I just think that............. *gestures wildly to how Harrow experiences attraction* you know??????

Hello!! You mentioned Gwynn brainrot so here's a chance to ramble about her if you feel like it!! Or any of your girls who occupies your brain, really, they're all top tier

hehe thank you nero, i WILL.

gwynn is my knowledge cleric in a d&d campaign i've been playing in for almost three years (!!!). brief backstory speedrun is that she was an archaeologist pre-game, has always been absolutely in love with ancient cities/magic/technology and has always been a bit of a knowledge hungry bastard about it. she married a necromancer that she met in school (that's rena, the other half of my hubris lesbians tag) and they were inseparable shady little unethical research wives for years. this culminated in their joint attempt, two years before the game started, to resurrect a very powerful ancient city. to make a long story short gwynn got cold feet at the last minute and sabotaged the whole thing, which resulted in (what she thought was but did ultimately turn out not to be, it's all Very Complicated but they're working on it) rena's death.

so obviously that was all very traumatic and guilt-inducing and gwynn has spent the years since grappling with things like 'how far is too far in the pursuit of knowledge' and 'oh maybe i actually DON'T want to be a completely terrible person but that's really goddamn hard sometimes' and so on and so forth. lots of fun little dilemmas in her life but fundamentally her main defining trait has always been and will always be her curiosity; she's never been able to resist a mystery, she loves to learn and ask questions and Know Things. which has bitten her in the ass many times in and out of game but it's just so goddamn fun to play!!

she and her party are currently in a very mysterious town, where they initially went to gather intel on this one dude who's this super mysterious menacing figure whose presence has been felt the entire campaign even though we've never actually met him. but the town has so much OTHER weird shit going on and there are so many little things that are so connected and it's so fun to lose myself in gwynn because she's going FERAL over it. girl is at her happiest when she has a mystery to solve (and having a distraction from the shitshow that is her personal life is a bonus lol) and it's so fun puzzling through things as her.

Legacies Boss Says Josie and Jade's Romance 'Felt Right'

[Warning: The following contains spoilers for the latest episode of Legacies, read at your own risk!]

Legacies has never been afraid to try out off-the-wall concepts for special episodes, which is probably why this week's film noir adventure felt like par for the course. What could have been a cheesy filler episode actually turned into a hilariously wild ride that still managed to deliver a few huge developments in the overarching storyline.

As part of a magical therapy exercise, the kids found themselves in a black-and-white murder mystery simulation that was supposed to help them deal with the trauma they've all been through this season. Unfortunately, Dark Josie (Kaylee Bryant) wasn't in the healing mood, and she decided to slowly but surely kill off everyone else in the game — vven Jade (Giorgia Whigham), who Josie has clearly developed an attraction to (an attraction that's totally reciprocated, by the way.)

They all made it out of the simulation, but not even Alaric's (Matthew Davis) underground cage could hold Josie, and now she's officially on the loose. TV Guide spoke to executive producer Brett Matthews about those vibes between Josie and Jade, Raf's (Peyton Alex Smith) mysterious connection to the Necromancer (Ben Geurens), and how worried we should be about Dark Josie's new supervillain status.

Where did the idea to do a film noir episode come from in the first place?

Brett Matthews: Well, we always start from a place of character, and we have some interesting character journeys going on right now. And it felt like it was a good time. One of the great things Legacies loves is to do these sort of format-break episodes. We knew our characters had sort of a lot of emotional trauma over the course of the season, and specifically coming out of episodes 12 and 13, which were sort of throwback, Vampire Diaries-style, intense episodes, that this notion of, of a group therapy project came about. Of course, it becomes magical therapy, and that sort of got us to the box.

Then it was about what genre sort of felt right, and we pitched on a lot of things. As the calendar to having to make the episode drew closer, film noir is just something that's really important to me and has been since I went to Wesleyan University. There's a an amazing woman there named Jeanine Basinger, who founded that film program, and she teaches classes by genre. That noir class she taught is just something that's going to stay with me forever, so it really is a love letter to that and those times. Noir thematics are so consistent, and it just lended itself to everything we were trying to do. When we break format, like to break format big, and so the opportunity to actually do a black and white episode as a black and white episode to sort of limit ourselves to the production techniques of the time and to really try to shoot it as if it were made during the period was just sort of a cherry on top of everything else and too get an opportunity to pass up.

When you told the cast about it, who was most excited and who took to it most naturally?

Matthews: Julie was like, "This is amazing, none of the cast is going to have any idea what you're talking about." I don't think that's necessarily true of everyone, but, you know, we did pull a couple sort of seminal noir films that we shared with the cast that sort of represented the archetype that they would be portraying. And you know what? They did their homework, and they really did just sort of lock in and understand that we were going for them playing the roles as if it was genuine. It's not characters playing characters, they don't have self-awareness in this moment. So they really are playing the type, and everybody just really, really embraced it and dove in.

It was such a joy to shine a light on our hair and makeup and wardrobe departments to really let them cut loose. So much of what we do is beauty work and they make the kids look amazing week in and week out, but this is one of those rare chances where they really get to be the star of the show along with the stars of our show. And under Mike Karasick's direction, who's our Director of Photography most weeks, but has directed for us going back to The Vampire Diaries — it was just sort of a perfect creative storm to make this happen. He was definitely the right person to direct it, and everybody was totally willing and gave him 110 percent, and I think it shows.

Now that Dark Josie has taken over, is real Josie still in there somewhere?

Matthews: In the same way dark Josie was always with Josie, Josie's probably in there somewhere, but she is not the one at the controls at the end of Episode 14. At the end of this episode, Dark Josie declares herself a supervillain, and that is going to be her path as we head into the next episode. It is going to have a profound impact on our characters and on the school. And we'll learn a lot more about what she wants, and why she wants it, and the lengths she's willing to go to get it.

What can you say about how the Super Squad is going to deal with this, especially given the twins 17th birthday is right around the corner?

Matthews: Yeah, that's going to be a real problem. Their idea of what Josie and Lizzie's (Jenny Boyd) birthday party should be is probably going to differ greatly from Dark Josie's, and it's a really good villainous turn... It's really exciting. Big moves happen in that one, and you will understand better Josie's agenda. Dark Josie really is just this reaction against the Josie we know and love, which is always helping people, often to the detriment of herself. Dark Josie is that side of your personality that says, "this is not right," — that selfish side that she usually represses so deeply because she is so selfless. But when that runs wild, it is going to be all about her and what she wants and how she wants it, and that's obviously a title shift from how she normally operate. That wave is going to be felt.

Speaking of what she wants, I did love to see something sparking between Jade and Josie this episode. What can you say about that pair and where they're headed?

Matthews: We really like that story. Giorgia Whigham is somebody who I worked with on Scream and have always just thought very highly of and thought played really well into those prison world episodes. They're two characters that have history, and so we want to explore that side of Josie in the same way we want to explore romantic opportunities with all of our characters. It just felt right as people who had shared history, who met in really extreme and intense circumstances. It was just something we wanted to look deeper into, and so it is a nice little story that will sort of play out over the coming episodes. We're excited. It's two really good actresses doing really good work and we love that dynamic.

Something is clearly off with Rafael. What can you say anything about what he's going through and how the Necromancer might be involved?

Matthews: We begin this mystery with Rafael in this episode, and it is a mystery that will play out over the course of the next couple episodes and has a real profound effect on the season, on the character, and on his relationships with all the other characters. Raf's obviously been a little in and out this season, and he's been out spending time with his father. Now that he's back, his presence is really going to shift us into the end run of the show. Like I said, it's a mystery so I don't want to give away too much but, generally speaking, if the Necromancer is involved, it's not awesome. So the question is why and what, and how did whatever happened between him and Rafael happen? That's a story that will really play out and and really influence the end run of the season.

How much of a problem is Hope's (Danielle Rose Russell) fear that she's going to have to pick someone or something over Landon (Aria Shahghasemi) going to be for that relationship?

Matthews: I think that's always Hope's existential crisis, right? It's like she wants to love people, but she's afraid to let her self love people. The show goes as Hope goes, and so that dilemma is going to be very front and center. Landon's new powers are sort of putting it to the test, and so it really is Hope's trauma. Having love lost so many times and having felt it so deeply, knowing what it does to her, can she allow herself to love knowing that in the world that these characters inhabit, love very well could become loss again? If she loses what she believes is kind of her soulmate, would she ever be able to recover from that, and does she believe that not loving is a safer solution? I think that's always in the character, and it's certainly something we will see more of, and it is a decision she will have to make by season's end.

Legacies airs Thursdays at 9/8c on The CW.

Sure honey. :) As long as you don’t mind it being a very early draft. 

Lucille the Lady of the Sun laid in her bed. Her guildmaster and friend, Momonga sent her another message reading, I’ll end it in the throne room.

Lucille—although her true name was Umina Hanako—replied, I’ll be staying in the tower, if that’s okay.

Momonga responded affirmatively, and Lucille returned her gaze towards her makeshift ceiling. Lucille, one of the guild officers of Ainz Ooal Gown, awaited for the final moments of one of her treasured experiences in her entire existence. Yggdrasil had been all she had known for the past ten plus years of her life, and the fact that it was coming to a close weighed heavily on her. 

Hanako had never been comfortable leaving her home, which was why she worked as a freelance programmer. She didn’t leave the comfort of her apartment, not even for groceries. Everything came to her front door, or it did not come at all. The only socializing she got was through her clients, or her guildmates. Unfortunately, over the years the guild had been on a steady decline mirroring Yggdrasil’s own downfall. It wasn’t terribly surprising that a year after most of their guildmates had left—for one reason or another—the game announced its shutdown. 

Only she and Momonga remained of Ainz Ooal Gown. The kind guildmaster had been a bit of a recluse himself in the outside world, and preferred the virtual reality Yggdrasil provided instead. For Hanako—Lucille—she couldn’t imagine giving up the virtual paradise she had created for herself within Yggdrasil. 

Indeed, she already planned on copying everything she had created and implementing her own private server when she had the chance.

But now was not the time for that. 

Lucille the Lady of the Sun had been the guild’s appointed top researcher. She created her own tower at the heart of Nazarick—the entrance behind the throne room—where she indulged in fascinating experiments. The laws of Yggdrasil were easily manipulated and fun to play with. It was in her arcane tower that she personally created each resident in Nazarick.

Certainly each guildmate came to her with the proper ingredients and instructions on what to make, but it was Lucille who crafted their bodies and expertly programmed them—because no guild member was as advanced with programming as she. 

Her fellow guildmates were still considered the “fathers” of creations she made, though. But she was their “mother.” Each resident was carefully crafted, filled with macros designated to utilize their build to the fullest. 

Her children, her creations, were one of the biggest reasons why Hanako / Lucille could not bear to part with Yggdrasil. Hanako had no family, no true friends, and she knew she would never be able to be a part of a “normal” family if she tried. She was too awkward and socially uncomfortable with other humans, that the idea of interacting with them face-to-face typically caused a low-level anxiety attack. 

Lucille let out a soft sigh and turned her head toward one of her three personal creations. Bodolf was a werewolf who remained in his wolfman form. He was tall, nearly seven feet, and intimidating for all who glanced towards him. He was her strongest fighter, one of the most powerful Guardians Nazarick held. He was one of the arcane tower floor Guardians, but in terms of raw-combat skill he was matched only by Cocyutus. 

He, like all werewolves, was physically powerful and dangerously fast. But, unlike other werewolves he could not shift between forms and remained stuck as something in between due to how Lucille distributes his skill points. He was made to fight like a berserker after a certain point was reached, and every blood he drank and flesh he devoured would translate as direct healing. His ultimate ability was invulnerability for three seconds—which while it wasn’t much at first glance, tactically it could be used for any number of things.

His fur was a warm brown, and his golden eyes held a sense of gentlemanly honor. For while he was a brute in battle, he was an honorable warrior like Cocytus at heart. He was programmed to be devoted towards his Lady, prioritizing her well-being above all else. 

Bodolf’s fellow guardian was a floating purple cat by the name of Cheshire, designed to look nearly identical to Disney’s Alice in Wonderland's own mischievous cat. Cheshire, who rested beside Lucille in bed, was expertly skilled in illusions, capable of creating illusions so powerful that the victims experienced honest psychosomatic symptoms to what they saw and felt. He could kill someone with ease if he made them believe they had lost their head.  

Like Bodolf, though, his loyalty and devotion was towards the Lady of the Sun, Lucille. He was created to comfort her in times of stress, he was made to create beautiful and charming illusions for Lucille—Hanako—to use as escapes from reality. 

Lucille adored her guards. She loved them like they were her own children.

She loved all of her creations like they were her own.

And while it wasn’t really necessary—for they were merely numbers on a screen, really—she programmed them to feel calmed by her presence when distressed. It was such a small and purely role-playing detail that none of her guildmates protested to her putting it. Touch Me even joked that she really was their mother, and it was he who first started calling her the Mother of Nazarick.

In many ways he was correct. The creations of Nazarick that she forged were made with all of her heart, and all of her love. She took her time with each one, painstakingly rewriting errors for hours upon hours at a time. 

Losing them, despite them not being real, felt like a bit of her heart was being ripped out. 

Lucille looked over sharply at Jack, her final personal creation.

As an avid roleplayer Lucille had gone on numerous “adventures” with massively wide-ranging genres. From horror, to humor, to even romance. The issue was that Lucille was not someone comfortable with romance—and it was largely the same with many of her dedicated roleplayers. Especially since many of them were married in real life. 

Now while romance was not a requirement to go on a fun adventure, every now and then they liked to spice it up.

But how did one go about doing such without causing stress to their real life partner—or in Lucille’s case avoid awkward social interactions—they asked?

The answer came easily: NPCs.

It was simple to claim such and such was their secret lover or spouse. They could be used as bargaining chips against enemies; blackmail materials for rogues; or to be used as part of the background.

That was why Lucille created Jack. She wanted her character to—to have what she could not in reality. She wanted a proper family. She wanted loyal friends. She wanted a significant other who would never leave her side.

And thusly she created Jack the Reaver; an undead mage with the necromancer class (thusly making him a lich). His lore stated he was Nazzarack’s top researcher, a genius when it came to the magical arts. He served as Lucille’s “right hand” in the arcane tower of Nazzarack. 

He was made to be deeply in love with her, loyal to her above all else. 

It was—It was rather nice. Lucille knew he wasn’t real, of course, but sometimes when she was caught up in one of her adventures she could forget about that. She could genuinely believe that for the first time in decades there was someone waiting for her to come home.

Someone who wanted her to come home.

She looked him over, taking note of his necromancer garb. She wanted him to scream archetype evil necromancer; thusly giving him dark thick pants, black tunic, and a thick black robe that split down the middle below the waist to cover it all. His hands were covered in black gloves, but she knew from writing his lore that his right hand would be entirely skeletal. 

His face was pale with death, and held empty eyesockets. He had stitches on either side of his mouth, giving the impression of an eerie permanent grin. His nose, like all undead, had decayed away.

The only thing that contradicted his undead nature was the bundle of pale white messy hair on top of him. 

She could have made him handsome.

She could have made him ideal for most women.

But she didn’t. Instead she rolled some dice to see what species and class he would be (she rolled 4 for undead, and 6 for mage) went with it. 

After all, she only needed him for roleplaying purposes. 

(Not that she put any stock into appearances. When you looked like she did in real life you couldn’t care about that kind of thing without crippling your self esteem.) 

Lucille turned away from him, looking up at her “enchanted” ceiling courtesy of Blue Planet for her thirtieth birthday. 

She watched the permanent night sky sparkle brilliantly, and for a brief moment Lucille wished she was actually there in Nazarick. 

She wished she was actually laying on that bed.

She wished she could reach out and touch what was left of her family.

That she could be with those who wouldn’t leave her.

She wished she wouldn’t be alone anymore.

Lucille was painfully tired of watching all of those she had come to care for leave her. The only friend that she counted as really staying until the end was Momonga, and with only thirty seconds left on the server he too would be gone from her life.

She would be alone again.

Lucille’s eyes blurred, and she knew her physical counterpart was likely crying. She blinked back the tears and turned to look up at the ceiling. Her chambers were at the top of the arcane tower, and specially enchanted to look like the night sky. Her bedroom wasn’t spacious like many of the others, because she essentially used the entire tower as her chambers.

Oh, sure, her fellow guildmates utilized some of the facilities and could come and go as they pleased, but it was Lucille who dominated most of it. 

Bodolf was sitting beside her pale golden colored bed, his clawed furred-covered hands tucked neatly into his lap. His gaze was pointed upwards at the sky.

Lucille saw Cheshire move in the corner of her eye, and she turned to see the cat had re-settled on her pillow, his eyes half open.

Lucille felt a sigh escape her lips.

And the countdown… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…

Lucille closed her eyes, and then everything changed.

Suddenly she could feel the sheets beneath her, could hear the gentle breathing of two of her creations, and she felt unnaturally warm. Lucille the Lady of the Sun shifted in her bed, her eyes wide.

She—

She felt.

The silken sheets were warm beneath her, and both Cheshire and Bodolf turned their inquisitive gazes towards her.

She reached up her black-gloved hand towards her face and felt the mask she typically wore. Lucille pulled off the mask, turning it around to face her. The red and black dragon-faced mask stared back at her, and she touched it in disbelief.

Lucille tried to call up the user interface of Yggdrasil, but nothing came up. She tried to message Momonga, but she couldn’t pull up any of the system. Typically if there was such an error a gamemaster would send out mass-messages, but—

The game was meant to be turned off.

How as she here?

Lucille turned towards Cheshire, who was nearest to her, and reached out a hand. “Che-Cheshire?”

Even her voice was different. It was her programmed avatar’s voice, not her actual voice. Still, she felt her vocal cords vibrate upon use, and heard it with her own ears. That cat stood up, ears cocked towards her in an obvious gesture of concern. “Mother?”

Lucille’s hand touched the soft fur of the purple and pink striped cat, and she stroked his cheek.

He’s real. I can feel him. No way.

She turned her head towards Bodolf, and reached towards him. Bodolf, seeming to sense her desire, bowed his massive wolf-like head towards her. She touched his forehead and gently stroked his cheek.

I feel them...?

Bodolf’s coarse voice broke her thoughts, “Lady? Are you well?”

“I-I-um.” Lucille fell silent, uncertain of what to say. She could scarcely believe it was real. Never in her wildest dreams could she imagine—

“My lady?” Jack inquired, his soft voice immediately drawing her attention towards him.

“A-Ah,” Lucille squeaked out, then her hands flew up to touch her own lips and cheek. 

I can feel?! 

Panicked Lucille immediately tried to pull up her console or contact a GM, but failed. “I-I? I-I?”

“Mother?” Cheshire asked, crawling onto the bed and tilting his adorable head. The dark purple and blue striped cat dressed in a witch hat and cloak had a deeply concerned look on his face. His long tail moved from side to side, and he placed a gentle paw on Lucille’s leg.

This can’t be—There’s no game—? How? Did I die? Or—Or have I…?

“Bodolf,” Lucille abruptly said, looking over at the werewolf dressed in golden armor, “Bodolf please affirm Nazarick’s surroundings.”

The massive werewolf bowed his head. “It will be done, my lady.”

When he left the room Lucille watched him in astonishment. I can give orders to the NPCs outside of their list of commands? I can feel them. I can smell them. I—This has to mean…

Lucille looked over at Jack, caught off guard by the level of intensity he stared at her. She felt a blush rise to her cheeks, unintentionally hugging Cheshire closer to her chest. 

That’s right I—I made him to be in love with me. He’s meant to be Lucille’s consort. 

She managed to look away, choosing instead to assess her surroundings. Everything looks exactly like in the game. I wonder if it’s possible to use my abilities?

Lucille was a healer; classified as a Sun Priestess. Since she was of the demon race the only way she could be a healer was through becoming a Sun Priestess, or Moon Priest. As her Avatar was female, she went with the traditional Sun Priestess. 

They were powerful raid healers with a unique passive called Sun’s Touch. Sun’s Touch essentially allowed 75% of the damage the Priestess did to their targets to convert to healing allies. So, if Lucille attacked a target and did 100 damage to it, her allies would be healed for 75. This effect lessened the further away the allies were from the target, with max range being 90M (in game) to 15%. 

It was this passive that made Sun Priestesses so viable in every expansion, because not only did they heal but they contributed to DPS. 

It would be hard to confirm if she had such ability unless NPCs could be counted as allies?

Or—wait—Momonga was also waiting for the server shut down. Is he here?

Lucille raised a hand up to her temple.

Message to Momonga: Momonga? Are you… here?

From Momonga: Lucille?! You’re here, too? Where are you?

To Momonga: I’m in my tower with Cheshire and Jack. I sent Bodolf out to survey Nazarick.

From Momonga: Ho? Lucille—meet me in the arena. I want to see if we can use our abilities.

To Momonga: Okay. I’ll meet you there. 

Lucille placed Cheshire out of her lap and back onto the bed. “I-I’m going to the arena. J-Jack, please accompany me.”

Jack bowed to her, placing a hand over his dead heart. “Of course, my lady.”

Lucille scooted out of her large bed, smoothing down her robes. They were beautiful, she thought. They were the robes of the High Sun Priestess, exclusive drops only one person per server could obtain along with the mount. They were mostly white with red and gold accents and pretty designs. 

It was certainly odd to look down and see a smaller body than what she was used to. Her race was that of a demon, but she had distributed points to allow her avatar to take on two different forms similar to many of her guildmates, and some of the guardians. Her base form was a lithe and tiny, barely coming up to 150CM. This made it ideal for dodging attacks—a necessity for all healers. It was mesomorphic (humanoid) in shape, allowing her access to armor that would otherwise be unavailable in her true form. Her eyes, like all demons, were a scarlet red with slitted pupils like a cat. Her hair was a warm cinnamon brown pulled up in a messy bun in the back with a few curled bangs hanging freely on either side of her face. 

It was an aesthetically pleasing avatar in this form, and so it was the form that she was most often in (plus it was the only form she could wear her extremely hard to grind for gear that she was hecka proud of). 

Her true form was the exact opposite. Massive, covered in flames, fur, and scales, it looked like a cross between a demonic dragon and a cat. It screamed intimidation, horror, and monstrosity. In that form, she lost the ability to wear armor, or use weapons, but her damage output rose significantly. She became a glass canon. Excellent for necessary parts in a raid where they had to burst down HP, or opening up in PVP on a cc’d enemy. 

But not ideal for everyday gameplay. She was too vulnerable without armor. 

She reached up and hesitantly poked at the black horns that curled on either side of her head. 

That’s going to take some getting used to, she mentally noted. 

 A far cry from the obese body she used to have.

She stood up from the bed, brushing out nonexistent wrinkles in her robes. 

Jack straightened up to his full height beside her, and she glanced up at him, feeling distinctly small in comparison to his tall figure. He continued to look at her in a way that made her want to sprint in the opposite direction.

Lucille had never been in a relationship before.

She hadn’t even had someone like her that way before. She had never been pretty, sociable, or anything less than extremely awkward. It was largely why she became a programmer in high school.

Not because she liked programming; but, because it would allow her to work from home. She started taking commissions for small indie games, making enough money to barely support herself. She got scholarships to go to an online college, and using what little money her parents had left for her she did everything on her own. She got a small apartment, worked commissions, and got a degree in computer science engineering, with certificates in programming, security, and IT. 

She kept working through commissions until she found a job that let her work from home. 

Then she… rarely ever left home. Groceries were delivered to her, she had a decent sized balcony for the exceedingly rare occasion she wanted to step outside. 

She had no family, no friends. All of her relationships existed online.

It could get lonely at times, she would privately admit to herself, but the thought of leaving her apartment gave her such a strong fit of anxiety she simply couldn’t bring herself to do it.

Talking with people face to face was an impossibility. 

Even working up the courage to do voice chat took years. 

So having someone look at her in such a manner was downright unnerving. She couldn’t blame him since she made him to do exactly that, but she was so painfully unused to it.

(To be frank she was amazed she wasn’t having an anxiety attack, she wondered if it was perhaps because of her new body?)

Lucille headed out of her bedroom, climbing down the stairs of the arcane tower with Jack closely behind her. She remembered partway down that she could simply use the ring to teleport, but she thought that might be rude since she had personally asked Jack to accompany her and he could not teleport. 

Besides, she wanted to properly see Nazarick.

(She did send a quick message to Momonga that she would be taking the longer way through, and not to wait for her to test his abilities.)

When she exited the tower she briefly glanced back at Jack. “Jack?”

“Yes, my lady?”

“Do you—Do you, um—Do you—” Lucille stumbled over her words, before she shook her head. 

Why am I acting like this? I’m Lucille now. I’m Lucille. I have nothing to be shy, or anxious about. This is—

This is the start of another adventure. A big, final one. One to put every other DnD, or Yggdrasil RP session to shame.

I am Lucille.

“Are you in love with me?” Lucille asked him, keeping her voice from wavering.

Jack smiled at her. “Yes.”

Her heart thumped loudly inside of her chest at his casual admission. Experienced roleplayer or not being blatantly confessed to was stressful. It made her stomach heave, and a shot of adrenaline caused her steps to miss a beat.

How would Lucille respond?

Well, Lucille loves Jack, Lucille thought to herself. But I—He’s the equivalent of an anime crush! It’s nice to admire from afar and pretend, but in person it’s hard not to freak out.

Lucille settled for blushing and looking away again. She resolved to let things progress slowly and go from there. He may have been programmed to love her for all of eternity, but that didn’t mean he actually would now that he was alive. 

And Lucille would probably give herself a heart attack if she tried to instigate a relationship. 

The two traveled in relative silence, save their footsteps. 

.

The two met Momonga on the way to the arena, as her friend had also decided to walk to the arena rather than teleport. When they met each other, there was a moment of silence before Lucille started to ask some questions. 

Turning to Momonga she switched to English, “Can you access the interface?”

Momonga hesitated a moment, as his English was rustier than hers. “No. I-I was able to touch Abledo’s breasts.”

Definitely impossible to do in game. 

Lucille didn’t think she would have had the courage to try something similar, she mentally applauded her fellow socially awkward friend for his bravery. 

Lucille’s eyes widened briefly. “We really are not in the game anymore, are we?”

“I don’t think so.”

The two guildmates fell silent. Lucille crossed her arms over her chest, and shifted anxiously. She could feel the curious gazes of the Jack on both of them, and she realized how odd it must seem to him—to all Guardians.

How much do they remember? What do they remember? Do they act as programmed? What about us? What can we do?

“I ordered Sebas to look around. If—” Momonga hesitated, then decided it would be best to switch back to English. “If we aren’t in the game, we may not even be in Yggdrasil.”

The thought hadn’t even crossed her mind. Lucille let out a soft gasp. “We must assemble the Guardians. We need to see what situation we are in.”

“I already told Albedo to call for them.”

“We should test some of our powers at the arena,” Lucille immediately said, wanting to keep the conversation going as they walked. “If—If we are here, then there may be powerful enemies we may have to fight.”

“You’re right,” Momonga agreed.. “How are you, Lucille?”

“This feels like a dream,” she confessed. 

“But how is this possible?”

“I don’t know. If we really are here, I suppose anything’s possible. Do you know the multiverse theory?” “Of sorts,” Momonga responded. “Infinite possibilities is the gist, though, right?”

“Yes.”

Momonga hesitated, switching back to English. “I-I rewrote Albedo’s programming.”

Lucille glanced over towards Momonga, raising an eyebrow in surprise. She had created each NPC to be easily reprogrammed if need be. She was surprised Momonga would bother with such a thing, though. “To what?”

“I-I put that she was in love with me,” he whispered shamefully.

Lucille laughed. “Oh my! Tabula-senpai would be so mad!”

“I know…”

“But if anyone were to be with his precious Albedo, I’m sure he’d be glad it’s you,” Lucille finished, a teasing glint in her eyes. They had reached the arena, and she added, “As her creator, I expect you to treat her well!”

“Uhum—um—-uh—”

While her friend stumbled over his words, flustered from her teasing, Lucille looked up at the beautiful dark sky in the arena and let out a soft sigh of appreciation. She always admired the beauty of nature, even if Hanako was too afraid to ever try to be a part of it.

They made it partway through the arena floor before Aura leapt off one of the balconies and rushed towards them. The dark elf child sprinted towards them with a grin. “Lord Momonga! Lady Lucille! Welcome to the floor which we guard.”

“We will intrude for a while,” Momonga told her.

“What are you saying? You are the lord of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, and our precious Lady of the Sun! There is no one that would ever consider you intruding,” Aura insisted with her boyish charm.

Lucille couldn’t resist reaching out a hand and touching the top of Aura’s head. Aura blushed happily at the gesture. “Where is dear Mare?”

Aura turned back towards the balcony. “Oi, Mare! You’re being rude to Lady Lucille and Lord Momonga! Hurry up and get down here.”

“I-I can’t,” came Mare’s weak response.

“Ma-are!”

“F-Fine,” Aura’s twin brother answered. Mare leapt down and stumbled a bit on landing, adjusting his skirt before running over towards the trio. Upon reaching them he curtsied. “I-I am very sorry for making you wait, Lord Momonga, and Lady.”

“Mn,” Momonga grunted. “We came today to have the two of you help us with something.”

Lucille reached over and patted Mare’s head. Mare blushed. Lucille smiled at both children. “We have also called the guardians here. They will arrive in about an hour.”

“Huh? Is Shalltear coming as well?”

“You’ll get along for us won’t you?” Lucille asked.

“O-Of course Lady,” Aura responded quickly. Lucille smiled kindly at her, fondness in her eyes. It seemed that against all odds Lucille would get to keep a bit of her family. 

Momonga expressed his desire to test out the sacred Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown. Aura brought out two beasts that set up wooden poles, and then she and her brother stood to the side to watch. Lucille took the opportunity to test her wings, and summoned forth her great bat-like leathery wings from her lower back. There were two tiny slits in the back of her armor that allowed the wings to attach to her lower back, and with one sharp flap Lucille took to the sky.

Flying, she realized, was rather delightful. It felt marvelous to feel the air tickle her hooves, and the feeling of weightlessness was pleasant. Her wings stretched out and she could feel the magic radiating from them that allowed her to stay in one place. Momonga watched her from below then turned towards the wooden posts. 

Momonga stretched the staff towards the posts. “Summon: Primal Fire Elemental.”

The jewels on the staff glowed and fire erupted from the staffs, twisting and conforming into a massive fire elemental, easily in the upper eighties in terms of level. Lucille watched it form with wide eyes, the fire lapping the air around her. 

As a demon—more specifically a Fire Nymph Demon—Lucille had a special resistance and affinity for fire. The fire was entirely harmless to her unless it was of equal level or above (but she had an extreme vulnerability to water-type attacks, which was why her armor was specially enchanted against such attacks). 

“Aura, would you like to fight it?” Momonga inquired.

Aura’s eyes brightened. “Eh? Can I?”

“U-Um, I just remembered something I need to,” Mare said hesitantly, staring to inch away.

Aura grabbed her brother. “Mare!”

“Eh?!”

But there was no dissuading Aura. She grabbed Mare and dragged him towards the elemental, while Momonga used Fly to join Lucille in the sky. 

“It looks like using magic isn’t an issue here,” Momonga commented, watching as the twins began to fight the creature of fire.

Lucille pulled out one of her twin swords, the obsidian blade gleaming in the light. She channelled a bit of her magic inside of it and it bloomed to life with hellfire. “Indeed. I can call upon wings, and use magic in my blades.”

Momonga raised a clawed skeletal hand towards his forehead. Lucille felt a small twinge.

A heartbeat of silence fell between the two companions. Then Momonga twitched. “Ah—Sebas picked up, somehow.”

Lucille looked at him in interest. Momonga verbalized his conversation with Sebas. “Sebas? How do things look on the outside?” A heartbeat of silence as Sebas answered. “I see. I have called all the guardians to gather. Come to the amphitheater on the sixth floor immediately and report what you saw.”

Momonga’s hand fell away and the two returned their attention towards the twins who were still fighting the elemental. It wasn’t long before they defeated it, though, and both guildmates lowered themselves to the ground to greet the out-of-breath elves. 

“You did well,” Lucille praised her children.

“Thank you! I haven’t exercised this much in a while,” Aura answered, wiping sweat from her brow. 

“Mn. You must be thirsty,” Momonga commented, pulling a pitcher of water from his infinity bag. Following soon afterwards he pulled out two glasses and gave each twin one before filling it up with cool water. 

The twins drank the refreshing water quickly.

“I thought Lord Momonga would be scarier,” Mare confessed quietly. 

“I can be scarier if you’d like,” Momonga offered.

“No, no, no, how you are is best,” Aura responded swiftly. 

Lucille laughed quietly at that. “And do you think I am scary?”

“Lady is the kindest of all,” Aura declared. 

“Don’t you know how scary demons can be?” Lucille asked with a wry smile, touched by the compliment.

A purplish red gate appeared and a coy voice called out. “My, am I the first?” 

Shalltear stepped out and the gate closed behind her, a serene smile on her face. She approached the group slowly, carrying her favorite umbrella and being sure not to ruffle her dress. 

“Ah!” Shalltear breathed out, rushing towards Momonga and reaching up to grab his face. “The one beloved man I cannot rule above.”

“Shalltear,” Lucille greeted her, and the true vampire withdrew herself immediately from Momonga and turned towards Lucille. Lucille stretched out a hand towards her and Shalltear eagerly placed her head in it. “Hello, dear girl.”

“Precious mother,” Shalltear greeted in earnest. 

“Give it rest,” Aura cut in. 

Shalltear sneered at Aura. “Oh, little shorty. You were here?” Aura flushed. “It must be difficult, Mare, to have such a crazy older sister.”

“Fake boobs.”

Shalltear seized, withdrawing away from Lucille to cover her chest. “What?!”

“Looks like I was right,” Aura chuckled. “That’s why you went through the trouble of using a gate to get here. You were in a hurry, but since you overstuffed your breasts they would shift if you ran.”

“Shut your mouth,” Shalltear shrieked. “You have nothing yourself!”

“I’m still only 76, but you’re an undead. It must be tough having no more chance to grow. Why don’t you just accept what you have now?”

“You bitch—!”

“Children,” Lucille cut in, and both immediately fell silent, looking properly chastised.  

It wasn’t terrible much longer that the other guardians arrived; Cocytus, Demigure, Albedo, Bodolf, and Cheshire. They assembled before the two guild members and Albedo stepped forward.

In a soft, steely voice she called out, “Now, everyone. To our supreme leader, and cherished mother, the ritual of fidelity.”

Shalltear stepped forward first. “The guardian of the first, second, and third floors, Shalltear Bloodfallen.” She kneeled and placed her right hand over her non-existent heart. “I bow before the supreme ones.”

“The guardian of the fifth floor, Cocytus,” Cocytus stepped forwards, his booming rough voice echoed across the arena. He kneeled. “I bow before the supreme ones.”

“The guardian of the sixth floor Aura Bella Fiora.”

“A-Also the guardian of the sixth floor, Mare Bello Fiore,” Mare added on.

As one the twins kneeled, placing their hands over the hearts. “We bow before the supreme ones.”

Demigure moved forward next. “The guardian of the seventh floor, Demigure.” He kneeled. “I bow before the supreme ones.”

“Guardian of the arcane tower,” Bodolf stepped forward, “Bodolf Ravager.”

“Guardian of the arcane tower,” Cheshire purred, gently floating to the ground. “Cheshire Moratorium.”

“Guardian of the arcane tower,” Jack softly intoned, “Jack the Reaver.”

Together they kneeled and said, “We bow before the supreme ones.”

“The leader of the guardians, Albedo.” Albedo kneeled. “I bow before the supreme ones. Other than the guardian of the fourth floor, Gargantua, and the guardian of the eighth floor, Victim, all the guardians have gathered to bow before you. Please bestow your orders upon us, Supreme Ones. We offer our complete loyalty to you.”

As Momonga was the leader and technically above Lucille, he would have to be the one to respond to them. 

Momonga’s racial trait began to leak out a bit, and Lucille shifted. Is he doing it on purpose? He may not have complete control over it. The dark aura manifested in black shadowy magic rising off him like steam. “Raise your heads. You all did well to gather here. Thank you.”

“Your thanks is wasted upon us. We here have all pledged ourselves to you,” Abledo said passionately. “Lord Momonga, and Lady Lucille, you may find us lacking; however, we vow to work hard and live up to the expectations of the supreme beings who created us.”

“We vow this,” the other guardians echoed behind her.   

“Wonderful, floor guardians! I—no, we—are confident that all of you will be able to fulfill your duties without fail. Now then, right now the Great Tomb of Nazarick is caught up in an unknown situation. We already had Sebas and Bodolf survey our surroundings—”

We turned towards Sebas and Bodolf, who was waiting off the side. They approached the duo and kneeled before explaining what they had discovered.

“Grasslands?” Lucille echoed in surprise upon his explanation.

“Yes. Completely different from the swamps that surrounded the Great Tomb of Nazarick. I could not confirm a single building, human, or monster in a one kilometer radius.”

“Then Nazarick has been transported to an unknown land for some reason,” Momonga concluded, sharing a look with Lucille.

For the same reason we are here, then? Lucille wondered, and she knew Momonga would wonder that, too.    

Momonga face the guardians once more. “Floor guardian leader, Albedo, as well as the defensive leader, Demiurge; create a stronger information sharing system and fortify our defenses.”

Lucille cocked her head. “Bodolf, take Aura with you and further scout the land. We need to know if there are any immediate threats in the area.”

Momonga nodded towards his companion. “Good call. Mare, is there a way to conceal the Great Tomb of Nazarick?”

“I-It would be difficult using just magic, but if we covered the walls with dirt and concealed ourselves with vegetation.”

Albedo’s low voice growled out, “You want to smear the glorious Nazarick walls with dirt?”

“Albedo, don’t make unnecessary remarks.”

“Yes. I am very sorry, Lord Momonga.” 

“Is it possible to conceal ourselves by covering our walls with dirt?” Momonga inquired. 

“Ye-es. As long as you allow it, however—”

“Yes a random mound would look unnatural. Sebas were there any hills around the area?”

“No. Unfortunately we are surrounded by flatlands.

“I see. Then what would happen if we made dummy hills in the area?”

“I believe we would blend in with such a surrounding.”

“All right, then that’s what we’ll do. Afterwards, we will hide the open areas that we cannot cover with illusions. And lastly, I wanted to ask each floor guardian something. First, Shalltear: What kind of person is Lucille to you? What kind of person am I to you?”

Lucille glanced towards Momonga curious to why he would ask that.

Shalltear blushed. “Lady Lucille and Lord Momonga are the crystallization of beauty. They are the most beautiful creations to have ever existed!”

Lucille found her cheeks growing hot under such praise—Hanako was by no means a beauty, and her true demon form was built more for intimidation and battle than beauty. 

“Cocytus,” Momonga inquired, giving no time for Lucille to recover from such heavy praise. 

“Stronger than all the guardians. Lord Momonga is a man worthy to be the absolute ruler of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, and Lady Lucille is above reproach.”

“Aura.”

“A merciful leader who excels at foresight, and a compassionate mother.”

“Mare.”

“V-Very kind.”

“Demiurge.”

“Lady Lucille is a woman with vast intelligence and skill in invention, and Lord Momonga is a man who makes wise decisions and acts upon them efficiently. Both truly fit the word inscrutable.”

“Sebas.”

“Lord Momonga is the head of all the supreme beings, a merciful leader who stayed behind with us until the end. Lady Lucille is the beloved jewel of Nazarick, who created, and loved us until the end.”

“Bodolf.”

“Mother is mother, and Lord Momonga is Lord Momonga,” Bodolf responded simply.

“Cheshire.”

“Fun.” The cat grinned. 

“Jack.”

“Perfect,” Jack answered. 

“And lastly, Albedo.”

Abledo’s eyes gleamed with unhidden affection. “Lord Momonga is the highest ranking of all the supreme beings and our ultimate master, and the man I love! Lady Lucille is our beloved mother who we all adore.”

“I-I see. We have heard your thoughts. Continue working faithfully in our name.”

Momonga then teleported away, and Lucille hurriedly joined Momonga. Her companion was leaning against a wall. “They have some glorious views of us, huh…”

Lucille chuckled. 

“What are we to do, Lucille?” Momonga wondered. “Why are here?”

“Who can say? We’re here now, though. Let’s keep learning what we can,” Lucille answered. “If we aren’t in immediate danger we should try to learn about how much we can do. We have physical bodies now, so surely not all the rules apply to us. Can you wield a sword now, for example?”

“I don’t know. I’ll have to see.”

“I’ll see if still have my professions,” Lucille said. “I was a tailor and alchemist in Yggdrasil, so I need see if I can still forge high level gear and potions. Then I’ll see if I can learn another profession, like enchanting.”

“Where we would you even learn?”

“We have the basic books at the library,” Lucille reasoned. “While it’s true in Yggdrasil I would need a trainer for higher tier things, if I can learn the basics then that’ll be enough for now.”

Momonga nodded. “Right. Okay, let’s see what we can find out on our own. Ah, do you need to eat or sleep? I feel nothing, so I don’t think I need to anymore.”

“Demons need both, so I think I will,” she said hesitantly. “I’ll stop by the bar and see if anything sounds good to eat. I have no clue what I can eat. Are demons allergic to silver and holy water?” “Um. Yeah, that’s definitely something that needs to be found out sooner rather than later…”

The two lapsed into silence.

“Okay, we’ll spend a few days orienting ourselves with our new bodies,” Lucille decided. “If we discover anything pressing, let’s meet and discuss.”

“Agreed.”

.

.

.

Lucille shifted her weight on the couch, her tail resting in her lap. Momonga—although he now went by Ains—sat across from her on the opposite couch.

Since becoming undead Mo—Ains—had not kept some of his human habits, such as fidgeting or shifting anxiously. Lucille noticed he still rolled his shoulders when “tired” but otherwise than that he normally sat stock still and in perfect posture. Part of it was him roleplaying as a proper ruler, and part of it was that he didn’t think about it. He no longer needed to breathe and part of his racial perk kept his emotions in check.

Lucille, however, still felt the desire to fidget when uncomfortable. Her crippling anxiety was replaced with the desire to move constantly, and as a demon she no longer felt fear. She didn’t have Ains’ calmness, but her emotions were significantly more stable than her previous life.

So while Ains sat perfectly still Lucille couldn’t resist fiddling with her robe, constantly smoothing it out and patting out nonexistent wrinkles.

“Becoming an adventurer sounds like a good idea,” Lucille finally said after a long minute of silence. Ains had just shared his idea of going undercover as an adventurer to get a better feel for the world. “You’ll be able to learn about this world firsthand. It’s smart. And it sounds like fun.”

If Ains could smile Lucille thought he might have. There was a sense of warmth in his tone when he said, “Yes. It does seem like the start of a rather interesting questline, doesn’t it? Like when starting in the Basin zone you had to disguise yourself as a native to earn their trust.”

Lucille nodded in agreement. “To be frank, I’d like to explore this world a bit first hand myself.”

“Different perspectives would be good. You’re bound to see things I would normally miss, and vice versa. That being said I don’t think both of us should ever leave Nazzarick at the same time. Carne Village was an important test, but we must proceed with extreme caution.”

Lucille nodded once again. “I concur. You should be the main adventurer.  I think I should largely focus my attention on the forest, and the nearby villages.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, according to Cheshire none of the herbs found in the forest can be used to create potions using Yggdrassil recipes,” Lucille began to explain. “Even the most basic of recipes like a healing potion would be difficult to make with such poor ingredients. Yet according to the people of Carne that forest is one of the most dangerous places in the world. Dangerous zones typically warrant high level drops, right?”

At Ains’ murmur of agreement Lucille continued, “So we’re left with two choices. Choice one, this entire world is severely underleveled, or choice two there are secrets in that forest that hasn’t been explored yet. That even Aura, Mare, and Bodolf missed.”

Ains stroked his chin. “I see. Of course we should assume the ladder to be safe, but if the former is true—”

“If the former is true, we need to find an alchemist or potion maker in this world,” Lucille cut in. “That will be the first step since Cheshire and I are alchemists. We can combine our knowledge and hopefully figure out a way to safely mass produce vital potions for the safety of Nazarick. Ideally I’d like to be able to make the potion of rebirth and test it out, and then distribute it to all members of Nazarick. However, if even our basic potions don’t work here then it’s doubtful such a complex potion would be viable. It’s important that we find out, though.

“Once we’ve established that, then we can move on to other fields. I’d like to see if there are any magical tailors to compare my own tailoring skills to. What kind of blacksmiths do they have here? Enchanters? Runecrafters?” Lucille ticked off some of the more essential professions. “Does the food here provide special buffs when consumed? Can we create extra void storage? Do nodes respawn? This information we need to find out.”

.

.

.

“Yes! We used to play many games,” Lucille explained, a smile on her face and a spark of fondness in her eyes. “Aha, like musical chairs.”

“Oof,” Ains said, recalling that raid.

The guild had raided a massive dungeon by the name of Kara’tol. It was a unique dungeon given that it was entirely a castle. There had been one room with two massive tables filled with chairs. When the raid had finally reached the room they decided to take a small break. Out of nowhere Touch Me declared it was time for musical chairs and started to play some music over voicehat.

There had been a heartbeast of silence before everyone scrambled to start circling around the tables.

When the music stopped… it was chaos.

Lucille couldn’t resist giggling loudly at the memory. “Ah! I just remembered how you, Ains, used Black Hole on Ulbert for the first chair, hahaha!”

There were faces of astonishment on the guardians while Ains chuckled and sheepishly said, “I panicked. He was going to take the chair. You set Herohero on fire.”

“I wanted that chair,” Lucille replied stubbornly, still giggling. “Haha, oh, do you remember that game of tag?”

“The one that lasted almost a month?”

“We kept wiping during raids because the DPS kept trying to tag each other and drove one another to stand in aoe,” Lucille recalled happily.

.

.

.

Bodolf watched the humans of Carne bustle about. With the aid of the goblins and wolves he had summoned the village was rapidly become a fort. They quickly constructed massive walls from the lumber of the forest and doused them in special reinforcement and flame resistant potions Cheshire made. It would keep the fences strong for many decades to come and would guarantee no one could burn them down with flimsy flame arrows or low tier fire magic.

The potions Cheshire had made immediately garnered the attention of Nphirea and Lizzie, but Ains wanted them to perfect the healing potions first before moving on to others. Bodolf understood the importance behind being able to recreate Yggdrassil potions using this world’s ingredients.

Cheshire himself was conducting experiments on more volatile potions that could not be trusted to weak (in terms of resistances) humans. For example the potion of Still Death which when thrown onto the ground petrified enemies. For higher level beings it would only act as a temporary stun—only a minute long unless someone attacked them—but for low levels—which meant nearly every creature they’ve encountered in this world thus far—it would be a death sentence.

If the potion became volatile and exploded in the process it would guarantee an end towards Ains and Lucille’s humans and that was something that could not be tolerated. While Lucille could likely resurrect them who knew what consequences it might bring?

It would be better of Cheshire worked on the more dangerous potions and allowed Nphirea and Lizzie to work on the low level things like healing potions.

Returning to construction, though.

After the fence was built the next order of business was upgrading the houses and buildings. Each one had to have a bunker underneath in case of an aerial strike. They also began construction on multiple escape tunnels—all with a one way exit out of the village, so no one could enter through them—and food storage.

Since most of the villagers were farmers they relied heavily on producing their own food and enough surplus to sell on the market. While this was fine for them previously with the influx of goblins—and Lucille’s apparent interest in their wellbeing—this had to be adjusted since they could no longer safely farm outside of the village.

The solution?

Underground greenhouses that would last all year.

These were a lot trickier to make and would take the longest. Even with Jack providing the undead manual labor it was a process that could not be rushed. Not only did they have to make secure tunnels that went far enough underground that it wouldn’t interact with the emergency bunkers or escape tunnels, but they also had to manufacture ideal weather underground.

This was easy to accomplish if a mage was present, but they couldn’t rely on a mage to continuously reproduce weather underground.

Thusly Lucille borrowed one of Blue Planet’s creations: Sky Creator. It was a high tier item that Blue Planet made in order to create the beautiful floors of Nazaraick. It permanently enchanted a ceiling into a pocket dimensional sky that could be remotely controlled.

Unfortunately it takes months for the enchantment to complete, which was the real hold up in progress.

All that being said, though, Bodolf estimated they would have the greenhouses completed by the fall.

Bodolf’s ears twitched towards the sound of workers as he watched the village from atop a hill. They were a good group of mortals, each kind and cared deeply for their comrades. They were wary of the undead at first, but they were quickly accepting of the help.

Soon, when the moon reached up in the sky, Bodolf would once again begin his instructions on defense for the humans. Every night he made each villager—children, men, and women—gather before him to be taught how to fight for their home.

During each session he reached out more of his own skill—Packmaster—into each of them to instill absolute loyalty to himself and Nazarick.

When the loyalty meter was filled and each villager was fully prepared to slit their own throats for the sake of the Pack, Bodolf would begin inducting each of them into his Pack. Once they all became werewolves Bodolf was confident they would be able to become completely self-sufficient and only require a few checkups a year.

Miriya’s Pad

(Art commissioned from CheruSake) Author’s Note: This was my first attempt at a Guild Wars 2 fic, just as an experiment. I was very satisfied with the outcome, but chronologically it predates ALL the other GW2 stories I’ve put out here. In fact, if you read any of my Danae sister fics, there’s references to THIS one. If it sounds kind of clunky in terms of dialogue and descriptions, I apologize; I was still getting my feet back under me in terms of writing. It’s a bit cliche, and pretty corny, but I felt it was a cute fic. I’m actually really nervous about sharing it here, cuz I don’t know if people will like it at all. In terms of in-game chronology, this would be Pre-Scarlet by only a few months. Lion’s Arch was still the ramshackle version we all miss. That said, please enjoy. ***** "...And our final stop on our tour of Rata Sum is my personal quarters!" Miriya announced brightly, as the magitek cubes that formed the doorway slid in the cardinal directions. The internal barrier field dropped immediately once the cubes had slid into the ceiling, walls and floor. She stepped proudly inside, hands on her hips and smiled. "It's...Wow! Surprisingly spacious!" Kaleb blinked as he stepped inside. The barrier popped back up behind him and the door-cubes shifted shut once more, cutting out the natural noise of the Maguuma Jungle outside. He looked around in amazement at the personal dwelling of his teammate. "From outside it looks so...small." Miriya smirked and crossed her arms. "That's because I had it carved into the side of the mountain and disguised that way." She scuffed her sharp nails on her coat, smugly admiring them. "That and a little bit of fifth dimensional pocket-space manipulation make it nice and big." The home was open-concept in the Asuran style, a cube turned on its corner and hollowed out, easily thirty meters on a side, which gave it an amazingly high ceiling and a strangely deep and terraced floor. Looking up, Kaleb could see a Mystic Stone the size of his entire body hovering just below the top corner of the ceiling, providing a soft, diffuse blue light.  There were hard-light paths starting around the perimeter of the room, leading up to solid stone platforms held in place by mechanisms Kaleb could barely wrap his mind around. Each one had some kind of device or piece of furniture on it, though the purpose of some of them eluded him. To be honest, it looked less like a home and more like yet another Asuran laboratory. Turning his gaze from the ceiling to the floor,  he counted fourteen terrace steps down to what appeared to be a pool of water in the centre of the room, occupying the 'bottom-most' corner of the building's turned cube design.  Around the circumference of the room ran continuous Asura-design windows; high density force fields with a distortion added so those looking in or out can not see precisely what is there.

"It's um... very nice." He finally replied a bit hesitantly, stepping carefully in the room; each terrace was Asura-step scale, not human standard. If he tripped he'd no doubt fall all the way down into that pool of water in the bottom of the room. "So-o... this is where you keep your stuff? Kinda looks like another lab." "Well it IS a lab, silly." Miriya chuckled, crossing the room to a particular section of wall. A portion of the panels making up the wall and floor rotated at her approach, recombining to form a table and sink. Beside that, a cupboard slid into place from where the gaps were left by the panels, as well as a larger cube-shaped artifact half again as large as the diminutive Asura. "But it's also my home. I paid top-gold to get the constructor golem krewes to come out this far from Rata Sum and build it for me. All to my very demanding specifications." Kaleb nodded, exploring the room. He stepped up to one of the hardlight paths and experimentally tested it with an armoured toe. When it didn't give under his weight or the weight of his armour, he shook his head. Fancy Asuran gizmos. This was one of the reasons he was a soldier and not an engineer or inventor. "I see. So, why are we here now?" Miriya washed her hands in the sink, drying them in a device that clicked out of the side of the sink unit, and turned to face him. "We're here to relax and have a drink, and to be refreshed. Naturally." "Uh-huh?..." He crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow at her, a disbelieving look on his unshaven face. "If that's so then why's the rest of the group not here? Doesn't seem rightly fair to enjoy..luxury...without our friends." She made an exasperated sound, running her fingers back through her slicked back, molten lava-colored dreadlocks. With a flick of a wrist she sent the sink back into the wall, as well as the cupboard, but the larger artifact remained present in the room. Counting off on her little fingers, she explained. "One: Dhangalor is more interested in learning how to make his turrets and flame-thrower more efficient and effective. I wouldn't be surprised if we found him in three days, down in one of the weapons labs.  Hopefully he won't learn how to make mass-conversion generation devices; The idea that he could make a device that spawns grenades for him or unlimited turrets scares me more than your god Grenth." Tick: "Second. The moment we walked into the city, Slane disappearred. I wouldn't know where him or his...ugh.... partner... are even if I put a tracker on him. Which I don't have, incidentally." She stepped over to the large artifact, touching a blue power gem on it. The panels on the artifact slid open to either side, revealling a chilly, frosty interior, from which she drew a large, dark green bottle. "Third. Corvus is Priory. He's all about knowledge and technology. If he's not aiding Dhangalor, he's buried up to his nose -- a feat at that! -- in computer files and parchments and datapads." The little Asuran necromancer spun on her heel, presenting her treasure to the still suspicious human. The bottle looked old, and had a label that bore a very particular seal on it. The label was torn slightly near the base, and very, VERY worn... but there was enough to recognize the maker. ---SCALO- V-NERY. est. ---- "...and finally Fourth: I've been saving this bottle to drink with a human some day, and I feel it's the right time now. I trust you enough to enjoy this bottle and not squander it, nor to act inappropriately with it. I know how rare it is, and I think you know how rare it is." His jaw dropped, as did his arms. "Ascalon Vinery?! Did that come from the ruins of Ascalon??" He laughed nervously, facepalming. "Second most rare wine in all of Tyria, and it's just sitting in her...her...whatever. That cold thing..." "It's called a ReFridgerator. Prototype design." She looked at the device with a bit of concern. "Most of the time it keeps things chilled. Though there was one time I left a panel open and....well.. I had to defrost the place. Like, 'Claw of Jormag' kinda defrost." Still shaking his head, Kaleb smiled, and ran a hand through his close-cropped red-black hair. "Alright. You got my attention. Ascalonian wine, and a relaxing evening with a friend. I can do that, easily." Miriya grinned, and put the bottle on the top of the fridge before walking across the room to a green square on one of the terraces. "Do you mind if I get comfortable? This armor is nice, but compared to my own clothes, I always find it confining and itchy." She stepped on the square and a series of panels slid up around her, covering her to the neckline. She continued talking as she changed, the sound of shifting cloth coming from behind the barriers. "It's such a relief to get off the road too. Sometimes I just want to come home, relax for a while, before my next project." "I understand the sentiment completely." Kaleb nodded, turning his back to her changing; even though she was completely hidden, he was still a gentleman. Even to Asura. He rubbed the back of his neck, feeling the muscles and bones creak a bit with tension. "Been a while since I've been home too. Or out of this gear." He stretched and shrugged. "Ah well. What can ya do?" The panels around her sliding down, Miriya stepped out of the 'booth' and straightened her tunic. "Well, what I CAN do is offer you the use of one of my guest booths to change. I'm sure I can cobble some basic clothing together from the info-net if you give me a few minutes." "You can do that?" He blinked, raising an eyebrow. Kaleb had no idea what an info-net was, but if he could just take his armour off for a few hours... "What do I need to do?" She pointed at the green square, tapping a nearby toe-button with her toe. The green square turned blue, and resumed flashing. "Just step on the square. I just turned the dimensions to 'human', so it'll cover more of you than it would have a moment ago." Kaleb stepped onto the square and waited for a second. The panels slid up again, this time up to HIS neck. There was just enough space inside for him to flex a bit. "Hey, this is neat, but... uh... can't exactly take my gear off in a space this small." "Don't worry about that. The booth does the dressing and undressing." She replied, a hard-light display open in front of her on the front of the booth. She flicked through diagrams and designs until she found a suitable one. "Ah here we go. Aaaannnndd..... ordered. Seven seconds delivery? What is this, the stone age??" "What?" "Oh, nothing. System seems slow, that's all." She shrugged and moved a new screen up in front of her. "Just one last thing; full body scan for fit accuracy. Otherwise when it goes to remove your gear, it might...uh...remove body parts instead. Not exactly a smart system." "WHAT?!" Kaleb started to fidget, staring around at the panels in horror. "Take it easy! I only have one scar from a mis-scan! I don't want you to lose anything important!" That was enough to get him to freeze solid, staring straight ahead. His adam's apple bobbed in fear as he swallowed heavily. Inside the booth, a panel flipped open on all four walls, revealling a golem-eye. Flat green light played out from these eyes, scanning Kaleb up to his neck, and down to the soles of his boots. There was a quiet 'ding' and the eyes flipped shut. Next, a set of waldo arms rose out of the floor, sliding along a series of control crystals built into the seams of the chamber, and unfolding when they reached certain predefined points. Magitechnical fingers and drivers unfolded from these waldoes, and set about removing his armour, piece by piece, carefully drawing each piece back into the floor. "Miriya.... This is weird..." Kaleb muttered uneasily as his armour appeared to be disintegrating around him. "Am I going to get my stuff back in one piece? This...thing won't like, mash it into a scrap cube or something will it?" "Oh don't be a big baby." She replied, watching the readouts. Everything was going as planned. The monitors indicated a rapidly increasing percentage of armour removal, leaving a rather bare looking Kaleb underneath. A smile quirked her mouth, and without saying a word, she flicked a toggle switch visibly with her right hand, while her left hand hooked under the display and pressed a small red button. For....posterity. Yeah, that's it. For study. She told herself, as a flash blinded Kaleb in the booth from all sides. "What was that?!" He asked worriedly, down to his boxer shorts within the booth. "Hmm? Oh nothing. Sensor glitch." She replied almost distractedly, as she copied the scan file into another section of her database, under heaviest quantum encoding that she could get, and then proceeded to delete the original. "Nothing to worry about. It should be done now. If you reach out in front of you, you'll find some clothes on a little shelf. They were just transported from Rata Sum via micro-gate, so...uh...they might feel a little fuzzy. Residual dimensional static and all that." Kaleb indeed did find the clothing, folded neatly on a small shelf. As he picked it up, the walls of the booth slid back on all sides, extending planes as they did so to keep his privacy intact. Clearly the machine somehow intuited his need for movement space. A moment later and he had slid on the Asuran-designed human-size clothing. "Hmm...very nice material. This isn't wool, is it? I've not felt anything this soft before." "It's Jungle silk. We harvest it from the spiders and wurms. They might be dangerous monsters, but they can be quite useful for natural materials." She smiled, as the walls of the booth finally slid back into the floor. Seeing him fully dressed again, she tipped her head to the side, crossing her arms, and considered him. "Hmmm....Well, they don't look too bad on you. Perhaps I should have gotten the shorts too, so you could replace those human ones you have on." "Huh?" Kaleb was checking out his new duds in a reflection, when he realized what she'd just said. "You didn't see me in my shorts, did you?" "What? Oh no...no no!" Miriya flushed, shaking her head rapidly and holding up her hands in denial. "No no... That's not what I meant! I just meant I should have completed the set! That's all! Really!" His raised eyebrow made her flush even pinker, and she quickly turned away, running up one of the hard-light paths to her cupboard for glasses. Once she was certain he couldn't see her, she let herself exhale heavily. All that work, and she nearly flubbed it up! Returning with the glasses, she called up a table and hovering chairs out of another wall, placing the glasses on the table and pouring them a glass of wine each. "Now that you are... comfortable...Hehe, about that wine I mentioned?" **** "...And that's when I told him, I told him 'How could I have possibly have punched out your son, when he was already unconscious from the booze?'” Kaleb pointed out, and mimed an unconscious man, slumping on his chair and lolling his tongue out of his mouth. Miriya was doubled over laughing, slapping the table top in mock surrender and nearly knocking her wineglass off it. “Oh, by the Alchemy! How in Tyria did you ever get out of that situation?” She asked when she gained enough composure back, tears of laughter still streaming from her large green eyes. She continued to laugh and snicker as she tried to control it. The last two hours after they started to drink had been a blur. The lovely Ascalonian Wine had gone from a full bottle... to the dregs, which were swiftly being drained by a half-toasted Kaleb. He slammed the bottle onto the tabletop, and grinned. “Well you see, this big ol’ Norn, he thinks he’s defending his son’s honor or something, so he’s all puffed up and about to go Bear on me or somethin’... and then he looks over at his son, sees him facedown in his own drool, a shiner on his face that I claim came from the table as he fell... and he just deflates like a balloon. He shakes that big top-knotted head of his and hauls his son up by his backstraps, and just says ‘Yeah. Yeah, I can definitely see that. Boy hasn’t learned to hold his lager yet. Sorry if he bothered you.’ “ “No... No WAY.” Miriya’s jaw dropped. “You got to be kidding me.” Kaleb shook his head, sitting back and looking smug. “Nope. That’s what he said. He actually apologized for his son’s behaviour. Didn’t realize I had slugged that freakin’ twerp for his talk about how wussy--” He slurred it wuzzy “--humans are, and laid that kid out. I’m just glad it turns out he was drinkin’ age. Couldn’t use that bluff if he wasn’t.” “Cog’s gears, Kaleb, you definitely got guts. Standing up to a Norn in his hometown bar like that.” Miriya shook her head, and rubbed her eyes a bit. “I’d have had to call in my minions if that’d happened to me.” “And you woulda been squished for it.” Kaleb replied somberly, staring at her. “The moment they see your eyes and hands do that glow-thing, they would have flattened you with a damned boot. Not many like Necros these days.” “True, true...” Miriya nodded, levity completely gone. She traced the rim of her glass with a dark green-painted nail. “What about you? Do you like Necros?” He pondered for a moment. “Well, I don’t mind them... I don’t mind most anyone. But if they’re undead, I kinda mind them. Orrian and all that crap. But I don’t mind Necros that use Grenth’s gift for good.” She nodded, still circling the glass, an odd expression on her face. “That’s good, that’s good. Um,” She paused, flicking her eyes up to him for a moment to read his face before looking aside. “So....what about me? Do you like me? I mean, uh, I’m a Necromancer, after all.” He nodded, and thought about it for a second. “Well, duh, of course I like you. We’re teammates! I might not know how the Whispers operate, but if the Pact teamed us together, they must see something there, in our dossiers! And we work really well in combat together, as well as in info-gathering. Yeah, I like you. Of course I do, Miriya!” Miriya forced a smile at him, laughing along with him for a moment, before whispering off to the side, almost to herself. “That’s not what I meant...” "I hate to ask, but, do you have anything more like this wine?" Kaleb asked, tipping the dregs into his glass. He made a face, somewhere between concerned and goofy. "I mean, if we're going to keep drinking that is. I'm finally buzzed enough that I feel comfortable without my armour!" She laughed in spite of herself, in spite of the disappointment of his previous answer, but she steeled herself, hopping off her floating seat and heading for the refrigerator unit again. Looking inside she hemmed and hawed, listing things off. "Let's see, we've got that vile concoction that Colacokaia, that Hylek potionmaster forced upon me, we have indigo formula, and Sunny D....AH, here we go." With a triumphant, if a little unbalanced swing, she held the bottle up for his view. "It's... uh... says something about champagne. I forget where I got this from." He took the bottle from her, raising an eyebrow appreciatively as he considered it. "Not bad, but we can't just go chugging a bottle of champagne. That's more of a sipping kind of thing, in a relaxed situation. It's why nobles drink it at their 'parties' or whatever." He made a little, foppish, flippant gesture with his fingers and stuck out his tongue that made her grin. "You mean we should relax more? I thought we were pretty relaxed already!" Miriya laughed, hands on her short hips. "Any more relaxed and I'd probably be asleep!" Kaleb laughed and shook his head, putting the bottle on the table. "Nah, nah. I mean it wouldn't be good for sitting here at this table, trading dirty stories and reliving old fights. It's more...civilized a drink, I guess." The diminutive Asura pondered for a moment, before an idea struck her. "I got it! Come over here." She led him down the terraced interior of her home to the square shaped pool of water occupying the 'bottom' corner of the cube, and with a flourish indicated the gently lapping blue water. "Ta-da!" "What?... it's a pool of water." He replied, nonplussed. He crossed his arms and looked at her, confused. "Is there supposed to be something in it?" "Yes!" Miriya grinned, tugging at his pantleg. "Us!" She caught herself, and released his pantleg, coughing a bit. "I mean, it's not just a pool of water. I configured this corner to be either a hot spring or a cool bath, depending on what I felt like." "Really? You can do that?" He blinked, and considered the square of water. It was roughly his height on all sides, and he couldn't tell how deep it was based on the terracing and false-depth illusion of the shifting waters. "So....what, we should sit in it while we drink the champagne?" "Well, yeah?" Miriya shrugged and smiled, before running around the square to a panel on the edge of one of the stairs. After fiddling around with the controls, she pushed a red blinking square, and, much to her delight, the pool suddenly erupted into gentle bubbles. "Ah ha! There we go. Jaccuzzi." "Ja-whatzee?" "Nothing." She tested the water with a toe, smiling at the temperature, before turning and hopping up a few steps on the terrace. "Just one problem though; Our clothes. Shouldn't get them wet. Those'd get very itchy and kinda ruin my pool to boot." "So...what?" Kaleb knelt down and dipped his fingers into the water. "We'll strip down to our skivvies? This is as warm as that Norn hot spring...you know the one, in Lornar's Pass?" "You mean Wayfarer Foothills. Zelechor Hot Springs." Miriya frowned, shaking her head. "You are always so bad with locations. I'm surprised you get anywhere." "Hey, my hammer takes me wherever I need to go." He smiled, standing up. "Now, is there another booth, or where should I put this stuff?" "Oh! Anywhere!" She grinned, waving a hand at the terraces around them. "Just leave it high enough to not get wet." He nodded, and started shedding clothes, tossing them onto a higher step. Miriya stared for a moment, feeling the blood rush to her face, before she realized she WAS staring, and quickly looked aside. "Uh, I suppose I better...um...get ready too!" It took her almost no time to get rid of her simple tunic top and light pants, leaving her bathing suit-like bodysuit as the only remaining piece of clothing. It was hot pink and white; not her usual colors, and for a moment, she was horrified and embarrassed by the dichotomy between her normal dress and her bodysuit. Please don't let him say anything about the bodysuit. Please don't let him say anything about... "Nice bodysuit you got there. Didn't figure you for the color pink." He smirked, settling into the warmed water. SCRAP! Miriya swore internally, flushing almost as pink as her suit. She immediately leapt into the pool, covering herself to her neck in water while keeping her arms wrapped around herself. "I-I..er... I forgot about the color...You wear a body suit most of your life as an Asura, and you kinda forget about it!" He shrugged, taking the champagne bottle and looking around. "Uh, do you have any wine glasses or champagne glasses down here? The others we left up on your table up there." "Oh! Yeah... Um... Hang on, I'll go get them." She hopped out of the water, moving as fast as her little legs could carry her; the faster she moved, the less he'd see the pink suit. A few moments later, she slid into the water beside him, and placed the glasses on the exposed step behind them. "Here." "Thank you muchly." Kaleb smiled, and poured them each a generous portion of champagne. That done, he handed one of the champagne flutes to her, and saluted her with it. "To good friends, good drinks, and faking it like high society fops!" Miriya giggled, and tipped her glass so it dinged against his lightly, the pure crystal note a pleasant sound. "To one of the best teammates I've ever had, and possibly my best friend in all of Tyria." They both sipped. "Aw, that was sweet, Miriya." Kaleb smiled, scratching the back of his head after he finished his sip. "I knew we were friends, but I didn't know you thought of me as a best friend." "Well, I do, you big lug." She smirked and gave his arm a playful punch. She put her glass behind her, one step up on the shelf, and rubbed an ear in thought. "You never judge me based on my size, even when we first were introduced, never thought of me as weak or cowardly for being a magic user...never turned away when you learned what kind of magic I used, or what it sometimes does to me..." She shivered a bit, wrapping her arms around herself. "Using the Death Shroud is so intoxicating but... There are times I worry that I'll lose myself to it. And that I might end up no better than an Orrian." Miriya rubbed a tear away from her eye with a finger. Damn the alchohol... it was making her resolve fall away. Already she could feel the depression sinking in again. Soon she'd have to retreat to her room and spend the rest of the night getting herself under contro-- Her thoughts were interrupted by Kaleb wrapping an arm around her and drawing her up into his lap into a hug. It wasn't a comradely hug, like he might have done outside in the cities, or a brotherly hug as he'd done to her before in celebration of things. It was just a hug, but it was much more than just a hug, in a way she couldn't define. It took her a moment of stunned shock to respond, but she finally relaxed, wrapping her smaller arms as best she could around him and hiding her face in his chest. After a few moments, Kaleb spoke. "Miriya, don't ever doubt yourself. Don't ever doubt your skills; I know I don't. You mastered a fantastically powerful magic few dare to. I read the story about how you came to the attention of the Whispers: You made those Inquest pay for what they did. I think you might be one of the most powerful people I've ever had the pleasure of knowing." Miriya listened, and smiled sadly, closing her eyes as she realized he was only seeing her skills and abilities, and not her. So close...so very close... she lamented, still fighting the urge to cry. He just doesn't see... "I've never been scared of you or your skills, Miriya. Not even when you used the Death Shroud. Because I know you'd never harm anyone you cared about." He gently stroked her braids and ears with one hand, not letting her draw away with the other. "You're an amazing person, Miriya, and I think that no matter what, you'll accomplish anything you set your mind to." Miriya's eyes snapped open at that compliment. She quickly mulled it over in her head, and slowly withdrew her arms from the embrace. "Miriya?...are you okay?" Kaleb asked, concerned at her silence and her retreat from the hug. She had her head turned down, so he couldn't see the expression on her face at all. "....I can accomplish anything eh?" She whispered, half to him, half to herself, staring at her hands where they braced against his bare chest. To Kaleb's ear, he could hear the quiet wavering in those few words. "There's just one thing I can't seem...to do..." "What would that be?" He asked softly, wondering about his friend. He could see her shaking quietly, as if she were cold, though the water was quite warm. Her small digits reflexively twitched where she had them on his chest. "Is it something I can help with?" She half-laughed, half-sobbed, shoulders rocking with the effort to resist. Would she take the chance? Would it do anything, mean anything? What do I even have to lose? "Yeah....it's...something you could help me with." She whispered in a shaky voice. "What is it? You can tell me." NOW. "This." She replied, and quickly tilted her head up to catch him in a kiss. Her arms flew around his neck, half to support herself, half to keep him from snapping his head back in surprise as her lips found his. Miriya kept her eyes tightly shut to avoid looking him in the face, seeing the shocked, perhaps betrayed expression on his face as she broke through the friend-barrier to get what she wanted. At contact, she felt that electric charge that she always felt directed at him. In other situations, it had been when he'd touched her shoulder, or playfully flicked her ear with a finger. Or when he hauled her up to sit on his shoulder while they travelled. Little moments of contact, each with an electric pulse, at least to her. They were all friendly gestures, so she put off how they felt, guilty for feeling more. This moment though...the electric shock was so many magnitudes greater...but so was the accompanying guilt. I just tricked my best friend...she cried inside as she kissed him. I just tricked him, got him drunk, and now I'm stealing a kiss that wasn't mine to have...he's going to stay so far away now... her thoughts then fell apart into unrequited sorrow. Slowly, Miriya broke the kiss, letting her hands slip from his neck, and settling down into the warm water of the pool. She never looked him in the eyes; she just turned to the side and curled up on herself, arms around her knees, looking away. Looking ashamed. "I-I'm sorry." She whispered, sniffling. "I-I'm sorry I did that...I just... I wanted t-to..." "Hey. Hey Miriya." Kaleb's soft voice made her ear twitch. With her eyes clenched closed, she almost jumped when she felt his finger under her chin, turning her face up to look at him. Her green, almond-shaped eyes opened in terrified surprise, and she stared at him, pleadingly, but so badly scared of what the question might be. "...For how long, Miriya?" He asked. Her eyes searched his for any sign of anger or betrayal...or disgust. It wasn't long ago historically that humans thought they were the center of all things and that all were below them. Nothing like that was in his eyes. Only warmth and concern. "For how long have you been holding yourself back like that?" There was a moment of silence as she processed his question. Her face alternately lit up with happiness, but seemed so ready to break into full on tears at the very same moment. Her mouth almost stretched into a smile, though it was a shaky one, and a tear escaped her eye, sliding down her smooth cheek. She let out a half-chuckle, half-cry, before shaking her head. "....since...almost since the first time we met." "You entered the room, smiled, and introduced yourself...you and that big dumb iron hammer of yours. " She laughed a little, staring up at him. "I didn't know what to think. I was told there'd be a human on the team, but I expected some dour soldier...instead, you walked in and made me laugh." Miriya reached up and gently touched his hand where it cupped her cheek. "You didn't bat an eye at my Necromancy...you joked with me and made me feel welcome when we camped out on missions...I'm not sure, but I think you even snapped me out of the Death Shroud that one time, by...just being there." She turned her head in towards the palm of his hand and gave it a soft kiss. "I never thought I'd be attracted to a non-Asura. Never even entered my mind...till you. Once I realized that, I had to get your attention some how. Even if for a moment." A sigh escaped her. "When I learned we had business in Rata Sum, I contrived a way for us to be alone. I introduced Dhangalor to a weaponsmith friend, and I lent Corvus my card to the datablocks in the archives." "And Slane?" Kaleb asked. "Didn't have to do a thing. He just disappeared." She chuckled ruefully. "For all I know he's in this room and cloaked, watching my humiliation." The Asura turned her head to look him in the face. "I tricked you, to get you to come here. To get you alone... to get you drunk..." Another tear fell. "I-I'll understand if you want to leave, or if you never want to talk to me again...I just, I just..." Miriya was interrupted once again by Kaleb. This time however, he cut her off by giving her mouth something else to do. Eyes wide in surprise, it took her a moment to realize he was kissing her this time, and when that registered, she all but melted into his arms. "My poor Miriya..." Kaleb sighed after the kiss was broken. He stroked her cheek, rubbing a tear away. "I didn't see the signs...didn't know how you felt. I honestly thought you thought I was a... what's the term?" "...Bookah?" She chuckled feebly. He smiled. "A Bookah. That's it. I know, and I knew, that I could never match you mentally in damned near anything. But I didn't see all the times, all the little things you said and did...till now." "....and now?" "I'm not going to send you away, or ignore you, for starters." He smirked, raising an eyebrow. "And I'm not going to stop being your best friend either. So you don't need to worry your pretty little head about that." Miriya couldn't repress the giggle, which earned a broad grin from Kaleb. "That being said, I gotta admire your little plan. You did catch me off guard with that kiss...but...honestly it wasn't that bad." Her jaw dropped, and she stared at him as he winked. "It was actually pretty good. I had no idea you were that good a kisser." "I...I-ya...wha..." "You know, I think in the back of my head, I always wondered what it'd be like to kiss you. You had those lovely lips, and that black lipstick..." He grinned. "I never would have thought you'd have had a crush on a simple human." That earned him a smack to the shoulder. "You! I... I ARGH!..." She reached up and grabbed his cheeks so that he was looking her straight in the eyes. "Simple human?! Says the guy who goes and rips the scrappin' ARM off a Destroyer troll and beats it to death with it?! And then has the club at the end of that arm turned into a new hammer head?" She glared at him, teeth grinding, a low growl in her throat, before kissing him again. "You're just damned lucky I think you're cute, big Bookah." She purred, stroking his cheek, feeling the stubble under her nail. "Oh, now we're name-calling?" Kaleb chuckled, wrapping his arms around her waist. "Or is that supposed to be my pet name now?" "Mm, no...not a pet name." She frowned a bit, before smirking. "How about a code name for in public? Others might think I'm insulting your intelligence, but you'd know I'm not?" "Works for me...Bookah never really insulted me anyway." He shrugged. "Always made me think 'Book-reader' or something. So coming from an Asura, it doesn't actually sound like an insult." "Good...Then that's what I'll nickname you in public; Big Bookah. MY Big Bookah." She licked her lips playfully, her emerald eyes examining him so close up. "Mm... That does sound good."

((Pulled from a very old relationship prompt because this was fun to do back in the day on Sev’s blog, so might as well do Casip because SOMEONE mentioned yesterday that she had been going back to re-read old Casip and I guess it’s about time to post something new.))

It bounces around a lot in timeline, but eeeehhhhhhh it’s fine. Only like 3 people don’t scroll past the Casip stuff anyway X’DDD There are probably typos.

Attack hugging them

Whether by nature of his patience, or by nature of his significant other’s impatience, Castiel was usually slow moving in comparison to greet his Mate after a long absence. His was the quiet embrace from behind. The hand gently tracing hair back from her face when she slept. Quite the opposite, and quite literally, this evening Flip had gotten the jump on him, leaping against his chest with all the grace of a stampeding linebacker down a staircase.

“If either of us were Human, we would need the emergency room after that.” he grunted, easing an elbow away from his Vessel’s groin.

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Falling asleep on or next to them

"I’m not tired.” Flip had protested.

“You are.” Castiel replied patiently.

They didn’t have many moments together. It seemed always that the Earth was on the brink of destruction, or the slumbering Humans of the world needed tending. Schedules being what they were, spare quality time was precious, though currently Flip was far too exhausted to indulge in it. Defeated, she curled into a ball on his chest, resting under the blanket of his massive (to her at least), warm hand. Castiel typically did not require sleep, but he was content to rest in a meditative state until such time that she would wake.

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Giving them the best back massage they’ve ever had

Though he’d repeatedly insisted that his muscles refreshed themselves constantly through use of his Grace, arguing with the Fairy was often a fruitless endeavor. Her stubbornness was deep and encompassing as the sea. With an overly dramatic eye roll, he finally shed his trenchcoat and jacket to sit backwards in a dining chair. Arms rested on the chair top, chin rested on arms. He could hear a faint jingling as she phased herself up and bespelled her hands for warmth.

Slowly, steady pressure worked its way across his upper back, across his shoulders, and along a tight section of muscles in the base of his wings. Completely involuntary, he groaned into his arms. He’d only ever seen the idea of massages as a means to an end for muscle therapy. They felt like this all along??? Why had it taken him so long to allow one? Her expert fingers worked and kneaded and molded him like warm putty, melting to jelly.

“Enjoying yourself?” Flip inquired rhetorically.

“Very much so~” Cas mumbled in hopes that this feeling could continue for quite a long time.

When she eased a soft vibration spell through her fingers, it was reasonably safe to assume that he was enjoying himself so thoroughly that in that moment she could have talked him into almost anything.

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Holding their hand for the first time

It had only been meant as a signal. Whilst posing as an unassuming pair in a coffee shop, Flip was brightly looking around as Castiel pretended to read a menu. When the necromancer revealed themselves in their habitual caffeine run, Castiel felt Flip’s cool fingers slide over his own under the table, gently squeezing to let him know the target had arrived. At first, he hadn’t recognized it as the signal. They were not yet involved as more than friends at this point, but it was familiar in a way which didn’t make sense, and comforting in a way it should not be.

“Thank you for the assist.” Cas had whispered awkwardly.

“Less bad Dreams triggered by that goon means less work for me, so trust me when I say it’s not a problem.” Flip whispered back.

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Hugging them from behind when they weren’t expecting it

“I didn’t mean it that way.” Cas struggled to explain.

“Then you shouldn’t have said it that way.” Flip quipped, angrily picking up the broken shards from the angelic liquor bottle she’d trod upon and crushed. “If you have to be drunk off your ass to tolerate spending the night, then why the hell are you even here?”

His head spun frantically, both from the alcohol and from panic. He hadn’t expected her to arrive back so soon. Everything was meant to be cleaned up and then he could just remain in a slightly tipsy stupor for a while. The truth was, things with the Winchesters were going haywire. Between tense attitudes with Jack joining the fold, complications with alternate universes, and the uphill struggles with his own depression, he’d only wanted to dull the upsetting thoughts buzzing in his mind so that they could enjoy each other’s company. But he’d worded it so poorly. 

“I’m sorry. I was... trying to even out my mood. Everything has been remarkably stressful lately and I didn’t want to take out these frustrations on you. Angelic liquor has a calming effect on me. You’ve seen this. But I took it to excess, and I am sorry.” he unsteadily moved to the door. “I will go. I’m... I will go.”

Flip narrowed her eyes, watching him brace against the wall. It wasn’t particularly safe for him to wander out in that condition, regardless of whether or not she was angry with him. Castiel had the tendency to be thoughtless in the way he expressed himself from time to time, but it was rare that his intention was to be truly mean. If this was his poor attempt to avoid emptying frustrations onto their evening... then his Heart had been in the right place, even if his words had not.

When he felt her arms circle his middle, softly holding him in place, Castiel swallowed heavily and apologized once more.

“Next time we’ll make a drinking game of it, if you need it.” Flip whispered. “I don’t want to see you getting wobbly by yourself again, especially if your mood is south of sunny by this much.”

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

Hugging them way too tightly

“Hggn… Flippitn, please…” Cas wheezed. “My ribs are susceptible to breaks now.”

His injuries were minor as compared to many of the other patrons from the city’s commuter bus. The walk from Flip’s hideout to the Gas N Sip where he endured employment as a Human was not far, but the outlet mall he needed to visit was too far to walk to that day. Being that he needed to purchase a set of skid-proof shoes per his employer’s new uniform requirements, there was really no other option. How unfortunate that the bus driver was working his seventh double-shift in a row. The old man had fallen asleep at the wheel, and capsized the bus over the highway median.

Paramedics had swarmed the scene, going through the motions of onsite triage to discern who required the most immediate of attention. Castiel managed to heave several people out of the bus windows down to the people who were waiting on the ground.

By the time his minor head wound was being addressed, a woman with eyes just a little too bright to look natural had been seen pushing her way through the throng of people blocking civilians. He signaled that he would like to allow her near, if only to make sure that she didn’t get into a fight. That woman was now crushing him in a hug, sending a symphony of cracks along his ribs and spine.

“Ma’am, you’ll need to be careful. We think he might have a concussion.” a woman advised.

Flip looked back and waved to someone else. A person with neatly tied dreadlocks as well as the same unnatural eyes, his green rather than blue. Supposedly ‘help’ sent from the emergency room in the next town over. Strangely, each person he checked on seemed completely fine as soon as he touched them, as if by some miracle. Not really so much a miracle as a Healer Sprite. Not that they needed to know that.

“Thanks, Frizz…” Flip whispered. “Cas, you’re still taking off work tomorrow or I will re-concuss you for scaring me.”

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

Kissing their forehead or cheek

“You’re not going to get me sick. My immune system is mighty and yours is malnourished Human.” Flip insisted. “And if you don’t let me do it my way, I’m getting a rectal thermometer and you’re gonna have an awkward night.”

Flip was not a Fae of idle threats. As long as Castiel had known the Moon Sprite, she was always prepared to follow through on anything she put to the table. He sighed and dropped his hands.

“Fine.”

He waited as patiently as he could for the tiny woman to flutter up and press her lips to his burning forehead.

“One hundred and three,” she reported. “You HAVE to take a fever reducer because you’re going to risk brain damage if it goes any higher.”

“I don’t care for the taste of it…” he complained.

“Dean was right. You are a baby in a trenchcoat.”

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

Kissing their neck

“That is very distracting.” Castiel stated.

To all appearances, he was not at all distracted. He carried on writing down instructions from his online doula class as if his Mate was not tenderly working her mouth over the back of his neck and over the curve of his shoulder.

“I’m trying to determine how much time it takes for contractions to start after the mucus plug falls out. If I don’t scan in my notes before nine, my classmates will shun me in the message board.”

Flip paused in her endeavor to give him a deadpan look.

“You’re a real romantic, ne?” she sighed. “Alright. Do your homework. I’m going to go have a soak.”

“I could join you when I am done…” he called after her. “Perhaps you could pick up your affections then?”

“No, I’m warding the door.” Flip laughed, zooming off.

“Do not ward the door.”

“Nuts to you, I’m warding the doooooooor!”

“Mmph. She’s going to ward the door.” Cas grumbled to himself, rolling his eyes as if complaining to someone else in the room. Perhaps the powers that be.

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

Kissing them softly on the lips

“Thank you for the assist.” Castiel acknowledged, tilting the case of German beer in a gesture of gratitude.

As he could no longer fly, having his Mate pop overseas via Portal to retrieve a particular brand of beverage was certainly a boon. It would go over well with the Winchesters to bring something that wasn’t off brand from a gas station. Or so he’d assumed.

“Calling in Fairy favors for booze?” Dean asked dubiously. “What’d you trade for that, Cas, a kindergartener?”

“I did not trade a kindergartener for beer, Dean.” Castiel replied with a huff. “I asked that she pick this up for us after work because she was going to be in Germany anyway. Strangely, if you ask people nicely, they will sometimes comply with your requests.”

“How do you know where she’s working on a given night?” Sam puzzled. “You keep in touch that much? Thought you two were like… frienemies. No offense.”

“I have contacts outside of the two of you.” the Angel grumped. “Some of them are still alive. Some of them don’t hate me.”

Knowing that beer and Bonanza night was strictly a guy thing in the bunker, Flip decided to duck the conversation in favor of having a girl’s night elsewhere with Jilomena and Silt. Even with an adopted Human disguise, she didn’t need any further attention drawn to herself outside of a run-down Waffle House.

“Some of them have places to be.” Flip hemmed.

She tipped a finger under Castiel’s chin and softly pressed her lips to his. She then waved farewell before vanishing quite suddenly. Heaven help him.

“Cas... you bangin’ a Fairy?” Dean sputtered.

“The beer is getting warm, Dean. We should go.” Cas evaded, sliding the box into the back seat of the Impala.

“Cas,” Dean insisted. “Cas, what the hell?! When were you gonna tell us that you were off gettin’ a bowl of Lucky Charms in your downtime?!”

“Do you talk about every transient woman you’ve bedded?”

“YES.” Dean slapped a hand on the bumper. “That’s what men DO, we kiss and tell! Tell me about NeverNeverLand!”

For a long moment, Castiel stared from Dean… to Sam… to Dean again.

“Well, I’m not a man. I’m an Angel.” he said finally. He snapped the car door closed and buckled his seatbelt. “And I’m not telling.”

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

Playfully whacking them with a pillow

“What was that for?” Castiel frowned.

“Don’t worry about it. Continue.” Flip levitated the pillow up off of the floor and resumed her relaxed perch on the back of the couch.

“Um… I was saying that my excuse for being moody was that… I just need a win. I’ve spent so much time consistently screwing things up. The Winchesters have lost faith in me. I am tired of being a disappointment. If-“ PAP! “Nnnnn. You did it again.”

“Did what?” Flip prompted.

“You hit me with a pillow.”

“I did not. I enchanted a pillow to whap you every time you needlessly speak negatively about yourself.” she corrected. “Care to try again?”

Castiel grumbled, but cleared his throat.

“I need to reassure the others that I can be useful again-“ PAP! “I need to fail less.” PAP! “…I am frustrated with the way events have unfolded, and I would like to take steps to improve the situations I’m facing, as best I’m able.”

…No pillow. Flip scooted over and lightly bonked her tiny head against his stubbled cheek.

“As an aside, you can truly be a pest when you’re trying to prove a point.” Castiel mumbled affectionately.

WHAP.

“I didn’t say anything bad about myself.” Cas protested.

“No, that wasn’t the enchantment, that was all me. My whap. How dare you.”

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

Sneaking up behind them and blowing a raspberry on their neck

“Not yet. The locals seem reluctant to discuss details of the curses associated with the folklore of-“

Pppfffffffhhhhhhhh!

Castiel winced his shoulder up hard with a soft snort. He waved the Fairy away with a shooing motion. She’d have to wait her turn for attention.

“Wh-? No. No, Dean, I did not flatulate in the middle of our call. Someone blew against my neck. It is not of import.” he rolled his eyes up and sighed, handing over the phone. “Dean wants to say hello.”

“Hallo, Dean!” Flip peeped into the receiver.

I knew it! the voice over the phone crowed, followed by some muted words that Castiel could not quite pick up.

“Ah? What about NeverNeverLand?” Flip questioned.

“DO NOT!” Cas interrupted.

----------

Surprise kissing them

(Excerpt from “The Drawing Game”, pre Casip)

“FLIP.” Castiel stated flatly, pushing up to prop one arm over her torso to discourage rolling away. “Did you draw a posterior wearing refined attire on my face?”

“It sounds like something I would do.” she nodded thoughtfully.

“…Why?”

“Why not?” she countered.

Before Castiel could lay out a list of obvious reasons not to draw an ass over someone’s face, Flip tilted up and pecked a tiny kiss to his nose. Eyes wide, Cas pressed himself up and shuffled back away from her in complete alarm. His mouth opened and closed repeatedly like a fish pulled from water as his brain struggled to comprehend what had just happened. Obviously Flip had only done such a thing to shock him. To free herself. He’d seen many such occasions where she relied on surprise to escape various troubles.

“But… but… WHAT…”

“So eloquent. Toodles.” Flip snorted, vanishing away rather than using the door.

Recovery took a moment, but Castiel soon found himself padding into the restroom to scrub the drawing off of his face with one of the rough cloths folded neatly on the sink. Not too difficult to smear out of his faint stubble. He rolled his eyes and sat down on the edge of the bathtub propping one foot on his knee to remove the smiley face and cat drawings as well. Once finished, the other foot was brought up. He squinted at the writing. Enochian. Loosely translated to:

Forgive yourself, my friend.

Castiel slowly lowered his foot back onto the floor without wiping the words away. There was a little heart drawn on the heel that made him wonder if it was a simple embellishment or if maybe an extra sign of affection. He stared at his reflection and touched two fingers to his nose, slightly crossing his eyes to look at a very faint trace of glitter left from her kiss. Had he scrubbed his face too hard, or was that a blush? What a confusing night.

--------

Telling them they love them for the first time

(Excerpt from something I’m not going to post >_>)

“Excuse you???” Flip squeaked, spinning to face him and breaking off the sticking charm.

“You d-deserve to be… loved!” Castiel heaved.

Flip stopped dead and leaned over him, face to face.

“I am loved. People love me. A fair few people love me.” she said seriously. “What’s that got to do with anything, if people love me?”

“I know. I know people love you.” Castiel frowned, breathless. “I’m one of them.”

Flip pulled back fractionally, confusion and panic seizing her Heart. The look in his eyes wasn’t platonic, but neither was it lusty. Castiel had always carried a deep purity to him. But no. She knew that the wisest thing would be to vanish and never come back. Getting overly attached to a mortal always ended poorly for all involved, and whether or not she could find herself caring that way in return was irrelevant.

The silence was suffocating. Still, for whatever reason, Flip did not leave, and Castiel didn’t take back what he said.

(…Jump forward in the story)

He quietly cleared his throat, trying to think of the best way to approach the subject, but Flip kissed the questions away from his lips and pointed up.

Written in soft twinkles above his head were the words

I love you, too.

-----

Tickling them

The last lingering shafts of a Tuesday sunset washed the den in a romantic blush of twilight. Aside from the quiet tick of a grandfather clock, all was silence. When the creak and snap of the front door signaled that Flip had returned from the grocery store with supplies for the week, fully sized up to fake Human proportions. Castiel glanced over his shoulder with a quiet greeting. Lately he had taken to doing impressionist paintings in the evenings after his shifts at the Gas N Sip. It helped keep his mind away from troubling things as he attempted to adjust to Human life.

“That’s a pretty one. Where is it?” Flip rested her chin on his shoulder.

“It’s the Antigua Guatemala Cathedral. It is beautiful when lit up at night.” he replied, eyes soft with memory. “I very much enjoyed visiting it.”

“We could go there. We’ll wait until you get some vacation time in at work, set it up all Human-style.” the Fairy offered.

“I would like that.”

He shifted in place. And then again. Flip tilted her head, wondering if the thought of doing manual travel as opposed to Magical or Celestial made him uncomfortable to come to terms with. Then it became clear that he was trying to cope with an itch.

“Let me.” Flip scoffed, rucking the maroon sweater up and taking her nails to his upper back. “Better?”

“Yes, thank you. I have paint on my hands… new clothes. Ah… little lower, please. Lower. Good.”

“Why didn’t you wear something you could mess up?”

“I didn’t want to mess anything up.” Castiel explained. “The clothes will last longer if I care for them properly and I khhh! Wait!”

Flip rolled her eyes and did not wait. She let her nails dance and slide across his ribs and belly, nuzzling her nose against his neck. He twitched and wiggled against her, choked with quiet laughter as his hands fought the instinct to make a grab for anything lest it stain.

“Flippiti-hin, the PAI-heh-nt!” he squirmed. “Flip!”

“Yes, it’s a lovely painting, we covered that.” Flip nodded, carrying on.

“PleEEase re-f! Refrain! I can’t t-“ he tried again, sinking to the ground to attempt escape, even if logically he knew that she would follow him down. Which, of course she did.

“You know, in those hymnals you leave laying around, whenever it says refrain, it means repeat. Considering your background, that’s the definition I’ll assume you’re going for.” Flip laughed along with her Mate’s hysterics. “You’re mated with a Fairy. You’re getting tickles. It’s the law.”

When she reached out for a tickly grab to his thigh, playful squirming changed to no not there panic and a paint-covered hand flailed out to shove Flip’s arm away. She paused and looked at the blue smear on her forearm.

“That’s my favorite arm, I’ll have you know.” she advised cooly.

Without waiting a beat, Castiel was off, pounding through the house at top speed with Flip hot on his heels. By the end of it, they were both coated in paint splotches, breathless on the kitchen floor.

“You got paint everywhere in this house. I hope you’re happy.” Flip mock-reprimanded, idly picking at a wet patch of green on her shirt.

Castiel gave her a sheepish half smile and gently touched a matching shade of green to her nose.

“I am~”

-----

Waking them up by holding them and playing with their hair

It was unclear exactly how long he’d been out. His Vessel ached straight down to his Grace. Strangely, there was one pleasant feeling mixed in with all the unsettling pain. The last thing he remembered was getting slammed away with a banishing ward. It had been one of the most heavy duty ones he’d ever come across.

“How did you find me?” he squinted up at his Mate, shifting his head in her lap.

“I looked.” Flip shrugged, outwardly not belaying any true concern.

She continued to card her hands through his hair, mindlessly clinging to the only thing she could think of to soothe him. Her healing powers had never been particularly polished, and she knew it would be a bad idea to even attempt it.

For now, this was fine. He turned his head and pressed a kiss to her belly, waiting for his own healing factors to pick up the slack. It would take a little while. Considering how lovely her nails felt across his scalp, Castiel was not particularly fussed with the idea of having to be patient.

I will add links when I get access to a computer because mobile Tumblr hates letting you easily edit text lols. On this hell site? Very likely. But everything is in the #zs tag on my blog at the least until then.

Set in a fantasy world of the semi socialist society Fey Alliance with magic, dick head dragon riders, benevolent necromancers, and even bigger dick head gods of mischief. The Zealous Servant is the story about a guy named Spayar who, has to keep his crown prince of a bff from being murdered by his entire family by murdering them first. But Spayar just wants to take a nap and find a cute boy to kiss and not have to worry about his corpse potentially being dragged through the street after a war. Better win that shit then.

I will only ping this particular list once and if you want to be pinged like or reblog this post. In the wake of Tumblr going tits up its even more important to reblog works that you like. So please consider doing so.

@girllikewisdom @enjoythewolfs @asnakewithwingsisadragon @fyreeprince @ispyatobert @frxemriss @madamecoyote @leprechaunsean @xangelstearsx @golden-lionsnake @deadpool-scar-bro @starry-ampelope @kami-mint

DiSol is a good boy who really doesn't deserve the shit I eventually do to him lol. Also gods I love Tassa so much she's great and I'm glad she's got a bigger role in the rewrite :D

Spayar knew something was in his room as soon as he opened the door. It wasn't a feeling that something bad was going to happen, just that something was out of place. There were no candles or lamps lit and the shutters were drawn closed against the nearly constant autumn rain in Assarus so it was difficult to see but he was a mage and a warrior and knew when things were off. Something felt off now and the part of Spayar that wasn't that brave at all wanted to just step back and head back downstairs and get his dad to deal with it like he had when he was nine and made him check under the bed for mud rats- a mythical rat creature with golden eyes and slimy brown fur that crawled into your mouth at night to suffocate you. He couldn't though because he was nineteen and a grown ass man and fully capable. He hated being an adult.

He stepped into his room and kept his power close. Nothing happened. He looked around, squinting into the shadows but still saw nothing. He waited a moment before he was satisfied he was just being paranoid. He went over to one of the lamps on his dresser and turned it back up to illuminate the room when he felt something behind him.

Spayar didn't have time to react, "You're home!" a high pitched voice cried, nearly right in Spayar's ear and he flinched as he was tackled, first by one body, then by a second, and finally a third and he couldn't remain standing and they all fell to the floor in a heap.

"Ahg!" Spayar yelled and found his siblings crawling all over him and realized what had happened. They'd been waiting for him up here when they probably saw him in the shed checking in on his horse and then saying hello to their mother. "Get off!" he howled and his three siblings laughed and did no such thing, clinging to his neck and waist. "Mom!" he yelled.

"What?" she called from downstairs.

"Help!"

His siblings giggled as he struggled to sit up and he heard his mother coming up the stairs. A moment later she arrived in the doorway and laughed at what she saw, Calli, Anora and Duren all piled up on top of Spayar in the most uncomfortable position. "What are you three doing?" she asked them, a smile on her face, and put her hands on her hips.

"Spayar's home mama," Anora said cheerfully, she had her arms around Spayar's neck, head under his chin.

"Yes I can see that," Relora said with a smile, amused by her eldest son's predicament. "I think he'd like to be able to stand up though."

"I would, yes," Spayar gasped because Duren was laying on his stomach and for only eight Duren already had their father's thick frame and body and was heavy. His little siblings giggled but when Relora told them to get up they did. Duren and Calli helped to drag Spayar to his feet. He took stock of himself and made sure he wasn't hurt.

"You three let your brother have a moment, he just came back from the west," Relora said.

"Are you staying longer than last time Spayar?" Calli asked. Gods she looked even more grown up than when Spayar had seen her a few weeks ago. It might have been the clothes, which were fashionable and the way she wore her hair. Spayar could already foresee his father growling at all the suitors his little sister would have soon, especially with a brother like Spayar. At least if he stayed as important as he was. He may very well be dead in the next year.

"Something wrong sweetie?" his mom asked him. Thinking about the coup made his chest tight, made him stare death in the face. If Von was killed there was no way the Asuras would let him live. He was too close to Von, too loyal. He'd never bend on another Le'Acard. He was d'alaer. It would be Von, or no one.

"Yeah, sorry I was just thinking about something," he smiled a little. "And I will be staying until his royal highness comes back from his trip at the least.”

"Do you know how long that is?" she asked.

"No but hopefully longer," he shook his head, "though the rains will keep everyone inside for a while,” they always did at the start of fall when the Meltong Basin started its wet season which was its autumn, it petered off after Lugalsta in the beginning of Lun usually. "He's coming from the coast though so I should have plenty of time to slack off," he grinned.

"Yes," Duren looked up at Spayar in delight, "will you teach me how to ride Spayar?" he asked.

"Ride a horse?" Duren nodded eagerly. Spayar cocked his head at his brother. Common folk in Assarus didn't normally have horses, his family hadn't had one until Von had given Spayar his mare a few years ago. His father had built the shed next to the house for her when Spayar was home. "Why?"

"Because I want to," Duren said.

"Uh," he looked at his mother.

"He's been bothering your father about it," his mother said.

"He said if you said yes he'd give me time out of the forge to practice," Duren said seriously.

"If I have time," Spayar said and that seemed good enough for Duren. He announced he was going to tell their dad and wiggled through the door their mother was still standing in.

"C'mon you two, let your brother take a bath," Relora said and shepherded her daughters out of the bedroom, closing the door after them to give him some privacy.

Spayar sighed once he was gone and could finally put his things away. He turned on another one of the lamps as he pulled out his dirty laundry for cleaning and put his weapons and bag away. He didn't travel with much and was used to packing up and leaving quickly. He rolled his eyes at the thought of Von summoning him when they were younger to go hunting or to visit some friend of his outside of Assarus for a few days. He was taking off his leather jacket when he felt the wrongness again and stopped as he undid the first buckle near his throat and looked around his room again. Someone was still in here with him, not just his little sisters and brother.

"Who's there?" he asked, there was no answer, "I know you're there; show yourself I don't have time for games." He honestly wasn't expecting anyone, but giving voice to his paranoia made him feel better. So when a piece of shadow broke off from one of the high corners of his ceiling and fell to the floor with a soft thud Spayar froze and went cold. 

Spayar swallowed at what rose from the little puddle of darkness; a lonth. Lords of shadows they were all wizards or mages and lethal with any weapon including their hands. The Adoshade were one of the most southern houses in the Alliance before you hit the Kas’sca and incredibly small but powerful. This one in front of him wore his Shroud tight to his body, making his skin black and shiny like a bug's carapace, only his face and hair revealed. He was older than Spayar by only perhaps three years with nearly ruddy skin with black eyes and hair and looked like a Black Foot though removed some generations from the original people who lived within the lands of the LoHanJo'in province.

"Are you Spayar Hillsman junior?" the lonth asked, despite being from the coast like Peonia and the Garden which had similar accents that were quick, rolling and beautiful the Shade had a starkly different one that made them sound sort of slow. The Black Foot language was very meandering and since the Shade had come from the Black Foot their accent mimicked that.

"I am, who are you?” Spayar said.

"My name is DiSol Adoshade," they bowed a little to him, "Second son of LouSai, Shadow Lord." That made Spayar uneasy.

"What can I do for you DiSol?" Spayar asked keeping as calm as possible. Von said that the Adoshade had been quiet lately and killed anyone who came into their province, or at least any spies never returned. But it was the Adoshade, the Adoshade did not allow survivors to those they considered traitors.

"You are the d'alaer of Vondugard Le'Acard are you not?" he asked.

"I am."

"A worthy thing to give your life for then," and Spayar grabbed his power in case DiSol attacked him. DiSol didn't move towards him and Spayar realized that if DiSol had wanted to kill him he could have done it already or if he wanted to know Spayar wouldn't be able to stop him, lonths never let a target live.

"What do you want?"

“We need help and the Shadow Lord is dying,” he said.

"Excuse me?" dropping his power in pure shock. The Shadow Lord was dying?

"Virilia," the Asuras, "has sent my father threats if he does not cooperate. I'm sure you've heard we have closed the borders of our province to outsiders," Spayar nodded, "my father is very sick and has put my older brother in charge of defending DisAdo and keeping the house safe." Spayar knew DiSol's older brother, CoLan, nearly everyone in the Alliance knew him, they called him the Dawn Demon and he was a monster, the strongest lonth there had ever been. Ruthless and cunning without a good thing about him he was said to have no conscious and did his duty for the pleasure of the kill. "My brother is not a good leader," DiSol said and his Shroud retreated back from his body like seeping water revealing his gray mottled clothing, his Shroud becoming a cape behind him.

"I don't see why you need me."

"My brother has been killing Virilia's spies when they come and see what is going on in LoHanJo'in as well as anyone else who crosses from the Relua province into ours. I managed to convince him to let normal people to pass through unscathed but he doesn't like it. As I said, Virilia is sending my father threats, my brother sees them instead because he is acting Shadow Lord. He has gone into the Boggarts to find Black Foot to raise an army." Spayar paled, another house who wanted to raise an army. Black Foot used a type of magic that robbed people of their free will, they were puppet masters and if you had a band of Black Foot shamen in your army you could make the enemy dance for you. At least those were the stories. He hadn’t heard of an actual puppeteer in decades. "Virilia said that if we do not bend by the spring she will send an Arm to wipe us out and remind us that the Le'Acard rule the south, not the Adoshade and we will be an example to all the other houses."

"CoLan is gone now?" DiSol nodded, "Who is running DisAdo now?"

"With my brother gone, I am. My father sent me here to beg," he'd never heard of a lonth begging before. "My father says that a Le'Acard who managed to find themselves a d'alaer were good, better than most. The other princes or princesses couldn't help us, they wouldn't be able to move quickly enough. But His Highness Vondugard-" he seemed lost for words for a moment. "CoLan will be gone until spring, until then I am running DisAdo.”

"Vondugard has till then to move," Spayar said softly.

DiSol nodded, "When my brother returns he will set his army at the border of LoHanJo'in and wait for Virilia to move against him. If he does we will lose. We may win the battle but we will be crippled. Our harvests have been horrible this year, our resources will be tight on our people as it is, let alone needing to feed and supply my brother’s army. A small army of lonths can hold back one branch of the Alliance army but the Alliance is a bottomless well of people. Virilia will just find more people, send the other Arms. We will be crushed."

"I understand," Spayar said, nodding, thinking quickly. This was a lot to take in. He wasn't aware the situation with the Adoshade was quite so dire. And the bad harvests weren’t just effecting the central Alliance. Even somewhere as far away as LoHanJo’in was suffering, like a malevolent hand of a god was pressed across the land. He needed to find out what other provinces would also suffer a food shortage this year once the harvest was brought in. One thing at a time though. He needed to focus on DiSol and making sure he could handle what was needed there. "Can you promise Vondugard lonths when it is time?"

"I will give you as many as you want. The Shade need a new Asuras. We will not exist past the spring if Virilia remains where she is."

"Why didn't you just go to Vondugard himself with this?"

“Spies follow him everywhere. I am good, but I'm not invisible. And we know you have his ear. We know you will speak for him." Spayar came up short on that. He did? Since when? "Do we have his Highness' help?"

"Yes," Spayar said, "You do.” If they were going to die in the Conflict might as well try to come out on top first. “We will move as soon as we can. Try to stall your brother, the Asuras' furies are short lived she may not send an army to you. But if what you're telling me comes to pass you're saying we have till the end of winter to prepare," DiSol nodded. "What about your father?"

"He's sick."

"With what?"

"We don't know, and we don't know if he'll get better soon. It may be a long illness," DiSol frowned. "He sees the error of putting my brother in command, but he's too sick for his orders to remove CoLan to be taken seriously. My brother just says our father is sick and doesn't know what he's saying."

"He's really a demon," Spayar said.

DiSol smiled a little, fractured, smile, "It's why they call him the Dawn Demon," he said.

"Return to DisAdo and tell your father Vondugard will help you. I also want to send a healer with you to look at your father."

"We have some of the best-

"It wasn't a request," Spayar said, "I know if my father was sick I'd want all the help I could get."

DiSol looked up at Spayar with grateful eyes, he bowed a little, "Thank you Hillsman," he said.

"Also tell your father that when he's better he must ensure that your brother can never take the Seat of Shadows," Spayar said. "I don't care how but the Dawn Demon is too volatile to be Shadow Lord."

"I agree," DiSol said.

"That is the price for the prince's help, that his eldest son can never become Shadow Lord."

"A price he will be willing to pay," DiSol said.

"Give me a day to find my healer friend, she will go with you back to DisAdo and see to your father."

"You're too kind. I will give you to the ninth morning bell tomorrow," DiSol said and Spayar nodded. "Thank you Hillsman," he said again.

"Make sure the Shade are ready to move in the spring."

"We will be, I promise," and his Shroud once again wrapped around his body, turning him into a black insect and then it covered his face, only his black eyes visible. He bowed to Spayar and then went to the window and eased the shutters open. DiSol climbed onto the sill and instead of dropping like Spayar expected DiSol stood up and climbed onto the roof, a black tendril of his Shroud snaking down and closing the shutters, locking them behind him. Spayar shuttered.

He stood there a few moments, looking at the shutters before everything seemed accelerated. He needed to get another letter out to Galinsum to Sinso that whatever progress he'd made on those grenados needed to happen faster. There was an accelerated time table. He jotted it down, folded it and shoved it into an envelope to take to the post office. This needed wyrm postage. It needed to get to Galinsum now. 

And he had to go see Mali, convince her to leave with DiSol and make the Shadow Lord well. And this was on top of all the other things he needed to get done in the time between Von returning from the gut, hopefully with good news about X’vazior at the least and hopefully others as well. What he needed was for Tassa to be home. He needed her.

He sealed the envelope with his personal mark and then spelled it so that if anyone but the intended recipient opened it it would burst into flames. He added an extra weave under that one so that if someone touched the top weave to investigate it that weave would trigger anyway. He rebuckled his leather jacket and grabbing the letter went back downstairs.

"Spayar where are you going?" his mother called as he grabbed his hat from the rack by the door

"Post office, then to see a friend, be right back," Spayar said, tucking the letter inside his jacket's breast pocket.

“Will you be back for dinner?”

“Yes,” Spayar said, looking at her through the window in the wall between the kitchen and the dining room. He could smell the wonderful food she was preparing.

"Is everything all right?" she asked, standing a bit more in view, the ceremonial scars on her forehead nearly touching from her furrowed brown.

He looked at her and frowned. He'd just cut his own life nearly in half with his agreement to help the Adohade. Before he'd had a year till the coup. With his declaration to help the Adohade he'd shortened it to just a few months. "No," he said and then turned and walked out the side door. Outside it was raining and Spayar put his wide, waterproof, hat on and walked off into the storm.

—

The rain during the fall was nearly constant in the Meltong Basin, and of course that was exactly where the winter capital was located, at the center of the Alliance. Spayar was watching the rain outside and people rush around under the awnings lining the sidewalks, or hunched over on horses or buggies. In the house it was warm and dry.

Mali was in the kitchen with his mother and he could hear the two of them talking, but wasn’t paying attention to their words. The sun had risen two bells ago but the sunlight was wane, wet, and gray. He was waiting for the ninth morning bell when DiSol would show himself and he and Mali would return to the LoHanJo'in province and DisAdo

He looked over when someone sat next to him, it was Calli. His perfect, proper, sixteen year old sister with more sense in her head than just about anyone Spayar knew. She was wearing a morning gown that came to her knees and had little yellow horses embroidered on it. She looked like she'd just woken up but yet was alert and keen. "Good morning," he said.

"Morning," she yawned a little, putting her hand over her mouth. "You're up early. Usually when his highness is away you sleep in."

"Busy," Spayar said, leaning against the arm of the chair. "Can't sleep now," literally. He'd tossed and turned all night and had dreams of a red eyed necromancer standing over his grave reading from the Red Book to summon a necrell that would take his soul to the Shadowed Lands. He hadn't been able to sleep after that nightmare.

"Busy with what?"

"It doesn't matter to you," he waved her inquiry away.

"Why, cause I'm a girl?" she asked.

He looked at her and laughed in her face, "Calli, I would never be so stupid as to keep a matter away from someone for as trivial a thing as gender. It doesn't matter to you because it literally has no bearing on your life if you know, and is better if you didn't know anyway."

"Why?"

"Because your brother is doing a very bad thing," he said softly looking away.

"Which is?"

He gave her a look, "If you're lucky you won't ever know," he said and looked back out the window. He could see the big bell tower from here, through the rain, its face illuminated from the inside, and knew it was close to the ninth bell.

"Spayar," Calli asked after a few minutes. He 'hmm'd at her. "Will you introduce me to some nobles?"

"Why would you want to do that?" though he didn't look at her.

"Because I want an interesting, wealthy, husband," and Spayar looked at her so fast he nearly gave himself whiplash.

"What?" he squeaked.

"I said-

"I know what you said," he waved her words away impatiently. "Calli, you're sixteen, and a commoner. You aren't obligated to marry," he reminded her.

"I know, but I will marry someone, someday."

"And you're sure you'll have a husband?" he challenged.

Calli came up short, she hadn't thought of that. Her brother would never have a wife like Duren probably would. He would never have children either. She thought about the implications of her sexuality for a moment, mulled them over and then said, "Yes, I will have a husband. I like boys, you're a good role model for liking boys," she smiled at him and he smacked her knee playfully, making her giggle. "And I want a good one. A courageous, handsome, wealthy, noble, husband," she said.

"Heh, well I can tell you bidi, those types of men are few and far between. Also why would you want a noble?"

"Because I never want to worry if something happens to us," Calli said. "Mama is always worried about you and I'm old enough to realize that if something happened to you..." she bit her lips, "dooim might not get as much business." He knew what she was saying. If he died in a coup, fighting against someone who beat Von, he'd be a traitor, and his family would be cast in that shadow. No one would want what his father made.

"Nothing is going to happen to me," Spayar promised. "And you don't want a noble husband. Nobles are awful. Trust me, I know plenty."

"But what about you?"

"What about me?"

She blinked and knew she needed to proceed carefully. She licked her lips before saying, "Aren't you in love with a noble?"

"What? No,” he scoffed

"So you're not in love with the prince?" and Spayar's face went slack and he flushed brilliantly, the color probably showing a bit on his dark skin. She smiled a little, "You have no room to talk about wanting a noble husband," she said.

He scowled at her, "It is a completely different situation. Vondugard is my best friend and my prince, of course I love him."

"You know what I mean."

"You're completely delusional," he waved her off. "And you don't want a stupid, prideful, noble for a husband. You're sixteen, and too young and good for most of them."

"I won't know unless I meet them though will I?" she asked.

"No," he said sternly.

"At least let me come to her highness' Talalsalla's naming day party this year," she begged. “Please,” she put both hands over her heart in a begging fashion. “I promise I’ll be good.”

He huffed through his nose and puffed his cheeks out a bit. She gave him her best doe eyes. "Fine," he grunted and rolled his eyes a bit.

She got out of the chair and hugged him tightly, "Thank you. Thank you,” and then kissed him on both cheeks and between the eyes.

"Yeah yeah," and the clock started to ring. Nine bells. "Now I need to go do stuff," he pushed her off gently and stood. "Mali," he called and went to the kitchen. His mother and Mali were in there standing at the kitchen table. Relora was packing Mali a bag of food while Mali tried to say she didn't need it but Relora just shushed her and packed it anyway. Spayar's eyes went to the window as the shutter eased itself open and a dark, man shaped, mass slipped into the kitchen. If Spayar hadn't been looking at the window he'd have missed it and it would be as if DiSol had just appeared.

"Having fun?" Spayar asked them.

"Your mother is too kind," Mali said, slightly beside herself.

"Nonsense. We're having a bad harvest this year and I doubt you'll be able to get as good of food as this elsewhere,” Relora said kindly. “And Dirinnan food is made to put meat on those bones,” and she patted Mali’s belly with all the gentle love a mother could muster.

“Relora-

“I insist,” Relora said firmly.

Mali sighed a bit theatrically. “Fine. Is he here?" Mali asked turning to Spayar. Spayar had told her why she was going to LoHanJo'in and why it was important she make LouSai well as soon as possible. She'd been very against it at first but like always he convinced her. It wasn't good having a soft heart around Spayar, he'd abuse if for all he could and despite her hard exterior Mali had a very soft heart. 

"I am," and Mali and Relora both turned when DiSol spoke, standing behind them. Thankfully he wasn't wearing his Shroud over him, so he looked rather normal. "This is the healer you spoke of?" he asked Spayar, looking at Mali.

"Yes, this is Mali Thralluk," he said, "Mali, this is DiSol Adoshade."

"Never met a lonth before," she looked him up and down, "I expected them to be taller." DiSol frowned at her but didn't take the bait. Mali turned back to Relora, "Thank you so much Relora, you're too good to me."

"Of course dear. Any friend of Spayar's is always welcome at our home and table."

“We should leave, before the rain gets worse,” DiSol said emotionlessly.

”Right, c’mon,” he nodded to Mali and DiSol and they followed him out of the kitchen. Despite just being out in the rain DiSol wasn't wet so he didn't have to worry about the lonth tracking water into the house. They left the house and stood under the second story overhang that looked out onto the side yard. While he'd been gone his mother had picked some of the produce and that made him nervous. Usually she only picked the produce when there was a fear of it wilting or being washed away by the rains. She'd picked it early. "Mali is aware of the situation," he told DiSol, who nodded, "while she's there she'll be acting as Vondugard's voice."

"Does she have the same authority as you?" DiSol asked.

Mali and Spayar looked at one another. Neither of them kidded themselves in who was higher, who held more weight and authority, "No," he said. "But if she promises something for Vondugard it's likely to be carried out," he gave Mali a look to make sure she knew not to fuck it up. He trusted her though, After Tassa and Von Mali was one of his oldest friends, even if they hadn’t started on perhaps the most honest of terms. “She knows what to do, do you?"

"When we return to LoHanJo'in I'll keep my brother occupied and away from DisAdo for as long as I can."

"I'll send the summons for aid through Mali. You march on her say," DiSol looked at her and then nodded slowly. "Good," Spayar wracked his brain, what else could he do? Not much. He'd done everything he could really. "Safe journey," he kissed Mali on her cheeks and between her eyes, "Make the Shadow Lord well," he ordered.

"He'll be skipping through fields of flowers in no time," she promised him with a smile.

"I'll hold you to that.”

"Let's go," DiSol said seriously, "I've already been away from LoHanJo'in long enough. I need to get back."

"Goodbye Spayar," Mali said.

"Keep her safe," Spayar said sternly as he saw the two to the high walled fence, rain splattering across Spayar’s head. Mali's horse was in the shed with his own mare and she went to get it.

"You have my word," DiSol said, "no harm will come to her."

"I can take care of myself," Mali said, “I did my time, remember?” she gave him a look.

"Just let me worry a little," Spayar half pleaded.

She grinned, "We'll see you in spring," and DiSol drew his Shroud over his body and face as Mali put on her wide hat, mounted her horse and entered the rain again trotting out to the road, her horse seemed miserable. She waved and then turned the corner onto the road and was out of sight. A half moment later Spayar saw a black shadow streak after her. Spayar frowned after them. There was nothing he could do now. He'd done all he could. He closed the door and went back inside.

—

It was drizzling miserably while Spayar walked down the road bundled against the wet, his wide hat casting rain over his shoulder in a sick dribble. It never got cold in Assarus but it did get chilly and fall had come with a vengeance, dumping feet of rain in short order with the promise of more. It was expected in Assarus even this early in the fall. Asurala  had started now and they had five weeks of miserable rain until it petered out in Neyjarra and finally stopped in Lun save for the normal rain storm until spring started and the Meltong flooded from the snow out west in the Spine melting.

He was in the middle of Uptown close to the mouth of the lake that the city surrounded. Tassa’s apartment was around here. Her father had bought it for her. Part to give her independence and part to get her to stop having sex all over his house. Spayar liked Kenna, he was nice, if having the personality of a mouse. He had always struggled to keep Tassa in line. Spayar didn't know where Tassa got it.

He was grateful to get out of the drizzle as he stepped into the foyer of a nice building. It was warm and dry inside with a guard desk who's main duty was to protect the mail slots along the front of the desk, keep any large packages, and call the actual guards should there be any need. Spayar shook himself just a bit on the mat inside the door to get the worst of the water off before stepping into the shiny wooden floors.

“Hello, can I help you?” the desk guard asked.

“Is Tassa Peony home?” he asked.

“I didn't see her leave this morning and the night guard didn't give any indication she hadn't been in all night.”

“Great,” Spayar said and signed his name on the guestbook. “I’m a friend,” he added.

“The young miss has lots of those,” the guard eyed him.

“No like actually,” Spayar chuckled and left the desk without saying much else.

Tassa had a ground floor apartment with a front porch onto the courtyard the building surrounded. As he got near he passed through the gentle cobwebs of a magical weave Tassa had coccooned the entrance of her home in. She might have been the daughter of a noble but that didn't mean the guards wouldn't have a good reason to arrest her. A bored mind and quick hands tended to get that sort of negative attention that would warrant such a weave. Spayar just coated his fingers in magic and gently pushed aside the ornately constructed threads that looked a lot like a larger and more complex version of the one on the back of his bedroom door. He just didn't need them touching him. Had he not been looking through magic he wouldn't have even seen it much less felt it.

He knocked inside the pocket free of magic right against the door. He made sure to knock loudly. Tassa came to the door after a solid minute of him knocking wearing a shift that was barely hanging off one shoulder her hair more disrupted than simple bed head would do. “Spayar?” she squinted at him. “What are you doing here at this hour?”

He looked at the clock on the post in the center of the courtyard, “It’s chems, Tassa,” he said.

“What? Chems?” she grumbled a little, “I stayed up too late.”

“Yes. May I come in, we need to talk.”

“Sure. I'll make something,” she yawned and waved him in.

Tassa’s apartment was as though a storm had ripped through it. It was one bedroom and bath and a living room and things lay in disarray all over. Papers and dishes were arranged hazardously on flat surfaces, brushes and makeup products lay scattered across tables and the floor. The couch looked more like a bed and a large pipe was leaned up against the wall. Spayar didn't mention any of it and just joined Tassa in her tiny kitchen where she was carelessly etching a weave in the air with magic coated fingers. The heat ring started glowing almost instantly. She put a pot from above on it and fingers still coated in magic connected two pieces of a larger weave together that caused the sink faucet to open and water to pour directly from it into the pot. It would disintegrate over time to stop the pot from overflowing.

She slouched onto the table across from Spayar, pulling a slender leg up to rest on the seat of the chair, casually brushing her hair with her fingers with mixed success. “Have fun last night?” he asked her, smiling.

“You’re lucky you're so pretty,” she groaned and rubbed her face. “Me and the girls went out last night down to the Den, got into some trouble.”

“Nothing serious?”

“Not even,” she sighed, “just welcoming me home.” As she said that a man left her bedroom, looked at the two of them and hustled out. Another bustled out quickly after him. 

“Fun huh?”

“Would have been more fun with you around,” she said and rubbed the top of his hand.

“You know I don't like white guys,” he said with a grin.

“Well, most white guys,” she said.

“I assure you I don't know what that means.”

She pulled her hand back, “So what's up?” she asked and looked at the last person to stumble out of her bedroom. This was a lady in much better condition than the two men. “You the last one, love?” Tassa called.

“Hmm? Oh, yeah I think so,” she grinned at Tassa. Spayar vaugely recognized her meaning it was a friend of Tassa’s who didn't run in their circle. “You’re buying next time,” she waved as she left.

“She seems nice.”

“Uhhhhg, she's so hot I hate herrrr,” Tassa groaned and leaned on one arm.

Spayar laughed. “Yeah I can relate,” he said with a grin. Tassa got up and took the boiling water off the heat rim, deactivating the weave with a crook of her finger and poured the water into two mugs. She scooped an herbal mixture into two tea balls and put them into the cups. From a cupboard she produced beet sugar cubes, stained slightly pink for effect, some strawberries and two day old bread that was partially eaten to go with the butter on the table.

“Chems,” she announced grandeously as she set the tea and food down between them.

“How gracious. Your father wouldn't even recognize you,” he said, not adding any sugar to his tea while Tassa added about six.

“Hardy har har,” she stirred her tea with a weave of magic that turned it into a mini maelstrom. “What are you doing here and not a more appropriate hour of the day?”

Spayar popped a strawberry into his mouth. “I heard the thief lord died.”

“Uhg, not this now,” she moved her hair in annoyance. 

“You didn't mention it when I saw you.”

“I forgot and by the time I remembered I figured you'd know already,” she said and sipped her tea.

“What’s this Cross guy like?”

“Western fence who got a taste for the business way I heard it. Came from a city around Galinsum I think. Showed up in Assarus few months ago, killed Jackertty with their own knife. He doesn't like people.”

“You mean he doesn't like you.”

“He’s skittish around girls. Meet him and you'll see why- no. Spayar stop looking at me like that.”

“Like what?” he asked, leaning on the table a bit, giving her his best innocent eyes. 

“You don't want to meet Cross. He’s not like Jackertty.”

“I know.”

“He’s way more cut throat.”

“We’d get along then.”

“Spayar I am serious!”

“Me too. I can't have some unknown entity in my city. I use his hands as my eyes. Pays to visit the boss.”

“Spayar I don't-

He leaned across the table and put his hand on hers, “Tassura,” he said gently like the bastard he was. “I need your help.”

Spayar-

“Please, Tassura?” he kept his voice low and sweet. Only he and her father were allowed to call her Tassura, her real name. It was a soft and intimate familiarity that wasn't allowed by most Aldashi outside of family or their lovers. It was a weakness Tassa didn't let anyone have over her other than those few she loved. Spayar was a real wretch for using it now and he knew it.

“I— guess I could,” she said softly.

“Thank you,” he squeezed her wrist gently and let her go. “How was your trip back with Vondugard?” The prince wasn't back I'm the city yet. He'd taken a long route around and detoured down Maker’s End to the land around and past Gorum, see if any help could be drummed up there. 

“He needed you,” she said.

“He sent me ahead-

“I meant in the past two years. You could have waited to serve time.”

“Again, also something I couldn't control,” Spayar said.

“He’s soft, Spayar. I worry.” Not about Von, Tassa was worried about Spayar. “X’vazior almost said no.”

“But did he?”

“No. I lied for him.”

Spayar sighed and rubbed his face, “He’s too nice is what you're telling me?”

“He cares too much to be an effective emperor,” she used the Aldashi word for it but Spayar knew it. Kenna called Verilia emperor when he was pissed at her, or when he spoke ill of the princes and princesses. Wasn't fully bilingual in any one Alliance tongue but Spayar knew enough in a lot of them to get by.

“He’s too nice,” Spayar groaned, still rubbing his face. “He’s always too nice.”

“If you don't want to get killed when Teldin finally attacks he needs to toughen up.”

“I know,” he put his hands down and sipped his tea. Tassa had two strawberries, the red juice staining her olive lips. “You’ll set something up with Cross for me?”

She sipped her tea. “ What do I get? You're a deal maker.”

“What do you want? And don't say sex you know I like girls even less than white boys.”

“Oh, I gave that up years ago,” she lied. Spayar knew she hated it was a lie too. “How about you owe me one?”

“An unspecified favor? Tassa you were hanging around the Peony too much,” he smirked.

“Is that a yes?”

“So long as it isn't sex, sure.”

“It isn't,” she rolled her eyes.

“Then yes. A favor. Just keep it of similar magnitude?”

“I will. Are you going to stay for the rest of chems?” she worried the point of a strawberry with her index finger distastedly.

“I guess. You made me tea and everything. It doesn't have anything in it does it?”

“Of course not,” she scoffed and popped the entire strawberry into her mouth. “You enjoy I'm going to get some real clothes on,” and she got up. Spayar privately rolled his eyes. Her shift was barely long enough to cover her buttocks in the back. He sipped his tea and buttered some bread. 

Tassa ended up throwing a final, third, man out of her house while he got dressed. They cast a furtive look at Spayar as they scuttled away and he just smiled and waved. They grimaced and bolted, fearing him being her actual boyfriend. He just enjoyed the rest of the chems until Tassa came back out, brushing her hair with a wide toothed brush to get it under some control. “Want some help feeding the afternoon birds? You know they like me,” she leaned against his shoulder luxuriously.

“I’d be remiss to say no,” he said. She grabbed another strawberry and went to put on some shoes. Spayar crammed the last bit of buttered bread into his mouth and shot the rest of his tea before following her. “It’s still raining, bring an umbrella.”

“Who do you take me for Spayar?” she asked and selected one of her six umbrellas in the stand by the door. This one was wide and deeply curved, rain cloud gray on the outside with a red lace trim and an array of red hibiscus on the inside. It matched her wine bodice and scaldingly red leather breeches that clung to her legs and hips in a way that was meant to be distracting.

“Of course, I forgot to whom I spoke,” he teased and opened the door. “After you, my lady,” he swept his arm out teasingly.

“Oh thank you, my Lord. How gracious,” she said with an extra girlishly giggle and stepped out of her front door. The rain had intensified while he'd been inside. He put his hat on before stepping out and locking the door. Tassa waved a hand at the door, locking a weave across the front like a cage to prevent entry.

“Shall we, my lady?” he asked, offering her his arm.

“Oh my Lord,” she batted her lashes at him making him chuckle as she took his offered arm and they left the building complex through the front. Tassa opened her umbrella, sheilding them from unwelcoming eyes as they headed for one of the places Spayar went to to hear the news from his birds.

Hey, what are your top three favorite and least favorite characters in Touhou? I find your taste in interpretations quite interesting, so I'm sure your choices of characters would be as well.

I think I’ve already given my top 5 in a previous Ask, but since it changes day to day I don’t mind answering it again. I’ll put it behind a Read More tag for space reasons.

#1 Sagume

Something about her just resonated with me from right after LoLK was released. While of course she was perfectly willing to glass Gensokyo, she clearly didn’t want to, which I think counts for something. She’s a smart lady being forced to make tough decisions, but despite all that, she was willing to gamble everything on people she’d never met. Although I’d imagine no small part of that was due to it being Eirin’s plan. She’s a strategist who sees the big picture, but isn’t so aloof as to overlook the personal.

Her power is also interesting. It’s a double edged sword that lets her do almost anything (maybe) but only if she’s incredibly careful about her speech at all times. Although it seems to be more versatile than simply reversing what she says: her power was also instrumental in making it so urban legends come true in Gensokyo. To put it at its most broad, she has the power to manipulate words and the truth. I’ve never been the hugest fan of power level arguments, but it does give her a lot of interesting flexibility in a way similar to older characters like Yukari.

She also uses little magical drones to fight, which I think would be cool to see in AoCF. Please be playable in AoCF. The Occult Balls are still around, so we know you’re still important. What did you talk about with Eirin?!

#2 Seiga

Okay, so maybe I just like villains. Anyway, if other characters interest me, she’s the one I fell in love with, for better or worse. It’s not a rational thing, I just find myself drawn to her. I’d imagine this is less interesting for the readers though.

Not that she’d ever love anyone back. I don’t think she’s capable of that. She’s not necessarily cruel (although she often is), she just can’t comprehend holding herself back on account of others. She has no goals other than her own happiness, and there’s nothing she’d be unwilling to do if she thought it would be fun. As long as someone interests her she’d be honestly excited to follow them or teach them or whatever, but the moment she gets bored she’d drop them without a second thought. In that sense, despite being Evil by, well, any definition of the word, she’s a fairly honest person who always says what she means.

What’s interesting though is that her Sin, as far as the afterlife is concerned, is just living too long without approval. Which I think says a lot about their priorities. It’s almost enough to make you wonder if she’s right to give the divine authorities the finger, even if she could stand to have some empathy for others.

Also she’s a necromancer which is always a cool thing to have in your setting.

#3 Kasen

Kasen’s cool. Yup. I’ve already written extensively about Kasen, but suffice it to say she’s a person struggling to do what right. She wants to be a good person, but it’s really not that easy when you’re not even sure what’s good. She’s smart enough not to take anyone else’s words as gospel, but even after stewing over it for centuries, the path forward isn’t at all clear. But what is clear to her is that she needs to do something: keeping the current status quo simply isn’t good enough. And if necessary she’s willing to tear it all down to fix it. I can easily see her becoming a “villain” at some point.

Which is especially interesting after the reveal that she’s one of the sages who made Gensokyo. And especially especially after Okina was revealed. It seems the sages aren’t exactly in contact with each other, and can have very different reasons for having helped make Gensokyo. I look forward to Kasen and Okina meeting.

Least Favorites

#1 Tenshi

To be fair, Tenshi’s at least fun to hate. Unlike the other villains I love, she doesn’t seem to have much of a developed worldview, and is mostly just a bored brat. She annoys me.

#2 Rumia

Rumia is the most generic of all youkai. I’ve always felt that the stage 1 bosses serve mostly to set the tone for the rest of the game. Minoriko is a generic god, Yamame is a generic Underworld youkai, Wakasagihime is a generic grassroots youkai, etc. I can understand why that needs to happen, but it’s usually not especially interesting to me. Anyway, Rumia was the first Windows boss and is therefore the most generic of the generic. She is the face of the faceless feral youkai, the sort that the villagers fear most. And she is super dumb and boring, and not dumb in a funny way either.

#3 Wriggle

This was probably the toughest decision on both of these lists. And I was almost tempted to cut her some slack since the reasoning is essentially the same as it was for Rumia. But Wriggle does nothing for me. She’s the kind of filler youkai ZUN throws in when he’s out of ideas. For the first half of the Windows games these were generally animal youkai, since it’s pretty easy to just say “She’s a firefly… and a youkai!” but these days they’re more likely to be Tsukumogami. Kogasa and the Tsukumo sisters and all that.

Not that filler youkai have to be boring. Kogasa’s certainly made herself stand out, and even other animal youkai like Mystia have gotten a decent amount of development. But Wriggle is just there, imo.

Sorry xxx#1WriggleFan420xxx. I know how much you love her, and I applaud you for it, but I personally can’t.

Custom Challenge: Partners

New name, been outta the magic game for awhile! Just coming back. (It’s Raptorthedoctor/Thelovelymedusa/Abyssal-Lolth) So uhh, deck challenge! Not sure if you still do those anymore, buuuut can’t blame a girl for trying, right?  You might remember one of the things I liked to challenge you with were custom commanders, and Partner gives some new space to that, so I figured I’d hit you up with some choices. Attached are 10 commanders with Partner, one for each color pairing. The rules are simple, just pick the two you like best or think are most interesting and work around them! Alternatively, if you want to use one of these with one of the existing partners, feel free to do that instead! I’ll go over the 10 below (and if anyone else wants to play around with them, feel free.)

This is Arketh. He was essentially made top-down from the art. An abomination resulting from Phyrexian experiments in Darksteel, Arketh must sustain himself on the lives of others to maintain his indestructible status. Or he can be found as expendable, and the research gained him the experiment used to aid another creature.  Commander-wise, he could lend himself to a lot of interesting utility uses, but I like to think he might be good in some sort of dual-Voltron deck, given that he himself is a miniature Yahenni for one less mana (albeit without the additional growth effect) but can also protect another one of your creatures.

I’ve been waiting to make this card since forever, really, but Helddagrif never really felt like it’d fit as its own fully-powered commander. I think it works well here as a supplement threat to some other group-slug partner. Helddagrif, most likely the result of some demon or necromancer getting their hands on our hapless hippo friend, brings along group discard and damage, sure to make you a hit at the table! (Just make sure you don’t go past 3 activations of his first ability or your hippo isn’t long for this world. Unless you had a way to give him indestructible…)  Definitely not as interesting or unique a card as Phelda, I’ll admit it, but the idea was humorous and I kind of like that this purple hippo now has nothing but hate in its heart. The perfect minion for some dastardly character!

Just slightly less cringeworthy of a name than Helddagrif is Hyss. B/G got a pretty cool toughness matters theme with Khans block, so I’ve extended on that here. Hyss is probably one of the more mechanically unimpressive looking of the commanders, but never underestimate a deathtouch threat you can cast over and over at instant speed. Hyss is from Amonkhet. Or, well… I had concepted a plane ages ago where one of my Planeswalkers dwelt, which was an Egyptian world that had become subjugated by Bolas. While Amonkhet seems to be a bit more than “Subjugated”, if the shoe fits, wear it! Hyss is an assassin known for her poisoned blade. 

The cheapest of the cycle rewards you for playing with the most expensive creatures. She might be undercosted for what she does, but she comes with some fairly strict deckbuilding conditions..  The flavor text and epitaph are a reference to Illaoi from League of Legends.  Lissana is from Zendikar. She seems to have survived the Eldrazi incursion on a remote isle guarded by sea monsters, preferring to hermit here, rather than involve herself more actively in the conflict.

If you remember my Sharuum deck, you know I love Sphinxes. Morius here is an evasive beater that have a big upside when he enters. An upside that grows the more things have died. Luckily, you’re in black. He might not mind being paired with a white creature to increase the amount of available options, though.  Morius, if printed, would be the most expensive Partner printed. Ikra Shidiqi, Kraum, and Ravos are all tied for second at 5 CMC. Morius is a Sphinx from Theros who dwells in the Underworld. While he wears the mask of a Returned, he himself is still quite living. Whether he works for Phenax or Erebos, or whether he’s simply crafty enough to evade their detection is unknown. 

I’ve probably complained along with everyone else about red/white commanders. Here’s my attempt at an interesting one. 

Champion is a mechanic that I always wished got a little more love. There’s a bit of good mechanical design space, including using the championed creature as a resource. Some other ideas for what Scor might’ve done with the Championed creature included getting +X/+0 based on their CMC, putting tokens into play based on their CMC, or dealing damage based on their CMC. But I felt like a sunforger on a stick was just gonna be a more interesting route to go. I’m not entirely sure if the wording on the activated is correct as I have no examples to fall back on. Had to cut the reminder text for champion cause even as it is, the card is a bit crowded.

Scor is from Estaroth, a plane where mighty champions go on quests to battle ferocious monsters in the name of the realm. With his appearance and elemental status, some might consider Scor to fall firmly into the latter camp, but the guy’s got a heart of (Molten) Gold.

A commander that makes use of the fact that you can have two commanders. I’m still a little scared of the power level of this one, so he’s costed and given an appropriately squishy body to reflect that. To be honest, I’m still not entirely sure how much of the “power budget” of a card Partner eats up, and this might’ve been pushing it just a little. Honestly though, rebound probably isn’t a powerful enough ability to prevent him from being a 2/2 or 0/3. Or maybe costing 3 mana. I erred on the safe side. I’m not entirely sure which plane Terisys is from. Perhaps I’ll explore that later. I can’t help but think he’s related to Bolas in some way, though.

I’m a bit sad I couldn’t get flavor text on more of these, but they were eating up space in that text box.  So I haven’t actually seen or own any Kaladesh cards yet, but I’ve looked over the block and it looks pretty sweet. (Getting an inventor’s fair for Sharuum.) The Fabricate mechanic presents an interesting choice. Do I go high or do I go wide? Yinna offers two different effects based off what choice you take on the fabricate, although there are definitely ways in green/white to break those rules a little. She definitely benefits from cards that can give her +1/+1 counters, being paired or partnered with beatsticks for her to grant trample, cards that can increase her token production somehow (like anything with populate or doubling season-type effects), and bounce or blink.  Yinna, of course, is from Kaladesh. She enjoys blending organic life, mainly plants, with her artifice.

For whatever reason, I’m really bad at designing blue/white commanders as well as red/white ones. Maybe white just isn’t my thing. Selkia comes with a pretty powerful moat-like ability, with the caveat that she has to be untapped for it to be turned on. Luckily, blue is the color of untapping things and white is the color of vigilance, although with her 2/2 body, she probably needs to be beefed up a little before attacking in the first place. Selkia’s power scales with the number of players in the game. Having a moat effect becomes a lot more valuable when lots of people have huge armies of creatures (Or armies of huge creatures) and are just looking for places to point them. Selkia’s cost reduction ability, one meant to mimic Commander 2016’s “Undaunted” mechanic, also becomes better with each extra player in the game.  Selkia is from Alyra. A plane where an invasion of the south by powerful demon lords has forced many of the plane’s inhabitants to migrate to the cold North to make a last stand against the ever advancing demonic forces.

Finally, there’s Mag, Gurana Stalker//Old Mag This is a pretty straightforward beater on the front side. The flavor is a lot like the idea of a ramping threat, like a movie monster. Sometimes, like the blob, the monster grows from small to larger and larger as it devours more people. Sometimes it’s the alien chestburster who undergoes a metamorphosis and emerges as an alien warrior. Other times it’s the raptors who learn how to open doors.  Once transformed, Mag gains a powerful combat ability to show off her battle experience. She wouldn’t have survived to become “Old” Mag on the harsh plane of Vera if she wasn’t tough! She’s a monster in combat, making chump-blocking or often blocking her at all not much of an option. Like any growing monster, the best way to deal with her is when she’s small.  You may get the most out of Old Mag by forcing creatures to block her. If you can get enough +1/+1 counters on her, she can make devastating use of Lure effects, often being able to take out all comers all at once with that double dose of power increase, once from the counters and again from her ability. Like any voltron, she’ll do well with some hexproof or shroud. Ways to give her haste can start the attacks and counter stacking more quickly, and ways to give her +1/+1 counters can hasten her growth into the tyrant queen of the riverway a little quicker. Anyway, those are my take on the partner mechanic! I hope you enjoyed and it wasn’t TOO long of a read for you! I look forward to seeing what/if you do with them! 

Rattlesnakes and Sea Serpents

The two that stood out to me out of this batch were Hyss and Lissana, as both of them encourage a deck that operates at instant speed. Hyss requires you to keep mana open on your opponents’ turns so you can threaten them with a surprise deathtouch blocker, while Lissana allows you to cast your deck’s biggest threats at the last possible second, thus allowing you to constantly hold up counterspells and spot removal.

The Beasts of the Deep

There are a couple of very strong sea monsters, but in order to fill enough slots so that our commander’s ability is relevant, we’ll have to settle for running a few that are normally a little too vanilla for this format.

+Kederekt Leviathan: When cast EOT, it’ll clear out potential blockers and allow you to be the first to rebuild your board. +Colossal Whale: Flash gives this guy pseudo-haste, allowing you to quickly answer threats. +Wrexial, the Risen Deep: One of the few sea monsters that generate card advantage. +Scourge of Fleets: Probably won’t trigger for more than 3 or 4 in this three-color deck, but it’ll disrupt your opponents’ utility creatures/mana dorks/etc. and steal some tempo. +Stormtide Leviathan: Protects you and improves the effectiveness of your other islandwalkers. +Breaching Leviathan +Shipbreaker Kraken: Casting it EOT can allow you to immediately mostrify it and clear out blockers while you swing for 10. +Elder-Deep Fiend +Great Whale +Aethersquall Ancient +Stormsurge Kraken +Trench Gorger +Aethertide Whale +Deep-Sea Kraken +Grozoth +Inkwell Leviathan +Pearl Lake Ancient +Simic Sky Swallower

Harnessing Tiamat’s Might

In addition to one or two cards that specifically support our deck’s tribal theme, there are lots of cards that have synergy with our strategy of “EOT drop some huge fat”.

+Sunder: Once you have a bunch of large creatures on the board, casting Sunder can be an excellent way to close out the game. +Prime Speaker Zegana/Hunter’s Prowess/Hunter’s Insight/Rishkar’s Expertise/Soul’s Majesty: The ratio of cards drawn to mana spent on these is hard to beat once you’ve got a sea monster to target. +Greater Good: Good protection against board wipes and pretty thematic, too. Ever heard of whale falls? +Whelming Wave: Excellent way to clear out blockers while leaving our main threats untouched. +Toxic Deluge: Since most of the creatures we care about are huge, we can easily pick a number that will wipe out our opponents’ stuff while allowing our benthic beasts to survive.

Summoning the Sea

Given that the average CMC of our sea monsters is like 6 or 7, we’re going to need a fair bit of ramp if we want to consistently cast them.

+Ancient Tomb +Sol Ring +Mana Crypt +Joraga Treespeaker +Trinket Mage +Cultivate +Kodama’s Reach +Skyshroud Claim +Hunting Wilds +Ranger’s Path +Explosive Vegetation

Abyssal Magics

These are our primary means of interacting with our opponents; most of them are instant speed to keep with the deck’s theme of playing on our opponents’ turns.

+Crush of Tentacles +Rapid Hybridation +Pongify +Doom Blade +Sultai Charm +Nature’s Claim +Arcane Denial +Counterspell +Cyclonic Rift +Disallow +Forbid +Go for the Throat +Negate +Putrefy +Swan Song +Vendetta +Damnation +Toxic Deluge

Wrapping Up

The rest of the deck is mostly goodstuff, with one or two tricks to take advantage of Hyss’s deathtouch. You can take a look at the full decklist here:

Snakes and Serpents

Thanks for the extremely creative challenge (and for your patience) @lyla-lycoris! I’m working my way through my backlog and will tackle more submissions soon.

Sensor Sweep: D&D Cartoon, Tim Kirk, Lin Carter, Literary Swordsmen and Sorcerers

Animated Cartoons (CBR.com): When CBS ordered a series based on the latest trend, fantasy role-playing games, perhaps they didn’t know what awaited them. Debuting on Sept 17, 1983, Dungeons & Dragons (inspired by the game created by

Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and published by TSR) came to air already surrounded by controversy. The game’s use of occult imagery wasn’t the only factor disturbing parents groups. Some even declared it a literal danger to young people.

      Art (Black Gate): Tim Kirk, another artist who has had a major professional career, was nominated for Best Fan Writer 8 times in the between 1969 and 1977, winning the Hugo in 1970, 1972, 1973, 1974, and 1976. It would be fair to say that for me, coming into contact with fandom in this period, my image of “fan art” was formed by Tim Kirk’s work, along with two more artists who won for their 1970s work, William Rotsler and Alexis A. Gilliland. (Not to slight the excellent Phil Foglio, but for whatever reason his art didn’t enter my consciousness until later. And Alicia Austin, four-time nominee and 1971 winner, was and is a favorite artist of mine, but for her professional work.)

        Fiction Release (DMR Books): DMR Books is proud to present our next release: the picaresque fantasy novel The Road to Infinity by Gael DeRoane. It will be available in digital and trade paperback editions very soon (within the next few days), and the classic size edition (6.5” x 4.25”) should be released before the end of June. Read on for more:

Poised on the brink of manhood, young Aran Dyfar makes a rash and momentous decision that will either elevate him to glory or seal his doom.

  History (Barbarian Book Club): “No silver, no Swiss,” commented Gian Trivulzio, a Milanese Condottiero during the Italian Wars. He was talking about the Swiss Mercenaries that served in the armies of the Italian City States. They were expensive and often sieges and sacks depended on the city’s ability to pay foreign soldiers.

A more recent quote “Amateurs talk about tactics, but professionals study logistics,” quoted to Gen. Robert H. Barrow, Commandant of the USMC.

  Fiction (Uproxx.com): Martin is no casual fan of Lovecraft. He regularly cites the writer as one of his earliest reading obsessions. He’s visited

Lovecraft’s grave in Rhode Island, and even wrote some elaborate fan fiction back in 2011 pitting Jaime Lannister against Cthulu in a deathmatch. When George sat down to speak with Stephen King, their conversation kept leading back to Lovecraft’s influence on both of their writing.

  Fiction (DMR Books): When I was eleven years old, I preferred Lin Carter’s Jandar of Callisto series to Edgar Rice Burroughs’ books about Mars. Sacrilege I know, and that’s not the case today, but as a kid, I liked that the Callisto books were written in modern language, and the events described not only took place within my lifetime, they were still occurring now, in the 1970s when I was reading them. I could almost believe they were true.

  Gaming (Player One): What happens when you have a cyberpunk futuristic world and put in the themes of H.P. Lovecraft? You get the latest offering from Stormling Studios, Transient. Aside from this announcement, Stormling Studios also released a reveal trailer. So what is the game all about? It begins in a distant and post-apocalyptic future. Whatever remains of mankind are now living in the Domed City Providence, an enclosed citadel that was created in order for humans to survive the harsh environment. Amidst all of this, the story focuses on Randolph Carter, a member of ODIN, a hacker-for-hire group.

  Robert E. Howard (John C. Wright): The Devil in Iron was published in the August 1934 issue of Weird Tales, several months after the previous story, Queen of the Black Coast. It is the eleventh published story in the Conan canon. We have reached the halfway mark of the published Conan stories completed by Robert E. Howard.

Howard here recycles elements of his own previous stories – there is a magic blade as in Phoenix on the Sword, the sole bane of an otherwise invulnerable eldritch monster, who is a resurrected necromancer as in The Black Colossus. 

          Comic Books (Paint Monk): Our tale begins as Conan, Bêlit, and Zula battle Stygian warriors in the catacombs of Luxor. As the fight progresses, the trio finds a secret passage that allows them to descend further into the depths beneath the city.

Zula shows some empathy toward the Stygian soldier’s fate – Conan and company are killing them simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Bêlit declares she will kill any Stygian, because they were the people who helped her Uncle overthrow and kill her Father.

  History (Real Crusade History): Henry was born May 3, 1217, the third child but the first son of King Hugh I of Cyprus and his queen Alice de Champagne. (Alice was the daughter of Isabella I of Jerusalem and her third husband Henri de Champagne.) When Henry was just eight months old, his father died suddenly, while absent from the kingdom on the Fifth Crusade. According to the constitution of the kingdom, a minor king’s regent was his nearest relative resident in the Latin East, in this case, Henry’s mother Alice de Champagne. However, Alice showed remarkably little interest in wielding political power.

  Fiction (Eldritch Paths): I  was reading The King Beyond the Gate, the second book in David Gemmell’s Drenai Saga. I really enjoyed the larger-than-life heroes in Gemmell’s first book, Legend. Druss the Legend was an awesome character, taking on scores of baddies and coming up on top. Even the leader of the enemy invasion force respected the strength and sheer force of will that was Druss. I was expecting, no, wanting more of the same from the second book. Most of this second book seemed to deliver.

  RPG (Pulp Rev): Designing for games is vastly different from designing for stories.

Readers engage a prose story through the plot, characters, and prose. The writer guides them on a journey in the mind, directing the story from start to finish.

Gamers engage a game through its mechanics. By playing as their avatar, they create their own experience.

Readers and gamers have different ways of approaching their chosen media. The requirements of these media lead to different design choices.

  Writing (Mad Genius Club): Write the soldier as he (or she) is, not as you wish to caricature them, not as your narrative demands.  Haven’t served in the military? Start looking through your list of friends for somebody who has. Sit down and ask them questions (bring drinks), listen and be respectful.  See, contrary to popular belief, we will talk. If you show yourself to be trustworthy, we’ll tell you the unvarnished truth about life in the service. What hurt, what sucked, what made us laugh, made us cry, made us mad, made us happy, what made it home for us.

  RPG (Brain Leakage): About three or four sessions into my current campaign, I noticed that my players didn’t really like the abstract nature of D&D combat. No matter how much narration and dramatizing I did, combat just felt too passive to them. Specifically, they wanted to do something besides stand there and take it while the enemy rolled against their AC. Now, one thing I’ll say in favor of D&D combat RAW. It’s streamlined. And if the players are happy enough to fill in the blanks by imagining feints, dodges, and other maneuvers happening in between declared actions and combat rolls, then it’s fine.

  T.V. (Pulpfest): Rod Serling’s THE TWILIGHT ZONE ran on CBS from 1959 to 1964. It remains in syndication to this very day. A new version of the series — narrated by filmmaker Jordan Peele — premiered on CBS All Access on April 1, 2019. Sixty years after its original debut, Rod Serling’s remarkable creation is still very much embedded in the public consciousness.

The creator of THE TWILIGHT ZONE was born on December 25, 1924 in Syracuse, New York. His brother, the late novelist and aviation writer Robert Serling, said: “We were fairly close as kids and we played together a hell of a lot, despite the seven-year difference. The two of us used to read AMAZING STORIES, ASTOUNDING STORIES, WEIRD TALES — all of the pulps. If we saw a movie together, we’d come home and act it out, just for the two of us.”

  Lit Crit (George Kelley): Just by chance, I stumbled across this 1976 Arkham House edition of L. Sprague de Camp’s wonderful Literary Swordsman and Socerers at my local public library. I immediately took it out and read it. De Camp’s informational essays on these fantasy writers made me want to drop everything and reread some of the great books by these authors. I’m a big fan of Lord Dunsany, but I haven’t read more than a fraction of his oeuvre. I’ve read most of Lovecraft, but I can always pick up one of his collections and find delight in its pages.

        Sensor Sweep: D&D Cartoon, Tim Kirk, Lin Carter, Literary Swordsmen and Sorcerers published first on https://sixchexus.weebly.com/