Going to see more open houses today. They aren't as fun or weird or exciting as the hometown midcentury... These are more your standard 80s suburban sprawl, but there's some promise in the older neighborhoods with lots of trees and quirky home businesses nearby.

I do feel like I'm being pushed to make this big move before baby arrives. I just have this feeling that a window is closing with regards to my dad's health, and I want to get him under my roof ASAP so I can make sure he doesn't get worse. We want lots of grandpa around. I may in fact be mothering two humans by the end of the year.

I mean, not literally. But. My nesting hormones think this way.

Colony of Gotham (1/7)

Special thanks to @starlightandsunshine​ for helping me with this <3

The Colony of Gotham is an urban legend that is whispered about in the dangerous city. It's said the Colony is a family of demons and spirits that stalk the night, hunting for the souls of the guilty.

When Bruce became Batman, he'd never intended to be mistaken for a demon. He was happy to lean into it, though, and as he gained his partners -- as his family grew -- they all followed suit.

Next Part

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Bruce Wayne was born a vampire, one from the long-standing Kane family of vampires through his mother. This nature granted him a few abilities. He was more durable than a human and could heal faster. He was stronger and faster than a human and had better sight and hearing, though not to anywhere near the degree that some metas boasted. He could take on the form of an animal and could influence bats, corvids, canines, and felines to a certain extent. Finally, he would stop aging once he reached his thirties, a trait of those who were born or turned young instead of those like Alfred who were turned at an older age and therefore would always be that age.

However, when he set off on his path to becoming Batman, he swore to himself that he would not rely on any of this to fight the criminals that plagued Gotham. He would not be like those heroes past who relied on their powers, then were left defenseless when those abilities faltered or were ripped away. After all, only a vampire’s healing and longevity remained during the day and some spells and devices could similarly strip his nature away.

Batman stuck to his wits, tech, and martial arts training.

Even still, the criminals of Gotham could tell something was off about the Bat. Rumors flew about a demon haunting Gotham’s night, which Bruce leaned into. He hadn’t chosen a bat just because of the family significance. He wanted to strike fear. As such, he stuck to the shadows and allowed his fangs to bare. He used makeup to make himself appear paler and contortionist tricks to make his movements uncanny. He allowed Batman to become an urban legend that sent shivers down the spines of Gotham’s infamous.

When Barbara Gordon became Batgirl, she quickly realized his tricks were just that and leaned into them as well. She became a ghost following in the Bat’s footsteps. She disappeared into a mist made from special smoke pellets and spun across the ground and air in a weightless way that came from years of ballet and gymnastics training. She wore shadows like Batman’s, but violet and gold peeked through the darkness to make her stand apart.

Bruce initially didn’t want her in the field, but she eventually proved herself both competent and stubborn. In a bid to help protect her, he outfitted her with proper gear and let her in on the secret of his nature. She considered it, then a week later she asked him to turn her so she could always watch his back.

Then Dick Grayson was taken in by the billionaire and became the Bloody Robin. They called him a demon child, the son of the Bat who flew on bird’s wings. His cheerful laughs and giggles echoed and hissed eerily thanks to a voice filter. His clothes were bright colors, but were covered by the wing-like shadows that wrapped over his shoulders. Fake blood dripped from his hair and eyes and coated the tips of his gloves and cape. He chirped like a bird as he flipped and flew through the air. His mask made his eyes glow white and his body almost appeared boneless when he moved around on the ground thanks to the contortionist who’d babysat him at the circus.

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

The three heard the tales when teams of heroes began to form, but they didn’t reach out. Gotham’s Colony was a myth, an urban legend. Those outside of Gotham had never heard of them and those within only spoke in whispers.

That was how the Colony preferred it.

Besides, the rest of the world wasn’t as dark as Gotham.

Their tricks and games worked fine in the shadow-filled gothic architecture that made up Gotham, the near-perpetual overcast days, and the deep darkness of Gotham’s nights, but cities like Jump, Metropolis, or Central were far brighter. They could do without, they’d proven that plenty of times against the bigger villains that were either too crazy or brave to fear the Bat, but why should they? The tricks and games had become a part of them over the years and discarding a piece of themselves just so they could work outside of Gotham with strangers felt wrong.

So the Colony stuck to their own.

On the job, at least.

Dick met Wally West at a two-week-long Jr. Forensics Summer Camp when they were eleven and thirteen respectively. Bruce had sent him to brush up on his skills while Wally’s mentor, Barry Allen, thought it would be good training. Neither boy knew about each other's secret lives, but became close friends all the same and kept in contact when they returned home. Dick didn’t reveal it to Wally when he discovered the other boy was Kid Flash, but kept a close eye on Central City just in case.

A similar situation happened two years later when the Colony discovered Green Arrow’s latest protégé, a girl named Artemis Crock, lived in Gotham and had been helped into Gotham Academy by the other billionaire. Dick decided to keep an eye on her, but his pseudo-stalking quickly turned into a genuine friendship.

He may have taken a bit too much joy in introducing Wally and Artemis to one another. Wally got back at him a few years later by introducing him to the model Kory Anders, the secret identity of his celebrity crush Starfire. Dick had to admit to having a crush on Kory as well to explain his nerves.

It turned out to be a net gain in the end, though, since he came out of it with her phone number.

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

As time passed, Dick started to get too old to be the demon child. He decided to create a new story for himself. One that would let him step out from under the shadow of the bat, using a name from an alien myth in Bruce’s files that he’d loved reading growing up. He and Bruce argued, and Dick spent some time sleeping on Barbara’s couch, but with nowhere to run they were forced to come to a compromise. There was still tension, but it was smoothed over with time and a bite.

Nightwing was a nocturnal bird that had taken human shape after being taken in by Batgirl’s elegance. It chased after and raced the ghost, nothing but shadows and a blue streak flying through the air. Those who got close enough to see his face would say that his skin was like porcelain while black wings covered his eyes completely and his lips were painted with darkness.

Nightwing wasn’t the only change to the Colony, though, because as Dick was finishing up his designs for the story, a little boy was stealing the tires off the Batmobile.

Dick was furious when the kid climbed out of the car into the cave, thinking Bruce had brought the kid in as a new Robin without even consulting him, but anger’s quickly replaced by confusion.

Because Batman wasn’t with the kid.

Jason Todd had gotten grabbed by the Bat after having already nicked three tires off the batmobile. Batman caught him before he could run then replaced the tires. He’d made a mistake in leaving the boy in the car when he went to call for someone to pick him up, however. Jason, who some might generously call impulsive, proceeded to use the opportunity presented to him to hotwire the vehicle and take it for a joyride that ended when he accidentally had the autopilot bring him to the cave. 

Dick was immediately taken with the small spitfire’s story, as well as his stubbornness and intellect. Meanwhile, Jason was amused by the fact that Gotham’s demon was, in his eyes, nothing more than a spectacular conman and wanted in. They teamed up to force Bruce to adopt the younger boy through underhanded -- and perhaps slightly illegal -- tactics.

As Dick started using his new story more and Robin less, Jason got his own turn under Batman’s cape.

People started to say Robin was more vicious. He’d climb walls, the claws on his feet and hands easily cutting into brick and metal. He’d give a fang-filled smirk as he hung from the ceiling like he’d forgotten he was a bird instead of a bat, only to drop down on unsuspecting shoulders. If he wasn’t clawing at opponents, he was beating them with his fists.

As one of his first acts as Robin, Jason saved a young boy who had been kidnapped for ransom. The kid had acted out of it during the rescue, but Jason put it down to trauma. He’d had no reason to realize the young detective-to-be had noticed the edge of Jason’s fake fangs through the shadows and fake blood. No one could have predicted the rabbit hole young Tim Drake had just fallen down nor that it would lead him to massive discoveries in the near future.

When Jason discovered Catherine Todd wasn’t his birth mother, he considered going alone to look for the mystery woman who’d given birth to him. He and Bruce had just had a fight about his temper that had left him benched and he wanted to prove himself, but something Dick had told him months before echoed in his mind.

“No matter how much we argue, we’re always going to be there for each other. Us birds and bats, we’re a family. We have to stick together.”

In the end, he asked Dick and Barbara for help. It was something he was thankful for when his mother sold him out to the Joker. At least he could hold out against the torment with the knowledge his true family would soon come for him.

When Batgirl and Nightwing arrived, Joker fled. Barbara got Jason out while Dick, after seeing the state of his brother, tracked down the clown. Bruce got to him just in time to stop him from beating Joker to death, but when he saw Jason’s condition he couldn’t bring himself to scold his elder son for his loss of control.

Jason was barely hanging on and Bruce, knowing there was no other choice, turned him.

The boy lived, but his injuries were too severe and he fell into a coma.

Three weeks later, Bruce and Dick came into Bruce’s study to find Tim Drake waiting for them. Both were a little more focused on “My parents are never home” than “so I’m in a perfect position to cover for Jason as Robin while he’s sleeping,” to Tim’s confusion, but he ended up in the suit all the same.

The whispers that had come after Joker’s latest incarceration had him crowing about clipping bird wings tapered off as Robin sightings flared up throughout the city. People saw him flying next to the Bat and they heard him tap-tap-tapping his claws. He tapped them against the walls as he hunted through warehouses and against the floors as he crouched in front of technology that seemed to unlock under his gaze thanks to the computer that’d been built into his gloves, the interface of which could only be seen through the lenses in the Colony’s masks and cowls.

Tim didn’t really know how to feel about being adopted by Bruce, aside from the guilt he knew was mixed in there somewhere. It felt wrong to be slipping into the family like that while Jason was right there and Dick had to talk him down when the anxiety attack eventually hit.

Tim was Tim. He wasn’t Jason and they didn’t want him to be Jason.

Dick understood though. He explained how Dick and Jason had both had similar feelings regarding Barbara and Dick respectively, though Dick could admit he’d gotten off easier all things considered. He told Tim that the Colony was a family, and adoption or not, Tim was a part of that now. Jason wasn’t going anywhere and neither was Tim.

When Jason woke, Dick had a similar conversation with him after Jay saw a news broadcast about Tim while waiting for the others to arrive. It soothed him some, and Tim soothed him more when he assured Jason he wasn’t taking Robin from him.

“There can’t be two Robins.”

“Why can’t there?”

As Jason went through physical training to get back in shape, the two worked together to develop a strategy for acting as Robin together. One part of this was Trillic.

Tim, with help from Dick and Jason, invented a secret language made up of chirps, whistles, and clicks. It started as a way for the Robins to communicate with each other without giving away there was more than one, but over time the rest of the Colony picked it up and the vocabulary expanded until it became the family’s own personal language that they’d use whenever they didn’t feel like using words.

A few days after Jason was released from the hospital, Dick found Jason down in the cave and grew worried his little brother was pushing himself too soon after his accident. Then he saw the young woman on the screen. She looked a year or two older than Jason with long red hair, olive skin, and bright green eyes.

They’d met in Ethiopia, Jason told him, while saving a woman from some men. Jason had wanted to try to track her down now that he was awake. He’d succeeded, but it turned out she was an Amazonian hero.

Combined with the fact her name was Artemis, Dick couldn’t help but laugh and make a joke about Jason following in his footsteps. Jason smacked him and told him she was really more of an anti-hero so it wasn’t the same as Dick making friends with Kid Flash and Tigress, but Dick ignored him.

Jason did end up contacting her, and even got her to take a visit to Gotham. Dick took the opportunity to introduce her to Wally and his own Artemis, who Wally began to refer to as Stripes to not get confused. When questioned, he claimed it was because of some outfit of hers that stuck in his mind. Dick and Jason, knowing it was actually based on her identity as Tigress, nodded along and picked up using the name, to her annoyance.

Surprisingly, the two women didn’t get along despite their similar attitudes. This led to them taking great offense whenever people couldn’t tell which Artemis was being talked about, something only Jason, Dick, and Alfred never managed to do.

While the teens were laughing over this, whispers were going around about how the Bloody Robin seemed to be everywhere. If you fled from a room you knew he was in, you’d find him standing right in front of you in the new room. There was no escape. And he trilled more than ever, though his voice almost seemed to echo back at him as if he was having a conversation.

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

Not long after the Justice League had formed, Barbara had hacked into their security system and planted a little bug she named Mockingbird. It was designed to alert her whenever someone mentioned the Colony’s civilian or vigilante identities and copy any footage during the time. More often than not all it gave her was Wally and Bow-Artemis (as most of the family thought of her, to contrast with Axe-Artemis) discussing Dick. Every so often though, there’d be someone pining after Dick or Bruce, which could be good for a laugh depending on who it was.

On a day not long after the Robins had been set loose together, Mockingbird gave her something that was sort of new, yet at the same time not.

The video started with Wally discussing some prank he and Dick had pulled on Bruce and slowly devolved into him just bragging about how awesome Dick was. Suddenly he froze, staring off into the air.

Artemis took one look at him and asked, “Did you finally realize you’ve got a crush on your best friend?”

He immediately went to reassure his girlfriend, but she said got it and even shared his feelings.

Barbara settled in to watch the show.

Unfortunately, it took longer than she’d anticipated for Dick to catch on that the two actually wanted to date him and not just spend more time with him. He was usually pretty good at picking up on people’s feelings, yet Artemis ended up having to pull him into her lap during a movie night and kiss him flat on the lips before it sunk in.

When Barbara approached him about it, he pouted over her spying. Then he admitted that he’d known for years they all had feelings for each other, he just hadn’t wanted to risk getting in the middle of the two’s relationship since they seemed so happy together. When he’d realized how they’d started flirting with him, he’d been worried they were just after a quick thing and he couldn’t do that to himself. So he’d put on his media mask of naive ditz Dickie who wouldn’t recognize flirting if it hit him in the face.

Thankfully the two had reassured him and after talking it through, the three settled happily into their throuple.

To congratulate his brother, Jason gave him a solid week before making jokes about Dick following in Bruce’s footsteps by dating someone with a feline-themed suit.

The next hurdle was deciding how to deal with the media. Dick was Richard “Dickie” Grayson, eldest son of Bruce Wayne. The media loved to go on about him. Pretty much every second of his relationship with Kory had been recorded by the press. Neither of them had minded. He was still a performer at heart, always would be, and she was a warrior princess who had been in the spotlight all her life.

But Dick knew Wally and Artemis weren’t Kory so he talked to them about how they wanted to handle things.

In the end, they agreed only friends and family would know about Artemis, but Wally and Dick would go public. They all had practice keeping much bigger secrets so it wasn’t hard on Artemis to hide their relationship. Meanwhile, Wally didn’t mind playing around for the cameras. Plus, he knew how people treated Dick when they thought he was single and a small possessive part of him didn’t want them trying anything, even if he knew Dick would never cheat.

Things didn’t actually turn out too bad. Of course, there were always the conservatives that came around when Dick got a boyfriend, but they never stuck around long. Bruce had made his support of Dick’s sexuality very clear from the beginning and no one wanted to risk really ticking someone as rich and connected as him off by attacking his son like that.

The real problem came when their agreement to tell their families accidentally didn’t reach everyone.

Dick had been alone at the manor when it happened.

Bruce had gone on a weekend business trip, bringing Tim with him. Alfred was on a trip to England. Jason had taken the opportunity to spend the weekend hopefully not blowing things up with Artemis Grace, who had ended up getting a small flat in Gotham to act as her home base so she could visit with Jason and Dick during the rare occasions she wasn’t running across the world causing trouble with the Outlaws. Dick had been planning to spend the weekend with his partners at Stripe’s apartment, but they’d both been caught up by something (Dick assumed a mission had unexpectedly run long) so he had the night to himself.

He was watching a movie in the theater room when he felt a shift in the air. He immediately dropped to the floor, barely avoiding the sai that had been coming for his throat. Then he was over the back of the couch and engaging the assassin. He quickly realized she was with the League of Assassins as he recognized moves Bruce had picked up from them. She was good, too, but she had clearly come to the fight unprepared to face a Gotham myth. He didn’t take too many hits before pinning her and binding her hands and feet with the obijime from her dress. He then disarmed her of all her hidden weapons just in case.

When he questioned her, she declared that she was Artemis’s sister and had come to avenge her honor after Wally had betrayed her for Dick. She was not going to sit back and let the fool cheat on or dump her sister for the likes of a man she had believed was nothing more than an airheaded socialite.

Then, with narrowed eyes, she added that she had clearly been mistaken as not many airheaded socialites had been trained by assassins. Nor did they use moves only known by those trained by Ra’s al Ghul.

Dick ignored that and explained the trio’s situation as he untied her, having recognized her as Cheshire aka Jade Nguyen aka his girlfriend’s -- apparently protective -- assassin sister.

He took pride in the fact that he was dating someone who was only related to criminals instead of actually dating a criminal, unlike a certain father of his.

She thankfully believed him, though she did warn that should he be lying or should he hurt Artemis, she wouldn’t underestimate him a second time. She made a few more thinly veiled digs at his assassin-based fighting style as he showed her out that he cleanly sidestepped with comments about self-defense training. They both knew she didn’t believe a word of it, but she left it alone as she slipped away into the night.

So long as her sister remained unharmed, she had no desire to get involved in whatever was going on between the Wayne’s and al Ghul’s.

Before she left Gotham, though, she met Artemis and Wally on their way in and informed her sister that she approved of her new boyfriend. Both to be sure Dick was telling the truth and to mess with the speedster. The two predictably freaked out and she used their panic to slip away.

Dick answered Artemis’s call with, “Oh hey, Stripes! Your sister came by earlier to give me the shovel talk over tea. It was pretty gory, but I think the one Jason gave Wally was still probably worse so I’m not going to complain. Are we still on for tomorrow?” to their relief.

Artemis had not wanted to try to explain her assassin sister to her civilian boyfriend.

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

I decided to use Stephanie's Batgirl suit for Babs because most of Babs' suits are either bright or look just like Batman's. Steph will get other suits of hers when she appears.

The Robin suit looks just like Dick's from The Batman (2004), just bloodier.

Nightwing's suit looks like the typical V one, just with the eyes of the mask being blacked out. Also, black lipstick because yes.

Vampires’ animal forms:

Bruce: Gray bat

Alfred: Common raven

Selina: Oriental shorthair cat

Barbara: Little red flying fox

Dick: Black-billed magpie

Jason: Malayan flying fox

Clare Siobhan Villareal Challenge

Do you like Clare Siobhan's sims series?  Do you like the Villareals?  Do you wish you could interact with them in a fun and creative way?  Then this is the challenge for you!

Welcome to the Clare Siobhan Villareal Challenge, a generations challenge for you to involve your own sims in the lives of this fascinating family.  This challenge is the outline for what can become a beautiful story you will create.

Basic Rules: 1) This challenge will be a sims family you create following the Villareals from generation to generation. So your family will be having 4 generations to follow Gen 2 with Max down to Gen 5 with Raven and Cain from Clare Siobhan's series.

2) Money cheats can be used, but not excessively. Suggestion: use freerealestate for your first home, but no cheats afterward.

3) You may live wherever you please unless specified.

4) Every generation must complete and follow the specifics of their challenge.

5) Keep the lifespan on normal.

6) Names, appearances, personality traits, sexes, aspirations and careers can be anything unless specified.

7) You must add the Villareal sims from Clare's gallery @clarecallery.  Make sure to add them throughout the challenge, and with the help of cas.fulleditmode or MCCC set the Villareal family relations correctly.  Add the Villareals at any age unless specified, for example Lilith must be added as maximum a teenager.  

8) Extra sims and side sims are allowed for more story.  If there is a sim that isn’t on the gallery, make them yourself.

9) Make sure sims age-up together with Villareal sims if they are specified to be the same age.

10) If you play this challenge and want to share it, feel free to post with #spicyspicervillarealchallenge and share your experiences!

Generations from Clare's game in the challenge: Gen 1: Max Gen 2: Lilith & Abel Gen 3: Phoenix, Sammy B, Eve & Seth Gen 4: Raven & Cain

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CHALLENGE: Generation 1: Cops and Robbers You and Max Villareal were both mischievous friends from the very beginning.  As childhood friends, naturally you grow onto each other and develop similar traits.  But playing cops and robbers turned out to be more real than you think.  As time goes on, you cannot help but notice the strangeness in the Villareal household...

Rules:

Start as a child together with Max Villareal.

Have "Active" Trait.

Become Max's Best Friend before his mother's death.

Witness the death of Max's mother, without Max being there.

Gain the "Erratic" trait after witnessing death.

Age up into a Y/A and pursue a career as a policeman or detective while Max pursues life in crime.

Fight Max and win.  

Become Max's enemy.

Have at least two children (one for each part of Gen 2).  One must be a daughter.

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Generation 2 Part 1: The Fighter

Your parents are overprotective and want a good life for you and your sibling(s) after seeing how a single unfortunate event can change a person, which they saw in their old friend Max.  They check who your friends are, where you go, what you are doing at all times...  But you won't let them get in the way!  You only live once after all...

Rules:

Only have one friend until teenagehood.

Have a bad relationship with the Gen 1 “Cops and Robbers” parent.

Have "Hot-headed" trait.

As a teenager, go out to party every other night in secret.

Befriend Lilith Villareal and 2 more sims of your choice.

One night bring sister “The Lover” along to a night out.

Must start a fire and help extinguish it.  If Elsa Bjergsen does not die in the fire, she must die another way.

Master "Mischief" skill.

Elope and move out the same day you age-up to Y/A.

Have three children.

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Generation 2 Part 2: The Lover

As a gentler child, you seek your prince charming, the ones you have read so much about in your books.  But with your parents' iron fist and control, you see little chance of that happening soon, unless...

Rules:

Must be female.

Have the "Bookworm" trait.

Complete the "Writer" Aspiration.

As a teenager, go out with “The Fighter” sibling on a forbidden night out (as specified above).  That night, fall in love with Abel Villareal.

Every Weekend and Wednesday, skip school with Abel until Y/A.

Woohoo with him but DO NOT fall pregnant.

Write a book called "The Villareal Curse" based on facts learnt from Lilith and Abel of their family secrets.

Must die young as a Y/A.

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Generation 3 Part 1: The Party

Your parent's free-spirited nature has caught onto you, but even more.  Driven and full of life, you find your passion in fashion and lovers.  You become super close to Phoenix Villareal, going through everything together. Worried and protective over her, you feel the need to always be near her.  You, Phoenix and Nathan become a strong trio until things fall apart.  It becomes a problem when you go your separate ways...

Rules:

Date at least five people.

Date Nathan Street.

Have "Cheerful" trait.

Become Best Friends with Phoenix.

Wear pastel colours in contrast to Phoenix's black clothing.

Master "Party Animal" Aspiration.

Fall into a depression after hearing of Phoenix's death and get a tattoo in remembrance of her.

Enter the Fashion career.

Marry, divorce and re-marry the same person as an elder.

Have kids, name one Phoenix after Phoenix Villareal, your dear friend <3.

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Generation 3 Part 2: The Dreamer

You find life to be too easy... You are a dreamer and want to explore what you can find out there.  With a righteous heart and a big world around you, you begin to see the wonders in it...  Does magic really exist?

Rules:

Have "Childish" trait.

Befriend Sammy B Villareal as toddlers.

Receive the book "The Villareal Curse" from your auntie.  You are fascinated by it and pursue magic.

Fail school as a teenager.

Have a bad relationship with "The Scientist" sibling.

Eventually must become allies with "The Scientist" sibling and fight against Eve Spicer alongside Raven Villareal and the gang.

Witness Scientist sibling's death.

      a) If you have Realm of Magic:           - Become a spellcaster.           - Win a duel against Eve.       b) Base-game:           - Master "Friend of the World" Aspiration.           - Win a fight against Eve.

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Generation 3 Part 3: The Scientist

Amazed by how the world works, you are optimistic and intrigued.  You want to have control and search for a way to grasp life.  You think your sibling is ridiculous for believing in the supernatural and want to prove them wrong.  “Seeing is believing!”  Of course, let's hope you don't go mad in the process...

Rules:

Have "Genius" trait.

Befriend Seth Spicer.

Be an "A" student as a child and teenager.

Master "Scientist" career (Get To Work Pack).

Have a sidekick/friend.

Fall in love with a supernatural being.

Have a child with said supernatural being before death.  While you or partner is pregnant, hide from your family (this child will be the Gen 2 "The Mafia" Child.)

Die "in battle" against Eve as a Y/A (directly by Eve, a minion or a trap.  Be creative!)

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Generation 4: The Mafia

Adopted by your aunt/uncle (The Dreamer), you see the darkness in this world in a way no one understands...  Of course, you are half-half of something mystical!  Who knows?  You didn't!  Because of this, you don't trust anyone, not even yourself.  Instead, you gather all this internal supernatural frustration and gather it in crime...

Rules:

Challenge starts as a Teenager.

Never have a Good Friend.

Join criminal career or start a gang group (Get Together).

Have "Kleptomaniac" Trait.

Steal “The Villareal Curse” book written by "The Lover" great auntie.

Become the Gang leader.

Complete "Public Enemy" Aspiration OR Master "Criminal Career".

Become enemies with your enemy clan's leader, Cain Villareal.

Have one of your cousins get kidnapped by Cain.

Defeat Cain in a fight which will lead to Cain abandoning Earth and leaving to space.

Use your supernatural side to your advantage in your crime tasks.

Fall in love but never marry out of guilt.

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I worked really hard on this challenge but had lots of fun with it!  I am very excited to finally share it with you all of you, let’s see how it goes and what stories you all come up with!  A refreshing and new way to re-live Clare’s amazing sims series.  

I am currently working on other Clare Siobhan based challenges, make sure to check them out when they arrive!  Happy Simming! <3

@spicyxspicer 

You’re going to be okay pt. 2

Summary: Reader and Emily meet as ghosts in a hospital after a case

Pairings: Reader x Emily Prentiss (not pronoun specific)

Prompt: Reader and Emily as ghosts haunting the same place (School, hospital, house, whatever). Reader has been dead for a few years and helps Emily deal. They end up liking each other and maybe have ghost fun all over the place. ;)

Warnings: Cursing | sexual references | death 

Word Count: 3k

Masterlist

Part One

"Mmm, I don't think this is the best idea Em."  You hum while chewing on your thumb, a nasty habit you picked up in Elementary school.

"Come on it'll be fun. Let loose a bit Angel." A nickname Emily gave you, it started as more of a joke but over time it stuck. She hardly ever calls you by your actual name. In reality, you're actually okay with the name, it shows that she feels comfortable around you and you think it's flattering.  Its as if your her savior or something, but not in a cult leader-god complex fashion. You took care of her for months while also teaching her everything and anything you can about the spirit world. Emily is suspiciously good at her job, she takes the kids and elderly, you take everything in between. There's something poetic about being good with both elders and babies, the beginning of life, and the end. You're better with teens because you died younger than Emily did and can relate to the trauma of an early, unfinished death. Adults can usually figure it out on their own but it's nice to have a hand to hold as someone to fill in the blanks.

Emily had never seen someone go into the darkness until a few weeks ago; you always managed to keep her away from it. You were making sure a man who sold laced drugs to teens got to the place he was meant to be. At first, he seemed to have a kind heart so when he confessed his crimes you were shocked, to say the least. He'd mix different over the counters and cheap street knockoffs in order to make more for less. Then he would sell them to the local high school kids but use the money to take care of his mom, grandma, and the local community center. Its an ethical gray area, that's for sure, but I guess you could say he meant well. Luckily none of the teens who bought drugs from him died, but that doesn't excuse what he did. During this whole fiasco, Emily was supposed to be taking an older woman to the garden before her transitioning; unknowingly to you she was around the corner listening in. When you were taking him you didn't notice her until he was gone. There was more curiosity on her face than fear so you tried to give her the bare minimum amount of information. The Agent was damn stubborn, she'd never let you off the hook with something unless you gave her information in exchange. Your arrangement was beneficial to both of you, in a way you liked teasing Emily and she liked pulling the information out of you. It reminded her of her work in the FBI. It also kept you from having to tell her everything you knew and kept things interesting between you two. 

"No Emily." You tell her, you hate saying 'no' to her because she looks absolutely adorable when she fakes a pout. 

"Emily Prentiss does not pout." Even while saying that she looks like she's pouting. She defends herself after being told 'no' when she asked you to teach her Thermokinesis. (To control the temperature of the physical world.) Gotta love her.

Though eventually, you did teach her, that is beside the point. Wait no let's go back to that, why didn't anyone warn me about how convincing this woman can be? She can talk me into almost anything and I'd comply happily. If she wasn't so drop-dead gorgeous maybe I could resist her. I bet unsubs were scared shitless of her. Your thoughts are interrupted by a nudge at your side. Oh not this again... "Emily I swear to-" you can't even get the words out through her incessant tickling. "Stop!" you laugh loudly while she continues her ministrations. "Okay- Em- okay we can do it!" She lets you go but you both continue laughing. "Only if you promise not to get carried away."

She puts her hand on her heart and says sincerely, "I promise." Then her seriousness switches back to playfulness. "Now come on," she grabs your hand and starts dragging you to roof. "I understand your reasoning behind not letting me do this very often but I wanted to show you what I've taught myself."

When you get to the roof there’s an empty space with X’s on the everywhere made out of pens and pencils. “I like what you’ve done with the place.”

“As you may know, I’m not very good at Object Manipulation. Yet!” She stands between a blue pen and a red one while you sit on a random electrical box. You immediately jump up when you feel a jilt underneath. Gotta stop sitting near that stuff. I’m the person who helps the dead, not the one that kills them. Emily used to make the mistake of getting too close to patient monitors, making them flat line or speed up. It freaked the new nurses out but they checked on the patients and chopped it up to being outdated. When a ghost is present, nearby electronics tend to act up. I guess Emily didn’t get the memo in Ghost School. To be fair I am not the most qualified teacher. “Are you okay?” she goes to check on you but you wave her off.

“I’m fine, just uncomfortable,” you say while rubbing her backside.

“Come here,” she beacons “I can make it feel better.” Her devious smile comes out to play, easily drawing you towards her. She wraps her arms around your waist and pulls you flush against her. Her hands slowly trail down your back but before they can reach your ass she’s gone. The warmth and tingly feeling is gone. “Miss me already?” you whip around to see her standing on one of the Exes. Her smile is cocky as hell to say the least.“That was impressive, I’ll admit.” you stride to her but she teleports again. “Oh come on Angel, you walked right into that one.” She says from above you. Now she’s standing on top of the entrance, a level above where you’re standing.

“Very amusing Agent,” You flash right in front of her, startling her in the process. You quickly wrap an arm around her so she doesn’t fall. “But I can do better.” She stares into your eyes like she wants to say something.

“Prove it.” She challenges. You lean down to barely graze her lips, before you meet in the middle you flash behind her; gripping her hips possessively.

You lean into her ear, “Who do you answer to?” A light shiver runs down her spine.

She turns around so she can peer into your eyes. She trails an index finger across your bottom lip. “I belong to no one.”

“Not even me?” you ask with a punctuating grip to her hip.

“No.” she whispers while inching closer to your lips. “Not even you, Angel.” You’re so close it feels like you’re breathing in the same air with no regard to anything around you. “Would you like to kiss me?”

You take her to the library, its small but there’s hardly anyone here so it’ll do. When you arrive you have Emily bent over a table with her ass flushed to your front. “I want to see you writhe underneath me.” You pure into her ear.

She flashes so quickly you couldn’t stop her. Now you’re the one bent over a fucking table. “You first.” she growls while pinning your hip down. She leans in so close to your ear you can feel her cool breath. 

 “What are you going to do, Agent?” Calling her by the title has always been a tease, its amazing that in all the time she’s been here you’ve never...you know.

“Whatever I want with you.” You roll your hips back on to her and feel her knead your ass in return. “If I had a strap I’d fuck you with it.” She growls in your ear; her animalistic tone is the biggest turn on. Just the sound of her voice alone makes you squirm underneath her.

But of course you can’t let her win that easily so you focus your energy on the top of the bookshelf. “You can’t always get what you want, Agent.” You’re sitting on top of the wood shelf with your legs crossed; as regal as you were when you were alive. Emily looks baffled but entertained by the empty space in front of her. “Enough of your teasing, we have things to do.” You say as you hop down from the shelf and begin to walk out. You turn to see that she’s not following you so you call out to her. “Come along Prentiss.”

There was once a time where you would call her ‘Princess’ instead of Prentiss because of the way she’d demand to know everything and anything like she was royalty. Her attitude came off as a bit standoffish and bitchy in the beginning but that was just you being territorial. As you both settled into your routine and got to know each other you realized she’s a very closed off person and wouldn’t talk about her life from before. She’s uber smart and remains professional yet empathetic with all of the ghosts she encounters. She’s such a calm person that it shocked you by how upset the nickname made her. She didn’t flat out yell at you but it was evident that it upset her so you reasonably left the situation alone. She felt bad so she explained that one of her teammates used to call her that, she later let it slip that the guy was her partner. You obviously felt bad so now you just call her- “Agent!” You look over your shoulder to see Emily dragging her feet. “Get a move on, we don’t have time!”

“Ghosts always have time.” She mumbles while speeding up. “Can’t we just, I don’t know? Flash there?”

“No.” You slow down to let her catch up. “You need to learn to walk before you run and I don’t need you accidentally flashin’ into the nurse’s lockerooms again.”

She rolls her eyes. “That was one time.”

“And the time you ended up in the kitchen. You need to walk around and see the place for yourself before you keep ‘flashin’ between different places.”

“Right,” she mumbles “Hey where are we going anyway?”

“To meet someone.” You casually say but notice she’s stopped, promptly.

“To meet someone?” she repeats, a little shocked. “Meet who?”  

“Nope,” you pull her by the arm “No stopping, we’re crunched for time.” Before she can stop again or argue, you link your arms.”This is not the time to pout or second doubt me, Emily.”

She scuffs, “I do not pout.”

“Okay, fine, you don’t pout in the traditional children sense. Happy?”

“No. Not until I know where we’re going or who we’re meeting.” She stops again, reeling you back in the process.

You turn to her and say, “A friend.”

“Is this one of your angelic friends?” She asks as you practically drag her along.

“Angelic frie- Never mind we’re here.” You have her standing in the back of the ICU, the quietest of all the wings. “I only know like two, three angels tops.”

She laughs a little at that, “Angel...” she trails “Who is that?”

You turn to where she’s looking and see a beautiful darkened figure with their back to you. “Mazikeen!” You shout with excitement me when she turns around. You run to her and she automatically catches you. Hey sharp fanged smile is just as stunning as the last time you saw it.

“How’s my favorite human?” The brunette asks with her sultry South American accent.

“Good! How’s my favorite demon?” She just smiles even wider at your excitement until her eyes fall on Emily.

“Who’s the hottie?”

“Maze,” You tilt your head in disapproval. “Play nice.” She sets you down and struts over to Emily. Em looks confused yet curious so you don’t interrupt the demon from doing whatever she’s doing. 

“Oh I always play nice with the pretty ones.”

She examines Emily with shear interest, when she moves to touch her hair Emily steps back. “Y/n...is there something you’d care to explain?”

“Emily, meet my friend Mazikeen,”

“But you can call me Maze.” She winks.

“Maze, this is Supervisory Special Agent Emily Prentiss.”

“Is she,” she covers the side of her mouth and points to Em. “Dead?”

You mimic her ridiculous gesture and whisper, “Very.” You walk to them and give your demon another hug. “I missed you, Maze.”

“I missed you too y/n/n. Why didn’t you introduce me to her sooner? We could’ve had a thre-”

“Maze!”

“Right...well, mom says hi and I’m not going to be here very long. I just gotta grab a few people and I’ll be out but of course...” She wraps her arms around your waist, “I wanted to stop by and say hi.”

“Hi,” you whisper. “You know I love you but...” You look over to Em.

“You’ve found another...” She strokes your left cheek with the back of her cold hand. “Its okay, I’m not mad. We both knew I was never made for love.” She takes a glance over her shoulder to an intrigued Emily. “She’s pretty, brave, and smart. You’ve outdone yourself little human.” She makes a full 180 to look at the agent. “Take care of Casper for me.”

“Uhm do I look like a friendly ghost to you?” You gesture down to your perfect silhouette.

Maze grins at that before turning back to Em. “Hurt them and there will be hell to pay.” She snarls but Emily doesn’t faultier.

“I’m not the one that left.” She replies and the demon laughs at that.

“Left?” She looks back to me and bursts into a cackle with her fangs out. “Whatever you say. I have work to do anyway, so do you.” She starts to walk down the hall of the ICU and says, “Goodbye human, you still look as good as ever.” She blows a kiss at you before rounding the corner. You’re stuck in your spot because shit that kind of hurt. 

You feel Emily’s hand on your shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

“Its fine.” You turn to her. “She was never meant for relationships anyway.” At her expressionless face you continue. “Maze is a sex demon, we met a little while after I died. I kept seeing her in the hall but only in flashes. At first I thought she was a Wanderer or something but then I confronted her and she reluctantly told me who she was. We used to have fun  together.” She just nods with an understanding expression and really, her silent facial expression speaks volumes. “Ghosts can’t feel a lot of things but sexual gratification is one of the exceptions.” This is where you shed a tear despite what you just said. Emily pulls you in for one of her gentle, yet meaningful hug. “Emily, I’m so sorry.”

She pulls you back to look into your eyes. “Why? You’ve done nothing wrong.”

“I should’ve told you about her sooner. I wanted you two to meet because I thought you were alike in many ways but I wasn’t expecting the jealous attitude. She’s never been like that before.”

‘Maybe its because she sees us having something she can’t have with you. Is what Emily wants to say but instead she says, “You didn’t have to tell me if you didn’t want to. I know I pressure you into revealing a lot of information to me but if I had know it negatively affects you I would-”

You interrupt her rambling with a soft kiss to her lips. You pull back to see her neutral facial expression. Shit. Sensing your internal panic she quickly explains, “No no I’m not upset, just surprised. That’s all.” There’s that wicked smile. “I always thought I’d be the one making the first move.” She takes a big step forward and captures your lip between her’s. Her hand reaches around the back of your head and pulls you closer so you put your arm around her waist and do the same. It felt different that what you and maze used to have, spiritual perception of emotions isn’t the same and humans but that doesn’t mean you’re as numb as people think. And with Emily, you actually feel something for once. Something true. ‘Alive’ isn’t the proper word for it but it feels close enough. It feels so fucking good to the point where you don’t want to come up for air but ultimately you have to. “Breathe.” She laughs.

You press your forehead to her’s, “Why, when all I need is you?”

She laughs at that, something she didn’t do much of when you first met. “You are unbelievably cliche.”

After this movie like exchange you end up laying in the middle of the Green Yard; Emily on the bottom and you wrapped in her arms. Since you can’t exactly ‘nap’ you just lay there and take in the good feeling Emily’s arms provide you. Whenever Francis is around you’ll have to ask him about this feeling because you know good and well ghosts can’t feel love. Then what the hell do I call this wonderful feeling?

“Y/n?” Em looks up from a book I gave her. Its taken her a while to learn how to hold anything over an ounce.

“Hmm?” You turn your attention to her, she looks as beautiful as always.

“What do ghosts feel?”

“What do you mean, Em?” You take a seat across from her.

“Do we have emotions or feelings?”

“Well, what do you feel?” You ask softly.

“I don’t know?”

“Remember the time I banned you from leaving the inpatient wing?”

“Yeah...it completely sucked.” She huffs.

“And how did that make you feel?” You trail.

“Mildly irritated.” She immediately answers without realizing so you politely stare until it finally dawns on her. Her eyes widen and her mouth opens into an o-shape.

“Exactly.”

You look up at the goddess that’s holding you captive. “Emily?” You call from under her arm.

“Hmm?”

“What are you feeling?” You ask softly.

“What do you mean, Angel?”

“Emotionally I mean.” You explain with an eerie feeling of deja vu.

“Remember the first time I showed you I could transport? I did it without any help and I surprisingly did it correctly.” She jokes.

“Yeah I remember.”

“And how did that make you feel?”

“Happy.” You smile at the cute memory.

“That’s how I’m feeling right now. As happy as you were that day, if not more.”

You twist so you can look at her. “I really like you Emily Prentiss.” You lean up to give her a chaste kiss on her sharp jawline.

“I like you too y/n.” She presses a dominating kiss to your lips that makes yours look like child’s play.

sorry for any typos. I hate proof reading

WIP WEDNESDAY

Yet another one where I try desperately to make friends and tag people that don’t like me to read my work. @solas-disapproves @pikapeppa @scharoux @itsalexistrvlyn

Context: Solas ruminating on his relationship with my Lavellan. I just really love writing internal monologues instead of having my characters actually, you know, interact. (/o_o)/ 

I should also point out that my Lavellan is 24, despite Solas repeatedly referring to her as a child. When you’re 40+, everyone under 25 is a child. “Kids these days”, etc. Plus remember he considers the Dalish to be “children” across the board like an asshole.

Bracketed parts are what I’m personally debating whether to keep, or else contain text that needs to be replaced with a more appropriate equivalent.

------

She kisses with innocence and an earnest desire to please. He quietly damns himself all the while, but his mind cannot help but dredge up the whisper of a memory from long ago, of similarly wide-eyed and precocious young slave girls gifted to him like furniture. In his youth he acted as much of the part of the rakish black sheep that the Evanuris required of him. [The question that still remained unanswered after all this time, however, was whether he became the character in this particularly decadent play, or if such power afforded him to simply allow such tendencies to flourish unrestrained.]

Whatever the case, it had not been an uncommon occurrence for him to offer the comforts of his bed to two, three, four women on any given night. Servants, slaves, merchants' daughters (and wives).. all eager to please, all determined to curry his favor or catch his eye in the hopes that they would receive a blessing, and what ever that implied. They tried to ply him with distractions--music, art, dance; lewd and debauched scenarios to be acted out for his amusement; as the nights wore on and the wine flowed like a river in his veins, he called for them to submit to more embarrassing requests or risk being permanently ousted from his ever-revolving circle of beautiful nymphs.

Even at his most drunk and at the highest peak of ecstasy, he never lost sight of their motives. To them, he was a meal ticket, a refuge from the painful drudgery of everyday living, a shield from yet another night of painful servitude to his more [visceral] colleagues.

He did not begrudge them: Arlathan swallowed up innocence as readily as a debutante would her first cup of red grape wine. Even the youngest and most inexperienced of his partners still possessed an idea of what to expect from him, either from rumors spread among those beyond his abode or through personal demonstration with a captivated audience.

No, no one was innocent, he had long since been taught, but its absence did not necessarily translate to knowledge. And what he instructed those girls was not wisdom as he once proudly thought, but a functioning form of shrewd cynicism. One did not deserve praise for recognizing the follies of a system they continued to benefit from, and hadn't he benefited from their desperate need for acumen? Indeed, it had always been a secret thrill of his to watch the glimmer of recognition sparkle in someone's eyes, the bittersweet understanding that, ultimately, [knowledge] held as many rewards as it did caveats.

[But as he stared down at the fidgeting ingenue beneath him, he found his heart stir alongside his loins. A crude, blasphemous combination was what he originally thought. [[I have no idea what to do here. This sentence throws off the tone of sincere love but what the fuck do I write]]] An unfortunate side effect of being interred in the Fade for countless centuries. To taste precociousness and sincerity on a person’s skin after all this time..

He was surrounded by shades who unknowingly haunted a false world. Its destruction was imminent, he had resolved that to be its ultimate fate, had accepted that his commitment to the lonely path must continue. He would live, in the loosest sense of the word, among these dead souls, but only for a short time. That was what he had told himself, and in his haste, he had extended the time in which he must dwell in this unbearable purgatory and somehow chained himself to a barely-whelped shadow of his People who now wielded a fragment of his power with as much finesse as a young mage with a training wand. 

Still, he would endure. Cordiality where it was required and expected, fleeting pleasure in the spirits he could still approach and the sweet desserts that thankfully never vanished from the imagination, temperance in all else. Another trial, another penance to be paid. 

But a self-inventory summarily revealed] that his heart now thrummed with a quiet music not unlike the layered echoes resounding from a strummed harp. Sentiments built like a scale. He closed his eyes and listened, and to his surprise he discovered it whispered the name of the Inquisitor, and in the next breath  urged him to recall the moments in their involuntary alliance that shook him from hypnotic stoicism.

Pity, pity for this Dalish girl, this innocent who was to have their life drastically torn asunder by yet another one of his mistakes.

Compassion, compassion for an unprepared child to be enlisted in a cause filled with those just as resolute in condemning her as they were in deeming her a necessity. Like a helpless babe tossed to wolves, she did not so much as whimper for fear of reprisal by forces she could barely comprehend.

Uncertainty, uncertainty at how such a skittish, stuttering, nervous da'len would be able to survive the trials set before her. She lacked understanding in the finer points of what moved the hearts of men. Her shyness intensified when in the company of human nobility to the point that her thoughts were rendered unintelligible. She commanded no presence, projected no confidence, [rested no worried hearts ]. When she spoke it was with a habit of editing her own thoughts in a messy and redundant manner.

Fondness, fondness for the way she listened to him like a child engrossed in a yarn regaled by an elder. The questions she asked, the desire to know and understand the foreign, intangible world he had come to call home long before her grandfather's grandfather's grandfather had been born.

Paternity, paternity because she struggled so very hard with her tremendous self-doubt, her [flagging] sense of belonging, her poor intuition in everything but the art of the bow. The others teased her as colleagues were wont to do but they did not see, as he and Cole saw with such painful clarity, that their words were as damaging as a sharpened knife against the bark of a new tree. That her face was in a near-permanent flush not because of the heat or sun damage but [perpetual embarrassment] at the thought that *she was truly a fool made to be mocked and [unloved]*.

But he kisses back. He kisses back and silently wills that these good intentions--Truly, they were good. Truly, he loved her in every sense of the word. Truly, he now cannot imagine a life having never known her--would leave similar indelible fingerprints on her heart as she has done to him.  

When they part, his eyes rove over the glassy sheen of gray eyes holding back nervously-happy tears; the disgusting, artfully-inked crow of Dirthamen marring her full flushed cheeks and child-like upturned nose and soft sweep of her constantly furrowed brow, he is struck by the desire to cherish her for all time. Hold her and kiss her and pour all of his devotion into her ears until she was reduced to a quivering mess. It would be better for her, so his fantasy narrated, because she is too pure for this world as it is, too good.

She was, the rational side of him agreed, but ignorance was not the proper path toward true happiness. Balance, balance and understanding and righteous action were.

let’s have a talk

pairing: showki  genre: angst, cops au, supernatural au, rated m  warnings: possession, ghosts  words: 1600 

summary: Hyunwoo expected this, he just thought Hoseok would come to talk with him earlier is all. Except maybe he didn’t expect Hoseok to say that Kihyun is possessed. That took him completely by surprise.

⇢ day twenty-five of 31 days of halloween 

⇢ part five of eternally 

"Chief, we need to talk."

Hyunwoo looks up to see Hoseok standing hesitantly in the doorway. The elder waves a hand, telling him to close the door and take a seat. Hoseok does so quickly, perching himself on the edge of the chair in front of Hyunwoo's desk. Hyunwoo finishes reading over the case file in his hand and closes it, lacing his fingers together as he studies Hoseok.

"What did you want to talk about?"

Hyunwoo knows what Hoseok is planning to say. If there's anybody on the force who might know Kihyun as well as he does, it'll be Hoseok. And Hoseok is over-observant almost always, so Hyunwoo is surprised it's taken this long for Hoseok to come talk to him about this.

"Well," Hoseok mumbles awkwardly, twisting his fingers together in his lap. "It's about Kihyun."

Hyunwoo nods, waiting for Hoseok to continue.

Hoseok looks sheepish when he finally says, "There's something wrong with him."

Hyunwoo leans back in his chair and sighs, relieved, glad he'd been right. "I thought it was just me."

"You mean, you've noticed?" Hoseok leans forward in his seat, gaping at his boss.

"Of course I have. He lives with me after all and we're, wellーwe're intimate," Hyunwoo shrugs, trying to gloss over the last part. "Of course I'd notice when he starts acting weird."

"Listen, Chief, you don't have to act like I'm a clueless five-year-old. Everyone knows you and Kihyun-ah are fucking. What we don't know is why you haven't confronted Kihyun about his behavior yet," Hoseok says with a scoff, crossing his arms over his chest as he watches a variety of emotions flicker across Hyunwoo's face.

"What do you mean everyone?" Hyunwoo finally manages to ask.

Hoseok rubs his arms, a shiver running down his spine. "Well, it's obvious to everyone on the force that Kihyun is acting strangely. At first, I thought it might be relationship problems between you two but that hasn't been the case at all really. I still remember when Kihyun went missing for two days and you went insane trying to find him. You obviously care a great deal for him and I know that he used to care for you a lot too. So my theory is that this is a doppelganger and the real Kihyun is still missing."

Hyunwoo raises a brow at Hoseok, incredulous of the younger's theory. "A doppelganger?"

"Well, what do you think? The man you've been sleeping with went missing and came back not himself, please enlighten me about what you think happened," Hoseok replies, incredibly irritated.

Hyunwoo blinks, surprised by the outburst. "I...well, I'm not very sure, butーI just...Look, all I know is that he's not my Kihyunnie."

Hoseok lets his arms fall, gripping his knees anxiously as he leans forward and peers up into Hyunwoo's crumpled face. "Chief, I have an aunt who's a medium."

Hyunwoo glances up at the younger, utterly confused about why Hoseok is bringing this up now.

Hoseok continues though, his words a rapid flurry of disbelief. "She never talks to me, says she hates how I don't take spirits seriously and stuff. But she called me yesterday."

Hyunwoo still doesn't know where Hoseok is going with this.

"She was scared. Almost hysterical as if she didn't expect me to answer the phone," Hoseok chews at his nail, obviously distressed. And thenー "Hyung, she told me that a dalgyal gwishin was near me. I didn't think anything of it really, just dismissed it but it came back to me later that she never calls me. I always have to call her."

Hyunwoo nods, not understanding how this is relevant but he can vaguely recall hearing stories about gwishins when he was younger and his grandmother was still alive. If Hyunwoo recalls correctly, she was a medium as well. She helped spirits pass over and cleared houses of dark gwishins. Hyunwoo tries to remember what she might have told him about dalgyal gwishins, but he's only drawing a blank so far.

Hoseok shifts in his seat, peering over his shoulder as he leans even farther forward, his elbows on Hyunwoo's desk now. "I did some research about them and oh god, hyung they're terrible dark spirits. They aren't meant to leave the spirit world, not unless someone has created a rift between spirits and humans that they can slip through, and that's actually more common than you'd think. No one who's seen a dalgyal gwishin has survived, hyung."

"Okay?" Hyunwoo asks, brows still raised, still going through old memories of his grandmother.

"I called my aunt back and asked her about the gwishin," Hoseok murmurs, his voice barely above a whisper. "She didn't want to tell me anything at first, but when I mentioned Kihyun, she started babbling all this nonsense about a ritual and that someone close to me hasn't been acting themselves lately because they aren't. Themselves, I mean.

"Hyung, you're right, the Kihyun here with us isn't your Kihyun," Hoseok whispers.

Hyunwoo sits back in his chair, completely stunned. They stare at one another for some time, neither saying anything as the clock on the wall continues to tick. Hoseok wipes his forehead clear of sweat and looks over his shoulder again, nervous. Hyunwoo blinks and rubs his eyes, stretching his legs out in front of him as he slumps completely into his swivel chair.

"Hoseok-ah, are you implying that my boyfriend has been possessed by an evil spirit and that's why he's acting like more of an asshole than usual?" Hyunwoo quietly asks.

Hoseok drags in a sharp breath, fingers tangled together in his lap. "It's crazy, I know. I like my doppelganger theory better, to be honest, but I can't ignore my aunt. She's been right about a lot of things."

"Like what?" Hyunwoo asks.

Hoseok looks sheepish when he replies, "Well, she was right about you and she was right about Kihyun and I and she was right about me."

"Wow, wait. You've mentioned us to her?" Hyunwoo holds a hand up, still confused about what Hoseok is trying to prove with this.

"Well..." Hoseok hesitates, his body tensing up as he bites his lip and then finally he takes in a large gulp of air and says, "I thought you were a complete asshole when I first started working here and I told my aunt about it, just complaining you know, but she told me to get over it because you'd go on to do great things and you'd need someone trustworthy to have your back and that I was going to be that person and well, she turned out to be right when we were assigned as partners and then you got promoted and now you're Chief of Police."

Hoseok coughs then, peering tentatively up at the elder, relieved to see that Hyunwoo is fighting back laughter. Then Hoseok tenses up again, his fingers twisting in odd ways in his lap.

"And, uh, well, Kihyun and I. Weーwe were never a thing! Believe me, I'd very much have liked to, but my aunt advised me against it. Said our lives weren't meant to be intertwined that way."

Hoseok pauses to scratch his hair, his mouth a thin line as he thinks about his next sentence.

"She always asked me when the two soulmates would finally get together and I didn't realize until now that she meant you and Kihyun. She used to tell me about this grand love story between two cops when I was a kid and that was kind of why I became one in the first place, I wanted a grand story told about me too and then I met Kihyun and I thought, you know, that well, he's the one.

"Except he wasn't. He's your one. My aunt kept asking about you two and I was dumb enough to think it was about Kihyun and I when really, I never stood a chance," Hoseok finishes lamely, waving away the look Hyunwoo gives him. "Oh, don't look at me like I'm a kicked puppy. I got over Kihyun a long time ago and I'm really happy about you two, or at least, I was."

"Hoseok, I never even knew you thought about Kihyun like that," Hyunwoo murmurs. "Why didn't you say anything?"

Hoseok shrugs. "Didn't matter much in the long run, plus I kind of thought you were homophobic when we were first paired up."

Hyunwoo laughs then, the tense atmosphere around them breaking. Hoseok smiles, that wide smile that takes up his entire face and Hyunwoo can't help but lean over his desk and clap his ex-partner on the back.

"As you very well know, I'm not homophobic in the slightest. I think my long string of ex-boyfriends should be proof enough of that," Hyunwoo chortles.

Hoseok nods, his smile reigning itself in. "But about Kihyun..."

And just like that, the tense atmosphere is back.

"I'll look into it. My grandma was a medium too so I'm going to drive up to my grandpa's place this weekend and look through their old things, see if I can find anything that might prove your aunt right. In the meantime, let's look into that doppelganger theory of yours."

The two men lean in, whispering frantically and completely unbeknownst of the fact that Kihyun is standing behind Hyunwoo's desk, pressed against the wall and covered in a variety of charms and spells that conceal him from human eyes. It's just his luck he had to possess a man who's surrounded by spiritually influenced people.

Now he'll definitely have to kill them.

SHINee 5 | Spirit AU

So I got this idea while playing Onmyoji so can you make Minho Jonghyun and Onew as people that summons spirits and Key is Jonghyun’s special Fox Spirit and Taemin Minho’s special something spirit    - aliashawol

Onew, Jonghyun and Minho are Mediums and have a temple that many people visit to reach loved ones. They use ancient methods of contacting spirits and have a very unique approach that many are skeptical of, though they have never been proven fake.

Onew

Onew runs the temple and has always practiced safe summoning spells, the temple has been passed down through his family to the eldest child.

He grew up with Key and Taemin has his keepers and protectors

As per the rules, he had to find two clear-sighted men to help him.

He sent Taemin and Key into the city to find who he was looking for.

Key came back with Jonghyun and Taemin with Minho

Onew gifted his companions to his new trainees.

He is very in tune with spirits and he is connected to the spirit world due to a curse set on his family.

Back before modern technology, his grandmother was a human of clear sight and a witch.

She misused magic and had found a way to enslave spirits for her benefit.

Upon her death, she was bound to the human world and a curse was placed on her bloodline.

All descendants would be clear-sighted and tasked to help all lost souls.

They would be allowed two children, and of the two children, the spirits would decide who their caretaker would be.

If the child wasn’t chosen, they would lose their sight of the spirit world.

Her only son was to build a temple to house lost spirits until they could be given a rest.

He built a large temple with many sacred rooms on the lower level each for different kinds of spells and summoning.

Above the temple, he made his house, where all descendants have lived from then on.

Onew had an older sister but he was chosen due to his calm and nurturing personality, but also for his intense need for peace.

Onew never complained about giving his future for his distant relative’s mistakes.

He just wanted the spirits he’d seen since he was a baby get help.

Upon being chosen he was gifted two companions to help teach and guide him, but also to act as gatekeepers to the spirit realm, leading the souls towards the light but never stepping in themselves.

One of them was a fox spirit, Key, who was to teach him to be forceful and outspoken in a way that would offend the spirits he would deal with among other things.

The other was Taemin, a swan spirit who was to teach him to be freer and how not to dwell on things.

He grew up with them from the age of 10 and they have always been his best friends.

He saw the kind of people they brought with them and decided that Jonghyun and Minho needed what Key and Taemin were best at and then assigned his best friends to his new partners.

Jonghyun

Jonghyun was a simple office worker before Key found him.

He hated his life, working 12 hours days and barely getting paid enough to sustain him

His mom had always told him he was meant to do great things that would touch many people.

But he didn’t think sending emails while working customer service was really what she meant.

One November day there was a warm breeze that filled his cubicle.

He turned and saw a fox sitting near his bag.

Jonghyun froze and looked around.

When the fox took his small bag and ran with it, he had to follow.

He followed the fox into the bathroom.

How did that fox even open the door?

“Yah, give me that.” He took his bag back as the fox became a human man with fox-like features like the tail and ears.

He fell back against the door, hecka confused.

After some convincing and short introductions, Key managed to get Jonghyun to go with him to the temple to meet Onew.

Jonghyun was pretty skeptical at first, but after seeing Key turn into a fox and back into a human, and then watching Onew show him some magic he was easily convinced.

He picked up on the talking to spirits part easily compared to Minho but was crap at magic.

He and Key bonded together very quickly and he felt himself fall for the Fox spirit.

After being there for a year he is given the chance to leave or stay, and he chooses to stay right away.

Mainly for the others.

But also, for himself.

Maybe his mom was right.

Key

Waking up in the arms of a small child was confusing for the fox spirit.

The last thing he remembered was falling off a cliff while leading some of his boy scouts hiking.

A storm hit and it got windy, and he saved a kid by sacrificing himself.

The fates smiled upon him and made him into a guiding spirit, a fox.

He didn’t choose this.

But being able to help lost souls like himself, and his new friend, the swan find solace was good enough.

Sure he missed his life, but Onew’s journey was more important, or at least that’s what the old lady told him.

Years passed filled with stressful training on how to be good guides and how to help Onew and collaborate with Taemin.

But they were some of the best times of his life.

So the change of Onew bringing in two newcomers scared him.

But following his gut and sense of smell led him to a large, bland office building.

It wasn’t exactly the type of place he was looking for to find the person he had a vision of.

A good-looking man, very thin, light brown hair, and a very thin face with the best cheekbones he’d ever seen.

But his eyes are what struck Key. They were puppy dog eyes.

Adorable.

Key wandered the large building up to the 15th floor where he found the man’s cubicle.

What a drab place.

He took the man’s bag and brought him into the bathroom.

The look on this puppy dog’s face when Key turned into a human.

Priceless.

He took a liking to this man, Jonghyun.

When Onew said he’d be helping Jonghyun, he got unusually excited.

Minho was also a good addition to the team, even if they did but heads a lot.

Key was happier than he was while alive.

Even if he was stuck as part fox now.

Minho

Minho was a bland kind of guy.

His life felt meaningless.

He was going to school for a law, which he hated. But he wanted to please his family.

His family didn’t even like him, so he never really understood why he tried so hard.

It was finals week and he was honestly 1000% done and he was washed up.

He was trying to study next to a tree by some pond at a park near his crappy studio apartment.

He kept letting himself get distracted because his heart wasn’t into studying.

He noticed this really, really beautiful swan perched in the water near him.

He stupid the swan for a while and threw a piece of his bagel into the water for it.

He could’ve sworn he saw the bird blink at him.

He was more confused was the swan swam to the bank of the pond and clambered out of the water and over to Minho.

Minho moved the book out of his lap so he could reach forward to pet the strange swan.

The swan perched itself in his lap instead and Minho laughed, talking to the swan cutely.

“You’re so precious, look at you.” He smiled, feeling the soft white feathers.

In an instant, the swan was replaced by a man who looked only slightly younger than himself.

“Holy shi-”

“Nice to meet you too! I’m Taemin, the Swan spirit guide. You’re a clear-sighted human, and so you’re coming with me to help guide spirits, there are a lot more benefits than going into law could give you, plus you get me too!” he winked, “so lets throw those textbooks into the garbage can and I’ll bring you to the temple.”

Minho argued and debated the swan for an hour before he was convinced to at least go see what was going on.

Minho would never regret that choice.

He’d been to the temple as a child when his mom died. His dad had taken him and his elder brother to try to talk to her.

Ever since Minho had seen her spirit appear and talk to them, he’d believed in spirits despite what others said.

He got into it, trying to outdo Jonghyun at being a helper.

He was great at the magic part, becoming very strong and skilled quickly, but he lacked good communication skills needed to effectively talk to the spirits.

That’s why Taemin helped him so much, the swan was easily able to cover the areas Minho lacked.

And Minho felt himself fall for the young swan.

This was the best choice he’d ever made.

Taemin

Taemin was pretty confused for three reasons.

He was a bird, He woke up in some kids arms next to a fox, and he was pretty sure that he was a human-like, 20 minutes prior.

Taemin was a young college dropout who had taken a dangerous route in life.

His friends were bad people, but they were all he had.

He’d grown up as an orphan without any friends.

So when they wanted to rob a bank, Taemin let himself get dragged into it.

They took hostages, and when the police came in and started shooting, Taemin saved a young girl who had tried to run as the bullets were fired.

He took a bullet and woke up in the arms of a child.

He was okay being a swan, they were cool, right?

He learned quickly what his role was as a spirit guide, and as a guardian of Onew.

He loved Onew and Key a lot, they quickly became his family, and he loved them like his own brothers.

He was a little upset when Onew suggested that invite others to help. He was afraid it would mess up his family dynamic.

But as he sat in the water, waiting for someone to see him, he felt like his heart exploded as soon as he made eye contact with him.

He knew that his man was who they needed.

Once he convinced the stubborn man, Minho, to come with him the rest was history.

He grew close to Minho and Jonghyun, but he would always have a thing for Minho, as his guardian.

Him and Minho complemented each other greatly, and that what made him love Minho.

He was very content, now that he had a family, people who genuinely loved him.

A/N I love you guys!!

See more of my work on my Masterlist

hey I was wondering. what kinds of friendships did brenneth have when she was growing up as a blacksmith? did she go to neighborhood parties? did a nice baker's apprentice invite her to alleirat prom? (did they smooch?) did she go to the alleirat mall with the other kids her age and hang out near the food court? did she sit with the elders and listen to their stories? did she chase the neighborhood children around, roaring like a fearsome monster, and die dramatically when they slew her?

It’s not–it’s not like Brenneth’s master thinks.  She’s not lonely.  She sees their customers, and she sees people at the market who might be more than acquaintances, and Crispin sneaks out of the scholar’s quarter to come hang around the forge like a particularly persistent spirit until his teachers come to collect him.  She kisses girls and boys and neither and both and sometimes more than one, and she doesn’t really mind that they’re never something more than a few touches and maybe a night.  She trains to fight with the lathan, with the guards, and they like her, this strange world-wandering child with her fire-hot skin, and it helps that one of their own is really rather attached.  (Torei doesn’t declare her feelings for two years, but everyone knows why she’s stopped using the lathan armories in exchange for a teenaged blacksmith who’s only just set up her business.)  Even after Brenneth is out on her own, holding up her own smithy rather than working out of her master’s, she eats meals with him and with his daughter Kessen and eventually with her wife every few nights.

She’s happy.  Her master worries that she’s lonely, never keeping a partner for long and working alone and sleeping alone, but she’s happy.  Brenneth is a quiet person–not literally, Brenneth sings while she works and sometimes when you bring the singing smith a new tune, she’ll give you a discount, but in terms of people, Brenneth is happy with her handful.

Alleirat believes in community, Brenneth knows this.  People have friends and family and amdrin and amiasan and children and business partners and spouses and–Brenneth has Crispin, and she has her regular customers, and she has her master, and she’s happy with that. 

She indulges in a rather wild few years between sixteen and twenty.  Many people do–Alleirat believes in experimenting–and Brenneth tumbles as wide a variety of people as she’s kissed.  Kessen, with her lethally pretty blue eyes and her carpenter’s hands, is the longest lived of those matches, and the two of them sneak through dark shadows and kiss in the closet and sneak into each other’s cots for all of two weeks before Kessen pecks Brenneth on the cheek and says she’s glad they’re friends, a painless parting.  Brenneth has a big heart, falls a little in love with all the people she kisses, loves them in the curve of their collarbones or the muscles of their thighs, but never more than that.  She doesn’t know how to fit them in, around the rest.

Ultimately, Brenneth is more at ease with children.  They don’t know to treat her differently, they don’t remember hearing her stumble over Alleirai or seeing her have to resort to pantomime in order to be understood.  They don’t look at her with reverence or wariness or anything else that people direct at children from another world, nothing except fondness.  The local kids learn that she won’t kick them out–her master will, but Brenneth doesn’t mind having them there as long as they don’t do anything stupid–and they show up in droves.  They get over their awe of Crispin’s fine clothes and status within an hour of meeting him, and Crispin is startlingly good with kids, happy to sit on the floor and join a clapping game while Brenneth works.  

When Brenneth isn’t working, she and Crispin play Unification War with the children, and they lead opposite sides, city-states at war, or they play pirates and Crispin is the roguish pirate captain while Brenneth’s guards try to capture him and his intrepid crew.  Sometimes Brenneth and Crispin are mad dragons, ultimately slain by the brave warriors of Alleirat, or even gods, summoned to settle a debate–when they’re summoned, Crispin is the Wanderer and Brenneth is the Lady of Stars, a mismatch of their patrons, but they imagine the gods don’t mind too much.

Brenneth is twenty years old, holding a little girl on her shoulders (a “sacrifice” to the dragon) as she and Crispin chase the others through an alley, and she looks at her life, and it’s good.  This is what she wants.  She wants her work, and she wants children, and she has the strangest flash of a little girl with aristocratic features and skin a few shades lighter than her own, dark hair and a scholar’s sharp eyes.  Then the flash fades and she’s watching Crispin jump out at a kid and snatch him up and grin at Brenneth as the boy laughs.

It’s good to see him smile.  Something’s been wrong with Crispin lately, something he won’t tell her about, but the kids make him smile, erase some of the strange cracks in his eyes.  She wants him to have this, too, she wants him to have this easy happiness with kids who think he hung the morning star.  She can picture herself with children, but she can never picture those children with anyone, and Brenneth thinks that this might be okay, having Crispin to raise kids with her and sit in her forge and just be.

Three weeks later, the city center is destroyed by an explosion of lightning, and the whole of Alleirat looks to Brenneth for a savior.

The boy she had seen Crispin playing with that day catches Brenneth’s hand as she leaves the council’s hastily assembled meeting, her sword at her side and armor on her back.

“It’s not true, right?” the boy whispers as Brenneth looks down at him.  (The boy has never thought of Brenneth as tall before, but now she’s miles above him, as if he doesn’t even reach her knee.  He’ll tell people this story, heavily edited, and he’ll always remember her as towering.)  “Pesaruld would never hurt anyone.”

Brenneth has been given carte blanche to recruit anyone she sees fit to her…hunting party, for lack of a better word.  Over two dozen people are dead, and more on the road out of Dase, left with rapier wounds and throats cut with a dagger and lightning burns lacing over their skin.

Brenneth kneels down in front of the ruined citadel, hand on the boy’s shoulder.  “I’m so sorry, meimare,” she whispers back.  “I’m so sorry.”

This is a moment that will be remembered, although incorrectly.  The hero with her hair spilling loose over her shoulders, arm and chest armored and one hand on her sword, kneeling in the sunlight to comfort a child–the stuff of legends.  The Fireheart, the legends all agree, is good with children.  

They linger there for a moment, and then the boy throws his arms around Brenneth’s neck without a thought for her armor and sobs.

This is the last child that will cry for Crispin.  This is not, however, the last time that Brenneth will hold a child in the ruins of Crispin’s destruction and let them ruin her shirt with tears.

Name: Esmeralda Rae Hastens.

Nicknames: Esme, Es.

Biological Age: 24.

Birthday: December 21st, 1993.

Star Sign: Sagittarius.

Place of Birth: Falls Church, Virginia.

Current Town: Falls Church, Virginia.

Sexuality: Pansexual.

Marital Status: Single.

Species: Death God.

Occupation: Stay at home mom, Heir to Heaven.

Education: General Studies, University.

Faceclaim: Phoebe Tonkin.

Relations: 

Parents:

Brett Hastens (Father)

Adelya Petrova (Mother)

Landon Sandell (Step-Father)

Siblings:

Delilah Aurora Hastens (Twin Sister)

Adeline Avalina Petrova-Hastens (Eldest Sister)

Phoebe Hazel Hastens (Elder Sister, †)

Blair Elena Hastens (Elder Sister)

Jade Zoe Hastens (Younger Sister)

Sophia Gemma Hastens (Younger Sister)

Roxanne Chloe Hastens (Younger Sister)

Kyle Scott Hastens (Eldest Brother, †)

Matthew Zander Hastens (Elder Brother)

Gillian Sandell (Half-Sister)

Mark Sandell Half-Brother, Twin of Maia)

Maia Sandell (Half-Sister, Twin of Mark)

Other Relatives:

Zander Hastens (Uncle)

Veronica Claw (Non-Biological Aunt)

Octavia Hastens (Aunt, †)

Emberly Hastens (Aunt)

Nesryn Hastens (Aunt)

Children:

Iliana Phoebe Hastens (Adoptive Daughter, Biological Niece)

Vasilisa “Lissa” Adeliah Hastens (Daughter).

Romantic Partners:

Nathan Forbes (On/Off Boyfriend)

Julian Adello (Ex-Boyfriend)

Jasper Reese (Ex-Lover)

Rhysand Verselle (Ex-Lover).

Friends:

Elain Silvena (Best Friend, Former Handler)

Elody Killip (Best Friend, Roommate).

Physical Features:

Build: Slim.

Weight: 123.5 lbs.

Height: 5’7 ft.

Ethnicity: White.

Skin Tone: Olive.

Hair Color: Dark Brown.

Eye Color: Hazel with dominant green shades.

Tattoos: “Joy” in cursive on outer side of left wrist.

Birthmark: Crescent moon on right shoulder.

Scars: N/A.

Species Information:

Main Powers: Telepathy, materialization, elemental powers, flying, healing, resurrection, death prediction within family, aura reading, ability to see spirits, telekinesis, superhuman strength, speed, agility, dexterity, enhance senses, self-regeneration, shapeshifting into wolf, spell casting, immortality, ability to kill others with a thought. Main Weaknesses: Seraph blades are harmful but not lethal to Esmeralda. This will delay her regenerative capabilities for a certain amount of time depending on the grade of the wound. Seraph blades are blades angels are susceptible too, and because one of her more dominant species is angelic, she too is susceptible. Mort daggers are lethal to all death gods. If struck through the heart with one of these blades, Esmeralda would die. Mort daggers were five daggers created by Lucifer and hid all over the world meant for the original five death gods that original were born into existence, since Esmeralda is the child of one of the children of those death gods, she too is vulnerable to them.

Species Features: White feathered wings, wing slits, crescent moon birthmark originally meant for the Heir to Hell as she was supposed to be.

Diet: In order to maintain and keep up her extensive set of powers, Esmeralda must drink blood. This blood can be the blood of any other species.

Personality:

Esmeralda wasn’t always as cold and cynical as she’s become. Despite her family troubles, she was rather innocent and looked at the world hopefully. However, over the years she’s become colder and has had her eyes opened to what she believes to be the way of the world. There are a few exceptions for her iciness, and those are her children and her siblings. They get to see a warmer, more compassionate side of her. With them, she is understanding and kind. Esmeralda tends to avoid intense feelings and emotions using wit, a blunt attitude, sarcasm, and deflection. She feels a great deal, but is known for bottling things and pushing them down, so when she does deal with something head on, it brings all the other emotions to surface and she gets rather overwhelmed, often falling into states of depression. Because of the one constant of people walking out of her life and sometimes never coming back, she’s learned to push people away, to keep them at an arm’s length, which is another reason she avoids emotional honesty and intimacy, because it keeps people from getting too close to hurt her. She prefers superficial relationships with no true roots because they don’t result in a broken heart. She has trust issues, so if she ends up letting someone in and allowing them to get close, it’s not a common occurrence. She will be completely loyal to those she develops this bond with. However, if she’s hurt or betrayed, she can be extremely spiteful. Esme had a high temper and tends to snap first and ask questions later, though the exception to this is her kids. Her temper is volatile, and if someone she loves is especially threatened, violence tends to be a medium of that rage. She often finds rage and anger are the easiest emotions for her to feel, and knows if she dips far into the others, she won’t be able to control it, which is something she’s had a great deal of difficulty with, losing control. In most things, Esmeralda is blunt and uncensored, she has the tendency to say the things that if people noticed, they wouldn’t talk about. Though, the one thing she isn’t quite as blunt about is the rejection of her ‘destiny’. She fears the angels taking action against her, or worse, someone she loves if she full out rejects what they believe she is to do. And so, she lives her life just within the lines they’ve set for her, if only to avoid getting tortured, or having someone she loves targeted. More so than her sisters, she has the tendency to be reckless and impulsive, something that goes hand and hand with her blunt attitude and her temper. She acts and thinks on how she’s feeling in the moment, and doesn’t always take the time to sort it out. Despite a constant show of bravado and a generally cocky defect, Esmeralda is insecure, and believes herself to be expendable, something that started as early as her parents mistreating her, and developed more so with struggles in other relationships. Despite not wanting to get close, she’s rather extroverted, though she keeps the deeper parts of herself reserved, she tends to be more outgoing, however not everyone can get along with her attitude. Her biggest weak spot are her two children, and her biggest fear is that one day the angels will use this against her if she steps out of line. Despite her tendencies favoring rash actions, she’s intelligent, and she’s capable of being calculated.

Biography:

Background & Birth:

From the beginning of her pregnancy, Adelya knew that something was different. It had not been like her other pregnancies in any sense. She wasn’t sure what it was, but there was something. As the pregnancy developed, she found her own health declining rapidly. She grew weaker and weaker the longer she was pregnant. Finally, Brett took Adelya to a shaman healer. Upon seeing her, the shaman was struck, and with a deeper, more magical search, he realized that the children Adelya carried had a far greater purpose than even their lineage would suggest. He informed them there had been a prophecy, long foretold within both the Hell and Heaven realms, that one day the time would come for new heirs to rise to take over Heaven and Hell. The heirs would be twin girls, with the first born being destined for darkness, meant to be future Heir to Hell, and the second born being destined for light, meant to rule Heaven. At first, neither was willing to believe it, but eventually came to terms with what their daughters were meant for. In preparation, they did as much research as they possibly could on the prophecy, something Adelya had a great deal of time to do with all the time spent on bedrest.

Adelya’s health continued to rapidly decrease. Near her seventh month of pregnancy, it was evident that she would not survive carrying the children to term. Even her vampire nature would not be enough to save her and her children. Two weeks into her third trimester, she discovered she was bleeding. Both she and Brett knew they had to save the children, so an emergency c-section was performed, which is where it all went wrong. The procedure was complicated because of her vampire nature, but alongside of that, the twins were not born in the natural order intended. Esmeralda, in line with the prophecy was intended to be heir to Hell, and was meant to be born first, however, because of the c-section, Delilah was born first, and despite the way fate was meant to swing, she was to be the Heir to Hell. Esmeralda was removed second, taking place as the Heir to Heaven.

Childhood:

Using complicated to describe her childhood would be a severe understatement. From day one, people doted on her twin sister over her. Where Delilah had been an easy, happy baby, Esmeralda had been a difficult one. While Delilah had a natural light charm about her, Esmeralda always had something darker about her, even when she was innocent, she was not her sister, and life had seemed set up to remind her of that fact. Though, despite being ignored, strangle enough she bore no ill will to her siblings that got more attention, to her it was a tragic but given fact that she came last. Anybody putting her above others often was met by surprise from Esmeralda. As long as she was able to comprehend the environment around her, she can remember the fights between her parents. More often than not, Esmeralda found herself caught between the fights of her parents. The couple did not simply squabble with each other or have small disagreements – when they fought, the house hold shook with the volume of their screams. They’d go on for hours, and more than often her relations with her parents were one or the other trying to sway her towards their side of the argument, if they even paid attention to her. If it wasn’t for the fact her elder sister Adeline was there to look after her and care for her, to give her the time of day when others would not, she might never have held onto her innocence and hopeful nature as long as she did.

She was eight the first time her father left. Even though she wasn’t always the closest with him, she mourned his departure. A lot of the times she questioned herself, what she could have done to make him stay, or what actions she had done to make him leave. The cycle continued each time he came back. She lost track of the times he’d leave, disappear for weeks, sometimes months or years. During those times, she couldn’t rely on her mother. She was either occupied with a new boyfriend or child. The only thing she could rely on were her parents abandoning her.

Teen Years:

The pattern of her father’s disappearances carried well on into her teenage years. The cycle became so normal, she began to forget that her father’s patterns had laid the groundwork to her always keeping a distance from people. Even as in her youth, she found ways to avoid intimacy, often through avoiding people in general. She was more introverted. And though her mother had them attending a human school, no true connections ever came of it. In class, she focused only on her courses and tasks at hand. She didn’t gossip with the other students or pass notes in the back of the class. The only time she was really open was when she was around her two sisters, Delilah and Adeline. While she and Delilah would always meet for coffee in the local café, in school, they were often avoided each other.

When Esmeralda was thirteen, her mother told her and Delilah about their prophecy. Though it had remained clear from the start to her that she wasn’t exactly like her other siblings, at least in terms of powers, she knew that. But she hadn’t expected the bomb that was dropped on her by any means. She had always believed that she was meant to be in the background. Delilah she could imagine as a leader, but herself, it hadn’t dawned on her in any sense. She spent almost two years scoffing at the idea, finding new ways to deny what she was meant to do. While she didn’t rebel against the idea in so many ways, she rejected it.

When she was fifteen, she started to shift, losing the innocence and optimistic nature. It started rather simply, in fact, with something that might have been normal by most circumstances. She got involved with a man. His name was Rhysand, and he was from an ancient family of hybrid vampire-werewolves. She found him wounded, and offered him her blood to heal. She knew the risks at the time, knew that her angelic blood could be addictive to those who craved blood, but she wanted to ensure he healed. And so she fed him her blood. Predictably, he got addicted to it, and she too got addicted to him in a way. He was escape from all the things at home. Her mother and father’s flightiness, the stress of the prophecy. For a time, she could just be carefree. She started skipping some days of school, spending most days at his house, often letting him feed off her just because she enjoyed the thrill. Eventually their relationship became sexual, and he took her virginity. They continued the rather unhealthy interaction for about a year. Unfortunately, Esmeralda fell for him, yet he hadn’t wanted that type of relationship with her, so when she told him of her feelings, she was rejected, and not kindly.

She was changed by it. The cruel rejection from the man she had loved stirred up all the feelings of a similar rejection from her parents and it basically took the lid off the bottle. She snapped. She started partying, often taking supernatural drugs to feel alive, to let her hair down and be out of control of something. She slept around, and didn’t regard anyone’s feelings but her own. Despite her close relationship with Delilah, they grew distant over the next two years as Esme changed. Delilah kept confronting her about her problems and habits, and Esme didn’t want to face them. Instead she grew closer to her sister Phoebe, who turned into her party buddy, someone who wasn’t trying to change her back into the girl she’d been before.

When she was seventeen, the angels took her for the first time. They had been watching her since birth, certain she would mess up since she hadn’t been intended to be the heir at all. Seeing her behavior, they believed it to be a disgrace to heaven and wanted to nip it in the bud immediately. They’d use a series of torture techniques. Physical and emotional. Whether they were messing with her mind, or ripping into her body, they found their ways to make Esme fear their wrath. The first time, they released her after a week. The second time, she was not nearly so lucky. They kept her for three months that time. No one came to save her as they simply believed she’d gone off the rails partying. And even though after two times of being tortured by the angels enough to fear them, she still went on partying. The third time she was taken for half a year. They allowed her to experience the fall from heaven to earth. She collided in her hometown in an alleyway, slamming hard enough into the ground to make her bones shatter. The pain knocked her unconscious.

Upon waking up, she was at the house of a male named Nathan. He had bandaged up her external wounds and had watched over her while she had healed. She had been more than alarmed and paranoid at first, but after spending a few days in his home, their relationship switched to the blossoming of a friendship. And perhaps it was because she didn’t know him, and he didn’t have expectations of her, but he was the first person she told about being tortured by the angels. He helped her come up with a loophole for the angels strict rules so she could continue to be her partying self. They spent three months around each other, and her platonic feelings for him developed into something more romantic, though she kept them hidden because Nathan had a girlfriend at the time. Eventually he broke up with his girlfriend two months after meeting Esme, simply because of her attitude and behavior. Eventually, he fell for Esme too. She let him in, trusted him and they started a relationship. It didn’t last long, eventually Nathan returned to his ex, breaking Esmeralda’s heart in a much deeper manner than before, and further affirming her trust issues.

Determined to go back to her lifestyle, she moved to Los Angelos with her sister Phoebe. For a while, they went about partying, doing so under the radar with Esmeralda dancing around the angels set lines. Phoebe started growing paranoid and carried an odd behavior. Esmeralda was scared she was losing it. Things only got worse when Phoebe discovered she was four months pregnant. It seemed to be her undoing. She spent most nights pacing the house, muttering about how something was coming for her. She gave birth a month before she was due, to a little girl.

Later in the evening after Phoebe had given birth, Esme woke up to the sound of the infant child crying. At first she thought nothing of it, until the crying persisted on. Eventually she got up, worry striking her. She went down to her sister’s room and found the child alone in her sister’s bed, and next to her, a letter. Esme calmed the infant down despite her confusion, then settled her back on the bed to read the letter. The letter was from her sister. Most of it was scribbled thoughts of her paranoia, but there was some clarity to it, telling Esme she loved her and that she was sorry.

Adult Years:

With her sister’s disappearance, there was no one to look after the daughter she’d left behind. Esmeralda was left to take on a child she had not been prepared for in any sort of way. But, despite her lack of being prepared for such a thing, she took it on. It was difficult, extremely so. But it was good for her, because it gave her a reason to smarten up. It gave her something to care about, to drive her. She became a mother to the child, adopting her as her own. She became more responsible, stopped partying and got sober of the spell ridden drugs she’d been relying on to take her from the cruelty of the world she’d been in. She struggled with it, but she always had something to anchor her, something to drive her to keep going. She ended up naming the child she adopted Iliana Phoebe, in honor of her sister and Iliana’s biological mother. It was one of her better kept secrets, at an early age she even imprinted a copy of her own birthmark onto Iliana’s shoulder, knowing that any biological child of hers would have it, and it would be necessary to make it seem as if Iliana was her true child.

She ended up meeting Julian two years after taking in Iliana. He was everything that she needed. He was safe, reliable. He had a daughter the same age as Iliana named Rose. They ended up getting together, but despite the fact that he was safe and secure with him, there was no passion. She loved him, but she was not in love with him. She made it work for as long as she could. Things started getting more serious, and when he proposed to her, she almost accepted, but realized it wouldn’t be right because while she loved him, she could never be in love the way he was. She ended things.

When Iliana was three years old, she felt a familiar echo of power, one she’d felt only three times before – when family members of her had fallen. Only this one was different, closer, it felt like a part of her. She knew what it meant, that her sister Phoebe had died. She wasn’t sure how, but she spent over a year trying to find her body, or her killer. She couldn’t find anything. It was hard to deal with the loss, but when she was finally no longer consumed by trying to find her, she mourned for her sister.

It was just after the death of her sister when Nathan came back into her life. She couldn’t believe it. At first, she kept him at a distance, scared to let him back in after he’d left her for his ex. She was terrified of being hurt. But she was vulnerable, with the death of her sister, and more than that, despite her better efforts, she still loved him, she ended up getting close again, and they became close to getting back together again. One morning she woke up, and he was gone, leaving her heartbroken all over again.

She never truly got that close to anyone romantically after that. The closest she came to romance was Jasper Reese, who came into her life two weeks later when she took Iliana for a check-up. He was a doctor known for treating the supernatural, and Iliana had a worrying fever. At first it was strictly professional, she relied on him solely for medical help with Iliana. It shifted when she discovered he was Iliana’s birth father. Knowing what it was like to be raised without a father, she told him that he was Iliana’s father, and let him be part of her life, even though she was scared he would try to take Iliana from her. Esme got involved in a physical with Jasper, and feelings started to develop, but then he too left. She discovered she was pregnant two weeks later, but knew because of the date that it was not Jasper’s, but Nathan’s. However, because the answer was easier, because Jasper held less power over her, she lied and told those who asked about the father that he was.

She had a daughter whom she named Vasilisa, though it was an incredibly rare day that she ever used her full name. Often she affectionately called her “Lissa.” She had her hands full with two daughters, but during her pregnancy she had taken the time to fully repair things with Delilah, whom she’d pushed away but always held closer than others. Those were her main emotional ties, as she swore of almost all romantic connections, certain they could only lead to pain. She still rejected her destiny in a more quiet manner, but never quite said it allowed, because she feared the angels may come and take the two most important things in the world to her, her daughters.

So, tell me about your fictional children! I like hearing about people's characters! ^^

Thank you for asking! Putting this under a cut because it’s really long. Includes minor spoilers, especially for Tamuran, but nothing earth-shatteringly major unless you haven’t read the comic.

tl;dr:Varony: monster nerdEffire: snarky cobra nerdMath: grumpy old man nerdEmmie: +10 EPIC NERD also the best grandma

Versinthenet: dragon nerdRathe: swordie nerdPerrath: overly helpful nerd (w/ bonus cool doggo)Sukah: Gandalf is on strikeAleoth: the angstiest nerd

and Artreias: mostly an asshole (secretly a huge nerd on the inside, don’t tell anybody)

NERDS ALL NERDS.okay, read on:

I’ll start with Tamuran - I assume that’s what most people are following me for:

Varony you know if you read the comic - he’s the guy in my Tumblr icon. He belongs to a race of big arboreal predators that live deep in very dangerous forests, but for now he’s (sort of but not quite voluntarily) bound in the form of a big gangly human. For the most part he is okay with this arrangement (all except for the new “possibly permanent” aspect - see recent events in the comic). He’s endlessly curious, and he thinks humans are the weirdest, most bewilderingly fascinating things he’s ever encountered. He’s been human-shaped for (most of) about six years at this point - shortly after he was changed, he was found and taken in by a clan of traveling merchants, who taught him language and basically How To Human. They became a second family to him, as have the Ragtag Band of Adventurers he’s currently found his lot thrown in with, but sometimes he misses the trees.

Uh, stuff that I don’t think has been covered in the comic already: Back home, Varony (or Hhr'skhygh - approximation of his *growly-noises* real name) lived with his pack, which included his mother and three older siblings. His sister’s pretty cool, his brothers are jerks. He’s a good hunter, but his pack always saw him as something of a weirdo - asks too many pointless questions, wants to know EVERYTHING about EVERYTHING. When he was little he used to love listening to his grandfather tell his people’s folktales, and legends about the outside world. And yes, he’s officially ace/aro, species notwithstanding. Humans just complicate it even more - his people’s mating rituals are pretty straightforward, while humans’ involve all sorts of flirting and bizarre games that catch him off-guard (and have gotten him into a few ..uncomfortable situations in the past, if you want to know what the deal was with him freaking out on poor Jadsira in chapter 14).

Effire is a Morphus - one of the magical, long-lived Tu Naul race who was born with shapeshifting abilities. All Morphyx get bound into a single animal form and magically bonded to a “worthy” human (for the duration of the human partner’s life) as a sort of cultural exchange/community service. Effire was never too keen on that idea, especially after he found out his partner would be a Zharus Guardsman, and ESPECIALLY after his own bonded form turned out to be a cobra. But after getting used to one another, Effire found that his partner Morgen was a dreamer and idealist with a brain that never stopped - far from the meatheaded soldier-for-hire he was expecting. After their Zharus Academy training was complete, they were hired by the Patriarch of Tamuran to work palace intelligence and security and to keep an eye on the Patriarch’s elder sons as part of their personal guard (much to Prince Johlan’s irritation).

Effire tends to be cynical and sharp-tempered, but he means well. He would do anything for Morgen, whom he loves fiercely. He’s always liked exploring, especially poking around in places he’s not supposed to be. His favorite animals to turn into before he was bound were falcons, swallows, and other quick, agile birds - it was a pretty big blow to be stuck in a form that doesn’t even have limbs. Being part of a prince’s royal guard at least means he’s gotten to travel from time to time, and between Morgen and palace goings-on his life is seldom boring… though the way things have gone lately, he’s starting to really wish for boring…

Mathim hasn’t shown up in the comic yet - the Atriand-side plotline follows his story. He’s a former colonel in the Atriand army who was discharged early for an injury that never healed right, and at this point he’s retired to a town out in the wilderness, a cantankerous old bastard who spends his time drinking too much and cussing out the neighbor kids. His troublemaking teenaged grandson - the only living family he isn’t estranged from - disappeared about a year ago without a trace, though Math’s suspicions lean toward sorceric activity. When strangers pass through town bringing odd rumors, it might finally be the key Math needs to find the kidnappers. But Math has secrets - he was born with a forbidden form of magic, a dangerous, volatile power that has terrified him all his life. The same power that he passed on to his grandson, the power that made the boy a target of sorcerers in the first place. And now Math is going to need to unlock that power if he wants to have any hope of saving his boy…

Emianna was supposed to be a minor character, but she insisted on becoming a lot more important than we’d planned (and I’m glad she did). She’s Math’s wife, who died a few years before the comic story but still plays a big role in it. She was a huge nerd and avid naturalist, though poor health kept her working in libraries rather than pursuing science in the field. The daughter of a prominent Atriand military family, she used to pretend to be a bit daft at her family’s social functions, so that ambitious suitors would focus their attention on her sisters and leave her alone. At least until a shy young officer in search of a restroom literally stumbled over her reading in a closet during one of those parties… 

Emmie likes: books, books, and more books, SCIENCE, yaoi. And also being Gramma Emmie to her family - she’ll make you some amazing cookies, but you might have to pry her out of her lab to do it.

Novel characters: From several books, which are intended (if all goes well) to fit together like puzzle pieces and thus are sort-of in development at the same time (in other words, my notes are a mess).  Standard disclaimer that nothing is 100% canon till the books are finished.

Versinthenet is a dragon. In my setting, dragons are features of the landscape - half-physical, half-spirit beings that come into existence in places where intense magic pools and snags, and serve to tie Magic to the physical world. They can’t physically travel far from their magic “nodes,” but they can use the tides of Magic to communicate with other dragons and watch events as they unfold elsewhere in the world and also stupid cat videos.  Most dragons are located far from human settlements, but some of the ones who do live near humans use their influence over local magic to become patron protectors for their area, and in return the humans see to any physical-plane needs they may have. Verse (don’t call him that to his face) was one of these - fairly young as dragons go, he calmed the seas, quelled storms, and ensured good fishing for the people of his island. But centuries of watching human conflicts and atrocities, capped with events involving the death of his closest mentor, have started him questioning whether these people deserve his help after all. Then an idiot wizard shows up with the audacity to try to bind him and use his magic. The binding attempt goes horribly wrong - the wizard dies and Verse finds his consciousness pulled into the wizard’s body, while the rest of his Dragon self, mindless, flies off to wreak havoc, pulling frayed Magic into a hurricane around itself as it goes. Now Verse has to figure out how to set things right, while being blamed for the actions of the wizard who made this mess… before the dragon unleashes its wrath upon the whole island, or the islanders find a way to destroy the revered protector who has betrayed them. (Beyond all that, the consequences of such a tear in the network of magic may be farther-reaching than anyone is prepared for…)

So yeah, he’s not having a very good day.

Rathe is quick, athletic, great with a sword, and wants to be a hero like the ones in the storybooks. Unfortunately, she’s the daughter of a highly-respected family of scholars in a society that abhors all forms of violence and prizes learning and tradition above everything else. Events conspire to lead her away from home and into the life of adventure she’s always craved… but when her wizard traveling companion goes and does something really, really stupid, she’ll find out that heroing is a lot more complicated than she expected… especially when it involves facing personal secrets she thought were buried in the past.

Perrath has had a magical gift since he was a child - the ability to mend things that are broken - and a passion for helping people to go along with it. Unfortunately, one night a mysterious storm blew away all the magic in his village, including his innate talent, and he’s been searching for it ever since, with a sole still-functional(?) finding charm leading the way and his dog at his side (whom he talks to. A lot). He misses his magic, but he’s found that in the meantime he really enjoys a life of wandering - going wherever his finder points him, meeting new people and exploring places he’d never heard of, using his mundane skills to repair people’s things in order to get by. Until he finds himself in a sticky situation out in the uncharted wilds, and learns that promising to fix something for malevolent shadow-demons is maybe not a good idea…

Sukah is a semi-immortal guardian mage, bestowed with certain powers and nobly tasked with the protection of humanity. Only it’s hard to do your job when your partner has long since disappeared, halving your power, and nobody wants your help or even listens to your advice anymore. So he’s watched history unfold from the sidelines, telling himself that if people want to make a huge mess of things that’s their business.  A crisis involving two worlds and the fabric of magic itself, along with the reappearance of someone he’d thought long dead, might be enough to convince him to dust off his old magic and get back in the fight, but by then it might be too late…

Thanks to a valiant sacrifice-beyond-hope made by the parents she’s never known, Aleoth supposedly harbors within her the soul of a great evil… and no one has ever let her forget it. Stifled and stigmatized by those who were supposed to be her protectors, she runs away and takes up with a band of notorious brigands. But whatever she does, she can’t escape the unnerving creature that has haunted her dreams all her life, or the disasters that seem to follow her steps.  When [plot happens] and events begin to come crashing in around her, she’ll have to figure out who and what she is and what she really stands for.

{Bonus shoutout to my college D&D character Artreias, a sorcerer/planewalker from Sigil who got stuck in a shit-ton of trouble thanks to his sketchy mage father’s sketchy past and even more sketchy friends. Treias was a minor noble on his mom’s side, well-to-do and highly educated, but he acted like he was from the streets since all the nobles he ever met were twelve kinds of terrible. He’d do just about anything to protect his family, though (blood family and family-of-choice), especially his younger sister, and including Infuriating Sketchy Dad, whom he loved anyway. Unfortunately the rest of the party characters hated him, since (thanks to the mysterious circumstances that got him thrown into the campaign events) he had a “trust no one” attitude and could be kind of a jerk about it.}

From Africa to tea with the Queen

By Melissa Twigg, BBC, 19 July 2018

Eighty-year-old women are supposed to stay at home. The neatly dressed grandmother of our collective imagination derives her pleasure from indoor pursuits--cooking, reading, knitting. One thing octogenarian women aren’t supposed to do is embark on a solo five-month journey through Africa, driving from Cape Town to Cairo in a battered Toyota Conquest.

Julia Albu never set out to be exceptional. Her daily routine slotted neatly into what the world expects from an older woman living in a leafy village near Cape Town. Every morning she would listen to the radio, and one day the discussion turned to then-President Jacob Zuma and his extravagant taste in cars.

“I was incensed,” Albu said. “I phoned in immediately to say I was going to be 80, and my car, Tracy, was a 20-year-old Toyota and she ran beautifully. We could happily drive to London together, so why Zuma needed all these new cars was beyond me.”

Buoyed by the enthusiastic response she received, Albu pledged on air to drive to Buckingham Palace to have tea with the Queen--and before long, the seeds of what had begun as a joke started germinating.

“My partner had recently died, you see,” Albu said. “It was an exhausting process, and after all that I thought, ‘My goodness, there really isn’t much of life left’. I feel like I’m 36 from the shoulders up and 146 from the shoulders down, and I wanted the younger me to win for once.”

Six months later, on the dawn of her 80th birthday, Albu’s youthful half triumphed. With Tracy’s grey, squat exterior emblazoned with the rainbow-coloured stickers of her sponsors, Albu set off on a frosty morning from her house in Jakkalsfontein, hurtling up a gum tree-lined road pointing north.

“I was raring to go,” she said. “I had been inoculated against every known virus, although the doctor said he didn’t think I’d need any STD precautions, which was insulting. And Tracy was looking beautiful, upholstered from the seats to the sun visors in pink florals.”

A cavalcade of Harley Davidsons bid her farewell outside Johannesburg, but other than that, South Africa passed in a blur of Karoo pepper trees and cold winter nights. And so it was left to Botswana to give Albu her first taste of African adventure.

“We were pottering along the road when an elephant nearly came to blows with poor Tracy. And the potholes, oh they were too awful. But it all felt magical, from the heat drifting through my windows to the baobab trees. I knew I was going to be alright because everyone I met was so kind. They called me ‘Gogo’, which means grandmother.”

In those early weeks, Albu often slept in a tent on the side of the road. But while her spirit was indomitable, her body was not, and sleeping on the ground soon took its toll. Her family rallied around to help--one daughter eventually drove with her to Zimbabwe, while her son accompanied her through Malawi.

But interspersed with moments of hardship was Albu’s utter exhilaration at seeing the continent she was born in finally blossoming into focus. Her eyes lit up when she talked about the majesty of Lake Malawi or Zimbabwe’s Victoria Falls, but also when she described the details of life on the road. There was the man selling wicker furniture under a dusty Malawian tree, and the Zambian schoolgirls who read to her. She talked about vendors frying mice, truck drivers sharing food with her, and ripe tomatoes she plucked off the vine.

“I never felt lonely, even when I was alone,” she said. “I loved the times my children visited, and the intimate moments I spent with each of them. But you must remember Tracy is also an older lady just like me, and this was something we were doing together.”

Albu’s age was clearly a mixed blessing. African border posts can be notoriously difficult to negotiate, but she breezed through most of them. The truck drivers she had been sharing the road with began to recognise her and ushered her to the front of the queue.

“The belief in the wisdom of your elders is ingrained in a lot of African cultures--though often they just found me hilarious,” she said. “One Ugandan customs official asked why I was driving to London. ‘To have tea with the Queen’ I replied. His eyes were like marbles, and my passport was stamped in a jiffy.”

Nonetheless, I sensed Albu’s profound frustration at being physically unable explore the nooks and crannies of the continent unfolding around her. “Oh to be 40 years younger,” she said. “The mountains I would have climbed; the lakes I would have swum in.”

Instead, Albu quenched her boundless thirst for Africa through its people. Her travel diary is filled with page upon page of names, numbers and business cards, including the addresses of hundreds of teachers she sent schoolbooks to through a charity she is affiliated with.

In Tanzania, she stumbled upon a small village and began talking to one of the elders, named William. They spent hours together that day and the next, sitting on a bench while putting the world to rights. Months later, a letter from him plopped through her door in Cape Town. “Your radiant and full-of-life personality is amazing,” he wrote. “Your willingness to share the good moments of others taught me what life can mean. I, in my own way, promise to give you company.”

During the trip, Albu learned to shake off age with a flick of her hair. In Tanzania, at a honeymooner resort, she peeled off her dress for a midnight swim. In Ethiopia, she camped with eager 20-somethings in the Danakil Depression, a neon-hued moonscape of lava and salt plains that is often described as the ‘gateway to hell’.

Her enthusiasm for Ethiopia is particularly infectious--for the dramatic landscapes and for the profound spirituality that imbues the place. Sudan, too, she describes with a sense of awe that I suspect is reserved for an Africa with which she no longer feels familiar.

“I think I got my moment of purest joy when I was driving alone through the Sudanese desert on the long road to Khartoum,” she said. “My tape of hymns was playing at full blast and I was singing ‘Jerusalem’, thinking about England’s green and pleasant land while a shepherd shuffled through the sand in the distance.”

Albu’s African odyssey ended in Egypt, the country where her luck in namedropping the Queen finally ran out. Held at border control for several days while Tracy was fitted with Arabic number plates, her only option was to sleep in a cafe. “I’m not sure if you’ve ever spent the night alone in a room with seven Egyptian men, but it certainly was an experience,” she said. “They were kind though, and if they were surprised I was a woman on my own, they didn’t show it.”

Up through Egypt she went, stopping off in Aswan and The Valley of the Kings and finishing in the polluted streets of Cairo. On her last day, she parked on the banks of the Nile to collect some murky river water, which was destined to sit on her mantelpiece next to bottles filled up at the source of the White Nile in Tanzania and the Blue Nile in Ethiopia.

From Cairo, Albu flew back to Cape Town, watching the continent unfold below her and pitying her fellow passengers for their sky-high perspective. After recuperating in Jakkalsfontein for a few months, Albu boarded a plane to Europe and was reunited with Tracy--who had languished for weeks in a container in Greece after crossing the Mediterranean by ferry. From Greece, she drove through Albania, Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Germany and Holland, and arrived in London for the summer season.

“Oh, I was dying to have tea with the Queen--particularly after telling the world and his wife that I was going to,” Albu says. “But it was the week of Royal Ascot and apparently she was otherwise engaged. The English are a strange breed--I’m not sure they appreciated quite how long my journey to Buckingham Palace was.”

Although astoundingly, London was not the final stop in Albu’s odyssey. Last week, she crossed the Channel again and is currently heading for the heel of Italy, from where she will sail for Tunisia and begin her drive to Cape Town--crossing Africa overland for the second time in as many years.

“Well, why not? What do you want me to do, sit on this sofa and wait to die?” she asks, with a laugh. “There is a freedom that comes with old age that so many people don’t realise. I didn’t know it before my adventure, but at my age you’re actually freer than you’ve ever been--you lose a husband and the children are grown, and you worry less about the consequences of everything.”

We have a tendency to treat older people with kid gloves, but excitement and adventure are not prerogatives of the young. And if the inhabitants of Buckingham Palace one day read about Albu’s story and send an embossed invitation down to South Africa, she and Queen will undoubtedly have a lot to say on the subject.

How Do You Solve A Problem Like An Oscar?

The 89th Academy Awards are happening this month, and once again, we look to the group behind each Oscar nomination and win to find for us the year's best films from around the world. Unfortunately, that prestigious voting body does not always manage to find the best of the best... and when that happens, we call it like it is: a snub. Here are some of the most egregious snubs: [Look for Ashlyn’s ratings in the brackets, as usual.] Doubt (2008, PG-13) - This tale of Catholic school politics and potential impropriety is brilliant in its plotting and tone. This is the first time Viola Davis broke hearts across the continent in a film, too, and she deserved that Best Supporting Actress trophy. [I'm guessing kids and young teens will have very little interest in this film. A certain level of maturity is required for enjoyment.] 4 Months, 3 Weeks, And 2 Days (2007, Unrated) - In 1980s Romania, where birth control is forbidden and terminating a pregnancy is punishable by death, a woman clandestinely helps her friend arrange an illegal abortion. It failed to get a Best Foreign Language Film nomination, which is just...it's a mess, y'all. [This movie is pretty depressing, and involves some pretty heavy matters. I'm going to say anyone under 16 should just watch Juno instead.] City Of God (2002, R) - The Tender Trio in Rio de Janeiro grows up before our eyes, with each boy taking a different path over the span of twenty years. This gripping, brutal coming of age film didn't win any categories, and somehow wasn't nominated at all for Best Foreign Language Film. How in the world? [This is a grown-ups movie.] Do The Right Thing (1989, R) - This landmark Spike Lee picture brings us the hottest day during some real tense times in Brooklyn's Bed-Stuy neighborhood. Spike Lee has never won an Academy Award, though he was given an honorary award in 2015. The only actor nominated for an Oscar for their work on this extraordinary film was Danny Aiello. [Older teens on this one. There a LOT going on in this one, and it will just be too much for kids.] His Girl Friday (1940, Unrated) - What a whirlwind this one is! Howard Hawks pushed the pace by having his hugely talented cast add glib extras and talk over each others. This popular, enduring film didn't manage a single nomination. Boo. [This one's pretty family friendly. Innuendo will go over the littles' heads.] The Maltese Falcon (1941, Unrated) - John Huston, an absolute film titan, here directs Humphrey Bogart in a spiny noir involving a detective, a dame, various criminals, and a bird statuette. The film got a few nominations, but lost out to How Green Was My Valley and the lesser known Here Comes Mr Jordan. [Little kids probably won't get any of the plot, but it's otherwise reasonably family friendly. There's smoking, drinking, and some 40s violence.] The Shining (1980, R) - This Stephen King adaptation has long been the source of tween nightmares and everyone being scared of Jack Nicholson's face, yet it garnered not one Oscar nod. Horror is one of those genres that simply isn't treated well by major awards, maybe to the detriment of all filmmaking. [I saw this first when I was about 7 years old. I can't watch Lakers games because Nicholson might be there. Maybe start with 12 year olds you really wanna spook.] The Shawshank Redemption (1994, R) - A man is wrongfully imprisoned at the Shawshank facility and chooses to deal with his new hardships by making friends and performing small kindnesses. What a picture! Unfortunately, this was in the running the same year as Forrest Gump, and somebody didn't know how to share. [This is a pretty rough one, even for teens. With trigger warnings for rape and prison guard beatings, I'd still say 17 and up.] Pulp Fiction (1994, R) - How in tarnation did Pulp Fiction, one of the most popular films on the planet, not win a single Oscar? Most especially unfair is Samuel L Jackson not winning Best Supporting Actor. Again- Forrest Gump doesn't share. [Most teens will probably be fine. This is a Quentin Tarantino film, so, you know...there's gonna be a lot of blood and language.] My Own Private Idaho (1991, R) - River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves are a couple of young hustlers, serving whatever clients come their way in Portland while going through the self-discoveries of coming of age. So many feels, helped by a gorgeous score. This one did splendidly at the Independent Spirit Awards, but got no Oscar nods. [This is pretty grown up material. Mature older teens and up.] A League Of Their Own (1992, PG) - This here is a fictionalized account of a team from the Women's Baseball League, featuring fun, heartfelt performances from Geena Davis, Lori Petty, Tom Hanks, Rosie O'Donnell, Madonna, and more. It's got everything a movie should have, and yet, the Academy did not agree. Well, they're wrong. [If you don't like this movie, you might be dead inside. All ages okay.] American Me (1992, R) - Edward James Olmos plays a Chicano gangster who goes directly from reform school to prison and emerges, eighteen years later, in a new world- one where all the violence in his life no longer makes sense. It's beautiful and visceral and it got no Oscar nods, which is just a shame. [This is rough. There's a ton of realistic physical and sexual violence. Grown ups only.] Fruitvale Station (2013, R) - This film is a day-in-the-life storytelling master class. The fact that it got no nominations proves that politics were interfering in art matters. It's only supposed to go the other way. [Older teens should be fine. Oscar Grant was killed while handcuffed by a BART cop in front of a full passenger train. This documents his last 24 hours.] The Kid Stays In The Picture (2002, R) - This documentary mirrors the autobiography of Robert Evans, legendary producer at Paramount and the first actor to ever run a film studio. This got nominations or wins at a huge amount of festivals and ceremonies, but zero Oscar nods. Sounds like hurt feelings, tbh. [There is quite a bit of language, but other than that it should probably be PG-13.] Children Of Men (2006, R) - This is one of the best science fiction movies of the century so far. In the near-ish future, women around the world have become infertile, no children have been born for nearly 20 years, and yet, miraculously, one woman becomes pregnant. In this world where humanity is actively dying, a former activist agrees to transport the potential mother of the future to a safe haven. This garnered nominations in adapted screenplay, cinematography, and editing, but won no awards. [This is a hard movie to watch, but I think teens can see the violence for what it is- indicative of the lengths to which any of us might go to survive.] In Bruges (2008, R) - After a job gone wrong, two hitmen are sent to cool off and await further instruction from their boss in Belgium, which is the end of the world for the younger man and a sweet refuge for the older, wiser partner. The smaller McDonagh brother directing Brendan Gleeson, Colin Farrell, and an excellent supporting cast makes for wacky movie magic, but the film was nominated for just the screenplay award, and didn't win. [There is a ton of language and strong, visceral violence. 16+.] Gran Torino (2008, R) - A curmudgeonly, racist Korean War veteran decides to reform his young Hmong neighbor when the kid tries to swipe the old man's Gran Torino. Against his will, he ends up connecting with the family and working to protect them from negative outside influences. Since when does a movie directed by and starring Clint Eastwood get no big nods? [There is a LOT of language, and quite a bit of violence. 16+.] Sin Nombre (2009, R) - A Hunduran young woman is traveling through Mexico on train tops with the ultimate goal of successfully crossing the border and gaining access to the US. The adventure could cost her her life. Is it worth it? We think the movie is, although it didn't secure even a Best Foreign Language Film nod. [This one is rough. There is a lot of realistic violence, including sexual violence, and some language. I'll say 16+, if they can handle brutality.] The Intouchables (2011, R) - A French millionaire becomes a quadriplegic in a paragliding accident and hires the uncouth African young man who just wants a signature on his unemployment paperwork. The challenge changes both of their lives and outlooks... even though it didn't sway the Academy into a single nomination. [This is a PG-13 movie plus f-words. Tweens and up should be fine.] Let The Right One In (2008, R) - This is a stark and startlingly human monster story, and should be viewed in its original language if at all possible. This is also one of the few movies that is hands down better than the book on which it is based! Where are the Oscars for directing, cinematography, adapted screenplay, and/or foreign language film? [This one is probably technically fine for tweens and up. Not a lot happens on screen, although there is some blood.] The Book Of Eli (2010, R) - In a post-apocalyptic world, one man traverses the country to protect a book he believes will save the remaining population. Denzel Washington should have a museum of Academy Awards with his name on them by now, honestly. [There is violence, that's for sure, but if you know it's coming I'd call this a 14+ movie.] Calvary (2014, R) - The elder McDonagh brother and Brendan Gleeson take another film outing together in this dry-witted, moodily shot story of a priest who has been threatened with death in the confession booth. [This is on the level of In Bruges; older teens will probably be okay with the violence, although they may not understand all the dialogue without the subtitles on.] Far From The Madding Crowd (2015, PG-13) - This is a beautiful adaptation of Thomas Hardy's novel, wherein Victorian England's Bathsheba Everdene must choose a suitor, sure, but also run her life in a manner most women of the time could not have accomplished. How did this not win a costuming award? [Eh, it's pretty family-friendly, as far as period piece romances go. Hardy is perhaps my least favorite author, but I still really liked this adaptation, so it's worth it if any of his books are assigned in school, too.] Creed (2015, PG-13) - Ryan Coogler and Michael B Jordan reunite for this new addition to the Rocky franchise- and it's good enough to be a franchise in its own right. Somehow, with a Black writer/director, male lead, and female lead, the only Oscar was for Sylvester Stallone in his supporting role. [If watching an actual boxing match is okay for your kids, watching this movie is probably okay too.] Blow Out (1981, R) - Brian De Palma combines with pre-horrible John Travolta to bring us the story of a sound artist who gets caught up with evidence of a murder. Nowadays films that show Hollywood a piece of itself get major awards, so not sure how this got left out. [There's some language, quite a bit of realistic violence, and some scenes of a sexual nature. I see why it's R, although exceptions could be made.] All these are just off the top! What do you think are some snubs we missed?