#BUT THEN Blackstar starts playing and I realize

[earhartsplane]

I remember when I first saw the Coming Out Video. I spent most of it wondering if I had lost the ability to recognize faces.

New Philosophy Tube Dropping in May

The next episode of Philosophy Tube is gonna be very special I'm travelling back in time to chat to my past self, and it does not go well... More pics on my Patreon now!

I also want to say a special thanks to you all on this one. Today we cross-shot a dramatic scene with three cameras, a dedicated sound engineer, a hair and makeup artist, a professional actor, plus me. We had a full hour lunch break and everyone got paid a pro rate. I'm proud of the production quality we're able to achieve on Philosophy Tube and, I hope, of the way the crew get tret - that's super important to me. When patrons and Nebula subscribers trust me with their money it's important to me that it goes on the screen.

So thank you. This kind of thing just would not be possible without audience support - Patreon subscribers and Nebula subscribers - because advertising doesn't pay for quality like this.

[blackstarmylove]

Wdyt about zakuro and Mizuki personality growth?

Also, it is a simple light ask, do you think that each cast's childhood will show some light about black card and such? I just read 20th Century Boys and it is about children making silly little conspiracies and at adult, realizes they screwed up because few children back then made that conspiracy come true.

Zakuro has not changed since he entered Starless. In fact, if anything, he is shown in a crazier light. In one of the main story chapters, Zakuro fell down the stairs and laughed like a maniac. The whole incident freaked Kasumi - someone who is very calm and composed - out. Seeing Kasumi like this even stunned Sotetsu. The next day, Zakuro seemed fine, even though Kasumi clearly saw he wasn't okay.

There are a lot of theories floating around about this, including but not limited to Zakuro being a clone, having an evil twin, and Zakuro not even being Zakuro and being someone else. Also, some fans and some cast members feel like Zakuro is lying about his memory loss. Oh, and let's not forget him trying to get Yoshino to go to some weird therapy session.

----

Mizuki's character has developed more since the beginning. He was a childish, out-of-control, but sweet brat. He was never serious about his practice with Team P, considering his hatred towards Rindou. Why he hates Rindou, we have yet to find out. After the development of Team B, he seemed to settle down a little. Before, he didn't care much about others, except Kokuyou, but after the creation of Team B, he started developing a caring side. Team B is like his family; if he senses a threat to his family, he will be ready to go to war.

Saying all this, in the recent B chapters, we see that Mizuki has a long way to go in terms of maturity. His possessiveness towards Team B tends to draw out his childish side. Rico has to step in and make the necessary decisions when this happens.

----

Theories under the cut - mentions of dark themes.

There are so many theories about Black Card, and with Donuts not giving enough information, we honestly don't know who or what the organization is. Relating to their childhood and the breadcrumbs Donuts provided, there might be a connection between some characters' childhood and Black Card. Here are some of the theories:

The members of Starless were orphans, and they were sold to the black market as kids. Some of them manage to escape, namely, Kei, which is why Heath is angry at him. Heath thinks Kei abandoned him and MC. At that time, Kei would be 9 years old, and Heath would be 5-6 years old. This is a little weird for me to wrap my head around because for a young child to remember something so concrete doesn't make sense. Also, Kei only returned to Japan at the age of 24. So it's not even like they had contacted each other during that timeframe.

Another theory suggests that some characters have their memories wiped, and the key to the memories is the Black Card. Technically, this is not a fan theory, as it is hinted at in the game. Why they lost their memories or how we don't know. But we know that the original BlackStar soundtrack has some connection to the character's memories, namely, MC's memories. Something interesting I want to point out - whenever people ask Kokuyou about his scar, he says he doesn't remember and prefers not to. This could mean he doesn't remember his past. Another piece of information to back this up is that Kokuyou's dog tag says Chiaki Takamori, and MC might be Chiaki or have some connection to them. The odd part about this, Heath and Kei both know Chiaki, yet they have not acknowledged his dog tag (or they might already know and not want to acknowledge it).

Another interesting theory is that Black Card might not be an evil organization. For all we know, Kei or his parents could have created it. Some people want to get their hands on a Black Card to know to be part of the organization. Donuts could totally be playing us by making players think Black Card is bad. It makes more sense if it was a bad organization, but who knows.

As for the childhood conspiracies and making them come true. Yeah, it could be possible. Kokuyou could have done something as a child and got injured as a result and possibly lost Chiaki. Kei could have messed up and caused problems for the other kids. Heath could have done something purely out of anger. Theater Starless has a lot of mysteries, and anything - I mean anything - is possible.

[davidmann95]

Sooo… Superman and the Authority?

magnus-king123 asked: Your thoughts on Superman & the authority Give it to me...lol

Anonymous asked: Seeing Bezos take his little trip into space the same day Morrison puts out a Superman comic that touches on how far we’ve fallen from the days when we dreamed of utopian futures where everyone explored the stars was a big gut punch. Not used to Superman being topical in that way.

Anonymous asked: What'd you think of Superman and the Authority#1?

This is far beyond what I can fit in the normal weekly reviews, so taking this as my notes on the first six pages, with this and this as my major lead-in thoughts:

* Janin's such a perfect fit for Morrison - the scale, the power, the facial expressions selling the character work, the screwing around with the panel formatting as necessary to sell the effect, the numinous sense of things going on larger than you can fully perceive amidst the beauty and chaos. It's a shame he wasn't around 25 years ago to draw JLA, but I'll take him going with Morrison onto other future projects.

* His intro action sequence is such a great demonstration of why Black actually does have something to offer, and also how he's such a dumbass desperately needing Superman to save him from himself.

* While Jordie Bellaire didn't legit go with an entirely monochromatic palate the way early previews suggested, it's still an effect frequently and excellently deployed here. And glad to see Steve Wands carry into this from Blackstars since there's such an obvious carryover from its work with Superman.

* "Gentlemen. Ladies. Others." Great both because of the obvious - hey, Superman's nodding at me! - and because it's a phrasing that reinforces that this take on him (and let's be real Morrison) is old as hell.

* I'm mostly past caring about whether this is an alt-Earth Superman until it becomes indisputable one way or another, this and Action both rule so what does it really matter? But while there are still a couple signs in play suggesting some kind of division (the Action Comics #1036 cover, Midnighter up to time-travel shenanigans) the "lost in time" quote clearly thrown in after the fact to explain how he could have met Kennedy outside of 5G that wouldn't be necessary for an Elseworlds, the assorted gestures towards Superman's current status quo, the Kingdom Come symbol appearing in Action, and that Morrison would have had to completely rewrite the ending if this wasn't supposed to be 'the' version of Clark Kent going forward as was the intent when they first planned it all say to me that no, no fooling around, this is our guy going forward one way or another.

* Janin and Bellaire making the first version of the crystal Fortress ever that actually looks as cool as you want it to.

Anonymous asked: I like that Superman and The Authority is basically the anti-All-Star; instead of the laid back, immortal Superman who is supercharged, we have a stressed, ageing Superman whose tremendous powers are fading. The former will always be there to save us, but the latter is running out of time and needs to pull off a Hail Mary. Also, he mentions in his monologue to Black that he was "lost in time" when he met JFK, so maybe he is the main continuity Clark. Or he's the t-shirt Supes from Sideways.

* You're absolutely right - the power reversal is obvious and the ticking clock in play seemingly isn't for his own survival but everyone around him as he wakes up and realizes all the old icons grew complacent with the gains they'd made and he's not leaving behind the world he meant to. Both, however, are built on the idea of preparing the world to not need them anymore - it'll still have a Superman in his son, but that'll only work because of the others he empowers and inspires. The question is what happens to Clark if he's not going to live in the sun for 83000 years.

* Clark's 'exercise' here does more to sell me on the idea of Old Man Superman as a cool idea than however many decades of Earth 2 stuff.

* Intergang being noted alongside Darkseid and Doomsday speaks to how much Kirby informed Morrison's conception of Superman.

* This isn't exactly the most progressive in its disability politics but at least it makes clear Black's being a piece of shit about it.

* It's startling how much Clark can get away with saying stuff in here you'd never expect to come out of Superman's mouth. "I made an executive decision" "Privacy, really...?" "You have nowhere to go, Black. Nothing to live for." "There are few people in my life who I instinctively and viscerally dislike, and you've always been one of them." It only works because there's zero aggression behind it, he's just past the point of niceties and being totally frank while making clear none of these assessments preclude that he cares and is going to unconditionally do the right thing every time. He is absolutely, per Morrison, humanity's dad picking us up when we're too drunk to drive ourselves home.

* The story doesn't put a big flashing light over it, but it's not even a little bit subtle having the material threat of the issue be a ticking timebomb left by the carelessness and hubris of generations past.

* Manchester keeps trying to poke the bear and prove his hot takes about Superman and it's just not working. The front he put up under Kelley is gone after decades of defeats, and as Morrison understands what actually conceptually works about him as a rival to Superman underneath the aging nerd paranoia he's exposed as what he absolutely would be in 2021: a dude with a horrific terminal case of Twitter brainworms. I was PANICKED when I heard there was an 'offensive term' joke in this, I was braced for Morrison at their well-meaning worst, but it's such a goddamn perfect encapsulation of a very specific breed of Twitter leftist who uses their politics first and foremost as a cudgel and justification to label their abrasive, judgmental shittiness as self-righteousness (plus it's a killer payoff to a joke from way back in his original appearance). Cannot believe they pulled that off when they're so very, very open about basically not knowing how the internet works.

* @charlottefinn: Manchester Black using his telekinetic powers to force someone he hates to fave a problematic tweet so that he can screenshot it and start a dogpile

@intergalactic-zoo: “Once they cancel Bibbo, Superman won’t be *anyone’s* fav’rit anymore!”

* Friend noted this issue had to be fully the conversation because the whole premise stands on the house of cards of these two somehow working together, and with three 'silent' inset panels the creative team pulls off that turning point.

* So much of this feels on the surface like Morrison bringing back the All-Star vibes with Clark, but when he drops a "That's all you got?" in a brawl you realize what's underlining that bluntness and confidence in the face of failure is that deep down this is still the Action guy too. This dude ain't gonna get wrecked in his Fortress while the other guy chuckles about him being A SOFT WEE SCIENTIST'S SON!

* Bringing up Jor-El made me realize that Morrison already spelled out that this is the final threat to Superman, what he faces at the end of the road:

"Now it's your turn, Superman."

* A l'il Superman 2000/All-Star reference with the Phantom Zone map!

* There's so much intertextuality going on here even by Morrison standards - Change or Die with the old hero putting together a team of morally nebulous folks out to 'fix' everything, Flex Mentallo with the muscleman trying to redeem the punk, Doomsday Clock with the fate of the world hinging on whether Superman can get through to a meta stand-in for an idea of 'modern' comics cynicism, DKR and New Frontier and Kingdom Come and Multiversity and Seven Soldiers and What's So Funny and All-Star and Action and the last 5 years of monthly Superman comics and Authority and probably Jupiter's Legacy and Tom Strong - but none of that's needed. You could go in with the baseline pop cultural understanding of the character and not care about any of the inside baseball shit and get that this is a story about a leader of a generation that let down the people they made all their grand promises to as inertia and day-to-day demands and complacency let him be satisfied with the accomplishments they'd made long ago, looking at a new era and seeing the ways its own activists are dropping the ball. The only thing that fundamentally matters in a "you have to accept you're reading a superhero story" sense is that because he's Superman he's willing to own up to it and listen to people who might know better about some things and try to set things right while he and those who'll take his place still have a chance. And yes, the oldster looking back on their legacy with a skeptical eye and hoping for better from the next generation, hoping most of all that their little heir apparent can fulfill the promise inside of him instead of being a provocating little shitkicker, is obviously also autobiographical.

* The overlaying Kennedy reprisal is such a great visual of a sudden intrusive thought.

* The Kryptonite secret is the obvious "This is going to matter!" moment, but "He lied about his son" is a bit that doesn't connect to anything going on right now so maybe that's important here too? More significantly, the Justice League can't actually be the villains here but that Ultra-Humanite's crew are in an Earth-orbiting satellite makes pretty clear what's up.

* I've said before that between Superman, OMAC, and a New Gods-affiliated speedster this was going to use all of Morrison's favorite things. King Arthur playing a role isn't exactly dissuading me.

* Love the idea that all the antiheroes have their own community in the same way as the capes and tights crew. They definitely all privately think the rest are posers though and that they alone are Garth Ennis Punisher in a mob of Garth Ennis Wolverines.

* Manchester's fallen so far he's gone from trying to convince Superman to kill to convince him to dunk on people for their bad takes and Clark just doesn't get it. Official prediction of dialogue for upcoming issues:

"According to these bloody Fortress scans, the only thing that can restore your powers is an unfiltered hit of dopamine. Don't worry, Doctor Black has a few ideas."

"Hmm. Maybe I'll plant a nice tree?"

"...fuck you."

* Ok I already talked about how great the Fortress looks in here but LOVE this library.

* A pair of pages this seems like the right spot to discuss from Black's original appearance that underlines both his and Superman's inadequacies up to this point:

Responding to the problem of "the government and penal system are hopelessly corrupt" neither of them has any actual notion of what to do about it in spite of their respective posturing beyond how to handle individual outside actors - each is in their own way every bit as small-minded and reactionary as the other. Clark's coming around though, and he's holding out hope for the other guy.

* Superman: Have a lovely mineral water :) proper hydration is important :)

Manchester Black: *Is a dude who can get so mad he vomits and passes out. At water.*

* That last page is the one to beat for the year, and does more to put over the idea of this as an Authority book than that Midnighter and Apollo are literally going to show up. It also feels like Morrison tacitly acknowledging all the ways the premise could go or at least be received wrong - from Superman saying 'enough is enough' to who he's bringing into the fold to go about it - in the most beautifully on-the-nose fashion imaginable. Maybe they'll save us all! Or maybe they'll drown us in their vomit.

[kueruzu]

I decided to randomly scroll through your blog and saw the au post again the reincarnation au seems really interesting! I would love to hear more!

FINALLY I GOT AROUND TO DOING THIS! YEAAAAAA!

With all due respect, I don’t have much for this au. But it is pretty cute(I swear it’s cute when it isn’t the plot points)! It’s mostly story based with no real thought yet. (I’m gonna write so much pain when I get around to it.)

(I wrote an hour(with procrastination) worth of stuff. And it was deleted. Yo. Tumblr. F*ck you.)

Let’s restart shall we?

Reincarnated au! (How many times have you heard this huh?)

This contains major spoilers to the Soul Eater Manga

I’m not gonna go into as much detail as I did the first time cause I’m genuinely really frustrated by that happening.

After Maka and Soul enter the Kishin and talk to Crona, they end up not being able to escape. The madness overtakes them before they can reach the last note.

Soul succumbs first due to the madness already ebbed in his Soul.

Maka follows right after.

They never finished their song.

Upon realizing they aren’t coming back, Kid feels his heart drop. He freezes and he’s knocked down. BlackStar attacks Asura right afterwards in rage and is knocked down as well.

Both are being encouraged by their partners but it’s not much use.

Before they can get back, Crona attempts using Brew but it backfires. Instead of encasing the Kishin, it spreads to Earth as well, successfully spreading the madness.

The second this happens, Kid and Star are killed, being right at the epicenter of the spread. The brunt of madness snuffed them out. Lost was the new order and the star. Along with their partners.

The witches still saved Spirit and them since they were in reach for saving.

After a few years of the madness settling in, the moon’s initial danger factor has decreased and an expedition is sent to see what remnants from “Last Hope’s Battle” can be found.

Somehow, someway, with more and more of the madness subsided, remnants are found. The witches are able to pick up on last remnants of Tsubaki, BlackStar, Liz, Patty, & Kid.

Stein tears up. But he doesn’t believe in miracles. He’s a man of science.

But he does believe in those batshit crazy-stubborn kids.

After another while of searching, they can’t find Maka or Soul. Stein concludes that it’s because they were directly involved with the influx of madness.

They come back and the witches helping him with his soul study start writing a spell to make use of the remnants.

Eventually Stein stressed and tired beyond belief, goes out for a walk with Marie. On the walk they find Spirit zoning out in front Maka & Soul’s apartment but before they can try to comfort the man he goes inside and Stein follows to make sure his friend is alright.

Spirit leads the scientist straight to the last two remnants. Spirit just had a weird feeling this one time. Both men cry just a bit.

Eventually a spell is made to reincarnate the kids using the soul remnants.

But it’s only one shot.

After a lot of thought, Spirit and Killik are the ones to encourage it the most.

Seven years later, the madness amps up. It keeps on for three years till it staggers again.

It’s not known yet, but the seven lost meister and weapons are back.

This is where it becomes “light-hearted.”

Soul is the first to remember. He’s passing by an antique shop with his sister and he’s immediately drawn to the piano. He drags her inside despite her protesting that their parents will kill them if they’re not home soon. The shop is going out of business so the owner lets Soul look and touch the worn grand piano to his hearts content. He sits at the bench, unveils the dusty keys, and plays.

He’s never touched a piano in his life.

His sister never bring him back, scared of the wild look he had in his eyes when he played.

Kid and Star are the next to remember anything. It comes to them in nightmares. Both boys get these odd nightmares of being crushed, burned inside out, or even suffocated. They eventually find each other when their parents both send them to the same hospital.

Nygus finds both of them and finds a way to get the parents to allow them to come to Nevada and get “treatment”. She has never felt more guilty in her life yall. She prays every damn day that this goes well. Or she’ll lock herself up.

Liz & Patty are next, around the ages of 8 and 10 respectively. Their parents take them to a shooting range. Despite never having heard gunshots, they have a horrible reaction. Both parents are shocked because both have been deemed weapons.

Next is Tsubaki. She’s with a few friends when they start talking about what their parents were talking about. Eventually it gets to when the world started to get super dangerous. Tsubaki pipes up about how she believes it won’t stay that way and they end up calling her a naive teen. She insists that someone told her before that things won’t always be bad. When asked, she can’t recall.

Maka never remembers. Her soul ends up reincarnating as a grigori soul again and the practically angel like abilities she has cancels out the past memories in some weird way.

But it works out, she was both in the remnants of Death City and grew up going to what was left of the DWMA school.

She’s never been promoted to EAT despite her abilities and when she asks to speak to Death Scythe on the matter, her teacher shut her down. She’s just about 🤏 close to socking that four-eyed man right between his eyes. The inly saving grace is his co-teacher always giving her a reasonable response. Mr. Ford and Mr. Éclair are really fair teachers besides that though. They teach and protect the small amount of students they have really well.

Eventually, the others get to the city. All of their excuses end up being that they “just felt drawn to it”.

Once the youngest of them hit 12, they’re all at the Academy. All the weapons have the majority of their memories save for their deaths and the really minor details. Kid and Star have the majority with spots here and there, no death memory either.

Maka is still clueless.

They end up all becoming really weird friends. They know each other but this new version is so weird and new to their memory that it takes a bit for them to all properly become friends.

Maka has a bit of disdain for the 6 of them. They’ve become so close so quickly and are all so talented yet she’s been so focused on the standards her parents and teachers have for her that she gets too frustrated with others for friends. Along with that, even if she reaches the goals made for her, more are made and she’s just stuck all over again.

So it’s safe to say she ignores them all at every possible chance she gets.

They of course bother her with every chance they get.

That’s all I got for now!

It’s super weird and not thought out, but all my au’s are like that!

I hope you enjoyed it fam! I love talking about my silly au’s! I might have more sometime, but for now, this is the gist of it. I left out minor things and tried sticking to major plot stuff but I’m never consistent in any way, shape, or form.

Thank you for reading my chaos! I love this lil au and hope to edit, build, and improve it.

[theanoninyourinbox]

Longstar AU Three to Tango part 2

Sorry this bit took longer, had some personal issues to deal with, but we’re all good now.  I also realized I added a plot point too early, and removed it.  Alright back to cats!

While out hunting, Cinderpaw falls from a tree, injuring her hind leg.  Lionpaw carries her back to camp, and brings back a strange stick as well, saying he just thought it was neat.  Fireheart is worried that due to her being a reincarnation of a crippled warrior, that she might have similar leg problems.  Lionpaw butts in, saying that she’s not the same cat; even if her spirit resides in Cinderpaw, Cinderpelt is a far different cat.  Darkmoon is touched by this wisdom, but then looks at Lionpaw to see him staring off into space, with the AOL dialup tone playing.  Canon continues until...

Riverclan!  They proclaim their camp is unusable, and Jaypaw sneaks over to see a bunch of twoleg kits running around.  Unfortunately he’s caught, but it’s Uncle Hawkfrost, who just sends him home with a stern warning.  A few nights later, Lionpaw has a strange dream about tunnels, and an orange-and-white tomcat, and a nearly hairless elder.  Canon continues until...

The Windclan kits go missing, and the Three join Breezepaw and Heatherpaw to look for them.  They find the kits in the tunnels, but the water begins to rise.  Lionpaw, remembering his dream, tosses the kits on his back and leads everyone to safety.  Canon continues until...

The Tribe!  It goes mostly as canon, but with the Three bonding with their father, trying to get him to bond with  Breezepaw somewhat successfully, and immediately adopting Purdy as their “Gramps”.  Crowfeather, Tawnypelt, Foxflight, and Stormfur rekindle their friendship, with Tawnypelt apologizing to Foxflight about Brambleclaw, and all four reuniting with Feathertail.  While watching battle training, Lionpaw asks Feathertail what works best for her back, determined to gather new knowledge for any future injuries.  Canon continues until...

After the fight with the intruding cats ends, Hollypaw is covered in blood and little cuts, but shows her brothers a brand new scar on her belly that should have been a fatal wound, but instead healed up.  Lionpaw tells her that he can tell it doesn’t hurt because he would feel it.  Hollypaw says what?  Lionpaw says what?  Jaypaw, remembering the dream-sharing he did with Lionpaw that one time, decides Starclan is involved and didn’t tell them.  Starclan you beTTER EXPLAIN SO HELP ME I’LL GET GRAN-GRAN INVOLVED!!!!

Gran-gran Yellowfang yeets down from Starclan to kiss and holler at all her descendants, and gives them the Prophecy, explaining that their parents didn’t tell them because they were unsure who it involved, and she refuses to keep it a secret anymore, citing that the last time she kept a secret Brokenstar happened, giving a short explanation.  The Three agree to not be mad at their family, because that makes sense.

Storm and Brook decide to stay with the Tribe, and after a tearful farewell, the Clan Cats leave.  When Hollypaw gets back to camp, she has another dream about Tigerstar and Brambleclaw, now insisting they can train her to be the best warrior ever.  When she wakes up, she grabs her siblings, parents (Crowfeather and Swiftpool are having a sleepover), aunt and uncles, and her grandparents and great-uncle and the beans get spilled about the Prophecy and the Creepy Cat Dreams.  Everyone panics!  But they unpanic when Sandstorm, who was woken by the ruckus, points out that maybe the panic was the point?  Maybe if we stay calm and ignore them, they’ll either stop or make a move.  Everyone agrees, but this plants the seeds of doubt and anxiety in Hollypaw.  Did they pick her because she’s weak?  Canon continues until...

Windclan and Thunderclan both start finding each other’s prey on their land.  Mudstar and Longstar both agree someone is trying to start a fight, which happens when some younger warriors from both sides start a tussle.  Mudstar says until they figure out who’s doing this the clans should stay apart.  This leads to Swiftpool and Crowfeather being separated for a time.  A little while later, Berrynose, one of the troublemakers, says he saw a lion walking around camp, no it wasn’t Lionpaw I swear!  A little later, Fireheart, Darkmoon, and Lionpaw are gathering herbs, and discussing when Fireheart should retire, when Sol strolls up, say oop sun’s gonna go out, and yoinks out of ther before Darkmoon can grab him.  Canon continues until...

The free for all, triggered by some idiot in Windclan, starts, and the Eclipse happens.  Everyone except for Jaypaw and Longstar panics, and Sol strolls off to Shadowclan, with a ghostly Yellowfang throwing cat-cuss words at his back.  He still convinces Blackstar to forsake Starclan.

Back at Thunderclan, Hollypaw, Jaypaw, and Cinderpaw are promoted to Hollywish (for her great-grandmother and grandmother, and her hopes for the future), Jaywhisker (for his alternative senses and long whiskers), and Cinderheart.  The clan cheers them on, with Swiftpool at the front, and Lionpaw at her side, comforting her because his father can’t be there.  Flyshadow cheers from the nursery because she’s pregnant!! Canon continues until...

The Three sneak onto Shadowclan territory, and see poor Littlecloud get grounded by Blackstar.  On their way back, Tawnypelt catches up to them, with her kits Emberpaw (Flamepaw), Goldenpaw (Tigerpaw), and Dawnpaw in tow.  They want no part of a Starless Clan.  Longstar welcomes them to Thunderclan as long as they need shelter.  Canon continues until...

Millie and her daughter Briarkit become ill, and the illness begins to spread.  Lionpaw has a visit from Raggedstar and Runningnose, and grabs his siblings and the Shadowclan apprentices, hoping a plan can be hatched.  Jaywhisker and Flamepaw come up with the tree plan, and are as surprised as everyone else when actual Starclan ghosts show up to holler at the Shadowclan cats.  Blackstar is convinced, and throws Sol out with a Goofy Ya-ha-ha-hooie!  Canon continues until...

Longstar loses a life to the Greencough in camp, and Lionpaw asks Jaywhisker to dreamwalk Kestrelpaw, the Windclan Medicine apprentice, to find out where the catmint is.  After locating it, Lionpaw goes to get it, and is spotted by Breezepaw, who looks a bit happier?  Lionpaw is delighted his half-sib is doing well, and Breeze paw admits that he and Crowfeather hashed things out a bit, then tells Lionpaw to get on and go.  Lionpaw returns to camp with the medicine, and at the next half-moon, is named Lionblossom (for his “blooming spirit” and he gets petals stuck in his fur) by a proud Darkmoon.  When he goes to sleep the next night, he has a dream about tunnels and tribe cats, and a pretty molly named Half-moon.  Canon continues until...

The Fire Scene!!!  Foxflight gets stuck on the other side of a flaming wall with her niece and nephews, and makes a daring leap to grab a branch.  As she maneuvers it across the fire, a shadowy figure approaches.  In a flash, a dirty grey tabby leaps on the branch, blocking her way back!! Oh whatever will she do?!? She tackles him, knocking the tom head over tail into the fire, and saves her family.  Lionblossom has to be carried out, as he’s writhing in agony, feeling the pain of burns from the mysterious stranger.  He recovers shortly after, and no body is found in camp.  However, right before the next Gathering, a Thunderclan patrol finds a burnt corpse by the lakeside.  Flamewish, part of the patrol, thinks he looks familiar, but Graystripe is behind her, too horrified to speak.  He manages to sputter out that he recognizes the scarred pelt when Longstar approaches, and immediately identifies him as Darkstripe?!?!?  Wait what!???!!!  That night, Hollywish is visited by her Least Favorite Ghosts, but behind them is a smoky tom, both in pelt and in stench, and her doubt increases...Canon continues until...

Bluestar yells at Yellowfang for telling her descendants the prophecy.  It was supposed to be a secret, yells Bluestar.  Well so was Brokenstar and look where that got us, Yellowfang hollers back.  The two glare at each other for a while until Runningnose and Redtail break them up.

Back at Thunderclan camp, the cats are discussing how Darkstripe survived his throat being shredded, when the newly promoted Breezepelt and Heathertail enter camp.  They spotted Sol on Windclan land carrying a Thunderclan bird, and watched him plant it on Windclan territory, explaining the prey problem.  Longstar sends a patrol out to look for him, and the bring him and this other hanger-on that refused to leave him.  The Three grab their Gramps Purdy and escort him to the elder’s den, are you comfy Gramps, oh here let me introduce you to Mousefur.  Canon continues until...

Briarkit is attacked by the snake.  Honeyfern leaps in the way, getting struck in the eye, and Lionblossom makes the painful split-second decision to to an eye-ectomy on the spot.  Luckily, Fireheart heard the screaming and was rushing over to help, and finds both Honeyfern and Lionblossom on the ground writhing in pain.  Honeyfern is rushed to the Medicine Den, where she makes a miracle recovery - her eye and the hearing in that ear, and her ability to have kits are gone, and she’ll most likely be wobbly for life.  Honeyfern and Berrynose mourn their lack of future kits, but Poppyfrost insists she’ll carry kits for them, and the three can raise them together.  In the forest nearby, a seething ghostly Mapleshade confronts a shimmering Frecklewish, but both stalk off without a fight.  At some point around here, Coldlight confesses his feelings to Sandstorm, who tells him she needs to think about her feelings.  He respects her wishes because he’s sensible, and needs to emotionally recover from his love confession, because Coldlight’s drained by feelings. Canon continues until...

At next Gathering, Mudstar and Blackstar both want a piece of Sol.  Longstar counters that holding him prisoner keeps him from doing more harm, and Mudstar agrees, ending the cross-clan conflict - Crowfeather promises his kits he’ll visit shortly.  Back at Thunderclan later, Hollywish thinks she’s talking to her father and confesses her fears and anxieties.  The shadowy cat tells her of course she’s evil, and no one actually loves you.  A teary Hollywish rushes off, past her brothers, and into the tunnels, and they collapse behind her.  Crowfeather pins Sol to the ground, and he laughs evily.

Meanwhile, Whitewing’s kits and Flyshadow’s kit sleep peacefully.

Dun Dun Dun!  And that’s all for now!

[kyodzuken]

boyfriend headcanons - soul evans

a/n; my soul evans inspired playlist!! https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1YntdhOZPg1wMzYBwymwWR?si=JnHvKUWRSKGghG_dDakXGA

- you and soul started off as friends

- you'd joined the dwma halfway through the year and immediately hit it off with liz and patty

- and inevitably the rest of the group

- you're shy; so seeing this big group of loud - and very talented - weapons and meisters threw you off a bit

- but don't judge a book by its cover bc they were acc vvv warm and welcoming

- 'any friend of liz and patty is a friend of ours!'

- your partner was the first to realize tbh

- you and the gang were playing basketball

- or rather you, patty and your partner sat and watched as the rest played basketball

- when they caught you staring at a certain white-haired weapon a lil too long

- and patty;; being the girl she is;;; brought it up instantly when your partner nudged her shoulder.

- '(y/n)-chan!!! i never took you as a lovey type!'

- you rolled your eyes and denied it

- but they knew

- and so did you

- that night,, maka invited everyone over

- and ofc luck was on your side

- and you were squeezed next to soul during the movie marathon

- and it didn't help your case when he put his arm behind you, resting it on the couch.

- you thanked god it was dark because liz would definitely bully you for how red you were lmfao

- you excused yourself to the bathroom

- nearly shat your pants bc ????? uh????? you were just next to ur crush???

- and he smelt rlly nice wtf y/n snap out of it

- so after composing urself and one too many splashes of water on ur face;;

- you exited the bathroom to see the group sitting down in a game of 7 minutes in heaven

- and you wanted to cry

- you either got stuck with death the kid, literally the worst dude in the entire group (blackstar), crona, or your crush.

- lose/lose situation,,, maybe except crona bc theyre a cutie

- and lowkey you were wishing you picked up a specific hairband

-  and u did lol hahahah

- so u were stuck in this small cramped closet

- and u were so deep in thought

- u barely heard when the poor boy called ur name

- ' uhh,, listen,, this is so uncool of me to say here but,, if you say no i'll just kick you out of my house.'

- jeez ok albino

- 'i like you.'

- you swore you stopped breathing

- wtfwtf????

- did he just???

- nawl

- 'uh... i like you too..' you muttered

- which ended with a 2 minute long makeout session

- his hands travelling somewhere they shouldn't

- before blackstar slammed open the closet doors

- exposing the two of you; lips puffy and hair messed up

- the teasing didn't stop for months lol

- but das okay bc deep down they knew yall were couple goals PLS

- soul has a playlist

- filled w bangers

- and everytime he's over and the playlist starts....

- whew heated makeout sesh

- he definitely has some led lights in his room

- set to red

- wink wonk

- he's the type of boyfriend to always have his hand around your waist

- and y'all are best friends doe

- cue maka getting jealous / mad bc soul started ignoring her lowkey<//3

- deserve

- ANYWAYS you guys are literal SOULmates (hehe)

- you have so many inside jokes

- the group is honestly surprised bc they didn't think you two would get along at first

- soul is the type of boyfriend to have sm memes on his phone

- like you'll text him the most specific scenario ever and he'd have a wendy williams meme for it

- and he teases u,, sure

- but it always comes from a good place yktfv

- soul is the type of boyfriend to hold ur head and give you forehead kisses

- he'd give the best hugs too

- he'd wrap his arms around your torso and place his chin ontop of your head

- whenever ur sad just text him a lil frown face

- he's at ur door in record time

- w takeout, some snacks he possibly stole from maka's stash, and his netflix password

- sometimes you guys just lie there

- basking in each other's presence

- u might hold hands but

- mostly just enjoying each other

- soft rnb or indie playing in the background (peep my soul inspired playlist juicyoh)

- soul isn't good at doing ur hair

- but he'd try

- stupid little braids while u two are watching a movie

- netflix and chill except yall acc chill

- like he literally falls asleep in ur arms awe

- and you'd sometimes ask to do makeup on him if u wear makeup

- put his hair back w a lil hairband as he mutters some shit like

- ' this is SO not cool '

- shut up white boy you love it

- expensive dinner dates are few and far between

- but thats just bc yall are not that kind of couple

- you'd rather just get takeout and watch a good comedy or horror

- you'd be the couple to start a youtube channel

- and it'd be acc funny content like,,

- people would subscribe for the couple and stay for the content

- once you did a fnaf lets play

- soul literally left halfway through bc he got scared

- cue the 'bestfriend vs girlfriend tag w/ maka and y/n'

- if ur a meister

- you've probably tried wielding soul in his weapon form

- let's say,, it didn't go too well,,, and now theres a big mark in a wall in the city

- you and soul would 100% play pranks on blackstar and death the kid

- especially death the kid

- with help from lizzy and patty you'd make the poor boy regret ever introducing you two

- but it's all in good fun and the black haired boy has gotten y'all back multiple times too

- soul loves it when you wear his clothes

- like just seeing u in his hoodie makes him ❤️ 💓 💕 💖 💓  💖💕 ❤️

- one of ur biggest pet peeves tho

- is hes constantly undermining his struggles

- and you sit him down like

- 'babe,, youre important to me,,, you need to tell me if somethings wrong okay???'

- baby bursts into tears

- you and maka are some of the only people he's open to.

- he'd definitely play you piano

- or teach you if you don't know how

- maybe you'll sing along a few times

- when you fight it's usually over silly things

- like maybe maka was being maka and he's stressed so he lashed out

- or you didn't kill the kishin you were meant to and got told off by lord death

- it always ends in apologies;; you two don't really let it get between you

- soul is the type to tuck ur hair behind your ear when making out

- or the type to give u hugs from behind

- like imagine omgomg

- you're just chilling in the hallways at the dwma

- talking to patty

- when soul just

- he just

- ugh hugs u from the back, his head on your shoulder, a soft smile on his face as he kisses your cheek.

- cutie asf y'all r cute cute cute

- all in all

- he rlly does care ab you and you just

- "right back atcha babeyy!!"

- fr though

- y'all are bestfriends but also lovers

- goals af

- manifesting a relationship like that brb

[knives-out21]

The Impact Of The Intergalactic - David Bowie Opinion Essay - by Beck S.

This is an essay I wrote about the span of David Bowie's career. I wrote it for a summer school course I took last year (August 2021) for a course called History of Rock & Roll.

My teacher gave nice feedback after he marked it, talking about how it was an "Excellent paper. It charts Bowie's progress throughout his career well, and includes significant detail. I could really feel the passion you have about him throughout. In fact, there is *too much* detail! The paper was supposed to be 3 pages max, double-spaced. Still, this is a good problem to have; better too much than too little."

So...enjoy!!

From his early works like Hunky Dory, to Black Tie White Noise in the 1990’s and stretching over to Blackstar as his final album, David Bowie has rarely had a bad album or song- in my opinion. His career has had ups and downs, his musical creations ranging in the way he would pitch his voice and what instruments he would use, the people he would produce with, and the wild things he would say. Charting David Bowie’s development over time is in fact an interesting journey.

Early on in his dreamy career, Bowie would have done nearly anything- or in fact, anyone- to grow in the music world. Hopping from band to band (like The Velvet Underground), producer to producer, doing whatever he could do to get ‘in’ in the industry. His early albums weren’t taken very highly in their times- especially with the ‘man-dress’ he wore on the British release of his The Man Who Sold The World album. Although, this dress was only the start of the androgynous appearance he would soon be known for, over the course of his 5-decade-spanning career.

The 1970’s were strange, to say the least. He married Angela Bowie at the start of the decade, then welcomed their son Duncan Zowie Haywood Jones a year later. Bowie went on to be hopped up on cocaine. David donned the look of one of his famous personas, The Thin White Duke. The same persona with slicked-back ginger hair, a white button-up under a black waistcoat and paired with black dress pants. The same Duke who called Adolf Hitler one of the first ‘rock stars’ and gave off a lot of faschist energy. He said many statements he’d later apologize for and grow as a better man from, which is good- it’s better than standing by then, or even backing himself up and supporting them. David Bowie called that period the darkest days of his life, and blamed the crazy statements on his horrid addiction and deteriorating mental state. The late 1970’s were more favorable, seeing as it gave the world what was dubbed the Berlin Trilogy alongside Brian Eno and David’s personal friend, Iggy Pop. Made up of three of his albums: Low and Heroes (both in 1977) and Lodger (1978). He moved from Los Angeles to Switzerland, then to Berlin as a further decision to escape his addiction (the reason he moved away from LA in the first place). It was in Berlin, of course, where he wrote his famous song Heroes, about two lovers, one from East Berlin and one from West.

Speaking of Berlin, David Bowie performed near the west of the Berlin Wall in 1987; he played so loud that crowds gathered on the east to listen. At this time, Bowie had no idea he would be the beginning of the city’s soon-coming unifying. After his death in 2016, the German government thanked him for bringing the wall down and unifying a divided Germany.

Music isn’t all he is known for, though it is a majority. He also starred in movies from time to time. Being the titular man in The Man Who Fell To Earth in 1976, Jareth the moody goblin king in Jim Henson’s 1986 Labyrinth film (what is most likely his most famous role), Monte the barman in the 1991 movie The Linguini Incident, cameoing as himself in Zoolander (2001), Nikola Tesla in the 2006 movie The Prestige, and even Lord Royal Highness in Spongebob Squarepants’ Atlantis Squarepantis in 2007, among a few others. David Bowie dabbled in the art of acting, and was not that bad at it. He was good enough to gain a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, too. Sometimes it bends my mind that my first introduction to my all-time favourite musician was in a Spongebob Squarepants movie, back before I knew who he was, but David Bowie was never one to shy away from foreshadowing. At least one song from many of his albums would hint at the direction he’d go in for his next release. For example, his track Queen Bitch on Hunky Dory foreshadowed his soon-coming Ziggy Stardust. And the Diamond Dogs track 1984 actually hinted at the Philadelphian soul of Young Americans, which is a more famous song of his, which he went on to perform on The Cher Show with its host.

The 1990’s were certainly an experimental time for David Bowie. But to my knowledge, I think the 1990’s was a time for everyone. He married supermodel Iman some days after performing at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, and released the album I named earlier, Black Tie White Noise. It is known to have had a prominent use of electronic instruments, as was his other 1990’s album, Earthling. The early 1990’s greeted David’s first real band since the Spiders From Mars, dubbed Tin Machine. They recorded three guitar-driven albums which received mixed reviews from the masses, but Bowie looks back at this period- as do I- with a certain fondness; “a glorious disaster” he called it, when talking to journalist Mick Brown. Tin Machine is a period I don’t listen to often, compared to his solo stuff, but I don’t press the skip button when it comes on.

Alas, the starman’s career drew to a close as the 2000s rolled in. David Bowie greeted the 2000’s with the birth of his and Iman’s daughter, the beautiful Alexandria Zahra Jones. After suffering a- strange, as it were- heart attack symptoms mid-song during a concert in 2004, he took a hiatus from his career. I say strange because given what I know, he was trying his best to stay healthy at the time. According to my special Rolling Stone edition magazine about David Bowie (released at the start of this year), he was on tour and performing in a really hot arena. But Bowie was sober, and had quit smoking. He was taking medication to lower his cholesterol, and worked out with a trainer. Bowie looked great, and yet he felt a pain in his shoulder and chest, along with a shortness for breath. A bodyguard rushed onstage to usher Bowie off of it, cutting the concert short. He only performed live once or twice after that point, but was set on never going live ever again. And he kept his word on that, unfortunately but also fortunately. Unfortunately, because David Bowie live would have been quite the experience- I wouldn’t know, personally. But fortunately, because I do not believe anyone needs a repeat of the 2004 Reality scare.

I am actually not too fond of speaking of his final years. Nobody really likes to speak of the last years of their idols’ life before their death, so it’s no surprise. Blackstar was David Bowie’s 25th and final album, recorded entirely in secret in New York alongside his long-time producer, Tony Visconti. The album's central theme lyrically is mortality, and seeing as Bowie was undergoing chemotherapy for his cancer at the time, I see it as his way of coping with his incoming death. His producer Tony Visconti called him a ‘canny bastard’, when he realized Bowie was essentially writing a farewell album. Every song on the album is what is considered a swan song, a swan song in question being a phrase for a final gesture of some sort before retirement or death. In this case, death. Over the course of recording the album, David Bowie’s chemotherapy had actually been working and he had an eerie optimism while recording. But by the time they shot the two music videos Blackstar and Lazarus, where he showed off the definite passage of time and cruelty of chemotherapy through sparse and gray hair with sagging skin, he knew his condition was terminal and that this would be a battle he would lose. Blackstar wasn’t the first album to have been made by a musician succumbing to a fatal illness, but in my opinion it is in fact the most beautiful. It’s jazzy, and elegant, showing how at peace he had become with dying.

Blackstar the album was released on January 8th, 2016. Also known as David Bowie’s 69th birthday. Two days later, David Bowie died at his Lafayette Street home on January 10th after living with liver cancer for up to 18 months. Beforehand, he had let it be known he did not want a funeral nor a burial, but rather that his body be cremated and the ashes to be scattered in Bali by his loved ones. His wish was received, and planet Earth was very much bluer and quieter without his colour and wonderful noise.

As I said earlier on, David Bowie’s career came with ups and downs. His mysteriously close relationship with Mick Jagger, his cross with famous underage groupie Lori Maddox, the births of his two talented children, his faschist bender in the 70’s, and final bang of Blackstar in his final year on earth. Through the highs and lows, his career and his music meant a lot to the quote-unquote misfits and freaks of the world, myself included. David Bowie turned and faced the strange, shouted “you’re not alone!” To those who felt the loneliest, he surely spent his career helping those who needed to be themselves, feel more freer and braver in doing so, no matter what they may be when they are themselves. He never went boring, he never went stale, he sang what he wanted and dressed how he pleased, and kept to his word on how much more to life there is when you’re just that; yourself. A year after David Bowie’s untimely passing, his son Duncan Jones accepted an award for British album of the year that was won by Blackstar at the 37th annual Brit Awards. When he accepted it, he made a speech about his father that I will leave here, and never forget. Seeing as it perfectly encapsulates David Bowie’ legacy, and the true meaning of his extraordinary career.

“I lost my dad last year, but I also became a dad. And, uhm, I was spending a lot of time- after getting over the shock- of trying to work out what would I want my son to know about his granddad? And I think it would be the same thing that most of my dad's fans have taken over the last 50 years. That he’s always been there supporting people who think they’re a little bit weird or a little bit strange, a little bit different, and he’s always been there for them. So...this award is for all the kooks, and all the people who make the kooks. Thanks, Brits, and thanks to his fans.” - Duncan Z. H. Jones (February 22 2017, at The O2 Arena in London.)

[lancermylove]

BSTS Theory (Part 3)

Part 1: here Part 2: here

I’m sorry for taking forever to reply, @that-otome-potato! ><

​The card that MC got had the address to the old Starless. That’s why Kokuyou was shocked when he saw the address to old Starless, and that’s when he started to believe MC is connected to something deeper (and Kei didn’t keep MC around for no reason). After BL2, there are SO many theories floating around: Zaku being a clone, this Zaku not being the real one, real Zaku missing. Main reason for this the trailer at the end of the BL2. The man standing with Zaku is theorized to be either the current Zaku, Takami, Yoshino, or Nekome. I want to lean more towards Takami because that would answer the question about how Taka got the Blackstar cd in the first place. Here are two possible explanations for Zaku. One, he is an imposter and is saying he has amnesia. Two, the guy standing in the BL2 end photo hit Zaku over the head, giving him a concussion or injury that resulted in memory loss.  

Zaku and Taka haven’t really interacted in the “I’ve info to share with you” way, or Donuts hasn’t showed us that part yet. Oh, so idk if I mentioned this, but Kasumi also seems to know things. I really do wonder if ALL the cast members are linked to this. That would be one hell of a storyline to make up. O_O HAHAHA omg, it would be so hard to get info out of those guys. They would play mind games with you and leave, after which you would realize they never answered any of your questions. XD 

Ran knows more about MC than he’s letting on. I doubt that he knows everything, but he know more than most. Not quite sure how he fits into all this, but it’s almost like he came to Starless because of MC. Ah, I kinda wish we knew which teams these guys were on! Team Hurt MC or Team Protect Mc. Donuts sometimes makes me want to pull out my hair and cry. T~T Starless gets the award of “Most Suspicious Place in the World”. 

YES! Donuts, give Kongou more screen time, please. OMG no...no Kongou older brother lol. I doubt they would be related because Kongou has a shyness around MC...and we’re NOT going the incest route. Kongou helping MC/Heath could work, but I don’t remember any scenes with Heath saying “omg, it’s you” to Kongou. So, it’s safe to assume that they didn’t know each other before coming to Starless. Also, Kongou was already part of Starless before MC arrived. He was part of the kitchen staff, so he didn’t come out of the kitchen (until his character was made into an official cast member). 

Yeah, that could be possible. We know that Kokuyou is def connected to all this, so it makes sense that kid him knew kid MC. Hm, if we look at the original story, Lohengrin didn’t take the blame for anything, but he wanted to prove Elsa innocent. Going by that, I think MC was blamed for something, and Kei returned to prove her innocent. Maybe MC lost her memories very recently...she may be fresh out of the hospital. Cause why would Kei come back now of all times? 

Kokuyou def knows the Mikis because they brought him to Starless. Other than that, we don’t know much. Ginsei was close to Koharu and said she was a nice person, and none of the members have said anything bad about them. So from the members POV, the Mikis aren’t bad. We don’t know much about Iwami though, aside from Kei disliking him, and Haseyama saying he met him once, I think. 

 Oh, Iwami wants her to remember for sure. Kei said that straight up when MC was in the hospital, but we don’t know if Iwami asked Sin, or if Sin played the CD out of free will. Blackstar (the song) feels like a means of brainwash that allows MC to remember the past. That’s why Kei didn’t want to let her hear the song, but now we know there are two version: one that makes MC faint, and the one that Mc is okay with. Taka...how in the world did you know which part to remove? Also, now we know that Taka is aware that Taiga is spying on Haseyama, AND Taka is currently helping out Haseyama. They’re brewing up something suspicious, seems like it’s something against MC. 

I REALLY hope that Kei is lurking around, but I’m sure he went back home. Remember Kasumi checked the overseas news and saw new articles about Kei? That means he did go back...leave it to the media to stalk the celebs and reveal their whereabouts. Saying that, I will say that Kei seems to be powerful enough to have a private jet of his own. If he did, he could leave US and return to Japan without getting spotted by the media. Also, he could totally hire people to spread rumors about him being in US but still be in Japan. I’m pretty sure Kasumi isn’t the only one who stalks overseas news for info about Kei. 

Rindou is super stressed out, but he’s open about his stress to an extent. Kei, on the other hand, will not show his stress. He knows there are people just waiting to hurt him if they learn he’s in a weak state, so he can’t show it even if he wants (which he most likely wouldn’t lol). Menou, please give these guys a spa suggestion...they need to take a deep breath and relax. And I would be more than happy to go with him. ^/////^

[warriorsfireandwater]

Laurel power of the 3?

Laurel: What changes to the books would you make if you could write the series?

I got two requests for this one! While I'm sort of following the same idea of "sticking closer to canon but making it functionally better", I think this series is really indicative of how poor planning made it functionally worse than its predecessors. So while I'll try to avoid diving too deep into AU territory, there will be some more significant changes to try and make it all work together better. Some of my thoughts on this have been influenced by @tennelleflowers‘s video on their Po3 changes - it’s a really great take on the series!

First, I would straight up butcher this series into three books. There’s a lot of filler here with the ancients and visits to the tribe and the mess that is the last book, and I would just boot all that to the curb. There could be some mentions of ancients, but the tribe visits feel less than necessary to the plot.

The Sight: Lionkit, Jaykit, Hollykit are just starting to grow up in ThunderClan. I would put greater emphasis on how they’re raised by the other queens in the nursery, especially Ferncloud but Daisy as well. They still love Squirrelflight and view her as her mother, but they’re very close to Ferncloud and Daisy. Squirrelflight has kept up with her warrior duties since Ferncloud has nursed the three when Squirrel’s milk didn’t come in. All around their kithood is just fuzzy and warm and they grow up encouraged by everyone - INCLUDING JAYKIT. None of that “everyone looks at him with pity :(((((” shenanigans. If anyone suggested Jaykit was unfit for anything, Mama Ferncloud had some stern words for them.

Things play out mostly the same across the book. Jaypaw starts out his training with Brightheart and Hollypaw with Leafpool, but they do end up switching. For Jaypaw its not because he’s bad at being a warrior or because Spottedleaf is harassing him into it, but because he has been aware of the strange dreams he has and more than once has woken up in the dreams of other cats. He feels like he’s been getting signs from StarClan but he can’t make sense of them, and he likes the allure of being able to communicate with StarClan and have that position of power and respect in the Clan (which is reinforced, because the watering-down of the influence of medicine cats later series is frustrating). Hollypaw conversely realizes that being a medicine cat is far more lonely than she expected, and notices how lonely Leafpool clearly is, even if she isn’t open about it. Hollypaw doesn’t want that for herself and sees the fun the other apprentices have, so she agrees to become a warrior apprentice instead. Brightheart takes over her training.

Lionpaw doesn’t have a huge arc here, he’s mostly kind of a doofus who comes off arrogant due to his skills but starts to learn throughout his apprenticeship that just being a meathead isn’t going to get the other apprentices to like him. Him and Berrypaw have a friendly rivalry. The Sight ends with Jaypaw receiving the prophecy from StarClan.

Dark Eclipse: Borrowing the title from my Wind!Po3 au... this is when Sol is introduced. He arrives to the Clans, showing himself to lone warriors or small patrols, making minor predictions and claiming to be able to preform miracles. He mostly predicts cats futures - if they’ll find love, how many kits they’ll have, silly things like that. Cats start eating it up despite being suspicious of the loner, because their medicine cats don’t do that kind of thing and honestly, it’s fun. Sol is mysterious but friendly, keeping cats at an arm’s length while dangling information in front of them. He also generally positions himself as being very all-knowing of the history of the lake, sun-drown place, and the “ancient cats” that used to live here.

While Jaypaw is out collecting herbs on his own, he happens across a tunnel (by accident, from falling into it), where he meets a cat with no scent that leads him out. He finds the ancient stick, and wants to know more about what the tunnels are all about - so of course, he goes to Sol to learn from him. Sol is more than happy to teach Jaypaw about the history of the ancients in exchange for information about the clans today (under the guise that he is something of a historian and likes collecting information wherever he goes). Sol also has heard of Jaypaw’s prophecy, and he claims he wants to help Jaypaw understand it and grow into his power.

Lionpaw starts having dreams with Hawkfrost and Tigerstar, and while he doesn’t trust them, he DOES want to learn their fighting skill. They also seem to have some sense of his special abilities, and claim to want to help him better understand them. This is when Lionpaw’s power in the waking world starts to have more... uncomfortable tones. Lionpaw starts losing his temper easily, becomes more aggressive, and finally during a training session he unsheathes his claws to claw another apprentice. This lands him in trouble, and he’s told he has to spend a quarter-moon helping Leafpool and Jaypaw in the medicine cats’ den to learn how to take care of others. During this Jaypaw walks in a dream with him and catches him visiting Hawkfrost and Tigerstar. Afterwards, Jaypaw threatens to tell Firestar unless Lionpaw stops visiting them. Lionpaw doesn’t want to give up his training, but he doesn’t want to get in trouble with Firestar, either - so Jaypaw admits he has his own teacher who Lionpaw can visit.

Hollypaw, meanwhile, is adjusting to being a warrior apprentice. She’s unlike her brothers - she’s much friendlier than Jaypaw and more intelligent that Lionpaw, and she’s not bad at hunting or fighting but not particularly egotistical about it. She can be a stickler for the warrior code, but generally she gets along with the other apprentices and begins to become the ringleader of the group. She is notably distant from her brothers, though, which makes her upset but she isn’t sure how to fix it. Jaypaw is fixated on his medicine cat training and is inherently separated from her by his role, but Lionpaw has just been... tired and grouchy and mean. To make matters worse, he starts disappearing during the day, too! Hollypaw is fed up with this and stalks her brothers one day (feeling a bit hurt that they’ve been spending time together without her) and catches them meeting Sol. She finds this absolutely disgraceful - he’s a rogue, smart or not! Jaypaw tells her that he can help them understand the prophecy, which only infuriates her more - because why didn’t they tell her about it in the first place if that was the point of meeting him? Furious, she storms right off and reports them to Firestar. They are both in trouble now for leaving the territory and their training to talk to a rogue, and Firestar is especially concerned to hear they’ve been sharing information about the Clans with him. A ThunderClan patrol tries to track him down, but Sol seems to have vanished.

Sol later shows up at a Gathering (with mixed reviews from the audience - as it turns out, all four Clans have seen this mysterious loner, and some admire his knowledge while others are pissed off about this outsider frolicking across the territories distracting their warriors and NOW having the audacity to strut into the gathering). He says he’s going to make the sun go out. Cats are like “wtf????” and Sol repeats this and says he is more powerful than StarClan and will show the Clans that it is so. Cats grow angry and fearful, some even wanting to kill him for suggesting such a thing, and Sol just sort of smirks and says “If your StarClan is so powerful, then I suppose they’ll keep the sun lit tomorrow.” With that he takes off and cats are freaking out, clouds are covering the moon, and the Clans call off the Gathering.

Cut to the next day when things are progressing more or less normally (with some general nervousness). A WindClan patrol storms right through ThunderClan territory, claiming to have heard ThunderClan is harboring Sol. Of course, they’re not - and when WindClan is about to attack them, a ShadowClan patrol races to ThunderClan asking for help because RiverClan is attacking them for “harboring Sol”, which they claim not to be doing. WindClan turns on ShadowClan, ThunderClan is confused, fights are breaking out, its all around madness. A few hisses turns into all-out war, but no one knows whose side is fighting for whose. Someone cries out that Firestar is losing a life - 

Then the sun goes out.

Outcast: This book picks right back up in the middle of the panic, with some cat shrieking that Firestar is dying. Thing is, no one is sure who killed him, because it’s chaotic and hard to see due to the, you know, black sun. Jaypaw is trying to get his way through the fray with Leafpool to make it to Firestar.

They don't make it in time. They get there and he's dead. Actually dead. Jaypaw is in shock, and Leafpool is shaking with grief—but Jaypaw catches a sense of rage in her.

"He had two lives left," she snarls. "He had two lives."

Jaypaw understands and is horrified. Firestar's wounds are fatal, but they're not horrific. Coming back from the loss of his eighth life should have healed him enough to survive through the ninth. Someone waited and killed him again.

The eclipse ends with Sol atop a tree, declaring he has proven himself to be stronger than StarClan. Cats are horrified by the aftermath of the short but bloody battle. All the Clans are calling for blood, until Blackstar admits that Sol clearly has knowledge that would benefit ShadowClan and brings him back to camp with him.

ThunderClan is feeling really low after everyone realizes Firestar was killed. Cats are willing to accept it was an accident until Leafpool reveals what she realized, and that just ramps them up to pissed. Cats pretty quickly jump to thinking it’s Sol, but Jaypaw isn’t sure. Sol was never aggressive, and he had seemed to be out of the fight. Jaypaw tries to say this with mixed effects. Lots of fingers are pointed, but Brambleclaw doesn’t want to start off his leadership attacking another Clan without being sure. There’s a bit of an early-to-mid book lag here, with cats trying to maintain normal Clan life but Very Stressed about the fact that their leader was murdered twice in battle. Aaaand cue the fire.

Fire scene plays out like canon. Ashfur traps the three and Squirrel reveals the truth to the horror of her kids. It’s a bit more emphasized here that he had some involvement with Firestar being trapped in the fox trap a while back - he specifically says “I just regret not staying to make sure the job was finished”. Lionblaze believes this means he killed Firestar in the battle.

A couple days pass. Ashfur’s body is discovered. Cats are FREAKING out thinking someone is trying to murder ThunderClan cats now. Bramblestar finally gets a patrol together to go to ShadowClan and demand they give up Sol—but ShadowClan won't have it. Things are just weird there, with Sol and other rogues just hanging out and Blackstar declaring ShadowClan is following Sol's wisdom now. Sol comes down and says he did not kill Ashfur or Firestar but is happy to help with their investigation. Hollyleaf and Lionblaze go along and Lionblaze INSISTS Sol must be lying. Hollyleaf is notably feeling eaten up inside from the reveal of not being Squirrel's kit, and starts to work out the whole truth. At the next Gathering, she jumps on the the tree and reveals everything—how Squirrelflight lies about being their mother, about Leafpool and Crowfeather. Chaos ensues. Hollyleaf runs away, and Lionblaze chases her.

"What's wrong with you?" he snarls. "You ruined everything! Do you have any idea what I did to protect us?"

Jayfeather catches up and sees his memory of Lionblaze killing Ashfur. (I think HE should be the one to kill Ashfur so Hollyleaf's breakdown/killing feels less contradictory and because it fits Lion's power + Ash was his mentor.) When he killed Ashfur, he basically beat him to a pulp until Ashfur admitted he was the one that killed Firestar and repeated he was just sorry he hadn’t done it when he last had the chance to hurt Squirrelflight. Jayfeather shares this with Hollyleaf, who is horrified by what her brother has done and is afraid of how angry he is. She runs off into a tunnel, which collapses, and Jay and Lion believe she’s dead. Lionblaze feels a tremendous amount of guilt, believing he just killed his sister. Jayfeather is shaken and asks how the prophecy can still come true without her, which makes Lionblaze angry - “Don’t you care that our sister just died?”

The book ends on a dark tone, with Lionblaze being eaten up by guilt from Hollyleaf’s death, and not speaking to Jayfeather. Jayfeather is upset that Hollyleaf is dead but is extremely concerned for the sake of the prophecy (to the point of being half in denial about her death - thinking she simply can’t be dead because the prophecy needs her). The story ends with him helping Whitewing birth her kits, Dovekit and Ivykit, and when Cloudtail comes to visit his daughter, he is struck by the recollection that Whitewing is Firestar’s kin as well, making her daughters “kin of his kin”. He feels more hopeful after this, thinking to himself that he will keep a close eye on the kits so that they aren’t lost like Hollyleaf. This also leaves some plot threads for OotS to resolve - Sol isn’t gone, ShadowClan is clearly starting to have issues, and the Clan still isn’t sure who killed Ashfur.

[fanfictiondreamscape]

Maka Comfort HCs - “Don’t Be Afraid to Talk to Me.”

Request: Hello, so i recently just read some of your soul eater content and I’ve been watching the anime a bit, so can I ask for a Maka x Reader with a friend that needs a little help, having no one to talk about their serious problems? Thanks, I just need some comfort.:)

Title: Maka Comfort HCs - “Don’t Be Afraid to Talk to Me.”

Genre: Comfort, lil bit angsty

Pairing: Maka Albarn x Platonic!GN!Reader

Notes: Hey! So, I know that this is later than it should have been (something that I don’t think I’ll ever allow myself to live down in the near future), but I thought I’d toss it out now before I start to cram homework. 

I also didn’t know if you wanted it in any specific format, so I put it into headcanons as that is the way that I feel I can portray feelings and issues like this best. It sounds bad, but emotions aren’t necessarily my strong suit and I find that, when they do hit, shorter sentences and actions do more than elaborate and extensive sentences. (I may have failed at that, though, so beware.) 

I hope that this is enjoyable, though I do know that this is late. I, again, sincerely apologize for that. 

Below the cut! 

everything was failing you this past week

seriously, everything.

your grades were slipping

you were having a falling-out with your partner and your soul wavelengths were off

your parents were forcing you to take on extra classes so you could become an amazing student at the academy

and your insecurities were coming back to bite you hard.

so, everything was failing you

the last time this happened and you tried to talk to someone, though, people just brushed you off

Lord Death didn’t, but we all know that he’s busy and the most he could have given you was a short pep talk that he used to reassure that you are an amazing student

it didn’t help, though

(you gave him props for trying, though. a good principal cares)

with those past experiences, you have just begun to shut yourself away from everyone around

whenever someone would try and offer that you go out with them to the park, or that you go to a party that DTK is throwing, you would cover and say that you had work that you needed to do

everyone noticed the change

you were never particularly crazy, but your happiness was very obviously depleted as of late

it worried to whole of the group, but maka especially

she was the first friend you made when you arrived at the academy

she welcomed you with open arms and showed you around the school

even when blackstar challenged you to a fight, she gave you pointers on how to get to him to trap him and get the upper hand

(with help of soul, of course, but she gave some really good tips)

that said, she had been the one asking if you would join them

maka, even though she wasn’t fond of basketball and would rather have her head in a book under the shade, was persisting that she would play with you if you came

and after you had bailed for the umpteenth time in three weeks, she knew she had to jump in to action

she and soul went to your apartment and, under circumstance that she let him know if she needed anything, soul left for the park and maka stayed with you

“hey, y/n, it’s maka. can i come in?”

you didn’t move from your spot, though you were tempted to say something back 

(if she’d hear it, you wouldn’t care, but you just...didn’t) 

“y/n? please, i want to help you.”

still sitting. still quiet.

she had to plot something, and if this had to be the way, she’d do it.

“i’ve got your favorite movie and some candy here. we don’t have to talk, i just want to know if you’re okay.”

that is what got you

you could never say no to your favorite movie with your best friend.

so you sluggishly got up.

once you opened the door she made eye contact with your dull, blood-shot, and sunken eyes and she almost burst into tears

but she had self-control.

so she waited until you stepped out of the way to enter and set the items down on the nearest clear surface (the coffee table in the living room)

you only had to see her open arms when you looked over at her and you nearly burst into tears

but you held them back long enough to accept her invitation to hug her.

you started crying when you made contact with her

“tell me what’s going on when you’re ready, okay? i’ve got all day.”

so you did.

when your tears subsided for a short amount of time, you spoke.

“everything is going wrong.”

“my grades are slipping, my partner and i can’t work through this argument that we’re in so we can’t fight together, and my parents are throwing more and more crap onto my shoulders. i can’t even look at myself in the same way anymore.”

she just held you quietly, rocking back and forth as you gripped her tee

she let you cry what else you had in you before leaning away and wiping your tears away with a tissue 

(she found a box under the coffee table)

you let her wipe them away, a gentle look on her face

“hey, listen to me.”

you nodded, loosening your grip on her and setting your hands in your lap softly.

“you are one of the most intelligent and capable people i know. just because your grades are low now doesn’t mean that they will be within the next month.”

another tear, and another tissue.

“if you need it, i can help you, you know.”

“your parents, on the other hand, just want the best for you and they want you to succeed. but they don’t realize that this isn’t the way to do it. i’m sure if you tell them what you’re feeling, they’ll loosen up a little bit.”

you were lucky there, then. this was the only thing that they enforced and encouraged that rubbed you wrong.

“as for your partner, you need to talk to them. i can’t promise that anything will work immediately, but you and them work great together when you are together. you two understand each other well, and this is only a bump in the road.”

you took it in. 

“and finally, you are easily the most trustworthy, loving friend that anyone could ask for. you are gorgeous, you are intelligent, you are strong, and you are amazing with all of your so-called flaws.”

after settling, you were only sniffling, but you still found your voice

“thank you, maka.”

“don’t mention it! you always set aside time for me when i need it, so why wouldn’t i do the same for you? besides, you don’t have to be afraid to talk to me if you need to.”

you smiled, though meek, and settled further into the couch.

“now, how about that movie?”

you laughed, remembering the items she brought with her

“you brought popcorn, too?”

“yup, now, how about i go pop this popcorn and get some drinks and we can watch that movie, hmm?”

“sounds good to me, albarn.”

[davidmann95]

Did you see the interview Morrison did with CBR on Superman and The Authority? Any thoughts on it if so?

Anonymous asked: You see that interview with Morrison about S&tA? They’ve got me excited, confirms it’s basically a spiritual successor to their Action Comics run, an ending story for the Golden Age Superman the way All-Star was for the Silver Age. Very intrigued at how they’re doing this older, kind of pissed off Superman

Anonymous asked: Morrison talking mad shit about Injustice and the Snyder film plans made me happy. Just wanted to share even though you have much more positive feelings on both than I do lol.

Anonymous asked: Well Superman editorial continues to suck massively per Morrison. Almost comforting how even after the entire department gets purged, the people there would rather continue to do evil Superman than anything else.

Anonymous asked: Any thoughts on the new Morrison interview?

Anonymous asked: Have you read the CBR interview with Morrison on Superman and the Authority? Interested to hear your thoughts.

Plenty of thoughts.

* I suspected pretty much from the beginning that their choice to go with The Authority had to do with that crew representing for Morrison a bittersweet nostalgia for the turn-of-the-millenium promise of a more radical, just tomorrow (especially given that they repeatedly noted in interviews at the time they felt it had rightfully supplanted their own JLA, and with Millar and Quitely doing the second run on it), so it delving into that makes sense to me. I did not expect that to be in the form of Kennedy showing up (add New Frontier to the list of stuff this is implicitly drawing on, another comic asking 'has Superman sold out?'), but it makes me ten times more fascinated; I assume that was allowed in the first place because this was planned initially as part of 5G where Superman would have debuted in the 60s, and now because of the post-Death Metal 'it all counts' ethos.

* The DC perspective is an unsurprising downer (I imagine Morrison pitched The Authority angle as a commercial way of doing that they could actually work with), but it's notable that those initial plans were in 2018; I think signs point to the perspective of the higher-ups on Superman having shifted pretty dramatically in the last couple of years. Also holy crap they had a Morrison Superman mini in cold storage for four years, I don't know if it's abhorrent that this was kept for us or admirable that they waited for perfect timing. It's also kind of shocking that this wasn't written contemporaneously with Wonder Woman: Earth One Vol. 3/The Green Lantern Season Two/Detective #26, because it seems so much the conclusion of the capstone they represent.

* In a weird way, this is them doing an all-encompassing take on Superman ala their Batman they never have before. All-Star and Action are often flattened out into 'Silver Age' and 'Golden Age', but really it's them doing their interpretation of classic, iconic Superman vs. their idealized personal reinvention drawing from several eras. This is the one that goes 'no he lived through it all, what are the consequences of this and what does he regret'.

* "It's kind of a reflective age for Superman who looks back and wondered if it worked, all that gaudy presentation, fighting with Doomsday, having Crises? Were we all wrapped up in our superhero bullshit and not dealing with all the problems that we started out with and tried to [solve]?" This feels almost ripped from the page from Blackstars and it casts that story in a very new light knowing that they'd already been writing this at the time, as if the take on Superman in there was built to ultimately justify the changes in here.

* I guess I'm not strictly as harsh as most but to qualify my feelings on Injustice or the Snyder movies as "much more positive" than most I'm pretty sure they would've had to run over a beloved childhood pet. Yes, I read some Twitter responses, they were hilarious.

* Talking up Clark's alien perspective makes me wonder if that's part of why the books doubling down on "he's half-human and born on Earth, in a way even his dad can't be he's seen and lives as one of us" with Jon as the impetus for his own apparent progressive journey in Son of Kal-El. Curious what capacity Jon might be in this, since again, Morrison played with him a lot in Blackstars and this apparently sets stuff up for his book.

* Superman as the dad picking you up after you get really drunk for the entire planet is such a killer framing, and also makes me think of this, which they wrote around the same time:

* Love the described stuff with Midnighter and Apollo, wild that it's just now a full decade after their incorporation that Apollo's meeting Superman and Midnighter still hasn't met Batman.

* Are those preview pages the final colors? I suspect not but I'd be so down with it if they were and this book was going with a bold near-monochromatic take.

* Finally, realized this is the conceptual sequel to Multiversity: a pulp-age hero (who's apparently been around since then) dealing with the 'successor' heroes of tomorrow, the post-Millar post-9/11 breed, hoping to act as a brighter example but terrified he's become inexorably an instrument of the status quo and that maybe it's all just shit. Think there's a low but non-zero chance The Gentry might show up to go after Superman for breaking all the rules. It is also, god help us, their Doomsday Clock - can Superman redeem DC's metatextual perceived embodiment of realistic cynicism?

[f-117-nighthawk]

Playlist Update Part 2: Electric Boogaloo

Part 2! Here lies Endless War, Dystopian Fiction, and Filaments. EW hasn’t changed much, DF has a bit and it's all INFECTED's fault, and Filaments has more than three songs finally. My explanations for these aren't quite as fleshed out (partially bc there's less in my head to flesh out with and partially because these aren't nearly as set in playdough as the main playlist. more like set in syrup)

Part One

In chronological order:

Endless War

Dark Matter is here because it always is, twining through everything else.

(Don’t stop, don’t think, don’t look back/You’re a bolt of lightning in the sky now/Don’t stop, don’t think, don’t look back/I’ve pulled you in, nowhere to hide now)

I Am the One links into Eater of Worlds as sort of the aftermath, sort of during Apocalypse 1992. Our Fifth General has her realization about [REDACTED] far, far before Team Voltron does because she’s there in the thick of it during Through Apocalypse Skies.

(I am the one/I hold the dreams from fallen heroes)

(We are gods, we are monsters/We create to devour/Not for love but for power/What’s a life worth in the end?)

(From the caves beneath Dundee/Ancient hermit arrives/A messenger to the war in the stars/Korviliath is nigh!)

The Truth Beneath the Rose is from the perspective of our last (and first) Blade in the aftermath of Through Apocalypse Skies, as she realizes just what she helped create. Also… kinda connects to a song in the main playlist, but not very obviously.

(Blinded to see the cruelty of the beast/It is the darker side of me/The veil of my dreams deceived that I have seen/Forgive me for what I have been, forgive me my sins!)

Raise Your Banner is The Fifth General’s newfound resolve as she starts collecting allies against Zarkon’s empire.

(Wake up/I’m defying you, seeing right through you, once I believed in you/Wake up/Feel what’s coming deep within we all know)

Obey is a bit of a weird one. It’s in the same vein as You Keep What You Kill in the main playlist, but it’s more specifically about the creation of the first Druids and how Haggar uses them against the Fifth General and her team.

(Obey, we're gonna show you how to behave/Obey, it's nicer when you can't see the chains)

Silver Moonlight is cracks forming in The Fifth General’s new set of alliances and her desperate and occasionally rash attempts to get them to believe in her goal. Not just the main one to take down the empire, but the one that will allow them to do that.

(I’m impatient, but it’s colors that I need/Too many shades of grey, I cannot breathe/The dreams I have ain’t tainted, I need you to believe/The only way to make them real, oh)

Endless War is the title track, connected to Holy Ground and I’d Rather Burn as a specific event but also sort of encompassing the Fifth General’s motivations throughout the series. She’s “hunting a miracle” that is also those colors from Silver Moonlight, and then the end of Endless War kicks in with Holy Ground, and the Fifth General’s final stand in I’d Rather Burn.

('Cause you’re fighting an endless war/Hunting a miracle/And when you reach out for the stars/They just cut you down/…/Is it worth dying for?/Or are you blinded by, blinded by it all?)

(You got inside my head, I want you out/'Cause I’ve been betrayed on holy ground)

(Won’t let you take my soul away/I’d rather go to the stake/I’d rather burn)

Empty Eyes is [long spoiler beep]. (and yes! I found it on Spotify finally!)

(I don’t know where I’m going/In search for answers/I don’t know who I’m fighting/I stand with empty eyes/You’re like a ghost within me/Who’s draining my life/It’s like my soul is see-through/Right through my empty eyes)

Dystopian Fiction

Dark Matter is on here because title track, but also it does end up with effects. Especially by the end… and of course, the Thing that is Wrong With Earth.

(Don’t stop, don’t think/Move up, don’t blink now/On your knees pray for rain/Don’t breathe when you take your aim)

The Human Condition is the Éskhayklos manifesto. A warning of the end times. The condemnation of the parasites. The reveal of the only cure. The final extinction cycle. Also their new image song, as Cross the Line got moved.

(We have the cure for the disease/Locked down inside us/When all is dead, then we will see/We are the virus)

INFECTED is the Éskhayklos’s slow, well, infection of the Sol Federation, and their descent into full-blown terrorism. (And yes, I know the actual lyrics have ‘he’. Shhhhhh. It’s a STARSET song, it’s about a Shirogane, even if it’s sort of from Cascade’s POV)

(Here's a challenge for all mankind/The preacher man is warning of the end times/The weatherman agrees but she don't know/So she's got to go now)

Who Will Save You Now here is about Sam, and the aftermath of Here to Save You, in addition to its referenced role in the main playlist.

(Alone with this vision/Alone and blind/Go tell the world I’m still alive)

Codebreaker is Adam’s song! But here it’s also in conjunction with Cross the Line as the final Éskhayklos mission before...

(Codebreaker can’t you find/Can you read between the lines of code?/Tell me all that you know/How far down the hole does it all go)

(Cross the line, redefine, break away unbent, unafraid/Together we stand in the dark/Seeking the light and what is right, together we cross the line/Our journey will come to an end and then our human cause will be/Justified)

The Day the Earth Collapsed

(How much time has been elapsed/Since the day the earth collapsed?)

Dystopian Fiction is the title track for this part. With the events of The Day the Earth Collapsed, the Garrison and our heroes on Earth are at their lowest point. It really is a piece of dystopian fiction, between [spoiler] and [spoiler]. They’re fighting for something that, at that point, must seem like ‘superstition.’ And also: “Nobody can shoot me down, not just yet” is about Adam bc Fuck Canon. Even if he does, technically, get shot down.

(I’m a dead man/In the wasteland/I’m a soldier fighting for superstition/Under searchlights/In the long nights/We’ve been written like dystopian fiction)

World on Fire and The Reckoning are the two of their subset that make it over here because they’re the two that happen before the result of This is a Call can come to fruition, and are more focused on our Earth heroes anyway.

(Sent by forces beyond salvation/There can be not one sensation)

(We’re all alone, walking in twilight/The night has been long and so many have fallen/Feel no remorse, light will be breaking/Our freedom is worth it all)

Filaments

Filaments is still in flux but does have way more solid than it did. Like, you know, most of an ending. I just don’t really know how they get from A to B yet.

Dark Matter is here because, well. A) Title track, B) yes, it still has effects. It’s the overarching theme, after all. Filaments sort of has a subtitle itself, which is ‘The Undoing,’ after the other part of the lyric that the subtitle of the main playlist comes from. It’s about undoing a past mistake (that wasn’t obviously a mistake until much later) and reconciling the events of Your World Will Fail.

(I am the keeper/I am the secret/I am the answer/I am the end)

Filaments is the title track of this part. It’s… a little hard to explain without giving away the entire plot but it’s about the connections between different parts of the universe, and some fall-out of Cosmic Vertigo and Louder Than Words.

(These glowing filaments/Conducting this enchanting/Sarcophagus that’s holding us)

Starlight is, again, Adashi song, and this time the happy part

(Don’t leave me lost here forever/I need your starlight and pull me through/Bring me back to you)

Carry Me Home is its eponymous fic.

(Carry me home to the morning light/carry me home before you wave me goodbye/Oh, carry me home…)

And then we get to the new part. Know that stuff in Carry Me Home about “The record skip that only [Keith and Krolia] can remember”? Yeah, Prognosis is a huge step to figuring that out.

(How long is the body beholden?/How long 'til we run out of road?/Deep down in the black of the ocean/Fading from the glow)

The timey-wimey ball gets tossed around more in Blackstar. Partially due to [REDACTED] and a certain terrorist’s reemergence, but also due to Prognosis-related stuff

(They'll let you try/To reverse everything/Don't waste your time/Sing Hallelujah 'cause you can't change anything)

Eon straight-up plays Calvinball with the timey-wimey ball and gets the Paladins stuck in a groundhog-day situation, and the only way out? Isn’t good.

(If time's a song, I won't wait for its reprise/I am done wishing farewells and goodbyes)

The Art of War and Centigrade are the beginning of the end. The Art of War is Cascade finally showing his true colors, and the Sol Federation not having a good time. Centigrade is the other side of it, Team Voltron having a realization of just what they’re going to need to do.

(I can remember all the days of violence/I can remember all the days they fought for rights/When men united all by fear and interest/I mustered them with hopeful promises I've broken)

(What did you hope to find adrift and lost in time?/Is this the end ready to begin?/It's time to escape the fate of destruction, excavating within until salvation/No longer pretend the future's a lie from a past you cannot hide)

The Future is Now and A Theater of Dimensions are. Well. You’ll see. It’s a little hard to pick a lyric from AToD, I'll say that much.

(They said there was no way/But they forgot the black hole in the sky/Yesterday is nothing/I have half a life to rewrite)

(I’ve seen our freedom in the mist of time/The old signs I’ll follow and the day of relief will be yours and mine)

And then there’s Afterlife. Fitting to end on a UtA song, after everything, especially since The Immortal has repeatedly throughout DM been a metaphor for Voltron. Also fitting that it’s this one, considering the parallels between the end of The Immortal’s story and Filaments

(But with such power, think how you could rule/Hold to your promise to watch over those in despair/Why would you choose to serve when you could be master of all?/Be true to your honour and fight for a world that is fair!/Out of shadow, out of darkness, welcome to the light/As the day shines boldly over night/Follow me to finally be who you are inside/Open wide, embrace the afterlife)

[the-dumbest-po3-au]

part 4 - the dumbest po3 au

its been. nine. montsh im SO SORRY GUYS LMAO

for those of you who dont know what the dumbest po3 au is, click this link

for those of you who have not read the summaries for power of three, part 1 - part 2 - part 3

alright!!!!!!! dovewing time

the fourth apprentice

the book opens w/ ivykit and dovekit in the nursery. ivykit suggests going out to explore the territory and dovekit is like “wow. that sounds like a fantastic idea ivykit you are so smart"

whitewing says No Absolutely Not, and leaves at some point to go make dirt. they sneak out and not 5 minutes later they get lost. dovekit gets blames ivykit for suggesting it and they get into a fight. they both get really mad & dovekit runs off. because shes like a stupid 2 year old gets distracted, rams her head into a rock and passes out. rip dovekit. she wakes up and sees a fox kit coming towards her. she screams.

her head hurts and shes tired and now shes going to die. out of nowhere a huge cat beats up the fox and scares it away. dovekit passes out (again)

when she wakes up, she is next to a cat messing with a bunch of weird plants. the cat sees that she woke up and introduces himself as littlecloud. he asks what her name is. “dove… dove…?? i dont know” says dovekit.

he asks her how she got there, and if she has any family. she does not remember. so littlecloud tells her she’s gonna have to stay here for the time being. he asks her if anything hurts, and dovekit says she thinks may have hit her head.

he gives her some of the weird plants and she goes back to sleep. when she wakes up her head has stopped hurting and she feels a lot better. she gets up to go walk around and is immediately introduced to the tawnyspawn.

tigerpaw is stupid and friendly (and hellbent on being her future best friend). dawnpaw is obnoxious and a bit (read: extremely) condescending but interested. flamepaw is nice and also the only one with half a braincell.

they take her around and introduce her to the rest of the clan. she sees blackstar and is like. “im pretty sure thats my dad” tigerpaw gasps. flamepaw and dawnpaw are like. “What.” “he saved me from the fox im pretty sure thats my dad,” says dovekit

they go harass blackstar. dovekit follows him around like a puppy and the tawnspawn follow her. he has this train of literal 2 yr olds trailing after him and is wildly unhappy about this development. russetfur is also definitely siccing the kids on him to make him mad.

dawnpaw gives dovekit a passionate speech about the clans, but mostly how evil riverclan kicked completely innocent shadowclan out of their home, and how shadowclan has to set everything right and deliver justice to those cringe fail fishheads, or something.

a few days later the tawnyspawn are off doing their own thing and dovekit goes to see whats going on. dawnpaw tries to shut tigerpaw up but he spills the beans anyways. “we’re going to attack riverclan on a Secret Mission so that we can win back shadowclan’s honor and become WARRIORS so you cant tell anybody”

dawnpaw sighs. “dovekit this is for Big Kids Only, so you cant be here.” flamepaw is trying to talk tigerpaw out of doing this in the bg but tigerpaw is being stubborn. dovekit is sad about it but goes back to sulk in camp (and to harass her new dad).

a few hours later tawnypelt runs over to blackstar and is like. “blackstar my children are missing nobody knows where they went”

"oh!! they went to go attack riverclan to get back shadowclan’s territory!” informs dovekit helpfully.

“what.” says blackstar, tawnypelt, and russetfur in unison. the sky immediately opens up and starts Pouring. tawnypelt freaks out. dovekit is like “why cant we just follow the sound of their voices??” but everyone ignores her bc they think shes just being stupid.

“Fine!! ill just go find them on my OWN” says dovekit, following them by the sound of their voices (theyre proally arguing over something stupid).

now four of shadowclan’s children are missing. “you brought that kid here so you get to deal with her,” says russetfur. blackstar sighs dramatically and goes off to find his new child.

dovekit runs into an old man cat. “whatre you doin here??” says old man cat. “im looking for my friends!! whats your name :0? im dovekit!!” “my names purdy!”

blackstar shows up and is like. who tf are you. “this is my new friend purdy!!!” says dovekit. blackstar doesnt even know how to respond. “look we’re going to go back to the camp right now and we’re not taking this dude with us.”

dovekit is like “??? no??? we have to get my friends theyre right over there??” she says pointing in their direction w/ her tail. blackstar is ready to cry. so blackstar and purdy follow dovekit as she leads them closer to riverclan territory where they hear the tawnyspawn screeching like banshees.

they run over and find several cats w/ the tawnyspawn who are pinned down. “if you breathe in my direction ill kill all three of these children,” says a snotty dude.

“who tf are you” says blackstar

“im darktail you insolent snot,” says darktail.

one of his cats grabs dovekit and blackstar snaps. he lunges at darktail while purdy beats up the dude who snatched dovekit. the tawnyspawn take advantage of the moment, escape, and dogpile the other cats. its a disaster.

darktail swears revenge on blackstar till his dying day or something. nobodys really paying attention to him at this point. he runs off w/ his crew. “alright then” says blackstar. this has been a really weird and long day for everyone. blackstar wants to leave purdy but all the children immediately start crying. they bring purdy home.

“holy crap!!! purdy!!!!!” says tawnypelt. “why are you here??” but then she sees her children. she and rowanclaw give them a very stern lecture about Not Running Off Without Telling Anyone (in which tawnypelt is a massive hypocrite but to be fair god told her to)

in the meanwhile, blackstar asks dovekit how tf she knew they were there. “i could hear them, Obviously. ???? cant u not???” blackstar just looks at her. dovekit realizes that probably not everyone shares this ability. blackstar shoos her off and calls a meeting w/ the senior warriors.

dovekit goes off to bother purdy for stories and play w/ the tawnyspawn. nothing particularly interesting happens. blackstar and russetfur call her over later and start assessing her abilities. its only slightly a disaster because shes wildly distracted 80% of the time and her powers are unwieldy bc shes a kit.

cue training. there is a lot of trial, error, and tears (on both sides) but it works out in the end (mostly).

time skip. its been a few months. dovekit becomes dovepaw and blackstar mentors her b/c of her powers. at this point shes gotten control of how to pick out numbers, locations, troops, etc. basically she is a living radar.

blackstar calls another meeting w/ the senior warriors and afterwards calls a clan meeting. “alright losers we’re going to take back our territory and kick riverclan’s butt”

they go over the clan w/ all the cats and begin the trek home. another time skip because that takes a while and nothing particularly interesting happens.

when they get back, the clan stays outside the border while blackstar has dovepaw do a sweep of the territory. she finds a patrol led by a black cat named reedwhisker. blackstar picks a patrol out and they go to ambush the riverclan patrol.

the shadowclan patrol takes reedwhisker + the patrol hostage, but lets one go to tell mistystar. mistystar takes a patrol and comes over. “if you dont give us back our territory i will kill your son” says blackstar. mistystar is like “bro. i dont even want your stupid crusty territory anyways. screw you.”

she takes her son and the rest of the patrol and leaves. another win for shadowclan, obviously. maybe they have a party idk. end of book.

fading echoes

cinderheart has not been doing well. she’s been doing really badly, actually. her best friend died and she blames herself. she’s still grieving and continually lashing out at everyone around her. poppyfrost and honeyfern attempted to be there for her but after the continual rebuffs they decided to just give her space.

unfortunately cinderheart. doesnt have any other friends in thunderclan, so the only person she can talk to is lionblaze. unfortunately theres only so much he can do from windclan, so mostly shes been just been going into a downward spiral.

ivypaw hasnt been doing great either. she feels extremely guilty because she thinks its her fault that dovekit ran away, and when dovekit is never found, it gets 50x worse.

but she also doesnt want to say anything about her involvement in fear of getting punished. as time goes on, she starts getting babied by the clan (almost like leopardstar when she was a kid) because her sister disappeared and she took it really hard.

and like on one hand, she likes the attention, but on the other hand its too much a lot of the time. she starts adopting this “stop babying me!1!1!!!”/kinda edgy persona. the clan takes it like shes grieving, and she’ll grow out of it, so they dont say too much.

so the book opens w/ ivypaw and fernpaw’s apprentice ceremony. brief context about how fern was recently found by the thunderclan border w/o parents and taken into the clan. fernsong is apprenticed to brightheart. ivypool is apprenticed to cinderheart.

firestar probably thinks that they might be able to bond/break through to each other because they recently lost a sister/adjacent sister. neither of them are particularly enthusiastic about it.

cinderheart isnt particularly invested in ivypaw’s training. ivypaw can tell and gets rightfully frustrated, bc brightheart and fernpaw are getting along great and making lots of progress, while ivypaw is falling behind becuase cinderheart is being a terrible mentor.

ivypaw starts fighting back (disobeying, talking back, etc.), partially because this is the only time she gets paid attention, and partially because shes just mad, which makes cinderheart mad, which then makes ivypaw fight back more. this causes cinderheart to become more and more distant. in short: ivypaw’s apprenticeship is a disaster.

at some point during training, theyre practicing climbing trees and cinderheart tells ivypaw to do something. to spite her, ivypaw does the opposite and ends up falling, dislocating her leg. cinderheart panics and cinderpelt emerges.

cinderpelt basically possesses cinderheart and relocates her arm. they go back to camp and take ivypaw to the medicine cat den, gives ivypaw some poppy seeds and ditches.

“wow um. wtf was that” says cinderheart. leafpool is like, “hahaha………… about that. you’re um… cinderpelt reincarnated.”

“what.” says cinderheart

“CINDERHEART IS CINDERPELT REINCARNATED???” screams foxleap at the top of his lungs in the middle of camp. whatever was left of cinderheart’s life shatters.

so now instead of ignoring her, the entire camp won’t leave her alone - except now they just treat her as they would cinderpelt. “hey cinderheart remember when [enter something that happened in the old forest here]??” “hey cinderheart can you fix my paw??” “hey cinderpelt-” “are you going to become a medicine cat then??”

to pour more salt into the wound, cinderheart now gets a free commentary on everything in her life!! (this definitely includes lionblaze) there used to be sort of a barrier between cinderheart/cinderpelt but since cinderpelt emerged/took control, it shattered.

so between cinderpelt complaining about all the terrible decisions she’s made and the entire clan pretending that she’s cinderpelt instead of a Completely Different Person, when hawkfrost shows up w/ an invite to fight club on the weekends cinderheart is more than happy to take him up.

sure hawkfrost is wildly annoying and clearly hates her guts for some reason (no matter how hard he pretends not to whenever tigerstar is around) but this is great for three reasons.

1) nobody in the dark forest has any idea she’s cinderpelt. 2) warrior training!! emphasizing she is a Warrior not a medicine cat. 3) time away from cinderpelt!! they arent the same soul so they cant read each other’s thoughts (unless theyre trying to communicate) and cant share dreams

so she might be purposely oblivious. whatever. she doesnt even know who hawkfrost is b/c anybody outside of riverclan immediately forgot about him because he really was not very effective at all. and its not like hes about to start spilling the beans until shes ready to be indoctrinated w/ dark forest propaganda.

meanwhile, tensions between shadowclan and thunderclan have been rapidly rising. again. prey is being stolen, scents are on other territories, patrols get into skirmishes often.

firestar is hurt because he was trying to get mistystar to lay off on the territory and blackstar is mad because they literally Just got back and thunderclan is ALREADY trying to reinstate old rivalries.

cinderheart really isnt paying attention to what’s going on cuz shes. more than a little wrapped up in her own problems. until it turns into a war.

this battle feels way more vicious than normal. cinderheart tries to recall how this whole thing started and realizes she has absolutely no idea what tf is going on???

throughout the fight she notices weird stuff happening. mousewhisker and redwillow nod to each other. ratscar + blossomfall swap glances. applefur pulls snowbird off thornclaw’s back. literally wtf thinks cinderheart

and then russetfur takes a stab at firestar. out of nowhere, thornclaw goes for her throat. cinderheart barely saves russetfur in the nick of time - the injuries are bad enough that she is forced to retire.

“screw literally everyone in thunderclan except u” blackstar says pointing @ cinderheart “and i hope the rest of you rot in the dark forest.” he rounds the rest of shadowclan up and then leaves.

“well that was weird” says cinderheart. she goes off to find ivypaw and realizes that shes. not responding. oh thats a lot of blood-

cinderpelt pops up again and works w/ cinderheart to patch up ivypaw until she’s stable. they bring her into the medicine den together and let leafpool look her over. she says that they made it in time and ivypaw will live. she leaves to go look after the other patients, leaving cinderheart with her apprentice

cinderheart realizes that this is her fault. had she actually paid attention to ivypaw and given her proper training, this wouldn’t have happened. she resolves to try a lot harder to be a good mentor for ivypaw’s sake.

cinderpelt approves and apologizes for being so intrusive on cinderheart’s life. she really doesnt want to be in here either - this was a decision the idiots in starclan forced on her. she was taking it out on cinderheart, which wasn’t fair for her.

cinderpelt promises to try to give cinderheart as much privacy as she can (while trying to figure out how to get out of her brain). cinderheart thanks her. there’s a brief bonding moment.

cinderpelt says that since ivypaw seems stable she’s going to go to sleep now, since she exhausted herself earlier.

just as cinderpelt goes out to the back of cinderheart’s mind, blossomfall comes storming in about how cinderheart messed the plan up and how cinderheart screwed everything up for everyone & she’s a traitor to the cause, Honestly cinderheart you’re so useless-

“literally wtf are you talking about” says cinderheart

“you saved russetfur,” blossomfall says. “if we take out the leaders and deputies, we can destabilize the clans enough that taking over will be a piece of cake. are you a dark forest trainee or not, cinderheart?”

end of book

[raggydraws]

Traitor Blackfoot au? 👀

Alight here it is! This is a much better spell checked version of when I poorly wrote it out on discord! (Warning for kitten death mentions)

Basically Blackfoot plots to kill brokenstar for the death of his nephew Badgerkit, building his trust and eventually becoming his deputy. He and Yellowfang start working together, hoping to take him out before he can plan another raid and get more kits killed. However Brokenstar catches wind of Yellowfang plotting against him and exiles her, blaming the death of two kits on her. Blackfoot is told to drive her out of shadowclan territory and he does, straight into Thunderclan territory with the words "Hopefully their nosy heroism can help us this time."

Yellowfang eventually recruits Firepaw into the plot and after the shadowclan raid and following rescue, while Brokenstar is escaping with his followers Blackfoot chases him onto the thunderpath as a car is passing and gets him killed all at once.

Blackfoot remains in exile after Brokenstar dies, by his own choice as he knows his clan won't trust him after all the things he did to gain Brokenstar's trust. To keep any consequences to a minimum and keep his remaining family safe only Yellowfang (who is now a Thunderclan cat) and Nightpelt (who's already on shaky ground as an elder leading a broken clan)know what his true intentions were. He goes back to Twoleg Place where he meets up with his kittenhood friend Red(Russetfur) who tells him all that's happened since he left. She tells him about Bloodclan and how their leader is a tiny vindictive cat named Scourge (important info for later) and how he's got some sort of grudge on a clan cat. He spends the next few books just hanging out and meeting other rouges who eventually join shadowclan later on like Russetfur, Boulder, etc.

Later on around Tigerclaw's exile he runs into Fireheart and the two stop to chat. He thanks blackfoot for taking out Brokenstar before he could harm Frostfur's kits and tells him how Yellowfang is doing. He also tells him about Tigerclaw and Blackfoot gets suspicious as there's been no word of the broad shouldered tabby in twoleg place. They part ways after that, Fireheart promises he'll have more info on Shadowclan next time he sees him, and Blackfoot follows his gut and gose to check his old home himself.

Tigerclaw is Tigerstar and has taken over shadowclan. Tigerstar sees Blackfoot snooping around and offers this seeming very strong tom who worked with Brokenstar a position. Blackfoot agrees to work for him and starts the process of tricking a leader to trust him all over again.

Although it's a lot tougher this time. Tigerstar knows all the tricks, he's played this game before. He keeps Blackfoot on a leash by threatening his former apprentice Littlecloud and his friends Red and Boulder who came with him.

So Blackfoot does eventually become deputy again but he's not allowed to leave Tigerstar or Darkstripe's side. It isnt up until Tigerstar is distracted by sicking the dogs on Thunderclan and taking over Riverclan that Blackfoot and Russetfur are able to sneak away back to twoleg place to find Bloodclan. They both know that Scourge had a vendetta against a certain clan cat, and Russetfur was able to find out it was Tigerstar through one of his bodyguards Brick. They travel to Bloodclan's hideout and make a deal with Scourge that if he helps them take out a threat in the forest (tigerclan) they'll give him Tigerstar on a platter. Scourge, a little too enthusiastically, agrees.

Fast forward to Stonefur's last stand.

Blackfoot, already having sent Boulder to get bloodclan when this is going down, is more than a little horrified by this and wonders what Tigerstar planned to do with him after this. After Darkstripe fails to kill Stonefur and Tigerstar tells Blackfoot to kill him he drags out the fight as long as possible to give Boulder and Bloodclan time to get there. As soon as he can hear Russetfur's fake warning howl he tells Featherpaw and Stormpaw to run, grabs Stonefur by the scruff and they escape riverclan with Fire, Grey and, Raven as the camp erupts into a battle with the mysterious collar clad cats. Tigerstar loses a few lives in the fight, one to Leopardstar who gets her stuff together and realizes she kind of left her deputy for dead back there, and is forced to retreat back to shadowclan.

Scourge is pissed that he missed his chance to kill Tigerstar but is reassured by Russetfur that this won't be the last battle they have with him. He and bloodclan reluctantly go back to Twoleg Place.

Blackfoot, Fireheart, Ravenpaw, Greystripe, his kits and stonefur retreat to Thunderclan. Featherpaw and Stormpaw are traumatized and don't feel safe in the forest with Tigerstar still around and Stonefur's injuries are too much for the medicine cats to treat. Blackfoot tells them that a twoleg might be able to save Stonefur and keep Feather n Storm safe while this all blows over, Fireheart agrees and they take them to Princess to be healed and hide out. Princess of course lets the apprentices stay there and Stonefur is eventually healed by the vets. Blackfoot, now outed as a traitor to Tigerstar stays in Thunderclan and helps his former clanmates escape the crumbling Shadowclan. He also learns of Yellowfang's death and is saddened by this, however he approves of Cinderpelt and tells her that Yellowfang made a good choice with her. Now that Shadowclan is sort of without a leader a few cats start suggesting Blackfoot become leader of Shadowclan, after everything he's done for them Starclan couldn't refuse to give him nine lives. Blackfoot avoids these conversations. Riverclan eventually joins thunderclan as well as windclan, The leaders + Scourge, Bone and, Brick plan their strategy to corner Tigerstar and what's left of his 'Tigerclan' at fourtrees.

When they do Blackfoot stops the leaders from stopping Scourge killing Tigerstar, saying "This is his payment, both Tigerclaw's and Bloodclan."

After killing Tigerstar Scourge gleefully thanks Blackfoot for giving him the opportunity to get rid of the cat who sent him down his path of life.

"But," the tiny cat shrilled "I feel like I got the short end of the tail here boys~"

"You're big bad problem was my payment," he paused a moment in thought "But i don't think that enough! You'll get your land back but what about my bloodclan? We go back to eating left behind scrapes?" The crowd of bloodclan cats around them murmured in agreement, deafening the clan cats protests by their sheer amount of numbers "You gave us a taste of prey rich forests wild cat! You expect us to just leave that behind, I don't think so!"

Scourge claims that he wants a very large chunk of the forest territories for his clan to live on. The clans, of course, refuse. Scourge insists. They continue to refuse.

"Fine, I was being nice, only asking for a little bit. Guess I have to take all of it by force then."

Scourge gives them the 3 day ultimatum and the darkest hour goes on as normal, except Blackfoot keeps refusing to go to the moonstone.

It ends with the clans victorious and Blackfoot telling the clans he doesn't want to be leader as most of this can be blamed on him and he doesnt deserve it. Shadowclan argues that were it not for him they night be worse off. After another heart to heart with Firestar he finally agrees to lead shadowclan and appoints Russetfur as his deputy on the spot. His first life is given to him by Badgerfang who thanks him for avenging him and the other kits. Blackstar cries.

That or Russetfur becomes Russetstar and Blackfoot spends the rest of his days dragging tigerstar's and Brokenstar's ghosts thru the mud

[lolo314]

Soma Week Day 1: Dare

@soulxmakaweek

I love these idiots so I figured I’d try my hand at this whole Soma week thing, lol.

Title: The Dare. (so creative).

Notes: It’s a college au so the drinking is totally legal.

Summary: Drunk idiot makes bad decisions.

A03: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23988775

Also sending love to @friday1221 for making an awesome art for this fic.<3

Maka didn’t expect her day to end like this, her lips on Soul’s in an urgent kiss.

When she woke up that morning, it was like any other Saturday. Soul slept way past noon with the excuse of it being a weekend, Maka made breakfast and worked on her assignments for the next week before their paths crossed for what was her lunch and his breakfast.

“Blackstar says to take a cab. Apparently we’ll be too drunk to drive after. “he said in between large bites. Their friend had been harassing them about a small get-together he had planned since Monday, ensuring them they’d have a great time. Maka had been hesitant, knowing the aftermath of Blackstar’s idea of fun, but reluctantly agreed, promising herself she wouldn’t wake up the next day with a hangover.

“I’ll drive us. I’m not planning to drink anyways.” she already felt tired thinking about taming a drunk Soul.

“That’s… How about I drive us for once?” she scuffed, carrying her empty place to the sink.

“I’m not paying a ticket for drunk driving.” He opened his mouth but she cut him off with her hand.

“Its fine, Soul.  I don’t mind.” She smiled before sitting herself on the couch, picking up a

book to get lost in until it was time to get ready. They didn’t talk much after that. She could tell something was on his mind as he moved about the apartment, but he didn’t seem ready to share it.

 The low rumbling of the engine was the only sound breaking the silence of the car ride to Blackstar’s and Tsubaki’s apartment.

“Hey, Maka. “he was fidgeting with a lose string of his T-Shirt, his gaze on the passing view.

“I hope you don’t drink because you hate the taste of alcohol and not because you have to deal with me when I’m drunk.” When he turned to look at her she could tell he had thought about this a lot. That’s what he’s been thinking about all day?

“It’s fine, Soul. Don’t worry about it.” She was smiling, but he didn’t seem convinced.

“Don’t ruin your fun on my account. It’s a Saturday night. Live a little. “she considered him for a few minutes, running her options through her head. She didn’t want to ruin his night by making him worry about her having fun, but it was hard to shake the feeling that it would be messy if they both let loose.

“So you want me to not think about you? You’re weird.” He laughed, looking relieved the atmosphere had shifted into something brighter.

“Okay then. I’ll try to relax.” He exhaled, before smiling widely.

“You know it’s ridiculous that we need to have a conversation about you letting loose at a party, right?”

“What can I say? I’m just that special.” They both laughed as the approached their friend’s house, both oblivious to what awaited them.

”Let’s play truth or dare!” Backstar’s voice stood out among all the chattering. He and Liz were drunk by hour two of the small party, only half aware of what was happening.

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea.” Tsubaki pulled a half empty cup of beer from Blackstar’s hand.

“Last time we played you ended up crying…” Maka could clearly remember the memory Tsubaki was referencing. Soul and Liz had ended up dumping him in a bathtub full of water to sober him up, and maybe get a laugh out of it.

“Huh?” his face twisted in confusion.

“Don’t you remember? When you asked if it was true that I am single?” fear masked his features.

“You’re not?” he seemed ready to cry.

“Star..We’ve been dating for two years. Honestly, how much did you drink?” his face lit up.

“Who cares? Let’s play!” he sat himself on the floor , dragging Tsubaki down with him and gesturing for everyone to follow him. When everyone had taken their seats, the game begun.

“I’ll start!” Liz’s hand shot up and her eyes fell on Kid.

“Truth or Dare?” he weighed his options, considering her past challenges when drunk.

“Truth.” She frowned.

“You’re no fun… Truth it is. Is it true that I’m the best girlfriend you’ve ever had?”

“You’re the only girlfriend I’ve had. I can’t compare. “she pushed herself towards him and flicked his forehead.

“ You’re supposed to say yes!” he only laughed, placing a comforting hand around her shoulders.”

After a few turns, Blackstar turned to Maka.

“Truth or Dare?” Soul’s words flashed in her mind as she weighed her options.

“Dare.” A devious smile spread across his face.

“Now we’re talking! Maka, I dare you to chug that entire cup.” He pointed to the untouched alcohol. Live a little. She took a deep breath and pulled the cup to her lips, taking it all in one swift motion. Cheers erupted around her. She laughed, her head spinning and her throat burning by the sudden intrusion. She glanced at Soul, who was clapping along with everyone else.

After a lot more rounds, during which everyone, particularly Maka, had gotten considerably drunker.

“I dare you to Kiss Soul!” Liz’s words were slightly slurred when she pointed at Maka.

“Naaah. She wot do t. I’v ased bfore.” Blackstar’s head shook dramatically as he spat out broken words. Maka looked at Blackstar, clearly expecting her to take another shot. She looked at Soul, who seemed to agree with their friend.

She could faintly hear a voice in the back of her mind screaming as she crawled toward him. Her body moved on its own and she was too tipsy to stop herself from taking his face in her hands and crashing her lips against his, ignoring any consequences it would have on their relationship.  The moment their lips locked, she momentarily forgot about the game. Something felt right and she didn’t want to stop, but her mind finally caught up with her and she pulled way, now facing a completely shocked Soul.

“Damn! That was intense!” Liz was giggling as she clapped and yelled. She moved back to her seat, trying to ignore Soul, whose cheeks were a deep shade of red, his mouth hanging open. She smiled as she took another sip of her drink, only faintly aware that she’d regret everything the next day.

When Maka woke up the next morning her head throbbed. She blinked a few times, trying to adjust her eyes to the light. Memories slowly came back to her. The party, truth or dare, drinking. A lot of drinking, kissing Soul. Wait… What?! Her body shot up, instantly regretting the action. Her vision blurred, her head spun.

“You’re awake?” Soul’s head peeked through the door before he walked in with a tray in his hands.  She took her head in her hands, squeezing her eyes shut, trying to remember the details. I kissed Soul… It was for a dare… but I kissed him… and… I liked it? She mentally slapped herself, hard. Don’t be stupid. He’s your best friend.

“I’m guessing you feel like shit… I’ve been there.” He ran a hand through his hair, averting his gaze.

“I, uh, brought you some toast and some water. You’re probably dehydrated… I also brought some aspirin… Take that too...” he stood awkwardly, waiting for her brain to go back to its original place. She avoided his gaze as she took the water in her hands, putting the aspirin in her mouth. She took a deep breath and dared a look at him, soon realizing that was a mistake.

“Shit.” She ran to the bathroom, unloading everything that entered her body in the last 24 hours. Soul run after her, holding her hair back until she was done.

The next few hours had been hell.  Her stomach turned, her head felt like it was about to bust and even so, her brain found in impossible to stop replaying the scene in her head. His lips on hers, the taste of his mouth. Shut up!

His presence didn’t help. He had been taking care of her all day, trying to help her get through her hangover as smoothly as possible. She hadn’t spoken any word to him other than a thank you here and there, too ashamed to say anything else.

“Are you feeling any better?” he sat himself on the edge of the couch, as if trying not to disturb anything around her.

“Not really… Seriously... I promised myself I wouldn’t get drunk but…” he smiled apologetically. What is he sorry for?

“I’m sorry… I should’ve probably stopped you before you got completely out of it… It’s just… you looked like you were having fun…” she shook her head.

“Don’t worry about it. It was my fault..” she looked at the cup of water in her hands, trying to find the right words to apologize.

“I’m sorry about this…” she could feel his eyes on her, but she refused to look at him.

“Don’t be. Think of it as payback for making you take care of me when I’m hangover.” He laughed, trying to ease the tension. She looked away, feeling terrible that he saw it that way. She took care of him because she wanted to, not because she felt obligated to do so. She jumped when she felt his hands on her shoulder.

“Hey, Maka Look at me.” She took a deep breath and turned her face, trying to avert her eyes from his lips, focusing on his eyes instead.

“It’s fine. Seriously. “ his hand dropped and he retreated to his seat. An awkward silence engulfed them. She had done it. She had broken the connection. The comfort. Stupid Maka… She desperately tried to think of a way to take things back the way they were.

“How come you’re not hangover? Didn’t you drink?” he shook his head.

“Nah. Didn’t feel like it.” Her heart dropped. He would never admit it, but she could read between the lines. Someone had to take care of you…  Not only did you ruin your friendship… you also ruined his night…

“Sorry… Did I give you a hard time last night? I don’t really remember what happened after that drink … after…” her voice trailed off, refusing to name it. He nodded in understanding.

“No… you kind of just fell asleep..” her eyes widened.

“I fell asleep? So… how did I get here?” she wanted to take the words back the moment they left her mouth. She already knew what was coming and it only worsened her guilt.

“I carried you… Uh.. yeah… Do you need more water?” he rose from the seat and practically sprinted to the kitchen, leaving her alone with her thoughts. I’ve done it… I’ve ruined us…

[goosewhisker]

russetfur vs. the entirety of skyclan || ch. 2

read this on ao3 || read this on fanfiction.net

chapter one

summary:  After enduring months of Turtlekit and Kitekit’s abuse, Rootkit finally snaps and accidentally awakens his powers. This has the unfortunate side effect of reviving the ghost of an angry Shadowclan warrior who: 1) is personally offended by Skyclan’s existence, and 2) has magnanimously taken it upon herself to relieve the world of that burden. Or something.

thanks for all the likes/reblogs/comments guys!! honestly i got way more support than i was expecting and i’m so grateful to all of you. now i bring you chapter two: In Which Rootkit Realizes He’s Over His Head

Rootkit starts with some research.

Once a long time ago, back when he'd been awed by his dad's abilities and not ashamed of them, Tree had told him and Needlekit how he pacified ghosts.

"First, of course, you have to talk to them," Tree'd told them.

"Like you always do!" Rootkit had chimed in. Even then, he'd known of his father's preference for talking over fighting.

Tree had purred. "Of course. Most ghosts don't want to fight; they just have unfinished business here. Talking first can save you a lot of time in getting to the root of the problem."

"What then?" Needlekit had asked.

"The ghost gives you a task. Usually, they want to right a wrong, or speak to their loved ones one last time. Something like that."

"Woah..."

"Once you complete the task, they'll be at peace. The ghost will be able to move on to the afterlife, or wherever they were supposed to go after they died."

In other words: figure out the unfinished business and finish it. Rootkit's already tried talking, with... not much success. Of course, that's hardly the only way of figuring out what a ghost's deal is; one of Tree's favorite stories had been about trying to help a mute she-cat whose throat had been torn out by dogs.

She'd wanted him to find her kittens and take them back to her owners, or something. Rootkit forgot.

Anyway, that's not the point. The point is that there's more than one way to skin a cat (wait, no, bad expression) and Rootkit doesn't have to talk to the crazy lady to get her pacified.

So. Research.

Rootkit starts off with Petalnose. Old people, in Rootkit's experience, know all the local gossip, and Petalnose is the oldest of everyone Rootkit knows. Except Leafstar, maybe, but he's not about to bother Leafstar for something like this.

Especially if she's really having second thoughts about his warrior ceremony.

Petalnose, at least, seems to have no such doubts. Unlike most of the clan, she's never seemed bothered by Tree's weirdness, and never treated Rootkit differently because of it. He appreciates that.

"Rootkit!" Petalnose exclaims when he climbs into the elders den. She jabs a paw into Fallowfern's side, who abruptly wakes up with a snort. "Look who's here!" she adds, gesturing to Rootkit with her tail.

"Hi, Rootkit," Fallowfern says, a little too loudly. Petalnose flicks her tail gently in the way that Rootkit's learned means a little softer. Fallowfern's voice is a little quieter when she says, "What brings you here?"

Rootkit plops down in front of the elders and regards them seriously. "I'm here about a cat," he says. "She said..." he trails off as an idea creeps into his mind. "Frecklewish said," he begins slowly. "She said something about a cat named Russetfur. And I wanted to know if you knew something about that."

It's vague and sketchy as heck, but Petalnose hums thoughtfully. "The name sounds sort of familiar. I think Tawnypelt may have mentioned her, when she was still here. Do you-?" She turns to Fallowfern and makes a conplicated series of gestures with her paws, tail, and ears that leaves Rootkit breathless trying to keep up.

After a moment, Fallowfern's expression clears. "Russetfur?" Her voice is too loud again, but Petalnose doesn't seem to mind. "She was Shadowclan's deputy once. Tawnypelt told us about her, remember?"

"Right!" Petalnose nods and turns back to Rootkit with a smile. "It was a long time ago, I think, before Rowanclaw became leader. Does that answer your question, hun?"

Rootkit considers this. It answers some questions - why she thought the camp was Shadowclan's territory, for one. She must've died back when it was still Shadowclan's. And she thought he smelled like a rogue because she didn't know Skyclan's scent.

It doesn't explain what her unfinished business is, though. Or why she's here in Skyclan's camp instead of at her own. But Rootkit thinks he might know the answer to the last one.

"Do you know how she died?" he asks.

Petalnose blinks, thrown. "Ah... no. Why do you ask?"

Rootkit abruptly remembers that it's a pretty weird thing to ask, no matter who's asking the question, and suddenly all his enthusiasm evaporates. "No reason," he mumbles, and slinks out of the den before she can say anything else.

When he gets outside, Russetfur is sitting by the entrance.

Rootkit yelps, backpedalling frantically, but Russetfur ignores it. "What is this?" she demands. "Some make-believe clan?"

"A... what?"

The she-cat turns on him, eyes sparking with fury. "A bunch of kittypets, playing pretend? Some of your Twoleg-coddlers haven't even changed their names. Harrybrook? Macgyver?" she snorts. "What kind of pathetic housepet names are those?"

Rootkit blinks at her, stung. They might look at him weird, but those are his clanmates she's talking about, and she has no right to make fun of them like that. "Hey-" he begins, but she steamrolls right over him.

"And not only do you embarrass the Clans' names with your little roleplay, you have the nerve to do it on Shadowclan land!"

"But it's not-"

"When leafbare comes, and you mewling Twoleg-snoggers get a taste of real hardship for the first time, you'll go running right back to your masters," Russetfur snarls. "And leave the forest for the real warriors. This is the land of our conquest! We carved out a place for ourselves 'mid hardship and suffering and war and we painted our border lines with blood! You pathetic coddled pets aren't even worthy of the air we breathe, let alone-"

Rootkit screws his eyes shut and screams, at the top of his lungs, "We're not kittypets, you old hag!"

Perfect silence descends on them, and it's only then that Rootkit realizes he's standing in the middle of the camp. Everyone's conversations have stuttered to a halt to stare at him and Russetfur, and no one's looking at Russetfur.

Rootkit swallows and wonders if it's too late to run away forever.

"Then what the Dark Forest are you," Russetfur says, and he remembers whose fault this all is in the first place.

"We're Skyclan," he hisses, glancing furtively at the rest of the camp. Everyone's still staring. "We were one of the original clans, but we got kicked out when the Twolegs took our territory. We just got back to the lake, only you don't know 'cause you've been dead," he adds in a vicious whisper.

Russetfur stares at him.

"Even if your stupid story was true," she says after a beat, "Any clan too weak to protect its territory deserves to be kicked out," and Rootkit sees red.

A second later, he's sprawled in the dirt several tail-lengths away with a brand new bruise across the face. Great, now the whole of Skyclan's seen him get belted halfway across the camp by thin air. This will do wonders for his reputation.

"Don't you try to get one over me, boy," Russetfur shouts. "I've been kicking warriors' butts all the way back to the nursery since before you were born."

Yeah, 'cause you've been dead since before I was born, Rootkit thinks, but he's not dumb enough to point it out. He's about to struggle to his feet when a shadow steps between him and the ghost.

"What's all this about," Tree says, a hint of something dangerous in his voice.

Russetfur, to her credit, doesn't seem cowed at all. She spits on the ground between them and raises her head to glare directly into his eyes. "Teaching that fool boy a lesson."

"That 'fool boy' happens to be my son," Tree says, and then, with an unnervingly pleasant tone, he adds, "Lay another paw on him and I'll rip it off."

A clump of dried bracken rolls by in the wake of Tree's announcement, and for a moment, no one moves.

Then Russetfur blurs. When the outlines of her shape resettle, she's poised with claws outstretched over Tree's vulnerable, unguarded throat. Rootkit wonders hysterically why she bothered to stop when she starts laughing. Unlike her earlier cold laughter, this seemed genuinely amused.

"Interesting," she says, and the mirth in her voice sends shivers down Rootkit's spine. Then he realizes that Tree's claws are suspended over her belly, at precisely the angle needed to rip out her intestines with one move. "At least one of you has something like a spine." Faster than Rootkit can follow, she smacks Tree aside with one paw, sending him hurtling to the ground next to Rootkit.

"Dad!" Rootkit wails, scurrying over to him, but Tree flings out a paw to stop him.

"What do you want, ghost?" he calls out. His voice is unruffled and perfectly steady despite his fall.

"I want you gone," Russetfur says. "I want you and the rest of this kittypet clan to go crawling back to your masters with your tails between your legs. And I won't rest until I see it happen."

Tree rises and shakes the dust from his pelt. His eyes are half-lidded, like he truly doesn't care. "I suppose we're at an impasse, then. This camp is Skyclan's home; Shadowclan gave it to us themselves."

Russetfur snorts. "Blackstar would sooner hang himself by his own intestines than hand over any land to kittypets like you."

... right, whoever that is. Rootkit watches Tree blink in confusion. Russetfur doesn't seem to notice.

"This is my declaration of war," she announces. It's snarled like a challenge, thrown down like a glove on the ground between them. "Me versus the whole of Kittypetclan. Your chances are looking dim, housepet."

Tree visibly sighs. "Ma'am, no one wants that," he says. "If you'd listen, perhaps we could come to a reasonable agreement that everyone's happy with."

"The only agreement I'll be happy with is you and your lot of Twoleg toys dead!" Russetfur lunges at his dad, but even as Tree braces himself for the attack, the ghost dissipates into thin air that blows past him like wind.

Rootkit, who's close enough to feel it, shudders as the ice-cold air claws at his skin.

Tree blinks and relaxes his muscles belatedly. There's a moment of silence before someone asks, "Uh, was there a ghost?"

Rootkit starts and turns to the crowd, having almost forgotten they were there.

"In the camp?" Reedclaw frets. "Is that safe?"

"Hey, wait." Pigeonfoot cranes her head to get a glimpse of Rootkit. Rootkit realizes what's coming even before she says it, and his heart sinks. "Rootkit was talking to it before you even got here. Does that mean he can see ghosts too?"

Rootkit freezes.

And then Tree steps in front of him, shielding him from their audience. "It's not uncommon for kits to able to see ghosts," he says evenly. "Kits tend to have greater sensitivity to the spiritual and can sense a lot of things adults can't. It'll probably disappear as he grows older. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get my son to the nursery."

Rootkit stares at his dad and, to his horror, feels tears of gratitude welling up in the corner of his eyes. "Dad," he begins, but Tree just shushes him and picks him up by the scruff of his neck in a way he hasn't done since Rootkit was a couple moons old. Rootkit lets himself be carried back to the nursery and when his dad drops him in a nest and curls around him, he doesn't protest.

Needlekit crawls over from the nest they'd shared earlier. "What happened out there," she asks in a small voice, and Rootkit finds that his throat is too choked to answer her.

His dad purrs comfortingly and a moment later Rootkit feels Tree's tongue rasp gently over his head. "We'll get her out of here," he says. "And no one will be hurt. I promise."