#i plan to draw him a more changeling like form at some point but for now i am sleeby

[xxpuppy-teethxx]

zazie "totally unassuming earth pony" the beast

#i love zazie so much actually theyre my angle princess #certified pain in the ass my beloved #i plan to draw him a more changeling like form at some point but for now i am sleeby #i wanted to make him a pegasus but i feel like hed be an earth pony to come off as helpless as possible lol #also i think hes comfortable in pony form and doesnt mind blending in with society all the time #being a changeling is whatever to him #i dont have anything else to add i just love him #mlp #my little pony #my little pony friendship is magic #mlp art #zazie #zazie the beast #changling #mlp changeling #trigun #trigun stampede

[earth-ambassador-jim]

Parent/Mentor Swap AU

The swaps:

Aaarrrgghh – Bular

Blinky – Nomura

Barbara – Strickler

 Yeah so this was meant to just be a short explanation but it’s not so please enjoy my 2500ish word backstory for this AU. (Jim will still be the Trollhunter.)

Bular

Shortly before the Battle of Killahead Bridge Bular is talking with his father about their plans for their future kingdom. In the course of the discussion Gunmar reveals that he wants to eliminate all humans and bring about a literal Eternal Night. (Gunmar has talked about the Eternal Night before but Bular assumed it was a metaphor.)

Bular doesn’t like humans per say. He definitely agrees that their numbers need to be reduced. He certainly wants them to be cast down into the dust and subjected to the rule of trollkind…

But he doesn’t want them gone.

The thought has frankly never occurred to him.

Humans are pests but they are tasty and create useful things. The world will be worse off without them.

The second point is even worse. Bular may be rash at times but he is not a fool. Trolls may not survive under the sun but they won’t survive without it either. Bular has traveled far and wide recruiting trolls for Gunmar’s cause. He’s seen what the Northern Lands become during the winter when for a time the sun ceases to rise.

Based of off that he has a fairly good idea of what the surface will become like under the Eternal Night and it is not desirable. There is no point in taking over the surface only to decimate it.

He tries to argue these points but his father will not listen. Eventually shutting the conversation down entirely with a warning snarl.

Bular is left uneasy. He wonders if it is wise for Gunmar to be the ruler anymore. He wonders if there might be more substance to the rumors of his father’s madness then he thought.

As the War comes to a head and the Battle of Killahead Bridge draws near, Bular tries to convince his father to change his mind. He receives only growls, sneers and a couple beat downs for his trouble.

Eventually he decides that other measures must be taken.

He considers starting an uprising but he doesn’t want to kill his father. Eventually he learns of Deya’s plan to banish Gunmar into the Darklands and decides to assist her. He thinks that spending some time in a world without humans or the sun might bring Gunmar to his senses.

Unfortunately Gunmar learns of this.

Bular, not wanting to fight his father, flees. Gunmar can’t leave to pursue his son, so he sends a detachment of soldiers lead by his most trusted general Aaarrrgghh after him.

Centuries later he comes to Arcadia. He is not accepted by the local troll population for a very long time. They don’t believe he’s really changed sides. It also doesn’t help that unlike Cannon!Aaarrrgghh he is not a pacifist. (He has sworn off eating humans however.) He eventually wins them over by helping the Kanjigar protect Trollmarket. He’s brought into the market for the first time because his energy drops to dangerously low levels (he’s completely catatonic when Kanjigar finds him) because he hasn’t been near a heartstone for centuries and doesn’t eat humans anymore. (I headcannon that eating humans allows for trolls to live away from a heartstone because humans produce a similar energy but in very small amounts).

 Aaarrrgghh

Aaarrrgghh’s origin story is the same as in cannon: he was given to Gunmar by Usurna to be his champion.

In this story he doesn’t switch sides at the battle of Killahead. Seeing the destruction wrought by humans on uninvolved trolls leads him to believe that Gunmar is in the right about wiping them out. When the battle of Kilahead happens, he and his detachment of soldiers become the only Gum Gums outside of the Darklands (or rather the only known Gumm-Gumms) because they were hunting for Bular at the time.

Aaarrrgghh works rather loosely with the changelings as well as doing “recruiting” of more trolls to the Gumm-Gumm cause. (More like threatening into obedience).

Aaarrrgghh comes to Arcadia when he learns of the Trollmarket and Trollhunter’s presence there.

Aaarrrgghh’s presence combined with his small battalion results in more skirmishes with Trollmarket than in cannon. Bular and Draal work with Kanjigar to protect trolls that go out to scavenge against the Gumm-Gumms. The Janus Order has their hands full keeping the constant fighting secret.

Aaarrrgghh generally stays in Barbara’s basement which has a tunnel connecting it to the sewer system. (Disguised with magic so Trollmarket trolls and maintenance workers don’t find it.)

He often leaves the window open and tries to lure cats in for him to eat. This is how he meets Toby.

Toby happens to be looking for one of their missing cats. He finds paw prints leading to the open basement window. He attempts to get in the window but is shoved back by a pole. (Aaarrrgghh has been told repeatedly to not eat the neighbors since this will draw to much scrutiny and they will have to find him a new den if he does.) This distracts him from the cat as he is now more interested in learning about the strange something living in the basement of what he thought was an unoccupied house. He starts asking Aaarrrgghh (who he can’t see) questions about himself and Aaarrrgghh (who isn’t quite sure what to do in this situation) awkwardly responds.

Eventually Toby falls into the habit of visiting Aaarrrgghh’s basement window in the evening and jabbering to him about his day. He brings him little treats and will occasionally ask him questions.

Aaarrrgghh ends up growing fond of him and decides that while he doesn’t like humans in general this one is okay and he starts making plans to keep Toby alive after Gunmar returns.

  Blinky (Bartholomew Georgiou)

Blinky is given as a whelp to the Gum-Gumms by his brother Dictacious (who was working as a spy for Gunmar at the time) and made into a changeling. He’s slightly older than Barbara.

Blinky works at the Arcadia museum. He is in the habit of swapping out old, rare books with exact replicas so he can horde the originals in his secret library.

He has an incredible collection of books from many ages and places. He guards them zealously. Entering his library without permission is suicide and generally ends in the offender being blown to pieces by one of Blinky’s booby traps.

He has very few books of Trollish origin and would do just about anything for more.

 Nomura

Nomura was stolen by the Gumm-Gumm’s when she was a child but her parents survived the initial raid and several decades later they are able to rescue her. Her time with the Gumm-Gumm’s have left its mark, however, and she no longer fit the other trolls in her clan. Her family eventually moves to Dwoza Trollmarket.

She doesn’t really fit in with the younglings her age there either but she makes friends with the archivist. He eventually takes her on as his apprentice and when he passes she takes over as the Trollmarket librarian. She takes her job very seriously and does not tolerate loss or abuse of books.

She becomes friends with Draal (due to having similar temperaments) and later she becomes the first troll to truly accept Bular in the Arcadia Trollmarket.

 Barbara

Barbara is a 700(ish) year old changeling (equivalent of 40-50 human years) and the head of the Janus Order. She’s still a doctor and has the most knowledge of how troll and human bodies work of any one person on the planet. This is partially due to how long she’s been alive but also to the large number of often highly unethical experiments she’s carried out on both species.

Barbara meets James Sturges when she’s working on retrieving a piece of the Killahead Bridge in Maine (officially she’s just a nurse at the hospital named Janet). They hit it off and start dating. Barbara finds his expectations for how she’s supposed to act a little annoying but it suits the role she’s currently playing so she goes along with them.

Then James makes the mistake of breaking one of Barbara’s rules and goes through some of her off-limits stuff, so she kills him and disposes of the body.

She assumes that’s the end of that but about 4 months later when she tries to shift into troll form she can’t. Aside from a curse, there is one thing that will prevent a changeling from shifting back into a troll. A trip to the local pharmacy confirms it: she’s pregnant.

This is certainly a dilemma.

Until she’s done with the pregnancy (one way or another) she’s trapped in her human form.

In the past she would have had an abortion without a second thought, but with Gunmar’s release and the destruction of the human race drawing closer and closer this will probably be her last real opportunity to experience pregnancy. So out of pure scientific curiosity she decides to go through with it.

Quite a few arrangements have to be made but soon she’s on her way to her hidden cabin out in a remote area of Alaska.

The pregnancy and birth go well and soon she is the mother to a little boy. She names him James after his father, figuring that will keep her from getting attached. She plans to keep him for two or three years to observe his growth and see if any changeling traits manifest after which point she’ll drop him off at an orphanage or something. As far as the Janus Order can tell human-changeling unions produce completely human children, but one can never beat first hand observation and experience.

She initially chalks up the warm and mushy feelings she’s getting to hormones. It isn’t until Jim is about two and a half that she’s tucking him into bed one night and Jim gives her a sleepy smile and leans into her hand that she realizes that she really truly loves him.

This was not in the plan.

After Jim is asleep, Barbara calmly goes outside and devotes an hour to cursing. (One of the perks of living centuries is that she’s had ample opportunity to amass an extensive collection of swear words.) After that she feels a lot calmer and more ready to look at the situation in a rational manner.

The fact of the matter is that she genuinely cares about Jim. She’s developed feelings for people in the past but it’s always been something she’s been able to pass off as part of her cover. (She still misses her pirate crew sometimes). Jim however is not. Barbara has a lot of enemies. If Jim’s relationship to Barbara is discovered he will never know peace and if Barbara keeps Jim around it will be discovered.

So it’s with a strangely heavy heart that Barbara realizes that this changes nothing: the best thing for Jim is for her to give him up.

On his third birthday she gives him some tea that will make sure he stays soundly asleep. Barbara can’t go through the legal process of giving up a child because: A. Jim does not exist in any legal manner and B. As changelings are everywhere and Barbara is well known (infamous really) there is a very real possibility that someone would find out. So she leaves him on the doorstep of a foster family she has carefully vetted out as responsible and trustworthy and keeps watch from some hidden cameras until she knows he has been found and is going to be taken care of. With him are a note with his date of birth and first name and a necklace with a pendant carved from Barbara’s own stone (Barbara isn’t very good at magic but she was able to enchant it with a simple protection and luck spell.).

Once she’s satisfied that Jim will be cared for she goes on her way and forces herself to not look back.

Nine years later she moves to Arcadia and three years after that she is very shocked to find a found add describing the Amulet of Daylight of all things. She calls the number but is told that the amulet was already claimed. Further investigation reveals that the amulet has chosen its first human bearer (or so everyone thinks). Barbara feels a bit of a twinge in her heart when she learns that the new Trollhunter is about the same age her son would be and that his name is Jim but doesn’t think too much of it. There are a lot of Jims in the world after all and she left hers in Alaska.

She immediately arranges a very minor “accident” as an excuse to make contact with his father in order to keep an eye on him.

 Walter

Walter Strickler is a history teacher at University of Alaska Anchorage. He enjoys his life and his job but there’s one thing lacking: he’s always wanted a child.

He’s had a few relationships over the years but none have ever stuck. He’s also of the opinion that he shouldn’t go into a relationship specifically with the end goal of having a kid.

He weighs his options and decides that he’s financially very stable at the moment. His work hours are consistent and he can afford to cut back a little; especially since his stock investments have been doing well in the recent years. All things considered: he decides he’s in a place that he can be a single parent.

He begins looking into adoption.

Eventually he finds Jim. As Jim has no parents or relations on record, the adoption is relatively simple.

Jim is very shy at first (having spent his life so far out in the woods with only his Mom for company). Eventually he warms up to Walter and then becomes very clingy. Living with only one other person for his early years and then being left behind has left Jim with some attachment issues.

Walter ends up taking him to his classes where he sits in the back and doodles while Walter lectures. He’s a rather quiet kid (most of the time) so this works out well. Walter’s students adopt him as the class mascot.

When Jim is five, right before he’s ready to start Kindergarten, Walter’s mom falls ill. Walter is an only child, so after some debate he ends up moving back to his hometown of Arcadia, California to care for her.

He meets Nancy Domzalski through the chest club and through her Jim meets Toby. The two boys become fast friends.

When Walter’s mother passes away four years later, he decides to stay in Arcadia. Jim is well settled and Walter enjoys his job teaching history at Arcadia High School.

Things are going well.

Then his son finds a strange blue amulet in the canal. It looks fairly expensive so Walter puts a found add up and assumes the owner will give him a call. Then settles down to work on grading papers.

He is definitely not prepared when his son, sitting across the table from him, reads an incantation off the amulet and starts floating.

He is even less prepared when a large stony monster the size of a large grizzly barges into their house.

Bular attempts to explain the situation to the father-son duo but they both faint from terror.

Not quite sure what else to do he wraps them up in a tarp and takes them to Trollmarket. He figures Vendal can sort it out.

#Trollhunters #Tales of Arcadia #Bular #walter strickler #Barbara Lake #Blinky #blinkous galadrigal #Aaarrrgghh #Nomura #jim lake jr #James Lake Jr #my posts #my writing #my AUs #Parent/Mentor Swap AU #Parent Swap AU #Mentor Swap AU #I need a better name for this #feel free to make suggestions

[mitamicah]

Here’s my new ToA OC, a non-binary masculine changeling by the name of Mars (alt. spelling MAR5) Pelantová :3 I love how goth they ended up looking and I am looking forward to draw them together with the ToA cast :3 (more under the lines) 

Full Name: Mars Pelantová (first name can be written as MAR5) 

Nicknames: n/a

Gender: Non-binary - goes by they/them and occassionally he/him pronouns 

Age: 98*

Birthday: January 17 1923*

Origin: Darklands/Praque, Czech Republic (back then Czechoslovakia) 

Live(s) in: somewhere in New Jersey 

Species: Changeling 

Height: 6,2’’/190 cm human; 7,1’’/216 cm troll

*This is in human years: they lived longer in the Darklands before this 

Sexuality: Pansexual 

Romanticism: Demiromantic 

Personality: 

Mars can be described as a tall, thin tree swaying in the wind or a lazy cat resting in the sun: most of the time they have an air of indifference around them yet in a very lighthearted manner like nothing can get on their nerves. Yet when time calls to action they are like a viper: they’ll act so fast you won’t know what hit you - or stole your wallet - before it is too late. In their trollform they prefer a whip as their weapon of choice since it - like themselves - is quick hitting and to the point. Mars are a rebel of heart, always sceptical about any person in power - you won’t get them to work for you, the only time they are willing to be helpful if your goals line up. They are expressive in their way of expressing themselves with a goth like clothing style, dyed hair and makeup. At first glance Mars look way more flamboyant and extroverted than they actually are. They find comfort in playing with gender norms and have identified as non-binary long before leaving the Darklands. While they seldom talk or share ideas within a group they are reliable to get the job done and to stay loyal when you have formed a connection with them. They play a mean guitar especially in guitar solos where their fingers are as fast and precise as their whip mastering skills tho since they seldom find it important to tell others about their skills nor to show off in solos, they’ll mostly play as a rhythm guitarist in hobby bands. While not verbally supportive nor empathetic their steadfast personality makes them a good shoulder to cry on if needed. 

Backstory

Mars are a fan character of the Tales of Arcadia franchise (Trollhunters, 3Below, Wizards and upcoming movies Rise of the Titans) where they are of the species called a changeling. The changelings are trolls with a connection to a child on Earth - called their human familiar - that they’ll switch sides with at one time making it so the changeling takes over the identity and body of the human child, while the child lives in a toddler stage for centuries in the darklands. This way the trolls, that were created by Morgana le Fay and meant to serve her and the Gumm-Gumm lord Gunmar, can infiltrate the human world without being spotted nor burned up in the sun. As we saw in the series Trollhunters with Not!Enrique the changeling can live thousands of years in the Darklands before switching lives with a human child. Eloise Stemhower is another important case since we learn that her human familiar was born in 1894 making it likely that the changelings stop aging at some point making them blend in with humans or they might age slowly in their human bodies like wizards in the show. 

Mars are born as one of the younger changelings in the darklands already before his second birth on Earth starting to question the rule of the Gumm-Gumm king. They never like the brutality of the Gumm-Gumms finding these trolls to be way too excited about battle and human flesh. Instead Mars would hang out by themselves enjoying the silence and beauty of the underground caves. 

When they were chosen to serve their time on Earth they bonded with their human familiar, an assigned female at birth toddler of a bohemian family in the newly formed Czechoslovakia. Having had centuries to come to terms with their gender identity as a non-binary masculine creature, Mars quickly decided to push the gender roles in their new role as a czechoslovakian school girl. Only in the household did Mars go by their deadname - the name given to the human familiar at birth - at school Mars corrected people to call them Mars or at times the alternative spelling of MAR5. 

While Czechoslovakia in this moment in time was one of the most prosperous countries in Europe, queerness was still frowned upon. Mars’ parents were not in favour of them being transgender and into same sex attractions - Mars being openly pansexual - so especially the father threatened to throw Mars on the street more than once. Yet while the parents hoped the threats would make their daughter behave, Mars already having no care for authority figures grew less and less invested in their empty threats. When the Sudetenland part of the country- most occupied of people with a German background - allied with the Nazi party in 1938, 15 year old Mars grew suspicious of the development, faked their own death and went underground. Their family got their wish of not having Mars around to stain their family name anymore, and Mars managed to sneak themselves through Europe until they found a way to sail to the new world of the United States. Mars see their instincts about what the influence of the Nazis would become as their proudest moment, bailing out of Europe as quickly as they could. 

Arriving in the new world, Mars were commanded to go to California to go undercover in the city of Arcadia as a spy on the Hearthstone trollmarket. Rebellious Mars disapproved of the orders and went sightseeing through America instead. They wouldn’t stay long in each state finding the life of a college student to be the most pleasant and freeing, so they pretended to be a student in every new state they arrived in, living out the four years of school before moving to a new city and/or state. At this rate they did end up in Arcadia after all attending the same college as one Hisirdoux Casparan, the two of them hanging out a few times jamming after school. 

Morgana revealed herself and brought back the eternal night at the day of the battle of the band - an event Mars had decided not to attend since they didn’t feel like practicing for it. After centuries of planning the sorcerer and the Gumm-Gumm king finally had a shot of taking over the surface, yet instead of helping them, Mars would fight their former leaders in the shadows away from the main fight. When the guardians of Arcadia put a stop to Morgana and Gunmar, and the changeling, known as Not!Enrique, together with the Gnome Chompsky freed the human familiars, Mars together with the rest of the changelings got stuck in their troll forms. 

For the first time in forever Mars decided to settle down, moving with the other trolls to build a new trollmarket in New Jersey, becoming the closest Mars ever got to a teamplayer. Today they live in Jersey and are seen as more of a free spirit that sometimes will be helpful if you ask but most of the time you cannot rely on them doing anything that is not in their own interest. 

#oc #original character #fancharacter #toa oc #tales of arcadia #toa #changeling oc #nonbinary oc #digital art #my own art #mine #mars pelantova

[ectogeo-art]

For the WIP ask meme: honeypot?

WIP ask meme

Another WIP inspired by the blessedly cursed galaxy-brained thoughts of the wonderful @the-last-dillards !!! XD

Basically, it’s Inquisition, but instead of Julian getting kidnapped and gaslit by Sloan on his way to a medical conference, Julian goes to the conference as planned and is seduced by Sloan there.

How that goes down is: Sloan is looking to recruit Dr. Julian Bashir to S31. He reads his dossier, noting Julian’s interest in spies and aliens, and forms a plan to honeypot him at a conference. Sloan disguises himself as a Vulcan (named S’loan, lol). He poses as a Starfleet Intelligence agent who is incompetently posing as a scientist/doctor. He approaches Julian and, after a very brief pantomime of pretending to just be a regular innocent conference attendee, captures his attention by admitting that he is on a mission to find a changeling spy who is at the conference. Julian is def intrigued, and wants to help save the day. He also kind of pities this guy. Even Julian, a doctor untrained in espionage, knows just from the lessons Garak used to give him on surveillance and spycraft that S’loan’s making some rookie mistakes. Anyway, they go back to Julian’s hotel room to make further plans of how to root out the impostor, but, first things first, they have to use some creative methods for detecting Changelings with each other, if you know what I mean. ;) ;) ;)

At this point in time, Julian and Garak are friends with benefits (bffs with benefits with MUTUAL PINING and FEELINGS and YEARNING). But Garak refuses to formalize their relationship or even to commit to their relationship being exclusive, so right now Julian’s maybe a little more open to sleeping around because he’s currently a little bit annoyed at Garak.

So, anyway, Sloan and Julian meet and then immediately bone, and then Garak gets wind of this and becomes very suspicious of Sloan (Julian dismisses his concerns, assuming he’s just jealous). Garak immediately hops on a transport to go to the conference and save Julian from whatever Sloan is up to, and then I assume some shenanigans happen that I haven’t figured out yet, and eventually Garak finally admits he loves Julian.

I’ve put the scenes that I’ve written so far below the cut. (~1.2k words) It’s very cursed, but also hilarious, I hope! XD

Content warnings: N $ F W!!!!! Very E-rated Julian/Sloan scene!

S’loan grunted as he slammed into Julian, over and over. Their flesh slapped together rhythmically, frantically, wetly. Julian was on his knees, face pressed into the mattress, panting in pleasure.

It wasn’t at all like being with Garak. At the moment, Julian didn’t mind the change of pace. Garak fucked him slow and thorough, attentively caressing every bit of him; kissing him tenderly with their eyes locked together; twisting and grinding deep deep deeper into him rather than sliding in and out, his tip writhing teasingly against Julian’s prostate; only drawing himself back to pound into him at the end when they were both tantalizingly on edge, desperate for release. And afterwards, as they lay in each other’s arms, sated, hearts racing against each other, Julian would always pretend that they were in love—if only just for a moment before Garak would inevitably get up and return to his own quarters.

But this was nothing like that. For one thing, S’loan was smooth in all of the places that Julian had gotten used to feeling textured ridges rubbing against him, and inside him. For another, this right now was purely physical. It was rough and impersonal and straightforward, though Julian had to admit that is was a little bit thrilling too, in a way that his now-familiar romps with Garak weren’t. All-in-all, it was all exactly what Julian needed to distract him from the complicated mess of his feelings for Garak.

As S’loan neared completion, a sound chimed on the hotel room’s subspace viewscreen. “Incoming transmission from—”

“Garak! Ahhh!” Julian cried out in sudden recollection of the planned call from his friend, just as he received S’loan’s own incoming transmission.

Julian immediately pulled away, letting S’loan’s softening length slide out of him.

“So sorry, I forgot that my friend was going to call,” Julian said while quickly pulling on a pair of sweat pants. “I’ll just tell him I’ll call right back...”

“No, no, take as much time as you need. Don’t miss your call on my account. I’ll just take a shower, and be on my way.”

Julian nodded, and sat down in front of the screen. His heart was pounding, maybe just from the sexual exertions of a minute ago. It wasn’t like he’d done anything wrong (besides losing track of time). Hopefully S’loan would just get dressed and slip out the door. Garak didn’t even have to know about him.

Lube and cum seeped out of him making an uncomfortable wet spot in his pants.

He took a deep breath and answered the call.

~

Julian’s image appeared on the screen. “Hi, Garak!” Julian said cheerfully.

Garak blinked. Julian was shirtless, hair mussed, chest heaving like he was out of breath. “Did I... interrupt something?”

Julian shifted in his chair. “Of course not, but I, um, may have lost track of the time, and, um,” Julian stammered. Julian looked off to the side, definitely looking at someone.

A Vulcan with dirty blond hair stepped behind Julian, leaning over him to whisper in his ear. Julian smiled at him. “Oh, yeah, sure, my things are right over there... So, um, Garak, this is S’loan. S’loan, this is Garak.”

“How nice to meet you,” S’loan said.

Garak’s nostrils flared. He was jealous, there was no denying it. But more than that he was immediately suspicious of this S’loan character.

Garak put on the overly sweet, bemused smile he reserved for his worst enemies. “Charmed, I’m sure.”

Julian rolled his eyes. He’d definitely noticed the sarcasm, but S’loan hadn’t seemed to.

S’loan kissed the side of Julian’s head—and Garak was pleased to see that Julian leant a little bit away from the affection—then left them alone.

“Enjoying the conference? I see that you’ve been, ah, ‘networking,’ as they call it.”

S’loan crossed the room and began rooting around in Julian’s bags.

“Garak,” Julian hissed, “you don’t get to be jealous! I invited you here, and you refused because it would have meant declaring yourself officially my boyfriend on Starfleet paperwork. Besides, you can have me any way you want when I get back next week.”

Garak watched in distaste and distrust as S’loan continued throwing Julian’s luggage into disarray. Garak had carefully folded and organized all of those clothes when he’d helped Julian pack, and now S’loan was rifling through them haphazardly, likely leaving them in a crumpled pile to get wrinkles.

“I just don’t see the need to formalize our relationship with such labels,” Garak said.

“And you are the one who always says we shouldn’t be exclusive.”

S’loan finally pulled out shampoo and deodorant from the bottom of one bag. Garak hoped that he’d found what he was looking for and would leave, but instead S’loan simply moved on to the next and continued disturbing Julian's belongings.

“Merely so that we don’t get too attached to or dependent upon each other.”

Julian sighed. “Well, what if I want to—”

“He’s taking your phaser, Julian,” Garak said, with some alarm.

Julian shrugged, not even glancing over his shoulder. “He said he sometimes uses a phaser to keep his haircut looking sharp.”

Garak scoffed. He could not fathom the worldview in which a Vulcan bowl cut looked sharp, nor could he fathom so casually letting a total stranger look through your things.

“Garak, he’s Starfleet. I trust him.” He lowered his voice. “And, come on, even if your most paranoid thoughts about him were true, he’s not going to kill me on camera right after introducing himself to you.”

Garak waited until S’loan had disappeared into the refresher, and he heard the dull screaming of the sonic shower.

“That might not be his real name or face. Have you ever seen a Vulcan with that hair color before? Have you ever heard of a male Vulcan whose name didn’t end in ‘k’?”

“He’s half-human, half-Vulcan, which is probably why he has unusual hair and name.”

“Perhaps, but he could just as easily be a Romulan in disguise. The Tal Shiar can—”

“He’s not—” he started loudly, before dropping his voice to a whisper. “He’s not Tal Shiar! He’s Starfleet Intelligence, okay? And, yes, I checked his credentials. I’m not completely naïve, Garak,” he added with an eye roll.

“I would hope you would apply a similar level of distrust and scrutiny to any intelligence agent, even—especially—one who claims to be on your side.”

“Including you?”

“Yes, of course including me! Though, crucially, I haven’t ever pretended to espouse Federation values nor have I claimed to be on your side.”

Julian frowned. “No, you haven’t,” he muttered sourly.

“Julian... I strongly advise you not to trust him.” Garak knew that S’loan was trouble. Why wouldn’t Julian listen to him?

Julian shook his head softly. “I’m not saying that I trust him, but... I can’t live my life with your levels of paranoia, Garak.”

“No, I suppose not,” Garak sighed.

Well, if Julian wasn’t going to have healthy and appropriate amounts of distrust and suspicion, Garak would have to provide it for him. As their conversation turned toward lighter topics, such as the latest novel that they were reading and the research talks that Julian had attended today, a part of Garak’s mind was already thinking through the logistics of getting himself to the conference. He would leave immediately after the call ended.

~

[This one is very low priority and I don't really know where it's going. If anyone is interested in writing other scenes of this, I’d love to make it into a round robin, or some kind of collaborative fic! I don’t know how to make that kind of thing happen, hahaha, but let me know and if there's interest we can organize something! <3]

#my fic #ask game #wip ask meme #not tagging this one with the fandom tags #this one is a special treat i am inflicting specifically upon my followers #feel free to inflict it upon your own followers as well lol XD

[toaheadcanons]

General reaction time! Again, this will contain HEAVY SPOILERS FOR TALES OF ARCADIA AND RISE OF THE TITANS. SKIP THIS IF IT GOT THROUGH YOUR FILTER.

So, let's begin. Firstly, as beautifully visually executed as the movie was, I think we all could tell the full original team wasn't working on this part of the TOA project. Setting that aside for a moment though. Trust me on this.

I was SHOCKED at the animation quality this time around. TOA has almost always had pristine graphics, and a movie budget took things to a while new level. Well done, TOA animation team!! 🥰🥰🥰

The MagiScience Camelot. Can I live there? Also, do they live there?? It's sort of unclear, did everyone just decide after the end of Wizards to form their own little bubble or???

I'm curious as to whether the time loop could result in a sort of 'duplication glitch' for the Amulet. I'm putting my speculative stuff in yet another post, because WOW that ending gave my lil' brain a lot to work with

There were so many fantastic scenes intermixed with the not-so-great points. The Best Man scene. That whole sequence in which there's some Blaaarghy hinting sandwiched into the scene between the couples comforting each other. I just 🥺 I know there are a few dull points here, but that whole ten minute span is just so on point. I really wish that accuracy to the characterizations carried all the way through.

I really, REALLY need to know how much time passed between Wizards and ROTT. Really really. Like I know the kids were 15-16 at the start of season 1, and 16-17 by the end of season two, but from there time becomes quite nebulous. I'm speaking in age specifically for our human characters here, as we still have no idea about how the Akiridion, Wizard-Immortal and Trollish life cycles actually work. Like I get that now they're later teens to early adults in age, but considering some of the err, plot choices, I think it's important to know?

I'd love a series, a comic, hell a set of shorts even, where Steve gets some main character time. I really wasn't a fan of him being sidelined the whole time. Give me my Creepslayerz please, Mr. Netflix.

I've started to look at this less like a movie and more like Predacons Rising, a made-for-TV movie/special finale episode. Except, knowing DreamWorks, we also may be seeing the beginnig iteration of another "[name here] of Berk" style of different series, set in different points in time. ESPECIALLY with that ending.

Speaking of, I know a lot of folks were quite upset with the end. I was too for a while, but those braincells just keep on bouncing around, and I have an inkling that however they decide to show us the potential/alternate timeliness, we'll see them somehow.

I'm actually quite excited about the idea of Trollhunter!Toby. From the beginning, I always thought he'd turn out to unknowingly be half-Troll or a changeling or something. Boy has a natural inclination for stones and crystals, the teeth issues, his stature and body-shape, hell, he seems at home in the scenes in Trollmarket throughout the series.

Please, Mr. Netflix, show us what his armor looks like? 👉👈🥺

Okay, picking back up on this not being the original creative team. There were some significant missed opportunities here, not only to draw on previous character development [Steve is a knight, Toby could have used his hammer instead of the glowing sticky-magic, etc.] but also to draw on ideas from The Book that would have gone REALLY well here! Lol and here I was hoping for the "what counts as a bridge" scene. 🤡

For those who don't know, Trollhunters in its original form is a book that reads much like a movie. It features a much different Jim, a much different many characters in fact. There were actually a few references I did catch! If you haven't had a chance to read it and you'd like a palate cleanser, READ IT. Oh it's so good I so wish more people read the book-

Aaaaanyway, back to the topic. The reason I'm looking at this more like a special than a movie is because is feels like it should have been a special. Or a miniseries even, like Wizards. This was a bit much to pack into a <2h timeframe.

BUT, I also feel like they could have waited to spring a plot like this on us until they had a concrete "next steps" plan. If they had, say, separated the beginning of the loop from the film, and used it as the beginning of a Trollhunter!Toby [Insert media type here] teaser/trailer, I have a feeling I'd be more happy with it. Also, why replace Anton's voicework for the audition speech? That I am truly upset with. The loop itself is actually quite intriguing, though.

All in all, I'm honestly pretty satisfied with the film. It was brutal, don't get me wrong, and for future reference I'd like to know how much it cost Netflix to get it a Y7 rating. That said, the parts that were done well were done VERY well. Im interested to see, when the series crops back up, what the true plan is moving forward, but until then my name is my bond. I make TOA headcanons, and that's exactly what I'm going to do. Thank you all for getting on this roller coaster, it was one hell of a ride and I hope we get to do it again soon 😁

#rott #trollhunters #rise of the titans spoilers #rise of the titans #tales of arcadia spoilers #toa #tales of arcadia

[realityshiftingandblogging]

Explaining My DR

⚠️ Before you read, please keep in mind my DR is based from a lot of mythology. Please do not feel offended (I mean you can feel offended but I mean please don't feel like I'm purposely trying to offend you) if your group is not mentioned (such as magic users) or if they are misinterpreted. It's a DR based from the past and from old mythology and lore. It isn't going to be the same as the present. We are also using old terms and meanings. It's also based from an anime too. ⚠️

⚠️I'll also be updating this from time to time if I find more information I want to place. So if you ever get bored, just head on back and see if anything is new! ⚠️

Click read more to see~

What is my reality based from?

Mine is heavily referenced from an anime called "The Ancient Magus Bride." The anime itself is beautiful, and based off of many legends and mythology and it somehow blends together beautifully.

My reality is going to be somewhere in the 1700's (but without slavery and a few wars) because I am sharing my DR with my online friends (and those I classify as my online "Family") and we decided we wanted to see how much history we could change.

So far, we have decided to save Marie Antoinette.

The reality itself has "fae" who don't like to be called "Fairies" and would rather be called "neighbors." They are friendly, in their own way, though some can be aggressive but we have decided that we are safe from those and won't fight them. But here's a catch - you can't see them unless you have "The Sight." Some people do have the sight such as mages (a rare form of magic user in our reality) or "Sleigh Beggy" otherwise known as "Slay Vega."

Slay Vega's have the ability to see and attract fae. As Wiki put it:

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Sleigh Beggies are a type of human who have a natural affinity towards the fae and other supernatural entities, drawing their kind towards them unintentionally. Because their bodies naturally absorb magic but they typically lack the means of controlling it, they die fairly young. This is why, despite the fact that there are more Sleigh Beggy than natural-born mages, their numbers are few and far between. Sleigh Beggy are highly prized by both other sorcerers and fae. The former because their organs naturally absorb magic and so they can be used as batteries for magic and the latter because they are naturally drawn to them as they view Sleigh Beggy as being closer to their kind. This often brings them misfortune as well, because the fae drawn to them will act against their wishes, more so for those who are not gifted with the Sight and cannot see the fae. The fae's goodwill does not always result in the happiness and, when left to their own interpretation, their love and loyalty manifests into both luck and ill fortune. Sleigh Beggy unconsciously absorb a lot of magical energy, but lack the means of expressing it unless they are trained in magic or other methods. As a Sleigh Beggy draws attention from Fae, they will have little difficulty becoming mages if they find a mentor to train them and be capable of powerful magic.

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I will be a Sleigh Vega/Beggy but I will also have immortality, so I won't be hurt by this magic absorption; because of this the fae will be attracted to me and I can help my s/o with his magic too.

Other than Sleigh Beggys, what are there?

Well there are many magic types. For my DR we have

Sleigh Beggy: The rarest of all the types, even to the point they are even unheard of. They have the abilities of both a mage and sorcerer. They passively absorb and exude magic energy. Almost unlimited. However, their bodies are still human and they will eventually have pain from the constant strain. Fae are attracted to this type but their friendship isn't always beneficial to Sleigh Beggies. A Sleigh Beggy without a mentor or teacher may feel cursed being around them as they can't understand the world around them or why the Fae behave as they do.

Mages: Are magic users who absorb magic and cast spells using it or they borrow magic from Fae. However, this is draining for the caster.

Sorcerers: They are different from other magic users. They turn their own energy into magic to perform sorcery. Unlike the Mages, they don't contort or use the Natural Laws by breaking them, instead they study these laws and manipulate said laws.

Witches: Are magical users similar to mages, but the difference is they dive into more forbidden arts and choose to gather in groups known as covens.

The History Of Magic:

In the new age of mankind, some humans could perform what we know as "miracles.' They could see beings known as fae. Or live fairly longer than others. As time went on, these people passed on techniques, knowledge, skills and shared with each other what is now known as "Magic." Those who could possess it were known as "Mages."

But as time went on, less and less humans were born with this ability and due to the "Great War" many magical users died. Ever since then, it was unusual, rare, and strange to find humans with this ability. Eventually, this was hidden from the world to ensure the safety of the magic users.

Overview Of Magic

Magic is a result of using the energy inside your body or using the energy of the world around you. This is a process that is referred to as "Magic" or a "Miracle." While magic users can use the worlds natural laws or the use of magical beings they can also use magic with chants or wands.

For some sorcerers, they have a magical core that can "act" as an internal organ which generates magical energy. It can pass on through generations genetically. Sometimes there are some born with non-magical parents.

Magic can be used in many ways. The results vary depending on the use such as shape, form, or requirements needed. It can be used for teleportation, purification, and giving life to inanimate objects. It can also be used for attacks like summoning spikes, thorns, using shadows or light, or breathing fire.

Magic can also be used by Artificers, like Angelica, who makes magic tools such as rings or wands.

What Are Fae?

Fae, or Neighbors, are a race of magical beings who can use, conjure, or absorb magic for themselves or other beings. They can be found everywhere around the world, but they are most commonly found in Tir Na nÓg which is ruled by Titiana and Oberon.

This silly couple:

There are many different types such as Ariels, Banshees, Church Grims, Brownies, Changelings, Elfs, Fire Sprites, Muryans, Selkies, and Vodyanoi!

Each fae is capable of something different and some are friendly, and some are aggressive. Similar to humans XD.

Random Things About My DR

➭ Even though it's set in the 1700s we have plumbing and pipes for baths, phones we can use to contact eachother and see media from Jean's reality (a very close friend of mine), and we plan to make some technology early. Because why not???

➭ We plan to mess up history a bit because we want to see how much we can change. And before you say "that's forcibly changing lives" technically no. It's not like the CR. Period. It's the 1700s where magic exists. We're not forcing a change in anyone's life. We're just going to mess with historical events that were bound to happen one way or another. #and they literally could've changed with or without us.

➭ There's a magic library where fae can exist alongside humans without any issue. No one can harm eachother within the library. It's also a rest good place to nap and it's really cozy.

➭ We live in a small cottage away from the village, it has a small pond and a garden. And just along the path in the back there's a forest. Keeping going down the path and you'll find a passage to Tir na nÓg.

➭ What's Tir na nÓg? It's an old legend of a place where you never age, that is, if you can get there. It's a place full of fae and where the king and queen of fae live. The plants never wither or die and it's always lively.

➭ My DR backstory is that I'm born as a king's daughter. I have a brother and a sister. That's all. Father and brother are Castelios which is a family that was given powers by the demons or fae from the Great War. They tend to scare everyone, due to their aura, except close family. Not even close friends are used to the aura. Though my sister and I didn't develop this, which is rare. I'll shift around the time I first meet my dad and brother after my mother left me and my sister with them. (No it won't be traumatizing, it's just my choice.) I'll grow up within the castle walls and learning magic from my brother and sword fighting from my sister. I'll eventually convince my dad to let me go outside the walls, to which he agrees, where I'll try to mess around with history a bit. On my 16th birthday I'll meet Elias Ainsworth in the greenhouse outside the walls when I snuck away at night. A huge chunk of years later I plan to already be a mage under his mentoring and be married by then, and the cottage is just our choice despite having an estate somewhere else. I only have until age 18 scripted so far but if you ask in like.... a week from now I might have something fjsbdjsnskssm

➭ There's a hunting event where any knight (male or female) can enter and so can royalty. A person from their familiy (or really anyone) can give them their handkerchief and whoever's handkerchief they had will recieve all that they hunted. It's a way to symbolize popularity, typically you'd want the biggest game or the most. For example if I have my s/o my handkerchief then whatever he hunted will go to me. Similarly if he gave me his then whatever I hunted will go to him. The more admired a person is, the more handkerchiefs a person has to give out and they have more game.

(If you're anti-hunting I am very sorry if this just offended you so please don't @me djeanjss please.)

➭ We have a room in the library that has many windows leading to different DRs. There's a wall full of keys that open the windows because the windows can't be broken or opened without a key, phew. When you look through each window it has a different scenery because each is a different DR. They are usually labeled and if you want to enter that reality you have to open the window and to right through. That's how Jean and I get to eachothers realities and also contact eachother. We decided to connect our DRs in a way.

My Desired Reality Members:

First, my DR husband!

Elias Ainsworth!

He is a mage who is both fae and human, though no one knows why he was this way and it was hinted that he was cursed. He also my mentor who will teach me magic.

Appearance

He's taller than most humans, reaching around 6'7". Because of the curse, he doesn't look human though will take a human form using magic. He likes to decorate his horns with gold string that holds a red cloth to cover his face.

A Mood board of him:

Personality

He's very kind and polite (to most) but he's... not antisocial but not social either. He has a hard time relating to people (big mood) but he's like that because he has no understanding of the emotions he feels nor does he remember anything of his life before. Because of this, he's extremely fascinated with emotions. He decided to adopt a "gentleman" mannerism to seem more friendly. He closely studies others but finds it a bit hard to follow their example. He doesn't tend to lie - but if he doesn't know you or knows you slightly then he leaves out any bit of information and tries to hide things. Once you get to know him, he's not so secretive and more child-like. But despite that, he's very willing to make up for, amend, and apologize for any childish behavior that was out of line.

Jeans comment on Elias: "Elias: nice, tall, protective and sweet from what I know, lowkey shy and is trying to understand humans and in the anime is learning emotions AND AJJSJDJSJD thats so SWEET, has lots of money-"

His Magic Abilities

He can manipulate the shadows and he leans toward destructive magic. He can hide in the shadows and create thorns. This gave him the name, given by the fae, "Child of Thorn" or simply "Thorn" as well as "Pilum Murialis." He can also shapeshift and remove memories.

Myself! Online, I go by a few names but in any DR it's Estelle.

Appearance

I'll have waist length black hair, styled in either a braid or simply let down. I have pale skin, blue eyes, and a small birthmark on my collarbones.

Mood board of myself:

Personality

I'll have the same as I do here but I felt really weird typing it out so I'm going to use how my friend described me!

Jeans opinion on Estelle: "Estelle - very soft and caring, maternal I’d say, great listener, really fun to talk to, shy and introverted but SJDJJDKFODOSOSOD when she comes out of her shell, has lots of nice memes, overall a good person to talk to about problems or just to have fun with and MEME, video game and reading nerd HAJDJDJSJKS, sympathetic and empathetic, smart, understanding"

Skills

Mental link: An ability shared with Ruth. We have a shared mind and memory.

Shapeshifting: I can shapeshift into a Pheonix which I'll mainly only use for fun.

Healing: I can heal, either by a chant or with the help of fae or tools

Light manipulation: I can manipulate light and use it against or for people

{Before I get onto the subject about my kids. Yes, I do know them in the CR. I have raised Adam and Asher despite us being close in age, I've always been the more "motherly" figure in my friends and relatives lives. (And I have recently became a mother figure for Nutmeg for about three years now.) I've organized the appointments, cook, cleaned, been there emotionally and so on. I am Asher and Adams aunt as well, so before you ask "Isn't that weird?" In my opinion, no. There are many people I've met who are the same and just straight up become the mother figure in someone's life. I am young, but I've been doing this job for years and a few comments aren't going to stop me from my job.}

Artificer: I have artificer abilities that I typically use to make a creature called a "Maker." They simply like making things. They're smart but really emotional and made from fabric similar to a doll. They like to swear masks and they basically look like a fabric version of a Korok.

Nutmeg

Nutmeg will be my daughter in the future. She is also a person from this reality who sees me as a mother figure and I see her as a daughter. So we agreed this is something we wanted to do. How it will work is she will try shift to the future of my DR after i've been married for a few years. (And before you say "That's not possible!" or "That won't work!" Let me make it clear I said "try." We are going to try this and we have a code to and we scripted that if this isn't possible, the other us wouldn't know the code.) Nutmeg is the youngest of all of my kids.

Appearance

Nutmeg has hazel eyes with a yellowish color and freckles scattered across her nose and cheeks. She likes styling her brown and reddish hair into pig tails and she's typically seen in yellow.

Mood board of her:

Personality

She is very kind and doting, especially towards her siblings. She's not big into typical school but wants to go to the magic college for magic users. She likes baking and flower picking! She's very sweet towards fae and tries her best 100% of the time. A hugger and also someone who would bONK you if you upset her brothers or really anyone she cared about.

Jean's comment on Nutmeg: "Nutmeg - I’ve not talked to her much BUT SHES THE CUTEST WITTLE ANGEL BEAN, she’s super nice, worries/panics a lot for people from what I know, extremely caring, big gay and we love it (i once said to Estelle nutmeg can be a cottagecore lesbian and I just JSKSKSJDJDJ), loving towards y’all and it just makes me JSKDKDKDMDMMFJF"

Her skills

She has more celestial and healing magic that she got from my side. She can manipulate light, heal others, and manipulate the stars or use them as guides.

"Hey sweetie can you please not move that..."

Asher, Adam, and Her who secretly plotted to move the stars to prank astrologists with Jean's kids:

Adam

Another person who's shifting with us. He's the oldest of the siblings and he's a person I've actually raised in the CR from an early age.

Mood board of him:

Appearance

He has red eyes, taking after Elias and black hair that takes after me. He's the tallest of all the kids and typically has the more "mature" fashion by wanting to wear suits or formal attire.

Personality

He's typically the type to be stern and distant but once you know him he's more open and kind. He doesn't like people who judge and he's usually the type to do stuff he most certainly shouldn't jump into it. Adam to Asher in our Discord server: "Hey so LETS INVENT BOMBS."

Jean's comment on Adam: "Adam - smart, literally what the fuck, he’s really nice and a big home dog,,, literally like a big brother like I feel like he’ll be there when you need him, SMART DID I MENTION SMART, has an exterior shell but thats why you have to take things with him at a pace, super fcking sweet like with his stupid ex but god dammit that was sweet"

Skills

He can destroy things like Elias, summon fire, and can summon thorns. He can teleport and he has his artificer abilities that were taught by Angelica and I.

Asher

Asher is the middle child and also someone I've raised. Asher and Adam are related to me and each other in the CR as well.

Appearance

Asher has white hair, pale skin, and blue eyes. He likes the color blue and green so he typically uses it in any piece of clothing he owns. He mentioned he will wear blue more often to compliment his eyes and make his darker horns more apparent.

Mood board of him:

Personality

He's really sweet, caring, and attentive. You tell him once you like one small thing and he will remember it for years. He's really hyper and full of energy unlike his other siblings who are much more calm than him.

Jean's comment on Asher: "Asher - chaos, chaos, chaos okay anyway tbh really funny, has funny ass memes and random ass thoughts that are funny, loves affection, caring as well since I see how you care for nutmeg especially, loving and sweet, smart and retains random info like JFJDKEKDKDK-, space boy and religion boy, meme, sarcastic, 10/10 humor, energetic and extremely fun, someone you’d want at a small party with friends to hype everything up, loves kids and animals"

Skills

Asher can manipulate fire and electricity. He has super speed and super hearing, along with enhanced strength.

Silver Lady!

Also known as Silky or Silver! She was a former Banshee before being transformed by Spriggan (Titiana's bodyguard sort of speak.) She's our housekeeper.

Appearance

Silver likes to wear a, pink, Victorian dress with a matching shawl and bonnet. Her hair is blonde and short and her eyes are a shiny pink.

Mood board of her:

Personality

She doesn't chat much and often has a stoic or deadpan facial expression. But despite that, once knowing her you learn and are exposed to her emotions. She tends to dote on guests that she likes but will simply ignore those she doesn't trust. If someone she doesn't like enters the house for business, she will hover over me or the other residents and simply ignore the guest. Silver also has a sense of humor and enjoys playing pranks every now and then. She likes sewing hearts into clothes where we won't notice. Silver tends to only stay within the house or near the house, due to her past home being ruined she fears that if she leaves she will be forgotten or left behind.

Her Skills:

Silky/Silver is able to do housekeeping magic. She can change details of the house, including wallpaper or the floorboards using a simple spell.

Ruth, A Church Grim

Ruth is my familiar who can shapeshift between being a Church Grim and Human.

Appearance

Ruth can shapeshift between his two forms. A Church Grim, which is a large black dog which reaches to my rib cage in height. In this form, he has red eyes. In a human form however, his eyes appear brown or somewhat red. With he has light brownish skin and black hair. He likes to sweat striped shirts :D

Mood board of Ruth:

Personality

Ruth is very doting and diligent. He uses our mental link which causes a shared memory, feeling, and lifespan, to tell others how I'm feeling if I can't put it into words. He's also protective and won't hesitate to b0nK someone across the head. He's more of a big brother to those he's close with.

Skills

Familiar skills: He shares a lifespan with me, can share dreams, and be summoned from long distances through a mind link.

Shadow: He can hide in my shadow if needed.

Angelica Barley

Angelica is a mage and artificer. She owns her own magic shop that is hidden behind her book shop.

Appearance

Angelica has sharp features, and typically braids her hair up to show them off. She's commonly seen wearing sleeves when working because of the crystals that were embedded in her arms from an accident.

Mood board of her:

Personality

She's kind but stern. Typically, to new mages she acts as a distant mentor. She takes pride in her work but she's also cautious due to her accident. She's possibly one of the only people that can tell Elias off, and she won't hesitate to do it.

Skills

Angelica has the sight similar to that the mages possess. Just like mages, she can borrow magic from fae and she's quite knowledgeable about it too. As an artificer, she embeds magic within tools or makes them with the purpose of magic. She had a Vodanoi named Hugo who is bound to her, he's a prankster but sweet nonetheless. Hugo and Angelica have longevity. This means that they both have increased life spans and she hasn't aged much at all.

Lindel

Lindel is a mage and the current care taker of the Dragons. He was both Elias and Adolf's first master.

Appearance

Lindel is a human and despite being a thousand years old, he looks to be in his 20s. He has pale skin and blonde hair that be ties or braids that frame his face and blue eyes. He typically wears a hood and robe with odd designs on the hood and back piece.

Mood board of Lindel

Personality

Before he became a Mage and Keeper Of Dragons, he hated fae. The fae caused him many problems which caused him to isolate himself. But now, he is calm and playful and he takes pride in his job as the dragon keeper. Despite his usual demeanor, when it comes to the dragons he isn't so kind to poachers.

There are many other people I'll be getting to later such as my dad, my brother, my sister, my friend and her kids and s/o, other important people, etc. But for now I'm tired ainjsndjwsn

#shifting reality #loa #realities #reality shifting #subliminals #shifting realities #shiftblr #manifestation #motivation #reality #shifting #shifting community #ideal reality #current reality

[sibillascribbles08]

From Me to You - Changeling AU

Can read the first entry here.

    Cryptor could only laugh as he threw Pixal against the wall. He saw her eyes flash, something in her neck spark. He knew she’d be out of the way soon enough. 

    Then something slammed into his side. He skidded before he reached out to grip the railing in order to stay upright.

    Zane, of course, coming out to save his… well Cryptor wasn’t actually sure what the relationship of the two was. 

    “You again?” He snorted. “The tin can with feelings.”

    Once again, however, the obsolete droid didn’t seem phased by his commentary. In fact, he smiled. “I hit you once. I can do it again.” He charged forward, techno blade in hand.

    Cryptor could make short work of him, or at the very least keep him occupied while his army took out the rest of the ninja. He blocked the weapon, then the punch Zane tried to follow it with. Cryptor kneed the other droid in the stomach, feeling some of the metal give way before tossing him back. 

    “Don’t try and act cool.” Cryptor spat. “You know as well as I do what you really are, obsolete.” He pulled up his cloaking, turning invisible as he approached. 

    Zane got up, eyes darting around. 

    Cryptor didn’t hesitate to punch him in the jaw, then grab his collar and slam him against the wall of the power plant. It was more than enough, but Cryptor punched him a few more times in the chest before kicking him onto the ground.

    “You’re weak, outdated.” Cryptor dropped his cloaking. “You think you can take me on? The rest of my army? We have more weapons, better materials, more tech, and what are you? An old toaster made out of spare parts.” 

    “You’re right.”

    Cryptor stopped short. That wasn’t the response he’d been expecting. “What?”

    “You’re right.” Zane repeated as he got to his feet. He dusted off his gi before his gaze moved over to Cryptor. “As I am now… I am outdated.”

    Cryptor wasn’t sure if he should attack again or not. Was this just some form of distraction? “If you agree then does that mean you’re surrendering?” 

    Zane had the audacity to laugh, like it was a simple joke. “No, that’s not where I was going with that.”

    “Then where are you going with it?” Cryptor clenched his fists, ready to punch him in the jaw. “What are you prattling on about?” 

    “Well, as you say, I’m outdated. So I think the best course of action would be to get myself an upgrade, don’t you?” He smiled and tilted his head. Those blue eyes were fixed on Cryptor. Something about them was sharper than ever before. 

    “And where do you plan to get one of those? We won’t be handing them out.” 

    “That’s fine.” Zane narrowed his eyes, still smiling. “I’m more than capable of getting it myself.” 

    The nindroid rushed forward. Cryptor flinched, for whatever reason, before trying to block his movement with a punch. Zane jumped to the side. His feet planted against the wall. Cryptor couldn’t turn fast enough. Zane tackled him to the ground, pinning him down. 

    “The fuck–?” Cryptor hissed. He was about to shove himself up when something sharp jammed into his neck. It wasn’t enough to cut off his circuits but enough to make them stall. 

    “That was easy.” Zane was the one taunting him now, running cold fingers up Cryptor’s neck. “Now let’s see who the obsolete one really is.” 

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

    “Look I don’t know what’s wrong. As far as I can tell his systems are fine.”

    “Did us destroying the power actually damage him too?”

    “But that doesn’t make sense. Zane isn’t powered that way. Speaking of which, Jay, how’s Pixal.”

    “Back-up is working but it takes time to charge. Hoping she’ll come too in an hour.”

    Those were the ninjas voices. Why were they here? Where was here? Cryptor tried to get his systems online but something was wrong. Where were his internal commands? The prompts? Where was the Overlord’s ear grating voice shouting in his ear to get back to work? 

    Finally his vision came online, although it must have gotten busted. None of it was nearly as crisp. It was like some kind of film got stuck over his lenses. He blinked once or twice. Where was his night vision? His infrared? 

    “Zane!” The blue ninja popped up.

    Cryptor screamed. He scrambled, back, though he didn’t get far. His back hit a wall and when he sat up his head hit a cupboard. Where was he? He looked around again. It looked like the inside of a trailer. 

    “Thank the gods you’re okay.” Jay kept on speaking. The other two ninja surrounded him, as well as Nya. “What happened out there?”

    “Why did you bring me here?” Cryptor spat. “Why are you asking me such stupid questions?”

    All the ninja frowned.

    “Uh, you okay there, Zane?” Kai said.

    “I am not Zane!” Cryptor spat and pointed at him. “What on earth would give you the stupid–” He froze when he actually saw his hand. Not his black or silver metal, but instead a dark skin covering leading to a white gi. 

    What?

    No, no no no. His vision must still be broken. He scrambled to his feet and rushed past the ninja to the nearest window. His hands pressed against the glass as he tried to get a look at his reflection.

    Cryptor screamed again.

    “Zane!” Cole spoke this time, gripping his shoulders. “What is going on?”

    “I’m not Zane.” Cryptor tore out of his grip. “I’m Cryptor!”

    “What?” Nya shouted.

    “Yeah right.” Kai spat.

    “Yeah right?” Cryptor stomped toward him. “You want me to wring your neck and prove it to you? You little–”

    Cole’s arms wrapped around him this time. Cryptor tried to break free, but he could tell how much weaker he was now. 

    “Okay.” Cole said. “I think we have to admit if we want to believe it’s Zane or not, something is definitely wrong.”

    “Could it be Cryptor?” Jay asked. “How is that possible.”

    “He switched us.” Cryptor shouted as he kept flailing. “That crafty tin can. That’s what he was talking about, getting an upgrade. He stole my body and ran off!”

    “Uh, no.” Kai said. “We cut the power. All the other nindroids dropped.”

    Cryptor stopped moving. “What?”

    “And why would he do that?” Nya added. “I mean, he knew the plan.”

    Kai shrugged. “Maybe it’s for some weird undercover mission?” 

    Nya shook her head. “Maybe we should wait for Pixal. She could definitely help us figure this out.” 

    “I’m not waiting for shit.” Cryptor tried once more to pull free. “Let me go! I’m going to find my damn body and get it back.” 

    “What do we do with him in the meantime?” Jay pointed at Cryptor. 

    Cryptor managed to kick Cole in the shin.

    The black ninja flinched, but didn’t let go. “You know what? I have an idea.” He lifted Cryptor off the ground and headed out of the trailer. 

    Cryptor kept struggling, but it was no use. Eventually he was tossed into the air and landed on something hard. He felt around, looking at all the scrap metal parts. Was this some kind of bin?

    To answer the question, the lid of it came down and the lights went out.

    “Hey!” Cryptor tried to push it open, but something heavy must have been set on top of it. “Let me out of here this instant you pea brained worms! I have orders. I have a mission.”

    “You can come out when you stop throwing a tantrum.” Cole said.

    “You think this is a tantrum? That I’m some kind of child?” Cryptor kicked at the walls, but they didn’t give. “Let me out. Let me out!” He screamed. 

    No response even. Cryptor let his limbs fall as he stared at the roof of the container. He debated heavily if this was what it felt like to end up in the cursed realm. Endless torture, in the worst case scenario.

    But as he kept staring, the silence drawing on longer and longer, he realized just how quiet it was. No orders. No other voices. No mission log.

    How strange.

#scribbly fics #ninjago #changeling au #this one isn't nearly as dramatic #Cryptor's just too.... #*screams like a toddler*

[elizabethemerald]

Eternal Night Redux: Finale

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6

AO3

Please please reblog!

The Hearthstone once more hummed with energy. Throughout the past few months it had slowly recovered from Gunmar draining it. Jim was delighted to see it once again to its previous healthy glow. 

Since Gunmar's defeat at the hand of the Trollhunters, Trollmarket had been constantly busy. Ambassadors from various troll tribes had been constantly coming and going. They were all working to solidify the tenuous peace that had been established. 

There was still tension between different groups. The trolls of Trollmarket disliked the trolls from Gato's Keep since they refused to come in their hour of need. Many of the trolls still hated and distrusted the changelings, and the surviving members of the Janus order returned those feelings in spades. 

Angor was still feared even by some of the trolls who had fought alongside him. And the former assassin still harbored many ill feelings for Strickler. Jim did his best to keep those two apart as much as possible. 

Even with tensions still running high between groups and between individuals they were all still gathered again. Trollmarket was filled with all manner of trolls, Krubera, Quagawump, changeling, and the survivors of old Trollmarket. The troll and changeling armies were waiting outside the Heartstone, just in case things went poorly within. 

Jim marched into the Heartstone with the Staff of Avalon in his hand. Claire and Toby were on either side of him. The rest of his growing family followed behind.

 "I must insist again that this plan is folly!" Merlin's gravely voice called forward from the back of the group. 

"Enough Merlin! We've discussed and debated this point back and forth in circles ever since we killed Gunmar."

Merlin took a breath to argue but Toby spoke over him. 

"Yeah shut up beetle brows." Toby shouted back. "You've done nothing but complain literally since we woke you up."

Merlin pushed past the others and out his arm on Claire's shoulder. "Perhaps the fair Claire-"

"Do you want to get punched again?" Claire smacked his hand off her shoulder. "Because I feel like calling me 'fair Claire' again is a sure fire way to get punched again."

Merlin flapped his mouth like a fish for a moment, and Jim swirled around to face him. 

"We've already decided. If she is going to be an enemy and try to kill us all when she gets out, that outcome will be the same whether we release her now or she breaks free a thousand years from now. At least now we are as prepared as we can be for a fight." Jim turned and led the way down the stairs as he talked. "However if there is any chance to talk her down we have to do it now. We can't just wait till it's convenient."

They pushed forward and spread out into the prison chamber. Jim strode toward the center, beneath Morgana's form, frozen in the stone. With a resounding click he pushed the staff into its home in the key hole. 

Jim looked past the staff to Morgana. If she decided to kill them all it would be the fight of their lives to get out of this chamber. He was sure that some of them would die here if it came to that. He didn't know if he could bare losing anyone here, maybe Merlin was right and this was a bad idea. 

As he wrestled for a moment with his indecision he felt a hand fall on each of his shoulders. Toby and Claire had moved forward with him. They each had one hand on the staff and one on his shoulders. 

Jim leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Claire's lips, then turned and pressed one to Toby's as well. He took just a moment to breath in the same space as them, his eyes closed before he steeled his back. 

"Together?" He asked them. 

"Together." They said as one. 

Jim wrapped both of his hands around the Staff of Avalon and with Claire and Toby speaking in the same breath as him, said the enchantment that would free the Eldritch Queen. 

They carefully aimed the green beam that blasted out from the staff at the hanging crystal. It only took a moment before the crystal shattered. Jim summoned his helmet to protect his face and his shield to protect Claire and Toby's. 

The bits of stone froze in mid air before flying back towards the now free Morgana. Jim resisted the urge to draw his sword as she hovered slowly downward. Toby and Claire both had their collapsed weapons in their hands, they were trying not look threatening, but they didn't want to be taken by surprise. Jim stepped forward toward the golden armored woman. 

"Morgana! We have freed you in a bid for peace." Jim said. His voice took on a commanding air that still took him by surprise, though the others had come to expect it. 

Morgana did not reply instead she swept her gaze over those gathered here. Jim worried for a moment whether she understood him, and was about to try again in Trollish. Before he could the gravely voice he had come to dread spoke up. 

"Like I said, it is foolish to trust her!" Merlin stepped forward his sword in hand. 

Before anyone could react to stop him, golden glyphs appeared around Morgana's emerald hand. The magic blast knocked Merlin back into the wall. Jim hesitated for a moment waiting for any other magic attack. 

"We'll go ahead and give you that one, but we would like to talk peace."

"You dare try and talk to me about peace?" Morgana's voice reverberated in the room. "You want to talk about peace while you are wearing the amulet forged from my hand!"

Jim had to stop himself from taking a step back from the force of her fury. He mentally berated himself. Wearing the armor put a serious dent in his negotiation ability. He was surprised when Claire stepped forward, boldly facing the Eldritch Queen.  

"If you don't want to talk peace with Jim, then talk peace with me!" Claire's voice took on the same magical quality as Morgana's as she spoke. "You possessed me! Tried to destroy my soul! Tried to kill my boyfriend!"

As she spoke Morgana slowly floated lower till she was standing on the ground. She still towered over the children, but at least she wasn't blasting them apart. Jim couldn't help but notice that she was easily the tallest non troll in the room. 

"I have every right to hate you!" Claire continued. "To want you dead for what you did to me! But I want to offer a chance to end the fighting! To end the bloodshed that has stretched back who knows how many thousands of years."

Morgana looked at her closely, her face closed off and unreadable. She studied every line and curve of Claire's face. Whatever she was looking for she seemed to find because she nodded to herself, then settled into a floating seated position. 

"Very well my child. Let's talk of peace."

A sigh ran through the room as if every person there had been holding their breath. Claire sat down on the floor in front of her and Morgana floated lower till they were on the same level. 

"My partners will join me in these talks." Claire said. "Jim will represent the needs of Troll kind. Toby will represent the humans, both those in the town above and in the rest of the world."

Jim stepped forward and sat beside Claire. Toby sat on her other side. In an effort to show their earnestness Jim pulled at the amulet on his chest, allowing his armor to return to light. He pocketed the amulet. Toby set his collapsed warhammer aside as well. 

"It would seem I'm outnumbered at these talks. Would no one join me?" Morgana turned aside and addressed the rest of those gathered in the room. "My champion?"

Angor growled reflexively from where he had been leaning against one of the walls. "I am no longer your champion!"

"No. I suppose not." For the first time an expression other than fury could be seen on her face. Jim could clearly see it as a deep sadness. Morgana turned to where Strickler and Nomura were standing on the opposite side of the chamber. “Well what about you? Will one of you stand by your Lady Creator?”

Nomura looked away a scowl on her face. Strickler however took a step forward. Morgana waited but that was as close as he moved. 

“It is true you created the changelings. So we could work as your spies and assassins in this war. However Jim helped us, without any thought of reward, even while we were still on the opposite sides. Also he was the one who insisted that the changelings be included again and again. He was the one who fought for our place at this table. I think I can speak for all of my brethren when I say we stand for once alongside the Trollhunter. Not against him.”

Morgana looked down, her face thoughtful. When she looked up again Jim could see a fire in her eyes. 

“It is is said, that you can judge a man by the enemies he makes.” She glanced over their shoulders to where Merlin was standing. “Or by the allies he keeps.” At this she glanced to Angor. “But I truly believe the truest test of a man is the enemies he turns into allies, or even friends. Fine. I will sit alone against you.”

On impulse Jim shifted over so he was sitting to the side, in between the Claire and Morgana. Toby quickly caught on to what he was doing and moved so he and Jim were now looking at each other, with Morgana and Claire on their sides. 

“You don’t have to be against us.” Jim said. “We are all sitting together.”

Claire leaned forward pulling Morgana’s attention. 

“The three of us have fought together against everything we have come across.” Claire said. “We can all fight together now.”

In an uncommon display of seriousness Toby also leaned forward as well meeting Morgana’s eyes. “Seriously can we get this conversation started? This armor is super uncomfortable to sit in for long periods of time.”

Jim and Claire laughed, and even Morgana smiled. Together all four of them, the three Trollhunters and the Eldritch Queen sat and talked. They talked of war and bloodshed. And they talked of peace, and rebuilding. They talked long into the night, Blinky and Aaarrrgghh eventually bringing in chairs so they didn’t have to sit on the floor. 

In the end they spoke of balance. Of a balance that had been absent from the world for far too long. Together they spoke of creating a better future, for Troll, Human, Changeling, Wizard and anyone else out in the universe.

Fin

#jim lake junior #tales of arcadia #Trollhunters #claire nunez #toby domzalski #morgana toa #eternal night redux #writing emerald

[taizi]

out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing

good omens pairing: aziraphale/crowley word count: 3584 title borrowed from a great wagon by rumi part 6 of the is there a better bet than love? series read on ao3

x

Nanael is a Principality. They stand on the front line of the last choir of angels, just before the lower archangels and well behind the Powers.

They know they’re nothing special. The rank is there, but without a station it doesn’t mean anything. One’s strength is determined by how well one does their job, more or less, and Principalities are just as limited as the lesser guardian angels are; restrained in their duties by how quickly their charges die, how regularly their nations rise and fall.

Aziraphale, on the other hand, is someone you hear stories about.

The angel of Eden who followed the fall of mankind, who wandered out past the gate and assumed a mortal form and spent six thousand years alongside God’s only imperfect creations.

Demoted, were the first uncertain whispers. Punished. One must learn from him, one must be better than that wayward Principality. When he finally returns to Heaven, you’ll see. He will have burned low from this failure. He’ll have to labor for eons to build himself back up.

Only Aziraphale never did return.

Six thousand years, the stories go, and by the time Nanael hears them they take on the tone of a fairy tale.

Six thousand years, Nanael’s brothers and sisters whisper to one another, awed and frightened. How many years do humans live? Do nations stand? How many years has any other guardian done what he has done? Not six thousand.

The Principality who averted the Apocalypse, who raised his sword against the Lightbringer, who opposed the Archangels, who stepped into hellfire and didn’t burn.

Nanael was unprepared for meeting him— for finding him in a soft body with time-worn clothes and messy curls, smiling with Love and with love at a demon, of all things, standing against a fellow angel as though he would fight all the forces of Heaven combined to keep his Fallen One safe.

They made a poor first impression, and they cringe to remember it, but it was an important lesson for them to learn:

Nanael and Aziraphale are of the same stock, but only in as much as a brook and a river are both flowing water.

“Watch it, feathers,” Crowley murmurs, drawing Nanael back by the hood of their sweater. “Might get singed if you stand that close.”

Nanael goes agreeably, circling behind the demon to stand next to Warlock at the front counter instead.

“This is awesome,” the changeling whispers.

“That’s a good word for it,” Nanael replies, thinking along the lines of Old Testament fury.

The demon that came along to cause trouble is— cowering doesn’t seem like a fair way to describe what he’s doing, because he’s being very brave about it, but Nanael isn’t inclined to be fair.

Not because of his being a hereditary enemy or some rot like that. But because he showed up on Duke Hastur’s orders, with a circlet still clutched in hand that would have tightened around Crowley’s head until it killed him. Hell, it seems, is getting creative.

The wards on the shop made the demon visible before he could get close enough to deliver it. He was visible the moment he walked in, whether he realized it or not.

Aziraphale seems to still be deciding what to do with him. The cold light in his eyes is unforgiving; it reminds Nanael of home.

“Angel, if you make a mess, you’ll always know it was there,” Crowley says, unbothered by the prickly heat his Principality is putting off like humidity before a big storm. “Just send him on his way, would you?”

The demon sneers. The effect is ruined by the nervous dart of his eyes back to Aziraphale, rather like the way a rabbit might watch an owl.

“It’s not over, Crawly,” he says. “Not even close. You may think you’ve won, but everything ends. This world will end. And when it does, you’ll be back in Hell where you belong, and none of your little angels will be there to save you.”

Warlock is bristling, eyes near glowing with anger. Nanael puts a hand on his arm that they hope is comforting, because it’s meant to be restraining more than anything else.

“Not bad,” Crowley assures the demon. “Decent level of ominous, that. Keep up the good work and you’ll see a promotion in no time.”

With a rapid brightening, the demon forgets the tense tableau long enough to ask eagerly, “You think so? Only I’ve been stuck in limbo so bloody long, I’ve never even seen past the first level.”

Nanael forgets, sometimes, that while Heaven has stories about the angel of Eden, Hell probably has stories about the serpent, too. For all that he was sent here to discorporate him, the demon is looking at Crowley with some sort of twisted admiration.

“Are you quite finished, my dear?” Aziraphale asks of Crowley tersely. He doesn’t wait for an answer, snapping his fingers and banishing the unwelcome demon to some far-flung corner of the universe, probably. “The nerve of him.”

Crowley calls, “Safe to come out now,” and Aziraphale seems to remember Nanael and Warlock with a start. He glances back at the two of them with a level of self-consciousness that Nanael thinks is unwarranted.

It goes away when Crowley touches him, though, a cool hand on Aziraphale’s arm that slides down to his hand, fingers weaving easily together like God designed them for no other purpose.

Nanael remembers a time when they wondered how an angel and a demon could ever be together in any sense of the word. Now, with their head full of music and poetry, of films and romantic fiction, they wonder how on earth Aziraphale and Crowley ever managed to be apart.

“They’ll have to do better than that,” Crowley says. It sounds like pride, and it makes Aziraphale smile almost despite himself. It makes Aziraphale lean in to kiss him, like an act of gravity.

They are very gentle with each other. Despite everything else that they are— the very different places they come from— they touch each other with the kindness that comes so naturally to humans. A learned letting down of one’s guard, of letting oneself be known.

Togetherness, the kindness implies. Likeness. We’re here, existing alongside each other. Not quite the same, but not so different, really. Reach out to me. We’re here together, you and I.

Nanael has learned a lot from them, but nothing so important as this kindness.

“I don’t think he was the one I met before,” they offer after a moment. “That demon. The corporation was different.”

Aziraphale promptly looks troubled by this, and Nanael almost regrets mentioning it. Except maybe it’s important, especially if multiple agents of Hell are going to keep showing up to cause trouble.

“Could just be the same creep in a different body,” Crowley points out. He seems pointedly unruffled, as though one of them needs to remain calm for their collective benefit.

“Do you always get different bodies when you come back?” Warlock asks, unbothered by anything that doesn’t bother Crowley.

Crowley scratches his cheek, just under the snake sigil. “I mean, usually, I guess. I always put in for the same one, though.”

“Likewise,” Aziraphale says, slightly distracted. “One gets used to one’s face after a few thousand years.”

Like his clothes, Nanael thinks fondly, Aziraphale’s form is well-worn and well-loved.

It’s a far cry from the crisp, bright uniform cut they’re used to. Even Nanael is not quite the angel they came here as; they have a favorite sweater, one that used to be vibrant orange and has dulled a bit over the last ten years of near constant use, and their dark hair has begun to grow out recently, long enough now that it needs tucked behind their ear.

Daniel was scandalized the last time she came to visit. She asked them if this was some sort of peevish rebellion, a faux-Fall. But it doesn’t feel like that, not really. It feels like— letting go of a breath they’ve been holding for so long they don’t remember why they were holding it in the first place. It feels like being allowed to breathe.

“And—“ Crowley starts, then looks like he regrets it. “Well. Wanted to make sure I was recognizable.”

Aziraphale looks delighted by him. “Oh, sweetheart.”

“Shut up, angel, I swear to someone, this is why I wasn’t going to bloody say it— “

Warlock is laughing and Nanael is trying not to, and Aziraphale is smiling with such warmth that Nanael is beginning to understand how he was able to defy Heaven, why he was willing to risk so much. Nanael is beginning to understand what was at stake.

“I’d have recognized you,” Aziraphale says. He seems to have forgotten his worries for the moment, and for all his annoyed bluster, maybe that was partly Crowley’s plan. “No matter what you look like, or what you call yourself. I’d know you anywhere.”

#

Whether by chance or design— and Nanael is so hoping it’s the former, as the latter is too worrisome a concept to sit well in their stomach— they are alone again in the shop the next time an unfortunately-familiar demon comes calling.

“Hoo-ee,” she says with a toothy grin, knocking on the doorframe to announce herself even after the bell above the door has done that job. Maybe she just likes making noise. “How are sales, little angel? Booming?”

“Heavens, no,” Nanael says, affronted. They clutch the collection of short stories they’re reading to their chest protectively. “Could you imagine what Aziraphale would say if he found out I’d sold a book?”

The demon pauses mid-step. She doesn’t seem to know what to make of Nanael for a moment, and then visibly circumvents her confusion.

“Alright then. Bold business choice.” Her fingers tap the surface of a shelf that hasn’t moved since the early eighteen hundreds. “But if his shop’s been open this long, maybe he knows something I don’t.”

Nanael watches her from behind the counter as she picks her way through the shop.

“You don’t know him,” they say after a moment. “Either of them. You just let me think that you do.”

She flashes another grin, this one much nastier than the first. “Demon,” she says, as if just that says all she needs to.

“I won’t let you hurt them,” Nanael feels it fair to point out. They can feel some ancient sleeping thing inside them stirring at the very thought. Their hands tighten around the book they’re holding and they set it down, to avoid the horror of a cracked spine. “If that’s what you’ve come here to do, you ought to reconsider.”

They could best this demon in a fair fight, Nanael thinks, studying them. And if it was an unfair fight, which they are almost certain it would be, then they’ve had ten years of friendship with Warlock by now, and if that isn’t preparation enough for a dishonorable brawl then nothing would be.

The demon laughs shortly. “You don’t waste any time, I’ll give you that. Believe it or not, I’m not here to start a ruckus.”

Nanael doesn’t believe it. “Just last winter, a demon showed up on Duke Hastur’s orders to kill Crowley. And now here you are again. Checking their progress?”

“Bless me,” she says, the way some humans say “bugger me” when they’ve received unpleasant news. “No, alright? I had nothing to do with it. I told Dagon to leave him to me.”

She visibly backtracks— and physically takes a step back, too— at whatever Nanael’s expression looks like just then.

“I mean I wanted them to leave him alone. I’m certainly not going to do anything to him, and if I’m the only one on the case, he’s golden.”

Nanael can feel their decorative heart racing— not with fear, or excitement, but with the knowledge that something is going to happen. They’re standing behind the counter now, book forgotten, staring at the demon the way they stare at their jigsaw puzzles, trying to make uncertain edges meet.

“You said Crowley was cursed,” they say, still wounded by the memory all these years later. “You thought it was funny.”

She throws up her hands. “Just my luck, that the serpent has an entourage of pet angels. How does he attract your lot, anyway? Holy bird feed?”

Nanael can hear the roar of the Bentley outside. Their family, coming home.

Nanael lifts their hand, and their scepter manifests for the first time in several hundred years. It parts itself from the ether to meet their palm, the grip of it certain and familiar and warm to the touch. They remember, only vaguely, when they last held this weapon and safe-guarded a city, hundreds of human lives kept under their faithful watch. This is not the same— it’s only a dusty little bookshop in Soho, it’s only three people— but it feels every bit as important.

“Go away,” Nanael says.

By the time the door opens again moments later, the demon is gone and Nanael’s hands are empty and the wards have been reset with a thought. Aziraphale primly flips the Open sign to Closed, even though it’s still early yet, and Crowley is unloading bags of take-away food on the nearest table, and Warlock is running a practiced path through the front of the shop to where Nanael is standing behind the counter.

“That movie was wicked,” Warlock says, shining with enthusiasm. “I know you said you wanted to stay in and read or whatever, but next time just smuggle the book into the cinema, okay, you really missed out!”

“Oi, hellion, leave them alone,” Crowley calls over. He takes something wrapped in green ribbon out of one of the reusable supermarket bags, a familiar pastry box with a familiar cake inside. “You know how angels are with their books. Cinema’s overpriced garbage, anyway, some of my best work.”

Warlock rolls his eyes. Aziraphale touches his hair fondly as he goes past, and then touches Nanael’s shoulder in much the same way.

“Thank you for looking after the shop while we were gone, my dear,” he says to Nanael. “It’s such a relief to know you’re here.”

Nanael takes them all in, their noise and their bickering and their aggrieved affection for one another, the mismatched chairs dragged over to a table by the wide window where passersby sometimes get to take pictures of a sunning shop snake, the seat left open for Nanael in front of their favorite tea and their favorite croissant sandwich and their favorite Battenberg cake.

Nanael is nothing special. They know that. But with what little they have— with what little they are— they’ll protect this goodness they’ve managed to find.

#

Daniel is sitting on the far side of the table, poking at a half-melted milkshake with an inscrutable expression on her face. She never seems to know what to make of Nanael these days.

“You’re trying to…”

“Undo the curse,” Nanael says, hardly looking up from the book they’ve smuggled out of the shop. It’s so old that they worry what might happen if a human were to get their hands on it, which is how they justified the theft to their guilty Aziraphale-shaped conscience. It’s taking them a conscious, extended miracle to keep from doing the brittle pages any harm. “The first one.”

“The first one,” she parrots blankly.

Nanael pauses. “Not that Crowley has been cursed multiple times. Um, that I know of. I just meant the first curse in general. Warlock and I have been calling it the Chapter One Curse. The book had barely even started at that point, and already— “

“Nanael,” their sister says. “You cannot undo God’s decisions.”

They should have known she’d be no help. They go back to flipping pages somewhat petulantly, strengthening their miracle so the fragile book survives a less mindful handling.

“Nanael,” Daniel says, something dangerous creeping into her tone.

“It’s not wrong,” Nanael says, finally lifting their head. “It doesn’t feel wrong. It’s just— helping. I think God must have forgotten She put that curse on him, because he certainly doesn’t deserve it.”

Daniel stands up, so sharply her chair screeches across the linoleum. A few humans glance over from where their own conversations were interrupted, and a distant part of Nanael feels a bit embarrassed for causing a scene in their favorite chippy.

“You’ve spent too much time down here. You need to come home.”

“I won’t,” Nanael says frankly.

She moves around to them, kneels by their chair and takes their hands. “You’re too opinionated. You’ve been thinking too much without anyone to guide you. You’re asking too many questions. You’ll Fall.”

“I won’t,” Nanael says again, squeezing her hands, moved by her sincere, if misguided, fear for them. “I don’t doubt Her, Danny, I promise I don’t. You were there when the holy water didn’t kill Crowley. You’ve seen that he’s different. I don’t think She meant this for him. Or if She did, then maybe She meant for someone to fix it. Maybe She meant for me to be here all along.”

The thought fills them with warmth. It gives Daniel something to think about, too.

“Heaven will be lesser without you, emmer,” she says after what feels like a long time. “Please be careful. I don’t want to lose you.”

“Even if I were to Fall, you’d know where to find me,” Nanael tells her, smiling. “We could still get chips and milkshakes whenever you’d like.”

It coaxes a smile out of her, too. She rises enough to kiss them on the forehead, a blessing slipping over them like cool water, and lets it stand as a goodbye.

Hardly ten seconds later, someone throws their full weight into her vacated chair with a theatrical groan.

“Christ, I thought she’d never leave.”

Nanael is hardly surprised by now to find themself looking across the table at their unfortunate demon acquaintance. She wiggles her fingers at them in greeting.

“You couldn’t think running me off once would be enough to keep me gone, eh?”

“One could hope,” Nanael says grimly. They close their book and miracle it back to its shelf at the shop, and then starts gently bending the minds of the humans in the room around them, urging them to remember important business or forgotten appointments elsewhere. Even the line cook and the cashier step into the back of the restaurant for a well-deserved break.

If there’s trouble to be had, Nanael doesn’t want anyone else involved.

The demon looks mildly impressed by the empty dining room. She stretches a bit in her chair, easing off the tight grip on her mortal form just enough that her horns poke through the ether. It looks like someone kicking off their shoes after a long day.

It doesn’t look like someone about to start a fight.

“I have something for you.” She reaches into her jacket. “A peace offering, if you will. Or— an apology.”

That last word seems to leave a bitter taste in her mouth, but she doesn’t take it back. She slides a parcel across the table, something wrapped in worn but serviceable leather, and Nanael… well. They’ve developed a bit of a weakness when it comes to gifts. They don’t hesitate long enough to constitute any good sense before reaching out eagerly to unwrap it.

A book falls into their hands. The thick, velvety cover is empty of any author or title, and the pages are likewise blank. As Nanael thumbs through it, faint words dart across the empty spaces like a school of minnows, following the path of their eyes.

“I stole it,” the demon says plainly. “Don’t ask me who from. He’ll probably never notice it missing, but if he does, you won’t want to be involved.”

A forbidden book. Nanael clutches it a little tighter. There are always very useful things to learn in books you’re forbidden to read.

“The way I see it, God didn’t curse the serpent, She changed him. You won’t find a cure for something like that. Maybe, though, you can find a counter.”

Nanael’s mind is racing. “Curse him again?”

“With something good.” The demon scratches the side of her nose. “Never heard of any curse like that, but you look a bookish type. Maybe you’ll figure it out. And maybe I’ll pop in every now and again, to see how you’re getting on.”

It’s more of a plan than Nanael had five minutes ago, and after a decade of careful thought. They look at the demon gratefully. “Thank you.”

She relaxes a bit, with the gift having gone over well. “Funny old world it is nowadays, with angels saying thank you to demons.”

“Don’t be tiresome,” Nanael says, exhausted with that party line. “What do you get out of this, anyway? Why are you so interested in Crowley?”

“Not telling,” the demon says cheerfully, and snags what’s left of Daniel’s milkshake. She takes a noisy slurp through the straw, probably just to be irritating, and adds, “Good luck with your curse. I‘ll be seeing you, Principality.”

“Nanael,” they correct peevishly, before she can get more than two steps away.

“Gremory,” the demon replies, shooting them a smile that’s all teeth. “I look forward to doing business with you.”

Well, Nanael thinks once they’re alone again and the chippy is filling up around them with bemused customers, at least that’s something of an arrangement.

#good omens #ineffable husbands #aziraphale #anthony j crowley #aziracrow #principality nanael #my writing #gomens fic #is there a better bet than love #nanael: its ok we have an arrangement #crowley (squawking): a WOT

[mika3451]

Macaroons and Babybones

Summary:

When monsters were freed from the underground there was a large backlash of magic that had been stored up for thousands of years, turning mages to monsters. These Changelings now live side by side with monster yet they are different.

Notes:

This idea has been bugging me ever since I saw Papyrus Enthusiast's comic on tumblr. Let me know what you think, I'm not really sure on the plot so any idea's would be great! Thanks for reading!!

Chapter one: Meeting

Annoyance that is the only thing that fills my soul at this point in time. That feeling that makes you regret climbing out of your cozy bed all because you woke up on a saturday with a craving for some Macarons. Oh but these aren't just any Macarons, these are made by that little spider monster that was freed with all the other undergrounders from Mount Ebott. And Damn if Echo flower Macarons and a cup of black tea wasn’t my souls weakness. Plus Muffet was one of the cutest damn things to walk this side of the city. It also helped that she had a one of us changelings working for her. ‘Changeling, I think snorting at the ridiculous name, what a way for humans to call us mages that suffered from the release of all that pent up magic when the undergrounders were set free. All mages were turned into monsters or gained some kind of monster aspect. Hell even that kid Frisk was changed. The kid now sports horns and looks more like their adopted mother and father. Yet out of all the Mages I knew none of their changes were as extreme as mine.’

Shaking those thoughts free I force my way through crowds of people, ignoring their loud voices, both human, and monster alike, as they swarm around me going on their merry way. The dark gray hood of my Sherpa Cloak covers my head keeping my face concealed. Scanning the room I find the giant plastic map, hurrying over to it I find the golden star that says ‘you are here’. A happy smile pulls at the corners of my mouth, looking over the list of shops I find Muffet’s.

“Aha!” I smile as my eyes find that the shop is not to far from where I stand, making a plan of action I turn only for a small body to run into my legs. A crimson red stocking hat tilts back away from my legs to reveal a small skeleton face. Their little Skull is round and chubby with holes where a humans cheeks would be, straight white teeth and large ovale sockets look up at me. A lime green and emerald striped shirt covers the baby bones small, so very small shoulders. I feel my eyes glow and widen, illuminating my face to the small child before the glow vanishes. The babybones looks away from my face over their shoulder, their fear covers their body in a way I am all too familiar with. The sound of hustling footsteps and cursing reach me through the sounds of the crowd.

The little one lets go of my pants, their body shifts in a way, signaling that they are going to run off. In an instant my black leather gloved covered hands land on their shoulders causing them to look up in confusion as two large humans come to a stop in front of me. The shadow formed by the hood of my cloak keeps my face hidden as my eyes run over the humans, disgusting creatures. They look like the stereotypical thugs in their torn jeans and dark shirts that cling to their bodies, old and beaten boats cover their feet. Both of them stand at around 5’10” to 6’ around my height of 5’8”. The one with the ugliest mug that Only a mother could love with a bald head and beady eyes glares at me then looks down to the babybones with a look that has my Soul rolling in an uncomfortable way.

‘Fucker one.’ I think glancing away from him to look at his friend. He looks close to the same only difference is if he didn't have a face so full of hate you could call him “attractive” by human standards with blonde hair and green eyes.

‘Dipshit’

“Hand over the brat!” Fucker one says in a voice that irritates my senses. Moving slightly forward I put the little one behind me as I keep one hand on their shoulder while the other rests at my hip ready to defend myself and the kid if need be.

“Yeah, Not Going to Happen.” I say as the little one grabs my pant leg, their sockets black as night look up at my shadowed face before looking back at the two thugs. A protectiveness that I haven't felt in so very, very long fills my entire being awakening parts of myself that I didn’t know fell asleep.

“You got some Major balls picking on a kid, let alone a monster one!” I chuckle out only for the ugly ones face to turn an interesting shade of red as he takes a step forward trying to be threatening.

“Listen girly, I can tell your not from around here-” Fucker one starts making my body tense up, ready for a fight.

“No shit, Sherlock.” I growl back unable to keep my teeth shut, only for Fucker one to grow redder. Dipshit reaches out and stops Fucker from taking another step forward, a smart move on his part.

“And in this city little freaks” Dipshit cuts in nodding his head in the kids direction, anger fills my chest as I feel their little body flench under my hand. Moving my hip and body just right I shield them from these disgusting creatures eyes. The humans look up from my waist to my shadowed face ignoring the signs of danger.

“Need to learn to stay out of our neighborhood and go back to that hole they crawled out of!” Fucker finishes for dipshit. Their rank breath fans across my face filling my sensitive nasal cavity as they take another step closer to me.

“Now I’ll just take-” Fucker starts to say reaching out to the babybones only for my free hand to lock around their wrist in a crushing grip that has him gasping in pain.

“Now see here is what I don’t understand.” I growl causing both humans to look up at my shadowed face.

“You obviously don’t know who you are fucking with.” I start holding fast as the man tries to pull his arm free of my hold.

“Because if you did you would have Fucked off the moment you had my attention. But I guess stupidity is to be expected from a couple of shitheads like yourselves.” Tugging on the man's arm fast and hard he crashes into my rib cage knocking my hood off of my skull exposing my scared face to the world. The two men flench back once they get a look at my face. My teeth are mostly flat except for my canines which are sharp enough to rind flesh from bone. My sockets are perfectly round almost cartoonish with wide white lights that float like lanterns in their black depths. My skull is a nice round shape with a large scar that runs from the left corner of my mouth to my jaw. I have four scars that run from the back of my skull down to the top of my right eye socket, with another one that runs across my nasal bone. All in all I looked like I’d seen some major shit, and survived.

“After all attacking a monster in such a crowded place, with all these people. You are REALLY special aren't cha.”

“Your a monster!!” The other human yells as I let go of his friend and push him away with one hand. Stumbling over his own feet, his ass falls with a heavy thud against the cold, hard, tile floor of the mall drawing the eyes and cell phone cameras of all the people around us.

“Oh sweetheart,” I say in a sickening sweet voice that has me cringing.

“You have no idea.” I laugh out only for fucker one to stand up and take a swing at me. Reacting faster than I have in years I give the kid a gentle push back before spinning around and smaking his right hand away with my open palm on my left. Spinning in a small half circle I get my right foot in behind his, with a sharp tug I knock his feet out from under him sending him onto the floor. Looking up my eye lights meet Dipshits own angry ones. With a yell he rushes me with his fist pulled back. Reaching out I grab his arm and pull, twisting my hips and sticking my thigh into his center of gravity, lifting my leg and pulling the man forward his chest twists over my back before his back lands on the floor next to his friend. Both with the air knocked out of their lungs.

“Next time you pick on a child, you better plan on someone betting your ass.” I growl as my eyes glow a deep violet. Standing up I walk over to the small child as security and other shoppers all surround the two thugs and yell at them for attacking a child. The child’s sockets are full of wide white lights that glow in their excitement.

“That was so cool!” They whisper in awe, a soft chuckle pushes out of my chest while my cheek bones light up in a soft glow of violet. Crouching down to their height in front of them a genuine smile pulls at my teeth.

“You think so huh?” I chuckle, reaching out I ruffle their crimson stocking cap. My eye lights brighten as they reach up and knock my hand away straightening their hat, a cute pouting face makes my non existent heart melt.

“Well, what do you say about finding your family?” I ask tilting my skull to the left keeping my smile in place only for their pout to fall as a sad look over takes their face.

“I’m with my nanny right now.” They whisper out looking away.

“And she didn’t notice you take off or the thugs chasing you?” I ask feeling something dark start to crawl through my chest. Shaking their head no they wipe at their eye sockets.

“Those guys had someone distract my nanny.” They whisper looking away from me, feeling my sockets narrow I reach out and pick them up by their waist. Placing them on my shoulder, I keep on hand around their Tibia and fibula to make sure they don’t fall. Looking up at their face I watch as a cute green blush covers their little cheek bones.

“Well sugar what do you say about finding your Nanny then we get some sweets huh?” I ask watching them decide before nodding in agreement. Pushing through the crowd that gathered I start to head in the direction the kid came running from. Feeling them shift their weight on my shoulder I look up at them to see that their smile pulled down in confusion.

“I noticed you ran from this direction so i figured that your Nanny was “lost” in this direction.” I answer their unspoken question.

“I’m gonna guess that they are human.” I state only for them to nod again.

“Can you tell me what they are wearing? It will make it easier for me to find them.” I state scanning the crowd looking anyone who looks like they misplaced a child.

“She is wearing a white button up shirt and a knee length yellow skirt.” The kid mumbles out.

“You don’t like them much do you?” I ask looking for this human while keeping a close eye on the little one.

“It’s not that I don’t like her, I just hate how she looks at my PaPa.” They mutter crossing their arms.

“That's normal sugar. No kid wants to share their parent.” I say looking up at them with a warm smile and a chuckle.

“Go ahead and ask sugar. I know you have a lot of questions.”

“What's your name?” They ask first, their Papa must have taught them some manners.

“Calibri, what’s yours?”

“Charakterny.” They say with pride.

“That's a cute name.  Espilly for such a cute babybones.” I chuckle

“I’m not a babybone!” They growl out crossing their arms in a pout, a full belly laugh bubbles out for my mouth as I reach up with a free hand to wipe away a tear.

“Sure you are sugar. At least to me, I’m around 35 years old by now.” I feel them shift on my shoulder as they look down at me.

“You don’t look that old. I bet my PaPa, uncle Sans, or the others are older than you.” They say causing me to smile.

“Doubt that. Is that your nanny over there?” I ask pointing to a young female human who is talking to a security guard frantically.

“Yeah that's her.” Charakterny says holding tightly to my cloaks shoulder.

“Well let's go calm her down before she has a heart attack or scares your PaPa.” I say in an easy voice walking closer catching the tail end of the conversation.

“Ma’am, I will try to help you find this monster kid but you have to understand-” The man says trying to calm the woman down, his hands rest on her arms only for her to smack them away.

“I’ll lose my job if we don’t find her!” The lady shreeks causing Charakterny to flench on my shoulder. Looking up at the kid I look back over to the two.

“Well let's get this over with.” walking over to the two I clear my non existent throat causing the two humans to look over my way.

“CHARA!” The woman shouts running over to us she reaches up to take the child off my shoulder only for my hand to wrap around her wrist. Her honey brown eyes look over to my dark sockets. I watch as her face darkens from joyful to something that reminds me of times I’d like to forget.

“And who is this? Why are you keeping me from taking my charge.” She huffs in anger.

“Didn’t look like you where watching your charge very well to me, Friend .” I growl out feeling Charakterny shift on my shoulder.

“Sounds like you were more worried about your job then the kid to me. Plus I promised to buy them some sweets at Muffets.” I shrug bouncing the kid around on my shoulder causing them to giggle.

“Well you can’t! We don’t even know you. Besides Chara is my-” They start only for me to cut her off by looking up at the kid.

“We know each other don’t we Charakterny?” They node their little skull up and down with a wide smile, looking back at the woman I see her eye twitch in irritation only for her to try to jerk her arm out of my hold.

“Let go of me and Put her down now!” She all but screams, releasing her wrist like it burn me I look up at Chara.

“Do you want down, Charakterny? You don’t have to if you don’t want to. I don’t mind.” I watch closely to every little twitch of their body, the fading of their eyelights gives me my answer. Sighing heavily I reach up and grab them around the waist before sitting them on their feet on the tile floor. Huffing the Nanny steps forward and grabs the kids hand roughly.

“Lets go Chara.” They say pulling them away from me.

“But I wanted to get some sweets with Calibri.” Charakterny says pulling on the Nannies hand with a cute pout on their face. Seeing the exasperated look on the Nannies face I decide to be the bigger person and take pity on her. Walking forward I squatted down in front of Charakterny, tapping them on the shoulder I wait as they turn their skull to face me.

“Listen Charakterny, you need to Listen to your Nanny. She’s had a very rough day with you disappearing and a strange monster that looks like they just came from a bar fight showing back up with you in tow.” I say watching as their smile falls.

“Tell you what how about I give you my number and next time you, your Nanny and I can get some sweets and drinks. Does that sound good to you?” I ask watching as they nod their skull.

“Can we get sweets with my PaPa?” They ask with such a cute face I can’t help the light blush of color to my cheek bones or the loud laugh that bursts past my teeth. Reaching out I rest my hand on top of their hat.

“Of course sweetheart.” My eyelights soften pulling my hand back I Pull out a piece of paper and a pin out of thin air and write my name and number on it. Handing it over I don’t miss how they cradle it in their little hand before tucking it away in their own pocket. Standing up my eyelights meet the grateful eyes of the Nanny.

“Thank you Miss Calibri.” She says with a tilt of her head. Reaching up and rubbing the back of my skull I smile fighting the blush on my cheek bones.

“N-no problem Miss-”

“Ava” The nanny cutes in with a soft smile and a light pink blush on her cheeks.

“Miss Ava, Have a nice day.” I say with a nod to her and a wave goodbye to the babybones. I watch their backs as they disappear into the crowd, lingering their after they are well and gone. I snap out of my daze my phone chirps at me, grabbing it and looking down I see a question mark from Sparrow.

“Right, gotta go to Muffets. Get my tea and sweets, and maybe I can get a flight.” I chuckled to myself as I turn and head back the way I came.

#sans/reader #papyrus/reader #SkeleChara #oc

[commandertheory]

C19 Commander Set Review

For each new set, I write an article discussing the new legendary creatures and the nonlegendary cards that I think will be relevant in Commander.

The Commanders of C19

There are 38 cards with madness in this color identity, which means that an Anje deck is essentially 61 cards when you’re running all of them. Having 61 cards in your maindeck makes it much more likely that you’ll be able to assemble combos, and the best one for this commander is probably Worldgorger Dragon + Animate Dead (note that Dance of the Dead and Necromancy also work here).

The way the combo works is this:

Have Worldgorger in your graveyard (Anje can help with this)

Cast Animate Dead targeting the Worldgorger

Worldgorger returns to the battlefield, exiling all your permanents, including Animate Dead.

When Animate Dead leaves the battlefield, it forces you to sacrifice the Worldgorger.

When Worldgorger leaves the battlefield, it returns all of your permanents.... Untapped.

Target Worldgorger with the Animate Dead when it returns to the battlefield, but before it brings back Worldgorger, tap your lands and activate Anje.

Repeat the loop for infinite mana and rummaging.

As long as you have a mana sink somewhere in your deck, you’ll win off of this combo.

The deck is very fast and consistent; check it out here:

Sample decklist

Although the deck is quite strong, I think it’s worth talking about her value as a madness commander. She certainly encourages you to play as many madness cards as possible, but she doesn’t really encourage the madness style of gameplay because it’s much slower and grindier than the efficient path to victory Anje and her Dragon can offer you.

When you play the deck (and I encourage you to goldfish with it), you’re almost never casting your spells for their madness cost. If Anje said menace instead of madness, the deck would play out exactly the same.

Does that make for a good madness commander? I don’t really think so. But it’s a new archetype, so I’ll give her a pass.

The easiest build of this deck treats Atla as a Jalira, Master Polymorphist and just runs a single copy of Blightsteel or some other heinous beater.

But there’s a more interesting angle of attack if you try to build it a little more like Egg tribal. You can run a bunch of changelings (they’re all eggs) and once you have two eggs on the board, you can sacrifice them until you’ve cycled through all the Eggs in your deck and hit Ulamog 1.0. Then you can sacrifice Ulamog to recycle all your used up changelings. Normally, this process would operate at a net loss of one egg per cycle, but Irregular Cohort (and potentially Summoner’s Egg) up your egg count and make it so you can go through the loop as often as you like, netting whatever your sac outlet generates. You’ll also generate infinite Dragons and Birds.

Sample decklist

This might be the commander to use if you actually want to cast your madness cards. An activation that has discarding as a cost will make you want to minimize the downside--which is exactly what madness cards will do. The haste will work if you cast a critter from exile (which is where madness creatures are cast from), and you can discard a card on an opponent’s turn to get the madness cost reduction/timing cheat EVEN IF you don’t intend or are unable to cast a creature from your graveyard. Nice that you don’t have to commit to casting any particular creature when you discard, too. The floor on this is to pitch a creature, then cast it from the graveyard to give it haste; that’s definitely not nothing.

Sample decklist

This just seems like Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain but with White added. This deck runs as many 0-mana artifacts as possible to decrease your effective deck size and draw into one of your combo pieces.

This has a cute (and powerful) interaction with Sensei’s Divining Top; with a 1-mana cost reduction to the Top (Cloud Key, Etherium Sculptor, Foundry Inspector, Helm of Awakening, Jhoira’s Familiar) you can have as many cards drawn (and that many prowess triggers) as you want.

Also, Thought Lash is essentially a one-card combo.

Sample decklist

Gerrard can be used defensively to protect your stuff from your opponents’ board wipes or offensively to break the symmetry on your own. He can also be used with artifacts and creatures that sacrifice themselves for value (or that can be fed into sac outlets) to get a bunch of free stuff.

Some key categories of cards in this deck:

cards to help return Gerrard to your hand or the battlefield when he dies so you can get his trigger without having to send him back to the command zone (e.g., Gift of Immortality, Loyal Retainers, Nim Deathmantle)

a bunch of mass destruction effects that Gerrard can break the symmetry for (of which Nevinyrral’s Disk and Oblivion Stone have the most synergy with Gerrard)

a bunch of sacrifice outlets so can trade your creatures or value and then use Gerrard to buy them back (Ashnod’s Altar, Phyrexian Altar, Goblin Bombardment), and

a bunch of artifacts and creatures that either generate value when they ETB or when you sacrifice them.

The list could use some polish but it’s got a lot of potential; spinning Nev’s Disk every turn is not difficult to pull off.

Sample decklist

Ghired has similar problems to Anje in that the fun thing is not the most effective thing. While the addition of red to a populate deck means that you can make temporary copies of things with Kiki-Jiki or Flameshadow Conjuring, duplicate those copies with Ghired, then keep the duplicates!

Unfortunately, that’s usually slower and less effective than just copying the enormous Rhino he enters the battlefield with. It’s hard to make the case for durdling with copy effects when the alternative is accelerating him out on turn three (thanks to Sol Ring, Joraga Treespeaker, Generator Servant, Mana Crypt, etc etc) and then attacking for 10, 14, and 18 on the three subsequent turns. It’s not even that great to make 5/5 and 6/6 Wurms, as the spells that make them for 4+ mana and you can easily run Cloudshift effects to recharge Ghired’s Rhino for a single mana (often while dodging removal).

It does, however, work very well with other populate effects, since the Rhino is a good enough target most of the time.

Sample decklist

The deck feels like a pretty typical black/red control list with Greven as your finisher (and he’s quite a good one; it’s not hard to build your mana base and suite of control cards so that he reliably attacks for 10 or more without ever having to sacrifice anything). There are a couple of weird cards like Lupine Prototype, Rotting Regisaur, Cosmic Larva, Phyrexian Soulgorger and the Ball Lightnings that are worth running because they’re just such a good ratio of cards to mana.

Sample decklist

I don’t think this adds much to the format. If you want a beatstick commander in Green/Black, Hogaak is much larger and is virtually immune to the command tax. Tech for this guy includes Illness in the Ranks, Plague Engineer, Night of Soul’s Betrayal, and Engineered Plague.

This seems very good with flash granters like Leyline of Anticipation (newly encheapened by its M20 printing), Vedalken Orrery, Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir, and Vivien, Champion of the Wilds, as you can cast four free morphs per round of turns and draw four cards. 

In addition to flash granters, cost reduction effects are pretty good here, especially ones that reduce the cost of your morphs by two or more. Heartless Summoning and Semblance Anvil are big games, but I would also try to make room for Dream Chisel, Obscuring Aether, and Earthcraft.

You don’t need me to tell you that Aphetto Runecaster and Secret Plans are good here.

When choosing which morphs to fit in the deck (and to really get the engine running, you’ll need at least 40), I first prioritized morphs that flip for 1 or 0 mana, to make it easier to combo off with Runecaster and Secret Plans. Then I prioritized Morphs with useful effects and cheap morph costs, like Nantuko Vigilante, Den Protector, etc.

It’s notable that Kadena’s triggered ability works with manifest, so you can hit with a Jeskai Infiltrator and draw multiple cards.

I also like Beast Whisperer as another card draw engine. Unfortunately, draw engines that care about creature type, color, or power aren’t very effective here. Interestingly, morphs have no name, so Guardian Project will always trigger off of new morphs entering the battlefield, even if you already have other face-down creatures.

Win conditions: Triumph of the Hordes and Beastmaster Ascension.

Sample decklist

He’s harder to break than he looks because he can’t cover colorless costs. As long as you build your deck in a specific direction, he effectively generates mana at the cost of life. The life payments can be subsidized with an Aetherflux Reservoir but in order to really go off, you’ll need a way to draw cards (there aren’t that many black card draw spells without generic mana in their costs, other than greed). 

The best ways to do this are Null Profusion, Vilis, and Bolas’s Citadel. Let’s ignore the Citadel since it makes our commander unnecessary. Null Profusion can probably get there if you supplement it with lots of card draw spells to make it so you can still combo after hitting a land or two. Vilis works well, but like the Citadel, is so powerful on its own that K’rrik is barely necessary.

Worth noting: there are a couple cards (Shade’s Form, Shade’s Breath) that turn K’rrik into a shade. If you then slap on a Fireshrieker or Inquisitor’s Flail, you can pay a bunch of life to pump him up, then gain it all back with his lifelink.

Anyone remember Basandra, Battle Seraph? She’s one of the least popular commanders in one of the worst color identities, but apparently someone at Wizards thought they could redeem her by shaving off a mana, adding Green to her color identity, swapping flying for an extra point of power, breaking the symmetry on the casting restriction, and changing up how the forced attack ability works. Is this card different enough to succeed where the previous version failed? I don’t think so, but I’m prepared to be wrong.

This could be a pretty solid superfriends commander, as it’s really good at protecting your planeswalkers and the colors offer important effects like extra turn effects, proliferate, Jokulhaups effects, efficient board wipes, etc etc.

Sample decklist

This is an enormous amount of work for what amounts to a voltron commander. I am willing to bet cold hard cash that this will be the second-least popular Sultai commander of all time, if not the least popular.

First off, I love that he breaks symmetry on Earthquake effects.

Second, it’s worth noting that although this is a flashback deck, the ability works pretty well with Aftermath and Retrace cards, as well.

Unfortunately, there just aren’t that many Commander-playable cards with flashback, retrace, and aftermath in this color identity. 

Cards that do work: Secrets of the Dead, Finale of Promise, Goblin Dark Dwellers, Mission Briefing, Snapcaster, Torrential Gearhulk, Chandra, Acolyte of Flame) These all point to generic value though, and don’t offer a cool “build” other than Pariah and Pariah’s Shield. The first spell clause means that if you run flash granters, you can get the spell copy effect multiple times per round of turns. 

Adding menace makes him unblockable and if you can give him an extra 2 power, 3 players can gang up to ice the 4th. There’s not a whole lot of tech to this guy; just run standard Voltron enablers and you’ll do fine.

Infect creatures and Cold-Eye Selkie, Cephalid Constable, Dreamstealer, and Needle Specter are all pretty good when they have 7 power. The tricky part is, many of those creatures have 1 toughness, which means Volrath’s built-in counter generation isn’t going to cut it.

Unspeakable Symbol, Tetzimoc, Llanowar Reborn, and both Oran-Riefs are decent ways to counter up your dudes, but even a simple Gaea’s Anthem will also do the trick.

The Maindeck Cards of Commander 2019

In this set review, I’ll be using two five-point rating scales to evaluate the nonlegendary cards, one that measures how many decks a card is playable in (we’ll call that “spread”), and one that measures how powerful it is in those decks (”power”). Here’s a brief rundown of what each rank on the two scales means:

Spread

1: This card is effective in one or two decks, but no more (ex: The Gitrog Monster).

2: This card is effective in one deck archetype (ex: self-mill decks).

3: A lot of decks will be able to use this card effectively (ex: decks with graveyard interactions).

4: This card is effective in most decks in this color.

5: Every deck in this color is able to use this card effectively.

Power

1: This card is always going to be on the chopping block.

2: This card is unlikely to consistently perform well.

3: This card provides good utility but is not a powerhouse.

4: This card is good enough to push you ahead of your opponents.

5: This card has a huge impact on the game.

Spread: 3 Power: 1

That this needs to both tap and sac makes it seem too clunky to be a stand-out; it compares unfavorably to Selfless Spirit and Mother of Runes.

Spread: 2 Power: 3

The juice isn’t worth the squeeze until you’ve cast your commander at least twice. I would for sure run this card in a go-wide aggro deck running partner commanders, but this doesn’t seem great in other builds because it’s so bad in the early game, when aggro decks should be capitalizing on their advantages.

Spread: 2 Power: 1

This is slow and weak, even in white decks that want sac fodder. The most interesting thing about this card is the fact that it introduces the Sculpture creature type.

Spread: 1 Power: 1

Despite the timing restriction making it more narrow than Time Stop (and nearly useless against Storm-esque combo decks), it could serve as a pretty effective means to tilt a player off an important turn. At worst, it’ll play as a Fog, and given that it falls short of the “truly excellent” mark, it will likely catch people by surprise when used effectively. In a pinch, you can keep your opponents from casting spells in your second main, too.

Generally, however, I don’t think this effect will be worth a card in most games of Commander.

Spread: 4 Power: 2

This doesn’t have the long-term potential of Sun Titan but it has a couple things going for it. The initial reanimation comes at a much cheaper cost than the Titan’s and flashback reanimation is extremely powerful in self-mill decks. Teshar, for example, runs Mesmeric Orb and the possibility of milling Sevinne’s Reclamation and some key combo pieces that aren’t easily recurred (i.e., noncreature artifacts, like sac outlets) seems pretty good.

Unfortunately, Teshar is the only white deck that’s particularly interested in self-mill. This card would have been a very powerful tool in blue or black decks but it has less to do in this color identity. 

This card is best thought of as a narrower Nature’s Spiral that will likely offer a discount on the card you recur.

Spread: 2 Power: 3

It’s expensive and does nothing without (a) a spell to cast, and (b) a powerful token to copy. There aren’t that many cards that produce tokens so strong they can justify this 6-mana enchantment; certainly, there’s not a critical mass of them.

Spread: 1 Power: 1

I am very wary of cards with multiple hoops. This card not only requires you to be casting a ton of spells from you graveyard (which is rare for most decks) but it needs some token support and/or spirit tribal. I don’t believe there are currently any commanders that fit the bill, although Kykar might be a possibility.

Spread: 1 Power: 3

I wouldn’t run this outside of Kadena or an Animorphs deck, as morph/megamorph are still generally bad in Commander and this effect is not worth the five mana you’re forced to pump into it.

Spread: 5 Power: 2

Worst-case scenario, it cycles, but even with a relatively high floor I’m not very excited about this card. Blue has more efficient spot removal (Pongify, Rapid Hybridization, Reality Shift) and in tuned lists, the mana saved is worth more than the card. That being said, this is a pretty solid answer for commanders with shroud/hexproof/indestructible/protection/etc.

Spread: 1 Power: 3

Polymorphist’s Jest sees play in Silumgar 1.0 and Tibor and Lumia decks, and this should also slot into those decks.

Spread: 4 Power: 2

While playing precon Magic at Vegas, I used this to trade a vanilla creature for an In Garruk’s Wake, so I’ve already seen the absolute best-case scenario for this card. Even after having experienced the apex of its power, I think it’s going to be worse than a Negate most of the time. Holding up 4 mana is pretty onerous, and there are plenty of spells for which changing control won’t prevent a negative outcome for you (i.e., mass creature destruction, mass land destruction, etc.). 

I will do some more testing with it and see if screwing two opponents at once may be worth the price of entry, but that still seems pretty narrow.

Spread: 3 Power: 1

This is not good. If an opponent drew enough cards to make this vanilla beater a “great savings” you better have a sac outlet otherwise you’re still gonna lose. It doesn’t have evasion of any kind either and is still a dies trigger. Plagiarize is just SO MUCH BETTER. 

Spread: 2 Power: 3

A great answer to commanders with shroud/hexproof or good tap abilities, clone redundancy for the decks that need it, and a useful defender for Arcades decks. It doesn’t go in every deck but it’s a solid role player in the right playgroup or build.

Spread: 1 Power: 3

It has madness, keep it in your Anje precon.

Spread: 1 Power: 4

This could be really good in Varina, Lich Queen, since it has a relevant creature type, the tokens are also of the relevant type, and you can use the free mana to activate Varina. I don’t think any other decks are able to discard as many cards as consistently as her, though.

Spread: 1 Power: 3

It’s an autoinclude in Anje because it has madness and it goes infinite with Vilis. Other than those two decks, I don’t think anyone else can use this card.

Spread: 1 Power: 3

A cool take on morph, a weird sac outlet. Will probably only see play in Kadena and black voltron lists, as you often have some floaters to get a bit of gotcha cost reduction and instant speed safety.

Alex: The pseudo-Split Second that the “As you unmorph…” ability gives this card the ability to sneak protection onto your commander without your opponents having a chance to respond. Most opponents will not necessarily think they need to remove your high-priority target in response to you casting a morph.

This could be good in Olivia Voldaren and Judith decks as a way to enhance your pinging and protect your commander. Neither deck should care about the unmorph cost much; as they’ll both have plenty of sac fodder.

And yeah, you’ll run it in Kadena.

Spread: 2 Power: 1

This card does not get there as Black enchantment removal. It’s too easy to keep a creature on the field in Commander and I doubt this is going to be able to come through for you when you really need to remove a Humility or an Omniscience.

Spread: 4 Power: 3

A little strange that it can’t kill creatures with power equal to the number of cards in your hand. Black decks are good enough at filling their hands that I think this could easily be a viable wrath; Black does not currently have a critical mass of board wipes that cost 5 or less so I think it could definitely make the cut in Commander.

Spread: 2 Power: 2

This card looks a lot like Verdant Force, but don’t stop thinking there. According to EDHREC, Verdant Force is mostly played in Slimefoot (played in 600+ decks), Ghave (played in 300+ decks), and Thelon decks (played in 100+ decks), so a lot of its power appears to come from Saproling synergies. This may be similarly limited to decks that have synergies with what it’s doing (Kadena, mostly).

Spread: 3 Power: 2

I talk a lot about how much I love cheap rummaging effects, so you might be surprised to hear that I’m down on this card. To cast it for its madness cost, you need to jump through the hoop of finding a discard outlet, and your reward for doing so is… another discard outlet. 

There are diminishing returns to these types of effects, as a hand can only get so sculpted, and losing your entire hand, as opposed to one or two bad cards, is a steeper cost than it looks. It’s also unfortunate that you don’t have control over when it attacks and therefore you have no control over whether you’re discarding your hand each turn.

Spread: 3 Power: 2

If you have anything in your graveyard that’s good this becomes a must-kill target. That said, it’s got to stay alive to attack, and you have to have good stuff in the yard to cast. As just a value engine this seems clunky, but there are very few ways to actually cast cards from graveyards, so I welcome this slow dragon value machine.

Spread: 3 Power: 3

It’s a ritual, it’s ramp, it’s a Goblin, it’s a Pirate. It’s very good in combo decks for which mana is often the limiting factor (e.g., Zada), it’s good in Brudiclad as a cheap source of tokens, it goes infinite with Deadeye Navigator, it just does a ton of stuff for a bunch of different decks. Great card.

Spread: 2 Power: 2

I wouldn’t run this if you’re making a random 3/3 (or smaller) token. But if your metagame has lots of small utility creatures and you’re populating huge monsters like Ghired’s Rhino or Omnath 2.0’s Elemental, I’d be into it. I also like this for the commanders that can make weird tokens, like Gyrus, Inalla, Kiki-Jiki, Feldon, Brudiclad, or Riku.

Spread: 2 Power: 2

Pretty good in Ghired and Brudiclad, pretty mediocre everywhere else.

Spread: 2 Power: 2

The Red Harmonize. This seems great in any Red deck that doesn’t have access to Blue/Black/Green card draw, especially those that can realistically generate enough mana to flash it back (e.g., Neheb, the Eternal).

Spread: 1 Power: 1

This doesn’t happen that many times in a game, so if I’m looking for self-recurring sac fodder I’d rather run something like Flamewake Phoenix. Also, if I care about sac fodder, I’m probably also in Black, in which case I get a million better options.

Spread: 1 Power: 1

I can’t think of a deck that would want this card. Please let me know if you’ve got an idea of where this could fit into the format.

Spread: 2 Power: 2

Well, it’s free value and there probably aren’t that many bad spells being thrown around (although hitting counterspells is pretty painful). I would try running this in a slower red deck with lots of spells looking to grind out long-game card advantage.

Spread: 4 Power: 3

This card is notable because it gives Green a critical mass of mass creature removal. Prior to the Altisaur, Green had Ezuri’s Predation, but it didn’t have any ways to tutor it out, so it was unlikely that you would be able to find it when you needed it. However, because Altisaur is a creature, it can be tutored out by Green’s many, many tutor effects, so whenever you need an answer to multiple creatures, you’ll be able to find it. The fact that you can choose to end the fight-chain, allowing this to survive, and then restart it any time this blocks or becomes blocked definitely adds to its effectiveness. But for nine mana, I suppose it had better be effective!

Spread: 2 Power: 2

I’m going to evaluate these new populate cards as if I’m making Rhinos. 3 for a Rhino seems weak, 5 for 2 ain’t great, 7 for 3 compares unfavorably with lots of other green cards at a similar price point.

Spread: 2 Power: 3

I would happily run this in any green token deck, since your attacking 1/1 is going to pick up a card no matter what. I’d probably also run in green decks that are good at vomiting lots of (nontoken) creatures onto the battlefield, like Sachi, Seton, Reki, both Ezuris, and less competitive Edric lists.

Spread: 4 Power: 2

Nature’s Spiral doesn’t see a ton of play, but putting a commander from your command zone into your hand is a rare enough ability that this might see play for that half of the entwine alone.

It is worth noting that, per the rulings on Command Beacon: “If you cast a commander from your hand, the additional cost based on the number of times you’ve cast it from your command zone (sometimes referred to as the ‘commander tax’) doesn’t apply. Additionally, that casting won’t add to the tax if you later cast the commander from the command zone.”

So not only will this let you cheat the command tax if you’ve been heavily taxed already that game, but if you have a spare slot in your seven-card hand earlier on in the game, you can cast this preemptively to dodge the first round of command taxation.

Spread: 2 Power: 2

I don’t love this card. It does nothing in the early game and it’s still pretty situational in the late game, as you have to have a token worth copying and graveyards have to be stacked.

Spread: 2 Power: 2

I wouldn’t jam this in every Green deck, but in decks like Ezuri or Seton that care about its creature types, I would happily run it as “+1 relevant creature, draw 1 or more cards”.

Spread: 1 Power: 2

With Prototype Portal/Mechanized Production, you can swap between an opponent’s turn and your own and lock everyone else out of the game.

However, I don’t think there are many decks that can assemble that combo easily, and most of the time this will be a slower, bad Time Warp.

Spread: 1 Power: 1

This effect is just not worth a card.

Spread: 1 Power: 2

Prismatic Geoscope is fairly analogous, and sees play in over ten percent of certain 4- and 5-color decks (the decks in which it shines the most). In decks that can manipulate the number of counters or are interested in untapping artifacts often (Atraxa, Vorel, lists running both Voltaic and Manifold Key) this is worth taking a second look at. An easy heuristic might be: most lists wanting Astral Cornucopia will probably also want this.

Spread: 2 Power: 2

This seems like a great rate in any deck where your commander talks about tokens. Once you have drawn three times, this card is really overperforming. Around 20 commanders that are dragons have a >10% play rate for Dragon’s Hoard, and this is offering a comparable incentive. The Eldrazi token is probably flavor text, but it is a nice populate target if you get to it.

Spread: 1 Power: 1

This might be the worst Tempting Offer card ever printed. Most tempting offers give you something even if nobody takes the offer. This gives you nothing unless your chosen opponent decides to spend two mana activating this. Why would they ever do that? Probably only good in Zedruu, and only because it saves you the trouble of donating it.

Spread: 1 Power: 2

If it cost three I would seriously consider running this in some colorless, monowhite, and monored decks as a value engine, but casting it on T4 and not getting your first trigger until T5 is painfully slow.

There are enough scarecrows and changelings with CMC 3 or less that I don’t see this making the cut for Reaper King, but both King Macar and Emmara, Soul of the Accord have a bunch of ways to tap this guy so you can put the Tiller to work every turn without risking him in combat. I’ve also heard people talking about putting this in Derevi for repeated tapping and untapping, but I feel like Derevi has better things to do.

Spread: 2 Power: 2

Helps you get an extra Kadena trigger each turn, great with blink commanders as it can help you cheat big mana costs. and it’s essentially a flash granter for decks that don’t care about ETB triggers.

Spread: 2 Power: 2

It’s a solid bounce engine for ETB commanders. Note that it goes infinite with Zacama.

Wrapping Up

Do you disagree with any of my evaluations? Do you see other ways to build around the commanders of C19? Let me know!

#set review #c19 #commander #mtg #edh

[theamazingwhizzo]

Ash and Kit

More I read about Ash and Kit, more I think they are very alike. I read some times that the similarities between Sebastian-Jace and Ash-Kit are too much and I can’t agree more. This is the most important difference and similitudes I thought:

Ash is half shadowhunter (with demon blood from Sebastian) and half faerie (from the Seelie Queen, seelie royalty blood)

And Kit is a shadowhunter and part faerie (from the First Heir what it means Seelie Queen’s and King Arawn’s blood, seelie and unseelie royalty blood).

Because of Sebastian’s daemon blood, Ash is capable of bear some type of rune which looks twister and sinister, like the ones the Endarkened had worn according Emma. Now I can’t find if he can bear shadowhunter runes too, but I think he can. Obviously, Kit can’t bear these sinister runes, just shadowhunter runes.

If we talk about the parallels of their life, there’s some. Both were raised without a mother and with a paternal figure that was not a good example to follow. But Johnny loved Kit, even though he didn’t show it a lot, and the former Unseelie King and Sebastian didn’t Love Ash at all. As Johnny as Sebastian were in bad affairs and Kit and Ash normalized this. After QOAAD both went to live with someone Nephilim, Jem and Tessa/Jace. They both never had a true home, a safe space. Now Kit have it with Tessa, Jem and baby Castairs and we will see if Ash will be okay with Thule!Jace in Forever Fallen.

Both have spells from King’s Arawn, The Fist Heir had spells cast on her to make sure she would be the perfect heir, some of them was dark, before she was born, and this is what Kit inherited. King Arawn did the same to Ash, but in this case he was a child and he didn’t finish it like he did with the First Heir. He also uses his blood to make him like her because he doesn’t have unseelie royal blood. That doesn’t mean now he is unseelie too, just that his powers will be more similarly to the First Heir’s.

We already know Ash blood is special, the King wore his blood around him throat, a vial. He even admitted:

“His blood is unique-Nephilim blood and demoniac blood, mixed with the blood of the fey. I draw power from it, though only a friction of the power Ash could have if you allow me to keep the Black Volume”.

The truth is that we don’t know if Kit’s blood will be special too. Probably yes. King Arawn said royal blood is special. I read a really interesting theory (I don’t remember where, it was a while ago), about the poison Emma and Julian drank in the Seelie court and the vial the demon who pretend to be Annabel had were Ash’s blood. And it has sense, we already know it have special proprieties and Emma’s and Julian’s runes were glowing after drink it. We don’t know everything about what it can do.

And, of course, Ash’s wings. Just before Ash killed Sebastian Emma saw his winds and she said they didn’t look demoniac nor angelic. We don’t know if Kit has it too. Remember in the ending of QoAaD, Kit asked Tessa if he will be growing pointy ears or a tale and Tessa answer him they will find out. We don’t know what will happen.  From the shadowhunters wiki:

“Though they mostly resemble human beings, some have extraordinary features such as wings, horns, oddly colored-eyes or skin, much like the marks of warlocks. A common aspect among them are their pointed ears. Faeries commonly incorporate flora and multiple forms of vegetation as part of their ensemble.”

Even if Kit did not have wings (And I wish he won’t, I want them to have they own caractaristic attributes, even thoght it would be cool to see him with Kit), I think he will have some faerie mark, pointed ears is not the only faerie characteristic. The Shadowhunter wiki, again:

“However, the changeling children they bring in mysteriously take on fey attributes and are able to perform some faerie magic, thus bringing fresh strong blood into the faerie lines.”

So, even if you weren’t born with faerie attributes, you can get to have them on some way. I really think he will have it because if he doesn’t, it would be like ignoring his faerie blood. He didn’t have it in TDA can be explain because we would had to discover his linadge in QOAAD.

They are weapons against the nephilims. They created the First Heir so powerful that she could destroy the nephilims. Well, The King planned to use the Black Volume to make Ash a weapon giving him certain powers, but technically he didn’t have the opportunity because he died shortly after, so Ash is not fully a weapon. However, we can’t underestimate him, with black spells or not he’s still very powerful.

Ash and Kit are two faces of the same coin. But, I don't think Kit either Ash will be evil. I think they will correct the errors of their predecessors, they have a second opportunity. Ash is not bad like Sebastian, so he can clean the Morgenstern name and join the shadowhunters.

I really want a friendship between Ash and Kit, everybody waiting for a Sebastian-Jace 2.0 and to be as destructive as Sebastian and Jace of Thule, but end it up they joining they forces and powers, fighting against the antagonist, and proving everyone that they can work together for a good cause.

I really want a friendship between them, because maybe they are the only ones who can understand each other.

#ash morgenstern #kit herondale #kit rook #tda #tda spoilers #TWP #TWP Theories #sebastian #auraline #jace herondale #shadowhunters #qoaad #the wicked powers

[words-writ-in-starlight]

PLEASE TOBY/TYBALT either "One is mind controlled and forced to fight the other" or "The other losing their mind when their partner is hurt/killed and charging into battle recklessly". if you are still taking these.

Anonymous asked:

I might be late, so if I am just ignore me, but: toby/tybalt, one losing their mind when their partner is hurt/killed and charging into battle recklessly? (sending all of the good vibes your way 💛💛💛 hope you have a nice day!)

Well…I spent a week too busy to answer these and not sure what I’d do for them, but then I wrote 4K in 12 hours, so.  It’s…a weird ride.  Gonna put it up on AO3.

By the time Sylvesterarrived with his knights, the fighting was long since over. He had come as quickly as he could—for allthe damage his relationship with Toby had suffered of late, for all that he hadkept from her, she had still thought to call him when she was in need offirepower, and Sylvester thought it would be a long time before he could refusethat call.  His wife might have turnedher back on Toby, believing her to have betrayed poor, shattered Rayseline,but—

But Toby was his, his knight, his wayward charge, hisdaughter, and Sylvester would always come when she called.

The building thatToby had told him about was an old office building, low-slung and plain andforgettable, and for a moment Sylvester wished that he had her talent for tastinga single drop of blood in a building, because once they were inside, it wassilent, with no sign of Toby or any of her usual reinforcements. There were no voices, no screaming, none ofthe cursing and bitter rage that Toby so often left in her wake.

“Search,” Sylvestersaid, and so they searched, until Grianne found a door to the basement.  They all flinched back when she opened it,even good hardy Etienne—there was iron there, the tang of it so sharp and suddenthat it made Sylvester dizzy for a moment.

“All right,”Sylvester said, starting down the stairs cautiously.  Halfway down the stairs, another smell hithim through the iron—he was no Dóchas Sidhe, but even a human could probablynotice that much blood.  It was muddiedby the smell of iron, blurred, but Daoine Sidhe knew blood, and Sylvester hadbeen a hero a long time before he was a duke. He wasn’t surprised when he reached the bottom of the stairs and found ascene better suited to a slaughterhouse.

The iron surged for amoment, hungry, like a wild thing that had been fed just enough to rememberthat it was starving, and Sylvester closed his eyes, breathed shallowly untilhis head cleared.  Then he opened his eyesagain, and picked his way across the killing field.

“Oberon,” Etiennebreathed behind him, and almost Sylvester smiled, grim and humorless.

“Send the rest backto wait at the top of the stairs, Etienne,” Sylvester said, in the tone of aman not accustomed to being questioned, and didn’t look back to see if Etiennehad obeyed.

The night haunts hadyet to come for their latest prizes.  Therewere thirteen bodies, all told—mostly changelings as far as Sylvester couldsee, but some had the delicate perfection of purebloods, and he thanked any powersthat might be listening Queen Windermere was likely to call this self-defenseand pardon the murderer.  Some, those wholooked most human, had been killed more mercifully, if that was the word.  Their necks had been snapped, or their headsslammed into the concrete wall so forcefully that their skulls were visiblydented and flattened, killed with someone’s bare hands and rage.  

The purebloods, themost fae of the changelings, had slit throats or pierced hearts, skin markedwith the ragged black rot of iron poisoning. The knife was still thrust to the hilt under the point of one man’s jaw,radiating the sullen taint of iron as it seeped through his dead flesh.

All but thepurebloods had blood on their lips and bore a handprint on their skin, where someonehad clamped a bloodied palm to their wrists or throats and branded them for theshort rest of their lives.

Sylvester didn’t needto ask questions, to understand what had happened.  These, the dead, had been hunting OctoberDaye for weeks, and had thought to catch her off-guard.  Whether they had intended to capture or killher was, frankly, immaterial.  Whatmattered was that the basement had been turned from ambush to massacre, as ifOberon’s own herald had come down the stairs and declared every life within ahundred yards hers, by their lost King’s own will.

The only question waswhy.

Sylvester reachedToby, where she was sitting cross-legged with her back to the stairs, andunderstood with a flash of pain.

Toby’s eyes wereglassy, and there was a cut that skated up over her collarbone and through themuscle of her shoulder.  It radiatediron, too, and she moved that arm only barely, resting on Tybalt’s still chestwhile her other hand stroked almost idly through his hair.

“October?” Sylvestersaid softly, waving Etienne and the other knights back behind him.  “Can you hear me?”

“Yes,” Tobysaid.  Her voice was even and calm, andSylvester crouched down in her line of sight, hoping to draw her gaze.  She looked blindly at the wall ahead of her,where there was a spray of blood, and went on stroking Tybalt’s hair, deftfingers winding through the black and brown tabby stripes emotionlessly.  There was a gash in Tybalt’s throat, cuttingthrough the right carotid artery, but except for the blood he looked asleep,and if Sylvester didn’t know better, he might have thought that Toby was ascalm as her voice suggested.  She wasdrenched with what could only be her own blood, leaving more of it in Tybalt’shair as she petted him, and except for the way she stared ahead, she seemedunruffled.

This, then, must havebeen what it was like, Sylvester thought suddenly, to serve the mad Duke ofShadowed Hills.  It was not, generallyspeaking, expected of the nobility of Faerie to apologize for fits of insanity,but he made a mental note to apologize at very least to those who had kept hisduchy running in his—absence.

“Did you kill allthese people, October?” he asked softly.

“I know they werepurebloods, some of them,” Toby said, distantly.  “I think I’ll probably be executed for that.”

“We’ll deal with thatlater.  What did you do to them?”

Toby smiled a little,the same way she smirked when she was mocking someone for being hung up oncourtly minutiae that she was about to cut through with all the grace of ahatchet.  “I killed them.  They had me tied up, so I broke my wrists andfingers, and then I killed them all.  Idon’t think they expected that.”  Sheturned toward Sylvester, finally, turning wide eyes on him, wide eyes likeAmandine’s wide, mad eyes, colorless and old and unmerciful.  “Did you know that rebalancing the bloodhurts more than anything else in the world?” she asked, with the steady regardof a child or an executioner.

“I didn’t know that,”Sylvester said.

“I did,” Tobysaid.  “I forgot, because my mother mademe forget.  But I remembered, after shedid it again.”  Her gaze flickered coollyto the nearest body, marked with her handprint on his jaw, and then she lookeddown at Tybalt, carefully smoothing his hair back from his face.

“Is that what you did,to these people?”  That got him a nod,slow and dreamy.  “Did they kill Tybalt?”

“He used up all hislives saving me, these last few years,” Toby said.  Not an answer, except that it very much was.

“October,” Sylvestersaid, moving a little closer, and he stopped short when she tensed.  “It’s all right.  I’m not going to hurt you.  I think you’re suffering from iron poisoning,Toby.  Why isn’t that cut healing?”

“Oh, yes,” Toby said,blinking at him like a child struggling to keep up.  “That would be the iron poisoning.  I don’t think I can walk right now.  I’ve lost a lot of blood.”

“Okay,” Sylvestersaid, and beckoned Etienne closer.  “IfEtienne takes Tybalt, would you let me carry you out of here?”

Toby shook her headand Sylvester bit back a sharp order. The iron seemed to be eating away at her presence of mind, turning theusual slow confusion of blood loss into something far more profound withunnerving speed.  He wanted all of themout of this room, as soon as possible.  

“Why not, October?”

“If I leave him thenight haunts will come,” Toby said.

Sylvester had toclose his eyes at that.  The King of Catshad never been one of his favorite people, even when they were getting alonginstead of studiously avoiding each other, but—

“Toby,” he said quietly.  “Love, you know—the night haunts will have tocome for him eventually.  You can’t keephim forever.”

“I don’t need to,”she said, and blinked several times, focusing on his face for the firsttime.  She smiled again, baring all herteeth, and now, now she looked like she had scraped together the last of herenergy for a moment of sanity, and it was far worse than the disinterestedstare from before.  This wasn’t thegrief-mad knight, this was the only Dóchas Sidhe in the world, granddaughter ofOberon himself, on the warpath.  “I’mgoing to do something really stupid, instead.”

There was a dizzydrop in Sylvester’s chest, and he let out a slow breath.  Toby’s standards for stupidity were high,high enough that the vast majority of what she believed to be a valid planscanned as genuine madness to most, and the things that she would admit werefoolish tended to end with outcomes like a murdered Firstborn.

“Okay,” he said oncehe was sure that his voice would be steady. “But we still need to get out of here before you can do anything, stupidor otherwise.  What if I took Tybalt, andEtienne took you?  Would that be allright?”

“Will you make surethe night haunts don’t take him away?”

“Yes,” Sylvestersaid.  “On my life, I swear.  I’ll see to it.”  

Toby nodded, seemingto sink back into the haze of iron poisoning as soon as Sylvester beckoned Garmover and lifted Tybalt’s tall form between them.  Etienne came and spoke briefly to Toby, in amurmur, and she let him help her up, wavering on her feet but managing tostumble across the room with Etienne under one arm to hold her upright.

“I’m getting bloodall over your shirt,” Toby observed as they reached the stairs and ascended,one step at a time.

“I know this mightshock you,” Etienne said dryly, “but I am a knight and have even bled on myshirts myself, before.  Not nearly somuch as you tend to, so you might have missed it.  One more step, and then just a littlefarther.  Grianne,” he added, with asharp look over Toby’s head.  “Close thedoor and don’t let anyone else down until His Grace decides what we do now.”

“What happened downthere?” asked one of the younger knights in a thin voice, eyes fixed on Toby asblood soaked into Etienne’s shirt from her hands.  He must be new to dealing with October, Sylvesterthought distractedly.  One got past hertalent for ending up covered in blood eventually.

“How old are you?”Toby asked, squinting at him.

“Come now, October,leave the boy alone,” Sylvester said gently. “Grianne, see to the door. Someone call Jin, we’ll need her for October’s iron poisoning.”  The door swung shut, the pervasive reek ofiron fading abruptly, and Sylvester glanced automatically over his shoulder tocheck on Toby.  Being out of the basementseemed to be doing some little to help her eyes clear, and as soon as the doorwas closed her footing seemed steadier, but whatever mad-eyed calm she hadmanaged to cling to was beginning to crack and fracture with the inexorablerise of sanity.

“I need to getoutside,” Toby said.  “And I need Jinhere right away.  Etienne, can you gether?”

“I–”  Etienne hesitated and gave Sylvester ahelpless look.  “I can.  Someone come help Sir Daye outside.  You there,” he added, and flagged down thewide-eyed young knight to take his place as Toby’s crutch.

“Hey, kid,” Toby saidas she grimaced at the jostling of her wound. Etienne watched closely for a moment to see that she was being held upsecurely, and then drew a circle in the air and darted away in a wash of limesand cedar smoke.  “I’m Toby.”

“I’m Kellen,” theyoung Tuatha said, and glanced nervously at Sylvester.  Sylvester, still bearing up more than half ofTybalt’s weight, arched an eyebrow, and Kellen went a bit grey—correctlyinterpreting the level of punishment he might be looking at if he dropped hisliege’s favorite knight, Sylvester hoped. Toby very much did not look capable of supporting her own weight.

Outside, Tobydirected Sylvester to set Tybalt down on the asphalt, and he and Grianne did,arranging the King of Cats in repose on the ground, his hands folded togetherand his eyes closed.  The blood Toby hadleft in his hair was beginning to dry, stiffening the locks into ragged spikes.

“Let me go,” Tobysaid, shrugging away from Kellen and leaving him to bob nervously on his toeswhile she knelt shakily down beside her fiance’s body.

“October,” Sylvestersaid softly, crouching down beside her. He reached out and caught her hand in his, giving her lax fingers asqueeze.  “My dear, you’re in no shape tostay out here.  Let me take you back toShadowed Hills.”

“No,” Toby said, andbegan separating the blood-stuck clumps of Tybalt’s hair with her other hand.  “I need to do this quickly.  I don’t know–”  Her voice broke for the first time, and herhands shook for a moment before she let out a slow breath.  “I don’t know if it will take, later.  Where’s Etienne?”

“He’ll be here.  What are you planning to try?”

“I did it once.  I don’t know if it will work on him,” Tobysaid.  “But Tybalt had nine lives, once,so I think it might.  The last time I didit–”  She laughed a little, andSylvester’s chest ached.  “He was soangry with me.  It was stupid, Iguess.  But it’s going to be reallystupid now.”

They sat there insilence, the moon sinking slowly toward the horizon, and Sylvester held onto Toby’shand.  His skin was growing tacky withdrying blood where they touched, but she had clutched tightly to him when hetried to pull away, and it was such a small thing, to sit on the ground withthis girl he had raised and hold her hand while she stood guard over the bodyof the man she loved.

Sylvester was neverable to be what Toby needed when she needed it, it seemed.  She had needed a parent and he had lingered ahalf-step back, wanting to let Amandine have the chance to be a mother again.  By the time he realized that Amandine didn’twant the chance, Toby needed freedom, and he had been a lord and a chain first,a friend second.  All he had ever doneright by her, Sylvester thought in his darker moments, was fighting for herknighthood—then, for just a moment, she had needed a defender and he had beenone.  And then…well.  Then he had asked her to find his family, andshe had lost her family, her friends, and almost her life, in one fell swoop,and still she had come when Faerie called her, still she had been loyal to him,and still, still, he was never ableto help her when she needed it most.

So this—holding herhand—this Sylvester would do.

The smell of liliesand cedar smoke washed over them before the gate opened—Chelsea, this time,with her father and Jin in tow. Sylvester was glad she had thought to intervene.  Etienne was more hardheaded than he wasmagically endowed, which had gotten him in over his head more than once.  Even with his powers bound, he had been laidout with magic burn for almost a week after chasing Chelsea across half ofreality.

“Jin,” Toby said, asif everyone else had ceased to be present. “Can you heal Tybalt’s throat?”

Jin flicked a mildlyfrantic look at Sylvester as she knelt, across Tybalt’s body from Toby, and sether healer’s kit on the asphalt.  “Toby,honey,” she said gently.  “He’s—he’sdead.”

“I know that,” Tobysaid, that terrible numb calm returning to her voice.  “I know. But can you do it?”

Jin’s wings flutteredanxiously, her glamour ignored under the wide don’t-look-here held up by ahandful of knights.  She looked toSylvester again, then down to his hand wrapped around Toby’s, then back toToby’s fave.  “I can—repair the damage,”she said carefully.  “But Toby, I can’t—Ican’t bring him back.  I can’t performmiracles.”

“That’s okay,” Tobysaid, and offered a brittle smile.  “Justfix his throat.  I’ll take it fromthere.”

“Do as she says,”Sylvester said quietly, and caught Jin’s eye when she glanced at him, trying toconvey what could it hurt.  This was a time of impossibilities, far toomany of them clinging to Toby’s wake like children clutching the hem of herjacket.  If she was wrong and nothingcould be done, they would be no worse off than they were.  If she was right…

Once, Sylvester wouldnever have dreamed of contacting the Luidaeg for anything less thanworld-ending importance.  Toby knew herfavorite ice cream and what kind of eels her pets liked.  If anyone was going to perform a miraclehere, it wouldn’t be Jin.

Jin worked overTybalt for no more than ten minutes, her fingers trembling faintly as shecoaxed the wound at his throat closed. The skin was still discolored, marked by the iron, and would remain sountil either he was taken by the night haunts or healed in his own time.  But when Jin sat back on her heels, the veinsand muscle of Tybalt’s throat were hidden again by skin and, save for the bloodon his clothes and smeared on his skin from Toby’s hands, he seemed like hemight sit up at any moment.

“That’s all I cando,” Jin said quietly.

“Good,” Toby said,and released Sylvester’s hand to shove up the sleeves of her blood-soakedshirt, baring her wrists.  “Open hisshirt and give me your knife.  I’m goingto raise the dead.”

The words landed likelightning—deafening, and then so silent it hurt.

“Toby,” Jin said inhorror, while Sylvester said, “October.”

“I’m not out of mymind,” Toby said, still holding out her hand. “Give me your knife.  Now.  And water, to wash my hands.”  The water was easy—Jin held out a bottle ofit, and Toby rinsed her hands as Jin unbuttoned Tybalt’s shirt, and Toby shesaid again, “Your knife.”

“Here,” said a softvoice, and Chelsea stepped forward, offering a mortal switchblade.  “It’s—it’s not steel, I got it custommade.  You can keep it.”

Toby took the bladewith a nod, and opened the blade, testing it with a finger.  Satisfied, she turned to Tybalt, and carved adeep X into her wrist, keeping the blade jammed into the wound to make theblood flow.

“Toby,” Sylvester said sharply, and reached out to grab her.

“Don’t,” Tobysaid—and he stopped short, startled by his own response.  It had been a long time since SylvesterTorquill had obeyed an order unthinkingly, automatically, with no magical orcourtly influence except his sense that he should do as he was told.  But the look Toby gave him, as she knelt upover Tybalt and let her blood drip over his forehead and lips, was impossibleto question.  

Toby cut herselfagain with the knife, digging in deeper this time to keep the wound open, andpressed her hand over Tybalt’s heart to leave a bloody handprint.  Then she raised her hand toward the moon andbegan to chant.

“Oak and ash andwillow and thorn are mine; blood and ice and flowers and flame are mine.”  Toby slashed open her wrist again and swalloweda mouthful of blood, and kept speaking. Something was rising in the air—like magic, but raw and old, answeringToby’s call.  “Mine in turn are those whohold me, love me, guard me with their lives; I have bled and burned here, and Idemand the return of what is mine.”

Another cut to herwrist, another mouthful of blood, and this one Toby held in her mouth as shekissed Tybalt hard, the blood spilling from his lips as magic snapped closedaround her.  The air smelled like freshblood and spring, the spell almost visible in a mist that clung to Toby’s skin.

Toby sat back on herheels as Tybalt took in a shuddering breath and began to cough.

“Now,” she saidraggedly, lips still red with her own blood as she looked to Jin, who lookedlike she had just seen—well.  Like shehad just seen a resurrection.  “Now healhim.”

And then Toby keeledover sideways, onto the asphalt.

Sylvester caught her,barely aware of himself moving as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders andeased her down into his lap.  Tybaltlooked terrible, pale and haggard and still coughing up blood, but he was,beyond a shadow of a doubt, alive, trying to sit up and looking around him withno small amount of alarm.

“Stay down,”Sylvester said, feeling a little faint himself. “You’ve lost a lot of blood.”

“What—October,” Tybalt said sharply, and Jincaught him by the arm and forced him back down before he could actually try toget to his feet.

“She’ll be fine, she’ssturdier than you are,” Jin said, and jammed a vial into his hands.  She seemed almost relieved to be on knownterritory again—corralling uncooperative patients was familiar, even if she wasusually keeping Toby in bed, rather than Tybalt.  “Drink this or you’ll go into shock and dieagain.  I don’t know what she just did orhow she did it, but you’re still in bad shape.”

Tybalt scowled, butdid as she said, and returned the vial, still coughing.  “What happened?”

There was a long beatof silence as Sylvester looked at his knights, and his knights looked at Jin,and Jin looked at Sylvester, before Etienne hesitantly cleared his throat, onearm wrapped tight around his daughter, who had tear tracks on her face.

“Well,” Etienne saidcautiously, “it seems that—that as long as Sir Daye is working with an intactbody, she can do some—unexpected things.” Tybalt raised an eyebrow, a silent threat.  “So she had Jin close the wound in yourthroat, and—and then she brought you back from the dead.”

Tybalt blinked.  “Of course she did,” he said at last, andstarted to laugh.

#october daye #toby daye fic #tybalt #sylvester torquill #etienne #otp: a hope chest in a dark alley #starlight writes stuff #fic meme #surprise sylvester pov? i was taken offguard too #but i really REALLY like the mental image of sylvester and his knights rolling up and finding all these people fucking MASSACRED #because they might rely on toby and sylvester doesn't think less of her for being a changeling and most of his knights have had some respec #but they still think of her as WEAKER for being a changeling #but um....news flash? i'd bet on toby every time #because she's powerful enough to unravel bloodlines with a touch #and stupid enough to fight with an iron knife if that's the weapon available to her #also i wanted to do this from sylvester's pov because i really really REALLY care about his dynamic with toby and what he thinks about her #especially because he seems to be the ONLY ONE who's like 'god toby really lost a lot doing what i asked and trying to find my family' #because every-damn-body else (including toby) is basically just like 'toby you failure' and sylvester is like 'i am...SO sorry' #and you know what i might really want to beat him with a stick until he finds some good sense these days #but i'll always really love him for that #oh and also featuring toby doing Big Blood Magic in front of sylvester's entire fucking court #so...that's going to have some fallout #specifically someone is going to corner her and be like 'WHERE DID YOU FUCKING LEARN THAT SHIT. THE LUIDAEG?' #and toby's going to shrug and be like 'i just sort of made it up the first time i raised the dead it was years ago idk' #and that person is just gonna kind of have to...sit with the knowledge that toby could do this as a mostly-mortal changeling #idk i really love etienne you guys i don't have any other reason for him to be here #toby made quentin stay home #idiot teenagers with a queue

[secretadventuresociety]

Episode 30 Recap

It’s that time again, SASholes! I’m Bren, resident SAStorian and Kü enthusiast. Welcome to Episode 30: Fire and Bone.

“Who Broke the Sky?”

On the walk back from the Night Market, our heroes take in the bright swirls of the aurora in the Mardosta welkin. Despite the heaviness of the evening, the sight brings on conversation about the coming festival-- which will necessitate new clothes and money to buy them with. Kess makes sure to impress upon Pearce that he can’t wear his red paint-stained mask, and so the gunslinger turns to Kü and asks if he would take off his helmet; his reasoning being that it would be ‘weird’ if he wore it. Now, I know what you’re doing here, Shooty Boy, and it’s admirable. However, if you ever tell my son how to dress again I will rip your character sheet up in front of you. ANYWAY. The matter is dropped as the party’s attention once again returns to gold (and honestly? Mood.) and they decide to go seek out Norse and Arthur to find out if they found the note and attached moolah that Pearce accidentally slid under their door. They find the couple lounging on their floor-- the whole floor that they have to themselves-- with cocktails in hand. Arthur immediately offers them a ‘Mardosta Mule’, which excites Kü. He turns to Pearce and exclaims that he’s had horses and donkeys, but never this ‘newfangled fusion’. 

As they all get turnt, Norse admits she did find the letter and assures the group she did NOT tell Brienne about it, just in case. Relieved, Kess explains the mix-up, then asks what her elders DID tell the detective. Norse reports that they were relatively honest, up until the point where they were questioned about Xarus’ presence in the house. They covered well, however, telling the investigator that he came to work with one of Kess’ brothers. The investigation does not seem to be closed, but the parents think that they are in the clear for now. Kess asks about Vendreth’s reaction, and Norse isn’t as forthcoming. All she will say is that he was fine, just upset that he wasn’t told sooner. Placated, the adventurers start in on their Madosta experiences, which to be fair, are limited because of… you know… all the murder. In any case, it makes a perfect venue for distraction as Pearce and Kess allow the nine year old kobold to drink TWO mules-- which for his body weight HAS to be more like TWENTY-TWO mules-- so that they can possibly talk him into removing his helmet. His skull. His-- skull helmet. Skelmet.

Kü gets to the point where the alcohol is giving him the sads instead of a buzz (which, RELATABLE, amirite?) and he tells everyone he’s just trying to ‘not think about how I feel or feel about how I think’ and realizes the mule is donkey-kicking him right in his racehorse heart. I think I tried too hard on that last sentence but I’m leaving it. Fuck you. In an attempt to make Kü feel better, Kess brings out one of our favorite callback jokes-- the singing bass. She tosses it at the kobold and in his drunken haze he bites at the writhing meat, coming away with a mouthful of dead scales. Did you guys know that thing was an actual, enchanted fish? ANYWAY. With this being the nail in the coffin of the worst day of Kü’s life (which INCLUDES his mom dying), our little buddy nopes out to sleep off the alcohol, leaving Pearce and Kess to their own devices.

The Suicide Squad

Being wary of the dozing kobold, Pearce quietly tells Kess that if Brienne comes after Kü to incarcerate him; he would take the fall for him. Kess counters that they probably have ways to see if he’s telling the truth-- but then realizes that they could eliminate the problem altogether if they separated the being from Kü. The fishsticks from earlier betray our druid-- the combination of the grease and stress forcing them from her stomach and onto the nice guest room floor. She flings a sidelong look at Kü and decides that their ‘stealth speak’ may not be enough to escape Mother’s… uh. Not ears, but-- whatever an evil being uses to listen. I didn’t take Eldritch Anatomy. The pair take off toward the greenhouse, Kess instinctively leading to the place she feels most at home. Once inside, they rehash all that they know about Skugamor. 

Pearce looks at the scene around him, soil spotted with Kess’ white flowers with the black iris, and he takes off the dried remains of the one he picked and places it with the others. He asks if Ashe is of a similar type as Mother, and Kess denies it. She says that she thinks her power isn’t tied to the being, but it does help him in some way. This inspires her to grow a flower to try and talk to Ashe to get help with their situation, but no answer comes. Pearce, irate, takes hold of it like a microphone and shouts into it, obscenely demanding attention. In a panic, Kess draws the rest of her strength and grows another flower-- and when it only waves in response, an insidious idea blooms. The changeling tells Pearce she saw Ashe when she was dead (unconscious), and without further explanation the gunslinger refuses to help one of his best friends die (get knocked tf out). He does, however, offer to take her to Rook’s room (you know, where the poison is— the poison to kill Kess. Kess’ poison. THAT poison) so that they have someone else to assist should the whole dying (slight coma) thing go wrong.

As they’re headed back into the house already, the duo go into the guest room to let Kü know their plans. Pearce wakes up the kobold and Kess breathlessly explains her brain blast, asking him if he wants to join them. The sleep immediately leaves Kü’s drooping eyes as rage fills its place. His voice booms with pain and accusation-- unbelieving that she could even think of killing herself (taking a quick nap with no breathing) because of him, especially after she told him she wouldn’t leave him the way that Jendee, Dorf, Augustus, and his mother had. He pointedly asks her ‘Do you know how I would feel if you died trying to fix me? Not that I NEED fixing” and as the anger gives way to sadness, he mutters that he was better off asleep. Effectively having talked Kess out of being near-suicidal, Kü takes this opportunity to relieve himself of his party’s company while he cools off. He storms out and starts to stalk the halls for his nightly watch.

Küdini

Now alone, Kü registers Mother attempting to speak with him. She extinguishes all the firelight around him, and the kobold lets loose a bloodcurdling scream for help. Kess and Pearce emerge from the guest room, the former running to all of her relative’s rooms to ensure their safety, and the latter posting up beside Kü. Everyone on their floor seems to be fine, but before they can let a sigh of relief loosen from their lungs, a scream rings out from downstairs. If you’re feeling deja vu, rest assured, it’s about to get REAL different. Pearce yells at Kü to go outside, but as he tries to comply, it’s soon clear that he and his party members are dashing toward the scream instead of going their separate ways. The lights continue to go out as they bolt through the halls-- stopping finally as the group comes to see two hired hands; one standing frozen in horror… and one being constricted by shadows.

Not knowing what to do, Kü tries to counterspell the tendrils of darkness. When nothing happens, he instead casts fly on himself and throws his tiny body at the Drow chef in front of him-- who is suspended in midair, choking from the pressure on his throat. He succeeds, but only inasmuch as he gets him on the ground. Kü watches as the light dies in the chef’s eyes-- not unlike the lantern fires that now flicker to life around them. Kess, acting quickly, brings out a diamond and uses Revivify to save the fallen housemate. The druid then heals him for good measure; giving him no time to recover from his experience before she and Pearce give him food and drink before asking him to recount the events of the night. He doesn’t remember much, and before the two can dig in deeper, Norse pulls Kess aside to ask what the actual fuck is going on. 

Her daughter tells her about Mother, about Kü’s past, about their current predicament. She fears Kü is a warlock, and that the shadowy magic comes from his patron, who is wreaking havoc in their home. Mind clouded by fury, Norse reveals that she was plotting to kill Xarus already, and with this secret out-- a wave of calm washes over her-- and she marvels at Kess having enough magic within her to save a life. It’s then that Norse ushers the younger Shadowmore away to check on her friends. She sees Pearce, and they link up to head outside for Kü. However, once there, they see no trace of him. He’s vanished.

I’ll Fly Away

Unbeknownst to anyone, Kü used the remainder of his Fly spell to escape soundlessly from the Shadowmore manor. It carries him to the treeline of Mardosta, and once it fails, he falls into the snow, sobbing. His shaking arms reach up and lift the helmet from his head-- bringing it to face him. Nothing happens, and the kobold tries to form one word. His heavy heart crushes the ‘why’ rising from his gut, and he lays down on the unforgiving snow. Kü squeezes the skull to his chest and sleep claims him. The green and purple of the aurora above stick behind his eyelids as they close. They twist into a nightmare of screams, slaughter, and ash until everything goes still; melting into a small campfire. The warmth radiates from his mind to his body, and an excited voice calls out to him. Kü attempts to respond, but there is some sort of disconnect. The cry implores him to find them-- admitting they’ve been watching him for some time and are anxious to meet him.

Kü awakens, afraid and unsettled. He reaches out to Mother, who tells him that she’s tired and will talk to him in the morning. The kobold, however, has other plans. He refuses to wait, and Mother fumes at the fact that he thinks he is in any position to be demanding when he took away her kill, but she relents. She asks if Kü doesn’t want her to get stronger anymore, and he timidly replies that he does, but he needs to know who she really is. Her anger rises as she fires back the same question to him-- accusing him of not acting like himself, of being stupid. In recompense for his insolence, Mother tells him that now, HE needs to spill blood for her once a day. If he doesn’t, she will be forced to, and she won’t show any prejudice. Seeing no other way out, the kobold agrees, placing the skull back on his head and sits in silence. After a couple of hours watching the night sky, Kü grows hungry and he decides to try and make his way (SOMEHOW) back to the mansion.

While all this is happening, Kess and Pearce are panicking. Kess shapeshifts into a giant owl and persuades Pearce to hop on her back. In this higher vantage point, they find the missing kobold within twenty minutes, and Kess swoops down to intercept him. Kü assumes he is about to be eaten until he sees Pearce, and Kess drops her form before he can run away. Things escalate quickly from here, and I bet you can guess whose fault it is. Pearce whips out his gun and points it at Kü, assuring the kobold that he doesn’t want to hurt him, but he needs to remove the helmet. Kü relents, placing it on the ground. Kess and Pearce take in their friend’s visage for the first time. He sports small, nubby horns and a long, healed scar from the top of his head to his nose. The gunslinger asks for one reason not to shoot the skull, and Kü tells him he doesn’t think it would stop Mother. The two quickly realize, however, that Kü doesn’t need to be wearing the skull for his powers, which seems to soothe them somewhat. 

Mommy Dearest

Because the hits to my heart never stop, Kü voices his decision to leave the group. He tells Kess and Pearce that he wants to go home to his cave, and they agree-- excited to go with him, thinking digging into his past may help. The kobold shakes his head and clarifies he wants to go alone; he is afraid their timers will go faster if they stay with him-- and that as long as he’s in Mardosta, people will continue to die. He realizes he can let go of his anger at Gus, who only left because he thought what he was doing was right. Pearce tells Kü he has effectively paused his timer; and he and Kess aren’t going anywhere. Kess says they can find a way to break it, but Kü dejectedly murmurs, “She’s the only one who won’t leave. I can’t let her leave; not again’. So-- they then discuss other options; Kü wonders if he can find a Scott-like douchebag (and Xarus, just saying) to take out every day to keep Mother away.

Kess brandishes the page she ripped from the library book and hands it to Kü. He sees the illustration of the struggling victim of the shadows but is unable to read the words; so he passes it off to Pearce to read for him. Afterward, Kess asks the kobold if he believes the entity in his mind to still be his mother. Kü launches into the story of what happened to his real mom in answer; saying that a giant spider had stalked him and that his mother gave up her life for his-- and months later he found her skull, picked clean from other scavengers. That’s when he heard her, telling him to pick up the skull and take her with him. Kess, unnerved by the story, switches back into her owl form and flies the trio to a cave she used to hide in-- covered in dusty furniture and knick knacks. They start a fire with the forgotten relics, and from the flames comes the voice that Kü heard in his dream. She introduces herself as Kertilios, encouraging Kü to call her Kerti. They are able to communicate this time, and Kü learns that she is the disowned daughter of Skugamor, the Goddess of Warmth, the Daughter of Firelight. She tells him they can get rid of Mother together, and he took an important first step by removing his helmet; they’ll need to destroy it.

Overwhelmed, Kü admits that his waking hours hadn’t been very good to him, and though the sleeping hours weren’t much better, he needed some time away from the hurt. The kobold hands off his helmet to Pearce and lies down by the fire. Pearce lets Kess sleep as well, watching the skull for an hour or two before the changeling rises from her sleep, unable to breathe. The gunslinger instinctively attempts to shoot the skull, throwing an apology to Kü as he does so. Kü, however, does not hear it-- his mind is an unending echo of questions. The Shadowmother heard Kü talking to Kerti, and she’s not happy. In terror, Kü makes an effort to banish Kess to another plane of existence long enough for her to be out of Mother’s grip, but it fails. Pearce continues attacking the resilient bone, and Kess shapeshifts to loosen the hold the shadows have on her. Out of magical options, Kü gives Mother a warning. He tells her, “Let go of my friend, you FUCKING BITCH”, and when she doesn’t, he pulls the last bead from his Necklace of Fireball and the helmet goes up in flames; Pearce narrowly missing secondhand damage. The shadows recede violently with a howl, and Kü drops to his knees, hearing a small “You’ve done it” from Kerti in his mind.

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TL;DR

I was not ready for Kü’s Molly Weasley moment, y’all.

I think this is an important time to mention that self-harm does not fix anything; even fantasy problems. *cough*Kess*cough*

Can we be done with the Sad now?? What do you mean we still have DADDY ISSUES to explore?!

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Hugs and Kesses my friends, and catch the next session over at twitch.tv/lochness on September 8th at 7:30CST/8:30EST! If you’d like to watch THIS episode, follow the link below:

Secret Adventure Society | Session 30: Fire and Bone

#secretadventure #Dungeons and Dragons #dnd #d&d #d&d homebrew #recap #stream recap #Episode Recap #homebrew #twitch #youtube #podcast #actual play #streaming #stream #dnd 5th edition #dnd 5e homebrew #dnd 5e campaign #dnd actual play #kobold #warlock #changeling #druid #gunslinger #roleplay #combat #patron

[a-d-n-d-journal]

Game Session #21

Characters:

Rysiel "Riceboy", half-elf druid (Circle of the Moon)

Zastu, dragonborn rogue (Thief)

Mirri in the wind, tabaxi bard (College of Worship)

Kix, changeling rogue (Arcane Trickster)

NPCs:

Jimothy Smones (mentioned); human ranger

Tamalin Zoar, ~60yrs female human; runs the inn around which the small village Calling Horns rose

Olivai and Lukai; ~25 & 15yrs female & male humans; sibling barbarians of the Elk tribe on a quest

Writing this a week after the actual session.... Online as usual, but Mirri's player came over to mine to play. This game was entirely in 'the theatre of the mind'!!! That means that we didn't use any maps at all (well, except as I was setting up the the battle with the fire giant.), which was very impressive. I am proud of the players for that.

The game picks up with the adventurers finishing breakfast and relaxing at the inn common room/mess hall/bar.  Tamalin reiterates her quest for them to discover why the trolls keep leaving the Evermoors and threatening their village. She offers a letter of recommendation, which she says will be good in both Yartar and Everlund, to the right people.

The adventurers agree, and head outside looking for the friendly ranger, Jimothy, who helped them defeat a pair of trolls the previous night. They find his trail leading away from the site of the attack, to the north. The trolls' bodies have been taken care of, and the hole in the side of the stables has been hastily patched.

The adventurers walk for several hours, quickly coming to the conclusion that Jimothy has been following the troll trail  in reverse, back to the Evermoors, and is much more skilled than they are (having dedicated his life to such things), and has probably gained several hours on them. Will they ever catch up?

They spend a night in the hills, in a relatively sheltered site that Jimothy himself may have used. Early the next day, Kix and Zastu come to realize that they are being followed, but are unable to pinpoint exactly where or how many they are. Rysiel wildshapes into a dire wolf and takes Kix on his back to investigate with superior senses, leaving Zastu and Mirri behind with they horses (Bobble and Boris)

Very quickly the Kix and Rysiel see a bright (yet shadowy) humanoid shape further into the hills and sparse trees, and decide to follow it. The shape eludes them for a time, but not forever--soon they catch up and discover that the vague shape is just that--a shape, and not a person. The lights disappear as they approach. Rysiel can smell that at least one someone human is nearby, but cannot see them. Kix senses the same thing. There’s not much cover, where are they?

Back at the trail they were following, Mirri and Zastu try to keep a vigilant eye out for trouble. They both sense that someone is nearby, but it isn’t until Zastu zones out and finds herself looking at a scraggly bush that she sees a small child-like face. She calls out to it, but that only frightens him away--an adolescent boy jumps up and runs away through the hills. A moment later he reappears, and Zastu tries to entice him with food. The boy remains wary, so she places the rations on the ground and moves away. The two adventurers hear another sound nearby, and look to investigate. When they turn their attention back, the boy and the food are gone.

Meanwhile, Kix and Rysiel are trying to figure out what to do when a rough voice laughs from the brush nearby. A woman’s voice mocks them for not being able to find her, even as she moves hiding spots. Eventually she appears and compliments them for surviving in the hills. She openly admires Rysiel’s wolf form, showing no fear at all. She knows that he is a person, for she has been following them for a while now. She says that he has great potential--they all do, and maybe they could help her with something? The two of them are intrigued by the idea, but have trouble getting her to say much more. When they suggest they ‘find’ their friends, she says they have no need, she knows exactly where they are. She has been following them after all.

The barbarian woman introduces herself as Olivai and leads them back to the trail they were following. A teenage boy appears from behind a hillock and tells her that they have food. She introduces him as her brother, Lukai.

Once back at the trail, the six of them sit down for a midday meal, with the adventurers sharing their food. Olivai explains some things about the barbarian tribes, notably their distrust of magic. She believes that they must move forward, away from this thinking, in order to survive these trying times. She herself is something of a shaman, a magic user, but she needs something to challenge her tribe’s leaders. She can’t get it though, as tribe members are forbidden to touch sacred things without getting cursed. It should be fine for these outsiders though. The adventurers express some concern about being cursed, but Olivai convinces them it will be fine. She continues to compliment Rysiel, and tells him how much potential he has. He lives in the world, he is of it. These others? They still look like they live in wood and stone boxes. She obviously likes that he is a druid, and capable of changing shape. The others seem to think she is sexually interested in him.

They agree to go along with the two barbarians after being promised that there will be some magical treasure for them as well, and so they leave Jimothy’s trail, hoping he can continue to fend for himself. At one point they stop for a short break. Olivai has been extolling for benefits of being a barbarian, but Rysiel doesn’t understand the way she speaks, so she decides on a practical answer. She sucker-punches him in the gut, and tsks, shaking her head. See? Your body needs work. Lukai stands by, unsurprised. She did this to him not long ago--the whole tribe did. That’s how he got strong. Olivai encourages, then goads Rysiel into striking her back. She lives her furs to reveal clearly defined abs underneath a healthy layer of fat. Rysiel punches with all he has, scoring a direct hit. Olivai laughs, not flinching at all. See? Strong body. She can teach him to be like this. He has potential.

They continue on. Olivai reveals a little more about their quest. She left the tribe, maybe willingly, maybe not, but she needs a sacred tool from a sacred place to return to her family in power. All tribe members are family, and she misses them. Also, they must do as she says, or something bad may happen.

When they stop for the night, Olivai reaches into a hidden pouch, drawing forth a handful of bones. She tosses them to the ground and spends ten minutes humming over them, peering at them from different angles. When she finishes, she stands up, appearing to have decided something. She wishes to take Rysiel aside, saying she will help him use his body properly. The others joke again about how she wants to have sex. Olivai scoffs at this, Rysiel hasn’t even offered her a wolf (or other worthy kill/totem/prize), how could she even consider it? No, this is about the druid’s potential. She offers the group a pipe with some strange herbs in it, and the vision of those who imbibe goes sideways for a moment. These are sacred plants, and she would use them, along with some intense physical training, to help Rysiel live up to his potential. During this time, the party shares why they have entered the hills--to investigate the trolls. Olivai nods, yes, she has seen that the hunting has been poor lately--it’s probably related.

Lukai builds a second small fire nearby for the two of them, and they spend several hours punching each other and performing other strange physical tasks. In between each, Olivai pulls out another strange plant, crushes it, chews it, or lights it on fire before offering it to Rysiel. The druid hesitates each time, until Olivai goads him into it. She knows what’s best.

Rysiel wakes the next morning covered in bruises. His hitpoints are below maximum. They continue on. It’s not long before they landscape shifts slightly, but noticeably... Everything takes on a slightly grey-ish tone, and the valleys between hills are damp and marshy. The bushes seem to have half the leaves they should, and the trees are crooked. Crows replace sparrows, and rats replace rabbits. They have entered the Evermoors.

Lukai and Olivai have been taking turns scouting, with the boy being the one to leave the party most often. When he returns from one such trip, he whispers urgently to his sister. She disappears for a long moment before returning. There’s something they should see, maybe the thing they came out here to see. They follow along stealthily, leaving Lukai to watch the two horses. Soon they hear it--a loud, gruff voice belittling a smaller, raspy voice. Kix and Rysiel understand the language as giant, and quickly realize its nature. They use the cover of sparse brush to hide as they approach the top of yet another hill, spotting a fire giant in full plate shouting at a rather skinny troll. She holds a familiar rode of silvery metal--resembling the one the two fire giants at Triboar carried. The giant seems capable of yelling at the troll for a long time, it, her slave, has failed to find any food for them for a while now.

The adventurers quickly formulate a plan. Rysiel will turn into a giant Elk and lure the troll away, while the others ambush the giant. Then Rysiel will double-back and help out. The druid scoots away from the party to kick-off the plan. When he emerges as an elk, the giant points at him, sending the troll to hunt him down. Sadly for the troll, an elk is very fast, and Rysiel has to slow down to keep the troll following. Soon the two of them disappear, and the others move into position.

To be continued...

#5e #D&D #A Party Most Queer #Storm King's Thunder #session

[cinaea]

I, M and Q for the fanfic ask meme? Sorry if thats too much or youve already answered one of those, btw, i absolutely adored trinity + volition, am super excited for the up coming part and hope youre having a lovely day!!

Hello, munchkin! Thank you for responding to the FanFic Meme!(This is a reminder to everyone else that they’re also welcome to send me anask!) I’m gonna take these out of order, to end on a fluffy note.

I: Do you have a guiltypleasure in fic (reading or writing)?

Let’s go with reading, ‘nony, because the next bit showcasesone of those guilty pleasures in my writing. Prepare for TMI, but hey, youasked. I browse the Tentacles tag on AO3 when I’m trying to get in the mood, ifyou know what I mean. Just about any fandom (no matter how obscure or badlywritten), I’ll read it as long as it’s short, complete, and explicit. I’m notlooking for thousands of words of character development—I want the raunchystuff up front. Bring me that sweet, dub-con xenophilia, baby.

In case you’re already sorry you asked, let’s move on toeven more disturbing pastures. Triggerwarning for dub-con in this one, folks, though if you’ve read Volition, I suspectyou’re comfortable rolling these dice.

Q: Do you have anydiscarded scenes/storylines/projects?

While writing Chapter 8 of Volition, I realized therehad been a pacing problem since Chapter 4, and that I was risking drawing out thedays of the interrogations too long to keep readers engaged. Also, man, commentershad turned against Steve hard, which hadn’t exactlybeen my intent—I’d hoped that general fanon love for Steve would help readerssee through that part of Bucky’s unreliable narrative.

Sidebar for an example: There’s amoment in Chapter 11 where Steve decides to stop kissing Bucky, and Bucky thinksto himself how self-righteous Steve’s being, thinking he knows anything abouttrauma. And I’m like: Surely people will see that this is a ridiculous thing to think about Steve;Steve has experienced plenty oftraumas and knows how they can fuckyou up. Fuck you, Bucky, you’re awful here.But no, commenters agreed with Bucky, and that was even after I’d sped up the outline to bring up some of Steve’s backstorysooner in Chapters 9 and 10.

So yes, I’d made a critical mistake and bogged down the 25-50%of the story with lots of incidents that essentially spun their wheels and didn’tbring Bucky and Steve any closer. I needed to get to the kissing and the disastrousbonding ASAP. I did some shuffling and condensed the planned Chapters 9-to-12into 9-to-11, sacrificing a few unsuccessful interactions and one big, momentousshowstopper that was planned but never written.

If you thought the failed D/s scene near the finale was high-stakes,just wait until you hear about the semi-disastrous blow job I had planned forwhat was originally Chapter 11, the day between the kiss in Tony’s lab and theirbonding! The goal was to introduce some sexuality into the story, as well asone more instance of all three of them fucking up. That meant putting Bucky ina desperate headspace where he’d be willing to do just about anything to securehis friends’ safety, while Tony and Steve were oblivious to Bucky’s skewedinterpretation of events.

Following the nerve-wrackinginterrogation that came dangerously close to revealing that Bucky had killedfor Mentallo willingly, Bucky stumbles to his doms’ bedroom in the middle ofthe night, anxious to convince them to bond, and finds them grinding againsteach other in bed. Bucky’s libido has been muted since assaulting Clint, but hecan’t help but watch from the doorway.

Tony spots him and coaxes him tojoin them. They all move to the edge of the bed, and they take turns kissing Bucky,who’s not sure if he’s into this, but he needs them to want him, and he feelslike he can’t risk saying ‘no,’ but they keep inviting him to greaterintimacies (because Tony’s problem in the first half is how much he assumes about Bucky), and he can’t seemto catch his breath or find his footing.

Steve ends up kneeling on the floorbetween Bucky’s legs, and Tony rubs Bucky’s arm and shoulder and kisses hisneck, urging Bucky to “Let him/he wants this so bad/etc.” Steve unzips Bucky'spants and pulls out his half-hard cock (it feels good but also weirdlysickening, he hasn't been even this hard in years), but Bucky's not sure hecan/should; this isn’t what he came for but doesn’t he owe it to his friends(uncomfortable echoes of the Ebersol mindset)? Tony puts Bucky's hand inSteve's hair and tells him he's in control, because of course that’s what Tony thinks Bucky needs. Bucky reflexivelytightens his hand in Steve's hair, and Steve takes that as a command and leansforward, maybe whispering "please." His dom is begging, and Bucky’s instincts and his brain both say he should lethim have what he wants, but.... Steve may possibly make skin contact, but Buckypanics and dashes out of the room. Or else Tony manages to talk Bucky throughthe entire blow job, but Bucky’s in a messed-up headspace the entire time, andcomes with a wave of guilt.

In looking for a way to condense the middle chapters, Iconfronted just how disturbingly dub-con the moment was, and ultimately I feltgood about cutting it. Aren’t we all glad I made that choice? The story didn’tneed any more train wrecks, and theirrelationship is healthier for not having included such a messed up sex scene.

Phew! That was dark. Let’s end on whimsy!

M: Got any premiseson the back burner that you'd care to share?

I’ve got this half-formed Bucky/Steve idea that I’d love tosomeday find the time to write, but I’ve got three more big stories to get outfirst (two in Trinity Universe, and one in GGundam). Who knows if I’ll ever find the time? It’s a ~fairytale mashupthat combines aspects of @astolat‘sfabulous The Crown of theSummer Court, the too-brilliant JonathanStrange and Mr. Norrell, a dash of the DresdenFiles novels, and a whole bunch of Fairy lore I’ve consumed over the years. Thepremise goes something like this:

Steve and Bucky are childhood friends in village on the edgeof a woods. One day Bucky wanders alone too far into the woods in search ofherbs to use as medicine for Steve, and ventures into a Fairy Ring. The Faesnatch Bucky away and replace him with a changeling that wastes away and dieswithin a week. Everyone believes the switch except Steve, who discovers thepiece of wood where Bucky’s body should be [something something the wood as stand-infor the metal arm? to be developed]. Steve studies everything he can about theFae over the years, and finally a passing sorcerer (Howard? Tony?) gives Stevethe potion that upgrades his sickly body to Cap body, and takes Steve along when he leaves town. Steve quests for years tofind Bucky, and [plot point to be determined] finds himself in the land of theFae, where he’s to serve as the champion for a Fairy Lord. Unbeknownst toSteve, the champion of the rival Fairy Lord is the Winter Soldier, a practicallymute human foundling who has spent more than a decade in Faerie and has beenspelled to forget his human past. The Winter Soldier is tasked with seducingSteve into violating some rule of hospitality before their scheduled match.Steve resists manfully even as he realizes it’s Bucky, and he makes it a termof his continued service to his sponsoring Lord to restore Bucky’s memory andfreedom if Steve wins. There’s a tournament, plenty of canoodling that Steve’shard pressed to deny, and an eventual happy ending.

…That’s about all I’ve figured out so far. Lots of pining, Faerierules lawyering, dueling, manly yearning,etc. I haven’t yet planned how to work in Peggy and/or Sam. T’Challa wouldlikely be the Fae Lord sponsoring Steve. Did I mention rules lawyering? Becauseyeah, I was going to have to come up with that twist, too. Difficult.

This has been fun, peeps! Let’s do more asks! And hey, ifyou like these Ask responses? Like my writings? Feel free to buy me a coffee sometime. After all, Iwrote this post from a Starbucks. Mama has an expensive habit.

#asked and answered #cinaea is a writer! #Volition #Trinity Universe #Fanfic meme #TW: dub-con #tentacles! #faerie rules lawyering #Anonymous