#{meme replies}

MASSIVE WHITEBOARD DOODLE DUMP EXCEPT ITS ALL JAX 😭🙏

From the dysfuncentine list

Link to AO3

It's about magic. It always is, and there's always a price to pay. Odin wants all the knowledge in the world. All the power in the world, some would say, but strength is nothing if you don't know where and why to apply it.

"Isn't it what you want, too? All the magics?" he asked Loki one day.

"Only the entertaining ones!" Loki answered.

Loki didn't wish to sacrifice an eye to get wisdom, more because he scorns wisdom than because he wanted to keep all his eyes. Loki neglected to hang himself upside down from a tree for knowledge of the future, because he likes surprises, he said, and he doesn't like pain, Odin added. Loki might have taken that remark badly. The future will tell.

So now, just as planned, Odin is doing it alone. He won't pretend he likes pain. His spear though his body, his blood running, on his mouth, on his eyes, until the remains of what he can drink falls into the void. He dreams about power. He dreams about knowledge. He can't sleep, but he can dream.

On the ninth day, it might be not due to magic, just pure obstinacy, that he can still see. But the fallen leaves on the ground form shapes, and for a brief, glorious moment, he understands the whole shape of the world.

He can also see all the people around him, hanging from the tree, the ghosts of people who looked for the same power as Odin did, and who found it. They're still hanging from the World Tree forever, like an eternally suffering spring of prophecies. Because success doesn't mean you have the strength to free yourself, after nine days. Because as much as Odin would like to triumphantly pull the spear out of his chest and use it to cut his bonds, right now this seems more impossible than beating death itself.

There's a catch, like in everything worth something. So many more people would be trying it otherwise.

Odin closes his eyes. He doesn't even try to read the runes, not yet. They deserve him fully strong, as a victor. He thinks about sleeping. How fleeting is the knowledge that he wouldn't wake up, how much more solid the hope it would give him back his strength!

But there's another hope, warmer, sharper, that takes precedence. As the sun is rising, he can hear something slither on the ground - a small snake. There are too many monsters here. A snake that hasn't been eaten yet is incredibly clever, or has arrived recently, or both.

"It suits you," Loki says, back to his usual shape, slim figure, sharp cheekbones, fire-red hair. "If I could, I would steal the whole tree with you."

Odin feels the joys of victory rush in his veins. Of course, one can't win this trial, not by oneself. And so few people can come here, between worlds, and live. It would have been, for Loki, a real challenge. It was why Odin was hoping for it.

Odin didn't make him promise, of course. That would have been the best way of never seeing him again. Loki is free like water or fire, and he will betray to remind himself of it if needed. This is only a problem if one trusts him, really.

Hoping is another matter entirely.

Loki pulls the spear from Odin's chest, and for a short while the wound reveals his heart, but he starts healing quickly. He already has magic for this. He will heal even more easily from the bruises he gets when his ties are severed and he falls on the ground.

This particular freedom is the best Odin ever knew, the most intoxicating. He won. Joy and triumph and maybe what some might call happiness. As he stands up again, eyes burning with the most tender needs for revenge, he grabs Loki's head and kisses him.

Loki will take it as victory too, saying he managed to seduce Odin; his deft tongue is flickering against Odin's lips, still a bit of the snake. At this moment, Odin doesn't mind. They're able to win at the same time.

"Try it," Loki says, indulging him. He has already walked all over the twigs that made Odin see the magic the first time, but it's in his mind, in his bones, in his one eye now. Loki kicks them, sending them in all directions, and they reveal new shapes...

It hits Odin like a spear through the heart.

Betrayal in the future - he doesn't care about betrayal, Loki always betrays. They swore to be brothers, but not to be good ones. But this day there's a dead child, a son so loved that Odin could go to the world of the dead to get him back, and Loki will kill him a second time, because once was not enough, because it's no longer about betrayal but about cruelty and it hurts him deeper than he could have imagined, deeper than the bone or the inside of the heart.

After a short second of confusion, Odin smiles, a magnificent lie given the situation. He won't let Loki know, he won't snap at him now (killing him, he thinks, won't stop destiny, it never stopped even one prophecy; Loki would do this from the world of the dead.)

"What did you see?" Loki asks.

"Sad things," Odin says, with a pride as fake as his smile.

"Not a surprise," Loki answers, shrugging. “Prophecies will do that.”

Odin wonders if he knows, but it's impossible. It's knowledge only he himself has, with all its weight. It's knowledge he absolutely won't share, because it's the only advantage he has.

Venus Fly Trap

Thank you! From this meme.

3. A song that makes you think of your character at their happiest

He was so happy on the Myeongnyang, and to me, this is song that celebrates that time they had the most.

14. A song that describes a flaw your character has

It's both a strength and a flaw depending on the context, but Sam burns the candle at every end and finds a way to make new ends. He's two steps ahead of everyone, cannot and will not slow down, and has a bad habit of refusing to wait for anyone who's trying to keep up.

Ooooh, an anon! Hi there!

3. favorite line/scene you wrote this year

Technically I can't share it because it's not posted yet, but I will say there's a lot of things I've written where I just feel I've got some real bangers. Act I of The Fall and Rise of House Corrodia is full of them, as well as good taste, garden of loves like roses blowing, and, like, all my Lawbin from this year. Also Scientific Convention has a lot of good lines too. I try to be humble about my writing, but also proud of it, and I was very much in the groove this year.

12. favorite character to write about this year

Trafalgar Law, lol, he's in a ton of stuff I wrote this year. He is King Blorbo at the moment and is is fourteen of the twenty-two things I've either written or updated this year.

23. fics you wanted to write but didn’t

It's looking a lot like I'm not gonna get my Lawbin Pacific Rim AU off the ground, but I'm working on it. I can't say enough is down to claim to have "written" it. Maybe if I get a burst of post-Christmas inspiration that might change, but for now, consider it a 2026 thing. There's also a Star Trek: TOS comedy fic I wanna write but I have zero words written and that makes me sad.

24. favorite fic you read this year

WELL, although I know I've read a lot this year and enjoyed a lot this year, I'll keep it brief and list the bookmarks I've made (three!) bc I don't often add bookmarks to my AO3. heart thief by shadyeclipse (M; mid-timeskip Lawbin one night stand) is very good and extremely in character. I'm jealous of the characterization, actually, lol. what happens in wano by Violet_Light (E; post-Onigashima fem!Kid/Law) is honestly one of the best KidLaw fics I've ever read bc I swear to God the gender flip on Kid was the best. Law getting his shit absolutely wrecked by a chunky, foul-mouthed, shame-free gal is just beautiful. Honestly is more in-character than most fics I read where they're both men, if you'll believe it. Finally, Magnetic Attraction by StillPurplePanicking (E; post-Onigashima NamiKid w/side helping of Lawbin) was really good because I don't always see fics of Nami and Kid--shipping or otherwise--and watching their personalities clash is very entertaining. Nami clearly did not know what she bargained for... though Robin did, lol. Also all very in-character. Can you sense a theme here? This year was some very good reading on that front, even if I did get others where it was very clear that the author didn't know or care what canon is. (pensive emoji). I've (obviously) read a lot of other fics in other ships, but these were the ones I bookmarked.

"No."

// And that's actually her response regardless of verse LOL. But the real answer is more complicated.

My general default outlook for Vaggi and Lute is that they were fellow soldiers, though Lute might have felt a bit of jealousy towards Vaggi because of the attention her skill got her from Adam. And that might have been why she took a little too much pleasure in cutting off her wings and stabbing out her eye. But at their best they weren't...especially hostile to each other. They were both top ranked assassins, and realistically probably had something bordering on a friendly relationship—or at least, the closest a couple of killing machines could have to that.

With @exalted-slaughter's Lute, it was different. It probably started similar, though I don't know how much Lute would have been jealous of the attention Vaggi could because this particular Lute hates Adam, always has. That's also part of why they eventually got closer; both of them were dedicated to their duty, but felt that Adam was...not a good leader. And they even got as far as talking about a coup before the incident in Hell happened and Lute left Vaggi to die.

I have...not ever thought about Azih in this light. HMMM.

The headcanon answer for Tears, and the reason why I haven't really written it, is that Andreth returned to Arda is a human who has spent eons in Catholic Heaven (Look, I'm actually an atheist who was raised atheist, so for me the joy of the Athrabeth was that this very Catholic author with a fantasy world that had an afterlife also didn't rule out that after death is just nothing, cessation). So her spirit reentering Arda? No longer mortal and human, really, but something more like an Ainur themselves, which works because Service to the Dead is now also in Tears canon, so Aegnor has been working basically as a Maia of Mandos for Ages now. Aegnor's family face disappointment when they realize that Andreth returning to Aegnor doesn't make him less fae and finally willing to get reembodied the normal way and rejoin Valinorean Eldar society. They visit, but they don't integrate back in.