#verse: from the ashes

[positivelybeastly]

Hank McCoy the reason I’m a proud homo

"I - you're welcome? I think???"

Honestly, mood. Like, I know I've talked at length about how much Hank inspired me as a kid with body issues, how fascinating I find him as a character with a very multifaceted and complex psychology, how tragic I find his story when you look at it on a macro level, so on and so forth.

But I'd be legitimately remiss if I didn't acknowledge that he was also a fairly significant part of my awakening to the fact that I'm particularly gay.

Like??? He's just dreamy? I would kiss him? Also other things that are too highly rated for this blog???

Unfair, tbh.

[positivelybeastly]

". . . My email?"

It's a rather busy day at the base, truth be told, and though director is a rather charitable title, given that Hank has no actual staff (he's joked to Scott that he doesn't so much direct people as wave his hands in a certain direction and hope things will happen, given his lack of resources), he's ostensibly meant to be helping some of the newer refugees get oriented, set them up with paperwork, check them over for medical issues.

So far, a good few of them have been chatty, but they haven't said anything quite so pointed as this yet.

"Forgive me, young man - I don't recall . . ." He looks down at his clipboard, thumbing through his documents and comparing pictures to Core's face. "Would you mind elucidating on the nature of this email? I appear to have . . ." He gestures at his head, giving Core a somewhat pained smile.

"Forgotten, something - clearly, something important."

@positivelybeastly

"I....I got your email."

[stuck-in-jelly]

Obsessed with how Claudia and Soren view magic.

Claudia views magic as something amazing and special, even dark magic despite having to ‘harvest’ from living creatures in order to use it. Because in the end how could something that helps her friends and family be bad? How could something that saved an entire kingdom from starvation be evil?

Soren meanwhile doesn’t care about dark magic vs primal magic. In his eyes Dark magic can be used for immense good just as much as Primal magic can be used for horrific evils. At the end of the day all magic has ever done is divide people and cause years of suffering.

But they are both such hypocrites (affectionate).

Claudia views dark magic as a gift, something to take pride in having. But when she is finally broken down she reflects back she feels disgusted at herself for viewing living creatures as parts. Then when pushed into a dangerous situation she cried out “Don’t make me! Don’t make me do dark magic!”

Soren believes the world would be better without magic at all. Yet he turned to it, he looked his father in his eyes and said “You have your other way! Dark magic.” Not caring that Viren explained the original spell was a primal spell and the new spell would require a terrible sacrifice.

[villainmade]

@terrorsmade said : ❛  there  is  a  possibility  i  am  now  hallucinating .  ❜

  she doesn't know what's happening. things and places around her look altered somehow — minute changes over an extended period of time, but obvious from one day to the next. and then there was that man who had answered the door of their apartment after allison had tried and failed to get it open herself ... she has no idea who he was, but he's not her father. where is her father? almost instinctively, allison stuffs her hand into the pocket of the jacket she'd ' borrowed, ' expecting to find her phone to call her dad; the search comes up empty.

  after about ten minutes of sitting on the curb outside the apartment building and hoping that her dad might magically appear, allison turns to plan b: the mccalls. if melissa's not home, then scott might be, and if scott isn't home ...

  it's the third possibility that opens the door when she knocks, and all allison can do is stand there silently, gaze sweeping over his face. it's definitely isaac standing before her (she'd recognize him anywhere), but like her surroundings, he's changed. he looks more unkempt, though not necessarily in a negative way. allison swallows thickly, trying to get her mouth to move, to say something, but he beats her to it.

  " there is a possibility i am now hallucinating. "

  he thinks he's hallucinating. hell, maybe she's hallucinating too. because her brain is foggy and confused, trying to reconcile with the fact that she knows she died. " you're not, " allison murmurs quietly at last — so quiet, in fact, that she wonders if she'd even said it out loud. " you're not hallucinating. "

[veiledbyart]

Two sketches for an OC meme over on bsky! Two very different styles, but this is nice practice - AND a nice excuse to draw my various blorbos.

Don’t use or repost my art without permission.

[melien]

𝐇𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲, 𝐈 𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐮𝐩 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝, 𝐈 𝐝𝐨 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞🪦

[littlehoundthings]

@crosaidi: pretty sure i've fallen in love with you four times today.

"....."

He's doing quick math.

"Ma vhenan, that's how many fights we've been in today."

[solis-angelus]

a poem I wrote after seeing this post and many others on here.

Her name was Sidra Hassouna, and she was killed among the thousands of other people in Palestine. Never forgive never forget.

[chaosmultiverse]

Cole Cassidy tag drop

[gatekeeper-of-witchcraft]

hate when I’m reading something unrelated/tangentially related to norse mythology and they reference it wrong 😬

[positivelybeastly]

So Cassandra Nova is back in the main X-Men book. She has history with Beast, but not our current Beast. How do you see that going? Or what would you want to see? Do you think they'll have her restore a huge chunk of Hank's post-Defenders memories just to mess with him while from an out of universe perspective also making his new status quo easier to juggle for other writers?

There's a rather dark look in Hank's eyes as he casts them over the genetic information he's collected from Ms. Starkey - Jennifer, she's asked him to call her Jennifer, he must do his best to do that - and Mr. Liu, the only subjects of Ms. Nova's they've managed to track down.

The transformation she appears to have achieved with these poor people is nothing short of incredible, but the knowledge of just how painful, invasive, and cruel the process must have been stops him from appreciating the scientific achievement of it - there's only horror at the licence she appears to feel. The sheer lack of restraint and morality. It reminds Hank of . . . well.

Him.

"Suffice it to say that I see it going poorly."

So, I don't think that they'll use her to give Hank his memories back. Given how the rest of the book has gone thus far, I think we're likely going to get her make a reference to their past encounter, and then probably floor Hank by using all of his fears and anxieties about becoming his X-Force self against him.

He possesses enough knowledge about that specific incarnation of himself that she can draw on it and externalise it, maybe have him fight a shadow of himself like she had the X-Men fight shadows of their past in Astonishing X-Men.

Which, honestly, I'm fine with. I'm all for externalising conflict within the self, and I would love for MacKay, a writer who has obvious love, appreciation, and knowledge of Hank, to handle this scene again and do it infinitely better than Percy ever did. Especially given how he handled Quentin's brush with a spectre of Sabretooth in X-Men #5.

Part of the reason I think it's not going to come from Nova is that it just feels too early for that, I think that MacKay intends to let new Hank with his outdated knowledge persist for a while, and while it'd certainly be nice to get everything from 1986 to 2004 back (it's easy to handwave that Nova retained all of Hank's memories from that period when she tortured him in Astonishing, she's that powerful of a telepath), I think it's only a band-aid on the problem, as it were? It's not a full restoration, we're still missing 2004-2023. We're still missing Abigail, Broo, the Inhumans, the Secret Avengers, Utopia, etc.

What I think we're going to get, in regards to Hank's memory problem is a return of X-Force Beast from the pocket dimension, and then a conflict between him and MacKay's X-Men that ultimately ends with his final, conclusive death, and a transferral of his memories to Hank so that he can solve the Nova mutant problem and the resurrection sickness. A scene between old Hank and new Hank as he quietly dies, giving himself a second chance to do things right this time.

The best of both worlds. The best version of himself, with all the years of research and self-improvement that he enjoyed. The best Beast. I think that's the most simple version of events, and what feels like is being set up.

What I'd honestly love as a solution to Hank's memory problem is a thought for a story I've been bouncing around for a while now - a continuation of some of All-New X-Men's themes. New Hank just cracks and decides that he can't bear the guilt for all that his other self did, and he uses a time machine (idk, there's probably one just lying around somewhere, it's 616 Marvel) to try and take himself out.

The X-Men, or, actually, I would prefer the rest of the O5, find out what he's doing, and chase him through, and then it's a trip down memory lane as Hank consistently fails to stop himself. Not because he doesn't want to, but because he can't. He can't bring himself to - and also, what he's going to do is too important to stop it from happening.

He goes back to 1993, tries to stop himself from letting Threnody go with Sinister. Bobby intervenes, tells him that if he does, she's probably just going to die a long, slow death from her powers while Hank works himself into a mental breakdown because he can't fix it quickly enough.

He goes back to 2008, tries to stop himself from creating the Skrull Legacy Virus. Warren intervenes, pointing out that if he does that, thousands more are going to die during the Secret Invasion, including plenty of X-Men, which causes a chain reaction and kills Utopia, kills mutant kind dead before Hope can re-ignite it.

He goes back to 2013, tries to stop himself from bringing the time displaced O5 into the present. Scott intervenes, pointing out that if he does that, Scott loses all of his memories of the Champions, Bobby never comes out of the closet - and Hank dies on the operating table. There's no-one to try and broker a peace with the Inhumans in 2016. There's a full on war. The X-Men win, but it's a hell of a lot of casualties.

He goes back to 2019, tries to stop himself from joining X-Force and leading it. This time, Jean intervenes. He can't keep hurting himself like this. Not in front of the people who love him. Not in front of Jean, who let this happen, who walked away when it got too hard and didn't stop it when she had the chance. It's horrible, but these things have to happen. They're a part of time, now. The Phoenix is the avatar of life, and of death, and it knows that this is the way that things have to be, so accept it.

Hank gives up. He watches himself in that glade with Logan, knowing that he can't change what's going to happen.

With each hop through time, he's gained a greater understanding of what happened, of what made him make these choices, of who was there, in the room, letting him make these choices - and he knows that he can't take the easy way out. He can't just fix it that easily. He's going to have to work at it. Hard. It's not going to be easy.

But that's okay. Because Scott, Jean, Warren, and Bobby are going to be there for him. Because that's who they are. They're his family.

They all leave the glade. Jean takes one last look at Hank, left standing there in the water, and copies his memories. She takes a moment to appreciate the man as he is, before he's ruined by power, and then she steps back through time. Whenever Hank wants the memories, they're his. But he has to want them. Maybe he doesn't want them right now, but when he does . . .

But yeah, that's what I would want.

It's a Wonderful Beast, basically. I think it'd be neat.

[generalzelgius]

The weather was brutal that evening, heavy snowfalls impacting visibility, and making it extremely difficult to trek through. The temperature had dropped severely in just the past few minutes and the knight called out to Ryu over the raging winds, pointing to a nearby town, and changing his course to go there. Fortunately, there was a tavern and inn close to the entrance of it and he held the door open for Ryu to sip inside, shutting the door firmly behind them. From Ryu's sluggish gait, Zelgius could tell she was exhausted, so he urged her to take a seat in the back and he would be with her in a minute. He went up to the barmaid and ordered drinks and a meal. They had been travelling for quite some time without respite.

He then went over to Ryu, carrying a tray which contained two mugs of ale as well as two glasses of water, setting it on the table in front of them, as he sat across from her. ❛ Here. Drink. I ordered some food for us, as well. ❜ He took one of the mugs and drank some ale, letting out a sigh of relief. It was cozy inside and at once he felt some warmth seep into his veins. ❛ By my estimation, it will take us at least a week or so reach the border of Crimea, that is unless, this snowstorm continues. I suggest we stay here for the night, recuperate, and then see what the weather permits tomorrow. I realize there is urgency to reach Crimea and deal with the rumored monster threat, but there is not much we can do when faced with nature's wrath. This region is known for its unpredictable weather. It is best to proceed with caution. ❜

The barmaid appeared at their table and placed their plates in front of them, the dish containing some sort of meat, alongside a variety of vegetables. It looked healthy and nutritious. ❛ This looks delectable. Hope it is to your liking. ❜

@aaternum

[villainmade]

@terrorsmade said : ❛  scott ,  i  know  what  i  saw .  ❜

  he's not sure how to react. on the one hand, isaac is one of his best friends, and scott wants to believe him. on the other hand, what he's claiming is ... fantastical. impossible. but even as he thinks the word, scott can't ignore the voice in the back of his head reminding him that he'd thought he'd seen it too, thought he'd seen her. " i just don't see how that's possible, " he replies at length, brows pulling together. a quiet sigh leaves him as he shakes his head and stands a bit straighter, seemingly bracing himself. " walk me through it again. what exactly did you see? "

[vaedar]

𝐎𝐎𝐂; It's Vaedar beckoning valyrian muses in their dragon dreams...

But really under cut, appreciate this gif that I think is my all time fave for him.

[disturbnot]

i gotta know! because your character and your take on him are so unique! what ideas do you have about supernatural and where he'd fit in that world? care for a little headcanoning going on? cause i gotta see this. i'm intrigued!

as it so happens, dear new friend, i do have an ancient spn verse that i can make an attempt at blowing the cobwebs off of. although i'm going to preface all of this with the fact i haven't watched spn in quite a long time; i had my old verse for ash back in 2014, so some of the details have gotten a little foggy (both for the verse itself and for canon spn lore—i am LONG overdue a rewatch!) but i'll do my best to recount what i can for you. :)

if i recall correctly, ash's spn verse story is prefaced by the death of his father—a hunter that lived somewhere near the southwest us/mexico border at the time and originally hailed from mexico. i believe he and his wife/son were settled in arizona, but i could be wrong (details schmetails). anyway, one night ash's pops is off out on a local hunt; a scheduled descent of tzitzimimeh from the stars—skeletal demons of aztec mythology that are said to compose the stars at night. this shouldn't have been too much of a trial on paper, and yet the man is bested by the swarm. UNFORTUNATELY, the man's ever curious and wayward son snuck out of the house to follow him that night and found his father's body, with tzitzimimeh still on the prowl in the dark. but those weren't the only otherworldly entities slinking around the badland steppe, something else was stalking. it wasn't stalking for humans, though—it was stalking for the tzitzimimeh. the benevolent yet formless essence of the god quetzalcoatl pursued the demons, and found the devastated child in dire need of care and protection. quetzalcoatl, unlike many other primordial/progenitor gods, is of utmost benevolence. seldom partaking in their flesh or their sacrifice, it regards and holds humanity, all life on earth, with a fondest love known only to great mothers. and it aches for the child, yearns to help. it also keens for a vessel. in its nebulous form of abstract light, its powers are minimal, but with material hands... maybe not so much. maybe there is something it could do for the boy. what if it gave the boy the chance to correct this mortal wrong someday? how could he say no? two or three decades later, the boy has gotten old, bones burning with a latent primordial power the god is only too gracious to temper; his body does not deform or decay before quetzalcoatl's brilliant grace, for it sleeps somewhere within, at peace until it is needed for its own agenda against fouler gods. with time, it has become inextricably entangled with ash's soul—he could no longer tell you where he ends and the blessed serpent begins. goes without saying that this precarious union afford ash some very unique and powerful gifts... well, in exchange for a great glowing target on his back. tale as old as time, yes? either way, he carries on his father's livelihood and has worked long and hard as a hunter himself, albeit a hunter with significant advantages (not that this has gotten him all that close to avenging his father) — he likely specialises in cryptids and supernatural animals/creatures. back in 2014, i think i had it down that his mother was also dead, but? idk i will probably change that. i might change the whole thing! who knows? but this is what i have for the moment. tysm for asking, dixon! :D it was fun getting to ponder this again after so long on the shelf. 🙇‍♀️

[littlehoundthings]

@axquitas wanted some banter.

"So.... You were at Kinloch Hold too?" An awkward question for the most wanted man in all of Thedas. "I'm surprised I missed you. Y'seem like you ah- stand out."