Celian

At least regarding this point we hear some more next chapter. Interesting? Terrifying? Another theory to keep in mind and check with new information given 😃

~Kellen~ The tank rolled toward them, and the thing was damn fast. Dust had one hand half raised, his face concentrated, working to break the curse. This case would have been better off in the hands of an exorcist, but they didn't have one. The only real problem was that Dust needed time, and they didn't have any given the speed the tank moved. Kellen reached for his magic—and found nothing. There was none. Nothing he could use to stop the tank, and the thing was just swive

I don't think Tom is regretting what he did, whether Frank wore a mask or was damaged for real. He protected him like a brother, with the hope that someone somewhere would do the same for his real little brother. I can imagine more that he might be a little mad/sad/disappointed that Frank trusted him enough to subtly tell him what Blaise did, but not trust him enough to tell him the whole truth. Or whatever other boy/young man might be around to catch his eye... No objection here. This is not something they can solve without a woman in their team.

There was something soothing about Frank's heartbeat against his cheek, but Dante couldn't sleep. Whether he would have been able to fall asleep if he were lying in another bed, however, he dared to doubt. Except for Frank's plea for him to stay, they hadn't spoken another word, and although Dante had expected more tears from Frank, he just held him gently. He wasn't sure how much of a good idea that really was, but leaving Frank alone had seemed like a betrayal. So now he lay in a cocoon of bla

Can't say I disagree. But what would a story be without its antagonists? I promise and swear to everything, Anduin will get what he deserves, just: patience. Please. We will see on that He's not that bad off as it seemed first. Yeah, shopping in general would be a lot for fun/healing if we had the proper money for it... Next chapter ❤️

Remy is under a lot of pressure. It's not that visible in-story because I'm not really stating dates, but it's all happening pretty fast, the plot is dense. We start at the end of "August" and will end mid-"December", right now there are at the 12th of "October" if I'm not mistaken. There are some smaller time-skips like a week or maybe two in between, but Remy doesn't get much time to breathe. Should be a possible thing, huh, since they are already living in the same house, but alas, duties and worries... Patience, my friend, patience.

Remy was stressed. Although the day had barely begun. But without Cain in the kitchen, it was all on him. While Flavius took breakfast to the mistresses and Marc took care of the breakfasting girls in the dining room, Remy stirred together a sauce for pasta salad- the girls' lunchbox. He was late, in fact, the pasta was almost cooked. Pierre was probably with Cain, after all, he had to see a doctor later, who would check again for glass splinters under the skin. Where Anduin had gone t

Probably 😬 I think I mentioned it in another place, but lots of my important characters are built out of templates and influenced by people I know. In a lot of points I don't want to play into classics or clichés, but, well, I tend to fall into my own set of patterns 🤷‍♂️ And one of that somewhat contains a certain reflection of my own bad relationship with my father *sigh* I should work on that, huh... Spoiler for Damien's background:

Nethermagic and the battlemages inclination can be brutal. While most of the old cultures in one way or another trained their young, the modern War Schools are based on the system the Spartans developed. They were brutal. Time and local customs changed and shaped the modern approach, but depending on where you are, the headmaster has a lot of influence on how things go. Survival of the fittest in there? Maybe mentally. Fathers... yeeeeeeaaaaaah. Please try not to point out all those daddy issues throughout all my stories because... well. Daddy issues?

Not that wrong I dare say... Well next chapter we meet the coroner Palmer, we get some information on magical voids and maybe.... maybe already some news on the white spots. Don't be so impatient, this was all their first day 😅

~Kellen~ On the way to the CrossFit Arena, Kellen had already informed the other two—in broad strokes, not in detail—but he wasn't at all surprised to see Damien looking nervous and worried about how the reaction might turn out. Perhaps a little unexpected, but basically there was hardly any. Nora gave Damien a searching once-over before turning back to the whiteboard where she had been writing, and Atlas added to the same reaction with a questioning glance at Kellen, but nodded slig

Isn't that true... Would have been the nicer answer, right? At this point, this is actually somethey they really need to consider, whatever plans they are trying to make for the future. I mean, we saw how everyone reacted when Frank tried to push himself into the "hey listen, I'm growing up" direction. We will get an answer to that, don't worry. And trust me, the consequences you are not going to like. ... and get Frank away from that ticking bomb, whether or not his truth is out. Oh, he does, for better or worse... ❤️❤️

"I love you. And I'm lying to you." Dante blinked. The big L-word didn't surprise him that much, but the lying? "You're... lying?" he asked cautiously. It confused him that Frank had said he was lying to him, because Dante was aware that he was lying to his family. "How exactly are you lying to me?" he followed up. "And why?" "I'm lying to all of you," Frank replied nervously but firmly. "I'm not the little boy everyone sees me as. There's nothing wrong with my brain. It's just an act.

I have a couple of "Another Time" chapters for Dante, Sawyer and Tom, which are additional scenes, taken out of the main story to not bloat it up too much. Hope you like them, when they are due. There are a couple of interrupted conversations in this chapter, to be honest. And yes, his sudden touchy-thingy is odd. Was it wise? Depends. Does it clear Dante's concious because it might lead to the marriage everyone is waiting for? Yes, because now Armand knows something that could easily kick Matthew's ass. Will Dante be happy if Alice marries Matthew? Who knows, for his feelings seem romantic, but still kinda unclear. But it is always nice to know he would get along with the other slave(s). Can't contradict here. Though "take care of my children" has a pretty wide range of free interpretation! (Even malicious ones, if you would dare.) Let's just say my very first thought of a chapter cut would have been an even meaner cliffhanger...

@centexhairysub This is the kind of comment I'm writing for ❤️ Ahem. You are right on so many levels that I don't even need to pick what you said apart. Just reading, nodding, doing a little giddy dance and agreeing. Only thing I want to add is a word about Armand. He is in a lot of ways like many expect Dante to be when they hear he's from the upper class. Armand was raised to be a companion ("slave-spouse") and although he stays with the workers and does hard work, his mind and heart are set on being absolutely devoted and loyal to his master, and got spoiled quite a bit. On a narrative level, Armand is a means to an end and his big moment comes toward the end of the story. Plus, I used him to introduce the companion-concept which plays a crucial role in a story later on in this universe. But personally, I don't like him (though that might be because I know what he will do in the future).

"Hey, Dante." Dante winced and turned to Tom, who was somehow standing a little indecisively on the penultimate step of the basement stairs. "You know you can get up here properly." "Yeah... no." Tom shook his head and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "I saw Matt's car drive away..." Dante nodded. "Alice gave him her old laptop. But I think he was talking to a few people in the area in general, so..." He shrugged, and could tell from Tom's face that he would have liked to k

I don't know how much we will get on that, at least in this story. I do have some vague ideas of creating for Damien/the BBPD a series of their own, but I will see how this one goes, first. Damien is struggling with breaks from routine, which did day definitely is, plus Kellen triggered him. On a normal day he is much more in control of himself or get's back control easier. no, his second brain has nothing to do with his lost magic. (Or maybe? Guess you will have to hang on and find out). I'm not going to answer that, but there will be a story in the future which adresses this problem deeply and thoroughly 🍀 let's root for her and wish her good luck!

The War Schools are based on the original battlemage schools from the ancient Spartans, made for discipline, control and efficiency. Battlemages are the only ones who wield nether magic, which is destructive and aggressive by nature, all over the world they are saught after for military or other protective measures. Having younglings with control issues in a place where there are at any time at least a dozen people who can throw a protective shield around them while calming them down is definitely helpful. Yes, it means locking them up in a boarding school till they are safe for the world. The tournament mentioned is a process to determine a new headmaster, either after he died, was deemed unfit or got challenged by someone. This tournament was officially called in an Sean Chapman escalated it; he won and was headmaster for about twenty years, he recently died of natural causes. Would be nice if Damien got some help with that, otherwise it would make him a big liability. Well it's mostly Kellen who got (once again since the magic-vanishing incident) confirmed that he is still a battlemage, just somewhat without active magic. Yes, they were not nice to her, and she's still young and inexperienced enough to seriously self-doubt herself. Oh, that could get interesting, don't you think? Kellen screwing Atlas like he does with countless guys during a job, Damien blowing up in jealousy... muhahahaha...

~Damien~ Damien watched as Nora began rummaging through the file box. Peterson and Woolsey had probably agreed on an idea and ignored anything that might contradict it; Peterson was exactly the type for that, his ego bigger than the moon. Kellen and Atlas both stared into the void, and speaking of voids, they had to take a closer look at this magical-appearing void comment. The negative reverberation of a magical effect? Hopefully Palmer in person would have a few better explanations

Well, I'll take that 😅 Most of my characters start off as either made by a template or inspired by someone, but then develope all by themselves. Nathan was in the beginning roughly based on my younger sister (studied jurisdiction, lots of child-like traits even 30+ (plushies!!)), but he went other ways than I thought.

We wil see, I would say. We just started this journey. ❤️

Maybe...? And maybe not. I mean, I mostly wanted to point out they are still alive, just not capable of contributing to the case.

Detectives Peterson and Woolsey are not dead, just for now severely incapacitated. Imagine coma or the like. You mean the Gray Bastards are involved? Or the detectives were involved with them? - No need to answer that, just keep the theories coming, I love that 😃

Indeed imcompetent or racist, maybe hiding there progress to claim some heroic acts, maybe they are in on what's happening or on someones paylist? We will have to wait and see. The others do want to solve the case, that's right. I'm a bit afraid in the end he might come off as covered in a bit too much of cliché, but we will see, I guess. I like him, but neither he nor Kellen are easy to write (that's why this is third person, I couldn't get this down in first person at all). Different ways of interpretation for sure we will learn more about him soon. Oh she wants to help, I mean, why else did she become a cop? Points above might be a reason why she was shut out.

~Kellen~ Gruffins had barely closed the door behind herself when Miss Tollerton stood up. With pursed lips, she took her bag from a chair and cast a cool glance around the room. “If you find anything interesting, let me know. I have other duties to attend to.” “Of course.” Kellen nodded politely and made a face as she left the door open behind her. “Pretty frosty, this Madame ICE,” Diaz remarked, grimacing as well. On the other hand, Kellen didn’t mind if the team wasn’t