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flowerwrites06 · 3 years

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diamond trail II — myg

Plot: The theft of his most elusive and mystery possession leads to a web of trickery that threatens every large syndicate in the country. (alternative: Yoongis’ prized possession is stolen but he’s not the only gang leader being betrayed)

Pairing(s): Mafia Boss!Yoongi x Consigliere!Y/N

Rating: G | PG | M | R 18+

Type: Drabble | Oneshot | Two Parter | Series

Word Count: 3k+

Genre: Mafia | Marriage | Mature Themes/Fluff/Smut

Tags & Warnings: criminal activities, mentions of past abuse (outside of the pair), explicit smut (spanking and very brief anal play), mild violence, coarse language, prostitution.

Authors Note: the planning got a little wack but i think i’ve got it down now. hope you enjoy this part and make sure a like/reblog/comment go a long way!

Morning turned dull and dreary as the cloud hung heavy in the sky. The driveway darkened from and the grass shimmered from the thunderstorms last night but the weather didn’t relent in its greyness. You wore a deep emerald sweater dress, black coat and warm hat while the guards prepared your car.

Yoongi stayed quiet throughout the entire ride, hand still holding yours. Except his mind wandered to mentally prepare himself. Gang leaders don’t always agree to meetings nor do they end up well for anyone. You were the glue that held them together at this point.

Consiglieres’ normally always have good connections but your web was unbeatable. The amount of time you were able to keep Yoongis’ business on the down low and manage to keep it running in the same line. It was one of the reasons he fell in love. The aura of magnetism around you that attracted so many to trust you. Aside from your looks, the way you spoke and held yourself was something any experienced gang leader would be careful not to test.

Their meeting was in a neutral zone. In the private basement of Petunia Valley, a small florist shop situated near the outskirts of the city. Namjoons’ car already arrived to the scene. Daisy, the owner, had some trouble with gang members in the past. She came to you for some aid and you suggested that making a front for Gae Pa would put Daisy under their protection. Making it an act of war or treason if gang members attacked her.

She’d been safe ever since which gladdened your heart.

As you and Yoongi entered the flower shop, Daisy gave you the biggest smile. “Ma’am! It’s good to see you.” She bowed.

“Everything’s ready for the meeting.” You nodded towards the stairs.

“Yes, ma’am.” She nodded enthusiastically. “The tall man with the shades came in. I’ve given them some jasmine tea to calm themselves since he looked antsy. No funny business or fights though.”

You smiled and patted her shoulder. She looked so much happier than the crying girl with bruises littered on her face three years ago. “You’re looking well.”

Her pale cheeks flushed in pink. “All thanks to you, ma’am.”

Another car pulled up at the entrance.

“Let’s get this over with, sweetheart.” Yoongi gently rubbed your arm. He gave an extremely brief smile to Daisy before guiding you down the stairs.

Thankfully the basement had a faint floral scent to it with that tiny hint of fertilizer than you both hoped wouldn’t get too pungent as the hour passed. Namjoon sat at the wooden table, tattooed hand clasping the adorable pink floral cup with a clear grimace on his face. Clearly that jade bracelet messed with his head as much as the diamond gun did Yoongi.

The shades were probably to hide hangover or lack of sleep. Or both.

You sat at the head of the table being the meeting coordinator. One of Namjoons’ bodyguards poured you a cup of tea by his boss’ request. “Thank you.” You smiled.

“I’ll have some too,” Yoongi said.

“Get your own fucking tea.” Namjoon narrowed his gaze.

“Gentlemen.” You warned, spreading silence between the two leaders. Taking the teapot, you poured a cup for Yoongi and gently placed it in front of him.

Jimin walked down with three bodyguards crowded around him. He sat on the far end of the table, purposely ignoring both Yoongi and Namjoons’ presence. Being the only leader without a sigil or history, he must’ve been trying to keep an air of intimidation up. “Let’s get this over with.” He straightened out his coat.

“Ass without a sigil thinks he can scare us, Min.” Namjoon scoffed. “You believe that?”

“No I don’t, Kim.”

You sighed in slight exasperation. “I’ve called you three here because our reputations are being toyed with. By an elusive thief who is trying to create tension between the gangs.”

“Would you really consider that ones’ business as a gang?” Namjoon tilted his head to Jimin.

“I work and have significant influence and following in the underworld. So yes, it counts as a gang.”

“I was asking the real gang consigliere, kid.” Namjoon smiled bitterly.

“Namjoon…he’s right.” You explained to the best of your thinning patience.

“You might have to explain things to him a little slower, my lady.” Jimin smirked. “He tends to focus more on the curves of your breasts than anything you say.”

“Little brat wants to die today,” Yoongi seethed, teeth grinding.

Jimin scoffed, plump lips curling upwards. “This is a neutral zone. You can’t kill me unless you risk this entire flower shop getting burned down.”

“I’ll decide what happens to this shop and the ones who harm it, Mr. Park.” Your gaze sharpened on the man. “I’m sure your wife and kids wouldn’t appreciate having their vacation stopped short because you wouldn’t play nicely in a meeting.” All Jimins’ bodyguards standing ready to fight and the man himself holding a clipped tongue, lost for words. “Bora Bora, is it? Lovely place.”

Jimin bit down the insides of his cheeks, chest rising and falling as frustration twisted his usually pretty features. He raised his chin to maintain his pride. “Continue.”

Yoongi tried to hide the impressed smirk that desperately tried to tug at his lips.

“Thank you.” You tapped the side of your cup. “I don’t have enough information to pinpoint a culprit yet but it is definitely someone notorious to like chaos in the country. Our best lead could be to suspect Jwi Pa but it’s too obvious.”

“Don Byeol doesn’t really share her grandfathers’ viewpoints anymore,” Namjoon said. “If we had another Sapphire Assassin scandal on our hands, we’d probably all be dead by now. This thief wants us to die by killing each other by your theory.”

“Is it really for power if it’s so indirect?” Yoongi asked. “The way this guy’s working is like he just wants the chaos for sport.”

“Why don’t we just settle our differences now?” Jimin asked.

“‘cause you’re refusing to give me my sisters’ bracelet, dumbass.”

“I bought it fair and square.”

“There is a way I can get more information. During a charity event, I heard that a street gang leader rose up to the ranks by killing the Don of Mal Pa. A sort of revolution since the previous Don was getting a little too obsessed with creating piles than actual influence,” you said.

Mal Pa hadn’t been too popular ever since Don Chun Hei passed away. She didn’t have a lot of children so the leadership moved to underbosses and then associates. The meaningfulness of the gangs’ importance subdued and eventually became obsolete. However, the gang was still alive and apparently running under unknown leadership. It was a good place to start.

Except you would have to dig deeper if you were looking into a mystery gang like this. You’d have to visit him.

“I know an information broker who might be able to gain a lot of information of Mal Pa and the thievery itself.”

Yoongi didn’t need too long before his expression softened in realization. “Absolutely not.”

“Why? What’s wrong with him?” Namjoon asked.

“He asks for information as his currency. Keeps his connections strong so you can only work with him a few times in dire circumstances.” The last time you had to gain information on the large robbery in Gae Pa and had to tell him that your father and brother were still alive in Singapore. “He can help me track down the thief. He might even be able to name him exactly.”

Yoongi curled his fingers into tight fists. Kim Seokjin. Always asking for the right things to keep up his popularity and wealth. Information can get you anywhere from the top of the most expensive building to the bottom most slums of the city. The country ran on it and Seokjin was one of the monarchs who owned it. “Is this the only way?”

“I’m afraid so.”

Even Namjoon and Jimin stayed quiet, unable to really comment on the matter. The only person at risk in this situation would be you. You knew all kinds of information but there were different promises and deals made in terms of spreading news on people and networks in the underworld.

Yoongi stared at you in silence. A mixed look of concern and anger twisting his features. Just let it this be over.

***

Seokjin knew what he was doing when he made the deal. Best way to gain power without being seen is to take advantage of the one with the most connections. You were the top tier.

Another storm poured down into the city the same night as you travelled to Seokjins’ favorite restaurant. Road glistened like polished obsidian, reflecting the pink neon of the entrance sign. You drove in alone but measures were taken to ensure your utmost safety in the matter. With a deep breath, you walked through the restaurant with an air of confidence.

Seokjin sat at the booth, tapping the side of his sherry glass. When he noticed you arrive, a wide grin tugged from ear to ear. “Darling!”

You bit the inside of your cheek at the nickname. The tall male reached in and kissed both her cheeks softly before relaxing back onto the black booth.

“I haven’t heard from you since that massive robbery. Have you been purposely avoiding me?” Pillowy lips jutted into a pout.

“I have to keep my peoples’ funds in check. You tend to ask for a high price even in casual visits.”

Seokjin chuckled, the warm lights casting an eerie shadow on his eyes. Black orbs of a demon. “I’m a bit of a workaholic.” He shrugged. “So what did you need tonight on such short notice?”

You waved your hand for a drink. “Someone is trying to create havoc with two gang leaders and a restaurant chain owner.”

“Ah yes, the robbed auction. The underground newsletters were brimming.” Seokjin failed to hide the excitement flooding through his veins as his face turned smug. “So much anger. Two dreadful murders already.” He looked at his nails with a forced saddened expression. “So gory, your people.”

“Well—” Your eyes flickered up to the waitress who gave you a cup of earl grey tea.

“On the house, ma’am.” The waitress grinned before turning on her heel.

“So terribly famous.” Seokjin smirked.

“My suspicions are on Mal Pa. I had a theory since the leader used to be in a street gang. There’s a lot of whispers that they have some kind of vendetta to all gangs. It’s a good place to start without getting traced.” You didn’t want to voice those rumors to Yoongi or Namjoon since it had no basis yet. But with the way Seokjin smiled at you knowingly, you knew that was a lead.

Thunder struck, silver bolt flickering against the blackened sky. You used the warmth of the tea to bring you some comfort even though all you really wanted was to snuggle up in bed for night. “You know something, yes?”

“So long as you understand the natures of this transaction.”

Anxiety crept at the back of your mind, like thorn vines climbing up an aged building. More thunder boomed across the skies almost making you jump. You blinked slowly and breathed deep. “I do.”

“Good,” Seokjin said. Long fingers intertwined, business stance with a ready breath. “Jeon Jungkook.”

“Jeon Jungkook?” You shook your head.

“That’s the current leader of Mal Pa. A former street goon who was apparently asking for the previous gang leaders’ aid. They refused so Jeon took it upon himself for justice. Got a bunch of people and trashed the entire place. Killed the Don along with it.” Seokjin traced the brim of his glass. “If anyone has an agenda against the Dons of this country, it’s him.”

“How do I get in contact with him?”

Seokjin laughed like you spoke the funniest joke in the world. “Sweetheart, even if you offered your body and soul to the man, he wouldn’t talk to you. He hates the higher ups.”

“I wasn’t always a higher up.” Your origins started in the streets just like Jungkook. The smell of garbage and cheap perfume lingering in the air. Hiding in the closet with earbuds while mother worked. Taking over the family business and expanding your horizon with nothing but the clothes on you back and sweat on your skin. “Is there a way I can get through to him?”

Seokjin sighed. “For a man with a supposed higher purpose, he visits this courtesan house quite regularly.” He grabbed a napkin and wrote down the name of the establishment. “If you meet him there while he’s high on opium then you might be able to gain some information.”

“Nectar Oak.” Your heart jumped up to your throat. How long had it been since you saw or heard that name before? The feeling of their silk uniform still lingered on your skin.

“I understand this is no strange place to you,” Seokjin spoke.

You swallowed the small lump in your throat. “A thing of the past.” You buried the napkin into your purse. “What’re your terms?”

“I’ve asked this of you before. Information on a gang leader requires a hefty price. You can’t delay me any longer since we found out about your father and brothers’ hideout.” That same sinister smirk tugged at his lips. “What were the true terms of your marriage with Don Min Yoongi?”

A cold flood washed over your form, welcoming unwanted twists and lurches in your stomach from the time years ago. Time when things weren’t as warm as they are now. You kept a steady face, the corner of your lips twitching just the slightest. “I was a worker at the courtesan house,” you spoke softly. “Before they pay you for customers, they train you with different workers in the house. My first real customer was Yoongi. He was very kind but distant.”

You took a deep breath. “One night he came in and he said that he was going to reserve me. I didn’t know customers could truly do that. It meant he paid for everything and I got to spend time outside of the house. Working in a place like that, you tend to gain many connections and information very easily. It allowed me to earn a place in Yoongis’ radar. He’d come to me for information and personal activities.”

Seokjin took a tiny sip of his sherry, eyes fixated on you like the excitement would stop if he blinked.

Sadness loomed over your face. “I got pregnant. I told him as soon as he arrived to the house.” You sucked in your bottom lip. “He looked so happy…but—then he never came back again. For seven months, I never saw him. I already prepared to have the baby on my own until one morning, he came back. I learned that Gae Pa was going through a power struggle. When Min Areum murdered the Don, there was chaos. Questions on whether Yoongi deserved to have power—but then my pregnancy created all the more chaos.”

“He came to me and told me that he needed help.” You smiled a little to yourself. “He knew I had people I could talk to help with the associates trying to harass Yoongi. But I had to be part of the family. So he married me. We signed a legal agreement and I took down all the associates who dared to threaten Gae Pas’ true heir.”

“So the most popular couple in the underworld—” Seokjin rested back on the booth. “—is a marriage run on business and convenience. Not love.”

“I didn’t say there wasn’t any love.”

Seokjin hummed with a slight smile. “I’m sure there is.”

You suppressed the need to roll your eyes as you stood up from the booth. “Pleasure doing business with you, Kim.”

“Be sure to give Yoongi my love!”

***

“No, no, no. Absolutely fucking not. Not a chance.” Yoongi kept blabbering as the news finally reached the room. He curled up the sleeves of his white shirt, roughly raking through his hair. He turned and took a deep breath. Trying to protest more before turning away again in light stammers. “I’m gonna kill him.”

“You’re not killing anyone.” You crossed your arms over your chest.

The maids were ordered to work on the bedroom quarters while the living room reserved for their little argument. Yoongi clasped onto his hips, shaking his head. “We’re risking too much, baby. I don’t think it’s worth it. Even my mother would slap me in the head if she saw this.”

“It’s not just about the gun anymore.” You padded closer to him, rubbing his arm. “There’s a high chance he’s gonna try something else. Something worse than a robbery. It’s already happening, there’s been two murders. We can’t wait for that to happen to us.”

Yoongi let out a deep sigh, nerves still aching from the tightness but at least information was registering in his head again. You were right. Jungkook could have Namjoon or Jimin assassinated in an instant. The underworld will be able to trace Gae Pa down immediately. Right now, he was playing but it could very well get serious and bite them back in the ass for ignoring it. “I just hate that you have to go back there again. Wearing those same clothes.” He swallowed down thickly. “You’ve done so much to get me out of problems and now it’s almost back to square one.”

You reached in and kissed the back of his neck. “It’s not gonna be like last time. We’re stronger now. And this is my home as much as it is yours.”

“I know—”

“So I’m going to protect it no matter what. Okay?” You moved so you stood in front him, nose nudging against his. “We’ll protect it together.”

Yoongi smiled, cupping your cheeks and kissing you on the forehead. “What did you ask you for?” A part of him didn’t wish to know. The fear of personal information in the slimy hands of that weasel made his insides lurch but he knew the weight would lifted off of you.

“Our terms of marriage.” You smiled sadly. “How it actually happened.”

“Did he ask about the baby?”

“Actually no—he seemed pretty satisfied with the story itself.” Or Seokjin figured on what might’ve happened if their child wasn’t public nor were there any rumors of a Gae Pa heir.

“We’re not talking to him ever again.”

“So long as we don’t get into trouble.” You chuckled under your breath. Even entertaining the idea of a trouble free life was too idealistic.

“Then we’re never getting rid of him.” Yoongi sighed.

Fear still lingered, twisting his stomach in knots at the events to come but his mind knew better. You were both stronger than the time Yoongi was taking the chair as Don. This was a small bump in the road. Nothing more.

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#yoongi #thebtswritersclub #yoongi imagines #bts imagines #yoongi fanfic #bts fanfic #yoongi angst #bts angst #yoongi mafia au #bts mafia au

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polar534 · 3 years

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Slumber Party... OF DOOM!

So. Here is my submission for @johnnysfire ‘s TOH Prompt challenge. For anyone who doesn’t know the prompt chosen was “Evil.”

I asked my lovely friends from discord whether I should go emotional or lighthearted with this and they said lighthearted, so here we are. It was actually really really fun to take a topic like evil and twist it to something fun and hopefully fluffy. I had to keep a lot of things shorter then what I would’ve liked to meet the word count (spoiler alert, I still went a little over), so one day I do plan on fixing this up and making it an actual one shot, detailing the game and everything. Until then, enjoy the read! My idea going in?

Haunted Boardgame:

(EDIT: Um so Tumblr ate and spat out some paragraphs at random the first time I posted... so hopefully everything is in its correct order. Yikes.)

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

"Pillows?"

"Check."

"Blankets."

"Check!"

"Hot chocolate?"

3 sets of eyes turned to the green-haired witch sitting in the corner. Amity Blight was currently too busy staring at the glow that inexplicably seemed to surround Luz as she sounded off the ingredients for her perfect 'Slumber Party' to notice her companions all staring at her.

"..."

Amity's eyes shifted only slightly to the left as her ear twitched, finally noticing the silence and the fact that everyone was staring at her.

Wait.

Everyone was staring at her.

"Oh um..." Amity looked around panicked, flushing red as she realized she had completely zoned out. She quickly analyzed the scene. Willow had wrapped a fluffy blanket around herself as Gus clutched a pillow excitedly to his chest.

Right. The checklist. Refusing to look at Luz (to avoid any further embarrassment or lapses in attention), Amity quickly reached out and snatched her sound-off item. Only barely remembering what it was at the last moment, Amity somehow saved herself from the splash of scalding liquid that flew out of her mug.

"Hot chocolate, acquired!" She grinned forcibly and altogether too nervously.

Finally risking a glance up to her crush she realized that Luz was giggling, the human's eyes closed as she snicked softly against her hands.

Amity's ears pressed flat against her head as Willow chuckled to her left.

"Well that would be Amity for 'check.'" The plant witch giggled, shifting her body to face Luz excitedly. "So. What happens now?"

"Yes, what new human traditions are you going to show us? I'm so excited!!" Gus squeaked happily, crushing the pillow in arms.

Luz grinned. "Just a little more patience my friend. We've got to start this off correctly. So… if everyone would grab their cocoa, probably a little more gentler then Amity over there, then I'll begin the toast to make this the best slumber party ev-"

THUMP THUMP

Luz stopped short as all those in attendance whipped around to face the door. Amity was finally able to unhunch her shoulders and stare with the rest of her friends at the mysterious knock at the door. The human was inquisitive herself.

"Luz, I thought you said there was supposed to be no one home tonight?" Amity questioned her curiously, cocking her head slightly to the side.

Luz's brow furrowed as she got up.

"There isn't anyone home tonight."

The entire room seemed to hold it's breath as Luz approached the door and pausing for what had to be dramatic effect, opened it sharply.

"HAH! GOT YOU… absolutely nothing…"

Amity peered around Luz's body to see exactly what was going on only to be met with the same sight and disappointment. An empty hallway.

Glancing both ways in the doorframe, the human shrugged nonchalantly as she went to close the door.

"Wait!" Gus cried from behind all of them. Flinging the pillow away from him and into Willow's stomach, he jumped up and dived underneath Luz to swipe something up from the ground.

Holding it proudly over his head both him and Luz marched back into the room, the bedroom door closing softly behind them. Willow and Amity leaned in close as Gus dropped the mysterious object to the ground with a soft and dramatic thump.

"What… is it?" Willow asked curiously, inspecting what looked to be a black rectangular box that lay before them.

"Is this part of the slumber party?" Gus asked curiously as Luz picked up the box and gave it a small shake.

"Not that I'm aware of. Let's open it!" The human said excitably, turning the box over to rip it open.

"Wait!" Amity yelped, grabbing Luz by the arm to stop her. Realizing what she was doing, Amity immediately dropped the contact, blushing profusely as she pointed to a small piece of paper that had fluttered to the ground.

"A note!!" Luz's eyes twinkled, causing the blushing witch to somehow go even redder. "Amity, you should read it for us!"

"What?!" Amity choked in surprise. "Why me?!"

"You found it! Besides you have a nice voice!" Luz explained casually, shaking the box slightly and holding it up to her ear.

Amity found it difficult to breathe as she shakily grabbed the note and held it in front of her, Willow and Gus scooting forward in excitement. Trying to ignore the thundering of her heartbeat in her chest and the full attention of the room, Amity glanced down at the note.

"Dear Sleeping Party attendants! You have been called upon to vanquish the evil from within this board! Inside you'll find what seems to be a normal board game, but is actually a prison for a very powerful and evil spirit! The only way to keep it's villainy contained is to play and win the game. The world is counting on you. Good luck! Mwehehehehehe."

Amity frowned and reread the note to herself. The world? That seemed farfetched to say the least. Where did this box even come from? Who sent it to them? Looking up Amity saw the stars dancing in Luz's eyes. Her crush was sold. Gus was practically buzzing beside her.

"I've heard of objects that could be bound with spirits before, but never like this!" He babbled excitedly.

"I have! You know how many human stories are filled with things like this? How long I've been wanting to do this?!" Luz grinned, finally figuring out how to open the box.

As the top lid slid off, a cheap and busted old board fell to the ground with a cloud of dust. Flipping the box over, a pile of cards, dice and one rather large hour glass spilled out as Luz gave it one final shake. Willow automatically went to organize everything and flipping the board over Amity saw a long and complicated maze pattern. The entire board seemed to be black, with the path cutting along through it a dull, brownish red. It seemed like each square had one of 3 icons sprinkled randomly throughout. In the very, very center of the board there was some sort of design. Amity reached forward and brushed the dust and dirt away from it as Luz and Gus talked excitedly above her.

The chatter quickly faded as everyone's eyes slid to the symbol that Amity had just uncovered. It was carved into the board itself, the deep grooves of the design painted in a faded and chipped white. Luz stared curiously while Gus, Willow and Amity all exchanged a concerned look. The design was simple, a small circle, with 4 tight loops surrounding it in all 4 cardinal directions, connecting in a diamond pattern in the very center of the circle.

The Witch's Knot.

Luz looked up at the plant witch curiously, one eyebrow raised as Amity swallowed the lump that was quickly growing in her throat.

"Oooh. That's elegant." Luz cooed.

"It's not elegant Luz…" Willow breathed quietly.

"That's," Amity pointed at the symbol, "a witch's knot. It's a symbol used to ward off evil."

Luz turned her head down to the board game and nodded. "Oh I get it, because of the evviiiilll theme this game has going on right?" She chuckled lightheartedly. When no one responded in kind, the human became quiet, her grin slowly slipping off her face.

"No. You don't understand. The Witch's Knot isn't just some superstition or tradition. In the Boiling Isles it had been used as a spell, carved to literally seal away evil. It hasn't been used in centuries though." Amity explained further, staring at the ancient white symbol. A cold feeling crept up her back.

Maybe there really was something to this game.

"Well, that makes what I'm about to say next, something that I have wanted to say forever by the way, a little more somber…" Luz gulped as she grabbed the dice Willow had set aside. The human tossed them into the air, and as they all watched the cubes crash down, she spoke again.

"Let the game… begin."

***

Despite the incredibly dramatic and powerful gesture, Luz had no idea how to play the game, none of them did. Luckily for the companions, Willow eventually found the directions taped to the inside lid of the box Luz had tossed aside. They were scribbled out in child-like handwriting but they were detailed enough to understand:

- Rolling the dice will move your character that many steps forward. On the board there are 3 different symbols. These represent your obstacles, fail to complete them and you lose your life. The only way to reverse this death is for a living player to revive you by taking a detour off the fastest route. Be warned, choosing this path will waste precious time and you will be risking your own life. You may only revive one player per game.

- Each player must choose a small token to represent themselves on the board. You will work together with those around you to overcome each obstacle in your path to the sigil. The goal is to reach the end with at least one player still standing to revive the The Witch's Knot protecting us from the evil.

- You may not begin the game until you have flipped the hour glass. If the last grain drains from the timer and you have not reached the end, evil will be unleashed.

-The Board itself is enchanted to tell if the players are worthy. It will be the judge and jury for the challenges you complete.

[ ~ ] Draw a blue card and cast the correct type of magic listed on it at the board. If you fail to cast the correct spell you lose your life.

Below are the symbols you will encounter on your quest:

[ + ] Draw a pink card and complete the challenge listed upon it. If you fail to meet this challenge you lose your life.

[ * ] Draw a green card. Answer the question on it correctly to move forward. If you get it wrong you lose your life.

Now having read through the rules, everyone seemed a lot more hesitant to start.

- When your token reaches the end, the correct lines to reseal the evil will appear. Read them aloud in a strong and clear voice.

"This seems like a bad idea." Amity echoed the thoughts of everyone in the room. Her amber eyes flicked up and caught Luz's warm brown ones. The human gave her a shaky smile.

"Come on Ami," Amity had to remind herself to keep breathing at the idea of her nickname. "It will be fun. Besides… I'm not exactly itching to find out what happens if we don't play." The human admitted quietly. Taking a deep breath, she grabbed the dice.

They had all chose board pieces to represent themselves from Luz's large collection of knickknacks. Luz was a small figure of Azura while Amity was Hecate. Gus found himself a tiny rubber chameleon toy while Willow fittingly found a small plastic flower. Each kid seemed to fidget with their tokens as Luz looked at them each in turn. Nodding, the human set her figure down on the start square. Immediately a buzzing sound filled the room and the dull red path illuminated itself. The symbols now glowed their respective card color.

"Well. That seems ominous." Luz laughed nervously, her eyes growing wide as the light from the path traveled towards the Witch's Knot, as it reached the chipped white paint, the symbol flashed, changing it's paint to a bright angry red. "Scratch that. That is just ominous. Is my soul about to be consumed? Did I just sell my soul to a board game?"

Willow set her piece down next, a small ring of light forming around it as the board recognized yet another player.

"Well, I wasn't really using my soul for anything important at the moment. Let's do this." The plant witch grinned and Amity watched as Luz's confidence swiftly returned.

Gus whooped and set his own piece on the board earning him a wide smile from both of his friends. Soon all sets of eyes drifted to Amity who was staring down at the note that had been originally taped to the box. She couldn't shake the horrible suspicion that someone was setting them up. Looking down at the now glowing and obviously magic board, it was clear they were already too far into the trap to back out now. Taking a deep breath she placed Hecate down right next to Azura.

"Alright. Let's do this." Amity nodded, swiftly grabbing the hour glass sitting next to her. "Is uh, everyone ready?"

"Oooh! Can I say it? Amity pleaaaseeee?" Luz jumped in suddenly, startling the green-haired witch into nearly dropping the time piece. Resetting her heartbeat, Amity handed the hourglass to Luz who grinned widely.

"Alright. This time for real. Let the game begin." The human announced as she flipped it and begun their countdown.

The dice magically floated over to Luz as soon as the first grain of sand hit the bottom of the glass. It was clear who was going first. Tossing them out in front of her Luz rolled a 3 and 5. As she reached to move her figure, it zoomed away from her hand, darting forward 8 spaces by itself. The symbol beneath it glowed a bright pink. A challenge space.

Luz grabbed a card, and the race against time began.

Gus was the first to die, his token being swallowed by the board itself after he lost his balance 2 seconds into a 5 second handstand.

Amity was the next to lose to the game. Her concentration on a fireball spell having been completely shattered by Luz's supportive hand laying on her shoulder. Amity knew it wasn't her simply being startled like Luz apologized profusely for, but there was NO way she would be explaining that today. Not over a stupid board game at least. Fate of the world or not.

Luz and Willow were about 3/4th through the path leading to the sigil when just a few spaces ahead the path split in two. Written in very faint lettering was the words: "Forest of Revival" by the detour path. Looking down it, the companions saw every single square through the 'forest' was lined with knowledge cards. The path itself eventually weaved back to the sigil, but was easily twice as long and packed with symbols.

If they wanted to revive someone it would be a struggle. Deciding to move forward Willow rolled her dice and landed on a spell square.

"Summon a small abomination to pick up your token off the board."

The group fell silent. Willow had never been good at abominations. She slumped in defeat.

Amity had to speak up, the painful memory of her teasing hanging over the entire room.

"You've got this." She said quietly, looking anywhere but Willow.

Luz's eyes flicked worriedly towards Amity, before they turned back to Willow.

"Amity's right. I've seen you do much cooler then a little abomination." Luz cheered helpfully.

"Thanks you two, but I think we both know what happens now." Willow admitted holding a hand up and drawing a pristine circle.

The resulting pile of barely sentient goop unsurprisingly earned a negative reaction from the board and Willow's token disappeared.

Luz wasted no time grabbing the dice for the next turn. They only had about 20 minutes left.

"I'm going to revive someone." She announced, rolling the dice and moving her token into the empty space before the forest.

"Wait, Luz! The forest is full of knowledge checks. Chances are you're going to get something you haven't learned yet. And we won't be able to help you." Amity spoke up quickly.

"Yeah, well you can't really help me if you all are dead right? Look. I'll be fine. There's 12 spaces to the revive square. If I roll double sixes, I'm there."

"That's a pretty big IF Luz..." Willow said worriedly, glancing over at the hourglass.

Turns out they didn't have to be worried at all. As double sixes appeared on the dice, Azura shot forward safely through the forest and landed directly on the revive square.

"I'm reviving Amity." Luz announced decisively as the square began to glow a bright yellow and Hecate appeared beside Azura.

"Me? Why?"

"Because statistically you are the most obvious choice. Top Student and well versed in multiple different magic tracks." Gus nodded, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "Good choice Luz!"

Willow merely looked away in shame and Amity felt guilt twist at her heart.

"Well that's not exactly true, but I figure since all of us are always getting up to magic mischief that Amity should get to be a bigger part of this adventure. Plus, historically we have made a pretty good team." Luz beamed, somehow melting the tension of the entire room with her words.

She practically melted Amity face too as heat rushed to the witch’s cheeks at the compliment.

They resumed the game, getting further and further through the forest. As the sand ran down in the hour glass, Hecate and Azura inched closer towards the sigil and the evil within the board.

"1234...5...6... and 7. Nice! Just enough!!" Luz counted excitedly as the board moved her token into the final square before the Witch's Knot. She glanced worriedly at Amity who was still several spaces away and then at the hour glass with just a sliver of sand left.

They were running out of time.

Luckily the board seemed to recognize Luz's finish as a team victory and Hecate was pulled straight to the end, standing alongside her friend/rival Azura.

Two white cards appeared in front of Luz and Amity.

"Ok. So... now we just read whatever's on this card and the evil gets re-sealed?" Luz asked uncertainly, fidgeting with her card.

Amity simply stared at the white card still laying in front of her, dread building in her chest. If there was ever a time for the trap to spring... it would be now. Haunted objects like this often came with a curse, especially here in the Boiling Isles. The ancient symbol currently pulsating red in the center of the board reminded Amity that there was a chance that whatever 'evil' this board contained may be far too old and powerful to simply be sealed away by two witches in training...

"Yep. And hurry! There's not much time left!" Gus's panicked voice jolted Amity out of her thoughts. Taking a deep breath, Amity snatched the card up and flipped it over, almost completely in sync with Luz.

"To defeat the evil within in this board, I hereby announce that-" The two read off in unison.

"... King is the greatest of all time."

"... Luz is a buttface."

The entire room fell silent as the two finished the 'spell' causing the Witch's Knot in the middle to flash a bright, blinding blue before the entire board went dim.

From the doorway the companions could all hear a malicious cackling.

Amity turned around slowly, only to see the resident demon of the Owl House rolling around on his back, laughing.

"YOU SHOULD'VE SEEN YOUR FACES! Oooooh. Oh nooooo! The evil of the board is going to get usssss. Wheeeeheheehehe."

"King!!" Luz reprimanded angrily, but the smile on her face gave away her true feelings. "You know, if you wanted us to play a board game you made, you could've just asked!"

The little demon pushed himself off the floor and wiped his eyes. He walked to the center of the board and kicked over the hourglass, seconds away from running out of sand.

"Psssh. Like I'd want to be involved in your silly little 'Sleep Party' thing anyways. Not that I got an invite or anything..." King grumbled.

Amity felt bad for the little guy, even if the game had them all stressed over nothing, he just wanted to feel included. Reaching forward hesitantly, knowing she didn't have the best relationship with the demon, Amity gently scooped him into her arms and coddled him.

And to both of their surprise, The King of Demons let her.

"Besides, it's not my game anyways. I just wrote those last two cards." King continued, crossing his arms defiantly from his position in Amity's arms.

Luz frowned. "But if you didn't make it then... who did?"

"I don't know. Eda just had it laying around. I found it a couple of days ago and planned this spectacular and amazing prank to pull on you guys for not inviting me. And it workkkeedd! Hah!"

Amity tensed. Nobody knew who made it? A board this enchanted had to have been made by someone.

"No, that's not right. There has to be some sort of clue, right?" Luz frowned, looking around at her friends.

"I don't know, I didn't look." The demon king shrugged before stretching out and curling tightly into Amity's chest.

"Try flipping it over? Maybe there's a name or something. That's what my dad's always do to our stuff in case it gets lost." Willow suggested helpfully.

Everyone nodded as Luz tentatively reached over and flipped the board over. On the back, faintly scratched into the cheap cardboard, were two initials and a small inscription. They had found their answer.

L + E - Vanquishing evil together. Forever.

The End

#johnnyspromptchallenge #toh #the owl house #lots of words #promptchallenge #evil #small?story #hauntedboardgameshennagins #I love making board games #I am not good at writing under a word limit #I cant wait to actually write each round of the game

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thewanderer-000 · 3 years

Text

Riding Hood

WIP

Tagged by @mrspaigeomega

(Note: this is my own story of a modern red riding hood. I've never written anything that wasn't fan fiction, so here's what I wrote so far. This may be a short series. I don't know yet, I'm making this up as I go along.

Another note: it's got some gory parts)

The sun casting shadows through the enchanted forest in early morning, RRH Night Rangers(Red Riding Hoods Rangers) coming off of watch. Ranger Stephen Blythe walked away from one of many ranger towers, trails curved throughout the magnificent trees. Ranger Blythe hears the trampling steps of Ranger Hathaway as he raced to jump on Blythe. And like that Blythe moved to see Hathaway crash land on the trail with an audible thud.

"Ow! Hey you're supposed to wait for me" Hathaway whimpered as he came to a stance, "And I told you I'm leaving as soon as Halen and Reese show up, not 30 minutes after. Plus, I told you Halen doesn't date co-workers. Didn't I tell you, I told you, she don't" Blythe mocked as they walked the trail.

Hathaway then stood looking at Blythe annoyed, as soon as Blythe turned to mock Hathaway more, they just stood there till they both burst out laughing. They both began moving, it was early and they were tired.

"But maybe she'll change her mind" Blythe huffed unsure whether that would happen. Though it seemed like she was figuring something out, he'd known her enough to get it. She was like one of his sisters. Continuing to hike through the trails, before Blythe could really say anything an echo sang out. It sounded like it came from the small waterfall, before Blythe could motion Hathaway to keep moving the dunce went straight to the waterfall.

"Ugh, it's like trying to wrangle a puppy" Blythe exasperated as he followed his "green" partner. The singing was mesmerizing as they got closer, a total of 20 minutes and there Hathaway stood dumbfounded, and peeping.

"Hathaway, let's get going you dunce, I don't have time for this, plus it's hella creepy" Blythe never used hella before, so Hathaway looked back at Blythe even more dumbfounded. Blythe huffed and grabbed Hathaway's arm and he stepped on a stick and that made the singing stop. Hathaway ran into Blythe knocking him down, repeating shit over and over as he ran away. Tired and annoyed Blythe started to get up slowly hoping they didn't startle the woman.

"Well, Ranger Stephen Blythe, why don't you get out of the bushes and enjoy the sun with me" Blythe was surprised that the woman knew that it was him, he silently cursed under his breath at Hathaway, who was long gone, probably made it to town by now. Blythe did as was asked of him, he dusted himself off and went to the mystery woman.

"I'd like to apologize for my-" Blythe started but was taken back by the womans exposed skin, she smiled as she looked down at herself and back up at the reddened Ranger.

"Oh no, no need to apologize, I was hoping that you would come, I'm just glad that other man left us" she said with an impish smile, as her long dark hung over her shoulder covering her chest and the water blurred her from the waist down.

"What- who are you exactly, Miss?" Blythe stood there, then started stepped closer trying to piece together where he knew this mysterious woman. His hazel blue eyes focusing on her face, then noticed her stuff off to the side hanging on a conveniently chopped branch. She giggled knowing damn well he had no clue.

"We've never met, I've seen you around town and heard you in this forest talking, grumbling or other" she said looking him up and down with happy curious eyes. Making him feel slightly old with that grumbling comment, but she looked about his age. Blythe stood sternly trying to recall but was coming up short where in town he'd seen her, except for what he had said and done in the forest. But he had seen her, here, though it couldn't be possible. Enchanted forest people talked to it, held occult events or came to the waterfall for a swim, up to the lake for recreation, and found secluded spaces for intimate activities. This place did play tricks at times, and now maybe one of those times Stephen thought.

"Bellamy, Bellamy Reed" she said before dunking in the water and swam close to shore, she stood and walked out not shy about the fact she was bare. Stephen kept his eyes on everywhere but her, she smiled at him, and laughed. And stepped closer to him, and cleared her throat.

"You can look now, Stephen" he still didn't look down. "Just because you're close doesn't mean you are covered" Bellamy rolled her eyes and trudged over and dawned her dark cloak. He looked at her as soon as he heard the fabric sweeping the ground as she walked.

"Better? Ok, I'm positive you know why I'm here, I know, believe me. It's conflicting, I thought it was insane too, but I can't explain" Bellamy said hopeful but looked nervous, Stephen didn't like this part about the forest but he couldn't deny that he felt something. Even before his last marriage this was something that kept popping up, and more so after a couple of weeks ago. He knew trying to recreate his dream would bring more up and it did, dream woman stood before him like in his dream. Too much like the dream.

"I don't know what this forest has intended for us but are you sure you want to go through with it, go through with the deed? Like I know that I tried to recreate it but it's really, real, now" Bellamy sighed, and looked at Stephen with eyes that glowed a brilliant sapphire. Invisible sigils on the trees light up as the same sapphire.

"Have faith" Bellamy said, and with that Stephen Blythe knew Bellamy knew more than she let on. A riding hood and a witch, not exactly rare but it had people talking. Let them talk, he wasn't going to pass up someone like Bellamy Reed.

_______________________________

"Daniella!? Daniella Blythe?! Where are you?- Ahh, Geez!" Howell shrieked clutching his chest, I stood chartling at him as he looked at the ground mortified. This time I didn't mean to scare him, but he's my bestfriend, he understands. I step lightly, plus the enchanted forest keeps me safe, I was conceived in this forest. It's home.

"I'm sorry, Howell" I apologize between laughing and getting slapped on my arm, which only made me laugh more. Then he grabs my hand and sighs calmly.

"I thought you slipped away, I thought you-" he took a deep breath, I knew what he thought, but I don't think I'd get caught. Says every person who gets caught on tv, I'll probably get caught at some point. But I chuckle and pat my friends back.

"Hot chocolate? And I'll make us some dinner?" I offer but he looks torn, he's got a date. He doesn't have to say it, I know he does. He wouldn't hang so early if he didn't have somewhere to be at night. I sigh, a tired sigh, he's ditching me again. He's trying to say something but doesn't want to upset me, Howell is making this face that's driving me up a dang tree.

"Howell, just say it" I say with a huff. He smiles and is jittery with excitement.

"Ok, so as you can guess, I got a date. And they have a friend fresh out of a relationship, and I saidyou'dgoonadoubledatejusttotestthewaters" he thought saying everything fast would be enough to get me to say yes, he was dead wrong. I swear I was seeing red.

"Ugh, I would have preferred you going on a date, a double date. You dragged me into a date, come on, man!" I whined but he was staring at me with his puppy eyes, I gave sighing groan. Which means I'm going. Howell cheered, then immediately called his date as he dragged me to my grandmother's cottage to beautify ourselves for tonight.

And of course it was a double date at the fall carnival, Rangers, magic folk and Beings of all sorts and humans. So being a Rangers daughter I sported my signature red riding hood, you don't pay admission to get into any event but if the shit goes down you run towards the danger. So my phone is on my person, I'm also sporting a nice leather bag containing emergency/magic supplies and a med kit. So if my date is bad I'm ready for duty with the RRH Rangers.

_______________________

Which 45 minutes in my date and I were handling a drunk in the food court, I call nurses station as my date is trying to help a drunk party boy from falling on his own face, again. Greta zooms around the corner in her custom cart with her helpful nurses. She's head nurse and serveys the area like a hawk, before she leaves she kisses the top of my head and gives me some lollipops.

"That's cool, so I'm guessing you're her favorite" I smile coyly at my date before I enjoy my free candy, he doesn't seem bad but who knows. I was tired and ready to go home, and considering that I came with Howell, I was left stranded practically.

"This date was interesting, but it's getting late-" he stands upright in shock. I can't help but giggle at him, plus if I'm walking through the forest I'll need to leave now.

"I'm not implying that the date was bad, I just have to walk home and it's a bit of walk" right as I finish that sentence Ranger Hathaway Jr. pulls up in his jeep. I exasperate with a sigh.

"Ugh, what are you doing here?" I complain as he jumps out his jeep and bounds over to me with a big smile, he opens his arms for a hug, I smile at him and give a friendly hug.

"I talked to Howell, said you were both here on dates. And knowing you, I know you are walking so I thought I'd escort you, little sister" I laughed at him, "little sister?". 'Bitch, I'm 2 years older than you, we ain't doing this', I'm amused but just hoping that we can go.

"Ranger Hathaway Jr. this is William Lewis. William Lewis this is Timothy Hathaway Jr.." Timothy looked him up and down, I sigh, roll my eyes. And smile at William, and mouth "excuse him, bad manners", he laughs.

"I know 'em, new guy. Let's get going, Dani. See you tomorrow, new guy" Timothy says annoyed and gets on his jeep in a bit of a huff.

"I'll see you around, William" I call out I go with Timothy, giving a wave and smile.

Timothy peels out so fast that I don't hear William say goodbye, I don't know what Timothy's problem is but he sure has a big up his ass. I look out the window ignoring Timothy, he drives calmly through the forest about half an hour later we were close to the cottage. He pulls off to the side near the destination, he leans over and brings my face to his and kisses me. We sit there kissing after a while I pull away, this was an old habit that I had a problem kicking. We kiss and then end up in the backseat, we argue. And then he follows me to the cottage where he basically spends the night, then we get in a fight in the morning.

But tonight is different, something is outside watching, someone's here. The wind through the trees howls then a wolf howls, I don't think, I just get out of the jeep. Timothy follows but I go straight to the source, it's right there in the back. I run and see a large werewolf tangled up in my clothes line, I look back and see Timothy trying to call me to him. I turn to see two coming out of the trees, I approach and crouch down beside the werewolf caught in my sheets and clothes line.

"You're ok, I'm going to help you, ok?" I say to the large, large being whimpering, I cut through the fabric and string. Being as gentle and firm as needed. I uncover the sheets around his head and cut the string around his neck, I am met with large breathy wolf breaths.

"Hi" I say to the large werewolf just before I get get licked. The least he could do was buy me a drink first, I almost pet him but refrain from doing so. Timothy is standing behind me placing his pocket knife in his pocket, looking a little disappointed that he left it in his jeep.

"Look it's getting late, maybe we can talk or something tomorrow, or later" Timothy nods scratching his head. I don't wait for his reply, personally I just want him gone.

I am unsure what to do so I run inside, and grab a large serving bowl to offer some water to my new guests. Luckily the large werewolf I cut from my tangled clothes line was there in the front yard. Tail wagging fast and eager, I quickly crank the bucket up from well, I offer him some water, I hear the other two come around the corner. And I go back in and grab two more bowls and fill the bowls, my guests drink, I was so preoccupied I didn't notice Timothy had left. And frankly I was fine with it, I was done with him, I wanted to be done with that cycle.

I felt how heavy my eyes were when I blinked, I looked at my guest who were probably as tired as I was. I blinked fast once one of my guests were human, I looked at her unsure how to react. Then I looked at the large werewolf in front of me expecting him to go human.

"He can't turn back till morning, I'm Jennifer Jennings, this is Andrew Brown, our little brother" the younger woman said pointing at the smaller werewolf behind her.

"And the big boy that was tangled in the clothes line is Chuck Spadina" the young woman giggled at the last name as the large werewolf nipped at her. I stifled a giggle. The young woman fastened my sheet wrapped around her as she stood kinda giggling and embarrassed about her lack of clothes.

"This large boys name is David Jennings. We were roaming and running around the area. Then Andrew and David were wrestling and running till David got tangled in your linens. They ran far so he's been sitting here for an hour or so, waiting for Andy to return with some help. If David could talk he'd be very sorry, and pay for the damages or fix any of the damage. By morning he could" the werewolf stood with an awe, I could feel that he would be good on his word and I took their word for it.

"I'd be glad to see him tomorrow, I should let you all go about your night, I hope you have a good night" then like that I hear the woman chirp with excitement and in a blink three werewolves ran off into the forest. Anything that was a mess could be cleaned tomorrow on a nice and easy Sunday.

_______________________________

Wolves snarled and tugged on a cloth, a mysterious breeze blew, whirling leaves and love letters over a village. I sat in my hiding spot hoping, praying that if the marauders came back the wolves would deal with them. They slain my love, my family, and my whole village. I cursed at myself for days as I bury everyone, the wolves stayed by me whimpering. They felt my breaking heart, I wanted my family, my village back. My rage wanted me to burn the ruined huts, but I didn't have it in me as I wept and carried everyone to their graves.

That was the past, my hopes and dreams lie in the earth becoming one with mother earth. My future sat beside me chewing on a rib, the moon lightly illuminated the whole outside, I decided to go look at it. My friend followed me as I clutch the knife on my side ready for any strangers lurking. I was comforted by the gentle glow, I gaze up at the moon. It had the color of blood. A witches moon, I think that's what my grandparents called it, I looked down at the beautiful golden eyes observing me closely. Like he knew what I was thinking, he walked in front of me, then faced me and sat. I didn't waste no time, I slashed my hand and let him bite, soon I was swarmed by more. It felt so final, I wanted to shed my past, shed my pain. Be reborn, I felt words from my heart being spoken aloud.

"I give myself to your nature

I give myself to your kind

Accept me as your own

Accept me as part of your pack

My soul is bound to you

I am giving my being to you"

I say before I pass out from the pain, I hoped that they accepted me or at least my sacrifice. My heart beating wildly, I opened my eyes up to bright blue morning sky, panting heavily. My heart raced as the weight that hurt felt lighter.

I hear a light pounding, it continues and continues. I soon realize it's morning as I squint at my clock, I slept pretty heavy, my head felt groggy and I felt my balance was off as I got up feeling dizziness. The knocking wasn't going to quit as I did my best to stand, I fell back when I turned to try and make it out to answer the door. Then the door swung open as I stood holding on to my bed, Timothy calling out to me as another set of boots followed his.

"Daniella! Dani, are you ok?" and the first place he looked was bathroom as a tall giant immediately came right to me. He looked worn out a bit but probably better than me at this very moment.

"Are you Daniella? Can you get up? Feel any pressure anywhere? Any dizziness, headaches?" I nodded at how handsome he looked close up, but I also just woke up so I needed a while. Before I could think, the man picked me up and placed me back in bed, adjusting my pillows to sit me up comfortably. I could feel a blush burning across my skin, he was so strong. And fascinatingly tall, but I was five foot six so enough people are taller than I.

My heart raced as I did my best to focus, his inquiry was interesting. It's like he knew what was going on, did he have the same dream too.

#little red riding hood #Riding Hood #writing #modern #magic #witches #werewolf #werewolves #beings #I'm making this up as I go along #still going to write fanfics #but this is my first non fanfic

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theotherackerman · 3 years

Text

Carry on My Wayward Son

COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER: Any recognizable elements belong either to Supernatural, Throne of Glass, A Court of Thorns and Roses, or Attack on Titan.

Notes:

The Fae deal mark is inspired by a court of thorns and roses. You can see it here

Zeke's necklace is Dean's from Supernatural.

The potions, Feywine, Mikasa's ring, Hange's bracelet, and Eren's necklace are all from DnD 5E.

If you want to see pictures of the jewelry, go here

CHAPTER FOUR: WHAT A STRANGE TRIP IT’S BEEN

Demon Deals were breakable.

No always but the demon could call off the deal.

Fae deals?

They were a whole different ball game.

Fae deals were more than just deals between two parties. They were a magical binding contract, more so than demon deal.

Once the deal was made a mark would appear on the skin of the two people who made the deal. One could mistake the mark for a tattoo.

Eren had not been wrong to think that Mikasa’s tattoo could have been a mark of a deal. However, Mikasa had truly just gotten the sigil of her mother’s clan on her skin in reminder of her.

The deals made with members of the Fae left a certain scent of magic on everything. Even humans could smell the magic in the air.

So the screams from Mikasa and the sweet, sticky smell of the fae deal caused Levi, Zeke, and Hange to rush into the basement.

"No. No. No. No. No. No," Mikasa muttered as she ran her hand over the black inked mark on her right shoulder.

If one didn't know what it was, it was easily mistaken for a tattoo.

"Mikasa…" Hange started.

"I never wanted to do this. I never wanted a deal," she muttered as she pulled her legs closer to her body.

Eren swallowed as he rolled up his sleeve to reveal the same mark on his left shoulder. It was identical.

"Yggdrasil," Hange whispered as they looked over Mikasa's mark. "It's the tree from Norse mythology. It holds all the nine realms within it. Interesting. What sort of deal did you two make? It's said the Fae deal mark is the deal in a physical."

"I don't know. I don't want this. Get it off, Hange. I want it off," Mikasa muttered as she closed her eyes.

Eren had never seen Mikasa like this. Even when he had said such hateful words to her, she hadn't broken like this.

"Eren? What happened?" Levi demanded.

"I don't know. I was just sitting here thinking about how she promised me that she wouldn't get hurt anymore. Then I muttered something and my arm started hurting," Eren replied as he pulled the sleeve of his shirt down.

"What did you say? Exactly. Words are very important to fae," Hange explained before pulling Mikasa's sleeve back down.

"We had a deal…" Eren muttered.

"You made a deal?" Hange asked.

"Not technically. I didn't think it would count. It was more of a...I don't know," Mikasa's eyes finally met Eren's.

And he broke.

This pain was worse.

Had she not said the day before how she didn't want to make deals?

Eren had royally fucked up.

Again.

"There's nothing you can do about it then. Words have power. As a member of the Fae, you should know that. You made a deal. Now you both bare the mark. So I suggest you two talk and figure shit out," Levi commanded.

Zeke hesitated but Levi grabbed him and dragged him upstairs.

Mikasa and Eren were left alone in the basement.

Mikasa didn’t move. She didn’t speak.

“I’m sorry,” Eren muttered as he looked down. ““I'm sorry about the thing at the hotel with the kiss and…"

“Sorry for kissing you back. You were under the influence, you weren't really consenting, and I know you didn't want to kiss me anymore."

"Hey," he said, causing her eyes to meet his. "It's not that I don't want to kiss you anymore. And it wasn't like that was all something I didn't want to do. I mean...Mikasa...I just...can't. I'm sorry. I'm the one who should be apologizing, not you. You saved my life. Again."

"It's fine."

"When were you going to tell us that it takes years off your life every time you heal?"

"H..how do you know that?"

"Hange told us. Mikasa, you can't do that."

"Fae live like lobsters. Unless something kills us, we can live for forever."

"Even as half Faery? How many years did each of those heals take from you?"

"I don't know. Just some. What does it matter?"

There was so much anger in Mikasa.

The way he had treated her since the dorm, the fact that her skin was now marked with a mark of deal.

Levi had ordered them to figure it out.

“I don’t want this anymore,” she confessed.

“What?” Eren asked as he looked over at her.

“Any of this. I don’t….I can work the job. I have no choice but to uphold my end of the deal. Other than that, I don’t….I’m not….I don’t think we should be around one another anymore.” Mikasa looked down at her hands. She folded them and then unfolded them.

“Oh,” Eren replied.

“Yeah.”

“Okay then,” Eren said as he stood up.

“I’ll let you know what I find out about The Colt,” she answered.

“Okay,” Eren replied before he headed towards the stairs.

The truth was that Eren was anything but okay right now.

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

Christmas

Eren sat in Levi’s kitchen. Mikasa and Hange were in the living room.

He hadn’t spoken to Mikasa since they had talked in the basement.

Mikasa continued to work jobs for Levi and research for the Colt. She avoided Eren like the plague.

Hange had been coming around, they were never far from Mikasa.

Hunting was a thankless job so Eren and Zeke often used fake credit cards to pay for the things they needed. Zeke was pretty good at hustling pool at bars for money too.

Christmas meant that they were using their credit card schemes to buy things for those they loved. Levi had already given Eren and Zeke their gifts by paying for their anti possession tattoos that they both now sported on their chests. They had got Levi some very expensive tea from a shop that they had helped out with a ghost problem.

“Merry Christmas, Eren!” Hange said as they walked into the kitchen. They had a small box.

“Thanks, Hange,” he muttered as he looked down.

“This is just a little something I cooked up with magic,” Hange said as they sat down across from Eren.

Eren opened the box to reveal a small potion bottle. There was a red, glittery liquid inside of the bottle.

“It’s a very basic healing potion. Won’t bring you back to life but may help you hold on when you’re dying. I made one for Zeke and Levi too,” Hange smiled.

“Thank you, Hange,” Eren said as he looked up at them.

“You’re welcome. Merry Christmas, Eren,” Hange said again as they stood up.

Zeke entered the room.

“Here,” Zeke said as he came into the room with a box.

“I thought we agreed on no gifts,” Eren grumbled.

“It’s not a real gift,” Zeke said as he tossed the box to Eren.

Eren caught the box and unwrapped it to reveal a box with a bottle of vodka in it.

“You’re right. It’s not a real gift,” Eren scoffed.

“It’s pay back for buying me that bottle of whisky. Don’t make a big deal out of it.”

“I won’t.”

“Good.”

“You going to give her the thing?” Zeke asked.

“I don’t know. She said she didn’t want to be around me.”

“I know. But it’s Christmas.”

Mikasa wandered into the kitchen, putting more of the Christmas cookies onto her plate. Mikasa had always had a sweet tooth.

“Hey,” Zeke said as he gave her a small wave.

“Hello,” Mikasa replied before ducking into the living room.

Zeke raised an eyebrow at Eren.

“I told you that she didn’t want to talk to me,” Eren muttered as he looked down.

“Maybe try getting her alone later,” Zeke suggested before he patted Eren on his shoulder. It was the same shoulder that bore the mark of the Fae deal that Eren had made with Mikasa.

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

Christmas went on.

Levi and Zeke gave Hange a bracelet of protection against fire they had picked up.

Zeke gave Mikasa a tea cup and some flowery tea.

Levi had also paid for Mikasa’s anti possession tattoo while Mikasa gave Levi what looked like the world’s smallest teapot. It was made from a walnut.

She gave Zeke a bottle of Feywine that she had received from working a job.

The hours quickly faded as Levi and Hange drank far too much eggnog. Zeke had made it, the sweetness covering the alcohol.

“We should sing Christmas carols!” Hange suggested.

“No one wants to hear you sing so I’ll sing with you,” Levi’s words slurred together.

“I’ve never seen him drunk in my life,” Zeke muttered.

“ Dashing through the snow…” Levi and Hange sang together.

“Alright, I’m going to bed. Goodnight,” Mikasa excused herself from the living room.

Zeke waited for several minutes before he spoke.

“Go give it to her!” Zeke said as he stood from his seat.

“She probably….” Eren started to say but Zeke was pulling Eren’s arm.

“Go!” Zeke ordered.

Eren sighed before he stood up and went down the basement.

Mikasa had changed into a tank top and shorts. Eren could see her anti possession tattoo peeking out the top of her tank top. It was in the same spot as his, on her chest, right above her heart. She was holding her toothbrush and toothpaste in her hand.

“Oh,” Mikasa said when she saw Eren.

“Hi. I...I got you something. It’s not a big deal. It was from a job we worked and...nothing else. I just thought it’d be useful for you,” Eren rambled as he pulled a small box from his hoodie.

Mikasa sat down the things she had been holding in her hands before taking the box from Eren.

He watched her.

Suddenly, he became very nervous.

He knew he deserved everything that she had said to him.

He knew it was all his fault. He knew he hadn’t been fair to her. He hadn’t told her the truth either.

The more jobs he worked the more the lines between monster and human seemed to blur.

Maybe the world wasn’t as black and white as he thought.

Mikasa slowly opened the box to reveal the purple stone ring inside.

“It doesn’t have any iron in it, in case you’re wondering. It’s...it’s a ring of protection. The stone is amethyst. I thought since you’ve been working a lot of jobs by yourself, you could use it,” he replied as if it was no big deal.

Why was he acting like a stupid school boy with a crush?

“Thank you,” she replied as she took the ring out of the box and slipped it onto her ring finger. “I...uhh...I have something for you. But it’s from...we found a human who has contact with the Fae realm. He was being haunted, so I helped him. He gave me some things from the Fae realm,” she explained as she walked over to the plastic drawers she was using as a dresser.

“So that’s where the wine came from,” Eren mused.

“Yeah, the tiny teapot too,” she opened the drawer and pulled a small box out.

She held it out to Eren who took it. He slowly opened the lid to reveal a brown corded necklace with a single red feather attached.

“It’s a Phoenix feather. It’ll keep you warm. I know how you don’t like the cold,” she muttered as she looked away.

“Thank you,” he removed the necklace from the box and put it on.

“What did you get Zeke?” she asked.

“Oh. I gave it to him a little while ago. It’s the necklace he’s been wearing, the brass one. It’s supposed to be a powerful protection charm,” Eren explained.

“Where’d you get that?”

“Levi. The bracelet we gave Hange and your ring came from a physic in Indiana,” he explained.

“When were you in Indiana?” she asked as she sat down on her bed.

“Two weeks ago. Why?” he asked.

“Oh. I was there about a week ago. Ghost issue. You?”

“Also a ghost issue. You notice they’re getting more active lately?”

Mikasa nodded. “It’s getting weird out there. Weirder than normal. Did Levi tell you about the Werewolf?”

“Yeah, I still can’t believe how big that thing was. Any ideas why everything is like this?"

“I don’t know. The guy I met, the one with the connection to the Fae realm said they’re scared. They’re staying out of it. They wouldn’t give him any information on why they said that but if the Fae are scared, I’m sure it can’t be anything good.”

Eren nodded as he leaned up against the wall. “My dad left Zeke a voicemail. He said something big was coming. He never told us why and he didn’t leave any information about it in his journal. We’ve been hitting a wall on finding any information about the Yellow Eyed Demon.”

“I’ve not had any luck with the Colt either. It’s mostly dead ends. I’ve tracked it a bit but then it just vanished. Hange got a few old journals from some recently passed hunters so I’ll start going through those soon. If I can ever stay out of the field, that is. Levi keeps having to send me out. It feels like there are less hunters to go around.”

“A lot have died recently. I guess it’s to be expected with everything going on.”

Mikasa nodded.

“Your dad….he was a hunter?”

Mikasa nodded again. “He was. That’s how he met my mom. She was injured after she came here from Japan. She wanted to see the rest of the world. Her magic went wild due to her injury. Then my dad found her and helped her. She began to help him hunt. Then they fell in love, married, and had me. Then they were killed by demons.”

“Who’s tracking you?”

Mikasa sighed. “Who isn’t? Demons, some other Fae. They want me to take up my birthright.”

“Birthright as what?”

“I...fairies have court. There are rulers. They don’t do much, Fae sort of do whatever they want. They’re run out of my bloodline. I’ve stayed off the radar.”

“So...you’re a fairy princess?” Eren smirked.

“Try a Queen. But I know nothing about the Fae realm or the courts. I have no desire to navigate politics. Besides, they’ll give up looking for me eventually. They’ll find an actual ruler.”

“So why did your mom leave then?” Eren asked.

“I don’t know. She never told me.”

“But shouldn’t you take up your birthright?”

“You know how humans get to the realm, right? They stepped in a fairy circle. Then they get stuck there for seven years if they eat the food or drink anything. I have no desire to rule in a place where I can’t eat or drink.”

Eren laughed, “so it’s our English class sophomore year?”

“Yeah. Mr. Dawk hated us.”

“He shouldn’t have made his only English class at 8:00 in the morning then.”

“I’ll never forget when you brought in that portable blender and made smoothies for everyone.”

“It was Floch’s idea. Remember how Hitch brought in the portable grindle and started making pancakes?”

Mikasa laughed as she nodded.

Eren had missed hearing her laugh.

He was an idiot for putting her through all of this. He had been awful to her. As he watched her laugh and smile, the guilt began to swarm him.

“I should let you go to sleep,” he muttered as he looked down.

Her laughter stopped. “Okay,” she replied softly before standing up.

“I was worried that you hated me too much. I just saw the ring and thought of you. Thanks for taking it ,” he said before he looked up at Mikasa.

“I don’t hate you, Eren,” she muttered. “I just think it’s better this way. I’m not going to ignore you or be rude. It’s just better for both of us if we’re just…...two people who are semi friendly. It would be rude if I got everyone a gift but you.”

She was just being nice. Of course, she was. Eren giving her a gift couldn’t make up for all the horrible things he’d said to her or what he’d put through.

“Thanks for the necklace. It’ll be good for these cold months,” he esaid.

“You’re welcome,” she smiled.

“Merry Christmas. Goodnight, Mikasa.”

“Goodnight, Eren.”

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

The next morning Mikasa was long gone by the time Eren woke up.

“She missed Yule and meeting with her friends,” Hange explained as they drank their coffee.

“Oh. Right. She did go home for winter break,” Eren sighed as he sat down.

“It’s one of the few times she spends with other half Sidhe.”

“Wait. I thought Mikasa didn’t have contact with the Fae realm.”

“She doesn’t. But you didn’t think she was the only one I had in my care back in the day, did you? I didn’t know what she was at first. There are other hunters who did,” Hange explained.

“Oh.”

Suddenly Eren wondered if Mikasa’s friends knew of him. Did they hate him? It worried him. If she told her friends, there may be no coming back from that.

Why did he care?

It was a dumb question. He knew why he cared. He still loved her. Last night, he had seen the girl he had fallen in love with again.

Suddenly, a headache swarmed Eren.

He held onto his head as images that made no sense swarmed his head.

Then Eren fell to the floor.

#comwws

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bellamyblakru · 4 years

Note

Hey, I saw your "I have you, it's okay" Merthur drabble and thought it was incredible and beautifully written ❤️ So could I please request "Please tell me you aren't dead..." + Merthur, thanks xx

THANK YOU SO MUCH IMMA CRY🥺😭this is so kind, of course you can request that!! id literally write anything anyone asks me🥺thank you so much for the request, i hope i don’t let you down!! (im doing canon era again because i live for them, with all the knights alive and such) (i also made merlin say the prompt instead of arthur this time to mix things up)

Merlin was going to kill Arthur...if he wasn’t dead already.

Last night, the knights, the King and his servant went out to the tavern after sparring to try to enjoy the beautiful new spring weather that had finally arrived in Camelot—instead of sweating and beating each other relentlessly in the sun, Merlin thought unenthusiastically. This tavern trip, however, was different from the others. Instead of Gwaine leading the charge towards drinking unmercifully, it was surprisingly Arthur this time around. Merlin usually didn’t drink—just in case King Prat needed saving, but this time he couldn’t help himself. He was having a good day: Arthur was being unusually kind and tactile with him, Lancelot complimented his outfit, and Gwen stopped by today to give him his favorite sweet from the kitchens, so having a few drinks with his family would only top off his day. It is a known fact in Camelot that Merlin is a lightweight drinker—his abnormally low tolerance for alcohol made every knight howl with laughter, especially when he was hiccuping after drink number three.

What drunk Merlin and company didn’t realize at the time was how little Arthur was drinking. While Merlin, Gwaine, and Lancelot were on drink number four, Arthur barely touched his first round. Arthur had a reason, of course, for going light today, but he didn’t want to let the others realize his lack of drunkenness. He played the part of drunk King, but he had different plans for that night.

Earlier that day, a report came in from the south. The writer claimed to have seen a rare creature, one that only existed in the myths and legends, while pleading with the King of Camelot to conquer the beast before it can harm more of his people. Arthur refused to let Merlin read the report—which never happened. Merlin was hurt for a minute, but Arthur soon made it up to him by ordering two plates to be served for lunch (Merlin soon forgot about the paper after that). The reporter was convinced that the creature was a Necat Caritatem. They weren’t big creatures, and they didn’t look extremely threatening. They haven’t been seen in over a century--according to the library, that is. The name loosely translated to “love kills,” which is precisely what it does. It lures their prey with the scent of what or who they love the most, uses it to capture their victim, to slowly suck the love out of them. There are other stories that if the Necat Caritatem catches you with your love, they delight in witnessing one lover losing their love almost as much as the actual taking of the feeling. Arthur had believed they were all killed off--they were once the greatest threat in the land, and if this letter is to be believed, then his kingdom did face one of its biggest threats of their time.

Killing love is killing hope, light, and freedom all at once. The essence of humankind thrives on the existence of this one single idea, hope. Existing in this world, that can cease to be at any moment, is arduous without optimism. Giving a seedling light allows it to thrive, it becomes one with the world, part of something bigger than itself. Refusing this light slowly kills it. Taking away this love, this hope in the world of darkness, is the worst kind of pain. Arthur refused to let Merlin see the report. He knew where that would lead: “Merlin, no, you can’t come with me” “Arthur, don’t be stupid, of course I’m coming. Who would protect you?” Every time it was the same conversation, with different threats, but this conversation will not happen today.

This was different. This adventure could take Merlin away from Arthur, and he wouldn’t let that happen. Merlin was Arthur’s love, his hope, his life. Taking away Merlin’s unconditional love would be like stripping away the sun from the earth. Arthur knew that without Merlin’s love and loyalty, Arthur would amount to nothing. Merlin’s smile helped Arthur get out of bed in the morning and was the last thing he thought about before he closed his eyes. Merlin is too important to Arthur, to his kingdom he helped build. Arthur knew Merlin kept secrets, but he didn’t hold it against him. How could he? Arthur understood--he truly did. People keep secrets for a few reasons, but the only one Arthur could give for Merlin would be that Merlin’s secret could hurt those around him and Arthur knew Merlin went to great lengths to avoid hurting those he loved. Some would argue that Merlin kept secrets because Arthur was king, but he knew that wasn’t the case. Some things are safer kept to one person, but he hoped that Merlin would truly let him into his heart one day.

So, back to the drinking. Merlin was giggling with Gwaine’s attempts at flirting when Arthur tried to make his escape. He was just about to excuse himself when Merlin turned his beautiful, blinding smile onto him, and Arthur had to hold the edge of the table to stop his knees from collapsing underneath him. He holds too much power over me, Arthur thought ruefully with a small returning smile for drunk Merlin’s sake. Merlin stumbled over to Arthur and swung his arm around his shoulders, “Want to retire, sirrree?” Merlin sang to him into his ear. Arthur’s first thought was, how does he understand me so hammered?, then out loud he laughed, “Yes Merlin, I do have a kingdom to run tomorrow, but let’s get you to bed before Gwaine gets you to do anything unlawful.” Merlin just smiled at that and bid his goodbyes to the group, stumbling fast on Arthur’s heels. As Merlin was dead on his feet, the minute they were out of sight Arthur picked him up bridal style to move this along faster.

Arthur deposited Merlin on the king’s bed, taking care of him for as long as he could. When Arthur gave Merlin his mother’s sigil, he thought it would represent his love and respect for Merlin, but maybe it would help Merlin rise to be the leader he knew he could be when he is gone. Arthur could think of no one else better to lead his legacy.

He quietly asked for a horse to be prepared so he could start his southern quest. In the candle light, Merlin looked to be softly glowing. Arthur tried to remember every detail of his best friend, but he would need to leave soon if he wished to get there by sunrise. At the last minute, he decided to write Merlin a quick note explaining what was happening, with the report underneath it, ending the letter with ‘Yours Always, Arthur.’ This was the right thing to do. If Arthur was going to go down, it would be fighting for a future where Merlin exists.

Merlin woke up with a raging headache that doubled when he opened his eyes to the blinding light. The only thing he remembers from last night was Arthur’s lovely smile and the third drink. The softness underneath him, though, was a rude awakening. He jumped out of the bed but was immediately too dizzy to have a coherent thought. After putting his head against the cold wood of the bed, he decided he was stable enough to finally look around. The first things that drew his attention were the plate of food, Gaius’s hangover medicine, and a pile of papers that had his name written on top. Downing the cure, following that up with some bacon, he sat down to read.

Of fucking course he would, Merlin thought angrily, if there is one scratch on his stupid perfect blond head I’ll kill anyone who has ever threatened him. Merlin left the King’s room in a flurry of anger, love, and desperation. The servants quickly avoided this version of Merlin, knowing better, while he made his way down to the stables to go himself.

The trip was fairly quick, but what Merlin saw when he arrived made his blood run cold. Arthur was surrounded and caked by blood, both silver and red. Merlin halted for a second, letting his heart slow down enough to get the physician in him to address the situation clearly.

It didn’t work.

Merlin walked unsteadily to Arthur, his breath coming in harsh puffs. This wasn’t the end. This couldn’t be the end. They had a kingdom to continue building, they had people to free, but, most importantly, they had their lives ahead of them to learn how to love each other, properly, that is--without one of them trying to die to keep the other alive.

"Please tell me you aren't dead..." Merlin whispered when he bent down to Arthur’s body, tears already flowing down his face.

Arthur’s breath was shallow but still there. Breathing, even this small, made the hope in Merlin’s chest burst. He could make it.

Merlin put his forehead against Arthur’s, put his hands against his heart, and put his entire soul and magic into Arthur. Arthur took a gasping breath and opened his eyes to see his Merlin sobbing onto him. Snapping his head up, it took Merlin to realize that his eyes were still burning gold. Arthur, still breathing heavily, took Merlin’s face into his hands and kissed him. Merlin, still catching up on what was happening, hesitated and when he finally understood what this kiss meant, Arthur unceremoniously passed out again--looking healthier as time continued on.

Arthur managed to kill the Necat Caritatem in a bloody fight. The creature tried to use a hallucination of Merlin doing magic against him to slow down Arthur’s fighting, but seeing Merlin with beautifully golden eyes, giving off such an auror of power only made Arthur fight harder. If Merlin truly had that power within him, then Arthur wanted to witness that power himself. He knew Merlin’s heart, and an evil sorcerer is not who he was--no matter what this creature showed him. Not expecting that reaction of pure love, the creature fought dirty and clumsily--since it’s main source of attack was usually against the mind. Arthur ended it with Excalibur through its heart, and with Arthur trying to remember when his vision started getting so blurry.

The next time he woke up, it was to Merlin crying over his body, glowing ethereally. Those eyes he was taught to hate was the only reason he was alive, and the golden fire seemed to complete who Merlin was to him: strength, power, wisdom, and love. Through that train of thought, Arthur’s only reasonable reaction was to kiss the ever-loving shit out of Merlin until the dark claimed him once more.

#ashley writes #merthur drabble #thank you so much for the prompt #i dont wanna write more sad LOL it makes me sad #this was fun to write!!#i love y'all so much #merthur #thank you all for being so kind to me #again this is heka long sorry lmfaoo #sentence starter

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raiseyourcups · 3 years

Text

Cabur

Interlude

Pairing: Din Djarin x OFC (Aili Verdella) Warnings: none, just fluff and a slightly suggestive scene Word Count: 4.7k Also on AO3

Masterlist//Main Masterlist

Summary: Aili, Din, and Little Green make it to Oshriya in the hopes of finding out where the remainder of the Covert went. Thankfully the mayor owes Aili several favors.

Note: And so concludes Cabur in more ways than one. In case you missed the announcement on Chapter 24, I will not be posting the sequel story here on Tumblr at all. Rather it will only be posted to AO3, schedule to be decided at a later date. Thank you for sticking through to the end with me.

Oshriya was just as tiny as Aili remembered it but it was somehow brighter. No one had to hide away their children or set a curfew when the sun went down. When the Razor Crest landed, no one was wary and when they saw Aili come down the gangway they were more than welcoming. Someone had run over to the mayor’s house to have him there to meet them when they were all off the ship.

“You’re back and with a friend,” the mayor said when he met them at the bottom of the gangway. His gaze travelled over to the child in Aili’s arms and he looked up at the woman who had taken down an entire slavers ring not too long ago with barely concealed surprise. “A friend and a child.”

“Yeah, a friend,” Aili agreed awkwardly. It wasn’t like she and Din had actually put a name to what they were exactly. They probably should do that at some point. She didn’t comment on the mayor’s surprise at seeing Little Green. “We came to ask if you know where the Mandalorians that showed up went.”

The mayor paused for a moment too long, making both Aili and Din suspicious. “No, they were very quiet about it. Came to lay low for a week or two and then two young ladies asked about selling the ship,” he explained as he led them down through the market.

“And after that?” Aili asked, finally remembering the mayor’s name. Coming to Oshriya the first time around seemed like a lifetime ago but it might as well have been. Aili was clearly not the same person who had taken down the slavers and rescued several women and children, not with Din at her side and Little Green in her arms.

“Someone one town over bought the ship and then they had enough money to buy passage to any planet they wanted. May I ask what you want with them?” Mayor Nez questioned, his tone just a little too curious as he glanced at Aili and Din from the corner of his eyes.

Suddenly the mayor’s hesitance made sense to Aili. If they were still there on the planet, he might think they were looking for them as a bounty despite Din obviously being a Mandalorian as well. “Four of them, including the two oldest girls, they’re my...sisters,” Aili said, wondering exactly what the girls were to her now that they had been named a clan of seven. And the Armorer naming her and Din as Little Green’s...parents made things more confusing.

“But you’re not a Mandalorian, are you?”

“No, that was by choice but they are part of his Covert,” Aili replied, nodding her head in Din’s direction.

“And they have been named part of our Clan,” Din added, hoping that would make it clearer to the mayor that they weren’t here to hunt down the Covert for a bounty.

Mayor Nez’s gaze drifted to the symbol on the Mandalorian’s pauldron and his eyes lit up in recognition. “Ah yes, I do recall two of them having the same Mudhorn sigil on their armor.”

“Wait, what?” Aili asked, confusion clear on her face with the way her brow was furrowed.

“The sigil on your pauldron, it is a Mudhorn is it not?” Mayor Nez asked, he had been sure about the name of the creature and symbol.

“It is,” Din answered slowly, his own brow furrowed in confusion beneath his helmet.

Neither Aili or Din knew how the Armorer had known to give the Mudhorn sigil to the two girls. Din assumed that the younger ones might have a pendant like she had given Aili but that also didn't answer any questions. “Clans generally have the same sigil to mark them as a unit,” Din explained despite his shock.

"So a Clan is like a family?”

"In a way, yes.” Din didn’t really feel like going into the details, least of all with an outsider like the mayor. It would be different if it was Aili asking but it wasn’t which made Din hesitant to answer any other questions.

"Ah in that case, please use this house for as long as you'd like.”

Aili and Din were taken aback by the size of the house the mayor was gesturing for them to enter. It was the biggest one in the town by far and more than they needed for the three of them.

“We can’t accept this, there’s only three of us and...well, we only need--” Din cut himself off, unsure if Aili would even be okay with sharing a single room now that they were planet-side. They had been sharing the cot recently, Little Green included in a makeshift hammock to give them some room. But they had come here straight from Nevarro and Aili had stubbornly refused to let Din so much as attempt to sleep in the cockpit while he was still healing from the siege. And Little Green refused to sleep without being able to see both of them in the same room now, the first time had clearly been a miracle only possible due to his exhaustion.

“Please, it’s the least we could do. Now it’s quite obvious that you two need sleep,” the mayor gestured towards the home once more, still with a smile on his face that was doing nothing to ease Aili and Din’s suspicions.

The lights were on in the front room but despite no one being there, it felt lived in which put Din and Aili on edge. Why would the mayor have told them to use a house that was clearly not empty without asking whoever owned the home for permission. They hadn’t been inside for very long when there was a quiet shuffling of feet coming their way, barely audible like they were trying to sneak up on them.

Neither of them was really prepared to see a Mandalorian turn the corner, one hand hovering over their blaster holster nor were they prepared for said Mando to stop in their tracks at the sight of them. They all stared at each other for a long, silent moment until the smaller Mandalorian broke it.

“Ori’vod?”

“Madsin?”

In the next moment, Aili had passed Little Green over to Din before she was rushing forward to pull the other girl into a hug that was quickly returned. Din watched in stunned silence as the pair started to laugh a little, the sound coming from Aili startling him. Sure she had laughed at him a few times but it had always been at his expense. This was a different laugh, relieved and happy at the same time. They separated and the girl, Madsin as Aili had called her, turned a little to call back to where she had come from. Din noticed that Aili quickly ran a hand across her eyes, wiping away a few stray tears and he was taken aback once more.

“It’s safe, just some old friends,” Madsin said with a slight tilt of her helmet. Aili shoved at her shoulder a little even through the helmet she could still hear the teasing tone Madsin was using, travelling with Din had made it easier for her to pick up on it. There was the sound of several footsteps now, a few moving faster than others and then Aili was surrounded by four kids of differing heights.

There were other foundlings, hesitant to move any closer despite Madsin making it obvious that they were safe but Din noticed a few look his way. He couldn’t stop himself from counting how many there were and he was relieved to see that they hadn’t lost any foundlings from the last count he had done before he had taken the bounty for Little Green. Heavier footsteps moved closer to Din and he couldn’t stop the annoyed yet relieved sigh at the sight of blue-painted armor.

“Paz.”

“Din.”

They sized each other up for a long moment before Paz turned to stare at Aili who was still surrounded by her girls. The two youngest were chattering away about something and the other foundlings had moved a little closer as well. Din couldn’t help the smile that crossed his face seeing how excited Aili looked as she listened to what she was being told, he could tell she was just happy to see all four of her girls alive and well.

“I guess now I know which ones she claimed were hers,” Paz said, helmet cocked to the side.

Din had almost forgotten that Aili had commented on meeting Paz once before, back on Sorgan when she threatened to kill him just to make it back to Nevarro. “The Armorer named us a Clan,” he said, glancing over to see what Paz’s reaction would be. The larger Mandalorian had always been one of the more traditional members of the Covert. Staunch in his belief that non-Mandalorians were to be considered outsiders, worse if you became dar’manda.

“The way her oldest talks about her, she may as well be one of us and the Armorer’s decisions are final,” Paz finally said after a long silence. Din was surprised at how easily Paz was accepting Aili and he wondered if it was only because of the Armorer naming them a Clan. Rather than focusing on it for too long Din turned his attention back towards Aili and the other foundlings, a small smile crossing his face when he caught sight of the smallest of Aili’s had her arms wrapped around her still.

The youngest of the foundlings chattered away for a few more minutes before there were several yawns that infected the group as a whole quickly. Aili let out a quiet laugh, “We should get some rest everyone.”

The other foundlings left the room quickly, heading for whichever rooms they had claimed as their own to get some sleep. Aili’s youngest two did not move while Madsin and the other one stood back to wait for them. “Will you be here in the morning?” The one with long braids, Din made a note to ask Aili for their names so he knew who was who aside from Madsin, asked. Aili let out a sigh, reaching over to run her hand over the top of the girl’s head.

“I’ll be here, promise and you know what I say about making promises,” Aili trailed off waiting for the younger girl to reply.

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” the girl said before nodding, satisfied with Aili’s answer for the moment. She held her hand out for the youngest girl to take before she listened to Aili’s advice and they left for their own room. The only ones left in the front room now were Paz, Din, Aili, and Aili’s two oldest.

“So what now?” Aili asked.

“Like you said, sleep. We can discuss everything in the morning,” Paz answered. He could tell that Din was barely staying on his own two feet and he had quickly handed the small, green...child over to Aili as soon as she was by his side again. “First door to the left upstairs is open.”

The slow way that Madsin’s helmet turned to look at Aili and Din let him know exactly what was probably going through her head. Aili met Madsin’s gaze and slowly shook her head, the expression on her face stopping the younger girl from saying anything. With a few quiet good nights, everyone headed for their respective rooms. Aili almost cried at the sight of an actual bed, once again thankful for the mayor being so generous.

The two of them quietly stripped down to something more comfortable to sleep in, Aili having an easier time than Din who had to take off most of his armor minus the helmet. They settled onto the bed, Din sitting up against the headboard and Aili leaning up against him despite having a whole bed available to them. Little Green was between them in Aili’s arms and her last thought before she fell asleep was that they really needed to go back and get his pram back from Nevarro.

*Run away to a place where you can breathe*

When morning came, Aili and Din woke up to a mostly unsurprising sight. Sometime in the night they had both slid down the headboard and were properly laying on the bed, and there were two more kids in the bed on Aili’s side. The youngest was flush against Aili’s side, arms wrapped around her midsection while the other was asleep beside her in the same position. Across the room in a chair that neither of them had noticed the previous night was the second oldest of Aili’s girls, wrapped up in a blanket, while Madsin had made a makeshift bed on the floor beside the actual bed.

Aili and Din shared a glance with each other, letting out similar quiet laughs at the sight. Din was suddenly grateful that he had chosen to leave his flight suit on completely, only removing his armor for comfort and to give his still aching muscles a break.

“They wouldn’t go to sleep in their room,” Madsin spoke from the ground, letting them know she was awake as well. “They missed you.”

“Only they missed me?” Aili asked teasingly.

“I’m not going to answer that while you’re not wearing any pants,” Madsin shot back.

“It’s a hot planet, give her a break,” the one sitting in the chair spoke up.

“Thank you, Sula.”

“Of course it’s so hot I don’t know how you two were able to sleep that close,” Sula quipped, an obvious smile in her voice. Madsin let out a quiet groan from the floor, suddenly glad she couldn’t see the probably nauseating sight. The kids started to shift awake before Aili could make a comment to either of the oldest girls.

“‘M hungry,” the one closest to Aili mumbled, her arms wrapping around her a little tighter before she moved away to rub at her eyes. Little Green gave a quiet coo, looking up at Aili with wide eyes that said he was hungry too. She let out another quiet laugh and she hoped that there was enough food to make breakfast.

Madsin pulled herself up from the floor and stood by the side of the bed, shaking the two younger girls awake. “Come on, let’s go get dressed and then we can have breakfast.”

It took several long moments full of quiet whining but eventually Din and Aili were alone with Little Green in their room. But they got dressed quickly, Din putting his armor back on despite the way his shoulder protested. Aili noticed the way he hesitated and made a mental note to make him sit still long enough for her to check it later.

Breakfast was a quick affair, the remainder of the Covert having come into an easy rhythm when it came time for meals. It wasn’t much but it was more than some of them were used to. Madsin had saved a tray for Aili and Din, a separate plate for Little Green with smaller portions to make it easier for him to feed himself. Once breakfast was over all of the foundlings helped clean up before they looked up at Paz with excited expressions on their faces. He gave them a short nod and it was a stampede of little feet rushing to get outside to play.

The only ones left inside were Aili’s girls who were waiting for Aili to be done so they could be properly introduced to Din. They also had to discuss the fact that they were considered a Clan now within the Covert. When Aili was done, the youngest two wasted no time in asking their questions.

“So you’ve been with our beroya?”

“Are you our buir now?” The youngest directed towards Din with wide, innocent eyes.

If Din had been eating, he would have choked on his food at the second question. From the look on Aili’s face she either didn’t know what the word meant or she wasn’t sure how to respond. When she glanced over at Din with a questioning look in her eyes, he knew the answer to his question. He looked back at the girls, sparing a glance towards the older two as well who were clearly waiting for an answer.

“We’re aliit now,” he said slowly, hoping it wouldn’t be the wrong thing to say. They shared a glance before twin smiles appeared on their faces and they turned back to look up at Din.

“I’m Shaeli, that’s Jaesa, is he aliit too?” She was looking at Little Green with a smile before she looked up at Aili and Din with an expectant look in her eyes. When they both nodded at her, her smile got even wider. “Can we take him out to play with the others? We’ll be careful, promise.”

“Go ahead,” Aili said before Din could say anything. She remembered his hesitance back on Sorgan when Winta had taken the kid out to play but they were safer now. She waited until they were outside to turn towards Madsin and Sula, raising an eyebrow at them both when they stayed quiet.

“That’s Madsin and Sula, I’m sure you’ve figured that out though,” Aili said, gesturing to each girl so Din would know who was who. When no one said anything Aili rolled her eyes and let out an annoyed sigh. “I’m gonna go check on the others, can you attempt to act like human beings while I’m gone?”

She didn’t wait for any of them to say anything before she left the house to make sure Shaeli and Jaesa weren’t letting anyone play too rough with Little Green. The last thing they needed was for him to feel threatened and start choking someone like he had Cara.

Madsin had yet to stop staring down Din. At least he assumed she was staring him down with the way her helmet hadn’t moved from his direction since they had been properly introduced. Sula was standing beside her, shoulders shaking which told Din that she was laughing at his misery. He really needed Aili to come back inside from checking on the youngest girls and Little Green who were playing outside with the other foundlings.

When they had said that Oshriya was a safe place, they had meant it. What was left of the Covert didn’t have to hide in the shadows and Din knew he had Aili to thank for that. The foundlings were able to play outside in the sun being as loud as they wanted to be and with the other town children.

“Madsin, stop staring, it’s rude,” Aili said as she walked back inside. She shook her head when she saw that neither of them had so much as moved an inch from where they had been when she went outside.

“Really though, him?” Madsin asked, finally looking away from Din in order to turn her helmet towards Aili.

“Yes and don’t give me that look.” Aili said, moving across the room to stand beside Din before he decided to just bolt from the room. The fact that he was intimidated by a girl half his age and several inches shorter than him was comical in her opinion.

“I’m wearing a helmet, you can’t even see my face,” Madsin shot back but her tone let everyone in the room know that she had indeed been giving Aili a look from behind her helmet.

Aili gave Madsin a look of her own, one that Din was getting all too familiar with as well. “And yet I know exactly what face you’re making at me.”

Madsin let out a loud scoff, shaking her head a little before she uncrossed her arms. “Fine, I guess it could have been worse.”

“It could have been Paz,” Sula suddenly laughed out, the sound carrying throughout the room. She knew her sister's feelings about the big, blue Mandalorian and they were not warm and fuzzy.

“No.”

“Absolutely not.”

Din and Madsin spoke at the same time causing Aili and Sula to let out short laughs. It was clear that the two of them would normally get along if not for Madsin’s protective sibling feelings despite Aili being so much older than her.

"I do have a size limit, you know,” Aili said, jokingly. Din’s head turned to look at her so quick that it was amazing his helmet didn’t go flying off.

"Why would you say that?" Madsin gagged at the thought of her sister and Paz. Even just the thought of Paz in that way was enough to almost make her sick to her stomach. She could barely stand being around the guy and everyday she hoped for more Mandalorians to show up so she wouldn’t be stuck with just him and Sula as the only other adults.

"Okay I was talking about height. What were you thinking of?" Aili raised an eyebrow at Madsin although the smile playing at her lips let everyone in the room know that she had purposely worded it that way. The side glance she sent Din’s way when Madsin and Sula looked away with twin sighs along with the way her smile grew made him slowly shake his head at her. She had definitely not been talking about height at all.

*Run away to a place without painful tears*

“You’re not still upset about the ship, are you?” Din asked as they settled in for bed again. After the earlier awkwardness between him and Madsin, they had sat down and talked about everything that had happened after the Covert had been exposed. Madsin and Sula had explained their reasoning for selling the ship which had made sense to Aili but that didn’t mean she wasn’t still a little peeved.

Aili let out a sigh, “Just a little bit now. You would understand if you had ever been on it.”

“Tell me then.”

“Well for one, I had an actual bed and not a cramped cot. I mean I know I’m pretty flexible but Din...imagine a bed,” Aili said, not thinking about the bed they were in at the moment but remembering the one she had on her ship. It was silly, she knew that, but it had been the first thing that she had added to the ship once it was space-worthy.

“We’re in a bed right now.” The way Din said it betrayed what he was hinting at and Aili let out a huff of laughter.

“Nice try, Madsin just stopped glaring at you.”

“We’ve come to an...understanding.”

“Yes, I know, you both don’t like Paz,” Aili said, rolling her eyes despite the room being too dark for Din to see it. “Little Green is--”

“With Shaeli and Jaesa, remember?” Din interrupted before he carefully moved to hover over Aili, trailing kisses down her jawline.

“You’re insatiable, you know that right? How did you manage all those months before the prison break?” Aili questioned, barely holding back from letting out a moan when Din focused on the spot where her neck and shoulder met. It may be a big house but it was also one where sound carried easily. The last thing they needed was for Madsin or worse, Shaeli or Jaesa to walk in on them. Sula would be the only one who would simply roll her eyes and walk back out without comment.

“It was torture,” Din answered, laying his forehead down against Aili’s shoulder.

“Oh?”

“Do you know how often you walk around with half your flight suit tied around your waist?”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Aili laughed out, making sure to keep her voice down still.

“Have you seen yourself in just a tank top?” Din asked incredulously. He didn’t give Aili the chance to reply, continuing his earlier ministrations before moving further down, raising her sleep shirt up as he did. Keeping quiet was going to be a challenge for both of them now.

In the morning, after making sure they both looked presentable which was harder for Aili than Din who had the benefit of his armor, they headed downstairs to meet up with everyone. Another conclusion they had reached the day before was that they needed to find more Mandalorians to join up with the Covert if the Armorer wasn’t going to join them any time soon. Din and Aili still had to look for Little Green’s kind and they couldn’t do that if they stayed on Oshriya with the girls.

“But why are you leaving again?” Jaesa whined, her arms latched around Aili’s midsection. She hadn’t wanted to let go ever since Aili had told them that she and Din were going to have to leave. They had just gotten her back and now she was leaving again.

“We need to find more Mandalorians,” Aili said gently, not even trying to get away from Jaesa’s grip on her. Shaeli was there as well, arms crossed and pouting in the way only a 7 year-old could when they were upset. Din and Aili along with Madsin and Sula had decided that it wouldn’t be wise to mention the fact that they had been tasked with finding Little Green’s kind to the youngest members of their Clan.

“But why?”

“So your older sister doesn’t kill Paz,” Aili said, looking up at Madsin and sending a wink her way. Madsin responded with a shake of her helmet but she stayed quiet since Aili wasn’t wrong.

“Why can’t we go with you?” Shaeli asked, still pouting but now she had paired it with a small, angry glare.

“I told you, there’s not enough room for all of you. Trust me,” Aili made her voice sound overly dramatic like being on the Razor Crest was going to be horribly cramped. She wasn’t completely wrong after they had enjoyed so much space on Oshriya in the past couple of days.

It took another ten minutes but Jaesa eventually let go of Aili and then she and Shaeli were walking over to Din with determined looks on their faces. “You better keep our buir safe and happy and, and--”

Din knelt down before the two girls and took one of each of their hands. “I promise to keep her safe and bring her back to you.”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep, that’s what she always says,” Shaeli said, glancing back to Aili before looking at Din again.

“Well this one I plan to keep,” Din said, staring straight into both of the girl’s eyes even if they couldn’t see it. They still seemed to understand how serious he was though as they narrowed their eyes in thought. Din took note that they looked just like Aili when they did that and he wondered just how much time they had spent together before the Armorer had sent Aili his way.

“Okay,” Shaeli said after she shared a look with Jaesa. “You two can go but you have to visit.”

“We can do that,” Aili said with a smile. Even if Din tried to fight her on that one, she would win that argument every single time. She figured all she’d have to bring up is the bed they had shared, that was bound to work. “And we can always send holos to each other, just ask your sisters for permission first.”

It took another long moment for them to finally head for the Crest but soon they were loaded up onto the ship. Aili and Din didn’t know where to start looking at all so Din set their coordinates back for Nevarro so they could hopefully get Little Green’s pram back and maybe a small bounty or two just so they’d have some credits to work with. The galaxy’s worst may not be after them anymore but that didn’t mean they could keep travelling without credits.

Before they left the planet’s atmo, Din noticed the way Aili’s grip on Little Green tightened as she looked back down towards the ground. He made a quick promise to himself and her that they would be back to visit the girls as often as they could.

And then they were off into the galaxy, more than one mission on both of their minds.

#din djarin x reader #din djarin x original character #din djarin imagine #the mandalorian x reader #the mandalorian x oc

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joxabear · 4 years

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Lore and World Building

So throughout my writing experience, I've realised I'm really good at world building and lore. I’ll be using my WIPs as examples for some things, and mentioning some elements. Feel free to be inspired by some! I give you full permission to borrow some of these ideas for you own WIPs! I’m being as vague as possible anyway, so the chances of you 100% taking the idea are slim.

This is very long so I’ll put it under a break!

First off, what type of book are you writing? This post will focus on fantasy worlds, as that's what I tend to write. If requested I can make another post for non fantasy worlds.

I have a whole other document of just the world lore and history. A trick of mine is to search through our own history. I have a list of books I've been flipping through for inspiration.

Examples are;

I have a big nature book, I've had it my whole life, and I've read it multiple times. It has many animals, human anatomy, natural occurrences, and more. It really helps me when designing new animals, the landscape, the humanoids, even the anthropomorphic onrd. The book is called "Encyclopedia of Discovery: Nature" and is written and edited by multiple people. (if you look up the title it's the blue book with a snake head on it).

Another book is actually just an Egyptology book. My book isn't Egypt based or anything, but simply reading about traditions will help you create some. Also it's just an interesting read!

I'm also looking into "The Many Faces of God" by Jeremy Campbell to help me with the religion side(I'm not religious myself, so it's a great help to see how people perceive deity's and especially God!)

I'm also reading "The Way of Kings" by Brandon Sanderson, which has a lot of lore! Reading books with lots of lore or similar elements to your own will help you grasp the idea of what you want and how to write it.

A few others are The Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan, The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkein, The Binding by Bridget Collins. Also video games! Those worlds are really in depth! A few I like to look into are TERA, Blade and Soul, Legend of Zelda, Fire Emblem, Xenoblade.

Now enough about books. Those are just some suggestions and they won't fit everyone's own world! My world heavily revolves around religion, prophecies, and fantasy elements, so those are the books I've been delving into. Another book of mine is very science orientated, explaining magic through science means and the like, so I actually have a quantum mechanics book for that("Quantum Mechanics Primer" by M. Warner and A.C.H Cheung to be precise)

You don't have to read random nature books or learn quantum mechanics to write though, it's just something I like doing.(and I've barely learnt quantum mechanics really I just know some fancy words and can bullshit enough to sound smart)

First off, I like to start with any major locations, you don’t always have to do this, but it’s nice to keep track. Now, going on a tangent here(I’ll be using my current WIP as an example) I’ve got a few kingdoms(nine to be exact.) If you have a kingdom, even if it won’t be on page, go into their beliefs and traditions! It’ll help with characterisation. Each kingdom worships a particular deity(I’ll be going into religion soon, don’t worry) so they dress, teach, and have differing politics depending on which god they follow. Not to say they don’t follow them. In another WIP of mine I’ve created holidays we’ll likely never see, but it does give life to the world!

Naming can be a hit or miss. My ways of naming are look around, change a few letters, done. Other times I simply mash letters together, then edit it to look vaguely like a word. Sometimes I just use real names. One of my worlds is just called “Reality.” Yeah, original, am I right?

Once you have these major locations, you can decide with minor locations(ie. villages you’ll never visit, random forests, plains, beaches. I live in Australia, and have never been to Bondai Beach, but it’s a thing! I wouldn’t map out Australia based on where I’ve been. The map is for everyone, not the MC.)

You don’t always need a map, but maps are cool! Most of my WIPs have maps, the only ones that don’t are the ones set in Earth or a specific place I made up(cannot speak about it it’s a spoiler!) I usually look at maps, both in real life, in video games, and in books, to help me. What kind of style do you want your map? Usually they’re horizontal, so that’d be a good start. Is your map the one island? Or the whole world? One of my maps is one island, and can go into more detail. Another one is the whole world, so I only have major locations with a few minor(unnamed villages.) You can also decide to have a world map then each separate island.

Now you have a world base, so lets get into the lore and history.

Religion is all around the world, and to think of a world without religion is a little weird. Making a religion could be a little harder. I’ve made multiple, but they are quite similar. So first, what kind of religion? A pantheon? One God? Maybe something else? I’d look into our own religions. I take a lot of inspiration from the Greek and Roman Gods. If you have multiple Gods, write down what they represent. Maybe they have a specific animal? Gemstone? Food? Beverage? Plant? Maybe they have personalities! In one WIP my gods have a home on the different planets, sun and the moon. Also, is it real? As a non-religious person I believe heavily in do what you want, but ultimately, I likely won’t believe anything you say about any god. There will be people like that, and there will probably be fake religions. Maybe every religion is fake? Maybe there’s multiple real religions.

So traditions, fancy things. I personally don’t have any traditions, I’m a white Australian, the most traditional thing I do is a Bunnings snag. So I’ve had to delve far into religions. The internet will be your lover. Festivals, certain activities, the way people dress, any specific jewellery? Look into traditions outside of your own and take inspiration. And tie them into the religion, if you can! Or something of cultural significance! Maybe an old story?

Are there children’s tales, or famous books. In our own world, there’s very old famous books, or famous authors themselves. Not just books, though! There’s also drama, art, sports. Delve into those, maybe just on passing your MC notes that their favourite artist drew something? Or they’re wearing their favourite teams shirt?

Animals are funny. Depending if you want or not, you can make up animals. I love making up animals. I name them random things, and then just mash already made animals together. I have a phoenix that isn’t really a phoenix, but still has the base idea of one. I have a weird rabbit-frog. Give everything wings! Maybe gills? But do look into the animals you’re mashing together. Or don’t, but if you have the anatomy down, it’ll be so much easier. Also, what are these animals like? What do they do? Are they carnivorous? My rabbit-frog is an omnivore, but usually eats the leaves on top of the trees it lives under, it’s a generally peaceful animal, and a cute pet(if you can keep it in the yard without it hopping out, that is.) Now, feel free to use that idea if you like, it’s a cute sounding animal, go and change it around! I don’t mind. I doubt they’ll have the same name or exact habits anyway. Don’t forget natives and pests!

Something not many think about, especially in fantasy worlds, are solar systems. Now, I mentioned that the gods live on a planet each, they aren’t the planet, but they chill there. So, yeah, I have a solar system. How many planets would it have? How many suns? Moons? How close is the moon to the world? How close is the world to the sun? Is it possible to inter space travel, or do they just know of planets and stars? Maybe they don’t know of planets! This is completely optional, but a cool thing to tack on!

Does your specific world have any plants? Native plants are important as well. I won’t be finding a cactus casually growing on a heavily jungle based island, that’s a little strange. You can also make up plants!

Food and beverages. Now, making up food can be harder, easier with made up plants and animals. Does your land have a traditional food? A native plant? A native animal? Maybe a certain animal is sacred and eating it is taboo, or maybe eating it will grant you special abilities or gifts?

A weird detail, I have potions. I have the method to making it, the ingredients, how much of something as well, and most importantly, what the potion does. This can tie into foods and beverages. One of my potions is a “Prophetic Coma” type, basically, it puts you in a coma where you can have a prophetic dream. I’ve used a mix of real things and made up. (my rabbit-frog’s blood can make you experience hallucinations, so that’s an ingredient to help urge a prophetic dream), look into natural remedies and things as well,like drinking warm milk helps you sleep, so maybe that’s an element in a sleeping potion?

Another weird detail is spiritual means. You know, like tarot cards and the like. One of mine is you climb up steps, and depending on whether or not the step is polished, cracked, or crumbling depends on the answer you get. Another is a simple rune throw. You can make up new ones or use already made ones.

History is fun! No one remembers anything as it happens. Have wild stories between normal ones, have people recount things differently. In fact, my “lost kingdom” really isn’t so lost, people are just kind of dumb with history. Look into history yourself, maybe there was a war? What’s the aftermath of that?

Magic! How does your magic work? Is it natural? Man-made? In one of my WIPs spell tomes are rare, and magic uses the power of your soul, so it’s rarely used. How do you use it? Is it a natural wave of the hand? Maybe simply thinking? Are there wands? Staffs? Staves? Tomes? Specific symbols and sigils? Do you say a spell name?

Now, getting into some dark territory here. Is there racism in your world? Sexism? Any specific hate towards any specific group? I personally don’t have any of that, it’s not my style. But if you’re writing in modern day Earth, there will be that. That doesn’t mean you have to write it! You can avoid it entirely! That’s what I’m doing. Besides, if my MC went around getting misgendered the whole time, that’d take away the real story. Only put these in if you think it’s 100% needed.

Wow, this is long! Sorry about that! This is what I’ve done to build my world, and you don’t have to do all of these, or any! This isn’t in any way a “you have to do this” it’s simply my own methods in making lore and worlds. Truthfully, not all of my WIPs have all of these elements. And some share things! That’s okay! Feel free to add or correct anything! We’re all learning!

So, please, take this as you will, I hope I helped some, and thanks for reading! It turned out way longer than I initially thought it would. If I miss out anything, I’ll make a part 2! They’re WIPs for a reason, I’m still working on them! I also might make a post on map-making if y’all want.

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the-hilda-librarians-wife · 4 years

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Family Fights - Chapter Seventeen

Summary: Even the strongest bond, the most loving family, can be broken by nightmares, and the librarian is soon to learn this. As she learns sinister things about a person who she had thought was lost forever, she realizes she will need the help of another witch to get her family back.

Notes: Here, have the next-to-last chapter as a Hilda anniversary present

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Time seemed to flow very differently when you found yourself attuned to the world around you. Ever since they woke up, Maven tried to make it so they remained in a meditative state even while they went about with preparations, and Hilda was quite sure it had worked. Her heightened senses and concentration remained with her even after they finished their first grounding, right after they got up, and remained with her for surprisingly long.

After they ate their breakfast, they began working on the spell components. A ridiculous amount of crystals would be used, and they had to cleanse and charge every single one to make sure there was no chaotic or malicious energy in them. Hilda was responsible for doing so by giving them some time in a jar with salt water, but there were a couple of them that, due to their physical composition, could not come in contact with water or salt. Likewise, there were some gems that couldn’t be left in the sun to charge with its energy, and in both situations Maven used her own energy to cleanse and charge the gems.

Whether it was usual for witches to just have them lying about in their homes, Hilda didn’t know, but the fact was that Maven had four tall, thick white candles that they would also need for the ritual. They didn’t need to be cleansed, because energy didn’t stick to most objects like it did to crystals, but they anointed them with an oil that Hilda concocted while her teacher had been tending to the crystals. It had a base of sesame oil, with shredded ginger, ground cinnamon and ghost pepper in it, and had a strong, fiery scent to it. After carving the necessary sigils onto the candles, they used their hands to rub the oil on them, from the top to the middle and then from the bottom to the middle, as was effective to be done when a witch was trying to manifest something.

By the time this was done, Hilda was surprised to notice that the morning was already over. It had gone by in the blink of an eye to her. But the work was not yet done. After another half an hour meditating when they were done eating, Maven set out to explaining her all the details and nuances of the Soul Spell. It was easily one of the most complex rituals she’d ever come across, the librarian explained, and definitely the most convoluted she’d ever cast. Energy work played an important role in it, but the girl was surprised when she was told that spirit work did too. She’d been worried about that, for a moment. Her knowledge of spirit work was scarce at best and she had even less experience than she did information, but Maven assured her that she’d handle the most of it. Both of them memorized all the steps and chantings, and considered all the things that could go wrong and how to solve them if those problems arose. The tasks were delegated between the two of them and soon Hilda was feeling less clueless about what would be happening. They were preparing themselves the best they could, and that was already something.

Assembling their components in the place the ritual would be performed was next. Though they would have more privacy in the forests outside Trolberg, Maven pointed out that the chances of unfamiliar spirits interrupting them would be greater, so it was decided that they would simply cast it on her backyard. In order to build a ward around their casting circle, they surrounded the space by a mixture of eggshell powder and juniper leaves, and worked together to bring up the shield, building it from the ground up.

Hilda helped Maven use a compass to place each of the four candles in a cardinal direction, and they carefully arranged the crystals according to the picture in the spellbook. It was annoyingly intricate, and Hilda took longer than she would have liked to manage to interpret it, even with the librarian’s help.

“These look mathematical, almost.” She said, frowning at the wrinkled pages.

“That’s because they are.” Maven answered. “There are mathematical patterns to everything in the universe, including magic. But recognizing and interpreting them is very advanced stuff, you don’t have to worry about it yet.”

Connecting the candles and forming a circle just slightly less wide than that made by the powder were a couple of desert roses, which Maven had been gathering since she began training Hilda for this occasion. Amethysts, selenites and labradorites, along with other pieces of gemstones so small that the girl couldn’t even recognize, went inside the circle to make the geometrical patterns that she had trouble to even understand. They finished off by placing a small glass jar in the very centre of it all.

Hilda took a deep breath, looking at all they’d done. But the sun was not going to set yet, so she turned to Maven, who seemed to be evaluating their work as well.

“What now?”

“Are you warm?” She asked, and Hilda nodded. She’d stitched a warmth sigil to her jacket at the beginning of winter, and had also remembered to put pieces of paper with the same sigil inside each of her boots. “In that case, we should stay here. Connect well enough to our set up that we’ll be able to control the spell and sense what is happening during the ritual.”

Sitting down cross legged with their backs to one another, they focused on their surroundings. During her training Hilda had learned to attune herself to the world around her better, and even though she was still not as good at this as her mentor, she found herself having ease to do so at that moment. It could be because they’d worked to be in that state since the second they woke up, or due to the magic in the carefully constructed area they’d just set up, or a result of both, but she felt like she could tell every little thing that was happening inside the circle.

It was only when Maven gently touched her arm, some time later, that she opened her eyes again. Were it not for noticing the sunlight getting dimmer, Hilda would not have been able to tell how much time had gone by.

“It’s time.” Maven whispered, in such a low voice that the girl felt like it had been spoken inside her mind. Wordlessly, they got to their feet and took a deep breath. In perfect sync, they lit up flames on top of their fingertips and used them to light up the candles, making the situation feel even more real, their warmth replacing that of the sun as it began to set.

They then stood side by side in the middle of their circle, holding hands to connect their energy. With her free hand, Maven picked up her wand and pointed it to the sky, concentrating harder than she ever had on her life.

“Mine forfedre, kom frem, jeg ber deg! Blodet ditt trenger din hjelp i denne verden!”

She felt the earth humming beneath her feet, the wind rushing around her, the veil of this world stretching under her command. And then, she felt them coming. She pressed Hilda’s hand harder for a moment to signal her, but she had felt them coming too and had already begun working on her task. As soon as they were close enough, the girl opened a rift in their ward, just big enough for them to come through, keeping her focus on allowing in the spirits that wished them well and halting any malicious energy that seeked to take advantage of Maven’s calling.

When Maven lowered her wand, the last of them inside, Hilda mended the ward and opened her eyes again, even though she couldn’t remember ever closing them. They were all with them. Maven’s ancestors.

She had explained to her that the spirits of your ancestors weren’t quite like the ghosts that could be brought back in a cemetery. Spirits had been dead for much longer, so long that no one and nothing that they had loved existed anymore. They had no leftover ties to this world, and didn’t have the power to haunt anymore, only being able to come back when they were called forth by a witch.Though she knew this, she was still surprised when she could not see them. Feeling their energy was easy, and she could tell that each one of them was floating above one desert rose, but they had no noticeable corporeal form whatsoever. The best she could see when she focused were flashes of aura looking clouds.

The witches moved, this time standing in front of each other with enough space between them for the jar that was on the ground. That was it, the most crucial moment of the ritual. Hilda extended her arms, palms facing up, while Maven held out her hands in front of herself as if she was about to receive something.

As she took a deep breath, Hilda visualized all the energy around her, from the crystals, the spirits, herself and even Maven’s, swirling and gathering, being pulled towards her. It would be impossible, and not at all her goal, to use up the energy of all of them. That would completely destroy the spirits and she couldn’t even imagine what would happen to herself and her mentor in that scenario. But she did manage to gather a great deal of it, enough for it to be visible as streams of silver light, feeling it assemble on her hands and run up and down her skin like electricity. As she did so, a part of her concentration went to channeling this energy to Maven’s hands.

For her part, Maven frowned as she took to the intrinsicate work of setting intention to this energy, imbuing it with her will so it knew what it was meant to become. Then, she manipulated it so it would fall into the geometrical patterns formed by the gemstones, the crystals guiding the energy to its purpose both because of their own properties and because of the time the two witches had spent with them, so they too had the magic to aid the ritual. It was a painstaking task, and she felt her heart beat faster with the effort of guiding the magic through such a meticulous path.

She didn’t dare open her eyes, but she could tell it was working, and it kept her going. She felt the energy, twisted and unrecognizable from its original state pooling on the jar at her feet as it finished the track. It was a continuous flow at that point, she’d receive the raw energy from Hilda and refine it into their end goal. In a few minutes, they were both panting from the strain of keeping the ritual going. Eventually, Hilda broke the chain, ceasing her building up of energy. Maven had to keep going to distill the magic that had already entered the cycle.

“I’m sorry.” Hilda groaned, leaning forward with her hands now against her tights so she could catch her breath. “This was all I could take without hurting us.”

“Thank the spirits.” Maven murmured, grinding down her teeth. If performing the ritual was hard, doing so while speaking was even more. “You know what to do.”

Trusting Hilda to know how to let out her ancestors gracefully, she concentrated all of her strength in getting the refining done perfectly, even as her power weakened. A deep sigh left her lips when the last bit of it was done, and she couldn’t help but let herself fall to the ground in a squat. Hilda was quick to put a cork on the jar; Maven had made sure that the two of them would have one in their pockets, so whoever was less affected by the spell at the end of it could close the jar with haste.

When her head stopped spinning, the first thing Maven noticed was darkness. The sun was completely set now, and the candles had no fire. If everything had gone according to theory, they had been put out by the spirits when they left. Hilda had an amazed smile on her face, staring at the jar on her hands. There was a faded blue cloud in it.

It was done. They had created a new soul.

_#_#_#_

“Are you sure you don’t want me to stay?” Hilda asked one more time, handing Maven the glass of water she had asked for.

The librarian was still sitting on the ground, the same place she’d been after completing the ritual. She was cradling the jar in her hands, still stunned that it was real and that it truly had worked.

“I am.” She said. “You’ve already helped me more than I can thank you for, but this is something I need to face myself. Your mother is probably already waiting for you in the street. Go home, ground properly, and rest. I’ll try and come by your house to let you know how it went.”

Making her nearly drop the glass, Hilda kneeled down and leaned forward to hug her tight.

“Good luck, Mave. Take care.”

“Thank you, Hildie. I will.”

With one last look at her mentor, Hilda went back inside the house to get her bag and leave.

Maven put the jar on her lap and gulped down the water. She was exhausted, but she needed to keep going. The Soul Spell was not a very well known one, and understandably so since there weren’t many occasions in which one would need to craft a brand new soul, save for enchantments gone awfully wrong. Because of that, the amount of information she had about it was not large, and she was not sure how that trapped soul should be treated. She didn’t know how long it would last without a host, or where she should store it. It was simply safer to do it all that night. She had a feeling that this second part would be even more tiring than the ritual.

Luckily, earlier that day she’d had the mental clarity to leave everything she’d need for a simple summoning spell by the door. It was weird how long ago that felt. After a few more moments of just breathing and gathering her strength, she got up to go get them.

The same casting circle would be used for this spell. She didn’t really have the energy for dismantling this one and building it anew. Kneeling in front of the candle that faced south, she lit it up again and began chanting.

“Kom na, kom na, kom til meg…”

Putting the tip of her bundle of thyme to the flame to let it smoke, she waved it in the air in circles above her head.

“Ikke vaer sjenert, kom na, du vet at jeg ringer etter deg.”

The smoke rose up in a grey column. Slowly, she removed her fingers from the bundle, her magic making it float without her holding it. This was a spell she was quite familiar with, decidedly the most popular one when it came to summoning dark entities. She and her mother had become very acquainted with it during their time looking for ways to save Myra, before they even knew that she had joined the Marra. they had attempted many times to summon any of the nightmare spirits, hoping that they’d lead them to where Myra was being kept, but they did not have the most important component: a taglock.

Taglocks were generally used in curses or blessings. They directed the spell towards a certain person by using something that belonged to them. Knowing that it was her sister that she had to summon, though, Maven had had a number of possible taglocks to choose from, eventually picking an antique mother pearl comb that their father had given Myra when she was a child. She had loved it a lot and taken good care of it. It meant a lot to her, and so was the perfect taglock.

“Ikke late som om du ikke vet at jeg snakker med deg. Er dette ikke ditt, kom na til meg.” She completed the incantation. The candle’s flame rose up high and strong, and she brought the comb to it. The magical fire did nothing to the comb but complete the spell, and after a heartbeat, the thyme stopped burning even though she didn’t command it to and all three other candles lit up.

When she turned around to look at them, their fire was green.

#fic: family fights #my fic #hilda librarian fanfiction #hilda fanfiction #hilda (hilda) fanfiction #hilda librarian fanfic

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eirikrjs · 4 years

Text

Persona Q2 magic circle

Well, here’s another one from me. This bad boy pops up during fusions in Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth.

(if it fails to load again, this or this link should show it… hopefully)

The main inspiration for this one seems to be the pentagram in Éliphas Lévi’s “Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie” (“Dogma and Ritual of High Magic”):

Design has some simplifications, alterations and additions. Only the pentagram itself, it’s shading (more or less), symbols of sun and moon, and the small circle at top are in place.

TETRAGRAMMATON is completely gone. Guess there’s no place for Megaten-style God in collective minds of regular Japanese teenagers that spend their free time battling horrors born from human psyche. The eyes are also gone.

The minor arcana symbols were moved from their positions between the points of the star directly into those points. They also have the same design that you see in Shuffle Time in Persona 3 and 4.

We have the addition of the outer circle which straight up tells you what the five points of a pentagram mean. It rotates clock-wise around the pentagram so no word is technically strictly aligned with any particular point of the pentagram, but it bugs me that I can’t make the minor arcana symbols align with their associated elements. Earth and Air need to be switched for that. Also, EARTH is written weird. Looks more like EARCE…

Side-note. This outer circle is mirrored and rotates counter-clock-wise in case of Fusion Accident. I just find it funny.

The Jupiter symbol (at least that’s what it apparently is) is replaced with the simplified Velvet Room logo from Persona 4 and 5. I guess it makes sense. The SPIRIT part of the pentagram carries the logo of the not quite material place where you sort your mind out.

Now for my least favorite part. The Hebrew text on Lévi’s pentagram reads “Adam”, “Eve”, “Atone”/”Forgive” and “Fear”/”Awe”. It got replaced with “Will”, “Bond” and “Hope”… in Enochian. I have no problem with Lévi’s pentagram having Persona’s own symbols in it, but addition of Enochian seems rather… muddling, I guess, even if Wikipedia claims that Enochian Magic is for summoning spirits. Also, I know that bonds, hopefulness and strength of will hold a large presence in Persona (in terms of mechanics, theme and/or narrative), but to put them on a magic circle like this seems… I can’t pick the words for it, but I don’t like it.

Caduceus, one of the symbols of opposite forces maintaining universal equilibrium, is replaced with the symbol from the back of Persona 3 and 4 Tarot cards. I’m pretty sure it’s a Persona original (possibly inspired by half-shadowed depictions of Greek comedy and tragedy masks). To me it seems to symbolize the two selves one needs to balance to be whole: the self shown to others, the mask we wear, and the self hidden from others, the face in the shadow of that mask. You need to be aware of both to be in personal equilibrium.

Now for the last removal. The letters Alpha and Omega are gone and I can find three potential reasons for it:

It was seen as symbol of God, so followed the fate of TETRAGRAMMATON.

It was seen as a symbol of duality, so followed the fate of caduceus.

It is a part of a very elaborate historical in-joke. Hermetic Order of Golden Dawn practiced Enochian Magic (they were in fact the ones to name the language Enochian, its creators just called it Angelic), but when the Order splintered, one guy in the faction Alpha et Omega tried to forbid Enochian Magic, finding it dangerously incomplete and damaging to the mind of practitioner (naming our old pal Crowley as the most telling example of that). The developers/writers could have decided that it’s only fair that if they add Enochian, they remove Alpha and Omega.

Now for the use of this symbol. As written in the aforementioned book’s volume I (“Dogma”), chapter 5:

The pentagram expresses the domination of the mind over the elements, and it is by this symbol that we enchain the demons of air, the spirits of fire, the specters of water, and the ghosts of the earth.

Armed with this symbol and properly prepared, you can see the infinite by using that faculty which is like the eye of your soul, and you will have the legions of angels and columns of demons serve you.

On surface level that’s all you need. Angels and demons serving you = using Personas. But the book often mentions astral light in which imprints of souls of the dead and reflections of spirits exist, and when you invoke them, those reflections and imprints are what you get. I could have missed it, but it doesn’t seem like Lévi bothered with giving a proper definition to astral light (and apparently claimed that he found it incommunicable), yet the mentions of it sound like something similar to Persona’s use of Collective Unconscious with archetypes and images of figures of myth, history and fiction residing in it. Now, obviously Caroline and Justine don’t do weeks-long rituals, described in the book, to give you new Personas, but the fact that they use film projectors (devices that emit light that bounces of the screen’s surface before we perceive it) for fusion might be a tongue-in-cheek reference to astral light with its reflections.

I know I’m probably reaching for connections where there aren’t any, but I’m an obsessive and biased fanboy. I feel obligated to do that.

P.S. The same book also gives us this take on Seal of Solomon:

Pretty sure we can thank/blame this one for QVOD SUPERIVS MACROPROSOPVS QVOD INFERIVS MICROPROSOPVS in the SMT1 Seal of Solomon.

P.P.S. Link to my original picture of magic circle from Persona 3 and 4, in case somebody is knowledgeable and eagle-eyed enough to definitively identify the symbol next to Mercury one.

______________________________________________________________

WELCOME TO EARCE

And it does make sense as a phonetic rendering of Japanese transliterated “earth” (アース, aasu) back into English. Honestly, that goof probably explains it all: someone on the team was assigned to design a proprietary version of the Levi pentagram and did their best. Occult flavor without any real significance. You know, the usual. You certainly thought about it more than whoever was responsible for this seal!

We use the suffix -rrhea to mean “flowing” (yes, as in diarrhea but also logorrhea for talkative types). Maybe sigilrrhea could be used to describe excessive modern misapplication of these magical symbols! And you are trying to identify the symbol that looks like the PlayStation triangle button?

I looked in my sigil dictionary and couldn’t find it. Doesn’t mean it’s not there, though–there are thousands to sift through. The book even has an index where you look them up by stroke count, just like kanji. Crazy correlation, but definitely valid. This symbol could just as easily be a counterfeit but it contains real, common elements like the circle and triangle. Onerous research for sure.

#eliphas levi #persona #smt #occult #submission

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ardenttheories · 4 years

Note

Sorry if youve already done this hut how about comparing/contrasting light and mind? They definitely seem like similar concepts, albeit, different perspectives, but I’m not very well versed in them and I’d like to hear it from you!

As a general rule of thumb, these are the key words for each Aspect:

Light: Luck, Chance, Probability, Knowledge, Importance, Understanding, Information, The Future, The Plot and Narratives, Truth, Relevancy

Mind: Rationality, Reason, Logic, Justice, Thoughts, Unbiased, Impersonal, Disconnected, Apathetic, Outer Being, Closed Off, Choices, Decisions, All Potentials/Possibilities, Deduction

In essence, Light is about Learning. It’s figuring things out piece by piece, uncovering as much information as you can possibly get, building up a picture from everything you Know. It’s the creation of a Story, the recognition of Plot Points, of Importance - it’s seeing or doing only what is Relevant and True.

Mind, on the other hand, is about Logic. It’s puzzling things out point by point, standing back to look at things even if you don’t entirely have the full picture. It’s Nonbias towards any Choice or Decision that could be made, and recognition of every Potential that exists. It’s the understanding that Choices must be made, branch out into other Choices, lead to other courses of action, and that you have to plan twenty steps ahead to keep on top of it all.

So, ironically, Mind’s much more people-based than Light, despite being the Aspect of Apathy. It can’t Understand the way Light does, and Light will always be heavily tinged with the Bias of the person viewing it. Though the Truth is there, that Truth may only be True to the Light Player, who will then make it total Truth. On the other hand, Mind doesn’t presume to know what Truth is, or even care exactly that something is True; it focuses instead on what a person Thinks, what their Reasoning or Logic is, what they, personally, see.

A Mind Player can’t know what isn’t easily found. They don’t know what’s Important in a session, can’t find endless sources of Information, have no interest in understanding the Truth or what is Relevant. If any of these things get in the way of a Decision being made, a Mind player will Lie.

They would tell a Player that someone is alive if that is what it took to ensure that the someone’s lover won’t fold in on themselves. They would understand that in any given situation, there are at least a thousand routes that could be taken, a thousand things that could be said - and that every Option has an Outcome, and that every Outcome has its benefits.

They know that they have to say this specific thing to this specific person because doing so will ensure that a necessary outcome unfolds, even if that outcome isn’t strictly good.

A Light Player doesn’t have this nuance. They don’t have the same understanding of all the Options and all the Outcomes. They are only aware of the ones that are Important to the Plot, the ones that will cause the most progression, the ones that have to happen. If something isn’t Important, they’re completely blind to it, and this can cause a lot of contention since Importance is a very fickle thing.

A good way of explaining it would be this:

Someone has to die in order for the session to progress. Their death causes a series of events that are ultimately integral for the session’s success, and the survival of that Player is not an Option.

The Light Player is aware of this because the death is Important. It holds use to the bigger picture and it is therefore Relevant for them to know. However, what might not be Relevant is that the dead Player’s brother will be deeply affected if the death happens in a certain way. So long as the death occurs, the session is saved; what happens to the brother is Irrelevant.

Therefore, the Light Player may be shocked to find, afterwards, that the brother begins to pull away and the friendship between them is broken, no matter how much they try to explain that it was Important.

The Mind Player would be aware of this. They would be able to see that the brother is inconsolable due to his own person brand of Logic and Reasoning. They would recognise that other Options are available, and that even if the death has to occur, it can be done in a way that doesn’t leave the brother broken as a response.

They might not recognise this as an Important event with a captial i, but they would know that it has to be done because the death allows for the Player to be active in the Dreambubbles - where their powers are better put to use. They’ve seen or know what sort of Choices the Player will make.

So, in other words, a Light Player can tell you what has to happen, and a Mind Player can ensure that it happens in the Best Possible Way.

There’s also just the general idea that Mind protects and serves the individual integrity of a person’s literal mind, whereas Light protects and serves the concept of Knowledge and Information as a whole.

A Light Player would never be able to justify hiding Knowledge unless it is 100% Important for that Knowledge to be hidden until a later date; a Mind Player would completely squirrel that Knowledge away if they knew that someone would make a Decision following it that provides a negative Outcome.

So, definitely in line with the idea that they’re two sides of the same perspective, but it’s pretty important to note the key differences. Like the fact that Light needs Knowledge because if it doesn’t have that, it can’t see the bigger picture, can’t figure out what has to happen and what’s Important in a session full of things - but Mind can see the bigger picture from the start based on the Outcomes of various Choices, and what, Logically, seems like the best Option to go with.

Another example:

A Mind and Light Player have the same map. It has a key with no text, scribbles written all over it, no landscape drawn on it, and is almost completely illegible and looks more like someone scratched a pen on some paper and passed it off for a map. They’re been reassured that it is a map, though, and that it DOES lead the way out to the exit of the cave they’re about to enter.

The Mind Player knows enough about the person who made the map to know exactly which path is going to lead to the exit based on how they Think. They know the person is highly Paranoid, and likes to hide codes in amongst everything using Alchemic symbols and sigils that merge letters together.

They’re also aware of this person’s brand of logic; up means down, left means right, and safe means dangerous. Chances are the map has been mirrored, too.

It’s understanding the person that allows them to read the map and make it safely out the other side of the cave, with the additional bonus of being able to tell, innately, which Options are safe and which are deadly whenever they come to brances in the path.

The Light Player knows nothing about the person in question, but can recognise some of the Alchemic symbols because they’ve recently read up on them. As a result, they quickly get to work researching what they could mean, then start trying to figure out what the code could be in the sigils based on traditional ciphers.

That would lead to more research about possible codes and the different things you can hide in maps, which would reveal the Truth behind its scribbled nature; that each line represents something, and that there’s a series of inversions that make the map harder to read.

It might take longer, but eventually the Light Player will understand the map completely, and will more easily recognise such ciphers or techniques in the future. They will also be hlped along by the innate feeling of Importance that guides them down each branching path; they might not know what’s down there, the way a Mind Player might be able to deduce, but they’ll at least Know that it isn’t Relevant.

So, in other words, Light not Knowing what a person is Thinking or being able to influence a person’s own Rationality or Reasoning, and having to rely on their own Reasoning to get their points across; and Mind not Understanding everything that’s Important in the session but figuring out all the Options until they can, without any Bias, Choose the Outcome that has the most benefits for everyone. It’s that odd internal VS external thing that seems to crop up a lot with Aspects, and that’s one of their biggest divisions, I think.

Think how Terezi keeps the group together by ensuring they pick specific Options VS Rose keeping the session in tact by leading them towards Important events.

Terezi can See that Vriska going off to kill Bec Noir isn’t a good idea because she can see the Outcome of the Option; Vriska gets them all killed because Bec Noir follows her pixie dust trail. She can also see that the Option wherein she kills Vriska outright ensures that Outcome doesn’t happen - and later down the line, when John as his Retcon abilities, she sees a third Option where Vriska is knocked out instead.

Were Rose in the same situation, she’d probably only be able to See the Important parts; Terezi killing Vriska, or John using his Retcon powers to knock her out. She’d know that this event is Important for the timeline to progress, but might not know the specifics of why - because it’s just not Relevant Information.

In the same vein, Terezi wouldn’t be able to See anything about the Green Sun. It’s Important to the session, sure, but it’s not something to do with Mind until it gets to the point that Rose starts making Choices that leads up to its creation. Terezi can’t See the Sun itself, can’t just focus in on it at will, but she can See it by proxy of looking down Rose’s Potentials and Outcomes. She can see how Rose’s Options lead up to the Tumor being taken out in the Void and causes the whole thing to appear. Does she have any idea what it is? Probably not. It’s not in her abilities to Know something like that.

So Mind is centred around the Internal nature of People and their Thoughts, Options, Choices, and the Unbiased attempts to navigate each branching path. Light, on the other hand, is centred around the External nature of Importance, what is Relevant and True and must be known, focusing only on what is Necessary and following that singular path to the end.

#frogb0t #light aspect #mind aspect #classpect analysis #ardenttheories #long post//

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sageblogsthings · 4 years

Text

[id: close-up photo of a lavender plant, which is bright purple with subtle greens against a dark grey, almost black background. Above the image is the chapter title, Lavender and Amethyst, written in white all caps lettering. /end id]

I screamed towards the bottom of the hill, wind whipping through my hair and feathers. Below, I could see an open field. I knew that if I landed there I would be vulnerable, but I also knew that was the only place I could make a teleportation circle. It was risky, but with no sign of the guards behind me I decided it was worth it, and angled my wings to descend onto the field.

"Plumae recedus," and the wings quickly unraveled back into my daggers, which fell into my waiting hands. Plunging the daggers into the ground, I quickly scrawled out a teleportation circle, and etched Verena's sigil in the middle: the rune for raven crossed with two runes for rose. Sheathing my daggers, I looked back up the hill for the guards. Seriously?! I spotted three small dots hurtling down the hill, and I cursed under my breath. Holding my hands over the sigil, I closed my eyes and prepared to cite the teleportation spell.

"Gredior-" I was cut off by a strange metallic sound.

What the hell is it now?

The sound rang out again, and I tilted my head upwards, realizing that the source was the sky itself. It sounded like the Gods were dueling with swords made of lightning, and where they struck thunder radiated outwards. Had this been an ordinary storm, I would have quickly finished the incantation and been on my merry way, but this was no ordinary storm. The sky twisted into purples and grays streaked with thunderbolts, contorting like the enraged face of the Storm King Foerethius himself. If I tried to cast the teleportation spell in this, who knows what would happen. Whatever was happening was the result of powerful magic, magic I did not want to cross. Deciding the teleportation circle was useless, I scratched out the runes and tossed dirt over the circle, closing the spell.

Guess it's time to run some more. I took off towards the edge of the field just as the guards were approaching the opposite end. If I could just make it into the woods on the other side, maybe I could lose them. The storm raged on, thunder cracking as purple lightning whipped across the sky. I had about a quarter of the field distance left to go. I could do this. Panting hard, I stole another glance upward to see purple streaks shooting towards the ground. Going off of the screams behind me, they had narrowly missed the guards. Lavender streaks of electricity continued to rain down onto the field, but only around its edges, which I noted was a bit odd. I just need to get to the forest edge, I'll be fine. With the loudest crack yet, a white-hot bolt struck the edge of the field some 10 yards in front of me. I swerved, trying to run around the now scorched ground and to safety, but another bolt shot down in front of me. It almost seemed intentional. I dared a glance behind me, and stopped in my tracks when I saw the field quickly bring encircled with these lavender bands of electricity. What the hell is going on?! The guards were now outside of the field, safely on the other side of the barrier. At least they had given up chasing me. But now my odds of getting across the field seemed slim. I only had a few strides left, but lightning was rapidly striking the end of the field, forming a wall that seemed impenetrable unless I wanted to risk getting deep fried.

Deep fried, that's it! Pulling a scrap of salted meat from my waist pouch, I tossed it at the forming barrier. The meat passed through unscathed, and just as I was about to attempt the same a spear of lightning hurtled down on the other side of the barrier, evaporating the scrap of meat midair. Well, so much for that idea. My mind whirled, the barrier now completely encircling me. I could try the teleportation circle, but that was incredibly risky. The only option that seemed tolerable was to wait in the field and just see what would happen, and hope that it wouldn't involve me being turned into jerky.

***

I sat with my cheek resting on my palm, waiting to see what would happen with this weird ass thunderstorm. Maybe the government is just up to some really weird shit, maybe it will go away soon, I tried to relax myself even though I very much doubted that any of that was true. So much for a nice afternoon.

I peered at the barrier around me. It seemed to be made up of constantly moving lightning. I know that makes no physical sense but I don't know how else to explain it. Purple strands of electricity crackled around me like I was in one of those plasma balls that make your hair stand on end.

Is it just me, or is the lightning moving faster? My stomach dropped at the thought that this might get worse. Probably just my imagination. Hopefully.

Almost on cue, the barrier began to emit a low-pitched hum, the threads of lightning hopping back and forth faster and faster along the periphery of the barrier. Well, shit. The speed increased, the hum now becoming a whine, and then a screech as the barrier whirled like the most fucking terrifying merry-go-round ever. Please just be an acid trip, please just let someone have laced my sandwich with something, I begged. I clamped my hands over my ears to drown out the now deafening scream of the barrier as it whirled around me. Scrunching my eyes shut, I ducked my head in towards my knees and prayed to whatever deities might be out there to please just make it stop.

The noise stopped.

Oh. Thank you. Sorry about not being religious before I thought as I opened my eyes.

Or not.

The barrier had now warped into a disc spread out all around me, but around me was no longer the beautiful field. It was ... I don't even know. Just, black. If I wasn't worried about possibly being dead it may have been quite beautiful, purple marbling with black as the once crackling lightning now glowed rhythmically within the streaks of lavender. Ahead of me, I could see a bright white circle of light. Well, according to every sci-fi movie ever I should go that way. I slowly wandered towards it, stopping about five feet before it. It was beautiful. Glowing, radiant, possibly deadly but then again I might've already been dead who knows. I stretched my arm out towards it, slowly stepping closer. Fingers reaching, I held my breath, heart hammering raucously in my chest and ears. Well, here goes nothing, and I dipped my fingers into the light.

With a lurch, the ground crumbled beneath my feet and I was pulled into the light, what was once a sliver of light growing and growing until it nearly blinded me. I tumbled forward, and vertigo completely overtook me as I pitched into the light, only slightly conscious of my fear as the world around me disappeared, and I blacked out.

I woke to a ringing in my ears, a low whine growing louder as I drifted towards consciousness. I could feel something shift underneath me, but I still couldn't open my eyes. Fear began to sink in, and I clenched my eyelids before trying to pry them open again. After several attempts, I managed to unscrew them the tiniest bit. Looking beneath me, I saw a woman. With skin the color of amethyst, shockingly white hair, and two charcoal horns spiraling from the sides of her head. As my eyes adjusted more, I looked at her face, her eyes still closed and her breath shallow. I had only heard of her kind before, never seen one in person, but she seemed to be a purple tiefling. They used to be common where I live, until the humans drove them out, thinking them evil and pushing them to the border of our lands. Some humans still harbor tieflings in secret, some even marry them, but such is always done with the utmost secrecy. Looking at her, I couldn't understand how she could be viewed as evil. She looked so peaceful, enchanting. I found myself staring at her face, and noticed two dark tattoos, one inching along her forehead, and the other snaking from the bottom of her chin to her lips. I was admiring the simple intricacy of her tattoos, and maybe staring at her lips a little, when I heard a

"What do you think you're doing?" My eyes darted up, realizing that she was awake. Bright gray eyes, cold and mercilessly enthralling stared up at me. Has my mouth always been this dry? I tried to form words but it seemed like she was a siren and I was a helpless pirate. I opened and closed my mouth several times, cursing myself for being so goddamn gay.

Realizing that I was still laying fully on top of her, I sat up, then swung one leg over her hips so that I was crouched next to her, muttering a "sorry" under my breath. Whatever trance I had been under now seemed to be broken, and I looked anywhere but at her face, certain that my face was the color of a tomato. I felt her gaze at me for a moment before she sat up as well.

"Who are you? Why have you brought me here?" Her questions sounded like an order, her voice carrying a sense of calm importance with it.

"I-," I began, clearing my throat. "I'm Vanna. And I haven't brought you here. I don't even know where here is." I braved a look up at her, and saw her silver eyes boring into my face. I quickly looked back down, and heard her stand in front of me. Before I could process anything, the shiiing of metal rang through the air and the tip of a blade pricked beneath my chin.

"Don't lie to me. That won't end well for you," she glared down at me, pressing the flat of the blade fully against my chin.

"I'm not, I promise. I was just sitting in a field reading when this weird storm came out of nowhere, everything was all purple and then I saw this light and I touched it which was probably dumb but I didn't know what else to do and then I woke up on top of you and now I'm here please don't kill me," the words flying out of my mouth.

"Hmm," she seemed displeased, but not at me. "I believe you." She withdrew her blade, and my shoulders slumped in relief. "I saw the purple storm as well, and then I woke up here. I assumed you were the sorcerer in charge of the spell that brought us here, but I can see now that you lack such power."

"Sorcerer? You thought I could do magic? I'm human."

"Yes, I know. When you were still on top of me though, I could sense magic within you," she spoke calmly, and I blushed at her plain reminder of my awkwardness. "You may not be powerful enough to cast whatever spell brought us here, but you do not lack magic entirely."

"I don't?? I-I didn't even know humans could have magic, unless they were part elf or something. And I don't think I am."

She gazed down at me, a slight look of annoyance crossing her features. "It is impossible. But I cannot stand here and explain magic to you, I need to find out where we are and how to leave."

The room around us was fairly dark, the only light provided by luminescent crystals glowing a pale aqua and magenta. I heard her whisper something, and looked up to see a necklace around her throat glowing white.

"Whoa how did you do that!! That's so cool!" The look of annoyance flickered again. "Sorry," I ducked my head again. Before I could say anything else she turned on her heel and stalked towards the only open side of the room, looking for a way out.

"Wait, where are you going?"

"Did you not hear me? I said I'm leaving." Her annoyance was starting to get old.

"I did hear you, but I assumed we would look for the way out together. Y'know, since we both ended up here because of the same magical thunderstorm."

"No, you'll just slow me down," and she began to turn around again.

Before I could think about what I was doing, I scrambled to my feet and grabbed her hand. "Wait!" White hair whipped around, and silver eyes pierced into mine. "Please," I added lamely.

"Why? You are a human, you know nothing of magic, you know nothing of how we got here, what benefit is there to us searching for a way out together?"

"I-I don't know. Look, you're clearly more of the rough-and-tumble type than me," she inclined her head at the strange phrase. "It means you're more battle-worn than I am," I explained, and her eyebrows inclined, her head bobbing in obvious agreement. "I might not be able to offer much in a fight, but I'm pretty resourceful and that could be helpful. Plus, like you said, I know nothing about magic. I'm completely in the dark here. You clearly know more about how we got here than I do, and I just want to go home. I'll do whatever you tell me to do, but please I need your help to get out of here." My speech was less than inspiring, to say the least, but hopefully honestly pleading with her would do the trick.

Her eyes were still frigid, but they seemed to warm ever so slightly. She nodded her head curtly. "Fine. I will help you get out of here. But only because I don't want you causing trouble in here and making it impossible for both of us to get out. You do everything as I say. If I tell you to stop, you stop. If I tell you to run, you run. Clear?" I nodded, not pressing my luck with more dumb speeches.

"Okay. I know you said that you would be useless in a fight, but here." She retrieved a small dagger from a holster at the small of her back, and pressed the hilt into my hands. "No woman should be entirely defenseless." Seemed like there was a backstory there, but I decided not to press it. Muttering a thanks, I followed her into the cave, having no way to tell if we were headed towards its mouth or it's unfathomable belly.

#i told y'all gay shit was comin #vanna is a disaster gay #like me lol #also fun fact she's pansexual #also like me lol #i may or may not be projecting onto my protag okay #kit chats #arnora #writing #fantasy #high fantasy #writer #novel #queer fiction #fiction #writeblr

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