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shiny-jr · 2 years

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by the hand that makes

Warning: Yes, this is a yandere thing. You have been warned. Gender-neutral reader.

Characters: Ace Trappola, Deuce Spade, Cater Diamond, Trey Clover, Riddle Rosehearts.

Summary: A simple trip made to retrieve your deceased family member’s belongings spirals into a fall leading to a magic world. To survive, you must enroll in a prestigious university of magics. It's revealed that you do indeed have magic–– you're a rare witch known as a "creator." With your hands, you can create life and shape beings that have darker intentions. (the world is not twisted wonderland and the university is not night raven college, I promise)

Note: New series when the others are not yet finished, yay. Y’all know me by now, this is how I roll. I write what’s fun, when I want to. Anyways, I had this idea because this is actually a concept I had for one of my own stories! It’s called “The Creator” and it revolves around my ocs (yanderes). It’s on Quotev which is linked in the pinned post of my profile, if anyone is interested. But anyways, I thought this concept might be fun with the twst cast. Might write more for others characters and even more detailed parts another time, if people like this enough. Feel free to ask stuff about this concept/au. I feel like writing for this right now, and I’m curious to see what kind of ideas y’all have and if they interest me enough to write scenarios and stuff for it.

Somehow you fell through the door of an antique shop into a magic world filled with monsters, witches, wizards, and other creatures of myths and legends. All you wanted to do was retrieve some items from some deceased family members, items that the shopkeeper was keeping safe for you. Well, you got the items and a necklace with a key, but you tumbled through a portal instead of the exit. It somehow led you to go from average broke tired college student, to magical broke tired college student miraculously accepted into a prestigious university of magics.

The headmaster gave you a quick lesson and overview. You were accepted purely because it was discovered that you were a rare type of magic user called a “creator.” As the headmaster explained it, creators use elements and magic to make creations, beings made of elemental magic with souls from other realms. Creations being some of the most revered beings in history. There are three stages creations can go through, the greatest skip the beginning stages. Most very young creators, when making a creation, end up with a creation in the first stage, the soul stage. It just looks like a peculiar blob of an element, and can’t do much yet. With enough growth, or if you’re lucky enough, you’ll end up with a second stage creation, the beast stage. At that point the creation’s taken the form of some type of animal, not much more useful. The real treasure is the final stage! If you’re skilled enough and just have dumb luck, you’ll get a creation in the mortal stage! These beings are the strongest of all, they’ll appear as people that can manipulate the element they’re made of! Be cautious though, these mortal creations can be quite fickle and since they’re essentially their own person, so they tend to have minds of their own. Creations have been known to leave, betray, or even kill their own creators if they’re treated badly or simply don’t like their maker.

The headmaster of the university will allow you to stay with shelter, food, and other necessities, as long as you attend classes and become a star pupil, so the school can boast about their rare creator student! Besides, you don’t have much of a choice since you don’t have anything with you except the items you had when you fell through the door. Not to mention there’s an evil emperor who killed most creators in the past and keeps those remaining strictly regulated under his command. You wouldn’t want to be thrown out into the public and be hunted down for simply being blessed with a certain type of magic, would you?

Back to the lesson, there are nine elements in three categories. The easiest elements to master or make a creation out of are water, plant, ice, electric and fire. Then air and earth. Most stop there, but the two strongest and rarest of all are dark and light! Did you get that? Good, because the headmaster will be giving you a test! Not your standardized exam, oh no. They will be testing you on your creating abilities, and in order to pass you must show them a living breathing creation you made all on your own. So make a creation by the deadline and remain safe on campus, or fail and be hunted down by the emperor.

GRIM

To say you were nervous on your first day of class would be a major understatement. You were terrified. You had been tossed into this strange world, and one wrong move could get you killed. The judgmental stares of other students, witches and wizards, did not help in the slightest. That’s when you found a gray cat wandering around on campus grounds, Grim. You weren’t expecting to befriend a talking cat as soon as you arrived, but he was by far the nicest one here. Even if he wasn’t very nice at first, it was considerably better than others.

This was how you encountered Grim and he soon became your familiar, with the agreement that he was allowed to stay on campus and study magic just as you did. If you could, you’d place the burden of studying on him, but you’d rather not place your life in the paws of a monster cat who can’t sit still for one minute. Still, he was good company, albeit mischievous. It was actually nice to have a friend, and he quickly moved into your large dorm that was empty, seeing as you were the only creator student at this university. Grim was a hassle, but he tended to listen to you and stay out of trouble if you told him so. He would sit in your lap, helping you read over the textbooks of how to create, the same books that for some reason were in the crate of objects belonging to deceased relatives of your family.

No one knew how to create except professional creators under the emperor, and you were pretty new at this whole thing. Not about to waltz up to another creator and ask for advice in fear of exposing yourself, you and Grim consulted books after books. Only your books, since the huge university library held no information about the actual creating process. So together with your feline familiar, you managed to formulate a rough idea of how the procedure would work. After a few days, you both managed to map out the steps.

Step one: the setting. There had to be enough space for a cauldron, candles, and pentagram. It had to be in a private location with no onlookers, since it was a personal and confidential ceremony. Only the creator and their familiar could be present. All the windows and blinds had to be shut, the doors locked, they couldn’t risk anyone peeking.

Step two: offerings and ingredients. To attract a soul from another realm, there had to be offerings that would appeal to them. Anything will do, as long as someone would like it. Ingredients would have to be added to the base in the cauldron, which would help form the actual body of the creation once an element later became present to solidify it.

Step three: the pentagram. Various types of pentagrams could be used. It’s not entirely certain what they are there for. Some books theorized that it dictated what realm the soul would be from, others believed it would help sway the creation to become a certain type of element. Again, no one is sure, but it is necessary and it must have candles as well.

Step four: the incantation and sacrifice. A special incantation must be said. It is said that the incantation is typically a greeting, proclamation, or creating of a contract. Some incantations are copied from one another, but most creators choose to write their own incantations to make the moment even more special. To top it all off, a sacrifice must be presented. Not like a goat or cat or anything, no. It had to be something from your body. It couldn’t be a strand of hair or drop of blood, that was not nearly enough to create anything. It was usually a limb, but the books said to never offer your heart, mind, or soul. The sacrificed part wouldn’t be taken away. The only time a sacrificed body part would be stolen, is if your creation happens to die, then that part you offered to them will disappear just as your creation will vanish.

Now that you reviewed everything, on to the hard part... actually creating a creation...

HEARTSLABYUL

Step one: the setting. Check. All furniture was pushed aside, the blinds were closed and the doors were all locked.

Step two: offerings and ingredients. Honestly, you weren’t sure what kinds of items would attract a soul from another realm. So, you went to the store on campus where the owner gave you a discount if you promised to bring your creation when you were done. From the store, you purchased a variety of items with the allowance the headmaster gave you for the project. Perhaps the soul might be thirsty which is why you bought and brewed some rose tea in a cheap porcelain cup, although thinking about it now it was silly because how would a soul be thirsty? There had been black glasses on a rack labeled 25% off, a pack of different flavors of ramen which you could eat later if the souls didn’t want it, a cute tiny wind-up chick toy that was less than $5, and a heart shaped pillow, among various other objects. Really, you bought anything cheap and anything of interest. For the ingredients, you were able to take supplies from the potionology class, which included things for the cauldron such as soot, molten liquids, banshee blood, rare flower petals, and many other ingredients you had never once heard of.

Step three: the pentagram. For this first ritual, you opted to copy one of the pentagrams drawn in the textbooks. The chalk you used marked the spot on the wooden floorboards, created bits of fine white dust along the lines of shapes. The circle was less than perfect, but it was complete and it wasn’t too bad after your fifth attempt at redrawing it. The candles were also cheap scented ones from the store. Lighting them made the room smell like roses, tea, and baked goods.

Step four: the incantation and sacrifice. You followed the vague instructions on the book, using a paint brush and white paint to mark an X over your left arm for the sacrifice. This was just a trial run. Even if something did happen, you would keep your arm until the creation died. It would be alright, you assured yourself. Now, for the incantation.

Clearing your throat, you picked up the journal and proceeded unsurely and awkwardly, “Um… I offer up this left limb as sacrifice, so souls hear my plea. May any spirit find satisfaction with these gifts I humbly bear.” Wasn’t this next part supposed to be about a specific element to hopefully sway the soul to become a certain type of element? Well, you weren’t really picky. You read how many creating rituals ended in failure, so you just hoped that it worked. It didn’t matter what kind of element the creation was.

Grim hung dangerously close to the edge of the cauldron, curiously peering into the stew of seemingly random ingredients thrown in and mixed haphazardly. The blue flames of his ears and tail helped to keep the room dimly lit. His unnatural blue eyes then shifted from the insides of the cauldron to the mess of items around the pentagram which included toys, snacks, knick-knacks, and other items that could’ve been found at a dollar store. “Whatever you put in this thing looks like vomit. You really think this mess is gonna attract an otherworldly being?”

“Shh! I’m incantating! Where was I…? Oh, right! Whether you be of dark or light, earth or sky, sea or flames, green as nature, cold as ice, or like the blinding lightning, all I ask for is a reply! By these hands I––”

“Pffft––”

“I’m trying my best here!” You hissed at the cackling cat. Him rolling around the ground in laughter at your attempt was sure to mess up the chalk pentagram. Once his laughing died down and only a smug smile remained on his whiskered face as he sat on the rim of the cauldron, you begrudgingly lifted your left arm and continued with less enthusiasm, “As the first creator did, I ask for magic life to grace this land. By hand I created, please reveal the creation, oh grand…!”

In that instant, the flames on the candles went out, leaving the room in near darkness. The only source of light left was Grim’s blue fire. Looking at the gray cat, you rolled your eyes as his attempt to make you believe something happened. “That’s not very convincing, Grim.”

“That… That wasn’t me!”

It only took a moment for you to feel strange, your entire left arm became numb and you felt somewhat woozy as you attempted to steady yourself on the cauldron. In that instant, a hot burst of air came up from the cauldron, sending you and your feline companion stumbling back against the dark. Smoke arose from the cauldron, growing higher and higher, almost touching the ceiling until–– BOOM!

There was a powerful blast like a clap of thunder, blinding you and making your ears ring. The candles had magically been relit, and the cauldron was on its side now. Instead of the mix inside of the cauldron leaking out, there floated five peculiar orbs.

Ace Trappola

The first orb, the one on the very left, was a soft scarlet color. Like the others, it floated in mid-air, making no movements, but you knew it was alive. It was like it was a ball of gravity-defying jelly, emitting a glowing light. It was only when Grim became brave enough to not only approach it but to poke it, did it spring to life.

As soon as your feline familiar touched it, the red orb grew bright and hot, like a ball of flames, until its shape expanded into that of a young man. His body was covered by simple red silk, keeping him from being indecent. The messy ginger hair on his head reminded you of the shape of fire, and on his cheeks were freckles that looked like the small airborne embers of flames. Even his eyes, like scarlet, reminded you of the red color of fire. That’s when his red eyes became focused on you.

The young man stretched an arm behind his head, looking annoyed. But as soon as his gaze landed on you, he seemed just as taken aback as you were, apparently not expecting any company. His cheeks turned a deep vermillion, it felt as if flames would start shooting from his fingertips as he exclaimed,

“Y-You?! You’re the one that summoned me? You're kidding me! Obviously this cat and his stubby little paws didn’t do it! Wait, hold on a second, let me get this whole thing straight. You are supposed to be my creator?”

Ace was the first creation to take proper shape. For some reason, it seemed that this otherworldly being settled for the heart shaped pillow among the pile of inexpensive offerings. It seems that there were a few items in the cauldron that helped him take shape as a fire creation. Perhaps it was the tongue of a fire breathing lizard and sprinkled soot from an ancient flame that helped bring him to life.

As mentioned before, Ace is a fire creation, although not a very good one judging by the lack of control over his powers. But that can be improved over time with training and experience. Well, he doesn’t have complete control of his powers yet, but he has enough power to burn your enemies––! What? He’s joking! …Maybe.

When asked about his previous life in the realm he came from, he shrugs and admits he wasn’t a person of high standing or anything. All he remembers is trying to incite a rebellion or something, but he won’t say why or against who.

Wow, Grim is seriously your only friend? That’s kinda pathetic, no offense, Grim (the cat is very offended). Well, guess he has no choice but to call himself your best friend! You won’t have to sit alone in class and go all day without a conversation, because now he’s here! This may have not been a good idea, because now Ace won’t stop pestering you.

He gets very irritating if someone else that isn’t one of your own creations tries to take up too much of your time. It’s so obvious that he’s jealous as he casually wraps an arm around your shoulder and frowns at the poor person just trying to ask you about a class assignment. He’s joked about roasting them with his flames, but is he really joking…?

This is a second chance, you gave him another chance at life. It was something he never expected, but he’s definitely not gonna waste it! This time, he’ll use this life to live happily, without any oppressive rules. And he gets to live this second life with the person who gave him the second chance, he wouldn’t trade this away for anything else in the world!

Deuce Spade

The second orb, the one that had been closest to Ace, was a dark shade of blue. It floated somewhat sleepily, looking like a ball of blue jello until the fire creation nudged it so that the blob jolted upright and awake. It crackled, glowing dangerously at the sudden touch that woke it so suddenly.

You had expected the orb to maybe drip liquids, since it must’ve been a water creation judging by its color, right? Wrong. Instead, it crackled and popped, in a bright flash it expanded rapidly into another young man. Like Ace, he too was covered in red silk. But he was noticeably different, with short dark blue hair and bright cyan eyes. What caught your eye was a strange long scar across his left arm, like small branches that spread across his flesh. You recognized those scars, that type of mark could only be found in those struck by lightning.

The fresh creation looked down with interest at the cauldron beside him, somehow missing the cat, fellow creation, and creator just a few feet away. When Ace finally had enough of watching his clueless counterpart, he called him out and made their presence known. Immediately the blue creation jumped, startled judging by the small buzz of electricity his hand gave off, he looked shocked to see others there.

“Ow…! Wait, that didn’t hurt–– Oh, no, introductions first––! It’s nice to meet you, creator!! Ah–– I’m sorry!!! I only meant to shake your hand! I didn’t mean to shock you, I promise! This is all going so wrong…”

Whatever could have attracted a second creation? Why, the windup chick toy, of course. What else could an otherworldly being desire? Okay, but seriously, you have no idea why he picked that as his offering but he seems to like it. Anyways, you were able to deduce which ingredients formed this creation. It must’ve been the thunder caps (uncommon mushrooms that only sprout during a thunderstorm) and herbs from a blitz bush (a specific type of bush that changes when struck by lightning).

It’s fairly obvious now that Deuce is no water creation, but an electric creation. Like Ace, he had little control of his powers. Well, it made sense for him to be an electric creation. Fires tend to spark after lightning strikes, and whenever there’s trouble, it’s Deuce that tends to get involved first before bringing in Ace.

If you ask about his previous life, he’ll answer that he doesn’t recall the minor details. All he can remember is that he was fighting a lot. When he was young and stupid, and then he was still fighting as he got older. Why? He thinks he was fighting for a good cause but… he can’t recall for certain.

Deuce feels bad when you tell him about your time alone with Grim. He used to be like, that’s how he got involved with the wrong type of people in his past life. He doesn’t want that for you, so he’ll be your best friend too! (“Hey, you can’t do that, I’m already their best friend!” says Ace). Oh yeah? Watch him. Doesn’t matter, Deuce will still be your friend, whether Ace likes it or not.

The electric creation is endearing and slightly clumsy, but he isn’t harmless. Oh no, not in the slightest. The university is full of aggressive students looking for a challenge, so he’s immediately zapping all those that even try to challenge you to a duel. Why even lift a finger when Deuce holds enough power to fry their organs from the inside with just one strike?

In truth, Deuce can’t help but feel he wasted his life. But this time, he’s determined to not make the same mistake again! It’s a miracle he even got this opportunity, so he’s going to make the most of it! He can’t ever thank you enough for this chance! So, he’s decided. To make this life worthwhile, he’ll stay by you! He’ll raise his fists again and fight tooth and nail to protect the one that gave him this life.

Cater Diamond

The orb in the very middle was peculiar. It was an orange color. You wanted to guess that it was a fire creation, but there was always the chance of being incorrect like with Deuce’s case. At the slightest movement around it, it seemed to sense the commotion so it quickly bounced to life.

As soon as it became too loud (no thanks to Ace and Deuce’s squabbling), the orange orb crystallized before shattering and expanding in size to resemble a human form. It was another man, but this one was a bit taller than the previous two creations. The red silk complimented his orange shoulder length hair nicely, and his green eyes were dull before lighting up with a spark when he realized there was company. Honestly, you couldn’t pinpoint what element he was composed of, but his lifeless gaze before he quickly brightened up and smiled threw you off.

This third creation swiftly took notice of your form, and he seemed quite friendly. He gave a quick wave and immediately bounded over, eyes sparkling as he hesitantly took your hands in his. He paid no mind to the other two creations whose moods soured upon seeing you were now paying attention to this new creation.

“It… It really happened…? You’re the one that made me, right? I can totally tell! It’s like, I instantly felt this super powerful bond with you! You feel it too, right? Or is it just a me thing creations feel? Well, whatever, it’s so nice to meet you, creator!”

So Cater really liked the ramen, which was a bit of a disappointment because you wanted to keep that. But he promised to share if you let him feed you. You agreed, which flustered him because he wasn’t actually expecting you to say yes! Anyways, it took a bit of analyzing to figure out which ingredients from the cauldron helped form him. There’s a chance it was a bundle of crushed winter diamonds (an arctic flower) and a jar of icy mists.

Yes, it was impossible to tell earlier, but Cater was an ice creation. You certainly never expected that. He has a bit more control over his powers, so that was good. Actually… the ice element made sense now that you thought about it. It’s hard to tell, but Cater acts a bit strange. He has this calm side he immediately pushes to the side when others are around, but you’ve noticed it. Maybe that’s why he’s of the ice element.

If you ask about his previous life, he’ll laugh a bit and casually bring up the past life of his fellow creations instead. What gives? Why won’t he tell you? Is he just that secretive or that insecure? It’s hard to tell.

Ah, you poor thing! All on your own out here. Don’t worry, whatever you need, Kay’s on the case! Cater is quick to find out details of this world, assisting you in learning the ups and downs of this magic world as well. He melts with any bit of praise too. Thank him and praise him for a job well done, that’s your first step to getting him to open up more.

Really, Cater is so desperate for company and validation, specifically from you. But he keeps his desperation hidden under a carefully crafted cheerful and preppy personality that hides some sort of mysterious icy interior. Was it so wrong to want your attention? To do anything to keep your eyes on him?

Part of him constantly wonders if he truly deserved a second chance. Of course not, so why him? Why did he get lucky? Why was he given this opportunity by you of all people? He felt undeserving, but at the same time he was so grateful, he wanted to believe that none of it was a mistake. He wished to believe that somehow, he could truly achieve happiness in this life with you.

Trey Clover

The second to last orb was a sage green, immediately reminding you of the greenery of nature. It took only the slightest prodding from Cater for the orb’s glow to increase to a soft glow. Its shaking signified it was awake, and moments from transforming.

A small storm of leaves magically appeared, concealing it until the storm grew in size and suddenly stopped. The leaves drifted down to the ground, revealing another tall young man but with short dark green hair that contrasted against the red silk over his body. He had hazel eyes that were squinting, as if he were struggling to see. You connected the dots and reached for the glasses, carefully putting them over his eyes. Now with clear vision, he could see properly, and the first thing he saw was you.

The creation blinked, surprised but he smiled gratefully and nodded his head in thanks. There was an air of peace and maturity to him that was unlike the three before him. Not to mention that he stayed relatively calm compared to the eager and panicked reactions from Ace, Deuce, and Cater.

“Thank you… Creator, I’m assuming? The first person I see is supposed to be my creator, and that was you. A bond between a creator and their creation is supposed to be sacred. So, may I introduce myself? After all, we’re bonded together now.”

The glasses seemed like a fitting offering for the creation with vision problems. They helped him significantly, so it’s nice knowing that one of your purchases was actually worth it. Now to note down what ingredients may have formed this creation. It looks like it may have been the roots from the deep wilderness of the forest and bits of vine from wandering wooden treefolk.

Trey is a plant creation, and he appears to have a good grip over his abilities. What a great plant creation, he even acted like the typical plant creations described in the books! It’s said that they’re usually very calm and intelligent creations that have a strong instinct to nurture and care for, especially for their creator.

If you prod into his past, he’ll answer the same every time. He served a powerful person who wasn’t doing the right thing. He’ll give no more crumbs of details, even if you continue to prod.

Guess who’s taken up the responsibility to care for you? Trey has. He’s constantly checking up on your health, cooking to feed you, and even keeping the others rooted in place (quite literally with roots) if they’re being particularly troublesome. Say goodbye to ramen and dirt cheap lunches, because Trey is here to save the day!

Trey is a bit more passive compared to the others who can cause trouble if not properly monitored. But, not to fear, that’s why he’s here. To keep the young ones in line, and maybe you’ll appreciate his efforts. He’ll care for the other creations, but he wants to care for you the most if you’ll let him.

In this second life, he’s determined to not let things get out of hand like last time. He wants to keep the peace, and so he’ll aim to keep it as stress-free as possible. If he can live this life peacefully with you and the others he’s come to care for, then that’s all he can ever ask for.

Riddle Rosehearts

Finally, the last orb. This crimson one has been growing hotter and hotter, ever since Ace was the first to awake. There was something peculiar about this one, because it simply didn’t wake. It took several minutes after Trey awoke, continuously prodding and poking from the others did nothing but seemingly make it angrier as it got even hotter. So hot it was emitting steam.

After more waiting, it didn’t wake up. You had found the others a change of clothes to get them out of the silk cloth, Grim had helped you clean up the remnants of the ritual, the candles were reaching the ends of their lifespan, and still it didn’t move. Grim sat, staring at the orb that was much too hot to touch, before finally turning towards you and inquiring, “Why don’tcha try something to wake it up?”

Unsurely you approached the orb, carefully placing your hands under it but not touching it. Just grazing it would leave a nasty burn. As you moved your hands up, it floated up as well until you held it at eye level. “Uh… hello?”

As soon as you spoke, the orb flashed a fiery red. You quickly removed your hands, just in time as the flames grew bigger, resembling the shape of a short figure. The flames were so strong that it caused the entire room to grow sweltering hot. When the smoke and the flames disappeared, the air cooled and there was the fifth and final creation. It was a short young man with crimson hair and wide gray eyes. He looked like a doll. The hair matched the flames and the silk on his body, while his stern expression nearly matched the intensity of the heat from just moments ago.

Slowly he opened his eyes and gazed at you. There was a soft and welcoming smile on his face, which was unlike what you just experienced seconds ago with the powerful heat from the fire. This young man appeared so tranquil and delighted, it was hard to believe that his previous sphere form was probably the most dangerous by far. His pale cheeks became a rosy hue as he greeted,

“Hello, creator. You have my sincerest gratitude for this chance. I am–– was... queen, but now I am yours. Yours to command and yours to bend to your will. Use me as you see fit. May I have the honor of knowing your name?”

Riddle is the last creation to take shape, but he is by far the strongest. Perhaps it was because of his destructive element, or it may have something to do with his background. Whatever it may be, his soul was lured here by the promise of a warm cup of tea (he was thirsty!). He is the same element that Ace is, so there’s a chance that the same ingredients helped form Riddle.

Riddle is a strong fire creation, with way more power than his fellow creations. Don’t worry, he won’t be using his abilities all willy-nilly like Ace would. It’s obvious that you can place your faith in Riddle. If you wish for him to never use his powers outside a battle or even if you instruct him to burn an offender to a crisp, then it will be done without question!

He’ll answer everything honestly, including if you want to know about his previous life. This fire creation was a queen that ruled with an iron-fist, until she met an unfortunate end at the hand of some unruly subjects.

Riddle thrives in this learning environment. He’ll become the torch to lead your way during these dark tumultuous times of study and lessons. He’s exceptionally good at all subjects, despite not even being a student. If you’re worried about failing, don’t fret, he’ll gladly tutor you! Rest assured, he’ll help you pass these classes!

Like Trey, Riddle keeps everyone in line, but the fire creation’s methods greatly differ from the plant creation. Trey is gentle and convincing, while Riddle can grow frustrated if the younger two refuse to listen. How dare they?! If you tell him to tone it down, Riddle will immediately do so. He’ll remain strict, but he will no longer lash out should anyone fall out of line. The others are thankful you tell Riddle to be lenient.

This fire creation holds your reputation in high regard, which is why he becomes personally offended when anyone insults you. He’s gotten into a duel or two because of foolish students that believe you’re an easy target, and he won them swiftly. Oh, Riddle swears to make all of your enemies rue the day they decide to cross you! It’s frightening to see this petite young man who normally acts so well-mannered and sweet to you, become a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield as he punishes the offenders with the intensity of his flames.

After his death, he believed that was it. His reign was over, his life was cut short, and that was all. There was nothing left for him… until there was. Until he was granted a chance at a proper ending, with a brand new fresh clean slate. He wouldn’t have the power and status of his last life, but he would have something better, something to cherish: his creator, you.

After...

It was impossible! After checking the records and textbooks and journals with Grim, you had confirmed that no past creator had ever managed to summon more than one creation at a time! Hell, in fact, most creators were only able to summon one creation in their lifetime! So for you to summon not one, not two, but five creations in one ritual? It had never been done before, at least that’s what the records showed. You had just started, you had thrown together random ingredients and offerings, you had zero experience, while past creators who studied for years, prepared even longer for rituals, and got priceless gifts and artifacts for the process, would usually end up empty handed. So how was this possible? Five creations was more than enough for you. There would be no more creating. You had five creations to show the headmaster, and making anymore would mean sacrificing another limb. There was no need for it, you couldn’t do it again, right…?

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godesssiri · 9 days

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Thrifting for the ⋆⭒˚.⋆Experience ⋆⭒˚.⋆

Today I saw a reel on Instagram of things that the OP likes to thrift for the experience. I’ve done lists of Décor items I am constantly looking for in thrift stores and Thrift First things I will always try to thrift before I buy new, but that reel got me thinking about the things I buy from thrift stores because the experience of looking for and finding them is so much better than just buying new.

Décor. Yeah, you can go to any number of stores and buy brand new décor items at just about any price point. And I used to do that, but the décor items I bought new in the past have gradually been donated to make space for thrifted treasures. Because the things I bought new had no meaning to me. The vast majority were just pretty things that sat on a shelf and had no emotion attached to them, so it meant nothing to me when I got sick of them and got rid of them. But almost all of my thrifted décor (and as a Maximalist I have A LOT) has memories attached. I could tell you what thrift store I got almost every piece at, if I had a friend or family member with me I could tell you who was with me and their reaction to the thing I picked up. Some of those shopping trips have become family legend which gets told over and over and every time I look at the item involved I experience a fond memory of either finding the item or my loved one telling the story of me finding the item. I remember the thrill of discovery, the triumph if it was a piece I’ve been looking out for, the excitement if it was something I’d never even imagined and now can’t imagine not owning. I’m constantly discovering things that I had no idea I needed in my life until the exact moment I laid eyes on them in a thrift store. I discover manufacturers and artists and art styles I would never have been exposed to otherwise and I have so much fun researching them and discovering more about them. When you buy new décor you rarely feel the need to research and discover who made it and when and why, but when you thrift something amazing it’s part of the fun to do a deep dive and discover something new.

The perfect piece to fit in a particular place or do a particular job. I looked for the right side table for next to my couch for over a year, I could have found one the exact size and shape I needed brand new, but I know I wouldn’t love it a fraction as much. I have so many pieces like that in my home and I just enjoy being able to use these perfect pieces. When you wait and watch and finally find something that just serves your purposes so so well, the whole hunt from beginning (deciding I need a thing to go here and do this) to end (positioning the thing and standing back to admire it) is an experience. You can get that experience buying new, but to me it always feels a bit like cheating – not to mention going the new route will cost a lot more, my solid oak side table was a whole 35 bucks and the fact I got such a high quality piece for so cheap is a part of the experience that still gives me a buzz every time I think of it.

Original art. I love thrift store art so much. Galleries feel inaccessible unless you’re above a certain income bracket. But anyone can have amazing original art if they’re willing to scour thrift stores and build up a collection of things that speak to them. The number of times I’ve stood in the art aisle in a thrift store and tried to talk myself out of buying a piece because I have so much art and I’m running out of walls. But I’ve never regretted a single piece of original art I’ve thrifted and I’ve never re-donated one. Because if I like it in the thrift store I looooove it my home. I can’t help but browse the art even though I know I’m running out of space because I never know when I’m going to come across something amazing that will be with me for the rest of my life.

Antiques. I love antiques so much. I love old things. They have a weight and gravitas. They feel like survivors, because so much of what humans create, we then destroy. Things that survive to become antique were treasured or lucky and I feel like if they survived because they were treasured by someone you can feel that, and if they survived because they were lucky then bring that luck into your home. Finding true antiques (things that are 100+ years old) in thrift stores requires patience and an eye and it’s always such a wonderful experience to stumble across something and know that it is old and precious, and it can be yours for thrift store prices.

Collections. I’m a collector, have been my whole life, I have so many different collections of things. I have a theory that if you have one of a thing then it’s just a thing you like, 2 is a coincidence, 3 or more is a collection. I often find myself going: Whoops I guess I collect that now. It’s such a thrill to spot something in a thrift store that fits one of my collections and to swoop on it. I even love to stand in a thrift store and hem and haw over a piece before ultimately deciding I don’t need to add it to my collection because it’s not the best example, or doesn’t quite fit, or I’ve got something too similar. That’s part of the experience. I have many vestigial collections, things I used to collect but I no longer get a thrill from so I’ve re-donated all but the pieces I couldn’t bear to part with. I love to imagine, when I send an old collection off to the thrift store, someone else discovering my treasures and adding them to their collection of that thing.

Really high-quality stuff that is very expensive new. Sometimes people buy something expensive as a gift and the recipient doesn’t want it and donates. Sometimes someone will drop a lot of money on something, then never actually use it and donate it. Sometimes someone will buy something expensive and they will use it for years, but because they’ve taken good care of it and it was such good quality to begin with, it will still have years and years of use in it when it gets donated. When you come across something in a thrift store that you know cost $$$ and you could never justify buying it new, then that my friends is an experience. Years later, every time I pull it out of the drawer, I still ride high on the thrill of my stupid expensive potato masher that was in its original packaging with its original $80 price tag. Who spends $80 on a damn potato masher? Sure as hell not me, but I own a $80 potato masher that I paid 3 bucks for.

#thrifting #thrift shopping #solarpunk #solarpunk tag #fuck capitalism #sustainability #eco home #reduce reuse recycle

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spartanguard · 6 months

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cryptid chaos (A Tall Tail)

Summary: It's almost Halloween, and the recently freed Author has decided to make Storybrooke into the setting of a horror novel. Emma suddenly has actual swan wings; Killian is even more of a mer-creature than usual. But how do they undo all the changes when no one knows how the Author's power works? Can they figure it out--or are they stuck? a/n: Welcome back to the A Tall Tail verse! So I definitely meant to have this done for Halloween, but…it's still spooky season, right? Hope you enjoy some silliniess! rated T | 8.7k words | AO3 | A Tall Tail

Emma let out a long sigh as she stared across the water of the harbor, the full moon’s dappled reflection dancing in the waves. What a freakin’ week. In all the chaos of the so-called Queens of Darkness and locking Gold away, they’d kind of forgotten about one of the bigger things they’d been trying to do: tracking down the mysterious author of Henry’s storybook in search of Regina’s happy ending.

Once things had settled down a bit, they got back into it—kind of literally; it turned out the Author (whose name was Isaac, apparently) had actually been trapped inside the book. She was becoming more and more used to (or jaded by) magical bullshit, so to see a man emerge from the pages of a gigantic tome from a key inserted to an illustration of a door wasn’t the oddest thing she’d seen, but it was still weird.

Although now it’s just a headache, she complained to herself.

Since his arrival—or, rather, escape—the squirrelly man had been causing all sorts of drama across town; I guess that’s what a writer does, huh? It had all been petty nonsense, or people with bones to pick about how their life had gone (and really with no one to blame for it but themselves), but everyone had been demanding her help in dealing with it and she needed a damn break.

Which was why she was waiting for Killian on the deck of the Jolly Roger; he’d gone out for one of his usual swims to calm his magic, but they had plans to spend the night together. Alone. And very close, with few clothes. (Maybe with some rum in there, too.) Technically, Emma was early, but her little brother was teething and, though she felt bad leaving her parents to deal with that, she’d needed to get away from the chaos of the loft.

Being by the water was definitely calming her down, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off; maybe it was just Isaac, and the psychological upheaval he seemed to be inducing in most of the town; or maybe it was just the fact that it was a full moon and they were a few days away from Halloween—gods only know what kind of trouble that can bring to a town like this.

That was a problem for future Emma, though; current Emma smiled when she heard footsteps fall on the gangplank and began to turn around to greet her True Love.

“Was wondering when you’d…oh.” Her face fell; it was Isaac. “Can I help you?” (...Get out of town, preferably.)

“Actually, I was hoping it’d be the other way around,” he said, in a way that reminded her of an appliance store salesman.

“Beg your pardon?”

“Have you ever heard of the legend of swan maidens?” he asked, moving closer to her; she wanted to yell at him about setting foot on deck without the captain’s permission, but she was too confused.

“Uh, some of it, I guess?”

He pulled out a pad of paper and an antique-looking pen from his coat pocket as he went on. “Well, there’s a few, but I’ve always been a fan of some of the Irish stories—the ones where their goddesses choose to take on the form of a swan, only identifiable by a chain around their neck,” he said, nodding at Emma’s own silver necklace. Instinctively, her hand went to it—to hide it, she guessed, even though her old swan pendant was long gone and the necklace she’d fashioned for her magic seashell was made of leather. What the hell is he getting at?

He looked down at his notepad and started to scribble something down. “I imagine that would come with a lot of freedom—especially from some unwanted burdens,” he continued. Oh, like your presence? Emma quipped in her head. “Doesn’t that sound nice?”

“I guess,” she said, unconvinced. Her phone then vibrated in her pocket; hopefully, Isaac was almost done here.

“Good,” he replied, with a smile on his face that she couldn’t quite read. Then he tore the page off his notebook and handed it to her.

Not thinking, she took it. She tried to read the drying ink on the paper, but only managed to recognize the word “wings” before a blast of magic sent her falling backwards—and over the railing of the ship into the water below.

Please let Killian be here, she hoped; but no such luck. Instead, she fell into the sea with a splash and the cold water stole her breath. She tried to move her arms up and down to ascend, but it felt like they were made of lead. Still, she pushed through, and finally broke through the surface.

She gave herself a minute to float and catch her breath before swimming back over to the ship (and punching the crap out of Isaac).

It was odd, though—usually, she needed more lower-body effort to tread water, but her arms alone were keeping her above surface-level.

So that’s when she looked at her arms—and screamed. “What the fuck? What the FUCK?” She didn’t care who heard her swear—but, on second thought, she did care who saw her.

Because she now had freaking wings where her arms had been. Not, like, angel wings coming from her back or something—literal long, feathered appendages where her much-shorter arms had been a minute ago. In fact, they looked like…”A swan,” she realized on a breath. Just what the hell did Isaac do?

She glanced around for the piece of paper he’d given her, but it was floating ahead of her, completely soaked—and illegible. But it had to be him, right?

Well, first thing first: she had to get out of the water. Can I fly? She flapped her arms—wings—whatever they were, if only to see what would happen. Astonishingly, she did rise out of the water a bit, before falling back even farther in.

Undeterred (and starting to feel self-conscious), she did again, and again, until, somehow, she was in the air. She had absolutely no idea what she was doing, but some new sort of muscle memory took over and all too soon, she was soaring around the harbor. This is actually kind of cool, she acknowledged, but definitely not something I want permanently.

Isaac was no longer on the ship; she should probably try to track him down, but she had no clue how to counter…whatever it was he was doing. She was still pretty fuzzy on his powers and how they worked. Regina was the most likely person to find, but for some reason, she didn’t want to bother her just yet; nor did she want to terrify her parents by turning up at the loft like this.

And she definitely didn’t want Killian to see her. So she headed to the only place she could think of—the cove; he wouldn’t think to look for her there, and she could stay away from prying eyes. And gods only know what this wind is doing to my hair.

Somehow, she managed to land on her feet on the rocky shore, though she wouldn’t call it graceful. Her wings instinctively folded in on themselves; that’s gonna take some getting used to. And she paced the beach while thinking of what to do—and coming up with no ideas.

She was the Savior and the Sheriff; shouldn’t I be out there trying to stop him? But how could she when she didn’t know how? And was this a targeted attack, or was he going to do this again? Is this why I can’t shake this weird feeling about him?

Her thoughts were interrupted by splashing near Killian’s rock. Oh crap; that better not be him. Cautiously, she stepped closer, but extended her wings in case she needed to make a hasty escape.

Something reached up from the water—but it wasn’t her True Love. It had webbed fingers, and blue-toned skin covered in scales, like some creature out of a horror film.

Nope. Not dealing with monsters, too. Before whatever-it-was could climb out of the water and terrify her further, she took flight (much faster this time) and flew off into the night. She didn’t know where she was headed, but she was getting as far away from the water as possible.

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

Killian broke through the surface at the cove to see something flying away. Bloody hell; I bet that was her. Given what had just happened to him—and comments that bloody author fellow had made—he had to assume something similar happened to Emma. And whatever that creature was looked particularly like a swan.

He’d been out for his regular swim, with plans to meet Emma at his ship for a much-needed evening alone. There were times when he was under water that he lost track of time, but tonight was not one of them—not when he knew he’d be having much more fun above the surface.

But when he ascended to the deck of the Jolly Roger, he was shocked to see Isaac there. Alone. When he asked if he could assist him, the man instead returned the offer, then pointed to Killian’s tail, on full display as he perched on the railing. “What a plot twist,” the man commented. “I never could have anticipated that. Makes for an excellent story.”

“Aye; I suppose,” Killian had responded, confused. Isaac continued on, though, talking about other creatures of the deep; honestly, Killian was distracted, and starting to get worried about Emma, when he mindlessly agreed to something Isaac had said—perhaps about truly embracing his powers?

The author had written something with a queer-looking quill on a notepad, then tore it off and came closer to Killian. “I’m glad you agree; Emma did, too.” Then he handed the sheet over.

“What did Emma—” Killian started to ask as he took the slip of paper, but he didn’t get to finish his question before a wave of magic came from nowhere and toppled him off his seat.

He was distinctly aware of the way some odd magic was wrapping around him as he fell back into the ocean—it was definitely transformation magic, but unlike the kind he usually felt, which focused on his lower half, this went all over. It’s like when the Dark One cursed me…but at least not painful.

Once he regained his orientation underwater, he gave himself a checkover; for starters, he could see much clearer than he should have been able to at this time of night. He definitely had gills on his neck again—but also a few along his ribcage as well. He ran his fingers over them, which when he noticed that the webbing between them had returned—but rather than his usual pallor, his skin seemed to have taken on a bluish hue and was covered with even more scales. And he took my bloody chest hair again.

The real question was if it had the same effect on his ability to breathe out of the water; thankfully, when he broke the surface, he didn’t suffocate. That will at least make this easier—whatever this is. He hated to make a retreat, but he didn’t want to draw any undue attention by his odd appearance now, so he dove back under and made for the cove; he had to hope Emma would understand—and prayed she wasn’t dealing with a similar transformation of some sort.

But seeing the winged creature fleeing the beach seemed to confirm his fears; and knowing Emma, despite everything, she’d want to deal with it on her own. Like hell I’ll let her, though.

But he’d give her a moment to calm down, and took one of his own to assess if this new spell had altered his powers; thankfully, as a whirlpool formed in the water in front of him where he sat on the edge of the rock, he seemed to be alright on that front. He wasn’t sure what was ahead, but had a feeling those would be necessary.

Then he reached for the shell necklace that always hung around his neck.

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

Emma was trying to live up to the bird stereotype by perching in a tree in the middle of the forest. Trying being the operative word; oh right—swans are waterfowl. But she eventually managed to find her balance high up in a birch. It was only a temporary solution, but it was the one she felt most confident about right now. She just wished her unexpected dive hadn’t fried her phone so she could let her parents or Killian know she was fine; not like I could really use it now anyway, what with the lack of fingers and all.

Of course, that’s when her other means of communication made itself known. “Swan?”

She cringed for a moment; normally, she loved the way Killian said her chosen surname, but it was a little too on the nose right now. (At least I don’t have a beak too, I guess?)

Taking hold of the shell was a whole other thing, though; it worked best when held in a hand, but she wasn’t sure how it would work with—gods, what even was her bone structure right now? She’d never had an ornithology class like Henry did.

Regardless, she had to figure out how to get some sort of grip on the shell hanging around her neck; it took a fair amount of fumbling, but she somehow managed to bend her wings just enough to prop the shell on her elbows(?) and bring it closer to her mouth.

“Hey, I’m here,” she finally answered, though her tone was far from casual.

“Are you…okay, love?” He sounded like he already knew the answer; it wasn’t her thing to stand him up without a word.

“I…don’t really know,” she answered.

“Something happened,” he said more than asked.

“Yeah.”

“Isaac?”

Uh-oh. “Yeah,” she replied, a bit more confidently.

“Me too.” He at least sounded less morose than she did, but this—this wasn’t good. “I’m at the cove; meet me here?”

“I, uh,” she stammered. “I don’t know if you’d, ah, want to see me right now.”

“Emma, you know I always want to see you. Besides, I likely have more reason to say that—although I dare say you’ve seen me looking less than ideal before.”

Gods, what had happened to him? He was right, though; he always freaking is. “Yeah, okay; just—give me a few.”

“I can’t wait.” She smiled; regardless of—whatever was going on, she knew he was telling the truth.

Flying was getting easier; she wasn’t sure if that was good or not, but was really just concerned about what kinds of phone calls were coming into the station about some giant bird flying over Storybrooke. Not a problem for tonight though.

Landing, however, was still hit or miss; in this instance, a miss: she didn’t quite slow down enough as she came into the cove and ended up rolling across the pebbled shore. “Owww,” she moaned as she stood and shook the sand from her feathers—then froze when she heard a gasp come from behind her.

She turned—and her own breath stilled. It was definitely Killian seated on the rock (who was definitely the owner of the hand that had scared her earlier, she was embarrassed to admit). His whole upper body was that blue color, made all the more apparent by his lack of body or facial hair (goddammit, Isaac took his beard?)—like when he was under that weird merrow curse, but apparently without the confinement to the water.

Slowly, she moved closer, noticing other new features and—was it just her, or were his eyes an even brighter blue? Or did they just seem like that with how much younger he always looked without his scruff? She wanted to touch his skin, to see what it felt like; she started to reach for him until she remembered—she couldn’t.

Killian, for his part, couldn’t seem to take his eyes off her; his expression was unusually unreadable. “What?” she had to ask, feeling even more self conscious.

He smiled, his dimples even more visible. “Still so beautiful, Swan.”

She scoffed. “Yeah, emphasis on the swan part.”

“I dare say you ‘rock it’, as Henry says.”

Well, that made her laugh. “Okay, fine, but they shouldn’t be here at all,” she complained, her subsequent huff even more visible now.

“Nor should this,” he countered, waving his now-webbed fingers at her. “And we’ll figure out how to get back to normal. But perhaps we'll leave it for tomorrow?” He stroked the edge of her wing with the back of his hand, sending a chill up her spine—a good feeling for the first time since…has it only been an hour? Damn.

She knelt down next to him and, awkwardly, wrapped her wings around him in the best approximation of a hug she could manage. He slipped his arms around her waist to pull her close; he was even colder than usual, but it was the closest she’d felt to normal since this all started, and she rested her head on his shoulder.

It certainly wasn’t how she planned on spending their night, but it’d have to do for now; with any luck, they’d at least be able to go without interruption for a bit.

“Mom? Hook?” Spoke too soon. She didn’t move away from Killian, but she did sit up and look over her shoulder; Henry was standing not far from them, looking confused and concerned. “Something weird is going on.”

Obviously.

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

“What’s the matter, lad?” It was obvious to Killian that Henry was avoiding eye contact, and he didn’t blame him—he was sure they were quite the sight. But hopefully if he remained somewhat calm, Henry would, too.

“Well, I…uh, I was going to say that Isaac has been going around and changing things, but I think you might kinda know?”

“What else has he done?” Emma asked, stiffening in Killian’s arms.

“A bunch of things,” Henry explained. “It started with my mom—I don’t know exactly what he did, but she ran off to her vault, and was covering her face. So I went to see Grandma & Grandpa, but they didn’t answer—I just heard some weird noises behind the door. No one was at Granny’s but I think she’s a wolf again, because there was a big silver one hanging out with Ruby. And I think I saw a swarm of fairies or something? I’ve never seen them small like that.”

Bloody hell; what a mess. It would have been naive to assume he and Emma were Isaac’s only targets, but he’d thought the man was trying to help Regina; why had he attacked her, too?

“What the hell is he doing—making his own little circus sideshow?” Emma complained; that’s certainly what it felt like. “I didn’t think he could even do that.”

“I’ve been working with Belle to figure out how his powers work, but we haven’t gotten very far,” Henry said. “And he won’t say.”

“To the library, then?” Killian posited; one of the best things about regaining his legs was his ability to help out there again. But, speaking of—

“How can we get you there?” Emma wondered, reading his mind. “I can barely fly myself, let alone both of us.”

“Maybe my cuff still works? It’s still on the ship.”

“I’ll go get it.”

Watching Emma take flight was somewhat amusing, but also somewhat beautiful, particularly when she opened her wings fully to lift her off the ground. And much like how quickly he adapted to a lack of legs, there was something almost natural about her flying.

“Wow,” Henry gasped as she took to the air. “That’s…wow.”

“Aye,” Killian sighed. “Obviously none of this is ideal, but I don’t think anyone would complain if you managed to get some pictures with your talking device?”

Henry smirked. “I’ll try.” But his face quickly fell.

“Hey—we’ll figure this out,” Killian assured him. “We always do.”

“I know,” the boy answered. “It was just—the way my mom looked at me before she left. It was Ike she was scared…of me.”

No wonder he’s shaken; poor kid. “Whatever it was, I’m sure she was just trying to keep you safe; I’ve never known her to have any other motivation,” Killian told him, hoping that comforted him.

“Yeah; I’m just worried.”

“Understandable. But let’s try to channel that into focus, aye?” He’d had many an anxious deckhand over the years, not to mention his time spent with Henry’s father, so coaching a nervous young man was nothing new.

Henry nodded just as Emma returned; damn, that was quick. Her land was much more graceful this time around (still far from perfect, but just as endearing).

She had the cuff in her mouth and nearly spat it at him. “Sorry; wasn’t sure how else to hold it,” she explained, before opening her mouth to stretch her jaw.

“It’s fine,” he waved off, ignoring the new teeth marks in the leather. “Here’s hoping this works.” He slipped it on and felt the familiar transformation magic take hold; at least it’s welcome this time.

It worked—mostly. “Huh,” was all he could manage to say when he pulled his legs from the water. He had them, at least, but they had the same pallor and texture as the rest of his skin. (At least, for Henry’s sake, my briefs returned, too.)

“Well? How do you feel?” Emma asked as he stood up.

“Parched,” he answered honestly. Despite being able to breathe out of the water, he immediately felt dehydrated.

“Yeah, you look a little…dull,” Henry confirmed.

He mused for a second, then called up some water from the sea. It swirled around his legs and waist, creating a sort of aquatic garment. It likely looked strange, but he immediately felt better.

“Shall we?”

The three of them surely made an odd sight as they walked through town—of all the weird things Storybrooke had seen, a harpy and a creature from the depths traipsing down Main Street was definitely up there. Despite knowing he wasn’t the only one in a new form tonight, Killian couldn’t help but feel rather like a fish out of water, quite literally; he didn’t often feel self conscious, but the sooner he stopped dripping water down the sidewalk, the better. He just hoped that idiot author hadn't done anything too drastic to anyone else.

The library was unlocked—unsurprising, given the unusually late hours Belle kept it open (typically for situations just like this)—but the mess that greeted them in the foyer was a shock. What in Poseidon’s name happened here?

“Belle, love? You here?” he called out; the worry in his voice was obvious. It wasn’t like her to leave things like this unless something was wrong.

“Back here,” Belle’s voice said, but—why is she so loud?

The three of them made their way to the back part of the library—he was careful not to drip on any of the strewn books—to where it looked like even more of a disaster area. Shelves were knocked down domino-style and ceiling tiles were scattered over them. A few lights had been knocked out, too, making the farthest part of the library dark—but not so dark they couldn’t still see Belle.

It would be hard for her to hide—she was probably 20 feet tall now, if not more, but she’d somehow managed to curl up along the back wall.

“Well, you’re finally taller than me,” Killian eventually quipped, once he found his voice again. What else was he supposed to say? Emma tried to slap him with the back of her hand, but only ended up smacking his chest with the end of her wing and making him stumble backwards.

Belle chuckled—making the whole building vibrate—but then admonished, “Don’t you dare drip on any of these books?”

I’m bloody trying! Regardless, he acknowledged the order with a salute, but Henry got down to business. “What happened?”

“Isaac,” Belle spat. Now that they were closer to her, though, her voice boomed in the comparatively smaller space, making them all wince. “Oh, sorry,” she said softer—but that just brought her back to normal volume. “Something tells me you lot have seen him too?”

“Yup,” Emma confirmed, concurrent with Killian’s “aye”.

“He was commenting on my height,” she started—throwing a pointed look at Killian— “and how impressive it was that someone so small had such power over the Dark One.” The roll of her eyes was almost audible. “Then he said something about my stature matching my personality; I thought he was joking so I said ‘sure’, then he handed me a piece of paper and—this happened.”

“Yeah, that’s what he did to us, too,” Emma said; evidently, Isaac could alter things by writing them—but how?

“Do you have the paper?” Henry asked.

“Um,” Belle hummed, glancing around at the debris surrounding her. “Yeah, here it is,” she said when she found it, placing her (massive) finger on it and sliding it across the tile to them.

Henry picked it up and read aloud: “A giantess: so your stature matches your spirit.” His brow furrowed. “He’s turning people into cryptids?”

“At least, various kinds of mythical beasts,” Killian concurred; if there were actually any beasts out there that resembled him at the moment, he’d have likely encountered them by now. “But you had to agree with him first, right, Belle?”

“I guess so; was it the same with you?”

“He can only change our fate if we want him to,” Emma concluded; he agreed with the hypothesis. “Isn’t that why he was working with Regina?”

“Yeah,” Henry confirmed. “But he did something to her, too.”

“Do you know anything about how his powers work?” Killian wondered, turning back to Belle.

“Only what I saw firsthand,” she supplied. “It’s definitely connected to writing, but I don’t know yet if it’s his own magic or if there’s a conduit, like the pen or the ink. Regina might; or…” She chewed on her bottom lip and ducked her head. “Or Rumple would.”

Of bloody course he would. But they all cast their eyes downward, knowing the Dark One was still locked up in a cell a hundred feet below them.

Before he could start to steel himself to face the Crocodile again, Emma decided. “Regina first,” she stated. “Before we go, do you need anything? Like, can we help you get out or anything?”

“No; I’m fine for now; but I might need some food if this goes on much longer.”

“We’ll do our best to get it worked out,” Killian assured her; there was no way he was going to let his best friend essentially become a prisoner in her favorite place. And who’d have thought it’d be an author that put her there?

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

After saying goodbye, they hustled across town to the cemetery. Along the way, they were startled by the two wolves prowling the patio at Granny’s, and it felt like there was something lurking down every alley, hiding in the shadows.

A stream of colored, bobbing lights flew overhead—the fairies, in their true form, Emma had to assume. Farther up the street, it looked like the dwarves had gathered together, too. Oh gods—what did he do to them?

Surprisingly: nothing. “That weirdo tried to ‘revert us to normal’ or something, but whatever he did, it didn’t work. Probably because we’re already technically ‘magical’ creatures,” Leroy explained, using plenty of finger quotes. “So we’ve just been patrolling for trouble since it seems like we’re the only ones not dealing with shit.” He heavily glanced at Emma’s wings then.

“Uh, thanks,” she said, studying the pavement. “If anything happens, text Henry or Regina, okay?”

“Will do, sister; think we filled up the answering machine at the station anyways.” Yeah, that checks out; she sighed and carried on.

The vault door was open once they got there, but the crypt was closed over the hidden door; that was easy enough to move, though.

“Mom?” Henry called out as he descended the steps ahead of her. “Are you okay?”

Regina was nowhere to be seen in the first room at the foot of the stairs, so Emma called out for her, too—while being careful to keep her wings tucked in and not knock anything over.

“You shouldn’t be here!” Regina’s voice came from…somewhere farther back in the vault—a part Emma had never been to.

“Wait here,” she told Henry, then crept off in the direction it sounded like Regina was hiding in. It was dusty and, weirdly, she felt it settle on her feathers in a way that itched. But down a passage and behind some shelves, she saw a huddled form. “Regina? You alright?”

“Why are you here, Miss Swan?” she bit back, hiding in the shadows. “And why did you bring our son?”

“Because he’s worried about you,” she tossed back. “And honestly, I am, too; what’s going on?”

“That stupid author—that’s what,” Regina spat. “Supposedly, this is how he’s helping me get my ‘happy ending’.”

“...By making everyone else something out of a horror movie?”

“And by making me an immortal, apparently.” Regina stepped into what little light there was. She looked a bit pale, but not a lot more than usual. If anything, she was somehow more gorgeous. (Yes, despite their past issues, Emma could still admit that Regina was an impossibly beautiful woman.)

“Immortal how?”

Regina smiled—kind of; more like bared her teeth. But that’s when Emma saw it: she had fangs. Like a… “Vampire?” she whispered.

“Yeah,” Regina said sadly. “I didn’t even know what he was getting at when he started writing it down; he just went on about ‘getting away from my problems someday’. I didn’t think he meant outliving them.”

Who on earth would think that was a good idea? “Is that why you ran away from Henry?”

Regina nodded. “This is going to sound awful, but…his blood smelled amazing.”

“Shit.” I’d run away, too. “Uh, do you need me to leave, too?”

“No; apparently, I don’t have the palate for bird blood.”

“Hopefully you don’t want fish, either,” she quipped back.

Brow furrowing (in a way that absolutely made her look like something out of Buffy), Regina sniffed the air. “Hook? What did he do to him?”

“Did you ever see The Shape of Water?”

“Oh, wow. Well, uh, have fun with that.”

“Do you really want me to answer that?”

“No—and definitely not in front of Henry.”

They both giggled, but it was only a brief moment of levity. “So can you tell me anything about how this happened—like, how the author powers work? So we can undo it?”

“Some, but he hasn’t been very forthcoming with the details,” Regina answered; she confirmed that his powers were tied to his pen and ink, as well as their theory that it has to be something they want. “He can change things but he still needs some level of consent from at least one party. We should be glad he didn’t write us into an entirely new reality.”

Emma shuddered. “So, what—we just track him down and force him to change it?”

“Maybe? It’s a good theory, but Rumpelstiltskin knows far more about this than I do.”

“I was afraid you’d say that.”

“Sorry. Just…don’t bring Henry down there, okay?”

Emma was about to protest—where the hell else am I going to take him to keep him safe from Isaac?—when Regina’s phone rang.

“Crap—what did he do to them?” the mayor complained when she saw who was calling—Snow. She answered the call with a snarky “And what shape are you in?”

Except—she didn’t get a response. Normally, Snow would huff at Regina’s sass, but the only thing that came across was just a series of grunts and grumbles.

“Snow?” The grunting seemed to make a noise of affirmation. “What is going on over there? This better not be the world’s worst butt dial.” (“They don’t sound like that,” Emma quipped, cringing.) But then crying came over the speaker—definitely Neal.

“He’s still teething?” Regina winced. “That was the worst.”

“Yeah—but who’s there with him?” If her parents were fine, nothing would be stopping them from trying to soothe him; Neal pretty much only wanted to be held by her dad right now. “We better check that out first.”

“Absolutely. And let me know how everything else goes.”

“Will do. Do you need anything before we go?”

Regina chewed on her lip, her fangs even more apparent. “Did you see any squirrels up there? I’m starving.” Emma bit back a giggle. “Don’t laugh! I’m serious. And if you ever bring this up again, I can make sure those wings are permanent.”

Emma definitely laughed to herself all the way to the loft, though. Until she heard the sound of her brother crying and her motherly instincts kicked in. “Wait here; let me see what’s going on first,” she told the boys, then knocked on the door with one of her elbows (or whatever those joints were). The same grunting she heard on the phone came from the other side, but somehow more urgent.

Henry ended up having to turn the knob for her, but then she slipped in—and, yet again, her jaw dropped.

“Well, Mom does always say you have big feet,” she said, once she regained something resembling her faculties.

The sandy-blond sasquatch that had David’s eyes huffed in annoyance. Meanwhile, the snow-white yeti that vaguely looked like her mom wasn’t hesitating to take her by the wing and drag her to the bassinet, where Neal was inconsolable.

“He’s scared of you?” Emma guessed; Snow nodded sadly.

(Seriously—Snow, a yeti? At least Isaac has a sense of humor.)

“Okay, but I can’t do much either,” she said, flapping her wings. “Henry? It’s okay; can you come in?”

She saw his phone come through the door before he did, no doubt taking plenty of photos and videos for them to look back on. “That’s just wrong,” he concluded at the sight of his (much hairier) grandparents; Killian was clearly holding back a quip, no doubt in response to David’s many jokes in the past about his chest hair (especially given the current reversal of that situation).

“Kid, think you can take care of your uncle while we figure the rest of this out?”

He pocketed his phone and quickly scooped up Neal. “Sure thing. We got this, right, little dude?” Neal quieted for a little bit, but then let out another ear-piercing scream. Everyone cringed.

“Okay; good luck with that—bye!” she called over her shoulder as she shoved Killian ahead of her in a hasty escape.

“Will they be okay?” Killian asked as they headed back down the stairs.

“Oh yeah, they’ll be fine. My ears will not be, though.” They shared a laugh. “Alright; let’s get this over with.”

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

“Back again?” Belle greeted them at the library, having moved slightly from her cramped spot in the back to a no more comfortable, but at least larger spot, having shoved the ruined shelves aside and laying across the whole room.

“Aye; into the belly of the beast, as it were,” Killian replied as they headed to the elevator.

“Good luck,” she said, sounding more bored than anything; despite the public’s requests, the library had yet to seriously invest in any large-print books that might help her pass the time.

As they descended in the creaky elevator, he wasn’t sure if the creeping chill he felt slipping up his spine was due to the inherent cool temperature of the caverns below, or his own emotions at facing his longtime foe for the first time in a long while—since Rumple nearly killed him that day on the docks.

Emma’s feathers brushed against his hand, startling him from his thoughts. “Sorry; I was trying to grab your hand, until I forgot I can’t. You gonna be okay?”

“I will,” he answered, hoping he could convince himself as much as her. There was nothing the Crocodile could do to them, he knew; but despite thinking he’d moved past what he’d experienced at the Dark One’s hands, his anxieties were creeping up.

“I’ll take the lead, though, okay?”

“I appreciate that, love,” he thanked, and squeezed the edge of her wing.

The caves below the library were little changed from his last trip down here, even if he was on the opposite side of things now—with the heroes, rather than against. However, this was the first time he’d seen the cage that had been fabricated to hold the imp. It was set deep into the wall, not unlike the one that had once held him back in the Enchanted Forest, but with solid metal bars clearly from this realm. It wasn’t hard to feel the magic radiating off them, though.

“Rumple? You there?” Emma called out; this cell went farther back than the light could reach, so it was easy for the man to hide. For the first time, Killian wondered what his mental state might be, given his brief insanity after being held hostage by Zelena (body sharing with his son notwithstanding).

“No,” the Crocodile’s voice called out from the shadows. “Come back later and I might be, though.”

“Ha. We found the Author.” She stood in front of the far edge of the cell.

She’s wise not to ask for help, he noticed. Handing Rumpelstiltskin any cards was a terrible idea.

“Good for you; what does that have to do with me?”

Emma had been fiddling with something on the wall with one of the joints of her wings; all of a sudden, light flooded the cell, revealing a rather dusty but otherwise normal-looking Dark One, still wearing the same (stylish, he hated to admit) suit as the day they locked him up.

Rumple blinked his eyes at the sudden brightness, but once his sight had adjusted, he skimmed over Emma and then Killian. “I see,” he said. “I’d be happy to undo it, if you let me out.”

“Nice try, but no. We’ve just been trying to figure out how his powers work. We know his pen and ink are involved. Trying to figure out if it’s worth it to steal it back.”

Killian had to school his features; he was genuinely impressed at Emma’s negotiation tactics here. Obviously, they wouldn’t be here if they didn’t need help, but outright asking would get them nowhere. As such, it was taking more effort than expected to keep a proud (or smug) look off his face.

“It’s not,” Rumple replied. “That’s only half of it.”

“Really? Regina seemed to think that’s all we needed.”

“Regina is wrong. But the only person who can actually help you is currently locked away.”

“Again, you’re not getting out.”

“Not me,” he hissed. “But the pirate knows who.”

Emma turned to Killian, confused. “Huh?”

For a brief second, he was also unsure—until he glanced over at the Dark One, who was smirking—and wiggling the fingers of his left hand.

Oh, bloody hell. Killian sighed and curled in on himself a bit. “The old man.”

“Otherwise known as the Sorcerer's Apprentice—and a thorn in my side for quite a few years, until I finally had some assistance locking him away.”

Shame flushed hot on Killian’s unusually cold cheeks. “He’s in the hat box, love,” he said quietly.

“Ah, crap,” she cursed. “Does Regina know how to get anyone else out of there, or was that a one-time thing?”

“I’ll tell you if you let me—” Rumple started, only to be cut off.

“No!” Emma interjected. “C’mon; I bet Belle knows.”

“How…how is she?” the Dark One asked, suddenly sounding rather genuine.

“She’s a bloody giantess and stuck in the library right now, thanks to that idiot author,” Killian jumped in. “But otherwise fine.”

The Crocodile opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it and slumped in on himself. “The fairies,” he said, resigned. “They’ll know how to get him out by now.”

“Thanks,” Killian said quickly, then grabbed Emma by the wingtip and practically dragged her back to the elevator.

What little adrenaline he had faded on the slow ride up, and he simply wrapped himself around Emma. “Hey—this doesn’t feel like okay,” she said softly as she folded her wings around him—a feeling he was coming to quite enjoy, odd as it was.

“Just—being reminded of the man I used to be, even not that long ago,” he admitted. “I’m so sorry, Emma.”

“Hey—we’ll figure it out. And remember: that was way more Rumpelstiltskin than you.”

“I don’t think you’re giving me enough credit, love.”

“This is the one time you should just accept less of the blame, alright?”

He chuckled a bit; she knows my tendency towards self-flagellation well. “I’ll try.”

“Okay. So now, we find the hat, and then the fairies. And then maybe it’ll all be done?”

“Let’s hope.”

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

Is this night fucking over yet? Emma took a moment to breathe after Killian left to retrieve the Sorcerer’s hat box thing from Gold’s shop, per Belle’s instructions. The fact that their to-do list kept growing was really annoying, and gods only knew what else Isaac had done in the last few hours.

There was a light at the end of the tunnel, but it still seemed like it was incredibly far away.

And she was craving fish sticks. Is that a swan thing? Or is that an I-never-had-dinner thing?

She gave herself one more minute to brood before starting the search for the fairies. On the bright side, they literally were—bright; she just had to be on the look out for a cloud of multicolored lights (giving off far more Christmas vibes than Halloween). But they weren’t in the middle of town, so that meant actually looking, and she did not have the energy to go traipsing around on her own right now.

Might as well use these while I have them. For hopefully the last time, she took to the sky, hoping a (literal) birds-eye view would help her locate the swarm of fairies faster. Sure enough, once she was fairly high above Main Street, she saw the floating baubles—near the convent, unsurprisingly.

They were a little miffed when she accidentally flew through the middle of them, but when she explained what was going on and what they needed, they practically carried her back downtown on their breeze.

Killian was already standing outside the library with the golden box, looking visibly uncomfortable with it. Don’t blame him. Before she even had a chance to (try to) properly land, Blue was buzzing in front of him, conducting a few other fairies to take the box and hold it in front of her.

She stood next to Killian and watched as the head fairy went to work quickly, waving her wand and muttering something over the cylinder. The starry blue top began to swirl, like it had when they released the fairies, and glowed as it became something more resembling a portal.

All of a sudden, it stopped, and an old man that Emma had seen around town a couple times was seated on the pavement, looking rather bedraggled (though I think he kind of always did).

Killian didn’t hesitate to rush forward and help the man up, no doubt uttering profuse apologies as he did. The Apprentice was trying to get his bearings, it seemed, but was at least appreciative for his freedom.

“Hi,” Emma jumped in, not wanting to delay things any longer. “I know you just got out of that hellhole, but we were kind of hoping you could help us with something.”

He looked her up and down, and then Killian. “I can see that,” he said gruffly. “I don’t recall the Savior having wings.”

“Uh, yeah, recent addition. What can you tell us about the Author?”

She didn’t think it was possible for the man’s bushy brow to furrow further, but it did. “That blasted fool…this was Isaac’s doing?”

Everyone nodded—and that was a lot of everyones; at some point, more and more townsfolk had converged on the main intersection, and it was apparent that all manner of mythical creature and cryptid were now among its citizens.

The Apprentice looked around at everyone, then tutted. “Shameful, shameful—abusing his powers like that. That’s why I banished him in the first place. Whose brilliant idea was it to free him?”

“Uh, mine,” Regina said, stepping forward (with a scarf wrapped around her face, likely to block the smell of…everyone).

“Yeah, that checks out,” the Apprentice huffed. “Well, on the bright side, he’s probably ran out of power by now. He can no longer do harm, but he also won’t be able to undo what he’s done.”

“Can’t you just give him a magical eraser or something?” Emma wondered. (Regina smirked, even under the scarf.)

The Apprentice chuckled. “No; I’m afraid it doesn’t work like that. However, if Isaac has lost his powers, then a new Author needs to be chosen, and I have a feeling we’ll find one here.”

“Where?” Killian practically demanded.

“The Author has to believe in the stories, truly—in their heart,” he said dramatically, placing his hand on his chest.

She and Regina exchanged a look; we know someone who fits that description exactly.

Emma called up to Blue, asking them to find Isaac and bring him there, while she took off in the direction of the loft.

In the time it took her to get her son (and her parents, because they should really be there for whatever was about to happen, too), something resembling chaos broke out in the scene that she had left. An angry mob formed in the crossroad, surrounding Isaac, who lay prone on the pavement, being held down by an irate Regina, baring her fangs.

“You did this to me,” she hissed. “Why shouldn’t I use it against you?”

The man looked terrified; serves him right. The crowd was shouting for him to fix what he’d done (her parents grumbling incoherently in agreement), several voices demanding he undo it.

“I can’t!” he shouted back. “The pen doesn’t work for me anymore!” To underline his point, he tossed the enchanted quill away.

“I warned you not to abuse your power this way,” the Apprentice said, his voice deafening even the most frantic shouts around him. “You deserve everything these people might do to you.”

Isaac glanced at Granny and Ruby, who were snarling at him, and whimpered.

Emma was distracted, though, by Henry. He had something of a faraway look in his eyes, and almost mindlessly passed Neal off to Snow (at least the kid was asleep). His focus narrowed on something ahead of him, on the ground: the pen.

She watched as he carefully moved forward, almost as if he was drawn to it. Emma’s gaze darted briefly, first to Regina, who was also watching; then to the Apprentice, who almost seemed to be smiling where he stood next to Killian.

The crowd also realized what was going on and a hushed silence fell as Henry neared the object.

He knelt in front of it, reached out, and carefully picked it up. It glowed as soon as his fingers touched the enchanted instrument.

“I thought so,” the Apprentice said warmly. Emma couldn’t help but beam with pride and ruffle her feathers; Regina grinned too, not bothering to hide her fangs.

Henry blinked and stood. “Wait, what?”

“You, young sir, are the new Author,” the Apprentice explained, approaching Henry. From thin air, he produced a vial of ink. “And I dare say far more worthy than your predecessor.” He threw a dirty look at Isaac, who was still cowering.

Cautiously, Henry took the ink. “Thanks, but…what does that mean?”

The Apprentice chuckled. “I’ll explain it all; don’t worry. But right now, I believe there’s some unnecessary plot twists that need to be straightened.

“Right!” Henry felt around his pockets for—something, but came up empty. “Crap, I don’t have any paper.”

“Over here!” Belle called out from an open window in the library, her face taking up most of it. “Henry—here!” A few pieces of paper looked no bigger than a Post-it in her fingers as she reached through the window. Henry ran over and grabbed it, but wasn’t sure what to do when he returned.

“I can help you with this first one,” the Apprentice offered. “Start with the ink.”

A few people chuckled as Henry struggled with getting ink from the bottle to the quill tip, Killian included; assholes—ballpoint pens were invented for a reason.

“Now, you’re not supposed to change or influence things, but undoing an abuse of power like this—that’s okay. Try writing…this: ‘those whose physical forms had been affected by the previous author’s changes that night were reverted back to their original forms.’”

“To…their…original…forms,” Henry repeated, writing the words, then ended it with a forceful period. No sooner had the pen left the paper than a burst of magic rippled through the crowd.

Emma curled in on herself as what had been done was undone; she’d been too distracted when Isaac first came after her to really pay attention to the magic happening, but now that it was being reversed—ugh, it’s like my feathers are being plucked. (She wished she’d been standing closer to Killian so she could lean on him, but he’s probably going through something similar.)

Thankfully, it didn’t last long. Once the odd sensation passed, she stood up straight, rolled her shoulders back, and stretched her arms—just arms once more—above her head. “Thank frick,” she sighed.

Behind her, her parents laughed; she turned to see that they were back to normal (and Neal was clamoring for David). All around, everyone was standing and stretching as they shook off the effects of what they’d just been through. Regina was hugging Henry tightly in the middle of it all.

To little surprise, Granny and Ruby were still fierce, and were dragging Isaac in the direction of the cells below the hospital. Well, he’s still gonna be a headache—but one that could wait a day or so.

Across the way, Killian was talking to a normal-sized Belle while standing in a puddle; his skin was back to its normal pallor and the gills were gone. (His beard and chest hair had also returned, thank the gods.)

He caught her gaze and appeared to excuse himself from Belle, then headed her way. “That looks better, Swan.”

“Not literally, thankfully,” she quipped back. “You look much improved yourself,” she added, resting her hands on his chest.

“Certainly feel more like myself,” he answered. “Although—I’m not generally this exposed around so many people.” He was only wearing his usual swimming briefs—and a blush that was creeping up his cheeks.

“Mm, then perhaps we should find somewhere private to be half naked.”

“I like the way you think, love.”

“Too bad I can’t fly us away anymore, though.”

He hummed, then pulled his hand between them, where a white feather was twirling in his fingers. “Maybe you can channel that?”

She giggled, and transported them back to his ship. Placing a kiss against his (scruffy) cheek, she grabbed his hand (finally!) and pulled him toward the stairs. “Let’s get to what we were going to do earlier.”

“Gladly,” he sighed, and followed her to his cabin…

…where they promptly fell asleep. (But got to the fun stuff the next morning.)

Cryptid Night, as it came to be known, went down in Storybrooke legend; and thankfully, no one experienced any long-lasting effects. (Well, other than David complaining about finding fur around the loft for a few weeks after.)

Emma did notice, though, that the pure white feather Killian had picked up was displayed prominently on a shelf in his cabin. As much as she never wished to relive that night, she always smiled when she saw it—and was glad Henry had taken plenty of pictures.

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

thanks for reading! tagging some mermates: @cocohook38 @kat2609 @mryddinwilt @xpumpkindumplingx @optomisticgirl @shipsxahoy @clockadile @kmomof4 @initiala @snowbellewells @word-bug @idristardis @wingedlioness @theonceoverthinker @annytecture and I can’t remember who else was into this

#cs ff #cs halloween #mermaid!killian #a tall tail #my ff

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homomenhommes · 2 months

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THIS DAY IN GAY HISTORY

based on: The White Crane Institute's 'Gay Wisdom', Gay Birthdays, Gay For Today, Famous GLBT, glbt-Gay Encylopedia, Today in Gay History, Wikipedia, and more … February 27

6th Century BC – Sappho, Greek lyric poet, born. Of course, this is another one of those dates that is arbitrary. Sappho was the greatest of all the early Greek lyric poets, born on the island of Lesbos. Her birth was sometime between 630 and 612 BC, and it is said that she died around 570 BC, but little is known for certain about her life. The bulk of her poetry, which was well-known and greatly admired throughout antiquity, has been lost, but her immense reputation has endured through surviving fragments. She was called "the Tenth Muse" by no less than Plato.

Sappho's poetry centers on passion and love for various personages and both genders. The word lesbian derives from the name of the island of her birth, Lesbos, while her name is also the origin of the word sapphic; neither word was applied to female homosexuality until the nineteenth century.

The female narrators of many of her poems speak of infatuations and love (sometimes requited, sometimes not) for various females, but descriptions of physical acts between women are few and subject to debate. Whether these poems are meant to be autobiographical is not known, although elements of other parts of Sappho's life do make appearances in her work, and it would be compatible with her style to have these intimate encounters expressed poetically, as well. Her homoerotica should be placed in the context of the seventh century (BC).

A tradition going back at least to Menander suggested that Sappho killed herself by jumping off the Leucadian cliffs for love of Phaon, a ferryman. This is regarded as unhistorical by modern scholars, perhaps invented by the comic poets as a sort of ironic "revenge of the gods." or the legend may have resulted in part from a desire to assert Sappho as heterosexual.

1905 – One of the most infamous hateful racist homophobes and general misanthropes Charley Eugene Johns was born on this date.(d.1990). Johns was an American politician and the thirty-second governor of Florida from 1953 to 1955. Why cover Johns? Because most of us don't know this history and it's important to know what happened so it doesn't happen again.

Johns is most remembered for his support and chairmanship of the infamous Florida Legislative Investigation Committee, nicknamed the "Johns Committee" because of Johns' chairmanship. This committee participated in the Red Scare and Lavender scare by investigating communists, homosexuals, and civil rights advocates among the students and faculty of Florida's university system. They were responsible for revoking teachers' certificates and firing university professors. By 1963, the committee had forced the dismissal or resignation of over 100 professors and deans at the University of Florida, Florida State University and the University of South Florida. One professor attempted suicide after being investigated by the committee.

The state legislature ended funding for the committee in 1964 after it released a report called Homosexuality and Citizenship in Florida, which infamously became known as the "Purple Pamphlet". Its many photographs depicting homosexual acts outraged legislators and reportedly copies of the report were being sold as pornography in New York City.

In 2005, UF Today, an alumni publication of the University of Florida, included Johns in a list of 81 "outstanding" UF alumni. Johns attended UF only for a few months and did not graduate. The editor apologized for the error, and the alumni association said that including him was a mistake.

1927 – James Leo Herlihy was born on this date (d.1993). Herlihy wrote "Midnight Cowboy" and "Season of the Witch." Born in Detroit, Michigan, Herlihy attended Black Mountain College in North Carolina, a small, experimental institution whose faculty included Merce Cunningham, John Cage, Willem de Kooning, and other innovative figures in the arts. Herlihy studied art, music, and literature.

Like his close friend and mentor Tennessee Williams, Herlihy was a gay author whose works delved into taboo subjects and broke new ground for what was acceptable to major publishers. His 1958 play Blue Denim confronted teenage sexuality and abortion and was praised in a newspaper column by Eleanor Roosevelt.

Along with Williams, Herlihy became part of a circle of friends and lovers in Key West- mostly gay writers and "theater people"- that included James Kirkwood Jr., co-writer of A Chorus Line and author of cult novels and plays including There Must Be a Pony!; Evan Rhodes, the author of The Prince of Central Park; one-time singer and agent Dick Duane, to whom Herlihy dedicated two of his finest novels, All Fall Down and Midnight Cowboy; and to a lesser extent, visiting writers like Truman Capote and Gore Vidal. Author Christopher Isherwood paints the scene in an entry from his diary in August 1959: "(Broadway producer Walter) Starcke came by, en route for Japan and round the world . . . 'Now I live by grace,' says Starcke. 'I live every hour of every day to its fullest.' Actually he is in Key West, dealing in real estate and having parties with Herlihy and his friend which sometimes go on until morning. Lots of sex."

Herlihy's novels often feature protagonists living outside mainstream American culture, like Joe Buck, the male prostitute in Midnight Cowboy and Witch Gliz, the female teenage runaway in Season of the Witch. He wrote about aspects of the Gay subculture in urban America in much of his fiction. Most of his books are now out of print, although they were very popular at the time of their publication.

Herlihy committed suicide, aged 66, by taking an overdose of sleeping pills in Los Angeles.

1932 – Dame Elizabeth Taylor, DBE (d.2011) was a British-American actress. From her early years as a child star with MGM, she became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age. As one of the world's most famous film stars, Taylor was recognized for her acting ability and for her glamorous lifestyle, beauty and distinctive violet eyes.

National Velvet (1944) was Taylor's first success, and she starred in Father of the Bride (1950), A Place in the Sun (1951), Giant (1956), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), and Suddenly, Last Summer (1959). She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for BUtterfield 8 (1960), played the title role in Cleopatra (1963), and married her co-star Richard Burton. They appeared together in 11 films, including Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), for which Taylor won a second Academy Award. Her much publicized personal life included eight marriages (twice to Burton) and several life-threatening illnesses.

Taylor devoted consistent and generous humanitarian time, advocacy efforts, and funding to HIV and AIDS-related projects and charities, helping to raise more than $270 million for the cause. She was one of the first celebrities and public personalities to do so at a time when few acknowledged the disease, organizing and hosting the first AIDS fundraiser in 1984, to benefit AIDS Project Los Angeles.

Taylor was cofounder of the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) with Dr. Michael Gottlieb and Dr. Mathilde Krim in 1985. Her longtime friend and former co-star Rock Hudson had disclosed having AIDS and died of it that year. She also founded the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation (ETAF) in 1993, created to provide critically needed support services for people with HIV/AIDS. For example, in 2006 Taylor commissioned a 37-foot (11 m) "Care Van" equipped with examination tables and xray equipment, the New Orleans donation made by her Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation and Macy's. That year, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, she also donated US$40,000 to the NO/AIDS Task Force, a non-profit organization serving the community of those affected by HIV/AIDS in and around New Orleans.Taylor was honored with a special Academy Award, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, in 1992 for her HIV/AIDS humanitarian work. Speaking of that work, former President Bill Clinton said at her death on March 23, 2011, "Elizabeth's legacy will live on in many people around the world whose lives will be longer and better because of her work and the ongoing efforts of those she inspired."

1971 – Derren Brown is an English illusionist, mentalist, painter, writer and sceptic. He is known for his appearances in television specials, stage productions, photographic memory, and British television series such as Trick of the Mind and Trick or Treat.

After studying German and Law at the University of Bristol, Derren Brown started out as a traditional conjurer specialising in close magic before moving into stage hypnotism and eventually into television on Channel 4, where he has produced several controversial series using a combination of 'magic, suggestion, psychology, misdirection and showmanship'.

Using his knowledge and skill he appears to be able to predict and influence people's thoughts with subtle suggestion, manipulate the decision making process and read the subtle physical signs or body language that indicate what a person is thinking. His sometimes disturbing shows have included Derren Brown's Mind Control, Russian Roulette, Seance, Messiah and The Heist. He often uses his skills to debunk religous, supernatural and paranormal beliefs. He has written several books on magic and tricks of the mind and regularly takes his show on tour.

Brown had been in the spotlight for several years before revealing himself to be gay in an interview in a Sunday newspaper supplement in September 2007. In an interview with the Radio Times in 2011 Brown talked more about his sexuality, stating that he is blissfully happy in a relationship. He said,

"I spent a lot of time thinking about me and working on what I wanted to be before I came into a relationship. In some ways, it's bad because you come into relationship quite late without a lot of experience and you have a lot to learn. But that can also be exciting. Certainly, it's lovely to have somebody love you and it's lovely to love someone else."

1975 – The American screenwriter and director Christopher (Beau) Landon was born today. Best known as the writer of 2007 film Disturbia and as the son of filmmaker Michael Landon.

Most of Landon's films deal with LGBT themes and issues, including $30, one of five components in Boys Life 3, a collection of short films dealing with issues faced by gays, and a spec script about the relationship between a straight man and a gay man. More recently, he has written the screenplays of the 2007 films Blood and Chocolate, The Flock and the acclaimed Disturbia. Disturbia was one of his spec scripts which was brought to Montecito Pictures and subsequently DreamWorks Pictures, and went on to become No. 1 in cinemas upon its release. Since then he has worked on The Lesson, a film for DreamWorks, and the 2007 television series Dirty Sexy Money, his first television project, eager to expand his repertoire. He has also worked on the screenplay of the film adaption of Lisa McMann's young adult novel Wake. He has recently been achieving some success as a writer on the Paranormal Activiy franchise.

Landon came out as gay in 1999 having only written the script of Another Day in Paradise, unafraid of his sexuality harming his career potential. He was aware that homophobia may have harmed his potential in the industry. "I may fall off some list because of my sexuality. But if that happens, then I really don't want to be on that list anyway," he said, speaking of homophobia in Hollywood and the film industry.

He says that growing up he was labeled a faggot by peers at his high school. His mother, a Christian, initially hesitated to accept his sexuality, but he told her, "I don't even know if I believe in God, but if I do, he gave you a gay son so that you can start confronting some of these issues and get yourself out of the box you've placed yourself in for so long." His stepmother, Cindy Clerico, his father's next wife, told him that both she and his father always suspected he was gay.

Some rather indiscreet pics which have surfaced on the internet reveal that, like his father, he is very well-hung.

"Little" Joe

2017 – When We Rise, an ABC mini-series, premiers on this day. It was a docudrama miniseries about LGBT rights, created by Dustin Lance Black. The 45-year saga tells the evolving history of the modern gay rights movement, starting just after the Stonewall riots in 1969.

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linaselandbasil · 8 months

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Eldarya boys as roommates.

Nevra: Has a lot of stuff he doesn't want you to touch but they're literally everywhere, you will inevitably have to touch it to make way. He'll keep the house clean if he has a date coming over though, which happens every few days to every few weeks. He has a lot of expensive stuff, so he's watching you with concern when you walk by his antique table lamp he decided to put on a coffee table, or his handwoven Persian rug that was passed down from his late father to him, or the irreplaceable framed picture Karenn drew of them when she was 6. Also, Karenn. Shes at his place maybe every other day? She never stops talking but that's fine, at least Nevra isn't bothering you. He thinks he's mysterious and dark, but he's simply a goth chatter machine.

Ezarel: Always annoyed by something you just did because he was planning something and you ruined it. He'd need to be at the edge of death before he disrespects your boundaries. He could be literally bleeding out and he'd avoid going to your room and waking you up because that's rude. He makes messes but they absolutely cannot be cleaned up, otherwise he can't find what he needs. He brings his work home a lot, there's documents and alchemical formulae on the kitchen table because why not? Why shouldn't he read his research notes on fungi based aphrodisiacs while eating dinner? He often comes home with his fringe burned, legend says his hair is like that because he forgot to tie it up and something exploded.

Leiftan: Very polite, he did nothing wrong in his entire life, he's a literal angel... But he's never home and his cat is a bitch and you're gonna have to feed that thing pretty regularly. When he comes home the cat is also an angel, but the bite marks and the piss stains remain. All his clothes are white or grey so he's done for the week in one or two loads, he's great at cooking (for eldarya standards anyway) and he sweeps up his cats hair every time he sees it. He's great.

Lance: You'll probably never be his roommate because he always lives with his brother. He's never home, he's always up to some bullshit, he's got no job most of the time but he has money somehow? Probably from Valkyon. You'll never have to worry about burglars, he'll eat them whole. He leaves his big ass shoes everywhere and you'll probably trip on them. He's usually a tidy person but by the end of the day he just wants a nap. Also, this creature is simultaneously a night owl and an early bird. Does he even sleep? How is he so muscular? Did you know sleep is detrimental to muscule development? Hmmm? I've never seen him sleep.

Valkyon: He has so many drugs, you'd start praying that the cops never show up. He's also that one bitch who has expensive liquor out on the top of the shelf to let people know he has a problem but he still has taste. He's not home most of the time because he's out getting laid somewhere. He's never late with rent either, but the cash is always sticky. He hates it when people come over but he also hates not minding his business so he shuts up about it. It doesn't matter what he's having, it could be antidepressants, but he'll ask you if you want sum'. That's some brother behavior right there.

Mathieu: He's a gym bro and he always has his gym friends over and they're playing video games while you're trying to live life like a normal person but there's 4-6 shredded dudes and girls in your living room every weekend. He's a Kevin, sadly, but he means well. (Search stories about Kevin, you'll understand) He ran into Lance at the gym and now he smokes weed too so he smells like skunk every once in a while. He'll cook nice meals for you, which is nice unless he Kevins it up.

#eldarya #unhinged #lance eldarya #valkyon #eldarya leiftan #eldarya ezarel #nevra eldarya #mathieu eldarya #eldarya nevra #ezarel

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saelrum · 5 months

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Setanta

["Rare races and their situation"

Report of Admiral Michael Stein

Limited edition, for official use only]

The fate of those who carry in themselves a part of creatures from other planes is usually fraught with many difficulties. Even Sources that born with half of the blood of heavenly deities or powerful spellcasters of antiquity in them are forced to pay a high price for the possession of their powers. Moreover, many Sources undergo physiological changes that require constant training to control. This leaves its mark on how society treats such involuntary prisoners of the blood lineage.

But if awakening of a Source is, to a certain extent, considered a studied phenomenon that is subject to control and can be used for the good, such thing as half-breeds carrying a particle of creatures from other planes becomes a significant problem, which sometimes affects entire races living both in Arvil and beyond.

One of the most striking examples of such a half-breed race is the people who call themselves Setanta.

Setanta are humanoids with striking distinctive features, such as hooves instead of legs, horns of various forms and sizes, altered retinas, and claws on their hands. There are cases when representatives of this race had different skin pigmentation - blue, red or even purple.

Setanta who possess more power and are closest to their ancestors from the Lower Planes may even have wings.

Otherwise, they are physiologically no different from humans and can even have children with them, which, however, in most cases will belong to a half-race. At the moment, the setant's great predisposition to magical disciplines has been experimentally proven. Also, the percentage of awakening Sources among them is higher than among all other races of Arvil.

According to an ancient legend, this race owes its appearance to a curse placed on the old city of Kahilin on the south-eastern coast of the Pearl Sea. According to this myth, the city's residents themselves summoned devil's spawns with their fall into sin, after which they began to breed and bring into the world their disgusting offsprings. Kahilin became the main center of piracy and slave trading and was able to accumulate unthinkable wealth. The appetites of their demonic rulers grew, and, as a result, they went to war on the free lands. Then, the Kingdom of Verdan managed to defeat legions of hellish creatures, as well as their minions. The city itself was taken under control of the forces of the specially established Order of Lightbringers.

Despite all poetry and adherence to the literary tradition, this version of events can hardly be called objective.

As a result of careful research by Hegemony scientists, a theory was developed that the main reason for the appearance of setanta was not some abstract sin, but a rift to the Lower Planes that appeared during a cataclysm, allowing demons a passage to our world, but, obviously, in extremely limited quantities.

A certain number of inhabitants of the Lower Planes turned out to be physiologically compatible with people, and, as a result, over the centuries of the existence of this portal, a new, unique half-race was formed, geographically concentrated mainly in one area of Arvil - on the coast of the Pearl Sea.

The nature of relationship between humans, setanta and the creatures of the Lower Planes is unclear, but it can be assumed that some kind of mutually beneficial alliance took place. It is also reliably known that the war during which the city was captured was not started by a threat to the free people, but by a strive for control over the slave trading markets and trade routes. After the end of the war, Kahilin lost all its former influence. The rift to other planes was obviously sealed, and representatives of the Setanta half-race were striped of their rights, effectively turning into slaves in their native lands. Moreover, the Order began selling them en masse to the colonies, which brought it enormous profits.

After the Order of Lightbringers joined the Coalition, there was little to no change. Setanta are still sold into slavery, and even under the Liberty Charter they cannot achieve citizenship beyond third level.

In the colonies, the situation for them is even worse: the entire half-race is a legal property - either private or state - and mostly setanta work there in mansions, taverns or brothels as servants.

Winning this entire dissatisfied mass of the population to our side could be a significant advantage in the ongoing war. It is necessary to create some preconditions for organized resistance against the Coalition's regime. To make it clear to the setanta, that among those who follow the path of the Doctrine there is no place for racism and foolish superstitions. Bring them the idea that their future is with us. Having achieved this, we will have an ally more useful than any neutral state that kneeled before us out of fear.

#dnd the lesser evil #dnd original character #dnd lore #dnd #dungeons and dragons #pathfinder #dnd oc #ellayda #sheera of simelvan #dorothea #TLE #TLE lore #setanta

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yeehanfrf · 1 year

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Week 11 Recs: He's a Magic Man

The Week 11 theme was "He's a Magic Man," or recs featuring the mystical, the magical, the fantastical, and a lot of werewolves, apparently! (If you missed your chance, monsterhuggers, don't worry: we'll have a monster-centric theme when spooky season rolls around!)

Behind the cut, you'll find the recs gathered from the Yeehan community, organized by rating and then alphabetically by title!

Not Rated

What Lies Undone by AsheRhyder [8,117 words]

There are rules to this sort of thing. Not the common sort, made to be broken and bent and outright ignored, but the old kind, made for dealing with dangerous things.

And they are all dangerous things, in Overwatch.

McCree survives by knowing which rules to break and which to obey and when to do the opposite of what he usually does. Dangerous things stay dangerous because they can change - he knows this all too well.

General Audiences

And Time Passed by Tevokkia [4,108 words] Reccer comment: "Sweet and innocent; will make you cry in a good way. Vimeddiee did art for it too"

A small cowboy in a large hat wandered out of the mist one day, and asked a lonely young dragon to be his friend. Such requests hold great weight out on the edge of reality, where the dragon kept his cave. The dragon and the little boy shared secrets and adventures.

And time passed ...

... until the little boy grew up.

Teen and Up

Fool's Gold by leoandlancer [193,940 words] Reccer comment: "I REMEMBERED ANOTHER MONSTERS, DRAMA, & EERIE THINGS BEYOND OUR MORTAL COMPREHENSION"

A vast and powerful dragon hires a surprisingly lethal monster hunter in order to kill an upsettingly big bug. It's not ideal, but they work on it. (Hanzo is pretty sure McCree can kill anything and both of them are trying not to be quite so in love with someone who can and probably will, kill them. Dragon and Monster Hunter AU)

Heartless by AsheRhyder [6,504 words]

Once upon a time, a wicked sorcerer cut out his heart and sealed it away. He hid it in a needle, put the needle in an egg, put the egg in a duck, put the duck inside a rabbit, and put the rabbit in a box on an island at the end of the world. So long as his heart was safe, nothing could kill him. Or so the legends say, anyway. Nowadays, people know what a silly story that was. Nobody bothers with rabbits anymore.

Cole Cassidy has no heart.

Sideshow by Kestrel_sama [5,414 words]

Hanzo manages to steal a night for himself at an American circus. What he finds there is no ordinary freak show.

So Nice to Meet You by fishpoets [9,142 words]

There it was again, something pale that shifted in the shadows - a mass of pure, white fur. Jesse stared. The wolf – for that's what it was, a huge, white wolf, sprawled out in front of the kitchen doors – raised its head, and stared right back.

(Five times Jesse interacts with Hanzo's daemon, plus one)

The Looking Glass by firefly_quill [9,509 words]

Hanzo lives a quiet life in his small magical antiquities shop, just far enough off the beaten-path. Quiet, at least, until Ana arrives with a magic mirror and a request. Modern fantasy AU.

Written for the McHanzo Reverse Bang 2018.

Turn Around, Lie Down (Come Home) by AsheRhyder [17,455 words] Reccer comment: "i loved this werewolf au fic"

In the dark, snow-filled night, a wolf howled.

Run with me. Eat with me. Sleep beside me. Be pack.

Mature

Cast No Shadow by PersonalSpin [46,029 words] Reccer comment: "a HDM-esque daemon AU"

Jesse McCree knows better than to trust a man without a soul. A His Dark Materials AU about things said and unsaid, and those you stay and those who leave.

(Not that kind of demon, this kind of dæmon.)

Death's Best Man by deliciously_devient [Series; WIP; 16,901 words] Reccer comment: "The Death's Best Man series by deliciously_devient is a must. It's one of the first I read when I got into the fandom"

Jesse is fifteen years old when he earns a favor from Death.

Kelp(ie) by Wulpia [5,734 words] Reccer comment: "Achingly poetic"

When biologist Hanzo goes on a trip to a remote reservoir in Scotland to study the flora of a lake there, he finds something far more interesting, ancient, and potentially deadly.

Not Another Moment by Author of Kheios [30,431 words] Reccer 1 comment: "a harry potter au, a small nsfw scene, is a long oneshot and cole is a single dad, mutual pining. Not Another Moment by author of kheois"

Reccer 2 comment: "The OW-HP crossover fic none of knew we needed"

Years ago, Cole retired as the Defense Against Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts to raise a little girl. Now, she's old enough to get accepted, but she dislikes the professor who took his place, and he has to intervene.

Hanzo has heard so many stories about the the man, the myth - nay, the legend - whose post he took at Hogwarts, yet not in a single one of them did anyone say anything about how attractive the Deadeye Cowboy is. But even if the man's daughter didn't hate him for no apparent reason, Hanzo can't afford to fall for someone who would kill him on the spot if he ever found out Hanzo's true nature. So of course, he falls head over heels.

Explicit

All That We Were, Are, and Will Come to Be by Dracoduceus [Series; WIP; 30,894 words]

His instructions were deceptively simple: visit the planet Hanamura and bring back two of the sons of the famous Shimada Clan.

McCree, captain of the Santa Fe and an independent contractor that worked with the Overwatch space station, should have known better than to think that anything about this would go according to plan.

Away by Vimeddiee [29,154 words] Reccer comment: "Light on the magic lore, strong on the feelings"

Hanzo awakens to the feel of grit in his eyes and the crunch of sand between his teeth. This in itself doesn’t rudely force him into consciousness, but the insistent flicking against his nose that he groggily attempts to bat away, does.

“High tide’s coming, you better nap someplace else.”

AKA I wanted to write Cassidy as a slappy boy so I DID.

Call of the Wild by deliciously_devient [Series; 4,712 words] Reccer comment: "Pretty sure the Call of the Wild series is the actual, literal first OW fanfic I read"

The moon is full, and the air is full of....promise.

Clipped Wings by Vashoth [14,631 words] Reccer comment: "possibly the first magic AU I read in this fandom, and the intrigue of it has stuck with me ever since"

Any hunter worth his salt knows that you should take all possible precautions to avoid messing with the Fair Folk. Most of the Fair Folk, however, don't really give a rats ass what precautions are taken and delight in messing with anything unlucky enough to get within arms reach.

Or: Hanzo is in way over his head and Jesse is loving it.

Dangerous Phases by Vrunka [13,593 words]

There are eight phases in a moon cycle. Eight phases in thirty days. And then it repeats. Over and over. Hanzo Shimada never really saw a reason to care. The moon comes, the moon goes. Hanzo Shimada also never really saw himself getting into an explicit sexual relationship with a werewolf. But well...these things do happen.

The Epic and Wondrous Tale of the Librarian and the Demon Hunter by annella [47,403 words] Reccer comment: "Hands-down one of the best AUs I've ever read, and I want desperately for the author to turn it into a series of books"

Jesse's got a pretty good job as the librarian in a magical library. He spends his days cataloguing, tracking down rare titles, fixing up the occasional spell gone awry, and dealing with the smoke monster in the basement.

Then Hanzo Shimada, Demon Hunter, shows up to turn his world upside down.

Freedom's a Funny Thing by robocryptid [4,940 words] Reccer comment: "a deliciously unnerving trickster Cassidy with a side of sex magic"

Once a year, magician Hanzo must perform a ritual to bind the dragon spirits to himself. This year, something about the ritual doesn't quite go right, and he summons a trickster along with the dragons. Now he's stuck with the stowaway until he can figure out how to dismiss him. Luckily Cassidy seems mostly benign, if irritating and predisposed to dressing as a cowboy.

—

Originally for the Myth//Legend zine, but now with a couple bonus scenes. Consider this the director’s cut.

Ghost Stories on Route 66 by Nagaina [210,058 words] Reccer comment: "Monsters, drama, & eerie things beyond our mortal comprehension."

Hanzo Shimada is an expatriate student of the Fine Arts, attending college in what he assumes to be a reasonably sedate corner of the American southwest. Jesse McCree is an occasionally leather-clad NPS ranger whose duties extend somewhat further than shooing lost tourists back onto the clearly marked hiking trails. Something weird is going on in the desert south of Santa Fe and their lives unexpectedly come together in the middle of it.

In the Woods Somewhere by CorvidFightClub [WIP; 3,946 words]

Hanzo has spent years of his life a captive werewolf, fighting in underground dogfights for a master that values his ability to kill and nothing else. One night he's stolen from the back of a transport van and wakes somewhere new.

A small farm in the woods somewhere.

[The Big Long E-Rated Version of the fic of the same title I wrote for the Rising Moon Fanzine.]

Licensed to Slaughter by ChillieBean [16,910 words] Reccer comment: "ChillieBean's "Licensed To Slaughter" (explicit, 16K words) features vampire Hanzo and werewolf Cassidy caught in the midst of a small-town murder mystery. It has a great plot and is excellently written. 10000000/10!"

Hanzo, an author who is struggling with his murder mystery draft, decides to move across the United States, trading the bustling city for quiet mountain life for inspiration.

Little does he know that he lands right in the middle of a real-life murder mystery and is suspect number one.

Never Saw it Coming by Kestrel_sama [WIP; 12,794 words] Reccer comment: "a cute modern-with-magic AU"

Fortune-telling was just supposed to be a way to make some money for Genji's business. It was easy enough with the dragons whispering secrets in his ears, and the outfit certainly helped bring in customers. But it was a skeptic named Jesse McCree who turned everything on it's head.

Possess by sciencefictioness [3,978 words] Reccer comment: "This week's theme covers half my bookmarks, but this is the first story that came to mind."

Jesse closes his eyes and he is not at home anymore.

He is not alone.

Jesse is in a large, open room with a high ceiling full of exposed wooden beams and what looks like straw mats spread out on the floor. Some of the walls are solid, others are made of paper. Words come to Jesse to unbidden like memories that aren’t his own. Dojo. Tatami. Shoji. The characters on the pillars are kanji.

Jesse is in Japan. Parts of him, anyway.

There are people lingering along the edges of the room. There are two figures in the center, one of them older with his eyes flashing eerie red, black hair greying at his temples. In front of him is a boy about Jesse’s age— seventeen. Eighteen, maybe. He’s kneeling with his eyes downcast, long hair pulled up into a messy bun, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. His clothes are hanging down off his left shoulder to expose an intricate tattoo, dragons and storm clouds and lightning in blue and grey and gold.

He’s beautiful like nothing Jesse has ever seen, a tangle of contradictions. He looks delicate.

He looks powerful.

He’s breathtaking and he’s afraid and oh, fuck.

He’s Jesse’s.

Resonant by sciencefictioness [6,473 words] Reccer comment: "Resonant by sciencefictioness is pretty sexy"

The table seems endless stretched between them; polished wood, incense filling the room with smoke, ceremonial cups of sake. Jesse stares across the length of it, his gaze locked on Hanzo with an intensity usually reserved for the hunt, except he’s never been interested in any prey the way he is now; voraciously.

Savagely.

Teeth curve long out of his jaw, and his body rolls into the half-shift all on its own. Ears pricked, tail sprouting from the base of his spine, eyes lit up red. Hanzo is doing no better.

His eyes are black, pupils blown wide, nothing but a thin ring of gold set in an impossibly dark sclera. Jesse watches Hanzo’s horns lengthen, watches his claws extend. Watches his cheeks turn red, even more pronounced against the blue of his skin.

Everything goes sideways, as Jesse always expected it would.

It just doesn’t go sideways the way he expected.

Jesse had been ready for a fight.

Survival Instinct by mataglap [36,482 words] Reccer 1 comment: "OH, ha, also monsters, drama, & eerie things beyond our mortal comprehension"

Reccer 2 comment: "Survival Instinct, by mataglap, is one I've read multiple times"

Cassidy takes a new monster hunting contract. It's pretty decent as contracts go: the pay is good, the perks even better, and he's got two competent companions to fight at his side when the monsters come.

Then a third companion arrives and ruins everything.

Watcher in the Woods by Kalikuks [84,072 words] Reccer 1 comment: "Kali does a lot of monster and magic/fantasy fics, but if I can only choose one, this is it"

Reccer 2 comment: ""Watcher in the Woods" by Kalikuks 🥰 (explicit, old name for Cass) Blind Hanzo and eldrich being Cassidy. Buckle up cause is a long one with sequels!❤️"

Hanzo gets the uncanny feeling that he’s being towered over and instinctually tips his head up, even if he sees nothing.

“You can’t see me,” a deep honeyed voice rumbles from above, a good few feet above, Hanzo guesses.

“I—“

Hanzo’s reply is drowned out when the hunting party crashes through the foliage behind him and the screaming begins.

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

AU Where Hanzo is Blind and Jesse is an eldritch being of sorts that drives men mad when they look upon him. They fall in love.

---

And that's it for the Week 11 recs! Thank you so much to everyone who submitted a recommendation.

If you happen to find a fic you love using this rec list, be sure to leave the author kudos and a comment! Even "I found this fic because someone recced it" is a lovely thing to say.

Come back next time for Week 12: "Simple Pleasures," or all the smutty PWPs your heart desires.

In the meantime, you can also check out the Week 10 recs here, or check the full list of past and future themes here.

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savlina · 7 months

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This is Sofia “Nyx” Olkhovskaya. She was a philanthropist, always ready to help anyone. Too bad she's gonna get killed) the best intro

The quality is a little eaten up, so it’s better to click on the image

personality, character

•It's difficult to give her an exact personality type. She is a multifaceted person who combines incompatible things. She can change herself or adapt to any situation for the best outcome. But some features can be distinguished

•Philanthropist

•Skeptic

•He says almost nothing to on himself

•Nonconformist

•Alexithymia

•Empath

•Polymath person

•Sapiosexual

•Workaholic

•Overthinking

appearance

Heterochromia (right eye blue, left eye brown);

Earlobes are not pierced

There are two tattoos

Athletic build

There are a few prominent scars (shown here)

Nyx walks a bit clumsily. She experiences imbalance in her body, which causes her to sometimes lean in different directions. hortunately it's almost imperceptible.

Titanium knee prosthesis

peculiarities

•Doesn't know how to cook (that is, she knows how to cook basic things, but she doesn't know any culinary dishes. She doesn't see it in that sense. Why waste time when you can go eat in a good establishment where professionals will take care of you.

•Since she thinks more globally than others, she can sometimes tell her comrades that their problems are trivial and easily solved. Some people take offense to this. She understands this and tries to approach this issue from a different angle.

•Sometimes she overdoes it, works too much. She may not eat for days, not see friends, working only on her own affairs.

•She doesn't allow other people to help her. In any situation, she always tries to cope on her own, but of course there are cases when she cannot do without help.

•Sometimes she falls into a trance, thinking about philosophical questions. She begins to think about the meaning of life, the purpose of man in the world, the nature of reality and other deep topics. She immerses herself in her reflections and forgets herself in them for a long time. Such moments take her to a kind of state of ecstasy, where she is completely immersed in her thoughts and ideas. She ends up staring at the ceiling for hours.

•she knows German and Russian, but does not indicate this in her documents.

•The only thing that can scare her: this loss of her identity; injustice; legends about the magneto shakhtinsky region(in Russia)

•You can rarely see her wearing tight-fitting clothes. For her, comfort comes first. Even at social events, she prefers a suit. She can wear a dress only if she is personally asked to do so by the inviter. There is a joke in her inner circle that she won’t even wear a dress to a wedding (some even bet money on it). Sophie usually answers - There will be no wedding. Never.

interests

•One of her strangest hobbies is gaslighting. She likes to watch them get cornered and contradict themselves. Of course, she doesn't do that with everyone, she chooses people with a stable psyche and a good sense of humor.

•People's eyes fascinate and captivate Nyx. She can't even realize that she's been staring into someone's eyes for too long and has lost track of the conversation.

•Chess. if they can't resolve a dispute with someone (which happens very rarely), she always suggests a game of chess.

•Auto racing. Tries to attend all F1 races. She also loves coming to the 24 Heures du Mans.

•Snowboarding

•Table tennis (also known as ping-pong)

•Cybersport

•Camping

•Plays the piano

•Archery

•Rides a motorcycle well. In the past, she participated many times in underground competitions between her people

•Astronomy (and she can stare at the night sky for hours)

•She is fascinated by physics. When she has the time, she attends lectures and keeps up with scientific discoveries. Visited: ITER; Large Hadron Collider; British polar station Halley VI; Starbase first launch of Starship.

•Playing cards with a cheat

•Collecting antique weapons

•Loves to watch space launches of rockets, satellites, and spaceships.

•She almost never sits on SNS. She learns all the news either from her journalist friends or sometimes she can go to verified news sites. But the only place she can afford to drown for a few hours is Twitch

•Loves movies based on true events and where natural disasters are present.

•Preferred book genres: scientific literature, classics.

•Her musical tastes include jazz and 19th century classical music. Loves orchestras and solo piano playing. Favorite composer: Ludovico Einaudi.

additional income

•Second business [Veterinary clinic, grooming salon, pet store]. The owners are Sofia and Alexandra (who is also a good friend of Sofia). Sofia: co-founder, shareholder. Alexandra: co-founder, CEO

•Programmer (Sometimes a friend Sofia who is very knowledgeable in this area, might give her a couple of errands at Sophie's request, just for a change so that Sophie doesn't forget her programming skills)

#sofia nyx #cod oc #Sofia cod #nyx cod #cod mwiii #Sofia Nyx Olkhovskaya #call of duty #task force 141 #tundra

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lordarash1 · 2 years

Text

Vita (ヴィータ) Theory

This is a theory post for Vita (ヴィータ) Music Video from Hiiragi Kirai (柊キライ) ft v_flower. This is the 7th MV of the Color Series. This will be a long explanation, so if you want to skip the detailed explanation you can read the summary section.

Character

This is the character sheet for Ruka, from the illustrator WOOMA’s twitter

Ruka (月薫) is the main character of this MV. Hiiragi-san desribe her as “a person with a lot of desire”. She is the 5th character from the Color Series (not including the demons).

Analysis

Ethymology

Ru ( 月) stands for moon. Her design is based on this (Dress, Earring, Ring, etc), I will explain this in design section . Ka (薫) stands for fragrance of flowers. This name taken from Blue Flower. It stands for desire, love, and the metaphysical striving for the infinite and unreachable.

Design

This is the moon cycle. You can read the symbolism here. I don’t write it here because it’s too long :). This tells the phases of Ruka’s behaviour throughout the MV. In this design, there are no the second new moon so after surrendering Ruka doesn’t have a new beginning.

These rhombus represent the octahedron in the MV. I will explain the octahedron later

This is a pulse. At the end the pulse stop moving, It symbolise Ruka’s desire to die.

This braided hair symbolize strenght of mind or oneness of mind. This is Ruka’s attempt to protect her from the demons. The five circles around her head are her spell to protect her mind from the demons.

The crescent moon earrings symbolize protection against negativity. This is one of Ruka’s attempt to protect her from the demons.

Ruka’s left hand in christian hand gesture means speaker/I’m speaking. I don’t know the meaning of the fingerless glove, and the dress design.

Ruka’s right hand in christian hand gesture means listen. For the ring, there are many interpretation: 1. rings worn on middle finger symbolise power, balance and stability 2. In Egypt Myth, the symbol of Goddess of Truth is lapis lazuli. So lapis lazuli is called 'The Stone of Truth' 3. From antiquity, lapis lazuli has been worn in the belief that it will ward off evil 4. One famous legend stated that King Solomon was given a ring made of Lapis Lazuli by an angel. The ring gave him the power to control a group of demons to build his temple. Symbol of Ring of Solomon is Star of David (I will explain this later). This is one of Ruka’s attempt to protect her from the demons. Only the middle finger of Ruka that the color is black (I don’t know the meaning of this).

Ruka’s eyes symbolize the myth of Horus (Egyptian God). In the myth, Horus lost his right eye that symbolize sun and left with his left eye that symbolize moon. Below her left eye is a elder futhark rune for year, It can be a reference to the end of the lyrics (I only wish to switch places with that time).

Demon design

From the design, I interpret the demon is a bat. The bat can be seen as a symbol of rebirth but may also simply represent Ruka looking through the darkness, as bats have excellent vision. (Source: Pistolero2314)

Her Devil is a Bat who also resembles a clock about to point at the omega symbol [Ω], which represents a "great end". (Source: Pistolero2314)

The roman numerals III and VI can be see on either side as well. If taken together, the number 36 has multiple interpretations such as "dark and evil" in the standard bible interpretation and "two lives" in the Judaism perspective with two 18's representing "life". (Source: Pistolero2314)

Lyrics Connection

Now I will analyse the lyrics of Vita MV and connect it with Bocca Della Verita because it is very related to Vita. I will use Ms. K lyrics version for the analysis because Ms. K is already experienced translating the color series. And I will use Tackmyn Y for another songs lyrics because of the same reason.

Hiiragi Kirai – Vita (English)

Translation: Ms.K & mikk

An outrageous existence is what they see me as

The proof of demonic manipulation

Hiding my trace of living

Turns my sprit into a bone-dry animal

Feelings like these pointless sorrow (Purple)

Just can’t be stopped from the overflow (Green)

Your pain and misery (Purple)

You’re carrying them along with you and I can see (Purple)

I’m trying the best to live (Green)

I’m trying my best while I’m dying (Green)

This is my Vita, I’m living my life

That’s why I won’t let it get tainted (Green) by the demons

Dear My Diablo

With an extreme extreme extreme

Diminuendo or some sorts

I wish to stop my breathe

So that there’s no pain, so that I can rest in peace [1]

Please Please Please Please Please Please

All I feel is getting sick of everything (Green) [2]

My life has been living in deception (Green)

So please

Following the dark, dark ending line of my life

I drive along it and search at the same time [3]

On a lightless road at night, (Green) I search as I always have [3]

An outrageous existence is what they see me as (Purple)

The proof of demonic manipulation

Breathing and living in lies (Purple)

I wish you can stop doing that (Purple)

Please just go back

Embrace that wish into (Purple) your scream [4]

With an extreme extreme extreme Diminuendo, please end it all

I’m trying the best to live

I’m trying my best while I’m dying

I’m trying the best to live

I’m doing my best (Grey) …Aren’t we all like that? [5]

When you burn out, (Yellow) [2] keep searching, keep searching [3]

I don’t want to drop dead at all

This is my Vita, I’m living my life (Purple)

That’s why I won’t let it get tainted by the demons

Dear My Diablo

With an extreme diminuendo

With a wetly tightened and plain end

With an extreme extreme extreme

Diminuendo or some sorts

I wish to stop my breathe

So there is no pain, so I can rest in peace [1]

Please Please Please Please Please Please

All I feel is getting sick of everything (Green) [2]

Please Please Please Please Please Please

I only wish to switch places with that time

And I don’t know what could happen next (Purple) But please

[1] “Your existence gives me pain, pain!” This is one of the reason that Ruka want to die.

[2] "You’re frivolous, full of fatigue." Misaki describe Ruka as a frivolous person despite she always get tired.

[3] “Top secret, I can't let it be revealed.” Ruka is searching Misaki’s secret

[4] This is Ruka’s advice to Misaki to not be deceived by possibly Rinen. Misaki’s response is this "The veracity of the solution passes up through my throat."

[5] This lyrics can be connected to this lyrics from Bocca Della Verita “My dear, why, why don't you know? That is absolutely out of the question. If something is truly meaningful, then without using words, You instead have to demonstrate it through attitude, Or else everything remains unintelligible." From this lyrics, we know that Misaki gives advice to Rika that she have to do it with attitude rather than with just a mere words.

Music Video

The beginning of the MV open by an octahedron. 2D Octahedron is shaped like this:

It become hexagram inside of hexagon. This two thing are related to Ruka.

The hexagon is the shape that appear in the beggining of the MV. Hexagon symbolize harmony and balance. While the hexagram is a reference to her ring (Ring of Solomon) and possibly the hexagram in Bocca Della Verita at 2:00.

In the beggining of the MV Ruka expression is angry and annoyed.

You can see the ら from 止まらないことね is crumbling.This translate to “can’t be stopped” and the color of the lyrics is green. Possibly Rinen is the one responsible of Misaki’s pain and suffering.

The ring light to cast her spell. The spell is the light that makes a circle. This is the picture:

Ruka close her eyes and the screen went dark. This is the demon (darkness) attempt to attack Ruka’s mind

Ruka’s emotion now is sad and there is a tear on her cheak. The demon (darkness) is succeded to attack Ruka’s mind. But not fully control Ruka’s mind

Ruka cast her spell again to protect her.

So we see the octahedron again and some seals around it.

The first inner seals are II II V II II II V III or 22522253. when added it will become 23.

There are 2 meanings that I found:

1. Psalm 23 or the shepherd psalm. In the 4 verse, it mention the darkest valley. This is a reference to the darkness that Ruka fight

2. 23 Enigma. The 23 enigma is regarded as a corollary of the Law of Fives because 2 + 3 = 5. It explain why the number written like that from the amount of 2 and explain the amount of the outer seals 2 front and 3 back.

The second inner seal translate to: God didn't save me

The third inner seal translate to: Until this curse breakers

The fourth inner seal translate to: Never wake up

So the inner seal is: God didn’t save me until this curse breakers never wake up

for the 2 front outer seals translate to: Darkness is warping power

and the 3 back outer seals translate to: Atone for people's sins

These are the purpose of Ruka in this whole MV, She wants the “curse breakers” to die. The curse breakers are probably the other MC because they release Sinfan from “Hell” and brought it to the world.

For the front outer seals, the darkness/demon is probably Rinen. Rinen is the one responsible for Misaki’s dead. So Ruka confront him to kill him, but he warp her spell so it doesn’t kill him.

For the back outer circle, Ruka wants to atone for people’s sins by killing the curse breakers and the darkness.

The demon (darkness) attack again. Now the demon succeded to control Ruka’s mind

The 5 circles around her head now are gone. So, the demon is corrupting her mind. The expression is convinced that she is in the fault.

Now Ruka cast her spell to herself.

Now she is already corrupted and the ring is black. The ring is black because the eye of horus is corrupted. The destruction of the Eye of Horus is therefore equated with the darkening of the moon in the course of its cycle of phases, or during eclipses.

She begged to the demon now possibly to heal her eye of horus

Now the eye of horus is already healed so the ring turns back to normal but the remains of the corruption still intact.

From this image, we know that the one who healed Ruka is Sinfan. Because in the myth the one who healed Horus’s eye is Thoth the Egypt God of Moon, and Sinfan is based from Sin The Sumerian God of Moon.

References

Autophagy

This lyrics translate to “O seeds of evil, which will soon burst open!“. So Ruka is the one who open the ‘Hell’ gate

Eva

This lyrics translate to “Mediocre”. Zaika calls Ruka mediocre

This lyrics translate to “and half rotten”/”rotting away”. Maybe she calls Ruka like that because she always get fatigued

Bocca Della Verita

Three squares leading to a hexagram scenes. One of the circles is on top of the right eye of the demon, maybe a reference to Ruka missing her right eye?

8 squares merging into a decagram. Maybe this is Ruka’s demon?

The squares are rotating, maybe something Ruka did to protect Misaki?

Note: Ignore the notification :)

Mobius

Prior to this, at 2:05 on the upper screen you can see blue color. This and that are the spell that Ruka used to fight Rinen.

You can see the X on the middle, maybe it can be interpreted that Ruka wins the fight?

Bottom

This is the opening of the ‘Hell’ gate

Ruka fighting Baphomet

Baphomet lose and sent back to ‘Hell’

The opening of ‘Hell’ again. This is the evidence:

There are many kinds of disfigured animal in this scene

Summary

Ruka regretted her action to open the ‘Hell’ gate. The others MC blame her because of what happen to them. Ruka also regretted that she cannot save her friend, Misaki from being murdered by Rinen. So she contains Misaki’s soul in the octahedron (posibbly to bring her back to life) and confront Rinen. When she confronted Rinen, She found out about Misaki and Rinen secret. Then, She fights Rinen and searched for the truth of the secret. The closer to the truth, she became more corrupted. In the end, she lost the fight. But Ruka begged Sinfan to heals her. And the music video ends.

I interpreted Rinen as the darkness/demon because the only demon that can talk is Baphomet, and he used human version of him to talk (Leopard), And Rinen has crescent moon and his symbol is cross (X). Sinfan is based on Sin, Sumerian God of Moon. Sin name can be spelled XXX and his symbol is crescent moon.

Author Note

Wow, this is a long one. I need one month to actually make the symbols connect with each other (I missed some symbols sadly :( ). Maybe I will analyse Galleria next because it is the most easy one. I have added the sources and decoration. And sorry for broken english I’m not a native :(. So until next time.

Remember this is just a theory, a vocaloid theory :). So if I’m wrong please correct me

#hiiragi kirai #wooma #vita #ruka #v flower #ヴィータ

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canary0 · 8 months

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Recorded at Hillingham Mansion in London, Printed Transcript Included in the File

[The camera starts at the end of a long table in an elaborate dining room again, though the dining room is different this time. It’s full of antiques still, but in a tasteful and modern upper middle class fashion; Mrs. Westenra has clearly had more opportunity to tweak with the décor. The lady of the house is not present for the gathering. Closest to the camera is Quincey Morris. His hat is hanging on part of the chair rather than on the table so it doesn’t block the camera. To his right is Jonathan Harker, looking worse for wear. He’s dressed much farther down than is typical for him, with a t-shirt and a housecoat visible to the camera. Mina comes out from behind the camera to the other side of him. She and Quincey both seem to be leaning in toward him. On Mina’s other side is Lucy, trying to keep the spirits around the able up. Arthur soon brings out a tray of tea and biscuits for the group, settling down across from her so he can hold her hand across the table. On her other side is Seward, looking a little awkward but seeming like he’s trying to determine her wellness via side-eyeing. Drs. Van Helsing and Stankiewicz are speaking in low voices on the other side of Arthur, looping back around toward the camera. The sky outside the windows slowly darkens as the conversation goes on.]

van Helsing: “-not that I think they shouldn’t, but it would mean little to most west of the Danube.”

Stankiewicz: “You’re not wrong, but-”

Mina: “Let’s start the meeting. We should get Jonathan some rest soon.”

[Jonathan smiles weakly and squeezes her hand gently.]

Jonathan: “I’ll be all right for a little while.”

[Quincey nods next to him.]

Quincey: “Don’t push yourself, though.”

[Jonathan nods and Lucy looks over to van Helsing and Stankiewicz, then to Seward.]

Lucy: “You mentioned that you’d hit upon what we should do from here?”

van Helsing: “At least some of what we can try. We have a general idea of what we’re dealing with, but the specifics are difficult, since Mr. Harker’s description of it doesn’t match anything fully.”

Jonathan: “I-”

Mina: “Jonathan Harker, you aren’t even thinking about apologizing are you?”

[Seward shakes his head.]

Seward: “You’ve given us the most information we have to work with. It’s remarkably complete, assuming it’s all entirely accurate-”

[Lucy gently elbows him.]

Seward: “What’s wrong?”

Stankiewicz: “Please don’t take their words to suggest we found nothing. It is more… we found much, and it fits in many places. Most things are vague rumors or general hysteria based on grains of truth, so we have something much more concrete than any writing before us.”

Arthur: “So what is it? I would like us to address the point directly.”

[Seward sighs.]

Seward: “At least for me, it’s because I can hardly believe it. It seems so far outside anything I would have thought of…”

[Van Helsing shakes his head and Stankiewicz leans back in her chair.]

Van Helsing: “Our good Miss Lucy and Mr. Harker are not losing blood to a flight of fancy, I am afraid.”

Stankiewicz: “They call them vjesci where I’m from. The Slavic term is vampire. Blood-drinking undead. Unfortunately, the folklore is extremely inconsistent in its descriptions. Van Helsing knows the folklore bit a good deal better, aside from where Poland is concerned.”

[Van Helsing nods, taking this as a prompt to start.]

Van Helsing: “Yes indeed. Many different legends suggest people who died suddenly, did not have last rites, or were buried in unconsecrated ground, but from Mr. Harker’s description, it sounds like the castle had a chapel, so that ground was consecrated at one time, and death in battle, as you might expect for a mighty noble such as our monster, would not be seen like a sudden and unexpected end. Some were supposedly destined from birth for it. These are all sad souls, if such things are truly the source of a vampire, and seems not to match our lover of torment. He seeks to make all of us suffer through the suffering of those we love.”

Seward: “He seems to know people, and how to get to them, extraordinarily well, and doesn’t show the impatience of a starving animal. His library suggests he’s extremely learned.”

[Jonathan nods, his eyes steely.]

Jonathan: “Yes. He claimed to be keeping me to practice his English, but by the end, he showed he could mimic my own way of speaking perfectly. I suspect he affected his initial slightly stilted speech… which suggests he had company before me. I don’t really want to think about how many other ‘guests’ he might have tormented before me.”

Van Helsing: “If it helps, it may have been many many years before you that he learned this.”

Stankiewicz: “We were discussing it, and we suspect he may actually be rather young for a creature that theoretically could exist in perpetuity.”

[Van Helsing claps his hands together.]

Van Helsing: “Ah yes! Dr. Stankiewicz is quite well versed in local history and went over your Dracula’s recounting of events as you wrote them.”

[Stankiewicz pulls out a legal notepad, flipping through pages of dense, neat Polish to find her place.]

Stankiewicz: “Ah yes. He spoke a great deal about his bloodline, and while he spoke of battles with the Turks as though he’d been there personally, his conception of the rest of Transylvania’s past was quite mythologized. We could probably safely guess the late 1600s for his lifetime, toward the end of the Ottoman dual sovereignty over Transylvania, and shortly before the 18th Century Vampire Controversy. Starting in the 1720s, there was a big outbreak of supposed vampire attacks. Seems like something that could result from the possible... enthusiasm of a young vampire. The outbreaks were quite separated, but van Helsing has a theory about that that provides a link to Dracula’s learned nature.”

[Some of the others wince as she states the name outright.]

Van Helsing: “I exchanged some emails with a colleague at the University of Budapest who pointed out that there was supposedly a school where one could learn from demons in Romania. There would be 10 students. Nine would graduate, and one would be sacrificed.”

[A general shiver moves about the room.]

Van Helsing: “It is not strange to think that perhaps our monster who seeks power to create fear in others sought that power at another time, though other means.”

Quincey: “Wouldn’t… that suggest that there might be eight other things like him somewhere?”

Stankiewicz: “I hope not. God willing, they all died one way or another before now. Supposedly, there were children between vampires and humans. Most of them became vampires, but some could see through the powers of vampires and hunt them, so perhaps a good portion of them are dead.”

Van Helsing: “I think until we hear about some unconnected thing, we can be confident that this is the only one we are dealing with for now.”

[The rest nod uneasily.]

Stankiewicz: “All of this is theory, of course… We have no way to know what kind of background he has – there have been a lot of people called Dracula. Let’s set out what we know for certain he can do.”

Jonathan: “He can control wolves. I think he can change into one at least. I think that dog that leapt off the ship was him. Our-”

[He swallows and the two on either side come in closer around him.]

Jonathan: “Our eyes met, and I passed out. I felt a sharp pain then, but I’m not sure if that was hitting the ground.”

[Stankiewicz nods and just flips to a fresh page, taking notes.]

Lucy: “… I think he can alter memories somehow, too. Whenever a night passes that I suspect he’s shown up, I can’t remember my dreams, even more than one might expect. I think he must create some sort of compulsion, as well, as on those nights sleepwalking, I didn’t change.”

Seward: “Changed?”

[Lucy flushes.]

Lucy: “Normally whenever I sleepwalk I change to go outside.”

Seward: “Ah, that makes sense. Sleepwalking is caused by the lack of a neurotransmitter that tells your body to stay still when it’s asleep. If that’s the case, your body would do whatever your dream suggests is a reasonable course of action.”

Lucy: “Really? I would like to learn more about that soon. Perhaps we can have lunch and discuss it tomorrow.”

Seward: “Oh, c-certainly, but let’s focus on the task at hand for now.”

[Arthur looks rather amused at Seward’s flustered expression, smiling with no ill will.]

Van Helsing: “Should we assume that he is able to float upon the air like moondust, as the ladies within his castle did?”

Jonathan: “I… don’t think so. If he could, I imagine getting in and out of the castle would be considerably easier than the method he took, climbing in and out of the window like a lizard.”

Mina: “Could it be that he did that to look like you to the townspeople? You mentioned he went out in your clothes at some point.

Jonathan: “At a later time, yes, but not the first time. He was wearing that all black outfit he always wore at first.”

Mina: “Fair point. So, the ladies seem to have different abilities than he does. Oh! The fog! He is able to create fog, as the captain described in his log.”

[Van Helsing points enthusiastically at Mina.]

Van Helsing: “Ah yes! You are quite correct.”

Jonathan: “It’s not an ability, but he didn’t show up on my phone camera, and he never ate a single bit of food or drank anything except… Well, me. He had enormous strength, too. Way beyond what you’d expect any normal person you encounter to have.”

Mina: “There’s probably some purpose to all those boxes of earth he had shipped to England, as well.”

Quincey: “You mentioned you only ever saw him at night, too, right? Come to think of it, you two haven’t had a single problem during the day. It’s always at night.”

[Van Helsing nods and Stankiewicz keeps writing quickly.]

Stankiewicz: “When he didn’t show up on your phone, he threw it out the window, right?”

Jonathan: “Yes… I’m not sure why. He waited long enough for me to notice before he threw it out, so I don’t think it was anything like it was giving up the game too early. He… he freaked out after he picked it up.”

[Stankiewicz’s eyes narrow.]

Stankiewicz: “I wonder if an element of it disagreed with him?”

Van Helsing: “Hmm… Some of the materials of electronics were once considered holy, such as silver. Perhaps it was something he disliked?”

Jonathan: “That would be useful, but cell phones have a lot of components. It could be anything.”

[Stankiewicz taps her pen on the pad.]

Stankiewicz: “We should consider what his weaknesses could be on that note. What have we observed of his comings and goings? What’s held him back or propelled him forward, and what does folklore say on the subject?”

Van Helsing: “We have few options on that front but to rely on folklore. Materials that are traditionally considered purse – silver, salt, garlic, items of holy significance, holy water as the wise captain used.”

Stankiewicz: “Supposedly a wooden stake through the heart will do the trick, but apparently at one time that failed and cutting off the vampire’s head had, and I quote, ‘better results.’”

[She gives a grim chuckle echoed by Jonathan. Lucy pipes up after a moment.]

Lucy: “Oh! Do you remember? Water!”

Mina: “Water?”

Lucy: “Well, the wolf didn’t leap off the boat until it had been fully grounded. I don’t think he can pass over water easily. It may have been that it was salt water, but it seems reasonable, don’t you think?”

Van Helsing: “That it does! I had not even considered such.”

[Stankiewicz nods and notes it down.]

Quincey: “And, well… fire’s supposed to purify just about anything.”

Stankiewicz: “True. I remember that being brought up in vampire accounts, too.”

[A while longer of consideration, and without further major suggestions, Van Helsing nods to everyone.]

Van Helsing: “Excellent! We have much to arrange, but much progress has been made. For tonight, with your permission, Miss Lucy, Mr. Harker, we would like to put up garlic flowers in your rooms.”

Lucy: “I’m all right with that. Garlic smells nice.”

Jonathan: “Sounds fine to me. I like garlic bread.”

[This brings out a few laughs, and the mood rises as the group rises to their feet. Mina hugs Jonathan from the side with a warm smile.]

Mina: “Here’s to a hopefully restful sleep tonight.”

[She moves behind the camera and it turns off.]

(A/N: Boo. Missed the deadline. 12:30 still counts, right? RIGHT?!)

#dracula daily #dracula 2023 #fanfic #modern retelling #just for fun #jonathan harker #lucy westenra #mina harker #quincey morris #arthur holmwood #abraham van helsing #jack seward

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icarusalatus · 2 years

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Zhongxiao fic idea scribble

(furiously written in one burst when the idea took over my mind some time ago - sorry that it is not necessarily coherent, especially the second half. also i'm pretty sure (certain) that the idea of small bird/finch!Xiao in my brain was planted there by @stormy-seasons' fic, of which i highly recommend all. i do apologize for lifting that and running with it. i desperately love your work)

context:

xiao goes missing-highly-presumed-dead at some point between genshin timeline and "modern" time. like its not even missing really his fate is so clearly ended.

this idea starts in modern times; zhongli is still alive still among the people but the time of gods has given way to technology and the history of old teyvat is now regarded only as legend by most, so its pretty heavily just modern au with the caveat that zhongli is still rex lapis and still remembers.

zhongli pov

zhongli has a good, well-paying job, dresses nicely in his formal fashion that's now seen as eccentric at best and antiquated at worst, seems by all accounts very put together and proper but the truth is that he still has a soft heart.

and one day he finds an injured little finch right outside of his apartment.

humans who know him now might think he wouldnt care, or dont know him well enough to realize how soft he is inside, but he picks up this little finch, and decides to nurse it back to health himself.

a big contributing factor to this being that when he first saw the finch on his doorstep, he was absolutely stricken because it reminded him so heavily of xiao, this little bird. it looked almost exactly like xiao's bird form. Xiao's been dead for at least a century at this point so its a bittersweet likeness, but it still tugs zhongli's heartstrings into tender action.

so zhongli takes this bird in and takes care of it. it has some difficult injury, like a broken leg or broken wing, and zhongli wonders if it would be kinder to put the bird out of its misery instead of tending to it and encouraging it to live like this. needless to say, the parallel is SO STRONG.

all the while zhongli is thinking about xiao, maybe telling the little bird stories about xiao and gently rubbing its head or feathered chest and saying you look just like him, you know?

the bird is part of his routine at this point, like after he took it to get checked out by a wildlife expert and it got a teeny little gauze wrap around the broken appendage, he takes it to work with him (maybe he works in a museum) to keep an eye on it, since it cant fly away and he doesnt want to leave it at home alone, and then when it starts being able to fly a little more he leaves it at home in a spare room that he decks out with enrichment so it's safe but not caged.

one day someone at work asks, "How's your little bird?" and he's ripped back several millennia to when Azhdaha asked him that same exact question, in reference to Xiao, and it hurts.

zhongli has made peace with xiao's death, but it will never not ache.

zhongli doesnt have many friends left, to be quite honest. xiao isn't the only adeptus to have left the world since the events of The Traveler, and of course, human mortals are defined by their mortality.

he has tried to keep afloat, to find more connections in the sea of ever-increasing population in teyvat, but the people are less social now, or social in ways that zhongli just isn't. he has acquaintances, but no one really knows him anymore. even the other gods have slipped into obscurity in time, and though some nations remain more religious than others, it's not easy to find another god masquerading as human in a world of billions of humans. the largest needle in a haystack. if theyre even still alive at all.

so this little finch may just be the only real connection he has. even when it seems fully healed, he's reluctant to admit to himself that maybe it's time for the little bird to go, and he finds any excuse to keep it for just a little while longer, just one more week for observation, just a few more weeks to quarantine.

in his defense, the little bird seems to love him, it will come sit close to him even when he's doing nothing, it will chirp back at him when he talks to it, it will sing in its room even when he's not there, it rushes to be near him when he comes home from work. it doesnt seem distressed to be kept in his apartment at all, but.. maybe it is, and he just can't read its little mind.

eventually, he has to let it go. he has to.

he can't bear the idea of abandoning it in the park or anything, so he just. he starts leaving the windows open. opens the door for the finch if it goes near.

it seems interested in the change - it will stare at the door when zhongli opens it… but then it will hop back around and go to the kitchen or the living room and settle there instead. In fact, it happens so much that zhongli starts to think it just doesn't care for the outside world at all. he stops opening the door for it when it starts just staring at him until he closes it, and begins coming around to the idea of keeping it, properly, as... not as a pet, but as a little house companion. he still leaves the windows open in case he's wrong, but some of the heartache settles away.

until one day he wakes up, and the little bird is gone.

zhongli has this pit of dread in his stomach as he searches the house, in denial even as every room comes up emptier than the last, and its a horrible fucking parallel to those exhausting months turned lingering years when he overturned every fucking rock and cave in liyue looking for xiao all those centuries ago, and coming up with nothing, not even an elemental trace of him. and this is only an apartment. he doesn't even have time to come to terms with it while he's doing it this time.

when he's done looking, he just sits on the floor with one of the bird's toys in his hands and cries. mourns all at once. his only true connection in the world, the joy he felt every time the bird wiggled around in his hands to be petted, and, if he's honest with himself, xiao. he was still rex lapis when xiao passed away, he had his duties to attend, even after he retired, a whole nation to keep an eye on, paired with the denial of what actually happened to xiao, years of searching and not admitting... eventually he let himself acknowledge the absence left in xiao's wake, but told himself that it was inevitable, and at least xiao wasn't suffering anymore. he never let himself grieve the memories, not like he was doing for the bird now, and all of his pain, accumulated over thousands of years, never allowed to take a moment to come out like this, pours out all at once. he cries for days. until he feels hollow, like he's cried out everything inside of him.

eventually, zhongli pulls himself back together again. or at least, enough to get up off the floor and make himself some tea. he doesnt physically age, but he's sure that seven thousand years of tears' worth of dehydration did not help.

he sits at his dining room table and drinks his tea (painful in its own way, but at least no one makes osmanthus wine anymore). when he finishes the pot, he makes another, and returns the emails from the museum asking where he is, apologizing for the absence without warning, and telling them, not untruthfully, that he has been through a few chronically life-altering losses. he doesnt tell them that those have been spread out over the last seven thousand years. it is simply not their business.

one of his coworkers, who was CC'd on the email, emails him separately to offer her condolences and ask if she can bring him any food he likes, or anything else he needs. he's almost taken aback by the kindness, and his husk of a heart warms infinitesimally. maybe new connections in this age aren't so unattainable for him, after all

he asks, with watery eyes that he wont keep from spilling over if they so desire, not this time, if she knows how to make almond tofu.

she says to give her his address and she'll have it over for him as fast as her hands can make it, and zhongli does. his heart doesn't have the healing powers that his body does, but this is a start. the first step.

he holds the finch's toy as he waits, tries not to look at it because that wound is still so fresh, but is comforted by it.

the doorbell shakes him out of his thoughts. it comes sooner than he would have expected, but he must have been more wrapped up in his thoughts than he realized. he goes to the door, pulls it open-

and it's xiao.

it takes zhongli a moment to react. xiao is wearing black clothes that don't fit him, so in contrast to the only outfit zhongli ever saw him wear that zhongli considers that his brain might be broken. it might not be xiao, he just spent so much time with a finch that looked exactly like him, clearly it wasn't impossible for xiao to have a human doppelganger too.

except, he just spent so much time. so much time, thinking about xiao, talking about him to the bird, his posture, his mannerisms, what he looked like.

He worries that he might be hallucinating, then. there's a first time for everything. but he doesn't think he would have hallucinated xiao in clothes he'd never seen him wear. he doesn't even have shoes on. it's. it must be…

and then xiao reaches out, touches his shoulder. and it's real. it's real.

zhongli falls to his knees

xiao's pov

when xiao went missing, the truth was that he never actually left. that's why no one could find him, and no one ever found his body.

he was out doing his usual patrols, trying to stay out of the way of humans, when his karmic debt flared in a way it had never done before. scorched him from the inside out. whether it was an evil in the soil underneath him rising up and reacting with his soul like toxic fumes, or one step too many for fate to allow. one second he was fine. and then he was on the ground, gasping.

he was no stranger to pain, physical or karmic, but this was something entirely... entire. like a wick accustomed to the burning of a teardrop of flame finding out that the fire of a candle is nothing compared to a razing, unpredictable forest fire.

he knew what happened to the others, and now, what was happening to him. his only thought was that he didn't want to hurt anybody, when he lost control. so, with his dying breath, he reached out to find the power in his debt. if it were powerless, it couldn't hurt him. so he reached out, and leeched its energy castoffs, and brought them inside. manifested his wish: to become, in his entirety, small. breakable. in case he lived and lost himself to madness after this. let him be easy to kill. even for the humans. his own bird form drifts in the back of his mind's eye. and then even that goes dark

thoughts as a bird come often but are not easily kept. they escape quickly, most thoughts, like wind past wings. it's years before the bird even realizes it has thoughts at all. that it has memories. bird didn't used to be bird. wings once, then not for a long time. many memories as not-bird, but unfamiliar. and then dark, long time. then light. not-bird when first dark, bird before light.

slowly, over the years, the thoughts become longer. they mix thought and memory. more people now. people-place bigger. less not-people creatures. people look different. birds look different too. bird changes to look like other birds. new animals. metal animals. make dark. dark like before, comes from metal animals. burns. don't fly through dark. metal animals always change. metal animals colorful now. now, not before. people-place loud. scary. scary.

for years and years, the people-places get bigger and bigger. it never stops. it wants to stay away, to be safe, but bird has no home. bird has no nest. never had home, even when not-bird.

eventually, when the people-place is less dark all over, the bird goes there. it senses something there, deep inside. something... closer to home. it wants home.

it doesnt want to fly anymore.

and then, suddenly, it can’t.

wing hurt. ow. ow. hurt. hurt. find home. find safe. in its pain, it can only follow instinct. it senses warm, here, in people-place. senses something familiar. it tries to fly, and when it can't bear it anymore, it hops. closer and closer to where its instincts pull and assure warmth and safety. it knows things, it remembers things. windows are like air but hard. not safe. don't fly. doors open and lead to rooms. it is overwhelmed by not-quite-memories. and then warm is close. warm is so close so so close warm warm safe where is safe-warm?

and then the door opens, and it is a people. safe-warm is a people, bird remembers! this people!

the people observes it as it falls over trying to hop closer, tries to right itself with one wing. the people gently picks it up with- arms! bird used to have those. it shakes out its feathers and looks up when the people lifts it closer to its face, and the bird nearly falls out of the people's hands when it sees because that people! it remembers that people from its not-bird memories ! that face is the best thing that ever happened to it!

That people- no, that- that isn't right. this is not a people. this is. is. world. skies and clouds and sun and nest and . and . hope. trust. everything. Everything is looking at bird with wide eyes. it must recognize bird! bird wiggles in Everything's hands, or tries to, until its wing bends bad and it wails a pained peep. Everything frowns - no! - and draws it up closer to its face - yes! - to look at its wing. Bird settles in Everything's palms. Everything will take care of it.

Bird puffs its chest when Everything strokes its feathers. attention! from Everything!

Everything chirps something, something with- with people sounds that bird knows but doesn't understand. but it's so, so familiar. someday, bird thinks, in its bird-thoughts, with bird-words, bird will understand what You look just like him means.

Xiao does understand, now. he picked apart every speaking bird-memory when he... is "woke up" the right term? He doesnt even know how he did it. one moment he was sitting in someone's backyard, lost and alone and scared, and the next he was glad that humans still hung their laundry out to dry in... what year was it? Anyway, he doesn't know if Zhongli wants to talk about it. Those words weren't meant for him, anyway. Or, they were, because the finch was still him, but not for. someone with context.

Zhongli had let him in, so at least he's not angry. That thought feels weird in Xiao's head after hearing so much about himself through Zhongli's own perspective, as the finch being told stories of himself. of course Zhongli’s not mad. but he is staring at xiao unblinkingly like he has been for the last few hours, pausing only once to answer the door when the sound of a bell played and returning with Almond Tofu in a strange flexible glass box with a purple lid. Zhongli clearly didnt know he was coming back, or who he even was, so that raises many questions.

he's been answering zhongli's questions since he got in the door, but it's still shocking to get an answer to some of his own.

"I was thinking about you," zhongli says, like it doesnt make xiao's heart tremble in his chest.

zhongli admits to xiao that he might have been a factor in xiao's return to human form, because once he came to terms with the fact that the finch was gone, he may have sent some of his power out to ensure that it would be good and safe and happy and free and he must have put enough out to dissolve the karma-binding to the finch form xiao had manifested all those centuries ago.

but that wouldnt have been possible without xiao's own intrinsic power and energy slowly leaking out and dissipating most of the karmic debt in the centuries he was just a bird, who needed less of his own power to stay alive and who wasn't constantly accruing more and more debt.

the debt that has finally been paid, it seems. there are traces of it left, but only on a surface level. not soaked into xiao’s very spirit, as it once was.

it wasnt a coincidence that the finch ended up on zhongli's doorstep, it was precisely because it was xiao that it ended up there, of all places, seeking help, shelter, warmth. even with only two bird brain cells rubbing together trying to make fire, xiao was drawn to the traces of zhongli, because he knew, instinctually, that that presence would help him and keep him safe.

and it was precisely because of the bird form, and Zhongli’s longing for xiao, wishing that he had been there to take care of xiao in his pain, that Zhongli chooses to nurse it back to health himself.

fate intertwining with itself, some might say.

the end

(zhongli gets the comfort after his hurt and they cuddle a lot and maybe admit feelings? the main throughline of this fic, the grief and rebuilding of self, could be read as platonic, if you squint. but ideally there would be some emotional intimacy by the end as they both lean into each other while dealing with their respective revelations. they dont need labels. they have everything they need returned to them already.)

#tragically my penchant for thorough prompts carries over through every fandom it seems #i have no plans to write this further so i figured i would put it out there #how do i tag this #zhongxiao #this is canon compliant

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commajade · 1 year

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went to the lee manik special exhibit at soma (seoul olympic museum of art) in september and rly enjoyed it!! 이만익/lee man-ik (1938-2012) is a korean painter whose art is considered representative of south korea's history from the postwar 50s to its present. his art is being hosted by soma because he was chosen to design the 1988 olympics so that is the culminating point of the exhibit. hosting the 1988 olympics was a big point in south korean identity as becoming a part of the global conversation and is considered the step right before south korea became a first world country. the timeline of the exhibit traces lee manik's art career from the 50s to representing south korea's modern identity as both a place of incredibly fast paced development and change while still embracing its traditional culture and distinct cultural identity.

the exhibit is called 별을 그리는 마음, and translated to "a heart missing the star". 그리는 means longing and missing but is a homonym for the word for drawing, the title also being a heart drawing the stars. the exhibit is named for a series of his paintings where people are surrounded by stars.

the first image is a farming community gathered for a portrait, the second is from the folktale heungbuga in which a poor farming family saws open magical gourds. the third one depicts the legend of jumong, hero of the goguyreo kingdom.

lee manik's art embraces korean traditional aesthetics and often has traditional images or legends and folktales as its subject material. his style is a colorful animated reimagining of traditional art and color schemes. i noticed an evolution in the kind of cultural and temporal contrasts present in his work. his early work emerges from his background as a classically trained painter and especially after studying art in paris there is a contrast between the european styles and techniques vs the korean subject material. in his later work the vibrancy of his art contrasts with the antiquated/traditional/rustic subjects of the paintings to revitalize them, animate them. when he has modern subjects to his paintings the stylistic evocation of the past creates a temporal contrast as well. and in this contrast there is continuity, bringing attention to the fact of south korean compressed modernity and how quickly everything has changed -- and how after all of this change, we are still the same people. i felt that the exhibit showed themes of continuity, adaptation, and togetherness with the subject of korean people after and before japanese colonialism and the war that nearly ended korean civilization. an emphasis on expressing shared identity with great pride and empathy with a love for literature in its past and present forms was a lovely museum experience.

#lee manik #korean art history #all the pics r kinda weirdly angled cuz they're mine and there were other ppl lol

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carmen-fics-for-thee · 8 months

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The Girls' Sleepover

Summary: Carmen comes to see Julia again, hoping they can be friends. Julia arranges a 'girls night' and they have an old fashioned sleepover. Carmen decides to make a paper Valentine for her crush, and Julia realizes something about him. (Carmen and Julia friendship. Also CarChase ship.)

...

"Oh! Carmen. You came to the office...?" Julia said uncertainly.

There was the legend herself, Carmen Sandiego, poised in her long red trenchcoat and hat.

"I thought, you know... I could maybe get to know you a little better? Since you were so nice the last time we met."

Julia smiled sadly, knowing there might be another reason she was here. She'd felt it when her eyes softened around him. Deep in her heart she wished someone would come solely for her. But she'd do anything to ensure both of them happiness.

"Inspector Devineaux is not here today, he is busy on another mission. I could leave him a message for you if you like." She offered.

Carmen shrugged.

"What would I tell him...? Honestly, even convincing him I'm innocent would take days."

"That is true," Julia admitted. She thought for a bit. "Well, uh, what are you here for?"

She looked away, wondering what she could say. What would make Julia believe her? She really did come to see her after all.

"I don't know. We could do something that friends do..."

Carmen wracked her brain to think of something that wasn't a crime or a prank. She didn't want to get her new friend into trouble.

"Uhh..." Carmen said. "We could maybe have a sleepover? A girls' night?"

At this Julia brightened.

...

So starting off the girls night, Carmen wrote down all the things a regular sleepover would entail. They'd get their teddy bears ready, and then play a few games, tell scary stories, and finally fall asleep.

The room was small, a square shaped room, with a short bed in the north corner and a regular sized bookcase in the east corner. Posters of boy bands decorated Julia's room. There were also a few antiques she'd collected, an old rotary phone, a polaroid camera, a record player... even a retro desk lamp.

Julia was afraid Carmen would call her a nerd, but she was impressed.

"Wow, Julia! Who knew you were so cool?!"

She was taken aback. Pointing at herself hesitantly, she made sure she'd heard right.

"Me...?"

Carmen nodded.

Julia smiled.

They decided to make crayon drawings next.

On one drawing there was a huge coloured landscape of the Golden Gate Bridge, with Carmen swinging down from it with a grappling hook. Julia and Chase were in hot pursuit. It was hard to know what possessed Julia to make such an exquisite drawing, but she did her best, using the crayons to fill out the whole paper. Proudly, she held up her drawing to Carmen.

Looking up, Carmen smiled, holding the paper in her hands.

"Oh wow! ... Julia, this is amazing!" She looked over every detail thrice in her head. "You're a real artist!"

Chuckling, she showed Julia her own drawing. It was stick figures of her found family. All of the figures were smiling and holding hands. There was Carmen, Player, Zach, Ivy, Grey, Chase, and Julia. They were standing in a field of grass and flowers, with a smiling sun in the sky.

"Aww! Carmen, that's adorable!"

Her smile brightened.

Even moreso when Julia poked her sides.

"Juliiiieeee! Hehehhee, stop!"

Carmen decided to fight back, tickling Julia's sides as well.

"Hahahahaahaa! Carmen!"

Both of them laughed for a while.

Finally they decided to move on to making paper crafts. Carmen made a red heart Valentine with white lace. She couldn't really think of what to write on it; it should be nothing that could identify her as the Valentine sender, but romantic nonetheless. Finally she ended up with a red heart that said, "You're really something! - Your Secret Admirer."

She gave it to Julia to pass on.

Julia chuckled.

"He's really something, alright."

Carmen nodded, but this time she didn't smile. Noticing, Julia's gaze softened. Yeah, she'd messed up... She reached out her hand and offered a hug, not wanting Carmen to feel sad.

"I-I didn't mean it like..." Her eyes begged for Carmen to understand. It was true that she'd had to deal with Chase on a daily basis and he could be a handful. But she hadn't needed to rub it in. "I'm sorry."

Having looked away, Julia didn't realize when Carmen had accepted the hug; and her apology.

"It's alright. It was- it was just a joke." She forced a smile.

Julia took the Valentine from the floor into her hands. It was well made, no loose glue gun strings. The name Chase was written on the front in black crayon with drawn hearts surrounding it. Perhaps Carmen was wrong about not being good at art; her skills simply lay in a different kind of art. In any case, Julia wasn't going to judge her friend on her romantic tastes. There were good aspects of Chase too, and when you're the girl he wants it must feel pretty special. Wait a second. The girl he wants...

Smiling, and with a newfound optimism, she patted Carmen's back.

"You know what I realized? He's always thinking about you." Remembering all the times they'd spent chasing Carmen around the world made Julia feel a sense of happiness for her friend. Perhaps the Inspector was simply disguising his true feelings? If another woman asked him out, the Inspector would always turn her down. It was never about Julia, or any other girl. Only Carmen. She chuckled at that. "You're the only girl he wants. If he finally realizes the same thing, maybe we can get somewhere!"

Carmen looked up hopefully.

"What's your plan?"

Julia got out her phone. She called up Chase Devineaux.

After much arguing back and forth about the phone's ringing making him jump, letting the bad guy get away, Julia finally explained herself.

"Chase, think about it. What woman do you want most in the world?"

"Carmen Sandiego," he replied quickly and confidently. "I am sure to apprehend that thief one of these days!"

"No, no! What I mean is..." She paused and her voice grew softer. "Do you love her?"

He stumbled on his words.

"Ah-! W-what?! Preposterous! Why would I love that international theif? She's eluded me time and time again, frustrating me every step of the way, and you think I love her?!"

Julia frowned.

"Tell me, how many other women have you thought about in the past month? Name five."

A pause.

"There is um... there is you, right?"

"And...?"

He began to sweat. Looking around for answers, he tried to look for certain identifiable women in the crowd.

"There is um... that woman in the green dress over there! Ah!" He spotted another woman, quickly trying to describe her. "There is a redhead, wearing white! And um... over there! A brunette wearing yellow!"

"Inspector... Do you actually think about these women, or are you trying to evade the question?"

"Gah! Au Revoir!" And he hung up.

"Ha! Got 'im! Talk to you later, Inspector," She teased. And she hung up.

Carmen waited for what he said. Julia smiled.

"I think I got through to him... We'll just need to wait a while, since Devineaux can be very stubborn."

Seeing Carmen pull her legs up to her chest, beaming, Julia knew she made the right choice. It was nice to see Carmen so happy. One day, they'd put all the madness behind them.

Soon they went to sleep, cuddling their teddy bears.

It was a fun day, and Julia felt like she'd made some progress with Chase, finally.

The next day, Julia went into work and showed Chase the Valentine from the secret admirer. To her surprise, he didn't look surprised or make any cutting remark. He only looked at it with a longing look in his eye. Then he tucked it into his coat.

"Carmen..." He said softly.

Julia said nothing, not wanting to ruin the moment. Perhaps the Inspector was not as imperceptive as she'd thought.

#carmen sandiego #Carmen sandiego 2019 #carchase #chase devineaux #julia #carmen and julia friendship

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freyayuki · 1 year

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Final Fantasy Record Keeper Final Fantasy VII Crystal Dungeons

The Crystal Dungeons are currently the hardest kind of fight in the Final Fantasy Record Keeper (FFRK) mobile game. There are 2 kinds of Crystal Dungeons - the Portal of Creation and the Portal of Antiquity.

The Portal of Creation features elemental quests while the Portal of Antiquity features realm quests.

Right now, the Portal of Antiquity only has 2 dungeons - the Final Fantasy VII Memories of Antiquity - Gaia and the Final Fantasy VIII Memories of Antiquity - Heart.

The Final Fantasy VII Memories of Antiquity - Gaia Crystal Dungeon features 2 quests:

Bizarro Sephiroth - quest level 600

Safer Sephiroth - quest level 700

There are rewards for being able to sub-30 these quests. Rewards for the quest level 700 fight also includes the materials needed to break the level cap of the Final Fantasy VII Historia Crystal from Level 120 to Level 140.

You can also get a new wardrobe record for Aeris or Aerith Gainsborough from Final Fantasy VII (#ad) known as FF VII-CC Guise. This features Aerith’s dress from Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII.

The boss of the quest level 600 fight is Bizarro Sephiroth (Zenith) while the boss of the quest level 700 fight is Safer Sephiroth (Zenith).

Final Fantasy Record Keeper End of Service Announcement

Had no plans to do any of these fights anytime soon. These quests were pemanent so I could do them whenever I wanted.

But unfortunately, Final Fantasy Record Keeper just recently announced that it was gonna end its service on September 29, 2022. I talk more about that in another post.

I really wish this didn’t have to happen. I don’t want FFRK to end, at least not anytime soon.

Since the game is ending already, decided to try the quests in the Crystal Dungeons now.

Final Fantasy VII Realm Team

My Final Fantasy VII realm team consists of the following chars:

Genesis Rhapsodos from Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII

Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII

Aeris or Aerith Gainsborough from Final Fantasy VII

Barret Wallace from Final Fantasy VII

Vincent Valentine from Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VII

Genesis Rhapsodos from Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Relics and Stats List

Currently, Genesis is my absolute, most fave Final Fantasy char. He’s the reason why I started playing Final Fantasy Record Keeper. Have all of his relics and he’s as fully built as possible.

True Arcane Soul Break (TASB) or Arcane Dyad Soul Break (ADSB), LOVELESS

Limit Break Overstrike (LBO) or Limit Break Over Flow (LBOF), Light of Doom

Synchro Arcane Soul Break (SASB), Purgatorial Wave

Awakened Arcane Soul Break (AASB), Genesis Rhapsody

Arcane Overstrike Soul Break (AOSB), SOLDIER’s Epic

Ultra Soul Break (USB), Apocalypse Genesis

Glint+ Soul Break 1 (G+1), Epic of Creation

Glint+ Soul Break 2 (G+2), Epic of Heroism

Glint Soul Break (G), Epic of Destruction

Default Soul Break, Laceration

Legend Materia 1, Rhapsodic Recitation

Legend Materia 2, Project G Creation

Legend Materia Relic (LMR), Fierce Opposition

Since the game was about to end already anyway, went ahead and fully honed all of Genesis’s Soul Breaks that can be honed instead of waiting until I get more dupes. I talk more about that in this post.

Other than that, Genesis is already fully maxed out in every way. Well, except with regards to his Magia Crystals. But that’s always been a slow-going process.

I thought that I’d always have time and that I’ll eventually be able to max out all of Genesis’s Magia Crystals but unfortunately, now that FFRK is ending soon, that’ll never happen anymore.

Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII Relics List

Have the following relics for Sephiroth:

Limit Break Chain (LBC), Woven Bond: Sephiroth - Dark

Limit Break Overstrike (LBO) or Limit Break Over Flow (LBOF), Dark Illumination

True Arcane Soul Break 1 (TASB1) or Arcane Dyad Soul Break 1 (ADSB1), Super Nova or Sunburst

TASB2, Jenova

Synchro Arcane Soul Break 1 (SASB1), Demonic Lord

SASB2, Crimson Octaslash

SASB3, Dark Carmine Blade

Awakened Arcane Soul Break 1 (AASB1), Stigma

AASB2, Underworld Guardian

AASB3, Flames of Nibelheim

Arcane Overstrike Soul Break 1 (AOSB1), Setting Sun

AOSB2, Purgatorial Flames

Ultra Soul Break 1 (USB1), Heartless Angel

USB2, Zanshin

USB3, Crimson Lotus

Overstrike Soul Break (OSB), Heaven’s Light

Glint+ Soul Break 1 (G+1), Shimmer Flash

G+2, Fervent Shadow

Glint Soul Break (G), Jenova’s Might

Burst Soul Break 1 (BSB1), Reunion

BSB2, Octaslash

Super Soul Break 1 (SSB1), Black Materia

SSB2, Transience

Unique Soul Break, Nibelheim Nightmare

Unique Soul Break, Hell’s Gate

Unique Soul Break, Shadow Flare

Default Soul Break, Oblivion

Legend Materia 1, Fallen Hero

Legend Materia 2, Jenova’s Echo

Legend Materia Relic 1 (LMR1), Fateful Secret

LMR2, Apocalyptic Hero

LMR3, Cruelest Cut

LMR+, Refinement (Sephiroth)

Yeah, I have basically all of Sephi’s relics. The only one I’m missing for him is his Dual Awakening Soul Break 1 (DASB1), Awoken Octaslash. I really hate that I wasn’t able to get this.

And it’s definitely not for lack of trying. When Sephiroth’s Dual first showed up in Final Fantasy Record Keeper, I tried pulling for it.

I talk more about that in this post, but the main point is that, sadly, no matter how many times I pulled on the banner said Dual was featured in, was never able to get it.

Went 10 pulls deep on that banner, spending hundreds of mythril, until I was all out, and yet I couldn’t even manage to get all the relics featured there.

Was really frustrated and annoyed about that. Still am, really. Eff the crappy, trashy rates on this game. And now that FFRK is ending, I’ll never be able to get Sephiroth’s Dual. Sigh.

Aerith Gainsborough Relics List

Have the following relics for Aerith:

Dual Awakening Soul Break (DASB), Awoken White Materia

Awakened Arcane Soul Break 1 (AASB1), Star Pulse

AASB2, Planetary Pulse

Ultra Soul Break 1 (USB1), Hidden Bloom

USB2, Innocent Cure

Glint+ Soul Break 1 (G+1), Refreshing Breeze

G+2, Star Whisper

Burst Soul Break 1 (BSB1), White Materia

BSB2, Prayer of Salvation

Super Soul Break (SSB), Pulse of Life

Unique Soul Break, Planet Protector

Unique Soul Break, Fury Brand

Unique Soul Break, Dragon Force

Unique Soul Break, Healing Wind (VII)

Default Soul Break, Seal Evil

Legend Materia Relic (LMR), Flower of the Slums

Legend Materia 1, Daughter of the Ancients

Legend Materia 2, Motherly Protector

Was able to get all of Aerith’s relics, all except for her Synchro Arcane Soul Break (SASB), Blue-Eyed Sentinel. Too bad I was never able to get this before. And now I’ll never be able to because the game is ending already. Sigh.

Barret Wallace from Final Fantasy VII Relics List

Have the following relics for Barret:

Limit Break Chain (LBC), Woven Bond: Barret

Dual Awakening Soul Break (DASB), Awoken Ungarmax

Chain Soul Break (CSB), I'm The Leader Here!

True Arcane Soul Break (TASB), Catastrophe

Synchro Arcane Soul Break (SASB), Rocket Hammerblow

Awakened Arcane Soul Break 2 (AASB2), Uncontrolled Beam

Ultra Soul Break (USB), Height of Anger

Glint+ Soul Break (G+), Avenging Flames

Glint Soul Break (G), Angry Mind

Legend Materia Relic+ (LMR+), Swiftness (Barret)

LMR1, Armed and Dangerous

LMR2, Opposition Leader

Legend Materia 1, Hot-Blooded

Legend Materia 2, Vermin Exterminator

The above list might not be entirely complete or accurate because unfortunately, FFRK ended before I had the chance to double-check my relics list for Barret.

Vincent Valentine from Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VII Relics List

Have the following relics for Vincent:

Limit Break Overstrike (LBO), Galian Scratch

Chain Soul Break (CSB), Cerberus Soul

Synchro Arcane Soul Break 1 (SASB1), Bestial Claws

SASB2, Chaos Saber

Awakened Arcane Soul Break 1 (AASB1), Chthonian Blaze

AASB2, Galian Saber

Ultra Soul Break 1 (USB1), Lucrecia's Lament

USB2, Dirge of Cerberus

Burst Soul Break 2 (BSB2), Flame Penalty

G+1, Munitions Reload

G, Forsaken Power

LMR2, Beastly Aspect

LMR1, Seeing Red

Legend Materia 1, Turk Among Turks

Legend Materia 2, Beast Within

The above list might not be entirely complete or accurate because unfortunately, FFRK ended before I had the chance to double-check my relics list for Vincent.

At least I was able to take the above screenshot. Wish I’d been able to take more though so I could have had more info and details and such.

Final Fantasy VII Realm Team Info

Genesis is my main DPS. He deals physical fire elemental damage. I know I’m kinda totally biased but he is really good. He’s capable of dealing lots of damage, especially when given the proper support and buffs and such.

Sephiroth was my secondary DPS. He has Soul Breaks that deal physical dark elemental damage and ones that deal physical fire elemental damage.

Dark is Seph’s primary element. He’s a really good dark DPS. He does well enough as a fire DPS but he’s definitely better as a dark one.

For this fight though, I’m using Sephi as a fire DPS since my current FF7 team is a fire elemental one. My plan was to use all of Sephiroth’s fire relics first then move on to using his dark ones later on, if needed.

Vincent served as another DPS as well as a support. He deals fire elemental damage. He has Soul Breaks that can imperil or lower the enemy’s resistance to the fire element.

Vincent is a hybrid char, meaning he can be made to deal either physical or magical damage depending on which stat currently has a higher number.

Since the rest of my DPS for this fight all deal physical damage, made sure that Vincent’s ATK stat was higher than his MAG stat.

Aerith served as my healer. She’s really good. She’s also a really good support and buffer for physical attackers.

Recently, I ended up honing Aerith’s Planetary Pulse Awakening to the max. It’s now at Rank 15 of 15 which means I can now use this twice per fight.

Normally, Awakenings can only be used once per fight unless they’ve been honed to the max.

IIRC, I honed Aerith’s AASB2 a few days or so before FFRK was gonna end. Was really rushing now and trying to finish as much of Final Fantasy Record Keeper’s content as I could before the end.

Sadly, I didn’t have as much time as I wanted to play the game before it ended. I really wish we could have gotten more time.

Anyway, didn’t bother honing Aerith’s AASB1 because her honed AASB2 was more than enough already. Having her Dual helped as well.

Since I have so many BDL relics for her, I never felt like I needed a second use of her AASB1. And usually, fights will be over by the time I finish using all of Aeris’s BDL relics.

Bizarro Sephiroth Quest Level 600 Fight

Was a little worried about trying the Bizarro Sephiroth fight in the Final Fantasy VII Memories of Antiquity - Gaia Crystal Dungeon. I thought it might be too hard.

If Final Fantasy Record Keeper wasn’t ending yet, would have waited until I had even more Final Fantasy VII relics before trying this fight. I would have wanted to have an even more stacked realm team before tackling this quest.

But now I had no choice but to just try this fight now if I didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity of doing so before FFRK ends.

To my surprise, actually managed to get the win. This quest level 600 fight was surprisingly pretty easy. Well, my FF7 team is already pretty stacked enough as-is but still.

Really glad I was able to get the win. Everyone did really well. Was able to beat Bizarro Sephiroth in 34.55 seconds.

Too bad I missed out on being able to sub-30 this fight but still really pleased that I was able to get the win. Having multiple BDL relics for multiple chars really helps.

Safer Sephiroth Quest Level 700 Fight Take 1

After beating Bizarro Sephiroth, it was now time to try the Safer Sephiroth quest level 700 fight.

Since the Bizarro Sephiroth fight didn’t turn out to be that bad, I thought the Safer Sephiroth quest would be the same.

It wasn’t though. For one, it was definitely harder when compared to the Bizarro Sephiroth quest. But it still seemed manageable enough. It didn’t seem that bad at first.

Was able to get past the first 2 phases well enough. But then things started going wrong when I got to phase 3.

Now, seemingly all of a sudden, my chars couldn’t break the damage cap anymore, not even while under the effects of their BDL relics.

Not only were my DPS dealing crappy damage, my healer was now also having a hard time keeping up with the constant attacks from Safer Sephiroth.

With my chars dealing chip damage per turn and with them basically hitting like wet noodles, the fight started to drag so it wasn’t long before my party got hit with the auto-eject move. By then Safer Sephiroth was only down to 35.0% HP.

Since I didn’t get the win, only got some of the rewards from this fight. One of these rewards enabled me to level up my Final Fantasy VII Historia Crystal from 120 to 130. To get it to Level 140, need to actually win against Safer Sephiroth.

Plans for the Safer Sephiroth Quest Level 700 Fight

When I first tried the Safer Sephiroth fight, there were only like 2 or so days left before FFRK was gonna end. I really want to clear this quest but I’m not sure if I’ll be able to before the game ends. Gonna keep trying so we’ll see, I guess.

But before I try again, need to tweak my party first. If I had even more BDL relics for Genesis, Sephiroth, and Vincent, maybe I’d be able to get the win against Safer Sephiroth but since I don’t, gonna need to try something else.

Decided to drop Vincent and replace him with Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII.

Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII Relics List

Have the following relics for Cloud:

Limit Break Chain (LBC), Woven Bond: Cloud

Limit Break Guardian Soul Break (LBGS), Guardian Choco-Mog

Dual Awakening Soul Break 1 (DASB1), Awoken Finishing Touch

DASB2, Awoken Darkpetal Bloom

Chain Soul Break+ (CSB+), Bond (Cloud)

True Arcane Soul Break 1 (TASB1) or Arcane Dyad Soul Break 1 (ADSB1), Omnislash

TASB2, Apex Hazardous Darkness

Synchro Arcane Soul Break 1 (SASB1), Apex Slash

SASB3, Mako Strike

Awakened Arcane Soul Break 1 (AASB1), Angelic Synergy

AASB3, Dark Side Braver

Arcane Overstrike Soul Break 2 (AOSB2), Eye of Darkness

AOSB1, Sonic Braver

Ultra Soul Break 1 (USB1), Ultra Cross Slash

USB2, Climirage

USB3, Darkpetal Bloom

Overstrike Soul Break 1 (OSB1), Finishing Touch

OSB2, Cherry Blossom (FFT)

Burst Soul Break 2 (BSB2), Cloud Cycle

BSB1, Fenrir Overdrive

Super Soul Break (SSB), Blade Beam

Unique Soul Break, Climhazzard

Unique Soul Break, Cross Slash

Unique Soul Break, Braver

Glint+ Soul Break 1 (G+1), Aerial Fang

G+2, Jenova Cell Power

G+3, Truth and Illusion

G+4, Triple Slash

Glint Soul Break 1 (G1), Mako Power

G2, Mako Abyss

Default Soul Break, Sonic Break

Legend Materia Relic 1 (LMR1), Sprinting Wolf

LMR2, Truth Surmounted

LMR4, Broken Illusions

LMR5, Borrowed Blade

LMR6, Self Forgiveness

Legend Materia 1, Lone Wolf

Legend Materia 2, Mantle Bearer

Have most of Cloud’s relics. The only relics I’m missing for Cloud are his LBO, Sync 2, AASB2, BSB3, and LMR3. Too bad I was never able to get any of these before. And now I’ll never be able to because the game is ending already. Sigh.

Anyway, Cloud is a really good physical DPS. He has Soul Breaks that deal either wind or dark elemental damage. He’s better as a wind DPS though. In fact, he’s one of the best wind DPS in this game.

Cloud’s Ultra Cross Slash USB gives him BDL9. IIRC, he and Sephiroth are the only ones in FFRK who can get up to BDL9. For Sephi, his Zanshin USB is the one that gives him BDL9.

Safer Sephiroth vs Genesis, Sephiroth, Cloud, Barret, and Aerith

After gearing Cloud, tried the Safer Sephiroth fight again. Having Cloud on the team really helped, especially since I have a lot of relics for him.

Of course, I unfortunately couldn’t bring all of his stuff since each char can only equip up to 10 Soul Breaks so just made sure to bring all of Cloud’s most important relics.

Cloud was able to deal a lot of damage. He doesn’t have much synergy with Genesis and Sephiroth since he doesn’t have any fire relics. Since Cloud was better as a wind DPS, brought his wind-type Soul Breaks to this fight.

Cloud’s Chains are really good too. They helped to increase everyone’s damage output. Too bad both Chains can only be used once per fight.

Unfortunately, even with Cloud as part of my team, still wasn’t able to get the win. This time, only managed to get Safer Sephiroth down to 47.4% before everyone died.

A bit later on, tried the fight again. By now FFRK was set to end in a few hours so was really running out of time now. Decided to just keep trying the Safer Sephiroth fight until the end.

Because I do want to clear this quest and I want to keep using my Final Fantasy VII team. Want to keep using Genesis. Really don’t want to say goodbye to him or this game yet.

Anyway, fared much better on my next try. Somehow, actually managed to get to phase 4 of this fight.

But everyone’s damage really dropped when I got to this part of the fight. Then Safer Sephiroth actually got up to Rage Level 4. Normally, enemies can only get up to Rage Level 3.

While under the effects of their BDL relics, my chars can lower an enemy’s rage level easily enough.

But for this fight, I’ve found that it’s near impossible for my chars to break the damage cap and lower Safer Sephiroth’s rage level if it’s currently at 4. My chars just couldn’t deal enough damage now.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, Safer Sephiroth continued attacking my chars. He afflicted everyone with a Doom debuff that has a 10-turn duration. Then he also ended up paralyzing Genesis and Cloud.

Aerith couldn’t keep up with all this damage. It didn’t help that my DPS were all hitting like wet noodles basically all the time now.

So it was only a matter of time before Safer Sephiroth killed everyone again. At least this time I was able to get him down to 28.2% HP before the battle ended.

Kept trying this fight again and again but it was no use. Still couldn’t get the win. The most damage I managed to deal to Safer Sephiroth was 71.8%.

End of Final Fantasy Record Keeper Mobile Game

And that’s it. It’s all over now. At the time I’m writing this part of this post, it’s way past September 29, 2022 so FFRK has just ended its service. Ahh, I still wish that this didn’t have to happen now or anytime soon.

I tried but sadly, wasn’t able to finish all the content in Final Fantasy Record Keeper before the end. I talk more about that in another post.

Also sadly, wasn’t able to beat Safer Sephiroth. Kept trying the fight again and again until the end but it was no use. Never got the win. Now that it’s all over, can’t do this fight ever again which really sucks.

It also sucks that I missed out on the Crisis Core Aerith costume. Wish I could have had the chance to try out said costume even for just a little bit. Also never got to fully level up my Final Fantasy VII Historia Crystal.

Never even got a chance to try the Final Fantasy VIII Crystal Dungeons fights. Yeah, there are lots of things that I’m just never gonna be able to do now that FFRK is over. Sigh.

Another thing that’s really upsetting is the way Final Fantasy Record Keeper ended. Its end feels so anticlimactic. Truly a letdown of epic proportions. The game could have tried to do more before everything ended.

But instead, even before the end, FFRK felt dead already. We stopped getting any new events long before the end.

We got a special banner and some tickets that we could use to pull on said banner. I talk more about that in another post, but we’d get like 1 ticket per day as part of some login bonus campaign or something.

That only lasted for like 30 days or so though. But why couldn’t they have made it last until the end? Why couldn’t they have given us more free pulls?

Why couldn’t they have adjusted the rates or something? Why couldn’t they have made it so that these daily free 10-draws would give us at least 1 6-star or 7-star Soul Break or something?

They didn’t even refresh the Realm and Elemental banners or given us more mythril and Realm/Elemental x11 tickets.

The game could have gone out with a bang but it feels like it all just ended in disappointment.

Conclusion

So what about you? Have you done any of the quests in the Crystal Dungeons? What do you think about these fights? What do you think about the fact that the Final Fantasy Record Keeper mobile game is all over now? Feel free to share your thoughts and opinions by leaving a comment below or by reblogging or replying to this post.

Notes:

screenshots are from my Final Fantasy Record Keeper game account

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