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halcyon-writings · 2 years

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(i watched tlovm, that’s my only excuse lmaooo also some wv references abound, plus it’s a bit of a doozy.)

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if there was on thing you truly detested in this moment, was remembering that you still had sweet rolls stored away at the keep. you would have definitely preferred lounging around in your robe while eating them, not being here fighting for your life (again).

"percy, dear, you're truly one of my beloved friends and i value your companionship more than anything, but why the hell did anyone in your family not tell you about this underground shithole?" your tone is saccharine and you smile gently.

although your smile drops as you're quick to duck and roll out of the way from an incoming spell sent by delilah briarwood. the eeriness from the dark magic she utilized made a chill crawl on your skin. you could've sworn you heard screaming too.

your own spells could barely counter, but you were more focused on protecting your friends from the black magic than actually getting a hit in.

from the corner of your eye, you see scanlan running around, fuck, of course, he was silenced.

the glow of pike’s magic at least gave you the assurance that he was at least okay.

you try your best to make your way further up the stairs, bursts of red erupt from your hands, but they barely make a dent in the other's defenses. however, from what you can see, her expression unnerves you. gone is the smirk, replaced by a knowing one as she eyes your magic. she continues fighting with one hand, the other viewing a compass she had taken from a side pocket of her dress.

"welcome, herald."

you look at her confused.

"sorry lady briarwood, you must have mistook me for someone else," and you don't let her respond, gathering your magic and sending it her way in a wide wave (wincing as you feel yourself getting weak, nonstop magic use was, in fact, not the best thing to do before fighting on some temple that would summon something that could end the world).

she's disappeared from your gaze, and your eyes dart around searching for where she could have teleported herself to.

"you truly do not know of your role here?" her voice is but a whisper in your ear, and you just barely turn as her magic feels like a punch to the chest, sending you crashing to the floor some feet away. air burns your lungs as you wheeze. you just barely stand on wobbly feet, you see her dark magic headed your way, and while you brace yourself with your arms in front of you, you know you don't have enough time to cast anything.

you catch someone screaming your name. and you curse, closing your eyes.

but the pain does not come.

instead you see the magic simply stop before you. previously dark in color, you see it slowly turn into the magic you wield, the weariness that you had felt slowly fade away.

your eyes squint at the sudden brightens that comes from what you thought was nowhere, only to find keyleth standing, one hand on her staff and the other raised high- grog holding a struggling sylas and you have a feeling on what they’re going for.

only when you see the ashes of what remained of sylas briarwood, do you think that maybe you guys can win this.

okay... so maybe you were lying to yourself a little. with the now widowed lady briarwood locking herself away in some chamber, and nothing working so far as lock picking goes (even grog looked a little disheartened when his axe bounced off the door, sympathetic pats from you and pike helped slightly).

“alright,” you clap your hands, gathering the group’s attention, “how do we want to do this? because lockpicking, no offense vax, is not exactly working in our favor.”

“well if you all shut up and let me work-” he begins to retort, only for a sudden vacuum of air to throw the doors that had been previously impermeable shut, open. it sucks in debris of small rocks and bricks that were a result of the battle, but percy, who’s eyes you noticed were an eerie black, pushes forward.

various voices call out for him, only for the calls of worry to fall on deaf ears. you all needed to stop delilah from summoning this ‘whispered one’ anyway, but percy’s erratic behavior only served to up the ante on the pressure.

you share an uncertain look with keyleth, reaching out as you give her hand a gentle squeeze. “if you can literally become the sun,” you begin lightheartedly, “you can do anything.”

she smiled weakly, “yeah, yeah you’re right.”

there is no time for further conversation, as the glow of the altar only continues to progress and an unnatural lightning crackles around the lady.

you keep to the sides, as everyone remains in the center path, gaze strictly on what delilah focuses on, a... spinning orb? it begins to take shape of a distorted figure.

it’s familiar.

your palms sweat.

“so you have come to your senses,” delilah calls, “no matter, i will welcome the whispered one with or without your help.”

you remain silent, eyes only focused on the apparition. however you did it the first time, you pray you can absorb that magic again.

you don’t even realize that vex’ahlia shot an arrow that strikes the other woman in the back, without even looking at her direction, you continue forward.

delilah’s cries for the whispered one to reveal itself to you all go unanswered. her tone becomes desperate.

“this can’t be all there is!” she screams. you hear the shot of the pepper box.

then, you hear something calling your name.

in your trance like state, you simply, reach forward, and magic flows through you. so do visions.

destruction, emptiness, death. the whispered one is their progenitor. you see your friends, despite valiant efforts, defeated or dead. you’re nowhere to be found.

as you look around, you realize why you’re not there. because, as delilah had said, you were the herald. dutifully fulfilling your role in preventing anything from getting in it’s way. the obstacles? Vox Machina.

you could only fall to your knees in silent terror as you realize what you would do.

“-__!”

the magic continues to flow through you, until all that remains is the spinning orb. you feel something wet trickle down your mouth and towards your chin. but you cannot stop.

“____!!”

you look up, and your friends look at you concerned.

the spinning slows, runes grow surround it. you pray they hold up. you weren’t going to kill them, not your friends, your family.

delilah’s gaze is pure venom. but you don’t find it in yourself to care. the runes are done, the sphere is sealed.

you would not be the signal of the whispered one’s return, not today.

you step around the altar anyway, the unsettled feeling lingering in the back of your mind. stumbling on the last step as you fall to your hands and knees. you hear droplets onto the cobblestone, ah, it was your nose bleeding.

you’re given a hand by percy’s sister, cassandra, you nod gratefully as you wipe your nose with the back of your hand.

when you notice, you’re quick to move towards the twins and keyleth, kneeling beside them (oh your poor knees, you were truly putting them through the ringer today, huh).

your hand brushing against keyleth’s forehead as her breathes stagger. you curse yourself for getting distracted, you search your own bag for something, anything that could help your friend while pike heals her.

pike’s apparition disperses, and dread only gnaws at you all further.

you try and soothe her with your magic, only for nothing to happen, wisps of it barely touching her. even scanlan can barely conjure up the giant hand, as it seems to flicker in and out. carefully you all move away from the spinning death orb, runes still glowing brightly around it.

dark veins grow on keyleth’s skin as she’s once more laid gently on the ground.

so you try again.

to your relief it works, the veins recede for a moment, but as you pull your hands away, they quickly return as they went.

“i think i can hold off the corruption for now,” you warn, “you need to act quick.”

and with scanlan’s creative, for a lack of a better word, rhymes, what begins to heal her is a quick concoction of dirt and spit. you almost find yourself laughing again.

the respite, as short as it was, is quickly put to an end when once more, black smoke gathers around percy, his mask donned, and pepper box raised.

it’s keyleth, now conscious, who reminds everyone that percy isn’t himself.

“he’s not in control,” she murmurs weakly, repeating it for you all to hear.

“i know, i know, but right now you’re not in any condition to fight, we just have to trust them to get our percy back.”

she nods, her head droops slightly, you tilt her head back up.

“stay awake for me, kiki,” you whisper, her eyes flutter open. the two of you can only watch as a literal demon crawls from the smoke at percy’s back, taunting the group. your hands glow, ready to defend keyleth and yourself.

you make eye contact with scanlan, as the giant hand dissipates before percy can shoot at it again, delilah drops unceremoniously on the floor.

which is where you lead, using your magic to move delilah so that scanlan could aid the twins and grog.

the bard casts an illusion to hide you and keyleth while you do.

you don’t know anything about the demon that has taken the reins of your friends body, had you the energy, you’d gladly kick its ass (and possibly percy’s for worrying you all). you have no choice but to hope that he reaches his senses in time. lest he be lost to the demon forever.

all it took for percy was shooting himself in the foot, metaphorically of course. in a literal sense, it was his hand. the smoke dispersing in the air.

and you let the shield protecting yourself and keyleth drop, but a hand is still tentatively raised.

both briarwoods having been dealt with, whitestone was now free.

“so uh, spinning ball of death there? is that something we’re gonna talk about or what?” scanlan quickly points out, as you all prepare to go back above ground.

you let out a wheeze of laughter despite yourself, before it becomes a cough. percy reaches to grab a handkerchief or something for you, but you wave it off.

“what’s there to say?” you shrug, your voice raspy, “it’s sealed off for now, no one’s getting near it or touching it.”

“right...” scanlan looks only a little unconvinced but only just. you inhale, closing your eyes while sensing the runes still holding strong.

you open them again as scanlan tosses the pepperbox in the vat of acid, percy’s indignant squawk echoing throughout.

“do you know how long that took to make?? and the resources it took?” you could have sworn you saw a pout on his lips.

his arguments are proven naught, as the demon that had attached itself to him through that weapon quickly tries to escape the acid, only to burn away with it in the acid as well.

“well, i’ll be damned, thank you, scanlan.”

you and vax share a look, him using his hand to cover his mouth and you hiding a laugh with another cough.

while you all continued to trek to the above ground, you still couldn’t help but give the ziggurat more glances, delilah’s words echoing in your mind.

you sealed off the orb, yes. but you still felt uneasy. before you all left whitestone, you’d be sure to scour through the materials delilah had left behind. perhaps reading through them would give you the answers you needed, or at least a jumpstart.

#I was gonna use the cr tag but idk bc #this is based around the animated series and not the show as I am still watching it #and if you see the line breaks it’s bc these were all gonna originally be separate ficlets but I’m posting them all together anyway ahahaha #tlovm x reader #vox machina x reader #the legend of vox machina x reader #tlovm imagines #vox machina imagines #mine #herald!verse

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ogdoadfates · 1 year

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Vox Machina: Supernatural AU

Good lord everyone is talking werewolves and vampires on my dashboard, I can’t resist even more so after hearing my fav songs that remind me of werewolfs lol. This is also technically a modern au.

Keyleth is a werewolf and was turned into one at a young age. Viyla was a werewolf and tried to contain herself every full moon but she got out one night and ‘attacked’ Keyleth not realizing she bit her daughter she leaves with some parting words telling Keyleths she’s sorry for being a monster. This backfires a lot since after Keyleth and Korrin learn she’s now a werewolf, Keyleth thinks her mom called HER a monster and not herself. (not to mention in general Vilya’s parting words were not the kindest to a small child)

Werewolfs in this universe only really have a hybrid form, no full wolf form.

Due to them not knowing, Keyleth ‘attacks’ her dad when she first transforms leaving him with a scar on his right eyebrow.

Korrin lives on a farm house a fair bit away from the city which is perfect for when Keyleth comes over once a month for the full moon. They used to try to locked her up but as she grew older it stopped working.

Korrin set’s up meat baits around his land for Keyleths full moons to help stop her from potentially eating/hunting any humans that stumble upon his land.

Keyleth was already naturally tall which makes her werewolf form even taller. (Taller then Grog in werewolf form)

Forced werewolf transformations hurt

The twins are vampires (of course lol)

Sunlight doesn’t immediately kill vampires more so it starts out as irritating then slowly turns into a great burning pain. They will die if they don’t have any protections and stay out in it for 4 hours.

Grog is half oni and used to have problems with his oni sides rage, luckily Pike and Scanlan helps him out.

Percy is a monster hunter but fully knows he is a hypocrite, he’s known Keyleth for a years, in fact it was Keyleth and her dad who found him when he ran away from the Briarwoods and took him in. One night on a full moon he learned what Keyleth was as she went to the basement, no one knew he was there when she transformed till he brings it up the next morning asking her if she was okay.

Percy helps make something for Keyleth to cover up her scent so that way she doesn’t attract any unwanted attention from other supernaturals and from monster hunter dogs.

Sylas is a original vampire and in so is a more demonic version of it, same as Delilah. (think skyrim tbh)

Pike is a blessed person and has made it her mission to help the poor supernaturals who aren’t hurting people but yet are getting hunted by hunters.

Scanlan is human but he does eventually learn that some songs/tunes actually help calm down werewolves or at least werewolf Keyleth.

Scanlan has a lot of mixed feelings about the supernatural, sometimes he hates them with a passion sometimes he’s indifferent. It’s when he first learned what being a werewolf fully entails for Keyleth that he starts to feel more sympathetic towards supernaturals.

Keyleth would comfort Vax when he felt like a monster for being a vampire by telling him that he is in control of himself therefore he isn’t a monster, this helps cheer him up a fair bit till he learns she’s a werewolf and was calling herself a monster whenever she comforted him in that manner.

Vex doesn’t fully understand why Keyleth doesn’t like being a werewolf at first.

The only people vampires can’t drink the blood of are demons and holy/blessed people. Vax if given permission will feed from Keyleth.

Vex playfully calls Percy a hypocrite when he doesn’t try to hunt her once he fully finds out her and her brother are vampires and is a little stunned when he says he’s fully aware and has been one for ages.

#supernatural au #vox machina au #vox machina #criticalrole #critical role #keyleth #percy de rolo #vax'ildan #vex'ahlia #pike trickfoot #scanlan shorthalt #grog strongjaw

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vexing-imogen · 5 years

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to have and to hold

They wave off the idea of any further celebration for the night, Percy ignoring the disappointed groans of their guests in favor of tending to his wife. Vex is trembling with exhaustion in his arms, and all he wants to do is get her back to their bedroom and their daughter.

Cassandra falls into step with them as they start down the cliff, looping an arm around Vex’s waist to take some of her weight. She smiles sympathetically. “You look dead on your feet, dear.”

Percy and Vex freeze in place, as do most of Vox Machina. Scanlan sucks in a breath, and Cassandra’s eyes widen, horrified.

“Brother, what happened?”

He swallows hard. “Sylas Briarwood.”

His sister’s hands fly up to cover her mouth. “Oh gods. Percival.”

Vex takes her hand gently. “We’ll tell you everything later, Cassandra, I promise,” she says. “What’s important right now is that Sylas is dead. And we aren’t.”

Cassandra nods vigorously, wiping at her eyes. “Right, right of course.” She wraps Vex in a fierce hug. “I’m sorry.”

Vex laughs softly. “For what, darling? Pointing out the obvious? I am fucking exhausted.”

Percy takes that as his cue. “Let’s get you to bed, then, shall we?”

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The Blessing of the Dawnfather still hasn’t faded completely by the time they make it back to the hotel, but it’s beginning to dim, the light waning as Vex drifts closer to unconsciousness. Percy stops at the reception desk as Keyleth and Pike usher Vex off to their room.

“I beg your pardon,” he says to the halfling woman behind the desk, “but would you happen to have a laundry service of some kind? My wife and I, ah, found ourselves in the ocean earlier, and we’d like to salvage our clothing if possible.”

“There should be a laundry hamper in your room, sir,” she says pleasantly. “Put whatever needs washing in there, and leave it outside your door. We should have everything back to you by morning.”

“Perfect, thank you,” he says. “And if we could have some hot water sent to room 118 for a bath, that would be greatly appreciated.”

Vex’ahlia is already half-undressed by the time Percy reaches their room, her blouse and jacket in a heap on the floor. She’s on the verge of dozing off in an armchair, Vesper at her breast, nursing contentedly. Her tired eyes meet his as he kneels in front of her to strip off her shoes and leggings. “Hi.”

“Hi.” He leans up to kiss her, grimacing when his hand tangles in her salt-crusted hair. He retreats, busies himself with tossing their things in the hamper and placing it just outside their door. Before he can close the door, an attendant appears with a large basin of steaming water. Percy takes it from him with a grateful smile and sends him off with a generous tip.

Vex’s brow furrows as she watches him heft the basin across the room. “What’s that for, darling?”

“A bath,” he says, trying to keep his voice light.

It doesn’t work. Vex stiffens in her seat, and Vesper begins to fuss, sensing the tension radiating off of her mother. There’s a tremble to her voice. “Percy...”

“I know, my light,” he murmurs, coming up behind her to massage her shoulders. “I know. But we both need one, desperately. We’ll keep your head above the water, I promise.” He kisses the top of her head. “I’ll keep you safe, dearest.”

She relaxes slightly, nods. “Alright.” She tilts her head back to look up at him. “Let me finish up with Vesper, and then I’ll join you.”

Percy takes the basin into the bath chamber, his hands shaking as he fills the tub almost to the brim. He’ll have his chance to fall apart later, more than likely when his dreams bring him visions of his wife sinking to her death as he watches, helpless to do anything. He’ll wake Vex with his screaming, and she’ll soothe his panic away with soft words and softer kisses. Reassure him that she is alive and here and his for eternity.

But tonight, right now, is about her. She’ll collapse against him in the bath, sob and shake until exhaustion takes her. He’ll wake her intermittently, so that she doesn’t drown again. But, for the most part, he’ll simply hold her; hold the body, heart, and soul that she’s entrusted him with and protect it all fiercely.

The light of her blessing has faded by the time Percy steps back into the bedroom to fetch her. She’s laying Vesper down in her crib, humming softly, and he takes a moment to just watch. She is a sight. Her body is littered with bruises, her wrists and ankles chafed raw from the manacles. Her hair is falling out of its braid, hanging in tangled clumps, ocean brine crystallizing in the dark strands. There are deep purple shadows under her eyes, and her legs are trembling with the effort of keeping her upright.

She has never looked more radiant.

#critical role #critfic #perc'ahlia #vex'ahlia #percival fredrickstein von musel klossowski de rolo iii #long post #dalen's closet one shot spoilers

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theskyexists · 4 years

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Orphan 55

I got so mad at Thirteen getting choked AGAIN that I paused.

Why. WHY. WHY!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway wow that was...weird.

Look I agree with the message - I am a FERVENT environmentalist - but I found that last bit ridiculously on the nose. That whole speech almost straight to the camera. Would it have killed them to intersperse with more reverse shots? I'm a bit of traitor to myself here but Jodie is not good enough at long speeches yet to carry that off entirely.

What I DID love was the way the Doctor couldn't relax, muscled her way in, took over, told people off, was absolutely brilliant. 'Come on, Kane.' she says very sharply and Kane comes. Whenever somebody tries to challenge the Doctor she puts them in their place and if somebody doesn't tell her something then she'll figure it out herself and notice all the details. Powerful and a bit grumpy compared to her cheery old self

Also loved the moment where Yaz and Graham were like, oh shit where's Ryan. Also loved Ryan being like, ah that must have been the Doctor who saved my life. Also LOVED the bit when the Doctor efficiently removes the Hopper virus from Ryan (who is hilarious), catching him when he falls over, there's just something so - almost parental about their dynamic and I love it.

But the way all the people got murdered? There were zero twists to that, they just fed all the location characters into the kill machine, Hyph3n, Vorm, Benni, Vilma, Kane, Bella. Jfc. I thought the fact that they kept Benni alive might have been an indication of something more. And yeah all the monsters turned out to be sentient victims of classism but they still got blown up? Like, they had an understanding - the Doctor and the 'alpha' (yikes, no) and it clearly was extremely intelligent, but it was impossible to come to a long term agreement ? To negotiate? Apparently they were lost causes despite being victims? But the Doctor just showed they weren't?? Once again, not even an attempt - a start at structural change. What do they eat anyway?? Good survival episode for a change but the Doctor should be making an impact in structural and imaginary forces! Instead we get...oh it might not happen though.

i don't think we've ever had this take on time travel from the Doctor before??!!? This is Moffat opposite. Everything they've experienced could apparently just be an alternate timeline on the eddies of the continuum???

Loved YAZ drawing attention to the Doctor's bad mood. And her also questioning her very sharply on WHEN she knew it was Earth. And her being like: NO SHOW US. That twist was also very nice. But I thought Kane would have had something to do with the dregs/victims?? Beyond wanting to provide for her family? Some sort of solidarity or ancestry or outrage. She also seemed ....idk...coded as .... well very 'literal' - almost like neuro-atypical? Thought the acting gave it a lot of depth so was surprised to find the character so shallow. And how the fuck did she show up by the end of it totally fine if the Dregs are so dangerous.

Benni and Vilma (oh ha, I only got it now) were very like the couple in the Titanic Christmas special who also sacrificed themselves - but not as sympathetic.

There were two parallels with Ryan going on, one for Ryan and one for Graham. Bella resented her mother (didn't she look young????) for never being there for her to the point of multiple counts of manslaughter. And Sylas and Devi, Sylas being a much better MECHANIC than his dad but dismissed. I'm not sure...what it was supposed to say about the companions.

The way people kept throwing themselves into the Dregs' jaws kind of diminished the effect of the sacrifice. Love how Yaz was caring for Vilma- the weakest among them - but she AGAIN gets the least to do. And she still expects the Doctor to take care of herself. The Doctor points to her not having an oxygen supply and she's like: alright she'll be fine ey.

In conclusion, great writing for the Doctor. Some good bits for the companions. The message super weirdly on the nose and the setting and other characters didn't have much else to say. The parallels to companions weren't super clear. And there was another count of choking (GODDAMMIT) and Yaz not getting to do anything. Also that last speech made me flashback to the end of Cats with Judie Dench looking me straight in the eyes reciting a Jellicle cats poem for ten minutes.

Ed Hime did better last series, in my opinion.

#idjfbf #kdbfbf #irjfnr #ofjrnt #orjtnt #my stuff #dw #doctor who #spoilers #orphan 55

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fatebreaking-a · 5 years

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on the musician and magic and the crown and all of it

One of the major things to pay attention to is the simple fact that no one ever calls out the musician. Not in lore, not in voice lines, the closest thing we get is morg’s voice line to her (which again doesn’t talk about her magic, but her existence, her being, her soul sings for a forgotten world or whatnot)

So you consider that okay she’s at least not in the public eye for magic. We would have heard something about it, right? Something? So she’s not on the magic people registry and isn’t confirmed to be a mage and somehow the mageseekers haven’t noticed either. Somehow. So she’s either weak enough to pass by without notice or strong enough to hide her magic or make people look the other way.

And there’s an argument for her being strong, not just in the implication that she can manipulate people’s feelings in her bio, but in the Call of Power short w/ the Rune Mage. She’s strong enough to help him, at least. To lift people up in the air with one chord.

So she’s strong. And she’s willing to go out of her way to help Ryze, a mage, deal with world-threatening problems. Which means she’s not against mages in general, and she’s got a global perspective at least. She sees beyond Demacia (which makes sense, as the Ionia-Noxus conflict should strongly affect her perception - one may make a case that Morg’s quote to her is referencing her old home which is burned and forgotten but it’s all conjecture at this point).

So what does a fairly strong magician who sees that there are problems globally to be worried about do when faced with a home city that would rebuke her, throw her in chains, or exile her? She doesn’t join the Mage Rebellion, clearly. She also doesn’t join the Crown. These are statements based on a lack of evidence. She’s not hunting mages (and it wouldn’t make sense to, because she’s okay with other mages). But she’s not in rebellion, or we would have heard something about it. Right now, Sylas is pretty solitary in the cast in his rebellion.

So. She’s somehow existing in Demacia out of notice or she’s still out handling world problems and probably taking notes from Ryze. Both these things would make sense. But her perspective gives her a very clear understanding of this fact:

Magic is an unavoidable force in the world.

Demacians can deny it all they like, but the World Runes don’t care about petricite. Lux and Sylas don’t care about petricite. There are bigger, larger problems to be dealt with. For instance, the Void (arguably the true big bad of Runeterra). Ignoring all of that seems petty. Feels petty. And as she is expressed to be a highly empathetic individual (Morg’s quote, her biography all imply she is a very soulful, sympathetic character), she also can’t ignore the pain that is being caused to her people.

So if you ask me, okay how does Sona feel...

She feels out of place.

She feels like she’s being dragged into the petty conflicts of the world, hurting as her people hurt, forced to watch the crown make stupid decisions and for the mage rebellion to make stupid decisions and for everyone to get hurt. She blames Jarvan, who she feels is charismatic but afraid to really bring about the change she believes he could. She knows he’s trying his best, and has sympathy towards him, but at the same time doesn’t understand how he can ignore a significant portion of his people’s plight for this long.

She feels the fearmongering about mages, that’s what got Garen and Vayne started on their paths. Lucian too. That all this hatred and fear and lack of proper understanding, it clumps everyone together.

She thinks that people are afraid of bad mages, but are unable to differentiate between a good and a bad mage. Like someone who is afraid to go outside in the morning because they were mugged once, Demacia appears to her as a collection of people that think “one’s rotten, they’re all rotten.”

That there are laws of stone, petricite clasps, any of those things. It’s a hypocritical admission that magic exists and needs to be branded, while denying it in the same sentence. But the unlawful, the ‘bad ones’, they won’t care about the laws of anti-magic. They won’t bother, they won’t care. So this fear mongering, who it hurts most... Are people who are afraid of their own power and don’t want to hurt anyone.

People like Lux. People like Sona. People like Sylas - who he once was.

She feels Demacia is making bad decisions at every turn and she feels powerless to stop it, but also worried at how involved she’s getting in what seems like an unwinnable fight. If she can help on a grander scale, shouldn’t she? If she can actually make a difference in other places, shouldn’t she? Cruelty begets suffering, suffering begets cruelty (and violence).

But she’s incapable of pulling herself away from the suffering of her people. This is what makes her so stuck. She can’t pull away. She can’t dive deeper. And there are always eyes on her, suspicious of her but unable to confirm her magic.

So if she’s in Demacia, she’s kept quiet about her magic. If she’s not, then she’s trying to help the world in her own way. But she can’t be out in the open about the world runes, about other threats, about the void - because that would require an explanation that would put her at risk of being thrown in jail.

All of this is a big reason why I see her kind of aligned with Morgana so much, but also caught between the position of those two sisters. At some point this walked away from ‘canon’ and into ‘conjecture’, but I just don’t know how to place Sona.

She’s someone who’s clearly capable of doing great things, but doesn’t. One of the questions that needs answering is why. What is it that’s keeping her from going out and doing more amazing things? Personal attachment? Love for her people? Because in Call of Power, she’s the most out of the way. Unlike Nasus in Shurima or MF on a ship (probably in Bilgewater) or Trundle in the Freljord, she’s clear across the world - Demacia and Ionia are on opposite edges. And make no mistake, Demacia is her home. Ionia may be her birthplace and she may be Ionian in terms of ethnicity, but she is a Demacian.

Too many questions, not enough answers.

I do miss when Sona could simply be a ‘hidden mage’ and still run around Demacia hugging everyone. When that was a reasonable, possible thing. But lore updates have made that very, very improbable and that makes her much harder to write in a clean, wholesome way. Any time anyone learns about her magic, it’s under context A: Demacian so there’s a lot of pain and secrecy and suffering or B: outside Demacia and she needs to make sure to keep herself covert and not incite too many questions or else she might not be able to go home.

Because Demacia is her home. Despite everything. It’s where she comes from. Where she grew up. And she has to balance ‘doing the right thing’ and ‘losing the one place in the world she has left’.

Because she doesn’t have Ionia. She doesn’t have her biological family. She doesn’t have wherever she comes from (see Morg’s quote). She doesn’t have her adoptive parents (implied but not confirmed Lestara’s dead from IoW/JoJ days, this could go either way). All she has left is this one place on all of Runeterra, her tiny little home. And it hates her, but she loves it.

#long post tw #//kind of word vomit idk.#//I really do miss being able to have her just run around and be coy and meme with everyone #//tease fiora whenever she wanted run around and chat with garen or jarvan #//but the current clime... it's different. It's really really different.#//curfew and mages in jail for existing and all of that... one misstep has consequences that are extremely serious #//and she's no lux to be 100% positive all the time #//she feels for these people. all these people. the bystanders especially.#//b/c she distinctly understands what it means to be ignored and forgotten and passed over. hmmm.

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