Alright, time to put my nose to the grindstone and write out a post detailing my "From the Fire" verse. Or try to, at least.

During The Night of Flames, in Elwin's efforts to see Joshua escape from Phoenix Gate, he was beheaded by traitors to the duchy. The trauma of the scene, compounded by Clive's last words to Joshua being that he was counting on him to protect their father, was too much for the child to bear, and he lost control -- transforming into Phoenix.

However, Joshua had little to no control over the Eikon's powers in his distressed state, leading to indiscriminate death for both foe and friend.

But Phoenix's power is over both life and death -- and it was this fact that spared some, most notably the Archduke. The regenerative magics mended his fatal wound and breathed life back into his body just enough that he was able to cling to life by a thread, unbeknownst to either of his sons. When all was over, and Anabella and accompanying Sanbrequian soldiers arrived to the scene and apprehended a devastated and half-conscious Clive, they also found Elwin amidst the rubble. And much like they had done with his eldest son, they took him prisoner.

Unlike Clive, however, Anabella made sure that he would not be made a soldier for the Imperial Army. No, that would be too good for him, and allow him to retain some semblance of his pride as a skilled swordsman. The former Archduke had always held a kind and soft spot for the Bearers and Branded of Rosaria, so why not let him join the gutter rats he so loved? And so he was branded and made into a common slave.

He spent his years in Oriflamme under the name of "Miles", working as one of the Holy Empire's many Branded, and treated with every bit of disdain, contempt, and cruelty as any other -- as one would expect, given that his true identity had been stripped of him(not that anyone would believe who he was, even if he said). He watched from afar as the Iron Kingdom invaded Rosaria and slaughtered and enslaved his people, and as Anabella sold out their homeland to further her own agenda, effectively dissolving the Grand Duchy and turning it into just another territory of Sanbreque. He watched as she married Emperor Sylvestre Lesage and became Empress, and as she undid or twisted every bit of good that Elwin had done for Rosaria all while knowing that he would see her work and suffer in powerlessness to stop her.

It was not the despair of a jilted lover that he felt towards his former wife, but the despair of knowing that she would ruin and end so many innocent lives just to spite him.

And so it was, until eventually Cid Telamon's Cursebreakers smuggled the small group of Bearers and Branded that he happened to work with out of Oriflamme and beyond Sanbreque's borders. They found themselves in Hideaway, liberated.

It was here that "Miles" learned of Cid's grand dream for a changed world, and his ongoing efforts to overturn the long-standing order and traditions in favor of establishing and normalizing equality for all. Needless to say, Elwin was quite taken by this ambition, for it was something he too had dreamed of. He was also quite taken by the people of Hideaway and their dedication and determination to seeing this dream become a reality, and how they worked together in harmony to keep their makeshift home blooming despite the Blight that surrounded them.

Unlike him, their struggles and traumas, far greater than his own, had not broken them, nor had it driven them to give up. It had only made them that much more resilient and determined and hopeful for a brighter tomorrow -- a tomorrow that they themselves may not see, but nonetheless planted the seeds of for future generations.

And like any other seeds, with cultivation and care they would eventually grow and bear fruit for all to enjoy.

He wanted to help them. He wanted to do what he could to aid their cause, and so "Miles" chose to pledge his skill with a sword to the Cursebreakers, undergoing the surgery to have his brand removed and joining their ranks.

As a personal desire, Elwin does want to liberate Rosaria, though not to reclaim his family's right to rule. He simply wants to see his people freed, especially from Anabella's treachery. He is aware of the Guardians of the Flame hiding in the shadows outside of Port Isolde, but he does not visit them in person, and he certainly does not try to reveal his true identity to them. Instead, he helps them from a distance, watching over their order and keeping track of their movements and actions.

There is much that he feels extreme guilt for, but he doesn't expect nor seek forgiveness for his deeds; he only wants to do his part for the future, to help rectify the mistakes of his past actions as Archduke of the Grand Duchy of Rosaria.

The Challenge: The Final Boss

@thighhighsandgoldeneyes from here!

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

Rafaele did his best to fend off all attacks - and he was doing a pretty good job of countering, from what Kamiizumi could tell. Every blow both men exchanged with their swords kept blocking the other’s from really hitting.

Zael’s sneak attack was enough to get Rafaele’s attention from Kamiizumi. Rafaele tried to slash at Zael in a wide arc, and Lana used the opportunity to fire an electric spell at him.

Rafaele teleported out of the way - just before the attack could hit. Lana hissed, before turning to punch Rafaele - who had reappeared right behind her! 

“All the freakin’ teleporting isn’t helping things.” Lana grumbled. She managed to get a hit on Rafaele’s jaw. Rafaele stumbled back before taking out a few knives, throwing them at her. Lana threw herself out of the way, but one of them tore at her sleeve, while another one managed to nick Kamiizumi in the right shoulder.

“Honestly, I’d be interested in gagging him. Might prevent him from taunting our ears off.” Kamiizumi muttered, glancing toward Dagran before moving in to try to get a hit at Rafaele again. Rafaele dodged, before using telekinesis to knock the sword out of Kamiizumi’s hand. The Swordmaster, however, used the opportunity to try to dive in at Rafaele and half-tackle him down. Rafaele barely dodged, but also tripped a bit. He didn’t fall, however, as he managed to regain balance. 

“Andddd looks like things are turning more toward close combat! Oooh!” Nuriel was commentating quite cheerily, a stark contrast to the current battle going on. “Let’s go, finalists!! It seems like Rafaele’s keeping up well with them, but who knows what will happen!?”

Lana fired another spell at Rafaele-  a frosty one - but Rafaele deflected it by summoning a magical shield. The spell went off flying toward Dagran instead but barely missed him, flying above his head.

“Sorry!” Lana was heard yelling, just before Rafaele let out a laugh.

“Is that all you got? Looks like I need to make things a bit more interesting, then!” As if on cue, music started up in the background, and the wind began to kick up harshly. The sound of clouds rumbling caught Lana’s attention, and she cursed as she felt it get harder to stay standing.

“Ah, fuck! He’s gonna sing!” 

Kamiizumi managed to retrieve his sword. “Brace yourselves...!” 

Rafaele’s eyes glowed briefly, before rain started pouring - just a little bit at first, but then it got heavier. Kamiizumi nor Lana could understand the language being sung, but it was singing, alright. Lana tried to fire a spell at Rafaele, but missed after she slipped on the now-soaked ground. Rafaele threw more knives - at Zael, at Dagran - before teleporting back toward the stage area as the rain kept on pouring. 

@phoenix-flamed liked for a starter!

He found the act of bringing in new bearers to the palace distasteful, honestly. It had become common place since Annabella had monopolized all of his fathers time. They were rumored to be married soon, which was a thought Dion wasn’t particularly… keen on.

However, the Empress had passed almost a year prior. The time of mourning was over, and Annabella was recently widowed. It was a good political marriage…

But… Annabella was… she made it clear she didn’t like Dion. Dion could only hope that his father would see reason and not be tempted by whatever she was offering.

Nonetheless new bearers were not an uncommon occurrence now because Annabella deemed it so. Today, however, among the bearers a familiar face— or Dion could swear it was…

He had only met Elwin once. A year prior to the year of flames a remembrance ceremony had been held. It was a major diplomatic event where he officially got to meet the Rosfields. They seemed like such a happy family in comparison to his own who was still grieving the loss of the Empress.

But then they’d all been slaughtered, leaving only Annabella left. So then… why…

The bearers were waiting to be sent back to their assignments by the head maid, so in the confusion Dion crept up to the man, “You…. Aren’t you… supposed to be dead? Why are you here?”

which was more culturally significant, the renaissance or hermitgang

Unprompted ask. - Anonymous sent:

"Careful, Leon. That dark-haired adventurer...Colette, was it? I hear she's much more demonic than she lets on. Look at her eyes. No sane person would have eyes that look like that..."

"What? I mean, Colette has the darkest eyes I've ever seen before, but that doesn't mean she's actually demonic."

"Right?"

(pertains @redemptioninchaos' muse)

For @phoenix-flamed who gets a random starter!

The sound of fire crackling as wood burned was music to Gav’s ears as he came back to the campsite. It was a rather chilly night, but that didn’t mean he could neglect his duties as the team's scout. A slight shiver ran down his spine as he moved closer to the fire, wanting to bask in its warmth before needing to head out again. August was still regaling the newly freed bearers with tales of their previous exploits. The other Cursebreakers were off getting as much sleep as they could before it was time to move again; or switch out with him, so he could get a bit of sleep himself. 

Normally he would be fine with a few minutes rest here and there, but this mission had dragged on a few more days than they’d planned. The exhaustion was starting to pile up on all of them, but he tried to not show it as best he could. Moving past August - he just wanted to rest his mind and not have to join in on the storytelling - he decided to try his luck sitting closer to Miles. Once seated, he held his hands out towards the fire, letting his palms get close enough to warm, but not get burned. 

“Cid’ll probably have another mission waitin’ for us when we get back,” he said, bringing his now burning hot palms up to his cheeks to help ease the chill in his face. Growing up in the Northern Territories didn’t make him immune to the cold, unfortunately. “Should probably get as much rest now as you can.” 

Gav didn’t know much about Miles, honestly. Knew he was good with a sword and could hold his own in a fight, if the past few days had shown him anything. But that was really it. He was curious, of course, but he wouldn’t try to pry into his personal life. Not many Cursebreakers liked talking about their pasts. Not that he could blame them; he had a few skeletons in his own closet, and sometimes talking just made it worse.

Normal, brief conversations should be fine, though. Especially to keep himself from dozing off. It wasn’t often he worked in such a large group, so he was a little more on edge than normal. Well, he had been, until he’d sat down. Glancing up at the moon, he tried to place its position in the sky to determine the time. Surely a few more minutes in front of the warm flames would be fine since they were out of enemy territories. To at least warm the rest of his chilled bones before going back out into the cold, dark night.

God I just fucking love Percy Jackson so much like as a franchise it’s so beautiful and inclusive but also it’s just such a flexible world and it’s so workable as a fanfiction writer and it fits into pretty much any crossover because it works as a light, fun story but it’s also so horrifying but because the actual books don’t lean into those aspects as much you don’t have to either but you can if you want to and it’s so OC-friendly and there are so many gods with potential for parenthood and even the parts of the world that aren’t quite mythology accurate can be edited because it’s gods are concepts not people and they can be plenty of things all at once and it’s not like the actual books are all that consistent either and whdlwodjkwnd I love this series so much it’s incredible and beautiful and Rick Riordan did so much good by publishing the entire franchise

ive yet to watch wish but based on the trailer it feels like modern disney (and probably pixar tho I've liked most of their recents fine) keeps goeing so hard into exaggerated facial expressions in a way i really hate. bc its so easy to assume thats just how its "meant" to be. cartooning means exaggerating everything to the point of farce, to the point where any sort of nuance is ironed out completely. Open the eyes as much as possible, turn the eyebrows into a huge "w", how will the audience know this character is a mechanic if they aren't wearing goggles? then spiderverse happens and you see shots that are so real and cinematic they feel live action. not as a degradation to cartoons, i mean that the subtlety is there and mulled over and appreciated and of course so readable. someone respected these moments while making them, respected the audience enough to assume that they would understand them. and u realize it doesnt have to be like disney. and like everyone else following their lead (its a lot of people, most every studio, im just highlighting disney yk)

Chrome's Tags

⇢✶ training with the Sasagawas  《chrome’s questionnaire results》

[Questionnaire Results]

⇢✶about the petite illusionist  《chrome’s headcanons》

[Headcanons]

⇢✶musings from the fog  《chrome’s musings》

[Musings]

⇢✶interview with a mist guardian  《chrome’s answers》

[Ask Replies]

⇢✶ trials by combat 《chrome’s rp replies》

[RP Replies]

⇢✶misty ambiance 《chrome’s soundtrack》

[Soundtrack]

⇢✶tridents and lotuses《chrome’s aesthetics》

[Aesthetics]

⇢✶ the budding lotus《chrome dokuro 》

⇢✶nagi reincarnated as chrome  《chrome’s main verse》

[Main Verse - KHR]

⇢✶twin flames manifested  《chrome x mukuro》

[6996]

😰 a worried letter

@phoenix-flamed

Father, 

I know you will never receive this letter. Maybe I should offer it up as a prayer instead. Maybe some merciful god will take pity on me and see it delivered to wherever you are. Not that any gods had mercy on us that night. 

Somehow, I'm the only survivor. The one with the least to give to the world. It's almost laughable. I was supposed to be Joshua's shield. I was supposed to protect the family of the duchy. Yet here I am. I'm a branded now. Mother must have saw fit to do so. That was always what I was to her, wasn't it? I often wonder if there was a way I could have done more. If I would have been a better son, would she have spared us her betrayal? If I was a better son, the Founder knows I would have protected you and everyone. 

I know you won't get this letter. I know you can't see my tears even before they all dried up. I know you can't hear me scream. There is a small mercy in knowing you can't see me as a slave. Spit on and rolling over like a beaten dog. 

But I have no one to express these feelings to. There is no one on my side. I'm scared. I am terrified of what I'm becoming. I am afraid of what you would think of me. The only thing left in my heart is the anger. Without it, I am hollow. I can't help but be afraid. If you could see me and what I have become, I'm afraid even you would turn your back on me. Would you resent me for killing? It would have been my job as a Shield to fight in battle... But these are not just battles. I've killed people that don't deserve it. All so I could keep breathing and pledge myself to revenge. 

But at night, I can't sleep. Worrying that you are looking down on me with hate and resentment. I have never been good enough to be a Rosfield. And I am so afraid that you see that now. 

If they find out that I stole parchment and ink for this, they will punish me. They won't kill me because I am too useful. But there are worse things than dying. I'm scared, Father. I'm afraid that I'll never get revenge. I'm afraid that when I do, it won't satisfy you. I'm so afraid  of myself and the future. 

I wish you were here.

- Clive.

  ❛  look at me in the old way in this new light  ❜

How long has it been since he had last seen Clive? Since that night at Phoenix Gate, when their lives had been destroyed by malice from within their very own family?

Clive is no longer the young man he remembers, full of strength and determination to prove himself. Nay -- the strength is a different kind of strength now, a resolve tempered in the flames of hell, an anger beyond measure which threatens to scorch everything around them with its vengeful nature.

Elwin finds himself staring, both in awe and despair at what had become of the other. What he, in his careless underestimation of his wife's ambitions, had allowed to happen. With great trepidation, the former Archduke reaches out with both subtly trembling hands, to grasp first Clive's shoulders, then his face. He feels every crack, every battle-hardened and burdened line, age-worn by years of struggle and anguish.

And he knows, too, that while his oldest son has only grown and shored up his strength, Elwin is but a shell of the man he had once been, sending a pang of shame coursing through him.

"Forgive me," he finally musters, more a plea than he had intended. But it is soon followed by a nod; after all, this is still Clive, his beloved son, and he will not forsake him out of guilt for his own failures to protect both he and Joshua.

@phoenix-flamed || 𝐿𝐼𝒦𝐸𝒟 for a 𝒮𝒯𝒜𝑅𝒯𝐸𝑅

How beautiful-

'T was warm; the breeze that lapped at voile partially drawn across the large expanse of multiple windows a blessing 'pon ones skin. Clouds beyond the paned glass clustered within the heavens, the tell-tale signs of an early morning painted as thickly as the pinks and oranges of a beauteous dawn over their fluffy poise.

How easy it was to lose ones self to thoughts, ever deepening, when honeyed brown eyes fixated upon the changing firmament easily viewable from his chosen seat. Comfort aided aching bones, bruising ignored in place of enjoying the radiating kindness from the hearth - kept ever roaring when royalty was in residence.

How clear it is, with the etchings of stress upon young features, that Dion is distracted with what churns within his consciousness. Worries surround the progress of war and destruction, the suffering of people he cared for and wished to protect through whatever power may be at his fingertips truly grating upon his resolve. Was more suffering truly necessary?

His gaze finally breaks from the view of the breaking dawn when the click of a door reaches his ears and with a softly quipped brow does he take in the sight of the male now within his company. A bearer - likely come to revive fires or fill pitchers - but Dion is not entirely void of knowledge regarding the fellow, not as easily as others does he forget what happened that day beneath his command at the behest of the emperor.

Guilt briefly gnaws at the chords of his heart ere he does his best to bury it, a firm swallow ridding his throat of its dryness. And then? A smile- apologies aplenty written within tired eyes and yet he knows well enough not to utter a word regarding aught that grips his mind.

"Perhaps you'd take a moment to sit with me-?" He hopes his query acts as an olive branch, one he knows may come across as offensive given all that has transpired but Dion is not one to sit and allow his very name to be villainised; he must do as the emperor commands but he does not necessarily always agree with methods or intent. "I do rather enjoy company of an early morn."

calla, adult adhder, doing flappy hands with long sleeves and thea, young adhder who has never seen an older figure do anything like that, seeing this + immediately going “i will idolize you til my last breath.”

among other reasons but like that’s a big one.

since his own hunger games, patrick is proficient with a knife and prefers to keep a pocket knife on hand and under his pillow too. if he's not reading, then he's probably carving something out of wood with it- nothing too fancy. it's a good way to keep his mind off of, well everything :'D

kny!yagami and sabito are not exactly not friendly to each other, but they aren’t “close”

𝐒𝐨𝐤𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐯 𝐓𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐬: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐃𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐎𝐟 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐟𝐨𝐫��.