yeah, that's bad." Dick said.

Faith said, "And why either has to be stopped as soon as possible."

"Right." Said Dick.

Tim said, "Specifically, the number of souls needed is 8^8 (eight to the power of eight), which is 16, 777, 216. In the First War for the O-star's Fate, 1, 809, 178 people were killed in the span of one month, two weeks and two days, though the ice barely melted, and the souls were freed to the afterlife of the 28 Mansions at its end."

"Oh OK, so it resets."

"Yes, it has a twenty-year cooldown, which coincides with how long it takes the O-star's spirit to reincarnate. In the Second War for the O-star's Fate, 2, 391, 955 people were killed over the course of two months and three days, and the ice melted a little more, but Lucifer still could not move, and the souls again were freed to the 28 Mansions. This won't be an issue, if he triggers Red Storm Earth or the Invitation of Nerobzal."

"Scary." Said Barbara. The others nodded.

"The third and current incarnation of the O-star's spirit—"

"That's you, right?" Said Dick, looking and pointing at Faith. She and Tim shook their heads. "Oh."

"It's Faina Laward, one of my Soul Fragments. She's autumn, I'm winter, Solas, my Fairy Persona, is spring, and Ønske is summer."

Dick said, "Oh, OK wait. So, your memories have like, fragments, and that's how your Personas are connected to you, and how you have the O-star as your right eye?"

"Yes."

"Ohhh-kay. Cool."

Barbara asked, "Why are you winter, and not autumn, if you're the Canon Persona?"

"I'm winter because of my depression and mental health, and that my physical disability means I can't enjoy the outdoors. Faina is autumn because she's my memories of having a working body and my hopes of having a happy mind."

"Ohhhh." Said Barbara, Dick and Stephanie. Tim nodded.

"Solas and Ønske are both seasonal expressions of the joys I associate with each season. Solas is my lesbianism, and Ønske is my desire to have adventure." Faith said. Stephanie giggled. "Faina was born on Earth because the Four Symbols realised she would be killed again if born on Yotutrnaeyl. She's summoned by Dohannar to the Dream World on Paper instead of to the throne of Nero Ba'al Berith, who is one of her possible love interests, as Dohannar and the Demon Hunters who patrol the Perimeter of the Circles finally met after eighty-three years of trying to free Dohannar so the O-star could fight for the people again instead of for evil. That dream is the first chapter of the novel, and in the second chapter, Faina settles in to CIMA, meets the Cloud Casters, and falls in love with Karma Brestin, who, major spoiler alert,"

"Ohp!" Dick covered his ears, then laughed and lowered them. The others laughed.

"Karma is the youngest of Bartholomew's triplets."

"Oh, she's an Astral and Ebony Giant Elf?"

"Yes, an Ebony Giant Elf, like Bartholomew is. Krampus is an Ebony Giant Elf, too. Santa is the only Astral Giant Elf, of Nerobzal's sons. Bartholomew's triplets and Krampus' twins are mixed race. Karma is a dark mage, not to be mistaken for a dark sorcerer,"

"Ah, OK."

"And it's olive green to signify that she's not evil. Earth tones are always a good sign. It's the neon colours you have to be scared of."

"Right, OK."

"Karma is also a vampire, and the companion star of the O-star."

"Huh?"

Tim said, "O-type stars have smaller, companion O-stars that orbit until eventually merging with the larger star, creating a bigger and brighter star."

"Ooh, OK. Does that happen when they meet, or later?"

"Later, when they hook up." Faith laughed. The others joined. "The Third War starts because Mamazsr'azcre is commanded to lead an attack on CIMA by Nero Ba'al Berith, but it goes too far, and a lot of students and teachers die. Sorry, spoilers."

"Sheesh, woman!" Dick said. The group giggled.

"And, uh, I think that's all the lore you need to know, regarding every branch of the main topic? Whatever it was."

"We started when Stephanie asked what At'fom Lawbzal was." Said Tim.

"Ohhh, right!"

"It was more 'the main topic and its family relatives'."

"Yeah." Faith said. They all laughed.

Dick said, "Well, thanks for all of that! Always fun to learn more."

"Oh yeah." Barbara said, nodding.

"And I get to eat the ass of this creative genius!" Stephanie said, the others laughing loudly. "Lucky me!"

"Real. Real." Faith said. The laughter quieted down. In the next two minutes, everyone had finished eating and washing their food down, and wiping their hands on napkins or getting up to use the kitchen sink.

"Well, you going to sleep right away, Faith?" Barbara asked, as Tim and Dick began washing the dishes.

"I think so." Faith said, yawning.

""Sleep", in quotation marks." Stephanie said with a smile, coming up behind Faith and squeezing her left ass cheek.

"Aa!" Faith exclaimed, and laughed with the girls. "Are you that spicy, baby gorl?"

"Mm, yuh," Stephanie replied. Faith and Barbara laughed, Tim choking out a laugh from the kitchen. "Yuh, I'm real spicy righ' now, gorl. Mm, le'go."

"Le'go." Faith echoed. "Goodnight, everyone!" She and Stephanie began towards the stairs.

"Goodni-ight." Said Barbara, walking towards the computer.

"Goodnight, Faith!" Said Dick.

"Don't worry about the noise, OK?" Said Tim. Faith giggled.

Click emoji to navigate to next chapter. ⏭️

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for wanting to meet my QPP and going out of my way to try to do so after they’ve said no?

Okay, so. This is a very complicated situation, I’ll try to offer as much details as I can, but I am currently running off a fresh four hours of sleep and I am dead on my feet.

Me (18 genderfluid) and my partner, X (17 nb) have met almost three years ago on Tumblr. We have become really close in that time, and I asked them to be my QPP last year.

We’ve never met irl, because of the simple fact that we live on different continents and were both until this summer.

Well, as it happens, X’s parents decided to take him on a trip overseas in august. As soon as they learned this, they told me and we both freaked out.

Because the trip would put him and me only a two hour flight away. I immediately asked my parents if it would be possible to do something about this, fully expecting to be denied.

However, my parents not only Agreed, they helped me devise a full timeplan and schedule and find plane tickets and a hotel.

I told this to my partner excitedly and they were obviously excited, I was, too. Since it was a family trip, they had to ask his parents, though. One of them was completely fine with it, but the other just said no.

It was made worse by the fact that it was a step-parent to X.

Usually, I am a very calm person, and am able to accept a logical argument. But there was no apparent reasoning behind the step-parent saying no. At least not one that me or X could see.

I cried for the entire day after learning of this and I just couldn’t calm down. I was so close to meeting the most important person in my life and it slipped out of my fingers right before it became a reality.

Anyways, it pissed me off beyond reason and I booked the tickets, hotel and invited my mom for an impromptu three day holiday. Obviously, she knew why I was going, since she helped with the planning, so she agreed.

My partner learned of this, obviously. I told him as soon as I decided to do it, but because of timezones, they were already unavailible when I told them.

So I flew out yesterday. I should probably mention that I will be paying everything back to my Dad, who bought the tickets, which will be almost the entirety of my savings.

I gave an option to X. If he wants to meet, I’ll meet with them, if not, I’ll leave it. Yesterday, he wasn’t sure. We discussed it for a long time, I cried again.

I was emotional, sleep deprived and in a completely different country, so I was mean. I tried not to be, but I did say some things that I regret. I apologised immediately, but still.

Mostly, I was asking about why he’s scared to meet. I won’t elaborate on the reasoning, since it’s his own bussiness, but Basicaly, it was his parents. Because they hadn’t Agreed to the meeting.

Well, I begged him to at least try asking again and went to sleep.

X texted me whilst I was sleeping, saying he discussed it with his step-parent and tried to convince them to let us meet.

However, this is where their step-parent finaly revealed their reasoning.

The trip they are on is meant as a sort of ‘goodbye’ trip for X, since he’s turning 18 next year and for whatever reason, they don’t expect him to be very happy to spend holidays with them again.

Yea, I know, I’m being sarcastic and salty, but I think it’s deserved. Why Oh why would your child want to cut contact with you once they turn 18, you shall never know.

In any case, I learned of X’s family’s plans for the following day and it was a thing that I Also really wanted to do (since I did give him the option to tell me yes/no for the meeting I turned the trip into a holiday with my own mom). I have been super excited to do this during the trip and it just so happened that the weather was perfect for the activity as well, so I just decided to go Anyways, much like with the trip.

My main motive was absolutely the trip itself, but the possibility of running into X Also influenced my decision.

We didn’t end up meeting, but if we did, it would’ve Caused trouble for him and they already said no to meeting me.

I understand that everyone’s boundaries and fears are different and I try and respect them, but I’m so frustrated with this situation, because were our situations reversed, I would’ve met with X, whatever the consequences.

So. AITA?

What are these acronyms?

[contoursilver]

heeeey it's leon (26, he/him, est) again with bo gyuri (25, she/they/any) with the ability of darkness manipulation, who's an underground bouncer at daemon in unit #002 ! girl turned weapon turned angry at the world for having to save herself over and over again but maybe that's what it's all about anyways and the beauty's in the small things (her extensive and growing amount of flowers in the community garden). the 54 resident complaints were all full of shit, by the way ! messaging from @recollectionblue or discord, if you prefer, let me know !

THE BASICS . . . !

25 years old, born in '99, she/they any/every one is fine !

in #002 because she likes the privacy/access to the community garden and she wanted to be out of the way, anyways

fell into working as an underground bouncer @ daemon due to her abilities/the connections she'd made over the years, but you can see her doing stuff all over the club, sometimes she helps make drinks, sometimes she's backstage directing fighters around, etc.

she's known as KNIGHT around daemon or just if you're involved with her anywhere outside of the collective, she usually doesn't give out her real name, doesn't see the point

has the ability of darkness manipulation, which usually means she can turn a whole room dark if there's any kind of darkness she can build off of in the first place. uses shadows like it's the consistency of clay, usually turns them into weapons/armor to cover herself in fights or altercations. they can be zapped out by any kind of light and only last a few minutes, anyways, usually really shadowy/translucent even if when formed they've got a force to them, kind of similar to water !

she has shadow form, which allows her to become made of shadows, no longer solid and become transparent, and usually it starts in her hands whenever she's using her ability and spreads the longer the duration she's using it

this leads to her shadow teleportation, which allows her to teleport to another shadow she can see within sight once she's fully in shadow form. it gets difficult to become fully solid again if she's in shadow form too long/is teleporting too much, so she doesn't do it often/for more than she needs to

her shadow memory lets her get pieces of sound/sight/smell/emotion of anything that's been within the darkness in the last hour, and it's usually pretty disjointed/she's unable to piece together much other than context clues. it's cleared with light or if the duration of time has passed

maybe she's not too talkative, but she's just been through a lot and she has Walls up, mostly finds peace through gardening/tending to her flowers, but it also leads to her pretty quickfire temper if you mess with them/something she cares about

very protective, outspoken, no nonsense, likes fighting for what she cares for because if she doesn't who else will !!

THE BACKSTORY . . . !

when she's younger, she doesn't understand that when she hides in the shadows, she becomes one with them. she loses sense of her physical form and becomes one with the darkness, which she hears the whispers of other voices, of other moments, left behind for her to find like words in a book, picking up the pieces but not knowing what to do with what's left, but feeling.. peace in that

her father is convinced, as long as she's known him, that he's meant to be an aeternal, but his power of darkness generation just means their house is always dark and he really can't do much with it, and it always ends up falling apart. he tries and tries and keeps failing until he finally gets fed up and instead of just.. being her dad he just decides to go ahead and be a villain about it !

starts getting into a lot of trouble to try and get some kind of attention after failing so much, growing up she just expects him to either not come home/be unavailable/she's throwing him a sandwich her mom made out of the window as he's on the run, etc

so it's mostly just her and her mom until her mom gets fed up with it and Leaves.. right when she graduates high school . but doesn't take her with her because she just reminds her of her dad. she just kind of coasts for awhile by herself with her father checking in/sending money every now and then and its Cool . until he gets put into the correctional facility

she tries to work a lot of odd jobs because she didn't really have plans past that, a mechanic and a grocery store attendant and all sort of things but she just can't keep up with the house and so she sells it for extra money and moves into the second chance collective. it's her only other option, and she figures if this is what she can do for some cheap rent and some peace and quiet, then..

stumbles across daemon and the issue she has is that her name sparks a lot of recognition with people who knew her dad/were fucked over by her dad/wronged by her dad and so she has to deal with the Aftermath, and since she was an only child and she hasn't heard from her mom in years well. she's dealing with that on her own !

so she starts working as an underground bouncer, because apparently her father had run up quite a tab at daemon, and starts trying to pay back/do work for the people who still have beef with him herself, and starts going by KNIGHT. the fights intrigue her, she gets to use her powers more often, starts refining it into something she's used to/feels more in control of, and she gets paid doing it !

she doesn't really feel aligned to good or evil or whatever, she just needs money and something to fill up her time and when she's not at daemon she's just trying to live a Normal life, and when she joined she noticed numerous empty plots in the garden and was like. well i'll fix these too . and started filling them with all kinds of flowers ! it's really cathartic and she likes taking care of something/seeing results and it Works

so she's KNIGHT at daemon and around people she doesn't really want to know that she's her father's daughter, but it's been kind of getting around anyways, and what she really cares about is just living a peaceful life.. she keeps trying to stay out of trouble but it just keeps finding her ! what's a girl to do.. she just wants to know how her father is still getting into so much shit even though he's in there (she still hasn't gone to visit him, don't ask !!!!)

THE PLOTS . . . !

you knew her dad/were fucked over by her dad doing general Villainy and like, maybe you wanted revenge and you found her instead and she's like . i cant fix it or give you money but if you need me to do something for you (within reason) then like.. yeah but sorry my dad was a freak to you

you frequent daemon and you guys always see each other there and you hang out/have a drink sometimes and maybe watch the fights together

you fight a lot at daemon and gyuri is like.. lowkey always rooting for you because your fights are always interesting and she can appreciate your form . maybe one day she'll fight too but she likes asking you questions about what it's like/how it feels. maybe you can convince her one day

she had to remove you from daemon one time and you run into each other at the collective/somewhere else and shes like .. sorry i was doing my job .. do you want like ice cream or something . my treat

she's not really a bartender at daemon but sometimes when it's slammed she makes a few drinks on the side and one time she made you something and you've never had it taste like that again so you find her again guarding a door somewhere and so she keeps making you Your Drink special whenever you come in

you frequent the community garden at the collective/are into gardening too and you both always just silently garden/plant together and you share that together and maybe you don't even talk much . maybe you just enjoy the flowers but gyuri like, buys you seeds and tends to your stuff without messing it up whenever you need it . maybe you're just in the garden a lot and you always see each other in there and she tells you about her flowers if you wanna listen (she has never talked that much in her life)

you're the person who's making so many resident complaints about her ?? something petty like she tracks dirt on the floor or the room's always too dark whenever she's in it and there's just running beef between you two for no real reason but it keeps turning into a bunch of petty stuff anyways that neither of you can really stop

(fem muses only) idk anything messy.. flings, exes, fwb, etc. you guys knew each other in the past and it was just supposed to be a friends thing but it kept spiraling way past that . gyuri just kind of ghosted one day and she feels guilty about it but she just cant handle anyone else getting that close to her, maybe it would have been good if she didnt leave . haunted by the what ifs etc

you are involved with other Villain oriented goals and were involved with her father/see her potential and think that she might be a good villain like her father, maybe even Better if she really put her heart into it/collaborated together and shes like . maybe . what's in it for me

one time she hears your voice in a shadow memory and she recognizes it in real life and she's like . odd that i know this but are you doing okay after that / i was worried about you and never knew if i'd find you again. yes i just heard it in the dark but i had no idea who you were or where you went after its been a Great Mystery to me that you just solved

long ass intro part 2 i couldn't even be shorter if i tried but like and i'll be in your dm's from recollectionblue for plots for seonjae or gyuri or both, either is fine, just let me know ! thanks again for reading once more <3 !

[achangeinreality]

Okay Part 4!! I’m struggling with links right now (they’re getting super messed up) so if you want to check out part 1, it’s pinned on my blog and that has the links to part 2&3. Thanks, enjoy!

Encounters Part 4

July 24, 2552

0500

Ding. Ira groaned at the sound that woke her up so early. She wasn’t normally awake until 0600 hours and always cherished any little sleep she could get. After all, Ira could be in deep sleep and still be woken up by a fly on a wall. But as she rolled over to check her datapad for whatever the cause of her early wakefulness was, she felt a surge of energy course through her as she saw: S-058. Ira opened up the encrypted message which read, Good morning. Ira looked at the message and smiled. Then she looked at the top of her screen to see urgent notifications. She opened up her emails to find an encrypted email sent to all ODST team leaders notifying an emergency meeting to be set for that day at 0700 hours. She replied back to her: Good morning! I hope you slept well. A few minutes went by as Ira went through the rest of her emails and notifications. Ding. S-058: Yes, I slept fine. How are you? Ira replied with, I am happy to wake up to a message from you.

Ira giggled a little to herself after hitting send. The day that Linda had shipped out, Ira was devastated. She had spent the day moping around and finding comfort in the bullet that she now carried on herself at all times. Though, a message from the now Gunnery Sergeant Sila Gutierrez also helped. Sila had messaged her, Hey, Happy belated birthday! Sorry for the late message, I just got back today from the jungle. We had no damn connection other than local comms. Hope you had a good birthday! Sila had done exceedingly well in her career, having continued to climb the ranks throughout the years. She was often unavailable to talk however as she was often sent on lengthy operations. But Sila always responded to messages, even if it was a few weeks late sometimes. Ira considered calling Sila to vent about her romantic mishaps but did not want to bother her. After a few minutes, Ira decided she had no one else to vent to who could understand where she was coming from and initiated a video connection with her.

”Ira! You look good! What’s up? How was your birthday?”- Sila

”Hey Sergeant [insert salute] thank you, thank you. You look alright I guess. My birthday was good. How was the jungle?- Ira

”Hey take that slander elsewhere! But yeah no it was fucking awful. I’m covered in bites on every possible inch of my body.- Sila

”Oh god that sucks, I don’t envy you. But hey uh can I talk to you about something?”- Ira

”Yeah, what is it? What’d you do this time?”- Sila

”You can’t tell a soul. It’s nothing illegal, but it is super personal,”- Ira

”As long as it’s not court marshal worthy I won’t say a word,” -Sila

”No of course it’s not. But uh, well…. Do you remember Spartan 058… you know, the Spartan that saved us on Draco III?”

”You mean the one that you hit on while you were high and then tried again the next day and failed again?” -Sila

[Through gritted teeth] “Yes that one.”- Ira

”What did you do?” -Sila

”Uh…. I ran into her and tried again.” -Ira

”Dude are you actually numb? Like do you need a brain scan? Cuz I can’t believe what just came out of your mouth. Is this like a weird humiliation kink?” Sila

”EW no! No it was different this time, hear me out. I was on Sigma Octanus IV, came back, was standing around with my team, when all of a sudden I hear my name. I turn around and she’s right there! She remembered me! So then she asks to meet with me in the mess hall at 2100 hours and obviously I said yes. So-

“Wait wait wait wait, she saw you and recognized you? But you’ve gotten so old and ugly since the last time she saw you, how is that possible?” -Sila

”Hahaha very funny, jokes on you, you’re older! Anyway, I get there and she starts talking to me, tells me her name. It’s Linda by the way. And I’m trying to keep my chill but you know me, I kept embarrassing myself. Anyway, I invite her to my birthday and she says yes. Then she called me out on my big ass pupils and I thought, well the gig is up, fuck it. So I tell her I’m attracted to her and she did not respond well. But I called her out too and said, hey your pupils have been blown this whole time, what’s up with that? Obviously that also didn’t go well either and she said this wasn’t going to go anywhere and left. SO- Ira

”Oh my god you sly sick bitch. Damn you called out a Spartan? And accused her of having the hots for you on top of that? Let me take notes, damn. Anyway, continue- Sila

”Yeah I know I’m a little unhinged but anyways, get this. She comes to the party!! She actually shows up even after all of that!- Ira

”OOOOOO she came?? Girl she’s in trouble that’s all bad. Wow I’m so proud of you! So what’s the problem then?” -Sila

”Well, it was all good and she even gave me a present that she customized for me. It was so sweet I almost started crying. So then she says she wants to talk to me in private and here I was thinking I was about to win the universal lottery. But then we go to my room and she says, “My purpose is to be a Spartan so this isn’t something I can entertain. I want to stay as friends.”- Ira

”Ohhhh come onnn. No no no no, Ira no, that’s so bad! Wait, what was the present?”- Sila

”I’m not telling you it’s personal! But regardless, she tells me that-“ Ira

”No! What was the present? You’re already telling me the whole hoot and holler, what’s one more detail?” -Sila

”Don’t tell anyone about it,”- Ira

”I already said I’m not opening my mouth about any of this,” -Sila

Ira pulled the bullet out of her pocket and shined it with the cloth that it came wrapped in. She put it up to the screen and then put it close up to the camera so that the words were legible enough for Sila, despite showing up backwards through the video. Sila said nothing while deciphering it and then gasped.

”Oh honey. Oh lord. Oh my god she likes you too,”- Sila

”Do you think so?” -Ira

”No I don’t fucking think so, I know so. That’s such a genuine thing to do. Wow go Linda! Okay so what’s the current update on this?” -Sila

”That’s it. She shipped out this morning to Reach.” -Ira

”Oh you sad sop I bet you’ve just been moping around, woe is me-ing all day huh? Well let me tell you something. It sounds like if you keep pushing it, you’re gonna be entering a whole world of pain. Even if you did enter into a relationship, you would always be her 2nd priority. She clearly values her position very highly,” -Sila

Ira said nothing for a second. Just sat in silence until she nodded in agreement slowly.

”But I know you’re stubborn and your audacity knows no bounds so let me follow up with, if you’re going to push it, I can see a sliver of success.” -Sila

”Really? How?”- Ira

”Well she obviously likes you but she’s way up in the ranks so this is super unorthodox in the UNSC. If you can find a way to stay in contact, you might be too difficult to forget. But, don’t make the first move. You’ve already done the heavy lifting of a lifetime with this. Lay low for a few days and then throw a fishing line in if you’ve only gotten comm silence.” -Sila

“I guess I don’t really have anything else to go on. Thanks Sila, I knew you’d say something helpful.” -Ira

”Yeah well don’t say I didn’t warn you if it all goes tits up. But hey I gotta go, I’m getting summoned to debriefing. I hope it all goes well, keep me posted, bye!”- Sila. Ira waved goodbye as the video chat ended.

This conversation had taken place 3 days ago. It helped Ira feel infinitely less alone knowing that someone in the universe cared to hear her woes, a luxury that many people didn’t have. The next day came and went, and Ira focused on her team. They were excellent, but their newest recruit, Richard, had some difficulty collaborating with the team. Oftentimes, any mistakes or issues that they had encountered on the battlefield originated from a lack of communication and this was something that Ira hoped to tackle. Ira had come up with an exercise: Everyone one, except one person, would be blindfolded and tied to each other with a rope that allowed 3 ft in between. The person in the front would not be blindfolded but still tied. It would be their job to scout the room for hidden, but visually findable booby traps that Ira had asked an outside personnel to rig. The traps were lightly painful but non-lethal and the goal was to make it around the room without setting off one. The person in the front then had to pass down where and how to step around to the person behind. That person would then pass it down, until it reached the end. They would all take turns being the person in the front and Ira would give them 2 tries each to get it right once. The exercise had been going well, most of her team members succeeded at least once. Only Richard had failed twice. To say that he threw a fit was to put it lightly.

”This is fucking dumb Corporal, why did I even need to participate in this? Is this some sort of hazing ritual?”, he exclaimed. “We are doing this to improve our communication skills. Over the last few skirmishes that we’ve been in, there’s been mistakes left and right. It’s my job to make sure we improve,” Ira replied sternly but evenly. Richard continued. “But why this? Why can’t we just watch our tapes back and learn that way?”

“We tried that already and it didn’t work. It’s like all my pointers went in through one ear and out the other. I have talked to you about this before, you’re our weakest link. You’re impulsive on the battlefield and disregard every other order. That shit won’t fly much longer so I’m giving you the chance to improve,” Ira stated. The rest of the team did their best to look uninterested but Ira could tell they were all intently listening. “Oh okay communication is my issue then alright. Maybe I’ll take a little lesson from you and that Spartan that you’ve been fooling around with. You two sure seem to have plenty to talk about,” Richard shot back. Absolute silence filled the room. You could have heard a pin drop and locate its exact location after that comment.

“Excuse me? I don’t think you understand your position, trooper. My personal life is of no concern to you and if I ever hear you voicing any sort of comment on it, I will personally make sure that you never drop from a pod again. Do I make myself clear?” Ira’s tone could have cut glass. Her stare was cold, unwavering, and occupied with an empty, soulless void that threatened to consume him if he spoke anything other than “yes, sir”. Richard seemed to shrink in size and looked anywhere but back at her. “Yes, sir,” he replied quietly, still looking away. “Good. And unless you show improvement on our next mission, you will not remain on this team. Dismissed,” Ira barked. Everyone shuffled out of the room uncomfortably. Rachel stayed back after everyone had left to say, ”So… we’ve all been wondering something. This is probably not the best time but I’m gonna ask anyway,” Ira glared at Rachel, knowing exactly what the question was going to be. “I’m gonna stop you right there Datz. Go, that’s an order,” she seethed. Rachel put her hands up and scuffled out. Ira sighed, knowing damn well the topic of conversation amongst her team was going to be ‘what’s up with the corporal and that Spartan?’ And the answer was, nothing. Absolutely fuckig nothing, that’s the problem. Nothing was going on between her and the Spartan. She leaned against the wall and covered her eyes. Get a grip you idiot, she thought.

Ira was walking to the showers when she heard a Ding! Looking over at her data pad, her jaw dropped to the floor upon seeing the name of the recipient: S-058. She opened the message up and read, Hello, I am hoping you are well. Ira fervently typed back, Hi! I am now. And yourself?

This had been the beginning of their back and forth messaging which had now been going on for 2 days. It was only 5-6 messages a day, but they meant the world to her. So really, being woken up a little too early to the first one of the day wasn’t too bad at all. She was mostly surprised to have received any sort of communication. But for now, she had to start her day and see what this meeting was all about.

I am happy to wake up to a message from you.- Ira

Linda felt her eyes widen a little at the message and an increasingly more familiar warmth radiate in her chest. It had been 2 days since Linda gave into the nagging thoughts and decided to reach out to Ira. She knew it wasn’t necessarily a good idea but managed to convince herself that this was how to maintain a good friendship. Kelly was the only one who knew that Linda was in communication with Ira. She had given her an approving look at the news.

”Glad to know my advice is taken seriously around these parts,” Kelly touted. Linda rolled her eyes and replied, “Yeah alright settle down. We’re just friends.” Kelly huffed loudly but said nothing else. Later that day when they were finishing up at the shooting range, Kelly had asked, “So how’s the friendship going?” Linda looked around annoyed to make sure that no one was listening to them. She answered back, “It’s going fine. Do you need an hourly update?”

”I’m just saying, I’d support a partnership. I know some of the others wouldn’t approve but since when do you care what others think?,” Kelly pressed. Linda sat down at one of the tables nearby to take her sniper apart. Taking the weapon apart to clean it was incredibly soothing for her. Focusing on that made it easier to have this conversation. “Kelly I know you mean well but you can’t be serious. There are so many reasons to not go there with her. Not to mention I’m 13 years older than her. I don’t know much about this stuff but I know that’s weird,” Linda stated. Kelly snorted at the comment and said, “First off, we’re not ancient. Secondly, I don’t think that’s an issue she’s concerned over, otherwise she probably wouldn’t be all heart eyes over you. Fuck the rules anyway you’re both adults.”

”Exactly, I’m an adult and I’m making a responsible, adult decision to keep her at an arm’s length. It’s the best decision for the both of us,” Linda continued, firmly. Her tone was even but Kelly could tell that she was tense. Regardless, she pushed back, “Well she’s an adult too and I’m sure she knows what she wants.” At that, Kelly walked out of the room, leaving Linda to continue her cleaning. Click, click, click, snap, snap, click. The pieces all fit back together perfectly and cleanly. If only her current situation was so easily assembled.

She needed to meditate and there were too many people around. So, Linda made her way to the base’s quiet room. This was where soldiers and military personnel could go to pray, soak in silence, or meditate in Linda’s case. Not every station or base that she went to had one of these but when it did, Linda was grateful for it. Linda’s home base on Reach had everything she could want and this was one of her favorites. The room was different in more ways than one. It had a skylight that allowed sunlight to gleam through and illuminate the room softly during the day and moonlight during the night. The corners of the room however, remained in shadow. This was the only room on the base that did not have any artificial lighting and it brought a certain peace to the atmosphere, unlike any she had experienced before. Linda grabbed a mat off the shelf and sat in the back right corner of the room. She sat down and closed her eyes, breathing slowly, feeling her mind lifting off.

1200 hours

Kelly finished her run. These new headphones that she had gotten amazed her, as they had managed to stay on her head the entire time. Music was a joy that Kelly had discovered years ago. It allowed her to stay focused and pushed her to move faster and faster. According to John, her choice of ‘classic rock’ was archaic and noisy but she liked noisy! Better to have catchy lyrics blended with ‘noisy’ drums and guitar sounds as opposed to screaming, explosions, and death. The sounds of war. Though the sounds of gunfire weren’t necessarily ugly to her. They were, in a weird and sad way, comforting to her. Not comforting in a conventional way but rather, in a predictable way. In other words, Kelly knew where gunfire came from and what it did. She could distinguish the type of weapon that every gunshot came from and smell their differences. This was not necessarily an exceptional ability but rather one shared between many of her siblings. And right now, there were too many new and uncertain things happening that Kelly didn’t have explanations for.

In the last 24 hours, Kelly had grown concerned about Linda. Linda, it appeared, had grown oddly attached to Corporal Ira Hagan, ODST. Kelly had done some digging into Hagan’s file and found some impressive accomplishments. Upon further investigation (light hacking), she found a concerning detail about her. The Corporal had been subject to several psych evals. Not a good thing in their line of work, or probably in any. The cause for the several evals was…. REDACTED. How interesting, she thought. What could the Corporal have done to receive so many psych evals and then the reason for them be redacted? Moreover, should she tell Linda? Maybe not yet, after all, Kelly had encouraged Linda to reach out and embrace a ‘friendship’ with Hagan. She wanted to be on their side and support whatever this was, but Kelly couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off about Hagan. And here was the proof! But maybe it was a misunderstanding, maybe she was looking too much into it. And right now, she had nothing else to go on.

Kelly wandered into the mess hall, looking around for Fred-104. He was serving himself whatever horrible soup was getting served that day. Kelly always hated soup. She wandered over and sniffed it, feeling a nausea in her stomach.

“What do you want, soup hater?,” Fred inquired dryly. Kelly signed to him, need to talk. He lifted an eyebrow and looked at her, signing back, urgent? Kelly rolled her eyes and said out loud, “What do you think?” Fred sighed and asked, “I’ll eat, you talk.” They went over to the most secluded table in the mess hall that they could find. Regardless, it was full at the moment and so, it was improbable that others would hear their conversation. Kelly sat down and waited for Fred to start eating. She thought about how to phrase her question. Fred asked, “Well?” Kelly leaned back in her chair and asked, “Do you remember Margaret-053 and Otto-031?” Fred looked at her seriously but said nothing. He swallowed the next spoonful of soup and answered, “Of course, Black Team. Excellent Spartans.” Kelly’s face dropped and she looked at him in annoyment, “Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about.” Fred sighed loudly and replied, “What’s your point? Why are you bringing that up?” Fred was of course talking about the incident when they were kids where the 2 aforementioned Spartans were found out to be entangled with one another. The rest of the Spartans did not take kindly to the news and well, essentially assaulted the pair. The fight had ended with Margaret losing an eye and retaliation on behalf of Black team which then ended in 2 more weeks of trouble for everyone.

The motivation behind the attack had been a misplaced belief that the Spartans had not been taking their training seriously. This of course came from the brainwashed idea they held at the time that any semblance of romance was a detriment to them all. That was until Kelly grew up and could see that the instilled belief had been a way to control them and further them away from their humanity. It was effective of course, for to be attached to someone else romantically was to be distracted from their missions partially. And as weapons, that just wouldn’t do. Still though, when Maria-062 retired to create a family of her own, it made Kelly stop and think. What could compel someone like her to turn away from their purpose and create her own? It seemed that love indeed was a powerful motivator, and their instructors were right to steer them clear of it. But instead of erasing Maria from her memory, Kelly felt an enormous amount of respect for her. For though the life of a Spartan was the only one Kelly could want, who was she to judge another for wanting more? She certainly had had her fair share of little crushes here and there but couldn’t ever act on those feelings. There just wasn’t ever any time for that. And people were too scared of her and the other Spartans to ever initiate conversation anyway. Kelly couldn’t blame them of course, but it got lonely at times. So when she heard Private Hagan admit to Linda that regardless of their circumstances or rank, she would have still called her pretty, Kelly was flabbergasted. Not only did this Private have the chutzpah to hit on a Spartan twice, but Linda’s lack of response had been very telling. If she truly had no interest in this woman, surely she would have reprimanded her or sent an official complaint to her new team lead. At least a write up or something. But instead, she was frazzled into silence. Linda wasn’t one to get cowed, the woman was incredibly scary. Kelly’s suspicions had only been reaffirmed when 8 years later, aka a few days ago, Linda had come to vent about a very personal meeting she had had with a certain Corporal.

“You don’t still feel that way about relationships right?,” Kelly finally responded. Fred looked even more confused now but replied, “No not entirely. I think we were immature at the time but- wait why are you asking me this stuff?”

”Humor me. Say hypothetically, this was happening now, and you found out that Otto had a lot of psych evals but the information on those were redacted, what would you do? Would you tell Margaret or dig deeper?,” Kelly inquired. Fred looked beyond annoyed at this point but rolled his eyes and answered back, “I wouldn’t get involved.” Kelly exhaled exasperatedly and said, “No you have to answer, just humor me.” Fred thought for a few seconds and replied, “Well, telling Margaret would only lead to her asking Otto about it and he can’t talk since the information is redacted so then he’d be compromised. I suppose I’d dig deeper then.” Kelly smiled at him, content with the answer. She stood up and said, “Enjoy your soup, I’m going on another run.” Fred frowned and yelled, “Wait no what’s going on?!” But it was too late. Kelly had already sped out of the room as quickly as she had come, leaving Fred to wonder, do I even wanna know?

[figthefruitfaeth]

Mail, Murder, & Other Mysteries

From the Nancy Wheeler Files

Chapter Two: The Anonymous Letter(s) (prev chapter) (ao3 link)

Eddie wakes up to the shrill ring of the landline and stale taste of sugar rotting his teeth. A weak ray of mid-morning light streams in through the windows. The ringing stops. The faint sound of traffic and city life drifts into the quiet of the apartment. He breathes, in, then out.

Just when he starts to relax, the ringing starts up again. He groans, rolling over and shoving his face into the back of the couch.

Eddie knows what he’s doing is stupid. Not just stupid, but a fool’s errand, because trying to avoid Chrissy Cunningham is about as easy as avoiding sunrise. Bright, blinding, and only averted by the machinations of the solar system or God himself. He should write that down…

The ringing stops. Then, a click and—

You’ve reached Nancy—and Eddie’s—apartment.

Christ, she’s leaving a message.

Looks like we’re unavailable at the moment, so leave your name and number at the tone and we’ll get back to you when we can—BEEP.

Eddie! It’s Chrissy. I know you’re there, unless you’re checking the mail again, which I guess means you’re not there. Well, if you’re actually busy then give me a call back when you can! And if you’re not, I’d really appreciate if you’d stop avoiding me. I know it’s a foreign concept to you, but most people would consider that rude! Alright, well I’ll call back later, we’ve got a lot to talk about. Byeeeee!

He sighs, rolling himself flat on his back. This wouldn’t be so hard if she wasn’t so nice about it. For their five years of friendship, he’s never seen her get mean, not even when her shitbag ex-boyfriend showed up at her house drunk and calling her every name in the book (Eddie keyed his car for that, because of the two, he’s the mean one). Worse than that, Chrissy knows it too, using her sweet small-town charm to weasel him into meeting his deadlines. He works best under pressure, and guilt is a motivating pressure alright.

The ceiling is the same ugly off-white color that dominates the rest of their apartment, but it’s also got a popcorn design, which he knows Nancy can’t stand, but he likes it. Maybe not like—intrigue is the better word. It’s a bit like TV static, in that if he stares at it long enough, his brain will drift past himself and the answers to all life’s problems will sail in. It’s how he figured out the twist ending of his last novel (that the Queen’s guard had survived after all) and what to get Nancy for her birthday (a lock-picking kit you could only get at specialty stores).

He lingers in a patch of sunlit popcorn near the edge of The Board. It’s not like he wants to avoid Chrissy’s calls and it’s not like she deserves it either. She’s a good friend and she’s good at her job, which means she won’t let him sulk around in his writer’s block no matter how much he wants to. And God, does he want to.

His latest work, the next in the series, just won’t come together. Nancy had balked at his villain’s third name change, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. His plot is all over the place, the dialogue stilted, motivations out of character. His editor keeps saying it’s fine, that it’s exactly what the readers (all six of them, he’s not exactly flying off the shelves) want, but it feels wrong. It’s overplayed conformist bullshit he doesn’t want to touch with a ten-foot pole.

The phone rings and Eddie is suddenly very aware of the gnawing pit in his stomach. So much for those answers.

You’ve reached Nancy—and Eddie’s—apartment—

He shoves a handful of store-brand cereal in his mouth, washing it down with the rest of the milk straight from the carton. He ditches the takeout containers in the trash, wipes down the table, and starts a load of dishes.

I’m trying to contact a Nancy Wheeler. This is John from KX News. Like I’ve said before, we don’t have the capabilities—

He sits at his keyboard for five minutes, then makes himself a sandwich.

Eddie, it’s Jeff. Can’t make the next jam sesh, does Thursday work?

The couch would look better against the windows, actually. Or if he moved the coffee table—

Ms. Wheeler, please stop calling me, I don’t know—

You’re not happy with it, I get it, but I can’t help you fix it if you won’t talk to me about it—

You’ve reached Nancy and Eddie’s apartment—

2:30 pm, his watch beeps. He breathes a sigh of relief, throws on a pair of jeans, grabs his keys, and heads downstairs.

Though Nancy may tease him for it, to Eddie, the mail is serious business. Though his fanbase is small, they’re a dedicated bunch, and he gets a nice little chunk of fan mail. He’s particularly fond of the ones he gets from a local group of high schoolers, who send weekly letters with theories about his newest novel or asking for his opinion on movies they’d seen recently. The highlight of his life had to have been when he dedicated, The Battle of Starcourt, to them, and received a 20pg letter in all caps from the group.

It also gives him the chance to get out, or close to out, of the house during daylight hours, which is apparently important according to Chrissy. When he eventually calls back, he can at least give her that.

On the second floor, he passes Mrs. Romero, a withered old woman only ever dressed in floor length floral nightgowns. He waves, she rolls her eyes.

It also, also gives him the chance to, outside of Nancy which apparently does not count according to Nancy herself, engage in more regular social interaction. If maybe one of those interactions includes seeing the cute guy from 3B, would that be so wrong?

He jumps the last few steps, landing against the black and white checkered tile with a satisfying slap. The lobby, which is really just a long hallway with a few signs and a wall of mailboxes, is empty.

Eddie tries not to pout. It’s not like he sees the guy from 3B every day, but when he does, it always seems to be about now. If Nancy’s Nancy Drew act is anything to go by, which, it usually is, then he doesn’t have a reason to check the mail anyway because he’d already picked up everything he’d end up getting for the week. Not unless he’s actually flirting with him, which after yesterday’s fiasco, isn’t likely anymore.

Maybe it’s better this way anyway, Eddie reasons, jamming his key in the lock when it won’t budge open the first time. No 3B, so at least he won’t have to face his humiliation so soon. Big boy? He couldn’t have gone with something a little more casual? And the guy’s face—

He lets his head fall against the mailbox, cold metal biting against his forehead.

“Bad news?”   

Eddie’s never been a particularly lucky guy. He failed his last year of high school twice, been arrested for weed that was actually his friend’s, and always dies in campaigns he isn’t DMing. Today, however, luck definitely isn’t on his side because the voice behind him is none other than 3B.

3B saunters up next to him and leans against the mailbox, a hand at his hip and an eyebrow cocked, like he knows just how good he looks. Which, Eddie bites back a groan, is particularly good today—snug in a pair of the world’s tightest Levi’s and a yellow sweater brighter than the sun. It’s just a tad dated—something he’d see the popular kids in high school wear rather than the loose fit everyone’s starting to sport now. He can’t tell if that means 3B is trying to hang on to the last vestiges of his high school glory days or is sticking to his guns despite the popular opinion, and more concerning, knows the answer wouldn’t change much.

It’s actually really unfair how much Eddie is into him.

“No news, actually,” he swallows, tugging on his key for effect. “I can’t get the stupid little door to open—” he tugs again, and the door swings open, and with it all of his mail.

“Oh shit—”

“Here, let me—”

Together they collect the mail, which isn’t even a lot this time around, but spread out across the hall it takes an awkwardly long time. Eddie can feel his face flush red, and while he hopes it isn’t noticeable, the look 3B is giving him suggests otherwise.

“Well, that’s a newsflash for you,” Eddie mutters more to himself than anything.

3B tilts his head.

“Cause, you asked if I had news…”

“Oh,” he nods. “Right, yeah.”

If the ground could open up and swallow him whole that would make the situation a lot better.

“Well, thanks for the assist, I guess—”

“Oh, hold up,” 3B stops him, a hand clutching his forearm. He lets go just as quickly, but Eddie stays kneeling in his black square, struck still by the other man’s order and the ghost of his palm along the soft of his arm. 3B leans over to the far side of the mailbox, sweater riding up just past his hip, revealing a thin strip of scarred skin. They’re relatively new, still pink and shiny near the bone, but they must feel fine if the way he’s twisting is any indicator. Eddie thinks back to Nancy’s observation, and desperately hopes it’s not true.

“Here we go,” 3B smiles, pushing a few loose strands back with one hand and flashing Eddie his bounty with the other. It’s the latest edition of Fangoria, one Eddie had finally managed to get an article in. “My kids love these.”

“Kids?”

“Not mine!” He scrambles, cheeks tinting a rosy pink. “Not that I don’t want some of my own someday. Or, they don’t have to be mine mine, adopting is just as good, better sometimes in fact, actually. But I’m not ready for kids now, obviously. I mean the apartment is way too small and Robin—” he winces. “I’m going to stop talking now.”

“No, go on,” Eddie grins. Getting his terribly hot neighbor to fall apart on him, well, it’s certainly a confidence boost that’s for sure. “You got names picked out yet?”

“Haha, very funny.”

“Oh, I haven’t heard those before. Family names?”

3B pushes him, but laughs as he does it, the sound a bright and clear echo in the hall. Eddie falls over with little resistance.

“God, this floor is disgusting,” and then there’s a hand in his face. Eddie grabs on and is heaved up with a surprisingly little effort on his part, bringing him close to the warm, sunny chest of 3B. He’s got a soft smile, one that pulls at the corner of his mouth and leaves a crinkle at his eyes. Eddie’s solidly on his feet now, and still, 3B is holding onto him.

“I’m Steve, by the way. Steve Buckley.”

Steve. It’s exactly the kind of name a yellow sweater wearing prep would have. Steve, a guy’s guy, who plays sports and flirts with pretty girls and who lives a nice, normal life. It’s such a cliché it should turn him off.

“Eddie Munson.”

“Ah, so now I know who’s name to yell when Metallica comes on at 3 am.”

“I thought you didn’t know who they were?” He squints, desperately ignoring the part of his brain playing the idea of Steve yelling his name on a loop 

Steve shrugs, “I might’ve picked up a CD yesterday on my way home from the center. Not really my thing, I think. Too much noise.”

“Too much noise? What are you, sixty?”

“Fifty-nine, actually,” he smirks, drawing another laugh from Eddie.

Steve is leaned in close enough that Eddie can get a good hard look at him. He’s got a few dark moles dotted across his face and trailing down his neck, almost black where they meet the collar of his sweater. There’s a whisper of a mustache on his otherwise clean-shaven face, like maybe he forgot to shave this morning. And although Eddie can’t imagine he’s actually any older than himself, Steve’s already got a few lines along his forehead. Not a lot, and they mostly fade when he relaxes his face, but enough to make him think he spends a lot of time frowning. Or laughing. He hopes it’s the latter, he wants to be the latter.

“Well,” Steve says after a few moments, finally letting go of his arm and pressing the long-forgotten magazine into Eddie’s unoccupied hand. “Try to hold onto these this time.”

Steve leans back, like he knows he should go, but expects Eddie to say something else. Maybe even, Eddie hopes, wants him to say something else.

“So, the Buckley twins are fans of horror?”

Steve rolls his eyes, but he’s leaning back into his orbit.

“Again, I don’t actually have any kids. I’m a Big over at Big Brother, Big Sister. Technically, I’m only a Big to Dustin, but his friends are clingy so I end up driving all of them around when we hang out. They love all this kind of nerd shit,” he points at the cover, featuring a sickly pale Dracula leering over the title, “and apparently their favorite author’s in it or something. An Edwin something?”

Eddie sighs. Of course, this would happen, of course—

“Edgar M.W.?”

Steve snaps a finger, “There you go. Yeah, they go crazy for those books, won’t shut up about them. You know him?”

He bites down on a panicked laugh.

Edgar M.W. His pseudonym. His publishers had thought ‘Eddie Munson’ wasn’t a right fit for his brand, which was bullshit, and almost made him keep it just to piss them off. Ultimately, he’d wanted the anonymity a little more than that, so he’d made up Edgar and added the ‘W’ for his Uncle Wayne.

He’s got six fans, and they’re definitely not adults. They don’t sign their full names off, but he’s got more than a sneaking suspicion that the letters he’s been getting, always signed Yours Faithfully, D. and Company, may in fact belong to Steve’s children. Of course—

“Yeah…we, uh, run in similar circles. I’m a writer, too. Fantasy horror.” It’s technically a lie, but it doesn’t feel like one since he’s not legally Edgar M.W. It’s also not a lie in the way he really hasn’t felt like Edgar M.W. in a long time.

“No way,” Steve’s eyes light up, honey brown in the dead of winter. “Publish anything I’d know? Or, that the kids would?”

“Nah, not lately.” The last work he’d published under ‘Eddie Munson’ had been in high school. Not to mention his work in progress, Untitled (1), which he hadn’t touched in the New Year.

“Why’s that?”

It, or, some variation of it, is the question that’s hounded him since he first started writing it. Where his work was, when was it going to be ready, why couldn’t he pull it together. The question he can’t avoid try as he might, what sends him running, because at the end of the day, Eddie’s only brave in stories.

That’s what should be happening now. He should be giving Steve a polite answer and excusing himself back to avoiding his responsibilities. But…

Steve is watching him. He’s not flashing a smile, but the crinkle around his eyes is still there, still happy talking to him. He’s only an inch taller, if that, but he’s got his head titled down the way tall guys always do when they’re trying to listen—trying to catch what Eddie’s going to say, the same way he had pointed at his bleached-out tour t-shirt yesterday. The t-shirt he’d asked about, and then went and bought a CD just to understand what Eddie meant.

Eddie feels…maybe not brave, but less like a coward.

“Cause it’s shit.”

Steve quirks an eyebrow.

“It is! Grade A, 100% bullshit, as my roommate would call it. It’s overwritten and predictable, it’s got absolutely no heart. And the worst part is, I mean, I’ve written something that could be published. It’s a pile of garbage, but it’s ‘sellable’,” Eddie laughs bitterly.

“My editor loves it,” he continues, everything that’s been rolled up tight in him all pouring out at once, “and the guys who sign my checks really love it. Forget making a statement or art, forget trying to wake people up and do something for a change. Sellable is good! Sellable means the readers get to enjoy a nice bedtime story and we all get to pop champagne. It certainly shouldn’t be a problem, because I do like being able to afford more than canned meat and cold showers, but, uh—” God, he sounds stupid, doesn’t he? He could still be stuck in the trailer selling poppers to high schoolers. He could be Munson Senior, behind bars for a rap sheet longer than his IQ, and he’s worried about selling out. Back then it was easy to talk about artistic integrity when he didn’t have shit to lose.

“Sounds hard,” Steve nods sympathetically.

He rolls his eyes, “Thanks, but it’s really not. I mean—”

“Give yourself a break man,” Steve jostles him, the arm just barely grazing his stomach a shock down his spine. “It sucks, trying to live up to expectations and shit and not getting to be who you are. It’s not fair. And maybe it’s not the biggest deal in the world, but uh…it still hurts. Just, quietly.”

Eddie nods.

“Well, whoever said life was fair, huh?”

“Yeah…yeah, you’re not wrong,” Steve hums, eyes still on him but looking past Eddie to something painful. He wonder if Steve would tell him what he’s thinking, which lines in his face hurt and which he’d wear with pride.

Just when Eddie thinks he’s really brought the mood down just after salvaging yesterday’s mess, Steve comes back to him. He smirks, and he can tell it’s a little put on, but not disingenuous.

“Shame though, I was looking for something new for my bookshelf.”

“I thank you for your artistic integrity, but honestly, if I’m selling out, I’m gonna need you to buy a copy,” Eddie grins at the laugh the bursts from Steve. “Maybe even ten. Something to sandwich between all those Sports Illustrated and the high school copy of The Catcher in the Rye I know you’ve got squirreled away.”

He casts Eddie a wary eye. “How’d you know about those?” He asks, leaning back just slightly, a razor thin edge to his tone.

“Just look the type,” Eddie shrugs, uncertain where he’d fallen off track. “I’ve met a lot of jocks and they’ve all got the same library. And you, Steve-o, with the polos, and the hair, and the clear lack of fine musical sensibilities, well. You fall right into that sweet, sweet preppy jock stereotype.”

Quick as it came, the tension melts from his shoulders, and Steve is back on him again.

“Ouch. I’ve got layers, you know.”

Eddie gives him a considering once over. He’s not exactly the tough guy he’d expected, but there’s something in Buckley he wasn’t prepared for. The flat, small-town plain he’d anticipated had suddenly turned off into a forest without a clear path. Deep, winding, and though perhaps not frightening, something to tread through with a clear mind. An adventure.

“Oh, I’m not saying you don’t,” he smirks, pocketing Steve’s little moment for further inspection. “I’m sure there’s a lot under there I’d like to see.”

“Oh, yeah?” Steve breathes, eyes dark and focused. “And what would that be?”

Eddie swallows, throat dry and wanting. Steve’s eyes dart with the movement, before slowly trailing back up to meet him, a smug smirk playing on his lips. The distance between them is barely a foot, just a few inches at most. They’re not touching, but Eddie can feel every carefully measured breath between them, the warmth emanating from Steve seeping into his usually freeze-numb fingertips.

“Well—” he starts, when there’s a beeping, and Steve is out of orbit in a snap. Eddie blinks, the temperature drop an unwelcome wake up call.

“Oh shit—I gotta go,” Steve resets his watch, other hand buried in his hair. “It’s my day to pick up Dustin and his freeloaders, and the last time I was late I got chewed out for an hour.”

“Right! Can’t delay the esteemed royal court,” Eddie says, still dizzy.

Steve snorts. “Royal somethings alright.”

He takes a step back, then stops, and before Eddie can think of anything cute to say, Steve’s tugging at his mail. He pulls out a thick white envelope, one of the square ones that always means someone’s in trouble, and he’s got a cap between his teeth and he’s writing—

“I’m usually home after seven. If Robin answers, hang up. She’s being the most right now,” he presses the letter into Eddie’s chest, keeping his hand there.

“You can throw it away if you want, but if you need someone to talk to. Or see what’s underneath,” he winks.

Eddie blinks. He blinks again, mouth dropping open for a response he simply no longer has the braincells to muster. This is—

He looks down, and he notices three things in an order of increasing despair. The first being that Steve’s got nice handwriting, and he signed it ‘Stevie’ with a little heart over the ‘i’. It’s cute for someone who just technically committed a federal crime, so he’s going to be obsessing over that for the next few hours. Second, the number lands directly over the mailing address, which isn’t Eddie Munson. The means Nancy’s letter, an official looking document spelling only trouble, has been scribbled over by his crush. She’s going to yell at him. Or laugh. Probably both.

And thirdly, Eddie notices Steve’s hand. Pale, with those same dark moles just lightly dotted along the smooth skin and up his well-manicured nails. He hasn’t had a life of hard manual labor, but there’s strength there. The fingers spread wide across his chest, keeping the letter pinned in place, are holding back. Eddie knows he’s also going to be thinking about those fingers later, when he sees it. A little flash of gold gleaming cruelly in the thin winter light.

Steve takes a step back, snapping a finger gun at Eddie.

“See you later, big boy.”

He trips a little on the outer door, then exits with a wave.

Nancy was right. Steve Buckley is definitely flirting with him. Steve Buckley, who is also married.

—

Eddie trudges up to the apartment one stair at a time, letters heavy in his hand. He walks in, slips his shoes off, and slumps into the seat by the window overlooking the alley.

You’ve reached Nancy—and Eddie’s—apartment.

He tosses aside a few credit card offers, and sets Fangoria to the side for himself, same with the letter from the kids, which is particularly heavy today. Star Trek VI must’ve been good. D. & Company. Steve’s Dustin. Steve who’s good with kids and cheats on his wife.

Eddie groans, letting his head fall onto the tiny side table. This, this is why he didn’t want to see the signs. Because just his type is also code for unavailable. From ‘straight’ boys wanting to experiment in high school to sleazy one-night stands in the city, he has a knack for attracting the worst guys. So of course, his cute, flirty, kind and considerate neighbor is legally spoken for and less than morally upstanding.

Why else would a guy and girl move in together? Why else would he mention wanting kids?

If Robin answers, hang up. He’s met Robin before, mostly in passing and never for a terribly long conversation, but she’s funny and a little weird the way he likes his friends. There’s also something distinctly not-straight about her. She’s got a pink triangle pin on her bag and she manages to bring up Nancy in every single one of their five-minute conversations. Maybe she’s just a great ally, a true feminist, but it’s more than that. It’s the way she carries herself, the carefully placed confidence along her shoulders, like she’s not used to being loud and proud but fighting for it anyway.

Steve didn’t have those shoulders. His spoke confidence, a lightness to them that detailed a life of things being handed to him, of smiles and pats on the back and the easiness that came with being blissfully unaware of slurs thrown out car windows and nightmares of hospital rooms.

Just, quiet. The lines in his forehead. The tender pink of his hip bone. The CD he bought and the book he wanted to read.

He shoves his hands into his hair, rings knotting up in the greasy roots, and pulls hard, hissing at the sharp pain along his crown. He’s being stupid, he’s acting desperate. Sure, Steve’s hot and good to kids, but at the end of the day, he’s like every other guy. He’s a straight guy bored with his happy marriage. They’ll hook up and maybe it would be fun for a weekend, but he’ll always get The Look. A sneer of disgust and shame, a blank stare when Eddie mentions breakfast. No, Steve’s nice, so he’d get a pitying smile and a pat on the cheek before he leaves to pick up Robin for t-ball practice.

No. Fuck. He’s not going to be another repressed guy’s outlet. He’s not going to call, he’s not going to think about the little heart, and he’s not going to get the look.

Determined, Eddie pops up, sorting through the remaining pile for his number and does his best to crumble it up, the thick cardstock texture unwilling to bend very far. He doesn’t get the ball he wanted, and he’s a little sweaty at this point, but the symbolism is there. He chucks the envelope out the window before realizing that one, it’s still Nancy’s fucking mail, and two, that the window is in fact still shut tight, bouncing back on his face.

You’ve reached Nancy—and Eddie’s—apartment.

He only screams a little.

Outside, a flock of birds fly over the adjacent apartment building. A car horn blares. That’s when he notices an unfamiliar face leaning up against the trash bin. Cities are big, sure, but their alley isn’t one you exactly wander into by accident. The guy’s got tight blonde curls, a gold tan unhindered by anything more than a short-sleeve button-down, and a cigarette dangling from his lips. There’s a distinct edge to his stance, one Eddie recognizes from his dad’s old buddies. This guy’s done time, and he did it well.

Unease itches along his spine. Eddie might scare easy, but there is definitely something wrong with this guy.

As if sensing his thoughts, the guy looks directly up at him. Logically, Eddie knows he’s not really looking at him, the vantage from the alley into the living room is pretty shit, but there’s a smirk on his lip more akin to a snarl than anything. Like a predator that’s finally caught sight of its prey.

Quick as it came, the cigarette is crushed under the heel of his dark boots and he struts back out to the street.

Eddie sighs. This city is so fucking weird sometimes. God, he’d kill for a cigarette.

What he settles for instead is curling up on the couch with a Lucky Light and the rhythmic flick of his lighter. He misses their TV. Not by much, but it was always a nice distraction. More than anything, he misses the old westerns Wayne used to watch, misses his gentle snores and the death grip he had on his stone-cold mug of coffee. No cigarettes, no TV, no goddamn luck. Not unless you count the bubblegum, which ain’t much.

At some point he falls into a restless sleep, tossing and turning, each time almost drifting off until another call comes in or the radiator screams randomly.

“Hey,” and there’s a short, strong tug on his shoulder. He jerks up, blurry vision focusing on Nancy setting down a take-out bag on the table. “Got Thai tonight.”

“Oh, thank God,” Eddie mumbles, digging into the first plastic container she hands him, groaning as grilled chicken and sweet and sour sauce hit him full force. “Cross that—you are God, Nancy Wheeler.”

 “Jesus, okay. Did you eat today?”

“Yes, dad. Had a sandwich with bread and everything.”

She raises a brow, “That’s it?” 

He rolls his eyes. It’s not his fault his brain doesn’t tell him he’s hungry till three hours later. At least it wasn’t a nothing-in-this-house-is-edible day. “Oh, yeah? And what’d you have?”

Though she doesn’t have the same malfunction, Nancy is just as bad as him, regularly skipping meals in favor of shitty office coffee. A cliché if he’s ever seen one, though he can’t blame her. He’s right too, because suddenly, she seems very interested in her spring rolls.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” he smirks.

“Anyway,” she breezes through, shoulders clinched tight, “How was your day? Did you call Chrissy back yet?”

“…no.”

“Eddie—”

“I know! I was going to but—” he sighs. She’s going to get it out of him one way or the other, might as well submit to the inevitable. “I saw 3B again.”

“Oh?”

“His name is Steve. As always, you were right, he was definitely flirting with me and it was going, if I say so myself, really well. That is, until I saw the ring.” He hums a few notes, miming a piano with one hand.

The heavy pit in his stomach from earlier grows twice in size at the sight of Nancy’s face. Mouth pinched, eyebrows slightly upturned. It’s the look he gets whenever he tells her a story from his childhood, even though some of those are actually funny just in an admittedly fucked up kind of way. He shifts uncomfortably.  

“It’s whatever, Nance. Life sucks, and then you die,” he shrugs, trying to play it cool. It doesn’t work, it never works with her, because she’s still got her look. “Probably better not to get biblical with the neighbors anyway. Don’t shit where you eat and all that.”

He itches under her gaze.

“Eddie—"

“Just—leave it. Okay? Honestly, it’s not even that big of a deal. I’m just sorry for Robin if anything.”

The radiator clanks.

“I told you she wasn’t into me,” she says, just as cool.

“I wouldn’t say that, I mean—"

“What would you say, then?” Her voice has the razor-sharp edge to it, the kind that tells him if he pushes, he’s getting cut, and Eddie’s had enough slashes to the heart for one day.

She goes back to her spring rolls, skipping the usual third-degree he’d be getting over his feelings and what exactly he saw. Great. Fucking great. As much as she’s the rock in this relationship, he forgets how sensitive she is underneath it all, and now he’s gone and fucked it up. He sinks further into the couch.

The rest of the meal is quiet, both of them stewing in their own take-out container of disappointment. When they’re done, Eddie cleans up, a quiet apology for ruining the mood.

Nancy’s with The Board now, back turned to him. He slouches over to the couch, burying himself in one of the pillows. It’s always easier for him to sleep with someone else in the room, something about the noise of cohabitation lulling him to sleep, but the weight of 3B presses in on him.

He turns over, still deciding between a joke and a more sincere apology, to find Nancy not where he left her. Instead, she’s by the window, opened envelope clutched in one hand and its contents in the other, brow furrowed.

“What is this?”

Panic floods over him, “Oh, shit—listen, he wrote it down before I realized—”

“No, Eddie—” she crosses the room, thrusting the letter in his face. “What is this?”

Instead of anger or frustration like he expects, her face is almost completely blank, just the slightest twitch of her lip like she’s holding herself back from firing off. She raises a brow at the mail, wiggling it for effect.

At first, Eddie’s sure he’s somehow still halfway asleep, because it won’t come into focus. He blinks, then wipes at his eyes with a clumsy hand. The first page, creased from his earlier attempts, has a row of columns with a series of numbers running down the left-hand side and dotted throughout the main text. The text itself is strange, letters he recognizes but strung together wrong, forming half a word before falling into gibberish. Some of the letters themselves don’t look right, ‘N’s that face the other way or ‘O’s with slashes through them. Wait—

“Is that—”

“Russian,” she nods, eyes shining bright as she shuffles through the pages, “And look. No sender, no return address. Just this.”

The last page has the same column structure but is almost entirely empty save for a few notes in Russian at the top. Scribbled across the center in thick black ink are two distinctly English words:

KEEP. DIGGING.

Holy. Fuck.

“Barbara Holland was murdered,” Nancy says. “We’re going to find out why.”

[randomnameless]

I was wondering if you ever made a post talking about ladle's idea of meritocracy?

I don't think I did?

Watch out, it will be long lol

Let's take the Flayn'n'Ferdie ending - of course unavailable on Tru Piss, because Flayn is a Nabatean :

Assuming people are extra horny and start to breed like rabbits, because Flayn and Ferdie are extra “loving” and all, a nabatean blooded baby pops up (half or quarter nabatean, it depends on your hc about Flayn herself) from their "extra loving" shenanigans : that baby will obviously have a crest, since it is a nabatean (or part nabatean).

Assuming that baby will have his mom’s crest, baby will still be able to heal “better” than seasoned healers or trained ones, because of the power-up the crest gives them + baby, with their nabatean genes, might have a longer lifespan and be sturdier than a “regular human”.

So, if someone should become a healer, baby will obviously be picked, because baby can heal better than anyone else (save for their mom) in that situation.

Which makes me think about the Holst’n’Goneril house issue :

Thanks to Nopes, we have the hard confirmation Holst has no crest, and is so OP that he still manages to defend the border because he’s just that awesome. So yes, potentially, someone can do the work a crested dude can do, if that someone is exceptionnally good at doing what he does - Holst is a strong warrior, so he can protect the border, even if he doesn’t have a crest - meaning Hilda is free to live the life of leisure she wants even if she has a crest and can use Freikugel.

But 2 points :

First, iirc, from their supports, in Nopes, Holst actually says Hilda is amazing, and might be even stronger than him, she just doesn’t realise it yet. Is it because Hilda is also super strong on her own, or because Hilda… has a crest?

Second, checking weapon ranks again - Relics have a E rank. Meaning a crested person, without even having to train, can use them to unlease mighty artes and destroy people. To say it better, base Marianne, with her shit E-rank in swords and laughable physical attack stat, can kill people just as fine as Holst - a seasoned warrior - if she picks up Blutgang.

And it’s kind of sad because realising this, no matter how awesome Holst is - to be able to defend the border when it was usually thought only a person with a crest could do so - if a crested random comes with a relic, even without any prior training, they can kick ass as much, if not even more, as Holst, who graduated from a military academy and most likely spent the last 5 years of his life on a battlefield.

That’s not fair!

But that’s precisely the point - Relics and Crests are cheat codes! They make a few “ones” better at some things than others.

Randolph wants to be “successful” in battle to show how useful he is to guarantee his position? Sure, but when Sylvain, by flexing with his shiny lance, can do everything Randolph does in battle, but better, how can Randolph be successful? How can he guarantee his position? Why shouldn’t Sylvain’s achievements be rewarded with, say, the position Randolph was eyeing?

Back to Flayn’n’Ferdie’s kid Baby is a Nabatean hybrid.

If they have their mom’s crest, fine, Baby can heal better than anyone else on the continent, save for mom. If they have dad’s crest, they can be inherently better fighters than Randolph, due to that crest, but also to their Nabatean body (Rhea can eat 3 nukes and still be alive, a quarter nabatean hybrid might be able to tank 1 when a human, uh, is not be able to tank any!).

Even for governance, Baby will be long lived, they will have +100 years of experience and wisdom, compared to John the random human who might also want to become a governor.

Battle wise? Governance wise? Baby will always have more “facilities” and boons than “regular humans”.

I developed it a little in one of the “Lycaon the half-nabatean AU post” - no matter what angle you look from, Baby will have opportunities and chances to be “better” than any human around. 

So if positions of power, or jobs, or whatever, are given to the most “competent” people, Baby will obviously be given all those jobs offers, positions and whatnot.

Does it automatically mean doom’n’gloom for the crestless humans out there? No, because there are things being a Nabatean or having a crest or being able to use a relic doesn’t impact, like, say, Bernie’s dad’s job, or being in charge of foreign affairs, or trying to develop new tech (even if Constance’s gift for magic is implied to be due to her familial crest), or being in charge of engineering bridges, cities, canals, etc etc…

But in the other domains, like fighting and healing and whatnot (performing magic)?

If everyone should rise and fall by their own talents and merit, then what about the ones born with cheat codes, who rise through the ranks by snapping their fingers?

They will of course parasite the “rise and fall by their own talent”, since no one else, no matter how hard they work, will be able to match them.

Which is why the solution is either to remove crests from crested people (and erase nabateans from Fodlan because I don’t think they can survive exsanguination), or to get rid of that “by their own merits” system - but what system should be put in place then?

Good question!

We know the original noble “someone who knows, seek knowledge, leads and protects people” definition ended up being distorted in the current Adrestia, so, again, what should be put in place?

The game… doesn’t answer.

Bar a milquetoast “everyone should accept each other with or without crests” it’s radio silence. 

Only in some endings we have clues, Hanneman making tools to make crests obsolete (but it would just move the debate from who has magic blood to who has enough money to get those kick ass tools), or Sylvain wanting to find a way to stop fighting at the border.

And yet, the main issue remains : Nabateans. 

They are people who can, without tools, do superhuman stuff (at least lore wise!). Why should Jack pay for an automatic lamp 100 gold if Rhea can lit hers by snapping her fingers, for free?

Ultimately, given how the main character - Billy - is the reincarnation of the Goddess herself, and part nabatean, I don’t think the game wanted us to reach the solution that one day everyone will have the same lifespan and be able to use magic normally and everyone will one day stand on the same starting line.

Just like I don’t think Tolkien wanted to give a… message, when he designed Numénoreans - the most Noble of all Men - and the Lesser Men who lived in Middle Earth. Some people have magic powers, and some don’t and that’s the setting. 

Is it annoying because it’s again a story of a chosen one?

Maybe. 

Is it kind of a downer because it means the most basic random will never be able to swing a sword like Aragorn does, or in FE16, emulate Billy’s prowesses and be able to go back in time too?

Maybe.

What does it mean then, if a character’s leitmotiv is to change the world so all should “rise and fall by their own merits”?

The game tries to give an answer to this riddle - having the main hub being an orphanage and a place to shelter “those who have no status in the world” or the ones who fell, and with the “parley” - some people cannot rise on their own, they need support. If a name or a family line should dictate whether someone is going to be great or if they’re going to suck, ditto for their “merits or achievements”, it’s not because someone fumbled at life that they should just die and be “weak”.

It’s like an exam, if you’re first, yay good for you, you are received, but if you are last? What are you going to do? Re-sit? And if you’re last again, then what? Is it just the end of the road for you?

Sure it’s kind of cliché “together we can be stronger and survive” or “the strong must protect the weak, and the weak make the strong strong” but I feel like this was the kind of answer the game - that is a game that purposedly is left vague to make the world “feel larger” - wanted to give.

Nakama power, power of friendship, you name it! But imo, it’s always the same message in the series : it’s not the king that makes the country, but the country that makes (and can unmake!) the King.

It’s not the answer you’d like if you are looking at real life history or to make real life parallels but…

No matter how many “real life parallels” you might be tempted to make regarding FE16′s system of ruling/social system, FE16 and the world of Fodlan is still a world where some people have magical dragon blood that gives them superpowers.

It’s not supposed to be a mirror of the real world. It’s a fantasy setting - with interesting questions - but ultimately questions raised in that fantasy setting.

....

i don't even know if i replied to your question lol

[pink-chevalier]

“I'm happy to hear that. Do you want to stay for dinner?”

“I wish, but I have a stack of paperwork waiting for me at home.”

<<<       >>>

Transcript Below ↓

Zaxton: How was the talk, Penny?

Penny: *smiles* You two already know I can't tell you what we talked about, but I can say that everything's good.

Pandora: So, we don't have to worry about you snatching up all the kids?

Penny: Wouldn't even dream about it, babe.

Penny: Wouldn't even dream about it, babe.

Pandora: *relieved* Thank God.

Zaxton: Penny, we want to let you know that we didn't mean to leave the kids alone after school.

Pandora: *nods* It completely slipped our minds. We know that you have to report this and-

Penny: Don't worry about it. Listen, since this was the first mistake you two ever made, I'm not writing this down besides their grandparents were here.

Zaxton: We were lucky on that.

Penny: I know, and I also know that it won't happen again.

Pandora: Of course not! We have a babysitter on call, and Ophelia's going to take those babysitting classes soon.

Penny: *smiles* Ophelia wants to be a babysitter?

Zaxton: *chuckles* Same thing I said, but she doesn't like Mandy.

Penny: Why?

Pandora: Ophelia thinks she's boring and too strict; she doesn't like the woman for some reason.

Penny: Little Ophelia thinks she'll make a better babysitter.

Pandora: In a way, yes, but she's going to be the backup if Mandy's unavailable, which I hope is okay with you.

Penny: Perfectly fine with me. If these classes give out certificates, fax them to me so I can keep them on record.

Zaxton: Will do, but can I ask you something about Simon.

Penny: Make sure it's something I can answer.

Zaxton: According to Simon, are we doing good? Is school okay?

Penny: *smiles* You two are doing fantastic, and school's going great. That's all that I can tell you.

[kyogre-blue]

OK, post timeskip GD, go!

Got up to the bridge, which means unifying the Alliance and presumably starting an offensive against the Empire.

I've gotten all the B ranks on my supports, a bunch of A ranks, and all of Byleth's available ones except Lysithea A (which is blocked off) and someone's S. The A ranks really vary a lot in terms of how involved they are, with some being quite nice, but others being pretty whatever.

Unfortunately, some of the basic issues with the support system start to get pretty obvious. You end up doing them in batches, so they get tiring. Additionally, if you watch a few for the same character in a row, there's often overlap in what they discuss, since the characters only have a few traits. Worse, none of the growth in one support can carry over to another or even a paralogue (or to the main story). The supports just become disconnected what-ifs, in a way.

(And this not mentioning the issue that some major character details always end up hidden in the most out there support, which in 3H will require some bizarre recruitment combination.)

In regard to the main story, I don't have too much to say. It's kind of spinning its wheels while we get the new plot on the road, but it's fine. It's just... fine. Hopefully, it'll pick up once we start the real battles.

Notes again:

1185, nearly 5 years since the monastery fell. But it fell several months into 1181, so like... it's 4 years and change.

Kingdom capital has fallen, Leicester alliance is split between supporting the Church and the Empire.

Sothis is here again somehow.

Tomorrow is the Millennium Festival, how convenient. Byleth came floating down a river from Garreg Mach. It is Ethereal Moon, but... Which one is that again...

Ok, I see why AC said the reunion was underwhelming. It's cute but the buildup is non-existent.

Byleth's first concern is Rhea (relatable) but Claude thinks it might be better that she's gone. He doesn't explain why. I am gonna need some time to get used to everyone's adult voices.

Lorenz is quite chill about his father's uh allegiance.

Lorenz: This was inevitable, since our lands are so close to the empire, we have to side with them or lose our necks. Lorenz also: BUT MAYBE IF CLAUDE DIDN'T SUCK

The amount of times you can ask after Rhea is... hum. Rhea is the most personal priority for Byleth. They're definitely not upset or unsettled by her, which is funny.

Seteth thought that maybe Rhea would turn up on the millennium festival.

Claude wanted to use the monastery as a base of operations due to its location.

Why are we talking to this Seiros Knight NPC? Was an unavailable playable meant to be filling this role?

Leonie A1 with Lorenz: she gives back a handkerchief... after 5 years. Leonie's village is called Sauin. It turns out Lorenz's family were the ones who hired Jeralt to help the village all those years ago. Lorenz is still punchable, btw.

Marianne A with Hilda: Their previous two ranks were more abrasive than I expected. The A is... OK? Given their popularity as a pairing, I expected something a bit more.

Cyril A with Hilda: This doesn't feel like it should have been gated to the timeskip. This A is also kinda underwhelming. It's okay, but knowing their relationship can't advance any further is... yeah.

Not really feeling the new monastery and menu music.

They did at least change the skybox to be yellow, which is something. Makes it feel autumn-y, which is... not correct. It would be nice if somewhere aside from the cathedral interior had some visible damage.

Claude A with Byleth: He admits to not being born in Fodlan (presumably because this has nothing on Byleth being potentially not even human) though doesn't name where he's from specifically. In Almyra, people from Fodlan are viewed as cowards, which Claude attributes to ignorance (if they just met and interacted with real people from Fodlan, like his mother, they'd know better). They also looked down on him for being of mixed blood.

He came to Fodlan to try and find "a new perspective" in his goal of breaking down those barriers, but people in Fodlan are even more racist, seeing people from other nations as just beasts. He wants to bring the whole world together and start anew. I know nothing bad happens, but uh. That's, hm... At least he realizes that it was extremely unrealistic... but Claude recognizes Byleth's magic dragon god powers and thinks they can make it happen together.

At first, I was wondering why we can view Ferdinand supports when he didn't turn up, but he IS here? He wasn't in the battle or the scene after...

Ferdinand has lost his territory and is determined to stop Edelgard no matter the cost. Per his B, he always intended to unseat his father. I guess, like Lorenz, he wasn't really onboard with his evil dad from the start.

Marianne and Lorenz A is....... uh. She's not going to smile while telling you about how her family is cursed, dude.

OK, so for weekly Instruct, we're using the Cardinals' room that was sealed before, and instead of the faculty giving staff training, we run advanced drills with the students.

Byleth's open mouthed shock when told Dimitri was killed (supposedly). And then a droopy sad posture.

"Faerghus Dukedom"

Claude approves if you ask him whether he hopes Rhea is dead. He just has things he wants to ask. It's interesting given that Claude presents himself as being in your corner, and Byleth has a big bend toward asking after her, seemingly in concern.

Claude thinks that most people accept the "noble system" because of their belief in the Seiros faith. They also have prejudices against non-believers too. That's... hm. A take, for sure.

So without Rhea, the supposed closed-minded Church doctrine will weaken and there will be more room for free thought, which Claude considers a cure-all.

Claude's ultimate goal here is to have Byleth take over the church and lead Fodlan that way. Then, people could be free to think for themselves. He thinks Edelgard is after something similar. He just doesn't like that she's using so much bloodshed to get there. Not necessarily because he disapproves but because the world "can't get behind" it.

But since Rhea is probably still around, we still have questions, and Byleth ambiguously might care about her (MY A RANK), Claude backpedals into finding her being the next step and quickly hurries you off to bed.

Claude and Cyril B: Claude never knew that there were people in Almyra in Cyril's situation. Which is to say... poor and exploited? Or...?

If no one else is in Rhea's corner, Cyril is. I appreciate that he doesn't just support her because she helped him personally, but because that's the kind of person she has been - trying to help those without any status and nowhere to go. Rhea helps refugees and orphans not just because of the goddess's teachings, but because it's the right thing to do.

Claude: OK, maybe Rhea is fine. Maybe.

GROWTH??

Too bad supports are basically not canon.

Claude and Lorenz A: Claude is fine giving up leadership of the Alliance to Lorenz now that he's gotten to know him. But same is true for Lorenz. Kinda gay. Not bad.

Claude was only recognized as the heir to Reigan thanks to Judith's recommendation. Which is interesting given his background.

Marianne's paralogue: One of the 10 Elites got cursed by his crest and he turned into a monster... that was still sentient and can talk. And he ate people. Unclear if anyone else with the crest was actually affected, or if they just carried that stigma for a thousand years...

Claude and Marianne A has an interesting implication about the timeline. Claude frames it as him running away from home as soon as he was old enough because he was tired of being discriminated against and hoped that Fodlan would be better. It was only after he arrived in Leicester and realized that it's no different that he came up with his idea to break down the boundaries between Fodlan and Almyra.

It makes more sense that his plan would be so weirdly underbaked if he's had it for less than a year and made it when he was despairing over having no place he could belong.

Flayn and Ignatz B: Flayn forgets the Church party line about the Elites being good guys, lmao. Also forgets that Saint Cethleann is generally portrayed as a woman, not a girl.

Ailell, the Valley of Torment, is the required lava stage. It was created when some kind of big heaven light destroyed the forest that used to be there. It's rumored to have been the wrath of the goddess, but that isn't recorded in scripture. (It's actually the Agarthans lol)

Count Rowe was in charge of Arianhodr (spl??) but betrayed the Kingdom to join the Empire. His general, Gwendal, wasn't happy about all this.

Judith accuses Claude of neglecting the Alliance territories for years. He left his territory with a reliable retainer ("Nardel"). Without Byleth's clout, he'd look like a "scoundrel leader." Judith leaves her territory with "Nardel" too, which is... lol.

One of Judith's men saw Rhea be dragged off by the Empire five years ago.

[pbandjesse]

It's my birthday!!! Today I am happy and 32!

And today was a very good day.

When I woke up this morning it was pouring. So I had to get up to take James to the museum. Not a huge hardship. But I was tired. I washed my face and put on leggings and rainbows and we headed out.

It was very nasty out. But James gave me birthday kisses. And I got them to work early. And I was home by 8.

I was a little upset when I tripped and fell coming in the building. I scraped the tops of my fingernails on the rock of the foyer. And got a little more rained on. But I got inside and was just happy to be warm again.

I held Sweetp for a minute. And then got back in bed. Where I slept for another hour and a half.

When I woke up I was feeling a lot better. More like a person. James had left a bunch of presents for me but I didn't want to open them yet. Well I did but I didn't want to open them alone. So I would wait.

On the way to dropping James off we stopped at 711 and James got me a donut and a juice. So I wasn't starving. Instead I got all the way dressed. Did my makeup nice. And start to clean the apartment.

I vacuumed and Swiffered and threw away some stuff from the fridge. I moved some stuff around and tried to make it nice. And get ready for Jess to come over.

I made a hotdog as an early lunch. And chilled on the couch with Sweetp until it was time to head over to art with a heart.

I got there a little early. Shocking right? Me early?? And so when I got inside I had to wait a few minutes. But the other girl who was doing onboarding with me was soon there and she was nice. She's going to be an assistant so that's cool.

And it was a lot of fun. I mean it was paperwork and going over their handbook and expectations and procedures. But I really really enjoyed the process. I got to learn a lot. Some things that aren't ideal but are fine and things I can work with. A lot of it was just general contractor stuff. Having to be in charge of my own taxes and things like that. Nothing outrageous.

I was thrilled to find out he is recommending me for the three locations I had as my preferred sites. So if things go well and they are okay with the dates I am unavailable I will be working with 3 different groups, some kids, some adults. The Autism Society of Baltimore, patients with HIV, and a group that works with people with MS. I'm thrilled that I'll be able to work with these populations and really work on expanding my adult and medically and ability diverse experiences and skill set.

It didn't take the full two hours I had set aside today. Instead I finished at 1. And was able to get a lovely message from my mom singing me happy birthday. Made me feel really good inside. The rain had let up a lot and I was just feeling really happy.

Jess let me know she was stuck in some traffic and would be here closer to 2. So I didn't need to rush.

I had a snack in the car and headed home.

When I got back here I curled up on the couch and worked on some calendar stuff until Jess let me know she was here.

I was so happy when she did arrive. She came in her new Subaru and had parked down the street so I didn't see her at first. But I found her soon and helped her carry stuff upstairs.

Sweetp was upset with Jess for some reason. Yelling at her. But it was mostly funny. We chatted for a few minutes. But very soon we were bundling up and heading out again.

I drove us out the Ellicott city. I love that little town. It's so cool looking. Shame it's always flooding or I would maybe consider living there.

I had Jess take a video of me wearing my finished coat. Which I love. I'm so happy with how it came out. And we walked over to the antique depot.

We did really good. I got one of my holy grail pieces today. Which is a candy machine. I was so happy. And we got a set of four mugs and we are going to keep two each. We also each got a set of salt and pepper shakers. She got tomatoes and I got black cats. It was really fun looking around and talking and joking. And it was nice when we were just quiet and enjoying the space. I had a great time.

It was late in the afternoon. And I knew James would be done work soon. So we headed out. And got home soon after James had rolled in.

It was wildly windy at this point. James got all sweaty fighting it home. And our car had been pushed a little. Slightly scary but we were fine.

Once we were all settled I opened presents. Jess got me a cup that I love and a pin and some other great little pieces like some very funny (to me) stickers. A packable hip pack that is a very cool color block. And she made me a card!

James got me a book I really wanted and a customized hair clip. A steering wheel cover that looks like a goose. And some other really thoughtful stuff. I felt very loved and seen.

Once gifts were done we headed down to harbor east to go to the recently reopened James Joyce Irish pub.

It was different but the same. We had some trouble parking but James is a very good parallel parker so we would eventually find somewhere to tuck in. The wind was very very cold so close to the water. But inside the restaurant was very warm.

The menu is smaller and less authentic to what you would think of Irish pub food. But it ended up being absolutely perfect.

Jess got mussels that she shared with James. Me and her also split a Caeser salad. James got a sort of French dip sandwich with horseradish. Jess got a eggsalad and crabmeat sandwich. And I got a black truffle grilled cheese with a spicy tomato soup. We all got fries. And it was so fabulous. I was so happy with our choices. And it was nice just being together with my favorite people.

Once we were done eating we would walk across the street to get ice cream. Jess and James got milkshakes. I got a caramel and banana sundae. And we went home.

Once we got back here we chilled for a bit on the couch. But at 8 we would all head into James's room to watch the last of us. While me and Jess worked on our blankets.

I have seen most of the show through TikTok clips and from watching a playthrough of the game. So I was mostly getting context for the clips and loving finding little details. It is not how Jess watches shows and I think she thinks it's goofy that I absolutely have no interest in being surprised. I want to know all the details going in. Who lives and dies. And that's how I enjoy things. We watched the first two episodes and I love it so far. I have seen almost the entirety of the 3rd episode and I am looking forward to seeing it in one go with context. But I don't know what happens in 4 and 5. Jess says I shouldn't search it out. And I won't because she doesn't want me to. But I hate not knowing! I am looking forward to watching more with my favorite people.

I was suffering a little watching the show though. My cough is really painful and keeps making me gag. But I had my knitting to focus on and I'm all caught up now. Jess's crochet is so huge that her blanket for the same time period as me is more then twice as long. She's going to have to start a new one half way through the year I swear it's so big already. But it looks great. So much yellow! For a crying tracker it is very sunny so far.

Once we finished the show me and James got the couch set up for Jess. And then I got a quick shower. And when I got out James had two more gifts for me! A weighted teddy bear (who we have collectively named the public universal weighted friend) and a bubble wand Swiss army knife! It's so cool. James also made me bubble liquid. I love them so much.

And now the house is quiet. James and Jess are asleep. And soon I will be too. Everyone I love reached out to me and wished me well. And that brings us to the end of another year. My first married birthday, my brother reminded me, and it feels really good.

Here's to another go around. Sleep well everyone. Good night!

[sunsage]

Monkey King's doorstep has been graced, yet again, with a gift from his honorary daughter-in-law kinda-sorta acquaintence through Sun, Yolanda oops who's that she means Mary Sue. Nothing too lovey-dovey here, just more peach cookies and a handwritten note:

HI MISTER MONKEY BUSINESS

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! I BET SUN WILL PROBABLY EAT ALL THE COOKIES I GAVE HIM SO THIS IS THE BATCH I SAVED FOR U! HE REALLY LIKES PEACHES! SO YOU PROBABLY DO TOO RIGHT? THEY SAY SOME LIKES RUN IN THE FAMILY! (R U FAMILY SORRY I FORGOT)

ANYWAYS HAVE A LOVEY DOVEY HAPPY SAPPY SPECATULARIOUS HOLIDAY!!

Mary Sue

He almost steps in it when he leaves the house, leg stopping just short of the cookies. If it wasn't for the obvious peach theme right there on display, he might have left them for one of his roommates to deal with. But who other than Sun (and a certain someone who is currently unavailable) knows about his love of stone fruit?

He checks the card- oh. Her.

"Can she just stop giving me stuff? Now I have to get her something in return..." She's not exactly wrong in calling him and Sun family, which would technically make him and her family also. Unfortunately.

Ugh, fine, he'll make her something.

[golbrocklovely]

Once again we’re bashing the girls for thinking they can “change him” he’s a grown man and we need to stop babying him. He’s obviously telling them shit behind the scenes to get them that infatuated with him. Let’s be honest he’s a horny dog that doesn’t want to be with only one girl. I’m so sick of everyone making excuses for him. I love Colby. I really do. But I can’t keep defending him or excusing his actions by saying “he’s emotionally unavailable” or “still hurt” by his last relationship. At the end of the day if Colby was acting the same way with me as he was with stas then hell yeah I would’ve caught feelings. Stas has every right to be upset. You can’t say you don’t want anything serious but then turn around and constantly flirt. It’s giving mixed signals and I cannot stand men who do that. They don’t understand how much their actions hurt others. It’s cool if you and others disagree but personally colby is the problem to me.

this is a really long response so sorry about that

in no way was i bashing the girls that want to "change him". i'm saying that no woman should think that a) that is something you can do or b) that is something you have to do. bc again… we aren't therapist for broken men. we are not here to fix them. that is their journey to go on themselves. and vice versa. sure, we can support them if they need it but a relationship is not gonna fix you, especially if you have a lot of issues you need to work thru.

and i'm not saying that that's what is happening fully either. i have never once said colby is innocent and never does anything wrong. i get sick of his shit just as much as everyone else does. i've constantly said he hooks up a decent amount and is someone that doesn't want to commit.

but as i've mentioned countless times at this point: we do not know the full story. and that goes for both sides of the equation. both parties could be at fault, or it could be just one side. it could be a myriad of everything and then some that caused issues to form. no one knows for certain, especially us fans. and also, it's wrong to assume that every hook up he has had has ended poorly (not saying that's what you said, i'm just saying in general).

and as for my speculations about his past relationship, which again: are speculations, just bc he has been hurt in the past doesn't mean he gets to have a free-for-all or a get-out-of-jail-free card to possibly do the same thing back to ppl now. but the thing is, we don't even know if that's what's happening. bc personally, if colby was really burning bridges like that, hurting every hook-up he's had over the past couple years, i think there would be a lot more ppl talking about him. if i'm right in my assumptions, that he's going after girls that are already somewhat interested in him, there's nothing inherently wrong with that. why would you go after someone that doesn't want you at all? if his only reason for going after these girls was to hurt their feelings, then yeah, he would be a douche for that. but i highkey don't think that's the case.

but that doesn't mean he's innocent either: i know for a fact he fucked up when he was with iris back in 2019. bc clearly she believed they were in a relationship, and he wasn't on the same page as her. that was fucked up for him to do. i don't disagree with that whatsoever.

i would, however, like the make the briefest side note: while i agree that he definitely hooks up and definitely likes having sex, i think it's wrong for us to assume he's fucking all the time or fucks anything that moves. i think it's also wrong of us to assume that just bc he's following a girl randomly or is seen with a girl that the soul purpose of her being there is bc he plans to fuck her.

okay back to your ask.

so for him and stas, you're probably not gonna agree with me on this, and that's fine. but from what we have publicly seen with him and her, to me, he has never been flirty with her. what has he done that qualifies as flirty behavior towards her? he's literally called her his "good friend" and has removed comments that shipped the two of them together, which is something he has never done in the years of me being in this fandom for any of his girl friends. the only times he got close to her were with the aggressive hug during that livestream and dancing with her at that concert in vegas. both of those things, sure, i guess can be seen as flirty. but collectively he has done more things to prove his relationship with her is platonic than otherwise.

i mean, he was literally with six flags girl from june/july of last year until a little bit after coachella of this year. granted, he wasn't hanging out with her every day and they weren't exclusive, but he literally took this girl on a hangout sesh/date with sam, kat, abbey, AND STAS. and one of the times he was in vegas with the core four, he went out with amber to film a video where he was super flirty with her and legit made the joke about getting married for a video. plus, we all agree that he's a flirty person, that he flirts with everyone. i'm not saying that's a good thing, i'm just stating the obvious. all of this is public, fan info. so, stas most likely knows this as well.

this is what i believe happened: she fell for him, even tho she knew he wasn't interested in a) being in a relationship or b) her like that. but bc you can't help how you feel, she caught feelings for him regardless. are there things that probably happened behind the scenes? of course. i won't deny that. but even if he was doing a whole bunch of stuff privately, publicly he was going on dates/hangouts with another girl and was flirting with amber. and god knows who else he was probably hooking up with privately. so, he's never been exclusively flirting only with stas and then suddenly changed his tune.

she passed by every red flag and decided to be colorblind.

HOWEVER, that doesn't mean i don't feel bad for her. i do. i have been in her shoes so many times i've lost count. but do you know what's worst than falling for someone who is your best friend, who is someone you know you shouldn't have feelings for? falling for someone who pretends to reciprocate your feelings back. bc colby has outwardly been emotionally unavailable for years, and stas probably knows about his tendencies. he would be way more of dick if he pretended for her benefit to be into her.

and she has every right to talk about her rejection. make all the poems you want, idc. but that doesn't mean that her past actions are negated bc she's hurt now. she was shady and doing questionable shit long before she got rejected. and the reason ppl probably don't feel sorry for her as much as they maybe would have is bc this just feels like her stirring the pot once again. i don't think that's what she's doing, but i can't fault those that think that way.

if you take away anything from this, just know while i don't love stas, i don't wish her harm either. i want her to have a good life, and i hope that her heartache surpasses swiftly. i hope she finds someone that loves her back, i wish that for everyone truly. but just bc she's hurt doesn't mean i have to forget everything else. and colby has never been some innocent angel in my eyes. he fucks up quite often actually. and he has a decent amount of growing up and internal work left to do. but i don't see him as some super villain either.

i feel like this is a topic you and i are just gonna have to agree to disagree on, and that's a-okay.

[mlobsters]

supernatural s14e19 jack in the box (w. eugenie ross-leming, brad buckner)

foreboding episode name. also rolling my eyes again that they decided to do hallucifer 2.0 with jack

sigh i am not really up for mary's wake today. next day. i tried to watch jason kelce's retirement press conference, which was so emotionally taxing, i decided watching this episode would be better. watching someone trying to not cry when their entire body is fighting it is so hard. so hard. i made it a minute before my chest hurt so much i had to stop. anyway.

well i did yell at sam for burning mary's picture, but this the same one but bigger so i guess it was fine. weird choice, but fine.

SAM Hey. Uh, most everybody's headed out, but Bobby's gonna stick around. I thought maybe we could open that scotch Ketch left and hang out, talk about Mom. DEAN "Talk about Mom"? SAM Yeah. DEAN Isn't that what we've been doing?

dean handling it as well as expected

quick sob in the woods to take the edge off so he can go back to being emotionally unavailable for sam. i get it. my personal m.o. is to go silently sob somewhere and then come back and be able to have a cool, calm and collected rational conversation about things. wouldn't recommend that either

SAM But they're real, right? We know that Mom's not sitting on a cloud playing a harp. She's in a good place. Or she's in a great place. She's with Dad. DEAN Hmm. You know what else? There wasn't enough left of her to even try to bring her back.

i have been thinking about that a lot lately. knowing about heaven etc, if it weren't so busted and broken down, what's the big deal if someone dies. especially if they're a "special" case soulmate type so they get another actual human to be blissful with. like the only real-real is on earth, they say, but the alternative sounds awfully compelling

dumah having jack turn a heretic into a pillar of salt, hokay

DUMAH Words can't begin to express how Sam and Dean will feel. Now here is the real test. We need more angels. You're not God. You can't just make them out of thin air. But if a human were predisposed to it, maybe you could take their soul and forge them into one of us.

LOL what. they got duped by lucifer when he said he could make more angels, but i guess they've been working the problem

handy we have this special box ready for eternal torture of archangels and maybe juiced up nephilims? who knows

DEAN No. Well, I mean, I want Zeppelin to get back together. But what I need -- What we need is to stop Jack. Big difference. But here's the deal. We both got to sign off on it. This might be our only shot, and if he even catches a whiff that this is a scam, he's off into the wind. SAM Exactly. And how do you think he's not gonna know something's up? DEAN Because you're gonna be so damn sincere. SAM Me? DEAN Mm-hmm. SAM Why me? DEAN Because you've always been in his corner, all right? You're his go-to guy. Sam, if you reach out, he'll come. If I do it, after what happened to Mom, I could lose it. I will lose it.

how about we cool off, take a minute or week or four, and think about this first. but dean wants to do it literally right now. great.

did not see castiel ganking dumah coming, all righty.

SAM So what do we do now? Just go on with Jack locked up in there forever?

i mean yeah it's reversible but this is the most accelerated plotline ever. like an instant pot to turn jack into lucifer

SAM You know, I never thought it would end like this with Jack. DEAN Sammy, we knew from the beginning it was a long shot with him. SAM Yeah. Yeah, but long shots are kind of our thing.

one day you've got three dads who love you and then you fuck up and they're locking you in a box

DEAN He's locked up, safe. He's in the Ma'lak box. CASTIEL No!

please, we need some pushback on dean about this.

DEAN He agreed to it. Because deep down, I think he knows it's best. CASTIEL No. You're doing what Dumah -- You are manipulating him.

tell him, cas. i hate when they have dean be like this

all right. surprise, surprise. it didn't go well.

i haven't finished an episode this quickly in ages.

[emsylcatac]

Take that "Catwalker is Chat Noir" ladynoir reveal anon (no beta for now though sorry, if there's English mistakes oop- 🙈):

─── ·❃· ───

Wednesdays afternoons now found Ladybug and Chat Noir patrolling together, from three to four, from north to south. Or, as it was the case for this particular Wednesday, sitting on the edge of a roof, with a close view on the Eiffel Tower, dangling their feet as they just enjoyed each other's company.

And it was important that they took this time together, they had agreed on, just the two of them, every week, and they were very keen on respecting this new routine.

They had talked, and made promises, and cried, and talked some more after that faithful day on which Chat Noir had—albeit briefly—given up his miraculous. It had been hard, but it had also been oh so liberating.

And while Chat Noir wouldn't say they were quite back to being the invincible duo they once were, he knew they were both trying, and that was enough for now.

Because they both wanted it and they were both ready to put in the time and effort for each other. That made them feel stronger with each passing day.

"So," Ladybug said, after a few minutes of dangling her feet in silence.

"So?" Chat Noir repeated.

She scrunched up her nose, squinting her eyes as she looked over the city in front of them. She opened her mouth, and closed it. Chat Noir patiently waited. He knew by now that she tended to do that little funny face where she opened and closed her mouth several times when she was trying to formulate what it was that she wanted to say. Usually, it meant that some serious talk was at play.

"I've been thinking," she finally said.

But Chat Noir wasn't a very serious person, and he couldn't help the grin that drew on his face and the waver of a laugh in his voice. "Oh, you do that?"

Her gaze, until then lost somewhere in the horizon, snapped towards him in a glare. He grinned wider when a challenging flame lit up in her eyes.

"More than you do, clearly, yes," she answered.

Well. He supposed he deserved it.

He squinted his eyes, in an attempt to send a glare right back at her. Three seconds passed, a fourth, her lips started to waver at the fifth, making his follow the movement, and that's when they both dropped the act and dissolved into a fit of light giggles.

No, they weren't quite back to full blown laughters of solid complicity, but they were getting there. It was nice.

"More seriously," Ladybug said, her voice still carrying the melody of her remaining laugh, just as he composed himself next to her. "What was I saying again?"

"You were thinking," Chat Noir reminded her, to which she nodded.

"I was thinking," she repeated. "As I do," she gave him a pointed look. "And...You know, if something were to happen to me...I mean, you've met Scarabella."

And just like that, the pleasant tingling sensation he felt while bantering with her evaporated to make way to a cold dread. It must have shown on his face, because Ladybug's eyes widened in panic and she started to gesticulate wildly, her hands moving in unharmonious motions.

"N-not like, permanently! I meant if I'm unavailable one day! Temporarily, like...like with last time, when Scarabella came!"

Ah. That felt better. He tried to smile to reassure her, his heart rate slowly calming down.

"Like," Ladybug went on, clearly missing his signal that it was fine, he had understood, "i-if I fall sick, o-or if I'm sent to jail for phone thievery—actually no, that sounds bad, forget it—or if I'm forced to leave for one—just one! not more!—day, or—"

Chat Noir decided to take pity on her, and put a hand on her shoulder, effectively stopping his rambling partner as she blinked up at him worriedly.

"I got it, Ladybug, it's fine," he told her.

"I would never abandon you, Kitty, you know that, right?" she gave him big babydoll eyes, pouting in that way of hers she had when she wanted to make sure that he understood she meant no harm.

He smiled. Yes, he knew, but the reminder was always coming like a comfort blanket, wrapping him up in the reassurance that she would always be there for him if she could help it. "I know that now. Don't worry. What was it you wanted to say, about Scarabella?"

She nodded, her expression focusing once more. "Right! Well, if I need to be replaced for a fight—just one fight!—, then I have Scarabella to cover up for me. But I was thinking, if you need to be absent one day for whatever civilian reasons...Well, then you don't have anyone to cover up for you."

He frowned. "No, but you would have all the other heroes to make up for it, wouldn't you?"

Because that was what she had done before, when he had been caught up in his father's press conference, or when he had felt too useless and numb with depressing thoughts to join a fight.

She chewed on her bottom lip. "Yes but...there are times where having the black cat makes it way easier. And what if we absolutely need cataclysm and nothing else can work? We need to think about it and be prepared for this eventuality."

That...sounded fair. "Alright. So you want me to have a replacement, then? Just in case I know I'll be absent?"

"Yes. Exactly. Just in case."

Chat Noir nodded. "Okay. Should I...choose someone, then? Or should you? Because," he bit his lip, looking down on his laps where his hands were clasped together and he was fiddling with his thumbs, "I'm not sure I want to tell someone my identity."

He felt stupid admitting it. Surely, revealing himself to someone close to him shouldn't make him feel nervous, and instead relieved that he didn't need to hide such a secret taking a huge part in his life anymore.

But he was barely starting to understand who he was himself. And having someone in his life knowing a part of him he himself wasn't quite sure to comprehend just yet was scary.

However, it seemed that Ladybug already had it covered.

"Oh, you don't need to worry about that, I mean, you wouldn't need to. I have an idea," she said, a hint of excitement to her voice. "If you agree with it, that is."

He felt himself relax, and stopped staring uselessly at his laps to look at her instead—it would have been a shame to miss the unexpected bashful trepidation on her face.

"You, um, you remember when you gave up the ring?"

He was about to politely answer that yes, he did, to avoid her the embarrassment of realising how silly such a question was, but she beat him to it. "I mean, ugh, of course you remember, stupid," she mumbled, hitting her head two times with her hand. "Anyway, when that happened, there was this...this guy," she giggled, "that Plagg went to."

He watched as she looked in front of her, eyes focused on nothingness and images only she could see. She delicately put a strand of hair behind her ear, and a subtle shade of pink dusted her cheeks.

He had no idea why she was acting this shy all of a sudden.

"And, well," she kept on, smiling as she talked, "I don't know his identity, and he knew the rules really well, and he was, um...he was pretty great," she sighed, the kind of sigh he would let out after he just ate a croissant.

...Uh.

"We worked—well, not as good as you and I, that's for sure. But it wasn't a disaster and he knew his stuff, you know?"

Ha. Yeah, he knew, indeed. "Kind of like when I worked with Scarabella, you mean? We made it work, but it wasn't as natural as you and I together?" he tried, fearing where Ladybug was going with all of this.

She clapped her fist in her hand. "Yes, that's the idea! I mean, you had troubles working with Scarabella for an entirely different reason than me with Catwalker," she giggled and blushed again, and he still didn't get why, "but, you know, he was trustworthy and competent."

Chat Noir hummed. "So what you mean is that you want me to take him as my backup replacement?"

Ladybug nodded. "Yes. If you agree with it, that is. Oh, and you don't need to tell him your identity if you don't want to or if you're not comfortable with it," she hurried to say. "Plagg knows who he is so he could just take the ring to him like last time. If and only if you're okay with it, of course!"

Well. It's not that he didn't want to, but having himself as his own backup might be a problem. He understood why Ladybug thought it was a good idea, he really did, and it was a good one in theory.

But he couldn't exactly agree to it.

"Did he..." Chat Noir started, searching for the right words. "Did he like puns, my Lady?"

Ladybug frowned, clearly confused by the question. "Um, I'm not sure? He didn't laugh at mine, but—"

"Then it's a no," he grinned.

"What?" she scoffed. "You can't say no just because of puns, Chat Noir!"

"And why not?" he crossed his arms. "If I need a replacement, I need one who can fit my role perfectly. And the basic requirement to be a good Chat Noir is to like puns. I don't make the rules."

"You just made the—"

"I don't make the rules, Ladybug!" He insisted.

Ladybug looked downright affronted. "But that's a stupid requirement! And maybe he likes puns, he offered to laugh at mine the next time I made one!"

"First of all," Chat Noir replied, "I'm offended that you tried to be on pun-basis during your first encounter with him while I had to wait and wait and wait until you deigned to join me in my punning journey—"

"That's not true, I pun all the time too, I just have a better timing than—"

"—Second of all," he raised a finger, "puns aren't meant to be forced-laughed at. Either you laugh, or you don't, but you can't just decide that you're gonna laugh in advance," he crossed his arms again, proud of how well he'd just pleaded his case. "So, it sounds to me like this Catwalker of yours doesn't like puns. Therefore, I don't want him as my backup replacement."

Ladybug was scowling at him, and not playfully. "Well," she sighed, but this time the kind he let out after Plagg had compared his love life to fermenting cheese one time too many, "it's a good thing he doesn't then, unless you want him to steal your moves."

He hated that she had a point. Still, he couldn't give up.

"But really," she kept on, "you can't just refuse for puns. He was perfect, polite, nice, serious, encouraging, dreamy, competent, a quick-thinker, and—"

"D-dreamy?!"

Ladybug's eyes widened, her blush furiously deepening, and really, what the hell did that mean. "I meant trustworthy! He was a trustworthy person! A-anyway, you're the perfect black cat for me, but what I mean is that...I think he could be a good choice for a backup. Besides, do you have a better option, hm?"

Chat Noir could be stubborn, but he had to recognise: Ladybug was way more stubborn than he was.

Nino was out of question, as he could be called as Carapace at the same time. Suffice to say, he did not have a better option.

"I...don't," he admitted reluctantly.

Ladybug nodded. "Good. Then that's settled."

"But Catwalker still can't be my backup."

"But why not? I liked him, and I'm sure you would like him too!"

He stopped himself from whispering in soft awe "you liked him?", first because he would sound stupid, and second because what he was about to confess was even stupider, so he didn't need to ridicules himself this much.

She didn't exactly leave him a choice. He took a deep breath, and locked his eyes with hers despite the mounting embarrassment he could feel invading his body.

"You...promise you won't laugh at me or hate me if I tell you?"

Ladybug frowned at first, and then her expression softened. "Of course I won't, Kitty. I could never hate you."

He smiled a little at the reassurance, but it didn't quite reach his ears.

"Well...so about that time Plagg went to fetch Catwalker...Actuallyhecamebacktomeandwedidsomefashiondesignallday."

At Ladybug's widening eyes, Chat Noir felt the rush of shame coming in with renewed force. Not able to take it anymore, he promptly hid his face in his hands.

"What?" Ladybug breathed.

"Plagg came back to me and we did some fashion design all day. I was Catwalker," he confessed, the sound slightly muffled by his hands.

"What." Ladybug repeated, more bewildered this time.

Slowly, he peaked through his fingers to gauge her reaction.

...And that's when Ladybug chose to let out a full on belly laugh. So much for promising she wouldn't laugh at him.

And since she decidedly wouldn't stop, he took his hands away from his face to cross his arms, glaring at her.

"You said you wouldn't laugh," he accused, pouting.

Ladybug didn't care about what he just said as she kept on giggling like he was the funniest joke she'd heard. "You-you were Catwalker?"

"Yes," he clicked his tongue. "And I don't see what's so funny abou—"

"I don't believe it," she cut with a smug smile.

He frowned. "Why not?"

"Because," Ladybug just said.

"Then why are you laughing?"

She had the audacity to giggle some more. "Because it's a funny joke, there's no way you could have been Catwalker."

Chat Noir raised an eyebrow. "Alright, and what makes you so sure about it, uh?"

"Because there's no way I could have been attracte—I mean, fooled. I know you, and Catwalker was a very polite gentleman who didn't make puns," she stated matter-of-factly.

"And I'm not a very polite gentleman?"

"I—wha—you—well, you are, not as much as he was but sure, you are. But you make puns!"

"That's because Plagg told me to not make any puns," Chat Noir explained. Forget about feeling embarrassed now, he just wanted to make her feel embarrassed for not believing him. "Plagg said that I had to act perfect and obedient like with my fath—like I do, sometimes," she let out an ugly snort that he ignored, "so that you would still want me as your partner."

"Oh, Kitty," she giggled, and ruffled his hair, which made him pout harder. "You're so funny."

"I'm not!"

He was, but because of his hilarious sense of humor, not because he claimed to be Catwalker (which he was!).

"But I would have recognised you," she insisted.

Chat Noir scoffed. "Like you thought I had been akumatised into a giant sentimonster black cat?"

Her smile instantly froze. Got her.

"At least," he grinned, "I'm glad that you think highly of me enough to recognise that I wouldn't eat grass and spit balls."

Her lips drew an 'O' shape, and her cheeks once again turned pink. For a few seconds, she was just staring at him, gaping uselessly like a fish out of the water.

"Y-yo-you...," she pointed at him, then shook her head, and rapidly tapped her cheeks as if to clear her mind, "You r-really were Tackwalker? Walkater? I mean, Catwalker?"

Now that she seemed all shy again, he felt the embarrassment from earlier creeping back on him.

"Yes," he whispered.

She let out a squeak that she immediately tried to muffle with her hands. She sneaked a glance at him, then looked away, only to furtively peak at him again.

He drew his knees to him and put his hands on them, holding them close. "And I'm...sorry about all of that and the troubles I caused that day, I was—"

"It's fine," she blurted out. "You're hot—fine, it's alright, we were...We were both angry and sad and...you don't have to papologise, you were ferpect! And I...I think it helped us in the end," she smiled tentatively at him.

He returned her smile. "Yeah, I think it did. Plagg...he helped me a lot, that day, I owe him big," he chuckled fondly.

Her hand came to cover his. "I owe him big, too."

They smiled at each other, and Chat Noir felt that at that moment, they had just healed yet another of the wounds that their partnership had recently suffered, like gluing a new shard of glass to a once broken vase that is repaired piece by piece. And with how she was looking at him, he knew that she felt it, too.

"So you see," Chat Noir said after some time, somewhat sheepishly, "I can't really have Catwalker to be my back-up replacement."

"Indeed," Ladybug nodded, "because you're, um, you're Catwalker, right." She groaned. "I can't believe I didn't recognise it was you!"

He laughed. "That's because I didn't make jokes, don't feel too bad! If I'm being honest, I didn't recognise myself much either."

She didn't need to know the details of his internal identity crisis, so he didn't elaborate.

"That must have been so hard for you, to not make a single pun," she teased.

He sighed dramatically. "My Lady, it was pawsitively pawful, you have no idea! A catastrophe!"

They giggled some more at his antics, before a new calm settled over them.

"Can I, uh...can I ask you something weird?" Ladybug looked at him shyly.

He nodded.

"Were you sincere, that day? I mean," she made a gesture of looking for the right words with a hand, "when you were Catwalker, and you said that you...you said that you would take care of me, a-and that Chat Noir—well, you—was lucky to be my partner?"

He gave her a soft and fond smile, and put a hand on her shoulder. "Ladybug, I might have been more subdued, and way less funny than how you know me," she giggled softly, "but...I'm still me, and I'm always sincere when I tell you things like that. I hope you know that."

She smiled brightly at him, face flushed, and surged forward, taking him by surprise as she hugged him to her. "Thank you," she whispered in his ear.

"Always, little bug," he murmured back, stroking her back up and down.

Just like that, another piece was fixed to the broken vase.

─── ·❃· ───

"I can't believe I thought Catwalker was dreamy," was the first thing Marinette said once she got home and released her transformation.

She slumped on her bed with a groan. There was no way she had been unknowingly attracted to Chat Noir. No way.

"Well," she heard Tikki say, feeling her hovering above her seal-like form on the bed, "maybe Chat Noir has a dreamy side you don't know about?"

Marinette sat up to glare at Tikki. "But he can't be dreamy, he's Chat Noir!", because that alone completely proved her point.

"Why not?" Tikki inquired, and it was fair of her to ask such a question, but Marinette would rather not dwell on this particular topic, thank you very much.

"Tha—becau—it's—oh, and anyway, it was just my mind playing tricks on me because I was sad and stressed that day," she waved her kwami off, "nothing more! And it's not like I had that much of a crush on Catwalker."

And she hadn't! It had just been a passing-by thought. Nothing worth making a big deal out of.

"If you say so, Marinette," Tikki giggled.

"Besides," she grabbed a picture of Adrien from her board, "it's not like it matters. For I am in love with Adrien, not Catwalker, and certainly not Chat Noir! Ha! Take that, Chatwalker Noir! Try to be as dreamy as Adrien if you can!"

And that was a good enough explanation as to why she couldn't have been that attracted to Catwalker, she reasoned.

She smiled at the laughing face of Adrien Agreste, who was beautiful, looking so carefree as she remembered him laughing at one of Nino's jokes, with his hair flowing in the wind. "You're the only dreamy boy to me, Adrien," she told the picture before kissing it.

If Tikki's silence was particularly loud after she just said that, well, she supposed that she had successfully managed to convince her kwami completely.

(And if the next day, she hugged Chat Noir a little too close and a little too long, inhaling his scent as he carried her out of the way of the akuma's attack, well. It didn't have to mean anything.)

[amazinglyegg]

What if we're all wrong about Blind Betrayal?

TL;DR: Theory: Danse was never supposed to go with Sole during Liberty Reprimed. Haylen told him to go to Listening Post Bravo, but didn't tell him he was a synth so he wouldn't panic, and now there's like three fewer plot holes than there were before

Okay so we all know that Blind Betrayal has more plot holes than swiss cheese. But lets put aside the "Danse's power armor magically going missing" and "Danse surviving off of nothing but whiskey and mentats for potential days" to focus on one that interests me: Danse going AWOL

So if you have Dansey boy as your companion, you and him will go to the Sentinel Site and he will go on about his very important job to... look at some bombs until the scribes show up. Then, he becomes unavailable as a companion and you leave (for the sake of this theory, assume via vertibird) back to the Prydwen. This leads to a few questions:

1. Why is Danse babysitting bombs in the first place? I mean, they've been fine for a good 200 years. Just lock the place up again. What, is a deathclaw going to take all several hundred bombs in the time it takes for the scribes to get there? Unlikely.

2. Why is Danse babysitting bombs alone? And in the glowing sea for that matter? Even Danse says during Lost Patrol "... the first rule of small-group tactics: Stick together. Always stick together". Isn't it a bit weird that Maxson is leaving Danse, one of his best soldiers, alone in the most dangerous part of the wasteland? Why couldn't Sole have waited with him (which for gameplay purposes would probably look like the scribes showing up immediately), or have literally any other soldier NPC show up to wait with him??

3. How did Maxson realize he's missing? Even if the scribes showed up minutes after Sole left and realized Danse was gone immediately, they wouldn't have been able to radio back to the Prydwen. The radiation impacts radio frequencies, which is why the Institute has a hard time searching the glowing sea (and don't tell me the Brotherhood has better tech than the Institute...). Assuming Sole takes a vertibird back, Sole would get back to the Prydwen long before the scribes could get there, search the location for Danse, and then fly all the way back to report in. And what if Danse got injured or something and had to go back with Sole? By the time Sole gets to the Prydwen word has already gone around about Danse's absence. How is Maxson so sure that he's missing?

Finally, 4. If looking after the bombs is such an important job, why doesn't anybody do it if you don't have Danse as a companion? Unlike in the Fort Strong quest where Danse shows up at the end whether or not he was your companion so he can give plot information, if you don't have Danse as a companion during Liberty Reprimed, he just... doesn't show up? And nobody else does his job instead, which leads me to think it's not that important of a job. Or, going a step further, that it's not actually a job at all.

You heard it here first, folks, Maxson knows that Danse went missing because Danse was never supposed to leave the Prydwen in the first place. He uses the "watching over bombs" excuse to be alone for long enough to escape, and if him and Sole don't go to the Sentinel Site together, he leaves from the Prydwen.

"But amazinglyegg", you cry, "Danse would never lie to Sole!". You're right! Danse says so himself during Blind Betrayal that the only reason he didn't tell Sole was because he didn't know. Also, I really doubt he would be as calm as he is during Liberty Reprimed if he knew about his... synthetic identity.

So, to make this clear, we know that Scribe Haylen found out about Danse being a synth before everyone else. In game this is shown by how Haylen pretends to not know Danse is missing when talking to Proctor Quinlan and then immediately telling Sole his location, and Danse's line "If it wasn't for Haylen we wouldn't be having this conversation". Also, in cut dialogue, Danse adds onto that "She's the one who tipped me off before Maxson found out". Haylen seemingly told Danse the truth and convinced him to run off to Listening Post Bravo (Danse pretends he did so because of his "survival instincts", but he also says that Haylen is "risking her life" by just being involved. It's not too far to say that he's trying to protect her from trouble by lying). Haylen knows how this will affect Danse, she knows that he'd be willing to die to follow Maxsons orders.

So she doesn't tell him. Not immediately, at least.

Haylen pulls Danse aside before him and Sole leave to the Sentinel Site and tells him to go to Listening Post Bravo. Danse, trusting Haylen and realizing that there must be something wrong, leaves without question. He knows that leaving the Prydwen is against his orders but he knows that Listening Post Bravo is supposed to be a place for his team (conversation for another day, why didn't they tell Rhys the location? Were they just planning on abandoning him??) to regroup after an emergency, he decides he doesn't want to take any risks. He lies to Sole and acts so calmly because of his "survival training" (The excuse Danse uses when covering for Haylen); he can stay calm and white lie his way out of situations in order to protect himself and his team

Then, he finds out he's a synth some time on his way or at Listening Post Bravo. Whether that's Haylen contacting him, or overhearing it over radio communications. Then the rest of Blind Betrayal plays out normally, now with just a few less plot holes...