#these are all real rules of dealing with the fae actually

[ghouljams]

Okay okay I saw your post about wanting the witch to do some really crazy magic that proves she’s tough and I raise you an additional idea. European magic and myths with fae and cryptids is more positive and nice, especially with modern retelling of fairy tails (I know this isn’t necessarily true there are some really dark aspects of European folk). I myself am from the Appalachian Mountains, and that region is very very old. I don’t know what you know about the region but the mountains themselves are older than the rings of Saturn, and bones. With how old they are the region has a lot of folk lore and cryptids and dark legends surrounding it, most of which coming from the indigenous communities that were there before us. Haints, wendigo/skin walker, and a slew of rules everyone follows. You don’t whistle at night, keep a broom above every door, cover the mirrors and open the windows when someone dies, if you hear screaming or someone calling for you in the dark or woods- NO YOU DIDNT!!! Dark shit like that is a big deal where I’m from. Now my actual thought was what if witch is from a old magic type of place, and when someone (another fae not price) comes to challenge her or test her saying she ain’t powerful or she doesn’t know real magic and fae, she shows them where she’s from (I was thinking with her cool door) they step thru into the middle of the woods of her ancestral/family home and they immediately are terrified. Like the fae!141 are old and ancient fae but the region is older than even then and it scares the fuck outta them, like they immediately forfeit! Maybe they saw something in the woods or just the overall feeling of the place is overwhelming. This would also match up with the witch being so scared of the mimic, cause wendigos/skin walkers are fucking terrifying in a place like Appalachia so her moving and thinking that’s what she’s being terrorized by is horrifying!!! I know this is really long and probably makes no sense and whatever you write is and will be amazing but I just had this thought today cause your writing lives rent free in my mind 24/7!!! Whatever witch x price you make will make me feral no matter what!!!!

Witch's magic is actually loosely based around American folk magic, specifically Hoodoo and some Appalachian folk magic. And all I can say is: Don't bring those names into my ask box they are so very scary and I'm scared(joking)(I actually am terrified of .... I don't even like typing their name). Although I don't think Witch is from the US, she is definitely very, very, old magic. I have various thoughts on where her magic comes from, but it's old. (I think Konig stops to look at her because her magic is familiar to him, an ancient understanding ingrained in him of what she is)

Anyway I have a few little pieces about Witch interacting with other witches, what's one more challenge to her abilities?

It's always interesting when fae visit you. When they come to you as customers, you mean. No you're fairly used to visitors at this point. It's the ones that come to you for a service that you don't get often. You smile at the fae across from you as you shuffle your cards. They came in through the front, you know they want something. Annoying that they've managed to stay silent as you ushered them in.

18, 19, you switch between the cards to try and get a feel for what will work best for your silent customer. The man, you suppose, laying the card down on the table. Not for their appearance, but for the role they seem intent on playing. Domineering, or trying to be. You lay cards around it, humming to yourself. Snake, birds, mice, the coffin, the clouds, the home. You know all this. They're sitting right in front of me practically salivating, you try to silently tell your deck.

"So," You squint your eyes to really try and sell your smile as friendly, you feel like you're doing little more than bearing your teeth, "What are you looking for today?"

"Just wanted to see what all the fuss was about," They tell you calmly. You snap down three cards for yourself in quick succession, though you hardly need to read them to get the message.

"Boot this rude motherfucker" the cards tell you. You scoop up your draws with your fingers and shuffle them back into the deck.

"I see," You try to keep your voice bright. They scoff, their expression amused. You don't see what's so funny.

"Hardly, I expected a seer at least, you're-" They wave their hand at you, "-just feeling it out, right?" You raise your brows, continue your shuffle. "I expected Price to be chasing someone a little more," They sigh, you don't expect them to finish the sentence, you're sure it's insulting. Rules dictate politeness, they sure are skirting that line.

"You know Price," You don't ask, but the question hangs between you. How? and Does he even like you? You can't imagine he does.

"Mm, we're on the court together," The fae rests their elbow on the arm of your couch, sets their chin against their palm, fingers curling against their cheek. "Strange he'd be so protective of such a novice, but I suppose you're pretty. He likes pretty."

You let your head tip side to side as you think. Novice. That's one you're not used to hearing. You wonder why they'd think that. Can't they feel your magic? A card jumps out of your shuffling. The home. Ah. You feel your smile grow more genuine as you press the card back into the middle of your deck.

Of course they can't feel you. This whole place is you. It would be like looking at an ocean and deciding it's harmless because you can't pick out a single drop of water. That doesn't stop the waves from dragging you out to drown any more than it stops your magic from surrounding this fae. You wonder if they can feel it, the way your magic hones in on them, eyes watching their every move with silent focus.

"Why don't I show you out?" You set your deck on the table and stand without waiting for an answer, leading them to your back door. You're sure they'll find your garden more than impressive now that you've rescinded their welcome.

"Why not," They follow, "I should be going anyway, you're hardly worth the trouble the others are sending after you."

It's crossing the threshold a second time that hurts, that spins and swims in the fae's vision. The heat of a familiar season ripping through them like an oven. Summer bound by heavy chains and iron spikes. You smile at them peacefully, spidering ties arcing off of you towards the sun itself. You burn. Your magic lashes against the confines of the garden, the walls and wards worked into the land, into summer itself.

The fae looks back into your home, the consumptive darkness of a doorway once broken and twice repaired, of a space that shouldn't be a space. A house that's wrong. They look back to you, to the soft tilt of your head, the faux patience as you wait for them to remember what they're here for.

The ground beneath their feet is unfamiliar, and pitches their stomach. They stumble a little, the pressure of the magic keeping a whole season in place settling on their shoulders. It takes everything in them not to buckle under the weight.

"This is fun," You smile at them, raising a hagstone to your eye, "I was wondering why my wards were acting up."

They do their best to collect enough air to respond. Everything feels thick and humid, the heat only raising as they stay close to you. They blink against the blinding sun, their vision swinging violently as they try to keep their focus on moving. Are they moving? You aren't. You're the only fixed point as the world pitches on its axis and spins.

You and your terrible smile, staring down at their suffering. They're on the court for fucks sake, some little human pet shouldn't stand half a chance against them. They make to swing for you, try to grab you with their claws. There's only air, their depth perception wavering between distances. You crouch, following them as the weight of magic forces them to their knees.

"Now I will admit," You hum, reaching to pluck a few stray hairs from their head, "I don't particularly care for killing, so I'll leave you for Price to take care of."

You snap your fingers and the fae straightens and stands from their misery. They walk themselves to the gate and open it. They look back at you, and you wiggle your fingers in goodbye as the hairs in your grip spark with the same fire that engulfs them as they step out into Winter.

#oc: Witch #ghoul speaks #Price finding the charred barely alive fae: lmao get wrekt #he wishes he could've seen Witch committing acts of violence #just the thought turns him on a little #oc fic #oc talk #Idk what to tag this as tbh #original work #original fiction #Price does kill the poor sod #Witch does some improvised poppet magic and also just wrecks a bitch

[gothicswiftv]

Emery’s 2022 SK8 Fanfiction Wrapped

(Really just Renga fanfics if I’m being honest)

These are some stories I’ve read since joining the fandom, so August 2022 - December 2022

Also, they’re all rated G or T but please be mindful of the tags (mostly for violence)

💠 FIVE FAVORITE FICS

A Moment to Be Real by MissLightBright

some kind of fairytale by arahir

Every Week and Counting by SKayLanphear

My house is a mess (so why don’t you clean it for me) by infinitelink

Yearning for the Freedom of Birds by LaurelNymph

minor spoilers ahead (in my Notes)

💠 FICS I KEEP COMING BACK TO

reki and langa are just friends (maybe) by zukushou

Ring ‘em Up | The One with the School Festival Trope and We’re Throwing These Rules Out The Window by LaurelNymph

Sunset | Cried Wolf | and Just a slime by Sleepwich

SNOW White and Going Once, Going Twice… by EnthusiasticCynicist

he was a skater boy, he said — no, you know what, no, we’re not calling it that by arahir

love signs, baby by discountscoobyart

I Don’t Dance (I Know You Can) by soupthatistoohot

The Dance by Undercoverqueer

The blue flowers up my throat. by zj3bson

💠 FICS THAT SURPRISED ME

The Tethering of Us by MissLightBright

Notes: I was wary going in, I really didn’t think I’d like a story that was a rewrite from canon without containing fantasy elements or something. I guess reading the description, I thought Reki and Langa wouldn’t spend enough time together (like I thought Langa would always be busy) but I was wrong and I was hooked 💗 🙌🏼 I binged this in a day and a half.

Skaters and Rulers by KurapikasScarletEyes

Notes: It was a short story that left me wanting MOAR 😭 the suspense of the sword fight/attack, and Reki and Langa’s interaction was so nice 💗💗💗 applause

Craving motion by livingonyoghurtandspite

Notes: Reki’s reaction was a unique take, fresh (even given the angst) and it left me wishing the best for Renga

Careful What You Wish For by Larisss

Notes: I thought this would be a silly goofy haha funny fic but what it did for Reki I just 💗🥹

💠 FICS THAT MADE ME CRY

If I Only Could (Make a Deal with God) by MissLightBright

Notes: THE 📃✍️ ✉️ MAN. THE 📃✍️✉️ GET ME EVRRY TIME. AND LANGA SUFFERING TOO I- *sobs*

Please Breathe by NevaraRaven

Notes: Langa was so scared T-T and just.. reading about Oliver’s death will never not make my heart hurt

more hearts than just mine. by brokencomatose

Notes: When Langa had to say goodbye ;_;

(…I’m just now realizing in these fics that made me cry, even ones I didn’t list, I would cry the moment Langa broke)

💠 FICS I WISH I READ THIS YEAR

bunny slopes by buzzcut__season

Notes: I wanted to read this before Christmas, but I read other shorter Christmas themed fics first. And then 2022 Renga Secret Santa stories started coming out and so I started reading those and yeahhh. I’ll still go back to bunny slopes asap

Another Cindereki Story by spottedinfinity (redhoodedwolf)

Notes: Same situation as bunny slopes! I read a bunch of shorter Cindereki fics before I could work my way to this one T^T I’m almost there Cindi!

💠 FAVE FIC FROM FAVE WRITER

A Moment to Be Real by MissLightBright

Notes: I’m not even super into fae stuff?? I think the sweetness + angst of their romance, and just the wonder-like/almost nostalgic feel I got throughout the story made my heart happy. Bro the second half of the fic so far *clutches heart* BRO I CANT BELIEVE THEY- [spoilers] 💘💞💗

💠 NEW FIC FROM (relatively) NEW WRITER

Strangers (to lovers) by Larisss

Notes: This one had me squealing “oooooo~ let’s goooo!!” Plus I love reading fics where Miya shows off how legitimately smart he is

💠 FICS THAT MADE ME LOL

Langa Has Fallen and Can’t Get Up by maddisunshine

Notes: omg this one part had me screaming. Langa: *injures leg* Reki: Ok man I’m gonna poke around, tell me where it hurts … how does this feel? Langa: it feels… Nice? (!!!) Reki: OK MAN

How Miya Played Matchmaker Without Actually Playing Matchmaker by wiseterria

Notes: THAT VINE REFERENCE CAME OUT OF NOWHERE AND HIT ME LIKE A SKATEBOARD TO THE FACE. I WAS CACKLING AT 2 IN THE MORNING EL OH ELLLLLL

your eyes, they never lie by kittenyoongs

Notes: Langa and Reki’s banter omggg enough said

Brain-to-Mouth Filter by theseathemoonandthestars

Notes: “Langa Kyan” 😌 Reki I know you’re freaking out rn but your friend is a riot

just thought you should know by egoisticluv

Notes: JUST,,, THE THOUGHT OF EVERYONE LIKE hey what the heck is up with Langa??? ???I don’t know???? haha

💠 FICS WHERE I CANT WAIT TO SEE HOW THEY END

At the End of This Thread by MissLightBright

Notes: When people put spins on the ‘red string of fate’ trope I get all 👀

A Magical Misunderstanding by banditoheart (eldritchpossum)

Notes: PLEASE UPDATE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD LANGA WAS SO SCARY AND COOL IN THE LAST CHAPTER 👁️👁️

Please, I’m Begging You, Check Yes by Sleepy_witch

Notes: High School In The 90s Au?? Mutual pining?? Please… I’m begging you… write more of this (lol see what I did there)

p.s. No pressure to update btw! Just letting you know I REALLY enjoyed what you wrote!

💠 FAVE SCENES

Language Barriers by athellos

Notes: REKI YOURE SO ROMANTIC DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA

I used to hear a simple song That was until you came along - Cindereki by Marvel4Lifebitch

Notes: There was one part where my swiftie heart went HAYWIRE. Also, the fic heavily follows both Disney Cinderella movies, so near the end when it went off on its own thing I was afraid of what would happen and good God poor Reki ;~; and Prince Langa seeing him like that ;;;~;;;

Frostbite by soupthatistoohot

Notes: Chapter 2, Langa and Reki alone in the coffee shop, maaan 💞 that whole scene 💞💞

Don’t let your thoughts win by ScarletRigmor

Notes: THE WAY LANGA WAS SO SCARED WHEN REKI-

#sk8 the infinity #sk8 fanfic #sk8 fanfiction #renga #renga fanfiction #renga fanfics #reki x langa #links #archive of our own #ao3 link #read on ao3 #long post #rambles

[olivia-anderson-fanfic]

Save Fae-ce

Part 1/3

Summary:

3) Do not eat their food. Mushroom rings were made out of mushrooms, right? It was in the name, so you would assume so. Well, what if Tim found a particularly interesting one, showed Bernard, and then took a few mushrooms to make stew? Surely, then, Bernard would have to concede that faeries were fake.

Or: A two-for-one deal!

Tim Drake knew that faeries weren’t real.

The stories didn’t really add up. Why was the faerie able to bring back Dick Grayson’s parents from the dead? Why had Barbara Gordon’s parents allowed her to go into the forest every day? Why was Willis Todd allowed to live, if he had disrespected the fae so blatantly? Why did people just automatically assume that David Cain’s house was empty because he had been taken by the fae? And, if faeries were so powerful, why would they be stopped by something as simple as an iron fence?

And, really, if Bernard was agreeing with something, it should automatically be ruled as nothing more than a conspiracy theory.

And Tim was determined to prove this once and for all.

He wasn’t, exactly, sure how he was supposed to prove it. You can’t prove a negative, it’s impossible. But he was sure that he would figure it out when he got there.

So, he walked through the forest. Holding a sheet of paper, listing all of the town’s rules for interacting with the faerie. Bernard had insisted that, if Tim really had to go out into the woods, he needed to take it with him. Tim really didn’t care for it. If he hadn’t been so vehemently against littering, he probably would have tossed it out.

… actually. He smoothed out the slightly crumpled paper to examine the rules. Maybe it would give him some ideas as to how he could prove that the faerie were fake.

He chewed on his bottom lip thoughtfully as he looked it over, and was disappointed to find that almost all of the rules were about talking to the fae, which was kind of problematic when he wanted to prove that faerie didn’t exist.

All of them, except for two.

The more interesting of the two was the one warning people away from mushroom rings. He’d love to use that one, but Bernard would just argue that any of the ones they found and subsequently stepped into weren’t magical. There were plenty of non-magical rings, apparently. Something about how they spread their spores outwards in search of nutrients, and the ones in the middle died when they ran out, leaving a large ring.

Still, that combined with the rule above it made an interesting idea form in his mind.

3) Do not eat their food.

Mushroom rings were made out of mushrooms, right? It was in the name, so you would assume so.

Well, what if he found a particularly interesting one, showed Bernard, and then took a few mushrooms to make stew? Surely, then, Bernard would have to concede that faeries were fake.

Tim smiled to himself as he started pushing his way through the woods in earnest. There was no path, and it seemed like the entire world was fighting against him, but he had a goal now and a few more hours before dark and he wanted to find a ring today so he wouldn’t have to worry about Bernard complaining about them wandering in circles for hours.

But, after a while, he groaned and dropped down into the brush. His legs ached. He had worn long pants, thank god, so he didn’t have to worry about any of the plants scraping up his legs, but that didn’t stop him from growing tired of walking over uneven terrain. He hated the forest. His parents loved it, and often went out exploring the depths of it for weeks on end, coming back bearing amazing treasures that they had found and bartered for in other lands. He had never understood their passion for it, and he was too young for those kinds of expeditions, so he always ended up left behind. Now, he couldn’t bring himself to even be kind of sad about this fact. He eyed the sun warily as he brought a canteen to his lips. This was awful.

Maybe he could use the fact that his parents went out into the forest and came out unscathed regularly. Surely, that had to at least suggest that the forest was safe. Because he was not getting anywhere on the finding rings front.

He sighed to himself, pushing limp hair out of his eyes and glancing around, trying to get his bearings so he could start finding his way home.

His eyes caught on an apple tree.

The apples were deliciously red, but not the deep red that was always hard and kind of sour and had that weird green tint on the inside. They were that perfect red-to-yellow-gradient that was always perfectly soft and sweet. Even better, one apple hung close enough for him to pluck. He wouldn’t even have to get on tiptoes. It was amazing.

He pulled it down without any kind of resistance and took a bite.

It was even better than he’d thought it’d be. He barely even gave himself time to chew before he was shoving another bite in his mouth. He was pretty sure he ate a couple of seeds in his fervor, but he couldn’t bring himself to care about the possible damage he was doing to his teeth. Even the seeds tasted perfect, and the crunch was a fun little change of textures that he could appreciate.

His eyes began to droop.

Tim thought, just for a second, that it was in pleasure. The apple was really good.

But then he struggled to open them again.

And even then he wasn’t scared of that. He was scared of not being able to finish the apple. What was wrong with him?

His last thought before he lost consciousness was questioning whether he had messed up.

~

Tim groaned a little. His head pounded, complaining at him as if he were the one to make it suffer. His face was pressed into someone’s shoulder, an almost impossibly soft blanket thrown over him. This, more than anything, was what got him to try and wake up. It was simply so strange to be so close to someone, and he wasn’t sure how to feel about it.

He pulled back just slightly, peeking open tired eyes, wondering why even just the act of picking up his head was difficult…

He didn’t recognize this person.

He jerked away from them. The blanket, made of feathers that had been strung together neatly, fell away, and he was allowed to back up.

The person was… strange looking. Not particularly because of anything about them, admittedly. His hair was streaked with red, but Tim had seen people braid pretty flowers and feathers into their hair before. Their clothes were pretty normal, a black shirt and pants with a deep blue design on their chest that reminded Tim of a bird. The feather blanket draped around his shoulders was thick, and made him look tiny in comparison.

And yet. There was something just slightly off about him in a way that Tim couldn’t quite explain. Something in his smile made his hair stand on end.

“Hi,” they said, still smiling in that almost too-pleasant way. “You should probably sit down. The adrenaline is going to wear off, and you might crash when it does. And you’ve just Changed, so I’d really suggest not staying on your feet at the moment.”

Tim wasn’t sure what to say to that. He definitely didn’t sit down, though, his heart was pounding too hard for that. If he sat down he’d never get up.

“What’s – what’s going on?” He asked, his eyes flitting around, trying to figure out why exactly everything felt so strange. His head was still throbbing painfully in time with his too-fast heartbeat, but surely that wasn’t all that was throwing him off. They were in a clearing. The branches overhead were interwoven so tightly that he couldn’t tell the time, but that didn’t mean that the clearing was dark. A lamp flickered in a nearby tree, the firelight giving off a dim glow, and there were an array of shiny rocks in a vague ring shape that must have been reflecting the lamplight as well. A tree stump nearby was being used as a table for a chess set, and Tim could see that one of the pieces had been knocked over at some point. A swing swayed back and forth despite the lack of wind. There was a birdhouse in a nearby tree, the brilliant reds and greens stood out well against the nearby branches, but he couldn’t see any hints of an occupant. And, while it was strange to find all these hints of people frequenting this place, he wasn’t sure why it all made his skin crawl. This was all normal. The boy in front of him was normal.

And yet.

The boy tipped his head to the side, blue eyes reflecting the nearby firelight just a little too well. “You know, the rules for the fae exist for a reason,” he said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a slip of paper. He unfolded it neatly, and then presented the list to Tim.

He took it with clumsy hands, and found himself staring down at the list that Bernard had given him.

“Because people are paranoid?”

They laughed. “Perhaps, but they have a point. I mean, most faerie would find it insulting that you haven’t yet said hello.”

“Well, it’s a good thing that faerie don’t exist then,” Tim said, raising an eyebrow at him, mentally willing him to get to the point.

There was a few moments as Tim was considered.

And then they sighed and carefully pushed themselves to their feet. But, strangely, the blanket didn’t slip from their shoulders. In fact, it pulled upwards, stretching out until Tim realized that it wasn’t a feather blanket at all.

They were wings.

They… were fake. They had to be.

Tim backed up a step, smiling tersely. “So, do you just lug those huge things into the woods to scare kids? Because that’s kind of lame, not going to lie.”

The ‘faerie’ crossed their arms over their chest. “Well, I have to lug them around everywhere, considering they’re attached to me. I guess I do scare a lot of kids with these – well, two, but I’ve only seen two human kids since I got them so I think that’s a pretty good amount. So, yes, but I don’t think you should describe a faerie as lame.”

“Really into this bit, huh? It’s not working, you can drop the act.”

His smile strained at the edges.

And then a mirror appeared in the faerie’s hand.

Sleight of hand, surely.

Or not.

They held the mirror up, and he quickly discovered the reason for his headache.

Slowly, with careful fingers, he reached up to touch one of the two bumps sprouting from his hairline.

Horns. He had horns.

And, well, the faerie was right. His legs did give out.

“I’ve got to admit, I wasn’t expecting a… ooh, it’s hard to tell. So many things have horns!” They leaned close, a hand out to touch him, as if that would help them figure out what he was, but stopped when he jerked away. Though not without a disappointed little frown. “I guess we’ll have a lot of time to figure it out, though. You’re our responsibility, now, since it’s kind of our fault that you’re a fae, so we’ll have to take care of you… ohhhhh, maybe, I’ll just ask Oracle. She’d probably take one quick look at you and be like ‘Those could only ever be the horns of a goat’ or whatever.”

Wow, this faerie talked a lot. Tim wasn’t even responding, he was just going on and on without stopping. Granted, Tim wasn’t exactly making for a good conversation partner, what with his current mental breakdown, but if anything that just made it more impressive that this guy could keep up his word vomit.

Speaking of Tim’s current mental breakdown. It wasn’t fun. He was having a very bad time, actually. Because if his head started racing any faster he was pretty sure it was going to explode. Or maybe he would get more horns. Could that happen? He sure hoped not, it didn’t sound right, but a few minutes ago he hadn’t thought that faerie were real and wow was he wrong.

Wait! Wait! He was wrong!

 “We can’t be faeries,” Tim said, and he hated the hint of desperation hanging on the edge of his tone. “Because, earlier, I said that you weren’t a fae, and fae can’t lie.”

The faerie snickered. “Not purposefully, no. But… well, let’s say that I thought the world wasn’t flat. It is but, if I truly believed it, I would be able to say that it wasn’t.”

Tim opened and closed his mouth a few times, before deciding that he was just going to let that one slide. The faerie was likely old, so maybe they were just from a time where believing the Earth was flat was normal.

And there were more important things to talk about, anyways:

“I can’t go with you back to your world.”

The faerie raised an eyebrow. “You can’t go back to your village looking like that. They’d know instantly.”

“I can wear a hat!” He argued. “It’s not that noticeable!”

“It’ll get worse as you eat more and more faerie food.”

“Well, then, I won’t.”

The faerie stared at him. And then he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.  “Ughhhhh. Oracle. I know you’re listening. Come here and explain things to him. Orphan, you can come, too. I’m sure the kid would prefer someone that looked more ‘like him’.”

Instantly, two faerie appeared on either side of Tim. It took everything in him not to react by trying to punch them.

The faerie on the left was a redhead, which was already strange for someone who hadn’t seen a redhead in their entire life, but even more strange was the dark green scales dotting her cheeks and the tail creeping out from underneath her skirt. When she gave him a smile, likely an attempt on her part to be comforting, Tim’s eyes immediately zeroed in on the fact that she had fangs.

He wanted to back away, at least a step, because those things looked sharp, but there was a faerie in that direction as well.

The faerie on the right, though… she looked like yet another human. Tan skin, warm brown eyes, jet black hair escaping from her cloth hat in wisps. A baggy black shirt and jeans gave little information as to what her frame looked like, but he would hazard a guess that she looked normal in that regard, too. If he hadn’t known better, hadn’t watched them appear out of thin air, he would have thought that they were just another person that had stumbled across the clearing.

This was what the original faerie had meant when he’d said that Tim would like to see someone more like him.

Instead of being happy, though, he was just annoyed. “Why does she get to look normal?”

The faerie in question laughed lightly, and then spoke in Tim’s own voice: “I’m a Changeling. We are made to emulate humans.”

Tim stared at her. “How did you do that?”

She looked confused.

“Another Changeling thing,” the snake-themed faerie answered for them. “Just assume everything about Orphan is based around the idea of mimicry. You’ll figure it out as you go. Best way to learn is being immersed in the culture, after all.”

“No,” Tim said, finally backing away. The faeries surrounded him on three sides, but he still had one more option, and by god was he taking it. “No.” His back hit a tree, but he didn’t care, as long as he was away from them. “I’m not going with you guys. I will not. I have a family, a friend, I’m not just going to leave because of some weird horns. I can probably cut these off if I need to, it’ll be fine. So, thanks, but no thanks. I’m not joining you.”

“That’d hurt,” Orphan pointed out.

Tim scoffed a little. Both at the obviousness of the observation and the fact that they were still using his voice. “I know. But I’m going to do it. And I’ll only have to do it once, anyways.”

Oracle tipped her head to the side. “Not sure if that’s true, actually. You’ll probably grow it back as you eat more and more fae food. Or maybe not, but eventually you’ll get more features, anyways. It’s a temporary solution, at best.”

“Then I won’t eat more fae food.”

“You’ll starve to death. Faerie don’t actually get any nutrition from human food.”

Tim pressed his lips together thinly.

The first faerie, the one with a bird theme, ran a hand through his hair. “Listen, kid, I wasn’t all that eager to join the family at first, either, but I promise you you’ll get used to the idea of it all soon enough.”

Somehow, this wasn’t as encouraging as he was clearly intending for it to be.

Silence stretched as Tim considered this all. He wasn’t sure how he was supposed to get out of this, but he was determined to figure it out. Maybe he could just cut off whatever features cropped up? But what if he ended up with Oracle-like scales or something like that? He couldn’t exactly cut divots into his skin without it being obvious…

“Robin,” Oracle said, finally. “It’s fine. You know Little Wing will get all annoyed if we get another kid while he’s at Talia’s. He’ll complain about how we’re ‘replacing him’ or whatever. If the kid wants to be in denial, then that’s fine.”

“Come back once a week,” Orphan instructed him, and this time she was using Oracle’s voice. It didn’t quite suit her, but it was better than when she had been using Tim’s, and he was suddenly far more willing to listen to her: “We will provide you food.”

Tim swallowed thickly.

It was a bad idea to make a deal with the fae. That was one of the rules. They would always get what they wanted, and they clearly wanted Tim to join them (if only because it was their fault he was like this). Even now, they were only talking about postponing his ‘surprise adoption’, not saying that he wasn’t going to join them. It was a later, not the not ever he had been hoping for.

But what choice did he have? He could try and scour the forest for fae food every day, but would it grow back at a fast enough rate for him to sustain himself? Would they see him not accepting their help as an insult?

He swallowed thickly, a resigned kind of tiredness settling over him.

He gave a tiny nod. “I’ll see you tomorrow for my first batch of food, then.”

And, with that, he turned to leave the clearing.

Orphan giggled behind him, and there was definitely something discomforting about hearing your own laugh come from someone else, and he felt a hand tap him on the shoulder.

Tim turned around and blinked in mild surprise as a hat was thrust into his hands.

… right. Yeah. A good thing to remember, if he didn’t want to immediately get run out of town. He toyed with the cloth in his hands. It wasn’t perfect, he would need something sturdier in the long run – especially if the horns got any larger – but it would have to do for now.

He mumbled a thanks as he shoved it over his head and, finally, left.

The forest was less confusing this time around. He wasn’t sure why, it wasn’t as if a path had suddenly opened up for him, and yet it didn’t take long before he was stepping out of the trees.

Which is when he discovered a new problem:

The town had an iron fence around it.

The words ‘This day just keeps getting better and better?’ sat on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn’t even say them. It was as if, every time he thought of speaking, an invisible hand would slap over his mouth, and no sound would be able to escape.

Which… that answered that question, he supposed.

He groaned to himself. He wasn’t sure whether praying was the right thing to do, considering he was anything but ungodly at the moment, but he found himself trying. He was really hoping the ‘can not come in contact with iron’ thing was a myth.

He reached out with a careful hand, pressing a finger to the metal. Pain, white-hot and burning, lanced up his arm, and he only just kept himself from screaming as he jerked his hand back. He bit down on his tongue, his breath coming heavy as he looked at the red line that had branded itself into his skin where he’d touched it.

Great.

There were gaps in the fence. There had to be official ways to enter and exit the village. Obviously. But he wasn’t sure how he was going to explain to the guards why he was using them. Most people didn’t bother with finding one of the four entrances, it was much faster to just climb over the side of the fence somewhere close to your house. If you ever ventured out of the village, which most people didn’t even do.

Luckily, he found a hole in the fence, and he didn’t have to worry about lying.

Yet.

Because, when he got home, he found Bernard pacing around in his living room. This wasn’t particularly new, Bernard paced when he thought, and had a tendency to drop by unannounced. However, the moment the door clicked open, Bernard’s head snapped to look, and Tim was almost tackled to the floor in Bernard’s haste to wrap him in a hug.

“Where were you?” Bernard asked, still not drawing back.

This was a good thing. He didn’t see the considering look that came over Tim’s face as he struggled to come up with a decent lie that wasn’t actually a lie because fae rules are dumb –.

“The woods.”

God damn it. Not the stellar explanation that would throw off all suspicion that he had been hoping for.

As if to prove his point, Bernard pulled back to look him in the eyes, and the incredulous look he got almost made him laugh. Maybe, if he was less stressed, he actually would have.

“You were gone for ages, Tim.”

Tim held back a minute flinch as his name was used. His eyes still snapped up to meet Bernard’s, though, as if the very word had quite literally called for his attention. A pressure began to make itself known in the back of his head, getting more and more difficult to ignore the longer he went without answering the question hidden in his friend’s words, and he was forced to scramble for something to say:

“I got lost,” he said.

Which was true. He did get lost for a little bit.

Bernard seemed less than convinced. “Lost? It’s – it’s been two weeks!”

Well, why couldn’t he have said that before?

“... really lost,” he tried.

Again, true, but not at all in the way Bernard thought. He really lost, in that he was now stuck as a faerie and had to pretend to be a human. Which he would probably be able to do, considering he had been a human for the first several years of his life, except for the fact that the main trait of faeries was that they weren’t able to tell a lie.

He was having a fun day, really.

At least he could still be sarcastic in his head. He had to take the little victories, at this point.

Because he sure was losing a lot at the moment:

“I thought you were dead!” 

Was Tim dead? Are faerie alive?

He wasn’t going to think about that too hard.

“I – I didn’t mean to scare you,” Tim said, rubbing the back of his neck. All he’d wanted was to prove that the tales about the faeries living in their forest were fake.

His friend softened just slightly. He wasn’t calm yet, there was still a hint of lingering anger and frustration and (perhaps most importantly) fear and relief warring in his expression, but he seemed less frantic now that he was here and seemingly safe.

“I wasn’t able to go looking,” Bernard said, groaning quietly. “If you died – or – or – got stolen… I wouldn’t even know.”

Out of any one person in the village, Bernard was probably the most knowledgeable about the creatures. After Barbara Gordon, the village had become far more willing to indulge kids in their interest in the fae, as long as they had an abundance of caution as well, lest they go seeking the fae for their answers like she had. And Bernard had always been the most intrigued out of anyone in the village. But, when you know a lot about something, sometimes that makes it harder to confront it. If you can recount several stories about faeries turning people into mounds of sticks or beating a man within an inch of his life, all in the name of ‘divine’ retribution, just off of the top of your head… well, you might be more hesitant to go near the things that did it.

But, despite his wariness, Bernard was considered a ‘high-risk’ case. He was too interested in the fae, and so he wasn’t allowed out of the village. Sneaking out, for him, would have been obscenely hard.

Tim sighed and started to run a hand through his hair, only to pause when he felt the fabric of his hat. He grimaced and shoved his hands in his pockets instead.

For just a moment, he considered telling his friend. Of anyone in the village, he was the best person to tell. He knew of the fae.

But then what? Was there any reason to tell him? It wasn’t like Bernard could fix the fact that he was no longer human. He would be stressing out his friend and for what? It wouldn’t help anyone, all it would do was hurt his friend.

So, he trained his eyes on the ground and said, “I didn’t think of that. I won’t disappear like that again.”

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

Pt 2

All fae-n and games masterlist

#all fae-n and games #save fae-ce #tim drake #red robin #robin #robin iii #bruce wayne #batman #dick grayson #nightwing #oracle #batgirl #barbara gordon #cassandra cain #jason todd #orphan #black bat #alfred pennyworth #dc comics #dc #detective comics #fae #faerie #fair folk #fae folk

[empires-s2-headcanons]

A fun headcanon I've been thinking about is how Jimmy is actually a type of fae.

He never gives out his real name, something powerful to have, and he, being the Sheriff, is obsessed with rules and HATES when people break them, like how fae (I think) are particular about them.

I also like how Fae!Jimmy also implies that having his alliances have free gunpowder is in actuality a way for his alliances to owe something to him, which is why most of the time they bringf their export over so the deal is complete.

I’m loving all these “actually, Jimmy is [x]”. It’s so freaking cool!!!!!!

#empires smp #esmp #jimmy solidarity #mod eevee

[worldofthechateau]

The Fair Folk

The Fair Folk, also known as the Fae Folk, the Fae, or Faeries, are sapient beings who live in a dimension called the Realm of Faerie. This realm has an incredibly high amount of mana, and so do its residents: the fae are capable of casting magic without a wand and can effortlessly cast complex spells such as shapeshifting, invisibility, mind control, and minor reality-warping. They also don't seem to age, or if they do, they do so very slowly.

Unfortunately for humans, faeries operate on their own bizarre and incomprehensible system of morality that often leads to havoc for mortals.

They are divided into four courts: the Summer Court, the Autumn Court, the Winter Court, and the Spring Court. Each court has its own unique appearance and behaviors. However, one habit they all share is the practice of replacing young human children with their own. These Changelings are near-indistinguishable from the original child except for their faerie morality and powers. Many neurodivergent human children were persecuted under the belief that they were changelings, with the actual changelings remaining under the radar. Why they do this depends on the court.

Now, let's move on to the four courts. The Summer Court fae are the most human-looking, with only their pointed ears, inhuman beauty, and "off" eyes giving them away. They desire entertainment above all else, and often kidnap human children to raise as pets, playmates, and musicians.

The Autumn Court resemble a grotesque blend of animals mixed with humans, and are often mistaken for werebeasts. Their main goal is knowledge, and they often kidnap humans to experiment what makes us tick. Contrary to their claimed pursuit, the Autumn Court seem quite intent on proving their existing theories correct, rather than adjusting their theories to fit the evidence. (The more scientifically-minded members of the Society of the Supernatural are rather annoyed at this insistence.)

The Winter Court are rather ugly, with long curved noses. They love gemstones but do not want to bother themselves with the task of mining them from the mines of the Realm of Faerie, so they make humans do the task instead. They also appreciate Earth gemstones, so you may be able to bribe your way out of danger in a pinch.

The Spring Court most resemble the fairies of pop culture, being around the height of small children with insect-like wings. (However, pixies, whom we'll get to in a later post, resemble pop culture fairies the best). They have a culture that values laziness and selfishness, and thus parents tend to foist their children onto unsuspecting human parents.

There is a fifth court, the Hidden Court, mainly made up of Changelings who learned human morality and chose their human families over their fae origins. These faeries come from all four courts, and act more like the fairy godmothers of tales like Cinderella than the amoral tricksters of the main courts. They do sometimes partake in the practice of swapping babies with changelings, but only as a means of rescuing abused children.

There is one rule when making deals with the fae: DON'T DO IT! They will find a way to make things blow up in your face. If you absolutely must for whatever reason, think long and hard about every possible way to interpret the deal before agreeing.

When interacting with the fae, make sure to be polite at all times, but do not say "thank you." The fae consider this to be admitting you owe them a debt. Do not give them your real name, it only makes it easier to control you. Do not lie, and always keep your promise.

However, the fae are not invincible. They are weakened and repelled by the touch of cold iron and salt. Like any living being, they will die by being stabbed in the heart or by having their head cut off. The Society of the Supernatural routinely opposes the fae to rescue their kidnapped victims, and exploit these weaknesses to full effect.

(This will probably be my only post today, I have finals to work on)

Feel free to ask me anything about this world!

#tw kidnap mention #faeries #fair folk #fae #fae folk #worldbuilding #the chateau #tw abuse mention #tw caps #tw violence mention

[touchtranscendslanguage]

If the list isn't too long I'd like to know more about the unseelie Princes! They only showed up like once and have only been briefly mentioned 😭 I crave unseelie content

The long awaited answer :D

Okay, you didn't specify if you wanted technical information about the unseelie princes or personal information so I'm giving you both. Let's dive in!

There are currently one hundred seventeen royals in the unseelie royal family. Of those twenty-eight are princes/princesses. (Note: there are non-binary royalty. In fae there are separate titles for them but in many human languages there aren't so they just pick one of the available titles to go by when speaking human languages because they got tired of fighting with humans about it. They absolutely use this as an example of why humans are inferior to them.) Both the children and grandchildren of the king are considered princes or princesses. King Objectivity has eleven children and seventeen grandchildren. That makes a total of twenty-eight princes and princesses.

This isn't actually a lot of children when you consider how long the king and his children have been alive. There used to be more, but unseelie politics are even more cutthroat than seelie politics and it isn't uncommon for royals to kill each other in order to rise in the ranks. Actually, seelie used to do that too but not nearly as frequently as the unseelie do it.

The princes, princesses, and non-binary royalty in order of claim to the throne:

Crown Prince Valiance (he/him, winter)

Princess Inquisitive (she/her, autumn)

Prince Despair (he/him, winter)

Princess Apathy (she/her, winter)

Prince Horror (he/him, winter)

Prince Pride (he/him, autumn)

Prince Judgment (he/him, autumn)

Prince Criticism (he/him, autumn)

Princess Indifference (she/he non-binary, winter)

Princess Ambition (she/her, autumn)

Princess Serene (she/her, winter)

Princess Ingenuity (she/her, winter)

Prince Patience (he/she/they genderfluid, winter)

Princess Intelligence (she/her, autumn)

Prince Humility (he/him, autumn)

Princess Responsibility (she/her, winter)

Princess Control (she/her, winter)

Prince Manipulation (he/him, autumn)

Princess Tranquil (they/them, winter)

Prince Cold Heart (he/him, winter)

Prince Stability (he/him, winter)

Princess Wisdom (they/them, winter)

Prince Observant (he/him, autumn)

Prince Realism (he/she/they genderfluid, winter)

Prince Modesty (he/him, autumn)

Prince Cruelty (he/him, autumn)

Princess Grief (she/her, autumn)

Prince Disgust (he/him, autumn)

And here is the family tree I made when planning out the unseelie royal family. Bonus points if you can make sense of it. Don't mind the change in color partway through, my marker ran out of ink.

The royals are encouraged to produce heirs so that the unseelie royal family can keep up with the seelie royal family power-wise which is quite a feat considering their competing with King Rainbow and his offspring. King Objectivity has become more strict about royals killing each other to try and preserve as much power as they can. The real challenge is finding consorts.

Unseelie - especially winters - have a harder time falling in love than seelie, but most of the royals aren't looking for love. They're looking for someone suited for ruling who they can tolerate long-term and trust to conceive and raise children with. The trust is the hard part in a place like the unseelie faerie hill. Luckily, they have a long time to find someone. And the ruling part doesn't always apply, often times they don't marry their mates but simply offer them a better life in exchange for making and helping to raise the children. Marriage is, after all, a big deal for fae. Forever is a long time when you're immortal.

The princes who made a brief appearance in Fear Transcends Language were Prince Pride and Prince Ambition. Less than ideal royals for Janus and Virgil to run into. The seelie have a very strained and rather spotty peace agreement with the unseelie which, for the most part, the unseelie honor. If Janus and Virgil had been captured by King Objectivity or someone who sticks to his teachings like, say, Grand Prince Valiance, the seelie royal family would have been in a bad position, but Janus would have been significantly less screwed.

Prince Pride and Prince Ambition would have done things their own way instead of handing Janus and Virgil over to their father which would have ended very, very badly for everyone involved. Pride and Ambition are particularly unflattering examples of unseelie.

When it comes to personal information about the princes there's only one prince I've thought about much and that's Grand Prince Valiance. Oh boy, do I have a lot to say about Grand Prince Valiance. More under the cut because this is getting long.

Grand Prince Valiance is old. So old he remembers what things were like before King Thomas unexpectedly came into power and how in doing so he drastically changed the seelie kingdom and the relations between the two kingdoms. In his opinion, things are better this way.

Valiance was not grand prince at the time. He had four older siblings who killed each other for the title of grand prince. Valiance killed his final older sibling as well, though he didn't lower himself to assassination. He went about it honorably, challenging his brother for his title the traditional way: a battle to the death. Valiance stated his brother to be unsuited for the title of grand prince believing his philosophies and ways of doing things to be outdated with no place in this new world. He knew his brother had become a liability who was damaging the kingdom's foreign relations. He removed the problem.

Valiance, like his father, believes that both seelie and unseelie must exist in order to maintain balance. Now, there are still disputes about territories and other incidents where blood is spilled, but there always has been and always will be. The good terms the two kingdoms are on is a new development, one that the king and grand prince wish to maintain.

Valiance ruled as grand prince for centuries before King Thomas announced the creation of his first two children. When he did, King Objectivity summoned all of the princes and princesses for a dinner meeting.

At the meeting the king informed his children and grandchildren that any of King Thomas's children would likely end up even more powerful than their unseelie counterparts, possibly from a young age. Yes, this included even Valiance whom he had told beforehand. These twins would someday be more powerful despite being significantly younger than him. This news was met with great upset.

King Objectivity told the princes and princesses that they had until the end of dinner to have their emotional reactions and discuss this with each other. After dinner, he never wanted to hear a single complaint about any of this again. This was unusually generous of the unseelie king who normally would not tolerate any 'childish' emotional outbursts from his descendants. The king was experiencing a rare spark of empathy, for he, too, did not handle it well when King Thomas - who is far younger than him and previously much lower ranking - became more powerful than him.

Valiance wasn't happy that these kids could overpower him someday, but he pushed those feelings aside and eventually came to terms with them. Besides, they all knew they had plenty of time before the seelie princes grew up. Then, Roman and Remus started getting older and Roman met Remy. After that, all of the seelie princes started aging much faster and suddenly they were out of time.

Even so, Valiance couldn't be too upset. He respected Roman for claiming a human-drider. Being willing to love an unseelie monster hybrid really said a lot about the kid and it said even more about King Thomas who allowed it to happen.

Roman grew up and now Valiance is almost sort-of kind-of friends with him. Almost, because how could a seelie and unseelie prince be friends? What would Valliance's family say? No, not friends. They're on cordial terms. That's all.

Still, when they have parleys it's clear Roman likes Valiance more than other unseelie royalty (excluding the king, because one never makes known that they have anything less than the utmost respect for the king) just by looking at the impromptu meeting areas he creates for them wherever the incidents occur.

For other unseelie royalty, the table is long to put distance between them. Roman's chair is grander than the other's which is just the slightest bit uncomfortable (more noticeable the longer you sit in it). He brings out his twentieth to fiftieth nicest whiskey (nice enough for royalty while still not being the nicest he could provide). Their pens and papers are standard. 

For Grand Prince Valiance everything is of nicer quality. The table is shorter to make for easy conversation. The chairs are equally grand and comfortable to sit in and match each of their color schemes. Roman brings out his fourth to fifteenth finest whisky (his three finest are reserved for friends, family, and very special occassions) the quality of which depends on the situation and how he feels about Valiance in the moment. He provides pens with the tip he knows Valiance likes and more ornate paper. 

Valiance and Fanciful Creativity (Roman) use each other's monikers with no titles when addressing each other directly. They don't try to trap each other with words or the laws of hospitality. They don't play bullshit faerie games where they mess with each other's heads.

(It's a big difference from how Roman treaters Valiance's great niece, Monger, whom he simply can not stand.)

They're not completely forthcoming, though. They still adhere to the laws of hospitality even if they know the other won't try to trap them. They're still, in some ways, enemies at the end of the day and therefore keep a certain amount of distance between them both literally and figuratively.

Roman may never admit that he secretly reserves his fourth and fifth finest whiskeys for people he wants to be friends with.

(note: whiskey is a human drink that Roman is fond of. Remy introduced him to it)

#ttl #touch transcends language #ask #bluewic answers #maps and charts #world building #character info #History #unseelie

[tartrazeen]

Fae!Angus.

Fae. Angus.

BEST NEW MYSTIC KNIGHT IDEA.

For real - this has completely taken over my other head canons, and I've been thinking it over ever since @schimmelspore came up with it.

I love it.

It's the best of all worlds: it doesn't change anything about the first season, Angus can still play the "common peasant" part whenever he wants, and it adds so many other plotlines to the mix. It even fits with all my ideas for an impossible second season - it's great.

Now - I'm prone to being self-indulgent with stuff like this, so I wanna tone down the ideas I had in the last thread. The last thing I want is to bend the whole story around him (even though, hilariously, Angus was picking up a serious Second-In-Command role among the Mystic Knights in the later episodes, so I feel like the writers were bending the story to feature him as soon as Rohan was off dealing with his family drama or being in a coma 👀). So I've put a few restrictions on and googled a few other things.

1. I'm not super sure I like Angus being a prince anymore 🤣

He doesn't need to be. Great, 'cause it feels like cheating? To make him a super cool omg actual fae, and also a prince? We had the prince reveal with Rohan, and it is so much funnier picturing Deirdre trying to force Angus into uncomfortable, fancy clothes at boring, stuffy events, and Angus only putting up with it because she's his friend - because he's not expected to (because he's not a prince), and he is so not doing this as her subject. Technically, if he's a fairy, she's more on his land than anything uwu

I love it because none of the knights can refuse a royal command from Deirdre right now. Either they're all visiting royals who know how to respect the rule of this land's law, or they're peasants who've been raised to know their place. For Angus to not be a prince, but to no longer be subject to Kells' rule, it builds a really fascinating dynamic between the two of them. Deirdre's forced to interact knowing her crown is meaningless, which has never been the case before. It's always held some power over other people. And sure, Angus was always a bit flippant and careless when he spoke, but she had the authority to shut him up if she had to, so she allowed most of it. Now? She's got no authority.

It's like how she is with Aideen, only a hundred times worse: Aideen has always made it clear that she only does them favours as favours. Now, Deirdre's going to have to be hit with a moment where she insists Angus listen to her, just to realizes, "... Shit. He's a fairy. He doesn't actually have to." The episode where Fin Varra has to rule Kells for a day and tries to turn Angus (lol) into a Spriggen for insulting him, then realizes, "shit i don't have my powers"? That's how that moment's going to go. Every conversation is going to actually have to be a conversation now.

I wouldn't mind an episode about that, either. Aideen can get sick of them and fly off, and Angus (who's already prone to stomping off) can walk away from Deirdre too. Will he get thrown in jail? Sure, maybe! But then she's going to have to accept that the only reason Angus listens to her is because he doesn't want to be in jail. I'll get into stuff about magic in a sec - we already know Angus can pick a lock, so keep that in mind instead.

Imagine Deirdre does butt heads with Angus over the course of that episode, and that Angus starts digging his heels in more and more until he snaps and says he doesn't have to listen to her. "I'm a fairy. You wouldn't be telling Aideen what to do, so don't tell me."

She replies that she can't lock Aideen up for refusing a royal command. He says she wouldn't even try if she could, because Aideen's not her subject, and neither is Angus probably (😝). She's furious at his defiance and says, "You're not Aideen," basically threatening him with going to jail.

Angus goes, "Well, princess, then lock me up. It'll get as much out of me as yelling, but at least in there, I can have a nap."

And she does. She has to. She's a princess, and he can't talk to her like that. Maybe later, she feels awful about it; Rohan could've said something about friendship, or Cathbad about the little people, or her father about commanding one's friends, or even Aideen about how bossy Deirdre can be. So she goes to the jail to see Angus, who's relaxing in there, and tells the guards to let him out.

She's almost about to apologize, but Angus 'forgives' her before she can. Not smart, 'cause she's still hurt by how Angus was ignoring her. So she says she'll only let him out if he promises to listen to her from now on. He might be a fairy, but she's princess, and this is her castle.

And FUCKIN' ANGUS says:

"So it is. But like I've told Maeve in her castle -"

OH BITCH WHAT DID YOU SAY Deirdre explodes at the comparison, and says if he's going to treat her like the enemy - like Maeve - then he can just stay in the dungeon after all. Back in he goes, and off she stomps.

The rest of the episode can be a real soul-searcher for Deirdre. I'd want it to be more of a Deirdre episode than anything; Angus really isn't changing at the end of this. But Deirdre can now walk through her village or her castle and talk to people, trying to take her mind off how rude Angus was, and get into a situation where a peasant's a little rude to her. Maybe she breaks one of the wares of a travelling merchant, and the merchant yells for the guards to make her pay when Deirdre says she doesn't have any gold with her right now.

The guards show up, say that she's the princess, and the merchant says, "I don't care who she is, she broke my stuff!" And the guards - for this merchant's insolence - haul that merchant off to jail. Deirdre tries to intervene because she knows the merchant's technically right, but the guards say that it's always been against the law to insult a member of the royal family.

She says, "As a member of the royal family, I'm ordering you not to take this man to jail!"

And the guards say, "But if we don't, then we'll be breaking the law. And we'll be going to jail."

And she says, "But if you do, then..." And realizes she's kind of got everyone in a lose-lose situation.

The other Mystic Knights come up because they see Deirdre's in a bind, and Ivar purposely suggests that perhaps, the guards simply misheard what the merchant had said, and that the princess was letting them know about the mix-up. And Garrett just so happens to have some gold with him, which is enough to pay for whatever it was that Deirdre broke. And the merchant's about to protest this again, but there's Rohan with a Draganta Stare™ to shut that down. Everyone walks away, and Deirdre's left there with the others.

It's kind of her first chance to see how little power she actually has. Her crown puts even the people who are loyal to her at odds with her authority. The only reason no one went to jail now is because her friends knew what she wanted, and were able to help make it happen. It could be a neat way for these four to bond, especially if Rohan says maybe the reason he's never felt a prince is because no one's been afraid of him - unless they're on a battlefield. :)

The thought of people being afraid of her really sticks in her mind. She even says outloud, "People used to be afraid of Maeve." And that inspiration is enough to get her to go back to the jail and order the guards to let him out for real this time.

Before the guards actually do, Angus could thank her for her generous, merciful charity - and then say he's still not gonna do the thing she threw him in here for not doing. She can maturely take a deep breath at that, say she sees the error of her ways, and then say she cares too much about Angus as a friend to want him to only listen to her out of fear. She likes having his opinion on things. He's always had a unique way of seeing the world, even if it's hard to hear occasionally.

But.

Deirdre isn't some pushover. Maybe he's right that he doesn't have to listen to her. He isn't one of her subjects, and Kells is his home, not his prison. But this is her castle, and he should be listening to her as any good guest would. That's what Ivar and Garrett are doing - and Rohan too, in a way. And more than that... he should want to help her as her friend.

Angus, who's still in the cell right now, says it's hard to help someone as a friend when they treat you like a servant. Deirdre, for her part, can admit that, but says she has to be able to give orders. She's the princess. She doesn't even have a choice; sometimes by just exist, people are ordered to carry out the crown's will for her. It's smothering. Angus might be the one in the cell, but Deirdre's the one who feels trapped.

Angus - ummmm... points out again that he is in a cell.

Deirdre's about to be a mess, 'cause of course that sounds like Angus wasn't even listening now. But Angus cuts her off, finally relenting, and says, "Look. I'll make a deal with you: you get to be the princess giving everybody orders, and I'll be the fairy roaming the castle for fun. If you want something, ask. If I don't want to it, I won't. But if I want to do it, as a favour for my friend, then I will."

Deirdre says that doesn't sound fair to her. It basically seems like he isn't going to help her with anything.

Angus says no, he's not, if she can't ask and can only order it. But he also says she should have a little more faith in him than that. They are friends, and he's always helping her when she doesn't even realize it. For example -

He just opens the cell and walks out lol

She's surprised for a moment, but then slowly says, "Right. Magic."

Angus says, "No. Keys. :) I took 'em when you almost let me out the first time. But! But, but, but - I didn't use 'em 'cause I knew you'd be angry. So I stayed. As a favour to you. As my friend."

It's like a peace offering. Deirdre thinks about how to respond, and eventually takes the keys and hands them back to the guards. As her friend, she's going to generously, mercifully, and charitably order that everyone forgets Angus just did that. One of the guards might try to protest, since he quite literally stole the keys to his cell, but Deirdre will add that as part of her royal order, she wants everyone to forget the guards let him steal those keys. So that shuts them up, and they scurry off.

Angus, free again, finally apologizes for their fight. Deirdre shrugs and says it's proof that someone in Kells isn't afraid of her. Angus says he's terrified of her, and that's the real reason he stayed in the jail: protection. He can't imagine how red she'd be if she found out he'd escaped. Kells is his home, and he wants to be able to sleep in it with both eyes shut.

It's a fun story that'd simultaneously explain how Deirdre, Garrett and Ivar all adjust to Angus' newfound identity. Deirdre would have it the hardest, but the two would certainly appreciate the pain of having someone in their kingdom that they couldn't control. For Garrett, that would be his brothers. :/ For Ivar, it's his sister's pet dog.

There are still some adjustments needed for King Conchobar, since he's not really sure what to make of Angus now. He's pretty always treated Angus as "Rohan's funny friend who does crime and also my daughter wants to make out with him," and as a Mystic Knight, Angus is still going to follow those orders. It's more about coordination than commands, really. So the only questions Conchobar has is, "🤔 How much fairy magic are we talking about exactly?" and "I know he's not a king, but is he like... a noble now...? Or something? He's not living in the castle." And honestly, that second question is the status quo for the show lol Angus gets away with a lot so I don't really think much is going to change in how they talk to each other. It's more that Conchobar will now always ask what Angus can do whenever they make their battle plans. I'm debating how Angus would feel about that uwu

Speaking of magic...

2. I want his to be conceptually simple

The fae in this show can just sort of do whatever. They transform stuff, summon stuff, conjure stuff, enchant stuff, scry on stuff, predict stuff, fix stuff, and make illusions of stuff. Aideen does everything from "make pants out of grass" to "heal herself", seemingly only limited by size.

After googling some Irish mythology specifically so I didn't try to bastardize something that already exists, I saw two big themes:

Fairies use a lot of magic to purposely fuck with humans, both for fun and as revenge for being antagonized

Fairy magic can often be used to explain some human phenomena

As in, "Something bad happened, blame it on an encounter with a fairy."

The vibe I got is that if you mess with a fairy, even accidentally, there is a 1,000,000% chance that they will return to get your ass. If you don't mess with fairies, there's about a 30% chance. If you actively try to befriend fairies, there's a 50% chance, but there's also a 50% chance that it works and they're really niceys to you uwu

CASE IN POINT, THIS DAMN POST PUBLISHED EARLY AGAIN AND I WAS FREAKING ABOUT HAVING ACCIDENTALLY LOST THE ENTIRE DRAFT

WOW OKAY I BROUGHT THIS ON MYSELF, I GET IT, I'M SORRY

I will make local copies from now on 😭

I'm also gonna pick up from here 'cause 🤷🏽‍♀️ I wasn't finished, so sit tight

#mystic knights of tir na nog #my stuff #good job tartra

[arcxnumvitae]

Trope, trope with Ruaidhri!

@thewolfisawake || For every “Trope” I get, I will post a TV trope for my muse || Accepting

Brilliant, but Lazy-- Yes, he's smart, I swear he is. Ruaidhri is incredibly skilled when it comes to social interactions and working people, and he has a cleverness and wittiness that actually surpasses many of his fellow gentry. The only thing is that...he would rather use it to engineer shirtless practice sessions at his home to watch at his leisure than for something like advancement in the Court or garnering favor with others.

It's because of this "laziness" that's led to his father reaching the belief that his son is dull, unintelligent, good for nothing, sex-obsessed, and only interest in partying. Of which only the latter two are true. Anyways, Ruaidhri's apparent ditzy air and flighty, shallow, air-headed personality make plenty of the gentry believe the same as his dad does, not knowing that his hedonistic veneer also hides a keenly intelligent mind that's usually only interested in working towards whatever personal goal he happens to have at the moment.

Aur's started to catch onto that as of late though, and has started to utilize it by putting Ruaidhri to work and having him be the front man of Seelie when interacting with other rulers and nobility, much to Ruaidhri's chagrin.

...I had this all ready to post until I saw that second "trope".

Parental Neglect (small tw for discussions of Seòras not really raising his kid): Ruaidhri was largely left to his own devices during his childhood. He could do whatever he wanted, go wherever he wanted, and no one was there to tell him no. The mortals that served his family only had to make sure he was clothed, fed, and not doing anything that might accidentally get him killed.

Seòras had made it clear from an early age his entire purpose for siring Ruaidhri-- to provide a child that might be married off to the next ruler of Seelie. Past that, he didn't care what Ruaidhri did, so long as he knew to fall in line when it was time to organize an engagement. That's the rule that Ruaidhri lived by his entire life-- do what you want, but when father says it's time to listen, then listen.

Ruaidhri asked only once about the person who gave birth to him, to which Seòras answered that she was a wandering fae who had no real interest in raising a child, not that Seòras himself particularly wanted to bother co-parenting with her. Nothing would come of marriage to a wandering fae, and he had his desired heir anyways. Ruaidhri doesn't think much about his mom though since his father was the only one who wanted the child and she'd made it clear she didn't want to become Ruaidhri's mother and raise him.

As for his father's largely there but still absent presence in his life, much like some of the other gentry, Ruaidhri wouldn't even think to label it as "neglect' or "absence". To him, it's just how things were, and he feels that he was done a better deal having his freedom as a youth than having his obviously disdainful father hovering over him every second.

...Oh the irony.

#thewolfisawake #{Ruaidhri Answers #{Ruaidhri Headcanon #him engineering being Aur's first kiss too #there's more but I'm getting sleepy and having trouble remembering anyways he has a brain #he just only feels like scheming when he has something to get from it #also #Eriskyne sweetie just unionize

[boatslut]

Tell me more about ladsverse. Oh my god tell me more about ladsverse.

What's the basic setting/lore? Like, from what I gather it's generally like our reality but with strange things. What strange things? Unsure. Creatures. Places. Something is off though. Is it off everywhere? Are there off zones? Is it not actually off in the context of the setting?

More questions incoming. Probably not a whole bunch, because don't wanna barrage you and also need more info to have more questions.

Oo baby, okay. So.

Ladsverse is basically set in what could be considered a 'parallel earth', in the sense that it's very similar to nonfictional earth and set in the same current time period, but it has its own divergent elements. Stuff's the same, except that the fact that Cryptids Are Real, and so are all those myths and folkloric tales, as are bizarre phenomenon, eldritch horrors, alternate dimensions, and yes, very very rarely, aliens. That being said, no one knows it's all real from a public perspective. It's all kept under deep secrecy by an organization, the Entity Protection Service, or the EPS. (As well as foreign branches in other countries. The EPS is an American-based group.) Which leads into your second question.

The EPS is a non-government associated organization that was founded a very long time ago with a few core goals:

One, keep Entities unknown and safe from the general human public. This is centralized around the concept that humans pose a risk to Entities for a number of reasons; such as disease, hunting, mishandling or abuse, and opportunistic ventures.

Two, keep humans safe from Entities, be it through rules and guidelines, quarantines, or containment. Due to the erratic and unexplainable natures of Entities, there are risks to human health and life with some cases.

Three, maintain documentation and records on all Entities. Pretty self explanatory.

Four, make deals, forge laws and establish communications and agreements with powerful Entities for the sake of safety of humans, Entities, and the planet. Some Entities— such as the Fae or Cosmic Entities— are too powerful to simply wrangle either physically or make rules over and must instead have to be communicated with to mitigate potential… harm.

There's other reasons the EPS exists, but those are the major ones. Naturally, this probably brings the SCP to mind, but they're far less militant about the Securing and Containing part of things. If anything, they're more like the MIB (the movie, i mean). Entities are generally given quite a bit of freedom, but have restrictions and rules, as well as tricks and disguises for the sake of going in public places. This, though, probably raises the question; what is an Entity?

To put it shortly, an Entity is a classification of a thing that is abnormal, unique, and goes against known and established science and history. An Entity can be a huge number of things, and each has a special classification code based on what it is (Type - Sentience Rating - Risk Rating). ((I definitely can go into that later if people wanted because I do have it established and classify every Entity character I make.)) So an Entity can be an animal that has no evolutionary relatives or others of its species, or a strange supernatural structure in a forest, or an 'impossible' phenomenon such as practical witchcraft, or even things like eldritch gods and their servitors. Basically, if its weird and fucked up and illogical, it could be an Entity.

#ladsverse #oc stuff

[corvicides]

random wuya factoids im thinking about

wuya's probably pretty good at dancing. he's light on his feet, and has a really good sense of rhythm. i imagine he learned dances more useful for ballrooms, and events first. but over time, wuya has definitely taught himself other kinds.

wuya is pretty much guaranteed to live forever, unless he's killed. and of course, as with most ( if not all ) fae, he has a weakness to iron.

his actual name is not wuya. but he will always, forever, introduce himself by this name. names give people power, especially when it comes to fae myth and rules. in twst, i think it's a pretty outdated practice since most the fae characters use their real names. but again, wuya is really old fashioned. wuya is chinese for crow. a bit silly considering he's actually a raven. but it's what he chose.

his feathers hold a great deal of innate magic. and applying even one to a potion, curse, or spell, will amplify it's effects by quite a lot!!!

that in mind, wuya does molt haha. it happens once a year, and wuya is an absolute mess when it does. his feathers begin to fall out, and his hair takes on a rough and dull quality to it. he also grows irritable and moody. while at NRC, wuya will ask for about a week to just sit in his room until the molting process is over. having maybe one to two people bring him essentials for the duration,,, like food.

i think a lot about how wuya's actually pretty powerful? his teacher was maleficent. and while he can't really match even a fourth of her power- he is not to be underestimated. he's usually pretty casual with his magic? and doesn't boast or flaunt his power. but sometimes he does play a little too rough. not just physically lol, but also in the event of any duels involving magic.

#all ebon feathers mischief and wicked manipulation. ( about )

[ghouljams]

Just a couple of curios questions.

1) Would you be able to go more into how the tethers work? Is there more than one way to 'use' them? Other than making everyone feral lol.

2) Court lore? Where does everyone land regarding their standing with the court? What are some of these unabided rules?

Yeah of course! Tethers are easy, but the court stuff I'll put under the cut since you asked about where everyone stands and I want to talk about court politics.

So the tethers respond to emotions. They work as a sort of bridge between the people they connect, the more tethers the stronger the connection and so on. But they really only tend to send these feelings when they're "pulled" or played with. There's a lot of different ways they could be used though. You could pull on them to ease anxiety or spark anger, if you need your fae on your side you can try to sway their emotions through the tethers.

Mostly pulling on tethers just makes people feral because that's all any of them are thinking about. Liebling pulled on König's tethers and because all he ever thinks about is fucking her the tethers pulled real hard on those desires, which Liebling just reflected back 10x and just made the tethers pulling worse.

As for the Court, they're the major players within the fae wild. The ones that hold the most debts or the most important ones. They can't actually make rules, fae rules in this au are more based around manners and literalisms in speech. That doesn't mean the Court doesn't hold power, I think the court is sort of final decider on quarrels and debts and they make some laws for ease within society but it's not like they can really enforce them.

As for everyone's positions, we'll go by power in court, here's where I think the Fae boys land:

Price: high Court, he holds heavy and important debts to a lot of people. More importantly the people that are tied to him are absolutely loyal and the Court doesn't want to deal with the 141 showing up to wreck their shit. He's a Winter representative and does his best to make sure there's a good balance of power between the seasons, but generally he doesn't really care for politics. He only goes to court to be seen and scare the rest of the fae, he keeps them on their toes.

König: he would hold more power in court but he almost never shows up to meetings. He's not actually in court due to holding debts he's there because he's a threat to the court. König is a very dangerous fae and one that can't no one in the Court has been able to control so keeping him on the Court is a way to keep an eye on him. They use him as an attack dog occasionally but he finds it insulting and will show up to meetings just to stare them down and let everyone know he will eat them if the tomfoolery continues. Price thinks he's funny.

Gaz: he holds a lot of debts but most of them are human and most of them have been paid or are in the process of being paid. He's a moderate thorn in the Court's side because they can't pin him down. Gaz isn't about to listen to bureaucrats and Price isn't about to make him, so the Court tends to leave him to his own devices. Which is fine by Gaz, he likes being able to do him own thing and pop between seasons whenever he wants.

Soap: he doesn't give a shit about the Court. They don't have any leverage on him and he deals with humans mostly anyway. Soap avoids the Court for the most part, he doesn't really have any reason to interact with them. Soap is a pretty straight forward brand of fae and doesn't need court interference. He finds his darlings and eats them, no need to get the Court involved. That said he's absolutely loyal to Price and is kept up to date with Court happenings through Price's batching.

Ghost: so far removed from Court it's not even funny. Given the opportunity he would kill everyone on it and has had to be kept on a short leash by Price the few times he made appearances at Court. He is the fae's boogeyman and they would like him to stay as far away from Court as possible. Price is the only person who can control him, the Court stopped trying a long time ago. Ghost doesn't hold debts he holds grudges, arguably that's more dangerous to the Court.

Bonus Darlings: None of them hold positions in Court but they all could become thorns in the Court's side very easily. Being the lovers of powerful fae is a good position to be in. Especially when it's very clear that those fae will do anything for their Darling, and they mean anything.

#ghoul speaks #fae au #i like to think König ate an autumn representative and no one could tell him that wasnt how positions were given out

[letstalktea]

Can you talk about Beloved the Fae more? I can't stop thinking about them. I'm standing nearby with binoculars writing down everything I can about their life and life cycle.

Do they have any key characteristics that stay from form to form? Like wings, pointed ears, antennae, solid color eyes? Would they trap darling with Fae foods? Or Fae ideas of being indebted to them through thanking them or apologizing to them? How was beloved created/born and if possible can Beloved reproduce? If so is it purest like a kiss can create them, are they born like plants, the more traditional way, or even just splitting into two? How does Beloved marry their darling?

You can ask about Beloved as much as your heart desires. I love them and their fae logic and hijinks.

When it comes to traits that stay the same from form to form, the only one they cannot change at all is their eye color. They have boysenberry purple eyes that swirl around like glitter in a lava lamp. They cannot change their eye color no matter how hard they try because "eyes are the window to the soul". They can change the shape and size of their eyes, but the color forever remains inhuman. They also don't have pupils, so it's just a giant iris. Other physical traits are nearly fully within their control. There are more… mystical things Beloved can't control that a human may not be able to notice. They have a "second shadow" so to speak. If you cross your eyes until you see a double image then stare at the space where they touch just before breaking apart, you may just barely catch sight of another image; that is Beloved's real form being caught and they cannot change it no matter what. Certain species can see these "second shadows" more easily, but humans are not one of them.

It's been a long time since they turned into anything that wasn't humanoid, so don't expect much in that department (they can try if Darling really wants them too though). Despite being a fae, because Beloved lives among other species they don't use their magic as frequently as they may have in their youth, making it rusty. However, people still see the most beautiful person they ever have when they look at Beloved, transformation is just to appear as something else (like the prettiest cat, most graceful deer, etc).

Beloved doesn't need to trap Darling. Darling is already their wonderful spouse. They said so. However, that doesn't mean Beloved hasn't tried some old school methods. I mean, there's a reason Beloved tries to feed Darling so much. They slip a couple of weird ingredients into the food that marks Darling as theirs. Plus, doing good deeds for Darling means they deserve repayment and they are a complete pervert who gets off on Darling being a mess for them. Note: Darling being theirs is not the same as being married. Marriage is a lot more complicated and has many traditions. Namely, Darling would need to move back to the Fae Lands with Beloved and eat the food that grows there from Beloved's hand, Beloved would need to do the same, and they would seal the deal by drinking from the same cup. Then Darling could never leave because the flow of time is so different (think 1 day in the Fae Lands is 100 years in our world). While Fae can jump between the two with little more than a bit of jetlag, Darling would actually die and crumble to dust were they to touch the ground of their old world after spending time in the Fae Lands. Beloved hasn't broached that topic quiet yet, so they settled with a more mundane idea of marriage. They will bring it up someday though.

Beloved is… well, they are a true fae. Old school rules and tricksters who originally came to the mundane world because they were bored. They got a nice office job because it fascinated them, had an orc friend some 450 years back when they first arrived, finds faeries adorable but kind of dumb (note: faeries and fae are related, but not the same). They change the story of how they were born every time someone asks because it's fun to screw with them. Suffice it to say, they don't have parents at the very least. I can tell you that they are near immortal though, as their existence follows Tinkerbell logic. As long as someone believes in fae, they will exist. Darling would be near immortal too if they went through a fae marriage, since they would belong to Beloved and that means Beloved owns their life and death. Someday…

As for reproduction… Beloved can't have children in the traditional sense. They are (mostly) infertile. However, they can always resort to kidnapping a baby and raising them. The kid wouldn't be a fae, but they wouldn't exactly be their original species either. They'd be somewhere between the two. Now to explain the "mostly infertile" thing: the way fae are born is a huge secret that none of them will share. It's a kind of asexual reproduction where as many fae as want can participate, but none of the progenitors are considered a parent (fae are full adults when they come into existence with all the knowledge of those who contributed to their creation). Fae don't make other fae very often because of the whole "near immortal" thing. It would quickly get out of hand.

#undead merman #h2ho #talking oc #beloved the fae #spill the tea: ask #you sent this right as I went on vacation so sorry for the delay in answering

[acourtofthought]

Someone made a post about how they “don’t understand why people hate the idea of three sisters and three brothers”

And because I’m a curious person, I decided to read the comments, and two in particular stood out to me.

(This is legit verbatim what was said. I copied the comments because I didn’t want to paraphrase anything)

One person said: Exactly! Especially it’s not coincident that 3 most powerful Ilyrians (I count also Rhys, even he is half only) live in the same era and in the same era of 3 made powerful Fae - Archeron sisters. It makes only sense that fate will mate them together. Lucien is totally out of this and out of their league.

I’m sorry . . . But the last time I checked wasn’t Lucien heir to the Day Court? Didn’t he calm Cassian (one of those 3 most powerful Illyrians) with just a single word? Wasn’t he the only one able to break free of Hybern’s magic when Elain was left on the ground? Isn’t he a High Lord in the making? I don’t understand them saying that “Lucien is totally out of this and out of their league” when Lucien LITERALLY surprised Cassian with his dominance, enough so that he was able to calm a raging male who’s mate was being threatened!

And then the OP replied with this: i hope elriel will be an endgame. they’re drawn to each other unlike elucien. remember when Lucien compared Elain to Jesminda and said that Elain was “thrown”to him. in acosf bonus chapter Az said that it’s unfair that Elain was “given” to another male. so Az perceives her as a gift while Lucien sees her as someone he doesn’t want or need. anyway i’ll take any of these ships, as long as it’s her own choice and she’s happy. my girl is all that matters to me

First I do agree with them saying that it should be Elain’s choice and that her happiness is all that matters. But my issue is everything stated before that. Lucien’s comment about Elain being thrown at him isn’t any different than Cassian saying to NESTA (Lucien never said this to Elain’s face) that he didn’t ask to be shackled to her. If they really interpret Lucien trying to process the fact that a woman he loved and thought was his mate for years suddenly wasn’t, as Lucien not wanting or needing Elain, then I question if they actually understand these characters. And the whole Az perceives her as a gift thing is laughable. Him saying it’s “unfair that she was given to someone else” isn’t sweet and they completely misinterpreted all of that. Azriel was acting like an entitled child who didn’t receive the same toy as his brothers (and this is coming from someone who actually likes Az). I don’t see how they read that and thought “oh he sees Elain as gift!” because he doesn’t. He sees her as a constellation prize. Do they honestly think that Elain wants to be talked about like she’s a possession who was just “given” to the wrong owner? Because that’s what I got from Azriel’s conversation with Rhys.

I just seriously question peoples reading comprehension. And I’m tired of the “Lucien doesn’t deserve Elain” slander.

Three brothers with three sisters is sickeningly cute. It's a People Magazine human interest story, not the stuff of a world where they're dealing with war, torture, assaults, etc.

And yes, Az is powerful, there's no doubt. But he's not more powerful than Rhys who is a High Lord and he's not more powerful than other High Lords. He still has to bend to Rhys's will if Rhys chooses to exercise it.

"They are not merely powerful—they are Power.”

“They didn’t dare. Feyre, he’s a High Lord. He’s a different breed.”

So if it's really about the sisters, with their Fated powers being with the most powerful male, than why limit it to the Illyrians? Where's the rule book that says only the Night Court is an option for the Archeron love interests?

And you're right, it really isn't romantic that Az is hung up on the third sister being given to another. Maybe if we'd heard him confess real feelings for Elain then question the Cauldron. Maybe if he'd said that he liked anything about her personality, that she was brave and saved Cassian's life, that she made him laugh then questioned the Cauldron, maybe then we'd believe he actually cared about Elain for Elain. But as it stands the only thing he cares about is him not getting what his brothers got, regardless of who the third sister was.

[bn-brightflower]

Court of Blood and Bindings

By Lisette Marshall

My rating: 5/5

Spiciness: 🌶🌶🌶/5

Kindle: Yes

Kindle Unlimited: Yes

Paperback: Yes

Amazon Link

Trigger Warnings: Violence, War Crimes, Torture, Gore, Mentions of Child Abuse

Who I'd recommend it for: fans of dark romance. And I do mean dark. Our MMC, Creon, the "Silent Death", has done many, many things that do not fall into the forgivable category. If you are unable to empathize with a character without forgiving them, I would not recommend this series.

Summary: Emelin (the FMC) has always been different. She has color magic, something that famously belongs to the fae and not the humans she lives among, and is told that she inherited it from a distant relative on her mother's side. She hides her magic, but remains an outcast.

On the day that the humans are celebrating a ward they've completed, meant to keep the fae (whom they are essentially enslaved to) away, she is caught using her magic by one such fae.

When she wakes in the morning, she finds not only that her home village is burning, but that she's been spared. She is whisked away by the ominous fae that saw her use magic, the Silent Death, the most fearsome and cruel known fae whose entire purpose is enforcing The Mother's will, the fae that rules all the land.

Emelin finds herself taken to the Fae Isles where she is presented a deal; help the Silent Death kill The Mother and he will protect her, and help her find the real birth parents that she inherited her magic from. But can she trust him? What, exactly, is the motivation for The Mother's most trusted tool to call for her death?

~~ SPOILERS AHEAD ~~

Things I Loved:

I genuinely loved so much of this book.

The color magic was such a neat and unique system that I don't think I've come across before. The fae do not have limitless, omnipotent powers; their power is fed by colors and they pull the colors from objects around them. Once the color is gone, so is their magic.

The Silent Death - Creon. I truly loved his character. I liked the scent of mystery and the fact that the evils he's done are not excused, nor does he attempt to defend himself. I appreciated the fact that the small kindnesses he's done are pulled out not by him bringing attention to them, but because of the evidence of them.

Emelin - I really appreciated a strong FMC that isn't "too stupid to live." She had a strong sense of morals but doesn't run out of her way to cause herself undue trouble for half of the book. I was able to empathize with both her and Creon, which I've found rare in these books.

The actual relationship felt like it evolved naturally enough. While the lust is there from the start, there was no instalove. It felt real in a way that seems to be missing from many romances I've read.

And, more ultimately, the lack of rape threats. This genre is saturated with books that tend to use rape as the ultimate threat against the characters, and its refreshing that this one lacked that aspect. Things can be terrible and unforgivable without rape.

Things that Could Have Been Better:

Creon has no voice, and Emelin teaches him a form of sign language. I enjoyed this aspect but it felt very rushed. At times, his dialogue seems far too flowery and quick to allow for that sort of communication. There are points at which the author seems to remember that Emelin has to look at him to talk and quickly writes it in, but other times where it reads like standard dialogue without quotation marks.

Speaking of: QUOTATION MARKS! This author uses single quotes instead of double for dialogue. I'm not sure why. It isn't quite as distracting as I thought it would be, but it is a slight pet peeve of mine.

#court of blood and bindings #lisette marshall #fae isles #fae romance #book review

[notabled-noodle]

alright thank u i am going to Talk now

(prefacing this with. uh. you might already know this stuff. i dont really know whats supposed to be common knowledge and what isn't, but like. i enjoy talking abt this anyway)

so lately i've been thinking about fantasy, because that's what's on my brain all the time ever since i was like 8. Specifically though I am thinking about the fact that "fantasy" as a genre is not very different from soft sci fi

"soft" sci fi describes sci fi where the science isn't explained to you; it's just Science. Science that isn't actually possible usually falls under this category. they might put in explanation of a few things, give you an idea of what's going on, give you vocabulary, etc, but you probably will not actually be able to understand the science (because, as mentioned, it's usually impossible. it's fake science). So, like, Star Wars is soft sci fi, because... the force does things. it does cool force things. pay no attention to how the force works, it just Does.

"hard" sci fi is a subcategory of sci fi that's concerned with accuracy & logic. the science is Real Science. iirc the martian is hard sci fi, or pretty close. Most of the science in it is, like, feasible. It's calculations & estimations as to what would actually be possible, messed around with a bit to keep in the story structure.

You can obviously argue that hard sci fi is different from fantasy, because science that follows accuracy, plausibility, rules, & logic is inherently different from magic that is fundamentally still built on the impossible. But soft sci fi and fantasy are basically the same thing. Star Wars is a fantasy film series. There's a reason SFF (science fiction & fantasy) is a name for a category. The difference between a lot of sci fi and fantasy is literally just execution; you can have a story about corrupt overlords using their Cool Death Power to hurt the people, but if the overlords are mystical aliens and the people are cyborgs, and it's sci fi. You put it in an ancient world where the overlords are wizards and their people are the fae, it's fantasy. The magic/alien power doesn't have to change at all--it's running on the same concept.

Sci fi and fantasy are therefore often separated by, like, vibes? that & themes, since what sci fi deals with tends to be far different from what fantasy deals with. but fundamentally, the line is drawn in sand, and imo more people should explore the line between sci fi and fantasy. (spellhacker by MK england did it pretty well; there is both a sciencey futuristic world with themes of corruption & a plot that hinges on magic/the magic system.)

aaa sorry for such a long ramble but. yeah ;-; i like this stuff

separation of genre categories is actually one of my favourite things to think about — with books, movies, and music… mostly because there’s definitely times when it doesn’t make sense completely.

I hadn’t heard the term “soft sci-fi” before but that makes sense as a category (I assume that Doctor Who also falls into it?)

it’s kind of similar to how country music and pop music blend into each other super regularly. listening to country radio can be a lottery — is this song going to be something that could be played in a club? or is it going to include the harmonica and banjo?

anyway, yeah! genre is weird! humans like to put things into categories even when there are a bunch of blurred lines!

#asks

[corvicarum]

random wuya factoids im thinking about

wuya's probably pretty good at dancing. he's light on his feet, and has a really good sense of rhythm. i imagine he learned dances more useful for ballrooms, and events first. but over time, wuya has definitely taught himself other kinds.

wuya is going to live a very verylong life, unless he's killed. and of course, as with most ( if not all ) fae, he has a weakness to iron.

his actual name is not wuya. but he will always, forever, introduce himself by this name. names give people power, especially when it comes to fae myth and rules. in twst, i think it's a pretty outdated practice since most the fae characters use their real names. but again, wuya is really old fashioned. wuya is chinese for crow. a bit silly considering he's actually a raven. but it's what he chose.

his feathers hold a great deal of innate magic. and applying even one to a potion, curse, or spell, will amplify it's effects by quite a lot!!!

that in mind, wuya does molt haha. it happens once a year, and wuya is an absolute mess when it does. his feathers begin to fall out, and his hair takes on a rough and dull quality to it. he also grows irritable and moody. while at NRC, wuya will ask for about a week to just sit in his room until the molting process is over. having maybe one to two people bring him essentials for the duration,,, like food.

i think a lot about how wuya's actually pretty powerful? his teacher was maleficent. and while he can't really match even a fourth of her power- he is not to be underestimated. he's usually pretty casual with his magic? and doesn't boast or flaunt his power. but sometimes he does play a little too rough. not just physically lol, but also in the event of any duels involving magic.

#𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓. / wuya