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wannab-urs · 7 months

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Eat You Whole

Pairing: Dave York x F!Reader

Summary: An interplay between violence and love OR Dave shows up at your door looking half dead. WC: ~1400

Image disclaimer: The header is not meant to represent reader in any physical way. It’s more about the whole idea of dipping your tongue into a blood red fruit that has been cracked wide open.

Content/Warnings: Love as violence; smidge of love as consumption; technically minor offscreen character death – not described in the slightest; Dave is severely injured and the injuries are described; aggressive kissing, blood, oral m!receiving (facefucking), hair pulling (reader has hair), pain kink, crying, spit/drool, rough sex, dom!dave kinda, no prep for reader, unprotected PIV (do better), creampie, reader and dave hit each other (but like sexually), marking, treatment of injuries. No use of Y/N.

A/N: I really am blown away by the response to Ouroboros and was very inspired to continue the story due to your lovely comments! Technically can be a standalone. See endnotes for timeline explanation. Thanks to @beskarandblasters, @atinylittlepain, @idolatrybarbie, @theywhowriteandknowthings, and @ramblers-lets-get-ramblin for letting me bounce ideas off you and sorry Kel, you got outvoted <3

Dave York Masterlist | Series Masterlist | Main Masterlist | AO3 | Kofi

If you must die, I’ll envy even the earth that wraps your body –Albert Camus

I even wanted to bruise him, so that he would not be able to forget me –Françoise Sagan

You can have my heart if you have the stomach to take it. Kiss me hard enough to invert me –Yves Olade

He’s at the door. You know it’s him though it’s been 9 days since the last. Skin mottled more yellow than purple, torn flesh knitted back together, barely anything left of him on you now.

He’s a lot worse off than you’d done to him. A bandage haphazardly wrapped around his head, covering his left eye and what you can see of his face swollen and bruised beyond recognition.

You dance fingertips over his cheek bone where vibrant fuschia and buttercup yellow marr normally golden skin. He flinches away from you. Split lip, swollen, still a shine of deep red in the cut, curling into a snarl.

You pull him inside by his shirt collar, kick the door shut. You’re furious. Sure hands sliding under his shirt, he grits his teeth as you pull it over his head. Now shaking hands trace the edges of a soaked gauze strip taped to wine stained ribs and he whimpers. Winces and trembles in a way you’ve never been privy to. He’s always taken stinging palms, digging claws, sinking teeth with little more than a growl. He’s never shown you his pain this blatantly before.

And it terrifies you. His job has always existed as an abstract concept, something that maybe explains his bent toward brutality, but not something you talked about. The battered state of the man in front of you rips whatever wool had covered your eyes away and it is devastating.

You could lose him. Nearly did. And you’d never have known what happened. This man who is both everything and nothing to you could be swept away with the ocean tide and you’d be left adrift. Wondering.

You press a kiss to his collarbone. Soft. Maybe softer than you have ever touched him before. Certainly with more care. His breath is shuddering as he wraps his arms around you, cradling you to his chest. You’re afraid to lean into him for fear of breaking him – this man you thought invincible not two minutes ago.

“Touch me, god damnit,” his voice rough as though he’d been screaming. Maybe he had.

“I don’t want to hurt you, David.” You say it into his chest. Forehead just barely grazing the skin there.

“Since when?” He grips you tighter, pulls you into him. His breath leaves his mouth in a huff like you gut punched him, but you feel his cock twitch against you.

Sick fuck. You unbuckle his belt and stuff your hand down his pants. He’s achingly hard, leaking into his boxers. He fists your hair in both hands and drags your mouth to his. You taste iron as you lick into his mouth, bite down on his already split lip.

You swallow his groans, you want to swallow him whole so that he can never come so close to leaving you again. Your fingertips dig in between his ribs reclaiming the flesh there. He is yours to tear apart, to put back together, and to dismantle all over again. Yours.

Your lips drag down sucking your claim into his neck, his shoulder, his chest. You sink to the floor, drag his pants down with you so his cock springs out. You have to have him in your mouth. It’s a desperation bordering on delirium. You take him down to the very root.

Hands still fisted in your hair, he drags you off him only to thrust back in. No care for your need to breathe or the bruises he batters into your soft palate and no care for your teeth clipping his cock. Tears stream down your face unchecked meeting drool spilling from the corners of your lips and settling in the hollow of your throat.

You think you could come like this, with him taking your throat and your hands wrapped around his thighs egging him on. He jerks you off of him with a guttural, almost primal yell, throwing you to the floor. He drops to his knees in front of your sprawled form.

“Take your clothes off.” Dominant even in such a supplicant pose, even when his features are etched with pain, his shoulders hunched as if to ward it off. You tear your shirt off, shorts and utterly soaked panties quickly following.

He surges forward, sheathes himself inside you, and oh it hurts. He has torn you open and spilled your guts on the floor. Your wetness does little to ease the feeling of being split open like this. You bring your hands to his face, press your thumbs into his purpling cheek bones in retaliation.

The snarl he lets out is feral, animal, but he crashes his lips into yours. He snaps his hips into you again and again, your moans and his broken, strangled cries mingling on your tongues. You drive a knee into his ribcage and he screams, rears back and slaps you across the face. You come instantly, writhing beneath him on the floor as your cunt seizes around him. His hips stutter to a stop as he comes deep inside you. He falls into you, covering and filling you completely.

After an eternity or only a moment he slides off of you, not recoiling in his usual manner. His body still touches yours, legs tangled, his arm across your torso. He must have bled through the bandage on his ribs, your skin smeared red below his arm.

“What happened to you, Dave?” Now he recoils. Rolls completely away from you and sits up, his back to you. You have to know. It’s burning you up inside. The fear. You crawl to him on your hands and knees. Tentatively, for fear of him running away, you reach out. Let your hand rest on his shoulder. When he doesn’t flinch away you run your fingers up his neck, into his hair, onto the bandage.

You start to unwind it and he sits, statuesque, facing away. The fabric falls to the floor and he turns to look at you. There’s an empty space where his left eye should be. Crusted blood like smeared mascara below the gaping wound of his eye socket.

“Fuck.” You whisper it before you can stop yourself. It’s grotesque. Brutalist.

He jerks his head back around to face the wall, but you grip his chin and pull him back to you. You press the barest kiss to his left brow. “Will this happen again?” He shakes his head minutely. Whatever threat caused this has been dealt with. You feel like you can breathe for the first time since he showed up at your door.

Another gentle kiss. You’ve never been gentle with him or he with you. It puts a crack through your chest, the way his one brown eye clouds with something like longing.

You let go of his face and he drops his head into his hands. You stand and go to your bathroom. You do not stop to take stock of your marked skin in the mirror this time. Instead, you collect gauze, medical tape, bandages, rubbing alcohol, a needle and thread.

This is not the first time you’ve needed it. Not when the darkest parts of you slither out to meet the darkest parts of Dave and you rend flesh from each other’s bodies. And this is not the first time Dave has shown up with the remnants of a job still on him.

You kneel between his bent knees, peel the ruined bandage from his skin. You brush your lips down his chest and over the gaping chasm between his ribs. His breath hitches in his throat. He slips a hand into your hair and pulls your mouth to his. Licks blood you for once did not draw yourself off your lips. No teeth clacking, biting, tearing – soft and plush lips pressed firm over yours.

You clean the blood from his wounds. Rewrap his eye. Stitch the skin of his ribs while he grinds his teeth, a whimper falling out from behind closed lips. Another press of lips over new gauze.

When you’re finished you stand and tug his hair til he stands too. You kiss him softly before crossing the room and crawling into bed.

He looks up at the ceiling and takes two deep breaths, taps his fingers on his thigh, and then he joins you.

–------

Timeline notes: I’ve done some timeline fuckery. In Ouroboros, Robert has already loaded up Carol and the kids and taken them off to some safe house a few months before. Dave meets reader after that. This installment takes place after what is his SPOILER [Death Scene] in the movie, but he wins the fight. Barely. Robert meets the same fate that Dave did in the movie.

Tagging people who seemed to like the first one!

@pr0ximamidnight @gasolinerainbowpuddles @bonezone44 @catchallfangirl @heareball @cool-iguana @youmeand5bucks @morallyinept @janaispunk @ireallyreallylikeyourwriting @sin-djarin @toxicanonymity @rootytootyvoodooty @blackfemalenerd @axshadows @heavennumber2 @pedrostories

#Dave York #Dave York fics #Dave York fanfiction #Dave York x reader #Dave York x f!reader #Dave York x you #Equalizer 2 #Equalizer 2 fanfiction #pedro pascal #pedro pascal fanfiction #pedro fics #pedro pascal character fanfiction

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lutawolf · 5 months

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The Sign: Why you should be watching.

Now that we've met the main players, lets dive in.

youtube

I knew nothing about this series. It came across my TikTok page, and I was intrigued almost immediately. It hit all my buttons. Suspense ✅ Paranormal element ✅ Past life connection ✅ Destiny/Fate ✅ Off The Chain Chemistry ✅ Sarcastic bad boy ✅ Fuck yes, I'm all in.

I was in before I even started, and then I started. Hooked immediately. It's very action packed, but it's well executed, and the cinematography is chef's kiss. Then we start to meet the characters and fuck, they are off the chart. I don't mean just the mains either, though fuck me do they have some chemistry. The whole cast brought their A game, and I'm here for it.

I'm telling you that if you liked Weak Class Hero or Ouroboros, then you will enjoy this.

If you guys would like a commentary review. Let me know but seriously check it out. 💜💜💜

#Youtube #phayatharn #the sign the series #luta talks the sign

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taraljc · 6 months

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Here's why I continue to have hope. Because right now, he's Schrödinger's Loki. The series never said outright one way or another that he can't get out of that chair, intentionally.

It took Loki a couple of centuries to learn everything Ouroboros knew about science and engineering. When he was presented with a binary choice that doomed entire realities regardless of which path he took, it took him thousands of iterations to find a third option. To flip the script. Rewrite the story. Dictate how the story would end.

He's only been sat in the chair for like a fortnight. Give him a chance to catch his breath. He has been running from crisis to crisis for who knows how many lifetimes. He deserves a break. The multiverse existed just fine before He Who Remains got there and started feeding worlds upon worlds to an angry cloud.

Once the dying branches are all healthy and thriving, and he has figured out how this whole God of Stories/Loki Who Remains/Knot That Binds The Entire Multiverse Together gig I'm sure he'll find his way back to the people loves one way or another.

It's what he does. Find the secret paths, the loopholes. Escapes are his thing.

Just give him time.

(Besides, if it were easy, everyone would do it.)

#all the headcanons ever #loki #loki speculation #loki spoilers #loki meta

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muninnhuginn · 4 months

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Fun time loop scenarios I've seen in various series that I think would be fascinating to apply to other shows:

You're a looper, but you don't know it. Outside of when you're reverting time, you retain no memories of your powers. However, the timeline still feels echoes of its previous self and sometimes, you do too.

The world takes a backup every year at the same time and date. If anything world-ending happens, you revert back to this same checkpoint. It has to be something on a world-ending scale though. Your girlfriend's death? Tough luck. Unless there's an apocalypse in the next few months, you're not getting her back. You shouldn't wish for the world to end, and yet.

You've had a lonely childhood, but finally you're free to properly live. You meet a girl and she's kind. Genuinely kind, no hidden motives to it. But she dies. So does everyone else. And what can you do, but go back and try to save her? You'll keep trying until you succeed. Until you're able to pay her back and keep her safe. Or so you think. Turns out that your very actions to save her have, in fact, doomed her to a worse fate. And because she's kind, she takes that fate and uses it to save everyone but herself.

You were in a time loop, but you escaped. It lasted years, maybe centuries, so perhaps you're not as fully past the whole ordeal as you pretend. You think you need some distance from the place where it happened. Sure, you grew up there, everyone you know lives there, but it's so tainted that you would just rather move on. You start school elsewhere, and for the most part, it's going well. You make new friends and you finally fit in in a way that you never have before. But then, you're back. Not just back to the village of your childhood, but back to the same loops you had thought you were free from. Is this your punishment? What sin have you committed to cause such a thing? Perhaps you'll never learn.

You're in a time loop with a stranger and you will find your way out of this if it kills you. And it has, several times. Still, this isn't as simple as figuring out the mechanics. No, the universe seems to be out to get you to learn some kind of lesson. And if there's no other way out, you guess you'll give it a shot. But, see, you were with your stranger. And now he doesn't recognise you. All that progress together is gone. Or is it? It's all very ouroboros, but your final loop was his first loop and vice versa. In some other universe you can't see, he is there with a version of you who hasn't met him yet. Your lesson? You both have to save each other.

#time loops #feel free to guess the series. I think at least one of them is super obvious #pls don't ask why second person. it just happened.

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offtorivendell · 8 months

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Elain's engagement ring may be Made; a theory 💍

Does it mean she is a witch? What about Nesta?

🌸 Elain Archeron Week 2023, Day 1 - Seer/Powers

Please don't screenshot or share this post without credit.

Disclaimer: this theory is a bit all over the shop, sort of like my life right now. The textual evidence might be a bit sparser than usual, sorry. 🫠

Spoilers: the ACOTAR, CC and TOG series to date (2023).

This theory probably wouldn't exist without the lovely @123moiaussi, who messaged me after I posted this theory suggesting that Elain may have Made the necklace that Azriel gave her on Winter Solstice in ACOSF. She wondered if Elain had possibly Made her engagement ring, in addition to/instead of her necklace - which is a solid theory and could definitely still pan out! - but a little later I had a thought; what if the Cauldron already Made Elain's engagement ring when she became High Fae?

She was wearing it when she went in, so why not?

It would then parallel other Cauldron Made items, such as Gwydion - and very likely Truth-Teller, if it is fully confirmed to be Made in a future book - which was dipped into the Cauldron by the High Priestess Oleanna. Metal (and pearl) goes into the Cauldron (in this case iron, not meteorite, which could always make a difference in how it reacts to the Void within) and, hypothetically, comes out imbued with the Cauldron's own magic.

Elain's refusal to give the pearl and iron ring back to Graysen then makes a lot of sense in this new context, beyond her understandably grieving the end of their relationship - could a human even hold it and survive? - as she may hear it calling to her, singing to its kin, as I often wonder if she hears Truth-Teller, and possibly even Azriel's "beautiful" siphons (as Bryce from CC hears a certain sword, one of many parallels that exist between the two).

Rhys winked at her. Feyre rolled her eyes. But then she said to Nesta, “Elain will need time to dust off her powers to try to See the Trove. But you, Nesta … You could scry again.” Rhys added, “As swiftly as possible. Time is not our ally.” - ACOSF, chapter 21

When Rhys spoke of Elain needing time* to "dust off" her powers, it sounds like he's referring to an item. Her ring? What might it do? And how?

* As an aside, the wording in this passage is strange. "Time is not our ally" made me look twice this time around. Could Rhys unknowingly be referring to a god of time, similar to Chronos or Aion? From whom Elain may need help with her powers? Both are associated with cyclical time, which brings me straight back to my theory that Elain may need to collect the Ouroboros from the Bone Carver's Prison cell to Look further than she has before, or to even use it as a portal.

There's no confirmation that Elain still wears her old engagement ring either way, at least not since Feyre remarked on it in ACOWAR. Has Elain put it away somewhere safe, possibly not knowing that she is drawn to it, finding herself unable to part with it even though she has moved on from Graysen by ACOSF, as demonstrated by the following quote:

Elain cocked her head. Didn’t dissolve into the crying mess she usually became when Graysen came up. - ACOSF, chapter 17

Or has the hypothetically Made ring glamoured itself such that it is forgotten, as Made items are able to do, and that's why nobody has mentioned it in two books even though she still wears it? But I digress; if it is now a Made item, what might Elain's engagement ring be able to do?

Trove of Dreams

I mentioned earlier that I have previously theorised that Elain could have Made her rose necklace on that emotionally tumultuous winter solstice night in ACOSF, a book in which Nesta Made her own trio of weapons: sword, greatsword and dagger. Now of course, there is still the distinct possibility that her necklace will go the way of Cassian's Sidra-bound ACOFAS solstice gift to Nesta and barely rate a mention in the next book, but there's also a chance that it's Made (or even came to her with powers already instilled in it, like the knives and necklaces that exist in the catacombs under the Hewn City).

So, to mirror Nesta's Trove of Nightmares, what if Elain will Make a Trove of Dreams? What would such a trove even entail? A rose necklace, possibly a pearl engagement ring*, and another item or two that she'll Make in her own book? Such as:

A staff, to parallel Iris, the messenger of the gods (and provide defence if required).

A ring of light, possibly acting as an external power source or for protection against vengeful Beings; perhaps, as @ladynightcourt reminded me, like Silba's ring protected against the Valg in TOG? Rhys did say that females preferred gold or silver to iron. Maybe that offhand remark contained some hidden depth.

A cuff, spindle, or something else entirely? I'm eyeing her baked goods, ear plugs and possibly some homegrown medicinal powders...

* There's a good chance that a ring Made by being dipped into the Cauldron will be a little different than one Made directly by an elemental faerie, so it may not count as part of Elain's own trove.

Many of us suspect that Elain will search for the illusive fourth part of the Dread Trove, the item that Lanthys showed to Nesta as a bit of age worn bone, half shrouded in shadows. Could pearl be mistaken for age worn bone? Unlikely, but worth a mention. I do think it's tricky, though, as there are multiple ancient Troves appearing, and the Dread Trove is only one of them. Gwydion (aka the Starsword), Truth-Teller and possibly Narben seem to be another trove, though maybe not Made in quite the same way as the Dread Trove (ie. dipped in the Cauldron vs imbued with power by a more elemental faerie).

Protection

We all know that I suspect Koschei* might have used the Cauldron to give Elain a bonus mate bond after orchestrating with Jurian to shoot Azriel with a poisoned ash arrow. And we know that the Cauldron has a dark maker, who made the Book of Breathings. Could there be a light maker, and is this hypothetical being working for or against Koschei? Are they the Mother (and maybe Urd)?

* I really think that Koschei could need Azriel out of the way, and needs Elain as a stand in for the Mother, or someone else important, somehow, in order to work some massive spell.

Could they have gifted Elain her Sight, or any other powers, and even put a little something special in her engagement ring. Something that would provide protection*, as Silba's ring did against the Valg in Erilea? The latter is less likely for an iron ring, but still plausible.

I've said before that I'd love to see the Archeron sisters create their own version of Midgard's Archesian Amulets, with one ring made from each of their magics to protect their loved ones and hide them from danger, and that still stands. This post goes into more about the rose necklace providing protection, if you're interested.

* Unless Koschei, or whoever orchestrated the Making of Elain and Nesta, stored something they needed to access in the ring instead, to free it from the Cauldron's grasp and make it available to them?

Witchcraft

One of the first thoughts that came to me almost two years ago, upon wondering what purpose a Made ring would serve Elain, was the possibility that it could be a focus for her power, something to tether or ground her while she was wandering the murky realm. This is backed up by the witches' use of iron throughout the TOG series, which @wingedblooms has discussed in many of her witchy posts, and I'll mention a little later on.

Could the pearl ring be Elain's focus, and ground her? Or might it function as a siphon or invoking stone does? Given she rubs the ring, I wouldn't be surprised if it helped her focus her being, or control her magic.

Some witches in ACOTAR are said to be able to amass powers beyond their natural capacity.

Nesta drifted toward the desk, the maps atop it. “What is the difference,” she asked none of us in particular, “between a faerie and a witch?” “Witches amass power beyond their natural reserve,” Mor answered with sudden seriousness. “They use spells and archaic tools to harness more power to them than the Cauldron allotted—and use it for whatever they desire, good or ill.” Elain silently surveyed the tent, head tipping back. - ACOWAR, chapter 51

Could the ring "harness" her to an external reserve of powers?

Could this reserve of powers even be the Cauldron itself?

Could the ring provide Elain a living bond to the Cauldron, such as the one Feyre had while she touched it during the battle in ACOWAR, when she witnessed Elain assassinate the King of Hybern?

Iron

In SJM's TOG series, we witnessed iron's ability to both block someone's access to their own magic and provide a grounding point to the witches, who might have otherwise been pulled away from their world. The leader, it was said, was so powerful that she required iron and pain to tether her to their realm. In the same passage, we learnt that pain was a gateway to the divine, which I have theorised may be behind Elain's glove-free gardening habits.

Legend had it that all witches had been gifted by the Three-Faced Goddess with iron teeth and nails to keep them anchored to this world when magic threatened to pull them away. The iron crown, supposedly, was proof that the magic in the Blueblood line ran so strong that their leader needed more—needed iron and pain—to keep her tethered in this realm. Nonsense. Especially when magic had been gone these past ten years. But Manon had heard rumors of the rituals the Bluebloods did in their forests and caves, rituals in which pain was the gateway to magic, to opening their senses. Oracles, mystics, zealots. - HOF, chapter 12

In Seers, Blindfolds and Bloodbane, I posited that Elain - like the Seers in Erilea once did - may be able to open portals to See spirits from other worlds by imbibing in certain hallucinogens (possibly with experiencing pain), and we know from Feyre that witchberries exist in the Spring Court (ACOTAR). Witches, who in HOF were associated with Oracles, mystics and zealots. Elain is 2/3 of those so far, and being the only sister to take an interest in faerie religious customs, she's possibly closing in on the third. But I'm getting off track. If Elain - whose powers have been linked to the same void/murky realm as Azriel's, through which Bryce was yanked to Prythian - has witch-like abilities, then surely she will need something to keep her grounded in her body in Prythian while she traverses the murky realm, searching for visions and possibly help. Especially if Truth-Teller helps her to go further than before, breaking through mist and shadow.

Could the iron engagement ring keep Elain tethered to the realm in which her body/Prythian exists, when her waking dreams threaten to pull her away into the murky realm? Was this why Elain was constantly fiddling with it in ACOWAR, before she learnt how to block her visions with light?

Tharion eyed the bare-bones wooden hallway as he and Flynn strode down the worn planks, aiming for a round door at its far end. It looked like the entry to a vault, solid iron that didn’t reflect the dim firstlights. They’d been halted at the first door by the Viper Queen’s guards. Flynn had snarled at them, but the males had ignored him, their drug-hazed eyes unblinking as they radioed their leader. That Tharion knew of this door at all told her guards he was important enough to warrant a call. - HOSAB, chapter 64

In CC2/HOSAB, we learnt that the Viper Queen had a vault made from solid iron, guarded by males with "drug-hazed eyes"... which sounds too much like a coincidence to actually be one. However, the more relevant point to note here is that the solid iron didn't reflect the dim firstlight (donation of a faerie's soul magic made when taking The Drop). Does this mean that iron absorbs firstlight/magic, rather than reflecting it? Is this how iron functioned to block magic wielders in TOG from accessing their magic when worn?

Could an iron ring function to absorb and hold a charge of power, like the one Prythian witches were known to create?

Following on, we know the Cauldron is made from a dark iron, and it very likely contains the Void. The Book of Breathings considers the Cauldron to be its home. Additionally, Elain fiddled with her pearl and iron ring* constantly in ACOWAR (I've wondered if it was singing out to her, but maybe it has more than one purpose). Does the ring now see the Cauldron as its home, too? Would Elain, and maybe Nesta?

* Azriel's shadows have been described as "rings of darkness" around his fingers, which could tie him into this plot?

In addition to potentially providing a living bond to the Cauldron as I mentioned above - and wouldn't it be absolute crazy if the ring itself was somehow made from the same iron source as the Cauldron, only passed down through human lines rather than Fae - what if Elain's iron ring is a backdoor of sorts that she can use to channel or even control it? Conduits are an increasingly common theme among SJM's work - and I've been harping on for years now that Elain's Sight might be due to her ability to act as a conduit for at least one god/goddess.

If Elain's engagement ring did come from the same iron source as the Cauldron itself, could it act like the One Ring in The Lord of the Rings, controlling the other Cauldron-Made items?

In addition to (hypothetically) allowing Elain to become a conduit for the Void inside the Cauldron, what if Elain's iron ring being Made permitted her to track it easily? "Like calls to like," Made objects Singing to their kin and all that. This could make it a possible target for theft.

Circling back to iron's ability to both dampen magic and ground witches in TOG, I wonder if both stem from the same function; ie. that the grounding of witches in their physical realm is done by dampening their specific type of magic, or their access to it. And considering ACOTAR, where the humans have believed - falsely, apparently - for centuries that iron will protect against the Fae… maybe this was intentionally spread misinformation, and done to convince humans to wear iron in order to block their magic. That would achieve an easier to control populace, all thanks to a little lie. This would mean that - if @wingedblooms, @silverlinedeyes and I are right about the Archeron sisters being descended, albeit distantly, from the Starborn fae - Nesta* and Elain were actually being contained by wearing their iron bracelets. I wonder what effect, if any, that may have had on their mental wellbeing? It could explain why Feyre was considered wild, even.

Could this mean that Elain's ring functions as a tether because it dampens her ability to access the murky realm?

Alternatively, does the iron ring contain the power that the pearl may have absorbed from the Cauldron's endless Void?

Another absolutely cracked theory is that it turns Elain into a walking embodiment of the Cauldron when she accesses the murky realm while wearing the ring, when she is physically contained by the iron. Void inside iron, like the Cauldron.

* Nesta having a Trove of Nightmares should count as an amassed external power source, imo, which also fits the definition of witch.

Pearl

Pearls are said to be associated with water, the moon, healing, honesty and integrity. Apparently they are also useful to centre and calm one's self.

This makes them sound perfect for use in a magical object that is used to ground or tether a Seer while she sails the Void.

Mother of Pearl (which isn't included in Elain's engagement ring, but is worth a mention) is even said to have protective properties, and be able to heighten intuition and psychic sensitivity.

Due to their ties to the moon and moon magic, pearls are said to be both a representation of the moon and linked to Selene and Luna - goddesses that embody the full moon. Apparently they can be made into pearl essences, and can be charged with intent.

Her gaze shifted to the carved wooden rose she'd placed upon the mantel, half-hidden in the shadows beside a figurine of a supple-bodied female, her upraised arms clasping a full moon between them. Some sort of primal goddess-perhaps even the Mother herself. Nesta hadn't let herself dwell on why she'd felt the need to set the rose there. Why she hadn't just thrown it in a drawer. - ACOSF

This sounds like a certain effigy next to which Nesta placed the dark wooden rose that Papa Archeron carved for Elain.

The name Selene is linked with Helena, which is a derivative of Elain.

Charged with intent sounds almost exactly like an object being Made. I am desperate to know what Elain experiencedbin the Cauldron, as that may affect the essence that the pearl hypothetically took on.

Pearls are said to be appropriate offerings to spirits, goddesses, and the sea.

"What are you looking at?" I asked Elain, keeping my voice soft. Casual. Her face was wan, her lips bloodless. But they moved barely-as she said, "I can see so very far now. All the way to the sea." - ACOWAR

We know from Amren that Narben was thrown into the sea; maybe a trade will be necessary.

Pearls are said to be useful with transformation magic and associated with wisdom.

I hope we can all remember this brilliant post by @wingedblooms, and note the evidence that suggests Elain may shift.

Mor said, back in ACOWAR, that Elain was wise.

Pearls are sacred to Aphrodite, and can be used in love magic.

Sounds appropriate for someone who may or may not end up Making her own mating bond.

There are a lot of possible uses for a magical ring, whether or not it is Cauldron Made, and I can't wait to see what happens with it!

Thanks for reading!

@elainarcheronweek

#elain archeron #elain archeron theory #elain #pro elain #elain's powers #seer elain #witchy elain #elainarcheronweek2023 #elain archeron week 2023 #elainweek2023 #elain week 2023 #elain week seer #acotar #sjm #acotar cc tog crossover theory #elain's ring #hosab spoilers #acotar theory

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lokiondisneyplus · 6 months

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SPOILER ALERT! This Q&A contains spoilers for Season 2 of Loki.

Season 2 of Marvel Studios’ Loki expands upon the inner workings of the Time Variance Authority, where the God of Mischief has been working tirelessly to save, well, all of time.

That includes introducing new characters, like Ke Huy Quan‘s Ouroboros. As the TVA’s dedicated handyman, everything inside the institution was either created by him or is currently maintained by him. When Loki and Mobius enter his workshop, they become his first visitors in 400 years.

Little do they know, Ouroboros is an integral part of their quest to prevent the branches of time from overloading the Temporal Loom.

Following the end of the actors strike and on the heels of the Loki Season 2 finale, Quan spoke with Deadline about joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe, his character Ouroboros, and his own full circle career moment.

DEADLINE: It’s so great to get to talk with you about Loki. You haven’t really been able to talk about your role, due to the actors strike. What have you been waiting to say?

KE HUY QUAN: When I decided to become an actor again, [being part of the MCU] was at the top of my wishlist…They all welcomed me with wide open arms, and I was so happy. I was patiently waiting for the show to come out so we can go and celebrate it and tell the fans. Then, of course, the strike happened. I just want to tell everybody how proud of the show I am. How happy I am with it. And working with Tom Hiddleston, Owen Wilson, the entire Loki family has just been incredible. We made this last year in London. I was there for four months, my wife and I were there. It was one of the best four months of my life. I’ve done a few shows before, and this was the first time where I didn’t want it to end. I was so happy. In fact, I’ll tell you this. We were scheduled for reshoots this February, and I was waiting. My wife and I were looking forward to spending more time in London and with our Loki family. And all of a sudden we were told, ‘Oh, we don’t need any reshoots. It’s all good.’ I was kind of disappointed. I was actually disappointed that we didn’t get to go back because of how much fun we had… So we made history. We make history two times. One is the first series of Marvel getting a second season and the second is the first time a Marvel show didn’t have any reshoots. I’m so proud of that.

DEADLINE: It is quite a feat to not have any reshoots. So that was probably one of the few times you were excited for reshoots.

QUAN: A lot of times actors dread doing reshoots, because you have to go back. You have to get back into character. But for this, I was really happy. I was looking forward to it. It’s so ironic, because the more I wanted to do, it’s like, ‘Oh, we don’t need it.’ But this is a testament to how great the show is and to how great a Leader Tom Hiddleston is. Working with him has been incredible. It was such a masterclass on how to be a great actor, a great leader, and most importantly, a great human being. He is so kind and humble.

DEADLINE: When you first read the script, what did you think of your character, Ouroboros? What were you hoping you could bring to him?

QUAN: Well, first of all, when I read the script, I instantly fell in love with Ouroboros. It was so well defined on the pages, and I can see him right away. This character was not based on comic books, so it was created by our showrunner Kevin Wright and our head writer Eric Martin… I instantly wanted to play him. And I remember this was at a time when Everything, Everywhere All At Once had just came out. It was paying only in New York and in Los Angeles. My agent said, ‘You’re gonna get a call from Kevin Feige tomorrow.’ Now you have to understand, when I became an actor again, joining the MCU was at the top of my wishlist. I was so excited and I said, ‘Could this be it?’ I was driving. I picked up the phone. And on the other end I hear, ‘Hi Ke. This is Kevin Feige.’ He went on to talk about how much he loved our movie and how much he loved my performance. Then finally he says, ‘Ke we would love for you to join the MCU family.’ I was driving at that time. I start tearing up, and I couldn’t see the road anymore. I said, ‘Kevin, can you give me two seconds?’ I pulled the car over, put it in park and I said, ‘Please continue.’ He says, ‘We have this great character for you, Ouroboros. I really love him, and I think you will be perfect to play him.’ He told me about Loki. He told me about the MCU. He spoke [with] so much passion and enthusiasm in his voice. It brought me back to the day when I met him for the very first time on the X-Men set when he was just an associate producer, and I was an assistant action choreographer…He loves this universe so much. He has such a vast knowledge of this universe. And little did I know only 23 years later, I get to work with him. I get to play a wonderful character.

DEADLINE: I’m glad you mentioned that. It is quite the full circle moment.

QUAN: You know, that’s why I love the name Ouroboros. It’s s a snake eating its own tail. I had a wonderful time working with Kevin on set. It was at a time where I didn’t think I would ever step in front of the camera again. It was also the time where I questioned whether I would have a career working behind the camera. It was when I just graduated from USC film school. I didn’t know what I was going to do. I knew I didn’t want to leave this industry. I love it so much. So to be able to do that and to come back again in front of the camera… I’m very fortunate.

DEADLINE: Your comedic timing is so spot on in Loki. I’m thinking of the scene where Ouroboros manages to recreate the Tempad after 19 months and losing his wife. What’s the secret to nailing a scene like that?

QUAN: I don’t think much about it. I gotta credit Kevin Wright and Eric Martin. They really beautifully created this character Ouroboros. The dialogue, when I was reading for the first time, I laughed out loud, because he’s so quirky. He’s so weird and funny. Yet, if you think about it, who is this guy that’s working in the basement of the TVA for more than 400 years with no friends? No interaction with anybody. His only encounter was with Mobius when he got lost. Yet he still takes his job so seriously and so passionately. It has a lot to do with the beautiful dialogue that they came up with.

DEADLINE: Do you think O.B. stays in the basement for another 400 years or will be venturing out more often?

QUAN: When you get a taste of what friendships feel like… Loki is addicted to that. So I’m sure O.B. will be as well. When you don’t have it, you don’t know what you’re missing. But once you have it, you keep going after it. So I would assume that O.B. would periodically, when he’s not too busy, he would go up the elevator and go say hi to Casey and B-15 And just to mingle with Mobius, because he loves Mobius.

DEADLINE: What scene are you most proud of?

QUAN: I love Episode One, that scene when he’s talking to Mobius in the present and Loki in the past. That is so creative… It’s so is so well written. It’s so funny.

DEADLINE: How did you feel when you read the script for the finale?

QUAN: I was blown away, because I didn’t see that coming. It’s so beautiful and so poetic. When you have a character who wants to be on the throne all his life, and he finally gets to be on it. But he can never leave. He made the ultimate sacrifice…To me, Loki is the ultimate hero because he made the sacrifice without recognition. Nobody knows he did this, except the team. No one in the Sacred Timeline is going to ever know that. If we’re lucky in life, we would have people like that with us. The unsung heroes.

Loki is streaming on Disney+.

#loki #ke huy quan #ouroboros #O.B.#interview

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mrs-gauche · 2 years

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Fire, blood and ouroboros...

So the other day, I was thinking about this "almost ouroboros" artifact thing again that was shown in the netflix Absolution trailer...

I’m calling it “almost ouroboros”, because usually an ouroboros is depicted with one serpent eating its own tail, rather than two eating each other, as it’s also seen in the title of the netflix show.

But as some people have already pointed out, the ouroboros symbol also appears in a few other places throughout the series. For one, it is seen on the ground in the scene with Flemeth and Kieran in the Fade. Note that it is drawn in blood, almost like it’s part of a ritual, especially with how they’re both standing in its center when Flemeth takes the Old God soul from Kieran (keep this in mind! I’ll get back to this in a minute 👀).

When I noticed that this symbol in particular also looked a little familiar to me... So I went back and took another look at the scene at the Temple of Mythal, when the Inquisitor drinks from the Well of Sorrows, an act that inevitably binds them (or Morrigan) to Mythal's will.

(Putting the rest under the cut, because.. you know the drill, I’m incapable of ever writing a short post. 😂💀)

So I took my beloved flycam tool, to try and get a closer look at the symbol that appears for only a second on the Inquisitor's face, the moment Mythal’s will is forced upon them after they drank from the Well.

Which got me so curious that I eventually went into the files and searched out the exact texture asset that was used in this scene (which btw took me way longer than I want to admit 😶)...

And lo and behold, it actually turns out to be the same symbol! Or rather... one of them, because the symbol actually seems to be part of a set of three different symbols that can all be found within the same file.

And there it is!

Additionally, in that same scene with Kieran in the Fade, the symbol is also yet again seen when Morrigan is about to attack Flemeth, which she can easily prevent by forcing the Inquisitor to grab Morrigan, as Flemeth seems to have full control over the Inquisitor’s (or Morrigan’s) body now.

Later on, the Inquisitor can also tame and bind their own (or rather Mythal’s) dragon in order to defeat Corypheus, showing the symbol again.

Solas will be furious if the Inquisitor drank from the Well, despite calling Mythal "the best of the elven gods". He’ll also explain to us how the Inquisitor is now "Mythal's creature" and that everything they'll do from now on will be, “whether they know it or not”, in her will. Which is to say, the very definition of enslavement.

(Someone speaking from experience here, Sir? I mean, if the “Solas was once himself a slave of Mythal” theory is true (“He did not want a body, but she asked him to come. He left a scar when he burned her off his face.”), it would definitely give his reaction to the well and how he values free will above everything (as well as his entire flippin rebellion and all of his dialogue regarding binding for that matter) a whole other layer. Especially when being asked to drink from the well himself, when he’s like “No. Do not ask me again.” so instantaneous and snappy, as if to say “For f*ck’s sake, I’ve been through this once, I’m NOT doing it again??” 😂)

I guess, what I’m trying to say is.. what if the scene we saw at the Well of Sorrows was something very similar to the ritual that was performed in times of Elvhenan by the Evanuris, in order to mark their slaves with their vallaslin and bind them to their will, just like the Inquisitor or Morrigan were bound to Mythal?

And all that got me thinking...

If this ouroboros symbol, that is somewhat magically "branded" on the Inquisitor at the Well of Sorrows, is not just some random asset, but actually supposed to resemble ancient slave markings... Isn't it curious then, that the word "vallaslin", which, as far as we know, was already used back in ancient times, also translates to "blood writing", when the ritual we saw at the well doesn't actually involve.. any blood?

(And for the sake of clarification, for the Dalish this term does make sense of course, as the practice used to apply the vallaslin in present Thedas is likely to resemble that of traditional tattooing (unless some kind of magic is involved?). In real life, some tribal cultures traditionally created tattoos by cutting designs into the skin and rubbing the resulting wound with ink, ashes or other agents. Some cultures create tattooed marks by hand-tapping the ink into the skin using sharpened sticks or animal bones (made like needles) with clay formed disks for example. We’ve actually seen a glimpse of this practice in the latest comic series.)

Going back to the ouroboros however, because this is where it gets interesting!

Remember how the ouroboros symbol was drawn in blood in that scene with Flemeth and Kieran in the Fade, in which the setting is also displaying a generally super bloody, gruesome scenery of someone (apparently a statue of Dirthamen, but I’m not sure if that’s supposed to hold any deeper meaning) being stabbed in the back with a sword. A reference to Mythal being betrayed and murdered maybe, given the context of this scene?

(That’s a lot of effing blood.... Sneaky BioWare using level design to tell an untold story?)

And while we’re at it, I just want to point out the level of symbolism on display here, like, literally the first thing you’ll see when entering this part of the Fade, is this giant hand holding the ropes of some hanged corpses like little puppets. It’s quite literally Mythal pulling the strings, directing the course of history and controlling people behind the curtains for ages like a puppeteer. 👀

But let’s go back to the bloody ouroboros on the ground, because that same symbol also appears in relation to someone else's blood.

The Magrallen, a magical device dating back to ancient times, used Maric's Great dragon blood, which he is said to have because many ages ago, his ancestor, King Calenhad made a bargain with a "mysterious witch", *cough* Flemeth *cough*, to drink the blood of a Great dragon, granting him immense powers. Thus making the Theirin bloodline so special (and also part of the reason why Flemeth was so invested in saving Alistair’s butt at Ostagar? lol). BUT.. There is another certain ancient artifact that, if used in a ritual with fire of a Great dragon combined with a source of lyrium, will also grant special powers.

The sarcophagus seen in the latest Blue Wraith and Dark Fortress comic series, which was not only used on Fenris to brand him with lyrium infused markings...

...but also on Shirallas in combination with red lyrium, turning him into something like a mad berserker, that was pretty much invincible as long as he was in possession of the sword produced by the red lyrium idol. It also caused them both to lose almost all of their memories prior to the ritual.

Fenris recalls that the sarcophagus would drew in whatever source of lyrium was being placed onto it (in their cases, lyrium-laced weapons) and carve it into their skin.

Take a closer look at this sarcophagus. Maybe I'm just seeing things, but.. doesn't that design look KINDA familiar?

*takes deep breath* The sarcophagus was also specifically built only for elves, seeing as it will turn humans into walking lyrium time bombs, who will literally blow up minutes after the ritual is performed.

So, to reiterate real quick, in order to perform this ritual and create elven super soldiers, you need what? - a LOT of lyrium (with the color of your choice lol) - a Great dragon (/blood?) and a LOT of FIRE

And I know someone who conveniently had access to both of these things... Mythal, who was not only the first to kill the Titans and mine their blood in HUMONGOUS amounts, as we've seen in the Deep Roads section in Trespasser, but also just so happens to be always depicted as a flippin dragon.

"They made bodies from the Earth. And the Earth was afraid."

"He did not want a body but she asked him to come."

"The lyrium sang thought into being."

"The blood of dragons is the blood of the world."

Why was Mythal called "the Mother"?

Because she was the eldest of the pantheon? Because she was the leader and actual mother of some of the other “gods”? Because of her caring and fierce nature, representing Justice and the “Great Protector” of the People?

OR was it because Mythal was the first to kill the Titans, giving her access to mine their blood and use their lyrium combined with her fire to somehow create bodies for spirits to manifest, essentially "giving birth" to their physical form and binding/enslaving them. But you know what that would also imply? The vallaslin is called “blood writing“ and again, as far as we know, that term was already used back in ancient times. If bodies were created in a similar ritual with something like this sarcophagus, then I feel like lyrium - Titan's blood - was more essential to the elves than we think... Was the vallaslin of ancient times more like infused lyrium markings like we’ve seen on Fenris or Shirallas? Or was it even more than that?

...Leaving it at that for now (because initially, this was the part where it would dawn on me that BioWare must’ve taken a ton of inspiration from Greek mythology and I would go into excruciating detail about that subject for some reason... before I realized that I was going waaay off-topic and decided to make it an entirely seperate post for another day 😂). So.. anyway. *deletes twenty paragraphs of text* lol

Instead, let us look at some other mentions of the serpent in DA lore, or rather different meanings of the ouroboros symbol in mythology and how this could connect to the lore.

In one Dalish legend for instance, Mythal takes the form of a great serpent to fight Andruil, who had fallen to madness from the Void, at the base of a mountain.

Belenas, the mountain which is said to have stood at the center of the world, was destroyed in the battle between Korth the Mountain Father and the serpent Nathramar in a tale of the Avvar, leaving only a vast crater behind which would later become Lake Calenhad when the Lady of the Skies “filled it with her tears” (which I believe was actually Mythal whose blood dripped in the lake, but that’s a whole other story for yet another day.. 👀).

And of course, the first thing that comes to mind when talking about serpents in DA would probably be the very banner of the Tevinter Imperium.

The serpent itself is also often associated with immortality, when it’s biting its tails to form a circle and a spiral when it’s coiled. Both circles and spirals were seen as symbols of eternity.

On the contrary, it can also represent the cyclical nature of life and death, life feeding on itself in the act of creation.

The Chantry believes lyrium to be the emerald waters of the Fade, the very substance of creation itself, from which the Maker fashioned the world.

In Tevinter Nights, the Dread Wolf says this: "You use my Idol carelessly, to vandalize the sea of dreams, and in doing so, you threaten all creation." The red lyrium idol is very likely depicting Mythal’s death. Not to mention the whole creation of physical forms we’ve talked about earlier.

In Nordic myth, evil was symbolised by the serpent (which was actually a dragon) Nidhogg, literally the “Dread Biter” (*wheezing* no kidding), who coiled around one of the three roots of Yggdrasil, the Tree of Life.

Mythal’s vallaslin resembles tree branches and in visions of her victory over the Titans in Trespasser, it mentions flourishing vegetation that would make habitability/colonization of the earth possible.

“In this place we prepare to hunt the pillars of the earth. Their workers scurry, witless, soulless. This death will be a mercy. We will make the earth blossom with their passing.”

“For a moment, the scent of blood fills the air, and there is a vivid image of green vines growing and enveloping a sphere of fire.”

“For one moment, there is a vivid image of two overlapping spheres; unknown flowers bloom inside their centers. Then it fades.”

And yet again, fire and blood is being brought up in Mythal’s conquering.

And finally, in ancient Greek mythology (which, as I mentioned before, was very likely the inspiration for a lot of stuff regarding the ancient elves), the ouroboros is often interpreted as a symbol not only for the cycle of life, death and rebirth, but also the transmigration of souls.

In most beliefs involving reincarnation, the soul is seen as immortal and the only thing that becomes perishable is the body. Upon death, the soul becomes transmigrated into a new body to live again. The term transmigration means passing the soul from one body to another after death.

Hmmm... Doesn’t that sound familiar? 👀 Looking at the Archdemons.. and Corypheus.. and Mythal.. and the secret of effective immortality...?

I’ve talked a little bit about it on here before, but if we take into account Solas’ very suspicious use of the word “soul” in relation to spirits and everything having to do with the Void/Abyss, also called the “Well of all Souls” in the Canticle of Andraste, the same place where, according to Solas, spirits are reborn and the whole creation of physical forms... then I feel like I’ve found yet another argument for why the spirits are the souls that Solas wants to save by tearing down the Veil.

And if we go back to the very beginning of this post with all of this in mind now... isn’t it interesting how Flemeth and Kieran are standing in the very center of the ouroboros symbol, in a place where the entire level design could be a reference to Mythal’s death, when Flemeth takes the Old God soul from Kieran?

If I ever get around to write my ultimate tinfoil theory on what I think the Old God souls and the Blights truly are, and any of that turns out to be true.. then hoooo boy, let’s just say, Mythal is. s h a d y.

So to conclude, whether it’s intentional or not, no matter what myths or piece of lore we’re looking at, the ouroboros symbol can be connected to so many aspects of what we know of Mythal and the ancient elves (and I feel like this whole post can be summed up with this one meme 😂)...

I know there aren’t any grand revelations here, but I think it was fun to just gather all these tidbits in one place and if you really read all of this, thank you so much and feel free to tell me what you think of all this? 😁

#dragon age #dragon age absolution #mythal #solas #blue wraith #dark fortress #tevinter nights #tinfoil time #writing this post at 1am resulted in me picturing dragon mama Mythal in an apron..#..putting her little spirits into sarcophagi like cookie dough on a baking tray..#..roasting them with her fire on her ancient oven powered by lyrium..#..and out come freshly baked elven bodies lmaoo #I should probably get some sleep....

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treemaidengeek · 3 months

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isn't it love?

Fandom: The Locked Tomb Series | Gideon the Ninth Series - Tamsyn Muir

Characters: Paul (Locked Tomb Series), Camilla Hect, Palamedes Sextus

Additional Tags: Perfect Lyctorhood (Locked Tomb Series), Character Study, Introspection, Feels, Identity Porn, Songfic, in the year of our lord two thousand twenty-four?, it's likelier than you think

VI💀💀💀💀💀💀VI

We studied our uncallused hands, and wondered what to do with them.

Suddenly hot, I'm

Suddenly cool, I'm

All our skin was new. Immolation and regeneration will do that to a body. God only knew what our fingerprints would look like once the molt cycles slowed down: his? hers? a mix? a wholly new set, or none at all?

(God probably did not know. If he had truly understood any of this, he probably wouldn't have devoured all of creation. A bad habit, invoking his name.)

Suddenly a genius, I'm

Suddenly a fool, I'm

Sword and pen felt equally strange, and equally familiar, in our grip. We were having that experience often: the alchemical transmutation of the intimate and the alien. Food tasted different. Light and color skewed into new forms. Everything we touched seemed more fragile than it had been before.

Suddenly fact, but I feel

Stranger than fiction,

I'm suddenly back

I'm a walking contradiction

We refused to waste time with mirrors. Too much needed doing for us to indulge in omphaloskepsis. We would have this face for a myriad to come, if things went well, and for a very short time indeed if they did not. Either way, mirrors could wait.

Doesn't this have a name?

But we couldn't resist touching our cheekbones and our jawline. We'd instinctively push up absent glasses and then run a finger lightly over the arch of nose or brow.

Doesn't this have a name?

Her nose. His brows. Her cheekbones. His jaw. Our lips, soft under our fingertips.

Doesn't this have a name?

Our symbiotic stage of skin-sharing had felt so different. We had always been separated by a breath and a heartbeat. Now, we were longing fulfilled. We were mobius, ouroboros, limit approaching infinity, love perfected by death.

Isn't it, isn't it, isn't it love?

Paul. A name from an ancient story about a man who saw the face of God, and burned, and transformed into something new. Also, it was composed entirely of letters from our old names. Everyone loves a good anagram.

Isn't it, isn't it, isn't it love?

And isn't it, isn't it, isn't it love?

We studied our uncallused hands, and wondered what to do with them.

We looked forward to figuring it out.

Isn't it

Isn't it love?

VI💀💀💀💀💀💀VI

song from the Steven Universe movie:

youtube

#tlt #nona the ninth #paul (the locked tomb)#palamedes sextus #camilla hect #steven universe #isn't it love?#songfic #i know i know XD it grabbed me at 3 am & decisions were made #anyway enjoy #my stuff #Youtube

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desultory-novice · 5 months

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Hey, what do you suppose Elfilin and Fecto Forgo were doing during Star allies? Well... Obviously Elfilin was hiding while Forgo was mind controlling the animals. BUT! Given that, in your AU at least, Fecto Elfilis has somewhat of a connection to void termina... Is it possible they at least felt something was off, when Void termina was freed?

It's interesting because thecrashman and I were just discussing the fact that, according to Kumazaki in one of the Nintendo Dream interviews (I can't remember which one and anyway I'm going to paraphrase him here) he mentions that Star Allies and Forgotten Land are kind of sister games. So the idea that one played into the other is not weird at all! (Even removed from my AU headcanon.)

We particularly talked about the concept of the "Friend Heart" that was expelled from the Jamba Heart and just where that came from. But that "one piece of something good emerging from something bad" is ve~ry much like Elfilin splitting off from Forgo, isn't it?

Of course, we know that happened X + 30 years ago so it couldn't have been affected by Star Allies but... time does pass differently between Dream Land and the Forgotten Land, as Dedede and the others were there for months longer than Kirby in just the few seconds it took for everyone to be sucked into the rift.

Now, to suggest that the blooming and decay of the Forgotten Land's civilization happened all in the space of time between Star Allies and the start of the game would make things TOO timey-wimey (plus, that would make the Ancients some kind of Ouroboros! Their fall being the same thing that triggered their beginning! Kirby IS kind of a sci-fi series but it's not that much of a sci-fi!)

Still, given how emotionally/psychically connected the geminis are, I wouldn't be surprised if Termina's rise or fall caused a shockwave that one or both felt! (Plus Elfilin's JP name backwards is NIL LIFE and Void Termina's name is ENDE NIL so I mean...!)

#Kirby #Elfilin #Fecto Elfilis #Fecto Forgo #Void Termina #Dess Quick Asks

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chuplayswithfire · 2 years

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stede, inadequacy, and the perpetuating cycle of self-hate and low self-esteem

i've been pondering making a post on this ever since i started my live re-watch (which. no one ask how that's going) because that "i am adequate" moment of stede's is just. exquisite.

the surface layer of this moment is that it shows that stede's self-esteem is clearly in the toilet, because his pep-up talk to himself, his power-pose serious-face getting-himself-together moment, is saying something as underwhelming as "i am adequate". it's heart-warming that he's realized this about himself, and heart-breaking that this is as far as his self-confidence can take him.

but as i've considered the series, and stede, on further rewatches, what i've started to notice is... that statement is correct. mostly.

stede is adequate. stede is fit for the task at hand. stede is, in this moment, capable.

and the part that i've been chewing over is: this may be one of the very few moments in stede's life where this is true.

think about it: stede has been told all his life that he is a lily-livered little rich boy, that he's a coward, that he's useless, that he has nothing of worth and value to the world. now, obviously these are horrible, cruel, and objectively terrible things to say to any child, and it's hellacious that these things were repeated to stede by his father and peers, and that his mother appears to have played absolutely no roll in counteracting that message, and people come out of that kind of confidence-destroying, self-esteem crushing experience with, generally, one of two responses:

they make themselves the best thing since sliced bread often accompanied by a brutal perfectionism streak

they stop making real efforts and withdraw because nothing they do will ever be good enough

stede's pretty clearly fallen into that second category. by the beginning of the series we can see that pre-the revenge stede (and honestly, even captain of the revenge!stede) has retreated primarily into a life of fantasy and fiction, withdrawing into reading and his own thoughts and barely paying attention to or really interacting with the world around him.

he reads at the dining room table, able to completely block out the sounds of his children running and shouting, fails to hear mary even when they're having direct conversations (buddy she hates the ocean-), has hired lucius to record fantastical versions of his life as a pirate for what appears to be the specific purpose of turning them into a memoir...

stede has checked out completely. and the thing is? you cannot be "useful" or "helpful" or "build meaningful relationships" when you are that checked out.

at that point in his life, post-childhood and pre-piracy, stede had checked out of being an active participant in his own life. he marries the woman his father found for him, he and mary have the children that are required (i don't think it's a coincidence that the writing team chose to give them only two children, and make the youngest the boy), and they live the very bare-bones version of the life they're supposed to and it is not enough. they are rich and comfortable and have family dinner nightly and stede is so miserable that he cries alone in the dark.

and part of that is because he hates his life. part of that is because this life doesn't fit him and it's not what he wants. part of it is that he's about as straight as an ouroboros.

but a big part of it is that stede still feels as useless and unwanted and incapable as he was made to feel as a child, only this time, the reason he feels that way is because he's internalized how horrible he is at everything, so he doesn't even really try.

sure, we don't see a lot of stede and mary's married life, but what we do see speaks volumes: mary seems to be the principle minder of the children, the one who knows about their nightmares, the one who asks them about their favorite animals, the one who enjoys raising them. mary also seems to be the active partner in the marriage: mary makes an anniversary gift that represents their marriage and wedding day, crafted from her very own creative pursuit that she wants to share with stede.

the primary interaction we see stede have is playing pirates with the children right after mary has asked him not to because it's caused nightmares, and using the moment where mary has asked alma and louis about their favorite horse to interject with his favorite horse.

and like, i'm not here to say stede was a horrible useless father or anything like that, but as a father, stede was clearly not successful - louis is absolutely old enough to remember his father, but he doesn't, even though it can't have been more than a few months since stede left, a year at the absolute maximum. and that could be interpreted as louis being passive aggressive, but i think that would be a very loose interpretation; it's much more likely that stede was genuinely not a strong presence in louis' mind, because he wasn't a very involved parent.

the primary interactions we see between mary and stede are equally distant - stede barely touches her for their engagement/wedding portrait, is also distant in the family portrait (which is one reason he can be so easily painted out of it), appears to regularly ignore mary during conversations or at the very least quickly forget about them (the ocean.... bro the ocean -), and provided an anniversary gift that was entirely focused on his own wants and needs, aka, the desire to retreat further into those fantasies by running off on a boat. to break up the monotony - which he's clearly never spoken to mary about feeling, because she's shocked to hear that he finds their lives monotonous.

and like, domestic life can be very monotonous - but it can also be dynamic and exhilarating, especially when you have young children and you're helping them grow and change and transform into actual people. it seems very likely that one of the reasons that stede finds life with his family so monotonous is that he's not actually participating in it.

and this is probably part of why he cries at night. this is definitely part of why he feels useless, and its absolutely why he thought he could just walk away from his family without a real word to them about it. to tie this back to the thesis statement:

stede has been "inadequate" his entire life, and that was initially due to the abusive and unrealistic standards he was held to by his father and peers, but that continued into his adult life because of stede's own internalizing of that abuse. stede is inadequate because he doesn't try, not in ways that would leave him emotionally vulnerable, and he doesn't try because he's been told all his life that he's useless and inadequate and a failure. it's a perpetuating cycle that doesn't break until stede finally walks away.

the idea came to stede to escape further into fantasy and build that boat - and he had it built, without speaking about it to mary until it was far enough along that it was either completed or nearly so, depending on how much time you think passed between the anniversary scene and the "we only have one life" scene. the idea was initially one where he was accompanied by his family, but it doesn't seem like stede actually considered the details of actually having his family aboard the ship, not the way he considered the details of having it entirely crafted to his preferences and desires and interests. his family being aboard the ship with him was not the central focus of the fantasy - the fantasy was running away and starting a new life as someone cool, someone adventurous, someone people respected.

stede was inadequate as a father and husband, because he was too convinced of his own worthlessness to *try* to be a good father and husband. he was no longer being psychologically and emotionally abused at home, but it didn't matter, because his mindset was such that his own unpacked trauma was doing a fine job of carrying out the abuse in absence of people eager to inflict the abuse for him.

and then we get to the revenge, and stede is, as we all know, entirely inadequate as a sailor, a captain, and a pirate.

he has great ideas, he has a people positive management style, and plenty of money to throw around, but he doesn't know how the ship works, he doesn't know how to help on the ship, and he doesn't know how to engage with his crew in a way that earns their respect. they don't hate him, but even lucius is on board for the mutiny, and even oluwande, who actually seems to like him first, thinks he's going to get them all killed. everyone except stede knows he's bad at this, and then, stede knows he's bad at this.

and it's pretty crushing! it hurts his confidence, a LOT, and then in walks nigel badminton, a living representation of that internalized self-hatred and all stede's low self-esteem... of course stede whacks him over the head once nigel starts in on the bullying and the rhetoric. of course he does! there's only so much a person can take.

this is when things start to turn around a bit for stede. first: the guilt and the horror set in, the emergence from fantasy back into something like reality: stede realizes that there is no going back. there is no return to his old life. he is a pirate and being a pirate is not like the fantasies he had - it is killing and blood and his childhood bully's corpse on the ground in a puddle of blood, a sword through his head. it is taking hostages and realizing his crew wants to torture them and trying to gently ease away from that. it's losing his hostages and again realizing - i might be bad at this. i might be terrible at this. i might once more be as useless as everyone has always said i am. it is freaking out, and then it's gathering himself once more and saying -

"i am adequate"

it's trying. it's actually trying, earnestly. that plan to steal the hostages back from izzy might be silly and ridiculous, but it's thought out, and most importantly, it takes advantage of stede's only strength - everyone underestimates him. everyone thinks he's useless.

he wins his men back because izzy turns away from him even though stede has a knife drawn, because he never thinks enough of stede to imagine he'd do something with it.

in these first two episodes alone, we see stede put forth more significant effort at being a pirate than he ever seems to have put being into a father or husband. he's engaging. he's sharing his interests in a way that invite others to develop their interests. he's sharing vulnerability and seeking counsel and guidance. he's putting himself out there, and the show rewards him for this with success: with getting his first hostages, and then with stealing one back from a trio of actually dangerous pirates. episode three actually continues this trend, despite the fact that stede is tricked, betrayed, and stabbed - episode three shows us that by trying, by putting forth efforts, by not withdrawing but being active, stede has captured the attention of blackbeard himself - leading to stede's rescue in his great time of need, by blackbeard himself.

and episodes four through seven feature stede rising to still greater heights - the more effort he puts in, the more he's rewarded. it's a pretty simple point but it's there: the less stede withdraws from the world, the more effort he puts in, the more effort he puts in, the more adequate and confident he feels, the more adequate and confident he feels, the more he bonds with other people -

to the point that in episode eight, stede has enough confidence to stand in front of his crew and ed both and tell jack to get off his ship. even after an entire episode where he was pushed back into those feelings of inadequacy and helplessness, he takes his newfound confidence and sense of self and he sets a hard boundary and tells jack to get off his ship, and just as importantly, he does not take it back even when this causes him to lose ed.

yes, he spends the entire night spying on them like a creep, but stede does not go chasing after ed, he doesn't lower the boundary, he doesn't trample over his own newly-gained sense of self-worth by frantically backpedaling. even in the face of a break up, he holds fast.

that's really fucking good. that's incredible, for a guy with such terrible self-esteem, and i would wager that most of you reading this felt as proud of him as i did.

which is also, by the way, probably the same reason most of us felt so damned disappointed in episode nine, when stede falters under chauncey badminton and the re-traumatization of seeing him die, and the horrible, soul-destroying spew of words spat at him.

stede goes back to his family in barbados not because he actually wants to be with them, but because he wants to punish himself. because he feels that he is a plague upon the earth who has ruined ed, and that by leaving he somehow unbalanced the universe and caused destruction to his family. he is resigning himself to a life he hates (and resigning his family to living with him and his misery) because the trauma of that experience - from the kidnapping all the way down to chauncey's accidental death - has eviscerated his burgeoning self-confidence and newly grown sense of self-esteem. in that moment, stede is lower than any other moment in the present course of the show, because by the time the show started, stede had decided he deserved happiness, no matter how inadequate he might be. end of episode nine stede has relinquished that.

he is making his house a prison again, a place of misery and pain, again. because stede's house could have always been a better place. his relationship with mary would have never been romantically loving, but it could have been friendly, it could have been warm. his relationship with his children could have been close-knit and essential, instead of a bond so thin Louis has already forgotten him. all stede would have needed to do is meet them halfway, and he couldn't. he was too miserable, too-filled with self-loathing, too consumed by other people's judgements of his worth, and now he's pickling in that toxic cocktail of self-hate and self-doubt all over again - and where stede was expressing it all via withdrawal and sadness before, now he expresses it through anger.

he's angry that he came back and no one seems to have missed him. he's angry that mary replaced him. he's angry that mary won't give up the "dishonest title", won't give up the life she made for herself the way he gave up the life he made for himself. he's hurting still and he's sad still, but he's expressing it through anger, and that's why he's snide and cutting and passive-aggressive, and eventually, violent. stede's angry that he gave up everything to come back here and fix what he "ruined" and the sacrifice isn't appreciated or wanted.

and then you know, he's nearly killed and the shock of that bursts his bubble, and the tension between he and mary. they talk, finally. mary gets what she wanted, which is a conversation, which is stede meeting her halfway, and between the two of them and in a newly safe space, stede can admit that this isn't working, and he can admit what will work, and he can admit what he wants, which is to be in love with ed and go after him.

but he was only able to get to that point because he started trying. he was only able to reach out and find closure and peace and love and happiness and friendship because he stopped checking out, stopping punishing himself, and started trying.

the only way out is through. wherever you go, there you are. the only way for stede to begin overcoming his trauma and grappling with his low self-esteem and endless cycle of misery was to invest in his life and engage with it and do something, anything, about it.

that's one of the many points of stede's narrative: that you have to try. you have to reach out. stede was a participant in making his own misery, and mary's misery, and his kids' misery, all because after years of emotional and psychological abuse he had withdrawn into himself and stopped reaching out - which meant that he couldn't have meaningful connections - which hurt - which made him withdraw, and so on, and so on.

the point of stede being a middle-aged man when he finds love and gets his first tastes of real happiness is to show that it's never too late to start over. it's never too late to try. it's never too late to be an active participant in your own life. it's never too late to choose happiness.

tldr: you can't feel adequate or confident or happy if you don't become an active participant in your own life.

#our flag means death #ofmd #ofmd meta #stede bonnet #father bonnet #mary allamby bonnet #blackbonnet #i worked on this for a few hours while i was at work just. thinking about HIM #stede is a really great example of the way misery comes to roost in your brain and keeps you pinned in until you DO something #even when that something is wild and radical and everyone around you thinks its insane #initially this was not under a read more but i irritated MYSELF having to scroll past it #so under a read more for length it goes

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lucianalight · 5 months

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Connections between Gods of Stories: Science-Fiction, and Magic being a Powerful Lie - Approaches to Storytelling

From "Loki God of Stories - A Comparison between MCU and Comics" series - Co-Written by @lucianalight (Luci) and @theitcharchives (Hollow)

“All science is fiction until it’s fact.” The line said by Timely implies that in Loki’s series, fiction is closer to science than one would think.

In S02E05, Ouroboros is a scientist and a writer. We are introduced to the concepts of What and How, aka science’s staples, then When and Why, aka science-fiction’s staples.

And the Where, though unmentioned–the original people present had to be reunited together to recreate an aura and pinpoint a location in time and space: Where became a staple of science-fiction.

Now, the Who seems to be about “the people he cares about/wanted to see”. (It is said in The Making of Loki -Luci). Yeah it stands as the theory behind the practice, but I have a headcanon: it is my (=Hollow’s) personal understanding and belief that the Who is essential to magic–once Loki understood the Who, he understood his role. He could control the time slips because he wanted to protect those he cared about and their lives. He would have to sustain the timelines because he wanted to find a solution to the dilemma and thus he broke and substituted the equation. Magic needs a who, a will to direct it to not just be aimless energy, and Loki made his choice to use his own and his power to allow everyone else to make their own choices. “Who he wanted to protect” is not the relevant part, “who wants to do the protecting” is.

These six elements are not only the fundamentals of journalist articles, but also of stories. You kind of have to answer them to have a plot–or at least it’s a good start.

In S02E06 Loki spends centuries learning what OB knows, which leads Loki to learning how to stop time with his magic. Something HWR can do with technology, Loki substitutes with magic.

Then, in Thor 2011, Thor says in Asgard magic is considered to be a science. So for MCU Loki, magic is a science.

In MCU Loki’s universe, science, fiction and magic all cover roles that combine into answering all questions for one goal: tell a story. So Loki, who is a master of magic (Who), and thus also a scientist (What, How), can cover the remaining elements (Where, When and Why) because he wants to rewrite the story–he wants to exercise his will over his fate.

In Loki’s series, if you are a magician you are a scientist, and science deals with facts. Magical facts then are still facts, and if you can write with magic, you can change reality. Even stop time and jump across it–because you want to, and you are a master scientist in the branches of mischief and chaos.

Comics Loki says “So let’s talk about magic. [*...] At the core [...] magic is taking a thought and making it real. Taking a lie and making it the truth. Telling a story to the universe so utterly, cosmically perfect that for a single, shining moment… the world believes a man can fly.” (-Loki; Agent of Asgard #1) “What is a lie, Verity? A lie is a story told. That’s all. And we can rewrite our stories. All of us. Write our own happy endings. Our own redefinitions. We don’t have to be what we’re told to be. Even by ourselves.” (-Loki: Agent of Asgard #13)

Comics Loki is the God of Lies. MCU Loki, not so much–he’s never quite had the opportunity to be a god of lies. He’s called the God of Mischief, and he does Mischief aplenty. Comics Loki’s journey to becoming God of Stories went through understanding that his propensity for crafting lies was just exercise for learning to craft stories. With lies, comics Loki does magic. He is not quite a scientist–comics never really gave the vibe magic=science. Magic is magic and works more on possibilities and potentials than facts, has its own rules (* “We can dicker on the exact rules, if you like. There are all sorts of grimoires and cryptonomicons. I’ve got an AD&D manual somewhere” -Loki: Agent of Asgard #1 - Loki’s mention of Dungeons and Dragons manuals delightfully suggests that, one: it exists in E-616 and he plays it, two: that one could actually do magic while playing it, and three: something poetic about writing and creating magic and playing pretend and the power of imagination).

Well the point of all this is–both MCU Loki and Comics Loki deal with storytelling in their own way. Comics Loki has a true magician approach to it. He writes and rewrites stories because it is his potential blooming and flourishing. MCU Loki has a near-scientific approach, that still beautifully flows into magic, and is quite flattering to Loki–he rewrites the story and holds Yggdrasil because he is Loki and he wants to, and he can. Because “we are gods” babey.

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#loki #loki series #loki meta #loki tv show #god of stories #comics loki #agent of asgard

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tickety-boooo · 4 months

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Sharing some of my Crowley headcanons, which are mainly for art ideas and not actual lore speculation:

All the pronouns. All of them. Doesn't matter which way they're presenting at the time. They're just out here wearing what feels right.

His human form has hypermobility (since he's a snake) which is why he leans on furniture and sits funny and wiggle walks (and to explain when David runs into the doorframe entering the bookshop, I know it was probably the contact lenses, but I do that shit all the time and I CAN see where I'm going lmaoo)

Secretly loooves cuddling. It's warm, they can curl up in a ball, or curl around Aziraphale someone like a snake wrapping around a branch, and overall it's a pleasant sensory experience.

Angel Crowley with star markings along her arms and shoulders and neck and cheeks that sparkle and form constellations. These turn into snake scales after the fall, and manifest as freckles in human form.

Her angel wings are mostly reds and browns with gold spots woven throughout. Post-fall they are charred black.

I imagine, since the demons each have their own little animal trait that perhaps they possessed this trait as angels as well, whether or not they expressed it outwardly. Thus SNAKE HALO was born in my mind xD An ouroboros would be a cool design!

Snake tattoo. We know it wanders, that's official. Sometimes she's a lil' bracelet or even an anklet mood, maybe. Depends on the outfit~

Mmm that's all for now as I continue to hyperfixate on my favorite series! I did find a few scenes from a fic I never finished back in 2019 where I'll use some of these ideas, so I might pick that up again and get some more ideas down. Peace :)

#good omens #good omens 2 #good omens headcanons #crowley #anthony j crowley #aj crowley #angel crowley #neil gaiman #terry pratchett #david tennant #ticketyboooo posts

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fandomsmeantheworldtome · 5 months

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2023 Character Wrap

Share your top ten characters of this year

Tagged by the lovely and huge talented @the-20th-century-girl thanks dear❤️

Furfur - Good Omens series

An obsession for a character and actor that came out of nowhere and i didn't even asked for it😂i was so in love with Aziraphale even before season 2 was out and then this little demon showed up and change everything, i tried to fight back this obsession for him at first "who is that character?"i remember asking myself and why i feel so attracted to him?( You already love Aziraphale you don't need another good omens distraction i replied to myself 😂)" but i could see also the actor behind the character and that actor got me more than intrigued,i needed to know everything about him.The rest is history for me but i am glad i answered the call of my heart

All Reece Shearsmith characters in The League Of Gentlemen,Inside no 9, Psychoville and every other project he's been in and i had the chance to discover and watch it

(please be patient of me i am head over the heels for that man so of course i will add here all his characters 😂)

Choosing an Ollie gif though because he honestly deserves the world

Aziraphale - Good Omens series

Even from the start of this year February i think i was so excited we would have season 2 of Good Omens in summer and i was waiting to see my beloved Aziraphale again,i have an undying crush on Michael Sheen since 2019 and good omens s2 restored that flame to the fullest😂

Renfield - Renfield movie 2023

I am sorry i am not so active now in the Renfield fandom but i still love Renfield and Nicholas Hoult with all my heart

Stede Bonnet - Our Flag Means Death

Stede Bonnet is my sunshine,my sweet baby my fave from Our Flag Means Death but he also evolved so much this season i am so proud of him

Izzy Hands - Our Flag Means Death

Tbh i didn't like Izzy Hands in first season as much as i do now but oh god he had the best character development this season, i love him so much😭

Spock and Christine Chapel- Star Trek Strange New Words

Choosing both of them because their chemistry and arc this season was everything to me and was the main reason i got back watching the second season of Strange New Worlds

Dale Jennings - The Newsreader series

Still in my heart always in my heart,i love Lestat too but Dale is the sweet bi disaster of my heart, Sam is so precious as Dale i can't hardly resist

Tim Laughlin - The Fellow Travelers series

I already had a crush on Jonathan Bailey when Bridgerton first aired but in Fellow Travelers he looks so different,hotter? and so cute i love Tim so much

Ouroboros- Loki series season 2

I will never stop loving Loki and Mobius as characters but Ouroboros was for me the highlight of S2,there were lots of moments where Ke Huy Quan was stealing the scene with his quirk,nerdy sweet funny persona as Ouroboros it would a crime not to love a character like this one

Tagging some lovely mutuals @edscozyblanketfort @neverswungonswingingstars @eames-with-two-roses @almost-born-in-1893 @a4chocolate @amalthea9 @whizbang-cap @gavetheflamingswordaway @lilac-paeonia @parnagfegg @haras24 @9leaguesofmirrors @ollieplimsollsgf @lapis-lazuliie @sherlockig @merry-andrews @coiled-dragon @mandycantdecide @its-all-ineffable and everyone who wants to do it

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hail-brod · 4 months

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A Chance and Beyond (3)

Previous chapter: (Chapter 2)

Next chapter: (Chapter 4)

Masterlist

Series Masterlist

Loki x FReader

A/N: Note that I'm not really versed on the concept of time flow in the MCU so things that I will be explaining in this chapter may not be accurate but hej, this is fanfiction. Did try my best to understand Ancient One's explanation with the stones affecting the proper flow of time to integrate here so go easy on me <(＿　＿)>

Might just be making up some things along the way for things to fit!

This is a long one. Hopefully this would make up for the amount of time that took me this long to update.

Warning/s: Tony Stark, cursing, bit of angst.

WC: 5.7k

Doctor Strange confronts you about TVA and you get a nickname from Tony Stark himself. Really, you've had a long day. What else can you possibly expect?

"Time Variance Authority."

"Yes."

"Which is entirely non-existent nowhere within....?"

"The Sacred Timeline." you say. "It is outside the Sacred Timeline."

"Yeah, that." your new found sorcerer friend confirms as Strange's brows crease in thought. "And somehow it's somewhere? A secret organization filled with people who they took from the... Sacred Timeline and then do the dirty work of... pruning other branches of realities. Is that it?"

"Yes." you reply, steady in your seat. Taking in the way he tries to process this new knowledge.

"Now, what exactly is pruning?" he asks, every question he wants to ask mirrored in that look of him. Though, even if uncertainty was still present on his expression, you didn't miss the tinge of fascination dancing around his eyes.

You've been going on with this interrogation for almost twenty minutes now and it's quite straightforward—save for the little questions he add that he strikes as interesting to satisfy his curiosity. Nonetheless, it's nothing but... pleasant.

At most.

Not as stingy as before he is, and you'd wager because of this session giving him the massive information about what's out there, beyond the timeline, beyond the vast universes and you can't help but pride yourself in seeing him so eager yet so stoic in hearing what you have been saying. It's amazing that he manages to look so focused and intent on prying more and yet bits of astonishment seeps through his authoritative nature. That at least confirms that he seems to be believing your words.

But when he starts to explain to you about what he generally knows about timelines and it's flow, you realized that's why.

"The branches that you've mentioned," he inquires. "...you're saying that currently it's overloading because the Sacred Timeline is unkept and unmonitored?"

"Yes..." you confirm. "Yes. It's complicated and.... its hard to manage with so much branches. So everything... everywhere... there are a lot of possibilities growing outside of the proper flow of time."

You hope you understood Ouroboros well. Everything he had explained about the loom and the collapse of all as a result because of the murder of a certain time lord or whatever it is they call him and the possibility of a Multiversal war—as they would call it—was very much ingrained in your mind.

Which is rather a big matter than the world ending.

Because this is about everything ending.

"I'd ask what made that happen," he says. "but one branch of reality splitting outside of the proper flow of time means being overrun. A lot of suffering if I may add." his frown deepens.

You look at him, quite confused. "Well, you mean..."

Wait.

You've realized recently that concepts about time when it comes to sorcery can be quite different compared to the TVA but there's similarities. With what you know, there are the Fates—the Norns consisting of past, present, and future—the ones who weave the people's destiny. But with Strange's field of sorcery, it circles around the Infinity stones; as you've learned from him in your timeline. Plucking one stone out of the flow could result in millions to suffer which then creates the branch.

But in your case, the TVA, it's about the newborn realities that were... apparently unwanted. The dictation of how things should flow is always followed.

Although now, that's the system you and you're friends are trying to break. To renew. Just because of the absurdity of it all. One stray step from the paved path and it's all erased, letting everyone disappear from existence. And you have to thank your TVA friends for stopping that rule.

"Not necessarily..." you trail, downcasted.

"What do you mean not necessarily?" Strange looks at you pointedly, arms crossed. A disapproving sentience directed at you. "You say that's it's overloaded of branches. How is that not aligned to it being terribly diabolical?"

"TVA is different." you answer, holding his stare with certainty. "It's not a causality tied to just the stones, Doctor Strange. It's the causality of every living being."

"Just the stones?" he retorts. "This is about the Infinity stones. Capable of wiping a whole universe."

"I know. Hear me out, will you?" you stop yourself from letting out a frustrated sigh. Though, you almost miss the way he tensed up at how you addressed the most powerful might in the whole universe. You notice there's dread welling in him but he keeps it to himself with a determined look. "TVA wasn't exactly the best when it comes to 'protecting' the timelines. A fuse within the place caused some things to be questioned. The way of things were questioned. Then chaos ensued and the people that I know... who are there—right in this moment—are trying to save the timelines.

You glued your eyes unto him. "The branches aren't suffering, Doctor. They're new realities with living people, writing their own stories." you trail off the last lines.

Your words hung in the air. Silence has never been this loud before but you let him take the time to decide his next words. If you didn't pay much close attention, you could've missed the shift of his stern demeanor to a faint gentleness.

"Are you a variant?" he asks. "Before all of... the messed up timelines?"

For a moment, you froze. You could distinctively feel your chest tighten but you soon shrugged it off in a blink of an eye. "I am. Everyone in TVA is."

"But did you work for the TVA?"

"No." you plainly answered. "It's a very long story."

Something in his stare felt comforting yet enigmatic. At one glance, you'd see someone who's merely doing the job for their own benefit but you've long since started this conversation far enough to grasp what's likely and unlikely. You feel like there's no use hiding your troubles when he seems like he had already seen through you.

"It always is." he says.

You almost sink down on your sit, arms crossed as you avoided his calculating eyes.

"And it must be hard." he continued.

As much as it kept pinching your heart hearing it, you ignore his comments. Whatever it takes.

You sat there, withdrawn compared to before. The refusal that you were showing using silence made you look like a child, having a conversation with their parent for being caught in an unacceptable act. And nor should you want to reveal anything beyond what's he's headed unto. That is your lone past, your burden to carry, to remember. Now, what you aim is to create a new future entangled with the people you've met. That's all that matters.

You keep telling yourself that. Like you're trying to forget every bit that came before you knew about TVA.

The less you remember, the less it can hurt you.

Strange waits in silence but you see him turn away, inhaling. Oddly, he bats an eye on a specific corner in the room but before you could imitate his actions, he continues once again. "If you say that the branches aren't suffering, what exactly is the problem?"

Quite thankful for the shift of questions, you answer. "The proper flow of time." you start. "The massive amount of timelines branching out of the Sacred Timeline leads to chaos. I could say there's a war coming but crucially? There won't even be a war when all of existence is currently set to fade away."

You feel his pointed glance on you and as you look up to him, you see the frown etching up his face. Maybe, you've also spotted a hint of horridness in his eyes.

You know you said it was not a good idea raining these information down to them but this is only Strange. One out of too many. And you trust him to be able to handle such truth.

But you also know he's still a person.

"It's..." you try to say. "I... but I still believe there's a way to save both ways. I just need to get back to the TVA."

His frown did not dissipate, but you see his shoulders slightly drop. "And by trying to use the Time stone, you hope that you might be able to work it out. Correct?"

"Yeah..." you trailed off. "I hope."

I'll take any chances. You think. Even if it's unlikely possible.

"If this doesn't succeed," you continue. "we might have to turn our plans towards technology. I believe Stark and Banner would be very helpful on that, don't you think?"

"You put too much faith on them when you're just a stranger in their eyes." he says, eyes drifting away before back at you. He still wants answers. "I believe you mentioned you fought with heroes. Can I assume the Avengers has something to do with that?"

"You can." you reply, lifting a briefly tight smile. "Your alternate selves aren't that different from the ones that I know of."

He cocks his head up at the information with a plain expression but you see a slight wonder eliciting in his eyes. You sense that he wanted to ask something more as he opened his mouth but he soon diverged on a different one. "How can our technology even reach the heights of what you require to achieve?"

You hesitatingly shrug. "I don't know much but I do know TVA is also managed through... some kind of technology. Maybe it's impossible and unheard of.... but it wouldn't hurt to try."

"A tech outside of time?" he raised a brow quizzically. You only shrugged again which only made him look quite confused. "That's going to be really complex."

"What can a sorcerer say?" you say as you earned a pointed look from him. Oh, he did not like that.

"I was once a man of science and I still am." he sternly says as he tries to hide his irritation. "You have no right to question my profession."

You were quite take aback as you blinked at the small outburst. You contained a laugh. "I meant myself, Doctor."

"Oh."

You gave him a faint lopsided grin but made no further step in rousing his mistake. He eyed you down as his irritation slowly dissipates into a softer glare. As if saying that you should shut your mouth.

No matter what universe he is in, he's still devilishly good at intimidation....not that he has intimidated me before tremendously...

You tell yourself.

You almost feel like somewhere out there, someone is laughing at your interrogation session.

"Right..." he slowly says then breathes. "I'm going to take your word for everything that you've told me. But if you want to use the sto-"

You we're already most intent on listening to what he has to say but oh, it seems like you've almost forgotten about one of your bodily and existentially issues once you felt the odd feeling of tight gripping within your guts. The nerves you felt while hearing his response catches up to you but in this manner, it twists your whole form.

You warped and deformed. Maybe some part of rousing your nervousness can be the trigger to time-slipping.

Though, you can certainly say you didn't miss this.

Once your body steadied, you opened your eyes.

And you met the luminescent light of green, blinding you for a few seconds before you registered the culprit of it all.

Strange stands back a few inches away from you compared to the last time he stood moments ago and what's also entirely new is the opened eye dangling upfront his chest.

The Eye of Agamotto.

Soon, you did notice the green rays of light was extending to your own form, hugging you with it's cool yet warm sensation. You think at first that the magic engulfing you felt so foreign because this is the first time you've interacted with a Time stone—but at the same time... it's not.

It wasn't foreign. No. It's just somehow.... bigger and... overpowering than how it usually feels.

How it usually feels...That can't be right.

But your eyes catch sight of Strange's face as your view gradually cleared. His hands stuck out with the same circular engravings you've always associated him with, but instead of a fiery orange hue, it was now gleaming in green.

"You okay?" he tries to assure, brows creasing.

You let the feeling sink in, exhaling. "I... I think so. What did you do?"

"I used the Time stone. As what you have wanted and what I was about to say." he answers, slowly lowering his hands. You see remnants of franticness on him. "But I actually have no idea what I did. Just casted it's powers on you."

You frown at him. "That's not very reassuring."

"Well, you asked for it." he jested, but his expression lightly softens. "You don't feel any different, do you?"

"I believe not..." you say, stretching your fingers, cranking your neck and checking for any anomalies that may have occurred to your physique. "I am... fine."

"Let's hope that does the magic. I don't particularly know how the TVA works or anything out there when confronted with magic but..." he explains, giving you a knowing look. "..it wouldn't hurt to try. At least it didn't hurt, did it?"

You eye him gently as you shake your head and you catch the distinct break of his gaze to a calmer one.

You feel anew.

You don't look different but you certainly feel lighter as the magic of the stone courses through you. It doesn't affect you in a way how the Time stone manipulates time, but in a way that just...holds you together. But for how long? This could only be temporary and you have no qualms with that, but the fact that this very stone can be effective and useful for the TVA, brings a sense of hope to you. Magic may be nullified in that place but exterior to that, the Time stone could be boundless when used to get there.

You really hate magic nullification.

But that's just speculation. Only actions can prove it.

"What we're you going to say again?" you asked him, quite disoriented.

Strange blinks. He then recalls to his previous sentence, shaking his mind off to focus back on his point. "As I was saying, I will be the only one using the Time stone. And well, that's been done. But the next attempt at using it, you tell me and I'll help." he was back yet again at his stern mannerisms but this time, he seems more...friendly? "Understood?"

You almost mindlessly nod but you tethered yourself up to a clear nod. Before you could say something else, he speaks up, slowly looming before you.

"And I haven't fully given my trust to you. I don't wanna keep threatening you for that but....betray us and you have the whole Avengers' team for an enemy." he stands back with a content expression, almost giddy-like. "Hope that's about clear."

Believe me, you say to yourself. I wouldn't dare.

One thing for sure, you're just glad that he agreed to help you.

After you gave Strange your thanks, a genuine one at that, he replies it with an equally genuine nod...

Then sends you back in your blinding cell.

Thankfully, this time he didn't opened a portal below you to fall in but heeded your previous word of preference. Though, you admit that it's still uncomfortable on your part to experience the shifting of environment once again.

At this point, you'd think that you may have earned the right to be free, out and about from your irritatingly bright cell, but it seems like the Avengers are tough to convince when they suspect you as some kind of an enemy. To give it thought, that is understandable. Yet, it cannot be help to feel some sort of annoyance towards it.

The vast space of the cell seems to mock you of out of the comfort that you once knew. You honestly preferred the brightly lit orange office that the TVA emanates. Even the bustling time analysts rushing in different directions across the place breathes you a little bit of life.

There's the kindness and assurances of Mobius.

O.B.'s chirpy smile after saying something absurd.

B-15's gentle heart whenever she explains the worth of those branches.

Some sort of joke Casey doesn't seem to be able to comprehend.

The look Sylvie gave you when you told your tale of escape from the past TVA. And as your disbelief hindered you speechless after knowing who she really is.

And Loki.

How one look of him for the first time after you we're captured, broke your heart into a bittersweet mourning.

Not that he died in your timeline. Well, at least you almost thought he did.

But to be ripped out of that reality and then wipe it off of existence is like losing everything you have ever loved. As if a world just died with no remnants nor echo to prove the wonders of that life. Which is, unfortunately, the case.

Except, only for you alone to witness it.

It's no different when compared to death. B-15 knew that.

The Loki that you met in the TVA may not be the one that you knew, but it was still quite hopeful for you to see that maybe not everything was lost. Maybe you can still belong somewhere. Or see your old friends and family again. Even if at some point, it's bound to hurt you, to know that you're an anomaly, a displacement in every single universe that you'll end up in.

To feel like an imposter.

But the cast of friends you made with Mobius and the others gratified you somehow. And you're not ready to let that go. You want to help fix the TVA then after that....perhaps you can decide your next steps.

Breathing in, your thoughts speak. Look ahead, fool. You'll fare well without those memories. Starting all over again can't be that awful...

You berate yourself albeit hesitantly.

Though, is it really worth forgetting everything you've come to cherish? There's a feeling that tells you, yes, your inner turmoil would not exist no more if you'll just forget those moments in your timeline. But you know that's not what you want. And you also know the aching pain of loss is truly unwanted for anyone, yet you feel inhumane to choose not to feel that.

What does it matter?

You can't help but drift your eyes in a moment of daze as you unconsciously fly your fingers to your other hand, caressing the ring that sits there. You then bring your eyes down to it.

It looked simple yet...enriched. Just like how Asgardians do very much love their golden treasures and land, your ring was no different. Though what makes it special is it's carved runes rounding the accessory to which it bestows it's means of definition to bind.

They call it the Asgardian Betrothal ring.

The name says it all. But besides that, another memory catches up to you when you're brought to look upon your halved severed finger to where your ring lays. Unusual it is, but you've grown used to it's sight and the remembrance it leaves on your heart is clear as the day. You thought at first you could not bear the bizarre feeling of a missing finger, but time proves you lesser so.

Because it does look quite cool, as what Midgardians would say.

Nonetheless, the might to have experience the cause of it stems deeply in your mind.

The Dark Elves did truly ensure that.

As you trace your fingers against the ring, you can't help but think how good of a combination a severed finger and a ring could be together. It sounds absurd, you admit. Especially when it kind of metaphorically shows how your supposed marriage have been cut short—like your finger.

An omen you don't want to think too much even as though your situation have gotten worse, more or so than it predicted.

My Norns, you think. do you even exist? Or is this just punishment?

Your face fell into a deep pained frown.

Loki was your fiancé.

Your Loki that withered away because of the TVA.

Your marriage with him had pended for a long while for various reasons. You can't say royal courts have no squabbles at all because that would be unreal. And as a daughter in court, you've learned your fair share of duty that comes with it. But when you say royal court, that mainly involves the royal family.

And Loki's folks doesn't have the simplest of all families, but contrary to that.

It didn't bother you both much for your betrothal was never stemmed from your hearts. It was only a matter of arrangement on the All-father's part. He only asked of you to perform a duty for the realm and for Loki to be the second prince that he is.

Or so you thought.

Though, people know it themselves of each and everyone's reputation in the royal palace, they see Loki as an outcast among them but that didn't deter you to form a some sort of....acquaintanceship with him.

And there's no possible in Hel you would admit to yourself that he didn't became dear to you.

It has come far more than that.

Which then spelt your doom.

Luckily, no more time-slipping for you.

At least in the last few hour or so. It seems like the Time stone proved you well of it's abilities—for the most part.

You just don't want to assume.

As you busied yourself conjuring a dozen projection of tiny floating petals by your palm, dancing along the illusion of a wind, a few heavy steps interrupt you. You crane your neck to see the three men that entered the area, standing just right behind your cell barrier. You see Doctor Strange, Bruce and Tony.

You lightly frown.

They look like they have so much to say. Am I in trouble?

Bruce opens his mouth to speak but Tony butts in. "Hey, congrats, you're free." he then smiles at you and slides it down quickly to an unamused look. "Mister wizard here says you're worth the shot to help, though I disagree since, well- everything you we're saying sounded like a lot of bullshit-"

"Tony, hey." Bruce cuts in, giving him a disappointed sigh. "We talked about this."

You raised a brow. 'you we're saying'?

"I know, I know." he surprisingly says as he waved his hand off to Bruce to let him talk. "Let me finish this. Like I said—bullshit. But," he paused for awhile, eyeing you in seriousness. You don't miss the hesitation lingering in his expression. "the dangers you claim sounds a lot of a big deal than whatever we've known so far and I don't take lightly in trusting some....Time Pasta from out of nowhere. But it seems like you've got admirers in the team and they outnumber me. Which is dumb by the way."

You see Strange roll his eyes beside him. Though, you somewhat feel relieved to hear that the majority of the Avengers favor you well enough to help. You don't really mind the small distrust for now but at least—like Strange apparently said—you're worth the shot to help.

"So you're..." Tony continues as he taps a few times on his...bracelet? And then looks up to you with a swipe of his finger towards your barrier. In less than a second, it completely dissipates in little pixels, the whole wall gone right before you. "a free woman. And yes, don't try anything fishy or....'you have the whole Avengers' team for an enemy.'"

"Okay, that's it." Strange gives Tony a stern look.

But Tony stays his eyes on you. "You're lucky Bleecker Street Magician vouched for you."

"Hold on." you halt them, frown deepening. "You we're watching our interrogation?"

Strange turns to you. "Trust me, they insisted."

"You could've at least told me." you retorted. You we're quite upset but you guess it's better they see the whole clear picture of your story rather than just planting suspicions on your motives and existence.

The sorcerer gives you an apologetic look.

"Oh, how can we not pry? You we're the suspicious one who came out of literal nowhere." Tony gives you a satire grin.

Fair point. At this point, would it be bad if they knew? Probably. You don't learn these things in your daily life even if you're a superhuman who can do magic or a genius in an iron clad suit. But then, they seem to be taking it quite well.

You think.

You exasperatedly sigh "Fine. I get it."

"Good." he replies then eyes you intently while he pulls something out of his blazer. You wait to see what it is and you see a tiny speck of something red between his fingers as he stretches it out to you. "Gummy bear?" you stilled and only eyed it suspiciously but you quirk up an amused brow. "No? Yeah, well, have it your way." and he eats it himself.

Of course he offers snacks whenever you least expect it. your mind speaks. A feature of every Tony Stark, I suppose.

Maybe it's also a good sign he's offering you so.

You glance amongst them for a few seconds before you can step out and down from your acquainted cell that you will never miss. Any left cautiousness you saw from them when you first appeared have leveled down just a bit. That heightens you down to an ease. You want them to know that you can be truly trusted so you walk patiently as you observed them.

Now that you've crossed out, Strange speaks up. "How's your time-slipping? I doubt people wouldn't get scared of you if every passing second your body's ripping apart."

"Yeah that," Bruce joins in with a concerning glance. "it really- it looks horrible. You're like...a walking horror movie."

You don't know if you should be offended or be guilty to have made people feel that way but you blink away. Whatever a 'horror movie' is. You just let out an 'Oh' as you turn to answer Strange's question. "But yes, I think it's working."

The said man sags his shoulders down in relief. "That settles that for now then. In the meantime, I need to go back." Strange turns around and opens a portal to somewhere you can't quite recognize.

"Where are you going?" you crease your brows at his leaving figure. "What about our deal and plan?"

He stops and looks back to you, exhaling. "We can start tomorrow. Surely, you've had a very long day."

You softened your gaze. He's right. Was it even day or night? You've been everywhere and moving from place to place before you came. Then, questions thrown for you to answer. Maybe a rest should do you good.

Strange sees your ease and receives the message, giving you a single comforting nod. He then finally enters the portal as it closes to a speck of dot.

You're glad that he's warming up to you even if just a bit.

You're now left with the two genius scientists with Tony picking up the lead to say something. "And that's also my queue to leave." he looks at you. "Also, Bruce is right. You're not just a walking 'horror movie'—you're a walking 'Horror Time Pasta Movie' so you won't be going anywhere without supervision. Who knows what else is happening to you."

You have no idea what you're hearing. But you make it a point to tell him that you have a name.

"Yeah, you-who-whatsoever. You're still Time Pasta for me." he says with a fake smile then turns around to head for the door. "Remember, you're being watched around here!"

You don't doubt you are. A 'free woman' he says. Now my whole prison is just the entirety of this building.

You could always magic your way out but where would you go? And it isn't worth the risk when their trust relies on that terrible decision. You just need to find a way back to the time organization that you realize you've been quite obsessing over now.

You shrug it off. You need to lay down and rest.

That's also when Bruce speaks up. "Don't mind Tony. He's always like that and he still has a good heart." your eyes snap to him as he walks towards the door. He gestures for you to follow as you complied. There's a hesitation in his tone as he continued. "I did hear that you we're allies with us in your timeline, so you probably know how he is. Unless, maybe, he's more of a jerk there..." he turns to you with an apologetic look.

You chuckled. "Well, nothing's particularly changed I supposed. We're usually more on good terms." you eyed him kindly.

He huffed. "Wait, really?" you nodded.

He started to ask questions about multiverses. He gets so expressive with his reactions when he hears something so different and unexpected. But he also mentions a bit about Thor and Loki.

"Thor warmed up to you so easily." he says. "I mean, he could be biased because you're one of his people but I guess that works well for you. He really tried talking it out to them on your behalf."

Your heart softens at that. And you don't know what to think. There's that lightheartedness washing through you and you miss the feeling.

He then continues. "Even Loki acted different."

You dart up to him. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, like," he starts. "he's actually willing to side with you—which he doesn't usually does with anyone. Especially when you just came here this morning."

Oh, you echo in your head. it's only been that long?

But you go back to his words. "Loki is?"

"Yeah," he looks to you. "you're close with him? With his- what do you call it again? Va- Variant?"

You inhale. "Variant, yes. But no, you call them Variants if-" you pause, not wanting to ramble more about the TVA and anything about it. You've said enough relating to that topic and you don't think you can handle more mentions of its complexity.

Seriously, it's tiring.

"Nevermind." you defeatedly sigh as you gave him an apologetic look. "Yes, I know...Loki."

He seems to notice your tiredness and hesitation. You try your best to bring up a smile but it just became strained.

If Bruce ever saw your sadness, he didn't mention it.

You skim back to what he said about Loki. You can't deny that it's odd that he would side with you in this circumstances considering that your interactions so far where not quite good. But at the same time, it gives you a sense of warmth to know that he would.

Though, you don't want to delude yourself further if this escalates differently.

As you tagged behind him, which soon changed with you walking side by side, you take a moment to survey the halls you we're passing by. It was increasingly different than you expected. But as you walked further, the scene shifts to a few turns, then stairs as you go up and finally catch sight of the glass paned walls that lets you see the vast fields outside of the compound. Though, only a few specks of lights we're radiating the field so you don't see much because it is night time.

You hear the faint voices and steps of Tony right ahead but you don't see him. It gets closer and closer as the echo surrounds the place as you lastly hear cusses like 'shit' or 'dammit' that slowly fades away into silence.

It seems like he already left.

You realized you actually don't know where Bruce is leading you, so you ask. "Where are we going exactly?"

"Oh yeah, my bad." he replies apologetically. "Tony wanted me to show you to your room. And don't worry, this time it isn't a prison."

You somewhat light up at that.

You then stare at Bruce whose slightly ahead of you now. You think that maybe you should thank him for...well, almost and kind of, for siding with you during the previous arguments. He's always been such a kindhearted soul to everyone including you, and you guess he always will be.

"Thank you," you suddenly say. He shifts his attention to you in wonder. "for putting up with me."

His brows lift up and he softly smiles. "Don't mention it."

After you had bid your farewells with Bruce and with you being able to settle in your new room, you take everything in.

He was right. Not a prison.

Everything looks normal and comfortable but also too sophisticated than you preferred. But nonetheless, you'll do away with it because you can't afford to be fussy over little things.

The bed was made up with white blankets and pillows. A few Midgardian necessities on a vanity just across the bed. Then a door that probably leads to the bathing quarters along with a massive wardrobe that you will unlikely need and a seating area just right where you entered. It's fairly big but it honestly cannot contend compared to Asgard's chambers.

"Then again," you mutter to yourself. "this isn't a royal palace."

As you surveyed more for awhile, your sight catches the wide windows that behold the scene outside. This time, you see everything clearly as the moon rays illuminates the night and you stand there for a moment basking in the serene view.

It's calm, you thought. yet there's a storm coming.

You just revel for awhile in the moment as your previous tiredness sinks in. You've ran enough. It's time for you to settle, even just this once.

But before you could turn around to head in bed, you hear someone mutter your name with frantic breaths just a few feet from behind. And as you panicked to hear someone else in your room, you look back to see...nothing.

No one.

Have I gone mad? you frantically think.

But you heard it clear as day.

You heard Loki call for you.

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