#this is either an advanced form of trolling or they... you know... have a thing for incest

[theprinceandthewitch]

... The official Japanese Tiktok channel posted a Alice/Orpheus video a few days before Valentines day [2/10/2024].

Uh.

Wow this pretty much proves Alice and Orpheus aren't "adopted siblings"... because you know... they needed to get the okay to post this video. Like yeah, this is a silly little video.... but they wouldn't have done this if they're intended to be siblings. They already have a canon couple to work with [Eda/Emil] so to make a Valentines Day video with Alice and Orpheus is... interesting. Especially when you take into account Ashes of a memory part 2 came out before this video.

I mean the whole adopted siblings thing was a stretch to begin with, since they got that whole Orpheus and Eurydice thing going on. Ppl seriously thought IDV was subverting the Orpheus and Eurydice myth by making Alice and Orpheus siblings... which is an incredibly weird thing to say. Do I really need to explain how applying a myth about lovers to siblings is weird as fuck even if youre trying to subvert it?

Also, the people in the comments section over on tiktok have such an audacity about them... acting like they know the lore better than an OFFICIAL ACCOUNT FOR THE GAME. Yeah, the JP tiktok channel can be silly sometimes... but they still know more about the game then the fans do

Please take a shower, then go outside to touch some grass.

I've also read somewhere that there's an official cosplay video with Orpheus and Alice that plays this love song in the background. One of the cosplayers reposted the video with the ship tag. I'd still need to find this post to see if this is real, but like... idk, how much proof does a person need to understand theyre not siblings lol.

[kanzakurawrites]

Hi I really like your descendants fic and your posts, so I have a question. If descendants was a pg16 show that actually did it's worldbuilding what elements would you ADD, which elements would you remove and what would you expand on?

Oooh, this is an interesting question. I'm sorry it took so long to get this answered! (and apologizing in advance for any rambling that takes place)

First things first, I'd want the show to switch between the Isle and Auradon. I am PERFECTLY fine with the main cast staying the main characters from the first three films. So it would be eye-opening, and good for the characters, for the show to have switched between the Auradonians, the Core Four, and the Sea Three.

I'd also want at LEAST the entire first episode, preferably first two or three, to have the Core Four on the Isle. Working with THEIR gang. So we can see what it is like for them to live on the Isle, what its like for them to be around their parents, and how they interact with others, before going straight to Auradon.

Now, Isle-related things.

I definitely know I'd want to add more elements of abuse on the Isle. It's implied in the movies, but they also seem to backtrack at times. (Dizzy's "wicked step-grandmother" comment, and then suddenly portraying Lady Tremaine as caring - the Vk's running to the Isle to see their parents.) It would need to be shown that the Isle is a HORRIBLE place. Physical, emotional.... and other forms of abuse. These things HAPPEN, and they are going to happen on the Isle.

As much as I hate to say it, there is definitely teen pregnancy on the Isle. There's also a lot of death for ALL ages.

Remember Mal's comment about gang activity? Let's see it. Show us the gangs, the fights, the rules, the alliances. Show us the politics on the Isle, and how these are CHILDREN fighting for their lives. Which also means injuries and scars.

There are all sorts of HORRIBLE crimes that people get sent to jail for (I really don't want to type the words since it makes me sick to my stomach), and those people are ON. THE. ISLE. It's not just the villains from the fairy tales on the Isle, its all the criminals as well. There's a lot of reasons the VK's have gangs, and keeping each other safe is one of them.

With that said, not all the VK's are going to be good either. Some of them will end up bad in the end. Just like there are going to be bad people in Auradon.

And then with the barrier, are seasons a thing on the Isle or does the dome mean that the temperature stays relatively the same? Are the summers scorching and winters freezing and dirty, given the pollution over the Isle? Things can't even grow!

How DID the Isle get approved? Was it better in the beginning? Did they just not think that villains could have children? These are questions that need to be answered, because even without purposefully trying to make it dark, the things we know about the Isle are sickening to think about. Nothing can grow, food is always rotten, everything is crumbling, and there is horrible pollution.

What is illness like on the Isle? It can't be good, it would run rampant. I want to see how it's dealt with.

And finally, how does the Isle affect the magical people there? Witches could probably be okay being cut off from magic, but fairies? They are inherently magical. Magic is apart of them. Same goes with Ursula, Morgana, Hades (though he's probably not affected at all). Trolls, dwarves (there have to be some), goblins, pixies, etc. Any on the isle, and their children, how are they affected here? Does Uma feel a loss in her chest when she's near the sea? Does Mal mourn her horns and wings? (and will she ever get any?) Is it painful? Do they get sick when they're in Auradon and finally around all this magic? Because you can't just... get rid of magic. It's going to be there.

Auradon Things:

I would really want to expand on how Auradon came to be. Along with the, likely, war that happened when rounding up the villains cause there's no way that was peaceful.

Politics. I want the politics. How do all these kingdoms work? What political parties are there? How are views on the Isle handled?

Arranged-Marriages are a thing. Not everyone does it, but I feel like we can all agree that some people (*cough*Leah*cough*) believe that they are superior to "Falling in love." I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Audrey and Ben had an arranged marriage.

Abuse. It's not just a thing on the Isle, but it's in Auradon as well, just in a different way. While there's a lot more physical abuse on the Isle, there's verbal and emotional in Auradon. Leah and, though I hate saying it, Beast are perfect examples. Leah constantly puts Audrey down, she makes her feel inferior. Beast made his sixteen year old High King... I'm sure I could find more examples for him but I think that's a pretty big thing right there.

Another thing to expand on is the equality issue in Auradon. The "sidekicks" got the short end of the deal, even though Ben tried to make it better, as the dwarves and animals weren't being PAID. They just worked all the time for the Royals. Magical people have seemed to be pushed aside, like Beast wants them all gone. Jane couldn't even train her with her magic! And she's Fairy Godmother's daughter! The three good fairies and other fairies from Aurora's kingdom are actively having to not use magic. How do Kingdom's like Corona (Ruby has the 70ft hair, so some semblance of magic had to be passed down. Magic is also canonical in Tangled the Series, along with things like DRAGONS), Arendalle, Agrabah, etc. function?

How do things with the gods play out? What is there contract with Auradon, cause I am NOT convinced that they would just let these mortals walk all over them forever. It's one of my biggest issues with Hades on the Isle as well, and why I think there has to be some bigger reason he's on the Isle. (Whether its them waiting for Beast's term to be over, or perhaps something the Fates said)

I'd want to add in how religions play out in Auradon, because all these stories come from different places. There are characters who are canonically religious in their films, good and bad. It's not something you can just erase.

How did Auradon as a whole react when the VK's came over? Were there protests? Was Ben under a lot of heat, or was Beast for letting Ben do this? How were the VK's treated at first? Not everyone was going to be welcoming. Who stood beside Ben, who was neutral, and who went against him?

Then with relationships. Honestly, I really like Mal and Ben, but I'd want to see them develop a relationship. Maybe mention their dreams and hint to the true loves, have them work through the love spell issue, show them dealing with cultural differences. Give them a realistic relationship with more depth.

With Evie, show the expectations her mother would have put on her. Did she have flings? Was she pushed to try to be with any "higher up" Isle male?

Harry and Uma... yeah their together. With the rating up, there is no reason to pretend they aren't or only give small hints. We get to have this relationship and yeah, you know, they are just Harry and Uma.

And when the VKs do come to Auradon, who are their foster parents? Because they have to have someone, right? How is that handled? How are they taken care of?

Then with the abuse they went through, show us the hints. Flinching when there are yells, or when someone goes to touch them. Maybe blank looks, disassociation, just not knowing how to handle relationships! Friendship or with adults! How they see themselves. That stuff does a number on you, even after years. And I understand why Disney didn't go deeply into this, but it also shouldn't just be brushed away. Acknowledging it could have helped just explain some of the VK's actions. (Such as Mal in the third movie, wanting to please the ultimately parental figures around her.)

I really don't think there's much about Descendants that I'd remove, I'd just want to expand on the world and make it... darker, I guess. More realistic vs. sunshine and roses.

(Also. Adding seasons. Seasons EXIST Disney.)

[bookishtheaterlover7]

Hi booky!

Marketing anon here.

So I don’t think whether or not CE is really married is really important at this point (RE: he’s in HW where the majority of relationships…I suspect have strings being pulled in the back).

The fact is that’s the narrative they are going to with and want to sell, so he is just pushing that narrative along. He/they want you to know and think he’s married. I personally believe that’s the important part about all this. But he and others around him are intentionally keeping it vague and I think it’s working to their favor because it plays into the whole privacy thing they were going for.

Saying “my wife is from PT” basically implies he married a woman from PT. That’s not giving anything exact but it’s also implying he married AB, the woman he’s been linked to most recently and she’s from PT. But at the same time, there millions of woman in PT/from PT. Who’s to say he’s not married to one of them, especially if they haven’t come out and said it was with each other? 🤣

So he confirms without actually having to confirm and if I had to make an educated guess, I would say that’s as good as you’re going to get it. Don’t quote me on this though.

I know some team real blogs were saying it’s normal for someone to not say their partner’s name, and that’s true for the most part. Think about how when you meet someone random - and you mention your partner. Do you necessarily say your partner’s name? Probably not, especially if you don’t know the person like that.

The thing is, with CE/AB the plausible deniability and vagueness is a pattern.

It’s not just him once saying my wife in passing, it’s also him not mentioning her for two years, then suddenly mentioning a nameless GF, then eventual nameless wife.

Same goes for her.

“My husband” “my dog” “pictures of the dog but no tags of the husband even tho everyone knows whose dog that is”. Even her trolling best friends do the most and only troll by posting suggestive backgrounds and no direct tags. If you’ve paid attention this entire time it’s very easy to tell there’s a reason they’ve done this for this long. TBH, I had my suspicions at first they were just trying to protect privacy because they hadn’t gone public yet and people were already harassing them. But after they went fully public the same charades continued all the way past the wedding and into the new year? That’s when my suspicions were more or less confirmed - that this was intentional orchestration and some form of strategy. Weird, yes, but not unheard of. In fact, my suspicions are that other celebs have done something similar to this too (re: Leo DiCaprio and Gigi hadid, bill hader and Anna Kendrick). I think in Hollywood there are so many strings being pulled all the time. Nothing is coincidence. Nothing is coincidence in marketing in general. Things are planned out well in advance and I mean this wholeheartedly.

He posted two stories with her and he never says her name out loud (does everyone remember that?), he doesn’t tag her (well she was deactivated, but he doesn’t mention her name in the videos in captions either).

She never refers to him by name and the one time PT reporters tried to talk to her she refused to talk to them. She lets in tags of herself but never anything confirming or alluding to anything directly to him. Notice how before they went public she was letting herself get tagged in basically everything related to their dating rumors and she was keeping all their dating comments in but deleting and untagging others? Now she’s doing the opposite and I feel that may be intentional too. Maybe.

The one time they attend the same premiere - did you notice he didn’t take pics with her? She got her solo pics and then disappeared? She then posts a pic of herself at this premier but doesn’t tag him, the movie, or the cast? Is it ungratefulness or is it strategy? Think about it.

His friends/her friends all post separately from the same place and it’s only this most recent PT sighting he’s in a photo with Joana (weird right?)

You get suggestive follows and likes but no real interactions that can be legitimate.

I believe that’s why TMZ has been acting so shady throughout all of this. I think they know something’s up.

I think everyone knows the big thing at play here is plausible deniability. It always has been.

Wearing wedding rings - ok but anyone can wear a ring TBH? It doesn’t really say too much.

Lastly - in my line of work marketing and PR work the same in some ways but also different. My company puts out press releases (which I help write) when we announce things like winning industry awards, acquisitions, partnerships, rebranding. But we don’t do a ton of really innovative stuff and PR is pretty low maintenance here. So while the methods and processes are the same, I imagine PR in HW is much different, more complex, and more creative (lol). I don’t have any answers for why they do what they do, but I can tell you the vague wording they’ve repeatedly use definitely means something. I don’t think it’s just coincidental.

What I’m trying to get here is that marketing and PR in any industry is going to involve a bit of “fudging the truth and stretching the line to make things seem a certain way to fit a certain narrative. It’s absolutely manipulative when you put it that way but it’s also business. It’s not personal. It’s why I don’t let it get to me and I just let it be. Don’t lose sleep over it. All things will unfold as they should.

Have a great night!

Hey, Marketing An🫶n!

Good to see you again! ☺️ And as I expected, you're insightful. And gave well-articulated thoughts. So, thank you 😌

Have a good night! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[marinaratrench05]

(I apologize in advance for the long ask)

About your little fairy Trolls AU, I'm no entomologist but I do know that there are a huge variety of bugs out there that have many different ways of life that you can pick from. I only know a few off the top of my head (and from what I remember from college biology classes).

You have Pollinators (butterflies, bees, flies etc.): Those that pollinate plants and help them bear food for other animals. (Also known as one of the most important rolls in nature.)

Decomposers (pillbugs, millipedes, termites, etc.): those that eat decaying plant matter to recycle nutrients back into the ecosystem.

Pest Control (spiders, ladybugs, mantises, etc.): those that eat other bugs that could naturally cause harm or unbalance to the ecosystem.

Hive Minds (ants, wasps, etc.): those that are apart of a colony that have their own hierarchy with many different designated jobs that work as one unit.

Course you also have the pests (Mosquitoes, ticks, fleas, any invasive species, etc.): Mostly parasites or those that can cause a great deal of damage to an ecosystem or to a specific plant(s) and/or animal(s) in it.

I don't know what you're looking for specifically, like putting one genre of trolls into a group like these (for example I can totally see the classic trolls being pollinators with how they move and act), or just looking for bugs that you can slap trolls together with (I can personally see rock trolls being spider-like or any of the 'scarier' types of bugs), but hope this helps either way.

No problem! The longer the ask, the more read!

Thanks for all this; I knew the basics of a lot of bug things, but it was a useful reminder. Especially decomposes and pest control.

I'm still tweaking some stuff, but I'll be using a mix bug/fish/mammal attributes. They'll also be related to the ecosystem with a magical twist, like the fairies in Tinkerbell being seasonal helpers. I'll be making individual posts with art for each race, but here's what I've got:

Pop Trolls would be pollinators, mostly butterflies or anything close. They handle spring, and represent similar themes of hope, happiness and rebirth.

Techno Trolls would still be fish, but with more variation and resembling flying fish/ornamental ones. They live in all kinds of bodies of water, but wherever they reside will be more lively. They handle currents and tides, and all things related to it, like storms and rain.

Country Trolls were a toughie for me, but I settled on a sort of centaur form with Hippogrifs (half horse/bird). They handle autumn, relating to decay, harvest and change.

Classical Trolls are bees, more so for the hive vibe they give off, and their importance on harmony and following their conductor/Queen. They handle pollution too, more so in summer.

Funk Trolls were also tricky, but I've thought of a mix between night creatures, like fireflies, some beetles and moths. They're that cool, mysterious vibe you get in the night, with glowing bodies and homes that shine so prettily in the dark.

Finally, we got Rock Trolls, which are a mix of the "scary" bugs and beasts of nature: mosquitoes, bat's, spiders, scorpions, etc. Where most Trolls represent pretty positive outlooks on nature, if complex at worst, Rock Trolls represent chaos, destruction and "breaking the peace" or such. They're that necessary part of life where things need to be torn up and thrown around, if just a little.

This is just my outline for these races, not touching on the other, bigger ones (Bergens and such) which I think I'd keep to the fairy tail vibe for. Until then, have fun with this little taste, and I'll try to answer any questions.

[nekropsii]

Thoughts on troll biology??? - a biology nerd

Oh, honey, I’m so glad we’re in the year of our lord 2022. Had this been, like, 2013 or so, this would have been a dangerous question.

I don’t headcanon much in the way of reinterpreting actual canon- at least not to my knowledge. So, if you don’t mind, I’ll be using some troll biology lore used in Sovereignstuck!

Content Warning: Insect Anatomy Talk. (What Did You Expect? It’s Trolls.)

Let’s start off strong with an assertion of what is canon to actual Homestuck, and then go from there.

Trolls are an alien species of humanoid eusocial insects. It bothers and amuses me deeply when people fail to recognize this, or are somehow surprised that the aliens that are laid as eggs by a giant grub, which then hatch as grubs, and literally pupate into their more humanoid form, are bugs. They sleep in a cocoon, are surrounded by insect-powered biotechnology, are entirely insect themed through and through, and this is acknowledged constantly, yet this is still a shocker… Somehow.

Attempting to streamline what kind of insect trolls are down to one specific kind of bug is a fruitless venture and ultimately missing the point. They’re ants. They’re termites. They’re moths. They’re beetles. They’re all of these at once, but also none of them, because it’s called inspiration for a reason. It doesn’t have to be any one thing, they’re aliens, and it’s more fun to source inspiration from a bunch of different bugs than one kind of bug.

Trolls have elytra. They’re stuck to the body, though, and need either a congenital mutation or a physically traumatic event to crack them open. This is why the Quest Cocoon explodes.

Trolls are nocturnal by nature. It’s very likely that they have tapetum lucidum!

Now that that’s out of the way… Here’s some Sovereignstuck troll biology lore!

When trolls pupate from grubhood, they take on a menagerie of traits from their Guardian. This is called Imprinting. If a troll is raised by a Human, they’re most likely going to look very much like a Human. If they were raised by a Lusus, they take on traits from that Lusus. If they were raised by a Consort, they’re going to look a bit like one. Same thing if they were raised by a Carapacian.

Interestingly, imprinting has benefits outside of physical appearance. Pupating trolls often also gain the biological defense mechanisms that their Guardian has. If their Guardian has venom, they tend to get venom. If their Guardian has protractible or retractable claws, so will the troll.

You know the trashy romance trope of kisses tasting highly specific? For example, “his kiss tasted like rain, smoke, vanilla, and honey,” or something? Yeah, that started because of Rainbow Drinkers. They have extremely specialized senses of taste and smell. Blood tends to have highly specific, usually very good tastes to them, and the flavors tend to depend on the blood color itself. Think of it like a highly advanced form of synesthesia.

You may wonder why I brought up kisses when talking about how Rainbow Drinkers have interesting ways of tasting/smelling blood. That’s because trolls function similarly to humans in the fact that every bodily fluid is just filtered blood, except with trolls, the blood-every other liquid ratio is actually much higher than it is with humans. This is why every bodily fluid is tinted the same color as their blood color.

Speaking of synesthesia, all trolls are born with it! This is because grubs are mostly blind, and rely on other sensory inputs to make their way around. This also means they’re more prone to it than humans are- adolescent/adult synesthesia is merely a holdover from grubhood.

Cuspbloods! Cuspbloods exist. Cuspbloods are trolls straddling the line between different castes, and tend to have a mix of caste-specific traits and abilities because of it. The order in which the colors are stated is Predominant-Recessive. Mituna, for example, is a Gold-Bronze cuspblood.

Psionics actually do have pupils, they’re just largely hidden. You can only see them either at very close proximity, specific angles, or in very specific lighting circumstances. Taking a flash photo of one in a dark room will lead to a very interesting results.

A troll’s horns are made of hard keratin. They’re quite hard to break, and I don’t recommend trying to do so.

The coloration of the horn tells you the amount of nerves an area has. Think of it like the quick of a cat’s claw; If you cut into the orange or- god forbid- the red of the horn, there’s going to be a lot of pain and bleeding.

Most trolls have extra padding on their feet, comparable to a cat or dog. Extra padding on the hands is a bit rarer, and more commonly seen in Olive Bloods than any other caste. Even then, the hand padding is largely regarded as decorative, as they serve no biological function, unlike foot padding.

In regards to extra foot padding- Whether or not a troll is digitigrade, plantigrade, or even something else, is a decently random variable. Sometimes it’s due to imprinting, sometimes it’s just due to the body’s natural reshaping instincts.

Some trolls have tails! This is almost always just due to imprinting, though.

That’s all for today! I have more, but I do believe I’ve held you for long enough. Hit me up if you want any more lore, or even just an expansion on one of my points! Have a nice day!

[astaroth1357]

Ok but like, what if MC's fandom starts to make ships with MC and the guys. Just think about the ship wars, the fancams, the fanarts, the absolute CHAOS when the brothers find out. It would be even worse if they start shipping MC with the undatables, one day everything is normal and the next day there are ship wars fighting over MC x Barbatos vs MC x Solomon (who are both very smug about it)

The MC's Fanclub are… Shippers?!

Perhaps… The italics blurb has been fulfilling its greater purpose all along…? Perhaps in its state of existential angst, it has in fact developed a plot of its own… An arc of introspection and self-discovery in which its own longing for purpose has forged a meaningful identity… It now has… a story…

Lucifer

As if they couldn't get any MORE frustrating…

He's not an otaku. He's not a part of ship culture. He's not even sure why anyone would care about who dates who around this school, but apparently it's a big deal to some people...

He only became aware of their interest in him and the MC's relationship through some very… subtle clues…

Like the groups that would follow them around in the hallways with their phones out.

Or the multitude of fan rumors about their relationship that Satan spams him with from time to time just to irritate him.

"MC refused hug from Luci in halls today!! Are they bout breakup??? 🥺"

"Tots got pic of kiss today!! Relationship upgrade??"

"IS ARE MC+LUCIFER SECET LVRS?!? PLEASE RESPOND"

It only got worse after he found out the MC gets shipped out a loooooot….

If he had to pick his least favorite ship, it'd be MC x Mammon. He can kind of see it with any of his other brothers (admittedly, Levi is also a little mystifying) but the idea of them ending up with Mammon makes his skin crawl...

He once found a drawing of the MC and Mammon in an… explicit position in one of the classrooms and he was so disgusted that he wouldn’t even touch it. He just set fire to the paper outright. Disgusting...

Mammon

Shipping, eh…? More money making opportunities!

Has some passing idea of what shipping is from Levi and, from what he knows of it, shippers eat cutesy couples stuff right up!! If all he's got to do to make bank is to look all couple-y around the MC then sounds like a win-win to him!

He'll happily pose for a photo or two (paid in advance) of him throwing his arm around the MC or something. Want him to hold their hand? Sure thing!

But since this is still Mammon we're talking about, the second MC actually starts getting into any of it he'll still turn into a blushy, stuttery mess...

For WEEKS the headline picture on so many of their fans' blogs was an image of him turning beet red while the MC kissed him on the cheek. (A fan really got their money's worth there... 😏)

Though he doesn’t exactly like the MC getting shipped with other people, he'll still totally sell pictures of any of them together. He almost paid off an entire credit card with the money he got from the t-shirt sales of the MC and Satan!

If he had to point to one ship he doesn't like it's either MC x Asmo or MC x Levi. His opinion, but Asmo won't treat them right and they could do waaay better than a shut-in. Like him. Ship the MC with just the Great Mammon, got it?

Leviathan

… Lowkey super active in the MC shipping community but is a self-shipper to the extreme.

Like, he never uses his real name on anything (and would probably die from embarrassment if anyone ever found out) but a lot of their fans probably know a couple of his aliases.

He does everything from mod forums, runs a couple blogs, even anonymously posts his own work of him and MC that are totally not his secret fantasy dates or AU versions of themselves, shaddup.

It’s a lot easier for him to keep his involvement secret because he’s hardly at RAD, but the few times he does show up he tries to keep an eye out for anybody prowling for pictures so he can get in a good pose and save the image later.

Mind you, his version of a “good pose” rarely gets more spicy than linking pinkies, but even then he’s still lit up a Christmas Tree throughout.

Naturally, he’s also not a big fan of any ships that aren’t just him and MC and he can find a reason to be jealous at almost anything. But he keeps a special corner of hate for MC x Mammon and MC x Diavolo. Like, the first one doesn’t even need an explanation but MC x Diavolo?? Really??? Do those two even talk?? (please, please, please make sure they never actually talk because a guy like him versus literal royalty? He’d lose MC for sure….!! 😫)

Satan

He hates to actually agree with Lucifer on something, but their fans are starting to get out of hand...

Knows what shipping is in concept, he may have done it once or twice to characters in his books, but he was kind of surprised how it could evolve into such a… group activity?

He was pretty quick to pick up that the MC’s fans had a bit more interest in them together than they did when they both were apart…

I mean, those hideous shirts that Mammon was pedaling were kind of a dead giveaway…

Considering he finds their fanclub all rather annoying, even without their bizarre interest in his love life, when they started actively meddling with him and the MC he was ready to smash some heads.

No. He will not stop for pictures. No. What things they do together is none of your business. No. He has zero interest in seeing your explicit fanart and if you don’t start running that will be the last question you ever ask.

He DOES, however, appreciate the cringy “annoy Lucifer” ammo. They could keep that up for a lifetime... 😏

He doesn’t have a least favorite ship because he doesn’t care about any of this, leave him alone. (That’s a lie, it’s MC x Lucifer. He pokes fun at Lucifer, but he can’t stand it either. Big shock, I know 🙄).

Asmodeus 

Oh he is shamelessly a part of the community, are you kidding?? 

He could practically call “Shipping the MC” one of his favorite pastimes. He’ll openly gossip with their fanclub about who they’ve been with, who they’re seeing, who’s got a chance, etc… He lives for this shit!

He’s the only person who knows that Levi is also in the community and what his aliases are (not because he told him, but because Levi’s not as subtle as he thinks he is… Who else would call themselves “SupremeRuri666” and speak mostly in outdated chat lingo?) but he doesn’t out him because he thinks his very obvious crush is kind of cute. 

Plus, Levi needs the outlet waaaay more than him…

Doesn’t stop him from constantly trolling him and getting into arguments over who the MC would be better with though (the two are “virtual nemeses” as far as Levi is concerned).

Appreciates all forms of expression that comes out of the community (especially the saucy kind 😏) and will happily feed into his own shippers without a care in the world.

Truthfully, Asmo will say that there isn’t a ship he doesn’t like but if someone mentions one that he thinks is kind of “eh,” he’ll just add himself into the mix. “Oh, you like MC x Barbatos? Well how about Asmo x MC x Barbatos? That sounds loads more interesting doesn’t it??”

Beelzebub 

Oh, Beel… Sweet, sweet Beel… Beel doesn’t even know what their club is doing…

Because Beel has a reputation of being pretty protective of MC - and against the fanclub in general - the club keeps a healthy distance… but that doesn’t mean they’re not going to sneak in some picture or make a SHITLOAD of fanwork about them.

Between classes and practice Beel is a busy guy, so sometimes he just doesn’t notice that there’s people hiding behind trees when he’s out with MC. 

Honestly, his complete ignorance of it all makes it even cuter because when he acts sweet, it’s not just for the camera. That’s the real deal.

Mammon was the one who eventually let it slip that there was even shipping happening and Beel was… kind of creeped out because isn’t this stalking? But also kind of weirdly happy(?) that MC x Beel was so popular… Very conflicted boy here.

He never actually acknowledges the community, though, and just keeps on being Beel (which still gave the fans more than enough material so all’s well that ends well?)

Beel genuinely doesn’t have a least favorite ship (because he believes the best ship is whoever makes the MC happy) but his second favorite under himself is probably MC x Belphie. They look very cute together...  😊

Belphegor 

Ride or die, Beel x MC x Belphie. 

Just kidding (kind of), Belphie isn’t into the shipping but if asked he’d be pretty okay with that one.

His campaign against the MC’s fanclub and their attention stealing ways means that he found out about their shipping thing only slightly ahead of Beel when Mammon was trying to get pictures of them napping together…

Honestly, he couldn’t care less if a bunch of weirdos were weirdly invested in their relationship, but he’s not about to let Mammon just make a quick Grimm off of it. Belphie makes sure that he gives him NOTHING to work with. 

Since Mammon is the main dealer, the shippers in both the MC fanclub and Belphie fanclub aren’t nearly as well fed and pretty desperate for anything... You best believe he plays that to his advantage (because it’s okay if he does. He’s not Mammon).

Really helps that MC x Belphie is legitimately a very cute looking couple, carried by Belphie’s cuteness alone if nothing else. Add an adorable MC and you reach levels so cute it could actually melt people into puddles of goo... They could be a registered weapon.

Least favorite MC ships are any that don’t involve him or Beel. Any others may as well just not exist, he won’t even acknowledge them. MC x Who? Yeah, that’s what he thought.

[tobiasdrake]

Outer Wilds is a game that can never be experienced again after it's been played. It's a once-in-a-lifetime journey, which is why the OW community is so protective of spoilers.

Because I've completed the greatest video game ever made and can never truly play it again, I often find myself going back to it in the form of Let's Plays. Let's Plays allow me to re-experience the joy of discovery through the eyes of other people.

As a connoisseur of Outer Wilds Let's Plays, here's some of my favorite things. Spoilers ahead.

How did you die for the first time? You'd be surprised how many people don't even make it off of Timber Hearth and discover the secret "YOU DIED" ending before the game even takes off. They either jump in the geyser or decide to Fuck Around and Find Out with the ghost matter tutorial.

It's also fun to see how long it takes people to discover the supernova. Some people go through multiple supernovas before they ever understand what's happening. One LPer honestly believed the Interloper was homing in on whatever planet he was on like a seeker missile and that's what was killing him. Another figured it out before even leaving the museum; They read the supernova info and announced, "I am very alarmed that the game is giving me a tutorial about this."

You can tell a lot about how observant a player is going to be based on how long it takes them to a) notice the Orbital Probe Cannon directly in front of them when they wake up, and b) notice that it fires in a different direction with each loop.

There are two rites of passage for becoming an Outer Wilds interstellar traveler: "Solar Baptism" ie. first time falling into the sun and first time stepping out of your ship without a suit on.

One LPer once said, in belligerent confusion at Slate's shabby ship design, "You CANNOT go to space in a barrel full of lawn chair." Barrel full of lawn chair is now my favorite way of describing the ship.

Every player has one or two gameplay features they never discover and have to make do without. Signalscope zoom function and Scout Launcher Photo Mode are the most common. My favorite was a player that never discovered that the ship can launch a scout. She entered the Quantum Moon by accelerating to collision course, standing up from the cockpit, manually taking a photo with her handheld Scout Launcher, and then riding the ship down and crashing unbuckled like a fucking maniac. XD

The Quantum Moon is an absolute troll that likes to pop up and mock people when they don't know what it is, or when they're trying to figure out how to reach it.

There is nothing worse than accidentally falling ass-backwards into the Ash Twin Project core. I saw a player once discover the Ash Twin Project by complete accident within the first hour or so of play, because they were in a panic and just happened to do the right thing and the right time.

Watching the gears turn in people's heads is great. One of my absolute favorite moments for any player: "I did it! I made it to the Probe Tracking Module! And I got the coordinates! HOLY SHIT, I HAVE THE COORDINATES TO THE EYE OF THE UNIVERSE!!! ...I have absolutely no idea what I'm supposed to do with this."

Another favorite moment: "What do you MEAN, the Sun Station doesn't work!? It has to be what's blowing up the sun. ...what else could it be...?"

And let's not forget: "...oh god. Oh shit. ...I know where to get the Advanced Warp Core for the Vessel."

[a-dragons-journal]

(Asking for forgiveness for potentially weird wording in advance; I'm sick and my brain is a bit mushy but I want to get in on this.)

There's also the point, on a somewhat broader scale than just archetropy, that there is no hard line between "normal human experience" and "alterhuman experience." It's a sliding scale with a big gray smear in the middle where one person might experience [x] and it's so Normal Human(TM) to them that it never occurs to them it might be anything else, while another has a nearly identical experience but due to subtle differences or surrounding culture or what have you it feels much more... "abnormal" is not the word I'm looking for here, but atypical, I suppose, for them and alterhuman becomes a useful label for it. Neither of them is wrong. I mean, hell, alterhuman was coined with potentially including things like furry lifestylers in mind, and I don't think anyone doubts that that's a pretty "normal human" thing. As lightflux said, one could very easily make the argument that even identifying outside of your own species is a very human thing to do.

And, yeah, sometimes I do see people lumping things in with alterhuman that I really don't think should be considered alterhuman by default - I've seen a couple people call being a witch alterhuman, which is kind of wild to me - but if an individual says that an experience is alterhuman for them, then the nature of the word is that I've kind of just gotta trust them on that, even if I don't get it. It's built to work like that, to be capable of being that broad. I think it's worth having a discussion on what groups should be considered alterhuman by default, and I certainly don't think witches should be one of them, but I also think that in many cases there's never going to be a consensus answer - see also: the current debate on whether plurality should be included in alterhumanity by default or not. Archetropy is one of those cases, I think, where you could make the argument either way, and its association is, as lightflux said, historical as much as anything else. (But I also don't think it's that unreasonable to say most people don't base a significant chunk of their identity on an archetype they fulfill/seek to fulfill, and that's kind of a weird thing to do; hence, alternative form of humanity.)

I guess there's also just - what harm is there in it? When this happens in mental health terminology, it can absolutely have harmful effects, both in terms of people pathologizing normal behavior and in terms of people appropriating words for disorders and symptoms until no one knows what they actually mean (and often turning on the people who actually have those disorders and symptoms and being awful to them in the process), but I don't see either of those being a problem here. Regarding the second, alterhuman is such a broad word already that it can't really be effectively watered down the way, say, otherkin can (and unfortunately is sometimes) - it's such a dramatically broad and vague umbrella term that it's hard to jam things into it that truly 100% don't fit unless you're intentionally trolling. (Which is its job!) And regarding the first - I don't see the harm in someone applying alterhuman to themself if they feel it fits... basically no matter what experience is causing them to feel that it fits, honestly. The only time I can see it being a problem is if they're using it to distance themself from humanity/current life in an unhealthy way, but at that point, the problem isn't the word, it's the way they're using it (and I see that problem a lot more among otherkin and especially therians than I do among any other alterhuman group).

The otherkin and alterhuman communities have made a lot of strides in making words for aspects of identity, and at times that’s very useful. However, I do think I take issue with some of what’s being labeled an “alterhuman” experience. Not in a gatekeeping fashion, but in a “that’s not alternative to humanity whatsoever” fashion.

Like, “archetrope”, for example. While it’s a very useful word and can help with self understanding, I find identification with archetypes in that manner as a very, very common thing humans experience too. Not in a “mom friend” way, but like- for example, I see a lot of people who very heavily and personally identify with the clown or jester archetype.

Idk, I just feel like this community has a similar problem a lot of mental health spaces online have, where the perception of someone “normal” or “average” becomes increasingly impossible to meet. I think our communities have grown to have a very flat conception of what the experience of humanity is, and as a result, things that are normal for any person- human or not- to experience become almost pathologized.

Just, idk. I feel like some spaces here need a bit of a reality check.

[shoichee]

hello! may i ask some tips about the instragram acccunts the GoM + kagami could have? like of sort of post, amount of followers, stuff like that THANK U and have a great day !!

THIS IS ACTUALLY HILARIOUS SINCE I BREATHE OFF OF INSTAGRAM LFMAO

[Headcanons]

Kuroko Tetsuya

HELP WHAT IF HE HAS NO PRESENCE ON SOCIAL MEDIA TOO—

professional lurker

never comments on anything unless it’s to congratulate under a friend’s post or something like that

probably started using it because Ogiwara moved from letters and texts to just... instagram (technology advancements, jazz hands)

his account is on private, and he only lets people he knows follow him

all of his posts are pictures to commemorate something or just really wholesome group pictures

DEFINITELY has that picture of the GoMs at his birthday OVA

DEFINITELY also posted the big birthday picture taken at the end of the party

and also had typed very sappy BIG paragraph captions for both of these posts, talking about the journey and him being grateful… y’know, him being him

HIS ENTIRE COMMENT SECTIONS ARE JUST EVERYONE SOBBING AND KEYBOARD SPAMMING??? ONLY LIKE MIDORIMA AND AKASHI POST COHERENT RESPONSES UNDERNEATH

@kiseryouta: kuROKOCCHIIIII!!NEJWIEISK

@momoiowo: TETSUU (ʃƪ˘･ᴗ･˘) YOURE SO SWEET REEEE

@a_daikiii: i stg quit being so corny no one died yet🙄 and @momoiowo relax smh

@shin_chan77: I suppose I can express some form of gratitude for being in my life despite you being a blood type A. (insert a giant paragraph after this)

@4k4shi: This was very touching to read, Kuroko. I’m very glad that our… (insert him going down memory lane)

Murasakibara has no comment LMAO

his entire Seirin team are his hype men under his posts

his profile picture is literally the gray default blank head because he didn’t even set up a profile picture for himself

he has like 20 followers max or something?

8 posts? like, he only posts on special occasions or big events

his occasional stories are always comprised of Nigou and blurry Kagami pictures/videos running away from Nigou UH OH (courtesy of @dust-of-fandoms)

@tetsuya11 for his user handle

@dust-of-fandoms JUST MADE AN INSTAGRAM FOR HIM HERE!!

Kise Ryota

uses his instagram account as a portfolio for his modeling career

majority of his posts are actually pictures he managed to snag from his frequent model shoots

it looks SO professional… but then you look at his IGTVs and his reel videos

his reels are either short clips of mini vlog series he does whenever he visits the GoMs or when he’s recording his Kaijō teammates doing tricks and dunks

his IGTVs are either skincare tutorials, fashion advice… or just… unexplainable, out-of-context shitposts of Kise running away from what fans assumed “a green-haired man” or some “captain”

follower account?? 124k

who wouldn’t resist a hot model?

DEFINITELY HAS A TIKTOK I CAN FEEL IT

@kiseryouta with an official verification next to it

people either love him or hate him

posts a casual selfie from time to time, and people praise him for “being real” LMAODOA AND HE’S JUST STARING AT HIS PHONE LIKE “??? IMIG BUT I JUST FELT CUTE TODAY”

his captions feel fake LMAO like: “Wow! today’s so pretty today!” as he puts a selfie post OR “What’s your favorite game?✨” under a professionally-shot model picture that does not correlate with the caption???

has posted shitposts on his stories and his fans are utterly confused… only the GoMs get it LMAO

Midorima Shintarou

ONLY reason why he has social media is because Takao convinced him that he could let everyone know the daily lucky items for each signs for every post he makes

so for the first 2 months of having instagram he just casually posts a “daily horoscope” report(?) for the day

his content attracted in all the astrology fans and people who are devoted to tarots

and he’s CONFUSED.

… Takao may or may not have played a hand in messing with the algorithms to expose his account to bigger audiences

once Midorima finds out he’s MAD LMAO *insert Takao pain noises*

either goes down two paths: just casually continuing to post the daily Oha Asa predictions without interacting with anyone OR deleting his account and making a new PRIVATE one just for communication/lurking purposes

so he can honestly have 10k followers if he chooses to be a horoscope account or like 3 followers on his private, take it or leave it

maybe he has two accounts if he feels that having instagram has its merits

definitely has a shit ton of random stuff/posts in his saved collections

boomer energy, like… what’s a “reels” feature?? people talk to their phone camera and record that?? he’s squinting really hard and scratching his head

either has 356 horoscope posts on his “main” or like 19 posts on his private

has a rubber duck as a profile picture for BOTH ACCOUNTS HELP HIM

@oha_asa_ for his horoscope account or @shin_chan77 as his personal because he doesn’t know how to change his username (thanks, Takao LMAO)

Aomine Daiki

he doesn’t give a shit about instagram LOL

it’s MOMOI who handles his account because he doesn’t wanna bother with it LMAOO

she would tease him and try to “encourage” him to stop lazing around by taking pictures of him whenever he’s snoozing and posting it

but he’s so damn good-looking that his sleeping pictures got some traction with new fans

Aomine is still sleeping

his account also has pictures of him eating at Maji burger or at a café, and of course Momoi is the one snapping these photos of him

he started caring about it a little more once Momoi told him that he can post videos of himself doing trickshots and one-on-ones to potentially find worthy rivals over the internet and meet up

so now his account (videos, reels, IGTVs) are all riddled with basketball/small parkour footage shot by yours truly, Momoi

so his fanbase is split between thirsty people and people who genuinely admire him for his skills… but I mean there’s also people in both categories, anywho

he’d totally follow his favorite Japanese idols on IG if they had one

also would follow any NBA-related accounts/players he admires

has like 2.7k followers (but growing really fast) with like 176 posts of videos and random pictures of him

his profile picture is literally a picture of him sleeping by Momoi

@a_daikiii

Momoi Satsuki

LOTS OF REALLY cute, playful selfies, and a lot of them are used with cute filters from the Snow app

sometimes would post herself doing a really cute Tiktok dance while in her school uniform

she doesn’t post too much; she’s actually more into posting IG stories and making highlights out of them and then making highlight covers have a coordinating theme together

very aesthetic theme on her feed overall hehe

definitely uses her account to comment on other GoMs posts, often commenting something snarky on Aomine’s and Kise’s

actually has 1-2 IGTVs on the Vorpal Sword’s big game against the Jabberwocks

doesn’t have much of full-body shots/outfit pictures other than mirror selfies because Aomine refuses to take good pictures of her

only when she sees Kise or Kuroko is when she can ask either to be a photographer

she’s definitely gotten a few small collab offers from small businesses, but she usually ignores them because it’s not exactly her thing

her profile picture is just a selfie with a sketch-line cat ear filter

uses a bunch of emoticons on her bio, captions, comments, everything

⌒(ㅇㅅㅇ❀)⌒ or ☆⌒(＞。≪) or .₊̣̇.ෆ˟̑*̑˚̑*̑˟̑ෆ.₊̣̇.ෆ˟̑*̑˚̑*̑˟̑ෆ.₊̣̇.ෆ˟̑*̑˚̑*̑˟̑ෆ.₊̣̇.ෆ˟̑*̑˚̑*̑˟̑ෆ.₊̣̇. you get the picture

967 followers… that looks way too specific, but it’s somewhere around there; a lot of them came from Aomine’s account after they saw who’s been taking his pictures, and they wanna learn more about her??

around 40 posts?

@momoiowo

Murasakibara Atsushi

Himuro showed him how to use the app, but Murasakibara doesn’t find ANY USE FOR THIS LMAOO

he’d probably only get on it to look at food on the explore page and drool about the cuisines

keeps tabs on local places/restaurants/shops on instagram; those are probably the only accounts he’d follow tbh

it’s probably like ONE post and it’s an old picture of a dango on a plate he ate like 2 years ago

I have this image in my head that he has a really cute bento art as his profile picture?? can you imagine a Rilakkuma-shaped rice as his PROFILE PICTURE?

his bio is definitely: “hungry”

and that’s it

27 followers, and it’s literally just his Yōsen teammates, the GoMs and probably some other classmates of his

his captions are literally empty or 1-2 words

@oomaib0

Akashi Seijuro

only uses instagram because it’ll be beneficial for his company and to expand social networks, plus getting those sweet business deals and engagement

he doesn’t mind seeing really wholesome videos on the explore page though

when he wants to relax, a cat video melts his stress away

laughs to himself while he reads all the shenanigans underneath the GoMs’ posts

DEFINITELY loses a few brain cells seeing trolls and idiots on the internet… especially on controversial or political ones LMAO

he at first had to REFRAIN himself and take deep breaths before he just scrolls on, but he eventually got used to them and can now easily ignore them as easy as he breathes air

he actually enjoys shitposts and meme videos?? like he may not completely understand the meme trends sometimes, but he’ll still find it amusing enough for a chuckle

he ends up being the one who uses instagram the most? like Kise posts a shit ton, yeah, but Kise doesn’t really sit down and just scroll endlessly; Kise releases out content, while Akashi consumes the content

he reasons with himself that it’s to study his current demographics for the company, and while that may be true, Akashi just enjoys social media, plain and simple LOL

he does get to study the behaviors of all the generations using the platform, young folks and old folks alike, and it does get him excited in using his analytical skills to try to figure out people BEHIND a screen rather than those in front of him

it makes a really good challenge for him when he wants a good mental exercise

he has a post or two about his horses, his manor, and a video or two on him playing his violin?? but most are business-related, them being advertisements or business contracts/offers… things like that

his highlights are all about Q&As regarding the company, his background, his skillsets, etc. like an actual resumé

actually links current world issue cards/petitions on top of his company website; he’s quite an advocate

he actually doesn’t post about basketball because that’s something very close to his heart since it reminds him of his late mother… having that mixed in with his company-related posts feels wrong to him

27k followers, most of them are business-related accounts AND some are some followers his father bought for him without Akashi’s input to inflate engagement, etc.

@4k4shi… oh he thinks he’s SO CLEVER FOR MAKING THIS USERNAME LOL with the 4 being his jersey number and the 4s looking like As… AKASHI PLEASE—

his profile pic is like a professionally taken picture, nothing less for our king

his grammar and syntax are impeccable on social media; after all, he’s still being judged for how he carries himself even on the media

Kagami Taiga

mukbang guy… DEFINITELY

hot guy eating nine plates of steaks

IGTVs are filled with mukbang videos because Kuroko said he could make a living off of his appetite

HE COULD MAKE MONEY OFF OF JUST EATING? SIGN HIM UP.

on his posts, he posts dishes he makes for the day/is proud of and talks about the dish and ingredients briefly in the caption

that, or he has pictures of his new basketball shoes LMAO

or all of his basketball merch

HE’S DEFINITELY POSTED PICTURES OF LANDMARKS AND OTHER ICONIC PLACES HE’S TRAVELED TO (*cough* in America)

has a generic Jordan brand logo against a dark background as a profile picture

doesn’t have his face anywhere unless it’s in a mukbang video

279 followers or something

why do I have a feeling that he’ll accidentally blow up when Alex takes his phone to do a quick selfie on it?—

@taiga10

[nrth-wind-a]

((lol I've been wondering this for a while, but how do you think Bernard would react to knowing time travel is real? Or clones? What are his limits of belief essentially in a world as weird as the DC universe?))

Misc. Asks II Inbox: Open II This got really long (1843 words oh god) so a majority is under a cut!

This is a great question! I apologize in advance for how much I’m about to not answer your questions, before I finally get to them! 😅 I just want to establish some context first!

So, the way I see his conspiracy side is that it’s not actually as outlandish and crazy as it might seem at first; he’s a smart guy, so I don’t think he falls for just any crazy old conspiracy out there. It’s just that he’s trying to find answers to questions or mysteries that he sees. (A brief note on that: the closer a person is to the actual world of superheroes, the more ready he is to believe word of mouth; so when a hero tells him something, he’s fairly ready to accept that as truth, unless he catches them being a troll or something).

But back to how his own conspiracies are generated: I want to use the moment when he finds out that the new Robin (Stephanie) is a girl, in order to analyze how he actually forms his conspiracies.

So, the minute he finds out there’s a new Robin, he immediately jumps to explain that the previous Robin must be dead for there to be a new one in town, now.

But then, that leaves the question of where Batman keeps getting Robins. Well, Bernard knows that his parents would never let him do something like what Robin does, so the next logical conclusion is that they have to be kids without parents to get in the way (or to be put into danger by association). But since they also have to have secret identities, they must also be under heavy secrecy—thus:

Secret orphanages.

The next logical question to something like this then becomes “well that sounds crazy; how does Batman even pull that off?”

Well, you see, reader, this is one that Bernard can answer as well, but in order to do that, one must first assume that 1. The Batman is real, and that 2. He is operating with a high level of funding and tech, because that’s the only way he could be so effective, unless he’s superpowered. But he’s obviously not superpowered, because all the superpowered heroes operate with far less secrecy, in the bright of the day, wearing brilliant, attention-catching colors. They’re symbols, paragons. Batman is a shadow, a whisper on the breeze.

So how could one guy be such a thing, while yet also gaining access to incredibly advanced, performance-enhancing technology? Well, that’s actually quite simple: He has a benefactor. Probably multiple. This means there must be some kind of organization that is either centered around Batman, or that Batman works for.

Now, here’s where a personal headcanon of mine comes in. We know almost nothing about Bernard’s parents, but in Urban Legends, Tim talks about how Bernard could never measure up to his parents’ expectations. In that scene, we also see them meeting with Commissioner Montoya about their son’s disappearance in that run, even though we also know that Detective Williams is on this case, as well. Now, it makes sense that they’d have multiple people on this case, so that’s not a surprise. What is a surprise, though, is that the commissioner went to see the Dowds herself. Further, we know that the kids who have been getting into Urban Legends's chaos cult have been relatively high profile. Not necessarily famous, but of fairly good standing in Gotham’s economic system.

Now, I could be just missing some obscure panel in Robin Vol. 2, but if I remember correctly, we don’t know what the Dowds do. My headcanon, with all of this in mind, then, is that one or both of them is/are a local government official. Not necessarily crazy high up, but enough to be notable in the public eye—hence the intense expectations for Bernard, and, as I'll explain further in a moment, his distrust of the actual government.

Because my point in bringing this headcanon up is that I think this would affect how Bernard thinks about said actual government. He knows firsthand how the local government doesn’t actually have that much power, and how their power is vastly inflated by both citizens and fellow politicians alike. Which then causes another few questions: If the local government is like this, what is the state government like? The national government? Is the truth that they’re not actually as powerful as they seem, either? How much power does any known politician really have?

Especially since he knows that changes do happen, and legislature does get passed. But who passes it? How many hoops did it have to somehow survive? How could anything survive the process, unless it was set up to succeed from the beginning?

And that, in my humble opinion, is where he starts to get his ideas about a secret government operating beneath the one we know. It’s the government that actually gets things done, the one that actually holds all the cards. And it controls everything.

Including, of course, The Batman—their chess piece who can act outside of the set rules and regulations that known entities must abide by.

All of this is to say!

He isn’t necessarily wrong a lot of the time; at least not completely.

He’s simply looking for answers to make sense of the world around him, which, to be fair, in DC, is pretty outlandish itself, so I do rather understand how he’d reach some of the conclusions he’d reach.

And now that I’m way too many words in already, let’s actually answer your questions (so sorry omg)!

I’m gonna start with the third one first actually, because I think it’ll help answer the first two!

What are his limits of belief essentially in a world as weird as the DC universe?

The limits of his beliefs are fairly nebulous, because the nature of conspiracy theories is that they cannot be proven or disproven. They will always remain a possibility, because once they’re disproven, they become hoaxes, and once they’re proven, they become facts.

But if I had to assign hard limits, I’d say that the point at which he will no longer believe something is the moment that it becomes clear that the person who has made the theory is not doing so out of genuine belief. He is looking for answers, not “gotcha!”s or scams. As soon as he figures out that someone is just messing around, or is looking to gain baseless popularity, or wants to profit off of frightened or paranoid people, then he immediately checks out of a theory.

This is why he refuses to believe that Batman is Bruce Wayne, for instance. The theory, as I’ve seen in fandom, is mostly treated as a joke by those who suggest it, so he refuses to entertain that one, because it’s obviously just someone messing around, and, in his opinion, anyone who does earnestly believe that one is simply gullible.

But the idea of disposable orphans from a shadow government orphanage, each raised to be child soldiers, while far more unbelievable, is also a real, genuine attempt at explaining the oddities of the Batman and Robin situation, and while it sounds crazy on the surface, if one looks past the phrase “shadow government orphanage,” to the reasoning behind such a concept, then some things about it might start to make sense. How else would Batman keep finding kids that no one has ever seemed to have heard of, or that no one can recognize even when half of their faces are uncovered? How do they always seem to be described slightly differently with each account of someone who got an up-close look at them? How come no one could say how tall Robin is, or what color his or her eyes are? How is the most distinct thing about a Robin up to that point that this new one is a blonde girl? And how come she disappears so quickly after?

Everything he thinks he knows about Robin just seems to get confirmed the more he looks in on the situation.

It could be confirmation bias, but confirmation bias still has holes in it. Bernard can’t find holes in his explanations, yet—because they are conspiracies. Because they can’t be proven or disproven.

With this in mind, let’s move to the idea of time travel!

How do you think Bernard would react to knowing time travel is real?

Keeping it still in the lens of the Gotham heroes, since I think those are the ones he follows the most—it could explain how the Bat seems to be everywhere at once, and yet, nowhere at all. Where does he operate from? It could be from the future. It could be from the past. It could be from limbo.

This could also explain why the Robins never seem to age—that is, if his theory about them dying and being replaced all the time is wrong.

This leads me to conclude that Bernard is firmly on the “time travel is most likely real” team, with the caveat that he wants to find out more information before he says it’s “definitely real.”

As for clones...

Or clones?

That is a solid, 100% YES. He definitely believes clones are real. Because if the Robins aren’t orphans, then they’re most certainly clones (and, in fact, they could even be both). Even the blonde girl could be a clone—maybe her appearance is different, but clones don’t necessarily have to look the same, they just have to share a majority of their DNA structures. The people who did the cloning could have been curious to try something new. To alter the DNA strings a little. To see if they could create a less easily killable Robin.

In fact, to get outside of Gotham for a bit: I would go as far as to say that I think Bernard seems like the type to believe that Kid Flash is a clone of The Flash. After all, they seem remarkably similar, so perhaps Kid Flash is a failsafe for if The Flash ever dies.

And furthering that—the blonde Kryptonian woman? Could be a clone of Superman, who went through the same process as the blonde girl Robin.

Because here’s the thing: we as readers know that he’s wrong in the above assumptions. But he also… isn’t. He’s wrong about who the clones are, but he’s entirely correct about there being Kyrptonian and speedster clones. And that’s the crux of how I play Bernard’s conspiracy theorizing. He isn’t wrong, but he isn’t right. He can’t be proven or disproven (at least, not unless a certain someone in his life ever tells him the truth about his involvement in Robin, and then corrects his theories with the actual facts).

So, there we go! These are my thoughts on Bernard's conspiracies! I hope some of this made sense! I apologize for the heinously long answer to your questions, but I also hope that it was at least an entertaining heinously long answer! :D

[canary3d-obsessed]

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed Episode 08 first part

(Masterpost) (Other Canary goodness)

Warning: Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

Rabbits

The Jiang kids have some quality time with the rabbits. Initially Jiang Cheng says it’s wrong for gentlemen to hold rabbits, which is definitely in no way related to gay-rabbit-god symbolism, but changes his mind when he discovers how fun men rabbits are to cuddle. 

Jiang Yanli says, in a moment with zero foreshadowing, that if they take one rabbit away from the others, it will miss its family and be lonely. Also if a rabbit were to watch from the rooftop while a mean enemy rabbit poured wine on the corpses of its parents, that would be extra upsetting. For a rabbit. So let’s leave all the rabbits where they are. Check. 

Speaking of cute fluffy creatures that are upset, we see this distressed look on Wei Wuxian’s face kinda often when he’s talking with Jiang Cheng.  

There are some sibilng relationships where you will always do anything to help each other because you survived a shitty childhood together, but as adults you find you don’t actually share values, and that your interactions are kinda toxic -- for both of you. This seems like one of those. 

Even though he’s younger, Jiang Cheng is in the role of the elder sibling who is being abused by the parents, and is handing the abuse on down the line to the “younger” sibling, in the form of constant criticism and casual hittings. Wei Wuxian isn’t actually younger, but he is lower ranked because he’s not a blood relation, and he gets plenty of parental abuse as well. It’s...not a healthy family. 

(more after the cut!) 

Lan Wangji has been lurking nearby during this conversation, and after the Jiangs leave, he looks at the rabbits and says farewell.  He clearly means farewell to Wei Wuxian, or else he has a really unhealthy level of yearning being directed toward the rabbits. At least, for a vegetarian.

Uninvited Gusu Guest

Lan Xichen is meditating, and because the Director of Photography loves us, we get a bunch of nice closeups of his exquisite face. He hears a noise thing and tells Wen Chao to come in, which results in a dire bird scream and Wen Chao’s muddy feet intruding on his day. Why did Wen Chao bring the bird with him? He’s trying to be sneaky, right? So...ok whatever.

Wen Chao acts like a dirtbag and menacingly reminds Lan Xichen that his didi just hit the road all by himself. Lan Xichen gets so upset he curls his fingers slightly. His beautiful, beautiful fingers.

Is it slapping time yet?

Road Tripping

Fortunately for the Lan brothers, Lan Wangji isn’t going to be alone for long. Wei Wuxian is determined to follow him, and where friend-maker Wei Wuxian goes, an assortment of other helpful cultivators will soon follow. 

Wei Wuxian leaves a note to say “I’m running away from home with the hot boy I met in summer school” and signs it with a smiley face, the dork. Jiang Cheng is angry, as usual; Yanli has confidence in Wei Wuxian, as usual, and Jiang Fengmian is autocratic and doesn’t explain what he’s thinking, as usual. JF is aware of the Yin Iron, however, so he may understand that WWX will be useful in protecting it on the road.  

Lan Wangji has changed his hair, upgraded his crown, and put on the most absurdly beautiful outfit of the entire show to go on a solo road trip totally without any hot infuriating boys. 

Quick, Lan Wangji, catch this callback to that time you rejected my advances back in Gusu! This time Lan Wangji catches the offered fruit and keeps it, presumably to consume furtively when he wakes in the dead of night, restless with unslaked thirst for Wei Ying. Or, you know, to have with his lunch while they’re riding on the boat. 

This is a level of synchronized walking-with-shoulder-contact that would make the Guardian boys proud. Lan Wangji is all touchy feely now that he’s out from under the eyes at Cloud Recesses. 

He also has upped his troll game, actually smirking after he says “boring” to Wei Wuxian’s declaration of I’m-gonna-come-along-you-can’t-stop-me. 

He also...doesn’t seem angry? Like, he is still seriously on edge, but it feels like he left the boiling rage at home.  Lan Xichen is right; having a friend IS good for Lan Wangji. And for whatever reason, Lan Wangji is ready, now, to accept Wei Wuxian’s friendship.

We Rate Birds

Wen Chao has the weirdest fucking pet. This bird has a resentful energy problem, obvs, but it also seems to be invisible except for resentful energy, but it leaves random feathers behind at places, and then when Wei Wuxian kills it, it’s a regular bird corpse with a little smoke. “Imbued with Yin Iron energy” seems to be the explanation. But Nie Huaisang said they see a lot of these in their neck of the woods. Did he mean “just a regular bird” and didn’t notice the billowing black visual FX? Either way I want to see a nest full of baby dire Yin birds, I bet they’re hideous cute. 

Wen Qing has a new outfit and an elegant fiery golden crown. There’s probably some plot stuff happening here. Wen blah blah Yin Iron blah blah. She’s so pretty. I love her ears and her cool double hair parting. The girls’ hairlines are always nice and soft, presumably because they get to wear their own front hair instead of a lacefront like the boys are glued to stuck with. 

I Call it Bondage

After the fun they had in the ice cave, it’s only fair that Wei Wuxian gets to have a turn tying up Lan Wangji. 

One of the fun things in clipping The Untamed is that the show’s editors generally didn't drop any frames when they intercut the various scenes, meaning that some longer shots can be spliced back together by removing the other camera portions, as with these two string-pulling bits.

Lan Wangji totally lets Wei Wuxian put a leash on him, quickly declaring it boring and taking control of it, pulling Wei Wuxian along behind him. 

Incidentally, at this stage about half of Wei Wuxian’s talisman’s are blue. After he loses his core, they are 100% red, but nobody notices that. Well, maybe Nie Huaisang does because he notices a LOT, but nobody says anything. 

After they play around in the field for a bit, Lan Wangji’s magic bag of plot advancement goes off, sending them to Flower Town. 

He’s Leaving Home Bye Bye

Meanwhile, at Lotus Pier, we get a nice view of the rooftops. I’d hate to be the guy whose job it is to hang up bells and tassels at any of these places. 

Jiang Cheng sneaks out to go join his brother’s road trip. He gets caught, because his idea of sneaking is to walk out the front door in broad daylight and leave the door open behind him. 

Jiang Yanli tells him to go ahead, though and he scampers off to have...the last carefree fun of his entire life, actually. Sigh. 

Flower Town

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji go to Tanzhou and immediately run into Nie Huaisang, because sure, why not. China’s not very big.

Lan Wangji’s startle response

Wei Wuxian’s startle response

Nie-Xiong and Wei-Xiong are delighted to see each other, once Wei Wuxian explains that Lan Wangji isn’t there to bust them. 

While Wei Wuxian and Nie Huaisang squee over each other, Lan Wangji ...tries to deal with that. His reaction is probably a mix of jealousy and social anxiety. This town has got to be overwhelming for him after the order and quiet of Cloud Recesses; he even admits--aloud!--that it’s too crowded for him at one point. Add in his boyfriend’s travel partner’s number one enabler, and it’s not a comfortable situation.

Oh great now they’re going to want me to get high and make out with them, ugh

However, with Lan Wangji in the mix, the Nie-Wei dynamic shifts away from mischief making, and they very quickly become a friend trio sharing a serious purpose. When Wei Wuxian, in his second life, refers to NHS as “that old friend of ours” when talking to LWJ, he’s not wrong. Nie Huaisang and Lan Wangji become friends during this trip, and arguably remain friends, within the limits of Nie Huaisang’s revenge remit. 

From one point of view, Nie Huaisang is grown-up Lan Wangji’s very best friend (not counting his eventual husband). Everyone in the cultivation world knows what Lan Wangji’s heart desires most, after Nightless City, and Nie Huaisang gives it to him. By, uh, manipulating a crazy guy into ritual suicide. Hey, no gift is perfect.

Continued in Next Post! Soon!

[mirkwoodshewolf]

Family reunion; Sirius Black x daughter teen reader

*Author’s note*

Okay so this is my first Harry Potter fanfic in awhile so if I get anything wrong, I apologize in advance. So this takes place during POA and I know it kinda drags along in some parts but I promise it gets better in some parts. Now idk if I'll make a sequel to this part, maybe with enough encouragement from you guys, maybe I'll get around to writing a part 2 that takes place during Order of the phoenix. But for now please enjoy this oneshot of Sirius Black.

Warnings: Swearing, mild violence, death of parent(s), bit of angst and fluff.

Taglist:

@plethora-of-things​

@waddles03​

@psychosupernatural​

@ixchel-9275​

@jd-johndeacon-or-jackdaniels​

@queen-paladin​

@platawnic​

__________________________________________________________

If you had told me that when I first walked through the halls of Hogwarts that in my 5th year that I would reunite with my dad, honestly I would believe it.  I always believed my father was innocent, even at just 3 years old I remember that night very clearly.  Because it wasn’t just the night that my godfather James and god mother Lily were killed, but my mother was also killed that day.

I saw with my own eyes (my mum had borrowed my godfather’s invisibility cloak to hide me) as Peter Pettigrew killed my mother with the ultimate unforgivable curse.  I remember crying over her dead body pleading for her to wake up, I remember daddy walking in and seeing us on the floor and him crying alongside me.

I especially remember when he left me at uncle Remus’ place for protection to go hunt Pettigrew only to be framed for murder of not only him but 12 muggles.

Since then my uncle was next in line to take care of me should anything happen to either my parents or godparents (my mum had no other living relatives and my dad wanted to ensure that I had no ties to the Black family tree should the worse happen).

For years I’ve been under my uncle Remus’ care who believed every word the Ministry said about my dad.  He didn’t want to but the evidence was stacked against my dad (even though no deep investigation had been made).

Anyways—oh wait I’m getting ahead of myself. I tend to do that a lot.  The name’s (Y/n) Lupin-Black, I’m currently a 5th year Hogwarts student in Ravenclaw (my mum’s house).  Even though I’m in Ravenclaw I’ve been friends with the Weasley twins Fred and George since our first year when the two of them stole my notes and wouldn’t give it back till I could tell them apart.

Amazingly I did and since then they’ve stuck to me like glue. The three of us do cause a bit of trouble at times (I get my mischievous side from my dad and brains from my mum, according to Gryffindor’s head professor, Professor McGonagall).

I also have an ability that I also inherited from my dad. I am a legal animangus, in fact I’m the youngest animangus the Ministry ever recorded.  

It took a lot of hard work and training in order to focus but by my second year I had mastered the ability.  My animangus form is a puma, and I’ve used it to help with my uncle’s—condition.  In fact that was the reason I wanted to become one.

He was at first against it but with a letter recommendation from Professor McGonagall and my head of house, Professor Flitwick, my uncle had no choice but to allow me to go through it.

Now as a 5th year, things have been—hectic these past few years since Harry Potter came to Hogwarts.  The Chamber of Secrets had been opened last year, and we had an incident with a troll, lost 2 DADA professors (but what else is new with that), but this year my uncle is the new professor for that class, and so far according to the Golden trio, everyone loves him.

But back to this story about my dad.  This year everyone at Hogwarts was on alert because my dad had escaped from Azkaban, the first ever wizard to ever do such a thing.  Now our school was to be housing for the Dementors until my dad was found and captured.

I tried to keep a low profile about it but at nights whenever I helped my uncle out during his ‘wolf-trots’ I would also try to see if I could find my dad.

Then one night it happened.

I was out with uncle Remus but I had lost trace of him through the Forbidden forest.  As I walked along in my puma form, my ears soon picked up the sound of barking.  Not werewolf barks, they were—dog barks? But why was a dog all the way out here? Dogs are the sort of creatures allowed within a mile of Hogwarts, nor can they get pass the barrier.

I raced on ahead and when I stood over a cliff but lowered myself down behind the rocks.  There I saw a scruffy, lean, but massive black dog barking at a few Acromantulas.  God I hate those things, I don’t care what Hagrid says, spiders can’t be trusted!  And I was right because right now this dog was being attacked by about seven of these things.

As one of them knocked the dog down and pinned it to the ground, ready to bite it and fill it with its venom, I let out a protective roar.  The spiders all looked up at me and I leapt down from the cliff and stood protectively in front of the black dog.

With a slash of my paws, I struck one of the spiders across it’s many eyes before biting down on it and tossing it like a paper ball.  I then leapt forward and pinned one of the other spiders down.  Another one tried to attack me but as it reared upward, the dog suddenly came up and rolled around with the spider.

I bit the head off the one I had pinned before racing across and swiping the legs off another one.  Soon realizing that they couldn’t win since a few of their siblings had already fallen, the rest of the spiders retreated back into their burrows and caves. I let out a loud and aggressive roar before turning towards the dog.

We walked towards each other till we stood face to face of one another.  As I stared at this dog, something about it was familiar to me.  Through the scruffy, madded fur and the very lean body I looked into it’s eyes and if I were back in my human form I would’ve gasped.

This wasn’t any ordinary dog, it—it was him.  My dad. Of course this was his animangus form, I remember! All the times he’d chase me around in his dog form when I was little, our nights curled up under the stars whenever mum wasn’t home, it was him!

My ears bent back as I sniffed at him.  When he noticed that I wasn’t any ordinary puma, he came up and sniffed around me.  He let out a surprised grunt as his ears perked up and his tail went up as it softly began to wag.

I leaned my head up against his letting out a loud, affectionate purr and he nuzzled against my head as well.  His paw would reach up and lightly touch the side of my head, almost as if he were embracing me.  We continued to nuzzle each other and I knew that if we could both show our human forms, we’d both be weeping hysterically as we’d hug and kiss each other.

But for now, our animangus forms would have to do.  As his head rested on my chest, I licked down his neck where I had seen a pretty bad scratch.  I licked his wound when we both heard the sound of a werewolf’s howl. Uncle Remus.

We both turned towards the direction of the howl before looking back at each other.  Dad gave me a gentle nod.  I looked between him and the direction of the howls hesitantly while giving him sad eyes. How could I leave him when I just found him after 12 years.  He came up to me and licked my muzzle up to behind my ears.  He then backed up and let out a couple of confident yet soft barks.

I nodded and nuzzled him again purring before licking his face affectionately.  I backed up and walked to where uncle Remus was but turned back to dad one last time. He let out another bark before I let out a low meow before racing on ahead to find uncle Remus.

That was over a month ago, but here is where our story truly begins.  Harry and his friends were slowly starting to piece together the story of my dad and Peter Pettigrew but with some straying doubt from my uncle, Harry still believed that my dad betrayed his parents and sold them to Voldemort.

I myself have tried to get him to see that my father wasn’t a threat but Harry has shut himself away from me.  He’s called me practically every name in the book and refuses to listen to me, hell he barely can even stand the sight of me.  Ron’s also elected to ignore me and treat me just like the school and the whole wizarding world has treated my dad.

Hermione on the other hand tolerates me just a bit more. She wants to believe what I have to say but due to the 12 long years of ‘evidence’ against my dad, she can’t seem to fully understand why the wizarding community would lie about framing an innocent man.

I sat alone by the Black lake looking up at the gloomy sky and stared out into the still, calm lake.  I let out a heavy sigh when I heard a voice behind me.

“You should really started heading back to the castle, it’s almost curfew time.” I turned around and there stood uncle Remus.  “And I would hate to give my niece a detention.”

“Please. You couldn’t find it in your heart to ground me for a week when the Weasley twins and I exploded the supply closet in the potions classroom in our second year.”

“Yes but I did give you a stern good lecture about messing with those chemicals.” He sat down beside me on the rocky surface and stared out the lake alongside me. “This reminds me back to my years at school with your father and the rest of my friends. We always snuck out here to this lake for late night swims.”

“Now, now uncle don’t go influencing me. You never know I might just run it by the twins.” I teased.

“(Y/n).” he started in that lecturing manner of his.

“Kidding, kidding. I know of the dangers of this lake.”

“Plus I never approved of us coming here to swim. It was always James and…….” He trailed off.

“Uncle do you really believe dad did what people said he did?” I said as I looked up at him.  He sighed deeply and said in a soft manner.

“As much as I want to believe it didn’t happen, I wasn’t there to say it wasn’t your father.”

“But I’ve told you countless times about my mother’s death! I saw with my own eyes who it was that killed her.”

“And I don’t doubt that. But with your godparents and those 12 muggles……your father’s family ties…..”

“Don’t define him! That’s why he made sure to not let anyone of the Black family tree get custody of me! Why he made sure that you were to be my guardian after papa James and mama Lily died!”

“If I‘m being honest he shouldn’t have done it to begin with.”

“Because of your condition?” he went silent. “Uncle……I never cared about that. You were never a monster to me. Why do you think I studied to be an animangus?” he turned to me.

“I’m just thankful you didn’t do the same thing your father did. Going ‘bout it the illegal route.” He cupped the side of my face, “You know Harry’s not the only one with his parent’s appearance.” I smiled solemnly.

“I know. My mother’s face but I have my father’s eyes.” It’s true.  Throughout all my life I had been told of people, especially uncle Remus here that I look practically identical to my mother, my eyes however are just like my father’s.

“I wish that she did get to see the women you grew up to be. She would be very proud of you.”

“Sometimes I—fear that I’m starting to forget about her.” I admitted to him.  Uncle Remus stroked my hair and allowed me to rest my head on his shoulder as an arm wrapped around me.

“Just think of how you succeeded throughout your schooling. That’s your mother right there. She was far too clever for her own right, even more than me. I’ll even admit that at times I was jealous of her at times.” We both softly laughed.

“I do recall dad telling me some of your little competitions you and mum used to do to prove just who was the most clever. She always beat you.”

“Not at everything!”

“I’m kidding. I know you did beat her at some stuff.” I looked up and saw my uncle looking toward the sky.  He almost seemed deep in thought about something. “Uncle? Uncle? Uncle Remus?”

“Hmm? Oh sorry love. But back to the reason why I came here; even though I am your uncle and guardian, I’m still a professor at this school and I order you to get back to the castle.”

“Yes Professor Lupin.” I said as I got up and walked away. However I snuck behind a tree because I wanted to see just where he was going.

If he wanted me to get back to the castle so urgently, why not just take me all the way there himself? What’s he up to? So I quietly followed behind him in my animangus form.  Sticking to the shadows and any tall shrub or bush to hide myself from my uncle, I crouched down low behind a rock as he now stood before the Whomping willow tree.

He took out his wand and said a spell which made the tree go still.  Once the branches went still, I saw him enter inside a small entrance of the tree and I quickly followed, now phasing back into my normal form.

I noticed that this place now suddenly looked like some sort of shack.  It was haunting and creaks and groans were heard all around me.  I reached out for my wand but before I could even grab it, I felt something touch my neck and a low, graveled voice said.

“Don’t. Move.” Ahh bollocks!

“Professor Snape.” I said lowly, trying to not be a threat. Yeah much like my dad, Professor Snape pretty much hated me since day one (I’m pretty sure he hates every student that isn’t a Slytherin).

“Sneaking out past curfew, allying in your father’s hiding, I would have the right mind to have you expelled from Hogwarts and have you be taken to Azkaban alongside your fugitive of a father.” Oh man did I really wanna punch him at this point.

“Professor you know he’s—” I felt his wand press harder against my neck as he hissed in my ear.

“It’s your word against the Ministry’s. Now follow me and do as your told.” Knowing I had no other choice, I allowed him to lead me up the stairs where I heard my dad’s voice say.

“Peter Pettigrew. And he’s in this room! Right now!”

“Take your wand out, and if he’s armed, disarm him.” I took my wand out and as my dad was calling out for Peter to come out, I stepped forward and cried out.

“Expelliarmus!” I saw as a wand fell out of my dad’s hand and that’s when my dad turned to me in shock.

“(Y/n)?” he gaped at me.

“(Y/n) what are you doing here?! I thought I told you to go back to the castle!” uncle Remus said.

“You should’ve realized that she’s more like her father in every way. Including disobedience.” Professor Snape soon made himself known as he now aimed his wand at my back, making sure to let my dad see it. “Vengeance is sweet. How I hoped to be the one to catch you.”

“Severus—” my uncle started off. Snape sent him one dirty look and as usual my uncle submitted as Snape hissed out.

“I told Dumbledore you were helping an old friend into the castle and now here’s the proof.”

“Brilliant Snape. Once again you put your keen impenetrating mind to the task, and as usual it comes to the wrong conclusions. Now if you’ll drop your wand and step away from my daughter, Remus and I have unfinished business to attend to!” his wand moved from my back to my throat.

“Give me a reason. I beg you.” He challenged my father.

“Dad.” I pleaded with fearful eyes.

“It’ll be alright darling.” He assured me.  His eyes then turned cold as he stared at Snape. “It’s one thing when you put your nose where it doesn’t belong, but when you force others to do your dirty work for you, that’s where I draw the line. If you don’t let my daughter go now, then I will show you a reason why I belong in Azkaban!”

“Sirius don’t be a fool.” Uncle Remus said.

“Well he can’t help it Remus it’s habit.”

“Quiet Sirius!”

“Quiet yourself Remus!”

“Listen to you two quarreling like an old married couple.” Snape said but that’s when dad sassed back at him.

“Why don’t you run along and play with your chemistry set!?” I was then shoved out of the way as Snape now had his wand right at my father’s neck now.  I fell to the ground but was quickly brought back up and held in my uncle’s arms.

“I could do it you know. But why deny the Dementors? They’re so longing to see you. Do I detect a flicker of fear? Oh yes, a Dementor’s kiss, one can only imagine what that much be like to endure. It’s said to be unbearable to witness but I’ll do my best.”

“Severus please.” My uncle tried to reason with him again. Once again Snape glared at my uncle and sneered once again.

“After you. Then we can deal with that rebel daughter of his next.” The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife before suddenly Harry called out.

“Expelliarmus!” then Snape went flying back towards an old rotten bed which collapsed right on him.

“Harry what did you just do?” asked Ron.

“You attacked a teacher!” Hermione exclaimed.

“Tell me about Peter Pettigrew.” Harry demanded as he pointed his wand at my uncle and I.

“He was an old school friend of theirs.” I answered him.

“No. Pettigrew’s dead. You killed him!” Harry said as he now pointed his want towards my dad.

“No he didn’t. I thought he was too till you mentioned seeing Pettigrew on the map.” Uncle Remus said.

“The map was lying then!” Harry argued.

“The map never lies! Pettigrew’s alive! And he’s right there!” my dad said before pointing towards Ron.

“Me? He’s mental!”

“Not you Ron! Your rat!” I told him.

“Scabbers? But he’s been in my family for—”

“12 years?! Curious long life for a common garden rat. He’s missing a toe isn’t he?”

“So what?” demanded Ron.

“All they could find of Pettigrew was his……” Harry started off.

“Finger.” Both my dad and I said.  The two of us looked at each other and softly smiled before my dad continued.

“The dirty coward cut it off so that everyone would think he was dead. And then he transformed into a rat!”

“Show me.” Harry ordered.  At this point my dad went to grab Ron’s rat but of course he refused to let go.  Once he managed to get Pettigrew out of Ron’s grip, Ron pleaded for my dad to leave Scabbers alone.  Hermione and I held him back so that my dad and uncle could finish the job.

Unfortunately Pettigrew was too fast for them to get a good shot to change him back.  So I quickly whipped out my wand and right as the rat went for a hole in the wall, I shot the spell and he soon morphed, for the first time in over 12 years, back into the stout, pudgy man that killed my mother.

My dad and uncle pulled him out of the wall and for the first time, Harry, Ron and Hermione saw Peter Pettigrew, the real man behind my father’s framed crime and the person responsible for Harry’s parent’s death and my mother’s killer.

“Remus…….S-Si-Sirius? My old friends.” Pettigrew praised before trying to make an escape for it, but they wouldn’t have it.  When his eyes soon lay on me, I felt my blood boil. “Ohh little (Y/n). So much like your mother, and with your father’s eyes. You remember me right? Your old uncle Pete—” as he came closer to me, I allowed my puma claws to come out as I scratched him across the face.  He whimpered as blood now began to seep down his face.

“You have no right to talk to me!” I growled at him. “I saw what you did that night! I WAS THERE YOU BASTARD!! YOU KILLED MY MOTHER!!” this time Ron and Hermione had to be the ones to hold me back from tearing that rat apart.

He shielded away from me in fear before turning to Harry who was just stunned in shock.

“Harry, look at you. You look so much like your father. Like James. We were best friends you know……”

“How dare you speak to Harry!” my dad hissed protectively. “How dare you talk about James in front of him!” soon the two of them had Pettigrew pinned by the piano, their wands at the ready.

“You sold James and Lily to Voldemort didn’t you!?” my uncle demanded.

“I didn’t mean to.” Wept the rat man pathetically.  He then began to go off on a ramble of how Voldemort was powerful and had weapons we had no idea he possessed. “What would you have done Sirius? What would you have done?”

“I would’ve died! I would’ve died rather than betray my friends or the woman I love!” my dad exclaimed as Peter tried to make his escape.  Harry blocked his escape but Peter whispered into his ear about something.

Finally I decided to step in and I pulled the rat away from my godbrother and aimed my wand at him.  Without even hesitating my father and uncle joined at my side and I said.

“Then you should know uncle. That if the Dark Lord didn’t kill you, then we will!”

“No wait!” Harry exclaimed.  My breathing sharpened as I said.

“Harry, this bastard……”

“I know what he is (Y/n). But we’ll take him to the castle. Together.” He placed his hand on top of mine and he softly whispered, “Would you mother want this?” I looked at him, tears starting to form in my eyes.

I turned back to Pettigrew who was now on his knees praising Harry for his mercy.

“Bless you boy. Bless you sweet boy.”

“Get off!” Harry snapped. “I said we’d take you back to the castle. Afterwards the Dementors can have you.” oh now this I like.  The traitor’s face turned from pure bliss to absolute horror as he fidgeted fearfully trying to make himself smaller.

After leaving the Shrieking Shack and exited out of the Whomping Willow, I watched as my dad walked ahead and stood to look up at the school.

I looked to Harry and gave him a soft nod.  His eyes showed hesitation but with a gentle shove he walked towards my father and I watched as the two of the proceed to talk with each other.

“You knew he was innocent?” Hermione said to me.

“Yes, I did. As I said back there it wasn’t just uncle James and Aunt Lily that died because of Peter. I was there to see my mother die right before my eyes. She had the invisibility cloak at the time, probably stole it from uncle James just to spite him or something. But she hid me with it and I saw as Peter came in and killed her with the last of the unforgivable curses.”

“I’m so sorry (Y/n). To think you had to see something like that.”

“We’re sorry we’ve been wankers to you about this (Y/n). Harry and I especially, can you forgive us?” Ron said.  I softly smiled and ruffled his hair.

“There’s nothing to forgive Weasley. Although you’re gonna have to do a lot of kissing up to your brothers Fred and George. They’ve been wanting to slug you for your behavior towards me.”

Then something happened that I wished never did.  The clouds slowly began to move away to reveal the full moon.  Oh no!

“Uncle Remus!” I exclaimed but it was too late.  He was starting to transform into his werewolf form.

My dad quickly ran up to him trying to hold his transformation back, but it was no use.  The agonizing groans and screams coming out of my uncle as his bones snapped and broke before changing and morphing to fit his upcoming werewolf body.  And to make matters worse, Pettigrew seized that opportunity to escape from our grasp.

Even though Harry disarmed him with an Expelliarmus spell, it still didn’t stop the rat from turning into true form before making his escape.  My dad knowing he couldn’t hold uncle Remus any longer told us to run.

Soon my dad was thrown down the hill and I exclaimed out.

“DAD!!” I quickly ran towards uncle Remus hoping I could knock some sense into him before his final transformation came around. “Uncle Remus you can fight it! The monster does not control you, you control it! Fight it! Think harder on your human senses!”

Just like my father, I too was sent down towards the hill as the last thing I heard was the sound of my uncle’s werewolf howl.

When I opened my eyes, I saw myself in Madam Pomfrey’s nursing wing.

“(Y/n), oh thank goodness you’re awake. Can you stand up?” Hermione’s voice said over me.  My vision finally came back and I said.

“What happened?”

“There’s not a lot of time to explain (Y/n) but your dad’s in serious danger. The Dementors are going to suck his soul.”

“What!?” I said fearfully as I shot up. “They can’t do that. He’s innocent!”

“Which is why I need to ask if you can stand and walk?”

“Yeah I can but why?” she pulled me up from my bed over to Harry who stood at the center of the room.

“Sorry Ronald but you can’t walk.” She then took a necklace out from her shirt and placed the chain around Harry and I before holding out what looked like a mini-hourglass.

The pendent began to spin around and soon right before our very eyes, the world around us seemed to go backwards.  Night turned into the gloomy afternoon once more as the medical wing was now abandoned and Hermione stopped the pendant’s spinning and she said as she took the chain off of mine and Harry’s neck and tucked it back into her shirt.

“Where were we at this hour Harry?”

“Uhh going to Hagrid’s I think.”

“And (Y/n) where were you at this time?”

“I was down at the Black Lake with uncle Remus, why?”

“Alright come on!” she took off running.  Harry and I ran after her confused asking her just what was going on.

That’s when she explained to us about the time turner necklace she had been given by Professor McGonagall, and she explained to Harry that that was how she was able to do all her classes this term.

So throughout the day we went down to Hagrid’s and I even got to see Hermione sucker punch Malfoy right in the nose (which I praised her on). We went down to Hagrid’s hut and we made our plan to save Buckbeak the Hippogriff (apparently Professor Dumbledore said that more than one life could be spared today).

As the day went on, it was nearly time to try and save my dad. So we sat just down the hill from the Whomping Willow.  We watched as uncle Remus came in and made the tree stop it’s swaying for a brief moment before entering inside, followed by me shortly after him.

“Wait you’re also an animangus?” Harry asked me.

“Surprised?” I asked him.

“When did you become one?” asked Hermione.

“I was roughly around your age when I took my test before the Wizard council to get my official license. They said I was the youngest registered animangus there ever was.” I looked up and said, “And there goes Snape. Right in after me.”

The two young teens turned and saw that Snape did go in shortly after me.

“Now we wait I guess.” Harry said.  We all made ourselves comfortable because we knew it would be awhile before we all left the Shrieking shack and came back before the Whomping Willow.

Then after seeing us come out, I watched as Harry went down to talk to my dad and that’s when he told me.

“You see me there talking to Sirius? He had just asked me to come live with him, you as well (Y/n). He talked about you and your mother a lot. As well as my parents.”

“I know. They were really good friends Harry. Even at just 3 years old, I knew my dad would never have betrayed yours. Never, not even if he were tortured. That’s why he named your parents my godparents.”

“I guess we were meant to be siblings either way.” I softly grinned at him and ruffled his hair before pushing his glasses back up his nose.

“I remember be so excited to have a younger ‘sibling’. Though I’ll admit I wanted you to be a girl, but you eventually grew on me.” Hermione giggled while Harry turned away embarrassedly.

Then that’s when the trouble began.  We saw uncle Remus transform into his werewolf form, the fight between him and my dad (who was in his animangus form), and then even be chased by him when Hermione howled to stop him from attacking Harry.

I phased into my animangus form to protect Hermione and Harry in case my uncle came around to find us.  When he did, I stood protectively in front of my brother and Hermione snarling and roaring at him.  But before we could charge at each other, Buckbeak had came in and fought my uncle off.

Man poor uncle Remus is having a really rough night. I then felt a coldness in the air and when we looked up we saw the Dementors flying towards where my dad must’ve been at after the fight with uncle Remus.

I gestured for Hermione and Harry to get on my back and once they were on, I raced on ahead and we stopped across the frozen lake and we all watched with horror as the Dementors began to suck out both Harry’s and my dad’s souls.

“Now just wait Hermione, my dad will come. He’ll be standing right there.” Harry said as he got off my back and walked a few steps ahead of us.  Hermione and I looked at each other sympathetically and she got off my back as well and stood beside him.

“Harry—your dad’s…….”

“Dead I know but just watch. He’ll cast the Patronus right there. Just like he did before.” We waited and waited but all we saw were my dad and Harry dying right before our eyes.

“You’re dying Harry. Both of you.” I said as I morphed back into my normal form.  God I had heard of witnessing a Dementor’s kiss is something awful but—god this was torture.  I wanted to step in and save my dad and Harry from the Dementors but what could I do? I’m not strong enough to conjure a Patronus charm, plus I would be outnumbered even if I tried any other spell I could name.

Next thing I saw was Harry racing forward to the spot where he said his dad was standing at.

“Harry!” Hermione called out but I wrapped my arms around her to stop her from racing towards him and that’s when we saw him lift up his wand and exclaim.

“EXPECTO PATRONUM!” Soon a bright light came from out of his wand and a bright wave of light shot out, which sent all the dementors away, saving Harry and my father from a terrible fate.

As I stared at my godbrother, I couldn’t be more proud of him. Not even I was able to conjure up a spell like that at his age, hell I can barely do it now.  He truly was a gifted young man, and I couldn’t be more proud of him.

After saving himself, we were now flying on Buckbeak heading for the highest tower where my dad was being kept.  I was sitting right behind Hermione while she was terrifyingly holding onto Harry for dear life.

“You were right Hermione. It wasn’t my dad I saw earlier. It was me! I saw myself conjured the Patronus before. I knew I could do it this time because—well I’d already done it. Does that make sense?”

“No! But I don’t like fly-AHHH!!!” She screamed as Buckbeak took a dive down towards the school, while Harry and I were cheering our heads off.

When we reached the tower, there we saw locked up in a cage, my dad looking forlorn as he awaited his fate.  He quickly turned to us and I took out my wand and pointed it at the lock as I proclaimed out.

“Alohomora!” the doors unlocked and swung wide open. “C’mon dad, we’re busting you out of here.” I extended my hand out to him and he immediately took my hand.

The four of us now flying on Buckbeak with Hermione up front, me behind her then my dad and Harry.  

And for the first time in 12 years, my dad finally felt free as a Hippogriff flying high in the sky.  Never have I heard him sound so happy and it brought a smile to my face as I heard him cheering.

We landed in the garden wing of the school and as my dad helped Hermione as well as me off of Buckbeak he said as we walked towards the corner of the garden.

“I’ll be forever be grateful for this. To the three of you.”

“I want to go with you.” said Harry.

“One day perhaps. For some time my life will be too unpredictable. Besides, you’re meant to be here.”

“But you’re innocent.”

“And you know it Harry.” I told him. “Just like I’ve always known.”

“She’s right. And for now that’ll do.” As Hermione left the three of us to have our little family moment, my dad then turned towards me. He stood before me and gently cupped each side of my face.  His calloused thumbs stroking my cheeks as he said to me, “I expect like Harry you might be tired of hearing this, but you are a splitting image of your mother. Except your eyes, you have……”

“Your eyes.” I finished for him.  Tears flickered in my eyes but I tried to hold them back. “I’ve only dreamed of something like this happening, and—even now I fear this still feels like a dream.”

“I’ve told you once when you were little; Dreams can feel like many things. Whether to make us feel happy or afraid, but in dreams you can never feel what is happening to you. So this, right here, is real my darling kitten.”

He took my hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.  When I felt it, I knew that this was real.  My dad was free, he was here, and he was right in front of me.  I embraced him as tightly as I could, burying myself into the ragged cloth of his prison uniform.  Slowly a few tears dripped from my eyes one by one as I felt my dad embrace me back just as tightly while rocking me from side to side.

“I’ve missed you so much dad.”

“Not as much as I’ve missed you. I’ve missed so much of your life. You were just a little girl when I was taken away and now I’ve seen you’ve become a beautiful young woman, just like I’d hope you’d be. Your mum would be so proud. Just as I am. I’m so sorry I put you through this.”

“I know why you did it dad. If I were older I would’ve done the same thing. I just……wish none of this had to happen.”

“As do I kitten. As do I. There hasn’t been a day that I don’t regret leaving you like I did. I made you lose both your parents.”

“That’s another thing I’ve inherited from you.” he looked at me confused. “Uncle Remus has always said I did get your stubbornness.” He softly chuckled before grabbing the back of my head and pressing his forehead against mine.

We stayed in that position for what felt like forever till he pressed a kiss to the center of my forehead before he guided me over to sit next to Harry.  He knelt down before the both of us as he said to us.

“It’s cruel that I got so much time with James, Lily and (m/n) and you both so little. But know this. The ones that love us never really leave us. And you both can always find them,” he then placed his left hand over Harry’s heart while his right hand pointed towards mine, “In here.”

Dad stood up and walked over to Buckbeak and mounted on top of his back once again, gently gripping onto the chained reins.  As Harry and I came up and stood beside Hermione, my dad complimented to her that she was indeed a bright witch for her age.

Buckbeak then reared as he let out a proud roar before taking off running before flapping his proud wings and taking off high towards the moon with my dad on his back.

Two souls finally free from the law.

The clock tower began to gong loudly and that’s when Hermine told us we needed to get back to the hospital wing.  We quickly raced towards the medical wing before the last strike of the belltower.

We saw Professor Dumbledore with his back towards us as he peeked through the doors before closing them.

“Well?” he asked us.

“We did it. They’re free.” Harry said.

“Did what? Goodnight.” The headmaster gave us a wave before descending down the stairs.  Oh that crazy old man.  The three of us walked towards the door but before we went in, we had to watch ourselves disappear to start the whole rescue all over again.  Once we disappeared, that’s when we came in the room.

“How did you get there? You were just over there. And now you’re there!” Ron said to us in shock.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about Ronald? Do you Harry? (Y/n)?”

“No clue. Maybe you should have your head examined Ronny, think you might be going mental.” I teased.

“Yeah Ron. How can people be in two places at once?” Harry joked alongside me.

Things after that were pretty crazy.  After it had been leaked out about my uncle’s condition (damn you Snape!) my uncle resigned as professor at Hogwarts, Harry had gotten the new firebolt broom (curtesy of my dad) and he got to test it out.

I was in my bedroom just finishing the last bit of my packing to return home for the summer when my owl Arella came flying in.  Her familiar grey and white feathers ruffled as she landed on her perch and she made her trilling sound.

“What have you have there, girl?” I noticed she had a small jewelry box tied to her back along with a note in her beak.  I took the note then untied the box from her back as she shook herself out and ruffled her feathers.

I set the box down and opened up the note and inside was a letter written in my dad’s hand writing.

My beloved kitten,

This once belonged to your mother (I gave it to her just shortly after you were born) and I figured she would want you to have it.  Keep it close to your heart and her memory will never leave you.

Your father,

Sirius Black

I set the note down and opened up the box now and inside was a necklace.  It was a silver heart-shaped locket and I noticed a little button at the side of it. I pressed down on it and it opened up to reveal something that not only broke my heart, but also filled it with joy.

The moving picture inside was my mother holding me as a baby. Her wide smile as she held me in her arms, her eyes filled with nothing but love.  When she looked up and her smile softened, I really did get to see what my uncle and dad were talking about.

I really did look like my mother.  Same hair, same mouth, same face, almost everything was of my mother. A single tear fell down my cheek as I kissed the picture and held it close to my heart.

Soon I began to get brief flashbacks of various moments with my mother.  I remember how she’d always sing me to sleep while having the windchimes of various creatures softly ring above me.  The way she’d make breakfast, and how we’d play together at papa James and mama Lilly’s place.

I unhooked the chain and placed it around my neck and saw as the heart shaped locket actually rested against my own heart.

“Thanks dad. And thank you mum. I miss you, but you can rest easy now. Dad’s free.” I said as I stared up at the sky holding the locket closer against my heart.

[prose-for-hire]

Love rises from the dust

Pairing: Spike x reader

Request: OMG I NEEED A SEQUEL TO LOVE AND DUST IN THE AIR!!! That was so good!! I can totally see spike trying to do romantic gestures to ask her out but something keeps going wrong (xander messes with their picnic, they get interrupted by the newest big bad, willow practices her magic and accidentally makes spike bald, etc.) until she just shows up at his crypt one day with hot coco and movies and kisses him 😭😭😭 TOO CUTE!

Part one

Requested by: Anon

A/N: I had a great time writing this second part!! Spike is perhaps a little more self-deprecating than he is on the show?? A bit more William (Forgive me I am a big romantic if you couldn’t tell lol).

Planning to tell you he loved you was the easy part. He couldn’t help watching you, desperately trying to think of an excuse to get you alone. Buffy was always there though, or one of the other Scoobies. It was as if they were trying to spite him in every way possible. Blocking his happiness, blocking you from him.

You had noticed this too, you usually drew to him, sitting with him at the Magic Box or spending time with him in his crypt when you had time but ever since Giles had made a strange comment about Spike spending too much time around you it seemed like you had stopped seeing Spike all together. Yo uwere constantly busy, whether it was patrolling with Buffy or helping Willow with a spell. Xander had even roped you into helping with some project that was taking up a lot of your time.

Spike didn’t blame you, he blamed them. He had a suspicion that they were doing it on purpose, which was confirmed when Giles threatened him to stay away one night.

Despite this, Spike had a plan. They weren’t going to get in the way of your happiness. He was a man of his word and he was determined to tell you how he felt. He was nervous, so nervous. He couldn’t bare the rejection. Not from you. He loved you. His heart rose, every even seemingly insignificant interaction a journey in devotion for him. He adored you, he was desperate for you to know. To hear from him how special you were to him. How much you meant to him.

It was a practice in salvation. With you, he could see happiness. Almost taste it. He vowed to himself that he would treasure you should you accept his advances. That he would never take you for granted.

He decided he would have to do it sooner than later, so he started to plan out something romantic. Romance like you deserved. So, Spike had decided on a night-picnic. He hadn’t actually told you that was what was happening, he had suggested to patrol together, accidentally stumbling across the blanket, a few candles, and the brown bag filled with what appeared to be an entire aisle of the corner store. It looked as if he had put his arm on one end and sweeped everything into a basket from one end to the other.

You squealed excitedly, “Did you do this!?” Spike just shrugged a little, ducking his head. You moved over to kneel on the blanket and look into the basket. You sit, tugging his sleeve so that he’ll sit down next to you as you take the bag and start to rummage inside. However, your smiles didn’t last long as you grabbed something that Spike hadn’t put in there.

The bag, and snacks, exploded before you. A pile of goo in its place. Some of it on your outfit (that you had carefully selected to be both good for fighting and something you hoped Spike would like on you). You squeak, standing up. Wiping some of the goo but it stuck like glue.

Spike just stared, he hadn’t expected that. It appeared to be some cheap prank-magic. He heard chuckling from a bush and whipped his head around to see the boy.

His reaction didn’t appear too bothered, you had missed his jaw tensing as he didn’t want you to see him so mad. You muttered something about dropping in on Buffy’s, because it was so close, to ask if you could use her shower. This left Spike imagining all of the ways he would string Xander up and torture him, but instead had to settle for shouting insults whilst he followed him all the way home.

Spike had to find a few demons to beat up, walking past your house twice although there were no lights on. He felt stupid. He should have asked if you were okay, offered you his jacket. The goo was cold and would stick to you for a while.

A fact you found out at the Summer’s residence where you were now almost 90% covered in the purple substance that you were spreading around instead of washing off. You couldn’t figure out if Spike had done it to be cruel or it had been someone else’s sabotage. Either way, you felt stupid, worried Spike would think of you and laugh now instead of enjoying your company. You felt a little embarrassed.

It had been a few weeks and Spike had not stopped thinking about you and figuring out a way to make it up to you. You had no ill-will towards Spike by this time as you found out and beat up Xander for his trick. Thankfully, you were now completely your natural skin tone, with no purple hue left.

You had dropped in to tell him this and ended up staying. You were sat in the crypt together, realising Spike was mad at Xander still for the prank, rather than laughing at you. He smirked when you mentioned you had stamped on his foot and threatened more, asking you to retell the story several times. You decided you should drop some hints that you liked him, you were able to face horrible beasts on the Hellmouth but letting Spike know you felt for him was a little harder.

You decided to snuggle up to him, willing the words to formulate. You were sat together on the sofa, you hitched up to his side of the seat. He was aware of how close you were to him, daring to glance sideways to make sure it wasn’t an accident. You gradually moved closer, both of your eyes glued to the screen, you eventually managed to settle into his side and he moved to slip an arm around your shoulders. Your movements both slow, as if moving faster would ruin the scene, scare either of you away. He could hear how fast your heart was beating, he was desperate to say something but he didn’t want to ruin anything. Holding you, having you close. It was bliss.

Both of you were uncharacteristically quiet, the only sound the low buzzing of the tv set and the constant thrumming of your heart. You were trying to think of more ways to drop hints to Spike that you liked him, you maybe even felt the first syllable of love tingling on your tongue for him. You knew, however, that Spike liked to be the one to sort through his feelings and if he hadn’t said anything then surely it meant you felt more for him than he did for you.

You thought you might tell him that you were thinking of going to the Bronze on Saturday, that you’d really like to see him there. It wouldn’t hurt, he might even want to come. He seemed to enjoy the way your skin felt against his, his thumb moving soothingly ever so often. It was as if he was holding his breath, making sure that the moment would last as long as possible. He felt so happy like this, he didn’t want you to slip from his arms.

You open your mouth, willing yourself to ask, just as he appears to be doing the same. Time slowed, anticipation a dizzying phenomenon as if there were something in the air.

But something comes crashing in, taking the door off its hinges. The monster of the week, a massive troll-demon. Spike grabs you to protect you and then remembers who you are, then looks at you and you nod, a sparkle in your eye. He smirks, you both silently agree to work together.

You had your fighting stances ready, you fought so closely, as if it were expertly choreographed. You just fit. You took it down together, not able to stop smiling at each other as you caught your breath back. This was the best kind of foreplay for Spike. He could watch you fighting for hours, enamoured by the grace you held. The brutality, the expertise that almost matched his - he had a few hundred years on you, however.

By the time you had tracked and slayed the troll, you had ended up by your house. Spike walked you the rest of the way, looking as if you both wanted to say something. You tried, you really did. But you both just stared hopelessly at the other. At least meant you started to believe Spike may truly have feelings there for you in return.

Since the last time you and he had been in the crypt, Spike had been a little awkward around you. He had been overthinking everything, trying to force himself into saying something. Building himself up, only to come crashing down when you looked up at him with bright eyes and a smile that he noted seemed to widen in his presence. Or was that his mind playing tricks? He became so tongue-tied around you, he didn’t know what was wrong with him.

There was a meeting at the Magic Box that night and Spike had waited outside your house and offered to walk you there. You happily accepted and as you both walked together, you slip your hand into his. You both look at each other silently, his eyes wide, eyebrows raised. But yet the words still can’t form between you. He tried, as did you, to say something. Anything about the way you feel. But the moment passed, and you were needed inside. You step into the magic box, both moving your hands from each other reluctantly. The last thing you needed was the unwanted opinions of the Scoobies.

As soon as you stepped in there was chaos in the store. Willow was chanting, getting louder as the store started to spin around you and sparks started to fly towards the doorway. You ducked out of the way, but Spike wasn’t so fast. In the blink of an eye, Spike was now bald. The bleach blonde hair that you loved so much was gone. His hands went straight to his now hairless head and his eyes widened in horror, profanities shouted towards the entire room. He winced again, remembering you were beside him. He hated thinking you would take the harsh words to heart, trying to avoid the threats in front of you. They all laughed, his jaw tensing as if this brought back some kind of hidden memory. He was embarrassed, feeling as if he was laughable to you now.

You move to him, trying to reassure him, but he ran away. Hurt in his eyes shone directly into yours as if you could feel it yourself. The embarrassment so strong, as if you could feel it as your own. You knew then that you needed to go to him. Show him it didn’t matter what he looked like. That you both lived in Sunnydale where there would always be a threat interrupting your time together. That it didn’t matter to you that things would occasionally go wrong, or not go perfect like they are in the movies. You wanted to show him, that you wanted to be by his side. That you loved him. If you couldn’t say it yet, then you would make sure to show him.

Spike was now in the crypt, dejected and drinking. His hair had come back slowly over the last twenty-four hours. He slumped in his chair, trying to console himself. He never had a chance, was he being stupid? Someone as sweet as you, as caring. Someone as tough and able to handle themselves. What good was he to you? You were perfect. You were everything. God, he had it bad.

There was a knock at the crypt door. He frowned, nobody ever knocked. Nobody except… you.

“Y/n? It’s late, pet… shouldn’t you be tucked up?” He asked You checked the watch on your wrist with a little frown. It wasn’t so late. The sun had only barely set. He cared though, he really cared and that’s why he always checked. He didn’t like you being out after dark so much, despite the way he knew you could handle yourself.

“Uh, yeah, I just wanted to see you” You said, a little smile. He just stared, not sure why you would want to be here. All he had done was embarrass himself and you by trying to get close to you. You moved past him, he hadn’t noticed all of the bags in your hands until you put them down and started to look through them.

“What’s all this?”

“Movie night!” You exclaimed as you setting everything down.

“Movie…?” He started, shaking his head, “Why?”

“It’s a date, Spike” you say matter-of-factly as you brought out a stack of videos you had rented. You finally said something. He was speechless. Looking around at everything you had brought, not able to stop the smile that was tugging at the corners of his lips.

“Is that a flask?”

“For coco and, of course... little marshmallows!” You brandish a little pack from one of the bags with a smile so sweet he felt himself melting quicker than the marshmallows would.

He stared. You had caught him breathing exaggeratedly and starting sentences around you, but never quite finishing them. You hoped it was the same you were feeling. Your eyes betrayed you, having to sort through your mind for a response. You worried if you finally named it, the feeling might leave as quickly as it had built between you. This was exactly how he was feeling, not that you were aware.

“Pet, what’s all this? Really? Not that I’m not pleased to have you gracing my presence, but you don’t belong in a hovel like this..” he muttered, believing strongly that you deserved better than he could give you. He had proved that in the past few months. You stared, a frown on his face.

Could he really think that? Everything he had done, a picnic. Protecting you from the demon. walking you places in the dark. His concern for you, wanting you to never hear his harsh words he saved for the others. You loved this man so much.

He was so thoughtful. Kind, and he really cared. He made you feel safe. He was always soft with you. You didn’t understand how he could think you wouldn’t want to be right here. You never wanted to leave his side. He stared back, not understanding your look. He was expecting you to suddenly realise how much he didn’t deserve you. But this was never a thought in your mind.

You rushed up to him, hand sliding up the side of his face, thumb tracing his cheekbone. Your lips met, the kiss making your stomach flip, your heartbeat was drumming with nerves and excitement. You were convinced he was about to reject you, pull you away from him. But he never did. His hands were by his side for a moment, he was shocked when he felt your soft-lipped kiss. But not for long. No, soon his hands are on you, sliding behind the base of your skull pulling your lips as close as physically possible.  His lips deepening your kiss, unsaid feelings once only apparent through furtive glances and the ways your eyes met was now apparent. You smiled into the kiss, pleased with the way he responded so enthusiastically, glad you hadn’t only been picking up what you felt, assigning your own feelings onto him.

“I love you” he whispered between your lips as your smile widened. He pressed several languid kisses against your lips again, unable to consider his lips not pressing against yours. Lips that were designed for each other, lips that had never dared reveal true feelings before. Threat of cruelty or laughter now felt like a ridiculous dream. Something the world had transpired against you both. Because it was both of you now, the promise sealed in this kiss.

“Finally!” You giggled softly pecking his smiling lips again before confirming, “I love you too”

[plasticnightmaredoll]

How about that WandaVision finale?

I have been MCU trash pretty much since 2008's "Iron Man," and it's currently a great time to be MCU trash. "WandaVision" is one of the few series that not only kept me coming back week after week, but actually amounted to much more than just a gimmicky twist (I'm looking at you, "Behind Her Eyes." Seriously, that show is soap opera drivel with a shocking double twist as its only captivating trait...and the double twist wasn't handled very well anyway)

In the end "WandaVision" was about overcoming grief and accepting reality.

Spoilers ahead!

The "WandaVision" finale was quite good overall, but there were a few disappointments. I'll address the latter first:

We never found out who was in witness protection. At the beginning of the series, Jimmy Woo stated there was someone trapped in West View who was in the witness protection program, and it seemed like it would be a key subplot but ultimately, it didn't lead anywhere. Perhaps it wasn't meant to be seen as anything more than some...random bit of information, but it is odd that they put such a specific detail into the story in the first place if it wasn't going to lead anywhere. Then again, supposedly we may get more questions answered in "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness," so this subplot may not have been wasted after all.

There were so many theories floating around hinting at who the true villain was behind the scenes, including Mephisto, Nightmare, Grim Reaper, and Chthon. All seemed like valid enemy choices, especially Mephisto as many clues appeared to lead to him, and Grim Reaper due to his helmet making an appearance in the opening credits of episode two. However, there wasn't a big baddie hiding in the shadows, and Agatha Harkness and Tyler Hayward were the only villains. Then again, that doesn't mean there isn't an ultimate villain lurking out there who could appear in "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness," but it kind of sucks we have to wait until 2022 to find out.

I wanted White Vision to go to Wanda and get together with her since Hex Vision restored his memories. But White Vision just flew off and wasn't seen again for the rest of the episode. I guess he needed time to process all the memories that had just flooded his high advanced robot mind, which is understandable because it was a lot to take in. I would have liked to see him make another appearance in the episode, though, even if it was at the very end with Wanda in her secluded cabin. I just want them to be happy together, ok?

Evan Peters wasn't actually Quicksilver/Peter Maximoff from the "X-Men" movies but someone named Ralph Bohner. This must be the Ralph Agatha referred to numerous times throughout the series but was never shown (not until the later episodes, that is). It does seem a bit weird -- off-putting, really -- that Evan wasn't Quicksilver from an alternate timeline. It would have made sense, and would have been a nice sampling of the "Multiverse of Madness," but in the end, he was just...Ralph. I honestly, don't get it, though: Why choose Evan Peters for such a random role when he was Quicksilver in the "X-Men" movies, and we are getting into the Multiverse part of the MCU storyline? Also, what happened to him in the end? After Monica freed him from Agatha's magic, we never saw him again. So....? What gives?

Although this is more of a personal gripe than anything, I was seriously hoping Doctor Strange would appear in the finale, even if it was in a post-credits scene. It would have been an excellent lead in for "Multiverse of Madness," and I just really love Benedict Cumberbatch's portrayal of the character. But again, this isn't really a flaw with the "WandaVision" series and is more of a pet peeve.

Also another peeve: What happened to Señor Scratchy?

I can't even say that there was a lot to be disappointed in with the finale, though. The lack of an "ultimate big bad meanie" isn't so bad. The series was more focused on Wanda running from her grief, having it smother her, and then earning her acceptance. Agatha and Hayward were sufficient as "true villains" of the series.

The only big issues are Evan Peters being a random dude named Ralph, and the weird subplot of a missing witness that ended up leading nowhere (for now?)

There was plenty of good in the "WandaVision" finale!

Wanda finally donning a scarlet outfit and crow reminiscent of what she wears in the comics was totally bad ass. It looked fantastic, and it shows she's now understanding herself and her powers much more. She isn't naïve about any of it, and is ready to learn how to control and enhance her abilities. Initially, she didn't want to be seen as a witch but ultimately, it is her destiny, and she chose to accept it without fear.

The second and final post-credits scene with Wanda making tea in her secret cabin in the mountains was interesting to say the least. Physical(?) Wanda was doing daily task while her astral projection -- which featured her in her costume -- was studying the book of dark spells (or "Book of the Damned," as Agatha called it). This is a funny nod to 2016's "Doctor Strange" considering Doctor Strange's physical form would sleep while his astral form would study magic. The difference, though, is Wanda is reading from the Book of the Damned, which can't be a good thing. Also, it almost indicates she has two personalities: Wanda Maximoff and Scarlet Witch, and I like that idea. She may have to wrestle with herself internally in the near future.

I was so glad that White Vision was able to regain his memories of his past -- and true? -- self thanks to Hex Vision. I hope White Vision will go to Wanda and reunite with her, but I'm not sure when that will happen. Paul Bettany isn't listed in the cast for "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" so...I'm really confused. White Vision still exists and is somewhere but...where? When? How? The cast list for "Multiverse of Madness" is very short, though, and Paul's upcoming films and series list ends in 2020 so...maybe it's meant to be a secret? The movie isn't due out until next year so it COULD be the case. Otherwise, it seems like a huge oversight on the MCU's part to just forget about White Vision. It would be a pleasant surprise if he shows up in "Multiverse of Madness" to help Wanda from doing bad things, losing control, or whatever?

Scarlet Witch is supposedly stronger than the Sorcerer Supreme, which is kind of awesome but kind of troubling because Doctor Strange may not have the best time in "Multiverse of Madness" is he is to confront her. This is why I hold on to the theory that White Vision may appear in the movie to aid Doctor Strange by calming Wanda down. Either way, knowing she is so powerful and at the same time, a very emotional person, hints at an epic fight in the near future.

I really liked how Wanda tricked Agatha into stealing her chaos magic. I was wondering why Wanda was missing with some of her chaos magic spheres, but assumed she was just growing tired and weak and was losing focus. Then it's revealed that she wasn't missing her shots -- she was placing large runes on the Hex's walls to prevent Agatha from using her magic. Then this allowed Wanda to take back her powers and steal some of Agatha's, which, in turn, made her accept her role as the Scarlet Witch. Agatha is punished by being trapped as nosy neighbor Agnes in West View, but I don't think it's the last we'll see of her.

I'm glad Wanda was able to finally accept Vision's death as that was what had caused all this mess in the first place. Despite what she did, she was a sympathetic "villain," if you can even consider her one. She was overwhelmed by grief and found a way to cope...she just happened to drag a small town into her world. Oops.

Monica's powers continuing to evolve was amazing, like how she managed to stop the bullets Hayward attempted to fire at Billy and Tommy. I really like Monica's character and the actress, Teyonah Parris, is very talented, so I'm excited to see more of her in Phase Four.

While it was expected, it was ultimately the right decision to let the people of West View go free. Even if they still resent Wanda for trapping them previously, they are given the chance to return to their normal lives without any harm done to them (well, maybe some mental and emotional trauma but, hey, who doesn't deal with these things in life, right?)

Some things I want to make note of:

Paul Bettany is a fucking troll and I love it! He had hinted at a surprise cameo later in the "WandaVision" series, which would involve working with an actor he's always wanted to work with. This caused a lot of speculation as to who it would be, although, Benedict Cumberbatch was the top choice since Doctor Strange and Vision never had screen time together, and Benedict is a great actor (then again, so is Paul, although, he's underrated, I think). Then there were rumors of Al Pacino being the surprise cameo since he was a major influence on Paul, and there were theories Al would show up as a secret villain like Nightmare. Turns out the secret surprise cameo was Paul Bettany himself since he played both Hex Vision and White Vision, and the two did fight for a bit before having a philosophical chat which led to White Vision regaining his memories. So, yeah, Paul Bettany is Troll of the Year. I guess I was initially disappointed that the big reveal wasn't really a big reveal, but I quickly realized how hilarious it was that Paul played us all so well. He's probably laughing his ass off right now at everyone's "WTFFF?" reactions.

I know Elizabeth Olsen was criticized for her poor Russian accent, but I think she's a very good actress and love her portrayal of Wanda. I mean, accents can be a bitch to master, I get it, and sometimes, I think if the performance is still impressive, we can learn to be unbothered if the accent is off.

I noticed that Chiwetel Ejiofor is returning as Karl Mordo in "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness," so perhaps he will be the main villain or a secondary villain? He has to be a villain since he is hunting down sorcerers to take their powers. Maybe he wants to take Wanda's powers, too? I mean, she's a sorcerer of sorts, so...maybe that is going to be a plot point? Although, Mordo is probably way out of his depth against her but we shall see.

I kind of still want Mephisto or Nightmare to appear in Phase Four since they have been hyped so much due to clues in "WandaVision." I don't think Wanda will be the big baddie for Phase Four, I just don't see it. Also, I don't see Mordo as being the big baddie, either. Both are very single-minded in their goals, and yeah, Thanos was, too, but he dragged the entire universe into his insane and devastating goal. I don't think Wanda or Mordo have such grand and deadly intentions. Wanda just wants her kids back and Mordo wants to get rid of sorcerers as...revenge against the Ancient One's "betrayal?" I don't know...but I don't think he wants to take over the universe. I never read the comics, though, so I could be wrong.

In the second post-credits scene of the "WandaVision" finale," we see Wanda's astral self studying dark magic from the Book of the Damned, and Billy and Tommy suddenly call out to her. I am guessing she could have been studying spells to see if there was anything that could bring them back since, unlike Vision, they were a creation unique to her from the start. Vision was initially a new, more powerful, more durable body for Ultron, then he was given Jarvis' AI and became, uh, the Vision, so, he never "belonged" to her. Getting her kids back, however, may prove to be a problem for the universe because it could lead to multiverse madness. I'm so funny, I know.

As disappointing as it was for Evan Peters to presumably be some dude named Ralph Bohner and not the "X-Men" movieverse Quicksilver/Peter Maximoff, maybe it makes sense when you really think about it. Marvel owns the rights to the X-Men now because Disney owns Marvel and Disney purchased the rights through their merger with 21st Century Fox. Marvel plans to reboot the X-Men with "The Mutants" movie sometime soon, and that means characters will be recast. They kind of have to because the current cast's movie series has hit a dead end with "Apocalypse" and "Dark Phoenix" proving to be underwhelming. I do wonder how Marvel will breathe fresh life into the X-Men in the movieverse because I feel like there is X-Men fatigue right now? Or maybe it's just me. I've grown disappointed with the franchise and am sort of annoyed at a reboot because it may be too soon. But, hey, hopefully I'm proven wrong!

Marvel also has rights to the Fantastic Four, which means we may actually finally get a good Fantastic Four movie! Three attempts have been made so far (yes, three), and they all failed to impress with the last attempt being an embarrassment. I mean, it was a disaster as nearly everyone hated how boring and bland and choppy it was, and that is reflected in its pitiful earnings. On a budge of $120-155 million, the 2015 "Fantastic Four" movie only grossed $167.9 million globally. OOOOOOOOFFFFFFFFFF.

Phew, that was a huge post, but got all my thoughts out. Considering how shitty things have been since the abomination of 2020 was born, and with little hope for things to improve anytime soon (I have my own problems as well, which aren't going away anytime soon, either, hahaha T__T), it's refreshing to have some stuff to be happy about. Some people hate the MCU, some people have lost interest, and some people may just be indifferent, but I'm definitely and MCU fan and it makes me feel excited and giddy, two things I don't experience often anymore :\

Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments or in a reblog, but no hate and no "cancel culture" talk. I want to keep this post positive.

[razieltwelve]

Paragon (Final Rose AU?)

“Who is that?” Lightning asked her Semblance.

Saviour smiled. “Guess.”

Lightning rolled her eyes. All these years, and her Semblance was still a troll. Still, there was something comforting about it. She was an old woman now, so much closer to the end than the beginning, yet her Semblance still looked the same. She hadn’t aged a day, even if Lightning had aged decades.

“I’m going to guess that she’s related to me.” Lightning walked in a slow circle around the glowing image of the pink-haired woman that stood at the centre of the hall, surrounded by countless mirrors, each of them reflecting a pink-haired man or woman. “Am I right?”

“Of course.” Saviour smirked. “But keep going.”

Lightning glanced at the mirror. She recognised several of the people in them, and they all had one thing in common. “I’m going to guess that she’s a bearer of Saviour.”

“You’re getting warmer,” Saviour said. 

“That’s not it?” Lightning rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “I’m going to guess she’s from the future.”

“Warmer...”

“But her central position in this hall must mean something.” Lightning studied the positions of the mirrors more intently. The mirrors were arranged in concentric circles. Her mirror was in the innermost circle, the one only a few yards from the woman. “She’s the most powerful of us all.”

Saviour’s eyes lit up. “Bingo.”

“What makes her the most powerful,” Lightning asked quietly. “What did I miss?”

“You didn’t miss anything,” Saviour explained. “Or rather, you never needed what she will need.”

“Explain,” Lightning said flatly. “Because there have been multiple occasions where I could definitely have used more power.”

“You already know that Saviour can reach across time, space, and dimensions. You’ve even met, in a way, some of your successors.”

Lightning nodded. During the periods when she’d lost herself in Saviour and gone catatonic, she had indeed met some of her future descendants. Most of them were quite easy to relate to. The half Dia-Farron one had frankly been mildly terrifying. Someone similar to Vanille with Saviour? It was a relief to meet some of the bearers after her... which was proof she hadn’t blown up the universe.

“There will come a day when a fully mastered version of Saviour wielded by someone in their absolute prime will be required.”

Lightning’s eyes widened. “You’re sure?” She hadn’t achieved full mastery of Saviour, not even close. In fact, her Semblance had told her that achieving full mastery of the Semblance was essentially impossible due to the way its power was capable of scaling. Still, she’d gotten about as far as anyone ever would, albeit at an age so advanced that she’d never been able to wield its powers fully.

“Yes.” Saviour’s lips twitched. “But all bearers of Saviour are connected, in some fashion or another. And that’s where things get... interesting.”

“Oh?”

“No two bearers of Saviour master the Semblance the same way. Your third level doesn’t do quite the same thing that Averia’s does, even if they are both very similar. What exactly gets mastered varies because Saviour is, above all, a problem-solving Semblance. Its powers are deployed to optimally deal with the situation.”

“Yes.” Lighting considered the idea more carefully. “But if you had enough bearers who each approached mastery of Saviour slightly differently...”

“Then it is theoretically possible that you’d actually be able to have full mastery spread across all of them.” Saviour gestured grandly. “Imagine an entire ocean. That is Saviour. Each bearer’s mastery is like a single drop of water. It might seem like an impossible task, but if you have enough drops of water, you could make an ocean.” The mirrors around them shifted restlessly, as though they could hear the words. “The one you’re looking at, the one at the centre of this, she’s the one who finally stumbles across the missing piece.”

“What missing piece?”

“On her own, she’ll be weaker than your average bearer of Saviour despite advancing to a similar level as you. What she will master, however, is something that has the potential to make her so much stronger. She finds a way to connect all of you.”

Saviour gestured and a bizarre, multi-dimensional solid formed in the air beside her.

“Each of you, every bearer of Saviour, is like a face of this solid. You can’t see each other or interact with each other much, but you’re all connected. What she masters lets her... tilt, I suppose you could say, the solid so that she can call on the face whose powers she needs. One day, she’ll work out how to do more than just tilt the solid to get the bearers whose precise power set she needs.” The solid unfurled, flattening like a tesseract forced into first three and then two dimensions. “She’ll find out how to connect all of you at the same time.”

“She’d have the combined power of every single bearer of Saviour who has ever lived or will ever live,” Lightning murmured. “And the effect wouldn’t be simply additive either, given how Saviour’s powers interact with themselves.”

“Nope.” Saviour grinned. “This descendant of yours is going to be basically the single most powerful being in the multiverse for a split-second.”

“What could she possibly need that sort of power for?”

“Heh.” Saviour’s eyes gleamed. “You’re better off not knowing.”

“Tch.” Lightning scowled. “Keep your secrets then.” She looked back at the image of the woman that stood before her. “What’s her name.”

“Funny you should ask.” Saviour grinned. “They named her Lightning, after you, of course. But what most people call her is Paragon.”

“Paragon?” Lightning considered the meaning of the word. “Fitting.” A thought occured to her. “She’s not fighting alone, is she?”

“Oh, no.” Saviour’s grin widened, and an image appeared beside her. It was a dark-haired man. “Her big bro wouldn’t let her go into that battle alone.” His body shifted until a mostly familiar form appeared. It was very clearly a male version of Ragnarok. However, there was something different about it. It seemed somehow... more in the same way that the woman was somehow more.

“Ragnarok?”

“Close. They call him Eschaton.”

“Eschaton?” Lightning chuckled. “Appropriate, if not quite the same in nuance.”

[alovesongshewrote]

Swords and Stab Wounds | Hisirdoux Casperan

Plot:  You had moved to Arcadia to avoid participating in world ending cataclysms, but fate had something else in mind.  Now you’re helping stop the Eternal Night in some unconventional ways.  [Hisirdoux Casperan x StronglyHintedtobeaDemigodorOtherMagicalCreature!Gender Neutral!Reader]

Word Count:  2,364 approx.

Warnings:  Stabbing, minor mentions of blood, a wee bit of angst, swearing, Archie doesn’t like you (it’s because of the stabbing,)

masterlist

This wasn’t happening.

Nope, nope, nopenopenopenopenopenopenopenope, not today.

You were not okay with this, so you had elected to ignore it.  But that never works, does it?

So, now you were face to face with a great monster beyond comprehension.  The sky was orange, monsters and men were fighting everywhere, and some lady in golden armor was pretty clearly trying to take over the world.  And you had moved to Arcadia to avoid this kind of thing.

You sighed.  This demonic creature of sin wouldn’t wait for you to process everything that had happened today.  It was time for action.  You looked around for something to defend yourself with. There wasn’t much.  Just a few sticks and a fast-food cup.  You wished you had a sword.  Any sword.  There were no swords.  You turned back to the awful horrible abomination advanced above the human mind.  It was advancing.  That wasn’t good.

Before you could decide whether to run, fight, or give up, a boy emerged from absolutely nowhere and struck the thing with a guitar, killing it instantly.  This did not phase you, stranger things have, in fact, happened.

“You alright darling?”

Oh shit, he was talking to you.  And he had an accent.  Nice.

“Uh, yeah, I’m good,”

The boy gave you a thumbs up and ran back into the fray.  You should’ve probably gotten in there too, but also nyeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, no thank you.

As if it had heard your hesitation, the universe decided to make this worse for everyone involved and blow up some various objects.  You couldn’t tell what it was, you just saw fire and smoke.  And then you heard the screams.  As done with war and fighting as you were, you couldn’t stand by and let innocent people suffer.

It was time to go find a sword.

--

Finding a sword was not as hard as it sounded.  There were a lot of them lying on the ground, just none in the spot where you’d been attacked.  T’was inconvenient.  As you fought, you realized that these were probably weapons of the deceased.  You could mourn later, now was the time to- DUCK.

You maneuvered around one of the regular bad monsters (not the colossal tower of pure malice that you’d been saved from earlier,) finding an opening and striking.  Fighting came to you as easy as breathing.  Since you were a child you’d been fighting.  Fighting for your family, your friends, your home.  And now you were fighting again, for the innocent.  When would the forces of evil take a nap?

‘Probably never,’ you thought as you slid under a sword, turning on your knees to slice the back of the creature’s knees.  

Maybe it’s good that some things never change.  Evil always wants to fight, and knees are always a weak point.

You stood, taking a deep breath as you looked at the carnage around you.  Most of it was actually caused by you.  You were very good with a sword.

“Woah,” a voice came from behind you.  You spun around, pointing the tip of your blade at the new opponent, but instead of another rock-thing, you found the boy who had saved you earlier.

You lowered your blade, “Hey,”

The boy walked towards you, taking in the field of rock at your feet, “This is-”

“Different?”

“Nuclear!  Maybe you didn’t need my help after all,”

“Oh, no, I totally did.  I had no weapon and no hope,”

The boy seemed taken aback by your words.  Arcadians probably weren’t this blunt, at least under normal circumstances.  You weren’t sure, you had only lived here a week.

“Alright then, do you-”

“DOUXIE, LOOK OUT!!”  a voice called.  You had no idea where it came from, but you didn’t care.  A monster had appeared behind the boy, and it was ready to strike.  You had five seconds to do something.

And in those five seconds, you did what anyone else would do and you ran them both through with your sword.  It was super effective.

The boy cried out in pain, because, you know, he’d just been stabbed, and the monster crumbled to stone behind him.  Good.  Now all that was left was to take care of the boy.

You withdrew your sword from his abdomen, earning a groan of pain, “You-you stabbed me,”

“Yes, you’re very observant, now let me see it,”

You put your weapon on the ground, not super jazzed about his blood coating the blade.  Oh well, sometimes sacrifices must be made.

You helped the boy lie on the ground and moved your hands above his wound.  You were ready to go, but then a dragon attacked you.

It wasn’t a big dragon.  In fact, it was about the size of a cat.  However, size doesn't really matter when it comes to damage dealt, and this cat-dragon was dealing a lot of damage.

“What the fu-”

“STAY AWAY FROM HIM,”  Oh, so this was an angry cat-dragon.  Probably the boy’s.

“Okay, dude, calm down, I can’t help if you don’t let me,”

“You’ve helped enough!”  Cat-dragon was still not pleased with you.  And was still attacking, so you moved your hands, stopping the creature in mid-air, grabbing it from where it flew.

“Okay, look,”  you sighed,  “I am sorry I stabbed your friend, but if you don’t let me heal him, he will die,”

“Ughhh, thanks for that,”  you wondered if the boy was always this funny, or if it was just the stab wound talking.

The cat-dragon fixed you with a terrifying glare, one that would have turned you to stone if you didn’t have work to do, “I will let you help him, but if you try anything you’ll be burned to a crisp before your body hits the ground,”

It was an impressive threat, especially from such a small creature.  

“Don’t worry,” you said, setting the cat-dragon down, “I won’t hurt him anymore,”

The cat-dragon then turned into an actual cat, curling up next to the boy’s head.  It was then you realized that the creature was wearing some really nice glasses.  You had several questions but now was not the time.

Wasting no more time, you shut your eyes and took a deep breath.  Silently, you placed your hands upon the boy’s stab wound, wincing slightly at the feeling of his blood covering your skin.  You felt bad about it.  There were probably better ways to kill that monster, but you couldn’t focus on that right now.  You had to focus.

And so you did.  And the magic flowed through you.  It was soft and warm, and bright.  You relaxed, letting the spell numb you, calming your nerves, and mending your broken skin.  It felt like a soft fire, lighting your soul ablaze, and taking everything else with it.  And then you felt numb.  The magic was burning through you, and burning out.  Exhaustion began to claw at you, but you bit your lip and persisted.  You were nowhere near finished.

Now it was the boy's turn.  Raising your hands, you let the spell drip from you and onto him.  Hopefully, the magic had taken enough energy from you to spare him from the numb fatigue that tore into you.  God knows you’d already caused him enough pain.

Fortunately, it didn’t take long for the magic to heal him.  A few minutes went by and his breathing returned to normal.  He would be okay.

And with your positive diagnosis, you let the spell go, releasing the energy into the universe and knocking you over.  You elected to remain on the ground, groaning.  You could hear the cat-dragon-cat talking to the boy.  You should probably say something too.

 “You alright?”

“Yeah, yeah, thanks for that,”

You waited for a moment.  Something else blew up nearby, but you needed a minute before you had the energy to care about it.

“I’m sorry I stabbed you.  I really couldn’t think of another way,”

“Why not let the troll attack me, and if I got hurt you could heal me then?”

“I couldn’t know how bad it would hurt you.  I don’t know very much about what’s going on here.  But I do know that I can heal a stab wound.  A… what did you say troll?  A troll attack I don’t know if I could manage,”

“That’s… fair?”

“Thanks,” you nodded, even though he probably couldn’t see you.  There was more silence, another explosion.  You really wanted a nap.

“So, your cat-dragon talks?”

“Uh, yeah, he’s a shapeshifter, actually.  My familiar,”

“Dope,”

“My name is Archie, however, you may not address me at all, much less by my name,”

“That’s fair,” you said, closing your eyes.  There was a rock digging into your side.  You couldn’t nap here, “I did almost kill your guy,”

“My name is Douxie,”

“Cool, cool, cool, I’m (Y/N),”  you sat up and turned to face him, letting yourself take him in for the first time.  

He was definitely cute.  He was tall with a very nice face and hazel eyes that stunned you for a moment.  His black was dyed blue at the ends, and the ends themselves were so long that they hung in his face.  He had an aesthetic going for him for sure, a black hoodie, skull necklace.  What would that be, cryptidcore?  Dark academia?  Punk?  The metal cuff on his wrist definitely added to the confusion, but it probably didn’t matter too much what aesthetic this guy subscribed too.  Maybe, if one day fate was kind enough to let him forgive you for stabbing him you could ask.

For now, there were more pressing questions,  “So, what’s your deal?  You have a familiar, so you’re either a witch or a wizard,”

“Wizard.  What about you?  Not everyone in this town can run a man through with a sword and heal him immediately after,”

“Good to know.  In short, I’m a healer witch with a sword.  In long-form I was a child soldier sent into a war that I never should have been a part of because of who my parents were,”

“Oh...  (Y/N) I’m... I’m sorry-”

“It’s not your fault, it was a long time ago,”

“A long time?”  Douxie sat up, “So you-”

“Yeah, I’ve been around for a while,”

There was another second of silence while you both tried to figure out what to say next, but that stopped being a problem almost instantly.

“Douxie, I don’t want to stop you from bonding with the witch who stabbed you,” Archie said in a way that made it 100% clear that he absolutely wanted to stop Douxie from bonding with the witch who stabbed him, “But there is still a battle going on,”

“Right,” the wizard stood up now, without any sign that he’d been dying a moment before.  You’d done well healing him. 

“Well, (Y/N), I guess I’ll see you on the other side,”  he extended a hand to you.

You looked up at him.  Maybe this was the start of forgiveness.  That would be nice.

You took his hand and stood.

“See you on the other side, wizard,”  you took a moment, debating whether or not this next move would be a good idea.  It was a bad one, but you went for it anyway, “Bye Archie. I like your glasses,”

You ran off before the cat could threaten your life again.

--

It had been, like, a week, since Morgana and the rock squad had tried to bring Night Eternal to Arcadia, and you were settling in pretty well.

You had finally unpacked all of your things, including your decently sized sword collection, now with the addition of a Gumm-Gumm sword (not the same one that you’d nearly killed Douxie with.  You still felt guilty about that and you’d decided to pick up a new one.)

Now, you were out for a walk near a bookstore.  It looked interesting enough, so you decided to look into the front window, only to jump out of your skin when you saw Douxie on the inside, sweeping away at the floor.  Unfortunately, he also saw you.  So you decided to run.

You didn’t get very far.  The wizard caught up to you almost immediately without having to run.  It was your fault though.  You had run into a dead-end alleyway.  

“(Y/N)!  Hey!  How’ve you been?  I haven’t seen you since-”

“Since I stabbed you.  I’m sorry about that by the way,”

“I mean… I wasn’t going to say that, but you are forgiven,”

“Great!  Now if you excuse me, I’m just gonna,”  You began to walk to the end of the alley, planning on climbing over the wall to get out of this awkward situation, but once again, you did not get far.

“Would you like to get coffee sometime?”

You froze with one leg already on the wall.  Slowly, you turned to face him. “I’m sorry, but did I not stab you a week ago?”

“Well, yes, but I don’t see how that interferes with coffee,”

“Why-what-how do you,”

“Are you okay, love?”

“Why don’t you hate me!?”

Douxie blinked and then smiled at you.  Your knees felt weak.  Was that a wizard thing?  Was he doing that?

“You weren’t trying to hurt me, you were just doing what you thought was right.  You have a weird way of doing things, but I respect it.  Archie on the other hand-”

“Will your familiar kill me if I get coffee with you?”

Douxie put a hand to his chin, “He might try, but I won’t let him,”

You laughed at that, just a little, “Good.  In that case, I’d love to get coffee sometime,”

“Brilliant!  Now, do you want to get out of this alleyway?”

“Yes,”

“Okay, let’s go,”

And from there, the two of you had a very nice conversation on the way back to the bookstore where Archie tried to burn you alive.

It was a nice walk though, despite the singed edges on your clothing from the familiar at your destination.  From the sounds of things, you’d get to know what aesthetic the wizard subscribed to very soon.  And for the first time in a long time, you actually looked forward to something.