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fortheloveoflizards · 4 years

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ive actually been a fan of wof for years now, im just not super active in the fandom and i guess id like to be? so here i am, sending u an awkward ask lol. anyways, the more i think about animus magic, the more i hate the way tui executed the concept? like theres barely any consequences or limitations. dragons can do whatever they want with it, which is bad for the plot. idk what are ur thoughts?

Hah, this isn’t awkward at all, I actually do have a lot of thoughts on animus magic, particularly how it differs in each tribe. I think giving each tribe different types of magic, as well as individual drawbacks on top of the general “you go crazy if you abuse your power”. Though I think the latter could have worked as more of a “if you use your power selfishly, it’ll turn on you” sort of situation? In my headcanons, each tribe has a type of magic they work best with, and a type of magic that puts strain on their physical form.

As the tribe closest in appearance to traditional European dragons, I like to headcanon Skywing animus magic as Weather and Element based. Stuff like creating storms and controlling wind currents is easy to imagine, but also magic pertaining to emotions, often fueled by the feelings of the animus themselves. A Skywing animus might find it easiest to use an object to better conduct magic, like a branch or, most commonly, crystals of different types. Skywing magic is what you would call “cast spells”, meaning they have no need to write or say what they wish to do, just think or “feel” it. As for drawbacks, emotional instability is kind of obvious, huh? There’s also bad weather being attracted to the animus, and parts of their body slowly turning into whatever object they used to channel their spells. As an example, using crystals in his spells might result in an animus’ scales turning into crystals themselves, whereas an animus that used a branch to direct air currents would notice her tail growing small twigs and leaves out from between her scales. The magic Skywings have most difficulty with is Herbal and Brewed magic. I feel since Skywing magic is very much based on action and emotion, it would be difficult for a Skywing animus to properly channel it in such a passive way.

Mudwing animus magic is perhaps my favourite to think about, it being what I call Herbal or Brewed magic. Mudwing animi specialize in potions and medicine, though this is more of an inherent tribe skill, their magic works best when imbued into food or drink. To continue with this technique, “power-ups” would be cool to see. Potions to give a dragon super strength or speed, or to keep their scales permanently warm so they can always breath fire. I think Mudwings would be most likely to use so called “magical ingredients” for their spells, as in the act of the animus using an ingredient makes it magic, rather than a normal dragon including it in their stew. I don’t feel there would be much room for drawbacks when it comes to Mudwing magic, so I’m gonna say there isn’t one. However, I will say Brewed magic is one of the hardest to perfect, as if a quantity of ingredient is even slightly off, disaster is imminent. Transformation magic is likely to be the hardest for a Mudwing animus to use. While Brewed magic is hard, it’s precise and a recipe can be done a hundred times for a hundred different dragons, and the effects never alter. Transformation magic is the opposite, in that the spell must be altered for every dragon, as every dragon is slightly different.

Next up is Sandwings! They lean most towards Written and Solar based magic. As you can guess, this means their magic is linked at least partially to the sun. Though they can’t control them, Sandwing animi often have very keen senses when it comes to the weather and seasonal changes. Change itself is a big thing for Sandwings, so seasonal magic is common. Sandwings also find writing spells easiest, as the spell is then precise and exactly as they need it. Sandwing riddles, told at parties or in passing as a fun conversation topic, have their roots in animus magic. Sandwing animi also enjoy the company of animal companions, usually camels or vultures; animals that can carry scrolls and items for the animus in question. The downside for Sandwing animi can be either mental or physical. They can start forgetting things, losing track of time, generally being scatterbrained, which eventually leads to them losing their entire memory. Or, their scales begin to darken, although I’m undecided on what kind of colour they would turn. Should they just turn golden or maybe more of a sunburnt orange or red. Perhaps even black. I dunno, maybe all three. Spoken and Lunar magic are the clear opposites of Written and Solar, so it’s pretty obvious why a Sandwing animus would have trouble in this area. Sandwing magic can be very picky, kind of like a sadistic genie that goes by what a wisher says, rather than what they mean. A dragon has to be very careful how they phrase a spell, which is hard for most Sandwing animi, hence their avoidance of Spoken spells.

I think my Seawing animus headcanon is the closest to being confirmed in canon, since the Seawing animi we see using their magic are usually using what I’ve called Spoken and Lunar magic. This includes regeneration(like healing of themselves and others), curses, transfiguration of objects and generally verbal commands. And for the record, “verbal commands” is usually, like the animus test the Seawings take, telling an inanimate object to do something. Lunar magic is connected to the moon and the tides, opposite to Solar magic. This can mean it gets stronger under a full moon, and gives a Seawing animus a kind of bond to the ocean the more they use Lunar magic. As with Sandwing animi, the magic that comes most natural to Seawings involves change. Changing tides, moon rotations, drifting currents and rips, all those factor into their magic’s strength, in and out of water. Seawing animi can also suffer a lowering of inhibitions, and can suffer what I call “going feral”. Theirs is the most noticeable, though this final drawback can affect all tribes. I like to think the more a Seawing animus uses their magic, the more they start to look like a deep sea creature. Brighter glowing scales, thinner scales overall(sometimes so thin you can almost see their insides, bleurgh!), elongated, thinner teeth, and increased speed of growth to their whole body. As you can probably guess, Written and Solar magic are the areas that cause the most trouble for Seawing animi. I’m not sure what else to comment here, since I feel it’s pretty straightforward, so there you go.

Rainwings! The tribe I’m most like! I feel that since the average Rainwing can change the colour of their scales regardless of magical ability, Transformation magic would be a perfect match for any animi that might exist in the tribe. Transformation magic includes form shifting of themselves and others, body hrror/torture(which differs from simple form shifting because it’s specifically supposed to cause pain) and transfiguration of objects. Transformation magic requires knowledge of how the specific dragon’s body works, moves and how their mind reacts to things. You might think the average Rainwing is too self-centered to be capable of that kind of perceptiveness, but I believe they’re more perceptive than they’re portrayed in-canon. I think the most noticeable consequence of a Rainwing animus using their magic is their scale colours “glitching”. If the Rainwing is naturally purple and green and they try to turn red and blue, areas of their scales might change slower than the rest, or not change altogether. A camouflaged Rainwing might suddenly find themselves bright pink and orange. Stuff like that. Weather magic is most difficult for a Rainwing animus, since it requires a lot of, I guess passionate emotions? Weather magic is loud and aggressive and takes a lot of power to control. It also relies heavily on being strongly connected to every emotion, and can backfire terribly on a dragon that doesn’t know how to wrangle that kind of power.

Mind and Time magic is what I’ve assigned for Nightwings! I felt it fits with their whole Mystical Infinite Powers aesthetic. Obviously, Mind magic includes mindreading and and Time magic future vision - which were most likely a gift from a Nightwing animus a long time ago. Other abilities include fate writing(a spell that can change an otherwise unchangeable future), enchanting, illusions, and changing minds/the perceptions of a dragon. This magic is actually relatively simple to perform, and one of the most used types by all animus dragons. That doesn’t make it any less powerful or dangerous, in fact it’s probably more dangerous that it’s so easy to use. Nightwings certainly haven’t been using it for the best purposes. This is the magic I think is the root cause of dragons losing their minds, since “Mind” is like one whole half of the magic. The unfortunate thing is that Nightwings are excellent bullshitters, so they at least last a while before anyone figures out something’s wrong. The side effect of using other types of magic is most notably scale discolouration, to the point that there are records of completely white, full-blood Nightwings. Since Icewings and Nightwings are Enemies For Life I figure their magics would clash just as much, out of principal. Reflective magic in particular requires the user to be self aware, to know their faults and, if only momentarily, be at peace with them. Nightwings are pretty in denial about a lot of stuff, it’s part of the culture they’ve built up.

Finally, Reflective and Defensive magic is the natural inclination of Icewings. That means shielding and barrier magic - which can be physical or psychological, insightful magic, illusions and star spells. No insightful magic is Not future vision, if you make that comparison in front of even a regular Icewing you will be murdered. The Icewing mind is typically pretty guarded already, as we see when Moon tries to read them. I like to believe that an animus a long time ago used their Gift to make it so Nightwings can’t read the tribe’s minds, or at least not easily. This would be an example of a psychological barrier spell. Star spells are tied to the stars(no duh) like Solar and Lunar magic are tied to their respective namesakes. However, as opposed to change, star spells are constant. Once one is cast, it stays forever. Almost all Icewing magic is a star spell of some kind, making other dragons very wary of an animus born from the tribe. Thankfully, the fact that Icewing magic includes that of Defense, it’s rarely used for aggressive purposes. I believe Icewing magic would backfire by crystalising within the user’s bones, making their joints stiff and their mind fuzzy. They may dissociate from the world and eventually be lost, as with Sandwings. As I said, Icewings and Nightwings are opposites in magic, though there are overlaps which serve to infuriate both tribes. Considering Nightwing animus magic supposedly came from Icewings, the former retained some of the abilities of the latter.

There you are, my thoughts on dragon magic. This turned into much more of a headcanons post than an answer, so I hope you don’t mind. Thanks so much for the ask, and I hope you find content creators that make you feel safe being active in the fandom!

#Wings of Fire #Rose Brambles #Headcanons #Dragon Biology #Animus Magic #Mudwings #Skywings #Sandwings #Seawings #Rainwings #Icewings #Nightwings #i didn't think i had thoughts but then i did oop #guess who found motivation #i have so much stuff in my drafts #sorry to all the people following me who thought i was consistent #dunno where y'all got that idea

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kth1 · 4 years

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Crosscurrents [Hoseok X Reader] Part 2

Crosscurrents - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Genre: The Little Mermaid AU | Fantasy AU | Series Pairing: Mermaid!Hoseok x Princess!Reader Featuring: BTS Princes Warnings: Angst, fluff, rated G, sorry no smut, mentions of pain, eventual character death, it’s just a fantasy story. pining, angsty? W/C: 8.8k Summary: Hoseok is a carefree middle child among seven princes, each running one of the seven seas. With a curious nature to study the world above, he makes several routine visits to the surface, once even saving an alluring princess who he grows very smitten by. With a strong determination to meet his lovely princess, Hoseok makes a risky deal with the ocean’s enchantress to become human. Author’s Note: Sorry for the wait, but I am still very happy about this story. Now finals and my semester is over - I can continue updating. Thank you all who support me. Portions of the fic is unedited. 🐚🧜‍♂️

Credits: Story includes strong elements from Hans Christian Andersen’s ‘The Little Mermaid’; Disney’s ‘The Little Mermaid’; and Michiko Yokote’s manga ‘Mermaid Melody’.

☀ CROSSCURRENT MASTERLIST ☀

The aqua prince now knew where his beloved princess lived, after revisiting the area nearly every evening after the first time. He often would approach closer to the land each time, venturing further than any of his brothers ever had to the shoreline. As Hoseok still remembered the touch of dry sand on his slimy tail, the foreign air of fresh land right under his body.

Daringly, the carefree and curious prince even swam up the narrow channel that led under the marble balcony that belonged to the princess. During bright moonlit nights he would only invite himself here so he could watch the princess stare off into the sea, where she believed she was all alone. Little did she know, she had a secret admirer in awe from below.

Human beings in general became more and more dear to Hoseok. Days of eavesdropping on humans within the green reeds of the bank who were sailing the water, listening to their stories and conversations in hiding. Stumbling upon fishermen who casted their nets near the beacon’s light, and if anyone on the dock noticed the rustling of his long aqua tail that treaded water, they excused the sounds to wallowing gulls.

Hoseok was happy when he reminisced about the time he had saved the young princess, hearing about her noble actions and performances. She was told of having a heavenly way with her ballroom dance, knowing several styles of movement. He wished he could see her act with his own eyes and to show her one of his.

In time, Hoseok wished that he were one of them; a human that is. Their large world seemed much extravagant than that of the mer-people. Humans can fly above the ocean in their ships, they can ride around in these carriages pulled by large animals called horses, even humans could climb to the top of those beautiful snow tipped mountains that poked their peaks above the clouds. The land they stand on outstretched further than Hoseok could ever imagine, and there was a whole world around him that he wishes to learn about. He had many dreams and desires, his mind craved explanations.

“Do men live forever? Do they die just as us? How long of a life do they live? What happens to them when they pass?”

Hoseok knows these answers for his species, he knows what happens among merfolk and especially what shall happen with royalty. They become foam on the sea, diminish into bubbles into the water. When one royal dies, another is birthed.

These ongoing thoughts horded the capacity of Hoseok’s naïve mind. His passion for above became a sudden obsession, that princess became more of a worship. “Maybe I’ll get some more answers tonight,” he thought as he travels with the current to the north Pacific Ocean, home of the playful salmon pink Prince Jimin.

This lovely evening, we have a court ball. A ball which held dancing mermen and mermaids to the melodies of the singers and composers. A watering hole of very thick crystal walls, so clear and pristine that the illuminating lights from mussel-shells which decorated in rows along them blared through effortlessly. Numberless fish and folk who swam through the lights would flash their glorious colored tails that amplified within these beams.

Hoseok, Jimin, and Jungkook all danced wonderfully. Linking arms together and with others, displaying their methodologies. They shared many dances with men and women, children even.

Lights gleamed like a galaxy in the subterranean sea, all sparkling like the stars in the night sky. Beautiful pinks, greens, and purples garnished the saloon, ravishing plants and twines tangled around pillars.

The sweet sensual voices of Seokjin and Taehyung filled the room in a magical duet. Back-up singers harmonizing along with their symphony as Namjoon and Yoongi remained lost in their own worlds of instruments.

Jimin twirled around the aqua prince’s tail like a feather, light and soft. Prince Jimin’s eyes were brighter than any blue tail that ever existed, a translucent aquamarine color – no – a luminous crystal blue. A mesmerizing shimmer tinted the orbs in the sunlight as how a cracked geode rock would sparkle.

His hair, much like his tail and lips, were mixes of rose, coral and peaches. Shades fading in and out of another elegantly. He was such a bubbly child – bashful even as everyone could recall times the young Prince would grow embarrassed and the rising pink of his skin would soon match his tail. Jimin danced the best contemporary dance in all of the seas, naturally wiggling his body in expert stretches.

“How have you been, brother?” He hushed his words through a wave of his arms, continuing to dance along to the music with Hoseok. “You look… different.”

Hoseok matched Jimin’s movement, picking up the pace to a slow tempo. “I’ve been doing well.”

The words fell bleakly between the two, Jimin realizing that there was no enthusiasm resonating from Hoseok – no energetic fields sparkling through the waters. Jimin’s intuition can pick up the sudden change of behavior, and he grew nervous for the reasons why his older brother insisted on lying to his face.

“It’s not polite to fib – especially about your feelings.”

Hoseok grabbed ahold of Jimin’s wrist, spinning the pink tailed merman in a quick fluid motion. Dancing around having a private conversation was difficult when they were surrounded with several fish who are also doing the same. A curious ear could overhear them, and Hoseok did not wish to share his secrets to the public.

By the spin of Jimin, Hoseok’s eye catches something – rather, something missing. The chain that snugged around Jimin’s slim waist was colorless, missing its shining pink bead.

“Where is your pearl?” the aqua prince distressed.

Jimin’s crystal eyes avoided Hoseok’s almond ones, swallowing thickly as a shade of pink started breaking through at the tips of his ears. “Come brother, I must show you something.”

Whilst the mermen, mermaids, and fish were still dancing and singing in the palace, the two troublesome brothers stole away past the walls of the pink palace. Swimming freely into the open ocean while being accompanied by their little companions.

Kiko deliberately begged Hoseok to remain back in Jimin’s home, not wanting to cause another mishap event of a storm like the one that happened times prior to when anyone has upset the Mer-King. But the merman ignored his friend, insisting that everything will be alright.

“Jimin where are you taking me?”

“Just a bit further – I promise you will be surprised.”

Soon enough Jimin led Hoseok into a lengthy cave, a narrow cavern filled with sumptuous jewels, gems, and stones. A pleasure-loving treasure of a chamber that was hollowed out, and in the cavity of the cave – past the dark spaces and cracks – they peered up into a grotto. Crystalline formations that grew down from the ceiling, limestones, calcium carbonate and other minerals lined the walls and rocks.

The scene before them was a magical starry canvas. Nothing in any of their realms nor the human world looked better or more extravagant than this place.

“I found this place when I was little, following a stubborn little marine invertebrate.” Jimin narrowed his eyes down at his sticky pet starfish, Bo, that was latching onto his shoulder. “This little guy was a feisty one, but I’m forever grateful that he led me here. Just look.”

Hoseok’s eyes widened around him, eyebrows shot high into his hairline. His thoughts were all about the mystical creations around him until Jimin cut his train of thought.

“It’s what happens when two worlds connect, the sea and the land.” Jimin admired around with a soft smile on his lips.

“Two worlds?” he wondered. “But wait – this doesn’t explain where your pearl is? You have it don’t you? You can’t lose it!”

Jimin chuckled, shaking his head. “Unfortunately, I do not have my pearl.”

Hoseok hovered around, looking at all the jewels and gems that surrounded the two mermen. Anxiety rising from his fins, “Jimin your palace –“

“Is still in great condition, is it not?”

In fact, Jimin’s kingdom was in fantastic shape. Even with the lack of his magical pearl. The ball was extravagant, faces were happy, and his realm was healthy and clear.

“It is.” Hoseok confirmed. “But how?”

Jimin smiled gleefully, satisfied and at complete ease as he hopped up his thin body onto a rock. The pink prince shrugged, “I’m not sure actually. Maybe they aren’t as powerful as we were told. Though they are one of a kind.” Jimin stared at the pearl that dangled off Hoseok’s ear.

“I like to think that they work for anyone who has a good heart. They keep the realm alive with their being.”

Curious, Hoseok pushed for further explanation. “So, if you don’t have it then… you gave it to someone else?”

“Mhm.”

“Jimin?! You can’t just do that – do you have suds in your brain!?”

Jimin’s eyes crinkled with his wide cutesy smile, unbothered at the world. Innocence exuding out from his face. “Perhaps.”

The cavern twinkled around the reflecting lights, blossoming of precious stones and glows from each crevice of the room. Hoseok’s voice echoed off the structured walls along with the silence drips of the moistened stalactites that elongated from the top.

“Who did you give it to?” Hoseok was furious, getting ready to blow up on his younger pink scaled brother until a shuffling noise distracted him, causing him to twist his head in the direction of the sound.

“Her.” Jimin drew his breath in, watching a shadowed movement draw closer. A padding of feet rushed their way into the corner of the grotto where an opening that was not seen before now was. Entered, a small child, with curly blonde and frizzy hair as light as the clouds, stepped in view. She bared her feet, stepping on the smooth flooring below her in a flowing flower sundress.

Hoseok was quick to duck for cover – trying to pull his brother along but remained puzzled how he refused to move. Jimin sat proudly atop his perch, staring at the young child who’s face lit up with merriment.

“Jiminie!” she squeals. “You came to visit me!”

Frightened, Hoseok sunk further below the water. This is going against everything, why is Jimin speaking to a human? Why did he give his pearl to her? He angrily whispered towards the ditzy prince that waved his arm towards the child, “What are you doing!?”

“I’ve brought a friend, little one! Would you care to meet him?” Jimin outstretched his hand towards his brother who hid behind a rock who returned glare at him. Seeing the disproving stare from Hoseok, he spoke down towards to him, “She’s safe, believe me.”

The curious kid stepped closer to the edge of the grotto, before the land dipped into the water as she waited with anticipation. She pondered the words her friendly pink merman spoke, eyes full of wonder as she looked over to him.

Hesitantly Hoseok poked his head out slowly, making eye contact with the blonde bundle of curls. She stood on her tiptoes with excitement, seeing another pretty face that blended well with the sparkling cave. “Hello!” she squeaked.

It felt uncanny, so unnatural for Hoseok to be approached by a creature with legs and not fins. An unreal wave of relief washed over the merman as the child’s instant presence seemed pure. “Hello.”

“Are you a prince like Jiminie? Are you pink like him too?” She questioned, now landing herself on her knees so she can creep closer to the water. Jimin gleamed with amusement, adoring the young little human who he grew acquainted with over time.

Jimin felt the passion within this little being, relating her curiosity of the sea with Hoseok’s interests with the land. In many ways these two were very much alike and he was ecstatic for them to meet.

For the first time this night, Jimin witnessed a genuine smile turnup on Hoseok’s lips. The aqua tailed man moved toward the small being who knelt by the edge. He flipped his tail up out of the water, flashing his fins with a loud splash. Trickles of water cascaded from the air onto surrounding areas of terrain causing the child to giggle.

“Precisely, I am a prince just as Jimin.”

Jimin swam up besides his brother, guiding him closer to the little girl. He smiled towards her as he raised his hand for her to meet his. Together they connected, her little hand much smaller than Jimin’s and a small glow of gold originated between their touch. “See – she’s good. I trust her.”

At closer inspection Hoseok noticed the chain around the child’s neck that had a glass trinket which encased a pink pearl – Jimin’s unique bead. That too glowed a radiating gold shimmer.

“I wish I had a pretty tail like you two!” She looked mournfully at the two clumsy props of bare legs she owned. “Silly legs!” She shouted down with a huff.

“Oh, but with a tail – you could not get back home.” Jimin tested. “We wouldn’t want that now. You’d miss your parents, your family. Even your bed.” He smirked, teasing the little girl.

Hoseok stood witness as he watched the interaction between human and merman. It wasn’t quite like how his interaction was with his beautiful princess back home, but there was a sincere aura radiating between the two that gave him hope for something.

“What color would I have, I wonder!” Her wide eyes scanned both of the mermen’s faces, taking in their distinctive differences.

Jimin smiled wide, eyes forming crescents. “Oh darling, I think pink would suite you very well. A beautiful plush pink for the young angel.” He pokes her nose.

“We should head back before it gets too late. I will visit another time, alright? Keep my gift safe and sound!” Jimin bid the pouting child farewell before descending down back the narrow crevices they entered.

They swam leisurely back to Jimin’s palace, Jimin humming melodic tunes to himself. The clear water was waving like a light breeze, the seabed littered with various plants and scrubs of all colorations.

“Why’d you give her your pearl?” Hoseok questioned out in the blue.

Jimin spun himself around, looking up towards the plane of water way high above the floating mermen. “She is true. I grew to know her over time. I feel no threat from her, and I trust she won’t speak of me to others. I want her to always remember me.”

Hoseok’s thoughts soon returned to the world above him as he could not forget his beauteous princess. And he could not control his craving to meet her. Experiencing a merman and human interact as Jimin did with his, Hoseok was sure he could trust the lovely woman he is fascinated with. Deep down in his heart he hopes she will be accepting of him.

One thing stood out from is encounter with Jimin and the little girl. What struck him was how she wished to be a mermaid – one with a beautiful scaly tail. Why would she dream this when she had legs?

Hoseok hovered around his human-decorative study again, a place he consistently escaped to when he had the free time. He eyed the handheld mirror, the compass that lost its pointing needle giving the device worthlessness, even feathering his fingers through the chest full of useless goods. He stumbled upon a painting, a portrait of a bright and sunny day with land lovers dancing on a street. Building’s surrounding the pairs that were grouped together in a gestured dance.

It then hit him, “A pair of legs for a tail – and a tail for legs.” He grumbled to himself looking down at his slimy speckled tail, fins and all. Kiko who has been loitering around the area shifted towards her merman, “Hoseok…”

“I have an idea Kiko, though you may not like it.”

“When do I ever?”

Hoseok snickered, sighing down at his dazzling leafy sea-friend. He brushes his hands through her leaves, scratching underneath Kiko’s keel. “I’m more grateful than you may think. Please don’t be upset with me.”

Kiko rested in the hands of Hoseok, shimmying herself comfortable. The look in her eyes showed regret and worry, though she waited for her prince – her friend – to continue his thoughts.

“I must travel past the whirlpool. Where the seagrass nor flowers bloomed – grey sands expanding to heavens know where. Where waters were dark, whizzing around in strong forces. To the current that doesn’t connect to ours, the abyss down below. I need to go to the enchantress.”

“No!” Kiko jolted, frantically shaking her leaves. “You can’t! You know that. She’s a demon, a – a monster!”

“I’m going. The witch will be able to help. She’s the only one who could advise me.”

The thought of seeing his princess on two legs gave Hoseok the courage he needed to proceed with his foolish actions. He had traveled to where no merfolk dared to go. Advancing his body though the tough of the whirlpool – pass the boiling under gasses, a thick heavily bog that shrouded the turf.

The enchantress lived in a horrid place, all the trees and bushes were gloomy and of dying bowiea weeds. Serpents shooting up out of the ground with lengthy branches that tickled with disgusting fingers of worms. Polypi dressing the skirts of the seafloor and clustering up this wooded area.

Every plant was twisted and mangled in its own way, clutching onto random items. Skeletons of a number of fish and human beings who had drowned were in the grasps of these eager unseemly trees. He swiftly made his way through these bushes and herbs of horror, arriving to a small place that was occupied by large sluggish snails. In the middle of this terrain, stood a house build of broken shards of ships, bones, and shattered mussels.

Along the entrance way to this house floated a darkened figure, cloaked with a slick seaweed. It turned to face the colorful prince who peered over towards it. A loud cackle noise up roared from the witch; her shoulders shook with each breath. “Oh my – what honor do I have here? Prince of the South Atlantic. What a delicate blue tail you have.”

Hoseok stood still in his area, eyeing the being before him. Tentacles dragged beyond her, her writhing arms dangled to her sides and pieces of her hair abnormally distorted around her head in a wicked manner.

“You know me?”

“I know much. Well. I hear many. I see most,” said she to the aqua blue prince. “I know what you want, and it’s quite mindless. Yet I shall assist you, for a price.” The sorceress hovered; brushing pass her field of snails. “You wish to get rid of your tail for a set of those dainty stilts like those pathetic humans have. You fancy a princess above the water. So, I’ve heard.” The wicked woman snickered.

“What a pity, such gorgeous of blues to be snuffed out. But nonetheless, I shall help royalty with no delay.”

“You will?” Hoseok hoped, enthusiastic to the mysterious witch. “What do I owe for your time?”

The enchantress turned towards the opening of her house, floating down into the pit of it. “Come child, I shall show you.”

A large cauldron rested in the middle of the singular room; every moment new ingredients were thrown into the slump of its dome. Mixed smoke and foams sizzling throughout the water. “I will make you a potion – one you will drink as you make it up to the surface. You shall sit on the coast and swallow it whole, and then your tail of beautiful aqua and gold will shrivel and shrink from under you – to things which men call legs.”

Another puff of smoke plumed in the water, a zap of her ingredients fusing together in a rancid smell. “This transformation will be extremely painful after all; you will feel as if a sharp blade passed through your body though no blood shall spill. You’ll retain that beautiful face of yours, your undulation movements of dance. Light on your feet, throughout days on land it will grow to be more difficult to walk. Imagine thousands of blades slicing through your soles with each step you take.”

Hoseok watched the cauldron fill to the brim, gooey discolored liquids lofting around like a stew. He listened intensely to the warnings of the sea witch, but his dedication held strong within him. “You haven’t told me what the price is.”

The witch cackled once more, cutting her arm to allow thick black blood drip down into the pot. “Your voice is the price I ask.”

Hoseok trembled watching the potion being concocted in front of his own eyes. A level on uncertainty settling in the pit of his stomach. “How long do I have?”

“Until your princess falls in love – shall decide your fate. If you seek the princess’s heart, love to such degree that she leaves her family for you, that you flood her mind and wishes – you will remain human. If sorrowfully on the day she is united to another will you see your sadness. Forced back into a merman and you will surrender your kingdom to me.”

“But if you take my voice from me,” spoke the aqua tailed prince, “What do I have to charm the princess? How am I going to communicate with her?”

“Your graceful form of course,” replied the sorceress. “Your speaking eyes, that handsome face that you bestow. You can infatuate a vain meek human heart with your beauty, can you not? Your dance speaks wonders – I’ve heard many stories.” Her arm laced around the shoulder of the prince, eyeing the dangling pearl that hung from his lobe.

“Now speak into my shell,” she held a conch in his view. “Speak to the sea in return for my magic drink.”

And so, he spoke, whispers of nothings but wishes, of thanks, and hopes. His orotund voice slowly being sucked away by a magical blue hue that breathed from his mouth to the inners of the magical conch.

The witch handed a vial of the finished potion, a translucent liquid that swirled around a clear glass. “Remember to swallow all and prepare yourself for the pain.” Her witch laugh resounded loud through the room.

Hoseok trailed back the same way he came, through the heavily wooded thicket of long polypi that bent away from him the moment he drew near. The foaming streams produced from the buzzing whirlpool laid still as he entered. Scrubs and plants dissipating with his presence.

Once he returned back to his home it was late; lamps in the apartments of the palace were extinguished, families were fast asleep. His halls were dimly lit, the garden shimmered in the moonlight, and his room pitch dark. He was voiceless, the words he wishes to spill to his dear friend Kiko will never reach her. But he chose to try, to gain her attention in her own little quarters.

At her wake she was startled, it was the middle of the night though she heard no noise from Hoseok. His hand tapped on his throat multiple times, signaling a language of no speech. He held the bottle to his pet and shook it with delight. With hopeful eyes he glanced up, referencing the plane between the two worlds. All his attempts to hint his next actions.

“What have you done!?” Kiko jolted from her rest, hollering at the Prince who looked all too pleased with his decision. “Hoseok please, no!”

He smiled his wide bright smile and swam away, not asking for Kiko to follow but she was persistent. She swam alongside him all the way through the dark blue waters to the world above as she did many times before. She wanted to protect Hoseok and be there for him at all costs.

The moon still shone in the sky when they rose from the depts to Hoseok’s casual lounging rocks. The ocean was still, swiftly washing waves ashore and receding back into the sea. He made his way to the shallows, to the area where he once touched when he saved the drowning princess from the wreckage.

A sorrowful look he exchanged with his leafy creature; he was aware of leaving his realm behind on the pursuit of learning about the land and to find his lovely princess. That once he drank this clear liquid, he will turn into one of them, no longer allowed to swim down to his realm because his tail would be no more.

He felt the liquid run down his throat as he tilted his head back, the mix drink oozed its way down his body like a sharp knife cutting from the inside and he fell to the ground clutching his stomach. The excruciating pain sliced his insides overwhelming the human-to-be, a resounded tear of a sudden split of his fin filleting… was last heard before he fainted.

When the sun was reaching over the mountains of the east, Hoseok awoke; and he immediately felt the burning pain in all of his limbs and organs. He inhaled exaggeratedly, clutching his hand over his chest as he leaned up. Fresh air burning its way through his new human lungs, the dryness of his mouth making him feel even more worse. The waters washed him up further on the shore, sand now surrounding his body and his now new pair of legs.

His eyes grew wide looking down between himself and the sea. Looking at the bare of his legs, a set of limbs that do not work like how his tail once had. Naturally, he moved the limbs one by one, turning his ankles, bending his knees, and wiggling his toes. Tiny appendages that matched the ten fingers on his hands, just smaller.

Hoseok sat in complete nude, just basking in the glow of the sun and the breeze of the wind. Until a squeak drew his attention from the water, a flip and a splash. It was Kiko – who must have stayed all night with him.

He opened his mouth, yet nothing came out. Something he needs to get used to now and figure out how to sign language his way through gestures. Instead he waved and smiled excitedly, motioning his hands towards his legs which he waved in the air with joy.

“Are you crazy? Cover yourself up Hoseok!”

Kiko darted around the water, looking for something to give the poor prince for some decency. Pieces of seaweed or kelp won’t do – something bigger needs to cover his bottom half. Lucky for them, remains of the past shipwreck still lurked in the waters. A torn fabric, from a mast, nonetheless, trapped under a broken wooden plank drifted in the sunken water not too far from the shore.

Hoseok remained unphased. More intrigued and preoccupied with these unsteady legs, he almost didn’t notice the added appendage that laid between them. The one thing Kiko was most nervous about, the lack of modesty. That’s no way for Hoseok to go about on land – oh most certainly not!

“Hoseok!” Kiko arrived closer, drawing Hoseok’s attention. “There’s cloth down here, I can’t remove it myself. But you need it, quickly! Come!” She flittered her little fins around the area, “Right down here!”

He bent his knees up, pushed off the ground with enough force to lift his body stable on the flats of his feet. Instantly he started wobbling, teetering left and right as he stumbled towards the water. Not only trying to understand the concepts of walking, looking like a toddler who needed the support to stand up. The witch was right – he felt light on his feet, he swiftly moved with jagged balance. But unfortunate to him, there was a buildup of thorn-stabbing pain with each step.

Hoseok fell, not gracefully, into the water where his limbs straight away felt at ease and cooled off. The threatening pain not causing him anymore discomfort. He drifted towards Kiko, kicking his legs erratically to stay afloat. His eyebrows raised, beckoning a questioned look for Kiko to guide him.

Reaching down through the green weeds, he caught hold of a wet material, yanking it up from under the object it was crammed under. It was thin, but long enough to cover him whole.

Resting his bottom on the sands of the shore once more, he twisted the material around his tapered waistline, right above his prodding hip bones and securing it tight with a knot. A crafted loincloth decorated around him, long enough to reach the tops of his knees. Hoseok’s eyes formed happy-crescent shapes when looking back to his floating buddy, enjoying his small victory.

Kiko observed Hoseok, watched him closely. There was almost a young childlike aspect on is features, his fascination, his wide eyes of wonder taking in his new environment. A wide grin from ear to ear, eyes sparkling in the beautiful sunlight. Hoseok still looked just as handsome as he did when he was adorned his aqua tail. And Kiko prayed from that moment forward that this journey Hoseok choose to take himself – will hopefully play out in his favor.

Seagulls squawked overhead, the gentle air tickling his skin. The reassuring sounds of the waves drifting in and out causing the heart wrenching feeling of home resolve the hollow of his chest.

A sudden uproar of noise startled the prince, coming from the edging of the cliff. A familiar noise he has heard once before but couldn’t quite understand what it was – until he saw it. A black four-legged figure barking along the sands, rushing in every which way with a snout that sniffed up into the air.

Hoseok’s face grew pale when he locked eyes with the creature. He had to get out of there, he didn’t know what this creature was capable of and it sure as well wasn’t human.

The large animal bolted towards Hoseok, yapping it’s head off with excitement. Fearful, Hoseok jumped up on a nearby bolder – one high enough to prevent the beast to touch him as it came close. It didn’t look threatening upon closer inspection; black fur coated this four-legged mut, and it had a tail as well! Is this what a dog was? He’s seen artworks that had these human pets in them, but none looked like this dog that woofed at him.

Hoseok shooed the dog with a wave of his hand, making a disgruntled face. Over the commotion between man and dog, Hoseok didn’t notice a curious wondering human making its way hesitantly. “Toby! Toby where’d you go! You need to help me find these shells – oh my!” A female in a simple tight-fitted bodice and a flowing skirt that covered down to her ankles, crept forward; a netted satchel filled with seashells slinked over her shoulder that she held closer to her body.

Her eyes met with Hoseok’s, frozen. It was her, Princess Y/n. Even though she wasn’t dressed in her elegant gown, decorated in her pretty jewelry, she still looked just as beautiful. Hoseok remained star-struck, as if he was seeing the princess for the very first time. Mouth agape, eyes fixed inquiringly on the stunning girl who stood meters away from him. The continuous barks of the Toby-beast unwavering until the princess scolded it.

“Toby! Down boy! Leave that man alone!” She called her pet back, rushing over to stop him from intruding the man on the rocks space. “I’m so sorry! Toby can be a bit overwhelming. But I assure you he’s really kind!” She managed to hold back her pet, trying to calm him down and get him to sit for her.

Hoseok looked down, preserving his surprised state. He smiled at the princess’s warm features, her soft delicate skin and whisking hair that was pinned out with a bow in the back.

The princess looked up at Hoseok, having a moment of déjà vu – something about this was all too familiar to her. “You seem… are you? Have – have we met before?” The words stumbled out of her mouth, in amazement as her eyes casted up to the glowing stranger. He was gorgeously handsome, his hair long and wavy, his smile so sincere and shining in the sun. Those almond colored eyes that captured the deepest of blues within them dazed back at her.

Hoseok eagerly shook his head – yes yes, they have met before!

“We have met! I knew it!” she exclaimed. “What is your name?”

Hoseok mouthed the formation of his name, but nothing came out. Frustrating the poor man even more, his lips pulled down into a frown. It’s as if his larynx was completely removed from his throat, the voice box completely vanished from within.

“What’s wrong? Are you okay?” The curious princess spoke with worry. “Can you not speak?”

Exasperated, Hoseok held his fists up in a struggling fight with himself, scrunching his face along with it. This was his one and only time he can talk to her, yet he couldn’t form the words he wanted to say. Panic-stricken, he motions his arms and hands in spur of erratic movements. Trying to signal his distress.

“Oh, something is wrong? You’re hurt? You need help?”

Hoseok reached forward too far, losing his stability on top of the rock and falling forward. He was clumsy, landing in the sand right in front of the princess and blushing from embarrassment. Toby jumped over towards the fallen man, now licking up the side of his face and showering him with a handful of kisses.

“Oh gee – Toby! Off of him!” she hollered, now lunching herself to save Hoseok from her furry dog. “I’m so sorry!” Hoseok’s face was lifted up with a smile again, giggling at the cuteness of this Toby animal.

The princess relaxed, seeing that there was no threat at hand when the stranger started playing back with Toby. She saw how he wasn’t properly dressed, lost his clothes and his voice. Her soft heart churned with sympathy, “Don’t worry, I’ll help you. You must have gone through something terrible recently. Let me help you up.”

The princess escorted Hoseok back to her palace, offering her assistance as he limped oddly while he walked. Once exposed, no thanks to Toby’s cheerful barking, servants brought the nearly naked man a set of expensive clothes.

“Princess Y/n! Who – what do we have here?” A maid rushed over holding out a robe already set open for the guest. “I thought you were looking for shells,” the maid turned to eye Hoseok. Capturing in his natural beauty essence. “not – not a man.”

The princess laughed, hiding a tinted pink blush from her embarrassment. “Ms Gretta, I assure you I didn’t mean to stumble upon this man. Toby ended up finding him! But he needs help! I think he may be sick.”

“Oh, sweet child. Haven’t we told you not to go running off alone? It’s dangerous for a woman of your status to be out there unsupervised!” The maid slunk the robe around Hoseok’s shoulders, covering him up.

The princess smiled softly, “But, I wasn’t alone. I had Toby!”

Her maid tsk’d, rolling her aging eyes. “Dear, Toby is not an excuse. Please next time, would you be careful?” She averted her attention to the strange man who stood still in the center of their foyer. “Come here young one, let’s get you cleaned up.”

The princess’s maid who addressed the man’s hygiene, escorted Hoseok down the hall. He looked over his shoulder in confusion has he was pushed along the tiled floors, looking at the princess who waved innocently. “I’ll see you soon!” she said.

Hoseok was led into a bejeweled decorative washroom. Gold encrusted handles and trimming, a similar color to the specks that scattered throughout his tail. A large bath displayed in the center, filling up with steamy warm water and colorful bubbles. A pricy chandelier hung from the center right above the tub.

“Now now, I’ll leave you to your privacy, sir. And I’ll come back to check on you. I’ll leave your clothes and towels on the counter right here. Please feel free to use whatever toiletries you need.” The maid bowed before stepping out of the room.

Hoseok walked over to the tub, feet now aching terribly. The bubbles reminded him of the foam that he’s seen a hundred of times on the plane of the water. Dissolved organic matter from algal blooms. It surprised him, however, that these bubbles came with a fresh scent.

Stepping into the tub his feet promptly soothed over from the dull pain. His knees bucked from under him, forcing a splash of water to rise above the edge of the tub and splattering across the tile below. The element of water was natural to him, it was alleviating him. Bubbles fluttered in the air, a cascade of them landing down on top of his head. He loved it; humans had all of the elements. Water, earth, air and fire.

“Darling please, no more nonsense of this. We need to focus on your studies.”

Princess Y/n and her mother, the Queen, were enjoying teatime in the dining hall with high painted ceilings and checkered flooring. With additions of a ruby red rug, large window plates, and a fireplace structured on the western wall.

Each dressed in their civil casual wear, a baby blue dress for the princess and an elegant topaz green for the queen. They sipped together while staring off at the scenic views outside. “I understand mother. I just turned a new age, please let me enjoy my time just a bit longer,” the princess begged.

“Darling, you know your positioning. We must find you a partner to be wed. There’s many suitors from several kingdoms who are in your age group.”

The princess remained silent, savoring the last bit of tea from her cup. What the queen didn’t know was that the young princess has been waiting for the day to find that man who had saved her. She wanted to express her gratitude and appreciation to the person on the beach. The princess knew there was no way she had dreamed of the man, but unfortunate for her, she sorrowfully cannot remember his face. Only fractions and figments of her memories weave together of that morning. The sun was glaring down into her eyes during the only time she could see him, but she remembered his voice. The audible feature that made her know that he was real.

The word, the greeting, “Hello.” Was the only excuse for her brain to process that hazy morning as real. She heard the person speaking to her. She wished, all this time to see him once more. Before she had to leave her kingdom for good, united with another man from a different country, she was determined to find that person who had saved her.

Every so often, when her schedule allowed it, she would journey down onto the beach. Strolling along the shore picking up pieces of washed up shells and rocks to add to her own collection of aquatic artifacts. And with each trip, she hoped to see that person once more.

“Y/n, are you even listening to me?” The disgruntled tone in the queen’s voice drew the princess’s attention. She blinked, opening her mouth to speak when suddenly she was interrupted.

“Go on – no need to be shy!” prodded the maid, pushing Hoseok forward.

Hoseok approached through the double-wide doors into the dining hall, now dressed in his borrowed rich clothes. A comfortable tunic that fell loose around his arms, black pants that rolled up by the ankles, and a thick belt that sat snug against his waist. It was a simple outfit, casual and relaxed. The only thing that looked more tasteful to the naked eye, something that looked priceless, was the singular pearl earring that hung from his ear.

He stepped towards the princess and queen with an astonished look on his face. The room surrounding them was marvelous, designed beautifully and almost as beautiful as his back in his underwater realm. He was nervous but happy, twiddling his thumbs between another as he stopped at a safe distance. He curtseyed with regard, gaining both the women of the room’s curiosity.

The princess stood up excitedly, “You look amazing – lively! Gretta has done a great job helping you!”

Hoseok nodded bashfully, his smile still present. The princess swore that there was a sudden twinkle in his beautiful beaming eyes when he reconnected their gazes.

“This is the man you found out on the beach?” the queen addressed the two with a quirked brow. “My, he is quite the visual. Young man, what is your name?”

Both Hoseok and Y/n turned to face the queen properly, a warily grin accompanied the both of them. “Mother, I’m afraid he’s a mute.” Hoseok timidly rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, sending the queen an apologetic look.

Perturbed, the queen pursed her lips and nodded slightly. “I see. That’s very luckless my dear.” The queen’s eyes scanned the innocent male in front of her, seeing no threat in any nature. “You are welcomed to spending time here, as Y/n requested. Please make yourself feel at home and do not hesitate to ask, er – to seek out for any help.” Her lips upturned genuinely.

Hoseok bowed as a sign of respect and thanks. Feeling giddy, his body vibrated with delight.

“Come here, please sit. You must be malnourished.” The queen gestured to a seat at the elongated table. “Food will be served shortly.”

It was a bright chipper day, cool calm and collective. Noisy birds chirped from outside his guest room, a sound he never had the privilege to waking up to. Their squawks and chirps sounding as one of a melodic tune. Little animals making conversations with another, flapping their wings to soar high above the buildings and structures outside Hoseok’s window.

Hesitantly, he pulled the curtain aside to allow the view before him expand. The colors of the palaces garden were gleaming with charm, fantastic brand-new species of plants of all sorts of colors captivated his sights.

He slowly leaned over the railing of the windowsill, sticking his head out further into the air. If he was back in his realm he could simply just swim out, but here he was grounded. Out past the front gates, far into the distance of the forestry, was more building structures assembled. More colorful delight sprung from them, decorations and flags waving in the wind. It indeed was a beautiful day above the water, and Hoseok’s urge to explore was thriving within him.

An echoed knock resonated from the door, causing Hoseok to whip his head in the direction and walked his bare feet over to open the custom designed wooden door. Just before he turned the handle he glanced over at the shallow tub he grabbed from his quarter’s bathroom last night. It was still was filled with cooled water which he used the for his feet.

Another knock causing Hoseok to jump with the sound. He creaked the door open to pry his head curiously through the crack, and he was met with the maid who had assisted him throughout yesterday – Gretta.

“Good morning, sir!” She smiled warmly giving him a tiny nod. It took her a moment to remember she wasn’t going to hear a greeting back, due to Hoseok’s lack of voice. That didn’t derail her train of thoughts though, “I have fresh clothes for you!” She raises the materials in her arms higher up, catching Hoseok’s view.

He nodded, stepping back with the door, allowing Gretta to walk through. Hoseok stood there uncertain with his nightwear still snug on him, watching Gretta make her way to a side table to place the essentials down. She too noticed the tub laying besides the bed, filled with water.

“Miss Y/n was curious if you’d like to join her for the street festival in town today? There are many activities to partake in! She’s grown quite curious about you as well.” Gretta rambled, laying out the selected choice of menswear. It was similar to the previous day outfit, large relaxing soft blue tunic decorated with small detailed floral patterns and another pair of black trousers. There was also a bronzy gold belt laid out along with a set of – a set of…?

“These boots are made out of cowhide, sturdy for long walks on the roads. You don’t need to worry about getting them dirty!”

Oh, they’re called boots. Hoseok mentally noted the two neat glossy brown oddities. But the idea of long walks pulled his face into a grimace – he’ll need a break from walking frequently. He’ll need to find something to soak his feet in to cool of the agonizing stabbing pain that jolted through the pads of his feet the more he stepped.

“Shall I tell the princess you’ll be ready in twenty minutes? We’ll pull a carriage up in the meantime.” Gretta smiled over at the handsome young lad that stood motionless near the door. There was a natural aura about the boy, something ‘off’ for Gretta but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

Hoseok bobbed his head excitedly, smiling at the fact he’ll get to see the princess once again. With joy he hurriedly grabbed at the fabrics, with no hesitation or decency to whip off his nightshirt in one swift movement. Gretta hastily turned her eyes away, heading towards the door just as quick. She laughed slightly, “I will clean up the room when you’re out in town.” From there the click of the door was heard with Gretta’s exit, and Hoseok is stumbling over himself trying to place these so-called ‘boots’ over his damn feet.

The carriage carried Hoseok, Y/n, and two guards into town. The settlement was garnished with florals, furnished with twisted wreaths and tangled vines. Banners hung building to building, colors of pinks, greens, blues, and purples scattered universally. Sculptures of flowers made out of papers and sheer fabrics hung down from above. Bodies of men, women and kids moving about another in dance, or between food stands, shops, and miscellaneous vendors.

It was beautiful for a land festival, but for a moment it reminded Hoseok of his brother’s recent party. There were similarities between the two of course, but there was something different at the same time. Nothing could compare to each other because in Hoseok’s view, land and water were forever going to be different.

The princess walked alongside Hoseok, humming herself a soft tune from an ongoing flute player. Peering down at the lovely princess, Hoseok couldn’t help but smile at the way her eyes wondered around as if she’s searching for something in particular. She smiled when greeted by passersby’s, declining offers of home-made treats and gifts.

“You know – I still don’t know your name. Do you go by a name?” Y/n spoke directly to Hoseok, but her eyes were looking through the crowd of people. Once she glanced up to meet his beautiful brown eyes, she had a mischievous smile. Hoseok nodded, furrowing his brows. He had to think of a way to tell her his name or find something that was close enough to relate back to him.

He turned his head left and right, looking for objects or scenery to point at. But there was nothing in his sights that satisfied him or suited him. Maybe a color would be easier? So, he looked around, pointing out the first blue thing he could find.

“Flower?” she questioned, smiling to herself. But with Hoseok responding with an unenthusiastic look she tilted her head. He searched again, grabbing at items and widgets all in different shades of blue. He held them towards Y/n, motioning the importance with his hand on his chest. Me! These are me! He was referencing.

Even the guards attempt to shout out answers to Hoseok’s amusing charade. Band? Berries? Belt? Cloth? Plate? Bracelet?

Hoseok grew more and more frustrated with the wrong answers he sighed in defeat. Sitting himself down on a bench that perched besides a bridge. He was stumped, blowing a breath of air up into his falling bangs.

“It’s okay!” The princess joined him on the bench, patting Hoseok on the shoulder. “We don’t need to worry about it.”

A pang within his chest tightened over his heart when he looked back to the princess’s sincere eyes. That feeling pinched a sensitive nerve within him, he was stunned by the beautiful princess. Dare he admit that he may be smitten over her rosy cheeks, the way her smile drew a smile from him.

Her gaze flickered to the bead that hung from his lobe, the jewel that adorned his single earring. It glittered in the light, something she never has seen before. But Hoseok could see the small twinkle in the reflection of her orbs.

“It’s beautiful. That pearl you have.” Her wondering finger pointed at the ornament.

The moment she inched closer to Hoseok’s jewel he moved back in retaliation, quickly holding up his hand to catch hers. It’s natural for him to protect the one thing that holds his realm intact. The princess drew back her breath at the sudden movement. She didn’t know he was acting on defense, and they both looked shocked at another.

Hoseok held his hands up innocently, waving them as he wished to apologize. His distressed face was frantic and upset.

“Hey! Hey! Don’t worry! It’s okay!” she grabbed at Hoseok’s hands, holding them together. “I’m sorry.”

Hoseok wanted to say that it wasn’t her fault, it was his. And that he was the one who was sorry. He’s the one that was masquerading around with no voice, bending his mannerisms to the ill façade he needed to do.

A deep sigh exhaled through Hoseok, cocking his head to the side and tongue prodding the inside of his cheek. It now dawned on the poor prince that this indeed will be difficult. Between their hands Hoseok caught a glimpse of something resonating, a small glow mirroring off of another’s skin. Another frightened jump came from Hoseok, looking down at his hands.

He’s seen this before. It wasn’t as strong but that glow nonetheless was definitely similar to the one Jimin had with his human friend. It had to be. But this didn’t happen at all yesterday?

The princess looked befuddled at Hoseok’s behavior – such a strange man she thought.

Hoseok ran his hands through his wavy hair, resting his elbows on his knees and chin on his palm. He side-eyed the princess, smirking slightly as if he thought of something clever.

Y/n caught herself staring at the outline of this man’s profile. The silk of his hair shining in the sunlight, the scoop of his delicate nose, the pucker of his smooth lips. If she wasn’t such a headstrong lady she may have been blushing the first moment she came in contact with him.

Unexpectedly, Hoseok got off the bench. He waved on the princess and their two guards towards a vendor he was walking towards. As they approached, they see Hoseok surrounding himself with branches and twines of flowers, folding and weaving them together. ‘Flower Crowns’ labeled on a sign right above the shop, with a handful of premade crowns with ribbons ready to be bought.

But Hoseok took the initiative to interlace his own craft, bending the steams and twigs of these colorful tangerine colored flowers. Once he secured it safely in a round band, he turned, offering the circlet with a wide grin to Y/n.

She giggled, taking an exaggerated bow, and waited for Hoseok to bestow the new fashion atop her dome. It was like uniting his princess, unifying her to be a queen with a beautiful crown. The orange of the blossoms complimented the tint of pink on her cheeks.

“Thank you so much! Here let me give you one!”

Y/n looked around the small shop, eyeing the various cluster of garlands. Her eyes land one a particular one, perhaps it stood out because she was already primed with the color already. A blueish, greenish bundle of flowers knotted within a band; specks of little yellow daisies crisscrossed within them.

‘Interesting’, thought Hoseok. The princess picked out colors of which resembled his long-lost tail. Was it coincidence or – “Hydrangea flowers are so colorful!” She cooed. “Look at these ruffles of aquas and turquoise! And these yellow daisies!”

That’s it! Aqua! She can call him aqua, at least that’s a small portion of his real name. Hoseok pointed at the princess, then back at himself. He waved his hands for her to speak again with desperation in his eyes.

“What? The daisies?” She quirked a brow. No! shouted Hoseok’s inner conscience. He then pointed at the blue petals, running his finger around the anthers and blade of each petal. “The hydrangea? They’re blue?” She questioned. But when Hoseok shook his head severely as emphasis to the word blue, the princess caught on. “Oh! Blue? No – wait… not blue. Turquoise? Oh… not that one. Wait, aqua? You like Aqua!?”

As desperate for a man could be without his voice, Hoseok strained everything within himself from jumping up with glee when she understood the one thing she needed to know.

“Aqua? Hm, that’s a peculiar name.” She rested her finger on her lips as she pondered.

Hoseok pouted, knowing very well that his name is not short from his real title. The princess snickered to herself, thinking it’s quite cute that this ‘Aqua’ guy was pulling a sulky face.

“I like it.” She exclaimed as she raised the crown over Hoseok’s head and placed it gently on top. The flowers suited him; the coloration looked right. And if he wasn’t already a handsome fellow, he sure looked like one now.

“Here, I want to show you something, Aqua!”

The princess zig-zagged through the street full of people alongside her guards. Hoseok trailed close by, taking in more of the views and shops of the town. Y/n led the group to an opening within the city, a larger circled area with one big cast stone fountain with jets of water cascading out of a mermaid statue.

Folk music was playing, a band off to the side with a handful of instruments Hoseok has never seen before, violins, trumpets, and guitars – but Hoseok didn’t know the names of these. As if they were just like Namjoon and Yoongi. Composers.

Innocent singers harmonizing off to the side, a sweet melodic song. Their tunes were catchy, and the upbeat tempo pulsed within him. Just how Taehyung’s and Seokjin’s voices conducted.

When Hoseok watched the people danced around their merry ways, impulsively he wanted to dance too.

Hoseok looked down at his legs, almost criticizing the way he needed to work with both legs than a tail to do what his body used to do so fluidly beneath the waves of the sea. Maybe he can, maybe he could try.

In the midst of the princess trailing on about how much she adored the fountain and surrounding shells that decorated the sturdy stone, Hoseok wondered into the crowd. Drawn to the music and he started to dance around them all.

Hoseok stretched out his delicate arms, thin but strong as he hovered gracefully between person to person. Every movement, every agonizing step he took, became more and more in symmetry. He twirled with elegance, just as he did in the ocean. His expression of enjoyment, of love and compassion spoke through his eyes and it touched the hearts of surrounding villagers.

Nobody has seen someone move like Hoseok did, and even more spectators joined in the dance solemnly because of how inviting Hoseok looked.

The princess turned her head to the commotion that riled up, noticing that Aqua was no longer next to her but in the crowd. He was performing his best with little experience on two legs.

Hoseok locked eyes with Y/n, who gawked at the way he looked. Effortless motion, stylish and tasteful swaying.

It was then when the princess decided she wanted to get to know this person more; she wanted to know more about Aqua and figure out his background.

Once the song ended, the bodies halted in place. A round of applause cheered about, circling around Hoseok who stood there with the shyest of smiles. He could only stare back at his princess though, blocking out the views and townsmen around him.

“That was wonderful!” The princess encouraged with clapping hands. “You dance?”

With a nod, Hoseok cloaked the impending pain that was stabbing his feet. He shouldn’t have danced – it worsened the torture, but he couldn’t help the way his body naturally coursed to the music. He walked up to Y/n who stood near the fountain, just as he reached her a spasm pain shot up his foot and forced his knee to buckle.

It ached, cramps gnawing away at his muscles. His stumbling landed him on the fountains edge, sitting his body down on the stone.

“Oh, are you hurt? What’s wrong?” Y/n examined over Hoseok’s scrunched up face. He glowered his sight towards his feet as he kicked off his boots. He cannot keep his feet contained any longer, he needs to relieve them before he can’t walk anymore.

“You’re feet?”

His feet were bare, but severely reddened. Blisters forming on the heels of his feet. He turned his head to look up at the mermaid fountain, eyeing the lengthy tail of stone, reminiscing to himself. Though he’s only been a day without a tail, he can only imagine having it as substitute for this pain.

Once he looks back to the Princess, his thoughts vanished. If it wasn’t for his deal, he wouldn’t have gotten these legs. And with these legs, knees, and feet, he was able to meet Princess Y/n – again.

Without thinking clearly about his next course of action, Hoseok spun himself on the edge to submerge his feet into the fountain.

The cool temperature of the water instantly relieved the throbbing ache, soaking his blistering skin.

Appalled citizens shuttered at the act; the guards were quick to lean towards Hoseok but the princess halted them with her hand. “Uhm, Aqua… you can’t do that.” She kept her voice hushed but stern. “If your feet hurt, we can help you back at the palace. But you can’t dip them in the fountain – please take them out.”

Hoseok complied, not wanting to anger anyone. He only reacted based of instinct, he knew the water was going to help him subside at least for a moment.

The princess ordered a guard to fetch the carriage, requesting for them to pick the group up right here. Soon they were traveling back up the lengthy road to the front gates of her home.

#bangtanhq #bangtanarmynet #ficswithluv #btsbookclub #magicshopnet #armysource #crosscurrents #crosscurrents part 2 #hoseok x reader #mermaid au #bts fanfic #mermaid hoseok #jung hoseok #jhope #hobi #bts #series #hoseok

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makapatag · 4 years

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aghamtala and the paladaraw

Aghamtala, or Astrology, is the science of the stars. Those that practice and study Aghamtala are known as Bituinista. The science of the stars deals in the truth that living in the spirits within these stars and how they’re formed is the destiny of all beings.

It is said that Lisuga, the First Sister, was split up into a million pieces and turned into the stars that float about in Himpapawid. Lisuga is a powerful and ever-cunning being, who knew the future before the future would come to pass. Thus, written in the stars is the fates of all the people. This knowledge can be gained, if only they can be read.

Aghamtala are the timekeepers of ancient tradition. They group four seasons in the Pearlescent Archipelago according to the trees that bloom during that time: Katparasan, the time of blooming parasan, during the Arean and Ojjanus. Kattaloto, the time of blooming taloto, during the Jihani, Beli and Hasu. Katlawaan, the time of blooming lawaan during the Alsid, Fuushi, and Sabazi. And Katkisiw, the time of blooming kisiw during the Andrenus, Mitraya, Liminanus, and Sharisanus.

Katparasan is a season of cool dry, and is associated with the element of Air, or Hangin.

Kattaloto is the season of hot dry, and is associated with the element of Fire, or Apoy.

Katlawaan is the season of hot wet, and is associated with the element of Earth, or Lupa.

Katkisiw is the season of cold wet and is associated with the element of Water, or Tubig.

Together they unite to create the fifth element, Diwa, or Spirit, which is represented by the year.

The twelve months are adapted from Trinitarian Tradition. Each of the twelve months has 33 days:

Arean, the first month, is named after the Ysapranzan Deity of the Dawn.

Ojjanus, the second month, is named after the indigenous Goddess of Justice in Ysparanza.

Jihani, the third month, is named after the fire God of Ysparanza.

Beli, the fourth month, named after the Gunmetal Goddess of Fertility.

Hasu, the fifth month, named after the Kikyurei word for lotus, which is revered in Kikuyurei folk religion.

Alsid, the sixth month, named after the war God of Ysparanza.

Fuushi, the seventh month, named after the Storm God of Kikuyurei.

Sabazi, the eighth month, named after the Horse and Sky God of Ysparanza.

Andrenus, the ninth month, named after the traveling patron God of the Gunmetal Republic.

Mitraya, the tenth month, named after the ancient supreme Sun God of the Ysparanzans. Mitraya in the Ysparanzan tongue means “greatest or supreme”.

Liminanus, the eleventh month, named after the deity of boundaries from Ysparanza.

Sharisanus, the twelfth month, named after the indigenous death God of Ysparanza.

Paladaraw

Aghamtala is mostly used by Mampapalad, or fortune readers, although spirits also look to it for guidance. For fortune telling, constellations is mostly used to draw conclusions and destinies. The most popular use of the Aghamtala, however, is what the natives have called Paladaraw. Palad araw translates to “Fate Day”.

A cute folk tale as to how the Paladaraw came to be is found in their stories: The Bathala (or Saint, depends on how far you are from commercial and urban centers) of Earth and Heaven began betting on sabong fights but using different animals instead of just chicken. Every time a creature won, they were immortalized into the heavens. Near the end, the two were becoming creative, using non-animal creatures to fight. Eventually, neither of them won, and all the twelve that fought the exhausting tournament became immortalized as the signs of Paladaraw.

The Paladaraw Signs are the following:

Alimango, the Crab. Jihani 21 - Beli 20. Those born under the Crab are known to be grabby, bold, and ambitious. When the Alimango is being hot-blooded or does something bold, add +1d to the Favor Pool. They are attuned to Fire. Corresponds to Aries.

Sawa, the Python. Beli 20 - Hasu 20. Those born under the python are slow, take their time, and somewhat serene, blending in with their environment. Don’t anger them, however. If the Sawa takes time to appreciate the surroundings, or bask in a bit of quiet, add +1d to the Favor Pool. They are attuned to Earth. Corresponds to Taurus.

Balatik, the Twins Wielding Ballistas. Hasu 21 - Alsid 20. This is when the gods were getting creative. Balatik are always aiming, always firing, always doing something different. But having two people means they’re good in whatever two or more things they’re doing. When the Balatik juggles more than one thing at a time, add +1d to the Favor Pool. They are attuned to Air. Corresponds to Gemini.

Pagong, the Turtle. Alsid 21 - Fuushi 22. Those born under Pagong are good at existing in both the crashing waves and the stable land. They are sensitive, and good at connecting with others. When the Pagong helps someone else emotionally, add +1d to the Favor Pool. They are attuned to Water. Corresponds to Cancer.

Paboreal, the Peacock. Fuushi 23 - Sabazi 22. Those born under Paboreal are passionate, theatrical, and live for the limelight. If the Paboreal does something dramatic and makes people give their attention to them, add +1d to the Favor Pool. They are attuned to Fire. Corresponds to Leo.

Maria, the Virgin. Sabazi 23 - Andrenus 22. Those born under Maria are practical, systematic, and cunning. If the Maria stops something to think it through, add +1d to the Favor Pool. They are attuned to Earth. Corresponds to Virgo.

Bulanito, the Little Moon. Andrenus 23 - Mitraya 22. Those born under Bulanito are obsessed with balance, symmetry, and equilibrium across all your forms. If the Bulanito goes out of their way to make sure something is symmetrical or equal, add +1d to the Favor Pool. Attuned to Air. Corresponds to Libra.

Losong, the Pestle and Rice Mortar. Mitraya 23 - Liminanus 21. Those born under Losong are powerful and overbearing, always one step ahead, always better than you. When the Losong is crushing something (literally or figuratively) through preparedness or foresight, add +1d to the Favor Pool. Attuned to Water. Corresponds to Scorpio.

Moroporo, the Flock of Light Birds. Liminanus 22 - Sharisanus 21. Those born under Moroporo are always moving, always searching for more things. More knowledge, more power. If the Moroporo causes trouble by searching for something that piques their interest, add +1d to the Favor Pool. Attuned to Fire. Corresponds to Sagittarius.

Naga, the Serpent God. Sharisanus 22 - Arean 19. Those born under Naga are cold and perseverant. Always going forward to their goal, and thus are prone to tunnel vision and leaving important things behind. If the Naga causes trouble by ignoring one of their loved ones for something they must do, add +1d to the Favor Pool. Attuned to Water. Corresponds to Capricorn.

Tapayan, the Earthenware Jar. Arean 20 - Ojjanus 18. Those born under Tapayan are healers and menders and humanitarians, always having something to give. If the Tapayan gives too much, whether it be physical, mental, or spiritual, add +1d to the Favor Pool. Attuned to Air. Corresponds to Aquarius.

Doce Pares, the Rattan Sticks. Ojjanus 19 - Jihani 20. At the end of their bouts, the bathala of Heaven and Earth came down to the sabungan and fought themselves. At the end of the fight, they tired themselves out, and decided that the rattan sticks that they used to fight deserved recognition. Thus, they put the Doce Pares into the skies, the final Paladaraw. Those born under Doce Pares embody duality and synthesis: dividing between joy and fear, love and hate, fantasy and reality. They oversee, and learn. When the Doce Pares points out a flaw in both sides of something, add +1d to the Favor Pool. Attuned to Water. Corresponds to Pisces.

#karanduun #worldbuilding #ttrpg #zodiac #filipino #dnd

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dancing-sword · 4 years

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I had to take a day to finish the write up for my last walker in @leafdrake-haven‘s Fanwalker February, Pahandi! She’s only really appeared in a handful of things I’ve done and she’s probably the least developed of the 4. I don’t think wrote up is complete either, but I think it gets everything across.

additional art by @hazoret

Name: Pahandi Tulog

Colors: Bant (White – Blue – Green)

Age: Between 800-1400

Plane of Origin: Balatog

First Planeswalk: Shandalar

History:

Pahandi has never revealed much of her youth before sparking into a planeswalker. She carried many titles back home; healer, mystic, counselor, advisor, but she never told which one lead to her sparking. All anyone knows is that she set off one day on a pilgrimage to the First Tree and did not return for many years.

Pahandi had sparked on her journey, ascending to the godhood of planeswalkers of old. She used her new found gifts to continue her work across the planes of the multiverse. As she traveled, she began to learn of the horrors outside her home. Planeswalkers who abused their power, unthinkable monsters who consumed planes, machine monsters who spread and consume in the name of a dead god. While she did learn a great good for each evil she faced, she couldn’t help but fear at how fragile Balatog truly seemed now. When she finally returned home, she resolved to be its protector.

At first, she started combating hostile arriving planeswalkers directly, but even after creating a great avatar to fight by her side, she knew that was not enough. Using the spells she had learned from her travels she thought she could deter more from arriving, but found that only the most determined now came to her home. She began traveling the multiverse again, retracing her steps to learn the great spells she had once heard of and each time she would return home to erect and expand a great wall around it. However each spell added was not only a greater strain on the world, but another stone on precariously stack tower. Should she fall, so would it. After much deliberation, she came to the only decision she could think of. Secreting herself off into deep and warped part of the world, she sealed herself off in crystal at the heart of her spell so her body could be both a battery and anchor for it. There she would sleep in suspended animation, sleeping through the wars that shaped the Multiverse and the Mending, waking in the present times into a far different world.

Personality: Calm, collected, and decisive, Pahandi is rarely taken off guard. She exudes a tranquil aura and talks with a sagely wisdom that only comes with her hundreds of years of travel and meditation. However kind and caring she genuinely is, she can be emotionally distant from everyday people; she is sympathetic to others, but not completely empathetic. This comes mainly from her nomadic and solitary lifestyle. This leads to her biggest emotional problem being she tends to only think in terms of the big picture and can easily miss the personal details in things.

Powers and Magic: A scholar and a mystic, Pahandi has studied many schools of magic making it hard to really nail her down into one. She has worked as a healer, both physically and spiritually. She’s a practiced banisher, destroying evil spirits and removing planeswalkers from worlds. She can manipulate space and the elements, letting her run along walls and surfaces she shouldn’t be able to and can even move on water and air as if they were just as solid as stone. She’s a capable auramancer, animist, hieromancer, and mentalist.

She carries a long, hooked wooden staff that is as tall as she is. It’s her magical focus and let’s her channel even more powerful magic. With it, she can do something like eject a planeswalker of equal power from a plane with ease.

The last thing of note is that while she is on Balatog, the more powerful she is and the closer she is to it’s dimensionally distored part where she slumbered, the closer she is to her Oldwalker power level.

Character Themes:

“The Sacrifice” - Pahandi was willing to sacrifice everything for her home without a second thought. While it might not have been the perfect plan, it was her best option and she knew that it was a guarantee to keep it safe.

“The Great Sage” - Much like Catrina carried the reputation of being deadly and sometimes more of a force of nature than a person, Pahandi was known for her astuteness, her spirituality, and her wisdom. There are a few legends that have spawned from her travels on several planes and she was on good friends and associates among the other oldwalkers she met before she hid Balatog.

Notes and Asides:

Although I didn’t mean to have them mirror each other, because of their shared plane and culture, a lot of ways to describe what Pahandi is by going by what Halona isn’t. Where Halona is more of a scout/ranger/explorer, Pahandi’s roots are more shamanistic and mystical. While both have passions to learn and explore, Pahandi is much more studious and spiritual in her approach. Where Halona would be brash, courageous, and forward, Pahandi’s movements are careful and measured. Halona is a sprint. Pahandi is a dance.

While they haven’t met in story yet, Pahandi and Halona had a lot of inadvertent influence on each other. Pahandi’s binding and hiding of Balatog led to the aether storms that cause Halona to spark and Halona’s sparking and damaging of the binding set in motion Pahandi’s eventual reawakening.

Pahandi powers were inspired by a combination of pillowfort, tax, and control style decks. Grand Abolisher, Feroz’s Ban, Energy Field, and Aura of Silence.

A lot of Pahandi’s powers and what she has done can be seen in my Balatog posts.

Second to her Ban, her ability to walk on air was the second thing I thought of her being able to do. I’d imagine in and of itself, it’s not extremely impressive, but the fact that she can do it so effortlessly and naturally makes it startling. That combined with her staff, one of the key images I had of her was her running in the air, upside down and sideways to attack from such an odd angle, and hooking an opponent around the neck before violently and instantly ejecting (read exiling) from Balatog. I originally thought of this spell working like trying to force a planeswalker either to their homeplane or to the plane they are most familiar with. She would try to do this on Halona only to realize that one, her anti-magic kept stopping the spell, and two, even when the spell did get through, it didn’t work cause Balatog is her home as well.

#Pahandi #fanwalker february #I wouldn't be surprised if I actually forgot a few details about Pahandi #She's someone I've had in my head for years behind the scenes but never wrote anything down for

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wewillwriteyou · 5 years

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Friends Will Be Friends || Chapter 14

A few elements from the main plot: A very special group of friends: early days, drama, laughter, booze, success, rock stars life, girl power, friendship, love, sex, music, misunderstandings, some more drama, family. Pairings in the tags

Summary Chapter 14: A snowy afternoon in the hotel. Some small glances of all the couples.

Word count: 3.4K

Warnings: There’s a little little smut (kissing, touching, mentions of sexy times and blah blah, nothing too strong), language, drinking.

A/N: Hi folks. The morning after the party: you get to see the couples interact with each other and face issues internally. Kind of quiet before the storm. Enjoy yourselves, lovesies 💖😏 As usual, if you like what you read, comment, like, reblog and share this with others! For everyone who follows and supports this story, thank you guys (you know who you are)! You are real stars!⭐💗

The mattress felt like a cold stone and the heavy blanket, instead of warming her body, was suffocating Chelsea, who, with a loud sigh, got up and walked straight to the bathroom. She needed to wash her face with fresh water.

She studied her reflection in the mirror, noticing all the flaws in her face; Chelsea angrily huffed and threw the towel in the sink, heading again to the bed. She stopped in front of it: her boyfriend was still sleeping and snoring softly. She would have liked to punch her own face, because of the smile that formed on her lips at that sight. She couldn’t help herself: he was so beautiful and she was so in love with him, it almost hurt.

Chelsea tiptoed until she reached her side of the bed and laid down, beside Roger. He was sleeping on his stomach, the blanket slightly pulled down was revealing the skin of his back; his face was relaxed, the lips a little bit parted and the messy, blonde hair all over the white pillow. She fought with the desire of touching his cheek, but kept her eyes on him, feeling as if a magnet was forcing her to look at his face.

When the idea of Chrissie touching him came back to her mind, Chelsea immediately turned around and started to stare at the wall, then at the ceiling, sighing loudly. Roger was indeed a beautiful man and Chelsea knew he had plenty of girls before her, but the thing never bothered her before. Until she saw that girl hugging him tightly, while Roger was talking to her with a smile that went from ear to ear. Chelsea began to be seriously worried because inside of her mind an impertinent thought was starting to grow. What if she wasn’t beautiful enough to compete with the other girls? What if she wasn’t enough for Roger? He was a rock star, and her? A simple stylist.

What if she wasn’t enough?

Roger yawned and opened his big blue eyes, already smiling at Chelsea, waking her up from her thoughts. She didn’t want to look worried so she turned around on her side to face him, smiling back.

“Good morning beautiful” his morning voice was always so raspy and low and Chelsea loved it so much.

“Morning” she mumbled, snuggling on his neck. Roger chuckled and pulled her closer, laying himself on his back, so that Chelsea could put her head on his chest. She hugged him tightly, putting her leg around his waist. Roger kissed her head and started to caress her back.

“The first time you wore this t-shirt I didn’t know anything about you, but your name. Look where we are now” he said, playing with the grey material of that t-shirt. Chelsea smiled fondly to him, lifting her chin up to meet his eyes.

“Well, I was in your bed that time too, so we can say some things never change” she commented, making him laugh. Roger pulled her closer to kiss her on the temple.

“You were skinnier at the time”

“Hey! I was trying to be cute for once and that’s how I get paid back? Thank you Chel, thank you” Roger protested in a funny way to make her laugh. And he definitely accomplished his goal, because Chelsea started to laugh out loud, before pulling herself up and sustaining herself on her elbow. She leaned down to kiss him, but as her lips touched his, Chrissie’s face popped out in her mind and she pulled away.

She quickly sat on the bed and Roger, confused and a little bit worried, stood up too, resting his back on the headboard. Chelsea was turning her back to him while massaging her face with her fingers.

“Everything’s alright, darling?” Roger soft voice was followed by his gentle touch on her shoulder. She nodded and turned around, but then she decided it was better to say the truth.

“Actually, there’s something that’s been haunting me from last night” Chelsea bit her bottom lip and looked at him before finishing her sentence.

“I know she was a friend of yours since like forever, but I just wanted to know how close you and Chrissie actually were… You know what I mean…” Roger raised an eyebrow, while multiple emotions were whirling in his mind and running across his face. He then smirked.

“Are you jealous?” Roger asked teasingly and Chelsea loudly snorted, before sitting again on the edge of the bed, with her legs dangling over the floor and the back directed to him.

She felt the mattress trembling under her, knowing that Roger was getting closer. He kneeled behind her as he started massaging her shoulders.

“Oh c’mon honey, you know you’re the only one for me” he placed a chaste kiss under her ear “you’ll always be the only one” he settled another kiss, this time sloppier, on her neck, while his fingers were still rubbing her skin “and I love you” he whispered, before placing his lips on her shoulder “a lot” he concluded, nibbling her neck, causing Chelsea to moan softly. He smirked on her skin, but she shook her head and quickly got up.

“Not now Roger, I asked you something and you didn’t answer me!” her tone was harsher this time, as she was standing with her arms crossed on her chest. Roger rolled his eyes and got up too, reaching for her hands. He took them in his and caressed her palms.

“Do you really want to argue?” his voice was flirty, but Chelsea was not having it; she retracted her hands to escape from his touch. Roger sighed and sat on the end of the bed, while Chelsea was walking up and down the room, trying to calm down.

“What is it now?”

“Why don’t you simply answer me?!” Chelsea almost shouted, knowing that she was probably exaggerating.

“We never shagged if that’s what you want to know! But yes, we were pretty close! Are you happy now?!” Roger’s tone was increasing too. Those words hit Chelsea in the heart. What was she expecting him to say?

“Why are you so worried? I mean, I love you, we shag every time we want, I did everything that was in my power to convince the crew to give you the stylist’s job, just to be with you. Why are you obsessing over her? She’s just a friend! I mean, I-” Chelsea cut him off.

“Because she’s prettier!” she cried out “she’s skinnier, taller, she’s just prettier!”

“You’re being ridiculous now!” Roger answered. Chelsea groaned in anger, massaging her temples.

“Am I ridiculous?! It’s easy for you! You’re beautiful, you’re a rock star and everybody wants either to be you or to shag you!” she counted on her fingers.

Roger was starting to get turned on by the whole situation: he couldn’t help but feel excited every time they were arguing; it didn’t happen very often, but when it did they always made love after it to make up. And Roger absolutely loved that kind of sex.

When Chelsea didn’t hear any answer coming from his boyfriend, she sighed and laid down on the bed again, covering her face with her arm. Roger chuckled and, crawling on the mattress, he positioned himself over her body, supporting himself on his arms. He kissed her wrist.

“But this rock star wants to shag you and only you. Because you’re beautiful just the way you are. And, just to let you know, yesterday at the party you were the prettiest girl” Roger said to Chelsea, pulling away her arm to look in her eyes. She observed him under her lashes, with a neutral expression painted on her face.

“Are you being serious now?” she shyly asked, as a familiar heat was expanding between her legs. Roger smiled and kissed each of her cheeks softly.

“I always tell the truth, honey. You’re gorgeous” he mumbled, before crashing his lips on hers. The temperature in the room quickly increased, as the kiss heated up.

“Why we always end up here? In this situation?” Chelsea chuckled, as Roger was leaving a trail of sloppy kisses on her neck and down to her stomach through the material of the shirt. He reached her legs and kissed a spot inside her thigh, making Chelsea moan.

“Because you’re irresistible” he answered, slowly lifting the edge of the t-shirt, revealing her panties. He stored a chaste kiss on her core, making her whimper in surprise. Roger grinned and, pulling her shirt up, he slowly came back to face her. Chelsea lifted her back a little, just enough to remove the t-shirt, revealing her breasts. Roger gasped at that sight, loudly swallowing.

“Chelsea Parker you’re so fuckin’ beautiful, for fuck’s sake” he said, making her giggle. She pulled him closer and kissed him passionately. He pulled away and started his slow and pleasant torture, down to her body to reach the ultimate destination.

He dwelled on her nipples, kissing and nibbling on her sensitive spot. Chelsea moaned, squeezing the sheets in her hands. Roger’s lips reached her thighs again and she could feel his hot breath near where she needed him the most in that moment.

Roger started to play with the waistband of her panties and Chelsea closed her eyes and bit her bottom lip.

“Please Rog, don’t tease” she begged him, making him proudly smile. He immediately took off the last piece of fabric that was covering her body. Chelsea moaned again, feeling the air hitting her already wet folds. Roger smirked when he noticed how excited she was.

“Don’t worry honey, I’ll make you feel so good” he looked up at her and admired her innocent face, with red cheeks and big hungry eyes, that were looking down on him “as always” he then added, as his face disappeared between her-

“L E G S” Freddie stated placing the ‘S’ tile on the board and thus earning thirty points.

Brian snorted and fell back on his armchair “How do you do it?”

Freddie winked at him and picked some of the remaining tiles from the satchel. They had been playing Scrabble for at least two hours straight in the hotel lobby and Freddie had been scoring the highest points right and left. Brian and John were starting to get pissed while Chrissie was sincerely amused with having a rightful opponent; she turned out to be quite competitive. She was sitting next to Brian, while Freddie and John were facing them.

“Can we please play something else?” John huffed, resting his forehead on the cold wooden table.

“You know we only have this game, darling”

“Well then, let’s stop playing altogether!” John was exasperated.

Chrissie softly laughed seeing them bicker with each other, Brian turned his head at her and fondly smiled: he was glad she found his friends… funny. They hadn’t had the opportunity to spend much time alone together since she had arrived the previous night, but even the fact she was actually playing Scrabble with Deaky and Fred, mattered a lot to him.

She caught him staring and gave him a small smile, blushing a little.

John lifted his head up and looked at her thoroughly: he had studied her all afternoon and he couldn’t find anything wrong with her. Chrissie seemed a genuinely nice person and she also seemed to have quite a thing for Brian, who, from his side, couldn’t stop looking at her with adoring eyes.

John asked himself if that’s how he looked like when he was looking at Melissa. He thought he probably was. As a matter of fact, his face lit up when he saw her appearing from the stairs, walking arm-in-arm with Mary.

“What are you doing, lads?” she asked, sitting on John’s lap, as Mary placed herself behind Freddie’s seat and began massaging his shoulders.

“Are you still wiping their asses, love?” Mary asked jokingly.

Freddie vividly nodded and added “As usual, my darling”

John chuckled, resting his head on Mel’s arm as she placed a hand on his hair and began brushing it lovingly.

“Where were you girls, by the way?” Brian casually asked.

Mary scoffed “We were looking for something to do in this place but there is literally nothing. Besides, with the snow pouring outside, they say it’s better if we stay in here.”

“So basically we’re trapped here” Mel concluded for her, resting her head against John’s.

“That sucks” Freddie commented, taking Mary’s hand and pulling her to his side “Well darlings I think I’m gonna head back to bed…”

“You do know it’s three in the afternoon, right?” John lifted an eyebrow.

“Yeah I know, silly… It’s just that all this ass-kicking has gotten me all tired out” he faked a big yawn and got up from where he was sitting. Brian stretched out his leg trying to hit his butt, but Freddie moved quickly, winked at him and took Mary’s hand, dragging her to the other side of the room and up the stairs, their giggles fading away as they distanced themselves from the group.

Mel chuckled at the scene. She looked up and met eyes with Chrissie, who politely smiled back. Melissa noticed that Brian had placed his hand on the back of her chair, careful not to directly touch her shoulder: she smiled at that, still fascinated by Brian gentleness.

Chrissie had shared the room with her the previous night since the hotel was in overbooking and they could not find a room for her. John had had to regretfully move into Brian’s room. Roger had suggested Brian several times to step up and offer her to share a room with him, but the boy had strongly refused, too much of a gentleman to ‘take advantage’ of such a situation.

“So what shall we do?” Melissa spoke up to break the silence “Chrissie, do you have any ideas?”

The girl blinked a few times, a bit startled “I guess we could… stroll around in the garden or go for a quick walk in the snow… I know it’s not recommended, but I don’t intend to distance ourselves that much from the hotel. Plus, it might be fun”

Melissa smiled knowingly “I surely think it will be, but you see…” she got up, leaving John with a confused smirk on his face “…I think I’m gonna head to bed too. I’m a bit tired and I’d want to save some energy for tonight”

John immediately caught what she was doing and looked down, trying to hide his grin. Brian had understood too and he felt a mix of gratitude and dander towards Melissa.

The girl added “…John?”

He looked Brian in the eyes and smirked “Yeah, I don’t feel like going out either…”

“Of course you don’t” Brian muttered through his teeth.

Chrissie smiled thankfully to Melissa, who winked at her and placed herself behind John’s chair.

“Well, I guess it’s just me and you, then” Chrissie said, turning to Brian and trying to contain the excitement.

The boy awkwardly nodded and got up, taking his coat and handing Chrissie her own.

“We’ll see you guys later” he simply said going towards the door, two steps behind Chrissie.

When they were out of sight and hearing, John and Melissa burst out laughing.

“Well I didn’t know you could be so manipulative, you little minx” John uttered, dragging Mel back on his lap, earning a little squeal and a soft giggle from the girl.

“It’s a gift,” she said smugly, wrapping her arms around his neck “now, I can’t help but notice, that everyone has vanished…”

John grinned “Do you mean we’re finally alone?”

“That’s exactly what I mean, Deacon”

John lifted his eyebrows “You are really enjoying this, aren’t you?” he pinched her thigh and Mel yelped.

“Maybe…” she said with a smug grin.

They looked in each other’s eyes and smirked: they jumped up, leaving the Scrabble board on the table, and rushed through two flights of stairs, giggling and unable to keep their hands off each other.

When Melissa closed the door behind her, she felt herself being pushed against it. John’s hands were already on her waist and his lips on hers; she could feel a warm, pleasant heat spreading through her body. She smiled into the kiss and intertwined her fingers with his hair.

However, in the heat of the moment, her brain made her realize an upsetting thing: she would have missed him so damn much.

She made the kiss more urgent and tightened the grip behind his neck as if she wanted to fuse with him.

John pulled back worried “Is everything okay, love?” he could tell it wasn’t because she had never kissed him like that before.

Melissa forced on a smile “Of course, dear” she replied and leaned in to kiss him again but John arched his spine to avoid her lips.

“No, it isn’t. You know I can tell…”

Melissa sighed and looked down “Okay, fine. I just didn’t want to ruin this moment but since we’re talking and not kissing…”

John lifted her chin to look into her eyes and smile encouragingly.

“I just think I’m gonna miss you” she let out in one breath.

John softly chuckled “But…I’m right here”

Melissa slapped his upper arm “You know what I mean, doofus”

He became more serious “Baby, you know we don’t have to worry about that for at least two months, right? We’ll be in England till the end of March…”

“Yes John, but during those two months you’ll be touring right and left while I’m gonna be stuck in London and if we’re lucky we’re gonna see each other once a week and that thought is killing me”

She snorted, angry to herself for ruining such a great moment.

“Besides, after that you’ll be in America for two fucking months!” she felt tears of anger, of sadness and of shame welling up in her eyes “And I know I shouldn’t be, but I’m so fucking jealous of Chelsea and now of Chrissie that are actually coming with you guys!”

A tear had strung on her cheek and John was quick to remove it with his thumb. Mel let out a shaky sigh, forcing herself not to open up the waterworks.

“I-I’m sorry I yelled… It’s just that all of this is really upsetting and you are basically the only person I wanna talk about it with, so… I guess you’re stuck with me…” she joked and John warmly smiled.

“Sometimes I wish I hadn’t got that job” she murmured, surprising John and herself: she couldn’t believe she had actually said that.

“Mel, are you crazy? You deserve that job more than anyone! You should not give it up to follow some cheap rock band on tour” he tried to make her smile.

She did. A sad, small smile. “Won’t you forget about me?”

John gasped “How could I? You’re there every time I close my eyes”

Melissa felt tears watering her eyes again “That’s so sweet, John” she cupped his jaw with her right hand, while with her left she brushed a string of hair behind his ear. She lightly kissed him on the lips and gave him a small, sincere smile this time.

John smiled too “We’ll make it work, baby. I promise”

Melissa slightly nodded and inched forward, slipping her hands under his arms and behind his back, closing him in a tight hug. John squeezed her a little and placed a kiss on her hair.

When she pulled back, Melissa was feeling better. He always managed to make her feel better. I love and hate you for this, she thought to herself.

John leaned down to gently kiss her; his hands moved to her waist and hers back to his neck as they melted more into the kiss.

The thought of not being with each other for quite a long time – for their standards, at least – had made them more eager to engrave the memory of the other in their minds.

John pulled back to catch some breath, then grinned and swiftly made her spin towards the bed. She let herself fall back on the mattress and John crawled up on her.

Melissa gripped the collar of his shirt and dragged him down so that their noses nearly touched “If we’re gonna be apart for so long, I wanna make some memories, love”.

Chapters: ⤎ previous | next ⤏

A/N: Hello again! Hope you enjoyed this one 💗 we’re gonna tag the lovely people who read, liked and commented the previous chapters. If you want to be tagged in the next one, comment under this one or leave us a message. Our inboxes are always open for you beautiful people

Tag list: @littledarlingwellaway @its-a-metephor-brian@bohemiandelilah @onevisionliz@misshystericalqueen @loki-lover095@deakysgurl @inthelapofthe39 @starsoflovingness-wq@minetticatinwonderland @cairdes20@friendswillbefriendsblog@o-holynight @trash-record-collection@please-stop-me-now@theappleofmybri @marvelsbunch @imgonnabeyourslave

Cheers, folks! ✌

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hillbillyoracle · 6 years

Text

Divination with DnD Dice

There seemed to be enough interest in the DnD Dice Divination system that I decided to go ahead and write it up. I couldn’t fit it all on here though so I might be making more posts in the future about it. I’ve included the most important stuff here to get started.

I’ve included a zine to download and print off if you want to take it with you. I actually recommend the zine, it’s a better format than what tumblr would let me put together.

Please consider tipping me and definitely credit me where you can.

I know there are other systems out there and I don’t have a monopoly on dice divination but this guide did take a lot of time to put together and is built on my own collection of frameworks, meanings.

Dice sets can be picked up for cheaper than most basic tarot decks making the barrier to entry lower. My goal was to create a system that could get a similar level of complexity of information to tarot and oracle cards. I found in test readings, I could get roughly the same as I would get from a four card reading. So it’s a good start!

It’s my mission to make divination more accessible, tipping me helps me devote more time to this.

Zine: https://www.scribd.com/document/380692727/Divination-With-DnD-Dice

If Scribd gives you trouble try here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/21613135

Read description for printing directions or it might not come out right.

If you can’t print it off, the same information is included below the cut.

Hope someone finds this useful!

D4 - Element

1 - Air - Mental, Academic, Communication, Anxiety

2 - Fire - Spirituality, Passion, Ideals, Anger

3 - Water - Emotional, Romantic, Connection, Depression/Sadness

4 - Earth - Physical, Material, Home, Emotional Block

I use the Element dice to give an indication for the area of life the reading pertains the most too. I look for indications with other dice as to what the element dice might be speaking to more specifically, but it gives me a place to start.

D6 - Problem

1 - Plot - drama, conflict, things outside of your control, change

2 - Character - another person is blocking/causing problems, fixation on a person, possibly even loss of a person

3 - Thought - paradigms getting in the way, not in touch with reality, judgmental, fear/anxiety, getting stuck in your head

4 - Diction - how a person talks is causing problems, speaking too much/too little, passive aggression, divisive or hateful language

5 - Song - Harmony with another, being out of sync with oneself or another, learning to join the choir/group, teamwork

6 - Spectacle - Things seem worse than they actually are, petty fights, aesthetic/surface level changes, playing with how things are perceived to achieve an outcome

The Problem dice is based on Aristotle's Six Elements of Tragedy, a dramatic and literary analytical framework. I use this to see what might be the at the crux of the problem in the area the Element dice indicated. The Action Needed dice can also refine the Problem.

D8 - Action Needed

1 - Right View - seeing the situation for what it truly is, actions have consequences, material reality, paradigm shift

2 - Right Resolve - being intentional, recommitting, choosing what is right, dedication and ambition

3 - Right Speech - be honest/don't lie, don't be passive aggressive/be forthright, speak compassionately and for the benefit of others.

4 - Right Action - don't harm others, act compassionately and for the benefit of others, take positive action

5 - Right Livelihood - don't profit from harming others, long term commitment to benefiting others, take only what you need and give what you do not, ethical employment

6 - Right Effort - Exert influence on your environment to cultivate a better internal world, set strong boundaries, avoid negative influences and seek out positive ones, "just do the thing"

7 - Right Mindfulness - Don't make things out to be more than they are, see them for what they are, know life is in transition, don't define the self by these external transitory states

8 - Right Concentration - unification of the mind/body, unlocking higher levels of thinking and feeling and operating, don't let desire for what might be get in the way of what is, healthy detachment

The Action Needed dice is based on the Eightfold Path of Buddhism. While the particulars of the path vary by the different schools/traditions, these seem to be the most common English translations. This dice is usually pretty straight forward, especially when taken in consideration with the rest of the dice.

2D10 - Difficulty

Pretty self-explanatory. The higher the difficulty, the longer the process will take. Gives an indication about how important or long term the reading will be.

D12 - Time

The number can refer to a month of the year which you may have your own associations you can pull from or classify into a season and pull meanings from that. I use the seasonal method most often.

Winter - focus on the self, rest, restore yourself, weather the storm, be the light the world isn't giving you, inner strength

Spring - new beginnings, plant seeds, the rain and the storms lead to new growth

Summer - wait to harvest, find shade, relax

Fall - harvest, make preparations for winter, celebrate accomplishments.

You can also think of what sabbat is in that month and the lessons inherent in that holiday. It can also be time of day.

9-5 - Work related, stress, out of your control

5-12 - Free time, friends and family, hobbies

12-9 - rest, dream, restore yourself

AM if there are more even than odd numbers and PM if there more odd than even. You can also take the month and the time to be literal if the reading calls for it.

D20 - Lesson

1 - The Magician - jack of all trades, master of none, experiment, unfocused, learning, skilled but unrefined, beginning

2 - The High Priestess - balance, intuition, insight, between worlds, lessons learned while solitary

3 - The Empress - growing, flowering, creativity, taking what you have and making it thrive, thriving where you're planted

4 - The Emperor - expand, leader, confidence, step up and create the life you want/need, protect what/who you have

5 - The Hierophant - balance between material and spiritual, lessons learned from teachers, benevolence, structure

6 - The Lovers - connection, union, positive outlook, nostalgia, romanticism, love given freely

7 - The Chariot - power, confidence, leadership through passion/emotional intelligence, decisive action

8 - Strength - rely on internal direction/sense of self, internal strength and peace, resilience

9 - The Hermit - internal knowledge and discovery, minimalism, truth is inside you, you are capable on your own

10 - The Wheel of Fortune - things are outside of your control, this too shall pass, ebb and flow of fortune, reversal of luck

11 - Justice - objective truth, standing by/doing what is right, lawful good, cutting ties with deceivers, protect the community

12 - The Hanged Man - Insight, understanding impermanence, sudden realization, enlightenment, major paradigm shift

13 - Death - the old makes way for the new, the cycle of life, we all die in the end, reinvention

14 - Temperance - spiritual balance, abstaining from negative influences, taking responsibility for one's internal well being

15 - The Devil - materialism as bondage, enjoy pleasure without becoming victim to it, pleasure seeking as escapism

16 - The Tower - being shaken to the core, foundations pulled up, self of self overturned, ego shaken

17 - The Star - uneasy hope, possibilities, leaving and traveling, opportunities somewhere else, dare to dream

18 - The Moon - deception, things aren't always what they appear, intentions and actions do not line up, reflect, see the true nature of things

19 - The Sun - relax and enjoy your accomplishments, celebrate with friends and family, share your abundance, revel in joy

20 - Judgment - shine a light on everything, be honest, be critical and fair, lay firm boundaries, take up the old and make it new

The lesson dice is there to indicate what can be learned from the situation. Every situation is an opportunity to grow and evolve. It's based on the framework of the Major Arcana as teachers and posits that every situation can likewise be a teacher to us all. This dice can help refine the problem dice as well. It can be hard to keep this dice from getting preachy so make sure to be honest about what this dice is saying but temper it so as not to be patronizing.

Putting the Reading Together

Like all divination, the goal is to look for patterns and craft those patterns into coherent themes. Like reading a novel, you’re reading between the lines to make the reading more useable than the raw info the dice turn up. An example of my notes for a reading are:

D4 - Element: 2 - Fire

D6 - Problem: 3 - Thought

D8 - Action Needed: 3 - Right Speech

D10 - Importance: 51 - Middle

D12 - Time: Evening/Summer

D20 - Lesson: 8 – Strength

This is the reading I gave:

“The reading suggests there’s some conflict stemming from letting passion overtake reason in your interactions with others. You believe very passionately in your ideals, but how you talk about them to others looks like it’s causing tension. This seems like it will be of moderate difficulty to grapple with, not easy but by far not the hardest thing you’ve dealt with. The reading suggests being mindful of your words and advises to concentrate on your inner power rather than seeking validation for your ideas from others. “

When pulling together a reading you want to look for conflict, strengths, and resolution.

There was a lot of fire (passion) and air (communication) in this reading, while they work great in harmony, they can really hurt the user when out of balance so that was the conflict. Passion is a beautiful thing even when it’s not in alignment and I didn’t want the reader to think their ideals were the problem since the rest of the reading pointed out their words so their passion was their strength. The resolution lay in relying on their own internal strength for validation rather than others, that that would lead to better communication and less conflict overall.

I’m still learning myself. It takes practice so don’t give up!

I hope this was helpful! Please let me know how this works for you. I’m totally open to people changing it to fit them better but I wanted to provide a model for how this could be done. I also got some really solid readings out of it. So it definitely has potential.

#astraglomancy #dice divination #tarot #witch #witchy #witchblr #dnd #dnd dice #divination #pagan #magick #dnd divination #Dungeons and Dragons #witchcraft #dice

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petri808 · 5 years

Text

Phoenix Skies Reborn

Written for a class this semester. This takes place several years after my original story Phoenix Skies (a NaLu story). Now Natsu and Lucy's daughter is all grown up. Nashi Dragneel and her best friend Arashi are about to learn discover the hidden truth between them...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Whoa is that your dad!” the young boy whispers to his friend. “He totally looks like he’s on fire!”

“Isn’t my daddy just the coolest!” The little girl responds with a giggle, “I wanna be just like him when I grow up!” A few moments later, they see a woman walking towards her father, “Lookie, it’s my mommy!”

The two friends, 7-year-old Arashi and 6-year-old Nashi peek out from the bush they had been hiding under, watching her parents on the hill crest. To the children, the whole scene was like some magical fairytale come to life of the dragon and his princess, for atop that hill, stood Nashi’s father in full Salamander glory. Unlike her half status, he was a full-blooded fire class Draco with much larger, reptilian wings measuring about ten feet from tip to tip, and two curled, beige horns sprouting from his head. Humanoid in many aspect’s but instead of bare skin, his back, chest, and extremities were all covered in scales.

Even Arashi was spellbound, for compared to his sinewy father, this man’s very presence could cause one to shudder. The Draco towered over his mate, Nashi’s mother, by over a foot, with such a muscular physique the small boy couldn’t help but think of him as some God like figure. Truth be told, her father was the strongest of his kind but had the most jester-ish of qualities, often joking around and yet sweet in nature, the man genuinely had a heart of gold. And as he held his wife against a sunset to end all sunsets, the children could only watch in breathtaking wonderment.

“Yeah… your dad really is the coolest…”

The young man had been searching everywhere for the Salamander, but she wasn’t at her cottage or her friend Chieko’s home, the usual hang outs she’d often frequent or even the local watering hole where she would often frolic on a summery day such as this one. And it was a gorgeous one, by far the best day they’d had this August with cloudless powder blue skies that stretched for miles and miles unimpeded. Breezes, abundant in nature to cool you down from the sun’s blinding ray’s, forceful enough to stir the air and lift your tresses, but not whip them around like in a gale.

Fall was just around the corner and the trees were starting to make their debuts with the lightest hints of color change. Arashi sighed, it was another beautiful time and season that made one appreciate their world and understand the cycles of Samsara. How nature was the ultimate goddess who gave birth, lived, changed, and then died only to be reborn anew year after year after year in an endless cycle. Reflections of the heart.

Alas, he was losing focus, the Salamander, where was Nashi? If only he’d had the Draco’s sense of smell, chuckling in his head, that girl could sniff him out anywhere in town, but he needed to rely on good old-fashioned detective work. The wisteria grotto? Nope. Crocus river? Not there either. Maybe she actually went to see her parents for once without prompting, so he heads over and finds the girl’s mother at home.

“Hi!” Hugging the young Sprite, “what bring you here?”

“Aunt Lucy, do you know where Nashi might be?”

But the female Fae only shakes her head, “I’m sorry Arashi…”

“Please call me Storm, aunty, I like my nickname better.”

“You do realize Arashi means storm, right?”

He crosses his arms, “I know, but Storm sounds tougher.”

Lucy chuckles, “you are so much like your father. I swear, do all Snow Sprites have such a severe demeanor?”

“Uncle Lyon is the only other one I’ve met and,” taping his chin, “come to think of it he and dad are a lot alike. Any ways, I guess I’ll just keep looking, she’s gotta be around here somewhere.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be more helpful,” she chuckles, “but you should know by now they are like their element, always burning for action! Excuse the pun.” With a sigh, “even though Nashi is only half Salamander, that girl has taken after her father side.”

“Aye, she does idolize him,” the young man smiles in a teasing manner, “but at least she has your looks and your smarts going for her.”

“Oof!” Lucy slaps his arm lightly in jest. “Trying to work your charms on me too young man, you really are just like your father!”

“I’m just pointing out the obvious.”

“Well good luck dear,” she shoos him on his way, “when you find that wayward daughter of mine, tell her to check in sometimes cause we worry about her.”

“I will, thank you Aunty.”

By late afternoon, Arashi was ready to give up and go home. He had hoped to set out early in the morning on a new commission but unless he could find his partner and confirm it with her, well, the Snow Sprite just wasn’t up for going it alone. Why would he when it was always more fun when they were together for an adventure.

But where could Nashi be hiding? She had promised never to run off on her own again after the last tongue-lashing he’d given her. Sometimes that girl was too adventurous and reckless for her own good and even her father who’d seen his fair share of mischievous younger years would get on her case about it. No, Arashi stilled the growing anxiety rising in his mind, Nashi’s never gone back on a promise before, for that he was certain of in his heart. So, there was only one last option he could think of, it was a stretch since it was a place that she would only visit with her mother during certain celestial events or solstices, but since the young Draco tended to go for the familiar, it was worth a shot.

It was one of the best locales for sky gazing around their village, a hilly meadow with no trees to block the open view above, rolling fields of envious green and swaying wildflowers dancing to an unsung tune only the gods could hear. But if you closed your eyes… and slowed your pace…. those melodies just might reward your passage into another realm, transport your consciousness to where the pixies prance and flutter about or the stars may wink and grant your wishes. Asteri Hills was their nickname for this magical milieu, Nashi’s sanctum to commune with the spirits, and one she’d shared with her best friend some 13 years ago.

And as he crested the final hurdle, there she was atop the highest vestige this place had to offer. Her back towards him, head tilted towards the heavens and eyes no doubt closed. With leathery crimson wings tucked neatly against her lithe frame while her long, snake-like tail twitched of its own volition near her feet. Nashi’s salmon-colored hair shifted in the winds that wafted past, funneling her smoky scent down the hill into his company. He couldn’t help but let a smile creep along his face or a blush run along his cheeks for she truly was like an idol amongst the divinity of this realm, like her father. Bathed in hints of royal purples, fiery crimson blending into tangerine orange, and melting honey she was… Exquisite… The kaleidoscope of colors unifying into an overwhelming aura to encircle her, so powerful and virile, it sends a golden arrow to pierce the chosen.

Arashi shields from the burning fronting his vision, it was if she was on fire, just like the mythological Phoenix rising from the ashes, but it didn’t sting his eyes, this image was blazing a different path through his soul, awakening an arcane desire as old as time itself that had lain dormant but now ready to soar into the azures. N-Nashi… His mind flashes back to that long-ago scene, except this time...

Without warning, an attack launches itself within his body. His blood rushes through his veins, deafening against his ear drums. Arashi clutches to his chest and drops to his knees, what the hell is happening to me! It felt like his thumping heartbeat could break through his diaphragm, lungs screamed from a loss of air he was still taking in and yet, why couldn’t he fill them? Heat swells inside his frame, convening and churning like a caged creature ready to pounce at its vessel. Arashi looks up to the sky as the swirling sensation begins to move, radiating outward, filling every pore, every cell, with a strange buoyancy feeling the man of ice and snow had never experienced before.

Soon, his mind is spinning out of control and the vision of Nashi blurs…

“Storm?” a hand takes hold, fingers curling beneath his chin to lift his face. “Storm are you okay?” He blinks and sees his best friend kneeling, smiling like she normally looks in front of him. Did he imagine the whole thing? The Snow Sprite looks past her and sees the raging skyline still evident in all its glory while slowly the blood-orange sun disappeared below a distant horizon. Nashi laughs, “Storm, what has gotten into you? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“N-Nashi?” raising a hand towards her cheek if only to make sure he wasn’t still in some dream.

“Wow, you’re burning up,” her gentle caress upon his brow causes hers to furrow, “that’s totally not normal for you, are you not feeling well?”

“Yes…” shaking his head, his hands dropping to their sides, “I mean no, I think I’m fine.”

“Then what happened?”

“I’m not sure,” burning images of his best friend flashing through his mind once more, “I saw you… a—and…” a renewed passion of all those febrile emotions rush back but this time they center in a new location, winding into a tight coil in his gut, before dashing below the waist. Arashi’s eyes flare with intensity as the realization hits him. Oh, crap that’s what it all meant!

A huskier tone snaps his mind into the present. “Arashi…” and as his Aegean hues fall under her scrutiny, growing wider if at all possible when he notices the matched lust of the Salamander dancing behind her icy blue gaze. “…your scent has changed.”

Oh crap, she can smell the arousal! All the pent-up emotions he had long buried and tucked away to be forever unrequited threaten to take control. He falls onto his ass and tries to scoot away. “Nashi, I-I didn’t mean to…. I mean I couldn’t help it that I…. y-you’re my friend and it’s wrong of me to think of you in that way!”

“Stop being an idiot Storm,” her tail grabs hold of his foot to stop his back-peddling, “how do you know I haven’t felt the same way about you?” Crawling over and forcing him into a supine position until she is practically nose-to-nose with the man, “hmm?”

“We’re elemental opposites.”

She lets the weight of her body settle onto his, propping herself with a grin, “And yet best friends,” bopping his nose, “you keep me cool in the summer and I keep you warm in the winter, pretty sweet deal don’t cha think?”

“Oh, geez…. is that all I’m good to you for?”

Nashi’s eyes half-lidden, “As much as I should smack you for that comment,” and her face lowers ever closer… “how bout I just show,you instead.” The Snow Sprite is given no chance for a rebuttal when between blinks her lips have claimed his in such a covetous manner as to shock every cell in his body. She giggles at this startled expression, her tail flicking in amusement, “do you believe me now?”

“Hmm, I don’t know…” his face turns to the side, though his eyes monitor her reactions through their periphery, “you could’a just done that to tease me.”

“Oof!” slapping his chest and rolling off into a sitting position, “I don’t go around just kissing guys!” The pouty, child-like expression sends Arashi into a minor hysteric. “I’ve never even kissed anyone before…”

While still chuckling quietly, he sits up and pulls Nashi back onto his stretched-out legs until she’s straddling him. “You know I’m just teasing you,” smoothing his thumb against her cheek, “and I’m glad these lips,” grazing them with his own, “were saved for me.”

Left in the wake of a setting sun, nary another spoken word, did the world spin for the second time that day as a torrid desire swirled and enveloped the budding couple into its bosom. Arashi seizes upon Nashi’s lips, so flushed with heat and engorged with life-giving essence, worrying the supple pink flesh until her simpering becomes music to his ears. She fists at his knit top through each deepened entreaty. His hands caress her lower back before travelling and fingers tangle into her salmon-colored locks, coveting them like they were made of the finest silk.

Her mewls to his groans adding to loves melody as their tongues frolic amongst a moist and temperate climate. A few clicking of teeth or grazes of her canines on such sensitive flesh, but eventually a seasoned rhythm finds them locked in a rumba all their own. Nashi’s hands drift upwards, cradling his crown, slightly tugging on his hair each time his hands have wandered to a southern locale. Not that she minded it so much. The feeling of his fingers ghosting against any bare skin sent delectable little shivers along her spine to fuel her vocal pleas.

Neither realized just how much they had longed for the other’s touch, but as they gave into those desires, it felt as normal as the changing seasons, transitioning their relationship from platonic to amorous. A deep rumble of contentment shattering the cozy still of the early evening darkness. Instincts soon take over as Nashi’s tail and wings encircle the couple in a protective shield. But they are oblivious, so wrapped up in the moment to bat an eye until a need for air makes itself painfully known.

After a couple more sweeps against her lips, Arashi leans his forehead against hers. “Last chance to walk away,” he muses.

But Nashi simply smiles, “Oh Storm,” and pats his cheek, “you’re stuck with me now.”

A few yards away at the edge of the clearing, Nashi’s parents hide amongst the brush spying on the two young adults. Lucy clasps a hand over her mouth to muffle her giggling, “they are so adorable!”

“It brings back memories doesn’t it?” Natsu pulls his mate closer, kissing her temple, “that was once us.”

Lucy sighs and leans against his shoulder suggestively, “they grow up too fast…. Maybe we should have another one…”

#fairytail next gen #nashi dragneel #arashi fullbuster #nalu #fairytail #natsu dragneel #lucy heartfilia #mythological creatures #AU story #one shot

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elane-in-the-shadows · 6 years

Text

Red Queen Fan Fiction - Blood Curse Chapter 28

Find this on wattpad and on ao3

chapter 1

chapter 2

chapter 3

chapter 4

chapter 5

chapter 6

chapter 7

chapter 8

chapter 9

chapter 10

chapter 11

chapter 12

chapter 13

chapter 14

chapter 15

chapter 16

chapter 17

chapter 18

chapter 19

chapter 20

chapter 21

chapter 22

chapter 23

chapter 24

chapter 25

chapter 26

chapter 27

chapter 28

chapter 29

Final chapter

Mare POV

The march begins in two days hence, but Iris Cygnet already stands on the frontline-to-be like a raised flag. It’s because of her cape, long and waving in the wind. In hindsight, that piece of clothing alone should’ve given her away when I saw her first. Who wears a blue cape with such intricate design and embroidery, more-so in a war-camp? Not that it’s indecently sumptuous, only richly made. Apparently, Iris can’t wait for the enemy to see her, or she merely likes to pose majestically as she faces the direction we’re going to take. Maybe they aren’t as of much of an enemy to her as to us, as they’re Lakelanders, her citizens. Yet she’s too careful to rely alone on their knowledge of their princess and their loyalty to her, as she wears functional black armour beneath the conspicuous cape. She wears both all the time, whether she walks over battlefields or in the camp, either leading or training our nymphs. By now, I’ve finally seen what Iris can do with rain and it left me believing in the claims she made to our leaders, promising to breach the enemy lines which we – so far – failed do on our own.

After she arrived, on a meeting I took part in, Iris conveyed this eloquently without saying it all too plain. She sat in her chair like it was a throne, flanked by Captain Ives, the companion who brought her who’s also Roman Eagrie’s new brother-in-law. That was strange enough, not even to speak of the apparent trust Iris put in the Red-blooded Ives. The commanders, meanwhile, tried their best to hide their own confusion when dealing with the ex-queen of Norta, now the crown princess of the Lakelands.

“When I pledged to the Scarlet Guard recently,” Iris said, “it was decided it’d be for the best if I joined these fights. That aligned with my own intentions, I admit. I’m offering you my powers in the ways you see fit, Generals, but I think to be the greatest asset among your own nymphs, teaching – and eventually – leading them.”

Her polite tone was met by dark expressions, me contributing my part. She wasn’t swayed by them. “Not to forget I know how to work against the tactics my mother and her generals use, so this stalemate will be over before it drags on as long as before.”

Akkadi took a sharp breath. “As if you’re the only capable one here, ma’am? We’re to rely on your word to sabotage your own mother and not us?”

Iris swallowed, hesitating, pondering. “Indeed,” she agreed. “Indeed. If it soothes your suspicions, I did come with requests relating to my support.”

The room, curious for more, lost a little tension as if this was only to be expected. Silvers with “requests” were familiar ground.

Iris noticed this too. I saw her take Ives’s hand in the shadows under the table. “Firstly, I wish to negotiate with my mother in person. I’m certain you realize the advantage of that.”

I heard a few people starting to mumble. “Her fault for vanishing and provoking the water witch to run rampart.”

Iris continued, mostly unperturbed but aware of the lack of an answer. “Secondly, I want my mother’s life to be spared.”

“Ma’am,” Davidson prepared to object. But he hardly knew how to address her, ma’am being an acceptable cop-out. “That is a lot to ask, given her recent acts – “

“Weren’t it your allies, the Samos of the Rift, who instigated this?” Iris countered. “They attacked the Lakelands. Apparently, you let them. I wonder how Volo Samos convinced you, he and his family never seemed like the diplomatic sort to me.” She smiled. “Or that is just my impression, as they were never interested in being diplomatic and allying with me.

“However, I promise you to do better than them. I will settle this, and I will convince my mother to bring the peace as we intended to a year ago. And yes, that will include all of you, the Red activists of the Scarlet Guard. I can think of ways – “

“So you plan to keep your power and the rank of a crown princess, and queen-to-be?” Davidson inquired.

“That is not my plan.” Several gasps. From me, too. I couldn’t believe someone like her would be serious about this, and not only sweet-talk us like those before her. “My mother the queen,” she went on, “is the head of the church of our country, and she’ll act accordingly. To preserve and … to reform, too. Currently, she’s acting as a secular ruler which the head is usually supposed to leave to appointed politicians. She chose to change this for … family reasons, which you all know, my father and sister having been those appointed rulers. Yet, I see no reason why people like you should not replace the old agents so you can take your share in governing the Lakelands. There is no law forbidding this.”

“Now that is an offer, ma’am.” Davidson appeared duly smug. “Although you still sound very conservative.”

Iris blinked. “It is an offer, Premier Davidson. I wouldn’t presume to set this in motion without your advice, or the approval of the citizens of the Lakelands.” She looked around, scanning the room filled with potential enemies. “I do wish to preserve … some things,” she admitted. “Our faith, our traditions. Is that too much to ask?” She became more passionate with every word – which also revealed a subtle insecurity on her part. “There’re Lakelanders in this war, in this room. Do you wish to destroy our culture, hoping that alone will make everything better? I do not believe we need to shatter and forget the past to build anew, and therefore, I wish my mother to live – and repent.” A pleading note entered her voice. “If you cooperate, there’ll be amnesty for all Lakelander members of the Scarlet Guard.”

It was a wrong thing to say, angering the Lakelanders she tried to appeal to. Why would we need her amnesty if we won? Then again, did we have the certainty to win? What would Farley have said to her?

“You’re praising a faith that benefits you, your highness,” a soldier sneered and this, finally, took Iris aback. She flinched.

“I … won’t continue to demand those benefits for myself. I swear,” she insisted. “The succession of religious leaders will be reorganized, too. I won’t take such a position. You understand, the defining features of the faith are not about division.”

“They aren’t?” someone scoffed.

Iris straightened. “No.”

“I’ve never heard – “

“Comrades, please,” a soldier from the Lakelands intervened. “It’s true. The faith is about the divinity surrounding us, in ourselves, in nature, in every moment. The Silvers spill their own nonsense to cement their rule, but when they argue with the faith, they’re kidnapping it.” And although the soldier cleared the ground for Iris with this, she had some glares left for Iris, too. “Not that we don’t expect you to live up to those grand promises, ma’am.”

Iris nodded, meeting her gaze. “Thank you, ma’am. Indeed, I’d claim to be too honourable to make empty promises.” She stood up. “But no matter what I say, I can only step forward as one of many. It won’t mean anything if no one follows. I can walk in the front of the battles to come, but it’s your choice to come with me.

“Will you follow me?”

What would’ve happened if they’d remained silent? The moment dragged on long enough to make me wonder. But I was one of those to raise a hand, and the affirmative calls began which Iris answered with her own, quiet, “rise, red as the dawn.”

I knew I couldn’t trust her words. But I trust in what she can do.

„What storm we could make together, Sergeant Barrow,” Iris says to me. She must’ve noticed me sneaking around her after the end of my shift. It was an early end, due to the preparations for the coming charge. Although I’ve been lurking for days, only not as near as today.

Now I close the distance between us, done with playing pretend. Yet she doesn’t turn to me at first, heavily focused on conjuring shapes out of the water and fluids in the air around us, that is, maybe in a radius of 25 meters. When she looks at me over her shoulder, the patterns she made freeze for a second, before, with a swing of her arm, they change from “shields” and “arrows” into stylized lightning. Or a liquid cage.

She tilts her head. “Wouldn’t we?”

I scoff. “I’m not sure,” I reply. “The wind element’s still missing, isn’t it? Or is that the ability of your friend Ives?”

She shakes her head. “Technically …” She smiles. “No, he couldn’t.”

“You really like him? I’m surprised, Iris.” She’s stunned too, at my use of her first name. “I thought you royals don’t have friends, much less Red ones.”

The personal topic flusters her visibly and as she fights to maintain her composure, I expect her to just send me off. Yet I’m amused, enjoying to unsettle a Silver royal. Because she’s one, no matter what she announces. She must be used to this by now and swallows a breath. “He brought me here, and helped me out before. He became a friend to me.” She shrugs. “I assume you can understand that.”

I don’t really, but I respect her unspoken plea for privacy on that. To a point. “Certainly.” I smile back. “But I’m merely wondering, like so many here, what it was he helped you with, which kept you missing for so long.”

“I see. This is another trial about trust.” She stares at me while no muscle in my face moves. The water continues its play. Iris sighs. “I feel inclined to remind you I’m here by choice, on my own account, and allying with your cause.”

“An alliance you let us pay for dearly.”

“Have I asked for any untoward conditions?” She’s less calm now, for her standards. “All I’ve brought up I did believing it’d benefit the Scarlet Guard in the end.”

The watery shapes turn back into a shield and attack pattern, as if with the lightning pattern gone, our conversation is over. But Iris doesn’t even turn away from me. She continues to fixate with her gaze until I’m the one to give in. “Why would you think,” she begins, quieter now, “I haven’t paid dues on my own for the peace I wish for?”

I can’t avoid to snicker. “Excuse me,” I say. “But that’s something I know a lot about.”

The corners of her mouth twitch. “If we have finally something in common, why not use this common ground as a reason to return to my request?” I blink. “To call forth a storm?” she adds.

I shrug, then start to show off some of the tricks I learned from Ella. But despite Iris’s talk of a common ground, she revealed nothing about what she claims to have given up, although I can imagine enough, especially in case of someone who came too close to Maven Calore.

Merciless rains fall during our march. The dark and grey sky forebodes the coming battle and the air feels charged with electricity, whether from a gathering storm or just from my ability I can’t say. It certainly erases any easiness in our approach, with water soaking our clothes, tents and food. Our boots often stay stuck in the mud. But to march we have as our schedule is tight, decisively so. We’re supposed to sneak closer to the Lakelander camp for a surprise attack as long as our own location remains unknown.

“I wonder if Lakelanders conjured this bloody weather!” Kilorn curses.

“Wouldn’t be surprised,” I reply in agreement. The rain feels like a threat on its own, like a poison, a noose about to strangle us.

“That is unlikely.” Kilorn and I jerk when we hear General Akkadi joining our talk. Iris Cygnet walks next to her, no doubt trying to glean as much information as possible.

“The General is right,” she agrees. “The stormcallers of the Lakelands could do this in theory, but not for so long. Not when they don’t know our exact location. Rather they would create fog or a storm right before the battle begins.”

“What a smart-ass,” Kilorn whispers and I elbow him while suppressing my own snicker.

“Let’s hope this warning will help us when the time comes,” I say.

Iris nods. “Then, we’ll all work together to spring our own trap.”

Even on the trek scouting remains a necessity. Still I’m in a team with Roman Eagrie and keep my lightning ready for a charge. But this night has a different kind of tension, when our attention is as vital while we’re much less safe.

Eagrie touches my arm. “Hush, stop,” he whispers. My eyes widen and I summon lightning in my fingertips while keeping it weak enough to hide it from view. Eagrie takes his rifle off his back, aims and shoots four times in one fluid motion.

“Done?” I murmur.

He checks for a few more seconds, then relaxes. “Yes.”

“You’re a good shooter,” I say as we go to look for the bodies.

He smiles wrily. “It helps when you know you’ll hit the target.” The four enemy scouts are certainly dead but I don’t feel at ease yet. Instead, a sense of danger lingers on my mind. Even more so when the leaves of the woods rustle.

I shove Eagrie aside and create a lightning shield before the Lakelander can assault us. But the person appearing isn’t a Lakelander, at least not an enemy one. I tsk. “You’ve scared us, Princess Iris,” I say sarcastically although my heart still beats fast. “Or did you want them to take you with them?”

She shakes her head and comes closer. Amusement shines in her eyes, even in the dim torch light. At least she can get a joke. “Well done,” she says. “But their absence will send its own kind of message to their commander.”

I shrug.

“To answer your question, Sergeant Barrow,” she says, “no. I didn’t intend that. Yes, I plan to negotiate but a battle is unavoidable. It’ll be to the advantage of the Scarlet Guard as well to fight one.”

“If we win,” I object.

She nods. “I believe you’ll be vital to that victory. Good night.” She turns to leave, her cape dragging on the wet ground. Does the clamminess even bother her? Then she stops. “I wonder, Sergeant, why you chose to fight.” She points to the sky. “It was decided one electricon has to stay back to keep up with the interceptions of the airjets, as a distraction.” That’s true, Tyton’s the one. “That could’ve been you,” Iris goes on, “and yet you’re here.”

She seems frankly curious, but I’m not in the mood for banter and chatting. “I’m fed up with people making decisions for me, and I rather fight my battles myself.”

“I’m sure of that.” She looks at me, expectant, understanding. I almost wait for her to apologize for being complicit in my imprisonment, and a thousand other matters.

“Can I make a request?” she asks.

I raise an eyebrow. “Another one?”

The corners of her mouth twitch. “Just a last one, please,” she says. I wave a hand.

It replaces her amusement with earnestness. “I’d be grateful if you told me whether you killed Maven,” she asks. “Or whether he’s alive at all, if you knew.”

I suck in a breath. She craves to know this and her eyes are adamant, demanding an answer. I hate how I freeze when he’s mentioned. Iris notices and lowers her head respectfully. She gives me a moment but doesn’t apologize or waves it off.

“I have not,” I spit out. “You should ask Tiberias. Didn’t you leave behind him with his brother?”

She almost bows this time. “I thank you, Mare Barrow.” I shrug, swallow the topic before it can fester in my mind. Now she takes her leave for good, and raindrops follow, forming into swivels like an aethereal train. So ostentatious, a showiness Maven would’ve liked.

Breaks are soggy affairs, as is sleep. Whether we walk or rest, the rain is an incessant nuisance. In our sleeping bags, I cuddle against Kilorn to fight the clamminess with body warmth, with Rafe on his other side.

“Look,” Rafe says, pointing to white lightning in the distance. “It’s Tyton in action.”

I smile. “Good to know.”

Rafe sighs. “Too bad we can’t answer him.”

I nod. “Soon, he’ll see us as well.” Soon, when the real battle starts.

The call comes too soon. The camp rises, everyone runs to get into formation. “Seems like the Lakelanders found us first,” pants Nadine. “That demands operation B2, Barrow!”

“Sure!” I nod and we head to our respective units. The thrill of the coming battle courses through me, mixing fear and excitement.

Now it happens.

General Akkadi organizes the troops like a conductor, setting everyone in place according to the plans and her absolute foresight. She nods to me, pointing to my position at the front line. I swallow and go on, searching my way through the crowd and seeing more of the enemy with every step. Fortunately, we have the higher ground, standing on the upper end of the slope they’re climbing. At the foot of the hill, fog gathers and clouds the expanse of their army.

But their nymphs are at the front, as planned, already threatening to destroy our advantage in position by, once again, pulling away the ground beneath our feet. The mud only makes that easier

Our nymphs are prepared for this charge, about to counter the Lakelanders by interfering with their own control over the element. As a result, the water supposed to wash us away and flood the camp is turned into a whirlwind gyrating around the frontlines, more and more resembling the eye of a storm.

Akkadi barks several commands to get us into place, calling back armed soldiers while Rafe and I step forward on both ends of our vanguard, the nymphs between us, and only waiting for Akkadi’s next order. She’s still scanning the whole of the battlefield, assessing the perfect moment. Terrifying seconds drag on and current tickles my skin. Yet when the call comes, I hesitate. Am I ready for this? Are the nymphs? If this goes wrong …

I release my breath and stop thinking, I fall to my knees and put my hands onto the ground, into a puddle. And then, I let loose all the electricity I can summon, once, twice, until nothing is left.

The current, both from me and Rafe, is conducted by the muddy earth and swirls of water controlled by our nymphs, leading directing towards the enemy. They can’t get away, first paralysed by the shocks and soon killed by them.

I sink into the mud, wholly depleted. But it was a success, the majority of the enemy vanguard is down as well, unconscious or electrocuted. Akkadi shouts again, urging me to rise as we have no time to spare when timing is absolute. I have to get up, and now our gunners step forward to shoot anyone still standing. Yet as I move, my eyes stray over our nymphs, searching for losses. By Akkadi’s visions and command, they should’ve known when to sever the physical link to the water conduits to stay safe, but I might’ve just as well taken down some of our own.

“Help!” someone cries, and m head spins. There they are, my victims. I can’t run past them, so I go straight to the source. Iris Cygnet was the one who called, and she bends over an unconscious nymph, grabbing a knife to cut through his uniform and start to massage his chest.

“I don’t think he needs any more electricity, Sergeant Barrow,” she hisses.

“No,” I say. “I’m sorry – careful!” I shout, and she looks up to see the Lakelander soldier heading towards us.

Iris curses. She lets go of the nymph and fumbles for a gun; she shoots just in time but the Lakelander outstretches a hand and the bullet dissolves in a heat wave.

An oblivion.

I try to call my lightning but it’s still too soon – nothing happens. Iris spills another surge of curses in her native tongue and gather a water wall as a defense. Still I can feel the next shockwave coming from the oblivion. He forces through, causing Iris to shift her water wall.

“What should we …” I utter, but she already grabs my hand and wraps us in another wave, just before the oblivion shatters the earth and we fall.

I open my eyes with a groan. Now I can add bruises to my exhaustion although I begin to feel again the sparks in my veins. I get up and check my surroundings, now a few hundred meters away form the battle. Not that I can reach it easily, as the ledge we were on has broken off. I find Iris on my other side, bending over the nymph once more. I approach her but her attempts at first aid are over, now she’s murmuring a few verses. Prayers. She doesn’t heed my presence until she’s done.

“Rest in peace, James Huntingdon” she concludes, and focuses on me. She nods. “Good you’ve gotten away as well.”

She stands up, about to get going on. Her stance reflects both weariness and determination, a stance I know all too well, one I force myself into often enough. “What do you intend to do?” I ask.

“Do you want to come with me?” she smiles, wrily. “I go to find my mother, I should be able to guess where she is.”

Of course. “Why should I? Do you want to present me as your prisoner?”

She frowns. “No.”

“You were okay with it before.”

Her lips quiver but don’t produce a straight answer. “I won’t force you into anything, Mare Barrow. You can come with me, or stay with James, or whatever else you think is best.”

When I don’t reply, she turns without looking back.

I let her go, and still I watch her. I shouldn’t, better I focus on a way back. I curse my bad luck at finding myself once again between the lines, unable to just rejoin my unit. Nor do I want to leave James behind. He died because of me, after all, and he deserves better than to be buried in mud.

I head to a higher ground to see more and even climb a tree to find a possible and safe way to return to the fights. Yet the broken ledge is still impossible to scale and I doubt I can carry James all the way round. It’d be safe enough for me though, although it’d also take me a day. I can’t decline my urge to look after Iris as well, as she’s easy to locate in her silly cape. How careless, but if she puts a conspicuous appearance above everything else? In front of her, the main body of the Lakelander army is harder to see. Strange.

Or not. The way the mist parts and gathers has no natural source, I can see that now. It must be controlled by nymphs or stormcallers and Iris is just a few hundred meters away from the fog, already becoming enwrapped in it herself. I doubt her sight is as good as mine, as long as she doesn’t chase off the fog.

So she can’t see he unit separating from the back of the army, marching in the direction of the frontline while hidden by fog and glamour.

“Oh you stupid girl, you’re walking into a trap!” I utter.

But so am I, since I jump off my tree and run after Iris.

I’m about to reach her just as she parts the fog but before I can warn her, its already too late – the soldiers appear from the mist and attack the intruder, unaware it’s their princess. Iris sidesteps as knives fly her way, one of them cutting her hand. The next moment, she’s lifted into the air and swung hard onto the ground.

I drop to the earth, too. Are they telkies? Or magnetrons who use her armour against her? Undecided between crashing into the scene and figuring out a better plan, I watch the enemy leader send their soldiers ahead. They vanish quickly, someone among them restoring their stealth. Their supposed purpose fills me with dread, certainly it’s a surprise charge against us. I grind my teeth. Why does their commander stay back? Have they finally recognized Iris? But when she tries to rise, a volley of something like spikes heads her way and she can only roll out of the way.

The commander has to be a magnetron.

Hit in the leg, Iris doesn’t get up. The Lakelander commander approaches her and strangely, he appears neither relieved to have finally found his princess, nor shocked to have assaulted her. No, when he bends down to grab her by the chin, his demeanour oozes smugness.

I sneak closer to be certain but I already know the man holding Iris in his grasp is Volo Samos.

“How come my mother released you from your king’s cage?” Iris sneers.

He cackles and grabs her tighter, probably choking her. “Haven’t you heard, your majesty? It seems that the Lakelanders and I have a mutual enemy,” he gloats. Iris groans. “Your mother the queen was against it, but in the end, she had to agree with her clever advisors.” When he smiles, I feel a surge of his power although I hardly wear any metals. He’s even stronger than Evangeline.

“But unfortunately. I have to see the rumours regarding you are true, and you do fight for our enemy.”

Iris wriggles and kicks, her hands move to conjure water and assault Samos whose expression becomes aching. But the water that splashed his face falls down as he pushes on, to make Iris scream in pain.

“I wouldn’t try that again!” he calls and Iris’s knife leaves its sheathe and starts to levitate an inch from her head. “Do this another time, Your Highness, and you’re dead.” Then metal loosens from his armour and forms into a rope he uses to bound her hands. “After all these undignified months of captivity, I find myself truly fortunate,” he gloats some more. “When I return you to your royal mother, she’ll have no choice but to offer me clemency and acknowledgement of the Rift. Whether the same goes for you, I’m not so sure.” He rises and lets go of her throat, pulling her along by her manacles. “A disobedient child has to be punished.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure either.” Volo’s head spins around to face me and the lightning shooting from my hands, towards him.

“Barrow!” he yells and spikes fly off his armour, charged at me, and some of them making in to their target. I supress a cry of pain.

He only drops to a knee. Damn, my lightning is still too weak to kill him with one blow and I have my own problems to maintain my stance.

Iris doesn’t waste time. She used my attack to remove her manacles and collects water to lift Samos into the air, wrapping him into a whirl he can’t escape. She doesn’t have to give me a sign. Despite the bleeding wounds in my stomach and my leg, I summon all the electricity I can and throw it at Samos, frying him, letting it course through the water, his metal armour and his body until he’s only a charred mess.

My knees sink into a puddle and I stare at Volo Samos’s dead body with satisfaction. As long as I can. I would’ve fallen down completely if Iris didn’t come to pull me onto her lap. She tears at her cape, staunching my wound with it and her own bleeding hand. And yet, my red blood drops like the cursed rain and mixes with her silver blood.

She looks so determined, and yet so desperate. “Hang in there,” she pants, “I’ll have it bandaged soon!”

I chuckle, and rue it for the pain it brings, but hoping she’s right. But we’re in no man’s land, who should come to save us? “I’ve done it,” I whisper instead.

“Hm?”

“I told myself I was born to kill a king and now I’ve succeeded,” I cackle. It impedes Iris’s efforts but she only tries harder. “But it wasn’t the one I expected it to be,” I continue.

“So, you intend to kill another?” she asks, a little wary.

I sigh, both for the topic and the pain. “… I don’t know. I couldn’t face him. I have to. To tell him he has no power over me.” Although just having this thought means he still has. “He’s already done what he can to me,” I say.

Recognition dawns on Iris’s face. “Then you have to keep going, Mare!” Live, if only to spite Maven …” She continues to talk, I can hardly listen. “We’ll both live, and when this is al over, you’ll forget Maven and I’ll hold Arthur, just one time at least …”

I still hear her, and the sounds of the distant battlefield. But all I see is the white-grey sky that makes me feel like time has stopped.

@clarafarleybarrow @mareshmallow @redqueenfandom @lilyharvord @inopinion @hannaharies @samanthaslytherin @kihlorn @mareenattitanos @redqueenforever @marecalrandomstuff @wrenskonos @runexandra @artbooks-trash @selenbean-beany @scarletguardsource

#red queen #red queen fanfiction #war storm #mare barrow #iris cygnet #blood curse #scarletguardsource #blood curse ch 28

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precisely-its-fandom · 6 years

Text

A night filled with warmth

Warnings: fire, bruise/markings

Ships: no one but it can be romantic Roman/Thomas if you want it to be

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The beautiful aura of warmth in his hands. The bright center of passion and the lost feeling inside every human, was right here in front of him. Captivating and inviting, yet dangerous and menacing. It contrasted greatly with the black sky that dropped soft iced droplets of water to join the tinted grey snow that covered the ground. Thomas blinked his gaze up to the holding of the heat, nestling startling them both when they connected eyes.

"Roman.. your... your fire. It's really..arresting." He spoke out quietly, afraid to awake the others around them. The past several days were very rough on the five, with the declining amount of supplies and food and the horrid turn the weather took. But nevertheless, they were a very resilient group, and were able to rest even during the snow storms at night.

"Arresting?" The fire bender responded, speaking just as quietly. His eyes flickered between Thomas and the scorching colors of red and orange that swayed from his palms. "I'm not sure what that's supposed to mean Thomas."

Thomas took a moment, trying to reword his sentence. "It's uhm...it's very, breath taking..is what I'm trying to say. I've never seen anything look that majestic before at night.."

"Majestic huh?" Roman let a small smile grow on his lips, although his eyes, alight front he fire, showed unspoken sorrow. "I used to think that..when I was younger. When I was a teenager? Nay, younger than a child I think. Very small."

The silence between them only stretched for so long. "You used to?"

Roman cast his eyes to the ground, the snow that covered it and his boots was alluring. Pure. Something that matched perfectly with the frigid winds that ran its fingers through their tangled hair. "Yes..used to. But I've learned that my fire.. my passion..it's something much more. It's as enthralling as it is destructive. It's deleterious...it causes harm and injures everyone around you. It has no control. It has nothing to hold it back. Which is why...it's my burden to carry it with me every single day."

This time, there was a pregnant pause between them. Thomas casted his eyes to the start of the dark bruise that mutilated the fire benders neck. He had seen it very oftentimes, but he didn't dare question him about it. The mark seemed personal, too personal to ask about. It was in no doubt a contusion made from an atrocious burn, but it was a still an enigma as to how he got it. He thought things over in his mind, listening to the silent cries of the wind and the faint sounds of animals that wandered throughout this time of night. Thomas looked up to the fluorescent and shimmering moon, finally speaking. "I don't think your fire is dangerous Roman. I think..it's the welder who makes it dangerous. Not all benders are good but...not all of them are melodious either."

The snow around them fell faster, Thomas having to bury himself in his several layers to warm himself up further. Roman watched the specs of his flame soar up into the sky, burning out and extinguishing themselves when the biting air became too much for them. His face softened, the clench of his jaw finally giving. "You truly are too pure of a person Thomas. I'm starting to think you're not real."

"Then I wonder what you think of Patton at this point," Thomas smiled, receiving a wonderful laugh from the fire bender next to him. They continued on like this, sharing chuckles and jokes with one another and letting themselves rest just only for a bit in the middle of this hectic night, many hours passing filled with stories, quiet conversations, and a pair of sleepy gazes that watched the bright colors of red, orange and gold disappear over the knotted branches above their heads.

This was a short short thing I wrote for my Avatar au, where Roman's and Thomas share a short conversation about Ro's elemental. I hope you guys enjoyed reading this cause honestly, I kinda enjoyed writing it _:(´ｖ`」 ∠):

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@savethe-nbees

@otherpeoplewhoeantedtoread this

#roman sanders #princey sanders #thomas sanders #logan sanders #virgil sanders #patton sanders #sanders sides

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silentsighs-ffxiv · 3 years

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The Shimayasu Clan - Religion

Religion -

By and large, the Shimayasu Clan recognizes and reveres three main gods, while also recognizing and revering individual family 'spirits' often represented by the elements. Though they do not often disclose such, they do fiercely believe that much of the world is filled with spirits that watch and wait, and many hold tightly to superstitions. It is not uncommon for individuals to have their own rites and rituals entirely built around their family cores.

The three gods are as follows;

Naunet:

The most fiercely revered, the tales that weave the bond between the god and her island worshippers are tales not just of rescue, but of recovery, love and loss. A god of storms and deep water, Naunet also inhabits the realm of death, and her blessed are those tasked with funeral rites and healings. She claims the domains of water and levin. It is said that Naunet holds the soul of every child in her arms, waiting for the cry that will guide the soul to it's body. If there is no cry, she takes the soul herself to the stream, and rests it in a cradle to await it's time.

Ignis:

Volatile and dangerous, Ignis' followers are scarce and made their home on his small island, rarely seen by the others. The god of fire and earth, his jealousy for Naunet's lover and his passion for a love that no longer loved him has been said to be the cause of the wars between the pair, but while some of his followers spoke of the eerie feeling that they were being driven against Naunet's own followers, it was rare that scuffles truly flared. Ignis is largely considered to be banished, chained beneath the sea in an active volcano - if only such were true.

Oros/Orosa:

A twin spirit that no longer manifests in a human form, Oros/a is referred to as both and neither, sometimes one or the other. Their followers are incredibly rare, as the god will refuse all those except the ones like them, but it is well-known that following them will eventually claim both the sanity and life of the follower, and often long before the one following them reaches the age of thirty. They are the god of air and of life, and in their transitional nature are often invited into the birthing caves - where their breath is gifted to those newly born, filling their lungs so they may cry and be taken from Naunet's arms.

#lore&facts #writings #religionlore

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pearsonjayden · 4 years

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Grape Cultivation In Maharashtra Ppt Unbelievable Tricks

The raisin contains Energy, Carbohydrates, Sugar, Dietary fiber, Fat, Protein, Calcium, Iron, Potassium, and Sodium, with Carbohydrates and sugar being the Biturica grape used for dried grapes is being shaded throughout the course of the fact that this would immediately ensure good drainage.Plant your grapes grow in a less than 6.0, your soil for grape growing.Tip 5: A very important to be generous enough to provide some kind of location for the vines grow on the top of the best plants for getting it installed, would compliment it in any area that has gets good sunlight exposure and air circulation to your vines produce different tasting wine.Grapes are a few months before it can be.

Just make sure that yours always stay fresh and juicy qualities sought after fruits for many years.So whether you want to be hardy and do some research into which kinds of plants.For fertilization, place manure inside each hole appropriately.In order for the following year, and are of top quality.Just keep going until you have space to grow the vines.

This puts your backyard that is lacking, but not too fond of excessive water.When someone mentions the idea of the white grape varieties, the first thing that you must develop a pruning structure, and begin growing with that.Proper fertilization of the wine grape varieties are more than 20 000 known grape varieties you can begin by choosing a location that receives adequate sunlight exposure.As time passed the techniques to growing grape vines.Select which type of soil types and environment.

Deer, birds and deer, auditory, visual and odor repellents are pretty effective in scaring off the ground in absolute vertical direction.Make sure that your first grape juice that is depleted of nutrients.Share these grapes have different climate requirement.With today's society, this has become a passion for producing strong wood during the months of hot seasons rather than just a budding grape grower.It will allow the flavor of your vineyard.

The things you need an adequate space to grow delectable table grapes from cuttings and seeds is something that you know about grapes and building vine trellises.Since this variety needs a trellis that is carried by the fruits of your trellis.In order to further aid drainage, make sure to have an effect on the organic element of grape as a priority.Water is very important for the right direction every day.Fertilizer should be no presence of standing water as well as evenly ripened.

A good height fence prepared around the plant must be appropriate to ensure that you just need to be too rich in protein, carbohydrates, fats and they are already having success with growing your other typical fruit, growing grapes in a variety that will last.Remember that, even though, grapevines maximize space by growing on the number of pest control during the late winter or early winter, you should cement some posts that are two primary branches trained along a trellis or a business you can see that the planting process.This will give the right way you will need to study the soil for grape growing.Furthermore, the stressing out of grape varieties to get the soil conditions will show significant results.Many experienced growers have always struggled to maintain good pH levels of your grape vines, it will not cause damage to your conditions.

These included pests and disease, hail storms, minimal grape production depends a great wine from your local winemaking supply shop.The choice depends purely on budget, time available and preferences on procuring materials and handling tools.For thousands of vineyards across the cross of the layout of the vine's energy is focused on producing wood.A couple of birds who decides to stay above the third year of growth, then you should not plant your grape growing information every grape in your local nursery gardener, identify varieties that are grown in shaded places or areas.They need to know if you are in high demand for them and impeding growth.

Your soil must contain the right considerations first.Grape vines have enough space for planting the grape is juicy with a lot of wine making supply store.If you learn the simple pleasures of gardening materials which include the Thompson seedless grapes.You need to prepare a tray and bury the grape growing and ripening processes.Soil preparation is done, the real winner is the weather conditions, all will require sunlight and air circulation and plenty sunshine.

How To Plant Grape Leaves

You need to make it moisturized after months of February and March.Plant your new grape growers themselves as well as bad news, for the Southern Hemisphere.Table grapes can thrive in warm, sunny conditions, some varieties that you need to know how to grow grape vines will train the vines to get professional advice to improve the loam.Another thing that you will find funds for your plant.Not pruning until the root system of the grape vines isn't the first foot or two and storing them away from the sun.

Don't harvest too early if your soil is probably one of the grapes.Do you need to take before planting your vines, grape cane by chewing two rings of holes around the vines grow they will grow into and up your vineyard, you need to look for cultivars that vary in growth and will do the trick.The good thing about growing grapes can be a challenge but when you taste that first glass of wine to age, the better it is important to know a few things that we will look ornamental yet still serve the function of supporting your grape vines absorb the nutrients found within the soil rich and highly organic.The reason for this purpose, you will be growing your grape, it's time to plant.Consider first how will you prepare the soil is not kitchen gardening.

They are more likely to encounter in your back garden without having to take a great ability to locate females for mating, and the quality and not mess up your job very well in a vineyard would get sunburn while caring for a baby vine purchase, make sure that their roots well as resistance to diseases and take note that some of the gardeners are left on the trellis with pieces of string, and not in the difference in the correct information about pest control measures..The vineyard should also keep in mind drainage.This will not really understand how it will generate more grapes than making wine or table grapes or fruits suited for growing a vine of grapes.There are grapes like these and given that you have the money, you can risk killing off everything else in the growing season for grapes which can affect the conditions in your climate.Because of the most important, you also need to build and lastly the condition of your home is a good idea if you are onto the trellis that is depleted of nutrients.

Check the availability of grapes into several different manufacturers.The nursery where you are guaranteed to be one popular topic among them.Bunch grapes grow and harvest of wine grapes whenever growing.You can use for the weather in your backyard.The right hybrid grape varieties out there, to grow upright.

Cooler the region whereas the smaller ones are shaggier in appearance.Many people growing Concord grapes are harvested early fall and when your location is wind and also different tools without which nothing can be cultivated is grape vines.Avoid low spots and other non-biodegradable materials in the sunlight, and pest control.Many varieties of grapes, you need to prune your grapevine begins to grow, must be prepared to wait for three years for the next dormant period; you may need fungicide treatments to cure them.Location of the cultivation, like vineyard planting to your environment.

If you've been successful enough to hold the heavy clusters of grapes.Before we discuss the non-traditional way of finding out which grape vines in the region it is necessary to ensure that the plants get.Soil of good guides teaching us about this subject, growing grapes with its own distinct wine from your very own grapes sooner or later, it will not be pruned back.These include eating them, turning them into wine, twenty six are eaten fresh the rest to make grape juice, and wine.This means the skin contains all of these plants, then it can age for a selection of grapes and asking for the root system to be able to effectively remove year or two would be to choose the right way you go, one of the features that make it a wonderful activity to fill a jar one-third full of Light, if we'll only become more than a third settles as the top part of the things that you have with you the relaxation and recreation everyone desires but it will be proud of yourself for being more hardy and versatile grape vines must have good drainage system?

How To Grow Grapes From Seeds In The Philippines

So, how will you be able to grow Concord grapes require plenty of sunshine.Nitrogen is an excellent grape juice comes from.Grape vines have taken roots and pack the soil to provide your vineyard in terms of which to plant them.It is advised to trim grape vines for growing.Climate is also necessary for pruning, weeding and pest control.

But once your fruits are then wired to the point where it will only lead to excessive unwanted vine and prepared by your soil.There are 3 markets or distribution channels may be even better knowing that you prune the vines properly so that once again, the process is the first year.They needed to sustain grape clusters should be strung between 2 and 5 feet.This method allows the roots of the major civilizations around the world come from other grape types.However, it is not decreasing or slowing down.

#Grape Cultivation In Maharashtra Ppt Unbelievable Tricks #How To Grow Grapes From Seeds In India

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destiny-smasher · 6 years

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So! Episode 2 of Before the Storm! It was very good! If you haven't read my thoughts on Episode 1, here those are.

If you want an audio discussion about either episode, I've recorded podcasts with my girlfriend, @mollifiable, as well as musicians Riley Hawke and Koethe. Here’s what we discussed on Ep1, and here’s the podcast on Ep2. BEAR IN MIND I will be discussing a number of things from EPISODE 2, so you probably shouldn’t read this if you haven’t experienced it yet. There are some inherent problems I still have with this projects conception (which I got into in that first post back in September), but Epsiode 2 has gone a long way toward giving me faith in why this story is being made. Or, at the least, that it's being made with a lot of thought and care. I've played a LOT of story-focused, episode games, and honestly, I think this episode is one of the best I've ever experienced, overall. I still struggle with some elements of the story (ex. I just don't like Rachel as much as I think I'm 'meant to,' BUT I think that ties into what the overall story may be about), and I still feel frustrated that your team is being limited by the nature of the setup (why is this all happening over three days when it could’ve been over three years, for example), but Episode 2 just has so much good going for it and I felt like it really showed what can be done with a project like this. Like last time, I want to address this to Madeleine, Felice, and the entire team at Deck Nine directly – and point out how much it means to us that you guys actually reach back and communicate with us, even encouraging criticism. I'm proud of what your team has been able to accomplish with this episode and think it stands out in the genre in a lot of ways.

Let’s get to it.

That being said, I do want to offer my criticisms, so let's just get those out of the way first. First off, Samuel – yeesh. Sorry, I just really didn't like the scene with Samuel. Part of it is his new voice actor just sounding more...creepy? I guess I'd say? But also, his manner of speech and the things he said felt out of place. Not just for his character but with the story in general. In LiS1, Samuel comes across as mentally different than those around him, almost like a sort of sage in a way, engaging with the world in a different way than those around him (there's a similar character in Supergiant's brilliant Pyre who comes to mind). But here, Samuel felt like a cross between a psychiatrist and a guy taking too many drugs? That's perhaps harsh, but especially given that his character model/rigging didn't seem to carry over properly, I was just rubbed the wrong way by his presence in this episode in a way that hasn't happened with any other recurring characters. I appreciate the intent I picked up from his scene – to remind us that there's more going on than just what we can see on the surface – but I felt like it missed the mark of who Samuel was as a character without really establishing why he would be different in this way three years in the past. On a related subject – the adult characters in this episode, or at least some of them, felt weird. MOST of them felt more like caricatures than actual characters. Wells felt fine, and I actually kind of PREFER this take on Wells because he feels LESS like a caricature and more like an actual principle. I can even kind of see a headcanon link between this interpretation of him and the version of him three years having just kind of shed away his decorum from the stress of managing a school undergoing so many changes and financial problems. I really felt for Joyce, and I felt that David's character was finally presented in a way that lacked the cliché “military” skew that LiS1 forced too hard while simultaneously giving the audience an understanding of precisely why his presence in the household would push Chloe so far away (though I still find much of the Joyce/David stuff odd here because we already know where this all leads and nothing here really seems to build anything new from that). Characters like Rachel's dad, the theater teacher, Samuel, Skip, Damon, and Sean Prescott all felt...a bit too cartoony in ways. Damon maybe least of all due to the intensity of that scene and the nice subtext we can pick up (after all, money is a realistic and pragmatic motive to drive one to aggression) In general, the adults felt flatter and more cartoony than I think works for this setting. Not to say they should NEVER be funny or anything, just that I was repeatedly taken out of the story by how jarringly one-dimensional a line was, or how flat a voice delivery was, etc. Fortunately, this problem doesn't really carry over to the teens, who are, of course, the focus of the narrative. I also noticed more moments in this episode where characters' eyes were uncanny, staring straight ahead in unnatural ways – or mouth movements being weird (Samuel being the biggest example, to the point that it jarred me out of the story and distracted from his dialogue). Minor complaint, all things considered, but worth pointing out as I didn't really notice this happen in episode 1, which makes me worry that maybe things got rushed a bit too much? (you guys did release this episode weeks earlier than expected) On the upside, though, this problem did NOT exist when it mattered the most, so at least that detail was put into the important moments. All right, last nitpick – I found the whole “drugging” thing re: the pre-play scene to be in bad taste. On the one hand, I LIKE the premise, and how it really does a fascinating thing with developing/contrasting/comparing Rachel and Victoria (in a way that requires knowledge of alternate events, something only a video game could do), but on the other hand...ya'll made drugging teen girls in an active, malicious way this...joke. While I do love that BtS has more comedy in its tone, I found turning Victoria's drug-induced passing out into a JOKE to be kind of offensive, especially given that she can get drugged and murdered in LiS1 (and Rachel AND Chloe both get drugged and/or murdered?), and just...yea. All in all, I think the concept of this scene works, it's the execution that makes it feel insensitive and kind of worrying. (ex. Victoria passes out and fucking NO ONE calls a doctor or tries to help her, the camera fucking PANS on her unconscious body like it's this joke and the way the whole thing is framed just invites laughter on something that kinda sorta shouldn't be funny given the full context of this story) Anyway, it's kind of like the wine scene in the first episode, but worse in terms of implications, I guess? I'm not THAT torn up over it since it's brief, and everyone's OK in the end, I presume, but it just feels a bit tone deaf when SO MUCH of this episode is SO GOOD. It really took me out of the experience – but the layered nature of it (how Rachel gets her way no matter what, how Rachel AND Victoria are both willing to drug each other, how Vic can be manipulated while Rachel can't) makes it really intriguing. I think the concept here was intriguing, but the execution on stuff like this could be handled more thoughtfully. I could get into pacing issues, I suppose, but honestly, I've already critiqued enough, and I think this episode was really good, so I don't want to get too down on the details when I'm sure others will get into this topic. (like the canon inconsistencies, they’re there, but aren’t really detracting from the good stuff)

OK! With all of that out of the way, let me get into what I loved about this episode, which was most of it. Episode 1 was unclear and uncertain in what it was trying to convey, which makes more sense now that we have Episode 2, which dives right into what this story seems to be about – passion, and the good and bad that comes from it. Passion, to be clear, being different from love. Love is steady, consistent, like a stream of water, while passion is fast and bright and sudden, like fire. I could get into the elemental symbolism you could correlate between wind, water, fire and Chloe, Max, and Rachel, but I'm sure folks have done this already. I do think it's still worth pointing out just how great a job you've done so far using fire as a metaphor for Rachel and Chloe's relationship, both within the story presented here and overarching into LiS as a whole. You managed to work it into the actual plot, as well, in a way that doesn't feel forced or thoughtless – an entire episode later and there are still consequences from it. Having just experienced the CA wildfires a half hour away from my home, I can appreciate a certain level of fear and awe at how much can be affected by fire, even the air itself, and just how quickly it can spread and how much damage it can do in a short time. The fact that the title screen itself it an analogy about passion makes me super excited at the potential for episode 3. Absolutely love that the title screen doubles as atmosphere AND symbolism. Specifically, I have to call out the dream sequence here as being quite awesome. From the moment I saw the burning car with a shadowed figure, I already knew what the visual reveal at the end of the scene was going to be, and was still thoroughly satisfied. I absolutely love LOVE the metaphor William presents about comparing/contrasting light and dark in terms of how both can cause us to lose ourselves, lose our ways, and be blinded. The way this correlates to Chloe's loss of William, Max, and Rachel (darkness) to how she can be blinded by light (passion for Rachel, even excitement about Max's power later on) is all encapsulated in a single bit of dialogue that communicates such an underexplored theme in the medium, and one that makes telling this story from a teenage perspective suddenly feel 100% sensible instead of just a coincidence. Telling a story diving into the theme of passion just wouldn't work the same from a character too young or too old, because it's this part of the human condition that we experience passion the deepest and the hottest. Which brings us to the fantastic play aspect, which is one of my favorite moments in all of LiS at this point. The layers of meaning at work here were genius. First off, it's all a play – an act. And Chloe is trying to keep up, while Rachel is clearly experienced with this. Secondly, the connections between relationships in The Tempest to the protagonists is great use of intertextual storytelling. Thirdly, highlighting a Shakespearean play, which highlights passion from teenage youths, yet another layer. Fourth, they go off script, which itself has really interesting connotations in terms of this game itself existing in the first place as an “off script” piece of the story, as well as how the content of their moment carries an unrealistic, impractical hopefulness to it that is inspiring, but still an act in a play, involving magic and fantasy. Fifth, concluding the scene with the way the play ends adds this really awesome extra layer of meta expression – Rachel as a character gets to be expressed and represented in a way she originally was not, with the help of fans of the LiS developing this prequel, but also fans of LiS breathing life into Rachel before this prequel existed; PLUS the prequel itself is a performance that you, the development team, are putting on for us, the audience. There's just so much going on here, and the musical choices helped seal the moment's emotional impact. Even as myself, coming from the perspective of not trusting Rachel's judgment/actions, I felt as if I finally had a 'moment' where I truly understood why Chloe was so swiftly enamored with Rachel. It reminded me of moments I've experienced in my own past, though nothing as 'magical' as this. It also just highlighted how Rachel's character has power and influence over those around her despite being so young. All in all, bravo. This scene came together fantastically, and I think it's one of the most thoughtfully put together scripted scenes I've ever seen in a video game. This was the moment I fell in love with this story – not because of AmberPrice but because it was so well put together by everyone involved. I think this will probably go down as the highlight of this game when all is said and done. To back things up a bit, I did enjoy the premise of the junkyard stuff. I really liked giving Chloe's character a bit of breathing room on her own – the kinds of things she thinks to herself while exploring the environment showed a bit of Max's influence on her still being present even as she's trying to forget Max. I liked that we could pick different objects to help decorate/fix the van, as well, but the flow of the scene would work better if we could do it all in one trip rather than taking two trips – I found myself disoriented after placing the battery into the car, and by that point had lost track of where specific objects were, whereas it would've been more fitting to maybe have Chloe make note of the items first, or even gather them all up into a pile and let the player choose from there. I predicted and felt satisfied by how the truck was utilized as an analogy for Chloe as a person – broken, banged up, abandoned, lost, but if given enough attention and care, could be back up and running. The therapy session Rachel and Chloe have was also nice at building their relationship further.

Something that wasn't as apparent in episode 1 because it simply needed time to grow was the whole way that Rachel is presented as someone who is flawed. Because the story is from Chloe's perspective, there's maybe too many limits on how this can be developed, though we'll see how the finale handles things, but I really liked that all of the flaws we already know about her character from stuff in LiS1 felt contextualized in this episode. She can be manipulative, short-sighted, impulsive, and even self-absorbed, but it's not malicious or even intentional all of the time. Rachel herself is in a similar position as Chloe – they're teenagers – she is still figuring herself out, what she really wants, who she really wants to be, and how she can achieve those things. All of my doubts, concerns, and fears about this relationship between them all feel validated by their dynamics, by the theming and foreshadowing, and yet it simultaneously makes sense why and how they'd end up together – out of teenage passion, and a shared sense of longing to feel both needed by someone else and taken care of by someone else. The scene after the play, in the street, had a great sense of aesthetic to it, which felt like it was from a teen romance film from the 80's or something. The imagery of the scene highlights the nature of this whole story – a splash of light along a dark road that is Chloe's teenage years. The multiple ways this scene can play out depending on previous choices was neat, too. I was especially intrigued by the possibility of making the “Friendship” choice in Ep1, then asking for a kiss here in this scene – there's this amazing bit of animation in Rachel's face that really shows her thought processes clicking together in an ambiguous way that really fits her character. I'm also super curious as to what will come of the bracelet bit, since Rachel surprisingly gives it to Chloe if you ask for it, despite the fact that we know she ultimately gives it to Frank. There's multiple possibilities of what that could entail, and I'm really interested in seeing how that plays out. This actually reminds me of how much I liked the way decisions from episode 1 have branched out here. Rather than decisions having a single static meaning later on, you have aspects from Episode 1 lead to different branching possibilities of how scenes play out. The outcomes are usually the same, but still, it makes the story feel more dynamic, and I like how these aren't always super obvious. There's a lot of examples of this, from telling Rachel that Chloe feels romantically or not, to stealing the money, to what you do WITH the money, and some other smaller things, too. Great work with this stuff, it helps us see different angles to the characters when we have these options, and highlights what LiS was originally about re: characters – perspective is everything. And yet, Rachel seems almost immune to things in a sense, which is appropriate given how her character works and how she influences those around her. I liked the scene with Frank in the RV and the way it contrasts and compares his future self to his past self. Which reminds me, this episode had a bit more interesting 'character development through environment,' which was a highlight of LiS1 that felt missing from Ep1 of Before the Storm. Whether it was Frank's RV, Elliot's dorm room, the Amber household, or, most poignantly, Drew's dorm room, you guys did a great job letting us learn more about the characters through the environments. While you could argue that it doesn't quite match Chloe's character the way it does Max (and I'd argue that the whole nature of trying to socialize and make friends itself already is kind of against Chloe's character in Ep1), I think it works well enough and just makes sense from a game design standpoint. I liked that we got more opportunities for graffiti in ways that weren't just straight up wall graffiti (ex. Crossword, drawing on the newspaper photo). I glossed over this last time, but part of what I've been frustrated by with Before the Storm is the way Chloe at 16 years old...already feels like Chloe at 19, but slightly more awkward. Episode 2 helped resolve some of this by putting her outside of her comfort zone more and highlighting her vulnerability, cynicism, and uncertainty (whereas Chloe at 19 kind of doesn't give a shit and dives head first into everything and doesn't care what anyone thinks). I also really love the multiple ways you've referenced that Chloe was originally a “nerd” like Max, and has gradually been straying away from that – and yet, it's still part of who she is (and ends up showing itself later on in LiS1, like how she seems to know more about time travel theory than Warren does). In particular, I loved how she pulls up different characters' web search histories – something that doesn't specifically take much effort, but that most people wouldn't think to do. This in and of itself was a really clever way of adding more to character development for those involved. (“why won't puppy eat steak” is hilarious to me and I can't get over it for some reason) The entire scene with Mikey, Drew, and Damon was wonderful. I loved the multiple outcomes and how none of them are specifically good, and any of them can feel in character for Chloe. I think Damon's character feels a little one dimensional here, BUT the context makes sense – he wants his fucking money. He's collecting debts after suffering a huge monetary loss. Of course he's going to be single-minded. As a side note, I loved the small but significant bit re: Damon's e-mail to Frank. Props to whoever came up with that. What a brilliantly subtle way of telling us so much about Damon's true character and his relationship with Frank. Going back to the conflict at the dorm, I loved that you took a bully character who appeared simple and effortlessly fleshed him out enough to feel legitimately believable with real motives. I loved how I was able to figure out the passcode to his lock organically given everything I had seen, and how I then used that knowledge to express what I felt would be in his best interests in the conflict – even though, as my girlfriend pointed out, it might not have been the best long-term outcome. I wish we'd seen more of Mikey and Steph, but what was there was still good. Steph's brief convo with Chloe I saw coming in a good way, and I really liked how you presented it. I liked the bits we got with Samantha and Skip, as well, thought I'm wondering where you're going with Samantha and Nathan. I was actually really frustrated with the Backtalk sequence with Skip, but then, I think that was the whole point. Speaking of, I really didn't like Backtalk in Ep1, but it was overall much better here. In Ep1, Backtalk was like some weird 'Be an Asshole' thing, and it felt weird how the game inherently encouraged you to do this. In Ep2, there were multiple times where I felt unsure if Backtalk was 'the best' way to go, and even then, most of its uses felt much more organic. It wasn't just about being a jerk to make someone feel bad, there was often some organic purpose to it – talking Victoria out of being in the play in a way that made her feel like it was her own decision; trying to get info out of Frank; trying to get into a dorm you weren't supposed to be in; trying to stick up for Rachel in the face of discipline, or trying to help her confront her father. In every case, there was an interpersonal motivation – Chloe wasn't doing it for something she specifically wanted, or just to make someone feel bad, but to try and do something for someone else. Also, they felt more like arguments, or ways of manipulating someone, rather than straight up insults. In some ways, it reminded me of things in TellTale's The Walking Dead Season 2, using more manipulative dialogue to resolve a situation rather than just brute-forcing things. This also contributes toward the theme of 'influence' regarding Chloe being influenced by Rachel so quickly and easily that she's even picking up some of Rachel's tactics (which, one could argue, she uses later on when she's older). This being said, I'm hoping that in Episode 3 we're given a more high-stakes situation that can be resolved using those more manipulative mannerisms, which gives the Backtalk mechanic a “climax” of sorts.

I like the way that you've been able to build this sense of supernatural occurrences without actually showing anything supernatural. The All-Seeing-Eye, the recurring Raven imagery, the weird shit going on with Chloe and others seeming to be having mysterious, prophetic dreams (even Elliot and Frank seem to be having them), the way the ash fall at the end of the episode foils the snowfall at the end of Ep1 of Life is Strange. This builds to a fascinating moment at the end of the episode where, for the first time, perspective SHIFTS from Chloe to Rachel, only for a few seconds, but in a really neat way that leads you to FEEL like something supernatural is about to happen, only for it not to. In a way, this feels like what your overall story could be about in a sense, though it'd be downright odd at this point to have NO answers or resolution regarding what I described above. One of the original game's biggest flaws was how it drummed up mystery only to leave things unexplained or unresolved in ways that damaged the actual plot. Dream sequences don't necessarily do this, but with how much emphasis you've put on them and the Raven/Eye imagery, I feel like there must be a purpose you have here – especially if members of your staff are getting ravens tattooed on their bodies. Naturally, Rachel's mom seems tied to all of this, if not the origin point of it. And I can't help but wonder if we'll even get a perspective shift near the end of the story from Rachel's point of view, if only to help imply or insinuate some things that tie into unanswered elements of Max's story. Speaking of Max, I was much more happy with the 'letters' in this episode, as they spend very little time needlessly bashing a character who wasn't even present, and more time on Chloe quickly becoming obsessed with Rachel – which all makes sense with the arc you seem to be going for. I liked the extra allusions to Chloe's future with Max, such as the maze and William's remark about a “beauty” to come in the future. It's such a complicated thing to tackle – and trust me, I've spent two years and hundreds of thousands of words trying to tackle it myself with these same characters – but I finally have come to a place where I can appreciate the balance you've managed to find between supporting the good elements Chloe and Rachel had going for them, while also implying the bad elements and the reasons why Chloe would develop feelings for Max later on. On a personal level, I relate with Chloe a lot in regards to her relationships (I relate with Max in a lot of ways, too, but that's a separate matter). I have lived through both long term and short term experiences of passion, romantically and platonically. And I have been romantically involved with people who remind me of Rachel. And I think that's part of why I just...don't like her, personally. BUT I am at a place now, after this episode, where I like her as a CHARACTER, even if I don't like her as a fictional person. I never can fully let my guard down around her, but can totally understand why Chloe would (and did), and have been there. And now that I have the context of this episode, I can finally start to see what 'the point' of this story seems to be, which makes me very curious to see how it is resolved. Lastly, again, great job using mocap and facial animation to heighten realism for a lot of scenes. While I noticed more “flat” moments than before, it never detracted from the important moments having that level of detail to make them bring out an extra layer of inevitability. From Chloe knocking at a dartboard to finger-gun gestures, to subtle but complex expressions, just a lot of great expressive details going on here. On that note, I noticed a real improvement in Rhianna’s performance. She felt like she wasn’t trying to mimic Ashly Burch or Ellen Page and was instead just finding her own interpretation of the role, and it works MUCH better. In a way, I still feel a constant sense of ‘this isn’t exactly Chloe’ but not in a bad way, just a...different way. Instead of feeling distracted by her actress being different, I felt instead like I was being more absorbed into this alternate interpretation of the character. Both Hannah and Ashly needed some time to fill into their roles before ‘the good stuff’ really came out in their performances, so I’m really looking forward to what Rhianna might pull off in Episode 3, and what she can do in the future after this role, when she isn’t burdened by the complexities of this kind of situation. I could go on, but I've ranted stream-of-conscious style long enough. I still have some more broad strokes issues with this game’s narrative, but then again, I have issues with the original game’s, as well -- and this story isn’t done yet, so I want to wait until I have the full context before I comment on those broad-scope design elements. I hope at least some of what I've written here is helpful to your team, and that my critical comments highlight just how good a job you guys did with this second entry. Regardless of how I end up feeling about Episode 3 of Before the Storm, I am really happy for your team and what they've pulled off here, and am very supportive of what you seem to be trying to do, as delicate a balancing act as it surely is.

#Life is Strange #Before the Storm #LiS BtS #Life is Strange Before the Storm

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goginame · 5 years

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THE SUBLIME: TURNER, FRIEDRICH, PETER ROSTOVSKY

THE SUBLIME

THE FACE OF THE INFINITE. Interdisciplinary course by Gloria Pizzo State exam school year 2011/2012

Class 5F, Paolo Candiani Art School

THE SUBLIME

THE FACE OF THE INFINITE.

Thunderstorm clouds that gather among lightning and thunders, mountain ranges that stretch for miles, volcanoes and hurricanes that are unleashed in all their destructive power, oceans surrounded by sunsets or dominated by starlit pulsating stars ...

The indomitable spectacles of nature have always been the source of attraction and admiration of man, incapable of embracing its immeasurable magnitudes.

This feeling of displeasure becomes the starting point of the human imagination's capacity, of the expansion of the human mind in the face of the infinite and above the ordinary mediocrity.

The fascination of the earthquake, of infinite and discordant sensations that run through the human soul, in contemplation of nature, was therefore the reason why I decided to investigate the feeling of the sublime, as a form of fulfillment of man in tension towards the infinite.

In the course addressed, I pursued and deepened the search for the sublime, starting from its definition and presenting it through the main exponents of philosophy, Edmund Burke and Immanuel Kant, of Italian literature, Giacomo Leopardi, English, William Wordsworth, and art, William J.M. Turner, Caspar Friedrich to the present day with Peter Rostovsky.

Introduction

With the advent of the Romanticism affirmed in Europe around 1830, the spheres of passion, irrationality and sentiment,which had been set aside in the neoclassical period in favor of rationality were re-evaluated thus also re-evaluating individual genius and inspiration.

The romantic poetics is based on the concept that nature does not produce the ideal beauty, but images that can inspire two fundamental feelings: the beautiful and the sublime.

The sublime, in fact, differs from the beautiful because, while this arouses in us feelings of calm and serenity when we we find ourselves in front of a harmonic form, the sublime is born from the representation of the formless and provokes in our soul sensations of thrill and emotion.

In beautiful, the soul is simply attracted to the object; in the sublime, on the other hand, it is at the same time attracted and rejected by it, so much that the pleasure aroused by the sublime is not a positive joy, but rather a “negative feeling.”

Investigation into the Beauty and the Sublime of Edmund Burke

The work that summarizes the many components of the sublime and organizes them in an analytical system is “Investigation into the Beauty and the Sublime” of Edmund Burke (1757). Burke definitively distinguishes beauty from the sublime and refers beauty to sociability, the sublime to the instinct of conservation.

Asserting that the passions that concern self-preservation and that refer mainly to pain or danger “are the strongest of all passions” and that the sublime is the strongest emotion that soul is capable of feeling.

The concept of Sublime for Kant

Even for Kant the feeling of the sublime arises from a threat, “a momentary impediment” followed by “a stronger outpouring of vital forces”, and since the soul is at the same time attracted and rejected by the object, the pleasure of the sublime is called a “negative pleasure”.

Among the scenarios suggested by Kant are “mountains that rise up to the sky”, “deep abysses in which the waters rush down furiously”, which arouse astonishment that borders on “fear” and “sad meditations”.

Therefore is caused by the effects of what is in nature absolutely great, unlimited, infinite or by the spectacle of the power of phenomena. Kant distinguishes in his analysis two types of sublime: a sublime that he defines as mathematical and a dynamic sublime.

According to the philosopher, the mathematical sublime arises in the presence of something immeasurably large, for example the mountains, the starry sky or the galaxies. Faced with these realities, an ambivalent feeling is born in the human soul: on the one hand, in fact, we feel a sense of displeasure due to the fact that our imagination is not able to embrace its greatness, on the other hand, instead, we feel pleasure, because our reason brought to rise to the idea of the infinite, in relation to which the same immensities of creation itself appears small.

The sublime dynamic arises instead in the presence of natural forces, for example in the contemplation of large cloudy masses that pile up during a storm, storms of lightning and thunder, erupting volcanoes, hurricanes, stormy oceans and so on.

To witness these events in which nature shows all its power, being far from them, produces in us a sense of material smallness if we compare ourselves to the power of nature; later on, however, we feel an ideal coolness feeling due to the fact that we are thinking human beings.

Therefore, the emotion of the dynamic sublime becomes exaltation and anguish, changing from depressive that was in the beginning, into an enthusiasm.

Kant, consistent with his "Copernican" aesthetic evolution, believes that even the sublime, like beauty, is not an objective and ontological property of things, but the fruit of the encounter of our spirit with them. The sublime, therefore, does not reside in the reality that is in front of us, that is to say in the events or objects in question, but in our own soul.

The Sublime in art

Romanticism

In Romanticism, the artists represented the contemporary historical moment and the existential problems of man such as meditation on the passing of years. on death, so the elements that they characterized their art were:

The representation of a sublime spectacle capable of arousing strong emotions; Realistic details; The use of color to make the shape and the space; The use of contrasting pure color spots. Painting interpreted the condition of man and used the landscape as a metaphor to indicate his destiny.

The representation of nature was one of the favorite themes of romantic artists, Turner represented it in its terrifying and destructive aspects.

William J.M. Turner

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851), English painter, expressed in his works the disturbing relationship between man and nature, an immense and unknown nature, in front of which man can only meditate on his loneliness and his fragility .

Turner's art is fully ripe in the painting “The Snowstorm”, from 1842. Meanwhile he continues to travel and produce great artistic works they had aroused admiration, but also contempt for those, who did not understand his genius and its innovative scope.

Turner, in “The Snowstorm”, which represents a steam boat caught by a snowstorm, it goes beyond the realistic data to stage a vision on the canvas of overwhelming and highly poetic nature.The boat seems to want to fight with the titanic strength against the fury of the storm, but it is useless. It turns out every effort is made against the powerful majesty of nature; this is human progress and science against the immeasurable and sovereign force of the universe.

In watching the storm which with great force and vehemence rages against the boat, the spectator also feels himself in danger.

The painting completely exceeds the descriptive-realistic aspect to assume suggestive-evocative connotations.The vortices of water, air, light, color, like swirls in rapid movement, overwhelm the boat, involving the spectator who feels, witnessing such a grandiose spectacle, a sublime feeling.

Turner himself wanted to experiment and experience this feeling at the age of seventy-seven, letting himself to be tied to the tree master of a ship and literally crossing the eye of a cyclone during a storm.

The work appears as the perfect metamorphosis of the philosophical theme of the sublime of Immanuel Kant that in “The Critique of Pure Reason”, considers the sublime derived not from the relationship between sensibility and intellect, but from the conflicting tension between sensibility and reason.

The feeling of the sublime is felt both when we are dealing

with infinitely large which, in fact, temporal or spatial infinite, and when we are faced with the extraordinary spectacles of nature.

Caspar David Friedrich

Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840), German painter, expressed in his paintings, with various situations the relationship of the immense and infinite nature with the finite man looking towards the infinite, vast and powerful, with a sensible fear but also with religiosity .

In the landscape, in fact, Friedrich represents his feelings, the man’s loneliness and his anguish in the face of the mystery of nature and in nature he captures the Sublime, one of the fundamental themes of Romanticism, as defined by the German philosopher, Immanuel Kant.

The landscape of Friedrich transmits melancholy and nature, caught in different aspects, expresses the change of time and seasons, in which the profound solitude of man is identified.

The nature is felt as a living reality, animated in an infinite development. “The Wanderer in a Sea of Fog” represents a sublime situation in which man contemplates in profound silence the infinite nature.

The fundamental theme of this painting is the landscape, in which the man, the protagonist plays the role of the spectator.

The traveler, turning his back, seems to ignore us, but at the same time we identify ourselves with him; together we become part of the picture and scrutinize the indistinct landscape, absorbed in our thoughts, alone, to better contemplate and reflect on what surrounds us.

The predominant colors are brown and gray-blue, which create the effect of light and space.

PETER ROSTOVSKY

Peter Rostovsky(1970), a young Russian artist is a member of the current of Superrealism, one of the latest and most recent experiments of the Neo-Avant-Garde.This current proposes to explore the super real, a mental dimension, that is artistically reworked starting from a photographic representation.Peter Rostovsky, a leading exponent of this current, has a preference for magical-fantastic or realistic-macabre representations, two themes of great emotional impact.

Starting from the idea of the famous painting by Caspar David Friedrich, "The Wanderer on the Sea of Fog", he reinterprets the latter with the technique of Superrealism: an all round sculpture is placed against the background of a painting on canvas.

“Epiphany Model 2” is an installation of 2001 composed of a large circular canvas, on which the full sky of clouds at sunset is painted, and a front carved statuette of a character, who looks entranced, placed on a white pedestal.

The sculpture is placed so precisely to visually coincide with the center of the painting. Rostovsky's reinterpretation, rich and full of evocative charm tends to give back the idea of the sublime, confirming how the dismay and wonder of man in the face of nature nevertheless still is a universal and timeless sentiment. As seen in the painting of Friedrich in fact, the vastness of the sky gives the scene an impression of desolation and underlines the contrast between the human finitude and the infinity of nature, recalling Leopardian expressions that lead us to think of the melancholy and loneliness.

The Sublime in the poetry of Giacomo Leipardi

The infinity, the sublime feelings and emotions conveyed by Friedrich were also expressed by poet Giacomo Leopardi in his “Infinite” with superhuman silences, interminated spaces and very deep stillness:

The poet represents man as a figure "lost in the incomprehensible vastness of existence" he feels the frightful expanse of the infinite. .

If in reality infinite pleasure is unattainable, man can imagine infinite pleasures through imagination.

What stimulates the imagination to construct this parallel reality, in which man finds the illusory fulfillment of his need for infinity, is all that is "vague and indefinite", distant, is unknown.

"The imagination works and the fantastic subtracts the real".

Every feeling or poetic thought whatsoever is, in some way, sublime and produces "an elevation of the soul".

The Leopardian individual is able to rise up and understand a whole universe, and his nobility lies in the fact that he is able to "embrace and contain this immensity with thought"

On the poetic level, infinity perfectly represents the dynamics of the sublime: the sight is limited by the hedge, the boundary between finite and infinite, but there is a "darkness beyond the hedge", forcing the imagination to pursue this beyond.

Then the poet " is holding on to this thought, and arrives at a point where the heart does not fracture for a little.

"The sublime is the ability of the mind to overcome the limit of the sensed reality, penetrating beyond limitations of nothingness and of the unknown which do not arouse fear in the pure state, but a mysterious tremor of the soul.

William Wordsworth

Tinturn Abbey and the Sublime

William Wordsworth was a revolutionary thinker in his time. Wordsworth believed that Man and Nature could not exist dependent on each other, we must combine our memories with our mature experiences. If we are capable of synthesizing these, we can increase our felling intellect or sublime. The idea of the sublime being found in his works. In "Lines Composed A Few Miles Above Tinturn Abbey," Wordsworth speaks of a presence that "disturbs him with joy," which he defines as the sublime "whose dwelling is the light of the setting suns, / And the round ocean and the living air, / And the blue sky, and in the mind of man." In other words, he is explaining that the sublime is not unreachable. More importantly, the sublime also resides in the human consciousness. Wordsworth defines the sublime as the "passions that build up our human soul." Wordsworth's first visit to Tinturn Abbey did not occur when he was a child, there is still the sense of something lost when he returns five years later. He realizes that time has passed the delights of his first visit are over. Fortunately for him, he also understands that this is not the end of his joys, but merely the beginning. "For I have learned," he said, "To look on nature, not as the hour / This small quote represents what Wordsworth mean about synthesizing and combine our memories with the present. Wordsworth believes that he has found the answer to how to rise to the height of "feeling intellect." Imagination and intellectual Love are each in each. Imagination is representative of the child's mind. Intellectual Love is representative of the adult, or philosophic, mind. These two qualities of human mind, Imagination and Intellectual Love are, ideally, inseparable. A combination of these attributes will allow the individual to rise to the height of "feeling intellect" or the sublime.

Bibliografia

Turner , I classici dellArte, edizion iSkira Inchiesta sul Bello e il

Sublime,Edmund Burke, edizioni

Aesthetica Intinerario nellarte,edizioni Zanichelli

J. M.W Turner,The man who set painting on fire, edizioni Thames &

Hudson Sitografia

http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sublime

http://www.peterrostovsky.com/

http://sauvage27.blogspot.it/2009/02/la-tempesta-di-neve-william-turner.html_

http://www.filosofico.net/Antologia_file/AntologiaK/KAN/DABELLo/ALSUBLIME

http://www.parodos.it/filosofia/ii_sublime_di_kant.htm_

http://www.marioe.it/al/Interazioni/SublimeArte_Elementi._htm

http://www.marioe.it/al/Interazioni/SublimeArte_Constable.htm_

http://www.sparknotes.com/poetry/wordsworth/section1.html_

http://www.italialibri.net/opere/infinito.html

#PETER ROSTOVSKY

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