#ephemeraltheory

CHARACTERS WRITTEN / CREATED BY FORSYTHE ( @thewhirlwind ):

ANTONIO REYES— Antonio Reyes is the sheriff in Frostford’s local sheriff’s department. He’s Vothine’s half-human son, bearing four arms and a nuanced senses. He was born in 837 BC, his mother was a slave who escaped Ancient Greece with her former lover’s help, and raised him in Spain. He starts off investigating the strange cult activity that starts going on in the surrounding region. Canonically dating Ivory Wells, or at least will be.

AINSLEY LACHLAN— the son of a Russian mobster and twin brother to Renard, Ainsley Lachlan is one of the local Catholic priests, and arguably the only openly gay one in the area. He firmly believes these things aren’t mutually exclusive, but eventually he’s lead astray by Vothine, who manipulates him into thinking that releasing Epsolise will create a paradise for mankind, and the truth is, all he’s ever wanted was to help people, to make up for his father’s crimes.

RENARD LACHLAN— Ainsley’s slightly younger, twin brother, Renard is Frostford’s local neurosurgeon, sometimes moonlighting as a trauma surgeon when his schedule is open. He took an interest in neurology due to his own, rather severe dyslexia, which slowed him down in school, until Ainsley was old enough to read to him and help him learn how to read despite his disorder. Like his brother, he wants to help people, but he has no hang ups about his father’s crimes. Later, when his brother unleashes Epsolise, he becomes host to the Elder God, and it messes him up severely. His best friends are Alana Reid and Ruo Silva, and canonically he’s dating Everett Novak.

THEODORE HUDSON— Theo is the owner of Hudson Technology, better known as HudTech, a global leader in all kinds of technology and founded when Theo graduates MIT, some years back. (I haven’t decided on a year yet rip.) Best friend to Everett Novak, Theo often hires him as a freelancer to work on the coding side of his various project; together the two can accomplish nearly anything. In 2015, he was fooling around with a project trying to create a kind of artificial intelligence by combining eldritch magic with technology. In doing so, he inadvertently summoned Vothine, who killed him—brutally. Violently—and then melded with his body. This did revive Theo, albeit much, much weaker, but he was able to fight back when Vothine went after his best friend and interfere with his attacks. Eventually, Everett does manage to free him from the god’s hold, but he’s left with a great many mental and physical scars.

ALANA REID— Alana is part of Renard’s surgical team. Along with Ruo Silva, the three of them went to college together in NYC, NY, and she moved out to Frostford after Ruo told them there were job openings at the local hospital. (So did Renard.) when Ruo died, Alana may have personally beaten the shit out of her murderer and abuser. After she ressurects, Alana canonically dates Ruo. The two of them are also Renard’s best friends.

THE LOTUS TWINS—They’re also known as the twin gods of discordance. Initially born in the depths of a dying star as the singular god of balance, Asikolise, they were ripped asunder by the black hole formed in its death. With balance rent in two, they became two gods that slowly tipped the scales of the universe back and forth from one far end back to the other, over extended periods of time.

EPSOLISE— One of the two lotus twins, known for forming the garden, an Eden for eldritch horrors to feed on the living things that roamed the earth. Man, beast, whatever. When Ipsilise is bound, Epsolise walks free.

AURI’ELL OV’AGOTHA/AURI’ELL ILLI’ED— Auri’ell is thought of as two gods with incredibly similar names, the kings of the sea and of magic,  it the truth is—he’s one singular entity with two titles and two domains. He was born Alain MacNamara of the coast of Ireland in 1389, to a sailor who would eventually take him to sea with him. At first, his study of eldritch magic was a passing interest with which to study marine life; but as his mind deteriorated due to the magic, he became obsessed, focusing on what was on the other side of it. Eventually, he broke through it, becoming he god of the sea and the god of magic, being the one who advanced eldritch magic the most over his life. Unstuck in time, he went back to he very beginning—and eventually, he introduces magic to the world, when mankind is old enough to understand it.

VOTHINE— the god of chaos, he’s in love with the lotus gods; all three iterations of them. From the dawn of time he’s been tipping the scales back and forth between Epsolise, and Ipsilise, hoping that one day, someone would find a way to stop them—by fusing them together into the one entity they were truly meant to be. His methods, however, are rough, due to be whole... chaos thing. People who deal with him frequently end up hurt, traumatized for life. A fine example being Theodore Hudson. Vothine is not so unlike Auri’ell, in that he was created from a man, but his wasn’t a choice. He was a slave in early Ancient Greece, experimented on by his owner until he became something more. With his new found powers, he likely slaughtered this who owned him and the one he loved, before helping her escape back to her home country, Spain. But she grew scared of him, as he grew less and less human with each passing day, until finally they—amicably—agreed to go their separate ways. He still loves her, but he understood he had a different purpose now. He, like Auri’ell, was also unstuck in time. But instead of going back to he beginning, he was drawn back to the point in which the lotus gods were created, feeling the way their power balanced out, appearing mere moments before they were torn apart.

CHARACTERS WRITTEN / CREATED BY FOA ( @ephemeraltheory & @exemplaryambiance ):

EVERETT NOVAK—Initially a gifted software engineer as well as a magic user, Everett had sworn off of using magic after he’d accidentally caused permanent nerve damage to his father’s hands when he was fourteen. His father was a woodworker and had his own business so he had to take over most of the weight of the business until he left for college.  After his best friend Theo gets taken by Vothine,  Everett is permanently injured by Vothine, leaving him with nerve damage in his lower back and leg. He refurbishes a library in Frostford with the goal to learn every ounce of magic that he possibly could in order to save his friend. Everett becomes a master warlock by the time the story begins and later,  he canonically ends up dating Renard Lachlan.

RUO SILVA—Ruo was fourteen when she met her abuser ( emotional abuse and much later,   physical abuse ),  Mallory.  Ever since then,  Mallory has coerced Ruo into a romantic relationship and over time,  she gradually isolated her from any possible friends she could have made as well as from her own parents. She convinced Ruo that their relationship would be in danger if she spoke about it to anyone.  Ruo is able to escape the home she ends up sharing with her abuser to go to college to be a nurse.  Here,  she meets and befriends Alana and Renard, who provide a taste of what it actually feels like to be cared about, what it feels like to not always be afraid that people you love will hurt you.  What it feels like to have actual friends.  One night when Ruo reluctantly returns home to bathe and retrieve things she’d needed,  she and Mallory get into an argument about Ruo’s consistent absence and Mallory eventually forcibly holds Ruo beneath the bath water,  drowning her. Having been wearing an ancient family heirloom,  a garnet necklace,   after 2-3 months, Ruo is reincarnated as an Enenra, which is essentially a fire elemental / smoke demon / spirit. Her best friend is Renard Lachlan and canonically,  she and Alana begin dating after she’s reincarnated.

IVORY WELLS—Ivory is the crime scene technician for Frostford’s local police department. As a child, Ivory lost a close friend Iris to a serial killer when she was about twelve. For about six years, they weren’t able to find the person responsible nor were they able to figure out what had happened to her. Around the time Ivory turned eighteen however,  they’d re-opened the case due to another child’s death that had the same M.O. They used the most current technology to go over the collected evidence once more and were able to finally find the convicted murderer, which brought not only herself and Iris’s family closure and justice, but also closure and justice for the families who had lost a child to the same fate. This is what drove Ivory to become a crime scene technician, to offer that same closure to others. She has worked with Antonio Reyes for 5 years and canonically,  they start dating sometime in book 1.

anonymous queried:  so what're your thoughts on @fatherofmachine​ and @thewhirlwind?

// oh boy.  better take a seat here, ‘nonnie.  you’re in for a long one.  okay, collectively, they’re a cohesive unit.  they work really really well together and just, that’s the kind of dynamic i look for and am reminded of another couple of friends of mine---- actually, four, or well, yeah.  but it’s really, really enjoyable to see just how they’re both a part of each other, they’re like, it’s pretty obvious to me but then again i’ve known them both a while---- and i’m rambling.  

it’s really v cute to see them all excite an’ everything.

fact of the matter is, they’re both devoted to their roles and it more than shows.

OKAY BUT TRUTH BE TOLD, in the beginning i was hella intimidated by @thewhirlwind​‘s writing and this came from @anurbanlcgend and then i was completely and utterly mind blown by his depiction of wo fat, i don’t remember the url but by god it’s like, if anyone remembers my very failed attempt at adam noshimuri, was kinda inspired by that.  by just.  yeah, forsythe is a damn good writer and has been more than welcoming.

even with my shitty attempt at john reese.

FOA.  @fatherofmachine​ / @ephemeraltheory​.  okay this lil’ imp though.  it started out with me sending a rather RANDOM ask from john to finch.  and it kind of just, capsized thereafter.  FINCH.  our beloved birb.  foa has put so much, so so much into harold finch, it’s really awe inspiring.  like i’ve said, the dedication to the roles always leaves no surprise to me, but.  foa has been wonderfully supportive and HELLA patient with me and my spastic ass.

okay, they just, invest a lot of time and effort.  you’ll see dearest nonnie, you will.

ANYWAY, in conclusion i feel they’re both lovely and deserve a lot of loveliness.

The man—at least, it looked like a man—had come in a day or so earlier to the library. If he was Eldritch in nature, well, he bulldozed right through them. But he only got so far as to step inside, and the air changed immediately. Suddenly it was damp, salty, smelling of seawater, like the ocean had just washed up through the cracks in the floorboards.

His eyes were jet black, except when the light hit them; then they lit up like beams of light shining through murky ocean depths. He had no pupils, gazing around the interior of the building, until finally his eyes landed on the man that had drawn him here. The man that had trapped Epsolise, that had stopped him, the first time in the young rebel’s existence that plans to create the garden had ever been hindered.

For a long, long moment he stood there, staring, assessing. There was no hostility but an uneasy, deep seeded Otherness to the man, the kind that raised the hairs on the back of your neck when you encountered it.

And then just like that, he turned around, and stepped out of the store, black clothing flowing around him like water. It’s only later, when Everett was heading out to get something from his supplier, that he makes another appearance.

And this time, it happens by cornering his target, and it’s so dark out now that his eyes are flat and black, not a speck of light penetrating the ocean trench depths of his eyes. His skin had a sheen to it, like he’d been sweating, or maybe swimming, despite the cold weather, yet inexplicably he was otherwise dry.

 @ephemeraltheory​ asked: "Please,  talk to me"  @ ainsley 

Once they were upstairs, out of the catacombs, Ainsley had fallen quiet, staring distantly like he couldn’t believe what had happened. It took Everett’s voice breaking through his thoughts before he shook his head as if to clear it, to make himself focus, gray-blue eyes looking over at him. That was one of the twins’ distinctions, that and the white hair Ainsley’d had since he turned thirty.

“I uh, it’s... a long story.” His mouth felt dry, remembering the pain his brother was in as the possession sank in. Remembered the way he looked up, too many too sharp teeth suddenly in his mouth, the way his eyes had turned a vivid violet shade.

Ainsley took a few unsteady steps over to the nearest pew; Everett had healed his leg, but it still hurt like a son of a bitch. Heavily, he sank down onto the long length of wood, creaking under his weight.

“I—I fucked up,” perhaps strange language coming from a priest, but he carried on as if he hadn’t noticed, not meeting the other’s eyes now, shame simmering in the back of his mind, hot and uncomfortable. He was watching the door leading down to the catacombs, where he’d been before Ev had helped dig him free of the collapsed wall. “I summoned something, I didn’t think—“ a pause, another shake of the head, rubbing both hands over his face now. That was just it, wasn’t it? He didn’t think.

Renard, the lead doctor on this particular patient’s operations, had heard from his nurses that he often didn’t sleep well at night. So once Renard had taken the time to return home, tend to his birds, and put them to bed, he checked in with one of the nurses.

( “Yeah, he’s still up, doc, I was just in there.” )

So the doctor had set back out—tomorrow was a day with a rather light work load, so he had some freedom with his sleeping schedule, anyway—and he picked up some food at a little Thai place near to his house that he liked a bit, and then he headed for the hospital.

The elevator opened on the too familiar floor he worked on the most, and he nodded his head as he passed one of his nurses in the hall on his way to the room.

He was dressed rather casually now that he was off, changed now into some comfortable jeans and a leather jacket to fight off the cold, although he did still have his scrub top on under it.

At the door, he stopped long enough to knock his knuckles against the frame, in the gentle way he’d been known to do, before stepping inside and sweeping the curtain aside. His features lit up with an easy smile as his eyes landed on the man in the hospital bed.

@ephemeraltheory: " that’s…a lot of blood."  @ theo,  maybe in reference to that scratching thing you mentioned ??  Ev helping him tend to those maybe ?

Dark eyes sweep downwards in what can only amount to shame, hands still idly picking at the edge of bloody wounds. He hasn’t intended to draw the blood running down his arms but his nails were sharp as a result of Vothine’s inhabitance of his body, even as he tried to keep them trimmed. ( not unlike their local surgeon. )

“I—“ he started to speak, but Theodore’s voice fell short, as he surveyed the somewhat excessive amount of blood running down his arms, across his fingers. “—I didn’t mean to make it bleed,” he said finally, quietly, trying desperately to hide the shame in his voice.

Ever since he had been freed of the demon he’d summoned, he’d felt like he was in freefall, hung in the air by his own shame. He was spiraling, trying to grasp desperately at some sense of foundation—the only thing he had left was work, and Everett, the job and the man remaining the only stable things in his life.

���� i second that Hi I Love You

@ephemeraltheory​: " You don't have to go through this by yourself. "

Theo took a breath, then two, looking down at the bandages wrapped around his arms; his rampant scratching at the skin on his arms, at his veins, trying to claw out something that was no longer there.

( it didn’t feel like it was no longer there; he could still feel the slither slimy movement of eldritch mucous in his veins and his stomach swam with nausea; once or twin he puked altogether, but he had tried to hide that from Ev, even though he was there at the time. )

He shrugs his shoulders a little, folding his arms up together, like he was cradling himself. He was a long way from the confident, brazen man he had been, who had stood with his chin high and a smirk on his face. Now he sat slouched with his head down, arms folded in close--trying to make himself small. He trembled slightly at the thought.

Eventually, he gave a small nod.

“I guess not. But it’s--I don’t know what to do, Ev. I feel... stuck. Stagnant. Full of living swamp water or something. I don’t think--I don’t think it’s all out of me yet. I can feel it. It makes my skin crawl.”

He sounded desperate, a little bit terrified; there was no real reason part of Vothine should’ve broken off and stayed within him when the eldritch horror was ripped from his body, but it wasn’t entirely unheard of either.