𝚂𝙴𝚃 𝙷𝙴𝚁 𝙵𝚁𝙴𝙴

@seraphias asked: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

HER SMILE IS MIRRORED IN AN EXACT MANNER THAT PORTRAYED HER AMICIABLE NATURE. Now there's the face of a beauty that was unmistakable-- a memory of when and where she met this angelic beauty is hazy, but it's coming back to her in fragments. Still.

Couldn't hurt to start their reunion(?) off on a friendly note, right?

❝Sorano! Hey there-- s'been awhile, huh?❞ UNGUARDED, THE SEER GENTLY SWEPT THE WOMAN'S HAND UP FOR A QUICK GREETING, A CHASTE YET PLAYFUL KISS PLACED ATOP HER GLOVED APPENDAGE. The action might have been untoward and brash, especially given how new their acquaintmenship was, but if there was one thing Cana was known for, it was appreciating a woman's beauty-- and never being shy about showing it.

images of those cards remain branded to her thoughts, an elusive story weaving fates together. the devil gave light to her shadow self, a burdening & self-limiting persona she allowed to surface. the lovers, a message of her soul laid bare — vulnerability & perhaps meaningful relationships. the star aims to a source of renewal, dare she suggest — a second chance. these cards draw a potential direction of sorano's life onward.

a promise of redemption. a sister's reunion. the queen's pardon. all being some of the more prominent stones which paved her path. a new start. yet sorano, being who she was, still found ways to nearly resist each opportunity.

❛ the darling seer. cana, was it ? ❜ she flashes a hint of a smile, carefully giving the illusion that her name hadn't been etched to her mind since their encounter. her wrist fell limp in her grasp, cheeks warming & palm tensing for a moment at her gesture. she had a nagging urge to withdraw her hand quickly — but allowed it, much to her surprise. perhaps, sorano enjoyed the attention. especially when the attention came from someone with such bewitching beauty. ❛ it appears fate brought us together again. lucky me. ❜

being someone who experienced slavery makes it incredibly difficult for me to believe sorano would ever want to treat others in such a ways. ( at least — toward those she personally identified with or respected )

so while many would expect it to be gemini, sorano related to aries more than any of her other spirits. she saw a part of herself within her. someone who was strong emotionally, but fell victim to a cruel oppressor. yes — most might’ve pitied her, but sorano respected her so much. she was tougher than she appeared, and she was a survivor.

after they entered in contract with one another, not only did sorano see herself, but she began to see her sister in aries — who was someone she felt immense protectiveness over. someone who deserved so much better. while sorano will almost always come off as cold and calculative, and while aries may have valid reason to fear her, after witnessing the murder of her former master by her hand — sorano would not do anything to abuse her or her power over her.

most people don’t consider this, but sorano did care about her celestial spirits, and she was a great celestial wizard. however, she had a very skewed perspective of them as entities, that many soft-hearted people would frown upon. they were spirits when manifesting in the human world and being spirits, she did not view them as being burdened by the same manner of physical pain as humans.

while that’s not necessarily the most popular opinion in terms of handling and respecting celestial spirits, she did believe she respected them. she respected their time, their abilities, and their loyalty. she knew better than to call them for petty / demeaning tasks or entertainment. as a celestial wizard, you provide your own magic to essentially feed them to materialize into the human world. so if they were to fall in battle, she understood that it affected her as well. so in her mind, she was giving and losing just like them. for spirits, she was well aware that they were mostly immortal and able to heal in the spirit world.

also considering sorano’s personality, let’s get real: she is smart. she is manipulative. she is very capable of winning love when it suits her. while she’s not going to call her spirits her ‘best friends’, she is not going to give them incentive to perform poorly during battles or do anything that’ll deter their motivation.

so some important points regarding her as a celestial wizard:

i. ) sorano’s spirits did not betray her for lucy. i cannot stress this enough. i don’t like this narrative because it contradicts the fact that spirits can’t just betray their wizards without universal consequences. while in my canon, sherry is the one who ultimately defeats sorano, this can be flexible with lucy role players. at the very least, let lucy defeat her by skills and cleverness, not with cheap ‘friendship power’ plot armor.

ii. ) sorano’s keys were confiscated by the rune knights following her arrest. her spirits did not break their contracts with her just because they were unhappy. canon has shown time and again that they are incapable of doing that. the confiscation and her arrest were the reason for the contract being broken, as such circumstances were listed in the terms.

iii. ) most of sorano’s spirits did like working for her. while this concept can be flexible depending on spirit roleplayers, canon definitely shows this for some. gemini is mischievous, playful with her, and appeared to enjoy completing tasks. scorpio seemed perfectly chill with asking her to leave the battle with aquarius, demonstrating that he was comfortable around her and understood when she needed him. also, sorano was extremely knowledgable about the interpersonal relationships between her spirits and ones she didn’t actually have. so in my canon, they’ve communicated about one another in casual settings.

iv. ) aries did fear sorano as shown in canon, but not for the reasons you think. while i can’t go into much details of her feelings for her, unless i were to plot with an aries role-player, i can say that sorano’s treatment was nothing compared to karen’s. aries was traumatized at the hands of karen, and then she witnessed sorano killing her previous wizard ( most likely ) so of course she would be very intimidated by her and assume she wasn’t one to care about her spirits. but aries had been one of sorano’s newest spirits, and thus she barely had the opportunity to connect with her. and yes, while in canon it alludes to the fact that sorano willingly let caelum take her down in order to get to leo, in my canon she did not plan to attack aries. just use her as a distraction.

Snap, the sound of tree branches being broken in half. Crackle, the warm glow of the fire made with the shifting of the wood. Pop, the wood being thrown down fresh into the heat source.

It was another late night, one under the dim glow of the moon, twinkling of the stars & the bright glow of the fire. Jellal usually found himself awake in the dead of night, after the fire had already started to go out from earlier musings. Without it however, the air felt almost cold, black and empty. Devoid of life in this night time scape. It was the reason why more often then not, he’d be the one to re-light the fire. Keep himself warm & muse to himself for the hours ahead. Help settle his nerves, his mind away from the distraction of the void of nighttime.

Jellal was focused on the flickering of the flames, entranced in a rather sleepy daze by the way the colors of orange danced with each other. His gaze however pulled away at the smallest of a shuffling sound, focusing on the cause of the noise.

barefoot & arms dangling at her side, she blissfully felt nothing. not a shred of worry or fear. the woods could have swallowed her whole & she would feel no remorse for herself. it was freeing.

apathy clouds her gaze. the fire of camp still left aglow beyond the small thicket of trees. it hadn't gone out yet. how unusual, she thought. but it wasn't really. sleep didn't always come easy for most of her companions. as she approached the silhouette that masked the dancing flames, she let out a sigh. it was just him. she should've known. sorano hesitates before stiffening her posture to push through the shrubbery. his tone was peaceful & inviting. how annoying. she thought for a moment to retreat to her tent without a word, but her feet drove her toward the heat of the pyre. she sits, giving a quiet huff.

" must you be so dramatic, " sorano pauses, breath held as she feels the weight of silence consume her. she hated it & needed it to stop. " staying awake to protect your sleeping companions ? — scared a bunny will attack in the dead of night ? "

SO, erik does not kill brain !!!  here’s why .  .  . 

while i enjoy the idea of erik canonly turning his heel and punching (?) a damn bowling ball sized hole in brain’s chest and killing him in one hit, i find it unrealistic for his character (based on a minuscule understanding of the basic human behavior) for two reasons .  .  . 

first: obviously that manner of killing him is pretty cheap and poorly written. while i have absolute faith in erik’s strength and ability to kill him, i just can’t see it happening like that ! obviously it only happened that way in canon, because mashima was simply Done with master brain’s character and had no use for his role and the complications he brought to the former villains’ development. 

secondly: erik is Fucking bitter as shit about his foster father. he would not be one to see a swift, quick death as a just punishment. no. he would’ve much rather seen brain suffer for a lifetime in jail. not only would jail be a Just Desserts punishment for brain, ( master brain, who grossly manipulated & utilized slave children as his pawns for his own personal gains ) but it would be insanely ironic and fitting for erik to take the man, who essentially ‘rescued’ him from iron shackles, and leave him to rot with that similar fate after his ultimate betrayal. not only would he find it much more satisfying to negotiate the other oracion seis members’ freedom, excluding brain, and eventually rub it in his face. but i truly believe that there was a time where erik wholeheartedly cared for master brain like family and felt indebted to him, despite the later abuse. to kill someone who essentially raised you, took care of you, manipulated you into thinking he was your savior, and built you up, while the rest of the world tore you down, just seems too sociopathic for my taste. i personally see erik as someone with some semblance of compassion and hidden sympathy for certain others. therefore, he does not kill him. because well .  .  .  if he had the mental capacity to kill Basically his father figure, why is he fine with letting people like jellal and natsu roam free, when he could find them deserving just as much blame in his suffering?