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galadrieljones · 3 years

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Leah Hallucination Theory: the Three Prongs

The three prongs have really been giving me a lot of trouble. I always thought, the way they’re arranged and orchestrated in the episode, that they must be markers, signs, or visual representations of some sort, not just for us, but for Daryl. There’s something about them that’s never really sat right with me, which is that, right before Dog leads Daryl to Leah for the first time in the woods, Daryl sees a different set of prongs: two, sticking out of a tree.

I always figured they had to be connected, somehow, to the cabin, and to the three prongs, and that Daryl knows exactly what they mean. So I went back to the episode a couple days ago, specifically with the prongs in mind. I made some significant discoveries and connections, I think. I will lay them all out here, along with my theory for what the prongs could mean. Maybe this is crazy, I don’t know anymore!!!! Either way, this is a long post, and it was very fun to make, so hold onto your hats!!

When we first encounter three prongs, it’s in the shot below, in the present tense. Carol and Daryl are in the woods with Dog, and they have the conversation about the dead, and how “it’s going to catch up to [them] eventually.” Daryl says, "Only if we let it. I ain’t gonna let it.” Carol looks like she’s going to protest, but then Dog starts growling, like he’s caught a scent, and he runs off. The music becomes foreboding and tense, with loud, rhythmic drums. Dog leads them to a cabin with three prongs in the door. This is the inciting incident of the episode, the moment that is going to lead us down the rabbit hole to come.

When I saw the original three prongs, from Daryl’s point of view, I was intrigued, but ofc I didn’t know why. I just knew that they were somehow connected to this mysterious red-haired woman, who he envisions immediately after seeing them. Then, later, when we see the three prongs in the door, my brain jumped through a hoop. I assumed they were the same prongs we’d seen before, but they’re not.

The prongs in the door are similar, but they’re not the same as the first three we see. These are more evenly distributed, and they’re on the wrong side of the shot to be the prongs that Daryl sees first upon entering the clearing. Further, this cabin has a big, covered porch. These prongs are not visible from outside, other than maybe through a screen or window.

Once I realized these were not the same prongs, I went to check the first time we see the three prongs, through Daryl’s POV, to figure out what’s going on. The cinematography here is very tricky! The visual association is strong. The director wants us to read this episode closely, but they also want to confuse us. They want us to see what Daryl sees.

If you watch closely, when Carol and Daryl first chase Dog into the clearing with the cabin, you can see the first set of prongs, sticking out of what must be a tree. They’re hidden, on the lefthand side of the shot, in the extreme foreground, out of focus. The prongs must be real, as opposed to imagined, because they are always in the scene, but they don’t come into focus until Daryl sees them, because only he knows what they mean. Note that, after Dog and Carol run through the shot, the camera cuts away to Daryl for several more shots before cutting back to the prongs, which then rack into focus as he looks at them. We know they’re the same prongs in both shots, because the shots are paralleled, composition-wise: a little faded leaf with a touch of red in the foreground, near the prongs, and the tall weed plant in the background.

Remember when Daryl approaches the house, the house is on his left. We see this through a POV shot. But then, if you follow his eye line, the prongs are on his right. These prongs seem to be pointing to the cabin, like a sign, or an arrow. They are not the same prongs in the door jamb. (Side note: I went back to try and see if there is any established visual of the three prongs in the door during the “flashbacks” with Leah. I couldn’t find anything conclusive.)

So what do the prongs mean, through the hallucination lens?

Let’s return to the first scene after the storm. If you’re recall from my original post about Leah being a hallucination, I theorize that the storm represents Daryl’s psychotic break from reality. A talk with @frangipanilove has revealed to me even further that the map in the scene may not actually be destroyed, but that this is ALSO a hallucination, as Carol interacts with the map years in the future.

After the storm, a year goes by. Daryl is just walking along in the woods. It’s early autumn, as most of the leaves are still green, but they’re starting to change, with little bits of color. Daryl sees two metal prongs, hammered into a tree.

This is the moment that confused me for a long time. The moment he sees the two prongs, it’s like he recognizes them, like he knows what they mean, and what’s coming next. Reedus plays it as a little scared, a little surprised. They’re like a warning. The music changes and becomes more foreboding and ominous, with loud, rhythmic drums, and then Dog appears and leads him to Leah for the very first time. The rhythmic drums at this point in the episode are reminiscent of the drums in that very similar scene where Dog gets excited and leads Carol and Daryl to the cabin, in the present-tense. I think the music is important in this episode, in building a map toward what is real and what isn’t. But I’m not a music theorist. If anybody is, and has the vocabulary for this, please talk to me!!

Anyway. It’s important to realize, too, that these prongs are similar, like they’re made of the same kind of old metal, but they’re part of a different set of prongs from the other set in the woods, which are different from the first set of prongs Daryl sees, and the three prongs in the door. They are at distinctly inverted angles, pointing toward each other instead of away, and instead of three, there are only two.

So, there are three sets of prongs:

The (2) prongs in the tree in the woods.

The (3) prongs in the tree pointing to the cabin.

The (3) prongs in the cabin door.

I think the prongs are visual stimuli, or triggers, for Daryl, which initiate a sequence of events that lead him to Leah. I think that, given how he reacts to them, Daryl may have put those prongs there, as both a geographical marker, but also as a visual association, a way of triggering his mental loop with Leah. Here’s the sequence, as we see it: He sees two prongs in the woods, which trigger the scene with Dog, who leads him to the three prongs in the tree, which point to the cabin with three prongs in the door. The repetition of three would signal the end (rather than a continuation) of the sequence.

PTSD Associations: It’s probable the sequence was initiated by real events, since Dog is real, and since the sequence seems to plays out in present tense with Carol. Since I believe Daryl had been with Dog, at least part of the time, before he imagined Leah (more on that soon), it’s possible that, the first time Daryl met Leah, it was because this very sequence of events played out: Daryl was just walking along in the woods, and then in true Lassie form, Dog showed up, leading him to the cabin. Like @twdmusicboxmystery has pointed out, it’s possible that when Daryl got there, a woman was actually in trouble but died shortly thereafter, or that she was already dead. Daryl’s inability to “save” her, such as Carol suggests at the end of the episode, would have triggered past traumas and losses for which he blames himself, particularly with Beth and Rick. This creates a feedback loop, a common symptom of PTSD, in which a trauma survivor effectively relives their trauma over and over again. What’s more, Daryl’s mind attempts to conquer this dilemma by creating Leah (or recreating her, as it’s possible she was real before she died), a survivor and a pretty woman who strongly and assertively does not want to be saved.

Since the cabin is real, it’s possible Daryl may have stumbled upon it a couple of times afterward, only to find it empty, and/or be confused about what it was for. This might be the ultimate purpose for the three prongs in the door: to trigger his memory of the exact sequence of events that first led him to his imagined version of Leah, marking the cabin specifically as “Leah’s cabin.” (For more unique insight into reading Daryl’s experience and this episode through the PTSD lens, read @weapon13whitefang’s awesome addition to another excellent Leah Hallucination theory by @twdmusicboxmystery.)

Remember, right after he sees the three prongs in the tree, with Carol, Daryl immediately visualizes Leah, sitting on the porch, with Dog, almost like it is an obvious association. The sequence with the prongs is hard to follow at first when we watch, because we see the sequence out of order, and we never see all sets of prongs in the same sequence, or scene. We do, however, see both sets of prongs in the woods over the course of the episode, during separate scenes with strong parallels to one another in both the action and music, ie: the music changes, something is amiss with Dog, who runs off to the cabin, and then Daryl follows. This disorganization of the sequence is purposeful, I believe, in order to simulate Daryl’s confusion with the audience.

The whole thing reminds me, somewhat, of a psychologically strenuous version of Gareth and the Terminus crew, marking the trees in season 5 so they can “find their way home.” Only there is no home to go back to. Gareth even says so. It also makes me wonder if there is a single prong somewhere, to officially begin the sequence, leading Daryl to the scene with Dog, who then leads him back to Leah’s cabin: 1...2...3...Leah.

First Prong? Remember in the beginning of the episode, right after the opening credits, Daryl makes a big to-do with Carol about where they are, in case they get split up, so they can find each other? He tells Carol they've gotten “5 miles due southeast of the gate.” He tells her it’s “right near that, uh...” and then she finishes his sentence: “...small fork in the road by the dying white oak?” We don’t actually know what he was going to say, because Carol makes a very assertive supposition, and then he just says, “Right.” Isn’t it possible he was going to say something else? Or that he realized he didn’t want to say what he was initially going to say, for fear she would get concerned? I did search for a prong in the scene where Daryl dumps his bike, but I couldn’t find anything conclusive. Having gotten to know this show pretty well by now, I think that would have been too obvious. I wonder if, perhaps, we’ll see it later, or next season, ie: if Daryl, or even another character will see a single-prong in a tree, nearer to Alexandria. Perhaps it will be in the “dying white oak near the fork in the road.” ? That is a highly specific, loaded, and memorable turn of phrase. I remember it calling attention to itself, even before I knew what I was looking for.

Does Daryl know what’s real? So as Daryl and Carol go deeper into the woods, after they leave the bike, Daryl tells Carol, in a concerned manner, that it’s important she remember this spot, and that she “stay close.” Reedus’s performance here is super important. Daryl is worried about them getting separated, but it’s unclear why. We know that Carol can take care of herself in the woods, and we know that Daryl knows that, too. I thought perhaps he knows, subconsciously, where he is. He’s at the beginning of the sequence, and he’s not worried about Carol getting lost. He’s worried he might get lost, that he might lose her and end up back somewhere he doesn’t know if he wants to be. She is sure to remind him that she’s “not going anywhere.”

There are two more things I find super interesting in this scene, looking back. First, they are only FIVE MILES away from the gate. They don’t get that much further. They travel totally on foot, and time passes, but they also stop to fish. They are most likely still within ten miles of home. So even after being gone for literal years, we know that Daryl has been close to home for a lot of that time (we also know this because Carol visits him periodically, ofc). Second, it’s Daryl who suggests they come here, after parking the bike. I know I’m not the first person to point out how strange this is. It’s almost like he is sending himself back there because he needs to know for sure: Is any of this real? Did any of it actually happen? I don’t think he fully knows at this point, in the beginning of the episode.

I think when he comes upon the cabin, he is confused. He is hesitant to go inside and waits a while before entering. You can see it in his face, and his demeanor, that he is surprised, or that he did not fully expect to end up here. That’s weird, right? Because he’s been living in these woods for a long time. Perhaps he doesn’t know what is real, and what isn’t. He couldn’t remember if the cabin was real, so he came back here to make sure. He realizes then that the cabin IS real, just like Dog, just like the map, because all of these things, Carol interacts with. Remember when Carol asks Daryl if Leah lived here, Daryl doesn’t really answer. He just says, “It was a long time ago.” I am not sure if he actually knows at this point. Remember that he doesn’t invite Carol to come, but he doesn’t stop her either. I wonder if, her being there, that emboldens him to investigate what “happened,” to see what she can see, and to use her as an anchor to the truth. We don’t know where Daryl was planning to go prior to Carol hopping on for the ride. It’s only after they ride out five miles from the gate, and they stash the bike, that he suggests the river.

Leah and Dog: I think Daryl may have been coming here, a lot, intermittently over many years, reliving old experiences obliquely through various hallucinated interactions with Leah. It’s close to home, so perhaps every time he got close enough to go back to Alexandria, he would find the prongs and end up back here instead. Eventually, however, he has to make a choice: go forward, to Alexandria, embrace reality, move on with his life, or go backward, to the cabin, to Leah, to the past, etc., where it’s safe, and where he is in control. I think Daryl found Dog as a puppy, and Dog was always real, and Dog was often with him, even before the storm, and I think Dog may have even inspired Leah’s appearance. If you look at Leah, especially when she wears the red fox pelt, she is visually reminiscent of Dog. Her red hair, like Dog’s, is so specific, so different from any of the other women in the show, calling back to the autumn leaves in the trees. In fact, the first time we see Leah, it comes as a vision, or a flashback, right after Daryl sees the three prongs in the tree. Her face is veiled by her red hair, and Dog’s face is hidden as well, almost as if they are a single red entity ensconced in a haze of dreamy green.

I wonder if Daryl met Dog, then it was the storm, then he created Leah, and he found himself in a cycle, or feedback loop, sequenced and triggered by the prongs. He rewrote the loop in his mind, and then eventually clawed his way out by creating a fight with Leah, in which she gives him an ultimatum, forcing him once and for all to make his choice to return to Alexandria and face his family. Of course, the theme of “cycles” is not only implicit but explicit in this episode: Right at the end, Daryl tells Carol that they are having the “same conversation over and over again.”

One more thing: In 9.14 “Scars,” we see a flashback in which Daryl takes a break from his hunt for Rick to help Michonne track Jocelyn, who’s taken Judith. Michonne is very pregnant, easily in her third trimester. This means it’s been eight or 9 months since Rick’s disappearance. This takes place 2-3 months before he first meets Dog (hence: 5 Years Ago), and then in another year, he’ll “meet” Leah. I thought it was interesting how, in “Scars,” Michonne talks to Daryl about all of these good memories she has of Jocelyn, and how Jocelyn was a good friend who helped her through some of the most difficult times in her life. She says she “wanted her to be that again,” and that this clouded her judgment. This is a very emotional scene, in which Daryl and Michonne talk while sitting on what looks like an old swing set. I think it foreshadows what happens with Daryl and Leah, and how he relives many memories with her, both difficult and joyful, that he wants her to be these things, and then she turns out to be nothing but a deception.

Again, this is all a theory. But it’s a REALLY fun one lol. I am now convinced that this episode is much MUCH deeper and more meaningful than I initially thought. It is a puzzle for sure, and I know there is still probably a lot of stuff I’m missing. If you have thoughts or additions, let me know!

#the walking dead #10.18 #find me #daryl dixon #bethyl #team delusional #twd meta #leah is a hallucination #ptsd

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secret-engima · 4 years

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I blame @talisward for this but like-

Before I get way into this, tagging @wolfsrainrules and tentatively @north-peach because FFXV isn’t your fandom but this is also part Star Wars and who knows you might find it funny.

What if in a Star Wars/FFXV crossover, a ship takes damage to the hyperdrive (pirate attack or unexpected meteor shower something) and the hyperdrive yeets them waaaaayyyyyyyyy into Wild Space and it crashes on the jungle islands of an unknown planet and the crew is killed in the crash.

But the crew weren’t the only ones on board.

The Galahdians of various Clans, for once all united, swarm over the strange thing that fell from the sky very warily, scuffing and chirping at each other (because this is totally an A/B/O verse, maybe even an a/b/o spin-off of Thrown to Wolves verse who knows) and they finally pry open part of it to look inside and- dead bodies. Dead bodies of strange adults and non-human ... beings that still looked vaguely humanoid and didn’t dissolve like daemons. Sprawled over in what was clearly death from the crash. They explore and find no survivors or even anything familiar. The letters on the walls are strange, the technology is strange. Everything is strange.

Then one of them finds a body dressed differently. Rather than strange, unpleasant smelling synthetic fabric, this one is dressed in spun clothes, rough and simple and practical. The body, not human but very humanoid, is curled up near a door, an expression of odd serenity and determination on their face even in death.

It’s one of the Ulrics that notices the area AROUND the body is miraculously untouched. There is destruction and crumpled metal and sparking wires in the hallway leading up to the spot, but the door behind the body and whatever is beyond is undamaged. Protected.

One of the Ostiums sniffs carefully, stiffens as he finally catches a scent other than sparks and foreign metal and strange blood, “There’s something alive on the other side,” he whispers.

An Arra presses her ear against the door for several seconds before growling, “I hear pups.”

And that’s the only incentive they need to start forcing the door open, because pups are sacred, even in a place like this, a metal ship that fell from the night sky and is filled with the dead bodies of human and non-human beings alike.

The door finally gives way with a scream of metal, letting the light spill into the room.

The collection of Jedi Younglings stare at them with wide, frightened eyes, some human, others not, all smelling of sadness and terror and the need for reassurance.

The Galahdians glance at each other meaningfully at the sight of non-human pups, then carefully set about coaxing them all out despite the language barrier, soothing the tears that come at the sight of the dead protector (who must have been protecting the pups with magic, surely) and herding them out into the jungle sunshine. While some of the Clans start working on removing the bodies for as proper a funeral as they can make (they hope star people don’t mind being burned and released to the winds, but it’s all they can do), others start trying to figure out what to DO with the new children. They can’t separate them, but these are a lot of strange children and that will be a lot for any Clan to handle. They settle on giving them to the more famed and long-standing alliances, the Ulric-Ostium and the Lazarus-Furia-Arra because the joint clans will have an easier time raising the kids and figuring out ... well. Non-human biology.

One of the Ulrics meanwhile is carefully distracting the poor scared kiddos by trying to establish some rudimentary communication. She finally coaxes their names out of them and smiles when one of the humans (human-like? If he’s a star person does he really count as human?) in the group, a boy no more than eight if she doesn’t miss her mark, steps forward and shakily bows in greeting and carefully enunciates “Obi-Wan Kenobi.”

Some other notes on this AU that I apparently have now: a/b/o is an Astral fiddling thing that happens over time and all the Jedi younglings are young enough that THEY develop it too as they’re raised by Galahd.

Galahd guards their Star Children zealously. Keeps them secret and treasured.

If this is not a Thrown to Wolves a/b/o spin-off, then this is still an AU where “magic” (ie the Force) can be used by almost everyone to some degree or other, just for simpler things than the specialized and extremely powerful magics of the LCs and Oracles because of Bahamut’s Blessing. Other people can still do amazing stuff with their “Magic” but it’s not armiger or Walls or superhealing/purification and it’s not as overwhelmingly powerful as LCs (who are all like- up there with Anakin Skywalker Force-power wise).

The younglings are Obi-Wan’s crechemates, they were on their way back from Illum or something when the hyperdrive yote them to Eos. They quickly figure out they’re on a planet so far away no one knows Galactic Standard and that no one has space travel. Eventually they settle in their new lives.

Everyone picture Feral Galahdian Jedi bbys. It’s like- Feral Mandalorian Jedi bbys but without the helmets and heavy armor XD.

They did end up splitting the creche between the various Clans, but tried to keep at least two kids near each other at all times so that they wouldn’t feel abandoned and organized regular “play dates” for all their Star Children (with the added benefit of the adults getting to share their meltdowns over the weird things their Star Children do and need). Also Ramuh is watching from on high and running damage control, which is why no Galahdian falls over dead from space viruses and no youngling dies in spasms from Eos viruses. He’s also the one to tweak the kiddos to fit into the a/b/o dynamic.

Obi-Wan would like you to believe he’s an Ostium. He is not. He’s an Ulric. Bant is his long-suffering Ostium braincell.

Other members of the creche include: Bruck Chun, who after multiple hard lessons on bullying is actually a pretty decent (if aggressive) bby Furia. Quinlan Vos because I find him fun (or, in this AU, Quinlan Ulric), and a couple OCs because I can’t remember who all else is in Obi-Wan’s age group/creche. There’s a Togruta in there somewhere because Togruta are cool.

Meanwhile in the Galaxy at large the Jedi are searching for their lost ship of younglings with more than a little alarm, but they don’t find them. While wandering for clues even years later, one Qui-Gon Jinn stumbles across a slave woman and her year old bby on Tattooine. The bby is extremely freaking Force sensitive so he Qui-Gon Jinn’s his way into buying both of their freedoms and taking them to Coruscant to introduce the woman to the Jedi so she can decide if she wants her bby in the Jedi or not. The woman is Shmi, the bby is Anakin.

Obi-Wan uses the schematics found on the ship (it was a ship for building lightsabers and stuff like in that one Clone Wars episode), his own instincts, and bits of the Elemency crystals/meteor shards lying around to “re-invent” the lightsaber. All the Galahdians are enamored and immediately figure out how to make their own.

Niflheim was Not Prepared to tackle a jungle full of Feral Galahdians with Laser Swords. Galahd does no fall and the Kingsglaive are still formed but not out of refugees. Instead Regis approaches them hoping to form an elite force of laser sword wielding jungle maniacs warriors. The Galahdians agree after some haggling for extra autonomy/privacy to hide their Star Children.

I feel like Obi-Wan joins the Kingsglaive. Just- because OBI-WAN. He’s curious and interested and he doesn’t particularly like war but he has that very strong Protecc instinct and people appreciate his diplomacy.

Years and years later, when the Star Children are teens/young adults, either they figure out how to repair their old ship or somehow another Republic ship finds Eos and all the Jedi proceed to collectively lose their minds over finding their Feral Galahdian former-Jedi younglings and their culture of laser-sword wielding jungle Packs.

Also the secondary genders is NOT a thing outside Eos so all the Jedi are ALSO freaking out over that and trying to figure out how their younglings have it (BECAUSE IT’S A THING. THERE ARE HORMONES AND VOCALIZATIONS AND STUFF THAT NORMAL HUMANS/MON CALAMARI/ETC CAN’T PULL OFF). It ... it never occurs to the Jedi that the Astrals did it because no matter how many times the Galahdians say it’s an Astral-granted thing, no one believes them because everyone “knows” that must be their primitive mythology and culture. There is no such thing as beings who can materialize out of thin air and are made of pure Force. Pssh.

Ramuh the Troll, Bahamut the Drama Queen, every other Astral who is professionally insulted that their existence is brushed off by the idiots who should know better: Behold, we shall ruin these arrogant space monks’ entire careers.

Also Palpatine tries something funny near the Galahdians and is murdered discreetly via an Arra because they can SMELL the madness and near daemon-like corruption on him kthanks.

Also also all the Galahdians take one (1) look at Anakin and go BBY SPACE ULRIC and promptly adopt Shmi and Anakin both while the Space Monks look on and sputter in confusion.

#Secret Engima Rambles #Reach for the Stars (As They Reach Back) verse #star wars/ffxv #oh look a new au

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torendheavenandearth · 4 years

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2.1

“Here is a story that stretches back before God’s Creation, back when the people had no names for themselves. Back when they were not exploited. Back when they were not part of the Empire.

During this time of heroes and gods, there was a great mountain, and upon the mountain a great house. This house was the house of the Binturong Datu, who gave obeisance to his crocodile ancestors.

One day, while on his daily walks down the river that ends in a great lake at the base of the mountain, he spoke with his crocodile ancestors. “Ninuno,” he said. “May kakailanganin pa ba akong aralin bago niyo akong ituring na pinakamarunong na nilalang sa buong Sansinukob? [Ancestors, is there anything else I need to study before you can name me the wisest being in all of Sansinukob?]

All the crocodiles nodded, grateful and impressed. “Alamin mo ang unang bagay na nalaman namin noong sumakabilang buhay kami.” [Know the first thing we learned when we died.]

“Ano iyon, mga ninuno? Ito ba ay ‘Masmahalaga ang paglakbay sa pinatutunguan?’” [What is it, ancestors? Is it “The journey is more important than the destination?”]

The crocodiles shook their head.

“Ano iyon, mga ninuno? Ito ba ay ‘Kayabangan bago sakuna?’” [What is it, ancestors? Is it “Pride before disaster?]

The crocodiles shook their head.

The Binturong Datu, annoyed and impatient, threw the coconut he was eating against a tree. “Ano ito, mga ninuno? Sabihin niyo nalang sa akin upang malaman ko kung paano abutin ang langit at gibain ang Himpapawid!” [What is this, ancestors? Just tell it to me so I may know how to reach heaven and split the firmament!]

At that, the crocodile ancestors looked at each other and shook their heads. “Bakit mo naman nais iyon?” [And why do you want that?]

“Ewan ko. Kailangan bang malaman? Kailangan bang may pakana o motibo?” [I don’t know. Does one need to know? Does there need to be a plan or motive?]

The crocodile ancestors ate the Binturong Datu whole. “Hindi maaring hangal ang apo natin. Halina’t wasakin natin ang Kalangitan.” [We will not accept a fool for a descendant. Come and let us destroy Heaven.]

▼

The afternoon is turning into twilight. Angela can make out the crimson sun slowly drifting below the horizon. She doesn’t think there’s anything to worry about though, since they’re nearing the barangay, where they can be safe from whatever terrors the night bestows.

Ť̅̌ͭ̋h͉̦ͦͩ̈́̏̍ͧe̮̼ͨ̍̿ ̹͇ͤͨ̽̿͐ͪ͐s̬̣̞̙͑͌ͪk̘͓̄̈ͨͭ͐y̻̽ͧ̈̒̓̐̏ ̰̮̲͓̳͉̥̋i̔ͨ̐͋̒s̲ ͍̗̪̲̃͌l̞͚̥̞̙̲͐ͨ̀̾e̠̻̼̽ͫ̎a̯ͯ̒ͦ̐̓̅ͫd̤̝ͬ͊͐̈ě͐ͯn͚̬͎̏ͤͯ̉͋ ̩͙͚͛̋g̘̃̉̾ͦ͆̾r͖͎͓͇͓å͍̺y͗ ̣̪̯̠͍̺̠ͫ̓a̓̒͐̚s͈̳̯͙̑ ̫̲̰͚͉ͪ͛̍͊̃t̰̝̙̩̖͉̋̃ͪ̾̓̐ͭh̯̾e̤̟̰͙̼͒̍̽̆y̲͈̝̼̘̩ ͐ͦb̖̻͍̩̼̳̒e͇ͅg̩͉̜͔̝̯̮̐ͫi̙̳̗͑͛n͇̯͍͓̦̩̹ ̗̞͔͊a̤̦̙͕͔̬̰͑̿̌͐g̻͖̻͍͚̰ͥͫ̏â͔̺̹̘͙i̮̬̯͎̅̓͐ͦ͋̋n͇̪̞̩̐ͅ.̗͕̳̩͕̹͈ͩ͌ͫ̒̍̚

“I’m sorry about Makabintang,” says Angela. Somehow, she feels like it’s her fault, and her words ring hollow even to her. She feels like she could’ve saved Makabintang if only she knew how to fight the kimera. If only she knew how to use that damned bolo.

Ang Nilapastangan shakes her head. “Makabintang can rest now.” Her voice hitches at “rest”, and Angela decides to change the conversation. Perhaps they can talk about Makabintang later.

“How did you manage to escape the anghel?” asks Angela, as they descend down the hill crest and ride, now on a trot, down the bend.

“I beat them,” she replies without looking back at her.

Angela blinks. “Just like that? You beat them?”

Ang Nilapastangan shrugs. “I didn’t win the Hagdanan by sitting on my ass.”

“Damn. Then why don’t you just beat every anghel that comes our way? You won’t need to go in hiding or whatever you’re doing right now.”

“There are some anghel out there that will be able to kill me. So I prefer not to go loud, so to speak. That way I don’t endanger you either.”

There's silence as they curve around the bend and walk into the barangay proper.

The air is still, suddenly.

The road before them is eerily symmetrical. It’s inviting them.

Angela opens her mouth to say something back, but the strange air chokes her throat, and the strange sight puzzles her mind.

Things are not what they seem. That’s the first thought that pops into Angela’s mind as she and Ang Nilapastangan ride into town. It’s similar enough to Laurel: near the borders of the house one sees bamboo houses on stilts with cogon grass or nipa. The dirt road beneath them is well-trodden, but Angela sees no people walking about, doing their daily chores or routines.

That’s what’s so strange. There are no people here whatsoever.

A sense of dread pierces through Angela. She tries to shake it off. “Hey, Nila. Are you sure we’re where we’re supposed to be?”

Ang Nilapastangan only nods.

As they ride through the outskirts of the barangay, Angela’s nose perks up as she begins to smell the iconic fragrance of sampaguita flowers.

“Nila,” Angela calls out. “Do you smell that?” She looks around her.

Ang Nilapastangan nods. “Sampaguita.”

It’s getting dark. Twilight beckons to them. Night’s siren call. There is no moon tonight. Who will watch them?

E͓͔͓ͯ̊̎ͩͣy̬͔͎̳͒́ͭ͆̍ẹ̪̖̖͒̆̄ͨ̀ͥs͓͎͂ͮ̌ͅ ̖̥̊̈ͩ̍̔̏̑e̳͐͌v̺͍̪̪͆e̳͎̻̝͕r̪͛͊̊y̻̘̘̣͍̥ͭ̌͛͆̌w̎̓̃̾h͙̙ͩ̂̏ͣ̐ͫe͈̥̮̠͍̩̭̒͐̓ř͔̳̰͓̾ͧ̂̇͗̈ͅͅe̼̯͒ͦ̄͐̔.̦̲̦̫̦̞͂̎ͅ

“My lola always told me that if I smelled sampaguita whenever there is none, then it’s one of my ancestors or dead relatives coming to check up on me,” Angela notes.

“Your lola is right, technically,” Ang Nilapastangan replies.

One of the houses swings open, and a farmer walks out, wielding a pitchfork. He walks down the bamboo ladder that connects the front porch of the bamboo stilt house to the ground, and then shambles toward Ang Nilapastangan and Angela.

Angela yelps, and her horse recoils in response.

Ang Nilapastangan leaps from her horse and sends a single fist straight down into his head.

The man’s head caves in. Pieces of flesh and gray matter stick to Ang Nilapastangan’s fist, which she shakes off and then cleans away with a canteen of water.

Angela gets off the horse and walks up to the man. Somehow, the horse has calmed down. “What the hell… What is he?”

“Amalanhig,” replies Ang Nilapastangan.

Upon closer inspection, Angela can make out the stranger features of the man: his hair is all grown out, his body is blackened, as if burned, and his skin is cold to the touch. His teeth have fallen out, parts of his body don’t seem to move, frozen in place.

“He’s like… a corpse,” Angela replies.

She touches the amalanhig’s body, and it

leaps up and grabs Angela’s neck and bites down but

Ang Nilapastangan kicks the amalanhig off before his teeth sink in. He slams against the wall of the bamboo house, and he stays there, unmoving. Finally. For now at least.

Ang Nilapastangan washes away anything that was in contact with the amalanhig with water from the canteen. “Be careful. A person killed due to the bite of an amalanhig will turn into one.”

“What the fuck?” Angela’s eyes are wide, darting about, always looking around her. “What the hell? So they’re like zombies?” She rolls her eyes and mutters: “Great, there’s zombies here too.”

Ang Nilapastangan tells Angela to get back on the horse, and she does. Ang Nilapastangan mounts her own horse, and then they trot forward. The horses, for the most part, don’t seem to be afraid of the amalanhig. Ang Nilapastangan confirms Angela’s thoughts: it’s something she’s doing, somehow.

“Let’s look around more. I want to confirm if my suspicions are true.”

Angela gulps. She nods and follows Ang Nilapastangan as they trot deeper into the barangay, chancing upon abandoned vendor stalls, rotting fish and meat, some horse carcasses lying on their side. Even the ground feels like it had been blackened, and the houses covered by a fine sheet of ash.

“What the hell…” mutters Angela. She shivers. “Hey, Ang Nilapastangan, you feel like something’s watching us?”

As she speaks that out loud, a shadow darts across the road in front of them. It's moving faster than an amalanhig. Ang Nilapastangan doesn’t look back: she surges forward with her horse and chases after the shadow. Angela, panicking, tries to follow, but she’s not confident at galloping in such an enclosed space, and only manages to keep Ang Nilapastangan in her sights, without getting near her.

Ang Nilapastangan chases the shadow across two alleys and two roads, eventually catching up to it as it ends up in an alleyway that had been barricaded with barrels and wagon carts. She leaps from her horse and then lands directly on the shadow, teeth bared like a dog to its prey. She flips the shadow around only to reveal…

...a boy, breathing quickly, eyes narrowed. He’s lean and muscular, wearing a loose salakot and a simple baro and balloon pants. “Shit. Get off me.”

Ang Nilapastangan pushes the boy up to his feet. “Get up, boy. Answer my questions: what is wrong with this town? Why are there amalanhig?”

Angela catches up with Ang Nilapastangan just as she begins to interrogate the boy. “Amalanhig, didn’t you see? The barangay’s dead.”

“What?”

And at that question, more amalanhig shamble out of their homes, walking down their wooden walls or out of large double doors of their bahay-na-bato. They wear the clothes they died in, farmers with hoes and pitchforks, women in frayed blouses, merchants in rotting fish smelling doublets.

“Nila! Incoming!” The moment they sense life in Angela and Ang Nilapastangan, they begin their slow shamble towards them.

A chill runs down Angela’s spine. “Nila!” She refuses to get off of her horse.

“What are you doing here? Is there somewhere safe?”

“Outside. Survivors.” He’s wincing.

“Survivors?”

“Nila!”

“Come on then.” He tells the boy to get on the horse with her, and without anything else to say, he agrees and nods. She notices then that the boy is holding on to an abaca backpack, which seems to be filled with spoons, plates, clothing, cloth, salted food, and other such things needed for survival or daily living.

“Follow the road going south from here,” says the boy, and Ang Nilapastangan nods and follows.

“Angela! South!” And with that, they’re galloping down the dirt road, running quicker and quicker until they burst out of the collection of houses and out into the rice fields down south. Nothing is planted. Nothing will be harvested.

As they’re galloping, Angela, who is lagging behind considerably although she quickens the pace once they’re out of town, looks over her shoulder. There she sees that the amalanhig are running, now a group of them, amounting to at least 10.

Angela’s heart slams against her chest in a rhythmless beat. Her hands start shaking, and she has to force her hands to clamp down upon the reins of her horse so that she isn’t thrown off. “Nila!” Angela shouts, and her voice sounds frantic, almost mad. “They’re running after us!”

“They’ll chase us all the way to the commune,” mutters the boy.

Ang Nilapastangan curses under her breath. “Here boy, you know how to ride a horse?”

“Yes.”

“Grab the reins.” And then she launches herself into the air. The boy, thankfully, is quick. His hands are grabbing onto the reins of the horse even as Ang Nilapastangan arcs backward and then lands on one of the rushing amalanhig.

“Nila!” Angela calls back.

“Go! I’ll handle them. Follow the boy!”

Ang Nilapastangan turns and snaps one of the heads of the amalanhig out. She then proceeds to quickly beat down the rest of them, each one requiring only one, two hits to split in two and shatter their skulls with her knife hand.

Angela follows quickly after the boy. The boy turns the horse into a sudden opening in the trees, and Angela narrowly misses the entry point. They rush through a bamboo and narra tree flanked road, looking like some kind of portal into another world.

Eventually, the boy slows his horse down to a trot, and so does Angela. They arrive at a clearing that is across a river, right beside a smaller mountain. Not Mount San Roque, that’s for sure, but one to the south of it. There’s a cave that Angela can see that is signified by a single balete tree growing atop its mouth.

Across the river, in the middle of a clearing, is a small settlement. Around twenty houses in all, all of them wooden upon bamboo stilts. In the middle of the clearing is a small bonfire. Milling about are farmers and workers and other barangay folk.

“Here we are,” says the boy as Angela rides up next to him. “Saklawan.”

“This is where you retreated to?”

The boy nods. “Come on, the river is shallow.”

“I assume the river is here to stop the zombies…?”

“Yes. The amalanhig hate the rushing river, no matter how shallow. Whatever dark sorcery is holding them together dissipates.”

The boy brings the horse forward to a trot, and Angela follows suit. “I’m Jaime, by the way. Jaime Magbantay.”

“Ah, right. Angela.” Angela thinks for a second how this is probably the most normal person she’s met so far. “Angela de Jesus.” From this angle, Angela can see through his loose baro, and she sees that her chest is covered in tattoos, in the style of the Pintados.

“Ah, putakte, Jaime! Good thing you’re safe!” A man approaches them, wearing a kind of cloth that wraps around his waist, making him look like he’s wearing a skirt. Over his shoulders and biceps are tattoos, designed in that same evergrowing pattern of the Pintados people back in Ancient Visayas. Another man approaches them as well as they arrive. That man is a tall and lanky man, two heads taller than the other older man, and with the head of a horse. His legs and arms don’t seem proportionate to the rest of his body.

Jaime gets off when they’ve safely crossed. The night is dark now, but thankfully the bonfire and the myriad torches that stay at a safe distance from the wooden houses illuminate the night. Seeing Jaime now, his build is lean, but he has muscles undernath a thin layer of fat. He’s tall, around at least the upper echelons of five feet, and his hair is of darkest night. His eyes are the darkest shade of brown as well.

“Welcome, young one,” says the man with the tattooed body.

“Angela,” says Jaime as he’s heading over to the bonfire.

The tattooed man nods. “Thank you for bringing my pamangkin to safety. I’m glad you weren’t chased by Amalanhig along the way.” Pamangkin means niece or nephew. Angela gets down from the horse, and the horse-headed man helps her.

“I am Adlay,” says the tattooed man. “And this is Damian, our last panday. We serve as scavengers for the barangay. Tell me, how did you come across our barangay? It is unfortunate that you have come at a… less than good time.”

Angela blinks and nods. She wants to stretch, but finds it awkward in front of the men. “Um, Nila brought us here. We were supposed to be three but, it’s just the two of us now. She says she knows of an albularyo that can fix uh…” she gestures to her horns. “This.”

“Nila?” asks the tikbalang.

Angela nods. “Oh, ah, Ang Nilapastangan, she calls her self. Nila’s like a shortened nickname.”

The tattooed man, Adlay, blinks and then he laughs. “Ang Nilapastangan? Are you sure, young lady?”

Angela raises an eyebrow and then nods slowly. “Yes…? Nila. Why, is Ang Nilapastangan a common name here?”

Adlay and Damian glance at each other and then laugh. “All right. Come on then, we still have some leftover food.”

“I managed to grab some tuyo,” says Jaime, which is greeted with hoots and cheers from Adlay and Damian. They walk into the gathering of houses. Jaime looks over his shoulder and says: “Come on, Angela.”

Angela wonders if she should, and then after reminiscing about today’s events, she realizes that her hands and feet are heavy, and her head hurts. It’s like the fatigue suddenly draped itself over her like a heavy curtain.

She pulls herself to the bonfire in the middle of the commune. There they give her a small cup of rice and some tuyo served on a porcelain plate. “Eat up, you’re going to need it.”

Angela blinks. She manages to sit down beside Jaime, Adlay, and Damian, who are all eating with her. They eat with their hands, one hand used to pick up the food and the other hand used to hold up the plate. When Damian is sitting or squatting down, his legs go higher than his head.

As they eat, the ones who live here take their times to look at Angela, wondering who she is. She thinks then that maybe they’re not used to newcomers to their gatherings, since they’re a relatively small commune. Angela then thinks that it’s probably because of her horns.

“Jaime,” Angela whispers, after swallowing some rice and tuyo. “Don’t you think I’m weird?”

“Because of the horns?” Jaime shakes his head. “We’ve had plenty of kabarangay who had horns like that. We treated them all the same.”

“Ah.”

Angela goes back to eating in peace.

Then, an elderly woman comes down from one of the houses, wearing the simple clothes of a devotee. She’s hunched over and draped in colorful textile patterns, but she is not flesh and blood. No, her skin is bark, her eyes dewdrops, and her hair brambles of purple flowers. She smiles at Angela as she comes closer. “Welcome, lost one. I am Babaylan Salinas. What brings you here? Have you seen the trouble inflicted upon our quaint little barangay?”

Angela nods. “What happened? Why is it filled with zom--amalanhig?”

“We ourselves are not so sure either.” She sighs and then squats. Staring at the fire, Babaylan Salinas says: “It happened all too quickly. One Unangaraw night, an amalanhig killed one of their housemates. That began the infestation. Most people die from amalanhig bites, and so when they are bitten and die quickly afterwards, they turn into amalanhig themselves. It is not hard to imagine that it spread quickly. Thankfully a lot of us escaped. Our priest has been killed, however, and our cabeza-de-barangay is either an amalanhig himself, or somehow still within the barangay hall in the middle of the barangay.”

Angela makes a mental note to ask Ang Nilapastangan what Unangaraw is.

“There’s still some people alive in there?”

“We can never know for sure,” says the babaylan.

“We hope that sometimes we’d see people alive,” says Adlay. “However, when I saw the both of you… I thought you were some new breed of monster. I’m sorry, I was just thrown off by the horns.”

Angela shrugs. “It’s all right. I mean, Ang Nilapastangan has horns as well.”

Babaylan Salinas blinks.

Adlay laughs. “Ha! This Angela newcomer girl sure does have a great sense of humor.”

“It’s true,” states Jaime. “The lady Angela is with is Ang Nilapastangan. To save us, she leapt off of the horse and beat off the chasing amalanhig.”

“Are you for real?” asks Damian. “You really expect us to believe that? Ang Nilapastangan, Swordbreaker, Karanduun?”

“That’s right.” Ang Nilapastangan’s voice echoes from behind Angela. Angela turns around and sees her there, covered in sampaguita smelling blood, somewhat wet from crossing the river. “Why’s that so hard to believe?”

#karanduun #outbreak #2.1 #webnovel #writing #filipino myth

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eriisaam · 4 years

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Timelines

Throughout whatever I did in relation to my kiransonas, I often reference there being different timelines. I wanted to make some notes to explain a general idea of the differences of what each timeline did, and what eventually led to what I dub the Golden Timeline.

---

Erin’s doomed timeline - Follows Revelations in World of Fates with a female Corrin. Lif (as Alfonse) and Ryoma both originated from this timeline and were essentially the known sole survivors besides Thrasir. Led to their first instance in their experiences with Erin before Erin sent Ryoma forcibly home with Breidablik before dying, and what led to Lif’s and Thrasir’s corruptions. The fallen alts of Erin originated from the Erin who died here, and led to the creation of her Adrift and Cohort alts, split apart and created from her body (cohort) and soul (adrift). They both attempted to attack the Golden Timeline in place of the absence of Lif and Thrasir as antagonists, but were both slain, putting the Erin of this time to rest.

Teru’s doomed timeline - Follows Conquest in World of Fates with a female Corrin. This was the origin of the Ryoma who fell in love with the Lif (as Alfonse) of Erin’s doomed timeline, only to return here. He briefly fell in love with Teru, as he reminded him of Alfonse, but he was indirectly killed by Garon, and Ryoma’s death served as the catalyst of the eventual downfall of Garon, Anankos, and the world’s collapse, of which Teru escaped from such, albeit generated a lot of his PTSD. Then in Zenith, Teru and his pokemon were the sole survivors of the Heart’s Rite, as Teru killed the Lif, Thrasir, Eir and Hel who originated here. Teru and his pokemon were then summoned by chance into The Golden Timeline by Erin. The Ryoma who died here was transformed into a cohort alt by Hel who then attempted to attack the Golden Timeline in place of the absence of Lif and Thrasir as antagonists, but was slain, putting the Ryoma of this time to rest.

Kyo’s doomed timeline - Follows Birthright in World of Fates with a male Corrin who would become Kamui. This was also the origin of Lifonse, back when he was still Alfonse. The Kyo of this timeline had taken his relationships with Corrin and Alfonse more for granted, and did many of the things that the two specifically trained themselves against (fueled by their trauma and resulting PTSD), including their abilities to develop immunities to being sung to sleep. The last instance that became a catalyst of this ability was Kyo singing to them to force both to sleep, just before he would’ve been killed in Zenith, of which they were both too late to stop. As Alfonse would’ve been transformed into a cohort, Corrin used his power inherited from Anankos to rip his way back into Zenith and rescue Alfonse, but while he was rescued in time not to be indoctrinated by Hel, he was still partially cursed and left inhuman as a result. This same fate nearly befell Veronica, but Corrin rescued both and left Veronica in the care of his Hoshidan family at home. After finding a celebi in the pokemonverse of this world, both Corrin and Alfonse agreed to leave this world into the Golden Timeline with the celebi, Iounn, so they could rescue Kyo from his doomed fate. While there, both abandoned their original names, where Corrin changed his name to “Kamui” to avoid confusion with the Corrin already there, and Alfonse changed his name to “Lifonse” to avoid confusion with both Alfonse and Lif, and out of shame of what he became. The Kyo of this time was turned into a cohort by Hel, who then attempted to attack the Golden Timeline in place of the absence of Lif and Thrasir as antagonists, but was slain by the Kyo of the Golden Timeline, strengthening Kyo’s new relationship with Kamui and Lifonse while putting the Kyo of this timeline to rest.

Sparrow’s current timeline - The summoner immediately before Sparrow was chosen had been killed, after creating a digimon-esque digital incarnation of Grima often dubbed as digi-Grima. Through a series of events, a digimon was able to escape into the World of Awakening and warn Robin of the fate that would befall Chrom, and so they took their own life instead of take Chrom’s, thus denying the need for Lucina or the would-be events of her and other kids of her time to change fate, albeit also leaving Chrom as the sole survivor of the Sheperds of his world. That Robin, in their last efforts to try to help Chrom before other digimon could harm Chrom or Hel would corrupt him to her own ends, created the Crest of Fate, only for digi-Grima to corrupt its original purpose. Robin would’ve reincarnated as Sparrow, and would’ve been taken under Chrom’s wings well before she would’ve met the Order of Heroes, due to the massive similarities she has with Robin. Chrom would’ve gained the Crest of Fate, but given it to Sparrow, initiating a lot of events which would eventually yield two unique mega digimon: MirageGrimamon and MirageExaltmon. Her time is the only time not to collapse, or be subjected to the tragedies of the Heart’s Rite, due to the efforts of the other summoners recognizing the signs her timeline would’ve been doomed otherwise. Sparrow often works in tandem with the other summoners in the Golden Timeline and frequently connects this world to that one.

The Golden Timeline - The Ryoma of Erin’s doomed timeline returns to this one with Camilla after he was berothed to her. Due to their efforts, they befriended, and eventually fell in love with Erin far sooner than originally, and in recognizing Lif for who he was, and realizing what caused his fate, they helped free him from Hel’s shackles, albeit cursing the three of them and eventually Erin to become dragons. Thrasir was also similarly freed of her own control, but by Xander and Takumi instead in a similar manner (and end result), albeit she went on her own path from what Lif settled for. Lif made efforts to right the many wrongs that befell Erin’s doomed timeline and helped save many of the lives that would’ve been lost otherwise, while in the pokemon world, Kamui and Lifonse had swept Kyo away before Anna would’ve called him to a different Zenith, thus bringing the three of them here instead with the one Breidablik Lifonse kept for him. As Teru was also rescued and kept here, he eventually started his journey of healing and became in-laws with Erin, and with the efforts of all three summoners combined, they helped prevent Sparrow’s own time from otherwise collapsing, while also assisting her from preventing many otherwise needless tragedies. It is the world most operate and continue on living in moving forward, and the “present” of many of the kiransona canon focuses on.

Ljósálfheimr and Dökkálfheimr - The land of dreams and nightmares operates on a completely different plane of existence from the land of the living and realities. Because of this, it extends through all timelines, and this was made the most apparent in affecting Sparrow’s timeline with the same potency as the Golden Timeline at the same time. This led to things like the events of Book 4 equally affecting both worlds at the same time with the same series of events once (as opposed to similar, reoccuring instances as were the case of Book 1-3 in the other worlds repeating in each), and what led to the Rite of Dreams and connections born from it being able to remain even across different timelines, allowing Gunnthra to hold connection to both Sparrow and Teru. (Erin’s connection was replaced with Hrid’s, and Kyo’s was severed from the deaths of Gunnthra and Kyo of their time the connection was made).

Maybe some other time I might go into heavier detail of each individual time.

Additional note: Teru and the first Kyo began in the same pokemon world. Teru was spirited off to his Askr, and Kyo was spirited off to his likewise. In the end of the lives of either of their respective Askrs, Teru’s world collapsed before being taken to the Golden Timeline’s Askr, while Kyo died, leaving behind Lifonse and Kamui. The Kyo they met was in a pokemonverse of a new time, but upon spiriting that Kyo away to the Golden Timeline as well, he shares his pokemon world with Teru. As Kyo’s own Teru died in his captivity (that his summoning would’ve saved from him), both wound up somehow simultaneously splitting apart and reuniting with one another in a very admittedly complicated manner.

Eclair is completely unique to the Golden Timeline, technically making the Golden Timeline his timeline.

#My Kiransona Things #My OCs Headcanons #Hopefully this clears up a lot of the confusion #Then again maybe it just made this more confusing instead #Summoner OC Erin #Summoner OC Teru #Summoner OC Sparrow #Summoner OC Kyo #Summoner OC Eclair

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yo-namine · 5 years

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Okay, I’m not done with this idea, so...

To start off, Riku and Kairi's relationship post-KH3 is a little, uh.... strained. After everything that happened in the Graveyard, Riku really doesn't trust Kairi to hold her own at all. They both want to go search for a way to revive Sora, but Riku's pretty dead-set on Kairi staying safe at home while he does all the actual work. He's already lost one friend, and he's not risking losing another. Kairi argues that if he's going to go chasing the Lich, he needs someone like her who can bring him back, but her argument kind of falls flat because her PoH abilities have been pretty shaky ever since Sora died because, well, her heart's broken. So Riku doesn't budge, and Kairi's left feeling useless and powerless to help her friends. Again. Also, Kairi can tell that Riku does sort of lowkey resent her for being a liability back in the Graveyard. Riku knows it's unfair of him, but he can't help how he feels. And while Riku really does want to keep her safe, Kairi feels that he's also shutting her out as a way to penalize her for costing them Sora's life. Angst ensues. Basically, instead of working together on a way to bring back Sora, Riku and Kairi end up pushing each other away and doubtlessly making things harder than they need to be. 🎉🎉🎉

Obviously, Kairi isn't going to just stay home. She thinks that if she can fully regain her powers, she may be able to restore Sora like she did in KH1, or get some kind of tether on him from the Realm of Light like she did in KH3. So she decides to sneak off on her own to first go find the other former Princesses of Heart to see if they can teach her more about her abilities, and then hopefully get her powers back and use them to revive Sora or at least help Riku. And admittedly, there’s a small, petty part of her that just wants to prove to Riku that she's not useless.

Naminé catches on to what Kairi's planning and wants to come with her to help however she can. Kairi kept her alive for the last couple of years, so Naminé is basically RIDE OR DIE for this girl at this point. If Kairi wants to go save Sora, then dammit, they’re gonna go save Sora. That said, she probably feels guilty enough to leave Riku a note or something just telling him that she and Kairi left together and everything's fine and to please not freak out. Riku reads it and is like "for fuck's sake," decides to go look for them (on top of everything else he's doing).

I'm... not really sure how Xion gets involved tbh. Maybe she initially wants to help Riku find Kairi and bring her home, but then switches sides once she realizes that Kairi's just trying to prove herself? Anyway, Xion is a total badass and (in this story, at least) has some of her Days boss battle abilities still in her arsenal, so after she joins the other girls, they're able to venture into more worlds that they'd had to avoid before because the combat level was too high they were too dangerous. During their journey, Xion gives Kairi lots of pointers that do her way more good as a keyblade wielder than whatever Merlin had her and Axel doing in that time chamber.

There's initially some tension between Kairi and Xion because Xion is supposed to be "Kairi as Sora remembers her," and in this story, Xion's clearly much stronger and (now that she's free of the Organization) cheerier than the real Kairi. So Kairi feels like she's hanging around a better version of herself all the time, and it takes effort to not let her bitterness over it show. It also doesn't help that Kairi's spending most of her time with two people who are like embodiments of Sora's love for her (Naminé being the Nobody that was created from Sora housing Kairi's heart in his, Xion being made up of Sora's memories of Kairi). Theoretically, that knowledge should be comforting, but it really just ends up rubbing some extra salt in that "Sora's dead and it's all my fault" wound.

While they're off on their journey, Riku tries to call Kairi almost every day, but she never picks up because she knows he'll just try to talk her into going home. Eventually Axel calls her, and it's fine until she realizes he's trying to weasel her whereabouts out of her so he can pass the info along to Riku. After that, she keeps her phone off.

Kairi, Naminé, and Xion start to work really well together after a while both because of their skill sets (Xion being the powerhouse, Naminé the healer, Kairi the warrior-still-in-training), but also because they have a lot in common. Xion can empathize pretty strongly with Kairi feeling like she's just a liability. Naminé knows how it feels to be used by people more powerful than you to hurt someone you care about. The trio develops a pretty deep understanding of one another, and they help each other rationalize and work through their problems/insecurities (like Xion has a tendency to get irritated/overly defensive when her judgment's questioned because, well, she also isn't sure if she can trust her own mind sometimes thanks to the Org reprogramming her in the past. Naminé has some pretty deep-rooted abandonment issues that are part of the reason she clings to Kairi as much as she does. Kairi has survivor's guilt in spades.). Character development ensues.

Naminé does Not like combat or just hurting things in general, hence why she sticks to healing. She does still have her heart-shattering ability from CoM, but she never wants to use it again (especially considering whose replica vessel she’s inhabiting these days).

Meanwhile, Riku thinks the other masters will help him with figuring out how to either find the Lich or contact Sora somehow, but nope. Yen Sid and Mickey don't want him going after the Lich or "chasing hearts," potentially costing them another valuable wielder getting himself killed. Aqua's more inclined to let him do what he thinks is right, but she's also doubtful that Sora's heart is even salvageable at this point. She tells Riku what she knows from her own training just because she feels he has the right to that information as a master, but that's about it. Beyond that, Riku's basically on his own. Without any real leads, Riku decides to visit different worlds to learn more about their differing concepts of death/the afterlife (so like the Underworld in Olympus, the Locker in the Caribbean, etc.). A lot of worlds have legends of creatures similar to the Lich that ferry the dead and all that cool stuff, so he makes note of that while also scouting the place for Kairi. He might also run into Maleficent at some point and learn something from her (since idk, she commanded the Heartless for a while, so maybe she knows something about the Lich)? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The trio runs into Riku once early on, and it... doesn't go that well. Riku's still not keen on Kairi running off (plus he's probably kind of annoyed that Naminé and Xion sided with her over him despite them both being his friends for way longer, oop), and Kairi's still frustrated that Riku has 0 faith in her and won't let her help him. They basically have the same argument they did back home, only now there's been more time for resentment to build. On top of that, they're both grieving over Sora without really knowing that they are (because neither's willing to even consider the idea that he may not be savable), and both feel like the other's abandoned them when they need them the most. Anyway, their fight doesn't accomplish anything other than hurting each other further. They split up again after Riku tells Kairi to just answer her damn phone every once and a while. She doesn't.

So Kairi meets up with the former PoHs as she travels worlds. She's lucky that Riku's on bad terms with half of these ladies and is gonna steer clear of Wonderland, Agrabah, and Beast's Castle. Kairi gets advice and some training from each of the princesses on how to tune out her own self-doubts and focus her magic on what she wants to accomplish. Her biggest help is probably Belle just because that lady spent SO MUCH TIME in Hollow Bastion's library in KH1 probably reading everything about light/darkness. That, and I think Belle kind of uses a tethering ability in KH1 to bring the Beast to Hollow Bastion (or at least, the Beast says he got there just by ~believing~, so maybe it's a two-way connection or something), so she may have a better understanding of her (former) powers than the others. Anyway, Kairi slowly starts regaining her powers, and they only get better as her confidence/faith in herself improves. Eventually, she starts working Faith/Holy into her combat moves and "tethering" to the other girls just to see if she can. She's able to use the latter ability to sense out where exactly Naminé and Xion are whenever they're separated from one another. Connecting with people in the same world is easy enough, but doing it across worlds/realms is trickier, so she practices reaching out to Riku occasionally with mixed results. She gets to where she can figure out where he is, but she can't communicate with him, and she's not sure if that's due to her abilities being too weak or if it's because she and Riku have been shutting each other out (spoilers: It's mostly the latter.).

The trio has another run-in with Riku later on. He and Kairi have another argument, but it's more constructive this time around. Riku starts to call her out on leaving him to go on this journey (because unlike her, he's been going it alone this whole time, and it's really starting to get to him), but she points out that she only left him before he could leave her. Everything kind of starts to click after that. Riku eventually apologizes for trying to leave her behind, Kairi apologizes for shutting him out for so long. There's still some tension between them, but it starts to ebb once they finally start working together on a plan to bring Sora back.

Kairi finally turns her phone back on to find approximately 34978593487 missed calls from Riku. She also sees that he left her a few voicemails, and while Riku says she can just delete them, she keeps them to listen to later when he's not around.

....I'm not sure how this ends? Part of me likes the idea of Sora just... staying dead and everyone moving forward with their lives because that's all you can do, really. But another part of me really likes the idea of Riku and Kairi finding the Lich and figuring out a way to split the price for Sora between them. Maybe they have to give up a fraction of their hearts or cut time off their lifespans to give to Sora's. And they both agree to just not tell Sora about that once he's back.

I realize I'm leaving a TON of characters out of this story lmao. I don't know what everyone else would be up to. tbh Ven could probably save Riku and Kairi a lot of trouble just by introducing them to his magic cat that apparently knows all about the afterlife, but.......................... whatever.

#my posts #kh3 bloggin #kh3 spoilers #fic ideas #dream trio

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clexa--warrior · 5 years

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Fear The Walking Dead' continues its losing streak in Sunday night's episode 'Ner Tamid.'

Credit: AMC

Sunday night's episode of Fear The Walking Dead was a little bit better than the rest of this half of the season, and I think I know why: There was no Morgan!s

Morgan and Al are off doing their own thing, and miraculously we didn't hear from either one this week. That's good! Sadly, we also didn't get any Alicia. She remains one of the only characters I still like on this show, though the past few episodes have done their level best to character-assassinate her (she's probably off painting more trees at this point).

The rest of the episode was pretty much about as pointless as the rest of the episodes in Season 5. Charlie "runs away" from the convoy to go find some place for them to stay, so that they're not always on the move. Finding a place to stay is a really good idea. Running off on your own in the zombie apocalypse is stupid beyond all reckoning, and I wish the writers and producers would stop making the characters act like such absolute dunces every week.

It appears the real problem is June, who is apparently in charge of the caravan and its 36 members. She's driving them all hard, not letting them stay in one place long, no rest for the weary and all that jazz. Even John Dorie is like "Hey June, baby, I love you but this is ridiculous," but it falls on deaf ears. I'm not sure why June is acting like this, or why she's suddenly in charge, or why they have a caravan instead of a base to begin with, but that doesn't matter. Fear The Walking Dead just does stuff, and we're just supposed to eat it up without questioning anything.

I think that's the only way people can still enjoy this show--just don't ask any questions, don't think about anything too much, don't expect anything remotely like logic or realism or human nature to figure into it at all.

In any case, Charlie makes yet another new friend while out on her own. This time it's a Jewish Rabbi, Jacob Kessner, who lives all by himself at his old synagogue. All his former flock are now zombies, calling to mind Father Gabriel from The Walking Dead (though Kessner is much less annoying than Gabriel, who I still can't stand). Charlie thinks this would be a good place for the survivors to settle down, but things don't work out. Before the end of the episode, the safe haven is overrun and Kessner is out of a home. Shocking. We've never seen the survivors show up and ruin a good thing before! (That's sarcasm, by the way. Everywhere our heroes go falls apart, from the family on the island to the Mexican villa, to the ranch, to the kids' treehouse this season).

June and Dorie show up and there's some zombie action, but we know nobody is going to actually get killed by a zombie. That hardly ever happens on this show. The last time I can think of it actually happening was when Madison died, but she died offscreen so we didn't even see it. There used to be some great zombie kills in previous seasons, but there's no reason to fear anything in Fear The Walking Dead these days.

That applies to Logan and his group of feckless, toothless bad guys. At one point they chase Sarah and Dwight--who looks ridiculous clean-shaven, though I suppose it's symbolic of his being totally neutered by the do-gooder sickness that's befallen the entire cast--and almost catch them but the tank shows up and saves the day. Of course, why they were so worried and running to begin with is beyond me. Recall last week when Morgan and Al were faced with a dozen of Logan's thugs and nothing happened. They just blocked the road and that's all. Are we supposed to think that this week things are so different that they pose an actual threat now?

Of course, it turns out that the whole thing was just a diversion. Logan wanted to distract the convoy. Apparently he's figured out where the oil fields are and he wanted Morgan's group as far away as possible which, uh, kind of sounds like what he did in the very beginning of this season by having them fly off to the nuclear power plant region. They're running out of ideas so fast it isn't even funny.

Is there even a story here? I mean, there are things that happen I guess, but is there a story? Let's try to parse it all together, shall we?

Season 5 starts with Morgan and most of the crew crash-landing a plane because they thought they were helping someone but it was just Logan tricking them so that he could take over the mill. The first half of the season is spent trying to get a new plane or fix the old plane so they can fly it back. There's also a nuclear power plant that's going to melt down, and we meet a new character, Grace, who is trying to prevent that. Eight episodes are spent on this dual-plot, with Strand and Charlie ultimately saving the day by bringing propellers in a hot air balloon to the heroes who then use their years of airplane mechanic experience to fix the plane and then fly successfully back to their own area of Texas because apparently that region has zero roads leading. It is a mystical island within the state of Texas that can only be reached by air (unless you're Dwight or his wife who apparently both managed just fine on solid ground).

So that's the first half of Season 5. Crash plane, fix plane, fly out. Logan has the mill. Then, bizarrely, at the very end of the first half of the season Logan tries to make a deal with them. This deal is not struck, we discover in the Season 5 midseason premiere, and Logan goes back to working with the thugs. I can't tell if they're working for him or he's working for them, because the show has done such a lousy, inconsistent job at explaining things to us.

Speaking of which, we learn that during the break, during the period of time that occurs off-screen between the two halves of this season, that Morgan has discovered where Polar Bear's oil fields are. And I guess he's also figured out how to refine oil into gasoline. And I guess this is what Logan was after the whole time, but they just neglected to introduce that conflict in any remotely comprehensible way. Now, five episodes into the back half of the season, the entire plot seems to be "Morgan and group go around helping people more while Logan tries to figure out where the oil fields are." Five episodes of filler with virtually nothing of any importance happening. Alicia meets the guy painting on all those trees. Morgan and Grace try and fail to spark a romance. Logan is mad at Morgan but does nothing about it. They film a stupid PSA and put it on VCRs with generators wherever they can so that people know that they're out there trying to help people.

None of this qualifies as a story, at least not really. The story, if it had to be boiled down, would be the conflict between Logan and Morgan's two groups. But that conflict barely exists, as evidenced by the times they've actually encountered one another and done nothing. At least Negan did stuff. At least the Saviors posed a threat, no matter how badly produced Seasons 7 and 8 of The Walking Dead were. At least there was a story.

Here we just have people driving around wasting gas, talking on walkie-talkies, rarely having realistic conversations or actually interesting struggles or conflicts. It's all contrived. You could probably boil down the entire 12 episodes we've seen so far into two and not lose anything.

Just take away the whole entire plane crash plot and have them tricked into leaving the mill. Then have Logan realize what he wanted in the mill wasn't there and go to war with Morgan to get the map to the oil fields. The oil fields themselves would be useless to Morgan since he doesn't know how to refine oil into gasoline, but he knows that Logan is bad news so he keeps that information from him anyways. Have Logan kill some of the good guys, and have that test Morgan's resolve to be a good person. Have Dwight show up as one of Logan's dudes, on the other side of the conflict, and have that make him question whether he's made the right choice.

I mean, I think you could probably get eight episodes out of this conflict, and then you could twist things around for the second half of the season. Morgan could snap again, go full killstreak mode. He and Alicia could break into two different groups and the conflict could continue between them somehow. This is all just spit-balling. The fact is, it would be fairly simple to come up with a better story for Season 5, with better and more natural conflicts. Actually, I'd have introduced Logan as a sympathetic character and had him join the group, had his treachery not manifest until it was too late. Make the betrayal sting.

But this is all fantasy. I want the same kind of tense conflict that drove Season 3, with sympathetic characters on both sides and no easy resolution. But what we're getting is a bunch of badly written filler episodes with no real purpose and an overarching conflict that makes no sense. Meanwhile, we get things like Al leaving all her tapes in a safe and then not bothering to even shut the lock boxes, and that's how Logan discovers the oil fields. We get John Dorie shooting a bullet at a hatchet blade so that it can split in two and kill a pair of approaching zombies. That's the kind of vapid writing this show has now. It's just sad.

Next week, Logan will use the oil fields to wipe out half of all living things in the universe and the week after that Al and June and Daniel will send Skidmark back in time in a time machine they built out of spare plane parts, and Skidmark's job will be to kill Polar Bear before he ever planted the oil seeds that eventually grew into the oil fields, but little do they know that Polar Bear is waiting for them . . . . it's a trap!

I just . . . I can't. I don't know what else to say. What a sad joke Fear has become.

#fear the walking dead spoilers

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desiderium-eden-a · 5 years

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@akumanoken:

.....I'm so in love.....with that au idea

@kapisola:

I'm gonna need more on that fairytale AU, stat. It's for my health, Suzu, do you want me to be healthy?

Pfft. Well, I do want you to be healthy.

Marchen (Fairy Tale AU)

I imagine this AU takes place in a fantasy continent of Istoriya, made of smaller kingdoms. I only have 3 kingdoms so far. The underwater mermaid kingdom of Meer. The fairy realm of Obrynes. And Albtraum, kingdom of the beast shifters.

Ruled by the Von Friedhof family, the ageless though not immortal residents of Albtraum possessed the ability to transform into animal forms (and half shifted forms as well), noble families possessing some level of magic. With Mikhail able to turn into a panther. Dmitri a stag. And Lazuli a wood thrush. They were a strong, but peaceful race. Generally kept to themselves and stuff. Though there were tensions with Obrynes due to past conflicts and prejudices.

Until Mikhail had caught the attention of a fairy of the high court, wanting him as part of his collection. But neither Mikhail nor his family would allow that to happen. And to add insult to injury, the family did not invite him to the Christening of the newborn Noah. Insulted, the fae planned the kingdom’s downfall.

First, by ordering a band of fairies to kidnap Noah. They were found not even a few days later, with even the king and queen themselves searching. However, due to being a newborn, and with the kidnappers not making any of the necessary accommodations, Noah died of exposure.

The two slaughtered the band right then and there.

Obrynes saw this as a savage attack on their kingdom. As an example of the feral and monstrous natures of the Albtraum. They sent their condolences for the loss of the prince, but argued that there were more civil ways to handle it. Their arguments proved hypocritical though, as even with Dominic and Melua offering their own heads as atonement, the fae still moved to destroy their kingdom.

Curses were placed on the royal children. By the very man who started it all. For Dmitri who had argued that Mikhail’s place was in his home, a curse of flames that would burn him if he’d ever come home. For Lazuli who’d said they would die for their loved ones, a curse to always die at the hands of those very loved ones. And for Mikhail, as proud and arrogant as he was, to be reduced to a mindless beast with each full moon. To become a monster, even to his own people.

To make matters worse, word of the events passed around, stirring up fear in surrounding nations. And believing the Albtraum to be a power to be feared, they launched a war. A short lived affair that saw the annihilation of the kingdom of beasts. Survivors were sold into slavery. The land was split among the victors. But what was left of the royal family and nobles disappeared along with the castle.

For years afterwards, Mikhail tried his best to control himself. Helped by the magic and songs of his sister. However, one night the curse got the better of him, and he murdered her. And with her last breath, Lazuli cursed him. No matter how much he wanted to die, from loneliness or guilt, she would never allow him to die until he can make every flower in the gardens bloom.

This was centuries ago. With the current stories following the Von Friedhof family and their current situations.

Mikhail (The Beast / Big Bad Wolf)

Mikhail travels Istoriya within Einsam, the Albtraum castle that walks upon magically fueled mechanical legs, along with the survivors of noble families. Constantly moving in an attempt to prevent Dmitri from coming home and secretly wishing his brother settles down somewhere and is living happily.

With Einsam coated in a cloaking magic and protected via the thorns that grow around it, Mikhail is merely trying his best to live in obscurity. He hears that him and his castle are a myth to the current residents of Istoriya and he is fine with that. Occasionally, the residents of the castle try to sneak out and hunt humans or other creatures, but he rules over them with an iron fist. Not tolerating any needless murder so long as they want refuge here. Mikhail himself locks himself in his room during full moons.

Along his travels, he is trying to find a way to remove his family’s curses, or a way to revive Lazuli, whose corpse he keeps in the castle encased in a sealing magic. He is also trying to find a way to break her curse so he can die, driven by guilt and grief. But no matter what he tries, all the plants he brings into the garden dies almost immediately.

For a possible story, I imagine he once interacted with a child who nearly wandered into the Einsam when bringing food to their grandmother, wanting to pick some flowers. Mikhail, though hiding his identity, he scares the child off. Though does leave some flowers on their doorstep. Then years later, for whatever reason, the child, now grown, manages to get into the castle. Mikhail now has to hide and protect them, trying to pass them off as a beastman to trick the others.

Dmitri (Icarus/???)

Dmitri has been wandering all these years. Wanting to get home, even if it hurts him. Knowing that the castle moves, but not knowing where Mikhail is taking it, Dmitri has just been wandering aimlessly, hoping he’ll just accidentally stumble upon the castle one day. Meeting many different people and experiencing different things.

I don’t have too much of a story for him yet. But I do want him to pick up other travelers along the way. Maybe a first time adventurer or a veteran who he helped at one point. Someone who he met as a child but is now grown?

Maybe he gets captured and sold into slavery at one point? I’ll be able to figure out more when I get his fairy tale allusion down.

Lazuli (The Little Mermaid / Sleeping Beauty / Bluebeard’s Wife / Etc)

Lazuli has lived many lives in this time. Even being one of Bluebeard’s wives at one point. It never ends well though. With each life, her curse activates on her 15th birthday, which essentially turns people mad. The more people love her, romantic or platonic, the more they have an urge to harm or kill her. With each life she has died young at the hands of people who care about her. And while she never remembers her past lives, she does have dreams about them.

In this life, she was born a mermaid of Meer who befriends a witch (maybe a childhood friend?). Eventually, she falls for a human and begs the witch to help her gain legs. Not sure if they love her, but the witch would care about her. Enough so that they say they’ll do it for her voice, knowing how much she loves singing. So when she agrees, it’d be surprising. But nonetheless they do it.

Then the story continues the same for a while. Prince and her have a thing going on until he decides to marry someone else. Witch tells her she can live if she stabs the prince in the heart, but she says no.

Then there are 2 possible endings. Either they do nothing and she turns to sea foam, starting the cycle all over again. Or the witch goes to stab the prince in the heart. Lazuli wakes up to see herself still alive but she can’t find the witch. Maybe the witch finds out about the curse and is therefore avoiding her? Who knows. Either way she goes traveling to find her friend. Traveling as a singer because in her words, the witch loves her voice so there is no way they can resist coming to hear more.

With all three living their own stories, I do want them all to meet somehow, though not sure how. And then stuff happens. Maybe they try to find a way to remove the curse together. Maybe Lazuli dies again, but this time they put her soul back in her original body? Shenanigans? Who knows?

Trivia about Marchen Verse:

Dmitri, Mikhail, Lazuli and Noah are all full siblings. With Dominic and Melua being all their parents.

Bird Lazuli has the same magic as her Imperial verse version, but mermaid Lazuli has no magic other than switching from mermaid to human forms at will.

Stag Dmitri gives best rides.

Cursed Mikhail’s beast form is not a straight up panther, but an oversized cat-like beast with wings, horns, tusks, a dual-snake tail, 2 *****, 4 eyes, hooves for the hind legs, clawed forelegs and breathes fire!

#{Marchen} Fairy Tale Verse #long post #goddamn that took forever

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webwingalpha · 7 years

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[The Mischievous Mage]

Perhin Nightglow is a very recent addition to the Empire, having requested to join not long after he found out that that Emperor Iaeste, a close friend and former mate, had been returned from being captured. They had known each other for quite a long time, only splitting ways completely when Perhin’s father and a few other dragons decided to move off to the Shadow territory after living in Earth for a long time, and he wanted to go with them. Even though they broke up their loving relationship, it was completely mutual, and the two are still good friends. Until Perhin’s arrival at the Empire, the two communicated through letters and writing, making sure they kept in contact, and kept each other updated on what was going on, including Iaeste’s move to the Fire territory years before.

Perhin only grew up physically with his father, for his mother, The Shadowbinder didn’t live with them, though She contacted them mentally and in dreams quite often. Due to his lineage, he is a powerful natural Mage, his magic being what he is best at. Any type of Shadow magic, he can do with ease, from bolts to melting into the shadows to illusions. Even though he has little physical strength, which is quite apparent in his dainty and feminine build, he is still a dangerous opponent in battle due to his magical strength. Though, honestly, and it’s something he doesn’t admit out loud, but he doesn’t know what he’d do if rendered unable to do his magic, even though he doesn’t completely rely on it. It’s still an important part of him, and the only way he can really defend himself when in danger.

The Opal scarring along his body is due to taking some nasty magic damage in the war his birth clan was involved in for years, a war that was going on before he was born. He had been a kid when it happened; someone had sneaked into his bedroom to steal him due to the individual thinking he could get leverage by nabbing him, but was caught, and upon doing so, blasted both him and his caretaker with magic before fleeing. Perhin survived the blast, and perhaps it was due to his bloodlines that he lived, or at least didn’t end up worse, while the caretaker had died almost immediately. He somehow still remembers that night, though really, he wishes he could remove it from his memories forever.

He met Iaeste not long after the war ended, when they moved to the Earth territory, and the young Skydancer was a little intrigued by him, having not met a Skydancer outside of his family before. They became friends fast, and eventually mates as well, though they broke off mutually later. They’re still close, but Perhin wonders if he still feels that way towards the other dragon, at least slightly, but not enough to feel jealous over the fact he has someone else now, nor enough to feel like pursuing said feelings again. He’s fine with being close friends, and now, he’s glad to be around him again, for talking to him in letters was just not the same. Needless to say though, he was amused to learn why the Emperor’s appearance had changed, since that was something he noticed right away, that Iaeste did not have the Poison gene anymore. The fact it came from an accident is something that will always amuse him.

The Shadow clan he and those other dragons moved to was known as the Shards of Night clan, which ended up being decimated by a group, a large group, of cloaked dragons. Unfortunately, he was likely the only survivor; even his father and the immortal leaders of that clan were killed. He’s still melancholy about the whole thing, even though it had been years ago, and even though he tries not to think about it. The time between that and joining the Empire, he was a wanderer, not staying in any place for long. He wasn’t sure about settling down again, not until he found out the news about Iaeste and realized that then, that could possibly be his new home.

He’s a friendly sort, not hugely talkative when around only others he doesn’t know, but he does his best to interact just the same. It’s unlikely for him to be quiet for a long time, at least when he’s not alone; he doesn’t like being completely quiet. He’s easily amused, though he’s not one to laugh at everything, he’s quite playful, having a mischievous streak miles wide. He finds it fun to play tricks on others, usually minor and harmless tricks, but tricks just the same, and they, along with the reactions, never fail to make him laugh. He is very good at keeping a straight face though, so no one ever knows when he’s plotting something like that. Either way, he does do his best to keep the tricks from hurting anyone, physically or mentally, for he doesn’t like hurting others, them or their feelings. He’s also though, pretty sensitive, and occasionally does take things a bit more badly than others would. Sometimes things not meant to be hurtful does bother him, and can put him in a not so good mood for a while. Either way though, he still doesn’t get angry easily at all. It takes a lot to incite anger from him, and it may be the only negative emotion that’s very hard to pull from him. He’s also very good at lying, something that comes naturally to him, and he is most certainly not intimidating and can’t really get to be that way, unless he manages to get angry enough.

He also reveres Rashida, a god also known as the Wishkeeper, and is very devoted to Him. He made sure to get a shrine for Him at the Empire, and does visit it at least once a day.

He’s high-ranked, and therefore, even though he does like coming out into the city, he’s a sight often not expected. He likes spending time in the city, even if it’s just walking around alone, or sneaking around to pull a trick on someone. He does his best not to seem intimidating even with his status, and has been seen in conversations with certain dragons in the city, including ones like Johnson and Cienne, two individuals he will come to enjoy the presence of as time passes.

@memoriam-fr (if anyone else wants to be pinged for these let me know!)

#The Great Iron-Forged Empire #we the iron-forged #l: Perhin #lore post!#flight rising #fr #my dragons #fr dragon share #dragon share #yeah I caved in and brought him into my lair #makes sense though #since yeah he'd visit Iaeste after hearing he got captured and hurt #I remember when I didn't have much for this guy but now...#this is.... longer than I expected it to be omg

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