#death trigger

I was so mad, I was going to hurt you.

Too bad the babysitter died.

Next time, I'm going to get my friend to hurt you!

My doll isn't happy with you.

My friend from school said he saw you last night, in your room!

That's ok, I'm never alone! My friend is always right here with me.

Who is that man who lives upstairs?

Don't you hear the babies crying too?

My friend isn't imaginary. He lives in your closet!

If you ground me, I'll just kill you in your sleep.

Do you like burning?

Isn't it funny when someone gets hit in the head?

I think it's funny when you get scared.

I remember being a different kid, with a different family.

When will you die?

It's coming!

He's behind you!

I'm playing hide and seek. I still have to find my friend.

You're good at this game! But you still have to find my friend.

Why can't we eat people, like cows?

Sometimes I peel my dead skin so I can see my skeleton!

Can I sleep with you? I don't like the boy standing in my room.

Our ghost is nice to me, but he doesn't like you.

Can't you see all the people?

There was no possible way that your mate, your alpha, had gone out to get you both food when he was struck down. There wasn’t any considerable reality in which your alpha, your recently mated alpha, could have been killed the morning after the two of you had unceremoniously decided to get engaged.

“If there’s anything we can do to support you-“

“Its not true. Its not possible, where is he? This isn’t funny anymore.” You walked around the doctors and called out for him, you called your mates name.

“Y/N, I’m sorry-“

Anger. It was red hot, it was burning your veins and fuelling your ear path. You were destructive, you had returned to your apartment and unleashed your aggression upon your things. You’d grabbed pictures from walls and smashed them on the floor to watch the glass break and shatter.

You were so damn angry with the world, with yourself. If only you’d gotten up and made something at home, if only you’d stopped him from leaving. If only, if only, if only…

You were angry. You were pissed off. And by the time you were done, your apartment was a mess.

Bargaining. You begged whoever and whatever would listen, you screamed and cried and pleaded. The mark on your neck was fading, the tenderized bond was starting to be undone and losing that part of you was devastating.

“I’ll do anything! Just bring him back! Bring him back to me!” You banged your fists against the walls of your shower as you dealt with your anguish. “I just want him back! Please!”

“A trade, anything. Please…” you whispered in the quiet hours of the night, laying alone in the bed you shared with him. “Please just…I need him.”

Depression. You woke one night to find the bond and the mark nearly evaporated from your neck, the ridges of his bite were almost gone.

You woke in the night to find that his scent, like the mark, was fading. Your room no longer carried his scent, your nest no longer had his markers and it felt bland. You were feeling the loss of him, the loss of the one you wanted more than anything or anyone.

“It’s been a while since you’ve gone out. You need to leave your apartment.” Friends had come to check on you, friends had tried to get you out of your place for some fresh air.

“When’s the last time you ate?” Pans clinking against the stove and the smell of roasting vegetables had hit your nose.

Your stomach told you you were hungry, your mind negated that with its own powerful force to keep you in bed.

Your curtains remained shut, your position on the bed remained as you stared at the wall feeling nothing but a dull drone overtaking your entire body.

“I can’t feel him. I can’t feel him anymore. The bond is gone, his mark is gone.” Your most pained cry had come that night, the realization and reality setting in with a stark boldness.

He was gone; he was never coming back.

Acceptance. Time had been the greatest enemy and most important healer. Time had mocked you and welcomed you into its embrace.

“This will be good for you. This alpha…he’s a good person, he’s a good man and maybe…” Your friend had set you up, she had wanted you to go out and meet someone.

“He’s not coming back, but he wouldn’t want me to…” you were hit, and silenced, by the scent of an alpha that had immediately calmed you.

You had closed your eyes and slowly breathed in the mix of teakwood and mint, the very faint draw of citrus and fresh pine. The alpha who you were meant to be meeting was here, he was approaching and his scent had crashed over you like a wave, something delicate and comforting.

“This is who I was talking about, Y/N…” your friends voice made you open your eyes again, and finally you could see the alpha she had been talking about for weeks.

Blue eyes, breathtaking and beautiful.

A strong, broad and tall figure with a warm and charming smile.

“I’ve heard a lot about you.” He held his hand out for you to take, and it had only taken a moment for you to rest your hand in his. “Your scent…is it lilac?”

“Lavender,” you corrected him with a small smile.

During today’s CommandFest Online, the Rules Comittee had a panel during which they announced an upcoming rule change for the Commander format, planning to release with M21.

The panel didn’t read out the full comprehensive rules change, but talked about it in length, enough for players to know about exactly what it is.

In short: Commanders going to the graveyard (but not other zones) now count as “dying” for the game, even if they’re sent to the command zone. Elenda, Child of Alara, Roalesk, etc... now function like you want them to.

In details, for the rules-savvy ones: Commanders that go to the graveyard are no longer handled by the replacement effect 903.9 (that assumedly keeps handling other zones). Instead, a state-based action has been added that checks if your commander has been put into your graveyard since the last time it was checked, and gives you the OPTION to put it into the command zone from there.

Your commander sticks around in the graveyard long enough for the game to register it, but not long enough for anyone to take actions.

You commander triggers its own, and other cards’ death triggers that would register its death when it is destroyed. You don’t have the option to send it to the command zone directly and bypass death triggers.

Your commander going to the graveyard will now get affected by other replacement effects, be them Rest in Peace or Guile. However, if it would be pulled out of the graveyard that way, you have the option to send it to the command zone (maybe not if it’s pulled from the graveyard directly onto the battlefield by a replacement effect, but I don’t think there’s any of those yet.)

“Yeah and stay down, monster!” The laughter of Yumi and her friends echo’s for a moment, fleeting and fading away. Left behind is Hope Aster, wiping blood away from her nose as she stands. What a way to start vacation... Getting chased to a part of town she couldn’t just walk back home from.

A small huff is given as she looks around at warehouses. Might as well check one of the open ones to see if there was anyone around.  No surprise that most doors would be locked, rattle after rattle and then a creak as a opened door was found. Inside was quite a sight; first a small gold item on the ground that looked like a pin- an item easily picked up. 

“H... hello?” It was so dark, seeing anything beyond the ‘pin’ and what looked to be a fire pit was impossible. A moment of fumbling in her bag and a match is lit. Surely any warehouse workers wouldn’t mind her using this just for a bit, right? The match is thrown and the flames spring to life in a brilliant crimson, followed by several others on torches placed around. Naturally the human is startled, falling back onto her rear and backing up until her back hit something very un-crate-like. She just lit a giant lantern and-

[ OH MY GOSH- ] And turning behind her revealed she had her back to the corpse of a large bug in a stitched mask and red hood. 

Scrambling to her feet, “pin” still in hand, the teen takes one more look at the scene and makes for the exit and then the pier nearby. There was always people at the pier and docks! An event or festival, people everywhere.

This time there was no one. No people, no noise other than a tune from a group of carnival tents; even the setting sun seemed quiet. But the human really didn’t pay it much mind, only pausing a moment before heading towards the tents. It was her best bet--

Everyone wanted the note to be important... Or: What if Quirin did not survive the amber?

WARNINGS: contains character death and dealing with the aftermath

- - - - - - - - -

It was good to see Varian smile again.

Like the sun coming up after a long, stormy night. Rapunzel remained where she was as she watched the boy running up to his father, the strange amber finally having dissolved around the older man.

…But something was wrong.

Very, very wrong.

Fuck this. Fuck the way I can’t drink whiskey or Black and Tan or smoke weed without thinking about you. Fuck the way this still hurts after half a decade. Fuck the way my heart still aches every time I think about you. Fuck the way I would give anything to have your arms around me one more time.

My kids will never know you as anything more than a picture and a story. You were so much more than that, and I will spend my entire life making sure they know just how special their uncle Pat was.

You taught me so much, and I’ve passed so much of that knowledge on to other people in my life. You taught me things I’ll never forget. You taught me things to keep me safe. You taught me how to get away with so many things. I hang on to your words so tightly.